£ibrar;p of Che Cheolojical ^tm\nvi^eiv, pwnat^eiv, drTiKi^eiu, 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 ca- pacity. Not a real Mede ixrjdiCei ; no true Spartan 'KaKcovi^ei ; 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 — /mjSt- ^ova-iv. This -la-fMos is a termination from this class of verbs, and is employ- ed in reproach and not in praise. Hence nationalist is a term of contempt, and means not one who is really reasonable, but icoiild like to pass for such.'''' Of course the Doctor concludes that the word is a most flagrant and un- righteous misnomer ; but we accept his philology and return him our thanks for hia etymological study. 8 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. ties. On tlie contrary, we shall perceive an unexpected and gratifying harmony. In Wegscheider's Institutiones Dogmaticw, a work whicli for nearly half a century has stood as an ac- knowledged and highly respected authority on the sys- tematic theology of the Rationalists, we read langu.nge 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 explana- tion 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 regard ESTTKODUOTION. 9 ing religion and morality, wMcli we liave formed in the mind by the help of reason. . . . Whosoever, there- fore, despising that supremacy of human reason, main- tains that the authority of a revelation, said to have been conmiunicated 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 over- turns 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 acknowl- edge or affirm that which is thought to be above rea- son 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 particu- lar 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 con- ceive and cultivate the knowledge of divine things. That we call particular and mediate, in a sense different 10 mSTOEY OF RATIONALISM. j&'om the elder writers, wliicli is contained in tlie com- pass of tilings happening according to nature, by wliich, God being tlie 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 sanc- tioned 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 fiu-- nished, 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 scat- ters the seeds of a doctrine truly divine, i. 6"., 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 car. ried 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 natui'al sources and true natirre 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 ESTTEODTJCTIOlSr. 11 to form that archetype in the mind, and to study to imi- tate it in life and manners to the utmost of his ability. Behold here the intimate and eternal union and a^ee- ment of Christianity with Rationalism." Staudlin, 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 revela- tion is impossible and ought to be rejected. That no- tion 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 cer- tain 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 suj^ernaturally and im- mediately. What is revealed might perhaps be discov- ered 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 nat- ural 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, 12 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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." ^ Professor Hahn, in speaking of the work just refer, red to, and of the subject in general, makes the follow- ing remarks : " In very recent times, during which Kationalism has excited so much attention, two persons especially, Bretschneider and Staudlin, 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 Kationalists, they give out Kationalism as a very different matter from Naturalism. Rohr, 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 Natm^alists ; 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 Natm^alism since the appear- ance of the Kantian philosophy, and that it was intro- duced 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 conse- quently excluded all supernatural revelation. As to * Oeschichte des Eationalismus und SupernatiiraUsmus, pp. 3-4. INTRODUCTIOIT. 13 the different fonns 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 gi'osser kind denies all particular revelation ; and the grossest of all considers the world as God. As to Ra- tionalism, 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." ^ 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 Hie 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 * De Eationalismi : A Disputation at Leipzig. 14 HISTOEY OF BATIONALISM. sight, or as one of tliein 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 pro- fesses to receive Christianity and at the same time to make reason the supreme arbiter in matters of faith, has done. Hieir 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 im- mutable and universal. Consequently anything which, on however good authority, may be advanced in ap- parent opposition to them must either be rejected as unworthy of ratioual' 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 disagree- ment with those princij^les.' When Christianity, then, is presented to them, they inquire what there is in it which agrees with their assumed principles, and whatso- ever does so agree, they receive as true. But whatever is true comes from God, and consequently all of Chris- tianity which they admit to be true, they hold to be divine. " ' Those who are generally termed Rationalists,' says Dr. Bretschneider, ' admit universally, in Chris- tianity, a divine, benevolent, and positive appointment for the good of mankind, and Jesus as a Messenger of ESTTEODUCTIOlSr. 15 divine Providence, believing that tlie true and everlast- ing 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 con- sider the object of Christianity to be that of introducing into the world such a religion as reason can compre- hend ; and they distinguish the essential from the un- essential, and what is local and temporary from that which is universal and permanent in Christianity/ There is, however, a thu^d class of divines, which in fact differs very little from this, though very widely in pro- fession. 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 reasonaUe^ and that though they allow in theory that revelation may con- tain what are technically called much above reason, yet in practice they reject the positive doctrines of Chris- tianity (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 theoiy but not in practice, and consequently 16 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. cannot justly demand to be separated from tlie others." ^ One of tlie ablest advocates of Snpernaturalism among English divines is the late Dr. A. McCaul, of London. He joins issue successfully with the Ration- alists. We quote a specimen of his method of argu- ment. 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 revela- tion from the Almighty, and maintains that to claim supreme authority for any supposed supernatural reli- gion is degrading to the dignity and the nature of man. It enters into du-ect 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 command ment 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 cer- tainly mean that there is some direct, immediate, and therefore supernatural communication Jfrom the great Creator of all things. The -writers who used these ex- pressions 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. * State of Protestantism in Oermany. pp. XXII-XXVI. INTEODUCTION. 1*? Tliey did not therefore liold tlie doctrine tliat super- natural revelation is impossible, or derogatory to reason or inconsistent witli tlie 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 his- tory 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 coui'se of nature. He enumerates as modes of revela- tion, Epiphanies of God himself, of angels — heavenly voices — dreams — afllatus, or the Holy Spirit. " How then does he reconcile this with his denial of all supernatural revelation, or show that these Epi- phanies 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 Scrip- ture 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 aU the particu- 18 HisTOEY OF rationalism: lar narratives of all sucli communications from God are incredible ; nothing better than ghost stories or fairy tales ; equally unworthy of God and man, the ofl:s])i-ing 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, ex- cept that it seems to be rather worse. Even Boling- broke admits supernatural Kevelation 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 J 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 partic- ularly, 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 oriving- man a certain intellectual constitution, to be unfolded by the cu-cumstances 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 Creatoi INTEODUCTIO]Sr. 19 to storten tlie process, to lielp man in Ms painM and often unsuccessful search after truth, and to make known that which exists in the Divine mind and pur- pose ? 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 iudependent 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." ^ M. Saintes, who has investigated the history of this subject more thoroughly than any other writer, says of the sio;nifications 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 indestruc- tible 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 lonojer exist. With this view we form an idea of Ra- tionalism similar to that conceived by the great Leib- nitz, which, with our present ideas of truth, we cannot regard as unreasonable. But this right of human reason to examine and discuss difi^'ers 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, * Thoughts on Rationalism, pp. 23-32. 20 HISTOKY OF KATIONALISM. however, lias been the case in modern times when Phi- losophy has openly avowed itself the enemy of Chris- tianity, 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 theo- logians 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 oj)inions 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 increas- ing 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 disj)osed to rise to the knowledge of the truth ; while one heavy laden and harassed is exceedingly prone to receive dog- mas without properly understanding their import, because it feels their truth throusfh the consolations which they ofi^er. In no a .e of Christianity has there arisen a serious discussion on this subject, though the extravagant pretensions of Rationalism have provoked some exaggerations which can never 23revail 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 infa^ lible 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 ESTTKODUCTION. 21 Christianity, wMcli lias been professed during eighteen centuries. But modern Rationalism has done more than assert the right of exercising reason ; it has pre- tended 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 preten- sions of developing the religious feelings to the highest degree ; and there is in the writings of its most distin- guished disciples something which arouses even the most lethargic minds. But it is far fi'om attaining its end ; for although it constitutes itself the supreme judge of Christianity, it does not really adopt one of the lead- ing doctrines of that religion which alone has power over the moral natm-e of man. Its influence, if we ob- serve it closely, extends only over his feelings ; it fails to penetrate into the dej^ths 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 8imj)le good sense forbids him to imagine it possible to profess Rationalism and at the same time to retain the name of Christian." ^ * Histoire du Bationalisme. pp. ]-6. 22 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. The most recent defence of Rationalism is by Mr. Lecky.^ He lias wiitten in great calmness, taken great pains to generalize his investigations, and followed closely in tlie steps of tke late Mr. Buckle, in his frag- ment of the History of Civilization. But his argu- ment 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 ser- vices 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 con- ception," 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 pre- side over the moral development of mankind, as a con- ception 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 excep- tion to the general law of progress, but rather the high- est 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 imamne 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 ' History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Nationalism in Europe. By W. E. H. Lecky, M. A. 2 vols. Longmans, London, 1865. INTEODUCTION. 23: exhibit new dimensions ; as the sun tliat is above them waxes more glorious in its power, tliey 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 in- finity 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 pi^ogress toward the fullest and most transcendent knowledge of the Deity. . . . It clustei's around a series of essentially Christian concep- tions— ecj^uality, fi'aternity, the suppression of war, the elevation of the poor, the love of truth, and the diffu- sion of liberty. It revolves around the ideal of Chris- tianity, 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 ethicsP ^ 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 ma- gician, has uplifted its wand ; and lo, the creatures of night disappear ! It has dispelled the foolish old no- tions of magic, witchcraft, and miracles. It has over- come 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-lighting, and all the lower forms of vicious pleasure. It has secularized ' History of the Rise and Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, vol. I., pp. 183-185. 24 HISTORY OF EATTONALISM. politics, overthrown tte notion of tlie divine riglit of kings, and now creates and fosters all the industrial developments of tlie age. Protestantism is excellent when allied to Eationalism ; 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 prede- cessors 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 Keason, 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 inquiiy by examining the doctrines it contains, and then by comparing them with our no- tions of what a Revelation ought to be. Thus the ca- pricious dictates of reason are made to decide the quality of revealed truth. Besides, wherever a mysterious ac- count is contained in a book which in the main is ac- cepted, 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 INTEODUCTIOT^^. 25 their opinions, were entitled to tlie 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. Bret- schneider, himself a Rationalist, gives the following classification of his confreres : The Ji?'st class consider Revelation a supei-stition, and Jesus either an enthusiast or a deceiver. To this class belong Wilnsch 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 him- self 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 super- natural 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, Loffler, Thiess, Henke, J. E. 0. 26 HiSTOEY OF kationalism:. Schmidt, De Wette, Paulus, Wegscheider, and Rohr. 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. Doder- lein, Morus, Reinhard, Ammon, Schott, Niemeyer, Bret- Schneider, 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 theo- logical writers would appear to have been violent Ra- tionalists, while the larger class would seem to have held the moderate opinions which Bretschneider him- self professes to adopt. The contrary is the fact, as, any one at all acquainted with the number of theologi- cal 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 van- tage-ground on which to wage deadly war against the text and doctrines of the Bible. The first antagonists INTRODUCTION. 2l of Christianity came irom without ; and tliey dealt tlieii* 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 Ra- tionalism 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 superstructm^e of divine inspiration, they were, in the eyes of the people, its strongest pillars, the accred- ited 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 Ra- tionalism 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 trans- muted 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 28 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. tlie cliurcli, wlio would say aught against our venerable mother? We love her clearly. 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 du- ties. 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 pros- perity, 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 de- structive 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 accom- plished. But human agencies achieve their legitimate results without regard to the motives that give them impulse. No doubt, many a Batioualist, as he looked back from his death-bed on the ruin to which he had contributed, trembled with astonishment at the poison- ous 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 rNTEODIJCTION. 29 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 con- trolled the professorial chairs could not believe for a Ions; time that men who had been chosen to teach theology were spending all their power in corrupting the religious sentiment of the land. Large congrega- tions were sometimes startled with stran2:e announce- ments 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 writ- ten at a later time and by other authors than those whose names are usually associated with them. " Het- erodoxy," was whispered. But the reply was, " Better have heterodoxy than these miserable disputes on Elec- tion 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 Ref- ormation never taught such things as these." But their sons would answer, " Oh, the world has grown much 30 HISTOKY OF RATIONALISM. wiser since tlieir day. New discoveries in pMlosopliy and science liave 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 chui^ch was dream- ing 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 de- liverance 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 theol- ogy 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 edi- fice, 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 ESTTEODUCTION. 31 arm is strong enougli and no axe sufficiently keen to cleave. Rationalism lias been striving to destroy a liouse wliicli was built upon a rock ; and if it fell not, tke 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 pmiiication of faith from the miscon- ceptions 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. Paulas tries to prove the great Saxon a Rationalist by the following circumstance. The Elector of Bran- denburg 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 Prot- estantism 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, 33 HISTOET OF EATIOITALISM. wliile tlie 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 utter- ances 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 for- ever discarded. But with the Rationalists there was an irreconcilable difference between Reason and Reve- lation, 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 w^as 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 Socra- tes, 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 con- siderations 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 attach ; 3. The spirit with which it conducts its warfare ; and 4. TIi£ success wliiclb it achieves. Let us see how Rationalism stands the test of these INTEODUCTION. 33 criteria. It must be confessed tLat tlie German Prot- estant churcli, both the Lutheran and Reformed, called loudly for reinvigoration. But it was Faith, not Rea- son, that could furnish the remedy. The Pietistic in- fluence was gaining ground and fast achieving a good work ; but it was reprobated by the idolaters of Rea- son, 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 remark- able religious doubt. It was the warmth of the heart, and not the cold logic of the intellect that could rejuve- nate the church. Nor do we find the position of Rationalism to be any better when we call to mind that it really ac- knowledges 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, ^vith here and there a quibble about a mii^acle 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 Rea- son 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 cor- rupt tendencies of infidelity which appears anywhere 3 34 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. upon tlie 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 fea- ture 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 mili- tary 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 com- mon faith of Christendom than Rationalism has pro- duced 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 Brief e iXher den Rationalismus, and other INTEODUCTION. 35 works wliicli 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 striv- ing to build up a land that had so long been cursed with the blight of Papacy, and had not yet been re- deemed a full century, this evil brought its quota of poison into the university, the pulpit, and the house- hold 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 Tier 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 va- garies 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 warn- ing against the increasing influx of Rationalistic ten- dencies fi'om France and England ; which lands had. first received them from Germany. One of our great dan- gers lies in permitting Reason to take our premises and build her own conclusions upon them. There is an in- timate union between theology and philosophy; and 36 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. anything less than tlie pursuit and cultivation of a sound pMlosopliy will endanger our theology. Tenny- son 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." CHAPTEK I. OONTROVEESIAL PERIOD SUCCEEDING THE REFORMATIOiT. A WORK of sucli magnitude as tlie Reformation could not easily be consummated in one generation. The real severance from tlie Roman Catholic churcli 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. Unfor- tunately, 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 mismanage- ment. 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 j few bold words from Martin Luther on the sanctity of ^vi *' that day, as the SciJiptui-es declare it, would have made >'lwK 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 Prot- estantism 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 defer- ence 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 38 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. power. We see in tliis very fact one of tlie underlying causes of the great Rationalistic defection. Tlie indi- vidual conscience was allowed almost no freedom ab certain periods. The slightest deviation from the mere expression of doctrine was visited with severe penalty. Strigel was imprisoned ; Hardenherg was deposed and banished ; Peucer doomed to ten years' imprisonment ; Cracau put to death on the slightest pretences ; and Huber was deposed and expatriated for a mere varia tion in stating the Lutheran doctrine that none are excluded from salvation.^ 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 Gonsuhstan- tiation they would have gained multitudes to the cause they both loved so dearly. Many other ques- tions, which unfortunately occuj)ied so much public attention, caused minute divisions among those who should have stood fii^m and united in that plastic period of the great movement. But it is to the numerous con- fessions of faith that we must attribute most of these controversies. Perhaps the grave character of the mas- ter-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 Melauchthon's celebrated Augsburg Confession^ in 1530. The Roman Catholics replied by their Confutation^ which, in turn, was an- swered by Melanchthon in the Apology of tlie Confes sion. Luther followed in 1536-'3'7 with his Articles 'of Smalcald, and still later by his two Catechisms. In * Pusey, Historical Inquiry, pp. 16, 17. CONTEOVEESIAL PEKIOD. 39 1577 came tlie Formula Concordioe^ and in 1580 the symbolical canon entitled Liber Concordiw. Amid tliis mass of doctrinal opinion in wliicli 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 An- tinomian 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 Adiaplioristic Gontroversy 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 na- ture of Orio-inal Sin. Then we have the Osiandrio Controversy ^ on the relation of justification to sanctifi- cation ; and the Crypto- Calviiiistic Controversy^ con- cerning the Lord's Supper, which extended through the Palatinate to Bremen and through Saxony. The Formula Concordke thus sums up the Lutheran contro- versies : 1. Against the Antinomians insisting on the 40 HISTOEY OF KATIONALISM, preacliing of tlie law. 2. Justification as a declarative act, against Osiander ; good works are its fruits. 3. Synergism is disavowed, but tlie difficulty left indefinite. 4. Adiapliora are admitted, but in times of trial de- clared 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 SyncretistiG Controversy was remarkable on account of the great men who engaged in it and the noble purpose which caused it. It arose from an at- tempt to reconcile all the disputants under the Apostles' Creed. George Calixtus was the chief actor in the move- ment. 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 his- tory. He applied himself first to the study of the Church Fathers, poring over their voluminous produc- tions 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 con- cluded 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 GermiJuy. Nor did he hasten from one placje to another, but continued a length of time, in order to become imbued with the local spirit, make the ac- quaintance of the most illustrious men, hold conversa- tions with them, and commit his thoughts to writing. GEORGE CALIXTUS. 41 On Lis return Le commenced the labors of a professor of theology at Heltnstedt. 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 acute- ness. Yet he received but little justice fi'om his gener- ation ; 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 peoj)le. To reconcile the various sects was the dream of his whole life. Referring to his early desires in this direction, he thus wi'ote in later years : " I was cogitating methods, even at that early age, for mitigating the feuds and dis- sensions of Christians. . . . One thing, however, is clear, that if men's minds were not bound by preju- dices, they would remit a great deal of rigor." ^ 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 wji\ 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. ^ Responsum Moguntinis Theologis, p. 129. 42 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. "What some of tliem were may be easily gathered from a passage in his course of lectui-es on the Four Evangel- ists 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 princi]3al point — so to explain the text of Scripture that men may understand what the Holy Spiiit chiefly and primarily intends to teach by it. Inasmuch, too, as the language is ad- dressed to the people, it is the part of prudence to de- cide 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 con- troversial 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 intelli- gent l^e left in suspense and be distm^bed 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 Aj^ostles 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 insti'ucted in the doctrine of salvation and of Christian morals. In the meantime we must do om' 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 thoi'ough." ^ ^ Cone. Uvang., in Ilenke, vol. I. p. 274, note. PEINC][PLES OF CALIXTUS. 43 In his first controversial work, Chief Points of the Cliristian Religion^ Calixtus gave expression to many- solid thouglits, whicli subsequently produced an abun- dant harvest. His Tlieological Apparatus was written for young ministers, and designed to meet the imme- diate 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 distin- guish 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 dis- pute about the quo modo. In stating these mysteries we should use the simplest language. There is a nat- ural 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 chui'ch to which his own conscientious convic- tions 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 44 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. meagre indeed if tlie cliurcli existed for tlie stringent Lutherans alone.^ But tlie 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 Re- formed church ; and Arianism and Judaism were im- puted to him, because he thought that |ihe 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 vili- fied 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 teimed by one individual "blood- hounds and perjurers." Another declared that " he tuned his lyre to Judaizers and Arianizers and Ro- manizers 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 the- ologians to looking deeper into the Scriptures than had been the practice since the Reformation, and estab- ' Dowding, Life and Correspondence of Calixtus^ pp. 313-315. PEOTESTAIITISM EISTOANGEEED. 45 lished the difference between tlie essential and non- essential in matters of faith. Tlie 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 prom- ise 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 gi'eat 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 46 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. there were men, thougli somewhat removed at fii'st 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 eri'or seemed every- where triumphant, God was secretly preparing the in strumentality 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 an- swer 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 fii'st 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 absm'd notions, of the fanaticism of his followers — for which he is not in the least chargeable — and of the many extravagances scat- tered 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 BOEHME AT WOEK. 47 was bom of poor peasant parentage in 1575 ; and, after being taugbt to read and write, was apprenticed to a shoemaker. His time was divided between reading bis 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 head- long pen, too precipitate for caligraphy, for punctuation, for spelling, for syntax, dashes on. The lines which darken down the waiting page are, to the writer, fur- rows, 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." ^ He was four times in ecstacy. He writes of him- ^ Hours with the Mystics^ vol. 2, p. 67. 48 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. self : " 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 gras]3 of the devil. And I have besought God to grant me his grace and Holy Spiiit, that he would lead me and take from me everything that would tend to alienate me fi'om 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 hundi'eds 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 fii^e 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 ex- treme modesty forbade the publication of it ; and it was first discovered accidentally in manuscript by a nobleman who was visiting him. Of the literary char- acter of his works Schlegel says : " If we consider him merely as a poet, and in comparison with other Chris- tian 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 JOHN AENDT. 49 expression and single beauties he does not stand a wliit 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 misappre- hensions. The service he rendered the church and the cause of truth was important ; and his influence is still felt u23on 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 de- fects of his day. He first yielded to the prevalent pas- sion 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 Qliristianity has enjoyed, not only while its author lived, but at every period since that time. He was induced to Atrite it on account of the controversial and formal spirit which petrified the church. In a letter to Duke Au- gustus, in 1621, he thus explained his motives : " I have first endeavored to withdraw the minds of students and preachers from this disputation and contentious theol- ogy 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 4 50 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. to the real exercise of faitli 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 Eu- ropean languages, and missionaries rendered it into heathen tono-ues. The Roman Catholics received it, and claimed it as one of their treasures. When Pro- fessor Anton visited the Jesuit Library at Madrid, in 1687, he inquired for the best ascetical vn:"iter. The librarian produced a copy of Arndt's True Christianity, which, though without j^reface or introduction, had this simple expression on the first page : " This hooTc is more edifying tlian all others^ The spirit with which Arndt wrote all his works was calm and heavenly. He possessed that beautiful Mo- ravian tyjDe 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 appre- ciation of the wants of his time and his unwearied ef- forts to meet them successfully. He did not escape the censui-e of mysticism ; for that was morfe than any devout spirit in that age could expect. Some of the most learned took umbrage at his ai'dent senti- JOHN GEEHAED. 51 ments and bitter complaint at tlie impiety of his times. The opposition to him was well organized, and continued louo- after his death. Even at the end of the seventeenth century we find various writers re- plying 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 un- frequent occurrence for minds in Germany, even at the present day, to be led to accept the truths of the Gosj^el 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. Superintend- ent Wagner only gave expression to the world's real conviction when he wrote of him : " Vir placidus^ can- didus, phis et doctusy A personal friend and spiritual son of Arndt, John Gei'hard, 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 unrufiled, his piety deep and lasting. He was more serviceable in some respects to the interests of the orthodox cliurch 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 contem- plation and to the study of theology. His mental ca- pacities 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 di- vinity ; and, somewhat later, was the most famous and admired of all the professoi's of the university of 52 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Jena. His influence was sucli that princes placed themselves before him for his counsel, and the highest ecclesiastical tribunals deemed themselves honoi'ed in receiving a share of his attention. His works embrace the departments of exegesis, doctrine, and practical re- ligion. But it was chiefly the two former branches of the- ology that engaged his attention. In his Exegetical ExpliGation 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 in- definable 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 con- clusions carried great weight with them. As a speci- men of his tedious method, he begins his discussion of original sin with the questions, " Is there such a thing as oi'iginal sin ? Then, what is it ? What is its sub- ject ? How is it continued?" Many other inquiries are made in the same manner, but it is only after a hun- dred pages have been passed over that he gives his own definition of it. But we should not smile at such lati- tude 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 seven- teenth century. But it may be said, in their defence, that the method of verbose composition was not with- out some appearance of utility. The intelligence of the reader could not be relied upon to such an extent as ANDEEA. 53 now, and the eager eyes of so many opponents made it necessary to guard every word of importance witli a wall of sentences. We have now to mention a fourth actor in the great drama of these dangerous times, John Valentine Andrea. His mind was not of the serious tone that marked the other writers of whom we have spoken. That he look- ed deeply, calmly, and wisely into the surrounding evils no one can doubt. Every work he wrote estab- lished this fact. But the method which he adopted to cure them was of a totally different order from that employed by others. His personal histoiy 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 coiu, as a pocketpiece. Her eyes follow him until they are blinded in a flood of tears. Years pass on and Valentine comes home, hav- ing 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, ded- icated to all the great men of Europe, and entitled, Tlie Discovery of the Brotherhood of the Honorable Order of the Holy Gross. This work aims to show that there had once lived a certain Christian Rosenkranz. He was a man of remarkable learning, and communi- cated his knowledge to eight disciples, who lived with him, in a house called the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 64 HISTOEY or EATIONALISM. This building has come to light, and behold the uucor- rupted body of Kosenkranz, who has been dead a hun- dred 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 re- ligion. 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 Andrea'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 ad- vice of the earnest disciples of Kosenkranz. On seeing that he had caused some mischief, Andrea wrote book after book affirming that his previous one on Christian Rosenkranz was a pure fiction intended to teach a use- ful 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 Andrea, the reaction was tremendous. Perhaps no satire, not even the Lcms Stultitim of Erasmus, created such a fury of excitement as this ; seldom has one been followed with more astounding and beneficial results. We say benefi- cial from purpose ; for Andrea succeeded in attracting the popular mi)id from its old habits of controversy. This was his great service. As a man he was of unex- ceptionable life and ardent sympathies. He passed PEEPAEATOET WOEKEES. 55 peacefully to Hs 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 jDlaced upon them. Each one had his special endowment, and was eminently quali- fied 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 moun- tains echo back the shouts of victory ! CHAPTER II. RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH AT THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA— 1648. Theological steife was the precursor of tlie all-de- vastating Thirty Years' War. The forces had been long at work before the fearful carnage began. The princi- ples 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 Ru- dolph II. had, in 1609, guaranteed to Bohemia the lib- erty of Protestantism, but his successor, Matthias, vio- lated the pledge by preventing the erection of a Protest- ant church edifice. The imperial councillors were cast out of the window; the priests driven off; and the Elector Fi-ederick V. of the Palatinate, chosen King of Bohemia. But the Protestants were overcome. Ferdi- nand 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 uncondi- tional liberty to suppress Protestantism in their heredi- tary countries.^ The fearful carnage commenced in bit- ^ Kurtz, Church History, vol. 11, p. 177. THIETY TEAES' WAE. 5T ter earnestness. No war was ever carried on witla more desperation ; none can be found more repulsive in bru- tality, 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 de- nominate 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 excep- tions, over the entire extent of Germany. Some por- tions of that singularly picturesque country were per- mitted to hope for immunity from its devastations ; but, by and by, they too were visited ; and all that re- mained 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 Wlirtemberg, for ex- ample, 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 Wlirtemberg and many of the Rhenish rulers were compelled to seek an asylum in Strasburg. The Margrave of Baden-Durlach was a ref- 68 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. ugee to Switzerland; Dukes Adolpli Frederic I. and John II. of Mecklenburg fled to Liibeck.^ 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 Ehine-lands were left, alive. Saxony lost nine hundred thousand of her citi- zens 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 partici- pants 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 re- ply when some of his officers (utterly horrified at what * Tholuok, Das Eirchliche Lehen des Siebzehnten Jahrhunderts. Erste Abtheilung. For much information in the present chapter we are greatly indebted to this valuable repository. THIRTY YEAKS' WAE. . 59 tliey 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 pre- sented 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 per- ished." ^ 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 con- tinued unabated until it was crowned with triumph. The peace of Westphalia, which concluded the protract- ed struggle, secured the abolition of the oppressive De- cree of 1635 ; granted legal rights to the Protestant churches ; established Lutheranism in Central Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Livonia ; recognized the Swiss and Dutch Kepnblics ; and, under certain con- ditions, allowed future changes of religion by princes and people.^ The religious effect of the first few years of this san- ^ Dowding, Life and Correspondence of Calixtus, pp. 153-154. * R. B. Smith, D. D., History of Church of Christ in Chronological Talles, pp. 56-61. 60 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. guinary period was beneficial. There were indications of more seriousness in common life, and a deeper love of truth among the thinking circles. The people mani- fested a disposition to trust in the Divine arm for de- liverance from their sorrows ; and this new confidence developed itself particularly in benefactions for the im- poverished 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 des- peration. 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 every- thing, and even secular questions, that they might ex- cite 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." ^ It shall now be our business to inquire into that dwarfed vitality which Kahnis elevates so higb as to de- nominate " religion." We believe that, in all the coui-se of ecclesiastical history on the Continent, no period of equal intelligence is marked by the same degree of re- ligious coldness and petrifaction. Theology was a spe- cial sufferer. The most useful departments were neg- lected, while the least essential were raised to superla- tive importance. Andrea places the following language ' History of German Protestantism^ p. 21. ECCLESIASTICAL DECLENSIOI^. 61 on tlie neglect of the study of cliurcli history, in the mouth of Truth : " History, since she is exiled with me, readily consents to he silent and laughs at the expe- rience 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 woi-ld. 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 ChristiauopoUs^ or ideal Christian state, he says: "Since the inhabitants of Chris tianopolis 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 to- gether, received into covenant, formed by laws enforced by his word ; by what weak instruments it was ex- tended, by what mighty engines attacked, by what man- ifest 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 emei'ged from des]3erate circumstances, and especially in this our G2 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. age under the miglity 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 vicis- situdes 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 syllo- gism 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 indoctri- nation 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 ti-ained in the elements of religious knowledge. His express lan- guage, 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 lee-- ITEGLECT OF THE YOUNG. 68 tares intended for cliildren ; but they were often at unsea- sonable 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 catecTietical 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 Chris tian 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 contra- dicted or even laughed at by many uninstructed preach- ers, 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. Mean- time this duty is by many considered so ridiculous that there are preachers who think it degrading to their dig- nity 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 school- masters ; for these are almost wholly unfit to discharge 64 HI8T0ET OF KATIONALISM. them on account of their own meagre attainments. But preachers should recollect that the souls of the youtli are intrusted to them, and that they must give an ac- count 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 phices 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 oliject 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 counte- nance 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 he interpreted ill^ or thought he- low tlieir 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 yoifth 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 them- selves. 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 thor- oughly and spiritually what is the will of God in ftiith 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 THEOLOGICAL LTTEEATUEE DEFECTIVE. 65 avert !) I liold 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 lan- guages; 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 preposte- rously, the matters essential to ultimate success), the boys are made to proceed, or rather leap, to higher sub- jects; 'real' subjects, as we have learned to call them. Pedagogues of this stamp seem to themselves learned, w^hilst they are teaching what they have never them- selves mastered ; and what their scholars neither under- stand, 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 ; disput- ing in a circle of children about Anti-Christ and the doctrine of predestination." ^ The theological literature of these times was volumi- nous 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 pub- lishes to such an extent as Protestant Germany in the nineteenth century ; but one cannot be adequately con- ' Orationes Selectee^ Henke, vol. 1, pp. 285-286. 5 66 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. vinced of tlie extent of the literary activity of her the- ologians of the former half of the seventeenth century without loitering among the alcoves of her antiquarian bookstores of the present day. The dusty tomes tes- tify, by their multitude and care, to the character of the ecclesiastical age that gave them birth. The Ger- mans 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 Tubingen, 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 auc- tion ; the professor considers it a white day when a re- plenished purse and the sale of an old library are si- multaneous facts. And when the hour arrives, the prep- arations 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 refresh- ments 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 defi- ciency 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 theolo- PEOLIX THEOLOGICAL LITEEATUEE. 67 gians, that " they were highly learned but deficient in sci- entific spirit, freedom from prejudice, destitute of compre- hensive and discriminating views, without which mere knowledge is useless." An illustration is furnished in Ca- lov's mammoth production, entitled, Systema locorum TJieologicorum e sacra potissimum scri/ptura et antiqui- tate^ nee non adversariorwn confessione doctrinam^ p^ax- ia et controversiarum fidei, cum veterum turn in2J7^imis recentiorum pertractationem lucidentam exhihens. 