•<:^^ 
 
 'A 
 
 v./ 
 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 BV 4834 .R845 1886 
 
 Rothe, Richard, 1799-1867. 
 
 Still hours 
 
 SAe/J 
 
THE 
 
 FOREIGN BIBLICAL LIBRARY 
 
 EDITED BY THE 
 
 REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLE, M.A, 
 
 Editor of the " Ex/>ositor." 
 
 ROTHE'S STILL HOURS. 
 
 PIODDER AND STOUGHTON, 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVI. 
 
STILL HOURS 
 
 BY 
 J 
 
 RICHARD ROTHE. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY JANE T. STODDART. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY THE 
 
 REV. JOHN MACPHERSON, M.A. 
 
 ITonbort : 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 
 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVI. 
 {All rights 7-eierved.) 
 
Butler &" Tanner, 
 
 The Selivood Printing Works, 
 
 Frovte, and London. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory Essay 9 
 
 I. PERSONAL. 
 
 Life Experiences 45 
 
 Selk-Criticism 46 
 
 Attitude towards Theology and the Church . . 51 
 
 Position in Reference to the Present .... 56 
 
 Relation to the Parties of the Day • • • • 59 
 
 Tolerance and Criticism 65 
 
 II. THE PRINCIPLES OF SPECULATION. 
 
 The Task of Speculation 73 
 
 Fundamental Principles of Speculation ... 81 
 
 Speculative System 84 
 
 III. ON GOD. 
 
 The Existence of God 91 
 
 The Unity of God 93 
 
 The Absoluteness of God 95 
 
 The Infinitude of God 98 
 
 The Immutability of God 100 
 
 Separate Divine Attributes 102 
 
 Pantheis.m and Materialism- 108 
 
 IV. GOD AND THE WORLD. 
 
 Creation of the World 113 
 
 Preservation of the World 123 
 
 Angels and Devils 126 
 
 The Supersensual World 127 
 
 Space and Time 128 
 
 Spirit i33 
 
 Creation of the Human Spirit 136 
 
 Life (Light) i44 
 
 V. ON MAN. 
 
 Man and Mankind . . 147 
 
 Man and Animal 150 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGE 
 
 Soul and Body 152 
 
 Personality 159 
 
 Afffxtion and Temperament 164 
 
 Memory 168 
 
 Gifts of Mind 171 
 
 Great and Smali 173 
 
 Strength and Weakness 174 
 
 Conscience 175 
 
 The Will 176 
 
 Freedom . 178 
 
 Temptation 184 
 
 Sin 185 
 
 Good and Evil 189 
 
 Selfishness 192 
 
 Pleasure-Seeking 193 
 
 Passion 193 
 
 Vanity 193 
 
 Coarseness 194 
 
 Folly 194 
 
 Jesuitism 194 
 
 VL ON CHRIST. 
 ^.— CHRISTOLOGY. 
 
 Biblical Deductions 199 
 
 Idea of the Logos 201 
 
 Church Doctrine 205 
 
 The Personality of Christ 207 
 
 The Vocation of Jesus 210 
 
 Personal Character of Jesus 212 
 
 God and Christ 216 
 
 ^.-SOTERIOLOGY. 
 
 Revelation 217 
 
 The Bible 218 
 
 Faith in Christ 223 
 
 Unbelief 228 
 
 Reconciliation 228 
 
 Predestination 232 
 
 Substitution 233 
 
 Justification 233 
 
 Sanctification 233 
 
 Reward 234 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VII. THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Good, Virtue, Duty 239 
 
 Individual and Social Moralii y 241 
 
 Union of God and Man 244 
 
 Union of Man and God 246 
 
 Prayer 249 
 
 Belief in God's Providence 251 
 
 The Worth of Life 253 
 
 Vocation in Life 254 
 
 Work 255 
 
 Humility 256 
 
 Self-Restraint 257 
 
 Independence 258 
 
 Dignity 261 
 
 Happiness 263 
 
 Suffering . - 263 
 
 Maturity 267 
 
 Old Age 267 
 
 Death . . ' 269 
 
 Continuation of Life after Death 271 
 
 VIIL THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 The Social Sphere 277 
 
 Social Duties 281 
 
 Intercourse 281 
 
 Sociability 284 
 
 Love 286 
 
 Man and Woman 289 
 
 IX. ON CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 The Apostolic Age 
 
 St. John . 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 Judaism . 
 
 Heathenism . 
 
 Mohammedanism 
 
 Catholicism . 
 
 Catholicism and Protestantism 
 
 Catholicism and the State 
 
 The Reformation . 
 
 Protestantism 
 
 The Reformation and the Church 
 
 295 
 296 
 296 
 301 
 301 
 302 
 302 
 
 304 
 306 
 
 307 
 30S 
 310 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 The Lutheran and the Reformed Churches. 
 
 • 313 
 
 Union 
 
 
 
 317 
 
 Pietism 
 
 
 
 
 
 318 
 
 Mysticism and Theosophy . 
 
 
 
 
 
 320 
 
 Fanaticism 
 
 
 
 
 
 320 
 
 Rationalism 
 
 
 
 
 
 321 
 
 SUPERNATURALISM .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 323 
 
 Schleiermacher .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 328 
 
 X. ON POLITICS. 
 
 
 Church and State 
 
 331 
 
 Prince and People 
 
 
 
 
 
 336 
 
 Authority 
 
 
 
 
 
 340 
 
 Ranks of the Community . 
 
 
 
 
 
 344 
 
 Political Freedom 
 
 
 
 
 
 345 
 
 Formation of Parties . 
 
 
 
 
 
 347 
 
 Popular Representation 
 
 
 
 
 
 348 
 
 Absolutism 
 
 
 
 
 
 349 
 
 Republics 
 
 
 
 
 
 349 
 
 Revolution 
 
 
 
 
 
 350 
 
 Germany 
 
 
 
 
 
 350 
 
 North and South Germany 
 
 
 
 
 
 351 
 
 Europe 
 
 
 
 
 
 353 
 
 France . 
 
 
 
 
 
 354 
 
 Russia 
 
 
 
 
 
 354 
 
 XL QUESTIONS OF CULTURE. 
 
 
 History 
 
 357 
 
 Culture 
 
 360 
 
 Science 
 
 363 
 
 Art 
 
 365 
 
 Literature 
 
 368 
 
 Criticism 
 
 369 
 
 Pedagogy 
 
 370 
 
 XIL CHRISTIANITV AND THE CHURCH 
 
 
 The Church 
 
 375 
 
 Piety 
 
 385 
 
 The Clergy 
 
 393 
 
 Worship 
 
 395 
 
 The Sacraments 
 
 399 
 
 Dogma 
 
 401 
 
 Theological and Secular Science .... 
 
 403 
 
 Christianity outside the Church 
 
 
 
 
 
 407 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 The name of Rothe is not by any means familiar 
 to the English reader, but it may be confidently 
 expected that the translation of the volume which 
 is now presented will most favourably introduce that 
 name to the notice of the cultured and thoughtful, 
 as that of one to whom high rank among his own 
 countrymen as a thinker and scholar has been most 
 deservedly accorded. The sententious utterances 
 which constitute the work before us reveal at once 
 the man of deeply disciplined Christian character, 
 and of profound and thoroughly matured scholarship. 
 In one respect such a collection of sayings on a wide 
 range of subjects forms a fitting introduction to the 
 study of the life-work of one who devoted all his 
 powers to the elucidation of many of those themes 
 to which passing reference is made ; but, in another 
 respect, it presupposes a certain acquaintance with 
 the author's intellectual characteristics and theological 
 position, without which many of the summary re- 
 marks and terse criticisms could not be fully appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 The principal source for information regarding 
 the life and scientific development of our author is 
 
 9 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 the biography constructed by Professor Nippold, of 
 Bern, the learned editor of the German original of 
 " Still Hours," almost entirely from Rothe's own 
 extensive and instructive correspondence. This large 
 work of twelve hundred pages sets forth, according 
 to its promise, a most vivid picture of the Christian 
 life of a noble, thoughtful, and profoundly spiritual 
 man ; and from its stores we shall freely draw the 
 materials specially required for our present purpose. 
 The life of one who gave himself completely, as 
 Rothe did, to realize the vocation of the scholar, 
 must necessarily be uneventful as concerns the record 
 of the outward life and movement ; but as a study 
 of moral and spiritual development, as yielding the 
 story of a quiet life of rich humanity, where, side by 
 side with abstract speculation, we find the most 
 genial and intense display of warm human affections, 
 these letters deserve and amply reward careful con- 
 sideration. It will be the object of this short sketch 
 to set before the reader what it seems desirable that 
 he should know regarding the author, in order to the 
 better understanding of the point and purpose of his 
 statements and criticisms of previous and contem- 
 porary systems and modes of thought. 
 
 Richard Rothe was born on the 30th January, 
 1799, in Posen, a city of Prussian Poland, where his 
 father held a high and responsible appointment 
 under the Government. The residence of the family 
 was soon after changed to Stettin, and a iow years 
 later to Breslau in Silesia, with which Rothe's 
 
INTROD UCTOR V ESS A V. 
 
 youthful days are specially associated. His mother 
 belonged to a family which had long occupied dis- 
 tinguished positions in the public services, and was 
 herself a woman of high mental endowment and rich 
 Christian experience. The days in which they lived 
 were unsettled, and a vigorous effort was being made 
 to reduce the administration of the several provinces 
 of the kingdom under one general system. The 
 duty of the elder Rothe in his office at Breslau was 
 to arrange and determine the incidence of taxation 
 for the province, and generally to superintend the 
 assessment and collection of the revenue. His know- 
 ledge of principles and details seems to have been 
 very remarkable, and his official fidelity and energy 
 called forth, on several occasions, special recognition 
 and gratifying marks of the approval of distinguished 
 statesmen. Alongside of intellectual capacity of an 
 unusually high order on the part of both parents we 
 find the most attractive and beautiful domestic quali- 
 ties. In such a home, presided over by those whose 
 virtues commanded at once respect and love, Richard 
 Rothe was from his earliest years surrounded by 
 influences which powerfully contributed to mould that 
 character which, in so remarkable a degree, awakened 
 in all who knew him sentiments of high esteem and 
 warm affection. 
 
 Having passed through the usual course at the 
 Reformed Frederick Gymnasium in Breslau, he was 
 ready to enter upon his university course. He was 
 now in the eighteenth year of his age. Religious 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 and moral, as well as political and social, questions 
 had already occupied much of his attention ; con- 
 versations in the home on these subjects had been 
 eagerly listened to, and discussions among his 
 companions on themes which occupied their parents 
 thoughts had been heartily and intelligently shared 
 in by young Rothe. Preparation for confirmation 
 led him very seriously to consider his personal 
 attitude toward God and religious truth. He 
 realized very clearly the great truth that religion 
 essentially consists in direct personal fellowship with 
 God. The key-note was thus struck in his early 
 years which sounds through his entire religious life. 
 The tendency to depreciate carefully formulated 
 dogmas, which was so marked a characteristic of his 
 scientific attitude as a theologian, appears in his 
 earliest expressions of religious experience, alongside 
 of an intense realization of the power and comfort 
 of prayer in the name of Jesus, to which, amid all his 
 subsequent subtile theorisings, he held with a tender, 
 childlike faith. 
 
 Referring to this period of his life, Rothe has 
 recorded in his journal in a characteristic way the 
 leading features of his spiritual experience. " I 
 had found my Lord and Redeemer," he says, 
 " without the help of any human teacher, and inde- 
 pendently of any traditional ascetic method, having 
 been inwardly drawn towards Him, at a very early 
 period, apart from any particular outward influence, 
 under the pressure of a gradually deepening feeling 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 of a personal, as well as a unixcrsal human need. 
 But it never occurred to me that there must be any- 
 thing of a traditional and statutory, or generally of 
 a conventional character, in the Christian doctrine of 
 faith and in the Christian construction of man's life. 
 In short, my Christianity was of a very modern sort ; 
 it fearlessly kept itself open on every side, wherever 
 in all God's wide world it might receive influences 
 in a truly human way." 
 
 This liberal or doctrinall}' lax tendency was 
 greatly fostered by the course of reading from the 
 works of modern German writers, which at this 
 period he diligently prosecuted. Schiller, Goethe, 
 Richter, Schlegel, Tieck, and Fouque were his 
 favourite poets ; and the mystical, pious sayings 
 of Novalis exercised over him, as we might well 
 expect, a wonderful fascination. In later years he 
 cherished this love for the writings of Novalis, 
 and over a hundred of the extracts forming the 
 texts for the remarks which constitute the " Still 
 Hours" are taken from the works of this gentle 
 religious poet and dreamer. The heart of Rothe 
 entwined itself around the verities of the Christian 
 faith, especially around all that is most essential and 
 characteristic in the life of Jesus. This warm, per- 
 sonal piety was always a marked feature in Rothe's 
 life. Christianity was with him something essentially 
 supernatural, and the superficial rationalism of the 
 age could never have any attraction for him. 
 
 After a short time spent in travel along with a 
 
14 STILL HOUI^S. 
 
 school companion, Rothe, now in his eighteenth 
 year, entered the University of Heidelberg. This 
 celebrated seat of learning had recently undergone 
 a thorough reorganization, and though it had not 
 yet quite recovered from the loss of such men as 
 Marheineke, De Wette, and Neander, who had been 
 transferred to the recently founded University of 
 Berlin, there were still among its professors men 
 whose character and learning alike placed them in 
 the first rank as teachers of youth. 
 
 The two professors who most powerfully influenced 
 Rothe during his student years, and in such a way as 
 to affect and largely determine his whole subsequent 
 course in life, were Daub and Abegg. The name 
 of the former is still well known to every student of 
 German theology, and though the name of the latter 
 is scarcely remembered at all, we shall find that 
 he, no less than the other, gave a powerful impulse 
 to Rothe's moral and spiritual development. Daub 
 was then at the summit of his illustrious career, and 
 as a speculative theologian, under the influence 
 successively of ScheUing's and of Hegel's philo- 
 sophical theories, he endeavoured to commend 
 Christianity to the cultured and scientific by pre- 
 senting it under the forms demanded by current 
 systems of philosophy. There was one side of 
 Rothe's nature which demanded that religious truth 
 should have expression given it in strict accordance 
 with the most rigorous requirements of science ; 
 and in Daub's speculative presentation of Christian 
 
INTK OD UC TOR V ESS J V. 1 5 
 
 truth Rothe found his scientific demands most satis- 
 factorily met. Abegg, on the other hand, was a 
 profoundly spiritual man, who devoted all his powers 
 to the building up of the moral and spiritual char- 
 acter of the young men around, and who seemed, in 
 an altogether remarkable manner, to have succeeded 
 in infusing his own moral earnestness and intense 
 spirituality into the noblest of the students, who with 
 rare affection and reverence seated themselves at his 
 feet. Such a teacher early won a ruling influence 
 over Rothe, whose sensitive religious nature and 
 genuine piety craved for that spiritual nourishment 
 which Abegg knew how to impart in so stimulating 
 and winning a way. 
 
 "Daub is a man," says Rothe, in a letter to his 
 father, written during his first session, "of whom, 
 not only Heidelberg, but our whole German father- 
 land should be proud. I have no hesitation in 
 saying that he is the first of all living academical 
 teachers and the first of all men. The enthusiasm 
 with which he is here regarded is universal. . . . 
 I have never heard any one who can say so much in 
 few words." It was Rothe's privilege to be received 
 by this great thinker in familiar social intercourse, 
 and his letters are full of enthusiastic references 
 to the scientific stimulus which he gains from the 
 professor's academical lectures and his conversations 
 with him in his own home. 
 
 At this time Daub's great work, " Judas Iscariot," 
 appeared, in which the entire speculative system was 
 
1 6 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 unfolded in the elaborate treatment which it gave 
 to the doctrine of human sin. The attempt made 
 in this work to recommend Christianity to men of 
 science by expressing religious ideas in terms of 
 philosophical ideas did not meet with the approval 
 of his young scholar and enthusiastic admirer. In 
 a letter, written in July, 1818, Rothe maintains that 
 such philosophising does not present the essential 
 element in theology. On the contrary, he holds 
 that theology is concerned with the purely positive 
 and historical development and exposition of dogma, 
 especially of the two fundamental doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, the divinity or Divine sonship of Jesus Christ, 
 and the redemption of man by Him, — these two 
 doctrines being again reducible to the doctrine of 
 the Trinity. His attitude towards Daub's system 
 was not that of one who gave it anything like an 
 unqualified acceptance. Writing toward the close of 
 that same year, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the 
 over-elaborateness and speculative subtilty of Daub's 
 theology, and yearns, with all the longing of an 
 earnest, religious nature, after the simplicity that is in 
 the doctrine of Christ Jesus. While then there was 
 much in the teaching and influence of the specula- 
 tive theologian that powerfully and permanently im- 
 pressed the ardent and inquisitive young student, we 
 find in Rothe no tendency to a onesided satisfaction 
 with that which afforded delightful exercise to his 
 intellectual nature, while it left the emotional and reli- 
 gious side of his being unsupplied and unnourished. 
 
lyTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 17 
 
 It was the singular good fortune of Rothe to have 
 in another of his revered teachers one who could in 
 the most admirable way both satisfy and stimulate 
 all his religious and spiritual aspirations. Rothe's 
 admiration and affection for the devout and emi- 
 nently pious Abegg receive unequivocal and un- 
 restrained expression in his letters. " Abegg," he 
 says in a letter of that period, " is a true man 
 according to the truth as it is in Christ, a man in 
 whom Christ is formed, as the Scripture says, who 
 is penetrated through and through with all that 
 is most fundamental in Christianity, who can look 
 on nothing but with Christian eyes. . . . Hence 
 Abegg is a most distinguished and excellent man, 
 who is here revered as almost an angel ; and he is 
 a man of extraordinary philological, and especially 
 biblico - philological, acquirements, who above all 
 stands where he stands as a man, and never loses 
 his rank as a true and genuine character." This 
 admirable and venerable man taught chiefly New 
 Testament exegesis, and we find Rothe attending his 
 lectures on Romans, on Philippians, on Corinthians. 
 These lectures were so appreciated, that numbers of 
 theologians, whose course at college had been com- 
 pleted, were accustomed to come into the city as 
 opportunity was afforded, simply that they might be 
 present as listeners to those thoughtful and sugges- 
 tive expositions of Scripture. Quite as important 
 in the spiritual development of Rothe were the 
 sermons which Abegg delivered regularly in one of 
 
 B 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 the city churches. He describes these sermons as 
 bearing no trace of art, being simple expositions of 
 short Bible texts. They had no formal divisions, 
 but the truth was unfolded according to a natural 
 sequence ; they were full of references to practical 
 Christian experience and of earnest appeal free from 
 all affectation. They were delivered without any 
 manuscript being used, and indeed were never 
 written but carefully thought out. Under two such 
 men, both of them men of undoubted personal piety, 
 but in the one the speculative and systematic, in 
 the other, the practical and expository treatment 
 of religious and scriptural truth, receiving special 
 development, the theological students of Heidelberg 
 of that period must be regarded as having been 
 favoured in no ordinary degree. 
 
 Rothe's college course at Heidelberg was fruitful in 
 many ways, at once in the discipline of his mental 
 powers, and in the formation of character. Here he 
 gained an insight into problems that were to occupy 
 his attention all through life, and here he had those 
 truth-loving principles established which contributed 
 so largely to secure for him a distinctive position and 
 to give to all his work such an air of freshness and 
 originality. His residence at Heidelberg was brought 
 to a close about the middle of the year 1819. Before 
 quitting the university, Rothe prepared and delivered 
 his first sermon. The preparation of this discourse 
 seems to have given him much anxious concern. He 
 wrote in full detail to his father in reference to the text 
 
INTROD UCTOR V £SSA V. 1 9 
 
 which he had selected and his treatment of it, and also 
 in reference to his experiences on the occasion of 
 its delivery. The text chosen was 2 Peter i, 2-1 1. 
 After a short introduction he divided his discourse 
 into two parts : he treated, first, of the grace and 
 benefits which God has given us in Christ; and, second, 
 of the fruits which this grace produces in the hearts 
 of the redeemed. He hoped in this way, he tells us, 
 to be able to show what is specifically Christian in 
 the religion of the Christian, so that his first sermon 
 might be an introduction to all sermons that he might 
 afterwards preach. 
 
 Very characteristic is the description which Rothe 
 gives of his experiences on this interesting occasion. 
 The place chosen for his first pulpit effort was a 
 small village, called Mauer, a few miles distant from 
 Heidelberg. Here the father of one of his fellow 
 students, with whom he was specially intimate, was 
 pastor, and in company with, his friend he walked 
 out on the Saturday evening to the quiet parsonage. 
 The greeting given him on his arrival proved to 
 Rothe's sensitive and loving nature the very best 
 possible preparation for the work of the coming 
 Sabbath. The worthy pastor and his wife received 
 the young student with such hearty frankness and 
 genuine kindliness as immediately won his heart. 
 Their very appearance reminded him of a much- 
 loved uncle and aunt ; and the manner in which he 
 was received by them and welcomed to the bosom 
 of their family made him at once feel as if he were 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 among old and well tried friends. When on Sabbath 
 morning he entered the church, that shyness which 
 was natural to him, and often caused discomfort and 
 uneasiness, had completely vanished, and he advanced 
 without any tremor or agitation to the conspicuous 
 isolation of the pulpit. His position was not made 
 any easier by the presence of seven of his fellow 
 students, who walked out that morning from Heidel- 
 berg to hear him preach. 
 
 His own personal experience through the service 
 was most delightful. He found no difficulty in 
 making himself heard, and he had the satisfaction of 
 observing that he had completely secured the atten- 
 tion of his audience. This first hour spent by him 
 in the pulpit was one of the pleasantest he had ever 
 known. " I was thoroughly impressed," he says, 
 " with the idea that I was now for the first time in 
 my own proper element, and that I had now found 
 my true life work." He was so fascinated with the 
 solemn services which he was called to conduct, that 
 he declares that it was well for him that he was 
 obliged to hasten away, as otherwise he might have 
 been tempted to give himself so constantly to preach- 
 ing, that his proper studies would have been utterly 
 neglected. This delight experienced in preaching 
 did not arise, as we may be very sure from the 
 character of the man, from any inordinate, vain 
 conceit of his own qualifications and immediate 
 success as a preacher. He was much dissatisfied with 
 the sermon which he had delivered, but not in such 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 a way as to regret his delivery of it. He carefully 
 noted its faults, that he might avoid them in future. 
 He saw that only long and careful practice would 
 enable him truly and faithfully to represent in words 
 the life which lives in us, and to this task he resolved 
 seriously and diligently to apply himself. 
 
 After a brief but thoroughly enjoyable and profitable 
 holiday, spent in travel in Switzerland and southern 
 Germany, along with a congenial companion, we find 
 Rothe entered as a student for the winter session at 
 the University of Berlin. His proper college course 
 having been finished at Heidelberg, he intended by 
 his residence at Berlin to take advantage, not only of 
 the classes of the university, but also of all oppor- 
 tunities for culture which the learned society of the 
 city at that time so abundantly afforded. 
 
 Of the theological professors with whom Rothc 
 came into contact, undoubtedly Schleiermacher and 
 Neander most powerfully and materially influenced 
 his views, and aided in the formation and development 
 of his scientific opinions. He attended faithfully the 
 classes of Neander on Church history and on the 
 history of dogmas. He found him a hard-working 
 professor, who made his students work ; and he 
 amusingly complains that his fingers ached with the 
 amount of matter which he was obliged to take down 
 from his lectures, though he heartily admits that he 
 always found the quality to be quite proportionate 
 to the quantity. He speaks with enthusiasm of the 
 noble character of Neander's Christian life, and evi- 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 dently a deep impression was made by the saintliness 
 and purity of the professor's walk and conversation. 
 Rothe however calls attention to a certain melan- 
 choly and dejected air about him that detracted 
 somewhat from the general beauty and attractiveness 
 of his character, and did much to interfere with his 
 success among the youths who gathered around him. 
 The longer he associated with Neander, the more 
 thoroughly he respected him, and came to see in him 
 rich fountains of spiritual life. 
 
 Rothe also attended the lectures of Schleiermacher 
 on the life of Jesus. These he found extremely in- 
 teresting and in many ways suggestive. He complains 
 however that they were critical rather than historical, 
 and that the net positive result from them was not 
 great. As a preacher Schleiermacher had a great 
 reputation and exerted a powerful influence. Ac- 
 cordingly Rothe regularly attended his preaching, 
 not without profit, although all the while keenly alive 
 to certain serious deficiencies both in the matter and 
 in the method of these discourses. He compared 
 them with those of Abegg, from which he had reaped 
 such advantage in Heidelberg. Those of Schleier- 
 macher lacked the spirituality so characteristic of 
 the sermons of the Heidelberg preacher. They were 
 useful and instructive expositions of Scripture pas- 
 sages, approached however rather from without than 
 from within. Upon the whole, his experiences of 
 Berlin society were unfavourable, and during the two 
 sessions spent there he often compared the habits 
 
INTROD UCIOR Y ESS A V. 23 
 
 of life in this city and university very unfavourably 
 with those of Heidelberg. 
 
 While resident in Berlin, Rothe met with and was 
 powerfully influenced by some of the more promi- 
 nent leaders of the Pietist party. There was one side 
 of his nature readily and easily affected by such con- 
 templative and purely devotional modes of thought, 
 and soon repelled by anything that bore an aspect of 
 cold and formal externalism or of rigid and dogmatic 
 ecclesiasticism. In Berlin he frequented the society 
 of the devout, many of whom, impatiently demand- 
 ing greater earnestness and purity of life than the 
 Church could show, had withdrawn from Church 
 communion, and gathered together in meetings for 
 spiritual edification and devotional reading of Scrip- 
 ture, The unsatisfactory condition of the Lutheran 
 Church of that period — the prevailing worldliness of 
 its members, and the generally low tone of spiritual 
 life within its pale — had driven many of the noblest 
 and saintliest of men to join the separatists, and 
 actively to promote the interests of what was perhaps 
 not a non-sectarian, but at least a non-ecclesiastical 
 form of Christianity. 
 
 In the Pietism of that time there was much to 
 attract one of so devout and deeply religious a nature 
 as Rothe. It was as yet a genuinely healthy move- 
 ment, which was largely felt, and proved mightily 
 influential upon some of the young contemporaries 
 of Rothe, who were destined afterwards to rank 
 amons" the most distinguished ornaments of the 
 
24 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Church. Tholuck, Thomasius, and Stier may be 
 named as illustrations of the noble fruit of the much- 
 needed protest against the blighting rationalism and 
 cold, dead orthodoxy that had too long borne sway. 
 The name Pietist was applied as a term of reproach, 
 just as Christian was at first, and as Methodist, 
 Puritan, etc., have been applied in later times. Rothe 
 employs the term, as most fitly designating those 
 who had been awakened to a new life of true Chris- 
 tian faith. Writing in the year 1862, he thus uses the 
 name, while repudiating that which had then come 
 to be designated by it. " I know very well," he says, 
 " what Pietism is, for I have been a Pietist myself, 
 and that in good faith, and at a time when Pietists 
 did not stand, as now they do, in honour and favour, 
 as conservative people, but were laughed at, and that 
 — which is a material element in the case — by those 
 whose ridicule could not but painfully affect any 
 tender and feeling heart." 
 
 What was genuine and true in Pietism was never 
 abandoned by Rothe, but by-and-by he became es- 
 tranged from those who were regarded as leaders of 
 the movement, because of their narrowness and their 
 assumption of an exclusive possession of all that was 
 good. Even while among them Rothe felt repelled 
 by their want of charity toward those who did not 
 belong to their party. In the paper from which we 
 have just quoted, Rothe proceeds to say that Pietism 
 is true Christian piety, but not tJie Christian piety ; 
 it is a form of Christianity, and indeed such a form 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25 
 
 as is, when sincerely and consistently professed, most 
 honourable and estimable, but yet only one form 
 among many others, and not necessarily the highest 
 of all. Rothe found reason to object to Pietism as 
 a system, not only for its objectionable exclusiveness, 
 but also on account of its being occupied altogether 
 with religious and not also with moral interests, and 
 so developing a purely personal or private form of 
 Christianity, and overlooking the social elements 
 and influences in Christianity, which are properly 
 developed in the organization and ordinances of the 
 Christian Church. " Hence," he says, " we cannot 
 conceive of a Pietistic people, though we can con- 
 ceive of a Christian people." Individualism, in short, 
 was the bane of Pietism. 
 
 Perhaps, after all, we shall best describe the re- 
 ligious position of Rothe at this period by saying 
 that he was a man of decided personal piety. The 
 warmth of his religious nature showed itself freely 
 under the genial influences by which he was then 
 more immediately surrounded. A few words from a 
 letter written to his father from Berlin, during the 
 session of 1820, will show in a very pleasing way the 
 simplicity and earnestness of his Christian faith. 
 " How often," he says, "does one find a jewel where 
 least expected ! In one of the very smallest and 
 least pretentious of churches there is perhaps the 
 very best preacher in all Berlin, Pastor Loffler, with 
 whom I was first made acquainted by Neander, and 
 from whom I shall to-morrow, along with Schrotter, 
 
26 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Thielau, and Heege, receive the holy communion. 
 In view of this I have been wishing that I could, 
 along with you both, my dear parents, examine 
 myself, and for sins and errors, for which the gracious 
 God has promised me forgiveness, also obtain for- 
 giveness from you. I fall upon your necks, and 
 know indeed that you are not inexorable, and on my 
 hearty sorrow and repentance from the heart forgive. 
 Pray for me, that to me this bread of everlasting life 
 may be more blessed than all earthly nourishment. 
 How willingly would I behold this mortal body con- 
 stantly wasting away into dust and ashes, if only 
 the immortal soul in its eternal and unchangeable 
 nature be saved with an everlasting salvation ! " 
 
 After two years spent in Berlin, Rothe passed into 
 the theological seminary of Wittenberg. Here he 
 entered upon a course of thorough practical training 
 for the work of the Christian ministry. At the uni- 
 versity theology had been studied as a science, but 
 in these seminaries the work is wholly of a homi- 
 letical and pastoral character, engaged upon in a 
 purely practical way, in order to equip candidates for 
 the pastoral office in regard to all the details of their 
 future parochial duties — as preachers, catechists, and 
 visitors in the homes of their people. Bible study 
 is earnestly and largely prosecuted, sermon plans are 
 sketched and criticised, discourses are preached to 
 rustic audiences from pulpits in the surrounding dis- 
 tricts, listened to by professors and fellow students, 
 both manner and matter being subsequently made 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 27 
 
 subject of discussion. Here Rothe was surrounded 
 by society of the most delightful description, and the 
 warm spiritual atmosphere of the place, and the 
 earnest religious lives of teachers and fellow students, 
 proved stimulating in no ordinary degree. Among 
 the teachers in the seminary, the one who most 
 powerfully influenced Rothe was Heubner, a man of 
 rare force of character, and an earnest and devoted 
 worker in the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 Rothe continued, during his stay at the seminary, 
 to work faithfully in departments to which his atten- 
 tion had been specially turned in the later years of 
 his university course. He gave attention to the 
 scientific exegesis of the text of the Old and New 
 Testaments, and laid the foundation of subsequent 
 literary work in this department ; but he devoted 
 his time and strength most ungrudgingly to historical 
 investigations, and already had given himself to 
 elaborate studies in the original sources of our 
 knowledge of the beginnings of Christianity — a 
 department which he was destined yet to make so 
 peculiarly his own. All the while however Rothe 
 was most conscientiously diligent in his prosecution 
 of the practical studies and his discharge of proba- 
 tionary duties, which constituted the special functions 
 of the seminary. He enthusiastically engaged upon 
 the work of preaching and catechising, taking part, 
 wherever opportunities were presented, in all the 
 different forms and various departments of pastoral 
 work. 
 
2S STILL HOURS. 
 
 His Stay at Wittenberg marks a very important 
 stage in his spiritual development, in which the 
 serious impressions made during his residence in 
 Berlin were greatly deepened, and became produc- 
 tive of rich fruit. Hitherto it could only be said that 
 Rothe was pietistically inclined, but now he threw 
 himself heart and soul into the movement. His 
 fellowship with Stier in the seminary was mainly 
 instrumental in leading Rothe to give in his adhesion 
 without reserve to that party, which still continued 
 to be everywhere spoken against. Rothe and Stier, 
 who were exactly of an age, were powerfully attracted 
 to one another, although in many respects their dis- 
 similarities rather than their resemblances would first 
 arrest attention. They were both ardently attached 
 to the same evangelical faith, and yearned after 
 thorough emancipation from the chilling influence of 
 that dreary ecclesiasticism of orthodox propositions 
 and verbal formularies, into which no living spirit 
 was any longer infused. It is with no ordinary en- 
 thusiasm that Rothe described his friend and enlarged 
 upon their common sympathies. " Stier," he says, 
 " is a Christian of the old order ; a noble mixture, or 
 rather thorough blending, of the fine scriptural faith 
 of the sixteenth century and of the deep spiritual 
 piety of the Spener school." With such a com- 
 panion he felt in the presence of a true believer who 
 had strong personal conviction and assurance of the 
 truth. 
 
 His letters written during this period are such as 
 
IN TR OD UC TOR V ESS A V. 29 
 
 would satisfy the most ardent and extrenae revivalist. 
 He tells of meetings held, of spiritual blessings be- 
 stowed ; he quotes fragments of hymns, and bewails 
 the deadness and formality which he beheld generally 
 prevalent around. It would have been well for the 
 movement, and well too for Rothe, had the leaders of 
 this most desirable and hopeful religious tendency, 
 with its much-needed protest against pure intel- 
 lectualism and heartless formalism, been more equally 
 balanced in the proportion of their intellectual and 
 emotional faculties. It soon however became only 
 too evident that there were among them few men, 
 if any, of Rothe's type ; that while they were un- 
 doubtedly good, they were also, for the most part, as 
 undoubtedly narrow; that they had no comprehension 
 of or patience with the profounder thought of the 
 great thinker who was among them ; that the ten- 
 dency was developing within the party to regard 
 intelligent reflection as profane, and unreflecting piety 
 as the most satisfactory proof of the presence of 
 simple religious faith. Very gradually this diver- 
 gence between Rothe and the members of the Pietist 
 party developed, until at last their virtual separation 
 from one another was mutually recognised. This 
 estrangement was really most injurious both to 
 Rothe and to his earlier friends. There is no reason 
 why piety should assume such forms as to alienate 
 the intellectual and the rationally inquisitive. For 
 pious men with intellectual tendencies and capacities 
 like those of Rothe's Pietism ought, not grudgingly, 
 
STILL HOURS, 
 
 but heartily, to afford the freest scope. Such inves- 
 tigations, conducted by a man of personal piety, 
 conscious of possessing the confidence of his brethren, 
 would broaden, in such a way as to strengthen, the 
 foundations upon which all true religion rests. The 
 loss to Pietism, in respect of influence on those 
 around, and of moral and religious power within its 
 own circle, from the secession of Rothe was very 
 serious. To himself also this alienation was most 
 disastrous. Largely sympathetic with their religious 
 tendencies, yet conscious of being regarded by them 
 with coldness and suspicion, his scientific investiga- 
 tions were henceforth pursued without the presence 
 of those guards and securities which the surroundings 
 of the warm spiritual life of the religious community 
 would have afforded. Earnest personal piety always 
 continued a notable feature in Rothe's character ; but 
 more and more, as years rolled on, he found scientific 
 fellowship among those whose sympathies had never 
 gone in that direction. This accounts for the strange 
 and sudden transitions in his writings from fearless, 
 even ruthless, statements of intellectual conclusions 
 to warm, hearty breathings of a pure devotional 
 spirit. 
 
 During a residence in Breslau of about six months 
 as a licentiate, Rothe associated with several Chris- 
 tian men in their endeavours to promote the interests 
 of true religion. Here he enjoyed much profitable 
 intercourse with Steffens and Scheibel. Together 
 with other likeminded men, they were wont to meet 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 for prayer and devotional reading and exposition of 
 Scripture. But, while finding rich nourishment for 
 his spiritual nature in such pious exercises, Rothe 
 was actively engaged in historical studies upon the 
 original sources of early Church history, and in 
 laborious researches into the development of Pau- 
 licianism, Manichaeism, and Priscillianism he was 
 laying the foundations for his great work on the 
 " Beginnings of the Christian Church." Already he 
 was drawing off from some with whom he had been 
 brought in contact in the revival gatherings which 
 he frequented. He tells of one, for example, "who, 
 in his zeal against the natural man, and especially 
 against the reason, goes so far as to affirm that the 
 natural man is worse than a beast, and who reaches 
 the conclusion that the regenerate cannot sin." 
 Rothe characterizes these positions as dangerous, and 
 as having a tendency hke the doctrine of Gichtel, 
 an enthusiast and separatist of the school of Bohme, 
 but much more violent and extreme than his master. 
 But while repudiating all such views, Rothe very 
 characteristically concludes by a lamentation over his 
 own sinfulness. 
 
 In the beginning of August, 1823, Rothe received 
 and accepted from Government the appointment of 
 preacher to the German embassy at Rome, and on 
 October 12th he was ordained in Berlin. During 
 the following month he married a young lady in 
 Wittenberg, whose sisters were married to Heubner 
 and August Hahn. By this union Rothe was 
 
32 STILL HOURS. 
 
 brought into close, lifelong connexion with those 
 two able and influential theologians, to whom he was 
 largely indebted for much wise counsel and brotherly- 
 help. Entering upon his work in Rome in the be- 
 ginning of 1824, he found himself surrounded by a 
 congenial society, and in the discharge of his spiritual 
 duties he had great comfort and joy. By young men 
 his arrival was hailed with peculiar delight, and his 
 eminently suggestive discourses proved thoroughly 
 suitable to the audience which gathered around him 
 there. Of all whom Rothe met in Rome, Bunsen, 
 who had been secretary to Niebuhr, the Prussian 
 ambassador, and who was now called to fill the post 
 vacated by his patron's removal, was the one most 
 powerfully attracted toward the young chaplain. 
 Bunsen and Rothe at once became, and all through 
 life continued, most attached and loving friends. 
 Not only in the pulpit, but otherwise did Rothe seek 
 to fulfil his functions as pastor to his fellow-country- 
 men in the foreign city. He organized a service for 
 Tuesday and Friday evenings, which was attended 
 on an average by fifteen or sixteen young German 
 artists. After devotional exercises, consisting in 
 singing, prayer, reading of Scripture, and short ex- 
 position, he gave a lecture on Church history, dealing 
 specially with phases of Church life and the origin 
 and growth of Church organization and institutions. 
 
 Toward the end of the year 1827, after Rothe had 
 laboured for four years in Rome, he had his first 
 serious illness^ which, in connexion with the removal 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 33 
 
 from the city of Bunsen and others of his best friends, 
 left Rothe in a somewhat unhappy and dissatisfied 
 condition, inch'ned to take a rather melancholy vaew 
 of his position and prospects of further usefulness 
 in that sphere. Just then through Bunsen came 
 the offer of an appointment to a professorship in the 
 theological seminary of Wittenberg. This invitation 
 was most welcome to Rothe, who had always retained 
 the most tender regard for all friends in the seminary, 
 and the prospect of a return to Wittenberg was all 
 the more delightful from the fact that his beloved 
 and valued brother-in-law, Heubner, was already 
 resident there. 
 
 The appointment now given to Rothe was that of 
 the fourth professorship in the seminary ; and his 
 colleagues there would be Nitzsch and Schleusner, 
 both old men, over seventy years ol age, while the 
 third professor was his own brother-in-law. Rothe's 
 special work here would be in the department of 
 Church history. He would be required to give 
 lectures on the Church life, and this was understood 
 by Rothe as a history of Christianity as distinguished 
 from a history of the Christian Church, The subject 
 was to him thoroughly congenial, and his previous pre- 
 parations rendered him well qualified for the task. 
 
 Here Rothe made a beginning of his academical 
 labours, in October, 1828. He was now in his thir- 
 tieth year, entering upon what was to be his special 
 life work, with a ripe and varied experience of 
 men and things, which, along with his thoroughly 
 
 c 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 competent scholarship and conscientious methods of 
 study, formed an admirable preparation for his 
 collegiate labours. In the seminary he at once 
 began a course of lectures, on which he laboured for 
 several years, on the constitution and life of the 
 early Church, Besides lecturing in his chair, he 
 preached very frequently, and continued the abun- 
 dant hospitality which he had begun to practise in 
 Rome, receiving the students to his house in the 
 evenings, and engaging them there in profitable con- 
 versation on scientific, artistic, and spiritual themes. 
 The time too was one of an altogether peculiar 
 kind. There were students there affected by the 
 most diverse intellectual and religious influences : 
 some from the believing schools of Neander and 
 Schleiermacher, or under the influence of Tholuck 
 and Hengstenberg : others from the philosophical 
 school of Hegel and the rationalistic school of 
 Wegscheider. To all these Rothe proved most use- 
 ful as a moderating power, though perhaps he seemed 
 quite satisfactory to none. He had at least sufficient 
 sympathy with both tendencies to secure the at- 
 tention and win more or less the confidence of 
 rationalists and evangelicals. 
 
 His labours in Wittenberg continued till 1837, in 
 which year his first publications were issued. Rothe, 
 never rash or hasty, was already in his thirty-ninth 
 year when his first work appeared. This was an 
 elaborate exegetical monograph on the passage 
 Romans v. 12-21. He had commenced it in 1828, 
 
INTRCDUCTORY ESS A V. 
 
 on the appearance of Tholuck's " Commentary on 
 Romans," to whose interpretation of this section 
 he was strongly opposed. In his preface he lays 
 down sound hermeneutical principles, and reprobates 
 chiefly the endeavours made by many to prop up a 
 preconceived dogmatic theory by the exposition of 
 Scripture texts, repudiating the rationalising exegesis 
 of Riickcrt as heartily as the orthodox exegesis of 
 Tholuck. He insists upon warm Christian feeling 
 and personal religion in the exegete, but at the same 
 time demands perfect freedom from dogmatic pre- 
 judice. He also insists that difiliculties be boldly 
 faced, that a thorough solution be at least attempted, 
 and no half answers accepted and palmed off as 
 though they were complete. 
 
 In this same year he published his great epoch- 
 making work on the " Beginnings of the Christian 
 Church and its Constitution." He explains his 
 object in writing this work to be to sketch the 
 course of man's historical development as affected 
 and determined by Christianity. Of this great 
 undertaking he only published the first part. In 
 the volume issued we have three books. The first 
 book treats of the relation of the Church to Chris- 
 tianity. The second describes the origin of the 
 Christian Church, sketching first of all the rise of 
 the Christian communities and the formation of a 
 Church constitution, and then the forming and con- 
 solidating of the Christian Church properly so called. 
 In the third book we have the development of the 
 
j6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Christian Church during the first age. No proper 
 explanation has ever been given of the non-appear- 
 ance of the second volume, the materials of which, 
 Rothe says in his preface to the first, were then ready 
 and requiring only slight revision prior to publication. 
 Professor Nippold, the editor of Rothe's " Life and 
 Letters," suggests that when subsequently the great 
 treatise on Christian ethics was commenced, Rothe 
 felt that there was no longer need for the continuation 
 of his earlier work, and that the historical matter 
 was wrought up into the ethical work. This his- 
 torical treatise at once secured wide fame and high 
 scientific reputation for Rothe, although its attitude 
 satisfied very few. While, on the one hand, there is 
 an apparent churchliness in his idea that traces of the 
 episcopate may be found in apostolic times, there is, 
 on the other hand, a very evident anti-ecclesiastical 
 tendency, which was afterwards largely developed in 
 Rothe, in the view that he takes of the modern 
 Christian state, as that in which, rather than in the 
 Church, the great mission of Christianity must be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 In 1837 a new seminary was founded at Heidel- 
 berg, and Rothe was appointed director of this 
 institution. On a review of his Wittenberg experi- 
 ence, Rothe felt it his duty to make a new departure 
 in Heidelberg, and from this time onward he gave 
 much more attention to the development of the 
 speculative side, in order to find a satisfactory and 
 permanent basis for the practical. This resolve he 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 37 
 
 carried out with special care and elaborateness in 
 his studies in the department of ethics. He gave 
 himself unremittingly to study, refusing to take any 
 part in writing ephemeral articles to theological 
 magazines, even when one was started under the 
 management of his brother-in-law Hahn. He re- 
 garded the work of the theologian as a peculiarly 
 responsible one, and insisted that only well con- 
 sidered and thoroughly digested work should be 
 presented before the public. Meanwhile Rothe was 
 zealously working for and upon his great work on 
 Christian ethics. In 1845 the first two volumes 
 were published. In presenting these to the scientific 
 public, he said that he laid before them his theo- 
 logical confession. In this work he traverses the 
 whole range of moral theology, developing specu- 
 latively the entire system of Christianity. Christian 
 dogmatics he regards as an historical science, in which 
 the Church doctrine, as laid down in ecclesiastical 
 symbols based upon Scripture, is set forth. In ethics 
 again we have the speculative treatment of the truths 
 dealt with positively and historically in dogmatics. 
 
 Just about the time when the last volume of his 
 great work was published, in 1847, Rothe received 
 calls from Bonn and Breslau. There was an attrac- 
 tion in Breslau, as the residence of Hahn, and as 
 having been the home of his dearly loved parents ; 
 but meanwhile the attractions of his work at Heidel- 
 berg forbade him listening to any suggestion of a 
 change. In 1849 however a call was addressed him 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 again from Bonn, which he saw it to be his duty to 
 accept. During his five years' stay in Bonn Rothc 
 threw himself heartily into the ecclesiastical move- 
 ments of the time ; and of this period he was wont 
 to say afterwards that it was not without fruit to 
 him, but what, from painful experience, he there 
 specially learnt was what he was not suited and had 
 not been intended for. 
 
 All through those years he entertained a lingering 
 love for Heidelberg, and in 1854 he availed himself 
 of an invitation to return to that city, where he 
 continued throughout the remainder of his life. This 
 was a period of great activity, but his work was 
 carried on amid manifold family sorrows and cares. 
 After a long and depressing illness, his wife, with 
 whom he had lived most happily for thirty-eight 
 years, was removed by death. This stroke was very 
 keenly felt by him, and his letters, in answer to his 
 many friends who had written consolatory epistles, 
 show at once the tenderness and affectionateness of 
 his nature, and the strong faith and warm Christian 
 piety by which he was sustained. Already Heubner 
 was gone, and in the years that immediately followed 
 one dear friend after another was taken away. He 
 felt himself now very much alone, for his theological 
 position was such as could be rightly understood and 
 sympathised with only by those who had known him 
 in the various stages of his spiritual development. 
 There is a peculiar sadness in his later correspon- 
 dence, as he acknowledges the isolated character of 
 
INTRODUCTOR V ESS A Y. 39 
 
 his position. The Tubingen school failed to appre- 
 ciate his intense spirituality and deep, earnest piety, 
 and regarded him as a dreamy mystic and theo- 
 sophist ; while the evangelical party regarded him 
 as one of the most dangerous of their opponents 
 ■whose influence against the truth was all the greater 
 because of the devoutness and fervour that lingered 
 in his life and utterances. 
 
 For some time Rothe had been engaged upon the 
 revision of his great work, " The Theological Ethics." 
 It was on January 31st, 1867, that he wrote the pre- 
 face for the first volume of the second and revised 
 edition. His time was now almost entirely given 
 to his regular class work and the revision of this 
 treatise. His health was manifestly breaking down 
 but he struggled bravely to perform his daily duties. 
 By August 6th his illness became so severe that 
 he could not go to his class-room, and he now lay 
 down upon the bed from which he was never to 
 rise. And on the 20th of this month, the day on 
 which, as he reminded those around, his father died 
 twenty-three years before, he quietly passed away. 
 " Tell them all," he said a few days before his 
 death to one of his ministerial brethren, " tell all my 
 friends, all who take an interest in me, that I die 
 in the faith in which I have lived, and that nothing 
 has ever shaken or diminished this faith in me, but 
 that it has been always growing stronger and more 
 inward." When it was said that perhaps it would 
 yet please God to raise him up, he said, "If so, then 
 
40 STILL HOURS. 
 
 I shall be still at His service ; but I trust that I may 
 now be allowed to go home." 
 
 Rothe had been an eager and discriminating 
 reader. For many years it had been his habit to 
 record in his notebooks passages which had specially 
 impressed him, together with his own reflections, 
 sometimes expressed in a few pregnant words, some- 
 times running on into considerable details of original 
 thinking. This record of his varied reading had been 
 revised by the author, as if intended for publication 
 or to be used as material in some other work. Many 
 passages were struck out, and some were rewritten. 
 There was however no method observed in the order 
 of the quotations and remarks, these having been 
 simply noted in succession from time to time what- 
 ever the subject of his reading might happen to be._ 
 
 In 1872, five years after Rothe's death, Professor 
 Nippold, of Bern, one of his admiring and affectionate 
 students, published the carefully arranged edition of 
 this posthumous work of his master, which is here pre- 
 sented to the English-speaking public in an English 
 dress. The work of the editor was done in a neat, 
 conscientious, and painstaking manner. The remarks 
 of Rothe were separated from the passages which had 
 suggested his reflections, and were carefully arranged 
 according to the subjects of which they treated under 
 convenient and appropriate heads. In no one work 
 of Rothe do the characteristics set forth in the pre- 
 ceding sketch find so complete an illustration. We 
 see him here as the theologian of wide culture and 
 
INTRODUCTOR Y ESSA V. 41 
 
 broad sympathies, the thinker of philosophic grasp 
 and scientific accuracy, the daring speculator and 
 unwearied investigator ; while at the same time we 
 recognise in him the man of warm and deep personal 
 piety, of pure and simple heart, in whom no trace 
 of self-consciousness is found and no taint of per- 
 sonal ambition. To many this collection of choice 
 reflections by so profound and earnest a thinker as 
 Richard Rothe will prove a rich mine of intellectual 
 and religious suggestion, helpful and stimulating in 
 no ordinary degree. So varied too are the themes 
 discussed, that all classes of readers may find some- 
 thing to interest and to instruct, something fitted to 
 throw new light on oft-discussed and long-studied 
 themes, or to lead to new departures in thinking not 
 ventured on before. 
 
PERSONAL. 
 
I. PERSONAL. 
 
 LIFE EXPERIENCES. 
 
 To endure, throughout a whole life-time, the presence 
 of a psychological enigma, most intimately affecting 
 one's own personal concerns, without daring even to 
 attempt its solution, and to feel compelled simply to 
 cling with heart and soul to the belief that it shall 
 one day be solved just as love requires that it should, 
 — this is hard, very hard. 
 
 * 
 
 Oh, how bitter and unspeakably hard to bear, 
 when one by his circumstances is obliged to spend 
 upon the consideration of his own condition an 
 amount of time and strength which could with 
 propriety be devoted only to an objective life-work, 
 and would willingly be given to such an object only ! 
 
 Altogether stupid I am scarcely likely to become, 
 but rather languid and weary. 
 
 * 
 
 Although I must indeed confess that very often, 
 
46 STITJ. HOURS. 
 
 even through my bodily sensibiHties, God has already 
 made my life uncommonly hard, I must also at once 
 acknowledge that He has, on the other hand, been 
 near me with quite uncommon aids of grace, so that 
 I have been able to get through so many decades of 
 this painful life already. Here then, surely, there is 
 room only for humble and adoring thankfulness. 
 
 A retrospect of my whole life, from the earliest 
 period of my recollection down to the present hour, 
 leaves with me this impression, that I have been, and 
 am being, guided by a gracious and a mighty Hand, 
 which has made, and is making, that possible to me 
 which otherwise to me had been impossible. Oh 
 that I had at all times unhesitatingly trusted and 
 yielded myself to its guidance ! 
 
 On reviewing my long life, I perceive with shame 
 and confusion how, in my professional labours, the 
 excellence of the subject with which I wrought 
 always raised the insignificant worker to a position of 
 respectability. 
 
 SELF-CRiriCISRi. 
 
 It is to me a painful observation, that there are 
 many heads still worse than my own. 
 
SELF-CRITICISM. 47 
 
 It is my misfortune that I am so sharp-eyed in 
 detecting " slovenly work " in the world, even in 
 things which pass among others with high approval. 
 
 * 
 
 My satisfaction with life depends on my having 
 lived to some purpose, not on a mere peradventure 
 that I may do so. 
 
 The height of my ambition would be attained in 
 a life as active as possible, but yielding substantial 
 results, and at the same time as uniform as possible, 
 and free from distraction. 
 
 I am losing, to a shocking degree, my appreciation 
 of the charms of the " interesting." 
 
 * 
 
 As God has constituted me, I am fit for nothing 
 else in the world than to be a simple, but perhaps, 
 in the end, not altogether inefficient, professor of 
 theology. 
 
 That so small a measure of talent has fallen to my 
 lot gives me really no pain ; all the more however 
 that I have been placed in an office where really first- 
 rate talents are required. 
 
 If I had been as fully conscious in my younger 
 years, as I am now in my old age, of my incredible 
 intellectual poverty, I could not have endured the 
 prospect of my life as a university professor. 
 
48 STILL HOURS. 
 
 My idiosyncrasies are an aversion to cockchafers 
 and to letter-writing. 
 
 One of the beauties of heaven will be that we shall 
 have no letter-writing there. 
 
 * 
 
 Letter-writing is an expression of sociality. It is 
 an indispensable adjunct to friendship. 
 
 Why have I such a dislike to preaching ? For the 
 very same reason that I detest visiting and letter- 
 writing. 
 
 I am a considerable centre, with an immeasurably 
 small circumference.^ 
 
 The natural respect of a weak head for a strong 
 one (which however need not by an means have a 
 more intense, or qualitatively better, knowledge than 
 the other) is with me, I am thankful to say, a per- 
 fectly familiar feeling. 
 
 Of myself, I can only say that I am an unprofit- 
 able servant ; but I serve a good Master, who loves 
 me with unwearied faithfulness. 
 
 * 
 
 A being so peculiarly constituted as I am ought 
 every moment to be filled with gratitude for the 
 
 ' The middle point has an intensive and variable size. 
 
SELF-CRITICISM. 49 
 
 boundless indulgence which he requires and receives 
 from those who have to do with him. 
 
 * 
 
 He who has such a dearth of talents as I have 
 must pride himself (I speak foolishly) on his honour- 
 able character. 
 
 I should like to realize — were it only for a single 
 day — how a really gifted man must feel. 
 
 I shall never be perfectly happy, until I have 
 reached my own fitting place in the lowest room, 
 as Jiouio gregarlus — which will certainly be given 
 me, at least in the world to come. 
 
 I have an insatiable longing for a condition in 
 which, surrounded by realities, I should myself be 
 real. 
 
 Oh, what blessedness will it be for a man, when 
 he has reached his destination and rest, when he 
 has become a being perfectly balanced, completely 
 in harmony with himself and with the external 
 circumstances of his existence ! 
 
 I am heartily fond of public life, but public 
 swaggering and noise I detest. At the same time 
 I know very well that the one is not to be had 
 without the other, and so I let the empty clatter 
 
 D 
 
so STILL HOURS. 
 
 pass harmlessly by, seeing only that I have no share 
 in making it. 
 
 I long, not for rest, but for quiet. 
 
 Whenever the monotonous quiet of my individual 
 life is interrupted, a weary longing for its return 
 takes possession of me. The vita monastica is for 
 me the only one of real intrinsic vitality. With 
 such a temperament, one has serious difficulty in 
 struggling through life, and in keeping his head 
 above water while swimming against the steady 
 current of the stream. 
 
 My intellectual conceptions must be brought forth 
 with pain. This is a thought to me profoundly 
 humbling. 
 
 I rank myself always on the side on which one 
 need have no fear. 
 
 I am really ashamed on so many points to have 
 to correct the unanimous opinion of contemporaries 
 by my own convictions, and so to seem keener- 
 sighted than they. 
 
 One of the things which I find it most difficult 
 to comprehend is how it comes about that there 
 are men — yes, a considerable proportion of men — 
 who have a smaller measure of insight than I have 
 myself. 
 
SELF-CRITICISM. 51 
 
 My one strong point is, that I know exactly where 
 my weak points arc. 
 
