Church History Part 7

Like the Quakers (-- 163, 6) they have neither a ministry nor sacraments, and their whole manner of life is modelled on that of the Quakers. The purity of the relation of brothers and sisters has always been free from suspicion.(72)

8. _Predestinarian-Mystical Sects._-The _Hebraeans_, founded by Verschoor, a licentiate of the Reformed church of Holland deposed under suspicion of Spinozist views, in the end of the seventeenth century, hold it indispensably necessary to read the word of G.o.d in the original. They were fatalists, and maintained that the elect could commit no sin. True faith consisted in believing this doctrine of their own sinlessness. About the same time sprang up the _Hattemists_, followers of _Pontiaan von Hattem_, a preacher deposed for heresy, with fatalistic views like the Hebraeans, but with a strong vein of pantheistic mysticism. True piety consisted in the believer resting in G.o.d in a purely pa.s.sive manner, and letting G.o.d alone care for him. The two sects united under the name of Hattemists, and continued to exist in Holland and Zealand till about A.D. 1760.

-- 171. Religion, Theology, and Literature of the "Illumination."(73)

In England during the first half of the century deism had still several active propagandists, and throughout the whole century efforts, not altogether unsuccessful, were made to spread Unitarian views. From the middle of the century, when the English deistic unbelief had died out, the "Illumination," under the name of rationalism, found an entrance into Germany. Arminian pelagianism, recommended by brilliant scholars.h.i.+p, English deism, spread by translations and refutations, and French naturalism, introduced by a great and much honoured king, were the outward factors in securing this result. The freemason lodges, carried into Germany from England, a relic of mediaevalism, aided the movement by their endeavour after a universal religion of a moral and practical kind. The inward factors were the Wolffian philosophy (-- 167, 3), the popular philosophy, and the pietism, with its step-father separatism (-- 170), which immediately prepared the soil for the sowing of rationalism.

Orthodoxy, too, with its formulas that had been outlived, contributed to the same end. German rationalism is essentially distinguished from Deism and Naturalism by not breaking completely with the Bible and the church, but eviscerating both by its theories of accommodation and by its exaggerated representations of the limitations of the age in which the books of Scripture were written and the doctrines of Christianity were formulated. It thus treats the Bible as an important doc.u.ment, and the church as a useful religious inst.i.tution. Over against rationalism arose supernaturalism, appealing directly to revelation. It was a dilution of the old church faith by the addition of more or less of the water of rationalism. Its reaction was therefore weak and vacillating. The temporary success of the vulgar rationalism lay, not in its own inherent strength, but in the correspondence that existed between it and the prevailing spirit of the age. The philosophy, however, as well as the national literature of the Germans, now began a victorious struggle against these tendencies, and though itself often indifferent and even hostile to Christianity, it recognised in Christ a school-master.

Pestalozzi performed a similar service to popular education by his attempts to reform effete systems.

1. _Deism, Arianism, and Unitarianism in the English Church._-(1) _The Deists_ (-- 164, 3). With Locke's philosophy (-- 164, 2) deism entered on a new stage of its development. It is henceforth vindicated on the ground of its reasonableness. The most notable deists of this age were _John Toland_, an Irishman, first Catholic, then Arminian, died A.D. 1722, author of "Christianity not Mysterious," "Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile, and Mohametan Christianity," etc. The Earl of _Shaftesbury_, died A.D.

1713, wrote "Characteristics of Men," etc. _Anthony Collins_, J.P. in Ess.e.x, died A.D. 1729, author of "Priestcraft in Perfection," "Discourse of Freethinking," etc. _Thomas Woolston_, fellow of Cambridge, died in prison in A.D. 1733, author of "Discourse on the Miracles of the Saviour."

_Mandeville_ of Dort, physician in London, died A.D. 1733, wrote "Free Thoughts on Religion." _Matthew Tindal_, professor of law in Oxford, died A.D. 1733, wrote "Christianity as Old as the Creation." _Thomas Morgan_, nonconformist minister, deposed as an Arian, then a physician, died A.D.

1743, wrote "The Moral Philosopher." _Thomas Chubb_, glover and tallow-chandler in Salisbury, died A.D. 1747, author of popular compilations, "The True Gospel of Jesus Christ." Viscount _Bolingbroke_, statesman, charged with high treason and pardoned, died A.D. 1751, writings ent.i.tled, "Philosophical Works."-Along with the deists as an opponent of positive Christianity may be cla.s.sed the famous historian and sceptic _David Hume_, librarian in Edinburgh, died A.D. 1776, author of "Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding," "Natural History of Religion," "Dialogues concerning Natural Religion," etc.(74)-Deism never made way among the people, and no attempt was made to form a sect. Among the numerous opponents of deism these are chief: Samuel Clarke, died A.D.

