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total neglect of religion among the higher, and the more educated classes, the popular indifference to the Sabbath, and the irreligion that extensively prevailed among all ranks.

The causes which have led to this wide and extraordinary deviation from the standard of scriptural belief, among those who still claimed the name of Christians, have been various; and some of them probably remote in time. When Germany responded to the call of Luther to throw off the papal yoke,-a variety of elements, religious and political, were brought together; which, under the control of the great master-hand, sufficed to produce the grand explosion; and to render the leading principles, and doctrines of Protestantism victorious. But when the polemical spirit, which had proved so mighty against the enormities of Rome, was hotly manifested by the agents of the Reformation, among themselves,-pure Christianity was in a great measure reduced to an affair of bitter controversy; which, by infringing on its devotional character, opened the door to future corruption and abuse.

'Human nature is incident to extremes; and when the dead weight of Romanism, which had so long oppressed the human faculties, was lifted off, the re-action was a rage for controversy in the regenerated infant church. This might have sooner spent itself, had the contest been purely theological; but the grand master-mischief, the evil genius of the church, in every age-the legal alliance of religion with the secular power, here, as elsewhere, supplied fuel to the flames of dis. cord; for the Protestant princes of the empire put themselves in the place of the Roman pontiff, by enforcing on the clergy minutely detailed creeds and confessions of faith, by means of pains and penalties.

Hence the fierce enmities, and the intolerance, which displayed themselves among the Protestants during the remainder of the century of the Reformation,-when the German states were depriving of office, banishing, consigning to long imprisonment, or even putting to death by torture, individuals of eminence among the clergy and laity, for differing from the established creeds; and generally in minor points of doctrine. The most virulent hostility was maintained between the Lutherans, who adhered strictly to the letter of Luther's statements, -and the Reformed, who in some points deviated from them; and each of these parties expelled the other from the provinces in which they were respectively predominant.'-Vol. I., pp. 173-176.

After sketching the various systems of philosophy which have at different periods prevailed, our Traveller observes:—

The various forms and degrees of Rationalism which have prevailed in Germany, from about the middle of the eighteenth century, have all been mixed up more or less with several of these systems of philosophy; and the spirit of daring speculation has made dreadful havoc in every department of theology. Although it is true, indeed, that the absolute infidelity, and the Naturalism, in the forms of materialism and pantheism, which have been maintained by some of the philosophers, are not to be confounded with Rationalism properly so called and though we must not charge on the German churches the

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tenets of those who, as Paalzow or Wünsch, have avowedly followed in the steps of the English freethinkers; or have symbolised with them by openly advocating natural religion to the exclusion of Christianity, as Bahrdt, Venturini, and the elder Reimarus, author of the attacks on Revelation contained in the Wolfenbüttel Fragments, edited by Lessing, yet it must be admitted that the contact of theology with these infidel speculations has corrupted it, in Germany, to a far greater extent than it was influenced, in England, by our earlier and more celebrated deists.

The neological method of dealing with Christianity was, in a great measure, brought into fashion by the speculations of Semler, who is recognised as having led the way to modern Rationalism, some of the adherents to which system have gone the length of boldly advocating a decidedly infidel theology. The name Rationalist, or Antisupernaturalist, is applied in Germany, in strictness to those who, while they profess to regard Christianity as a divine institution, and Jesus as the messenger of Providence, sent for the welfare of mankind,—deny that there is any thing in the Scriptures which involves the supernatural or miraculous agency of God, and maintain that Christianity is merely designed to introduce, confirm, and diffuse in the world, a religion to which reason itself might attain. Of this school, though differing in the shades and degrees of their sentiments, have been, among others, the philosophers Steinbart, Kant, aud Krug: and the theologians Teller, Henke, Thiess, Paulus, Schmidt, Löffler, Röhr, Wegscheider, and Schulthess.-De Wette, and Hase, have held a more modified and sentimental kind of rationalism.

