diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:55:35 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:55:35 -0700 |
| commit | e60864fc92623d72de37c4872b32ba39315aea31 (patch) | |
| tree | 949dd5817f3ef2c7e655ee5701fbeb34d78302c4 /19397.txt | |
Diffstat (limited to '19397.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 19397.txt | 21018 |
1 files changed, 21018 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/19397.txt b/19397.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10cd149 --- /dev/null +++ b/19397.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21018 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey +of the Present State of Protestant Theology, by John F. Hurst + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology + +Author: John F. Hurst + +Release Date: September 28, 2006 [EBook #19397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF RATIONALISM *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Lisa Reigel, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of +public domain works from the University of Michigan Digital +Libraries.) + + + + + +[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Greek words in this text have been +transliterated and placed between +marks+. A complete list of changes +follows the text.] + + + + +HISTORY + +OF + +RATIONALISM + +EMBRACING + +A SURVEY OF THE PRESENT STATE OF PROTESTANT +THEOLOGY. + + +BY JOHN F. HURST, D. D. + + +With Appendix of Literature. + + +THIRD EDITION, REVISED. + + +New York: +PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, +200 MULBERRY-STREET. +1867. + + +Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865, by +CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the +Southern District of New York. + + + + + The Rationalists are like the spiders, they spin all out of + their own bowels. But give me a philosopher who, like the bee, + hath a middle faculty, gathering from abroad, but digesting + that which is gathered by its own virtue.--LORD BACON. + + * * * * * + + The Bible, I say the Bible only, is the religion of + Protestants.... There is no safe certaintie but of Scripture + only, for any considering man to build upon. This therefore, + and this only I have reason to beleeve; this I will professe; + according to this I will live, and for this I will not only + willingly, but even gladly loose my life, though I should be + sorry that Christians should take it from me. Propose me + anything out of this book, and require whether I believe it or + no, and secure it never so incomprehensible to humane reason, + I will subscribe it hand and heart, as knowing no + demonstration can be stronger than this, God hath said so, + therefore it is true. In other things I will take no man's + libertie of judgment from him; neither shall any man take mine + from me. I will think no man the worse man nor the worse + Christian. I will love no man the lesse for differing in + opinion with me. And what measure I meet to others I expect + from them againe. I am fully assured that God does not, and + therefore that men out not to require any more of any man, + than this: to believe the Scripture to be God's word, to + endeavor to finde the true sense of it, and to live according + to it.--CHILLINGWORTH. + + * * * * * + + Are those enthusiasts who profess to follow reason? Yes, + undoubtedly, if by reason they mean only conceits. Therefore + such persons are now commonly called _Reasonists_ or + _Rationalists_ to distinguish them from true reasoners or + rational inquirers.--WATERLAND. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +There were no prefatory remarks to the first and second editions of the +following work. It was thought, when the printer made his final call for +copy, that a preface might be written with more propriety if the public +should indicate sufficient interest in the book to make its improvement +and enlargement necessary. That interest, owing to the theme rather than +the treatment, has not been withheld. The investigation of the subject +was pursued in the midst of varied and pressing pastoral duties, with a +pleasure which no reader of the result of the labor can enjoy; for, +first, the author felt that Rationalism was soon to be the chief topic +of theological inquiry in the Anglo-Saxon lands; and, second, he +regarded the doubt, not less than the faith, of his fellow men as +entitled to far more respect and patient investigation than it had +usually received at the hands of orthodox inquirers. + +The author would probably never have studied the genetic development of +Rationalism in Germany, and its varied forms in other countries, if he +had not been a personal witness to the ruin it had wrought in the land +of Luther, Spener, and Zinzendorf. In compliance with the instruction +of a trusted medical adviser, he sailed for Germany in the summer of +1856, as a final resort for relief from serious pulmonary disease. But, +through the mercy of God, he regained health so rapidly that he was +enabled to matriculate in the University of Halle in the following +autumn, and to be a daily attendant upon the lectures of such men as +Tholuck, Julius Mueller, Jacobi, and Roediger. From some theologians he +heard Rationalism defended with an energy worthy of Wolff and Semler; +from others with a devotion worthy of the beloved Neander. In the +railroad car, the stage, the counting-room, the workshop, the parlor, +and the peasant-hut, Rationalism was found still lingering with a +strong, though relaxing grasp. The evangelical churches were attended by +only a few listless hearers. His prayer to God was, "May the American +Church never be reduced to this sad fate." The history of that movement, +resulting in such actual disaster to some lands and threatened ruin to +others, took a deep hold upon his mind; and if he has failed in any +respect to trace it with an impartial pen, his hope is that his failure +will not cause any bright color of the truth to be obscured for a +moment. For no man and no cause can ultimately triumph by giving an +undue prominence to favorite party or principles; it is only by justice +to all that the truth can win its unfading laurels. + +Criticism was to have been expected, from the very nature of the topic +of investigation. But the author has endeavored, as a student at the +feet of his judges, to derive the largest possible benefit from +criticism. No word of censure, however wide of the mark, has been +unwelcome to him, whether from the sceptical or orthodox press. To all +questioned passages he has given a careful re-examination, in some +instances finding cause for alteration, but in others seeing his ground +more strongly sustained than was at first imagined. He has, for example, +been informed by many esteemed persons that his representation of +Coleridge was hardly just; and, in obedience to that suggestion, he has +given that author's works a more careful study than ever, having +previously resolved to completely reverse his judgment of that profound +thinker's faith, if he found his own utterances would justify him in +that course. The result was, as far as he can now recall, that he could +alter but one adjective in the entire section relating to Coleridge. Of +course, the author finds no fault with those who differ from him on +Coleridge, or on any other writer who has come under treatment; but he +must be granted by others what he concedes to them. For the criticism, +as a whole, which he has received both through the press and private +sources, he owes a debt of gratitude which he cannot hope to pay. It +gives him profound pleasure to know, that the highest theological +journals in the United States which wage open war against orthodoxy, +have conceded, with marked unanimity, the general correctness of his +statements, though they naturally take issue with his conclusions. + +Every effort has been bestowed on the present edition to make it as free +from blemishes as possible. The appendix of literature has been slightly +enlarged, many typographical errors--occurring in consequence of the too +rapid passage of the work through the press, and the abundance of words +of different languages with which the printer was not always well +acquainted--have disappeared; and, in many cases, the narrative has been +brought down to the present time. In the prosecution of revision, a +large number of the stereotype plates have been cancelled; and no labor +has been wanting to make this edition worthy of the goodwill expressed +toward the two editions which have preceded it. + +Through a strange providence the author is now about to commence a term +of theological instruction in Germany, where Rationalism first excited +his attention, and where his apprehensions were first raised that Great +Britain and the United States might be seriously invaded by it. His +presence at its old hearthstone leads him to indulge the hope that, in +some future though distant day, if life be spared, he may be able to +enlarge this history greatly, and thus to render it better adapted to +its purpose, more approximative to his first ideal, and more +commensurate with the present universal interest in religious and +theological themes. + +BREMEN, GERMANY, _November 5, 1866_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +INTRODUCTION. + PAGE +Systematic History of Infidelity, 2-3 +Best Method of refuting Rationalism, 3-4 +Rationalism not an unmixed Evil, 4-6 +Definitions of Rationalism: + Wegscheider, 8 + Staeudlin, 11 + Hahn, 12 + Rose, 13 + Bretschneider, 14 + McCaul, 16 + Saintes, 19 + Lecky, 22 +Classes of Rationalists, 24-26 +Causes of the success of Rationalism, 26-32 +Four Considerations in Reference to Rationalism, 32-35 + + +CHAPTER I. + +CONTROVERSIAL PERIOD SUCCEEDING THE REFORMATION. + +Causes of the Controversial Spirit, 38 +The Controversies described, 39, 40 +George Calixtus, 40-45 +Jacob Boehme, 46-49 +John Arndt, 49-51 +John Gerhard, 51-53 +John Valentine Andreae, 53-55 + + +CHAPTER II. + +RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH AT THE +PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. + +Description of the Thirty Years' War, 56-59 +Religious Decline of the Church, 59-61 +Neglect of Children, 62-65 +Defects of Theological Literature, 66-68 +Low State of Theological Instruction, 68, 69 +Imperfect Preaching of the Time, 69-73 +Immorality of the Clergy and Theological Professors, 73-77 +Religious Indifference of the Upper Classes, 77-80 + + +CHAPTER III. + +PIETISM AND ITS MISSION. + +Philosophy of the Period, 82 +Improvement dependent on Individuals, 84, 85 +What Pietism proposed to do, 85-88 +Principles of Pietism, 88, 89 +Philip Jacob Spener, the Founder of Pietism, 89-93 +University of Halle, 93 +Augustus Hermann Francke, 93-95 +The Orphan House at Halle, 95-97 +Influence of the University of Halle, 97, 98 +Arnold and Thomasius, 98, 99 +New Generation of Professors in Halle, 99, 100 +Cause of the Decline of Pietism, 102 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE POPULAR PHILOSOPHY OF WOLFF.--SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES +FROM ABROAD. + +Leibnitz, Founder of the Wolffian Philosophy, 103, 104 +Wolff and the Popular Philosophy, 104-111 +The School of Wolff, 111 +Toellner, 112 +English Deism in Germany, 113-117 +English Deism in France 117, 118 +Voltaire and Frederic the Great, 119-123 +Frederic's Regret at Skepticism in Prussia, 123, 124 + + +CHAPTER V. + +SEMLER AND THE DESTRUCTIVE SCHOOL.--1750-1810. + +Influence of Foreign Skepticism on the German Church, 125, 126 +Semler and the Accommodation-Theory, 126-131 +Semler's Private Life, 135-137 +Influence of Semler's destructive Criticism, 137, 138 +Edelmann, 138, 139 +Bahrdt,--his Writings, and depraved Character, 139-143 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONTRIBUTIONS OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. + +Prevalence of Semler's Opinions, 144, 145 +Mental Activity of the Times, 145 +Adherents to the Accommodation-Theory, 147, 148 +Literary Agencies: + Nicolai's Universal German Library, 147, 148 + Rationalistic Spirit in Berlin, 148 + Wolfenbuettel Fragments, 149-156 +Philosophical Agencies: + Kant and his System, 156-162 + Service rendered by Kant, 162 + Jacobi, 162, 163 + Fichte, 163 + Schelling, 164 + Hegel, 164, 165 + Grouping of the Philosophical Schools, 165-167 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE REIGN OF THE WEIMAR CIRCLE.--REVOLUTION IN EDUCATION +AND HYMNOLOGY. + +Harmony of the prevalent philosophical Systems, 169 +Karl August of Weimar and his literary Circle, 169-171 +John Gottfried Herder, 171-179 +Schiller, 179-182 +Goethe, 182, 183 +Deleterious Change in Education, 184 +Basedow, and his Philanthropium, 184-187 +Campe and Salzmann, 187, 188 +Rationalistic Elementary Books, 189-193 +Alteration of the German Hymns, 194, 195 +Decline of Church Music, 195 +Inability of Orthodox Theologians to resist + Rationalism, 195, 196 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DOCTRINES OF RATIONALISM IN THE DAY OF ITS STRENGTH. + +Desolate Condition of the Church, 197, 198 +Rationalism without a Common System, 198, 199 +Opinions of the Rationalists: + Religion, 199 + Existence of God, 199, 200 + Doctrine of Inspiration, 200-202 + Credibility of the Scriptures, 203-206 + Fall of Man, 206, 207 + Miracles, 207-211 + Prophecy, 211-214 + Person of Christ, 214-218 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RENOVATION INAUGURATED BY SCHLEIERMACHER. + +Protestant Germany at the Commencement of the Nineteenth + Century, 220-222 +Fichte, and his Popular Appeal, 222-224 +Schleiermacher, 224-229 +The Romantic School, 230 +Ecclesiastical Reconstruction inaugurated by Frederic + William III., 230, 231 +The Union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, 231, 232 +Claus Harms--his 95 Theses, 232-236 + + +CHAPTER X. + +RELATIONS OF RATIONALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM.--1810-1835. + +The Task before the New Church, 237 +Rationalism strengthened by Roehr and Wegscheider, 238 +The terms, Rationalism and Supernaturalism, 239 +Tittmann, 239, 240 +Tzschirner, 240 +Schott, 241 +Schleiermacher's _System of Doctrines_, 241-244 +Effect of Schleiermacher's Teaching, 245, 246 +De Wette, 246-249 +Neander, 249-253 +His personal Appearance, 253-254 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE REACTION PRODUCED BY STRAUSS' LIFE OF JESUS.--1835-1848. + +Hyper-criticism of the Rationalists, 255, 256 +Influence of Schleiermacher and Hegel, 256, 257 +The threefold Division of the Hegelian School, 257, 258 +David Frederic Strauss, and his _Life of Jesus_, 258-269 +Replies to the _Life of Jesus_: + Harless, 271 + Hoffman, 271 + Neander, 272 + Ullmann, 273 + Schweizer, 273 + Wilke, 273 + Schaller, 273 + Dorner, 273, 274 +Literature occasioned by Strauss' _Life of Jesus_, 274, 275 +Strauss' _New Life of Jesus for the People_, 275-278 +The Tuebingen School, conducted by Ferdinand Christian + Baur, 278-280 +The Influence of the French Revolution, 280, 281 +Strauss' _System of Doctrine_, 281, 282 +Feuerbach, 282 +The Halle Year-Books, 282, 283 +The "Friends of Light," 283, 284 +The "Free Congregations," 284, 285 +Rationalistic Leaders of the Revolution of 1848, 285, 286 +Their Failure, and its Cause, 286, 287 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE EVANGELICAL SCHOOL: ITS OPINIONS AND PRESENT PROSPECTS. + +The Mediation Theologians, or Evangelical School, grouped: + Ullmann, 288, 289 + Dorner, 289-292 + Tholuck, 292-295 + Lange, 295, 296 + Twesten, 297 + Nitzsch, 297-299 + Rothe, 299-303 + Schenkel--his recent Adoption of Rationalism, 303-305 + Hengstenberg, 305-307 +Theological Journals, 307 +Improved Theological Instruction, 307-310 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PRACTICAL MOVEMENTS INDICATING NEW LIFE. + +Charities of German Protestantism, 311 +Relation of Philanthropy to Religious Life, 312 +John Falk, 312-316 +Theodore Fliedner, 316-318 +Evangelical Church Diet, 318-323 +Immanuel Wichern, 324-329 +Louis Harms, 329, 330 +The Gustavus Adolphus Union, 330, 331 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +HOLLAND: THEOLOGY AND RELIGION FROM THE SYNOD OF DORT +TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. + +Former Political Influence of Holland, 332, 333 +Rise of Rationalism in Holland, 333 +Influence of the Synod of Dort, 334 +Corruption of Ethics, 335 +Low state of Homiletic Literature, 335, 336 +Cocceius, 336-339 +Voetius, 339, 340 +Controversy between the Cocceians and Voetians, 340-343 +Favorable Influence of the Huguenot Immigrants, 343, 344 +Popular Acquaintance with Theology, 345, 346 +Bekker, 347, 348 +Roell, 348, 349 +Van Os, 349 +Influence of English Deism, 350-353 +Influence of French Skepticism, 353, 354 +Napoleon Bonaparte's domination, 354, 355 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOLLAND CONTINUED: THE NEW THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS, AND THE +GREAT CONTROVERSY NOW PENDING BETWEEN ORTHODOXY +AND RATIONALISM. + +The Political Subjugation of Holland, 356 +Inactivity of Orthodoxy, 356, 357 +Rupture produced by the New Hymn-Book, 357, 358 +The Revival and the Secession: + Bilderdyk, Da Costa, Capadose, Groen Van + Prinsterer, 359-361 + De Cock, the Leader of the Secession 362, 363 + Failure of the Secession, 363, 364 +The Groningen School: 364 + Its Characteristic, 364 + Hofstede de Groot, and Pareau, 365, 366 + Doctrines of the Groningens, 366, 367 +The School of Leyden: 367 + Scholten, 368-371 +The School of Empirical-Modern Theology: + Opzoomer, 371 + Pierson, 371-374 + Doctrines of this School, 374, 375 +The Ethical Irenical School: 375 + Chantepie de la Saussaye, 375-377 + Van Oosterzee, 377-379 +The Present Crisis and its Causes, 381-383 +Increase of Evangelizing Agencies, 383-385 + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +FRANCE: RATIONALISM IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCH--THE +CRITICAL SCHOOL. + +Present Activity of Religious Thought in France, 386, 387 +Coldness of Orthodoxy at the Commencement of the + Nineteenth Century, 387, 388 +Influence of Wesleyan Missionaries, 388, 389 +Cartesianism and the Positive Philosophy, 390 +Light French Literature, 391 +The Critical School of Theology: 391-394 + Reville, 394-396 + Scherer, 396-400 + Larroque, 400 + Rougemont, 400, 401 + Colani 401, 402 + Pecaut, 402, 403 + Grotz, 403 + Renan, and his _Life of Jesus_, 403-406 + A. Coquerel, jr., 406-409 +Influence of French Skepticism upon the Young, 409, 410 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FRANCE CONTINUED: EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OPPOSING RATIONALISM. + +Agencies Opposing Rationalism, 411 +De Pressense, 411-416 +Guizot, 416-419 +Success of the Evangelical School, 419-421 +Improvement of the French Protestant Church, 422, 423 +Charitable and Evangelizing Societies, 423, 424 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SWITZERLAND: ORTHODOXY IN GENEVA, AND THE NEW SPECULATIVE +RATIONALISM IN ZUeRICH. + +Prostration of the Swiss Church at the Commencement of + the Nineteenth Century, 425, 426 +Neglect of Theological Instruction, 426, 427 +The Theological Academy in Geneva, 428 +The Evangelical Dissenting Church, 428 +Gaussen, 428, 429 +Vinet, 429 +Present Religious Condition of Geneva, 429, 430 +Lectures in the Genevan Theological Academy, 431, 432 +Religious Declension of Zuerich, 432 +Zuerich the Centre of Swiss Rationalism: 433-435 +The Speculative Rationalism: + The Holy Scriptures, 435 + Christ, 435-437 + Sin, 438 + Faith, 438, 439 +German Switzerland influenced by German Theology, 439 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENGLAND: THE SOIL PREPARED FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF +RATIONALISM. + +English Deism and German Rationalism Contrasted, 440 +Literature of England in the Eighteenth Century, 440, 441 +The Writers of that Period, 441 +Influence of the French Spirit, 441, 442 +Bolingbroke, 442, 443 +Hume, 444-447 +Gibbon, 447, 448 +The moral Prostration of the Church, 448-450 +Influence of the Wesleyan Movement, 450-452 + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY RATIONALISM.--COLERIDGE +AND CARLYLE. + +Compensations of History, 453 +Rise of a Disposition in England to consult German Theology + and Philosophy, 453, 454 +Philosophical Rationalism: + Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 455-462 + Julius Charles Hare, 462-465 + F. D. Maurice, 465-468 + Charles Kingsley, 468-471 +Literary Rationalism: + Influence of Philosophy on Literature, 472 + Thomas Carlyle, 473-477 + The _Westminster Review_, 477-480 +Necessity of active Protestantism, 480 + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: CRITICAL RATIONALISM--JOWETT, THE +ESSAYS AND REVIEWS, AND COLENSO. + +Relation of the Bible to Christianity, 481 +Critical Rationalism: + Professor Jowett, 481 + The "Essays and Reviews," 482-497 + Judicial Proceedings against the Writers of that + Work, 497-499 + Criticism of Bishop Colenso, 499-503 + Judicial Proceedings against Colenso, 503-505 + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: SURVEY OF CHURCH PARTIES. + +Unity of the Church of England, 507 +The Evangelical and Sacramentalist Parties, 507 +The Low Church: + Cambridge University, 508 + Activity of the Founders of the Low Church, 508, 509 + Missionary Zeal, 509, 510 + Parties in the Low Church, 510 +The High Church: + Rise of the Tractarian Movement, 511, 512 + Doctrines of the High Church, 512-515 + Service rendered by the High Church, 515 + John H. Newman, 516, 517 + Francis William Newman, 517-519 +The First Broad Church: + Indefiniteness of Creed, 519, 520 + Thomas Arnold, 520-523 + Arthur P. Stanley, 523-529 + Doctrines of the First Broad Church, 529, 530 +The Second Broad Church: + Difference between the First and Second Broad + Churches, 530, 531 +Classification of Church Parties, 531, 532 +Skepticism in various Sects, 532, 533 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE UNITED STATES: THE UNITARIAN CHURCH.--THE UNIVERSALISTS. + +Novelty in American History, 534 +Separation of Church and State, 534-536 +Relations between the Old World and the United States, 536, 537 +The Unitarian Church: + The Venerable Stoddard, 537, 538 + Jonathan Edwards, 538 + The Half-Way Covenant, 538 + James Freeman, 538, 539 + Early Unitarian Publications, 539, 540 + Unitarianism in Harvard University, 540 + Andover Theological Seminary, 540, 541 + Controversy between Channing and Worcester, 541 + William Ellery Channing, 541-544 + The Unitarian Creed, 544-553 + The _Christian Examiner_, 553 + The Young Men's Christian Union, 553-558 + The Unitarian National Convention, 558-560 + Present state of the Unitarian Church, 560 +Universalism: + Rise in America, 560, 561 + Doctrines of Universalism, 561, 562 + Present state of Universalism, 562, 563 + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE UNITED STATES CONTINUED: THEODORE PARKER AND HIS +SCHOOL. + +Early Attachment of the Unitarians to the Doctrine of + Miracles, 564 +Theodore Parker: + His Personal History, 564, 565 + His Course toward Orthodoxy, 566 + His Opinions, 566-571 +Influence of American Skepticism, 571, 572 +Frothingham's juvenile Work, 572, 573 +"Liberal Christianity," 573-575 +Duty of the American Church, 575, 576 + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +INDIRECT SERVICE OF SKEPTICISM--PRESENT OUTLOOK. + +Great Success the Result of strong Opposition, 577-579 +Biblical Study indirectly benefited by the Attacks of + Rationalism, 580, 581 +Improvement of Church History, 581-583 +Estimate of the Life of Christ, 583-586 +The Evangelical Church: + Necessity of an impartial View of Science, 586, 587 + The proper Way to combat Skepticism, 587, 588 + Unity a Requisite of Success, 588, 589 + + +APPENDIX. + +Literature of Rationalism: + Germany, Holland, Switzerland, 590-595 + Rationalistic Periodicals in Germany, 595 + France, 595-598 + Rationalistic Periodicals in France, 598 + Great Britain and the United States, 599-606 +Literature of Unitarianism and Universalism: 606-609 + Unitarian Periodicals, 609 + Universalist Periodicals, 609-610 + +INDEX, 611-623 + + + + +HISTORY OF RATIONALISM. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +RATIONALISM DEFINED--ITS CHARACTER AS A SKEPTICAL DEVELOPMENT. + + +Rationalism is the most recent, but not the least violent and insidious, +of all the developments of skepticism. We purpose to show its historical +position, and to present, as faithfully as possible, its antagonism to +evangelical Christianity. The guardians of the interests of the church +cannot excuse themselves from effort toward the eradication of this +error by saying that it is one which will soon decay by the force of its +natural autumn. Posterity will not hesitate to charge us with gross +negligence if we fail to appreciate the magnitude of Rationalism, and +only deal with it as the growth of a day. We have half conquered an +enemy when we have gained a full knowledge of his strength. + +There was a time when Rationalism was a theme of interest to the +Protestant church of Germany alone. But that day is now past. Having +well nigh run its race in the land of Luther, it has crossed the Rhine +into France and the Netherlands, invaded England, and now threatens the +integrity of the domain of Anglo-Saxon theology. Thus it has assumed an +importance which should not be overlooked by British and American +thinkers who love those dearly-bought treasures of truth that they have +received as a sacred legacy from the martyrs and reformers of the +English church. The recent writings of the exegetical Rationalists of +England are sufficient to induce us to gather up our armor and adjust it +for immediate defence. Delay will entail evil. The reason why skepticism +has wrought such fearful ravages at various stages during the career of +the church has been the tardiness of the church in watching the sure and +steady approach, and then in underrating the real strength of her +adversary. The present History will be written for the specific purpose +of awakening an interest in the danger that now threatens us. We have no +ambition to deal with the past, further than to enable it to minister to +the immediate demands of the present. We all belong to this generation; +it calls for our energies; it has its great wants; and we shall be held +justly responsible if we neglect to contribute our share toward the +progress of our contemporaries. + +The three principles which have influenced us to undertake a discussion +of the present theme--and of the truth of which we are profoundly +convinced--are the following: + +I. THAT INFIDELITY PRESENTS A SYSTEMATIC AND HARMONIOUS HISTORY. Our +customary view of error is, that its history is disjointed, rendered so +by the ardent, but unsteady, labors of the doubters of all periods since +the origin of Christianity. We have ignored the historical movement of +skepticism. Even the storms have their mysterious laws. The work of +Satan is never planless. He adapts his measures to the new dangers that +arise to threaten his dominion. The analogy between the Rationalism of +to-day and the infidelity of past ages is so striking that we can with +difficulty recognize the interval of centuries. We see the new faces, +but the foes are old. Rationalism has repeatedly varied its method of +attack; but if we follow the marches of its whole campaign we shall find +that the enemy which stands at our fortress-gate with the _Essays and +Reviews_ and _Notes on Pentateuch and Joshua_ in hand, is the same one +that assailed Protestant Germany with the Accommodation-theory and the +_Wolfenbuettel Fragments_. + +II. A HISTORY OF A MISCHIEVOUS TENDENCY IS THE VERY BEST METHOD FOR ITS +REFUTATION AND EXTIRPATION. We can learn the full character of the good +or evil of any abstract principle only by seeing its practical workings. +The tree is known by its fruits. Rationalism may be of evil character, +but we must see the results it has produced,--the great overthrow of +faith it has effected, and its influence upon the pulpit and press of +the countries invaded by it, before we can comprehend the vastness of +our danger. An enumeration of the evil doings of a public enemy is the +best plan to forestall his future misdeeds. We are not to judge +Rationalism by its professions. The question is not, What does it wish? +At what does it aim? or, What is its creed? But the true way to measure, +understand, and judge it, is by answering the inquiry, _What has it +done?_ Its work must determine its character. This work has been most +injurious to the faith and life of the church, and its deeds must +therefore be its condemnation. There are those who say, "Tell us nothing +about skepticism; we know too much about it already." Would it be a +prudent request, if, before penetrating the jungles of Asia, we should +say, "Tell us nothing of the habits of the lion"; or, before visiting a +malarious region of Africa, we should beg of the physician not to inform +us of the prevalent fever and its appropriate remedy? Forewarned is +forearmed. We are surrounded by Rationalism in many phases; it comes to +us in the periodical and the closely-printed volume. Even children are +reading it in some shape or other. Shall we know its danger; then we +must know its deeds. + +III. OF RATIONALISM IT MAY BE AFFIRMED, AS OF ALL THE PHASES OF +INFIDELITY, THAT IT IS NOT IN ITS RESULTS AN UNMIXED EVIL, SINCE GOD +OVERRULES ITS WORK FOR THE PURIFICATION AND PROGRESS OF HIS CHURCH. A +nation is never so pure as when emerging from the sevenfold-heated +furnace. It was not before Manasseh was caught among thorns, bound with +fetters, and carried to Babylon, that he "besought the Lord his God, and +humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers;" nor was it +before this humiliation that the Lord "brought him again to Jerusalem +into his kingdom." The whole history of religious error shows that the +church is cold, formal, and controversial before the visitation of +skepticism. When every power is in full exercise, infidelity stands +aloof. God has so provided for his people that he has even caused the +delusion by which they have suffered to contribute great benefits but +little anticipated by the deluded or the deluders themselves. The +intellectual labors of the German Rationalists have already shed an +incalculable degree of light on the sacred books, and upon almost every +branch of theology. But thus has God ever caused the wrath of man to +praise him. + +Taking this view of the indirect benefits resulting from skepticism, we +cannot lament, without an admixture of solace, that the path of Truth +has always been rough. The Master, who declared himself "The Truth," +premonished us by his own life that his doctrines were not destined to +pervade the mind and heart of our race without encountering violent +blows, and passing through whole winters of frost and storm. Many things +attending the origin and planting of Christianity gave omen of +antagonism to its claims in coming generations. Nor could it be expected +that the unsanctified reason of man would accept as the only worthy +guide of faith and life what Judaism, Paganism, and Philosophy had long +since decidedly rejected. But the spirit of Christianity is so totally +at variance with that of the world that it is vain to expect harmony +between them. Truth, however, will not suffer on that account; and when +the issues appear it will shine all the brighter for the fires through +which it has passed. The country where Rationalism has exerted its first +and chief influence is Germany, than which no nation of modern times has +been more prospered or passed through deeper affliction. At one time she +was the leader of religious liberty and truth, not only in Europe, but +throughout the world. She was thirty years fighting the battles of +Protestantism, but the end of the long conflict found her victorious. +Since that day, however, she has lost her prestige of adherence to +evangelical Christianity; and her representative theologians and +thinkers have distorted the Bible which she was the very first to +unseal. We rejoice that her condition is more hopeful to-day than it was +twenty-five years ago; but recovery is not easy from a century-night of +cold, repulsive Rationalism. As a large number of those stupendous +battles that have decided the political and territorial condition of +Europe have been fought on the narrow soil of Belgium, so has Germany +been for ages the contested field on which were determined the great +doctrinal and ecclesiastical questions of the European continent and of +the world. Happily, the result has generally been favorable; and let no +friend of evangelical truth fear that Rationalism will not meet its +merited fate. + +We must not imagine that, because the term Rationalism has been +frequently employed within the last few years, it is of very recent +origin either as a word or skeptical type. The Aristotelian Humanists of +Helmstedt were called _Rationalists_ in the beginning of the seventeenth +century, and Comenius applied the same epithet to the Socinians in +1688.[1] It was a common word in England two hundred years ago. Nor was +it imported into the English language from the German, either in a +theological or a philosophical sense. There was a sect of Rationalists, +in the time of the Commonwealth, who called themselves such exactly on +the same grounds as their successors have done in recent years. Some one +writing the news from London under date of October 14, 1646, says: +"There is a new sect sprung up among them [the Presbyterians and +Independents], and these are the _Rationalists, and what their reason +dictates them in church or state stands for good until they be convinced +with better_."[2] But Rationalists, in fact if not in name, existed on +the Continent long anterior to this date. The Anti-Trinitarians, and +Bodin, and Pucci were rigid disciples of Reason; and their tenets +harmonize with those of a later day.[3] + +In order to arrive at a proper definition of Rationalism we should +consult those authors who have given no little attention to this +department of theological inquiry. Nor would we be impartial if we +adduced the language of one class to the exclusion of the other. We +shall hear alike from the friends and adversaries of the whole movement, +and endeavor to draw a proper conclusion from their united testimony. It +was Selden's advice to the students of ecclesiastical history, "to study +the exaggerated statements of Baronius on the one side, and of the +Magdeburg Centuriators on the other, and be their own judges." +Fortunately enough for a proper understanding of Rationalism, there is +no such diversity of statement presented by our authorities. On the +contrary, we shall perceive an unexpected and gratifying harmony. + +In Wegscheider's _Institutiones Dogmaticae_, a work which for nearly half +a century has stood as an acknowledged and highly respected authority on +the systematic theology of the Rationalists, we read language to this +effect: "Since that doctrine (of supernaturalism) is encumbered with +various difficulties, every day made more manifest by the advances of +learning, especially historical, physical, and philosophical, there have +been amongst more recent theologians and philosophers not a few who, in +various ways, departing from it, thought it right to admit, even in the +investigation and explanation of divine things, not only that formal use +of human reason which regards only the method of expounding dogmas, but +also the material use, by which the subject-matter of the particular +doctrines is submitted to inquiry. + +"Thus arose that of which the generic name is Rationalism, or that law +or rule of thinking, intimately united with the cultivation of talent +and mind, by which we think that as well in examining and judging of all +things presented to us in life and the range of universal learning, as +in those matters of most grave importance which relate to religion and +morals, we must follow strenuously the norm of reason rightly applied, +as of the highest faculty of the mind; which law of thinking and +perceiving, if it be applied to prove any positive religion (theological +Rationalism) lays it down as an axiom that religion is revealed to men +in no other manner than that which is agreeable both to the nature of +things and to reason, as the witness and interpreter of divine +providence; and teaches that the subject-matter of every supposed +supernatural revelation, is to be examined and judged according to the +ideas regarding religion and morality, which we have formed in the mind +by the help of reason.... Whosoever, therefore, despising that supremacy +of human reason, maintains that the authority of a revelation, said to +have been communicated to certain men in a supernatural manner, is such +that it must be obeyed by all means, without any doubt,--that man takes +away and overturns from the foundation the true nature and dignity of +man, at the same time cherishes the most pernicious laziness and sloth, +or stirs up the depraved errors of fanaticism.... As to that which is +said to be above reason, the truth of which can by no means be +understood, there is no possible way open to the human mind to +demonstrate or affirm it; wherefore to acknowledge or affirm that which +is thought to be above reason is rightly said to be against reason and +contrary to it. + +"The persuasion concerning the supernatural and miraculous, and at the +same time immediate, revelation of God, cannot be reconciled with the +idea of God eternal, always consistent with himself, omnipotent, +omniscient, and most wise, by whose power, operative through all +eternity and exerted in perfect harmony with the highest wisdom, we +rightly teach that the whole nature of things exists and is +preserved.... This being so, it seems that the natural revelation or +manifestation of God, made by the works of nature, is the only one which +can be rightly defended, and this may be divided into universal or +common, and particular or singular. The universal indeed is affected by +the natural faculties of the mind, and other helps of the universal +nature of things, by which man is led to conceive and cultivate the +knowledge of divine things. That we call _particular_ and _mediate_, in +a sense different from the elder writers, which is contained in the +compass of things happening according to nature, by which, God being the +author, some men are excited above others to attain the principles of +true religion, and to impart with signal success those things, +accommodated indeed to the desires of their countrymen, and sanctioned +by some particular form of religious instruction. A revelation of this +kind consists as well in singular gifts of genius and mind, with which +the messenger, and, as it were, its interpreter, is perceived to be +furnished, as in illustrious proofs of divine providence, conspicuous in +his external life. But the more agreeably to the will of that same God +he uses these helps to be ascribed to God, and full of a certain divine +fervor, and excelling in zeal for virtue and piety, the more he scatters +the seeds of a doctrine truly divine, _i. e._, true in itself, and +worthy of God, and to be propagated by suitable institutions, the more +truly will he flourish amongst other men with the authority of a divine +teacher or ambassador. For as our mind partakes of the divine nature and +disposition (2 Peter i. 4), so without the favor and help of the Deity +it is not carried out to a more true species of religion. + +"But whatever narrations especially accommodated to a certain age, and +relating miracles and mysteries, are united with the history and +subject-matter of revelation of this kind, these ought to be referred to +the natural sources and true nature of human knowledge. By how much the +more clearly the author of the Christian religion, not without the help +of Deity, exhibited to men the idea of reason imbued with true religion, +so as to represent as it were an _apaugasma_ of the divine reason, or +the divine spirit, by so much the more diligently ought man to strive to +approach as nearly as possible to form that archetype in the mind, and +to study to imitate it in life and manners to the utmost of his ability. +Behold here the intimate and eternal union and agreement of Christianity +with Rationalism." + +Staeudlin, at first a Rationalist, but in later life more inclined to +supernaturalism, says: "I do not now look to the various meanings in +which the word Rationalism has been used. I understand by it here only +generally the opinion that mankind are led by their reason and +especially by the natural powers of their mind and soul, and by the +observation of nature which surrounds them, to a true knowledge of +divine and sensible things, and that reason has the highest authority +and right of decision in matters of faith and morality, so that an +edifice of faith and morals built on this foundation shall be called +Rationalism. It still remains undecided whether this system declares +that a supernatural revelation is impossible and ought to be rejected. +That notion rather lies in the word Naturalism, which however is +sometimes used as synonymous with Rationalism. It has been well said +that Naturalism is distinguished from Rationalism by rejecting all and +every revelation of God, especially any extraordinary one through +certain men. This, however, is not the case with many persons called +Naturalists both by themselves and others. Supernaturalism consists in +general in the conviction that God has revealed himself supernaturally +and immediately. What is revealed might perhaps be discovered by natural +methods, but either not at all or very late by those to whom it is +revealed. It may also be something which man could never have known by +natural methods; and then arises the question, whether man is capable of +such a revelation. The notion of a miracle cannot well be separated from +such a revelation, whether it happens out of, on, or in men. What is +revealed may belong to the order of nature, but an order higher and +unknown to us, which we could never have known without miracles, and +cannot bring under the law of nature."[4] + +Professor Hahn, in speaking of the work just referred to, and of the +subject in general, makes the following remarks: "In very recent times, +during which Rationalism has excited so much attention, two persons +especially, Bretschneider and Staeudlin, have endeavored to point out the +historical use of the word, but both have failed. It is therefore worth +while to examine the matter afresh. With respect to the Rationalists, +they give out Rationalism as a very different matter from Naturalism. +Roehr, the author of the _Letters on Rationalism_, chooses to understand +by Naturalism only Materialism; and Wegscheider, only Pantheism. In this +way those persons who have been usually reckoned the heads of the +Naturalists; namely, Herbert, Tindal, and others; will be entirely +separated from them, for they were far removed from Pantheism or +Materialism. Bretschneider, who has set on foot the best inquiry on this +point, says that the word Rationalism has been confused with the word +Naturalism since the appearance of the Kantian philosophy, and that it +was introduced into theology by Reinhard and Gabler. An accurate +examination respecting these words gives the following results: The word +Naturalism arose first in the sixteenth century, and was spread in the +seventeenth. It was understood to include those who allowed no other +knowledge of religion except the natural, which man could shape out of +his own strength, and consequently excluded all supernatural revelation. +As to the different forms of Naturalism, theologians say there are +three; the first, which they call Pelagianism, and which considers human +dispositions and notions as perfectly pure and clear by themselves, and +the religious knowledge derived from them as sufficiently explicit. A +grosser kind denies all particular revelation; and the grossest of all +considers the world as God. As to Rationalism, this word was used in the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by those who considered reason as +the source and norm of faith. Amos Comenius seems first to have used +this word in 1661, and it never had a good sense. In the eighteenth +century it was applied to those who were in earlier times called by the +name of Naturalist."[5] + +Of all writers on the subject of Rationalism we give the palm of +excellence to the devout and learned Hugh James Rose, of Cambridge +University. As far as we know he was the first to expose to the +English-speaking world the sad state to which this form of skepticism +had reduced Germany. Having visited that country in 1824, he delivered +four discourses on the subject before the university, which were +afterward published under the title of _The State of Protestantism in +Germany_. Thus far, in spite of the new works which may have appeared, +this account of Rationalism has not been superseded. We shall have +occasion more than once to refer to its interesting pages. Of +Rationalism he says: + +"The word has been used in Germany in various senses, and has been made +to embrace alike those who positively reject all revelation and those +who profess to receive it. I am inclined, however, to believe that the +distinction between Naturalists and Rationalists is not quite so wide, +either, as it would appear to be at first sight, or as one of them +assuredly wishes it to appear. For if I receive a system, be it of +religion, of morals, or of politics, only so far as it approve itself to +my reason, whatever be the authority that presents it to me, it is idle +to say that I receive the system out of any respect to that authority. I +receive it _only_ because my reason approves it, and I should of course +do so if an authority of far inferior value were to present the system +to me. This is what that division of Rationalists, which professes to +receive Christianity and at the same time to make reason the supreme +arbiter in matters of faith, has done. _Their_ system, in a word, is +this: they assume certain general principles, which they 'maintain to be +the necessary deductions of reason from an extended and unprejudiced +contemplation of the natural and moral order of things, and to be in +themselves immutable and universal. Consequently anything which, on +however good authority, may be advanced in apparent opposition to them +must either be rejected as unworthy of rational belief, or at least +explained away, till it is made to accord with the assumed +principles,--and the truth or falsehood of all doctrines proposed is to +be decided according to their agreement or disagreement with those +principles.' When Christianity, then, is presented to them, they inquire +what there is in it which agrees with their assumed principles, and +whatsoever does so agree, they receive as _true_. But whatever is _true_ +comes from God, and consequently all of Christianity which they admit to +be true, they hold to be _divine_. + +"'Those who are generally termed Rationalists,' says Dr. Bretschneider, +'admit universally, in Christianity, a divine, benevolent, and positive +appointment for the good of mankind, and Jesus as a Messenger of divine +Providence, believing that the true and everlasting word of God is +contained in the Holy Scripture, and that by the same the welfare of +mankind will be obtained and extended. But they deny therein a +supernatural and miraculous working of God, and consider the object of +Christianity to be that of introducing into the world such a religion as +reason can comprehend; and they distinguish the essential from the +unessential, and what is local and temporary from that which is +universal and permanent in Christianity.' There is, however, a third +class of divines, which in fact differs very little from this, though +very widely in profession. They affect to allow 'a revealing operation +of God,' but establish on internal proofs rather than on miracles the +divine nature of Christianity. They allow that revelation _may_ contain +much out of the power of reason to explain, but say that it should +assert nothing contrary to reason, but rather what may be proved by it. +This sounds better, but they who are acquainted with the writings of the +persons thus described, know that by establishing Christianity on +internal proofs, they only mean the accepting those doctrines which they +like, and which seem to them _reasonable_, and that though they allow in +theory that revelation may contain what are technically called much +above reason, yet in practice they reject the positive doctrines of +Christianity (I mean especially the doctrines of the Trinity, the +Atonement, the Mediation and Intercession of our Lord, Original Sin, and +Justification by Faith), because they allege that those doctrines are +contrary to reason. The difference between them and the others is +therefore simply this, that while the others set no limits at all to the +powers of reason in matters of faith, they set such a limit in theory +but not in practice, and consequently cannot justly demand to be +separated from the others."[6] + +One of the ablest advocates of Supernaturalism among English divines is +the late Dr. A. McCaul, of London. He joins issue successfully with the +Rationalists. We quote a specimen of his method of argument. His +definition of Rationalism is beautifully lucid and logical. He says: + +"This doctrine then plainly denies the existence and the possibility of +a supernatural and immediate revelation from the Almighty, and maintains +that to claim supreme authority for any supposed supernatural religion +is degrading to the dignity and the nature of man. It enters into direct +conflict with the statements of the Old Testament writers, who clearly +and unmistakably assert the existence of a divine communication which is +called 'The law of the Lord,' 'The law of his mouth,' 'The testimony of +God,' 'The saying of God,' 'The word of the Lord,' 'The word that goeth +forth out of his mouth,' 'The judgment of the Lord,' 'The commandment of +the Lord.' + +"Now it is not intended to strain the allusion to the mouth or lips of +the Lord beyond that which the figure may fairly bear. But the +expression does certainly mean that there is some direct, immediate, and +therefore supernatural communication from the great Creator of all +things. The writers who used these expressions did not mean that as +reason is given by God, so whatever reason may excogitate is the word of +God. They would not have used these expressions concerning Truth that +may be found in heathen writers. They believed and recorded that God had +manifested himself audibly to the ears, and visibly to the eyes of men. +They did not therefore hold the doctrine that supernatural revelation +is impossible, or derogatory to reason or inconsistent with the nature +and attributes of Him who is eternal. + +"It is almost needless to refer to instances. God spake with Adam, with +Cain, with Noah. In the latter case the communication led to such +actions, and was followed by such results, that without rejecting the +history altogether, there can be no doubt of a miraculous communication. +Noah knew of the coming flood--built an ark for himself and a multitude +of animals--prepared food--was saved with his family, while the world +perished--floated for months on the waters, and when he came out, had +again a manifestation of the Deity. So Abraham, so Moses, not now to +recount any more. Indeed the writer referred to does not deny this. He +admits that in Scripture the knowledge of divine things is referred +immediately to the Revelation of God, and that though the modes of this +Revelation are various, they appear often to overstep the laws and +course of nature. He enumerates as modes of revelation, Epiphanies of +God himself, of angels--heavenly voices--dreams--afflatus, or the Holy +Spirit. + +"How then does he reconcile this with his denial of all supernatural +revelation, or show that these Epiphanies of God and angels, were mere +developments of reason? He does not try to reconcile them at all. He +simply rejects them as false. He comes directly into collision with the +credibility and veracity of the Scripture narratives, and therefore +leaves us no alternative but to disbelieve the Bible as fabulous, or to +reject Rationalism as inconsistent with our rule of faith. This system +not only generally denies the possibility of supernatural revelation, +but asserts that all the particular narratives of all such +communications from God are incredible; nothing better than ghost +stories or fairy tales; equally unworthy of God and man, the offspring +of an ignorant and unenlightened age and nation, and therefore rejected +by these men of reason and science. How this differs from the doctrine +of Deists and open opposers of Christianity, it is difficult to +conceive, except that it seems to be rather worse. Even Bolingbroke +admits supernatural Revelation to be possible. Tom Paine himself says, +'Revelation when applied to religion means something immediately +communicated from God to man. No one will deny or dispute the power of +the Almighty to make such a communication if he pleases.' Spinoza +asserts that the 'Israelites heard a true voice at the delivery of the +ten commandments; that God spoke face to face with Moses; and generally, +that God can communicate immediately with men, and that though natural +science is divine, yet its propagators cannot be called prophets.' That +the Rationalist view of revelation is contrary to the popular belief of +Christians generally, and of Christian churches and divines +particularly, there can be no doubt. It is intended so to be.... + +"The Rationalist professes to believe that all the knowledge of truth at +which man arrives is owing to the original wisdom, will, and power of +the Almighty in giving man a certain intellectual constitution, to be +unfolded by the circumstances of human history and necessities--that +therefore moral and religious truth, such as the Rationalists +acknowledge, is still to be ascribed to the purposes and power and +efficacy of the Great Spirit, acting upon that which is material and +compound. + +"Why, then, should it be impossible for the Creator to shorten the +process, to help man in his painful and often unsuccessful search after +truth, and to make known that which exists in the Divine mind and +purpose? To say that he cannot, is in fact to depose him from the throne +of omnipotence, and to bring us back either to two eternal independent +principles, incapable of all communication, or to drive us to Pantheism. +If there ever was a period in duration in which God could act upon +matter, or endue infinite intelligences with the means and capability of +knowledge, he can do so still."[7] + +M. Saintes, who has investigated the history of this subject more +thoroughly than any other writer, says of the significations and limits +of Rationalism: + +"I myself at first imagined that it signified the wise and constant +exercise of reason on religious subjects, but in studying the matter +historically I soon found that it is the same with this word as with +many others which, having lost their original meaning, now express an +idea directly contrary to that which their etymology seems to indicate. +It is indisputably true that God, in granting reason to man, has not +forbidden its exercise. As religion, the queen of all minds, possesses +indestructible rights over them, so has human reason also rights which +cannot be disputed. Kant has justly said, the faith which should oppose +itself to reason could not longer exist. With this view we form an idea +of Rationalism similar to that conceived by the great Leibnitz, which, +with our present ideas of truth, we cannot regard as unreasonable. But +this right of human reason to examine and discuss differs widely from +its self-constitution as supreme judge on religious matters, and from +the wish to submit God and conscience to its own tribunal, which it +declares to be infallible. This, however, has been the case in modern +times when Philosophy has openly avowed itself the enemy of +Christianity, and when those who were terrified by its rash demands have +sought to confound them by the devices of Rationalism--thus hastening to +ruin the edifice which they aspired to restore.... Rationalism must not, +therefore, be understood to signify the use which theologians have made +of reason in matters of faith. Did the reader thus interpret it he would +mistake our aim. He would be deceived as to the character of the labors +which it is our wish to describe. He would attribute to the author of +this history intentions which he could not entertain, and religious +opinions which his respect for human reason would compel him to disavow. +The apostles of the gospel continually appeal to the reason of their +hearers, and Christ himself argues the increasing exercise of the _eye +of the soul_, as he calls conscience, in judging of the truth which he +announces--Matt. vi. 23. For a good conscience is always better disposed +to rise to the knowledge of the truth; while one heavy laden and +harassed is exceedingly prone to receive dogmas without properly +understanding their import, because it feels their truth through the +consolations which they offer. In no age of Christianity has there +arisen a serious discussion on this subject, though the extravagant +pretensions of Rationalism have provoked some exaggerations which can +never prevail over the ancient Christian system. That system by no means +forbade the exercise of human intelligence in religious matters, though +it employed a superior and only infallible reason--the divine reason, +the doctrinal expression of which is found in the books which all +Christians have hitherto considered divine, and whose authenticity and +truth cannot be disputed without overturning that Christianity, which +has been professed during eighteen centuries. But modern Rationalism has +done more than assert the right of exercising reason; it has pretended +that to this faculty alone belongs the privilege of deciding on man's +religious belief and his moral duty; and that if, from long custom, any +respect is still due to revelation, it should only receive it when it is +not opposed to the judgments of reason. But if this reason were +sufficient for mankind, why should divine revelation be in any case +opposed to it? + +"Rationalism is not a systematic incredulity as to religious truths. Far +from being so, it makes pretensions of developing the religious feelings +to the highest degree; and there is in the writings of its most +distinguished disciples something which arouses even the most lethargic +minds. But it is far from attaining its end; for although it constitutes +itself the supreme judge of Christianity, it does not really adopt one +of the leading doctrines of that religion which alone has power over the +moral nature of man. Its influence, if we observe it closely, extends +only over his feelings; it fails to penetrate into the depths of his +being; and can we forget that one of its essential characteristics is to +wage deadly war against the supernatural element which abounds in the +Bible, and which Rationalism would wholly eradicate? An enlightened +Supernaturalist will then very willingly confess that Naturalism may be +professed with a semblance of reason and in good faith, and he can even +consider it as a system of philosophy wherein are to be found fewer +philosophical elements than in any other. But simple good sense forbids +him to imagine it possible to profess Rationalism and at the same time +to retain the name of Christian."[8] + +The most recent defence of Rationalism is by Mr. Lecky.[9] He has +written in great calmness, taken great pains to generalize his +investigations, and followed closely in the steps of the late Mr. +Buckle, in his fragment of the _History of Civilization_. But his +argument is false. According to Mr. Lecky, human reason is the only +factor of history. The agency of the Holy Spirit is ignored. Elaborate +creeds and liturgical services are a barrier to the mind's progress, +because they shackle the intellect by impure traditions. Rationalism is +the only relief of these later times. "Its central conception," says our +author, "is the elevation of conscience into a position of supreme +authority as the religious organ, a verifying faculty discriminating +between truth and error. It regards Christianity as designed to preside +over the moral development of mankind, as a conception which was to +become more and more sublimated and spiritualized as the human mind +passed into new phases, and was able to bear the splendor of a more +unclouded light. Religion it believes to be no exception to the general +law of progress, but rather the highest form of its manifestation, and +its earlier systems but the necessary steps of an imperfect development. +In its eyes the moral element of Christianity is as the sun in heaven, +and dogmatic systems are as the clouds that intercept and temper the +exceeding brightness of its rays. The insect, whose existence is but for +a moment, might well imagine that these were indeed eternal, that their +majestic columns could never fail, and that their luminous folds were +the very source and centre of light. And yet they shift and vary with +each changing breeze; they blend and separate; they assume new forms and +exhibit new dimensions; as the sun that is above them waxes more +glorious in its power, they are permeated and at last absorbed by its +increasing splendor; they recede, and wither, and disappear, and the eye +ranges far beyond the sphere they had occupied into the infinity of +glory that is before them.... Rationalism is a system which would unite +in one sublime synthesis all the past forms of human belief, which +accepts with triumphant alacrity each new development of science, having +no stereotyped standard to defend, and which represents the human mind +as pursuing on the highest subjects a path of continual progress toward +the fullest and most transcendent knowledge of the Deity.... It clusters +around a series of essentially Christian conceptions--equality, +fraternity, the suppression of war, the elevation of the poor, the love +of truth, and the diffusion of liberty. _It revolves around the ideal of +Christianity, and represents its spirit without its dogmatic system and +its supernatural narratives. From both of these it unhesitatingly +recoils, while deriving all its strength and nourishment from Christian +ethics._"[10] + +The present age, if we hearken to Mr. Lecky, is purely Rationalistic, +because purely progressive. The world has emerged from its blindness and +ignorance by the innate force of the mind. Reason, the great magician, +has uplifted its wand; and lo, the creatures of night disappear! It has +dispelled the foolish old notions of magic, witchcraft, and miracles. It +has overcome the spirit of persecution, the childish conception of +original sin, and the doctrine of eternal punishment. It has put an end +to bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and all the lower forms of vicious +pleasure. It has secularized politics, overthrown the notion of the +divine right of kings, and now creates and fosters all the industrial +developments of the age. Protestantism is excellent when allied to +Rationalism; but when opposed to it, it is no better than any other +conglomeration of creeds and liturgies. There is no such thing as a +fixed notion of God and Providence. The conceptions of man on these +subjects will change with the progress of the race. Human reason, +therefore, and not revelation, is the sole arbiter of truth. + +Thus Mr. Lecky places himself beside his predecessors in ignoring the +agency of the Holy Spirit, either in giving inspired truth to the world, +or in educating the church. + +From the foregoing authorities it is very apparent that the Rationalists +do not deny the special features of skepticism with which their +opponents charge them. They admit frankly that they give the precedence +to Reason, when the alternative is Reason or Revelation, instead of +adopting a positive creed from the principle, that, if we would +ascertain the character of Revelation, we must begin our inquiry by +examining the doctrines it contains, and then by comparing them with our +notions of what a Revelation ought to be. Thus the capricious dictates +of reason are made to decide the quality of revealed truth. Besides, +wherever a mysterious account is contained in a book which in the main +is accepted, such mystery is cast out as altogether unlikely, probably +the poetic version of some early legend. A miracle is recounted; one of +the best attested of all. "It could never have happened," the +Rationalists say, "for Nature has made it impossible." + +There have been several classes of Rationalists. Some were men of very +worthy character; and, save in their opinions, were entitled to the +high respect of their generation. Semler lived a beautiful life; and his +glowing utterance on his daughter's death exhibited not only a father's +love, but a Christian's faith. Bretschneider, himself a Rationalist, +gives the following classification of his confreres: + +The _first_ class consider Revelation a superstition, and Jesus either +an enthusiast or a deceiver. To this class belong Wuensch and Paalzow, +but no divine. The second class do not allow that there was any divine +operation in Christianity in any way, and refer the origin of +Christianity to mere natural causes. They make the life of Christ a mere +romance, and himself a member of secret associations; and consider the +Scriptures as only human writings in which the word of God is not to be +found. To this class belong Bahrdt, Reimarus, and Venturini (the last +two not divines), and Brennecke. The third class comprise the persons +usually called Rationalists. They acknowledge in Christianity an +institution divine, beneficent, and for the good of the world; and Jesus +as a messenger of God; and they think that in Scripture is found a true +and eternal word of God,--only they deny _any supernatural and +miraculous_ working of God, and make the object of Christianity to be +the introduction of religion into the world, its preservation, and +extension. They distinguish between what is essential and non-essential +in Christianity, between what is local and temporal, and what is +universal. That is to say, they allow that there is good in +Christianity--that all that is good comes from God; but miracles, +inspiration, everything _immediately_ coming from God, they wholly +disbelieve. Among this class are Kant, Steinbart, Krug, as philosophers; +and, as divines, W. A. Teller, Loeffler, Thiess, Henke, J. E. C. +Schmidt, De Wette, Paulus, Wegscheider, and Roehr. The _fourth_ class go +a little higher. They consider the Bible and Christianity as a divine +revelation in a higher sense than the Rationalists. They assume a +revealing operation of God distinguishable from his common providence; +carefully distinguish the periods of this divine direction; found the +divinity of Christianity more on its internal evidence than on miracles; +but especially separate church belief from the doctrines of Scripture; +reform it according to the sentiments of the Divine Word; and require +that Reason should try Revelation, and that Revelation should contain +nothing against, though it may well have much above, Reason. Doederlein, +Morus, Reinhard, Ammon, Schott, Niemeyer, Bretschneider, and others, +belong to this class. + +The only objection to this classification is the one urged by Rose; +namely, that only a few of the theological writers would appear to have +been violent Rationalists, while the larger class would seem to have +held the moderate opinions which Bretschneider himself professes to +adopt. The contrary is the fact, as any one at all acquainted with the +number of theological writers of the period in question can determine. +The spirit of the Rationalistic literature of the time was decidedly +violent and destructive. + +In glancing at some of the general causes which have made Rationalism so +successful in its hold upon the popular mind, we find that it has +possessed many advantages over almost any other form of skepticism that +has appeared during the history of the church. + +Prominent among these causes were its multiplied affiliations with the +church. It had thus a fine vantage-ground on which to wage deadly war +against the text and doctrines of the Bible. The first antagonists of +Christianity came from without; and they dealt their heaviest blows with +a deep and thorough conviction that the whole system they were combating +was absolutely false, absurd, and base. And, in fact, many later enemies +of Revelation have come from without the pale of Christianity. But the +great Coryphaei of Rationalism have sprung from the very bosom of the +church, were educated under her maternal care; and, at the same time +that they were endeavoring to demolish the superstructure of divine +inspiration, they were, in the eyes of the people, its strongest +pillars, the accredited spiritual guides of the land, teaching in the +most famed universities of the Continent, and preaching in churches +which had been hallowed by the struggles and triumphs of the +Reformation. + +German Protestantism cannot complain that Rationalism was the work of +acknowledged foes; but is bound to confess, with confusion of face, that +it has been produced by her own sons; and that English Deism and French +Atheism were welcomed, and transmuted into far more insidious and +destructive agencies than they had ever been at home. The Rationalists +did not discard the Bible, but professed the strongest attachment to it. +They ever boasted that their sole object was the defence and elevation +of it. "Because we love it," they said, "we are putting ourselves to all +this trouble of elucidating it. It grieves us beyond measure to see how +it has been suffering from the vagaries of weak minds. We are going to +place it in the hands of impartial Reason; so that, for once at least, +it may become plain to the masses. We will call in all the languages and +sciences to aid us in exhuming its long-buried treasures, in order that +the wayfaring man, though a fool, may appropriate them. And as to the +church, who would say aught against our venerable mother? We love her +dearly. We confess, indeed, that we love the green fields and gray +mountain-rocks better than her Sabbath services; nor do we have much +respect for her Sabbath at all. But we cherish her memories, and are +proud of her glory. Yet the people do not understand her mysteries well +enough. They do not love her as much as we do. Therefore we will stir +them up to the performance of long-neglected duties. They ignorantly +cling too proudly to her forms and confessions. But we will aid them to +behold her in a better light. We know the true path of her prosperity, +for do you not see that we have been born and bred within her dear fold? +Let everybody follow us. We will bring you into light." Had outspoken +enemies of the church and inspiration, though doubly gifted and +multiplied in number, set themselves to the same destructive work that +engaged the labors of these so-called friends, they could not have +inflicted half the injury. They had razed to the ground tower after +tower of the popular faith before their designs were discovered. And yet +we must do them the credit to say that they did not intend to do the +harm that they eventually accomplished. But human agencies achieve their +legitimate results without regard to the motives that give them impulse. +No doubt, many a Rationalist, as he looked back from his death-bed on +the ruin to which he had contributed, trembled with astonishment at the +poisonous fruit of his labors. Christ beheld a broader field than we can +see, when he said, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." + +This religious exterior has been a powerful auxiliary to the growth of +Rationalism. In the earlier stages of its history, every utterance +regarding the authenticity of any books of Scripture was carefully +guarded. The boldest stroke that this species of skepticism has made has +been a recent one, Strauss' _Life of Jesus_; but that work was only the +outgrowth of long doubt, and the honest, frank expression of what a +certain class of Rationalists had been burning to say for a century. +Parents who sent their sons to the university to listen to such men as +Semler, Thomasius, and Paulus, had not the remotest idea that +institutions of such renown for learning and religion were at that very +time the hotbeds of rank infidelity. Even the State cabinets that +controlled the professorial chairs could not believe for a long time +that men who had been chosen to teach theology were spending all their +power in corrupting the religious sentiment of the land. Large +congregations were sometimes startled with strange announcements from +their pastors, to the effect that the supposed miraculous dividing of +the Red Sea was only occasioned by certain natural forces of wind and +tide; that all the rest of the Old Testament miracles were pure myths; +and that many parts of the New Testament were written at a later time +and by other authors than those whose names are usually associated with +them. "Heterodoxy," was whispered. But the reply was, "Better have +heterodoxy than these miserable disputes on Election and the Lord's +Supper, to which we have been compelled to listen almost ever since +Luther laid his body down to die." Fledgling theologians would come home +from the university, and read aloud to the family-group the notes of +lectures which they had heard during the last semester. The aged pair, +looking up in wonder, would say, "The good and great doctors of our +Reformation never taught such things as these." But their sons would +answer, "Oh, the world has grown much wiser since their day. New +discoveries in philosophy and science have opened new avenues of truth, +and our eyes are blessed that we see, and our ears that we hear. Just +wait until we get into the pulpit, and we will set the people to +thinking in a new way." Thus the enemy was sowing tares while the church +was dreaming of a plenteous harvest. + +Rationalism was very adroit in its initial steps. Its method of betrayal +was, Judas-like, to sit in friendly intercourse beside its victim, and +afterwards, when the fulness of malevolent inspiration had come, to give +the fatal kiss in the presence of enemies. The people did not know the +ills they were about to suffer until deliverance was well-nigh hopeless. +Had Rationalism begun by laying down its platform and planning the work +of proof, the forces of the opposition might have been organized. But it +commenced without a platform, and worked long without one. The +systematic theology of Bretschneider would by no means be accepted by +the entire class of Rationalistic divines. To get a fair conception of +what has been the aggregate sentiment of the whole class, one must +wander through hundreds of volumes of exegesis, history, philosophy, and +romance; and these covering a space of many years. Even when you hold up +your treasure, and cry "Eureka!" your shrewd opponent will coolly say +that you have given a false interpretation, and have drawn wrong +conclusions,--that his masters never claimed such an absurdity. +Rationalism looked upon Revelation as a tottering edifice, and set +itself busily at work to destroy the entire superstructure. But +sometimes it is the surrounding vines and trees that shake in the autumn +storm, and not the building itself; and often beneath the worm-eaten +bark there is a great oaken heart, which no arm is strong enough and no +axe sufficiently keen to cleave. + +Rationalism has been striving to destroy a house which was built upon a +rock; and if it fell not, the fault lay not in the absence of ingenuity +and strength of attack, but in the undecayed material and +deeply-grounded solidity of the structure. + +We are not blind to the extenuating circumstances that are adduced for +Rationalism. The motives of its founders seemed pure enough, for these +men held their life-task to be the purification of faith from the +misconceptions of inspiration, and the deliverance of the church from +the thraldom of stiff formularies. Some of their successors held that +their labors were only philosophical, and hence could not affect +theology. They all claimed relationship with the Reformers, and with the +good and great of all ages. Bretschneider says that Luther talked of +miracles as only fit for the ignorant and vulgar, as apples and pears +are for children. + +Paulus tries to prove the great Saxon a Rationalist by the following +circumstance. The Elector of Brandenburg having asked Luther if it were +true that he had said he should not stop unless convinced from +Scripture, received this reply: "Yes, my lord, unless I am convinced by +clear and evident reasons!" It was a favorite view of the Rationalists +that the Reformation had been produced by Reason asserting her rights; +and it was then an easy step to take, when they claimed as much right to +use Reason within the domain of Protestantism as their fathers possessed +when within the pale of Catholicism. + +But there were wide points of difference between the Reformers and +Rationalists. The former would return to the spirit and letter of the +Word of God, while the latter did not hesitate to depart from both. The +former accepted the Bible as it is, making Faith its interpreter; the +latter would only construe its utterances as Reason would dictate. + +With the Reformers there was a conflict between the Bible and the Roman +church, but harmony between Reason and the Bible; hence these two +homogeneous elements should be united and the rebellious one forever +discarded. But with the Rationalists there was an irreconcilable +difference between Reason and Revelation, and the latter must be moulded +into whatever shape the former chose to mark out. The Reformers +celebrated the reunion of both; but the Rationalists never rested as +long as there was any hope of putting asunder those whom they believed +God had never joined together. But the later Rationalists, least of all, +could claim consanguinity with the Reformers. How could they who +banished miracles from the Scriptures and reduced Christ to a much lower +personality than even the Ebionites declared him to be, dare to range +themselves in the circle of the honored ones who had unsealed the +long-locked treasures of inspiration, and declared that Christ, instead +of being an inferior Socrates, was divine, and the only worthy mediator +between God and man? After we accept every reasonable apology for this +destructive skepticism there will still be found a large balance against +it. There are four considerations which must always be borne in mind +when we would decide on the character of any development of religious +doubt and innovation. 1. _The necessity for its origin and development_; +2. _Its point of attack_; 3. _The spirit with which it conducts its +warfare_; and 4. _The success which it achieves_. + +Let us see how Rationalism stands the test of these criteria. It must +be confessed that the German Protestant church, both the Lutheran and +Reformed, called loudly for reinvigoration. But it was Faith, not +Reason, that could furnish the remedy. The Pietistic influence was +gaining ground and fast achieving a good work; but it was reprobated by +the idolaters of Reason, and the tender plant was touched by the fatal +frost. Had Pietism, with all its extravagances, been fostered by the +intellect of the pulpits and universities it would have accomplished the +same work for Germany in the seventeenth that the Wesleys and Whitefield +wrought in England in the eighteenth century. There was no call for +Rationalism, though its literary contributions to the church and the +times will eventually be highly useful; but they were ill-timed in that +season of remarkable religious doubt. It was the warmth of the heart, +and not the cold logic of the intellect that could rejuvenate the +church. + +Nor do we find the position of Rationalism to be any better when we call +to mind that it really acknowledges no hallowed ground. It attacked the +most endeared doctrines of our faith, and applied its enginery to those +very parts of our citadel which we would be most likely to defend the +longest. Had it contented itself with the mere discussion of minor +points, with here and there a quibble about a miracle or a prophecy, we +could excuse many of its vagaries on the score of enthusiasm. But its +premiss was, "We will accept nothing between the two lids of this Book +if our Reason cannot fathom it." Hence, all truth, every book of the +Bible, even the sacraments of the church, came in for their share of +discussion and pruning. In this respect Rationalism takes rank as one of +the most corrupt tendencies of infidelity which appears anywhere upon +the page of ecclesiastical history. But do we find its spirit mild and +amiable? Some of the Rationalists were naturally men of admirable +temperament, but this was no effect of their faith. The most lamentable +feature of this whole system was the ruthless character of its warfare. +The professions of love for the Scriptures and the church, which we so +often meet with in the writings of the early Rationalistic divines, were +soon laid aside. The demon of destruction presided over the storm. And +the work of ruin was rapid, by forced marches and through devious +paths,--in the true military style. When the hour of fight came there +was no swerving. Men full of the spirit of a bad cause will sometimes +fight as valiantly as others for a good one; but it is then that God +determines the victor. The evangelical Christians of Protestant Germany +saw their banner captured by their foes. And it was their foes who gave +the first fire; but they will not be so fortunate in the last encounter. +We challenge Deism and even Atheism itself, to furnish proof of a more +malignant antipathy to some of the cardinal doctrines of the common +faith of Christendom than Rationalism has produced in certain ones of +its exponents, and which we shall strive to expose in future pages of +this work. Some of the Rationalists were John-like in all they did, save +when they discussed the holy truths of inspiration. Then they were +possessed by the evil spirit. Nowhere can we find a more deplorable +example of the disastrous effects of a false creed on the human +character. It is an infallible law of our nature that the mind, not less +than the body, becomes depraved by an impure diet. Many persons have +been permanently injured by reading the _Briefe ueber den Rationalismus_, +and other works which Rationalism has published against the doctrines +of Revelation. + +As far as the completeness and speed of the work of Rationalism are +concerned we shall find that it ranks with the most rapid and +destructive errors that have ever risen in conflict with the church. +Instead of striving to build up a land that had so long been cursed with +the blight of Papacy, and had not yet been redeemed a full century, this +evil brought its quota of poison into the university, the pulpit, and +the household circle. Nor did it cease, as we shall see, until it +corrupted nearly all the land for several generations. To-day the +humblest peasant who steps on our shore at Castle Garden will stare in +wonder as you speak of the final judgment, the immortality of the soul, +and the authenticity of the Scriptures. Naturalism could not live thus +long in Italy, nor Deism in England, nor the blind Atheism of the +Encyclopaedists in France; neither in either land was the work of +destruction so complete. + +But the church has proved herself able to depose many _corruptions of +her faith_; yet this _attack upon her faith_ she has still to vanquish +thoroughly. It is not works on the evidences of Christianity that she +needs for the consummation of her great aim; and we trust that, by the +divine blessing, the inquiry into the vagaries of Reason upon which we +are now entering will not be without its effect upon the young mind of +America. Our task is simply to lift the finger of warning against the +increasing influx of Rationalistic tendencies from France and England; +which lands had first received them from Germany. One of our great +dangers lies in permitting Reason to take our premises and build her own +conclusions upon them. There is an intimate union between theology and +philosophy; and anything less than the pursuit and cultivation of a +sound philosophy will endanger our theology. Tennyson gives a beautiful +word of advice when he says: + + "Hold thou the good: define it well: + For fear divine Philosophy + Should push beyond her mark, and be + Procuress to the Lords of Hell." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Tholuck, Herzog's _Real-Encyclopaedie_. Art. _Rationalismus_. + +[2] Trench, _Study of Words_, p. 147. + +[3] As a fair specimen of the extent to which philological criticism is +often carried by some of our German friends, when advocating a doubtful +cause, we quote a paragraph in point from Dr. Rueckert's work, _Der +Rationalismus_, one of the latest and feeblest apologies for neological +thought: + +"What is Rationalism? We must try to get the meaning from the term +itself. And what sort of a term is it? Barbarous enough! Its root is +_ratio_, but it is directly from _rationalis_ that the word in question +is derived. Now this word is good enough in itself, for it signifies +_what is conformable to reason, that which possesses the attributes and +methods of reason_. Man is a _rational_ animal, and it is his +rationality that distinguishes him from all other animals. So much for +this part of the word Rationalism. Now for the barbarous part of it, the +-ism. This termination belongs to another language, the Greek +-ismos+, +and is derived from a verbal ending which cannot be expressed in Latin, +namely--+izein+. Now if we examine certain intransitive verbs, such as ++medizein+, +lakonizein+, +rhomaizein+, +attikizein+, we shall find +their common peculiarity is that the persons meant are not the real +persons which the words seem to signify, but only act in their capacity. +Not a real Mede +medizei+; no true Spartan +lakonizei+; and so of all +the rest. But those Greeks who would rather belong to the Medes than be +freemen, _act like Medes, would prefer to be under Median +rule_--+medizousin+. This +-ismos+ is a termination from this class of +verbs, and is employed in reproach and not in praise. Hence +_Rationalist_ is a term of contempt, and means _not one who is really +reasonable, but would like to pass for such_." Of course the Doctor +concludes that the word is a most flagrant and unrighteous misnomer; but +we accept his philology and return him our thanks for his etymological +_study_. + +[4] _Geschichte des Rationalismus und Supernaturalismus_, pp. 3-4. + +[5] _De Rationalismi_: A Disputation at Leipzig. + +[6] _State of Protestantism in Germany._ pp. XXII-XXVI. + +[7] _Thoughts on Rationalism._ pp. 23-32. + +[8] _Histoire du Rationalisme._ pp. 1-6. + +[9] _History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in +Europe._ By W. E. H. Lecky, M. A. 2 vols. Longmans, London, 1865. + +[10] _History of the Rise and Spirit of Rationalism in Europe_, vol. I., +pp. 183-185. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CONTROVERSIAL PERIOD SUCCEEDING THE REFORMATION. + + +A work of such magnitude as the Reformation could not easily be +consummated in one generation. The real severance from the Roman +Catholic church was effected by Luther and Melanchthon; but these men +did not live long enough to give the symmetry and polish to their work +which it really needed. Unfortunately, their successors failed to +perform the necessary task. But lofty as our ideas of the Reformation +should be, we must not be blind to the fact that German Protestantism +bears sad evidences of early mismanagement. To-day, the Sabbath in +Prussia, Baden, and all the Protestant nationalities is hardly +distinguishable from that of Bavaria, Austria, Belgium, or France. But a +few bold words from Martin Luther on the sanctity of that day, as the +Scriptures declare it, would have made it as holy in Germany as it now +is in England and the United States. Another error, not so great in +itself as in the evils it induced, was the concessions which +Protestantism granted to the civil magistrate. The friendly and heroic +part which the Elector of Saxony took in the labors of the Reformers, +made it a matter of deference to vest much ecclesiastical authority in +the civil head. But when, in later years, this confidence was abused, it +was not so easy to alter the conditions of power. We see in this very +fact one of the underlying causes of the great Rationalistic defection. +The individual conscience was allowed almost no freedom at certain +periods. The slightest deviation from the mere expression of doctrine +was visited with severe penalty. Strigel was imprisoned; Hardenberg was +deposed and banished; Peucer doomed to ten years' imprisonment; Cracau +put to death on the slightest pretenses; and Huber was deposed and +expatriated for a mere variation in stating the Lutheran doctrine that +none are excluded from salvation.[11] + +There were several causes which contributed to the intemperate +controversies that sprang up immediately after the Reformation. The +Reformers were involved in serious disputes among themselves. Had Luther +and Zwinglius never uttered the word _Consubstantiation_ they would have +gained multitudes to the cause they both loved so dearly. Many other +questions, which unfortunately occupied so much public attention, caused +minute divisions among those who should have stood firm and united in +that plastic period of the great movement. But it is to the numerous +confessions of faith that we must attribute most of these controversies. +Perhaps the grave character of the master-points at issue with Romanism +demanded these closely-succeeding expressions of doctrinal opinion; but +we question if the advantage was not much less than the outlay. First of +all came Melanchthon's celebrated _Augsburg Confession_, in 1530. The +Roman Catholics replied by their _Confutation_, which, in turn, was +answered by Melanchthon in the _Apology of the Confession_. Luther +followed in 1536-'37 with his _Articles of Smalcald_, and still later by +his two _Catechisms_. In 1577 came the _Formula Concordiae_, and in 1580 +the symbolical canon entitled _Liber Concordiae_. + +Amid this mass of doctrinal opinion in which many conflicting points +were easy enough to find, it was no small task to know what to accept. +The air was filled with the sounds of strife. Those who had fought so +steadfastly against Papacy were now turning their weapons in deadly +strife against each other. + +The very names by which Church History has recorded the memory of these +strifes indicate the real littleness of many of the points in question. +The _Antinomian Controversy_ originated with John Agricola during +Luther's life-time. Agricola, in many severe expressions, contended +against the utility of the Law; though Mosheim thinks he intended to say +nothing more than that the ten laws of Moses were intended chiefly for +the Jews, and that Christians are warranted in laying them aside. The +_Adiaphoristic Controversy_ was caused by the difference between the +moderate views of Melanchthon and the more rigid doctrines of the +orthodox Lutherans. We have next the controversy between George Major +and Nicolas Amsdorf, as to whether good works are necessary to +salvation, or whether they possess a dangerous tendency. The +_Synergistic Controversy_ considered the relations of divine grace and +human liberty. The dispute between Victorin Strigel and Matthias Flacius +was on the nature of Original Sin. Then we have the _Osiandric +Controversy_, on the relation of justification to sanctification; and +the _Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy_, concerning the Lord's Supper, +which extended through the Palatinate to Bremen and through Saxony. The +_Formula Concordiae_ thus sums up the Lutheran controversies: 1. Against +the Antinomians insisting on the preaching of the law. 2. Justification +as a declarative act, against Osiander; good works are its fruits. 3. +Synergism is disavowed, but the difficulty left indefinite. 4. Adiaphora +are admitted, but in times of trial declared to be important. 5. +Consubstantiation, and ubiquity of Christ's body. + +The Reformed or Calvinistic church was likewise engaged in doctrinal +disputation, but there was more internal unity. Hence, while Calvinism +was rooting itself in England, Scotland, and Holland, Lutheranism was +spending itself in internal strife. + +The _Syncretistic Controversy_ was remarkable on account of the great +men who engaged in it and the noble purpose which caused it. It arose +from an attempt to reconcile all the disputants under the Apostles' +Creed. + +George Calixtus was the chief actor in the movement. He was a most +cultivated theologian. But, like so many of his fellow countrymen, whose +merits have not yet been appreciated by the English-speaking people, he +is little known to our readers of ecclesiastical history. He applied +himself first to the study of the Church Fathers, poring over their +voluminous productions with all the zeal of an enthusiast. He was eager +to gain an insight into contemporaneous theology as it was believed and +practised by all the sects. He concluded that he could gain his object +only by travel and personal observation. Consequently, he commenced a +tour through Belgium, England, France, and various parts of Germany. Nor +did he hasten from one place to another, but continued a length of time, +in order to become imbued with the local spirit, make the acquaintance +of the most illustrious men, hold conversations with them, and commit +his thoughts to writing. On his return he commenced the labors of a +professor of theology at Helmstedt. Thus, few men ever brought to their +aid more extensive acquirements than Calixtus. Besides the advantages he +derived from his travels, he was possessed of strong and brilliant +natural talents. He was bold and striking in his style; had great +originality of conception, and remarkable logical acuteness. Yet he +received but little justice from his generation; for almost everything +he wrote was made the theme of mad disputes and violent abuse. + +The controversies of the period made a profound impression on the mind +of Calixtus. The anger and personality with which they were conducted +were sufficient proof to him of the little service they were able to +contribute to either the improvement of theology or the religious growth +of the people. To reconcile the various sects was the dream of his whole +life. Referring to his early desires in this direction, he thus wrote in +later years: "I was cogitating methods, even at that early age, for +mitigating the feuds and dissensions of Christians.... One thing, +however, is clear, that if men's minds were not bound by prejudices, +they would remit a great deal of rigor."[12] Those were sincere words, +too, which he said on beholding the rancor of sectarianism: "If I may +but help towards the healing of our schisms, I will shrink from no cares +and no night-watchings; no effort and no dangers; ... nay, I will never +spare either my life or my blood, if so be I may purchase the peace of +the church. For nothing can ever be laid upon me so heavy but that I +would undertake it, not only with readiness, but also with gladness." +The abuses of preaching, then prevalent, were also a theme of intense +sorrow to him. What some of them were may be easily gathered from a +passage in his course of lectures on the Four Evangelists to the +students of Helmstedt. "It is evident," he says, "that in every +interpretation the chief heed is to be given to the _literal sense_. In +every address to the people this must be made the principal point--so to +explain the text of Scripture that men may understand what the Holy +Spirit chiefly and primarily intends to teach by it. Inasmuch, too, as +the language is addressed to the people, it is the part of prudence to +decide what words may suit their capacity. We should strive to state the +fact on the doctrine itself in words as fitting and simple as possible, +and (omitting all controversial subtleties) to prove the truth as far as +it is necessary for salvation to be known, by a few words of +Scripture:--few, that they may not escape the memory of the hearers; +evident and convincing, lest the proofs seem doubtful, and the minds of +the more intelligent be left in suspense and be disturbed to their very +exceeding harm. The words of the Fathers (if used by way of evidence) +should be used sparingly and with caution; lest the ignorant should +confound the Apostles and Prophets with the Fathers, and persuade +themselves that all have equal authority. For it is to be borne in mind +that sermons are preached not so much for the benefit of the learned as +for the sake of the people generally; that they may be rightly +instructed in the doctrine of salvation and of Christian morals. In the +meantime we must do our best to satisfy _all_; that the simple be not +left without needful teaching; the more acute find no want of force and +argument; nor the learned charge the preacher with a pride of knowledge +foreign to the occasion and not always thorough."[13] + +In his first controversial work, _Chief Points of the Christian +Religion_, Calixtus gave expression to many solid thoughts, which +subsequently produced an abundant harvest. His _Theological Apparatus_ +was written for young ministers, and designed to meet the immediate +necessities of the times. But it is to his great work, the _Desire and +Effort for Ecclesiastical Concord_, that we must turn to find the true +man spending his greatest power toward the unification of Christians. In +terms of communion, he contends, we must distinguish between what is, +and what is not, essential to salvation. In all that relates to the +Christian mysteries we must content ourselves with the _quod_ and not +dispute about the _quo modo_. In stating these mysteries we should use +the simplest language. There is a natural brotherhood of men, and this +should bind them together in matters of religion. We must love all men, +even idolaters, in order to save them. The Jews and Mohammedans stand +nearer to us than they, and we should cherish affection also for them. +Those who are most closely united to us are all who believe that they +can be saved only by the merits of Christ. All who thus recognize the +saving power of Christ are members of his body, brothers and sisters +with him. We should live, therefore, as members of one family, though +adhering to different sects. + +But we must not be neutral. Every one should join the church to which +his own conscientious convictions would lead him. Yet when we do this, +we must love all who think differently. Those who have been martyrs for +the Christian faith were in the right path; we cannot do better than to +follow them in love and doctrine. The outpouring of the Spirit would be +meagre indeed if the church existed for the stringent Lutherans +alone.[14] + +But the intense desire of Calixtus to unite the various Christian bodies +was poorly rewarded by the sympathy of his contemporaries. He was +charged with religious indifference because he looked with mildness on +those who differed from him. Though a strict Lutheran, he was accused of +secretly favoring the Reformed church; and Arianism and Judaism were +imputed to him, because he thought that the doctrine of the Trinity was +not revealed with equal clearness in the Old and New Testaments! When he +affirmed that the epithets Lutheran, Reformed, and Romanist should not +destroy the idea of Christian in each, he was foully vilified for +opening the gate of heaven to the abandoned of all the earth. A friendly +man said that he was "a good and venerable theologian," and for this +utterance the offender was subjected to a heavy fine. The friends of +Calixtus were termed by one individual "bloodhounds and perjurers." +Another declared that "he tuned his lyre to Judaizers and Arianizers and +Romanizers and Calvinizers, and that he showed a spirit so coarse and +shameless that never the like had been before." Still another compared +him to Julian the Apostate. + +But previous controversies and the ever-increasing points of divergence +had so estranged the different churches that the labors of Calixtus to +unite them proved unavailing. His influence was lessened because of the +disputes into which his bold undertaking led him. But he quickened +national thought, turned theologians to looking deeper into the +Scriptures than had been the practice since the Reformation, and +established the difference between the essential and non-essential in +matters of faith. The cause of his failure to unite the discordant +church was his fearless attack on popular error. But his disappointment +detracts nothing from the grandeur of his work; and his name is one +which will not be denied its meed of praise when theological peace is +once more restored to Germany. No generation can duly value a character +whose life is not in consonance with the prevailing spirit of that +generation. As the military hero must not expect his greenest laurels in +time of peace, and as the sage must not dream of praise in an +uncultivated period, so must such men as George Calixtus wait for a +coming day whose untainted atmosphere will be in harmony with their own +pure life and thoughts. + +The spirituality of the German church having suffered materially from +the controversies of which we have spoken, the beneficial results of the +Reformation were greatly endangered by them. The German version of the +Bible had been an incalculable blessing to the masses; and the +commentaries written by the Reformers and their immediate successors +gave promise of a wide-spread Scriptural knowledge. But the religious +disputes distracted the mind from this necessary department of thought, +and neutralized much of the good which would otherwise have been +lasting. The danger in which the Protestant church now stood was great. +Sectarian strife, formalism, neglect of the high functions of the +pastorate, and other flagrant evils of the day, made the devout and +far-seeing tremble for the cause which had engaged the great minds of +the Reformation era. What could be done? A steady and gigantic effort +was necessary to be made or the great Reformation would die by its own +hand. Happily there were men, though somewhat removed at first from +public observation, whom God was intending to employ as conservative +agents. Often in the history of the church, when there has been no +prospect of success and progress, and when the votaries of error seemed +everywhere triumphant, God was secretly preparing the instrumentality +which, Joseph-like, would in due time perform the work of preservation +and restoration. There have been pessimists who were ever ready to cry: +"Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and +I am left alone, and they seek my life." But when the hour of crisis +came, God's answer was heard: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand +men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." This was true at the present +period, for there were a few men whose services were destined to be of +great value to the Protestantism of Europe. + +We mention first of all the prince of mystics, Jacob Boehme, shoemaker +of Gorlitz. Gieseler chooses to stigmatize him with "contempt of all +Christianity of the letter and of all scientific theology;" but men can +only be measured by the standard of their age. Did they serve their +generation well? If so, we grant them all honor for their work. Let +Boehme be tested by this method, and we do not fear the result. We are +not unmindful of many of his absurd notions, of the fanaticism of his +followers--for which he is not in the least chargeable--and of the many +extravagances scattered through his twenty-eight treatises. But that he +intended well, served his church and his Master, led thousands to +self-examination, taught his nation that controversy was not the path to +success or immortality, his whole career proves beyond confutation. + +His life, from beginning to end, is a marvel. He was born of poor +peasant parentage in 1575; and, after being taught to read and write, +was apprenticed to a shoemaker. His time was divided between reading his +Bible, going to church, making shoes, and taking care of the cow. But in +that boy's heart there were as deep a conscientiousness, imperturbable +patience, purity of soul, and love of God as can be found in a like +period of spiritual dearth. Having reproved his master one day, he was +dispatched on his apprentice-pilgrimage somewhat sooner than he had +anticipated. It has been truthfully said of him that his characteristic +lay in his pneumatic realism. His was ecstacy of the loftiest type; but +with him it was something almost tangible, real, and akin to actual +life. A late author, the lamented Vaughan, thus fancies him: "Behold him +early in his study, with bolted door. The boy must see to the shop +to-day, no sublunary care of awl or leather, customers and groschen, +must check the rushing flood of thought. The sunshine streams in emblem, +to his high-raised phantasy, of a more glorious light. As he writes, the +thin cheeks are flushed, the gray eye kindles, the whole frame is damp, +and trembling with excitement. Sheet after sheet is covered. The +headlong pen, too precipitate for calligraphy, for punctuation, for +spelling, for syntax, dashes on. The lines which darken down the waiting +page are, to the writer, furrows, into which heaven is raining a driven +shower of celestial seed. On the chapters thus fiercely written the eye +of the modern student rests, cool and critical, wearily scanning +paragraphs, digressive as Juliet's nurse, and protesting, with +contracting eyebrow, that this easy writing is abominably hard to +read."[15] + +He was four times in ecstacy. He writes of himself: "I have never +desired to know anything of divine mystery; much less have I wished to +seek or find it. I sought only the heart of Jesus Christ, that there I +might hide myself from the anger of God and the grasp of the devil. And +I have besought God to grant me his grace and Holy Spirit, that he would +lead me and take from me everything that would tend to alienate me from +him; that I might lose my own will in his, and that I might be his child +in his son Jesus Christ. While in this earnest seeking and longing, the +door has opened before me, so that I have seen and learned more in a +quarter of an hour than I could have gained in many years at great +schools.... When I think why it is that I write as I do, I learn that my +spirit is set on fire of this spirit about which I write. If I would set +down other things, I cannot do it: a living fire seems to be kindled up +within me. I have prayed God many hundreds of times, weeping, that if my +knowledge did not contribute to his honor and the improvement of my +brethren, he would take it away from me, and hold me only in his love. +But I found that my weeping only made the inner fire burn all the more; +and it has been in such ecstacy and knowledge that I have composed my +works." + +The _Aurora_ was his greatest production. His extreme modesty forbade +the publication of it; and it was first discovered accidentally in +manuscript by a nobleman who was visiting him. Of the literary character +of his works Schlegel says: "If we consider him merely as a poet, and in +comparison with other Christian poets who have attempted the same +supernatural themes--such as Klopstock, Milton, or even Dante,--we shall +find that in fulness of emotion and depth of imagination he almost +surpasses them. And in poetic expression and single beauties he does +not stand a whit behind them. The great intellectual wealth of the +German language has rarely been revealed to such an extent in any age as +in this writer. His power of imagery flowed from an inexhaustible +fountain." His last words declared the inward life of the man, "O Lord +of Sabaoth save me according to thy pleasure! O thou crucified Lord +Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, and take me to thy kingdom! Now I am +going into Paradise!" + +John Arndt was not the subtle mystic that Boehme was, and his writings +are subjected to fewer misapprehensions. The service he rendered the +church and the cause of truth was important; and his influence is still +felt upon the practical life of the German people. While yet young he no +sooner became awakened to his spiritual condition then he saw the great +religious defects of his day. He first yielded to the prevalent passion +for the study of chemistry and medicine; but, through a severe illness, +he was subsequently led to give himself to the service of God. But few +works have obtained the celebrity which his _True Christianity_ has +enjoyed, not only while its author lived, but at every period since that +time. He was induced to write it on account of the controversial and +formal spirit which petrified the church. In a letter to Duke Augustus, +in 1621, he thus explained his motives: "I have first endeavored to +withdraw the minds of students and preachers from this disputation and +contentious theology which threatens to bring upon us once more the evil +of a scholastic theology. Another reason that has impelled me to this +course is my strong desire to incline dead Christians to become +fruitful. A third one is to lead people from the study of human theory +and science to the real exercise of faith and devotion. A fourth reason +is to show what that true Christian life is which harmonizes with vital +faith--and what that is which Paul meant when he said, 'I live; yet not +I, but Christ liveth in me.'" + +Immediately after the publication of the _True Christianity_ it found a +hearty welcome. The learned and ignorant took equal pleasure in its +living thoughts. Next to the Bible and Kempis' _Imitation of Christ_, it +has been circulated more widely on the Continent than any other book. It +was translated into all the European languages, and missionaries +rendered it into heathen tongues. The Roman Catholics received it, and +claimed it as one of their treasures. When Professor Anton visited the +Jesuit Library at Madrid, in 1687, he inquired for the best ascetical +writer. The librarian produced a copy of Arndt's _True Christianity_, +which, though without preface or introduction, had this simple +expression on the first page: "_This book is more edifying than all +others._" + +The spirit with which Arndt wrote all his works was calm and heavenly. +He possessed that beautiful Moravian type of character which defied +persecution by its submission, love, tenderness, and energy. In +referring to his many enemies he wrote on one occasion, "I am delighted +to suffer, and I would endure a thousand times more, sooner than bury my +talent." He was somewhat ascetical in temperament, but he differed from +all that class of thinkers by the clearness of his appreciation of the +wants of his time and his unwearied efforts to meet them successfully. +He did not escape the censure of mysticism; for that was more than any +devout spirit in that age could expect. Some of the most learned took +umbrage at his ardent sentiments and bitter complaint at the impiety of +his times. The opposition to him was well organized, and continued long +after his death. Even at the end of the seventeenth century we find +various writers replying to his celebrated work. But all the blows of +his adversaries have only tended to deepen the love of the people for +his name and writings. It is not an unfrequent occurrence for minds in +Germany, even at the present day, to be led to accept the truths of the +Gospel by the reading of the _True Christianity_. What Thomas a Kempis +was to the pre-Reformation age, Fenelon to France, and Jeremy Taylor to +England, John Arndt has been to the Protestant countries of the +Continent for the last three centuries. Superintendent Wagner only gave +expression to the world's real conviction when he wrote of him: "_Vir +placidus, candidus, pius et doctus._" + +A personal friend and spiritual son of Arndt, John Gerhard, followed +closely in his footsteps. He was possessed of the same general +characteristics which we have traced in connection with the two +preceding names. His love was boundless, his spirit unruffled, his piety +deep and lasting. He was more serviceable in some respects to the +interests of the orthodox church than any other theologian of that time. +Like Arndt he had been inclined to the study of medicine, but a +dangerous sickness turned his mind to religious contemplation and to the +study of theology. His mental capacities had been cast in a great mould. +He grasped whatever he undertook with gigantic comprehension. His +attainments were so rapid that at the age of twenty-four he received the +degree of doctor of divinity; and, somewhat later, was the most famous +and admired of all the professors of the university of Jena. His +influence was such that princes placed themselves before him for his +counsel, and the highest ecclesiastical tribunals deemed themselves +honored in receiving a share of his attention. His works embrace the +departments of exegesis, doctrine, and practical religion. + +But it was chiefly the two former branches of theology that engaged his +attention. In his _Exegetical Explication of Particular Passages_ he +accomplished an important service for the church. He introduced all the +leading doctrines of inspiration into this work, and discussed the +merits of contemporary controversy in connection with them. He explained +those almost indefinable terms which had been so variously employed by +the schoolmen, and summed up the literature on the points in question. +His style was prolix but his conclusions carried great weight with them. +As a specimen of his tedious method, he begins his discussion of +original sin with the questions, "Is there such a thing as original sin? +Then, what is it? What is its subject? How is it continued?" Many other +inquiries are made in the same manner, but it is only after a hundred +pages have been passed over that he gives his own definition of it. But +we should not smile at such latitude of style when we remember the +literary standard of those times. The German language was then in its +plastic state; and by far the greater portion of writers had been much +more interested in gaining points than rounding periods. It is almost a +hopeless task to wade through the ridiculously lengthy terms of the +seventeenth century. But it may be said, in their defence, that the +method of verbose composition was not without some appearance of +utility. The intelligence of the reader could not be relied upon to such +an extent as now, and the eager eyes of so many opponents made it +necessary to guard every word of importance with a wall of sentences. + +We have now to mention a fourth actor in the great drama of these +dangerous times, John Valentine Andreae. His mind was not of the serious +tone that marked the other writers of whom we have spoken. That he +looked deeply, calmly, and wisely into the surrounding evils no one can +doubt. Every work he wrote established this fact. But the method which +he adopted to cure them was of a totally different order from that +employed by others. His personal history bears all the evidences of +romance. He was the son of a poor widow, who, having spent all her +property to give him an education, found her boy at the conclusion of +his studies desirous of making the usual academic tour. She has but a +pittance left, so she puts into his hand twelve kreutzer, and a rusty +old coin, as a pocketpiece. Her eyes follow him until they are blinded +in a flood of tears. Years pass on and Valentine comes home, having +travelled, by dint of self-denial and perseverance, over the most +interesting portions of the Continent. He returns to the fatherland and +settles quietly down as an orthodox Lutheran pastor. + +It is now that the evils of his generation loom up before him in +terrible blackness. He attacks them by satire. He sits down and writes a +little book, dedicated to all the great men of Europe, and entitled, +_The Discovery of the Brotherhood of the Honorable Order of the Holy +Cross_. This work aims to show that there had once lived a certain +Christian Rosenkranz. He was a man of remarkable learning, and +communicated his knowledge to eight disciples, who lived with him, in a +house called the Temple of the Holy Ghost. This building has come to +light, and behold the uncorrupted body of Rosenkranz, who has been dead +a hundred and twenty years! The various disciples whom he left, and who +are scattered throughout Germany, claim to be true Protestants, and call +upon all men to help them in their efforts to promote learning and +religion. They possess great secrets and the world ought to know them. +They are perfectly at home in bottling the elixir of life, and have been +in possession of the philosopher's stone a long time. Their great object +is to benefit their fellow creatures. Who will follow them? + +Such was the burden of Andreae's little book. The consequence was, it set +all Germany on fire. People never dreamed for a moment that it was a +burlesque on the times. Thousands left their labor to follow the advice +of the earnest disciples of Rosenkranz. On seeing that he had caused +some mischief, Andreae wrote book after book affirming that his previous +one on Christian Rosenkranz was a pure fiction intended to teach a +useful lesson. But nobody believed him; the people were sure that they +could not be so sadly deceived. His first work was the only one that was +heartily received; and multitudes ran mad after the fabulous knowledge +of the famous master and his imaginary disciples. But when the land +awoke to the real idea of Andreae, the reaction was tremendous. Perhaps +no satire, not even the _Laus Stultitiae_ of Erasmus, created such a fury +of excitement as this; seldom has one been followed with more astounding +and beneficial results. We say _beneficial_ from purpose; for _Andreae +succeeded in attracting the popular mind from its old habits of +controversy_. This was his great service. As a man he was of +unexceptionable life and ardent sympathies. He passed peacefully to his +rest after uttering the words, "It is our joy that our names are written +in the Book of Life." + +Thus were these devoted men performing their great mission of improving +the life of the Church. We shall soon see how low the current of that +life was, and how great the burden placed upon them. Each one had his +special endowment, and was eminently qualified to contribute to a more +healthy religious tone throughout the Protestant lands. But, after all, +their work was only preparative. The culmination of their labors was, in +later years, the great Pietistic Reform; and they marked out the path +along which Spener subsequently passed. Theirs was a great part in the +drama of providence; but their achievements would have accomplished no +permanent advantage had they not been succeeded by the triumphs of the +Father of Pietism. It has sometimes been a noticeable part of the divine +plan in our great struggles with the powers of darkness, that, when the +heroes of truth fall at their post, the contest does not need to rage +long before others, with hearts of equal fervor and weapons more +brightly polished, take their places in the advancing lines. What +wonder, then, that, by and by, the mountains echo back the shouts of +victory! + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Pusey, _Historical Inquiry_, pp. 16, 17. + +[12] _Responsum Moguntinis Theologis_, p. 129. + +[13] _Conc. Evang._, in Henke, vol. I. p. 274, note. + +[14] Dowding, _Life and Correspondence of Calixtus_, pp. 313-315. + +[15] _Hours with the Mystics_, vol. 2, p. 67. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH AT THE PEACE OF +WESTPHALIA--1648. + + +Theological strife was the precursor of the all-devastating Thirty +Years' War. The forces had been long at work before the fearful carnage +began. The principles involved were of such moment that, whatever power +took part in the struggle, did so with all the energy with which it was +endowed. The Emperor Rudolph II. had, in 1609, guaranteed to Bohemia the +liberty of Protestantism, but his successor, Matthias, violated the +pledge by preventing the erection of a Protestant church edifice. The +imperial councillors were cast out of the window; the priests driven +off; and the Elector Frederick V. of the Palatinate, chosen King of +Bohemia. But the Protestants were overcome. Ferdinand II. tore up the +imperial pledge; led back the priests into authority, and expelled the +Protestant clergy. Certain concessions having been previously made to +the Protestants, Ferdinand II. issued in 1629 his infamous _Edict of +Restitution_, by which the Protestants were to deliver up all the +monasteries confiscated after the Treaty of Passau. Calvinists were +excluded from the Peace; and the Catholic States were granted +unconditional liberty to suppress Protestantism in their hereditary +countries.[16] The fearful carnage commenced in bitter earnestness. No +war was ever carried on with more desperation; none can be found more +repulsive in brutality, or more beautiful in fortitude and sublime in +bravery. Great sanguinary contests often receive their appellation from +the influences that produce them, or the nations conducting them; but +this one, extending from 1618 to 1648, combined all these elements to +such an extent that the historian finds it most convenient to denominate +it by the period of its duration. It was the bloody mould in which the +continent of Europe received its modern shape. It extended, with but +slight exceptions, over the entire extent of Germany. Some portions of +that singularly picturesque country were permitted to hope for immunity +from its devastations; but, by and by, they too were visited; and all +that remained were a decimated population and smoking ruins. + +Pastoral work was necessarily neglected. Large sections of the country +were deprived of all spiritual cultivation and oversight. The children +were deprived of both their natural protectors and those guardians whom +the church had provided for them. Out of ten hundred and forty-six +pastors in Wuertemberg, for example, only three hundred and thirty were +left by the ravages of war. Food could hardly be provided for the +Seminary students, few as these were; for nearly all the young men had +been compelled to yield to the repeated conscriptions. The princes +themselves were in many cases driven from their jurisdiction; and when +the prince was gone the church was usually disorganized. Duke Eberhard +of Wuertemberg and many of the Rhenish rulers were compelled to seek an +asylum in Strasburg. The Margrave of Baden-Durlach was a refugee to +Switzerland; Dukes Adolph Frederic I. and John II. of Mecklenburg fled +to Luebeck.[17] + +The desolation caused by this protracted war baffles all description. No +writer has been competent for it. Schiller found it a task to which even +his fervid imagination and glowing diction could not measure. Wherever +it went it left destruction in its path. The population of Bohemia was +reduced from three millions to seven hundred and eighty thousand. Only a +fiftieth part of the inhabitants of the Rhine-lands were left alive. +Saxony lost nine hundred thousand of her citizens within the brief space +of two years. The city of Augsburg could number only eighteen thousand +out of her enterprising population of eighty thousand. In 1646 alone, +Bavaria saw more than one hundred of her thriving towns laid in ashes; +while little Hesse lost seventeen cities, forty-seven castles, and four +hundred towns. + +The cruelty which characterized some of the participants in this war may +be conceived from the awful scene of the siege of Magdeburg; a picture +for which, says Schiller, "History has no speech, and Poetry no pencil." +"Neither childhood, nor age," another author affirms, "nor sex, nor +rank, nor beauty were able to disarm the conqueror's wrath. Wives were +mishandled in the arms of their husbands, daughters at the feet of their +fathers. Women were found beheaded in a church, whilst the troopers +amused themselves by throwing infants into the flames, or by spearing +sucklings at their mothers' breasts. 'Come again in an hour,' was +Tilly's only reply when some of his officers (utterly horrified at what +they saw) besought him to put a hand upon this bath of blood:--'Come +again in an hour and I will see what I can do. The soldier must have +something for his labor and risk.' With unchecked fury did these horrors +go forward, till smoke and flame set bounds to plunder. The city had +been fired in several places; and a gale spread the flames with rampant +speed. In less than twelve hours the town lay in ashes; two churches, +and some few huts excepted. Scarcely had the rage of the fire slackened, +when the troops returned again to grope for plunder. Horrible was the +scene which now presented itself. Living men crept out from under +corpses; lost children, shrieking, sought their parents; infants were +sucking the dead breasts of their mothers. More than six thousand bodies +were thrown into the Elbe, before the streets could be made passable; +whilst an infinitely larger number were consumed by the fire. Thirty +thousand persons are supposed to have perished."[18] + +At the outset of the war, and at many times during its continuance, the +Protestants fought with but little apparent prospect of success. But +their heroic zeal continued unabated until it was crowned with triumph. +The peace of Westphalia, which concluded the protracted struggle, +secured the abolition of the oppressive Decree of 1635; granted legal +rights to the Protestant churches; established Lutheranism in Central +Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Livonia; recognized the Swiss and +Dutch Republics; and, under certain conditions, allowed future changes +of religion by princes and people.[19] + +The religious effect of the first few years of this sanguinary period +was beneficial. There were indications of more seriousness in common +life, and a deeper love of truth among the thinking circles. The people +manifested a disposition to trust in the Divine arm for deliverance from +their sorrows; and this new confidence developed itself particularly in +benefactions for the impoverished and young. But as the war progressed +and peace seemed farther off with every new year, the heart of the +people relaxed into coldness, distrust, and desperation. Thus, dark as +was the picture of religious life before the outbreak of hostilities, it +was darker still during their progress and at their close. So literally +was this the case that Kahnis declares its termination to have been the +beginning of the reign of secularism. He says: "Up to the period of the +Thirty Years' War religion was the chief moving power of the time. The +question regarding the confession prevailed over everything, and even +secular questions, that they might excite interest and be carried, were +compelled to clothe themselves in the garb of religion. But the result +of the Thirty Years' War was indifference, not only to the confession, +but to religion in general. Ever since that period secular interests +decidedly occupy the foreground, and the leading power of Europe is +France."[20] + +It shall now be our business to inquire into that dwarfed vitality which +Kahnis elevates so high as to denominate "religion." We believe that, in +all the course of ecclesiastical history on the Continent, no period of +equal intelligence is marked by the same degree of religious coldness +and petrifaction. Theology was a special sufferer. The most useful +departments were neglected, while the least essential were raised to +superlative importance. Andreae places the following language on the +neglect of the study of church history, in the mouth of Truth: "History, +since she is exiled with me, readily consents to be silent and laughs at +the experience of those who, because they can but relate their exploits +from the A. B. C. school to the Professor's chair, that is, from the rod +to the sceptre, dream that they are in possession of a compendium of the +whole world. Hence their city is to them a compendium of the world, +their class book a library, their school a monarchy, their doctor's cap +a diadem, their rod of office a lictor's staff, each scholastic rule an +anathema: in short everything appears to them exaggerated. Oh! the +hapless human learning that is shut up in these scholastic Athens, that +whatever offences may everywhere besides be committed by ignorance, all +the severest punishments are in store for these alone to overwhelm it." + +Again, in his _Christianopolis_, or ideal Christian state, he says: +"Since the inhabitants of Christianopolis value the church above +everything else in this world, they are occupied in her history more +than in any other. For since this is the ark which contains those who +are to be saved, they prefer to busy themselves about it more than about +all the waters of the deluge. They relate then by what immense mercy of +God this soul flock was brought together, received into covenant, formed +by laws enforced by his word; by what weak instruments it was extended, +by what mighty engines attacked, by what manifest aid defended; what +blood and prayers its safety had cost; amid what anger of Satan the +standard of the Cross triumphed; how easily the tares spring up; how +often its light is contracted to a narrow space; what great eclipses, +and how very great and thick an one it suffered under Antichrist; how it +has sometimes emerged from desperate circumstances, and especially in +this our age under the mighty Luther; with what defilement and spots it +is often stained; how much it is conversant with the flesh. Many other +such things they have in store; as also its periodical changes, and the +harmonious vicissitudes of its seasons. They diligently impress them on +the youth that they may learn to trust in God, to mistrust the flesh, to +despise the threats of the world, to endure the darkness of this age. +And this is right, however others may not even dissemble their neglect +of ecclesiastical history; for how little any knowledge of it is now +required even from ecclesiastics, or how, where it is found, it is sold +cheap in comparison with a syllogism or two--it does not belong to this +place to discuss more at length." + +The existing state of impiety may be inferred from the low estimate of +childhood. The Roman Catholic Church of that day was not so careful of +the indoctrination of the young as she is at the present time. Mathesius +says that in the twenty-five years he spent within her fold he had seen +no case in which the catechism had been elucidated, and that he had not +once heard it explained from the pulpit. Luther took great pains to have +children and the lowest classes trained in the elements of religious +knowledge. His express language, in reference to the catechetical +instruction of the young and ignorant was, "It is not merely enough that +they should be taught and counselled, but care must be taken that, in +the answers returned, every sentence must be evidently understood." But +like so many other lessons of the great Reformer, this was not +remembered by his successors; and in course of time all that the youth +and laboring classes could boast in favor of their doctrinal training +was a smattering of contemporary controversy. There were sermons and +expository lectures intended for children; but they were often at +unseasonable hours, and of such insufferable dryness as to tax the mind +and patience of maturity. A certain author, in a catalogue of this class +of literature, enumerates _fifteen hundred and ninety catechetical +sermons for the young that were directed solely against the Calvinists_! + +No one is better able to inform us, however, of the low state of +religious training than he who labored most for its improvement. +Spener's language, though written in reference to the melancholy +prostration which his own eyes beheld, applies equally well to the very +time of which we speak: + +"If one were to say that catechizing and the Christian instruction of +youth is one of the principal, most important, and most necessary of our +duties, and not of less value than preaching, would he not be +contradicted or even laughed at by many uninstructed preachers, or by +others ignorant of their duty, who seek only their own honor; as if such +care were too small and contemptible for an office instituted for more +important employment? Yet such is but the real truth. Meantime this duty +is by many considered so ridiculous that there are preachers who think +it degrading to their dignity to undertake it, or even see that it is +diligently and faithfully performed by those appointed to it. It is no +credit to our evangelical churches that catechetical instruction has +been so little or not at all thought of in so many places; though even +Luther recommended it so strongly, and gave us so many admirable +writings to promote it. But now it either does not exist at all, or is +performed negligently, and thrown almost entirely upon schools and +schoolmasters. + +"These duties should not have been left to schoolmasters; for these are +almost wholly unfit to discharge them on account of their own meagre +attainments. But preachers should recollect that the souls of the +_youth_ are intrusted to them, and that they must give an account of +them. They should therefore submit to this as well as to the other +duties of their office. It is not indeed anywhere prescribed who among +them should perform these duties. In places where there are several +clergymen, and the pastors and superintendents are laden with so many +other occupations that they cannot perform this duty, we cannot object +to its being left for the deacons, or for others who may have more time +for it. In large churches able catechists might be appointed. +Superintendents, however, and theologians in high office would not do +amiss if they would sometimes countenance this exercise by their +presence, and even now and then perform it themselves in order to +encourage others. If there were some who would voluntarily commence it +themselves, _it would not be interpreted ill, or thought below their +dignity_. + +"I have become acquainted with the character of most instructors of +youth, and I find that their real aim is not to lead the soul of youth +to God, but their pay also, that they are chiefly not fit to impart a +correct knowledge of God since they do not possess it themselves. And +indeed there are very many who have not a knowledge even of the _letter_ +of that which is or is not to be believed; much less do they comprehend +thoroughly and spiritually what is the will of God in faith and its +fruits. Catechizing is as necessary to the church as any other religious +agency can be." + +We have also the important authority of Calixtus on the sad condition of +the education of the young. "The chief cause and origin of the decay of +learning," says he, "now tending to extinction, (which may God avert!) +I hold for my own part, to be this:--that the younger children are not +well grounded in the minor schools. Foundations ought to be laid there, +which might afterwards support the whole weight of solid learning and +true erudition. The children ought to learn from genuine authors the +Greek and Latin languages; the Keys (as they are) of those treasures +which preceding ages have laid up for our use. And they ought so to +learn, as to be able to appreciate the thoughts of others (specially of +the best authors), and to express their own in suitable and perspicuous +words.... But now, in many places, we see the reverse of all this. +Before they can speak (passing by preposterously, the matters essential +to ultimate success), the boys are made to proceed, or rather leap, to +higher subjects; 'real' subjects, as we have learned to call them. +Pedagogues of this stamp seem to themselves learned, whilst they are +teaching what they have never themselves mastered; and what their +scholars neither understand, nor at their age _can_ understand. In the +mean time the writings of those good authors, who, by all past ages, +have been recognized as masters of literature and style, are struck out +of their hands, and they (the schoolmasters) substitute their own +comments; disputing in a circle of children about Anti-Christ and the +doctrine of predestination."[21] + +The theological literature of these times was voluminous and confused. A +work on an unimportant subject would occupy a dozen volumes, and then +the writer would give his finishing touches with the apology that he had +not done justice to his theme. No nation publishes to such an extent as +Protestant Germany in the nineteenth century; but one cannot be +adequately convinced of the extent of the literary activity of her +theologians of the former half of the seventeenth century without +loitering among the alcoves of her antiquarian bookstores of the present +day. The dusty tomes testify, by their multitude and care, to the +character of the ecclesiastical age that gave them birth. The Germans do +not sell their old books to the paper merchants because they are old. It +is sacrilege to convert the printed sheet back again to pulp. The +libraries of the universities are located in those portions of the city +where land is cheap; the catalogue is a small library of itself. The +Leipzig Fair keeps much of this long-printed literature before the +world. It changes hands, migrates to Tuebingen, Halle, or some other +book-loving place; passes through a generation of owners, and turns up +in some other spot, but little the worse for wear. The peasant is found +at the book auction; the professor considers it a white day when a +replenished purse and the sale of an old library are simultaneous facts. +And when the hour arrives, the preparations are sometimes of the most +comfortable and leisure-inviting character. We once attended an auction +in picturesque old Brunswick which continued three days; and coffee, +beer, sandwiches and other refreshments were freely enjoyed at frequent +intervals by nearly all present. Every one had a long breathing spell +when the auctioneer, or any one of his numerous secretaries, sipped his +coffee and replenished his pipe. + +We cannot affirm that there was as much a deficiency of talent or +learning at the time of which we speak, as there was of an humble, +subdued religious spirit, and of clearness of conception, all of which +are equally necessary to give a high tone to theological writing and +thinking. Dr. Pusey says of the theologians, that "they were highly +learned but deficient in scientific spirit, freedom from prejudice, +destitute of comprehensive and discriminating views, without which mere +knowledge is useless." An illustration is furnished in Calov's mammoth +production, entitled, _Systema locorum Theologicorum e sacra potissimum +scriptura et antiquitate, nec non adversariorum confessione doctrinam, +praxia et controversiarum fidei, cum veterum tum inprimis recentiorum +pertractationem luculentam exhibens_. The author tried faithfully to +redeem his pledge; and though he asserted that he had aimed at +conciseness, his work only terminated with the twelfth quarto volume! +The subject of the first part was the nature of Theology, Religion, +Divine Inspiration, Holy Scriptures, and the articles of Faith. He +defined Theology to be, that practical skill in the knowledge of true +religion, as drawn from divine revelation, which is calculated to lead +man after the fall through faith to eternal life. One of the important +questions propounded is: + +"Are the Calvinists to be considered heretics, and do they not teach +very dangerous errors?" Of course an affirmative reply is returned with +cogent reasons therefor. At the end of this part there is a prolix +recital of the many errors of George Calixtus and his followers. Calov +conformed to the _causal_ method of composition. There were two systems +of arrangement in vogue, the _causal_ and _defining_. Under the former +were grouped the _causae principales, et minus principales, +instrumentales, efficientes, materiales, formales, finales_. Under the +latter, a definition was prefixed to each article, which comprised the +whole doctrine of the church and all the opposed heresies. This was then +redundantly illustrated until the subject was supposed to be exhausted. +Schertzer, in his doctrinal work, begins with a definition of Christ, +and occupies three quarto pages with one sentence. We venture only its +commencement: "Christ is God-man; God and man, born of his heavenly +Father and his virgin mother; and Christ is according to his humanity +the natural son of God, constant in his unity to one person, his divine +and human nature impeccable." The favorite class-book of those times was +Koenig's _Theologia positiva acroamatica synoptice tractata_; and it +does but partial justice to this work to say that in dryness and +meagreness it almost defies a parallel. + +There was a lamentable decrease of exegetical works and lectures toward +the middle of the seventeenth century. The Reformation was the signal +for Scriptural study; and the Reformers declared the word of God to be +the origin of their gigantic movement. All the ordinances of the early +Lutheran Church were in strict keeping with this principle. The Elector +Augustus, in his church order of 1580, established professors _solely +for the elucidation_ of the Scriptures. He appointed two to lecture on +the Old Testament, one on the Pentateuch and the other on the prophets; +and two on the New Testament. His command was, that they should all read +the Scriptures, as far as they could, in the same languages in which the +prophets and apostles had written. Many of the universities had no other +professors of theology than exegetical lecturers. The languages of the +Bible were diligently studied, and great progress was made in their +scientific understanding. + +But after the rise of the long and exciting controversies of which we +have spoken, the death-blow was given to Scriptural interpretation. The +method of theological study was to spend the first year in learning what +is orthodox. The second was occupied in obtaining a knowledge of +controversies; the third was devoted to the Scriptures, a more intimate +knowledge of controversial literature, and the scholastics. One day in +the week was spent with the Fathers, Church Councils, and moral +theology. The later years were chiefly consumed in controversial +practice, as a preparation for the great arena. Francke as truthfully +described these times as his own when he said: "Youths are sent to the +universities with a moderate knowledge of Latin; but of Greek and +especially of Hebrew they have next to none. And it would even then have +been well, if what had been neglected before had been made up in the +universities. There, however, most are borne, as by a torrent, with the +multitude; they flock to logical, metaphysical, ethical, polemical, +physical, pneumatical lectures and what not; treating least of all those +things whose benefit is most permanent in their future office, +especially deferring, and at last neglecting, the study of the sacred +languages." + +But while there were many evidences of religious torpor there were none +more marked and unmistakable than the preaching of that time. The pulpit +being an invariable index of the state of the national heart, it was not +less the case during the present period. The preaching was of the most +formal and methodical texture. It assumed a rhetorical and poetical +appearance; the people calling it the _Italian style_. Petrarch had +given shape to Italian thought, and through his influence Germany became +sated with poetic imagery and overwrought fancy. Sagittarius founded a +stipend for the preaching of a yearly sermon in the University Church +"which should be more a practical illustration of Christian doctrine +than of _lofty speech_." Emblematical sermons were sometimes delivered +in lengthy series. + +Christopher Sunday descanted on the _Perpetual Heart-Calendar_, treating +of genera and species, and dividing his themes into "Remarkable, +Historical, and Annual events, Particular numbers, and the amounts of +Roman currency, the Four Seasons, the Seven Planets, the Twelve Heavenly +signs, and many aspects and useful directions." All these, this divine +claimed, are to be found in the Gospel as in a perpetual calendar of the +heart. Another preacher adopted as his theme for a funeral sermon, _The +Secret of Roses and Flowers_. Daniel Keck preached a discourse in 1642 +from Romans viii. 18, calling his subject "The Apostolic Syllogism," +dividing it into _subject_, _predicate_, and _conclusion_. The subject, +_suffering_, was again divided into _wicked_, _voluntary_, _stolid_ and +_righteous_; and these further classed into _natural_, _civil_ and +_spiritual_ suffering. + +A sermon on Zaccheus from the words, _He was little of stature_, claims +for its theme, "The stature and size of Zaccheus." The first division +is, _he_; the second, _was_; third, _small stature_. Application +_first_, The text teaches us the variety of God's works; _second_, it +consoles the poor; _third_, it teaches us to make amends for our +personal defects by virtue. Tholuck well asks, who would imagine that +the author of this sermon was the minstrel of "When the early sun +arises," "Oh Jesus, all thy bleeding wounds," and so many other deeply +earnest Christian songs which have touched the hearts of many +generations,--the immortal Hermann von Koeben? A pastor of Wernigerode +preached from Matthew x. 30. His divisions were, 1: Our hair--its +origin, style, form and natural circumstances. 