1729; Thomas Sherlock, Bishop of London, died A.D. 1761; Chandler, Bishop of Durham, died A.D. 1750; Leland, Presbyterian minister in Dublin, died A.D. 1766, wrote "View of Princ.i.p.al Deistic Writers," three vols., 1754; Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, died A.D. 1779; Nath. Lardner, dissenting minister, died A.D. 1768, wrote "Credibility of the Gospel History,"

seventeen vols., 1727-1757. With these may be ranked the famous pulpit orator of the Reformed church of France, Saurin, died A.D. 1730, author of _Discours hist., crit., theol., sur les Evenements les plus remarkables du V. et N.T._-(2) _The So-called Arians._ In the beginning of the century several distinguished theologians of the Anglican church sought to give currency to an Arian doctrine of the Trinity. Most conspicuous was _Wm.

Whiston_, a distinguished mathematician, physicist, and astronomer of the school of Sir Isaac Newton, and his successor in the mathematical chair at Cambridge. Deprived of this office in A.D. 1708 for spreading his heterodox views, he issued in A.D. 1711 a five-volume work, "Primitive Christianity Revived," in which he justified his Arian doctrine of the Trinity as primitive and as taught by the ante-Nicene Fathers, and insisted upon augmenting the N.T. canon by the addition of twenty-nine books of the apostolic and other Fathers, including the apostolic "Const.i.tutions" and "Recognitions" which he maintained were genuine works of Clement. Subsequently he adopted Baptist views, and lost himself in fantastic chiliastic speculations. He died A.D. 1752. More sensible and moderate was _Samuel Clarke_, also distinguished as a mathematician of Newton's school and as a cla.s.sical philologist. As an opponent of deism in sermons and treatises he had gained a high reputation as a theologian, when his work, "The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity," in A.D. 1712, led to his being accused of Arianism by convocation; but by conciliatory explanations he succeeded in retaining his office till his death in A.D.

1729. But the excitement caused by the publication of his work continued through several decades, and was everywhere the cause of division. His ablest apologist was Dan. Whitby, and his keenest opponent Dan.

Waterland.-(3) _The Later Unitarians._ The anti-trinitarian movement entered on a new stage in A.D. 1770. After Archdeacon Blackburne of London, in A.D. 1766, had started the idea, at first anonymously, in his "Confessional," he joined in A.D. 1772 with other freethinkers, among whom was his son-in-law _Theophilus Lindsey_, in presenting to Parliament a pet.i.tion with 250 signatures, asking to have the clergy of the Anglican church freed from the obligation of subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles and the Liturgy, and to have the requirement limited to a.s.sent to the Scriptures. This prayer was rejected in the Lower House by 217 votes against 71. Lindsey now resigned his clerical office, announced his withdrawal from the Anglican church, founded and presided over a Unitarian congregation in London from A.D. 1774, and published a large number of controversial Unitarian tracts. He died in A.D. 1808. The celebrated chemist and physicist _Joseph Priestley_, A.D. 1733-1806, who had been a dissenting minister in Birmingham from A.D. 1780, joined the Unitarian movement in 1782, giving it a new impetus by his high scientific reputation. He wrote the "History of the Corruptions of Christianity," and the "History of Early Opinions about Jesus Christ," denying that there is any biblical foundation for the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, and seeking to show that it had been forced upon the church against her will from the Platonic philosophy. These and a whole series of other controversial writings occasioned great excitement, not only among theologians, but also among the English people of all ranks. At last the mob rose against him in A.D. 1791. His house and all his scientific collections and apparatus were burnt. He narrowly escaped with his life, and soon after settled in America, where he wrote a church history in four vols. Of his many English opponents the most eminent was Bishop Sam.

Horsley, a distinguished mathematician and commentator on the works of Sir Isaac Newton.

2. _Freemasons._-The mediaeval inst.i.tution of freemasons (-- 104, 13) won much favour in England, especially after the Great Fire of London in A.D.

1666. The first step toward the formation of freemason lodges of the modern type was taken about the end of the sixteenth century, when men of distinction in other callings sought admission as honorary members. After the rebuilding of London and the completion of St. Paul's in A.D. 1710, most of the lodges became defunct, and the four that continued to exist united in A.D. 1717 into one grand lodge in London, which, renouncing material masonry, a.s.sumed the task of rearing the temple of humanity. In A.D. 1721 the Rev. Mr. Anderson prepared a const.i.tution for this reconstruction of a trade society into a universal brotherhood, according to which all "free masons" faithfully observing the moral law as well as all the claims of humanity and patriotism, came under obligation to profess the religion common to all good men, transcending all confessional differences, without any individual being thereby hindered from holding his own particular views. Although, in imitation of the older inst.i.tution, all members by reason of their close connexion were bound to observe the strictest secrecy in regard to their masonic signs, rites of initiation and promotion, and forms of greeting, it is not properly a secret society, since the const.i.tution was published in A.D. 1723, and members publicly acknowledge that they are such.-From London the new inst.i.tute spread over all England and the colonies. Lodges were founded in Paris in A.D. 1725, in Hamburg in A.D. 1737, in Berlin in A.D. 1740. This last was raised in A.D. 1744 into a grand lodge, with Frederick II. as grand master. But soon troubles and disputes arose, which broke up the order about the end of the century. Rosicrucians (-- 160, 1) and alchemists, pretending to hold the secrets of occult science, Jesuits (-- 210, 1), with Catholic hierarchical tendencies, and "Illuminati" (-- 165, 13), with rationalistic and infidel tendencies, as well as adventurers of every sort, had made the lodges centres of quackery, juggling, and plots.(75)

3. _The German _"Illumination."-(1) _Its Precursors._ One of the first of these, following in the footsteps of Kuntzen and Dippel, was _J. Chr.