 * 
 
 The power of distinguishing between great and 
 small, real and unreal, has from childhood onward 
 been present with me in no ordinary degree. 
 
 IMy critical tendency inclines me, in the domain 
 of science, to criticise my own thoughts rather than 
 the thoughts of others. 
 
 A very common form of narrow-mindedness is 
 that shown by the originator of a system of thought, 
 when he imagines that, because it satisfies him as 
 an individual, it must be in itself satisfactory. From 
 this form of narrowness at least I know that I am 
 free. 
 
 ATTITUDE TOWARDS THEOLOGY AND THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 I have cause to thank God that He has given me 
 the power of at once discerning, in the historical 
 phenomena of the present, amid the whirling clouds' 
 of chaff, the good grains of corn which have shaken 
 themselves free from that chaff. 
 
52 STILL HOURS. 
 
 It is noteworthy, as a thoroughly logical conse- 
 quence, that our theologians have to write "moral- 
 religious," while I write " religious-moral." 
 
 * 
 
 I always find among the Christians around me 
 only the believing confidence that God ivill conduct 
 victoriously the cause of His kingdom in Christ, 
 through the course of history, perhaps even in our 
 oiun day; whereas on my part, aided by my con- 
 ception of the kingdom of God in Christ, I perceive 
 quite distinctly that God is conducting victoriously 
 the affairs of His kingdom through the course of 
 history, and even at this present hour. 
 
 In one point I am certainly a step in advance of 
 most contemporary theologians. I am on terms of 
 agreement with the moralist or ethical Christians 
 of the day, without being guilty of any indifference 
 toward religion and positive Christianity. 
 
 * 
 
 I have no objection to any one setting his powers 
 to work in whatever direction he can most success- 
 fully employ them, although that direction may not 
 be particularly pleasing to me. This only I insist 
 upon, that such a rule shall be held to apply to 
 myself as well as to others. 
 
 I am well aware that in theology I play only upon 
 
THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH. 53 
 
 one single instrument ; that instrument however 
 forms an essential part of the orchestra. I do not 
 pretend to be in any sense the orchestra itself. It 
 is my vocation and my only ambition that I should 
 learn to play my own instrument as well as possible. 
 No one can become a well-furnished theologian by 
 studying under me alone, regarding it even from a 
 merely human point of view. He who simply plays, 
 as I do, his own instrument alone in the orchestra, 
 must give to his playing another sort of attention 
 than he who, along with many others, performs upon 
 some particular instrument, or even perhaps not upon 
 any one in particular. 
 
 That my whole conception of life is untenable 
 and worthless can be proved only when, in its final 
 development, it has been wrought into a regular 
 system. In the pure interest of objective truth, I 
 can therefore do nothing more useful than continue 
 most resolutely the elaboration of my own specu- 
 lative system. 
 
 For this one gift I may, without seeming boastful, 
 give thanks to God, in acknowledging that He has 
 endued me with the power of seeing when there 
 is nothing beneath the surface, nothing but empty 
 forms and words, without power or substance, though 
 set forth with great pretension. 
 
54 STILL HOURS. 
 
 A place in an ecclesiastical board of control and 
 similar institutions seems to me undesirable even for 
 this reason, that there can be no great honour in 
 merely issuing orders in regard to matters of which 
 the whole art lies simply in their execution. 
 
 It would be wrong on the part of any one to 
 abandon his own individual way of working ; but 
 whoever considers his own way of doing a thing 
 absolutely the best must cither be very vain or very 
 narrow-minded. Of this absurdity at least I am 
 certainly innocent. If only I knew how, I should 
 gladly do my work better than in my own way it 
 is done. 
 
 I get on very well with my theological opponents, 
 and do not need to fatigue myself in wrestling with 
 them, simply because I make no claim to be right, 
 or to have established my own conviction, whether 
 in theology or in any other science, but only propose 
 to carry stones to the building. It is for the builders 
 themselves to decide what they are to do with them. 
 That is no affair of mine. Should they be able even 
 to roll them completely away from the spot, for my 
 own part I have no objection even to that. The 
 work assigned to me has been done ; its results I 
 leave with Him by whom the work was given. 
 
 What distinguishes my attitude from that of my 
 
THEOLOGY AiVD THE CHURCH. 55 
 
 colleagues is that they are self-conscious, while I am 
 free from any such feeling. 
 
 * 
 A discovery which has caused me no small sur- 
 prise is, that the characteristic distinction between 
 myself and most others consists in this, that while 
 to me personally the fundamental propositions of 
 religion, and especially of the Christian religion, are 
 thoroughly self-evident, and form quite spontaneously 
 and immediately the universal and permanent pre- 
 supposition in all my considerations, others invariably 
 busy themselves first of all with making sure of these 
 fundamental propositions by the aid of reflection. 
 Thank God! I know by heart the multiplication table 
 of my Christian-religious mode of thought, and do 
 not need to be always reckoning it up anew. 
 
 I am thankful to say that I have never been obliged 
 to employ artificial, or indeed any express or special 
 contrivance, in order to secure the presence of reli- 
 gious ideas, and to work myself into a religious 
 frame. Such contrivances, therefore, even the com- 
 monest and most approved, seem to me of little 
 value. 
 
 Never, never by any means, shall a good cause, on 
 account of the worthlessness of its supporters, be to 
 me a subject of aversion and scorn. 
 
 In so far as I speak only of matters which in these 
 
56 STILL HOURS. 
 
 times must engage the attention of such as labour in 
 theology, I shall patiently endure all the displeasure 
 of my contemporaries, which the one-sided and dis- 
 proportionate representation of these things calls 
 forth. Enough that I have said exactly what I had 
 to say. I sing my own part in the music, poorly as it 
 may sound when sung by itself alone. 
 
 * 
 My theology belongs to quite another era from 
 that of the Reformers, That era is not mine as an 
 individual, but that of modern times in general. 
 
 * 
 I cannot understand those people, who would have 
 the great moral revivals and revolutions that have 
 taken place in the world, without the improprieties 
 and disadvantages which are inseparable from such 
 movements in their early stages. 
 
 rOSITION LN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT. 
 
 It is quite possible for a man, from an objective 
 point of view, to rejoice sincerely and honestly in 
 the changes of modern times, and yet, for his own 
 part, to wish himself back in the past. 
 
 We can work for the future only at the cost of 
 suffering discredit in the present. He who desires 
 his work to be really effective must seek no reward 
 for himself from his doings. 
 
POSITION IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT. 57 
 
 Even in the deepest poverty of the present, our 
 wealth consists in this, that whatever wc have ex- 
 perienced in the past is not lost, but has remained 
 our own. 
 
 Because the evils of the world in every age arc 
 always new and different evils, not those of the past, 
 which, because men have grown accustomed to them, 
 they scarcely count as evils at all, therefore each new 
 age seems worse than the last. 
 
 A sure method for accurately testing the average 
 worth of our contemporaries is to take, as a funda- 
 mental maxim, that theirs is, at any rate, a much 
 higher worth than our own. 
 
 One reason why I should not care to begin the 
 world again is, that life grows more wearisome from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 We must not seek to be wiser than our time, but 
 only to have a perfect understanding of it — to 
 recognise distinctly what its aims and tendencies are. 
 
 * 
 
 Men excellent in themselves may become perfectly 
 useless (in State, Church, etc.) by disdaining con- 
 stantly to learn new lessons from their time. This 
 learning does not in any sense mean doing homage to 
 the spirit of the age ; but it means the development 
 
58 STILL HOURS. 
 
 of one's self alongside of that spirit by continually 
 learning to understand it better. 
 
 * 
 
 Are not these the true interpreters of history, these 
 men, so wondrously wise in their own opinion, who 
 seek the characteristic marks of their age amidst its 
 dust and rubbish ? 
 
 It is only too common for a man to complain that 
 his times are bad, because he does not find in himself 
 the strength requisite for undergoing the heavy toil 
 which they lay upon him. In old age especially this 
 is naturally an oft repeated complaint. 
 
 A new thing that appears in history, miserable as 
 it may seem in its early childhood, and slowly as it 
 may advance to the perfection of ripened manhood, 
 means yet incomparably more than some completely 
 outgrown product of antiquity, gray-haired and vener- 
 able though it be. 
 
 Our time is specially sensitive in all that concerns 
 
 principles. 
 
 * 
 
 The fault of our age, as regards religion, is not so 
 much that it is on the wrong track, as that it does not 
 know it is on the right one. 
 
 He who desires to accomplish a work for the 
 
RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 59 
 
 present must have something of the future dwelh'ng 
 in him. ^ 
 
 Every one, who is called to be in any measure 
 productive in the world, needs indispensably some 
 discernment (literally, faculty of scenting) the future. 
 
 In order to be in a position to judge of the general 
 direction taken by the road on which we are travel- 
 ling, we must be able to see a good way on in front. 
 
 * 
 
 It is characteristic of modern times, that in them 
 intellect as sitcJi ranks high. 
 
 Thank God ! I am fully convinced that, even in the 
 province of the intellect, progress is made with the 
 same inconceivable slowness, of which in material 
 nature we have something analogous in the world 
 of the infinitely little. Even that measure of time 
 according to which a thousand years are as one day, 
 is here utterly inadequate. 
 
 RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 
 
 For every man whom I see visibly bringing forth 
 fruit gladly do I praise God, the Creator, without 
 caring to inquire whether, by growing up in some 
 different way, he might have presented even a more 
 stately appearance and borne fruit that would have 
 had a yet sweeter taste. 
 
 The surest way to ruin a good cause is to turn it 
 
6o STILL HOURS. 
 
 into a party affair ; for then its supporters cannot, in 
 every separate case, keep strictly to truth and justice, 
 and they must, besides, seek to make it work directly 
 on the masses, which is impossible without an admix- 
 ture of impure ingredients. 
 
 The unfailing sign of a partisan is that he fights 
 
 his enemies unconditionally, and for that very reason 
 
 criticises their actions with prejudice, suspicion, and 
 
 injustice. 
 
 * 
 
 Wherever I see anything stupendous in its own 
 way, there I do reverence, though the way itself may 
 
 not please me at all. 
 
 * 
 
 When, for the attainment of his own ends, a man 
 does not scruple to exercise constraint upon the 
 moral convictions of another (even though it may be 
 in a very mild way), that is partisanship. Because 
 I happen to desire a certain thing, that is no reason 
 why I should wish any one else to agree with me, 
 otherwise than of his own accord. 
 
 * 
 
 One characteristic of the present generation is its 
 frank and unscrupulous boldness in exercising con- 
 straint upon the moral convictions of others — for 
 good purposes. 
 
 Semper solus esse volui nlhilque pejus odi quam 
 juratos et factiosos {Erasmus). 
 
RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 6 1 
 
 The chief reason why I find it so easy to keep on 
 friendly relations with others is, that most men's 
 individualities present so sharp a contrast to my 
 own. I rejoice to think that others are different 
 from myself, and that the world is wide and full of 
 variety. 
 
 * 
 
 Not even for the best cause could I ever be per- 
 suaded to agitate. Not that I mean to pronounce 
 decidedly against all agitations ; for they are in- 
 separable from the party life, which, under certain 
 circumstances, is indispensable in a community. 
 There will never be any want of those, who are 
 bond fide capable of agitating ; but for that very 
 reason, those who could only do it mala fide ought 
 to be released from the duty of doing it at all. To 
 this latter class I beloncr. 
 
 It is an occasion of grief and shame that, in 
 judging of the great religious movements of the 
 world, men should (as so often happens), because 
 of the worthlessness and imperfections of those who 
 seem to be their visible supporters, mistake the 
 significance of the movements themselves, and dis- 
 parage them with a haughty superiority, whose 
 narrow-mindedness brings its own certain punish- 
 ment. God keep me from all manner of assumption 
 of superiority ! 
 
62 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Not only would I refuse to belong to another's 
 party, but I would not on any account make or up- 
 hold a party rallying round what was simply my own 
 personal conviction. 
 
 He who cannot be important without having a row 
 of ciphers attached to him, and who at the same 
 time wishes to be important, must of course form 
 a part}\ 
 
 On whatever point the quarrel may turn, I am not, 
 and never will be, able to persuade myself that I 
 alone am right and my opponent entirely wrong. 
 
 It is quite possible for two men to be striving after 
 the same end, and yet to have altogether different 
 designs, and to be animated by quite diverse senti- 
 ments. 
 
 Esprit de corps may be very easily created with the 
 
 help of pride. 
 
 * 
 
 To my mind it is a psychological mystery that 
 any one should desire to see the world (whatever 
 world it may be, even the smallest) governed 
 entirely according to his own opinions. For the 
 cultured man it is a point of honour to avoid every 
 appearance of cherishing such a desire. 
 
 * 
 
 It is sad, but none the less a fact, that the 
 
RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 
 
 Redeemer, in order to carry on the struggle for His 
 kingdom, had to divide His forces into two rival 
 camps, which are now on fighting terms with each 
 other. Only by using both alike for the furtherance 
 of His kingdom can He attain the result He desires. 
 It is like a review, in which different corps of the 
 same army operate against each other. Neverthe- 
 less, the final victory will rest with one of the parties, 
 which will then, although after many errors, be 
 acknowledged as the true one. Well for him who, 
 while boldly attacking his opponents, yet recognises 
 in them his friends, and is joyfully conscious that 
 both alike have much in common. 
 
 * 
 The opponents of an evil cause need only leave it 
 room enough ; in time it will destroy itself. 
 
 Christians fight " as though they fought not." 
 * 
 
 Beware of speaking contemptuously of those who 
 are not of your opinion. Beware of arrogance and 
 self-sufficiency, whoever you may be ! 
 
 * 
 The clearness of a conviction is the best preserva- 
 tive against its over-passionate enforcement. 
 
 * 
 
 A man is never in a worse case than when he shares 
 his principles with narrow-minded people, who make 
 a foolish use of them. 
 
64 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Against fanaticism (especially party fanaticism) 
 even a noble man is not secure. 
 
 * 
 
 I certainly appear to be in advance of many others 
 in being able, with tolerable ease, to imagine myself 
 in the situation of those whose individuality and 
 individual position in life are quite different from 
 my own. 
 
 In order to see our way clearly in history, especially 
 in that of the present, we must apprehend its various 
 tendencies with the same precise and logical keen- 
 ness which belonged to their a priori conception, but 
 which, in their empirical manifestation, never comes 
 clearly to the light. Such a mode of apprehension 
 is indispensable to myself, and this is what people 
 call my finical or hypercritical tendency. Without 
 this definite sharpness of conception, we have before 
 us merely vague, vanishing historical factors, and we 
 must grope about continually amid uncertainties and 
 
 imperfections. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards difference of opinion, no one is per- 
 sonally a more estimable man because his dwelling 
 happens to be more favourably situated than the 
 dwellings of others, as the standpoint for a free, 
 open, and picturesque view of the landscape. 
 
 * 
 
 I so often find, to my very great surprise, that 
 people candidly object to some course of action 
 
RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 65 
 
 which, in itself (objectively considered) is perfectly 
 correct, simply because many or most of those who 
 uphold it are acting from bad or impure motives, or 
 because it is practised by those who are (no doubt 
 with perfect reason) personally objectionable to them- 
 selves. 
 
 * 
 
 True agitation confines itself to waking up the 
 
 drowsy. 
 
 * 
 
 The real power in some men's characters is looked 
 upon indulgently by others as a charming and inno- 
 cent childishness. With such a judgment they may 
 well be content. 
 
 To most people it is a psychological impossibility 
 to hold a conviction for themselves alone. 
 
 Although I have attached myself to a party (every 
 one who holds a genuine conviction must do so 
 now-a-days), yet I am unsuited for a true partisan ; 
 because it is so easy and natural for me to look at 
 matters from my opponent's point of view, and to 
 recognise and cheerfully acknowledge how far his 
 views are right. 
 
 TOLERANCE AND CRITICISM 
 
 Every one must undoubtedly judge of things as 
 
 he sees them. On this point therefore we have no 
 
 right to reproach another, vexatious as his wrong 
 
 opinions may often be to us. Nothing more certainly 
 
 E 
 
66 STILL HOURS. 
 
 secures tolerance towards others than our realization 
 of the need of systematic thinking, and our remem- 
 brance of the close dependence, in all our conceptions, 
 of one idea upon another. 
 
 Is impartiality a thing that may be acquired ? A 
 view on all sides can be had only from the top of the 
 mountain ; but we may climb up and gain it. 
 
 * 
 
 It is of course quite natural that every man should 
 consider his own profession the most important, only 
 he must not forget that others have exactly the same 
 opinion of theirs. 
 
 A man may, with perfect consistency, be inwardly 
 certain of his own conviction, and yet cherish no 
 thought of obliging others to assent to it ; indeed, 
 the one is an excellent test of the other. 
 
 * 
 
 We shall never convince another that he is wrong 
 
 unless we begin by frankly acknowledging how far 
 
 he is right. 
 
 * 
 
 There are very few people who can understand 
 that, in any given case, it is another's duty to act 
 quite differently from themselves. 
 
 * 
 
 The keenest-sighted man will become blind to 
 wide provinces of experimental knowledge if he 
 habitually avoids turning his gaze in their direction. 
 
TOLERANCE AND CRITICISM. 67 
 
 It is lost trouble to attempt to make another 
 understand what for him has no existence. 
 
 * 
 
 There is a large-hearted Christian tolerance, which 
 is much more effectual in keeping within bounds all 
 wandering from the path of Christianity than the 
 polemical zeal of eager controversialists. 
 
 * 
 
 It is not love, but egotism, which makes us de- 
 mand that the world shall take its course according 
 to our own ideas, and leads us to discuss its actual 
 history with scorn and discontent. 
 
 Can he be said to see truly who, in examining the 
 sun-spots, misses the sun ? 
 
 Insight into the necessity of one common faith for 
 the Church (? ?). — Dorner, " Gesch. der prot. Theol. " 
 p. 892. 
 
 It seems to me that any one who takes pleasure in 
 mocking at the little things in human life does so 
 because of his inability to recognise what is great in 
 things little. Only in polemics would I admit the 
 legitimacy of satire, and even there it must be a 
 satire of a not ungenial kind. 
 
 * 
 To make what I regard as a piece of mere 
 stupidity a subject of serious controversy is entirely 
 
68 STILL HOURS. 
 
 contrary to my inclination. For this reason I can 
 never have anything to do with what is called the 
 " average culture." 
 
 He is a mere pothouse politician who founds upon 
 the gossip of the day his calculations in regard to the 
 future of history, whether it be with reference to 
 things great or things small. 
 
 * 
 A man who lacks scientific culture has few ideas, 
 and even these arc necessarily of an indefinite and 
 confused description ; whereas the numerous ideas of 
 the man of scientific culture are, by a similar neces- 
 sity, clear and definite. 
 
 One sure mark of an uncultivated and ignorant 
 man is that he naively assumes that human know- 
 ledge began with just the same elementary ideas 
 which are with us traditional commonplaces, never 
 dreaming what infinitely laborious and complicated 
 processes of thought are presupposed, even in such 
 conceptions as seem now to us crude and imperfect. 
 
 * 
 
 Many a traditional idea which circulates amongst 
 us seems credible only because we have never 
 seriously examined it. 
 
 He whose thoughts rise even a little above the 
 trivial must not be astonished if most people entirely 
 misunderstand him. 
 
TOLERANCE AND CRITICISM. 69 
 
 Narrow horizons, circumscribed points of view, 
 have a demoralizing influence. 
 
 Paradoxical people are generally arrogant. The 
 singularity of their nature, however, should make them 
 the most modest in the world. 
 
 God keep my doctrine from this disgrace, that ever 
 a pedlar in science, travelling about with his wares, 
 should make boastful assertions on its behalf! 
 
 * 
 
 I have not found myself as comfortable as most 
 people in the turbid waters of the current popular 
 science and the philosophy of the day. 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SPECULATION. 
 
II. THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 SPECULATION. 
 
 THE TASK OF SPECULATION. 
 
 It is significant that one and the same word 
 (decopLo) was originally used to express both specu- 
 lation and mystic contemplation. The earliest 
 appearance of speculation was in the form of pure 
 religious contemplation ; just as indeed knowledge 
 of every kind always comes into being hidden away 
 in the depths of the individual soul, and must by 
 degrees work itself free of its covering. This is 
 especially true of the speculation and the mysticism 
 of the middle ages and of the theosophy of Jacob 
 
 Bohme. 
 
 * 
 
 Dialectics is essentially a non-speculative operation, 
 
 although in it speculation possesses an indispensable 
 
 assistant. 
 
 * 
 
 It forms a part of culture, that we should be deeply 
 and seriously persuaded, that the knowledge of those 
 truths which are in themselves the simplest has been 
 
74 STILL HOURS. 
 
 for mankind a slow and exceedingly toilsome and 
 complicated process. 
 
 The saying, that " to him that hath shall be given," 
 is strikingly verified as regards the apprehension of 
 
 truth. 
 
 * 
 
 Correctly to understand the speculation of others 
 is a very difficult matter ; all the more important 
 therefore is it that every one should at least have a 
 thorough understanding of his own. 
 
 Each speculative system will receive credit exactly 
 in proportion as it explains realities. 
 
 * 
 Those ideas which do not in themselves compel 
 assent, without any direct interference of their origi- 
 nator, are not worthy of having even a word said to 
 recommend them. 
 
 To occupy oneself with speculation, without pos- 
 sessing the faculty for it, leads to sophistry. 
 
 One essential point in the discovery of a scientific 
 system is, that we should be conscious of the subor- 
 dinate importance of the matter, and not imagine it 
 
 an historical event. 
 
 * 
 
 The parallel to speculation on the side of activity 
 is ideal willing [cf. Schelling, "Works," I. 3, p. 558 scq?j 
 
THE TASK OF SPECULATION. 75 
 
 — free willing and doing; i.e. a priori ideas of pur- 
 pose projected by our own minds. 
 
 •^- 
 
 Because on some special scientific path I can pro- 
 ceed no farther than to this particular point, does 
 that imply that the road ends there .'' 
 
 * 
 
 Those who maintain that speculation is an im- 
 possibility, and that therefore any attempt in that 
 direction is mere idle sport, yet make constant use in 
 the ordinary scientific course of results attained by it, 
 and without this help from speculation they could 
 not advance a step farther on their way. 
 
 There are many, especially among those who 
 occupy themselves with thought, who, having tho- 
 roughly illogical minds, cannot be persuaded to pause 
 and reflect upon their own ideas. 
 
 We may measure the intensity and value of a 
 conviction by seeing whether it holds itself in control, 
 and can exercise a restraint upon its own power ; or 
 whether, like a mere natural force, it must pour itself 
 out in words and attempted performance of actions. 
 
 It cannot be boasted of, as though it indicated any 
 special wisdom, that one is unable to philosophise 
 without empirical objects of thought. 
 
76 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Speculation reaches the nature of things from the 
 inside, not from the outside. 
 
 There is no more modest science than that of 
 theological speculation. The speculative theologian 
 acknowledges the merely approximate correctness of 
 his propositions; and this he does all the more readily 
 because he knows that, in consequence of that logical 
 process, which he has accepted for his science as the 
 principle of its procedure, he has not been able to 
 avoid those errors which must flow from the mistakes 
 that will infallibly be slipping in among his funda- 
 mental operations. The mere reasoner, on the other 
 hand, cleanses himself from such errors at every step. 
 The speculative theologian knows that he has thought 
 on regardless of consequences ; whereas the mere 
 reasoner is conscious of having advanced with all 
 proper caution, and so considers his results as well 
 assured and perfectly reliable. 
 
 * 
 
 Logic, not less than aesthetics, forms a part of 
 ethics. 
 
 That man has reason, means simply that man can 
 
 think. But this thinking power has very different 
 
 degrees, and must be learned gradually and with 
 
 heavy toil. 
 
 * 
 
 When a man decides to speculate, he lays himself 
 open to the scorn of all those who think only in 
 
THE TASK OF SPECULATION. 77 
 
 fragments and aphorisms, and who self-complaccntly 
 look upon this, their intellectual incapacity, as wis- 
 dom. 
 
 Does speculation force itself upon any one ? Does 
 it not expressly declare that it is not a matter for 
 everybody ? Why then do those who, being unfitted 
 to speculate, are at perfect liberty to leave it alone, 
 cherish so violent a dislike to it ? 
 
 * 
 
 In my own speculation I have always been led on 
 by an inward compulsion, which I might compare to 
 the mechanical instinct of animals. In the case of 
 others, speculation may arise from strength of in- 
 tellect ; in my own it arises from weakness. 
 
 * 
 In the very nature of things, the only really prac- 
 tical method is the speculative. 
 
 * 
 
 There is no better and surer test of the human 
 perceptive faculty, than the attempt to establish a 
 thoroughly comprehensive system that will yield a 
 satisfactory theory of the world. 
 
 * 
 
 In the criticism of the human perceptive faculty, 
 there is often no distinction drawn between the 
 limited powers of that faculty while yet in growth, 
 and its wide capacities when, by means of the special 
 development of human life, it has become all that 
 it was originally only designed to be. Originally in- 
 
78 STILL HOURS. 
 
 deed, our self-consciousness is not reason (speculative 
 capacity), but by means of the moral development of 
 our nature, it may become reason. 
 
 The act of thinking is not otherwise possible than 
 by means of the category of cause and effect, the 
 original and fundamental category of logic. This is 
 the principle of the sufficient reason. 
 
 Perception, i.e. thought on some given subject, is 
 the opposite of pure thought. The latter is really 
 speculation, the former, reflexion. 
 
 That a conscious being should also be conscious of 
 his own conception, and take it as the norm for his 
 self-determination (as his moral law), does not seem 
 in any way surprising. 
 
 All speculation is of course an experiment. If 
 the speculator cannot attain a result corresponding 
 to the empirical fact, it naturally follows that he is 
 incapable of speculating, — a discovery at which only 
 a self-conceited fool would be surprised. 
 
 A keen thinker may have very confused ideas on 
 special points, simply because he has never expressly 
 made them the task and subject of his thought. 
 
 A'- 
 
 Deliberately to throw doubts on the pure ob- 
 jectivity of our own ideas, means nothing less than 
 
THE TASK OF SPECULATION. 79 
 
 to renounce absolutely the possibility of knowing 
 objective truth. 
 
 It was a curious misconception (especially of Julius 
 Muller) to suppose that speculation, because entirely 
 ruled by the law of the immanent necessity of 
 thought, had its way cut off for reconciling true 
 freedom (whether of God or of the creature) with 
 necessity. Behind this idea there is always the 
 thought that there can be no actual freedom with- 
 out some mixture of arbitrariness. 
 
 Without speculation the sciences cannot live. 
 
 Not by any union of empirical knowledge and 
 speculation (which would only lead to the mixing up 
 and ruin of both) will the interests of Christianity, as 
 opposed to philosophy, be established. This can be 
 done only by the strictest keeping asunder of specu- 
 lation and empirical knowledge, and at the same time 
 the upholding of the unlimited authority of all real 
 facts as opposed to speculation. 
 
 There is a distinction between the difficulty of 
 comprehension which arises from the startling clear- 
 ness and vividness of ideas, and that which is caused 
 by their confusion. 
 
 Poor empty-minded, every-day people, who have 
 ) idea what it me 
 to life in the soul 1 
 
 no idea what it means to have a new idea struggling 
 
So STILL HOURS. 
 
 Our conception ceases at the point where the 
 
 thread of analogy with our experience breaks off; 
 
 but it would be sad indeed if our thinking also 
 
 ended there. 
 
 * 
 
 He is certainly in a sad case who can only think 
 what others have thought before him. 
 
 * 
 
 The doctrine that we can know nothing which we 
 
 do not learn on the path of experience has naturally 
 
 a seductive charm for all weak, and especially for all 
 
 unproductive, minds. 
 
 * 
 
 Speculation, while otherwise mindful of the debt it 
 
 owes to logic, may claim the title of an exact science 
 
 with as much right as natural philosophy, which rests 
 
 on mathematics ; for in speculation we calculate 
 
 with ideas, and logic is certainly not less exact than 
 
 mathematics. 
 
 Mathematics occupy the same position towards 
 material nature that logic does towards thought (?). 
 The same kind of evidence applies to both.' 
 
 * 
 Profundity of thought is nothing else than the 
 clearness and distinctness of one's thinking. 
 
 * 
 If those good people who cry out against specula- 
 
 ' For other remarks on mathematics, see under "Space and 
 Time." 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF SPECULATION. 8i 
 
 tion would only not imagine that we think even a 
 tenth part as much of our speculative thought as 
 they do of their little aphoristic thinking exercises ! 
 Assuredly they have no cause to reproach us with 
 pride of intellect. 
 
 The main thing in speculation is to be strictly 
 conscientious, and not to allow oneself to be imposed 
 upon by anything. 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF SPECULATION. 
 
 A being can be truly real and perfect only when 
 it absolutely corresponds to its original conception. 
 
 * 
 
 Existence (the real) cannot idealize itself, or change 
 itself into a thought ; but thought (the ideal) may 
 very well realize itself, namely, by the act of think- 
 ing. 
 
 * 
 
 Existence, according to the most abstract defini- 
 tion of it, is a thing (therefore something) ; thought, 
 according to the most abstract definition of it, is the 
 universal. According to its most concrete definition, 
 existence is freedom, thought is reason. The former 
 is self-established existence ; the latter, self-established 
 thought. 
 
 Whatever exists, or has being, for our consciousness 
 really does exist. 
 
 F 
 
82 STILL HOURS. 
 
 When the result of our thought is a necessary logi- 
 cal inference, then that result must eo ipso be accepted 
 as existing, as real. He who denies this must con- 
 sequently altogether deny the possibility of under- 
 standing anything by means of thought. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards thinking, one of its primary and most 
 important steps is the acknowledgment that all 
 things, in proportion as they are material, are unreal. 
 
 * 
 
 The exclusion of any reasonable possibility from 
 the bounds of reality must always rest on some im- 
 perfection of thought. 
 
 What a vast conception is that of a being existing 
 of itself alone ! Such an idea we can clearly enter- 
 tain of none but the absolutely perfect, and even 
 then only when we do not imagine it as existing at 
 once in all its full perfection. 
 
 Since we are obliged to think sometimes, whether 
 
 we will or not, surely the most sensible plan is to 
 
 take pains to think correctly and with the utmost 
 
 possible perfection. 
 
 * 
 
 Most people imagine that what satisfies their indi- 
 vidual thought must be objectively satisfactory. 
 
 What a difference we find between thought and 
 thought ! How wide a distinction between the Gom* 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF SPECULATION. 83 
 
 monplace thoughts of the average individual and 
 those of the gifted philosopher ! How much wider 
 between our human thinking as a whole and that 
 of the creating God ! 
 
 Ruling ideas are certainly indispensable in the 
 treatment of all scientific matters, but they must be 
 fruitful. 
 
 The fact that the object eventually reaches and 
 reflects itself upon the consciousness of the subject is 
 made perfectly clear to philosophy by its conception 
 of the powers with which the object is endowed. 
 Hoio it thus reflects itself is not a question for the 
 philosopher, but for the physiologist. 
 
 * 
 
 When we say that anything exists, we mean that 
 its being is no mere idea or abstraction. 
 
 * 
 
 Existence = the actual establishment of some idea 
 (otherwise impossible), the reality of the object of 
 thought. Only some definite object of thought can 
 be said really to exist, 
 
 A pure ideal cannot be material, because it must 
 be truly and absolutely ideal, whereas it belongs to 
 the nature of the material to be, at least relatively, 
 non-ideal, as well as non-real. 
 
 Only the ideal can be real. Only something can 
 
84 STILL HOURS. 
 
 be posited as an actual existence. What the material 
 lacks in ideality, it also of necessity lacks in reality. 
 Whatever has not existed first in thought has only 
 an apparent existence. 
 
 The more visible and tangible anything is, the 
 more unreal it is eo ipso. 
 
 * 
 
 The general conception of being (as distinguished 
 both from imaginary and from real existence ^) is that 
 of the pure logical subject. 
 
 Hi 
 
 A hopeless confusion arises when we understand 
 the ideal as " thinking " (while it is rather thought), 
 which can only be regarded as the function of a 
 thinker, therefore of one who is, at the same time, 
 real. The opposite of thinking is not existence, but 
 the positing of our ideas ; just as the opposite of 
 existence is not thinking, but its product the thought. 
 But thinking and being are in no way co-ordinate 
 ideas, and cannot therefore form a contrast. 
 
 SPECULATIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 I do not require that my system shall be accepted 
 as correct, but I do require that no one shall dispute 
 my right to find my personal satisfaction only in a 
 
 ' Or as distinguished both from possible and from actual 
 beinsr. 
 
SPECULATIVE SYSTEM. 8$ 
 
 method of thought which proceeds on strictly specu- 
 lative lines. 
 
 * 
 
 We must seek the evidence and guarantee for the 
 truth of a system, not in its beginning, but in its 
 end ; not in its foundation, but in its keystone. 
 
 Half truths find many more adherents than whole 
 and perfect truths. The latter cost too much exer- 
 tion of head and heart. 
 
 * 
 
 It seems incomprehensible that we should require 
 so much time to draw with any completeness the 
 necessary results of some new proposition, clearly as 
 we may understand it in our own minds. 
 
 * 
 
 Most people seem to me to seek the fulcrum of 
 their individual existence in themselves, in their own 
 personality. I cannot understand how this is psycho- 
 logically possible. 
 
 * 
 
 Wonderful wisdom of my Creator! Along with 
 the indescribable difficulty which mental work occa- 
 sions me, He has at the same time given me, in order 
 to counterbalance my deep-seated sluggishness, an 
 intense dislike to all superficial, half-hearted, and 
 slovenly modes of intellectual production and their 
 results. 
 
86 STILL HOURS. 
 
 There are people who quietly leave alone whatever 
 they find difficult, and work eagerly and with much 
 satisfaction at whatever comes easy to them. It is 
 not so with me ; my way of working is exactly the 
 reverse. 
 
 The building of my thought is of such a nature, 
 that I consider it a duty to employ my small scien- 
 tific gifts in beautifying and laying it out. 
 
 * 
 I am glad that those who would only have mis- 
 understood me have not taken the trouble to under- 
 stand me at all. 
 
 * 
 
 He to whom my thoughts are confused and indis- 
 tinct, simply because for liiin they are too clear and 
 too distinct, is not in a position to criticise them, and 
 therefore also he is not in a position to reject them. 
 
 * 
 
 It seems to me a far less important point in ethics 
 to decide hoiv we should act rightly, than to discover 
 what viaterialiter happens and results ivJicu we act 
 rightly, and indeed when we act at all. I am chiefly 
 interested, not in understanding the law of action, 
 but in finding out what action really is and signifies, 
 in what its being consists. This interest seems 
 almost unknown to my contemporaries, but it has 
 been alive in me from my earliest days. To my 
 mind ethics is not principalitcr a guide to the action 
 demanded by the moral law, but an index to dis- 
 
SPECULATIVE SYSTEM. 87 
 
 cover what that really is which we, sensii medio, call 
 
 morality. 
 
 * 
 
 My system of ethics prepossesses others in its 
 favour by its great capacity for formation and de- 
 velopment. 
 
 * 
 
 My system of ethics did not originate in this way, 
 that I found such a science already existing, and 
 only wished to add my share to its building ; but be- 
 cause my thoughts resulted in such a conception of 
 man, that all science concerning him spontaneously 
 assumed the form of ethics. 
 
 * 
 
 My own system of ethics appears to me like a 
 book, which has a right to be what it is, quite inde- 
 pendently of what may be thought of the task of 
 theological ethics in general. What place it will 
 finally receive is to me a matter of indifference. 
 
ON GOD. 
 
III. ON GOD. 
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 
 
 Since the fall, all true knowledge of God, and suc- 
 cessful speculation about Him, in fact, every kind 
 of successful speculation, can proceed only from a 
 religious point of view. 
 
 We owe sincere thanks to the modern atheistic 
 philosophy, because through its means we have first 
 realized what an incomparably great thing it is to 
 maintain the existence of God. 
 
 * 
 The word " God " is very great. He who realizes 
 and acknowledges this will be mild and fair in his 
 judgment of those who frankly confess they have not 
 the courage to say they believe in God. 
 
 * 
 
 Although many people sincerely believe that 
 
 human existence is tolerable without the certain 
 
 knowledge that God is, this opinion rests only on 
 
 thoughtlessness. 
 
 * 
 
 To maintain the existence of God certainly seems 
 our only sensible course ; but however much is im- 
 
92 sTtLL Hours, 
 
 plied among us by real good sense, to how few can 
 it be truly ascribed ! 
 
 Man is capable of understanding what God is, only 
 in proportion as he is morally developed. 
 
 * 
 
 In those ages when the will of God was the only 
 known source of good, and when by the " good " 
 itself was understood merely the direct relation of 
 man to Him, the minds of Christians must have had 
 a very different conception of God from our own. 
 
 Can the true idea of man (the true moral idea) 
 exist where the true idea of God is wanting? Un- 
 doubtedly it is possible that when the true idea of 
 God exists and rules in a whole community, the true 
 idea of man may exist and rule in individual cases, 
 even when the true conception of God, or perhaps 
 any conception of Him whatever, is altogether want- 
 ing. But this can happen in no other instance. 
 
 When the true moral idea is actively present in any 
 man's mind, he may, though of course unconsciously, 
 have workings of Divine grace in his soul, even 
 though he has no true conception of God ; for the 
 material condition of such influences is then present, 
 and the formal is by no means unconditioned. 
 
 * 
 
 The more elementary the development of human 
 life is (as for example, in the times of the patriarchs), 
 
THE UNITY OF GOD. 93 
 
 the more vast does the idea of God appear to the 
 consciousness of man. At the same time, it reveals 
 itself with more splendid lustre in proportion as 
 man's life attains to a richer and fuller develop- 
 ment. 
 
 * 
 
 God and man are for us alternative conceptions. 
 As we cannot truly understand the idea of man 
 without possessing the true idea of God, so the con- 
 verse is also true. 
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 
 
 God can love only the moral, i.e. something that 
 owes its position to some inherent power of its own : 
 not therefore a so called second Person of the 
 Trinity, who for God could be in no way another. 
 
 * 
 
 That three Persons should be one Person is not in 
 itself contradictory, for the unity of several Persons 
 (by means of their existence in one another) is, when 
 they are regarded as spiritual, in itself a perfectly 
 tenable idea. But the unity of several Persons neces- 
 sarily implies a distinction along with the unity, and 
 how three Divine and infinite Persons should be really 
 distinct from each other is for us quite inconceivable 
 So that the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, lies, 
 not in maintaining the unity, but in maintaining the 
 real tripersonality. In order to be distinct Persons, 
 the Divine Beings must undoubtedly be individual 
 
94 STILL HOURS. 
 
 and as such they would not correspond to the idea of 
 absoluteness, which is inseparable from our concep- 
 tion of God. For that very reason, if we consider the 
 three Persons as alike Divine, it is impossible, in the 
 Church's doctrine of the Trinity, to avoid tritheism. 
 
 •^- 
 If the unity of God is not a numerical unity, then 
 it is not in any sense what we mean in asserting 
 
 monotheism. 
 
 * 
 
 The opponent of the doctrine of the Trinity does 
 not deny that three Persons can be one [conf. Ebrard, 
 " Dogmatik," i., p. 193); but he does deny (i) that there 
 can be three absolute Persons ; (2) that between ab- 
 solute Persons any real distinction can exist ; (3) that 
 three Divine Persons in their unity can be God, i.e. 
 an absolute spirit existing essentially as a Person. 
 The conception of theism is, that God is a Person ; 
 that of monotheism therefore, that He is one Person, 
 not a plurality of Persons, which would necessarily 
 imply a plurality of Gods, or copies of God. To this 
 we may add (4), that in the case of Persons who are 
 differently constituted, we shall expect to find some 
 purpose and motive for their coalescing in a unity, 
 but not in the case of Persons who are constituted 
 exactly alike, as absolute Persons must necessarily 
 be. (Precisely the reverse, as we see, of Ebrard's 
 idea.) Such Persons can have no mutual love, be- 
 cause their mutual love would really be self-love, and 
 that of course would be a contradictio in adjecto. 
 
THE ABSOLUTENESS OF GOD. 95 
 
 An exclusive unity of God and a man (such as 
 the Church's doctrine requires) is impossible, for this 
 reason, that the man is always an individual. Even 
 the universal individual is an individual still. 
 
 * 
 
 As a dogma [conf. Schelling, S. W. ii. 2, p. 46), the 
 assertion of the unity of God occurs only as a proposi- 
 tion in the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 
 THE ABSOLUTENESS OF GOD. 
 
 It belongs undoubtedly to the conception of the 
 absolute, that it is transcendental, and lies beyond the 
 range of all experimental knowledge. It can there- 
 fore be discovered only by speculative means, because 
 it is in its primary conception entirely spiritual, and 
 therefore entirely immaterial. 
 
 * 
 
 In the fact that the Divine objectivity and the 
 Divine subjectivity mutually presuppose and result 
 in each other lies the necessity for considering the 
 process of the Divine self-actualization as absolute 
 and irrespective altogether of the course of time. 
 
 * 
 
 In the sense of absolutely pure being, could we 
 say that in creation chaos is the corresponding idea 
 to God "i In that case, chaos must lie behind even 
 matter. 
 
 It is strange that we find it so much more difficult 
 
96 STILL HOURS. 
 
 to believe in the original existence of the perfect 
 (that is, of God) than in that of the imperfect (such as 
 primeval mud, matter, etc.) ; for the perfect clearly 
 corresponds much more nearly than the imperfect to 
 the idea of self-existence (of creation not by another). 
 This is the real kernel of the argumentuin ontologi' 
 cum. 
 
 The saying, " Ex nihilo nihil fit," may perfectly 
 well be applied to the self-existence of God. 
 
 * 
 
 In the conception of the absolute, both possibility 
 and reality must be supposed as existing together in 
 one, without in any way excluding each other. The 
 absolute is therefore entirely self-necessitated being. 
 
 * 
 The absolute perfection of a being conceived of as 
 personal consists in its capacity for forming a con- 
 ception of the highest possible end, and for absolutely 
 positing its own idea. 
 
 The Good is that which corresponds to its con- 
 ception, the True. In the creature this conception is 
 more nearly teleological. God is the absolute Being 
 and the absolute Good, because as the absolute Being 
 He perfectly corresponds to the conception of the 
 absolute ; i.e. He is determined in an absolute way, 
 which also implies that He is thus determined entirely 
 of His own will. 
 
THE ABSOLUTENESS OF GOD. 97 
 
 The Good is that being which entirely corresponds 
 to its conception ; but it belongs to the conception 
 of true being, that it is self-posited (existing not 
 merely of, but also/('r, itself). 
 
 * 
 The Good in God is not vioral good. Even in the 
 perfected individual creature this is no longer the 
 case. Moral good is becoming, and is destined to 
 become, real good ; but it has not yet attained per- 
 fection. 
 
 * 
 
 The absolute " union of necessity and freedom " 
 
 is directly implied in the conception of God, for it 
 
 necessarily belongs to the idea of the absolute, that 
 
 it is purely self-posited, and for this very purpose, 
 
 purely self-positing being. (For if being self-posited 
 
 were for the absolute a principle given it, then it 
 
 would be determined by this, and would thus be 
 
 dependent on another.) 
 
 * 
 
 We contradict ourselves when we refuse to that 
 absolute Being, who, according to our conception, 
 is not only determined, but also determined in full 
 perfection, the very highest of all the determining 
 attributes of being (whether known to us by experi- 
 ence or in themselves imaginable), viz. personality. 
 
 * 
 
 Whenever philosophy renounces the idea of a 
 personal God (which really means to renounce every 
 idea of God), it necessarily degenerates into mytho- 
 logical personifications. 
 
 G 
 
98 STILL HOURS. 
 
 While determining Himself as the absolute Person, 
 God must again from that point determine Himself 
 as the absolute Being ; for thus only does He really 
 exist entirely by His own self-determination. 
 
 * 
 
 The idea of absoluteness certainly involves that of 
 perfection, for the absolute simply means that which 
 in every respect is absolutely perfect ; but we cannot 
 reverse the idea (? ?). 
 
 Undoubtedly God alone is absolute being ; but 
 at the same time every fully developed (personal) 
 created being is in its own degree absolute (it is 
 what it is in an absolute way). This latter is the 
 so called relative absoluteness. 
 
 THE INFINITUDE OF GOD. 
 
 Absoluteness and infinitude are in no way identical 
 conceptions. Infinitude is merely eternity with the 
 idea of self-negation added. It cannot therefore in 
 any sense be predicated of God. 
 
 H'. 
 
 There is no worse, no poorer definition of the 
 absolute, than the word " infinite." 
 
 * 
 
 God in His immanent being is to be considered as 
 entirely outside space and time, and therefore just 
 
 as little infinite ^s finite, 
 
THE INFINITUDE OF GOD. 99 
 
 Infinitude, when predicated of God, means simply 
 this, that His being does not, through the existence 
 of the finite (created by Himself) and through His 
 relations with it, become less purely infinite ; that it 
 does not come under the same category as the finite, 
 owing to His connection with it. Because the being 
 of God is a being outside space and time, it cannot 
 enter into their relations, and cannot therefore come 
 into collision with them. He who exists entirely 
 outside space and time cannot have His own being 
 limited because another occupies only a fixed portion 
 of space and time. Because the being of God does 
 not come under the category of space and time, 
 being quite independent of both, therefore, when He 
 does enter space and time, it is not as being Himself 
 controlled by them, neither does He in any way come 
 under the influence of either. 
 
 How little the idea of the infinite can be used as 
 synonymous with the idea of God becomes evident 
 from the fact that space and time are themselves 
 infinite (?). 
 
 The words "^temporal " and " eternal " do not in 
 any way exclude each other. The opposite of the 
 temporal is the timeless, and therefore originless ; 
 the opposite of the eternal is the non-self-existent. 
 
 One of the many superstitions which, in our 
 science, are practiced with the idea of the infinite 
 
lOO STILL HOURS. 
 
 (often with the mere word itself), owing to its im- 
 portance being very much over-estimated, is the 
 notion that the infinitude of God makes any adequate 
 idea (not merely an approximate conception) of Him 
 impossible. But is it not a matter of indifference to 
 the mathematician, in his idea of the line, whether 
 the length of that line is limited, or whether it 
 stretches on into the infinite ? 
 
 The infinite is for us simply inconceivable. [We 
 cannot make a mental representation of it.] 
 
 * 
 
 Why should people always imagine that we lose 
 something of great importance in our knowledge of 
 God, because infinitude is to our minds quite incon- 
 ceivable .-* [We cannot picture it to ourselves. It is 
 unvorstellbar?^ The importance lies in the quality 
 of the being to be known ; its quantity is of quite 
 subordinate consequence. 
 
 THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. 
 
 The immutability of God does not imply that He 
 is unaffected by the condition of the world, although 
 it does imply that His being thus affected does not 
 result in a change of condition in Himself The 
 reason of this is, that His being is really untemporal, 
 and can therefore know nothing of vicissitude. God 
 is undoubtedly affected by all conditions of the world 
 
THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. 
 
 at every moment of its being (of the whole, as well 
 as of the individual creature) ; but since for II im no 
 separate moment of the world exists as separate, but 
 always in union with all separate moments of the 
 world's being, therefore, while being affected by one 
 particular moment, He has ever present to Him at 
 the same time the affections caused by all other 
 separate moments. He has constantly present to 
 Him the entire totality of all the affections which 
 have come to Him from the world, only determined 
 under the potency (under the louder sounding) of 
 the special and separate affection of each passing 
 moment ; and this must be always similar and homo- 
 geneous. His immutability rests therefore on the 
 fact that He never beholds the separate as merely 
 separate, but always in conjunction with the absolute 
 completeness of the whole. 
 
 Self-sufficiency certainly belongs to the conception 
 of absoluteness, and must therefore undoubtedly be 
 ascribed to God ; but God really suffices to Himself 
 only in so far as He really unites in Himself the 
 possibility and necessity of the world. 
 
 It would be an actual imperfection in God (a 
 mental dulness or indolence) if He were not affected 
 by the condition of the world. His absoluteness 
 demands only that His being thus affected by the 
 world shall in no way involve a disturbance (change 
 or limitation) in His own being. 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 God is immutable, because His being, in all its 
 changes and modifications, remains constantly true 
 to its own conception. Change of condition never 
 makes His own being less or greater, but at every 
 moment, and in all variations of the changing rela- 
 tions between Himself and the world, He remains in 
 His entirety as the absolute Being. For this reason 
 His condition is one of absolute and perpetual hap- 
 piness and glory, or, if we unite the two, of absolute 
 and perpetual vitality. Of the agency of God ad 
 extra immutability cannot be predicated, because we 
 do not consider it as absolute. Seeing that God, at 
 all times and in all His relations with the world, per- 
 fectly corresponds to His own idea, He is at all times 
 like Himself,^ and consequently immutable. 
 
 SEPARATE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 
 
 That determining quality of God, which causes 
 Him, while actualising His absolute potentiality 
 (constituting Himself as actii existing in an absolute 
 way), yet at the same time not to relinquish this 
 potentiality, but rather to preserve it, is His self- 
 existence. Without the thought of this self-existence 
 the idea of God is not really an idea of God. It is 
 
 ' Just as, in strict analogy with what has been said above, an 
 approximately perfect character, amid all the varying conditions 
 of life, preserves approximately likeness to himself — his per- 
 sonal identity. 
 
SEPARATE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 
 
 not an attribute of the Divine Being, but rather an 
 attribute of the very conception of such a Being. 
 
 The real purport of the idea of eternity is that ot 
 self-existence, both of which ideas perfectly coincide. 
 Considered as timclessness, eternity has an entirely 
 negative meaning ; if we seek to express the idea 
 positively, the thought results that God is causa sui. 
 It is for this very reason that the eternity of God is 
 so sharply accentuated in the religious consciousness. 
 God is also causa sui because of His immanent trini- 
 tarian process. 
 
 Just because eternity is a predicate of the Divine 
 being (of the hidden God), we cannot possibly con- 
 ceive its idea in a positive form. 
 
 We must exclude from the idea of God all those 
 attributes and functions of personality, which have 
 their principle in the inherent individuality of the 
 person, e.g. all impulse and sensation, all appropria- 
 tion and enjoyment, all anticipation and contem- 
 plation, all pleasure and displeasure, and along with 
 this all blessedness (notwithstanding I Timothy vi. 
 15). (Therefore there was need of a High Priest 
 who should be both God and Man ; such a High 
 Priest as we find described in Hebrews ii. 17, 18 ; iv. 
 15.) Yet this exclusion is merely an exclusion of 
 limitation. (See the general scheme of the Divine 
 attributes.) 
 
104 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Since God possesses no individuality, we cannot 
 ascribe to Him any definite individual self-conscious- 
 ness, any feeling (as distinguished from thought), 
 whether of pleasure or displeasure. In the strict 
 psychological sense, He can have no affections ; for 
 in Him affection is self-consciousness, which, through 
 the mediation of feeling, on the one hand, and in- 
 clination, on the other, passes over into self-activity. 
 But in spite of this, we must suppose that there is in 
 God a transition from His absolute self-consciousness 
 into His absolute self-activity, only, as we must ex- 
 clude all individual mediation, the transition must be 
 brought about immediately by Himself. We may 
 therefore suppose that there are in God qualities 
 analogous to affections ; on the one side, anger, and 
 on the other, satisfaction or love (as an affection), 
 more particularly as mercy (in all its various modi- 
 fications as pity, patience, long-suffering, etc.). Those 
 attributes however which belong to feeling as such 
 must be expressly left out of sight ; not merely those 
 of displeasure, pain, and suffering, but just as de- 
 cidedly those of pleasure. The happiness of God 
 must therefore be conceived as without the attribute 
 of merely individual pleasure, and in this way it is 
 characteristically distinguished from the happiness of 
 all created beings. 
 
 The life of God, as of man, depends on His having 
 a natural organism (animated body) in closest union 
 with His personality. 
 
SEPARATE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 105 
 
 We cannot gain a clear idea of the Divine omni- 
 presence unless we draw a distinction between God's 
 inworking and His indwelling. 
 
 * 
 
 In perfected personal creatures the Divine omni- 
 presence is real indwelling. 
 
 * 
 
 God is good and holy, but He is also incomparably 
 great {^gcnial gross = \\\.. supremely gifted]. 
 
 The expression, " foreknowledge of God," may be 
 very easily misunderstood and perverted. The only 
 sense in which there can be a foreknowledge of God 
 is that of forethought (of a priori conception), and 
 consequently of fore-ordination. 
 
 * 
 
 How obstinately we all cling to the heathen custom 
 of supposing that the chief characteristic in the idea 
 of God is His absolute /(7zc^r.' 
 
 * 
 
 To call God an "ethical" being, and to speak of 
 the " ethical " in Him, is most confusing. He is a 
 personal being ; we can stretch the analogy no further 
 than this. (?) 
 
 It is a narrow-minded delusion which leads us to 
 imagine that God is so very lofty that we must deny 
 to Him all that makes up the special charm of 
 humanity. Our own lofty ones fancy that they 
 should renounce this also to a large extent. 
 
ic6 STILT. HOURS. 
 
 Can we know that God is, without at the same 
 time knowing i^'Jiat He is ? 
 
 O my God, well do I feel my rashness in trying 
 to let my own thoughts follow Thine, and the feeling 
 of deepest humility never possesses me more power- 
 fully than then ; and yet, if it is right that my 
 thoughts should follow Thine, is there then any other 
 way on which I might walk less rashly ? 
 
 * 
 
 To call God (with Schelling) a Being unique in 
 His kind is quite impracticable ; for it belongs to the 
 conception of the unique, not only that the being 
 concerned is a self-contained being (a "thing de- 
 finitely marked off on all sides " ), but also that it 
 is one in a plurality of beings of the same species. 
 
 ^■ 
 
 We should not treat the good God as unreason- 
 able ; therefore not as an arbitrary God, 
 
 * 
 
 We cannot indeed speak of God as individual, 
 but He does not in this way lose any affirmative 
 attribute. He possesses no individuality, only be- 
 cause He includes in Himself the totality of those 
 qualities, which, taken separately, constitute indivi- 
 dualities. 
 
 To make God amenable to the rules of logic is 
 senselessness itself. 
 
SEPARATE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 107 
 
 We can form no mental representation {vorstcl- 
 lung) of the being of God, because it is timeless, and 
 our mental representations can be constructed only 
 under the categories of space and time. This how- 
 ever does not necessarily imply that \vc can form no 
 idea of such a Being. For this reason then, because 
 the thinking of the creature necessarily comes under 
 the categories of space and time, our thinking is 
 mainly in the form of mental representations, and 
 the mental representation forms a part of the actually 
 complete idea. 
 
 It seems to us a simple and purely elementary 
 truth that God is holy love, but how could we have 
 known anything about it without Christ and the 
 revelation made by Him? Nature and history show 
 us clearly the wise and mighty God, but where do 
 they show Him as holy and loving? 
 
 It is easy enough to repeat that God is love ; 
 but who, looking merely upon the natural course of 
 earthly existence, would himself have fallen upon 
 the idea ? 
 
 In Old Testament times men knew that God was 
 good [cf, e.g. Gen. 1. 19), but they did not yet know 
 that it belongs to the very conception of man himself 
 to be p-ood. 
 
io8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 PANTHEISM AND MATERIALISM. 
 
 In pantheistic mysticism God is really everything ; 
 in ordinary pantheism everything is God. 
 
 * 
 
 The pantheism of the middle ages was a move- 
 ment of moral contemplation in opposition to the 
 purely religious. We find in it a dawning conscious- 
 ness of the really Divine nature of ordinary created 
 
 existence. 
 
 * 
 
 Materialism, and especially materialistic pantheism, 
 seem highly plausible to all who feel their own 
 empty-mindedness and uselessness, without being, in 
 consequence thereof, disgusted with themselves. 
 
 He who thinks of God as in Himself an entirely 
 simple being (as e.g. Schleiermacher) must be 
 strongly tempted to form a pantheistic conception 
 of Him as particularising Himself in the world. 
 