2: On the right use of +the human hair. 3: The memories, admonition, warning and consolation +that have come from the human hair. 4: How hair can be used in a +Christian way! A Brunswick pastor commenced his Sabbath discourse on one +occasion with the words, "A preacher must have three things; a _good +conscience_, a _good bite_, and a _good kiss_;" wherefore his transition +was made to the theme under consideration: "_an increase of my salary_." +But it is needless to continue illustrations of the almost universal +dearth of preaching. One hardly knows whether to laugh at its absurdity +or weep over its prostitution. + +Andreae's caustic pen revelled in satire at the depreciation of this +important agency of good. Some of his ideas are by no means ill-timed in +the present century. In the Dialogue of the Pulpit Orator he thus +speaks:[22] + + A. Tell me earnestly, I pray you, what you find wanting in my + present sermon. + + B. One thing only, but that a main point. + + A. It cannot be in the arrangement? + + B. It was, I believe, according to all the rules of the + methods. + + A. Then the pronunciation was defective? + + B. You must speak as God has made you; only you must not be an + imitator. + + A. Then the action was wrong? + + B. About that I am indifferent, if it be only quiet and not + gesticulatory. + + A. My sermon must have been much too long? + + B. _If a sermon be good it can't be too long: a bad one always + is._ + + A. Certainly I did not produce illustrations enough? + + B. You could not have meant to empty a basket of quotations. + + A. Then I spoke too slow? + + B. Ha! In the pulpit we must teach, not talk too volubly. + + A. I should have spoken louder too? + + B. I like the voice of man, not the braying of an ass. + + A. Should I not have used more subtle distinctions? + + B. You were there to instruct the ignorant, not to dispute + with heretics. + + A. Do then explain yourself more fully. + + B. Hear me: you said, "I think much, very much," which was + good, but it only flowed through you as through a pipe. + + A. Indeed! + + B. Thus, much contracted the taste of the pipe and savored + accordingly. + + A. No good compliment, this. + + B. It is the best I can make. For when you only cast forth + good and wholesome doctrines, and show nothing of them + expressed in your life and manners, are you not placed out of + yourself to speak one thing and think another? You make us + believe that your holy words are only practised solemn words, + without any real feeling, just as poets make bridal songs and + funeral dirges whenever called upon. You have many passages of + Scripture in readiness; but they do not exhort, strengthen and + instruct you, though others die with joy at hearing the divine + word. + + A. You are severe upon me. + + B. It is not often the case that the worst men preach the + best. I wish but one thing: that for the future you should say + nothing but what you express in action by your example, or at + least realize by serious endeavors after obedience to God. + + A. This is harsh enough. + + B. It is incomparably harsher, however, to openly contradict + oneself before God both in words and works, and to convert the + divine service into an empty clatter of words. + + A. You speak truly. + + B. And it is just as true, believe me, that a simple, plain + sermon, exhibited and sealed by your life, is more valuable + than a thousand clever declamations. + +This want of consistency between the profession of the clergy and their +daily life is indeed a dark picture. While we would not forget that +there were noble exceptions to all the examples of declension that we +have adduced, and that there were also exemplary illustrations of +ministerial devotion amid all the deformity of these times, we must +maintain that the ministerial spirit which characterized this period was +not merely cold and indifferent, but wicked, and to a great extent +abandoned. + +The scenes of clerical immorality are enough to chill one's blood even +at the distance of more than two centuries. The preachers were not +licensed to preach until they had been graduated through a course of +study extending from five to ten years. According to the judgment of the +Lutheran Church, they must be fitted intellectually for exercising the +functions of their office. But after settlement over the churches of the +land, their conduct furnishes a sad proof that their intellectual +qualifications were utterly barren without the more important adjunct of +spiritual regeneration. They were not converted men, as the sequel will +plainly show. The salary allowed them was usually small; and this is the +apology pleaded for them by their friends; but scanty salaries are the +outgrowth of scanty ministerial piety. The people, in no age of the +world, have refused a proper and sufficient support to a zealous, +God-fearing ministry. + +A Church Order of 1600 reads thus: "Since we have received information +that servants of the church (clergy) and schoolmasters, the parochial +teachers, are guilty of whoredom and fornication, we command that if +they are _notoriously_ guilty they shall be suspended. We learn, too, +that some of the village pastors do not possess the Bible. We command +that they shall get a Bible and Concordance. Those whom we formerly +suspended shall remain so until they give proof of a reformation." A +pastor Pfeifer of Neukirchen and Lassau lived five unhappy years with +his congregation; and from mere private prejudice refused the sacrament +of the Lord's Supper to the sick and dying. On communion-day he +overturned the baskets of the fish-venders; was wounded for his conduct; +and then went into his church to the performance of his ministerial +duties. He did not scruple to administer the elements with his bloody +hands. Pastor Johansen of Detzboell wrote in his Church Record in 1647, +the following: "The persons whom I will name have persecuted me in my +office, but God delivered me miraculously out of their hands. J. Dirksen +struck me down with a pitchfork: I was taken home as dead but recovered +again; some years afterwards he was struck dead, and died in the street. +J. Volkwartsen struck me with my own spade. Subsequently he was killed +by his brother. Where his soul went, God only knows. P. Peusen was on +the point of stabbing me through, but M. Payens saved me. A. Frese +committed adultery with my wife, and followed me with a loaded rifle. D. +Momsen broke two of my right ribs: he apologized afterwards for his +offence. I forgave him. O Jesus, protect me and thy poor Christianity, +that I may praise thee in eternity!" A church made the following charges +against its pastor: I. He called certain people "scoundrels" from the +pulpit; to which the offender pleaded "guilty." II. He had grown so +angry in his sermon that he afterwards forgot the Lord's Prayer. He +urged that "this had happened some time ago." III. When some women went +out after the sermon, he called after them, and told them that if they +would not stop to receive the blessing they would have his curse; "not +guilty." IV. He had cohabited with a servant girl, and an illegitimate +child was born; "others do the same thing." V. He forgot the cup at the +communion; "that happened long ago." VI. He said to the officer, "All +are devils who want me to go to Messing;" "that is true." + +There were sad evidences of the same immorality in University life. +Melanchthon's prophecy had proved too true: "We have seen already how +religion has been put in peril by the irruption of barbarism, _and I am +very much afraid that this will happen again_." At a Disputation in the +University of Wittenberg, the Chancellor addressed a disputant with such +epithets as "Hear, thou hog! thou hound! thou fool! or whatever thou +art, thou stolid ass!" Another prominent personage of Wittenberg, in a +Disputation, became so enraged at hearing Melanchthon addressed as +authority against him, that he pulled down the great Reformer's picture +which hung near him, and trampled it under his feet. One Professor was +so deeply in debt that he could not pay his creditors, "if every hair on +his head were a ducat." Another was "in bed with seven wounds received +in a fall when he was coming home drunk." Some read their newspapers at +church-service. Nor did the wives and daughters of the Professors lead +any better life. They were guilty of deeds of the grossest immorality, +such indeed as would disgrace a less enlightened people than the Germans +at that period.[23] + +The great moral decline of the clergy was confined chiefly to the +Lutheran church. The Reformed was earnest, pious, and aggressive. At +this very time it was endeavoring to spread the leaven of the Gospel +through other lands. It was, during the whole period, the conservative +power of Protestantism. As might be expected, it suffered somewhat from +the declension of Lutheranism; but it stood manfully up to the crisis, +and met the issues with an heroic spirit. When the Roman Catholics saw +these excesses of the Lutherans, and witnessed the return to their fold +of many Protestants who had become disgusted with the vices of their +brethren, they rejoiced greatly, and used every available means to bring +back more of their erring friends. + +We must remember, however, that it was the clergy and not the laity, who +were the agents of the great declension. The theologians had submerged +the land in fruitless controversy; they hesitated not to commit open sin +when occasion demanded it; they neglected the youth of the whole +country; the ignorant peasantry were not blessed with even the crumbs of +truth; the pulpit was perverted to a cathedra for the declamation of the +hyperbolical rhetoric that a corrupt taste had imported from Spain and +Italy: the Apocrypha was the all-important part of the Bible; and the +private life of the clergy was corrupt and odious to the Christian +conscience. "What wonder that the piety of the people suffered a similar +decline? Let the ministry be steadfast, and the masses will never +swerve." The result in the present case was, that the latter gradually +became imbued with the same impiety that they had learned, to their +sorrow, of the former. + +Glancing first at the cultivated circles, we find a practical +indifference well nigh akin to skepticism beginning to prevail among the +noble and wealthy. The deference which the Reformers paid to the princes +led the latter to a too free exercise of their power, and there are +numberless instances of their despotic usurpations. They claimed supreme +control over the religious interests of their jurisdiction, and came +into frequent conflict with the ecclesiastical tribunals. They +maintained a tolerable show of religion, however, considering it a +matter of prime importance to have the services of chaplains, and to +give due public prominence to doctrinal questions. Their courts were +most generally irreligious, and sometimes notoriously corrupt. + +Walther, the court chaplain of Ulrich II. of East Friesland, wrote in +1637 a letter from which we take the following words: "I would much +rather be silent concerning my sore misfortune, which I am here +undergoing than, by speaking, to make the wounds of my heart break out +afresh. These infernal courtiers, among whom I am compelled to live +against my will, doubt those truths which even the heathen have learned +to believe." A writer of 1630 describes three classes of skeptics among +the nobility of Hamburg; _first_, those who believe that religion is +nothing but a mere fiction, invented to keep the masses within +restraint; _second_, those who give preference to no faith, but think +that all religions have a germ of truth; and _third_, those confessing +that there must be one true religion, are unable to decide whether it is +papal, Calvinist, or Lutheran; and consequently believe nothing at all. + +This classification might be applied to the whole of Protestant Germany, +as far as the higher classes are concerned. They exhibited a growing +taste for antiquity; and, with them, there was but a slight difference +between the sublime utterances of inspiration and the masterpieces of +pagan genius. We find in a catechism of that time that the proverbs of +Cato and the _Mimi Publiani_ constitute an authorized appendix. + +A practical infidelity, bearing the name of Epicureanism, prevailed even +before the war; and it became more decided and injurious as the war +progressed. The highest idea of religion was adherence to creed. Princes +who even thought themselves devoted and earnest, had no experimental +knowledge of regeneration; and in this, as we have shown, they were but +little surpassed by the clergy themselves. Orthodoxy was the aim and +pride of those religionists. Hear the dying testimony of John Christian +Koenig, in 1664: "My dear Confessor, since I observe that the good Lord +is about to take me out of this world, I want it understood that I +remain unchanged and firm to the Augsburg Confession; I will live by it +and die true to it. It is well known that I have directed my teaching +according to its truths. _I die the avowed enemy of all innovation and +Syncretistic error!_" + +The licentiousness of life, not less than of faith, was deplorable in +the German courts. Dancing was carried to great excess and indecorum; +and though there were edicts issued against it during the Thirty Years' +War, the custom seems to have undergone but little abatement. +Drunkenness was very common, and even the highest dignitaries set but a +sorry example in this respect. The Court of Ludwig of Wuertemberg +established six glasses of wine as the minimum evidence of good +breeding; one to quench the thirst; the second for the King's health; +the third for those present; the fourth for the feast-giver and his +wife; the fifth for the permanence of the government, and the last for +absent friends. The example of all nations proves that when the nobility +thus indulge themselves, and become the devotees of passion and luxury, +they do not need to wait long for imitators among the lower and poorer +classes. The poor looked to the rich and their rulers as standards of +fashion and religion. They esteemed it not less an honor than a +privilege to follow in the footsteps of their acknowledged chiefs. The +governing and the governed stood but a short distance from each other, +both in faith and in morals. + +There was great display and extravagance in the ordinary ceremonies of +matrimony and baptism. It was quite common for the wedding festival to +last three days, and the baptismal feast two days. The expenses were not +at all justified by the means of the feast-makers; for the humblest +mechanics indulged themselves to an excessive extent. Even funeral +occasions were made to subserve the dissipating spirit of these times; +they were the signal for hilarity and feasting. Distant friends were +invited to be present; and the whole scene was at once repulsive to a +healthy taste and pure religion. A writer from the very midst of the +Thirty Years' War gives us the following item: "The number of courses +served at funerals frequently amounted to as many as two hundred and +thirty-four. The tables were furnished with expensive luxuries and +costly wines, and the people gave themselves up to feasting and rioting +until far into the night." The common people became more habituated to +drinking strong liquors. New breweries arose in various localities, and +drunkenness became a wide-spread evil. In 1600, the city of Zwickau +numbered only ten thousand inhabitants; but it could claim thirty-four +breweries to supply them with beer. During the war, in 1631, that number +rose to seventy. + +But it is needless to particularize the phases of popular immorality as +they existed in the time of which we speak. It is enough to say that all +classes betrayed a growing disgust at religion and a gradual decline in +morals. The danger was imminent that the great work of the Reformation +would be in vain, and that it would soon come to ruin. + +Every department of ecclesiastical authority having become disarranged +and weakened, there must now be a reaewakening, or the labors of Luther +and his coadjutors will be swept away. The popular mind should be +deflected from controversy, and become united, at least on some points +of faith and theory. The pulpit needs a thorough regeneration, and the +Gospel should reach the masses by a natural and earnest method. The +university system calls for reorganization, and a rigid censorship +exercised upon the teachings of the professors. Childhood must be no +longer neglected, and the illiterate must become indoctrinated into the +elements of Scriptural truth. The prevalent social evils should receive +severe rebuke from the private Christian and the public teacher. +Calixtus, Boehme, Arndt and Gerhard have done nobly, but they have +pursued paths so totally divergent that their labors have not produced +all the good effects of a _united_ work. Their efforts were +preparatory, but not homogeneous; and what is now needed to make their +writings and example permanently effective, is a plan for infusing new +life into the church. Then there must be inflexible system and heroic +determination for the consummation of such a plan. + +When the demand became most imperative, the great want was supplied. Let +all the records of providential supply and guidance be studiously +searched, and we believe that Pietism--the great movement which we are +now about to trace--will take its place among them as one of the +clearest, most decided, and most triumphant. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Kurtz, _Church History_, vol. 11, p. 177. + +[17] Tholuck, _Das Kirchliche Leben des Siebzehnten Jahrhunderts. Erste +Abtheilung._ For much information in the present chapter we are greatly +indebted to this valuable repository. + +[18] Dowding, _Life and Correspondence of Calixtus_, pp. 153-154. + +[19] _H. B. Smith, D. D., History of Church of Christ in Chronological +Tables_, pp. 56-61. + +[20] _History of German Protestantism_, p. 21. + +[21] _Orationes Selectae_, Henke, vol. 1, pp. 285-286. + +[22] We use Dr. E. B. Pusey's version of Andreae's words. + +[23] 1602: Der Frau Gerlach (Prof. Theol.) Tochter ist in Geschrei, dass +sie mit einem kinde gelie. 1613: Dr. Happrecht's Tochter hat ihre +Jungfrauschaft verloren. 1622: Dr. Magirus klagt dass seine Frau die +Dienstboten ihm nicht zur Disposition stelle, mit den _Alimentis_ nicht +zufrieden sei, immer Gaeste einlade, und viel herum laufe. Frau Magirus +klagt ihren Ebemann des Ehebruchs an. Tholuck, _Deutsche Universitaeten_. +Vol. 1, pp. 145-148. Also Dowding, _Life and Correspondence of +Calixtus_, pp. 132-133. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PIETISM AND ITS MISSION. + + +If any apology can be offered in defence of the ecclesiastical evils +already recounted, it will be, that the fearful devastations of the long +warfare had wrought the public mind into a feverish and unnatural state. +We must not, therefore, pass that cold criticism upon the Church and her +representatives to which they would be justly entitled, had they been +guilty of the same vices during a time of profound peace and material +prosperity. + +The philosophy of this whole period of ecclesiastical history may be +summed up in a sentence: The numerous theological controversies, and the +pastoral neglect of the people, before the war, had unfitted both the +clergy and the masses for deriving from it that deep penitence and +thorough reconsecration which a season of great national affliction +should have engendered. The moral excesses apparent during this time had +been produced by causes long anterior to it. Hence, when the protracted +time of carnage and the destruction of property did come, there was no +preparation of mind or heart to derive improvement from it. Had some +provision been made, had theology not abounded in idle disputes, and had +the moral education of the masses been faithfully cared for, instead of +the evils which have been so reluctantly related, there would have been +a lengthy succession of glowing instances of devout piety. And +Protestantism, instead of emerging from the conflict with only equal +rights before the law, would have possessed a sanctified heart, and a +vigorous, truth-seeking mind. + +Time was now needed to gather up the instruction taught by those +pillaged towns, slain citizens, and broken social and ecclesiastical +systems. A few years passed by, when the lessons began to be learned, +and signs of rejuvenation appeared. After Spener had commenced his +reformatory labors, he expressly and repeatedly declared that he did not +originate, but only gave expression to, a spirit of religious +earnestness that had already arisen in various quarters. To him belongs +the honor of cultivating and guiding these reassured hearts who had +derived most improvement from the Thirty Years' War. Pietism, the fruit +of their union, became a triumph under the leadership of Spener. + +But who were these persons who became aroused to a sense of the +exigencies of the times, and saw that the danger which threatened the +kingdom of God in Germany was now scarcely less than when Tilly was +leading his maddened hordes through the fair fields and over the ruins +of those once happy towns? Some of the clergy were the first to indicate +new life. They preached with more unction, and addressed themselves to +the immediate demands of the parish, especially to provide for the +orphans and widows of those who had fallen in battle. Certain ministers +who had spent their youth in vain theological wrangling, preached +sermons which contained better matter than redundant metaphor and +classical quotations. Mueller and Scriver serve as fitting illustrations +of the improvement. They avoided the extended analytical and rhetorical +methods long in use, and adopted the more practical system of earnest +appeal and exhortation. + +The clergy needed not to wait long before beholding the fruit of their +labors. For a better spirit manifested itself also among the lower +classes. A singular interest arose in sacred music. Not only in those +venerable Gothic Cathedrals, so long the glory of the Roman Catholic +Church, but in the field and the workshop there could be heard the +melodies of Luther, Sachs, and Paul Gerhard. Young men appeared in +numbers, offering themselves as candidates for the ministry. But let it +not be supposed that these encouraging signs were universal. While the +eye of faith could read the most decided lessons of hope, the religious +dearth was still wide-spread. Nor was it unlikely that in a short time +it would triumph over all the efforts for new life. When Spener rose to +a position of prominence and influence, he saw, as no one else was able +to see, the real danger to the cause of truth; and those affecting +descriptions which we find among his writings, revealing the real wants +of the latter half of the seventeenth century, show how keenly his own +heart had become impressed by them. + +It was very evident that the Lutheran Church would require a long period +for self-purification, if indeed she could achieve it at all. The +shorter and more effectual way would be to operate _individually_ upon +the popular mind. And does not the entire history of the Church prove +that reform has originated from no concerted action of the body needing +reformation, but from the solemn conviction and persevering efforts of +some single mind, which, working first alone, has afterward won to its +assistance many others? Its work then reacted upon the parent +organization in such way that the latter became animated with new power. + +The enemies of Pietism made the same objection to it that all the +opponents of reform have ever made: "This is very good in itself, but do +you not see that it is not the Church that is working? We would love to +see the cause of truth advanced and our torpid Church invigorated with +the old Reformation-life; but we would rather see the whole matter done +in a perfectly systematic and legitimate way. Now this Pietism has some +good features about it, but it acts in its own name. We do not like this +absurd fancy of _ecclesiolae in ecclesia_; but we prefer the Church to +act as the Church, and for its own purposes." Thus reasoned the enemies +of Pietism, who claimed as heartily as any of their contemporaries that +they were strict adherents of truth and warm supporters of spiritual +life. But their reasoning, however baseless, found favor; and the Church +gradually came to look upon Pietism not as a handmaid, but as an +adversary. + +But we must first learn what Pietism proposed to do before we can +appreciate its historical importance. Dorner holds, with a large number +of others, that this new tendency was a necessary stage in the +development of Protestantism,--a supplement of the Reformation. Though +laughed at for two centuries by the Churchists on the one hand, and by +the Rationalists on the other, it has to-day a firmer hold upon the +respect of those who know its history best than at any former period. +What if Arnold, and Petersen and his wife, did indulge in great +extravagances? Have not the same unpleasant things occurred in the +Church at other times? Yet, because not classed under any sectarian +name, there has been but a transient estimate placed upon them, and +criticism has been merciless. Is not every good institution subject to +perversion at any time? We believe Dorner to be correct, and that Spener +was the veritable successor of Luther and Melanchthon. A recent author, +who has shown a singular facility in grouping historical periods and +discovering their great significance, says: "Pietism went back from the +cold faith of the seventeenth century to the living faith of the +Reformation. But just because this return was vital and produced by the +agency of the Holy Spirit, it could not be termed a literal return. We +must not forget that the orthodoxy of the seventeenth century was only +the extreme elaboration of an error, the beginning of which we find as +far back as Luther's time, and which became more and more a power in the +Church through the influence of Melanchthon. It was this: Mistaking the +faith by which we believe for the faith which is believed. The principle +of the Reformation was justification by faith, not the doctrine of faith +_and_ justification. In reply to the Catholics it was deemed sufficient +to show that this was the true doctrine which points out the way of +salvation to man. And the great danger lay in mistaking faith itself for +the doctrine of faith. Therefore, in the controversies concerning +justifying faith, we find that faith gradually came to be considered in +relation to its doctrinal aspects more than in connection with the +personal, practical, and experimental knowledge of men. In this view +Pietism is an _elaboration_ of the faith of the sixteenth century.... +Without being heterodox, Spener even expressed himself in the most +decided manner in favor of the doctrines of the Church. He would make +faith consist less in the dogmatism of the head than in the motions of +the heart; he would bring the doctrine away from the angry disputes of +the schools and incorporate it into practical life. He was thoroughly +united with the Reformers as to the real signification of justifying +faith, but these contraries which were sought to be reestablished he +rejected.... From Spener's view a new phase of spiritual life began to +pervade the heart. The orthodoxy of the State Church had been accustomed +to consider all baptized persons as true believers if only they had been +educated in wholesome doctrines. There was a general denial of that +living, conscious, self-faith which was vital in Luther, and had +transformed the world. The land, because it was furnished with the +gospel and the sacraments, was considered an evangelical country. The +contrast between mere worldly and spiritual life, between the living and +dead members of the Church, was practically abolished, though there +still remained a theoretical distinction between the visible and +invisible Church. As to the world outside the pale of the Church, the +Jews and Heathen, there was no thought whatever. Men believed they had +done their whole duty when they had roundly combated the other Christian +Churches. Thus lived the State Church in quiet confidence of its own +safety and pure doctrine at the time when the nation was recovering from +the devastations of the Thirty Years' War. 'In the times succeeding the +Reformation,' says a Wuertemberg pastor of the past century, 'the greater +portion of the common people trusted that they would certainly be saved +if they believed correct doctrines; if one is neither a Roman Catholic, +nor a Calvinist, and confesses his opposition, he cannot possibly miss +heaven; holiness is not so necessary after all.'"[24] + +The enemies of Pietism have confounded it with Mysticism. There are +undoubted points in common, but Pietism was aggressive instead of +contemplative; it was practical rather than theoretical. Both systems +made purity of life essential, but Mysticism could not guard against +mental disease, while Pietism enjoyed a long season of healthful life. +The latter was far too much engaged in relieving immediate and pressing +wants to fall into the gross errors which mark almost the entire career +of the former. Pietism was mystical in so far as it made purity of heart +essential to salvation; but it was the very antipodes of Mysticism when +organized and operating against a languid and torpid Church with such +weapons as Spener and his coadjutors employed. Boehme and Spener were +world-wide apart in many respects; but in purity of heart they were +beautifully in unison. + +Pietism commenced upon the principle that the Church was corrupt; that +the ministry were generally guilty of gross neglect; and that the people +were cursed with spiritual death. It proposed as a theological means of +improvement: I. That the scholastic theology, which reigned in the +academies, and was composed of the intricate and disputable doctrines +and obscure and unusual forms of expression, should be totally +abolished. II. That polemical divinity, which comprehended the +controversies subsisting between Christians of different communions, +should be less eagerly studied and less frequently treated, though not +entirely neglected. III. That all mixture of philosophy and human +science with divine wisdom was to be most carefully avoided; that is, +that pagan philosophy and classical learning should be kept distinct +from, and by no means supersede, Biblical theology. But, IV. That, on +the contrary, all those students who were designed for the ministry +should be kept accustomed from their early youth to the perusal and +study of the Holy Scriptures, and be taught a plain system of theology +drawn from these unerring sources of truth. V. That the whole course of +their education should be so directed as to render them useful in life, +by the practical power of their doctrine, and the commanding influence +of their example.[25] + +The founder of Pietism, Philip Jacob Spener, was in many respects the +most remarkable man of his century. He was only thirteen years old at +the close of the Thirty Years' War. His educational advantages were +great; and after completing his theological studies at Strasburg, where +he enjoyed the society and instruction of the younger Buxtorf, he made +the customary tour of the universities. He visited Basle, Tuebingen, +Freiburg, Geneva, and Lyons; spending three years before his return +home. From a child he was noted for his taciturn, peaceful, confiding +disposition; and when he reached manhood these same qualities increased +in strength and beauty. His studies had led him somewhat from the course +of theology--at least certain branches of it--and he became greatly +fascinated with heraldry. But gradually he identified himself with +pastoral life, and into its wants and duties he entered with great +enthusiasm. He was for a short time public preacher in Strasburg, but on +removing from that city he assumed the same office in +Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here the field opened fairly before him, and, +confident of success, he began the work of reform. + +The instruction of children in the doctrines of Christianity, as we have +already said, had been sadly neglected, because the pastors of the +church had committed the task to less competent hands. Spener determined +that he would assume complete control of the matter himself, and, if +possible, teach the children during the week without any cooeperation. +His labors proved a great success; and his reform in catechetical +instruction, not only in Frankfort, but thence into many parts of +Germany, eventuated in one of the chief triumphs of his life. But he had +further noticed that the customary preaching was much above the +capacity, and unsuited to the wants, of the masses. He resolved upon a +simple and perspicuous style of discourse, such as the common mind could +comprehend. But, seeing that this was not enough, he organized weekly +meetings of his hearers, to which they were cordially invited. There he +introduced the themes of the previous Sabbath, explained any difficult +points that were not fully understood, and enlarged on the plain themes +of the gospel. These meetings were the _Collegia Pietatis_, or _Schools +of Devotion_, which gave the first occasion for the reproachful epithet +of Pietism. They brought upon their founder much opposition and odium, +but were destined to produce an abundant harvest throughout the land. +Spener entertained young men at his own house, and prepared them, by +careful instruction and his own godly example, for great ministerial +usefulness. These, too, were nurtured in the _collegia_, and there they +learned how to deal with the uneducated mind and to meet the great wants +of the people. The meetings were, at the outset, scantily attended, but +they increased so much in interest that, first his own dwelling, and +then his church, became crowded to their utmost capacity. + +In 1675 Spener published his great work, _Pia Desideria_. Here he laid +down his platform: _That the word of God should be brought home to the +popular heart; that laymen, when capable and pious, should act as +preachers, thus becoming a valuable ally of the ministry; that deep love +and practical piety are a necessity to every preacher; that kindness, +moderation, and an effort to convince should be observed toward +theological opponents; that great efforts should be made to have worthy +and divinely-called young men properly instructed for the ministry; and +that all preachers should urge upon the people the importance of faith +and its fruits._ This book was the foundation of Spener's greatest +influence and also of the strongest opposition with which he met. As +long as he taught in private he escaped all general antagonism; but on +the publication of his work he became the mark of envy, formalism, and +high-churchism. + +After he was invited to Dresden in 1686, the state church indicated a +decided disapprobation of his measures. He incurred the displeasure of +the Elector by his fearless preaching and novel course of educating the +young. His teaching of the masses drew upon him the charge that "a +court-preacher was invited to Dresden, but behold, nothing but a school +teacher!" He deemed it his duty to accept the invitation of Frederic of +Brandenburg to make Berlin his residence, where, in 1705, he ended his +days, after a life of remarkable usefulness but of unusual strife. + +It would be a pleasure to linger a while in the beautiful scenes which +Spener's life affords us. Endowed with the most childlike nature, he +was nevertheless a lion in contest. And yet who will find any +bitterness in his words; where does he wax angry against his opponent? +He did not shun controversy, because his mission demanded it; but no man +loved peace more than Spener. His mind was always calm; and it was his +lifelong aim to "do no sin." His enemies,--among whom we must not forget +that he had a Schelwig, a Carpzov, an Alberti, and a whole Wittenberg +Faculty,--never denied his amiable disposition; and it was one of his +expressions in late life that "all the attacks of his enemies had never +afflicted him with but one sleepless night." It was his personal +character that went almost as far as his various writings to infuse +practical piety into the church. He was respected by the great and good +throughout the land. Crowned heads from distant parts of the Continent +wrote to him, asking his advice on ecclesiastical questions. He was one +of those men who, like Luther, Wesley, and others, was not blind to the +great service of an extensive correspondence. He answered six hundred +and twenty-two letters during one year, and at the end of that time +there lay three hundred unanswered upon his table. His activity in +composition knew no bounds. For many years of his life he was a member +of the Consistory, and was engaged in its sessions from eight o'clock in +the morning until seven in the evening. But still he found time, +according to Canstein, to publish seven folio volumes, sixty-three +quartos, seven octavos, and forty-six duodecimos; besides very many +introductions and prefaces to the works of friends and admirers, and +republications of practical books suited to the times and the cause he +was serving. After his death his enemies did all in their power to cast +reproach upon his name. They even maligned his moral character, which +had hitherto stood above reproach. It was a grave question at the +hostile universities whether the term _Beatus Spener_ could be used of +him. Professor Teck, of Rostock, published a work _On the Happiness of +those who die in the Lord_, in which he decided that heaven will open +its gates sometimes to the extremely impious who die without any +external mark of repentance, and also to those who die in gross sin; but +not to such a man as Spener. + +The University of Halle was founded for the avowed purpose of promoting +personal piety, Scriptural knowledge, and practical preaching throughout +the land. It had already been a place of instruction, but not of +theological training. The theological faculty was composed of Francke, +Anton, and Breithaupt. These men were deeply imbued with the fervid zeal +of Spener, and set themselves to work to improve and continue what he +had inaugurated. The field was ample, but the task was arduous. While +Spener lived at Dresden, Francke, who taught at Leipsic, enjoyed a brief +personal intercourse with him, and became thoroughly animated with his +spirit. On his return to Leipsic, he commenced exegetical lectures on +various parts of the Bible, and instituted _Collegia Pietatis_ for such +students as felt disposed to attend them. So great was the increase of +attendance, both at the lectures and also at the meetings, that Francke +was suspended and Pietism forbidden. It was, therefore, with a wounded +and injured spirit that he availed himself of the privilege afforded in +the new seat of learning. + +Francke was naturally an impulsive man, and his ardent temperament led +him sometimes into unintended vagaries. An extravagance of his once +caused Spener to remark, that "his friends gave him more trouble than +all his enemies." But he was not more erroneous than most men of the +same type of character; and there is not a real moral or intellectual +blemish upon his reputation. His aim was fixed when he commenced to +teach at Halle; and he prosecuted it with undivided assiduity until the +close of his useful life. The story of his conversion is beautifully +told in his own language. Like Chalmers, he was a minister to others +before his own heart was changed. He was about to preach from the words, +"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, +the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." +He says: "My whole former life came before my eyes just as one sees a +whole city from a lofty spire. At first it seemed as if I could number +all my sins; but soon there opened the great fountain of them--my own +blind unbelief, which had so long deceived me; I was terrified with my +lost condition, and wondered if God were merciful enough to bless me. I +kneeled down and prayed. All doubt vanished; I was assured in my own +heart of the grace of God in Christ. Now I know him, not alone as my God +but as my Father. All melancholy and unrest vanished, and I was so +overcome with joy, that from the fullness of my heart I could praise my +Saviour. With great sorrow I had kneeled; but with wonderful ecstacy I +had risen up. It seemed to me as if my whole previous life had been a +deep sleep, as if I had only been dreaming, and now for the first time +had waked up. I was convinced that the whole world, with all its +temporal joy, could not kindle up such pleasure in my breast." + +A few days afterwards he preached from the same text as before. The +sermon was the first real one that he had preached. Henceforth his heart +was in the work for which God had chosen him. + +He preached in Halle statedly, for, in addition to the duties of the +professor's chair, he was pastor of a church. His ministrations in the +pulpit became extremely popular and attractive. Naturally eloquent, he +won the masses to his ministry; and by his forcible presentation of +truth he molded them into his own methods of faith and thought. Nor was +he less zealous or successful in his theological lectures. He commenced +them in 1698, by a course on the _Introduction to the Old Testament_, +concluding with a second one on the New Testament. + +In 1712, he published his _Hermeneutical Lectures_, containing his +comments on sections and books of Scripture, particularly on the Psalms +and the Gospel of John. In his early life he had observed the dearth of +lectures on the Scriptures; and he accordingly applied himself to remedy +the evil. His principles of instruction were, _first_, that the student +be converted before he be trained for the ministry, otherwise his +theology would be merely a sacred philosophy--_philosophia de rebus +sacris_; _second_, that he be thoroughly taught in the Bible, for "a +theologian is born in the Scriptures." His _Method of Theological Study_ +produced a profound impression, and was the means of regenerating the +prevailing system of theological instruction at the universities. + +But Francke is chiefly known to the present generation by his foundation +of the Orphan House at Halle. This institution was the outgrowth of his +truly practical and beneficent character; and from his day to the +present, it has stood a monument of his strong faith and great humanity. +Its origin was entirely providential. It was already a custom in Halle +for the poor to convene every week at a stated time, and receive the +alms which had been contributed for their support. Francke saw their +weekly gatherings, and resolved to improve the occasion by religious +teaching. But their children were also ignorant, and there was no hope +that the parents would be able to educate them. So he resolved to do +something also in this direction, and secured some money for this +purpose. But yet the parents did not thus apply it; whereupon he placed +a box in his own dwelling, that all who visited him might contribute. He +knew that then he would have the personal distribution of such funds. +During three months one person deposited four thalers and sixteen +groschen; when Francke exclaimed, "That is a noble thing--something good +must be established--with this money I will found a school." Two thalers +were spent for twenty-seven books; but the children brought back only +four out of the whole number that they had taken home. New books were +bought, and henceforth it was required that they be left in the room. At +first Francke's own study was the book depository and school-room; but +in a short time his pupils so greatly increased that he hired adjacent +accommodations. Voluntary contributions came in freely; new buildings +were erected, and teachers provided; and before the death of the +founder, the enterprise had grown into a mammoth institution, celebrated +throughout Europe, and scattering the seeds of truth into all lands.[26] +It became a living proof that Pietism was not only able to combat the +religious errors of the times but also to grapple with the grave wants +of common life. Is not that a good and safe theology, which, in addition +to teaching truth, can also clothe the naked and feed the hungry? +Francke's prayer, so often offered in some secluded corner of the field +or the woods, was answered even before his departure from labor to +reward; "Lord, give me children as plenteous as the dew of the morning; +as the sand upon the sea-shore; as the stars in the heavens; so numerous +that I cannot number them!" + +The theological instruction of Francke and his coadjutors in the +University of Halle was very influential. During the first thirty years +of its history six thousand and thirty-four theologians were trained +within its walls, not to speak of the multitudes who received a thorough +academic and religious instruction in the Orphan House. The Oriental +Theological College, established in connection with the University, +promoted the study of Biblical languages, and originated the first +critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, it founded missions to +the Jews and Mohammedans. From Halle streams of the new life flowed out +until there were traces of reawakening throughout Europe. First, the +larger cities gave signs of returning faith; and the universities which +were most bitter against Spener were influenced by the power of the +teachings of his immediate successors. Switzerland was one of the first +countries to adopt Pietism. Zuerich, Basle, Berne, and all the larger +towns received it with gladness. It penetrated as far east as the +provinces bordering on the Baltic Sea, and as far North as Denmark, +Norway, and Sweden. Many of the Continental courts welcomed it, and +Orphan Houses, after the model of Francke's, became the fashion of the +day. The Reformed church was influenced and impelled by it, and even +England and the Netherlands indicated a strong sympathy for its +practical and evangelical features. No higher tribute can be paid it +than that of Tholuck, who avers, "_that the Protestant church of Germany +has never possessed so many zealous Christian ministers and laymen as in +the first forty years of the eighteenth century_." + +There are two names intimately connected with Pietism in its better +days, which it would be improper to pass over. Arnold, the historian of +Pietism, and Thomasius, the eminent jurist. They were both alike +dangerous to the very cause they sought to befriend. The former, in his +_History of Churches and Heretics_, took such decided ground against the +existing church system that he was fairly charged with being a +Separatist. He attached but little importance to dogmatics, despised +orthodoxy, and inveighed against the church as if she were the veriest +pest in the land. While a student at Wittenberg he applied himself to +the study of Mysticism, and now claimed that its incorporation with +Pietism was the only salvation of Christianity. He held that great sins +had existed in the church ever since the days of the Apostles, the first +century being the only period when it enjoyed comparative purity. +Thomasius, very naturally, held Arnold in high esteem, and lauded his +services in the following language: "He is the only man, or at least the +first, who has avoided the follies into which others have fallen, and +discovered and fully exposed the errors which have been especially +committed by the Englishman Cave; he has maintained that the Church of +Christ, with respect to life and conduct, had begun to fall into decay +immediately after the ascension of our Saviour, and still more after the +death of the Apostles, and that this degeneracy had enormously +increased since the age of Constantine the Great."[27] + +Thomasius, though not personally connected with Pietism, gave it all his +influence. He was Director of the University of Halle, and defended the +Pietists from the standpoint of statesmanship. He believed Pietism the +only means of uprooting the long-existing corruptions of education, +society, and religion. He opposed the custom of teaching and lecturing +in Latin, warmly advocating the use of French, and subsequently of +German. He wished to cultivate the German spirit, and spared no pains to +accomplish his purpose. While yet a teacher at Leipzig he announced a +course of lectures to be delivered in the German language. The outcry +was great against him; but he persevered, and henceforth delivered all +his lectures in his mother tongue. Since his time the use of Latin, as a +colloquial, has gradually decreased, and at the present day the German +is the chief language employed at the universities. Thomasius was also +the first to combat the system of prosecutions for witchcraft, and the +application of torture in criminal trials. He was a thorough and +indefatigable reformer. His name was a tower of strength in his +generation; and he left a vivid impress upon the German mind of the +eighteenth century. He published many works, some of which were directed +against the ministry because of their neglect of duty. + +A new generation of professors arose in Halle. C. B. Michaelis, the +younger Francke, Freilinghausen, the elder Knapp, Callenberg, and +Baumgarten, took the place of their more vigorous predecessors. It is +deplorable to see how Pietism now began to lose its first power and +earnest spirit. The persistent inquiry into scriptural truth passed +over into a tacit acquiescence of the understanding. Reliance was placed +on the convictions, more than on the fruits of study. Spener had blended +the emotions of the mind and heart, reason and faith, harmoniously; but +the later Pietists cast off the former and blindly followed the latter. +Hence they soon found themselves indulging in superstition, and +repeating many of the errors of some of the most deluded Mystics. +Science was frowned upon, because of its supposed conflict with the +letter of Scripture. The language of Spener and Francke, which was full +of practical earnestness, came into disuse. Definitions became loose and +vague. The _Collegia_, which had done so much good, now grew formal, +cold, and disputatious. The missions, which had begun very auspiciously, +dwindled from want of means and men. External life became pharisaical. +Great weight was attached to long prayers. A Duke of Coburg required the +masters of schools to utter a long prayer in his presence, as a test of +fitness for advancement. Pietism grew mystical, ascetic, and +superstitious. Some of its advocates and votaries made great pretensions +to holiness and unusual gifts. This had a tendency to bring the system +into disrepute in certain quarters, though the good influences that it +had exerted still existed and increased. It might disappear, but the +good achieved by it would live after it. But a strong effort was made by +Frederic William I. to maintain its prominence and weight. From 1729 to +1736, he continued his edict that no Lutheran theologian should be +appointed in a Prussian pulpit who had not studied at least two years in +Halle, and received from the faculty a testimonial of his state of +grace. But when he was succeeded by Frederic II., commonly called +Frederic the Great, that University no longer enjoyed the royal +patronage, and Halle, instead of being the school of practical piety and +scriptural study, degenerated into a seminary of Rationalism. + +It was charged against the Pietists that they wrote but little. Writing +was not their mission. It was theirs to act, to reform the practical +life and faith of the people, not to waste all their strength in a war +of books. They wrote what they needed to carry out their lofty aim; and +this was, perhaps, sufficient. They did lack profundity of thought; but, +let it be remembered that their work was restorative, not initial. +Pietism, though it ceased its aggressive power after Francke and +Thomasius, was destined to exert a reproductive power long afterwards. +From their day to the present, whenever there has arisen a great +religious want, the heart of the people has been directed towards this +same agency as a ground of hope. Whatever be said against it, it cannot +be denied that it has succeeded in finding a safe lodgment in the +affections of the evangelical portion of the German church. + +Witness Bengel, who was a Pietist of the Spener school. He was warmly +devoted to the spread of practical truth and a correct understanding of +the Bible. Kahnis says of him: "We might indeed call conscientiousness +the fundamental virtue of Bengel. Whatever he utters, be it in science, +or life, is more mature, more well-weighed, more pithy, more consecrated +than most of what his verbose age has uttered. In the great he saw the +little, in the little the great." In the present century the church has +had recourse to Pietism as its only relief from a devastating +Rationalism. Not the Pietism of Spener and Francke, we acknowledge, but +the same general current belonging to both. Its organ was the +_Evangelical Church Gazette_, in 1827, and among the celebrities who +attached themselves to it we find the names of Heinroth, von Meyer, +Schubert, von Raumer, Steffens, Schnorr, and Olivier. + +Pietism lacked a homogeneous race of teachers. Here lay the secret of +its overthrow. Had the founders been succeeded by men of much the same +spirit, and equally strong intellect, its existence would have been +guaranteed, as far as anything religious can be promised in a country +where there is a state church to control the individual conscience. The +great mistake of Lutheranism was in failing to adopt it as its child. +The skeptical germ which soon afterwards took root, gave evidence that +it could prove its overthrow for a time, at least; but the evils of +Rationalism were partially anticipated by the practical teachings of the +Pietists. Rationalism in Germany, without Pietism as its forerunner, +would have been fatal for centuries. But the relation of these +tendencies, so plainly seen in the ecclesiastical history of Germany, is +one of long standing. From the days of Neo-Platonism to the present they +have existed, the good to balance the evil, Faith to limit Reason. They +have been called by different names; but Christianity could little +afford to do without it or its equivalent, in the past; and the Church +of the Future will still cling as tenaciously and fondly to it or to its +representative. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Auberlen: _Die Goettliche Offenbarung_, vol. I., pp. 278-281. The +second volume of this important work has been completed, but the gifted +author has just died. His book must therefore take its place in the +catalogue of brilliant but hopeless fragments. + +[25] Watson, _Theolog. Dict._ Art. _Protestant Pietists_. + +[26] Schmid, _Geschichte des Pietismus_, pp. 290-293. How greatly this +movement was favored by Providence, may be seen from the Report +presented to King Frederick William I, shortly after Francke's +death:--1. The Normal School with 82 scholars and 70 teachers; 2. The +Latin School of the Orphan House, with 3 Inspectors, 32 teachers, 400 +scholars, and 10 servants; 3. The German Citizens' school, with 4 +Inspectors, 102 Teachers, 1725 Boys and Girls; 4. Orphan Children, 134, +and 10 overseers; 5. Number accommodated at the tables, 251 students, +3600 poor children; 6. Furniture, Apothecary, Bookstore, employing 53 +persons; 7. Institution for women unable to work. + +[27] Schmid, _Geschichte des Pietismus_, pp. 475-486. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE POPULAR PHILOSOPHY OF WOLFF--SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES FROM ABROAD. + + +The struggle between the Pietists and the Orthodox subsided on the +appearance of Wolff's demonstrative philosophy. The church was glad +enough to offer the friendly hand to Pietism when she saw her faith +threatened by this ruthless foe; and if the followers of Spener had +refused to accept it, their success would have been far more probable. +Leibnitz was the father of Wolff's system. Descartes had protested +against any external authority for the first principles of belief. +Leibnitz and Spinoza followed him, though in different directions.[28] +Leibnitz had no system in reality, and it is only from certain +well-known views on particular points that we can infer his general +direction of opinion. He sought to prove the conformity of reason with a +belief in revelation on the principle that two truths cannot contradict +each other. His doctrine of monads and preestablished harmony was +opposed to the scriptural and ecclesiastical doctrine of creation, +inasmuch as by the assumption of the existence of atoms the Creator was +thrown too much in the shade.[29] He wrote his _Theodicee_ for the +benefit of learned and theological circles, and both as a statesman and +author he acquired great celebrity for his vast acquirements and +discriminating mind. + +But the philosophy of Leibnitz was confined to the learned; and had it +been left solely to itself, it is probable that it would never have +attracted great attention or possessed much importance in the history of +thought. But Wolff, who studied all his works with the greatest care, +deduced from them certain summaries of argument, which, with such others +of his own as he felt disposed to incorporate with them, he published +and taught. Whatever censure we may cast upon Wolff, we cannot ignore +his good intentions. Even before his birth, he had been consecrated by +his father to the service of God; and when he was old enough to manifest +his own taste, he showed a strong predilection for theological study. He +says of himself: "Having been devoted to the study of theology by a vow, +I also had chosen it for myself; and my intention has all along been to +serve God in the ministry, even when I was already professor at Halle, +until at length against my will I was led away from it, God having +arranged circumstances in such a manner that I could not carry out this +intention. But having lived in my native place, Breslau, among the +Catholics, and having perceived from my very childhood the zeal of the +Lutherans and Roman Catholics against one another, the idea was always +agitating my mind, whether it would not be possible so distinctly to +show the truth in theology that it would not admit of any contradiction. +When afterwards I learned that the mathematicians were so sure of their +ground that every one must acknowledge it to be true, I was anxious to +study mathematics, for the sake of the method, in order to give +diligence to reduce theology to incontrovertible certainty." These +words explain Wolff's whole system. He would make doctrine so plain by +mathematical demonstration that it must be accepted. But the poison of +his theory lay in the assumption that what could not be mathematically +demonstrated was either not true or not fit to be taught. He sets out +with the principle that the human intellect is capable of knowing truth. +He divides his philosophy into two parts: _first_, the _theoretical_: +_second_, the _practical_. The former he subdivides into logic, +metaphysics, and physics; the latter into morals, natural right, and +politics. He admits a revelation, and proves its possibility by +maintaining that God can do whatever he wishes. But this revelation must +have signs in itself, by which it may be known. _First._ It must contain +something necessary for man to know, which he cannot learn in any other +way. _Second._ The things revealed must not be opposed to the divine +perfections, and they must not be self-contradictory: a thing is above +reason and contrary to reason when opposed to these principles. _Third._ +A divine revelation can contain neither anything which contradicts +reason and experience, nor anything which may be learned from them, for +God is omniscient,--he knows the general as well as the particular, and +he cannot be deceived. Necessary truths are those the contrary of which +is impossible; accidental truths, those of which the contrary is +impossible only under certain conditions. Now, revelation could not +contradict necessary truths; but it may appear to contradict those which +are accidental. Geometrical truths are necessary; and therefore +revelation could not oppose them; but as accidental truths refer to the +changes of natural things, it follows that these may be apparently +contradicted by revelation; though if we search minutely, we shall at +last be able to lift the veil from the contradictions. _Fourth._ +Revelation cannot command anything contrary to the laws of the nature of +existence and of the mind, for whatever is opposed to the laws of nature +is equally opposed to those of reason. _Fifth._ When it can be proved +that he who declares that he has received a divine revelation has +arrived at his knowledge by the natural use of his mental powers, then +his declaration cannot be considered true. _Sixth._ In a revelation all +things ought to be expressed in such words, or by such signs, that he +who is the object of it can clearly recognize the divine action. For God +knows all possible symbolical means of knowledge, and does nothing +without a purpose. + +These views Wolff taught from his university-chair in Halle, and +disseminated throughout the land in publications under various titles. +He aimed to reach not only the young theologians and all who were likely +to wield a great public influence, but to so popularize his system that +the unthinking masses might become his followers. He succeeded. Even +Roman Catholics embraced his tenets, and he was accustomed to say, with +evident satisfaction, that his text-books were used at Ingolstadt, +Vienna, and Rome. The glaring defect of his philosophy was his +application of the formal logical process to theology. He reduced the +examination of truth to a purely mechanical operation. The effect was +soon seen. When his students began to fill the pulpits the people heard +cold and stately logic, extended definitions, and frequent mathematical +phrases. Think of the clergy feeding their flocks on such food as the +following: "_God--a being who supports all the world at one time_;" +"_Preestablished harmony--the eternal union of things_;" "_Ratio +sufficiens--the sufficient ground_;" with many other arid definitions of +the same class. One preacher, in explaining the eighth chapter of +Matthew, thought it necessary, when noticing the fact of Jesus +descending the mountain, to define the term mountain by declaring it to +be "a very elevated place;" and, when discoursing on Jesus stretching +forth his hand and touching the leper, to affirm that "the hand is one +of the members of the body." It is astonishing how quickly the popular +principles and teachings of the followers of Wolff began to supplant +Pietism. In the university and the pulpit there were sad and numerous +evidences of decline. Perhaps no system of philosophy has ever +penetrated the masses as did this of Wolff; for no one has been more +favored with champions who aimed to indoctrinate the unthinking. Old +terms, which had been used by the first Lutherans and Reformed in +common, and by the Pietists with such effectiveness, were now abandoned +for the modern ones of these innovators. Everything that had age on its +side was rejected because of its age. Even the titles of books were +fraught with copious definitions. The Wertheim translation of the Old +Testament was published under the extended name of "_The Divine Writings +before the time of Jesus, the Messiah. The First Part, containing the +Laws of the Israels._" The Wolffian adepts wrote for Moabites, _Moabs_; +for the Apostle Peter, _Peter the Ambassador_. + +Wolff's life was full of incident. The first publications he issued +after his appointment to the mathematical professorship were on subjects +within his appropriate sphere of instruction. Here he first acquired his +fundamental principle of mathematical demonstration applied to theology, +and henceforth his mind was bent on philosophical and theological +themes. We are reminded of the same process of mental action in Bishop +Colenso. In a late catalogue of his works, we have counted twelve +mathematical text-books. These are at least an index of his attachment +to mathematical demonstration; and it is not surprising that an +ill-regulated mind should fall into Wolff's error of applying the same +method to the Scriptures. The Bishop's works find their exact prototype +in the "_Reasonable Thoughts of God_," "_Natural Theology_," and "_Moral +Philosophy_," of Christian Wolff. The mathematical professor at Halle +was not long in exposing his views; and on more than one occasion gave +umbrage to his Pietistic associates. His offence reached its climax when +he delivered a public discourse on the Morals of Confucius, which he +applauded most enthusiastically. The Rector of the university, Francke, +requested the use of the manuscript, which the author refused to grant. +Influence was brought to bear against Wolff at court; and when it was +represented that if his teachings were propagated any further they would +produce defection in the army, Frederic William I. issued a decree of +deposition from his chair, and banishment from his dominions within +forty-eight hours, on penalty of death. This occurred in 1723. After +Frederic the Great ascended the throne, and began to countenance the +increasing skeptical tendencies of the day, he recalled him, in 1740, to +his former position. He was received, it is true, with some enthusiasm, +but his success as a lecturer and preacher had passed its zenith. Of his +reception at Halle after his long absence he thus writes, with no little +sense of self-gratulation: "A great multitude of students rode out of +the city to meet me, in order to invite me formally. They were attended +by six glittering postillions. All the villagers along the roadside came +out of their towns, and anxiously awaited my arrival. When we reached +Halle, all the streets and market-places were filled with an immense +concourse of people, and I celebrated my jubilee amidst a universal +jubilee. In the street, opposite the house which I had rented as my +place of residence, there was gathered a band of music, which received +me and my attendants with joyous strains. The press of the multitude was +so great that I could hardly descend from my carriage and find my way to +my rooms. My arrival was announced on the same evening to the professors +and all the dignitaries of the city. On the following day they called +upon me, and gave me warm greetings of welcome and esteem. Among all the +rest I was received and welcomed by Dr. Lange, who wished me the +greatest success, and assured me of his friendship; of course I promised +to visit him in return." + +Verily this was an epoch in theological history. It proves how +thoroughly the Wolffian philosophy had impregnated the common classes. +They had learned its principles thoroughly, and the lapse of more than a +century has not fully disabused them of its errors. The philosophy of +Kant was the first to supplant the Wolffian in learned circles; but Kant +has had no such popular interpreter as Wolff was of Leibnitz, and hence +his influence, though deep where prevalent, was felt in a more limited +sphere. Wolff cannot be termed a Rationalist in the common acceptation +of the term, though his doctrines contributed to the growth of +neological thinking. Had he been theologian alone, and applied his +principles to the interpretation of Scripture, he would have done much +of Semler's work. It was, therefore, the latter and not the former whom +we would denominate the father of Rationalism. Moreover, Wolff +manifested a strict observance of the ecclesiastical institutions of +his day, and always professed the warmest attachment to the +church,--which was anything but the fact, as far as the followers of +Semler are concerned. Wolff wrote on a circular announcing some +university celebration the following words, which indicate the habit of +his life: "I see, and would like to be present. Yet as I have purposed +to partake of the Lord's Supper on the same day I do not know whether I +shall be able to be present, inasmuch as I should not like to change my +intention; yet I will consider the matter with my minister. Signed, +Christian Wolff, 1717." + +Of the relations of the Wolffian philosophy to the theology of one +century ago, and of its general Rationalistic bearing, Mr. Farrar says, +"The system soon became universally dominant. Its orderly method +possessed the fascination which belongs to any encyclopaedic view of +human knowledge. It coincided, too, with the tone of the age. Really +opposed, as Cartesianism has been in France, to the scholasticism which +still reigned, its dogmatic form nevertheless bore such external +similarity to it that it fell in with the old literary tastes. The evil +effects which it subsequently produced in reference to religion were due +only to the point of view which it ultimately induced. Like Locke's work +on the reasonableness of Christianity, it stimulated intellectual +speculation concerning revelation. By suggesting attempts to deduce _a +priori_ the necessary character of religious truths, it turned men's +attention more than ever away from spiritual religion to theology. The +attempt to demonstrate everything caused dogmas to be viewed apart from +their practical aspect; and men being compelled to discard the previous +method of drawing philosophy out of Scripture, an independent philosophy +was created, and Scripture compared with its discoveries. Philosophy no +longer relied on Scripture, but Scripture rested on philosophy. Dogmatic +theology was made a part of metaphysical philosophy. This was the mode +in which Wolff's philosophy ministered indirectly to the creation of the +disposition to make scriptural dogmas submit to reason, which was +denominated Rationalism. The empire of it was undisputed during the +whole of the middle part of the century, until it was expelled, toward +the close, by the partial introduction of Locke's philosophy, and of the +system of Kant, as well as by the growth of classical erudition, and of +a native literature."[30] + +Wolff was succeeded by a school of no ordinary ability. But his +disciples did not strictly follow him; they went not only the length +that he did, but much farther. Their thinking and literary labor circled +about inspiration. It was evident that they were intent upon solving the +problem and handing the doctrine over to the world as entitled to +respect and unalterable. Baumgarten was the connecting link between the +Pietism of Spener and the Rationalism of Semler. He was the successor of +Wolff in the university-chair of Halle, and, as such, the eyes of the +people were turned toward him. His acquirements were versatile, for he +studied every subject of theology with poetic enthusiasm. Nor was he a +superficial student merely; and his opponents well knew that in him they +had found no mean adept in philosophy, theology, hermeneutics and +ecclesiastical history. His writings bear a strong impress of +Illuminism, but he contributed most to the formation of Rationalistic +theology by training Semler for his great destructive mission. He +acknowledged the presence of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, but reduced +inspiration to an influence which God exercises over the mental +faculties. Both he and Toellner declared that the Spirit had permitted +each writer to compose according to the peculiar powers of his mind, and +to arrange facts according to his own comprehension of them. + +Toellner was a follower of Baumgarten. He was not intent upon any +innovating theories as much as he was desirous to harmonize the old +ecclesiastical system with the new philosophy. He had some views in +common with Wolff; but he totally differed from him in his conception of +mathematical demonstration of theology, and maintained that theology +cannot be mathematically demonstrated, but that its integrity and worth +depend solely upon historical testimony. Does the Christian system have +the authority of history for its defence? If so, it will stand the test +of universal opposition; but, if not, it will fall of its own weight. +The tendency of his deductions was negative, and hence we rank him as no +ordinary agent toward the growth of historic doubt. Here we behold the +germ of such thinking as developed in Strauss' _Life of Jesus_ in the +present century. Toellner held that Scripture is composed of two senses, +the _natural_ and _revealed_. That which is natural is subject to +criticism; but the revealed or spiritual light is always clearer, and +does not call for much inquiry. There may be differences between the +two, but there can be no contradiction. "The revelation in Scripture," +he says, "is a greater and more perfect means of salvation. Both the +natural light and revelation lead the man who follows them to salvation. +_Scripture only more so._" + +The historian cannot fail to observe a systematic and steadfast +development of skepticism in the lands south and west of Germany. Many +causes contributed to its growth in Italy, whose prestige in war, +extensive and still increasing commerce, and ambitious and gifted +rulers, were a powerful stimulus to vigorous thought. The classics +became the favorite study, and all the writings of the ancients were +seized with avidity, to yield, as far as they might, their treasure of +philosophy, history and poetry. Leo X. was notoriously skeptical, and, +as much from sympathy as pride, surrounded himself with the leading +spirits of the literature of the times. With him morality was no +recommendation. Two tendencies took positive form, as the result of the +literary tastes of the court and thinking classes: _first_, a return to +heathenism, produced by the study of the classics; and _second_, a +species of pantheism, produced by philosophy. + +We now come to the Deism of England, which not only succeeded in +corrupting the spiritual life of France, but became directly +incorporated into the theology of Germany. It was the so-called +philosophy of common sense. The most thorough German writer on the +subject, Lechler, has well defined it, "The elevation of natural +religion to be the standard and rule of all positive religion, an +elevation which is supported by free examination by means of thinking." +It started on the principle that reason is the source and measure of +truth; and therefore discarded, as its Rationalistic offspring in +Germany, whatever was miraculous or supernatural in Christianity. There +was much earnestness in some of its champions; nor was there any absence +of warm attachment to the morality and religious influence of the +Scriptures. Thus it differed widely from the flippancy and frivolity of +the Deists of France. We cannot, however, consider Lord Herbert's +serious reflections on the publication of his chief work as a fair +specimen of the tone of his coadjutors. They were mostly inferior to him +in this respect, though it would not be safe to say that their influence +on the public mind of England was less baneful than his. Having finished +his book, _Tractatus de Veritate_, he hesitated before committing it to +the press. "Thus filled," he says, "with doubts, I was on a bright +summer day sitting in my room; my window to the south was open; the sun +shone brightly; not a breeze was stirring. I took my book on Truth into +my hand, threw myself on my knees, and prayed devoutly in the words, 'O +thou one God, thou Author of this light which now shines upon me, thou +Giver of all inward light, I implore thee, according to thine infinite +mercy to pardon my request, which is greater than a sinner should make. +I am not sufficiently convinced whether I may publish this book or not. +If its publication shall be for thy glory, I beseech thee to give me a +sign from Heaven. If not, I will suppress it.' I had scarcely finished +these words when a loud, and yet at the same time a gentle sound came +from heaven, not like any sound on earth. This comforted me in such a +manner, and gave me such a satisfaction, that I considered my prayer as +having been heard." + +Deism in England began with the predominance given to nature by Bacon. +Locke contributed greatly to its formation by discarding the proof of +Christianity by miracles and supernatural observations, but claimed that +nature is of itself sufficient to teach it. Hence, man can draw all +necessary faith from nature. Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, held that +education is inconsistent with true religion, since the earliest pagan +times manifested a higher state of morality than later periods of +culture and refinement. Hobbes considered religion only a sort of +police force, useful solely as an agent of the State to keep the people +within bounds. + +Shaftesbury, the disciple and follower of Locke, addressed himself by +his style to the higher classes. He cultivated the acquaintance of the +rising leaders of skepticism in France and Holland, and continued +through life on terms of cordial intimacy with Bayle, Le Clerc, and +others of kindred spirit. He was relentless in his attacks on revealed +religion. His hostility may be inferred from the fact that Voltaire +termed him even too bitter an opponent of Christianity. Warburton says, +"Mr. Pope told me that, to his knowledge, _The Characteristics_ have +done more harm to revealed religion in England than all the other works +of infidelity together." Collins contributed more than any other author +to the rise of Deism in France. He applied himself to the overthrow of +all faith. Ignoring prophecy, he held that nothing in the Old Testament +has any other than a typical or allegorical bearing upon the New +Testament. + +Wollaston's creed was the pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason +and truth. He was the epicurean of the system which he adopted, and +sought to prove that religion is wholly independent of faith. He first +published a brief outline of his views in a limited number of copies, +but afterwards prepared a new and enlarged edition. Twenty thousand +copies were sold, and six other editions found a ready sale between 1724 +and 1738. Woolston strove to bring the miracles of Christ into contempt. +Mandeville and Morgan, contemporaries of Woolston, wrote against the +state religion. Of Chubb's views we can gather sufficiently from his +three principles: _First._ That Christ requires of men that, with all +their heart and all their soul, they should follow the eternal and +unchangeable precepts of natural morality. _Second._ That men, if they +transgress the laws of morality, must give proofs of true and genuine +repentance, because without such repentance, forgiveness or pardon is +impossible. _Third._ In order more deeply to impress these principles +upon the minds of men, and give them a greater influence upon their +course of action, Jesus Christ has announced to mankind, that God hath +appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, and +acquit and condemn, reward or punish, according as their conduct has +been guided by the precepts which he has laid down. With Bolingbroke's +name closes the succession of the elder school of English Deists. He +wrote against the antiquity of faith, showing bitter hostility to the +Old Testament. His aim, in addition to this antagonism to revelation, +was to found a selfish philosophy. + +Many of the works by these writers were ill-written and lacked depth of +thought. Some were, however, masterpieces of original thinking and +writing. The style of Mandeville, for example, has been eulogized +extravagantly both by Hazlitt and Lord Macaulay. + +It cannot be expected that a movement so extensive as this, and +participated in by the leading literary men of the day would be without +its influence abroad. Its first effect was to elicit great opposition; +and numerous replies poured in from every quarter. Toland's +_Christianity Not Mysterious_ was combated in the year 1760 by +fifty-four rejoinders in England, France and Germany. Up to the same +period, Tindal's _Christianity as Old as the World_ was greeted with one +hundred and six opponents. The Germans repulsed these tendencies bravely +at first, and among others was the gifted and versatile Mosheim, who +delivered public lectures against the influx of Deistical speculations. +But gradually translations were made, and the Germans were soon able to +read those works for themselves. All the Deists were rendered into their +language, and some were honored with many translators. True, there were +replies from the theologians of England immediately upon the appearance +of the works of the leading Deists; but many of them were very feeble, +the puny blows doing more harm than good. When these rejoinders came to +be translated they had almost as deleterious an influence as if they had +been panegyrics instead of well-meant thrusts. John Pye Smith says, +"Translations were made of our Deistical writers of that time, and of a +large number of vindications of Christianity which were published by +some English divines of note in reply to Collins, Tindal, Morgan and +their tribe; and which, in addition to their insipid and unimpassioned +character, involved so much of timid apology and unchristian concession +that they rather aided than obstructed the progress of infidelity." +Through the influence of Baumgarten and others Deism now gained great +favor in Germany. Toland was personally welcomed, flattered and honored +at the very court--that of Frederic William I.--which had banished Wolf, +and made adherence to his doctrines a bar to all preferment. + +There was a speedy adoption of English Deism by France, though the +French had manifested strong attachment to skepticism as far back as the +illustrious reign of Louis XIV., whose court had dictated religion and +literature to Europe. It was in 1688 that Le Vasser wrote: "People only +speak of reason, good taste, the force of intellect, of the advantage of +those who put themselves above the prejudices of education and of the +society in which they were born. Pyrrhonism is now the fashion above +everything else. People think that the legitimate exercise of the mind +consists in not believing rashly, and in knowing how to doubt many +things. What can be more intolerable and humiliating than to see our +pretended great men boast themselves of believing nothing, and of +calling those people simple and credulous who have not perhaps examined +the first proofs of religion?" The condition of things was no better in +the reign of Louis XV., nor indeed at any time during the eighteenth +century. It could not be expected that Rousseau would overpaint the +picture; yet in his _La Nouvelle Heloise_ we find this language: "No +disputing is here heard--that is, in the literary coteries--no epigrams +are made; they reason, but not in the stiff professional tone; you find +fine jokes without puns, wit with reason, principles with freaks, sharp +satire and delicate flattery with serious rules of morality. They speak +of everything in order that every one may have to say something, but +they never exhaust the questions raised; from the dread of getting +tedious they bring them forth only occasionally, shorten them hastily, +and never allow a dispute to arise. Every one informs himself, enjoys +himself, and departs from the others pleased. But what is it that is +learned from these interesting conversations? _One learns to defend with +spirit the cause of untruth, to shake with philosophy all the principles +of virtue, to gloss over with fine syllogisms one's passions and +prejudices in order to give a modern shape to error._ When any one +speaks, it is to a certain extent his dress, not himself, that has an +opinion; and the speaker will change it as often as he will change his +profession. Give him a tie-wig to-day, to-morrow a uniform, and the day +after a mitre, and you will have him defend, in succession, the laws, +despotism, and the Inquisition. There is one kind of reason for the +lawyer, another for the financier, and a third for the soldier. Thus, no +one ever says what he thinks, but what, on account of his interest, he +would make others believe; and his zeal for truth is only a mask for +selfishness." + +This was the basis upon which Voltaire and Rousseau built in France. +What wonder that the one with his pungent sarcasm, popular style and +display of philosophy, and the other with his morbid sentimentalism, +should become the real monarchs not only of their own land, but of +cultivated circles throughout the Continent? There was not the slightest +sympathy between these two men, for they hated each other cordially, and +each was jealous of the other's fame and genius. Voltaire said one day +to Rousseau, who was showing him an _Ode Addressed to Posterity_, "This +is a letter which will never reach the place of its address." At another +time, Voltaire having read a satire of his own composition to Rousseau, +the latter advised him to "suppress it lest it should be imagined that +he had lost his abilities and preserved only his virulence." But +Voltaire was inordinately ambitious; he longed to rise to fame, as on +the wings of the eagle. "How unworthy, and how dull of appreciation is +sluggish France," thought he. For her rewards he had toiled, and +thought, and racked his brain for years. But she was stern, and would +not honor him. He therefore became disgusted with his native land, and +set out for England, whose scientific and theological literature had +already fired his mind. George I. and the Princess of Wales, afterward +Queen Caroline, distinguished him by their attentions, and relieved his +poverty by securing large subscriptions to his works. It was here that +he commenced to lay up a princely fortune; but it was not until the +close of his long and stirring life that he forswore his miserly habits. +He found in the deistical literature of England everything that could +suit his taste and ambition. "Here," reasoned he to himself, "I find +what I never dreamed of before. France would not tolerate these thoughts +if her own sons had given birth to them; but this is England, and we +Frenchmen respect the thinking of the English mind. I will not translate +much, but I will go to work with hearty earnestness, and reproduce in +French literature what I find worthy of it in these free-thinking +masters. May be, after all, I shall become a great man." The plan +succeeded. Voltaire, on his return, became more outspoken in his +infidelity. His star ascended; and he ruled, not by original but by +borrowed lustre. + +Frederic the Great of Prussia was captivated by the skeptical and +literary celebrity of Voltaire. The latter was not long back again in +France before his selfish sensitiveness imagined that all the literary +men of his country had entered into a cabal to deprive him of his fame +and hurl him from the throne of his literary authority. He was therefore +ready to be caught by the most tempting bait; and when Frederic offered +him a pension of twenty-two thousand livres, it was more than the +miserly plagiarist could resist. Of his reception by the king he thus +speaks in his usual style: "I set out for Potsdam in June, 1750. +Astolpha did not meet a kinder reception in the palace of Alcuia. To be +lodged in the same apartments that Marshal Saxe had occupied, to have +the royal cooks at my command when I chose to dine alone, and the royal +coachman when I had an inclination to ride, were trifling favors. Our +suppers were very agreeable. If I am not deceived I think we had much +wit. The king was witty, and gave occasion of wit to others; and what is +still more extraordinary, I never found myself so much at my ease; I +worked two hours a day with his majesty; corrected his works; and never +failed highly to praise whatever was worthy of praise, though I rejected +the dross. I gave him details of all that was necessary in rhetoric and +criticism for his use: he profited by my advice, and his genius assisted +him more effectually than my lessons." + +But matters did not move on a great while thus harmoniously, for +Voltaire, becoming complicated in personal difficulties with greater +favorites of Frederic, received the frown of the man he had so much +flattered, and whose purse had been enriching his coffers. The skeptic +returned to France, wrote other works, settled near the romantic shore +of Lake Geneva, and returned honored, great, and feasted to Paris. +Indulging in unaccustomed excesses, his frail and aged body sank beneath +the weight. But Frederic and Voltaire maintained a correspondence many +years after the flatterer's disgrace. Full of trouble, haunted by dreams +of conspiracy and of poverty, successful in achieving more evil than +usually falls to the lot of a single mind, Voltaire passed from the +society of men to the presence of God. It has been truthfully said of +him in proof of his inconsistency, that he was a free thinker at London, +a Cartesian at Versailles, a Christian at Nancy, and an infidel at +Berlin. + +Rousseau sought to establish the proposition that the progress of +scientific education has always involved the decay of moral education. +With Lord Herbert he held that barbarism has ever been the condition of +greatest moral power. A sentiment from his _Emile_ furnishes the key to +his creed: "Everything is good when it comes forth from the hand of the +Creator; everything degenerates under man's hand. In the state in which +things now are, a man who from the moment of his birth would live among +others, would, if left to himself, be most disfigured. Prejudices, +authority, constraint, example, all social institutions which now +depress us, would choke nature in him, and nothing would be put in its +stead. He would resemble a young tree which, growing up accidentally in +the street, would soon pine away in consequence of the passers-by +pushing it from all sides, and bending it in all directions." Rousseau +wrote with great earnestness, and possessed the faculty of inspiring his +readers with an enthusiastic admiration of his theories. His romances +misled many thousands, and were the most popular productions of his +times. Though he and Voltaire were the exponents of French Deism, they +were greatly aided in the dissemination of skeptical doctrines by +Diderot, d'Alembert, Helvetius, d'Argent, de la Mettrie, and others. +Bayle, in his Dictionary, appealed to the learned circles; and, not +content to give only historical facts, he ventured upon the origination +or reproduction of those new skeptical opinions which captivated +unthinking multitudes. + +The Deism of France was now a coadjutor with that of England in the +devastation of Germany. The throne of Frederic II. was the exponent and +defender of the hollow creed. The military successes of that king gave +him an authority that few monarchs have been able to wield, while his +well-known literary taste and capacity enlisted the admiration of men of +culture throughout the Continent. Born to bear the sword, he surprised +his subjects by the same felicity in the use of the pen; and the man +who could leave to his successors a treasury with a surplus of +seventy-two millions of thalers, an army of two hundred and twenty +thousand men, a kingdom increased by twenty-nine thousand square miles, +and a people grown since his accession from two millions to thrice that +number, was not a king who could be without great moral weight among his +own subjects. And it was known that he was a skeptic, for he made no +secret of it. No traces of the old Pietism of his harsh father were +visible in the son. Gathering around him such men as Voltaire, La +Mettrie, Maupertuis, and others whom his gold could attach to him, he +was the same king in faith and literature that he was in politics. +Claiming to be a Deist, it is probable that he was a very liberal one. +It is more than likely that he was truthful in his description of +himself when he wrote to d'Alembert that he had never lived under the +same roof with religion. He claimed for his meanest subjects the right +to serve God in their own way; but all the power of his example was at +work in drawing the people from the old faith. He hesitated not to +supplant evangelical professors and pastors by free-thinkers, and at any +time to bring ridicule on any religious fact or custom. That +thin-visaged man in top boots and cocked hat, surrounded by his infidels +and his dogs at Sans Souci, dictated faith to Berlin and to Europe. He +would have no one within the sunshine of royalty whom he could not use +as he wished; and just as soon as Voltaire would be himself he became +disgraced. But Frederic lived to see the day when insubordination sprang +up in his army, and in many departments of public life. It came from the +abnegation of evangelical faith. And it is no wonder that when the old +king saw the disastrous effects of his own theories upon his subjects, +he said he would willingly give his best battle to place his people +where he found them at his father's death. But the seed had been sown, +and Prussia was destined to be only a part of the harvest-field of +tares. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] Farrar, _Critical History of Free Thought_, p. 214. + +[29] Hagenbach, _History of Doctrines_, vol. 2, p. 340. + +[30] _Critical History of Free Thought_, pp. 215-216. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SEMLER AND THE DESTRUCTIVE SCHOOL. + +1750-1810. + + +The foreign influences being fairly introduced, it now remained to be +seen what course the German church would adopt respecting them. The +process of incorporation was rapid. A remarkable activity of mind was +observable in the theological world, and men of great learning and keen +intellect began to apply the deductions of foreign naturalism to the +sacred oracles. No one can claim that the interpretation of the +Scriptures rested at this time on a pure and solid basis; and it is +therefore not remarkable that those men who had no special predilection +for the doctrine of inspiration should silently submit to the views of +the orthodox believers of their time. The divine origin of Hebrew points +and accents was rigidly contended for; and Michaelis only fell in with +the accustomed current when, in his early life, he wrote a work in their +defence. The theory that errors of transcription might possibly have +crept into the text, was totally rejected. No such thing could, by any +contingency, occur. The fable of Aristeas was still considered worthy a +place in the canon. The sanctity of the Hebrew language, and other +Rabbinical notions, were defended. Christ was discovered in every book +of the Old Testament; the perfect purity of the Greek of the New +Testament was held; and fabulous accounts of early martyrs and +miraculous legends were elevated to the same standard of authority with +the gospels. What wonder, then, that when such absurdities were +entertained by the evangelical portion of the church the temptation of +others to skepticism was so great? Men like Ernesti could not resist the +enticement to combat such a state of criticism; and he gave himself to +the task with all the ardor of his nature. + +He was the classic scholar of his day. The purity of his diction and the +fertility of his authorship gained him a hearing among the educated and +refined. His word became law. In his case, as with many others of his +countrymen both before and after him, his theological tastes gave him +far more authority than his merely linguistic and literary attainments +could have gained for him. He was distinguished as a preacher not less +than as a scholar. Enamored with the old classic times, the atmosphere +of Greece in her glory of taste and culture, and of Rome in her lustre +of victory and law made him impatient of the dull theology of his day. +He lived not in Germany, but in the temples and bowers of paganism. His +Latinity was scarcely inferior to the flowing utterances of his heathen +masters. He edited many classical works, and succeeded in regenerating +the humanistic studies of Europe. For this all honor be given him; but +he did not rest here. He examined the New Testament with the critic's +scalpel, and applied the principles of ordinary interpretation to the +word of God. He held that Moses should receive no better treatment than +Cicero or Tacitus. Logos was _reason_ and _wisdom_ in the Greek +writings; why should it mean Christ or the Word when we find it in the +gospel of John? Regeneration need not be surrounded with a saintly +halo; it is absurd to suppose that it can mean any more than reception +into a religious society. The Holy Spirit does not communicate divine +influences, but certain praiseworthy qualities. Unity with the Father is +mere unity of disposition or will. The Old Testament is very good in its +way, but it certainly cannot be intended for all mankind; since many +parts can have no salutary influence whatever on the heart and life. It +might be of some use to the Jews, but since we are so far beyond them it +is quite out of place for us. + +Both Grotius and Wetstein had been the forerunners of Ernesti in this +method of interpretation. What he wrought against the New Testament had +its counterpart in the mischief effected by John David Michaelis against +the Old. This theologian was profoundly learned in the Oriental +languages, but he was a reckless and irreverent critic. He made light of +many of the occurrences of the Old Testament, and whenever the students +applauded one of his obscene jokes, he was tickled into childishness. He +made no claim to an experimental acquaintance with the operations of the +Holy Spirit, and used his position as theological professor and lecturer +only as the stepping-stone to money and fame. He would make Moses a very +good sort of statesman, but took care to cast censure upon him whenever +the feeblest occasion was offered. Still he did not go so far as to +cause great offense to his Jewish readers, who were very numerous at +that time, for that would have endangered the pecuniary profits from his +books. He lectured on every subject that came in his way, and discussed +from his chair natural science, politics, agriculture, and +horse-breeding, with as much respect and reverence as the song of Moses +or the utterances of Isaiah. He carried Ernesti's principles a step +farther than that scholar had done. He held that it is necessary not +only to understand the situation and circumstances of the writer and +people at the time and place in which the books were written, and the +language and history of the time, but all things connected with their +moral and physical character. The critic must also be conversant with +everything relating to those nations with whom the Jews associated, and +know just how far the latter received their opinions and customs from +abroad. + +There have been few men who have shown greater boldness in assaulting +the Christian faith than Semler, the father of the destructive school of +Rationalism. Reared in the lap of the sternest Pietism, he found himself +a student at Halle pursuing his theological curriculum. He was one of +the charmed disciples at Baumgarten's feet, but it was reserved for the +pupil to accomplish far more than the master had ever anticipated. +Gradually the old faith claimed him only by a slight hold; and when, +while yet a student, he drew the subtle distinction between theology and +religion, he, in that act, gave the parting hand to evangelical faith. +Then step by step he descended, until he looked at the oracles of God +with no more credence in their inspiration and divine claims than his +master before him. In his turn he became professor; and that was a dark +day for Germany and Protestantism when he read his first lecture to his +auditory. He studied the Scriptures while laboring under the conviction +that people worship the Bible instead of the universal Father; and he +seemed to say within himself: "I will destroy this vain idolatry, if it +take bread from my wife and children: if life be lost in the effort." So +he set himself to work with a will. He was in a difficulty concerning +the want of understanding as to the number of sacred books. He consulted +the Jews of Palestine, and they replied "twenty-four;" he went to the +Alexandrians, and they answered "a greater number than that;" and to the +Samaritans, who stoutly held "that only the five books of Moses have a +just claim to divine authority." With such difference of opinion among +those who ought to know all about the Holy Scriptures, Semler, +confounded and defiant, esteemed himself a judge on his individual +responsibility. He consequently began to examine the merits of each +part. And first of all, he must determine what is the proof of the +inspiration of a book. This he decided to be the inward conviction of +our mind that what it conveys to us is truth. Certainly, reason cannot +be sunk so low as to discard its functions of judgment. And did not +Christ use his natural faculties? Letting reason, therefore, be umpire, +he concluded that the books of Chronicles, Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, +and the Song of Solomon must be rejected; that Joshua, Judges, the books +of Samuel, Kings, and Daniel, are doubtful at best; that the Proverbs of +Solomon may be _his_ or the joint production of a number of tolerably +gifted men; and that the Pentateuch, and especially Genesis, is a mere +collection of legendary fragments. The New Testament has some good +qualities, which are wanting in the Old; but there are parts of it +positively injurious to the church. The Apocalypse of John, for example, +can only be held by every calm critic as the work of a wild fanatic. As +to the gospels, their authenticity and integrity are very doubtful, and +that of John is the only one in any wise adapted to the present state of +the world; since he alone is free from the Jewish spirit. The general +epistles were written solely for the unification of the struggling +parties into which the early church had unfortunately split. + +We now come to the famous _Accommodation-Theory_. Christ and his +apostles taught doctrines of such nature and by such method as were +compatible with the peculiarities of their condition. They adapted +themselves to the barbarism and coexistent prejudices of the people; and +hence we can only reconcile much that they taught by their disposition +to cater to the corrupt taste of their time. The Jews already possessed +many notions which it would not be policy in Christ to annihilate; +hence, said Semler, he reclothed them, and gave them a slight admixture +of truth. Thus he reduced Christ's utterances concerning angels, the +second coming of the Messiah, the last Judgment, demons, resurrection of +the dead, and inspiration of the Scripture, to so many _accommodations_ +to prevailing errors. Semler had some indistinct faith in these revealed +truths, but the stress which Christ laid upon them was, in his opinion, +a mere stroke of policy. This theory he had been maturing for some time, +and he first made it public in the preface to his _Paraphrase of the +Epistle to the Romans_. + +Another distinction which Semler drew in connection with his new method +of criticism, and somewhat allied to the details of his +accommodation-theory, was between the local and temporary, the permanent +and eternal, in the Scriptures. A large portion of the Bible, he held, +is only ephemeral, and was never intended to be anything else. There was +a local interest in the accounts of the writers; but after the change of +government, or the lapse of a generation or two, they had no further +application to mankind. Nor do they now meet the wants of the world; +they are only the obsolete machinery of a superseded civilization. +Semler bitterly complained of Ernesti by charging him with failing to +fix the time and locality of the circumstances of the Scriptures. A few +specimens will show how the latter strove to meet the great want. The +coming of our Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 7, is only the dawn of a temporal +kingdom; "Christ is a stumbling-block to the Jews," because he would not +throw off the Roman yoke as his countrymen had fondly hoped; the +Apostle's determination "to know nothing but Jesus Christ crucified," +meant that he knew nothing whatever of the second coming of Christ; "the +Spirit searching the deep things of God" leads us to know that we can +understand the dark things of the Prophets; "the creature which is made +subject to vanity" is the Roman world still pursuing its idolatry; the +demoniacs are mad men whom it was only necessary to bind in order to +render perfectly harmless. With such a system of interpretation as this, +no one who adopted it could pretend to assign for himself a limit to his +skepticism. Whatever defied the critic's acumen or the believer's +spiritual grasp was unraveled on the principle that it was local and +temporary. Surely Rationalism was making a bold stroke for supremacy, +and it had the rare fortune of possessing a man of Semler's versatile +taste and boldness of utterance. + +In one aspect he came into harmony with the English Deists, though his +praise of them was extremely moderate. He maintained that they had done +more good than harm; but it was only the best of them whom he really +admired. He silently repudiated the volatile French school, the learned +Bayle being the only one of the number whom he mentioned with any degree +of satisfaction. The view by which he came into nearest relation to the +free-thinkers of England was, that the Bible is but the republication of +the religion of nature. He held that the world had been taught religion +long before the Scriptures were written; though he confessed that in +them we find it more clearly stated and more rigidly enjoined than +anywhere else. Among the mass of natural teachings in the Bible we +occasionally come across a modicum of eternal truth; but the seeker is +very seldom rewarded with a real gem of permanent value. The Jews were +grossly ignorant of all important spiritual light. Their chief idea of +Jehovah was that he was their national God; and their religion was +purely one of circumstances and ceremonies. Moses had some idea of the +soul's immortality, but his countrymen were not so highly favored as +himself. The Messiah of the Old Testament was a very vague personage; +and indistinct indeed must have been the Jewish idea of a coming +Redeemer. + +But it was not here that Semler won his greatest victories. His chief +triumph was against the history and doctrinal authority of the church. +His mind had been thoroughly imbued with a disgust at what was ancient +and revered. He appeared to despise the antiquities of the church simply +because they were antiquities. What was new and fresh, was, with him, +worthy of unbounded admiration and speedy adoption. His prejudice +against the Fathers may have been imbibed in part from the Reformers; +but, however derived, his distaste and censure knew no bounds. All the +early Christian writers, he believed, were brimful of imperfections. +Tertullian was fanciful, and Augustine captious. So persistent were his +efforts against the traditional authority of the church that they +endangered the very foundations of German Protestantism. One would have +thought him at times exhausted of strength; but no sooner did the +thinking public recover from one surprise than it was startled by +another attack. The church reeled beneath his invasion of her doctrinal +and historical authority. But there was a limit to her patience. To call +those heroic standard-bearers of her early faith fanatics and +visionaries was quite too much for her to endure. + +It now remained to be seen whether Semler's boldness would overleap +itself, or prove the ruin of the religious spirit of the Continent for +generations. The result, whatever it might be, was soon to be decided. +For such views as he was propagating throughout the Protestant church of +Germany could not fail to determine speedily the drift of the public +sentiment of his day. + +His work, though destructive, was in conflict with the pure beauty of +his private life. And here we look at him as one of the enigmas of human +biography. True to his tenet that a man's public teachings need not +influence his personal living, he was at once a teacher of skepticism +and an example of piety. His Moravian origin and Pietistic training he +could never forget; nor do we believe he attempted it. No doubt the +asperity that he witnessed at Halle did much to repel him from the +harsher side of Pietism. When he heard his room-mate praying aloud three +hours a day upon his knees; and when he was advised to lay aside all +extensive studies, because he would never be converted while pursuing +them, he began to question whether intellectual progress were compatible +with deep piety. The conclusion at which he arrived was against the +intellectuality of the creed of Spener, but in favor of the spiritual +purity of the life of his disciples. Through Semler's entire career we +can find traces of that devoted spirit which had shined so brightly in +his early youth, and which, in late life, he was not ashamed to confess. +"There was no corner in the whole house," said he, "where I did not +kneel, and pray, and weep alone that God might, out of his infinite +mercy, pardon my sins. I felt that I was under the bondage of the law. +Moravian songs seemed to be of very little help to me. I examined myself +carefully to see whether or not I clung to any sin either consciously or +ignorantly. I reproached myself several times for only giving one penny +to the poor-collection when I had several pence in my pocket. My father +would give me more the next time to make up my deficiency, and this was +a great delight to me. It is now one of the pleasantest memories of my +university-life that I used to give pieces of money to the poor." + +His domestic life was very beautiful. He did not remain alone in his +study, where most literary men love to be. But wherever his children +were playing, or his wife knitting or spinning, he was most happy to +pursue his studies and write his books. He gives the following picture: +"We had the children continually about us, when they were not under the +care of their teachers. Then we would have them read, or in turn sing a +Psalm or a hymn, or learn some passage from a good book. We sang with +them, and asked them questions in what they had been studying. They knew +Gellert's songs by rote. There was nothing but peace and contentment in +our circle. The servants never saw or heard anything unpleasant. Every +little disturbance was hushed at once; and all the family felt the power +of my wife in our household arrangements; and our reciprocal love was +apparent to every one. I put all the money matters into her hands; she +paid the debts and received the revenue. Thus passed on twenty years of +beautiful uniformity; and parents and children felt that we were dearer +to each other than was all the world besides. We all met faithfully our +duties to each other. But little had then been written on domestic +training, yet we created our ideas from the pure fountain of religion; +and though we were deprived of much of the glitter of human life, we +enjoyed its necessities and its beauty." + +When such ties unite a family we are not surprised at the spirit with +which death is met by a carefully nurtured child. The account is from +Semler's own pen. His daughter, then twenty-one years of age, was on her +death-bed, hastening to join her mother, who but shortly before had been +borne from the threshold. "About nine o'clock," wrote the bereaved +father, "I again pronounced the benediction upon her. With a breaking +heart I lay down to sleep a little. She sent for me, and addressed me +thus: 'Pardon me, my dear father, I am so needy; and do help me to die +with that faith and determination which your Christian daughter should +possess.' My heart took courage, and I spoke to her of the glories of +the heavenly world which would soon break upon her. She sang snatches of +sweet songs, following which I said but little. When I addressed her, +'My dear daughter, you will soon rejoin your noble mother,' she +answered, 'Oh, yes, and what rapture will I enjoy!' I fell down at her +bedside, and again committed her soul to the almighty and enduring care +of God. Then just before I went to my lecture I went to see her again: I +asked her if she still remembered the hymn, 'Thou art mine, because I +hold thee;' when she said, 'Oh yes,' and repeated the verse, 'O Lord my +refuge, Fountain of my Joys.' 'Yes, eternal,' I added. I left her, +thinking that she might last considerably longer. But I was suddenly +called from my lecture, when I again committed her grand spirit to God +who gave it, and closed her eyes myself. My bitter grief now subsided +into calm affliction, and a sweet acquiescence with the wise will of +God. Now I know what the real joy is of having seen a child die so +calmly, and of feeling that I had some share in the training that could +end so triumphantly. And I still publicly thank those of her teachers +who have contributed to the formation of her character. Therefore, when +some would in our days advocate an unchristian education, I can speak +with the light of experience, when I earnestly recommend to all pious +and provident parents to give their children a good Christian training. +Thus Christian-like and beautifully have Christian-trained people been +dying these many centuries." + +It is astonishing that a man could live as purely and devotedly as +Semler, and yet make the gulf so wide between private faith and public +instruction. We attribute no evil intention to him in his theological +labors; these were the result of his own mental defects. He was a +careless writer, and not a close thinker. He read history loosely, and +the philosophy of the Christian system was unperceived and unappreciated +by him. He looked at single defects, and magnified them to such an +extent that they obscured whole mines of truth and virtue. Having +conceived a vague idea of his theme, he wrote hurriedly upon it. He was +impelled by his previous notions and the excitement of the hour. He had +a very retentive memory, but it was no aid to correct reasoning. When he +saw one evil of the Fathers, a mistake of the church, or a defect in her +doctrine, he generalized it until he believed error to be the rule +instead of the exception. It has been said that, toward the close of his +life, he regretted his theological instructions; but in a conversation +two days before his death he betrayed the same skeptical views that had +distinguished his life. His method of skeptical-historical criticism was +the poison which, having been once introduced into the literature and +pulpits of the church, produced wide-spread and long-seated disease. + +Semler was not the founder of a school, for he advanced no elaborate +system and possessed no organizing power. Great as were the results of +his labors, no one was more surprised at them than himself. Two or three +immediate disciples, who had heard him lecture, were enamored of his +theories, but as they were men of moderate capacity their activity +produced no permanent effect upon the public mind. It was in another +respect that he was mighty. Some of his contemporaries who taught in +other universities seized upon his tenets and began to propagate them +vigorously. They made great capital out of them for themselves. Semler +invaded and overthrew what was left of the popular faith in inspiration +after the labors of Wolf, but here he stopped. His adherents and +imitators commenced with his abnegation of inspiration, and made it the +preparatory step for their attempted annihilation of revelation itself. +Soon the theological press teemed with blasphemous publications against +the Scriptures; and men of all the schools of learning gave themselves +to the work of instruction. Goettingen, Jena, Helmstedt, and +Frankfort-on-the-Oder were no longer schools of prophets, but of +Rationalists and Illuminists. + +Griesbach pursued his skeptical investigations for the establishment of +natural religion and others aided him in his undertaking. But the men +of this class were not the principal agents of the complete ruin of the +religious vitality of the people. We turn to Edelmann and Bahrdt, two of +the most decided enemies of Christianity who have appeared in these +later centuries. + +The former was the better man, but his career brought discredit on +private virtue and public morality. In the early part of his life he was +blameless, but he subsequently betrayed all the personal weakness which +his skepticism tended to engender. We get a fair portrait of him from +the pen of one of his countrymen, Kahnis: "What Edelmann wished was +nothing new," writes this author; "after the manner of all adherents of +Illuminism, he wished to reduce all positive religions to natural +religion. The positive heathenish religions stand, to him, on a level +with Judaism and Christianity. He is more just toward heathenism than +toward Judaism, and more just toward Judaism than toward Christianity. +Everything positive in religion is, as such, superstition. Christ was a +mere man, whose chief merit consists in the struggle against +superstition. What he taught, and what he was anxious for, no one, +however, may attempt to learn from the New Testament writings, inasmuch +as these were forged as late as the time of Constantine. All which the +church teaches of his divinity, of his merits, of the gracious influence +of the Holy Spirit, is absurd. There is no rule of truth but reason, and +it manifests its truths directly by a peculiar sense. Whatever this +sense says is true. It is this sense which perceives the world. The +reality of everything which exists is God. In the proper sense there +can, therefore, not exist any atheist, because every one who admits the +reality of the world admits also the reality of God. God is not a +person--least of all are there three persons in God. If God be the +substance in all the phenomena, then it follows of itself that God +cannot be thought of without the world, and hence that the world has no +more had an origin than it will have an end. One may call the world the +body of God, the shadow of God, the son of God. The spirit of God is in +all that exists. It is ridiculous to ascribe inspiration to special +persons only; every one ought to be a Christ, a prophet, an inspired +man. The human spirit, being a breath of God, does not perish; our +spirit, separated from its body by death, enters into a connection with +some other body. Thus Edelmann taught a kind of metempsychosis. What he +taught had been thoroughly and ingeniously said in France and England; +but from a German theologian, and that with such eloquent coarseness, +with such a mastery in expatiating in blasphemy, such things were +unheard of. But as yet the faith of the church was a power in Germany!" + +From Edelmann the transition is easy to the reckless and vicious Bahrdt. +This man stands among the first of those who have brought dishonor upon +the sacred vocation. What Jeffreys is to the judicial history of +England, Bahrdt is to the religious history of German Protestantism. +Whatever he touched was disgraced by the vileness of his heart and the +satanic daring of his mind. He heard theological lectures. Thinking that +in this field he could infuse most venom and reap a greater harvest of +gold than in any other, he stripped for the undertaking. While a mere +youth he gained, by his tricky management, a professor's chair. He +blasphemed to his auditors by day, while at night he surrendered himself +to the corruptions of the gambling-room, the beer-cellar and the house +of prostitution. The slave of passion and of doubt, he was, of all his +contemporaries, the most loud-spoken against the claims of God's truth, +and adherence to the canons of the church. His mind was quick, active, +and penetrating. Seizing the pen, he invaded the sanctity of every +doctrine that stood in the way of his corrupt theories. He took up the +Bible with sacrilegious purpose, and made it the plaything of his +vicious heart. He sneered at what was revered by the church and the good +men of past ages, with the kind of levity that should greet the recital +of the stories of _Sinbad the Sailor_ and the _Wonderful Lamp_. + +He published many works, the aim of all being to infuse into the masses +a contempt of the received Scriptures. He issued a travesty of the New +Testament under the title of _The New Testament_, or _The Newest +Instructions from God through Jesus and his Apostles_. He did just what +he pleased with the miracles and words of Christ. He would convert +dialogue into parable, and make any passage, however grave in import, +minister to his unsanctified purpose. He banished such expressions as +'kingdom of God,' 'holiness,' 'sanctification,' 'Saviour,' 'Redeemer,' +'way of salvation,' 'Holy Ghost,' 'name of Jesus,' and all other terms +that could leave the impression of inspiration and divine presence. + +But corrupt as the church was, it was not ready for this fearful leap; +therefore Bahrdt received a torrent of abuse. Banished and hunted by +opposition, he gained many adherents from the force of the very arrows +discharged against him. He had fallen from the height of faith which he +occupied when he went to Giessen, a fact which he refers to in his +autobiography: "I came to Giessen," says he, "as yet very orthodox. My +belief in the divinity of the Scriptures, in the direct mission of +Jesus, in his miraculous history, in the Trinity, in the gifts of +grace, in natural corruption, in justification of the sinner by laying +hold of the merits of Christ, and especially in the whole theory of +satisfaction, seemed to be immovable. It was only the manner in which +three persons were to be in one God, which had engaged my reason. I had +only explained to myself a little better the work of the Holy Spirit, so +as not to exclude man's activity. I had limited a little the idea of +original sin; and in the doctrine of the atonement and justification, I +had endeavored to uphold the value of virtue, and had cleared myself +from the error that God, in his grace, should not pay any regard at all +to human virtuous zeal. That in the doctrine of the Lord's Supper I was +more Reformed than Lutheran, will be supposed as a matter of course." + +But in due time he dropped these points of belief, one by one, until he +indulged in all the illicit extravagances of the radical skeptics of +France. The opposition he met with was a sore rebuke, but it failed to +cure him. He set out for a journey to England and Holland with but three +florins in his purse, and he suffered much by the way. He came home +again only to find new edicts against him. On arriving at Halle, where +he had once been honored, he was met with the following repulse from the +faculty, at whose head stood Semler, the father of his doubt: "Our +vocation demands not only that we should prevent the dissemination of +directly irreligious opinions, but also that we should watch over the +doctrines which are contained in Holy Scripture, and, in conformity with +it, in the _Augsburg Confession of Faith_." + +He labored as an educator, preacher, professor, and author. He made all +his enterprises subservient to the dearest object of his life,--money. +He wrote plain books for the masses, and his writings were perused +alike in palace and cottage. While a resident in Halle he established an +inn in the suburbs of the city where his depraved nature was permitted +to indulge in those nameless liberties unbecoming, not only the +theologian, but the rational man. His _liaison_ with the servant-girl in +his employ made his wife an object of public pity, and we can easily +understand his injustice to the latter when he tells us himself that he +had never loved with passion. His death was of a piece with his life. +Having been a public frequenter of brothels and the associate of the +loosest company, he died like the libertine. He was taken off by +syphilis. + +It is not necessary to enlarge upon the lesson of Bahrdt's life. He was +the German crystallization of all the worst elements of French +skepticism. He began his work with an evil purpose, and never sought the +wisdom of God who promises to give liberally to all who ask him. The +infamy of his life was soon forgotten, and only his teachings remained +to corrupt the young and injure the mature of the land. While his love +of money controlled his matrimonial alliances and literary labors, his +hatred of revealed religion distorted his whole moral and intellectual +nature. He is illustrative of the certain doom which awaits the man who +commits himself to the sole guidance of his doubts. Semler's moral life +was _in spite_ of erroneous opinions; Bahrdt's was in _conformity_ with +them. And what the latter was in his career and death is the best +comment that can be written on the natural effect of Rationalism. Would +that he had been the only warning; but he had his followers when his +creed became the fashion of the German church. The depth of his infamy +is only aggravated by the holy sphere in which he wrought fearful havoc +upon the succeeding generation. The Old Play says truly: + + "That sin does ten times aggravate itself, + That is committed in an holy place; + An evil deed done by authority + Is sin and subornation; deck an ape + In tissue, and the beauty of the robe + Adds but the greater scorn unto the beast; + The poison shows worst in a golden cup; + Dark night seems darker by the lightning's flash; + Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds; + And every glory that inclines to sin, + The shame is trebled by the opposite." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONTRIBUTIONS OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. + + +The views of Semler, possessing great power of fascination, soon gained +popular strength. As a result, the strictly literary tastes of the +people took a theological turn and the Bible became the theme of every +aspirant to authorship. As no system had yet been advanced by the +Rationalists, there was wide range for doctrinal and exegetical +discussion. The devoted Pietists, who were now in the background, looked +on in amazement as they trembled for the pillars of faith. They knew not +what to do. Many of their number had proved themselves fanatics and +brought odium upon the revered names of Spener and Francke. Their +enemies were traveling in foreign lands, ransacking the libraries of +other tongues to bring home the poisonous seeds of doubt. At home, the +University was the training school of ungoverned criticism. History, +science, literature, and philology were only prized according to the +measure of strength they possessed to combat the great claims of the +orthodox church. Besides, the Rationalists seemed to be impartial +inquirers. They set themselves to understand the Scriptural lands and +languages, while their progress in recent Biblical literature gained for +them the respect of many who, though less learned, were more +evangelical. The masses have always paid homage to learning, and in this +case, it was the attainments of the Illuminists which gave them a +standing denied to the friends of the Bible. + +The times were all astir with the evidences of mental progression. There +was now a resurrection of European activity. Look whither you will, +there was nowhere either the spirit of sleep or of sloth. The science of +government, the beauties of aesthetic culture, the discoveries of the +material world, and the long-sealed mysteries of philology, were each +the centre of a host of admirers and votaries. As in the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries Europe arose from the torpidity of the Middle Ages, +so did the eighteenth century witness a new revival from the darkness +and sluggishness of Continental Protestantism. There appeared to be a +universal repudiation of old methods, and a new civilization was now the +aim of every class of literary adventurers. Semler had struck the +key-note of human pride. He had so flattered his race by saying that the +Bible was not so sacred as to be exempt from criticism, that his +contemporaries would not willingly let his words fall to the ground. The +temptation was too strong to be resisted, and soon the Scriptures became +a carcass around which the vultures of Germany gathered to satisfy the +cravings of their wanton hunger. We do not say that the destructionists +desired to injure the faith of the people, or to cast odium upon the +pages that Luther and Melanchthon had unfolded to the German heart. But +believing as they did that the popular respect for the Bible was sheer +Bibliolatry, and that therefore the dignity of reason was compromised, +they bestirred themselves to show every weak point in the faith of the +church. They hastened to expose the defects of the Scriptures with as +much frankness as they would brand a sentence in Cicero or Seneca to be +the interpolation of an impostor. + +In no nation has theology, as a science, absorbed more literary talent +and labor than in Germany. In America and Great Britain the theologian +is the patron of his own department of thought. But in Germany, poets, +romancists, and scientific men write almost as many works connected with +religious questions as on topics within their own chosen vocation. The +Teuton considers himself a born theologian. So it was after the +announcement of the destructive theories of Semler. All classes of +thinkers invited themselves to discuss the Scriptures and their claims +with as much freedom as if God had told them it was the true aim of +their life. + +What was the consequence? Semler, having left so much room for doubt, +and having rather indicated a direction than supplied a plan, a great +number of men adopted the accommodation-theory and each one built his +own edifice upon it. But the conclusions arrived at by them were very +unlike, and generally incongruous. And such a result was very natural; +for, all claiming the unrestricted use of reason, the issue of their +thinking was the work of the individual mind. No two intellects are +perfectly similar. Set a number of men to write upon a given subject and +they will employ a different style, give expression to diverse thoughts, +and perhaps reach antipodal conclusions. So when these writers against +inspiration plied the pen, and burdened the press with their prolix +effusions, there was no harmony in their thoughts. In one opinion they +were firmly united, _that the Bible is a human book_. But how much of it +was authentic; what was history and what myth; what poetry and what +incident; these and a thousand kindred points divided the Rationalists +into almost as many classes as there were individuals. + +There were two principal tendencies which gave a permanence and +efficiency to Rationalism quite beyond the expectation of its most +sanguine friends and admirers. One was _literary_, and inaugurated by +Lessing; the other purely _philosophical_, and conducted by Kant. + +The literary despotism at Berlin was one of the most remarkable in the +annals of periodical literature. We refer to the _Universal German +Library_, under the control of Nicolai. Its avowed aim was to laud every +Rationalistic book to the skies, but to reproach every evangelical +publication as unworthy the support, or even the notice, of rational +beings. Its appliances for gaining knowledge were extensive, and it +commanded a survey of the literature of England, Holland, France, and +Italy. Whatever appeared in these lands received its immediate +attention, and was reproached or magnified according to its relations to +the skeptical creed of Nicolai and his co-laborers. Commencing in 1765, +it ran a career of power and prosperity such as but few serials have +ever enjoyed. It terminated its existence in 1792, having inflicted +incalculable evil upon the popular estimate of the vital doctrines of +Christianity. Being the great organ of the Rationalists, it sat in +judgment upon the sublime truths of our holy faith. With all the rage of +an infuriated lion it pounced upon every literary production or +practical movement that had a tendency to restore the old landmarks. Its +influence was felt throughout Germany and the Continent. Every +university and gymnasium listened to it as an oracle, while its power +was felt even in the pot-houses and humblest cottages. Berlin was +completely under its sway, and _Berliner_ was a synonym of +_Rationalist_. Oetinger wrote a curious passage in a volume of sermons, +published in 1777, in which he descants _On those things of which the +people of Berlin know nothing_: "They know nothing of the Lord of glory; +they are sick of these shallow-pated Liebnitzians; they wish to know +nothing of the promises of God; they have nothing to do with the +salutations of the seven spirits; they form a mechanical divinity after +their own notion. The Berliners know nothing of man so far as he is a +subject of divine grace; nothing of angels or devils, nothing of what +sin is, nothing of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ, +and still less of the communion of saints, and that the spirit can be +communicated by the laying on of hands. They know nothing of the truth +that baptism and the Lord's Supper are agents for a spiritual union with +Christ; they know nothing of heaven and hell; nothing of the interval +before the resurrection. Neither do they wish to know anything save what +may harmonize with their own depraved views. But the time will come when +Jesus will show them how they should have confessed him before the +world." This was Berlin, and Berlin was Germany. + +The position of Rationalism during the last quarter of the eighteenth +century was surrounded with circumstances of the most conflicting +nature. Had it been advocated by a few more such ribald characters as +Bahrdt its career would soon have been terminated from the mere want of +respectability. But had it assumed a more serious phase and become the +protege of such pious men as Semler was at heart, there would have been +no limit to the damage it might inflict upon the cause of Protestantism. +And there were indications favorable to either result. However, by some +plan of fiendish malice, skepticism received all the support it could +ask from the learned, the powerful, and the ambitious. Here and there +around the horizon could be seen some rising literary star that, for the +hour, excited universal attention. His labor was to impugn the contents +of the Scriptures and insinuate against the moral purity of the writers +themselves. Another candidate for theological glory appeared, and +reproached the style of the inspired record. A third came vauntingly +forward with his geographical discoveries and scientific data, and +reared the accommodation-theory so many more stories higher than Semler +had left it that it almost threatened to fall of its own weight. Strange +that the poetic Muse should lend her inspiration to such unholy +purposes; but in the poetry of that day there was but little of the +Christian element, and he need not be greatly skilled in classic verse +who concludes that the loftiest poetry of Rationalism was as thoroughly +heathen as the dramas of Euripides or Plautus. + +Immediately before the appearance of the _Wolfenbuettel Fragments_ by +Lessing, there was the significant lull before the storm. A single +editorial in some religious periodical might decide the fate of +Rationalism. In a few years more it might lie outside the lecture-halls +and renowned churches as thoroughly discarded as a cast-off garment. Or +it might rise to new power and bend all opposition before it. Every one +seemed to be waiting to see what would come next. Would it be the hoarse +thunder and the glare of lightning; or would the clouds be rent and the +clear sky be seen through the widening rifts? + +Lessing touched a chord which vibrated throughout the land. While in +charge of the celebrated Library at Wolfenbuettel he met with a +manuscript production of Reimarus, bearing the title of _Vindication of +the Rational Worshipers of God_. It can still be found in the Town +Library of Hamburg. Between 1774 and 1778, Lessing issued seven +_Fragments_ from this work; and the result was, that Germany was +electrified by the boldness and importance of the views there advanced. +They cannot be considered the private opinions of Lessing, for in many +places he appends notes stating his opposition to them. But he heartily +approved the substance of the work, though his object in the publication +of the _Fragments_ was more to feel the public pulse than to instill +theological doctrines into the minds of the people. Reimarus had been a +doubter like many others of his countrymen. He committed his mental +phases to paper, though he thought that it was not yet time to issue +them for public notice. The _Fragments_ published by Lessing contain the +gist of his entire work, and contributed far more to the growth of +skepticism than a larger production would probably have done. The +historical evidences of Christianity and of the doctrine of inspiration, +according to the _Fragments_, are clad in such a garb of superstition +that they do not merit the credence of sensible men. The confessions +framed at different periods of the history of the church have savored +far more of human weakness than of divine knowledge. They bear but +slight traces of Biblical truth. The Trinity is incomprehensible, and +the heart should not feel bound to lean upon what Reason cannot fathom. +Nearly all the Old Testament history is a string of legends and myths +which an advanced age should indignantly reject. Christ never really +intended to establish a permanent religion; the work of his apostles was +something unanticipated by himself. His design was to restore Judaism +to its former state, throw off the Roman yoke, and declare himself king. +His public entry into Jerusalem was designed to be his installation as a +temporal king; but he failed in his dependence upon popular support, +and, instead of attaining a throne, he died on the cross. Belief in +Scriptural records is perfectly natural to the Christian, for he has +imbibed it from education and training. Reason is forestalled in the +ordinary education of children; they are baptized before they are old +enough to exercise their own reasoning faculties. Faith in Scripture +testimony is really of no greater value than the belief of the +Mohammedan or Jew in their oracles, unless Reason be permitted to occupy +the seat of judgment. + +We have said that the excitement raised by the publication of the +_Fragments_ was intense. There was in them more calmness of expression, +and more apparent effort for truthful conclusions than many of the +previously published works of the Rationalists had indicated. By and by, +there sprang up a decided opposition to the work of Lessing; and from +all quarters of the German church there came earnest and vigorous +replies. It was surprising that there remained so much tenacity for the +old faith. Lessing received the censure of many of the best and wisest +men of his time; his publication of the _Fragments_ was claimed to be a +curse to the cause of truth. But he had accomplished what he wished, +while his success was far beyond his expectation. He found that a large +portion of his countrymen were not willing to cast loose from the old +moorings of the Protestant teachings, and that, whatever the previous +indications were, there was yet a deep undercurrent of attachment to the +time-honored confessions of the church. + +The movement employed by Lessing to find out what the people really +believed is one of the shrewdest literary tricks on record. Without +committing himself to what he issued, and watching carefully the effect +of the _Fragments_, he began to publish his own views with no little +assurance that he would prove successful. He learned that the Wolffian +philosophy was becoming effete, and so he raised the cry, loud and +clear, against its longer existence. He violently opposed the +obliteration of all dependence upon the historical proofs of +Christianity, and claimed that, in the matter of religion, the heart has +a work not less than the reason. His principle was: overthrow this +historical basis, and you endanger the whole edifice. He inflicted great +injury upon the inflated, pompous Popular Philosophy, for he exposed its +emptiness as but few were able to do. He opposed, with all the force of +his rare satirical and logical power, the attempt of the Rationalists to +substitute the intuitions of Reason for the dictates of the heart and +for the promptings of faith. "What else," he asks, "is this modern +theology when compared with orthodoxy, than filthy water with clear +water? With orthodoxy we had, thanks to God, pretty much settled; +between it and philosophy a barrier had been erected, behind which each +of these could walk in its own way without molesting the other. But what +is it that they are now doing? They pull down this barrier, and, under +the pretext of making us _rational Christians_, they make us most +_irrational philosophers_. In this we agree that our old religious +system is false, but I should not like to say with you [he is writing to +his brother] that it is a patch-work, got up by jugglers and +semi-philosophers. I do not know of anything in the world in which human +ingenuity had more shown and exercised itself than in it. A patch-work +by jugglers and semi-philosophers is that religious system which they +would put in the place of the old one, and, in doing so, would pretend +to more rational philosophy than the old one claims." + +It was difficult to tell what Lessing believed. His publication of the +views of a doubter was of itself a proof that he agreed, to some extent +at least, with them. This we must grant as a concession to his honesty +and common sense. And when assailed by Goetze and others for thus +attacking the faith of the church, he replied that, even if the +Fragmentists were right, Christianity was not thereby endangered.