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, Eeligion, 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 im- portant questions propounded is : " Are the Calvinists to be considered heretics, and do they not teach very dangerous erroi's ? " Of course an affirmative reply is returned with cogent reasons therefor. At the end of this part there is a prolix re- cital 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 coMsce prinGipales, et minus princi- pales, instrumentales, efficientes, materiales, formates, ■finales. Under the latter, a definition w^s prefixed to each article, which comprised the whole doc- trine of the church and all the opposed heresies. This was then redundantly illustrated until the sul)ject was supposed to be exhausted. Schertzer, in his doctrinal 68 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. work, begins witli a defiuition of Christ, and occu- pies three quarto pages with one sentence. We ven- ture 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 Theolo- gia iJositiva 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 cen- tury. 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 pro})hets ; 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 writ- ten. 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 excitino^ controver- sies of which we have spoken, the death-blow was given to Scriptural interpretation. The method of theologi- cal study was to spend the first year in learning what is orthodox. The second was occupied in obtaining a DECLElSrSIOlSr OF PREACHING. 69 knowledge of controversies ; the third was devoted to the Scriptures, a more intimate knowledge of contro- versial 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 univer- sities 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 uni- versities. There, however, most are borne, as by a tor- rent, with the multitude ; they flock to logical, meta- physical, ethical, polemical, physical, pneumatical lec- tures and what not ; treating least of all those things whose benefit is most permanent in their future ofiice, 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 tex- ture. It assumed a rhetorical and poetical appearance ; the people calling it the Italian style. Petrarch had given shape to Italian thought, and through his influ- ence 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'' Emblem- atical sermons were sometimes delivered in lengthy series. 70 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. Christopher Sunday descanted on the Perpetual Heart- Calendar^ treating of genera and species, and di- viding 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 use- ful 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 Moses and Flowers. Daniel Keck preached a discourse in 1642 from Romans viii. 18, calling his subject "The Apostolic Syllogism," dividing it into suhject., predicate^ and condusion. The subject, suffering^ was again divided into wicked^ volun- tary^ 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, \Das ', third, small stature. Application ^r^?;, The text teaches us the variety of God's works ; second., it con- soles 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 Cliristian songs which have touched the hearts of many generations, — the immortal Hermann von Koben ? 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 DECLENSION OF PEEACHING. 71 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 hite, and a good hiss ^ " wherefore his transition was made to the theme under consideration : " an increase of my salary^ But it is needless to continue illustra- tions of the almost universal dearth of preaching. One hardly knows whether to laugh at its absurdity or weep over its prostitution. Andrea's caustic pen revelled in satire at the de preciation of this important agency of good. Some of his ideas are by no means ill-timed in the present cen- tury. In the Dialogue of the Pulpit Orator he thus speaks : ^ 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 ? ^. If a sermon he good it canH he too long : a had 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 ? * We use Dr. E. B. Pusey's version of Andrea's words. 72 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 fu- neral 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. CLEEICAL IMMOEALITY. 73 B. It is incomparably liarsTier, however, to openly contradict oneself before God botli in words and works, and to convert tlie divine service into an empty clatter of words. A. Yoii 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 ex- ceptions to all the examples of declension that we have adduced, and that there were also exemplary illustra- tions 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 aban- doned. The scenes of clerical immorality are enough to chill one's blood even at the distance of more than two centuries. The preachei^ 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 in- tellectual 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, ^74 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 sus- pended shall remain so until they give proof of a reforma- tion." 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 Detzboll 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. Subse- quently 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. Pay ens 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 Chris- >7K COEEUPT UNIVEESITY LITE. 75 tianity, that T 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." HI. When some women went out af- ter the sermon, he called after them, and told them that if they would not sto23 to receive the blessing they would have his curse ; " not guilty." IV. He had co- habited 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 J am very much afraid that this will liappen againP At a Dispu- tation 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 hear- ing 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 '^6 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. life. They were guilty of deeds of tlie grossest immo- rality, sucli indeed as would disgrace a less enlightened people than the Germans at that period.-^ The great moral decline of the clergy was confined chiefly to the Lutheran church. The Reformed was ear- nest, 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 con- servative power of Protestantism. As might be ex- pected, 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 wit- nessed 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 peas- antry were not blessed with even the crumbs of truth ; the pulpit was perverted to a cathedra for the declama- tion 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 M602: Der Frau Gerlacli (Prof. Theol.) Tochter ist in Geschrei, dass sie mit einem kinde gelie. 1613 : Dr. Happrecht's Tochter hat ihre Jung- frauschaft verloren. 1622: Dr. Magirus klagt dass seine Frau die Dienstbo- tenihm nicht ziir Disposition stelle, mit den AUmentis nicht zufrieden sei, immer Giiste einlade, und viel herum laufe. Frau Magirus klagt ihrea Ehemann des Ehebruchs an. Tholuck, Deutsche Wnwersitdten. Vol. 1, pp. 145--148. Also Dowding, Life and Correspondence of CaUxtvs, pp. 132-133. POPULAR SKEPTICISM. YT life of the clergy was corrupt and odious to tlie Chris- tian 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 be- came 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 be- ginning to prevail among the noble and wealthy. The deference which the E-eformers paid to the princes led the latter to a too free exercise of their power, and there are numberless instances of their despotic usur- pations. They claimed supreme control over the re- ligious interests of their jurisdiction, and came into fre- quent conflict with the ecclesiastical tribunals. They maintained a tolerable show of religion, however, consid- ering it a matter of prime importance to have the ser- vices 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 163Y a letter from which we take the following words : " I would much rather be silent concerning my sore misfortune, which I am here under- going 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 be- lieve." A writer of 1630 describes three classes of skeptics among the nobility of Hambui'g ; 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 78 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. religions have a germ of trutli ; and thirds those who^ confessing that there must be one true religion, are un- able to decide whether it is papal, Calvinist, or Luther an ; 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 an- tiquity ; and, with them, there was but a slight differ- ence between the sublime utterances of inspiration and the masterpieces of pagan genius. We find in a cate. chism of that time that the proverbs of Cato and the Minii Puhliani constitute an authorized appendix. A practical infidelity, beai'ing the name of Epicu- reanism, prevailed even before the war ; and it became more decided and injurious as the war j)rogressed. The highest idea of religion was adherence to creed. Princes w^ho 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 testi- mony 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 tlie 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 abate- POPULAE IMMOEALITY. 79 ment. Drunkenness was very common, and even the highest dignitaries set but a sorry example in this respect. The Court of Ludwig of Wiirtemberg estab- lished 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 foot- steps 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 indulo-ed themselves to an excessive extent. Even funeral occa- sions were made to subserve the dissipating spirit of these times*; they were the signal for hilarity and feast- ing. 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 80 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. costly wines, and the people gave themselves up to feasting and rioting until far into the night." The com- mon 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 inhabi- tants ; but it could claim thirty -four breweries to supply them with beer. During the war, in 1631, that num- ber rose to seventy. But it is needless to particularize the phases of pop- ular immorality as they existed in the time of which we speak. It is enough to say that all classes be- trayed a growing disgust at religion and a gradual de- cline 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 disarrani^ed and weakened, there must now be a reawakening, or the labors of Luther and his coadju- tors will be swept away. The popular mind should be deflected from controversy, and l)ecome united, at least on some points of faith aud theory. The pulpit needs a thorough regeneration, and the Gospel should reach the masses by a natural aud earnest method. The uni- versity system calls for reorganization, and a rigid cen- sorship exercised upon the teachings of the professors. Childhood must be no longer neglected, and the illite- rate must become indoctrinated into the elements of Scriptural truth. The prevalent social evils should re- ceive 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 pre- A PLAN NECESSAEY. 81 paratory, but not liomogeneous ; and what is now needed to make theii' writings and example permanently- effective, is a plan for infusing new life into the church. Then there must be inflexible system and heroic deter- mination for the consummation of such a plan. When the demand became most imj^erative, the great want was supplied. Let all the records of prov- idential 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. 6 CHAPTEK III. PIETISM AND ITS MISSION. If any apology can be offered in defence of the ecclesiastical evils already recounted, it will be, that tlie fearful devastations of tlie long warfare liad wrought the public mind into a feverish and unnatural state. We must not, therefore, pass that cold criticism uj^on 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 numer- ous 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 sea- son of great national affliction should have engen- dered. 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 prepara- tion of mind or heart to derive improvement from it. Had some provision been made, had t'leology not abounded in idle disputes, and had the moral education IMPEOVEMENT OF THE CLEEGY. 83 of the masses been faitlifally cared for, instead of tlie evils "wMcli have been so reluctantly related, there would have been a lengthy succession of glowing in- stances of devout piety. And Protestantism, instead of emerging from th-e 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 com- menced his reformatory labors, he expressly and repeat- edly declared that he did hot 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 triimiph 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 meta- phor and classical quotations. Miiller and Scriver serve 84 HISTOET OF RATIONALISM. 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 behold- ing the fruit of their labors. For a better spirit mani- fested itself also among the lower classes. A singular interest arose in sacred music. Not only in those ven- erable Gothic Cathedrals, so long the glory of the Ko- man Catholic Church, but in the field and the work- shop there could be heard the melodies of Luther, Sachs, and Paul Gerhard. Young men appeared in numbers, offering themselves as candidates for the min- istry. But let it not be supposed that these encourag- ing 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 promi- nence 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, revealins: the real wants of the latter half of the seven- teenth 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 his- tory of the Church prove that reform has originated .from no concerted action of the body needing reforma- tion, but from the solemn conviction and persevering efforts of some single mind, which, working first alone, PEETISM A NECESSITY OF THE TIMES. 85 lias afterward won to its assistance many others ? Its work tlien 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 Chui'ch 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 ^^erfectly 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 ecclesiolcB in eccle- sia ; 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 con- temporaries that they were strict adherents of truth and warm supporters of spiritual life. But their reasoning, however baseless, found favor; and the Church gradu- ally came to look upon Pietism not as a handmaid, but as an adversary. But we must fii'st 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 develop- ment of Protestantism, — a supplement of the Reforma- tion. 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 toy former period. What if Arnold, and Petersen and liis wife, did indulge in great extravagances ? Have not the same unpleasant things occmTed in the Church at other 86 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. times ? Yet, because not classed under any secfarian name, there lias been but a transient estimate placed upon tliem, and criticism has been mercile'3S. Is not every good institution subject to perversion at any time ? We believe Dorner to be correct, and that Spe- ner was the veritable successor of Luthei and Melanch- thon. A recent author, who has shown a singular facility in grouping historical periods and discovering their great signilicance, says : " Pietisrn went back fi^om 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 beofinnino: 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 J this : Mistaking the faith by which we believe for the faith which is believed. The principle of the Reforma- tion was justification by fiiith, not the doctrine of faith and justification. In r^.^ply to the Catholics it was deemed suflicient to show that this was the true doc- trine 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 elahoration of the fixith 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 aubeelen's testimony. 87 faith consist less in tlie dogmatism of tlie liead than in the motions of the heart ; he would bring, the doctrine away from the angry disputes of the schools and incor- porate it into practical life. He was thoroughly united with the Eeformers as to the real signification of justi- fying 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 fur- nished with the gospel and the sacraments, was consid- ered an evangelical country. The contrast between mere worldly and spiritual life, between the living and dead members of the Chui'ch, 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 be- lieved they had done theii^ whole duty when they had roundly combated the other Christian Chui'ches. 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 Wiirtemberg 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, 65 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. he cannot possibly miss heaven ; holiness is not so necessary after all.' " ^ 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 healthftil 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 salva- tion ; 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 coadju- tors 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 theo- logical means of improvement : I. That the scholastic theology, which reigned in the academies, and was com- posed 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 ^ Auberlen : Die Oottliche Offenlarung^ vol. I., pp. 278-281. The sec- ond volume of this important work has been completed, but the gifted au- thor has just died. His book must therefore take its place in the catalogue of brilliant but hopeless fragments. SPEXEE AS A YOUTH. 89 entirely neglected. III. That all mixture of philoso- phy and human science with divine wisdom was to be most carefally 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 theol- ogy drawn from these unerring sources of truth. V. That the whole course of theii' education should be so directed as to render them useful in life, by the practi- cal power of their doctrine, and the commanding influ- ence of their example.^ The founder of Pietism, Philip Jacob Spener, was in many respects the most remarkable man of his cen- tury. 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 instruc- tion of the younger Buxtorf, he made the customary tour of the universities. He visited Basle, Tubingen, Freiburg, Geneva, and Lyons ; spending three years be- fore his I'eturn 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 some- what from the course of theology — at least certain branches of it — and he became greatly fascinated with heraldry. But gradually he identified himself mth 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 ' Watson, Theolog. Diet. Art. Protestant Pietists. 90 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. he assumed tlie same office in Frankfort-on-tlie-Main. Here the field opened fairly before Mm, and, confident of success, lie began the work of reform. The instruction of children in the doctrines of Chris- tianity, as we have already said, had been sadly neg- lected, because the pastors of the church had committed the task to less competent hands. Spener detennined that he would assume complete control of the matter himself, and, if possible, teach the children during the week without any cooperation. 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 cai^acity, 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 diffi- cult points that were not fully understood, and enlarged on the plain themes of the gospel. These meetings were the Collegia Pietatis, or Schooh of Pevotiofi, which gave the first occasion for the reproachful epithet of Pietism. They brought upon their founder much op- position and odium, but were destined to produce an abundant harvest throughout the land. Spener enter- tained young men at his own house, and prepared them, by careful instruction and his own godly example, for great ministerial usefulness. These, too, were nur- tured in the collegia, and there they learned how to deal with the uneducated mind and to meet the great wants of the people. Thejneetings were, at the outset, GllOWDTG INFLUENCE OF SPEKER. 91 scantily attended, but they increased so mucli 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 De- sideria. Here he laid down his platform : Tliat the word of God should he 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 hindness, moderation, and an effort to convince shoidd be observed toicard tlieological opponents i that great efforts shoidd he made to have worthy and divinely-called young men properly instructed for the ministry ; and that all preachers shoidd 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 opj)osition with which he met. As long as he taught in private he escaped all general an- tagonism ; but on the publication of his work he be- came the mark of envy, formalism, and higli-churchism. After he was invited to Dresden in 1686, the state church indicated a decided disapprobation of his meas- ures. 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 coui't-preacher was invited to Dresden, but behold, nothing but a school teacher ! " He deemed it his duty to accept the invitation of Frederic of Bran- denburg 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. En- dowed with the most childlike nature, he was never- 92 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. tlieless 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 contro- versy, 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 Witten- berg 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 cor- respondence. He answered six hundi'ed 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 Consis- tory, and was engaged in its sessions ft'om 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 j)ower to cast reproach upon his name. They even maligned his moral character, which had FEANCKE. 93 hitlierto stood above reproach. It was a grave question at tlie hostile universities whether the term Beatiis Spener could be used of him. Professor Tech, of Ro- stock, 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 whcv 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 knowl- edge, and practical preaching throughout the land. It had already been a place of instruction, but not of theo- logical 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 inter- course 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 meet- ings, that Francke was suspended and Pietism for- biddeu. 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 fiiends gave him more trouble than 94 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. all his enemies." But lie 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 repu- tation. 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 con- version 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 fi'om the words, " But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that be- lieving 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 w^ondered 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 1 had only been dreaming, and now for the first time had waked up. I was convinced that the whole world, with all its tempo- ral joy, could not kindle up such pleasure in my breast," A few days afterwards he preached from the same text as before. The sermon w^as the first real one that he had preached. Henceforth his heart was in the work for which God had chosen him. THE OEPHAN HOUSE AT HALLE. 95 He preacLed in Halle statedly, for, in addition to the duties of tlie professor's chair, he was pastor of a church. His ministrations in the pulpit became extremely popu- lar 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 ftiith 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 tJie Old Testament^ concluding; with a second one on the New Testament. In 1712, he published his Hermeneiitical Lectures^ containing his comments on sections and books of Scrip- ture, 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 Avould be merely a sacred philosophy — -pMlosopJiia de rebus sacris ; sec- ond^ 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 gener- ation 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 pres- ent, 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 con- vene 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 96 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. 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 distri- bution of such funds. During three months one person deposited four thalers arfd 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 childi-en 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 depositoiy and school-room; but in a short time his pupils so greatly increased that he hired adjacent accommodations. Voluntary contribu- tions came in freely ; new buildings were erected, and teachers provided ; and before the death of the founder, the entei-prise had grown into a mammoth institution, celebrated throughout Europe, and scattering the seeds of truth into all lands.^ It became a living proof that Pietism was not only able to combat the religious errors ^ Schinid, GescMchte des Pietismus, pp. 290-293. How greatly this movement was favored by Providence, may be seen from the Eeport 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. SPREAD OF PIETISM. 97 of the times but also to grapple witli the gi'ave 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 1 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 uj)on the sea-shore ; as the stars in the heavens ; so numerous that I cannot number them ! " The theological instruction of Francke and his co- adjutors in the University of Halle was very influential. During the first thirty years of its history six thousand and thirty-four theologians were trained 'wdthin 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. Zurich, Basle, Berne, and all the larger towns received it with glad- ness. It penetrated as far east as the provinces border- ing 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 Re- 7 98 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. formed 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 rrmnij zealous Christian ministers and lay- men as in the first forty years of the eighteenth century r 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 Separa- tist. 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 discov- ered and fully exposed the errors which have been especially committed by the Englishman Cave ; he has rrialntained that the Church of Christ, with respect to life and conduct, had begun to fall into decay imme- diately after the ascension of our Saviour, and still more after the death of the Apostles, and that this THOMASIUS. 99 degeneracy had enormously increased since the age of Constantine the Great." -^ 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 corrup- tions of education, society, and religion. He opposed the custom of teaching and lecturing in Latin, warmly advocating the use of French, and subsequently of Ger- man. He wished to cultivate the German sj^irit, 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 hence- forth 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 tor- ture in criminal trials. He was a thorough and indefati- gable reformer. His name was a tower of strength in his generation ; and he left a vivid impress upon the German mind of the eighteenth centmy. 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 de- plorable to see how Pietism now began to lose its first power and earnest sj^irit. The persistent inquiry into ^ Schmid, Geschichte des Pietismus, pp. 475-480, 100 HISTORY OF RATIONALISM. scriptural trutli passed over into a tacit acquiescence of the understanding. Keliance was placed on tlie convic- tions, more tlian 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 de- luded 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, dwin- dled from want of means and men. External life be- came 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 Luther- an theologian should be appointed in a Prussian pulpit who had not studied at least two years in Halle, and re- ceived 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 en- BEFGEL. 101 joyed tlie royal patronage, and Halle, instead of being the school of practical piety and scriptural study, de- generated 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 remem- bered that their work was restorative, not initial. Pietism, though it ceased its aggressive power after Francke and Thomasius, was destined to exert a repro- ductive 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 evan- gelical portion of the German church. Witness Bengel, who was -a Pietist of the Spener school. He was warmly devoted to the spread of prac- tical truth and a correct understanding of the Bible. Kahnis says of him : " We might indeed call conscien- tiousness 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 chui^ch 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 Olmrch Gazette^vuX^'-ll, ^ and among 102 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. the celel:)rities who attached themselves to it we find the names of Heinroth, von Meyer, Schubert, von Rau- mer, Stefifens, 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 Luther- anism was in failing to adopt it as its child. The skepti- cal 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 Chui'ch of the Future will still cling as tenaciously and fondly to it or to its representative. CHAPTER IV. THE. POPULAR PHILOSOPHY OF WOLFF— SKEPTI^JAL TEN- DENCIES FROM ABROAD. The struggle between tlie Pietists and the Ortliodox subsided on the appearance of Wolffs demonstrative philosophy. The church was glad enough to offer the friendly hand to Pietism when she saw her faith threat- ened 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 dii-ections.^ 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 reve- lation on the principle that two truths cannot contradict each other. His doctrine of monads and preestablished harmony was opposed to the scriptural and ecclesiasti- cal doctrine of creation, inasmuch as by the assumption of the existence of atoms the Creator was thrown too much in the shade.^ He wrote his Theodicee for the benefit of learned and theological circles, and both as a ^ Farrar, Critical History of Free Thought^ p. 214. ^ Hagenbach, History of Doctrines^ vol. 2, p. 340. 104 mSTOEY OF RATIONALISM. statesman and author lie acquired great celebrity for Ms vast acquirements and discriminating mind. But tlie pliilosoj)liy of Leibnitz was confined to tlie learned ; and liad it been left solely to itself, it is prob- able 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 argu- ment, wj^ich, with such others of his own as he felt dis- posed 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 mani- fest 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 cii'- cumstances 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 Koman 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 after- wards 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 WOLFr's PHILOSOPHY. 105 explain Wolff's whole system. He would make doctrine so plain by mathematical demonstration tliat it must be accepted. But tlie poison of liis theory lay in tlie 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 tlieoreUcal : second, the prac- tical. The former he subdivides into logic, metaphysics, and physics ; the latter into morals, natural right, and politics. He admits a revelation, and proves its possi- bility 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 prin- ciples. 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 partic- ular, 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 a23pear to con- tradict 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 106 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. the contradictions. Fourtli. Kevelation cannot com- mand 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 pub- lications 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 em- braced 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 defini- tions, and frequent mathematical phrases. Think of the clergy feeding their flocks on such food as the fol- lowing : " God — a being who su/pports all the world at one tirne y'''' " Pre'estcd)lished harmony' — tlie eternal union of things j " " Ratio siifficiens — the sufficient ground : " with many other arid definitions of the same class. WOLFF. 107 One preacher, in explaining tlie eiglitli chapter of Mat- thew, thought it necessary, when noticing the fact of Jesns 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 cham- pions 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 '■'' Tlie Divine Writings before the time of Jesns ^ the Messiah. The First Pm% containing the Laws of the Israels^ The Wolffian adepts wrote for Moabites, Moahs ; for the Apostle Peter, Peter the Ambassador. Wolff's life was full of incident. The first publica- tions he issued after his appointment to the math- ematical professorship were on subjects within his appropriate sphere of instruction. Here he first ac- quired his fundamental principle of mathematical de- monstration 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 108 HISTOEY OF EATIOITALISM. Bishop Colenso. In a late catalogue of bis Tvorks, 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 " Rea- mnahle Thoughts of God^' ^^ Natural Theology ^^^ and ^^ Moral Philosophy. ^^ of Christian Wolff. The mathe- matical 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 enthu siastically. The Eector of the university, Francke, re- quested 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 j)ropagated any further they would pro. cluce 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 rC' called him, in 1740, to his former position. He was re- ceived, 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 theii* towns, and anxiously \ Wolff's influence. 109 awaited my arrival. Wlien 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 mul- titude 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 re- ceived 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 cen- tury has not fully disabused them of its errors. The phi- losophy of Kant was the first to supplant the Wolfian in learned cii'cles ; but Kant has had no such popular interpreter as Wolff was of Leibnitz, and hence his influ- ence, though deep where prevalent, was felt in a more limited sphere. Wolff cannot be termed a Eationalist in the common acceptation of the term, though his doc- trines contributed to the growth of neological thinking. Had he been theologian alone, and applied his prin- ciples 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 obeservance of the ecclesiastical institutions of 110 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. his day, and always professed tlie warmest attachment to the church, — which was anything but the fact, as far as the followers of Semler are concerned. Wolff wi^ote on a circular announcing some university celebra- tion 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 min- ister. Signed, Christian Wolff, lYlY." Of the relations of the Wolffian philosophy to the theology of one century ago, and of its general Kation- alistic bearing, Mr. Farrar says, "The system soon became universally dominant. Its orderly method possessed the fascination which belongs to any encyclo- paedic view of human knowledge. It coincided, too, with the tone of the age. Keally opposed, as ' Carte- sianism 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 liter- ary tastes. The evil effects which it subsequently pro- duced 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 revela- tion. By suggesting attempts to deduce d prioi'i 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 pre- vious method of drawing philosophy out of Scripture, an independent philosophy was created, and Scripture THE WOLFFIAN SCHOOL. Ill compared with its discoveries. Philosophy no longer relied on Scripture, but Scripture rested on philosoph)^ Dogmatic theology was made a part of metaphysical philosophy. This was the mode in which Wolff's phi- losophy ministered indirectly to the creation of the dis- position 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."^ 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 further. 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 Piet- ism of Spener and the Rationalism of Semier. 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 oppo- nents well knew that in him they had found no mean adept in philosophy,theology, hermeneuticsand ecclesias- tical history. His writings bear a strong impress of Illu- minism, but he contributed most to the formation of Rationalistic theology by training Semier for his great destructive mission. He acknowledged the presence of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, but reduced inspiration to ^ Critical History of Free Thought, pp. 215-216. 112 HISTORY OF EATIOlSrALISM. an influence which God exercises over the mental facul- ties. Both he and Tollner declared that the Spirit had permitted each writer to compose according to the pe- culiar powers of his mind, and to arrange facts accord- ing to his own comprehension of them. Tolluer 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 con- ception 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 ten- dency 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. Tolluer held that Scripture is com- posed of two senses, the natural and revealed. That which is natural is subject to criticism; but the reveal- ed 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 revela- tion in Scripture," he says, " is a greater and more per- fect means of salvation. Both the natural light and ]"evelation 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 EISTGLISH DEISM. ' 113 growtli 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 philoso- phy, history and poetry. Leo X. was notoriously skep- tical, and, as much from sympathy as pride, surrounded himself with the leading spirits of the literature of the times. With him morality was no recommenda- tion. Two tendencies took positive form, as the result of the literary tastes of the court and thinking classes : firsts 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 relis^ion 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 meas- ure of truth ; and therefore discarded, as its Rational- istic ofifepring in Germany, whatever was miraculous or supernatural in Christianity. There was much earnest- ness in some of its champions ; nor was there any ab- sence 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 8 114 HISTOEY OF EATIOlSrALISM. specimen of tlie tone of Hs 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 be- fore 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, ac- cording 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 be- seech 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 mani- fested a higher state of morality than later periods of cul- ture and refinement. Hobbes considered religion only ENGLISH DEISTS. 115 a sort of police force, useful solely as an agent of tlie State to keep the people within bounds. Shaftesbury, the disciple and follower of Locke, ad- dressed 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 relent- less 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 knowl- edge. The CliaTacteristics have done more harm to re- vealed 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. Ig- noring 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 num- ber of copies, but afterwards prepared a new and en- larged 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 sufiiciently from his three princi- ples : First. That Christ requires of men that, with all their heart and all their soul, they should follow the 116 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. eternal and unchangeable precepts of natural morality. Second, That men, if they transgress the laws of moral- ity, 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 ap- pointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, and acquit and condemn, reward or pun- ish, 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 Eng- lish 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-writ- ten and lacked depth of thought. Some were, how- ever, 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 Chris tianity 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 ENGLISH DEISM EST FEAISTCE. 117 versatile Mosheim, wlio 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 imme- diately upon the appearance of the works of the lead- ing 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 de- leterious an influence as if they had been panegyrics in- stead 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 di- vines of note in reply to Collins, Tindal, Morgan and their tribe ; and which, in addition to their insipid and un- impassioned character, involved so much of timid apology and unchristian concession that they rather aided than obstructed the progress of infidelity." Through the in- fluence of Baumgarten and others Deism now gained great favor in Germany. Toland was personally wel- comed, 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 at- tachment 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 118 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. of the society in whicli tliey were born Pyrrhonism is now tlie 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 ex- pected that Rousseau would overpaint the picture ; yet in his La Nouvelle Helolse we find this language : " No disj^uting 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 fi'om these in- teresting conversations ? One learns to defend with spirit the cause of untruth^ to shahe with philosophy all the principles of virtue^ to gloss over with fine syllogisms on^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 VOLTAIEE AKD EOUSSEATJ. 119 him defend, in succession, the laws, despotism, and tlie 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 Kousseau built in France. What wonder that the one with his pungent sarcasm, popular style and display of philoso- phy, and the other with his morbid sentimentalism, should become the real monarchs not only of their own land, but of cultivated circles throughout the Con- tinent ? There was not the slightest sympathy be- tween these two men, for they hated each other cor- dially, and each was jealous of the other's fame and genius. Voltaire said one day to Eousseau, 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 satu^e of his own composition to Kousseau, 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 un- worthy, 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 diso-usted 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 com- 120 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. menced to lay up a princely fortune ; but it was not until tlie close of his long and stiiTing life tliat lie for- swore his miserly habits. He found in the deistical lit- erature 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 re- spect the thinkirg 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 out- spoken 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 fi'om the throne of his literary au- thority. 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 occu- pied, to have the royal cooks at my command when I chose to dine alone, and the royal coachman when 1 had an inclination to ride, were trifling favors. Our suppers were very agreeable. If I am not deceived I VOLTAIEE. 121 tLink we had mucli wit. Tlie king was witty, and gave occasion of wit to others ; and wliat is still more extraordinary, I never found myself so mncli at my ease ; I worked two kours a day witk Ms majesty ; corrected Lis 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 diflGlcultieB with greater favorites of Frederic, received the frown of the man he had so much flat- tered, and whose purse had been enriching his coffers. The skeptic returned to France, wrote other works, set- tled near the romantic shore of Lake Geneva, and re- turned honored, great, and feasted to Paris. Indulging in unaccustomed excesses, his frail and aged body sank beneath the weight. But Frederic and Voltaire main- tained a correspondence many years after the flatterer's disgrace. Full of trouble, haunted by dreams of conspir- acy 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 incon- sistency, that he was a free thinker at London, a Carte- sian at Versailles, a Christian at Nancy, and an infidel at Berlin. Bousseau 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 Mnile 122 HKTORY OF RATIONALISM. furnislies xlie key to liis creed : " Everything is good wlien it comes fortli 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 bii'th would live among others, would, if left to himself, be most disfigured. Prejudices, authority, con- straint, example, all social institutions which now de- press 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 push- ing it from all sides, and bending it in all directions." Eousseau wi^ote with great earnestness, and j^ossessed the faculty of inspiring his readers with an enthusiastic admiration of his theories. His romances misled many thousands, and were the most po]3ular productions of his times. Though he and Voltaire were the exponents of French Deism, they were greatly aided in the dis- semination of skeptical doctrines by Diderot, d'Alem- bert, 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 ven- tured upon the origination or reproduction of those new skeptical opinions which captivated unthinking multi- tudes. The Deism of France was now a coadjutor with that of England in the devastation of Germany. The throne of Frederic H. 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 thi'oughout the Continent. Born lo bear the sword, he sm-prised his subjects by the same felicity in the use of the pen ; FEEDEKIC THE GEEAT. 123 and tlie man wlio could leave to liis successors a treas- ury 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 Yoltaii^e, La Mettrie, Mauper- tuis, 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 sub- jects 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 in- subordination sprang up in his army, and in many de- partments 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 124 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. theories upon Ms subjects, lie said lie would willing- ly give his best battle to place Ms 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. CHAPTER y. 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 incorpo- ration was rapid. A remarkable activity of mind was observable in the theological world, and men of gi-eat learning and keen intellect began to apply the deduc- tions 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 126 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. of the Old Testament ; tlie perfect puiity of tlie 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 mth 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 theologi- cal 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 cul- ture, 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 dven 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 MICHAELIS. 127 Jolm? Kegeneration need not be surrounded with a saintly lialo ; it is absurd to suppose tbat it can mean any more tlian 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 Testa- ment 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 fore- runners 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 pro- foundly 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 profes- sor 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 ut- 128 HISTOET OF EATIOISTALISM. terances 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 na- tions 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 Sem- ler, the father of the destructive school of Eationalism. Beared in the lap of the sternest Pietism, he found himself a student at Halle pursuing his theological cur- riculum. 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 antici- pated. 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 semlek's desteucttve method. 