 * 
 
 Superficial systems (as e.g. materialism, and many 
 forms of pantheism) readily commend themselves to 
 the approbation of all mediocre and easy-going 
 minds. They supply a summary solution of diffi- 
 culties, and, at the same time, one which can be 
 definitely formulated and easily repeated. 
 
 * 
 
 Materialism is a tendency, not a system ; it cannot 
 therefore be conquered by setting up any system in 
 
PANTHEISM AND MATERIALISM. 109 
 
 opposition to it, no matter how excellent that sys- 
 tem in itself may be. 
 
 * 
 
 What people call the materialism of our time is 
 the more or less clear consciousness, which men are 
 beginning to have now-a-days, of the human value 
 of material things for truly human purposes. 
 
GOD AND THE WORLD 
 
IV. GOD AND THE WORLD. 
 
 CREATION OF THE WORLD. 
 
 True natural science, as a construction of the 
 nature of our earth, must never forget that the 
 creation of our planet most probably presupposes 
 the existence and active agency of other spheres, 
 to which the peculiar concrete forms in which the 
 special grades of created beings have appeared must 
 be causally referred. The prima materia of our 
 planet was probably not in itself the pure and 
 entirely abstract prima materia, but only relatively 
 a primeval matter, in which were present the un- 
 consumed remains of earlier cosmic spheres, the 
 development of which had been fully completed. 
 
 * 
 Supposing that the sun were a fully developed, 
 therefore a really spiritual, sphere, then light (which 
 includes heat) would be elementary spirit streaming 
 forth from it, not as pure spirit, but in union with 
 the material elementary substances of our earthly 
 atmosphere. What our senses apprehend of light 
 would in that case be its non-spiritual element. The 
 
 "3 H 
 
114 STILL HOURS. 
 
 sun itself would be perceptible only in its reflexion 
 in our material atmosphere. 
 
 * 
 
 Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, is in all places 
 of creation (or space) where God has given to Him- 
 self a real being, where He therefore has being 
 (though without limitation) in the midst of space. 
 Heaven must therefore be apprehended as in infinite 
 growth, and consequently as being itself infinite. 
 
 It is noteworthy, that in creation each higher step 
 always arises from the dissolution of the one below, 
 so that the lower, by means of the creative influence, 
 always forms the substratum for the generation of the 
 higher. (This cannot be otherwise if the creature is 
 to be developed from itself.) From the decomposi- 
 tion of elements arises the mineral, from decayed 
 matter the plant, from the putrifying plant the ani- 
 mal. So from the material human being, as he sinks 
 back into the elements, arises spirit, the spiritual 
 creature. 
 
 Creation is creation only in so far as we find in it 
 no sudden bound, but in all its links a real develop- 
 ment from the preceding links of the chain. 
 
 Like the creation of nature, that of man has not 
 yet come to a close. Both processes run parallel to 
 each other. 
 
CREATION OF THE WORLD. 115 
 
 The Scriptures distinguish two creations {Kria-ea), 
 a material (x^i'poTroLTjTO'i) and an immaterial (Heb. ix, 
 H ; cf. I'v. 14, hui Ilvevixaro^ alcoviov, and 24). 
 
 * 
 
 It is equally true that God dwells in the perfected 
 (i.e. purely spiritual) creature, and that the creature 
 (even the imperfect) dwells in God. Our duty is to 
 see that God does dwell in the creature which dwells 
 in Him. Then, notwithstanding His work of creation, 
 God dwells again entirely by Himself. 
 
 * 
 
 The distinction between creation and preservation 
 
 in the ordinary sense entirely disappears, when 
 
 creation is considered (as it must be) as continuously 
 
 progressive. 
 
 * 
 
 Creation as a Divine act is eternal ; but creation as 
 a Divine work, as the creature, cannot be eternal, 
 because, in accordance with its very idea, it is placed 
 without exception under the law of finitude. 
 
 So far indeed the creature is certainly not eternal, 
 because the creative influence of God, according to 
 its very conception, enters directly into space and 
 time, and thus becomes directly afl"ected by both. 
 Although in itself eternal, it is everywhere present 
 only as temporal. 
 
 The finitude which belongs essentially to all created 
 being necessarily implies that it (as being made up of 
 
Ii6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 separate parts) exists in all its forms (grades, kinds, 
 species), in a multiplicity of separate beings. As each 
 of these many separate beings has its own peculiar 
 and various conditions of origin and existence, there- 
 fore the many arc at the same time dissimilar. 
 
 * 
 
 Even after the creature, in its perfected spirituality, 
 has attained to infinite being, it yet remains finite 
 because of its temporal origin, even setting aside the 
 fact that, according to its own conception, it can never 
 cease to be a divided and alterable being. 
 
 * 
 
 Creation is not a miracle. A miracle is essentially 
 an absolute act of God, which essentially creation is 
 not. And because the miracle is an absolute act of 
 God, it vanishes immediately within the circle of 
 created things, and does not form a new and con- 
 tinuous chain of events in the world.^ 
 
 * 
 
 It is no proof of God's omnipotence that He creates 
 pure matter ; the proof rather consists in His doing 
 away with matter merely as such. 
 
 * 
 
 While God creates time. His creation is itself a 
 creation in time, a temporal creation. The same is 
 true of space. But His being is also eo ipso a creating 
 of space and time. If the whole antithesis of past, 
 and future had no existence for God (Ebrard, i., p. 
 
 ' For furlhcr aphorisms on the subject of miracles, see under 
 " Supernaturalism." 
 
CREATION OF THE WORLD. 117 
 
 225), then He would be unable rightly to understand 
 temporal things, and would not therefore be the all- 
 wise and omniscient God. 
 
 * 
 If I were not to proceed on the assumption of a 
 teleology in the world, such as is alone consistent 
 with the idea of a creation by God, it must remain to 
 my mind a most problematical question whether my 
 knowledge, that derived from the senses and that 
 derived from the understanding, really comprehends 
 anything of facts as they truly are. 
 
 * 
 The being that is perfect and exists absolutely 
 must be conceived as the original, as the cause of the 
 being that is imperfect and exists only relatively. 
 
 * 
 That there must be something which was not 
 originated by another, no thinker can dispute. But if 
 this uncreated being exists, it must be itself its own 
 originator ; it can exist ilins only of itself. Such a 
 being alone can be without origin, which suffices to its 
 own existence, and which is, at the same time, the 
 causality of all originated things. 
 
 * 
 The solidarity of interests in the universe. 
 
 * 
 Natural forces are undoubtedly " elastic " (as even 
 experience shows us), for they are capable of being 
 infinitely modified by each other's influence. 
 
It 8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 In creation (alike in nature and in history) there 
 is everywhere a wealth of variations upon those 
 themes which rest on absolute necessity. The varia- 
 tions themselves do not rest upon logical and im- 
 manent necessity, but on the free artistic play of the 
 creative and relatively co-creative intellect. 
 
 * 
 
 In the creation of the material world God is not 
 only an architect, constructing all things after His 
 own design, but also a perfect artist ; i.e. in creating 
 the visible world, He constantly considers the aesthetic 
 impression that it will make on the feelings of its 
 personal inhabitants, in order that they too may 
 understand Himself, His consciousness. He is the 
 first and greatest landscape-painter. 
 
 Every flower is beautiful when it blooms. 
 * 
 
 Man, in his productions, has many separate ideas : 
 God, in His creative work, has but one, but that 
 comprises all in all. 
 
 It is well in physics to go back to atomism ; but if 
 in all nature we sec nothing more than an aggregate 
 of atoms, if we forget that the Maker of these atoms 
 has, by His creative power, produced from them 
 incomparably higher things, this is, to use the mildest 
 expression, a culpable thoughtlessness. 
 
 * 
 
 Unless we look at the matter from the standpoint 
 
CREATION OF THE WORLD. 119 
 
 of theism, wc cannot imagine that the really finite 
 world originated otherwise than by means of those 
 limitations, which were laid upon an originally positive 
 being by some negative principle. From the theistic 
 standpoint, the case is, of course, reversed. 
 
 It is not correct to say that " in the last and 
 highest instance willing is the only being " (so that 
 all real life has freedom as its foundation) ; the true 
 expression is rather that in the last and highest in- 
 stance only a being who wills is the fundamental 
 principle of all. 
 
 Is the idea of a God creating all things after His 
 own design so very absurd that we must, without 
 saying anything about it, set aside this, the most 
 natural of all explanations of the world .'' 
 
 * 
 
 He who attempts to understand the world without 
 possessing the idea of God, can only guess ; he who 
 makes the attempt, possessing this idea, is able to 
 explain it. 
 
 If God could not raise the creature to something 
 better than its present condition, He would not have 
 begun to create it at all. 
 
 God cannot share what He is and has with 
 another, but He can impart it to another. 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 The creation of God is equally characterised by 
 wise economy and by generous lavishness ; by the 
 former in its plan, by the latter in its execution. 
 
 * 
 It is pure thoughtlessness to maintain that God 
 created the world from love, and yet to deny that 
 He created it from necessity, from an inward com- 
 pulsion. 
 
 * 
 
 He whose highest ideas in theology and cosmology 
 are "barren" is undoubtedly on the wrong track. 
 Theological and cosmological ideas can be made use 
 of only when they are really fruitful, in comparison 
 with those which He lower, and may be discovered on 
 
 the path of experience. 
 
 * 
 
 The creature can possess value for God only when, 
 
 purely by its own self-development, it becomes what 
 
 it ought to be ; that is to say, when it ceases to put 
 
 itself in opposition to God. But only by means 
 
 of its relation to God can this self-development be 
 
 achieved. 
 
 * 
 
 The world does not give itself being in God (to 
 
 whom space is unknown) ; but God gives Himself 
 
 being in the world. His own eternity nevertheless 
 
 remaining unimpaired. 
 
 * 
 
 From the standpoint of belief in God, therefore 
 from the presumption that the world, ourselves in- 
 cluded, is His creature, it naturally follows that we 
 
CREATION OF THE WORLD. 
 
 may venture confidently to trust our means of know- 
 ledge (our senses in their widest acceptation) ; i.e. we 
 may trust that they are real means of knowledge 
 (true senses). From any other standpoint we would 
 have much difficulty in gaining any certain knowledge 
 
 on the subject. 
 
 * 
 
 The true real is not the real in itself, but the real 
 in its indissoluble union with the ideal. 
 
 * 
 
 That an element of the creature is indispensable 
 as an intermediate step towards the attainment of 
 the definite creature, owing to the law of develop- 
 ment of the creature from itself; and that this is 
 indispensable as an organic element in the creature 
 or material nature, in order to its life or temporary 
 existence ; — these are two different sides of one and 
 the same question, of one and the same teleology 
 of separate created things. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a perfectly natural consequence that those 
 
 who believe that our earth left the Creator's hand 
 
 in an already perfect state should, as we always 
 
 find, look upon tradition {cabala) as the only source 
 
 of knowledge. 
 
 * 
 
 The creature can have value in God's eyes, and 
 
 be an object of delight to Him, only in so far as 
 
 it has become what it is entirely by its own self- 
 development. 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 If the creature which God wills to create is to be 
 the same as God, and yet another than God, distinct 
 from Him, then He must make the creaturely being 
 that is like Him out of a being which is entirely 
 unlike Him, — which is, in fact, the opposite of what 
 He is. He must therefore first of all produce a 
 being contrary to Himself 
 
 Matter can be said to be in any sense positive 
 only because it is not merely (negatively) not what 
 God is, but rather because it is precisely (positively) 
 the contmrhtDi of what God is. Matter is indeed a 
 nullity, but it is a positive nullity. 
 
 If spirit and matter do not form a perfect contrast, 
 let us have done with all our logic. 
 
 Pure matter is not yet world {K6a-fio<i). 
 * 
 
 How can an emanation proceed from that which 
 has no parts? 
 
 What a naive idea it is to imagine that all nature 
 is merely an adornment, placed round man for the 
 purpose of beautifying him ! 
 
 * 
 
 All that exists, the being of every actual thing, 
 indispensably presupposes its previous existence in 
 thought. This is also true of the world as a whole, 
 as cosmos. 
 
PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD. 123 
 
 There are but few people so constituted as to be 
 able to keep their eye and their attention at once 
 both on God and the world. 
 
 * 
 
 What strange beings men are, that to them God 
 should become small in proportion as the world 
 
 becomes great ! 
 
 * 
 
 All true inventions are only discoveries. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The Divine preservation of the world is not a 
 continuous creation. The creation of the world is 
 no doubt infinitely progressive (John v. 17), but the 
 preservation of the already created being does not 
 require a new creative influence on the part of God. 
 The already created being is preserved, in so far 
 as it is in itself perishable, — therefore only thus far. 
 The creature that is already really spiritual is not 
 an object of the Divine preserving power. With the 
 completion of creative activity in the earthly sphere, 
 the preserving influence of God comes there to an 
 end ; ^ therefore those who belong to this sphere, 
 but have not become spiritually perfect (the lost), 
 are co ipso placed outside the reach of the preserving 
 influence of God. The Divine preservation of the 
 world is thus always a preservation of the natural 
 
 ' When God Himself really exists in the creature, the latter 
 can have no further need of preservation {cf. Rev. xxi. 23). 
 
124 STILL HOURS. 
 
 side of the creature. (Many serious difficulties are 
 thus overcome.) But for this reason preservation is 
 the peculiar function of the Divine nature. 
 
 * 
 
 The Divine preservation, purely as such, docs not 
 act directly on the separate created being, but directly 
 only on the totality of special created spheres — or, 
 more correctly, on the totality of all special created 
 spheres. Wherever the preserving power of God 
 acts on a separate created being (or on a special 
 circle of such), there a miracle takes place. There 
 are many more such miracles than we ever dream of. 
 
 * 
 
 The conception of the Divine preservation of the 
 world is, that the true, continuous existence of all not 
 yet really spiritual creatures, because it may at any 
 moment be annihilated by the Divine omnipotence, 
 rests therefore on a function of God, which does not 
 nullify, but rather confirms it, and must be referred 
 to Him as its cause. This may be said of every 
 separate being which has not yet become truly 
 spiritual, for no separate being is an indispensable 
 potency in God's plan of the world ; but this cannot 
 be said of the world as a whole. The Divine pre- 
 servation acts therefore on the former, not in any 
 sense on the latter. Until they become spiritually 
 perfect, separate beings are therefore, as regards the 
 continuation of their existence, in a state of entire 
 dependence upon God ; and this dependent relation, 
 but no more than this, is required also by the pious 
 
PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD. 125 
 
 consciousness. The continuous existence of separate 
 material creatures is undoubtedly assured by the laws 
 of nature ; but these arc so elastic, that God could 
 at any moment put an end to the existence of every 
 material being by means of these very laws. 
 
 The Church's doctrine of the Divine preservation 
 of the world rests on the same delusion as our 
 bureaucracy ; namely, on the assumption, that if 
 others are to be dependent upon one person, that 
 one must himself do everything for them, — while in 
 this way he has really nothing dependent on him, 
 merely a number of empty ciphers. 
 
 God can really {i.e. purely) love only those creatures 
 for whom He had first to give Himself, with all that 
 He is, — sacrificing Himself in order to qualify them 
 as objects of His love, — before He could give Himself 
 to them by means of mutual communion. The act 
 of self-surrender to another must be, even for God, 
 an act of self-sacrifice, owing to the toil and trouble 
 which it costs Him to bring it to its completion. 
 
 The pain of sympathy is the only pain which God 
 can know. 
 
 God cannot suffer, but He can sympathise. 
 
 * 
 In what a different attitude does adoring admira- 
 
126 STILL HOURS. 
 
 tion stand in presence of the enigma of the world, 
 from suspicious scepticism, proud of its own irony ! 
 
 * 
 
 If man, on the path of moraHty, exercising his 
 understanding and advancing his culture, has appro- 
 priated to his own personality the whole of outward 
 earthly nature, and thus by assimilation has spiritua- 
 lised it, he will, at the same time, have appropriated 
 to himself all the real ideas of God, which constitute 
 the Divine nature, as far as these can reveal them- 
 selves in the eartlily creation. 
 
 ANGELS AND DEVILS, 
 
 God's working through the angels is the natural 
 consequence of His being in the angels. 
 
 It is no mere accident that the Scriptures describe 
 the angels as so often taking an active part in the 
 history of the Redeemer, especially at the time of 
 His entrance upon His life on earth. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards the doctrine of angels, most of our 
 contemporaries seem almost to suppose that the 
 spiritual perfection of a creature involves its im- 
 prisonment in heaven. (How differently does Christ 
 Himself look upon the matter ! — Matt, xxviii. i8, 20 ; 
 xviii. 20.) The same is true of demonology. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards the higher spiritual world, we learn 
 
THE SUPERSENSUAI. WORLD. 127 
 
 from the Scriptures that in it real angels and devils 
 are actively present. We know from Scripture that 
 there are such beings, what their nature is, and how 
 they act ; but whence they come, and whither they 
 go, the Scriptures do not tell us. 
 
 The devil is in God's world an illegitimate power 
 and unacknowledged by God ; but, at the same time, 
 he is an actual power, which God cannot ignore. 
 
 THE SUPERSENSUAL WORLD. 
 
 Is it less adventurous to assume that matter will 
 perish, than to believe it will be spiritualized? What 
 are we then to think of the " supersensual world "? 
 
 * 
 
 He who wishes to look into the supersensual 
 world must prepare himself to find things in it which 
 will appear to him most Avonderful. 
 
 * 
 
 The invisible spiritual world is not merely invisible 
 
 for us, but is altogether imperceptible by means of 
 
 the senses. 
 
 * 
 
 In material nature the most real, because the most 
 intense and energetic, forces are the imponderable, 
 those which are least tangible and altogether least 
 perceptible by the senses. From this we may draw 
 an inference as to the reality of invisible and spiritual 
 thinsrs. 
 
128 STILL HOURS. 
 
 If, ill facing the question as to whether there is a 
 supersensual world, as the result of the sensual, I 
 contemplate the visible world, then this thought 
 takes powerful possession of my mind, that it is 
 impossible for the most artistic work to be at the 
 same time the most worthless and without design. 
 
 * 
 
 He only can, as a natural consequence, be dis- 
 posed to avoid all thoughts of the supersensual world, 
 who does not consider it as the product of the 
 sensual. 
 
 SPACE AND TIME. 
 
 As far as God is considered as standing in relation 
 
 to the world, thus far, but no further, must He be 
 
 considered as making space and time the sphere of 
 
 His activity. 
 
 * 
 
 According to Herbart space and time are only 
 "still forms of our conception." 
 
 * 
 
 Existence as the existence of nothing, of nought, 
 of nullity = space; existence as non-existent, as null, 
 
 as negative = time. 
 
 * 
 
 The original dimensions of space are those of the 
 original figure, the sphere. 
 
 * 
 
 Space and time arc the framework, the warp, into 
 which God weaves his /c6cr/i09. 
 
SPACE A AW TIME. 129 
 
 K6cry(xo9 = tlie uiiiveisitas rcruni considered as the 
 
 product of design. 
 
 * 
 
 The sa}'ing, that whatever begins must end, Is 
 
 untrue. 
 
 * 
 
 The idea of time does not in itself by any means 
 belong to the conception of growth. Growth is 
 being which exists under the form of causal relation. 
 This relation naturally involves the idea of design ; 
 and more nearly, on the one hand, the idea of some 
 object of design, and, on the other, the realization of 
 this idea. The being which is self-developed, which 
 is causa siii, must inevitably be considered as existing 
 under the form of growth. 
 
 Matter is not equivalent to mass, which is already 
 a concrctum. The two are invariably confounded 
 when one gives to space and time an existence prior 
 to matter.^ 
 
 The conception common to both space and time is 
 that of divided being. In space, the divisions of 
 time are considered as co-existent, existing along 
 with each other ; in time, as successive, existing after 
 one another. Divided beings finite being. Existence 
 in space Is non-self-existent as regards its idea, as 
 
 ' Or when matter is defined as " space-filling substance, 
 which has as its essential characteristics weight and antitypy" 
 (Wcisse : '' Philos. Dogmatik," ii., § 129). 
 
 I 
 
I30 STILL HOURS. 
 
 regards what it is ; existence in time is non-self- 
 existent as regards its actual existence, the reality 
 
 of what it is. 
 
 * 
 
 In the conception of matter as the simply non- 
 existent, i.e. the simply finite or divided being, lies 
 its infinite divisibility, because of its being divided ; 
 and thus we reach the idea of the infinite divisibility 
 of space and time. 
 
 The finitude, which belongs essentially to all 
 created being, necessarily implies that it (as being 
 made up of separate parts) exists in all its forms 
 (grades, kinds, species) in a multiplicity of separate 
 beings. As each of these separate beings has its 
 own peculiar and various conditions of origin and 
 existence, the many are at the same time dissimilar. 
 
 Even after the creature, in its perfected spirituality, 
 has attained to infinite being, it yet remains finite 
 because of its temporal origin, even setting aside the 
 fact that, according to its own conception, it can 
 never cease to be a divided and alterable being. 
 
 * 
 
 That which is filled with divisible being (atoms) is 
 not empty space (Fichte : "Anthropologic," pp. 204- 
 206), but extended and animated space, or aether. 
 
 We are able indirectly to contemplate space by 
 contemplating those things which fill it, for every 
 
SPACE AND TIME. 131 
 
 microscope shows the relativity and subjectivity of 
 the laws of size in space ; but we cannot do this with 
 time. For although certain things do fill time, yet 
 it cannot be thus contemplated ; for in filling a 
 certain point of time they do not exclude each other, 
 as things in space, relatively at least, always do. 
 Time must therefore be contemplated in its duration. 
 
 * 
 
 A beginning of time can be conceived of only in 
 space, therefore only on the assumption of the 
 priority of space to time. But time and space are, 
 in their fundamental principle, entirely co-existent ; 
 so that the one cannot be supposed to exist without 
 the other. The same is true of the assumption of a 
 beginning of space. 
 
 Number (by means of motion) stands in the same 
 relation to time as measure, figure, or size (by means 
 of extension) stands to time. 
 
 * 
 
 Space : locality = figure. Time : measure = number. 
 Figure is the original and most abstract form of the 
 idea : number the original and most abstract form 
 of existence. The idea is the quale ; existence is 
 the quantum. Space can be defined only by figures 
 (the most simple is the point) ; time only by 
 numbers (the most simple is the zero). 
 
 * 
 
 The origin of a being can take place only in time. 
 If time does not exist, then there can be no existence 
 
132 STILL HOURS. 
 
 of that which has a beginning ; so that whatever part 
 of the world exists before time must be without 
 commencement. Only after time has come to have 
 an existence in the world are there creatures which 
 have a beginning. 
 
 Space divides the various forms of existence ; time 
 divides existence itself 
 
 Because space and time exist for God, therefore 
 they do not exist in Him, nor He in them. 
 
 * 
 
 Only for the spirit space is no more a separating 
 
 barrier. Only as spirits can persons really dwell in 
 
 one another. 
 
 * 
 
 Mathematics are an essential part of the system of 
 philosophy. 
 
 Mathematics pre-suppose logic, but not vice versa. 
 Mathematics are a part of physics. 
 
 What logic is in the ideal, mathematics are in the 
 real. The laws of nature are laws of logic. 
 
 * 
 
 Categories are those presuppositions of our con- 
 sciousness, by means of which the act of thinking as 
 such, apart from any given object of thought, is 
 rendered possible. 
 
SPIRIT. 
 
 SPIRIT. 
 
 Spirit exists only for spirit. 
 
 Spirit is not by any means, in its fundamental 
 conception, a personal, i.e. a self-conscious and self- 
 active being ; but witJiout personality, i.e. self-con- 
 sciousness and self-activit)', spirit cannot be ima- 
 gined. 
 
 * 
 
 The most striking proof of the reality of spirit is 
 
 the universal talk on the subject, while, at the same 
 
 time, hardly any one ever connects a real idea with 
 
 the word "spirit." 
 
 * 
 
 In the perfected spiritual world there are personal 
 
 potencies of dimensions, of which we, within the 
 
 range of our present experience, have no conception 
 
 whatever. 
 
 * 
 
 Even pure spirits in the purely immaterial world 
 
 must have an outward, in contrast to an inward, being, 
 
 just as surely as the being of each several one, in 
 
 spite of its pure spirituality, is finite, or limited by 
 
 space. 
 
 * 
 
 Once for all, spirit cannot possibly be made. 
 * 
 
 In visible nature, if we advance from its lower to 
 its higher stages, we find that, on the one hand, the 
 ideal factor, spirit, is always increasing, while, on the 
 
134 STILL HOURS. 
 
 other hand, the real factor is continually decreasing. 
 At the summit we come to a purely ideal being, 
 to the ego as we may imagine it previous to moral 
 development. 
 
 There is no other created spirit except the moral 
 (morally determined). 
 
 Ought not the perfected spiritual mind, which has 
 become free from the sensual, to comprehend the 
 sensual, and, indeed, to comprehend it as it truly 
 is.? 
 
 While the spirit is at once both conceived being 
 and absolutely existent being, its very principle 
 excludes the possibility of its being potentia, i.e. 
 conceived (possible) but not purely existent being. 
 
 * 
 
 Even material nature is essentially self-developed 
 and constantly self-developing ; but spirit is de- 
 veloped both from without itself and from within 
 
 itself. 
 
 * 
 
 Is spirit in its fundamental idea simple? Certainly 
 
 it is indivisible, an aKaraXvrov. 
 
 * 
 
 Real spirit cannot become more than it is. 
 
 Spirit can originate only by self-conception and 
 self-realization. 
 
SPIRIT. 135 
 
 Real spirit cannot be sensually affected, cannot 
 therefore be affected by anything sensual ; e.g. it is 
 impossible to alter or to spoil it. 
 
 ^-. 
 
 In a tenable conception of spirit how can there be 
 any question of a " possible troubling and darkening 
 of the spiritual life, by means of the organic feelings 
 and sensations, impulses and desires " ? (Schenkel : 
 " Dogm.," ii., p. 340. Cf. Schenkel himself on this 
 very point, pp. 341, 342.) 
 
 * 
 
 Spirit and matter arc alternative conceptions, so 
 that we cannot have a clear and distinct idea of the 
 one without the other. 
 
 Spirit is the only being which possesses value in 
 itself, because it alone is self-developed. 
 
 The word "spiritual," as distinguished from the 
 immaterial, means spirit considered as not morally 
 developed — a kind of spirit which certainly does not 
 exist in the creature. 
 
 Spirit in its fundamental principle is absolutely 
 penetrable, manifest to others, self-communicable ; i.e. 
 it is light. As an absolutely existing idea, spirit is 
 clearly conceivable by others. 
 
136 STILL HOURS. 
 
 CREATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 
 
 The ruling conception of the human spirit in our 
 theology, although our dogmatists do not appear to 
 be conscious of it, is unquestionably emanative, purely 
 created, and not as they pretend, creative. We may 
 easily conceive to what serious consequences such a 
 confusion of ideas may lead. 
 
 He who considers that the human spirit was 
 directly created must necessarily consider it as mere 
 nature ; for, so considered, it is of course merely a 
 conceived and posited being. 
 
 * 
 
 If matter, the contrary of God, has yet, in the 
 personal creature, come to be in some sense analogous 
 to God, then the personal creature itself becomes thus 
 the contrary of matter, and the contrary of nature so 
 far as nature is material. 
 
 Even the creation of nature, in each of its several 
 kingdoms, passed through stages of deformity. Why 
 then should it be thought unworthy of God to 
 suppose that the like took place in the creation of 
 
 man } 
 
 * 
 
 If it belongs to the very conception of creation to 
 be a development of matter, itself primarily created 
 by God, then we do not cast the slightest aspersion 
 on the Creator by saying that He made man at first 
 
CREATION OP THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 137 
 
 merely natural (i Cor. xv. 47), and, in this the first 
 stage of his development, necessarily sinful ; for this 
 stage of the creature's development could not be 
 overleaped any more than another, if true develop- 
 ment was to subsist. Only, we must remember that 
 it was merely temporary, and destined to be abolished 
 in the further progress of creative work. 
 
 * 
 
 Nothing which is imperfect, which is not abso- 
 lutely good, can be original or causa sni ; but must, 
 in some respect, at least, have been originated by 
 
 another. 
 
 * 
 
 Dispositions and determinations of the will cannot 
 be inborn. 
 
 Created spirit can be conceived of only as an ideal 
 and yet real being, whose reality is the proper act of 
 its ideality ; only in such a being can its being so, that 
 is, its having spiritual existence, have any value. Only 
 when the spiritual being has been developed, not 
 by the mere thought and action of another, but by 
 its own personal thought and action, can it be not 
 merely spiritual nature, but also a spiritual ego, 
 therefore a spiritual person or personal spirit. Even 
 the natural ego is not the result of the direct thought 
 and action of another, but is developed by its own 
 thought and action, building on the foundation of its 
 natural disposition, which is undoubtedly the creation 
 of another. Hence a natural ego, strictly so called, 
 
138 STILL HOURS. 
 
 does not exist ; but as far as it is actu present, it is 
 
 also spiritual, developed by its own thought and its 
 
 own action. 
 
 * 
 
 How impossible it is to conceive the created spirit 
 as developed by a direct and therefore pure decree of 
 God, is clearly shown in the everywhere apparent 
 tendency of our theologians to consider it as pro- 
 ceeding from Go(fs oivn being, therefore as emana- 
 tive. 
 
 Wherever and under whatever circumstances any 
 good can be developed from the personal creature, 
 there, by means of His own holiness, must God 
 develop it. 
 
 If God could have created man in a state of direct 
 moral goodness, then He could have restored sinful 
 man directly, i.e. by magic, to the same state of moral 
 excellence. The pity is, that in both instances the 
 moral quality would be wanting to the man who had 
 thus become good ! 
 
 If we wish with full assurance to recognise the 
 highest good in man, then we must at the same time 
 acknowledge that it grows up in him out of the low 
 and the sensual, to the honour of the Creator's 
 wisdom. 
 
 If man, by a direct creative action oj God, has 
 
CREATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 139 
 
 become in reality "a being akin to Him " (Schenkel : 
 " Dogmatik," ii., i., pp. 153-159), then he can claim 
 no real kinship to God at all ; for such a being only 
 can be akin to God which has itself become what it 
 is ; what is actu akin to God must be self-developed. 
 
 * 
 
 Can it be seriously demanded (Schenkel : " Dog- 
 matik," ii., i., pp. 154, 156) that the human individual 
 shall be a creature of God in a different sense from 
 the individual of any other species of organic crea- 
 tures ? 
 
 * 
 
 If we are to grant that an adequacy of the creature 
 for God may exist, on account of which He can love 
 it, then, since God exists of Himself alone, the crea- 
 ture which exists, not of itself, but entirely of God, 
 must become developed by its own means. There- 
 fore the merely natural creature always remains 
 foreign to God, who can dwell in none but the 
 personal creature. 
 
 If God had wished to make of the creature merely 
 an impersonal plaything, not an object of His love, 
 then undoubtedly it need not have passed through 
 the discipline of evil. 
 
 The only true power of self-determination is that 
 which has determined itself to be so. But in that 
 case the creature, to whom it belongs, cannot have 
 been endowed at its creation with this self-determin- 
 
14° STILL HOURS. 
 
 ing power. Only such a being can determine itself 
 to be a power of self-determination. 
 
 * 
 
 The difficulties which surround the assumption 
 that sin was appointed by God in His scheme of 
 the world may be very easily explained when the 
 circumstances are correctly represented. God traces 
 out in a priori thought the necessary course of crea- 
 tion, and because, according to its conception, the 
 personal, spiritual world, which is its aim and object, 
 cannot be otherwise realized than through stages of 
 sinful personal creatures, with material organisms 
 and animal propensities, therefore He expressly gives 
 a place to these stages in His plan of the world ; but, 
 like all mere means to an end (which, as being only 
 means, are conceived as not definitive), they are just 
 as expressly meant to be abolished. 
 
 * 
 
 A real unity of idea and existence, i.e. spirit, 
 cannot be achieved otherwise than by means of these 
 themselves. It cannot be accomplished by the inter- 
 vention of any third influence exercised outside of 
 them, for in that case the unity would be merely 
 outward, not truly inward. Consequently, {a) the 
 idea must place existence in absolute unity with it- 
 self; or {b) existence must place the idea in absolute 
 unity with itself; or [c) each must place the other in 
 absolute unity with itself. Of these, however, b is 
 clearly inconceivable, because existence as such can- 
 not create an idea, cannot therefore place it in unity 
 
CREATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 141 
 
 with itself ; and for the same reason, c becomes also 
 impossible. A, on the contrary, is quite conceivable, 
 if the idea is supposed to be, on the one hand, self- 
 conceiving, and on the other, self-realizing. Spirit 
 can originate in a being only by means of its own con- 
 ception and its own realization. Only the elements 
 of the creature's spirit can thus be divinely created ; 
 the spirit itself must be produced from these elements 
 by the creature itself alone. For only by the crea- 
 ture itself can these elements be truly woven into 
 one another, because this can be done only by its 
 personal thought and action (not by those of another). 
 
 Self-conscioUsncss docs not mean that we are of 
 ourselves conscious of the matter in question, but 
 that we are conscious of that matter, whatever it may 
 be, through ourselves, in an active, not a passive, 
 acceptation. From this self-consciousness alone it 
 follows that the conscious being can also be con- 
 scious of itself ; i.e. can distinguish itself from its 
 consciousness. The same is true of self-activity, and 
 this indeed is in keeping with our common mode of 
 speech. Only as far as the active being is active 
 through itself, can it direct its activity tozvards itself. 
 Because the soul (the soul's life) is self-conscious and 
 self-active, therefore it is also self-determined : it is 
 ego, i.e. it is personal ; personality belongs to it. 
 This ego, although it is essentially the union of self- 
 consciousness and self-activity (it results from these 
 two factors), is yet essentially distinct from both, and 
 
142 STILL HOURS. 
 
 indeed is so by virtue of these themselves, because as 
 self-consciousness it acts upon itself as self-activity, 
 and vice versa. 
 
 Perception = thinking directed towards a given 
 object; moral formation or culture = volition directed 
 towards a given object. Pure thinking is thinking 
 which originates the thought out of itself; pure voli- 
 tion is volition which originates the deed out of itself. 
 The former produces from itself the world of its 
 thoughts ; the latter, in the same way, the world of 
 its actions. The one is speculative thinking ; the 
 other autonomic volition. The speculative thinker, 
 when placed in a world, understands it of himself, 
 as it ought to be understood ; the autonomic wilier 
 forms it to himself, as it ought to be formed. The 
 first is the man of reason ; the second the free man. 
 The pure ideas of the former find everywhere objects 
 which correspond to them, and the same is true of 
 the pure acts of volition of the latter. So far we 
 may say of the true speculator and autonomist, i.e. 
 of the true man of reason and the true free man, 
 that he himself, thinking and realizing, creates his 
 own outer world, both ideal and real. On this point 
 rests the possibility of an active agency without the 
 intervention of material senses and powers. The 
 true speculator and autonomist is therefore adapted 
 to every sphere of activity ; he understands (per- 
 ceives) them all correctly, and he deals with them or 
 morally forms them all rightly. 
 
CREATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 143 
 
 That the spirit of the creature was not created 
 directly, but can be produced by the Creator only as 
 self-posited being, therefore only by the intervention 
 of the creature itself, only by the non-spiritual 
 creature positing itself as spiritual — all this neces- 
 sarily belongs to the conception of spirit as the true, 
 i.e. absolute, union of idea and existence. A true, not 
 merely relative, union, as distinguished from mere 
 connection, between any idea and existence can be 
 brought about only by this idea giving itself exist- 
 ence ; namely, by a rational realization. Only from 
 within, i.e. only of itself, by its own rational self- 
 realization, can existence be given to an idea in such 
 a way that a real union of both shall result ; it can 
 never come from without, therefore never by the 
 thought and action of another. Such another could 
 indeed produce a connection between idea and exist- 
 ence, as, on the one hand, the Creator Himself does 
 in material nature, and as, on the other, the personal 
 creature does in his arts and manufactures. But 
 we could never have in this way a truly inward, 
 i.e. absolutely pure, connection which would be a real 
 unity. 
 
 God can therefore create the spiritual creature 
 only indirectly, by creating a material creature, which 
 is specifically so organized that it is able to transub- 
 stantiate itself from materiality into spirituality ; or, 
 in other words, to spiritualize itself. To this idea the 
 personal creature corresponds. 
 
144 STILL LLOURS. 
 
 LIFE {LIGHT). 
 
 Light is the concrete form in which life exists in 
 God. Light is existence and idea in absolute iden- 
 tity. Therefore light is the concrete form of spirit as 
 such, as impersonal. Matter as such is therefore, as 
 the opposite of spirit, death, and in concreto, darkness. 
 Light is the principle which generates life, especially 
 in created nature. {Cf. Luke ii. 36.) 
 
 * 
 
 Spirit as such, as impersonal, is light and life. 
 Personality is absolutely centralized life and light. 
 
 * 
 
 Spirit is in concrcto life and light. It embraces 
 the two in absolute identity. It is living light and 
 luminous life. It belongs to the conception of light 
 to be also life. 
 
 That which in its form is life is in its matter light ; 
 i.c. spirit is formally life, materially light. 
 
 * 
 
 The concrete identity of light and life shows itself 
 in the fact, that the outward expression of both, while 
 yet material, is heat. 
 
ON MAN. 
 
 K 
 
V. ON MAN. 
 
 MAN AND MANKIND. 
 
 The thought of being a man is indescribably 
 solemn, and fitted to produce a feeling of awe. 
 
 * 
 What a curious creature is man, a being who must 
 rack his brains in order to discover what he him- 
 self is ! 
 
 Man is the only creature which, as created, does 
 not correspond to its own conception, and which is 
 therefore self-contradictory. This self-contradiction 
 is necessary, because it lies in the principle of man's 
 being to become conformable to his conception only 
 by his own personal action. 
 
 Man is the earthly microcosm only in his having 
 
 spread himself fully out over the entire globe, so that 
 
 the totality of all his peculiar attributes, and all his 
 
 latent ideas and forces, are reflected and actualized in 
 
 the whole human race. 
 
 * 
 
 The being of man is no mere " mode of existence," 
 
148 STILL HOURS. 
 
 but a specifically determined being, to which a " mode 
 of existence," of one kind or another, belongs. 
 
 It is undoubtedly a pressing necessity for the theo- 
 logy of the present day, unless it is to degenerate into 
 silly prattle about piety, to acknowledge that it dis- 
 tinctly assumes that man is a product of nature, that 
 he is creatively produced. 
 
 * 
 
 Our " scriptural " theologians expressly acknow- 
 ledge that " man did not originally occupy the higher 
 stage of development, which has for its distinctive 
 mark a conscious separation between good and evil, 
 but had to attain this stage by means of the tree of 
 the knowledge of good and evil." Yet, in spite of 
 this, they also maintain that God held with our first 
 parents in Paradise "a continuous spiritual and corpo- 
 real intercourse, and that they were conscious of their 
 undisturbed communion with God"; that "their 
 will rested in the will of God, and was in perfect har- 
 mony with it, not merely unconsciously and instinc- 
 tively, but consciously and knowingly," that "their 
 primary condition was not childlike, in the sense that 
 their communion with God had first to be entered 
 into, but that they were rather in conscious unity with 
 their Creator God." They even go as far as to add 
 distinctly, "But we must not forget, that the first 
 human beings did not enter this condition by any 
 inward development, but found themselves already 
 
AL-J.V AND MANk'IND. 149 
 
 existing in it, just as they had left the Creator's 
 hand !" 
 
 Humanity in its sum total is itself a mere indivi- 
 dual as compared with the personal creature as such. 
 It is the personal creature in its specific determination 
 as an earthly creature. 
 
 As regards the question, as to whether the human 
 race descends from one pair or from several, we must 
 not overlook the fact that the latter idea may be 
 understood in very different senses, according as we 
 consider the several pairs as of one and the same 
 kind, or of different kinds. The latter would then 
 be considered as indicating the different stages by 
 means of which the idea of a creation of man has 
 been gradually realized. 
 
 The unity of the human race is founded, quite 
 independently of the unity of our first parents, in 
 the unity of the conception of man. 
 
 * 
 
 If in the created universe the earlier generations 
 were not considered as always lower in the scale of 
 being than those which follow, then its happiness 
 could not be infinitely increasing. 
 
 * 
 The more intimately I come to know a man, the 
 more honourable does he usually appear to me. 
 
ISO STILL HOURS. 
 
 There is no doubt that God must first have a real 
 inan^ before He can make him a child of God. 
 
 MAN AND ANIMAL. 
 
 Even the animal exercises a moulding influence 
 upon nature, but only in an individual manner. It 
 can only assimilate it to itself, but has no power to 
 make or produce anything from it. The same is true 
 of its understanding. 
 
 Very instructive, as regards the relation of the per- 
 sonality to the soul, is the fact that the animal, in the 
 gratification of its desires, never transgresses the 
 proper bounds, which man often does. Man, being 
 an ego, can excite his own impulse at will, while the 
 animal is only excited by its impulse, and the ex- 
 citing impulse naturally disappears as soon as the 
 impulse is gratified. 
 
 It is a very common error to confound the ego 
 with the soul, an error which {e.g. in Lotze's works) 
 has a most confusing result. But how comes a con- 
 fusion like this to be possible in presence of the little 
 fact that there is such a thing as an animal-soul ? 
 
 * 
 
 In the animal sphere there exists as yet no 
 definite contrast between the soul, which rises above 
 matter, and the nature, which is in direct union with 
 it. For this reason the soul of the animal is entirely 
 
jMan' and animal. 151 
 
 under the power of its nature ; but this is, at the 
 
 same time, the sustaining power, which preserves 
 
 to the nature its own proper character — the power 
 
 which we call instinct. 
 
 * 
 
 In spring the toads, frogs, and reptiles come out ; 
 
 even this is a sign that a new spirit of life is at work 
 
 in nature. 
 
 * 
 
 In dreams we are conscious passively and actively ; 
 
 our experiences in dreams may perhaps become an 
 
 important key to the knowledge of the soul-life of 
 
 animals. 
 
 * 
 
 In sleep the animal sinks back into the plant, into 
 the process of vegetation ; the personal therefore falls 
 back into the material or impersonal, in order to 
 gather thence new powers of existence (which by 
 its special animal process are being constantly ex- 
 hausted).^ The particular being sinks back into the 
 general process of nature, there to acquire new 
 nourishment, because of itself, as a particular being, 
 it has, as yet, no principle of existence, seeing that it 
 is not yet real spirit. Sleep, therefore, like nourish- 
 ment, is a condition of the existence of every 
 individual, of every animal which has not yet become 
 real spirit. The plant sleeps continually, as the 
 
 ' It is here evident that the course of animal existence is a 
 continuous subhmation of matter into the animal, a transforma- 
 tion of matter, of the real into the ideal. Only in man does the 
 true idealization take place. 
 
152 STILL HOURS. 
 
 animal does before, and in the first period after, its 
 birth. 
 
 In the animal the real self-comprehensiveness of 
 the individual is first achieved, but only as self- 
 exclusion and self-reserve, for the animal cannot love. 
 
 The expression of the animal in death is different 
 from that of man. 
 
 So far as man is concerned, the animal belongs to 
 material nature as it lies unaffected by human in- 
 fluences. It has itself a claim on nature only as far 
 as nature is morally raw material, not on nature as 
 cultivated by man. 
 
 SOUL AND BODY. 
 
 Life is the harmonious unity of contrasts. Its 
 condition is therefore the oneness of soul and body, 
 for the body is for the soul the condition of the 
 diastole and systole of being, on which life depends. 
 
 According to Mor. Wilh. Drobisch (" Empirische 
 Psychologic nach naturwissenschaftlicher Methode," 
 p. i6: Leipzig, 1842), it is a "frequently noted fact 
 that we find the full use of the mental powers exist- 
 ing up to the end of life, along with an almost 
 entirely ruined brain." 
 
SOUL AND BODY. 153 
 
 That which in the moral process we understand by 
 the processor spirituaHzation is the so-called organism 
 of the inner nature ; i.e. the psychical, the directly 
 causal substratum of the ego. The soul \seele\ be- 
 comes the organism of a spiritual nature — a spiritual, 
 
 animated \beseelt'\ body. 
 
 * 
 
 The mass of spirit-elements, which is the result 
 of the moral process of the individual, is styled a 
 spiritual body, only on account of its absolute organi- 
 zation, i.e. its absolutely unique construction. But 
 the possibility of this presupposes the really perfected 
 personality of the constructing individual, for only 
 in this case would it be in itself an absolute unity. 
 That which here opposes the organic unity is in 
 concreto the fact that, along with the good and there- 
 fore essentially real spirit, is blended spirit which is 
 not yet good, and therefore not yet essentially real. 
 There must therefore be a separation of the latter, 
 i.e. a regeneration, which purifies it from all material 
 elements, and changes it into good, and therefore also 
 into essentially real, spirit. 
 
 * 
 
 The soul, or more nearly the personality, is to all 
 eternity only the result of the vivifying functions of 
 man's nature, or more particularly of his body. This 
 is true of the spiritual man, just as implicitly as of 
 the natural. That the soul is essentially the same 
 as its body is quite as true a sa}'ing as the reverse, 
 like soul, like body. 
 
1 54 STILL HOURS. 
 
 A soul and a body (an animated \bcsedt\ body) 
 must be necessary to the natural organism which 
 corresponds to the ego^ because the soul in itself is 
 only inwardly the instrument of its activity ; in order 
 to outward activity the body is required. 
 
 * 
 
 The probable reason why our common mode of 
 speech (in almost every language) refers the moral 
 life of man, individually considered, to the heart, is 
 that this organ is the centre of the action of the blood, 
 the original basis of the material animal life. 
 
 * 
 
 As long as we have a conception of the spirit 
 which excludes nature from it, it must be quite im- 
 possible for us to imagine a purely spiritual being 
 and life of man, and consequently to imagine a living 
 and personal God as purely spiritual. For even the 
 most spiritual functions of the ego, its absolute think- 
 ing and absolute willing, are themselves limited by 
 the possession of an organism which does not itself 
 think and will, which is therefore essentially a nature. 
 
 * 
 
 In an organism (structure of members) "everything 
 exists for the sake of one, and each separate member 
 for the sake of all " (Kant : " Kritik des reinen Vern." 
 Vorr. zur 2 Aufl.). Each constituent part of the 
 organism has " a life for itself, only because it exists 
 in the whole " (Vetter : " Lehre von chr. Cultus," 
 p. 192). 
 
SOUL AND BODY. 155 
 
 The process of appropriation is specifically the 
 process of life preservation. For material nature is 
 said to come into possession of itself as an individual, 
 as the organism of its own personality, even to bring 
 out its own life, which actually consists in the per- 
 sonality finding itself in possession of an organism. 
 
 * 
 
 For the personal creature in its particular sphere, 
 outward nature must finally cease ; it must be entirely 
 appropriated as the creature's own organism. In the 
 same way no outward nature exists for God within 
 the circle of His immanent being. The doctrine of 
 the final destruction of our earthly nature is therefore 
 perfectly unassailable. A spiritual nature cannot be 
 conceived of as outward, for a real idea, or an ideal 
 existence, is conceivable only in a thinking or, speak- 
 ing generally, only in a personal being. 
 
 * 
 
 The peculiar organ for self-activity is the system of 
 ganglia ; for self-consciousness, the central system. 
 Both these systems are organically united, and exist, 
 although in different degrees, in each other. 
 
 Physiologically, the brain is the principle of the 
 universal side of man's nature ; the heart, that of the 
 individual. Self-consciousness and self-activity pro- 
 ceed equally from both these organs. (?) 
 
 In the course of the physical process of life, the 
 head, or brain, gradually appropriates to itself all the 
 
156 STir.L HOURS. 
 
 life-spirit left over by the other organs (nervous fluid, 
 etc., as it is not unfitly called), ij) Just as the God- 
 Man appropriates to Himself all the qualities proper 
 to humanity. 
 
 In the front of the brain our knowledge is wrought 
 into shape ; in the rear, it is kept in store. 
 
 * 
 Our sensual organs — even the finest — are instru- 
 ments for the production of the spiritual man, and 
 nothing more. Of the product itself, of spiritual 
 human nature (which is itself a complex of organs, 
 but, be it observed, of spiritual organs), nothing what- 
 ever is transmitted to them. 
 
 * 
 Not matter, not substance In any sense, is the 
 essential point in the body, but form, the perfected 
 organization of matter. 
 
 * 
 
 Spirit, according to its very conception, cannot 
 degenerate into matter (" become extinct," " sleep," 
 and so forth) ; but matter may very well be elevated 
 into spirit. 
 
 "The soul of man gives evidence of its natural 
 being by existing ^ before it is conscious of itself, and 
 before it wills " (Gess. : " Die Lehre von der Person 
 Christi," p. 189). 
 
 ' But can this be said of the soul as personal ? 
 
SOUL AND BODY. 157 
 
 The most striking proot that there can be no life 
 for the ego without a natural organism is found in 
 sleep. It rests on the fact that our sensual natural 
 organism withdraws itself for a time from our ego, 
 and lives for itself alone, a plant-life, in which the 
 plastic process carries on its work.^ 
 
 * 
 
 " All that slumbers in man is never awake at once " 
 (Schaller : " Psychol.," i., p. 320). 
 
 * 
 " Man is at every moment infinitely more than he 
 knows" (Ebrard : " Dogmatik," ii., p. 319; cf. p. 355). 
 
 * 
 The ego occurs only as " I am conscious," or " I 
 will " (I am active). 
 
 All human functions, which may be replaced by 
 machinery, arc only sensual functions. 
 
 H< 
 
 In the organism matter is completely determined 
 as a norm {Cf. Schelling, i. 5, p. 337)- I" it form is 
 one with matter and has passed over into it. 
 
 * 
 
 The "direct object" of our subject is our own 
 natural organism, our own animated body (Schopen- 
 hauer). This is equally true both of the conscious 
 and the active object. 
 
 » Cf. Schaller, " Psychologic," i., pp. 292, 296, 300, 301, 321, scq. 
 
158 STILL HOURS. 
 
 As regards the dispute between G. E. Rahl and 
 his opponents as to whether, in organic generation 
 and nourishment, the real active agent is the " soul " 
 or the " vital force " (Fichte : " Anthropologic," pp. 
 275-277), we need simply notice the fact that the 
 " soul " and the " vital force " are not different things, 
 but that the soul is merely the specifically animal 
 vital force. {Cf. Fichte, pp. 439, etc., 480.) 
 
 Every part of an organism is at once means and 
 end. 
 
 That Is a strange thoughtlessness which supposes 
 that the word " sensuality " can have reference only 
 to functions of the body, not also to functions of the 
 soul. 
 
 What Baader calls the kindling of the wheel of 
 
 Ixion in the creature's life, is the awaking of the 
 
 autonomy of the material life of the creature. {Cf. ii., 
 
 p. 1 01, etc.) 
 
 * 
 
 Vitality in general depends on the union of the 
 individuality with a natural organism. 
 
 Hands are worth more than wings. 
 * 
 
 It is a thoroughly human idea not to allow one's 
 beard to grow, for the beard evidently lessens the 
 space left free for involuntary mimicry, for the 
 
PERSONALITY. 159 
 
 direct representation to one's self of the individual 
 life of the soul. 
 
 A man may well wonder when he considers how 
 even the individual organization of his body stands 
 in definite tcleological relation to the individual 
 spiritual development and task in life assigned him 
 by the Creator. 
 
 PERSONALITY. 
 
 Personality is the first example of true individuaUty, 
 — totality in itself, existence of the universal in the 
 non-universal, of the absolute in the relative, of the 
 infinite in the finite. Therefore it first is true self- 
 determination, self-dependence, independence as re- 
 gards the complex of relative or finite existence, 
 
 immortality. 
 
 * 
 
 In the personal individual as a totality the universe 
 is individually reflected. In this consists its self- 
 dependence, and its power of making itself relatively 
 the central point of the universe. 
 
 * 
 
 In the origin of the human individual there is no 
 doubt that the blended individualities of the two 
 individuals which generate it are the factors of its 
 formation. But the conjunction of these factors is 
 the result of the expressly determining influence of 
 the creative function of God, so that the peculiar 
 formation of their product is the work of God. On 
 
i6o STILL HOURS. 
 
 this depends the essential truth of creationism, which 
 
 does not however necessarily exclude the idea of 
 
 traducianism.^ 
 
 * 
 
 As the absolute ccntrality, i.e. as being the ideal 
 
 point, the personality remains everywhere similar to 
 
 itself. Just as all mathematical points are absolutely 
 
 similar, 
 
 * 
 
 Man is the only animal creature who has power 
 to set before him, not merely separate momentary 
 aims, but an aim in life, and, as this itself implies, to 
 keep that aim before him as his one aim, and to 
 realize it entirely of himself. This is important as 
 touching the question of man's immortality. 
 
 * 
 
 The person alone, as distinguished from the thing, 
 is an end to itself, because it alone is able to refer 
 itself to itself as an end. 
 
 * 
 
 Human individuals are not Helots of the universal 
 moral end ; their individual moral end has the same 
 rights as the universal, 
 
 * 
 
 The possibility of free self-determination rests on 
 the distinct separation between the personality and 
 its organism, by means of which it receives on both 
 sides impressions from without, and the distinct 
 
 ' Cf. on this point the matchless representation of Herder in 
 his " Christl. Reden und Homilien," ///. ii., p. 69. 
 
PERSONALITY. l6l 
 
 opposition of the former to the latter. But in an 
 organism, we have to think, not merely of its out- 
 ward and material, but also of its inward parts, con- 
 sidered as in process of spiritualization. 
 
 * 
 Life is the growth of a being by means of itself. 
 Therefore in it growth is indissolubly united with 
 being. * 
 
 According to Schelling, (in his " Treatise on the 
 Nature of Human Freedom,") personality rests on 
 the union of a self-dependent being with a basis 
 which is independent of him, the union being effected 
 in such a way that the elements interpenetrate each 
 other, and thus form only one being. 
 
 * 
 
 We ought not to say, The ego cannot perfect 
 itself otherwise than on the assumption of an oppos- 
 ing non-ego ; but rather, The ego cannot be perfected 
 without placing a non-ego in opposition to itself. 
 
 * 
 
 The ego is the resumption into a unity of what is 
 in itself a multiplicity ; a being which, as multiplicity, 
 stands opposed to itself as unity. The multiplicity 
 which we presuppose in the ego must therefore be 
 purely organic. The condition, we may call it the 
 absolutely universal condition, of the ego (true of the 
 absolute being as well as of the finite) is therefore 
 the existence of an organism and a centre of life in 
 the being, the separation of soul and body. The 
 body is that other, in contrast to which alone the 
 
 L 
 
I62 STILL HOURS. 
 
 ego, the personality, especially as self-consciousness, 
 
 can complete itself. The ego is therefore essentially 
 
 a self-opposition ; it is identical with that which is 
 
 opposed to it. 
 
 * 
 
 The person is the concrete unity of personality and 
 
 nature, 
 
 * 
 
 Not the soul, which exists even in the animal, but 
 
 \.\\(t person, is immortal. 
 
 * 
 
 The separate events of a man's life make an im- 
 pression exactly according to the colour of its general 
 
 background. 
 
 * 
 
 A properly made man ought to have one or two 
 good moles on his person, so that an unmistakable 
 description may be furnished for his detection. 
 
 * 
 
 The personal creature, as it exists by nature, has 
 been developed from itself; but its moral develop- 
 ment must be brought about by itself. 
 
 * 
 
 An absolute unity of idea and existence can be 
 produced only by the idea, through its own thought 
 and action, giving itself existence. No third in- 
 fluence can create this unity. True unity is unity 
 
 which is self-produced. 
 
 * 
 
 In self-consciousness, when understood as con- 
 sciousness of ourselves, we are not conscious of our- 
 
PERSONALITY. 163 
 
 selves otherwise than we are of all surrounding 
 objects. We are conscious of ourselves, not because 
 our consciousness is of a different nature from that 
 of those beings who are never conscious of them- 
 selves (although this is undoubtedly the case), but 
 because there exists in us a self, an ego, which our 
 consciousness perceives as its object. 
 
 Man, because he is an ego, can turn his soul 
 
 against itself. 
 