Edelmann_ of Weissenfels, who died A.D. 1767. He began in A.D. 1735 the publication of an immense series of writings in a rough but powerful style, filled with bitter scorn for positive Christianity. He went from one sect to another, but never found what he sought. In A.D. 1741 he accepted Zinzendorf's invitation, and stayed with the count for a long time. He next joined the Berleberg separatists, because they despised the sacraments, and contributed to their Bible commentary, though Haug had to alter much of his work before it could be used. This and his contempt for prayer brought the connexion between him and the society to an end. He then led a vagabond life up and down through Germany. Edelmann regarded himself as a helper of providence, and at least a second Luther.

Christianity he p.r.o.nounced the most irrational of all religions; church history a conglomeration of immorality, lies, hypocrisy, and fanaticism; prophets and apostles, bedlamites; and even Christ by no means a perfect pattern and teacher. The world needs only one redemption-redemption from Christianity. Providence, virtue, and immortality are the only elements in religion. No less than 166 separate treatises came from his facile pen.-_Laurence Schmidt_ of Wertheim in Baden, a scholar of Wolff, was author of the notorious "Wertheimer Bible Version," which rendered Scripture language into the dialect of the eighteenth century, and eviscerated it of all positive doctrines of revelation. This book was confiscated by the authorities, and its author cast into prison.

4. (2) _The Age of Frederick the Great._ Hostility to all positive Christianity spread from England and France into Germany. The writings of the English deists were translated and refuted, but mostly in so weak a style that the effect was the opposite of that intended. Whilst English deism with its air of thoroughness made way among the learned, the poison of frivolous French naturalism committed its ravages among the higher circles. The great king of Prussia _Frederick II._, A.D. 1740-1786, surrounded by French freethinkers Voltaire, D'Argens, La Metrie, etc., wished every man in his kingdom to be saved after his own fas.h.i.+on. In this he was quite earnest, although his personal animosity to all ecclesiastical and pietistic religion made him sometimes act harshly and unjustly. Thus, when Francke of Halle (son of the famous A. H. Francke) had exhorted his theological students to avoid the theatre, the king, designating him "hypocrite" Francke, ordered him to attend the theatre himself and have his attendance attested by the manager. His bitter hatred of all "priests" was directed mainly against their actual or supposed intolerance, hypocrisy, and priestly arrogance; and where he met with undoubted integrity, as in Gellert and Seb. Bach, or simple, earnest piety, as in General Ziethen, he was not slow in paying to it the merited tribute of hearty acknowledgment and respect. His own religion was a philosophical deism, from which he could thoroughly refute Holbach's materialistic "_Systeme de la Nature_."-Under the name of the German popular philosophy (Moses Mendelssohn, Garve, Eberhard, Platner, Steinbart, etc.), which started from the Wolffian philosophy, emptied of its Christian contents, there arose a weak, vapoury, and self-satisfied philosophizing on the part of the common human reason. Basedow was the reformer of pedagogy in the sense of the "Illumination," after the style of Rousseau, and crying up his wares in the market made a great noise for a while, although Herder declared that he would not trust calves, far less men, to be educated by such a pedagogue. The "Universal German Library" of the Berlin publisher Nicolai, 106 vols. A.D. 1765-1792, was a literary Inquisition tribunal against all faith in revelation or the church. The "Illumination" in the domain of theology took the name of rationalism.

Pietistic Halle cast its skin, and along with Berlin took front rank among the promoters of the "Illumination." In the other universities champions of the new views soon appeared, and rationalistic pastors spread over all Germany, to preach only of moral improvement, or to teach from the pulpit about the laws of health, agriculture, gardening, natural science, etc.

The old liturgies were mutilated, hymn-books revised after the barbarous tastes of the age, and songs of mere moral tendency subst.i.tuted for those that spoke of Christ's atonement. An ecclesiastical councillor, Lang of Regensburg, dispensed the communion with the words: "Eat this bread! The Spirit of devotion rest on you with His rich blessing! Drink a little wine! The virtue lies not in this wine; it lies in you, in the divine doctrine, and in G.o.d." The Berlin provost, W. Alb. Teller, declared publicly: "The Jews ought on account of their faith in G.o.d, virtue, and immortality, to be regarded as genuine Christians." C. Fr. Bahrdt, after he had been deposed for immorality from various clerical and academical offices, and was cast off by the theologians, sought to amuse the people with his wit as a taphouse-keeper in Halle, and died there of an infamous disease in A.D. 1792.

5. (3) _The Wollner Reaction._-In vain did the Prussian government, after the death of Frederick the Great, under Frederick William II., A.D.

1786-1797, endeavour to restore the church to the enjoyment of its old exclusive rights by punis.h.i.+ng every departure from its doctrines, and insisting that preaching should be in accordance with the Confession. At the instigation of the Rosicrucians (-- 160, 1) and of the minister Von Wollner, a country pastor enn.o.bled by the king, the _Religious Edict of 1788_ was issued, followed by a statement of severe penalties; then by a _Schema Examinationis Candidatorum ss. Ministerii rite Inst.i.tuendi_; and in A.D. 1791, by a commission for examination under the Berlin chief consistory and all the provincial consistories, with full powers, not only over candidates, but also over all settled pastors. But notwithstanding all the energy with which he sought to carry out his edict, the minister could accomplish nothing in the face of public opinion, which favoured the resistance of the chief consistory. Only one deposition, that of Schulz of Gielsdorf, near Berlin, was effected, in A.D. 1792. Frederick William III., A.D. 1797-1840, dismissed Wollner in A.D. 1798, and set aside the edict as only fostering hypocrisy and sham piety.

6. _The Transition Theology._-Four men, who endeavoured to maintain their own belief in revelation, did more than all others to prepare the way for rationalism: Ernesti of Leipzig, in the department of N.T. exegesis; Michaelis of Gottingen, in O.T. exegesis; Semler of Halle, in biblical and historical criticism; and Tollner of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, in dogmatics.

_J. A. Ernesti_, A.D. 1707-1781, from A.D. 1734 rector of St. Thomas'

School, from A.D. 1742 professor at Leipzig, colleague to Chr. A. Crusius (-- 167, 3), was specially eminent as a cla.s.sical scholar, and maintained his reputation in that department, even after becoming professor of theology in A.D. 1758. His _Inst.i.tutio Interpretis N.T._, of A.D. 1761, made it an axiom of exegesis that the exposition of Scripture should be conducted precisely as that of any other book. But even in the domain of cla.s.sical literature there must be an understanding of the author as a whole, and the expositor must have appreciation of the writer's spirit, as well as have acquaintance with his language and the customs of his age.

And just from Ernesti's want of this, his treatise on biblical hermeneutics is rationalistic, and he became the father of rationalistic exegesis, though himself intending to hold firmly by the doctrine of inspiration and the creed of the church.-What Ernesti did for the N.T., _J. D. Michaelis_, A.D. 1717-1791, son of the pious and orthodox Chr.

Bened. Michaelis, did for the O.T. He was from A.D. 1750 professor at Gottingen, a man of varied learning and wide influence. He publicly acknowledged that he had never experienced anything of the _testimonium Sp. s. internum_, and rested his proofs of the divinity of the Scriptures wholly on external evidences, _e.g._ miracles, prophecy, authenticity, etc., a spider's web easily blown to pieces by the enemy. No one has ever excelled him in the art of foisting his own notions on the sacred authors and making them utter his favourite ideas. A conspicuous instance of this is his "Laws of Moses," in six vols.-In a far greater measure than either Ernesti or Michaelis did _J. Sol. Semler_, A.D. 1725-1791, pupil of Baumgarten, and from A.D. 1751 professor at Halle, help on the cause of rationalism. He had grown up under the influence of Halle pietism in the profession of a customary Christianity, which he called his private religion, which contributed to his life a basis of genuine personal piety.

But with a rare subtlety of reasoning as a man of science, endowed with rich scholars.h.i.+p, and without any wish to sever himself from Christianity, he undermined almost all the supports of the theology of the church. This he did by casting doubt on the genuineness of the biblical writings, by setting up a theory of inspiration and accommodation which admitted the presence of error, misunderstanding, and pious fraud in the Scriptures, by a style of exposition which put aside everything unattractive in the N.T.

as "remnants of Judaism," by a critical treatment of the history of the church and its doctrines, which represented the doctrines of the church as the result of blundering, misconception, and violence, etc. He was a voluminous author, leaving behind him no less than 171 writings. He sowed the wind, and reaped the whirlwind, by which he himself was driven along.

He firmly withstood the installation of Bahrdt at Halle, opposed Basedow's endeavours, applied himself eagerly to refute the "Wolfenb.u.t.tel Fragments"

of Reimarus, edited by Lessing in 1774-1778, which represented Christianity as founded upon pure deceit and fraud, and defended even the edict of Wollner. But the current was not thus to be stemmed, and Semler died broken-hearted at the sight of the heavy crop from his own sowing.-J.

Gr. Tollner, A.D. 1724-1774, from A.D. 1756 professor at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, was in point of learning and influence by no means equal to those now named; yet he deserves a place alongside of them, as one who opened the door to rationalism in the department of dogmatics. He himself held fast to the belief in revelation, miracles, and prophecy, but he also regarded it as proved that G.o.d saves men by the revelation of nature; the revelation of Scripture is only a more sure and perfect means.

He also examined the divine inspiration of Scripture, and found that the language and thoughts were the authors' own, and that G.o.d was concerned in it in a manner that could not be more precisely determined. Finally, in treating of the active obedience of Christ, he gives such a representation of it as sets aside the doctrine of the church.

7. _The Rationalistic Theology._-From the school of these men, especially from that of Semler, went forth crowds of rationalists, who for seventy years held almost all the professors.h.i.+ps and pastorates of Protestant Germany. At their head stands _Bahrdt_, A.D. 1741-1792, writer at first of orthodox handbooks, who, sinking deeper and deeper through vanity, want of character, and immorality, and following in the steps of Edelmann, wrote 102 vols., mostly of a scurrilous and blasphemous character. The rationalists, however, were generally of a n.o.bler sort: _Griesbach_ of Jena, A.D. 1745-1812, distinguished as textual critic of the N.T.; _Teller_ of Berlin, published a lexicon to the N.T., which subst.i.tuted "leading another life" for regeneration, "improvement" for sanctification, etc.; Koppe of Gottingen, and Rosenmuller of Leipzig wrote _scholia_ on N.T., and Schulze and Bauer on the O.T. Of far greater value were the performances of _J. E. Eichhorn_ of Gottingen, A.D. 1752-1827, and _Bertholdt_ of Erlangen, A.D. 1774-1822, who wrote introductions to the O.T. and commentaries. In the department of church history, _H. P. C.

Henke_ of Helmstadt and the talented statesman, _Von Spittler_ of Wurttemberg, wrote from the rationalistic standpoint. Steinbart and Eberhardt wrote more in the style of the popular philosophy. The subtle-minded _J. H. Tieftrunk_, A.D. 1760-1837, professor of philosophy at Halle, introduced into theology the Kantian philosophy with its strict categories. Jerusalem, Zollikofer, and others did much to spread rationalistic views by their preaching.(76)

8. _Supernaturalism._-Abandoning the old orthodoxy without surrendering to rationalism, the supernaturalists sought to maintain their hold of the Scripture revelation. Many of them did so in a very uncertain way: their revelation had scarcely anything to reveal which was not already given by reason. Others, however, eagerly sought to preserve all essentially vital truths. Morus of Leipzig, Ernesti's ablest student, Less of Gottingen, Doderlein of Jena, Seiler of Erlangen, and Nosselt of Halle, were all representatives of this school. More powerful opponents of rationalism appeared in _Storr_ of Tubingen, A.D. 1746-1805, who could break a lance even with the philosopher of Konigsberg, _Knapp_ of Halle, and _Reinhard_ of Dresden, the most famous preacher of his age. Reinhard's sermon on the Reformation festival of A.D. 1800 created such enthusiasm in favour of the Lutheran doctrine of justification, that government issued an edict calling the attention of all pastors to it as a model. The most distinguished apologists were the mathematician _Euler_ of St. Petersburg, the physiologist, botanist, geologist, and poet _Haller_ of Zurich and the theologians _Lilienthal_ of Konigsberg and _Kleuker_ of Kiel. The most zealous defender of the faith was the much abused _Goeze_ of Hamburg, who fought for the palladium of Lutheran orthodoxy against his rationalistic colleagues, against the theatre, against Barth, Basedow, and such-like, against the "Wolfenb.u.t.tel Fragments," against the "Sorrows of Werther,"

etc. His polemic may have been over-violent, and he certainly was not a match for such an antagonist as Lessing; he was, however, by no means an obscurantist, ignoramus, fanatic, or hypocrite, but a man in solemn earnest in all he did. In the field of church history important services were rendered by _Schrockh_ of Wittenberg and _Walch_ of Gottingen, laborious investigators and compilers, _Staudlin_ and _Planck_ of Gottingen, and _Munter_ of Copenhagen.-Among English theologians of this tendency toward the end of the century, the most famous was _Paley_ of Cambridge, A.D. 1743-1805, whose "Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy" and "Evidences of Christianity" were obligatory text-books in the university. His "_Horae Paulinae_" prove the credibility of the Acts of the Apostles from the epistles, and his "Natural Theology" demonstrates G.o.d's being and attributes from nature.

9. _Mysticism and Theosophy._-_Oetinger_ of Wurttemburg, the _Magus_ of the South, A.D. 1702-1782, takes rank by himself. He was a pupil of Bengel (-- 167, 3), well grounded in Scripture, but also an admirer of Bohme and sympathising with the spiritualistic visions of Swedenborg. But amid all, with his biblical realism and his theosophy, which held corporeity to be the end of the ways of G.o.d, he was firmly rooted in the doctrines of Lutheran orthodoxy.-The best mystic of the Reformed church was _J. Ph.

Dutoit_ of Lausanne, A.D. 1721-1793, an enthusiastic admirer of Madame Guyon; he added to her quietist mysticism certain theosophical speculations on the original nature of Adam, the creation of woman, the fall, the necessity of the incarnation apart from the fall, the basing of the sinlessness of Christ upon the immaculate conception of his mother, etc. He gathered about him during his lifetime a large number of pious adherents, but after his death his theories were soon forgotten.

10. _The German Philosophy._-As Locke accomplished the descent from Bacon to deism and materialism, so _Wolff_ effected the transition from Leibnitz to the popular philosophy. _Kant_, A.D. 1724-1804, saved philosophy from the baldness and self-sufficiency of Wolffianism, and pointed it to its proper element in the spiritual domain. Kant's own philosophy stood wholly outside of Christianity, on the same platform with rationalistic theology.

But by deeper digging in the soil it unearthed many a precious nugget, of whose existence the vulgar rationalism had never dreamed, without any intention of becoming a schoolmaster to lead to Christ. Kant showed the impossibility of a knowledge of the supernatural by means of pure reason, but admitted the ideas of G.o.d, freedom, and immortality as postulates of the practical reason and as const.i.tuting the principle of all religion, whose only content is the moral law. Christianity and the Bible are to remain the basis of popular instruction, but are to be expounded only in an ethical sense. While in sympathy with rationalism, he admits its baldness and self-sufficiency. His keen criticism of the pure reason, the profound knowledge of human weakness and corruption shown in his doctrine of radical evil, his categorical imperative of the moral law, were well fitted to awaken in more earnest minds a deep distrust of themselves, a modest estimate of the boasted excellences of their age, and a feeling that Christianity could alone meet their necessities.-_F. H. Jacobi_, A.D.

1743-1819, "with the heart a Christian, with the understanding a pagan,"

as he characterized himself, took religion out of the region of mere reason into the depths of the universal feelings of the soul, and so awakened a positive aspiration.-_J. G. Fichte_, A.D. 1762-1814, transformed Kantianism, to which he at first adhered, into an idealistic science of knowledge, in which only the _ego_ that posits itself appears as real, and the _non-ego_, only by its being posited by the _ego_; and thus the world and nature are only a reflex of the mind. But when, accused of atheism in A.D. 1798, he was expelled from his position in Jena, he changed his views, rus.h.i.+ng from the verge of atheism into a mysticism approaching to Christianity. In his "Guide to a Blessed Life," A.D. 1806, he delivered religion from being a mere servant to morals, and sought the blessedness of life in the loving surrender of one's whole being to the universal Spirit, the full expression of which he found in John's Gospel.

Pauline Christianity, on the other hand, with its doctrine of sin and redemption, seemed to him a deterioration, and Christ Himself only the most complete representative of the incarnation of G.o.d repeated in all ages and in every pious man.-In the closing years of the century, _Sch.e.l.ling_ brought forward his theory of _ident.i.ty_, which was one of the most powerful instruments in introducing a new era.(77)

11. _The German National Literature._-When the powerful strain of the evangelical church hymn had well-nigh expired in the feeble lispings of _Gellert's_ sacred poetry, _Klopstock_ began to chant the praises of the Messiah in a higher strain. But the pathos of his odes met with no response, and his "Messiah," of which the first three cantos appeared in A.D. 1748, though received with unexampled enthusiasm, could do nothing to exorcise the spirit of unbelief, and was more praised than read. The theological standpoint of _Lessing_, A.D. 1729-1781, is set forth in one of his letters to his brother. "I despise the orthodox even more than you do, only I despise the clergy of the new style even more. What is the new-fas.h.i.+oned theology of those shallow pates compared with orthodoxy but as dung-water compared with dirty water? On this point we are at one, that our old religious system is false; but I cannot say with you that it is a patchwork of bunglers and half philosophers. I know nothing in the world upon which human ingenuity has been more subtly exercised than upon it.

That religious system which is now offered in place of the old is a patchwork of bunglers and half philosophers." He is offended at men hanging the concerns of eternity on the spider's thread of external evidences, and so he was delighted to hurl the Wolfenb.u.t.tel "Fragments" at the heads of theologians and the Hamburg pastor Goeze, whom he loaded with contumely and scorn. Thoroughly characteristic too is the saying in the "_Duplik_": That if G.o.d holding in his right hand all truth, and in his left hand the search after truth, subject to error through all eternity, were to offer him his choice, he would humbly say, "Father the left, for pure truth is indeed for thee alone." In his "_Nathan_" only Judaism and Mohammedanism are represented by truly n.o.ble and ideal characters, while the chief representative of Christianity is a gloomy zealot, and the conclusion of the parable is that all three rings are counterfeit. In another work he views revelation as one of the stages in "The Education of the Human Race," which loses its significance as soon as its purpose is served. In familiar conversation with Jacobi he frankly declared his acceptance of the doctrine of Spinoza: ?? ?a? p??.(78) _Wieland_, A.D.

1733-1813, soon turned from his youthful zeal for ecclesiastical orthodoxy to the popular philosophy of the cultured man of the world. _Herder_, A.D.

1744-1803, with his enthusiastic appreciation of the poetical contents of the Bible, especially of the Old Testament, was not slow to point out the insipidity of its ordinary treatment. _Goethe_, A.D. 1749-1832, profoundly hated the vandalism of neology, delighted in "The Confessions of a Fair Soul" (-- 172, 2), had in earlier years sympathy with the Herrnhuters, but in the full intellectual vigour of his manhood thought he had no need of Christianity, which offended him by its demand for renunciation of self and the world. _Schiller_, A.D. 1759-1805, enthusiastically admiring everything n.o.ble, beautiful and good, misunderstood Christianity, and introduced into the hearts of the German people Kantian rationalism clothed in rich poetic garb. His lament on the downfall of the G.o.ds of Greece, even if not so intended by the poet himself, told not so much against orthodox Christianity as against poverty-stricken deism, which banished the G.o.d of Christianity from the world and set in his place the dead forces of nature. And if indeed he really thought that for religion's sake he should confess to no religion, he has certainly in many profoundly Christian utterances given unconscious testimony to Christianity.-The Jacobi philosophy of feeling found poetic interpreters in _Jean Paul Richter_, A.D. 1763-1825, and _Hebel_, died A.D. 1826, in whom we find the same combination of pious sentiment which is drawn toward Christianity and the sceptical understanding which allied itself to the revolt against the common orthodoxy. _J. H. Voss_, a rough, powerful Dutch peasant, who in his "_Luise_" sketched the ideal of a brave rationalistic country parson, and, with the inexorable rigour of an inquisitor, hunted down the night birds of ignorance and oppression. But alongside of those children of the world stood two genuine sons of Luther, _Matthias Claudius_, A.D.

1740-1815, and _J. G. Hamann_, A.D. 1730-1788, the "Magus of the North"

and the Elijah of his age, of whom Jean Paul said that his commas were planetary systems and his periods solar systems, to whom the philosopher Hemsterhuis erected in the garden of Princess Gallitzin a tablet with the inscription: "To the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness."

With them may also be named two n.o.ble sons of the Reformed church, the physiognomist _Lavater_, A.D. 1741-1801, and the devout dreamer, _Jung-Stilling_, A.D. 1740-1817. The famous historian, _John von Muller_, A.D. 1752-1809, well deserves mention here, who more than any previous historian made Christ the centre and summit of all times; and also the no less famous statesman _C. F. von Moser_, the most German of the Germans of this century, who, with n.o.ble Christian heroism, in numerous political and patriotic tracts, battled against the prevailing social and political vices of his age.

12. The great Swiss educationist _Pestalozzi_, A.D. 1746-1827, a.s.sumed toward the Bible, the church, and Christianity an att.i.tude similar to that of the philosopher of Konigsberg. The conviction of the necessity and wholesomeness of a biblical foundation in all popular education was rooted in his heart, and he clearly saw the shallowness of the popular philosophy, whether presented under the eccentric naturalism of Rousseau or the bald utilitarianism of Basedow. His whole life issued from the very sanctuary of true Christianity, as seen in his self-sacrificing efforts to save the lost, to strengthen the weak, and to preach to the poor by word and deed the gospel of the all-merciful G.o.d whose will it is that all should be saved. He began his career as an educationist in A.D. 1775 by receiving into his house deserted beggar children, and carried on his experiments in his educational inst.i.tutions at Burgdorf till A.D. 1798, and at Isserten till A.D. 1804. His writings, which circulated far and wide, gained for his methods recognition and high approval.(79)

-- 172. Church Life in the Period of the "Illumination."

The ancient faith of the church had even during this age of prevailing unbelief its seven thousand who refused to bow the knee to Baal. The German people were at heart firmly grounded in the Christianity of the Bible and the church, and where the pulpit failed had their spiritual wants supplied by the devout writings of earlier days. Where the modern vandalism of the "Illumination" had mutilated and watered down the books of praise, the old church songs lingered in the memories of fathers and mothers, and were sung with ardour at family wors.h.i.+p. For many men of culture, who were more exposed to danger, the Society of the Brethren afforded a welcome refuge. But even among the most accomplished of the nation many stood firmly in the old paths. Lavater and Stilling, Haller and Euler, the two Mosers, father and son, John von Muller and his brother J. G. Muller, are not by any means the only, but merely the best known, of such true sons of the church. In Wurttemberg and Berg, where religious life was most vigorous, religious sects were formed with new theological views which made a deep impression on the character and habits of the people. Also toward the end of the century an awakened zeal in home and foreign missions was the prelude of the glorious enterprises of our own days.

1. _The Hymnbook and Church Music._-Klopstock, followed by Cramer and Schlegel, introduced the vandalism of altering the old church hymns to suit modern tastes and views. But a few, like Herder and Schubert, raised their voices against such philistinism. The "Illuminist" alterations were unutterably prosaic, and the old pathos and poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth century hymns were ruthlessly sacrificed. The spiritual songs of the n.o.ble and pious Gellert are by far the best productions of this period.-_Church Music_ too now reached its lowest ebb. The old chorales were altered into modern forms. A mult.i.tude of new, unpopular melodies, difficult of comprehension, with a bald school tone, were introduced; the last trace of the old rhythm disappeared, and a weary monotony began to prevail, in which all force and freshness were lost. As a subst.i.tute, secular preludes, interludes, and concluding pieces were brought in. The people often entered the churches during the playing of operatic overtures, and were dismissed amid the noise of a march or waltz. The church ceased to be the patron and promoter of music; the theatre and concert room took its place. The opera style thoroughly depraved the oratorio. For festival occasions, cantatas in a purely secular, effeminate style were composed. A true ecclesiastical music no longer existed, so that even Winterfeld closed his history of church music with Seb. Bach. It was, if possible, still worse with the ma.s.s music of the Roman Catholic church. Palestrina's earnest and capable school was completely lost sight of under the sprightly and frivolous opera style, and with the organ still more mischief was done than in the Protestant church.

2. _Religious Characters._-The pastor of Ban de la Roche in Steinthal of Alsace, "the saint of the Protestant church," _J. Fr. Oberlin_, A.D.

1740-1826, deserves a high place of honour. During a sixty years'

pastorate "Father Oberlin" raised his poverty-stricken flock to a position of industrial prosperity, and changed the barren Steinthal into a patriarchal paradise. The same may be said of a n.o.ble Christian woman of that age, _Sus. Cath. von Klettenberg_, Lavater's "Cordata," Goethe's "Fair Soul," whose genuine confessions are wrought into "_Wilhelm Meister_" the centre of a beautiful Christian circle in Frankfort, where the young Goethe received religious impressions that were never wholly forgotten.-Community of religious yearnings brought together pious Protestants and pious Catholics. The Princess von Gallitzin, her chaplain Overberg, and minister Von Furstenberg formed a n.o.ble group of earnest Catholics, for whom the ardent Lutheran Hamann entertained the warmest affection.

3. _Religious Sects._-In Wurttemberg there arose out of the pietism of Spener, with a dash of the theosophy of Oetinger, the party of the _Michelians_, so named from a layman, Michael Hahn, whose writings show profound insight into the truths of the gospel. He taught the doctrine of a double fall, in consequence of which he depreciated though he did not forbid marriage; of a rest.i.tution of all things; while he subordinated justification to sanctification, the Christ for us to the Christ in us, etc. As a reaction against this extreme arose the _Pregizerians_, who laid exclusive stress upon baptism and justification, declared a.s.surance and heart-breaking penitence unnecessary, and imparted to their services as much brightness and joy as possible. Both sects spread over Wurttemberg and still exist, but in their common opposition to the destructive tendencies of modern times, they have drawn more closely together. In their chiliasm and rest.i.tutionism they are thoroughly agreed.-The _Collenbuschians_ in Canton Berg propounded a dogmatic system in which Christ empties Himself of His divine attributes, and a.s.sumes with sinful flesh the tendencies to sin that had to be fought against, the sufferings of Christ are attributed to the wrath of Satan, and His redemption consists in His overcoming Satan's wrath for us and imparting His Spirit to enable us to do works of holiness. The most distinguished adherents of Collenbusch were the two Hasencamps and the talented Bremen pastor Menken.

4. _The Rationalistic _"Illumination"_ outside of Germany._-In Amsterdam, in A.D. 1791, a _Restored Lutheran Church_ or _Old Light_ was organized on the occasion of the intrusion of a rationalistic pastor. It now numbers eight Dutch congregations with 14,000 adherents and 11 pastors. Under the name of _Christo Sacrum_ some members of the French Reformed church at Delft, in A.D. 1797, founded a denomination which received adherents of all confessions, holding by the divinity of Christ and His atonement, and treating all confessional differences as non-essential and to be held only as private opinions. In their public services they adopted mainly the forms of the Anglican episcopal church. Though successful at first, it soon became rent by the incongruity of its elements. In England the dissenters and Methodists provided a healthy protest against the lukewarmness of the State church. In _William Cowper_, A.D. 1731-1800, we have a n.o.ble and brilliant poet of high lyrical genius, whose life was blasted by the terrorism of a predestinarian doctrine of despair and the religious melancholy produced by Methodistic agonies of soul.

5. _Missionary Societies and Missionary Enterprise._-In order to arouse interest in the idea of a grand union for practical Christian purposes, the Augsburg elder, John Urlsperger, travelled through England, Holland, and Germany. The Basel Society for Spreading Christian Truth, founded in A.D. 1780, was the first-fruits of his zeal, and branches were soon established throughout Switzerland and Southern Germany. The Basel Bible Society was founded in A.D. 1804, and the Missionary Society in A.D.

1816.-At a meeting of English Baptist preachers at Kettering, in Northamptons.h.i.+re, in A.D. 1792, William Carey was the means of starting the Baptist Missionary Society. Carey was himself its first missionary. He sailed for India in A.D. 1793, and founded the Serampore Mission in Bengal. The work of the society has now spread over the East and West Indies, the Malay Archipelago, South Africa, and South America. A popular preacher, Melville Horne, who had been himself in India, published "Letters on Missions," in A.D. 1794, in which he earnestly counselled a union of all true Christians for the conversion of the heathen. In response to this appeal a large number of Christians of all denominations, mostly Independents, founded in A.D. 1795, the London Missionary Society, and in the following year the first missionary s.h.i.+p, _The Duff_, under Captain Wilson, sailed for the South Seas with twenty-nine missionaries on board. Its operations now extend to both Indies, South Africa, and North America; but its chief hold is in the South Seas. In the Society Islands the missionaries wrought for sixteen years without any apparent result, till at last King Pomare II. of Tahiti sought baptism as the first-fruits of their labours. A victory gained over a pagan reactionary party in A.D.

1815 secured complete ascendency to Christianity. The example of the London Society was followed by the founding of two Scottish societies in A.D. 1796 and a Dutch society in A.D. 1797, and the Church Missionary Society in London in A.D. 1799, for the English possessions in Africa, Asia, etc. The Danish Lutheran (-- 167, 9) and the Herrnhut (-- 168, 11) societies still continued their operations.(80)-Continuation, ---- 183, 184.