129 set himself to work witli 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 Alex- andrians, and they answered " a greater number than that ; " and to the Samaritans, w^ho 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 Scrip- tures, Semler, confounded and defiant, esteemed him- self a judge on his individual responsibility. He con- sequently 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, there- fore, be umpire, he concluded that the books of Chron- icles, 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 Ms 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 Tes- tament 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 si^irit. 9 130 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. The general epistles were written solely for tlie unifica- tion of the struggling parties into wliicli the early church had unfortunately split. We now come to the famous Accommodation-TTieory. Christ and his apostles taught doctrines of such nature and by such method as were compatible with the pecu- liarities of their condition. They adapted themselves to the barbarism and coexistent prejudices of the peo- ple ; 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 no- tions which it would not be policy in Christ to annihi- late ; 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 ma- turing for some time, and he first made it public in the preface to his Paraphrase of the Epistle to the JRoinans. Another distinction which Semler drew in connec- tion 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 govern- ment, 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 THE ACCOMMODATIOlSr THEORY. 131 inacliinery 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 king- dom ; " Christ is a stumbling-block to the Jews," be- cause he would not throw off the Roman yoke as his countrymen had fondly hoped ; the Apostle's determi- nation " 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 Koman w^orld still pur- suing its idolatry; the demoniacs are mad men whom it was only necessary to bind in order to render per- fectly 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 tem- porary. Surely Rationalism w^as making a bold stroke for supremacy, and it had the rare fortune of possessino- a man of Semler's versatile taste and boldness of utter- ance. In one aspect he came into harmony with the Eng- lish 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 de- gree of satisfaction. The view by which he came into 132 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. nearest relation to tlie 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 teachino-s in the Bible we occasion- ally come across a modicum of eternal truth ; but the seeker is very seldom rewarded with a real gem of per- manent 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 lieen thoroughly imbued with a disgust at what was ancient and revered. He appeared to despise the antiqui- ties of the church simply because they were antiquities. What was new and fresh, was, with him, worthy of unbounded admiration and speedy adoption. His ]3rejudice against the Fathers may have been imbibed in part from the Reformers ; but, however dei'ivecl, his distaste and censure knew no bounds. All the early Christian wTiters, he believed, were brimful of imper- fections. Tertullian was fanciful, and Augustine cap- tious. Sc persistent were his efforts against the tradi- tional authority of the church that they endangered the verv foundations of German Protestantism. One would semlee's peivate life. 133 have tLought 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 pa- tience. 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 bold- ness would overleap itself, or prove the ruin of the re- ligious 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 S23eedily 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 Mo- ravian origin and Pietistic training he could never for- get ; nor do we believe he attempted it. No doubt the asj)erity 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 con- verted 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 spiiitual purity of the life of his disciples. Through Semler's entire career we can find traces of 134 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. tLat devoted spiiit whicli Lad 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 mem- ories 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 wi'ite his books. He gives the follow- ing picture : " We had the children continually aboui 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 con- tentment 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 SEMLEES PEIVATE LIFE. 135 received tlie 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 re- ligion ; 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 bonie 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 com- mitted her soul to the almighty and enduring care of God. Then just before I went to my lectui'e 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. 136 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. I left her, ttinking 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 acquies- cence 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 form- ation 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 Chris- tian-like and beautifully have Christian-trained people been dying these many centuides." 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 instruc- tion. We attribute no evil intention to him in his theoloo^ical 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 philos- ophy of the Christian system was unperceived and un- appreciated by him. He looked at single defects, and magnified them to such an extent that they obscured whole mines of truth and vii'tue. Having conceived a vague idea of his theme, he wrote hurriedly upon it. He was impelled by his previous notions and the ex- citement 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 ADHEEENTS TO SEMLEe's OPINIONS. 137 error to be the rule instead of tlie 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, hav- ing 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 ad- vanced 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 perma- nent effect upon the public mind. It was in anothei* respect that he was mighty. Some of his contem- poraries who taught in other universities seized upon his tenets and began to propagate them ^dgorously. 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 com- menced 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. Gottingen, Jena, Helm- stedt, 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 138 HISTORY OF EATIONALLSM. him iix Ms undertaking. But the men of this class were not tlie principal agents of the complete ruin of the religious vitality of the people. We turn to Edelmann and Bahixlt, two of the most decided ene- mies of Christianity who have appeared in these later centuries. The former was the better man, but his career brought clijcredit on private virtue and public morality. in the ":i] - part of his life he was blameless, but he subsequt itly betrayed all the personal weakness which his skepticism tended to engender. We get a fair por- trait of ]' 1 ^rOii the pen of one of his countrymen, Kahnis : '' vi'hat 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 Juda- ism, and more just toward Judaism than toward Chris- tianity. Everything positive in religion is, as such, superstition. Christ was a me-e man, whose chief merit consists in the struggle againsL suj)erstition. 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 absm-d. 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 every- thing 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 BAKJT.ET„ 1S9 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 front a German theologian, and that with such eloquent coarseness, with such a mastery in expatiating in blas- phemy, 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 vicioi^3 Bahrdt. This man stands among the first of those wh( ' : \ e brought dishonor upon the sacred voca- tion. WL \, Jeffreys is to the judicial history of England, Bahrdt is to the rf^igicus history of German Protestant- ifpn. Whatever he touched was disgraced by the vile- B'^ss of bis heart and the satanic darins^ 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 under- taking. While a mere youth he gained, by his trick}" 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 140 HISTORY OF RATIONALISM. of doubt, be 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, ac- tive, 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 sacrile- gious 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 Sinhad 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 Scrip- tures. He issued a travesty of the New Testament un- der the title of The New Testament^ or The Newest In- struGtio7is from God through Jesus and his Ajyostles. 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, min- ister to his unsanctified purpose. He banished such ex- pressions 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 insj)iration 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 dis- charged 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 BAHEDT. 141 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 bet- ter the work of the Holy Spirit, so as not to exclude man's activity. I had limited a little the idea of origi- nal sin ; and in the doctrine of the atonement and justi- fication, I had endeavored to uphold the value of vir- tue, 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 Sup- per I was more Reformed than Lutheran, will be sup- posed 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 extrava- gances of the radical skeptics of France. The opposi- tion 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 re- pulse 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 ir- religious opinions, but also that we should w^atch 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 142 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. "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. Hav- ing been a public frequenter of brothels and the asso- ciate 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 be- gan 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 for- gotten, 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 dis- torted his whole moral and intellectual nature. He is illustrative of the certain doom w^hich 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 Kationalism. 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 ag- gravated by the holy sphere in which he wrought fear- BAHEDT. 143 fd 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. CONTEIBQTIONS OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. The views of Semler, possessing great power of ftiscination, soon gained popular strength. As a result, the strictly literary tastes of the people took a theo- logical turn and the Bible became the theme of every aspirant to authorship. As no system had yet been ad- vanced by the Rationalists, there was wide range for doctrinal and exegetical discussion. The devoted Pie- tists, 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 Fraucke. 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 uugoverned criticism. History, science, literature, and philology were only prized ac- cording to the measure of strength they possessed to combat the great claims of the orthodox church. Be- sides, 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 JVIENTAL ACTIVITY. 145 wlio, 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 Eu- ropean activity. Look whither you will, there was no- where either the spirit of sleep or of sloth. The science of government, the beauties of aesthetic cul- ture, 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 four- teenth 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 ap- peared 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 gather- ed to satisfy the cravings of their wanton hunger. We do not say that the destruction ists desired to injure the faith of the people, or to cast odium upon the pages that Luther and Melanchthon had unfolded to the Ger- man 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 de- 10 146 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. fects of the Scriptures with as mucli 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 ques- tions as on topics within their own chosen vocation. The Teuton considers himself a born theologian. So it was after the announcement of the destructive theo- ries of Semler. All classes of thinkers invited them- selves 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 di- rection 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 incongru- ous. 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 em- ploy 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 prohx effusions, there was no harmony in their thoughts. In one opinion they were firmly united, that the Bible is a human look. But how much of it was raithentic ; what was history UNIVEESAL GEEMAN LIBEAEY.' 147 and what mytli ; 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 be- yond the expectation of its most sanguine friends and admirers. One was literary^ and inaugurated by Less- ing ; 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 aj^pliances 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 magni- fied 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 iniiicted incalculable evil upon the popular esti- mate 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 uni- versity and gymnasium listened to it as an oracle, while its power was felt even in the pot-houses and humblest 148 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. cottages. Berlin was completely under its sway, and Berliner was a synonym of Rationalist. Oetinger wrote a curious passage in a volume of sermons, pub- lished in IT 77, 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 me- chanical 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 bap- tism 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 hira 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 circum- stances of the most conflicting nature. Had it been ad- vocated 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 Sender was at heart, there would have been no limit to the damage it might inflict upon the cause of Protestantism. And there were indications THE WOLFENBiJTTEL FEAGMEISTTS. 149 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 am- bitious. 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 con- tents 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 for- ward with his geographical discoveries and scientific data, and reared the accommodation-theory so many more stories higher than Semler had left it that it al- most 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 Wolf en- hiittel Fragments by Lessing, there was the significant lull before the storm. A single editorial in some re- ligious 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 widenins: rifts ? Lessing touched a chord which vibrated throughout the land. While in charge of the celebrated Library at 150 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. Wolfenbiittel lie met with a manuscript production of Reimarus, bearing tlie title of Vindication of the Ma- tional Worshij^ei'S 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 Less- ing, for in many places he apj)ends notes stating his opposition to them. But he heartily approved the sub- stance of the work, though his object in the publication of the Fragments was more to feel the public pulse than to instill theoloo-ical 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 pub- lished 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 doc- trine 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 fi-amed 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 can- not 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 THE WOLFENBUTTEL FEAGMENTS. 151 design was to restore Judaism to its former state, throw off tlie Roman yoke, and declare himself king. His public entry into Jerusalem was designed to be Ms installation as a temporal king ; but lie failed in his dependence upon popular support, and, instead of at- taining a throne, lie died on the cross. Belief in Scrip- tural 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 testi- mony 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 pre- viously published works of the Rationalists had indi- cated. By and by, there sprang up a decided opposi- tion 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 expec- tation. He found that a large portion of his country- men were not willing to cast loose from the old moor- ings of the Protestant teachings, and that, whatever the previous indications were, 'there was yet a deep undercurrent of attachment to the time-honored confes- sions of the church. 15^ HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 Wolfian philosophy was becoming effete, and so he raised the cry, loud and clear, against its longer existence. He violently opposed the obliter- ation of all dependence upon the historical proofs of Chiistianity, 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 logi- cal power, the attempt of the Rationalists to substitute the intuitons 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 ortho- doxy, 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 hiunan ingenuity had more shown and exor LESSnSTG's OPINIONS. 153 cised itself tlian in it. A patch-work by jugglers and semi-philosopliers 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 Gotze and others for thus attacking the faith of the church, he replied that, even if the Fragmentists were right, Christianity was not thereby endangered.-^ 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 spii'it and religion. For the Bible evidently con- tains more than belongs to religion, and it is a mere sujDposition, that, in this additional matter which it contains, it must be equally infallible. Moreover, reli- gion 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 proj^hets have written might be lost again, and yet the religion taught by them, stand. The Christian religion is not ' Kahnis: History of German Protestantism, pp. 145-165. 154 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. true because Evangelists and apostles taught it ; hut they taught it because it was true. It is from tlieir in- ternal truth that all written documents must be ex- plained, 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 main- tained 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 Scrip- ture record might be abolished without doing vio- lence to religion. The effect of his wiitings was de- cidedly skeptical. His view of Christianity was merely sesthetical, 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 be- cause of the various accounts given of them by the in- spired writers. Variety of testimony was no ground for the total overthrow of the thing testified. He re- tained 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 de- tails 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 ? " lessing's oplnions. 155 We may examiue 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 efi:ect 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 de- sire 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 GeiTnan literature. The chief evil that he in- flicted was due to the position in which he placed him- self as the combatant of the avowed fiiends of inspira- tion. 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 en*, and should say, ' Choose ! ' I would choose the left with humility, and say, ' Give, Father 1 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 philosojDhy. The mathematical method of Wolf has been a severe blow to orthodoxy, and it was but partially counter- acted by the work of Pietism. But the influence of that copyist of Leibnitz is only of a piece with the im- 156 mSTOEY OF EATIONALISM. pression made upon theology and faitli by every respect- able innovation in philosopliy. 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 Konigsberg, 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 ex- ample exerted upon his mental processes. The astute philosopher wi'ote 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 good- ness of God ; and inspired my heai*t with a deep rever- ence for the Creator of all things. I shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and strength- ened my first germ of goodness ; she opened my heart to the impressions of nature ; she awakened and ad- vanced my conceptions ; and it has been her instruc- tions that have exerted a permanent and wholesome influence upon my life." First an undergraduate and afterward a professor in the University of Konigsberg, 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 KANTiS CKITIQUE OF PUEE EEASON. 157 careful not to publisli it until lie was sure tLat 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 Konigsberg became fidl of hearers, who, in a little time, could gain admittance only with difiiculty. The professor of philosophy was a magnet that drew to that bleak northern city students from all parts of the Con- tinent. Finally the opportune moment arrived. Hav- ing written, rewiitten, ' altered, and abridged until he looked upon his work as beyond his power of improve- ment, 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 con- cise language of the master's work, for the task ap- peared greater than the fruits would justify. This hesi- tancy 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 wi'ote," 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." 158 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Several years now pass by, and the great work ia still neglected. Perhaps it is false, or mayLap it is ill- timed. Finally Scliulze 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 ra\'ished with its contents. Thereupon he issues his Elucidations of Kan^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 trans- formed into a race of philosophers. The popularity of the work is boundless. It is written in a style adapt- ed only to systematic thinkers ; but no matter, it be- comes a fashion to read it. It is the topic in stage- coaches and drawing rooms. Failure to have perused Kant's book is a mark of ignorance which receives re- buke 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 be- tray 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 con- veyance of their thoughts and for accession to popu- larity. It has its opponents in Hamann, Jacobi, Rei- marus, 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 re- joinders. Every department of inquiry is powerfully affected by it. Religion, logic, metaphysics, law, psy- chology, aesthetics, and education are alike molded by its plastic touch. Holland and all the north of Europe are vocal with its praises. kaistt's ceitique of pure EEASOlSr. 159 And now we may ask, wliy sucli favor sliown to- ward this new aj)parition ? Let us delay a moment and examine tlae hard- wrought thoughts of this bachelor-son of an obscure saddler. Kant had been profoundly dis- gusted with the want of harmony in philosophical spec- ulations. 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 con- tinued, 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 con- sciousness. Only by studying the powers of the mind as a datum, he held, can any positive results be gained. Usino; 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 be- tween 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 per- 160 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. ceptions, 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 conscious- ness, and attempted to ascertain by analysis, not of our conceptions but of the faculties of the soul, certain in- variable and necessary principles of knowledge ; pro- ceeding to define their usage, and to form an estimate of them collectively with reference to i\dv formal char- acter; in which investigation the distinctions and defini; tions 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 conse- quences deduced. It discouraged also the spiiit of dog- matic 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 pre- eminence 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 eftect 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 mys- ticism and circumscribed the provinces of science and belief. It taught men to discriminate and appi'eciate the grounds, the tendency, the defects, and partial views, as well as the excellencies of other systems ; at the 161 same time tliat it embodied a lively principle for awak- ening and strengthening tlie interest attaching to gen- uine philosopliical research. It afforded to philosoj^liy a fii"m and steady centre of action in the unchangeable nature of the human mind. In general it may be ob- served 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 philo. sophical science ; seeking in reason itself the principles on which to distinguish the several parts of the phi- losophy." ^ 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 doc- trines. Morality, with him, was developed into religion, not religion into morality. The so-called revelation was only the mythical coj)y of the moral law already im- planted in our nature. He believed in a universal re- ligion. Everything peculiar and won by struggle should be given up ; all strife of 023inions 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 * Tennemann, Manual of History of Philosophy, pp. 407^08. 11 162 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. declares natural religion alone to be morally necessary, thougli lie may admit revelation, — Naturalist — one who denies tlie reality of a supernatural divine revelation, — and Biipernaturalist — one vrho considers tLe belief in revelation a necessary element in religion, came into use, and Rationalism and Supernaturalism became tlie prin- cipal division of theological schools.^ As Descartes had broken up the scholastic philoso- phy by considering man apart from his expeiience, 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 philos- ophy," says Mr. Farrar, " was to expel the French Materialism and llluminism, 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 communi- cation of moral instruction useless, if not absurd ; and to reawaken the attempt which had been laid aside since the Wolfian philosophy of endeavoring to find a philosophy of religion." ^ 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 princij^les which fur- nish 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 dissatis- ' Appleton's Am. Cyclopmdia — Article German Tlieology. * Critical History of Free Thought, p. 230. fichte's opinions. 163 faction witli all systems induced liim to term liimself tlie Tln^lulosopliical^ and it was witli 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 Coleridg:e, Faith be2:ins where Reason ends. The two bright stars after Kant were Fichte and Schelling. The former commenced with the system of the great Konigsberg 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 confonnity with certain laws of our mind. He aimed to found a system which might illustrate, by a single j)rinciple, the material and formal properties of all science ; establish the unity of plan which the crit- ical system had failed to maintain ; and solve that most difficult of all problems regarding the connection be- tween our conceptions and their objects. His views of God are the most glaring defect of his sytsem. He con- tended that we cannot attribute to the Deity intelli- gence or personality without making him a finite being like ourselves ; that it is a species of profanation to con- ceive of him as a separate essence, since such a concep- tion 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 na- tures ; 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 imagina- tions, we only worship the idol of our own passions, — the prince of this world.-^ ^ Tennemann, Manual of History of PhilosopTiy^ pp. 429-430. 164 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. Sclielling was a man of ardent, sanguine tempera- ment, and it was his natui-al proclivities that gave rise to his system of philosophy. He attributes a real ex- istence 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 per- forms takes place because it must he. 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 sys- tem of thinking. He was, when young, a decided Ra- tionalist ; and his Life of Christy though yet unpub- lished, is said by one who has seen it to be a represen- tation 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 mean- ing 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 reflect- ing itself on itself, and showing itself by the mind in the sciences of law and morality, in the state, history, reli- SEEVICE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 165, gion, and tlie arts. The religion whicli is deduced fi-om this system may be said to consist of the objective ex- istence 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 Intel, ligence and God are lost in objective nature. Hegel al- lows 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, individuali- zing 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 per- verted 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 liistory." 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 sub- stance 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 con- nected with the well-being and destiny of man. The 166 HISTORY OF RATIONALISM plainest statements of the word of God are more val- uable than all these vaporings about the non-^^o, the Ideal^ and Self-lwod. Simplicity is bliss. "Yon cottager wlio weaves at lier own door Pillow and bobbins, all lier little store, Content thongh mean, and cheerful if not gay, ShufHing 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 ;• Eeceives 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 litera- ture 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-contem plation, 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 sub- stitute for them it always labors in vain. We wonder at the tropic luxuriance of Schelling's thouo-hts, but we are soon convinced of their little prac- ESrSUTFICIENCY OF SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY. 167 tical 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 bene- fited 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 met- aphysical 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 en- tering 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 cave lest faith should utterly disappear from the earth. But be- side the inestimable jewel of elementary knowledge— 168 HISTOEY OF EATIG ;)..LISM. the price of wliicli can never be told — does there not rest within the folds of the Inspired Book an inex- haustible store, which the industry of man, piously di- rected, 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." CHAPTEK VIL THE REIGJT OF THE WEIMAR CIRCLE— REVOLIJTION m EDUCATION AND HYMNOLOGY. The systems of the great philosopliical minds whom we have contemplated were remarkable for their har- mony. 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 carefal readei-s and enthusiastic ad- mirers. 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 Csesar, gathered around him as numerous and powerful a cluster of literary men as his scanty revenue would 170 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 ele- vated 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 im- pressed. 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 sover- eign within the pale of civilization who did not envy heedee's position. lYl Karl August's treasures. The story of tlie ' literary achievements, of the Platonic friendships, and of the evenins: entertaiments 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 gen- eration, he looked upon his contemporaries as brethren, and aroused himself manfully to serve them in every in- terest. We notice in all his works a careful study to meet the emergency then pressing upon society. AVe will not say that Herder wrote every work just as it should have been, and that he was evangelical through- out. This he was not, but he was greatly in advance of his predecessors. Amid the labyrinth of philosoph- ical 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 scarce- ly deserved the name of study. In philosophy, practi- cal religion, literature, church history, education and ex- egesis 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 wri- tings 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 1Y2 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. powerful'. His training had been in the old purify- ino: 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 ac- customed 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 Ghristianityr It was this work that inspired him with that re- spect for religion which never left him in subse- quent life. Herder's creed was the improvement of man. He expressed it in one word, liumanity. But by this term he meant more than most men conceive in whole vol- umes. 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 con- tribute to its growth with unceasing energy. We are born with a divine element within us, and it is for the ma- turity 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 in- stitutions 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 efibrt, 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 heedee's view of the bible. 173 his warm attacliment to the inspired pictures of early oriental life and history. Whatever divested the Scrip- tures of this eastern glow received his outright indig- nation. He censured Michaelis for having criticised all the heart out of the time-honored and Grod-given record. He compared the critical labors of the Kationalists 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 gen- eration 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 in- struction 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 174 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. all historians are not Schillers, and that all commenta- tors 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 orio-in 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 admii^ers. 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 aver- sion. Of course the Konigsberg sage had nothing in common with the Weimar rhapsodist. Had Herder only given a prominence to his belief in the fact of in- spiration equally with an admu'ation of the metliod 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 con- ceived 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 w^ith 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 com23lete his perfection. heeder's view of cheist. 175 — his emergence from, ignorance into taste and knowl- edge. But Herder could see an abyss of depravity in tlie lieart along witli tlie 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 accom- plished 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 salva- tion to the world." Of the Lord's Supper he said, on his entrance u23on 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 our- selves, 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 inter- course with more skeptical minds. One of the chief services rendered the church by 176 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. Herder was bis persistent attempt to elevate the pas- toral 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 instru- ment 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 1*780, and in subsequent smaller works, he sought to evoke a gener- ation of theologians who, being imbued mth his own ideas of humanity, would betake themselves to the edi- fication of the humble mind. He ^vould eject scholasti- cism from the study of the Bible, and show to his read- ers 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 resj)ect awarded him by the world, close beside the patriarch and prophet of other days. And that man, in his opin- ion, was not worthy the name of pastor who could neg- lect the individual requirements of the soul. Accord- ing to Herder, the theologian should be trained fi'om childhood into the knowledge of the Bible and of prac- tical relisrion. Youths should have ever before them the example of pious parents, who were bringing them up with a profound conviction of the doctrines of di vine 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 HEEDEE AS A PEEACHEE. I'ZY of any advantage to you in preacMng sucli tilings? What is tlie use of all tliese Gotliic cliurches, altars, and sucli matters ? No, indeed ! Religion, true religion, must return to tlie exercise of its original functions, or a preaclier will become the most indefinite, idle, and in- different thing on earth. Teachers of religion, true ser- vants of God's word, what have you to do in our cen- tury ? 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 spui'ned humble pastoral work, but he felt it his duty, and therefore discharged it to the best of his ability. His preaching was richly Incid, 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 preach- ing 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 spontane- ously ; every eye hung upon him and wept unwonted tears. Deep sighs escaped from every breast. My dear friend, nobody preaches like him. Else religion 12 178 HISTOPvY OF EATIONALISM. would be to every one just wliat it should be, tlie 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 noth- ing 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 suflfer and bear and hope, and which, by its rest and contentment, i-e wards 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 them- selves down to the hard dogmatics of their faith, and therefore did not play with technical terms, as children vrith their counting pennies." William von Humboldt said of Herder's sermons that they were " veiy attrac- tive : 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 Kant- ian philosophy, because of its petrifying tendency, his antagonism was counteracted by others of the Weimar celebrities. Goethe and Schiller eclipsed all other SCHILLER THE POET OF FEEEDOM. 179 names iu tLeir department of thouglit, 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 lit- eratm-e, the oracles of Europe. Like Kant, they stamped their own impress upon theology, which at that day was plastic and weak beyond all conception. Un- der the Konigsberg thinker it became a great philo- sophical 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 literatm-e. But the former is more beloved than the latter, for the reason that his country- men 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 some- thing so transcendently brilliant and useful, that the writer of The Robbers would have proved one of the reformers of his people. If his education had rea23ed its appropriate harvest, his probable bearing upon the re- generation of Germany can be but faintly imagined by tlie aid of Klopstock's example. These were the sincere thouo-hts of Schiller^s over-burdened soul when, one Sabbath in 17 7T, he addressed himself to the Deity: " God of truth, Father of light. I look to thee witl\ the 180 , HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. first rays of tlie morning sun, and I bow before tliee. Thou seest me, O God ! Thou seest from aftu- every pulsation of my praying heart. Thou knowest well my earnest desire for truth. Heavy doubt often veils my soul in night ; thou know^est how anxious my heart is wdthin 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 supersti- tion 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 bendino- 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 ele- Schiller's peayer. 181 vates tlie soul. If I liave trutli then I have Christ ; if I have Christ, then have I God ; and if I have God, then I have everything. And coukl I ever permit my- self 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 wor- shiper, of the heathen faith. He complained that all the life and spirit were taken out of the Bible by the Kationalists, but he did nothing to remedy their error. He liecame 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 his- 182 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. tories of tlie Bible, He was a devotee of Kant, and Ms poetry was largely made up of that philosopher's meta- physics. Yet, in Schiller's hand, abstractions became living ]3ictures. 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 perni- cious. 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 enthu- siasm 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.-^ He expressed himself sometimes as very favor- able toward the Roman Catholic worship, and the ad- herents of that faith quote his words of aj)probation with evident pride. In \\b, Autobiography he pays some high compliments to the seven sacraments of the Ro- manists. He made several visits to the beautiful little Catholic church dedicated to St. Roch, situated just above Bin gen 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 jjriest." 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 " Mohler's Syvibolism : Memoir of Author. Goethe's intluence on theology. 183 of the arts ever since tlie wealth of noblemen and kings began to be poui-ed 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 E,ef ormation," he said, " a spiiit 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^ some- thing painful^ desolate^ almost evil characterizes tvorhs of art / and^ instead of faith^ shepticism is often trans- parent.'''' Oui' plan precludes an estimate of Goethe's literary achievements. But the influence of his productions on theology w^as, 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 dii'ected the literature of Europe. In popu- larity 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 Gennan and French tongues were spoken. Contemporaneously with these literary influences, which greatly increased the power and prestige of nationalism, there was a gradual transformation of the 184 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. training and instruction of tlie children of Germany, A t]iorouQ:li infusion of doubt into tlie minds of the youth of the land was all that was now needed to com- plete the sovereignty of skepticism. It cannot be disputed that there were serious de- fects in the educational system already prevalent. The Latin schools instituted by Melanchthon were still in existence, but they had become mere machines. Chil- dren 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 cu'cle of youthful training. Spmng 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 ao-ent for the reformation of German education.^ He undertook, by his publication of the Philaletliy^ and of the Theoretical System of Sound Reason^ to in- fuse new spirit into the university method of instruc- tion. 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 * Schlosser, History of tlie Eighteenth Century^ vol. 2, pp. 33-41. Basedow's educational scheme. 185 liim tlirougli life, lie began to appeal to tlie younger mind, and contended boldly for the freedom of children from tlieir common and long-standing restraints. From 1Y63 to 1T70 Basedow deluged the whole land with his books on education ; and, uniting his ap. peals for educational reform with strictures upon the validity of the Scriptures, he incurred the sore displeas- ure of Gotze, Winkler and others of their class. They replied to him, but he was always ready-witted, and the jDress groaned under his repeated and sometiines rib- ald 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 in- struction. 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 re- mitted large contributions for his assistance. A speci- men of his CMld\s Booh appeared, and all classes were pleased with it. Whatever he promised was accepted with avidity, because his promises were at once so flat- terino^ and exa2;o:erated. Schles^el 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, — s:rara- mar, history, and every other study — could be learned, not in the tread-mill style, but as an amusement ; that mo- rahty and religion, both Jewish and Christian, Catholic 186 HISTOKY OF EATIONALISM. 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 pas- time. 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 PJiilantlvroplum \\ Dessau. Compared with Basedow's wishes, this was but a fragment of an institution. But upon its existence de23ended the solution of his lauded prob- lems. 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 per- sons, 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 ; recom- mended 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 them- selves conscious. Subscriptions came in profusely, and the PhilantJiropium in Dessau commenced its existence. It was opened without pupils on the twenty-seventh of December, 17*74, and in the following year it was at- tended by only fifteen. It threatened to decline, but rallied again ; and in l^YG a great public examination was held. Then Basedow retired from its curatorship ; CAMPE AISTD SALZMANIS". 187 but, returning once more, Ms 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 in. mates of his PMlantlirojmim went to work with great perseverance to write juvenile books. Though the in- stitution 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 writei^ 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 liv- ing 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 per- sonal 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 Philanthropiiim^ and sub- sequently 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 188 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 re- ligious 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 Hobinson the Younger was to the Germans what Robinson Cru- soe 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 1T75 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 per- fect. Pestalozzi belongs rather to the present than to the last century, but he stands highest in the catalogue of the educational reformers who arose dur- ing the meridian strength of Rationalism. He was a Swiss by birth. In 1798 he went to Stanz and la- bored for the amelioration of the orphan children whose parents had fallen in the French wars.^ 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 in- dispensable ingredient in the education of every young mind. But while these few men, both by their active ' Kahnis : German Protestantism^ p. 216. SKEPTICISM IN THE SCHOOLS. 189 life and facile pen, contributed tlieir share to the im- provement of the youth of Germany, there was a large class of writers for the young, whose productions be- came as plentiful as autumn leaves. S'ome were sen- timental, having imbibed their spirit from Slegivart^ La JSfouvelle 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 thorough- ly and suddenly revolutionized. The result was veiy 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 Bi1)le, all careful preparation for meeting the great duties of coming maturity, and every impression of man's incapa- city for the achievement of his own salvation. The teachers in the common institutions of learnino" having now become imbued with serious doubts con- cerning the divine authority of the Scriptures, their pupils suffered keenly from the same blight. In many schools and gymnasia miracles were ti-eated with contempt. Epitomes of the Scriptures on a philosoph- ical 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, ex- cept so far as they agree with the spirit of the gospel. As to the New Testament, much must be figuratively un- derstood, since many things have no immediate relation to our times. Christ is a mere man. Dinter was a vo- luminous writer on theological subjects, and in his books tells children of imperfect notions of former 190 HISTOET OF EATIOlSrALISM. times as to God, angels, aucl miracles. He gives teach- ers directions how to conduct themselves cleverly in such matters, and afterwards, in agreement with the principles he recommends, he lays down plans of cate- chizing. For example, there are to be two ways of cat- echizing about Jonah ; one before an audience not suffi- ciently enlightened, and where all remains in its old state ; another for places which have more light. In the prophecies concerning the Messiah a double expla- nation is given for the same reason. One is the old or- thodox 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 instruc- tion then imparted to the children of Germany, we may adduce the example of Becker's Universal Histo- ry for the Young. A second edition was issued in Berlin in 1806. Speaking of the person and char- acter 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 ef- fect 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 am- bassadors of that sect, with secret support and accord- ing to arranged plan. . . . The indications of the Messiah in the Old Testament had produced great effect on Jesas 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 ob- scure in them." Becker's view of cheist. 