[31] He +rejected the letter, but reserved the spirit of the Scriptures. With +him, the letter is not the spirit and the Bible is not religion. +Consequently, objections against the letter, as well as against the +Bible, are not precisely objections against the spirit and religion. For +the Bible evidently contains more than belongs to religion, and it is a +mere supposition, that, in this additional matter which it contains, it +must be equally infallible. Moreover, religion existed before there was +a Bible. Christianity existed before evangelists and apostles had +written. However much, therefore, may depend upon those Scriptures, it +is not possible that the whole truth of the Christian religion should +depend upon them. Since there existed a period in which it was so far +spread, in which it had already taken hold of so many souls, and in +which, nevertheless, not one letter was written of that which has come +down to us, it must be possible also that everything which evangelists +and prophets have written might be lost again, and yet the religion +taught by them, stand. The Christian religion is not true because +Evangelists and apostles taught it; _but they taught it because it was +true_. It is from their internal truth that all written documents must +be explained, and all these written documents cannot give it internal +truth when it has none. The Christian religion is distinguished from the +religion of Christ; the latter, being a life immediately implanted and +maintained in our heart, manifests itself in love, and can neither stand +nor fall with the Gospel. The truths of religion have nothing to do with +the facts of history. + +With such opinions as these, expressed in great clearness and +conciseness, who can fail to perceive that their tendency was to +overthrow the traditional faith of the church in large portions of the +Bible? Who is to be the judge of what is to be retained and what +rejected? Indeed, if Lessing be right, the entire Scripture record might +be abolished without doing violence to religion. The effect of his +writings was decidedly skeptical. His view of Christianity was merely +aesthetical, and only so far as the Bible was an agent of popular +elevation, did he seem to consider it valuable. He did not dispute the +facts of Scripture history because of the various accounts given of them +by the inspired writers. Variety of testimony was no ground for the +total overthrow of the thing testified. He retained the history of the +resurrection in spite of the different versions of it. "Who," he asks, +"has ever ventured to draw the same inference in profane history? If +Livy, Polybius, Dionysius, and Tacitus relate the very same event, it +may be the very same battle, the very same siege, each one differing so +much in the details that those of the one completely give the lie to +those of the other, has any one, for that reason, ever denied the event +itself in which they agree?" + +We may examine the entire circle of Lessing's literary productions, and +we shall see, scattered here and there through them, sentiments which, +taken singly, would have a very beneficial effect upon the popular faith +in inspiration and the historical testimony of the Scriptures. But, +unhappily, these were overshadowed by others of a conflicting nature, +and though he did not array himself as a champion of Rationalism, he +proved himself one of the strongest promoters of its reign. He +considered his age torpid and sluggish. It was his desire to awaken it. +And he did succeed in giving to the chaotic times in which he lived that +literary direction which we now look back upon as the starting-point of +recent German literature. The chief evil that he inflicted was due to +the position in which he placed himself as the combatant of the avowed +friends of inspiration. He was honest in his love of truth, but he loved +the search for it more than the attainment. The key to his whole life +may be found in his own words: "If God should hold in his right hand all +truth, and in his left the ever-active impulse and love of search after +truth, although accompanied with the condition that I should ever err, +and should say, 'Choose!' I would choose the left with humility, and +say, 'Give, Father! Pure truth belongs to thee alone!'" + +The revolution which Lessing wrought in literature was only equaled by +that achieved by Kant in the domain of philosophy. + +It has been one of the historical features of German theology that it +has ever affiliated with philosophy. The mathematical method of Wolf has +been a severe blow to orthodoxy, and it was but partially counteracted +by the work of Pietism. But the influence of that copyist of Leibnitz is +only of a piece with the impression made upon theology and faith by +every respectable innovation in philosophy. But Kant threw all others in +the shade. He was the agent of a change in philosophical thinking, which +was destined not only to reform the old systems of Germany, but to wield +a universal power over modern thought. He had looked to England for his +masters, and succeeded in gaining a thorough acquaintance with the grave +skepticism of Hume and kindred minds. He shut himself up in his native +Koenigsberg, and, in all his life, never traveled more than thirty miles +therefrom. He had the memory of a pious Christian mother ever present to +him, and no one can conjecture the probable influence that her example +exerted upon his mental processes. The astute philosopher wrote of her +with the deepest feeling of his nature when he said, "My mother was an +amiable, sensitive, pious, and devoted woman, who taught her children +the fear of God by her godly teachings and spotless life. She often led +me outside the city, and showed me the works of God; she pointed me with +devout feelings to the omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness of God; and +inspired my heart with a deep reverence for the Creator of all things. I +shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and +strengthened my first germ of goodness; she opened my heart to the +impressions of nature; she awakened and advanced my conceptions; and it +has been her instructions that have exerted a permanent and wholesome +influence upon my life." + +First an undergraduate and afterward a professor in the University of +Koenigsberg, Kant quietly matured his principles, and was in no haste to +communicate them to the world. He delivered his philosophy to his +students in the form of lectures, and was extremely careful not to +publish it until he was sure that his mind had arrived at its final +conclusions. A student named Hippel, who had enjoyed his intimacy, was +the first to give publicity to his opinions. He employed the medium of a +novel. He forestalled their real author, and Kant was compelled to +explain the matter openly as a breach of faith. Gradually the +lecture-hall at Koenigsberg became full of hearers, who, in a little +time, could gain admittance only with difficulty. The professor of +philosophy was a magnet that drew to that bleak northern city students +from all parts of the Continent. Finally the opportune moment arrived. +Having written, rewritten, altered, and abridged until he looked upon +his work as beyond his power of improvement, he now deemed his +convictions permanently formed. So the _Critique of Pure Reason_ entered +upon its career of victory. The literary and thinking world had learned +but a little of it in Hippel's book; and now there seemed to be no +inclination to probe the concise language of the master's work, for the +task appeared greater than the fruits would justify. This hesitancy was +a glaring testimony to the loose thinking and careless literary habits +of those days. But the haste with which Kant prosecuted the authorship +of his work, apart from the thoughts employed in its elaboration into a +system, furnishes some ground of apology for the failure of the public +to fathom it. "I wrote," he says in a letter to Moses Mendelssohn, "this +product of at least twelve years of diligent reflection within a period +of from four to five months, paying indeed the greatest attention to the +contents, but unable, borne away, as it were, upon the wings of thought, +to bestow that care upon the style which might have promoted a readier +insight into my meaning on the part of the reader." + +Several years now pass by, and the great work is still neglected. +Perhaps it is false, or mayhap it is ill-timed. Finally Schulze hits +upon the difficulty when he conjectures that, if men only knew what was +in the book they would not only read it, but be ravished with its +contents. Thereupon he issues his _Elucidations of Kant's Critique of +Pure Reason_. Now people begin to open their eyes. The work of Schulze +is read by everybody, and in turn it serves as an introduction to the +work of Kant. Soon the universities and reading circles demand it, and +the whole land is suddenly transformed into a race of philosophers. The +popularity of the work is boundless. It is written in a style adapted +only to systematic thinkers; but no matter, it becomes a fashion to read +it. It is the topic in stagecoaches and drawing rooms. Failure to have +perused Kant's book is a mark of ignorance which receives rebuke on +every hand. In self-defense every one feels bound to read it, if the +continued respect of friends can reasonably be expected. The work itself +is interlarded with new terminology and pruned expressions that betray +the constant impress of the author's mind. So, in a short time, writers +on the various sciences employ these very terms as at once the best +vehicle for the conveyance of their thoughts and for accession to +popularity. It has its opponents in Hamann, Jacobi, Reimarus, Tiedemann, +and others; yet he is a bold spirit who dares to attack this object of +universal favor. But the opposition is insufficient, and the _Critique +of Pure Reason_ is too strong for these hastily-conceived rejoinders. +Every department of inquiry is powerfully affected by it. Religion, +logic, metaphysics, law, psychology, aesthetics, and education are alike +molded by its plastic touch. Holland and all the north of Europe are +vocal with its praises. + +And now we may ask, why such favor shown toward this new apparition? Let +us delay a moment and examine the hard-wrought thoughts of this +bachelor-son of an obscure saddler. Kant had been profoundly disgusted +with the want of harmony in philosophical speculations. The +disagreements that he saw in his own time were but the continuation of +what, he had learned from history, was the fact in the days of the +heathen sages. Following close upon the footsteps of Hume, he asked: +"How far can human reason go? Where is its limit?" His _Critique_ was +the answer. He showed that, if the loose methods of thought were to be +continued, philosophy, instead of being the hand-maid of religion, would +be unworthy the attention of the most unlettered man. Hence he would +recall reason from its lofty flights, and direct its attention solely to +self-consciousness. Only by studying the powers of the mind as a datum, +he held, can any positive results be gained. Using his own illustration +of his work, he would do for philosophy what Copernicus had done for +astronomy--reverse metaphysics by referring classes of ideas to inner, +which before had been referred to outer, causes. He granted that, for +some things, man's reason is sufficient. The existence of God, the +doctrine of original sin, and the soul's immortality need no Scripture +to reveal them. They are intuitive subjects of knowledge. But these +truths are extremely limited; man needs what nature has not given him. +Kant's distinction between practical and speculative reason was in favor +of the former, since its aim was wisdom. But speculative reason is often +exerted for its own gratification. Hence its results are frequently +useless and ephemeral. His grand conclusion is, that no object can be +known to us except in proportion as it is apprehended by our +perceptions, and definable by our faculties of cognition; consequently +we know nothing, _per se_, but only by appearances. Our knowledge of +real objects is limited by experience. + +With regard to the general character of the critical system of Kant, an +acute author says: "It confined itself to a contemplation of the +phenomena of consciousness, and attempted to ascertain by analysis, not +of our conceptions but of the faculties of the soul, certain invariable +and necessary principles of knowledge; proceeding to define their usage, +and to form an estimate of them collectively with reference to their +_formal_ character; in which investigation the distinctions and +definitions of those faculties adopted by the school of Wolf were +presumed to be valid. It exalted the human mind by making it the centre +of its system; but at the same time confined and restricted it by means +of the consequences deduced. It discouraged also the spirit of dogmatic +speculation, and the ambition of demonstrating all things by means of +mere intellectual ideas, making the faculties of acquiring knowledge the +measure of things capable of being known, and assigning the preeminence +to practical Reason rather than to speculation, in virtue of its +end--wisdom; which is the highest that reason can aspire to, because to +act virtuously is a universal and unlimited, but to acquire knowledge +only a conditional, duty. It had the effect of mitigating the dogmatical +and speculative tendencies of the mind, and the extravagant attempt to +prove everything by means of conceptions of the understanding. It +proscribed mysticism and circumscribed the provinces of science and +belief. It taught men to discriminate and appreciate the grounds, the +tendency, the defects, and partial views, as well as the excellencies of +other systems; at the same time that it embodied a lively principle for +awakening and strengthening the interest attaching to genuine +philosophical research. It afforded to philosophy a firm and steady +centre of action in the unchangeable nature of the human mind. In +general it may be observed that the theory of Kant _constructed_ little; +and rather tended to destroy the structures of an empty dogmatism of the +understanding and prepare, by means of self-knowledge, the way for a +better state of philosophical science; seeking in reason itself the +principles on which to distinguish the several parts of the +philosophy."[32] + +Kant had but little to say concerning the positive truths of +Christianity. He respected the character of Christ, and spoke reverently +of the church and her doctrines. Morality, with him, was developed into +religion, not religion into morality. The so-called revelation was only +the mythical copy of the moral law already implanted in our nature. He +believed in a universal religion. Everything peculiar and won by +struggle should be given up; all strife of opinions should cease at +once. Kant designed, in the main, to curb the illicit exercise of +Reason, but his failure to indorse the great doctrines of our faith, +because revealed, threw him on the side of the Rationalists. His +adoption of God's existence, the soul's immortality, human freedom, and +original sin, was not due to his belief in these doctrines as revealed, +but as intuitive. He gradually became a devotee to his own method of +thinking, and it was his aim not to teach _what_ but _how_ to think. He +often told his students that he had no intention or desire to teach them +philosophy, but how to philosophize. It was through Kant that the terms +_Rationalist_,--one who declares natural religion alone to be morally +necessary, though he may admit revelation,--_Naturalist_--one who denies +the reality of a supernatural divine revelation,--and +_Supernaturalist_--one who considers the belief in revelation a +necessary element in religion, came into use, and Rationalism and +Supernaturalism became the principal division of theological +schools.[33] + +As Descartes had broken up the scholastic philosophy by considering man +apart from his experience, so Kant now gave the death-blow to the +philosophy of Protestant Germany by looking at the mind apart from its +speculations. "The moral effect of his philosophy," says Mr. Farrar, +"was to expel the French Materialism and Illuminism, and to give depth +to the moral perceptions; its religious effect was to strengthen the +appeal to reason and the moral judgment as the test of religious truth; +to render miraculous communication of moral instruction useless, if not +absurd; and to reaewaken the attempt which had been laid aside since the +Wolffian philosophy of endeavoring to find a philosophy of +religion."[34] + +Among the antagonists of Kant, Jacobi was perhaps the most powerful. He +was not content that, in these metaphysical speculations, reason should +reign supreme. His belief was that feeling was of as much importance as +the deductions of the intellect. He mastered the various systems of +philosophy and rejected them, Kant's among the rest, as unfit for the +acceptance and pursuit of responsible beings. The two principles which +furnish the key to his views were that religion lies in the feeling, and +that this feeling, which exists in every man's heart, is not reflected, +but original. His dissatisfaction with all systems induced him to term +himself the _Unphilosophical_, and it was with utter disgust that he was +led to declare the foundation of all speculative philosophy to be only a +great cavity, in which we look in vain, as down into an awful abyss. +With him, as with Coleridge, Faith begins where Reason ends. + +The two bright stars after Kant were Fichte and Schelling. The former +commenced with the system of the great Koenigsberg teacher, and developed +it on the negative side, contending that the whole material world has no +existence apart from ourselves, and that it only appears to us in +conformity with certain laws of our mind. He aimed to found a system +which might illustrate, by a single principle, the material and formal +properties of all science; establish the unity of plan which the +critical system had failed to maintain; and solve that most difficult of +all problems regarding the connection between our conceptions and their +objects. His views of God are the most glaring defect of his system. He +contended that we cannot attribute to the Deity intelligence or +personality without making him a finite being like ourselves; that it is +a species of profanation to conceive of him as a separate essence, since +such a conception implies the existence of a sensible being limited by +space and time; that we cannot impute to him even existence without +compounding him with sensible natures; that no satisfactory explanation +has yet been given of the manner in which the creation of the world +could be effected by God; that the idea and expectation of happiness is +a delusion; and that, when we form our notions of the Deity in +accordance with such imaginations, we only worship the idol of our own +passions,--the prince of this world.[35] + +Schelling was a man of ardent, sanguine temperament, and it was his +natural proclivities that gave rise to his system of philosophy. He +attributes a real existence to the material as well as to the immaterial +world, but permits it a different mode of existence. He makes history a +necessity. This natural philosophy conveys to us no knowledge of God, +and the little it does reveal appears opposed to religion. What God +performs takes place because it _must be_. Schelling created two +opposite and parallel philosophic sciences, the transcendental +philosophy and the philosophy of Nature. He was a pantheist in +identifying the Deity with nature, and in making Him subject to laws. He +clothed his ideas in the beautiful fancies of his own vivid imagination, +and in him we find the poet, not giving forth verses from his lyre, but +delivering philosophical oracles. + +What Schleiermacher was to theology Hegel became to philosophy. He was +the turning-point from doubt and fruitless theories to a more positive +and settled system of thinking. He was, when young, a decided +Rationalist; and his _Life of Christ_, though yet unpublished, is said +by one who has seen it to be a representation of the Messiah as a divine +man, in whom all is pure and sublime, and who made himself remarkable +chiefly by his triumphs over vice, falsehood, hatred and the servile +spirit of his age. He endeavored to explain the reason for Christianity +in the world. He longed for a positive religion. His philosophy is +reducible to a philosophy of nature, which has quite a different meaning +from that of Schelling, for, with Hegel, it is only the expression of +the passage to another being; and to the philosophy of the mind, which +considers thought reflecting itself on itself, and showing itself by the +mind in the sciences of law and morality, in the state, history, +religion, and the arts. The religion which is deduced from this system +may be said to consist of the objective existence of the infinite mind +in the finite, for mind is only for mind; consequently God exists only +in being thought of and in thinking. In the philosophy of nature +intelligence and God are lost in objective nature. Hegel allows them a +distinct and separate existence, but refers them to a common principle +which, according to him, is the absolute idea, or God. In this case, +objective nature is only the absolute idea going out of itself, +individualizing itself, and giving itself limits, though it is infinite. +Thus the intelligence of all men, and external nature, are only +manifestations of the _absolute idea_. It is a mournful tribute that M. +Saintes pays to his memory when he says, as the sum of his labors, that +"he perverted all the Christian opinions which he attempted to restore." +As little flattering is M. Quinet's testimony, that "he saw in +Christianity no more than an idea, the religious worth of which is +independent of the testimonies of history." + +This was indeed a race of thinkers who have been equaled in strength in +but few periods of history. Coming in regular succession, their systems +sprang from Kant's philosophy, and constituted the growth of his +wonderful achievement. They tended to withdraw the flippant spirit of +criticism to a more serious and modest path of inquiry, and to make men +look more at their own weakness than at their greatness. But what a mass +of subtleties do we have to pass through to get at the substance of +their speculations! There is something so unsatisfactory in the study of +them, that we find relief only in the knowledge that the Bible contains +the true basis of all sound thinking on the great themes connected with +the well-being and destiny of man. The plainest statements of the word +of God are more valuable than all these vaporings about the non-_Ego_, +the _Ideal_, and _Self-hood_. Simplicity is bliss. + + "Yon cottager who weaves at her own door + Pillow and bobbins, all her little store, + Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay, + Shuffling her threads about the live-long day, + Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night + Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light; + She for her humble sphere by nature fit, + Has little understanding and no wit; + Receives no praise, but though her lot be such, + Toilsome and indigent, she renders much; + Just knows and knows no more, her Bible true; + And in that charter reads with sparkling eyes + Her title to a treasure in the skies." + +But yet we grant to these men the meed of having meant well, and of +reforming the philosophy and literature of their times. The immediate +effect of their views was decidedly in favor of Rationalism, because +they almost uniformly deny the absolute authority of the Scriptures. +They grant too much to reason. While Kant would drive the truant mind +back to self-contemplation, he terminates by giving to reason a value +and dignity so great that it becomes entitled to decide upon matters of +faith. Their theories, spun out at such length and concluding in so +little satisfaction, make us rejoice that we have not to depend upon +philosophy for guidance in matters of either the intellect or heart. +They thought independently of the Bible, and here lies the ground of all +failure to obtain positive results in metaphysics. The Scriptures +furnish everything noble and real, and when philosophy aims to supply a +substitute for them it always labors in vain. + +We wonder at the tropic luxuriance of Schelling's thoughts, but we are +soon convinced of their little practical purpose when we recall the +fact that he considered the revelation of the gospel as no more than one +of the accidents of the eternal revelation of God in nature and in +history. If Schelling and all these strong minds had commenced their +investigations with the word of God as their basis, there is no telling +how far they might have ministered to an immediate and thorough revival +of faith. But failing to do this, their work has been more doubtful and +tardy. It is a very plain fact that the church cannot look to any other +than to a Christian philosophy for the conservation or regeneration of +her torpid powers. Never has she been thoroughly benefited by the +immediate agency of any other system. + +There is one way, however, in which speculative philosophy has +indirectly proved the aid of religion. It has strengthened and quickened +the mental action of the people, and they have through its agency, been +able to look with clearer ken upon the truths of Scripture. However, +after it has reached the goal of its task, we see so little that is +truly valuable and worth preserving, that we are compelled to fall back +upon the Christian revelation as our only chart on the troubled sea of +metaphysical discussion. When we look at the field opened for thought in +the word of God we find it ample and safe. It would be well for every +young mind about entering upon the uncertain mazes of philosophical +speculation, to ponder deeply over these golden words from Isaac +Taylor's _Saturday Evening_: "That portion of Heavenly Wisdom which, +under such circumstances, survives and is cherished, will be just the +first articles of belief,--the Saving Rudiments of Spiritual Life. Of +these the Head of the church himself takes care lest faith should +utterly disappear from the earth. But beside the inestimable jewel of +elementary knowledge--the price of which can never be told--does there +not rest within the folds of the Inspired Book an inexhaustible store, +which the industry of man, piously directed, ought to elicit; but which +if men neglect it, the Lord will not force upon their notice? It is this +hidden treasure which should animate the ambition of vigorous and devout +minds. From such at second hand, the body of the faithful are to receive +it, if at all; and if not so obtained for them, and dealt out by their +teachers, nothing will be more meager, unfixed, almost infantile, than +the faith of Christians." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[31] Kahnis: _History of German Protestantism_, pp. 145-165. + +[32] Tennemann, _Manual of History of Philosophy_, pp. 407-408. + +[33] Appleton's _Am. Cyclopaedia_--Article _German Theology_. + +[34] _Critical History of Free Thought_, p. 280. + +[35] Tennemann, _Manual of History of Philosophy_, pp. 429-430. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE REIGN OF THE WEIMAR CIRCLE--REVOLUTION IN EDUCATION AND HYMNOLOGY. + + +The systems of the great philosophical minds whom we have contemplated +were remarkable for their harmony. As we now look back upon them we do +not see shapeless and unfitting fragments, but a superstructure of rare +symmetry and grace. Jacobi was the leaven of improvement, and it was the +mission of that devout man to continue to some extent the habit of +respectful regard for God's word among intelligent circles of society. +All who were unwilling to become votaries of reason were his careful +readers and enthusiastic admirers. + +What we thus see developed in philosophy was equally manifest in regard +to literature. There arose, as if by the enchanter's wand, a group of +literary giants at Weimar, an insignificant town on the outskirts of the +Thuringian Forest, who wielded an influence which was destined to be +felt in coming ages. Through a combination of circumstances, Weimar +became their common home. It grew into a modern Parnassus, and to this +day bears the name of the German Athens. Karl August, imitating the +example of Augustus Caesar, gathered around him as numerous and powerful +a cluster of literary men as his scanty revenue would allow. He paid +but little regard to their theological differences; all that he cared +for was their possession of the truly literary spirit. His little +principality, of which this was the capital, could not possibly be +elevated into either a second or third rate power. All hope of great +influence being cut off in this direction, he secured the presence of +those chiefs of letters who gave him a name and a power secured to but +few in any age. The town of Weimar possesses a calm rustic beauty by +which the traveler cannot fail to be impressed. You see only a few +traces of architectural taste, but the memory of the departed worthies +who once walked the winding streets is now the glory of the place. +There, the church where Herder preached now stands; near by, the slab +that covers the dust of Wieland; yonder, the humble cottage of Schiller, +with the room just as it was when the mute minstrel was borne from it to +his home in the earth; across the brook is Goethe's country villa; and +back in the grove, the table whereon he wrote. There is a quiet sadness +in the whole town, as if nothing were left but the mere recollection of +what it once was. How different the picture sixty years ago, when all +the literary world looked thither for the last oracle from one of these +high-priests of poesy! Book-publishers went there to make proposals for +the editorship of magazines, or for some other new literary enterprise. +Napoleon himself craved an audience with Goethe, and it is the strongest +grudge held by the Germans against the master of their literature that +the oppressor of the fatherland was not denied his request. Young men +went to Weimar from all parts of Europe to kiss the hand of these great +transformers of aesthetic taste. There was not a sovereign within the +pale of civilization who did not envy Karl August's treasures. The +story of the literary achievements, of the Platonic friendships, and of +the evening entertainments of Weimar, forms one of the most remarkable +chapters in the whole history of letters. + +The name of Herder demands our prominent notice because of its intimate +connection with the theological movement we have been tracing. He was +eminently adapted to his times. Perfectly at home with his generation, +he looked upon his contemporaries as brethren, and aroused himself +manfully to serve them in every interest. We notice in all his works a +careful study to meet the emergency then pressing upon society. We will +not say that Herder wrote every work just as it should have been, and +that he was evangelical throughout. This he was not, but he was greatly +in advance of his predecessors. Amid the labyrinth of philosophical +speculations it is interesting and refreshing to meet with an author +who, though endowed with the mind of a philosopher, was content to pass +for a poet, or even for an essayist. His was a mind of rare versatility. +What he was not capable of putting his hand to scarcely deserved the +name of study. In philosophy, practical religion, literature, church +history, education and exegesis he labored with almost equal success. He +was the instrument of God, not to raise each of the crushed elements of +Christian power to a lofty vitality, but to contribute to the moderate +elevation of nearly every one of them. It might be expected that his +later writings would not abound in such hearty tributes to devout +religious life as we find so glowingly expressed in his earlier +productions. The atmosphere of Weimar favored a perverted growth. The +personal acquaintance of the men who surrounded him increased his +literary power but did not make his religion more fervent and powerful. +His training had been in the old purifying furnace of Pietism. His +father had been a rare specimen of that class of devout householders, +who, back in the days of Spener and Francke, were the real glory of the +German people. Young Herder was accustomed to family worship every day, +when the hard duties of temporal life were forgotten by those engaged in +singing, in the leisurely reading of the Scriptures, and in prayer. One +of the first books that had fallen under his notice was Arndt's "_True +Christianity_." It was this work that inspired him with that respect for +religion which never left him in subsequent life. + +Herder's creed was the improvement of man. He expressed it in one word, +_humanity_. But by this term he meant more than most men conceive in +whole volumes. With him, it was that development and elevation of the +race for which every true man should labor. We do not come into this +life with a perfect humanity; but we have the germ of it, and therefore +we should contribute to its growth with unceasing energy. We are born +with a divine element within us, and it is for the maturity of this +personal gift that all great and good men, such as lawgivers, +discoverers, philosophers, poets, artists and every truly noble friend +of his race, have striven, in the education of children, by the various +institutions designed to foster their individual taste. To beautify +humanity is the great problem of humanity. It must be done; man must be +elevated by one long and unwearied effort, or he will relax into +barbarism. Christianity presents us, in the purest way, with the purest +humanity. + +Herder was greatly interested in the poetic features of the Bible. His +work on _Hebrew Poesy_ is full of his warm attachment to the inspired +pictures of early oriental life and history. Whatever divested the +Scriptures of this eastern glow received his outright indignation. He +censured Michaelis for having criticised all the heart out of the +time-honored and God-given record. He compared the critical labors of +the Rationalists to squeezing a lemon; and the Bible that they would +give, he said, "was nothing save a juiceless rind." He totally rejected +the scientific reading of the Bible for common purposes; and maintained, +with great ardor, that the more simple and human our reading of God's +word is, the nearer do we approach God's will. We must make use of our +own thoughts, and we must imagine living scenes, with the inspired words +as our thought-outlines. The whole policy of the new class of critics, +he believed, was a thoroughly mistaken one. Instead of discarding the +pictorial Biblical beauties, as they did with a few hasty dashes of the +pen, he would elevate them to a loftier status, and lead the rising +generation to imbibe their spirit as a useful element for later life. In +his opinion, many of the Rationalists had not the keen insight into the +marvelous beauty of the Bible which all should possess who would +undertake to elucidate its language and doctrines. They were, therefore, +not competent to decide upon it. The only proper method of studying the +Scriptures for the instruction of others is by the exercise of a fine +poetic sentiment. Hence the best poet makes the best exegete. This +reminds us of Schiller's idea of historiography. Schiller said that, in +his writing of history, he did not intend to feel continually hampered +by the sequence of events, but that he would write as his own +imagination approved. High above facts would he place aesthetic taste. A +beautiful fancy! But heaven be praised that all historians are not +Schillers, and that all commentators are not Herders. + +From this representation of Herder's tenacity for the records of +inspiration, and particularly for the Mosaic accounts, one would be led +to infer that his attachment was due solely to his lofty views of the +supernatural origin of these revelations. But we cannot think this was +the fact. A careful estimate of his underlying sympathies leads us to +conclude that he loved the Bible, not because it was inspired, as much +as because it was the highest, earliest, and simplest embodiment of +poetry,--for it traces out those things in our history which we are most +interested in knowing. The poetic beauty of the Scriptures entranced +him. Had each chapter of our canon been written in stately prose, Herder +would have been one of its coldest admirers. He ransacked the myths and +legends of various nations, and dwelt upon the stories of giants and +demi-gods with scarcely less enthusiasm than if discoursing on the +building of Babel or on the gift of the law on Sinai. Herder disliked +the theories of Kant with cordial aversion. Of course the Koenigsberg +sage had nothing in common with the Weimar rhapsodist. Had Herder only +given a prominence to his belief in the _fact_ of inspiration equally +with an admiration of the _method_ of it, his service to the cause of +practical religion would have been incalculable. Yet, in his views of +the person of Christ, he was far in advance of the times. He conceived +Christ not as a mere innovating teacher, but as the great centre of +faith. His belief in the sufficiency of the atonement stands out in bold +contrast with the barren faith of his Weimar associates, who had such +lofty ideas of human excellence that they thought man needed only one +thing more to complete his perfection,--his emergence from ignorance +into taste and knowledge. But Herder could see an abyss of depravity in +the heart along with the germ of excellence. He held that Christ alone +was able to annihilate the former and develop the latter. He believed +that the first three evangelists gave the human side of Christ's +character, and that it was John who revealed his divinity. With these +four accounts before us we cannot be at a loss to form a sound opinion +on the mission of the Messiah. He came to seek and save the lost. What +he accomplished could have been effected by no other agency. Herder's +own words are: "Jesus must be looked upon as the first real fountain of +purity, freedom, and salvation to the world." Of the Lord's Supper he +said, on his entrance upon his pastoral duties at Weimar, "The Lord's +Supper should not be a mere word and picture, but a fact and truth. We +should taste and see what joys God has prepared for us in Jesus Christ +when we have intercourse with him at his own table. In every event and +accident of life we should feel that we are his brethren and are sitting +at one table, and that, when we refresh ourselves at the festival of our +Saviour, we are resting in the will and love of the great King of the +world as in the bosom of the Father. The high, still joy of Christ, and +the spirit which prevails in the eternal kingdom of heaven should speak +out from ourselves, influence others, and testify of our own love." It +is a lamentable reflection, however, that Herder's lofty views of the +mission of Christ, which had been formed in the paternal home, were, in +common with many other evangelical views, doomed to an unhappy +obscuration upon the advance of his later years by frequent intercourse +with more skeptical minds. + +One of the chief services rendered the church by Herder was his +persistent attempt to elevate the pastoral office to its original and +proper dignity. He held that the pastor of the church should not be +solely a learned critic but the minister of the common people. In his +day, the pastor was considered the mere instrument of the state, a sort +of theological policeman;--a degradation which Herder could hardly +permit himself to think of without violent indignation. In his _Letters +on the Study of Theology_, published in 1780, and in subsequent smaller +works, he sought to evoke a generation of theologians who, being imbued +with his own ideas of humanity, would betake themselves to the +edification of the humble mind. He would eject scholasticism from the +study of the Bible, and show to his readers that simplicity of inquiry +is the safest way to happy results. He would place the modern pastor, +both in his relations to the cause of humanity and in the respect +awarded him by the world, close beside the patriarch and prophet of +other days. And that man, in his opinion, was not worthy the name of +pastor who could neglect the individual requirements of the soul. +According to Herder, the theologian should be trained from childhood +into the knowledge of the Bible and of practical religion. Youths should +have ever before them the example of pious parents, who were bringing +them up with a profound conviction of the doctrines of divine truth. To +choose theology for a profession from mercenary aims would preclude all +possibility of pastoral usefulness. "Let prayer and reading the Bible be +your morning and evening food," was his advice to a young preacher. Some +of the most eloquent words from his pen were written against the +customary moral preaching which so much afflicted him. "Why don't you +come down from your pulpits," he asks, "for they cannot be of any +advantage to you in preaching such things? What is the use of all these +Gothic churches, altars, and such matters? No, indeed! Religion, true +religion, must return to the exercise of its original functions, or a +preacher will become the most indefinite, idle, and indifferent thing on +earth. Teachers of religion, true servants of God's word, what have you +to do in our century? The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are +few. Pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send out laborers who +will be something more than bare teachers of wisdom and virtue. More +than this, Help yourselves!" + +The counsel given by Herder to others was practised first by himself. He +lived among critical minds, who spurned humble pastoral work, but he +felt it his duty, and therefore discharged it to the best of his +ability. His preaching was richly lucid, and not directed to the most +intelligent portion of his auditors. He took up a plain truth and strove +to make it plainer. Yet, while the masses were most benefited by his +simplicity of pulpit conversation, those gifted men who thought with him +arose from their seats profoundly impressed with the dignity and value +of the gospel. A witty writer of the time, Sturz, gives an account of +Herder's preaching that throws some light upon the manner in which the +plain, earnest exposition of God's word always affected the indifferent +auditor. "You should have seen," says this man, "how every rustling +sound was hushed and each curious glance was chained upon him in a very +few minutes. We were as still as a Moravian congregation. All hearts +opened themselves spontaneously; every eye hung upon him and wept +unwonted tears. Deep sighs escaped from every breast. My dear friend, +nobody preaches like him. Else religion would be to every one just what +it should be, the most valuable and reliable friend of men. He explained +the gospel of the day without fanaticism, yet with a grand simplicity +which needed not to ransack the world for its wisdom, its figures of +speech, or its scholastic arts. It was no religious study, hurled in its +three divisions at the heart of stony sinners; nor was it what some +would call a current article of pulpit manufacture. It was no cold, +heathen, moral lecture, which sought nothing but Socrates in the Bible, +and would therefore teach that we can do without both Christ and the +Scriptures. But he preached the faith which works by love, the same +which was first preached by the God of love, the kind which teaches to +suffer and bear and hope, and which, by its rest and contentment, +rewards bountifully and independently of all the joys and sorrows of the +world. It seems to me that the scholars of the apostles must have +preached thus, for they did not tie themselves down to the hard +dogmatics of their faith, and therefore did not play with technical +terms, as children with their counting pennies." William von Humboldt +said of Herder's sermons that they were "very attractive: one always +found them too short, and wished them of double length." Schiller spoke +of his sermons as plain, natural, and adapted to the common life, and +adds that Herder's preaching was "more pleasing to him than any other +pulpit exercise to which he had ever listened." + +Herder was the great theological writer of Weimar, and as such, his +impression upon theology and religion in general was decided. Though he +opposed the Kantian philosophy, because of its petrifying tendency, his +antagonism was counteracted by others of the Weimar celebrities. Goethe +and Schiller eclipsed all other names in their department of thought, +and were the culmination of the new type of literature. Herder might +preach, but it was only to a comparatively small world. Goethe and +Schiller were, on all points of literature, the oracles of Europe. Like +Kant, they stamped their own impress upon theology, which at that day +was plastic and weak beyond all conception. Under the Koenigsberg thinker +it became a great philosophical system as cold as Mont Blanc. Then came +Poetry and Romance, which, though they could give a fresh glow to the +face, had no power to breathe life into the prostrate form. + +Schiller shares with Goethe the loftiest niche in the pantheon of German +literature. But the former is more beloved than the latter, for the +reason that his countrymen think that he had more soul. Schiller +endeared himself to his land because of his ardent aspirations to +political freedom. The poet of freedom is long-lived, and France will no +sooner forget her Beranger, nor America her Whittier, than the German +fatherland will become oblivious of Schiller. Like Herder, Schiller had +been trained carefully in household religion. In his earliest outbursts +of religious feeling there prevailed that ardent and devout spirit +which, had it been fostered by a healthy popular taste, might have +matured into something so transcendentally brilliant and useful, that +the writer of _The Robbers_ would have proved one of the reformers of +his people. If his education had reaped its appropriate harvest, his +probable bearing upon the regeneration of Germany can be but faintly +imagined by the aid of Klopstock's example. These were the sincere +thoughts of Schiller's over-burdened soul when, one Sabbath in 1777, he +addressed himself to the Deity: "God of truth, Father of light. I look +to thee with the first rays of the morning sun, and I bow before thee. +Thou seest me, O God! Thou seest from afar every pulsation of my praying +heart. Thou knowest well my earnest desire for truth. Heavy doubt often +veils my soul in night; thou knowest how anxious my heart is within me, +and how it goes out for heavenly light. Oh yes! A friendly ray has often +fallen from thee upon my shadowed soul. I saw the awful abyss on whose +brink I was trembling, and I have thanked the kind hand that drew me +back in safety. Still be with me, my God and Father, for these are days +when fools stalk about and say, 'there is no God.' Thou hast given me my +birth, O my Creator, in these days when superstition rages at my right +hand and skepticism scoffs at my left. So I often stand and quake in the +storm; and oh, how often would the bending reed break if thou didst not +prevent it; thou, the mighty Preserver of all thy creatures and Father +of all who seek thee. + +"What am I without truth, without her leadership through life's +labyrinths? A wanderer through the wilderness, overtaken by the night, +with no friendly hand to lead me and no guiding star to show me the +path. Doubt, uncertainty, skepticism! You begin with anguish and you end +with despair. But Truth, thou leadest us safely through life, bearest +the torch before us in the dark vale of death, and bringest us home to +heaven, where thou wast born. O my God, keep my heart in peace, in that +holy rest during which Truth loves best to visit us. The sun refuses to +reflect itself in the stormy sea, but it is down into its calm +mirror-like flood that it beams its face. Even thus keep my heart at +peace, O God, that it may be fit to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou +hast sent; for this alone is the truth which strengthens the heart and +elevates the soul. If I have truth then I have Christ; if I have Christ, +then have I God; and if I have God, then I have everything. And could I +ever permit myself to be robbed of this precious gem, this +heaven-reaching blessing by the wisdom of this world, which is +foolishness in thy sight? No. He who hates truth I will call my enemy, +but he who seeks it with simple heart I will embrace as my brother and +my friend. + +"The bell rings that calls me to the sanctuary. I hasten thither to make +good my confession, to strengthen myself in the truth, and to prepare +myself for death and eternity. O lead me in such a path, my Father, and +so open my heart to the impressions of truth that I may be strong enough +to make it known to my fellow men. They know that thou art their God and +Father, and that thou didst send Jesus thy Son, and the Holy Spirit who +was to testify of the truth. They can therefore have strength for every +grief of this life, and for the sorrows of death a bright hope of a +happy immortality. + +"Now, my God, thou canst take everything from me, yea every earthly joy +and blessing; but leave me truth, and I have joy and blessing enough!" + +It was the young Schiller who wrote these ecstatic words at a time when +he contemplated entering the ministry. A few years passed by, and all +was changed. He grew into a sincere admirer, we might say worshiper, of +the heathen faith. He complained that all the life and spirit were taken +out of the Bible by the Rationalists, but he did nothing to remedy their +error. He became absorbed in the spirit of classic times. The antiquity +of Greece was far dearer to him than that of Palestine, and his poetic +fancy was excited to a greater tension by the tales of heathen deities +than by the histories of the Bible. He was a devotee of Kant, and his +poetry was largely made up of that philosopher's metaphysics. Yet, in +Schiller's hand, abstractions became living pictures. He knew how to +speak clearly, and his popularity is evidence to the fact that his +generations of readers have plainly understood him. + +While Schiller represented Kant in verse, Goethe did the same thing with +Schelling's philosophy. The influence of the latter poet on religion was +very pernicious. He expressed himself favorably of the Bible, but he +claimed that it could only educate the people up to a little higher +stage of intelligence and taste. He was intensely egotistic, and totally +indifferent to all religious belief. His false idolatry of art and his +enthusiasm arrayed for heathendom, in all the beautiful charms of the +most seductive poetry, had a tendency fatal to the cause of Christianity +and to all public and private virtue.[36] He expressed himself sometimes +as very favorable toward the Roman Catholic worship, and the adherents +of that faith quote his words of approbation with evident pride. In his +_Autobiography_ he pays some high compliments to the seven sacraments of +the Romanists. He made several visits to the beautiful little Catholic +church dedicated to St. Roch, situated just above Bingen on the Rhine. +He presented it with an altar-piece, and on one occasion said, "Whenever +I enter this church I always wish I were a Catholic priest." But +Goethe's love and admiration of Catholicism were due rather to his +attachment to the old works of art than to that particular system of +faith and worship. The Romish church was the conservator of the +art-triumphs of the Middle Ages. She laid great store by her paintings +and statuary, and had been the patroness of the arts ever since the +wealth of noblemen and kings began to be poured into her lap. Goethe +loved her because she loved art. The key to this only evidence of +religious principle lies in his own words, as he once expressed himself +on contemplating a painting of the old German school. "Down to the +period of the Reformation," he said, "a spirit of indescribable +sweetness, solace, and hope seems to live and breathe in all these +paintings--everything in them seems to announce the kingdom of heaven. +_But since the Reformation, something painful, desolate, almost evil +characterizes works of art; and, instead of faith, skepticism, is often +transparent._" + +Our plan precludes an estimate of Goethe's literary achievements. But +the influence of his productions on theology was, in the main, as +destructive as if he had written nothing but uncompromising Rationalism. +He was the head of the Weimar family. He had a cool, careful judgment. +Schiller was excitable and impulsive; but Goethe was always stoical, +regarding holy things as convenient for the more rapid advance of +civilization, but not absolutely necessary for the salvation of the +soul. He directed the literature of Europe. In popularity Schiller was +his peer, yet in real power over the minds and lives of others no one +was a match for Goethe. Other men at Weimar, such as Wieland, Knebel, +and Jean Paul, were admired, but Goethe was the cynosure of all eyes. He +was always thinking what next to write, and when he issued a new play, +poem, or romance, a sensation was made wherever the German and French +tongues were spoken. + +Contemporaneously with these literary influences, which greatly +increased the power and prestige of Rationalism, there was a gradual +transformation of the training and instruction of the children of +Germany. A thorough infusion of doubt into the minds of the youth of the +land was all that was now needed to complete the sovereignty of +skepticism. + +It cannot be disputed that there were serious defects in the educational +system already prevalent. The Latin schools instituted by Melanchthon +were still in existence, but they had become mere machines. Children +were compelled to commit the dryest details to memory. The most useless +exercises were elevated to great importance, and years were spent in the +study of many branches that could be of no possible benefit in either +the professions or the trades. The primary schools were equally +defective. There was no such thing as the pleasant, developing influence +of the mature over the young mind. The same defect had already +contributed to the spread of Rationalism, but the Rationalists were now +shrewd enough to seize upon this very evil and use it as an instrument +of strength and expansion. + +Basedow was the first innovator in education, and, glaring as his faults +were, he succeeded in effecting radical changes in the entire circle of +youthful training. Sprung from a degraded class, addicted to vulgar +habits, and dissipated beyond the countenance of good society, this man +educated himself, and then set himself up as a fit agent for the +reformation of German education.[37] He undertook, by his publication of +the _Philalethy_, and of the _Theoretical System of Sound Reason_, to +infuse new spirit into the university method of instruction. But he had +taken too large a measure of his own powers, and therefore made but +little impression upon the circle to which he had addressed himself. +But, with that restless determination which distinguished him through +life, he began to appeal to the younger mind, and contended boldly for +the freedom of children from their common and long-standing restraints. + +From 1763 to 1770 Basedow deluged the whole land with his books on +education; and, uniting his appeals for educational reform with +strictures upon the validity of the Scriptures, he incurred the sore +displeasure of Goetze, Winkler and others of their class. They replied to +him, but he was always ready-witted, and the press groaned under his +repeated and sometimes ribald rejoinders. He told the nation, in an +_Address to the Friends of Humanity_, that the old excesses would soon +be done away with, since he was about to publish a work and commence an +educational institution which would rid the children of the shackles of +customary instruction. He solicited subscriptions for the issue of his +elementary book, as it would require numerous plates, and be attended +with other unusual expenses. His manifesto was freely circulated. +Replies soon came to him, with liberal subscriptions from all parts of +Europe. Princes and people became infatuated with his great plans and +wrote him their warm approval. They remitted large contributions for his +assistance. A specimen of his _Child's Book_ appeared, and all classes +were pleased with it. Whatever he promised was accepted with avidity, +because his promises were at once so flattering and exaggerated. +Schlegel and other educators tried in vain to make the multitude believe +that the vulgar mountebank could never fulfill their expectations. +Basedow proposed to parents, that if they would observe his system, all +languages and subjects,--grammar, history, and every other study--could +be learned, not in the tread-mill style, but as an amusement; that +morality and religion, both Jewish and Christian, Catholic as well as +Protestant, could be easily taught; that all the old bonds of education +were henceforth to be broken; and that every great difficulty would +hereafter be a pastime. Finally a part of the elementary work appeared. +But one plan creating the necessity for another, he soon found himself +immersed in the conception of a great philosophical school, in which not +only children but also teachers were to be trained for the application +of his new system to the appalling wants of the people. Every family +became possessor of the elementary book, and all eyes were turned toward +the _Philanthropium_ in Dessau. Compared with Basedow's wishes, this was +but a fragment of an institution. But upon its existence depended the +solution of his lauded problems. + +Just at this time Germany was stirred by the reading of Rousseau's works +on popular education. Neither in Switzerland nor France had they +effected the purpose for which they were written, but among the Germans +their success was complete. Many persons, earnestly favoring Rousseau's +doctrine of freedom from all conventional restraints in families, +desired even his _Idyls of Life_ to be introduced into the schools. +Basedow and Rousseau thought in harmony; recommended that nature, not +discipline, should be our guide in education; and that only those +stories should be taught, of the utility of which the children are +themselves conscious. Subscriptions came in profusely, and the +_Philanthropium_ in Dessau commenced its existence. It was opened +without pupils on the twenty-seventh of December, 1774, and in the +following year it was attended by only fifteen. It threatened to +decline, but rallied again; and in 1776 a great public examination was +held. Then Basedow retired from its curatorship; but, returning once +more, his institution suffered under his care, and finally met with +total extinction. The great bubble of his plans burst. People awoke to +their mistake, and many of his dupes began to confess that, after all, +the old system of education was the best that had been devised. + +But there were men who had lighted their torches at Basedow's flame. +Some who had been temporary inmates of his _Philanthropium_ went to work +with great perseverance to write juvenile books. Though the institution +had tumbled to ruin, and public notice began to be turned from it, the +excitement of the popular mind on the training of youth had been so +intense that the subject could not soon cease to receive attention. For +this reason, the writers of books for children found a large circle to +read them, and become impressed by them. Herder had called attention to +the subject of education in some of his most eloquent periods. He +contended zealously for the development of the young mind. His own words +were, "that it should be the chief aim of the teacher to imbue the child +with living ideas of everything that he sees, says, or enjoys, in order +to give him a proper position in his world, and continue the enjoyment +of it through every day of his life." Jean Paul, in his _Levana, or the +Doctrine of Education_, called attention to the necessity of the +personal training of children by their parents in opposition to the old +stiff method which, instead of quickening, only stupefied the intellect. +Campe and Salzmann had been students in Basedow's _Philanthropium_, and +subsequently each of them commenced a similar institution, but of more +humble pretensions. Yet it was not so much as practical educators as by +their writings, that they were instrumental in effecting a powerful +impression upon the young mind of Germany. Campe's _Children's Library_ +had a fascinating influence upon children. It encouraged their literary +taste to the exclusion of religious development. The author advocated +morality, but only that which is taught by the common dictates of +nature. He stoutly rejected the old _Catechism_ of Luther as unfit to be +drilled into a youthful mind, and, unhappily, he found many +sympathizers. His _Robinson the Younger_ was to the Germans what +_Robinson Crusoe_ was, and still is, to the English-speaking world, and +from the time that the children read its wonderful stories they looked +with disgust upon the less exciting histories of the Bible. From 1775 to +1785 it captivated every boy and girl who could collect groschen enough +to buy a copy. When they had ceased reading it they were filled with the +idea that they were naturally perfect. + +Pestalozzi belongs rather to the present than to the last century, but +he stands highest in the catalogue of the educational reformers who +arose during the meridian strength of Rationalism. He was a Swiss by +birth. In 1798 he went to Stanz and labored for the amelioration of the +orphan children whose parents had fallen in the French wars.[38] His +idea was, to make the school an educating family, into which the ease +and pleasure of home should be introduced. He, too, believed in man's +natural goodness, and held that true education is not so much the +infusion of what is foreign to, as the educing of what is native in the +child. But he warmly encouraged youthful acquaintance with the Bible, +and said that the history of Christ is an indispensable ingredient in +the education of every young mind. But while these few men, both by +their active life and facile pen, contributed their share to the +improvement of the youth of Germany, there was a large class of writers +for the young, whose productions became as plentiful as autumn leaves. +Some were sentimental, having imbibed their spirit from _Siegwart, La +Nouvelle Heloise_, and similar works. Young men and women became +dreamers, and children of every social condition were converted into +premature thinkers on love, romance, and suicide. Whoever could wield a +pen thought himself fit to write a book for children. There has never +been a period in the whole current of history when the youthful mind was +more thoroughly and suddenly revolutionized. The result was very +disastrous. Education, in its true import, was no longer pursued, and +the books most read were of such nature as to destroy all fondness for +the study of the Bible, all careful preparation for meeting the great +duties of coming maturity, and every impression of man's incapacity for +the achievement of his own salvation. + +The teachers in the common institutions of learning having now become +imbued with serious doubts concerning the divine authority of the +Scriptures, their pupils suffered keenly from the same blight. In many +schools and gymnasia miracles were treated with contempt. Epitomes of +the Scriptures on a philosophical plan were introduced. Ammon, in one of +his works, tells the young people that the books of the Old Testament +have no divine worth or character for us, except so far as they agree +with the spirit of the gospel. As to the New Testament, much must be +figuratively understood, since many things have no immediate relation to +our times. Christ is a mere man. Dinter was a voluminous writer on +theological subjects, and in his books tells children of imperfect +notions of former times as to God, angels, and miracles. He gives +teachers directions how to conduct themselves cleverly in such matters, +and afterwards, in agreement with the principles he recommends, he lays +down plans of catechizing. For example, there are to be two ways of +catechizing about Jonah; one before an audience not sufficiently +enlightened, and where all remains in its old state; another for places +which have more light. In the prophecies concerning the Messiah a double +explanation is given for the same reason. One is the old orthodox way, +the other a more probable neological plan. A clever teacher is to choose +for himself; a dull one may ask the parish clergyman how far he may go. + +As a fair specimen of the kind of Biblical instruction then imparted to +the children of Germany, we may adduce the example of Becker's +_Universal History for the Young_. A second edition was issued in Berlin +in 1806. Speaking of the person and character of Christ, the author +says, "Jesus probably got the first notion of his undertaking from being +a friend of John, and going often to his father's, who was a priest; and +from the Gospel it appears that the sight of feasts and of the crowd of +worshipers had a great effect upon him. It is doubtful whether Jesus and +John were sent into Egypt for their education, or were taught by the +Essenes, and then sent into Palestine as ambassadors of that sect, with +secret support and according to arranged plan.... The indications of the +Messiah in the Old Testament had produced great effect on Jesus and John +who were both hot-heads, such as destiny raises for some great purpose. +We are in danger, therefore, of judging them unjustly, especially from +the great mixture of high and low, clear and obscure in them." + +Becker had the modesty to say that he would not undertake to fix the +character of Jesus, but merely collect the fragments of it from his +_wretched_ biographers. The friends had great mutual esteem, but John +saw in Jesus a higher spirit than his own. Both had the same hatred of +the priests, their pride and hypocrisy; both thought the Mosaic law no +longer fit for the time, and that the notion of a national God was the +source of all the evil in Judea. After long meditation they decided that +Jesus must be the Messiah; and John found the part of a precursor fixed +for himself. Christ, partly from his power of attraction, and partly +from the hope of future power, made his disciples depend blindly on him. +It was only with great caution that he could undertake his great work of +destroying the priests. The people were divided into sects; and the +characteristics of his plan were, his choice of the lowest people, and +his withdrawing himself frequently from public view, that the priests +might not nip his plan in the bud. As all the prophets had worked +miracles, and many were expected from the Messiah, he too was obliged, +according to Becker, to undertake them or renounce his hopes. No doubt +he performed miracles; for the power of the mind on the body is such +that we need not doubt his curing the melancholy and the nervous. As to +the miraculous meals, raising the dead, curing the blind and deaf, these +things must be attributed to the calculation of his historians; and we +need not hesitate to do so after observing such tangible fabrications as +Christ's walking on the sea, his blasting the fig tree, devils driven +into the swine, and virtue going out of himself. In the story of Lazarus +we cannot help suspecting some secret concert. Christ did perform some +uncontested miracles, however and there was in his manner that +inexpressible something which makes greatness irresistible. The mystic +obscurity thrown over his future kingdom, the many parables he used, and +his assured manner of speaking of future things, begot reverence. The +prudence of his judgment and the strictness of his life are +praiseworthy. He could pursue the destruction of old usages but very +slowly; first he allowed the neglect of the Sabbath, and at last made +open war with the priests, "_on whom, he lanced all the thunder of a +Ciceronian eloquence_." + +"John's death," continues this model writer for youth, "made Christ very +timid. He got away into the desert and ordered his followers not to call +him Messiah in public. In his last journey to Jerusalem, the multitude +protected him by day, and he escaped by night. His answers, made to +several questions at this time, for example, John viii. 3, are still +admired. He had always suspected Judas; and as he had a presentiment +that he would come to a bad end, he became very uneasy, and yet was able +to exhort his disciples. He did not really die on the cross. Whenever +recognized by his disciples afterwards, he went away directly, and came +back unexpectedly and for a short time. At last he disappeared quickly, +and let himself be seen no more. This end, like that of Lycurgus, +produced many followers. By degrees all the tales of the crucifixion +were extended and a Christian mythology erected."[39] + +Becker was not more extreme in his inculcation of doctrine than many +others. Even Gesenius, in the preface to his _Hebrew Reading Book_, +tells the students of the Bible that Gen. i. 2, 3, contains the +description of the origin of the earth by a sage of antiquity; that the +narrator has a very imperfect knowledge of nature, though his +description is sublime, that he can hardly be the first inventor of the +description, as the principal outlines of it and even the six works of +creation are to be found in other religions of the East; and that +probably he only accommodates the general tradition of the East to the +national opinions of the Hebrews,--a remark which applies especially to +his ascribing a mystic origin to the Sabbath, a festival peculiar to the +Jews. + +Such was the kind of theology in which the German youth were trained +during a period extending through the latter part of the eighteenth and +the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. It is no matter of +astonishment, then, that when those children became adults they were +rigid Rationalists from the mere force of training. + +We now come to one of the most inexcusable deeds with which Rationalism +stands charged. We refer to the general destruction or alteration of the +time-honored German hymns. + +Both the great branches of the Protestant church had always highly +prized their rich hymns, of which there were eighty thousand in +existence. Some of the finest lyrics of any tongue were among the +number. The sacred songs now used in our American churches are not +solely of English origin, or of our own production; but many of the +sweetest of them are free versions from the German hymnists. The +Rationalists, not being content with their present laurels, began in +great earnestness to despoil the hymn-books of the Protestant church of +everything savoring of inspiration or of any of the vital doctrines +already rejected. They looked upon those songs of devotion as composed +during the iron age of truth, and therefore unfit to be sung by the +congregations whose lot had been cast in the golden period. Should these +verses continue to be sung by the church, they would remain a strong tie +holding the masses to the pitiable days of effete orthodoxy. The +Rationalists reasoned correctly, for, in Germany, music is a power which +has at times defied the authority of popes and kings. It was, therefore, +with a sort of savage satisfaction that these destroyers of truth began +the work of denuding those earnest and evangelical hymns of all their +vigor and nationality for the purpose of placing in their stead cold and +heartless moral verses. + +Klopstock commenced the work of alteration, though with a good +intention, by remodeling twenty-nine old church hymns. Cramer and +Schlegel followed in his steps. Soon the devout and animating songs of +Gellert, Bach, and their brother minstrels were despoiled of the spirit +that had ever made them dear to the popular heart and familiar to the +common ear. By and by, everybody who could make a tolerable rhyme seized +some of the master-pieces of hymnology, and set them up on stiff +philosophical stilts. New hymn books were introduced into many of the +churches, and the people sang Rationalism. General superintendents, +consistorial counselors, and court preachers, rivaled each other in +preparing a new volume of religious songs for the territory under their +charge. Individual towns and churches had their own selections. Some +portions of Germany, especially Wuertemberg, refused awhile to give up +the old hymns, and certain writers of the sterling character of the poet +Schubert, raised a loud and indignant voice against the wretched +vandalism. But they could accomplish nothing, and the old hymns suffered +that fearful mortality which the Rationalists had by this time become +so able to inflict on almost everything of value. It is a lamentable +scene to see those reckless doubters sit down with scalpel in hand to +dissect as pure and inspiring hymns as are to be found in the devotional +literature of any nation. For a good sacred song is only complete just +as its author finishes it. If an authorized hymn committee attempt to +alter it, they fill it at once with icicles. They can no more improve it +by emendations than they can improve a rose by the use of a penknife. +Each clipping or puncture destroys some natural charm. + +But the music accompanying the hymns was doomed to a like fate. The old +chorals, which had been lingering in those renowned gothic temples ever +since the days of Luther, were so altered as to stand upon the same +footing with the hymns themselves. All sentiment was extracted, as quite +out of place, and sublimity was made to give way to a more temperate and +stoical standard. In due time the Rationalists effected their purpose. +Secular music was introduced into the sanctuary; an operatic overture +generally welcomed the people into church, and a march or a waltz +dismissed them. Sacred music was no longer cultivated as an element of +devotion. The oratorios and cantata of the theatre and beer-garden were +the Sabbath accompaniments of the sermon. The masses consequently began +to sing less; and the period of coldest skepticism in Germany, like +similar conditions in other lands, was the season when the +congregations, the common people, and the children sang least and most +drowsily. + +We now behold Protestant Germany in the full possession of a shrewd, +powerful, and aggressive system of infidelity. The most thorough student +of church history must conclude that no other kind of skepticism has +received more aid from external sources. Everything that appeared on the +surface of the times contributed its mite toward the spiritual +petrification of the masses. Hamann, Oetinger, Reinhard, Lavater, and +Storr were insufficient for the great task of counteraction, while +Rationalism could count its strong men by the score and hundred. +Literature, philosophy, history, education, and sacred music were so +influenced by increasing indifference and doubt that when the people +awoke to their condition they found themselves in a strange latitude and +on a dangerous coast. But they thought themselves safe. They could not +see how each new feature in politics, literature, and theology was +affecting them in a remarkable manner; and how so many influences from +opposite quarters could contribute to the same terrible result,--the +total overthrow of evangelical faith. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] Moehler's _Symbolism_: Memoir of Author. + +[37] Schlosser, _History of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. 2, pp. 33-41. + +[38] Kahnis: _German Protestantism_, p. 216. + +[39] Rose, _State of Protestantism in Germany_, pp. 178-181. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DOCTRINES OF RATIONALISM IN THE DAY OF ITS STRENGTH. + + +The church now presented a most deplorable aspect. Philosophy had come, +with its high-sounding terminology, and invaded the hallowed precincts +of Scriptural truth. Literature, with its captivating notes, had +well-nigh destroyed what was left of the old Pietistic fervor. The songs +of the church were no longer images of beauty, but ghastly, repulsive +skeletons. The professor's chair was but little better than a heathen +tripod. The pulpit became the rostrum where the shepherdless masses were +entertained with vague essays on such general terms as righteousness, +human dignity, light, progress, truth, and right. The peasantry received +frequent and labored instructions on the raising of cattle, bees, and +fruit. The poets of the day were publicly recited in the temples where +the Reformers had preached. Wieland, Herder, Schiller, and Goethe became +more familiar to the popular congregations than Moses, David, Paul, or +even Christ. By this time we might reasonably expect the harvest from +Semler's favorite theories. There was no school as yet by which he +worked upon the public mind, but the greater portion of theologians +caught up scrap-thoughts from his opinions and now dealt them out in +magnified proportions to the masses who, like their Athenian +predecessors, were ever anxious to learn what was new. That so many +influences as we have seen in force should completely subdue orthodoxy +is not wonderful, when we consider first the minds that originated them, +and then the dull and frigid condition of the church. + +But, as the fruit of these influences, there was no common system of +theology adopted by the Rationalists. The reason is obvious. Rationalism +was not an organism, and therefore it could have no acknowledged creed. +Its adherents were powerful and numerous scouting-parties, whose aim was +to harass the flanks of the enemy, and who were at liberty, when +occasion required, to divide, subdivide, take any road, or attack at any +point likely to contribute to the common victory. One writer came before +the public, and threw doubt on some portions of the Scriptures. He was +followed by another who, while conceding the orthodox view of those very +passages, would discard other parts, even whole books, as plainly +incredible. A third discussed the character and mission of Christ, and +imputed a certain class of motives to him. A fourth attributed to him +totally different, if not contradictory, impulses. There is no one book, +therefore, in which we find an undisputed Rationalistic system, for the +work that may represent one circle will give but a meagre and false view +of another. Besides, what the most of the Rationalists might agree upon +at one stage of the development of their skepticism, would be rejected +by others, living a few years after them. The only means, therefore, by +which we are enabled to arrive at some understanding concerning their +opinions is to fix upon the time of their meridian strength, and then to +hear what their representative men of that period say of the truths of +revelation. + +Now it cannot be doubted that Rationalism was most powerful after the +decided impression made upon theology by the philosophical direction +commenced by Kant, and by that of literature inaugurated by Lessing and +followed by the Weimar poets. We are consequently under the necessity of +hearing the statements of acknowledged Rationalists who flourished +during this time, and, out of the chaos, arrive at the most probable and +general views entertained by the people. + +We shall see that the scene of spiritual desolation was repulsive enough +to make every servant of Christ wish, with Wordsworth,-- + + "I'd rather be + A pagan, suckled in a creed outworn; + So might I standing on this pleasant lea, + Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn-- + Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea, + Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." + +RELIGION. All religion was held by the Rationalists to be mere morality. +As to any such thing as conversion, they were agreed that it could be +only a work of the imagination. All the regeneration at which we may +reasonably expect to arrive is an inclination to obey the dictates of +reason. He who follows the teachings of his own intellect cannot go +astray, for this is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into +the world. The Scriptures give a high coloring to religion, and +represent it as necessary; but those writings are not as reliable as the +innate revelation which every son of Reason enjoys. + +EXISTENCE OF GOD. With this view of religion in general, all the other +vital doctrines of Christianity suffered an equal depreciation. The +existence of God is conceded, but the proof is impossible. His +personality cannot be affirmed; it is confounded with the soul of the +world. Of course, the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be accepted; for +reason sheds no light sufficiently clear to establish it. A high +dignitary of the church, Cannabich, wrote a book in positive denial of +the Trinity, original sin, justification, satisfaction of Christ, +baptism, and the Lord's Supper. As for the Trinity, the early Christians +had no such tenet, and it was never concocted until after the lapse of +several centuries of the Christian era. Both philosophy and nature are +as capable of establishing the evidence of God's existence as the +Scriptures themselves. The idea we have of God is due to prejudice and +education. The mass of the Rationalists said, with Lichtenberg, that +instead of God making man after his image, man had made God after his +human image. + +DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION. The Rationalists were fond of reasoning by +analogy, and they used that method of argument freely in their +discussions on the inspiration of the Scriptures. God never pursues the +plan of operating immediately upon nature. His laws are the mediate +measures by which he communicates with man. Gravitation is an instrument +he employs for the control of the material world. Thus, in some way, +does God impress upon man's mind all that he wishes to reveal, without +any necessity of direct inspiration. The doctrine was, therefore, +rejected because there was no need of it, and from this step it was easy +to assume the position that there is no inspiration. This the +Rationalists did assume. "Grant inspiration," said they, "and you bind +us down to the belief that all the contents of the Scriptures are true. +You force us to believe what our reason does not comprehend. The +doctrine of inspiration opens the floodgate for the belief of a mass of +mythical stuff which we will no more grant to be historically true than +Niebuhr will admit the validity of the legends of early Rome." The poets +of every land have enjoyed a sort of rhapsody when in their highest +flights. This rhapsody or ecstasy is all that these idolaters of reason +will concede. Doederlein's views of inspiration were much more elevated +than those held by many of his _confreres_; but he too speaks of +poetical excitement, and draws a line of distinction between the +inspired and uninspired parts of Scripture. But Ammon represents this +subject better than Doederlein. It was his opinion that the idea of a +mediate divine instruction is applicable to all human knowledge. He +rejects the notion peculiar to revelation. Inspiration cannot for a +moment be accepted as an immediate divine impression, because it would +compromise the supremacy of reason, and destroy man's intellectual and +moral liberty. The diversity of style perceptible in the writers of the +Scriptures is a proof that they were not influenced by immediate +inspiration. "These writers themselves," say the Rationalists, "never +claimed such extraordinary functions as those with which orthodox +believers would now clothe them." + +Toellner, a theological professor in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, wrote very +fully on inspiration, and his work was held in great repute by many of +the Rationalists who were inclined to supernaturalism. He held that the +will, the matter, the words, and the order of both the matter and the +words, might be objects of inspiration. But there are several degrees of +inspiration. Some books were written without inspiration of any kind, +and were only confirmed by God. In the Old Testament, Moses might have +been directed to a choice of subjects, and his memory might have been +strengthened. So of the Psalms and Prophecies. There is no such thing +as inspiration of the historical books. It cannot be determined what +degree was employed in the New Testament. In the Acts there was nothing +more than natural inspiration. Luke and Mark were approved by the +apostles, hence their writings may be received. Morus held that +inspiration was sometimes only the inducing to write; sometimes an +admonition to do so; sometimes revelation; and sometimes only a guarding +from error.[40] Granting the Rationalistic denial of inspiration, we +have no solid ground for any portion of the Bible. We find, therefore, +that after this view had become prevalent the popular mind attached no +importance to God's revealed will. Interpolations were imagined at every +point of difficulty. Schroeckh gives a sketch of the deplorable state of +opinion on inspiration, when he says, "Inspiration was given +up--interpolations in Scripture were believed to exist. In the oldest +and partly in more recent history, instead of historical facts these +writers saw only allegories, myth, philosophical principles, and +national history. Where appearances of God and the angels, or their +immediate agency, are related, nothing was seen but Jewish images or +dreams. The explanation of all biblical books was pursued on new +principles. The _Song of Solomon_ was not mystical. The _Revelations_ +contained no prophecy of the fortunes of the church." + +Bitter indeed must have been the emotions of the devout Christian on +seeing the departure of inspiration from the opinions of the theological +leaders of that day. Infinitely more exquisite must have been his pain +than was that of the poet, who, sighing for the haunted and credulous +days of olden time, said: + + "The intelligible forms of ancient poets, + The fair humanities of old religions, + The power, the beauty, and the majesty, + That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain, + Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring, + Or chasms and watery depths: all these have vanished." + +CREDIBILITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. Schenkel affirms that Rationalism +consists in giving up all the historical characteristics of Christianity +and of Christian truths, and in the reduction of religion to the +universal conclusions of reason and morality. The accuracy of this +definition is very perceptible when we consider the wantonness of the +assaults of the Rationalists upon the Scriptures as the canon of faith +and practice. This period was marked by desperate attempts to overthrow +the early history of all countries, and to convict historians of stating +as fact what was only vague tradition. As the Bible was alleged by the +supernaturalists to be the oldest historic record, great pains were +taken to dissipate the mist from its accounts of supposed verities. The +writers of the Scriptures, the friends of Rationalism held, were only +men like ourselves. They had our prejudices and as great infirmities as +we have. They were as subject to deception and trickery, and as full of +political and sectarian rancor as partisans in these times. All through +the Old Testament we find traces of biased judgment, Jewish national +pride, sectional enmity, sectarian superstition, and rabbinical +ignorance. It is but little better in the New Testament, for the +disciples of Christ and the writers of the gospels were as susceptible +of error and bigotry as their predecessors.[41] + +The writers of the Scriptures were utterly destitute of any such great +designs as the orthodox attribute to them. They had no intention of +writing for posterity, and were the mere chroniclers of what they had +heard from others and seen for themselves. The Bible is, like the essays +of Seneca, an excellent book for elevating the people by its moral tone. +As a revelation of God's will it only takes its place beside others +which God had previously made, and has been making in a natural way, +ever since.[42] All ages and nations have their communications of +knowledge, and the setting forth of any truth in a clearer light is a +revelation.[43] There are many steps necessary for the education of the +race and for its intellectual and moral development. The Scriptures are +a very good aid to such a great consummation.[44] But they are full of +errors, which we must leave for the supremacy of pure Reason to +dissipate forever.[45] + +We cannot forbear to give Wegscheider's testimony on the scanty measure +of Scriptural credibility and authority in his own words. "But whatever +narrations," he says, "especially accommodated to a certain age and +relating miracles and mysteries, are united with the history and +subject-matter of revelation of this kind, these ought to be referred to +the natural sources and true nature of human knowledge. By how much the +more clearly the author of the Christian religion, not without the help +of Deity, exhibited to men the ideas of reason imbued with true +religion, so as to represent, as it were, a reflection of the divine +reason, or the divine spirit, by so much the more diligently ought man +to strive to approach as nearly as possible to form that archetype in +the mind, and to study to imitate it in life and manners to the utmost +of his ability. Behold here the intimate and eternal union and agreement +of Christianity with Rationalism.... The various modes of supernatural +revelation mentioned in many places of the sacred books, are to be +referred altogether to the notions and mythical narrations of every +civilized people; and this following the suggestion of the Holy +Scripture itself, and therefore to be attributed, as any events in the +nature of things, to the laws of nature known to us. As to theophanies, +the sight of the infinite Deity is expressly denied: John i. 18--1 John +iv. 12--1 Tim. vi. 16. Angelophanies, which the Jews of a later date +substituted for the appearances of God himself, like the narrations of +the appearances of demons found amongst many nations, are plainly +destitute of certain historic proofs; and the names, species, and +commissions attributed to angels in the sacred books, plainly betray +their Jewish origin. The business transacted by angels on earth is +little worthy of such ministers.... The persuasion concerning the truth +of that supernatural revelation, which rests on the testimony of the +sacred volume of the Old and New Testaments, like every opinion of the +kind, labors under what is commonly called a _petitio principii_." + +The Bible is, in fact, of no more authority and entitled to no further +credence than any other book. It is not worth more, as an historical +record, than an old chronicle of Indian, Greek, or Roman legends.[46] +The evangelists did not get their accounts of the doings of Christ from +observation, but from a primitive document written in the Aramaic +language. The gospels were not intentional deceptions; but that they are +as well the work of error as of wisdom, no candid interpreter can deny. +The life of Christ which they contain is but an innocent supplement to +the _Metamorphoses_ of Ovid.[47] Tittmann went so far as to affirm that +the Scripture writers were so ignorant that they could not represent +things as they really happened. Of course he excludes their capacity for +inspiration. + +DOCTRINE OF THE FALL OF MAN. While some Rationalistic writers conceded +that Moses was the author of the whole or parts of the Pentateuch, his +version of the origin of sin was universally rejected. The temptation by +the serpent was, with them, one of the most improbable myths ever drawn +up from the earliest traditions of nations. Whether Moses wrote much or +little of the books attributed to him, his sources of knowledge were +monuments and tales which he saw and heard about him. It is likely that +he derived his idea of the fall of man from some hieroglyphic +representation which he happened somewhere to see. As for the entrance +of the serpent into Paradise, it is just as improbable as the rabbinical +notion that the serpent of Eden had many feet. In the opinion of some, +the whole narrative is only an allegory, or "a poetical description of +the transition of man from a more brutish creature into humanity, from +the baby-wagon of instinct into the government of reason, from the +guardianship of nature into the condition of freedom."[48] Kindred to +this theory is Ammon's; that at first man obeyed instinct only, and that +his desire to eat the forbidden fruit was the longing of his mind to +understand truth. But the great injury which these men thought they had +visited on this doctrine was their assumption that man had not fallen, +and that instead of being worse than he once was, he is every year +growing purer and holier than at any previous stage of his history. +This was flattering to their inflated pride, and their wish became +father to their creed. With Eichhorn, the narrative of the fall was only +a description of Adam's thoughts. + +MIRACLES. It was no surprise to the wise disciples of Reason that there +should be found numerous records of miracles in the Bible. It was just +what might be expected from such writers in that gray morning of +antiquity. The first chroniclers seized upon tradition; and their +successors, seeing how well their fathers had succeeded, merely imitated +them by catching up new ones, or enlarging upon the old account. By a +sort of infection, therefore, we find what purports to be a revelation. +Whatever harmony there is, was the result of an aim which was not lost +sight of for a moment. Nature was the first teacher; and though she was +competent, we have been poor disciples. She is instructing us all the +time, though we have listened less to her than to the other auditors who +sit about us. Lichtenberg says in poetical language, that "When man +considers Nature the teacher, and poor men the pupils, we listen to a +lecture and we have the principles and the knowledge to understand it. +But we listen far more to the applause of our fellow-students than to +the discourse of the teacher. We interlard the lecture by speeches to +the one who sits next us; we supply what has been poorly heard by us; +and enlarge it by our own mistakes of orthography and sentiment." + +No branch of Scriptural faith attracted more of the wrath and irony of +the Rationalists than miracles. They saw how important their service was +to the authority of the Bible, and therefore bent all their energies for +their overthrow. They denied their possibility in the strongest terms, +averring that they degrade the character of God, and violate that noble +nature of the human mind, which is necessarily bound to the most certain +laws of experience, and can discern no positive marks of supernatural +agency.[49] The miracles of the New Testament receive no better +treatment than those of the Old. In every case they have no foundation +in history. Various reasons are assigned for their presence in the +Bible; in some cases they are only legends of mythologic days; in +others, the pure fancy of the writer; and in others, hyperbolical +descriptions of natural occurrences. Thus, while there was a diversity +of opinion concerning the narratives, there was perfect union as to the +purely natural character of the events. + +We may particularize, in order to present more clearly the Rationalistic +method of interpreting miracles. When Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with +their fellow-unfortunates, were swallowed up, they only suffered what +many others have done since,--destruction by a natural earthquake. This +was the opinion of Michaelis. Others, more ingenious, thought that Moses +had taken care to undermine privately the whole of the ground on which +the tents of the sinners were; and, therefore, it was not surprising, +either that they fell into the cavity, or that Moses should know this +would be their fate. Eichhorn held that the three offenders, with their +property, were burned by the order of Moses. Dinter explained Jacob's +struggle with an angel by relating a recent dream. His brother having +lately died, Dinter dreamed soon after that a man, with a little +peep-show, presented to his view all sorts of pictures, and at length +showed him his dead brother. The vision said, "To show you that I am +really your brother, I will print a blue mark on your finger." The +dreamer awoke and found not a blue mark but a pain which lasted some +days. This profound exegete then asks, "Could not something similar have +happened in Jacob's case? Even the less lively occidentalist sometimes +relates as real what only happened in his mind. Why should we be +surprised at a similar occurrence in the warmer fancy of the Eastern +man?" + +But of all the critics of miracles we must give the palm to Paulus. Let +us hear how he accounts for the tribute-money in the mouth of the fish. +"What sort of a miracle," he asks, "is that we find here? I will not say +a miracle of about sixteen or twenty groschen, for the greatness of the +value does not make the greatness of the miracle. But it may be +observed, that, as Jesus generally received support from many persons, +in the same way as the Rabbis frequently lived from such donations; as +so many pious women provided for the wants of Jesus; and as the claim +did not occur at any remote place, but at Capernaum, where Christ had +friends; a miracle for about a thaler would certainly have been +superfluous. But it would not only have been superfluous and paltry,--it +would have taught this principle; that Peter, even when he could have +remedied his necessities easily in other ways, might and ought to reckon +on a miraculous interference of the Deity,--a notion which would +entirely contradict the fundamental principle of Jesus, or the +interference of the Deity. There is nothing of a miraculous appearance +in this narrative, nor was there to Peter himself. Had there been, the +fiery Peter would not have been cold-blooded at such a miracle, but +would have expressed himself as in Luke v. 8. There is nothing more +meant here, than that Christ designed to give a moral lesson; namely, +that we should not give offence to our brethren, if we can avoid it by +trifling circumstances. Hence, Christ said to him in substance, 'Though +there is no real occasion for us to pay the tribute, yet as we may be +reckoned enemies of the temple, and may not be attended to when we wish +to teach what is good, why should not you, who are a fisherman, and can +easily do it, go and get enough to pay the demand? Go then to the sea, +cast your hook and take up the first and best fish. Peter must, +therefore, have caught either so many fish as would be worth a _stater_ +at Capernaum, or one large and fine enough to have been valued at that +sum. The opening of the fish's mouth might have different objects, which +must be fixed by the context. Certainly, if it hang long, it will be +less salable. Therefore the sooner it is taken to market, the more +probable will be a good price for it." + +Paulus and Ammon coincide in the following interpretation of one of the +miracles of the loaves and fishes. There were always large caravans +traveling near the time of the feasts, and they carried a plenty of meat +and drinks on camels and in baskets. Now it is not according to Eastern +hospitality to see your friends near you when you are eating, without +asking them to join you. All that Jesus meant by saying they were +without food was, that they had not a regular meal; and that therefore +he collected them, arranged them in parties, and set those who had food +the example of giving to those who had none, by doing so himself, with +the small portion which he had. As long as eating was going on, Christ +made the twelve go about with their baskets and give what they had to +all who wished it. The baskets were not entirely emptied, nor was any +one left hungry; otherwise the needy would have applied to the stock of +the Apostles. Jesus, pleased to have done so much with so little, +desired them to collect what there was in the different baskets into +one. + +Our wise critic, the daring Paulus, finds as little difficulty in +explaining away the miracle of Christ walking on the sea. When Christ +saw that the wind was contrary, he did not wish to sustain the +inconvenience of such a voyage; but walked along the shore and resolved +to pass the disciples, as the wind was against them. From the state of +the weather they coasted slowly along, and when they saw him walking on +the land they were frightened. On their calling out, Christ desired +Peter, who was a good swimmer, to swim to the shore and ascertain that +it was he. Peter ran around to the proper side of the ship and jumped +into the sea. When he was frightened by the violence of the waves, +Christ who was standing on the shore, put out his hand and caught him. +The boat put to land and they both got in! + +Such was the common method of explaining miracles. The Rationalists were +so opposed to the idea of the supernatural, that each was accounted for +in some other than the Scriptural way. Many volumes were written on this +subject alone, until the people became thoroughly imbued with the +opinion that the Scriptures are nothing more than a well-intended and +exhaustive Jewish mythology. It became a mark of superstition to credit +a miraculous event, and the few who still adhered to this pillar of the +Christian faith found themselves pitied by the learned and derided by +their equals. + +PROPHECY. The adventurous men who could deal thus with miracles would +not be supposed to be more lenient to the prophecies of the Scriptures. +We, therefore, observe the same skeptical rejection of the prophets. We +have not dwelt at length upon the particular books which received their +thrusts, for this would be quite too lengthy a task for the present +volume. It is probable, however, that there is not a book of Scripture, +or even a chapter, which these men would have remain just as we find it +in the canon. "Something must be done with it," they argued, "no matter +what it is. It is older or later than we have been accustomed to think. +It was, of course, written by some one else than the accredited author." + +A large share of these criticisms centered on the works of the prophets, +for it was one of the most persistent efforts of Rationalism to destroy +popular faith in them. Ammon discoursed boldly against them and +attempted to convert every prophetic expression into a natural remark. +He held that Christ himself directly renounced the power to prophesy, +Mat. xxiv. 36; Acts i. 7; and that there are no prophecies of his in the +New Testament. Prophecies are recorded in the Bible as uttered by men of +doubtful character. Many of them are obscure, and were never fulfilled. +Others were made after the events, and all were reckoned imperfect by +the Apostles. These accusations apply to all the prophecies of the Old +and New Testaments. The argument for them needs whatever excuse it can +find, in the delirium of the prophets who were transported out of their +sobriety, in the double sense in which they are quoted in the New +Testament, or in the remarkable variety of interpretation. In fact, +there is a moral objection to them, to say nothing of their historical +character. They would favor fatalism, take away human freedom, and be +irreconcilable with the Divine perfection. What Christ said concerning +the destruction of Jerusalem is not a prophecy, because not stated with +sufficient clearness. Jesus followed the style of interpretation found +in the Talmudic and Rabbinical writings, and transferred to himself many +things in the Old Testament, which really referred to future changes in +the state of the Jews. He used the Jewish ideas of a Messiah to further +his own notions of founding a spiritual kingdom. The prophecies in the +Old Testament merely give a poetical dress to affairs occurring in the +prophet's or the poet's life time.[50] Even the prophets made but little +if any claim to the great gift ascribed to them. They were good +politicians who had made a study of their subject; and, from the mere +force of natural shrewdness and long experience, could see coming +events. Paulus argued at length against Christ's prophecy of his own +resurrection. His first proof is that the apostles did not so understand +him, as is clear from the women seeking to embalm him; and from the +apostles not believing at first the story of his resurrection. Then +Christ had no notion of returning shortly. He would not have thought it +necessary to cheer his disciples as he did before his death if he could +have prophesied that in three days he should join them again. All the +promises of meeting again refer to his joining them in a future life. +Wegscheider adds that Christ, though he reproaches his disciples with +their want of faith, does not allude to their distrust of any prophecy +of his; and that the phrase _three days_ is often used of what will soon +happen. Scherer, a clergyman of Hesse-Darmstadt, represented the +prophets of the Old Testament as so many Indian jugglers, who made use +of the pretended inspiration of Moses and of the revelations of the +prophets to deceive the people. He treated those who still have any +regard for the prophecies of the New Testament as enthusiasts and +simpletons; called all the predictions respecting the person of the +Messiah, nonsense; accused the prophets of being cunning deceivers; and +said that the belief of those prophets has preserved incredulity on the +earth. + +THE PERSON OF CHRIST. The historical method of interpretation was +applied by the disciples of Reason to the Gospel narratives of the +character and atonement of Christ. The various circumstances surrounding +the writers, the prejudices probably actuating them, the customs they +witnessed, and their ignorance and consequent impressibility by a +stronger mind, were all taken into the account. The Rationalists, +therefore, place Christ before us as we would naturally expect him to +appear after taking everything into consideration. They do not show him +to us as he is, but as the nature of the case would lead us to expect +him to be. There were many who charged him with unworthy motives and +national prejudices. Reimarus accused him of rebellious, ambitious, and +political views. "Afterward," says Staeudlin, "came out writings enough +in Germany in which Christ was said to have performed his miracles by +secret arts or by delusions. All proofs of the truth and divinity of his +religion were taken away. He was exhibited either as a deceiver or +self-deceiving enthusiast; and every possible objection to Christian +morality as well as to the form of Christian worship was violently +urged. Among the writers of these works were even theologians and +preachers! What could be the consequence, except that they who still +held somewhat to Christianity should set it forth as pure Rationalism, +and that others should endeavor to extinguish it, and to introduce a +pure religion of reason quite independent of Christianity and separated +from it." + +An anonymous publication appeared in 1825, entitled _Vindiciae Sacrae +Novi Testamenti Scriptuarum_, in which Christ was declared to have +deceived himself! Thereupon the Christians were obliged to elevate their +founder's mean condition by wonderful stories. The first myth is +concerning John the Baptist. Then follow the wonderful stories of +Christ's birth, the advent of the wise men, the baptism, temptation, +death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. There are doubts and +difficulties connected with the resurrection, and though the apostles +constantly assert its truth, the probable story is that the followers of +Jesus, enraged at his death, gave it out that, being taken from the +power of the wicked, he lived with God and enjoyed the reward of his +virtue. They represented the life of their master to themselves and +others in the most glowing colors, and so by degrees, said that he was +still living, raised from the dead, and rewarded. Then all these things +were told and believed, and it was not easy to contradict them or even +examine their value. + +Paulus affirmed that Christ did not really die but suffered a fainting +fit. Bahrdt conjectured that he retreated after his supposed death to +some place known only to his disciples. According to Henke, Christ was a +remarkable teacher, distinguished and instructed by God. Inspiration was +what Cicero ascribes to the poets; the doctrine of the Trinity came from +Platonism; the name "Son of God" is metaphorical, and describes not the +nature but the qualities of Christ; and personality is ascribed to the +Holy Ghost through a prosopopoeia not uncommon in the New Testament. +The chief service of Christ was his doctrine. As a Divine Messenger it +was his business to bring forward new and pure religion adapted to the +wants of all mankind, and to give an example of it. His death was +necessary to prove his confidence in his own doctrines, and to present +an illustration of perfected virtue. Wegscheider took the position that +Christ was one of those characters raised up by God at various periods +of history to repress vice and encourage virtue. All notions of his +glorification, however, are groundless, and the atonement is a mere +speculation of the orthodox. + +One of the most popular and direct of all the writers on the opinions of +the Rationalists was Roehr, the author of the _Briefe ueber den +Rationalismus_. He dwells at length upon nearly all the opinions we have +mentioned, but his portrait of Christ demands more than a passing +notice. He assumes a position, not very lofty, it is true, but yet much +more favorable than some of the authorities to which we have referred. +Christ had a great mission, and he felt that a heavy burden was upon +him. Still he was only a great genius, the blossom of his age and +generation, and unsurpassed in wisdom by any one before or after him. +His origin, culture, deeds and experience, are yet veiled, and the +accounts we have of him are so distorted by rhapsody that we cannot +reach a clear conception of him. He had a rare acquaintance with +mankind, and studied the Old Testament carefully. He possessed a large +measure of tact, imagination, judgment, wisdom, and power. His wisdom +was the product of unbiased reason, a sound heart, and freedom from +scholastic prejudices. He knew how to seize upon the best means for the +attainment of his human purposes. He embraced in his plan a universal +religion, and to this he made all things minister. All his doctrines +were borrowed from the Old Testament; and the most admirable can be +found as far back as the time of Moses. He performed no miracles; but +they seemed miracles to the eye-witnesses. He uttered no real +prophecies, but his mind was so full of the future that some of his +predictions came to pass because of the natural foresight possessed by +him. His cures are all attributable to his skill as a physician, for +every Jew of that day had some medical knowledge. His apostles +propagated Christianity because of the influence wrought upon them by +their master. Fortunately for his fame, Paul published him far and wide. +Had it not been for that apostle, Christianity would never have gone +further than Palestine. There is nothing more remarkable in the spread +of this religion than in that of Mohammedanism, which has made such +great inroads upon Arabia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and Spain. Roehr, +however, reaches the climax of skeptical praise when he says of Christ +that he was a "Rationalist of pure, clear, sound reason; free from +prejudice, of ready perceptions, great love of truth, and warm +sympathies,--an exalted picture of intellectual and moral greatness. Who +would not bow before thee?" + +The Rationalists made each act of Christ the subject of extended remark. +Whenever they came to a serious difficulty they boldly attempted its +solution by a few dashes of their unscrupulous pen. We may take the +temptation in the wilderness as an example. One writer says that Christ, +after his baptism, went into the wilderness full of the conviction that +he had been called to a great work. He was hungry; and the thought came +to him whether or not he was able to change the stones into bread. Then +the conviction arose that his authority was not great enough to enchain +the affections of the people. He wondered if God would not support him +if he fell; but Reason answered, "God will not sustain you if you +disobey the laws of nature." Then, standing on the top of a mountain, +he conceived the idea of possessing the surrounding lands, and of +placing himself at the head of the people to overthrow the Roman power. +The whole affair was a mere individual conflict. + +From what we have now said, the opinions of the Rationalists on all +points of Christian doctrine become apparent. The sacraments are only +symbols of an invisible truth. Baptism is merely a sign of the purity +with which a Christian ought to live. The Lord's Supper is but a +memorial of the death of Jesus, and unites us with him only morally. The +church is a human institution, whose teachings may be very distinct from +the will of God. It gives therefore only relative aid. The future +judgment is only a Rabbinical vision. Every one receives retribution for +his faults in this life; and there is no eternity save that of God, in +whom all beings are absorbed.[51] + +By this barren creed all foundation for a holy life was taken away. The +people, believing such absurdities, were transported from a period which +is declared by the word of God to be blessed by the "dispensation of the +Spirit" to a cold age in which the excellence of the intellect was +measured by the ingenuity of its thrusts at the Scriptures, and in which +the highest piety was the strictest obedience to the dictates of natural +reason. The inspired advice given to the seekers of wisdom was +travestied and made to read, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of +_Reason_ that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it +shall be given him." The Christian of that day had but little to +minister to his spiritual growth. All the endeared institutions of his +church were palsied by the strong arm of the Rationalists, who had +nothing to put in their place. Their time was spent in destruction. They +would pull all things down and erect nothing positive and useful. The +doctrines which they professed to believe were mere negatives,--the +sheer denial of some thing already in existence. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] Rose, _State of Protestantism in Germany_. Notes on Ch. iv. + +[41] Von Ammon: _Biblische Theologie_. + +[42] Daub. + +[43] Herder. + +[44] Lessing: _Menschengeschlect_. Rosenmueller: _Stufenfolge der +Goettlichen Offenbarungen_. + +[45] Wegscheider: _Institutiones Dogmaticae_. + +[46] Eichhorn: _Einleitung_. + +[47] Paulus: _Kritische Commentar ueber das Neue Testament_. + +[48] Kant. + +[49] Wegscheider: _Institutiones Dogmaticae_. + +[50] Eichhorn: _Die Hebraeischen Propheten_. + +[51] Von Ammon. Quoted from his _Magazine_ in Saintes' _Histoire du +Rationalisme_. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RENOVATION INAUGURATED BY SCHLEIERMACHER. + + +The commencement of the nineteenth century found the German people in a +state of almost hopeless depression. They saw their territory laid waste +by the victorious Napoleon, and their thrones occupied by rulers of +Gallic or Italian preferences. They had striven very sluggishly to stem +the current of national subjection and humiliation. The star of France +being in the ascendant, the Rhine was no longer their friendly ally and +western limit. No stage in the history of a people is more gloomy and +calls more loudly for sympathy than when national prestige is gone, and +dignities usurped by foreign conquerors. Though the apathy of despair is +a theme more becoming the poet than the historian, we find a vivid +description of the sadness and desolation produced by the French +domination given by one who deeply felt the disgrace of his country. +This writer says: + +"The Divine Nemesis now stretched forth her hand against devoted +Germany, and chastened her rulers and her people for the sins and +transgressions of many generations. Like those wild sons of the desert, +whom in the seventh century, heaven let loose to punish the degenerate +Christians of the East, the new Islamite hordes of revolutionary France +were permitted by Divine Providence to spread through Germany, as +through almost every country in Europe, terror and desolation. + +"What shall I say of the endless evils that accompanied and followed the +march of her armies, the desolation of provinces, the plunder of cities, +the spoliation of church property, the desecration of altars, the +proscription of the virtuous, the exaltation of the unworthy members of +society, the horrid mummeries of irreligion practised in many of the +conquered cities, the degradation of life and the profanation of death. +Such were the calamities that marked the course of these devastating +hosts. And yet the evils inflicted by Jacobin France were less intense +and less permanent than those exercised by her legislation. In politics +the expulsion of the ecclesiastical electors, who, though they had +sometimes given in to the false spirit of the age, had ever been the +mildest and most benevolent of rulers; the proscription of a nobility +that had ever lived in the kindliest relations with its tenantry; and on +the ruins of old aristocratic and municipal institutions that had long +guarded and sustained popular freedom, a coarse, leveling tyranny, +sometimes democratic, sometimes imperial, established; in the church the +oppression of the priesthood, a heartless religious indifferentism, +undignified even by attempts at philosophic speculation, propagated and +encouraged; and through the poisoned channels of education the taint of +infidelity transmitted to generations yet unborn. Such were the evils +that followed the establishment of the French domination in the +conquered provinces of Germany. Doubtless, through the all-wise +dispensations of that Providence who bringeth good out of evil, this +fearful revolution has partly become, and will yet further become, the +occasion of the moral and social regeneration of Europe."[52] + +The patriot saw his country degraded; but the Christian wept for his +absent faith. Rationalism was strongest when national humiliation was +deepest. These formed a fitting twinship. It is a scathing comment on +the influence of skepticism upon a people that, in general, the highest +feeling of nationality is coexistent with the devoutest piety. It is the +very nature of infidelity to deaden the emotions of patriotism, and that +country can hardly expect to prove successful if it engage in war while +its citizens are imbued with religious doubt. If lands are conquered, it +knows not how to govern them; if defeated, skepticism affords but little +comfort in the night of disaster. We do not attach a fictitious +importance to Rationalism when we say that it was the prime agent which +prevented the Germans from the struggle of self-liberation, and that the +victory of Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna would never have been +needed had those people remained faithful to the precedents furnished by +the Reformers. + +When Fichte was in his old age, and had completed his system of +philosophy, he published his _Addresses to the German People_. Political +writing was a new field for him, and yet, whoever will take the pains to +study the fruits of his thinking, will easily perceive that the spirit +animating the _Addresses_ was the same which pervaded his entire +philosophy. He saw the degradation of his country. Though at a time of +life when youthful fervor is supposed to have passed away, he became +inflamed with indignation at the insolence of the conqueror and the +apathy of his countrymen, and addressed himself to the consciousness of +the people by calling upon them to arise, and reclothe themselves with +their old historic strength. His voice was not disregarded. The result +proved that those who had thought him in his dotage, and only indulging +its loquacity, were much mistaken. He wrote that enthusiastic appeal +with a great aim. He had spent the most of his life in other fields, but +posterity will never fail to honor those who, whatever their habits of +thinking may have been, for once at least have the sagacity to see the +wants of their times, and possess the still higher wisdom of meeting +them. Fichte died in 1814; but it was at a time when, Simeon-like, he +could congratulate himself upon the prospects of humanity. He still felt +the rich glow of youth when, in his last days, he could say: "The +morning light has broken, and already gilds the mountain-tops, and gives +promise of the great coming day." + +After independence had been achieved and the downfall of Napoleon had +become a fact, there appeared evidences of new evangelical life. When +the German soldiers recrossed the river which their ancestors had loved +to call "Father Rhine," and felt themselves the proud possessors of free +soil, not only they, but all their countrymen living in the Protestant +principalities, manifested a decided dissatisfaction with that +skepticism which had paralyzed them. Moreover, the memory that France +had been the chief agent in introducing Rationalism was not likely to +diminish their hatred of all infidelity. The masses breathed more +freely, but they were still imbued with serious error. Restoration was +the watchword in politics; but it was soon transferred to the domain of +religion and theology. + +But great as was the influence of the wars of freedom in bringing back +the German heart to an intense desire for a more elevated nationality, +we must not be unmindful of the great theological forces which were +preparing for a thorough religious renovation. + +They met in Schleiermacher. When quite young he was placed, first at +Niesky and afterward at Barby, in the care of the Moravians. It was +among these devout people that he became inspired with that enthusiastic +love of inner religious feeling which characterized his entire career. +The traces of Moravian piety are perceptible in all his writings. His +own words concerning his early training are very touching. "Piety," says +he, "was the maternal bosom, in the sacred shade of which my youth was +passed, and which prepared me for the yet unknown scenes of the world. +In piety my spirit breathed before I found my peculiar station in +science and the affairs of life; it aided me when I began to examine +into the faith of my fathers, and to purify my thoughts and feelings +from all alloy; it remained with me when the God and immortality of my +childhood disappeared from my doubting sight; it guided me in active +life; it enabled me to keep my character duly balanced between my faults +and virtues; through its means I have experienced friendship and love." + +He became a student at Halle, and thence removed to Berlin, where he was +appointed chaplain to the _House of Charity_. While in that metropolis +he had rare opportunities for the study of his times. He saw that the +indifference and doubt which centered in the court and the university, +controlled the leaders of theology, literature, and statesmanship. He +drew his philosophy largely from Jacobi, exhibiting with that thinker +his dissatisfaction at the existing condition of metaphysics and +theology. Schleiermacher could not look upon the dearth around him +without the deepest emotion. He asked himself if there was no remedy +for the wide-spread evil. The seat of the disease appeared to him to be +the false deification of reason in particular; and the general mistake +of making religion dependent upon external bases instead of upon the +heart and consciousness of man. His conclusion was that both the friends +and enemies of Rationalism were mistaken, and that religion consists not +in knowledge but in feeling. It was in 1799 that he wrote his +_Discourses on Religion addressed to its Cultivated Despisers_. Striking +at the principal existing evil, which was indifference, he aimed to show +the only method for the eradication of them all. + +The late Mr. Vaughan, in speaking of the position of this work, says: +"In these essays Schleiermacher meets the Rationalist objector on his +own ground. In what aspect, he asks, have you considered religion that +you so despise it? Have you looked on its outward manifestations only? +These the peculiarities of an age or a nation may modify. You should +have looked deeper. That which constitutes the religious _life_ has +escaped you. Your criticism has dissected a dead creed. That scalpel +will never detect a soul. Or will you aver that you have indeed looked +upon religion in its inward reality? Then you must acknowledge that the +idea of religion is inherent in human nature, that it is a great +necessity of our kind. Your quarrel lies in this case, not with religion +itself, but with the corruptions of it. In the name of humanity you are +called on to examine closely, to appreciate duly what has been already +done towards the emancipation of the true and eternal which lies beneath +these forms,--to assist in what may yet remain. Schleiermacher separates +the province of religion from those of action and of knowledge. Religion +is not morality, it is not science. Its seat is found accordingly in +the third element of our nature--the feeling. Its essential is a right +state of the heart. To degrade religion to the position of a mere +purveyor of motive to morality is not more dishonorable to the ethics +which must ask than to the religion which will render such +assistance.... The feeling Schleiermacher advocates, is not the +fanaticism of the ignorant or the visionary emotion of the idle. It is +not an aimless reverie shrinking morbidly from the light of clear and +definite thought. Feeling, in its sound condition, affects both our +conception and our will, leads to knowledge and to action. Neither +knowledge nor morality are in themselves the measure of a man's +religiousness. Yet religion is requisite to true wisdom and morality +inseparable from true religion. He points out the hurtfulness of a union +between church and state. With indignant eloquence he descants on the +evils which have befallen the church since first the hem of the priestly +robe swept the marble of the imperial palace."[53] + +Religion being subjective, according to Schleiermacher, there can be +interminable varieties of it. As we look at the universe in numerous +lights, and thereby derive different impressions, so do we acquire a +diversity of conceptions of religion. Hence it has had many forms among +the nations of the earth. There is in each breast a religion derived +from the object of intellectual or spiritual vision. Christianity is the +great sum resulting from the antagonism of the finite and the infinite, +the human and divine. The fall and redemption, separation and reunion, +are the great elements from which we behold Christianity arise. Of all +kinds of religion this alone can claim universal adaptation and rightful +supremacy. Christ was the revelator of a system more advanced than +Polytheism or Judaism. Only by viewing his religion in the simple light +in which he places it can the mind find safety in its attempts to seek +for a basis of faith. But, important as Christianity is, it will avail +but little unless it become the heart-property of the theoretical +believer. + +The _Discourses_ produced a deep impression. They inspired the class to +whom they had been directed with what it needed most of all, _a sense of +dependence_. One could not read them and close the volume without +wondering how reason could be deified and the feeling of the heart +ignored. There were multitudes of the educated and cultivated throughout +the land who, having become unfriendly to Christianity through the +persistence of the Rationalists, were equally indisposed to be satisfied +with a mere destructive theology. Something positive was what they +wanted; hence the great service of Schleiermacher in directing them to +Christianity as the great sun in the heavens, and then to the heart as +the organ able to behold the light. His labor was inestimably valuable. +His utterances were full of the enthusiasm of youth, and, years later, +he became so dissatisfied with the work, that he said it had grown +strange even to himself. As if over-careful of his reputation, to a +subsequent edition he appended large explanatory notes in order to +harmonize his recent with his former views. It would have been more +becoming the mature man to leave those earnest appeals to reap their own +reward. The times had changed; and the necessity which had first called +forth his appeal to the idolaters of doubt was sufficient apology. +Schleiermacher wrote other works, of which he and his disciples were +much prouder; but we doubt if he ever issued one more befitting the +class addressed, or followed with more beneficial results. Since his +pen has been stopped by death, those very discourses have led many a +skeptic in from the cold storm which beat about him, and given him a +place at the warm, cheerful fireside of Christian faith. Severe censure +has been cast upon them because of their traces of Spinoza. It is enough +to reply that their author, in the fourth edition, repudiated every word +savoring of Pantheism. Of books, as of men, it is best to form an +estimate according to the purpose creating them, and the moral results +following them. Neander, who could well observe the influence of the +_Discourses_, gives his testimony in the following language: "Those who +at that time belonged to the rising generation will remember with what +power this book influenced the minds of the young, being written in all +the vigor of youthful enthusiasm, and bearing witness to the neglected, +undeniable religious element in human nature. That which constitutes the +peculiar characteristic of religion, namely, that it is an independent +element in human nature, had fallen into oblivion by a one-sided +rational or speculative tendency, or a one-sided disposition to absorb +it in ethics. Schleiermacher had touched a note which, especially in the +minds of youth, was sure to send forth its melody over the land. Men +were led back into the depth of their heart, to perceive here a divine +drawing which, when once called forth, might lead them beyond that which +the author of this impulse had expressed with distinct consciousness." + +In the year following the publication of the _Discourses on Religion_, +Schleiermacher issued his _Monologues_. Here he gave the keynote to the +century. While, only the year before, he would cultivate the feeling of +dependence and turn the mind inward, in the _Monologues_ he would lead +man to a knowledge of his own power, and show how far his individuality +can go upon its mission of success. Here he lauds independence. Hence +the latter work exerted the same kind of influence which attended +Fichte's _Addresses_, and it had no small share in the reaewakening of +the people to their innate power. There might appear an antagonism +between these two works of Schleiermacher, but, while the _Discourses_ +were the exposition of his religious views, the _Monologues_ were merely +the annunciation of his moral opinions subsequently developed in his +_System of Christian Ethics_. The latter production was not destitute of +enthusiasm. In fact, the _Monologues_, cultivating the spirit of +independence, were far more capable of arousing and invigorating the +mind and heart. The author would have no one blind to the native +strength secreted in every breast, nor fail to cultivate sympathy and +love through every period of life. The consciousness should be a world +in itself; not even seeking an external support, but satisfied with its +own introspection; not watching the storm without, but satisfied with +surveying the gilded halls of its own castle-home. Thus there becomes, +instead of old age, continuous youth. This was his own pure experience. +"For," said he, "to the consciousness of inner freedom, and acting in +accordance with it, correspond eternal youth and joy. This I have got +hold of, and shall never give it up again; and with a smile I thus see +vanishing the light of mine eyes, and white hairs springing up among my +fair locks. Whatever may happen, nothing shall grieve my heart; the +pulse of my inner life shall remain fresh until I die." + +A strong evidence that the German people were learning well the lessons +now impressed upon them, was the increasing fondness for the +institutions of purer times and a growing taste for history. The mind +found no comfort in the present, and it was therefore driven back upon +the past for solace. Poets began to start up, clothed with the spirit of +independence, and singing of bygone days in such a way that they were +understood as saying, "Now you see what our fathers did; how they +believed and fought; go you and do likewise." This new race sprang from +the Romantic School, led by Tieck, Schlegel, and others; but while it +possessed that enthusiastic admiration of the past which these men +indulged, their literary offspring exhibited a more earnest Christian +faith. It was in that day of distress that Uhland first poured forth his +notes of awakening; that Koerner sounded the bugle-call of freedom; that +Rueckert molded sonnets stronger than bullets; and Kerner sighed for a +world where there is no war, and no rumors of war. + +Thus, when liberation came, no one class could claim to be the sole +agent of its accomplishment. But it is certain that if the religious +spirit of the people had not been appealed to and aroused, all literary +and aesthetic efforts would have been in vain. It was the religious +consciousness of the masses east of the Rhine which, being thoroughly +awakened, drew the sword, and gained the victory of Waterloo. If we view +that great crisis in European history in any light whatever, we cannot +resist the conviction that its importance in the sphere of religion was +equally great with its political magnitude. + +The King of Prussia, Frederic William III., began the work of +ecclesiastical reconstruction. There were three questions of great +delicacy, but of prime importance, which he attempted to solve; the +constitution of the Protestant church; the improvement of liturgical +forms; and the union of the two Protestant confessions. Whatever course +the king might adopt could not fail to make many enemies. But he +belonged to a line of princes who had been aiming at the unity of the +church for more than two centuries, and who, with the single exception +of Frederic II., had endeavored to preserve popular faith in the +Scriptures. Preparations were being made for the three hundredth +anniversary jubilee of the Reformation. The land being now redeemed, it +was hoped that the occasion would inspire all hearts with confidence in +the future of both state and church. The king deemed it a most favorable +opportunity to bring the two branches of the Protestant church together, +not by one coming over to the territory of the other, but by mutual +compromise, by the rejection of the terms Lutheran and Reformed, and by +the assumption of a new denominational name. + +There was really no reason why the two confessions should not be united, +for it was very plain that the adherents of both were not rigid in their +attachment. The Calvinists were no longer tenaciously devoted to their +founder's views of absolute predestination, while the Lutherans, having +departed from the doctrine of the real presence in the Lord's Supper, +had adopted the Zwinglian theory. The rigid authority of the symbolical +books was but loosely held by Lutherans and Calvinists. Frederic William +III., seeing that the separation was more imaginary than real, wrote a +letter on the second of May, 1817, to Bishop Sack and Provost Hanstein, +in which he said: "I expect proposals from you concerning the union of +the two confessions, which are in fact so similar; and as to the easiest +method of effecting the same." On the twenty-seventh day of the same +month he addressed a circular to all ecclesiastical functionaries +within his dominions, calling upon them to exert their influence for the +union of the two churches, and to give notice that the approaching +jubilee would be the signal for it to take place. The thirty-first of +October was the anniversary, and the plan was so far successful that in +many places the people and ministry of both confessions met on that day +for divine worship and partook of the Lord's Supper together. The fruit +of the movement was highly satisfactory to the Prussian King. Very soon +after the anniversary of the Reformation, the terms _Lutheran_ and +_Reformed_ were stricken from official documents, and the united State +Church was henceforth known as the Evangelical Church. + +Beyond the limits of Prussia the Union gave rise to animated discussion; +but within the space of five years it was effected in Nassau, Rhenish +Bavaria, the Palatinate, Rhenish Hesse, and Dessau. It encountered the +most decided opposition in the person of Harms, a pastor of the city of +Kiel. He was not opposed to any movement which he thought would conduce +to the advantage of Christ's kingdom, but it was his opinion that a +return to the old Lutheran orthodoxy was more needed than the union of +the two churches. The faith of the fathers, and not the union of +Rationalistic divines, was, in his view, the only method of deliverance. +Harms was little known outside his own province until the publication of +his ninety-five _Theses_ in connection with the original ninety-five +nailed by Luther to the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg. He was +the son of a plain Holstein miller, and had been indoctrinated into the +Lutheran catechism during his early youth. His first lessons in Latin +and Greek were received at the hands of a Rationalistic pastor in his +native town, but he assisted his father in the mill until he was +nineteen years of age. He then visited the university of Kiel, and in +due time entered upon the pastoral work. He scorned the customary dry +method of preaching, and aimed to reach the hearts of his hearers by any +praiseworthy method within his power. He made use of popular +illustrations and ordinary incidents. His congregations increased, not +only in the attendance of the middle and lower classes, but of the +gentry and wealthy. His earnest plainness was so novel and unexpected +that those who had long absented themselves from the sanctuary were +rejoiced to attend the ministrations of a preacher who seemed to believe +something positive and Scriptural, and who had the boldness to say what +he did believe. + +This was the man who came forth on the occasion of the anniversary of +the Reformation as the champion for a return to the spirit of the olden +time. He held that reason had totally supplanted revelation in the +pulpits, universities, and lower schools, and that, until faith was +crowned with supremacy, there was no hope of relief. The _Theses_ +exhibited great directness and clearness of appeal, and a keen insight +into the methods of popular address. As a specimen of their style we +introduce the following extracts: "III. With the idea of a progressing +Reformation, in the manner in which this idea is at present understood, +and especially in the manner in which we are reminded of it, Lutheranism +will be reformed back into heathenism, and Christianity out of the +world. IX. In matters of faith, reason; and as regards the life, +conscience, may be called the Popes of our age. XI. Conscience cannot +pardon sins. XXI. In the sixteenth century the pardon of sins cost +money, after all; in the nineteenth it may be had without money, for +people help themselves to it. XXIV. In an old hymn-book it was said, +'Two places, O man, thou hast before thee;' but in modern times they +have slain the devil and dammed up hell. XXXII. The so-called religion +of reason is destitute either of reason or religion, or both. XLVII. If +in matters of religion, reason claims to be more than a layman, it +becomes a heretic; that avoid, Titus iii. 10. LXIV. Christians should be +taught that they have the right not to tolerate any unchristian and +un-Lutheran doctrine in the pulpits, hymn-books, and school-books. +LXVII. It is a strange claim that it must be permitted to teach a new +faith from a chair which the old faith had set up, and from a mouth to +which the old faith gives food. LXXI. Reason, turned head, goes about in +the Lutheran church: it tears Christianity from the altar, casts God's +works out of the pulpit, throws dirt into the baptismal water, receives +all kinds of people as godfathers, hisses the priests; and all the +people follow its example, and have done so for a long time. And yet it +is not bound. On the contrary, this is thought to be the genuine +doctrine of Luther, and not of Carlstadt. LXXIV. The assertion that we +are more advanced and enlightened can surely not be proved by the +present ignorance as regards true Christianity. Many thousands can +declare, as did once the disciples of John, 'We have not so much as +heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.' LXXV. Like a poor maid, they +would not enrich the Lutheran church by a marriage. Do not perform it +over Luther's bones! He will thereby be recalled to life, and then--wo +to you! LXXVII. To say that time has taken away the wall of separation +between Lutherans and Reformed is not a clear speech. LXXXII. Just as +reason has prevented the Reformed from finishing their church and +reducing it to unity, so the reception of reason into the Lutheran +church would cause nothing but confusion and destruction. XCII. The +Evangelical Catholic church is a glorious church; she holds and forms +herself preeminently by the Sacrament. XCIII. The Evangelical Reformed +church is a glorious church; she holds and forms herself by the Word of +God. XCIV. More glorious than either is the Evangelical Lutheran church; +she holds and forms herself both by the Sacrament and the Word of +God."[54] + +The appearance of the _Theses_ of Harms created a great sensation. At a +time when the union of the two churches became so desirable to many, +they seemed to be a firebrand of destruction. Plainly, it would be best +to return to the faith of the Reformers, but some of the most +evangelical men claimed that the speediest method of return was through +the Union. There appeared replies to the _Theses_ from all quarters of +the country, almost every theologian of distinction assuming the +character of the controversialist. As many as two hundred works appeared +on the subject, the most of them bearing strongly against Harms. In Kiel +and Holstein, where he was best known, the excitement was intense. Even +churches and clubs were divided, and the rancor went so far as to invade +private families, and create domestic divisions and heart-burnings. +Seldom has a theological topic caused such a blaze of tumult. Harms was +declared guilty of heinous offenses. He was charged with Catholicism, +and reminded that attention to the mill would be much better employment +than wielding the pen. He was accused of aiming at the protracted +division of the sects, and ministering in all possible ways to the +devices of Satan. His was the fate of the partisan. He did a great +work, for the controversy arising from his _Theses_ hastened the +settlement of those points which the times required should be solved as +speedily as possible. Indeed, this very discussion was a hopeful +indication; for it proved that, long and terrible as the sway of +Rationalism had been, there was still some interest felt among the +people on the themes most intimately connected with faith and practice. +It was a bright ray of the morning of renovation when the mere fact of +vital religion was powerful enough to enlist public attention. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[52] Moehler's _Symbolism_, Memoir of Author. + +[53] _Essays and Remains._ Vol. 1, pp. 61-62. + +[54] Quoted from Kahnis, _History of German Protestantism_, pp. 224-225. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +RELATIONS OF RATIONALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM. + +1810-1835. + + +The task imposed upon the new state church taxed its powers to their +utmost tension. Much that had been achieved was now no longer useful, +for the stand-point of parties was totally changed. The Calvinist had +written against Rationalism with one eye upon heresy and the other upon +Lutheranism. The Lutheran had betrayed more spleen toward his Reformed +brethren than toward the disciples of Semler and Ernesti. But when the +union was effected there occurred the immediate necessity of new methods +of attack upon the enemies of orthodoxy, and a steadfast cultivation of +friendly feelings between newly-formed friends. As the adherents of the +two confessions were now united, why might not their conjoined strength +be wielded for the overthrow of skepticism? What was there, then, to +prevent these great branches of the church from coming forward in +perfect unison, and dealing strong blows against the system which had +well nigh been the ruin of them both? + +The devotees of reason saw their danger, for the day of the union was an +evil one for them. But they did not become so alarmed as to take to +flight and give up the contest. On the other hand, they no sooner +perceived the awakening of the German people to a sense of patriotism +and independence, than they predicted a similar disposition to return to +the old faith; and being thus convinced of their danger, they wrote very +vigorously, and attempted to be fully prepared for the onset. We +therefore behold the anomaly of a system which had almost run its race +before arriving at a formal exposition. + +Rationalism never attained to the dignity of a clear and cogent +elucidation until the publication of Roehr's _Letters on Rationalism_, +and of Wegscheider's _Institutes_. It had reached the acme of its +prosperity at the beginning of the century, yet the former work was not +written until 1813, and the latter not until 1817. There was power in +both these productions. The former was bold, popular, startling, and not +without a show of learning. It was intended for the masses. The latter +was a complement of the former; more heavy, but by virtue of its weight +adapted to that class of people, everywhere abundant, who suspect either +danger or puerility in every earnest sentence. The author held that it +was the province of Protestantism to develop Christianity and Christian +theology to a pure faith of reason. Issuing his work in the year of the +Reformation jubilee, he dedicated it to the shades of Luther. But Roehr +and Wegscheider, as far as their capacity to injure Christian faith was +concerned, stood at the wrong term of the history of Rationalism. Had +they written a half century earlier their works would have been much +more injurious to the Christian Church. But the system they would now +strengthen and propagate was beginning to decay, and it was beyond their +power to save it from ruin. They built a house for an occupant who was +too old to enjoy either the fascinating symmetry of its architecture or +the gorgeous splendor of its furniture. + +It was at the time of which we speak that we first find frequent use of +the terms _Rationalism_ and _Supernaturalism_. The more zealous friends +of each school marshaled themselves for the final struggle. The conflict +became hand to hand, and quick and direct blows were dealt by both +combatants. One of the foremost among the champions of the old faith was +Reinhard, who declared that there was an irrepressible difference +between reason and revelation, Rationalism and Supernaturalism; that +there was no possible point of compromise; that they had nothing in +common; and that either the one or the other must exercise authority. +Reinhard avowed himself in favor of the undivided supremacy of faith, +and would have reason subordinate. The key-note of his active life and +inspiring writings is found in his own language--words which, had he +written nothing else, are sufficient to render him memorable. "While yet +a boy," said he, "when I read the Bible I considered it the word of God +to man, and never have I ceased to hold this view; so that now it is so +holy to me and its utterances so decisive that a single sentence which +would reproach its sanctity fills me with horror, just as an immoral +sentiment would rouse my conviction of virtue." + +Tittmann entered the lists with a work directed at the very heart of +Rationalism. He charged it with being unimprovable, and merely temporary +and unsatisfactory. His book, entitled _Supernaturalism, Rationalism, +and Atheism_, went still further; for it aimed to show that if the +Rationalists believe what they say, they are nothing less than atheists. +Granting their premises, the conclusion must be that there is no God, +and that if God be not the author of revelation, there is also no God +of nature. + +But while this war of books was going on with great bitterness on both +sides, there arose a powerful band of mediators, who believed that no +advantage could be gained for either combatant by continuing the strife, +and that some point of union would have to be adopted before there could +be peace and prosperity. Tzschirner differed from Reinhard in his view +of the antagonism between Rationalism and Supernaturalism. He contended +that there were features of sympathy between the two systems, and that +the work of harmonizing reason and revelation was not impossible. He +therefore attempted, in the present case, what Calixtus had formerly +tried in behalf of the Calvinists and Lutherans. But the syncretism of +Tzschirner was equally difficult of accomplishment. He conceded too much +to the Rationalists: for he would unite them and their enemies on the +ground that the aim of revelation is only to found a moral and religious +institution through the personal agency of a Divine Ambassador; to +strengthen the truths of the religion of reason; and to bring them so +near to the consciences of men that the authority of reason to prove the +origin and contents of revelation cannot be doubted. + +But Tzschirner's influence did not consist so much in the particular +plan he would execute as in the tendency toward union which he was the +chief agent in creating. There were numbers who, having read his works +on this subject, were loud in their demand for the union of reason and +revelation on some basis that would compromise neither the value of the +former nor the sanctity of the latter. Many books appeared whose sole +theme was the possible harmonization of these elements, which +heretofore had been deemed utterly incongruous.[55] Schott's _Letters on +Religion and the Faith of the Christian Revelation_ was directed to the +same mark, and received great attention at the hands of both parties. +According to their author, there was no opposition between the religion +of reason and revelation, for Christianity is the mere expression of the +highest reason. Both are derived from the same fountain, which is Divine +reason. Nor is there any real difference between the purpose of +Christianity and that of the religion of reason. Each one aims at the +highest good. + +But it soon became very evident that the Rationalists and +Supernaturalists were unable to harmonize. The points of difference were +so decided that it was vain to expect a union. Reinhard was correct in +his opinion that one or the other would have to yield. Just at the +crisis when these two systems were attracting greatest attention, +Schleiermacher published his _System of Doctrines_, 1821. In this work +he proved what had not been conceived by any writer save himself, that +there was another road to progress. As soon as it gained a hearing the +disputants saw that their arguments were no longer of value, that the +ground of the discussion was altogether changed, and that the cause of +faith must eventually triumph. The book was a complete surprise to all +parties. It was a stroke of genius, destined alike to recast existing +theology and to create a new public sentiment for the future. + +The leading ideas developed in this master-piece of theology are Christ, +Religion, and the Church. The Rationalists had ever held that reason is +the criterion of truth, but Schleiermacher elevates Christian +consciousness to the throne. They had reduced religion to a mere formal +morality; yet he shows that religion and morality are very different, +and that the former consists neither in knowledge or action, but in the +sentiment or feeling of the heart. Thus he develops the opinion first +published in the _Discourses on Religion_. He uses the term "piety" to +designate religion. This piety should become the great spring of our +life and the inspiring power of faith. There is no real inconsistency +between knowledge and piety; they can harmonize beautifully when carried +to their loftiest extent. The religious feeling, which judges truth, is +characterized by absolute dependence. This is not degrading to man, but +his true dignity consists in it. We have different conceptions of God, +derived from the feeling of dependence, which is varied according to the +nature of outward circumstances. Christ must be judged by us not so much +according to the received accounts of his life as by his great relations +to us as Redeemer and Saviour. Our view of him must be deeper than his +mere incarnation. He was concerned in creation just so far as it was not +completed until redeemed. If we would have communion with God we can +enjoy it only through the medium of Christ. The peculiar value of +redemption lies in its applicability to our necessity for salvation. The +very sinlessness of Christ can be in a measure incorporated with our +humanity, and we should aim after the mind that was in Christ. We are +never fully united with Christ until we have a perfect spirit of +dependence. When this occurs, the soul is passing into the glorious +condition of the new birth. The church is the depository of that spirit +of Christ which every believer must enjoy in order to inherit eternal +life. The church, however, is not self-existent. Like the heavenly +bodies, whose motions are constantly maintained by infinite power, the +church is ever dependent upon Christ's agency for its very life. Christ +is the spirit moving in history and controlling all things for the +greatest good. The church is in some sense an organism of which Christ +is the head. This fact is the central point of theology, for without +Christ our faith is vain.[56] + +Such teaching was what the times needed. The mind required to be +directed to Christ as the only remedy for skepticism. But we must +confess that, in the midst of some of the most evangelical expositions +of divine truth, Schleiermacher gave expression to serious doubts. He +disclaimed any great authority inherent in the Old Testament in the +following style: "The Old Testament Scriptures are indebted for their +place in our Bible partly to the appeals made to them by the New +Testament Scriptures, and partly to the historic connection of Christian +worship and the Jewish synagogue, without participating, on that +account, in the normal dignity, or inspiration, of those of the New +Testament."[57] As far as the inspiration of the Old Testament is +concerned, there must be a distinction observed between the law and the +prophets. The law cannot be inspired, for the spirit that could inspire +it would be in conflict with that which God sends into the heart by +virtue of our connection with Christ. Upon the law depend all the +subsequent historical books; and both are, therefore, uninspired, +according to the standard by which we judge the New Testament. The +prominent portions of the prophetic writings proceed principally from +the material spirit of the people, which is not the Christian spirit. + +It is plain that Schleiermacher's views concerning the Trinity were +defective. He despatches it thus: "The church doctrine of the Trinity +demands that we should think each of the three persons equal to the +Divine Being, and _vice versa_; and each of the three persons equal to +the others. We are unable to do either the one or the other, but can +only conceive the persons in a gradation; and in like manner the unity +of the substance either less than the persons, or the contrary." He +discourses eloquently of the Spirit; but, after all, he teaches that the +Holy Ghost is only the common spirit of the Christian church as a +corporate body striving after unity. The term "common spirit," which he +employs, he understands to be the same that is used in worldly polity; +that is, the common tendency in all, who form one moral person, toward +the welfare of the whole. This beneficial sentiment is, in each, the +peculiar love to every individual. The Holy Ghost is the union of the +Divine Being with human nature, in the form of the common spirit +animating the corporate life of the faithful. Schleiermacher did not +reject miracles altogether as historical facts, but cast doubt upon +their character by holding that, if they did occur, it was only in +conformity with a higher nature of which we know nothing. His opinion +concerning the doctrine of angels was not orthodox; for he rejected the +existence of the devil, and the supposition of the fall of angels from +heaven. Some of the most important events in connection with Christ were +discarded by him as unnecessary to saving faith, namely, the miraculous +conception, the resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ to +judgment. In his opinion sin was hurtfulness, not guilt. + +It is astonishing that we find so much truth and error concentrated in +the same man. But Neander was nevertheless correct in the words in which +he announced Schleiermacher's death: "We have now lost a man from whom +will be dated henceforth a new era in the history of theology." In +reading closely some of his false positions, we soon meet with something +so deep and spiritually earnest that we are forgetful of the doubt, +being attracted by the greater glow of the living truth. As life +advanced he improved in his appreciation of doctrine, and his latest +works are hardly recognizable as written by the same hand. He published +several books, of which we have made no mention, but in all the fruits +of his pen he revealed an unfailing love of a personal Redeemer. His +sermons were the outflow of his genial nature, kindled by his stern view +of Christ's communion with his living disciples. Mr. Farrar eloquently +sums up his work, though it must be acknowledged that the present +generation stands too near the time of Schleiermacher's activity to +bestow an impartial estimate upon either the theological position of the +man or the influence resulting from him. "We have seen," says this +author, "how completely he caught the influences of his time, absorbed +them and transmitted them. If his teaching was defective in its +constructive side; if he did not attain the firm grasp of objective +verity which is implied in perfect doctrinal, not to say critical, +orthodoxy, he at least gave the death-blow to the old Rationalism, which +either from an empirical or a rational point of view, proposed to gain +such a philosophy of religion as reduced it to morality. He rekindled +spiritual apprehensions; he, above all, drew attention to the peculiar +character of Christianity, as something more than the republication of +natural religion, in the same manner that the Christian consciousness +offered something more than merely moral experience. He set forth, +however imperfectly, the idea of redemption, and the personality of the +Redeemer; and awakened religious aspirations, which led his successors +to a deeper appreciation of the truth as it is in Jesus. Much of his +theology and some part of his philosophy had only a temporary interest +relatively to the times; but his influence was perpetual. The faults +were those of his age; the excellencies were his own. Men caught his +deep love to a personal Christ without imbibing his doctrinal opinions. +His own views became more evangelical as his life went on, and the views +of his disciples more deeply Scriptural than those of their master. Thus +the light kindled by him waxed purer and purer. The mantle remained +after the prophet's spirit had ascended to the God that gave it."[58] + +De Wette was, like Schleiermacher his friend and colleague at Berlin, a +man in whom can be seen all the marks of a transition-character. There +are two sides to his theological views, one bearing upon the old +Rationalism and in sympathy with it, the other directly tending to +revive faith and religion. Even before Schleiermacher became generally +known, De Wette had openly declared that religion can be based upon +feeling alone, and that a personal Saviour is the necessary centre of +Christian faith. The entire theology of De Wette was the outgrowth of +the cold, critical philosophy of Kant and the more earnest and living +system of Fries. He was, therefore, a two-fold personage, and it is not +an easy task to harmonize his theories. One set of his opinions was +based upon truth, the other on beauty. Religion has two elements, faith +and feeling; doctrines and aesthetics. Religion may exist aesthetically, +but it can only become vital in the feeling, or self-consciousness. +Religious feeling embraces three shades: enthusiasm or inspiration, +resignation, and devotion. Every history is, in a certain sense, +symbolical. It is the mere reflection or copy of the human mind in its +activity. So are the appearance of Christ, his life, and death, in some +degree symbolical. In this symbolism consists the character of the +Christian revelation. Here have appeared the eternal ideas of reason in +their greatest purity and fullness; and Rationalism is nothing more than +a philosophical view of the Christian revelation of faith, or the +knowledge of the relations in which idea and symbol stand to each other +in Christianity. Therefore, we must judge the miraculous accounts of the +evangelists as symbols of the ideas existing in the early history of +Christianity. + +De Wette reflects somewhat on the moral character of John, perhaps +without intention, when he supposes him to have written late in life--a +time when his faith would naturally predominate over his love of facts. +Strauss couples De Wette with Vater, as having placed upon a solid +foundation the mythical explication of the history of the Bible.[59] +According to De Wette, the narrator may intend to write history, but he +obviously does it in a poetic way. The first three evangelists betray a +legendary and even a mythical character. This explains the discrepancies +in their histories, and also in the discourses and doctrines of Jesus. +The miracle that took place at the baptism of Christ was a pure myth; +and the resurrection and reappearance of Christ have their existence +more in the mind than in history. With this view of the New Testament, +it is not surprising that the Old should receive even more rigorous +usage. The larger part of the Pentateuch was supposed to be taken from +two old documents, the Elohistic and Jehovistic, and was compiled +somewhere near the close of the legal period. The five books, purporting +to have been written by Moses, are the Hebrew epic, and contain no more +truth than the great epic of the Greeks. As the Iliad and Odyssey are +the production of the rhapsodists, so is the Pentateuch, with the +exception of the Decalogue, the continuous and anonymous work of the +priesthood. Abraham and Isaac are equally fabulous with Ulysses and +Agamemnon. A Canaanitish Homer could have invented nothing better than +the journeys of Jacob and the marriage of Rebecca. The departure from +Egypt, the forty years in the wilderness, the seventy elders at the head +of the tribes, and the complaints of Aaron are each an independent myth. +The character of myths is varied in different books; poetic in Genesis, +juridical in Exodus, priestly in Leviticus, political in Numbers, +etymological, diplomatical, and genealogical, but seldom historical, in +Deuteronomy. + +De Wette's theological novel, _Theodore, or the Doubter's Consecration_, +1822, was designed to banish the doubts of the skeptic by seeking refuge +in the theology of feeling. Tholuck replied to it in his _Guido and +Julius_, in which he proves that a deep appreciation and acceptance of +Christ by the soul is the only remedy for infidelity. "We perceive in De +Wette a continual conflict between the longings of his heart and the +theological creed to which he attached himself. The lines written by +him just before his death touchingly declare the great failure of his +life: + + "I lived in times of doubt and strife, + When child-like faith was forced to yield: + I struggled to the end of life, + Alas! I did not gain the field." + +With the name of the lamented Neander we hail the morning light of +reviving faith. He was one of the purest characters in the history of +the modern church. His influence was so great as to lead very many of +the young men of Germany to embrace the vital doctrines of Christianity. +His father was a Jewish peddler, Emanuel Mendel, and the boy was named +David at circumcision. Various forces co-operated in directing his mind +toward the Christian religion; of which we might mention the philosophy +of Plato, the Romantic School, and above all, Schleiermacher's +_Discourses on Religion_. When seventeen years of age he was baptized +and received the combined name of his sponsors, John Augustus William +Neander. In 1810 he began to lecture in the University of Heidelberg, +and in 1813, owing to the publication of his _Julian the Apostate_, he +received a call to Berlin. He was there brought into the society of +Schleiermacher, Marheineke, De Wette, Fichte, Hegel, Ritter, Ranke and +other celebrated men. It was very significant of the new life now +beginning to be felt, that his lectures were numerously attended. Even +Schleiermacher, his co-laborer for twenty years in the theological +faculty, had a limited circle of auditors compared with the throngs who +went to hear Neander. + +His theological views were more positive and evangelical than those +entertained by any of his associates. He shared, with the most orthodox +of them, the opinion that religion is based upon feeling. The Christian +consciousness was the sum of his theology. "By this term," said he, "is +designated the power of the Christian faith in the subjective life of +the single individual, in the congregation, and in the church generally; +a power independent and ruling according to its own law,--that which, +according to the word of our Lord, must first form the leaven of every +other historical development of mankind." Neander was not a man of very +strong prejudices; yet his disapprobation of the destructive nature of +Rationalism was very decided. The reduction of religion to +intellectualism received severe rebukes at his hand on more than one +occasion. "I shall never cease," he declared, "to protest against the +one-sided intellectualism, that fanaticism of the understanding, which +is spreading more and more, and which threatens to change man into an +intelligent, over-wise beast. But at the same time I must protest +against that tendency which would put a stop to the process of +development of theology; which, in impatient haste, would anticipate its +aim and goal, although with an enthusiasm for that which is raised above +the change of the days,--an enthusiasm which commands all respect, and +in which the hackneyed newspaper categories of Progress and +Retrogression are out of the question." + +Neander's motto, "Pectus est, quod theologum facit," unfolds his whole +theological system and life-career. The Germans call his creed +"Pectoralism," in view of the inner basis of his faith. With him, +religion amounts to nothing without Christ. Nor must Christ be the mere +subject of study; the soul and its manifold affections must embrace him. +The barrenness of Judaism is done away in him, and the emptiness of +Rationalistic criticism is successfully met by the fullness found in +Christianity. Sin is not merely hurtful and prejudicial, but it induces +guilt and danger. It can be pardoned only through the death and +mediation of Christ. The illustrations of devout service to be found in +the history of the church should serve as examples for succeeding times. +Neander spent much of the careful labor of his life in portraying +prominent characters; for it was his opinion that individuals sometimes +combine the features of their times, the virtues or the vices prevalent; +and that if these individualities be clearly defined the church is +furnished with valuable lessons for centuries. The work published when +but twenty-two years of age, _Julian the Apostate_, was the beginning of +a series of similar monographs designed to show the importance of the +individual in history, and to point out great crises in the religious +life of man. He subsequently produced works entitled _St. Bernard_, +_Gnosticism_, _St. Chrysostom_, _Tertullian_, _History of the Apostolic +Age_, _Life of Christ_, and _Memorials of Christian Life_. To these may +be added a few practical commentaries, essays, and a _History of +Doctrines_. + +But the great achievement of Neander was his _General History of the +Christian Religion and Church_, embracing the period from the close of +the apostolic age to the Council of Basle in 1430. Christianity is, in +his conception, not simply a growth or development of man; it is a new +power, a creation of God, a divine gift to the world. Therefore the +history of the Church of Christ is the clear exhibition of the divine +strength of Christianity; it is a school of Christian experience, a +voice of warning and instruction for all who will hear it as it echoes +down through the grand march of centuries.[60] The history of the +church, far from being the scholar's theme alone, furnishes nutritious +food for the practical life of all the disciples of the Lord. If its +history be permitted to exert its due influence upon the world, we shall +behold a gratifying and widespread improvement in all things that +increase happiness and lead heavenward. + +It is quite too late to answer the charge against Neander's profundity. +His achievements are his best defense, and the pen of censure is fast +beginning to lose its bitterness. It is not time for him to be fully +appreciated at home; for, as the beauty of the landscape is dependent on +the sun to make it apparent, so Neander's character and labors must wait +for an honorable and universal recognition until new evangelical light +shall have overspread the land. A century hence he will be loved as +dearly by the German people as he was by those weeping students who +gathered around his grave to see his face for the last time. What +Krummacher said on the occasion of his burial will yet be the testimony +of the church, whose history was Neander's earthly Eden: "One of the +noblest of the noble in the Kingdom of God, a prince in Zion, the +youngest of the church Fathers, has departed from us." + +Neander's relation to his times was most important. The various +influences hitherto employed against Rationalism had proceeded as far +toward its extinction as it was possible for them to go. Philosophy and +doctrinal theology had spent their efforts. The history of the church +having always been treated mechanically, it was now necessary that the +continued presence and agency of Christ with his people should be +carefully portrayed. The progress of his church needed to be represented +as more than growth from natural causes, such as the force of +civilization and education. It was necessary to show that a high +superintending Wisdom is directing its path, overcoming its +difficulties, and leading it through persecution and blood to ultimate +triumph. Neander rendered this important service. He directed the vision +of the theologian to a new field, and became the father of the best +church historians of the nineteenth century. The child-like simplicity +of his character was beautiful. Everything like vanity and pretense was +as foreign to him as if he dwelt on a different planet. A recent German +writer calls him a "Protestant monk or saint, whose world was the +cloister of the inner man, out of which he worked and taught for the +good of the church." + +Of his remarkable personal appearance, Dr. Schaff, who enjoyed his +friendship, says: "In his outward appearance Neander was a real +curiosity, especially in the lecture-room. Think of a man of middle +size, slender frame, homely but interesting and benevolent face, dark +and strongly Jewish complexion, deep-seated, sparkling eyes, +overshadowed by an unusually strong, bushy pair of eyebrows, black hair +flowing in uncombed profusion over the forehead, an old-fashioned coat, +a white cravat carelessly tied, as often behind or on one side of the +neck as in front, a shabby hat set aslant, jack-boots reaching above the +knee; think of him thus either as sitting at home, surrounded by books +on the shelves, on the table, on the few chairs, and all over the floor; +or as walking _unter den Linden_, and in the Thiergarten of Berlin, +leaning on the arm of his sister Hannchen, or a faithful student, his +eyes shut or looking up to heaven, talking theology in the midst of the +noise and fashion of the city, and presenting altogether a most singular +contrast to the teeming life around him, stared at, smiled at, wondered +at, yet respectfully greeted by all who knew him; or as finally standing +on the rostrum, playing with a goose-quill which his amanuensis had +always to provide; constantly crossing and recrossing his feet, bent +forward, frequently sinking his head to discharge a morbid flow of +spittle, and then again suddenly throwing it on high, especially when +aroused to polemic zeal against pantheism and dead formalism; at times +fairly threatening to overturn the desk, and yet all the while pouring +forth with the greatest earnestness and enthusiasm, without any other +help than that of some illegible notes, an uninterrupted flow of +learning and thought from the deep and pure fountain of the inner life; +and thus with all the oddity of the outside, at once commanding the +veneration and confidence of every hearer; imagine all this, and you +have a picture of Neander, the most original phenomenon in the literary +world of this nineteenth century."[61] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] Baur, _Kirchengeschichte d. 19 Jahrhunderts_, pp. 180-181. + +[56] For summaries of Schleiermacher's views, see Herzog, +_Encyclopaedie_; Baur, _Kirchengeschichte, des 19 Jahrhunderts_; Vaughan, +_Essays and Remains_; Gieseler, _Kirchengeschichte_, vol. vi.; Kurtz, +_Church History_, vol. ii.; Saintes, _Histoire du Rationalisme_; Farrar, +_History of Free Thought_; and Auberlen, _Goettliche Offenbarung_, vol. +i. + +[57] _Die Glaubenslehre._ + +[58] _Critical History of Free Thought_, p. 249. + +[59] _Life of Jesus--Introduction._ + +[60] _History of the Christian Religion and Church._ _Preface to First +Edition._ + +[61] _Germany--Its Universities, Theology, and Religion_, pp. 269-270. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE REACTION PRODUCED BY STRAUSS' LIFE OF JESUS. + +1835-1848. + + +It is related of Apelles, that, after finishing his pictures, he was in +the habit of hanging them in front of his studio and then of concealing +himself in order to hear unseen the criticisms of the passers-by. On one +occasion, when a new picture was thus exposed to public inspection, a +shoemaker stopped before it and observed that something was wrong about +a sandal. After he had gone Apelles saw the justice of the objection and +corrected the fault. The next day, when the shoemaker was passing again +and saw that much importance had been attached to his opinion, he +ventured to criticise a leg, but Apelles rushed out from behind the +curtain, and, charging him with being hypercritical, told him that for +the future he would do better to keep to his trade. The circumstance +gave rise to the Roman proverb--"Ne sutor ultra crepidam." + +The day was now near at hand when the criticism of the Scriptures, as +conducted by the Rationalists, would go quite beyond the province of +their authority and the bounds of moderation. When we read the cold, +deliberate chapters of Ammon, Eichhorn, and Michaelis, we unconsciously +identify ourselves with their generation, and exclaim, "Surely there +will never be a step beyond this; the knife can have no edge for a +deeper incision." As Neander toiled in his study, digging up the buried +treasures of the past and enriching them with the John-like purity of +his own heart in order that he might faithfully interpret the divine +guidance of the church, he no doubt rejoiced in the conviction that the +Rationalists had achieved their last great success, and that the work +before him and those who believed as he did was to be henceforth more +constructive than controversial. His co-workers were few in number, but +they had pleasing indications in many quarters that their labors would +have a triumphant issue. + +It was very evident that, though there was a general rejection of the +doctrine of inspiration in that elevated sense which it is the glory of +the American church to entertain, there were great numbers who had +become as captivated with Schleiermacher's word, _feeling_, as if it had +been a harp-note from heaven. The people had thought so little about +their own hearts within the last half century that they seemed to have +forgotten their stewardship of the treasure. The whole land had been +converted into a colossal thinking machine. And when the German people +were told by a stentorian voice that man is emotional as well as +intellectual they arose as from a long stupefaction. So, when +Schleiermacher died in 1834, there were many who said with unfeigned +gratitude, "He is gone, but sweet be his sleep, for he has told us that +we have heart and soul." + +Three years before Schleiermacher's death the spirit of Hegel had taken +its departure. These were the two men who, though dead, were now +speaking more authoritatively to the German mind than all others. +Schleiermacher was represented by men more orthodox than himself, who +gave every assurance of leaving the world far better than they had found +it. Hegel had taught too long and thoroughly to be without influence +after his eyes had ceased to look upon his entranced auditors at Berlin. +It was not long after his death that his favorite theory of antagonisms +had a literal fulfillment in the course adopted by the adherents to his +opinions. His most ardent disciples found it difficult to tell what he +had believed definitely, so varied are the expressions of his views in +the eighteen volumes of his works. Even the same book was interpreted +differently. His _Philosophy of Religion_ was twice edited, first in a +conservative sense by Marheineke, and afterward in a revolutionary light +by Bruno Bauer.[62] Some passages in his _History of Philosophy_ were +written in defense of pantheism, while his later views have been brought +forth in proof of his opposition to that error. Thus variously +interpreted, and yet powerful in his hold upon the intellectual classes +of Germany, it was impossible for his disciples to live in harmony. The +chief points at issue were the personality of God, the immortality of +the soul, and the person of Christ. Either side might be taken and the +position defended by the master's own words. The result of this +diversity of interpretation was a schism. Hegel's school was divided, +after the model of the French Chambers, into three sections--the Right, +the Centre, the Left. The Right asserted the orthodoxy of the Hegelian +philosophy; the Centre held a position corresponding to their name; and +the Left were unmitigated Rationalists. The last group were true to the +skepticism inherited from their predecessors, and were radicals in +church and state. They rejected the personality of God, a future life, +and the credibility of the Gospel narratives. + +Strauss was a Left Hegelian, and his _Life of Jesus_ became the creed of +his brethren in doubt. He was not in perfect harmony with all their +extremes, but he co-operated with them, and gave them their chief glory. + +The world has seldom seen a literary venture more remarkable in contents +or in history than this meteor across the firmament of German theology. +To say that it was unexpected is but a faint expression of the universal +surprise occasioned by it. The Left Hegelians were a limited school and +the current of theological thought had been against them. Therefore, +when the _Life of Jesus_ appeared, it was a bold thrust from an arm +thought to possess but little strength. The author, David Frederic +Strauss, was a young lecturer on theology in the University of Tuebingen. +He had experienced the several shades of opinion prevalent during his +student life. Beginning with the Romantic School, lingering awhile with +Schleiermacher, and finally passing through the gate Beautiful of +Hegel's system, he tarried with that master as "lord of the hill." His +stay was not brief, like that of Bunyan's pilgrim. But satisfied only by +making greater progress, the philosophy of the great thinker became his +Delectable Mountains, "beautiful with woods, vineyards, fruits of all +sorts, flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delectable to +behold." + +Strauss was but twenty-eight years old when his cold, passionless, and +pungent piece of skeptical mechanism was presented to the world. Who +would suspect that quiet young man of possessing so much power over the +minds of his countrymen? M. Quinet, speaking of a visit to him, said, +"Beneath this mask of fatalism I find in him a young man full of +candor, of sweetness and modesty; of a spirit almost mystical, and +apparently saddened by the disturbance which he had occasioned." His +book produced a universal impression in Europe. It was, to the moral +sentiment of Christendom, the earthquake shock of the nineteenth +century. Having been multiplied in cheap editions, it was read by +students in every university and gymnasium, by passengers on the Rhine +boats and in the mountain stages, and by a great number of private +families. Even school children, imitating the example of their seniors, +spent their leisure hours in its perusal. The most obscure provincial +papers contained copious extracts from it, and vied with each other in +defending or opposing its positions. Crossing the German frontier, it +was published in complete and abridged forms in all the principal +languages of Europe. Even staid Scotland, unable to escape the +contagion, issued a popular edition of the exciting work. + +Nor were the views advanced by Strauss in his _Life of Jesus_ less +extraordinary than its very flattering reception. He was diametrically +opposed to Neander in the latter's estimate of the ideal and historical. +According to Strauss the idea is the very soul of all that is valuable +in the past; and history is the gross crust which envelops it. What is +history in its early stages but so many faint legends? Happy are we if, +within them, we can discover the seed-truth. The same neglect of the +movements of history in their outward form led Strauss into still +another tendency which proved to be in direct conflict with Neander. The +latter, as we have seen, was devoted to his theory of the importance and +power of personality in history. But Strauss rejected it as of small +moment. He attached great importance to the issue involved, but +regarded the persons engaged in bringing it to pass as mere machinery. + +This contempt of the historical and the personal is the key to Strauss' +work. The church, when it continued faithful, had always looked to the +Gospels as the Holy Sepulchre of its faith, and was ever ready to make a +crusade against the power which would wrest it from her grasp. But, amid +the conflicts occasioned by the growth of the destructive criticism, the +Gospels had received at its hands a treatment no less severe than had +been inflicted upon the history of the Old Testament. Many theories had +already been propounded by the Rationalists in order to account for +them, but there was no general harmony among these men either on this or +any subject of speculation. Wetstein, Michaelis, and Eichhorn were +agreed that the Gospels were more human than divine, and the fate to +which all the inspired records were consigned by those critics and their +sympathizers has its analogy in the treatment bestowed by vultures upon +the carcass of the exhausted beast that has fallen by the wayside. But, +after all, the accounts of the Evangelists had suffered less severely +than any other part of the Scriptures, and the injury they had sustained +was owing more to the attacks made on the historical and prophetical +portions of the Old Testament than to any immediate invasion. For the +Bible is a unity. If but one book be mutilated the whole organism is +disturbed. + +The contest having been hitherto connected with other features of +revelation more than with the person of Christ, it was no part of the +design of the Rationalists to submit without staking a great battle upon +the incarnation of the Messiah. Let them succeed here, and they can +rebuild more firmly all they have lost, but if they fail, they will only +bring to a more speedy ruin an edifice already in decay. Strauss +undertook the work; and having written for the learned alone, no one was +more surprised than himself at the popular success of the _Life of +Jesus_. + +According to him, the explanation of the mysterious accounts of Jesus of +Nazareth can be found in the theory of the myth. Strauss held that the +Holy Land was full of notions concerning his speedy appearance. The +people were waiting for him, and were ready to hail his incarnation with +rapture. Their opinions concerning him were already formed, owing to the +expectations they had inherited from their fathers. Therefore, any one +who answered their views would be the Messiah. There was much in both +the character and life of Christ which approached their crude notions of +the promised one. For this reason their hearts went out toward him, and +they called him "Jesus." The world was already prepared, and since +Christ best fitted it, he was entitled to all the honor of being waited +for and accepted. All the prophecies of his incarnation were purely +historical events. But the Jewish mind is very visionary and prone to +allegory. Consequently, when Christ appeared among the Jews, it was not +difficult to trace a resemblance between him and other marked personages +in history. + +Thus Christ did not organize the Church as much as the church created +him. He existed and lived on earth, but very different was the real +Jesus from that wonderful character described in the Gospels. The +veritable Messiah was born of humble parentage, was baptized by John, +collected a few disciples, inveighed against the Pharisees and all +others who placed themselves in antagonism to him, and finally fell a +victim to the cruelty of his foes. Years passed by after his death, and +the popular imagination went wild with reports and exaggerations of the +once obscure Nazarene. Great as the ideas of the people were before +Christ appeared, they were infinitely magnified during the lapse of the +thirty years between his death and the composition of the Gospels. These +narratives are consequently not a representation of history, but of +morbid popular fancies. The evangelists did not intend to deceive their +readers; their picturesque sketches were only designed to clothe the +ideal in the garb of the real. "Be not so unkind," Strauss says in +effect, "as to charge these poor uneducated men with evil purposes. They +were very unsophisticated, and did not know enough to have any extended +plan of trickery. They heard wonderful stories floating about, just such +as one meets with in all countries after a prominent man has died; and, +as they had a little capacity for using the pen, they wrote them down to +the best of their ability. Their writings are curious but very +defective, since the authors were too unpractised in literary work to +perfect a master-piece. How little they dreamed of the reverence which +future generations would pay them! Poor souls, they hardly knew what +they were doing. One caught one story, and his friend another; and it is +a nice bit of mosaic which we find in their school-boy productions. No +wonder their defenders are unable to harmonize their accounts. Let any +four men who live among a legend-loving people transcribe the traditions +they hear from the lips of childhood and garrulous old age, or read in +the popular romances of the day, and it will surprise no one that they +do not agree. How can they tell the same things in the same way, since +the sources of each are so different? Nor, with only myths for warp and +woof, is it at all surprising that we have nothing more than Homeric +exaggerations when the fanciful fabric is once woven." + +The introduction to the _Life of Jesus_ consists of an essay on the +historical development of the mythical theory. Having stated its present +shape and great value, it is then applied to the life of Christ in the +body of the work. This is the climax of destructive criticism. +Everything which Christ is reported by the Evangelists to have said or +done shares the natural explanations of Strauss. From his very birth to +his ascension, his life is no more remarkable than that of many others +who have taken part in the public events of their times. + +Beginning with the annunciation and birth of John the Baptist, Strauss +considers the apparition to Zacharias and his consequent dumbness as +actual external circumstances, susceptible of a natural interpretation. +Zacharias had a waking vision or ecstasy. Such a thing is not common, +but in the present instance, many circumstances combined to produce an +unusual state of mind. The exciting causes were, _first_, the +long-cherished desire to have a posterity; _second_, the exalted +vocation of administering in the Holy Place and offering up with the +incense the prayers of the people to the throne of Jehovah, which seemed +to Zacharias to foretoken the acceptance of his own prayer; and _third_, +perhaps an exhortation from his wife as he left his house, similar to +that of Rachel to Jacob. Gen. xxx. 1. In this highly excited state of +mind, as he prays in the dimly-lighted sanctuary, he thinks of his most +ardent wish, and expecting that now or never his prayer shall be heard, +he is prepared to discern a sign of its acceptance in the slightest +occurrence. As the glimmer of the lamp falls upon the ascending cloud +of incense, and shapes it into varying forms, the priest imagines that +he perceives the figure of an angel. The apparition at first alarms him, +but he soon regards it as an assurance from God that his prayer is +heard. No sooner does a transient doubt cross his mind, than the +sensitively pious priest looks upon himself as sinful and believes +himself reproved by the angel. Now, either an apoplectic seizure +actually deprives him of speech, which he receives as the just +punishment of his incredulity, until the excessive joy he experiences at +the circumcision of his son restores the power of utterance--so that +dumbness is retained as an external, physical, though not miraculous +occurrence--or the proceeding is psychologically understood; namely, +that Zacharias, in accordance with a Jewish superstition, for a time +denied himself the use of the offending member. Reanimated in other +respects by the extraordinary event, the priest returns home to his +wife, and she becomes a second Sarah.[63] + +The original histories are adduced, and the parallels fully drawn +between them and the gospel narratives in order to show the mythical +character of the latter. The birth of John the Baptist is the mongrel +product of the Old Testament stories of the birth of Isaac, of Samson, +and of Samuel. Every event related by the evangelists is so strained as +to make it analogous to other occurrences in Jewish history. The murder +of the innocents by Herod is only a poetic plagiarism of the cruelty of +Nimrod and Pharaoh; the star which guided the shepherds, a memory of the +star promised in the prophecy of Balaam; Christ explaining the Bible +when twelve years old, a gloss upon the precocity of Moses, Samuel, and +Solomon; the increase of the loaves, a union of the manna in the +wilderness and the twenty loaves with which Elisha fed the people; water +changed into wine, a new version of the bitter waters made sweet; the +cross, a reminder of the brazen serpent; the scene in the Garden of +Gethsemane, the bloody sweat and the agony on the cross, poor copies +from the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and the two thieves, the nailed hands +and feet, the pierced side, the thirst, and the last words of Jesus, are +borrowed narratives from the sixty-ninth and twenty-second Psalms.[64] + +The same mythical explanation is applied to the conception and divine +character of Jesus. By entertaining such notions of him as we find in +the gospels we display a superstition worthy of the dim days of pagan +legendry. In the world of mythology many great men had extraordinary +births, and were sons of the gods. Jesus himself spoke of his heavenly +origin, and called God his Father; besides, his title as Messiah was +"Son of God." From Matt. i. 22, it is further evident that the passage +of Isaiah vii. 14, was referred to Jesus by the early Christian church. +In conformity with this passage the belief prevailed that Jesus, as the +Messiah, should be born of a virgin by means of divine agency. It was +therefore taken for granted that what was to be actually did occur; and +thus originated a philosophical, dogmatical myth concerning the birth of +Jesus. But according to historical truth, Jesus was the offspring of an +ordinary marriage, between Joseph and Mary, which maintains at once the +dignity of Jesus and the respect due to his mother. The transfiguration +illustrates both the natural and mythical methods of interpretation. It +is a reflection of the scene which transpired on Sinai at the giving of +the law. The gospel account is an Ossianic fancy. Something merely +objective presented itself to the disciples, and this explains how an +object was perceived by several at once. They deceived themselves, when +awake, as to what they saw. That was natural, because they were all born +within the same circle of ideas, were in the same frame of mind, and in +the same situation. According to this opinion, the essential fact in the +scene on the mountain is a secret interview which Jesus had concerted, +and, with a view to which, he took with him the three most confidential +of his disciples. Paulus does not venture to determine who the two men +were with whom Jesus held this interview; Kuinoel conjectures that they +were secret adherents of the same kind as Nicodemus; and according to +Venturini, they were Essenes, secret allies of Jesus. Jesus prayed +before these arrived, and the disciples, not being invited to join, +slept. For the sleep noticed by Luke, though it were dreamless, is +gladly retained in this interpretation, since a delusion appears more +probable in the case of persons just awaking. On hearing strange voices +talking with Jesus, they awake, and see him--who probably stood on a +higher point of the mountain than they--enveloped in an unwonted +brilliancy, caused by the reflection of the sun's rays from a sheet of +snow. This light falling on Jesus is mistaken by them in the surprise of +the moment for a supernatural illumination. They perceive the two men +whom, for some unknown reasons, the drowsy Peter and the rest take for +Moses and Elias. Their astonishment increases when they see the two +strange individuals disappear in a bright morning cloud--which descends +as they are in the act of departing--and hear one of them pronounce out +of the cloud the words, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well +pleased; hear ye him." Under these circumstances they unavoidably regard +this as a voice from heaven. + +The resurrection of Christ is regarded by Strauss as a psychological +necessity placed upon the disciples, first to solve the contradiction +between the ultimate fate of Jesus and their earlier opinion of him, and +second to adopt into their idea of the Messiah the characteristics of +suffering and death. + +"When once the idea of a resurrection of Jesus had been formed in this +manner," says Strauss, "the great event could not have been allowed to +happen so simply, but must be surrounded and embellished with all the +pomp which the Jewish imagination furnished. The chief ornaments which +stood at command for this purpose were angels; hence these must open the +grave of Jesus; must, after he had come forth from it, keep watch in the +empty place, and deliver to the women,--who, because without doubt women +had the first visions, must be the first to go to the grave,--the +tidings of what had happened. As it was Galilee where Jesus subsequently +appeared to them, the journey of the disciples thither, which was +nothing else than their return home, somewhat hastened by fear, was +derived from the direction of an angel; nay, Jesus himself must already +before his death, and as Matthew too zealously adds, once more after the +resurrection also, have enjoined this journey on the disciples. But the +farther these narratives were propagated by tradition, the more must the +difference between the locality of the resurrection itself and that of +the appearance of the risen one be allowed to fall out of sight as +inconvenient; and since the locality of the death was not transferable, +the appearances were gradually placed in the same locality as the +resurrection,--in Jerusalem, which, as the more brilliant theatre and +the seat of the first Christian church, was especially appropriate for +them."[65] + +The ascension is claimed as a myth founded upon the Old Testament +precedents of the translation of Enoch and the ascension of Elijah, and +the pagan apotheosis of Hercules and Romulus. + +The last part of Strauss' work is a dissertation on the dogmatic import +of the life of Jesus. Here this merciless critic tries to prove that, +though the belief of the church concerning Christ be thus uprooted by +the theory of myths, nothing truly valuable is destroyed. He declares it +his purpose "to re-establish dogmatically that which has been destroyed +critically." He holds that all his criticism is purely independent of +Christian faith; for, "The supernatural birth of Christ, his miracles, +his resurrection and ascension, remain eternal truths, whatever doubts +may be cast on their reality as historical facts." Thus, reliance is +placed upon a difference between the import of criticism and christian +faith--which subterfuge proved a broken reed when the masses read this +mythical interpretation of the life of the Founder of Christianity. In +vain did Strauss say, in the preface to his work, that it was not +designed for the laity, and that if they read it, it must be at their +own hazard. It was published--and therefore the public had a right to +demand an examination. Let him who writes an evil thought never be +deceived by the opinion that only those will read it who cannot be +injured by it. "What is writ, is writ;" and then it is too late to wish +it "worthier." + +But the most remarkable feature of the work of Strauss yet remains to be +traced. It was a compilation, and nothing more. Having ransacked every +skeptical writer on the gospel history, he published their views at +length in his _Life of Jesus_. He did not make many quotations. But the +references at the foot of almost every page declare plainly enough the +pains he took to put in force the incantation he had pronounced to all +skeptical sprites, + + "Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray, + Mingle, mingle, mingle; ye that mingle may." + +No Rationalist escaped his notice. The English Naturalists reappeared +with all their original pretensions. Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Lessing, +Kant, De Maistre, and all the representatives of skeptical thought +communed in friendly society, regardless alike of disparity in +particular opinions and of difference in the time when they flourished. +On this very account M. Quinet infers the great popularity of the +enterprise. Because it was a grouping of all heterodox doctrines of the +person of Christ, the adherents of Rationalism saw whither their +principles were leading them, and their opponents learned more of the +desperate character of their foe than they had ever acquired from all +other sources. It was a crystallization of the imputations and insults +cast upon the gospels for more than seventy-five years. Then, for the +first time, did the votaries of error, mass themselves. It was then, +too, that the evangelical school were first able to count the number of +their opponents. + +The scene before the publication of the _Life of Jesus_ was quite +different from the one presented subsequently. Formerly the Rationalists +said what they chose about Christ, and they suffered little from their +rashness. But immediately after Strauss had issued his book, the +attention of the church was profoundly attracted toward the +consideration of the themes therein treated. The church seemed to say, +"Strange, that I have given so little attention to this great pillar of +Christian faith; now I see what reward I am receiving for my neglect. +The like shall never happen again. No, I will not only quench this +firebrand, but I will hurl back upon my enemies enough destructive +missiles to reduce them to a disorganized band of homeless fugitives." +This resolution was not the work of idle excitement, and soon to be +forgotten. The replies to the _Life of Jesus_ constitute a theological +literature. They were very numerous, and written from as many points of +view as there had been theological schools since the dawn of the +Reformation. The first rejoinder came from the most distinguished +theologian of Wuertemberg, Steudel of Tuebingen. He was superintendent of +the very school where Strauss was tutor, and his work was written but a +few weeks after the issue of the first volume of the _Life of Jesus_. It +discussed the question whether Christ's life rested on a historical or +mythical basis. The conclusion was an uncompromising decision in favor +of the former view. Steudel represented the old Lutheran orthodoxy. + +We now meet with the name of Hengstenberg, whom Providence designed to +be an instrument of much good to the theology of the present day. He +proved himself an unflinching hero when he dealt his first blows from +his professor's chair in Berlin. His utterances soon acquired great +importance wherever the current controversies attracted attention. He +was the leader of the young orthodox school, and in his newly-founded +_Evangelical Church Gazette_, he pictured his times in the language of +desolation. His words were worthy of the dark days of Jeremiah. +Adopting the exclamation of that prophet, he cried aloud, "Oh that my +head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep +day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Theologians, +philosophers, and tradesmen seemed to him to be overwhelmed in +skepticism. But he had a lion's heart, and fought steadily for the +growth of the pure faith of the olden time. Nor has he grown tired of +the warfare. He appears to have been born upon the battle-field, within +sound of drum and cannon. He is as much the warrior to-day as when he +entered the lists against Strauss nearly thirty years ago. His opinion +of his great antagonist may be summed up in his own language. He says of +him that, "He has the heart of a leviathan, which is as hard as a stone +and as firm as the nether millstone; he assails the Lord's Anointed with +composure and cold-bloodedness; and not a tear of pity flows from his +eyes." + +Harless and Hoffman followed in spirited criticisms on the _Life of +Jesus_. Tholuck next appeared upon the arena in his _Credibility of the +Gospel History_. This production was somewhat declamatory in style, but +that was no barrier to its utility. It attacked Strauss in the weakest +spot, namely, in his deductions against the authenticity and apostolic +origin of the gospels. Tholuck defines a miracle to be an event which +appears contrary to the course of nature, and has a religious origin and +aim. He allows that inspiration is not total but partial, and that it is +but fair to concede to his opponent the presence of Scriptural defects, +such as mistakes of memory, and errors in historical, chronological, and +astronomical details. We must be content to know and feel that, in the +Bible, we find a basis of inspiration which is none the less +substantial though surrounded by intruding weeds, or fragments of stone +and mortar. But Tholuck's work is not a fair specimen of his writings. +Besides its literary defects, the author concedes much more to the +Rationalists here than he is accustomed to do in his many superior +publications. + +Again we meet with the revered name of Neander. His _Life of Christ_ +appeared in 1837. He published it not only as a reply to Strauss, but as +an independent treatise upon the person of the Messiah. He announced +himself as the mediator between those bitter partisans who, on the one +side, would grant no rights to reason, and on the other, would leave no +space for the exercise of feeling and faith. His work stands in the same +relation to criticism which Schleiermacher's _Discourses_ occupies to +dogmas, and as the latter appears sometimes to lean toward Rationalism, +so do we find in the former traces of concession to the destructive +method of criticism. Neander's work, despite everything which he grants +to his enemies, was the transition-agent toward a purer comprehension of +the life of Christ. While we lament that he interprets the early life of +Christ as a fragment derived from an evangelical tradition; that he +believes the influence of demons in the gospel period susceptible of a +psychological explanation, that the miraculous feeding of the five +thousand is but the multiplication and potentialization of substances +already at hand, that the feeding of the four thousand is a mistaken +account of the former, and that the changing of the water into wine at +Cana of Galilee was nothing more than an increase of power in the water, +as we find sometimes in mineral fluids,--granting these and all the +other interpretations which Neander makes on the score of nature or +myths, we must attach an importance to his _Life of Christ_ second only +to his _History of the Christian Church_. One closes the reading of his +account of the Messiah with a profound impression that the author had a +true conception of the divinity and authority of the Founder of +Christianity. We cannot doubt his sympathy with those words of Pascal +which he quoted frequently with exquisite pleasure: "En Jesus Christ +toutes les contradictions sont accordees." + +Ullmann, in his treatise _Historical or Mythical_, will not accept the +alternative that the life of Christ is all mythical or all historical. +He enumerates the philosophical myth, the historical myth, mythical +history, and history with traditional parts. It is to the last of these +that he assigns the gospel history. He propounds the dilemma, whether +the church has conceived a poetical Christ, or whether Christ is the +real founder of the church? He accepts the latter, and invokes all +history in proof of his argument. Weisse, in his _Gospel History treated +Philosophically and Critically_, dwells upon the relative claims of the +four gospels. At least one of the gospels is original and the authority +for the rest. This is Mark's; and it is not mythical, but historical and +worthy of credence. Matthew is a compilation of a later day; and Luke +and John are of still less importance. But the miracles related by Mark +are purely natural events. Christ's miraculous cures were owing to his +physical powers. His body was a strong electric battery, which, in his +later life, lost its power of healing. Else he would have saved himself +from death. His early life is unadulterated allegory. + +But there were numerous writers against Strauss, among whom may be +mentioned Schweizer, Wilke, Schaller, and Dorner. Dorner's _History of +the Person of Christ_, 1839, was an attempt to show the totality of +Christ as a universal character. The human conception of species is of a +world of fragments, but in Christ we find them completely united. All +single, individual prototypes coalesced in him. He is the +World-Personality. Bruno Bauer wrote his _Criticism of the Synoptical +Gospels_ in reply to Strauss, though a few years afterward he changed +his ground entirely. His position in this work was as mediator between +reason and revelation. He brought into the conflict concerning Strauss' +_Life of Jesus_ an element of heated argument, and egotism, which +ripened into his subsequent antagonism to the supernatural school. His +entrance upon this field of strife may be comprehended by Schwartz's +comparison of him with Carlstadt and Thomas Munzer, who had lived in the +exciting period of the Reformation. + +An enumeration of the titles of the works which appeared at frequent +intervals during the ten years succeeding the issue of Strauss' _Life of +Jesus_, indicates that toward the close of this period the controversy +was directed more to the particular gospels than to the life of Christ +as a unit. The many theories advanced exceeded all the ordinary +illustrations of literary fecundity and extravagance in the department +of theology. There was no theologian of note who did not take part in +the contest. Pastors of obscure provincial churches, who did not venture +upon a complete life of the Messiah, felt themselves competent either to +originate a new view of one or more of the gospels, or to elaborate a +borrowed one. The excitement was intense. There was no evidence of +system in the rapid movement. But now that the battle is over we read +the philosophy of the whole conflict. Strauss, without any intention on +his part, had shown the church of the present century, its weakness in +failing to comprehend the importance of the evangelical history. The +numerous replies indicated a hopeful attention to the neglected +compendium of divine truth. The friends who rushed to his aid declared +by their impetuosity that their cause would have been better served had +Strauss never penned a word about Christ. They saw their stronghold in +ruins, and looked with tearful eyes upon the future of their creed. The +language which Strauss had applied to his excited opponents upon the +appearance of his work became severely appropriate to his own adherents, +after that production had been faithfully answered. "Their alarm," said +he, "was like the screaming of frightened women on seeing one of their +cooking utensils fall upon the floor." Granting the appositeness of the +illustration, we must add that the alarm mentioned by the critic was of +brief duration; while that of the Rationalists and their adherents is +like the long-standing despair of a circle of chemists, whose laboratory +has been entered through a door left open by themselves, their carefully +prepared combinations destroyed, and all their retorts and crucibles +shattered into irreparable fragments. + +After a long absence of twenty-nine years, Strauss has again appeared as +the biographer of Christ. In his former work he wrote for the +theological public, but we are now assured that he had ever kept in mind +a purpose to do for the masses what he had achieved for critical minds. +The last fruit of his pen is his _Life of Jesus Popularly Treated_, +which, following close upon the issue of M. Renan's work, appeared in +1864, in the form of a large octavo volume of more than six hundred +pages. + +Strauss was induced to make his second work more popular than the +first, because of the gross injustice which the clergy had meted out to +him in consequence of his former labors to establish the historical +position of Christ. The "guild" of professional theologians are +interested, he avers, in maintaining their own cause; of course, they +would not loose their hold very willingly. The only italicized sentence +in his preface is a thrust against this class, whom time has in nowise +led him to esteem: "_He who wants to clear the parsons out of the church +must first clear miracles out of religion._" The spirit of the +introduction, in which the German writer is always expected to announce +his opinions and give the historical reasons therefor, is not materially +different from the lengthy one in his _Life of Jesus_. It is divided +into three parts. The _first_ contains the important attempts which have +been made to write the life of Jesus and represent it in its true light. +They have all been failures. Hess, Herder, Paulus, Schleiermacher, Hase, +Neander, Ebrard, Weisse, Ewald, Keim, and Renan must be content to lie +in oblivion. Renan has done very well for a Frenchman; and as a work for +France his book has some merit. The _second_ treats of the gospels as +sources of the life of Jesus. These accounts, not being authentic, are +not of sufficient weight to be relied on. The _third_ part contains +certain explanations necessary to a proper appreciation of the remaining +portion of the work. The following language indicates the author's +unchanged opinion on the mythical character of Christ: "We now know for +a certainty at least, what Jesus was _not_ and what he did _not_ do, +namely, nothing superhuman, nothing supernatural; it will, therefore, +now be the more possible for us to so far trace out the suggestions of +the Gospels touching the human and natural in him as shall enable us to +give at least some outline of what he was and what he wanted to do." + +The body of the book is substantially an attempt to show that Christ, as +represented by the Evangelists, is a mythical personage. Such a man +lived; but his life is not remarkable; it is not what they described it; +and not very different from the common life of ordinary men. We have +_first_, an historical outline of the life of Jesus. Here Strauss makes +himself, and not the Gospel narrators, the biographer of Christ. +_Secondly_, we are furnished with the mythical history of Jesus in its +origin and growth. The people were expecting some remarkable character, +and they seized upon the first one who best answered their notions. John +is as bad as his compeers. He is utterly untrustworthy. The only work of +the New Testament from an immediate disciple is the Apocalypse of John. +But this, too, is wholly unhistorical. Adopting the opinion of the +radical Rationalists, Strauss holds that miracles are impossible, and +that if God were to operate against natural laws he would be operating +against himself. As a specimen of the method of criticism adopted to +divest Christ's career of everything miraculous, we may instance +Strauss' disposition of the resurrection of Christ. He confesses that if +he cannot show that this is mythological, his whole work has been +written in vain. Christ did really die, but his resurrection was a +vision. His disciples were excited, and believed they saw their Master +reappear. But it was a great mistake on their part. It was only an +hallucination. Paul had his visions; so did Peter and John; and so did +Mary Magdalene, who was subject to nervous disorders.[66] + +The second life of Jesus has met with a cold reception. The "People of +the Reformation," to whom it was flatteringly addressed, prefer a more +substantial theology. The tide has turned since 1835, and no man feels +the power of the new current more keenly than David Frederic Strauss. + +The Rationalists, who gained nothing in the controversy concerning the +first _Life of Jesus_ by the tutor of Tuebingen, were unfortunate in +their organized, systematic, and well-sustained effort to regain lost +ground. We have reference to the labors of the Tuebingen school. +Ferdinand Christian Baur was its founder. His works are numerous, and +may be divided into two classes: _doctrinal_ and _critical_. But there +is consistency in all,--and, varied as his subjects of investigation +are, they centre in a common focus. Baur sought the solution of the +agitated question in the apostolic history rather than in the life of +Christ. The Christianity about which so much discussion is elicited, is, +according to him, not a perfect and divine production, but only a vital +force in process of development. This is the principle which underlies +the multifarious theories of the Tuebingen school. In order to have a +place where to stand and eliminate the theory, the epistles of Paul are +chosen. But these are not all authentic. Hence a selection must be made, +and, of course, only those must be chosen which are in harmony with the +supposition that Christianity is but a dormant germ. Consequently, the +Epistles to the Galatians, the Romans, and the Corinthians are +favorites. They are made to dispel the darkness, and settle the +question. + +In them Paul exposes the fact that there were two parties in the early +church, the Pauline and the Petrine. They struggled for supremacy, and +the conflict was a long one. Peter was a thorough Jew,--and his side +predominated even after the death of the principal combatants. Judaism +was the cradle of Christianity; and the latter was only an earnest, +restless, and reformatory branch of the former. But it was not an +offshoot as yet, for Christianity was essentially Jewish all through its +first historic period. The canonical writings of the New Testament, +which constitute the chief literature of the first two centuries, are +the literary monument of Christianity while it was yet undeveloped, and +undetached from Judaism. These writings are the _mediating theology_ of +those distant days. The Petrine party was very strong, until the middle +of the second century, when it was obliged to yield to, or rather +harmonize with, the Pauline. + +Many causes contributed to bring the two factions together. There was an +absence of growth quite incompatible with their respective strength. +Alone, they were almost unable to brave the storm of persecution. +Finally, for the sake of security and propagation, they laid down their +weapons, and united under one banner. From this union came the +subsequent growth of Christianity. The canonical works so much revered +by the church had been written in the interest of one or the other of +the parties. Since the enmity has been destroyed, their literary +productions must be considered in the light of history. The church is, +therefore, much mistaken in attaching importance to the Scriptures, for +they were written for a time-serving end, and are quite unworthy of the +worth which we attach to them. + +A numerous circle of disciples clustered around Baur, and they enjoyed +his leadership until his recent death. But the writings of both the +master and his school were answered by the best theologians of Germany. +Some of the greenest laurels worn by Thiersch, Dorner, Lechler, Lange, +Schaff, Bleek, Hase, and Bunsen, were won in the contest with the +Tuebingen school; and their united labors constitute a compendium of +arguments which will not cease for centuries to be of inestimable value +in the controversies of the church concerning Christ and the divine +origin of Christianity. + +The labors of the Tuebingen school and of Strauss are two parts of the +same effort to destroy the divine basis of Christian faith. We do not +impugn the private opinions of the contestants, but we must judge them +by their fruits. They wrote and taught against those departments of +truth which it is necessary to preserve intact if we would have +Christianity continue a vital power of the soul and an aggressive +principle in the world. Objections will still be urged against the +Gospel history, but it will still be blessed by the ceaseless oversight +and unfailing ministrations of the Holy Spirit. Supposing the +evangelical accounts to be purely human, we have even then the highest +embodiment of truth in the history of man. Herder says, "Have the +fishermen of Galilee founded such a history? Then blessed be their +memory that they have founded it!" With the conviction that the writers +of the Scriptures throughout were inspired men, and spake as they were +moved by the Holy Spirit, we have a power demanded alike by the cravings +of the soul and the aspirations of the intellect. Blessed with this +sentiment, the individual and the church are thoroughly furnished unto +every good work. + +From Germany we turn to France. The latter country has been the +traditional purveyor of revolutionary material for the rest of the +Continent. No great popular movement west of the Rhine has been without +its influence upon the eastern side. The July Revolution of 1830, which +effected the overthrow of the Restoration represented by Charles X., +set the German masses in commotion. They were henceforth restless, and +ready, whenever occasion offered, to overturn the government and +establish a national constitutional basis. The Rationalists were +insurrectionary, and, the more rapid their decline in all religious +sentiment the more decided was their opposition to constituted +authorities. Strauss' _Life of Jesus_, great in its influence upon +theology, was equally powerful over the political mind. Every new +publication which befriended infidelity was not without its support of +faction and discontent. + +In connection with the revolutionary tendency, Rationalism assumed also +a more pantheistic, and subsequently a more atheistic form. The second +important work of Strauss, his _System of Doctrine_, was even more +adapted than his first to sap the foundations of faith and social +security. It was the embodiment of all the worst features of the +Hegelian philosophy. It was frank and bold in all its statements. No man +could mistake a single utterance. In it doctrines are traced to their +genetic development, and held to be the luxuriant growth of the seeds of +error. The truths of Christianity are surrounded by a halo to which it +is no more entitled than the sagas of the Northmen. The old dogma was +born of prejudice and error, hence the modern conception of it is sheer +illusion. Faith and science are irreconcilable foes, for faith is the +perversion, and science the development of human nature. Believing and +knowing, religion and philosophy, are born antagonists, and man can make +no rapid progress if he grovel in the errors of faith. The personality +of God is not that of the individual but of the universal. The pantheism +of Spinoza is the best solution of God's existence; "for," says +Strauss, "God is not the personal, but the infinite personifying of +himself." + +The oracular responses of Feuerbach[67] were a step beyond even this +skeptical usurpation. Religion is man's conduct to himself. Man, from +time immemorial, has been buried in self-love, and become so far carried +away by it that his religion is now one monstrous hallucination. +Religion springs not from his intellect but from his imagination. He +wishes to get to heaven; he desires to be comfortable; therefore he +believes. He will put himself to no little trouble to propitiate the +favor of one whom he considers divine. Here is the mystery of all +sacrifices. They are offered by all people from the mere inner force of +abject egotism. God has no absolute existence whatever. Christianity +needs to be attacked historically. Its chief elements are Judaism and +paganism. That it is a collection of absurdities, corruptions, and +prejudices, can be perceived on its very face. But still man needs +religion, though he can only gain it either by rejecting Christianity +altogether or purifying it from its thick envelope of dross. + +The _Halle Year-Books_, published 1838-'42, were the principal organ of +the new atheistic doctrines. They commenced with the laudation of +Strauss, then passed over into the service of Feuerbach, and finally +served the cause of Bruno Baur and his fanatical adherents. They were +under the chief editorship of Ruge; and, being popular and youthful in +style, they wielded an unbounded influence on the dissatisfied and +skeptical classes. They broke through all the restraints of religion, +and propagated the wildest perversions of Hegel's opinions. Though +short-lived, they gained an authority not often enjoyed by a periodical. +They were factious in the extreme, and became one of the principal +agents in effecting the Revolution of 1848. They breathed mildew on +everything stable in government and sacred in religion. But, +Samson-like, they fell amid the ruin which they inflicted upon others. + +Quite a new form of Rationalism was then presented in the popular +conventions of the Protestant Friends. These individuals held that by a +return to the spirit of the Reformation, Germany would be endowed with a +new and living energy. But it must not be the Reformation as the church +would have us understand it. It must be an impulse and spirit, not an +outward attachment to form and compulsory authority. They were popularly +called Friends of Light, and embraced all the schools of Rationalists +throughout the land. Their convocation was the parliament of German +infidelity. Professing adherence to some of the doctrines of +Christianity, they so glossed them that even the atheist could be a +member without violating his principles. + +Their founder was Pastor Uhlich, who, in company with sixteen friends, +held the first meeting at Gnadau, in July, 1841. The second convention +met at Halle, and was numerously attended by clergymen, professors, and +laymen of every class of society. The session at Koethen, in 1844, was a +great popular assembly. It was addressed by Pastor Wislicenus, of Halle, +whose lecture was subsequently issued as a reply to his antagonists, +under the title of _Whether Scriptures or Spirit?_ Not the letter, but +the spirit, is the ground of true religion. The spirit permeates +humanity, and hence there is no occasion for the observance of the law. +The spirit comes with its own law; it is a law in itself. The +Evangelical church stands safe only when resting upon freedom. The +glory of the church is the absolute freedom of its members. The +Scriptures are very good in their way. They are a witness of the faith +of the first times, but were never intended for these cultivated days. +The church is freed from the exterior law and elevated to the inner law +of freedom. + +Guericke, the church historian, called attention to Wislicenus in the +_Evangelical Church Gazette_. Great surprise was manifested at once, and +the sober mind of the nation became aroused to a sense of the danger now +threatening the foundations of faith. In a short time the Saxon decree +was issued against all assemblies which called in question the Augsburg +Confession. The following month, August, 1845, the Prussian +cabinet-order appeared, prohibiting all convocations of the Friends of +Light. Protests appeared against Wislicenus and his followers, which +were followed by counter-protests signed indiscriminately by all +classes. + +Another popular development of Rationalism occurred in Koenigsberg, in +1845. Pastor Rupp attacked the Athanasian symbol in his own pulpit, +whereupon he was ejected by the consistory. He collected an independent +congregation; and thus arose those Free Congregations, which contributed +equally to the Rationalistic and revolutionary movements. Appearing in +other parts of Germany, they became a formidable opponent of the church. +While they held that the Scriptures were their rule of faith in the +unity of God, they threw off their authority and that of all symbols. +They adopted baptism and the Lord's Supper, and professed allegiance to +the civil power. But their influence was against the government, and +their two sacraments were odious corruptions. Their form of baptism is +enough to determine their religious sentiment: "I baptize thee after +the manner of the old apostolic baptism, that Jesus is the Christ; I +anoint thy head with water as a sign that thy soul remains pure, pure as +the water that runs down the mountain side; and as the water rises to +heaven and then returns to the earth, so may you be continually mindful +of your heavenly home." Their convocations were finally restricted by +the civil authority. The supreme church council issued an +excommunicatory order against them; the police broke up their meetings; +and forty of the Free Congregations were closed in Prussia alone. + +The leaders of the Revolution of 1848 were the organizers of these +popular independent movements. When the people had gained the upper hand +of their rulers, their very first action was to select the destroyers of +their faith as their political champions and representatives. It was, +therefore, a great triumph for those fanatical humanists to find +themselves seated in the national parliaments of Frankfort and Berlin, +and, wherever the revolution extended, to be the leaders of the excited +masses. + +What could be expected from a revolution conducted by such men as +Wislicenus, Blum, Uhlich, Baltzer, Carl Schwartz and their adherents? It +was a total failure. And when the restoration was completed in 1849, the +reaction against Rationalism became so decided that the leaders had +reason to tremble for their lives. The people were profoundly disgusted +with a skepticism which could produce no better fruits than this one had +matured. The indignation was even more intense than that toward French +infidelity during the supremacy of Napoleon over the German States. In +the latter case the people were disgusted with the efforts of foreign +skepticism, but in the former, they saw and felt the sore evils of +domestic Rationalism. Religious error had led them from peace and quiet +into a dream-land. When the waking moment came, and the deception became +apparent, the surprise at the delusion was overwhelming. + +The doctrinal form of Rationalism had been arrested by Schleiermacher +and his noble band of followers. Its exegetical prestige had been +destroyed by the replies to the _Life of Jesus_. And, as if to make its +defeat as humiliating as possible, the last blow was self-inflicted. It +was the Revolution of 1848, and its consequent failure, which +annihilated the political strength of German Rationalism. There is a God +in history. And though one generation may fail to perceive the +brightness of his presence, the following one may be favored with the +vision. No skeptic should forget that the real philosophy of history is +the march of Providence through the ages. But the infidel is the worst +reader of history. The light shines, but he turns away from it. Or, as +Coleridge expresses it: + + "The owlet Atheism, + Sailing on obscure wings across the noon, + Drops his blue-fringed lids, and shuts them close; + And, hooting at the glorious sun in Heaven, + Cries out, 'Where is it?'" + +There is a deep principle underlying not only the miscarriage of the +Revolution of 1848, but of all the popular movements toward independence +which occur at a time when the people are involved in religious doubt. +It is the spiritual status of a nation which commonly determines its +love of law and order. A population adhering to an evangelical +interpretation of the Scriptures can be forced to revolution only by +evil and ambitious leaders, or by persistent oppression on the part of +their rulers. The tardy movement of the American Colonies toward their +revolt against the British Government betrayed a great unwillingness to +inaugurate the struggle. At the beginning, the conflict was not designed +to be a revolution but only a judicious expedient for the improvement of +the colonial laws.[68] Wise rulers, governing for the best interests of +their country, have generally found that the most discontented of their +subjects are the most skeptical. Infidelity and error have +systematically arrayed themselves against civil authority. This +infidelity does not always assume the same type; for, while in Germany +it was a general disbelief in the authenticity of the Scriptures, in +France it was the rejection of the existence of God and of the +immortality of the soul. Even Robespierre testified before the French +National Convention of 1794, that "the idea of a supreme Being and of +the immortality of the soul, was a continual call to justice, and that +no nation could succeed without the recognition of these truths." A +revolution in Christendom, which has its basis in the skeptical nature +of man, or in an anti-scriptural idea, may succeed for a while, but it +must eventually fail; because, like a vessel without compass, chart, or +star, it lacks the cardinal elements and safeguards of progress and +security. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[62] Appleton's _New Am. Cyclopaedia; Art. Hegel_. + +[63] _Life of Jesus._ Ch. I. American Edition. + +[64] Cf. _Revue des Deux Mondes_. Vol. 16. + +[65] _Life of Jesus_, 852-3. + +[66] _New York Independent_ and _New York Christian Advocate and +Journal_--1864. + +[67] In _Wesen des Christenthums_, Leipsic, 1841. + +[68] The hesitation to become independent was very decided, even as late +as July, 1775.--Bancroft, _History of the United States_. Vol. 8: pp. +55-6. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE EVANGELICAL SCHOOL. ITS OPINIONS AND PRESENT PROSPECTS. + + +There is a group of theologians who deserve to stand side by side with +the immediate opponents of Strauss and his disciples. We mean the +Mediation or Evangelical School. They represent the advance of German +theology from Rationalism to positive orthodoxy. Beginning with able and +irrefutable arguments for the Evangelists, they have extended their +discussions to other important branches of Scriptural defence. As a +consequence, they have built up a valuable apologetic literature which +will occupy a prominent place in the theology of the church. + +But, in order to portray the character of the Evangelical School, we +shall need to dwell upon certain members in particular.[69] + +Not least in honor and achievement is the late Karl Ullmann. He +contributed to the _Studien und Kritiken_, a quarterly established by +himself and Umbreit, an article on the sinlessness of Christ, which he +subsequently elaborated into a volume. One of the most original of his +productions is his _Essence of Christianity_, which placed "him in the +centre of the Mediation theology." He holds with Schleiermacher, that +Christianity is not as much doctrine as vitality, and that it possesses +the creative and organizing power of religion. Christianity is both +divine and human; divine in its origin and essence, but human in its +development and fulfillment. Without the person of Christ to stand in +the very focus of Christianity, the latter becomes void and no more than +any moral religion. We can have no proper conception of Christianity +apart from its founder, for its whole essence exists in him. +Christianity is Christ developing himself in humanity. Christ is God-man +in so far as he represents in his own person the perfect unity and +interpenetration of the human and divine. Christianity is that religion +which neither deifies nor destroys nature. Without considering it +essential to prove the facts of Christ's life, Ullmann showed that +Christ, in the divine character which we attach to him, was necessary to +Christianity just as the pillars are to the superincumbent edifice. The +effect of this argument was most salutary, for it was so well timed that +it could not be otherwise. There were two things to be established +concerning Christ. One was the verity of the Gospel accounts of him; the +other was Christ as a necessity for man's faith, the world's progress, +and human salvation. The former having been treated by other hands, +Ullmann undertook the latter and triumphed. He is one of the most +pleasing of the German theologians. Partaking of the warm southern +temperament--for he was a Bavarian by birth--he wrote in that easy, +natural, and earnest style which renders him a popular writer not only +in his own language but when translated into foreign tongues. + +We find in Dorner one of the most acute speculative theologians produced +by the later Protestant church. His style is as complex as Ullmann's is +simple. It is amusing that, in one place, he even enters into a +justification of his technical and abstruse writing. Applying himself to +dogmatic investigations, the fruit of his labor is his _Doctrine of the +Person of Christ_. Christianity was the world's great want, and all the +religions of the natural man could not supply its place. But +Christianity is vague unless the question be settled concerning the +person of Christ. Here is the battle-ground where Christianity and +reason must meet and decide the great issue. Hence Dorner passes by the +personal ministry and history of Christ on earth and attempts the proper +mode of construing his person. The Person of Christ is, in the trials +and triumphs of individuals and the church, the central point of the +Christian religion. He is the perfect Lawgiver, and also the Judge of +the world. He controls the universe. Here he communicates the +forgiveness of sins and the Holy Ghost, and in heaven, eternal felicity. +The happiness of heaven is formed by perfect fellowship with his person. +He has left his followers only in appearance, for, wherever two or three +are assembled in his name, there he is in the midst of them. He is with +his own always, even to the end of the world. To know Christ in his +nearness belongs to the Christian worship; and this institution is +appointed for the church as the highest means for the enjoyment of his +nearness.[70] + +According to Dorner, heathendom longed for the apotheosis of human +nature. Judaism sought the fulfillment of the revelation not completed +by the law, and strained after the love of God as the consummation of +the holy law. All these wants are met in Christ. He is the innermost +revelation of the mystery, and the fullest condescension of God. For God +has in Christ become man. Here is the point of unity between God and the +world. But Christ did not appear in order to be the Son of God, as if +this were the ultimate end; but the ultimate end was the glorifying of +man, and therewith of God, in and through him. He is officially God's +son.[71] + +Was Christ possessed of sinless perfection? In both a physical and +ethical point of view he was not absolutely complete from the first. He +learned obedience. He _grew_ in favor, not only with men but with God. +Growth points backward to previous deficiency, or, what is the same +thing, forward to the absolute goal which the reality approaches only by +degrees. But deficiency in entire perfection is not sinfulness, for then +all real humanity and sinfulness would be identical. Christ's +temptations are explainable on this wise: he had a real moral task, not +only external to himself, but in himself, which could not be solved at +the beginning if he was to be like us. There was no disorder in him, but +there were disorder and sin without him, which occasioned him the +contests, temptations, and sufferings that filled his official life. +These later conflicts were only assigned him because he remained the +pure One, and had become morally harmonious in the midst of moral +anarchy. But they were still inward and personal struggles; for he was +to introduce the power of his harmony and of his sufferings, in order to +overcome the disharmony in the world. He, the righteous one, must, by +suffering, take upon himself disorder and disharmony, must live through +it and taste it, in order to establish a power which is not only +harmonious in itself, but so potent in harmony as to take the disharmony +into itself, master it, and transform it into harmony. Christ was +perfect man in growth and progress, in his temptations and conflicts, +but without any historical trace of a flaw or blemish in his life. He +was in all points made like us, without being necessitated to become +like us as sinners. For, sin is the negation of the truly human. He laid +claim to no exceptional law for himself as a privileged individual, but +subjected himself to the universal human moral law. With this he was +satisfied, and he fulfilled it in its purity, depth, and completeness. +He knew nothing of a super-moral religious genius, and would have +nothing to do with it. His religion is moral; his morality, +religion.[72] + +The name with which we are most familiar is the devout and laborious +Tholuck. He generally takes higher ground than many of the +Mediation-theologians. But he is sometimes at variance with evangelical +sentiment. Inspiration, according to him, is not real and total, but +only partial, and is to be determined in reference to the truths +necessary to salvation. While there are many mistakes of memory, false +citations, errors in historical, chronological, geographical, and +astronomical detail, these need not depreciate our general estimate of +inspiration. The Scriptures have a kernel and a shell. Upon the former +there is the positive and direct impress of the Holy Spirit; but upon +the latter it is indirect and relative. + +In merely stating Tholuck's definitions, however, we do not measure out +justice to him. He must not be tested by any special department of +labor, but by the spirit and totality of his service. In this light he +is a remarkable personage, and his work is entitled to our highest +eulogium. With him, Christ is not merely a person to be apprehended by +the mind, but a Saviour to be received into the heart and henceforth to +be a living power of the soul. He must be accepted by Christian faith, +and the heart must undergo the transforming power of his Spirit. Without +this preparation, all progress in science is but the worship of nature, +and man, at the close of life, looks back upon a path of error and forth +into a world of darkness. + +"Tholuck has this characteristic," says one of his countrymen, "he +cannot be classified; he belongs to no particular theological direction, +because he belongs to all." This estimate is strictly true. He has +gained his greenest laurels in exegesis; and his commentaries on Psalms, +the Sermon on the Mount, Gospel of John, and Epistles to the Romans and +Hebrews, have already taken their places in the theological libraries of +English and American divines. But he has asked himself the question, +"What can I do to lessen the hold which Rationalism has upon my +country?" And he has given the answer by his life-career. All his +productions centre in that thought, and it is not the least of his +service that he has written sketches of the old Reformation theologians, +as an incentive to the restoration of their spirit. It is not easy to +estimate the benefit which his _Sin and Redemption_ has conferred upon +the young men of Germany. The Baron von Kottwitz is the real personage +represented by the patriarch. Let us hear this venerable saint as he +stands upon the border of the grave and anticipates a bright future for +his loved church and country. His words are the key to Tholuck's life, +and reveal the bright hope which burned within him ever since the day +when he was welcomed to Halle by the hisses and threats of the +Rationalists. + +The aged man says: "The greater the crisis the more needful is it to +unite the wisdom of the serpent with the simplicity of the dove. I +therefore address you as such an one who, perhaps, will soon be engaged +at the university as one of the instruments employed by God in that +important period. The work of God's spirit is greater than either you or +the majority can estimate. A great resurrection morning has dawned. +Hundreds of youths on all sides have been awakened by the Spirit of God. +Everywhere true believers are coming into closer union. Science herself +is becoming again the handmaid and friend of the Crucified. Civil +governments, also, though in part still hostile to this great moral +revolution from a dread of its producing political commotions, are many +of them favorable; and where they are not, the conflicting energy of the +light is so much the stronger. Many enlightened preachers already +proclaim the gospel in its power; many who are still in obscurity will +come forward. I see the dawn; the day itself I shall behold not here, +but from a higher place. You will live to witness it below. Despise not +the words of a gray-headed old man, who would give you, with true +affection, a few hints relative to this great day. + +"The more divine a power is, the more to be deprecated is its +perversion. When those last times are spoken of in Scripture, in which +the gospel shall be spread over the whole world, it is declared that the +truth will not only have to contend with the proportionably more violent +counterworking of the enemy, but also with a great measure of delusion +and error within the kingdom of light. Such is the course of things +that every truth has its shadow; and the greatest truth is attended by +the greatest shadow. Above all things take care that the tempter do not +introduce his craft into the congregation of the faithful. There will be +those for whom the simple gospel will not suffice. When a man has +experienced the forgiveness of his sins, and has for a little while +enjoyed the happiness of that mercy, it not unfrequently appears to his +evil and inconstant heart too humiliating a condition to be constantly +receiving grace for grace. There is no other radical cure for a proud, +self-willed heart than every day and every hour to repeat that act by +which we first came to Christ. Pray that you may have more of that +childlike spirit which regards the grace of your Lord as a perennial +fountain of life. Especially avoid the error of those who seek life for +the sake of light, who would make religion a mere stepping-stone to +intellectual superiority. Such persons will never attain to a vital +apprehension of divine things; for our God is a jealous God, and will be +loved by us for his own sake. The intellectual power, the mental +enlargement arising from converse with the great objects of faith is +always to be regarded as a secondary and supplementary benefit to that +which it is the immediate object of the gospel to bestow. Despise not +human greatness or talent or ability of any kind, but beware lest you +overvalue it. I see a time coming--indeed it is already at hand--in +which gifted men will lift up their voices for the truth; but woe to the +times in which admiration and applause of the speaker shall be +substituted for laying to heart the truth which he delivers! Perhaps in +the next generation there will be no one in some parts of Germany who +will not wish to be called a Christian. Learn to distinguish the +spirits. The sum of my exhortations is humility and love!" + +The most poetical and not the least penetrating of the evangelical +school is Lange, once a farmer, but now a laborious professor at Bonn. +How deeply he has imbibed the spirit of the Scriptures may be seen in +the _Bible Work_, which Dr. Schaff is now editing for the use of the +American public. Religion, according to Lange, is subjectively a +life-emotion of the human nature, and objectively a revelation of God. +In the former case it may be termed natural, in the latter, revealed. +The world is not a mere world, but a self-revelation of God in its +fullest import. Creation is not simply creation, but a divine testimony. +Nature is not nature alone, but a seed of life proceeding from the +spirit and returning to the spirit. The proof of the true human +conception of God, as well as of man, is their harmonious union in the +conception of the God-man. This is the centre of all doctrine. The world +is a progressive succession, developing the divine germ. History unites +itself to revelation as a second creation, elevating man to continuous +growth. God's providential changes unite with the active faith of man, +and they do not constitute an isolated act of God, but a great +historical combination of revelations. They rise gradually and find +their completion in the God-man. + +Miracles are the penetration of the absolute or new human-divine life +principle into the sphere of the old natural human life. The revelation +of the divine-human in Christ is the absolute miracle which manifests +itself in a succession of single miracles. A miracle is supernatural and +contrary to nature only in reference to the old life, and, in its +highest meaning, is in conformity to a higher law. Therefore, miracles +are the natural law of all natural laws taken together. Inspiration is +in consonance with miracle; and there is a dissimilarity of inspiration +observable in the Scriptures. The Old and New Testaments are very +different, so also are the canonical and hagiographical writings. The +word of God is contained in the Scriptures, and is there brought into +living unity and operation with the mind of man. This union does not +exclude human imperfections. But such imperfections are of a superficial +character, and in no wise affect the kernel and religious centre of the +Bible.[73] + +The two most prominent divines in the department of dogmatical theology +are Nitzsch and Twesten. The latter was Schleiermacher's successor at +Berlin. Bright hopes were placed on him, but he has been a tardy author, +and does not possess the brilliant gifts of his great prototype. Yet he +is a clear and profound thinker, and, with a few points of exception, +thoroughly evangelical. He is an ardent admirer of the old Lutheran +theology, and, like his predecessor, places religion in feeling and +dependence instead of in knowledge. + +Nitzsch is also a disciple of Schleiermacher, and his doctrinal system +bears distinct traces of the master's instructions. But it is a bold +work, and has inflicted great mischief upon the doctrinal claims of the +later Rationalists, who betook themselves to theory after their exegesis +and history had failed them. The scope of his system is broad and clear. +He commences by assigning Christian doctrine its proper place in +theological study, a definition of the general idea of Christianity, a +statement of the laws by which a knowledge of Christianity is acquired, +and a history of the Christian system and its exhibition in the purest +form. The three parts constituting the substance of Nitzsch's opinions, +are _The Good, the Bad, and Salvation_. Christianity is a determinate +mode of man's life, and is so determined by conscious dependence on God, +but in no wise by knowledge, conception, action, or the will. Religion +does not arise from experience and sensation, but from an original +self-consciousness. There is an intimate connection between doctrine and +practice, truth and holiness. Redemption is not merely a restoration, +nor a mere perfected creation, but one _through_ the other. It is +related to an original good, apart from which the bad itself would have +no place, opportunity for existence, or continuance; since redemption is +so closely connected with evil. Moreover, the good--in which evil has +found opportunities for manifestation--cannot be the same which caused +redemption. Hence, we safely presume the existence of an eternal God. +This being is the foundation of Christian faith and life. A belief in +the Redeemer cannot be separated from that in the Creator. But it is +through a knowledge of the Redeemer that the Creator, with all his work, +first becomes known in his perfect goodness and truth. The doctrine of +salvation is more closely related to the degenerated condition of the +world than to the original good, or to the right conduct of the creature +towards God. Evil became possible with the creation of personality, +though without being necessary. But it has become so very real that the +heavenly Adam must needs come into the world to destroy the works of the +devil,--which are sin and death,--and to renew the communion of the +creation with the Creator. The effectuating cause of man's permitting +himself to be seduced into sin, was not any fixed purpose or +predestination of God, but man's perfect moral freedom. He chose the +evil, and hence he inherits sin with all its dire results. Since then, +sin has become a bias and righteousness requires an effort for its +performance. But man is accessible to divine legislation by being the +subject of fear, shame, and punishment. The church is an abiding +testimony and a continued means for the redemptive ministry of Christ. +It is the congregation of the sanctified.[74] + +From these two useful professors in Berlin we pass southward to +Heidelberg, and delay a moment with the celebrated Rothe. In his work on +the _Primitive Church_ he endeavors to explain the philosophy of the +whole ecclesiastical system. He views the elements of the church in +solution, and thence tries to deduce general principles. He advances the +view, with Coleridge and Arnold, that the church will not be complete +until absorbed in the state. Its present separate condition is +provisional, and can only last during the time that Christianity is +being developed. This period may be of long duration, but the +development of our race is ever progressing. The church must exist on +its own basis during the interval. Human deeds of righteousness tend +toward the perfection of the church. Then will religion permeate the +world. Yet it will not exist as something separate, but all-penetrative. +It will not be absolutely divine, but superlatively human. Thus will the +dualism of the human and divine, the religious and the moral, be +destroyed. When the day of ecclesiastical perfection--which is really +civil perfection--arrives, the state will perform the functions of the +church. It will exercise church discipline for the purpose of religious +and moral training. The divergence between religious and worldly science +will be abrogated, and there will be no longer any conflict between the +worship of God and nature. It is plain that these views are based upon +those of Hegel, who said of the state, that "it is the totality of moral +purposes."[75] + +The ethical system of Rothe is one of the most original and profound +pieces of devout and reverent speculation in the entire range of +theological literature. It has been termed "a work of art as well as of +science; and the several stones of the ethical system are reared up here +into a magnificent gothic cathedral by the skill of a master architect." +It is based on the unity and identity of religion and morality. Here, as +in the theory of the relations of church and state, the Hegelian +philosophy is very perceptible. God's love is manifested in creation, +and there existed the necessity of his creative activity in order to +communicate himself to others. Hence, God's love is not a mere +attribute, but one of the necessary conditions of his being. Creation is +a necessary act of God. God is as truly creator as he is benevolent. +There is, therefore, a correlation of God and the world. There is no God +without also the world. God's creative activity is still continued by +his providential movements, and these are the steps of man's +development. Man's complete character is in some measure dependent on +his discipline, and sin is the necessary ordeal or process through which +he must pass in order to arrive at the highest development.[76] + +Rothe has very recently published a volume of his essays, entitled _A +Contribution to Dogmatic Theology_. It is occupied mostly with the +consideration of the Scriptures. The author thus states his opinion: +"The matters I handle in this volume inevitably place me in a most +unfavorable position. The question is one in which I find myself in +direct conflict with both the leading parties in the theology of the +present day. My mode of regarding Holy Scripture runs directly counter +to modern orthodoxy. My supernaturalism and firm belief in revelation +are no less opposed to theological liberalism. This very antagonism +encourages me to hope that I may be found to have spoken a word in +season. On the one hand, it is my belief that the consciousness of the +age will never thoroughly reaessimilate Christianity till it can take +courage to believe again in miracle and supernatural influence. I am no +less firmly convinced, on the other hand, that miracle and supernatural +influence will never find their way into the conscious belief of +Christians in the form in which church-theology has allowed those ideas +to be inoculated into it. That which is passed can never be recalled to +life after history has once buried it. But there are not a few persons +who long for the reconciliation of the old and the new. These are the +persons to whom I would gladly be useful according to my small +measure."[77] + +Rothe regards the supernatural interference of the Deity in the stream +of human history as a part of that history. It is not enough that the +divine interposition has incorporated itself with the traditions of the +race; it must be fixed in a written narrative. Not only must there be a +book or writing, but that book must be of a historical character. As the +revelation did not consist in doctrines, so the doctrine we require is +not a creed or compend of doctrines. Besides vouching the facts, the +doctrines must represent them in a vivid manner; that is, the writing +must be such as can stand for long posterior generations in the place of +the original revelation, and place us in the immediate personal +experience of revelation. It is part of the extraordinary operation of +the Deity to provide such a writing. The document itself, as well as the +facts it relates, are supernaturally produced. What the divine +influences in the world are to its moral and human laws, the record of +those influences is to ordinary narrative. The Bible is therefore what +the old Protestant theology styled it, "The Word of God": but in a very +different sense. It was meant by that phrase that the books, as we have +them, were dictated by God in such a way that the sacred penmen +contributed nothing but the letter-marks upon the paper. The dogma of +inspiration current in the sixteenth century is not accepted. The +inspiration which Rothe attributes to the Bible is the same by which he +explains that peculiar impression received by the pious soul from its +study of the book. It is the constant experience of the evangelical +Christian, that, in his Bible, he possesses a direct means of grace. +Scripture is to him an active medium of the saving work of God in his +soul, and supernatural forces move within it. The Bible stands alone in +all literature as this incarnation of a fresh, full, life-giving +religious spirit. But the peculiar influence which it exercises upon +minds indicates not merely a divine element in its pages, but a whole, +complex, and sound human spirit side by side with that divine element; +the two not crossing or interfering with each other, but forming +together a unity of living truth. The books of the Bible must be +regarded as the general product of the minds of their human authors. +These authors have had their moments of inspiration, to which they owe +much of the religious experience they have embalmed in their writings. +But inspiration was not the normal condition of their minds, nor were +their books written during the moments of such inspiration. Again, not +every part of the Bible is an equally full and intense expression of +this spiritual mind of the writer. We must assume degrees of inspiration +according with the nature of the contents, and with their nearer or +remoter bearing on the proper matter of the prophetical utterances.[78] + +Passing over the names of Julius Mueller, Ebrard, Haevernick, Hundeshagen, +Umbreit, Gieseler, Olshausen, Hagenbach, and Jacobi, we pause at +Schenkel and Hengstenberg. + +Schenkel has been, until lately, a recognized evangelical theologian. +The author of the _Essence of Protestantism_, he took his stand as an +able defender of orthodoxy; and there was every reason to hope that he +would be one of the chief agents in the final overthrow of Rationalism. +As a proof of the high estimate placed upon his opinions, when the Baden +government and church consistory were calling their strongest orthodox +theologians into the various posts of prominence, after the Revolution +of 1848, Schenkel was declared counselor, and director of the +theological seminary of Heidelberg. From that time almost to the present +his evangelical sentiments had not been questioned. But, when his +_Picture of the Character of Jesus_ appeared, the surprise was great +throughout Germany. It seemed incredible that he could write a work in +such direct antagonism to all his previous views. People were unwilling +to censure it at first; the Rationalists rejoicing at the great +accession, and the orthodox retaining too much respect for the author's +past services to bestow harsh criticism upon him. But a book of +importance need not wait long in Germany upon the publisher's shelf +before it is weighed and assigned its proper position in literature. In +due time the critics came forward, sifted its contents, and decided it +to be skeptical. The theological periodicals abounded in lengthy reviews +of it. Schenkel seemed as much astounded as any one else at the public +judgment. He answered the charges against his orthodoxy by stoutly +denying that he had turned Rationalist. He held that his critics were so +obtuse that they could not understand him; and that if he were accused +of heterodoxy it was their blunder and not his guilt. But it is needless +to say that Schenkel makes a poor case for himself. His book stands +against him. The miracles of Christ receive his severe comment. They +are, in his opinion, the dark shade which has been cast upon the bright +splendor of the public activity of Jesus. It was a matter of course that +the idea of a life like that of the Redeemer should, soon after his +death, be veiled by a multitude of tales. His disciples endeavored to +represent his internal wonderful power of personal glory and greatness +by the external miraculous occurrences which they ascribed to him. Their +deeply excited imagination magnified the great hero whom they had loved +and admired. Their enthusiastic religious fancy did him homage by +ascribing to him the performance of miracles. The gift of working +miracles was merely the endowment of nature. For Jesus was favored with +the highest ability and rarest moral power, by which he worked +beneficially upon sufferers and took them by surprise. Schenkel further +rejects and denies the faith in Christ's personal and bodily +resurrection from the dead, and his continuation of life in the glory of +the Father. But he holds that Christ lives in his community, in which +are his home and temple. The living Christ is the spirit of his +community. + +After the position of Schenkel's work had been fairly decided, numerous +remonstrances appeared against it from the orthodox theologians. One +hundred and eighteen clergymen sent in a formal protest to the +consistory for his removal from his important office as director of the +seminary. But the ecclesiastical council decided in favor of his +continuance in discharge of his functions. They extenuated themselves by +saying that the free examination of the Scriptures is the privilege of +Protestant Christians. The Rationalists claim the result as one of the +most signal of their recent victories. + +Hengstenberg, the strongest and most heroic of the later opponents of +Rationalism, commenced very early in life as both author and professor. +It is now more than thirty years since he was elected professor of Old +Testament exegesis at Berlin. He was chosen to that important position +with a view to counteract the prevailing Rationalism, and, if possible, +to raise up a new school of earnest evangelical men. He has not been +without success. Having never swerved from his first avowed position, +his antipathy to all kinds of skepticism is so sincere and active that +he combats it without any regard to moderation or consequences. + +Of all the members of the Evangelical school he takes the highest rank +as controversialist, and defender of the Old Testament. He saw that it +was the Old Testament which the Rationalists had assailed most +vigorously, and that unless they were met upon their own ground they +would claim the mastery of the field. Hence, he made the Pentateuch, +Daniel, and the second part of the prophecy of Isaiah the theme of his +defence[79]--for it was these that the Rationalists had long claimed as +their collateral evidence. At that very time there was almost no +orthodox theologian in Germany who had confidence enough to contend for +them. But the greatest apologetic achievement of Hengstenberg was his +christological work.[80] Here he develops his theory that the Messianic +prophecies extend through the entire Old Testament; that they can be +traced in Genesis; that they increase in clearness as the scriptural +history advances; that they become perfectly lucid in the later +prophets; and that they are finally fulfilled in the Messiah himself. + +But it was not by theological lectures or books that Hengstenberg +achieved his greatest triumphs over Rationalism and Pantheism. Clearly +perceiving the power of the periodical press, he commenced the +publication of the _Evangelical Church Gazette_, which by its fearless +spirit and marked talent, soon became the chief theological journal of +Germany. Its aim was not only to overthrow skepticism but everything +which ministered to its support. Its contributors have been among the +leading men of the country, among whom we find such names as Otto von +Gerlach, Professors Leo and Huber, and Doctors Goeschel, Vilmar, Stahl, +Tholuck and Lange. The _Gazette_ has changed its tone according to the +new demands of the times, but it has never abated its deadly antagonism +to Rationalism. It has betrayed an increasing High Church tendency, +especially since 1840. The editor, true to his earnest nature, believed +that no moderate and conciliatory spirit was capable of successfully +resisting the great enemies of the church. The relief which he relied +upon was in fighting them with the heroic ardor of a crusader. Hence he +claimed that an elevation of ecclesiastical power was necessary to meet +the demand; and therefore he stands to-day as the High Church champion +of Protestant Germany. For this course he has received quite as many +maledictions as have been visited upon Pusey of England, but he is one +of those men who care as little for the curses of foes as for the +adulations of friends. + +There have been other theological journals which have contributed +greatly to the spread of vital Christianity in Germany.[81] They do not +possess, on the one hand, the popular character of many of our religious +papers, nor, on the other, do they deal so much in abstruse theological +questions as to preclude them from large circles of readers. They +possess popular adaptation without yielding to the demand for light +religious reading. Many of their contributions having been written by +far-sighted laymen, they have gained access to minds usually occupied in +the absorbing interests of commercial and political life. The whole +Protestant church owes a debt of profound gratitude to the men who +commenced these enterprises and have zealously sustained them through +the social changes which have convulsed Germany. + +But in our estimate of renewed religious life we must not overlook the +improved condition of the instruction now imparted in the gymnasia and +universities.[82] Besides the names we have already mentioned there are +professors and instructors of all grades who have drunk deeply of the +spirit of the Gospel, and, having been taught and encouraged by such +men as Hengstenberg and Tholuck, are now strengthening themselves for +future victory. Young men have passed through their student life in +Halle, Heidelberg, and Berlin, and are now scattered throughout the +land, sowing the seeds of truth, and urging the people to espouse the +good cause. Others are preparing to take their places when these are no +more. The spirit of theological instruction has undergone such a +thorough transformation that the old Rationalism which had so long +prevailed is now taught by only a few gray-haired veterans, who, many +years ago, listened to the lectures of Wegscheider and Gesenius. They +are now bringing their days to a close in the midst of a narrow circle +of auditors who hear from curiosity or indolence, and never expect to +use their information to any future advantage. Devotional services are +becoming more common among the students. The Scriptures are studied with +a feeling of devout reverence, and are no longer subjected to that +profane ridicule which has given an unenviable fame to many of the +Rationalists. + +Much of this improved evangelical spirit observable in the students of +all the Protestant Universities,--for even Tuebingen has been obliged to +yield,--is due to the kindly intercourse between the professors and the +students. In no country is education so much a matter of friendship as +in Germany. The professors cultivate social and even intimate relations +with the undergraduates, nor do they consider it beneath their dignity +to invite them frequently to their homes, draw out their minds by +discussing some important point, loan them books or periodicals, suggest +subjects for essays or books, employ their service as amanuenses, and +recommend them in due time for proper vacancies. Who would suspect that +half-bent, sallow little man, wrapped up in his blue coat, and walking +briskly a mile or two from Halle through the wintry storm, of being the +patient and devout Tholuck? But he is not alone. Beside him is a +youthful stripling who opens his heart to the professor, catches every +word of response as if it were a priceless diamond, and treasures each +utterance for future use. To-morrow, the same kindly teacher will be +attended by one or two other young men, whom he is desirous to +encourage, direct, and instruct. + +Such intimacy does not lead to any disrespect toward the professors, but +rather increases the reverence for their age and talents. The hours of +profitable communion naturally become a fund of pleasant memories to the +student in his subsequent life. Knowledge thus imparted is deeper-rooted +than that conveyed in the lecture-room, and hence, in the literary and +theological history of Protestant Germany, we find many illustrations of +the consistent and steady prosecution, by a disciple, of a tendency or +system which the master commenced but died too soon to finish. One of +the prime agents in the rise of Pietism was Spener's child-like intimacy +with young men. They imbibed his spirit and knowledge, and the fire +burned after his departure. + +As to the future, there is no room for discouragement. The leaven of +faith has been penetrating the entire mass of German theology, and the +prospect is to-day brighter than ever before. The bold and continued +defense of Christianity, in all its vital relations, has accomplished +great good during the entire interval between Schleiermacher's period of +activity and the present time. The recuperation of German Protestantism +from the polar frigidity of skepticism to the faith and spirit of the +Gospel, is one of the most beautiful and forcible of all the +illustrations of the indestructible and regenerating power of +Christianity. The instruction imparted in the high-schools has long +since lost its Rationalistic puerilities. The candidates for the +pastoral office are not asked such questions as were propounded to their +fathers and predecessors. Church history, written in clear and natural +style, is no longer a collection of pointless anecdotes. Exegesis has +ceased to be a word-play, and the companion of classical annotations. +The sermons of the present ministry partake of Reinhard's earnestness +and faith. Gallicisms and technical terminology are no longer proclaimed +to the peasants, while the artisan is no more entertained with +grandiloquent descriptions of the last night of Socrates, or with +Ciceronian laudations of the Schoolmen.[83] The popular attendance at +the public services is greatly on the increase, and the congregations +are expressing in no doubtful terms their desire for the restoration of +the thrilling evangelical hymns of other days.[84] + +The masses, having tasted the word of God in its simplicity, will not be +satisfied without deep draughts for many future years. The Protestant +Church will yet be "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as +an army with banners." Then will Germany be what she was in the heroic +age of the Reformation,--the instructor of the ignorant, the friend of +the helpless, the dread of Romanism, and the mother of giants. The evil +days are nearly numbered. "Good Friday is the precursor of a joyous +Easter Morning." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[69] For accounts of the later theologians of Germany, consult Schaff, +_Germany: Its Universities, Theology and Religion_. Phila., 1857. Also, +Schwarz, _Geschichte der Neuesten Theologie_, _Leipzig_, _Dritte +Ausgabe_, 1864. + +[70] _Doctrine of Person of Christ_ (Clark's Foreign Theological +Library, VI-VIII). + +[71] _Doctrine of Person of Christ_, Vol. I, pp 80-81. + +[72] _American Presb. and Theolog. Review_, January, 1863. + +[73] _Dogmatik_, 1849. + +[74] _System of Christian Doctrine._ Translated by Montgomery and +Hennen. Clark's Library, Edinburgh, 1849. + +[75] _Die Anfaenge der Christlichen Kirche und ihrer Verfassung_, 1837. + +[76] _Ethik_--1845-1848. + +[77] _Ethik_, _Preface_, p. 6. + +[78] _Westminster Review_, July, 1863. + +[79] _Beitraege zur Einleitung in das alte Testamente._ Drei Baende, +1831-39. + +[80] _Christologie._ Drei Baende, 1829-35. + +[81] Besides the _Evangelical Church Gazette_, semi-weekly, by +Hengstenberg, established 1827, are the _Studien und Kritiken_, by +Ullmann and Umbreit, 1828; the _Deutsche Zeitschrift fuer christliche +Wissenschaft_, &c., by Neander, Nitzsch, and Mueller, 1850; and the +_Jahrbuecher fuer Deutsche Theologie_, by Liebner, Dorner, and others, +1856. + +[82] An invaluable account of the common and higher Schools of Germany +is furnished in Horace Mann's _Seventh Annual Report_, published in the +_Common School Journal of Boston_, under the title of _Education in +Europe_, 1844. + +[83] Hagenbach, _Kirchengeschichte d. 18 und 19 Jahrhunderts_, Vol. II., +pp. 384-388. + +[84] An instance of the new tendency is seen in the recent action of the +Heilbronn Clergy, supported by the Stuttgart Consistory. For account of +which, see _Christian Work_, Sept. 1863. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PRACTICAL MOVEMENTS INDICATING NEW LIFE. + + +Jean Paul has wittily said of the providential distribution of the earth +that the land was assigned to the French, the sea to the English, and +the air to the Germans. Popular opinion is not much at variance with +this sentiment as far as the last proprietorship is concerned. But +Germany has been practical withal. Shade of Jean Paul! What if thy +countrymen do live in the air; they have not therefore flown so far away +from the gross nether earth as to lose sight of its misery, nor become +deaf to its wail of sorrow. + +German Protestantism has given birth to some of the greatest charities +of the present age, whether we take into the account the number of the +beneficiaries or the faith and self-sacrifice of the founders and their +successors. Even during the period of religious indifference there were +here and there celebrated institutions designed for the amelioration of +the suffering classes. They contended against great opposition, but like +a few stars amid surrounding clouds, their light appeared to all the +greater advantage. Modern philanthropy has received a great impulse by +the labors of Howard and Wilberforce. But the charitable institutions we +speak of were in progress east of the Rhine years before the former +commenced "his voyage of discovery, his circumnavigation of charity, to +collate distresses, to gauge wretchedness, to take dimensions of human +misery;" or before the latter could write in 1807, after so many labors +for the extinction of the Slave Trade, "Oh what thanks do I owe to the +Giver of all good for bringing me in his gracious providence to this +great cause, which at length, after almost nineteen years, labor, is +successful." + +Philanthropy stands in intimate relations to revived christian faith. +Sometimes it is its forerunner, at others its co-operator, and always +its follower. Whenever a land is morally prostrate and helpless, the +ministry skeptical or indifferent, and the sects arrayed against each +other, if humane efforts can be discovered, there is hope of better +times. Love of the body of man is the unfailing Baptist-herald +announcing the speedy care of his soul. The only indications of +evangelical faith in Germany at the closing period of the eighteenth +century were the quiet labors of such devoted friends of humanity as +Oberlin, Hamann, Lavater, and Claudius. And philanthropy assumed a more +stalwart form in the same ratio as religion gained strength over the +popular mind. + +We have already spoken of the celebrities of Weimar. Students and +aspirants to fame from all parts of the Continent went thither, hoping +to enjoy at least a few conversations or perhaps a subsequent +correspondence with one of the ruling literary divinities. To have a +word of advice from Goethe, and to hear Schiller read an ode in his own +study was a memory of life-long value. Among the most venturesome of +this class was John Falk, once the humble son of a poor wig-maker of +Dantzic, but afterwards the Halle student, the novelist, satirist, and +poet.[85] He received high compliments from Wieland, and was admitted +into an intimacy with Goethe which resulted in his publication of the +latter's _Conversations_. He gradually gained public favor, and his +elevation to the society and attention of the literary regency of Weimar +was no ordinary testimonial to capacity and prospects. + +By and by the sound of war was heard in that town, and with war came its +many evils. Napoleon having proved victorious at Jena, his legions were +quartered on the poor and rich through all the surrounding country. The +Duchy of Weimar, with its population of only one hundred thousand, were +required to support for five months nine hundred thousand of the enemy's +soldiers, and five hundred thousand horses. The air was rent with the +cries of orphans and poverty-stricken widows. Sorrow reigned in every +household, and the town of Weimar became a prominent part of the funeral +scene. But, unaccountable as it may appear, the resident literati were +not much disturbed. Living so near the top of Parnassus, they would not +listen to the storms below. Goethe, the acknowledged prince, wrote as +zealously as ever in his villa-garden, and it will be a lasting stigma +on his fame in his own fatherland that he chose "the moment of his +country's deepest ruin to write an exquisite classic story." + +But Falk was touched by what he saw. He could not be contented with +literary dreams while widows were dying around him of starvation, and +children were growing up in wickedness. He remembered some words said to +him by the burgomasters of Dantzic when they met one day in the town +hall, and an old member arose and told him that they had concluded to +send him to the University and pay his own expenses, adding at the close +of his remarks: "One thing only, if a poor child should ever knock at +your door, think it is we, the dead, the old, gray-headed burgomasters +and councilors of Dantzic, and do not turn us away." At last the poor +child was at his door. Henceforth Falk's life was spent in reforming +criminal youth. "Come in," said he to the vagrants, "come in; God has +taken my four angels, and spared me that I might be your father." + +Falk established his Reformatory from a pure love of humanity, and of +Him who came to seek and save the lost. His method was simple. The lads +whom he sought out and who came to him were desperately wicked. No +sooner were they within his institute than he treated them as his own +children. The two words so often on his lips reveal the principle of his +discipline: "Love overcometh." He used no harshness, and would have no +locks on his doors. He said, "We forge all our chains on the heart, and +scorn those that are laid on the body; for it is written 'If the Son +shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.'" "His mind was hung all +around with pictures," says Mr. Stevenson, who has furnished us with the +following beautiful specimen of Falk's picturesque manner of teaching +great truths to those who fell under his care. + +When one of the boys, on a certain evening, had invoked this divine +blessing on their supper, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and bless +what thou hast provided," another boy looked up and asked, + +"Do tell me why the Lord Jesus never comes? We ask Him every day to sit +with us, and he never comes." + +"Dear child," replied Father Falk, "only believe and you may be sure he +will come, for he does not despise our invitation." + +"I shall set him a seat," said the boy; and just then, a knock being +heard at the door, a poor apprentice came for admission. He was +received, and invited to take the vacant chair at the table. + +Then said the inquiring boy again, "Jesus could not come, and so he sent +this poor man in his place: is that it?" + +"Yes, dear child, that is just it. Every piece of bread and every drink +of water that we give to the poor, or the sick, or the prisoners, for +Jesus' sake, we give to Him. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of +the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'" + +Falk's benefactions were of varied character. He organized a system for +the cessation of beggary in Weimar; established a training institute, +the _Johanneum_, for instructors of the youth under his charge; sent +forth many hundreds of the inmates of his _Reformatory_ to become useful +members of society; wrote earnest religious songs which the people will +sing for generations; died uttering the words, +"God,--popular,--faith,--short,--Christ,--end;" and was borne to the +grave by the children whom he had blessed. His resting-place is now +marked by words which his own pen had written: + + "Underneath this linden tree + Lies John Falk; a sinner he, + Saved by Christ's blood and mercy. + + Born upon the East Sea strand, + Yet he left home, friends, and land, + Led to Weimar by God's hand. + + When the little children round + Stand beside this grassy mound, + Asking, who lies underground?-- + + Heavenly Father, let them say, + Thou hast taken him away; + In the grave is only clay." + +Other philanthropists followed in the footsteps of Falk. What he did for +children has been succeeded by greater humanitarian movements in behalf +of the criminal youth, and abandoned and helpless adults. Theodore +Fliedner was pastor of a congregation of operatives in Kaiserswerth, in +1826. Very soon after his installation they were reduced almost to +beggary by the bankruptcy of their employers. He refused to leave them +in their distress, and devised plans for their relief. One step led to +another. He became the friend of not only the poor of that town, but of +all the adjacent country. To become more useful at home he traveled +through foreign countries. He described his visit to London in the +following brief but characteristic words, "_I have seen Newgate and many +other prisons._" + +At last he matured a settled plan. It was the amelioration of the sick +poor. The largest house in the town being for sale, he secured its +possession, and on the 13th October, 1836, opened his _Deaconess +Institute_. The enemies of Fliedner called it a hospital, and looked +with aversion upon it. The beginning was very unpromising. But the +founder never hesitated, and the close of the first year of the history +of the _Institute_ revealed the fact that it had received forty sick +persons, and that these were nursed by seven deaconesses. Every day gave +new strength to the enterprise; and soon there were more of a similar +character springing up in Holland, Switzerland, France, and other +countries, but all dependent upon the parent at Kaiserswerth for +properly trained nurses and instructors. The organization of new +institutes at a great distance, imposed severe labor on Fliedner, but it +was cheerfully undergone for the sake of the great cause so dear to him. +It was to advance its interests that he came to America, and afterwards +went to Jerusalem, to superintend the establishment of branch Institutes +of Deaconesses. They are now in prosperous existence in Constantinople, +Smyrna, Alexandria, Bucharest, and Florence,--not to mention many more +in the Protestant lands of the Continent. + +But it is in Kaiserswerth that the Deaconesses are trained for their +humanitarian life-work. Of this institution Mr. Stevenson says: "It +consists of an Hospital for men, women, and children; a Lunatic Asylum +for females; an Orphanage for girls; a Refuge for discharged female +convicts; a Magdalen Asylum; a Normal Seminary for governesses; an +Infant School; a Chapel; two shops; a publishing office; a museum; +residence for the Deaconesses; and a Home for the infirm. Besides, as +the property of the Institution, there are a home for maid-servants in +Berlin; an Orphanage at Altdorf; the Deaconess Home at Jerusalem; the +Seminary at Smyrna; the Hospital at Alexandria; and the Seminary at +Bucharest. The number of these Christian women is about three hundred +and twenty, of whom upwards of one hundred are at Kaiserswerth, or at +private service, and the rest scattered over seventy-four stations in +Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Upwards of eight hundred teachers +have been sent out to educate many thousand children. The number +annually in hospital is over six hundred, and upwards of fifty families +are supplied with sick-nurses; in the Asylum there are twenty-four; in +the Orphanage, thirty; in the Infant School, fifty; in the Refuge, +twenty; in the Seminary, fifty. The number dependent on the Institution +for daily bread is between seven and eight hundred."