 * 
 
 The self is named ego = ego, a reflexion of the 
 being on itself and in itself; and these two forms of 
 reflexion are the presuppositions of distinctions in 
 
 the being. 
 
 * 
 
 How strange and confused, as well as confusing, 
 is the opposition between the " reason " and the 
 "heart"! * 
 
 In reason understanding and emotion are united. 
 
 * 
 
 Even the natural ego is not merely created by the 
 direct thought and action of another, but it becomes 
 an ego only by means of its own thought and action, 
 working on the foundation of its natural disposition, 
 which is undoubtedly the creation of another. A 
 strictly so called natural ego does not therefore exist, 
 but as far as it is acfu present, it is also spiritual, 
 under process of development by its own thought 
 and action. 
 
1 64 STILL HOURS. 
 
 AFFECTION AND TEMPERAMENT. 
 
 Afifection, in the widest sense of the word, is 
 always a heightened vivacity of the individually 
 determined self-consciousness, or sensation, exercised 
 in such a way that the universally determined self- 
 consciousness, or reason, cannot for the moment 
 preserve its true equilibrium, and therefore, for the 
 moment, falls back powerless, unable to resist the 
 pressure brought to bear upon it. It is therefore joy 
 (pleasure) or pain (displeasure) which has escaped, 
 for the moment, from the companionship of reason, 
 the occasion being the unexpected strength of the 
 outward impression. But if the affection is of noble 
 nature, there lies, even in this overpowering emotion, 
 a principle which contributes strength to the function 
 of reason ; the repression of it would therefore be 
 only the occasion of its more powerful solicitation. 
 Where this noble character is not present, affection 
 is really passion. 
 
 * 
 
 Affection in its natural crudeness, while not yet 
 rendered ethical, is a condition in which the indi- 
 vidual has lost control of himself Affection becomes 
 ethical when, on the one hand, the sensation which 
 in it passes over into impulse, and, on the other hand, 
 the impulse into which the sensation passes over, are 
 both rendered distinctly ethical ; i.e. when the former 
 is definitely posited as emotion, the latter as desire. 
 
AFFECTION AND TEMPERAMENT, 165 
 
 Since the fall, men have always existed in a state 
 of relative affection. The sensual impression is 
 always disproportionately strong for the feeble 
 energy of our self-consciousness. Hypochondria is 
 the natural disease of fallen man. 
 
 * 
 
 Afifcctibility (excitability) and receptibiJity are not 
 identical. The latter is a more particular determina- 
 tion of the former. 
 
 Emotion is always self-emotion ; but at the same 
 time there is no pure self-emotion. 
 
 Sensation is always comprised within the boun- 
 daries either of pleasure or of pain. The same is true 
 of moral sensation, i.e. emotion. Emotion, when 
 determined as pleasure, is joy ; determined as pain, 
 it is sadness. The animal, and the child in its earliest 
 days, know neither joy nor sadness. 
 
 * 
 
 It is noteworthy that emotions, even when they 
 arc true elevations of spirit, find vent in tears, thus 
 expressing themselves by an obstruction of our 
 sensual life. 
 
 Of the four temperaments, the phlegmatic and 
 choleric belong to the side of self-activity, the melan- 
 cholic and the sanguine to that of self-consciousness. 
 On the other hand, the phlegmatic and melancholic 
 temperaments have their root in a specific depres- 
 
1 66 STILL HOURS. 
 
 sion ; the choleric and the sanguine in a specific 
 irritability, characterizing the person to whom they 
 belong. Directly, of course, temperaments are at- 
 tached only to the natural side of the individual, 
 therefore only to its individual attributes. To state 
 the matter more precisely, the choleric and phleg- 
 matic are attached to impulse, the melancholic and 
 the sanguine to sensation. The more powerfully mind 
 and strength, the universal side of the personality, 
 are in the ascendant, the more does the influence of 
 temperament recede into the background. In oppo- 
 sition to temperament, we find a special need for the 
 exercise of self-control. {Cf. Wirth : " Spec. Ethik," 
 ii., p. 24, etc.) Affections are specifically related to 
 the temperaments, for temperament is the natural 
 foundation of affection. For the specific preponde- 
 rance of one separate factor of the natural personality 
 predisposes the disturbance of the equilibrium among 
 the functions of that personality. 
 
 Excessively depressed receptivity (with self-con- 
 sciousness) is stupidity ; excessively excited recep- 
 tivity is levity or distraction : excessively depressed 
 spontaneity (with self-activity) is languor or laziness ; 
 excessively excited spontaneity is hastiness or vio- 
 lence. Therefore stupidity belongs to the melancholic 
 temperament, frivolity to the sanguine, laziness to 
 the phlegmatic, and hastiness or violence to the 
 choleric. 
 
AFFECTION AND TEMPERAMENT. 167 
 
 If sclf-consciousness is so depressed that it cannot 
 appeal to self-activity, then there arises fear ; but if 
 it is so irritated or excited that the activity which it 
 then appeals to with immoderate force cannot be 
 made use of as j-^//"-activity, then the result is rage. 
 
 * 
 As in the phlegmatic temperament there already 
 exists a natural depression of the self-activity, it is 
 specially predisposed to fear, and as in the choleric 
 temperament there already exists a natural irritation 
 or excitement of the self-activity, it is specially pre- 
 disposed to rage. On the other hand, we may say 
 that, as in the sanguine man there already exists a 
 natural irritation or excitement of the self-conscious- 
 ness, this cannot easily be so deeply depressed as to 
 hinder the work of self-activity, and he is therefore 
 decidedly predisposed to fearlessness (" sanguine 
 hope") ; and as in the phlegmatic man there already 
 exists a natural depression of the self-activity, this 
 cannot easily be so excessively irritated or excited 
 as to prevent its finding expression for itself in real 
 self-activity, and in this way the man of a phlegmatic 
 temperament is decidedly indisposed to anger (the 
 " lazy, peaceful, patient phlegm "). 
 
 * 
 Fear and anger are affections of temperament. 
 When regarded as moral, the former is timidity or 
 meekness, the latter indignation (the so-called noble 
 anger). Even timidity or meekness and indignation 
 are certainly only sensual affections ; but the sensual 
 
i6S RTIIL HOURS. 
 
 feeling and the sensual impulse are in their case 
 under the power of the personality, or more exactly, 
 of the mind (in the form of the understanding), and 
 under the power of volition. They are not blind and 
 
 beyond their own control, like fear and fin-}'. 
 
 * 
 As in a state of high irritability of the self-activity, 
 even the self-consciousness may be easily brought 
 into an excessively irritated or excited condition, and 
 vice versa ; so in the choleric temperament there is, 
 as a rule, a considerable admixture of the sanguine, 
 and vice versa. And as in a state of deep depression 
 of the self-activity, even the self-consciousness easily 
 falls into a state of languor ; so there is, as a rule, in 
 the phlegmatic temperament a considerable admix- 
 ture of the melancholic, and vice versa. 
 
 MEMORY. 
 
 Memory and habit appear to be parallel to each 
 other ; the former is, as regards self-consciousness, 
 what the latter is as regards self-activity. Memory 
 is the extension of self-consciousness, its compass, its 
 capacity, in order to its possessing simultaneously a 
 multiplicity of contents. 
 
 Habit is the beginning of freedom, memory the 
 beginning of reason ; education must therefore begin 
 by cultivating both. They are both at first merely 
 sensual, mechanical appropriations of nature to the 
 personality. They belong to the formation of the 
 
MEMORY. 169 
 
 physical organism, therefore to the side of indi- 
 viduality. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards imagination {bi/deii) and perception, 
 the former is the positing of the conceived image, 
 the latter the conception or observation of the posited 
 image, the former distinction, the latter resumption 
 of the image. All perception is remembrance of 
 the outward, all imagination an expression of the 
 inward. 
 
 Imagination is a reception of consciousness into 
 
 existence ; perception, a reception of existence into 
 
 consciousness. 
 
 * 
 
 Memory in its perfection is reason ; habit in its 
 perfection is freedom. All thinking is recollection, 
 reflection ; every act of freedom bears the stamp of 
 involuntariness, of having become a second nature. 
 
 * 
 
 A scientific mind with a bad memory is a prince 
 without land and people. 
 
 Good powers of thought with a poor memory are 
 
 like a great prince on the throne of a duodecimo 
 
 province. 
 
 * 
 
 A good memory forgets nothing, but gathers up all 
 
 kinds of knowledge, even trumpery and rubbish ; the 
 
 most crude ideas are as firmly fixed in it as the 
 
 essence of the purest conceptions. 
 
I70 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Originality and sterling worth of thought may be 
 limited by the possession of a " bad head." 
 
 * 
 
 A man of poor memory must of necessity turn his 
 mind in upon itself. 
 
 He whose memory is bad remains, in spite of all 
 his knowledge, an ignoramus and bungler to the 
 end of his days. 
 
 Good capacity for thought with a hopelessly bad 
 memory is a labour of Sisyphus. 
 
 * 
 
 A man with a bad memory is literally a poor man. 
 * 
 
 The possessor of a bad memory enjoys this advan- 
 tage, that he is not inclined to let his thoughts linger 
 much in the past, — an idle occupation for a man ivJio 
 sincerely condemns himself, — but is always disposed, 
 like Paul, to forget the things that are behind, and 
 to reach forth to those that are before. 
 
 The memory is most closely connected with the 
 senses, for in it they all store up the observations they 
 have made. 
 
 A bad memory in its physical aspect corresponds 
 to short-sightedness in the bodily . organism or in its 
 somatic aspect. 
 
GIFTS OF MIND. 171 
 
 GIFTS OF MIND. 
 
 A man may have a very large head, and at the 
 same time a very small mind. 
 
 * 
 
 A " bad " head is not necessarily a narrow-minded 
 one. 
 
 It is no great trial to be poorly endowed with 
 abilities, unless we are placed in an office in which 
 better talents are required. 
 
 * 
 
 Can the narrow-minded man really not see beyond 
 his barriers .'' He certainly cannot /czj-j beyond them, 
 but he may very well look beyond them, i.e. acknow- 
 ledge that they are his barriers. 
 
 He to whom gifts for some great work have been 
 denied ought to try to use the gifts he has to the 
 best possible advantage, though he may work only 
 in the narrowest circle. 
 
 The correlative to the idea is the " original." It is 
 a product of a universal formative faculty, for it may 
 be copied, and is intended to be copied ; but it is, at 
 the same time, in its specific origin and perfection, 
 entirely peculiar to its originator, and belongs dis- 
 tinctly to him, and is thus a product of an individual 
 formative faculty. It is also undoubted 1}' transfer- 
 able. 
 
STILT. HOURS. 
 
 Genius consists in this, that a man does not require 
 to gain his ideas, either his objective or his motive 
 ideas, by observing them first in nature, in the sphere 
 of reaHty. 
 
 Cleverness goes readily hand in hand with shallow- 
 ness and confusion of thought, because the richly 
 supplied quantum of ideas and knowledge is apt to 
 be regarded as a make up for their quale-, even when 
 that is of little value. A mind which is unfruitful in 
 quaiito must seek its safety in the quale of its know- 
 ledge. 
 
 * 
 
 Not high talents, but great talents, bring heavy 
 temptations in their train. 
 
 * 
 
 The poorly gifted man enjoys this advantage, 
 that he easily learns to see how innumerable things 
 which lie far beyond his own capacity, perhaps even 
 beyond his powers of conception, are yet by no 
 means impossible. 
 
 A man may be personally an excellent worker, 
 although he possess the very poorest tools. 
 
 * 
 
 The insufficiency of his own powers seems to the 
 poorly gifted man like insufficiency of the time at 
 his command. 
 
 There are people who are endowed only with the 
 
GREAT AND SMALL. 
 
 173 
 
 most central organs, and with the more peripheric 
 only at their utmost need. The work of life must be 
 hard indeed for such. 
 
 GREAT AND SMALL. 
 
 We become aware how merely relative are all our 
 conceptions of great and small, not only when we 
 compare what is called great amongst us with the 
 infinitely greater, but even more strikingly when we 
 come to perceive how great that always is in itself, 
 which to our conception seems infinitely little. 
 
 * 
 
 That man is in a peculiarly difficult position in 
 whose character great and small exist together. With 
 his poor means he cannot attain the great desire that 
 floats before his mind, and yet, by virtue of his great- 
 ness, he sees with pain how small are the attainments 
 which these poor means can achieve. 
 
 * 
 
 A right feeling man cannot bear to hear the small 
 called great, any more than he can bear to hear the 
 great called small, especially as regards himself. 
 
 * 
 
 A man who can distinguish between great and 
 
 small will never put on airs of consequence in his 
 
 course through life. 
 
 * 
 
 However much of a pessimist you may be, at least 
 never relinquish this belief: that in all circumstances, 
 
174 STILL HOURS. 
 
 a man who, with pure and honest heart, devotes his 
 hfe to some good object, can accompHsh great things. 
 
 * 
 Considered as an attribute of the finite, greatness 
 is a Hmitation, just as much as littleness. All quan- 
 tity is limitation, as a negative attribute of existence; 
 while quality, as an affirmative attribute of the ideal , 
 is the opposite of limitation. 
 
 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS. 
 
 The organs of the mind are at the same time 
 
 organs of strength. 
 
 * 
 
 Vices of strength find ready indulgence, but not 
 so those of weakness. 
 
 Every one speaks according to his understanding, 
 and understands according to his experience. 
 
 * 
 
 It is strange that men should marvel and be ex- 
 cessively astonished, when anything transcends their 
 thought. They must surely mean their powers of 
 
 mental representation. 
 
 * 
 
 Every one knows that depressing surroundings in 
 
 our outward lives bring in their train deformities of 
 
 at least the outward side of the character. In our 
 
 judgment of others we must therefore remember that 
 
 here on earth we are all in depressed circumstances. 
 
CONSCIENCE. 175 
 
 Lifted out of these and placed in a larger air, men's 
 characters will expand differently, and their real 
 nature will then appear, for the first time, in its true 
 light, to the great advantage of very many. 
 
 * 
 There are people, who live only on what others 
 leave them over of life. 
 
 * 
 
 In the interest of the weak themselves, it is en- 
 joined that the strong should not treat them with 
 iindiie consideration. Where this is done, they make 
 no progress ; on the contrary, they fall behind. The 
 ground on which they stand inevitably breaks away 
 beneath them, and there is then no new ground, on 
 which they can plant their feet in safety. 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 If we seek to establish in an unarbitrary way the 
 common usage of the word " conscience," we must 
 reserve the expression for denoting those facts which 
 cannot be included under any of the terms which are 
 synonymously employed. 
 
 There is something very great and blessed, as well as 
 inevitable, in the fact that our mind is in agreement 
 and harmony with the eternal and inviolable laws of 
 the world and its Creator. The bringing about of this 
 harmony in himself is one of the chief duties in the 
 self-traininsf of the individual. 
 
176 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The " conscience " is the peculiarly human instinct, 
 
 i.e. the moral instinct, and as such it is essentially 
 
 religious. 
 
 * 
 
 The conscience is the unity of the subjective 
 
 moral consciousness of the individual with objective 
 
 moral requirements. No one is able to judge with 
 
 certainty how it stands as regards this point in the 
 
 case of any other individual. {Cf. Schenkel : " Wesen 
 
 d. Prot.," pp. 148, etc., 50.) 
 
 * 
 
 Conscience is the directly active moral instance in 
 
 the individual ; namely, as an instance for him as a 
 
 particular individual. It is both legislative (requiring 
 
 and binding) and also sentencing. It is both emotion 
 
 and impulse. 
 
 * 
 
 The conscience = the self-actualization of the essen- 
 tially moral nature of man. 
 
 THE WLLL. 
 Willing, as distinguished from mere impulse, which 
 is certainly blind, always presupposes thought ; for 
 we cannot will anything without a purpose, i.e. a 
 thought which originates and determines it. 
 
 * 
 Thinking and willing rest equally upon self-deter- 
 mination ; and it is self-determination, not willing, 
 
 which makes morality. 
 
 * 
 
 In looking upon the will as the final principle, we 
 
THE WILL. 177 
 
 are so far right ; because it alone gives value to the 
 being of the creature (in fact, to any kind of being) 
 in the sight of God. 
 
 Positing (das setrjen) is {a) an ideal positing of 
 some end, i.e. willing ; and ib) a real positing of this 
 end, a giving of being to the motive idea, i.e. doing. 
 
 * 
 
 The strong or powerful will is not stiff and ob- 
 stinate, but elastic. 
 
 In maintaining that the " will is the original form 
 of the spiritual life of the person," we really mean, 
 not the will, but self-determination. 
 
 * 
 
 On the threshold of man's development, his ego, 
 his thought and will themselves, are merely an idea, 
 which possesses only a shadowy reality in the corre- 
 sponding materially physical functions of life, and 
 which must achieve for itself a true reality. 
 
 That the will and the power of self-determination 
 are not precisely identical becomes evident from the 
 fact that we can ivill to will. {Cf. Schleiermacher : 
 " Psychologic," p. 468 ; Baader, xiv., p. 386.) I can 
 determine myself to will, just as I can determine 
 myself to think. I distinguish myself (my ego) from 
 my will and my understanding ; and thus I can 
 speak of viy will and my understanding, and hold 
 both will and understanding in my own power, which 
 for the present indeed is merely relative. 
 
 M 
 
178 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Self-determination is determining one's self to will, 
 or " willing to will." 
 
 The will itself does not will, but the ego by means 
 of the will. In the same way, it is not our conscious- 
 ness which thinks or feels, but the ego by means of 
 our consciousness. Consciousness and will are not 
 themselves the cgo^ but they are powers, which in 
 their union result in the ego^ or the personality. 
 
 FREEDOM. 
 
 Can the true and formal self-determination, the 
 
 true liberinii arbitriuni, be inborn ^ or must it be 
 
 attained through the special development of the 
 
 personal creature .-' This is the great question, on 
 
 the answer to which depends the nature of our 
 
 conceptions as to the original condition of the first 
 
 human being. The question may be stated more 
 
 precisely thus : Can a 'full-grown — i.e. not merely 
 
 somatically, but also physically full-grown — man be 
 
 created .'' or can a human being become physically 
 
 full-grown only by means of his own development } * 
 
 There is no doubt that the real, actual ego (not the 
 
 mere foundation of the ego) cannot be created, but 
 
 must create itself The same law holds true of God 
 
 Himself. 
 
 * 
 
 Purely psychological (formal) freedom consists in 
 
 * Full-grown as applied to a personality means fully de- 
 veloped. 
 
FREEDOM. 179 
 
 the power, as regards every separate act,* either to 
 undertake or to decHne it, to decide either pro or 
 contra, to meet it with consent or with denial. 
 
 * 
 Self-determination most probably depends on the 
 separation of the personal ego from the natural, 
 although not necessarily material, organism. It is 
 a determining (either formative or perceptive) of the 
 organism by the personality or central point. 
 
 •X- 
 
 The pure libennn arbitriuni iiidiffercntice is to be 
 found only at the very summit of the development of 
 a moral being. Below that point, freedom is always 
 either freedom to do good, or freedom to do evil — 
 although in both cases it becomes absolute only when 
 development ceases, — not freedom alike to do good 
 and to do evil. Even in our fallen condition, free 
 as we are to do evil and unfree to do good, there yet 
 exists in us a liberuni arbitriiun, because in every case 
 a choice is left open, not indeed between the desire 
 to do good and the desire to do evil, but between 
 the desire to do evil and the desire not to do evil, 
 between consenting to the commission of the wrong 
 action and constantly struggling against this com- 
 mission. 
 
 * 
 
 We may place in contrast to each other, on the 
 one hand, necessity and chance, and on the other, 
 
 * More correctly, as regards every incitation to action, 
 whether cominjr from without or from within. 
 
iSo STILL HOURS. 
 
 coercion and freedom ; but necessity and freedom do 
 
 not in themselves form a contrast. They do not 
 
 therefore in any way exclude each other. 
 
 * 
 
 The personal individual is free, in the full sense of 
 
 the word, when it is really causa sui. It cannot be 
 
 this immediately and from the first ; it must be 
 
 developed by the moral process as a process of 
 
 spiritualization. The individual who, by means of 
 
 this process, has become purely spiritual, is causa sui, 
 
 because it has posited itself as pure spirit. It is 
 
 so also in another sense, because its personality is 
 
 essentially the product of its own, that is, of its bodily 
 
 nature. In this sense even the natural individual is 
 
 causa sui, 
 
 * 
 
 A perfected personal organism is the condition of 
 perfect freedom, which can therefore be attained only 
 with the perfection of the spiritual body. The per- 
 sonality cannot will in a thoroughly efficacious 
 manner, when in conjunction with an organism whose 
 nature is heterogeneous or even hostile to it, or with 
 one which, although spiritual, is as yet imperfect. 
 The same is true as regards the reason. 
 
 * 
 
 A being is free, not when it determines itself 
 according to its own nature, but when it determines 
 itself according to its own conception. 
 
 * 
 
 In the consideration of human freedom we must 
 
FREEDOM. i8i 
 
 first of all inquire in relation to what other being this 
 freedom is understood. It may be considered as 
 man's power of self-determination in relation to God. 
 It cannot of course be disputed that human self- 
 determination in itself is entirely dependent on God ; 
 but none the less is it true that God, according to 
 His own appointed way of entering into relation with 
 the personal creature, exercises His unlimited power 
 over man only in such a degree as shall not do away 
 with his self-determination. But at the same time 
 our freedom must be considered — and this is the 
 main point in the whole question — as in relation to 
 our material nature. The human personality, in pro- 
 portion as it is true personality, has the power of 
 self-determination as regards our material nature. 
 This rests on the dualism which really exists in 
 man — the separation of the sensual body and the 
 personal soul. Neither of these are fully separated 
 in the animal, the result being that in the animal the 
 determining of the body is always at the same time 
 a determining of the soul. With man it is otherwise. 
 In him the personal soul, in its union with the 
 material organism, is undoubtedly determined by 
 that organism in its impulses and sensations. But 
 this only on one side of its being ; on the other 
 the soul just as distinctly determines the material 
 organism as a determining power of volition and 
 understanding. Therefore man is not like the animal, 
 identical with his impulses and sensations. He pos- 
 sesses, in his powers of volition and understanding, 
 
lS2 STILL HOURS. 
 
 the capacity, on the one hand, of rendering himself 
 independent of these, and therefore of his material 
 nature, entirely of his own accord, and without 
 solicitation from the impulses and sensations ; and on 
 the other, of placing himself in direct antagonism 
 towards them. The solicitation to action, which 
 comes to him in impulse and sensation, must, in the 
 case of man, before it can be reduced to action, first 
 appear before the Forum of his personality, and only 
 according to its decision can it finally result in action. 
 Even when impulse and sensation result most com- 
 pletely in a corresponding action, this can happen 
 only through the consent of the understanding and 
 the will — of the personality as a whole ; therefore 
 only through man's self-determining power. On the 
 second side, the doctrine of human freedom has 
 meaning only on the assumption of two principles in 
 man — principles which are dissimilar, both as regards 
 their quality and their quantity. With the complete 
 spiritualization of man they will therefore disappear. 
 
 t- 
 
 The conception of freedom always presupposes 
 more than one person, the free man being affected by 
 the other. His freedom consists in the fact that, 
 while being affected by another, he is not at the 
 same time directly determined by that other. If he 
 were in no way affected, then the question of freedom 
 would be an idle one. The free being must always 
 be a self, an ego, a subject, because such alone can 
 place itself in opposition to another. 
 
FREEDOM. 183 
 
 Moral freedom consists in the subject being master 
 of his own motives, being able to form and modify 
 them, even to produce a reaction against their in- 
 fluence (and also the contrary), if he is putting forth 
 his best efforts. If he is too slothful or too impure 
 for this, he has power even then to produce a reaction 
 against this sloth and impurity by distinguishing 
 himself from all his attributes, from all that forms a 
 part of him. His weakness is always either sloth or 
 impurity. The ego distinguishes itself from all that 
 it is, and enters spontaneously into relations with it. 
 
 A personal creature, which is able to decide abso- 
 lutely for God and the good as a whole, has no need 
 of a test of freedom, any more than such a test is 
 possible for him, because he cannot decide otherwise 
 than for God and the good as a whole. Where this 
 test is really needed, the decision must prove, to a 
 certain extent, abnormal. 
 
 If the perfected freedom of the personal creature 
 practically excludes the power of arbitrary self- 
 determination, this does not involve any defect in 
 him of the power of self-determination ; because 
 every abnormal self-determination is a partial want of 
 true self-determination and the capacity for it, and 
 in the abnormal exercise of self-determination the 
 personal being determines itself in some degree in 
 opposition to itself. 
 
l84 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The error in Schopenhauer's denial of the freedom 
 to the human will (" Grundprobleme der Ethik," 
 p. i'j6) is, that he does not admit that man has the 
 power of changing his character, that his character 
 may possibly be the object of a self-determining 
 agency exercised by man himself. He does not 
 admit that man may be the object of his own self- 
 determination, because he fails to distinguish in him 
 
 an ego and a nature. 
 
 * 
 
 Rationality is for man to attain unto, never — the 
 
 case of One alone excepted — an already perfected 
 
 fact in man's nature. The same is true of freedom. 
 
 If I have nothing to lose in life, then no hindrance 
 shall deprive me of courage. 
 
 * 
 
 The libentm arbitrinvi, the actual power of self- 
 determination, cannot be directly given ; it must be 
 acquired. 
 
 TEMPTA TION. 
 
 Temptation consists in a hindrance of life, which is 
 in danger of becoming a disturbance of life. 
 
 There is a difference between attacks of evil and 
 temptation. In the former case the subject concerned 
 has no desire to consent. Whether anything is to be 
 a temptation, or only an attack of evil, depends on 
 the moral nature of the person concerned. 
 
S/JV. 1 8s 
 
 S/JV. 
 
 The development of man passes through stages of 
 sin. Until the advent of the Redeemer it was, on the 
 one hand, an ever completer development of the 
 human personality, and on the other hand, in closest 
 connexion therewith, a continual increase of human 
 sin. 
 
 If sin is a necessary point of transition in human 
 development, it is not on that account merely 
 negative. The human individual may in his deve- 
 lopment permanently continue in sin. Evil is no 
 less real than good. 
 
 The great solemnity and the immense practical 
 importance of the doctrine of the devil is, that it 
 shows us how the personal creature, in its transit 
 through sin, may remain fixed in evil. 
 
 * 
 
 In proportion as the personality of the individual 
 is developed, sin becomes more and more his own 
 sin, for which he alone is accountable. In proportion 
 as the power of self-determination exists in him, his 
 sin is the work of that self-determination. 
 
 * 
 
 Evil in the course of development, or sin, is not 
 in itself a condition of the development of the good ; 
 but it belongs to the idea of creation, as a creation 
 out of nothing, that the created personality cannot 
 
1 86 S7ILL HOURS. 
 
 detach itself from material nature otherwise than by 
 being first clothed upon with matter, and being in 
 this way altered, rendered impure or sinful. This 
 is the necessary commencement of the creation of 
 man, but only its mere commencement, which comes 
 to a close in the second Adam (i Cor. xv. 45, etc.). 
 
 * 
 
 Before sin can be abolished through redemption, 
 it must be recognised as enmity against God, which 
 is by no means the case from the first. 
 
 The necessity of a transition through sin is not 
 directly an ethical, but rather a physical, necessity. 
 The apparent imperfection of the world, which 
 requires this transition, belongs to, and is expressly 
 demanded by, the conception of the world itself, and 
 is therefore a positive perfection of the world. 
 
 Original sin, the sinful propensity, is a mere 
 accidens of human nature, so far as it is a condition 
 which, according to the principle of that nature, is 
 to be expressly abolished. 
 
 * 
 
 The possibility that any personal creature, even 
 after he has become aware of the impotence of sin 
 as opposed to God, should yet determine to continue 
 in sin, becomes explicable when we consider that the 
 alternative placed before him is whether he will be 
 converted, or, by slow self-consumption, finally /^m/-, 
 not live always in a lost condition. This must be 
 
SIN. 187 
 
 specially noted in reference to the devil. (Suicide 
 is psychologically possible.) 
 
 Sin, or the sinful propensity, has a twofold origin : 
 on the one hand, sensual ; and on the other, selfish. 
 Each of those forms of sin, again, appears as a distinct 
 manifestation of evil ; as the natural, in the form 
 of grossness, and as the spiritual, in the form of 
 malicious wickedness. 
 
 Even as regards sin, the Archimedean saying holds 
 true, " Give me a point outside the world, and I will 
 move the world from its poles." He who personally 
 stood quite outside sin would possess in himself full 
 capacity for overcoming sin in humanity, and for 
 casting sin out of humanity. 
 
 No one will iiozv become conscious of his need of 
 
 redemption from a purely religious point of view, 
 
 i.e. without being conscious of the moral worthless- 
 
 ness and unworthiness of his condition as estranged 
 
 from God. 
 
 * 
 
 The principle of opposition to God, which belongs 
 to the primary conception of the creature, can be 
 really driven out only by the creature's own deed ; 
 but the creature cannot repudiate and cast it out 
 without having experienced it as such in himself. 
 To reject evil merely on account of a positive com- 
 mand (or prohibition) of God, is not to reject it 
 
1 88 STILL HOURS. 
 
 really, i.e. knowing what it is, and therefore with 
 unbounded abhorrence. It is not necessary to this 
 experience of evil as evil that the nature of evil 
 should unfold itself in our own life, but only within 
 the circle of our experience. On the other hand, this 
 true rejection of evil equally presupposes the clear 
 and lively knowledge of God. 
 
 * 
 
 The principle of opposition to God, which belongs 
 to the original conception of the creature, can be 
 abolished only by the creature itself, by its own self- 
 determination, and therefore only by the personal 
 creature. But in order to this the creature must be 
 conscious of it as it really is, as evil. This conscious- 
 ness can be primarily attained only by the experience 
 of sin's workings. For from without, i.e. in this case 
 through the teaching of God, the personal creature 
 cannot understand the principle of opposition to God 
 as it really is, because, at the commencement of its 
 development, it is not yet capable of such a relation 
 to God as would make this teaching possible. 
 
 The confusion in our conceptions as to the origin 
 of human sin arises from the fact that we assume 
 that the first human beings stood in an originally 
 actit given relation to God, whereas this relation 
 could have existed in their case only potentia. Man's 
 development proceeds not from, but towards his 
 communion with God. 
 
GOOD AND EVIL. 189 
 
 Sin is not by any means originally a determining 
 one's self in opposition to God. 
 
 * 
 
 Sin begins as the brutish, and ends as the devilish, 
 
 * 
 If the universal nature of sin were selfishness, then 
 there would be no sin at all outside the relations 
 
 between man and man. 
 
 * 
 
 It may very well happen that a man may feel so 
 deeply the guilt connected with his sin, as to lose 
 sight of the feeling of its unworthiness. And this 
 latter feeling is not the true one. 
 
 * 
 
 He who is sincerely conscious of his own sinfulness 
 needs no long and special preparation for repentance. 
 He is naturally and at all times ready for repentance. 
 
 He who wishes to feel, to a certain extent, quiet 
 and self-contented while persisting in sin, must go on 
 ever narrowing his sphere of vision. 
 
 GOOD AND EVIL. 
 
 The ideas of right and wrong are transformed, 
 within the department of morals, into those of good 
 and evil, because the process of the creature, or 
 rather the process of life considered as moral, and 
 only as such, is a process of development of spirit, 
 therefore of a being which is no longer in itself 
 worthless. 
 
I90 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Only the good, i.e. the real or perfect good, can 
 have the power of overcoming evil. In proportion 
 as impurity yet remains in the good, it will be 
 powerless in the struggle against evil, — in direct 
 contrast to the commonly accepted delusion of 
 narrow-minded people, who consider that in this 
 evil world we can never attack evil with good alone 
 without a certain admixture of badness. 
 
 * 
 
 One of the greatest hindrances of good in the 
 world is men's unchristian disbelief in its power. 
 
 * 
 
 One of the commonest causes of a morally bad 
 disposition is stupidity. 
 
 The confusing point in the question as to the 
 origin of evil is, that we generally take it for granted 
 that God — who of course does not positively will 
 the existence of evil — can yet create the personal 
 creature in a state of perfect goodness. He cannot 
 do this, because, if it is to be a creature, He must 
 create it out of that which is not good, and also 
 because the good as a whole is conceivable only as 
 developed by itself. We must give up the attempt 
 to establish a "perfect commencing point of the 
 human race" (Schcnkel : " Dogmatik," ii. i., p. 213). 
 
 t- 
 
 Thc really evil thing in evil is the desire that the 
 contradiction to the human ideal and the contra- 
 
GOOD AND EVIL. 191 
 
 diction to the Divine, which at the beginning are 
 
 inevitably present, should continue. 
 
 •¥ 
 
 Everything, as I well know, depends for me on the 
 
 fact that good shall be really good, and consequently 
 
 evil really evil, and that even dispcndio mei. An 
 
 excuse for evil, above all in myself, I indignantly 
 
 refuse. 
 
 * 
 
 The conception of the good is that of the right as 
 something which is self-posited. 
 
 All good in this world, even in its noblest and 
 most beautiful forms, like love, rests upon a " dark 
 background," which it must painfully absorb and 
 change into luminous spirit. 
 
 * 
 
 Imperfect or impure virtue has a bitter taste ; only 
 when it is perfectly sincere can its taste be sweet. 
 
 He who has once really tasted the good acquires a 
 
 liking for it. 
 
 * 
 
 What hinders us most from recognising the good 
 in others is that we do not see the evil in ourselves. 
 
 Ji- 
 lt is much more difficult to recognise good than 
 evil, both in the individual and in the course of 
 history. 
 
 The good, the absolutely real being, belongs to the 
 
192 STILL HOURS. 
 
 creature only as moral good ; i.e. it is conceivable 
 only as, on the one hand, posited by God, but, on the 
 other, self-developed. For only a being which is 
 causa sui is a truly real being ; and a real being can 
 have value in God's sight only when, in spite of its 
 creation, it has become thus real entirely of itself. 
 This strikes us even more forcibly when we remem- 
 ber that the good /// concreto is spirit. 
 
 * 
 If evil is to be considered as "the indeterminate 
 will raising itself to creaturely freedom," and the 
 origin of evil to be, according to the idea of indeter- 
 minate will, incomprehensible (Jul. Miiller : " Lehre 
 von der Sunde," ii., p. 844) ; then this rising of the 
 indeterminate will, the actualizing of its possibility, 
 cannot be a transaction entirely without occasion, 
 and an adequate reason can be found only in the 
 predisposition to evil, therefore in something evil, 
 which preceded actual evil. 
 
 The good = that which is right through self-deter- 
 mination. 
 
 SELFISHNESS. 
 
 Selfishness Is naturally occasioned by the difficulty 
 which, in a yet imperfect organization, the soul's life 
 finds in perfecting itself as such, as the central point. 
 The more difficult it is for the ego to comprehend 
 and grasp the idea of itself, the more violent and 
 immoderate is the repulsion which it exercises on 
 outward objects. {Cf. Vorlander : " Psychol.," p. 382.) 
 
FLEASURE-SEEKING.— PASSION. — VANITY. 193 
 
 In the animal nature the sensual tendency appears 
 under the form of selfishness. 
 
 PLEASURE-SEEKING. 
 Pleasure-seeking is the tendency towards enjoy- 
 ment (which includes appropriation) in and for itself 
 and for its own sake, and not really with a view to 
 appropriation. 
 
 PASSION. 
 Passion is partly sensual, partly selfish, according 
 as the material principle, which holds the self-activity 
 captive, is chiefly .sensual as such, or egotistic. There 
 is however neither a purely sensual, nor a purely 
 egotistic passion ; but each is always present along 
 with an admixture of the other. The same is true of 
 covetousness. 
 
 VANITY. 
 
 One would hardly believe it possible, and yet it is 
 an oft-repeated fact, that there are people who would 
 willingly see their vanity gratified, even at the cost 
 of real detriment to themselves. 
 
 * 
 
 There is hardly any vice which makes us so Aveari- 
 
 some to others as vanity. 
 
 * 
 
 The man of poor abilities has special temptations 
 to vanity, in order that he may appear well. 
 
 N 
 
194 STTLL HOURS. 
 
 COARSENESS. 
 
 Moral coarseness, properly so called, consists in 
 limiting the social function to the necessary natural 
 process of assimilation, and social intercourse to that 
 of assimilation. 
 
 rOLL V. 
 
 Folly leads the way to prison quite as frequently 
 as wickedness. 
 
 The dividing line between wisdom and folly is so 
 extremely fine, that a prudent man will be very care- 
 ful how he accuses any one but himself of being a 
 
 fool. 
 
 * 
 
 Many a man endures a hard and life-long captivity 
 who goes about free from any outward restraint, and 
 perhaps even with a tolerably cheerful air. 
 
 Is there any connexion between the prevalent 
 fondness for " business " life, sittings, meetings, 
 statutes, protocols, etc., and the tendency to busy 
 idleness, occupation without effort, and consequently 
 without result ? 
 
 JESUITISM. 
 
 It is indescribably humiliating when a man, in 
 brder to gain his own ends, instead of estimating his 
 means according to the eternal laws of the moral 
 world, estimates them according to the evil passions 
 and weaknesses of men, and when his ends are of 
 
JESUITISM. 195 
 
 such a nature that they can be attained by such 
 means alone. 
 
 He who sets before himself or humanity other 
 moral aims than those really appointed by God, even 
 although he may consider and declare that his own 
 aims are the aims of God, must yet come into con- 
 flict with the moral order of the world, and in the 
 pursuance of his aims have recourse to unworthy 
 means. (Jesuitism.) 
 
ON CHRIST. 
 
VI. O N CH RIST. 
 ^.— CHRISTOLOGY. 
 
 BIB Lie A L BED UCTIONS. 
 
 In Matthew v. 17, 18, the Redeemer expressly says 
 that the complete realization of the moral develop- 
 ment of man, of the moral kingdom in humanity, 
 forms an essential part of His aim and work ; and 
 that the close of the present order of earthly things, 
 which is the consequence of His second advent, 
 cannot take place until this is fulfilled. It is note- 
 worthy that in v. iS voyuo^ (the law) alone is 
 mentioned, without the addition of the " prophets " 
 mentioned in v. 17. (^ on this point John xiii. 
 34, 35. Such words as these in that last solemn 
 hour ! The saying of Jesus in Matthew v. 48 is 
 deeply significant, less as a precept than as an 
 assured evidence of the attainability of the moral 
 goal in its unmeasured height ; but, let us remember, 
 only through Christ and in union with Him. 
 
 * 
 Whatever may have been the purport of the true 
 eschatological predictions of Christ, they were cer- 
 
STIIJ, HOUKS. 
 
 tainly not confused ; for in all His thoughts and 
 sayings there was no confusion. 
 
 * 
 
 The Holy Ghost is considered as an opyavov of 
 Christ, when He is entitled, as in Luke xi. 20, the 
 Sa/cTuXo? Tov &60V {cf. Matt. xii. 28) ; and when 
 Christ is represented as e^wv ili kirra irvev/xaTa tov 
 Qeou (Rev. iii. r ; v. 6). 
 
 The key to the saying of St. Paul, that Christ 
 reconciles even " all things in heaven " (aTroKaraX- 
 Xd^ai, and indeed, Bia tov aiiiaTO<i tov aTuvpov 
 avTov, Col. i. 20) lies simply in the Pauline con- 
 ception of Christ as the irpcoTOTOKo^ TracrT;? Kriaeoi<i 
 (Col. i. 15), i.e. of the unity of Jesus with the second 
 Adams of all created spheres, of which each one has 
 attained perfection only through a redemption by 
 its second Adam. The statement in v. 20 is the 
 natural result of this conception. 
 
 In Colossians i. 15 Christ appears to be called 
 irpcororoKd irday]^ /cTt'creco? as the Divine Logos, 
 because in every [irdari^i) particular sphere of per- 
 sonal creatures, He personally unites Himself with 
 the first-born individual, the true or second Adam, 
 not the merely first in time, and really dwells in 
 him. With this idea vv. 16, 17, 19, 20 perfectly 
 correspond. 
 
 If the Pauline idea of 7riaTi<; in reference to Christ 
 
IDEA OF THE LOGOS. 
 
 is in some degree mystical, the reason is not, that 
 St. Paul connected any peculiar idea with the ttIotl'^ 
 itself, but that Christ in His exaltation is to him the 
 living One, who requites the believing trust yielded 
 to Himself by His spiritual union with the believer. 
 
 * 
 In the second Adam, Christ, natural generation 
 ceases. {Cf. i Cor. xv. 45 ; Rev. xiv. 4.) 
 
 * 
 Even the specific universal individuality of the 
 Redeemer has for its condition His supernatural 
 generation, and is otherwise inconceivable. 
 
 The ascension of Christ was the result of the 
 absolute completion and spiritualization of His bodily 
 nature, which necessarily implied its becoming in- 
 visible. His ascension has not placed Him far away 
 from us, but only made Him invisible, — invisible to 
 7ts who are not yet pure spirits (Matt, xxviii. 20). 
 Because His absolute spiritualization was not com- 
 pleted till the ascension, therefore the outpouring of 
 the Spirit succeeded His exaltation. 
 
 IDEA OF THE LOGOS. 
 
 God's world-development, according to its essential 
 idea, is equivalent to His man-development. Here 
 man is to be understood in the widest sense of the 
 word, as indicating generally the personal creature. 
 
 The Logos of St. John comprehends in itself the 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 Divine nature, which is most frequently designated in 
 the Old Testament as the Spirit of the Lord, but 
 not in any sense the actually so-called Holy Spirit. 
 
 * 
 
 The Man Jesus must first be present, must be 
 really and actually developed, before the Divine 
 Logos can become the Man Jesus. 
 
 My nature, my animated body, is, on the one 
 hand, that which by its process of life produces my 
 personality, my ego ; and on the other hand, and 
 this in an even truer sense, that which my person- 
 ality, by means of the material nature, whose product 
 it is, has itself in a moral sense produced, and which 
 is on that account a spiritual nature. If the person- 
 ality of the Divine Logos formed for itself a human 
 nature of the substance of Mary {Ebrard), then this 
 is not really the proper nature of the Divine Logos, 
 but only its garment, its armour, an artistic machine, 
 etc. The relation thus remains entirely outward. 
 The action of the Divine personality, which is in itself 
 perfect and absolute, would thus be the mere ap- 
 pearance of action, i.e. action limited and controlled 
 by its relation to its material human nature. The 
 whole life of Christ as the Redeemer would be only 
 a comedy. 
 
 If in the union of the Logos and man in Christ, the 
 " human nature " assumed by the Logos does not 
 also include the human personality, then it is absurd 
 
IDEA OF THE LOGOS. 203 
 
 to attribute duo; voluntates to Christ ; for His human 
 nature, if without a personality, can neither will nor 
 have the power of willing. 
 
 The sinlessness of Jesus cannot be explained in- 
 telligibly, i.e. in a moral sense, if His human nature, 
 of which alone sinlessness can be predicated, is 
 merely the work of the Divine Logos itself, which has 
 built for itself a human nature as the temple of its 
 divinity. How can there be any question as to the 
 possibility of a morally abnormal development ? If 
 the personality of a creature is not really self-de- 
 veloped, but, even in the case of the Divine person- 
 ality itself, originally complete and perfect, then no 
 skill or excellence whatever is shown in leading a 
 holy life. 
 
 If the Divine Logos can "enter into the form of 
 the vnconscious soul " (Ebrard : " Dogmatik," ii., p. 8), 
 then there is no reason why it should not "enter 
 into" an animal, a plant, a stone, etc. 
 
 Can an absolutely Divine person "become a limited 
 being" (Ebrard : "Dogmatik," ii., p. 104) .'' It is im- 
 possible that an absolute ego should place itself in 
 the position of a finite ego, and act as such ; for the 
 main point here is not the nature of the outward 
 conditions of existence, but the nature of the ego 
 itself (existing in one way or another), which cannot 
 lay aside its absolute ego without abolishing itself 
 
204 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 A Divine personality which has taken upon itself 
 man's form of existence, i.e. the human personality, 
 or human nature, is not a true man. A Divine 
 personality and a human nature do not in their 
 unity form a God-man. If the incarnation of the 
 Logos is thus understood, as indeed it is by Ebrard, 
 who represents the dogmatics of the reformed 
 Church, then the Divine personality {ego) of the 
 Divine Logos lays aside, in free self-sacrifice, its own 
 Divine nature, and assumes instead, or forms for itself, 
 the nature of man ; and in that case the Logos does 
 not become man at all. This can really happen 
 only when the entire Divine Logos, the union of the 
 Divine personality and the Divine nature, takes upon 
 itself a true and perfect manhood, i.e. a union of the 
 human personality and the human nature. There is 
 no need of seriously undertaking to prove that the 
 idea of a spiritual personality laying aside a spiritual 
 nature is simply monstrous. Such a thing is /;//- 
 possible. 
 
 Looked at from the standpoint of the Lutheran 
 doctrine as to the Person of Christ, the assumption, 
 or retention, of an avvTvoajaaia of the natura 
 Jiuviana of Christ is an inconsistency. [Cf. Ebrard : 
 "Dogmatik," ii., p. no, etc.) 
 
 * 
 
 If the Divine Logos wills to become real man, it 
 can become so only by the assumption of manhood 
 in the true development of its personality; because 
 
CHURCH DOCTRINE. 205 
 
 the human personality, and that of the creature 
 generally, is real only through its own development, 
 only as the result of the process of its own life, there- 
 fore only through itself. 
 
 * 
 
 As far as it is possible for different personalities 
 to exist absolutely in one another, this existence 
 need not necessarily be limited to two, but may just 
 as fittingly be considered as the absolute existence in 
 one another of an infinite multiplicity of personalities. 
 This is true of the relation of the Logos both to the 
 multitude of special spheres and to the personalities 
 in every special sphere. 
 
 The Divine nature, spirit as such, and the Divine 
 Logos, personal spirit, are in their essential union 
 the actualization of the hidden God. This actuali- 
 zation of the hidden God is itself an actual causality, 
 and hands on its being to another outside itself. 
 
 CHURCH DOCTRINE. 
 
 If only our theologians could become clearly 
 
 aware that all the Divine glory of the Saviour (sec 
 
 Thomasius : "Beitrage zur Kirchl, Christol.," p. 33) is 
 
 nothing except in so far as it is moral, i.e. morally 
 
 developed. 
 
 * 
 
 If a complete union of the Divine Logos with the 
 Man Jesus was possible in a purely physical manner, 
 and really happened at His conception, then there is 
 no room left for a religiously moral development in 
 
2o6 STTLL HOURS. 
 
 Christ ; for the qualification of man for absolute 
 
 unity with God is the absolute maximum of human 
 
 perfection. 
 
 * 
 
 The maintenance of the nnio pliysico of the two 
 natures in Christ, has meaning only when God is 
 considered as a sensual or corporeal being. 
 
 * 
 
 Whenever wc assume a Divine hypostasis in Christ, 
 as pre-existent to His human origin, we cannot con- 
 sider the latter as more than a mere incarnation ; 
 and this is only another form of Docetism. This is 
 also true, if the flesh assumed in this incarnation is 
 considered as the mere garment, not as the proper 
 nature, of him who has assumed it. 
 
 * 
 
 The idea that a personal, Divine hypostasis, as it 
 is always represented, can become physically man, 
 presented no difficulty so long, but only so long, as 
 it was considered as merely the assuming of a human 
 body. 
 
 The great error in the treatment of the doctrine 
 of the atonement for sin by a Redeemer is, that our 
 dogmatists consider that it is a matter quite self- 
 evident that the atonement for sin is a satisfaction 
 for sin through expiatory endurance of its punish- 
 ment. {Cf. Gess. in the "Tahrbb. fur deutsche Theol.," 
 iv- 3. P- 520.) The only possible way of affording 
 help here is to lay down a correct definition of what 
 the atonement for sin really means. 
 
THE PERSONALITY OP CHRIST. 207 
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 One special perfection of the Redeemer's per- 
 sonality is, that it developed itself in union with the 
 whole human race. (A point specially noted by Con- 
 radi, " Selbstbew. und Off.," p. 149. Cf.^. 1 1 1, etc.) 
 
 * 
 
 We look upon Christianity too much as mere 
 religion, while in reality it is an entirely new human 
 life. The Redeemer was entirely man. 
 
 If ever a purely original man existed, it was Jesus. 
 
 Did the Redeemer possess individuality.-'^ Answer: 
 Not in Himself, but undoubtedly in His relation to 
 others and by means of that relation. Not in Him- 
 self, for individuality has its origin in the circum- 
 scribing opposition of the natural or material element, 
 to which the personality is conceived as united. This 
 opposition consists more particularly in the auto- 
 nomic activity with which the personality itself takes 
 part in the process. In the supernatural conception 
 of the Redeemer, the natural element, Mary's true 
 conceptive power, was purely receptive, therefore 
 purely passive, simply theonomically active ; and since, 
 as such, it could exercise no restraining influence 
 upon the process, therefore the Divine conceptive 
 principle moulded the personality purely as such. 
 
 ' Cf. Conradi, " Christus in cler Gegenwart," etc., pp. 261, 275. 
 
2oS STILL HOURS. 
 
 It must nevertheless be observed tliat the very- 
 want of individuality on the part of the Redeemer 
 was, on the other hand, the possession of indivi- 
 duahty, inasmuch as He, standing alone in his 
 non-individuality, forms thus a relative contrast to all 
 others ; His ego being thus, in spite of His univer- 
 sality, or rather in consequence of it, strikingly unique.^ 
 With such a nature the individual and identical 
 determinations of His states [humiliation and exalta- 
 tion] directl}^ corresponded. On this rests too the 
 specifically unique relation of the Divine Logos and 
 the Redeemer. He is the universal Man, and yet, 
 in an incomparable sense, the God-Man. But at the 
 same time we must remember that He was a man, 
 an Israelite. 
 
 * 
 
 The individuality of the Redeemer stands in the 
 same relation to the individualities of the redeemed 
 as the centre to all separate points of the periphery. 
 In the centre all points are lost. In the Redeemer's 
 individuality all the separate individualities of men 
 are united to a perfect personality, and thus 
 the personality, considered as human, really exists 
 in a purely centralized totality of individuals. 
 This is the concrete true personalit}'. All indivi- 
 dualities form an essential part of the individuality 
 
 ^ The Redeemer formed for Himself an individuality by an 
 abnormal development. The individuality of Christ is the 
 imivcrsal individuality, in Mhich as such all forms of indivi- 
 duality are to be found. 
 
THE PERSONALITY OF CHRIST. 209 
 
 of Christ ; it appropriates them all. But Christ is a 
 new being, and is rightly called absolutely the First. 
 
 * 
 
 The Redeemer is the second Adam as an indivi- 
 dual. He is not only an individual of the race of 
 man in its higher potency, but its truly highest 
 individual. He is an individual, not because He is 
 only a one-sided and defective realization of human 
 nature, but because He is the realization of human 
 nature in the perfect unity of all its many special 
 sides. He does not indeed exhaust the conception 
 of humanity, because He first is iniplicite its absolute 
 realization ; but He is the true, exhaustive causality 
 of its absolute realization, because He possesses 
 adequate power to realize the distinct unfolding of 
 those varieties of human nature which in their sim- 
 plicity are included in Him, in an organic totality 
 of different individual human beings. And with the 
 possession of the power there will naturally be the 
 tendency to manifest those individual characteristics. 
 But in this sense the Redeemer is the highest in- 
 dividuality, because His moral development was 
 exclusively and with unlimited intensity directed to 
 the religious side of His moral work ; His whole 
 life was in all its details a life in express relation to 
 God, a moral life entirely under the potency of the 
 religious life. For piety is merely morality in its 
 original simplicity and unity, morality as it contains 
 all in one, the central point of morality. The Re- 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 deemer's whole course of action was directed ex- 
 clusively to this centre of the sphere of moral being, 
 and it was thus directed owing to the individual 
 moral task which had been expressly laid upon Him, 
 therefore in an entirely normal manner. The whole 
 moral vocation of the Redeemer was as such purely 
 a religious vocation. {Cf. John xvii. ; Luke xii. 14.) 
 For this reason it was not sufficient that the Re- 
 deemer's morality should show itself simply in His 
 own personal life, but it must also unfold and display 
 itself as /^r i-^ essential morality under the manifold- 
 ness of various types, in the totality of redeemed 
 humanity. The Redeemer's individuality is thus the 
 absolutely highest individuality, not as it was inborn 
 (that of His material being), but as it was morally 
 established by Himself (that of His spiritual being). 
 
 THE VOCATION OF JESUS. 
 
 From the Redeemer Himself we may see most 
 clearly how the prosecution of one's own individual 
 moral purpose coincides in concreto with that of the 
 universal, and how he who makes himself virtuous 
 exercises for that very reason the greatest influence on 
 the community in the furtherance of its moral pur- 
 pose. What did He accomplish during His life on 
 earth? Very little as regards others, but infinitely 
 much as regards Himself. He perfected Himself as 
 the Redeemer, and what a vast work He thus ac- 
 complished for humanity became evident from the 
 
THE VOCATION OF JESUS. 211 
 
 day of Pentecost and onwards. {Cf. Tholuck: ** Stunde 
 Chr. Andacht," p. 51, etc. ; also John xiv. 12, etc.) 
 
 * 
 If the vocation of Christ was exckisively a religious 
 vocation, then this would explain in the most satis- 
 factory manner why His life had such an early close. 
 A vocation like His would not have filled up a life 
 of the normal duration. 
 
 * 
 How strange it appears that Christ should be con- 
 sidered as the founder of a religion ! 
 
 * 
 
 Can we say that Christ " founded," or wished to 
 found, a religion ? 
 
 When the image of Christ has truly arisen in our 
 hearts, it must take in our spiritual life the place of 
 the sun. 
 
 The work of the Redeemer's life was that of a 
 specifically religious vocation, to make full com- 
 munion with God possible for sinful man. 
 
 To unite humanity to God was the vast idea of the 
 life of Christ. The task He set Himself was to make 
 the pure idea of God shine in upon the world. If 
 this succeeded, then in His judgment all the needs 
 of men would be virtually satisfied. We who are 
 born in the light of the idea which He brought into 
 the world cannot sufficiently realize, either the great- 
 
212 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 ness of the idea itself, or of the work by which it was 
 brought to completion. (Matt. ii. 27. Cf. Schenkel : 
 •' Characterbild Jesu," pp. 168, 190.) 
 
 * 
 Jesus did not deliver a revealed doctrine, but His 
 teaching, the communication of His ideas, forms an 
 essential part of the revelation which He Himself^ in 
 His Person and work, really is. 
 
 That a man should feel that Christ is great to 
 
 himself, and that he should consider Him as a great 
 
 Lord — these are two things as wide apart as earth 
 
 and heaven. 
 
 * 
 
 If to the consciousness that we can find our own 
 
 personal salvation nowhere but in Christ is added 
 
 this other consciousness, that the world's history 
 
 apart from Him presents no way of safety whatever, 
 
 then it is difficult to understand why — as many seem 
 
 to suppose — the former consciousness should suffer. 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 
 
 It is not sufficient that we should be guided in all 
 
 things by the wcr^ of Jesus ; we must place ourselves 
 
 at all times before His image. The former is not 
 
 really possible without the latter, for His word can 
 
 be truly understood only as an integral element of 
 
 His Person. 
 
 * 
 
 The infinite moral greatness of Christ is admirably 
 shown in the fact, that in the development of His 
 
rERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 
 
 consciousness, and in all His practical course of doing 
 and suffering, He kept with such clearness and con- 
 sistency to the centre and substance of things. It 
 becomes clearly evident too, in His strict avoidance 
 of all connexion with the sects of His own historical 
 circle ; although some of these, especially the Essenes, 
 seemed to present many more fruitful points of con- 
 tact than orthodox Judaism. This was a brilliant 
 proof of His truly historical insight. 
 
 Even as regards His freedom from prejudice, from 
 
 the fiaTaia dva<TTpo(f>r] iraTpoirapahoro'i (i Pet. i. i8), 
 
 the Redeemer stands alone as a perfect pattern for 
 
 all times. 
 