191 Becker had the modesty to say that he would not undertake to fix the character of Jesus, but merely col- lect 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 de- cided that Jesus must be the Messiah ; and John found the part of a precursor fixed for himself. Christ, partly from his jDower of attraction, and partly from the hoj^e of future power, made his disciples depend blindly on him. It was only with great caution that he could un- dertake 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, accord- ing 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 mi- raculous 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 swjne, 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 192 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 pru- dence 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 wliom lie lanced all the tliunder of a Cice- ronian 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 al)le to exhort his disciples. He did not really die on the cross. Whenever recognized by his discij)les 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."^ Becker was not more extreme in his inculcation of doctrine than many others. Even Gesenius, in the preface to his Hebrew Heading Boo\ 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 veiy imperfect knowedge of na- ^ Eose, State of rrotestantism in Germany^ pp. 178-181. ALTEEATION OF THE HYMNS. 193 ture, thougli 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 cre- ation are to be found in other religions of the East ; and that probably he only accommodates the general tradi- tion of the East to the national opinions of the He- brews,— a remark which apj^lies especially to his ascrib- ing 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 astonish- ment, 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 chui'ches 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 13 194 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. congregations whose lot liad been cast in tlie 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 Kationalists reasoned correctly, for, in Germany, music is a power which has at times defied the au- thority 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 evan- gelical 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 popu- lar 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 peoj)le sang Kationalism. General superintendents, consistorial counselors, and court preachers, rivaled each other in preparing a new volume of religious songs for the terri- tory under their charge. Individual towns and churches had their own selections. Some portions of Germany, especially Wiirtemberg, 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 ac complish nothing, and the old hymns suffered that fear- ful mortality which the nationalists had by this time PEEVEESION OF SACEED MUSIC. f^ become so able to inflict on almost everything of value. It is a lamentable scene to see those rec^ Jess doubters sit down with scalpel in hand to disseo^;; as pure and in- spiring 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 au- thorized hymn committee attemj)t 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 clij)ping or puncture destroys some natural charm. But the music accompanying the hymns was doomed to a like fate. The old chorals, which had been linger, ing 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 senti- ment 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 eftected their pur- pose. Secular music was introduced into the sane-' tuary ; 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 ele- ment of devotion. The oratorios and cantata of the theatre and beer-garden were the Sabbath accompani- ments 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 Grermany in the full possession of a shrewd, powerful, and aggressive sj^stem of infidelity. The most thorough student of church his- tory must conclude that no other kind of skepti- x90 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. cism has received more aid from external sources. Everything t^at appeared on the surface of the times contributed itV'^ite, toward the spiritual petrification of the masses. Hamann, Oetinger, Keinhard, Lavater, and Storr were insufficient for the great task of coun- teraction, while Eationalism 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 con- tribute to the same terrible result, — the total overthrow of evangelical faith. CHAPTEK yill. DOCTRINES OF RATIONALISM IN THE DAT OF ITS STRENGTH. The churcli now presented a most deplorable aspect. Philosophy had come, with its high-sounding terminology, and invaded the hallowed precincts of Scriptiu'al truth. Literatui'e, with its caj^tivating notes, had well-nigh destroyed what was left of the old Pie- tistic 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, tinith, and right. The peasantry re- ceived 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. Wi eland. 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 fa- vorite 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 opin- ions and now dealt them out in magnified proportions 198 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. to the masses wlio, like their Atlienian predecessors, were ever anxious to learn what was new. That so many influences as we have seen in force should com- pletely 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 org-an- / ism, 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 re- quired, 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 cer- tain 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 Ra- tionalists might agree upon at one stage of the develop- ment of their skepticism, would be rejected by others, living a few years after them. The only means, there- fore, by which we are enabled to arrive at some under- standing 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. EELIGION EXISTElSrCE OF GOD. 199 Now it cannot be doubted tliat Kationalisni was most powerful after tlie decided impression made upon theol- ogy by tlie philosopliical dii'ection 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 ac- knowledged 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 conver- sion, they were agreed that it could be only a work of the imao-ination. All the reojeneration at which we may reasonably expect to arrive is an inclination to obey the dictates of reason. He who follows the teach- ings 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 person- 200 HISTOEY OF EATIOKALISM. ality cannot be affirmed ; it is confounded with tlie soul of the world. Of course, the doctrine of tlie Trinity cannot be accepted; for reason sheds no light suffi- ciently 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. DocTEiisrE OF IwspiEATioisr. 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 pui'sues 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 inspira- tion. 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 inspii-ation. 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 be- TOLLISTEe's view of ESrSPIEATIOlS'. 201 lief of a mass of mytliical stuff wliicli we will no more grant to be historically true than Niebulir 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. Doeder- lein'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 dis- tinction between the inspired and uninspired parts of Scripture. But Ammon represents this subject better than Doderlein. 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. Inspuation cannot for a moment be accepted as an im- mediate 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 or- thodox believers would now clothe them." Tollner, 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 insj^ira- tion. 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 strength- 202 HISTOKY OF EATIONALISM. ened. So of the Psalms and Propliecies. There is no sucli thing as inspiration of tlie historical books. It cannot be determined what degree was employed in the New Testament. In the Acts there was nothing more than natm'al inspiration. Luke and Mark were ap- proved by the apostles, hence their writings may be received. Morus held that inspii'ation was sometimes only the inducing to write ; sometimes an admonition to do so ; sometimes revelation ; and sometimes only a guarding from error.^ Granting the Rationalistic de- nial of ins^^iration, 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. Schrockh gives a sketch of the deplorable state of opinion on in- sjDiration, 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. ThQ^Mevelations 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 £i"om 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 : ^ Kose, State of Protestantism in Germany. Notes on Ch. iv. CEEDIBILITY OF THE SCEIPTUEES. 203 " 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 Scedptuees. Schenkel affirms tliat Eationalism consists in giving up all tiie historical characteristics of Christianity and of Christian truths, and in the reduction of religion to the universal con- clusions of reason and morality. The accui'acy 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 his- torians 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 dis- sipate the mist from its accounts of supposed verities. The writers of the Scriptures, the friends of Rationalism held, were only men like oui'selves. They had our prejudices and as great infii^mities 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.^ The writers of the Scriptures were utterly destitute of any such great designs as the orthodox attribute to ^ Yon Ammon : Biblische Theologie. 204 mSTOEY OF EATIONALISM. tliem. They tad no intention of wiiting for posterity, and were tlie 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 nat- ural way, ever since.^ All ages and nations have their communications of knowledge, and the setting forth of any truth in a clearer light is a revelation.^ 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 consum- mation.^ But they are full of errors, which we must leave for the supremacy of pure Reason to dissipate forever.* We cannot forbear to give Wegscheider's testimony on the scanty measure of Scrij)tural credibility and au- thority 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 spii'it, 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 man- * Daub. ' Herder. * Lessing : MenscTiengescMecM. Eoseninuller : Stufenfolge der GottUchen Offeiibarungen. * Wegscheider : Institutionea Dogmatics. • WEGSCHEIDEE ON mSPIEAllON. 205 ners to the utmost of his ability. Beliold here the in- timate and eternal union and agreement of Christianity with Rationalism. . . . The various modes of su- pernatm^al revelation mentioned in many places of the sacred books, are to be referred altogether to the no- tions 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 ex- pressly 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 attrib- uted to angels in the sacred books, plaiul}^ 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 principiiP The Bible is, in fact, of no more authority and en- titled 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.^ 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 ' Eichliorn : Einleitung. 206 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. can deny. The life of Christ which they contain is but an innocent supplement to the Metamorphoses of Ovid.^ Tittmann went so far as to affirm that the Scripture wi'iters were so ignorant that they could not represent things as they really happened. Of course he excludes their capacity for inspiration. DocTumE OF THE Fall OF Man. While some Ra- tionalistic 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 tempta- tion by the serpent was, with them, one of the most im- probable myths ever drawn up from the earliest tradi- tions of nations. Whether Moses wrote much or little of the boohs attributed to him, his sources of knowl- edo-e 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 en- trance of the serpent into Paradise, it is just as improb- able as the rabbinical notion that the serpent of Eden had many feet. In the opinion of some, the whole nar- rative 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 natui'e into the condition of freedom." ^ 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 long- ing 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 ' Paulus : Krltische Commentar uber das Neue Testament. ^ Kant. MIEACLES. 207 any previous stage of his history. Tliis was flattering to their inflated pride, and their wish became father to theii' 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 an- tiquity. The first chi-oniclers 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 reve- lation. Whatever harmony there is, was the result of an aim which was not lost sight of for a moment. Na- ture was the first teacher; and though she was compe- tent, Ave have been poor disciples. She is instructing us all the time, thous-h 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 lec- ture and we have the principles and the knowledge to understand it. But we listen far more to the applause of om- 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 or- thography 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 au- thority of the Bible, and therefore bent all their ener- gies for their overthrow. They denied their possibility in the strongest terms, averring that they degrade the 208 HisTOEY OF eatio:n-alism. 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.^ 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 j^^i*^ fancy of the writer ; and in others, hyperbolical descriptions of natu- ral 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 mira- cles. When Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with their fel- low-unfortunates, were swallowed up, they only suf- fered 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 cfround 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 broth- er 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 ^ Wegscheider : InstituUones Dogmaticce. PAULUS OlSr THE MIEACLES OF CHEIST. 209 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 Babbis 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 ap- pearance in this narrative, nor was there to Peter him- self. Had there been, the fiery Peter would not have been cold-blooded at such a miracle, but would have ex- pressed himself as in Luke v. 8. There is nothing more meant here, than that Christ designed to give a moral 14 210 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. lesson ; namely, that we should not give offence to onr l^rethren, 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 inter- pretation 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 plent}^ 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 ap- MIEACLES AND PKOPHECT. 211 plied to the stock of tlie 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 walk- ing 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 shoi-e 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 as- certain 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 super- natural, that each w^as 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 my- thology. 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, there- fore, observe the same skeptical rejection of the pi-oph- ets. We have not dwelt at length upon the particular 212 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. books wbicli 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 Scrip- ture, 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 per- sistent efforts of Rationalism to destroy popular fi^iith in them. Ammon discoursed boldl}^ against them and at- tempted to convert every prophetic expression' into a natural remark. He held that Christ himself directly renounced the power to pi'ophesy, 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 ar- gument 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 va- riety of interpretation. In fact, there is a moral ob- jection to them, to say nothing of their historical charac- ter. They would favor fatalism, take away human free- dom, and be ii'reconcilable with the Divine perfection. What Christ said concerning the destruction of Jerusa- lem is not a prophecy, because not stated with sufficient clearness. Jesus followed the style of interpretation THE PEOPHETS. 213 found in the Talmudic and Rabbinical writings, and transferred to himself many things in the Old Testa- mexit, 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 spirit- ual 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.^ 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 nat- ural shrewdness and long experience, could see coming events. Paulus argued at length against Christ's proj)h- ecy 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 prom- ises of meeting again refer to his joining them in a fu- ture life. Wegsch eider adds that Christ, though he re- proaches 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 pre- tended 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 ^ Eichhoi'D : Die Hebr'dischen Propheten. 214 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. predictions respecting the person of the Messiah, non- sense; accused the prophets of being cunning deceivers; and said that the belief of those prophets has preserved incredulity on the earth. The Peeson oe Christ. The historical method of interpretation was applied by the disciples of Reason to the Go^el narratives of the character and atonement of Christ. The various circumstances surrounding the writers, the prejudices probably actuating them, the cus- toms 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. E-eimarus accused him of rebellious, ambi- tious, and political views. " Afterward," says Staudlin, "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 ureed. Amonof the writers of these works were even theologians and preachers ! What could be the conse- quence, 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 in- troduce a pure religion of reason quite independent of Christianity andseparated from it." An anonymous publication appeared in 1825, PEESON OF OHEIST. 215 entitled Vindicioe SacrcB Novi Testamenti Scriptua- rum, in wMch. 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 as- sert its truth, the probable story is that the follow- ers 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 de- grees, said that he was still living, raised from the dead, and rewarded. Then all these thinsrs were told and be- lieved, and it was not easy to contradict them or even examine their value. Paulus affirmed that Christ did not really die but suffi3red 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 metaphori- cal, 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 Testa- ment. The chief service of Christ was his doctrine. As a Divine Messenger it was his business to bring for- ward new and pui'e religion adapted to the wants of all 216 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. mankind, and to give an example of it. His death was necessary to prove Ms confidence in Ms own doctrines, and to present an illustration of perfected virtue. Wegsclieider took tlie position that Christ was one of those characters raised up by God at various periods of history to repress vice and encourage virtue. All no- tions of his glorification, however, are groundless, and the atonement is a mere speculation of the orthodox. One of the most pojDular and direct of all the wri- ters on the opinions of the Rationalists was Rohr, the author of the JBriefe uher 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 ge- nius, the blossom of his age and generation, and unsur- passed in wisdom by an}^ 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 preju- dices. 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 fixr back as the time of Moses. He performed PEESOlSr OF CHRIST. 2 IT no miracles ; but they seemed miracles to the eye-wit- nesses. 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 be- cause of the influence wrought upon them by their mas- ter. 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 re- ligion than in that of Mohammedanism, which has made such great inroads upon Arabia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and Spain, Rohr, 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 ]3erceptions, great love of truth, and warm sympathies, — an exalted picture of intellectual and moral greatness. Who would not bow before thee V The Rationalists made each act of Christ the sub- ject 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." 218 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 over- throw 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 in- visible truth. Baptism is merely a sign of the purity with which a Christian ought to live. The Lord's Sup- per is but a memorial of the death of Jesus, and unites us with him only morally. The church is a human in- stitution, 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/ By this barren creed all foundation for a holy life was taken away. The people, believing such absurdi- ties, 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 wis- dom 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 in- ' Yon Ammon. Quoted from his Magazine ■ in Saintes' Histoire du Jtationalisme. EATIONALISM PUEELY NEGATIVE. 219 stitutions 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 be lieve were mere negatives, — the sheer denial of some thing already in existence. CHAPTER IX. RENOVATION INAUGURATED BY SOHLEIERMACHER. The commencement of the nineteenth century found the German people in a state of almost hopeless de- pression. They saw their territoiy laid waste by the victorious Napoleon, and their thrones occupied by ru- lers of Gallic or Italian pi'eferences. They had striven very sluggishly to stem the current of national subjec- tion 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 rEE]NrcH DOMm'ATio]^'. 221 degenerate Cliristians of the East, tlie new Islamite hordes of revolutionary France were permitted by Di- vine Providence to spread through Germany, as through almost every country in Europe, terror and desolation. " What shall I say of the endless evils that accompa- nied 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 legisla- tion. In politics the expulsion of the ecclesiastical elec- tors, 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 ten- antry ; and on the ruins of old aristocratic and muni- cipal 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 reli- gious 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 dispensa- tions of that Providence who brino:eth g-ood out of evil, this fearful revolution has partly become, and will yet 222 HISTOEY OF EATIOJSTALISM. further become, the occasion of the moral and social regeneration of Em'oj)e." '^ The patriot saw his country degraded, but the Christian wept for his absent faith. Rationalism was Bti'ongest 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 co- existent 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 eno^ao-e in war while its citizens are imbued with reli- gious 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 at- tach a fictitious importance to Rationalism when we say that it was the prime agent which prevented the Ger- mans 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 indio-nation at the insolence of the conqueror and the apathy of his countrymen, and addressed hirpself to the consciousness of the people by ^ Mohler's SyiiiboUsm, Memoir of Author. LEBEEATION AND EESTORATIOIS". 223 callino- upon tliem to arise, and reclotlie tliemselves 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 enthu- siastic 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 com- ing day." After independence had been achieved and the downfall of Napoleon had become a fact, there ap- peared evidences of new evangelical life. When the German soldiers recrossed the river which their ancestors had loved to call " Father Hhine," aiid 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 skejoti- cism 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 trans- ferred to the domain of religion and theology. But great as was the influence of the wars of free- dom in brino-ino; back the German heart to an intense 224 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. desire for a more elevated nationality, we must not be unmindfal of tlie great theological forces wliicli were preparing for a tliorougli religious renovation. Tliey met in Sclileiermaclier. Wlien quite young lie was placed, first at Niesky and afterward at Barby, in tlie care of tlie Moravians. It was among tliese de- vout people tliat lie became inspired witli that enthu- siastic love of inner reli2:ious feeliuo; which characterized his entire career. The traces of Moravian piety are per- ceptible in all his writings. His own words concern- ing his early training are very touching. " Piety," says he, " was the maternal bosom, in the sacred shade of which my youth was j^assed, and which prej^ared 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 child- hood 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 Cliarity, 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 theol- ogy, literature, and statesmanship. He drew liis philos- oph}' largely from Jacobi, exhibiting with that thinker his dissatisfaction at the existina: condition of meta- physics and theology. Schleiermacher could not look upon the dearth around him without the deepest emo- schleleemachek's discoueses. 225 tion. He asked himself if tliere 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 con- sciousness 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 hewi-ote h\^ Discourses on Religion addressed to its Cidtivated Deqnsers. 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 man- ifestations 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 mth 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 reli- gion from those of action and of knowledge. Religion is not morality, it is not science. Its seat is found ac- 15 226 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. cordingly in tlie third element of our nature — ^the feel- ing. Its essential is a riglit state of the heart. To de- grade 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 Schleier- macher advocates, is not the fanaticism of the ignorant or the visionary emotion of the idle. It is not an aim- less reverie shrinking morbidly from the light of clear and definite thouo;ht. Feelino;, in its sound condition, affects both our conception and our will, leads to knowl- edge 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 hurt- fulness of a union between church and state. With in- dignant 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." ^ Keligion being subjective, according to Schleier- macher, 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 su- premacy. Christ was the revelator of a system more ' ^ Essays and Eemains. Vol. 1, pp. 61-62. schleiekmachek's disooueses. 227 advanced tlian Polytheism or Judaism. Only by view- ing his religion in tlie 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 won- dering how reason could be deified and the feeling of the heart ig-nored. There were midtitudes of the edu- cated and cultivated throughout the land who, having become unfriendly to Christianity through the persist- ence of the Rationalists, were equally indisposed to be satisfied with a mere destructive theology. Something positive was what they wanted ; hence the great ser- vice of Schleiermacher in directing them to Christianity as the sreat sun in the heavens, and then to the heart as the org-an able to behold the lio;ht. His labor was inestimably valuable. His utterances were full of the enthusiasm of youth, and, years later, he became so dis- satisfied 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 matui'e 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 sufiicient apology. Schleiermacher wrote other works, of which he and his disciples were much prouder ; but we doubt if he ever issued one more l)e- fittinsf the class addressed, or followed with more bene- 228 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. ficial results. Since liis pen has been stopped by deatb, those very discourses have led many a ske]3tic 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 followins^ 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 remem- ber with what j)ower this book influenced the minds of the young, being written in all the vigor of youthful enthusiasm, and bearing witness to the neglected, unde- niable reli2:ious element in human nature. That which constitutes the peculiar characteristic of religion, namely, that it is an independent element in human na- ture, 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 draw- ing which, when once called forth, might lead them beyond that which the author of this impulse had ex- pressed with distinct consciousness." In the year following the publication of the Dis- courses on Religion, Schleiermacher issued his Moiho logues. 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 schleleemachee's monologues. 229 own power, and sliow how far Ids individuality can go upon its mission of success. Here he lauds inde- pendence. Hence tlie latter work exerted the same kind of influence which attended Fichte's Addresses, and it had no small share in the reawakening of the people to theii* innate power. There might appear an antao-onism between these two works of Schleiermacher, but, while the Discourses were the exposition of his religious views, the Monologues were merely the annun- ciation of his moral opinions subsequently developed in his System of Christian Etlii lish a real peace, and active harmonious relations b(!. tween 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 — Eomanists, Prot- estants, or Greeks. They are virtually attempting to destroy the foundations of faith in all the belief of Christians, whatever their particular differences of re- ligious opinion or forms of ecclesiastical government. All Christian churches live by faith. No form of gov- ernment, 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 neces- sity 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.^ " In the Meditation already published, M. Guizot dis- cusses the essence of Christianity, creation, revelation, inspiration of the Scriptures, God according to the Biblical account, and Jesus according to the Gospel nar- * Meditations on the Essence of Christianity. Preface, pp. 6-10. 27 418 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. rative. In order to complete his work, tlie autlior de- signs 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 reli- gious 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 coun- tries 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 Homan Catholic and Protestant churches at the commencement of the nineteenth cen- tury will be exhibited. The author will then describe the impulse imparted by the Sj)iritualistic Philosophy, and the opposition it met with in Materialism, Panthe- ism, 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 u^^on 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 } ears in aiding the cause of reli- gion. " I have passed," says he, " thirty-five years of my life in struggling, on a bustling arena, for the estab- lishment 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 theii cause what remains to me of life and of strength. It THE PEOTESTANT CONFEEENCES. 419 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 insinuat- ing 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 anniver- saries, 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 Na- tional 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 doc- trines 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 ver}^ basis of Christianity and the Church ; that these negations are produced in the name of science, and given as the definitive results of the elaljoration of modern thought, — ^protests in the name of Christian 420 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. faith, of Christian conscience, of Christian expeiience, 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 thou- sand times contradicted by the incessant transforma- tions of the human mind ; and exhorts the different churches to make efforts and sacrifices to favor the de- velopment 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 pas- sage of a resolution by which ministers would be freed from all authority, and permitted to preach any doc- trine, 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 Con- ference 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 tyi-anny for a minister of Jesus Christ to take advantage of his position to propagate directly or in- directly, ideas contrary to the fundamental doctrines of M. GUIZOTS DECLAEATIOlSr. 421 Ckristianity, sucli as the autliority of the Bible, tlie divinity and redemption of Jesus Christ, whicli are con- tained 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 Con- ference in 1864. He introduced a declaration of prin- ciples, the character of which may be judged by the following extract: "We have fall faith, 1-^^. In the supernatural power of God in the government of the world, and especially in the establishment of the Chris- tian religion; "Id. In the divine and supernatural in- spiration of the Holy Books, as well as in their sover- eign authority in religious matters ; Zd. In the eternal divinity and miraculous birth as well as in the resur- rection 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." " Gen- tlemen," 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 ag- o-ression meets vdth 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 be- hind us all the Christian communions. Let us show ourselves equal to this great task, and firml}'" resolve to accomplish it." The debate resulted in the adoption of the declara- tion by a vote of one hundred and forty-one against twentv-three. 422 HISTOET OF EATIONALISM. lu addition to these proofs of tlie orthodoxy of Frencli Protegtautism, tliere is another of different char- acter bnt of not less significance. We mean the success- ful working of the evangelizing agencies lately inaugu- rated in France. Forty years ago, A. Monod was in the midst of his small Sunday School in Paris. The gov- ernment was in the hands of the Jesuits, and Protest- antism 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 Protest- ant French pastors who preached faithfully and zeal- ously the true piinciples of Christianity." But improvement began, and between 1820 and 1830 several important religious societies were organ- ized 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 qiiartier of the great metropolis. In the same year there were but six Protestant pastors and five Churches ; but in ISSY there were thirty-nine pastors and fifty-one sanctuaries. Including the whole of France, there are, under Protestant jurisdiction, about one thou- sand 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 omit- ted, and if they are left out what must be expected of the members under them? During 1862 twenty new EVANGELIZING AGENCIES. 423 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 threat- ened 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 pros- perous existence will compare favorably with simi- lar institutions in Great Britain and the United States. We mention the most prominent: The French and Foreign Bible Society, which sold eighty-eight thou- sand copies of the Bible in 1862 ; the Protestant Bible Society ; the Tract Society ; the Paris Missionary Society ; the Primary School Society and the Protestant Sou Society. Each of these has its well-defined field of labor, one aiming to arouse slumbering Protest- ants, another to seek out wandering Protestants, and a third to educate homeless children. The Evangel- ical 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 ; sup- ported 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 424 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. "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 major- ity. Of the seven teachers at Montauban, five are out- spoken adherents of orthodoxy. The inability of M. Reville to be elected to a chair in that institution indi- cates 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, de- pend 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 Revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes will be avenged by the pure faith and permanent triumphs of Protestantism. CHAPTER XVIII, SWITZERLAND: ORTHODOXY IN" GENEVA, AND THE NEW SPECULATIVE RATIONALISM IN ZURICH. SwiTZEELAND has failed to retain the influence over the theological thought of Europe enjoyed by her in the days of Zwiuglius 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 neighboi's. 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 Chris- tian 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 426 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Keason attacked the contents of the ScrijDtures, while in Switzerland the attempt was made to reduce all re- vealed truth to a system of natural religion. Rationalism in the Swiss Church was Arianism and Socinianism re- vived.^ 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 reli- gion that many of the ministers of Geneva have is a complete Socinianism, rejecting everything called mys- tery, and supposing that the first principle of a true religion is to pi'opose nothing to be received as a matter of faith which strikes against reason." Rousseau de- clares 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 undis- guised 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 exclu- sively 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 di- vinity of our Saviour, &g. In theology we were taught nothing but what are called the dogmas of natural reli- gion. 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 * Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte d. 18. und 19. JahrTiundcrts, vol. ii., p. 416. MADAME DE KEUDENEE. 427 not for anytliing 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." -^ The Venerahle 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 raio'ht be expected, practical piety was thrown into the back- ground. Children were not instructed in the Scriptures, and the churches were attended by small congregations, who were favored with no better gospel than the com- bined opinions of Voltaire and the German Rational- ists. There were here and there loud protests against this apostasy. The Canton Vaud was benefited by the labors of that excellent woman, Madame de Kriidener, 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. ^ ^Alexander, Switzerland and the Swiss Chu7xhes, p. 194. * Kurtz, Church History, vol. ii., p. 334. 428 HISTOEY OF KATIONALISM. From the outset Geneva had been the centre of the great religious decline. The Theological Academy found- ed by Calvin had become the nursery of as injurious er- rors 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 un worthy 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 endeavor- ins: 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 or- ganization 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 ALEXAIS^DKE KODOLPHE VINET. . 429 reviving and reorganizing the Sunday School system in Geneva, and personally superintending the religious in- struction of the children, for whom he wrote his inim- itable Catechisms^ he became the author of many theo- logical works adapted to the wants of clergy and laity. In company with a few friends, he published the popu- lar Swiss version of the New Testament. It occasioned him real joy when he witnessed late in life the improve- ment 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 Protest- ant Europe, and is identified with the revival of religious sentiment in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and France. His excellent writina-s have familiarized him to the theo- logical readers of Great Britain and the United States. The separation of Church and State was one of the lead- ing aims of his life, and he eloquently contended for it whenever occasion offered. In 1837 he accepted the invita- tion 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 opin- ions 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.^ In all his works he manifests profound thought and erudition. His Homiletics and Pastoral Theology have already be- come text-books in many theological seminai-ies. . The spirit now dominant at Geneva clearly indicates the success of the late efforts toward reform. The con- gregations have largely increased ; various hmnanitarian * Farrar, Critical History of Free Thonght, p, 444. 430 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 Switzer- land is now supplying many prominent French pulpits with her graduates. The present sojourner in Geneva finds but few rem- nants of that skeptical preaching and general religious indifference so lamentably prevalent before the rise of the Evangelical Dissenting Church. M. Levalois, who is an av^owed 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 testi- mony to the religious growth of the mother-city of French Protestantism. " I now come," says this travel- er, " to the essential characteristics of Geneva. Before being literary and liberal, the Genevan is Christian. In Geneva the free-thinking stranger is advised of Chris- tianity. 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 find- ing himself in the face of a creed mechanically repeated, of a memory and not of a conscience, — you feel your- self in contact with an individual who will believe, who can believe, who is in full possession of the ivliy of his belief. Nothing in the world is to me so sacred as sin- cerity in intelligent f;iith. Just as I despise certain time- serving Catholics, who are converted because they dread socialism, or because they dread the Emj^ire, 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 Protest- m:ctuees in geisteva. 431 ant ? 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 indi- viduals. Yes, I have seen it in turns the inspirer of language, the spring of actions, the spur and the dis- cipline, rule and support of the future, impregnating, so to speak, the flesh and the spirit. Such a spectacle ex- cites one to reflection. We have been in too great haste to exclaim, Christianity is dead ! An hour's con- versation with two or three Genevese, sufl&ces to con- vince us that if Christianity is dead it is not yet buried." ^ 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 in- struction 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 Chris- tian ground ; therefore Hegelianisni 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 lectui'ed on " Christian Works." It was an eloquent appeal for renewed Christian activity. MM. Bungener, Bret, and Borich lectured on " Christian Life ; " M. Gaberel on the " Part taken by Geneva at the time of the Beformation ; " and also on the " Present Literary and Beligious state of Germany ; " M. Archi- nard on the " Ancient Beligious Edifices of Switzer- land;" M. Aug. Bost om the ''First Fifteen Centuries of the History of Mankind ; " and M. De Gasparin on ^ DO^tinion Nationale, 1863, 432 insTOEY OF rationalism. tlie " Family Life, its Organization and Duties." In ad- dition to these, there were lectures on detached subjects, such as religious prejudices, the study of the Bible by simple-hearted believers, drunkenness, the religious edu- cation of children, the instruction of catechumens, the dissipation of cities, and the duty of evangelization.^ 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 foui' hundred missionaries, nearly three hundred of whom are still living and actively engaged in evangel- izing the dark places of the earth. The people are un- willing 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 1817, upon the calling of Zeller to the theological professorship. We now tui'n to a less evangelical part of Switzer- land. Ziirich 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 theolomcal chair in the semi- o nary. But the people arising as one man against the measure, the appointment* failed, the council was over- thrown by a i^opular revolution, and the city still pays ' Christian WorTc, Aug., 1863. ELECTION IN USTEI^. 433 a pension to tlie disappointed aspirant. But in lament- able contrast with that event is one of more recent oc- currence. As late as 1864, when the little town of TJster w^as about to elect a pastor, the candidate declared himself " a friend of progress and light." Some reli- gious 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 be- lieved 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 prin- ciples of the evangelical Reformed church. The council took no notice of the remonstrance, though the candi- date 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.^ The only representative of evangelical doctrines in the theological faculty of Zurich is a tutor, placed there ^ Semaine Beligieuse. Geneva: 1864. 28 434 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 Rational- istic 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 Ziirich, 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 Tubingen School. All those men are members, in good standing, of the Reformed church of Switzerland.^ The Rationalistic works in question are studiously adapted to the common mind. They contain a complete system, which we term the New Speculative Rational, ism. 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 pred- ecessor. Like the Groningen school of Holland, it lays stress on the character of Christ. It proposes to estab- lish 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 Zurich, " is truth and morality. Whoever 1 Eiggenbach, Der Heutige Bationalismus hesonders in der Deutschen Schweitz. Basel: 1862. SWISS EATIONALISTS. ■ 435 tliinks upon tliese tMngs and strives for tliem sliall find a place in it." Their opinions are the direct result of the Hegelian philosophy applied speculatively to the obsolete, destructive Kationalism 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 con- fessions but human opinions ? Christ. Strauss was v^^rong in taking his cold view of Jesus. There was a real historical personage whom we properly call Jesus. Nothing is gained, but every- thing lost by resolving all the statements of the gospels into myths. It is through Christ that salvation is at- tained, 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 be- came 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 436 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. statements. But one of tlieir opinions subverts every thing tliey grant to orthodoxy. Christ was not, ac- cording to their view, the Messiah in the sense fore- told by the prophets and preached by the apostles. We must judge him apart from all poetry, specu- lation, and human judgment. The Christ of the pres- ent church is the creation of theologians, not the character portrayed by the evangelists. Unfortu- nately 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 tem- perament, 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 per- sonification of the truly religious character. Religion be- came 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 Mieacles. No miracles, in the ortho- dox sense of the term, have ever occurred. The scien- tific examination of the Scriptures banishes them alto^ VIEWS ON IMMOETALITT. 