[86] + +In addition to the enterprises of Falk and Fliedner there has recently +arisen another, which, by virtue of the character of its organization +and the number of its supporters, has not only promoted humanitarian +movements, but has contributed largely to the restoration of a vigorous +evangelical faith, the suppression of sectarian hostility, the stability +of the civil government, and the decrease of the power of the state over +the church. We refer to the Evangelical Church Diet which held its first +session in 1848, and now occupies a wide field of operations. + +While political revolution was imminent and no one knew when or where it +would burst in violence, and while the atheistic and socialistic views +of the living generation of skeptics were imbuing the minds of many of +the young and gifted, it became a matter of serious concern whether or +not the tide of religious and political destruction could be stayed. The +prospect was forbidding. The state had its full burden in watching its +own vitality; the church was already sore with the stripes of +skepticism. The crisis was upon the land. The work of written apologies +for Christianity had been faithfully discharged, and no one could find +fault with those heroes who had rushed to the rescue of the evangelical +and apostolic oracles. But the time for writing books was now past, and +important concerted practical measures were necessary to be taken, or +the day would be lost and generations might be required to repair the +damage. + +For a number of years the Pastoral Conferences, composed of small +circles of devoted ministers and laymen, had been in existence, and kept +their attention carefully directed to the necessities of the times. The +increased danger made the members doubly watchful. In view of the +exigency, some of the leaders arrived at the conclusion to call a church +assembly of all the leading evangelical sects, to take such action as +the peculiar condition of theology, religion, and politics might +require. During the first six months of the revolutionary year of 1848, +three of these pastoral conferences held their sessions, during which +the propriety of convening a general assembly was discussed. The +conference at Sandhof, on the 21st June, was the occasion of serious +embarrassment. It was well nigh concluded that the whole enterprise +would prove a failure, but Dr. Bethmann-Hollweg arose, and by a few +stirring words infused hope and zeal into every member. "It is the Lord, +my friends," he said, "who builds the church. Never forget this. Whether +the assembly spoken of will accomplish what we desire and hope, no one +can tell. Our resolution must be an act of faith. Like Peter, we shall +have to walk on the sea; but we know also that the Lord does not suffer +any one to perish who trusts in him. If we look merely upon ourselves +and upon the scattered, distracted, and weak members of the church, we +would have indeed to despair. But if we raise our eyes in faith to him +who is the Lord, we will venture it." + +The conference yielded to this earnest appeal, and a general assembly +was called, to convene at Wittenberg, in the following autumn. On the +21st of September, the appointed day, five hundred of the leading +evangelical theologians and laymen of Germany were present, to adopt +whatever measures might be thought best to avert existing and impending +evils. They met in the same old gothic temple on whose door, three +centuries previously, Luther had nailed his ninety-five theses. The +exercises opened with prayer, and the singing of Luther's hymn, "Eine +feste Burg ist unser Gott," which has been thus translated by Carlyle: + + "A safe stronghold our God is still, + A trusty shield and weapon; + He'll help us clear from all the ill + That hath us now o'ertaken. + The ancient Prince of Hell + Hath risen with purpose fell; + Strong mail of craft and power + He weareth in this hour,-- + On earth is not his fellow. + + With force of arms we nothing can, + Full soon were we down-ridden; + But for us fights the proper man, + Whom God himself hath bidden. + Ask ye, Who is this same? + _Christ Jesus_ is his name, + The Lord Zebaoth's Son; + He, and no other one, + Shall conquer in the battle. + + And were the world all devils o'er + And watching to devour us, + We lay it not to heart so sore, + Not they can overpow'r us. + And let the prince of ill + Look grim as e'er he will, + He harms us not a whit, + For why? His doom is writ-- + A word shall quickly slay him. + + God's word for all their craft and force, + One moment will not linger, + But spite of hell shall have its course, + 'Tis written by His finger. + And though they take our life, + Goods, honor, children, wife, + Yet is their profit small; + These things shall vanish all, + The Church of God remaineth." + +The Church Diet, now in its first session, was in direct contrast with +the revolutionary outbreaks in Frankfort and other cities. True and firm +hearts were within the walls of the Schlosskirche. Earnestness, +seriousness, humility, and faith were depicted on the countenances of +the members. Those men had been steadfast in the past, and were now +intent upon the immediate and utter destruction of the worship of +reason. Doctrinal differences were laid aside and apparently forgotten. +Men who had been contending with pen and paper for many years now +grasped each other's hand in friendship, and, burying their doctrinal +animosities, stood close together in a common effort to reconstruct the +temple of evangelical faith for the benefit of their countrymen. The +Lutheran could not be distinguished from his Reformed brother, nor the +member of the United Church from the Moravian. That denominational union +and fraternal intercourse which had been foreshadowed in 1817, were now +thoroughly consummated for the first time. + +Without, the heavens were dark with the portents of impending social +convulsions. The signs were unmistakable. The masses were intoxicated +with a wild frenzy seldom, if ever, surpassed. They were intent upon the +destruction of all constitutional authority. Freedom from the restraints +of law and religion, the ruling thought of the Continent during 1848, +was their sole object. It was clear that if the populace could overthrow +the governments they would not be long in putting an end to all the +outward and traditional observances of religion. For the middle and +lower classes had not as yet become permeated by the healthful leaven +which had been introduced into the theological circles by the apologetic +antagonists of Strauss and his compeers. The wisest statesman could not +foresee one day's deeds of that skeptical, revolutionary rabble, which +had already lost its self-control. Blood had actually been shed. +Barricades had been reared in the streets of the larger cities. The +universities were pouring forth their hundreds of students and +professors, to take part in the conflict. The revolutionary crowds were +choosing their leaders; the royalist forces were everywhere fortifying; +princes were concealing their plate and strengthening their +hiding-places. This was the social and political scene while the five +hundred were praying, singing, counseling, and comforting each other +over the sleeping dust of Luther and Melanchthon. + +In the days of the imprisoned Peter, fetters were strong, prison doors +well-barred, and the four quaternions of soldier guards faithful; but +all these safeguards could not resist the force which lay in the +unceasing prayers of the church. So with the revolutionary movements of +the people in 1848, as opposed to the Christian faith of the members of +the Church Diet. That assembly contributed more than all other human +agencies to save the German states from utter political and social ruin, +and the German church from a longer night and a fiercer storm than any +through which it had passed. + +The practical result of the session was an invitation to all the +Protestant churches of Germany to observe the fifth of the coming +November, the Sunday following the anniversary of the Reformation, as a +day of humiliation for past unfaithfulness and prayer for the revival +of true religion throughout the land. It was resolved to form a +confederation of all the German churches adhering to the confessions of +the Reformation, in order to promote denominational unity, be a mutual +defense against Rationalism and indifference, advance social reforms, +protect the rights of the church against the encroachments of civil +authority, and secure a more intimate fellowship with evangelical bodies +outside of Germany. + +The Church Diet has steadily enlarged its sphere of operation and +gathered strength and influence. Besides attracting great throngs of +spectators from the surrounding states, its members have attained to the +number of two thousand on more than one occasion. The providential +prosperity which has attended its history is the best proof of the real +demand for its institution and for the valuable purposes it has already +served. At every session the most important questions of the day are +discussed with freedom and always with great ability. Among other themes +which have come up for careful attention, we may mention the relation of +church and state, the sanctity of the Sabbath, divorce and the oath, the +relations of Protestantism to Romanism, all forms of skepticism, and the +inner organization of the church,--such as the renewal of the diaconate, +the possession of church estates, and the abrogation or retainment of +ecclesiastical discipline.[87] + +During the first session of the Church Diet a man arose to speak, who +indicated by his earnest manner that he had been thinking deeply, and +that the subject of his remarks was a matter of no ordinary importance. +It was John Henry Wichern, founder of the Rough House, near Hamburg. He +had just returned from his laborious tour through the districts of +Silesia, which, in addition to the demoralizing revolutionary +excitement, were stricken by famine and fever. Whole villages were +depopulated, not enough inhabitants being left alive to bury the dead. +Grief and despair reigned everywhere. The number of orphans had grown so +large that Wichern and his few assistants, with all their experience and +organizing power, were unable to remedy their immediate wants. The scene +having made a profound impression upon his mind, he unburdened his heart +to the assembly. He described what he had witnessed, pictured the evils +of his people in their true light, and declared that the church must +either do more Christian missionary work at home, or God's curse would +rest upon it. He therefore called upon the Diet to incorporate the Inner +Mission into its system as a necessary measure to improve the religious +and social prosperity of the country. He spoke as one sent from God. The +assembly was mastered, and the reformer's plan adopted. In all the +subsequent meetings of the Diet, about one half of its session, or two +whole days, have been occupied in the management of the Inner Mission, +and in discussions on the best means to secure its increased +effectiveness. + +But Wichern was not a stranger to the members of the assembly. The +beneficial results of his labors at the Rough House had already been +felt throughout Europe. An old thatched cottage, about three miles from +Hamburg, was the nucleus of his work. He sought out wild, abandoned +boys, and aimed to bring them within the fold of domestic Christian +influence. He solicited no contributions, but, adopting the method of +Mueller, of Bristol, England, prayed to God that funds necessary for his +great purpose might be forthcoming by voluntary benefactions. An +associate was so struck with the repeated bestowal of the needed supply +that he exclaimed, "Just look! We no sooner make our purchase in faith, +than the Lord stands behind us with the purse to pay the bill." +Gradually the Rough House was surrounded with other buildings, while the +managers and those under their care became very numerous. The +institution was no longer a local but a national charity. It was a +centre of light for the abandoned of all lands. In 1856 there were two +hundred and sixty of its reformatories in existence, and the work of +establishing new ones was going on rapidly in Europe and other parts of +the world. + +Of the gratifying results of the training at the Rough House, Wichern +says: "A glance round the circle of those who were children of the House +carries us into every region of the world, even into the heart of +Australia. We find them in every grade and social position; one is a +clergyman, another a student of theology, and a third a student of law; +others are, or were, teaching. We find among them officers in our German +armies, agriculturists, merchants in Germany, and at least in two other +European countries, partners in honorable firms. They are presidents of +industrial institutions, skillful landscape-gardeners, lithographists, +and xylographists; artisans scattered through many towns, and wandering +apprentices in every conceivable craft. One is a sea captain, some are +pilots, others sailors who have taken one voyage after another and seen +all the seas of the world. They are colonists in America and Australia, +and both there and at home there are happy fathers and mothers, training +their children righteously, and building up their family life after the +fashion they have learned here. And there are men-servants and +women-servants and day laborers; and, besides those who are better off, +there are also the poorer, and such as are burdened by care either with +or without their own fault. Besides, a considerable number have died at +home and abroad (very many, in proportion, of its earlier girls); and +some of those who went out to sea have never returned; probably many +have found a sea-grave; some have disappeared; some suddenly turn up +after long years have passed. I recall one who left this House twenty +years ago, and of whom I heard nothing for the last ten years, until he +has now notified himself as a well-doing master-artisan, and a happy +father, in a distant town." + +The Inner Mission, of which the Rough House was the origin, is not +simply a philanthropic institution. Wichern distinctly discards this +limitation, by saying that its object is to do within the sphere of +Christendom what the church is endeavoring to accomplish in heathen +lands, "the propagation of pure evangelical faith and the relief of +physical suffering,"[88] as far as it may be possible to reach these +ends. "It aims at a relief of all kinds of spiritual and temporal misery +by works of faith and charity; at a revival of nominal Christendom and a +general reform of society on the basis of the gospel and the creed of +the Reformation. It is Christian philanthropy and charity applied to the +various deep-rooted evils of society, as they were brought to light so +fearfully in Germany by the revolutionary outbreaks of 1848. It +comprises the care of the poor, the sick, the captive, and prisoner, the +laboring classes, the traveling journeyman, the emigrants, the +temperance movement, the efforts for the promotion of a better +observance of the Lord's day, and similar reforms, so greatly needed in +the churches of Europe." + +But while the German church has been attentive to its work at home, it +has not been negligent of its duty toward those beyond the pale of +Christendom. As long ago as the beginning of the present century there +was a missionary school organized by Janicke at Berlin. Others have been +established at brief intervals since that time, while missionary +societies under the auspices of both the Lutheran and Reformed churches +have arisen in a number of the cities and larger towns. + +One of the pioneers of the foreign mission enterprise was Gossner, whose +life, at first full of reverses and disappointment, has lately come to a +triumphant and brilliant close. He was originally a Roman Catholic +priest, but his Pietistic inclination precluded him from the favor of +his less devout brethren. He went from one city to another, tarrying +only a few years in each. From St. Petersburg he went to Berlin, thence +to Hamburg, and afterwards to Leipzig. While in the last city he quietly +left the Romish fold and took orders in the Protestant church. He became +pastor of the Bethlehem chapel in Munich. His effective life began +there, though he was then fifty-six years of age. His ministrations were +fascinating, and the people came from all sides to hear him preach. + +On a certain occasion a few young men, who were animated by a missionary +spirit, went to him for counsel. They had been turned away from the +missionary seminary as unfit for the service. He declined to encourage +them in their views. Still they came in increasing numbers. Finally he +asked them, "What shall I do with you? Where shall I send you? I don't +know; I can do nothing for you." Their reply was, "Only pray with us; +that can do no harm; if we can't go we must even stay. But if it is +God's work, and his holy will that we go, he will open the door in his +time." + +Gossner yielded, and instructed them. But their number enlarged so +rapidly that he was compelled to secure teachers for them. Though he was +then at that time of life when most men think of bringing their labors +to a close, he laid his plans as if he were exempt from death for +centuries. He founded his first mission when sixty-five years of age. In +1838 he sent out eleven missionaries to Australia. The following year +some were despatched to India; since which time this zealous servant of +God has established missions among the Germans in the American Western +States; on the islands of the Southern seas; in Central India; on +Chatham Island near New Zealand; among the wild Kohls at Chota Nagpore; +on the Gold Coast; and in Java, Macassar, and New Guinea. He employed no +agencies; was his own corresponding secretary; superintended the +instruction of all his missionaries; and died at the age of eighty-five, +as full of youthful feeling and perseverance as when a student at +Augsburg. The instructions he gave to his missionaries declare the +sources of his own success. "Believe," said he, "hope, love, pray, burn, +waken the dead! Hold fast by prayer. Wrestle like Jacob! Up, up, my +brethren! The Lord is coming, and to every one he will say, 'Where hast +thou left the souls of these heathen? with the devil?' Oh, swiftly seek +these souls, and enter not without them into the presence of the Lord." +Gossner's beautiful motto, found in his diary, was, "Pereat Adam! Vivat +Jesus!" + +The missionary labors of Louis Harms, of Hermannsburg, kingdom of +Hanover, demand the serious attention of every friend of humanity. The +small beginning of his enterprise, the unexpected and unsolicited means +placed at his disposal, the zeal with which a plain rural parish has +devoted itself to the missionary work, and the remarkable fruits +attending every new step, prove both the power of a single heart when +imbued with a great thought, and the sad truth that the church has +hitherto buried in a napkin some of the most valuable talents committed +to her keeping. Harms labored among his own congregation until every +family became earnest and active in the service of God. By and by their +awakened fervor craved new avenues of usefulness. In 1849 twelve men +presented themselves to their pastor for the missionary work. This was +the beginning, and God has so provided for every emergency that the +entire enterprise has been favored with marked prosperity. + +Missionaries having been sent out from time to time,--all previously +trained under the careful superintendence of Harms himself,--it was at +last suggested that a missionary ship be built by the Hermannsburg +congregation. The timbers were soon on the stocks, the vessel completed, +and its charge on board. That boat has since become a messenger of light +to many heathen minds. The missionary work of Harms has cost nearly one +hundred and nineteen thousand crowns. It is still in vigorous +prosecution, the parish increasing every year both in its gifts and in +its capacity to give. The stations established in heathen lands, +especially New Hermannsburg in Africa, have been judiciously selected, +successfully conducted, and are now centres of truth to large areas of +unevangelized territory. + +The return of spiritual life to the German church is indicated by other +useful agencies than those immediately connected with humanitarian and +missionary work. Societies for the distribution of Bibles and cheap +religious literature have been organized in Berlin, Hamburg, +Frankfort-on-the-Main, and all the larger cities. + +The Gustavus Adolphus Union was instituted for the extension of +Protestantism without regard to sectarian differences. Deriving its name +from the illustrious Swedish champion of Protestantism, who died on the +victorious plain of Luetzen, its constant object has been to continue +what he began. Its principal scene of labor has been among the dispersed +Protestants who are living in abject poverty and wretchedness throughout +Roman Catholic countries. The Union seeks them out, brings them to the +light, and supplies their necessities. Then it bands them into a +congregation, and, whenever the laws permit, supplies them with the +gospel and religious literature. It goes into every open door, +contributing the renewal of religious vitality both by forming new +churches and strengthening feeble ones. For a time it was seriously +impeded by the participation of radical Rationalists; but they having +been judiciously sifted out, it has since pursued a steady career of +usefulness. + +Prelate Zimmermann became superintendent in 1849, since which time its +receipts have increased and its field of operation widened. Its +twenty-second session was held in 1865, in Dresden, Saxony. The receipts +of the previous year amounted to one hundred and ninety-five thousand +thalers, which were expended for the relief of seven hundred and +twenty-three churches or communities. One of the late reports shows that +of the societies benefited by its agency, one was in Portugal, two in +Italy, one in Algiers, four in the United States, four in Switzerland, +sixteen in France, thirty-four in Poland, fifty-six in Hungary, one +hundred and nine in the upper provinces of Austria, and the remainder in +the other German states. + +These enterprises do not interfere with each other. Every one has its +own path of duty and its individual attractions. But the amount of good +effected, not only by those we have mentioned, but by others which are +every year taking form, is of incalculable influence upon indifference +and Rationalism. Their ministry is beautiful in the extreme, for they +are restoring what has been nearly destroyed. One night, while John Huss +was awaiting martyrdom in the dungeon at Constance, he dreamed that he +had painted pictures of Christ around the walls of his little Bethlehem +oratory in Prague. By and by he saw them all erased by the violent hands +of the angry pope and his bishops. While in great distress at his ill +fortune, he dreamed again. But this time there entered a large number of +accomplished artists, who restored all the pictures to more than their +original beauty. Then there came a great concourse of people, who, +having surrounded the painters, cried out: "Now let the popes and +bishops come; they shall never efface them more!" + +The German church is now using its artist-hand in reproducing the +long-erased images of beauty and faith. Every believer within her own +fold and throughout Christendom should unite in the solemn protest that +no bright color shall be erased again. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[85] _Praying and Working._ By Rev. W. F. Stevenson, of Dublin. This is +by far the best source of information on the leading charities of +Germany. Our high appreciation of its value is indicated by the use made +of its contents in the preparation of our account of Falk and other +humanitarians treated in this chapter. + +[86] _Praying and Working_, pp. 212-213. + +[87] Schaff; _Germany, &c._, pp. 200-212. + +[88] Herzog's _Real Encyclopaedie_. Art. _Inner Mission_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +HOLLAND: THEOLOGY AND RELIGION FROM THE SYNOD OF DORT TO THE +COMMENCEMENT OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. + + +The only country whose national existence and independence are due to +the Reformation is Holland. To be the first to break the triumphant +power of the Spanish army would have been glory enough for any ordinary +ambition, but no sooner was her independence declared than she gave +signs of great commercial and intellectual activity. Her Hudsons +navigated every sea and planted the Dutch flag on shores not then traced +on any map of the world; her manufacturers supplied all markets with the +fruit of their labor and ingenuity; her soldiers were a match for any +European force; her De Ruyters and Van Tromps knew how to contend with +the Blakes of England; her William of Orange, whom she gave to her +British neighbor, made as good a ruler as ever lived in Whitehall; her +scientific men founded the systems which have continued in use to the +present time; her philosophers revolutionized the thinking of the +civilized world; her universities were the seat of the most thorough +humanistic researches of the age; her painters founded new schools of +art, and vied with the Italian masters; her theologians gave rise to +controversies which brought all churches and their champions within the +scene of conflict; and her pulpit orators acquired a celebrity which, in +spite of the inflexibility of the language, was second only to that +enjoyed by the most renowned preachers of France and Great Britain. + +After Holland had fallen a victim to her political partisanship, she +gradually disappeared from public observation. Her greatness in the past +would have been well nigh forgotten if Prescott and Motley had not +recalled it. But the judgment of the world concerning her, in her +present state, is not more flattering than that of the author of +_Hudibras_, who, in addition to venting his spleen against the people, +employs his wit upon the irrational land, calling it, + + "A country that draws fifty feet of water, + In which men live as in the hold of nature; + And when the sea does in upon them break, + And drowns a province, does but spring a leak." + +But while the political status of Holland has been inferior and +unobserved during the last century and a half, her important theological +and religious career,--covering a much longer period than that,--is a +theme of deep interest to every student of the history of the church. + +Rationalism arose in Holland by means of some agencies similar to those +which had produced it in Germany. The previous disputes and barren +ministrations of the clergy made the soil ready for any theological +error that might urge its claims with force. But the repulsive +technicalities of Germany were not equally prevalent in Holland, and +scholasticism refused to affiliate with the Reformed much longer than +with the Lutheran church. + +But when the synod of Dort, which held its sessions in 1618-1619, +pronounced those dogmas by which the Arminians were excluded from the +Dutch church, it established a standard of orthodoxy. In proportion as +the synod gained the favor of the people, the Bible came into use, but +more to serve the cause of polemics than of edification. Hugo Grotius, +Erasmus, and other exegetical writers who had manifested independence in +their interpretation of the Scriptures, were regarded with great +suspicion and distrust. The door for the entrance of scholasticism was +thrown wide open. To use the language of a writer of that day, "The +doctrines were cut after the fashions of Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, +and Scotus; while the power of the word of God was denied, and the +language of Babel was heard in the streets of Jerusalem." Theologians +made an idle display of learning. Imaginary distinctions, definitions, +and divisions became the food of the youth in schools of every grade, +and of the congregations in all the churches. The books which have come +down to us from that period are weapons against Atheism, Deism, +Socinianism, and every other heresy that had arisen during the history +of Christianity. Whether light was created on the first day; whether it +was an attribute or a substance; whether Adam, after the formation of +Eve, was a rib the worse; whether the knowledge of the unconverted may +be called spiritual knowledge;--these were some of the topics of labored +sermons. It was announced as a most gratifying result of accurate +research that the soul of a boy was created forty days after conception, +while that of a girl required eighty. + +There were exceptions to the general sterility of the pulpit and +lecture-room. Alting, professor at Groningen, enjoyed the sobriquet of +"Biblical Theologian," because he made the Scriptures, and not +scholasticism, the basis of his inquiries. Students from foreign lands +flocked to his auditorium, and received the leaven of his earnest and +reverent spirit. Yet his candidates were distrusted, and he had great +trouble in defending himself against repeated charges of heresy. + +But another important feature of the prevalent theology was the +corruption of ethics. The doctrines of grace, of which the church of +Holland had always been the defender, left no room for an ethical +system. What the unconverted man does is nothing but sin; all are +equally guilty; and all that we have of good is from God. If we be +disposed to ask, "Does not this view make men careless and impious?" the +answer comes back from the Catechism, "No; for it is impossible that +those who are planted in Christ should be without the fruits of +gratitude." This opinion had a strong tendency to isolate theology still +more than scholasticism had done, from all practical interests. "What +shall we do?" was an idle question, for, as a matter of course, man +could do nothing. But "what must I be?" was the all-important and +searching inquiry. Thus ethics glided into radical casuistry, and, in +this form, became united with the scholastic theology. + +The homiletic literature of that day indicates the unification very +clearly. Besides being a tirade against schismatics of all classes, the +discourse was often a discussion of grammatical principles, accompanied +with a description of the spiritual condition of every hearer. After the +singing of the hymn in the middle of its delivery, the people adjusted +themselves to hear the application in which their cases were to be +stated. There was _first_, an enumeration of "heretical sinners," +divided into numerous groups; _second_, the "unconverted," separated +into many subdivisions; and _third_, the many flocks of Christians. It +was in this part of the sermon that the casuistry of the preacher had +full play, and he who could subdivide his congregation in such a way +that every auditor could not mistake his own proper position, received +great honor from his brethren. The hearer waited until he "heard his +name called," after which he might sink back again to his dreams. Even +to this day, on leaving a Dutch church, it is a common question among +the separating members to inquire of each other, "Have you heard the +dominie call your name?" They mean by this, "Have you heard the pastor +so describe people that you could not mistake the class to which you +belong?" + +We have now stated the two sources from which many of the troubles and +defections of the Church of Holland have sprung. On the one hand was +dogmatism, with its endless distinctions, begotten and fostered by +Scholasticism. On the other, practical mysticism, cherished into +strength by a disgusting system of casuistic ethics. The reaction +against those prevalent errors was Rationalism. They were the domestic +fountains of that species of error. + +But there were men who, when they saw the evils their venerated Church +was suffering, threw themselves into the breach, and contended for her +deliverance. + +Cocceius, the celebrated opponent of Scholasticism, was born in Bremen, +in 1603. He studied all branches of theology; but having been instructed +in Hebrew by a learned Rabbi of Hamburg, he applied himself especially +to the Scripture languages. In 1629 he visited the Dutch University of +Franeker, and wrote tracts on the Talmud, with extracts therefrom in +German. He also composed Greek verses with great ability. Returning the +same year to Bremen, he there became Professor of Sacred Philology. In +1636 he was called to Franeker, to take the Hebrew first, and afterward +the Greek chair. Still later he taught theology. His exegetical works, +being far in advance of any which had appeared at that time, acquired +great renown for their author. In 1649 he was invited by the Curators of +the University of Leyden to take charge of the department of theology in +that seat of learning. His long-cherished antipathy to Scholasticism was +well known, but he pursued his course in quiet until 1658, when he was +daringly assailed. + +Having developed his opinion that the Sabbath had not been instituted in +Paradise, but in the desert, and was not therefore binding upon +Christians, Cocceius was buffeted by a host of writings, in which he was +charged with every imaginable species of skepticism. The literature of +the Cocceian controversy abounds in as violent and harsh expressions as +have disgraced theological history at any time. Yet Cocceius was not +without ardent disciples and friends, who knew as well how to give as to +receive severe thrusts. As an illustration of the method of the +discussion, we mention the title of a book written in favor of Cocceius: +"Satan's Defense of himself, on being questioned why he had instigated +some persons to distort and vilify the orthodox, wise, and edifying +Writings of the Blessed Professor Cocceius, &c., &c." In this work +Satan, on being questioned whom he fears most, replies that "no one has +done more harm to the power of darkness than Cocceius,--not even +Calvin." + +The States of Holland wrote to the Synod not to discuss the Sabbatarian +question, and to forbid the combatants from further controversy. There +were other charges brought against Cocceius, however, one of which was +his distinction between +aphesis hamartion+ and +paresis hamartion+, by +which he held that the former was a complete pardon, but the latter +incomplete, and only in force under the old dispensation. He placed the +whole system of theology under the figure of a covenant. There were two +covenants, one of works, and the other of grace. The latter had a +threefold economy: before the law; after the law; and under the Gospel. +The institutions under the first economy were symbolical of the second; +and these again of the third. Everything was a shadow of some higher and +future good. Forgiveness was no exception to the rule. That of the Old +Testament was +paresis+ preparing the way for the complete +aphesis+ of +the New. + +There was one point of agreement between Cocceius and Des Cartes: their +common aim of emancipation from Scholasticism. But the former strove by +revelation, the latter by philosophy to secure the result. It has been +charged that Des Cartes influenced Cocceius, since the school of that +philosopher was growing into power at the very period of the Cocceian +tendencies. But the charge is groundless. Des Cartes stood on the ground +of reason alone, while Cocceius planted himself upon the Scriptures. +Thus there was a world-wide difference between the two men at the very +starting-point of their systems; a difference which becomes more +apparent at every additional step in the study of their sentiments. + +If Cocceius was opposed when he arrayed the Bible against Scholasticism, +Descartes might be expected to meet with increased resistance when he +used only the weapon of philosophy. "Aristotle," said the theological +world of Holland, "was a heathen, it is true, but then he afterwards +became soundly converted to Catholicism. In due time he was transformed +into a most exemplary Protestant. Yet this Des Cartes is a downright +Jesuit, and a very demon let loose from the infernal world. His whole +system commences with doubt and is pervaded by it. How dangerous then to +our orthodoxy is the attack of this Catholic Arminian! If his assumption +concerning skepticism be correct our whole theology becomes overturned; +for then the elect would have ground for doubting their own salvation, +which would be opposed to the infallible doctrine of the final +perseverance of the saints. And to crown the scene of this Des Cartes' +audacity, he holds that the earth and not the sun turns round, which, as +good father Brakel says, 'is a sure sign that the man's head is +turned.'" + +Voetius was the leader of the forces against the pretentious philosophy. +A book, issued anonymously by a friend of Spinoza, applying a little +more logic to the Cartesian idea of substance, caused him to obtain +additional ground. For the new school which he was combating already +rested under the imputation of Crypto-Atheism. The hand of the +government interfered, and Cartesianism appeared to be extinguished. But +it had its secret admirers, especially in the academies of Northern +France, where its adherents occupied almost every chair of instruction. +Its last representative was Ruard Andala, 1701, at whose death Newton +and Leibnitz came into power. + +The place assigned to reason by Cocceius led his foes to accuse him of +Cartesianism. He made the intellect the interpreter of Scripture in this +sense; that, since the words of the Bible are capable of many meanings, +reason must decide which are proper and which improper, and not be +forgetful to derive as much thought as possible from the sacred text; +"for," said he, "the Scripture is so rich that an able expositor will +bring more than one sense out of it." He aimed to find Christ and his +church in each biblical book; but he interpreted every statement as +allegorical, typical or prophetical. Reason as applied by him, became a +light to expose many sides of truth which had never been perceived by +the reigning dogmatism. The result of his labors was the overthrow, in +many minds, of philosophical Scholasticism, but the enthroning of +biblical Scholasticism in its stead. His allegorical method of +exposition led his followers into gross aberrations. + +The Cocceians and Voetians were now the two great theological parties +which attracted to their standards nearly every man of promise or note +throughout Holland. The former were the Progressives, the latter the +Conservatives. The Cocceians favored the entrance of new ideas, and +effected the junction of philosophy and theology. The Voetians professed +to desire a reform, but their conduct was not in harmony with their +avowal. While they agreed with their antagonists in calling the Bible +the fountain of light and truth, they held that the fathers of Dort and +the Reformers had digested its contents and explained its meaning in +most excellent summaries, and that "it was for us to light our candles +at those great lights of the church." They were very properly called +"Traditionarians," a name of which they were proud. One of their writers +said, "We have caught up the last voices and words of our ancestors, +those Fathers of whom we are now glad to call ourselves the echo."[89] + +The Cocceians studied the original text, and took leave to differ often +from the authority of the translators. Their opponents attached great +value to the translation, and sometimes called it "inspired." The former +delayed not to appropriate the fruits of the latest researches in +science and criticism, in certain cases laying aside fragments of the +text in favor of the suggestions of the most recent editions of +Cocceius. To the Voetians this conduct was not much better than atheism. +They hurled all the curses and plagues of the Bible against every one +who whispered that there could be a mistake in the transcription of a +word or even of a Hebrew vowel-point. The Cocceian brought all his +questions into the pulpit, where he preached them in a manner more +adapted to addle the heads of his hearers than to edify their hearts. +Hebrew grammars were published for the laity. Even women,--among whom +was Anna Maria Schurmann, the adherent and friend of Voetius,--were able +to read the Bible in the original tongues. Nor did they hesitate to take +part in the angry disputes of theologians. The Cocceians ran wild with +their principles of fanciful interpretation. Every prophecy was, in +their view, a treasury of allegorical facts yet to come to pass, and to +be heartily endorsed. The Voetians prided themselves on their +literalism, and named Hugo Grotius as their master. Yet they held that +they never could swallow his abominable Arminianism. + +The history of hermeneutics in all times shows that there is but one +step from the literal to the allegorical. So with the Voetians. They +indicated a disposition to yield, and at length became more fanciful and +allegorical than their adversaries had been. They sought the interior +sense of the text, but would be limited by no rules. They spiritualized +the entire contents of the Bible. He who could draw most profit and +instruction from a word was the best teacher, for a scribe must bring +forth from his "heart" both new things and old. Not reason, nor logic, +but experience and feeling must explain every word of God. The Bible +literally became all things to all men. The "inner light" was its great +interpreter. Many people despised scientific students of the truths of +revelation, calling them "slaves of the letter,"--a term which, +singularly enough, is still in common use among the uneducated members +of the church of Holland. The Bible, taken in its real character, was +banished and an artificial volume placed in its stead. Practical +mysticism was now fairly inaugurated. Even conventicles spread +throughout the country, and ignorant men who knew how "to speak to the +hearts of the people" were infinitely preferred to any educated +minister. + +The strife ran very high. While there was an assimilation of the +Voetians to the Cocceians in the application of the allegorical +principle of interpretation, there was a moral retrogression of the +latter which greatly reduced their strength. This arose from the +defective views of Cocceius on the sanctity of the Sabbath. His +disciples carried his unfortunate opinion far enough to gain the favor +of the worldly and immoral classes. The freest customs and gayest +fashions were imported from France, and Cocceian ministers made it their +boast that they designed to keep up with the times. More spiritual +adherents became disaffected by the growing impiety. Koelman, a layman, +and Lodensteyn, a clergyman, gave the alarm that the kingdom of Christ +had become secularized and corrupt. The latter would not baptize the +children of unbelievers nor hold any communion with them. De Labadie, +formerly a Jesuit but afterward a French minister, blew the clarion of +reform. The watchword on all sides was, "Separate ye my people." Nothing +but the stringency of his rules and the counter-efforts of the +government prevented the pious masses from joining the reformer. +Mystical sects, influenced by Jacob Boehme and Spinoza, appeared here +and there. Chiliastic ideas spread abroad in proportion as men despaired +of the speedy regeneration of the church through natural +instrumentalities. All was commotion and disruption, and, for a time, +everything seemed to be on the downward course to ruin. + +But the imminence of the danger brought a speedy and violent reaction. +The persecution of the French Huguenots drove them across the boundary +line. The Dutch true to their traditional hospitality, received them +with open arms. The guests returned their welcome by diffusing new +spiritual life through the hospitable country. The Cocceians laid off +their worldly habits. Days of fasting and prayer were appointed by the +civil and ecclesiastical authorities, while an increasing love for the +church, as bequeathed by the fathers, was overspreading the land. The +attachment to what was old and time-honored became a glowing enthusiasm. +Sharp distinctions between parties disappeared. Men who had formerly +been violently arrayed against each other now expressed a disposition to +unite in one common effort to restore the church to her former purity. +Brokel, Imytegeld, Groenewegen, Lampe, and Vitringa, representing +different and opposing forces, united in a harmonious effort to reform +the heritage of Christ. Their labors were fruitful, for the people +greatly honored them and earnestly followed their good advice. The +theological candidate had previously been asked two questions, which had +an important bearing upon his subsequent life. One was, "Do you fear +God?" The other was, "To what party do you belong?" The latter inquiry +was now abolished. In every university the long-prevalent partisanship +subsided. But under the improved state of religion, a Voetian was +invariably placed in the chair of dogmatic theology, a Cocceian in that +of exegesis, and a follower of Lampe in charge of practical theology. +The pulpits were likewise supplied with an equal number of ministers +from the ruling parties. + +After 1738 the religious progress of the church of Holland became more +tardy. Attention to spiritual life decreased, while more care was +bestowed upon the improvement of theological training. The department +receiving greatest favor was the linguistic study of the sacred text. +Professor Schultens was the first to apply himself to the Hebrew cognate +languages, especially to the Arabic. The critical works of Mill and of +Bengel found their way, in 1707 and 1734, into the Dutch universities. +John Alberti, inaugurated professor at Leyden in 1740, made the Arabic +his special branch, and in five years' time that study became so popular +that Valkenaer found it necessary to warn young men against yielding too +freely to its fascinations. The direction of theological taste to +another department of inquiry increased the indifference to party +distinctions. Henceforth the terms Voetian and Cocceian became more +unfrequent and unimportant. + +The theological tendency toward the study of the languages of the Bible +had the single unfortunate result of increasing that puerile literalism +which had appeared in only sporadic forms during several preceding +centuries. It was the element antagonistic to the allegorical and +spiritual interpretation of the text. + +Peter Abrest, the Dutch Ernesti, taught in Groningen in 1773. His work +on _Sacred Criticism as the best Safeguard of Theology_, showed the +value he attached to a thorough grammatical and historical study of the +Scriptures. His labors were in harmony with the long-standing literal +interpretation of the text, though he would elucidate scientifically +what had previously been treated mystically. Even before the +Reformation, the Dutch theologians were preeminently textual in their +habits of study, and in subsequent times, they built up their systematic +and polemical theology by the stress laid upon the "words" of the +inspired volume. + +Nowhere was the proverb "Every heretic has his letter"[90] so common and +yet so true as in Holland. The old quartos we have received from the +seventeenth and former half of the eighteenth centuries will ever remain +marvels of literalism gone mad. They were gotten up like a geometry, +with theorems and propositions, followed by a lengthy array of texts +transcribed without one word of comment. The sermons published at that +time were divided and subdivided, their appearance being similar to a +page of a dictionary. They were interlarded with Latin, Greek, and +Hebrew letters and figures of various sizes, all being literal +quotations from the Bible, and proving nothing except that the preacher +had made free use of his Concordance. The consequence of so much textual +citation in books and sermons was the increased popularity of theology. + +The systematic works of the seventeenth century were familiar to the +masses. What was said of the theological disputes of the third century, +that bakers' and shoemakers' shops reechoed the words '_homoousian_' and +'_homoiousian_' might be applied to the period of which we speak. Even +now, there exists in Holland a remarkably popular acquaintance with +theology. "I have seen," says a clergyman, "fishermen who could pass +examination for licentiate's orders at one of your American schools, and +beat the best of the candidates in the handy use of texts and +definitions."[91] The descendants of the Dutch settlers in the United +States are still familiar with Brokel; while if you ask any Hollander +what he thinks of John a Marck's _Marrow of Divinity_, he will probably +indicate very soon that he has committed nearly the whole of it to +memory. Francken's _Kernel of Divinity_ is equally well-known to the +masses, for he belonged to the Voetian party. He was eminently practical +and ascetical. He was not without a vein of mysticism, as may be +inferred by the title of one of his works: "_Earnest Request of the +Bridegroom Jesus Christ to the Church of Laodicea to celebrate the Royal +Marriage Feast with Him_." + +During the entire period, dating back to the Synod of Dort, there was an +undercurrent of Rationalism, which, though sometimes daring to make its +appearance, observed in general the strictest secrecy. Cartesianism made +it bolder for a time, and in party struggles it ventured to take sides. +But the keen eye which the church ever turned toward heresy made it +timid. Yet it was a power which was only waiting for a strong ally in +order to make open war upon the institutions which the heroes of Holland +had wrested from Philip II. of Spain. + +Balthazer Bekker, "a man who feared neither man nor devil," was the +first Rationalist in the Dutch church. He was a disciple of Des Cartes, +and an ardent lover of natural science, particularly of astronomy. He +published a work on Comets, in which he combated the old notions, +prevalent among his countrymen, that a comet was always the precursor of +heresies and all manner of evils, and that it should be made the +occasion for a general call to prayer and fasting. Bayle, of Rotterdam, +a reputed atheist, harmonized with Bekker. Bekker separated between the +sphere of reason and that of religion. Whenever they meet each other it +should be as friends and co-workers. Religion has greater dignity, but +that gives it no right to disregard the authority of reason. When the +Scriptures speak in an unnatural way of natural things, it is high time +for the operation of reason. This idea led to the accommodation-theory, +which, applied to the doctrine of spirits in his book, _The World +Bewitched_ (1691), resulted in Bekker's excommunication. His +Cartesianism, which had taught him to distinguish so rigidly between the +two "substances," matter and spirit, as to deny all action of the one +upon the other, led him to assert that spirits, whether good or bad, +have no influence upon the bodies of men. The Jews ascribed all exertion +of power to angels, through whom God worked mediately. Jesus adapted +himself to these ideas of his times. + +Bekker loved to trace all spirit-stories to some plausible origin, and +then to hold them up to the ridicule of the masses. To give substantial +proof of his disbelief in all spiritual influence, he passed many +nights in graveyards, on which occasions he manifested a sacrilegious +hardihood, which, besides making him the wonder of his time, could only +be accounted for by supposing that he kept up secret correspondence with +the devil. "For," reasoned the Dutch theologians, "is not all this one +of Satan's tricks to make us believe that he does not exist, so that he +may capture us unawares?" On account of Bekker's acknowledged merit, the +government took his part, and at his death, paid his salary to his +family. Voltaire said of him: "He was a very good man, a great enemy of +the devil and of an eternal hell.... I am persuaded that if there ever +existed a devil, and he had read Bekker's _World Bewitched_, he would +never have forgiven the author for having so prodigiously insulted him." +In the library at Utrecht there are ten quarto volumes containing +reviews of this book, in which Bekker's personal appearance, said to +have been very unprepossessing, receives a goodly portion of the +censure. His body was believed by his contemporaries to be a most +excellent portrait of the devil himself. + +Professor Roell, of Franeker University, started from the Cocceian +principle of freedom of thought. In his inaugural address, he announced +it as his opinion, that Scriptures cannot be interpreted in any safe way +except by the dictates of reason; that reason is the grand instrument by +which we arrive at a knowledge of all truth; and that it is the great +authority for the determination of all theoretical and practical +religion. This author is best known to theologians by his ideas on the +sonship of Christ. He held that Christ could not be a son, for then +there would be a time when he came into being from nonentity. The term +"son" could not signify unity of essence with the Father. "Brother" +would be a more correct word. The only sense in which Christ could be +son was as the divine ambassador. These assumptions brought upon Roell +the charge that he was a Socinian and an Arminian. His principal +opponent was Vitringa. + +Rationalistic tendencies increased in both number and force in +proportion as the church decreased in the zeal which it had possessed at +the close of the Cocceian and Voetian controversy by virtue of the +immigration of the exiled Huguenots of France. + +Van Os, of Zwolle, attacked the accepted covenantal theory, and the +doctrine of immediate imputation. The latter was a mere scholastic +opinion, not accepted among the doctrines of the church, but yet +maintained by the people as a requisite of orthodoxy. Having gone thus +far, Van Os proceeded to deny a form of infralapsarianism, which was +termed "justification from eternity." Many prominent but bigoted minds, +having long entertained these ultra ideas he was endeavoring to refute, +and some having gone so far as to attempt their introduction into a +revised edition of the confession of faith, Van Os was censured for +heresy. But he took the first opportunity to preach the Protestant +doctrine that every one had the right to test the church-creed by the +word of God. In the opinion of the people this course amounted to a +total renunciation of the creed, and he was accordingly dismissed. +Another dispute, which created attention and attracted the suspicion of +the watchful church, was on toleration. All who dared to defend even the +word, were stigmatized as unpardonable heretics, for Voltaire had just +written in its favor. Pastor De Cock placed himself in danger of +excommunication because he was so rash as to advocate it. He was only +rescued by the interference of the government, and by luckily publishing +that he distinguished between Christian and ecclesiastical toleration. + +There were controversies concerning minor points of doctrine, but amid +them all, it was very perceptible that there was a well-organized +disposition to break through the stringent rules of order, and escape +from the control of the vigilant guardians of the church. But whoever +departed a hair's breadth from the doctrinal system laid down in the +confession of faith was charged with skepticism. Van der Marck's +employment of a single term cost him his professorship. But he was +afterwards restored, and died in 1800. Kleman wrote a book, in 1774, on +the _Connection between Grace and Duty_, in which he held that the right +use of those intellectual and spiritual gifts which God has imparted to +us is the condition of his further blessings. He was compelled to +retract his heresy. Ten Broek, of Rotterdam, considered only the death +of Christ expiatory, while his colleagues wished the same to be said of +every act of his life. Because that rash theologian ventured to use the +word "world," in John iii. 16, in its broadest sense instead of +circumscribing it to "the world of the elect," he had the choice either +to recant or give up his office. The government interfered and saved +him. + +But while all these influences were at work in the church of Holland, a +still stronger current was setting in from England. The impolitic +ecclesiastical rigor became an enemy to truth, and contributed +powerfully to the development of Rationalism. Never have church and +state presented a more complete contrast. The government of Holland was +the most liberal in the world, but the ecclesiastical authorities have +not been surpassed in bigotry during the whole history of +Protestantism. Holland was the refuge and home of the exile of every +land who could succeed in planting his feet upon her dyke-shores. But +the church of that country was so illiberal that the use of a term in +any other than the accepted sense was a sufficient ground of +excommunication. + +The intimate relations in which Holland stood to England by the +accession of William and Mary to the British throne afforded an +opportunity for the importation of English Deism. Nowhere on the +Continent was that system of skepticism so extensively propagated as +among the Dutch. The Deists took particular pains to visit Holland, and +were never prouder than when told that their works were read by their +friends across the North Sea. On the other hand, Holland supplied +England with the best editions of the classics then published in Europe, +some of which are still unsurpassed specimens of typography. + +The works of Hobbes appeared in Amsterdam in 1668, his _De Cive_ having +been issued as early as 1647. Locke's _Epistle on Toleration_ was +translated into Dutch in 1689, while his _Essay on the Human +Understanding_ was rendered not only into that language, but also into +the French. Collins and Chubb were read scarcely less by the Hollander +than by the Englishman. Locke spent seven years in Holland, and Toland +studied two years in Leyden. Shaftesbury resided among the Dutch during +the year 1691, and made a second visit in 1699. The adversaries of the +Deists enjoyed the same privilege, and did not hesitate to improve it. +Burnet became a great favorite in Holland. Lardner, who spent three +years there, was well known to the reading circles, for his works were +translated into their tongue. Lyttleton, Clarke, Sherlock, and Bentley +received no less favor. Leland enjoyed a cordial introduction by the pen +of Professor Bonnet, while Tillotson had his readers and admirers among +even the boatmen in the sluggish canals of Leyden, Rotterdam, and +Amsterdam. But the Deists of England gained more favor in Holland than +their opponents were able to acquire. The former were bold, while the +latter were timid and compromising. Consequently a brood of domestic +Deists sprang up, who borrowed all their capital from their English +fathers. Patot, a follower of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, referred to +Christ by asking, "What do we trouble ourselves about the words of a +carpenter?" He wrote his _Fable of the Bees_, to ridicule the doctrines +of the atonement and resurrection. + +But as English Deism was reinforced by the atheism of France before the +invasion of Germany by either, so did the same copartnership take place +in reference to Holland. + +The works of the French skeptics were as copiously distributed in +Holland as at home. Many of them were issued by Dutch publishing houses. +Des Sandes published his _Reflections on Great Men_, in Amsterdam; +Toussaint's _Morals_ gained the honor of more than one edition in the +same city; and De Prades, who had been condemned by the Sorbonne on +account of the thesis by which he tried to gain his baccalaureate, +published his _Defense_ in Amsterdam in 1753. It was in this work that +he compared the miracles of Jesus to those of AEsculapius. Hase says that +it was in Holland, and not in London, that the _Systeme de la Nature_ +first came to light. Rousseau's _Emile_, which had been burned by the +sheriffs in France, had the largest liberty afforded it beyond the +northern frontier. The Dutch would not be sated with Volney until they +had published and read three editions of his works. + +Voltaire was very popular throughout the country. A number of +periodicals arose, having the avowed object of disseminating the views +of himself and his friends wherever the Dutch language was spoken. La +Mettrie, driven from France, here found a home. Voltaire barely escaped +the Bastille by fleeing thither, though when he left the land which had +given him shelter, he bade it the graceful farewell: "Adieu canals, +ducks, and common people! I have seen nothing among you that is worth a +fig!" But Voltaire had cause to cherish no very pleasant feelings toward +Holland. Her great men had received him coldly. His excessive vanity was +never so deeply wounded as by the sober Dutchmen. Desiring to make the +acquaintance of Boerhaave, the most celebrated physician in Europe, he +called upon him, stating that he "wished to see him." Instead of +becoming rapturous at the Frenchman's compliment, the plain old Leyden +burgher coolly replied: "Oh, sit as long as you please, sir, and look at +me; but excuse me if I go on with my writing." On offering one of his +philosophical books to Professor Gravesande, the latter returned it to +Voltaire in a few days with only this comment: "You are a poet, sir; a +very good poet, indeed!" + +The chief disaster resulting from the French skeptical writings was not +so much the skeptical indoctrination of the people as the general +diffusion of a light and frivolous indifference to all religion. Through +the influence of France the Dutch became enslaved to vicious customs, +taste, modes of thought, and conversation. The etiquette of the +Parisians was domesticated among their northern imitators. The works +published in Holland were mere reproductions from the French, and many +of them were written in that language. The simplicity, truthfulness, +and attachment to old forms, which had so long existed, gave place to a +general spirit of innovation. The reverential and determined spirit that +had enabled their forefathers to gain their independence was no longer +apparent in the children. Liberal to a fault, Holland was now paying the +penalty of her excessive hospitality. Sensuality and superficial +epicureanism were at once the taste and the destruction of many of the +young minds of the country. + +When the people of Holland began to awaken to their condition, they were +seized with a spirit akin to despair. The coldness of the church amid +all the attempts to destroy the basis of her faith appeared as the chill +of death. When the learned societies offered a prize in 1804 for the +best work on _The Cause and Cure of Religious Apathy_, they could not +find one to crown with their medal. Holland, finding herself unable to +keep pace with the quick step of French recklessness and irreligion, +bethought herself of finding refuge in Gallic politics. "Our people," +says Bronsveld, "then became a second-hand on the great dial of the +French nation." Old men are now living who have not forgotten those days +when all distinctions vanished, when the only name heard was "burgher," +and when the skeptical and daring favorites of the people obtained seats +in the national assembly. Religion was driven from the elementary +schools and also from the universities. The chairs of philosophy and +theology were united, for it was enjoined that no doctrine should be +taught in future but natural theology and ethics. The Sabbath was +abolished. + +Then came Napoleon Bonaparte. He presented his plea, was received with +open arms, and returned his thanks by draining the country of its +treasures. It was only when the people felt the physical sting of his +wars, and saw the indescribable moral dearth pervading their country, +that they resolved to go back to the old paths and the good way, and to +abandon all deference to French examples. On the occasion of the great +jubilee of 1863, which commemorated deliverance from the yoke of France, +there was heard throughout Holland but one note of joy: "Thanks be unto +the Lord who hath delivered the nation from the ruin which it had +prepared for itself, and into which infidelity had thrust it!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[89] Owenusters. + +[90] "Jedere Ketter heeft zyn Letter." + +[91] Extract from a letter of Rev. P. J. Hoedemaker, dated September, +1864. The correspondence of this accomplished scholar, who has been some +time in connection with the University of Utrecht and in intimate +relations with the best minds of Holland, has been invaluable to us in +the preparation of the Chapters on Dutch Theology. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOLLAND CONTINUED: THE NEW THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS, AND THE GREAT +CONTROVERSY NOW PENDING BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND RATIONALISM. + + +The commencement of the new era in the religion and politics of Europe +was the restoration of peace after the battle of Waterloo. Wherever the +French bayonet had won territory to the sceptre of Napoleon, it opened a +new and unobstructed sway for the propagation of the skepticism taught +by the followers of Voltaire. But the same blow that repulsed the armies +of France produced an equally disastrous effect upon her infidelity. A +sincere desire began to animate many persons living in the subjugated +countries that, with the restoration of their nationality, there should +also be the return of the pure faith of their fathers. + +Holland had passed through nineteen years of humiliating subjugation, +and she did not possess religious vitality enough to take full advantage +of the rare opportunity presented by the peace of 1814. The people +turned from France to Germany, and thought they found relief in the +Rationalism of Semler and Paulus. + +Orthodoxy was inactive. The Mennonites had become so mystical that they +rather aided than arrested the incoming error. All the Socinian elements +gained strength. The discipline of the church was exercised with such +laxity that immorality was unrebuked. The Constitution of 1816, by its +reunion of church and state, threw a great weight in the balance with +Rationalism. William of Orange wielded a power over the church which he +dared not exercise upon any other corporation. The Synods and Classes +were driven back to forms, and allowed almost no freedom. Then came the +notorious Pastoral Declaration, established by the Synod of the Hague in +1816, which no longer required of candidates for the ministry an +unqualified subscription to the ancient Confessions. Their adherence to +them was to be "in so far as" these formularies of faith agree with the +word of God, not "because" they thus agree. That little +change--_quatenus_ substituted for _quia_--cast off all restrictions +from the future preaching of the Dutch clergy. The orthodox preachers +became very indignant at the official measure, and a bitter theological +controversy arose. + +Previous to this outbreak, a rupture had occurred upon the introduction +of the new hymns, ordered by the Synod of North Holland in 1796. When +presented for approval in 1807, they were violently rejected by the +orthodox, who held that the version of Psalms which they had been +singing many years was all that was needed. Besides, there was a +perceptible Rationalism in many of the new hymns. They were foreign to +the Dutch heart. Such a one as + + "Yonder will I praise the Friend, + Who here has shown me truth," + +was not likely to elicit a response from those who desired an improved +religious spirit. To fill up the cup of their misfortunes, the use of +the hymns was made obligatory. But they hoped that when the Prince of +Orange came back, he would restore the venerated Psalms. Yet on his +return he not only issued an official recognition of the new Hymn-Book, +but expressed his warm approval of it. The congregation had no choice +left but to refuse to sing altogether, or to use but one and the same +hymn from one Sabbath to another. + +THE REVIVAL AND THE SECESSION. There was an under-current of deep +religious feeling among the masses which was unsupported by theological +education. The lectures in the universities were similar to those +delivered by the old school of German Supernaturalists. The prevalent +orthodoxy was moderate and equivocal at best. Not much hope of awakening +could be derived from it. The Bible was held to be the supreme +authority; the historical character of its accounts was confessed; and +the infallibility of its communications was maintained. Miracles, and +prophetical and apostolical inspiration were accepted. But there was a +neglect of the nature of this authority, together with a manifest +indifference to the paramount value of all the great doctrinal +possessions of the church. There was no scientific defense of the +pillars of faith, and no attempt to discuss the true ground of miracles, +and their inherent accordance with divine laws. Christian philosophy was +totally ignored. Such natural theology as had been produced by the +school of Leibnitz and Wolf, and more recently improved by the moral +arguments of Kant, was the chief object of study, and had been made +obligatory since the restoration of the Dutch universities in 1816. +There was a general compromise between revelation and the old +philosophy.[92] Supernaturalism was stagnant, and gave no promise of +future progress. + +While the church of Holland was in this deplorable condition, God raised +up a few men to be the instruments of new life. They were endowed with +great talents, moral heroism, and a steady purpose to elevate every +department of ecclesiastical organization. The Holy Spirit accompanied +their labors. The leaders of the group were Bilderdyk, Da Costa, Dr. +Capadose, and subsequently Groen Van Prinsterer. + +The first stood at the head of the modern school of Dutch poetry, and +was one of the greatest poets ever produced by Holland. His conceptions +were vivid, his style impassioned, his diction unequaled by any of his +predecessors, and his moral life irreproachable. Having a conservative +mind, he opposed each indication of revolution with every weapon at +command. He was profoundly learned in the classics, history, and +jurisprudence. Apart from all his efforts for the religious awakening of +the people, he was the representative of the old Holland nationality. An +ardent despiser of the French spirit, imparted by the fatal principles +of 1789, he was equally opposed to the Rationalism of Germany. He +believed that if new life were kindled in the Dutch heart, it could not +be derived from without, but by a return to the pure teachings of the +fathers of the Reformation in Holland. + +Da Costa and Dr. Capadose were Jews. The former looked upon the +condition of the country from the Israelitish standpoint developed in +his _Israel and the Nations_. He believed in the millennium, and saw in +it the divine cheerfulness of history, and the relief from surrounding +evils. He is well described by one of his countrymen as "the Israelite +who raised himself above the church of the Gentiles; the Israelite who +testifies against this church; the Israelite who announces the glory of +this church." He was a popular and spirited poet, excelling even his +friend Bilderdyk in the lyrical character of his verses. He hated +Rationalism in every form, and resisted whatever would interpose any +authority between the conscience of man and the word of God. His +Israelitish view made him reject the secondary authority of the +confessions of faith, and did not permit him to attribute anything more +than a relative value to the church of the Gentiles, "the church before +the millennium." + +Groen Van Prinsterer appeared at a time when the revival had taken +definite shape, but he attached himself to its interests and contributed +more than any one else to its development. He is one of those decided +characters who are mentioned by friends and enemies with great +animation. Studiously rejecting the individuality taught him by the +school of Vinet, and reticent of his personal opinions, he has incurred +the animadversions of some of his warmest admirers. Being a man of +continual literary and political activity, he has taken part in all the +important movements of his times. He is the Guizot of Holland. Though +banished for a time from his seat in the States General by the +Catholics, Revolutionists, and Rationalists, he did not intermit his +labors to lead back the masses to evangelical piety. His powerful +influence has been in favor of home missions and similar agencies. He +has comprehended the revival, in all its scope, more clearly than any +one else. He says of it that "it was neither Calvinistic, nor Lutheran, +nor Mennonite, but Christian. It did not raise for its standard the +orthodoxy of Dort, but the flag of the Reformation, the word of God. And +though it found the doctrine of salvation admirably expressed in our +symbolical books, appreciated a rule of education so conformable to the +Holy Scriptures, and opposed the doctrines of the church and the duty of +her ministers to the usurpations of Rationalism, it never thought of +accepting and imposing the absurd and literal yoke of formularies with +an absurd and puerile anxiety. A spirit of Christian fraternity +predominated over the old desires." + +The direct associated result of the revival was the Reunion of Christian +Friends. It was presided over by Groen Van Prinsterer, and held +semi-annual sessions in Amsterdam from 1845 to 1854. Its monthly +journal, _The Union, or Christian Voices_, was conducted by Pastor +Heldring, a warm-hearted man who has made himself illustrious in the +annals of beneficence by his labors for home missions, by his foundation +of an asylum for little neglected girls, and by similar charitable +works. + +Other pastoral associations sprang up in consequence of the new life, +but some of them failed in a few years because of the want of a common +symbol of faith. Groen Van Prinsterer hailed with joy every indication +of Christian unity. He hoped that by this unity the church might be +built up in its holy faith. From 1850 to 1855 he edited _The +Netherlander_, a political and ecclesiastical review. It was in this +periodical that he eulogized the revivals of other countries, and ranked +the leaders of them among the greatest ornaments of history. The labors +of the French and Swiss theologians, MM. Bost, Malan, Merle d'Aubigne, +Gaussen, Grandpierre, and Monod find in him a most appreciative +admirer.[93] + +The movement inaugurated by Bilderdyk, Da Costa, and Capadose led to an +important secession from the Church of Holland. There were men who saw +the necessity of revival on a large scale, but in their zeal for +Confessionalism, they went far ahead of their leaders. Their cry was, +"Let us leave Babel, and build up a new Church." De Cock and Scholte +were the first to sound the note of secession. They were joined by such +men as Brummelkamp, Van Reeh, Gezelle, and Van Velsen. This party +rallied around the old Calvinistic symbols, and De Cock stood in their +van. As early as 1829, when he became preacher in the little village of +Ulrum, he distinguished himself for his zealous ministry. People came +from a distance of eighteen miles to hear his sermons. He soon +indoctrinated them so thoroughly that they would no longer permit their +children to be baptized by "unbelievers." This brought him immediately +into conflict with the rules of the Church. Two pamphlets appeared +against him, which he answered in his _Defense of the True Reformed +Doctrine, and of the True Reformed; or, the Sheepcot of Christ attacked +by two Wolves_. Another pamphlet appeared with his approval, in which +the new hymns were called "_Siren's Songs_." The result was that he was +suspended, and in 1835 excommunicated. In the same year he published his +curious book, entitled "The so-called Evangelical Hymns, the Eyeball of +the misguided and deceived Multitude in the Synodical-Reformed Church: +Yes, of some Children of God, in their blindness, and while they have +become drunk by the wine of their whoredom, tested, weighed, and found +wanting: Yes, opposed to all our forms and doctrines, and the word of +God; by H. De Cock, under the Cross because of Christ." + +The expulsion of De Cock attracted many new friends to his standard. At +the close of 1834 a Separation Act was devised at Ulrum, by which all +his adherents dissolved connection with the Church. They were said to +number eighty thousand, but it is probable that the estimate was an +exaggeration. By request of the Synod, the Separatists were prosecuted +by the government, who used as a pretext an article in the _Code +Napoleon_, which forbade the assembly of more than twenty persons for +worship without the consent of the civil authorities. They were defended +by many lawyers of the school of Bilderdyk. Foremost of the number was +Groen Van Prinsterer, "the conscience of the Legislative Assembly, the +right arm of religion in the State, and the defender of the principle of +religion in the school." They were assailed by mobs who called them the +"New Lights." + +The schism was not a success. What promised to be a great and honorable +Church, like the Free Church of Scotland, with which it now stands +connected, carried with it much of the prejudice and bigotry of the +land. It did not identify itself with scientific progress, and paid +little regard to education. Any man of piety and utterance could become +a preacher in one of its pulpits. It has at present a Seminary at +Kampen, with a small faculty of three professors. Its course of study +will compare favorably with that of any institution in the United +States. The young men of talent, who now grow up in its fold, are +prejudiced against its ultraism, and stand ready at any moment to unite +with some new movement which will combine the piety of their fathers and +the scientific demands of the present day. The radical defects of its +initial steps were narrow-mindedness and fanaticism. The Separatists +utterly ignored the elements of good in the mother-church. They could +have done infinitely better service by casting all their influence with +Bilderdyk and his followers in the Church, instead of arraying +themselves against it, and becoming an enemy from without. Some of the +leaders have organized colonies, which greatly weakened the power and +prestige of those who remained at home. The emigrants came to America +and settled, for the most part, in the Western States. + +THE GRONINGEN SCHOOL. Each of the two tendencies prevalent in the Church +of Holland had its decided defects. While one was zealous for +theological training, it was nevertheless cold, indifferent and +Rationalistic. While the other was burning with religious fervor and a +practical evangelism, it was deficient in culture, scientific grasp, and +a capacity to meet the wants of the time. There was a call for a third +party, which would unite the best features of the two others, and +develop them into a new progressive power. Hence arose the Groningen +School. Its immediate origin was the attempt of Professor Van Heusde to +modernize Platonism and adapt it to the nineteenth century. Hofstede de +Groot, Pareau, and Muurling have been its leaders. Its organ is the +periodical entitled, _Truth in Love_. + +The characteristic of this school is, that there is in human nature a +divine element which needs development in order to enable humanity to +reach its destination. This destination is conformity to God. All +religions have aimed and worked at the same problem, but Christianity +has solved it in the highest and purest manner. Still, there is only a +difference in degree between that and other religions. This is the germ +of what the Groningens call the "Evangelical Catholic Theology." +Conformity to God, they say, has been reached in Jesus Christ; but +Plato, Zoroaster, and Confucius strove to attain to it. They failed +because their task was too great for the means at command. God has +fulfilled the desire of man, whom he had prepared for salvation by +sending perfection embodied in Christ. We may not attach ourselves to +any system or effort as absolutely true or good, nor condemn any as +utterly false. All knowledge and arts are related to religion. They +refine man and aid him in his emancipation from whatever is sinful and +sensual. + +The correspondence of ideas between Hofstede de Groot and Pareau was so +intimate that they published a joint work on dogmatic theology, which +contains a complete exposition of the principles of the Groningen +School. Jesus Christ constitutes the centre of religion. In him we see +what is God, what is man, the relations of one to the other, and how we +can be so delivered from sin and its power as to become God's children +by faith and love. In Christ's death we find love even for sinners, and +learn that suffering is not an evil. In his glorification we perceive +the aims and results of suffering. In him is the Theanthropos, not God +_and_ man, but God _in_ man. There is but one nature in Christ, the +divine-human. Jesus being the focal point of the interests of man, we +must know, _first_, what he is outside of us, objectively; _second_, how +he appears within us, subjectively. To know Christ we need the +exegetical study of that preparation of man for Christ, which is +furnished by the Old Testament. The New Testament is the fulfillment. +The latter contains the sayings of Jesus and the conclusions of the +Apostles. The writers of the Scriptures were not infallible, though they +did not often err. Revelation is continued in the history of the church, +which is the third principle of development. Augustine stood higher and +went further than Paul, Luther than Augustine. If our development be +partial and imperfect we must go back and begin anew. + +The Groningen School is distinguished for its ethical system. How does +Christ live in us? This is the question it proposes to answer. There is +a distinction between the nature of man, which is divine, and his +condition, which is sinful. Sin is the point where man, misusing his +liberty, surrenders himself to his sensuous nature, which is not sinful +in itself. God educates man by Jesus Christ in three ways; _first_, by +revelation of truth; _second_, by manifestation of love; _third_, by +education of the church. The high aim of the Church is to lead man to a +consciousness of the unity of his origin and destiny, and to bring all +to a knowledge and love of Christ, and of God in Christ. Christ was +educated before his life on earth for the work designed for him, and he +established the church by leaving his glory and leading a life full of +love and truth. His death was the highest manifestation of his love and +truth, for by it he showed God to man, and man to himself. His +resurrection makes our hope of eternal life a certainty. + +In the Groningen system there is no place for the doctrine of the +Trinity. The influence of the sacraments is merely external, while +Calvinism and the "blood-theology," are subjects of abhorrence. It would +be unjust to place the Groningens beside the German Rationalists, though +the influence of both has been similar. The former class, like the +latter, have one fatal defect; they consider sin a mere inconvenience. +They hold that man needs a Teacher but not a Redeemer, since all sinners +will be eventually holy and happy. The Groningen tendency, as related to +Dutch theology, is similar to that applied by Channing to the orthodoxy +of the American church. Human nature is declared worthy of our attention +and development. True humanity is pure piety. God can be found +everywhere, even in the heart of man. The philosophical theology of +Schleiermacher has stamped the Groningen system with its own signet. +They both proceed from the same starting-point,--not reason, but the +heart. Theirs is the religion of feeling. + +The Groningens have done important service to the Dutch church. Their +elevation of ethics to a proper position in theological instruction has +been a national boon, while their unwavering zeal for the education of +the masses and of children will always remain a monument to their honor. +While they were the first to establish Sunday Schools in Holland, they +have given a new impulse to missions. They defend religion against +skepticism, and picture the latter in all its deformity. + +But the Groningen system has almost totally failed of its object. It did +not unite the zeal of the fathers with the science of the present day. +Though opposed to Rationalism, it is more negative than positive, and is +less distinguished for its doctrines than for its absence of them. It +claims that the Church neither possesses nor needs doctrines. Therefore, +it destroys the line of demarcation between the various confessions and +that confessional Latitudinarianism, which is the direct offspring of +the destructive principles of the Rationalism and Liberalism of the +eighteenth century. + +THE SCHOOL OF LEYDEN. In no theological system had any satisfaction been +afforded to the joint feeling of attachment to the old confessions and +of a desire to develop them in conformity with the requirements of the +age. Many rejected the Groningen school because it depreciated the +formularies of the church, and did not know how to value their scope or +to elaborate them for immediate usefulness. The Leyden school filled the +vacancy. Taking its origin in a disposition to establish a connection +between the faith of the Reformers and our own, its aim has been to +unite the old traditions with the new opinions. + +The father and expounder of the School of Leyden is Professor Scholten, +formerly of Franeker, but now of Leyden. He is well known as the author +of historico-critical introductions, and of a _History of Philosophy_, +but his reputation has been acquired mainly by his _Doctrines of the +Reformed Church_, a work of great clearness, profound erudition, and +romantic interest. As the reader peruses its fascinating pages he is +bound by a spell which he cannot easily break. The remark of Dugald +Stewart, on reading Edwards _On the Will_, occurs to him with peculiar +appositeness, "There is a fallacy somewhere, but the devil only can find +it." + +There is, according to Scholten, a distinction between the principles +and dogmas of a Church. The former are the norm and touch-stone of the +latter. The Reformers were not always logical in their reasonings, and +have left an unfinished task for the present day. Man arrives at a +knowledge of the truth by the Holy Scriptures, but they must not be +understood as containing the only revelation from God; He also reveals +himself to the world through the hearts of all believers. The Bible is +the source of the original religion. There is a difference between the +Scriptures and the word of God. The latter is what God reveals in the +human spirit concerning his will and himself. The writing down of the +communication is purely human; therefore, the Bible cannot be called a +revelation. We know, by the testimony of the Spirit, that God's word in +the Scriptures is truth. But Scriptural authority must not be +accepted,--a liberty which would apply to a Jewish but not to a +Christian age. Jesus and the apostles did not compel men to accept truth +by a proclamation of authority, but by an irresistible moral power. Even +in times when the liberty and individuality of faith have been lost in +the Church, there were men who did not answer the question, "Why do you +believe?" by saying, "Because the Church has spoken;" but by appealing +to their interior consciousness. + +Historical criticism must be called in, Scholten further holds, to prove +the certainty of the facts of revelation. But the truth of the Christian +religion cannot be established on this plan. With Rousseau, Lessing, and +others, he opposes any attempt to make the best historical grounds the +basis of a religious conviction. The truth of Scripture is testified by +human nature itself, which, educated by Christianity, recognizes freely +and personally the truth of the gospel. The natural faculty that +performs this high office is reason, not feeling. Scripture is the +touchstone of the Christianity of a conviction, but not of its truth. +The Reformers very properly distinguished between a first and secondary +authority, and allowed themselves complete liberty in their search after +the origin of the books of Scripture. This was not a dangerous +experiment, for he who has once come to know Christianity as the highest +form of religion, can never fall into a negative criticism. If the +religious contents of the Bible find their justification in the interior +consciousness of man, then the question arises, "Can human reason attain +to the supersensual, or is it limited to the sensuous experience?" The +organ of all natural knowledge of God is reason; while its fountain is +the physical, intellectual, and moral world. The first Adam did not +possess that knowledge of God which was thoroughly enjoyed by the +second. But can man attain to the knowledge of God while in a sinful +condition, and while the light of his reason is darkened? Assuredly he +may, for sin does not belong to the essence, but to the condition of +man. The Reformed theologians built on the acknowledgment that Religion +has her seat in the being of man, and sees in the Christian the +expression of the reasonable religion. The material principle of the +Reformed church is the doctrine of God's sovereignty and free grace. The +weakness of the Reformation lay in its inconsistency, for it substituted +the authority of the letter for that of the Church. + +Scholten's abhorrence of authority has led him to a denial of miracles. +From this point of view he can freely join hands with the Rationalists. +In his latest work, the _Gospel of John_, he takes occasion to retract +the favorable opinions formerly expressed concerning that portion of the +New Testament. He has been fearlessly assailed by Oosterzee, La +Saussaye, Da Costa, and other leading theologians. Unfortunately, he +exerts more influence over the young theologians of Holland than any +other Dutch theologian. He is ardently supported by Knenen, the exegete, +his colleague at Leyden; and by Rauenhoff, the ecclesiastical historian. +We close our estimate of Scholten with a word on his opinions of +Christianity in general. It is neither superhuman nor supernatural. It +is the highest point of the development of human nature itself, and, in +this sense, it is natural and human in the highest acceptation of those +terms. It is the mission of science to put man in a condition to +comprehend the divine volume presented by Christianity.[94] + +THE SCHOOL OF EMPIRICAL-MODERN THEOLOGY. The two leading representatives +of this important branch of contemporary Dutch theology are Opzoomer and +Pierson. The former, a professor in the University of Utrecht, left the +sphere of theological instruction for a time, and took a prominent part +in political debates in order to combat the claims of the +anti-revolutionary party. He exerted little influence during the first +years of his professorship in Utrecht, but since his publication of a +manual of logic, _The Road of Science_, he has had a large share in +founding the school with which he is now identified. In this work he +maintains that observation is the only means of arriving at certainty, +and that everything which cannot be proved by experience is uncertain, +and has no right within the domain of science. This is the central +thought of his whole system. + +Pierson stands related to Opzoomer as Mansel does to Sir William +Hamilton. The son of religious parents, he was at first rigidly +orthodox. He is now pastor of the Walloon Church at Rotterdam. His early +writings were touchingly beautiful and attractive, for it was in them +that he laid open his inner life. But in his later works he assumes the +air of the censor and scoffer. He was long the personal friend of La +Saussaye, but, owing to doctrinal differences, they have parted and now +pursue different paths. He is an orator of the American type. His +opinions are elaborated in his two works, _The Origin of the Modern +Tendency_, and the _Tendency and Life._ In the latter treatise we learn +not merely the personal views of Pierson, but the creed advocated by all +the adherents of the empirical-modern theology. + +The New Theology, he holds, has an indisputable right to assume the +epithet "modern," in distinction from "liberal." The latter term is +borne by the Groningen school, which always opposes the church-creed. +The principle of reform has not been fully carried out by the +Protestants. The Protestant builds his faith on the Bible, but on what +does he build his faith in the Bible? Is it not the testimony of the +Holy Spirit? He has this support only through the Bible. Certain liberal +theologians, like the orthodox, are extremely illogical in their +conclusions concerning the word of God. The former will not accept of +verbal inspiration, yet they call the Bible a divine book, which, +fortunately, could be no better. Though they laugh at the story of Jonah +and the whale, they accept every word of Christ, who quotes the story. +They will not hear of present miraculous interpositions of providence, +but accept some of the miracles of the Bible. There are Catholic priests +who are affability itself, while there are orthodox Protestants +possessed of ultra views. In contrast with all these classes stand the +heroes of the _Modern Theology_, who possess the "passion for reality," +and are endowed with the new cosmology of Galileo. + +All true knowledge, argues Pierson, is self-knowledge. Reality comes to +us in the impressions we receive of it. I see, I hear; and whether there +is a reality outside corresponding to the impression, is a question +never asked by a reasonable man. One who has a fever on a July day +complains of cold. The bystanders deny his right to say it is cold. Now +do they obtain their right from a comparison of their impressions with +something objective? No. His knowledge is subjective in this sense; that +it arises from sources which are in him alone, while theirs is +objective, because they compare their impressions. Error is not in the +impression but in the explanation. Man has more than sensual +impressions. We have a faculty which brings us into contact with a +spiritual world. The religious man is by necessity an anthropomorphist. +He claims a personal God, a Father, a Redeemer, an Ideal. We need a +sharp analysis to see the reflections of the contents of our religious +feeling. Our mind seeks a conception of God, the basis of which must be +the idea of the Absolute, Infinite Being. The Scriptures must be +criticised by our reason. The first three gospels, which tell us what +Christ said and did, are not authority for us. Their writers are +unknown, in the main, and by no means original. But exact criticism may +succeed in giving us a portrait of the Prophet of Galilee. He lived a +life according to the spirit, and proclaimed a religion such as no one +before or after him has been able to do. Is it not enough that he has +glorified humanity, and made himself adored as king of humanity, even +with a crown of thorns upon his brow? The hearts of men have been +disclosed to him, and he has caused to well up therefrom streams of +love, which none can turn aside. Is his name not glorious when we think +that the penitence of a Magdalene, and the sorrow of a Peter, are +flowers which have permanently sprung up from earth only after that +earth had been drenched by his blood and tears? But the Church has made +a mythological character of Christ. It has contemned the real Jesus who +stood in opposition to authority and tradition. In his name the Church +has enthroned and glorified this authority. It was not from a system +but from a principle that he expected the regeneration of man. We have a +safe revelation in the world about us. It is God's work in and around +ourselves. Explore it; study yourself and man; but do it with such a +spirit and purpose as Christ possessed. + +As a specimen of Pierson's style, we give his portrait of a good +preacher: "All elements are concentrated in him in such a way that men +will, can, and must listen, for attention is as much a state as love. +You cannot command, but you may deserve it. Paint for humanity, which, +though despised by the formalists, terrified by the moralists, and +condemned by the Pharisees, is yet the image of him who spoke not of its +guilt, but of its sickness and sorrow; not of a judgment-seat, but of +the open arms of the Father; not of damnation, but of regeneration. A +Holland painter came from a foreign land, and painted a Dutch landscape. +But everybody who saw it, said: 'He has been in Italy.' So let it be +said of every Christian minister, 'He has been in Galilee, it is the +color of Jesus.'" + +The opinions entertained by the defenders of the Empirical-Modern +Theology have few points of sympathy with evangelical Christianity. They +stand above Rationalism, but not opposed to it. The system attempts a +purification-process of Christian faith. It does not break with +tradition and doctrine, but claiming the privilege of using its own +eyes, it rejects the authority of both. It does not admit a supernatural +origin of the Scriptures, but looks with suspicion upon many of the +accounts contained therein. Taught by the philosophy of experience that +everything has a natural source, even in the world of mind, it finds no +room for free will. It cherishes a high regard for the individuality of +man, and esteems it wrong to let the particular be lost in the +universal. It discards any system of morals which does not do justice to +this individuality. Its ethics are deterministic, but not fatalistic. It +holds that the mysteries of orthodoxy are mystifications which insult +the thinking man. It claims that its doubts are not sinful, for it says: +"I have not doubted from a wish to doubt." But it furnishes nothing to +take the place of that which it destroys by its negative criticism. This +is its fatal weakness. With its principle, "no authority," it attacks +the Bible, and finds it written neither by the supposed authors nor at +the alleged dates. It destroys the sanctity of that which has become +hallowed by our inner experience. It takes away Christ, in all his +essential attributes, from the believer. + +THE ETHICAL-IRENICAL SCHOOL. We have thus far seen, in the present state +of theology in Holland, few indications of the vigorous progress of +evangelical truth. But the Ethical-Irenical School, combining the +principal orthodox minds, stands in manly and prosperous opposition to +all parties which possess Rationalistic affinities. Chantepie de la +Saussaye and Professor Van Oosterzee are its leaders. These men differ +on minor points, but, in general, they are harmonious co-workers against +skepticism in every form. They stand in the front rank of Dutch +theologians, the former having no superior as a thinker, and the latter +none as an orator. + +La Saussaye is not a popular writer. His style is compact and his +arguments intricate. He is sometimes eloquent, however, and a close +thinker takes pleasure in reading his pages. He does not like the term +"orthodoxy," for he thinks it too loud a profession. He has been +charged with Hegelianism because of some expressions in his _Commentary +on the Hebrews_. But the allegation is false, for he only applauded +Hegel and Schelling as thinkers, without giving any sanction to their +opinions. His views are as yet but little known to the people, only a +few being willing to study his weighty thoughts. He is thoroughly +imbuing his congregation in Rotterdam with his own spirit, and has now +many followers, who are giving his ideas to the public in an attractive +form. In 1851 he had a long and serious illness, after which he deemed +it his duty to limit himself no longer to the functions of the pastoral +office, but to raise his voice in ecclesiastical debates. In 1852 he +took part in the formation of a society called "Seriousness and Peace" +and was associated with Beets and Doedes in the editorship of their +organ bearing the same name. The principle of the new organization +consisted in the prominence given to science and its service in +theology, in opposition to the school of Bilderdyk. It held that the +Scriptures are of divine authority; that they are properly expressed in +the confessions of the Reformed church of Holland; and that science must +be subsidized for their explanation.[95] + +Soon after the appearance of Renan's _Life of Jesus_, the Dutch +theologians were surprised by a pamphlet entitled _History or Romance_, +which, besides giving an admirable criticism on the new work, defined +very clearly the points at issue, and lifted out of its poetic frame the +picture deserving more serious study. The style was recognized as that +of Professor Van Oosterzee. Like everything coming from his pen, it was +easily read and as easily digested. It sounded the alarm, and warned +the public mind against accepting Renan's romance as history. A few +sentences in Professor Van Oosterzee's little work reveal his position +in the present conflict with Rationalism. "Modern Naturalism," says he, +"can be conquered only by a Christian philosophic belief in revelation, +and by a powerful development of modern supernaturalism.... To some, +nothing is easier than to lay all supernaturalism under condemnation, +especially when it is opposed only in that form in which it appeared +against the worn-out Rationalism of the past century, without attending +to its further development, or taking the trouble to add to Renan's +critical anathema a clear and intelligible exposition of his own point +of view. Renan's _Life of Jesus_ shows us what becomes of Christianity +when we regard only the ethical-religious side of revelation, and not +its supernatural character. You can hope for no victory as long as you +know none but a subjective ground of faith, and do not meet Satan, +coming as an angel of light, with a perspicuous and powerful, 'Thus it +is Written.'" + +Professor Van Oosterzee was called four years ago to the chair of +Scriptural Interpretation in the University of Utrecht, now the centre +of evangelical theology in Holland. He had been pastor of a church in +Rotterdam, and his new appointment, made at the instance of the King and +his ministers, was a great triumph of the orthodox party. He had already +distinguished himself by his _Life of Christ and Christology_, in six +volumes, and by his exegetical labors in connection with Lange's _Bible +Work_. But the oration he delivered on his assumption of office in the +University added largely to his reputation, and obliterated any doubt +which may have existed concerning his firm attachment to the faith of +the fathers. Bearing the title, _The Skepticism which is anxiously to +be avoided by the Theologians of our Day_,[96] it discusses the +character, origin, rights, fruits, and remedy of the infidelity of the +present time. The cardinal characteristic of this skepticism is, +according to Professor Van Oosterzee, a denial of the great revelation +of grace and truth in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and of man, by +whom salvation is made possible to us and to all the world. There are +three fountains of the modern infidelity; a scholastic dogmatism, which +has laid more stress on the formularies of the church than on the Gospel +itself; a wild, revolutionary spirit in politics, not of native growth, +but imported from abroad, which only satisfied itself by the overthrow +of thrones, by the transgression of all established limits, and by its +declaration of the supreme rights of reason and will; and a false +philosophy, with its unholy brood of Empiricism, Idealism, Materialism, +Rationalism, and Naturalism. The skepticism of the present day asserts +rights to which it has no claim whatever, for it holds that the +so-called mysteries of Christianity have no divine basis, and that there +can be nothing supernatural in revelation. Neither can the labors of the +skeptics produce substantial and permanent good in any department of +theology. The only way to combat them is not by reviewing the opinions +of departed thinkers and teachers, so much as by going directly back to +the Bible itself, and looking at it with the aid of every new step in +science. Such a weapon is a sound system. It may be termed the +_Evangelical-Biblical, historical-philosophical, Irenical-practical +theology_. If it be developed, all the shafts of infidelity will fall +harmless at its feet. + +Immediately after the appearance of Professor Van Oosterzee's reply to +Renan, La Saussaye published his work entitled, _How must Modern +Naturalism be attacked?_ While he opposes Naturalism, he also takes +exception to the usual orthodox method of assailing it. In this work, +together with other treatises by the same vigorous writer, we find the +Ethical-Irenical theology stated and defended. + +The term _Ethical_ is not, according to La Saussaye, the same as +_moral_,--for morality, conscience, duty, and virtue are terms which +find their home in the Kantian philosophy, and are now appropriated by +the Groningen School. _Ethical_ has application to the +receptivities,--the inner wants, and states of the heart. It differs +from _religion_ just as want differs from supply. The Christian knows +that religious truth, life, and action, are not the fruits of his +subjective state of feeling, but of revelation, and of the communication +of God to his spirit. The _ethical_ is the natural, and the _religious_ +is the supernatural state of the heart. The Ethical theologians differ +from the Supernaturalists on the following psychological ground: the +former believe that the supernatural is communicated with human nature, +and is so inseparable from it that a denial of it is a rejection of all +that is most human in man. The latter hold that the supernatural, since +it is an essential part of religion, is not necessary merely to accredit +revelation, but to establish it. + +While La Saussaye agrees with Van Oosterzee in application of the term +_ethical_, he does not hold with him that the "_Thus it is written_" is +an adequate reply to the Rationalist. Neither will his view of miracles +harmonize with that of the professor, or with Vinet and De Pressense, of +whom he forcibly reminds us in many of his opinions. The +supernaturalistic theory, La Saussaye contends, is incorrect. The +Church has paid too much attention to the exterior features of miracles, +but far too little to their ethical import, and to the connection +between nature and spirit. Miracles can be defended only on the ground +that the power to work them is still in the church over which Christ +presides and to which he communicates his energy. The Naturalist who +opposes the present power of miracles can be convicted by an appeal to +his own personality; for he is not merely _nature_, but also +supernatural, free, spiritual. He feels himself responsible; he has a +conscience. Renan, in his picture of Christ and his apostles, places +salvation on an equality with deliverance from sickness, and makes it +mere socialism. If we would rebuke the skepticism of the present day we +must return to first principles; not to the doctrines, but to the facts +on which they rest. Revelation presupposes the ideas of God, law, +responsibility, sin and judgment. We must recognize Israel's law, though +national in form, as written on the hearts of all men. When you prove +the ethical idea in religion you show at once its necessary factor. The +life of the Church is a spiritual, supernatural, and therefore wonderful +life. It is the great standing miracle which proves the truth of God. +The first and all-important thing to be done by us is not to fight the +naturalism outside of us, but that which is in us. Above all, let the +church feel and show the power of the resurrection. The true method of +gaining "the world" is by the awakening of the Church to a consciousness +of those elements of truth in her possession. The enemy we fight is not +men but a spirit,--the spirit of negation, destruction, and Satan. Let +us believe in that Saviour who makes the soul at peace with God, +reconciles man to the Infinite, and leads and encourages us to attempt +to appropriate by our thoughts the undeveloped in our souls. + +On what then depends the future of the Church? We hear La Saussaye +describe in eloquent words the conditions of her success: "I do not +hesitate to declare," he says, "that the future of a nation depends on a +revival, in the very bosom of the Protestant Church, of a profound and +enlightened piety, of an alliance of faith with science, an alliance +which constituted the strength of our illustrious wise men, and to which +we ought to devote whatever greatness there is yet left us. It is only +by the payment of this price that the Netherland Church can reconquer +that place which she once occupied among Christian people. But since she +does not fill this position, since we are afraid of majestic science, +and only employ our resources to treat of questions in detail, since the +stream of our piety runs through a narrow channel, and since science +only moves in the direction of a foolish liberalism, European +Protestantism must suffer from the unhappy vacancy that is now left in +the ranks of the Church of the Netherlands."[97] + +The Church of Holland is now passing through the most important crisis +in its history since the Arminian controversy. The orthodox party is +vigorous, and many strong men are attaching themselves to it. But their +foes are vigilant and bold, and the result cannot yet be seen. The +crisis is a necessity created by the evil elements of the eighteenth +century. When the mineral was in a state of fusion in the bowels of the +earth, it became mixed with foreign and gross elements. But we cannot +now disengage the impure accessory by breaking the mass with a hammer. +If it be put into the crucible just as it is, the elements will separate +of themselves. The theology of Holland, like that of every other +Protestant country, is now in the crucible. The heat is intense, but +the intensity guarantees the destruction of the dross which has gathered +about the truth. There are many good men in the Church who cannot see +the connection and bearing of the gigantic efforts now making for the +overthrow of faith in Holland. Looking upon them as abnormal, they +become discouraged. Therefore they have cherished a warm attachment to +the doctrine of the speedy coming of Christ. It is now a more common +expression than ever before in that country, "Christ cometh!" + +Next to the philosophical and religious causes of the present momentous +crisis, stands the absence of popular thought and of Christian work. +There had been a reliance on the symbols without proper meditation upon +them, or a disposition to trace them back to their Biblical fountain. +Men believed what their fathers had told them, or, as the French say, +"_Parceque tout le monde le disait._" The teachers of the young thought +in the old routine. But the Rationalistic theologians are driving every +friend of the Church and every firm believer in Scripture to reason for +himself, with the Bible for his basis; and in no country is religion +more rapidly christianizing science than in Holland. Young theologians +preach more earnestly than their predecessors had done for a century. La +Saussaye is an illustration of how an individual is influencing the +tendency of the theological mind. He has never published a complete +system, though his friends are anxiously awaiting the appearance of his +_Psychology_. It is the man himself who has done so much for +emancipating the individual, and placing him upon the immovable truth of +the Bible. + +Very recently the Church of Holland has applied herself to earnest, +practical work. Her evangelizing efforts will now compare favorably +with those of French Protestantism. In no country have the congregations +been more attached to the clergy than in Holland. But the intimacy has +diminished the development of individual labor and responsibility. +Everything was left to the pastor. Religion consisted in being preached +to and edified. Prayer meetings, and humanitarian and evangelizing +associations were unknown. But, of late, many Sunday Schools have been +organized; religious societies have been established; and missions have +attracted profound attention. + +The first missionary society ever formed in Holland was the Moravian +Mission to Zeist, in 1732. Sixty-five years elapsed before a second one +came into being. Not one was instituted from 1797 to 1851. Since that +date twelve foreign missionary organizations have been established, and +the religious people of the country are devoting a large portion of +their means and labor to their prosecution. So great is the popular +interest in missions that an Evangelical National Missionary Festival, +held in the open air in July, 1864, attracted many from the surrounding +country to take part in the exercises. It was a Christian Feast of +Tabernacles. The assembly met in a large pine wood. Carriages, horses, +and the rude vehicles of the peasantry lined all the roads leading +thither. The singing of the old Dutch Psalms could be heard at a great +distance. The assembly, numbering from ten to twelve thousand, gathered +around the pulpits erected in various places, where returned +missionaries and celebrated preachers from different cities were +speaking on topics adapted to the occasion. The scene was deeply solemn, +and highly calculated to awaken and quicken the conscience of every +hearer. + +Two Home Missions are contributing important service to the religious +and physical improvement of the poor and neglected. One is the Society +for National Christian Education, founded five years ago, and now under +the presidency of that tireless Christian statesman, Groen van +Prinsterer. Its centre is the Hague, but it has agents scattered +throughout the country to seek out any locality that may need a school. +It has normal schools in Rotterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, and Nymegen. It +is educating many thousands of children who would otherwise go through +life without any religious instruction. The other Home Mission, the +Society for the Propagation of Christian Truth in Amsterdam, is more +local in its character. Though very young, it has founded sixteen Sunday +Schools, attended by two thousand children; a Christian lodging or +boarding-house at the cheapest rate for homeless females; a room where +the members of the society can regularly meet to attend Bible lectures, +or to hear reports about home or foreign missions; an infant school; a +drawing-school for boys; and knitting and sewing-schools for girls. A +large popular religious library has been formed, which is constantly +increased by the current useful literature. All of these institutions +are under careful Christian direction.[98] + +The leaven of Christian faith is at work. The masses are beginning to +feel its permeating and purifying power. La Saussaye has despondingly +said that "what the church of Holland is now wanting is faith in itself, +in the genius which has distinguished it, in the mission which is +confided to it,--faith in its future." She must have faith in God before +she can have faith in herself. The one leads to the other. God's +strength is never perfected except in weakness. It is from without that +we receive new power. The disciples who met in the upper room of the +temple were visited by an energy to which they had been total strangers. +The Spirit came not from their own hearts, but descended from heaven. +Yet their hearts were immediately illuminated, and they felt the force +of the promise, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is +come upon you." Real strength is not self-development alone, but +reliance on that Love and Power which, now, as long ago, can save the +burning bush from destruction. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[92] D. Chantepie de la Saussaye. _La Crise Religieuse en Hollande, +Souvenirs et Impressions_, pp. 24-29. + +[93] Da Costa, in his biography of Bilderdyk, enumerates other +participants in the revival in the Dutch Church; among whom were the two +brothers Van Hogendorp, Nicolaas Carbasius, J. T. Bodel, Nyenhuis, +Brugmans, Elout, Ran Van Gameren, Baron Van Wassanaer, Willem de Clercq, +the poet, and author of a work on the _Influence of Southern Literature +on that of Holland_; Van der Kemp, author of an admirable _Biography of +Maurice of Nassau_; and Koenen, author of an historical work on the +_Refugees in Holland_. + +[94] An article by Scholten on _Modern Materialism and its Causes_, may +be found in the _Progress of Religious Thought in the Protestant Church +of France_. London: 1861, pp. 10-48. + +[95] _La Crise Religieuse en Hollande_, pp. 12-107. + +[96] _Oratio de Scepticismo, Hodiernis Theologis Caute Vitando_, quam +habuit Johannes Jacobus Van Oosterzee Theologis Doctor: Roterodami, +1863. + +[97] _La Crise Religieuse en Hollande_, p. 200. + +[98] _Christian Work_, Sept. 1863, and July and August, 1864. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +FRANCE: RATIONALISM IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCH--THE CRITICAL SCHOOL OF +THEOLOGY. + + +Some French clergymen, who were sojourning in Berlin in 1842, asked +Neander, "What ought to be done to arouse the Protestants of France to +thinking upon theological subjects?" "Give yourselves no trouble on that +score," replied the professor; "Theology will yet have its good day +among you. You have in France the soil in which true theology loves to +germinate and grow--I mean Christian life. This has brought you your +great theologians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it is +sure to do the same thing in the nineteenth." The present century has +not yet run two-thirds of its course, and yet the prophecy has been +literally fulfilled. + +The spectacle presented to-day in France is highly interesting. The +period of indifference has already terminated. The first step toward new +vitality has therefore been taken. French theology is displaying an +animation and seriousness which may well excite the notice of the whole +civilized world. The great minds are bestowing upon sacred subjects an +attention nowhere surpassed in vigor and acuteness. Important religious +questions are taking their place beside political themes, and the circle +of theological readers and thinkers is constantly enlarging. Each class +is deeply engaged in the discussion of all the new phases of opinion. +Every man chooses his party, cherishes his own convictions, and preaches +them boldly. The traveler who may make only a brief stay in Paris will +find the representatives of all the professions spending the whole +evening in the criticism of the last books from the Liberal Party, and +of the rejoinders of their orthodox opponents. Now, for the first time +since the seventeenth century, a state of general religious inquiry and +earnestness exists. It is not difficult to interpret this quickening of +national thought on theological questions. It means that France will +have no small share in the decision of the great points at issue between +evangelical believers and their critical, destructive antagonists. + +A half century ago the Reformed and Lutheran churches were sunk in +skeptical formalism. They were divided into two parties, neither of +which possessed spirit enough to defend its position, or grace enough to +ask God for his blessing. One adhered to the cold Supernaturalism of the +eighteenth century, the other to a system of philosophical Deism. The +reduced state of piety was largely due to the oppression suffered at the +hand of the state. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which deprived +Protestants of both religious and civil liberty, occurred in October, +1685, and it was not until 1808 that the law of the 18th Germinal once +more recognized their rights, and placed Catholicism and Protestantism +on an equal basis. The whole interval was marked by a stagnation of +fearful character. At the time of the Revocation, the Reformed church +had eight hundred edifices and six hundred and forty pastors, but when +the restoration occurred it had but one hundred and ninety churches and +the same number of pastors. + +The apostasy of the Protestants went to a fearful extent. For example, +at the very time of the infamous worship of the Goddess of Reason, a +pastor and his elders carried their communion plate and the baptismal +vessels to the mayor, to have them melted down for the nation. +Improvement began about 1820. There were but three Protestant chapels in +Paris, and the services were dull and unattractive. To the late Frederic +Monod belongs the imperishable honor of commencing the renovation by +means of his little Sunday school. "Never will the traces of his labors +be effaced," says M. de Pressense, "for he it is to whom we owe the +first furrows in the vast field which now we rejoice to see white unto +the harvest." A domestic evangelical spirit, embracing the most distant +provinces, began to be apparent in the ministrations of the clergy and +in the popular attendance at the services. + +A foreign agency also contributed to the awakening. In 1785 a Wesleyan +mission was commenced in the Norman isle of Guernsey, and in the +following year Adam Clarke was sent to Jersey. It was designed to make +the Channel Islands the beginning of French missions. Wesley predicted +that they would be outposts for evangelizing efforts all over the +Continent. In a short time Jean de Quetteville and John Angel went over +into Normandy, and preached the gospel in many villages. Dr. Coke, the +superintendent of the Methodist missions, went with the former preacher +to Paris, where they organized a short-lived mission. But the labors of +Mahy, who had been ordained by Coke, were very successful. Large numbers +came to his ministry, and many were converted through his +instrumentality. When peace was declared after the battle of Waterloo, +three men, Toase, Robarts, and Frankland, sailed for Normandy. In 1817 +Charles Cook joined them. He went from town to town, stirring up the +sluggish conscience of French Protestantism. He terminated his arduous +toils in 1858, leaving behind him a French branch of the Methodist +church, which embraces one hundred and fifty-two houses of worship, one +hundred ministers, lay and clerical, and fifteen hundred members. Merle +d'Aubigne has said of Dr. Cook that "the work which John Wesley did in +Great Britain Charles Cook has done, though on a smaller scale, on the +Continent." His death was lamented by all the leaders of French +Protestantism. Professor G. De Felice, of Montauban, has affirmed that, +of the instruments of the French awakening, "Dr. Charles Cook was not +the least influential."[99] + +The new religious interest arising from the native and imported +influences was so fatal to the prevalent skepticism that Voltaire and +his school have now but few adherents. Skeptics of France consider that +type effete, and unworthy of their support. "The present disciples of +Voltaire," says Pastor Fisch, "are compelled to deny his language if +they would remain true to the spirit of their master. For, to deride +Jesus Christ would manifest an inexcusable want of respectability." + +But infidelity has only changed its position. Des Cartes, the apostle of +Rationalism in France, had taught that God was only a God-Idea, or human +thought continuing itself in divine thought and in infinity. He would +make no greater admission than that God had put the world in motion. The +principles of Des Cartes, clustering around this opinion, have never +lost their hold upon the French mind, and are now influencing it to a +remarkable degree. + +Cartesianism gained new power by the agency of the Eclectic School, +whose champions were Royer-Collard, Maine de Biran, Cousin, and +Jouffroy. Their great achievement was the unification of the +philosophical systems of Germany and Scotland. But the Eclectics are now +in a state of dissolution. + +Positivism, as a subordinate system, is the work of Comte alone. This, +too, is every year losing its hold upon the land of its birth. Its +fundamental principle is, that in virtue of an inner law of development +of the mind, the whole human race will gradually emancipate itself from +all religion and metaphysics, and substitute for the worship of God that +of love of humanity, or a mundane religion. The law of development +consists in the psychological experience that all the ideas and +cognitions of the human mind have necessarily to pass through the three +stages of theology, metaphysics, and positivism. It is only when it +arrives at the stand-point of absolutely positive, or mathematically +exact knowledge, that human thought attains its goal of perfection. The +religion of mankind is divided into three stages; fetichism, polytheism, +and monotheism. Its representatives are Judaism, Mohammedanism, and +Christianity. Catholicism is better suited than any other form of +religion to the perfect development of human society. The Christian +world is now in the transitory stage of metaphysics, which, by and by, +will lead to the golden age of Positivism. This is the absolute +religion, or the worship of humanity, which needs no God or revelation. + +While Comte has so deeply impressed the thinking circles of France that +his opinions are still perceptible in the doctrines of the Liberal +Party, another great agent has been operating upon the young, +uneducated, and laboring classes. We refer to the light French novel, or +_feuilleton_ literature. Such writers as Sue, George Sand, and Dumas, +father and son, have published many volumes which were issued in cheap +style, and afterward scattered profusely over the land. These works have +been extensively read, not only in France, but in all parts of the +Continent, Great Britain, and the United States. A recent traveler has +averred that he found many persons perusing them in the reading-rooms of +Athens. But the public mind sometimes needs a path by which it can +effect a transition from a skeptical to an evangelical condition. May it +not be that, as far as France is concerned, the minds of the masses +have, by this agency, been deflected to such an extent from the +infidelity of Encyclopaedism that popular evangelical literature will now +find a readier entrance than it could otherwise have effected? If a +taste for reading be once created, it may be won, under judicious +management and by the aid of God's Spirit, to a purer cause than that +which first excited it. The tendency of the works in question is +indisputably pernicious, but, if we may think they will serve as a +medium of passage for the French masses to the reading and adoption of +the great truths of the Gospel, let us not be too slow to accept the +consolation. + +Such are some of the agencies which have been operating upon the French +mind. It now becomes necessary to take a survey of the present +theological movements, and to show in what relations the Rationalistic +and evangelical thinkers stand to each other. + +The Critical School of Theology is beyond all comparison the greatest +foe of orthodoxy in France. The English Rationalists exhibit but little +scholarly depth, having borrowed their principal thoughts from Germany. +The Dutch are too speculative to be successful at present, and the +Germans have already grown weary of their long warfare. But the French +School, claiming such writers as Scherer, Colani, Pecaut, Reville, +Reuss, Coquerel, and Renan, is not to be disregarded, nor are its +arguments to be met with indifference. It is, however, most gratifying +to state that those ardent friends of the Gospel who resist the attacks +of this school manifest a zeal, learning, and skill, quite equal to +their ill-armed opponents. + +By virtue of that principle of centralization which has long been in +force in France, the Critical School of Theology makes Paris the chief +seat of its influence. Availing itself of the advantage of the press, it +now publishes an organ adapted to every class of readers.[100] The +members of the Critical School are connected with the Protestant Church, +yet they claim to teach whatever views they may see proper to entertain. +They profess deep attachment to the Church, and in their journals advise +every one to unite himself with the fold of Christ. If the Reformed +Church, in which the most of the Rationalists are found, were not bound +to the State by the Concordat and Budget it is probable that it would be +divided. One branch would be the Reformed Church of France, founded in +1559, with a clearly determined creed, which none but a General Synod +would have power to modify. The other would be the Church of the Future, +which would proclaim the admission of no dogmas, no liturgy, and no +discipline, and would give power to every one to preach contradictory +and negative doctrines in its pulpits.[101] + +The association of Rationalists in Paris is called the Liberal +Protestant Union. It claims that Protestantism, as represented by the +churches, has ceased to be progressive and civilizing. According to its +platform, there is no religious authority but free examination; while +hostility to all common symbols, and to all profession of faith, is a +duty. The Union was immediately opposed. Among other indications of the +ill-favor with which it was received was a Remonstrance, signed by some +of the most distinguished laymen of Paris. Their language in defense of +the Bible as authority for faith was unequivocal. "We do not believe," +they said, "that righteousness is indifference; nor do we believe that +there is, or can be, a church without a doctrine, a religious doctrine, +which unites believers and forms the bond of the Church." + +The opinions of the French Critical School of Theology, at which the +Remonstrance was aimed, may be briefly stated. + +No system is adopted. It professes none, and studiously avoids the +embarrassment consequent upon any obligation. Colani says, "We do not +present to our readers any fixed system; we have none; we are _asking +for_ one conscientiously, patiently; with all our contemporaries, we are +in the midst of an epoch of transition. We call around us those who, +dissatisfied with the forms of an antiquated system of dogma, and fully +admitting salvation by Christ alone, desire to labor in raising the new +edifice which is to be built on the solid basis of Him who is at once +the son of man and the Son of God.... Not a school, not a system, but a +tendency is that which we represent. The device on our banner is 'The +True Development of Christian Thought.'"[102] It is difficult to arrive +at a knowledge of what this leader is so modest as to call only a +"tendency." It claims to have the right of judgment concerning all the +truths of the Bible; holds that the _Rochelle Confession_ is a very good +monument of the faith of the fathers, but should not now be imposed; +that the Bible has no more authority than the books of Plato or +Aristotle; that each man has a revelation in himself, free from the +imperfections of the Mosaic and Christian revelations; that science, +criticism, and examination open the only path to truth; that miracles +should be discarded; that Protestantism has lost sight of its mission; +and that a second Reformation, embodied in the Church of the Future, is +needed to complete the first.[103] + +An acknowledged leader of the liberal party has made some statements +which more nearly approach the enunciation of a system than we have been +able to find in any other authority of French Rationalism. + +M. Reville says, "The modern Protestant theology [Rationalism] aspires +not to deny the doctrines of the Reformation absolutely, but to preserve +the truth that is in them by filtering them through a medium more +conformed to our science and our reason. The dogmas of original sin, the +trinity, the incarnation, justification by faith, future rewards, and +the inspiration of the sacred writings, may serve as examples. On the +first of these dogmas, renouncing the idea of an original perfection, +the reality of which is contrary to reason, and to all our historical +analogies, modern theology would insist on the evil influence which +determines to evil an individual plunged in society where sin reigns, +on the necessary passage from a state of innocence to a state of moral +consciousness and struggle, on the fall which man endures when he sinks +from his higher nature to his lower, and renounces God's will to serve +his own. As to the trinity, avoiding the scholastic and contradictory +tritheism of the old creeds, intent on vigorously preserving God's +essential unity, and at the same time his conscious or personal life, +this theology attaches itself to the grand idea of the Divine Word +pervading the world, as the uttered thought, the objective revelation of +God, conceived as manifesting himself to himself in his works. In +humanity this eternal word becomes the Holy Spirit, the light which +lightens every man coming into the world, but which shines in all its +splendor in Jesus Christ. In this series of ideas the incarnation loses +that stamp of absolute contradiction which it takes from the orthodox +idea of one and the same person, who is at the same time God and man, +finite and infinite, localized and omnipresent, praying and prayed to, +knowing and not knowing all things, and impeccable, yet tempted. The +pure and real humanity of Christ is the basis of the system, and the +system may be summed up in these words: The Son of Man is the Son of +God. Man is justified by faith, not as the old orthodoxy taught, that +is, because he believes that satisfaction was given to God in his place +and on his behalf, but because he has confidence in the eternal love of +God, and in his own destination for good, as evidenced by Christ in his +life and in his death. + +"The eternity of future sufferings gives place to an idea more in +conformity with sound philosophy, and the revelation of infinite love, +according to which, pain resulting from sin, can have for its object +only the amelioration of the sinner, and special stress is laid on the +spiritual truth that heaven and hell are much less different places than +different states of the soul. The inspiration of the Scriptures, that +dogma the truth of which consisted in the scriptural value of the +Biblical books, as giving a sure basis for faith, as supplying aliment +to piety, and elevating the heart, more and more loses its miraculous +character to approach analogous phenomena drawn from religions in +general, or from other fields where the mind of man reveals itself as +inspired. The change of views, however, does not take from the Bible its +character as a truly divine book; still does it remain in religion the +Book of Books."[104] + +It is unsafe to adduce the testimony of any member of this school as an +absolute standard of the theological position of all the rest. There is +a wide diversity of opinion among them, as any one will perceive who has +attempted the comparison. But after examining the individual opinions of +some of these men, it will not be difficult to form a correct judgment +of their intellectual position as a whole. + +One of the most laborious of the number is Edmond Scherer, formerly +Professor of Theology in the University of Geneva. His first point of +departure from orthodoxy was on the inspiration and authority of the +Bible. He became absorbed in German Rationalistic criticism, and adopted +its leading principles. His skeptical views caused such offense that he +was led to resign his position, when he soon commenced the publication +of his views in the new _Revue de Theologie_ at Strasburg. He has +subsequently kept aloof from all participation in the State Church and +confined himself mostly to writing essays. Some of them have recently +been collected into a volume, entitled _Miscellanies of Religious +Criticism_.[105] + +Protestantism, according to Scherer, has a right to free inquiry. Once +give it the Bible as authority, and you drive it back to Catholicism. +This is what has already been done by Protestants, whose religion has +numbered its days. Authority has been its ruin, and now it has no +liberty. The Evangelists contradict each other in many instances. The +Apostles failed to quote the Old Testament correctly. Their gross errors +are sufficient of themselves to overthrow all the claims of Scripture to +authority. It is not certain that the Gospel of John is authentic; that +the discourses of Jesus are correctly reported; that Jesus taught his +consubstantiality with the Father; that the divinity of Christ involves +his omniscience; that Christ had any intention to decide questions of +criticism and canonicity; that he believed in the inspiration of the Old +Testament; that he acknowledged the divinity of the Canticles and +Ecclesiastes; or that, if he sanctioned the inspiration of the Old +Testament, he did the same thing concerning the New. + +The New Testament, says Scherer, is full of errata. It contains +different records of the same facts. Take as an example the conversion +of Saul, of which there are three accounts in the Acts. The discourses +of Christ are described in different contexts; the same discourses are +not related in similar words; and there is no exactness in the +narratives. There are differences in the Gospels, affecting the ideas +and actions of Jesus, which sometimes amount to positive contradictions. +They exist also between the first three Gospels and that of John. The +last Evangelist gives a very different account of many points in the +history of the passion and resurrection of Christ, especially in respect +to the last Supper and the chronology of the whole passion-week. Christ +announced his second coming as near at hand. Hence he, or the +Evangelists in reporting him, were grossly in error. There are, in a +word, serious objections to accepting the New Testament as +authoritative; because we find in it the use of the Septuagint; +quotations from the Old Testament in a sense not intended in the +original; influence of Jewish traditions; Rabbinical arguments; +uncertainty in reports of the discourses of Christ; contradictions +between different accounts of the same facts; errors in chronology and +history; and Messianic hopes and expectations not in accordance with +external events. What right have we, therefore, to accept as infallible +that in which we find such an admixture of error? It is the duty of +religious science to reconcile revelation with the growing requirements +of human thought, and to smooth over the transition from the dogma of +the past to that of the future. Dogmatic exegesis does this by +separating the substance from the form, faith from formulas, and by +distinguishing and pointing out the religious element under the +temporary expression which reveals it. + +What then is the Bible which Scherer's exegesis presents to us? Faith in +it rests on two bases; _first_, the inspiration and canon of Scripture; +and _second_, the subjects or organs of inspiration. The first is +untenable and false, for the stand-point of authority has already +spoiled everything in our theology. Authority determines beforehand what +we must believe, whereas reason alone should perform that office. There +is a communicated revelation to our own minds which should claim the +high office of authority. The Bible, in an objective sense, is a divine +book, because it contains the remembrance of the most important events +in the religious history of the world. Judaism and Christianity are +there in their completeness. The Bible is therefore more than a book; it +presents us with the living personality of those who founded Christ's +Kingdom on earth. Inspiration, such as we find in the Scriptures, is not +confined to them, for it is immanent wherever there is intelligence. The +spirit of the Bible is the eternal spirit of God; but it is the same +spirit which has inspired all good men in past Scriptural periods,--the +Augustines, St. Bernards, Arndts, and Vinets. It is a falsehood of +theology against faith to deny these men the same kind of inspiration +which we find in the Scriptures. Biblical inspiration differs in +different writers. They wrote from diverse stand-points. The chroniclers +of Scripture told all they knew, but not much could be expected of them. +Who would dare to speak of the inspiration of the books of Samuel, Ruth, +Kings, and Chronicles? + +But let us hear what Scherer says of the miracles of Christ. No +evangelical facts should be taken as points of departure in testing +Christianity. It is absurd to speak of Christ's miracles as being +designed for manifestations of his divinity. Conceding them to be +prodigies, they are far below those of Moses and Elijah. Christ did not +work miracles in attestation of his power. He performed them in +connection with his own words or expressions of other persons. When he +gave miraculous power to his disciples, he simply did it as a means of +beneficence. Miracles, in their true sense, are opposed to both the +Jewish and Christian notions of them. Those of Christ are not the +attestation and recommendation of his ministry; they are acts of that +ministry; acts which have not their value exterior to themselves; whose +value is not in their argumentative character, but in their own +intrinsic nature. They constitute an integral part of the gospel, but +nothing more. Christ's cures are not solely the symbol, they are the +counterpart of the spiritual redemption brought by him unto the world. +The authenticity of miracles is another question, and belongs altogether +to exegesis.[106] Taking the Scripture narrative as a whole, we greatly +err in attaching any authority to it. Mohammed and the false prophets +should be placed side by side with Moses and Jesus Christ; for the +religion of Christ is a purely human one, like that of Buddha and the +Arabian prophet. The Mosaic account of creation is evidently absurd; for +man was at first a monkey. + +M. Larroque contends that the time has now come for a total departure +from the last pagan tradition. Christianity has passed its allotted +time, and is now in its death-pangs. Material interests claim minute +attention. All we want is the assertion of a pure, rational religion. It +was a great misfortune that Marcus Aurelius did not popularize the +theism which he expressed in his writings. It would not then have been +possible for Constantine to establish the Christian religion, and the +world would have been spared the irruption of the barbarians, and the +many subsequent periods of darkness.[107] + +M. Rougemont adheres to the accommodation-theory. It is the only method +of relief in this day of darkness. God, in revelation, has only +addressed himself to the physical man. He communicated his spirit--not +the Holy Spirit--to the prophets. But that was exterior action. The +sacred volume is the historic witness of revelation, and is merely a +relative necessity. The Church has existed before the Scriptures, and +could still live if they were extinguished.[108] + +M. Colani is prominent both as preacher and writer. A pastor of +Strasburg being sick, he was urged to supply the pulpit for a few +Sabbaths. Though he accepted with great reluctance, he was successful in +pleasing the congregation. He was chosen permanent pastor, and has +continued the functions of his office, together with the chief +editorship of the _Revue de Theologie_. His opinions are to be found in +that periodical, and in several successful volumes of sermons. He +professes to be neither satisfied with Rationalism in its destructive +sense, nor with orthodoxy. He is confessedly one of the champions of the +Critical School. Skepticism, he contends, is perfectly legitimate. We +are authorized to doubt; our opinions are fallible; we must be prepared +to change them whenever we think we can find better ones. The Bible is +intended to reveal to us a life, not a dogma. We find in it no effort to +describe dogmas; no theological criticisms; no system of morality.[109] +Religious inspiration is nothing but an extraordinary kindling of the +divine spirit inherent in human nature. The Scripture writers are +imperfect and limited by their own intelligence. The only way to +reconcile religion and science is by history. We must study man not as +an individual or nation, but as to his human nature. By doing this we +will not take a characteristic for the man himself. Man is, by the +testimony of history, a religious being, and history reveals his +destiny. + +Immortality is accepted. We have a personal life going into the +infinite. Humanity develops itself by the action of the individual +genius, and the individual only successfully unfolds himself by not +breaking the bond which unites him to the general development of his +species. We must consider the Bible as a collection of documents, over +which criticism has absolute rights. We must distinguish between the +thought of Christ and that of his historians. They insisted on what +seemed to them miracles. Christ is in open conflict with the principle +which would make miracles the necessary sign of a true revelation. He +has taught the world to recognize God in the regular operation of +natural laws. He never lays down any dogmatic conditions, and does not +make religious character dependent on the reception of any class of +doctrines. We must have faith in him alone, and not in his words. To be +a Christian is to participate in the general life of the Christian +church, and to take part with others in the labor of the Christian +mind.[110] + +M. Pecaut affirms that the present position of the French Protestant +church is no longer tenable, for its principle of doctrinal faith +restrains free examination. It is, however, in a transition-period, and +there is an indication of progress in the present interest in great +questions of theology. For the doctrines of Protestantism we should +substitute a pure, simple Deism; we should substitute philanthropism for +morality. The Bible is not entitled to authority, for it has no trace of +inspiration. There is no such thing as mediation. We must not attach too +much importance to the Messianic idea, for this would imply a special +revelation. The Gospels rest on a very insecure basis. The theses of +Paul betray a continued oscillation between the mystic and Jewish +conceptions. As a whole, the Bible is not divine, and we should at once +discard faith in its authoritative character. The only way by which +Christ now acts upon persons is by the force of his example and ideas, +just as Moses, Mohammed, and Socrates now influence men. Religious faith +is not necessarily faith in Christ. He was not free from sin in a moral +sense; he had a natural sinfulness by virtue of his humanity.[111] + +M. Grotz, pastor at Nismes, was once under the influence of A. Monod, +but owing to the withdrawal of Scherer from orthodoxy, he joined the +Rationalists. He holds that revelation is not peculiar to the +Scriptures. There are many kinds of revelation, and we find them +continually in history. Every manifestation of God is a revelation. We +must always examine freely and critically; nowhere does Christ enjoin +the contrary. We need to use our intellectual faculties and conscience. +The greatest revelation is Christ,--not his doctrines, but himself. We +should always keep prophecy and miracles in the background, for they are +minor questions and should occupy an humble position.[112] + +Of all the members of the Critical School, Renan is the best known to +the English and American public. He has written a number of works on +various topics,[113] but it is by his _Life of Jesus_ that he has gained +greatest celebrity. God, Providence, and immortality are, with him, dull +words about which philosophy has long played and finally interpreted in +the most refined sense. + +There is no reason why a pappoose should be immortal. Religion is a +part of man's nature, and, in return, he is benefited and elevated by +it. God's revelation is in man's innate consciousness. There is no +necessity for miracles; all that we need in this life is the mere result +of the operation of natural forces. The present age is one in which we +should freely criticise whatever comes up for acceptance; but it is +wrong to assume the propagandist. Let men have their own views; we have +no right to force others upon them. Man is very much attached to the +theories contained in the world's first religion. He has given it +symbolical expression, for it is thus that religion will always embody +itself. Man wants some way by which to tell how and what he thinks of +God.