 * 
 
 Jesus Christ was a true Greek, not less than a true 
 
 Israelite. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a perfectly unique and very striking fact, that 
 the views of Christ do not proceed from the con- 
 cretely defined horizon of any age or any historical 
 sphere, not even from His own. Mark the distinction 
 in this respect between Christ and Socrates. 
 
 * 
 Christ did not adopt any of the elements of culture 
 prevalent in His own age. {Cf. Bagge, "Das Princip 
 des Mythus im Dienst der Christl. Position," p. 174.) 
 
 * 
 
 Our Saviour judged all sins mildly except love- 
 lessness and hypocrisy. 
 
214 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The Redeemer freely granted Himself the full 
 enjoyment of the sweet privilege of laying down no 
 statutory regulations (though such are undoubtedly 
 necessary as a transition point) for the community of 
 those who believed in Him. 
 
 Christ is incomparably sublime in His never 
 cherishing even the remotest idea of setting up a 
 dogma of a religious nature. 
 
 It is noteworthy that the Redeemer would have 
 nothing to do with dogmatising. 
 
 * 
 
 He who knows what an indescribably complicated 
 task God had to undertake in creation, in order to 
 attain His aim and object, will not be surprised that 
 Christ had to build up His kingdom in ways that 
 seem to us so slow and so strangely circuitous. 
 
 A significant point for Christology is the represen- 
 tation of the weakness of Christ in the days of His 
 flesh. 
 
 There is no more absolute ideologist, according to 
 
 the current acceptation of the word, than the Lord 
 
 Jesus, and yet no one else ever achieved such vast 
 
 results in history as He. 
 
 * 
 
 Christ's freedom from error rests mainly on the 
 fact, that He did not extend the range of His desired 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 215 
 
 and attempted knowledge beyond the compass of His 
 real powers of knowledge, and freely and uncondi- 
 tionally renounced in His unique docta igiioraiilia all 
 pretension to knowledge which He Himself did not 
 really possess.^ 
 
 * 
 
 Do not let us seek the glory of Christ in matters 
 which are of very small importance, and miss seeing 
 it in those things which alone are important, merely 
 because they are not extraordinary. 
 
 Even if we owed nothing to Christianity but the 
 fact that the best and most perfect, and at the same 
 time the most historically influential Man, was also 
 the greatest and most consistent enthusiast, what a 
 significance there would be even in this ! 
 
 It was appointed by Divine decree that the Re- 
 deemer should die by the treason of one of His most 
 intimate disciples, because, in order to His perfection, 
 He had to experience the utmost human ingratitude. 
 Even here Jesus showed Himself incomparably great, 
 because He foreknew with perfect clearness that the 
 utmost conceivable suffering was of necessity bound 
 up in His destiny. 
 
 What is the work of Christ but simply His realiza- 
 
 ' Cf. Thomasius : " Christol.," ii., p. 143, etc. ; Schleiermacher : 
 Glaubensl.," ii., p. 89; Martenscn : " Dogm.," p. 314, etc.; 
 Lutterbeck : "N. T. Lehrb.," i., p. 313 ; Matt. xi. 25. 
 
2i6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 tion of the idea for which, and according to which, 
 God created man ? 
 
 How surprising it seems that we find in Jesus no 
 feeling of scorn for man ! 
 
 * 
 
 Christ takes part in man's moral task only as in 
 that of individual culture, its most primitive element. 
 He is interested in the moral community only as far 
 as it is the social community. His teaching of men, 
 like that of Socrates, took the form of social inter- 
 course. 
 
 * 
 
 It is not without significance that Jesus said " I am 
 the Light of the world " (John viii. 12), not merely of 
 one individual and another. He illuminates even the 
 world's condition, and makes it bright. 
 
 GOD AND CHRIST. 
 
 If God is to be in a true sense loved by us, He 
 
 must become one of our race, a human individual. 
 
 * 
 
 Before Christ, we had heard of God ; in Christ, we 
 
 have seen Him. 
 
 * 
 
 We must beware lest Christ should, in any way, 
 conceal from us God, whom He wishes to reveal and 
 declare. 
 
REVELATION. 217 
 
 ^.— SOTERIOLOGY. 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
 If the Christian faith is to arise and endure, Chris- 
 tianity must, in a sure and certain way, be rendered 
 
 objective. 
 
 * 
 
 In revelation an illumination or inspiration is 
 possible without its degenerating into magic, because 
 the direct influence of God on the self-consciousness of 
 the inspired writer has a distinct modifying point of 
 connexion in the objective fact of a Divine manifesta- 
 tion. Illumination or inspiration is impossible unless 
 in some way connected with a manifestation. 
 
 * 
 
 Our older theology proceeds exclusiv^ely on the 
 assumption, which it regards as self-evident, that man, 
 even according to his original conception, and in his 
 primary state, — notwithstanding his innate sapicntia 
 inaxiuia — can know nothing of himself as to what is 
 his divinely appointed destiny, and the corresponding 
 norm prescribed for him by God, but only by a direct 
 revelation from above. 
 
 * 
 
 It is customary for believers to seek in themselves 
 those needs which revelation satisfies, it having first 
 called their attention to them. This cannot be right, 
 for it is to a certain extent artificial ; the reverse 
 would be the truer statement. Growing up in the 
 sunlight which streams from revelation, those needs. 
 
2iS STILL HOURS. 
 
 which are undoubtedly awakened by the influence of 
 
 its light, should be already alive in us when revelation 
 
 first comes before our minds with objective clearness. 
 
 * 
 
 Since revelation is essentially a revelation of God, 
 
 the knowledge it communicates to us is exclusively 
 
 the knowledge of God, not directly of any other 
 
 object. 
 
 * 
 
 God reveals Himself by making the sun (His reve- 
 lation) appear for humanity in the firmament, not 
 by promulgating a calendar for it. 
 
 * 
 
 The sun of revelation shines in the sky. That is 
 the main point. It illuminates all the world, even 
 those that do not know that it is revelation at all. 
 
 * 
 
 We must not forget that the main point in revela- 
 tion is, not that it shall produce an effect on the im- 
 mediate sphere in Avhich it is operative, but that the 
 facts in which it consists shall be abidingly present 
 for man in his intellectual horizon, as an essential 
 datum in the complex of his perceptions and ex- 
 periences. It seeks to introduce certain facts as 
 elements of the human world, which this world could 
 not have produced of itself. 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 He who knows what difficulties and uncertainties 
 are connected with the interpretation of Scripture 
 (and none knows it better than he who has devoted 
 
THE BIBLE. 219 
 
 himself most earnestly to the task, especially to the 
 interpretation of the Old Testament) will surely 
 hesitate to rest the hopes of Christian piety in the 
 last instance on Holy Scripture alone. 
 
 * 
 Divine Providence has so ruled the formation of 
 the canon, that its correct interpretation is assured 
 only as the result of human criticism in the exercise 
 of its fullest powers. We are therefore under a 
 moral obligation to engage upon such a criticism. 
 This should be made clearly evident from the history 
 of the apocryphal Scriptures. {Cf. e.g. Ebrard : 
 " Dogmatik," i. p. 38, etc. 
 
 The Book of Daniel is the Apocalypse of the Old 
 Testament ; and vice versa. 
 
 * 
 
 If the Bible is on principle a man's only source of 
 knowledge — his whole world, outside of which he 
 sees no legitimate object or means of knowledge, — 
 then he cannot fail, and that indeed optima fide, to 
 fall into an arbitrary and literal exegesis, and to con- 
 sider this as the only gnosis. This was the case with 
 the rabbis, and we see it repeated among our modern 
 scripturists, such as Stier, Beck, Chr. Hofmann, 
 Baumgarten, etc. The same cause has always the 
 same effect. It is most unfortunate for the interpre- 
 tation of the Bible that sermons must be preached 
 upon it. 
 
STTLL HOURS. 
 
 The Bible was not written to furnish texts for 
 sermons. 
 
 Arbitrary interpretations of the Old Testament in 
 the New Testament originate chiefly in the fact that, 
 as many details of the Old Testament were from the 
 first completely dark and unintelligible to those Jews 
 who had believed in Christ, they had to seek in the 
 Christian sphere of vision for means to solve these 
 Old Testament enigmas. In the same way they 
 were interested in proving the harmony of the two 
 economies, and in confirming New Testament data 
 by Old Testament prophecy. 
 
 * 
 
 God gives man nothing in a finished state. All 
 His gifts are so bestowed that man shall have 
 abundant work to do with them. This is especially 
 true, not only of man himself, but also of the Bible. 
 
 It belongs to the nature of Protestantism not to 
 confine itself, as regards Christian knowledge, to the 
 Bible alone, but to look upon the whole world (nature 
 and history alike) as a source of knowledge. 
 
 * 
 
 Let the Bible go forth into Christendom as it is in 
 itself, as a book like other books, without allowing 
 any dogmatic theory to assign to it a reserved posi- 
 tion in the ranks of books ; let it accomplish what it 
 can of itself, entirely through its own character and 
 
THE BIBLE. 
 
 through that which each man can find in it for 
 himself: and it will accomplish great things. 
 
 * 
 
 Everything spoken and written in the Bible un- 
 doubtedly presupposes expressly those parts of Divine 
 revelation which had been previously delivered ; but 
 it does not equally presuppose the existence of those 
 parts of i/ic Bible which precede (whether nominally 
 or really) the period of speaking or writing. This 
 point has been much overlooked by Chr. Hofmann. 
 
 * 
 
 The demand that the interpreter of Scripture shall 
 frankly place himself in a purely objective position 
 towards the Bible, and allow it to speak for itself, 
 sounds most ingenuous, and is in itself, in ihesi, quite 
 unimpeachable ; but in praxi it leads to the very 
 opposite of what it demands, because the interpreter, 
 thanks to exegetical tradition, brings with him to his 
 task certain definite and partially incorrect precon- 
 ceptions as to the proper meaning of the Bible, whose 
 authority this principle actually tends to perpetuate. 
 
 * 
 
 That is a fatal exegesis in which the expositor tries 
 various keys, instead of knowing certainly that he 
 possesses the right one. 
 
 The New Testament, at least in its original writings, 
 is the photograph which the historical Christ mirrored 
 directly {i.e. without the intervention of an elucidating 
 human reflexion) on the consciousness of those who 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 surrounded Him. In other words, the New Testament 
 is the original record of the manifestation of Christ. 
 But at the same time the nature of the case impHes 
 that this formula can be accepted only in a relative 
 sense. It is a renewed challenge to criticism. 
 
 One chief point in the peculiar religious influence 
 of the Bible is that it leads us to contemplate the 
 historical fact of Divine revelation, and truly repre- 
 sents it to our minds. 
 
 It would be well for the Bible if we could accustom 
 
 ourselves to place its peculiarity and sacredness in 
 
 what it actually is, not in qualities which dogmatists 
 
 ascribe to it. 
 
 * 
 
 Where, except in the New Testament, can we find 
 an entirely pure, naive, and unaffected representation 
 of Christian piety ? 
 
 Is it so very difficult to be sure that our theology is 
 in actual continuity with the New Testament theolo- 
 gumena, while, at the same time, we carry on our own 
 
 independent method ? 
 
 * 
 
 The Christian revelation can be transmitted only 
 by the tradition of acts which concern it ; i.e. of 
 original records on the subject, and previous attempts 
 to gather from these acts a correct and perfect know- 
 ledge. But these attempts must be transmitted by 
 the Church in such a way that it takes its share in the 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 
 
 work of their continuation, and indeed does this with 
 unlimited scientific freedom. 
 
 * 
 
 It is perfectly right that the incontestable im- 
 portance of the Old Testament for the scientific 
 comprehension of Christianity should be definitely 
 emphasized ; but the direct object of this emphasis 
 must be, not the Old Testament writings, but the Old 
 Testament economy or institutions. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a confusing distortion of the true position of 
 the matter, that we have now-a-days for the most 
 part merely "believers in the Bible," instead of 
 " believers in revelation " ; while those who call 
 themselves believers in revelation understand nothing 
 by the term except the Bible. 
 
 * 
 
 I find more and more that the Bible is made very 
 little use of for its true purpose, but all the more for 
 purposes which are quite foreign to it. 
 
 FAITH IN CHRIST. 
 
 Faith or belief belongs both to the religious feeling 
 and the religious intelligence. On the latter side the 
 truth, that an element of knowledge essentially be- 
 longs to it, is emphasized. Obedience is both 
 conscientiousness and receptivity for the Divine 
 
 co-activity. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards faith in Christ, there is a general 
 
2 24 STILL HOURS. 
 
 tendency to give special prominence to the fact that 
 the object of this faith seems foolishness to the natural 
 reason, and that in this way faith is unnatural to 
 man ; but we ought also to have a clear view of the 
 other side of the question, on which Christ Himself 
 lays special stress, and which becomes evident when 
 we understand faith in Jesus in its original sense, as 
 trust in His personal character. 
 
 There is a difference of meaning between these two 
 expressions, " I believe that I am reconciled to 
 God, because the Bible testifies it," and " I believe 
 this, because Jesus Christ has said it." 
 
 If the Lord Jesus were once more to appear 
 amongst us in the flesh, but quite incognito, without 
 title or honour, this would be the surest method of 
 discovering who are His. He who then felt the 
 strongest attraction to Him, who bent before Him in 
 deepest reverence, would belong to Him most closely, 
 and would have the truest faith in Him. 
 
 * 
 
 It matters very little whether we are able to name 
 the Lord Jesus with His true title ; but it matters 
 infinitely much that we should know His character. 
 His heart and mind, with the most thoughtful correct- 
 ness and accuracy. Not His ofificial position and 
 dignity, but His personal character, is the object of 
 that unbounded and frankly-yielded trust which forms 
 the essence of the irlari^; et? avrov. 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 225 
 
 If faith is comprehended as in its inmost essence 
 true confidence in a person (as feeUng the heart 
 drawn out in trust towards a certain being), then it 
 naturally follows that, in order to faith in Christ, a 
 clear and lively historical image of His character is 
 first of all required. A formula or articles of faith 
 will be in this way quite excluded. 
 
 * 
 
 It is incomparably more important that we should 
 
 know Christ in His personal character than in His 
 
 position and office. To the man who knows Him in 
 
 His character, Christ naturally becomes what in the 
 
 gracious providence of God He was designed to be 
 
 to humanity. 
 
 * 
 
 That the Lord Jesus did not wish that the faith 
 
 which He so distinctly demanded for Himself should 
 
 be understood in the sense of a dogmatic belief, 
 
 becomes clearly evident from the care with which He 
 
 avoided laying down dogmas or formulae as to His 
 
 person and His work. 
 
 * 
 
 Christianity knows nothing of a method, because 
 it knows no other dietetics of piety than moral order 
 in its full activity. It is of the greatest importance, 
 as regards this point, that the gospel requires nothing 
 more from man than simply faith in Christ. Cherish 
 in your heart the living certainty of the historical 
 fact Christ, and then, in the light of this certainty, 
 pass through your human life on earth. 
 
 P 
 
226 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Faith can bring salvation only as faith in d. person, 
 
 not as faith in a tiling. 
 
 * 
 
 As there is a form of unbelief as regards Christ, 
 which thoughtlessly overleaps all opposing arguments 
 and scruples in a summary fashion by a salto inortale, 
 so there is a kind of faith in Christ which does pre- 
 cisely the same thing. 
 
 * 
 
 Faith and knowledge belong to different sides of 
 our spiritual life. The latter rests on an act of our 
 consciousness, our understanding in the widest sense 
 of the word ; the former, on an act of our volition, 
 
 our self-activity. (?) 
 
 One reason why Jesus could help only those who 
 had faith in Him was, that men might know that 
 God can take delight in none but those who find 
 their personal satisfaction in the being and character 
 of Jesus. For this is the surest test of the human 
 disposition. 
 
 True faith is, on the one hand, faith in facts ; on 
 the other, faith which is yielded to a person and 
 springs from confidence in Him. Faith in mere 
 doctrines, in scientific formulae, is an inward contra- 
 diction. 
 
 * 
 
 Faith is at once the most personal and the most 
 individual thing in man. 
 
FAITH IN CHRIST. 227 
 
 The doubt and the tTcoy)) of the man who knows 
 the difficulties connected with a question have far 
 more religious weight than the unquestioning faith 
 of those to whose minds these difficulties have never 
 seriously been presented. 
 
 ^- 
 
 Now, as of old, faith cometh by hearing ; but the 
 sermon is not now delivered merely, or even chiefly, 
 by the preacher and the Bible, but by the whole 
 historical existence of Christianity, the entire ob- 
 jective condition of human existence in Christendom. 
 
 * 
 
 It is an abundant blessing to possess for ourselves 
 with full certainty a holy and gracious God (such a 
 God as we have in Christ) ; but it is a true blessing 
 only if we possess this God in order to our work 
 upon a distinctly objective, and not exclusively per- 
 sonal, task in the world. 
 
 Many of those who believe in God hold their belief 
 merely as the heathen do, i.e. without knowing how 
 they have come into possession of it. 
 
 * 
 
 He who is not consciously a Christian lacks the 
 true central point in all his praisev/orthy moral 
 interests, and therefore the truly accurate and pro- 
 portionate arrangement of these interests among 
 
 themselves. 
 
 * 
 
 To be a Christian — indeed to believe in a God at 
 
228 STILL HOURS. 
 
 all, — and to be at the same time a pessimist, is an 
 intolerable contradiction. 
 
 UNBELIEF. 
 Our worldly-minded unbelievers reject the Church's 
 doctrines thoughtlessly and without examination ; 
 but our believers accept them, for the most part, in 
 a precisely similar way. 
 
 The real nature of sin is disbelief in the good, i.e. 
 God, arising out of scorn of the being of perfect 
 goodness, i.e. of God. An absolutely good being 
 and an absolute good exist only as God. 
 
 * 
 
 The naively confident scepticism of our men of 
 culture, in its opposition to the positive in Chris- 
 tianity, supports itself as a rule on the foolhardy 
 assumption that we can know nothing of those things 
 which Divine revelation has brought to our know- 
 ledge, — the reason being that we arc totally unable 
 to understand them of ourselves. 
 
 RECON CILIA TION. 
 
 The really fatal and reprehensible error in self- 
 righteousness is, that it obscures the noblest feature 
 in the character of God — His holy and merciful love. 
 
 Justice in the wider sense of " righteousness " may 
 be understood as the essence of all the morally deter- 
 mined attributes of God. 
 
R EC ON C II. I A riON. 229 
 
 It is not God's way to " take things amiss " with 
 man. 
 
 The conception of the holiness of God {cf. Ehren- 
 fcuchter, " Prakt. Theol.," i., p. 33) is, that what God 
 wills or does not will, He does or does not will in no 
 arbitrary way, but entirely by virtue of the actual 
 nature of the object of His volition ; — that therefore 
 only what is good in itself as such can be willed by 
 God. Because in the Old Testament there existed 
 no landmark, by means of which the good in itself 
 could be recognised, the good being known only as 
 the good which was positively willed by God, because 
 the idea of His moral goodness was not understood, 
 therefore the idea of God's holiness is in the Old 
 Testament somewhat obscure ; and for this reason it 
 falls into the background, even in the New Testa- 
 ment, 
 
 That God is holy does not mean merely, in a nega- 
 tive way, that He hates evil, but also, in a positive 
 way, that He wills good. His justice, especially on 
 its retributive side, must be considered in the light 
 of this truth. 
 
 God's anger docs not require to be propitiated ; 
 but, because it is a holy anger, it requires that atone- 
 ment shall be made for sin. 
 
 * 
 
 It is quite correct to say that God, according to 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 His own nature, requires a satisfaction to be made 
 for sin ; but He can never find this satisfaction in 
 punishment, in the ordinary sense of the word {i.e. 
 in penal retribution), but only in the real abolition 
 of sin itself. In the same way, it is quite true that 
 the sinner himself desires to see satisfaction offered 
 for his sin ; but mere punishment, in the ordinary 
 sense (mere penal retribution), could never, as he 
 would gladly persuade himself, be such a satisfaction, 
 because in it sin continues with even intensified force, 
 but only a real abolition of sin. The same is true 
 when the satisfaction is specially considered as due 
 to the broken law. 
 
 It is an utter impossibility that a man should appro- 
 priate to himself the Divine pardon of his sins through 
 grace, if he does not at the same time confidently 
 believe that God will, because of this forgiveness, 
 finally set him free from all his sin. 
 
 * 
 
 In the idea of atonement for sin, the willingness 
 of God to pardon the sinner must be presupposed 
 as already existing. God's character requires, not 
 that this willingness shall be awakened by the atone- 
 ment, but that the moral possibility shall be presented 
 for putting it into effect. 
 
 t- 
 
 It belongs to the nature of the anger of God, that 
 it does not require to be mitigated or appeased. It 
 is the anger of love, and requires only that the moral 
 
RECONCILIA TION. 23 1 
 
 possibility shall be presented for its being turned 
 away. 
 
 By forgiveness of sins is meant the turning away 
 of the hatred due to the sin committed by any person 
 from that person himself; so that, while angry with 
 the sin, God is not at the same time angry with the 
 sinner, but loves him in spite of His hatred of the 
 sin. The possibility of a separation between the 
 person and his sin is therefore presupposed. 
 
 We can have no clear idea of the doctrine of for- 
 giveness of sins, until we have a clear conception ot 
 the act of forgiveness itself The common idea is 
 merely, that when sin is forgiven the future conse- 
 quences of sin for the sinner (after death, at the 
 judgment, in eternity, etc.) are removed, nothing 
 therefore happening in the sinner himself. But the 
 true idea of forgiveness of sin is, that it is a present 
 act of God in His relation to the sinner. It consists 
 in God's testifying to the sinner, by actually entering 
 into communion Avith him, that He has abolished 
 the consequences of his sin, of which the most im- 
 mediate is the cessation of the relation of friendship 
 and communion with God, which is changed into a 
 relation of anger. The act of forgiving consists in 
 God's making the sinner conscious of His own 
 gracious attitude towards Him by actually realizing 
 it in his experience ; the forgiveness of sins happens 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 when the sinner experiences, reah'zes, becomes con- 
 scious of it.^ 
 
 * 
 
 To the truly honourable man the Divine forgive- 
 ness of his sin is the most pressing of all necessities, 
 because it is the primary condition of real liberation 
 from sin. 
 
 The forgiving mercy of God may be always 
 understood to mean that God, while forgiving sin, 
 places the sinner in a position to mortify in himself 
 the sin which has been forgiven. 
 
 * 
 
 One great conviction which we owe to Christianity 
 is, that mercy exists and rules as far as God's kingdom 
 extends. 
 
 PREDESTINA TION. 
 
 The apparent severity in the conception of Divine 
 predestination appears in a much milder light, when 
 we understand clearly, that election does not neces- 
 sarily occur only in the directly religious form. 
 
 * 
 
 Absolute antisynergism (with all its consequences 
 of absolute predestination, etc.) is a perfectly logical 
 consequence, when the relation of man to God is 
 considered as entirely religious, and not as being also 
 Dwrally mediated. 
 
 ' Cf. Schwalb, " Luther," p. 33, etc. 
 
JUSTIFICA riON.—SANCTlFICA TION. 233 
 
 SUBSTITUTION. 
 We may undoubtedly and in the fullest sense speak 
 of a substitution of Christ for us ; but yet in a 
 different sense from that in which the Church's 
 doctrine represents it. 
 
 By the idea of the merits of Christ we must not 
 understand His merits in relation to God, but His 
 merits in relation to the religious community. If the 
 merits of Christ are understood in this latter sense, 
 then we may also speak of their being imputed to 
 men. They may thus be actually acquired and 
 appropriated by others. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 
 Justification must come of itself, unsought. Faith 
 also must come unsolicited, and with it justifica- 
 tion is of itself assured. He who wished to believe 
 in order to be justified would not possess true faith, 
 and such a faith would not bring justification along 
 with it. 
 
 SANCTIFICA TION. 
 
 When sanctification is complete, the sinner who 
 
 has been redeemed by grace is in himself really 
 
 worthy of the glory which he attains (and this of 
 
 immanent necessity) and really merits it in himself. 
 
 Here therefore a true justitia Dei remnneratrix 
 
 appears. 
 
 * 
 
 The e/37a veKpa of the Epistle to the Hebrews are 
 
234 STILL HOURS. 
 
 moral acts which do not result in real spirit, and 
 therefore in vital, imperishable being, in the actor 
 himself. 
 
 The whole question as to " good works " exists 
 only in the sphere of abstract moral religiosity ; 
 in the sphere of religious morality the question is 
 solely as to good effects (products) which the subject 
 produces in himself and in his world. Not the 
 formal point of view, but the material, here lays 
 down the law. 
 
 REWARD. 
 
 Reivard is the religious term for the moral concep- 
 tion of fruit. The importance of moral proportion- 
 ateness is here emphasized, but that of moral 
 interposition is not expressly touched upon. 
 
 * 
 
 That a merit should be rewarded is a self-contradic- 
 tory idea. It belongs expressly to the conception of 
 merit, that the man who deserves must (in his universal 
 culture) acquire something. Every reward which falls 
 to his share from others comes post festuin. The 
 question can be only of recognition. 
 
 * 
 
 Rewards are not wages. Even in human affairs 
 the idea of reward excludes all claim of right. 
 
 To be worthy of anything and to deserve it are 
 two different matters. Our undeservingrness in God's 
 
REWARD. 235 
 
 sight does not make us unworthy of Him, i.e. of His 
 sacred mercy. 
 
 To acquire morally and to deserve (in relation to 
 God) are not identical conceptions. On the contrary, 
 the latter idea has arisen only because the former was 
 not understood, and therefore all that man is, in 
 relation to God, was understood as being entirely 
 bestowed upon him by God, the question then being 
 only as to the motive God had in giving. 
 
 In the affairs of salvation everything must be 
 physical, not merely personal, but physical, not by 
 direct establishment, but by moral production. 
 
THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE 
 CHRISTIAN. 
 
VII. THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE 
 CHRISTIAN. 
 
 GOOD, VIRTUE, DUTY. 
 
 The complete separation of sin from man through 
 the efficacy of the atonement, and the perfect accom- 
 pHshment of the moral task, i.e. the complete 
 realization of the highest good, entirely coincide, 
 both as regards nature and time. 
 
 All that is truly a moral end, ix. which corresponds 
 to the conception of the moral or personal creature, 
 is at the same time moral good. 
 
 Christian virtue is that moral disposition of the in- 
 dividual, by means of which he is specifically adapted 
 for realizing the absolute restoration of sinful 
 humanity, alike in himself and in the whole human 
 race, from a state of sin into a state of complete 
 salvation. This of course is absolutely true of it only 
 in its full development. 
 
 The motive, as incitement or impulse, is the dispo- 
 sition in accordance with which I act, or determine 
 
240 STILL HOURS. 
 
 myself for or against the law. The true motive is 
 merely the virtuous disposition. Special motives 
 apart from the disposition do not exist. 
 
 * 
 The true motive of action must be the consciousness 
 of man's moral task, and the will to accomplish it. 
 
 * 
 
 Design and execution belong to the side of skill ; 
 motive and aim to that of the disposition. What may 
 be their nature in Christian virtue ? 
 
 * 
 
 Moral virtue in itself and as practised for its own 
 sake is the necessary foundation of public virtue. 
 This is the real opinion of Schmid : " Chr. Sittenlehre," 
 
 p. 514, etc. 
 
 * 
 
 The most important means of virtue (means of 
 grace) is the moral community. 
 
 * 
 Duty always presupposes, not only the existence of 
 imperfection, but the relative want of virtue and the 
 relative existence of vice, 
 
 * 
 
 Every system of moral duty is in its very nature 
 casuistic. 
 
 Duty can always be described only as a definite 
 mode of action, never as a disposition. Thus, e.g. 
 we speak of becoming virtuous, which implies the 
 acquirement of possession knowledge, honour, etc. 
 
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL MORALITY. 241 
 
 Exclusive of our duties to ourselves (asceticism), 
 duties can have reference only, on the one hand, to 
 the entrance into special circles of the community, and, 
 on the other, to the mode of action within these 
 circles, so as to produce from the existing confusion 
 a perfect universality and normality. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL MORALITY. 
 
 If morality and religion are not to be purely 
 identical conceptions, the notion of the former must 
 originate directly in the idea of another relation of 
 man than his relation to God. 
 
 * 
 
 Strict morahty is attainable only along with an 
 unconditional acknowledgment of the legitimacy of 
 the moral principle as such, and hearty devotion to 
 positive moral tasks. 
 
 The honestuui means that which is worthy of man ; 
 that is, moral good. 
 
 Moral good signifies that which through its own 
 self-determination corresponds to its original concep- 
 tion. 
 
 The real meaning of those who define the 
 "conscience" as the principle of religion is, that the 
 principle of piety lies in the moral constitution of 
 man, whose qualities as a moral being necessarily 
 include a relation to God. In other words, religion 
 exists because there is a personal creature. 
 
 Q 
 
242 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The Christian can look upon this present life as a 
 possession of his own, only if he understands that by 
 its means alone man can become truly spiritual. 
 
 We possess " eternal life," even on earth, exactly 
 in proportion as we have this life in ourselves, in 
 proportion as our individual personal life is really 
 causa sui. 
 
 That which occurs morally occurs by virtue of its 
 own self-determination. For this very reason we 
 ought not to call it occurrence, but action. This 
 occurrence, which, exclusive of every more special 
 attribute, is found ev^en in the animal, is in concreto 
 consciousness and activity. 
 
 Those special features of the moral which must be 
 understood in order to its scientific comprehension 
 are, the results (products) to be produced by self- 
 determination, the forces which constitute self- 
 determination, and the modes of production (actions) 
 which proceed from self-determination. 
 
 * 
 
 The moral signifies that which has originated in 
 the self-determination of the creature. From the 
 proper self-determination of the creature has arisen 
 the very power of self-determination, besides virtue 
 and the concrete mode of self-determination, or action 
 in accordance with duty (which is such only because 
 the subject has expressly determined itself to this 
 
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL MORALITY. 243 
 
 particular course of action). The moral therefore 
 essentially includes both empirical-moral {sittlicJi) and 
 religious elements. 
 
 The religious forms no contrast to the moral, for 
 they are both comprehended in the same idea ; but 
 it does form a contrast to empirical or traditional 
 morality. 
 
 The moral is not in itself exclusively identified 
 either with empirical morality {Sittlichkeit) or with 
 religion. 
 
 The great importance of the Kantian philosophy 
 consists mainly in the fact that we owe to it the clear, 
 scientific consciousness that the moral law holds good 
 even apart from belief in God. {Cf. Thilo : " Die 
 theologisirende Rechts und Staatslehre," p. 79.) 
 
 Why is man surrounded with material nature in all 
 its vastness and riches, if in his moral endowment he 
 has no special task in reference to it — if his moral 
 task does not also involve certain social obligations 
 {sittlich) ? 
 
 The personal worth of man must be morally deter- 
 mined according to the nature and degree of his 
 morality, not absolutely according to his general 
 moral condition. The latter must rather be judged 
 from the moral point of view, according to the nature 
 
244 STILL HOURS. 
 
 and degree of the self-determination by which it was 
 
 originated. 
 
 * 
 
 A course of action which under certain social 
 
 conditions {sittlich) is very wrong, may be, absolutely 
 
 considered {inoraliscJi)^ most commendable. The 
 
 nature of the self-determination may be correct in 
 
 the action, but it may be directed towards a mistaken 
 
 object. 
 
 UNION OF GOD AND MAN. 
 
 These sayings — (i) God does not act upon man 
 directly, i.e. not otherwise than through causal 
 means ; and (2) He does not act upon man without 
 mediation, i.e. not magically, not without some point 
 of contact in man himself and in his own activity, 
 not without expressly addressing Himself to man's 
 receptivity — are not by any means synonymous. 
 
 * 
 
 The definition of the workings of Divine grace as 
 an iiiflitxiis Dei pJiysicus is very accurate. They are 
 so, partly because the active causality in them is the 
 Divine nature, or more exactly the nature of the 
 Redeemer, the Holy Ghost ; and its direct object in 
 man is his nature, his organism or body, whether con- 
 sidered as material or as spiritual. 
 
 * 
 
 Every assumption of a physical, i.e. not morally 
 mediated, union of God with the creature — of a union 
 which is in its nature material, and which concerns 
 
UNION Of GOD AND MAN. 245 
 
 some Other part of the creature than the spirit — is 
 essentially heathenish. 
 
 That which on man's side constitutes and is the 
 condition of unity between God and man is the 
 quality of his moral condition and action, the con- 
 formity of his conduct to the moral norm or standard, 
 not its quantity. The question here is not as to the 
 relation between the finite and the infinite, which is a 
 merely quantitative distinction, but as to the relation 
 between the holy and the good. This must never be 
 forgotten in the study of Christology. 
 
 The union of God with the personal creature can 
 never be comprehended as a congruence of the being 
 of both in a quantitative respect. In this case, but 
 only in this, the canon in the theology of the Re- 
 formed Church is indisputably true : Finitiim non 
 
 est capax infiiiiti. 
 
 * 
 
 Every conception which admits that a communion 
 
 between God and man can take place in a purely 
 
 physical manner, i.e. otherwise than by means of a 
 
 moral process, is mere Docetism. 
 
 In His work for man it is the constant fate of God 
 
 to be misunderstood. 
 
 * 
 
 The direct indwelling of God in man never occurs 
 as only physical, but always as morally mediated, 
 
246 STILL HOURS. 
 
 although it certainly rests on an action of God upon 
 the nature of man. 
 
 The creature will become Divine, i.e. made essen- 
 tially of the same nature as God ; but it will not be 
 deified, i.e. it will not be made identical with Him. 
 
 The only possibility of a creature becoming God 
 is by perfectly uniting itself with God. 
 
 * 
 
 In order to possess God, a man must first be some- 
 thing which is capable of possessing Him, and also 
 something which God can possess. 
 
 * 
 When God dwells in a creature. He can do so only 
 as an active agency. And this is true of every spirit 
 in its own degree. 
 
 UNION OF MAN AND GOD. 
 
 Love to God is, as regards its practical efficacy, 
 something very different from mere love to the good 
 in and for itself In the former case we know that 
 our doing and suffering cause joy or sorrow to the 
 personal good One, and that is, in many cases, the 
 only motive which can touch the heart. 
 
 He who has no consciousness, no feeling, no impres- 
 sion of the vastness which characterizes belief in God 
 and Christ, should say nothing at all on the subject. 
 
UNION OF MAN AND GOD. 247 
 
 Man possesses no special organ for religion. He 
 has a religion because he is man, i.e. because he 
 possesses an ego ; but he has in this ego such an 
 organ, in order that in him God may find and possess 
 a "thou." Because man can grasp the idea of him- 
 self, can become an object to himself, therefore objects 
 in general can exist for him, and consequently God 
 can exist for him as an object. He can understand 
 God because he possesses the power of under- 
 standing. 
 
 ^= 
 
 In the normal human development, the earliest of 
 all elementary ideas or guesses at the truth, and all 
 knowledge (the original of both), is the elementary 
 idea or foreshadowing {Ahiiung) of the notion of 
 God and knowledge of God. 
 
 He who believes in the good is for this very reason 
 directly under subjection and responsibility to God, 
 even although he himself may be quite unaware of 
 the fact. 
 
 That which can alone adequately counterbalance 
 our natural egotism is a lively faith in the holy God 
 of love. 
 
 Is it possible to become free from ourselves with- 
 out faith in the living God .-* 
 
 In the case of many, we may be almost glad that 
 they do not believe in God, because in this way their 
 
248 STILL HOURS. 
 
 habitual discontent with their situation does not 
 appear as if directed against God. 
 
 * 
 
 Happiness, i.e. absolute satisfaction, can be secured 
 
 to the personal individual only by communion with 
 
 God, because this communion is a completion of the 
 
 individual by the absolute being, the absolute fulness 
 
 of being, and consequently an absolute fulfilment of 
 
 life. 
 
 * 
 
 The true position of a man's heart towards God is 
 not that to which he has given expression out of 
 opposition to another who has been seeking in some 
 way to force belief upon him, 
 
 * 
 
 Truly that man knows something of religion, who 
 can only wonder, in all humility, how God is able to 
 make of such a weak and (morally) fragile vessel a 
 creature worthy of His grace. 
 
 Since God created a world from love, and in order to 
 love His personal creature, therefore the only relation 
 of the personal creature which corresponds to the 
 true conception of his relation to God is that he shall 
 love God and surrender himself to Him. 
 
 * 
 
 The personal creature leads a real, i.e. a wakeful, 
 life, only when he is in correspondence with an out- 
 ward environment. If the organs for this are wanting 
 or fail him, God is yet able to place him in corre- 
 
PR A YER. 249 
 
 spondence with Himself, and thus he can really " live 
 to God." {Cf. Luke xx. 37, 38.) 
 
 If man can serve God, then he can render Him 
 real services (against Wuttke, " Sittenlehre," p. 445), 
 for with God there is no mere court-service. 
 
 * 
 
 O how man prospers, when he is obedient to God ! 
 
 PR A YER. 
 
 Prayer is an appropriation of the Divine nature 
 (2 Pet. 1,4), a direct appropriation of the Divine spirit. 
 
 Prayer, in the province of religion, resembles social 
 intercourse, especially social conversation. 
 
 * 
 
 Prayer is the actualising of the religious impulse, 
 the yearning after God, just as worship is the actual- 
 ising of the religious emotion. 
 
 * 
 
 To the conception of appropriation belong two 
 essentially separate moments. The individual who 
 appropriates first assumes the natural object of 
 appropriation, he takes it to himself or absorbs it, 
 and afterwards incorporates it with his own nature 
 by a process of inner assimilation, transubstantiation, 
 or digestion. In religious appropriation these two 
 moments are also distinct. In this case the receptive 
 moment is asking, making request ; the transub- 
 stantiating moment is thanksgiving. Without both 
 
250 STILL HOURS. 
 
 request and thanksgiving, prayer is incomplete. 
 Between the two there lies, of course, as an inter- 
 mediate point, the certainty of being heard, which 
 therefore forms an essential part of every true prayer. 
 {Cf. Matt. xxi. 21, 22 ; xi. 22-24; Jas. i. 5-8.) 
 
 * 
 
 He whom men have rendered unhappy must see 
 to it that he maintains friendship with God, so that 
 at all times he may cast himself with his sorrow upon 
 His bosom, and there let his tears have vent. 
 
 * 
 
 Only He who created man can truly sympathise 
 with and fully understand the peculiar idiosyncrasy 
 of the human individual in his development through 
 his unique course of life, 
 
 -i' 
 
 O if only a folio in calf could understand the feel- 
 ings of a i6mo in paper cover! God alone can 
 sympathise with the smallest as well as with the 
 
 greatest. 
 
 * 
 
 How great is God, who can understand even the 
 most embittered and soured disposition, to which no 
 human being can find the key, and although it is 
 no longer in relations of love to any one, can yet 
 bring it into relations of love and confidence to 
 Himself 
 
 Every man has a circumscribed sphere of vision, 
 whose eye does not reach as far as God. 
 
BELIEF IN GO US PROVIDENCE. 251 
 
 To possess a God is, in every sense of the word, 
 a precious thing ; many think it costs too dear. 
 
 * 
 
 Intercourse with God is most natural to man as 
 man ; but if we disaccustom ourselves to this inter- 
 course, then, indeed, it will appear a most unnatural 
 thing. 
 
 Ah ! how earnestly one longs to be a child again, 
 to live once more in the immediate present ! 
 
 He who carries in himself an unconquerable need 
 for quiet, must suffer far more in this world than 
 other men. 
 
 Possession is in concreto inspiration, in a religious 
 sense enthusiasm (eV Oe(^ ov(Tiaaixo<;). 
 
 BELIEF IN GOD'S PRO VIDENCE. 
 
 As in life's morning we lie down, free from care 
 and in deep content, in our mother's lap, so, when 
 life's evening comes, do we lay ourselves down in the 
 fatherly arms of God, only then with far clearer con- 
 sciousness and with fuller and tenderer emotions. 
 
 ■V- 
 
 It is a good sign when both joy and sorrow have 
 a salutary influence in a man's moral training — 
 specially good when their influence is exerted in 
 equal proportion. 
 
252 STILL HOURS. 
 
 In the province of spiritual activity, God has so 
 appointed that, as a rule, the individual is incapable 
 of doing what he ought not to do. 
 
 * 
 
 Every yearning, every longing which arises from 
 a true individual need, may be certain of one day 
 finding full satisfaction (Matt. v. 3-6 ; John x. 10). 
 
 In the life of a human individual who has yielded 
 himself to God, all discords must finally cease. 
 
 * 
 It is bitter, and yet precious and needful, that in 
 all our learning we have to learn at last, how many 
 of the objects of our eager study were not worthy of 
 being learned at all. 
 
 * 
 
 If only any one could truly know how, from the 
 first moment of its existence, God cares for the poor 
 creature that is born of man, in all the weakness 
 which it inherits from its parents ! 
 
 * 
 
 God makes His sun to rise, not alone over the evil 
 and the good, but also over the sorrowful and the 
 glad. 
 
 How are we to find out in what way God would 
 have us serve Him ? God seeks to have every man's 
 work just where he can most successfully develop 
 and actualise his own peculiar gift. He is most 
 
THE WORTH OF LIFE. 253 
 
 useful to God, just as he is most useful to himself 
 
 and to the world. 
 
 * 
 
 It is well for us, that when our thoughts must 
 cease, God's thoughts have not yet reached their end. 
 
 The life of most men is ordered for them in a way 
 of which they themselves would never have dreamed. 
 
 * 
 
 The Christian looks upon the scenes of his past 
 life, not as battle-plains and ruins, but as harvest- 
 fields. 
 
 THE WORTH OF LIFE. 
 
 He to whom human life is to appear as vain, must 
 possess in his consciousness the idea of a true life, 
 and this idea itself will give to human life a real 
 worth and value. 
 
 He who sincerely takes life in earnest finds it quite 
 natural and a matter of course to do so, and does 
 not, therefore, make any great noise about it. 
 
 * 
 
 Every possession certainly affords happiness, i.e. 
 self-contentment, and is therefore an object of desire, 
 because it is a means to our moral end. 
 
 The main point in human life, alike in that of the 
 individual and the community, is not merely that it 
 shall be correct, but also that it shall have real moral 
 value. 
 
254 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The most abstract conception of life is the relation 
 
 of the being to itself. 
 
 * 
 
 The contemplation of our earthly life as a " vale of 
 tears " is a natural consequence of that life being 
 considered exclusively as that of the individual, not 
 as also that of the race. How can love obtain its 
 rights if we look upon the matter thus .'' 
 
 * 
 
 Life and every vocation in life may be beautiful, 
 if only lived in a manner worthy of man. 
 
 * 
 
 Man's life would not be worth living, if there were 
 
 not treasures in it far higher than the sensual life of 
 
 the individual. 
 
 * 
 
 Human life includes so much real gold, so many 
 precious jewels, that he who knows these will not 
 be tempted to set it off with gewgaws. 
 
 VOCATION IN LIFE. 
 The most pressing necessity for a Christian man, 
 I mean for one who really believes in Christ, even 
 simply in the salvation of his soul, is that he shall 
 have some good work to do. 
 
 * 
 
 God does not require that each individual shall 
 have capacity for everything. 
 
 * 
 One lesson which it costs us all much trouble to 
 
WORK. 255 
 
 learn, but which we all must learn, if we arc to 
 prosper and do good to others, is to desire to be 
 nothing more and nothing different, in regard to our 
 individual personality, from that which God has 
 really given us the capacity to become. 
 
 WORK. 
 
 Effort and work must exist even in the strictly 
 normal moral development. For every moral task 
 which is set before the individual, the requisite 
 measure of moral force is always present, — not actu, 
 but ox\\y potent ia ; the individual himself must render 
 it actual by an act of moral production, by a moral 
 exertion. Hence every execution of a new task is 
 a direct increase of moral force. On this the reality 
 of the effort depends. 
 
 He who seeks to walk before the face of God must 
 not place himself before the mirror and coquettishly 
 examine himself, thinking, though it may be with 
 ever so many expressions of humility, how hand- 
 somely he is decked out for Him ; but he must go 
 bravely and energetically to his own field of labour, 
 and exert all his strength in the work, it may be the 
 dirty work, which belongs to the province that has 
 been assigned him. 
 
 To be able to work with a light heart must be too 
 sweet lor us to bear. 
 
256 STILL HOURS. 
 
 He who has work to do, a task to perform, needs 
 no recreations. 
 
 Day and night exist just as far as there is an 
 alternation of work and rest. 
 
 For the perfected spiritual creature there exists no 
 longer action, but only influence. 
 
 * 
 
 Formative action is essentially efficacious. It has 
 an outward product, because it always occasions a 
 change in its object. We may reverse the idea, and 
 say that perceptive action is an absorption of the 
 object of perception by the subject which perceives. 
 In this case, the former remains unchanged ; the latter 
 only is otherwise determined. 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 Only a good man can be truly modest and humble. 
 But if he considered himself so, would he then be 
 humble and modest ? It belongs, therefore, to the 
 conception of humility and modesty, that their pos- 
 sessor should be unconscious of their presence. 
 
 * 
 
 Humility presupposes courage, elasticity of self- 
 determination. 
 
 No one will go far wrong who assumes that the 
 average moral rank of his historical circle is much 
 higher than that of his own individuality. 
 
SF.LF-RESTRALYT. 257 
 
 Well for him who knows and honestly admires 
 something greater than himself and his own par- 
 ticular friends. 
 
 * 
 
 Modesty can and ought to be united to the con- 
 sciousness of high personal gifts, because along with 
 these there exist always and of necessity correspond- 
 ing deficiencies in other respects. (In opposition to 
 Schopenhauer, " Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung," 
 
 ii., p. 484, etc.) 
 
 * 
 
 The best proof of a man's sincerely thinking little 
 of himself is, that it does not occur to his mind to 
 use others as means to his personal ends. 
 
 * 
 
 How happy is the man who knows nothing of 
 boastful self-consciousness ! 
 
 * 
 
 To feel dissatisfaction with one's self is the surest 
 method of rendering satisfaction to others. 
 
 * 
 
 A man must have a long neck, if he is to bend his 
 head in true humility. 
 
 SELF-KES TRAINT, 
 
 If a person lacks capacity for any work, let him 
 
 leave it alone. 
 
 * 
 
 We fail to realize the ideals which we had set 
 
 before us for the pursuit of our later life, because 
 
 the world around us is always changing. 
 
258 STILL HOURS. 
 
 As regards any subject which we do not profess 
 to understand, we may, with perfect cahnness, allow 
 ourselves to be blamed for ignorance. 
 
 * 
 
 No one is more fortunate in his knowledge of 
 human things than the man who makes a principle 
 of avoiding all " private information," and keeping 
 exclusively to the notorious. No man is more fre- 
 quently deceived than he who with the aid of the 
 secret chronicle hears the grass grow. 
 
 * 
 
 Is it really impossible to carry on a work with 
 love, earnestness, and zeal {e.g. speculation), without 
 over-estimating it ? 
 
 It must be a most happy thing to have no private 
 interests. In this respect, monastic life is to be 
 envied. 
 
 It is a common but impure and dangerous motive 
 to seek personal promotion through devotion to a 
 good cause. It springs from a want of simplicity 
 and unity of purpose. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Independence of others is a dangerous position for 
 our freedom. It is complete abandonment of all 
 outward allies in order to a complete surrender to 
 the tyranny of our own selfishness. 
 
INDEPENDENCE. 259 
 
 He only can know shame who makes hnnself 
 ashamed of himself. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not so hard after all to be a slave, 
 if only the work of a free man is not laid upon us. 
 
 * 
 
 Dependence on fashion is coarseness and bar- 
 barism. 
 
 It is quite natural and unavoidable that a man 
 should feel the grief and pain of his individual life, 
 and struggle to attain the mastery over them ; but 
 to enlarge upon his troubles to others, even to his 
 nearest friends, to make them a subject of constant 
 discussion, is, to say the least of it, unmanly. 
 
 We should learn from everybody; but N.B. for 
 our own especial work. 
 
 The natural man is always disposed to bow before 
 the arbitrary will, especially in religious matters. 
 
 * 
 
 All human individuals are not built an equal 
 number of storeys high. 
 
 One serious evil is professional narrow-mindedness, 
 that of the soldier, the clergyman, the courtier, etc. 
 
 * 
 
 Is it really impossible, even in Christendom, to 
 have recourse successfully in our exertions for the 
 good of the world, to men's pure and sincere desire 
 
26o SI ILL HOURS. 
 
 for good, without an admixture of incentives to 
 selfishness. 
 
 Nothing is lofty which is not elevating. 
 * 
 
 The richly gifted person can sacrifice almost every- 
 thing, but never his own spiritual or moral force. 
 This may be applied to Christology. 
 
 It is a sad misfortune that, in order to carry on 
 any work well in the world, we must have a profound 
 conviction of its relative worthlessness. This makes 
 life very hard for the thorough worker. 
 
 The maxim of the earnest worker is to think very 
 highly of his task, but very little of his own per- 
 formance. 
 
 * 
 
 As opposed to the man who does not hesitate to 
 employ even the worst means for the attainment of 
 his own ends, the only safe course is to renounce all 
 means which are even ambiguous. The weakness of 
 the good always consists in its impurity. 
 
 * 
 
 The man who has work to do in the world is indif- 
 ferent to the charms with which others tickle his 
 
 vanity. 
 
 * 
 
 He is a man who has convictions, and who stands 
 up for them. 
 
DIGNITY. 261 
 
 We may speak of self-love as a lawful thing only 
 in the sense that we surrender our empirical per- 
 sonality to our ideal personality ; which has been 
 given us to realize, or which is, to a certain extent, 
 already realized. 
 
 According to a man's own essential nature is his 
 understanding of outward things. The reflection of 
 these things corresponds to the quality of the mirror. 
 
 * 
 
 The self-consciousness of the individual is the 
 sounding-board of the world around him. 
 
 DIGNITY. 
 
 True dignity consists in yielding obedience with 
 inviolable faith and self-sacrifice to what we under- 
 stand as right. The more truly we understand the 
 right, the higher is the dignity and the nobler its 
 
 nature. 
 
 • * 
 
 Cheerfulness is inseparable from true earnestness. 
 * 
 
 The nobility of a scientific production determines 
 itself according to the general moral character of the 
 personality behind it. 
 
 The standpoint is of infinitely less importance than 
 the man who occupies it. 
 
 It is well worth the trouble to awaken the sense of 
 
262 STILL HOURS. 
 
 honour, i.e. the sense of human or of Christian 
 dignity. Nothing more effectually excludes ambition. 
 
 * 
 We look with indulgent eyes on the proud self- 
 consciousness of the youthful spirit, because it carries 
 in itself such a wealth of possibilities, which it hopes 
 to realize in such a way that some good work shall 
 result from them. But as for the man who can look 
 back with lofty self-consciousness on the work he has 
 accomplished — well, if he can do it, it is not worth 
 while to prevent him ! 
 
 The man who is satisfied with himself — whatever 
 worse thing he may be besides — is at least a Philis- 
 tine and pedant. 
 
 Can human pride go so far as that a man, because 
 he feels, and perhaps feels wrongly, that he cannot be 
 much to some other with whom he is closely con- 
 nected, and who on his side yields him the warmest 
 and most disinterested affection, must turn against 
 that other in bitter enmity ? 
 
 How many may there be, even among our men of 
 culture, who sincerely consider that their own opinions 
 are open to contradiction ? 
 
 * 
 
 A man may be perfectly certain of his own convic- 
 tion, and yet not consider himself on that account 
 infallible. 
 
HAPPINESS.-SUFFERING. 26^ 
 
 HAPPINESS. 
 
 The happy man possesses this great means for the 
 
 promotion of virtue, that he does not need to think 
 
 much of himself. 
 
 * 
 
 He is a happy man who, when he Hes down to 
 
 rest, is glad to think of his awaking again in the 
 
 morning. 
 
 He alone can be happy who has work appointed 
 him in life, which he really possesses the ability to 
 do. 
 
 The longing for happiness is not self-love. 
 
 SUFFERING. 
 
 What others term their "yoke," we Christians call 
 by a nobler name, our " cross." 
 
 * 
 
 When God lays an obstacle in any man's way, it 
 proves a hindrance only to his influence in and for 
 the world, not to what he becomes in himself. On 
 the contrary, it is a positive assistance to him in this 
 respect. It is by no means easy for any man to bear 
 the former patiently ; but the purer his heart and the 
 deeper his knowledge of God, the easier does it be- 
 come to him. 
 
 * 
 
 There is no such thing as unbearable pain ; when 
 it becomes really unbearable, it breaks the heart, 
 
264 STILL HOURS. 
 
 either physically or morally. So long as it can be 
 
 felt, it can be endured. 
 
 * 
 
 The brightest hours of the unhappy man are those 
 in which he is overcome by the feeling of unspeakable 
 misery. In the piercing sharpness of such grief lies 
 a soothing, softening power. Why cannot we linger 
 always on this bright and peaceful summit of pain, 
 where the oppressed bosom can at last draw a breath 
 of relief ? 
 
 The omnipotence of God often appears to me most 
 marvellously displayed in all that it permits a poor, 
 weak child of man to suffer. 
 
 * 
 
 There are people who, after experiencing in their 
 youth the happiness of joy, come in their old age to 
 enjoy the happiness of suffering. 
 
 To take pleasure in the smallest things of life is 
 the noble privilege, not only of childhood, but also of 
 misfortune. 
 
 If a gloomy life is only enlightened here and there 
 by one single gleam of bright sunshine, even that is 
 sufficient, for it shows that the sun has risen and is 
 shining in the sky. The full daylight will break upon 
 our view when once we have reached the borders of 
 the cloud of mist, for beyond it all is light. 
 
SUFFERING. 265 
 
 Suffering, with all its pain and humiliation, would 
 not be so hard to bear if it did not make us, while it 
 lasts, so weary and so slothful. 
 
 * 
 
 Dei omnia laboribus et dolovibus vendunt. 
 
 There are situations in which we can only resign 
 ourselves to the will of God. 
 
 * 
 
 We have made a great step forward if we have got 
 so far as to consider even our warmest wishes as of 
 no importance, and have laid them quietly in the 
 grave. 
 
 Many a man finds it a hard task to be satisfied 
 
 with, and heartily grateful for, the gifts which God 
 
 has given him, 
 
 * 
 
 The man who has learned resignation knows best 
 the great tenacity of life, when he sees how new 
 claims on life are always arising in his breast, even 
 after his hopes have long been laid aside. 
 
 * 
 
 If a man has once for all renounced all earthly 
 joys, then he is in a real and certain sense already 
 dead. He lives only so far as life is work — a life 
 without a Sabbath, which must often appear to him 
 very long. 
 
 True piety and the comprehension of its nature can 
 
266 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 be learned nowhere but in the school of suffering. 
 Even Goethe was aware of this. 
 
 * 
 No one is ennobled without suffering. 
 
 * 
 He only is worthy of reverence who has been 
 ennobled by suffering. God cannot show His own 
 children a higher honour than by allowing them to 
 suffer. 
 
 There is something indescribably touching in the 
 thought that God receives the child whom He loves 
 into the school of suffering, and chastens him there. 
 
 * 
 
 It is fortunate for the unhappy that their troubles 
 seldom leave them time to think of their misery. 
 
 * 
 
 The school of action is most useful for the purify- 
 ing and strengthening of one man's will ; the school 
 of suffering has the same effect upon another. 
 
 * 
 
 If we have no great sufferings to bear, we are apt 
 
 to become so sensitive to small ones that our case is 
 
 little better, and we lose only the salutary training 
 
 influence which the former (but rarely the latter) 
 
 usually exercise, 
 
 * 
 
 If a man is thoroughly unhappy, he gets over a 
 thousand difficulties in life with the utmost ease. 
 
MATURITY.— OLD AGE. 267 
 
 There is no true human happiness without a deep- 
 lying sorrow. 
 
 * 
 
 He whom experience has ripened looks for no un- 
 troubled joy on earth. 
 
 MA TURITY. 
 
 The experienced master may be always distin- 
 guished from the childish apprentice by the fact 
 that the former, while working no less earnestly, 
 puts on nothing of the important air of office with 
 which the latter performs the duties of his vocation. 
 