437 gether. 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 mii'acles. 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 al- lowed. 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." Ijvimortality. 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 tenn they mean an existence commencing and terminating with faith. It is a life of such value that it should be called " eter- nal " life, althouo:h 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 438 HisTOEY or KAnOlSrALISM. reduce tlie eternal life of wliicli tlie gospel speaks to a mere metliod 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 ex- istence ; 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 develop- ment 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 natm-al 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 prin- ciples. 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 plaus- ible 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, THE FUTURE OF SWITZEELAISTD. 439 not the acceptance of fixed traditions. It is sucli a feel- ing, 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. G-erman Switzerland will be influenced by Ger- many, and because of the thorough improvement already inaugurated in the latter country no general resurrec- tion of skepticism need be feared. The evangelical professors at Basle are eagerly watching every new movement, and we believe they have sufiicient sti*ength 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 Ziirich : " To Christ, to Christ will I lead you, — to the source of sal- vation. His word is the only food I wish to furnish to your hearts and lives ! " CHAPTER XIX. ENGLAND : THE SOIL PREPARED FOR THE LNTRODUCTION OF RATIONALISM. The religious lesson taught by tlie condition of England during the eigliteenth century is this : The inevitable moral prostration to which skepticism re- duces 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 per- mitted themselves to be deflected. But the Ration- alists were ever turning into some by-road and weak- ening 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, INFLUENCE OF LITERATUEE. 441 ttougli many of tlie oraciilar 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 lit- erature 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 cor- dially 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-wi'iting 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 Eng- lish mind. France and England were so intimately re- lated to each other that the two languages were dili- 442 HISTORY OF KATIONALISM. gently studied in botli countries. If the Englisli adven- turer 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.^ 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 skep- tical 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 fre- quented the salon of Madame de Croissy, and he de- veloped his skeptical system through the medium of the French language, in a series of letters to M. de Pouilly.^ Bolingbroke accused the greatest divines and phi- losophers of leading a great part of mankind into inex- tricable labyrinths of I'easoning and speculation. Nat- ural 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 distin- guish genuine and pure theism from the profane mix- tures of human imagination ; and to go to the root of that error which encourages om* curiosity, sustains our pride, fortifies our prejudices, and gives pretense to de- lusion ; to discover the true nature of human knowl- edge, 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 * For an excellent view of the relation of France and England in the eighteenth century, vid. Revue des Deux Ifondes, 1 Dec, 1861. " Schlosser, History of the Eighteenth Century^ vol. i., p. 98. ESTLUEKCE OF THE ENGLISH NOBILITY. 443 to tlie simplicity of triitli." ^ Tlie Scriptures, according to Bolingbroke, are unwortliy of our credence. They degrade the Deity to mean and unworthy offices and employments.^ The New Testament consists of two distinct gospels ; one by Christ, the other by St. Paul. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments is ab- surd, and contrary to the divine attributes.^ Chris- tianity 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." * 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 pm^poses of our being, is all that God has proclaimed for our guidance.^ There were other members of the English nobil- ity 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 ' Worl'S, vol. iii., p. 328. London Edition of 1754. 5 vols., quarto. » Ibid. p. 304. ' Ibid. vol. v., p. 356. * Ibid. p. 258. ' Leland, View of Deistical Writers of England, pp. 307-308. London Edition of 1837, with Appendix and Introduction, by Brown and Edmonds. 444 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. ^ soil was a complete success. Tlie young were deligMed witli tlie result; tlie aged liad been too ill-taught in early life to raise tlie 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 : Eng- land fell powerless, contented, and doomed into the arms of France. The attacks of Hume and Gibbon on the divine orio-in 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 inspii^ation directly from his own times. Attaching himself to the Encyclopaedists, he played the wit in the salons of Paris. He became fraternally intimate with Kousseau, 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 speculat- ing 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 care- fully 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 evi- dence which assures us of any real existence and matter of fact. But this difiiculty did not impede him from an attempted solution. He thought himself performing a great service when he addressed himself to the " de- struction of that implicit faith and credulity which is the bane of all reasoning and free inquiry." ^ He re- ' Philosoplmal Essays concerning Human Understanding, p. 49. Lon- don Edition, 1750. HUME ON MIRACLES. 445 fused to acknowledge a Supreme Being, in tlie follow- ing words : " While we argue from the course of na- ture, and infer a particular intelligent cause, which at first bestowed and still preserves order in the universe, w^e embrace a principle which is both uncertain and useless, because the subject lies entirely beyond the reach of human experience." ^ 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. Expe- rience 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 cii'cumstances, which may create any doubt or uncertainty. The evidence from testimony may be de- stroyed 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 mar- velous there are two opposite experiences with regard to them, and that which is most credible is to be prefer- red. Now the uniform experience of men is against miracles. We should not, therefore, believe any tes- timony 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. ' PJiilosopTiical Essays, dc, p. 224. 446 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. The second part of tLe Essay on Miracles is in- tended to sliow tliat, supposing a mii'acle 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 learn- ing, 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 repn- tation 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.^ 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 Historij of England met with a cold recep- tion on its first appearance. But he lived to see the day when, as he egotistically said, " it became circu- lated like the newspapers." Yet he wrote that work not as an end, but as a means. Historical wi'iting was then the medium in which it was common to couch theology or philosophy. Hume had a profound con- tempt 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 Eng- land, and would subject all events which indicated a * Leland, View of Deistical Writers^ pp. 230-250. GIBBOlSr's EOMAN EMPIRE. 447 deep Clinstian piety and purpose, to liis cold system of philosopliy. 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 ? " bat " 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 liis purse, was not likely to aid his faith. By a sudden caprice he became a Koman Catholic, and afterwards as uncere- moniously 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 in- fidelity, 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 culti- vated the florid French style of composition, and ap- plied 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 Eng- lish literature. In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters the author gives his opinion of Christianity. He at- tributes 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 Chris- tians in the government of the church. He attributed 448 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. to outward agencies wliat could have been effected only by inward forces. But lie did not assume the philoso- pher'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 IH., 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.^ 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 prostra- tion 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 con- tinuing down to the time of which we speak, was one * Schlosser, Eistory of the Eighteenth Century^ vol. ii., p. 85-86. BISHOP BUEJSTEt's STATEMEIST. 449 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 free- dom, 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 can- not look on without the deepest concern, when I see the imminent ruin hanging over this church, and, by con- sequence, 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 be- fore they can be trusted with the care of souls." ^ * Pastoral Care. 29 450 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Arclibisliop Seeker, who wrote at a late.' 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 metrop- olis of the nation; is daily spreading through every part of it ; and, bad in itself as any can be, must of ne- cessity bring in others after it. Indeed it hath already brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of princi- ple 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 ab- solutely 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."i 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 tenden- cies of the day. But a new religious power, from an unex- pected source, began to influence the English mind. We refer to the movement inaugurated by the Wesleys and Whitefield, who were fellow-students in Oxford Univer- sity. They were appalled at the dissoluteness of the students, the frigid preaching of the day, and the uni- versal 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 ' Worls, vol. v., p. 306. THE WESLEY AK MOVEMEIS'T. 451 visit prisons, preacli 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 unmis- takable evidences of the adaptation of the new preach, ing 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 Es- tablished Chui'ch was aroused to activity. Dissenters began to hope for the return of the good days of Bun- yan and Baxter and Howe. Isaac Taylor says of the new influence, that "it preserved from extinction and reanimated the lan- guishing 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 Gib- bon had communicated then- 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 Eng- lish 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 princi- ples were in process of transition. They were there- 452 HISTOET OF RATIONALISM. fore ready for tte reception of whatever plausible type of skepticism miglit present itself for their accept- ance. 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 sim- ilar 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. CHAPTER XX. ENGLAND CONTINUED : PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY RA- TIONALISM.— COLERIDGE AND CARLYLE. All history "betrays tlie operation of a compensating principle. The payment may be slow, but there is sel- dom total repudiation. An influence which departs from a country and sets in upon its neighbor, trans- forming 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 in- terest. After the Revolution of 1*789, 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 the- oloo"y 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 454 HISTORY OF KATIOIS^ALISM. with the alliance between tlie German States and Great Britain for tlie arrest of FrencL. arms, increased the tendency until it assumed importance and power. The fruit Avas first visible in the application of German Ra- tionalism 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 pro- gressing in the Established Church. There are reasons why the slow but effectual introduction of German Ra- tionalism has been taking place imperceptibly. The war which had agitated England, with the rest of Europe, came to a close in 1815. Immediately after- ward domestic politics needed adjustment. " The dis- abilities were swept away," says a writer, " the House of Commons was reconstituted, the municipalities were reformed, slavery was abolished." ^ In due time the na- tion 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 ascer- tain 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 at- tention lest Waterloo might be avenged in some unex- pected manner. At home, church parties were reviv- ing the old antagonisms described by the pen of Ma- caulay. The popular mind has thus been continually directed toward some excitinsr theme. Ens^land has not had a day of leisure during the whole of the last half • N'ational Review^ Oct., 185C. SAMUEL TAYLOE COLERIDGE. 455 century, wlien slie could come to a judicious conclusion coDcerniug that class of her thinkers who, though they make theology their profession, are so intensely inde- pendent as to attach themselves to no creed or ecclesias- tical 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. When- ever infidelity has arisen, whether within or without the Church, it has usually developed these forms. Phi- losophy has furnished undevout reason with a fund of speculative objections to revelation ; literature has daz- zled and bewildered the young and all lovers of ro- mance ; and criticism has seized the deductions of science, language, and ethnology, and by their com- bined 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 thii'd, 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 theii' 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 456 HISTOKY OF EATIONALISM. was that posterity miglit 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 suc- cess 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 evan- gelical 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 Cole- ridge 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 trans- formation 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 distinc- tions between the Understanding and the Reason (with the sub-distinction of the latter into Speculative and Practical), and between Nature and Spii'it. With him also he sympathized in that deep conviction of the ab- solute nature and validity of the great ideas of God, Freedom, and Immortality — of the binding obligation STRUGGLES OF COLERIDGE. 457 of conscience — and generally of tlie supremacy of the Moral and Practical over tlie purely Speculative. In- deed, any one wlio goes to tlie study of Kant, after having made himself acquainted with the writings of Coleridge, will he 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." ^ The Platonic element in the speculations of Cole- ridge is of earlier date than the German. It was his reliance until introduced to the captivating o23inions of the philosopher of Konigsberg. 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 suifering, 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." ^ 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 ' Introductory Essay to Coleridge's Worls. Vol. i., pp. 21-22. Har- per's edition. ^ Letter dated Shrewsbury, Jan. 19th, 1T98, to Mr. Isaac Wood, Higli St., Shrewsbury. 458 HISTORY OF EATIOl^ALISM. had received at home. He applied himself to the assid- uous 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 admira- tion of all natural forms, and ardent, impulsive temper- ament. Schelliug'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 under- lying Schelling's system, he hastily forsook it, and his diatribes indignantly hurled against one whom he had so enthusiastically admired are the more notable be- cause 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-Philosopliie, I confess that in the perusal of Kant I breathe the air of good sense and logical under standing 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 whicli, in their first sense, are transcendental {liberfliegeruT)^ and in their literal sense scandalous." ^ 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 mfiuence ' BiograpMa Literaria. Appendix III., p. 709. THEISTIC FAITH OF COLEEIDGE. 459 of Ms theistic system, says : " Now as tlie defender and interpreter of this decidedly and profoundly theistic system of pliilosopty, 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 dis- guised 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 uncon- sciously 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 fi^om 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 Imper- sonal 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 affinning a difference in essence, and steadfastly re- sists 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 doc- trine of responsible self-determination, and not of irre- sponsible natural development, is the doctrine by which it constructs its systems of Philosophy and Religion." ^ * Introductory Essay to Coleridge's Worlcs^ vol. i., pp. 35-36. 460 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. The Platonic portion of the views of Coleridge is more apparent in his theology than in his philosophy. In his Confession of Faiih^ 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 Chris- tian 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 intelli- gible 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 j^rofess. 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-aflSrmation." -^ The distinctions and definitions of Coleridge occa- sion the most serious diflficulty in the study of his opin- ions. His mode of statenient more frequently than his conception subjects him to the charge of Rationalism. His life-long error of mistaking theology for meta. ' Wor'ks^ vol. i., p. 115. opi]srio:xs of coleeidge. 461 physics resulted in his application of pHlosopliical ter- minology to theological questions ; but making every reasonable allowance, we cannot doubt that he had defective views of some of the essential truths of Chris- tianity. He clothes reason with authority to determine what is inspiration, by saying that there can be no reve- lation " ah extras 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 under- standing. He makes the latter the logical, and the former the intuitive faculty. Even beasts possess un- derstanding, but reason, the gift of God to no less crea- ture 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." ^ This admission to Rational- ism 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.^ Redemption is not salvation from the curse of a broken law, and Christ did not pay a debt » Wor^s, p. 241. The full argument is contained on pp. 241-253. ' Ibid. vol. i., pp. 269-271. 4G2 HISTORY OF EATIOJSTALISM. for man, because the payer must liave incurred the debt himself/ 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.^ All attempts to determine the exact theological position of Coleridge from his own definitions are un- satisfactory. 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 investi- gations 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 philo- sophical or theological system, but merely stating his views in aphoristic form — as in the Aids to Reflection — he scattered his thouc^hts 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 admii'ers 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 ap- pears in testimony of the deep and immediate impres- sion 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 1 Worhs, vol. i., p. 308. " Ibid, p. 325. JULIUS CHARLES HARE. 463 was not superior to liim in moral earnestness and pro- found reverence. When lecturing as Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Hare was attentively heard by John Sterling, Maurice, and Trench. He di'ank deeply of the spirit of Coleridge, of whom he was ever proud to call himself a "puj)il," and who, in connection with Wordsworth, was the instrumentality by which he and others " were preserved from the noxious taint of Byron." ^ 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 Wartburof, and there first learned to throw inkstands at the devil." His view of sacrifice was very supei^- cial, and similar to that of Maurice. The Jewish offer- ings 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." ^ Christ did not perform his im- portant 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 ' Mission of the Comforter. Note Sa. * Sermons on the Law of Self-Sacrifiee, and the Unity of the Church. 464 HISTOEY OF EATIOI^^ALISM. friends ; by the mockery and cruelty of tliose wliom his goodness and purity rendered more bitter against him ; by the frantic and ftiurderous cries of the people, whom he had loaded with every earthly benefit, and whom he desired to crown with eternal blessiags ; 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 tLis, then, the whole work of the redemption of mankind, does our Lord in the text declare to be finished.^ Hare declares the necessity of faith to Christian life, but he renders it more passive than active by say- ing that it is a receptive moral endowment capable of large development. Haj^py is the man who becomes in- ured 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 al- lowance ought to be made for all verbal inaccuracies and discrepancies; miracles are an adjunct to Christian evi- dence, but their importance is greatly exaggerated, for they are a beautiful fi^eze, not one of the great pillars in the temple of our faith. Notwithstanding these evidences of Hare's digres- sion 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 Herst- monceaux, or those searching rebukes of Romanism con- tained in the charges to his clergy. Independent as both his friends and enemies acknowledge him to have ' Sermon on John xix., 30. HAEE AND MAUEICE. 465 been, Lis 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 feel- ingly 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 obscui'e, in the least, the brightness of his res- sj^lendeut 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 Ra- tionalistic 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 l^d the commendable frank- ness to state his opinions without circumlocution, and to furnish us with his creed in a single volume of essays.^ Maurice's notion of an ideal creation betrays the media through which he has received it, — from Cole- ridsre to Neo-Platonism, and thence to Plato. The crea- tion of herbs, flowers, beasts, birds, and fishes, as re- corded in the first chapter of Genesis, was the bringing > Theological Essays. Second Edition. London, 1853. Maurice has published thirty-four works. Vid. Low's English Catalogue, 1835-1862, pp. 509-510. 30 466 HISTOEY OF EATTONALISM. forth of kinds and orders, sucli 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.^ 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, accord- ing to his place with reference to God, is the part which expressly belongs to the history of ceeation ; that the bringing forth of man in tliis sense, is the work of the sixth day. . . . Extend this thought, w^hich 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 suVjstance which it shows forth." 2 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 alread^^ " 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 rec- onciled 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." ^ * Lectures on the Old Testament^ p. 6. * Ibid. pp. 3-6. » Unity of the New Testament. Introduction, pp. sxi.-xxvi. OPINIONS OF MAUEICE. 467 From this premise alone the theological system of Maurice may be accm-ately 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 displeas- ure. Deep below it there is a righteousness capable of asserting its sovereignty. Job had a righteousness within him, which led him to say, " I kuow 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." ^ The nature of the atonement, Maurice holds, is a sub- ject 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 repre- sentative. On this ground, a regeneration is communi- cated 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 incar- nation, and the penalty resulting from sin is a mere scar of the healed wound. Natural death is not the separa- tion 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. ' Theological Essays, p. 61. 468 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. It is astonishing ttat a man wlio unhesitatingly prop- agated these views, could hold any office within the pale of the Established Church ; but Maurice enjoyed high fa- vor a number of years before his displacement. Though commencing life as a Unitarian and Universalist, he was rapidly 2:)romoted 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 Di- vinity. 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 hira and Maurice. The result was that the Council pro- nounced " the opinions expressed, and the doubts indi- cated in the JEssays^ 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 fur- ther decide that his continuance as Professor would be seriously detrimental to the interests of the College." ^ Maurice afterward held the office of Chaplain to Lin- coln'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 in- timate, for besides their leadership of the Broad Church, they are the exponents of the so-called Chris- tian 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 * The date of this Sentence was Oct. 28th, 1853. kestgsley's oPLTTioisrs. 469 Jhis opinion, are serious barriers to the progress of the age. That he should entertain sympathy with Cole- ridge might be expected from the very cast of his mind, but his adoption of such a large projDortion of that thinker's sentiments may be due to his private education under the care of Derwent Coleridge, son of the phi- losopher. 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 suf- fering 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 slug- gish 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 Chris- tianity 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 (^,ach, 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 4*70 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. believe. They are liis 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 rela- tion of sons ; because we are all by nature " members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the King- dom of Heaven." ^ 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 v^ithin it. Every man of the world is not only poten- tially, but virtually a member of Christ's Church, what- ever may, for the present, be his character or seeming. Like the colors in shot silk, or on a dove's neck, the dif- ference of hue and denomination depends merely upon the degree of light, and the angle of vision. In con- formity with this principle, Mr. Kingsley's theology al- together secularizes the Kingdom of Christ." ^ 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 * Sermons on National Suljects. First Series, p. 14. London Edition. ^ Modern Anglican Theology. By the Eev. J. H. Eigg. Second Edi- tion. London, 1859. The student of contemporary theology will find this work the best summary of the opinions of Coleridge and his school. kingsley's humanitaeian effoets. 471 man, but tlirougli liim 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 trans- muting agency of Christianity. He was first led into sympathy with the poor operatives in the English fac- tories by reading Mayhew's Shetches of London Labor and London Poor^ and, in connection with Mauiice, or- ganized cooperative 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, Kingsley s, and a whole school of " Mus- cular 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 472 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. grains ttey 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 in- terpreter. 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 impercej)tibly in the form of poetry and fiction. One great philo- sophical mind has sometimes dictated the literature of generations, and, in earlier periods, of entire centuries. This influence of philosophy on literature is fur- nished 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 in- corporated them into current poetry, romance, and his- tory. The effect has been to furnish the people with a literature which possesses all the weight of vital reli- gious 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 re- liable 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 imao-ine, and oug^ht, like certain of his predecessors, to arouse to lofty elfforts, assert his dignity and divinity, and strive to ad- vance 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 de- lectable dish of Pantheism for popular deglutition. THOMAS CAELTLE. 473 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 enunci- ated 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 Chris- tianity." ^ 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. Eflbrt being goodness, the exterior world is only tolerable be- cause it foi'nishes an arena for the contest of work. * Christian Life, p. 14. American Edition. 474 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. Man will never receive any prize unless lie bestir him' self to tLe 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 im- portant 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 every- where 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 medita- tions, all sciences, all spoken epics, all acted heroisms, CAELYLES PHILOSOPHY. 475 martyrdoms, — up to tliat ' Agony of bloody sweat/ wMch 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 individ- ual 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. Pop- ular 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. Napo- leon III. preaches the pure gospel of politics in his Jjife of Julius Ocesar. Absolute subjection — call it slavery, if you please — is the proper state of large bodies of helpless humanity, who are absolutely de- pendent 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 " Teufels- drockh." Part of the world's best work will be the unceasing effort for its universal and perpetual extermi- nation ; 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 Hesartus 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 beiugs like those deified by him. The adu- 476 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. , lation "being too great for many wlio 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 BesartiiSj has been primarily exerted on classes of men most exposed to temptations of egotism and petulance, and least sub- jected to anything above them, — academics, artists, lit- terateurs, strong-minded women, ' debating ' youths, Scotchmen of the phrenological grade, and Irishmen of the young-Ireland school." ^ There are very many be- side 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 stiU more true than towards England that no man has been and done like you." ^ The time has not yet come when men can awake from the spell of a charmer like Carlyle. But the illu- sion will some day be dissipated, and many of his readers in Great Britain and America will feel deeply and al. most 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 ob- ' National Review^ Oct. 1856. » Life of Sterling, p. 334. THE VTESTjnNSTEE KE\TEW. i77 scured by his sentiments. The late R. A. Vauglian, 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 awakino^ from such delirium to the sane and healthful realities of manful toil, they will dis- cover the hoUowness 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." ^ 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 pervert- ing the j)ure English of Milton and Shakspeare into inflated, oracular Richterisms; and as the arch dema- gogue 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 theol- oo-y " 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, Mcolai, is reported to have said : " My object is merely to hold up to the laughter and contempt of the ' Essays and Remains, vol. i., pp. 7-8. 478 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. public tlie orthodox and hypocritical clergy of the Protestant church, and to show that they make their own had 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, in- fidelity, and blasphemy, they are only speaking of their own ignorance, hypocrisy, and love of persecution, of the vdckedness of their own hearts concealed under the mantle of piety." ^ 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 Kationalistic 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 Sab- bath 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 in- dorses the sentiments of the Tubingen school, and holds with Baur that if we would know the truth of the early Church, its entire apostolic history must be recon- structed. It is compelled to confess the recent advance of evangelical doctrines in the German mind, but sees * Sebaldus Nothanher. Second Edition. ITH. LAMENT OF THE WESTJIESrSTEK EEVIEW. 479 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 radi- calism 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 busi- ness 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 theo- logians, 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 six- teenth century, and at other times before and since. The reactionary clergy have succeeded in getting them- selves 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 considera- tions. 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 understand- ing among the party enables them to pufi^ each other's 480 HISTOET OF KATIONALISM. books, and run down tlieir opponents. Only learning can get no hearing." ^ 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 defend- ers 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. ^ October Number, 1863. CHAPTER XXI. ENGLAND CONTINUED: CRITICAL EATIONALISM— JOWETT, THE ESSAYS AND REVIEWS, AND COLENSO. The devout disciple of Clirist regards tlie Scriptures witli profound reverence, for tliey contain tlie doctrines wMcli sliow him his path to the pure life of heaven. His theological opponents are not blind to this attach- ment, 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 philos- ophy were affected by Rationalism, the Scriptures should escape with impunity. There lies a deep de- structive purpose beneath the brief utterance of Dr. Temple : " The immediate work of our day is the study of the Bible.^ " 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 TJiessalonians^ 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 fi'om the Critical Rationalists as a class. ' Essays and Reviews. Edited, witli an Introduction, bj Rev. E. H, Hedge, D. D. Boston, 1862. 31 482 HISTOEY OF RATIONALISM. 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 ap- pease the divine wrath, and " sacrifice" and " atonement" were accommodated terms used by the apostles because they had been reared among the Jewdsh offerings and were familiar with them. The great advantage we de- rive 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 conver- sions 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 Christains were marked by ecstatic and unusual phenom- ena, 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.^ The most noteworthy work of the Critical Rational- ists is the Mssays 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 Tem- ple, D. D. There is a radical difference between man and inanimate nature. The latter is passive, and sub- ject 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 ' Commentary on St. PauVs Epistles. — Noyes'' Essays^ pp. 222-276. DE. temple's essay. 483 acliievemeiits of all previous history. There is no real difference between tlie 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. ChildLood requires posi- tive rules, and is made subject to them ; youth is gov- erned 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 princi- ples : — 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. Af- terwards, w^hen 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.^ 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 He- brew 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 imagina- tion ; and the Hebrew, the trained conscience. The whole period from the close of the old Testa- ment to the termination of the New was the time of the ' Essays and Sevieics, pp. 5-6. 484 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. world's youth, the age of examples.^ 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.^ 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 forgot- ten, just as we look lightly upon the things of our child- hood. 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." ^ 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 de- velopment through which the world has passed is con- founded with civilization. This development is alleged to have occured in a purely natural way, the Hebrew type being no more a divine appointment than that of ' Essays and Reviews^ p. 37. " Ibid. p. 39. ' Ibid, pp. 35-36. DE. WILLIAMS ESSAY. 485 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.^ Conscience is placed above the Bible, and if the statements of the Scriptures be in con- flict with it, allowance must be made for occasional in- accuracies, interpolations, and forgeries.^ II, Bunsen's Biblical Researches. By Rowland 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 as- sent. 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 tra- ditions of his Hebrew Sanctuary." ^ ^ For an able refutation of this point, vid. Hougliton, Rationalism in the Church of England, pp. 127-136. " Essays and Reviews, p. 54. » Ibid. p. 60. 486 HISTORY OF EATIOISTALISM. The absence of that reverence to be expected in all whose vocation enjoins the frequent reading of the sub- lime liturgy of the Church of England, produces a de- pressing 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." ^ The inquiries and suc- cesses of the German Rationalists are worthy of hearty admiration, for they are so great that the world has sel- dom, 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; per- haps one passage in Zechariah and one in Isaiah may be direct prophecies of the Messiah, and possibly a chap- ter in Deuteronomy may foreshadow the final fall of Jerusalem ; the Messianic prophecies are mere con- temporaneous 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 compas- sion." 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 ' Essays and Reviews^ p. 68. 487 writers, since they acknowledge themselves men of like passions with us ? Justiification by faith is merely peace of mind from trust in a righteous God, and not a fiction of merit by transfer. Kegeneration is a correspondent giving of insight or an awakening of the forces of the soul ; propitiation is the recovery of peace, and the atone- ment is our sharing the Saviour's Spirit, but not his pur- chase of us by his own blood. Throughout the Scrip- tures 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 Chris- tianity. 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 Hnme 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 estab- lished laws of the universe, and one of Hume's objec- tions to them was their incapability of being proved from testimony.^ 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 cred- ited, 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. Bea- ' Replies to Unsays and Reviews, p. 135. 488 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. son, and not " our desires " must come to our aid in all examination of them. The key-note to Professor Pow- ell's opposition is contained in the following statement : "From the nature of our antecedent convictions, the probability of some kind of mistake or deception some- where, though we know not where^ is greater than the probability of the event really happening in tlie ivay and from the causes assigned." ^ The inductive philoso- phy, for which great respect must be paid, is enlisted asfainst miracles. If we once know all about those al- leged 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 al- leged fall of aerolites to be a superstitious fable." ^ The two theories against the reality of miracles in their received sense, are : first, that they are attribut- able to natural causes ; and, second, that they may in- volve 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 testimomj ; the question would remain the same, if we had the evidence of our own senses to an alleged miracle ; that is, to an extra- ' E&says and Heviews, p. 120. '' Ibid. p. 155. wllson's essay. 489 ordinary or inexplicable fact. It is not tlie mere fcwt^ but tlie cause or explanation of it, whicli is the point at issue." ^ This means far more than Spinoza, Hume, or aiiy other opponent of miracles, except the radical Ra- tionalists of Germany, has claimed, — that we must not believe a miracle though actually witnessed. IV. Seances Histoeiques de Gekeve — The Na- tional 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-attend- ance 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 sub- scription and include them in the great National Church, wo will approach the Scriptural ideal. Unless this be done they will fall into Dissenting hands, and die out- side the Church of Christ. There are several proofs of the Scriptural indorsemei^t of Nationalism ; Christ's lament over Jerusalem declares that he had offered Multitudinism to the inhabitants nationally, while the tliree 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. ' Essays and Heviews, p. 159. 490 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Some of tlie converts of tlie apostolic age did not believe in tlie resurrection, whicli fact implies that the early Churches took collective names fi'om the localities where they were situated, and that doubt of the resuiTection 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 hu- man 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 minis- ters may become isolated between two other parties, — between those, on the one hand, who draw fanatical infer- ences from formularies and principles which they them- selves are not able or are unwilling to repudiate ; and on the other, those who have been tempted, in impa- tience 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 denun- ciations, 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 reli- gionist, making no reserve of any seemingly harmless or apparently serviceable superstitions of their own. They should also endeavor to supply to the negative theo- GOOD west's essay. 491 logian 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." ^ V. On the Mosaic Cosmogony. By C. W. Good- win, M. A. The assumption is made that the Mosaic account of creation is irreconcilable with the real crea- tion of the earth. We do wrong in elevating that nar- rative 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 noth- ing poetical or figurative in the whole account ; it con- tains 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 ig- norant 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 knowl- edge 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.^ The writer had no au- thority for what he asserts so solemnly and unhesi- tatingly, 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 * Essays and Beviews, pp. 195-196. " Ibid. p. 27r. 492 mSTOEY OF eationalism. of tlie design of the -VArorld, and its subordination to one sole Maker and Law-giver.^ 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 utter- ance of divine knowledge, but a human utterance, which it has pleased Providence to use in a special way for the education of mankind." ^ yi. Tendencies of Religious Thought in Eng- land, 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 pre- tension, we should not neglect those immediate agencies in their production that had their origin near the begin- ning 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 manu- facture 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 ' Essays and Reviews^ pp. 277-278. « Ibid. p. 278. PATTISON AOT3 JOWETT. 493 surface of society.^ The defense of the Deists was per- haps 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 tli^ 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 adminis- ter his own affaii's. Eeason 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.^ English Deism, a system which paralyzed the reli- gious life and thought of the nation, has never had a more enthusiastic eulogist than the author of this his- torical plea for Rationalism. If the demands of the Deists were " modest," who shall be able to find a term sufiiciently descriptive of the claims of their present suc- cessors ? VII. On the Interpeetation of Scriptuee. By Benjamin Jowett, M. A. Professor Jowett, as commen- tator 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 an- tagonism to evangelical interpretation. The present essay, which is the most formidable and destructive in ' Essays and Reviews, p. 287. • Ibid. pp. 328-329. 494 HISTOEY OF EATIOJSTALISM. the volume, commences witli a lamentation over tlie prevailing differences in tlie exposition of tlie Bible. The Germans have been far more successful in this re- spect than the English people, the former having ar- rived at a tolerable deg-ree of concTirrence. The word " inspiration " is a crux tJieologorum, 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 foun- dation 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 extraordi- nary gift, or that they were fi^ee 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 describ- ed by him; the evangelists do not agree as to the dwell- ing-place of Christ's parents, nor concerning the circum- stances of the crucifixion ; they differ about the woman who anointed our Lord's feet ; and the falfillment of the Old Testament prophecy is not discernible in the New Testament history. To the question. What is inspira- tion ? there are two answers : fii'st^ That idea of Scrip- ture which we gather from the knowledge of it ; and, second^ that any true doctrine of inspiration must con- form 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, 495 therefore, not independent witnesses of tlie history it- self. To interpret the Bible properly it must be treated as any other book, " in the same carefiil 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 pecu- liarities 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." ^ 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 evan- gelical 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, ' Essays and Reviews, p. 446. 496 ■ msTOEY OF rationalism. common among parrots, tliat tliey 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 collesjes. . . . 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 un- disguisedly. 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." ^ The Essays and Reviews were not long in print before the periodicals called attention to their extraordi- nary character. Had they not been the Oxford Essays, and wi'itten by well-known and influential men, they would probably have created but little interest, and passed away with the first or second edition. But * Etangelische Kirchetizeitung, Vorwort, 1862. OPPOSITION TO THE " ESSAYS AND REVIEWS." 497 their origin and associations gave tliem weiglit at tlie 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 Eng- land alone nearly four hundred publications. Hardly a newspaper, religious or secular, metropolitan or pro- vincial, 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 nu- merously 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 sum- moned before the court of Arches, the chief ecclesias- tical tribunal of England. Finally, June 21, 1864, decision was pronounced that they had departed from 32 498 HISTOKY OF EATIONALISM. the teachings of tlie Thirty -Nine Articles on tlie inspira- tion of Holy Scripture, on the atonement, and on justi- fication. 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 de- fense 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. Con- trary to the general expectation, the decision of the Court of Arches was reversed, and the essayists in ques. tion 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 ten- dency of the book called ' Essays and Keviews,' and on the efi'ort 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 be- fore us, our Judgment is that the charges are not proved. Their Lordships, therefore, will humbly recom- mend 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 Appel- lants have been obliged to come to this Court, their Lordships think it right that they should have the costs of this Appeal." ^ This action was regarded by every skeptical sympathizer as a great triumph, and we may therefore expect the Rationalistic school to engage in ' Ecclesiastical Judgments of the Privy Council, p. 289. Edited by Hon. G. 0. 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 lions. Lusbington, Bruce, Wigrara, Ryan, Pollock, Romilly, Turner, Cockburn, Coleridge, Erie, and Wylde. BISHOP COLENSO. 499 still more important enterprises tlian any to wliicli 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 mathe- matical works which obtained a wide circulation ; but his first book of scriptural criticism was the ^j^istle to the Romans^ newly translated and explained from a Mis- sionary 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 unhis- torical character of the Pentateuch revived with in- creased 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 in- quiries propounded to him by the Zulus, led him to a carefal reexamination of the Mosaic record. The fruit of this additional study is the Pentateuch and Booh of Joshua criiically 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 treat- ment of the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua by the most unsparing of the Germa,n 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 authorshij) of, the so-called narratives of Moses and Josliiia. "I have 500 HISTOEY OF EATIOI^ALISM. arrived at tlie conviction," says lie, " 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, reve- lations of the Divine will and character, cannot be re- garded as liistoricaUy 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, pal- pable self-contradictions of the narrative. The notion of miraculous or supernatural interferences does not pre- sent to my own mind the difficulties which it seems to present to some. I could believe and receive the mira- cles of Scripture heartily, if only they were authenti- cated 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,^ In proof of this assumption the author selects a large number of inexplicable portions from the narra- tives in question, and uses all the resources of his tal- ents 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 ' PentaUuch and Book oj Joshua. Part I., pp. 49, 51-52. Am. Edition. COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH. 501 dwelt in tents ; they were not armed ; tlie 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 Pales- tine; 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.^ These, with other difficulties chiefly of a numerical nature, constitute the basis on which the Bishop builds his objections to the historical character of Ex- odus 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 Eloliist 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.^ This Elohist account is defined to be '' a series of parables, based, as we have said, on legendary facts, though not histori- cally true." ^ The Pentateuch existed originally not as five books, but as one ; and it is possible that its quin- tuple 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 * Pentateuch and Booh of Joshua^ Part I., pp. 60, 78, 81, 94, 105, 118, 138, 141, 185. " Pentateuch and Boole of Joshua. Part II., p. 60. ' Ibid. p. 296. 502 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. evidence in support of Ms narrative. Exodus could not liave been written by Moses or any one of his contem- poraries. It is very probable that the Pentateuch gen- erally was composed in a later age than that of Moses or Joshua.^ Samuel was most likely the author of the Elohistic legends, which he left at his death in an un- finished 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.^ Yet the writer of the Pentateuch must not be re- proached for his errors as much as those who would at- tribute 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 trut\ or even actual^ Mstorical t/ruth. He wrote certainly a narrative. But what indi- cations 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 f Why may not Samuel, like any other Head of an Institution, have composed this narra- tive 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 con- trary, we find no sign of the Mosaic Law being ven- erated, obeyed, or even known, in many of its most ^ Pentateuch and Book of Joshua^ Part II., pp. 83, 84, 115. ■" Ibid. p. 160. PEOTEST AGAINST COLENSO. 503 remarkable features, till a mucli later time in his- tory." 1 The excitement occasioned by the publication of these views of Colenso was second only to that pro- duced by the Essays and Revieios. There was a de- cided disposition on the part of the ecclesiastical author- ities to deal summarily with him, since he had been intrusted with the Episcopal office, and sent as a mis- sionary to the heathen. Several of the Bishops early took ground against his destructive criticism, and re- fused 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 ; w^hereupon the Bishops of England and Ireland, with but three exceptions, Drs. Thirlwall, Fitzgerald, and Griffin, addressed him a letter, in which he was re- quested 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 con- tained 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 dis- charge 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 2'7th, 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 ; disbe- lief in the endlessness of future punishment ; denial of ' Pentateuch and Booh of JosTiua. Part II., p. 292. 504 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and of the truth- fulness of what they profess to describe as facts ; de- nial 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 min- isterial 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 pro- ceedings 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. Im- mediately 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 Metropoli- tan 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 judg- ment of the Privy Council in the case of the JEssays 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 COLENSO'S n^LTJENCE. 505 Chancellor declaring the sentence pronounced by the Bishop of Cape Town illegal, in the following words : " As the question can be dedded only by the sovereign or head of the Established Church and depositary of appellate jurisdiction, their Lordships will humbly re- port 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 an- nulled 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 in- telligence reveals the important fact that the clergy unanimously refuse to recognize his Episcopal author- ity, and have asked the Bishop of Cape Town to ad- minister the diocese until a new appointment can be made for the See of Natal. The trustees of the Colo- nial 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 let- ter, 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 Booh of JoshuahdcvQ met with a tardy 506 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. and cold reception. We accept this as a hopeful sign that no great portion of the people are willing to adopt Ms theological views. The first two parts, however, created an excitement which was not confined to Chris- tian lands. Even a Mussulman addressed a letter fi'om the Cape of Good Hope to a Turkish paper at Constan- tinople, in which he gives an account of the Christians in that colony, together with a description of their multi- form dissensions. " Their priests," he writes, " all advo- cate different creeds ; and as to their bishops, one Colen- so actually writes books against his own religion." It may be more a gratification of the vanity than flat- tering 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 hea- then nations must encounter not only the superstition and prejudices of paganism, but the infidelity export- ed from his own home, where for centuries the battles of the truth have been fought and won. CHAPTEK XXII. ENGLAND CONTINUED : SURVEY OF CHURCH PARTIES. The Cliurcli of England has always heen 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 fi^om internal strife. In every- thing 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 thor- oughly 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. 508 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 chui'ch was restored to the level of her formu- laries." ^ 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 Chm'ch had its seat at Cambridge, and was conducted by vigorous theologians, who were encouraged and aided by highly-respected and lead- ing laymen. Attaching new importance to the neg- lected 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 Rus- sell, the leader of the Keform party, efiected the abro- gation 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 ' Essays Ecclesiastical and Social^ pp. 62-63. rN'FLUEIS'CE OF THE LOW CIIUECH. 509 immediately placed Dissenters and Catholics upon tlie same footing witli 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 move- ment. 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 fac- tories 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 Mission- ary Society, which has established over one hun- dred and forty-eight missionary stations, sustains two hundred and sixty-six clergymen, and includes about twenty thousand members.^ These labors have been abundantly successful, for besides the converted towns on the coast of Africa, " whole districts of South- ern India have embraced the faith; and the native population of New Zealand (spread over a territoiy as large as England) has been reclaimed fi'om cannibalism * Christian Worlc. June, 1863. 510 HISTOET OF KATIONALISM. and added to the churcli." 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 accordiDgly 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 hun- dred 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 " anjong the inhabitants of Bath, Clifton, Bradford, and other places. The Pastoral Aid Society was founded in 1836, and by its lay and clerical em- ployees, 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.^ 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 ' Conybeare, Essays Ecclesiastical and Social., pp. 65-71. LOW CHURCH PARTIES. 511 out tLe 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 po- sition they have lately taken against the inroads of Ka- tionalism entitles them to the thanks and admiration of Christendom. Within the Low Church there are two subdivisions. The first is the Eecordite party, so called from its organ. It intensifies the doctrines of the Low Church; on justification by faith it builds its view of the worth- lessness of morality ; on conversion by grace its pre- destinarian fatalism ; and on the supremacy of Scrip- ture 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 secu- larization of the Lord's day. The other party is sneer- ingly called the " Low and Slow," and corresponds with a similar faction within the High Church which en- joys 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 evangeli- cal 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, 512 HISTORY OF RATIONALISM. and J. H. Newman, were liere associated either as fel- lows or students. Froude recosfnized tlie trutli of the saying of Vicentius : " Quod sem/per^ 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 Hio-h 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 transubstantia- tion ; 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, impos- ing, and sound in art, poetry, or theology. When New- man went over to its fold, Pusey said of him : " He has been called to labor in another part of the Lord's vine- yard.'' The High Church went so fiir 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 di- vided into two classes : the material, or justification by sacraments ; and the formal, or the authority of the church. - OPINIONS OF THE HIGH CHUECH. 513 While it declares that we are justified by faith, it also holds that we are judged by works. Meu are con- verted 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 apos- tolical succession. Faith, it claims, does not justify us in and of itself, but simply brings us to God, who then justifi.es us by his free grace. Baptism is regeneration; in the New Testament the new birth is always con- nected with it ; we are not born of faith, or of love, or of prayer, but by water and the Spirit. All Tracta- rians believe in the real presence of Christ, and only differ as to the mode in which he is present. The con- secrated 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 wa3^ 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 apostol- ical 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 ti'uth, and the highest authority in matters of faith and practice. There are three tests of the true Church : firsts apostoli- city, or the divine origin of the Church and its succession of apostles ; second^ catholicity, or the truth in matters of iiistrudion and life communicated through the suc- cession of the apostles, the ti'uth in matters of faith and life as interpreted by Scripture and tradition ; and, 33 514 HISTOEY OF EATIOI^ALISM. tliird, autonomy, or tlie absolute independence and su- j)reme autliority of the Churcli in faitli and practice. Apostolical succession was the first dogma in which all Hiffh Churchmen united. Connected with this opinion is the idea that the priesthood is the only medi- atorial 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.^ The Church has authority to forgive sins by the new birth, and to bring souls from hell to heaven.^ 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.^ 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, espe- cially, 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 heredi- tary non-conformist is not excluded from salvation. Forei'gn Protestants are even owned as brethren, though a mild regret is expressed that they lack the blessing of an authorized church government. Apostolical suc- cession is not practically made essential to the being of a church, but rathei- cherished as a dignified and an- cient pedigree, connecting our English episcopate with 1 Tract No. 10. "" Sew el. ' Pusey, Preface to 18tli wl. Lilrary of Church Fathers. USEFULlSrESS OF THE HIGH CHUECH. 515 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." ^ 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 con- secrate as the handmaids of religion. Thus they at- tract 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 con- tributed to the religious literature of the day many ad- mirable 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 child- hood 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 Higli Church party has effected an important improve- ment among the clergy. Many of these were prejudiced by hereditary dislike against the doctrines and the per- sons of the Evangelicals, and by this prejudice were re- l)elled from religion. But under the name of ortho- doxy and the banner of High Church, they have wil- lingly received truth against which, had it come to them in another shape, they would have closed their ears and ' Conybeare, Essays Ecclesiastical and Social, p. 106. 516 HISTORY OF EATIOTfALISM. 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 Nim- rods, Ramrods, or Fishing-rods." ^ 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 opposi- tion. His previous history was not without incident. Thirteen years before the Tracts for the Times were published, he had been engaged in a controversy con cerning baptismal regeneration, in which he defended the evangelical side.^ 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 in- cluded, requires time for its comprehension and perfec- tion. The highest truths of inspiration needed only the longer time and deeper thought for their full elucida- tion, 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 disengage- ment from that which is foreign and temporary, and its * Essays Ecclesiastical and Social, pp. 106-108. ' National Review, Oct., 1856. FATHEE NEWJIAl!^ AND KTNGSLEY. 517 "begiuning is no measure of its capabilities or scope. At first no one knows wliat it is or what it is worth, since it seems in suspense which way to go ; but notwithstand- ing 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.^ 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 Macmillanh Magazine^ 1864, Kingsley, in a review of Fronde's His- tory 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 where- with to withstand the brute man's force of the wicked world, which marries and is given in man-iage." 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 excite- ment 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 * Development of Chrintian Doctrine. Second Edition. London, 1846. 518 HISTOEY OF EATIOSTALISM. some skeptics there is a strength of will wbicli gives a successful appearance to their cause in spite of all their doubts ; but when the will is subjected to the domina- tion 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 Faithy one of the most touching pieces of biography in the realm of literature. While a student at Oxford, he be- came 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 bap- tism 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, New- man went as a quasi-missionary to Bagdad. He re- turned 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 effepting. 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 FIEST BEOAD CHUECH. 519 Kewman is witli the present, lie takes a cheerful look upon the future. " The age is ripe," he says, " for some- thing better, for a religion which shall combine the ten- derness, 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 ap- proached 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 hy- pocrisy, to proclaim ' peace on earth and good will to- ward men,' even toward those who reject its beliefs and sentiments concerning God and his glory." ^ The First Broad Church. The division of the Broad Church into two parties has been produced by the recent discussion. The First Broad Church corre- sponds 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 beinsr attached to the Established Church, they are distinguished peculi- arly for their method of interpretation of the ar- * Phases of Faith., pp. 233, 234. American Edition. 520 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. tides of faith. " The Broad Church teachers give us readings of each dogma of the Atonement and Future Punishment." ^ 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 Kidley. They conceive the essence of Popery to con- sist, not in points of metaphysical theology, but in the ascription of magic virtue to outward acts. All who be- lieve 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 prom- inence 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 wit. ness to his attributes, by their reflection in its ordi- nances and in its members. If its ideal were fully em- bodied 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.^ 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, espe- cially of women, of different kinds and under dififerent rules, delivered only from the snare and sin of per- petual vows." ^ 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 extraor- * Miss Cobbe, Brol^en Lights, p. 63. London Edition. ' Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 307. ' Ibid. Introduction, p. 56. aenold's OPiisnoNS. 521 diuaiy power and tact in tlie management of youtb. His sermons, delivered to his pupils at Rugby, were short, and usually written just before delivery in the school-chapel on Sabbath afternoons.^ 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 sam- ple 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 ex- pected the world would come to an end in the genera- tion 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 re- spect 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 di- vinity, and a power of pei'petual application.^ 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 idola- try. 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 ^ Bibliotheca Sacra. Jan. 1858. An excellent summary of the opin- ions of Dr. Arnold. ' Stanley, Life and Correspondence of Arnold. American Edition, p. 135. 522 mSTOEY OF eationalism. 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 any- thing 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, unlesa 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 de- velopment 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.^ By con- stant repentance and faith we ripen for heaven. Justifi- cation 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 Eedeemer, Saviour, Head, of whom we are mem- bers, and desire our life only for Him. Our dependence in Christ is not once only, but perpetual. Arnold attached pai-araount 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 ' Interpretation of Scripture^ p. 493. DEAN STAKLEY. 623 full development of the former in its perfect form as the Kingdom of God, will be an effectual means for tlie removal of all evil and the promotion of good. There can be no perfect Church or State without their blending into one.^ The Church, during her imperfect state, is deficient in power; the State, in the like condi- tion 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.^ 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.^ 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 Jew- ish 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 ten- dencies so subdued and covert that few would suspect him of sympathy with the Broad Church theology of the last ten years' gi'owth. 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 ^ Stanley, Life and Correspondence, pp. 341, 367. ' Fragment on the Church, p. 226. * Christian Life, its Course, &c., p. 358. 524 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. spirit that the more complete realization of their out- ward 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 mir- acles as one who prefers to omit, rather than state, his real objections to their reception. He seems to be- lieve 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 Israel- ites were in Egypt two hundred and fifteen, four hun- dred and thirty, or one thousand years,— thus leaving an important question unsettled. Neither does he de- cide, with or against Colenso, whether the number of armed Israelites who left Egypt was six hundred or six hundred thousand men. He implies that monothe- ism was unknown before Al^raham, 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 arith- metical erroi's, 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 nar- rative.^ But Stanley has exposed his Broad Church sympa- thies more in a late review article than in any formal volume.^ It is a discussion of the judicial proceedings ' American Theological Review^ July, 1863. * Edmlurgli Review^ July, 1864. statelet's views. 525 in connection with two authors of the Essays and He- views. His theme permits a wide range, and he there- fore dwells at length upon the whole question of min- isterial 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 be- side 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 JReviews 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 pen- alty 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 natv ral and practical, what is the 526 HISTORY OF EATIOITALISM. weioflit 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 Com- mittee sent to every Clergyman of England and Ire- land, " 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 sig- nature of only one third of the Loudon clergy, nine Professors at Oxford and one at Cambridge, eight out of the thirty English deans, two of the Head Mas- ters of the Public Schools, and only six out of the fifty clerical contributors to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible j 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 mat- ters of faith, or to determine what ought in any partic- ular 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 construc- tion 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 poj^ular theory of the mode INDIFFEEENCE OF FIEST BEOAD .CHTJECH. 527 of justification or of tlie future punislinieiit of tlie wick- ed ; and that it now stands declared that it is no doc- trine 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 fluctuat- ing, 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 Kssays and Reviews^ and complains of them that they are " almost entirely nega- tive ; hinting at faults in the prevalent religious oj^in- ions 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 ; suggest- ing 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." ^ 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 objec- tions ; 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 * Miss Oobbe, Brolen Lights, p. 63. London Edition. 528 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. doubts in tlie minds of unbelievers ; tliey 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 un- faithful to their vows. They tended to hinder all se- rious and honest co-operation between men who are not bound together in a sectarian agreement, lest they should make themselves responsible for opinions differ- ent from their own." ^ 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 antifj^uity 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 co be set aside now." ^ They are indifferent as to their date, authorship, or contents. " Men may satisfy themselves, " the same writer con- tinues, " 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 * Tracts for Priests and People. Preface, pp. 3-5. Am. Edition. * Hughes, in Tracts for Priests and People^ p. 28. VIEWS ON REDEMPTION. 529 Isaiah ; tliat David did not wiite tlie Psalms, or tlie 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." ^ The Mosaic cosmogony is not a matter of great con- sequence, 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 under- stand 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 wiite 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.^ 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 ' Hughes, in Tracts for Priests and People, p. 37. ^ Garden, Tracts for Priests and People, p. 133. 34 530 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. extent tliat the evangelicals claim, nor does eternal punishment harmonize with enlightened and liberal notions of Divine mercy. Miracles are in danger of being worsh'ped 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 ? ^ Miracles of this kind, " wonders," are wil- lingly conceded, for they are not suspensions or viola- tions 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 influ- ences 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." ^ The Second Beoad Chuech. This party maintains the avowed nationalism of Jowett, the Essays and He- views^ 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 ' Davies, Tracts for Priests and People, p. 167. ' Ibid. p. 167. SECOISTD BKOAD CHURCH. 531 formulae. The Second Broad Cliurcli seems prepared to admit that in many cases they can only be harmon- ized by the sacrifice of biblical infallibility. The First Broad Chm-ch has recourse, to harmonizt-^ them, to va- rious logical processes, but principally to the one de- scribed 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 main- tains that the inspiration of the Bible differs in hind as well as in degree from that of other books. The Second Broad Church appears to hold that it dif^ars in degree but not in kind. This last is the crucial point of the difterences of the two parties, and of one of the most important controversies of modern times." ^ 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 per- haps 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 sus- tained. 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 pro- portions, in round numbers, must answer our jDurpose. The clergy of the Church of England, exclusive of the * Broken Liglits, pp. 73-74. 532 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Irish, amount at present to about twenty thousand, at liome and abroad.^ Making allowance for two thousand peasant clergy in the mountain districts, and mission- aries in foreign lands, the remaining eighteen thousand may be classified as follows : r Normal Type,— Anglican, .... 3,600 High Church. } Exaggerated Type, — Tractarian, . . . 1,000 ( Stagnant Type,— High and Dry, . . . 2,500 C Normal Type, — Evangelical, .... 3,500 Low Church. 2 Exaggerated Type, — Recordite, . .* . 2,600 f Stagnant Type, — Low and Slow, . . . YOO C Normal Type, — Theoretical and Anti-Theoretical, 3,100 Broad Church. •? Exaggerated Type, — ^Extreme Rationalists, . , 300 f Stagnant Type, 700 Twelve years ago the twenty-eight Bishops and Arch- bishops 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 .'^ It is a remakable feature of the activity of theologi- cal opinion in England that the same division of par- ties which exists in the Established Church also obtains * Appleton's American Gyclopcedia. Art. Church of England. Though the writer of this article says nothing of the Irish clergy, he has not in- cluded them, of course ; having no douht used the Clergy List of England and the colonies alone. ' We have based our division of the English clergy upon the calcula- tion of the late W. J Conybeare, a FeUow in the University of Cambridge, and joint author with J. 8. 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 Edinlurgh Review, ^xAj, 1864. FEEETHINKEES m DIFFEEENT SECTS. 533 in other religious bodies. We do not speak of the Dis- senting Churclies, all of which have their shades of sen- timent, but of the smaller and less influential or- ganizations. The Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, and LFnitarians have each their old and new schools, — the former adhering to the old and established stand- ards, 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.^ 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 possess- ing 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 JiJssays and Reviews, and would rejoice to see the land overspread with radical Rationalism. \ Phillipsolin, Author of the Religious Idea in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Translated by Miss Ann Goldschmidt. CHAPTER XXIII. THE UNITED STATES : THE UNITAEIAN OHUROH— THE UNIVERSALISTS. The aspect of novelty in the religious and theologi- cal 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 coun- tries 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 accom- plished only by degrees. Previous to the Revolution, but two States, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, permit- ted religious toleration. It was declared in Maryland in 1776, and in 1*786-89 was carried out in Virginia. The general government took the matter in hand in 1*791 ; and, in that year, an amendment to the Constitu- tion of the United States was adopted, which prohibited Congress in future from " passing any law establishing religion, or prohibiting its free exercise." ^ It would seem that our forefathers were almost gifted with prophetic vision when they incorporated this statute with those other laws, which have contributed * Smith, History of the Church of Christ in Chronological Talles, p. 74. XmiON OF CHURCH AND STATE. 535 SO much, to our prosperity. It would not have been in harmony with their spiiit, if, while constituting an inde- pendent government, they had made the Church de- pendent. The principle of the union of chui'ch and state pre- supposes a greater degree of social purity than has existed in any nation. Moreover, the Chui'ch is thereby led to assume an authority to which she has no claim and which Christ never intended her to possess. Mil. ton, whose clear and practical views of civil and eccle- siastical 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 Spii'it by the weak things of this world, she thinks to make herself bigger and more considerablf, by using the way of civil force and jurisdiction, as she 536 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. sits upon this Lion she changes into an ass, and instead of hosannas, every man pelts her with stones and dirt." ^ The peculiarities which have characterized the his- tory of the American chui'ch 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 Chris- tianized, to a new theatre, comparatively untrameled 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. Sev- enth. 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." "^ 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 subse- quent time. Still it may be said with truth that skep- ' The Reason of Church Government against Prelacy. Ch. II. ' History of the Church of Christy dec, p. 74. EISE OF THE UiaTAEIA]vr CHUECH. 537 tical tendencies have ne^er gained a permanent position in tlie United States, tliougli 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 destruc- tive 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 Unitaiian Church. Bos- ton is its centre, and New England the principal sphere of its existence. The Venerable Stoddard, of Northampton, Massa- chusetts, became convinced that the custom of exclud- ing unregenerate persons from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was sinful ; and in 1708 published a ser- mon declaring his views on that subject. He held that the participation of unregenerate people in the commun- ion was highly beneficial to them ; and that it was in fact a means by which they might become regenerated. 538 HISTOET OF EATIOI^ALISM. He defended his belief so zealously tliat lie soon had the pleasure of seeing many followers gathering about him. The doctrine was termed the Half-Way Cove- nant System, and was adopted in the church at North- ampton. 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 practise it, and in his Treatise on the Qualifications for Full Communion^ he declared the necessity of regeneration. He was ac- cordingly dismissed from his church. This was the germ of American Unitarianism. Stoddard's adherents clung to their loose view of com- munion, while the friends of Edwards, being more spiritual, and many of them the fruits of the White- fieldian revival, sustained the orthodox construction with energy. The Half Way Covenant in due time called a party into existence, which " avoided all soli- citude concerning theii' own spiritual condition or that of others ; were repugnant to the revival sj^irit ; 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 any- thing to do with man's salvation." ^ King's Chapel, Boston, was the first Episcopal church of New Eno-land. Its rector leaving; with the British troops upon their evacuation of the town. Rev. ' Baird, Religion in America^ pp. 547-562. OEDETATION OF FKEEIVIAIS". 539 James Freeman was cliosen in April, 1^83, to occupy the vacant position. The services of the church were con- ducted after the Episcopal form, the Book of Common Prayer being still used. Mr. Freeman's views under- went a change, and he delivered a course of doctrinal sermons in which he indicated decided Unitarian pro- clivities. Accordingly he introduced a revised liturgy, corresponding with Dr. Samuel Clarke's Revision of the Lihtrgy of the Church of England^ from which the doc- trines of the Trinity and of the divinity of Chi'ist were excluded. The congregation addressed a letter to Bishop Provost, of New York, in which inquiiy was made, " whether ordination of Kev. Mr. Freeman can be obtained on terms agreeable to him and to the proprie- tors of this church." The bishop proposed to refer the question to the next general convention. But the con- gregation, disliking such hesitation, determined to ordain their rector themselves. Accordingly, on November 18th, 1T87, 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.^ Wide circulation had already been given to Emlyn's Inquiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus Christy which, in IT 56, had been republished in Boston from the English edition. Before the close of the century the doctrines peculiar to Unitarianism became widely dis- seminated in that city and in other portions of the State. Belsham issued in London, 1812, his Memoir of Lind- sey^ which contained startling disclosures of the doings of the Unitarians in America. Belsham's informants * Unitarianism in its Actual Condition. Edited by Rev. J. E. Beard, D.D. pp. 1^. London, 1846. 540 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 pub- lished 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 com- pelled to come out of their hiding-place, and the ortho- dox 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 tri- umphantly 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 estab- lished,^— an institution which, from its origin to the present time, has shed a beneficent lustre upon the * Spragne, Annals of the American Unitarian Pulpit. Historical In- troduction^ p. xii. WILLIAM ELLERY CHAlNnvTING. 541 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 ap- peared in Boston in 1815, under the title oi American TJnitarianism^ led to the withdrawal of the Unitarians from the orthodox, and their formation into a distinct organization. Pursuing an aggressive policy, they or- ganized congregations in various parts of New Eng- land, and in the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- ington, 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 Uni- tarianism 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 sla- very, temperance, education, and war. Within a few years his views have attracted increased attention in Eui^ope. In France, MM. Laboulaye, de Kemusat, and 542 HISTOEy OF eatioistalism. RenaR liave discussed tliem at lengtli. Of Ms mental transitions, an admiring writer says : " From Kant's doctrine of tlie reason lie derived deeper reverence for the essential powers of man ; by Sclielling'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 hu- man will. But for his greatest pleasure and best dis- cipline he was now indebted to Wordsworth, whom he esteemed next to Shakspeare, and whose ' Exciirsioifi ' came to him like a revelation. With Wordsworth's mingled piety and heroism, humanity and earnest aspira- tion, 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 con teutment established on the earth, he most closely sym pathized. From this time he began to engage more actively in political and philanthropic movements." ^ Channing believed that orthodoxy was incalculably mischievous in its estimate of Deity and of human de- pravity. " God, we are told," says he, " must not be limited ; nor are his rights to be restrained by any rio:hts 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 omnip- otent, 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 ' Appletou's American CyclopoBdia. Art. Wm. Ellery Channing. W. L. Symonds, Esq., is the author of this biography. opmioisrs of CHANinNa. 543 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 com- mon language of theology." ^ Against these views he asserts man's Jfree 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 dis- interestedness and self-sacrifice, in the boundlessness of love, in aspii*ations after perfection, in desires and affec- tions 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 endlesfe ages are to unfold. It is truly an image of the infinity of God, and no words can do justice to its grandeur." ^ 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 concep- tions 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 contempla- tion 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 ' WorJcs, Introductory EemarJcs, p. viii. « Ibid. p. vi. 544 HISTORY OF RATIONALISM. from our own souls? Wliat but a vague shadow, a sounding name, is tlie metaphysical Deity, tlie substance without modes, tlie being -without properties, the naked Unity which performs such a part in some of our philo- sophical systems. The only God whom our thoughts can rest on and our hearts can cling to, and our con- sciences can recognize is the God whose image dwells in our own souls. The grand ideas of Power, Eeason, Wisdom, Love, Kectitude, Holiness, Blessedness, that is, of all God's attributes, come fi*om 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 de- rived from consciousness, from our own souls. Thus the soul is the spring of our knowledge of God." ^ 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." ^ 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 Chris- tian disciple, and desires to be numbered with us, what- ever 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 * Works, Introductory Remarks, pp. xviii-xix. ' Eliis, Half Century of Unitarianism, p. 34. OPIKEONS OF BELLOWS. 545 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 fre- quently 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 igno- ranee, — 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 Chris- tendom,— are discourao^insr 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 re- ligious 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 en- dorses the vulgar notions of a God-cursed world, — a fall- en race, — a commercial atonement, — a doomed and hell- devoted humanity, — a mysterious conversion, — a Church which is a sort of a life-boat hansjino; round a wreck that may carry oif a few women and selfishl3'-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 35 546 HISTOKY OF EATIONALISM. religious excitement and the doctrines wliich gave it power,-^ — then it is not so true to hunian nature, its wants and woes, its various and manifold tastes, talents, and fiiculties, 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 Prot- estantism." ^ 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 sub- jects whose essential importance is acknowledged by all Evangelical Churches ? Inspieatioin' and the Sceiptures. 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, sor- rows, sins, salvation, and destinies ; enough that the seal of a divine and miraculous communication is set upon that holy Book." ^ But reverence for the Scrip- ^ These words refer to the great Revival in the winter of 1857-58. ° Bellows, Eestatements of Christian Doctrine^ p. 164-165. ' Controversial Sermons, No. 1. GOD AND CHEIST. 547 tures is rapidly on tlie decline among the Unitarians, — tlie direct result of the influence of the German and English Rationalists. They call all believers in ortho- dox opinions, " Bibliolaters." They sjDurn 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 diffi- culties 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." ^ God and Cheist. God is the Universal Father. It must be forgotten that he is king; his paternal charac- ter 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 ori- gin. 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." ^ Christ is inferior and subordinate ' Orr, Unitarianism in the Present Time, pp. 54, 58, 59. * Farley, Unitarianism Defined, p. 2-i. 548 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. to God. He is God in the same sense as tlie angels, Moses, Samuel, the Kings and Judges of -Israel. They were gods in one respect, — the word of God was spo- ken to them. Christ is the chief one "to whom the word of God came." ^ In the New Testament, Christ is uniformly kept distinct from the Father, and the at- tributes 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 re- sulting 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 winter's striking forrn of speech ; it is solely personification, just as we often find the case with the Law, Wisdom, Scripture, Sin, and Charity.^ 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 re- pulsive. 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." ^ There is no such thing, the Unitarians contend, as the fall of man. ' Farley, Unitarianism Defined^ p. 26. "" Ibid. pp. 122,123, 136. Mbid. pp. 156,157. BELLOWS ON TOTAL DEPKAVITY. 549 Adam was what we are. " Had lie 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 recupera- tive 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 t^'pes of oui' 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 im- provement ! 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 con- dition and that of the innocent but feeble islanders of some few spots in the Pacific ? ^ 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 instruc- tions, 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 human- ity. . . . The radical vice of the popular way of thinking about moral evil lies in the supposition that . . . . a state of spotless innocencyis better than a ' Will the Reverend author be kind enough to inform the public of the name and exact locality of these innocent islanders ? 550 HISTOEY OF EATION'ALISM. state of moral exposure and moral struggle ; and tliat 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 mis- takes, weaknesses, and follies, which an ungrown and in- experienced nature begets." -^ There is far more virtue in the world than there is vice. We grossly mistake when we make notoriously vicious characters the type of hu- manity at large. " Man by nature, as born and brought into this world, is innocent, pure ; guiltless because sin- less ; 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 atone- ment 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 rec- onciled 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 affectins; the mind of man." ^ Another author af&rms : " 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 ^ Bellows, Restatements of Christian Doctrine, pp. 228-230. ^ Worlds of H. Ware, jr., vol. iv. p. 91. THE ATONEMENT. 551 Heart ; tlius aiding in the great work of bringing him into reconciliation with or reconciling him to his Father in heaven. . . . Reconciliation is accomplished by Chi'ist ; 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." ^ 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 jus- tice 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 vii'tue and human sins and sorrows, are strictly substi- tutional, or literally vicarious. The old theologies, per- plexed and darkened with metaphysics and scholastic logic — the fruit of academic pride and the love of eccle- siastical dominion — labored to prove and to teach that Chi^st, in his short agony upon the cross, really suffered the pains of sin and bore the actual sum of all the an- guish 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 abso- lutely impossible ! Vicarious punishment, in its tech- nical and theological sense, is forbidden by the very laws of our nature and moral constitution." ^ REGEisrERATioN. 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 * Farley, Unitarianism Defined^ pp. 208-210. ^ Bellows, Restatements of Christian Doctrine^ pp. 306,307. 