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Another class of divines receive the Old and New Testaments as a Revelation from God, in a higher sense than the Rationalists allow; admitting that it may contain things above reason; and regarding it as a depository of divine knowledge, communicated in a mode different from the ordinary course of providence. They do not, therefore, professedly deny the reality of the Scripture miracles; yet they distinguish between the original, and the present evidences of Christianity, in a manner which deprives it of the solid basis on which it rests-historical testimony; for they maintain that whatever might be the effect of the miracles which attended Christianity, at the outset,-the principal, if not the only proof of its divinity to us, is its internal evidence of truth and goodness. To this school have belonged Döderlein, and Morus; and latterly, among others, Von Ammon, Schott, Niemeyer and Bretschneider.

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Though divines of this class have differed in theory, from the rationalists properly so called, it is certain there have been not a few among them who have so far symbolised with the thorough-going rationalistic school, as practically to do away with the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Amidst the chaos of speculations, theological as well as philosophical, that have inundated Germany, the shades and hues of unbelief have been multiform and various; and where the strictest rationalism has not been avowedly maintained, Christianity has often been employed as little more than a kind of veil to some system of human philosophy. Hence among this large class, many of

whom have termed themselves rational-supernaturalists, and supernatural-rationalists, in distinction from the systematic rationalists, the neologistic innovations have prevailed to such a degree as to produce lamentable effects in lowering the general tone of Christianity."

Vol. I. pp. 186— 189.

Happily for Germany, however, this state of things is fast passing away. A decided and extensive change for the better is rapidly taking place in her theological character.

'Some who were once among the supporters of rationalism have, to a greater or less extent, renounced their former sentiments. Others appear to have vacillated between the neological speculations, and the evangelical doctrines. Among the latter are quoted the names of Von Ammon and de Wette; but their most recent productions leave doubtful the reality of any material change in their system. Of the philosophers, Schelling may be mentioned as at present entertaining views more in harmony, than heretofore, with the doctrines of revelation.

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Among those who, while they have failed to embrace the gospel in its simplicity, are nevertheless to be regarded as widely different from the rationalist theologians, and who have led the way to an ultimate return to the doctrines of the Reformation; Schleiermacher is the most conspicuous. This celebrated man was educated in the Moravian faith, and he early imbibed strong impressions of religion. In his maturer years, his highly speculative and ardent mind entered deeply into the spirit of Plato, of some of whose works he is the translator; and he attempted to construct a scheme of theology on a philosophical basis. The grand error of his system consists in giving more prominence to the importance of inward feeling, than to the testimony of Scripture; and in so exclusively fixing his attention on the effects of the gospel on the heart, as too much to neglect the historical basis on which it rests.

So far as relates to the corruption of human nature, the necessity of divine influence; -with its practical efficacy on the character; and the agency of faith as a means of receiving salvation,-Schleiermacher would seem to agree with the bulk of evangelical Christians. He also regarded the recovery of man from the ruin of the fall, as entirely the effect of grace: but in respect to the momentous doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, his system exhibits a marked departure from the statements of the New Testament *. Schleiermacher was professor of theology at Berlin; and died in 1834. Some of his most able followers have advanced much nearer to the truth than himself: among these are Twesten his successor; and Nitzsch of Bonn, both decidedly evangelical.

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The grand change which has commenced in the religious com

Schleiermacher's system omits the Atonement; simply stating, that the reconciliation, (versöhnung,) and the certainty of the Father's love in the Son, consists in the new life derived from Christ and existing in the regenerate. But, while dying, he spoke of the “expiatory death" of Jesus.'

plexion of Protestant Germany, cannot be expected to develop itself in the full glory of its triumphs, without considerable lapse of time. The mystic phantoms of an imaginative philosophy, shifting as the wind, and demanding, with every change, to exercise a wide influence over religion, have taken too firm possession of the German mind, delighting as it does in speculation and in theory, easily to abandon their cherished abode. These phantoms are not merely the tenants of darkness, fleeting when they scent the morning air:' they would fain linger in the dawn, and haunt the twilight. The shadows of philosophic error which have so long obscured Christianity in this interesting country, are already yielding to the returning light: but Rationalism, as holding a sway over the human spirit, can become matter of history only to a future generation; nor can so fascinating and deeply-rooted a figment be speedily eradicated, according to the ordinary course of events, from the national mind: its traces may remain for ages. Vol. I., pp. 191-194.