[114] + +The Gospels were all written, Renan contends, in the first century. The +Jews were anticipating somebody who would prove a means of their +improvement. Christ fitted the ideal, and the way was smoothed for his +success by their visions, dreams, and hopes. The beautiful scenery of +lake, valley, mountain, and river developed his poetic temperament. Then +the Old Testament made a deep impression on him, for he imagined it was +full of voices pointing him out as the great future reformer. He was +unacquainted with Hellenic culture, and hence it was his misfortune not +to know that miracles had been wisely rejected by the schools which had +received the Greek wisdom. In course of time a period of intoxication +came upon him. He imagined that he was to bring about a new church which +he everywhere calls the Kingdom of God. His views were Utopian; he lived +in a dream life, and his idealism elevated him above all other +agitators. He founded a sect, and his disciples became intoxicated with +his own dreams. But he did not sanction all their excesses: for +instance, he did not believe the inexact and contradictory genealogies +which we find in his historians. + +Yet he was a thorough thaumaturgist and sometimes indulged a gloomy +feeling of resentment. His miracles are greatly exaggerated. He probably +did some things which, to ignorant minds, appeared prodigies, but they +were very few in number. He never rose from the dead; he had never +raised Lazarus. By and by, the love of his disciples created him into a +divinity, clothed him with wonderful powers, made him greater than he +had ever pretended to be. Hence Christianity arose. It was love like +that of Mary Magdalene, "a hallucinated woman, whose passion gave to the +world a resurrected God."[115] Renan's position will explain all that he +says of Christ. He looks at him from the stand-point of naturalism. +Christ is no mediator. As an American writer has well said: "From this +life of Christ no one would ever infer that there was sin in the world +and that Christ came to save sinners." + +The reception of the _Life of Jesus_ was most hearty throughout France. +Criticism from every side was employed upon it. Over a hundred thousand +copies were soon sold, and translations were made into all the European +tongues. Its greatest success was in Roman Catholic countries. In +France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and Spain it has found a warm +reception, but in the north of Europe, Protestant Germany, and England, +it has had less success. As to the ultimate effect of the work, we have +every reason to value the opinion of M. de Pressense, who has surveyed +the whole ground, and also written the best criticism upon Renan that +has appeared in any country. He says: "I am persuaded that the results +accomplished by it will be, in the main, good; that it will not shake +the faith of any true believer; that it will produce, with many of those +who were wavering, a good reaction, which will bring them back to a +positive faith; and that the common sense of the people will not fail to +see that it is not thus that history is written, and that the problem of +the origin of Christianity still remains unexplained in its grandeur." +It is likely that an advantage will accrue to Renan from the recent +action of the Government. He occupied the chair of Oriental Languages in +the College of France, but was deposed by the Minister of Public +Instruction. Boasting that he would still retain his title, he continued +to teach in his private house. He lost his salary, but claimed the +martyr-crown. When last heard from, he was traveling in the countries +described in the New Testament as the scene of the labors of the +apostles. His avowed purpose is to publish an attack upon the apostolic +history. + +Athanase Coquerel, jr., editor of the _Lien_, and a celebrated preacher, +justly takes rank among the leaders of the Critical School. He has +recently been the subject of an excitement of little less absorbing +interest than the sensation occasioned by Renan. Fourteen years ago, +Martin Paschoud, one of the Rationalistic Reformed pastors of Paris, +selected him as his suffragan or assistant. The Consistory ratified the +appointment. + +In the Reformed church the assistant pastors do not hold their office by +the same title as the titular or regular pastors. The continuance of the +former is subject to renewal every two or three years by the +Presbyterial Council. But the regular pastors, when first nominated by +the Consistory, are afterwards confirmed by the Government. They cannot +be removed except by the action of the state. This is the reason why so +many Rationalistic pastors are now in full possession of prominent +Protestant pulpits in France. No synod, consistory, or presbytery has +power to try them for heresy. In fact, there is no standard of doctrine +by which heresy can be tested. There being no General Assembly, with +power either to establish new standards of doctrine or to give vitality +to the old ones, the pulpits of the Reformed church are open to every +form of teaching that may profess to be Christian.[116] + +Coquerel's last renewal expired about the end of 1863, when his +re-appointment became necessary. But his decline into Rationalism had +been so rapid that the Presbyterial Council refused to renew the +mandate, and he lost his position as suffragan by a vote of twelve +against three. He subsequently published a confession of his faith, +addressed to his former catechumens, in which the only point of real +defense which he substantiates is the charge of Pantheism. He strongly +affirms his belief in the personality of God. From M. Coquerel's essays +we can derive a correct view of his Rationalistic principles. He affirms +that his opinions on the trinity, original sin, the atonement, +inspiration of the Scriptures, and other doctrines, called fundamental, +are not a little, but _altogether_ different from the orthodox views. He +does not consider the Bible inspired, and has therefore written a work +in defense of Renan, his "dear and learned friend." As for the Gospels, +he finds in them the sublimest of all histories on the one hand, and +traces of legends on the other; doctrines and precepts of eternal +validity in one place, and stains of the errors of the age in which the +books were written, in another. Reason has the right of judging all the +truths of revelation. The Confession of Faith of the sixteenth century +is a very good monument of the faith of our fathers, but should not now +be imposed. The Apostles and Evangelists never made any claim to +infallibility. There are two groups of views concerning Christ in the +New Testament: _First_, that contained in Paul's epistles, especially in +Hebrews. Paul did not identify Christ with God, nor did he misconceive +the humanity of Christ, and attribute preexistence to him. _Second._ All +the second group, consisting of the epistles of James and Peter, the +Acts, and the Apocalypse, rest on a purely historical view. To the +writers of the latter, Jesus seemed the Messiah; hence we have from them +all that is extraordinary in his history. Christ meant in Matt. xi. 27, +that he had received his knowledge from God. He did not refer to his own +essence. Literal interpretation of Scripture does not bring us to a +knowledge of Christ. His humanity, being all that is valuable in his +character, contains the mystery that belongs more or less to every +individual. His commission from God does not differ from that of other +men. That which distinguishes him from his species was his knowledge of +humanity and of the future. He had not omniscience, nor infallibility; +nothing but superior knowledge. He had his gross defects; for example, +his belief in the power of evil spirits. Yet Christ was not a real +sinner, and he represented and realized progress without any arrest. +Thus he is the ideal and model of humanity. + +That which distinguishes Coquerel's views from Socinianism is his +Christology. Contending for the moral purity of Christ, he holds that he +was the second Adam. But Christ was not the Son of God. He was so +denominated just as we term a hero the Son of Mars. We must look at the +Scriptures in the light of reason; then we shall behold the fabulous +element. Many parts differ in quality, while some are not authentic. The +Second Epistle of Peter, for example, was neither written by that +apostle nor was it a product of his age. But authority does not rest in +the letter, or in the leaves of Scripture. The divine spirit acts in the +soul freely and independently of the letter. It is high time that we +renounce the puerile, disrespectful, and contradictory worship of the +letter. The letter killeth. + +The French Critical School numbers among its adherents many young and +talented theologians, some of whom are already distinguished for +profound learning and literary activity. But the history of Skepticism +discloses the fact that religious error has always attracted the young +to its embrace. One half of the triumphs of infidelity are attributable +to the flattering promises which it makes to those who have not lived +long enough to know that infidelity is nothing but a colossal structure +of egotism. The deluding voice says to the young man, "You live in a +progressive age, and why are you not progressive yourself? Your fathers +believed the old Confessions, imagined Christ to be divine, and the +Scriptures inspired. We do not blame them much, for they knew no better. +But, if you follow in their footsteps, the world will never give you any +credit for originality; your slow chariot will move on in the old rut; +you will never accomplish anything; your generation will be in advance +of you. Be a man! The field of usefulness, prominence, and honor, opens +before you. Think for yourself! The Bible is a book of the past, and you +should have more manliness and independence than to be guided by its +declarations." + +It is not surprising that the temptation to fall into this snare is, for +many, too great to be resisted. This is true not only of many young +Frenchmen, but also of large numbers of Englishmen and Americans, who +are casting about for a permanent creed. When they yield, they little +dream of the unhappiness in store for them. They never have the +consolation derived from settled opinions; life passes without a fixed +faith; old age becomes miserable; and death, however much it may appear +to be a relief, is a step into darkness and uncertainty. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[99] Stevens, _History of Methodism_, Vol. 2, pp. 331-339. + +[100] For thinking circles, it issues the _Revue de Theologie et de +Philosophie Chretienne_, founded fifteen years ago by Scherer and +Colani. It influences the general public by the daily political paper, +_Le Temps_, and the _Revue Germanique_. The Strasburg _Revue_ and Paris +_Lien_, are for the special benefit of Protestants in general; while the +_Disciple de Jesus Christ_ and _Piete-Charite_ are designed for children +and uneducated persons. + +[101] M. De Coninck, _Christian Work_, April, 1863. + +[102] _Progress of Religious Thought in the Protestant Church of +France_, pp. 8-9. + +[103] _L'Eglise Reformee de France et la Theologie Nouvelle_, pp. 5-7. + +[104] _Progress of Religious Thought in the Protestant Church of +France_, pp. 89-90. + +[105] _Progress of Religious Thought in the Protestant Church of +France._ _Biographical Notices_, pp. iii.-iv. + +[106] Essays: _Theological Conversations_; _Errata of the New +Testament_; _What the Bible is_; _The Miracles of Christ_. + +[107] _Examen Critique des Doctrines de la Religion Chretienne_; +_Renovation Religieuse_. + +[108] _Christ et ses Temoins._ + +[109] _Revue de Theologie._ Oct. 1853. + +[110] Essay: _Views and Aim_. Sermons: _What there is in the Bible_; +_The Simplicity of the Gospel_. + +[111] _Le Christ et la Conscience._ + +[112] Essay: _What is Revelation?_ + +[113] _Studies of Religious History_; _On the Origin of Language_; +_Averroes and Averroism_; _History and comparative System of the Semitic +Languages_; _Book of Job_; _Essays on Morals and Criticism_; _Solomon's +Song_. + +[114] _Miscellanies._ + +[115] _Life of Jesus._ American Edition. + +[116] McClintock, Letter of March, 1864, in _New York Methodist_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FRANCE CONTINUED: EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OPPOSING RATIONALISM. + + +The influences operating against the integrity and progress of the +Protestant church of France are opposed by vigorous agencies. From the +clergy and laity men of eminent endowments have arisen who, in +ecclesiastical councils, and through the press, have defended +evangelical Christianity with a spirit worthy of their Huguenot +ancestors. Their task has been herculean. At every point of the horizon +infidelity has appeared, and sought to gain a hearing in Paris. Romanism +has crippled the advance of truth among the masses. The priesthood enjoy +the favor of the government. But the faithful and learned adherents to +orthodoxy in all parts of the empire are able to cope with their +antagonists. Inspired by such men as Vinet and Monod, they do not stand +merely on the defensive, but are constantly aggressive. + +Foremost of the modern reformers of France stands the name of M. Edmond +de Pressense. He is a vigorous writer, takes an active part in public +religious movements, and edits the _Revue Chretienne_, a theological +monthly, which, in both the ability and orthodoxy exhibited in its +contents, has no superior in the world. Through this medium M. de +Pressense is able to keep up a constant attack upon his adversaries, and +to discover all their subterfuges as fast as they may appear. We do not +look to this theologian for a system, because he publishes his views +mostly as replies to the assaults of Rationalism. Yet, by an analysis of +his writings, we shall find him entertaining such opinions as do equal +honor to his devout spirit and gigantic intellect. + +M. de Pressense believes that it is the duty of the Church not to create +a moderate Rationalism to take the place of the bolder system, but to +engage anew in a vigorous warfare against a school that would contest +the divine basis on which Christianity rests. Such, he holds, is the +task of the Christian philosophy of the present day. Evangelical +Protestantism is everywhere manifesting a necessity of reorganization. +And it has need to do so. The Church of the present day is engaged in an +inner crisis, which, in one respect, is legitimate; for it has the great +burden of expurgation and reconstruction upon it. The burden consists in +separating the immortal truth of the gospel from human imperfections, +and in finding in it a more complete expression. The present crisis has +dangers and temptations which, in our day, render moral and intellectual +life very difficult, and multiply shipwrecks before our eyes. "We wish," +M. de Pressense declares for himself and his co-laborers, "to serve the +cause of evangelical theology, and nothing else. We do not lift a +standard which would summon all opinions and systems without +distinction. We stand upon the position that there is a positive +revelation, which is not the most distinguished product of human reason, +but a divine work of redemption by him whom we appeal to as the Son of +Man and the Son of God, who 'died for our sins and rose again for our +justification.' It is in the Holy Scriptures that we find the revelation +which supplies the immortal wants of our conscience. Apostolical +Christianity does not come to us as the first theological elaboration, +the first system in a series. It is Christianity itself, and +consequently the primitive type, from which we ought never to wander. It +is the norm and rule of theology. Within these limits we freely admit +the liberty of thought. Variety of opinions has nothing which frightens +us; and we would regard uniformity and unanimity on secondary points as +a fearful evil."[117] + +The purity of the Protestant theology of France is an aim constantly +before M. de Pressense. He holds that, notwithstanding the diversity of +its formulae, this theology is distinguished by two features: _first_, it +accepts the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and considers them alone +as containing the normal type of Christian thought; _second_, it +believes firmly in redemption, and that is in the salvation of ruined +humanity brought about by the sacrifice of the Man-God. Though the fall +of man was great, it was not absolute. Man was ruined by apostasy, but +he was not left destitute of all higher life. He retained some vestige +of his primal nature. A sense of the divine, a religious aptitude, and +the longing to return to God, subsist in his heart. These render his +redemption possible; for the moral law, which had been vindicated by the +terrible consequences of the fall, is maintained in all its integrity in +the restoration of the fallen creature. A certain harmony was necessary +between man and God in order to salvation. Had our nature been +thoroughly perverted, no contact would have been possible. We would not +have had the capacity to receive from God that great gift which was the +only mode of repairing the fall of beings created in his image and +formed to possess him.[118] + +This being the condition of man, M. de Pressense maintains that the +result of this divine teaching was to convince him of his weakness and +evoke the desire of salvation. Therefore Christianity comes in to supply +a felt want of human nature. Here is the first point of contact between +conscience and revelation. The Cross is not simply a testimony to the +Father's love, like the flowers at our feet, or the starry sky above our +head. It is the altar of the great sacrifice which restores man to God +and God to man. Christ is for us a Saviour as well as a Revealer.[119] +There is one perfection which can be perceived by neither the eye of the +body nor by that of the soul, unless it be revealed by a supernatural +fact. We mean the mercy of God. Pardon does not consist in the pure and +simple abrogation of condemnation; nor can it restore guilty humanity to +communion with God while the state of revolt lasts. Humanity can only be +saved by returning to God, and it will not return to God until the +divine law has been perfectly filled by it. Christ alone is capable of +completely carrying out the divine law. The obedience must go as far as +sacrifice, for the fall of man demands it. By coming here, Christ took +upon himself the wrath of God. He who was without sin was treated like a +sinner. He suffered and died, but his sufferings and death rose to the +height of a free sacrifice of love and obedience. Condemnation, thus +accepted, is no longer condemnation. It is an act of union with God, _un +acte reparateur_,--a redemption. + +The Bible, according to M. de Pressense, is not a metaphysical +geometry, but a description of the struggle of Divine love with human +liberty. This great Bible history, if we consider it at the time when +the Redeemer accomplished our salvation, stands before us as the most +striking consecration of the moral idea. Redemption is the painfully +reestablished agreement between the human and the divine will by a +mysterious sacrifice. It is the most perfect reciprocal penetration of +the divine and human by means of liberty. If the moral idea be +consecrated by Christ, it will lead to the Gospel. No one will become a +Christian unless he has determined to listen to his conscience, and +never question concerning moral certainty. We know of no other +corner-stone in morality or in religion. But, in order to bring the +truths of the Gospel home to the heart, there must be religious liberty. +Christianity is the religion of love, but to what could a reconciliation +amount which is not free? It is the religion of freedom; and God, in +order to save us, has need of freedom. + +M. de Pressense, in his recent discussion on the religious bearings of +the French Revolution, proves from an historical stand-point the +absolute necessity of the separation of Church and State. His excellent +work is entitled, _The Church and the French Revolution; a History of +the Relations of Church and State from 1789 to 1802_. The motto upon the +title-page, derived jointly from Mirabeau and Cavour, will indicate the +spirit of the book: "Remember that God is as necessary as liberty to the +French people--The Free Church in the Free State." We trust the day is +distant when M. de Pressense will be compelled to lay aside the pen. He +is engaged in a contest of momentous issues. That he has violent enemies +might be expected; yet he has also the sympathy and prayers of many warm +supporters. Hopeful and ardent, he sees indications of success where +others imagine darkness and failure. And why not? He has God and truth +on his side. + +The Evangelical School has an able defender from the laity, the +distinguished scholar and statesman, M. Guizot. No one has taken a +deeper interest in the present controversy from its inception to the +present time than that venerable man. It had been supposed for some time +that he was meditating a reply to Renan's _Life of Jesus_. We now have, +as the latest fruit of his graceful and prolific pen, the first +instalment of the _Meditations upon the Christian Religion_, a work +which will prove not only a fitting answer to his countryman's attack on +the Gospels, but will serve equally well as an antidote to the present +skeptical tendencies of French theology. + +According to M. Guizot, there is a great intellectual and social +revolution now in progress. Its characteristics and tendencies are the +scientific spirit, and the preponderance of the democratic principle and +of political liberty. Christianity has submitted to tests and trials, +and it must pass through those of the present day. It has surmounted all +others, and so it will overcome this. Its essence and origin would not +be divine if it did not adapt itself to all the different forms of human +institutions. Christian people must not deceive themselves as to the +nature of the present struggle, the perils which it threatens, and the +legitimate arms with which to oppose infidelity. Skeptics attack the +Christian religion with brutal fanaticism and dexterous learning. They +appeal to sincere convictions, and the worst passions. Some contest +Christianity as false, others reject it as too exacting and imposing +excessive restraint. + +Concerning the Church and its relations to the enemies of evangelical +faith, M. Guizot asks, "Does it comprehend properly and carry on +suitably the warfare in which it is engaged? Does it tend to reestablish +a real peace, and active harmonious relations between itself and that +general society in the midst of which it is living? In order to answer +these inquiries, he defines the church. It is not one branch, but the +whole body of Christ on earth. Therefore, when men deny the supernatural +world, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the divinity of Jesus +Christ, they really assail the whole body of Christians--Romanists, +Protestants, or Greeks. They are virtually attempting to destroy the +foundations of faith in all the belief of Christians, whatever their +particular differences of religious opinion, or forms of ecclesiastical +government. All Christian churches live by faith. No form of government, +monarchical or republican, concentrated or diffused, suffices to +maintain a church. There is no authority so strong, and no liberty so +broad, as to be able in a religious society to dispense with the +necessity of faith. What is it that unites in a church if it is not +faith? Faith is the bond of souls. When the foundations of their common +faith are attacked, the differences existing between Christian churches +upon special questions, or the diversities of their organization or +government, become secondary interests. It is from a common peril that +they have to defend themselves, or they must be content to see dried up +the common source from which they all derive sustenance and life.[120]" + +In the _Meditation_ already published, M. Guizot discusses the essence +of Christianity, creation, revelation, inspiration of the Scriptures, +God according to the Biblical account, and Jesus according to the Gospel +narrative. In order to complete his work, the author designs to write +three more parts. In the second, he will examine the authenticity of the +Scriptures, the primary causes of the foundation of Christianity, the +great religious crisis in the sixteenth century which divided the Church +and Europe between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and finally +those different anti-Christian crises which at different periods and in +different countries have set in question and imperiled Christianity +itself, but which dangers it has ever surmounted. + +The third _Meditation_ will be a survey of the present internal and +external condition of the Christian religion. The regeneration of the +Roman Catholic and Protestant churches at the commencement of the +nineteenth century will be exhibited. The author will then describe the +impulse imparted by the Spiritualistic Philosophy, and the opposition it +met with in Materialism, Pantheism, and Skepticism. He will conclude by +exposing the fundamental error of these systems as the avowed and active +enemies of Christianity. In the _fourth_ series there will be a +characterization of the future destiny of the Christian religion, and an +indication of the course by which it is called upon to conquer +completely the earth and then to sway it morally. M. Guizot, having +spent his life in political excitement, now resolves to occupy his +remaining years in aiding the cause of religion. "I have passed," says +he, "thirty-five years of my life in struggling, on a bustling arena, +for the establishment of political liberty, and the maintenance of order +as established by law. I have learned, in the labors and trials of this +struggle, the real worth of Christian faith and of Christian liberty. +God permits me, in the repose of my retreat, to consecrate to their +cause what remains to me of life and of strength. It is the most +salutary favor and the greatest honor that I can receive from his +goodness." + +We may now ask, What is the fruit of the labors of MM. de Pressense, +Guizot, and their heroic coadjutors? Is the spirit of French +Protestantism against them, and are the majority of the clergy yielding +to the insinuating arguments of the skeptical school? These questions +are satisfactorily answered by the recent action of the French +Protestant Conferences. The Conferences are not composed of members +formally admitted, but of the pastors and elders who attend the spring +anniversaries, and choose to participate in them. The General Conference +includes all denominations of Protestants; the special, only the +ministers of the Lutheran and Reformed churches who constitute together +the National Protestant Church. Whatever action may be adopted by either +body is a safe index of the sentiment pervading the entire mass of +French Protestantism. In the General Conference which convened in Paris +in the spring of 1863, there was a violent debate between the +Rationalistic and Evangelical members. M. de Pressense presided. Pastor +Bersier made a remarkable speech, in which he declared that true +science, light, liberty, and progress are on the side of earnest faith +in revelation, the atonement, and the other great doctrines of Christian +truth. At the conclusion of the discussion, the following protest was +carried by an overwhelming majority: + +"The Conference, considering that the faithful may be troubled by +systems of the present day, attacking the very basis of Christianity and +the Church; that these negations are produced in the name of science, +and given as the definitive results of the elaboration of modern +thought,--protests in the name of Christian faith, of Christian +conscience, of Christian experience, of Christian science, against every +doctrine which tends to overturn the existence of supernatural order, of +the divine authority of the Scriptures, of the divinity of Jesus Christ, +and all that touches the very essence of Christianity; such as it has +been professed in all times, by all churches, marked with the seal of +religious power and faithfulness. The Conference invites the faithful to +beware of these systems of science, a thousand times contradicted by the +incessant transformations of the human mind; and exhorts the different +churches to make efforts and sacrifices to favor the development and +progress of Christian science." + +The Rationalists hoped that by spending a year in the industrious +promulgation of their opinions, they would gain some official +recognition or power in the ensuing Conference. Accordingly, when the +General Conference of 1864 convened, they demanded the passage of a +resolution by which ministers would be freed from all authority, and +permitted to preach any doctrine, no doctrine, or a denial of all +Christianity, as they might choose. The debate was very animated, and +lasted three days. But the result was all that the most sanguine friends +of orthodoxy could desire. The Conference adopted the following +declaration, by a large majority: + +"_Whereas_, For some years, pastors and professors of theology have +expressed opinions which affect not only the divine authority of the +Holy Scriptures, but also the most elementary doctrines of Christianity; +the Conferences declare that it is an abuse of power and a spiritual +tyranny for a minister of Jesus Christ to take advantage of his position +to propagate directly or indirectly, ideas contrary to the fundamental +doctrines of Christianity, such as the authority of the Bible, the +divinity and redemption of Jesus Christ, which are contained in all the +Protestant liturgies." + +M. Guizot, who is an elder in the Reformed church, took a prominent part +in the session of the special Conference in 1864. He introduced a +declaration of principles, the character of which may be judged by the +following extract: "We have full faith, _1st._ In the supernatural power +of God in the government of the world, and especially in the +establishment of the Christian religion; _2d._ In the divine and +supernatural inspiration of the Holy Books, as well as in their +sovereign authority in religious matters; _3d._ In the eternal divinity +and miraculous birth as well as in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus +Christ, God-man, Saviour, and Redeemer of men. We are convinced that +these articles of the Christian religion are also those of the Reformed +church, which has plainly acknowledged them." "Gentlemen," said he, in +support of his proposition, "I call your attention to one important +fact. Look around you! The attacks against the bases of Christianity are +seen everywhere, in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England, and France. +I fear nothing, provided aggression meets with resistance.... I have +entire confidence in the cause of Christianity. But man is God's +workman; it is by our faith and labor that the Christian religion must +be defended. Gentlemen, we have before us a responsible position and +great duties. We are the vanguard of all Christianity; we have behind us +all the Christian communions. Let us show ourselves equal to this great +task, and firmly resolve to accomplish it." + +The debate resulted in the adoption of the declaration by a vote of one +hundred and forty-one against twenty-three. + +In addition to these proofs of the orthodoxy of French Protestantism, +there is another of different character but of not less significance. We +mean the successful working of the evangelizing agencies lately +inaugurated in France. Forty years ago, A. Monod was in the midst of his +small Sunday School in Paris. The government was in the hands of the +Jesuits, and Protestantism had neither the political power nor spiritual +disposition to labor for the conversion of Romanists. As M. Grandpierre +has graphically said: "From 1810 to 1815 you could count on your five +fingers those Protestant French pastors who preached faithfully and +zealously the true principles of Christianity." + +But improvement began, and between 1820 and 1830 several important +religious societies were organized in Paris. The Methodist and Free +Churches vied with the two National Protestant Churches in efforts for +the conversion of the masses. In 1830, the Free Church possessed but one +place of worship, but it now has a complete establishment for +evangelizing purposes in almost every _quartier_ of the great +metropolis. In the same year there were but six Protestant pastors and +five Churches; but in 1857 there were thirty-nine pastors and fifty-one +sanctuaries. Including the whole of France, there are, under Protestant +jurisdiction, about one thousand pastors, from fifteen to sixteen +hundred churches, and from seventeen to eighteen hundred elementary +schools. The official census previous to 1857 gives the total number of +Protestants in Paris as thirteen thousand; and seven hundred and seventy +thousand throughout the country. M. Grandpierre thinks these numbers are +really double; for in Paris alone two pastors are omitted, and if they +are left out what must be expected of the members under them? During +1862 twenty new Protestant Churches were opened and consecrated to the +worship of God. Twenty-five years ago there was but one Protestant +bookstore in Paris, and it was threatened from time to time with +bankruptcy. Now there are four, all of which are in a flourishing +condition. There is a Sunday School in nearly every Protestant Church of +the Empire. + +Almost every year some new society is organized, having for its avowed +object the conversion of souls and the relief of the suffering. Those +now in prosperous existence will compare favorably with similar +institutions in Great Britain and the United States. We mention the most +prominent: The French and Foreign Bible Society, which sold eighty-eight +thousand copies of the Bible in 1862; the Protestant Bible Society; the +Tract Society; the Paris Missionary Society; the Primary School Society +and the Protestant Son Society. Each of these has its well-defined field +of labor, one aiming to arouse slumbering Protestants, another to seek +out wandering Protestants, and a third to educate homeless children. The +Evangelical Society of France, whose secretaryship M. de Pressense has +held for thirty years, founded during the year 1862 nine new Churches; +created six additional centres of evangelization; aided twenty churches; +supported two Normal Schools; organized many others; cultivated two of +the faubourgs of Paris; and expended three millions five hundred and +eighty thousand francs for the purposes of evangelization. In addition +to these societies, there are Orphan institutions, Schools, Asylums for +the unprotected, destitute, fallen, sick, and infirm; some associations +for the aid of those near at hand, and others for those at a distance. +The press has been active in the same great cause. Weekly and monthly +journals have been multiplied, and carry the good news of God not only +through France but into all parts of the Continent. The theological +schools are in a flourishing condition, and evangelical professors are +everywhere in the majority. Of the seven teachers at Montauban, five are +outspoken adherents of orthodoxy. The inability of M. Reville to be +elected to a chair in that institution indicates the religious status of +those in authority of it. + +Neander said one day to M. de Pressense, "This period in which we live +is indeed a critical one. It is to be a dismal abyss or a rosy morning +light. But, depend upon it, it is going to be whatever we have a mind to +make it." The Evangelical Protestant clergy of France "have a mind" to +do a good and permanent work. We do not apprehend an unfavorable issue +from the present conflict, but that the prayers, proscription, and exile +of eight hundred thousand Huguenots will yet reap their appropriate +harvest, and that the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes will be avenged +by the pure faith and permanent triumphs of Protestantism. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[117] _Revue Chretienne_, Feb., 1861. + +[118] _Religions before Christ_, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1862. + +[119] _Le Redempteur_, Paris, 1854. + +[120] _Meditations on the Essence of Christianity._ Preface, pp. 6-10. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SWITZERLAND: ORTHODOXY IN GENEVA, AND THE NEW SPECULATIVE RATIONALISM IN +ZUeRICH. + + +Switzerland has failed to retain the influence over the theological +thought of Europe enjoyed by her in the days of Zwinglius and Calvin. +Impressions, instead of being given, have of late only been received. +France and Germany have contributed their respective phases of theology, +the French Cantons adopting the opinions emanating from the former +country, and the German those from the latter. We must not therefore +expect to find a very wide difference either respecting theology or +practical religion between the Swiss and their two influential +neighbors. + +When the Skepticism of Voltaire and his disciples was penetrating the +French mind the Reformed Church of Switzerland did not long remain +unaffected by it. While that crafty man was enjoying his romantic +retreat at Ferney, he was visited and even flattered by persons who had +taken upon themselves the vows of the Christian ministry. The pastors of +Geneva were regarded by the Encyclopaedists as sympathizers and +co-laborers in overthrowing the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel. In +the early part of the nineteenth century there was in Switzerland, as in +Germany, a strife between the old confessional faith and Rationalism. +But in Germany Reason attacked the contents of the Scriptures, while in +Switzerland the attempt was made to reduce all revealed truth to a +system of natural religion. Rationalism in the Swiss Church was Arianism +and Socinianism revived.[121] It swept away the strong Calvinism of the +old Genevan theology. The clergy were little better than the English +Deists. D'Alembert says, "All the religion that many of the ministers of +Geneva have is a complete Socinianism, rejecting everything called +mystery, and supposing that the first principle of a true religion is to +propose nothing to be received as a matter of faith which strikes +against reason." Rousseau declares that those who filled the pulpits of +that venerable city had no answer to the question, "Is Christ divine?" + +Theological training was neglected. The professors, like the pastors, +committed themselves to an undisguised system of Rationalistic +Unitarianism. M. Bost, writing in 1825, says that, "for more than thirty +years the ministers who have gone out of our schools of theology, to +serve either the churches of our own land or those of France and other +foreign countries, have not received one single lecture on the truths +which exclusively belong to revelation, such as the redemption of +mankind by the death of Christ, the justification of the Saviour by +faith, the corruption of our nature, the divinity of our Saviour, &c. In +theology we were taught nothing but what are called the dogmas of +natural religion. The extent to which this practical incredulity was +carried is clear from the fact, elsewhere unheard of, I suspect, in the +annals of the Protestant churches, that, excepting for a lecture in the +Hebrew language, when the Bible was used simply as a Hebrew book, and +not for anything it contained, the word of God was never used +throughout our course; in particular, the New Testament never appeared, +either as a language-book or for any other purpose; there was no need of +the New Testament, whatever, in order to complete our four years' course +in theology; in other words, that book, especially in the original, was +not at all among the number of books required in order to accomplish the +career of our studies for the sacred ministry."[122] + +The _Venerable Compagnie_, comprising the clergymen and theological +professors of Geneva, went so far, in 1817, as to impose upon all +candidates for ordination to the ministry, the obligation not to preach +on the two natures of Christ, original sin, predestination, and other +received doctrines of their confession. As might be expected, practical +piety was thrown into the background. Children were not instructed in +the Scriptures, and the churches were attended by small congregations, +who were favored with no better gospel than the combined opinions of +Voltaire and the German Rationalists. There were here and there loud +protests against this apostasy. The Canton Vaud was benefited by the +labors of that excellent woman, Madame de Kruedener, who exchanged a life +of Parisian gayety and affluence for humble labors among the poor and +uninstructed Swiss. She loved to sit upon a wooden bench and teach all +who came to her the truths of the Bible and the necessity of a +regenerated heart. Her influence was powerful in Geneva after the +commencement of the evangelical movement. Another counteracting agency +was a sect of Methodists, nicknamed the "Momiers," who had gone thither +from England, and were rebuking the prevalent Rationalism by every +available means.[123] + +From the outset Geneva had been the centre of the great religious +decline. The Theological Academy founded by Calvin had become the +nursery of as injurious errors as had emanated from Halle in the period +of Wolf's triumphant career. Its chairs were occupied by the very +teachers described by M. Bost, men in every respect unworthy to prepare +students for the Christian pulpit. But, by the providence of Him who +watches every juncture with a Father's care, a new influence was brought +to bear upon the Academy, and through it upon the whole Protestant +Church of Switzerland. Robert Haldane, having sold his large estate in +Scotland, directed his attention to the moral dearth at Geneva by +endeavoring to imbue the students with his own evangelical opinions and +earnest spirit. His labors were eminently successful. Many of the young +men became converted, and for the first time had a clear conception of +the great work before them. It was through Haldane that Merle d'Aubigne, +Adolphe Monod, Malan, and others of their school, were inspired with the +spirit of the Gospel. Switzerland can never be too grateful to God for +sending such a man at that important crisis. + +The immediate issue of this awakening was the organization of the +Evangelical Dissenting Church. All who had grown dissatisfied with the +formalism and Rationalism of the National Church came to the new fold +and co-operated in the work of reformation. A school of theology, +established in Geneva, was visited by students who came seeking an +education that might enable them to relieve the moral wants of the +masses. Gaussen, the author of _La Theopneustie_, was one of the +professors. The new Church soon found in him its leader. He has recently +died, but his long life has been of valuable service to the kingdom of +Christ. Besides reviving and reorganizing the Sunday School system in +Geneva, and personally superintending the religious instruction of the +children, for whom he wrote his inimitable _Catechisms_, he became the +author of many theological works adapted to the wants of clergy and +laity. In company with a few friends, he published the popular Swiss +version of the New Testament. It occasioned him real joy when he +witnessed late in life the improvement of the National Church of +Switzerland. But it must be confessed that the parent has yet much to +learn and accomplish before reaching the high evangelical status now +occupied by the earnest daughter. + +The name of Vinet belongs to the whole of Protestant Europe, and is +identified with the revival of religious sentiment in Switzerland, +Germany, Holland, and France. His excellent writings have familiarized +him to the theological readers of Great Britain and the United States. +The separation of Church and State was one of the leading aims of his +life, and he eloquently contended for it whenever occasion offered. In +1837 he accepted the invitation of the government of his native canton +to take charge of the professorship of Theology in the Seminary in +Lausanne. Already profoundly impressed with the opinions of Pascal, he +admired the more evangelical portion of Schleiermacher's theology. +Combining these, he originated the only native theological system which +Switzerland has produced since Calvin's day.[124] In all his works he +manifests profound thought and erudition. His _Homiletics_ and _Pastoral +Theology_ have already become text-books in many theological seminaries. + +The spirit now dominant at Geneva clearly indicates the success of the +late efforts toward reform. The congregations have largely increased; +various humanitarian enterprises have been vigorously prosecuted; +societies for the circulation of religious knowledge have been founded; +and the laity have come to the assistance of the clergy in labors for +the social and moral elevation of the masses. For a quarter of a century +young men have been judiciously trained in theology, and Switzerland is +now supplying many prominent French pulpits with her graduates. + +The present sojourner in Geneva finds but few remnants of that skeptical +preaching and general religious indifference so lamentably prevalent +before the rise of the Evangelical Dissenting Church. M. Levalois, who +is an avowed skeptic, looks upon a very different scene from that which +once so delighted Rousseau. Coming from the source they do, his words +are a valuable testimony to the religious growth of the mother-city of +French Protestantism. "I now come," says this traveler, "to the +essential characteristics of Geneva. Before being literary and liberal, +the Genevan is Christian. In Geneva the free-thinking stranger is +_advised_ of Christianity. In the souls of men, instead of meeting with +no resistance, no solidity,--as, for instance, among the greater part of +our Parisian Catholics,--instead of finding himself in the face of a +creed mechanically repeated, of a memory and not of a conscience,--you +feel yourself in contact with an individual who will believe, who can +believe, who is in full possession of the _why_ of his belief. Nothing +in the world is to me so sacred as sincerity in intelligent faith. Just +as I despise certain time-serving Catholics, who are converted because +they dread socialism, or because they dread the Empire, so much do I +respect the man who freely attaches himself to the Gospel, devotes +himself to Christ, and prays to Him. Does this imply that I return from +Geneva a Protestant? No; I have not been _converted_, but, I repeat, +_advised_. I have seen Christianity working, not only in churches, but, +which is much more edifying, in individuals. Yes, I have seen it in +turns the inspirer of language, the spring of actions, the spur and the +discipline, rule and support of the future, impregnating, so to speak, +the flesh and the spirit. Such a spectacle excites one to reflection. We +have been in too great haste to exclaim, Christianity is dead! An hour's +conversation with two or three Genevese, suffices to convince us that if +Christianity is dead it is not yet buried."[125] + +The course of lectures delivered in the Theological Academy of Geneva in +the winter of 1862-'63, may be taken as an illustration of the character +of the instruction imparted in that influential institution. M. Secretan +delivered learned lectures on "Theism." He showed that the objections +which can be raised, on the ground of natural religion, against the +existence and personality of God, lose all their force on Christian +ground; therefore Hegelianism has no base. M. Naville, in his course on +"Spiritualism," summoned the resources of his learning and genius to aid +him in his heroic combat with every form of current materialism. Pastor +Coulin lectured on "Christian Works." It was an eloquent appeal for +renewed Christian activity. MM. Bungener, Bret, and Rorich lectured on +"Christian Life;" M. Gaberel on the "Part taken by Geneva at the time of +the Reformation;" and also on the "Present Literary and Religious state +of Germany;" M. Archinard on the "Ancient Religious Edifices of +Switzerland;" M. Aug. Bost on the "First Fifteen Centuries of the +History of Mankind;" and M. De Gasparin on the "Family Life, its +Organization and Duties." In addition to these, there were lectures on +detached subjects, such as religious prejudices, the study of the Bible +by simple-hearted believers, drunkenness, the religious education of +children, the instruction of catechumens, the dissipation of cities, and +the duty of evangelization.[126] + +Of the German cantons, Basle has been the only one which has +successfully resisted the encroachments of Rationalism. The University +has fully recovered from the influence of De Wette, and the professors +now stand in the front rank of evangelical thinkers. The _Mission House_ +has been a highly useful agency. Though not a half-century old, it has +already trained four hundred missionaries, nearly three hundred of whom +are still living and actively engaged in evangelizing the dark places of +the earth. The people are unwilling to permit any minister to occupy one +of their pulpits whom they have reason to suspect of skeptical opinions. +The infidel Rumpf was excluded in 1858 from the list of candidates for +the ministry, and all his subsequent efforts for restoration have failed +in the chief council. A similar occurrence took place in Berne in 1847, +upon the calling of Zeller to the theological professorship. + +We now turn to a less evangelical part of Switzerland. Zuerich is one of +the acknowledged centres of European Rationalism. Its spiritual decline +has been rapid during the last twenty-five years. In 1839, Strauss, the +author of the _Life of Jesus_, was invited by the chief council to take +a theological chair in the seminary. But the people arising as one man +against the measure, the appointment failed, the council was overthrown +by a popular revolution, and the city still pays a pension to the +disappointed aspirant. But in lamentable contrast with that event is one +of more recent occurrence. As late as 1864, when the little town of +Uster was about to elect a pastor, the candidate declared himself "a +friend of progress and light." Some religious men, unwilling to see +their children placed under the instruction of a skeptic, took upon +themselves the task of showing in what the "progress" consisted. They +accordingly published a notice to their fellow citizens in which they +set forth the avowed opinions of their candidate. The document asserted +that he believed the Bible to be a tissue of fictions and fables; Jesus +a sinful man like others, neither risen from the dead, nor sitting in +the glory of his Father; no one can assert with positiveness a life +beyond the grave; and the opinion that we are reconciled to God by Jesus +Christ, merely a superstition and a day-dream. The authors of the +circular besought the ecclesiastical council to deliver them and their +children from the promulgation of such doctrines, and further reminded +them that every pastor on entering upon his functions must swear to +preach faithfully the word of God, both law and gospel, according to the +fundamental principles of the evangelical Reformed church. The council +took no notice of the remonstrance, though the candidate did not deny +the charges. He was elected by eight hundred and sixty-five votes +against one hundred and forty-five. In the church, where the result was +proclaimed, the acclamations were so loud that they "shook the windows." +In the evening there was a serenade, accompanied by rockets and blue +lights.[127] + +The only representative of evangelical doctrines in the theological +faculty of Zuerich is a tutor, placed there and supported by a private +society. The most effective means by which Rationalism emanates from +that city is periodical literature. The leading publications are, _The +Church of the Present_, and _Voices of the Times_. The latter journal +was commenced in 1859. Its editor, Lang, is a frequent contributor to +prominent Rationalistic serials of Germany, particularly the _Protestant +Church Gazette_ of Berlin. He has published, besides other works, _A +System of Doctrine_, and _A March through the Christian World_. +Professor Biedermann, an instructor in Zuerich, has embodied his +skeptical opinions in a _Manual of Christian Doctrine_, for the use of +the youth in Swiss colleges. Dr. Volckmar, another theological professor +of the same city, has advanced in his numerous works on primitive +Christianity, opinions even more radical than those of Strauss or the +Tuebingen School. All those men are members, in good standing, of the +Reformed church of Switzerland.[128] + +The Rationalistic works in question are studiously adapted to the common +mind. They contain a complete system, which we term the New Speculative +Rationalism. It declares a strong attachment to Protestantism, and +professes to cultivate a much higher development of Christian life than +was aimed at by its German predecessor. Like the Groningen school of +Holland, it lays stress on the character of Christ. It proposes to +establish a new church, which shall have a wider door for the entrance +of Protestant Christians than that opened by the confessions. The +present fold is entirely too small; the new Rationalism would organize +one of colossal popular dimensions. "Our church," say these teachers of +Zuerich, "is truth and morality. Whoever thinks upon these things and +strives for them shall find a place in it." Their opinions are the +direct result of the Hegelian philosophy applied speculatively to the +obsolete, destructive Rationalism of Germany. + +THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. Protestantism mistakes itself in treating the Bible +as authority. Though the Scriptures declare our relations to God, they +should not escape our free criticism and occasional censure. Every man +has a right to interpret them for himself, and on his individual +understanding of their contents he should feel bound to act. No man has +a right to impose his opinion upon another, nor has any church a +guarantee for obliging its members to subscribe to a fixed creed. All +deductions from the positive statements of the Scriptures are mere human +opinions, and should only receive the credit due to them as such. What +are confessions but human opinions? + +CHRIST. Strauss was wrong in taking his cold view of Jesus. There was a +real historical personage whom we properly call Jesus. Nothing is +gained, but everything lost by resolving all the statements of the +gospels into myths. It is through Christ that salvation is attained, for +Christianity is the reconciliation of God and man as revealed to us in +the consciousness and life of Christ. He is the end of the law, the +second Adam, the fulfilment of prophecy, the head of a renovated +humanity. In him we find the revelation of a new religious principle in +man, a real unity with God, a filial adoption, freedom from natural +corruption, the pardon of sin, and victory over the world. Jesus became +the one man who bore in himself the fullness of the godhead. + +Important concessions to Christianity seem to be made; nevertheless +subtle Pantheism underlies their statements. But one of their opinions +subverts everything they grant to orthodoxy. Christ was not, according +to their view, the Messiah in the sense foretold by the prophets and +preached by the apostles. We must judge him apart from all poetry, +speculation, and human judgment. The Christ of the present church is the +creation of theologians, not the character portrayed by the evangelists. +Unfortunately for our correct view of him, Paul speculated entirely too +much upon his nature and work. The resurrection of Christ never took +place, because there was no necessity for it. It was a good thing for +the apostles to believe that such an event took place, for it encouraged +them. Christ never showed himself to any one after his death, and the +belief that he did appear arose purely from the excited nerves, +imaginative temperament, and strong desire of his followers to see him. +His spirit did not die with his body, but entered upon another stage of +existence. + +Jesus did not work miracles, for he had not the power. He was eminently +a moral man, the very personification of the truly religious character. +Religion became flesh in him, and he was the exemplification of love. +The salvation we find through him is by virtue of his example and +inculcation of moral truths. The spirit of Christ still exists, but it +does not live in a purely personal relation, nor does it operate as a +personal existence. His spirit and example are with us, but he is not +here himself. The good man is favored with the influence imparted to +humanity by Christ's exemplary life, but he is nowhere actually present +in the world. + +GOD AND HIS MIRACLES. No miracles, in the orthodox sense of the term, +have ever occurred. The scientific examination of the Scriptures +banishes them altogether. Neither are miracles possible, otherwise we +should see them every day. They would be acts of arbitrary authority on +God's part; and if he performed them he would destroy the harmony and +connection of natural laws. Christianity was not introduced by miracles. +It was inaugurated, and even originated, by underlying causes of a +purely natural character. Miracle is only a creation of the imagination, +and should be discarded as a human error. + +The personality of God is freely spoken of, but his self-consciousness, +in the strictest sense, is not allowed. Hence God is really deprived by +them of all plan, aim, love, and favor. He is a spiritual being, but he +is not a spirit. He is spirit, yet not a real, thinking, self-conscious, +willing spirit. He is not a personality or individuality. "A person," +these men appear to say, "must have a place to stand upon, and surely we +would not say this of God? The fact is, we grossly misrepresent the +great All-Father. We picture him in our sensuous forms, and almost +imagine him to be like one of ourselves." + +IMMORTALITY. The Speculative Rationalists attach less importance to +individual immortality than their predecessors conceded. We might infer +this, however, from the Hegelian point of view adopted by the former. +They profess adherence to Schleiermacher's dictum: "In the midst of the +finite to be one with the infinite, and to be eternal every moment." But +they adhere to the doctrine of "eternal life," by which term they mean +an existence commencing and terminating with faith. It is a life of such +value that it should be called "eternal" life, although it ends with our +last breath in this world. It consists in the attainment of the end of +our existence and of conquest over sin. Thus, they reduce the eternal +life of which the gospel speaks to a mere method and duration of stay in +this world. This life, with them, exhausts life; the kingdom of God has +not an eternal, but a present and temporal existence; there is, +therefore, no new heaven and new earth. + +SIN. The fall of man did not take place. It is an absurd superstition. +Since the world is but a limited and imperfect representation of God, +sin came into it immediately upon its origin. We err when we look at sin +apart from a correct conception of the world. Sin has its seat in the +natural weakness of man, for he is a temporal being, and in process of +necessary development from impure naturalness to reason and freedom. It +is the condition in which man finds himself before arriving at an idea +of what he is or will be. If it be asked, "Why is sin in the world?" the +rejoinder is made, "Why is not man, in the outset of his existence, what +he is destined to be, and why must he stand in need of development?" +Sin, in the beginning, was natural imperfection, but it never becomes a +work of the will until man is developed. It is the melancholy result of +an awakened consciousness. But, after man is once aroused to +self-consciousness and begins his actual, sinful life, he never becomes +a lost sinner. + +FAITH. The gospel is not a compendium of principles. Its only value +consists in its description of the moral and religious character of +Christ, and every one must derive from it such opinions as seem most +plausible and reasonable. But they err who excogitate from it those +severe dogmas which express only dreams of the imagination and wishes of +the religious spirit. Faith in the gospel is not a condition of +salvation. For faith is the inner relation of the spiritual man to God, +not the acceptance of fixed traditions. It is such a feeling, emotion, +and relation as can exist independently of doctrine. Objective truth is +not the measure of faith, and the salvation of man is not conditioned by +his theoretical opinions. The human spirit in man is the agent of +regeneration. Therefore, man, and not God, is the author of human +regeneration. Justification by faith is produced by seeking God's favor, +but Christ has nothing at all to do with the matter. + +We cannot as yet foresee the complete result of the efforts of the New +Speculative Rationalism to propagate itself. German Switzerland will be +influenced by Germany, and because of the thorough improvement already +inaugurated in the latter country no general resurrection of skepticism +need be feared. The evangelical professors at Basle are eagerly watching +every new movement, and we believe they have sufficient strength to meet +every emergency. Christianity is aggressive. Sometimes it is obliged to +halt and give battle. The carnage may last long, and the on-looking +world may, in its ignorance, decide too speedily that the day is lost. +But the victory of error is only temporary. The ark in Dagon's house was +still the ark of God. Since good men are a perpetual power to a people, +we may reasonably hope that the Swiss reformers will continue to animate +the citizens of all the French and German cantons. May the pulpits and +theological chairs of Switzerland ever be filled with men who can say +what Zwinglius uttered one New Year's Day as his first words to the +assembled multitude in the cathedral of Zuerich: "To Christ, to Christ +will I lead you,--to the source of salvation. His word is the only food +I wish to furnish to your hearts and lives!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[121] Hagenbach, _Kirchengeschichte d. 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts_, vol. +II., p. 416. + +[122] Alexander, _Switzerland and the Swiss Churches_, p. 194. + +[123] Kurtz, _Church History_, vol. ii., p. 334. + +[124] Farrar, _Critical History of Free Thought_, p. 444. + +[125] _L'Opinion Nationale_, 1863. + +[126] _Christian Work_, Aug., 1863. + +[127] _Semaine Religieuse._ Geneva: 1864. + +[128] Riggenbach, _Der Heutige Rationalismus besonders in der Deutschen +Schweiz_. Basel: 1862. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENGLAND: THE SOIL PREPARED FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF RATIONALISM. + + +The religious lesson taught by the condition of England during the +eighteenth century is this: The inevitable moral prostration to which +skepticism reduces a nation, and the utter incapacity of literature to +afford relief. English Deism had advantages not possessed by the +Rationalism of Germany. Some of its champions were men of great +political influence; and in no case was there a parallel to the +abandoned Bahrdt. The Deists were steady in the pursuit of their game, +for when they struck a path they never permitted themselves to be +deflected. But the Rationalists were ever turning into some by-road and +weakening their energies by traversing many a fruitless mile. + +The literature of England, during the most of the last century, presents +a picture of literary ostentation. The Deists had toiled to build up a +system of natural religion which would not only be a monument to their +genius, but serve as an impassable barrier to all such claims as were +urged by the zealous and loud-spoken Puritans. But early Deism lacked an +indispensable element of strength,--the power of adapting itself to the +people. Its best priests could not leave the tripod, though many of the +oracular responses were heard some distance from the temple-doors. In +time, there arose a group of essayists and poets, who, with a similar +coterie of novelists, dictated religion, morals, politics, and +literature to the country. Their influence was so great that when they +flattered the heads of government, the latter were equally assiduous in +playing the Maecenas to them. + +The writers of the eighteenth century, viewed in a literary sense alone, +have never had their superiors in English literature. The works of +Addison, Pope, Gray, Thomson, Goldsmith, and Johnson will continue to be +classics wherever the English language is spoken. The British metropolis +was pervaded with the atmosphere of Parnassus. It was a time when +literature was the El Dorado of youth and old age. Those were the days +when clubs convened statedly in the neighborhood of the Strand, and +when, every night, the attics of Grub street poured out their throngs of +quill-heroes, who were welcomed into the parlors of the nobility as +cordially as to their own club-houses. The last new work engaged +universal attention. Society was filled with rumors of books commenced, +half finished, plagiarized, successful, or defunct. Literary +respectability was the "Open Sesame" to social rank. There has never +been a season when cultivated society was more imbued with the mania of +book-writing and criticism than existed in England during at least +three-quarters of the eighteenth century. + +While many of the publications of that time were prompted by Deism, +French society and literature were contributing an equal share toward +poisoning the English mind. France and England were so intimately +related to each other that the two languages were diligently studied in +both countries. If the English adventurer in letters had not spent a few +months in Paris, and could not read Corneille almost as readily as +Spenser or Shakspeare, he was cashiered by certain Gallicists west of +the Channel as a sorry aspirant to their coveted favor.[129] The rise of +the French spirit in England was mainly due to Bolingbroke, who was as +much at home in Paris as in London. He had numerous friends and admirers +in the former metropolis, and at two different times made it his +residence. Freely imbibing the skeptical opinions of the court of Louis +XIV., he dealt them out unsparingly to his English readers. He was one +of the most accomplished wits who frequented the _salon_ of Madame de +Croissy, and he developed his skeptical system through the medium of the +French language, in a series of letters to M. de Pouilly.[130] + +Bolingbroke accused the greatest divines and philosophers of leading a +great part of mankind into inextricable labyrinths of reasoning and +speculation. Natural theology and religion, he held, had become corrupt. +In view of these results of mental infirmities, he applied himself to +correct all errors. He proposed "to distinguish genuine and pure theism +from the profane mixtures of human imagination; and to go to the root of +that error which encourages our curiosity, sustains our pride, fortifies +our prejudices, and gives pretense to delusion; to discover the true +nature of human knowledge, how far it extends, how far it is real, and +where and how it begins to be fantastical; that, the gaudy visions of +error being dispelled, men may be accustomed to the simplicity of +truth."[131] The Scriptures, according to Bolingbroke, are unworthy of +our credence. They degrade the Deity to mean and unworthy offices and +employments.[132] The New Testament consists of two distinct gospels; +one by Christ, the other by St. Paul. The doctrine of future rewards and +punishments is absurd, and contrary to the divine attributes.[133] +Christianity has been of no advantage to mankind. "The world hath not +been effectually reformed, nor any one nation in it, by the promulgation +of the gospel, even where Christianity flourished most."[134] There is a +supreme All-Perfect Being, but he does not concern himself with human +affairs as far as individuals are concerned. The soul is not distinct +from the body, and both terminate at death. The law of nature, being +sufficient for the purposes of our being, is all that God has proclaimed +for our guidance.[135] + +There were other members of the English nobility who used their +influence for the introduction of French infidelity, literature, morals, +and fashions. Some did not equal Bolingbroke in repudiating the spirit +of the gospel, but nearly all were willing students at the feet of their +pretentious Gallic instructors. The house of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, +at Wickenham, was the centre whither gravitated that large class of +acknowledged chiefs in letters represented by Steele, Pope, and the +Walpoles. They thought, spoke, and dressed according to the French +standard, which, in respect to religion and morals, was never lower than +at that very time. The attempt to rear a Paris on English soil was a +complete success. The young were delighted with the result; the aged had +been too ill-taught in early life to raise the voice of remonstrance. +With the exception of the Puritan opposition, the gratification was +universal; and that took place in religion and literature which, had it +occurred in warfare, would have kindled a flame of national indignation +in every breast: England fell powerless, contented, and doomed into the +arms of France. + +The attacks of Hume and Gibbon on the divine origin of Christianity take +rank with the mischievous influences imparted by the elder school of +Deists, and by French taste and immorality. + +Hume was a philosopher who drew his inspiration directly from his own +times. Attaching himself to the Encyclopaedists, he played the wit in the +_salons_ of Paris. He became fraternally intimate with Rousseau, and +brought that social dreamer back with him to England as a mark of high +appreciation of his talents. He was a metaphysician by nature, but he +erred in speculating with theology. That was the mistake of his life. He +fell into Bolingbroke's error of excessive egotism. Standing before the +superstructure of theology, he carefully surveyed every part of it, and +deemed no theme too lofty for his reasonings, and no mystery beyond the +reach of his illuminating torch. He lamented the absence of progress in +the understanding of that evidence which assures us of any real +existence and matter of fact. But this difficulty did not impede him +from an attempted solution. He thought himself performing a great +service when he addressed himself to the "destruction of that implicit +faith and credulity which is the bane of all reasoning and free +inquiry."[136] He refused to acknowledge a Supreme Being, in the +following words: "While we argue from the course of nature, and infer a +particular intelligent cause, which at first bestowed and still +preserves order in the universe, we embrace a principle which is both +uncertain and useless, because the subject lies entirely beyond the +reach of human experience."[137] + +The miraculous evidences of Christianity were also opposed by Hume. His +_Essay on Miracles_ (1747), consists of two parts; the former of which +is an attempt to prove that no evidence would be a sufficient ground for +believing the truth and existence of miracles. Experience is our only +guide in reasoning on matters of fact; but even this guide is far from +infallible, and liable at any moment to lead us into errors. In judging +how far a testimony is to be depended upon, we must balance the opposite +circumstances, which may create any doubt or uncertainty. The evidence +from testimony may be destroyed either by the contrariety and opposition +of the testimony, or by the consideration of the nature of the facts +themselves. When the facts partake of the marvelous there are two +opposite experiences with regard to them, and that which is most +credible is to be preferred. Now the uniform experience of men is +against miracles. We should not, therefore, believe any testimony +concerning a miracle, unless the falsehood of that testimony should be +more miraculous than the miracle it is designed to establish. Besides, +as we cannot know the attributes or actions of God otherwise than by our +experience of them, we cannot be sure that he can effect miracles; for +they are contrary to our own experience and the course of nature. +Therefore, it is impossible to prove miracles by any evidence. + +The second part of the _Essay on Miracles_ is intended to show that, +supposing a miracle capable of being proved by sufficient testimony, no +miraculous event in history has ever been established on such evidence. +The witnesses of a miracle should be of such unquestionable good sense, +education, and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in +themselves. They should also be of such undoubted integrity as to place +them beyond all suspicion of design to deceive others. Then they should +be of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind as to have a +great deal to lose if detected in any falsehood. Last of all, the facts +attested by the witnesses should be performed in such a public manner, +and in so celebrated a part of the world, as to render detection +unavoidable.[138] + +Now, according to Hume, these requisitions are not met in the supposed +witnesses of the miracles of Christ. Consequently, we are no more +obliged to believe their accounts than the reports of miracles alleged +to have been wrought at the tomb of the Abbe de Paris. All must be +rejected together. + +Hume's _History of England_ met with a cold reception on its first +appearance. But he lived to see the day when, as he egotistically said, +"it became circulated like the newspapers." Yet he wrote that work not +as an end, but as a means. Historical writing was then the medium in +which it was common to couch theology or philosophy. Hume had a profound +contempt for everything Puritanic on the one hand, and hierarchical and +traditional on the other. He would make every trace disappear beneath +his scathing pen. He ignored the development of religious life in +England, and would subject all events which indicated a deep Christian +piety and purpose, to his cold system of philosophy. Writing with an +inflexible adherence to his theological opinions, he cast over +historical events the drapery of his own interpretation. The question +with him was not, "What is the history of England during the period of +which I treat?" but "Does not the history of England sustain my +philosophy?" And his own answer was, "Yes; I record facts, and draw my +own conclusions. Is not that a good philosophy!" + +Gibbon was even more of a Frenchman than Hume. Sundering his relation to +Oxford in his seventeenth year, he embarked upon a course of living and +thinking which, whatever advantage it might afford to his purse, was not +likely to aid his faith. By a sudden caprice he became a Roman Catholic, +and afterwards as unceremoniously denied his adopted creed. In due time +he found himself in Paris publishing a book in the French language. He +there fell in with the fashionable infidelity, and so far yielded to the +flattery of Helvetius and all the frequenters of Holbach's house that he +jested at Christianity and assailed its divine character. + +While residing at Lausanne, Switzerland, he cultivated the florid French +style of composition, and applied it in his _Decline and Fall of the +Roman Empire_. That work has been severely censured, but despite its +defects, it is one of the permanent master-pieces of English literature. +In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters the author gives his opinion of +Christianity. He attributes the progress of the Christian religion to +the zeal of the Jews, to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul as +stated by philosophers, to the miraculous powers claimed by the +primitive church, to the virtues of the first Christians, and to the +activity of the Christians in the government of the church. He +attributed to outward agencies what could have been effected only by +inward forces. But he did not assume the philosopher's cap, for, not +being metaphysical by nature, he never did violence to his own +constitution. He has left much less on record against Christianity than +Hume, but they must be ranked together as the last of the family of +English Deists. + +Gibbon made loud professions of independence and of an earnest desire +for the enlargement of popular liberty. But he was less attached to +principle than to expediency. At the very time the first volume of his +history appeared, in which he pays lofty tributes to human freedom, he +came into Parliament as an avowed abettor of the ministry of George +III., in their attempts to subjugate the American colonies. He was +doubtless well paid for his votes; for he was at the same time a member +of the Board of Trade, a nominal office with a large salary.[139] A +verse, attributed to Fox, expresses the popular sentiment concerning +him; + + "King George in a fright + Lest Gibbon should write + The story of England's disgrace, + Thought no way so sure, + His pen to secure, + As to give the historian a place." + +In addition to these evidences of religious decay we may add the most +unwelcome of all: the moral prostration of the English Church. Instead +of being "a city set upon a hill," she was in the valley of humiliation; +and few were the faithful watchmen upon her walls. The period commencing +with the Restoration, and continuing down to the time of which we speak, +was one of ministerial and laic degeneracy. Bishop Burnet, writing of +his own generation, said, "I am now in the seventieth year of my age, +and as I cannot speak long in the world, in any sort, I cannot hope for +a more solemn occasion than this of speaking with all due freedom, both +to the present and to the succeeding ages. Therefore I lay hold on it to +give a free vent to those sad thoughts that lie on my mind both day and +night, and are the subject of many secret mournings. I cannot look on +without the deepest concern, when I see the imminent ruin hanging over +this church, and, by consequence, over the whole Reformation. The +outward state of things is black enough, God knows, but that which +heightens my fears rises chiefly from the inward state into which we are +unhappily fallen.... Our ember-weeks are the burden and grief of my +life. The much greater part of those who come to be ordained are +ignorant to a degree not to be apprehended by those who are not obliged +to know it. The easiest part of knowledge is that to which they are the +greatest strangers. Those who have read some few books, yet never seem +to have read the Scriptures. Many cannot give even a tolerable account +of the Catechism itself, how short and plain soever. This does often +tear my heart. The case is not much better in many who, having got into +orders, come for institution, and cannot make it appear that they have +read the Scriptures, or any one good book since they were ordained; so +that the small measure of knowledge upon which they get into holy +orders, not being improved, is in a way to be quite lost; and they think +it a great hardship if told they must know the Scriptures and the body +of divinity better before they can be trusted with the care of +souls."[140] + +Archbishop Secker, who wrote at a later period, testifies to the same +state of religious petrification: "In this we cannot be mistaken, that +an open and professed disregard is become, through a variety of unhappy +causes, the distinguishing character of the present age; that this evil +is grown to a great height in the metropolis of the nation; is daily +spreading through every part of it; and, bad in itself as any can be, +must of necessity bring in others after it. Indeed it hath already +brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the higher +part of the world, and such profligate intemperance, and fearlessness of +committing crimes, in the lower, as must, if this impiety stop not, +become absolutely fatal. And God knows, far from stopping, it receives, +through the ill designs of some persons, and the inconsiderateness of +others, a continual increase. Christianity is now ridiculed and railed +at, with very little reserve; and the teachers of it, without any at +all."[141] + +The Church had not the moral power or purity to assert her own +authority. She had lost the respect of the world because she had no +respect for herself. She was therefore enervated at a time when all her +power was needed to resist the skeptical and immoral tendencies of the +day. But a new religious power, from an unexpected source, began to +influence the English mind. We refer to the movement inaugurated by the +Wesleys and Whitefield, who were fellow-students in Oxford University. +They were appalled at the dissoluteness of the students, the frigid +preaching of the day, and the universal religious destitution of the +nation. These themes burdened the hearts of the "Holy Club" at Oxford +from day to day, and sent them from their cloisters to visit prisons, +preach in surrounding towns, and impart religious truth wherever a +willing recipient could be found. No sooner had John Wesley returned +from his missionary voyage to Georgia than there were unmistakable +evidences of the adaptation of the new preaching to the wants of the +people. The masses, long affected by a deplorable indifference to +religious truths and pious living, heard the earnest preaching of the +Methodists with profound attention and in such large numbers that no +impartial observer could doubt the peculiar fitness of Methodism to the +existing state of society, morals, literature, and philosophy. As a +result, the number of converts multiplied. The Established Church was +aroused to activity. Dissenters began to hope for the return of the good +days of Bunyan and Baxter and Howe. + +Isaac Taylor says of the new influence, that "it preserved from +extinction and reanimated the languishing nonconformity of the last +century, which just at the time of the Methodist revival, was rapidly in +course to be found nowhere but in books." But the Wesleyan movement made +little impression on the literary circles to whom Bolingbroke, Hume, and +Gibbon had communicated their gospel of nature. The poets continued to +sing, the essayists to write, and the philosophers to speculate, in a +world peculiarly their own. They shut themselves quite in from the +itinerant "helpers" of Wesley. The large class of English minds which +stood aloof from all ecclesiastical organizations, and failed to see any +higher cause of the revival than mere enthusiasm, were the persons whom +those writers still influenced. But it was plain to both the masters and +their disciples that their principles were in process of transition. +They were therefore ready for the reception of whatever plausible type +of skepticism might present itself for their acceptance. + +History is the illustration of cause and effect. The fountain springs up +in one period, and generations often pass before it finds its natural +outlet. The issue of the final efforts of English Deism, of the impure +French taste, and of the works of the grosser class of literary men +living in the last century, is now manifested in that spirit which +welcomes the _Essays and Reviews_, and the criticism of Colenso. It is +not true that these and similar publications have created a +Rationalistic taste in Great Britain. The taste was already in +existence, and has been struggling for satisfaction ever since the +closing decades of the eighteenth century. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[129] For an excellent view of the relation of France and England in the +eighteenth century, vid. _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1 Dec., 1861. + +[130] Schlosser, _History of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. i., p. 98. + +[131] _Works_, vol. iii., p. 328. London Edition of 1754. 5 vols., +quarto. + +[132] Ibid. p. 304. + +[133] Ibid. vol. v., p. 356. + +[134] Ibid. p. 258. + +[135] Leland, _View of Deistical Writers of England_, pp. 307-308. +London Edition of 1837, with Appendix and Introduction, by Brown and +Edmonds. + +[136] _Philosophical Essays concerning Human Understanding_, p. 49. +London Edition, 1750. + +[137] _Philosophical Essays, &c._, p. 224. + +[138] Leland, _View of Deistical Writers_, pp. 230-250. + +[139] Schlosser, _History of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. ii., p. +85-86. + +[140] _Pastoral Care._ + +[141] _Works_, vol. v., p. 306. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY RATIONALISM.--COLERIDGE +AND CARLYLE. + + +All history betrays the operation of a compensating principle. The +payment may be slow, but there is seldom total repudiation. An influence +which departs from a country and sets in upon its neighbor, transforming +thought, giving new shades to social life, and instilling foreign +principles into politics, is sure, in course of time, to return from its +wanderings, bearing with it other forces with which to react upon the +land whence it originated. Thought, like the tidal wave, visits all +latitudes with its ebb and flow. + +The present condition of Anglican theology is an illustration of +intellectual re-payment. Two centuries ago England gave Deism to +Germany, and the latter country is now paying back the debt with +compound interest. After the Revolution of 1789, and the brilliant +ascendency of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French spirit rapidly lost its +hold upon the English mind. But there immediately arose a disposition to +consult German theology and philosophy. English students frequented the +German universities, and the works of the leading thinkers of Berlin, +Heidelberg, and Halle, were on sale in the book-stores of London. The +intimate relations of the royal family of England to Germany, together +with the alliance between the German States and Great Britain for the +arrest of French arms, increased the tendency until it assumed +importance and power. The fruit was first visible in the application of +German Rationalism and philosophy to English theology. When Coleridge +came from the Fatherland with a new system of opinions, he felt as proud +of his good fortune as Columbus did on laying a continent at his +sovereign's feet. Ever since that profound thinker assumed a fixed +position, a reaction against orthodoxy has been progressing in the +Established Church. There are reasons why the slow but effectual +introduction of German Rationalism has been taking place imperceptibly. + +The war which had agitated England, with the rest of Europe, came to a +close in 1815. Immediately afterward domestic polities needed +adjustment. "The disabilities were swept away," says a writer, "the +House of Commons was reconstituted, the municipalities were reformed, +slavery was abolished."[142] In due time the nation became adjusted to +peace; the popular mind lost its nervousness; the universities returned +to their sober thinking; and the Church took a careful survey to +ascertain what had been lost in the recent conflict, what gained, and +what new fields lay ready for her enterprise. But very soon fresh +political combinations attracted the attention of all classes. The +revolutionary changes and counter-changes in France were watched with +eager attention lest Waterloo might be avenged in some unexpected +manner. At home, church parties were reviving the old antagonisms +described by the pen of Macaulay. The popular mind has thus been +continually directed toward some exciting theme. England has not had a +day of leisure during the whole of the last half-century, when she +could come to a judicious conclusion concerning that class of her +thinkers who, though they make theology their profession, are so +intensely independent as to attach themselves to no creed or +ecclesiastical organization. But they have been thinking all the time, +and the outgrowth of their thought is now visible. + +English Rationalism consists of three departments: Philosophical, +Literary, and Critical Rationalism. Whenever infidelity has arisen, +whether within or without the Church, it has usually developed these +forms. Philosophy has furnished undevout reason with a fund of +speculative objections to revelation; literature has dazzled and +bewildered the young and all lovers of romance; and criticism has seized +the deductions of science, language, and ethnology, and by their +combined aid aimed at the overthrow of the historical and inspired basis +of faith. Each of these three agents is in constant danger of arrogance +and error. The first, by a single false assumption, may lose its way; +the second, by making too free use of the imagination, can easily forget +when it is dealing with faith and facts; and the third, by one act of +over-reaching, is liable to become puerile, fanciful, and unreliable. +The philosopher, the _litterateur_, and the exegete need to be less +observant of the surrounding world than of the purity of their own inner +life and the teachings of the Holy Spirit. + +Philosophical Rationalism in England commenced with Samuel Taylor +Coleridge. A comprehensive view of that metaphysician produces a painful +impression. Though gifted with capacity for any sphere of thought, he +did not excel in either so far as to enable us to assign him a fixed +place in literature. He is known as poet, theologian, and philosopher. +But his own desire was that posterity might regard him as a theologian. +In addition to this indeterminateness of position, which always +seriously detracts from a great name, Coleridge presents the unfortunate +example of a man who, instead of laboring with settled convictions, and +achieving success by virtue of their operation, seems to have only +striven after them. His indefinite status was the result of that +theological difficulty which proved his greatest misfortune. His +sentiments never partook of an evangelical character until the latter +part of his life. His habits of thought had become confirmed, and it was +quite too late to counteract the influence of many views previously +expressed. + +So far as we are able to collect the opinions of Coleridge by fragments +from his writings, we discover two elements, which, coming from totally +different sources, and originating in different ages, harmonized in his +mind and constituted the mass of his speculations. One was Grecian, +taking its rise in Plato and afterward becoming assimilated to +Christianity at Alexandria. The other was German, derived directly from +Kant, and undergoing no improvement by its processes of transformation +at the hands of that philosopher's successors. "From the Greek," says +Dr. Shedd, "he derived the doctrine of Ideas, and fully sympathized with +his warmly-glowing and poetic utterance of philosophic truths. From the +German he derived the more strictly scientific part of his system--the +fundamental distinctions between the Understanding and the Reason (with +the sub-distinction of the latter into Speculative and Practical), and +between Nature and Spirit. With him also he sympathized in that deep +conviction of the absolute nature and validity of the great ideas of +God, Freedom, and Immortality--of the binding obligation of +conscience--and generally of the supremacy of the Moral and Practical +over the purely Speculative. Indeed, any one who goes to the study of +Kant, after having made himself acquainted with the writings of +Coleridge, will be impressed by the spontaneous and vital concurrence of +the latter with the former--the heartiness and entireness with which the +Englishman enters into the method and system of this, in many respects, +greatest philosopher of the modern world."[143] + +The Platonic element in the speculations of Coleridge is of earlier date +than the German. It was his reliance until introduced to the captivating +opinions of the philosopher of Koenigsberg. But it never wholly left +him,--it was the enchantment of his life. + +He had severe struggles. His conquest of the habit of opium-eating, +contracted to soothe physical suffering, is an index of the persistent +purpose of the man. At first an ardent Unitarian, he was once about to +assume charge of a congregation at Shrewsbury. But he finally declined +the offer, by saying that, "Active zeal for Unitarian Christianity, not +indolence or indifference, has been the motive of my declining a local +and solid settlement as preacher of it."[144] + +The media through which he passed in search of light were numerous. He +seems to have gone to Germany under the impression that he would there +find what he had fruitlessly sought in England. No one will deny that +the philosophy of Kant was better than the English empirical system of +the eighteenth century, which was the best metaphysical pabulum he had +received at home. He applied himself to the assiduous study of Kant's +disciples, but the master satisfied him best. Nevertheless, Coleridge +was not mentally adapted to the Kantian system. He had a psychical +affinity for Schelling. He loved him as a brother. He was charmed with +his vivid imagination, warm admiration of all natural forms, and ardent, +impulsive temperament. Schelling's philosophy was Spinozism in poetry, +and there can be no question of Coleridge's former adoption of some +parts of the Hollander's naturalism. But his tenacity to them, as well +as his subsequent affiliation with Schelling, was short-lived. When he +awoke to the unmistakable stratum of Pantheism underlying Schelling's +system, he hastily forsook it, and his diatribes indignantly hurled +against one whom he had so enthusiastically admired are the more notable +because of his former intense sympathy. From Schelling he returned once +more to Kant as the thinker who had more closely approximated the truth. +His mind must have undergone a total revolution when he could write such +words as these: "Spite of all the superior airs of the +_Natur-Philosophie_, I confess that in the perusal of Kant I breathe the +air of good sense and logical understanding with the light of reason +shining in it and through it; while in the Physics of Schelling I am +amused with happy conjectures, and in his Theology I am bewildered by +positions which, in their first sense, are transcendental +(_ueberfliegend_), and in their literal sense scandalous."[145] + +Coleridge became firmly settled in theistic faith. Occupying that as his +final position, he is destined to wield a great salutary power over +English thought. Dr. Shedd, in estimating the probable future influence +of his theistic system, says: "Now as the defender and interpreter of +this decidedly and profoundly theistic system of philosophy, we regard +the works of Coleridge as of great and growing worth, in the present +state of the educated and thinking world. It is not to be disguised that +Pantheism is the most formidable opponent which truth has to encounter +in the cultivated and reflecting classes. We do not here allude to the +formal reception and logical defense of the system, so much as to that +pantheistic way of thinking, which is unconsciously stealing into the +lighter and more imaginative species of modern literature, and from them +is passing over into the principles and opinions of men at large. This +popularized Naturalism--this Naturalism of polite literature and of +literary society--is seen in the lack of that depth and strength of +tone, and that heartiness and robustness of temper, which characterize a +mind into which the personality of God, and the responsibility of man +cut sharply, and which does not cowardly shrink from a severe and +salutary moral consciousness.... The intensely theistic character of the +philosophy of Coleridge is rooted and grounded in the Personal and the +Spiritual, and not in the least in the Impersonal and the Natural. +Drawing in the outset, as we have remarked above, a distinct and broad +line between these two realms, it keeps them apart from each other, by +affirming a difference in essence, and steadfastly resists any and every +attempt to amalgamate them into one sole substance. The doctrine of +creation, and not of emanation or of modification, is the doctrine by +which it constructs its theory of the Universe, and the doctrine of +responsible self-determination, and not of irresponsible natural +development, is the doctrine by which it constructs its systems of +Philosophy and Religion."[146] + +The Platonic portion of the views of Coleridge is more apparent in his +theology than in his philosophy. In his _Confession of Faith_, written +November 3, 1816, he avows his adherence to some of the prime doctrines +of revealed truth. He declares his free agency; defines God to be a +Being in whom supreme reason and a most holy will are one with infinite +power; acknowledges man's fallen nature, that he is "born a child of +wrath;" and holds Christ Jesus to be the Word which was with God from +all eternity, assumed human nature to redeem man, and by his merits +secured for us the descent of the Holy Spirit and the impartation of his +free grace. In the Preface to the _Aids to Reflection_ he thus states +his object in writing that work: "To exhibit a full and consistent +scheme of the Christian Dispensation, and more largely of all the +peculiar doctrines of the Christian faith; and to answer all the +objections to the same, which do not originate in a corrupt will rather +than an erring judgment; and to do this in a manner intelligible for all +who, possessing the ordinary advantages of education, do in good earnest +desire to form their religious creed in the light of their own +convictions, and to have a reason for the faith which they profess. +There are indeed mysteries, in evidence of which no reasons can be +brought. But it has been my endeavor to show that the true solution of +the problem is, that these mysteries are reason, reason in its highest +form of self-affirmation."[147] + +The distinctions and definitions of Coleridge occasion the most serious +difficulty in the study of his opinions. His mode of statement more +frequently than his conception subjects him to the charge of +Rationalism. His life-long error of mistaking theology for metaphysics +resulted in his application of philosophical terminology to theological +questions; but making every reasonable allowance, we cannot doubt that +he had defective views of some of the essential truths of Christianity. +He clothes reason with authority to determine what is inspiration, by +saying that there can be no revelation "_ab extra_." Therefore, every +man should decide for himself the character of the Scriptures. The power +which Coleridge thus places in the hand of man is traceable to his +distinction between reason and understanding. He makes the latter the +logical, and the former the intuitive faculty. Even beasts possess +understanding, but reason, the gift of God to no less creature than man, +performs the functions of judgment on supersensual matters. "Reason," +says he, "is the power of universal and necessary convictions, the +source and substance of truths above sense, and having their evidence in +themselves."[148] This admission to Rationalism has been eagerly seized +by the Coleridgean school, and elaborated in some of their writings. + +Sin, according to Coleridge, is not guilt in the orthodox sense. When +Adam fell he merely turned his back upon the sun; dwelt in the shadow; +had God's displeasure; was stripped of his supernatural endowments; and +inherited the evils of a sickly body, and a passionate, ignorant, and +uninstructed soul. His sin left him to his nature, his posterity is heir +to his misfortunes, and what is every man's evil becomes all men's +greater evil. Each one has evil enough, and it is hard for a man to live +up to the rule of his own reason and conscience.[149] Redemption is not +salvation from the curse of a broken law, and Christ did not pay a debt +for man, because the payer must have incurred the debt himself.[150] +But the fruit of his death is the reconciliation of man to God. Man will +have a future life, but it was not the specific object of the Christian +dispensation to satisfy his understanding that he will live hereafter; +neither is the belief of a future state or the rationality of its belief +the exclusive attribute of the Christian religion, but a fundamental +article of all religion.[151] + +All attempts to determine the exact theological position of Coleridge +from his own definitions are unsatisfactory. We must derive his real +convictions from the spirit and not from the letter of his works. He was +devout and reverent, never prosecuting his investigations from a mere +love of speculation, but as a sincere inquirer after truth. But his +statements have had their natural result in producing a large and +vigorous school of thinkers. Never bracing himself to write a +philosophical or theological system, but merely stating his views in +aphoristic form--as in the _Aids to Reflection_--he scattered his +thoughts as a careless sower, and left them to germinate in the public +mind. But many of his opinions have been perverted, and speculations +have been based upon them by numerous admirers who, proudly claiming him +for authority, thrust upon the world those sentiments which bear less +the impress of the master than the counterfeit of the weaker disciple. + +A large cluster of important and familiar names appears in testimony of +the deep and immediate impression produced by the opinions of Coleridge. +Julius Charles Hare, not the least worthy of the number, has been one of +the prominent agents in communicating to the English people the +principles of that thinker, who was not superior to him in moral +earnestness and profound reverence. When lecturing as Fellow of Trinity +College, Cambridge, Hare was attentively heard by John Sterling, +Maurice, and Trench. He drank deeply of the spirit of Coleridge, of whom +he was ever proud to call himself a "pupil," and who, in connection with +Wordsworth, was the instrumentality by which he and others "were +preserved from the noxious taint of Byron."[152] + +From whatever side we view Hare's life, it is full of interest. When +very young he traveled on the Continent, and became delighted with the +literature of Germany. He informs us that, "in 1811 he saw the mark of +Luther's inkstand on the walls of the Castle of Wartburg, and there +first learned to throw inkstands at the devil." His view of sacrifice +was very superficial, and similar to that of Maurice. The Jewish +offerings were typical "of the slaying and offering up of the carnal +nature to God.... The lesson of the cross is to draw nigh to God, not by +this work or that work, not by the sacrifice of this thing or that, but +by the entire sacrifice and resignation of their whole being to the will +of God."[153] Christ did not perform his important mission so much by +his death as by his entire life, and his sufferings were only the +completion of his task. "His great work was to be completed and made +perfect, as every truly great work must be, by suffering. For no work +can be really great unless it be against the course of the world.... It +was by losing his own life in every possible way--by the agony in the +garden; by the flight and denial of those whom he had chosen out of the +world to be His companions and friends; by the mockery and cruelty of +those whom his goodness and purity rendered more bitter against him; by +the frantic and murderous cries of the people, whom he had loaded with +every earthly benefit, and whom he desired to crown with eternal +blessings; and by the closing sufferings on the cross--that Jesus was to +gain his own life, and the everlasting life of all who will believe in +Him. All this, then, the whole work of the redemption of mankind, does +our Lord in the text declare to be finished."[154] + +Hare declares the necessity of faith to Christian life, but he renders +it more passive than active by saying that it is a receptive moral +endowment capable of large development. Happy is the man who becomes +inured to the exalted "habit of faith." Sin is more a matter of regret +than of responsibility; inspiration is a doctrine we should not slight, +but the language of the Scriptures must not be regarded too tenaciously; +due allowance ought to be made for all verbal inaccuracies and +discrepancies; miracles are an adjunct to Christian evidence, but their +importance is greatly exaggerated, for they are a beautiful frieze, not +one of the great pillars in the temple of our faith. + +Notwithstanding these evidences of Hare's digression from orthodoxy, we +cannot forget that consecration and purity of heart revealed in some of +his sermons, and especially in the glowing pages of the _Mission of the +Comforter_. His ministerial life was an example of untiring devotion, +and we know not which to admire the more, his labor of love in the +rustic parish of Herstmonceaux, or those searching rebukes of Romanism +contained in the charges to his clergy. Independent as both his friends +and enemies acknowledge him to have been, his misfortune was an +excessive reliance upon his own imagination and upon the opinions of +those whom he admired. Nature made him capable of intimate friendships, +both personal and intellectual. No one can examine his life without +loving the man, nor read his fervent words without concluding that the +Church has been honored by few men of his noble type. That +self-sacrifice and sympathy of which he often spoke feelingly in +connection with the humiliation of Christ, were the controlling +principles of his heart. Let not the veil with which we would conceal +his theological defects obscure, in the least, the brightness of his +resplendent character and pure purposes. + +No view of Hare's position can be complete without embracing that of his +brother-in-law, Maurice; both of whom were ardently sympathetic with +Coleridge. But while the former gave a more evangelical cast to his +master's opinions than they originally possessed, the latter perverted +them by unwarranted speculations. Maurice is now one of the most +influential of the Rationalistic teachers of England. He has not +employed himself, like Kingsley and others of the Broad Church, in +publishing his theological sentiments in the form of religious novels, +but has had the commendable frankness to state his opinions without +circumlocution, and to furnish us with his creed in a single volume of +essays.[155] + +Maurice's notion of an ideal creation betrays the media through which he +has received it,--from Coleridge to Neo-Platonism, and thence to Plato. +The creation of herbs, flowers, beasts, birds, and fishes, as recorded +in the first chapter of Genesis, was the bringing forth of kinds and +orders, such as they were according to the mind of God, not of actual +separate phenomenal existences, such as they present themselves to the +senses of man.[156] The creation of man is disposed of in the same ideal +way; so that we are inclined to ask the critic if man is not, after all, +only a Platonic idea? "What I wish you particularly to notice," says he, +"is that the part of the record which speaks of man ideally, according +to his place with reference to God, is the part which expressly belongs +to the history of CREATION; that the bringing forth of man in _this_ +sense, is the work of the sixth day.... Extend this thought, which seems +to rise inevitably out of the story of the creation of _man_, as Moses +delivers it, to the seat of that universe of which he regards man as the +climax, and we are forced to the conclusion that in the one case, as in +the other, it is not the visible, material thing of which the historian +is speaking, but that which lies below the visible material thing, and +constitutes the substance which it shows forth."[157] + +Maurice assumes also, with Neo-Platonism, that Christ is the archetype +of every human being, and that when a man becomes pure, he is only +developing the Christ who was within him already. "The Son was really in +Saul of Tarsus, and he only became Paul the converted when that Son was +revealed in him.... Christ is in every man.... All may call upon God as +a reconciled Father. Human beings are redeemed, not in consequence of +any act they have done, of any faith they have exercised; their faith is +to be grounded on a foregone conclusion; their acts are to be the fruits +of a state they already possess."[158] + +From this premise alone the theological system of Maurice may be +accurately determined. Sin is an evil from which we should strive to +effect an escape, but it is nothing more, neither guilt nor +responsibility, only a condition of our life and not a consequence of +actual disobedience of God's law, or the effect of his displeasure. Deep +below it there is a righteousness capable of asserting its sovereignty. +Job had a righteousness within him, which led him to say, "I know that +my Redeemer liveth." Those persons who prate about our miserable +condition as sinners, "have a secret reserve of belief that there is +that in them which is not sin, which is the very opposite of sin.... +Each man has got this sense of righteousness, whether he realizes it +distinctly or indistinctly; whether he expresses it courageously, or +keeps it to himself."[159] + +The nature of the atonement, Maurice holds, is a subject of +misconception, and the notions of it, as they now obtain in Christendom, +darken and bewilder the mind. What Christ has really done for us through +suffering was his matchless sympathy; he became our brother, and was not +our mediatorial substitute but a natural representative. On this ground, +a regeneration is communicated to all, not by virtue of any +appropriating faith, but as a result of the sympathetic death of Christ. +The justification of humanity has been secured by his incarnation, and +the penalty resulting from sin is a mere scar of the healed wound. +Natural death is not the separation of soul and body, though both are +affected by it, for the body which seems to die is only the corruption +resulting from our sins, and the real body does not die. Hence, there +can never be any general resurrection or judgment. + +It is astonishing that a man who unhesitatingly propagated these views, +could hold any office within the pale of the Established Church; but +Maurice enjoyed high favor a number of years before his displacement. +Though commencing life as a Unitarian and Universalist, he was rapidly +promoted by the ecclesiastical authorities. He took no pains to conceal +his theological opinions, and yet we find him advancing in King's +College, London, from the Professorship of English Literature to that of +Ecclesiastical History, and thence to the Chair of Divinity. Some time +elapsed after the publication of the _Essays_ before Dr. Jelf, Principal +of the College, even read them, but having made himself acquainted with +their contents, a correspondence took place between him and Maurice. The +result was that the Council pronounced "the opinions expressed, and the +doubts indicated in the _Essays_, and the correspondence respecting +future punishments and the final issues of the day of judgment, to be of +dangerous tendency, and likely to unsettle the minds of the theological +students; and further decide that his continuance as Professor would be +seriously detrimental to the interests of the College."[160] Maurice +afterward held the office of Chaplain to Lincoln's Inn, but in 1860 he +was appointed by the Queen to the district church of Vere St. +Marylebone. + +The relations of Maurice and Kingsley are most intimate, for besides +their leadership of the Broad Church, they are the exponents of the +so-called Christian Socialism. + +Charles Kingsley has made a profound impression upon the present thought +and life of England. He betrays his martial lineage in the vigor of his +pen, and in that unswerving purpose to counteract what, in his opinion, +are serious barriers to the progress of the age. That he should +entertain sympathy with Coleridge might be expected from the very cast +of his mind, but his adoption of such a large proportion of that +thinker's sentiments may be due to his private education under the care +of Derwent Coleridge, son of the philosopher. Though only forty-six +years old, twenty of which have been passed in the rectorship of +Eversley, an enumeration of his works shows him to have written +theology, philosophy, poetry, and romance. But his publications betray +unity of purpose. Instead of suffering Christianity to be a dead weight +upon society, he would adapt it to the wants of the masses. He holds +that when the adaptation becomes thorough, when, by any means, the +people can be made to grasp Christianity, the reflexive influence will +be so great as to elevate them to a point unthought of by the sluggish +Church. But what is the Christianity which Kingsley would incorporate +into the life of society? Upon the answer to this inquiry depends the +difference between him and evangelical theologians. + +The advocates of orthodoxy maintain that Christianity is a remedial +dispensation, introduced to meet an evil which could not be counteracted +by any other agency, human or divine; but with Kingsley it is only the +outward exhibition of what had ever existed in a concealed state. Man +has always been one with the Word, or Son of God, and, by virtue of the +nature of each, they are in perfect union. Christ manifested the union +first when he appeared on earth in the incarnate state, since he came to +declare to men that they were not estranged from him, but had always +been, and still were, in harmony with him. Men are not craven enemies of +God, which error a harsh theology would make them believe. They are his +friends, for Christ regarded them complacently as such; and the +atonement must not be deemed the reconciliation of sinful humanity and +angry Deity, but as the first manifestation of an ever-existing unity of +the two parties. We need not pass through the long ordeal of repentance +to be placed in the relation of sons; because we are all by nature +"members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of +Heaven."[161] + +The Church, according to Kingsley, is the world in a certain aspect. +"The world," says an English writer, in stating Kingsley's opinion, "is +called the Church when it recognizes its relation to God in Christ, and +acts accordingly. The Church is the world lifting itself up into the +sunshine; the world is the Church falling into shadow and darkness. When +and where the light and life that are in the world break out into +bright, or noble, or holy word or deed, then and there the world shows +that the nature and glory of the Church live within it. Every man of the +world is not only potentially, but virtually a member of Christ's +Church, whatever may, for the present, be his character or seeming. Like +the colors in shot silk, or on a dove's neck, the difference of hue and +denomination depends merely upon the degree of light, and the angle of +vision. In conformity with this principle, Mr. Kingsley's theology +altogether secularizes the Kingdom of Christ."[162] + +Kingsley's views of the offices of the Holy Spirit indicate a decided +approbation of the pantheistic theory. The third person of the Trinity +operates not only upon man, but through him upon the secular and +intellectual life of the world. Poetry, romance, and each act of +induction, are the work of the Spirit, whose agency secures all the +material and scientific growth of the world. Without that power, the car +of progress, whether in letters, mechanics, or ethics, must stop. + +Kingsley would elevate the degraded portion of the race until the lowest +member be made to feel the transmuting agency of Christianity. He was +first led into sympathy with the poor operatives in the English +factories by reading Mayhew's _Sketches of London Labor and London +Poor_, and, in connection with Maurice, organized cooeperative laboring +associations as a check to the crushing system of competitive labor. +Their plans succeeded, and many abject working men have been brought +into a higher social and moral condition than they had hitherto enjoyed. +These humanitarian efforts have attracted large numbers to the reception +of the tenets entertained by those putting them forth. "For," the +unthinking say, "if the opinions of these men will lead them to labor on +this wise for the social elevation of our fellow-beings, they must needs +be correct, and if so, worthy of our reception." But if Neo-Platonism +can make Maurices, Kingsleys, and a whole school of "Muscular +Christians" and "Christian Socialists," nothing less than the pure +religion of Christ can raise up Howards, Wilberforces, and Budgetts. + + * * * * * + +The philosopher has always exerted a great power upon those who do not +philosophize. He is regarded by many as the inhabitant of a sphere which +few can enter, and his dictates are heard as fiats of a rightful ruler. +Those who cannot understand him fully often congratulate themselves that +the few unmistakable grains they have gathered from his opinions are +nuggets of pure gold, and entitled to the merit of becoming the world's +currency. The philosopher is not his own interpreter. There has seldom +been one who knew how to tell his thoughts to the masses. That is the +province of the popular writers who have adopted his opinions, and know +how to deal them out almost imperceptibly in the form of poetry and +fiction. One great philosophical mind has sometimes dictated the +literature of generations, and, in earlier periods, of entire centuries. + +This influence of philosophy on literature is furnished with a new +illustration at the present day; some of the most popular and attractive +writers of Great Britain have extracted their opinions from one or more +of the later philosophers of Germany, and incorporated them into current +poetry, finance, and history. The effect has been to furnish the people +with a literature which possesses all the weight of vital religious +truth in the minds of those readers who prefer to derive their creed +from some enchanter in letters to seeking it immediately from the Bible +or its most reliable interpreters. + +The department of literature in question inculcates as its cardinal +principle that man is unconscious of his power, he can do what seems +impossible, does not worship his fellows enough, is purer than his +clerical leaders would have him imagine, and ought, like certain of his +predecessors, to arouse to lofty efforts, assert his dignity and +divinity, and strive to advance the world to its proper glory and +perfection. The authors of these exciting and flattering appeals do not +surround their theory with proper safeguards, nor do they tell the world +that they have served up a delectable dish of Pantheism for popular +deglutition. The case is stated clearly by one who understands the +danger of this tendency, and whose pen has already been powerful in +exposing its absurdity. "In our general literature," says Bayne, "the +principle we have enunciated undergoes modification, and, for the most +part, is by no means expressed as pantheism. We refer to that spirit of +self-assertion, which lies so deep in what may be called the religion of +literature, to that wide-spread tendency to regard all reform of the +individual man as being an evolution of some hidden nobleness, or an +appeal to a perfect internal light or law, together with what may be +called the worship of genius, the habit of nourishing all hope on the +manifestation of the divine, by gifted individuals. We care not how this +last remarkable characteristic of the time be defined; to us its +connection with pantheism, and more or less close dependence on the +teaching of that of Germany, seem plain, but it is enough that we +discern in it an influence definably antagonistic to the spirit of +Christianity."[163] + +The parentage of literary Rationalism in England is attributable to +Thomas Carlyle. Having "found his soul" in the philosophy of Germany, we +hear him, in 1827, defending the criticism of Kant as "distinctly the +greatest intellectual achievement of the century in which it came to +light." But the opinions of Fichte and Richter have subsequently had +more weight with Carlyle, and he has elaborated them in many forms. +Fichte, in particular, has influenced him to adopt a theory which gives +a practical denial to the Scriptural declarations of the fallen state of +humanity. Effort being goodness, the exterior world is only tolerable +because it furnishes an arena for the contest of work. Man will never +receive any prize unless he bestir himself to the exercise of his own +omnipotence. Individual life is all the real life possessed by this +world, and it is gifted with a spiritual wand capable of calling up +wondrous forms of beauty and worth. It matters not so much what man +works for, since his effort is the important matter. All ages have had a +few true men. The assertion of self-hood constitutes greatness; and +Zoroaster, Cromwell, Julius Caesar, and Frederic the Great; heroes of any +creed or no creed, Pagan or Jew, are the world's worthies, its great +divinities. Men need not be conscious that they are doing great deeds +while in the act, nor, when the work is accomplished, that they have +performed anything worthy a school-boy's notice. On the other hand, +worth is tested by actual unconsciousness, "which teaches that all +self-knowledge is a curse, and introspection a disease; that the true +health of a man is to have a soul without being aware of it,--to be +disposed of by impulses which he never criticises,--to fling out the +products of creative genius without looking at them." + +Man is the centre of the universe, which is everywhere clothed with +life. His is a spiritual power capable of effecting the great +transformations needed by his fellows. Let him be earnest, then, and +evolve the fruits of his wonderful strength. Since his mission is work, +here is Carlyle's gospel which calls him to it: "Work is of a religious +nature; all true work is sacred; in all true work, were it but true +hand-labor, there is something of divineness. Labor, wide as the earth, +has its summit in heaven. Sweat of the brow; and up from that to the +sweat of the brain, sweat of the heart; which includes all Kepler +calculations, Newton meditations, all sciences, all spoken epics, all +acted heroisms, martyrdoms,--up to that 'Agony of bloody sweat,' which +all men have called divine! O brother, if this is not 'worship,' then I +say the more pity for worship; for this is the noblest thing yet +discovered under God's sky." Work implies power, and power in the +individual is what society needs to keep it within proper bounds. Social +life requires the will of the single mind and hand; republicanism is +therefore the dream of fanatics, and ought not to be tolerated anywhere. +Popular rights are a fiction which the strong hand ought to dissipate at +a thrust. The greatest men are the greatest despots, and the exercise of +their unlimited authority is what entitles them to our worship. Napoleon +III. preaches the pure gospel of politics in his _Life of Julius Caesar_. +Absolute subjection--call it slavery, if you please--is the proper state +of large bodies of helpless humanity, who are absolutely dependent upon +some master of iron will for guidance and development. + +Such being Carlyle's view of human rights, it is not surprising that he +has applauded the most gigantic effort in history to establish a +government upon the system of human bondage. But all slavery will by and +by vanish like the tobacco-smoke of "Teufelsdroeckh." Part of the world's +best work will be the unceasing effort for its universal and perpetual +extermination; and posterity will honor those who labor for this +consummation as greater benefactors and workers than all the divinities +idolized by the author of _Sartor Resartus_ and the _Life of Frederic +the Great_. + +While Carlyle's system does not appear to flatter humanity its effect is +of that character. He would make his readers believe that they are pure, +great, and capable beings like those deified by him. The adulation +being too great for many who peruse his pages, large numbers of readers +are led into dangerous vagaries. "The influence of Carlyle's writings," +says an essayist, "and especially of his _Sartor Resartus_, has been +primarily exerted on classes of men most exposed to temptations of +egotism and petulance, and least subjected to anything above +them,--academics, artists, _litterateurs_, strong-minded women, +'debating' youths, Scotchmen of the phrenological grade, and Irishmen of +the young-Ireland school."[164] There are very many beside this +grotesque group, who exclaim, with one of his warmest admirers, "Carlyle +is my religion!" There are others again who say gratefully what John +Sterling wrote him in his last brief letter, "Towards me it is still +more true than towards England that no man has been and done like +you."[165] + +The time has not yet come when men can awake from the spell of a charmer +like Carlyle. But the illusion will some day be dissipated, and many of +his readers in Great Britain and America will feel deeply and almost +despairingly that, in the original fountain of his teaching, there was +"a poison-drop which killed the plants it was expected to nourish, and +left a sterile waste where men looked for the bloom and the opulence of +a garden of God." It behooves those who idolize him to examine the image +before which they stand. He is a man of unquestioned boldness and some +originality, and no one of the present generation has greater power to +dazzle and bewilder the young. Happily, age brings with it the clearing +up of much of the obscurity of youth, and on the additional light of +increasing years we depend for the illumination of many a mind obscured +by his sentiments. The late R. A. Vaughan, a careful observer of the +tendencies of English thought, says: "It may not be flattering to Mr. +Carlyle, but we believe it to be true that by far the larger portion of +the best minds, whose early youth his writings have powerfully +influenced, will look back upon the period of such subjection as the +most miserably morbid period of their life. On awaking from such +delirium to the sane and healthful realities of manful toil, they will +discover the hollowness of that sneering, scowling, wailing, +declamatory, egotistical, and bombastic misanthropy, which, in the eye +of their unripe judgment, wore the air of a philosophy so +profound."[166] The time will also come when Carlyle will be revealed to +all in his true character: as the theologian preaching a pagan creed; as +the philosopher emasculating the German philosophy which he scrupled not +to borrow; as the stylist perverting the pure English of Milton and +Shakspeare into inflated, oracular Richterisms; and as the arch +demagogue who, despising the people at heart, assigned no bounds to his +ambition to gain their hearing and cajole them into the reception of his +unmixed Pantheism. + +The periodical press has been a successful agency in the dissemination +of literary Rationalism throughout the British Islands. Years before the +recent discussions sprang up, the _Westminster Review_ was the ablest +and most avowed of all the advocates of the "liberal theology" of the +Continent. It still rules without a rival. Emboldened by the late +accession of sympathizers, it opposes orthodoxy and the Church with an +arrogance equal to that of the _Universal German Library_, whose editor, +Nicolai, is reported to have said: "My object is merely to hold up to +the laughter and contempt of the public the orthodox and hypocritical +clergy of the Protestant church, and to show that they make their own +bad cause the cause of their office and of religion, or rather that of +Almighty God himself,--to show that when they make an outcry about +prevailing errors, infidelity, and blasphemy, they are only speaking of +their own ignorance, hypocrisy, and love of persecution, of the +wickedness of their own hearts concealed under the mantle of +piety."[167] + +From its character as a quarterly publication, the _Westminster Review_ +has the constant opportunity to reply to every new work of Christian +apology, and to elaborate each new heresy of the Rationalistic thinkers. +Assuming a thoroughly negative position, it repels every tendency toward +a higher type of piety, and retards, as far as it can, the popular +acceptance of the doctrines of Christianity. Its attacks on the sanctity +of the Sabbath are bold, and carefully designed to affect popular +sentiment. It gives its support to the fatal theories of Sociology, a +system which holds "that so uniform are the operations of motives upon +the actions of men that social regulations may be reduced to an exact +science, and society be organized to a perfect model." It thus commits +itself to the position that all history takes place by force of +necessity. + +The _Westminster Review_ studiously opposes the orthodox view of +inspiration, miracles, the atonement, and the Biblical age of the world +and of man. It indorses the sentiments of the Tuebingen school, and holds +with Baur that if we would know the truth of the early Church, its +entire apostolic history must be reconstructed. It is compelled to +confess the recent advance of evangelical doctrines in the German mind, +but sees only evil in the fact, and utters this jeremiade: "This church +sentiment, which has seized upon the whole of the _noblesse_ in North +Germany is becoming every year the sentiment of the clergy. The +theological radicalism of the last period is now quite a thing of the +past. The present is an epoch of restoration. Scientific criticism has +no longer any interest; it is, who can be most orthodox, and reproduce +more precisely the ideas of the sixteenth century. As the scientific and +critical school is defunct, the mediation-theology, whose business was +to compromise between the results of learning and the principles of +orthodoxy, is necessarily in a state of decay. Its occupation is gone. +This school of theologians, which numbers in its ranks some of the most +respectable names in Germany, and which traces its origin to +Schleiermacher, can scarcely be said now to make head against the +sweeping current of Pharisaical orthodoxy. Some of its older +representatives have been withdrawn from the scene either by age or +death; others have followed the multitude, and conformed to the reigning +'churchmanship.' It is the old story enacted in the Catholic revival of +the end of the sixteenth century, and at other times before and since. +The reactionary clergy have succeeded in getting themselves regarded as +the Swiss Guard of the throne. They stand between Royalty and +Revolution. All the places in the gift of the crown--and all the places +are in the gift of the crown--are filled on party considerations. +Learning goes for nothing. Thus inferior men are elevated to a platform +from which they deliver their dicta with authority, and ignorance can +contradict knowledge at an advantage. The mutual understanding among the +party enables them to puff each other's books, and run down their +opponents. Only learning can get no hearing."[168] + +A number of writers have been furnished with a creed by the literature +of which we have spoken, and are now endeavoring to teach it to the +people. Their system has many names, among which are, Positivism, +Secularism, and Socialism. Consummate shrewdness is exhibited in its +presentation to the people, "the children of this world" sustaining +their old reputation for superior wisdom. The circulating libraries +abound in its books, and the newspaper and six-penny pamphlet are used +as instruments for its wider dissemination. + +The Protestant church of Great Britain has no time for idleness, and +cannot afford to waste any truth-power while so many enemies are +assailing its walls. When the crisis shall have passed it will be seen +that not a superfluous hand was lifted in the combat. What British and +American Protestantism needs to-day is not a class of discoverers of new +truth, but that the defenders of the old truth, availing themselves of +every new step of science and criticism, be chivalric in opposing their +adversaries, and watchful of the interests which God has placed in their +keeping. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[142] _National Review_, Oct., 1856. + +[143] _Introductory Essay to Coleridge's Works._ Vol. i., pp. 21-22. +Harper's edition. + +[144] Letter dated Shrewsbury, Jan. 19th, 1798, to Mr. Isaac Wood, High +St., Shrewsbury. + +[145] _Biographia Literaria._ Appendix III., p. 709. + +[146] _Introductory Essay to Coleridge's Works_, vol. i., pp. 35-36. + +[147] _Works_, vol. i., p. 115. + +[148] _Works_, p. 241. The full argument is contained on pp. 241-253. + +[149] Ibid. vol. i., pp. 269-271. + +[150] _Works_, vol. i., p. 308. + +[151] Ibid, p. 325. + +[152] _Mission of the Comforter._ Note 8a. + +[153] _Sermons on the Law of Self-Sacrifice, and the Unity of the +Church._ + +[154] _Sermon on John_, xix., 30. + +[155] _Theological Essays._ Second Edition. London, 1853. Maurice has +published thirty-four works. _Vid._ Low's _English Catalogue_, +1835-1862, pp. 509-510. + +[156] _Lectures on the Old Testament_, p. 6. + +[157] Ibid. pp. 3-6. + +[158] _Unity of the New Testament._ _Introduction_, pp. xxi.-xxvi. + +[159] _Theological Essays_, p. 61. + +[160] The date of this Sentence was Oct. 28th, 1853. + +[161] _Sermons on National Subjects._ First Series, p. 14. London +Edition. + +[162] _Modern Anglican Theology._ By the Rev. J. H. Rigg. Second +Edition. London, 1859. The student of contemporary theology will find +this work the best summary of the opinions of Coleridge and his school. + +[163] _Christian Life_, p. 14. American Edition. + +[164] _National Review_, Oct. 1856. + +[165] _Life of Sterling_, p. 334. + +[166] _Essays and Remains_, vol. i., pp. 7-8. + +[167] _Sebaldus Nothanker._ Second Edition. 1774. + +[168] October Number, 1863. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: CRITICAL RATIONALISM--JOWETT, THE ESSAYS AND REVIEWS, +AND COLENSO. + + +The devout disciple of Christ regards the Scriptures with profound +reverence, for they contain the doctrines which show him his path to the +pure life of heaven. His theological opponents are not blind to this +attachment, nor are they ignorant of the service of the Bible in +supporting the entire Christian system. It could not therefore be +expected that, while literature and philosophy were affected by +Rationalism, the Scriptures should escape with impunity. There lies a +deep destructive purpose beneath the brief utterance of Dr. Temple: "The +immediate work of our day is the study of the Bible.[169]" The Critical +Rationalism of England which is now attracting the attention of the +civilized world is of recent growth, but the energy with which it has +been cultivated is unsurpassed in the annals of skepticism. + +Professor Jowett's commentary on the _Epistles to Thessalonians, +Galatians, and Romans_, was published in 1855. Coming from a highly +respectable source, and assailing the doctrines of revelation boldly, it +was a clear indication of what might be expected from the Critical +Rationalists as a class. + +The doctrine of the atonement, according to this writer, is involved in +perplexities whose growth is of more than a thousand years. Christ did +not die to appease the divine wrath, and "sacrifice" and "atonement" +were accommodated terms used by the apostles because they had been +reared among the Jewish offerings and were familiar with them. The great +advantage we derive from Christ is his life, in which we behold a +perfect harmony of nature, absolute self-renunciation, pure love, and +resignation. We know nothing of the objective act on God's part by which +he reconciled the world to himself, the very description of it being a +figure of speech. Conversion is not in accordance with the claims of +orthodoxy, for while there were conversions in the early Church, there +is no possibility of establishing a harmony between them and those which +are now said to occur. The conversions of the first Christians were +marked by ecstatic and unusual phenomena, whole multitudes were +simultaneously affected, and the changes wrought were permanent; but the +subjects were chiefly ignorant people, who no doubt did many things +which would have been distasteful to us as men of education.[170] + +The most noteworthy work of the Critical Rationalists is the _Essays and +Reviews_ (1861), a volume which consists of broad generalizations +against the authority of the Bible as a standard of faith. + +I. THE EDUCATION OF THE WORLD. By Frederic Temple, D. D. There is a +radical difference between man and inanimate nature. The latter is +passive, and subject to the workings of the vast physical machinery, but +man is at no time stationary, for he develops from age to age, and +concentrates in his history the results and achievements of all +previous history. There is no real difference between the capacity of +men now and that of the antediluvian world; the ground of disparity lies +in the time of development afforded the present generation. Thus a child +of twelve stands at present where once stood the full-grown man. + +There are three stages in the world's development: Childhood, Youth, +Maturity. Childhood requires positive rules, and is made subject to +them; youth is governed by the force of example; and manhood, being free +from external restraints, must be its own instructor. We have first +rules, then examples, and last principles:--the Law, the Son of Man, and +the Gift of the Spirit. The world was once a child, under tutors and +governors until the time appointed by the Father. Afterwards, when the +fit season had arrived, the Example, to which all ages should turn, was +sent to teach men what they ought to be; and the human race was left to +itself to be guided by the instruction of the Spirit within.[171] The +world, before the time of Christ, was in its childhood, when commands +were given without explanation. The pre-Christian world, being in its +state of discipline and childhood, was divided into four classes: the +Roman, the Greek, the Asiatic, and the Hebrew, each of which contributed +something toward the world's improvement and its preparation for the age +of Example. The Hebrew did the most, though his work was of the same +class and aimed at the same result. The Roman gave an iron will; the +Greek, a cultivated reason and taste; the Asiatic, the idea of +immortality, and spiritual imagination; and the Hebrew, the trained +conscience. + +The whole period from the close of the old Testament to the termination +of the New was the time of the world's youth, the age of examples.[172] +Christ came just at the right time; if he had waited until the present +age his incarnation would have been misplaced, and we could not +recognize his divinity; for the faculty of faith has turned inwards, and +cannot now accept any outward manifestations of the truth of God.[173] + +The present age is that of independent reflection and the supremacy of +conscience--the world's manhood. Laws and examples are absolute, and +should be forgotten, just as we look lightly upon the things of our +childhood. The world has arrived at its present exalted state through a +severe ordeal, but the grandeur of its position is sufficient to make it +forget its trials. "The spirit or conscience [which are terms for +reason] comes to full strength and assumes the throne intended for him +in the soul. As an accredited judge, invested with full powers, he sits +in the tribunal of our inner kingdom, decides upon the past, and +legislates upon the future, without appeal except to himself. He decides +not by what is beautiful or noble, or soul-inspiring, but by what is +right. Gradually he frames his code of laws, revising, adding, +abrogating, as a wiser and deeper experience gives him clearer light. He +is the third great teacher and the last."[174] + +In some aspects this essay is the least objectionable in the volume. Yet +it contains radical errors which many a reader would accept without +suspicion. The agency of the Holy Spirit in revelation is ignored, and +the development through which the world has passed is confounded with +civilization. This development is alleged to have occurred in a purely +natural way, the Hebrew type being no more a divine appointment than +that of the Grecian or Roman. The doctrines of Christianity were not +clearly stated in the early Church, and the flight of eighteen centuries +has been required to lift the curtain from them.[175] Conscience is +placed above the Bible, and if the statements of the Scriptures be in +conflict with it, allowance must be made for occasional inaccuracies, +interpolations, and forgeries.[176] + +II. $1nd Williams, D. D. We here find +the same deference paid to conscience as in the preceding essay. If it +differ from revelation, man's own notions of right and wrong must +prevail over Scripture. Dr. Williams is contented with arraying Bunsen's +skeptical theories before the British public without formally indorsing +them himself; yet, as their reviewer, he is evidently in complete +harmony with the German author. For he carefully collects the +chevalier's extravagant speculations; brings them into juxtaposition; +admires the spirit, boldness, and learning which had given birth to +them; and in no case refutes, but looks with complacence upon nearly +every one. The impression of a candid reader of the essay must be, that +the writer indorses almost all of Bunsen's opinions without having the +courage to avow his assent. Of his hero he says, "Bunsen's enduring +glory is neither to have faltered with his conscience, nor shrunk from +the difficulties of the problem, but to have brought a vast erudition, +in the light of a Christian conscience, to unroll tangled records; +tracing frankly the Spirit of God elsewhere, but borrowing chiefly the +traditions of his Hebrew Sanctuary."[177] + +The absence of that reverence to be expected in all whose vocation +enjoins the frequent reading of the sublime liturgy of the Church of +England, produces a depressing influence upon any one not in sympathy +with the doctrines of Rationalism. The Evangelical theologians are +termed "The despairing school, who forbid us to trust in God or in our +own conscience, unless we kill our souls with literalism."[178] The +inquiries and successes of the German Rationalists are worthy of hearty +admiration, for they are so great that the world has seldom, if ever, +seen their equal. Bishops Pearson and Butler, and Mr. Mansel are +seriously at fault in their notions of prophecy, and even Jerome is +guilty of gross puerilities. There is no reason why Bunsen may not be +right when he holds that the world must be twenty thousand years old; +there is no chronological element in revelation; the avenger who slew +the first-born, may have been the Bedouin host; in the passage of the +Red Sea, the description may be interpreted with the latitude of poetry; +it is right to reject the perversions which make the cursing Psalms +evangelically inspired; perhaps one passage in Zechariah and one in +Isaiah may be direct prophecies of the Messiah, and possibly a chapter +in Deuteronomy may foreshadow the final fall of Jerusalem; the Messianic +prophecies are mere contemporaneous history; and the fifty-third chapter +of Isaiah is only a description of the sufferings of Jeremiah. +Inspiration is too loftily conceived by "the well-meaning crowd," for +whom we should manifest "grave compassion." + +What is the Bible, continues the essayist, but the written voice of the +congregation, and not the written voice of God? Why all this reverence +for the sacred writers, since they acknowledge themselves men of like +passions with us? Justification by faith is merely peace of mind from +trust in a righteous God, and not a fiction of merit by transfer. +Regeneration is a correspondent giving of insight or an awakening of the +forces of the soul; propitiation is the recovery of peace, and the +atonement is our sharing the Saviour's Spirit, but not his purchase of +us by his own blood. Throughout the Scriptures we should assume in +ourselves a verifying faculty,--conscience, reason, or whatever else we +choose to term it. + +III. ON THE STUDY OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. By Baden Powell, M. +A. The author of this essay having recently died, he has therefore +incurred less censure than he would otherwise have received. The views +here expressed, taken in connection with his more elaborate treatise on +the _Order of Nature_, do not place him on the same theoretical ground +with Hume and Spinoza; but the moral effect of the present attack upon +miracles as an evidence of Christianity is not less antagonistic than +the theories of either of those authors. Spinoza held that miracles are +impossible, because it would be derogatory to God to depart from the +established laws of the universe, and one of Hume's objections to them +was their incapability of being proved from testimony.