 Maturity, or ripeness, cannot be inborn, because 
 it belongs to its very conception to be developed 
 through the determining influence of man's person- 
 ality upon his material nature considered as in pro- 
 cess of organic development. 
 
 OLD AGE. 
 
 That which we have spent a whole life in labor- 
 iously burnishing may easily grow rusty during a 
 
 long old age. 
 
 * 
 
 If life grows harder to us every day, still each day 
 brings it nearer to its close. 
 
 * 
 
 In youth we dream of a thousand wanderings, 
 dangers, and adventures, which we shall have to 
 pass through in the life that lies before us ; and 
 
26S STILL HOURS. 
 
 when in old age we look back upon our past career — 
 yes, we find that we have passed through them all, 
 but it has been inwardly, in our hearts. 
 
 * 
 
 It is sweet to look back on our own life, when we 
 have done with it for ever, as a work of the wise and 
 holy grace of God in the midst of the confusion of 
 our own sin and folly. 
 
 One beautiful and pleasant thing in old age is, 
 that it is able, quite naturally, and without any 
 appearance of affectation, to retire into the hindmost 
 rank, behind the generations of mature men and of 
 youths. 
 
 One of the charms of old age is, that it is able 
 without cowardice to retire into the hindmost rank. 
 
 * 
 
 As youth sings out before the world, so old age 
 sings softly to itself. 
 
 How we rejoice, at the close of a long life, to think 
 that we shall soon enter upon an entirely new career ! 
 
 There are some men who have their youth in old 
 
 In old age all man's earthly possessions decay, and 
 so do also his systems. 
 
DEA TIL 269 
 
 That which so easily causes a separation between 
 youth and old age is the great difference in their 
 appreciation of the value of things. 
 
 * 
 
 In extreme old age we gradually forget all that 
 we have so laboriously learned, with the exception 
 of the understanding of, and capacity for, good and 
 evil. All the social side of morality gradually falls 
 away; the moral alone remains indestructible, because 
 spiritualized. 
 
 In the course of a long life the individual man 
 becomes so indescribably small and insignificant in 
 his own eyes that he thinks it full time for him to 
 go to sleep. 
 
 God is gracious in letting us grow old, for there 
 are many lessons which old age alone can teach. 
 
 DEA Th. 
 
 The imperfect created spirit cannot continue to 
 exist in our present sphere of existence after it has 
 been divested of the body ; it must, on account of 
 its embryonic nature, be placed under the conditions 
 of an embryonic existence. These are in their com- 
 plex Hades or ddvaTO'i. At the close of the earthly 
 sphere, this Hades, which is a complex of media of 
 a purely preservative agency of God, will be finally 
 annihilated (Rev. xx. 14). 
 
>70 STILL HOURS. 
 
 For the regenerate man there exists, after death, 
 
 no temptation to new sin, for the outward source of 
 
 fleshly as of selfish sin is now sealed up by the 
 
 abolition of the material body, the primary principle 
 
 of both. 
 
 * 
 
 Regeneration is not fully perfected until after 
 death. The spiritual body must be complete before 
 regeneration can be really perfected. 
 
 * 
 
 Death is not, as is commonly believed, the entire 
 separation of soul and body, but only the separation 
 of the soul from the juatcrial bod}'. 
 
 * 
 
 How many a man will stand amazed and wonder- 
 ing, when he awakes from the sleep of death and 
 beholds the possessions which he gathered up during 
 this present life — with fear and horror ! 
 
 * 
 
 When we close our eyes in death, we have for- 
 gotten all that we toiled on earth to learn ; we know 
 then only good and evil. 
 
 In death we may bid farewell to life with content- 
 ment and joy ; to the saddest life no less than to the 
 
 happiest. 
 
 * 
 
 How often does God, by causing a sudden, natural 
 death, interfere with an " improper " miracle in the 
 course of nature's laws. 
 
CONTINUATION OF LIFE AFTER DEATH. 271 
 
 If death destroyed all personal relations, it would 
 be absurd to make it our desire and duty to love. 
 
 It is no self-deception on our part that death 
 glorifies the departed in our memory ; the reason 
 is that we then grasp the whole character of the 
 departed, not merely the separate local features of 
 his image. A similar fact occurs as regards the 
 absent, and for a precisely similar reason. 
 
 Life would not be a right thing without death. 
 
 During his maturer life the individual is obliged 
 to live for the community to which he belongs ; in 
 death, as in his earliest childhood, he lives for some 
 moments entirely to himself. The solemnity of death 
 must have some connection with this idea. 
 
 The suicide always withdraws himself from definite, 
 social duties, which are expressly laid upon him. 
 
 The whole material organism of the animal body 
 will finally become a mere excrement. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF LIFE AFTER DEATH. 
 As the saved individual in the regnuni gloria will 
 always appropriate more completely to itself all other 
 saved individuals through personal communion with 
 them, so it will always appropriate to itself by means 
 of perception and formation all (spiritual) natural 
 
272 STILL HOURS. 
 
 beings. In this way its own life will be constantly 
 expanding, although the individual boundaries of its 
 being, which have only ceased to be barriers, will 
 remain undisturbed. 
 
 The physical torments of hell will not be merely 
 sensual, but neither will they be entirely unsensiial, 
 because the bodies of the lost did not achieve a 
 pure and true spirituality. That in them which 
 approximated to spirit will be more and more 
 resolved into matter, and they will thus become 
 always more susceptible to material pain. 
 
 The functions of glorified, personal creatures are 
 essentially the functions of the Divine Logos, which 
 dwells within them, and which constantly exercises 
 its functions through creatures, as its organs. They 
 are therefore world-creating, world-preserving, and 
 world-governing functions or activities. ^ 
 
 * 
 
 At the complete glorification of the earth, the 
 locality of the kingdom of death, at least as a place 
 of punishment, will be eo ipso abolished. 
 
 A curious preconception which we usually form, 
 especially in the case of the Biblical writers, is that, 
 if we assume that the existence of human individuals 
 continues in the flesh after this life is over, we must, 
 in consequence, maintain that it lasts on for ever. 
 ' Hence, i Cor. vi. 23. 
 
CONTINUATION OF LITE AFTER DEATH. 273 
 
 In the life to come, the great question will not be 
 what we knoiv, but what wc arc ; and, in connexion 
 with this, what we can do. 
 
 What a comforting thought it is for the man who 
 suits no calling here on earth, that God will tJiere 
 have some little post ready, even for him, in which 
 He will have work for him to do. 
 
 * 
 
 How I long for the monotony of heaven, where 
 
 every one labours actively and in well-ordered routine 
 
 at his own daily work, uninterrupted by the trifles 
 
 of our so-called life. 
 
 * 
 
 In heaven we shall undoubtedly have to think and 
 
 to will ; therefore we shall require the capacity for 
 
 both. 
 
 * 
 
 The saying, that every man will be saved who 
 really does what he can, is founded, quite apart from 
 every other idea, on the narrow-minded error that 
 the salvation of man can consist only in the reflex of 
 what he actually is in his own consciousness. 
 
 All that is here denied to any individual of the 
 pure and full human happiness which is enjoyed in 
 the relations of social intercourse, is laid up for him 
 in heaven, not only in undiminished degree, but also 
 
 in its purest form. 
 
 * 
 
 In this present life none of us arc in our action 
 
 s 
 
274 STILL HOURS. 
 
 what we are in ourselves, or what we really wish to 
 be, ^ on account of the hindrances which hem us in 
 on every side, both in our inner and our outer world. 
 This is why we find it so hard to love each other 
 wholly and perfectly, — hardest of all in the case of 
 those who stand in the closest relations to us. It 
 will be otherwise in the perfect life to come. 
 
 Our organ of emotion is destined for eternity, no 
 less than our organ of understanding. 
 
 He who believes in God must also believe in the 
 continuance of man's life after death. Without this 
 there could be no world which would be conceivable 
 as a purpose of God. 
 
 He to whom this life does not appear high and 
 honourable can have no true longing for the life to 
 come. 
 
 The prospect of a continuation of life can have 
 value in a man's eyes only in so far as it is the pros- 
 pect of the continuance of life for the sake of one or 
 several other persons. 
 
 * Not merely wish to appear. 
 
THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE 
 CHRISTIAN. 
 
VIII. THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE 
 CHRISTIAN. 
 
 THE SOCIAL SPHERE. 
 
 The four special modes of existence in a community 
 — public life, science, art, and society — arise and are 
 developed from the family ; and, without being done 
 away with as such, they again coalesce in the higher 
 unity of the state. On its side, again, the state is only 
 the full explication of the family, which has become 
 merged in it, but whose existence is not thereby 
 abolished. 
 
 Society, and therefore the sphere of action that 
 embraces social duty, must erect itself like a pyramid 
 from beneath, must rise from the most elementary 
 social relations, those of the family and of municipal 
 life, which furnishes the basis of all other associations 
 in the state. Only in proportion as man fulfils his 
 duties within that sphere of family and civil life can 
 he extend his actions as concerned with social duties 
 beyond that range. 
 
 Even Christian life in its historical development 
 
278 STILL HOURS. 
 
 began with the life of the family ; and so human life, 
 both in general and in each individual case, begins 
 in exactly the same way. 
 
 * 
 
 Hospitality is an enlargement, or opening out- 
 wards, of the sphere of social fellowship. 
 
 * 
 
 A community of universal formation is possible 
 by means of the usefulness of its product — works ; a 
 community of individual formation by means of the 
 agreeableness of its product — possession ; a com- 
 munity of universal perception by means of the trutJi 
 of its product — knowledge ; a community of indi- 
 vidual perception by means of the beauty of its pro- 
 duct — works of art. 
 
 All organization depends on the distinction and 
 the perfect poising of a contrast, i.e. in such a way 
 that both sides shall be evenly balanced. The con- 
 trast is that of unity and multiplicity, of the general 
 and the particular. It is required that the latter 
 shall exist as such without detriment from the former, 
 and vice versa. This demand is satisfied by central- 
 ization. In this case the unity, the pure universal, 
 is placed in the centrality, but in such a way that no 
 injury accrues to the being of the multiplicity, the 
 particular. The many particular beings exist un- 
 injured, but entirely under the potency of the unity, 
 the universal. Unity and multiplicity exist thus in 
 one another. In this consists the separation of the 
 
THE SOCIAL SPHERE. 279 
 
 contrast. Hence an actual society can be formed 
 only in a multiplicity by means of its organization. 
 
 * 
 
 Organization is in general the normal condition 
 of every community, because on it rests the absolute 
 reciprocity of communication. This is possible in 
 its perfection, only when by means of the absolute 
 centralization of all points the universal exercise of 
 the functions is secured ; so that, while every separate 
 point in its function directly serves the whole, the 
 whole itself exists directly for the service of every 
 separate point {i.e. of all the other separate points in 
 their functions). 
 
 The organization of the social community rests on 
 the emphasizing of the contrast between the leaders 
 and followers of fashion. 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 Spiritual light, of which our empirical aether is 
 only a symbol, the '^o^a of the New Testament, is 
 the organic medium through which personal spirits 
 act upon each other, through which, in the widest 
 sense of the word, they manifest themselves to each 
 other, etc. Therefore it is the true element of their 
 life, but one which is inherent in their own spiritual 
 nature, not one which exists outside them. It be- 
 comes outward only as proceeding from them in their 
 mutual influence upon each other. It is therefore 
 the true element of their social intercourse. 
 
28o STILL HOURS. 
 
 At the beginning of the development of moral 
 society, its vitality and might lean predominantly to- 
 ward the individual side (social life and art) ; but the 
 farther it advances the more completely is this mode 
 of relation reversed, and the more predominant for 
 society becomes the significance of its universal side 
 (public life and science). This development, how- 
 ever, proceeds in such a way, that the longer it con- 
 tinues the more thoroughly are the individual forms 
 taken up into the universal. 
 
 * 
 
 The public festival is the widest circle of social 
 intercourse. 
 
 In an abnormal development the military pro- 
 fession has to be added to the other classes of public 
 life. 
 
 Community of action is achieved by the mutual 
 communication of its products, but not also of its 
 functions. This is produced in different modes in 
 the various spheres of social intercourse, (i) In the 
 community of formative action by the exchange of 
 its products, especially ia) in its universal character 
 by mutual transference, interchange of things [b) in 
 its individual character by their mutual exhibition, 
 interchange of property. (2) In the community of 
 perceptive action by the representation of its pro- 
 ducts, namely {a) on the universal side by means 
 of speech, representation of knowledge ; ih) on the 
 
SOCIAL DUTIES.— INTERCOURSE. 281 
 
 individual side by means of the symbol, representa- 
 tion of ideas. 
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 
 We have general duties as men, as Christians, and 
 we have the special duties of our profession. Both 
 are duties towards others. 
 
 * 
 
 We must clearly distinguish between our duties to 
 the state, and our duties as regards the four distinct 
 spheres of action in the social community. The latter 
 are related to the former as the special to the uni- 
 versal. To the former class belong the duties of our 
 
 profession. 
 
 * 
 
 The tendency directed towards the community 
 must not be pressed forward in such a way as to 
 hinder the development of individualities. 
 
 INTERCOURSE. 
 If a person is unable to find the psychological key 
 to the individual temperament of another with whom 
 he is united by the ties of close relationship, he is 
 certainly in a very difficult position. 
 
 * 
 The man who invented abbreviations within the 
 sphere of man's social relations, belongs to the 
 
 benefactors of his race. 
 
 * 
 
 Where I am forced to admire, I have neither the 
 inclination nor the couraw'e to criticise. 
 
282 STILL HOURS. 
 
 We should despise nothing in the world, but 
 neither should we make a great outcry about any- 
 thing. 
 
 A very good maxim for practical life is to prefer 
 to wonder at some people on account of their inex- 
 plicable character rather than to treat them with 
 contempt. 
 
 He who wishes to have authority must be modest, 
 and willing frankly to confess himself in the wrong. 
 
 A certain degree of narrow-mindedness is the con- 
 dition of enjoying direct social intercourse in a wide 
 circle, no matter in what department. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a poor honour to be considered a remarkably 
 pure character, because others are so much the 
 reverse. 
 
 We ought, at least, to show respect to the man 
 whose position we would gladly occupy ourselves. 
 
 Merry-making is better, but at the same time more 
 difficult, than scolding. 
 
 Nothing is cheaper than scolding. 
 
 * 
 In your intercourse with your neighbour, beware 
 of contracting love-debts of such a nature that you, 
 
INTERCOURSE. 283 
 
 according to your individual character and situation, 
 will not be able to repay them. 
 
 * 
 In claiming the services of otliers in our own 
 interest, we should avoid doing so in matters for 
 which they do not possess capacity. 
 
 No one can limit the claims of the world on himself 
 by limiting his own claims on the world. 
 
 We should always take it for granted that each 
 man possesses great weakness, but also a nobility of 
 character which feels the bonds of his weakness. 
 
 The condition of every friendship, and indeed of 
 every sort of good understanding, with the men 
 among whom we live, is that we should make a two- 
 fold assumption — the honesty of good intentions and 
 the weakness of human nature. 
 
 * 
 
 In our moral judgment of men, their weakness — 
 whether of the intellect or of the will — must be taken 
 into account as a positive element. 
 
 * 
 
 True confidence always rests on a free act, not on 
 a logical necessity. 
 
 Honour men by showing that you have confidence 
 that they believe in the good (for he who believes 
 
284 STILL HOURS. 
 
 in it must necessarily ivill it), and you will see what 
 wonders that accomplishes, 
 
 * 
 
 The suspicious person is most frequently deceived. 
 
 How does it happen that the worst hearts always 
 see the most evil in their neighbours, and the best 
 and purest always the most good ? Which of the 
 two will be likely to judge most correctly and least 
 short-sightedly ? 
 
 In the eyes of the good, the evil man appears 
 much less evil than the good man himself in the eyes 
 of the evil. 
 
 We deceive ourselves in men much more frequently 
 through suspicion than through confidence. 
 
 SOCIABILITY. 
 
 There may be some individuals who are capable 
 of no other social intercourse than that which can 
 only be described as the mere dialogue. This is the 
 minimum of social virtue, which must at least be 
 assumed as in the possession of every one. 
 
 Those individuals to whom social intercourse is 
 most evidently a necessity of their being, and who 
 are the really dominant forces in society, feel this 
 need chiefly as the necessity of securing an oppor- 
 tunity and occasion for the display of their own 
 
SOCIABILITY. 285 
 
 personal qualities, not as the need of seeing the 
 qualities of other people displayed for their own 
 sake. It is the excitation of their own individual 
 culture by the exhibition of the individual culture 
 of others which makes them so desirous of the latter. 
 Not the desire for communication, but the need of 
 excitement generally makes them so sociable. They 
 arc commonly people of very strong self-conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 As the essential forms of emotion are pleasure and 
 displeasure, so the essential forms of criticism are 
 applause and dissent. 
 
 The need of social enjoyment (when the enjoy- 
 ment is reciprocal) is quite as it should be ; but the 
 need of having pleasure provided for us (therefore 
 without reciprocity, unsociably) is entirely abnormal. 
 Our public amusements must be judged according to 
 this standard, which is of special importance in our 
 judgment of the normal character of the stage. 
 
 * 
 
 One of the greatest charms of social life is that it 
 is lived for the moment. It is play. 
 
 Men's views differ in nothing so widely as in their 
 ideas of the wearisome. 
 
 Why does he who cannot make a joke count as a 
 stupid man? 
 
:86 STILL HOURS. 
 
 LOVE. 
 Not only in intercourse with God docs man 
 become "free and liberated from himself," but also 
 in intercourse with his fellow-men ; although, un- 
 doubtedly, looking- at the matter in itself, full devotion 
 to man can have a clear meaning only when entire 
 self-devotion to God is considered as a moral duty. 
 
 Love is a virtue ; it can never be a duty. It can- 
 not, therefore, be commanded. (But cf. Matt, xxii, 
 35-40.*) Perfect love, as being perfect love, would 
 render all mere duty superfluous. But to love is our 
 duty. 
 
 We can understand clearly how a real existence of 
 persons in one another may be achieved through 
 love, when we see the heartrending grief which 
 parting causes those who love. This, too, may be 
 felt and shown merely on one side. 
 
 In our younger years we fancy that life means 
 
 living for ourselves ; but, as years go on, we learn 
 
 from experience that it is not possible to live for 
 
 ourselves ; and we learn, too, that there is something 
 
 better and more blessed than this, and that life means 
 
 living for others. 
 
 * 
 
 If only we could all remember that, even with the 
 poorest gifts and mental development, we may be of 
 
 * C/. "Reinherd,"ii. § 104. 
 
LOVE. 287 
 
 infinite use to others, even to the most gifted and 
 highly-cultured, through our love ! He only is truly 
 poor who has no love to bestow. 
 
 * 
 Ingratitude is disbelief in love. He who does not 
 believe in love cannot possibly be grateful. But can 
 the man who does not believe in love possibly possess 
 it himself.'' 
 
 It is harder than he who has never made the effort 
 might imagine, silently to return with love the hatred 
 with which our love has been requited. 
 
 Feelings are originally egotistic ; well then for 
 him whose feelings have become, through moral 
 culture, a perfect echo of the feelings of others, — 
 through sympathy, the conductors of loving inter- 
 course. 
 
 It belongs to the conception of love, that as far as 
 it lies in its power to help, it really does help. Love 
 is holy, because the good alone is its object ; but 
 we must also remember that this means the good in 
 its widest compass. 
 
 It is no misfortune to be deceived, but only to 
 deceive. 
 
 Before doing anything for our own pleasure, we 
 must carefully consider the matter ; especially we 
 
28S STILL LIOURS. 
 
 must ask whether we will thus be a hindrance to 
 others in the work they have to do in the world. 
 
 * 
 It can be no joy to any one when he sees the last 
 glimmer of sunlight die out on the face of his neigh- 
 bour. 
 
 Who can find words to express the heartrending 
 pain which is suffered by those who have to give up 
 all moral hope of another ? 
 
 We shall not envy our neighbour any advantage, if 
 we feel how much more becoming it is in him than 
 it would have been in ourselves. 
 
 That is a strange conception of seeking after God 
 and His kingdom that regards it as implying the 
 renunciation of our attachment to beloved persons. 
 {Cf. Beck : " Gedanken aus und nach der Schrift," p, 
 92.) Just as if God's kingdom did not actually con- 
 sist in the definite relationship of persons to one 
 
 another ! 
 
 * 
 
 All individual culture must, as being appropriation, 
 be at the same time a surrendering of ourselves to 
 others, — a denying of self, a learning to love. Other- 
 wise it is abnormal. 
 
 * 
 
 Mutual cares are an element of human happiness, 
 because they are an element of love. 
 
MAN AND IVOMAN. 289 
 
 He who has something excellent to impart to 
 others does not need to obtrude it upon their notice. 
 
 Love is mutual imitation. Can this be said of 
 
 God's love .'' 
 
 * 
 
 If you can say of a human soul, it is mine, then 
 you will touch it with the tenderest hand, that it 
 may not be injured or spoiled. Would you not 
 gladly be somctJiing to the soul that you know is 
 yours .^ 
 
 If love is once fairly burning, it matters not though 
 the flame die out which kindled it. 
 
 MAN AND WOMAN. 
 It belongs to a true marriage, that the woman 
 shall be as a woman exactly what the man is as a 
 man, and vice versa. 
 
 * 
 
 Every unnatural gratification of sexual desire is 
 
 immoral, because it is not essentially a gratification 
 
 of love. 
 
 * 
 
 Personal unity subsists between various individuals, 
 when their actions, alike of self-consciousness and 
 self-activity, fully, but with inward necessity, coincide. 
 By means of such personal unity, the several persons 
 constitute one collective person, and if they are all 
 individuals, then a personal collective individual. 
 
 T 
 
290 STILL HOURS. 
 
 But this is not that iinio personalis of which Church 
 Christology treats. 
 
 * 
 
 The relation between Christ and His people is 
 represented as a marriage, because, like marriage, it 
 rests on a mutual appropriation of individual persons. 
 (See my " Theolog. Ethik," § 292.) 
 
 The authority of the man over the woman is 
 grounded on the fact that he possesses a public call- 
 ing. While the woman lives for the man, she also 
 lives for the community. This is why she finds her 
 satisfaction and pride in living for the man, just as 
 he lives for his profession. 
 
 The woman possesses more feeling than the man, 
 but less imagination. In this way she is less capable 
 of artistic production, — immediate production being 
 of course excepted. She finds it more easy to 
 represent the strength of her feeling than its actual 
 nature as definite pleasure or displeasure. 
 
 In marriage it no doubt frequently happens that 
 the husband finds in his wife and appropriates to 
 himself that part of his man's nature in which he 
 was formerly deficient, and vice vei'sd. 
 
 Many marriages which appear most unhappy on 
 earth will be proved in heaven to have been most 
 fortunate. 
 
MAN AND WOMAN. 291 
 
 Can the marriage-bond be broken in the life to 
 
 come ? 
 
 * 
 
 Every individual must have another who entirely 
 and in a specific sense belongs exclusively to himself, 
 and this can only be an individual of the opposite 
 
 sex. 
 
 * 
 
 If there are manly professions which women can- 
 not or will not share, or which, at least, certain 
 individuals, who have undoubtedly a vocation for 
 them, can fulfil only in an unwedded state, then, in 
 this case, celibacy is justified and enjoined, (Matt. 
 xix. 12.) 
 
 * 
 
 The soul-beauty of the two sexes is like a coin, of 
 which we cannot say which is most beautiful, the 
 obverse or the reverse. 
 
 In the eyes of the female sex, woman's coquetry 
 is the most unpardonable of vices. 
 
 What a sad lot is that of the woman whose noble 
 soul never finds its share of love, because it dwells in 
 an unattractive body ! 
 
 Right of inheritance rests on the natural con- 
 nexion between parents and children, — generally 
 speaking, on the natural connexion of all blood- 
 relationships. 
 
ON CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
IX. ON CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 
 
 AroSTOLiC Christianity is by no means that form 
 of Christianity which fully and perfectly corresponds 
 to the idea of Christ, although it does undoubtedly 
 fully and perfectly correspond to His idea of the 
 earliest stages of the historical realization of His idea. 
 We cannot sufficiently realize how high the con- 
 sciousness of Christ rose above that of even His 
 most enlightened apostles. 
 
 * 
 
 It is striking to notice how much the idea of the 
 kingdom of God, which occupies so prominent a 
 position amongst the ideas of Christ, falls into the 
 background in the minds of the apostles. 
 
 * 
 
 The superior estimation of the doctrinal disquisi- 
 tions of the apostles in the New Testament belongs 
 to that over-rating of theology by which faith in 
 Christ was so early placed in a distorted position. 
 
 * 
 
 We may well be afraid, when we see how in 
 history every work which is suitable for its own time 
 
V 
 
 296 STILL HOURS. 
 
 (from the apostles' doctrines and onwards) becomes 
 almost unavoidably a barrier and fetter to the 
 spiritual freedom, in the purest sense of the word, of 
 succeeding generations. Yet even this is an holy 
 appointment of God. 
 
 We shall never be able to reconcile ourselves to 
 the doctrines of the apostles, so long as we, clinging 
 to the doctrine of inspiration, set out on the assump- 
 tion that they were already in possession of clear, 
 and to them satisfactory, knowledge as regarded the 
 points concerned, and did not rather strive, with 
 much toil and painful mental exertion, after the 
 attainment of such knowledge. 
 
 ST. JOHA\ 
 
 St. John was the first who clearly grasped the idea 
 of Christianity as the essentially moral religion. Cf. 
 I John iii. 4 and the entire polemics of this Epistle, 
 especially chap. iv. 11-21 (in which note vv. 12, 16, 
 20, 21). The same is true of the Christology in his 
 Gospel. From his historical position in his later years, 
 this mode of consideration was naturally occasioned. 
 
 ^■Z: PAUL. 
 
 It was an important turning-point in the history 
 of Christian doctrine, when it came into the hands of 
 an exponent like Paul, who had not been an imme- 
 diate disciple of Christ, and had probably never even 
 been personally acquainted with Him. 
 
ST. PAUL. 297 
 
 St. Paul was the first who made the specific 
 Christian process of life in man the subject of special 
 reflexion, — the first, indeed, who attempted to set up 
 a special religious doctrine of Christianity. 
 
 A Christianity did not exist from the beginning, 
 but only a Christ. It was necessary that He should 
 be translated into a Christianity, and this was a pro- 
 longed and painful task, in the completion of which 
 St. Paul was incomparably the most important agent. 
 But this Christianity was not built up out of nothing, 
 nor out of something earlier, such as Judaism, but 
 out of a real Christ, a true historical individual, 
 whose moral manifestation (God in Him — John i. 
 14) and whose life-development (His pressing for- 
 ward through death to life) opened up an entirely 
 new horizon for humanity, and presented to its under- 
 standing an entirely new problem, for the solution of 
 which new data were indispensably necessary. 
 
 . * 
 
 In Paul we first find scientific reflexion upon Chris- 
 tianity, on the one side, as an outward and an inward 
 fact (the latter by means of the most careful observa- 
 tion of his own person), and on the other, in its 
 relation to previous Divine revelation, — generally 
 speaking, to all preceding history. This was very 
 natural in the case of one whose faith in Christ was 
 not, like that of the eleven, the result of the direct 
 contemplation of Christ as a historical personality, 
 but was grounded upon received information about 
 
298 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Him, and was therefore just as directly faith in 
 Christianity as faith in Christ. 
 
 * 
 St. Paul was the first who, while preaching Christ, 
 preached at the same time a Christian theology. 
 This naturally excited surprise and hesitation in the 
 minds of those believers in Christ, especially among 
 the apostles themselves, who knew only a purely 
 historical gospel, and who had learned, from direct 
 intercourse with Christ, how foreign all dogmatizing 
 was to Him. 
 
 Whenever we seek to make a special doctrine of 
 
 Christianity, instead of contemplating the world, as 
 
 far as it lies within our own range of vision, with 
 
 minds enlightened by it, the danger arises of turning 
 
 it into a school, and thus degrading it to the merely 
 
 statutory. At the appearance of Paul the elder 
 
 apostles must have felt this, though it may have 
 
 been very dimly. 
 
 * 
 
 It is not difficult to understand why the other 
 apostles hesitated when Paul began to set Chris- 
 tianity free from the Israelitish theocracy. That 
 work of liberation, historical necessity as it was, 
 meant nothing less than a setting free of Christian 
 piety from every political form of organization (for it 
 could not, of course, attach itself to heathenism) and 
 placing it on a basis of its own ; — in one word, it was 
 making Christian life purely religious, i.e. purely 
 
ST. lAUL. 299 
 
 ecclesiastical. The apostles must have had some 
 idea how essentially foreign this was to the true 
 nature of Christianity, 
 
 The idea of the Church develops itself only in the 
 later writings of St. Paul, and is a natural conse- 
 quence of the fact that the idea of the near approach 
 of the second advent of Christ was falling into the 
 background, and the idea of a necessary historical 
 development of the kingdom of Christ was beginning 
 to dawn upon his mind. {Cf. especially Eph. iv. 13, 
 14; also Schwegler: "Nachapost Zeitalter," ii., p. 
 Z77-^:,79)' 
 
 One reason why the early Christians had such diffi- 
 culty in resolving to sever themselves from Judaism 
 was, that they found it so hard to separate Chris- 
 tianity entirely from the political organization of the 
 theocracy, and to base it upon the idea of a purely 
 religious community — that of a church. Without 
 doing so, they could not thus separate themselves. 
 They must have had some idea, though perhaps a 
 very dim one, of what the consequences of such a 
 step would be. 
 
 We make a serious mistake in imagining that 
 where Paul planted Christianity, the Pauline theology 
 must also have taken root. 
 
 * 
 
 We cannot lay sufficient stress upon the advantage 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 which the elder apostles possessed over Paul, in their 
 having been personally acquainted with Christ. To 
 Paul, Christ was mainly a conception — the Redeemer. 
 To the other apostles, He was always first and chiefly 
 a concrete person, a distinct historical character. It 
 was this which preserved them, even in spite of their 
 "Judaism," from occupying a sectarian position. 
 
 Paulinism, in the true sense, seems to have attached 
 
 itself almost exclusively to the person of Paul. Not 
 
 until the period of the Reformation did it exercise its 
 
 proper influence. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a precious, and for the theologian a most 
 important thing, if he has not received his faith and 
 his theology either from man or through man ; if he, 
 therefore, mutatis mutandis, occupies a similar position 
 in the Christian world to that of St. Paul in his own 
 
 day. 
 
 * 
 
 In the present day we would need above all things 
 a new St. Paul, a new apostle of the Gentiles, who 
 would convince unconscious Christians of their Chris- 
 tianity, and would, at the same time, show our 
 Jewish Christians how unchristian is their legal, i.e. 
 conventional Christianity. 
 
JUDA ISM. -HE A 7 HEN IS A/. 3° i 
 
 /C/DAISM. 
 
 Even in Israel we find clear proofs of the fact that 
 piety in the ecclesiastical form must degenerate. 
 
 The theocracy of the Old Testament rests mainly 
 on the presumption that there exists no law which is 
 in itself moral, and no morally required constitution 
 of the social relations of humanity ; and that all 
 legislation must be necessarily statutory, whether 
 appointed by human judgment or Divine. It can 
 thus know nothing of a distinction between " moral " 
 and merely " ceremonial " laws. 
 
 * 
 
 In Old Testament times men knew that God was 
 good (cf. e.g. Gen. I. 19), but they did not yet know 
 that it belongs to the very conception of man himself 
 
 to be good. 
 
 * 
 
 The great spiritual conception attained unto by 
 Israel was that God is a moral being ; that attained 
 unto by the Greeks, that man is so also. Both lines 
 of historical development run parallel with each other, 
 and both are an essential preparation for Christianity. 
 
 HE A THEN ISM. 
 
 Plurality of religions. Other forms of heathenism 
 are natural religions ; the Hellenic is the human 
 religion. 
 
 The incapacity of heathen (unrevealed) religions 
 
302 STILL HOURS. 
 
 for attaining unto the knowledge of God is felt not 
 so much in regard to the physical as to the moral 
 attributes in the idea of God. 
 
 * 
 
 The Chinese commonwealth forms a direct contrast 
 to a theocracy. 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Mohammedanism was the first great historical 
 interference on the part of Divine providence to pre- 
 vent the absorption of Christianity into a Church. 
 
 Judaism and Mohammedanism have been placed 
 in Christian world-history as a witness against Chris- 
 tianity, which, in its degeneration into a mere Church, 
 had lost sight of its true position. 
 
 * 
 
 Because Christianity in the ecclesiastical form must 
 degenerate, therefore, so long as it continues to retain 
 the ecclesiastical form, Christ Himself permits other 
 religions to exist alongside of it. 
 
 CA TIIOLICISM. 
 The undogmatic pious Christian may calmly put 
 up with many dogmatic crudenesses and oddities, but 
 never with a travesty of Christianity like Catholicism. 
 
 The maintenance of orthodoxy in the theology of 
 the Roman Catholic Church is self-occasioned. The 
 narrow minds among Roman Catholic theologians 
 
CA THOLICISM. 303 
 
 are bond fide orthodox : the more highly gifted, who 
 are unavoidably led back to fundamental hetero- 
 doxies, abandon the study of theology if they are in 
 heart and spirit bond fides ; but if, on the contrary, 
 they are people mala; fidei, then they simulate ortho- 
 doxy. In this way theology never comes to a breach 
 
 with the statutes of the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 In the eyes of the aristocratic classes Catholicism 
 must recommend itself as a most useful religion. 
 
 * 
 
 Where Catholicism is a pure res domestica, quite 
 free from all contact with Protestantism, Christianity 
 shapes itself in a much more tolerant way than, from 
 its principle, we might have been led to expect. It 
 readily overlooks many things in its relation to moral 
 Christianity, and this without inconsistency, but in 
 strict accordance with its own adopted maxims. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a terrible thought that a cultivated man in 
 our own day should be capable of considering 
 Roman Catholic Christianity in all seriousness as 
 
 the true Christianity. 
 
 * 
 
 Catholicism is indeed a thoroughly mistaken re- 
 ligion, and yet it has handed on the true idea of 
 Christ. 
 
 If we seek another basis for the constitution of 
 the Church than the law of the organization of 
 
304 STILL HOURS. 
 
 human society in and for itself, — if we seek for it 
 some positive foundation, — we can find it nowhere 
 else than in the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 To persist in maintaining those Christian (eccle- 
 siastical) traditions which were the natural outcome 
 of their own time, but which can now exist only by 
 artificial support, — this is essentially Catholicism. 
 
 CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 
 As long as we, like the Roman Catholics, lay the 
 chief stress in our Christianity on the Church, so long 
 they will very wisely hesitate to change their Church 
 for ours. We shall never bring them over to our 
 Evangelical Church, although we may bring them 
 over to our Evangelical Christianity ; but this can 
 be done only in proportion as this Christianity is 
 more and more set free from that statutory character 
 which has dated from its organization as a Church. 
 The Evangelical Church will never conquer the 
 Catholic Church, but Evangelical Christianity will 
 conquer Catholic Christianity in the Catholic Church, 
 and in spite of it ; and, indeed, it has already done 
 so in no insignificant degree. 
 
 What justice demands of us Protestants as regards 
 the Roman Catholics is the frank acknowledgment 
 that Protestantism as a Church (not Protestant 
 Christianity as a whole) is only a work of human 
 weakness. 
 
CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTAN'I ISM. 305 
 
 The more fanatical the behaviour of the Ultramon- 
 tanes in the Catholic Church is, the more careful 
 ought we Evangelicals to be, in practising the utmost 
 fairness in our judgment of Catholicism, in order to 
 maintain Christian communion with that large body 
 of Catholic Christians who are not as yet fanatical 
 in their opposition to us. 
 
 * 
 
 There is no doubt that a Protestantism of which the 
 distinguishing characteristic consists in its maintain- 
 ing the Protestantism of the Reformation period, has, 
 in the present position of matters, very poor pros- 
 pects as opposed to Catholicism. But it is only of 
 such a Protestantism that this can be said. 
 
 He who has at heart the removal of the schism 
 between Catholic and Evangelical Christians must 
 desire above all that theological differences shall not 
 be cultivated in the non-ecclesiastical walks of life. 
 When this happens (as it so frequently does nowa- 
 days), it must be the greatest trial to such a unionist ; 
 for it forms no part of his object to make propaganda 
 for the Evangelical Church. 
 
 * 
 
 Protestantism, as a moral power, has been vic- 
 torious over that part of Christendom which has 
 remained in the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 * 
 
 If we find it difficult to understand how, at the 
 time of the Reformation, even honest Catholic 
 
 u 
 
306 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Churchmen could utterly reject the reforming move- 
 ment, we may find an explanation in the obstinacy 
 with which, in the present day, our honest Evangelical 
 Churchmen tenaciously maintain the ecclesiastical 
 character of evangelical Christianity. 
 
 CATHOLICISM AND THE STATE. 
 
 The relation of States to the Catholic hierarchy 
 will not be properly regulated until the national 
 will has become their determining power, i.e. not 
 until they are democratically constituted. 
 
 * 
 
 The most thorough-going curialistic policy is the 
 natural policy of consistent pessimism, of uncon- 
 ditional disbelief in the power of the good, even 
 within the range of Christian humanity. From this 
 point of view Church and State are alike under police 
 regulations. 
 
 The State, while granting its Roman Catholic sub- 
 jects freedom of religion, can do so only within 
 certain limits, as otherwise it would abolish its own 
 
 conception as the State. 
 
 * 
 
 If the Roman Catholic of the present day does not 
 place those Christian interests to which the Christian 
 State devotes itself higher than the presumably Chris- 
 tian interests of his own Church, then he cannot be 
 a good citizen. If the Catholic Church, in whose 
 nature it lies to accommodate itself to existing cir^. 
 
THE REFORMATION. 307 
 
 cumstanccs, is wise, it will, although thus acting in 
 opposition to its essential principle, act in this direc- 
 tion upon its members. 
 
 If the Catholic Church, after having passed through 
 most striking and continuous transformations during 
 the first five hundred years of its existence, cannot 
 alter its form any further in the course -of all-chang- 
 ing history, then it must endure the natural and 
 necessary consequences. 
 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Must not the Lord Jesus Christ, who carried out 
 the Reformation, have had farther-reaching, more 
 comprehensive ideas than Luther and Zwingli, who 
 were His instruments in carrying it out .-' 
 
 The Reformers wished to return to the original 
 form of Christianity, therefore to what had already 
 existed in the past ; the historical reforming move- 
 ment, on the contrary, seeks to introduce an entirely 
 new form of Christianity. 
 
 The Reformation was so entirely the personal deed 
 of Germany, that its people shed their blood in its 
 cause during many years. 
 
 * 
 
 The Reformers, while placing the subjective side 
 of religious belief in the light of corrective criticism, 
 never thought of doing the same with its object — 
 
3o8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 the traditional image of Christ. They confined them- 
 selves to bringing that object more prominently to 
 the front. 
 
 PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 The conception of Protestantism and of Protestant 
 Christianity, as distinguished from that of the Pro- 
 testant Church, is that it is the essentially moral 
 (morally determined and realized) form of Christian 
 
 piety. 
 
 * 
 
 Very many people who stand in very loose rela- 
 tions to the Protestant Church have yet a firm hold 
 on Protestantism. 
 
 The Evangelical doctrine of the universal priest- 
 hood of Christians undoubtedly has for its con- 
 sequence {e.g. when it is applied to the interpretation 
 of Scripture) the abolition of ecclesiastical authority ; 
 but it follows from this only that Evangelical Chris- 
 tianity, according to its principle, knows nothing of 
 ecclesiastical form. 
 
 The Evangelical principle of ** the universal priest- 
 hood " is that it is not a necessary condition of 
 communion with Christ in the case of every indivi- 
 dual in Christendom that he shall possess some 
 special, i.e. ecclesiastical, mediation, which is not 
 already included in his relation to the moral and re- 
 ligious community. Its idea is that there is salvation 
 
PR TES TA N TJS.V. 309 
 
 to be found in Christendom extra ecclesiam, and, in- 
 deed, that such is sains Christiana. 
 
 It belongs to the nature of the Reformation that 
 the Church which proceeded from it at the time of 
 the reorganization of the Church cannot continue its 
 development beyond that period. Protestantism 
 must therefore retain its ecclesiastical institutions 
 just as they were originally formed. 
 
 The Protestant Church is the slavish form of 
 
 Protestant Christianity. 
 
 * 
 
 Why is the most important point in Evangelical 
 Christianity the inward and spiritual, the relation of 
 the heart towards God .'' Because it neither knows 
 nor requires a special outward form, but possesses in 
 the natural relations of men the outward form which 
 best corresponds to it in the moral or social com- 
 munity. 
 
 * 
 
 Protestant Christianity is still in its earliest child- 
 hood. No wonder, then, that it is still labouring over 
 its alphabet, and very ignorant. 
 
 It is unfair to blame imperfect forms of human 
 society, on account of the troubles which arise out 
 of them. These troubles are the very sign of their 
 vitality and relative perfection, because they are pro- 
 gressive influences which proceed from themselves. 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 THE REFORMATION AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 The way in which the Reformation determined the 
 conception of the Church is perfectly natural, if we 
 proceed on the assumption that the Church exists 
 for no other purpose than to be the historical bearer 
 and transmitter of the message of Christ, this being 
 the essential condition of its efficacy in the world. 
 The idea that the Church is the community of those 
 who belong to Christ is thus tacitly relinquished ; 
 that room for a community so conceived must be 
 sought elsewhere is just as tacitly assumed, and this 
 in perfect accordance with the nature of the case. 
 Or rather let us say, that the need of a Christian 
 community upon earth was not at that time clearly 
 recognised. The question as to whether, according 
 to the nature of the case, any other than a really 
 Christian community could be the propagator of the 
 genuine and correctly understood evangelical mes- 
 sage, was never brought forward in those days. 
 
 * 
 
 The real essence of the Reformers' conception of 
 the Church is that it is the divinely appointed instru- 
 ment or institution by means of which Christ 
 exercises His redeeming influence upon individuals, 
 — an influence whose outward means are the word 
 and the sacraments. (See " Confession of Augsburg," 
 V.) This understanding of the idea of the Church 
 was truly in accordance with the times. As, accord- 
 ing to their views, the redeeming influence of Christ 
 
THE REFORMATION AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 upon the individual seeks only to secure for him 
 a share in heavenly blessedness, and not also to 
 qualify him for a community of the redeemed on 
 earth, it is a perfectly natural consequence of their 
 conception of the Church that Lutheranism, in its 
 doctrine of the Church, should lay the chief stress 
 on purity of doctrine. For all those to whom the 
 need of the Church is chiefly the need of a religious 
 society, the Evangelical Church, especially the 
 Lutheran, must be, to a certain extent, unsatisfactory. 
 
 * 
 
 In order to understand the Reformers' idea of the 
 Church, we must not forget, as Schenkel constantly 
 does, that to their minds the two Churches, the in- 
 visible and the visible, are Churches in an entirely 
 different sense. They are not related to each other 
 as the "ideal" and the "real" Church, but the 
 former is a community, the latter an institution. The 
 invisible Church does not seek to realize and repre- 
 sent itself in the visible, nor has it even the remotest 
 tendency in this direction, for only in heaven can it 
 be represented and realized ; but the visible Church 
 is the necessary training-school in which those 
 members of Christ which it requires to its perfection 
 are produced and educated. The invisible Church 
 has no tendency towards the visible, but the reverse. 
 Briefly stated, the visible Church is not a Church 
 at all in the primary sense of the word, but a school 
 of Christianity,— while the invisible Church is the 
 ecclesia trinviplians, its roots only being grounded in 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 this present existence. From this point of view a 
 Christian community on earth does not seem to 
 belong to the appointment of God, neither is it to 
 be striven after. Confusion of thought arises only 
 because the earlier conception of the Church, that of 
 the co7igregaiio saiictonini, was often unconsciously 
 recurring to the minds of the Reformers even as 
 regarded the visible Church. 
 
 * 
 That which Schenkel calls the " ideal universal 
 Church," and on which he lays such emphasis, was 
 to the Reformers almost an unknown conception. 
 
 * 
 
 In proportion as the idea of the Church as the 
 community of saints gave place in Luther's mind, 
 during his later years, to that of the institution for 
 the transmission of the means of grace, the appoint- 
 ment of the clergyman by the congregation, and the 
 share of the congregation in Church government 
 generally, must have fallen into the background of 
 
 his ideas. 
 
 * 
 
 The first stage in the historical position of the 
 Evangelical Church which proceeded from the Refor- 
 mation was, that wherever it established itself as a 
 great whole, it became the Church of the State. The 
 second, and naturally resultant, stage is that the State 
 sets itself free from the Church, which then becomes 
 a private affair. Whenever the State is divided in 
 matters of religion, it cannot long endure a con- 
 
THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 31; 
 
 nexion with the Church, which becomes a source of 
 continual complications and annoyance. 
 
 * 
 
 If the Reformation of the i6th century had been 
 universally accepted, the ecclesiastical form of Chris- 
 tianity would have been perpetuated, and a schism 
 of the Christian Church, which was the great event 
 of that epoch, would have been avoided. 
 
 THE LUTHERAN AND THE REFORMED CHURCHES. 
 The Reformed Church has a much less pronounced 
 and rigidly defined, and therefore a more plastic and 
 many-sided individuality, than the Lutheran ; the 
 reason being that the Lutheran Church, which has 
 to be traced back to one individual founder, and he 
 a man of an overwhelming personality, has appro- 
 priated the individuality of its founder to itself. 
 
 In the Swiss Reformation there was from the first, 
 along with the real reforming interest, which sought 
 to restore Christian piety in its original purity, an 
 admixture of the scientific or theological interest, 
 which concerned itself with the solution of questions 
 on which theological systems depended. In the 
 Lutheran Reformation this was not the case. Even 
 this fact contributed to the formation of the diverg- 
 ing characteristics of the two Evangelical Churches. 
 
 * 
 
 The idea of Protestantism itself, as distinguished 
 from the idea of the Protestant Church, occupies a 
 
314 STILL LIOURS. 
 
 perfectly indifferent position as regards the various 
 
 characteristics of the Lutheran and the Reformed 
 
 Churches. 
 
 * 
 
 Very truly does Schenkel maintain that " an eccle- 
 siastical separation of the two Evangelical Churches 
 was not the necessary result of the confessions of 
 either, but was possible only in a period which took 
 the scientific expositions of the Protestant principle 
 for the principle itself, and which limited Protestant- 
 ism to a narrow circle of elaborately formulated doc- 
 trines, just as if its aim had been to introduce a new 
 and very human theological school, and not rather 
 a new life of communion between God and man, 
 a Church of regenerate humanity." ("Das Princip 
 des Protestantismus," p. 65, etc.) But he ought not 
 to overlook the fact that Protestantism could clearly 
 never have founded a Church at all if it had not itself 
 been implicated in this confounding of theological 
 doctrine with Christianity. Only on the assumption 
 that Christianity is originally and essentially dogma 
 do we arrive at the idea of a Church. 
 
 * 
 
 That part of the progress of the Reformation 
 which belongs to secular history, which lies beyond 
 the religious side as such, was comprised more 
 directly in the Reformed Church than in the 
 Lutheran ; while the historically effective appearance 
 and founding of the Reformation, the Reforming 
 movement, belongs mainly to the Lutheran Church. 
 
THE LUTHERAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 315 
 
 The fundamental convictions of the Reformers pro- 
 ceeded, in the case of Luther, from a purely personal 
 need ; in that of Zwingli, from a feeling of the need 
 of the Church. But only through the incomparably 
 deeper subjective value which the Reforming impulse 
 thus received from Luther could he strike in upon 
 history like a flash of lightning, which kindled his 
 contemporaries, and which no power on earth could 
 
 avail to extinguish. 
 
 * 
 
 The Lutheran Reformation, with all its weak- 
 nesses, has this great strength, that it was peculiarly 
 a German Reformation. Luther was a true and 
 thorough German. For this reason the German 
 Protestant world has always felt an instinctive draw- 
 ing towards Lutheranism ; and in spite of the 
 evident advantages possessed by reformed Protes- 
 tantism, it has yet remained foreign to the people 
 of Germany, its western extremities alone excepted. 
 
 Luther proceeds invariably from a purely religious 
 point of view, and directs his influence toward the 
 purely religious side of Christianity. It is otherwise 
 with Zwingli and Calvin. 
 
 The Swiss Reformation is the natural historical 
 result of the previous development of Christianity ; 
 the Lutheran is a new revelation of Christ in the 
 midst of the natural course of Christian history. 
 
3i6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 It was very providential that the humanist Me- 
 lanchthon was placed by the side of Luther. Luther 
 had a deep and hearty respect for this great repre- 
 sentative of humanistic Christianity, although he 
 himself belonged mainly to its religious and mystical 
 side. 
 
 That which, from a moral point of view, is the idea 
 of the universal moral purpose, the universal (objec- 
 tive) highest good, is, from a religious standpoint, 
 the idea of the glory of God, This may be illus- 
 trated by referring to the first petition of the Lord's 
 Prayer, and considering the relation of the second 
 petition to the first. The fact that Lutheranism does 
 not emphasize this idea, while reformed Protestant- 
 ism accentuates it most strongly, affords a fresh 
 proof of how the latter has at heart the objective 
 interest of Christianity, the former only the subjec- 
 tive interest of the salvation of the individual. 
 
 If we seek an explanation for the fact that the 
 Lutheran and the Reformed Churches have remained 
 permanently separate, we must take this into ac- 
 count, that the existence of both Churches belongs 
 to the essentially non-ecclesiastical stage of the his- 
 torical development of Christianity, in which the real 
 movement of Christian life has no ecclesiastical 
 tendency, and does not therefore seek for itself a 
 Christian community of the nature of a Church. 
 
UNION. 317 
 
 Luther was a prophet, which Zwingli and Calvin 
 certainly were not. In saying this, however, wc 
 detract nothing from the dignity and importance of 
 either of these great men. In Luther, Christian 
 history decidedly takes its course once again as 
 Church history in a new epoch. The Swiss Reforma- 
 tion was soon drawn in the same direction, most 
 decidedly through the work of Calvin. 
 
 An error which we not unfrequently meet with, is 
 that when a person is filled with admiration for some 
 great man, such as Luther, who discovered one great 
 and splendid truth, he is apt to become so dazzled 
 by it, that he considers that one as the whole and 
 perfect truth. 
 
 UNION. 
 
 My interest is ultimately concerned with the con- 
 cord and unity of Christians, not with the union of 
 Churches ; or, at furthest, with the latter only in so 
 far as it can be made a means to the former. It 
 may, however, become, on the contrary, a hindrance 
 to the former, and as matters now stand, only too 
 easily. I could, therefore, have wished that we had 
 never suggested the idea of a union of the two 
 Evangelical Churches, which now live peaceably along- 
 side of each other. 
 
 * 
 
 The severance of the Reformation into two hostile 
 Churches was undeniably a grave sin against the 
 
3i8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 principle of the Reformation ; but it was an equally- 
 serious offence against this principle, arising from a 
 misunderstanding of its real nature, that led men, 
 after this error had been recognised in both Evan- 
 gelical Churches, to seek to expiate it by blending 
 the two Churches into one, instead of concluding a 
 perpetual peace between them, without any inter- 
 ference with their separate condition. 
 
 PIETISM. 
 
 Pietism is purely religious Christianity, such as 
 Protestantism brings along with it, considered as set 
 free from the ecclesiastical form, but at the same 
 time necessarily bound down to much more indivi- 
 dual forms. 
 
 Not inappropriately does Feuerlein ^ call Pietism, — 
 "The evil conscience of the Lutheran world." 
 
 Those Christian agencies of love in which Pietism 
 excels other evangelical schools are precisely the 
 same as those in which Catholicism is superior to 
 Protestantism as a whole. This is a characteristic 
 fact. 
 
 What Socialism is nowadays in the world, home 
 missions are in the Church. The two movements 
 
 ' "Die Sittenlehre des Christenthums in ihren geschichtlichen 
 Hauptformen," p. 149. 
 
PIETISM. 319 
 
 correspond to each other, and arise from the same 
 historical impulse. 
 
 You Pietists have set before yourselves no work of 
 world-wide importance to accomplish for Christ ! 
 Does it not startle you to hear it ? 
 
 * 
 
 Do not stand among other people with your Lord 
 Jesus Christ in your hand, looking as awkward and 
 confused as if you had no idea what work you could 
 do in the world of to-day. 
 
 Whenever we cease to consider the conventional 
 forms of Pietism as the essential characteristics of 
 Christianity itself, our confidence in its exclusive, or 
 even pre-eminent, Christianity begins to totter. 
 
 An association under its religious aspect takes the 
 form of the conventicle. It is an association for 
 religious edification, for peculiarly individual religious 
 culture. Such an association is as real a necessity in 
 the religious sphere as a moral community is in that 
 of the moral. Its perfection naturally consists in 
 the perfect congruence and consistency of these 
 two societies, the moral and the religious. The dis- 
 tinction between clergy and laity disappears in the 
 religious society, just in proportion as that of 
 authorities and subjects does in the moral. When 
 we have understood the conventicle in this way as 
 religious, perhaps not just absolutely Christian, social 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 intercourse, we cannot fall into the error of ranking 
 it above the regular ordinance of public worship. 
 
 MYSTICISM AND THEOSOPHY. 
 Mysticism and theosophy are both of an essentially 
 religious nature, but it is characteristic as regards 
 their distinction and their relation to each other, 
 that to the former, only the subjective self, to the 
 latter, the whole objective world, is an object of 
 knowledge in God, proceeding from the idea of God. 
 
 * 
 
 Gnosticism is a form of theosophy. 
 
 It is perfectly natural that current theosophy 
 should derive all things ultimately from the idea of 
 God ; but one of its fundamental errors is that it 
 fails to discover the relation of man to God through 
 the relations of man to himself and to the world 
 outside him, i.e. through his moral constitution, but, 
 on the contrary, seeks to ascertain the latter by the 
 former. It does not explain the religiou self-deter- 
 mination of man by his moral self-determination, 
 but the reverse ; and this even on the threshold of 
 human development. {Cf. e.g. Hofmann : " Schrift- 
 beweis," i., p. 357, 363.) 
 
 FAN A TIC ISM. 
 The opposite of moral religion is magic religion ; 
 the opposite of practical, evcry-day religion is a 
 fanciful, fantastic, empty, idle, abstract religion. 
 
RATIONALISM. 321 
 
 Fanaticism is abstract moral elevation without the 
 practical tendency or practical value. 
 
 ^• 
 
 Most people imagine that there can be no real 
 enthusiasm and love without extravagance, 
 
 * 
 
 Fantastic, unpractical, abstract piety must always 
 become magical, non-moral ; because, without a real 
 object on which to direct itself, religious self-deter- 
 mination must always become empty and worthless. 
 The idea of merit naturally attaches itself to this ; 
 for to do anything which does not include in itself 
 any objective necessity for being done, is an opus 
 supererogatorinm. 
 
 To have an "inward grasp" of religion has a clear 
 meaning only when understood in the sense of moral 
 comprehension. Otherwise it leads to mysticism and 
 quietism. 
 
 RATIONALISM. 
 
 Rationalism is a bad theology, but by no means 
 such a bad religion. It is the popular comprehension 
 of religious moral Christianity, and is actually much 
 older than the employment of the name in theology. 
 Even at the time of the undisputed sovereignty of 
 theological orthodoxy in the Church, it was always 
 in the evangelical party the real Christianity of the 
 great mass of those who were not indifferent or 
 actually profligate. Pietism, which runs parallel 
 
 X 
 
322 STILL HOURS. 
 
 with it, even from a historical point of view, can 
 never, from its very nature, be the Christianity of 
 large sections of the community. 
 
 The narrow-mindedness of rationalism becomes 
 specially evident in the fact that, although it re- 
 nounces dogma, it yet thoughtlessly retains the old 
 views of the relations of Christianity to the Church. 
 
 =!= 
 
 Pelagianism and its offshoots consist mainly in the 
 fact that the Divine act of redemption, even on its 
 subjective side, is not considered as creation. 
 
 * 
 
 Rationalism results from the need felt by a mind 
 at variance with the dogmas of the Church, to hold 
 fast by the ideas of Christianity. 
 