Amid these changes, how painful is it to observe the slow and faltering steps with which religious liberty makes her way! Civil establishments are, every where alike, the bitter antagonists of all freedom of thought and feeling. The present condition of Holland and of Prussia might, in this respect, well afford matter for deep and serious reflection.

'The Prussian monarch has credit for being sincerely desirous of promoting the cause of true Christianity; but the course he has taken for this end is wholly indefensible. In the greater part of Germany, the Lutherans and the Reformed,-who originated in the school of Calvin,-are now united and in Prussia, the means that have been adopted in order to effect the union have been arbitrary in the extreme; proving that in this country the basis of religious liberty is not more secure than it was in England nearly two centuries ago, at the time of the Act of Uniformity.

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From the beginning of the seventeenth century, the house of Brandenburgh has professed the Reformed faith, while the nation at large has been Lutheran; and from the time when the country was erected into a kingdom, in 1701, one of the favourite objects of the monarchs, with the exception of Frederick the Great, appears to have been to produce a compulsory uniformity, though at the expense of the religious liberties of the Lutherans. The present king has shewn a determination fully to centre in his own person the supreme government of the church, as well as of the state; and, in 1822, the New Liturgy appeared under his sanction. In this formula of worship, the doctrines peculiar to each party were omitted, while the Reformed service was assimilated to the Lutheran, by some additional ceremonies.

In 1830, the adoption of the royal liturgy was no longer left optional: it was enjoined, in a revised form, to be used in all churches, Lutheran and Reformed; with a view to remove, as much as possible, the distinction between the two denominations, and to merge both in the common name of Die Evangelische Kirche. In this newly formed community, were to be blended the most heterogeneous and conflict

VOL. XVI.-N.S.

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ing opinions;-strict and modern Lutheranism; the whole chaos of Rationalism, in its various shades and gradations; the doctrine of the Heidelberg catechism, as held by most of the Reformed; and the decided Calvinism which has its principle seat at Elberfield, with Krummacher as its leader.

The consequences of this unjustifiable and anti-christian attempt to force uniformity between two religious bodies, have naturally been similar to those which have been witnessed in every age and nation in which the civil magistrate has assumed a legislative power over the affairs of religion. These effects have been especially felt in Silesia. Those who have refused to utter their prayers according to the mandate of the royal "Supreme Bishop," have been pronounced "rebellious" against the State;-useful men, both as pastors and as professors, have been deprived of their offices, and driven into exile from their native country;-Lutheran clergymen have been prohibited from the public exercise of their religion;—children have been taken by force from their parents, to be baptized by the clergy who have bowed to the new order of things;-some individuals have been imprisoned ;— others have been fined, or have suffered the loss of their goods;-the new liturgy has been introduced, in some cases, at the point of the bayonet ;-and in 1834, in order to make the Lutherans feel that the attempt to retain their religion was hopeless, all persons were prohibited from exercising worship in a private house, in presence of any one who was not a member of the family.

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It is no wonder that, impelled by the galling pressure of these persecutions, many families have sought that religious liberty on the other side of the Atlantic, which was denied them in the land of their fathers. When will the rulers of the earth cease to tyrannize over conscience, and to usurp the throne of Christ! These persecutions have already set men reflecting, in Germany, more than ever, on the question of human authority in the church of God; and there is no room for doubt, to those who observe the signs of the times, that the voice of truth and reason must ultimately prevail.'

Vol. I., pp. 205-208.

Had we room, our readers would, we are sure, be much gratified by the perusal of extended extracts relating to the present aspect of religion in Geneva and Basle, and more especially in France. The information thus furnished is highly valuable, and both Professor Hoppus and the friends by whom he has been assisted in obtaining it, merit our warmest thanks*.

The historical notices which are scattered through these volumes, form no unimportant part of their contents. Belgic history, and the causes of the Belgic revolution in 1830, together with an outline of German history, occupy about seventy pages of the first volume; while sketches of French history, of the revolution of 1789, and of the rise and fall of Napoleon, take up

The Author acknowledges his obligations to the Rev. Robert Baird, of Paris, and to the Rev. Dr. Paterson, for important information and assistance.

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