[179] + +Professor Powell objects to them because they bear no analogy to the +harmony of God's dealings in the material world; and insists that they +are not to be credited, since they are a violation of the laws of matter +or an interruption of the course of physical causes. The orthodox +portion of the Church are laboring under the egregious error of making +them an essential doctrine, when they are really a mere external +accessory. Reason, and not "our desires" must come to our aid in all +examination of them. The key-note to Professor Powell's opposition is +contained in the following statement: "From the nature of our antecedent +convictions, the probability of _some_ kind of mistake or deception +somewhere, though we know not _where_, is greater than the probability +of the event really happening in _the way_ and from the _causes_ +assigned."[180] The inductive philosophy, for which great respect must +be paid, is enlisted against miracles. If we once know all about those +alleged and held as such, we would find them resolved into natural +phenomena, just as "the angel at Milan was the aerial reflection of an +image on a church; the balls of fire at Plausac were electrical; the +sea-serpent was a basking shark on a stem of sea-weed. A committee of +the French Academy of Sciences, with Lavoisier at its head, after a +grave investigation, pronounced the alleged fall of aerolites to be a +superstitious fable."[181] + +The two theories against the reality of miracles in their received +sense, are: _first_, that they are attributable to natural causes; and, +_second_, that they may involve more or less of the parabolic or mythic +character. These assumptions do away with any real admission of miracles +even on religious grounds. The animus of the whole essay may be +determined by the following treatment of testimony and reason: +"Testimony, after all, is but a second-hand assurance; it is but a blind +guide; testimony can avail nothing against reason. The essential +question of miracles stands quite apart from any consideration of +_testimony_; the question would remain the same, if we had the evidence +of our own senses to an alleged miracle; that is, to an extraordinary +or inexplicable fact. It is not the _mere fact_, but the _cause_ or +_explanation_ of it, which is the point at issue."[182] This means far +more than Spinoza, Hume, or any other opponent of miracles, except the +radical Rationalists of Germany, has claimed,--that we must not believe +a miracle though actually witnessed. + +IV. SEANCES HISTORIQUES DE GENEVE--THE NATIONAL CHURCH. By Henry Bristow +Wilson, B. D. The Multitudinist principle, or Broad Christianity, is +advocated by the essayist with earnestness and an array of learning. The +difficulty concerning the non-attendance of a large portion of the +British population upon the ordinances of the Church is met by the +proposition to abrogate subscription to all creeds and articles of +faith, and thus convert the whole nation into a Broad Church. The youth +of the land are educated into a false and idolatrous view of the Bible. +But on the Census-Sunday of 1861, five millions and a quarter of +persons, or forty-two per cent. of the whole population, were not +present at service. Many of these people do not believe some of the +doctrines preached; they have thought seriously, but cannot sympathize +with what they are compelled to hear. If we break down all subscription +and include them in the great National Church, we will approach the +Scriptural ideal. Unless this be done they will fall into Dissenting +hands, and die outside the Church of Christ. There are several proofs of +the Scriptural indorsement of Nationalism; Christ's lament over +Jerusalem declares that he had offered Multitudinism to the inhabitants +nationally, while the three thousand souls converted on the day of +Pentecost cannot be supposed to have been individual converts, but +merely a mass of persons brought in as a body. Some of the converts of +the apostolic age did not believe in the resurrection, which fact +implies that the early Churches took collective names from the +localities where they were situated, and that doubt of the resurrection +should now be no bar to communion in the National Church. Even +heathenism in its best form proceeded on the Multitudinist principle, +for all were included as believers in the faith of the times. The +approval of reason and conscience, and not verbal adherence to human +interpretation of Scripture, should be the great test of membership. +Advice is administered by the essayist to the Church of which he is a +clergyman, in this language: "A national church may also find itself in +this position; which, perhaps, is our own. Its ministers may become +isolated between two other parties,--between those, on the one hand, who +draw fanatical inferences from formularies and principles which they +themselves are not able or are unwilling to repudiate; and on the other, +those who have been tempted, in impatience of old fetters, to follow +free thought heedlessly wherever it may lead them. If our own churchmen +expect to discourage and repress a fanatical Christianity without a +frank appeal to reason, and a frank criticism of Scripture, they will +find themselves without any effectual arms for that combat; or if they +attempt to check inquiry by the repetition of old forms and +denunciations, they will be equally powerless, and run the especial risk +of turning into bitterness the sincerity of those who should be their +best allies, as friends of truth. They should avail themselves of the +aid of all reasonable persons for enlightening the fanatical +religionist, making no reserve of any seemingly harmless or apparently +serviceable superstitions of their own. They should also endeavor to +supply to the negative theologian some positive elements in +Christianity, on grounds more sure to him than the assumption of an +objective "faith once delivered to the saints," which he cannot identify +with the creed of any church as yet known to him."[183] + +V. ON THE MOSAIC COSMOGONY. By C. W. Goodwin, M. A. The assumption is +made that the Mosaic account of creation is irreconcilable with the real +creation of the earth. We do wrong in elevating that narrative above its +proper position, and orthodox geologists have grossly erred in attaching +much importance to the language of the first chapter of Genesis. There +is nothing poetical or figurative in the whole account; it contains no +mystical or symbolical meaning, and is a plain statement of just so much +as suited the Jewish mind. All attempts, however, to find any +consistency between it and the present state of science are simply +absurd. The theory of Chalmers and Buckland, and afterward that of Hugh +Miller, are not tenable, for Moses was ignorant of what we now know, and +his alleged description is contradicted by scientific inquiry. If then +it is plain that God has not thought it needful to communicate to the +writer of the Scriptural Cosmogony the knowledge revealed by modern +researches, why do we not confess it? We would do so if it did not +conflict with a human theory which presumes to point out how God ought +to have instructed man.[184] The writer had no authority for what he +asserts so solemnly and unhesitatingly, for he was an early speculator +who stated as facts what he only conjectured as probabilities. Yet he +seized one great truth, in which he anticipated the highest revelation +of modern inquiry; namely, the unity of the design of the world, and +its subordination to one sole Maker and Law-giver.[185] But no one +contends that the Mosaic view can be used as a basis of astronomical or +geological teaching; and we must therefore consider the Scriptural +cosmogony not as "an authentic utterance of divine knowledge, but a +human utterance, which it has pleased Providence to use in a special way +for the education of mankind."[186] + +VI. TENDENCIES OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ENGLAND, 1688-1750. By Mark +Pattison, B. D. We are surrounded with a Babel of religious creeds and +theories, and it is all-important that we should know how we have +inherited them. If we would understand our times, we must know the +productive influences of the past; if we would thread the present mazes +of religious pretension, we should not neglect those immediate agencies +in their production that had their origin near the beginning of the +eighteenth century. These agencies are three in number: 1. The formation +and growth of that compromise between church and state which is called +Toleration; 2. Methodism without the Church and the evangelical movement +within it; 3. The growth and gradual diffusion, through all religious +thinking, of the supremacy of reason. The theology of the Deistic age is +identical with Rationalism. That Rationalistic period of England is +divided into two parts: from 1688 to 1750, and from 1750 to 1830. The +second age may be called that of evidences, when the clergy continued to +manufacture evidence as an ingenious exercise,--a literature which was +avowedly professional, a study which might seem theology without being +it, and which could awaken none of the dormant skepticism beneath the +surface of society.[187] The defense of the Deists was perhaps as good +as the orthodox attack, but they were inquirers after truth, and being +guided by reason, they deserve all commendation. Yet they only +foreshadowed the glory of the present supremacy of reason. Deism strove +eagerly for light; it saw the dawn; the present is the noonday. The +human understanding wished to be satisfied, and did not care to believe +that of which it could not see the substantial ground. The mind was +coming slowly to see that it had duties which it could not devolve upon +others, and that a man must think for himself, protect his own rights, +and administer his own affairs. + +Reason was never less extravagant than in this first essay of its +strength; for its demands were modest, and it was easily satisfied,--far +too easily, we must think, when we look at some of the reasonings which +passed as valid.[188] + +English Deism, a system which paralyzed the religious life and thought +of the nation, has never had a more enthusiastic eulogist than the +author of this historical plea for Rationalism. If the demands of the +Deists were "modest," who shall be able to find a term sufficiently +descriptive of the claims of their present successors? + +VII. ON THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. By Benjamin Jowett, M. A. +Professor Jowett, as commentator on St. Paul's epistles, had already so +defined his position on the science of Scriptural exegesis, that we +needed no new information to be convinced of his antagonism to +evangelical interpretation. The present essay, which is the most +formidable and destructive in the volume, commences with a lamentation +over the prevailing differences in the exposition of the Bible. The +Germans have been far more successful in this respect than the English +people, the former having arrived at a tolerable degree of concurrence. + +The word "inspiration" is a _crux theologorum_, the most of its +explanations being widely divergent, and at variance with the original +signification of the term. We make it embrace far too much, for there is +no foundation for any high or supernatural views of inspiration in +either the Gospels or Epistles. There is no appearance in those writings +that their authors had any extraordinary gift, or that they were free +from error or infirmity; St. Paul hesitated in difficult cases, and more +than once corrected himself; one of the gospel historians does not +profess to have been an eye-witness of the events described by him; the +evangelists do not agree as to the dwelling-place of Christ's parents, +nor concerning the circumstances of the crucifixion; they differ about +the woman who anointed our Lord's feet; and the fulfillment of the Old +Testament prophecy is not discernible in the New Testament history. To +the question, What is inspiration? there are two answers: _first_, That +idea of Scripture which we gather from the knowledge of it; and, +_second_, that any true doctrine of inspiration must conform to all the +ascertained facts of history or of science. The meaning of Scripture has +nothing to do with the question of inspiration, for if the word +"inspiration" were to become obsolete nothing vital would be lost, since +it is but a term of yesterday. The solution of the various difficulties +in the gospels is, that the tradition on which the first three are based +was preserved orally, and, having been slowly put together, was written +in three forms. The writers of the first three gospels were, therefore, +not independent witnesses of the history itself. To interpret the Bible +properly it must be treated as any other book, "in the same careful and +impartial way that we ascertain the meaning of Sophocles or Plato.... +Scripture, like other books, has one meaning, which is to be gathered +from itself, without reference to the adaptations of fathers or divines, +and without regard to _a priori_ notions about its nature and origin. It +is to be interpreted also with attention to the character of its +authors, and the prevailing state of civilization and knowledge, with +allowance for peculiarities of style and language, and modes of thought +and figures of speech; yet not without a sense, that, as we read, there +grows upon us the witness of God in the word, anticipating in a rude and +primitive age the truth that was to be, shining more and more unto the +perfect day in the life of Christ, which again is reflected from +different points of view in the teachings of his apostles."[189] + +The old methods of interpretation, Jowett concludes, must give place to +this new and perfect system, for the growing state of science, the +pressing wants of man, and his elevated reason demand it. If this +liberal scheme be inaugurated we shall have a higher idea of truth than +is supplied by the opinion of mankind in general, or by the voice of +parties in a Church. + +It is interesting to notice the opinions of the evangelical theologians +of Germany, who have long been accustomed to attacks upon Christianity, +concerning these English critics. "The authors of the essays," says +Hengstenberg, "have been trained in a German school. It is only the echo +of German infidelity which we hear from the midst of the English church. +They appear to us as parrots, with only this distinction, common among +parrots, that they imitate more or less perfectly. The treatise of +Temple is in its scientific value about equal to an essay written by the +pupils of the middle classes of our colleges.... The essay of Goodwin on +the Mosaic cosmogony displays the naive assurance of one who receives +the modern critical science from the second or tenth hand. The editor +[Hengstenberg] asked the now deceased Andreas Wagner, a distinguished +professor of natural sciences at the University of Munich, to subject +this treatise to an examination from the stand-point of natural science. +The offer was accepted, and the book given to him. But after some time +it was returned with the remark, that he must take back his promise, as +the book was beneath all criticism.... All these essays tend toward +Atheism. Their subordinate value is seen in the inability of their +authors to recognize their goal clearly, and in their want of courage to +declare this knowledge. Only Baden Powell forms in this respect an +exception. He uses several expressions, in which the grinning spectre +makes his appearance almost undisguisedly. He speaks not only sneeringly +of the idea of a positive external revelation, which has hitherto formed +the basis of all systems of the Christian faith; he even raises himself +against the 'Architect of the world,' whom the old English Free Thinkers +and Free Masons had not dared to attack."[190] + +The _Essays and Reviews_ were not long in print before the periodicals +called attention to their extraordinary character. Had they not been the +_Oxford Essays_, and written by well-known and influential men, they +would probably have created but little interest, and passed away with +the first or second edition. But their origin and associations gave +them weight at the outset. The press soon began to teem with replies +written from every possible stand-point. Volumes of all sizes, from +small pamphlets to bulky octavos, were spread abroad as an antidote to +the poison. From trustworthy statements we are assured that there have +been called forth by the _Essays and Reviews_ in England alone nearly +four hundred publications. Hardly a newspaper, religious or secular, +metropolitan or provincial, has stood aloof from the contest. Every seat +of learning has been agitated, the social classes have been aroused, the +entire nation has taken part in the strife. Meanwhile, the High Church +and Low Church have united in the cordial condemnation of the work. Even +some of the First Broad Churchmen have written heartily against its +theology and influence. + +A remarkable feature of the whole controversy is the judicial +prosecution of the essayists. Petitions numerously signed were presented +to the bishops, praying that some action might be taken against them. +One protest contained the signatures of nine thousand clergymen of the +Established church; and the bishops, without a single exception, took +ground against the theological bearing of the _Essays and Reviews_. The +Convocations of Canterbury and York, which possessed the full exercise +of their legislative functions for the first time in one hundred and +fifty years, declared against it, and pledged their influence to protect +the church from the "pernicious doctrines and heretical tendencies of +the book." After much deliberation and counsel, Dr. Williams and Mr. +Wilson were summoned before the court of Arches, the chief +ecclesiastical tribunal of England. Finally, June 21, 1864, decision was +pronounced that they had departed from the teachings of the Thirty-Nine +Articles on the inspiration of Holy Scripture, on the atonement, and on +justification. They were therefore suspended for one year, with the +further penalty of costs and deprivation of their salary. At the urgent +solicitation of friends, in addition to their own strong desire to push +their defense as far as possible, their case was brought before the +Privy Council, a court of which the Queen is a member, and from which +there can be no appeal. Contrary to the general expectation, the +decision of the Court of Arches was reversed, and the essayists in +question were restored to their functions. The reversal of the decision +of the Court of Arches is couched in the following significant language: +"On the general tendency of the book called 'Essays and Reviews,' and on +the effort or aim of the whole essay of Dr. Williams, or the whole essay +of Mr. Wilson, we neither can, nor do, pronounce any opinion. On the +short extracts before us, our Judgment is that the charges are not +proved. Their Lordships, therefore, will humbly recommend to Her Majesty +that the sentences be reversed, and the reformed articles be rejected in +like manner as the rest of the original articles; but inasmuch as the +Appellants have been obliged to come to this Court, their Lordships +think it right that they should have the costs of this Appeal."[191] +This action was regarded by every skeptical sympathizer as a great +triumph, and we may therefore expect the Rationalistic school to engage +in still more important enterprises than any to which they have +addressed themselves. + +The most outspoken and violent attacks of critical Rationalism in +England are contained in the exegetical publications of Dr. John William +Colenso, who, in 1853, was consecrated Bishop of Natal, South Eastern +Africa. He had previously issued a series of mathematical works which +obtained a wide circulation; but his first book of scriptural criticism +was the _Epistle to the Romans, newly translated and explained from a +Missionary Point of View_. Having completed the New Testament and +several parts of the Old, he was laboring assiduously on a translation +of the Bible into the Zulu tongue, when his former doubts concerning the +unhistorical character of the Pentateuch revived with increased force. +The intelligent native who was assisting him in his literary work asked, +respecting the account of the flood, "Is all that true?" This, with +other inquiries propounded to him by the Zulus, led him to a careful +reexamination of the Mosaic record. + +The fruit of this additional study is the _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua +critically examined, in Three Parts_. Appearing just at the time when +the contest concerning the _Essays and Reviews_ was at fever-heat, the +Bishop's work added excitement to all the combatants. + +Those who are intimately acquainted with the treatment of the Pentateuch +and Book of Joshua by the most unsparing of the German Rationalists will +at once see the resemblance between their views and those of Colenso. +His aim is to overthrow the historical character of the early Scriptural +history by exposing the contradictions and impossibilities contained +therein; and also to fix the real origin, age and authorship of the +so-called narratives of Moses and Joshua. "I have arrived at the +conviction," says he, "that the Pentateuch, as a whole, cannot possibly +have been written by Moses, or by any one acquainted personally with the +facts which it professes to describe, and, further, that the so-called +Mosaic narrative, by whomsoever written, and though imparting to us, as +I fully believe it does, revelations of the Divine will and character, +cannot be regarded as _historically true_.... My reason for no longer +receiving the Pentateuch as historically true, is not that I find +insuperable difficulties with regard to the _miracles_ or supernatural +_revelations_ of Almighty God recorded in it, but solely that I cannot, +as a true man, consent any longer to shut my eyes to the absolute, +palpable self-contradictions of the narrative. The notion of miraculous +or supernatural interferences does not present to my own mind the +difficulties which it seems to present to some. I could believe and +receive the miracles of Scripture heartily, if only they were +authenticated by a veracious history; though, if that is not the case +with the Pentateuch, any miracles, which rest on such an unstable +support, must necessarily fall to the ground with it."[192] + +In proof of this assumption the author selects a large number of +inexplicable portions from the narratives in question, and uses all the +resources of his talents and learning to prove them to be the fruit of +"error, infirmity, passion, and ignorance." Hezron and Hanuel, he avers, +were certainly born in the land of Canaan; the whole assembly of Israel +could not have gathered about the door of the tabernacle; all Israel +could not have been heard by Moses, for they numbered about two millions +of people, according to the assumption of the Biblical narrative. The +Israelites could not have dwelt in tents; they were not armed; the +institution of the Passover, as described in the book of Exodus, was an +impossibility, the Israelites could not take cattle through the barren +country over which they passed; there is an incompatibility between the +supposed number of Israel and the predominance of wild beasts in +Palestine; the number of the first-born is irreconcilable with the +number of male adults; and the number of the priests at the exodus +cannot be harmonized with their duties, and with the provision made for +them.[193] These, with other difficulties chiefly of a numerical nature, +constitute the basis on which the Bishop builds his objections to the +historical character of Exodus as an integral part of the Pentateuch. + +In order to determine the true quality of the Book of Genesis, he brings +out the old theory that the work had two writers, the _Elohist_ and the +_Jehovist_,--so called because of their separate use of a term for +Deity. The Elohist was the older, and his narrative was the ground-work +which the Jehovist used and upon which he constructed his own +additions.[194] This Elohist account is defined to be "a series of +parables, based, as we have said, on legendary facts, though not +historically true."[195] The Pentateuch existed originally not as five +books, but as one; and it is possible that its quintuple division was +made in the time of Ezra. The writer of Chronicles was the same who +wrote the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, probably a Levite living after the +time of Nehemiah; the Chronicles were therefore written only four +hundred years before Christ; but the Chronicler must not be relied on +unless there is other evidence in support of his narrative. Exodus +could not have been written by Moses or any one of his contemporaries. +It is very probable that the Pentateuch generally was composed in a +later age than that of Moses or Joshua.[196] Samuel was most likely the +author of the Elohistic legends, which he left at his death in an +unfinished state, and which naturally fell into the hands of some one of +his disciples of the School of the Prophets, such, for instance, as +Nathan or Gad.[197] + +Yet the writer of the Pentateuch must not be reproached for his errors +as much as those who would attribute to him infallible accuracy. He had +no idea that he was writing truth. "But," says the Bishop, "there is not +the slightest reason to suppose that the first writer of the story in +the Pentateuch ever professed to be recording _infallible truth_, or +even _actual, historical truth_. He wrote certainly a narrative. But +what indications are there that he published it at large, even to the +people of his own time, as a record of _matter-of-fact, veracious +history_? Why may not Samuel, like any other Head of an Institution, +have composed this narrative for the instruction and improvement of his +pupils, from which it would gradually find its way, no doubt, more or +less freely, among the people at large, without ever pretending that it +was any other than an historical _experiment_,--an attempt to give them +some account of the early annals of their tribes? In _later_ days, it is +true, this ancient work of Samuel's came to be regarded as infallibly +Divine. But was it so regarded in the writer's days, or in the ages +immediately following? On the contrary, we find no sign of the Mosaic +Law being venerated, obeyed, or even known, in many of its most +remarkable features, till a much later time in history."[198] + +The excitement occasioned by the publication of these views of Colenso +was second only to that produced by the _Essays and Reviews_. There was +a decided disposition on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities to +deal summarily with him, since he had been intrusted with the Episcopal +office, and sent as a missionary to the heathen. Several of the Bishops +early took ground against his destructive criticism, and refused to +allow him to officiate within their dioceses. The Convocations of York +and Canterbury united in condemnation of his work. There was a +difference of opinion as to the best method of depriving him of his +episcopal authority. In the dilemma it was resolved to appeal to him +without any appearance of legal pressure; whereupon the Bishops of +England and Ireland, with but three exceptions, Drs. Thirlwall, +Fitzgerald, and Griffin, addressed him a letter, in which he was +requested to resign his office, since he must see, as well as they, the +inconsistency of holding his position as Bishop and believing and +publishing such views as were contained in his exegetical works. His +reply was a positive refusal, coupled with the statement that he would +soon return to his See in Africa, there to continue the discharge of his +duties. The Episcopal Bench of England failing to eject him, he was +tried and condemned before an Episcopal Synod, which assembled in Cape +Town, Southern Africa, on November 27th, 1863. + +The charges against Colenso were:--his denial of the atonement; belief +in man's justification without any knowledge of Christ; belief in natal +regeneration; disbelief in the endlessness of future punishment; denial +of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and of the truthfulness of +what they profess to describe as facts; denial of the divinity of our +blessed Lord; and depraving, impugning, and bringing into disrepute the +Book of Common Prayer. Having been adjudged guilty, he was deposed from +his office as Bishop of Natal, and thenceforth prohibited from the +exercise of all ministerial functions within any part of the +metropolitical province of Cape Town. Being absent in England at the +time of the trial, Colenso was represented by Dr. Bleek, who protested +against the legality of the proceedings and the validity of the +judgment, at the same time giving notice of his intention to appeal. But +the Metropolitan of Cape Town refused to recognize any appeal, except to +the Archbishop of Canterbury, which must be made within fifteen days +from sentence. Immediately after the deposition, the Dean of Natal, the +Archdeacon, the parochial clergy, and the church-wardens of the diocese, +signed a declaration, by which they pledged themselves not to recognize +Colenso any longer as their Bishop. + +Before Colenso was served with a copy of the decree against him, he +issued a letter to his diocese, in which he denied the power claimed by +the Metropolitan and the other bishops of Cape Town to depose him. He +maintained that, of the nine charges brought against him, four had +already been disposed of by the late judgment of the Privy Council in +the case of the _Essays and Reviews_. In the meanwhile, his friends at +home collected a fund of more than two thousand pounds to enable him to +plead his cause before the English courts. The first proceeding in Great +Britain commenced in 1863, before the judicial committee of the Privy +Council. The case has finally been decided in Colenso's favor, the Lord +Chancellor declaring the sentence pronounced by the Bishop of Cape Town +illegal, in the following words: "As the question can be decided only by +the sovereign or head of the Established Church and depositary of +appellate jurisdiction, their Lordships will humbly report to Her +Majesty their judgment and opinion that the proceedings taken by the +Bishop of Cape Town, and the judgment or sentence pronounced by him +against the Bishop of Natal, are null and void." + +But while this judgment of the Privy Council annulled the proceedings +against Colenso, it also destroyed his Episcopal authority by +pronouncing that the letters patent of the Queen, by which he was made +Bishop, had neither been authorized by any Parliamentary statute nor +confirmed by the legislative council of Natal. His continuance in +authority, therefore, was made dependent on the voluntary recognition of +the clergy within the diocese of Natal. But the latest intelligence +reveals the important fact that the clergy unanimously refuse to +recognize his Episcopal authority, and have asked the Bishop of Cape +Town to administer the diocese until a new appointment can be made for +the See of Natal. The trustees of the Colonial Bishops' fund have also +declared that they will no longer pay the salary of Colenso. He has +already set sail for Southern Africa, but on his arrival will find +himself without a clergy or a people to recognize his jurisdiction. Dr. +Pusey has written an interesting letter, in which he hails the decision +of the Privy Council as an indication that the church of South Africa +will soon be as free and prosperous as the Scotch Episcopal church and +the church of the United States. + +The remaining parts of the Bishop's _Commentary on the Pentateuch and +Book of Joshua_ have met with a tardy and cold reception. We accept +this as a hopeful sign that no great portion of the people are willing +to adopt his theological views. The first two parts, however, created an +excitement which was not confined to Christian lands. Even a Mussulman +addressed a letter from the Cape of Good Hope to a Turkish paper at +Constantinople, in which he gives an account of the Christians in that +colony, together with a description of their multiform dissensions. +"Their priests," he writes, "all advocate different creeds; and as to +their bishops, one Colenso actually writes books against his own +religion." It may be more a gratification of the vanity than flattering +to the piety of the late Missionary to the Zulus to be informed that +already the Buddhists of India are making free use of his works as an +invaluable aid in their controversies with the missionaries from +Christian lands. Thus the herald of the cross of Christ in heathen +nations must encounter not only the superstition and prejudices of +paganism, but the infidelity exported from his own home, where for +centuries the battles of the truth have been fought and won. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[169] _Essays and Reviews._ Edited, with an Introduction, by Rev. F. H. +Hedge, D. D. Boston, 1862. + +[170] _Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles._--_Noyes' Essays_, pp. +222-276. + +[171] _Essays and Reviews_, pp. 5-6. + +[172] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 37. + +[173] Ibid. p. 39. + +[174] Ibid. pp. 35-36. + +[175] For an able refutation of this point, _vid._ Houghton, +_Rationalism in the Church of England_, pp. 127-136. + +[176] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 54. + +[177] Ibid. p. 60. + +[178] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 68. + +[179] _Replies to Essays and Reviews_, p. 135. + +[180] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 120. + +[181] Ibid. p. 155. + +[182] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 159. + +[183] _Essays and Reviews_, pp. 195-196. + +[184] Ibid. p. 277. + +[185] _Essays and Reviews_, pp. 277-278. + +[186] Ibid. p. 278. + +[187] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 287. + +[188] Ibid. pp. 328-329. + +[189] _Essays and Reviews_, p. 446. + +[190] _Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, _Vorwort_, 1862. + +[191] _Ecclesiastical Judgments of the Privy Council_, p. 289. Edited by +Hon. G. C. Brodrick, and the Rev. W. H. Freemantle. London, 1865. The +members of the Queen's Privy Council are as follows: Earls Granville and +Lonsdale; Duke of Buccleugh; Marquis of Salisbury; Lords Westbury, +Brougham, Cranworth, Wensleydale, St. Leonards, Chelmsford, and +Kindsdown; and Right Hons. Lushington, Bruce, Wigram, Ryan, Pollock, +Romilly, Turner, Cockburn, Coleridge, Erie, and Wylde. + +[192] _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua_, Part I., pp. 49, 51-52. Am. +Edition. + +[193] _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua_, Part I., pp. 60, 78, 81, 94, 105, +118, 138, 141, 185. + +[194] _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua_, Part II., p. 60. + +[195] Ibid. p. 296. + +[196] _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua_, Part II., pp. 83, 84, 115. + +[197] Ibid. p. 160. + +[198] _Pentateuch and Book of Joshua_, Part II., p. 292. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +ENGLAND CONTINUED: SURVEY OF CHURCH PARTIES. + + +The Church of England has always been proud of the outward form of +unity. Her rigid view of the sin of schism has induced her to submit to +great elasticity of opinion and teaching rather than incur the +traditional disgrace of open division. But on this very account she has +never been free from internal strife. In everything but in name she has +been for centuries not one church, but several. Her entire history +discloses two tendencies balancing each other, and for the most part +reacting to great advantage. The Sacramentalist party represents +Romanizing tendencies, and is thoroughly devoted to "the sacramental +services and the offices of the church, especially as performed +according to the rubric." The Evangelical party is less formal, is in +harmony with the Articles, aims to keep up with the accumulating +religious wants of society, and lays stress upon the practical evidences +of Christian life. Under these two standards may be ranked all those +schools within the pale of the Church which have been growing into +prominence since the closing years of the eighteenth century. We will +only speak of the most influential parties, remembering, however, that +each of them is again subdivided into various sections. + +THE LOW CHURCH. Within a short time after the Church of England gave +signs of religious awakening in consequence of the rise of the Wesleyan +movement, the triumph of evangelical tendencies was complete. "In less +than twenty years," says Conybeare, "the original battle-field was won, +and the enemy may be said to have surrendered at discretion. +Thenceforward, scarcely a clergyman was to be found in England who +preached against the doctrines of the creed. The faith of the church was +restored to the level of her formularies."[199] The revival was so +thorough that it gave rise to a zealous class which was called by its +friends the Evangelical Party, but by its enemies the Low Church. + +The Low Church had its seat at Cambridge, and was conducted by vigorous +theologians, who were encouraged and aided by highly-respected and +leading laymen. Attaching new importance to the neglected doctrines, +their principal themes were "the universal necessity of conversion," +"justification by faith," and "the sole authority of Scripture as the +rule of faith." They were worthy successors of the old Evangelical +party, represented by Milner, Martyn, and Wilberforce. Through their +agency there arose in the popular mind a dislike of ecclesiastical +landmarks, the state church fell into disrepute, the broadest +catholicity received hearty support, and personal piety was the +acknowledged test of true religion. In 1828 Lord Russell, the leader of +the Reform party, effected the abrogation of the Test Act,--a law which +required all officers, civil and military, to receive the sacrament +according to the usage of the Established church, and to take an oath +against transubstantiation within six months after their entrance into +office. The repeal immediately placed Dissenters and Catholics upon the +same footing with members of the Established church, and was in itself +sufficient to provoke opposition on the part of all who had not united +in the evangelical movement. But the antagonism became still more +decided when Parliament passed the Irish Church Property Act, in 1833, +in spite of the determined remonstrances of the bishops. One half of the +Irish bishoprics were thereby abrogated, Parliament assuming +ecclesiastical authority. The people supported the Parliament, and in +some instances public indignation was hurled at the bishops themselves. + +The Low Church has always been on the side of popular reform. Not +forgetful of its lineal descent from that evangelical spirit which +animated Wilberforce, Stephen, Thornton, and Buxton, in their +philanthropic labors, it has sought out the population of the factories +and mines of England, and addressed itself to the relief of their +cramped and stifled inmates. It has reorganized Ragged-Schools, and +endeavored to reach all the suffering classes of the kingdom. Neither +has it been found unmindful of the wants of the heathen world, for no +sooner did the Low Church commence its public career than it founded the +Church Missionary Society, which has established over one hundred and +forty-eight missionary stations, sustains two hundred and sixty-six +clergymen, and includes about twenty thousand members.[200] These labors +have been abundantly successful, for besides the converted towns on the +coast of Africa, "whole districts of Southern India have embraced the +faith; and the native population of New Zealand (spread over a territory +as large as England) has been reclaimed from cannibalism and added to +the church." The same party was chiefly instrumental in establishing the +British and Foreign Bible Society, which has translated the Scriptures +into one hundred and fifty languages, and distributes over two millions +of copies annually. + +The Low Church party was the first to tell England that her population +had far outgrown her places of worship, and it accordingly devised means +to remedy the evil. Archbishop Sumner founded the first Diocesan Church +Building Society, in 1828; and after becoming Bishop of Chester +consecrated more than two hundred new churches. Mr. Simeon of Cambridge +had previously set the example of caring for the unchurched population +by his personal labors and the outlay of his large private fortune. His +name is now like "ointment poured forth" among the inhabitants of Bath, +Clifton, Bradford, and other places. The Pastoral Aid Society was +founded in 1836, and by its lay and clerical employees, is now +ministering to the spiritual wants of over three millions of souls. The +Low Churchmen have also established, in needy localities, Sunday +Schools, Infant Schools, Lending Libraries, Benefit Societies, Clothing +Clubs, and Circles of Scripture Readers. From the ranks of this party +have arisen devout and zealous preachers, who, without any great natural +endowments, have given their hearts to the work of saving souls. +Hamilton Forsyth, Spencer Thornton, and Henry Fox,--the follower of +Henry Martyn to Southern India,--are names which will ever adorn the +history of the Church of England.[201] + +At the present time the Low Church is leading the van within the +Establishment, in all those movements which have the stamp of true +piety. It is seeking out the abandoned and homeless wretches in the +darkest sinks of London, reading the Bible to them, clothing, finding +work, and training them to self-respect. Some of its clergy are among +the most gifted and influential in Great Britain, whether at the +editor's table, in the pulpit, or on the platform. The lofty position +they have lately taken against the inroads of Rationalism entitles them +to the thanks and admiration of Christendom. + +Within the Low Church there are two subdivisions. The first is the +Recordite party, so called from its organ. It intensifies the doctrines +of the Low Church; on justification by faith it builds its view of the +worthlessness of morality; on conversion by grace its predestinarian +fatalism; and on the supremacy of Scripture its dogma of verbal +inspiration. It holds strong Biblical views on the sanctity of the +Sabbath, and both by the pulpit and the press, opposes the +secularization of the Lord's day. The other party is sneeringly called +the "Low and Slow," and corresponds with a similar faction within the +High Church which enjoys the sobriquet of the "High and Dry." + +After the evangelical movement had fully taken root there arose an +antagonistic tendency; it was the old Sacramentalist party re-asserting +itself. Oxford arrayed itself against Cambridge. The views of Laud had +always found favor in the former seat of learning, and their adherents +felt that the time had now come for their vigorous revival. They +directed their opposition equally against Parliamentary usurpation and +evangelical liberalism. The centre of the counter-movement was Oriel +College, which, under Whately, Hampden, and Thomas Arnold, was already +celebrated for its new spirit of free scientific inquiry. Keble, Pusey, +Froude, and J. H. Newman, were here associated either as fellows or +students. Froude recognized the truth of the saying of Vicentius: "_Quod +semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est._" He rose above his +friends as leader of the whole movement. + +The Conference which convened at Hadley, was the first organized +demonstration against the evangelical portion of the Low Church. Its +initiative act was the adoption of a catechism which contained the views +of the High Churchmen, and was the first issue of the celebrated series +of Tracts which gave to the new movement the name of Tractarianism. It +was published in 1833, and the last of the series, the ninetieth, +appeared seven years afterward. Newman and Pusey were the chief writers. +Pusey preached a sermon in 1843 which avowed, with only slight +modifications, the doctrine of transubstantiation; in consequence of +which he was deposed from preaching to the university for the space of +two years. The Romish church received flattering eulogy from all the +High Churchmen or Tractarians. It was represented by them as the +embodiment of all that was grand, imposing, and sound in art, poetry, or +theology. When Newman went over to its fold, Pusey said of him: "He has +been called to labor in another part of the Lord's vineyard." The High +Church went so far in its opposition to the Low that many attached to +the former felt more attracted to Roman Catholicism than to any form of +Protestantism. Accordingly, at the close of 1846, one hundred and fifty +clergymen and distinguished laymen had gone over to Popery. + +The doctrines of the High Church may be divided into two classes: the +material, or justification by sacraments; and the formal, or the +authority of the church. + +While it declares that we are justified by faith, it also holds that we +are judged by works. Men are converted by grace, but Christians are +regenerated by baptism. The Scriptures are supreme authority, but the +"church hath authority in controversies of faith," by virtue of its +apostolic descent. The watchwords of the High Church are, therefore, +judgment by works; baptismal regeneration; church authority; and +apostolical succession. Faith, it claims, does not justify us in and of +itself, but simply brings us to God, who then justifies us by his free +grace. Baptism is regeneration; in the New Testament the new birth is +always connected with it; we are not born of faith, or of love, or of +prayer, but by water and the Spirit. All Tractarians believe in the real +presence of Christ, and only differ as to the mode in which he is +present. The consecrated elements become really the body and blood of +Christ by virtue of the consecrating word, though the change takes place +in a spiritual and inexpressible way. Christ is a kind Saviour to those +who partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper worthily, but a harsh +judge to those who do it unworthily. + +High Churchmen hold that the Church is a saving institution founded by +Christ, and continued by apostolical succession. It is the only mediator +of salvation in Christ in so far as it is the only dispenser of the +means of grace, the only protectress and witness of the truth, and the +highest authority in matters of faith and practice. There are three +tests of the true Church: _first_, apostolicity, or the divine origin of +the Church and its succession of apostles; _second_, catholicity, or the +truth in matters of instruction and life communicated through the +succession of the apostles, the truth in matters of faith and life as +interpreted by Scripture and tradition; and, _third_, autonomy, or the +absolute independence and supreme authority of the Church in faith and +practice. + +Apostolical succession was the first dogma in which all High Churchmen +united. Connected with this opinion is the idea that the priesthood is +the only mediatorial office between Christ and the congregation. The +bishops are the spiritual sons of the apostles, and should be respected +for their office' sake; Christ is the Mediator above, but his servant, +the bishop, is his image on earth.[202] The Church has authority to +forgive sins by the new birth, and to bring souls from hell to +heaven.[203] Tradition must be respected not less than the Bible itself; +the Old and New Testaments are the fountain of the doctrines, and the +catholic fathers the channel through which they flow down to us.[204] +The Bible must be explained, not by individual opinion, but by the +church; for the Church is its rightful interpreter. + +It must be said, in justice to the High Church, that while it attaches +great weight to these views it does not discard those really important. +It does not overlook the doctrines maintained by the majority of +evangelical Christians. The moderate members of this party, especially, +do not hold them as "the basis of their system, but only as secondary +and ornamental details. Even against Dissenters they are not rigidly +enforced. The hereditary non-conformist is not excluded from salvation. +Foreign Protestants are even owned as brethren, though a mild regret is +expressed that they lack the blessing of an authorized church +government. Apostolical succession is not practically made essential to +the being of a church, but rather cherished as a dignified and ancient +pedigree, connecting our English episcopate with primitive antiquity, +and binding the present to the past by a chain of filial piety. In the +same hands, church authority is reduced to little more than a claim to +that deference which is due from the ignorant to the learned, from the +taught to the teacher."[205] + +Of the general service rendered by the High Churchmen, the same writer +says, "Their system gives freer scope to the feelings of reverence, awe, +and beauty than that of their opponents. They endeavor, and often +successfully, to enlist these feelings in the service of piety. Music, +painting, and architecture, they consecrate as the handmaids of +religion. Thus they attract an order of men chiefly found among the most +cultivated classes, whose hearts must be reached through their +imagination rather than their understanding.... In the same spirit the +writers of this party have contributed to the religious literature of +the day many admirable works which under the guise of fiction teach the +purest Christianity, and exemplify its bearing in every detail of common +life. To the training of childhood especially they have rendered most +valuable aid, by thus embodying the precepts of the Gospel. But we need +not do more than allude to works so universally known and valued as +those of Miss Sewell, Mr. Adams, and Bishop Wilberforce. Again the +revival of the High Church party has effected an important improvement +among the clergy. Many of these were prejudiced by hereditary dislike +against the doctrines and the persons of the Evangelicals, and by this +prejudice, were repelled from religion. But under the name of orthodoxy +and the banner of High Church, they have willingly received truth +against which, had it come to them in another shape, they would have +closed their ears and hearts. A better spirit has thus been breathed +into hundreds who but for this new movement would have remained as their +fathers were before them, mere Nimrods, Ramrods, or Fishing-rods."[206] + +Of all the men engaged in the Tractarian enterprise there was no one in +whose religious and personal history a deeper public interest +concentrated than in John Henry Newman. His ardent espousal of the High +Church cause collected many friends about him at the same time that it +organized numerous enemies. But he did not inquire concerning the number +of his friends or foes, for he valued sincerity higher than favor or +opposition. His previous history was not without incident. Thirteen +years before the _Tracts for the Times_ were published, he had been +engaged in a controversy concerning baptismal regeneration, in which he +defended the evangelical side.[207] Subject to various inner conflicts, +and greatly influenced by the party-spirit which ran high, he finally +entered the communion of the Roman Catholic Church. His view of the +development of Christian doctrine is very favorable to his adopted +faith. Development can be applied to anything which has real vital +power; it is the key that unlocks the mystery of all growth; any +philosophy or policy, Christianity included, requires time for its +comprehension and perfection. The highest truths of inspiration needed +only the longer time and deeper thought for their full elucidation, for +perfection can be reached only by trials and sore conflicts. A +philosophy or sect is purer and stronger when its channel has grown deep +and broad by the flow of time. Its vital element needs disengagement +from that which is foreign and temporary, and its beginning is no +measure of its capabilities or scope. At first no one knows what it is +or what it is worth, since it seems in suspense which way to go; but +notwithstanding this, it strikes out and develops all its hidden world +of force. Surrounding things change, but these changes only contribute +to its development. Here below, to live is to change, and to be perfect +is to have changed often. This is all true of Christianity; the lapse of +years, instead of injuring it, has only brought out its power.[208] + +These hints furnish a specimen of the ideal robe in which Father Newman +clothes Romanism. But it will take a stronger intellect than his to show +any harmony between his theory of development and the history of the +papacy. He has once more assumed the pen of the controversialist. In the +January number of _Macmillan's Magazine_, 1864, Kingsley, in a review of +Froude's History of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, said, "Truth for its +own sake has never been a virtue with the Roman clergy. Father Newman +informs us that it need not be, and, on the whole, ought not to be; that +cunning is the weapon which Heaven has given to the saints wherewith to +withstand the brute man's force of the wicked world, which marries and +is given in marriage." The venerable Father being thus assailed has +given vent to his indignation by a defense of his life, under the title +of _Apologia Pro Vita Sua_. It abounds in rare touches of satire; while +Kingsley, in his reply, indicates excitement and bitterness. + +The younger brother, Francis William Newman, has led a sad and changeful +life. It has many features in common with Blanco White, both of whom +betray the destructive absence of a positive evangelical faith. In some +skeptics there is a strength of will which gives a successful appearance +to their cause in spite of all their doubts; but when the will is +subjected to the domination of opinion; when religion, whether true or +false, is not an appendage but the principle of life, the power of mere +sentiment is fully manifested. The younger Newman is an illustration of +the position in which one is left when he throws himself into the arms +of a false creed. + +He reveals his inner life in the _Phases of Faith_, one of the most +touching pieces of biography in the realm of literature. While a student +at Oxford, he became enamored with the "Oriel heresy about Sunday." One +by one the views of the standard authorities of the Church lost their +hold upon him, and he imbibed the opinion that the Old Testament is not +really the rule of life, according to the Pauline idea; infant baptism +is an excrescence of a post-apostolic age, and Wall's attempt to trace +it to the Apostles a decided failure; Episcopacy has been so +contemptibly represented by incumbents, some of whom opposed the +Missionary and Bible Societies, that it is not entitled to respect; and +the Church Fathers are greatly overrated, Clement alone being +respectable. + +Unable to find any theological resting-place, Newman went as a +quasi-missionary to Bagdad. He returned to Oxford and gave himself up to +his increasing doubts. Finally, becoming a Unitarian, the Scriptures +present new difficulties; Christianity has been too highly praised and +flattered; and has had the credit of doing a great deal which it has had +no share in effecting. The Bible has not been found able to cope with +fresh evils; and Romanism became corrupt and vicious with that book in +the hands of the priesthood. But dissatisfied as Newman is with the +present, he takes a cheerful look upon the future. "The age is ripe," he +says, "for something better, for a religion which shall combine the +tenderness, humility, and disinterestedness which are the glory of the +present Christianity, with that activity of intellect, untiring pursuit +of truth, and strict adherence to impartial principle which the schools +of modern science embody. When a spiritual church has its senses +exercised to discern good and evil, judges of right and wrong by an +inward power, proves all things, and holds fast that which is good, +fears no truth, but rejoices in being corrected, intellectually as well +as morally, it will not be liable to 'be carried to and fro' by shifting +wind of doctrine. It will indeed have movement, namely, a steady +_onward_ one, as the schools of science have had since they left off to +dogmatize, and approached God's world as learners; but it will lay aside +disputes of words, eternal vacillations, mutual ill-will and dread of +new light, and will be able, without hypocrisy, to proclaim 'peace on +earth and good will toward men,' even toward those who reject its +beliefs and sentiments concerning God and his glory."[209] + +THE FIRST BROAD CHURCH. The division of the Broad Church into two +parties has been produced by the recent discussion. The First Broad +Church corresponds in the main with philosophical Rationalism. It +commenced with Coleridge, was interpreted principally by Hare, was +defended by the chaste and vigorous pen of Arnold, and is now +represented by Maurice, Kingsley, and Stanley. It cannot be said to have +a distinct creed. Its members being attached to the Established Church, +they are distinguished peculiarly for their method of interpretation of +the articles of faith. "The Broad Church teachers give us readings of +each dogma of the Atonement and Future Punishment."[210] They avow the +main doctrines of the Gospel, but in such a modified sense that, they +say, the same were held virtually by all Christians in every age; by +Loyola and Xavier, not less than by Latimer and Ridley. They conceive +the essence of Popery to consist, not in points of metaphysical +theology, but in the ascription of magic virtue to outward acts. All who +believe the Scriptures are, in their opinion, members of the household +of faith. Salvation does not depend upon the ritual but upon the life; +the fruits of the Spirit are the sole criteria of the Spirit's presence. +They give prominence to the idea of the visible Church when they hold +the Church to be a Society divinely instituted for the purpose of +manifesting God's presence, and bearing witness to his attributes, by +their reflection in its ordinances and in its members. If its ideal were +fully embodied in its actual constitution "it would remind us daily of +God, and work upon the habits of our life as insensibly as the air we +breathe."[211] For this end, it would revive "daily services, frequent +communions, memorials of our Christian calling, presented to our notice +in crosses and wayside oratories; commemorations to holy men of all +times and countries; religious orders, especially of women, of different +kinds and under different rules, delivered only from the snare and sin +of perpetual vows."[212] + +The special defender of these views of the visible Church, the late Dr. +Thomas Arnold, of Rugby, was a man of great industry, profound +erudition, and extraordinary power and tact in the management of youth. +His sermons, delivered to his pupils at Rugby, were short, and usually +written just before delivery in the school-chapel on Sabbath +afternoons.[213] He interested himself in all questions of reform, +education, politics, and literature. But he is best known as one of the +leaders of the Broad Church, and in this light his theological opinions +may be considered a fair sample of the theology adopted by that party in +its earlier and purer days. With him, inspiration is not equivalent to a +communication of the divine perfections. Paul expected the world would +come to an end in the generation then existing. The Scripture narratives +are not only about divine things, but are themselves divinely framed and +superintended. Inspiration does not raise a man above his own time, nor +make him, even in respect to that which he utters when inspired, perfect +in goodness and wisdom; but it so overrules his language that it shall +contain a meaning more than his own mind was conscious of, and thus give +to it a character of divinity, and a power of perpetual +application.[214] + +According to Arnold, Christ was the sum of the Bible, and the centre of +all truth. We cannot come to God directly; Christ is to us in place of +God; and he is God, for to hold the contrary would be idolatry. Christ +suffered for the Church, not only as a man may suffer for man by being +involved in evils through the fault of another, and by his example +awakening in others a spirit of like patience and self-devotion, but in +a higher and more complete sense, as suffering for them, the just for +the unjust, that they, for his sake, should be regarded by God as +innocent. In a deep sense of moral evil, more, perhaps, than in anything +else, a saving knowledge of God abides. Sin must not be lightly +considered. Christ's death shows it to be an exceeding evil; and the +actions of whole days and weeks, passed as they are by too many in utter +carelessness, are nothing but one mass of sin; and no one thing in them +has been sanctified by the thought of God or of Christ. + +The penalty of sin, according to Arnold, is one of the revelations of +Scripture which men are least inclined to hear. It will be true of every +one of us, that, unless we turn to Christ, it had been better that we +were never born. If we fail of the grace of God there is reserved for us +an indescribable misery. Conversion is the development of Christian +life. It is growth. We must be changed during the three score and ten +years of our life, not in the twinkling of an eye, but through a long +period of prayer and watchfulness, laboring slowly and with difficulty +to get rid of our evil nature.[215] By constant repentance and faith we +ripen for heaven. Justification by faith is a reliance on what God has +done for us; faith in Christ is not only faith in his having died for +us, but in him as our present Saviour by his life. It is throwing +ourselves upon him in all things, as our Redeemer, Saviour, Head, of +whom we are members, and desire our life only for Him. Our dependence in +Christ is not once only, but perpetual. + +Arnold attached paramount importance to a proper understanding of the +Church and its relations to the State. He held that the work of a +Christian Church and State is absolutely one and the same, and that the +full development of the former in its perfect form as the Kingdom of +God, will be an effectual means for the removal of all evil and the +promotion of good. There can be no perfect Church or State without their +blending into one.[216] The Church, during her imperfect state, is +deficient in power; the State, in the like condition is deficient in +knowledge; one judges amiss of man's highest happiness, the other +discerns it truly, but has not the power on a large scale to attain it. +But when blended into one, the power and knowledge become happily +united; the Church has become sovereign, and the State has become +Christian.[217] The Church has its living and redeemed members; it may +have those who are craving to be admitted within its shelter, being +convinced that God is in it of a truth; but beyond these, he who is not +with it is against it.[218] + +In intimate connection with Arnold stands the name of his friend and +biographer, Arthur P. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, for some years a +writer of celebrity in England. Two late volumes on the _Eastern_ and +_Jewish Churches_ have given him a standing occupied by few theologians +in the old or the new world. His style is gorgeous and enchanting, and +his Rationalistic tendencies so subdued and covert that few would +suspect him of sympathy with the Broad Church theology of the last ten +years' growth. In his work on _Sinai and Palestine_ he aimed to +delineate the outward events of the Old and New Testament in such a way +that they should come home with a new power to those who, by long +familiarity, had almost ceased to regard them as historical truth; and +so to bring out their inward spirit that the more complete realization +of their outward form should not degrade but exalt the faith of which +they are the vehicle. But in subsequent works, Dean Stanley has clearly +departed from an evangelical position, and we now find him in open +sympathy with the Broad Church. This tendency was foreshadowed in his +_History of the Jewish Church_. He describes miracles as one who prefers +to omit, rather than state, his real objections to their reception. He +seems to believe in Israel as an inspired people, more than in the Old +Testament as a plenarily inspired book. He allows searching criticism +into the Hebrew text, and does not seem disturbed by evidences of +errors, contradictions, and phantasy. He does not know whether the +Israelites were in Egypt two hundred and fifteen, four hundred and +thirty, or one thousand years,--thus leaving an important question +unsettled. Neither does he decide, with or against Colenso, whether the +number of armed Israelites who left Egypt was six hundred or six hundred +thousand men. He implies that monotheism was unknown before Abraham, and +that the name Jehovah was not known to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. He +cannot tell how the Israelites were supported in their journeyings; and +ascribes the priesthood to an Egyptian origin. If we only admit the +above arithmetical errors, and give up the Mosaic authorship of the +Pentateuch, he thinks we should remove at one stroke some of the main +difficulties of the Mosaic narrative.[219] + +But Stanley has exposed his Broad Church sympathies more in a late +review article than in any formal volume.[220] It is a discussion of the +judicial proceedings in connection with two authors of the _Essays and +Reviews_. His theme permits a wide range, and he therefore dwells at +length upon the whole question of ministerial teaching. He considers the +final acquittal of the essayists one of the most gratifying events of +the day. According to him, the questions raised by the work are, with +few exceptions, of a kind altogether beside and beyond the range over +which the formularies of the Church extend. No passage in any of the +five clerical essayists contradicts any of the formularies of the Church +in a degree at all comparable to the direct collision which exists +between the High Church party and the Articles, or the Low Church party +and the Prayer-Book; on the points debated in the _Essays and Reviews_ +the Articles and Prayer-Book are alike silent. Stanley rejoices that of +the thirty-two charges presented against Mr. Wilson and Dr. Williams all +were dismissed but five, and that for these "there was no heavier +penalty than a year's suspension." He is in ecstacy that the judgment in +the case of these two men has established the legal position of those +who have always claimed the right of free inquiry and latitude of +opinion equally for themselves and for both the other sections of the +Church. By the issue of the litigation, he claims that great victories +have been won, that henceforth ample freedom is left to all detailed +criticism of the Sacred Text, so long as the canonicity of no canonical +book is denied, and that the questions whether there be "one Isaiah or +two, two Zechariahs or three, who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, and +who wrote the Pentateuch, whether Job and Josiah be historical or +parabolical, whether the Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah or the Second +Psalm be directly or indirectly prophetic, what are the precise limits +of the natural and practical, what is the weight of internal and +external evidence, whether the Apocalypse refers to the Emperor Nero or +to the Pope of Rome; are to be settled according to the individual +opinion of every clergyman of the Established Church." Stanley sneers at +the Declaration of the Oxford Committee sent to every Clergyman of +England and Ireland, "with an adjuration, for the love of God and out of +duty to the souls of men, to sign it." That Declaration was a protest +against the acquittal of the Essayists; and Stanley rejoices over the +fact, that, though "every influence was used to get signatures to it, +and was so concealed as to enlist the support of High and Low Church +parties," the result was the signature of only one third of the London +clergy, nine Professors at Oxford and one at Cambridge, eight out of the +thirty English deans, two of the Head Masters of the Public Schools, and +only six out of the fifty clerical contributors to Smith's _Dictionary +of the Bible_; that more than one half of the rural clergy stood +altogether aloof from the document; and that when it was presented at +Lambeth only four of the twenty-eight Bishops loaned their countenance +to its formal reception. Stanley looks into the future and sees +permanent blessings bestowed upon the country by the "timely decision of +the highest Court of Appeal" that it has "no jurisdiction or authority +to settle matters of faith, or to determine what ought in any particular +to be the doctrine of the Church of England, since its duty extends only +to the consideration of that which is by law established to be the +doctrine of the Church of England, upon the true and legal construction +of her Articles and formularies." He is also pleased that the Supreme +Court of Appeal has refused to pledge itself and the Church to any +popular theory of the mode of justification or of the future punishment +of the wicked; and that it now stands declared that it is no doctrine of +the Church of England that "every part of the Bible is inspired, or is +the word of God." The Dean also looks with complacency upon what he +declares to be a fact, and which we are startled to hear; that "the +belief in endless punishment is altogether fluctuating, or else +expresses itself in forms wholly untenable ... that the doctrine of +endless torments, if held, is not practically taught by the vast +majority of the Clergymen of England." + +The First Broad Church will not accept entirely the theology contained +in the _Essays and Reviews_, and complains of them that they are "almost +entirely negative; hinting at faults in the prevalent religious opinions +of the day, but not investigating them; indicating dislike to certain +obligations which are imposed upon clergymen, but not stating or +considering what those obligations are; leaving an impression upon +devout Christians that something in their faith is untenable when they +want to find in it what is tenable; suggesting that earnest infidels in +this day have much to urge in behalf of their doubts and difficulties; +never fairly asking what they have to urge, what are their doubts and +difficulties."[221] + +On the other hand, the First Broad Church will not unite in the +organized opposition to that work, because the denunciations and appeals +"took an almost entirely negative form; they contradicted and slandered +objections; they were not assertions of a belief; they led Christians +away from the Bible, from the creeds which they confess to certain +notions about the creeds, from practice to disputation. They met no real +doubts in the minds of unbelievers; they only called for the +suppression of all doubts. They confounded the opinions of the day with +the faith once delivered to the saints. They tended to make anonymous +journalists the law-givers of the Church. They tended to discourage +clergymen from expressing manfully what is in their hearts, lest they +should incur the charge of being unfaithful to their vows. They tended +to hinder all serious and honest co-operation between men who are not +bound together in a sectarian agreement, lest they should make +themselves responsible for opinions different from their own."[222] +Thus, while the First Broad Church occupies a neutral ground in the +controversy now rending the whole structure of English theology, its +moral force is all against Evangelical Christianity, and in favor of the +usurpations of Rationalism. + +But the theology maintained by the First Broad Church is little above +that contained in the _Essays and Reviews_ and similar Rationalistic +publications. With them, the Scriptures are better than any other books +of antiquity because they contain the most of God's will, not because +they alone contain his will. "These books," says a writer, "have been +filtered out, as it were, under his guidance, from many others which, in +ages gone by, claimed a place beside them, and are now forgotten, while +these have stood for thousands of years, and are not likely to be set +aside now."[223] They are indifferent as to their date, authorship, or +contents. "Men may satisfy themselves," the same writer continues, +"perhaps if I have time to give to the study, they may satisfy me--that +the Pentateuch was the work of twenty men; that Baruch wrote a part of +Isaiah; that David did not write the Psalms, or the evangelists the +gospels; that there are interpolations here and there in the original; +that there are numerous and serious errors in our translation. What is +all this to me? What do I care who wrote them, what is the date of them, +what this or that passage ought to be? They have told me what I wanted +to know. Burn every copy in the world to-morrow, you don't and can't +take that knowledge from me, or any man."[224] + +The Mosaic cosmogony is not a matter of great consequence, but on a par +with other cosmogonies, none of which are of any intrinsic value. "If +all cosmogonies were to disappear to-morrow," says Thomas Hughes, "I +should be none the poorer." The various difficulties of Scripture are +not of sufficient moment to occupy much time or pains. Let the people be +made to understand the liberal interpretations of what the cultivated +teachers have to say, and that will be enough to meet the world's wants. +Perhaps it is with secret admiration of Bunsen's _Bible Work_, the +greatest exegetical triumph of Rationalism, that Kingsley asks: "Who +shall write us a people's commentary of the Bible?" + +Redemption is accepted in the Coleridgean sense. It is a term which does +not express a Scriptural fact, but is borrowed from earthly +transactions. Christ's work in our behalf is of no special value in +itself, its known effects being all that make it of moment to the human +family.[225] We should look at the results and not at the cause. The +sacrifice which Christ made was one of obedience to his Father's will; +it does not free us and elevate us above the curse of a broken law, for, +in a certain sense, the law has never been broken to the extent that +the evangelicals claim, nor does eternal punishment harmonize with +enlightened and liberal notions of Divine mercy. Miracles are in danger +of being worshiped by the friends of revelation. They have the +misfortune of an improper term; wonders would be a far better word. Why +not accept them in the domain of faith, since we meet with them in +science?[226] Miracles of this kind, "wonders," are willingly conceded, +for they are not suspensions or violations of the order of nature, but +natural phenomena, whose laws we may not understand. The miracles of the +New Testament are purely natural; but the people did not comprehend the +laws which gave them birth, and hence they magnified them. "Where the +people believed," says Mr. Davies, "rightly or wrongly, in evil spirits +and sorcery, in malignant and disorderly influences proceeding from the +spiritual world, there the powers of the true kingdom, the powers of +order and freedom and beneficence, were put forth in acts which appealed +directly to the minds of the ignorant and superstitious, and which +proclaimed an authority stronger than that of demons. The common +multitudes of Judea were of the class which thus required to be treated +like spoiled and frightened children."[227] + +THE SECOND BROAD CHURCH. This party maintains the avowed Rationalism of +Jowett, the _Essays and Reviews_, and Colenso. Miss Cobbe, in defining +the points of difference between it and the First Broad Church, says of +the latter, "It holds that the doctrines of the Bible and the church can +be perfectly harmonized with the results of modern thought by a new but +legitimate exegesis of the Bible and interpretation of church formulae. +The Second Broad Church seems prepared to admit that in many cases they +can only be harmonized by the sacrifice of biblical infallibility. The +First Broad Church has recourse, to harmonize them, to various logical +processes, but principally to the one described in the last chapter, of +diverting the student, at all difficult points, from criticism to +edification. The Second Broad Church uses no ambiguity, but frankly +avows that when the Bible contradicts science, the Bible must be in +error. The First Broad Church maintains that the inspiration of the +Bible differs in _kind_ as well as in _degree_ from that of other books. +The Second Broad Church appears to hold that it differs in degree but +not in kind. This last is the crucial point of the differences of the +two parties, and of one of the most important controversies of modern +times."[228] The First Broad Church has made antagonism to the doctrine +of endless punishment one of its great specialties, while the Second +Broad Church has made its most violent assaults upon the evangelical +view of the inspiration of the Scriptures. The position of the latter is +not fully defined. We may suppose, however, that in due time its +apologists will assume an organized form, and perhaps produce their +systematic theology. + +We regret that the general opposition on the part of the clergy to the +theology of the _Essays and Reviews_, on the first appearance of that +work, has not been sustained. The Broad Church has therefore acquired +many new adherents within the last two years. It is impossible to +classify all the parties according to their exact numerical strength, +and their approximate proportions, in round numbers, must answer our +purpose. The clergy of the Church of England, exclusive of the Irish, +amount at present to about twenty thousand, at home and abroad.[229] +Making allowance for two thousand peasant clergy in the mountain +districts, and missionaries in foreign lands, the remaining eighteen +thousand may be classified as follows: + + { Normal Type,--Anglican, 3,600 +High Church. { Exaggerated Type,--Tractarian, 1,000 + { Stagnant Type,--High and Dry, 2,500 + + { Normal Type,--Evangelical, 3,500 +Low Church. { Exaggerated Type,--Recordite, 2,600 + { Stagnant Type,--Low and Slow, 700 + + { Normal Type,--Theoretical and Anti-Theoretical, 3,100 +Broad Church. { Exaggerated Type,--Extreme Rationalists, 300 + { Stagnant Type, 700 + +Twelve years ago the twenty-eight Bishops and Archbishops of England +stood thus: thirteen belonged to the High Church, ten to the Broad +Church, and five to the Low Church. A distribution made at the present +time would be much more favorable to the second party.[230] + +It is a remarkable feature of the activity of theological opinion in +England that the same division of parties which exists in the +Established Church also obtains in other religious bodies. We do not +speak of the Dissenting Churches, all of which have their shades of +sentiment, but of the smaller and less influential organizations. The +Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, and Unitarians have each their old and +new schools,--the former adhering to the old and established standards, +the latter striving to harmonize with modern science and free inquiry. +The Jews have their Mosaic, Talmudic, and Phillipsohnic groups,--the +last taking its name from its leader, and corresponding with the First +Broad Church within the pale of Christianity.[231] The Rationalistic +party in the Roman Catholic Church is now aiming to harmonize Popery and +the philosophy of the nineteenth century. It has no distinctive name, +but numbers many adherents. The Quakers, besides possessing a strongly +conservative wing, have their advocates of the "Inner Light," who are +pushing this destructive doctrine "to the full consequences developed by +the Second Broad Church party in the National Church." The Unitarians +are divided into the staid disciples of Priestley and Belsham, and the +New School, who stand on the same ground with Theodore Parker in the +United States. These are cordial admirers of the _Essays and Reviews_, +and would rejoice to see the land overspread with radical Rationalism. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[199] _Essays Ecclesiastical and Social_, pp. 62-63. + +[200] _Christian Work_, June, 1863. + +[201] Conybeare, _Essays Ecclesiastical and Social_, pp. 65-71. + +[202] _Tract No. 10._ + +[203] Sewel. + +[204] Pusey, _Preface to 18th vol. Library of Church Fathers_. + +[205] Conybeare, _Essays Ecclesiastical and Social_, p. 106. + +[206] _Essays Ecclesiastical and Social_, pp. 106-108. + +[207] _National Review_, Oct., 1856. + +[208] _Development of Christian Doctrine._ Second Edition. London, 1846. + +[209] _Phases of Faith_, pp. 233, 234. American Edition. + +[210] Miss Cobbe, _Broken Lights_, p. 63. London Edition. + +[211] Arnold, _Sermons_, vol. iv., p. 307. + +[212] Ibid. _Introduction_, p. 56. + +[213] _Bibliotheca Sacra._ Jan. 1858. An excellent summary of the +opinions of Dr. Arnold. + +[214] Stanley, _Life and Correspondence of Arnold_. American Edition, p. +135. + +[215] _Interpretation of Scripture_, p. 493. + +[216] Stanley, _Life and Correspondence_, pp. 341, 367. + +[217] _Fragment on the Church_, p. 226. + +[218] _Christian Life, its Course, &c._, p. 358. + +[219] _American Theological Review_, July, 1863. + +[220] _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1864. + +[221] Miss Cobbe, _Broken Lights_, p. 63. London Edition. + +[222] _Tracts for Priests and People._ Preface, pp. 3-5. Am. Edition. + +[223] Hughes, in _Tracts for Priests and People_, p. 28. + +[224] Hughes, in _Tracts for Priests and People_, p. 37. + +[225] Garden, _Tracts for Priests and People_, p. 133. + +[226] Davies, _Tracts for Priests and People_, p. 167. + +[227] Ibid. p. 167. + +[228] _Broken Lights_, pp. 73-74. + +[229] Appleton's _American Cyclopaedia_. Art. _Church of England_. Though +the writer of this article says nothing of the Irish clergy, he has not +included them, of course; having no doubt used the Clergy List of +England and the colonies alone. + +[230] We have based our division of the English clergy upon the +calculation of the late W. J. Conybeare, a Fellow in the University of +Cambridge, and joint author with J. S. Howson, of _Life and Epistles of +St. Paul_. (_Essays Ecclesiastical and Social_, pp. 157-158.) His +figures applied to the year 1853, but we have included the subsequent +increase of the clergy, and distributed the additional members according +to the best information at command. If it be objected that we have +classed too large a portion in the Broad Church, we reply, that if Dean +Stanley's intimations concerning the absence of orthodox faith in the +English clergy be well founded, we have fallen far short of attributing +to that body a sufficient number of members. See his article in +_Edinburgh Review_, July, 1864. + +[231] Phillipsohn, Author of the _Religious Idea in Judaism, Islam, and +Christianity_. Translated by Miss Ann Goldschmidt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE UNITED STATES: THE UNITARIAN CHURCH--THE UNIVERSALISTS. + + +The aspect of novelty in the religious and theological history of the +United States, is unparalleled in the history of any European nation, +and is traceable in part to the peculiarities of our political origin +and career. The founders of our government were wise students of the +philosophy of history, and it was their opinion that many of the +misfortunes which had befallen the countries of the Old World, were +produced by the improper association of temporal and spiritual +authority. They therefore made provision for the permanent separation of +Church and State. Their design, however, was accomplished only by +degrees. Previous to the Revolution, but two States, Rhode Island and +Pennsylvania, permitted religious toleration. It was declared in +Maryland in 1776, and in 1786-89 was carried out in Virginia. The +general government took the matter in hand in 1791; and, in that year, +an amendment to the Constitution of the United States was adopted, which +prohibited Congress in future from "passing any law establishing +religion, or prohibiting its free exercise."[232] + +It would seem that our forefathers were almost gifted with prophetic +vision when they incorporated this statute with those other laws, which +have contributed so much to our prosperity. It would not have been in +harmony with their spirit, if, while constituting an independent +government, they had made the Church dependent. + +The principle of the union of church and state presupposes a greater +degree of social purity than has existed in any nation. Moreover, the +Church is thereby led to assume an authority to which she has no claim +and which Christ never intended her to possess. Milton, whose clear and +practical views of civil and ecclesiastical relations were only equaled +by his lofty poetic conceptions of man's moral nature and history, says: +"When the church, without temporal support, is able to do her great +works upon the enforced obedience of man, it argues a divinity about +her. But when she thinks to credit and better her spiritual efficacy, +and to win herself respect and dread by strutting in the false vizard of +worldly authority, it is evident that God is not there, but that her +apostolic virtue is departed from her, and has left her key-cold; which +she perceiving, as in a decayed nature, seeks to the outward +fermentations and chafings of worldly help and external flourishes, to +fetch, if it be possible, some motion into her extreme parts, or to +hatch a counterfeit life with the crafty and artificial heat of +jurisdiction. But it is observable that so long as the church, in true +imitation of Christ, can be content to ride upon an ass, carrying +herself and her government along in a mean and simple guise, she may be +as she is a Lion of the tribe of Judah; and in her humility all men, +with loud hosannas, will confess her greatness. But when, despising the +mighty operation of the Spirit by the weak things of this world, she +thinks to make herself bigger and more considerable, by using the way of +civil force and jurisdiction, as she sits upon this Lion she changes +into an ass, and instead of hosannas, every man pelts her with stones +and dirt."[233] + +The peculiarities which have characterized the history of the American +church are well defined, and of the greatest value in all estimates of +the theological status of the popular mind. They are grouped by +Professor Smith in the following concise terms: "_First._ It is not the +history of the conversion of a new people, but of the transplantation of +old races, already Christianized, to a new theatre, comparatively +untrammeled by institutions and traditions. _Second._ Independence of +the civil power. _Third._ The voluntary principle applied to the support +of religious institutions. _Fourth._ Moral and ecclesiastical, but not +civil power, the means of retaining the members of any communion. +_Fifth._ Development of the Christian system in its practical and moral +aspects, rather than in its theoretical and theological. _Sixth._ +Stricter discipline in the churches than is practicable where church and +state are one. _Seventh._ Increase of the churches, to a considerable +extent, through _revivals_ of religion, rather than by the natural +growth of the children in an establishment. _Eighth._ Excessive +multiplication of sects; and divisions on questions of moral +reform."[234] + +When we consider the intimate relations between France and this country +during the first stage of our national existence, it becomes a matter of +surprise that French infidelity did not acquire greater influence over +our people. It was not wholly without power, and the first twenty-five +years of our history witnessed greater religious disasters than have +appeared at any subsequent time. Still it may be said with truth that +skeptical tendencies have never gained a permanent position in the +United States, though our immunity from their sway has not been the +result of indifference toward the great movements of Europe. The +American has never been a cold observer of the hemisphere from which his +forefathers came. We appropriate the treasures of the Old World, and +love to call them our own. We are as proud of the martyrology and +literature of England as if Latimer and Ridley had died for their faith +on Boston Common, or Shakspeare and Milton had lived on the banks of the +Hudson. The early legislation of our government having left the +individual conscience to the exercise of its own convictions, each +citizen has been more interested in whatever religious opinions might +appear from European sources. + +What then has been the reception in America of that system of skepticism +which has produced ravages on the Continent, and now forbodes evil in +our English mother-land? Is Rationalism likely to run its destructive +cycle in the United States? Has the American church no antidote for the +great theological errors of the present age? + +The denomination most intimately associated with Rationalistic +tendencies is the Unitarian Church. Boston is its centre, and New +England the principal sphere of its existence. + +The Venerable Stoddard, of Northampton, Massachusetts, became convinced +that the custom of excluding unregenerate persons from the sacrament of +the Lord's Supper was sinful; and in 1708 published a sermon declaring +his views on that subject. He held that the participation of +unregenerate people in the communion was highly beneficial to them; and +that it was in fact a means by which they might become regenerated. He +defended his belief so zealously that he soon had the pleasure of seeing +many followers gathering about him. The doctrine was termed the Half-Way +Covenant System, and was adopted in the church at Northampton. Jonathan +Edwards succeeded Stoddard, who was his grandfather; and, a few years +after the great revival in which the former took an active part, he +adopted the opinion that the Half-Way Covenant was injurious. Edwards +refused to practice it, and in his _Treatise on the Qualifications for +Full Communion_, he declared the necessity of regeneration. He was +accordingly dismissed from his church. + +This was the germ of American Unitarianism. Stoddard's adherents clung +to their loose view of communion, while the friends of Edwards, being +more spiritual, and many of them the fruits of the Whitefieldian +revival, sustained the orthodox construction with energy. The Half-Way +Covenant in due time called a party into existence, which "avoided all +solicitude concerning their own spiritual condition or that of others; +were repugnant to the revival spirit; must have a system of doctrines +which could contain nothing to alarm the fears or disturb the repose of +the members of the party. The doctrines of apostasy, dependence on grace +for salvation, necessity of atonement, and special influence of the Holy +Spirit, were all thought to be alarming doctrines. They were therefore +laid aside silently and without controversy. Men were suffered to forget +that the Son of God, and the Spirit, have anything to do with man's +salvation."[235] + +King's Chapel, Boston, was the first Episcopal church of New England. +Its rector leaving with the British troops upon their evacuation of the +town, Rev. James Freeman was chosen in April, 1783, to occupy the +vacant position. The services of the church were conducted after the +Episcopal form, the Book of Common Prayer being still used. Mr. +Freeman's views underwent a change, and he delivered a course of +doctrinal sermons in which he indicated decided Unitarian proclivities. +Accordingly he introduced a revised liturgy, corresponding with Dr. +Samuel Clarke's _Revision of the Liturgy of the Church of England_, from +which the doctrines of the Trinity and of the divinity of Christ were +excluded. The congregation addressed a letter to Bishop Provost, of New +York, in which inquiry was made, "whether ordination of Rev. Mr. Freeman +can be obtained on terms agreeable to him and to the proprietors of this +church." The bishop proposed to refer the question to the next general +convention. But the congregation, disliking such hesitation, determined +to ordain their rector themselves. Accordingly, on November 18th, 1787, +the senior warden laid his hand on Mr. Freeman's head, and pronounced +the declaration of ordination. The people responded "Amen;" and thus was +effected the first ordination of a Unitarian minister in the United +States.[236] + +Wide circulation had already been given to Emlyn's _Inquiry into the +Scripture Account of Jesus Christ_, which, in 1756, had been republished +in Boston from the English edition. Before the close of the century the +doctrines peculiar to Unitarianism became widely disseminated in that +city and in other portions of the State. Belsham issued in London, 1812, +his _Memoir of Lindsey_, which contained startling disclosures of the +doings of the Unitarians in America. Belsham's informants were leading +Unitarians of Boston, among whom was Dr. Freeman, whose letters covered +a period of sixteen years, from 1796 to 1812. He communicated all the +secret movements, growth, and dimensions of the party. Only a few copies +of Belsham's work came to America, and they were hidden, lest any of the +orthodox might see them. Finally, Dr. Morse obtained one, and soon +published a pamphlet revealing its astounding contents. It now came to +light, for the first time, that Unitarianism was a strong party; that +every Congregational church in Boston, except the Park Street and Old +South, had become Unitarian; and that there were seventy-five churches +in other parts of New England which had adopted the same views. The +Unitarians were now compelled to come out of their hiding-place, and the +orthodox watched their movements with intense interest. + +The zeal of the adherents of Unitarianism, however, did not diminish by +exposure, and a very important event occurred, which indicated that +their labors were successful. Dr. Ware, an avowed anti-Trinitarian, was +chosen to the professorship of theology in Harvard College, in place of +the deceased Dr. Tappan. The appointment created a profound excitement +among the orthodox clergy, who were indignant at the procedure. But +remonstrance was useless. Unitarianism was triumphantly domiciled at +Cambridge, and many who designed preaching its tenets became attendants +upon the lectures of Professors Ware and Andrews Norton. As a probable +consequence of the great change in Harvard, the Andover Theological +Seminary was established,[237]--an institution which, from its origin to +the present time, has shed a beneficent lustre upon the entire country. +Its students have never ceased to be ornaments to the American pulpit, +while some of the number, proving themselves worthy successors of Carey, +Marshman, Coke, and Ward, have labored in heathen lands with apostolic +zeal. + +The celebrated controversy between Drs. Channing and Worcester, +occasioned by a pamphlet which appeared in Boston in 1815, under the +title of _American Unitarianism_, led to the withdrawal of the +Unitarians from the orthodox, and their formation into a distinct +organization. Pursuing an aggressive policy, they organized +congregations in various parts of New England, and in the cities of +Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Charleston. This was the heroic +age of the Unitarian church of America. + +Channing became immediately the leader of the new sect. He represents +the best type of Unitarianism. Pure in life, ardent in his attachments, +and heroic in spirit, he was well adapted to advance the cause which he +had espoused. He had no taste for controversy, but the circumstances +connected with the prevalent theology made such a deep impression on his +mind that he felt it his duty to aid in the revival of what he deemed a +more liberal faith. Not indorsing the extreme Unitarianism of Priestley +and Belsham, he took a middle ground between it and New England +Calvinism. He was attentively heard in his church at Boston, and was +listened to by large audiences wherever he preached or lectured. + +His writings embrace a variety of topics, the chief of which, apart from +religious themes proper, are slavery, temperance, education, and war. +Within a few years his views have attracted increased attention in +Europe. In France, MM. Laboulaye, de Remusat, and Renan have discussed +them at length. Of his mental transitions, an admiring writer says: +"From Kant's doctrine of the reason he derived deeper reverence for the +essential powers of man; by Schelling's intimations of the Divine Life, +everywhere manifested, he was made more devoutly conscious of the +universal agency of God; and he was especially delighted with the heroic +stoicism of Fichte and his assertion of the grandeur of the human will. +But for his greatest pleasure and best discipline he was now indebted to +Wordsworth, whom he esteemed next to Shakspeare, and whose '_Excursion_' +came to him like a revelation. With Wordsworth's mingled piety and +heroism, humanity and earnest aspiration, with his all-vivifying +imagination, recognizing greatness under lowliest disguises, and +spreading sweet sanctions around every charity of social life, and with +his longings to see reverence, loyalty, courtesy, and contentment +established on the earth, he most closely sympathized. From this time he +began to engage more actively in political and philanthropic +movements."[238] + +Channing believed that orthodoxy was incalculably mischievous in its +estimate of Deity and of human depravity. "God, we are told," says he, +"must not be limited; nor are his rights to be restrained by any rights +in his creatures. These are made to minister to their Maker's glory, not +to glorify themselves. They wholly depend on him, and have no power +which they can call their own. His sovereignty, awful and omnipotent, is +not to be kept in check, or turned from its purposes, by any claims of +his subjects. Man's place is the dust. The entire prostration of his +faculties is the true homage he is to offer to God. He is not to exalt +his reason or his sense of right against the decrees of the Almighty. +He has but one lesson to learn, that he is nothing, that God is All in +All. Such is the common language of theology."[239] + +Against these views he asserts man's free agency and moral dignity. His +creed is the greatness of Human Nature; such greatness as is seen in the +"intellectual energy which discerns absolute, universal truth in the +idea of God, in freedom of will and moral power, in disinterestedness +and self-sacrifice, in the boundlessness of love, in aspirations after +perfection, in desires and affections which time and space cannot +confine, and the world cannot fill. The soul, viewed in these lights, +should fill us with awe. It is an immortal germ, which may be said to +contain now within itself what endless ages are to unfold. It is truly +an image of the infinity of God, and no words can do justice to its +grandeur."[240] Instead of looking without for a basis of religion, we +must commence at home, within ourselves. "We must start in religion from +our own souls, for in them is the fountain of all divine truth. An +outward revelation is only possible and intelligible on the ground of +conceptions and principles previously furnished by the soul. Here is our +primitive teacher and light. Let us not disparage it. There are, indeed, +philosophical schools of the present day, which tell us that we are to +start in all our speculations from the Absolute, the Infinite. But we +rise to these conceptions from the contemplation of our own nature; and +even if it were not so, of what avail would be the notion of an +Absolute, Infinite existence, an Uncaused Unity, if stripped of all +those intellectual and moral attributes which we learn only from our +own souls? What but a vague shadow, a sounding name, is the metaphysical +Deity, the substance without modes, the being without properties, the +naked Unity which performs such a part in some of our philosophical +systems. The only God whom our thoughts can rest on and our hearts can +cling to, and our consciences can recognize is the God whose image +dwells in our own souls. The grand ideas of Power, Reason, Wisdom, Love, +Rectitude, Holiness, Blessedness, that is, of all God's attributes, come +from within, from the action of our own spiritual nature. Many indeed +think that they learn God from marks of design and skill in the outward +world; but our ideas of design and skill, of a determining cause, of an +end or purpose, are derived from consciousness, from our own souls. Thus +the soul is the spring of our knowledge of God."[241] + +The creed of the Unitarians must be studied as one would take soundings +at sea. The measurement of one place is no guarantee of the depth in +another. What was believed twenty years ago, may not be endorsed by the +leaders of to-day. One writer of their fold says: "Unitarianism is +loose, vague, general, indeterminate in its elements and +formularies."[242] When George Putnam installed Mr. Fosdick over the +Hollis Street Church, he said with commendable candor, "There is no +other Christian body of which it is so impossible to tell where it +begins and where it ends. We have no recognized principles by which any +man who chooses to be a Christian disciple, and desires to be numbered +with us, whatever he believes or denies, can be excluded." + +But Unitarianism has ever remained true to a few points. One of them is +antagonism to orthodoxy. It was an old cry of the German skeptics, +"Away with orthodoxy. It fetters us to forms and creeds, makes us blind +devotees to system, converts us into bigots, and dwarfs reason into an +invisible pigmy." Yet we frequently meet with language of similar import +in the present day. If we did not know its authorship we could easily +tell the ecclesiastical fountain whence it flows. "The implications of +false and shallow reasoning," says an American Unitarian divine, +"partial observation, intellectual grouping, moral obliquity, spiritual +ignorance,--in short, of puerility and superstition involved in a large +part of the appeals, the preaching, the cant terms, the popular dogmas, +the current conversation of Christendom,--are discouraging evidences how +backward is the religious thought of our day, as compared with its +general thought; how little harmony there is between our schools and our +churches, our thinkers and our religious guides, our political and +national institutions and our popular theology. It is not +Christianity--the rational, thorough, all-embracing Gospel of +Christ,--which throws its blessed sanctities over and around our whole +humanity,--which owns and consecrates our whole nature and our whole +life--which is thus taught. It is a system which is narrower than +Judaism, and compared with which Romanism is a princely and magnificent +theology. I say advisedly, that if Protestantism endorses the vulgar +notions of a God-cursed world,--a fallen race,--a commercial +atonement,--a doomed and hell-devoted humanity,--a mysterious +conversion,--a Church which is a sort of a life-boat hanging round a +wreck that may carry off a few women and selfishly-affrighted men, +leaving the bolder, braver, larger portion to go down with the ship; if +this be the sum and substance of religion,--if these notions be the +grounds of the late religious excitement and the doctrines which gave +it power,[243]--then it is not so true to human nature, its wants and +woes, its various and manifold tastes, talents, and faculties, as the +old Catholic system,--and that, instead of trembling at the growth and +prospects of Romanism in this country, we should more reasonably rejoice +in its triumphs, as the worthier occupant of the confidence and +affection of the people. But this narrow system, with all its arrogant +claims to be the only Evangelical faith, is not Protestantism; or, +rather, is not mere Protestantism."[244] + +But the indeterminateness of Unitarian theology does not warrant us in +passing over its tenets, as stated by writers held in good repute in +that Church. It would be unfair, however, to claim that these are +doctrines to which each must inflexibly adhere. The Unitarians neither +exact nor desire conformity to authority; in fact they have no +authority. Reason is left to place its own construction upon the truths +of revelation. What, then, is the general Unitarian sentiment on those +subjects whose essential importance is acknowledged by all Evangelical +Churches? + +INSPIRATION AND THE SCRIPTURES. Channing and Dewey have held loftier +views of the Bible and its divine origin than their less devout +brethren. The latter has said that, "The matter is divine, the miracles +real, the promises glorious, the threatenings fearful; enough that all +is gloriously and fearfully true to the divine will, true to human +nature, true to its wants, anxieties, sorrows, sins, salvation, and +destinies; enough that the seal of a divine and miraculous communication +is set upon that holy Book."[245] But reverence for the Scriptures is +rapidly on the decline among the Unitarians,--the direct result of the +influence of the German and English Rationalists. They call all +believers in orthodox opinions, "Bibliolaters." They spurn the thought +of an infallible Bible. "No wonder," they say, "that the Bibliolaters +quail before the iconoclasm of Bishop Colenso, and, in their rage, call +aloud for his excision from the Church; for, if a single one of the +difficulties he accumulates can be proved a reality, the whole edifice +of their faith topples to its fall.... We believe that safety and sense +can alone be found in our theory, which regards Scripture as credible +though human, as inspired not in its form, but in its substance, of +various and, in many cases, of unknown authorship, and representing +different stages of culture. We cannot accept all its documents as of +co-ordinate authority; nor in every one of its statements can we +recognize a product of inspiration. We do not conceive ourselves bound, +therefore, to defend the geology of Moses, or to admire the conduct of +the Israelites in the extermination of the Canaanites; or to infuse a +recondite spiritual meaning into the amatory descriptions and appeals of +the Song of Solomon."[246] + +GOD AND CHRIST. God is the Universal Father. It must be forgotten that +he is king; his paternal character alone must be borne in mind. He is a +God of one person, not of three, and the doctrine of the Trinity is +nowhere hinted at in the Bible, but is of Platonic origin. The Christian +Fathers did not contend that it was contained therein. The view of three +persons in one God is "self-contradictory, opposed to all right reason, +positively absurd."[247] Christ is inferior and subordinate to God. He +is God in the same sense as the angels, Moses, Samuel, the Kings and +Judges of Israel. They were gods in one respect,--the word of God was +spoken to them. Christ is the chief one "to whom the word of God +came."[248] In the New Testament, Christ is uniformly kept distinct from +the Father, and the attributes which he possessed, wisdom, knowledge, +and power, were endowments from God. + +THE HOLY GHOST. The Holy Ghost is not a person, but is merely sent from +the Father, or proceeds from him. The apparent presence of the Holy +Ghost in Christ's farewell discourse is only a personification resulting +from the peculiar nature of the Greek language, and the necessity of its +syntax. Not being a person, the Holy Ghost cannot be God, and is, +therefore, not self-existent, underived, and unoriginated. Wherever it +is described as a person it is only the writer's striking form of +speech; it is solely personification, just as we often find the case +with the Law, Wisdom, Scripture, Sin, and Charity.[249] + +HUMAN DEPRAVITY. The Unitarians have no place in their creed for man's +natural sinfulness. It is, they say, a doctrinal innovation, having been +propagated by Augustine in the fifth century. That God should create men +who are naturally sinners is inconsistent with his parental character. +"The doctrine is itself repulsive. The human mind revolts at it. If God +our Creator has implanted within us a natural sense of right and wrong, +that sense arraigns his character and conduct in creating us thus +corrupt."[250] There is no such thing, the Unitarians contend, as the +fall of man. Adam was what we are. "Had he not sinned," one of their +writers affirms, "our race would have continued perfect and happy +without the necessity for progress, or the need of any of those +educational and recuperative processes to which Providence has resorted. +_Let those who can believe this!_ Let those also who can, call the +unfallen Adam and Eve satisfactory patterns and types of our complete +humanity. Imagine a world of Adams and Eves, living in a garden, on +spontaneous fruits, ignorant of the distinction between good and evil, +and without any capacity of moral change or improvement! Can any amount +of credulity enable an enlightened and candid mind of the present day to +think this world originally made to be occupied by such a race; that +unfallen Adams and Eves could ever have developed its resources, or +their own powers, and capacities of moral and spiritual happiness? Can +any subtlety perceive a true distinction between their condition and +that of the innocent but feeble islanders of some few spots in the +Pacific?[251] Can any degree of superstition regard a state of unfallen +holiness, which allowed our first parents to succumb in the midst of +perfect bliss, and under God's own direct care and instructions, before +the first temptation, as superior to our present moral condition? If +Adam fell, the race rose by his fall; he fell up, and nothing happier +for our final fortunes ever occurred than when the innocents of the +garden learned their shame, and fled into the hardships and experiences +of a disciplinary and growing humanity.... The radical vice of the +popular way of thinking about moral evil lies in the supposition that +... a state of spotless innocency is better than a state of moral +exposure and moral struggle; and that all our humanity is not entitled +to use development and play, in its grand career of being. On the other +hand, the true theory of humanity presents us with a race brought into +this world for its education, starting with moral and intellectual +infancy, and liable to all the mistakes, weaknesses, and follies, which +an ungrown and inexperienced nature begets."[252] There is far more +virtue in the world than there is vice. We grossly mistake when we make +notoriously vicious characters the type of humanity at large. "Man by +nature, as born and brought into this world, is innocent, pure; +guiltless because sinless; fitted for just that religion which Christ +revealed to operate successfully and gloriously upon; not indeed holy, +but capable of becoming so." + +THE ATONEMENT. The orthodox view of the atonement is denied by the +Unitarians. Sacrifices are of human origin, those of the Mosaic religion +being solely ritual, and symbolical acts of faith and worship. Christ's +death did not appease the wrath of God in any sense, nor is anything +said in the Scriptures concerning Christ's sufferings as causing or +exciting the grace or mercy of God. It is not stated that God is +reconciled to us, but we to him. Christ suffered as an example. A writer +already quoted says: "Especially were the anguish and patience of his +final sufferings and his awful death upon the cross appointed and +powerful means of affecting the mind of man."[253] Another author +affirms: "Christ saves us, so far as his sufferings and death are +concerned, through their moral influence and power upon man; the great +appeal which they make being not to God, but to the sinner's conscience +and heart; thus aiding in the great work of bringing him into +reconciliation with or reconciling him to his Father in heaven.... +Reconciliation is accomplished by Christ; by all that he was and is; all +that he taught, did, and is doing; and by all that he suffered for our +sake. Not by one but by all of these are we saved."[254] Christ's +sacrifice was not made to God, for he did not need to be propitiated or +rendered merciful, but simply with reference to man alone,--for his +good; God's justice needed no pacification. "There can be no greater or +more blinding heresy than that which would teach that Christ's +sufferings, or any sufferings in behalf of virtue and human sins and +sorrows, are strictly substitutional, or literally vicarious. The old +theologies, perplexed and darkened with metaphysics and scholastic +logic--the fruit of academic pride and the love of ecclesiastical +dominion--labored to prove and to teach that Christ, in his short agony +upon the cross, really suffered the pains of sin and bore the actual sum +of all the anguish from remorse and guilt due to myriads of sinners, +through the ages of eternity.... Our sense of justice and goodness so +far as God himself is concerned, is vastly more shocked by the proper +penalties of sin being placed upon the innocent than had they been left +upon the guilty, where they belong.... The truth is, literal +substitution of moral penalties is a thing absolutely impossible! +Vicarious punishment, in its technical and theological sense, is +forbidden by the very laws of our nature and moral constitution."[255] + +REGENERATION. This is a universal want, but it is entirely consistent +with the purity of human nature. The natural birth gives no moral +character; it is to be formed, and when formed, is called the "new +birth." This is all that Christ meant when he said to Nicodemus, "Except +a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Regeneration must +not, therefore, be considered a consequence of human depravity, but a +result of human purity. It is the development of that which is already +good within us. + +FUTURE PUNISHMENT. The Unitarians of America have, for the most part, +adopted the Restitutional theories of Hartley and Priestley. Mr. Ballou +claims "the whole body of Unitarians as Universalists." Punishment may +be inflicted after death, but it will be temporary. "The punishments of +hell are disciplinarian, and do not forbid the hope of remission and +relief."[256] + +The best method of determining the present spirit of Unitarianism is to +observe the reception which it gives to the Rationalism that has grown +up luxuriantly of late in England. The welcome has been most cordial. A +Unitarian clergyman has become the American editor of the _Essays and +Reviews_;[257] and hails the appearance of such a book as representing a +new and better era in modern theology. He holds that the real "life of +Anglican theology is now represented by such men as Powell and Williams +and Maurice and Jowett and Stanley;" that the Broad Church is the only +one which fully embodies true progress and conservatism; that +Rationalism is the only alternative of Romanism; and that, as a matter +of course, the former should be adopted. He expresses the hope that the +spirit of Rationalistic criticism, "which is now leavening the Church of +England, may find abundant entrance into all the churches of our land," +and that the _Essays and Reviews_, "its genuine product, may contribute +somewhat thereto."[258] + +The quarterly organ of the Unitarians, _The Christian Examiner_, has +passed an encomium on the same exponent of English Rationalism, in which +it manifests no tempered gladness at skepticism within the pale of the +church. It says, with undisguised satisfaction, that "either these seven +essayists must have been in very close and intimate confidential +relations as friends or fellow-students, and have held many precious +conferences together in which they were mutually each other's +confessors; or, there must be quite a large number of very able and very +heretical sinners in the Church of England, within easy hail of each +other, and so thick in some neighborhoods that it is the readiest thing +in the world to pick out a set of them who, 'without concert or +comparison,' will contribute all the parts of a _fresh and unhackneyed +system of opinion_." + +One of the most direct and outspoken of all the organized attacks of +American Rationalism upon evangelical Christianity occurred at the first +public anniversary of the Young Men's Christian Union, of New York. Its +importance was due to the diversity of unevangelical bodies there +represented, and to the celebrity of several of the speakers. +Unitarianism, Swedenborgianism, and Universalism mingled in happy +fraternity. The speakers were Drs. Osgood, Bellows, Sawyer, and Chapin; +Rev. Messrs. Barrett, Peters, Mayo, Higginson, Miel, Blanchard, and +Frothingham; and Richard Warren and Horace Greeley, Esquires. + +The Union seems to have been designed as a counterpoise to the large and +flourishing Young Men's Christian Association, which is comprised of +earnest and active members of all orthodox denominations. The platform +of the former may be determined from the following significant language: +"The Anniversary of the Young Men's Christian Union was the first +instance in which so many of the leading minds in the various branches +of the liberal and progressive portion of the Christian church have met +on one common platform, for the purpose of discussing the practical +bearings of that higher type of Christianity which refuses to be limited +by any dogma, or fettered by any creed."[259] One of the speakers, in +explaining the relations of the Union to the church, said: "We maintain, +then, that we are _in_ the church, _are_ the church--not a part of it, +but the whole church,--having _in_ us the heart and soul of orthodoxy +itself, the essence of all that gave life to its creed, the utmost +significance and vital force of what it taught and still teaches, in +what we conceive to be a stuttering and stammering way, in a cumbrous +and outworn language, with a circuitous and wearisome phraseology; but +meaning really what we mean, and doing for men essentially what we are +doing. All that we claim is a better statement of the old and changeless +truth, a disembarrassed account of the ever true and identical story.... +We have not separated ourselves from the brethren [orthodox]; we hold +them in our enclosure; we are always ready to receive them, to welcome +them. We are not expecting they will receive us, on account of their +providential position. We have an intellectual perception of what the +times demand and what the future is to be. We can see clearer than they. +We can see why they are wrong; they cannot see why we are right--but +they will presently.... The actual presence of God in the world, in all +his love and mercy, supplying our deficiencies, helping our +infirmities, consecrating and transforming matter, giving sanctity and +beauty to life--this is what the _renewing_ of the old faith offers to +humanity. + +"The indistinct perception of this faith and the divine craving to see +it clearly, and bring it to the sight of others, has led to the +existence and organization of the Liberal churches, and indirectly to +the formation of the Young Men's Christian Union. Faith in man as the +child of God, his word and residence, authorizing the freest use of +thought, the profoundest respect for individual convictions, the firmest +confidence in progress and in the triumph of truth; inspiring good will, +humane affections, philanthropic activity, and personal holiness; faith +in God as the Father of man--man's universal Saviour and inspirer--man's +merit consists wholly in being his child and the pupil of his grace in +nature, life, the church, and the unseen world--these are the permanent +articles of Christian faith, which is not so much faith in Christ, as +Christ's faith."[260] + +It is difficult to conceive how the most of the speakers at the +anniversary in question could have better served the interests of a bold +and unmitigated system of Rationalism. The great evil of the day is +declared to be dogmatism, against which every true friend of progress +must deal his most destructive blows. Liberal minds must break loose +from the fetters of authority, and give play to their own infallible +reason. The Protestant evangelical church is placed upon the same +footing with Romanism; both of which organizations unchurch all who do +not conform to their creed. "The truth is," says a speaker, "this +Protestant evangelical church is in the same chronic delusion as its +enemy, the Roman Catholic church; it can propose no plan of Christian +union which will include the Christians of the country. Its only idea of +union is the conspiracy of a few sects to take the kingdom of heaven by +violence; monopolize its honors in this world and the world to come; and +either compel the rest of mankind to come into its arrangement, or be +turned into everlasting perdition--a proceeding which the American +people, with due respect to the undeniable rights of this church, begs +leave respectfully to decline,--and further to intimate, that it is not +at all alarmed about the eternal consequences of a refusal to accede to +the pretensions of an ecclesiasticism that assumes to be God's +vicegerent to the United States of America."[261] + +Great fault is found with the doctrines of the plenary inspiration of +the Scriptures, and the efficacy of Christ's blood for man's salvation. +God is in man; and man's moral instincts, intellectual mould, and +spiritual senses are infinitely wiser than we conceive them to be. They +are infallible in what they say of God, and are the best criteria of +truth. How much the world has been given up to the worship of the Bible! +"The Bibles will be left here to burn in the general conflagration with +the other temporary representations of the Word of God, which is the +eternal Reason, the foundation of our being." This Reason is the "elder +Scripture of God,--the soul, the inspired child of the heavenly and +eternal Father." The answer is given to the question, Why does orthodoxy +believe in the efficacy of Christ's blood to save the souls of men? "It +is because man distrusts his reason, and invents the infallible church, +and then the infallible Scriptures, to supply his necessity of +anchorage. He cannot think the God of the universe can be willing to +save such a miserable sinner, and he invents a God of the church, who +will. He does not believe anything men can do will entitle them to +heaven, or that human lives can make them acceptable in the sight of +God."[262] + +From the preceding statements it will not be surprising to find some of +the speakers apologizing for outright infidelity. "Mr. President," says +one, "you, in the judgment of very many, are an infidel. The members of +this Christian association occupy what is regarded an infidel position. +And that very admirable constitution, which I have read to-day, if +presented at a council of churches, commonly reputed orthodox, would be +considered, doubtless, the platform of an infidel association.... +Infidels, in all generations of the church, have been _progressive_ in +every direction; the believers in the present and the future; the people +who had confidence in the improvability of man, and the perennial +inspirations of God; the men and women who were persuaded that all the +spheres of wisdom and excellence were opened to human powers, and that +man was welcomed to all the treasure they contain.... They are a +thoughtful, earnest, hopeful people, bent on finding the truth, and +doing their duty."[263] Such infidels as these are claimed to have +blessed the world. All liberal minds ought to catch their spirit and +administer every possible blessing to struggling humanity. But there is +a species of narrow-minded infidelity which must be shunned; and it is +the only kind of which we need to forebode any evil. "The only +infidelity to be feared," says Mr. Frothingham, "the only real +infidelity which is a sin in the sight of God, is a disbelief in the +primary faculties of the human soul; disbelief in the capability of +man's reason to discriminate between truth and error in all departments +of knowledge, sacred or profane; disbelief in the heart's instinctive +power to distinguish good from evil; disallowance of the claims of +conscience to pass a verdict upon matters of right and wrong, whenever +and wherever brought up. They are the infidels who are untrue to the +light they have; who deny the plenary inspiration of that elder +Scripture written by the finger of God upon the human heart; who overlay +their reason with heaps of antiquated traditions; who bid their +conscience stand dumb before appalling iniquities in obedience to the +ill-read letter of an ancient record; who, in the interest of power, +wealth, worldliness, not seldom of unrighteousness and inhumanity, plead +for a Tract society, a Bible, or a church; who compass sea and land to +make a proselyte, and when he is made, are quite indifferent as to his +being a practical Christian; who collect vast sums of money annually for +the ostensible purpose of saving men's souls, practically to the effect +of keeping their souls in subjection and blindness. As I read the New +Testament, I find that Jesus charged infidelity upon none but such as +these; the people who made religion a cloak for pride, selfishness, and +cruelty; the conspicuously saintly people, who could spare an hour to +pray at a street corner, but had not a minute for a dying fellow-man +lying in his blood in a lonely pass. In the judgment of these, Jesus was +the prince of unbelievers. Punctilious adherence to the letter, +practical disbelief in the spirit--this is infidelity."[264] + +The most important event in the history of the American Unitarian Church +was the National Convention which met in New York, April 5th, 1865, and +was presided over by Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts. Six hundred +ministers and laymen, representatives of one hundred and ninety +churches, were in attendance. The debates indicated wide diversity of +sentiment, but there was no open rupture. The sessions were pervaded by +a spirit of devoted loyalty to the civil government, liberality toward +all Christian bodies, and zeal in organizing educational and missionary +agencies throughout the country. An annual National Conference of +Unitarian Churches was appointed for the future. The Convention was +unable to arrive at a common system of belief. The following declaration +of faith was presented by A. A. Low, Esq.: + +"_Whereas_, Associate and efficient action can only be expected of those +who agree in certain leading doctrinal statements or positions, +_Resolved_, That without intending any intolerance of individual +opinion, it is the right and duty of this convention to claim of all who +take part in its proceedings, an assent to the fundamental doctrines +hitherto held by the Unitarian body by reason of which it has acquired +its standing in the Christian world, and asserts it lineage in the +Christian Church; and, to this end, this convention declares as +essentially belonging to the Unitarian faith: 1st. Belief in the Holy +Scriptures as containing a revelation from God to man--and, as deduced +therefrom, 2d. Belief in one God, the Father; 3d. Belief in one Lord +Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Son of God, and his specially appointed +Messenger and Representative to our race, gifted with supernatural +power, "approved of God by miracles and signs and wonders which God did +by him," and thus, by divine authority, commanding the devout and +reverential faith of all who claim the Christian name; 4th. Belief in +the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; 5th. Belief in the forgiveness of sins, +the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting." + +These resolutions were at first laid on the table, but afterward +referred to a special committee. The refusal of the Convention to adopt +them indicates very clearly the unwillingness of a large portion of the +Unitarian clergy of the United States to occupy an evangelical +position.[265] + +Closely allied to the Unitarians in spirit and in doctrine are the +Universalists, who date the beginning of their strength in the United +States from the arrival of the Rev. John Murray, in 1770. They unite +with the Unitarians in rejecting the triune character of God, and hold +that their view of the divine unity is as old as the giving of the law +on Sinai. The doctrine of the Trinity is nowhere stated in the +Scriptures, for God would then have given us a religion enveloped in +mystery, which procedure he has studiously avoided. The Trinitarian view +entertained by the orthodox is not only a self-contradiction, but would +be a violation of the harmony and order everywhere perceptible in +nature.[266] + +Christ is next to God in excellence; he is "God manifest in the flesh;" +that is, God has given him more of his glory than any other creature has +enjoyed. Christ was simply sent by God to do a certain work, and served +only as a delegate when he spoke and acted as one having authority.[267] +The Holy Spirit exerts an influence upon the heart by purely natural +methods. The new birth is therefore merely the result of ordinary means +for human improvement. + +The most important article of the Universalist creed is the final +salvation of all men. The goodness of God is infinite, and therefore he +will save all his rational creatures through Christ, his Son and +Ambassador. Man suffers in this world the natural consequences of his +wayward conduct; but when the penalty is once inflicted, there is no +need of vengeance. The chief end of suffering in the present life is +man's improvement and restoration to perfect happiness. Pain ordained +for its own sake, and perpetuated to all eternity, would be a proof of +infinite malignity. By virtue of God's benevolence, man's suffering has +a beneficent element, and must therefore be temporary and result in +good.[268] When Christ comes to raise the dead, he will relieve from +misery all the sons of men, give them a new life, and take them to +himself.[269] + +The adherents of Universalism insist upon philanthropy and the +brotherhood of man. They hold that orthodox theology fosters harsh +notions of God's character, fills the mind with superstition, and is the +source of some of the most flagrant evils of the present age. "We +regret," says one of their writers, "that the acknowledged faith and +opinions have done no more to elevate the affections, and improve the +condition of man. They have utterly failed to correct the heart or the +life. They have disturbed his present peace, and darkened his prospects +for the future. Thousands of the young and innocent have been induced to +relinquish whatever is most beautiful in life--to give up all that +renders religion attractive and divine, for a miserable superstition, +which, like the Upas, fills the very atmosphere with death. I am +reminded that this dark theology, like a great idol, has been rolling +its ponderous car over the world for ages--I follow its desolating +track, by the wreck of noble minds--by the fearful wail of the lost +spirit, and the crushed hopes and affections of those I love! Oh! when I +look at this picture, drawn with the pencil of reality, in all its deep +shadows and startling colors, the brain is oppressed and the heart is +sick; and while I would stifle the inquiry, it finds an utterance:--In +the name of reason, of humanity and heaven, is there no hope for +man?"[270] + +This declamatory lament over the theology of the evangelical Christian +church is a repetition of an old skeptical charge. It is the expression +of a spirit similar to that which animated the German Rationalists, +prompted the criticism of Colenso and of the _Essays and Reviews_, and +is now ready to welcome any effort that may promise a revolution of the +popular religious sentiment in Great Britain and the American Republic. +Orthodoxy is unhesitatingly pronounced a public curse. In reply, we +would request our skeptical opponents to remember the historical record +of their principles, as seen in the social convulsions of Germany, in +the immorality and revolutions of France, and in the religious +indifference and prostration of England in the eighteenth century. We +would remind them, further, that orthodox theology has here been in the +ascendant, and that in no land are public morals purer, the laws more +just, humanitarian enterprises better supported, material interests more +progressive, or education better fostered than in the United States. The +American Church laments that her faith has not been stronger and her +zeal more fervent, but her history, with all its dark pages of +hesitation and inefficiency, is the answer which she returns to the +accusations of her Rationalistic opponents. Meanwhile, she proposes to +continue her labor for human salvation, by the promulgation of her +present system of theology, nor will she consider her mission +accomplished until the gospel of Christ has been preached to every +creature. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[232] Smith, _History of the Church of Christ in Chronological Tables_, +p. 74. + +[233] _The Reason of Church Government against Prelacy._ Ch. II. + +[234] _History of the Church of Christ, &c._, p. 74. + +[235] Baird, _Religion in America_, pp. 547-562. + +[236] _Unitarianism in its Actual Condition._ Edited by Rey. J. R. +Beard, D. D. pp. 1-4. London, 1846. + +[237] Sprague, _Annals of the American Unitarian Pulpit_. _Historical +Introduction_, p. xii. + +[238] Appleton's _American Cyclopaedia_. Art. _Wm. Ellery Channing_. W. +L. Symonds, Esq., is the author of this biography. + +[239] _Works_, _Introductory Remarks_, p. viii. + +[240] Ibid. p. vi. + +[241] _Works_, _Introductory Remarks_, pp. xviii-xix. + +[242] Ellis, _Half Century of Unitarianism_, p. 34. + +[243] These words refer to the great Revival in the winter of 1857-58. + +[244] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, p. 164-165. + +[245] _Controversial Sermons_, No. 1. + +[246] Orr, _Unitarianism in the Present Time_, pp. 54, 58, 59. + +[247] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, p. 24. + +[248] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, p. 26. + +[249] Ibid. pp. 122, 123, 136. + +[250] Ibid. pp. 156, 157. + +[251] Will the Reverend author be kind enough to inform the public of +the name and exact locality of these innocent islanders? + +[252] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, pp. 228-230. + +[253] _Works of H. Ware, jr._, vol. iv. p. 91. + +[254] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, pp. 208-210. + +[255] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, pp. 306, 307. + +[256] Orr, _Unitarianism in the Present Time_, p. 8. + +[257] F. H. Hedge, D. D. + +[258] _Essays and Reviews, Introduction to Boston Edition._ + +[259] _Religious Aspects of the Age._ Preface, p. 3. + +[260] Bellows, in _Religious Aspects of the Age_, pp. 109-111. + +[261] Mayo, in _Religious Aspects of the Age_, pp. 68, 69. + +[262] Bellows, in _Religious Aspects of the Age_, pp. 102, 103. + +[263] Frothingham, Ibid. pp. 121-126. + +[264] _Religious Aspects of the Age_, pp. 131-132. + +[265] American Unitarianism is numerically decreasing. The most +favorable estimate of its membership (Schem, _Ecclesiastical Year-Book_, +p. 78), is thirty thousand. From Dr. Sprague's _Annals of the American +Unitarian Pulpit_, pp. xx.-xxi., we derive the following statistical +account of its present strength: + +There are in the United States about 263 Societies, of which +Massachusetts has 164, and the city of Boston 21; Maine has 16, New +Hampshire 15, Vermont 3, Rhode Island 3, Connecticut 2, New York 13, New +Jersey 1, Pennsylvania 5, Maryland 2, Ohio 5, Illinois 11, Wisconsin 2, +and Missouri, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, Louisiana, +California, and the District of Columbia, each one. There are about 345 +ministers. There are two theological schools, one at Cambridge, founded +1816; the other at Meadville, Pa.; first opened in 1844, and +incorporated in 1846. The Periodicals are, The Christian Examiner, +tri-monthly, Boston; The Monthly Religious Magazine and Independent +Journal, Boston; The Sunday School Gazette, semi-monthly, Boston; The +Christian Register, weekly, Boston; and the Christian Inquirer, weekly, +New York. The missionary and charitable societies are, the American +Unitarian Association, founded in 1825, and incorporated in 1847; the +Unitarian Association of the State of New York; Annual Conference of +Western Unitarian Churches; the Sunday School Society, instituted in +1827, and reorganized in 1854; the Society for promoting Christian +Knowledge, Piety, and Charity, incorporated in 1805; the Massachusetts +Evangelical Missionary Society, instituted in 1807; the Society for +Promoting Theological Education, organized in 1816, and incorporated in +1831; the Society for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Clergymen, formed +in 1848, and incorporated in 1850; the Ministerial Conference; the +Association of Ministers at large in New England, formed in 1850; the +Benevolent Fraternity of Churches of Boston, organized in 1834, and +incorporated in 1839; the Children's Mission to the Children of the +Destitute, Boston, 1849; the Young Men's Christian Union, Boston, +organized in 1851, and incorporated in 1852; the Boston Port Society, +incorporated in 1829; and the Seamen's Aid Society of Boston, formed in +1832. + +[266] Williamson, _Exposition and Defense of Universalism_, pp. 11-13. + +[267] Skinner, _Universalism Illustrated and Defended_, pp. 51-56. + +[268] Appleton's _American Cyclopaedia_, Art. _Universalists_. + +[269] Williamson, _Exposition and Defense of Universalism_, pp. 140-155. + +[270] Brittan, _Universalism as an Idea_, pp. 12, 13. We get the +following statistics concerning the present condition of the +Universalists as a denomination from their Register of 1862: 23 State +Conventions; 87 Local Associations; 1,279 Societies and 998 Churches; +724 Preachers; 8 Academies; 3 Colleges; 17 Periodicals. St. Lawrence +University, N. Y., has a Library of 5,000 vols; and Tuft's College, +Mass., which opened in 1854, one of 10,000 volumes. The Unitarians excel +the Universalists in humanitarian efforts, but the latter surpass the +former in periodical literature. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE UNITED STATES CONTINUED: THEODORE PARKER AND HIS SCHOOL. + + +The early Unitarian Church of America was ardent in its attachment to +the doctrine of miracles. An article which appeared in the _Christian +Examiner_ less than forty years ago, provoked great opposition because +of its severe strictures on this branch of Christian evidence. The +writer held that miracles, even if proved to have occurred, can +establish nothing in favor of a religion which has not already stood the +test of experience; and that the doctrines of Christianity must first be +determined reasonable before we are compelled to believe that miracles +were wrought in attestation of them. The elder school of Unitarians +denounced his statements as open infidelity. A violent controversy +ensued, but no schism took place. Theodore Parker stood at the head of +the radical movement, and afterward labored unremittingly to disseminate +his theological opinions. In him American Rationalism finds its complete +personification. He represents the application of German infidelity to +the Unitarianism of New England. + +This celebrated advocate of temperance and freedom was prompted by a +deep and unselfish love of his race. He was descended from a soldier of +the Revolutionary army, and inherited that indomitable will, strong +patriotic impulses, and native talents, which had characterized his +ancestry for several generations. His mental qualities were of a lofty +type. He was a linguist who, in correctness of speech and facility of +acquisition, had few equals on this side of the Atlantic. His eloquence +was stirring and popular, while his pen was facile and fruitful. +Commencing to preach in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, the unusual +character of his pulpit ministrations attracted public attention. On +being invited to Boston, he assumed the pastoral relation over a +newly-formed church, the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society. In +addition to his sermons, he lectured in all parts of the Northern +States, and found time to write regularly for periodicals, compose +original works, and make translations of German authors with whom his +own theological opinions were in sympathy. + +Though often in feeble health, he seldom allowed physical languor to +intermit his work. When threatened with consumption he was induced to +spend some time at Santa Cruz, whence he sailed for Italy. He died at +Florence in the spring of 1860, not having completed his fiftieth year, +and after a pastorate of only fourteen years at the Melodeon. He had +often expressed a desire in earlier life that, like Goethe and Channing, +he might not be deterred from labor by the prospect of immediate death. +Shortly before his decease he addressed to his congregation in Boston a +lengthy letter containing his experience as a minister. He now lies in +the little cemetery outside the walls of Florence; his tombstone, at his +own request, simply recording his name and the dates of his birth and +death. He bequeathed his library, containing over thirteen thousand +volumes, to the Free Library of Boston. + +Our chief concern is with Mr. Parker as a theologian. He was a stranger +to moderation in every form. Having conceived certain skeptical views, +he knew no terms strong enough to condemn the whole evangelical scheme. +His chief defects of style are abruptness and occasional vulgarity, +which no man more regretted than their author in his calmer hours. But +there can be no apology for his dealing with serious subjects in that +vein of sarcasm which reminds us of the grossness of the coarser brood +of infidels. An English critic, noticing this defect, says: "His vigor +of style was deformed by a power of sarcasm, which often invested the +most sacred subjects with caricature and vulgarity; a boundless +malignity against supposed errors.... He equals Paine in vulgarity and +Voltaire in sarcasm."[271] + +Parker felt that a bold course must be taken or orthodoxy could not be +made to yield its position. His biographer informs us that when he was +less than seven years of age "he fell out with the doctrines of eternal +damnation and a wrathful God."[272] In later life, when striving to find +the sources of what he considered the evils of the popular theology, he +fixed upon two common idols: "the Bible, which is only a record of men's +words and works; and Jesus of Nazareth, a man who only lived divinely +some centuries ago. The popular religion is wrong in that it tells man +he is an outcast, that he is but a spurious issue of the devil, must not +pray in his own name, is only sure of one thing--and that is damnation. +Man is declared to be immortal, but it is such immortality as proves a +curse instead of a blessing. In fact this whole orthodox theology rests +on a lie."