552 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. formed, and Wjben formed, is called the " new Lirth." This is all that Christ meant when he said to Nieo- demus, " Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Regeneration must not, therefore, be considered a consequence of human depravity, bat a result of human purity. It is the development of that which is already good within us. FuTUEE Punishment. The Unitarians of America have, for the most part, adopted the Restitutional theories of Hartley and Priestley. Mr. Ballon claims " the whole body of Unitarians as Universalists." Pun- ishment may be inflicted after death, but it will be tem- porary. " The punishments of hell are disciplinarian, and do not forbid the hope of remission and relief" -^ 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 luxuriant- ly of late in England. The welcome has been most cordial. A Unitarian clergyman has become the Ameri- can editor of the JEs-says and Reviews ; ^ 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 Ra- tionalistic criticism, " which is now leavening the Church of England, may find abundant entrance into all the churches of our land," and that the JiJs-says and JRe^ ' Orr, Unitarianism in the Present Time^ p. 8. « F. H. Hedge, D.D. YOUNG men's christian UNION. 553 views, " its genuine product, may contribute somewliat thereto." -^ The quarterly organ of the Unitarians, The Christian Examiner, has passed an encomium on the same ex- ponent 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 confer- ences together in which they were mutually each other's confessors ; or, there must be quite a lai'ge number of veiy able and very heretical sinners in the Church of England, within easy hail of each other, and so thick in some neighorhoods 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 mihackneyed system of opinionr One of the most direct and outspoken of all the organized attacks of American Rationalism upon evan- gelical Christianity occurred at the first public an- niversary of the Young Men's Christian Union, of New York. Its importance was due to the diversity of un- evangelical bodies there represented, and to the celebrity of several of the speakers. Unitarianism, Sweden- borgianism, and Universalism mingled in happy fra- ternity. 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 counter- poise to the large and flourishing Young Men's Christian Association, which is comprised of earnest and active ' Essays and lievietcs, Introduction to Boston Edition. 554 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. memlDers of all orthodox denominations. Tlie platform of the former may be determined from the following sig- nificant 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 pur- pose of discussing the practical bearings of that highei' type of Christianity which refuses to be limited by any dogma, or fettered by any creed." ^ 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 essen- tially what we are doing. All that we claim is a better statement of the old and changeless truth, a disembar- ■ rassed 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, * Beligious Aspects of the Age. Preface, p. 3. DENUNCIATIOlSr OF DOGMATISlft. 555 supplying our deficiencies, helping oui' inni-niities, con- secrating 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 Youns: 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, hu- mane 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." ^ It is difficult to conceive how the most of the speak- ers 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 Prot- estant evangelical church is placed upon the sam'e foot- ing with Romanism ; both of which organizations un- church 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 * Bellows, in EeUgious Aspects of the Age, pp. 109-111. 556 *HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. Cliristlau union wTiicli will include tlie Christians of the country. Its only idea of union is the conspiracy of a few sects to take the kingdom of heaven by vio- lence ; 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 ever- lasting perdition — a proceeding which the American people, with due respect to the undeniable rights of this chui"ch, begs leave respectfully to decline, — and fur- ther to intimate, that it is not at all alarmed about the eternal consequences of a refusal to accede to the pre- tensions of an ecclesiasticism that assumes to be God's viceo-erent to the United States of America." ^ Great fault is found with the doctrines of the plenary inspii'ation 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 bm^n in the general conflagration with the other tem]3orary representations of the Word of God, which is the eternal Keason, the foundation of our being." This Reason is the " elder Scripture of God, — the soul, the inspired child of the heavenly and eter- nal 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 neces- sity of anchorage. He cannot think the God. of the universe can be willing to save such a miserable sinner, Mayo, in EeUgious Aspects of the Age^ pp. 68, 69. INFIDELS PRONOUlSrCED TO BE BENEFACTORS. 557 and he invents a God of tlie cliurcli, wlio 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." ' From the preceding statements it will not be sur- prising to find some of the speakers apologizing for out- right infidelity. " Mr. President," says one, " you, in the judgment of very many, are an infidel. The mem- bers of this Christian association occupy what is re- garded 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 asso- ciation. . . . 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 ex- cellence 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." ^ Such in- fidels as these are claimed to have blessed the world. All liberal minds ought to catch their spirit and ad- minister every possible blessing to struggling humanity. But there is a species of narrow-minded infidelit}^ 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 ' Bellows, in Religious Aspects of the Age, pp. 102, 103. « Frotliingham, Ibid, pp, 121—126. 558 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. 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 uj)on 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 uj)on the human heart ; who overlay their reason with heaps of antiquated tradi- tions ; 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 inhu- manity, 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 Testa- ment, I find that Jesus charged infidelity n^on none but such as these ; the people who made religion a cloak for pride, selfishness, and cruelty ; the conspicu- ously 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." ^ 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 pre- ' Eeligious Asj^ectsof the Age, pp. 131-132. UNITARIAIS- NATIOISTAL CONVENTIOJiT. 559 sided over by Governer Andrew, of Massacliusetts. 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 per- vaded by a spirit of devoted loyalty to the civil govern- ment, liberality toward all Christian bodies, and zeal in organizing educational and missionary agencies through- out 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 intend- ing 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 i^an — 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 ap- pointed 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 ; 5G0 mSTOET OF EATIOi;rALISM, 5tli. Belief in the forgiveness of sins, tlie resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting." These resolutions were at first laid on the table, but afterward referred to a special commitee. The refusal of the Convention to adopt thera indicates very clearly the unwillingness of a large portion of the Unitarian clergy of the United States to occupy an evangelical position/ Closely allied to the Unitarians in spirit and in doc- trine are the Universalists, who date the besrinnino; of * American Unitarianism is numerically decreasing. The most favor- able estimate of its membersliip (Schem, Ecclesiastical Tear-Boolc, p. 78), is thirty thousand. From Dr. Sprague's Annals of the Americaii Uni- tarian Pulpit, pp. xx.-xxi., we derive the following statistical account of its pre>ent strength : There are in the United States about 263 Societies, of which Massa- chusetts has 164, and the city of Boston 21 ; Maine has 16, New Hamp- shire 15, Vermont 3, Khode 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 Pe- riodicals are, The Christian Examiner, tri-monthly, Boston ; The Monthly Eeligious Magazine and Independent Journal, Boston ; The Sunday School Gazette, semi-monthly, Boston ; The Christian Register, weekly, Boston ; and the Cliristian 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 Sun- day School Society, instituted in 1327, and reorganized in 1854; the So- ciety 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 Mini-^terial Conference ; the Association of Ministers at 1 rge 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 Poi't Society, incorporated in 1829 ; and the Seamen's Aid Society of Boston, formed in 1832. THE Ul^IVEESALISTS. 561 their strengtli in the United States from the arrival of the Kev. 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 Sinaii. 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.^ 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 eiyoyed. 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.^ 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 creatm^es 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, ' Williamson, Exposition and Defense of Universalism, pp. 11-13. ^Skinner, Universalism Illustrated and Defended, pp. 51-56. 36 562 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. and must tlierefore be temporai-y and result in good.* Wlien Christ comes to raise tlie dead, lie will relieve from misery all the sons of men, give them a new life, and take them to himself.^ The adherents of Universalism insist upon philan- thropy 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 atmos- phere with death. I am reminded that this dark theol- ogy, like a gi^eat 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 affec- tions of those I love ! Oh ! when I look at this pic- ture, 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 hu- manity and heaven, is there no hope for man? " ^ ' Appleton's American Gyclopwdia, Art. Universalists. ^ Williamson, Exposition and Defense of Universalism, pp. 140-155. ' Brittan, Universalism as an Idea, pp. 12,13. We get the following fitatistics concerning the present condition of the Universalists as a denom- ination from their Register of 18G2: 23 State Conventions; 87 Local As- HISTOEICAL EECOED OF SKEPTICISM. 563 Tliis declamatory lament over tlie tlieology of tlie evan- gelical Christian cliurcL. is a repetition of an old skepti- cal 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. Ortho- doxy is unhesitatingly pronounced a public curse. In reply, we would request our skeptical opponents to re- member 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 indiffer- ence and prostration of England in the eighteenth cen- tury. 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, human- itarian enterprises better supported, material inter- ests 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 fer- vent, but her history, with all its dark pages of hesita- tion and inefficiency, is the answer which she returns to the accusations of her Rationalistic opponents. Meanwhile, she proposes to continue her labor for hu- man salvation, by the promulgation of her present sys- tem of theology, nor will she consider her mission ac- complished until the gospel of Christ has been preached to every creature. sociations; 1,279 Societies and 998 Churches; 724 Preachers; 8 Acade- mies; 3 Colleges; 17 Periodicals. St. Lavrrence 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 humani- tarian efforts, but the latter surpass the former in periodical literature. CHAPTER XXIV. THE UNITED STATES CONTINUED : THEODORE PARKER AND HIS SCHOOL. The early Unitarian Cliurcli of America was ardent in its attacliment to tlie doctrine of miracles. An article wLicli appeared in tlie Christian Examiner less tlian forty years ago, provoked great opposition because of its severe strictures on this brancli of Christian evidence. The writer held that miracles, even if proved to have occurred, can establish nothins: in favor of a relio-ion 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' unre- mittingly to disseminate his theological opinions. In him American Rationalism finds its complete personifi- cation. He represents the application of German infi- delity 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 patri- THEODOEE PAEKEE. 565 otic impulses, and native talents, whicli had character- ized Ms 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 stming and popular, while his pen was facile and fruitful. Commencing to preach in West Koxbury, Mas- sachusetts, the unusual character of his pulpit ministra- tions attracted public attention. On being invited to Boston, he assumed the pastoral relation over a newly- formed church, the Twenty-Eighth Congregational So- ciety. 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 threat- ened 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 com- pleted his fiftieth year, and after a pastorate of only fourteen years at the Melodeon. He had often ex- pressed 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 de- cease 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 re- cording his name and the dates of his bii'th 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. 566 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. He was a stranger to moderation in every form. Hav- ing conceived certain skeptical views, lie knew no terms strong enougli to condemn tke whole evangelical scheme. His chief defects of style are abruptness and occasional vulgarity, which no man more regretted than their au- thor in liis calmer hours. But tliere can be no apology for his dealing witk serious subjects in tkat vein of sar- casm whick reminds us of the grossness of the coarser brood of infidels. An English critic, noticing this de- fect, says : " His vigor of style was deformed by a pow- er of sarcasm, wkick 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." ^ Parker felt that a bold course must be taken or orthodoxy could not be made to yield its position. His biographer informs us tkat when he was less than seven years of age " he fell out with the doctrines of eternal damnation and a wratkful God." ^ In later life, when striving to find the sources of what he considered the evils of tke popular theology, he fixed upon two com- mon idols : " the Bible, whick 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 spm^ious 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." ^ His positive faith is comprehended in his own term, ^ Farrar, Critical History of Free Tliouglit, p. 324. ^ Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore ParTcer^ vol. i., p. 30. ^ Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion^ pp. 5, 6. Parker's opinion of deity. 567 " tlie Absolute Religion." God has created man witli 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 peo- ple, or sect. It is the same thing in each man, " not a similar thing — but the same thing." Three forms of re- ligion 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." ^ Christianity, with Parker, is not the absolute religion, because a better may be developed. The great difter- ence between it and other religions is : fit'st^ iu the point whence it sets out, other religions starting from something external and limited, but Christianity from * Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Edigion^ p. 111. 568 HISTOEY OF KATIOISrALISM. • the spirit of God in tlie soul of man speaking througli reason, conscience, and the religious sentiment ; second, it is not a system but a method of religion and life ; and, tliird, its eminently practical nature. The Deity adored by many people is a pure fabrication, for super- stition 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 in- fluence ; 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 argu- mentation, is as much a human book as the Principia of Newton. Some things in it are true, but no reason- able man can accept others. It is fall of contradictions ; " there are poems which men take as histories ; prophe- cies which have not been and never will be fulfilled ; stories of mii'acles 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 de- cided in favor of the exclusive existence of Jehovah , and all the early books betray more of a polytheistic belief than we find in the j^rophets. The legendary and mythical writings of the Hebrews prove unmistak- ably 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 throusih various forms of Parker's views. 569 developing faitli 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 mel- ancholy moral." ^ 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 super- stition to scare us in oui' sleep.^ 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 can- not believe the accounts descriptive of them. The tes- timony 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 inspii-ation depends upon the use we make of our faculties. He who has the most wis- dom, goodness, religion, and truth is the most inspired. This inspiration reveals itself in various forms, modified by country, character, education, peculiaiity. Minos and Moses were inspired to make laws ; David, Pindar, ^ Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion^ pp. 333, 4. « Ibid. p. 850. 570 HISTOEY OF KATIONALISM. Plato, John tlie Baptist, Gerson, Luther, Boelime, Fenelon, and Fox were all inspired men. The sacra- ments of the Church were never designed to be perma- nent. 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. Cod still in- spires 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' au- thorities. It relies on the Divine presence in the soul of man ; the eternal word of Cod, 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 Eedeemer ; Eeligiou, nature. It loves and trusts, but does not fear. It sees in Jesus a man living man- like, highly gifted, and living with blameless and beau- tiful fidelity to God, stepping thousands of years before the race of man ; the profouudest 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; INFLUENCE OF SKEPTICISM. 571 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 di- vine incarnation is in all mankind." ^ Such is the faith avowed and enforced by Theodore Parker. It goes but little beyond a belief in God's ex- istence and general participation in human life. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish his views of Deity from Pantheism ; but on more than one occasion be ex- pressed his total dissent from the peculiarity of the He- gelian 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, prov- idence in individual and national life, existence and im- mortality of the soul, and the suffering to which we fall heir.^ 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 Spiritual- ism 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 Kationalism of the last five years' importation. Parker claimed that the liberal or Kation- alistic thinkers were largely on the increase ; but he also informs us that the translation by himself of De Wette's 1 Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion, pp. 477, 478. » Sermons of Theism, Atheism, and Popular Theology, pp. 51-55. 572 mSTOET OF EATIONALISM. 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." ^ Skepticism has been proclaimed principally by public lectures, and, in this form, has made little pretension to logical, exeget- ical, 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 libra- ries. 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 par- ents had taught them that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.^ 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 de- ' Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parlcer, vol. i., p. 402. ' Stories of the Patriarchs, by Eev. O. B. Frothingham. Boston, 1864. . "liberal CHRISTIANITY." 573 scriptiou 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 Pharoah and his host, were the natural results of tide and storm ; the bitter waters were sweetened by a friend- ly 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 Jei-icho fell merely by the natural force of loud, fearless, and honest speaking, — -just as West India Slavery tumbled down by the ao-ency 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 ! 574 HISTOEY OF KATIONALISM. Away with doom ! Protestantism lias 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 Chris- tianity 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 tem- ple ; 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 invita- tion 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 mur- mur 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 Commu- nion. The revelation of universal law makes the belief PEESE]NrT EFFORT OF EATIONALISM. 575 iu miracle seem atheistical ; and tlie 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." ' 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 Eu- rope 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 au- thority far behind. They afterward examined the Scriptures by the light of Reason alone, and, by this idea, deluded multitudes of the young and inexperi- enced into the darkness and doubt which were never removed. This last effort may be the next one to which Ameri- can 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, be- fore 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 Sermon on the JSTew Religion of Nature, before the Ahimni of the Cambridge Divinity School. Published in the Friend of Progress, Novem- Der, 18G4. . 576 HISTOEY OF KATIONALISM. aspect of our religious life that the Church may he- come thoroughly Rationalistic ; her sanctuaries fre- quented, and her posts of honor occupied, by the wor- vshipers 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 mis- sionary labors, the intense union of all parts of our country, and the united progress of piety and theologi- cal science, the duty of the present hour must be dis- charged. CHAPTER XXV. INDIEEOT SERVICE OF SKEPTICISM— PRESENT OUTLOOK. The most important successes of man are born of his severest trials and most persistent struggles. Some- times 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, joy- ously 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 VIH, 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 pros- 37 578 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. pect of real religious liberty. But Ms son resumes the throne, and all such liberty was abolished, and so con- tinued long ; and another revolution was required that religious faith and worship might be free." ^ 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 cen- turies of poverty and sorrow, many more martyrdoms, and a second home in the catacombs. The various conflicts with infidelity have been scarce- ly less terrible than the determined efforts made for the preservation of the faith of the Gospel against the per- secutions of the Roman Emperors and the popes of the inquisitorial period. For there are two kinds of suffer- ing 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 pre- tenses 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 lace- rated 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 re- ceive 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 * John Foster, Broadmead Lectures^ vol. i., p, 309. GOOD OUT OF EVIL. 579 of Kationalism in England and tlie 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 design- ed 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 bless- ings. Ecclesiastical historians have frequently regard- ed all skeptical tendencies as evil in all their conse- quences ; 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 un- 580 HISTOEY OF EATIOJS'ALISM. designed means of contributing to their advancement. The faitli of the public teacher determines tlie faith and practice of the masses ; and those who are the commis- sioned expounders of truth for the people have to day a more substantial basis of theological literature, than theii* 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 de- fense. " Rationalism was not to be simply ignored," says SchaflP, " 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 fi-eer ac- tivity and fuller development were secured, and that want which lies at the root of all Rationalism, was sup- plied ; namely, that religious truth shall not be con- fronted with the subjective sj)irit in the form of mere outward authority, but, in an inward way, become fully reconciled to it in the form of conviction and certainty." ^ The Rationalists at one time deemed the criticism of the Scriptures their strongest fortress. This is evi- dent 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 men- tioned in the Bible in order to study local customs and popular traditions, and searched the testimony of both * W7iat is Church History ? p. 15. CHURCH HISTOET. 581 ancient and modern writers witli an enthusiasni seldom sm-passed. Their purpose was, to maintain tlie liuman cliaracter 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 Scrip- tures. 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 pro- fessed 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 loDg- 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 Ger- many over five hundred works on church history alone.^ "Almost every theologian of any name," says Schaff, " has devoted a portion at least of his strength to some depart- ment 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 em- * Winer, EandbucJi der Theologischen Wissenschaft, 1838-1842. 582 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. ployed, and have also due regard to views different from its own. Let any one look into any of tlie later com- mentaries by Bleek, Harless, Tlioluck, Steiger, Hengsten- berg, Fritzscbe, and Kiickert ; or into the dogmatic works of Twesten, Nitzsch, Hase, and the monograph of Julius Miiller on sin, and he will soon learn how entirely the whole present theology is pervaded with historical material from beginning to end." ^ 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 un- changeable ; a view which cannot possibly stand the test of impartial inquiry. For though Christianity it- self, 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 suffi- ciently evident from the great difference between Cath- olicism and Protestantism ; and within the latter, from tlie distinctions of Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, and Cal- vinism. 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 ' What is Church History ? p. 17. ESTIMATE OF CHEIST's LIFE. 583 development, on wliicli tlie latest German historiog- raphy is founded." ^ 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 Chiist. The replies to the work of Strauss present, as we have be- fore intimated, the most comj)lete portrait of the career of the Messiah ever drawn by uninspired authority. The symmetry, scope, power, and sympathy which re- vealed themselves through his entire ministry are so described by Neander, and those in harmony with him, that their representation of the Messiah must ever per- form an invaluable service in theological literatui-e. Had the attack never been made we would not now enjoy the benefit resulting from the counter-blow. " These replies," says Schwarz, " constitute an impor- tant literature of themselves, in which scarcely any the- ological 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 theo- logical discussion originated by Strauss, our attention is turned toward those works which undertake to an- swer specifically the critical questions under considera- tion. 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 thor- ough method than Strauss had done those important * History of the Apostolic Churchy p. 80. 584 HISTORY OF EATIONALISM. questions concerning tlie relations of tlie gospels to each other, their signification, age, and authenticity." -^ So, too, has the criticism of the apostolic age by the Tubingen 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 fortimate day for them when their attention was directed thither. For the chui-ch 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 con- dition 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 investiga- tion. 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 present- ing his divine character to the common understanding, who will say that the present generation of Christ's skeptical biographers have wi'itten in vain ? Those authors, having seen the necessity of a poj)ular im- derstanding of Christ, describe Lim 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 ' GescMcTite der Neuesten Theologie. Second Edition, pp. 105, 152. M. DE PEESSENSE. 585 their labors, tiiougli exerted for a different pui-pose^ 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 sym pathy 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 Kenan's representation of Christ by the. testimony of M. de Pressense. This distinguished theologian was recently returning fi'om 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 coun- trymen," when he stopped at Altenburg to attend the session of the Evangelical Church Diet of Germany. Speaking of the indirect service of Kenan, 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 incon- veniences and the perils. Without doubt, this falsifica- tion 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 ^nd more reduced religion to a servile submission towards the Papacy and superstitious worship of the deified creature, thus pre- venting the direct intercourse of the soul with the gos- pel and wdth him who fills the gospel. And then, M. Kenan's book at bottom flattered all the bad contem- poraneous instincts; it made the apotheosis of that melancholy and voluptuous skepticism which covers up 586 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 be- tween 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 Koman Catholic Church in reference to the dis- coveries of some of the noblest of her sons was suicidal. SCIENCE Ef HARMONY WITH THE BIBLE. 587 When Galileo was forced to recant bis 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 cosmog- ony. Shall we say that geology is false, and the six days of the Mosaic narrative must be understood in theii 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 har- mony,— inexpressibly beautiful and proportionate, — be- tween 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 im- mediate 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 588 HISTOEY OF EATIONALISM. 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 Prus- sian dominion. He violently opposed it, and gave it as his opinion, that " the work of Strauss, though not pro- found, was written with much talent, and that through- out, science predominated over and extinguished senti- ment. 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 Chris- tian 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 per- vade all evangelical denominations. During the Penin- sular War, the Duke of Wellington, observing that one of his officers of artillery was serving a gun with re- markable 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 oui' own 99 th ! " A similar mistake has sometimes been com- mitted 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 THE FUTURE. 589 friends of orthodoxy is a condition of permanent success. The theological crisis of to-day may be fol- lowed by others more severe. But the Faith of the Church teaches the invaluable lesson that God desig^ns, 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." ' ' Keble, Christian Tear. APPENDIX. LITERATURE OF RATIONALISM I.— GERMANY— HOLLAND— SWITZERLAND. AuBERLEN, C. A. — Die Gottliche Offenbarimg, 2 Biinde, Basel, 1861-64. XusERUNGEN ilb. Renan, Strauss u. ahnliche Bticher. Anon. Tilb., 1864. Balmes, J. — Briefe an einein Zweifler, Aus d. Span, tlbersetzt, von F Loruiser, Regensburg, 1864. Baur, F. C. — Die Tiibinger Schule und ihre Stellung zur Gegenwart. Tubingen, 1859. Beysohlag, "W. — Uber das "Leben Jesu" v. Renan. Halle a. S. 1864. Bockshammer, G. F. — Offenbarung und Theologie. Stuttg. 1822. BoHME, 0. F.— Christlicbes Henotikon. Halle, 1827. Die Sache des rationalen Supranaturalismus, gepruft und erklart. Neust. 1823. Beetsohneider, K. G. — Ueber die Grundprincipien der Evang. Theologie. Altenburg, 1832. Zwei Sendschreiben an einem Staatsmann. Leipzig, 1830. Beonsveld, a. W. — Oorzaken der verbreiding van het rationalisme in ous land, sinds de laaste jaren der vorigen eeuw. Rotterdam, 1862. Beunner, 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. Oassel, p. — Uber Renan's Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1864. Chantepie de la Saussate. — La Crise Religieuse en Hollande. Levde. 1860. ^ ' Clausen, Prof.— Katholicismus u. Protestantismus, 3 Bande. Translated by Fries. Latest Edition, 1828. The author, a moderate nationalist, attempts in vain to identify Protestantism and Ration- alism. Clemen, C. F. "W— Die Rationalisten sind doch Christen. Altenbg. 1829. CoLLN, D. G. K. VON, TJND SoHn.Tz, Dav.— iTber Theologische Lehrfreiheit auf den Evangelischen Universitaten. Breslaii, 1830. APPENDIX. 591 OoENn., A. — Ludwig Fenerbacli u. Seine Stellung zTir Eeligion u. Philos- ophie 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. Deutingek, M. — Renan u. das Wunder, Miinchen, 1864. De Wette. — tiber der Verfall der Protestantischen Kirche in Deutsch- land, und die Mittel, ihr wieder aufzuhelfen. Reformationsalm. — 1817, S. 296 ff. Eeligion und Theologie. Berlin, 1817. Theodor oder des Zweifler's Weihe. 2 Bde. Berlin, 1822. DiESTELMANN, Th. — Beleuclitung d. Lebens Jesu f. das Deutsche Yolk, V. D, F. Strauss. Hannover, 1864. Engelhaedt, M. — Schenkel und Strauss. Erlangen, 1864. Feldmann, T. C. — Der "Wahre Christus u. sein rechtes Symbol. Al- tona, 1865. Feueebach. F. L. — Das Wesen d. Glaubens im Sinne Luther's. Leip., 1844. Frei-Religiosen (die) in ihrer Blosse. Brandenburg, 1862, Feeppel, Peof. — Kritische Beleuchtung d. Ernst Renan'schen Schrift: Das Leben Jesu. Wien, 1864. Frioke, G.— Ueber Renan's Leben Jesu. Heidelberg, 1864. Feitzsohe, Ch. F. — De Rationalismo commentatt. II; in den opuscul. academ. Tur. — 1846. Feost, W. — Das Leben d. Anti -Christus nach Ernst Renan. "Wien, 1864. Gebhaed, F. H. — Die letzten Grilnde des Rationalismus in einer Widerle- gung der Briefe Zollichs. Arnst., 1822. Geebee, J. H.— Supranominalismus, ein neues System der Theologie, oder die endliche Versohnung zwischen Rationalismus und Supranaturalis- mus in wissenschaftliche Nothwendigkiet. Leipzig, 1843 — 44. Geelaoh, H. — Gegen Renan, Leben Jesu, Berlin, 1864. Gess tjnd Riggenbaoh. — Apologetische Beiti-iige. Basel. 1864. Gegen Van Peinsteeee, G.— Le parti anti-revolutionaire et confessionel dans I'eglise reformee des Pays-Bas. Amsterdam, 1860. GuELiTT, J. Gfr.— Rede zur Empfehlung des Vernunftsgebrauch's bei dem Studium der Theologie. Hamburg, 1822. Haae, B.tee, —Pictures from the History of the Reformation. 1855. A prize work, written to streng+lien the faith of Protestants. Yorlesungen tiber Renan's " Leben Jesu." 1864. Haffner. — Die Deutsche Aufkliirung. Mainz, 1864. Hagenbach, K. R.— Kirchengeschichte d. 18 und 19 Jahrliunderts. 3 Aufl. Leipzig, 1856. Die sogenannte Vermittelungstheologie. Zurich, 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 natura- lismo contineatur ratione. Lips. 1827. Ueber die Lage des Christenthnms unserer Zeit, nnd das Yerhaltnisa der Ohristlichen Theologie zur AVissenschaft ilberhaupt, Leipz. 1832. Hanebeeg, D. B.— E. Renan's Leben Jesu beleuchtet. Regensbg. 1864. 592 APPENDIX. Hanne, J. TV. — Eationalismus und spec. Theologie in Braunschweig. Braunschweig, 1838. Harms, 0. — Thesen Luther's mit andern 95 Siitzen. Kiel, 1817. "Dass es mit der Vernunftreligion nichts ist." Kiel, 1819. Havet, E. — Kritik tib. "Das Leben Jesu" v. E. Eenan. Mannheim, 18C3. Heinkich, J. B. — Christus: Kritik des Eationalismus, des Straussischen Mythicismus u. d. Lebens Jesu v. Eenan. Mainz, 1864. Held, C. F. W. — Jesus der Christ, mit Eiicksicht auf d. Eationalismus u. Skepticismus d. Gegenwart. Zurich, 1865. Henhofer, a. — Der Kampf d. Unglaubens m. Aberglauben u. Glauben. Heidelberg, 1861. Henke, 0. L. Tn. — Eationalismus u. Traditionalismus im 19. Jahrhundert. 1864. Hering. — Die Akephaler unsrer Zeit. Leipzig, 1825. Heringa, J. E. — Het gebruiken Misbruik der Kritik. Holland, 1793. Hofstede de Geoot, P. — Die Groninger Theologen. Gotha, 1863. HuFFET.L, L. — Friedensvorschliige zur Beendigung des Streits zwischen bibl. Christlichen Theologen und Eationalisten ; Zeitschrift ftir Predi- gerwissenschaften. Bd. 2. St. 1. HuNDEsnAGEN, K. B. — Der Deutsche Protestantismus. 3 Aufl. Frankfort a. Main, 1850. HuETER, H. — IJeber die Eechte der Vernunft und des Glaubens. Inns- bruck, 1863. Kahlee, L. a. — Supranaturalismus und Eationalismus in ihrera gemein- schaft. Ursprunge, ihrer Zwietracht u. hohernEinheit. Leipzig, 1818. Kahnis, K. F. a. — Der innere Gang des deutschen Protestantismus seit Mitte des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1854. Kampe, F. — Geschichte der religiosen Bewegung d. neuern Zeit. 2 Bde. Leipzig, 1852—53. Keim, I. — Der Geschichtliche Christus. Zurich, 1864. Kleuker, J. F. — IJeber 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. KoHLER, A. — Die niederlandisch-reform. Kirche. Erlangen, 1856. KxjENEN, A. — The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined. Translated from the Dutch by Et. Rev. J. W. Colenso. London, 1865. Lang, H. — Dogmatik. Berlin, 1858. Ein Gang durch die Christliche "Welt. Berlin, 1859. Religiose Charactere. Winterthur, 1862. Lorgion, E. J. — The Pastor of Vliethinzcn ; 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 modemen Darstellungen des Lebens Jesu. Eine Besprechung der Schriften von Strauss, Eenan, etc. Leipzig, 1864. Meter, J. — ^Das Leben Jesu v. Dav. Frdr. Strauss. Leipzig, 1865. MiOHELis, F. — Eenan's Eoman vom Leben Jesu. Munster, 1864. Neuester Naoutrag zu Eenan's Leben Jesu. Berlin, 1864. APPENDIX. 593 Nicolas, A. — Die Gottheit Jesu. Regensburg, 1864. NiTZScn, 0. L. — Ueber das Heil der Theologie durch Unterscheidung der Otfenbarung und Religion als Mittel uud Zweck. 1830. NoACK, L. — Die Freidenker in der Religion. Berne, 1853. OosTERZEE, J. J. Van.,— Geschichte oder Roman? Das Leben Jesu v. E. Renan beleucbtet. 1863. Opzoomkr, C. W. — De waarbeid en bare kenbronnen. Amsterdam, 1862. Paxjlus, H. E. G. — Zeitgemiisse Beleuchtung des Streites zwischen dem Eingebungsglauben und der Urcbristlicben Denkglaubigkeit. Wies- baden, 1880. Peteenz, K. a. — Wie hast du Renan's Leben Jesu aufgenommen ? Neu- Ruppin, 1864. Raumee, F. — Schwarz, Strauss, Renan. Leipzig, 1864. Riggenbach, 0. J. — Der Heutige Rationalismus besonders in der Deut- schen Schweiz. Basel, 1862. Ritter, II. — Ernst Renan lib. die Naturwissenscbaften u. die Gescbichte. Gotba, 1865. RoHE, J. F. — Briefe tiber den Rationalismus. Aacben, 1813. Grund-und-Glaubenssatze der Evang. -protest. Kircbe. 1832-1834. Romano, J. P. — IJeber Unglauben, Pietismus u. "Wissenscbaft. Zurich, 1859. RosENKRANZ, K. — Kritik d. Principien d. Strauss'schen Glaubenslehre. Leipzig, 1844. RoTAARDs, H. J. — Gescbiedenis van het Christendom. Nederland, 1853. RfJCKERT, L. J. — Der Rationalismus. Leipzig, 1859. RuMPF. — Kircbenglaube und Erfabrung, 1854. Bibel und Christus, 1858. RuTHENUs, K. — Der formale Supernaturalismus oder d. einzig moglicbe Weg zur einer Ausgleicbung der stritenden tbeolog. Partlieien. Leipzig, 1834. Saetorius, C. — Die Religion ausserbalb der Grenzen der blossen Ver- nunft. Marburg, 1822. Ueber die Unwissenschaftlichkeit und innere Verwandschaft des Rationalismus uud Romanismus. Auch u. d. Tit: Beitrage zur Evang. Recbtglaubigkeit. 1 Hft. Heidelberg, 1825. SoHENKEL, D. — Die Religosen Zeitkampfe. Hamburg, 1847. Das Characterbild Jesu. Wiesbaden, 1864. Die Protestantiscbe Freiheit in ibrem gegenwartigen Kampfe in der Kircblicben Reaktion, Wiesbaden, 1865. SoHLossER, F. C— Gescbichte d. 18 und 19 Jahrhunderts. (First two vols.) Heidelberg, 1843. ScHOLTEN. J. H. — Oratio de pugna theologiam inter atque pbilosophiam recto utriusque studio tollenda. Leipzig, 1847. Dogmatices Christiana) Initia. Editio II. Leyden, 1858. ScHOTT, H. A.— Briefe iiber Religion und Christlichen OfFenbarungs- glauben. Jena, 1826. ScHROTER, W. — Cbristianisraus, Humanismus und Rationalismus in ibrer Idenlitat. Leipzig, 1830. SOHTJBEET, F. W. — Die Freien Gemeinde unserer Zeit. Berlin, 1850. 38 594 APPENDIX. SoHiTDEROFF, J. — Briefe uber den Eationalismus und Supematuralismna, in Journal filr Veredlung des Prediger- und Schullehrerstandes. Jahrg, 1811. Bd. 2. St. 3. ScHTTLTHESs, J. tiND Oeelli, J. K. — Rationalismus und Supernaturalia- raus, Kanon, Tradition und Scription. Zurich, 1822. SoHULTZE, L. — Die Wunder Jesu Ohristi mit Beziehung a. d. Leben Jesu y. Renan. Konigsberg, 1864. Schwartz, C. — Zur Geschichte d. neuesten Theologie. 3 sehr verna* Auf. Leipzig, 1864. Sepp, Dr. — Thaten u. Lehren Jesu ; auf die jungsten Werke v. Eenan und Strauss. Schaflfhausen, 1864. Staudlust, C. F. — Gescbicbte des Rationalismus und Supranaturalismus. Gottingen, 1826. Steepens, H. — Von der falschen Theologie und dem Wahren Glauben. Breslau, 1831. Steiger, W. — Kritik des Rationalismus in Wegscheider's Dograatik. 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 iiberhaupt. Basel, 1863. Theiler, C. G. W. — Christus und die Vernunft. Leipzig, 1880. Aphorismen zur Yerstiindigung iiber den sogenannten alten und neuen Glauben. Leipzig, 1839. Tholtjok, a. — Verraischte Schriften IL, " Geschichte der Umwalzung der Theologie seit 1750." Hamburg, 1839. Die Lehre v. der Siinde und vora Versohnen. 7 Auf. Hamb. 1851. Vorgeschichte des Rationalismus. Zwei Theile. Berlin, 1859-'62. Geschichte d. Rationalismus. Erste Abth. Berlin, 1865. Tittmann, J. A. H. — tJber Supranaturalismus, Rationalismus, u. Athe- ismuo. Leipzig, 1816. UllmanNjK. — Theologisches Bedenken auf Veranlassung des Angriffs der evangel. Kirchenzeit, auf den Hallischen Rationalismus. Halle, 1830. Togetlier with many other articles of similar character in " Studien und Kritiken." Veeantwortttng (zur) des Christlichen Glauben. 10 Vortrage von Rig- genbach, Auberlen, Gess, und andere. Basel, 1862. Voightlander, J. A. — Der Rationalismus nach seinen philosophischen Hauptformen und in seiner historischen Gestalt. Leipzig, 1880. Wegsoheider, J. A. L.^ — Institutiones Theologite Christianse Dogmaticae. Halle, 1815. 8th Ed. 1844. "Weidemann, K. a. — Die Keuesten Darstellnngen d. Lebens Jesu von Renan, Schenkel, Strauss. Gotha, 1864. WiEsiNGER, A. — Aphorismen gegen Renan's Leben Jesu. Wien, 1864. "WiGGERS, J. — Kirchlicher oder reinbiblischer Supranaturalismus? Leip- zig, 1842. "WisLiCENus, G. A. — Die Bibel, fiir denkende Leser betrachtet. Leip- zig, 1864. "WoLi.wARTH, F.— Gedanken iib. das characterbild Ohristi, von SchenkeL Stuttgart, 1865. APPENDIX. 595 Zeitfragen Religiose, TJnparteiisch beurtheilt v, e. Laien. Ttib., 1864. ZooKLEE, 0. — Die Evangelien kritik u. das Lebensbild Christi nacb d. Schrift. Darmstadt, 1864. ZoLLicH, 0. F. — Briefe tlber den Supranaturalismus ; eine Gegenscbrifb zu den Briefen tlber den Rationalismus. Sondershausen, 1821. EATIONALISTIC PERIODICALS. Allgemeine kiechliche Zeitscheift. — Published by D. Scbenkel, Elber- feld, 1860-'65. Annalen.— Published by Schulthess, 1826-30. Detjtschkatholisohes Sonntagsblatt. — Wiesb., 1851-'65. Peeies (fue) eeligioses Leben. — Breslau, 1848. The Journal of the "Friends of Light." KiBCHE DEE Gegenwaet. — Biedermann und Fries. Zurich, 1845-50, KiEOHEN-uND-ScHULBLATT. — "Weimar, 1852-'65. Pkedigeebibliothek.— Published by Eohr, 1820-'48. Continued by H. Lang, to 1816. PEOTESTANTisonE Blattee, Fur das evang. Oesterreich. — Wien, 1863-'65. Peotestantische Kiechenzeitung. — H. Eltester und Carl Schwartz. Berlin, 1854-'.65. This quarterly is the leading organ of the German Rationalists. Sonntagsblatt. — Uhlich. Gotha, 1850. Quarterly. Sopheonizen. — Published by Paulus, 1819-'30. Theologisohe Jahebuohee. — F. Chr. Baur und E. Zeller. Tubingen, 1842-'56. Not continued. Zeitscheift fijb wissensohaft. Theologie. — A. Hilgenfeld. Halle, 1858-'65. Zeitstimmek axis d. eefoemieten Kirche dee Sohweiz. — H. Lang. Winterthur, 1859-'66. n.— FRANCE. Aenattd, a. — Les Orthodoxes et le Parti liberal protestant. Paris, 1864. AsTiE, J. F. — Les deux Theologies nouvelles dans le sein du Protestan- tisms Fran^ais. Paris, 18C2. Bieemann, C— Foi et Eaison. Paris, 1860. BoissoNAis, L. — Doctrine de la nouvelle 6cole d'apres MM. Reville, A. Coquerel fils, et Colani. Paris, 1864. Buisson, F. — ^L'orthodoxie et TEvangile dans I'Eglise reformee. Paris, 1864. Cassan-Floteac, L'Abbe. — Le Rationalisnie devant la Eaison. Paris, 1858. CoLANi, T. — Ma Position dans I'Eglise de la Confession d'Augsbourg. Paris, 1860. Jesus Christ et les Croyances messianiques de son Temps. Paris, 1864. Coqueeel, a. — Christologie. Paris, 1859. Coquerel, E. — M. Guizot et TOrthodoxie protestante. Paris, 1864. Libereaux et orthodoxes. Paris, 1864. DuNAiME, L'Abbe J.— De la Eaison dans ses Eapnorts avee la Foi. Paris, 1858. 596 APPENDIX. Fatet, a. — Lettres a un rationaliste sur la philosophic et la religion, Paris, 1864. Franohi, a. — Le Rationalisme. Bruxelles, 1858. Fkossard, 0. L. — L'orthodoxie de I'Eglise reformee de France. Paris, 1864. GuizoT, F. — Meditations sur I'Essence de la Religion Chretienne. Paris, 1864. Lareoqite, p. — "Renovation religieuse. Paris, 1859. Examen Critique des doctrines de la religion Chretienne. Pai'is, 1859. Lups, L'Abbe J. — Le Traditionalisme et le Rationalisme. Liege, 1869. Nicolas, M. — fitudes Critiques sur la Bible. Paris, 1861, Pressense, E. De. — Le Pays de I'Evangile ; Notes d'un voyage en Orient. Paris, 1865. Remusat, C. De. — Philosophic 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 propliete et le vrai fils de Dieu. Paris, 1863. Blooh, S. — M. Renan et le Judaisme. Paris, 1863. BoNALD, M. de. — Mandement portant condamnation du livre intitiil6 : la Vie de Jesus, par E. Renan. Paris, 1868. BoNNETAiN, J. — Le Christ-Dieu devant les Siecles. M. Renan et son roman du jour. Pai"is, 1863. BouRQUENouD, A. — Les Distractions de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. BoYLEsvE, M. de. — M. Renan, defenseur de la foi d'apres un precede nouveau. Paris, 1863. Carle, IT. — Crises des croyances. M. Renan, et I'esprit de syst^me. Paris, 1863. Oastaing, a. — Jesus, M. E. Renan et la science. Paris, 1863. Ohauvelot, 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 I'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 cutrc M. E. Renan et sa soeur Ursula. Paris, 1863. Delaporte, a. — La Critique et la Tactique, a propos de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Des Granges, F. — Une fichappe sur la Vie de Jesus d'Ernest Re- nan. Paris, 1863. Deshaires, G. — La Vie de Jesus, les £vangiles, et M. Renan. Paris, 1863. APPENDIX. 597 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. Feegiee, J. 0. — Jesus devant le droit, ou Critique judiciare de la Vie de Jesus de M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. Feeppel, L'Abbe. — Examen Critique de la Vie de Jesus de M. Re- nan. Paris, 1863. GiNODLiAo. — Lettre a I'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 I'Mstoire. Examen de la Vie de Jesus par Renan. Paris, 1863. Hello, E. — M. Renan et la Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1863. Heeve. — Divinit6 de J6sus. Reponse a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. JouEDAiN, A. — R6futation rationnelle de la Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1868. Laooedaiee, R. — Aux Lecteurs de M. Renan. Paris, 1868. Laeeoque, p. — Opinion des Deistes rationalistes sur la Vie de J6sus, selon M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Lasseeee, H. — L'Evangile selon Renan. Paris, 1868. Latour. — Une reponse a M. Volusien Pages. Refutation d'une Re- futation, de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Latjeentie. — Le Livre de M. E. Renan, sur la Vie de J6sus. Paris, 1863. Le Peltiee, E. — Vie de E. Renan. Paris, 1863. Leeoy, E. — R6ponse d'un poete a M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. Levy, Le Rabbin. — La Synagogue et M. Renan. Paris, 1863. LoTsoN, J. T.— Une pretendue Vie de Jesus, ou M. E. Renan. Paris, 1863. Maoeakis, a.— Le Vrai Jesus Christ oppose an Jesus faux imagin6 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. Mareot, M.— La Vie de M. Renan et le Maudit. Paris, 1863. Maubert, H. — Nicodeme, etude sur M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Maueette, O. — Jesus et la vraie Philosophie. Paris, 1863. Meignan. — M. Renan refute par les Rationalistes Allemandes. Paris, 1864. MiOHON, J. H. — Deux Le?ons a M. Renan. Paris, 1863. MiLSAND, Ph.— Bibliographie des Publications relatives au livre de M. Renan, Vie de Jesus. Paris, 1864. Mieville, 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 Croyaut. Paris, 1863. Olgo, S.— Reflexions d'un orthodoxe de I'Eglise grecque sur la Vie de Jesus, de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. 598 APPEKDIX. Oesini, L'Abbe. — Refutation du livre de M. Eenan. Paris, 1863. Oeth, N. J. — La Vie de Jesus, selon M. Renan. Paris, 1863, PagJ;s, V. — M. Renan et son siecle. Paris, 1868. Parisis. — Jesus Christ est Dieu : demonsti-ation. Paris, 1863. Passaglia, p. 0. — Etude sur la Vie de Jesus de E. Renan. Paris, 1868. Patt. — Observations sur le roman intitule Vie de Jesus par E. Re nan. Paris, 1863. Conference contre le livre de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Pe De Areos, J.— Coup d'ceil sur la Vie de Jesus de M. Eenan, Paris, 1863. Philips, J, P. — Dieu, les miracles, et la science. Paris, 1863. PiNAED, L'Abbe. — Notes a I'usage des lecteurs du Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1868. PiOGEB, L, M. — Divinite de J6su3 prouvee par les faits. Reponse d M. Renan. Paris, 1863, Plantiee. — Un panegyriste de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Instruction pastorale contre la Vie de Jesus par Renan. Paris, 1863. PoTEEL, E. — Vie de N". S. Jesus Christ, rgponse au livre de M. Renan, Paris, 1863. PoujoTTLAT, — Examen de la Vie de Jesus de M, Renan, Paris, 1863, Peessense, E. de, — L'flcole critique et Jesus Christ, a propos de la Vie de Jesus de M. Renan, JParis, 1863. Reville, a. — La Vie de Jesus de M. Renan devant les orthodoxies et devant la critique. Paris, 1868. Roussel, N". — ^Le Jesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. [1863. Saas, a. — Epitre a M. E, Renan contre la " Vie de Jgsus." Paris, Saint-Semmeea. — Ecce homo, critique impartiale de la Vie de Jfesus de M. Renan. Paris, 1863. Teoghoff-Kerbiquet. — La Defense de I'Evangile, Epitre en vers a M, Renan. Paris, 1863, Vie (la) et la Moet de Jesus, selon Renan. Havet, et Remusat. Paris, 1864. EfiviLLE, A. — De la Redemption, Paris, 1859, Essais de critique religieuse, Paris, 1860, [1841, Saintes, Amand. — Histoire Critique du Rationalisme en Allemagne. Paris, ScHEEEE, E. — Melanges des critiques religieuses. Paris, 1860. Seceetan, C. — La Raison et le Bonheur. Paris, 1863. RATIONALISTIC PERIODICALS. Disciple (le) de Jesus Cheist, (Monthly.) Redacteur: M. E. Haag. Paris, 1840-65. Le Lien ; Journal des Eglises reformees de France, (Weekly.) Redac- teurs : A. Coquerel, fils ; et Etienne Coquerel, Paris, 1862-65, Notjvelle Revue de Th£ologie, (Quarterly,) Redacteur: T. Colani. Strasburg, 1858-65. Revue Geemanique, (l^Ionthly.) Paris, 1858-65. APPENDIX. 599 m.— GREAT BRITAIN— UNITED STATES. Bannermajstn, J. — Inspiration, the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures. Edinburgh, 1865. Barkee, T. — Strictures on Maurice's Doctrine of Sacrifice. London, 1858. Batne, p. — Testimony of Christ to Christianity. London, 1862. Beaed, T. E. — Voices of the Church in reply to Dr. Strauss. London, 1845. ■ Christ the Interpreter of Scripture. London, 1865. Bellows, H. W. — Re-statements of Christian Doctrine. New York, 1860. Bieks, 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. BoHM, C J. T. — Lights and Shadows in the Present Condition of the Church. London, 1860. Beoderick 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. Keprint 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 oondition of Church Parties in England. Religious Duty. London, 1864. OoLENso, 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 foeth by the above Commentaet. 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 Ji.x- amination 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. Lon- don, 1863. 600 APPENDIX. 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. BiEKS, T. R. — The Exodus of Israel ; a Reply to Recent Objections. London, 1863. Beiggs, F. W. — The Two Testimonies. Last objections to Rational- ism. 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, 0. — Bible Inspiration. London, 1863. Candlish, R. S. — Lectures on the Book of Genesis. 3 vols. Lon- don, 1862. Caret, C. S.— The Bible or the Bishop? London, 1863. Oarylon, 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. Lon- don, 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. Lon- don, 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. Deew, G. S. — Bishop Colenso's Examination of the Pentateuch Ex- amined. 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 Penta- teuch. London, 1863. Fowler, F. W. — Vindex Pentateuchi. An Answer to Bishop Co- lenso on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. Garland, G. V. — Plain possible Solutions of the Objections to Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch. Loudon, 1863. Gatjssen, 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. APPENDIX. 601 Gbiffin, J. N". — Dr. Colenso and the Pentateuch. Dublin, 1863. Hare, "W. H. — Letter to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. Hatoeoft, N". — Moses and Colenso; or, the Divine Authority of the Books of Moses and the Objections of Dr. Colenso. London, 1863. HiGQiNSOX, E. — The Spirit of the Bible. 2 vols, London, 1863. Hill, M. — Christ, or Colenso : a full Eeply to Bishop Colenso's Ob- jections. London, 1863. HiESCHFELDER, J. M. — The Scriptures Defended. Eeply 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. Lon- don, 1863. Ingeam, 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. KiEKUS, "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." Lon- don, 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. McOaul, J. B. — Bishop Colenso's Criticism criticised. London, 1868, 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, 1803. Marsh, J. B. — Is the Pentateuch Historically True? Lond., 1863. Maeshall, Judge. — Full Review and Exposure of Bishop Colenso's Errors and Miscalculations in his work. London, 1864. Maueioe, 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. Mooee, D. — Divine Authority of the Pentateuch Vindicated. Lon- don, 1864. MoBEAu, E. B. — Examination of some of Bishop Colenso's Objec- tions. London, 1863. Mosaic Oeigin 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, Lon- don, 1863. 602 APPENDIX. Page, J. R. — The Pretensions of Bishop Colenso considered. Lon don, 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 Au thority of the Pentateuch. London, 1863. Possibilities of Creation. London, 1862. Post, J.— The Bible for All. London, 1862. PfiESBTTEE Anglioanus. — Critical Analysis of the Pentateuch. Lon- don, 1863. Pbitohaed, C. — Vindiciae Mosaicse. London, 1863. Rask, R. — A Short Tractate on the Longevity ascribed to the Patri- archs. London, 1863. Rationalism Unphilosophioal, and Faith the Gift of God. Lon- don, 1863. Remarks on Bishop Colenso's Woek; oe, Rationalism Shown to BE Ieeational. London, 1863. Rogees, B. B.— Free Inquiry into Colenso's Difficulties. Lond., 1863. RoGEBs, 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. Sinolaie, J. — On Free Thought. London, 1865. Spet, W. J. — Bishop Colenso and the Descent of Jacob into Egypt. Pt. L 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 Uni- versity 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. Tatloe, I. — Considerations on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. Thoenton, T. — Life of Moses. London, 1863. TuENEE, J. B. — An Answer to the Difficulties in Bishop Colenso's Book on the Pentateuch. London, 1863. Ttlee, T.— Christ the Lord; with a Reply to Bishop Colenso. London, 1863. What is Teuth ? 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. Loudon, 1855. Dewar, E. H.— Brief History of German Theology. London, 1844. Donaldson, T. W.— Essay on Christian Orthodoxy. London, 1857. Deapeb, J. W. — Intellectual Development of Europe. New York, 1863. Elliott, W.— Old Theology the True Theology. London, 1861. APPENDIX. 603 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, Q. 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 Judg- Dient of the Arches Court, Review of Judgment. London, 1863. LusHiNGTON, S. — Judgment delivered on Essays and Reviews. Lon- don, 1862. Milton, J.— Prophecy of Essays and Reviews and his Judgment. London, 1861. Mobeely, 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. Lon- don, 1861. Faerak, a. S.— a Critical History of Free Thought in Reference to the Christian Religion. London, 1863. FisHEK, G. P. — Essays on the supernatural Origin of Christianity. With special reference to the Works of Kenan, Strauss, and the Tubingen School. New York, 1865. Frankland, B. — Intuitionalism ; or, Insufficiency of Pure Reason. Lon- don, 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. Hebeet, 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. 604 APPE]ST)IX. Hughes, T. — Keligio Laici. London, 1861. IbeItionalism 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, 0. — Sermons for the Times. London, 1858. Sermons; Good News of God. London, 1859. Langfokd, J. A. — Religious Skepticism and Infidelity. London, 1850. Leoky, W. E. H.— History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Ra- tionalism in Europe. 2 vols. London, 1865. Lee, W. — Recent Forms of Unbelief; Some Account of Renan's Vie do J^sus. London, 1864. MoCaul, a. — Rationalism and Deistic Infidelity. Three Letters. London, 1861. MoCoMBiE, W. — Modern Civilization in Relation to Christianity. Lon- don, 1863. Mackay, R. W. — The Tubingen 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. Lon- don, 1859. Examination of Maurice's Stricture on Bampton Lecture. London, 1859. Maukice, 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, 18P1. Palmer, G. — Scripture Facts and Scientific Doubts. Edinburgh, 1863. A Defease 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. APPEI^DIX. 605 PAEKiNaoN, 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 Peaesok, T.— Infidelity, Republished from London Ed. in N. Y., 1853. Porter, J. L. — The Pentateuch and tlie Gospel. London, 1864. Peogress 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, Eeville, 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. Piiilada., 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. SoHAFF AND RoussELL.— The Christ of the Gospels, and the Romance of M. Renan. London, 1864. SoHMUOKER, 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, 1868. Tracts foe 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 Fa"th, London, 1857. 606 APPENDIX. WfiSTFiELD, T. 0. — Seven Essays on Universal Science, embracing Inves- tigations of the Mosaic Cosmogony, and the Interpretation of tho 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, 0. — 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 UNIVERSALIS!. For the bibliography of the Trinitarian Controversy in England, extending through the former lialf 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, Uiiitarianism in its Actual Condition^ pp. 327-29. The following table of Unitarian and Universalist Literature has refer- ence to only two doctrines : the Trinity and Future Punishment. Bakee, a. — Our God a Consuming Fire. London, 1864. Baeolat, J. — Socinianism and Irvingism Refuted. London, 1845. Barling, J.— Review of Trinitarianism. London, 1847. Barlow, J. W.— Eternal Punishment and Eternal Death. London, 1864. Bareet, 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 Yorli. Belsham, T. — Calm Inquiry into Script. Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ. Brooks, E. G. — Universalism a Practical Power. Few York, 1863. Brothers' Controversy on Unitarian Opinions. London, 1835. BuRNAP, G. W. — Unitarianism. Boston, 1855, Trinity. Boston, 1845. Evidences. Boston, 1855. Oaepenter, L. — Examination of the Charges against Unitarians. Bristol, 1820. APPENDIX. 607 Chanotng, W. E.— Complete Works. 6 vols. Boston, 1841-46. Channing, W. H. — Memoir of W. E. Charming. 3 vols, 1843. Claek, D. W. — Man all Immortal. Cincinnati, 1864. OouTE, J. — Essays on Socinianism. London, 1850. Denisok, H. M. — Review of Unitarian Views. Louisville, Ky., 1855. Dewey, O. — Discourses ; Oontrov. Theol., etc. 6 vols. 1846^7-68. Dextee, 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. Fabley, F. a. — Unitarianism Defined. Boston, 1860. FuBNEss, 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 wliich false religion has sprung ever since the world began ; the error, namely, of supposing tliat 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." Fp. 4, 5. Such language comes with an ill grace from one who attacks M. Renan. See Chapter on Christ's " chlldlikeness." Wherein, we ask, is the Frenchman worse than the Philadelphian? Gage, W. L. — Trinitarian Sermons to a Unitarian Congregation. Boston, 1860. Haee, 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. Lon- don, 1841. Jones, T. — Immanuel ; or. Scriptural views of Jesus Christ. Lond., 1856. Zenriok, T. — Unitarian Exposition of the Few 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. Lon- don, 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. Laedner, N.— Complete Works. 17 vols. London, 1727-57. Letters on Nature and Duration of Futueb Punishment. London, 1835. LiNDSEY, T.— Apology. London, 1774. Sequel. London, 1776. G08 APPENDIX. LiNDSET, T. — ITistorical View of IJnitarian Doctrine from Reformation. London, 1783. Viudiciae Priestlianse. London, 1788. Maetineati, 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. Minion, S.. — Lectures on Unitarianism. London, 1847. Mitchell, E. — The Christian TJniversalist. New Haven, 1833. MoNSELL, C. A. — Sermons : Temporal Punisliment of Sin. London, 1845. Moore, D. — The Age and the Gospel : to which is added a Discourse on Final Retribution. London, 1865. Mouse, J. — True Reasons. Boston, 1805. Appeal to the Public. Boston, 1814. MoKTLOcK, E. — Sermons on Doctrine of the Trinity. London, 1844. Nemesis Saora. — Inquiries into Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution. Lon- don, 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, 1851-44. Tracts concerning Cliristianity. Cambridge, 1852. ' Internal Evidences. Boston, 1855. Statement of Reasons. Bt)ston, 1856. Oer. — 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. 2451-58. 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. Lond'jn, 1848. Thayer. — Theology of Universalism. Boston, 18G2. APPENDIX. 609 Thompson, J. P. — Love and Penalty, New York, 1865. Thompson, S. — Scripture Refutation of Unitarianism. London, 1838. TuENEE, W. — Lives of eminent Unitarians. London, 1840-3. Unitaeian, How I became a. — By a Clergyman of the Protestant E. Church. Boston, 1852. TJniveesalism against Itself. — Cincinnati, O. Universalismtts, Dee. — Gott alles in Allen. Stuttgart, 1862. Waee, H.— Complete Works. Boston, 1847. Ware, W. — Lettters 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. Whittemoee, T. — History of Universalism. New Ed. Vol. L 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. "Woecestee, N.— Review of Testimonies, etc., in Bible News. Boston, 1810. Address to Trinitarian Clergy. Boston, 1814. Yates. — Vindication of Unitarianism, 4th Ed. London, 1850. TOtlTAKIAN PERIODICALS. Cheistian Examiner, Boston. Cheistian Inquieee, New York. Cheistian Reoistee, Boston. JouENAL OF Ameeioan Unit. Assoo. Boston. Monthly Christian Registee, Boston. Monthly Relkixotjs Magazine, Boston. Religious Edoo^toe, Boston. TINI"VrEKSALI8T PERIODICALS. Broad CHtmoK Pulpit, New York. Christian Ambassador, New York. Cheistian Feeeman, Boston. Cheistian Repositoey, Montpelier, Yt. Gospel Banner, Augusta, Me. Herald and Era, Indianapolis, Ind. Manfoed's Magazine, St. Louis, Mo. Myrtle, Boston. Ladies' Repository, Boston. Stab in the "West, Cincinnati, 0. Star op the Pacific, Petaluma, OaL 39 610 APPENDIX. Tbumpet, Boston. Unitersalist Herald, Montgomery, Ala. Univeesalist Quarterly, Boston, ToiTNG 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 cen- tury ; and of the discussion on the Person of Christ provoked by the speculations of Horace Bushnell, consult Hagenbach, Sistory of DoC' trines, Smith's Ed. New York, 1862. INDEX. A BREST, Peteb, 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 de- nominations, 571. Duty of the American Church to guard against infidelity, 575. American civilization, undergoing a change, 576. Andrea, John Valentine ; poverty and early difficulties, 53. His satire on the Church, 53. Excite- ment produced by it, 54. Service rendered by it, 54. Quotation from Andrea's Christianopolis, 61. Satire on the degenerate preach- ing of his time, 71-73. Apostolical Succession, a doctrine of the High Church, 514. Arndt, John ; his service to the Church ; work on Tnie Christi- anity ; 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, 18. His history of Churches and Heretics^ 98. Charged with Separatism, 98. He con- tended for the unification of Mys- ticism and Pietism, 98. Arnold, Thomas, his Sermons, 521. His opinions. 521-523. Atonement, Unitarian opinion of, 550, 551. Auberlen on mission of Pietism, tes- timony of, 86-88. Augsburg Confession, 38, August, Kai-1. His care to secure the society of distinguished lite- rary men ai-ound his court, 169, 170. BAHRDT, his deceit and blasphe- my, 139. His works, 140. His condition when at Giessen, 140. His rapid decline, 141. He en- gaged 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 be- tween Pietism and Rationalism, 111. He succeeded Wolf at Halle, 111. His extensive acquirements, 111, 112. He favored the introduc- tion of Enghsh 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 publica- tions, 190-192. Bekker, Balthizer, a disciple of Des Cartes, 347. His World Bno itched, 347. His excommunication, and personal appearance, 347, 348. 612 INDEX. Bellows, against orthodoxy, 545, 546. Opposes original sin, 548-550. Belsham, liis work on Anaerican Unitarianisra, 539, 540. Bengel, his purpose to lead the people to a better understanding of the Bible, 101. Kahnis' appre- ciation of Bengel, 101. Bethman-Hollweg, influence on the Church Diet, 319. Bilderdyk, at the head of the modern school of Dutch poetry, 359. Boehme, Jacob, shoemaker at Gor- litz ; his pure purposes, 46 ; his mysterious life, 47 ; method of com- position, 47 ; description by him- self of his seasons of ecstasy, 48 ; his Aurora, 48 ; last words, 49. Bolingbroke, introducing the French spirit into England in the Eight- eenth Century, 442. His prin- ciples, 442, 443. Broad Church, has lately acquired great influence, 531. First Broad Church corresponds with Philo- sophical Rationalism, 519. Its tenets, 520, 529, 530. Second Broad Church is thoroughly Ra- tionalistic, 530. Points of differ- ence from the First Broad Church, 531. Bunsen, his Biblical Researches re- reviewed in Essfiys and Reviews^ 485-487. CALIXTUS, George, as a theolo- gian, 40 ; professor at Helmstedt, 41 ; travels, and literary style, 41 ; impression made upon his mind by prevailing controversies, 41; his ar- dent desire to unite conflicting ele- ments, 41 ; his sorrow at the abuse of preaching, 41, 42 ; advice on preaching, 42 ; his Chief Points of the Christian Religion, 43 ; ac- cusations against him, 44 ; his fruit- less labors, 44. Testimony on neg- lect of children, 64, 65. Campe's influence upon the youth of Germany, 188. His works, 188. Oapadose, an agent in the revival in the Dutch Church, 359. Carlyle, Thomas, parent of Literary Rationalism in England, 473. De- rived his svstem 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 Amer- ican Unitarianism, 541. His works,' 541. Mental transitions, 542. Re- pudiation of orthodoxy, 542. His opinions, 543, 544. Chantepie de la Saussaye, one of the leaders of the Ethical-Irenical School in the Dutch Cliurch, 375. Preaches in Rotterdam, 376. As- sisted 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 Ration- alists 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, presup- poses great purity, 535. Church, affiliations of Rationalism with the German, 26, 27. The church has yet to vanquish thor- oughly 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 m., 230, 231. Church history, improved indirectly by the labors of tho Rationalists, 581-583. Church of England, two parties in, 507. Tabular view of the clergy of the Established Church, 532. Clnsses in Germany, immorality of higher, 77, 78. Clergy, immorality of German, in seventeenth century, 73, 74, 7Pi,note. The clergy were the agents of spiritual declension in Germany, 76. Cocceian Controversy, literature of, 337. The excitement occasioned by the conflict, 343. mDEX. 613 Cocceians and Voetians, the leading parties in the Dutch Church, 340. Principles of each, 340. Cocceians studied the Scriptures, but dilfered from the text, 341. Cocceius, opponent of Scholasticism in the Dutch Church, 336. Studies and early writings, 336, 337. Pro- fessor 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, re- semblance between him and Wolff, 107, 108. His work on the Penta- teuch and Book of Joshua, 499. His criticisms, 499-503. Excite- ment occasioned by his work, 503. Judicial proceedings against Colen- so, 503-505. Literature of the controversy occasioned by him, 600-602, Appendix. Colenso's re- turn to Southern Africa without a people or a clergy, 505. Testi- mony of a Mussulman against him, 505. Coleridge, opinions of, 455-4G2. 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 Protestnnt, their recent action in favor of ortliodoxj, 419-421. Confessions, union of Lutheran and Eeformed, 231. Controversy, Antinomian, Adiapho- ristic, Synergistic, Osiandric, Cryp- to-Calvinistic, 39. Syncretistic controversy, 40. Coquerel, A., Jr., editor of the Lien^ 406. Eefusal of the Presbyterial Council to re-appoint him as suf- fragan in a Protestant pulpit in Paris, 408. His opinions, 407, 408. His christology, 408, 409. Courts, licentiousness of German, during the Thirty Years' war, 78, DOG 79. Extravagance on matrimonial and baptismal occasions, 79, 80. DA COSTA, an agent in the re- vival 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. Ger- man opposition to English Deism, 114. Rapid progress of Deism in Germany, 117. Foreign infidelity hastened by the quibbles of ortho- dox theologians, 125. English Deism influencing the Dutch Church, 350-352. Did not possess advantages equal to those of Ger- man Rationalism, 440. Deism, French, cooperating with English Deism, toward the over- throw of orthodoxy in Germany, 122. Deists, English, translations of their works into the German Language, 117. Translations into Dutch, 351, 352. De Pressens6 prophesies good results from Renan's Life of Jesus, 406. Leader of evangelical theologians in the French Church, 411. Edits the Revue Chrctienne, 411. His opinions, 412-415. Opposes the union of Church and State, 415. Remarks on the beneficial results of Renan's Life of Jesus, 5S5, 586. Descartes, apostle of French Ration- alism, 338, 339, 389. De Wette, twofold character of his opinions, 246, 247. His opinion of John, the Evangelist, 247. View of the Scriptures, 248. His theological novel, 248. Dinter, a skeptic;il writer for chil- dren, 189, 190. Dogmatism, one of the elements of the degeneracy of the Dutch Church, 336. 614 INDEX. Dorner, his complex style, 290. His work on the Person of Christ, 290 -292. Conception of Chris lianity, 290. Doubt, religious, and innovation, must be estimated by four consid- erations, 32. EDELMAlSnSr, Kahnis' testimony concerning him, 138, 139. Education in Germany, defecisof, 184. Edwards, Jonathan, successor of Stoddard, at Northampton, 5;>8. Emlyn, his Scripture account of Jesus Clirist, 539. Empirical-Mndern School in the Dntcli Cliurch, 371. It has few points of .synij)atliy with evangeli- cal Christianity, 374. Its priiici- ])les, 374. 37.J. Eiigli>li Cliiii'cli in- the eigliteentli century, low state of. 449-452. Condition of Enirlish Church at the PL-ace of 18 15^ 454. English literature in the eiglitcenth century, character of, 440, 441. Brilliant writers, 441. English litcaturu intluuncijd by the French sjjirit, 441. Epicui'eanism prevalent in Gernumy before the Tliirty Years' War. 78. Ernesti, the classic scholar of his day, 125, 127. Esmyx and Reviews^ theoL^gy of, 482-495. Opinions of evangelical German thuologianson the Exmyts and Beriews, 495, 496. Publica- tions called forth l>y that work, 497, AppendLr. Jiidicial proceed- ings against the authors of the Ks- tiuys and Rexiews^ 497, 498. Lit- erature arising fiom the publica- tion of the Bsstys and lieviews, 603. Appendix. Ethical-Irenical School in the Dutch Clmrch, 375. Its leaders, 375. Ethics in the Dutch Church, corrup- tion of, 335. Evangelical Church Diet of Germany, 318. Occasion of its organization, 318, 319. First session, 320-322. Practical result of the tirst session, 822, 323. Enlargement of opera- tions, 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 Guizut, 416. Fruits of the la- bors of the evangelical French theologians, 419. Iheir success evident in the recent action or the Protestant ConferenceSj 419-421. Evangelizing agencies in France, 422-424. FALK, at Weimar, 312, 313. He was atfected by tiie havoc of Na- poleon's army, 313. Established a Reformatory for children, 314. His various henefactioiis, 315. Farrar, his description of the Wolfian ■ philos()|)hy. llO, 111. Feuerba^h, his radical Skepticism, 282. Fichte. relation to Kant, 163. His system, 163, liis Aildvesses to the Oerman People^ und inlluence of that work, 222. 223. Fliedner, established a Deaconess In- stitute, 416. Its influence in other countries, 316. 317. Formula C^ ncordise, 39, 40. France, adoption of English De'sm by, 117. Irreligion in France du- ring the reign of Louis XIV., 117, 118. Francke, Augustus Hermann, testi- mony on neglect of Scriptural studies, 69. His temperament, 93. Purity if his purpose, 94. His ac- count of his conversion, 94. His pulpit minis: rations in Halle, 95. His Introduction to the Old Testa- ment., Ileriiienentical Lectures and Method of Theologic.nl Study, 95. He founded the Orphan House at Halle, 95. The gradual estnblish- ment of that institution, 95, 96. Conditi(m of the Orphan Honse after Era' cke'a death, 96, note. Theological instruction by Francke and his coadjutors, 96. Prolific power of the Orphan House, 97, 98. Francken, his Kernel of Divinity^ 346. INDEX. 615 Frederic the Great, withdrew the royal patronage from Halle, 100, 101. He was captivated by Vol- taire, 120. His systematic attempt to destroy orthodoxy ia his king- dom, 122. He made no secret of his skepticism, 123. Final regret of his religious course, on seeing the evil efiects of infidelity upon his people, 123, 124. Free Congregations, rise and influ- ence of, 284. Freeman, Rev. James, Pastor of King's Chapel, Boston, 539. In- stallation as the first Unitarian minister in America, 539. French Church, Protestant, 387. Skeptical formalism of French Protestantism in the beginning of the nineteenth century, 887, 388. Opposition to the French Protes- tant Olmrch, 411. French Critical School of Theology, 391, 392. Opinions, 393, 394. French Literature in Europe, preva- lence 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 Lib- eral Christianity, 573-575. Future Punishment, opposition of Unitarians to, 552, 553. aAUSSEN, leader of the Evangel- ical Dissenting Church of Swit- zerland, 428, 429. Geneva, improvement of religious spirit in, 430, 431. Gerhard, John, personal qualities, and rapid attainments, 51. Quo- tation from his exegetical treatise, 52. German Theology, affiliated to Phi- losophy, 155. Germany, the country where Ration- alism has exerted its chief influ- ence, 5. Condition of Protestant Germany at the commencement of the nineteenth century, 220-222. Gibbon, caprices of, 447. Work on theRomauEmpire, 447, 448. Des- titution of political character, 448. God, opinion of German Rational- ists concerning, 199, 200. Idea of God essential to success of civil government, 287. Unitarian opinion of God, 547, 548. Goethe at Weimar, 179. His attach- ment to Roman Catholicism, 183. Influence of his writings on the- ology, 183. Goodwin, C. W., on the Mosaic Cos- mogony, in Essays and Reviews. His opinions, 491, 492. Gossner, his unsettled life, 327. Providential guidance to Protes- tantism, and to missionary labors, 327, 828. Griesbach ; he aimed to establish a system of natural religion, 137, 138. Groen Van Prinsterer, his influence in favor of home missions, 860. Edited The Netherlander, 861. Defended the Secessionists from the Dutch Church, 363. Groningen School. Its origin, organ, and princi{)al tenets, 364, 365. Distinguished for its ethical sys- tem, 366. No place for the Trini- ty in the Groningen Theology, 366. Service of the Groningens, 307. Their failure to reach their object, 367. Grotius, forerunner of Ernesti, 127, 334, 341. Grotz, his opinions, 403. Guericke, called attention to the op- erations of the "Friends of Liglit," 284. Guizot, his deep interest in recent Fi-ench Theology, 416. His late important work on the Christian Rehgion, 416-419. Gustavus Adolphus Union, its meth- od of operation, 380. Its nine- teenth session, 330. Results, 330, 331. H ALF-WAY Covenant, 588. 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 aU theologians must study in that University, 100. 616 INDEX. Hamann, inability of, and his coad- jutors to resist Rationalism in Ger- many, 196. Hare, Julius Charles, disciple of Coleridge, 462. His life full of incident, 463. View of Sacrifice, 463. Other opinions, 464, 465. llarless, an opponent of Strauss, 271. Harms, opposition of Glaus, to union of German Churches, 231. His 95 Theses, 232-235. The excite- ment occasioned by the publica- tion 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 Evan- gelical School as a controversial- ist, and expositor of the Old Tes- tament, 305. Opposition to Pan- theism, 306. Contributors to his journal, 306. His opinion of the Essays and Reviews^ 496. Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury ; his re- flections 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 Gos- pels, 175. Herder's great service to the Church, 176. His view of the pastorate, 176. Character of his preaching, 177, 178. Opposi- tion to the Kantian Philosophy, High Church in England, rise of, 511. Its Conference at Hadley, 512. Doctrines of the Higli Church, 512-515. General ser- vice 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 Hol- land, 333. Theological publica- tions in Holland, 334. Popular acquaintance with theology in Hol- land, 346. Church of, made slow pro- gress in the eighteenth century, 344. Influenced by English Deism, 350. Alfected by French Skep- ticism, 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, 385. Holy Ghost, Unitarian opinion of, 648. Homiletic literature of the Dutch Church, 335. Huguenots of France were received into Holland, and exerted a bene- ficial influence on the Dutch Church, 343. Humanists, Aristotelian, of seven- teenth 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 Ra- tionalistic opinions, 194. INDIFFERENCE, religious, pro- duced 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 Protest- antism, 326, 327. Inspiration, opinion of German Ra- tionalists on, 200, 202. Ameri- INDEX. M INS can Unitarian opinion on inspi- ration, 546, 547. Instruction in Germany, improved character of religious, 307, 308. JAOOBI, the opponent of the Kan- tian philosophy, 162, 163. Ser- vice to evangelical religion, 169. Journals in Germany, theological, 806, 307, and note. Eationalistic Journals, Appendix, 509. Eation- alistic Journals in France, A2ypen- dix, 598. Jowett, his commentaries, 481. His view of the Atonement, 482. "Writes in Essays and Reviews on the interpretation of Scripture, 498. 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 Ptire Reason, 157. lliat work popular- ized by Shulze, 158. Opponents of the Kantian system, 158. Kant's statement concerning the limits of reason, 159. General character of Kant's criticism, 159, 161. Kant's silence on the poM- tive truths of Christianity, 161 Moral effect of the Kantian sys- tem, 162. Thinkers succeeding Kant, 165. Their service, 166. King's Chapel, Boston, became Uni- tarian, 538, 539. Kingsley, Charles, on the English mind, influence of, 468. His nu- merous works, 469. His opin- ions, 469-471. Controversy with Father Newman, 517. Kleman, work on connection be- tween 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 Wolfian philosophy, 103. His Theodicy, 103. Philosophy of Leibnitz con- fined to the learned, 104. Leo the Tenth, skepticism of, 113. Lessing, his object in publishing the WoIfenhHttel 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 Eng- land in the eighteenth century, 440. LeVasser, his account of French ir- religion during the reign of Louia XIV ; 117. Leyden School of Theologians, 367. Its origin, 868. Liberal Catholic School of France. Its founders, 409. Great influence and high position of its members, 410. Liberal Protestant Union, the or- ganization of French Kationalists, 393. Liberation, beneficial effects of Ger- man, 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. Conduct- ed by vigorous minds, 508. Al- ways on the side of popular re- form, 509. Missionary labors, 509, 510. Its work at home, 510. Present status, 510, 511. MANDEVILLE, his style com- plimented 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 ofticiate in the Established Church, 468. Mediation-Theologians of Germany, 288. 618 INDEX. Melanchthon, his Apology of the Con- fe.Hsion^ 38. Milton, on pride of the Church, and ecclesiastical authority, 535, 586. Miracles, the Eationalists deny the possibility of, 24. Opinion of German Eationalists concerning miracles, 207, 211. Miracles, Hume on, 445, 446. Missions in the Dutch Church, 383, 384. Monod, A., the pioneer of the refor- mation of the French Protestant Church, 422. Montague, house of Lady Mary Wortley, the center of a large lit- erary group, 443. Mosheim, his opj)osition to the in- troduction of English Deism, 117. Miiller 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. 1^ EANDEE, fir.4 of Mediation The- JLi ologians. His youth, and early publications, 249. Tbeolojiical views, 249, 250. The chief char- acteristic of his theology, 250. Various wri.ings, 251. Conception of Church history, 251, 252. Val- uable service to evangelical theol- ogy, 252. Eelation to iiis times, 252. Personal appearance, 253, 254. Life of CJirist, in reply to Strauss, 272, 278. l^ewman, F. W. his life resembles Blanco White's, 517. His Phases of Faith, 518. Became a Mission- ary, 518. His opinions, 518, 519. Nicolai, his Universal German Li- brary, 147. Object of that journal to ( ppose all orthodox publications, 147. Its great influence, 147, 148. Berlin aflected by it, 148. Norton, Andrews, professor in Har- vard University, 540. 0 PZOOMEE, professor at Utrecht, 371. His manual of logic, 371. Orthodoxy, inactivity of, ia th© Church of Holland, 356. PARKER, Theodore, as a refonner, 564. Personal history, 565. His radicalism, 566. His theological opinions, 566-571. Pattison, M., writes in Essays and lieimiDs on Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, 1688-1750; 492. Paul, Jean, called attention to neces- sity of parental training of chil- dren, 187. Paulns, 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 ameliora- tion of orphan.s, 188. His ideal of a school, 188. Philosophy of the period anterior to rise of Pietism, 82, 88. 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," 872. He holds that reason must determine what is revelation, 373. Speci- men of Pierson's style, 374. Pietism, agencies leading to rise of, 55. Objection brought against Pietism, 85. What Pietism pro- posed to do, 85. It was confound- ed with mysticism, 88. Pietism commenced upon the principle that the Church was corrupt, 88. The means proposed by Piet sm to improve the Churcli, 88, 89. Se- cret of the fall of Piet'sm. 102. Mistake of Lutlieranism in failing to adopt it in the Church, 102. Ee- lation of Pietism to the German Protestant Church, 102. Pietists, chiirged with literary bar- renness, 101. INDEX. 619 Positivism, the work of Oompte alone, 390. Povvell, Baden, on the study of evi- dences of Christianity, in Esmys and Reviews, 487. His opinions, 487-481). Preaching, defective, in Germany in seventeenth century, 69, 70. Privy Council of England, 498, note. Professors and students, intimacy be- tween German, 309. Prophecy, opinion of German Ea- tionalists concerning, 211-214. Protestantism, concessions of, to the civil magistrate, 37. Protestant Friends, 283. Pulpit of Holland, low state of preaching in the, 334. RATION"ALISM, danger of failing to appreciate magnirude of, 1. Necessity of immediate defence against infidelity, 2. Eationalism 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 Riickert, 7, note; by Wegscheider in ImtUutiones Dog- matica; 8-11; by Staudlin, 11, 12; by Proftssor Hahn, 12, 13; by Hugh James Rose, 13-16; by A. McCaul, 16-19; by M.Saintes, 19- 21 ; by Lecky, 22, 23. Rational- ists acknowledge justice of the de- finitions of their opponents, 24. Several kinds of Rationalists, 24- 26. Peculiar advantages of Ra- tionalism over other forms of Skep- ticism, 26. Rutionalists 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 fonr things, 32-35. Rationalism acknowledges no hal- lowed ground, 33. Spirit of Ra- tionalism, bitter, 34. Complete- ness of destructive work of Ra- tioniilism, 35. The term Ration- alism came into use in early part of nineteenth century, 239. Ra- tionalism, injured by its excessive demands. 255-256. Rationalism assumed a revolutionary and atheis- tic form after the publication of Strauss' Li/e of Je.sMs, 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, 4^2-439 ; in England, 455. Three forms of Rationalism in England, 455. In- direct service of Rationalism, 579 -586. Philosophical Rationalism in England commenced wih Cole- ridge, 455. Literature of Rational- ism, .590-606, Appendix. Rationalists among the English Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, and Unitarians, 533. Rationalists, German, had no com- mon system, 198. Reason there- for. 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 contro- versies, 45. Reformed Church, purity and pro- gress of, in seventeenth century, 76. Reformers, difference between, and Rationalists, 31, 32. Faults of the immedia'e successors of the Re- formers, 37. Disputes of the Re- formers, 38. Regeneration, Unitarian oi)inion of, 551,552. Reinhard avowed himself in fav(T of subordination of reason to faith, 239. Religion, opinion of German Ra- tional on. 199. Renan, his greatest celebrity due to his Life of Jesus, 403. His oi)in- ions, 403,' 404. Reception of his Life of Jesus, 405. Results of that publication declared by De Pres- sense to be beneficial, 40r>. Litera- ture arising from Renan's Life of Jesus, 596-59S, Appendix. " Reunion of Christian Friends in Holland," result of revival in the 620 INDEX. Dutch church, 361. Monthly Jour- nal of the organization, 361. R^ville, his exposition of the so- called Liberal Theology, 394:-396. llevival in the Dutch church, 858. Revue de Theologie, organ of French Critical School, 396. Edited by Scherer, 396. Roell, Professor, declared the neces- sity of reason for a proper inter- pretation of the Scriptures, 348, 349. Rohr, his Brie/fe uber den Bational- ismus, S4. Principles contained therein, 238, 239. Rothe, ethical system, 300. His re- cent 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 Athana- sian symbol, 284. SABBATH, neglect of, in Germany, 37. Schaff, description of ISTeander'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 gov- ernment, 383. His late skeptical book. Picture of the Character of Jesus, 303. Principles taught therein, 304. Clerical protest against his continuance in authori- ty, 305. Soberer, member of the French Critical School. Departure from orthodoxy, 396. His view of Pro- testantism, 397. Opinion of the New Testament, 397, 398. The Bible, according to Ids 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 phi- losophy 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 Mono- logues, 228, 229. His System of Doctrines, 241. Principles taught therein, 241-243. The great ser- vice of that work, 243, 244. In- formation concerning Schleier- macher, 243, note. His defect- ive view of the Trinity, 244. Gen- eral character of his theology, 245, 246. His school. 256, 257. Scholasticism, one of the eleinenta of the degeneracy of the Dutch Church, 336. Scholten, founder of the Leyden School, 368. His distinction be- tween the i)rinciples 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 a^ud Revelation, 241. Schuurniann, Anna Maria, took part in the Cocceian controyersy, 341. Science, necessity of a proper view of, 586, 587. No antagonism be- tween Science and Revelation, 587. Scriptures, study of, neglected in Germany in seventeenth century, 68. Opinion of German Rational- ists concerniniz: credibility of Scrip- tures, 203-2U6. The Rationalists conscious of importance of the Scriptures, 481. Secession from the Clmrch of Hol- land, 862. Its failure, 363. Semler, his early training, 128. Dif- ficulty concerning want of under- standing of the number of the Bibli- cal books. 129. His celebrated ac- commodation-theory, 130. His dis- tinction between the local and temporary contents of the Scrip- INDEX 621 tiires,130, 131. His moderate affili- ation with the English Deists, 131. His repudiationof the French Skep- tical School, 131. His opinion concerning the world's independ- ence 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 ac- quaintance of the leaders of skepti- cism 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 skep- ticism south and west of Germany, 112, 113. Skepticism received the support of the educated and re- fined German circles during latter part of the eighteenth century, 148. Historical record of skepticism, 563. Skeptics, spirit of kindness toward, 587, 588. Smith, John Pye, his statement con- cerning the inferior character of replies to the English Deists, 117. Speculative Eationalism in Zurich, 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 Fietatis, 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 THE works, 523. Rationalistic conces- sions in his Jewish Church, 524. His late article in the Westminster Review, 524, 525. Stevenson, description of Fliedner's Deaconess Institute, 317, 318. Sy- nod of Dort, 334. Stoddard, Venerable, did not believe in excluding unregenerate persons from the Lord's tapper, 537. Strauss, his Life of Jesvs the out- growth of long-standing doubt, 29. Strauss a Left-Hegelian, 258. Popular reception of his Life of Jesus, 259. Extraordinary charac- ter of the contents of that work, 259, 260. Strauss had an errone- ous view of history, 260. He con- tended 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' Stjstem of Doctrine, an embodiment of Hegelian philosophy, 281. Re- jection from professorship in Zu- rich, 432, 433. Success dependent on strenuous ef- fort, 577, 578. Supernaturalism. This term came into frequent use in early part of nineteenth century, 239. Switzerland, decline in political in- fluence, 425. Low state of Swiss Protestant Church when Voltaire was at Ferney, 425, 426. TEMPLE, author of Education of tlie World, in Essays and Peviews, 482. His opinions, 482-485. Tendency, history of a mischiev- ous, best means of resistance, 3. Theologians in early part of seven- teenth century, 67. Theological taste, increase of, ow- ing to the propagation of Semler's destructive criticism, 144. Theological training in Geneva, neg- lect of, 426. M. Bost's testimony, 426, 427. Present elevated state of instruction, 431, 432. 622 INDEX. Theology, Dutch, literalism of, 345. Theology, union between, and phi- losophy, 35, 36. The influence of theology as a science, in Germany, 146. Improvement in contempo- raneous German theology, 309, 310. Thirty Years' War ; principles in- volved and parties participating, 56. Desperation and devastation of Thirty Years' War, 57. Neg- lect of pastoral work, 57. Great losses in population and wealth, 58. Religious effect, 60. Neglect of youth, 62. Necessity of a pop- ular reawakening 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 estima- ted by merely stating his defini- tions, 292, 293. He cannot be classified, 293. His various writ- ings, 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 Ger- man 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. Tollner; his attempt to harmonize the old German theology with the Wolffian pliilosophy, 112. His point of difference from Wolff, 112. His twofold concef)tion of Scripture, 112. His opinion of inspiration, 201, 202. Tractarianism, 511-516. Tracts for the Times, 516. Tubingen School, 280. Tzschirner contended for the harmo- nization 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. Opin- ions, 289. Union of German Churches, 231, 232. Task imposed upon the new State Chu,rch, 237. Unitarian controversy between Chan- ning 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 pres- ent state, 500, note. Literature of Unitarianism, 607-609, Appendix. Unitarian Journals, 609, App)endix. United States, Church of, 534. Sep- aration of Church and State by the founders of the republic, 534. Unity of Evangelical Churches, ne- cessary to overcome Rationalism, 588, 589. Universalists in America, 560. Creed of the Universalists, 561, 562. Table showing their present con- dition. 562, 563, note. Literature of Universalism, 607, 609, Appen- dix. Universalist Journals, 609, Ajjpendix. 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, 376. His works, 376, 377. Vaughan, testimony of, concerning Schleiermacher's Discourses, 225, 226. Opinion on Carlyle, 477. Venerable Com[)agnie of Geneva, pi-ohibited ministerial candidates from preaching on prominent evangelical doctrines, 427. Vmet, his works, and system of the- ology, 429. Voltaire, relations of, with Rousseau, 119. Voltaire in England, 119. Favorable reception by the En- glish court, 119, 120. Reception at the court of Frederic the Great, INDEX.' 623 ■WAK 120, 121. Disagreement between Voltaire and Frederic, 121. Re- turn of the former to France, 121. Residence in Ferney, 121. His destitution of religious principles, 121. Popularity in Holland, 353. Cold treatment by Boerhaave, 357. Flattered by the Genevan pastors, 425. WARE, an Anti-Trinitarian, cho- sen pmfessor in Harvard Uni- versity, 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 posi- tion 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 Ham- burg, 324. Results of training at that Institution, 325, 326. Williams, Rowland, one of the wri- ters in Essays and Reviews^ 485. His opinions, 485-487. Wilson, H. B., discusses the ques- tion of the National Church in Essays and Reviews^ 489. His opinions, 489^91. Wislicenus, his skeptical work, 283. Wolfi", his demonstrative philosophy, 103. His good intentions, 104. ZUE His description of his mental pro- gress, 104. Division of his philos- ophy into theoretical and practi- cal departments, 105. His opinion of what a revelation should con- tain, 105, 106. He aimed to im- press his principles upcm the mas-' ses, 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 re- ception 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. Wolfenbiittel Fragments, 149. Their origin, 149, 150. Principles con- tained in them, 150, 151. Opposi- tion 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. Y'outh, multiplicity of publications for Geraian, 1 89, Teachers of the young became Rationalists, 189» 190. z URICH, the present seat of Swisa Rationalism, 432. Date Due