 It is indeed a fact of priceless importance that 
 man should hope to receive from God a mercy which 
 would make no alteration in His holiness. If, how- 
 ever, we must maintain, on the one hand, that God's 
 mercy is not bestowed upon the rationalist in the 
 way in which he trusts in the pardoning grace of 
 God, we must in fairness, on the other hand, acknow- 
 ledge that it is not bestowed upon the ordinary 
 dogmatic orthodox believer in the way in which he 
 considers that the pardoning grace of God finds its 
 motive through the satisfaction of Christ. 
 
 Reason is undoubtedly a noble and incomparable 
 thing, if only any one possessed it ! 
 
SUPERNA TURALIS.^r. 323 
 
 I recognise no antithesis between rationalism and 
 
 supernaturalism. 
 
 * 
 
 So far as rationalism forms a contrast to super- 
 naturalism, I am a decided anti-rationalist ; so far 
 as it only means what its name directly implies, I am 
 just as decidedly a rationalist. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 As a theologian I am a supernaturalistic ration- 
 alist, not a rational supernaturalist. 
 
 SUPERNA TURALISM. 
 
 Supernaturalism cannot be too highly exalted ; 
 the relation of communion between the uncreated 
 and the created cannot be considered as too close 
 and intimate ; but even in the smallest point this 
 connexion should never be otherwise regarded than 
 as a morally mediated one. 
 
 * 
 
 Our duty nowadays in theology is to establish the 
 authority of the supernatural in Christianity, in the 
 strictest sense of the word, but with the unconditional 
 exclusion of the magical. 
 
 The absolute person may very well refrain from 
 the use of his powers, but he cannot hinder himself 
 from possessing these powers. To attain them first 
 in a moral, an ethical sense, first to become something 
 as regards his virtues, is for the absolute being an 
 utter impossibility. He cannot lay aside his essential 
 qualities, even if we were to grant that he can put off 
 
324 STILL HOURS. 
 
 at will his peculiar conditions of existence, neither 
 can he ever forget who and what he actually is. 
 
 * 
 While God constitutes the "laws of nature" in 
 matter, He cannot confine His own activity within 
 them ; He cannot will to make them a barrier to His 
 own activity. The only possible barrier to the 
 activity of God would be the self-contradictory, un- 
 reasonable, and therefore unholy. 
 
 H< 
 The miracle is not a breaking through of the laws 
 of nature on the part of God, but an activity on the 
 part of God without the interposition of these laws of 
 nature. Nothing detrimental to these laws occurs in 
 the miracle. In it God either works absolutely, i.e. 
 entirely without means, or by employing such cosmic, 
 created means as do not belong to the material, 
 earthly world. 
 
 Not wonder, but admiration, is the true position o 
 our minds in presence of the works of God, especially 
 in His revelation of Himself in these. Ecclesiastical 
 piety, indeed, delights itself in paradoxes ; not so the 
 piety which is ripe and manly. 
 
 A created world, which was in itself so perfectly 
 organized that the entrance of the direct agency of 
 God could not be admitted without producing a dis- 
 turbance in it, would be a barrier for God, and 
 consequently, as a creature, most imperfect. 
 
SUPERNATURALISM. 325 
 
 The miracle appeals to the imaginative side of 
 man's nature, that of direct presentation, exactly as 
 prophecy does to the purely intellectual. The specific 
 characteristic of both is that the process of mediation 
 is entirely wanting. 
 
 All that does not belong to the process of the 
 self-development of the world is not natnra, and is 
 therefore supernatural — a miracle, which may thus be 
 unmistakably recognised by its evident want of a 
 process of mediation, which because it exists in the 
 world always within the limits of space and time, is 
 always distinctly observable. 
 
 This material world is indeed an organic whole, 
 but not of such a nature as to leave no room for the 
 miracle, or to be disturbed in its process of life by the 
 direct entrance of the Divine causality. The organic 
 life of the world, especially that of material nature, 
 is, as even our most every-day experience teaches, by 
 no means in itself perfect, but is in a thousand ways 
 impeded and disturbed, and must struggle on through 
 innumerable diseases and dangers. And this quite 
 naturally and unavoidably, because the very concep- 
 tion of matter excludes the idea of its perfect 
 organizability. There are therefore opportunities 
 enough for assisting from without the course of 
 organic life in material nature. But it follows, of 
 course, that the direct entrance of the Divine caus- 
 ality into material nature will exercise no disturbing 
 
326 STILL HOURS. 
 
 influence on the course of its organic life, but will 
 rather remove hindrances and disturbances with the 
 aid of its healing and helping power. Very many- 
 superstitious ideas arc abroad as to the perfect 
 organic life of material nature. 
 
 * 
 The distinction between the contra and the supra 
 rationeiiL is made by the supernaturalist with good 
 reason and very appropriately, because we actually 
 possess reason only in an imperfect and relative state, 
 and therefore any revealed fact may very well be 
 supra rationeni euipiricain, i.e. relitivavi, without being 
 supra rationein effectivani, i.e. absolutam (which is 
 indeed inconceivable). 
 
 To those who object to miracles we will simply 
 say : " Friends, we have no wish to force upon you 
 a belief in miracles. If you cannot reconcile your- 
 selves to them, set them aside, and see then how you 
 will manage without them, and where you will find 
 a pragmatic explanation of those actually existing 
 results to which we possess the key in accepting 
 miracles." 
 
 I believe in miracles because, as regards certain 
 facts, I cannot do without them as historical explana- 
 tions — in order to bridge over the gulfs in history. 
 
 * 
 
 We ought to oppose most energetically that 
 thoughtless belief in miracles which supposes that the 
 
S UPERNA TURALISM. 32 7 
 
 acceptance of a miracle raises it beyond the reach of 
 
 accurate investigation into those facts in its concrete 
 
 particulars which profess themselves miraculous. 
 
 * 
 
 I have no objection that my belief in miracles, and 
 
 my supernaturalism in general, should be apologised 
 
 for as a childlike naivetd 
 
 * 
 
 As regards miracles, the supernaturalist is from 
 the first in a very different position from the anti- 
 supernaturalist, because to him a marvellous occur- 
 rence is in and for itself by no means improbable, but, 
 on the contrary, very probable. 
 
 * 
 
 To us modern people as a whole, the ancient 
 Christian notions of angels and devils, heaven, hell, 
 purgatory, etc., have all been lost ; and in losing the 
 old ideas, most of us have lost the things they con- 
 cerned. This is not the case with myself. 
 
 * 
 
 What to our minds is incomprehensible is not 
 necessarily a miracle ; on the contrary, the miracle 
 is decidedly comprehensible, but directly compre- 
 hensible only as the immediate agency of the Divine 
 
 causality. 
 
 * 
 
 As it was perfectly natural in earlier ages to believe 
 in a supernatural efficacy of God in the world, so we 
 nowadays find the contrary more natural. But both 
 alike rest upon a preconception. 
 
328 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 According to the opponents of miracles, God dare 
 not move. He is imprisoned in the laws of nature. 
 Wwt who then has imprisoned Him there? Surely 
 not Himself 
 
 SCHLEIERMA CHER. 
 
 One point in which Schleiermacher seems to me 
 
 especially great is, that we find no trace of vanity in 
 
 his nature. 
 
 * 
 
 What I cannot understand in Schleiermacher is 
 his taste for " interesting " people. 
 
ON POLITICS. 
 
X. ON POLITICS. 
 
 CHURCH AND STA TE. 
 
 From the standpoint of our present historical posi- 
 tion, a future " perfectly organized Christian State " 
 appears much less a Utopia than a Protestant "true 
 Church of regenerate humanity," which would be 
 "under the headship of Christ alone." ^ For under 
 the historical circumstances of the present, the State 
 is evidently on the increase ; but the Church (not to 
 be confounded with living Christianity) is just as 
 evidently on the decrease. 
 
 * 
 
 He who wishes to learn what and what kind of 
 community the Redeemer really wished to found on 
 earth, whether it was a Church or something different, 
 should read John xiii. 34, 35. The order of things 
 there required has not only been nowhere realized, 
 but by no Christian community (only by individuals 
 as such) has it been comprehended as a task which 
 ought to be realized. Our own time is beginning to 
 have some dawning idea of the truth. The peculiarly 
 Christian political problem places itself before us 
 
 ' Schenkel ; " Das Princip des Protestantismus," p. 66, etc. ; 
 cf. p. 90. 
 
 331 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 here. Sooner or later it must find a solution, and its 
 Columbus, with his firm faith and confidence, will not 
 for ever be waited for in vain. 
 
 * 
 If, in the case of our evangelical laity, it should 
 ever come to a conflict between their duties as Chris- 
 tian citizens and their duties as Churchmen, on which 
 side would the decision be likely to fall ? 
 
 I could wish the State to occupy an entirely 
 neutral position towards Christian confessions, to 
 have nothing whatever to do with them ; not because 
 I would have it indifferent to Christianity, but be- 
 cause I wish it to cherish exclusively, and with all its 
 might, that Christianity which it is its duty to cul- 
 ivate, religious moral Christianity, which is the 
 divinely appointed heir of ecclesiastical Christianity 
 
 in all its forms. 
 
 * 
 
 The State may indeed grant perfect independence 
 to the Church (whichever Church it may be), but only 
 on condition that it does not in so doing surrender to 
 it any of its own privileges. 
 
 That which we so often hear deplored as want of 
 religion in the State, is in reality only the want of a 
 Church ; and this does not in the very least imply an 
 absence of religion. 
 
 I do not for a moment doubt that the Lord Jesus 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 Christ has a far deeper interest nowadays in the 
 
 development of our political condition than in our 
 
 so-called Church movements and questions of the 
 
 day. He knows well which has the more important 
 
 issues behind it. 
 
 * 
 
 If we examine the historical influences which have 
 proceeded from Christ, do we not find the moral and 
 social (political) reformation of the Christian world 
 incomparably more important than the dogmatic 
 system of religious doctrine } 
 
 The family is the most immediate provision of God 
 for the mortification of the natural selfishness of the 
 individual ; the wider, and the only adequate, pro- 
 vision is the commonwealth, considered as national 
 humanity. 
 
 The "universal best" is a very imperfect way of 
 expressing the " universal moral purpose." 
 
 * 
 
 When Christianity within the Church had thor- 
 oughly deteriorated and no longer remained true 
 to its pure original, a simultaneous reassertion and 
 restoration of its own proper character was made in 
 the secular sphere, under stimulus supplied by the 
 Church. 
 
 * 
 
 Who would believe it possible that even now- 
 adays, whenever the State is mentioned, most people 
 
334 STILL HOURS. 
 
 should, in a truly Philistine way, think merely of 
 the government and its administrative organs (ma- 
 chines) ? But unfortunately it is so. 
 
 * 
 If the State has become truly and consciously 
 Christian, then undoubtedly there is no further need 
 of a means for the transmission of Christian revela- 
 tion (or the gospel), which office the Church has, 
 from the earliest days, fulfilled ; and the Church can 
 then organize itself entirely according to its original 
 conception, i.e. as a purely religious Christian com- 
 munity. That we have not as yet progressed thus 
 far, no one will^ however, be likely to dispute. 
 
 The Christian State has nothing to do for Christian 
 piety as such ; as long as the latter needs to be cared 
 for, there is still need of a Christian Church along 
 with the Christian State, and to it this duty belongs. 
 
 * 
 
 y The consciousness that the merely legal state does 
 
 not correspond to the true idea of the State, which 
 recognises in it an essentially moral community, has 
 already been awakened amongst us. {Cf. Thilo, " Die 
 Theologisirende Rechts-und Staatslehre," pp. 330-332, 
 
 338, etc.) 
 
 * 
 
 Man flourishes only in a community. If therefore 
 the Christian cannot live for the ecclesiastical com- 
 munity, he must live for the political, if he is to 
 prosper. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 335 
 
 In which province does Christianity show itself 
 most productive at the present day, in the ecclesi- 
 astical or in the secular ? 
 
 * 
 
 Those people whose ruling interest is the Church, 
 are nowadays in deed and truth, i.e. apart from out- 
 ward appearance, not a whit more Christian than 
 those whose ruling interest is the State ; on the con- 
 trary, the reverse is more frequently the case. 
 
 * 
 
 The State cannot do religion a better service and a 
 higher honour than by "not troubling itself about 
 it," i.e. by acting on the conviction that nothing can 
 be more advantageous for religion than having the 
 proper regulation of the relations of the human 
 community determined exclusively by the standard 
 which its own idea supplies. 
 
 * 
 
 The atmosphere of the State is purer and more 
 salubrious nowadays, even from a Christian point 
 of view, than the atmosphere of the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 In Christianity only two tendencies are possible, 
 the ecclesiastical and the political. Therefore it 
 must be, either — or — . What lies between the two 
 is mere empty nothingness. 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 PRINCE AND PEOPLE. 
 
 Even the community requires a conscience ; for, in 
 a thousand cases, conscience alone can give the final 
 decision as regards its questions. The prince is this 
 conscience of the State, and to him therefore must 
 belong the power of unconditional veto and the 
 personal irresponsibility which characterize the con- 
 science. But as the conscience in the individual can 
 never entangle itself in unseemly conflict with the 
 reason, without risking the loss of its own sove- 
 reignty, so the prince must avoid coming into conflict 
 with the reason of the nation. 
 
 * 
 
 If the prince were important only as being the 
 means for rendering it possible that the people should 
 come to be of one mind as to their affairs, and that 
 the national reason should, in all security, carry on 
 the government, would not this be a very high im- 
 portance indeed ? Could you possibly assign him a 
 position that would bring higher dignity ? 
 
 * 
 
 No one is fit to govern, as distinguished from 
 dominating, who is disposed to be headstrong, who 
 is contented if he himself does right, and to whom it 
 is not an equally warm and pressing desire, not only 
 that right shall be done, but that it shall be the 
 personal deed of those whom he governs. 
 
 * 
 
 It must be ruinous to a State, when, instead of 
 
PRINCE AND PEOPLE. 337 
 
 strife between the parties in the nation, which is 
 unavoidable, a strife is set on foot between the people 
 and the prince. 
 
 It cannot but be fatal to royalty to identify its 
 interests with those of the privileged classes. 
 
 * 
 
 The people cannot identify itself with the prince, 
 as the whole cannot identify itself with the part ; but 
 the prince can identify himself with his people, and 
 in this, moreover, his highest glory consists. 
 
 * 
 
 It is much more natural and easy that the prince 
 should yield to the publicly expressed conviction of 
 the people, than that the reverse should take place. 
 
 The prince must govern for this reason, that he is >/ 
 in the position to understand most correctly the 
 national reason, and the nation's rational desire. 
 
 The reason why governing is such a difficult and 
 vexatious task is that the ruler cannot attain his 
 objects by commanding, but only by the proper 
 decision of the wills of the governed ; he must there- 
 fore entirely renounce the idea of proceeding accord- 
 ing to his own mind in the attainment of those 
 objective ends which are the common property of 
 all. 
 
 The strongest regal power is possible only where 
 
 V 
 
338 S7ILL HOURS. 
 
 the monarch's position rests on the personal choice 
 of the people, — therefore only in the monarchical 
 republic. 
 
 Where the prince really governs according to the 
 constitution, as in England, a refusal of taxes cannot 
 occur. All decisions of the constitutional govern- 
 ment naturally presuppose that not only the nation, 
 but also the sovereign, is constitutionally minded. 
 
 Nothing is more dangerous for the throne than a 
 corrupt or cowardly representation of the people. 
 
 At no other period is hereditary sovereignty of 
 such incalculable value as at the time when nations 
 begin to rule themselves. At this period the mission 
 of royalty reaches its meridian height. 
 
 * 
 
 Princes must learn to understand their people, not 
 the reverse ; for moral development takes place in 
 the people, not in the prince. 
 
 * 
 
 The senseless talk about the " inseparability of the 
 welfare of the crown and the kingdom," has a correct 
 meaning only when we reverse the order of crown 
 and kingdom, i.e. when the crown identifies itself 
 with the country, not when it narrow-mindedly re- 
 quires that the country shall identify itself with it. 
 There is no middle course between the two. 
 
PRINCE AND PEOPLE. 339 
 
 Only those authorities are really powers which are 
 involuntarily authorities, — the aiictoritates natiirales. 
 We must beware only of making them positivas, in 
 the opinion that their influence will thus be strength- 
 ened. 
 
 * 
 
 There is no doubt that if the prince does not 
 realize the majcstas populi (which does not of course 
 mean that of individuals, or even of masses), he will 
 not be able to govern according to the constitution. 
 
 The idea of constitutional monarchy is certainly 
 
 not that the prince shall govern according to his own 
 
 ideas, but that the people, through the prince, shall 
 
 be able to govern themselves. (That is, XQ^\y govern, 
 
 in contrast to anarchy.) 
 
 * 
 
 If a representative government is appointed, if 
 therefore an organ is established expressly for the 
 purpose of allowing the public reason of the nation 
 to find an utterance, then it is a contradiction in 
 terms and morally wrong, if the prince refuses obedi- 
 ence to the expression of this organ. He cannot 
 surely consider himself as wiser than his people as a 
 whole. 
 
 If princes are unwilling to descend — as it foolishly 
 seems to themselves — to that position which, in the 
 present moral condition of the nations, alone remains 
 possible for them, then they make their own existence 
 impossible. 
 
340 STILL HOURS. 
 
 A common misfortune in governing is that people 
 suppose themselves able to alter the nature of things 
 by their own cleverness. 
 
 * 
 
 A prince is in a good position nowadays only if 
 he joyfully renounces all idea of holding an excep- 
 tional position, because he possesses the clear con- 
 viction that thus alone he will exalt himself to a truly 
 
 lofty position. 
 
 * 
 
 A high-minded prince will make it a point of 
 honour not to wish to be wiser than the intelligence 
 of his people. It will appear to him a shame and 
 disgrace to rely in his government on the non-intelli- 
 gence of the population. 
 
 A UTHORIT\\ 
 To the conception of authority belong these two 
 things: — (i) That it shall proceed from the com- 
 munity, and (2) that, having proceeded from it, it 
 shall possess authority over individuals in the com- 
 munity. This is the v^ery purpose for which the 
 community chooses for itself a head, that it may 
 }-ield obedience to it, and through it to its own idea. 
 
 In what proportion a community may be demo- 
 cratically organized must be determined entirely 
 according to the degree in which the whole com- 
 munity is animated by a common spirit, 
 
A UTHORITY. 341 
 
 No one can govern who is not disposed to grant to 
 every one of his subjects perfect independence as 
 regards himself. 
 
 In order to govern along with a constitution, one 
 must first of all govern according to it. 
 
 * 
 
 To govern according to one's individual caprice (a 
 
 very different thing from governing according to 
 
 one's individual conviction) really means, not to 
 
 govern, but to domineer. 
 
 * 
 
 To govern, as distinguished from domineering, 
 means, to realize one's ends by independent instru- 
 ments. 
 
 If, in a representative government, more than one 
 chamber is really necessary, that the different cham- 
 bers may mutually examine each other's decisions 
 (as Trendelenburg, " Naturrecht," p. 384, etc., 454, 
 455, maintains), then the second chamber can pro- 
 perly be only a real senate, an assemblage of the 
 notoriously highest intellects of the nation,^ and its 
 position would only be that of a court of appeal. 
 
 * 
 
 He who understands by governing arranging 
 matters according to his own mind may have a 
 vocation for everything else, but has certainly none 
 for ruling. 
 
 ' But who would choose them? and who could do it with 
 undisputed authority ? 
 
342 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Autocratically-minded {i.e. in plain English, wilful) 
 people are useless nowadays in public life. 
 
 * 
 
 A man may find much that is praiseworthy, even 
 necessary, in public and political life, and yet not 
 feel himself called upon to take any direct share in 
 
 it. 
 
 * 
 
 We should never expect great things from autho- 
 rity, of whatsoever kind it may be. All authority is 
 merely provisional. 
 
 It is strange that so few can reconcile themselves 
 to the idea of a real government, i.e. a certain attain- 
 ment of reasonable objects by means of freely acting 
 factors. The higher the art of the government, the 
 more unlimited is the freedom. This is the case alike 
 with the divine government of the world and with 
 political science among men. 
 
 To rule the people according to the highest in- 
 tellectual and moral convictions prevailing among 
 them is the only worthy maxim in government, and 
 soon it will be the only possible one. The nation 
 provides itself with a government for the purpose of 
 being ruled by itself, and being enabled to govern 
 
 itself. 
 
 * 
 
 If the government persistently ignores the liberal 
 tendencies in the nation, the result cannot fail to be 
 
AUTHORITY. 343 
 
 that the people, unnaturally pressed downwards to 
 the lower strata, soil themselves with all kinds of 
 impurity. The government ought to raise them out 
 of the dust and ennoble them ! 
 
 A high-minded system of government cannot pros- 
 per when executed by mean-minded officials. 
 
 * 
 
 Personal confidence is nowadays what authority 
 was in the past. 
 
 The moral law, as distinguished from the moral 
 norm, is always a positive, a concrete, formula. 
 
 * 
 
 The measure, and especially the duration, of 
 punishment ought to be determined according as it 
 will be most likely to attain its object, the actual ^ 
 abolition of evil. 
 
 Even in the human community the conception of 
 punishment is that of expiation {i.e. making pardon- 
 able) of evil that has been committed. Only in this 
 case it is the human community, not God, for whom 
 the wrong must be expiated (made pardonable). But 
 does not this conception of punishment exclude the 
 punishment of death, in which the subject, whose sin 
 the community is to forgive, is annihilated } 
 
344 sriLL HOURS. 
 
 RANKS OF THE COMMUNITY. 
 
 From a moral point of view, we must certainly 
 desire, that those ranks which occupy at present the 
 very lowest position in the social scale, should 
 gradually cease to exist ; but from the same point 
 of view, we must necessarily form the same judg- 
 ment as to the very highest ranks in our present 
 society. 
 
 There is no more efficacious means of spiritually 
 (religiously and morally) elevating the "common 
 man " than a spiritually elevated community. 
 
 * 
 The more backward human society is in its history, 
 the more does it confine itself to establishing moral 
 order in the sphere of a few individuals, who are 
 then the privileged classes, at the expense of the 
 worthy development of larger masses. 
 
 * 
 Of one kind of human nature and life it is true, 
 more than of any other, that it was not created by 
 God, and that is court-life. 
 
 * 
 
 It is a sign alike of ignorance and narrow-minded- 
 ness, when the more highly-educated classes despise 
 the instinctive tendencies of the masses. He who 
 can look farther sees in them auguries, for the true 
 interpretation of which a haruspex might well be 
 required. 
 
POLITICAL FREEDOM. 345 
 
 He who really stands high docs not raise himself 
 on tip-toe to look over the heads of others, but bends 
 down that he may hold communion with them. He 
 finds no gratification to vanity in his superior height, 
 but a painful narrowness of room. 
 
 The moral Proletariat (in which the individual lives 
 without self-consciousness in the mass) is as great 
 an evil as the " social " Proletariat, and is a fruitful 
 source of the latter. 
 
 * 
 
 The tendencies of the masses can never, indeed, 
 be predominant forces in public life, but in one respect 
 the masses, — as being such parts of the whole, which 
 are relatively mere material nature, — have an ad- 
 vantage over the educated classes, viz., that they are 
 driven as by an instinct in the direction of future 
 history. But it follows, of course, that all such 
 instinct must first pass the censorship of reason. 
 
 POLITICAL FREEDOM. 
 
 The increase of political freedom must unavoid- 
 ably result in a loss of personal freedom to the 
 individual. For this reason he who is jealous of 
 his personal freedom becomes readily a friend of 
 absolute government. As a compensation, therefore, 
 a relaxation of conventional etiquette, especially of 
 the conventional social Gene (constraint), must keep 
 even pace with the advance of political freedom. 
 
346 STILL HOURS. 
 
 As long as Christianity refuses frankly to acknow- 
 ledge political freedom as its legitimate sister, it will 
 fail to acquire the confidence of the men of these 
 days to any great extent. 
 
 * 
 If a man is not allowed to set before himself any 
 political aims, at least any positive aims, but only 
 private aims, he is being practically educated in 
 egotism. And can this be good for the State ? 
 
 * 
 
 The universal longing for freedom is the necessary 
 consequence of the fact, that self-determination is 
 the distinctive characteristic of human action. 
 
 In our ecclesiastical disputes we may easily see 
 what a bad thing it is for a man nowadays to have 
 no clear and certain political convictions, as is the 
 case with by far the larger number of our clergy. 
 
 He who turns away from historical progress 
 because it sometimes gets into dirty hands, must 
 take himself out of God's creation altogether. 
 
 Formerly a man's political opinions were con- 
 sidered as having no necessary connexion with the 
 condition of his individual morality ; nowadays this 
 is no longer possible. 
 
 * 
 
 It is still a widespread misconception, that every 
 agitation originates in impure motives. This was 
 
FORMATION OF PARTIES. 347 
 
 a consequence of our having so inconsiderately ac- 
 customed ourselves to absolutism. 
 
 * 
 
 In all departments of life this blessing accompanies 
 freedom, that law and order are held dear by those 
 who possess it. {Cf. Lange : " Dogmatik," ii., p. 1 178. 
 " Within Christianity order ceases to be order the 
 moment it oppresses freedom.") 
 
 FORMATION OF PARTIES. 
 
 All parties in the state have a relative right,* 
 (none can have more,) and each must be able 
 thoroughly to assert its own. 
 
 * 
 
 In public life we must follow the stream of history, 
 quite regardless of the appearance presented by its 
 more immediate organs : for we do not follow these, 
 but the history whose organs they are, and this often 
 without rightly understanding it ourselves. 
 
 * 
 
 Public life is impossible without parties (combin- 
 ations formed of those who are striving after a 
 common end, with the same means, and according 
 to one united method,) and the organizations and 
 agitations connected with them. 
 
 * 
 
 Every movement which asserts itself in conscious 
 conjunction with others, necessarily becomes a party. 
 
 * Naturally in very different degrees. 
 
548 STILL HOURS. 
 
 In this there is nothing wrong. Only the party must 
 
 be for a cause, not for a person. It is actually a sign 
 
 of progress that we have parties nowadays in all 
 
 departments of public life, and, as a consequence, 
 
 fewer cliques. 
 
 * 
 
 There will be no thorough reformation in our 
 politics, until the word " conservative " has become 
 completely antiquated. It means nothing more than 
 simply " desirous of privileges." 
 
 Our " well-disposed " people are for the most part 
 either without disposition at all, or actually very ill- 
 disposed. 
 
 POPULAR REPRESENTA TIOiV. 
 Whenever the idea of the State has dawned upon 
 the consciousness of a people, especially of its more 
 intelligent classes, there is felt simultaneously the 
 need of a representative government. 
 
 The representation of the people must be also a 
 real representation of the State ; — representation, not 
 only of individuals as such, (so that each one as a 
 particular individual may have his share in the 
 guidance of the community,) but also of the idea of 
 the whole of the community as such. These two, 
 however, are thoroughly intermixed and interdepen- 
 dent. It is not the government alone, which repre- 
 sents the State as such. 
 
A /iSOL UTISM. —RF.rUBL ICS. 349 
 
 ABSOL UTISM. 
 
 The sovereignty of the masses (not that of the 
 people, which, rightly understood, is quite as it should 
 be,) rests upon one and the same principle as abso- 
 lutism, — the final authorization, not of that which is 
 morally and constitutionally right, but of that which 
 accords with the particular will of the individual. 
 
 * 
 
 In absolute monarchies the taste for the true and 
 simple degenerates to a melancholy degree. 
 
 * 
 
 A limited autocracy, i.e. arbitrary government, is 
 the most senseless of all political constitutions. 
 
 * 
 
 As long as the idea of the State is not yet alive in 
 the general consciousness of the people, so long, but 
 not a moment longer, the autocratic element is per- 
 fectly justifiable. This, however, let us remember, 
 is true only if we assume that the autocratic govern- 
 ment directs its constant efforts towards the awaking 
 of that idea in the people's consciousness. 
 
 REPUBLICS. 
 He who wishes to educate a nation into ripeness 
 for a republic, can do so in no other way than by 
 training it to virtue, and especially to inviolable re- 
 spect for every legal institution, disagreeable as it 
 may be. The most dangerous people for dynastic 
 monarchies are men who work in this direction. 
 
350 STILL HOURS. 
 
 It is utterly vain, and leads only to confusion and 
 obstruction, to seek to realize one's ideas in politics 
 before they have penetrated the masses. The un- 
 ideal nature of republican politics is, therefore, by no 
 means a misfortune, but salutary wisdom. 
 
 * 
 
 A hereditary aristocracy in a free state, is one of 
 the most odious of political deformities. 
 
 The Republic is the only form of government in 
 which the avoidance of revolution is absolutely assured, 
 from which therefore the revolution is absolutely ex- 
 cluded. 
 
 REVOLUTION. 
 There occur in history times of judgment, — periods 
 in which, in the consciousness of the age, an irre- 
 vocable sentence of death is pronounced upon his- 
 torical powers, although some space of existence may 
 still be left them. The year 1848 was a time like 
 this. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 As matters stand with us at present in Germany, 
 our only political task seems to be that of judiciously 
 training up the people, even those belonging to the 
 lowest strata, to such a moral {i.e., as should always 
 be understood, religious and moral) excellence, that 
 the aristocratic, or more exactly, the privileged, classes 
 will have to be ashamed in its presence. 
 
NORTH AND SOUTH GERMANY. 351 
 
 We Germans present a melancholy spectacle in the 
 fact that so many who were in their youth spiritually 
 stirred degenerate so soon into Philistinism. It is a 
 sign that our political affairs are out of order. The 
 reason is that our civil life is not really public life. 
 Are matters in the same state in England ? 
 
 Because we Germans do not consider the separate 
 state to which we each more immediately belong as 
 our actual fatherland, but only Germany as a whole, 
 which is represented by no dynastic monarchical 
 government, we live in a certain sense as citizens 
 of a free state, and for this reason we wish to think 
 of ourselves in the first place as Germans, not as 
 Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons, etc. And thus, in per- 
 fect accordance with the nature of German ideology, 
 we live in the midst of our dynastic states the ideal 
 life of a republican nation. 
 
 Why do we demand the political unity of Germany? 
 Because we Germans are one people, and nothing 
 separates us but nominal dynastic rights, whose moral 
 importance we are no longer able to recognise. 
 
 NORTH AND SOUTH GERMANY. 
 
 The South German has unquestionably this char- 
 acteristic advantage over the North German, that 
 the individual feels himself more directly and vividly 
 a member of the whole, of the people in general, 
 though in the first place only of his particular race. 
 
352 STILL HOURS. 
 
 The North German in his proud self-satisfaction 
 despises himself for his own jokes, the South German 
 laughs at things and people with the air of a foolish 
 person, who does not consider himself as wiser or 
 better than the object of his merriment, but as a 
 child, to whom in his simplicity persons and things 
 appear droll and farcical. 
 
 * 
 
 Prussians are the worst provincialists among the 
 
 Germans ; in their happy self-consciousness they 
 
 nai'vely consider their own Prussian affairs as those 
 
 of Germany as a whole, or at least as their highest 
 
 point. 
 
 * 
 
 My sympathies are by no means with the Prussians 
 as such, but only with the Prusso-Germans. 
 
 If a purely German state like Prussia, (it is quite 
 another case with Austria), wishes to be something 
 more than this, wishes to become one of the great 
 powers of Europe, instead of looking upon Germany 
 alone, itself included, as a great European power, this 
 is, and must ever be regarded as, an un-German dis- 
 position. 
 
 * 
 
 When the South German puts on airs of conse- 
 quence, we indulge him in it patiently, because it 
 always appears a little ridiculous. 
 
 I do not, generally speaking, consider it a specially 
 
EUROPE. 353 
 
 favourable sign, when a South Gernman, who has been 
 transplanted to North Germany, feels himself parti- 
 cularly comfortable, I would not say this, however, 
 in the case of a North German transplanted to South 
 Germany. 
 
 EUROPE. 
 In our Europe, England alone excepted, there are 
 in consequence of its historical development, every- 
 where unnatural and apparently insurmountable 
 hindrances opposed to the natural development of 
 moral life. 
 
 My fear is that our continental European states 
 will all finally return to absolutism. For our 
 dynasties will never decide in favour of a really and 
 sincerely constitutional (therefore of a democratic) 
 government, and our populations, owing to their 
 historical antecedents, appear to be incapable of a 
 republican constitution, on account of the yet un- 
 extinguished dynastic parties in their midst. The 
 age of European culture is undoubtedly verging upon 
 its close ; but, on the other hand, the dawn of a 
 Transatlantic culture is just as unmistakably be- 
 ginning to break. 
 
 In our old Europe we shall never realize a rational 
 arrangement of ecclesiastical, and even of political 
 matters ; in the new Transatlantic world men have 
 found themselves from the first on the simple, right, 
 
 z 
 
354 STILL HOURS. 
 
 and natural road, because they have established per- 
 fect freedom of the churches in relation to the State. 
 
 * 
 
 The circumstance that our present political re- 
 lations present to so many a relative impossibility of 
 honestly yielding obedience to their sincere con- 
 victions, — especially in religious and theological 
 matters, — must bring deep demoralisation in its train. 
 
 * 
 
 Must it not enrage a nation to see its interests in 
 the hands of smooth drawing-room gentlemen, in 
 whose artificial and conventional sphere of life every 
 full and deep human emotion has been extinguished ? 
 
 * 
 
 Will nations never come to understand the simple 
 truth, that the interests of all are entirely reciprocal ? 
 
 FRANCE. 
 The worst political evil is when a nation fears, and 
 is obliged to fear, itself. This is the present con- 
 dition of the French nation. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Russia is that frightful empire of the knout, by 
 whose example our continental European princes 
 possess the physical power of ruling their people 
 absolutely, even against the universal national will. 
 
QUESTIONS OF CULTURE. 
 
XL QUESTIONS OF CULTURE. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 The historian must be able to distinguish between 
 life and death, even in their most deceptive masks. 
 
 To the eye of the historian events appear quite 
 otherwise than to the ordinary eye, and for this 
 reason the true historian must submit to be re- 
 proached as an idealist and visionary. Reading 
 between the lines, he sees an event which quite 
 escapes the ordinary observer ; and in the event 
 which, because it is directly tangible, is alone per- 
 ceptible to the latter, he sees no real event at all, but 
 only the cloud of dust which history raises in its 
 course through the world, and by which it is en- 
 wrapped and concealed. For this reason the true 
 historian must not be destitute of speculative 
 
 capacity. 
 
 * 
 
 History is no longer history when we place it out- 
 side of time. If time in history has no reality for 
 God, then history cannot exist for Him at all. 
 
 The reason why the course of God's works appears 
 
 357 
 
558 STILL HOURS. 
 
 SO slow to man, is that, within the compass of his own 
 existence, he has accustomed himself to such small 
 dimensions. 
 
 He who wishes to work thoroughly, must work 
 very slowly. This is true even of God. 
 
 >\' 
 
 Who, in looking upon history, especially upon that 
 of Christianity, could refrain from wondering — even, 
 for a moment, from doubtful — astonishment at the 
 excessive slowness with which God carries on His 
 work in the world, allowing it to take its course 
 through a thousand apparently retrogressive wind- 
 ings ! The Divine world-government frequently 
 appears even as a retarding force. Why does He do 
 this but just because the work must be, not His 
 alone, but also ours, — because His work in the world 
 is to develop it from itself, a process carried on with 
 no sudden bound. And people actually look sur- 
 prised at our theory as to the origin of evil ! 
 
 * 
 
 God retards the progress of Plis kingdom, so that 
 
 even the weak may follow after. (Predestination.) 
 
 Cf. 2 Pet. iii. 9. 
 
 * 
 
 When the Redeemer speaks of a " shortening " ot 
 the great tribulation in the last times. He expressly 
 takes for granted that the history of humanity, 
 especially of Christian humanity, proceeds according 
 to a law of inward development, which God un- 
 
HISTORY. 359 
 
 doubtcdly holds in His own power, as He holds all 
 
 laws of the creature's life. 
 
 * 
 
 The greater a historical principle is, the more 
 slowly and through more numerous stages of de- 
 velopment does it unfold its import ; but for this 
 very reason it endures all the longer in its ceaseless 
 modifications. This is true in the highest degree of 
 
 Christianity. 
 
 * 
 
 The result of the life-experience of the thoughtful 
 
 man is not that all things in this world are vain ; but 
 
 rather, that in it the noble, imperishable metal of the 
 
 real must be wrought out with pain and toil from 
 
 vast dross-heaps of the vain and worthless. 
 
 * 
 
 We hear indeed the melody of the world's history ; 
 but who can catch the sound of that wondrous 
 harmony which accompanies it, as that melody re- 
 echoes in the millions of human hearts which it 
 touches ! 
 
 Well for him who sees in history, especially in that 
 
 of his own day, the real facts themselves, and not 
 
 merely, as so many do, the dark shadow which they 
 
 cast. 
 
 * 
 
 History proceeds calmly on her way through the 
 midst of parties. 
 
 Historically dominant spiritual forces exercise an 
 
36o STILL HOURS. 
 
 incalculably important moral influence, even upon 
 those who are quite unconscious of their existence. 
 They are the spiritual imponderables. 
 
 * 
 
 Changing times oblige most people to be always 
 looking at matters with different eyes. 
 
 * 
 
 All beginnings present a crude and uncouth ap- 
 pearance, even those in history. 
 
 * 
 
 Moral forces, even according to the principle of 
 
 their own nature, become in the course of time 
 
 physical forces ; and the further history progresses, 
 
 with all the greater celerity. Only we must not 
 
 imagine for a moment that moral powers can be 
 
 really, and therefore permanently, extinguished by 
 
 physical force. 
 
 * 
 
 As the earth in the course of its formation passed 
 through very varied cosmic conditions, so has 
 humanity in its moral history. 
 
 * 
 
 Why do men, in the movements of history, follow 
 dark impulses only ? In order that the guiding 
 power may remain in the hand of God. 
 
 CULTURE. 
 
 The correct measurement of great and small is a 
 fairly trustworthy criterion of culture. 
 
CULTURE. 361 
 
 The narrower a man's sphere of vision, the more 
 naively docs he trust in it. 
 
 * 
 
 One leading characteristic of the cultured man is 
 that he has an impression of the power of prejudice. 
 
 * 
 
 It forms a part of true culture to be able to distin- 
 guish between greatness in quanto, and greatness in 
 
 quali. 
 
 * 
 
 The idea is the action and reaction upon one another 
 of the products of individual and universal know- 
 ledge, the reciprocal action of apprehension (and 
 therefore of intuition) and conception (and along 
 with it representation), namely as directed towards 
 one and the same object of knowledge. Hence the 
 peculiar vitality and power of the idea, and for this 
 reason also, it is the characteristic of the highest 
 theoretic (or intellectual) culture to possess ideas. 
 It is the meeting-point of artistic and scientific know- 
 ledge, and hence also the specific bond which unites 
 art and science. The highest task for the under- 
 standing is therefore to comprehend everything in 
 the mode of ideas, to possess all its knowledge in the 
 form of ideas. The product of individual and uni- 
 versal culture, when acting or reacting upon one 
 another, is virtuosity, the reciprocal action of posses- 
 sion (and therefore self-satisfaction), and an object of 
 possession {i.e. acquirement, or property). To be a 
 virtuoso is therefore the characteristic of the highest 
 
562 SriLL HOURS. 
 
 practical culture. It is the meeting-point of public 
 and social life ; and the highest task for man's forma- 
 tive action is therefore that everything shall be 
 fashioned with virtuosity.^ 
 
 We do not really understand a truth, until we 
 have perfectly contemplated the various applications 
 of which, on its many sides, it is capable. 
 
 What we best understand with the understanding, 
 we are often least capable of doing. 
 
 * 
 
 I usually understand best the very things that I 
 
 can do least. 
 
 * 
 
 It matters little in Divine things iJiat we should 
 know, if we are not clearly aware ivhat we know. 
 
 * 
 
 Every author writes for those who understand him, 
 not for those who cannot or will not understand him. 
 Hence the mistaken nature of all polemics. 
 
 * 
 We see things more truly in proportion as we see 
 them in wider connexions. 
 
 * 
 In order to the correct understanding of the world, 
 those men are necessary who are accustomed to con- 
 
 ^ Cf. George: " Mctapliysik," p. 397, etc. 
 
SCIENCE. 363 
 
 sider matters, not merely from the outside, but also 
 from the inside. 
 
 Because truth is always so thoroughly simple, we 
 are very apt to imagine that it must always be know- 
 able, if not indeed already known. 
 
 SCIE.VCE. 
 Among the rubbish of our scientific literature lie 
 many scattered grains of fruitful knowledge ; but, 
 unfortunately, the only men who could discover them 
 have no time to search among the sweepings. 
 
 •X- 
 
 The beginning of all science is to be able to trust 
 our five senses. 
 
 It belongs to the very idea of sense that it is also 
 the faculty of observation — that it reflects upon the 
 consciousness of the subject the actual image of the 
 object, by whatever artificial machinery this may be 
 brought about in the sensible and somatic nature of 
 the observer. It is the true nature of objects which 
 we apprehend with our senses, although indeed only 
 by means of the sensations which these objects 
 produce on our organs of sense, not merely the 
 sensations themselves which these objects have pro- 
 duced. Trust in our five senses is the commence- 
 ment of all science. 
 
 He who has not sufficient respect for science, that 
 in occupying himself with it he forgets his own per- 
 sonality, need have nothing whatever to do with it. 
 
364 STILL HOURS. 
 
 We have far more need of reproductive than of 
 productive intellects. 
 
 It belongs to the character of the scholar, in the 
 higher sense of the word, that he has no expectation 
 of success for his work during his own lifetime. 
 
 ■X- 
 
 It is unfortunate when a man, in the course of a 
 long life spent in constant occupation with science, 
 has never learned to control his own ideas. In what 
 an excessive confusion must this result ! 
 
 * 
 
 Why do I consider it a calamity, when professors 
 (scholars) do work which docs not properly belong 
 to their profession .-* Because, in this way, the work 
 which does belong to their profession, and which 
 none but themselves can perform, must remain, 
 partially at least, neglected. 
 
 * 
 
 Every one ought to strive after freedom from error 
 
 by being content to know nothing, except what he, 
 
 according to objective and subjective conditions, 
 
 really can know, and by strictly distinguishing, within 
 
 the range of his ideas, between what he really knows, 
 
 and what he has only learned from tradition. He 
 
 who wishes to be free from error, must renounce the 
 
 idea of knowing viuch. 
 
 * 
 
 The scholar is never more comfortable than when 
 
 nothing "happens" in his individual sphere of life. 
 
ART. 36s 
 
 when every one leaves him entirely unmolested. But 
 in this very fact lies for him a great temptation. 
 
 Unconscious ignorance is not error. 
 
 ART. 
 
 Artistic (or aesthetic) beauty is that attribute of 
 the representation of the individually determined 
 self-consciousness, by means of which the objective 
 or identical image of the object (of the individually 
 determined self-consciousness represented) presents 
 itself in a peculiarly pure and energetic manner in 
 some individual form. The beauty of a work of art 
 always presupposes that the individually determined 
 self-consciousness of the artist possesses the peculiar 
 power of penetrating with his understanding, there- 
 fore with his powers of sense-perception, (or emo- 
 tions,) into objective nature, into the actual being of 
 his object ; ^ and on the other hand, that the artist 
 possesses the capacity of representing, and thus 
 transmitting to others, this his individual knowledge, 
 i.e. his individual perception or feeling of the object, 
 in a peculiarly pure and energetic manner, by means 
 of the symbol. Both these powers in their union 
 constitute the true artist, who thus requires, in order 
 to his perfection, a culture which must carry on its 
 work chiefly on the reproductive side. Thus we see 
 the reason why so many erroneously consider them- 
 selves as artists. They possess one element of the 
 
 1 Cf. Hegel : " Propadeutik," § 187. 
 
366 STILL HOURS. 
 
 artist, but only one, most commonly they possess the 
 
 perceptive alone. 
 
 * 
 
 True artists must feel things before, and with 
 poorer means of knowledge than other men, in order 
 that others may learn to feel them rightly. 
 
 Beauty, in general, is the attribute of the outward 
 or material object, and is clearly meant to reflect (to 
 allow an appearance or shining through of) the idea, 
 using the word in a strict metaphysical sense, according 
 to which idea is regarded as equivalent to spirit. It 
 must be a representative symbol of the idea, whether 
 it be the idea of one particular object, (supposing 
 that an idea of that object can exist ; as eg, of man,) 
 or of some other idea or totality of ideas (as the 
 world in its totality is the reflection of such an idea). 
 This beauty may be either a natural product, like 
 the beauty of nature, or an artistic product, as e.g. 
 the beauty of a melody ; or both together, as the 
 beauty of the human body,i and as far as we can 
 speak of such a thing,"' the beauty of the soul.^ 
 
 ' The ideal, through whose reflex upon itself the body is 
 beautiful, is the human personality. That human body is beau- 
 tiful which is for the spectator a representation of the human 
 body in its truth and its perfection : Ecce Homo ! The Apollo 
 Belvedere. 
 
 2 We may, indeed, speak of soul beauty, so far as the soul as 
 natural is a material thing, therefore not in itself an idea, which 
 it becomes on its spiritualization — when therefore the idea, as 
 something outside of it, can reflect itself upon the soul. 
 
 ^ It is a misuse of the word to speak of beauty in the perfectly 
 
ART. 367 
 
 Metre is essentially necessary to poetry, because 
 the tone is one side of the primitive individually 
 determined means of representation. Metrical 
 speech is eloquence under the potency of the tone. 
 
 * 
 
 Even social intercourse requires art as an object of 
 social enjoyment, as art, on the other hand, requires, 
 in order to its perfect development, the theatre of 
 social intercourse. 
 
 The ideal is that being which, according to its own 
 
 conception, is purely ideal ; but this it is impossible 
 
 ever to attain. 
 
 * 
 
 There is a difference between the mere sign and 
 
 the image. 
 
 * 
 
 Architecture is the art which relates specifically to 
 particular personal property. For this reason it is 
 not exclusively a fine art {as the others are) but is, 
 at the same time, a trade, as having in view necessity. 
 {Cf. on this point Schelling : Werke, i. 5, p. 574, etc.) 
 For this reason it is the earliest of the plastic arts. 
 
 * 
 
 The wonderful thing in music is that it, while 
 
 realized spirit. It is too poor a description of it. The spirit, in 
 which idea and existence are absolutely one, is above the mere 
 appearance of the idea in existence, therefore above all beauty. 
 Even man lays aside his beauty the more he realizes himself as 
 spirit ; for ripe old age is no longer beautiful in the actual sense 
 of the word. 
 
368 STILL HOURS. 
 
 appealing entirely to the emotions, does so on one 
 side entirely through the understanding, namely, 
 through the strictest mathematics of tones. 
 
 * 
 Like emotion and impulse, fancy and taste need to 
 be rendered moral, to have their sensual character 
 laid aside ; the wildness of the former (which de- 
 forms even sensual organic life), and the crudity of 
 the latter. 
 
 Emotion and impulse, when united by means of 
 fancy, are, in the moral process of human life, a 
 plastic force, a moral plastic power. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Speech or discourse falls into two families, the 
 epic and the dramatic. The former seeks only to do 
 justice to the object by representing it to the auditor, 
 and thus to do justice to the auditor as regards the 
 object ; the latter seeks to produce the object as a 
 real power, as an active influence over the spectator, 
 and it thus directly draws the spectator into the 
 action represented by the object. 
 
 Speech, purely as such, (as word-speech,) always 
 wavers in the current contrast of the universal and 
 the particular; it expresses only the former, and can 
 never produce perfectly particular things, never a 
 perfect image of concrete objects. Speech can do 
 
CRITICISM. 369 
 
 this only by means of poetry. [Cf. Schleiermacher: 
 "/Esthetik," p. 638-644.) 
 
 He who possesses ideas of his own, must begin by 
 reforming our common mode of speech. 
 
 The literary world ought to see that the language 
 of a people does not become obstinate. 
 
 The charm of ancient classical literature consists 
 mainly in the fact that in it we hear the affairs 
 of men discussed by people who, in comparison with 
 ourselves, must have looked upon them with frcsJi 
 eyes. 
 
 The best test of the " classical " is that even a 
 higher degree of intellectual culture never makes it 
 appear trivial. 
 
 ■X- 
 
 He who is a poet only in his childhood, is for that 
 very reason a poor and childish poet. 
 
 It belongs to the nature of the didactic poem, that 
 it can have only a short existence. With the progress 
 of scientific knowledge men lose their liking for it. 
 
 CRITICISM. 
 
 It is not only much more pleasant and satisfactor}', 
 but also much more instructive, to search out and 
 keep in view the good and great qualities in others 
 
 A A 
 
370 STILL HOURS. 
 
 than the mean and worthless. This is specially true 
 of literary criticism. 
 
 Many authors appear to imagine that books are 
 
 written in order that scholars may criticise them, 
 
 while they really exist in order that scholars may tise 
 
 them. 
 
 * 
 
 If, in criticising the ideas of others, we reprehend 
 them for logical errors into which they have fallen, 
 we ought always to remember in doing so that we 
 ourselves are only too apt to stumble in the same 
 way. 
 
 Doctrinarianism consists, not so much in the setting 
 up of an exact doctrine, as in the tendency to apply 
 some special doctrine in its scientific purity, and con- 
 sequent abstractness, immediately to any given con- 
 crete case. 
 
 PEDAGOGY. 
 
 To excite piety by cherishing morality (not the 
 reverse) is the true canon of instruction within Pro- 
 testant Christianity. Its consequence is, that the 
 guidance of education can never, in Protestant Chris- 
 tianity, become a mere affair of the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 Those schoolmasters who have usually produced 
 deep and lasting religious impressions upon the youth 
 of learned scholars, are not the professors of religion. 
 
PEDAGOGY. yji 
 
 pious and full of unction as these may be, but the 
 hard-headed mathematicians and philologists, who 
 are inwardly full of reverence for Christianity, with- 
 out discoursing of it ex profcsso. 
 
 * 
 
 If I find myself under the moral training influence 
 of any one, the true knowledge of his moral character 
 is incomparably more important for the attainment 
 of this purpose than that of his social position and 
 dignity. 
 
 * 
 
 In the training of our young men for their profes- 
 sion, it would be a good thing for us to set out on the 
 principle of assuring ourselves, not that they Jiavc 
 learned something, which can never be done with any 
 degree of certainty, and in regard to which the true 
 insight almost always comes too late, but rather that 
 they do learn something, 
 
 * 
 
 The academic professor should be to his audience 
 a means of learning, not an object of learning. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHURCH. 
 
XII. CHRISTIANITY AND THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 He who wishes to have a Church must support him- 
 self entirely upon those to whom piety as such is 
 the main point in Christianity. But if we are to 
 have a real Church, in some sense a national ecclesi- 
 astical community, not merely a small body of sepa- 
 ratists, it must be so organized that those whose main 
 concern is religious morality, indeed morality in 
 general, shall be able to exert themselves within it, 
 without spiritual compulsion or constraint of con- 
 science. Even in a Church constituted thus the 
 former party will remain its life and soul. 
 
 The reason why natural religions can produce no 
 Church is that the Church rests essentially on the 
 assumption of a distinction between piety and natural 
 or universally human life. {Cf. Romang : " System 
 der Natiirlichen Religion," § 28.) 
 
 What the Church actually is, determines itself 
 according to the prevalent conception of it, 
 
 37S 
 
376 STILL HOURS. 
 
 If the social life of a community is, on the one 
 hand, so perfectly developed in all things, and espe- 
 cially in itself, and on the other hand, so penetrated 
 by religion, that within its circle an approximately 
 universal and perfect religious moral community 
 exists, then the universal community ceases to have 
 its locality and its organ in the Church. The latter 
 then becomes the organ of the religious community 
 of those who recognise the religious as really reli- 
 gious only in its separation from the moral. But as 
 these, according to the nature of their standpoint, 
 necessarily determine the religious to a certain extent 
 arbitrarily, their piety will have, in some measure, an 
 idiosyncrasy in it, and their ecclesiastical life will 
 thus expend itself in a multitude of little individual 
 idiosyncratic ecclesiastical schemes and arrangements. 
 Two opposing currents run parallel in the province 
 of the Church : the one aims at attaining the most 
 comprehensive, but at the same time the least strictly 
 ecclesiastical community ; the other seeks to secure 
 the most strictly ecclesiastical, but at the same time 
 the most narrow and exclusive ecclesiastical com- 
 munity. The tendency to a State (or rather to a 
 national) Church is inherent in the former ; the aver- 
 sion to such a Church is equally inherent in the latter. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards the Church, we must direct our efforts 
 to provide that those only shall belong to it who, be- 
 cause of their ecclesiastical interest — their interest, 
 that is, in the special Church concerned — are its volun- 
 
THE CHURCH. 377 
 
 tary adherents. This will date from the period when 
 Christianity in the people is secured even indepen- 
 dently of the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 My own principle is the same as that which floats 
 before the minds of those who place their whole in- 
 terest in the " invisible Church." But because I think 
 the matter clearly and distinctly out, and consequently 
 must protest against their meaningless description of 
 an invisible Church, I call forth their loudest opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 * 
 
 The final word of the advocates of the Church is 
 that some institution is indispensable as a means for 
 transmitting the Gospel to humanity. But in the 
 present position of Christianity is there really need 
 of such a special institution } What can the Church 
 do in this direction which the State does not also do 
 entirely of its own accord ? Is it that the Church 
 transmits along with the Gospel its own interpreta- 
 tion of it — its dogma t But matters have now come 
 to such a stand that the only part of dogma which 
 has or can have the slightest authority is that which 
 Christian sentiment and Christian science have 
 learned quite independently of it. What does the 
 Church of the present know of Christ and Christian- 
 ity (as a historical fact) more than the Christian 
 
 world .-' 
 
 * 
 
 It is sad if matters have been reduced so low in the 
 
 Church that, in order to its continuous existence, the 
 
37S STTLL HOURS. 
 
 multitude of sensible and honest men must allow 
 themselves to be guided by a handful of fanatics. 
 
 As long as Christians as Christians had a share in 
 
 no other community except the Church, so long, but 
 
 not a moment longer, Christianity and the Church 
 
 were really identical. 
 
 * 
 
 When a man proceeds on the candid assumption, 
 that it is the Church round which everything finally 
 revolves in the history of the salvation of our race ; 
 then, reasonable as he may otherwise be, his con- 
 siderations of human things become utterly confused. 
 
 If in the present position of Biblical and dogmatic 
 criticism, Christianity in its ecclesiastical form can no 
 longer exist, then we may very well let it go. 
 
 * 
 
 One of the most significant symptoms of the pre- 
 sent condition of the Church in Protestant Christ- 
 endom is the great cooling of interest in historical 
 studies, apart from those directly connected with 
 disputed ecclesiastical questions, among the rising 
 generation of theologians. 
 
 Our " Church-people " arc optima fide reactionaries 
 against the world-government of Christ. 
 
 * 
 
 The only salutary policy for the Church is con- 
 stantly to maintain vital contact and sincere friend- 
 
THE CHURCH. 379 
 
 ship with all the currents of Christianity in other 
 departments of life. 
 
 One of the chief tasks of our present evangelical 
 churcli-i^ovcrnment must be to extinguish every spark 
 of clerical pride. 
 
 The less Christian piety accentuates the Church, 
 the greater need does it feel to belong to a great, 
 comprehensive ecclesiastical community, the more 
 intolerable does it find a sectarian position. 
 
 * 
 
 Our churchmen and clergy act in all naivete, as 
 
 if Christianity existed for the sake of the Church and 
 
 the clerical profession, while the true state of matters 
 
 is exactly the reverse. 
 
 * 
 
 Many misconceptions of our preachers nowadays 
 are not attributable to themselves, but to the present 
 historical position of the Church, 
 
 It cannot be our duty to maintain the Church at 
 the risk of breaking up Christianity. 
 
 The oft-repeated demand that " all outward au- 
 thority" shall fall to the ground in matters of the 
 Christian religion, means in concreto nothing less than 
 that the Church as a whole must fall. 
 
 He who believes that all religion, or at least all 
 
?So STILL HOURS. 
 
 revealed religion, is worthless, is easily goaded on to 
 
 theological fanaticism. 
 
 * 
 
 It is narrow-minded to imagine that the justifica- 
 tion of the chequered subjectivism of men will be 
 conducive to freedom in the Church. 
 
 * 
 The confusion which exists as regards the idea of 
 the Church has for its ultimate cause the fact, that 
 while maintaining quite correctly that " The company 
 of believers, which is in its inward essence a com- 
 munion with and in Christ, ought to represent and 
 realize itself in the world as such," ^ we at the same 
 time take for granted that this must happen in some 
 other way than in human society itself, our reason 
 being that the latter community actually existed 
 before Christ and independently of Him. 
 
 * 
 It is confusing and pernicious in its effects, to 
 demand such things from the Church as ought indeed 
 without doubt to be demanded from Christianity, but 
 which, according to its fundamental principle, can 
 never be accomplished by a Church. 
 
 * 
 
 We seriously misunderstand the nature of the 
 
 Church, if we seek to put an end to the "want of 
 
 sympathy " of our evangelical " congregations," by 
 
 awakening their interest in the political life, without 
 
 1 Jul. Kostlin : " Der Glaube," p. 403. 
 
THE CHURCH. 381 
 
 having first aroused their interest in the reh'gious life 
 of the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 The Church is important only to the man to whom 
 
 piety itself is important, to whom it is the highest and 
 
 holiest of all things. The most worthy Christianity, 
 
 if it is not at the same time religiosity, counts for 
 
 nothing in the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 Ought congregations to be twice represented in 
 the Church, first by their legitimate delegates to the 
 Synod, and then also personally, and indeed in a 
 majority of their numbers ? Ought the latter to be 
 entrusted with the decision as to what the "needs" 
 of the "congregations" are? If congregations wish 
 to be represented, the first condition is that they 
 shall respect the decisions of their representatives. 
 To seek first to deliberate upon these decisions, 
 means nothing less than a dissolution of the ecclesi- 
 astical community. 
 
 The primary necessity for a Christian community 
 is that it shall frankly acknowledge that the Gospel 
 occupies an objective position, as a norm, which is 
 perfectly independent of its own estimation and reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 * 
 
 If, on the one hand, full ecclesiastical freedom is 
 allowed, and if, on the other hand, every Church is 
 bound by necessity to support itself financially 
 entirely by the contributions of its adherents, then 
 
382 STILL HOURS. 
 
 a true and actual church-community is the natural 
 and direct result. Where one or other of these two 
 conditions is absent, or where both are wanting, an 
 attempt must be made to establish a true and actual 
 ecclesiastical community by artificial means, but in 
 this way the end is never really attained. 
 
 * 
 Government presupposes reasonableness on the 
 part of the governed ; when this is wanting, as in 
 the case of our church-members, no one can be ex- 
 pected to take an interest in the government. 
 
 * 
 
 Because the historical existence of the Kingdom of 
 Christ originally required a special community (the 
 Church), we cannot get rid of the idea that it must 
 always remain so. 
 
 The simple and only effectual means against separ- 
 atism is unlimited ecclesiastical freedom. 
 
 * 
 
 The Christian Church does not exist merely for its 
 own sake, but also for the sake of Christian revela- 
 tion, as a means for its transmission ; and since as 
 Christian it can be an ecclesiastical {i.e. purely re- 
 ligious) community only in proportion as it is a 
 community founded upon the Christian revelation, 
 the connexion of these two points in its vocation is 
 an inward necessity. We may expect to find them 
 both existing in equal proportion, and the chief task 
 in the organization of the Church is that it shall 
 
THE CHURCH. 383 
 
 really be so. It must strive after its object of being 
 a purely religious community in such a way that in 
 so doing, its other object, to be a means for the 
 transmission of Christian revelation, remains uncom- 
 promised, and is, as far as possible, promoted. 
 
 * 
 The common presupposition, that in the same 
 people the Church is more Christian than the State, 
 can be accurate only on condition that the Church is 
 a perfectly free association, and adherence or non- 
 adherence to it a matter of perfectly free individual 
 choice. 
 
 From the fact that the company (flock) of Christ's 
 people originally constituted itself as a Church, it 
 does not necessarily follow that the flock of Christ is 
 to be identified with the Church. 
 
 The idea of a Church exists in and for itself quite 
 independently of Christianity, although to Christi- 
 anity it undoubtedly owes its historical existence. 
 
 * 
 
 It is really alarming to sec to what degree of in- 
 sipidity Christianity may be reduced in the hands of 
 ecclesiastical, and especially of orthodox, people. 
 
 According as we consider the conception of the 
 Christian Church either as that of the transmitter of 
 the historical efficacy of Christ, or as that of a purely 
 religious community, we shall shape our ideas of wor- 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 ship from different points of view. In the former 
 case, we shall direct our chief efforts towards organ- 
 izing it as a transmitter of Christian tradition ; in 
 the latter, we shall construct it upon such a foundation 
 as shall be most in accordance with the views of all 
 its members. 
 
 A national Church exists wherever a nation carries 
 on its national moral task, supported by the con- 
 sciousness of common piety as the basis of united 
 activity. 
 
 The Church ought to train men for heaven ; but if 
 it imagines that it can and ought to do this im- 
 mediately^ otherwise than by helping to train them to 
 live noble lives on earth, it has fallen into an idle 
 dream. For heaven can be built up only upon earth. 
 
 * 
 The point of controversy in our Churches now- 
 adays is whether we are to have a historical Chris- 
 tianity or a Christianity of sects. 
 
 * 
 
 Those who, in order to assist the Church, direct 
 their influence not upon those who are spiritually at 
 the summit of the mountain, but upon those who are 
 spiritually walking at its foot, ought not to expect 
 much success for their cause. 
 
 * 
 
 There is, thank God, not merely a Christian Church, 
 
riETY. 385 
 
 but also a Christendom, which cannot be divided and 
 separated by confessions and creeds. 
 
 * 
 
 To seek to help on the Church, at the expense of 
 life outside the Church, is pernicious and wrong. 
 
 PIETY. 
 
 There are many, even among the best of people, 
 
 to whom piety would mean nothing, if they were 
 
 once persuaded that it is not anything peculiar, 
 
 nothing but the healthy, bracing and refreshing 
 
 atmosphere which we inhale at every breath. It is 
 
 very difificult to come to an understanding with 
 
 people like these. 
 
 * 
 
 A serious and fundamental error of our dogmas 
 and dogmatists is that the latter, like genuine theo- 
 logians, define ideas always from the purely religious 
 point of view, i.e. they always take up a position as 
 if man determined his actions directly and from the 
 first in relation to God, and not rather in relation to 
 himself and to the world outside him, i.e. absolutely 
 according to his moral relations. This is especially 
 the case in the doctrine of sin, etc. But it is an 
 assumption which is entirely contrary to experience, 
 and as such it is contrary to common sense. 
 
 In the contrast which our earlier theology used to 
 draw between res spirittiales and res civilcs it be- 
 comes remarkably evident how the essentially moral 
 
 B B 
 
3S6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 character of Christianity has remained hidden from 
 the minds of theologians, even among Protestants, 
 and how the moral as such has as yet no essentially 
 positive relation to Christian piety and to Christianity 
 as a whole. 
 
 Unconditional surrender of himself to God is un- 
 doubtedly the essence of all requirements which can 
 be made of man ; but, let it be remembered, it must be 
 self-surrender along with a morally useful life. Other- 
 wise ^he has nothing to surrender to God, and the 
 apparent implicitness of the surrender is merely its 
 emptiness, while the pompous talk upon the subject 
 is really a presumptuous mockery of God. 
 
 * 
 
 To make everything depend on piety, and to be at 
 the same time without interest or taste for the com- 
 prehension of the works of God, even in the details of 
 their nature and teleological connexion, is an inward 
 contradiction which we not unfrequently encounter. 
 
 In characterizing the moral well-being of man, the 
 Church's doctrine gives prominence only to its formal, 
 ix. its religious side, but never to its material, i.e. its 
 moral side. It emphasizes only the fact that the 
 course of action which is becoming on the part of 
 man is obedience in humble confidence and grateful 
 love to God ; but never that this course of action 
 Ought to be in itself the production of an essential 
 good, the accomplishment of a task on earth which 
 
riETY. 3^7 
 
 the Creator has laid upon man by the position as- 
 signed to him in the world. The fact that the require- 
 ments of God from man concern precisely these 
 worldly tasks does not seem to Church doctrine a 
 sufficient statement of the case. 
 
 The merely religious standpoint always brings 
 along with it the serious danger of self-deception. 
 
 * 
 
 The opus operatiim is the necessary consequence, 
 and therefore the characteristic mark, of all forms of 
 religion and piety that are not simply moral. 
 
 * 
 
 It is noteworthy, as regards the fundamental view 
 of the nature of piety taken by our older theology, 
 that it possesses only one word for the two ideas, 
 which it expresses by the term " world." The world 
 is its "world." 
 
 As long as there exists only a matcrialitcr moral, 
 which is only foriiialitev religious, the impulse to 
 work for the attainment of objective moral posses- 
 sions cannot be aroused. The only interest known is 
 the interest in the soul's salvation. 
 
 ' * 
 
 The cardinal idea through which the ecclesiastical 
 conception of religion is sharply marked off from the 
 moral or secular is that of the " spiritual " as distin- 
 guished from the immaterial or higher part of man's 
 being, — although the Scriptures are unaware of any 
 
STILL HOURS. 
 
 further expression than irvevjxarLico^, — i.e. the spiritual 
 without the mediation of the moral. Is not this idea 
 a relapse from specific Christianity ? . 
 
 * 
 
 There is a close connexion between the mistaken 
 ideas as to the relation of piety to morality, and the 
 custom of representing heavenly blessedness as a con- 
 dition of rest, of keeping holiday. Do we find this 
 idea anywhere expressed by Christ ? 
 
 Why do you, who are so indignant at the predomi- 
 nance of material interests in our own times, regard- 
 ing it as a symptom of deep degeneracy, not rather 
 lead those who pursue them to a consciousness of 
 the inward connexion between these material in- 
 terests and the highest ends of humanity .-' 
 
 * 
 
 The more Christianity is considered exclusively as 
 piety, the more will the mind of the Christian be sub- 
 ject to doubts as to his being in a state of grace ; for 
 in the same proportion his relation to God is without 
 the mediation of the moral, and the want of this 
 element will specially affect his understanding. The 
 demon world will consequently be all the more likely 
 to interfere. 
 
 As regards the processes of spiritual, and especially 
 of religious, life, that which is morally mediated is 
 often represented from the first as magical. 
 
PIETY. 389 
 
 If any end whatever, which, though perhaps most 
 worthy, is only one particular end, e.g. the religious 
 as such, is made our exclusive end, then we put into 
 effect the principle that the end sanctifies the means. 
 We need only refer to Pietism. 
 
 The tendency of Christian piety towards the exter- 
 nal is not in itself erroneous ; it is erroneous only as 
 far as it tends towards a false externality, i.e. where it 
 does not seek its outward expression in the moral, 
 but in an idle because for practical life unimportant, 
 and therefore morally worthless, externality, inas- 
 much as it seeks to give itself expression in a purely 
 religious manner. 
 
 Like all noblest things, piety and religion may be 
 most easily spoiled. 
 
 Piety, as understood by some, reaches beyond the 
 compass of morality, and that alone is regarded as 
 true and genuine piety which lies beyond these limits. 
 By others, again, a morality is conceived of which 
 can stand in no positive relation to piety, and cannot, 
 therefore, suffer by the want of this relation. 
 
 * 
 
 Our training in piety ought to educate us to a piety 
 which has few words (in possession, I mean, not 
 merely in use). 
 
 Because Christians nowadays can make no 
 
39° STILL HOURS. 
 
 progress in the ecclesiastical department (under- 
 standing this of the conception of the Church), they 
 imagine that the Christian of to-day should not 
 occupy himself with doing, but should wait quietly 
 till the Lord Himself — i.e. without human inter- 
 vention — provide satisfactory conditions for His 
 people. 
 
 It is not a sign of specially good Christianity, 
 (being not merely narrow-minded, but also very far 
 from modest and humble,) if we have an eye only for 
 the evils of our time, and can see nothing of its 
 peculiar good. 
 
 To be discontented with our times, out of humour 
 with the course of history, is within the period of 
 redemption nothing less than impious, no matter how 
 the impiety may seek to disguise itself. 
 
 Piety is always a relation to a person, whom alone 
 we can trust, obey, and love ; in whom alone we can 
 hope. This is why Christ is so peculiarly suitable as 
 an object of piety. 
 
 How often we find people considering as their 
 
 characteristic insignia of heavenly honour what are 
 
 really only the crutches for their weakness ! 
 
 ^- 
 
 Ordinary pious people cannot conceive man's 
 subjection to God otherwise than as his subjection to 
 arbitrary or statutory ordinances of God. 
 
PIETY. 391 
 
 He who knows the Christian, or indeed the moral 
 life as a whole, only as a religious life, and who then 
 (as cannot fail to be the case) cherishes false ideas 
 about religion, cannot flourish as a man. 
 
 •K- 
 
 On the standpoint of exclusively religious morality, 
 the moral subject is indeed necessarily engaged in the 
 exercise of practical moral functions, especially that 
 of individual culture ; but it does not consider them 
 as morally commanded (because from the abstract 
 religious point of view they do not appear to be thus 
 required), but solely as a tribute exacted of him by 
 the necessity of nature, and for this reason he treats 
 them with disrespect. 
 
 Exclusively religious morality is in danger of 
 treating with laxity even formal morality itself. 
 Since it knows nothing of moral mediation in re- 
 ligious matters, it is apt to lose sight of the necessity 
 of mediation in general. 
 
 •X- 
 
 If piety considers any moral action as pleasing to 
 God and as desired by Him, which is not really a 
 requirement of the divine world-purpose, which is, 
 therefore, other than a moral purpose, it is, co ipso, 
 transformed into the magical, and thus moral piety 
 comes to suffer in its reputation : for a m.eans of 
 communion with God which has no reality corre- 
 sponding to it, which it actually, i.e. by a causal 
 
392 STILL HOURS. 
 
 connexion, mediates, can be nothing else than a 
 magical means. 
 
 vr 
 
 If, from the fact that religion occupies the central 
 position in the moral being of man, we conclude that 
 his moral development should, and therefore can, 
 begin directly from the religious side, we have drawn 
 our conclusion too hastily. Religious development 
 necessarily presupposes that the beginning, at least, 
 of moral development is already present. 
 
 The specific danger for piety is idleness, (busy 
 idleness being expressly included,) the infnictitositas 
 vita;. Abstract piety is in its very conception sloth- 
 ful. 
 
 Even piety has special need to bear in mind con- 
 tinually that idleness is the beginning of every vice. 
 
 * 
 
 An exclusively religious contemplation of matters 
 always produces mental confusion. 
 
 •X- 
 
 Onc characteristic defect, which has from the very 
 first been found in our ecclesiastical piety, is that it 
 does not understand with perfect clearness, that no 
 one will receive everlasting salvation from God ex- 
 cept in so far as he actually receives eternal life in 
 himself, and this he can receive only on the path of 
 
 morality. 
 
 * 
 
 Piety is not the foundation, but the soul of human 
 
THE CLERGY. 393 
 
 life, alike on its individual and its universal side. Its 
 foundation is material nature. 
 
 Piety exists in order to harden, not to soften us ; 
 the tenderness which it imparts to the character is 
 something very different from the weak-hearted 
 effeminacy of those people who are always occupied 
 with their precious personality and its so-called 
 necessities. 
 
 A man may be an excellent Christian, and yet not 
 possess the very smallest historical insight. 
 
 I do not draw any very great distinction between 
 those who are Christians only because they have 
 learned nothing different, and those who, for the very 
 same reason, are not Christians. Even the Christianity 
 of those who are Christians par dcpit is much of the 
 same description. 
 
 That is no true piety which imagines that the 
 world exists solely for the sake of religion. 
 
 THE CLERGY. 
 Many a man who overflows with assurances of the 
 indispensability of faith in Christ, has a clear under- 
 standing of what he says only so far as he is firmly 
 persuaded that without this belief there would be no 
 
 ministers. 
 
 * 
 
 Where does office in the Church oricjinate .'' with 
 
394 STILL HOURS. 
 
 God, or with the congregation ? Like all authority 
 it originates in the very nature of the community. 
 
 Church parties as such exclude themselves from 
 taking any share in church-government. 
 
 The minister's gown must fall off, and the pulpit 
 be lowered to a level with the congregation. 
 
 * 
 A man may be a true pastor, who is to a certain 
 extent " touchy " (of course, only to a certain extent). 
 
 * 
 
 What kind of people do we need nowadays for 
 pastors } Men ; but men who are clearly conscious 
 that their manhood comes from Christ alone. 
 
 He is a worthless parson who makes a trade of 
 religion ; but is not the man who chooses it as his 
 profession strongly exposed to the danger of making 
 his profession his trade ? 
 
 * 
 
 He who enters the service of Christ is not clothed 
 in His livery ; for Christ has no livery. 
 
 ^> 
 
 The interests of Christianity cannot regulate them- 
 selves according to the interests of the clerical pro- 
 fession. 
 
 There is a tendency to arrange Christianity for the 
 most convenient possible use of the clergy. 
 
WORSHIP. 395 
 
 The chief interest in the Church nowadays lies in 
 the fact, that without it there would be no clergy, 
 and for this reason it is they who chiefly represent it. 
 
 * 
 
 You must either assign to the synods real ecclesias- 
 tical duties, (and in that case they must be performed 
 by men competent to deal with Church matters, i.e. 
 by theologians,) or you must assign to them duties 
 which men unacquainted with Church matters can 
 perform as well, and in that case they are not really 
 ecclesiastical duties. 
 
 WORSHIP. 
 
 Worship is the primitive, absolutely universal com- 
 munion, which as primitive must necessarily be re- 
 ligious. It is therefore a communion of good works, 
 of prayer (answering to sacrifice), of the word of God, 
 and of worship (answering to adoration). In worship 
 therefore the formative and perceptive faculty on the 
 one hand, and the identical and the individual char- 
 acter on the other, must mutually penetrate each 
 other. The communication of religious knowledge 
 (of the word of God) must be also a direct communica- 
 tion of religious apprehension and intuition (worship), 
 i.e. a religious discourse carefully expressed in suitable 
 forms. The communion of religious appropriation 
 (prayer) must be also a communion of religious 
 apprehension and intuition, etc. 
 
 * 
 
 As moral and religious action and moral and re- 
 
396 STILL HOURS. 
 
 ligious communion develop themselves first of all in 
 the individual form, so also does worship. It occurs 
 in the first place as a communion of prayer (including 
 sacrifice) and devotion (including adoration). A 
 communion of good works and religious knowledge 
 appears in a decidedly pronounced manner only in 
 Christianity. At the same time, the universal re- 
 ligious communities supply the sure foundation on 
 which the individual can be raised. The functions 
 which represent the former must therefore precede 
 in worship the functions which represent the latter. 
 
 * 
 
 Knowledge in the religious form (the representa- 
 tion in words of religious knowledge), is the word of 
 God. 
 
 Sacrifice, because of its connexion with religious 
 appropriation, is in its essence grateful surrender of 
 religious possessions to God. For this reason the 
 body itself comes within the scope of its objects. 
 
 Worship is the root from which the Church must 
 spring. It is, of course, the primitive law of an 
 absolutely universal community, which must proceed 
 from the religious side of human nature. 
 
 The character of the " festive " in worship, is the 
 overpowering of reflection under the immediate im- 
 pression produced by the religious object. 
 
WORSHIP. 397 
 
 At the culminating point of their development, 
 self-activity and self-consciousness exist entirely in 
 one another, both in their universal and their in- 
 dividual character, — on the one hand, therefore, 
 making and thinking, and on the other, appropriation 
 and apprehension. This is of special importance as 
 regards worship. The more it culminates along with 
 the culmination of religious life, the more wall re- 
 ligious action, i.e. sanctification and religious thought, 
 i.e. theosophy, on the one hand, and religious appro- 
 priation, i.e. prayer (sacrifice) and religious appre- 
 hension, i.e. adoration, on the other, exist in absolute 
 union with one another (the tw^o former in the sermon, 
 the two latter in the Lord's Supper), 
 
 If the hearer is to follow the sermon with pleasure, 
 what he hears must both surprise him by its novelty, 
 and compel assent by its convincing nature for the 
 sensus coviniunis. (Chrysostom.) 
 
 * 
 
 We want no challenging sermons ! 
 
 Theology, which is from beginning to end theo- 
 retical, can have a share of practical work only when 
 ecclesiastical practice is an essential part of its object. 
 
 * 
 
 The holy day must be a day of joy (of pleasure), 
 in order that man may rejoice in his God. Joyful 
 worship is the pUrest worship. 
 
39S STILL HOURS. 
 
 Homilists generally reach the text by way of their 
 
 own ideas, whereas the real point is to understand 
 
 the ideas of the text and make our own correspond 
 
 with them. 
 
 * 
 
 /// liturgicis, and in general in ccclcsiasticis, this 
 principle holds true : — Better classical Latin than 
 barbarous German, where classical German is im- 
 possible. 
 
 If we wish to pray in unison with our Christian 
 forefathers, we must use the same words that they 
 did ; for they cannot understand our peculiar mode 
 of speech, while we arc very well able to understand 
 theirs. 
 
 If unorthodox . people (like myself, for instance) 
 wish to join in the service of God, they must go to 
 their orthodox neighbours in the Church ; for of 
 themselves they can produce no form of public wor^ 
 ship, and for this reason they ought to make no 
 objection if others do not regulate their service 
 according to their own ideas. It would be a fine 
 thing, indeed, if in Church matters those who neither 
 belong to nor believe in a Church (good Christians as 
 they may otherwise be), were to lay down the law for 
 those who believe in the Church (even granting that 
 they are worse Christians than themselves). Their 
 self-confidence, perhaps otherwise justifiable, would be 
 here decidedly out of place. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS. 399 
 
 The sermon must continue to hold the principal 
 place in our public worship : because, as our worship- 
 ping congregations are at present constituted, they 
 cannot, in their communion of Christian piety as 
 such, rise much above the communion of universal 
 knowledge ; they are not morally capable of a real 
 sacrifice of prayer. The reason is found in the actual 
 condition of affairs amongst us. Christian worship 
 as such attains its true perfection only in those 
 periods of Christianity in which this same Christen- 
 dom is unreservedly regarded as in its essence a 
 Church, and as the only Church. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS, 
 
 If a mystery or sacrament is not instituted by 
 Christ Himself, or by some person authorized by 
 Him, it ceases to be a mystery ; because, in this case, 
 it lacks the power which is to the believing mind the 
 witness and guarantee of the inward and invisible 
 fact symbolised in the outward ceremony of its 
 administration. 
 
 If anything speaks against Infant baptism, it isj 
 that in this case the specific rite of immersion 
 (^aiTTL^eiv) cannot be administered. 
 
 Not infant baptism itself, but the conception of 
 baptism which is in direct contradiction to it, should 
 be abolished as reprehensible. 
 
400 STILL FLOURS. 
 
 Continuance in baptismal grace is a moral develop- 
 ment analogous to the personal development of the 
 Redeemer Himself. But it certainly reaches only 
 a remote approximation to His development. In 
 man's case, the development of sin is a constantly 
 victorious and progressive combat against it. 
 
 There is no more powerful expression for the 
 essential unity (not identity) of piety and morality 
 than the mystery of the Holy Communion in its 
 original sense. 
 
 The means of nourishment (bread and wine) were 
 elevated by the Redeemer into means of grace. 
 
 ■x- 
 
 If we realize the supreme importance which the 
 Redeemer attaches to the loving communion of His 
 people (John xiii. 34, 35 ; xvii. 21-23), we can under- 
 stand clearly why He wished to have the mystery of 
 the partaking of bread and wine celebrated at a 
 common meal. 
 
 In the love-feasts, which were one of the earliest 
 Christian institutions, we see how the Christian com- 
 munity constituted itself in the eafliest times as 
 social life. 
 
DOGMA. 401 
 
 DOGMA. 
 
 It is noteworthy that the Redeemer would have 
 nothing to do with dogmas. 
 
 Dogma — that is, doctrine authorized by ecclesi- 
 astical sanction — has value only on the assumption 
 that it is not a definite and universally acknowledged 
 conclusion of the reason. If it is so, then the ecclesi- 
 astical sanction is aimless, and consequently has no 
 meaning. It comts post fcstuni. 
 
 The theologians have taken Christ out of the living 
 reality of history, and changed Him into a fantas- 
 tically adorned puppet ; and now they complain that 
 the world cannot reconcile itself to Him ! 
 
 The chief cause of the rejection of Christ is now, 
 
 as in the days of His flesh, men's false conceptions 
 
 about Him : — then, the false conception concerned 
 
 the Christ, His office ; now, it concerns Jesus, the 
 
 Person. 
 
 * 
 
 We cannot praise Christ too highly ; but as to 
 Christian dogmatics (no matter of what particular 
 Church), we will make no great outcry about that. 
 
 How many people there are whose heart clings to 
 Christ's atonement for sin, without clinging to Him- 
 self. 
 
 c c 
 
4C2 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Dissension is unavoidable, as soon as we begin to 
 
 lay down dogmas. 
 
 * 
 
 By the way in which the different ages interpret 
 and understand the Divine revelation in Christ, they 
 all display, although in different degrees, the narrow- 
 mindedness of their own character. (Think, for 
 example, of Lessing.) This is the true test of the 
 spiritual consciousness of humanity in the different 
 stages of its development. 
 
 * 
 
 The whole expression, " Christian truth," is greatly 
 wanting in clearness. What is " Christian " truth .•' 
 Knowledge in the light of the historical fact " Christ," 
 — a light which is to be conceived of as in continual 
 growth. 
 
 To have perfect truth ready on the spot (instead of 
 being in possession of the conditions and means for 
 working out the truth for ourselves) is an all too 
 charming thing. Not merely the theologian, but 
 even the Christian, finds it far from easy to with- 
 stand this temptation. 
 
 There are people enough, who in all good faith 
 consider the dogmatic system which the Church has 
 put together from the facts of Divine revelation, as 
 Christianity itself, or as the only Christianity. 
 
 * 
 
 Dogmatic Christianity is with perfect consistency 
 
THEOLOGICAL AND SECULAR SCIENCE. 403 
 
 also legalistic Christianity. The authority which 
 the conventional possesses in the theoretic depart- 
 ment, it naturally retains in the practical. 
 
 From want of reflection as to the objects of our 
 faith, some people swallow the Church's dogmas 
 whole, while others, for precisely the same reason, 
 quietly leave them alone. Is not the real worth of 
 both very much the same ? 
 
 Can we suppose that Christ should find satisfaction 
 in our swallowing down what is indigestible to us in 
 Christian tradition (in the widest sense of the word) 
 — can we suppose that to belong to what He calls 
 " believing " ? 
 
 THEOLOGICAL AND SECULAR SCIENCE. 
 
 Our contemporaries look for the solution of those 
 questions and difficulties which concern Christianity, 
 no longer, as formerly, from theology or ecclesiastical 
 science, but from secular science. Our theologians 
 and clergy should take note of this indisputable fact. 
 
 * 
 
 Many complaints are made as to the ignorance of 
 our contemporaries, especially the more cultured 
 among them, as regards Christianity ; but it would be 
 much more correct to complain of the great ignor- 
 ance characterizing our theology, which is, however, 
 quite in accordance with history. The ignorance of 
 Christianity shown by men of science is mainly 
 
404 STILL HOURS. 
 
 chargeable upon the unscientific character of our 
 
 theology. 
 
 * 
 
 As matters now stand, it is of the greatest import- 
 ance in the interests of Christianity that its debit shall 
 pass out of the hands of the theologians into those 
 of the laity. The manipulation of it on the part of 
 professional theologians, at least before the present 
 generation, unavoidably carries with it a suspicion of 
 
 the shopkeeper. 
 
 * 
 
 One of our most pressing necessities is that secular 
 science should set before itself the task of reaching 
 by its own methods the ends aimed at by theology. 
 Only thus can there be for our educated people, 
 most of whom find it impossible to conduct scien- 
 tific researches for themselves, another authority, 
 through which they will be able to yield confident 
 assent to all real facts (in the widest sense of the 
 word) in Christianity. For they are, and that not 
 capriciously or without sufficient reason, profoundly 
 suspicious as to the trustworthiness of theological 
 
 science. 
 
 * 
 
 The ecclesiastical indifference of people in our days 
 
 means in many cases nothing more than that, in their 
 
 opinion, the theologians do not really understand much 
 
 more about religious questions and problems than 
 
 they do themselves. Is this such a heavy crime .'' 
 
 * 
 
 Whenever the clergyman knows no more of Chris- 
 
THEOLOGICAL AXD SECULAR SCIENCE. 405 
 
 tianity than the well-instructed layman, the eccle- 
 siastical office of preacher ceases of itself to exist. It 
 is singular, that the clergy are not allowed to preach 
 the very things which, owing to their theological 
 studies, they really do know better than the laity. 
 
 * 
 
 It is unfortunate when a weak head gets into the 
 profession of theology. The man's conscience urges 
 him on to search after truth, and his incapacity for 
 such research leaves him fixed in inextricable confu- 
 sion. 
 
 In the present position of matters, it happens 
 almost unavoidably, that every earnest young spirit 
 must take up an artificial position in theology, and 
 let his left hand know what his right hand does. In 
 other departments, a man learns his business straight 
 off, without imagining that anything peculiar is con- 
 nected with it. 
 
 Among the many confusing definitions, with which 
 so much jugglery is carried on in our present theo- 
 logy, there is none more remarkable than the " foun- 
 dation of life." 
 
 * 
 
 At a period when all government is becoming 
 more and more self-government of the people, the 
 laity naturally demand as a condition of their sym- 
 pathy with ecclesiastical life, that they shall have a 
 
4o6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 share in the government of the Church, and that this 
 shall not rest entirely in the hands of theologians. 
 
 * 
 No " privileged " truth exists any longer amongst 
 us. Truth can claim authority only in so far as it 
 can actually obtain for itself authority in the convic- 
 tion of men. 
 
 Theologians arc still very much inclined, when 
 they have a problem to explain, to refer to God, 
 avoiding thus, by a convenient hypothesis, the ex- 
 planation which it costs them too much trouble to 
 
 make. 
 
 * 
 
 All ecclesiastical reforms, which do not proceed 
 from the belief that our laity know better than the 
 clergy what the Church requires, can lead to nothing. 
 
 * 
 
 I am firmly convinced that the invention of steam- 
 engines and railroads has had a much more impor- 
 tant positive influence in furthering the kingdom of 
 Christ than the elaboration of the dogmas of Nicea 
 and Chalcedon. 
 
 The fact that the Redeemer limited His life-work 
 exclusively to religion as such has made it possible 
 that His work, Christianity, shall continue unalterable 
 through all phases of historical development as a 
 dominant religious force, while it can still remain in 
 harmony with every new development of secular 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 407 
 
 knowledge, and indeed in such a way that the further 
 that knowledge progresses, Christianity itself is placed 
 by its means in an ever clearer light, and is brought 
 to an ever more perfect comprehension. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 
 
 There are, I am aware, innumerable people in our 
 day, who in all sincerity consider Christianity as the 
 sanctuary of men, and who would not at any cost 
 allow themselves to be robbed of their right to call 
 themselves Christians, and who are yet so at variance 
 with ecclesiastical dogma and its practical conse- 
 quences, that they, bona fide, can have no share in 
 maintaining its creeds. 
 
 A serious man may very well have other things to 
 do in life, than to rack his brains about dogmas and 
 theological controversies. Many a one is very ortho- 
 dox, simply that he may be able to leave theological 
 quibbles alone. 
 
 As regards belief in Christ, there will be no radical 
 improvement amongst us, till the ends aimed at by 
 theology are taken in hand by non-theological 
 science. 
 
 The current assumption in theology always is that 
 the degree of a man's adherence to the Church is the 
 best test of his Christianity. But will a supposition 
 so utterly opposed to all experience ever again be 
 able to secure general acceptance ? 
 
4o8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 How seriously we deceive ourselves in imagining 
 that the proclamation of Christ has attached itself 
 solely to the preaching of the Church, or even that its 
 chief means are found in that ! How can it escape 
 our notice that it has long ago sought and found for 
 itself far other, more secular ways, and that its highest 
 success consists in its having transmitted itself, with- 
 out the aid of any peculiar institution, as a permanent 
 ingredient of the prevalent religious and moral at- 
 mosphere ! 
 
 Universal priesthood of Christians as such ; not 
 merely of Church members ! 
 
 * 
 
 So long as Christianity and the Church are iden- 
 tical, Indepcndentism is indeed unchristian (cf. 
 Schleiermacher: " Prakt. Theol." p. 526, etc.); but the 
 case differs when a Christian community exists even 
 independently of the Church. 
 
 When theological science has perfected its dogmas, 
 it falls to the lot of secular science to erect a system 
 of theosophy. But the latter does not, like the 
 former, possess an authority by means of which it can 
 give to its work a statutory character. 
 
 A great deal of that which we consider as a con- 
 tradiction of Christian faith is only a contradiction of 
 the ecclesiastical formulating and manipulation of it. 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 409 
 
 Within the compass of Christendom there can be 
 no absolutely pure " natural " man. All men develop 
 themselves from the first under the influence of the 
 principle of redemption which has to some degree 
 become historical in every sphere of life. This is 
 true even of those within its pale who do not acknow- 
 ledge Christianity, and who have, perhaps, a creed in 
 opposition to it (always, of course, optima fide). 
 
 * 
 
 Within Christendom, especially at the present point 
 of its development, the Gospel is by no means ex- 
 clusively proclaimed by the Church's preaching and 
 teaching on the subject, and by the use of Holy 
 Scripture. On the contrary, it happens most fre- 
 quently by indirect methods. 
 
 * 
 
 One of the chief efforts of believers in the present 
 
 day, must be to help to set Christ free from the 
 
 Church. 
 
 . * 
 
 If the Lord Jesus were once more to walk in our 
 
 midst, would He be able to decide upon any other 
 
 attire than the costume of the laity } 
 
 * 
 
 Under no circumstances whatever do I consider 
 any special cut of coat as the suitable costume for 
 Christianity. Only in the dress of the laity does 
 Christianity really feel like itself 
 
 * 
 
 Those who take their stand upon a Church are 
 
4IO STILL 110 ULS. 
 
 exposed to sudden and violent fluctuations, owing to 
 
 the many changes of outward circumstances : those 
 
 who take their stand on Christianity hold on their 
 
 steadfast course. 
 
 * 
 
 How many really pious Christians, especially 
 among our more cultured people, get any real help 
 for their piety from the dogmas of the Church ? 
 
 * 
 
 It is quite without foundation to say that what 
 dogmatism terms " the law," performs the same 
 offices for us at present, which in the loais de lege ct 
 evangelio were originally laid upon the lex. These 
 offices are performed by quite another law, the 
 present law of Christian morality. 
 
 Christianity proves itself to be an absolute religion, 
 in its not seeking to be a religion as such, a religion a 
 part. He who seeks to make it so, destroys its 
 character of absoluteness. 
 
 Whenever we consider evangelical dogma as un- 
 tenable, we can lay no great stress upon the differ- 
 ence of Churches in Christianity. 
 
 Christ is "the Lord " in the secular province no less 
 than in the ecclesiastical. 
 
 It is folly to miss seeing the sovereignty of Christ, 
 which lies visibly before our eyes in the world's 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 411 
 
 history, in order to await from the future a fantastic 
 sovereignty which, we dream, will arrive in some 
 
 magical way. 
 
 * 
 
 In the history of Christianity the blossoms of 
 Christian piety are but separate and transient appear- 
 ances ; the course of historical development is not 
 found in these. Real historical progress lies in the 
 constantly progressive work of the spirit of Christian 
 history directed toward the ever more perfect up- 
 building and spread of the Christian moral com- 
 munity. 
 
 If to the consciousness that we can find our 
 personal salvation nowhere but in Christ, is added 
 this other consciousness, that even the world's history 
 apart from Him presents no way of safety whatever, 
 it is difficult to understand why, as so many seem 
 to imagine, the former consciousness should suffer. 
 
 In proportion as our religious relations are looked 
 
 upon as morally conditioned, the idea of national, 
 
 and in general of natural and material, conditions of 
 
 sharing in salvation, in the kingdom of God, etc. 
 
 must fall away. 
 
 * 
 
 As regards all which is merely ecclesiastical in our 
 
 Christianity, I have perfect freedom of conscience for 
 
 my own convictions. 
 
 * 
 
 That a Christian people would present a poor 
 
412 STILL HOURS. 
 
 appearance with a piety set free from dogma, if its 
 political conditions were otherwise well ordered and 
 sound, cannot be admitted for a moment. Only the 
 Church as an institution, and consequently the 
 clerical profession, would suffer in such a nation. 
 Hinc nice lacryuioE ! 
 
 I do not want Christianity preserved in vinegar and 
 sugar ; I want it fresh from the tree. I want this 
 season's fruit, just as it grows in this year 1800 and 
 so much, on the living tree of universal Christian his- 
 tory. 
 
 The main point nowadays is to be pious in the 
 open air. 
 
 Only in our maturer years do we begin to realize 
 what a wealth of meaning lies in the so-called ele- 
 mentary truths of religion ; and what an indescribably 
 great thing it is to be really persuaded of them ! 
 Then, too, we can understand how persons of out- 
 standing piety have been satisfied with these truths 
 alone. 
 
 He who can pray the Lord's Prayer in sincerity 
 must surely be a Christian. 
 
 Our aim at the present day should be, not to im- 
 prove our dogmas or Church doctrines, especially in 
 the treatment of dogmatic subjects ; but to liberate 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 413 
 
 the general religious consciousness from its previous 
 servitude to the forms of belief contained in dogmas 
 or Church doctrines. 
 
 Strange misconception that dogmatism must be at 
 any price the highest thing in theology ! 
 
 * 
 
 If the Church can be maintained in existence only 
 by a reserved and secret course of action on the part 
 of its theology and its teachers, only by a restriction 
 laid upon its frankness and sincerity, then we may 
 without regret allow it to fall. Christianity will not 
 fall with it, as it would in the case of dishonest pro- 
 cedure. Let the Church remain where it will, if only 
 truth and honesty come to no harm. 
 
 * 
 
 He who, like myself, has already passed through 
 religious experiences before becoming more intimately 
 acquainted with the dogmas which have been founded 
 upon them, will be very much disposed to take up 
 a perfectly independent position towards dogmas in 
 general. 
 
 My disposition is utterly averse to the cultivation 
 of religion purely as such. 
 
 If the more highly cultured people in the Church 
 occupy a free position towards dogma and historical 
 tradition, as compared with the less highly cultured, 
 this difference is to a large extent equalized by the 
 
414 STILL HOURS. 
 
 act that the latter are not precise in their acceptation 
 of dogma and tradition, and arc indeed quite incap- 
 able of being so. 
 
 Our anti-dogmatic and non-ecclesiastical Christians 
 think thus : Let us wait patiently in the meanwhile, 
 till the theologians, in the course of their special 
 science, have so far purified Christianity from its 
 statutory character that we shall be able once more 
 to reconcile ourselves to it. 
 
 Why will the State not allow the man to count as 
 
 a Christian, who expressly acknowledges himself as 
 
 such, without adhering to any special Christian 
 
 Church? This is the actual position of numberless 
 
 people in our own day. 
 
 * 
 
 To the pious Christian mind the spiteful and 
 jealous rivalry which exists among all Churches with- 
 out exception, although in very diverse degrees, must 
 render all Churches objectionable. 
 
 * 
 
 No one who trusts in God's forgiveness will place 
 his confidence in anything but His holy and merciful 
 love ; but it may very well happen that our dogmatic 
 formulae upon the subject, and our whole dogmatic 
 treatment of it, may be decidedly opposed to his pecu- 
 liar disposition. 
 
 * 
 
 I grant to no one the right to excommunicate mc 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 415 
 
 from Protestant CJiristendoiri. In the Protestant 
 CJnircJi I claim only indulgent tolerance, and even 
 that is not a claim of right. 
 
 * 
 
 Even the man who holds a most sceptical position 
 towards Churches, dogmas, and the historical in Chris- 
 tianity, may yet, if he is a sensible man, easily per- 
 ceive that the peculiar religious and moral character 
 of Christianity is indisputably historical, and may 
 thus in all sincerity believe in Christ. 
 
 Our " moral (practically moral) Christians " and our 
 " believers," who will not admit that the former arc 
 " Christians " at all, are alike in this, that they are 
 equally unable to see that the former have received 
 whatever moral worth they possess from Christ and 
 only from Him. 
 
 In the present age the fate of Christianity is no 
 
 longer bound up with the fate of confessions and 
 
 Churches. 
 
 * 
 
 He who imagines that the fortunes of Christianity 
 are being defended nowadays by dogmatism, or in- 
 deed by theology as a whole, has fallen into a serious 
 error. 
 
 Even in religion (piety) man doth not live on 
 home-baked bread of prose or dogmatics alone. 
 
4i6 STILL HOURS. 
 
 Christianity is essentially anti-mythological ; but 
 not in its ecclesiastical character. 
 
 * 
 
 All our ecclesiastical opponents, irreligious as they 
 may personally be, are so far right in their accusa- 
 tions, because their indisputable rights of not being 
 forced to live in a Church to which they cannot in 
 sincerity belong, are always denied them by us. One 
 of the chief moral rights of the individual is to be 
 allowed to be honest and truthful. As matters now 
 stand, cannot we with perfect freedom say to the 
 man who stands outside the Church : Have nothing 
 to say on ecclesiastical matters ; for in the position 
 you have taken up respecting them they are no con- 
 cern of yours. 
 
 You first dress up Christianity in a coat which 
 turns it into a caricature, and then you wonder in- 
 dignantly why people turn their backs and scoff at it. 
 
 * 
 
 If you have such a scorn for the Christianity of 
 so-called free-thinking people, what better thing have 
 you to oppose to them } 
 
 As regards my demands from the Church of the 
 present, I do not take up my position in Church 
 history (the Reformation), but in universal CJiristian 
 history. 
 
 If the course which Christianity, that of the Lord 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 417 
 
 Jesus Christ, takes in the history of the world, goes 
 contrary to the ideas of our clergy, they will have to 
 alter their ideas to suit it, since the reverse is never 
 likely to happen. 
 
 The Saviour did not promise the continual influ- 
 ence of the Holy Ghost, in the company of His 
 people, as an influence exclusively in the Church. 
 
 * 
 
 The question which the Church must perforce ask 
 itself at the present day is whether the history of the 
 world, within the bounds of Christendom, is a Chris- 
 tian history or not. 
 
 Has that man any less firm foundation for his 
 belief in Christ, who founds it upon the historical 
 influence of the Redeemer, and upon his own personal 
 experience, than he who founds it upon "God's word," 
 i£. upon Holy Scripture ? 
 
 As long as those who profess to represent exclu- 
 sively the cause of the Redeemer make use of the 
 weapon of scorn against you, as a supposed opponent, 
 you need have no fear that you may possibly be 
 
 fighting against God. 
 
 * 
 
 In its own historical surroundings, Biblical Chris- 
 tianity presents a most majestic appearance ; but the 
 case is very different when we transport it bodily into 
 a sphere so utterly foreign to it as that of our present 
 
 D D 
 
4i8 STILL HOURS. 
 
 historical position. As regards Christian morals, this 
 is almost universally acknowledged ; why not also as 
 regards Christian doctrine ? 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ and His Christianity can 
 well bear to be contemplated again and again with 
 fresh eyes ; indeed they demand it, especially of every 
 new age. 
 
 We have, thank God ! progressed thus far, that our 
 cultivated people who have fallen out with the Church 
 are able, partially at least, to distinguish Christianity 
 from the Church, and do not any longer occupy a 
 position of indifference towards Christianity itself. 
 They have however, at the same time, become certain 
 that the understanding of Christianity is not an affair 
 of learned and technical study, and that it is, con- 
 sequently, not a privilege of theologians, but that 
 they themselves know something of its nature, and 
 may thus fairly demand that in the treatment of 
 ecclesiastical matters they themselves shall have a 
 hand in the business, not the theologians alone. 
 
 One chief objection which, in the ordinary treat- 
 ment of Christianity, many people make to the 
 demand for faith in Christ is, that they cannot under- 
 stand what practical and Hfe-filling task this faith, 
 in its own peculiar character, sets before humanity. 
 
CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 4 19 
 
 It is the lesser evil that too little should be spoken 
 of religion rather than too much. 
 
 >\- 
 
 Even as regards religious questions, deeds are 
 
 worth more than words. 
 
 * 
 
 There must be examples of the fact that a person 
 
 may be a believing Christian and at the same time 
 
 a thorough man. 
 
 * 
 
 What is good for the man, is always good for the 
 Christian. 
 
 Let no one hide his manhood behind his Chris- 
 tianity ! On the contrary, our duty is to let the 
 latter shine through the former. 
 
 * 
 
 Our duty is to set aside the so-called " Christian 
 
 religion," and to replace in its stead the Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ Himself. 
 
 * 
 
 There are very few who can relish the pure, un- 
 adulterated water of life of Christian piety. For 
 most people it is not piquant enough. 
 
 Oh if we could only help to secure for Christ that 
 historical position in the consciousness of Christen- 
 dom in which alone His glory is comprehensible ! 
 
 * 
 
 Christianity has actually ruled the world for 
 
420 STILL HOURS. 
 
 eighteen centuries, and is ruling it still ; who ever 
 heard of a philosophy that could rule the world ? 
 
 We live in a Christian world, i.e. in a world in 
 which the good conquers solely by its own power. 
 
 I protest against every one who seeks to make 
 Christ a monopoly and Christians a privileged class 
 in society. 
 
 It forms a part of true Christianity to make no 
 great ceremony about our being Christians. 
 
 •X- 
 
 Christ stands, without any assistance from man, as 
 the sun in the sky of history. From Him comes 
 the light that lightens Christendom ; only in a very 
 inferior degree from the lanterns lighted by the 
 Church. 
 
 Many see the light which illuminates the world 
 without seeing the sun from which it flows. Well for 
 him who sees the sun ; but even the others have a 
 priceless possession in the light. 
 
 What a strange delusion it is that we dare not 
 bring Christ to the light ! Certainly not, if we have 
 only a dogmatic effigy of Him ! 
 
 •X- 
 
 Indestructibility of Christ, and consequently of 
 Christianity. 
 
CnRIST[AX/TV OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. 421 
 
 The special glory of Christianity consists in its 
 marvellous variability. 
 
 Th2 distinction between the Pharisaical (which 
 does not mean anything specially bad) and Christian 
 believers, is the old distinction between the Pharisees 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ, — that the latter sym- 
 pathises with sinful men, while the former scold and 
 upbraid them. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absoluteness of God, The, 95. 
 
 Absolutism, 349. 
 
 Affection and Temperament, 
 
 164. 
 Angels and Devils, 126. 
 Apostolic Age, The, 295. 
 Art, 365. 
 Attitude towards Theology and 
 
 the Church, 52. 
 Authority, 340. 
 
 Coarseness, 194. 
 Conscience, 175. 
 Continuation of Life after 
 
 Death, 271. 
 Creation of the Human Spirit 
 
 136. 
 Creation of the World, 113. 
 Criticism, 369. 
 Culture, 360. 
 Culture, Questions of, 357. 
 
 Behefin God's Providence, 251. 
 Bible, The, 218. 
 Biblical Deductions, 199. 
 
 Catholicism, 302. 
 
 Catholicism and Protestantism, 
 
 304- 
 Catholicism and the State, 306. 
 Christ, On, 199. 
 Christianity and the Church, 
 
 375. 
 Christianity Outside the Church, 
 
 407. 
 Church, The, 375. 
 Church Doctrine, 205. 
 Church History, On, 295. 
 Church and State, 331. 
 Clergy, The, 393. 
 
 Death, 269. 
 Dignity, 261. 
 Dogma, 401. 
 
 Europe, 353. 
 
 Existence of God, The, 91. 
 
 Faith in Christ, 223. 
 
 Fanaticism, 320. 
 
 Folly, 194. 
 
 Formation of Parties, 347. 
 
 France, 354. 
 
 Freedom, 178. 
 
 Germany, 350. 
 
 Germany, North and South, 351. 
 
 Gifts of Mind, 171, 
 
 God, On, 91. 
 
424 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 God and Christ, 216. 
 God and the World, 113. 
 Good and Evil, 189. 
 Good, Virtue, Duty, 239. 
 Great and Small, 173. 
 
 Happiness, 263. 
 Heathenism, 30T. 
 History, 357. 
 Humility, 256. 
 
 Idea of the Logos, 201. 
 Immutability of God, The, 100. 
 Independence, 258. 
 Individual and Social Morality, 
 
 241. 
 Infinitude of God, The, 98. 
 Intercourse, 2S1. 
 
 Jesuitism, 194. 
 John, St., 296. 
 Judaism, 301. 
 Justification, 233. 
 
 Life Experiences, 45. 
 Life (Light), 144. 
 Literature, 368. 
 Love, 286. 
 
 Lutheran and Reformed 
 Churches, The, 313. 
 
 Man, On, 147. 
 Man and Animal, 150. 
 Man and Mankind, 147. 
 Man and Woman, 289. 
 Maturity, 267. 
 Memory, 168. 
 Mohammedanism, 302. 
 Mysticism and Theosophy, 320. 
 
 Old Age, 267. 
 
 Pantheism and Materialism, 
 
 108. 
 Parties of the day. Relation to 
 
 the, 60. 
 Passion, 193. 
 Paul, St., 296. 
 Pedagogy, 370. 
 Personal, 45. 
 Personality, 159. 
 Personality of Christ, The, 207. 
 Personal Character of Jesus, 
 
 212. 
 Personal Life of the Christian, 
 
 239- 
 Piety, 385. 
 Pietism, 318. 
 Pleasure-Seeking, 193. 
 Politics, On, 331. 
 Political Freedom, 345. 
 Popular Representation, 348. 
 Position in Reference to the 
 
 Present, 57. 
 Prayer, 249. 
 Predestination, 232. 
 Preservation of the World, 123. 
 Principles of Speculation, Ti. 
 Prince and People, 336. 
 
 Ranks of the Community, 344. 
 Rationalism, 321. 
 Reconciliation, 228. 
 Reformation, The, 307. 
 Reformation and the Church, 
 
 The, 130. 
 Republics, 349. 
 Revelation, 217. 
 Revolution, 350. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 Reward, 234. 
 
 
 Strength and Weakness, 174. 
 
 Russia, 354. 
 
 
 Substitution, 233. 
 Suffering, 263. 
 
 Sacrament, The, 399. 
 
 
 Supernaturalism, 323. 
 
 Sanctification, 233. 
 
 
 Supersensual World, The, 127. 
 
 Schleiermacher, 328. 
 
 
 
 Science, 363. 
 
 
 Temptation, 184. 
 
 Self-criticism, 47. 
 
 
 Theological and Secular Science 
 
 Selfishness, 192. 
 
 
 403- 
 
 Self-restraint, 257. 
 
 
 Tolerance and Criticism, 66. 
 
 Separate Divine Attributes 
 
 , 102. 
 
 
 Sin, 185. 
 
 
 Unbelief, 228. 
 
 Sociability, 284. 
 
 
 Union, 317. 
 
 Social Duties, 281. 
 
 
 Union of God and Man, 244. 
 
 Social Life of the Christian, 
 
 The, 
 
 Union of Man and God, 246. 
 
 277. 
 
 
 Unity of God, The, 93. 
 
 Social Sphere, The, 277. 
 
 
 
 Soul and Body, 152. 
 
 
 Vanity, 193. 
 
 Space and Time, 128. 
 
 
 Vocation of Jesus, The, 210. 
 
 Speculation, Principles of, 
 
 73- 
 
 Vocation in Life, 254. 
 
 Speculation, Fundamental Prin- 
 
 
 ciples of, 81. 
 
 
 Will, The, 176. 
 
 Speculative System, 85. 
 
 
 Work, 255. 
 
 Speculation, The Task of. 
 
 IZ- 
 
 Worship, 395. 
 
 Spirit. 133. 
 
 
 Worth of Life, The, 253. 
 
 Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Froine, and London. 
 
 E E 
 
Z\K foreign Biblical Xibrar^. 
 
 T/te Foreign Biblical Librajy is intoided to provide prompt 
 and accurate translatiotis at a moderate price of the best and 
 newest cotitribiitions of 
 
 Orthodox Foreign Scholarship to Biblical 
 Study and Research. 
 
 While the series ■will mainly consist of Standard Commen- 
 taries in their latest editions, other works interesting to the 
 Biblical student will be from time to time included. 
 
 Special pains will be taken, in the first place, to include no 
 books but those of permanent value; and, in the second place, to 
 provide accurate and scholarly translations of the latest editions 
 of all vjlumes selected. 
 
 Wliile the series will mainly consist of works hitherto un- 
 translated, some earlier volumes will be translations of Biblical 
 works represented in this country only by renderings from early 
 editions now superseded. It is the habit of Foreign scholars 
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 mentaries for new editions, and it is obvious that injustice is 
 done both to authors and readers by contiiiuing to reproduce the 
 ea7-lierform. As in all these cases the translations will be pro- 
 duced under the supervision of the author, each work will have 
 the advantage of his latest corrections, and thus represents his 
 present opinion even better than the original. 
 
 Arra7igements have been made with the leading Scholars of 
 the Continent for the prompt translation and publication of their 
 principal forthcoming works; and the books in the following 
 list are all in a fortuard state of preparation. 
 
 A new biiiding has been desigjted for the Series, which will 
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 Each Volume of the Series will be issued in la)'ge crown ?>vo, 
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Zbc fovciQw Biblical Xibrar\>. 
 
 This collection of profound and suggestive aphorisms by the great thinker 
 Rothe, has attained a very wide circulation in Germany. 
 
 I. 
 
 STILL HOURS. By Richard Rothe. Translated by Jane 
 
 T. Stoddart. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. John Macpherson, 
 M.A. 
 
 II. 
 A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. By 
 
 Professor Franz Delitzsch, of Leipzig. In three volumes. From the latest 
 edition, specially revised and corrected by the Author. Vol. I. Translated 
 by the Rev. David Eaton, M.A. 
 
 The Gnardian says : — " Of Prof. Delitzsch's new edition it may be fairly said 
 that it is the most complete and trustworthy commentary on the Psalms which 
 e.xists. Ten years have now elapsed since the last edition was published, and in the 
 interval many important works have appeared, throwing new light on questions of ''»' 
 Hebrew philology or otherwise bearing on the interpretation of the Psalms. All J 
 these are duly noticed by Prof Delitzsch, and the results, as far as was possible or 
 necessary, incorporated in the notes. It is the care which this veteran scholar 
 uniformly bestows upon his successive editions that gives them their peculiar 
 e.\cellence. We trust that Prof. Delitzsch's commentary may long retain its well- 
 deserved popularity." 
 
 III. 
 
 SELECTED SERMONS OF SCHLEIERMACHER. 
 
 Translated by Mary F. Wilson. 
 
 The greatest sermons of one of the greatest of German preachers. 
 
 IV. 
 CHURCH HISTORY. By Professor Kurtz. Translated and 
 edited from the latest edition by the Rev. Joh.n Macpherson, M.A., and 
 specially revised by the Author. 
 
 Dr. Philip Schaff says:— "It is a shame that the English translation of 
 Kurtz, which was made from the second edition, is still sold and used as a text- 
 book in Scotland and America, although the author has long since not only doubled 
 its size, but so entirely reconstructed the whole as to make the older editions useless 
 and mischievous. . . . This work has now the monopoly among German 
 
 STUDENTS." 
 
 V. 
 A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. By 
 
 Professor Franz Delitzsch. Translated by the Rev. James Denny, B.D. 
 From the latest edition, and specially revised by the Author. 
 
 Canon T. K. Chevne, D.D., says : — " By far the most complete and equal 
 commentary is that of Dr. Franz Delitzsch. He who will patiently read and digest 
 the NEW edition of this masterly work will receive a training both for head and 
 heart which he will never regret." 
 
 428 
 
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