[273] + +His positive faith is comprehended in his own term, "the Absolute +Religion." God has created man with an intuitive religious element, the +strongest and deepest in human nature, indestructible, and existing +everywhere. Its legitimate action is to produce reverence, and ascends +into trust, hope, and love, or descends into doubt, fear, and hate. +Religion is not confined to one age, or people, or sect. It is the same +thing in each man, "not a similar thing--but the same thing." Three +forms of religion have existed, and each in turn has ruled the +mind,--Fetichism, Polytheism, and Monotheism. The first can be +distinctly traced in the mythical stories of Genesis, the second in +pagan nations, and the third in these later times. Now, it is a very +small matter in which one of these forms man has worshiped or may still +worship. If he worship at all, he adores the true God, "the only God, +whether he call on Brahma, Jehovah, Pan, or Lord, or by no name at +all.... Many a swarthy Indian, who bowed to wood and stone; many a +grim-faced Calmuck, who worships the great God of storms; many a Grecian +peasant, who did homage to Phoebus-Apollo when the sun rose or went +down; yes, many a savage, his hand smeared all over with human +sacrifice, shall come from the east and the west, and sit down in the +kingdom of God, with Moses and Zoroaster, with Socrates and +Jesus,--while men who called daily on the only living God, who paid +their tribute and bowed at the name of Christ, shall be cast out because +they did no more."[274] + +Christianity, with Parker, is not the absolute religion, because a +better may be developed. The great difference between it and other +religions is: _first_, in the point whence it sets out, other religions +starting from something external and limited, but Christianity from the +spirit of God in the soul of man speaking through reason, conscience, +and the religious sentiment; _second_, it is not a system but a method +of religion and life; and, _third_, its eminently practical nature. The +Deity adored by many people is a pure fabrication, for superstition +projects its own divinity, which of course will be after its own impure +mould. Men call the phantom God, Moloch, or Jehovah, and then attempt to +please the capricious being whom they have conjured up. The true idea of +God is his infinite presence in each point of space; this immanence in +matter is the basis of his influence; this imposition of a law is the +measure of God's relation to matter; and the action of the law is +therefore mechanical, not voluntary or self-conscious. + +The Bible, according to the same method of argumentation, is as much a +human book as the _Principia_ of Newton. Some things in it are true, but +no reasonable man can accept others. It is full of contradictions; +"there are poems which men take as histories; prophecies which have not +been and never will be fulfilled; stories of miracles that never +happened; stories which make God a man of war, cruel, rapacious, +revengeful, hateful, and not to be trusted. We find amatory songs, +selfish proverbs, skeptical discourses, and the most awful imprecations +human fancy ever clothed in speech." The minds of the writers of the Old +Testament were not decided in favor of the exclusive existence of +Jehovah, and all the early books betray more of a polytheistic belief +than we find in the prophets. The legendary and mythical writings of the +Hebrews prove unmistakably that man was first created in the lowest +savage life; that his religion was the rudest worship of nature; and +that his morality was that of the cannibal. All the civilized races have +risen through various forms of developing faith before reaching +refinement and true religion. We do not know who are the writers of most +of the Scriptural books. Their records are at variance with science. The +account of Jehovah's determination that the carcasses of Israel should +fall in the wilderness because of disobedience, is a "savage story of +some oriental who attributed a blood-thirsty character to his God, and +made a deity in his own image, and it is a striking remnant of barbarism +that has passed away, not destitute of dramatic interest; not without +its melancholy moral."[275] + +The prophets are claimed to have written nothing in general above the +reach of human faculties. The whole of the Old Testament is only a +phantom of superstition to scare us in our sleep.[276] The statements of +the evangelists have a very low degree of historical credibility. +Miracles are not impossible, because God is omnipotent; but our main +difficulty is, that we cannot believe the accounts descriptive of them. +The testimony and not the miracle is at fault. Inspiration is not at all +peculiar to the Scriptures. All nations have had their inspiration; this +is a natural result of the perfection of God, for he does not change; +and the laws of mind are like himself, unchangeable. Inspiration, being +similar to vision, must be everywhere the same thing in kind however +much it differs in degree. The quantity of our inspiration depends upon +the use we make of our faculties. He who has the most wisdom, goodness, +religion, and truth is the most inspired. This inspiration reveals +itself in various forms, modified by country, character, education, +peculiarity. Minos and Moses were inspired to make laws; David, Pindar, +Plato, John the Baptist, Gerson, Luther, Boehme, Fenelon, and Fox were +all inspired men. The sacraments of the Church were never designed to be +permanent. In illustration of them, Parker sacrilegiously quotes, + + "Behold the child, by nature's kindly law, + Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw; + Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, + A little louder, but as empty quite." + +The Christian Church is held to be a purely human mechanism, and the +great defect of Protestantism is its limit of the power of private +inspiration. God still inspires men as much as ever, and is immanent in +spirit as in space. This doctrine, which is Spiritualism, "relies on no +church, tradition, or Scripture, as the last grand and infallible rule; +it counts these things teachers, if they teach, not masters; helps, if +they help us, not authorities. It relies on the Divine presence in the +soul of man; the eternal word of God, which is truth, as it speaks +through the faculties he has given. It believes God is near the soul as +matter to the sense; thinks the canon of revelation not yet closed, nor +God exhausted. It sees him in Nature's perfect work; hears him in all +true Scripture, Jewish or Phoenician; stoops at the same fountain with +Moses and Jesus, and is filled with living water. It calls God, Father, +not King; Christ, brother, not Redeemer; Religion, nature. It loves and +trusts, but does not fear. It sees in Jesus a man living manlike, highly +gifted, and living with blameless and beautiful fidelity to God, +stepping thousands of years before the race of man; the profoundest +religious genius God has raised up; whose words and works help us to +form and develop the native idea of a complete religious man. But he +lived for himself; died for himself; worked out his own salvation, and +we must do the same, for one man cannot live for another more than he +can eat or sleep for him. It is not the personal Christ but the spirit +of Wisdom, Holiness, Love that creates the well-being of man; a life at +one with God. The divine incarnation is in all mankind."[277] + +Such is the faith avowed and enforced by Theodore Parker. It goes but +little beyond a belief in God's existence and general participation in +human life. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish his views of Deity +from Pantheism; but on more than one occasion he expressed his total +dissent from the peculiarity of the Hegelian system. He holds that all +we see about us and feel within us testifies of God. Neither speculative +nor practical atheism can produce good in the world; we must believe in +God's existence, else we have no power whatever to explain the harmony +in nature, providence in individual and national life, existence and +immortality of the soul, and the suffering to which we fall heir.[278] +But Theism clears up every difficulty, and sheds its light upon all +departments of human life. This alone can overthrow the popular orthodox +theology and enthrone the religion of the Absolute, or true Spiritualism +in its stead. + +It is a question of grave importance how far the skepticism of +Unitarianism, Universalism, and Pantheism has been influential upon the +American Church, and how great is the number of those who have become +more or less tinctured with the Rationalism of the last five years' +importation. Parker claimed that the liberal or Rationalistic thinkers +were largely on the increase; but he also informs us that the +translation by himself of _De Wette's Introduction to the Old +Testament_, not only proved a financial failure, but that it has had "no +recognition nor welcome in America; that it has never had a friendly +word said for it in any American journal."[279] Skepticism has been +proclaimed principally by public lectures, and, in this form, has made +little pretension to logical, exegetical, or metaphysical power. Youths +have manifested a decided taste for the works of Carlyle, Emerson, and +Parker, while the _Phases of Faith_ is one of the most thumb-worn of all +the volumes of our circulating libraries. Yet American Rationalism still +lacks consistency and system. + +The history of Rationalism proves that the evil is of slow and insidious +growth. The young are most susceptible of its influence. The Sunday +Schools of the various evangelical Churches are usually supplied with +large libraries of religious books. But many works of pernicious +tendency have been known to find a place upon shelves designed for +better service. + +A recent juvenile publication of skeptical character has probably been +read by many children whose parents had taught them that all Scripture +is given by inspiration of God.[280] This neat and attractive little +volume is worthy of the disciples of Paulus and Semler. It is an +advocate, under the most fascinating garb, of the very Rationalism which +now threatens the American Church. The author claims that the +patriarchal history is made up of little scraps of poetry; the fall of +our first parents was their seeing a dark veil one day in their +wandering, and they, in consequence thereof, went out of the pleasant +place where they had been dwelling; the deluge was simply a metaphorical +description of the increase of evil among men; the ark was only a +mystical vessel typifying faith, truth, and other correctives of sorrow +and sin; "there never was a single man Noah, who put all those creatures +into a boat and saved himself;" no sacrifice appeared to Abraham when +about to offer Isaac, but "his lifted arm seems to be seized as by the +hand of an angel;" the crossing of the Red Sea by Israel, and the +destruction of Pharaoh and his host, were the natural results of tide +and storm; the bitter waters were sweetened by a friendly weed that grew +close at hand; the speaking of Balaam's ass was only the twirling of his +long ears and loud braying; and the walls of Jericho fell merely by the +natural force of loud, fearless, and honest speaking,--just as West +India Slavery tumbled down by the agency of the noble voices that +thundered, trumpet-like, in righteous indignation against it. + +While speaking of Mr. Frothingham's juvenile work, we do not forget that +he has lately sounded the alarm of "Liberal Christianity" for those who +have passed the age of childhood. Many of his Unitarian brethren will +hardly agree with his radical Rationalism. Belonging to the extreme Left +Wing, he holds that it is the province of liberal Christians to slough +off the absurd doctrines now prevalent,--"not to remould the age,--to +recast it, to regenerate it, to cross it or struggle with it, but to +penetrate its meaning, enter into its temper, sympathize with its hopes, +blend with its endeavors. The life of the time appoints the creed of the +time, and modifies the establishment of the time. The great mark of our +generation is a deep faith in the soul's power to take care of itself, +and a desire that it may exercise that power to the utmost. Away with +fears! Away with despairs! Away with devils! Away with perdition! Away +with doom! Protestantism has the poison in its heart. From our own +liberal theology, the elements of unnaturalism, preternaturalism, +supernaturalism, have disappeared almost as completely as they have from +the systems of science. The grand achievement of Christianity was the +emancipation of human nature from its terrible Jewish thraldom. Its +revelation seems to have been, that men could judge for themselves what +is right,--could please God by being true to themselves,--could find the +blessed life by returning to the simplicity of little children,--and +could bring in the kingdom of heaven by yielding to the solicitations of +kindness. Man greater than the Sabbath; man greater than the temple; man +greater than the priesthood or the law. The religion was a consecration +of Nature; the abolishment of the old oppressive hierarchies, and a +cordial invitation to the heart to make a religion for itself. Just so +far as it was in the deepest and purest sense 'natural' religion,--just +so far as it emancipated the moral forces of humanity,--was it quick and +quickening.... Human nature, under liberty, will vindicate itself as a +divine creation. The freer it is, the more harmonious, orderly, +balanced, and beautiful it is.... Nature's seers, running their eye +along the line of the moral law, catch vistas in the future brighter +than those that now are fading from the Old Testament page; and Nature's +prophets, putting their ear to the ground, hear the murmur of nobler +revelations than were ever given to the old oracles now moving their +stiffened lips in death. Humanity's heresiarchs are lordlier than +inhumanity's priests. The soul's image-breaking is diviner than the +prelate's worship. Knowledge distances faith. Human solidity more than +makes good the Catholic's Communion. The revelation of universal law +makes the belief in miracle seem atheistical; and the irresistible +grace of the spirit that lives, and moves, and discloses its being in +humanity, sweeps past the dispensations of Catholic and Protestant +Christendom, as the eagle distances the dove."[281] + +We would not utter a syllable of needless alarm; but is it not time that +the American Church take note of the efforts by which the Rationalists +of every grade are striving to take away the cardinal truths of the +Christian revelation? Their predecessors in Europe sought to make +children ashamed of the old truths by casting sarcasm on the strong +faith and evangelical piety of the forefathers. They then aimed to show +that the Church and theology are altogether behind the age, and that +science and art are advancing with a rapidity which must leave all +dogmatism and authority far behind. They afterward examined the +Scriptures by the light of Reason alone, and, by this idea, deluded +multitudes of the young and inexperienced into the darkness and doubt +which were never removed. + +This last effort may be the next one to which American Rationalism will +address itself. The Church in this country has partaken of the pride +awakened by our unexampled national prosperity; and many of her noblest +sons had well-nigh come to the conclusion, before the outbreak of the +late civil war, that she must inevitably prosper, simply because of the +remarkable temporal blessings which God had lavishly given. But without +faith nothing can be accomplished, and three decades may be sufficient +to so change the whole aspect of our religious life that the Church may +become thoroughly Rationalistic; her sanctuaries frequented, and her +posts of honor occupied, by the worshipers of Reason. The fidelity of +the past will not be able to meet the emergency of the present. The +Church in the wilderness was not permitted to lay up manna in advance. + +Our civilization is undergoing a complete revolution. The field is newly +ploughed by the events of the last few years, and it becomes the Church +to scatter the seeds of truth with an unsparing hand. If this land is to +be blessed with pure faith, as in past years, a faith strong enough to +repel every blow of Skepticism, to the Church, as an instrument, and not +to our natural growth, shall be attributed this popular prosperity. If +we would secure for future years an uncorrupted faith, the enaction of +pure laws, the introduction of the Gospel into every social class, an +increased enthusiasm in missionary labors, the intense union of all +parts of our country, and the united progress of piety and theological +science, the duty of the present hour must be discharged. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[271] Farrar, _Critical History of Free Thought_, p. 324. + +[272] Weiss, _Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker_, vol. i., p. +30. + +[273] _Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion_, pp. 5, 6. + +[274] _Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion_, p. 111. + +[275] _Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion_, pp. 333, 4. + +[276] Ibid. p. 350. + +[277] _Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion_, pp. 477, 478. + +[278] _Sermons of Theism, Atheism, and Popular Theology_, pp. 51-55. + +[279] Weiss, _Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker_, vol. i., p. +402. + +[280] _Stories of the Patriarchs_, by Rev. O. B. Frothingham. Boston, +1864. + +[281] Sermon on the _New Religion of Nature_, before the Alumni of the +Cambridge Divinity School. Published in the _Friend of Progress_, +November, 1864. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +INDIRECT SERVICE OF SKEPTICISM--PRESENT OUTLOOK. + + +The most important successes of man are born of his severest trials and +most persistent struggles. Sometimes principles have required the +combats of centuries before they become the possession of a heroic +people. The value of the prize may in most cases be accurately estimated +by the length of time and the outlay of effort expended for its +attainment. "Men of easy faith," says a wise observer of human deeds, +"and sanguine hope, have sometimes, after one great commotion and +change, joyously assured themselves that this would suffice. The grand +evil is removed; we shall now happily and fast advance with a clear +scene before us. But after a while, to their surprise and dismay, +another commotion and dismay has perhaps carried the whole affair back, +apparently, to the same state as before. Recollect the history of the +Reformation in this land; begun by Henry VIII., established, it was +gladly assumed, by his son. But that youth dies, and then we have the +instant return of Popery, in all its triumph, fury, and revenge. After a +while Queen Mary departs, and all pious souls exult in liberation and +Protestantism. But then again, in Elizabeth's time, there comes a +half-papist, severe spiritual tyranny. Later down, after the overthrow +of the tyrant Charles, there arose for the first time, a prospect of +real religious liberty. But his son resumes the throne, and all such +liberty was abolished, and so continued long; and another revolution was +required that religious faith and worship might be free."[282] + +But when the English Reformation did come it was worth all its cost. The +Church would not barter it to-day for the commercial value of +continents,--no, not if she were told that the refusal would cost her +whole centuries of poverty and sorrow, many more martyrdoms, and a +second home in the catacombs. + +The various conflicts with infidelity have been scarcely less terrible +than the determined efforts made for the preservation of the faith of +the Gospel against the persecutions of the Roman Emperors and the popes +of the inquisitorial period. For there are two kinds of suffering in +defense of truth; that manifested by endurance of the body when physical +pain is inflicted, and that which the mind undergoes when plausible +error makes its fascinating appeal. And he who can resist the pretenses +of infidelity and remain pure amid the general waste of faith, has moral +power enough to attest his love of truth by dying in its behalf. God +takes note of all offerings which we bring, whether it be a lacerated +body in an age of persecution, or a sorely-tried but yet purely-kept +conscience in a period of devastating irreligion. The same benignant +Father who welcomed the sacrifice of the unblemished heifer was ready to +receive the humbler offering of a pair of turtle doves. + +One of the general principles on which we based the present historical +inquiry, was the undesigned, but real service rendered the cause of +truth and the Church by skepticism. It is yet too soon to prove the +validity of this position in reference to the present manifestations of +Rationalism in England and the United States. They are yet incomplete, +and not until a system of doubt has completed its cycle, are we enabled +to determine the evil which it has inflicted and the general benefit +which it has indirectly accomplished. When we look, therefore, at the +developed types of error which have arisen and made their impress on the +public mind, we are forced to the conclusion that, as God holds truth in +his hand and makes it minister to the good of his cause, so does he +possess complete control of error, and sometimes causes its wildest +vagaries to contribute to the advancement of those interests which they +were designed to subvert. The promoters of the evil are none the less +responsible, though their works terminated in an unexpected issue. "It +must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the +offense cometh." + +This principle of God's moral government has long been denied a +recognition. The purely literary historian has here been in advance of +the student of religious events, for he has conceded and defended the +principle when tracing the career of military chieftains, who aimed +solely at the conquest of nations and the increase of temporal power. He +has shown how the devastations of an Alexander, a Hannibal, and a +Napoleon have been the unexpected instruments of great popular +blessings. Ecclesiastical historians have frequently regarded all +skeptical tendencies as evil in all their consequences; but it is a far +more exalted view of God's ceaseless care of the interests of his +Church, to consider him as the All-powerful and All-loving, causing even +"the wrath of man to praise him." + +A glance at the various departments of theology which have received most +attention within the last half century, will prove that Rationalism has +been the undesigned means of contributing to their advancement. The +faith of the public teacher determines the faith and practice of the +masses; and those who are the commissioned expounders of truth for the +people have to-day a more substantial basis of theological literature, +than their predecessors possessed before Rationalism appeared in +Germany. As some of the grandest cathedrals of Europe, originally built +by the Roman Catholics, and designed by them for the perpetual +dissemination of the doctrines of Popery, are now the shrines of +Protestant worship, so have those weapons which were shaped for fierce +assaults upon inspiration been wielded in its defense. "Rationalism was +not to be simply ignored," says Schaff, "but in the hand of that +Providence which allows nothing to take place in vain, must serve the +purpose of bringing to a new form the old, which, in its contracted +sphere--that of mere understanding--it had profanely demolished. By this +means a freer activity and fuller development were secured, and that +want which lies at the root of all Rationalism, was supplied; namely, +that religious truth shall not be confronted with the subjective spirit +in the form of mere outward authority, but, in an inward way, become +fully reconciled to it in the form of conviction and certainty."[283] + +The Rationalists at one time deemed the criticism of the Scriptures +their strongest fortress. This is evident from their numerous works on +the authenticity of the Biblical books, and on the text itself. They +perused the Church Fathers for corroborative opinions, applied +themselves to the oriental languages with a zeal worthy of a better +purpose, traveled through countries mentioned in the Bible in order to +study local customs and popular traditions, and searched the testimony +of both ancient and modern writers with an enthusiasm seldom surpassed. +Their purpose was, to maintain the human character of the Bible. Now +what do we behold? Those researches have been employed by evangelical +critics for a higher end, and are powerful auxiliaries in the defense of +the divine authority of the Scriptures. The Hebrew learning of Gesenius, +for example, is the most available instrument in the hands of the +orthodox theologian in his study of the Old Testament. The most critical +and accurate of the Rationalists have, in almost every case, told us +some truth which the professed friends of revelation had not possessed, +and which the Church might have been compelled to seek for centuries +without success. + +Church history was crude and ill-written before the Rationalists +expended their toil and learning upon it. They investigated the +fountains; made the storm-beaten monuments, old coins, and medals +disclose their long-kept secrets; and threaded the labyrinths of secular +history, written in almost every European language, in order that +nothing serviceable to their cause might be lost. As an illustration of +the impetus imparted to this sphere of theological science, we may state +that between the years 1839 and 1841, there were published in Germany +over five hundred works on church history alone.[284] "Almost every +theologian of any name," says Schaff, "has devoted a portion at least of +his strength to some department of church history. Besides this, +however, it is found to receive the homage of all other +departments,--Exegesis, Introduction, Ethics, Practical Theology, etc., +in this respect: that for any work to be complete it is felt necessary +that it should, in the way of introduction, present a history of the +subject with which it is employed, and have also due regard to views +different from its own. Let any one look into any of the later +commentaries by Bleek, Harless, Tholuck, Steiger, Hengstenberg, +Fritzsche, and Rueckert; or into the dogmatic works of Twesten, Nitzsch, +Hase, and the monograph of Julius Mueller on sin, and he will soon learn +how entirely the whole present theology is pervaded with historical +material from beginning to end."[285] + +In the conception of church history as a science, the Rationalists also +displayed a wisdom which had ever been wanting. "Rationalism," says +Schaff again, "has been of undeniable service to church history. In the +first place, it exercised the boldest criticism, placing many things in +a new light, and opening the way for a more free and unprejudiced +judgment. Then again it assisted in bringing out the true conception of +history itself, though rather in a mere negative way. Almost all +previous historians, Protestant as well as Catholic, had looked upon the +history of _heresies_ as essentially motion and change, while they had +regarded the church doctrine as something once for all settled and +unchangeable; a view which cannot possibly stand the test of impartial +inquiry. For though Christianity itself, the saving truth of God, is +always the same, and needs no change, yet this can by no means be +affirmed of the apprehension of this truth by the human mind in the +different ages of the Church, as is at once sufficiently evident from +the great difference between Catholicism and Protestantism; and within +the latter, from the distinctions of Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, and +Calvinism. But Rationalism now discovered fluctuation, motion, change, +in the Church, as well as in the sects; thus taking the first step +towards the idea of organic development, on which the latest German +historiography is founded."[286] We deem this testimony in favor of our +position as of no ordinary value, coming as it does from one so +intimately acquainted with the issues involved, and yet in no sympathy +with the skepticism of any age. + +The Rationalistic divines have also been the indirect means of a better +estimate of the life of Christ. The replies to the work of Strauss +present, as we have before intimated, the most complete portrait of the +career of the Messiah ever drawn by uninspired authority. The symmetry, +scope, power, and sympathy which revealed themselves through his entire +ministry are so described by Neander, and those in harmony with him, +that their representation of the Messiah must ever perform an invaluable +service in theological literature. Had the attack never been made we +would not now enjoy the benefit resulting from the counter-blow. "These +replies," says Schwarz, "constitute an important literature of +themselves, in which scarcely any theological name of importance is +absent, and in which many obscure pastors from all parts of Germany have +brought the fire-bucket of their knowledge in order to extinguish the +flame that threatened to consume them and their village-churches +together with the historical basis of Christianity.... Concerning the +theological discussion originated by Strauss, our attention is turned +toward those works which undertake to answer specifically the critical +questions under consideration. His celebrated work was the signal for a +totally new gospel criticism. A succession of works appeared at but +brief intervals that discussed in a far more thorough method than +Strauss had done those important questions concerning the relations of +the gospels to each other, their signification, age, and +authenticity."[287] + +So, too, has the criticism of the apostolic age by the Tuebingen school +aroused the friends of evangelical Christianity to inquire into the same +period, and see whether their own ground was really defensible. It was a +fortunate day for them when their attention was directed thither. For +the church enjoys thereby a much clearer conception of all those great +movements that had their origin in the time of the apostles, of the +relations in which those men stood to the Divine Founder, of the gradual +dissemination of the gospel, of the general condition of the infant +church, and of its interpretation of the doctrines promulgated by +Christ, than could have been acquired by all the ordinary methods of +investigation. + +Taking the past as a present instructor, we fear no permanent evil +results from the recent popular Lives of Jesus by Renan and Strauss. +These men have written for the masses, and their appeal is to the plain +mind. They would portray Christ in such a light that even the least +intelligent mind might be brought into living sympathy with his +humanity. Now, when their view of him shall have been faithfully +answered by presenting his divine character to the common understanding, +who will say that the present generation of Christ's skeptical +biographers have written in vain? Those authors, having seen the +necessity of a popular understanding of Christ, describe him as a man +like ourselves. They have written from a wrong stand-point, but if their +labors can suggest to evangelical theologians the immediate necessity of +a popular view of Christ as our Redeemer, we will not believe that +their labors, though exerted for a different purpose, are without good +fruits. The people need to perceive clearly the character of Christ--not +to look upon him as far off, but near at hand, not to regard him as the +cold, indifferent observer of our conduct, but as that Friend who, being +our Elder Brother, enters into sympathy with the humblest of his +followers, and suffers not a sparrow to fall without his notice. + +We are confirmed in our opinion of the ultimate advantages from Renan's +representation of Christ by the testimony of M. de Pressense. This +distinguished theologian was recently returning from the Holy Land, +whither he had gone "to seek to lay hold of the holy likeness of Christ +that he might present it to his countrymen," when he stopped at +Altenburg to attend the session of the Evangelical Church Diet of +Germany. Speaking of the indirect service of Renan, he used the +following earnest language: "I too wish to expose to you the advantages +of the recent attacks against our faith, for, in my eyes, they by far +outweigh the inconveniences and the perils. Without doubt, this +falsification of the holy type which we adore may well deceive the +public mind, for it fell into a community of religious ignorance, into a +country in which modern Catholicism--I mean to say Italian, or rather +Roman Catholicism, which has but too much prevailed over that of our +Pascals and our Bossuets--had more and more reduced religion to a +servile submission towards the Papacy and superstitious worship of the +deified creature, thus preventing the direct intercourse of the soul +with the gospel and with him who fills the gospel. And then, M. Renan's +book at bottom flattered all the bad contemporaneous instincts; it made +the apotheosis of that melancholy and voluptuous skepticism which covers +up with a certain distinction and a certain charm the most positive +materialism; it flattered our languid wills, substituted the worship of +the beautiful for the worship of the holy, and authorized, by the false +ideal which it presents to us, a factitious religious sentiment, which +demands no sacrifice, no manly act, covers up the cross under flowers, +and at last only gives back to humanity its old idol, newly carved and +painted. This idol is no other than humanity itself. This mixture of +atheism and sensibility was particularly dangerous, because it met +preexistent tendencies, and colored them with a fallacious poesy. The +art of the historian, or rather of the romance-writer [Renan], consisted +in his hiding the entire absence of all belief under graceful metaphors +and an unctuous style, just as the brilliant snow of the Alps covers up +the abyss and deprives the traveler of the salutary horror which would +save him. You see, my friends, I do not diminish the perils of a book +which has had in its two editions a sale of two hundred thousand copies. +And yet, I persist in believing that the advantages are greater than its +disadvantages." + +Neither do we apprehend any ultimate disaster from the Skeptical +Scientific School. Darwin, Buckle, and others have striven diligently to +impress upon the public mind the opinion that there is an antagonism +between science and revelation, and that it is of such character as to +render Christianity a useless appendage to human society. + +Now, in order to counteract the influence of their sentiments, the +evangelical theologian should take no partial or prejudicial views of +science, or of its necessity for the defense of Scriptural truth. The +course adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in reference to the +discoveries of some of the noblest of her sons was suicidal. When +Galileo was forced to recant his theory of the earth's revolution, the +advance of papacy was arrested. To all outward appearance there is an +incompatibility between the claims of geology and the Mosaic cosmogony. +Shall we say that geology is false, and the six days of the Mosaic +narrative must be understood in their literal sense? This presents the +dilemma either to reject geology as a spurious science, or to discard +revelation. We will not accept such an alternative, and rather say, +"Geology is a noble science, but it is yet an infant. When it reaches +its majority we shall see a harmony,--inexpressibly beautiful and +proportionate,--between its discoveries and the inspired word of God." + +We must not charge the errors of scientific skeptics to the department +of inquiry in which they labor. The perversions and errors of science, +and not science itself, are at enmity with revelation. Mr. Darwin's +theory of development seems to be in outright opposition to the +Scriptural account of the animal creation. But there is no occasion of +alarm at what he has said, for neither he nor all who think with him can +invalidate the truths of Scripture. We should despise no theory that +aims at our better comprehension of great truths; for the day will come +when science, in its mature glory and strength, shall cast its human +lustre on all the pages of divine truth. + +The true way to meet the writings of skeptics in the Church is by calm +replies to their charges, and by immediate ecclesiastical discipline. +Every word or act that savors of tyranny or undue exaction creates +friends for them, and when for them, for their opinions also. Mere +general remarks in reply to their attacks will accomplish nothing. +Little advantage would be gained if every preacher in Great Britain and +America were only to say, "Bishop Colenso is in error." But it will be +a public benefit if he be treated with personal kindness of expression +as a brother-man, his arguments examined, and their obnoxious fallacy +proved. The Church should deal toward the foes of her own household with +the greatest possible caution, else the reaction will be of lasting +evil. Neander taught a lesson for all coming time when a royal edict was +about to appear forbidding the entrance of Strauss' _Life of Jesus_ +within the Prussian dominion. He violently opposed it, and gave it as +his opinion, that "the work of Strauss, though not profound, was written +with much talent, and that throughout, science predominated over and +extinguished sentiment. That, in truth, the writer appeared to be guided +by singular good faith, but that his mythical system did nevertheless +undermine Christianity; and that if it spread, it might be feared that +it might destroy Christian faith; but, yet, that it would be a great +mistake to interdict the work; since, when once interdicted, it could +not be refuted, and by such a measure it would acquire an undue +importance." + +But whatever precautions are taken in dealing with skepticism, it is +essential that the spirit of unity pervade all evangelical +denominations. During the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington, +observing that one of his officers of artillery was serving a gun with +remarkable precision against a body of men posted in a wood to the left, +rode up to the subaltern, and said: "Well aimed, captain; but no +more,--they are our own 99th!" A similar mistake has sometimes been +committed by ecclesiastical organizations, which, instead of aiming at +the common enemy, have expended too much valuable time and energy in +efforts to defend their individual creeds. A more intense harmony of all +the friends of orthodoxy is a condition of permanent success. The +theological crisis of to-day may be followed by others more severe. But +the Faith of the Church teaches the invaluable lesson that God designs, +by the ordeal of the earthly crucible, to prepare her for higher honor +and perfect service. She does not desire a premature termination of the +season of proof. + + "From darkness here, and weariness, + We ask not full repose, + Only be Thou at hand.-- + + * * * * * + + The wanderer seeks his native bower, + And we will look and long for Thee, + And thank Thee for each trying hour, + Wishing, not struggling, to be free."[288] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[282] John Foster, _Broadmead Lectures_, vol. i., p. 309. + +[283] _What is Church History?_ p. 15. + +[284] Winer, _Handbuch der Theologischen Wissenschaft_, 1838-1842. + +[285] _What is Church History?_ p. 17. + +[286] _History of the Apostolic Church_, p. 80. + +[287] _Geschichte der Neuesten Theologie._ Second Edition, pp. 105, 152. + +[288] Keble, _Christian Year_. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +LITERATURE OF RATIONALISM. + + +I.--GERMANY--HOLLAND--SWITZERLAND. + +AUBERLEN, C. A.--Die Goettliche Offenbarung, 2 Baende, Basel, 1861-64. + +AeUSERUNGEN ueb. Renan, Strauss u. aehnliche Buecher. Anon. Tueb., 1864. + +BALMES, J.--Briefe an einen Zweifler, Aus d. Span. uebersetzt, von F. +Loruiser, Regensburg, 1864. + +BAUR, F. C.--Die Tuebingen Schule und ihre Stellung zur Gegenwart. +Tuebingen, 1859. + +BEYSCHLAG, W.--Ueber das "Leben Jesu" v. Renan. Halle a. S. 1864. + +BOCKSHAMMER, G. F.--Offenbarung und Theologie. Stuttg. 1822. + +BOeHME, C. F.--Christliches Henotikon. Halle, 1827. + +---- Die Sache des rationalen Supranaturalismus, geprueft und erklaert. +Neust. 1823. + +BRETSCHNEIDER, K. G.--Ueber die Grundprincipien der Evang. Theologie. +Altenburg, 1832. + +---- Zwei Sendschreiben an einem Staatsmann. Leipzig, 1830. + +BRONSVELD, A. W.--Oorzaken der verbreiding van het rationalisme in ous +land, sinds de laaste jaren der vorigen eeuw. Rotterdam, 1862. + +BRUNNER, S.--Der Atheist Renan u. Sein Evangelium. Regensburg, 1864. + +BUCHER, J.--Das Leben Jesu v. Dr. Fr. Strauss nach der neuen "f. das +Deutsche Volk," beab. Augsburg, 1864. + +CASSEL, P.--Ueber Renan's Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1864. + +CHANTEPIE DE LA SAUSSAYE.--La Crise Religieuse en Hollande. Leyde, 1860. + +CLAUSEN, PROF.--Katholicismus u. Protestantismus, 3 Baende. Translated by +Fries. Latest Edition, 1828. + + The author, a moderate Rationalist, attempts in vain to + identify Protestantism and Rationalism. + +CLEMEN, C. F. W.--Die Rationalisten sind doch Christen. Altenbg. 1829. + +COeLLN, D. G. K. VON, UND SCHULTZ, DAV.--Ueber Theologische Lehrfreiheit +auf den Evangelischen Universitaeten. Breslau, 1830. + +CORNIL, A.--Ludwig Feuerbach u. Seine Stellung zur Religion u. +Philosophie d. Gegenwart. Frankfurt a. Main, 1851. + +DA COSTA.--The Four Witnesses. Holland. + + This work relates to the Four Evangelists, and is a reply to + Strauss. + +DEUTINGER, M.--Renan u. das Wunder. Muenchen, 1864. + +DE WETTE.--Ueber der Verfall der Protestantischen Kirche in Deutschland, +und die Mittel, ihr wieder aufzuhelfen. Reformationsalm.--1817, S. 296 +ff. + +---- Religion und Theologie. Berlin, 1817. + +---- Theodor oder des Zweifler's Weihe. 2 Bde. Berlin, 1822. + +DIESTELMANN, TH.--Beleuchtung d. Lebens Jesu f. das Deutsche Volk, v. D. +F. Strauss. Hannover, 1864. + +ENGELHARDT, M.--Schenkel und Strauss. Erlangen, 1864. + +FELDMANN, T. C.--Der Wahre Christus u. sein rechtes Symbol. Altona, +1865. + +FEUERBACH. F. L.--Das Wesen d. Glaubens im Sinne Luther's. Leip., 1844. + +FREI-RELIGIOeSEN (die) in ihrer Bloesse. Brandenburg, 1862. + +FREPPEL, PROF.--Kritische Beleuchtung d. Ernst Renan'schen Schrift: Das +Leben Jesu. Wien, 1864. + +FRICKE, G.--Ueber Renan's Leben Jesu. Heidelberg, 1864. + +FRITZSCHE, CH. F.--De Rationalismo commentatt. II; in den opuscul. +academ. Tur.--1846. + +FROST, W.--Das Leben d. Anti-Christus nach Ernst Renan. Wien, 1864. + +GEBHARD, F. H.--Die letzten Gruende des Rationalismus in einer +Widerlegung der Briefe Zoellichs. Arnst., 1822. + +GERBER, J. H.--Supranominalismus, ein neues System der Theologie, oder +die endliche Versoehnung zwischen Rationalismus und Supranaturalismus in +wissenschaftliche Nothwendigkiet. Leipzig, 1843-44. + +GERLACH, H.--Gegen Renan, Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1864. + +GESS UND RIGGENBACH.--Apologetische Beitraege. Basel, 1864. + +GROEN VAN PRINSTERER, G.--Le parti anti-revolutionaire et confessionel +dans l'eglise reformee des Pays-Bas. Amsterdam, 1860. + +GURLITT. J. GFR.-Rede zur Empfehlung des Vernunftsgebrauch's bei dem +Studium der Theologie. Hamburg, 1822. + +HAAR, B. TER,--Pictures from the History of the Reformation. 1855. + + A prize work, written to strengthen the faith of Protestants. + +---- Vorlesungen ueber Renan's "Leben Jesu." 1864. + +HAFFNER.--Die Deutsche Aufklaerung. Mainz, 1864. + +HAGENBACH, K. R.--Kirchengeschichte d. 18 und 19 Jahrhunderts. 3 Aufl. +Leipzig, 1856. + +---- Die sogenannte Vermittelungstheologie. Zuerich, 1858. + +---- History of Doctrines. Revised Edinb. ed., with large additions. By +Prof. H. B. Smith. New York, 1862. + +HAHN, A.--De Rationalismi, qui dicitur, vera indole et qua cum +naturalismo contineatur ratione. Lips. 1827. + +---- Ueber die Lage des Christenthums unserer Zeit, und das Verhaeltniss +der Christlichen Theologie zur Wissenschaft ueberhaupt. Leipz. 1832. + +HANEBERG, D. B.--E. Renan's Leben Jesu beleuchtet. Regensbg. 1864. + +HANNE, J. W.--Rationalismus und spec. Theologie in Braunschweig. +Braunschweig, 1838. + +HARMS, C.--Thesen Luther's mit andern 95 Saetzen. Kiel, 1817. + +---- "Dass es mit der Vernunftreligion nichts ist." Kiel, 1819. + +HAVET, E.--Kritik ueb. "Das Leben Jesu" v. E. Renan. Mannheim, 1863. + +HEINRICH, J. B.--Christus: Kritik des Rationalismus, des Straussischen +Mythicismus u. d. Lebens Jesu v. Renan. Mainz, 1864. + +HELD, C. F. W.--Jesus der Christ, mit Ruecksicht auf d. Rationalismus u. +Skepticismus d. Gegenwart. Zuerich, 1865. + +HENHOFER, A.--Der Kampf d. Unglaubens m. Aberglauben u. Glauben. +Heidelberg, 1861. + +HENKE, C. L. TH.--Rationalismus u. Traditionalismus im 19. Jahrhundert. +1864. + +HERING.--Die Akephaler unserer Zeit. Leipzig, 1825. + +HERINGA, J. E.--Het gebruiken Misbruik der Kritik. Holland, 1793. + +HOFSTEDE DE GROOT, P.--Die Groeninger Theologen. Gotha, 1863. + +HUeFFELL, L.--Friedensvorschlaege zur Beendigung des Streits zwischen +bibl. Christlichen Theologen und Rationalisten; Zeitschrift fuer +Predigerwissenschaften. Bd. 2. St. 1. + +HUNDESHAGEN, K. B.--Der Deutsche Protestantismus. 3 Aufl. Frankfort a. +Main, 1850. + +HURTER, H.--Ueber die Rechte der Vernunft und des Glaubens. Innsbruck, +1863. + +KAeHLER, L. A.--Supranaturalismus und Rationalismus in ihrem +gemeinschaft. Ursprunge, ihrer Zwietracht u. hoeheren Einheit. Leipzig, +1818. + +KAHNIS, K. F. A.--Der innere Gang des deutschen Protestantismus seit +Mitte des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1854. + +KAMPE, F.--Geschichte der religioesen Bewegung d. neuern Zeit. 2 Bde. +Leipzig, 1852-53. + +KEIM, I.--Der Geschichtliche Christus. Zuerich, 1864. + +KLEUKER, J. F.--Ueber das Ja und Nein der Bibl. Christl. u. der reinen +Vernunfttheologie. Hamburg, 1819. + + Compare, Ueber die Altonaer Bibel. 1818. + +---- Ueber den alten und neuen Protestantismus. Bremen, 1823. + +KOeHLER, A.--Die niederlaendisch-reform. Kirche. Erlangen, 1856. + +KUENEN, A.--The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined. +Translated from the Dutch by Rt. Rev. J. W. Colenso. London, 1865. + +LANG, H.--Dogmatik. Berlin, 1858. + +---- Ein Gang durch die Christliche Welt. Berlin, 1859. + +---- Religioese Charactere. Winterthur, 1862. + +LORGION, E. J.--The Pastor of Vliethinzen; or, Conversations about the +Groninger School. Capetown, 1865. + + A novel, translated from the Dutch, for the use of Colonists + in Southern Africa. + +LUTHARDT, C. E.--Die modernen Darstellungen des Lebens Jesu. Eine +Besprechung der Schriften von Strauss, Renan, etc. Leipzig, 1864. + +MEYER, J.--Das Leben Jesu v. Dav. Frdr. Strauss. Leipzig, 1865. + +MICHELIS, F.--Renan's Roman vom Leben Jesu. Muenster, 1864. + +NEUESTER NACHTRAG zu Renan's Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1864. + +NICOLAS, A.--Die Gottheit Jesu. Regensburg, 1864. + +NITZSCH, C. L.--Ueber das Heil der Theologie durch Unterscheidung der +Offenbarung und Religion als Mittel und Zweck. 1880. + +NOACK, L.--Die Freidenker in der Religion. Berne, 1853. + +OOSTERZEE, J. J. VAN.--Geschichte oder Roman? Das Leben Jesu v. E. Renan +beleuchtet. 1863. + +OPZOOMER, C. W.--De waarheid en hare kenbronnen. Amsterdam, 1882. + +PAULUS, H. E. G.--Zeitgemaesse Beleuchtung des Streites zwischen dem +Eingebungsglauben und der Urchristlichen Denkglaeubigkeit. Wiesbaden, +1830. + +PETRENZ, K. A.--Wie hast du Renan's Leben Jesu aufgenommen? Neu-Ruppin, +1864. + +RAUMER, F.--Schwarz, Strauss, Renan. Leipzig, 1864. + +RIGGENBACH, C. J.--Der Heutige Rationalismus besonders in der Deutschen +Schweiz. Basel, 1862. + +RITTER, H.--Ernst Renan ueb. die Naturwissenschaften u. die Geschichte. +Gotha, 1865. + +ROeHR, J. F.--Briefe ueber den Rationalismus. Aachen, 1813. + +---- Grund-und-Glaubenssaetze der Evang.-protest. Kirche. 1832-1834. + +ROMANG, J. P.--Ueber Unglauben, Pletismus u. Wissenschaft. Zuerich, 1859. + +ROSENKRANZ, K.--Kritik d. Principien d. Strauss'schen Glaubenslehre. +Leipzig, 1844. + +ROYAARDS, H. J.--Geschiedenis van het Christendom. Nederland, 1853. + +RUeCKERT, L. J.--Der Rationalismus. Leipzig, 1859. + +RUMPF.--Kirchenglaube und Erfahrung, 1854. + +---- Bibel und Christus, 1858. + +RUTHENUS, K.--Der formale Supernaturalismus oder d. einzig moegliche Weg +zur einer Ausgleichung der streitenden theolog. Partheien. Leipzig, +1834. + +SARTORIUS, C.--Die Religion ausserhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft. +Marburg, 1822. + +---- Ueber die Unwissenschaftlichkeit und innere Verwandschaft des +Rationalismus und Romanismus. Auch u. d. Tit: Beitraege zur Evang. +Rechtglaubigkeit. 1 Hft. Heidelberg, 1825. + +SCHENKEL, D.--Die Religioesen Zeitkaempfe. Hamburg, 1847. + +---- Das Characterbild Jesu. Wiesbaden, 1864. + +---- Die Protestantische Freiheit in ihrem gegenwartigen Kampfe in der +Kirchlichen Reaktion. Wiesbaden, 1865. + +SCHLOSSER, F. C.--Geschichte d. 18 und 19 Jahrhunderts. (First two +vols.) Heidelberg, 1848. + +SCHOLTEN, J. H.--Oratio de pugna theologiam inter atque philosophiam +recto utriusque studio tollenda. Leipzig, 1847. + +---- Dogmatices Christianae Initia. Editio II. Leyden, 1858. + +SCHOTT, H. A.--Briefe ueber Religion und Christlichen +Offenbarungsglauben. Jena, 1826. + +SCHROeTER, W.--Christianismus, Humanismus und Rationalismus in ihrer +Identitaet. Leipzig, 1830. + +SCHUBERT, F. W.--Die Freien Gemeinde unserer Zeit. Berlin, 1850. + +SCHUDEROFF, J.--Briefe ueber den Rationalismus und Supernaturalismus, in +Journal fuer Veredlung des Prediger- und Schullehrerstandes. Jahrg. 1811. +Bd. 2. St. 3. + +SCHULTHESS, J. UND ORELLI, J. K.--Rationalismus und Supernaturalismus, +Kanon, Tradition und Scription. Zuerich, 1822. + +SCHULTZE, L.--Die Wunder Jesu Christi mit Beziehung a. d. Leben Jesu v. +Renan. Koenigsberg, 1864. + +SCHWARTZ, C.--Zur Geschichte d. neuesten Theologie. 3 sehr verm. Auf. +Leipzig, 1864. + +SEPP, DR.--Thaten u. Lehren Jesu; auf die jungsten Werke v. Renan und +Strauss. Schaffhausen, 1864. + +STAeUDLIN, C. F.--Geschichte des Rationalismus und Supranaturalismus. +Goettingen, 1826. + +STEFFENS, H.--Von der falschen Theologie und dem Wahren Glauben. +Breslau, 1831. + +STEIGER, W.--Kritik des Rationalismus in Wegscheider's Dogmatik. Berlin, +1830. + +STRAUSS, D. F.--Das Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1835. + +---- Das Leben Jesu f. das Deutsche Volk bearb. Leipzig, 1864. + +TAFEL, F. I.--Das Leben Jesu,--gegen die Angriffe d. Dr. Strauss u. d. +Unglaubens ueberhaupt. Basel, 1863. + +THEILER, C. G. W.--Christus und die Vernunft. Leipzig, 1830. + +---- Aphorismen zur Verstaendigung ueber den sogenannten alten und neuen +Glauben. Leipzig, 1839. + +THOLUCK, A.--Vermischte Schriften II., "Geschichte der Umwaelzung der +Theologie seit 1750." Hamburg, 1839. + +---- Die Lehre v. der Suende und vom Versoehnen. 7 Auf. Hamb. 1851. + +---- Vorgeschichte des Rationalismus. Zwei Theile. Berlin, 1859-'62. + +---- Geschichte d. Rationalismus. Erste Abth. Berlin, 1865. + +TITTMANN, J. A. H.--Ueber Supranaturalismus, Rationalismus, u. Atheismus. +Leipzig, 1816. + +ULLMANN, K.--Theologisches Bedenken auf Veranlassung des Angriffs der +evangel. Kirchenzeit, auf den Hallischen Rationalismus. Halle, 1830. + + Together with many other articles of similar character in + "Studien und Kritiken." + +VERANTWORTUNG (zur) des Christlichen Glauben. 10 Vortraege von +Riggenbach, Auberlen, Gess, und andere. Basel, 1862. + +VOIGHTLAeNDER, J. A.--Der Rationalismus nach seinen philosophischen +Hauptformen und in seiner historischen Gestalt. Leipzig, 1830. + +WEGSCHEIDER, J. A. L.--Institutiones Theologiae Christianae Dogmaticae. +Halle, 1815. 8th Ed. 1844. + +WEIDEMANN, K. A.--Die Neuesten Darstellungen d. Lebens Jesu von Renan, +Schenkel, Strauss. Gotha, 1864. + +WIESINGER, A.--Aphorismen gegen Renan's Leben Jesu. Wien, 1864. + +WIGGERS, J.--Kirchlicher oder rein biblischer Supranaturalismus? +Leipzig, 1842. + +WISLICENUS, G. A.--Die Bibel, fuer denkende Leser betrachtet. Leipzig, +1864. + +WOeLLWARTH, F.--Gedanken ueb. das characterbild Christi, von Schenkel. +Stuttgart, 1865. + +ZEITFRAGEN RELIGIOeSE, Unparteiisch beurtheilt v. e. Laien. Tueb., 1864. + +ZOeCKLER, O.--Die Evangelien kritik u. das Lebensbild Christi nach d. +Schrift. Darmstadt, 1864. + +ZOeLLICH, C. F.--Briefe ueber den Supranaturalismus; eine Gegenschrift zu +den Briefen ueber den Rationalismus. Sondershausen, 1821. + + +RATIONALISTIC PERIODICALS. + +ALLGEMEINE KIRCHLICHE ZEITSCHRIFT.--Published by D. Schenkel, Elberfeld, +1860-'65. + +ANNALEN.--Published by Schulthess, 1826-30. + +DEUTSCHKATHOLISCHES SONNTAGSBLATT.--Wiesb., 1851-'65. + +FREIES (FUeR) RELIGIOeSES LEBEN.--Breslau, 1848. + + The Journal of the "Friends of Light." + +KIRCHE DER GEGENWART.--Biedermann und Fries. Zuerich, 1845-'50. + +KIRCHEN-UND-SCHULBLATT.--Weimar, 1852-'65. + +PREDIGERBIBLIOTHEK.--Published by Roehr, 1820-'48. Continued by H. Lang, +to 1816. + +PROTESTANTISCHE BLAeTTER, Fuer das evang. Oesterreich.--Wien, 1863-'65. + +PROTESTANTISCHE KIRCHENZEITUNG.--H. Eltester und Carl Schwartz. Berlin, +1854-'65. + + This quarterly is the leading organ of the German + Rationalists. + +SONNTAGSBLATT.--Uhlich. Gotha, 1850. Quarterly. + +SOPHRONIZEN.--Published by Paulus, 1819-'30. + +THEOLOGISCHE JAHRBUeCHER.--F. Chr. Baur und E. Zeller. Tuebingen, +1842-'56. Not continued. + +ZEITSCHRIFT FUeR WISSENSCHAFT. THEOLOGIE.--A. Hilgenfeld. Halle, +1858-'65. + +ZEITSTIMMEN AUS D. REFORMIRTEN KIRCHE DER SCHWEIZ.--H. Lang. Winterthur, +1859-'66. + + +II.--FRANCE. + +ARNAUD, A.--Les Orthodoxes et le Parti liberal protestant. Paris, 1864. + +ASTIE, J. F.--Les deux Theologies nouvelles dans le sein du +Protestantisme Francais. Paris, 1862. + +BIERMANN, C.--Foi et Raison. Paris, 1860. + +BOISSONAIS, L.--Doctrine de la nouvelle ecole d'apres MM. Reville, A. +Coquerel fils, et Colani. Paris, 1864. + +BUISSON, F.--L'orthodoxie et l'Evangile dans l'Eglise reformee. Paris, +1864. + +CASSAN-FLOYRAC, L'ABBE.--Le Rationalisme devant la Raison. Paris, 1858. + +COLANI, T.--Ma Position dans l'Eglise de la Confession d'Augsbourg. +Paris, 1860. + +---- Jesus Christ et les Croyances messianiques de son Temps. Paris, +1864. + +COQUEREL, A.--Christologie. Paris, 1859. + +COQUEREL, E.--M. Guizot et l'Orthodoxie protestante. Paris, 1864. + +---- Libereaux et orthodoxes. Paris, 1864. + +DUNAIME, L'ABBE J.--De la Raison dans ses Rapports avec la Foi. Paris, +1858. + +FAYET, A.--Lettres a un rationaliste sur la philosophie et la religion. +Paris, 1864. + +FRANCHI, A.--Le Rationalisme. Bruxelles, 1858. + +FROSSARD, C. L.--L'orthodoxie de l'Eglise reformee de France. Paris, +1864. + +GUIZOT, F.--Meditations sur l'Essence de la Religion Chretienne. Paris, +1864. + +LARROQUE, P.--Renovation religieuse. Paris, 1859. + +---- Examen Critique des doctrines de la religion Chretienne. Paris, +1859. + +LUPS, L'ABBE J.--Le Traditionalisme et le Rationalisme. Liege, 1859. + +NICOLAS, M.--Etudes Critiques sur la Bible. Paris, 1861. + +PRESSENSE, E. DE.--Le Pays de l'Evangile; Notes d'un voyage en Orient. +Paris, 1865. + +REMUSAT, C. DE.--Philosophie Religieuse. Paris, 1864. + +RENAN, E.--Etudes d'histoire Religieuse. 3d Edition. Paris, 1858. + +---- Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1863. + + + LITERATURE ARISING OUT OF THE PUBLICATION OF RENAN'S "LIFE OF + JESUS." + + AUGE, L.--Neuf pages decisives sur la Vie de Jesus de M. E. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + BAUDON, P. L.--M. Ernest Renan, le prophete et le vrai fils de + Dieu. Paris, 1863. + + BLOCH, S.--M. Renan et le Judaisme. Paris, 1863. + + BONALD, M. DE.--Mandement portant condamnation du livre + intitule; la Vie de Jesus, par E. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + BONNETAIN, J.--Le Christ-Dieu devant les Siecles. M. Renan et + son roman du jour. Paris, 1863. + + BOURQUENOUD, A.--Les Distractions de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + BOYLESVE, M. DE.--M. Renan, defenseur de la foi d'apres un + procede nouveau. Paris, 1863. + + CARLE, H.--Crises des croyances. M. Renan, et l'esprit de + systeme. Paris, 1863. + + CASTAING, A.--Jesus, M. E. Renan et la science. Paris, 1863. + + CHAUVELOT, B.--M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + CHERET, L'ABBE.--Lettres d'un cure de campagne a M. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + CLABAUT, L'ABBE.--E. Renan et l'Evangile. Paris, 1863. + + COCHIN, A.--Quelques mots sur le Vie de Jesus de M. E. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + COLANI, T.--Examen de la Vie de Jesus de M. Renan. Strasbourg, + 1864. + + CONSTANT, B.--Les contradictions de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + CORRESPONDANCE APOCRYPHE entre M. E. Renan et sa soeur Ursule. + Paris, 1863. + + DELAPORTE, A.--La Critique et la Tactique, a propos de M. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + DES GRANGES, F.--Une Echappe sur la Vie de Jesus d'Ernest + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + DESHAIRES, G.--La Vie de Jesus, les Evangiles, et M. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + EVANGILE (le cinquieme) de M. Renan,--par M. H. D. Paris, + 1863. + + FELIX, R. P.--M. Renan et sa Vie de Jesus. + + ---- Quelques mots sur le livre de la Vie de Jesus. Paris, + 1863. + + FOISSET.--Ernest Renan: Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1863. + + FREGIER, J. C.--Jesus devant le droit, ou Critique judiciare + de la Vie de Jesus de M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + FREPPEL, L'ABBE.--Examen Critique de la Vie de Jesus de M. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + GINOULIAC.--Lettre a l'un de ses vicaires generaux sur la Vie + de Jesus par M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + GUETTEE, L'ABBE.--Refutation de la pretendue Vie de Jesus de + M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + HAVET, E.--Jesus dans l'histoire. Examen de la Vie de Jesus + par Renan. Paris, 1863. + + HELLO, E.--M. Renan et la Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1863. + + HERVE.--Divinite de Jesus. Reponse a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + JOURDAIN, A.--Refutation rationnelle de la Vie de Jesus. + Paris, 1863. + + LACORDAIRE, R.--Aux Lecteurs de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LARROQUE, P.--Opinion des Deistes rationalistes sur la Vie de + Jesus, selon M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LASSERRE, H.--L'Evangile selon Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LATOUR.--Une reponse a M. Volusien Pages. Refutation d'une + Refutation, de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LAURENTIE.--Le Livre de M. E. Renan, sur la Vie de Jesus. + Paris, 1863. + + LE PELTIER, E.--Vie de E. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LEROY, E.--Reponse d'un poete a M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LEVY, LE RABBIN.--La Synagogue et M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + LOYSON, J. T.--Une pretendue Vie de Jesus, ou M. E. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + MACRAKIS, A.--Le Vrai Jesus Christ oppose au Jesus faux + imagine par M. E. Renan, et son Ecole sceptique. Paris, 1863. + + MAGUE, C.--Jesus Christ, ou la Verite vraie dans la question + du moment. Paris, 1863. + + MARROT, M.--La Vie de M. Renan et le Maudit. Paris, 1863. + + MAUBERT, H.--Nicodeme, etude sur M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + MAURETTE, O.--Jesus et la vraie Philosophie. Paris, 1863. + + MEIGNAN.--M. Renan refute par les Rationalistes Allemandes. + Paris, 1864. + + MICHON, J. H.--Deux Lecons a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + MILSAND, PH.--Bibliographie des Publications relatives au + livre de M. Renan, Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1864. + + MIRVILLE, J. E.--Le Vrai Secret de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + MONOT, E.--A propos du livre de M. Renan, la Vie de Jesus. + Paris, 1863. + + MONSIEUR RENAN en face du miracle; par un Croyant. Paris, + 1863. + + OLGO, S.--Reflexions d'un orthodoxe de l'Eglise grecque sur la + Vie de Jesus, de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + ORSINI, L'ABBE.--Refutation du livre de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + ORTH, N. J.--La Vie de Jesus, selon M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + PAGES, V.--M. Renan et son siecle. Paris, 1863. + + PARISIS.--Jesus Christ est Dieu: demonstration. Paris, 1863. + + PASSAGLIA, P. C.--Etude sur la Vie de Jesus de E. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + PAVY.--Observations sur le roman intitule Vie de Jesus par E. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + ---- Conference contre le livre de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + PE DE ARROS, J.--Coup d'oeil sur la Vie de Jesus de M. Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + PHILIPS, J. P.--Dieu, les miracles, et la science. Paris, + 1863. + + PINARD, L'ABBE.--Notes a l'usage des lecteurs du Jesus de M. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + PIOGER, L. M.--Divinite de Jesus prouvee par les faits. + Reponse a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + PLANTIER.--Un panegyriste de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + ---- Instruction pastorale contre la Vie de Jesus par Renan. + Paris, 1863. + + POTREL, E.--Vie de N. S. Jesus Christ, reponse au livre de M. + Renan. Paris, 1863. + + POUJOULAT.--Examen de la Vie de Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, + 1863. + + PRESSENSE, E. DE.--L'Ecole critique et Jesus Christ, a propos + de la Vie de Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + REVILLE, A.--La Vie de Jesus de M. Renan devant les + orthodoxies et devant la critique. Paris, 1863. + + ROUSSEL, N.--Le Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + SAAS, A.--Epitre a M. E. Renan contre la "Vie de Jesus." + Paris, 1863. + + SAINT-SEMMERA.--Ecce homo, critique impartiale de la Vie de + Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + TROGHOFF-KERBIQUET.--La Defense de l'Evangile. Epitre en vers + a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. + + VIE (LA) ET LA MORT DE JESUS, SELON RENAN. Havet, et Remusat. + Paris, 1864. + +REVILLE, A.--De la Redemption. Paris, 1859. + +---- Essais de critique religieuse. Paris, 1860. + +SAINTES, AMAND.--Histoire Critique du Rationalisme en Allemagne. Paris, +1841. + +SCHERER, E.--Melanges des critiques religieuses. Paris, 1860. + +SECRETAN, C.--La Raison et le Bonheur. Paris, 1863. + + +RATIONALISTIC PERIODICALS. + +DISCIPLE (LE) DE JESUS CHRIST, (Monthly.) Redacteur: M. E. Haag. Paris, +1840-65. + +LE LIEN; Journal des Eglises reformees de France, (Weekly.) Redacteurs: +A. Coquerel, fils; et Etienne Coquerel. Paris, 1862-65. + +NOUVELLE REVUE DE THEOLOGIE, (Quarterly.) Redacteur: T. Colani. +Strasburg, 1858-65. + +REVUE GERMANIQUE, (Monthly.) Paris, 1858-65. + + +III.--GREAT BRITAIN--UNITED STATES. + +BANNERMANN, J.--Inspiration, the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority +of the Holy Scriptures. Edinburgh, 1865. + +BARKER, T.--Strictures on Maurice's Doctrine of Sacrifice. London, 1858. + +BAYNE, P.--Testimony of Christ to Christianity. London, 1862. + +BEARD, T. R.--Voices of the Church in reply to Dr. Strauss. London, +1845. + +---- Christ the Interpreter of Scripture. London, 1865. + +BELLOWS, H. W.--Restatements of Christian Doctrine. New York, 1860. + +BIRKS, T. R.--Lectures on Modern Rationalism and Inspiration. London, +1853. + +---- The Bible and Modern Thought. With Appendix. London, 1863. + +BLAKE, B.--Infidelity Inexcusable. London, 1855. + +BOeHM, C. J. T.--Lights and Shadows in the Present Condition of the +Church. London, 1860. + +BRODERICK AND FREEMANTLE.--Judgments of the Judicial Committee of the +Privy Council. London, 1865. + +CANDLISH, R. S.--Examination of Maurice's "Theological Essays." London, +1854. + +---- Reason and Revelation. London, 1859. + +CHRISTIAN SECTS in the Nineteenth Century. London, 1850. + +CHRISTIE, T. W.--Rationalism the Last Scourge to the Church. London, +1861. + +CLOSE, F.--The Footsteps of Error traced through a Period of Twenty-Five +Years. London, 1863. + +COBBE, FRANCES POWER.--Religious Demands of the Age. Boston, 1863. + + Reprint of the Preface to London Ed. of Theo. Parker's Works, + which are edited by this Authoress. + +---- An Essay on Intuitive Morals. London, 1864. + +---- Broken Lights. London, 1864. + + A survey of the present condition of Church Parties in + England. + +---- Religious Duty. London, 1864. + +COLENSO, BP.--Village Sermons. London, 1853. + +---- St. Paul's Epistle to Romans. Newly Translated. London, 1861. + +---- Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined. London, 1862-64. + + + WORKS CALLED FORTH BY THE ABOVE COMMENTARY. + + ALPHA.--Bishop Colenso and the Pentateuch. Vindication of the + Historical Character of the Old Testament. London, 1863. + + ANTI-COLENSO.--By Johannes Laicus. London, 1863. + + ASHPITEL, F.--Increase of the Israelites in Egypt shown to be + probable from the Statistics of Modern Population; with an + Examination of Bishop Colenso's Calculations on the Subject. + London, 1863. + + BARRISTER (A).--History against Colenso. Dublin, 1863. + + BARTHOLOMEW, J.--All Scripture given by Inspiration of God. + London, 1863. + + BEKE, C. T.--A Few Words with Bishop Colenso. London, 1862. + + BENISOH, A.--Bishop Colenso's Objections to the Pentateuch and + Book of Joshua critically examined. London, 1863. + + BIBER, G. E.--The Integrity of the Holy Scriptures and their + Divine Inspiration and Authority vindicated. London, 1863. + + BIBLE IN THE WORKSHOP.--By two Working Men. London, 1863. + + BIBLE (THE) IN THE GOSPELS.--By Alpha. London, 1863. + + BIDEN, J.--Religious Reformation, imperatively demanded. + Bishop Colenso's Enquiries answered. London, 1864. + + BIRKS, T. R.--The Exodus of Israel; a Reply to Recent + Objections. London, 1863. + + BRIGGS, F. W.--The Two Testimonies. Last objections to + Rationalism. Being a Reply to Bishop Colenso's Pentateuch and + Book of Joshua. London, 1863. + + BROWNE, G. H.--The Pentateuch and the Elohistic Psalms, in + reply to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. + + BULLOCK, C.--Bible Inspiration. London, 1863. + + CANDLISH, R. S.--Lectures on the Book of Genesis, 3 vols. + London, 1862. + + CAREY, C. S.--The Bible or the Bishop? London, 1863. + + CARYLON, C.--A few more words addressed to the Bishops, &c. + London, 1863. + + CHAMBERLIN, W.--A Plain Reply to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. + + COLENSO, BISHOP.--Letter to the Laity of the Diocese of Natal. + London, 1864. + + Written on the subject of the Bishop's prosecution. + + ---- Trial of the Bishop of Natal for erroneous Teaching. Cape + Town, 1864. + + ---- Foreign Missions and Mosaic Traditions. A Lecture. + London, 1865. + + CUMMING, J.--Moses Right and Bishop Colenso Wrong. Popular + Lectures in Weekly Numbers. London, 1863. + + DAVIDSON, P.--The Pentateuch vindicated from the Objections + and Misrepresentations of Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. + + DREW, G. S.--Bishop Colenso's Examination of the Pentateuch + Examined. London, 1863. + + FAMILY OF JUDAH: a Refutation of Colenso's First Objection to + the Pentateuch. By a Layman. London, 1863. + + FOWLE, W. H.--A Few Remarks on Bishop Colenso on the + Pentateuch. London, 1863. + + FOWLER, F. W.--Vindex Pentateuchi. An Answer to Bishop Colenso + on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + + GARLAND, G. V.--Plain possible Solutions of the Objections to + Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + + GAUSSEN, L.--The Canon of Holy Scripture. London, 1863. + + GIBSON, J.--Present Truths in Theology. 2 vols. Glasgow, 1863. + + GREEN, W. H.--The Pentateuch vindicated from the Aspersions of + Bishop Colenso. New York, 1863. + + GRESSWELL, E.--Objections of Bishop Colenso. Part I. + considered. London, 1863. + + GRIFFIN, J. N.--Dr. Colenso and the Pentateuch. Dublin, 1863. + + HARE, W. H.--Letter to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. + + HAYCROFT, N.--Moses and Colenso; or, the Divine Authority of + the Books of Moses and the Objections of Dr. Colenso. London, + 1863. + + HIGGINSON, E.--The Spirit of the Bible. 2 vols. London, 1863. + + HILL, M.--Christ, or Colenso: a full Reply to Bishop Colenso's + Objections. London, 1863. + + HIRSCHFELDER, J. M.--The Scriptures Defended. Reply to + Colenso. Toronto, 1864. + + HISTORIC (The) Character of the Pentateuch Vindicated; Reply + to Part I. of Bishop Colenso's "Critical Examination." Lond., + 1863. + + HOARE, W. H.--Letter to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. + + HOUGHTON, W.--Some of Bp. Colenso's objections examined. + London, 1863. + + INGRAM, G. S.--Bishop Colenso answered. London, 1863. + + JEWISH (A) Reply to Dr. Colenso's Criticism on the Pentateuch. + London, 1865. + + JONES, E. R.--Christ's Testimony to Moses. London, 1863. + + JONES, SIR W.--Christianity and Common Sense. London, 1863. + + JUKES, A.--The Types of Genesis considered. London, 1863. + + KIRKUS, W.--Orthodoxy, Scripture, and Reason. London, 1864. + + LAYMAN (A) of the Ch. of England. Historical Character of the + Pentateuch. Reply to Colenso's "Critical Examination." London, + 1863. + + LAYMAN (A).--New Testament and the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + + MCCAUL, A.--An Examination of Bishop Colenso's Difficulties + with regard to the Pentateuch. London, 1864. + + MCCAUL, J. B.--Bishop Colenso's Criticism criticised. London, + 1863. + + MCNEILE, H.--Historical Veracity of the Pentateuch. London, + 1863. + + MAHAN, M.--Spiritual Point of View; an Answer to Bishop + Colenso. New York, 1863. + + MANN, J. H.--Moses defended against the Attacks of Dr. + Colenso. London, 1863. + + MARSH, J. B.--Is the Pentateuch Historically True? Lond., + 1863. + + MARSHALL, JUDGE.--Full Review and Exposure of Bishop Colenso's + Errors and Miscalculations in his work. London, 1864. + + MAURICE, F. D.--Claims of the Bible and of Science. Lond., + 1864. + + MOON, R.--The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua considered with + Reference to the Objections of the Bishop of Natal. Lond., + 1863. + + MOORE, D.--Divine Authority of the Pentateuch Vindicated. + London, 1864. + + MOREAU, E. B.--Examination of some of Bishop Colenso's + Objections. London, 1863. + + MOSAIC ORIGIN OF THE PENTATEUCH, in connection with Parts 2 + and 3 of Bishop Colenso's Critical Examination. London, 1864. + + MOZLEY, J. B.--Subscription to the Articles. London, 1863. + + OLLIVANT, A.--A Second Letter to the Clergy of Llandaff. + London, 1863. + + PAGE, J. R.--The Pretensions of Bishop Colenso considered. + London, 1863. + + PALMEE, G.--Scripture Facts and Scientific Doubts. London, + 1863. + + PENTATEUCH (THE) AND ITS OPPONENTS. London, 1863. + + PHILLPOT, H.--The Textual Witness to the Truth and Divine + Authority of the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + + POSSIBILITIES OF CREATION. London, 1862. + + POST, J.--The Bible for All. London, 1862. + + PRESBYTER ANGLICANUS.--Critical Analysis of the Pentateuch. + London, 1863. + + PRITCHARD, C.--Vindiciae Mosaicae. London, 1863. + + RASK, R.--A Short Tractate on the Longevity ascribed to the + Patriarchs. London, 1863. + + RATIONALISM UNPHILOSOPHICAL, AND FAITH THE GIFT OF GOD. + London, 1863. + + REMARKS ON BISHOP COLENSO'S WORK; OR, RATIONALISM SHOWN TO BE + IRRATIONAL. London, 1863. + + ROGERS, B. B.--Free Inquiry into Colenso's Difficulties. + Lond., 1863. + + ROGERS, H.--A Vindication of Bishop Colenso. Edinburgh, 1863. + + SAVILE, B. W.--Man; or, the Old and New Philosophy. Lond., + 1863. + + The author controverts the views of Darwin, Owen, + Huxley, Bunsen, Colenso, and others. + +SCOTT, W. A.--Moses and the Pentateuch: a Reply to Bishop Colenso. +London, 1863. + +SILVER, A.--The Holy Word in its own Defense: addressed to Bishop +Colenso. New York, 1863. + +SINCLAIR, J.--On Free Thought. London, 1865. + +SPRY, W. J.--Bishop Colenso and the Descent of Jacob into Egypt. Pt. I. +London, 1863. + +STANLEY, A. P.--A letter to the Lord Bishop of London on the State of +Subscription in the Church of England and in the University of Oxford. +London, 1863. + +SWETE, H. B.--What is the Right Method of conducting the Defense of the +Old Testament in the Rationalistic Controversy which has come upon the +Church? London, 1863. + +TAYLOR, I.--Considerations on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + +THORNTON, T.--Life of Moses. London, 1863. + +TURNER, J. B.--An Answer to the Difficulties in Bishop Colenso's Book on +the Pentateuch. London, 1863. + +TYLER, T.--Christ the Lord; with a Reply to Bishop Colenso. London, +1863. + +WHAT IS TRUTH? A Letter to Bishop Colenso. London, 1864. + +WICKES, W.--Moses or the Zulu? London, 1863. + +WORDSWORTH, C.--Inspiration of the Bible. London, 1863. + +DAVIDSON, DR. S.--Treatise on Biblical Criticism. London, 1855. + +DEWAR, E. H.--Brief History of German Theology. London, 1844. + +DONALDSON, T. W.--Essay on Christian Orthodoxy. London, 1857. + +DRAPER, J. W.--Intellectual Development of Europe. New York, 1863. + +ELLIOTT, W.--Old Theology the True Theology. London, 1861. + +ESSAYS AND REVIEWS. London, 1861. + + + WORKS ARISING FROM THE ABOVE OXFORD ESSAYS. + + AIDS TO FAITH, Replies to Essays and Reviews. London, 1863. + + BAYLAY, C. F. R.--"Essays and Reviews" compared with Reason. + London, 1861. + + BUCHANAN, J.--"Essays and Reviews" Examined. London, 1861. + + CLOSE, F.--Critical Examination of "Essays and Reviews." + London, 1861. + + DENISON, G. A.--Analysis of "Essays and Reviews." London, + 1861. + + DIALOGUES ON ESSAYS AND REVIEWS. London, 1862. + + GIRDLESTONE, E.--Remarks on Essays and Reviews. Lond., 1861. + + JELF, R. W.--Evidence of Unsoundness in Essays and Reviews. + London, 1861. + + KENNARD, R. B.--Essays and Reviews. Protest addressed to the + Bishop of Salisbury. London, 1861. + + ---- The Essays and Reviews: their Origin, History, General + Character and Significance, Persecution, Prosecution, the + Judgment of the Arches Court, Review of Judgment. London, + 1863. + + LUSHINGTON, S.--Judgment delivered on Essays and Reviews. + London, 1862. + + MILTON, J.--Prophecy of Essays and Reviews and his Judgment. + London, 1861. + + MOBERLY, G.--Remarks on Essays and Reviews. London, 1861. + + REPLIES TO ESSAYS AND REVIEWS, by Goulburn, Rose, and others. + London, 1862. + + WORN-OUT NEOLOGY.--Strictures upon Essays and Reviews. London, + 1861. + +FARRAR, A. S.--A Critical History of Free Thought in Reference to the +Christian Religion. London, 1863. + +FISHER, G. P.--Essays on the supernatural Origin of Christianity. With +special reference to the Works of Renan, Strauss, and the Tuebingen +School. New York, 1865. + +FRANKLAND, B.--Intuitionalism; or, Insufficiency of Pure Reason. London, +1861. + +FROTHINGHAM, O. B.--Tales from the Patriarchs. Boston, 1864. + +FURNESS, W. H.--Jesus and his Biographers. Boston, 1838. + +GAGE, J. A.--The Life of Jesus a Fact, not a Fiction. A Response to M. +Renan's Vie de Jesus. London, 1863. + +GARBETT, E.--Bible and its Critics. Boyle Lectures for 1861. Lond., +1861. + +GOULBURN, E. M.--Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. London, 1857. + +GREG, W. R.--The Creed of Christendom. London, 1863. + +HAMILTON, W. T.--Defense of the Pentateuch against Scepticism. London, +1852. + +HEBERT, C.--Neology not True and Truth not New. 2d Ed. London, 1861. + +HEDGE, F. H.--Reason in Religion. Boston, 1865. + +HEURTLY, C. A.--Inspiration of Holy Scriptures. London, 1861. + +HOOKER, W.--Philosophy of Unbelief. New York. + +HUGHES, T.--Religio Laici. London, 1861. + +IRRATIONALISM OF INFIDELITY, a Reply to Newman's "Phases." London, 1853. + +JAMES, H.--The Old and New Theology. London, 1861. + +JELF, W. E.--Supremacy of Scripture, a Letter to Dr. Temple. London, +1861. + +KINGSLEY, C.--Sermons for the Times. London, 1858. + +---- Sermons; Good News of God. London, 1859. + +LANGFORD, J. A.--Religions Skepticism and Infidelity. London, 1850. + +LECKY, W. E. H.--History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of +Rationalism in Europe. 2 vols. London, 1865. + +LEE, W.--Recent Forms of Unbelief; Some Account of Renan's Vie de Jesus. +London, 1864. + +MCCAUL, A.--Rationalism and Deistic Infidelity. Three Letters. London, +1861. + +MCCOMBIE, W.--Modern Civilization in Relation to Christianity. London, +1863. + +MACKAY, R. W.--The Tuebingen School and its Antecedents: a Review of the +History and Present Condition of Modern Theology. London. + +---- Rise and Progress of Christianity. London, 1854. + +MALAN, S. C.--Philosophy or Truth? London, 1865. + +MANSEL, H. L.--Limits of Religious Thought; Bampton Lectures. London, +1859. + +---- Examination of Maurice's Stricture on Bampton Lecture. London, +1859. + +MAURICE, F. D.--Claims of the Bible and of Science. London, 1862. + +---- Theological Essays. 2d Ed. London, 1853. + +---- What is Revelation? London, 1859. + +MIALL, E.--Basis of Belief: Examination of Christianity. London, 1861. + +NELSON, D.--Infidelity; its Cause and Cure. London, 1853. + +NEWMAN, F. W.--Phases of Faith. London, 1860. + +---- Essays towards a Church of the Future. London, 1854. + +---- Theism, Doctrinal and Practical. London, 1858. + +---- The Soul: its Sorrows and Aspirations. London, 1861. + +---- Sermons on Theory of Religious Belief. London, 1844. + +---- Development of Christian Doctrine. London, 1846. + +NOYES, G. N.--Theological Essays. 3d Ed. Boston, 1860. + + This work contains essays by Rowland Williams, Jowett, Powell, + Stanley, and others. It advocates the Broad Church theories. + +O'CONNOR, W. A.--Miracles not Antecedently Incredible. London, 1861. + +PALMER, G.--Scripture Facts and Scientific Doubts. Edinburgh, 1863. + + A Defense of Scripture from the objections of Geologists, + Statisticians, and others. + +PARKER, THEO.--Discourses on Religion. Boston, 1842. + +---- Sermons on Theism, Atheism, and Popular Theology. Boston, 1853. + +---- Ten Sermons on Religion. Boston, 1853. + +---- World of Matter and Mind. Boston, 1865. + + Extracts from unpublished sermons. + +PARKINSON, R.--Rationalism and Revelation. London, 1838. + +PATON, J. B.--A Review of the "Vie de Jesus" of M. Renan. London, 1864. + +PEABODY, A. P.--Christianity the Religion of Nature. Boston, 1863. + +PEARSON, T.--Infidelity. Republished from London Ed. in N. Y., 1853. + +PORTER, J. L.--The Pentateuch and the Gospel. London, 1864. + +PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT, as illustrated in the Protestant Church +of France. Ed. by J. R. Beard. London, 1861. + + This work contains essays by Messrs. Colani, Scholten, + Reville, Scherer, and Renan. + +PUSEY, E. B.--Historical Inquiry into German Rationalism. London, 1828. + +---- Daniel the Prophet. London, 1865. + +RATIONALISM AND REVELATION.--(Anon.) London, 1865. + +RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF THE AGE. New York, 1858. + +RIGG, J. H.--Modern Anglican Theology. London, 1859. + +RIPLEY.--Latest Forms of Infidelity. Boston, 1840. + +ROBINS, S.--Defense of the Faith: Forms of Unbelief. London, 1861. + +ROSE, H. J.--State of Protestantism in Germany. 2d Ed. London, 1829. + +RYDER, A. G.--Scriptural Doctrine of Acceptance with God, considered in +reference to Neologian Hermeneutics. London, 1865. + +SAWYER, L. A.--Daniel with its Apocryphal Additions. Boston, 1863. + +SCHAFF, P.--Germany; its Theology, &c. Philada., 1857. + +---- The Person of Christ; The Miracle of History, with a Reply to +Strauss and Renan. Boston, 1865. + + One of the best of the recent replies to the Rationalists. + +SCHAFF AND ROUSSELL.--The Christ of the Gospels, and the Romance of M. +Renan. London, 1864. + +SCHMUCKER, S. M.--Errors of Modern Infidelity Refuted. Phila., 1848. + +SEAMAN, M.--Christian Armed against Infidelity. London, 1837. + +SEWELL, W.--On the Inspiration of the Holy Scripture. London, 1861. + +SMITH, C.--Prize Essays on Infidelity. London, 1861. + +SMITH, G.--Rational Religion and Objections of Bampton Lectures for '58. +London, 1861. + +SQUIER, M. P.--Reason and the Bible. New York, 1860. + +STANLEY, A. P.--The Bible: Its Form and Substance. London, 1865. + +TAYLOR, J. J.--Retrospect of Religious Life in England. 1845. + +TESTIMONY of Skeptics to the Truth of Christianity. London, 1861. + +THOMPSON, R. A.--Christian Theism. London, 1863. + +TRACTS FOR PRIESTS AND PEOPLE, by various writers, 1st and 2d series. +London, 1862. + +TUCKER, L.--Lectures on Infidelity. New York, 1837. + +TULLIDGE, H.--Triumphs of the Bible. New York, 1863. + + A defense of Scripture against the objections of the Skeptical + Scientific School. + +WALKER, J. B.--Philosophy of Skepticism and Ultraism. New York, 1857. + +WALTHER, D.--Reply to Newman's Phases of Faith. London, 1851. + +WHATELY, ABP.--Essays on Dangers to Christian Faith. London, 1857. + +WESTFIELD, T. C.--Seven Essays on Universal Science, embracing +Investigations of the Mosaic Cosmogony, and the Interpretation of the +Scriptures. London, 1863. + + A Defense of the Harmony of Science and Revelation. + +WILLIAMS, R.--Rational Godliness after the Mind of Christ. Lond., 1855. + +WOODMAN, W.--Is the Bible a Divine Revelation? London, 1862. + +WOODSWORTH, C.--Inspiration of the Bible. Five Lectures. London, 1862. + +YOUNG, J.--Christ of History: an Argument. 3d Ed. London, 1861. + +---- Province of Reason; a Criticism on Mansel. London, 1860. + +YOUNG, J. R.--Modern Skepticism, viewed in Relation to Modern Science. +London, 1865. + + This work is an excellent answer to the doctrines of Colenso, + Huxley, Lyell, and Darwin, respecting the Noachian Deluge, the + Antiquity of Man, and the Origin of Species. + + +LITERATURE OF UNITARIANISM AND UNIVERSALISM. + + For the bibliography of the Trinitarian Controversy in + England, extending through the former half of the eighteenth + century, consult Watts' Bibliotheca Britannica, 4 vols. + Edinburgh, 1824; and Biographia Britannica, 7 vols. folio, + 1747. Concerning the discussion on 1 John, v. 7, consult + Darling, Cyclopaedia Bibliographia; London, 1854. For other + Unitarian publications, in addition to those mentioned below, + see Beard, _Unitarianism in its Actual Condition_, pp. 327-29. + + +The following table of Unitarian and Universalist Literature has +reference to only two doctrines: the Trinity and Future Punishment. + +BAKER, A.--Our God a Consuming Fire. London, 1864. + +BARCLAY, J.--Socinianism and Irvingism Refuted. London, 1845. + +BARLING, J.--Review of Trinitarianism. London, 1847. + +BARLOW, J. W.--Eternal Punishment and Eternal Death. London, 1864. + +BARRET, B. F.--Letters on the Divine Trinity. New York, 1860. + +---- Christ the Interpreter of Scripture. London, 1865. + +BEARD, J. R.--Historic and Artistic Illustrations of the Trinity. +London, 1864. + +---- Unitarianism in its Actual Condition. London, 1849. + +---- Reasons why I am a Unitarian. London, 1860. + +BELLOWS, H. W.--Phi Beta Kappa Oration. 1853. + + Until the middle of the year 1850, this author was the + principal writer for the _Christian Inquirer_, New York. + +BELSHAM, T.--Calm Inquiry into Script. Doctrine concerning the Person of +Christ. + +BROOKS, E. G.--Universalism a Practical Power. New York, 1863. + +BROTHERS' CONTROVERSY ON UNITARIAN OPINIONS. London, 1835. + +BURNAP, G. W.--Unitarianism. Boston, 1855. + +---- Trinity. Boston, 1845. + +---- Evidences. Boston, 1855. + +CARPENTER, L.--Examination of the Charges against Unitarians. Bristol, +1820. + +CHANNING, W. E.--Complete Works. 6 vols. Boston, 1841-46. + +CHANNING, W. H.--Memoir of W. E. Channing. 3 vols, 1843. + +CLARK, D. W.--Man all Immortal. Cincinnati, 1864. + +COUTE, J.--Essays on Socinianism. London, 1850. + +DENISON, H. M.--Review of Unitarian Views. Louisville, Ky., 1855. + +DEWEY, O.--Discourses; Controv. Theol., etc. 6 vols. 1846-47-63. + +DEXTER, H. M.--Verdict of Reason on the question of the Impenitent Dead. +Boston, 1865. + +DISNEY, J.--Remarks on Tomline's Charge. London, 1812. + +---- Sermons. 4 vols. London, 1793-1818. + +ELLIS, G. E.--Half Century of the Unitarian Controversy. Boston, 1857. + +FARLEY, F. A.--Unitarianism Defined. Boston, 1860. + +FURNESS, W. H.--Jesus and His Biographers. Boston, 1838. + +---- History of Jesus. Boston, 1850. + +---- Veil Partly Lifted. 1864. + + The author repudiates the atonement. "The doctrine of the + Atonement," says he, "which is especially cherished as the + distinguishing idea of Christianity, is only a form of the + radical error from which false religion has sprung ever since + the world began; the error, namely, of supposing that human + guilt is to be expiated, not by change of character, but by + offerings and sacrifices." The sacrifice of Christ "is the + world-old error, thinly disguised, culminating in its most + monstrous form. Even if it were new, it has no place among the + teachings of Jesus. He never taught this nor any of its + associated dogmas. Not a word of his gives them the slightest + color of authority." Pp. 4, 5. Such language comes with an ill + grace from one who attacks M. Renan. See Chapter on Christ's + "childlikeness." Wherein, we ask, is the Frenchman worse than + the Philadelphian? + +GAGE, W. L.--Trinitarian Sermons to a Unitarian Congregation. Boston, +1860. + +HARE, E.--Principal Doctrines of Christianity Defended against the +Errors of Socinianism. New York. + +HOVEY, A.--State of Impenitent Dead. Boston, 1859. + +HUDSON, C. F.--Debt and Grace. Boston, 1857. + +---- Human Destiny; a Critique of Universalism. Boston, 1861. + +JOB THE ABBOT.--Reasons for Abandoning Trinitarian Doctrines. London, +1841. + +JONES, T.--Immanuel; or, Scriptural views of Jesus Christ. Lond., 1856. + +KENRICK, T.--Unitarian Exposition of the New Testament. New York. + +KER, W.--The Popular Views of Immortality, Everlasting Punishment, and +the State of Separate Souls, brought to the Test of Scripture. London, +1865. + +KIDD, W. J.--Reflections on Unitarianism. London, 1835. + +KOHLMAN, A.--Complete Refutation of Unitarianism. Washington, 1821. + +LAKE, C. W.--The Inspiration of Scripture and Eternal Punishment. +London, 1864. + +LANDIS, R. W.--Immortality of the Soul, and Final Condition of the +wicked. New York, 1859. + + One of the best arguments in favor of Eternal Punishment. + +LARDNER, N.--Complete Works. 17 vols. London, 1727-57. + +LETTERS ON NATURE AND DURATION OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. London, 1835. + +LINDSEY, T.--Apology. London, 1774. + +---- Sequel. London, 1776. + +---- Historical View of Unitarian Doctrine from Reformation. London, +1783. + +---- Vindiciae Priestlianae. London, 1788. + +MARTINEAU, J.--Rationale of Religious Inquiry. London, 1839. + +---- Endeavors after the Christian Life, 2 vols. London, 1843. + +---- Studies of Christianity. London, 1858. + +MATTISON, H.--Immortality of the Soul. Philadelphia, 1865. + +MELLIS, J.--Lectures on Points of the Unitarian Controversy. London, +1846. + +MINTON, S.--Lectures on Unitarianism. London, 1847. + +MITCHELL, E.--The Christian Universalist. New Haven, 1833. + +MONSELL, C. A.--Sermons: Temporal Punishment of Sin. London, 1845. + +MOORE, D.--The Age and the Gospel: to which is added a Discourse on +Final Retribution. London, 1865. + +MORSE, J.--True Reasons. Boston, 1805. + +---- Appeal to the Public. Boston, 1814. + +MORTLOCK, E.--Sermons on Doctrine of the Trinity. London, 1844. + +NEMESIS SACRA.--Inquiries into Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution. +London, 1856. + +NEWTON, SIR I.--Views on Points of Unitarian Doctrine. Republished. +London, 1856. + +NOEL, B. W.--Christianity compared with Unitarianism. London, 1851. + +NORTON, A.--True and False Religion; in _Christian Disciple_. 1820-'22. + +---- Genuineness of the Gospels, 3 vols. Boston, 1851-'54. + +---- Tracts concerning Christianity. Cambridge, 1852. + +---- Internal Evidences. Boston, 1855. + +---- Statement of Reasons. Boston, 1856. + +ORR.--Unitarianism in the Present Time. Boston, 1863. + +OSGOOD, S.--Christian Biography. New York, 1851. + +---- The Coming Church and its Clergy. 1858. + +PALFREY, J. G.--Evidences of Christianity. Boston, 1843. + +PEABODY, A. P.--Christian Doctrine. Boston, 1844. + +---- Christianity the Religion of Nature. Boston, 1863. + +POWER, J. H.--Exposition of Universalism. New York. + +PRICE, R.--Dissertations on Provid. Christianity. London, 1772. + +---- Sermons on Christian Doctrine. London, 1787. + +PRIESTLEY, J.--Defenses of Unitarianism, 2 vols. London, 1787-89. + + For full account of this writer's many works, consult Darling, + Cyclopaedia Bibliographica, pp. 2454-58. + +SALMON, G.--The Eternity of Future Punishment. London, 1865. + +SHERLOCK, W.--An Essay on Future Punishment. London, 1865. + +SHORT REASONS FOR BELIEF IN THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. London, 1843. + +SOPER, E.--Doctrine of the Trinity proved from Scripture. London. 1853. + +SPRAGUE, W. B.--Annals of the American Unit. Pulpit. New York, 1865. + +STUART, M.--Exegetical Essays on Future Punishment. London, 1848. + +THAYER.--Theology of Universalism. Boston, 1862. + +THOMPSON, J. P.--Love and Penalty. New York, 1865. + +THOMPSON, S.--Scripture Refutation of Unitarianism. London, 1838. + +TURNER, W.--Lives of eminent Unitarians. London, 1840-3. + +UNITARIAN, HOW I BECAME A.--By a Clergyman of the Protestant E. Church. +Boston, 1852. + +UNIVERSALISM AGAINST ITSELF.--Cincinnati, O. + +UNIVERSALISMUS, DEE.--Gott alles in Allen. Stuttgart, 1862. + +WARE, H.--Complete Works. Boston, 1847. + +WARE, W.--Letters to Trinitarians and Calvinists. Boston, 1820. + +---- American Unitarian Biography. Boston, 1850. + +WHATELY, A.--Scriptural Revelation respecting Future State. Lond., 1858. + +WHITMAN, B.--Friendly Letters to a Universalist. Boston, 1850. + +WHITTEMORE, T.--History of Universalism. New Ed. Vol. I. Boston, 1860. + +WILLIAMSON, H.--Exposition and Defense of Universalism. New York, 1840. + +WILSON, J.--Scripture Proofs of Unitarianism. Boston. + +WOODS, L.--Letters to Unitarians, and Reply to Dr. Ware. New York. + +WORCESTER, N.--Review of Testimonies, etc., in _Bible News_. Boston, +1810. + +---- Address to Trinitarian Clergy. Boston, 1814. + +YATES.--Vindication of Unitarianism, 4th Ed. London, 1850. + + +UNITARIAN PERIODICALS. + +CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, Boston. + +CHRISTIAN INQUIRER, New York. + +CHRISTIAN REGISTER, Boston. + +JOURNAL OF AMERICAN UNIT. ASSOC., Boston. + +MONTHLY CHRISTIAN REGISTER, Boston. + +MONTHLY RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE, Boston. + +RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR, Boston. + + +UNIVERSALIST PERIODICALS. + +BROAD CHURCH PULPIT, New York. + +CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR, New York. + +CHRISTIAN FREEMAN, Boston. + +CHRISTIAN REPOSITORY, Montpelier, Vt. + +GOSPEL BANNER, Augusta, Me. + +HERALD AND ERA, Indianapolis, Ind. + +MANFORD'S MAGAZINE, St. Louis, Mo. + +MYRTLE, Boston. + +LADIES' REPOSITORY, Boston. + +STAR IN THE WEST, Cincinnati, O. + +STAR OF THE PACIFIC, Petaluma, Cal. + +TRUMPET, Boston. + +UNIVERSALIST HERALD, Montgomery, Ala. + +UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY, Boston. + +YOUNG CHRISTIAN, Cincinnati, O. + +YOUTHS' FRIEND, Cincinnati, O. + + * * * * * + +For full bibliographical accounts of the controversy between the +orthodox theologians of New England and the Unitarians, during the +present century; and of the discussion on the Person of Christ provoked +by the speculations of Horace Bushnell, consult Hagenbach, _History of +Doctrines_, Smith's Ed. New York, 1862. + + + + +INDEX. + + +Abrest, Peter, his exegetical labors, 345. + +Age, present, declared Rationalistic by Lecky, 23. + +America, relations between France and, 536. + +American Church, peculiarities of, 536. + Influenced by skeptical denominations, 571. + Duty of the American Church to guard against infidelity, 575. + +American civilization, undergoing a change, 576. + +Andreae, John Valentine; poverty and early difficulties, 53. + His satire on the Church, 53. + Excitement produced by it, 54. + Service rendered by it, 54. + Quotation from Andreae's Christianopolis, 61. + Satire on the degenerate preaching of his time, 71-73. + +Apostolical Succession, a doctrine of the High Church, 514. + +Arndt, John; his service to the Church; work on _True Christianity_; +motives leading him to write, 49. + Reception of his work by the people, 50. + Arndt's calm spirit, 50. + He was charged with mysticism, 50. + Opposition to him, 51. + Popularity of his book, 51. + +Arnold, Gottfried, the historian of Pietism, 98. + His history of _Churches and Heretics_, 98. + Charged with Separatism, 98. + He contended for the unification of Mysticism and Pietism, 98. + +Arnold, Thomas, his Sermons, 521. + His opinions, 521-523. + +Atonement, Unitarian opinion of, 550, 551. + +Auberlen on mission of Pietism, testimony of, 86-88. + +Augsburg Confession, 38. + +August, Karl. His care to secure the society of distinguished literary +men around his court, 169, 170. + + +Bahrdt, his deceit and blasphemy, 139. + His works, 140. + His condition when at Giessen, 140. + His rapid decline, 141. + He engaged in numerous enterprises, 141. + Became an inn-keeper at Halle, 142. + His wretched death, 142. + He was the climax of French skepticism in Germany, 142. + +Basedow. An innovation in German education, 184. + His publications in favor of a new system, 184. + His visionary plans, 185. + Popular indorsement of his impracticable plans, 185. + His final fall, 186, 187. + +Baumgarten, the connecting link between Pietism and Rationalism, 111. + He succeeded Wolf at Halle, 111. + His extensive acquirements, 111, 112. + He favored the introduction of English Deism, 117. + +Baur F. C., his works divided into two classes, 278. + His views of the early church, 278-280. + +Becker, the extreme Rationalism contained in his juvenile publications, +190-192. + +Bekker, Balthazer, a disciple of Des Cartes, 347. + His _World Bewitched_, 347. + His excommunication, and personal appearance, 347, 348. + +Bellows, against orthodoxy, 545, 546. + Opposes original sin, 548-550. + +Belsham, his work on American Unitarianism, 539, 540. + +Bengel, his purpose to lead the people to a better understanding of the +Bible, 101. + Kahnis' appreciation of Bengel, 101. + +Bethmann-Hollweg, influence on the Church Diet, 319. + +Bilderdyk, at the head of the modern school of Dutch poetry, 359. + +Boehme, Jacob, shoemaker at Gorlitz; his pure purposes, 46; + his mysterious life, 47; + method of composition, 47; + description by himself of his seasons of ecstasy, 48; + his _Aurora_, 48; + last words, 49. + +Bolingbroke, introducing the French spirit into England in the +Eighteenth Century, 442. + His principles, 442, 443. + +Broad Church, has lately acquired great influence, 531. + First Broad Church corresponds with Philosophical Rationalism, 519. + Its tenets, 528, 529, 530. + Second Broad Church is thoroughly Rationalistic, 530. + Points of difference from the First Broad Church, 531. + +Bunsen, his Biblical Researches re-reviewed in _Essays and Reviews_, +485-487. + + +Calixtus, George, as a theologian, 40; + professor at Helmstedt, 41; + travels, and literary style, 41; + impression made upon his mind by prevailing controversies, 41; + his ardent desire to unite conflicting elements, 41; + his sorrow at the abuse of preaching, 41, 42; + advice on preaching, 42; + his _Chief Points of the Christian Religion_, 43; + accusations against him, 44; + his fruitless labors, 44. + Testimony on neglect of children, 64, 65. + +Campe's influence upon the youth of Germany, 188. + His works, 188. + +Capadose, an agent in the revival in the Dutch Church, 359. + +Carlyle, Thomas, parent of Literary Rationalism in England, 473. + Derived his system from the German philosophers, 473. + Opinions, 473-476. + His influence upon the young, 475, 476. + Vicious influence of his sentiments, 477. + +Channing, W. Ellery, leader of American Unitarianism, 541. + His works, 541. + Mental transitions, 542. + Repudiation of orthodoxy, 542. + His opinions, 543, 544. + +Chantepie de la Saussaye, one of the leaders of the Ethical-Irenical +School in the Dutch Church, 375. + Preaches in Rotterdam, 376. + Assisted in forming society called Seriousness and Peace, 376. + His work on modern materialism, 379. + His opinions, 379, 380. + His view of the future of the Church, 380. + +Charities of Protestant Germany, 311. + They do not interfere with each other, 331. + Charities of French Protestantism, 423. + +Christ, opinions of German Rationalists on person of, 214-217. + Life of Christ described by numerous replies to Strauss, 274, 275. + +Christianity, Theo. Parker's view of, 567, 568. + +Chubb, his three principles, 115, 116. + +Church and State, union of, presupposes great purity, 535. + +Church, affiliations of Rationalism with the German, 26, 27. + The church has yet to vanquish thoroughly the attacks upon her faith, + 35. + Condition of the German Church when Rationalism was at its height, + 197. + Reconstruction of the church by Frederic William III., 230, 231. + +Church history, improved indirectly by the labors of the Rationalists, +581-583. + +Church of England, two parties in, 507. + Tabular view of the clergy of the Established Church, 532. + +Classes in Germany, immorality of higher, 77, 78. + +Clergy, immorality of German, in seventeenth century, 73, 74, 76, +_note_[Transcriber's Note: Reference is to Footnote 23]. + The clergy were the agents of spiritual declension in Germany, 76. + +Cocceian Controversy, literature of, 337. + The excitement occasioned by the conflict, 343. + +Cocceians and Voetians, the leading parties in the Dutch Church, 340. + Principles of each, 340. + Cocceians studied the Scriptures, but differed from the text, 341. + +Cocceius, opponent of Scholasticism in the Dutch Church, 336. + Studies and early writings, 336, 337. + Professor in Leyden University, 337. + His opinion on the Sabbath, 337. + Disciples, 337. + Charges against Cocceius, 337, 338. + Agreement between him and Descartes, 338. + +Colani, one of principal theologians of French Critical School. His +opinions, 401, 402. + +Colenso, Bishop John William, resemblance between him and Wolff, 107, +108. + His work on the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua, 499. + His criticisms, 499-503. + Excitement occasioned by his work, 503. + Judicial proceedings against Colenso, 503-505. + Literature of the Controversy occasioned by him, 599-602, _Appendix_. + Colenso's return to Southern Africa without a people or a clergy, 505. + Testimony of a Mussulman against him, 506. + +Coleridge, opinions of, 455-462. + His struggles, 457. + Definitions and distinctions of Coleridge, 460, 461. + His school, 462. + +Compensations of history, 453. + +Composition, method of literary, in Germany in 17th century, 67. + +Comte, 390. + +Conferences, French Protestant, their recent action in favor of +orthodoxy, 419-421. + +Confessions, union of Lutheran and Reformed, 231. + +Controversy, Antinomian, Adiaphoristic, Synergistic, Osiandric, +Crypto-Calvinistic, 39. + Syncretistic controversy, 40. + +Coquerel, A., Jr., editor of the _Lien_, 406. + Refusal of the Presbyterial Council to re-appoint him as suffragan in + a Protestant pulpit in Paris, 407. + His opinions, 407, 408. + His christology, 408, 409. + +Courts, licentiousness of German, during the Thirty Years' war, 78, 79. + Extravagance on matrimonial and baptismal occasions, 79, 80. + + +Da Costa, an agent in the revival in the Dutch Church, 359. + +De Cock, leader of the secession from the Dutch Church, 362. + Results of his expulsion by ecclesiastical authority, 363. + +Deism, English, defined by Lechler, 113. + The principle on which it started, 113. + Its superiority to the Deism of France, 113. + Its origin due to prominence given to nature by Lord Bacon, 114. + German opposition to English Deism, 114. + Rapid progress of Deism in Germany, 117. + Foreign infidelity hastened by the quibbles of orthodox theologians, + 125. + English Deism influencing the Dutch Church, 350-352. + Did not possess advantages equal to those of German Rationalism, 440. + +Deism, French, cooeperating with English Deism, toward the overthrow of +orthodoxy in Germany, 122. + +Deists, English, translations of their works into the German Language, +117. + Translations into Dutch, 351, 352. + +De Pressense prophesies good results from Renan's _Life of Jesus_, 406. + Leader of evangelical theologians in the French Church, 411. + Edits the Revue Chretienne, 411. + His opinions, 412-415. + Opposes the union of Church and State, 415. + Remarks on the beneficial results of Renan's _Life of Jesus_, 585, + 586. + +Descartes, apostle of French Rationalism, 338, 339, 389. + +De Wette, twofold character of his opinion, 246, 247. + His opinion of John, the Evangelist, 247. + View of the Scriptures, 248. + His theological novel, 248. + +Dinter, a skeptical writer for children, 189, 190. + +Dogmatism, one of the elements of the degeneracy of the Dutch Church, +336. + +Dorner, his complex style, 290. + His work on the Person of Christ, 290-292. + Conception of Christianity, 290. + +Doubt, religious, and innovation, must be estimated by four +considerations, 32. + + +Edelmann, Kahnis' testimony concerning him, 138, 139. + +Education in Germany, defects of, 184. + +Edwards, Jonathan, successor of Stoddard, at Northampton, 538. + +Emlyn, his Scripture account of Jesus Christ, 539. + +Empirical-Modern School in the Dutch Church, 371. + It has few points of sympathy with evangelical Christianity, 374. + Its principles, 374, 375. + +English Church in the eighteenth century, low state of, 449-452. + Condition of English Church at the Peace of 1815, 454. + +English literature in the eighteenth century, character of, 440, 441. + Brilliant writers, 441. + English literature influenced by the French spirit, 441. + +Epicureanism prevalent in Germany before the Thirty Years' War, 78. + +Ernesti, the classic scholar of his day, 126, 127. + +_Essays and Reviews_, theology of, 482-495. + Opinions of evangelical German, theologians on the _Essays and + Reviews_, 495, 496. + Publications called forth by that work, 497, _Appendix_. + Judicial proceedings against the authors of the _Essays and Reviews_, + 497, 498. + Literature arising from the publication of the _Essays and Reviews_, + 603, _Appendix_. + +Ethical-Irenical School in the Dutch Church, 375. + Its leaders, 375. + +Ethics in the Dutch Church, corruption of, 335. + +Evangelical Church Diet of Germany, 318. + Occasion of its organization, 318, 319. + First session, 320-322. + Practical result of the first session, 322, 323. + Enlargement of operations, 323. + +Evangelical Church Gazette, 101, 102. + +Evangelical Dissenting Church of Switzerland, rise of, 428. + +Evangelical French School, 411. + Led by E. De Pressense, 411. + Defended by Guizot, 416. + Fruits of the labors of the evangelical French theologians, 419. + Their success evident in the recent action of the Protestant + Conferences, 419-421. + +Evangelizing agencies in France, 422-424. + + +Falk, at Weimar, 312, 313. + He was affected by the havoc of Napoleon's army, 313. + Established a Reformatory for children, 314. + His various benefactions, 315. + +Farrar, his description of the Wolffian philosophy, 110, 111. + +Feuerbach, his radical Skepticism, 282. + +Fichte, relation to Kant, 163. + His system, 163. + His _Addresses to the German People_, and influence of that work, 222, + 223. + +Fliedner, established a Deaconess Institute, 316. + Its influence in other countries, 316, 317. + +Formula Concordiae, 39, 40. + +France, adoption of English Deism by, 117. + Irreligion in France during the reign of Louis XIV., 117, 118. + +Francke, Augustus Hermann, testimony on neglect of Scriptural studies, +69. + His temperament, 93. + Purity of his purpose, 94. + His account of his conversion, 94. + His pulpit ministrations in Halle, 95. + His _Introduction to the Old Testament_, _Hermeneutical Lectures_ and + _Method of Theological Study_, 95. + He founded the Orphan House at Halle, 95. + The gradual establishment of that institution, 95, 96. + Condition of the Orphan House after Francke's death, 96, + _note_[Transcriber's Note: Reference is to Footnote 26]. + Theological instruction by Francke and his coadjutors, 96. + Prolific power of the Orphan House, 97, 98. + +Francken, his _Kernel of Divinity_, 346. + +Frederic the Great, withdrew the royal patronage from Halle, 100, 101. + He was captivated by Voltaire, 120. + His systematic attempt to destroy orthodoxy in his kingdom, 122. + He made no secret of his skepticism, 123. + Final regret of his religious course, on seeing the evil effects of + infidelity upon his people, 123, 124. + +Free Congregations, rise and influence of, 284. + +Freeman, Rev. James, Pastor of King's Chapel, Boston, 539. + Installation as the first Unitarian minister in America, 539. + +French Church, Protestant, 387. + Skeptical formalism of French Protestantism in the beginning of the + nineteenth century, 387, 388. + Opposition to the French Protestant Church, 411. + +French Critical School of Theology, 391, 392. + Opinions, 393, 394. + +French Literature in Europe, prevalence of, 391. + +French Skeptics upon the Church of Holland, influence of, 352. + +French Theology, animation of, 386. + +Frothingham, O. B., his juvenile work, 572, 573. + Lecture on Liberal Christianity, 573-575. + +Future Punishment, opposition of Unitarians to, 552, 553. + + +Gaussen, leader of the Evangelical Dissenting Church of Switzerland, +428, 429. + +Geneva, improvement of religious spirit in, 430, 431. + +Gerhard, John, personal qualities, and rapid attainments, 51. + Quotation from his exegetical treatise, 52. + +German Theology, affiliated to Philosophy, 155. + +Germany, the country where Rationalism has exerted its chief influence, +5. + Condition of Protestant Germany at the commencement of the nineteenth + century, 220-222. + +Gibbon, caprices of, 447. + Work on the Roman Empire, 447, 448. + Destitution of political character, 448. + +God, opinion of German Rationalists concerning, 199, 200. + Idea of God essential to success of civil government, 287. + Unitarian opinion of God, 547, 548. + +Goethe at Weimar, 179. + His attachment to Roman Catholicism, 183. + Influence of his writings on theology, 183. + +Goodwin, C. W., on the Mosaic Cosmogony, in _Essays and Reviews_. His +opinions, 491, 492. + +Gossner, his unsettled life, 327. + Providential guidance to Protestantism, and to missionary labors, 327, + 328. + +Griesbach; he aimed to establish a system of natural religion, 137, 138. + +Groen Van Prinsterer, his influence in favor of home missions, 360. + Edited _The Netherlander_, 361. + Defended the Secessionists from the Dutch Church, 363. + +Groningen School. Its origin, organ, and principal tenets, 364, 365. + Distinguished for its ethical system, 366. + No place for the Trinity in the Groningen Theology, 366. + Service of the Groningens, 367. + Their failure to reach their object, 367. + +Grotius, forerunner of Ernesti, 127, 334, 341. + +Grotz, his opinions, 403. + +Guericke, called attention to the operations of the "Friends of Light," +284. + +Guizot, his deep interest in recent French Theology, 416. + His late important work on the Christian Religion, 416-419. + +Gustavus Adolphus Union, its method of operation, 330. + Its nineteenth session, 330. + Results, 330, 331. + + +Half-Way Covenant, 538. + +Halle, University of; occasion of its establishment, 93. + Its faculty, and the work before it, 93. + The new generation of professors in Halle, 99, 100. + Edict of Fred. Wil. I., that all theologians must study in that + University, 100. + +Hamann, inability of, and his coadjutors to resist Rationalism in +Germany, 196. + +Hare, Julius Charles, disciple of Coleridge, 462. + His life full of incident, 463. + View of Sacrifice, 463. + Other opinions, 464, 465. + +Harless, an opponent of Strauss, 271. + +Harms, opposition of Claus, to union of German Churches, 232. + His 95 Theses, 232-235. + The excitement occasioned by the publication of that work, 235, 236. + +Harms, Louis, small beginning of his missionary enterprise, 328, 329. + Final success, 329, 330. + +Hegel, his relation to philosophy, 164. + His philosophy reducible to a system of nature, 164. + His system, 165. + Fulfilment of his theory of antagonisms, 257. + The three branches of his school, 257, 258. + +Hengstenberg, his Evangelical Church Gazette established to oppose the +prevalent Rationalism, 270, 271. + He takes highest rank in the Evangelical School as a controversialist, + and expositor of the Old Testament, 305. + Opposition to Pantheism, 306. + Contributors to his journal, 306. + His opinion of the _Essays and Reviews_, 496. + +Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury; his reflections on the publication of his +_Tractatus de Veritate_, 114. + His view of education, 114. + +Herder, adaptation to his times, 171. + His creed, 172. + His interest in the poetic features of the Bible, 172, 173. + The kind of love which he cherished toward the Bible, 174. + View of the person of Christ, 174. + Opinion of the Gospels, 175. + Herder's great service to the Church, 176. + His view of the pastorate, 176. + Character of his preaching, 177, 178. + Opposition to the Kantian Philosophy, 178. + +High Church in England, rise of, 511. + Its Conference at Hadley, 512. + Doctrines of the High Church, 512-515. + General service of the High Church, 515, 516. + +Hobbes; his estimate of religion, 114, 115. + His works translated into Dutch, 351. + +Hofstede de Groot, in conjunction with Pareau, published a work on +dogmatic theology, 365. + Principles taught therein, 365, 366. + +Holland, former importance of, 332, 333. + Rise of Rationalism in Holland, 333. + Theological publications in Holland, 334. + Popular acquaintance with theology in Holland, 346. + +---- Church of, made slow progress in the eighteenth century, 344. + Influenced by English Deism, 350. + Affected by French Skepticism, 352. + Introduction of new hymn-book into the Dutch Churches, 357, 358. + Dutch Church now in an important crisis, 381. + Causes of the crisis, 381, 382. + Dutch Church applying itself to practical work, 382, 383. + +Holy Ghost, Unitarian opinion of, 548. + +Homiletic literature of the Dutch Church, 335. + +Huguenots of France were received into Holland, and exerted a beneficial +influence on the Dutch Church, 343. + +Humanists, Aristotelian, of seventeenth century, 6. + +Hume, partook of the prevalent French spirit, 444. + His errors, 444. + _Essay on Miracles_, 445, 446. + _History of England_, 446, 447. + +Hymns, destruction of German, 193. + Churches rivaled each other in adapting their hymn-books to + Rationalistic opinions, 194. + + +Indifference, religious, produced in Holland by the French spirit, 353, +354. + +Infidelity presents a systematic and harmonious history, 2. + Infidelity systematically opposed to civil order and authority, 287. + +Inner Mission of German Protestantism, 326, 327. + +Inspiration, opinion of German Rationalists on, 200, 202. + American Unitarian opinion on inspiration, 546, 547. + +Instruction in Germany, improved character of religious, 307, 308. + + +Jacobi, the opponent of the Kantian philosophy, 162, 163. + Service to evangelical religion, 169. + +Journals in Germany, theological, 306, 307, and _note_[Transcriber's +Note: Reference is to Footnote 81]. + Rationalistic Journals, _Appendix_, 595. + Rationalistic Journals in France, _Appendix_, 598. + +Jowett, his commentaries, 481. + His view of the Atonement, 482. + Writes in _Essays and Reviews_ on the interpretation of Scripture, + 493. + His opinions, 494, 495. + + +Kant, his superiority to other thinkers of his time, 156. + His account of his pious mother, 156. + His system published by a student, Hippel, 157. + His _Critique of Pure Reason_, 157. + That work popularized by Schulze, 158. + Opponents of the Kantian system, 158. + Kant's statement concerning the limits of reason, 159. + General character of Kant's criticism, 160, 161. + Kant's silence on the positive truths of Christianity, 161. + Moral effect of the Kantian system, 162. + Thinkers succeeding Kant, 165. + Their service, 166. + +King's Chapel, Boston, became Unitarian, 538, 539. + +Kingsley, Charles, on the English mind, influence of, 468. + His numerous works, 469. + His opinions, 469-471. + Controversy with Father Newman, 517. + +Kleman, work on connection between grace and duty, 350. + +Klopstock innocently commenced the alteration of the German hymns, 194. + + +Lange, his view of the Church, 296, 297. + +Larroque, member of the French Critical School, 400. + +Lechler, his definition of English Deism, 113. + +Leibnitz, the author of the Wolffian philosophy, 103. + His _Theodicy_, 103. + Philosophy of Leibnitz confined to the learned, 104. + +Leo the Tenth, skepticism of, 113. + +Lessing, his object in publishing the _Wolfenbuettel Fragments_, 152. + His opinions in partial harmony, at least, with that work, 153. + He found fault with his age, 155. + +Lesson taught by condition of England in the eighteenth century, 440. + +Le Vasser, his account of French irreligion during the reign of Louis +XIV, 117. + +Leyden School of Theologians, 367. + Its origin, 368. + +Liberal Catholic School of France. Its founders, 409. + Great influence and high position of its members, 410. + +Liberal Protestant Union, the organization of French Rationalists, 393. + +Liberation, beneficial effects of German, 223, 224. + +Literary Rationalism in England, owes its origin to Carlyle, 473. + +Literature, theological, defective character of, in former part of +seventeenth century, 65, 66. + +Locke, his works translated into Dutch, 351. + +Low Church, in England, 508. + Its seat at Cambridge, 508. + Conducted by vigorous minds, 508. + Always on the side of popular reform, 509. + Missionary labors, 509, 510. + Its work at home, 510. + Present status, 510, 511. + + +Mandeville, his style complimented by Macaulay, 116. + +Maurice, disciple of Coleridge, 465. + Ideal view of creation, 465, 466. + Holds that Christ is the archetype of every human being, 466. + His system, 467. + His permission to officiate in the Established Church, 468. + +Mediation-Theologians of Germany, 288. + +Melanchthon, his _Apology of the Confession_, 38. + +Milton, on pride of the Church, and ecclesiastical authority, 535, 536. + +Miracles, the Rationalists deny the possibility of, 24. + Opinion of German Rationalists concerning miracles, 207-211. + Miracles, Hume on, 445, 446. + +Missions in the Dutch Church, 383, 384. + +Monod, A., the pioneer of the reformation of the French Protestant +Church, 422. + +Montague, house of Lady Mary Wortley, the center of a large literary +group, 443. + +Mosheim, his opposition to the introduction of English Deism, 117. + +Mueller and Scriver as illustrations of improved literary style, before +the rise of Pietism, 83, 84. + +Music in the German Churches made to conform to Rationalism, 195. + Decline of congregational singing, 195. + + +Neander, first of Mediation Theologians. His youth, and early +publications, 249. + Theological views, 249, 250. + The chief characteristic of his theology, 250. + Various writings, 251. + Conception of Church history, 251, 252. + Valuable service to evangelical theology, 252. + Relation to his times, 252. + Personal appearance, 253, 254. + _Life of Christ_, in reply to Strauss, 272, 273. + +Newman, F. W., his life resembles Blanco White's, 517. + His _Phases of Faith_, 518. + Became a Missionary, 518. + His opinions, 518, 519. + +Nicolai, his Universal German Library, 147. + Object of that journal to oppose all orthodox publications, 147. + Its great influence, 147, 148. + Berlin affected by it, 148. + +Norton, Andrews, professor in Harvard University, 540. + + +Opzoomer, professor at Utrecht, 371. + His manual of logic, 371. + +Orthodoxy, inactivity of, in the Church of Holland, 356. + + +Parker, Theodore, as a reformer, 564. + Personal history, 565. + His radicalism, 566. + His theological opinions, 566-571. + +Pattison, M., writes in _Essays and Reviews_ on Tendencies of Religious +Thought in England, 1688-1750, 492. + +Paul, Jean, called attention to necessity of parental training of +children, 187. + +Paulus, attempt of, to prove Luther a Rationalist, 31. + +Pecaut, holds that Deism should be substituted for the doctrines of +Protestantism, 402. + His opinions, 402, 403. + +Periodical skeptical press of England, 477. + +Pestalozzi's labors for the amelioration of orphans, 188. + His ideal of a school, 188. + +Philosophy of the period anterior to rise of Pietism, 82, 83. + Service of speculative philosophy in aid of religion, 167. + +Philosophers do not communicate directly with the people, 471, 472. + +Pierson, his relation to Opzoomer, 371. + His opinions contained in two works, 371, 372. + His exposition of the "New Theology," 372. + He holds that reason must determine what is revelation, 373. + Specimen of Pierson's style, 374. + +Pietism, agencies leading to rise of, 55. + Objection brought against Pietism, 85. + What Pietism proposed to do, 85. + It was confounded with mysticism, 88. + Pietism commenced upon the principle that the Church was corrupt, 88. + The means proposed by Pietism to improve the Church, 88, 89. + Secret of the fall of Pietism, 102. + Mistake of Lutheranism in failing to adopt it in the Church, 102. + Relation of Pietism to the German Protestant Church, 102. + +Pietists, charged with literary barrenness, 101. + +Positivism, the work of Compte alone, 390. + +Powell, Baden, on the study of evidences of Christianity, in _Essays and +Reviews_, 487. + His opinions, 487-489. + +Preaching, defective, in Germany in seventeenth century, 69, 70. + +Privy Council of England, 498, _note_[Transcriber's Note: Reference is +to Footnote 191]. + +Professors and students, intimacy between German, 309. + +Prophecy, opinion of German Rationalists concerning, 211-214. + +Protestantism, concessions of, to the civil magistrate, 37. + +Protestant Friends, 283. + +Pulpit of Holland, low state of preaching in the, 334. + + +Rationalism, danger of failing to appreciate magnitude of, 1. + Necessity of immediate defence against infidelity, 2. + Rationalism not an unmixed evil in its results, 4. + The term _Rationalism_ not of recent origin, 6. + Rationalists in England in 1646, 6. + Rationalism defined by Rueckert, 7, _note_[Transcriber's Note: + Reference is to Footnote 3]; + by Wegscheider in _Institutiones Dogmaticae_, 8-11; + by Staeudlin, 11, 12; + by Professor Hahn, 12, 13; + by Hugh James Rose, 13-16; + by A. McCaul, 16-19; + by M. Saintes, 19-21; + by Lecky, 22, 23. + Rationalists acknowledge justice of the definitions of their + opponents, 24. + Several kinds of Rationalists, 24-26. + Peculiar advantages of Rationalism over other forms of Skepticism, 26. + Rationalists do not discard the Bible, but claim to give a proper + interpretation, 27. + Shrewdness of Rationalism in its initial steps, 30. + Motives of the early Rationalists, 31. + Rationalism measured by four things, 32-35. + Rationalism acknowledges no hallowed ground, 33. + Spirit of Rationalism, bitter, 34. + Completeness of destructive work of Rationalism, 35. + The term _Rationalism_ came into use in early part of nineteenth + century, 239. + Rationalism, injured by its excessive demands, 255-256. + Rationalism assumed a revolutionary and atheistic form after the + publication of Strauss' _Life of Jesus_, 281. + Rise of Rationalism in Holland, 333. + Undercurrent of Rationalism in Dutch Church, extending back to Synod + of Dort, 346. + Rationalism in French Protestant Church, 391-409; + in Switzerland, 432-439; + in England, 455. + Three forms of Rationalism in England, 455. + Indirect service of Rationalism, 579-586. + Philosophical Rationalism in England commenced with Coleridge, 455. + Literature of Rationalism, 590-606, _Appendix_. + +Rationalists among the English Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, and +Unitarians, 533. + +Rationalists, German, had no common system, 198. + Reason therefore, 198. + The principal parts of their system, 200-218. + Results of their opinions, 218, 219. + +Recordite party in the Low Church, 511. + +Reformation endangered by controversies, 45. + +Reformed Church, purity and progress of, in seventeenth century, 76. + +Reformers, difference between, and Rationalists, 31, 32. + Faults of the immediate successors of the Reformers, 37. + Disputes of the Reformers, 38. + +Regeneration, Unitarian opinion of, 551, 552. + +Reinhard avowed himself in favor of subordination of reason to faith, +239. + +Religion, opinion of German Rationals on, 199. + +Renan, his greatest celebrity due to his _Life of Jesus_, 403. + His opinions, 403, 404. + Reception of his _Life of Jesus_, 405. + Results of that publication declared by De Pressense to be beneficial, + 406. + Literature arising from Renan's _Life of Jesus_, 596-598, _Appendix_. + +"Reunion of Christian Friends in Holland," result of revival in the +Dutch church, 361. + Monthly Journal of the organization, 361. + +Reville, his exposition of the so-called Liberal Theology, 394-396. + +Revival in the Dutch church, 358. + +Revue de Theologie, organ of French Critical School, 396. + Edited by Scherer, 396. + +Roell, Professor, declared the necessity of reason for a proper +interpretation of the Scriptures, 348, 349. + +Roehr, his _Briefe ueber den Rationalismus_, 34. + Principles contained therein, 238, 239. + +Rothe, ethical system, 300. + His recent work on Dogmatic Theology, 300. + Principles taught therein, 301-303. + +Rougemont, his opinions, 400, 401. + +Rousseau, his description of French skepticism during the reign of Louis +XV, 118. + The proposition which he sought to establish, 121. + The key to his creed, 122. + His popularity in Germany, 186. + +Rupp, Pastor, attacked the Athanasian symbol, 284. + + +Sabbath, neglect of, in Germany, 37. + +Schaff, description of Neander's appearance, 253, 254. + Declares the indirect service of Rationalism, 580, 582, 583. + +Schelling, his natural philosophy, 164. + His opposite and parallel sciences, 164. + +Schenkel, elevation by Baden government, 303. + His late skeptical book, _Picture of the Character of Jesus_, 303. + Principles taught therein, 304. + Clerical protest against his continuance in authority, 305. + +Scherer, member of the French Critical School. Departure from orthodoxy, +396. + His view of Protestantism, 397. + Opinion of the New Testament, 397, 398. + The Bible, according to his exegesis, 398, 399. + His low estimate of Christ's Miracles, 399, 400. + +Schiller at Weimar, 178, 179. + His prayer on Sabbath morning, 179, 180. + An admirer of Paganism, 181. + Embodies the Kantian philosophy in verse, 182. + +Schleiermacher, early training of, 224. + Residence in Berlin as chaplain, 224. + His philosophy derived from Jacobi, 224. + His _Discourses_, 225, 226. + Purpose of that work, 225, 226. + Schleiermacher's conception of religion, 226, 227. + His _Monologues_, 228, 229. + His _System of Doctrines_, 241. + Principles taught therein, 241-243. + The great service of that work, 243, 244. + Information concerning Schleiermacher, 243, _note_[Transcriber's Note: + Reference is to Footnote 56]. + His defective view of the Trinity, 244. + General character of his theology, 245, 246. + His school, 256, 257. + +Scholasticism, one of the elements of the degeneracy of the Dutch +Church, 336. + +Scholten, founder of the Leyden School, 368. + His distinction between the principles and dogmas of a church, 368. + His view of historical criticism, 369. + Makes human nature the witness of truth of revelation, 369. + Defective view of sin, and denial of miracles, 370. + +Schott, contended for the union of Reason and Revelation, 241. + +Schurmann, Anna Maria, took part in the Cocceian controversy, 341. + +Science, necessity of a proper view of, 586, 587. + No antagonism between Science and Revelation, 587. + +Scriptures, study of, neglected in Germany in seventeenth century, 68. + Opinion of German Rationalists concerning credibility of Scriptures, + 203-206. + The Rationalists conscious of importance of the Scriptures, 481. + +Secession from the Church of Holland, 362. + Its failure, 363. + +Semler, his early training, 128. + Difficulty concerning want of understanding of the number of the + Biblical books, 129. + His celebrated accommodation-theory, 130. + His distinction between the local and temporary contents of the + Scriptures, 130, 131. + His moderate affiliation with the English Deists, 131. + His repudiation of the French Skeptical School, 131. + His opinion concerning the world's independence of the Bible, 132. + He gained his greatest triumph against the history and doctrinal + authority of the church, 132. + The beauty and purity of his private life, 133, 134. + His domestic life, 134. + Death of his daughter, 135, 136. + Semler's mental defects, 136. + His imitators, 137. + Fatal results of Semler's doctrines, 146, 147. + +Seriousness and Peace, society called, 376. + +Shaftesbury, Lord, cultivated the acquaintance of the leaders of +skepticism in France and England, 115. + His violent hostility to Christianity, 115. + His _Characteristics_, 115. + +Sin, Unitarian opinion of, 548-550. + +Skepticism, the result of coldness, formalism, and controversy in the +Church, 4. + Development of skepticism south and west of Germany, 112, 113. + Skepticism received the support of the educated and refined German + circles during latter part of the eighteenth century, 149. + Historical record of skepticism, 563. + +Skeptics, spirit of kindness toward, 587, 588. + +Smith, John Pye, his statement concerning the inferior character of +replies to the English Deists, 117. + +Speculative Rationalism in Zuerich, Periodicals favoring, 434. + Opinions of the Speculative Rationalists concerning the Scriptures and + Christ, 435-437; + immortality, 437, 438; + sin, 438; + faith, 438, 439. + +Spener, Philip Jacob, his testimony on neglect of children, 63, 64. + His University life and pastoral labors, 89, 90. + His labors in behalf of children, 90. + The _Collegia Pietatis_, 90, 91. + Spener's _Pia Desideria_, 91. + His childlike nature, 91, 92. + His literary activity, 92. + Bitterness of his enemies after his death, 92, 93. + +Spinoza, 103, 281. + +Stanley, Dean of Westminster, his works, 523. + Rationalistic concessions in his _Jewish Church_, 524. + His late article in the _Westminster Review_, 524, 525. + +Stevenson, description of Fliedner's Deaconess Institute, 317, 318. + Synod of Dort, 334. + +Stoddard, Venerable, did not believe in excluding unregenerate persons +from the Lord's Supper, 537. + +Strauss, his _Life of Jesus_ the outgrowth of long-standing doubt, 29. + Strauss a Left-Hegelian, 258. + Popular reception of his _Life of Jesus_, 259. + Extraordinary character of the contents of that work, 259, 260. + Strauss had an erroneous view of history, 260. + He contended that Christ was a mythical personage, 261-263. + Doctrines contained in the _Life of Jesus_, 263-270. + Replies to that work, 273, 274. + His late work, _Life of Jesus Popularly Treated_, designed for the + laity, 275. + Contents of that work, 276, 277. + Strauss' _System of Doctrine_, an embodiment of Hegelian philosophy, + 281. + Rejection from professorship in Zuerich, 432, 433. + +Success dependent on strenuous effort, 577, 578. + +Supernaturalism. This term came into frequent use in early part of +nineteenth century, 239. + +Switzerland, decline in political influence, 425. + Low state of Swiss Protestant Church when Voltaire was at Ferney, + 425, 426. + + +Temple, author of _Education of the World_, in _Essays and Reviews_, +482. + His opinions, 482-485. + +Tendency, history of a mischievous, best means of resistance, 3. + +Theologians in early part of seventeenth century, 67. + +Theological taste, increase of, owing to the propagation of Semler's +destructive criticism, 144. + +Theological training in Geneva, neglect of, 426. + M. Bost's testimony, 426, 427. + Present elevated state of instruction, 431, 432. + +Theology, Dutch, literalism of, 345. + +Theology, union between, and philosophy, 35, 36. + The influence of theology as a science, in Germany, 146. + Improvement in contemporaneous German theology, 309, 310. + +Thirty Years' War; principles involved and parties participating, 56. + Desperation and devastation of Thirty Years' War, 57. + Neglect of pastoral work, 57. + Great losses in population and wealth, 58. + Religious effect, 60. + Neglect of youth, 62. + Necessity of a popular reaewakening at the close of Thirty Years' War, + 80, 81. + +Tholuck, reply to De Wette's novel, 248. + Reply to Strauss' _Life of Jesus_, 271. + View of inspiration, 292. + Tholuck cannot be estimated by merely stating his definitions, 292, + 293. + He cannot be classified, 293. + His various writings, 293. + Quotation from his work on _Sin and Redemption_, 293-295. + +Thomasius, an eminent jurist, 98. + He gave his influence to Pietism, 99. + He defended the Pietists from the stand-point of statesmanship, 99. + Cultivated the German spirit, and delivered lectures in the German + language, 99. + +Tilly, his cruelty in warfare, 58, 59. + +Tindal, his _Christianity as Old as the World_, replies to, 116. + +Tittmann opposed Rationalism, 239, 240. + +Toland, replies to his _Christianity not Mysterious_, 116. + +Toellner; his attempt to harmonize the old German theology with the +Wolffian philosophy, 112. + His point of difference from Wolff, 112. + His twofold conception of Scripture, 112. + His opinion of inspiration, 201, 202. + +Tractarianism, 511-516. + +Tracts for the Times, 516. + +Tuebingen School, 280. + +Tzschirner contended for the harmonization of reason and revelation, +240. + His influence, 240. + + +Uhlich, Pastor, founder of Friends of Light, 283. + +Ullmann, reply to Strauss, 273. + His Essence of Christianity, 289. + Opinions, 289. + +Union of German Churches, 231, 232. + Task imposed upon the new State Church, 237. + +Unitarian controversy between Channing and Worcester, 541. + +Unitarians, their indefinite creed, 544. + Their general opinions, 546-552. + National convention in New York, 559, 560. + +Unitarianism, opposed to orthodoxy, 544, 545. + Table showing its present state, 560, _note_[Transcriber's Note: + Reference is to Footnote 265]. + Literature of Unitarianism, 606-609, _Appendix_. + Unitarian Journals, 609, _Appendix_. + +United States, Church of, 534. + Separation of Church and State by the founders of the republic, 534. + +Unity of Evangelical Churches, necessary to overcome Rationalism, 588, +589. + +Universalists in America, 560. + Creed of the Universalists, 561, 562. + Table showing their present condition, 562, 563, _note_[Transcriber's + Note: Reference is to Footnote 270]. + Literature of Universalism, 606-609, _Appendix_. + Universalist Journals, 609, _Appendix_. + +Universities, immorality in German, in seventeenth century, 75, 76. + + +Van Oosterzee, his work in reply to Renan's _Life of Jesus_, 376. + Quotation from it, 377. + Professor in Utrecht, 377. + His works, 376, 377. + +Vaughan, testimony of, concerning Schleiermacher's _Discourses_, 225, +226. + Opinion on Carlyle, 477. + +Venerable Compagnie of Geneva, prohibited ministerial candidates from +preaching on prominent evangelical doctrines, 427. + +Vinet, his works, and system of theology, 429. + +Voltaire, relations of, with Rousseau, 119. + Voltaire in England, 119. + Favorable reception by the English court, 119, 120. + Reception at the court of Frederic the Great, 120, 121. + Disagreement between Voltaire and Frederic, 121. + Return of the former to France, 121. + Residence in Ferney, 121. + His destitution of religious principles, 121. + Popularity in Holland, 353. + Cold treatment by Boerhaave, 353. + Flattered by the Genevan pastors, 425. + + +Ware, an Anti-Trinitarian, chosen professor in Harvard University, 540. + +Waterloo, battle of, commencement of a new era in the religion and +politics of Europe, 356. + +Weimar, celebrities of, 169, 170. + +Wesleyan Missions in the Channel Islands and France, 388, 389. + +Westminster Review, 477, 478. + Its lament over present elevated position of German Protestantism, + 479. + +Westphalia, peace of, its fruits, 59. + +Wetstein, forerunner of Ernesti, 127. + +Wichern, John Henry, address before the Church Diet at its first +session, 324. + His Rough House near Hamburg, 324. + Results of training at that Institution, 325, 326. + +Williams, Rowland, one of the writers in _Essays and Reviews_, 485. + His opinions, 485-487. + +Wilson, H. B., discusses the question of the National Church in _Essays +and Reviews_, 489. + His opinions, 489-491. + +Wislicenus, his skeptical work, 283. + +Wolff, his demonstrative philosophy, 103. + His good intentions, 104. + His description of his mental progress, 104. + Division of his philosophy into theoretical and practical departments, + 105. + His opinion of what a revelation should contain, 105, 106. + He aimed to impress his principles upon the masses, 106. + His system destructive to Pietism, 107. + His eventful life, 107, 108. + Excitement produced by public discourse on Morals of Confucius, 108. + His deposition and banishment, 108. + Recalled by Frederic the Great, 108. + His reception at Halle, 108, 109. + The popular reception of the Wolffian system, 109. + Relation of Wolff's philosophy to German theology in eighteenth + century, 110. + The Wolffian School, 111. + +Wolfenbuettel Fragments, 149. + Their origin, 149, 150. + Principles contained in them, 150, 151. + Opposition to that work, 151. + +Wollaston, his creed, and popularity of his works, 115. + + +Year-Books, Halle, an organ of Atheism, 282, 283. + +Young Men's Christian Union of New York, 553-558. + +Youth, multiplicity of publications for German, 189. + Teachers of the young became Rationalists, 189, 190. + + +Zuerich, the present seat of Swiss Rationalism, 432. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +Variant spellings of the words pappoose and premiss are left as in the +original. + +The names Des Cartes and Descartes refer to the same person. + +The initials D. D. appear in the original with and without a space. They +have been standardized to always have a space between the initials. + +The following words appear in the original with and without hyphens. + + book-stores bookstores + child-like childlike + hand-maid handmaid + key-note keynote + Law-giver Lawgiver + law-giver lawgiver + life-long lifelong + master-pieces masterpieces + Re-statements Restatements + stand-point standpoint + touch-stone touchstone + two-fold twofold + under-current undercurrent + wide-spread widespread + +There are variations in the accents used on the following words: + + coexistent coexistent + confreres confreres + Groeninger Groninger + Jesus Jesus + l'Eglise l'Eglise + reaewakening reawakening + Refutation Refutation + Religieuse Religieuse + religieuse religieuse + Remusat Remusat + Reville Reville + Revue Revue + Secretan Secretan + Theologie Theologie + Theologies Theologies + Venerable Venerable + +The following words used an oe ligature in the original: + + d'oeil + Koenen + Phoebus + Phoenician + prosopopoeia + soeur + Voetius (only in the Table of Contents) + Voetians (only in the Table of Contents) + +The following corrections have been made to the text. + + page xvii--Gibbon, 447, 448[original has 447, 447] + + page 14--'Those who are generally termed Rationalists,'[ending + quote missing in original] says Dr. Bretschneider + + page 16--Spinoza asserts that the '[original has double + quote]Israelites heard + + page 38--Cracau put to death on the slightest + pretenses[original has pretences] + + page 47--The headlong pen, too precipitate for + calligraphy[original has caligraphy] + + page 77--Let the ministry be steadfast, and the masses will + never swerve."[original has missing ending quote] + + page 152--Wolffian[original has Wolfian] philosophy + + page 152--the intuitions[original has intuitons] of Reason + + page 162--Wolffian[original has Wolfian] philosophy + + page 163--glaring defect of his system[original has sytsem] + + page 171--evening entertainments[original has entertaiments] + of Weimar + + page 192--the narrator has a very imperfect knowledge[original + has knowedge] + + page 245--Christ's communion with his living + disciples.[original is missing period] + + page 254--nineteenth[original has nineteeth] century + + page 261--Their opinions[original has opinons] concerning him + were already formed + + page 263--climax of destructive criticism[original has + crititicism] + + page 304--therefore he stands to-day[original has to day] as + the High Church + + page 348--the government[original has govvernment] took his + part + + page 390--philosophical systems[original has sytems] of + Germany + + page 397--divinity of Christ involves his omniscience[original + has omnisicence] + + page 400--Christianity has passed its allotted[original has + alloted] time + + page 409--field of usefulness[original has usefulnesss] + + page 424--inability of M. Reville[original has Reville] to be + elected + + page 464--declare to be finished."[original is missing ending + quote] + + page 465--brightness of his resplendent[original has + ressplendent] character + + page 482--conversions of the first Christians[original has + Christains] + + page 484--development is alleged to have occurred[original has + occured] + + page 496--naive[original has naeive] assurance + + page 500--fall to the ground with it."[original is missing + ending quote] + + page 520--insensibly as the air we breathe."[original is + missing ending quote] + + page 532--It is a remarkable[original has remakable] feature + + page 536--comparatively untrammeled[original has untrameled] + by institutions + + page 538--Edwards refused to practice[original has practise] + it + + page 559--presided over by Governor[original has Governer] + Andrew + + page 560--referred to a special committee[original has + commitee] + + page 571--but on more than one occasion he[original has be] + expressed his total dissent + + page 573--destruction of Pharaoh[original has Pharoah] + + page 590--BALMES, J.--Briefe an einen[original has einem] + Zweifler + + page 590--BAUR, F. C.--Die Tuebingen[original has Tuebinger] + Schule und ihre Stellung zur Gegenwart + + page 590--CLEMEN, C. F. W.[original is missing period] + + page 591--HAAR, B. TER[original has B.ter] + + page 592--HERING.--Die Akephaler unserer[original has unsrer] + Zeit. + + page 592--under KAeHLER, L. A.--Ursprunge, ihrer Zwietracht u. + hoeheren[original has hoehern] Einheit. + + page 593--OOSTERZEE, J. J. VAN.[original has extraneous + comma]--Geschichte oder Roman? + + page 593--PAULUS, H. E. G.--Zeitgemaesse Beleuchtung des + Streites zwischen dem Eingebungsglauben und der Urchristlichen + Denkglaeubigkeit[original has Denkglaubigkeit]. + + page 593--RUTHENUS, K.--Der formale Supernaturalismus oder d. + einzig moegliche Weg zur einer Ausgleichung der + streitenden[original has stritenden] theolog. Partheien. + + page 593--entry under SARTORIUS--Ueber die + Unwissenschaftlichkeit und innere Verwandschaft des + Rationalismus und[original has uud] Romanismus. + + page 593--SCHENKEL, D.--Die Religioesen[original has Religoesen] + Zeitkaempfe. + + page 593--WIGGERS, J.--Kirchlicher oder rein + biblischer[original has reinbiblischer] Supranaturalismus? + + page 595--BUISSON, F.--L'orthodoxie et l'Evangile dans + l'Eglise reformee[original has reformee]. + + page 595--under COLONI, T.--Jesus[original has Jesus] Christ + et les Croyances messianiques de son Temps + + page 597--GUETTEE, L'ABBE.--Refutation[original has + Refutation] de la pretendue Vie de Jesus de M. Renan. + + page 597--LOYSON, J. T.--Une pretendue Vie de Jesus[original + has Jesus], ou M. E. Renan + + page 598--PE DE ARROS, J.--Coup d'oeil sur la Vie de + Jesus[original has Jesus] de M. Renan + + page 598--NOUVELLE REVUE[original has REVUE] DE THEOLOGIE + + page 599--BELLOWS, H. W.--Restatements[original has + Re-statements] of Christian Doctrine. + + page 602--DAVIDSON, DR. S.[period missing in original] + + page 603--under GARBETT, E.--Boyle Lectures for 1861. + Lond.,[comma missing in original] 1861. + + page 604--under MACKAY, R. W.--The Tuebingen School and its + Antecedents: a Review of the History and Present Condition of + Modern Theology.[period missing in original] + + page 604--under MIALL, E.--Basis of Belief: Examination of + Christianity. London,[comma missing in original] 1861. + + page 605--essays by Messrs. Colani, Scholten, Reville[original + has Reville], Scherer + + page 606--Universalism a Practical Power. New York, + 1863.[original has two periods] + + page 608--under NORTON, A.--Genuineness of the Gospels, 3 + vols. Boston, 1851-'54[original has '44]. + + page 609--WARE, W.--Letters[original has Lettters] to + Trinitarians + + page 609--JOURNAL OF AMERICAN UNIT. ASSOC.,[comma missing in + original] Boston. + + page 611--Arnold,[comma missing in original] Gottfried, the + historian of Pietism, 98[original has 18]. + + page 612--Bethmann[original has Bethman]-Hollweg, influence on + the Church Diet, 319. + + page 612--under Broad Church--Its tenets, 528[original has + 520], 529, 530 + + page 613--under Colenso--Literature of the Controversy + occasioned by him, 599[original has 600]-602, Appendix. + + page 613--under Colenso--Testimony of a Mussulman against him, + 506[original has 505]. + + page 613--under Coquerel--Refusal of the Presbyterial Council + to re-appoint him as suffragan in a Protestant pulpit in + Paris, 407[original has 408]. + + page 614--Ernesti, the classic scholar of his day, + 126[original has 125], 127. + + page 614--Farrar, his description of the Wolffian[original has + Wolfian] philosophy + + page 614--Fliedner, established a Deaconess Institute, + 316[original has 416]. + + page 614--under <i>Essays and Reviews</i>--Literature arising from + the publication of the _Essays and Reviews_, 603,[original has + period] _Appendix_. + + page 615--Freeman, Rev. James, Pastor of King's Chapel, + Boston, 539[original has 589]. + + page 616--Harms, opposition of Claus, to union of German + Churches, 232[original has 231]. + + page 617--under Journals in Germany--Rationalistic Journals, + _Appendix_, 595[original has 509]. + + page 617--under Kant--That work popularized by + Schulze[original has Shulze] + + page 617--under Kant--General character of Kant's criticism, + 160[original has 159], 161. + + page 617--Le Vasser, his account of French irreligion during + the reign of Louis XIV,[original has semicolon] 117. + + page 617--Leibnitz, the author of the Wolffian[original has + Wolfian] philosophy + + page 618--under Miracles--Opinion of German Rationalists + concerning miracles, 207-211[original has 207, 211]. + + page 618--Newman, F. W.,[comma missing in original] his life + resembles Blanco White's + + page 618--Pattison, M., writes in _Essays and Reviews_ on + Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, + 1688-1750,[original has semicolon] 492. + + page 619--under Rationalists, German--Reason + therefore[original has therefor], 198. + + page 620--Rousseau, his description of French skepticism + during the reign of Louis XV,[original has semicolon] 118. + + page 620--Schenkel, elevation by Baden government, + 303[original has 383]. + + page 620--under Scherer--His low estimate of Christ's + Miracles, 399, 400.[period missing in original] + + page 620--Schurmann[original has Schuurmann], Anna Maria + + page 620--Scriptures, study of, neglected in Germany in + seventeenth century,[original has period] 68. + + page 621--under Skepticism--Skepticism received the support of + the educated and refined German circles during latter part of + the eighteenth century, 149[original has 148]. + + page 622--under Unitarianism--Literature of Unitarianism, + 606[original has 607]-609, _Appendix_. + + page 622--under Universalists--Literature of + Universalism,[original has period] 606-609[original has 607, + 609]. + + page 622--under Van Oosterzee--Professor in Utrecht, + 377[original has 376]. + + page 622--Venerable[original has Venerable] Compagnie of + Geneva + + page 623--under Voltaire--Cold treatment by Boerhaave, + 353[original has 357]. + + page 623--Youth, multiplicity of publications for German, + 189.[original has comma] + + Footnote 113--System of the Semitic Languages;[original has + comma] + + Footnote 128--Riggenbach, Der Heutige Rationalismus besonders + in der Deutschen Schweiz[original has Schweitz]. + + Footnote 263--Frothingham, Ibid. pp.[original has pp,] + 121-126. + + Footnote 270--St. Lawrence University, N. Y.,[comma missing in + original] has a Library + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Rationalism Embracing a +Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology, by John F. Hurst + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF RATIONALISM *** + +***** This file should be named 19397.txt or 19397.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19397/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Lisa Reigel, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of +public domain works from the University of Michigan Digital +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |