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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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PRINCIPLE OF PROTESTANTISM

AS BELATED TO THE

PRESENT STATE OF THE CHURCH,

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TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN WITH AN
INTRODUCTION
By John W. Nevin, D. D

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TIIE

PRINCIPLE OF PROTESTANTISM

AS RELATED TO THE

PRESENT STATE OF THE CHURCH.

BV
FHI1.IF SCHAF, Ph. D.
Professor of Church History and Biblical Literature in the
Theological Seminary of the Ger. Ref. Church.

THANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
WITH AN
INTRODUCTION
By JOHN W. NEVIN, D.D.

'PUBLICATION office" OP THE GERMAN REPOBMED CHURCH.

1845.

COPVRIGHT SECURED ACCORDING TO LAW.

mXRODUCTION.
The work, of which a translation is here presented to the English
public, has grown out of the author's Inaugural Address, delivered at
Reading on tbe 25th of October, 1844, and still retains to some extent
its original form. Only a part of the Address however as previously
prepared, was spoken at that time ; and it lias been since considerably
changed and enlarged in the way of preparation for the press. It ia
now accordingly more like a book than a pamphlet. Ifthismaybe
supposed to require any apology, it is found in the difficulty and impor
tance of the subject, and in the anxiety of the vinriter to have his views
with regard to it fully understood, from the first, by the Church which
has called him into her service. Both, the difficulties and perils of the
subject indeed were felt to be greater in the progress of the work than,
had been anticipated at the start ; and hence it became necessary that.
the investigation, only to do justice to itself, should be extended in the
same proportion.
It is trusted that the circumstances which have led to the publica--
tion, will exonerate the author, in the view of all. reasonable persons,
from the charge of any improper presumption, in venturing so soon;
before the American public with; the discussion of so momentous a
theme. He has himself felt sensibly the delicacy of his position in
this respect ; and would have been glad in the end to have kept back
the work entirely, if circumstances had permitted, until he might have
become more fully acquainted with the relations of the Church in this
country, that so no room^ might have been left for the semblance of
impropriety even in his making them the subject of public remark. But
the case has been one, which he had no power, properly speaking, to
control. His inauguration made it necessary that he should deliver
an address ; and he felt it to be due to the solemnity of the occasion,
that he should select a theme of central interest, belonging to the life
ofthe age, and suited to reveal his own general position with regard to
the Church, The theme, as already mentioned, has controled the

4?
ciharacter of the discussion. The publication of the whole in its,,
present form, has been in obedience simply to the law, by which in
the nature of the case every such address is required to ap])ear also in
print.' The work besides has been prepared primarily and immediate-.
ly for the use of the German Reformed Church in this country, and
with an eye mainly upon the German community in general. As now
translated moreover, it is still a work intended directly of course for
the German Church so far as this has become English ; thoughit ia
expected, of course, that it will command 'in this i'orm a still wider
interest, h any view however, the responsibility of the translation
belongs not to the author.
In the circumstances, described, it,, i^ not strange certainly that the
work should be pervaded with a true transatlantic German tone, from
beginning to end. I have endeavoured indeed to make the translation
run smooth and free in English, so far as the mere language is concern
ed. But the method, an.d argument, aiiid )hough.t, will be found to a
great extent invincibly German still. How could it in fact be other
wise ? The writer's entire nature and constitution are German. His
whole "Entjv.ickelung," besides has proceeded from ihe first, in the
element of German thought and feeling, under the active power of a,
thoroughly German education ; up to the moment, when without all
previous expectation on his own part, he found himself as by a divine
voice constrained to quit Berlin for Mereersburg. In such a case, who
would expect him to appear here in any different character! He is
entitled to indulgence at least, as not yet having bad-time to become
fully American. But we may go farther, and say that no such renun
ciation of the German order of thinking, if it were even possible in
such d. case, would be either desirable or proper. He had no reason
certainly to anticipate, that, in coming to this country, he would be
required to divest himself of his old life, and become absolutely re -
constructed, as a preliminary condition to all right activity in his new
sphere. And the Church never intended certainly to insist on any
such conditions. Why call a professor from Germany, if all that is
German in the man is to be left behind, or as soon as possible for
gotten t Is he to receive all from those to whom he comes, and bring
to them nothing of his own l- Must he denationalize himself, lay
aside his own nationality as barbarous and false ; and not rather seek
to make it available, as far as it may have value, for the improvement

of'the new life which has received him into its bosom ? These
questions it might seem hardly necessary to ask. And yet it is possi
ble, that some may be disposed after all to find fault with the present
w^rk as too German; just as if in the circumstances, it either could
have been, or should have been, in the fullest sense "Native Ameri
can."*

The case of Professor Schaf has been somewhat singular. No
man could well be more thoroughly German, in his whole con
stitution and character. Perhaps no one has ever come into the
country, with more zeal for the consecration and advancement
of edl properly German interests as such. And yet, strange to
tell, no foreigner has ever before encountered among us, within
the same time, such a tide of reproach from his own country
men, on the charge of being untrue to the, honor of his nation.
'Within three months from the time of his arrival upon our
shores, a perfect whirlwind of excitement may be said to have been
raised against him, among the foreign German population, from
one end of the land to the other ; which has only of late begun
to subside, in the way of sheer self-exhaustion ; for even whirl
winds, if they are let alone, must in the end blow themselves to
rest. The occasion of the uproar was a sermon preached by
Professor Schaf, in connection with ins ordination at Elberfeld,
in Prussia, just before he came to America ; with reference
particularly to the moral desolations of the field, in which he
was called to labor. In the nature ofthe case, the dark side of
the subject was brought into view, especi-ally as constituted by
the character to some extent ofthe em'igration itself from Ger
many to America ; including, as it was known to do, in connec
tion with much good, a large portion also of very different ma-.
teri'al. Various classes in particular were described, who raight
be said to have left their country for their country's good, car
rying with them to tire new world dispositions and tendencies
unfriendly to all right order in the State and all true religion in
the Church. The sermon was afterwards translated and pub
lished in this country. In this form, it fell under the eye of
some, who immediately set themselves at work to turn it to
mischief. A single p-aragraph was retranslated into German,
and sent thus to circulate through the political German prints cf
the land, without the least regard to its original connections,
with such inflammatory comments as malignant passion w,is
pleased to invent. 'Various communications appeared at dif
ferent points, intended to rouse, if possible, general indignation. ,
The author of the sermon, it was said, had slandered and vili
fied the whole German emigration ; betrayed his country ; sold ¦
himself to the service of the Native American party ; and de- ~
served properly to be tarred and feathered, or drummed out of
the land, as not ,worthy to enjoy its free air, . The German
1*

Some indeed seem to have the idea, that whatever is characteristical- .
ly German, must be theologically bad. Especially the philosophy of
Germany is regarded as almost universally either infidel or absurd, and
incapable altogether of being turned to any serviceable account in
connectiop with religion. Now I would be sorry to appear as the
apologist of either the German philosophy or the German theology as
a whole. Few probably have been exercised with more solemn fears
than myself, in this very direction. One thing however is most cer
tain. The zeal aflfected by a large class of persons inthis country,
against German thinking, is not according to knowledge. A judgment
which is based, in any such case, on the assumption that there is
nothing defective or onesided in the system of thought and life out of'
which it has itself sprung ; especially if it proceed from such as show,
palpably thiit they have never been able to transcend that system in

mind is vastly excitable,,and not particularly noted for its mod-.
eration when under excitement. It was soon thrown accor-.
dingly into a perfect tempest of commotion, through the whole
length and breadth of the United States. The name of Dr.
Schaf was at once made famous, in every direction. Within
the course of a *few weeks, as many perhaps as thirty different
papers were poured in upon him, to let him know how heartily
he was hated and cursed. Indignatiori meetings were held at a
number of places, at which valoi-qus speeches, and still more
valorous resolutions, were exploded, iij vindication ofthe Ger
man honor. All this on the part of a vast body of people, not
one of whom probably had ever seen the original sermon of
Professor Schaf, as published in Krummacher's Palmbleettei;
not one in a thousand of whom probably had ever seen the
translation of it, as published in the Weekly Messenger ; and of
whose whole number, not one of a hundred perhaps could say
when, where, or how the offense had occurred, with which
they were called to be so terribly displeased. In fact, however,
the movement is to be referred to a much deeper ground. The
whole occasion has served, beyond any previous development,
to reveal the true character of the foreig'n Gernian population in
our country. This is reckoned to be now. more than a million,
perhaps a million and a half strong,, and is rapidly increasing
every year. Beyond all doubt, it includes a large aniount of
virtuous and excellent character. At the same time, it has
been equally certain all along, that elements of an infidel,
disorganizing ord^r, have been comprehended in it to a serious'
extent. But no demonstration has befqre occurred so well
suited as the one now in view, to set the matter in its true
light, and to awaken apprehensipn in the direction here noticed.
Because it has been abundantly evident to all who have been in.

its traditional form at a single point, and who may be possibly alto-.
gether ignorant besides even of the language which includes the
foreign mind they presume to charge with folly; a judgment so cir
cumstanced, I say, can never b^ entitled to much respect. It is an,
immense mistake, to assume that the Anglo-American order cf religious
life is all right, and the German life iu tbe same respect all wrong.
Both forms of existence include qualities of; the highest value, with'
corresponding defects and false tendencies. What is needed is a
judicious union of both, in which th,e true and, good, on either side
shall find its proper supplement in the true and good of the other, and
onesided extremes st.and mutually corrected and reciprocally restrained.
Realism and Idealism, practice and theory, are both, separately taken,
unsound and untrue. Their truth holds, Ciin hold onLy in their union.
We are a practical people pre-eminently, and are entitled to great credit

a situation tQ understand the case, that the uproar which it has
been contrived to create against Professor Schaf, is attributable
properly not to an honest zeal for the credit of the German.
name as such> but to a secret hostility to the religious views
and principles of which he is considered a distinguished repre
sentative. At the bottom of the whole movement is to be
traced distinctly, the spirit of political libertinism and intolerant,
rationalistic fanaticism ; answering too truly to a part of
the sketcli presented in, the Elherfeld sermon, and, lending it
light and confirmation beyond all that could have been anticii
pated in tha same form previously. The active part taken in
the business by certain rationalist ministers, serves only of
course to establish this charge. The papers which have behu
making a noise in the case, reveal th.eir ii religious character in ,
general with very little disguise ; and the same thing may be
said of the proceedings of the indignation meetings. In some
instances, the displays of rationalism have been carried to the
point of downright blasphemy. One sh?et in,New York has.
shown itself particularly vile and abominable in thjs way. .
Altogether the movement has been carried forward in the most
low and ribald style. It has however served one important
purpose, in the case of Professor Schaf, besides revealing more
than had been revealed before ofthe spirit of this section of our
foreign population. It has shown clearly, in how little sympa
thy he stands with the Rationalism and Radicalism with which
we are so unfortunately invaded from abroad. From no quarter
has he been so immediately and violently repelled, as with an ,
ii^stinctive consciousness of irreconcilable opposition. This in
the circumstances must be counted a high advantage ; one of
the greatest recommendations, in fact, under which a learned
Gjerman divine could maJ^e hia appearance in, our country.

on this account. But it is in vain to expect that in this character
simply we shall be able to do our duty to the world or to the Church
of Christ. All great epochs in the world's development after all, owe
their presence primarily to theory and speculation. Our religious life
and practice can be sound and strong, only in connection with a living,
vigorous theology. But to be thus living and vigorous, our theology
must be more than traditional. It must keep pace with the onward
course of human thought, subduing it always with renewed victory to
its own power. Not by ignoring the power of error, or fulminating
upon it blind ecclesiastical anathemas, can theology be saved from
death ; but only by meeting and overcoming it in the strength of the
Lord. Now this requires, in our day, a legitimate regard in this form
to the errors of Germany in particular. For it is preposterous to sup
pose, tbat in the most speculative portion ofthe whole Christian world,
these errors stand in no connection with the general movement of the
world's mind,,or that they do not need to be surmounted by a fresh ad
vance on the part of truth, as being only tbe dead repetition of previous
ly vanquished falsehood. In immediate contact with the evil, the
friends of religion in Germany itself know the case to be different. ,
There it is felt, that theology must advance so as fairly to conquer, or
die. We raay not feel the pressure of the sarae necessity. But this is
no evidence, that we stand on higher or surer ground. In the end,
our theology, to be worth anything as a science, must be carried over
this limitation. It may not devolve on us possibly to achieve the work
f-~ ourselves. We may trust rather that this precisely is the special
commission ofthe Church in Germany itself, the land of Luther andthe
glorious Reformation. Certainly at this very time, the struggle with
error may be regarded as most auspicious and full of promise. And if
there be one country in the whole compass of the Church, where at
this moment orthodox theology is not dead, but full of life and spirit
and power, that country is Germany. We may hope then it will be
found sufficient for its own work. This however when accomplished,
must be viewed as a work properly for the whole Christian world ; arid
we owe it to ourselves at least, to be willing to take advantage ofit in
its progress, and to employ it for the improvement of our own position,
if it can be so used. , ,,
Thus much I have thought it proper to say on this point, merely to
counteract, if possible, the poor prejudice, that some may feel towards

the present work, simply because of its German source and German,
complexion ; as it all must needs be either rationalistic or transcen
dental, that breathes a thought in common with Hegel, or owns a
feeling in sympathy with the gifted, noble Schleiermacher.
But after all, the work stands in no special need of apology in this
direction. It is raore likely to be met with distrust, in certain quarters,
under a different view. It raay seera to occupy suspicipu,s ground,
with regard to the Church question. With the arguraent iei Protes-
tantisra, in the first part,, in its po,-;itive, separate character, even the
most rigid iu their zeal for this inte.est, can h'drdly f.iil to be generally
satisfied. But some may not like the relations in which it is raade to
stand, nor the consequences it is made to involve. And then they are
still less lihely of course to be pleased, with the furraal development of
these consequences in the part that follows. Thf-y may think that too
much is surrendered, in the controversy with Oxford and Rorae. They
may not be willing to endure, that the nakedness of Protestantism, in
its modern position, should be so freely exposed. It is always dif
ficult, in the case of earnest, violent controversy, to have an eye for
anything less than extremes. All must be right in one direction, and,
all must be wrong in the other ; although in fact, no great controversy
in the Church is ever precisely of this character. So at this time, the
excitement which prevails on the subject of Popery and Puseyism, and
for which undoubtedly there is good reason, must naturally render it
hard for many, to exercise any moderate judgment upon questions that
lie in this direction. In such circumstances then particularly, there is
some danger that the present publication may not escape censure, in
the view already mentioned.
This much however is certain, at the same time. The work will
not be regarded by puseyites and papists as a plea in their favor. Ra
ther, if I am not much mistaken, it will be felt hy them, so far as it
may come under their observation, to be one of the most weighty and
effective arguraents they have yet been called to encounter, in this
country, in opposition to their cause. For it is not to he disguised,
that a great deal of the war which is now carried on in this direction,
is as little adapted to make any impression on the enemy, as a battery
ofi popguns in continual fire. Instead cf being alarmed or troubled on its
account, the enemy is no doubt pleased with it at heart. Nothing can,

10
be more vain than to imagine, that a blind and indiscriminate warfare'
here can lead to any true and lasting advantage. Not with circum"
stances and accidents simply must the controversy grapple, but with
principles in their inmost life, to reach any result. The present ar
gument accordingly, in throwing itself back upon the true principle of
Protestantism, with a full acknowledgment of the difficulties that
surround it, while proper pains are taken to put them out ofthe way,
may be said to occupy the only ground, on which any effectual stand^
can be made against the claims of Rome.
To contend successfully with any error, it is all important that we
should understand properly and acknowledge fairly the truth in which
it finds its life. The polemic who assails such a system as popery or
puseyism with the assumption that its pretensions are built upon sheer
wind, shows himself utterly unfit for his work, and must necessarily
betray more or less the cause he has undertaken to defend. All error
of this sort involves truth, apprehended in a onesided and extreme
way, with the sacrifice of truth in the opposite direction. Hence a
purely negative opposition to it, bent simply on the destruction of the
system as a whole, must itself also become inevitably onesided and
false, and can only serve so far to justify and sustain what it labors to
overthrow. Romanism includes generally some vast truth in everyone
of its, vast errors ; and no one is prepared to make war upon the error,
who has not felt, in his inmost soul, the authority of its imprisoned
truth, and who is not concerned to rescue and save this, while the pris
on itself is torn to the ground. In this view, no respect is due to an
infidel or godless zeal, when it may happen to be turned in this direc
tion ; and that must be counted always a spurious religious zeal, which
can suffer itself to be drawn into communion with such an irreligious
element, simply because for the moment it has become excited against
Rome. It is greatly tobe feared, that the spirit into which some are
betrayed in this way is unhallowed and profane, even where they take
to themselves tb^e credit of the most active zeal for the glory of God.
So with regard to puseyism. Nothing can well be more shallow, than
the convenient imagination that the system is simply a religious mon
strosity, engrafted on the body ofthe Church from without, and calling
only for a wholesale amputation to effect a cure. Such a supposition
is contradicted, to every intelligent mind, by the history ofthe system
itself. No new phase of religion could so spread and prevail as thia.

II
:has done, within so short a period of time, if it did not embody in itself^,
along with all its errors, the moving force of some mighty truth, whose
rights needed to be asserted, and the want ofwhichhadcometohe felt in
the living consciousness ofthe Church, vastly farther than it w^a clearly
understood. If the evils against which the system protests were pure
ly imaginary, it could never have acquired so ^olid a cliaracter itself, as
it has done in fact. Most assuredly the case is one, that calls for some
thing more than a merely negative and destructive opposition. Only
by acknowledging and honoring that which is true and good in the
movement, is it possible to come to any right issue with it so far as it
is false. The truth which it includes must be reconciled with the
truth it rejects, in a position more advanced than its own, before it can
be said to be fairly overcome. In this view, it is not saying too much
to affirra, that a large part of thc controversy directed against it thus
far, has been of very little force. It has been too blind and undiscrim-
inating, as onesidedly false in its own direction at times, as the error
it has opposed in the other. Our newspapers, and reviews, and
pamphlets and books, show too often, that the question is only half
understood by those who undertake to settle its merits. While they
valiantly defend the citadel of Protestantism at one point, they
leave il miserably exposed to the attacks of its enemies at another.
With many it might seem to be the easiest thing in the world, to de
molish the pretensions of this High Church systera. Its theory ofthe
Church is taken to be a sheer figment ; its idea cf the sacraments, a
baseless absurdity ; its reverence for forms, a senseless superstition.
The possibility of going wrong in the opposite direction, is not appre
hended at all. Such a posture however witb regard to the subject, is
its&\( prima f^icie evidence that those who occupy it, are not competent
to do justice to the case.
Some have told ns, that the controversy comes simply to this,
whether we shall have a religion of forms, or a religion of the spirit.
They claim accordingly to be the friends of inward, living, practical
piety, and charge upon the opposite tendency a secret disaffection to
this great interest, as exalting the letter above the life, and substitu
ting for the fact its mere, sign. But the issue in this form is false.
Religion is the union of soul and body, spirit and matter. To resolve!
it into naked forms, is indeed to part with tho substance for mere
show ; but it is just as vain to think of holding the substance, where

13
forms are treated with contempt. The man who takes the issue in the
way now stated, shows himself to be disqualified for the controversy.
Because it is not a question with him then simply as to the quality or
quantity cf forms ; whence they shall come and how far they shall
reach ; but a question as to the right forms have to be included in the
idea of religion at all ; in the case of which he shows clearly, that his
own conception of the true nature of religion is onesided and false.
He will be a spiritualist only, and not a formalist. Why not then be
come at once a Quaker 1 In its own nature, the issue is false. No
such alternative as it 'supposes, has any place in the idea of religion.
It separates vv'hat God has joined together. Not soul ur body, hut soul
and body, is the formula that represents humanity, as truly after its
union with Christ as before. The issue is false, monstrously false ; and
the champion who takes ground upon it, is not fit to be entrusted with
the interests of truth, in opposition to Oxford or in any otlier direction.
Again we are told tbe controversy has for its object the question,
whether salvation be an individual concern or something that comes
wholly by the Church; the fruit of a private, separate transaction of
the subject with God's word and Spirit, or the product of a more com
prehensive, inexplicable force, residing in the mystical btjdy of Christ,
and showing itself particularly in and through the sacraments. But
here again the issue is false, and those who ])lant themselves upon it,
only betray their own incompetency for intermeddling with the subject.
Ecolesiasticisra, as held by Rorae and also by Oxford, is indeed a
terrible error ; but it does not follow that the mere negation of ecclesias-
ticism is the truth. The error itself includes a truth ; a vast, great,
precious, glorious truth ; and if our negation annihilate this along
with the error, it has become itself an error as false as the othcr. The
position that religion is an individual interest, a strictly personal concern,
a question between a man singly and his maker, is one which it would
be treason to the gospel to reject. He that believeth shall be saved ;
he that believeth not shall be damned. Every tree that bareth not
good fruit, is hewn down and oast into the fire. Here is a vast, vital
truth. But if it be so held as to exclude the dependence of the indivi
dual spiritual life, on the general life of the Church, it becomes ne
cessarily onesided and false. Individualism without the Church, is
as little to be trusted as ecolesiasticisra without individual experience.
Both separately taken are false, or the truth only in a onesided way '

13
and the falsehood, sooner or later, must make itself practically felt.
The full truth is the urtion of the two. Every issue then which puts
them apart, must be counted an untrue issue ; and as before said, the
very fact that any man should make it, in contending with popery or
puseyism, proves him unfit for the task he has been pleased to assume.
So again when the controversy is made to lie between the liberty of
private judgment and the authority ofthe Church, the issue is equally
false. And the matter is not mended at all, but only made worse,
when the alternative is exhibited as holding between the Bible and the
Church. It is indeed an abominable usurpation, when the Church
claims to be the source of truth for the single christian separately from
the bible, or the absolutely infallible interpreter of the sense of the
bible itself; and so requires him to yield his judgment blindly to her
authority and tradition. But it is a presumption equally abominable,
for a single individual to cast off all respect for Church authority and
Church life, and pretend to draw his faith immediately from the biblej
only and wholly through the narrow pipe-stem of his own private
judgment. No one does so in fact. Our most bald, abstract sects
even, show themselves here as much under atithority almost as papists
themselves. Where shall we find a greater traditionist than the
Scotch Seceder 1 Who less free ordinarily in the exercise of what he
calls his private judgment, upon the sense of scripture] His ecclesias-
tico-theological system, as handed down by his Church, or fraction of
a Church, sways his interpretation at every point. Such a thing as an
absolutely abstract private judgment we meet with in no denomination,
party, or sect. But if wc had it, what would it be worth ) Or so far
as we [find anything like an approximation to it, to what honor or con
fidence is it entitled "J For at the last, what sort of comparison can
there be between the naked judgment of a single individual and the
general voice of the Church ? The argument from prescription here,
is one which no spiritually sane mind can despise. We employ it
with overwhelming force against the Anti-trinitarian, the Anti-pedo-
baptist, the Anti-sacramental Quaker, and the whole host of fanatical
upstarts who modestly undertake to make the world believe, that the
City of God has been buried for eighteen centuries like Herculaneum
and Pompeii, and is now to be dug out of the scriptures for the first
iime by such aa themselves. Even the theories of a learned man are

14
deservedly borne down by the weight of this authority ; clothed in such
a form, for instance, as it carries in opposition to the fancy of Prof.
Bush, when he tries to persuade us that the resurrection of believers
takes place at their death. The private judgment of a Grotius, as such.,
is a sraall thing as corapared with the judgraent of the Church. But
weare told, the issue is properly, not between a Grotius or a George
Fox and the Church, but between the Bible and the Church, evangel-
isra and ecclesiasticism. As if the bible could interpret itself, with
out the intervention of a human judgment, either public or private !
There is gross sophistry in the alternative, as thus presented. In any
true statement of the case, neither the judgment of the Church nor
that of the individual, is to be exhibited as a professedly separate
source of truth. Romanism and Rationalism, inthis view, fall here in
opposite directions under the same condemnation. The only fair al
ternative lies between the bible as apprehended by the Church, and
the same bible as apprehended by an individual, or by some party or
sect to which he may happen to belong. Shall the Church interpret
the bible for the single believer, or shall he interpret it for himself ?
The question comes at last to this. But the issue, in such form, is
false. Neither side of the alternative separately taken is true; and
yet neither is absolutely untrue. The Church may err ; and every
man is bound to exercise his own reason, in things pertaining to his
[ salvation. But still the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
I The bible lives and has power as God's word, only in and by the
Church, the body of Christ. It is most certain then, that pri vate judg
ment, extrinsical to all felt communion with the life of the Church, as
a continuation through all centuries of the life of Jesus Christ, is
entitled to no confidence whatever. Private judgment, or if any one
please, the use of the bible in this form, is a sacred right, to be parted
with for no price by those whom tlie truth has made free ; but it can
hold only in the element of true Church authority. In proportion
precisely as the sense of that general life which has constituted the
unity ofthe Church from the beginning, is found tobe wanting in any
individual ; in proportion precisely as it is possible for him to abjure
all respect forthe organic whole, in virtue of which only he can have
any life as a part ; in proportion precisely as he is ruled by the feeling,
that the bible is to be interpreted, as a revelation just fallen frora
heaven, without any regard to the development of its contents, the

15
stream of its living waters, as carried forward in the faith of Christen-
d'om, from the beginning down to the present time ; in the same propor
tion I say precisely, must such an individual, be his qualifications and'
resources in other respects what they may, be counted an unsafe ex
pounder of God's word, either for himself or for others. The bible
mirrored frora his mere private judgment, as thus sundered frora all
proper Church consciousness, is likely to reveal butlittle ofthe mind of
the Spirit. The issue then as made between the Bible and the Church,
is false and sophistical ; and the polemic who takes ground upon it as
though it were of any real force, only shows hiraself again unequal to
the wants of this great controversy.
The case requires a reconciliation of these unhappily divided inter
ests, in such forra that the truth which each includes may be saved in
the union of both. This of course is not to be reached, by yielding to
Rome. The very nature of the papacy is that it sacrifices the rights of
th-e individual wholly to the authority of the Church, which so far at
the same time becomes itself false and dead. Puseyism is but a re
turn towards the same error. We need not this. But as little may
we feel ourselves abidingly satisfied, with the mere contrary. What is
to be reached after, as the true normal form of the Christian life, is
such an inward marriage of the two general tendencies, as shall be
sufficient to make them one. There is no reason at all why zeal for
experimental godliness, and zeal for the idea ofthe Church, should not
go hand in hand together. The single case of Paul, to say nothing of
Augustine, and Anselm, and Luther, and many others that might be
named, may furiiish full proof to the contrary. Who more zealous for
all that is comprehended in the personal piety and personal freedom of;
the single believer ? And yet who more carried away and ruled con
tinually by the idea of the Church, as the body of Christ, and the
organic whole in which and bywhich alone all individual Christian
vitality must be upheld and carried forward to its proper perfection ?
This is the only form in which religion can deserve to be considered
complete. This is to be regarded as the true consummation of the
Church, in which the life of the whole body and the life of all its parts,
may be expected to proceed harmoniously and vigorously together.
Towards the full and final accomplishment of this glorious result,
should be directed the prayers and efforts of all, who love the prosperity
Qf-Zion or seek the salvation ofthe world.

16
Or will it be seriously pretended by any, competent to discern the
signs ofthe time, that the state of the Church at present involves no-
necessity, for looking or reaching after any such new position % Is all
that is wanted, for the great ends of the gospel, that is for the actuali
zation in full of the idea ofthe E^ingdom of God in the world, the sim
ple annihilation of all the elements and tendencies embraced in the ob-,
jective Church system as such, and the undisputed supremacy of the
opposite subjective interest, in the form in which it now prevails in the
Protestant world ? Can we say of Protestantism, that, as it now stands,
it forms the true, complete, symmetrical, and ultimate state of Chris
tianity ; or that this requires at most, only that its existing tendencies
should be carried out still farther in the same direction ? They must be
dull of vision truly, who can impose upon themselves so far as this.
Vast evils, and tendencies tliat must, if carried out, inevitably defeat
the whole movement, are palpably incorporated at this time with its
very constitution. These must be acknowledged and put away, before
it can be expected to prevail. Taking the present state of Protestan
tism as ultimate and complete, we must despair of its being able to
stand against its enemies. Our faith in its divine mission can be in
telligent, only as we confidently trust that it will yet in due time sur-.
mount its own present position, and stand forth redeemed, and disen-!.
thralled from the evils that now oppress it, to complete the Reformation
so auspiciously begun in the sixteenth century. The necessity of some
such new order of things is coming to be more and more sensibly felt ;
and may we not trust, that the way for it is fast beinff prepared, though
to our narrow view, chaotically still and without light, in the ever
deepening and extending agitation, with which men's minds are be
ginning to be moved, as it might seem all the world over, in this direc-,
tion. The feeling that we are on the eve of some vast religious revo-.
lution, by which a new epoch shall be constituted in the development
of the history of the Church as a whole, has taken strong possession
of many ofthe first minds in Europe. And it is quite evident that in
this country too, a sentiment of the same general sortis steadily gain
ing ground. Men feel that they have no right to be satisfied with the
actual state of the Church, and they are not satisfied with it in fact.
That there is reason in these circumstances for looking with appre
hension towards popery, particularly in these United States, is not to
bedpubted.' Both the author and translator ofthe present work, partici^

17
pate in. this apprehension, to a greater extent probably than most of
those, who may be ready to exclaim against it as treasonable to the
Protestant interest. The danger however is of a much deeper kind,
than is often imagined. It lies principally in tlic fact, that we have
come to such a crisis in the history of religion as has just been men
tioned ; involving for the moment at least a reaction in the direction of
Rome, and making it necessary for the Protestant interest to advance
to a new position, in order to save itself ; while at the sarae time, those
who stand forth in its defence show themselves too generally ignorant
of the true posture of the case, and not unfrequently by their blind
misguided zeal only help on in fact the cause they oppose. Meantime
Romanism, with an instinctive sense ofthe importance and critical op
portunity of the time, is putting forth vast policy and immense efibrt,
for the purpose of securing the land.. The system is growing rapidly.
It is beginning to assume a bold and confident tone. All its
works are on a large scale, and all its enterprises are crowned
with success. No religious body is advancing at the same rate..
Then it is a united, well organized phalanx, from one end ofthe
land to the other. Protestantism, alas, is a divided interest. Most
assuredly the danger that threatens us on the side of popery, [is
real and great. ' But for this very reason it is not to be turned aside by
superficial declamation, hard names, or blind opprobrious epithetsj
especially if with all this no corresponding zeal be shown, to build up
and clothe with strength the positive life of Protestantism itself. Still
we will hope, that the end of all these things is destined to be different
from what might seem to be their tendency at this time. It belongs to
the crisis of the age, that along ^with this new impulse imparted to
popery in the way of life, the same systera is itself made to tremble at
other points with infirraities and disorders that threaten its very exis
tence. All this ia included in the chaotic struggle, by which the way
is to be opened for that new epoch which seems to be at hand ; and
which, it may be with good assurance expected,, will be, not a retro
gression ofthe Church tO' papal bondage, but an advance by the grace
of God to the true standpoint of Protestant Catholicism.
The present state of Protestantism is only interimistic. It can save
itself, only by passing beyond itself. In this country particularly, ,
our sect system is an evil that may be said to prey upon the very vitals
ofthe Church. The evil itself however is but the index of a false
element, incorporated with the life of Protestantism itself. The case-
2*

18
then is not to be remedied, by any merely external change- Wte are-
not called to a crusade against sects as they stand ; as though by
storming them to the ground, we could do for Christianity all that is
needed in this direction. Only as the sect principle can be reached
and cured in the inward habit ofthe Church, may any such revolution,,
(in connection with the openings and orderings of God's providence,)
be expected to take place, as the existing crisis demands. Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. We are not to
run before God, nor to take his work rashly and violently into our own
hands. All true redemption and salvation, in- the case of the Church,
must come in the way of historical development, self-mediated under
God, and in a, certain sense self-produced. Still it may not be said,
that on this account we are at liberty to sit absolutely still, inwardly
as well as outwardly, passively content with the present, in the midst
of the onward flow of the counsels of the Almighty.. If ;Our present-
position be unsound, it is right that we should feel it, and lay it so
lemnly to heart ; that we may not cling to the old superstitlously, like
the papists in the age. of the Reformation, when the fulness of time is
come for. the new. Though we may, not be able to see at once how our
sect leprosy is to be healed, it must be a great evil still to justify it as -
something compatible with good health, or to acquiesce in it patiently
as merely a necessary inconvenience. What is first of all and most of
all needed, in the circumstances,. as a preliminary to the coming of a
more glorious Church epoch,'is that the Protestant Christian mind gen--
erally should be brought to see more and more the actual wants ofthe-
time, and thus be engaged to sigh and reach after the deliverance,
which in that case might be supposed to be at hand.
Some, I know, have no faith in thi? idea of Church progress. Ra
ther they regard it, as derogatory to the perfect character ofthe gospel,
and false to the true unity ofthe Christian life. The subject is oiie of
great importance, and very liable to be misapprehended ; and as the
light particularly in which it has lately been exhibited by Professor
Bush, in his "Anastasis" or theory of the resurrection, cannot be re-.
garded perhaps as exactly the most fortunate, it seems proper to bestpw
upon it here some additional consideration.
The knowledge of revelation, Mr. Bush tells us, is progressive.
Biit the progress he seems to have in his mind, may be said to be more

19
of an outward than inward sort. The knowledge ofthe truth is expect*.
ed to grow only by accretion, accumulating new material in an exter
nal, mechanical way. A certain number of truths are taken to be at
hand for all, clear and complete from the beginning. But along with
these are many dark things in the bible ; which corae to be understood
gradually, by dint of study and helps of science, improved hermeneuti-
oal apparatus, and new external facilities and' opportunities generally.
The discoveries thus made are to be added' from age to age to the
knowledge previously collected; so that the quantity ofit may be con
tinually increased ; and this is [what we are to understand by the law-
of progress and gradual development ifi the sphere of, religion. Now it
is certainly true, that the case does include the conception of such en
largement simply from without ; although it is clear, that the form ift
which this conception is presented by Professor Bush is perilous as
Rationalism itself; For if all foreign science as such have a right to
require that its discoveries, so far as they may seem to be related to re
ligion, shall be allowed to assist in shaping its structure and making
out the sum of its contents in a merely external, mechanical way, the
independent life fof Christianity may be considered" gone at the same
time. But in opposition to this we say, with Schleiermacher, that
Christianity is a new living creation in itself, that can be enlarged pro
perly speaking only from within, and not at all from without. Not by
mechanical accumulation or accretion can it be said to grow, but only
in the way of organic development. These conceptions are entii:ely
different, and it is of the first importance that the difference should be
understood and felt in the present case. The outward igain that may
be secured for the interpretation of the bible, or that may be found in
the actual results of such interpretation, can become important only as
it is taken up by the inward life of Christianity. itself, and is made sub--
servient to its progress in this view,
Christianity we say is organic. Thia implies, in the nature ofthe
case, development, evolution, progress. The law of its life moreover
in this form, includes its whole life. It is not as though the knowledge
of some truths had been absolutely complete, and so stationary from
the beginning, while the knowledge of other truths has been nu-.
merically added' to it from time to time. But the whole, in all its
parts, is comprehended more or less in the same law ; since no truth
can be absolutely completeseparately from the rest,- though the general'

20
process may require that some should be developed to a certain point
atleast, as it might seem, in advance of others. In this view Christianity
has an inward history, vastly more important than that which is simply
outward ; and all its leading doctrines have a history too ; and cannot
be understood, it may be added, apart from their history. The idea of
such a development does not imply of course any change in the nature
of Christianity itself. It implies just the contrary. It assumes that
the system is complete in its own nature from the beginning, and that
the whole of it too is comprehended in the life of the Church, at all
points of its history. But the contents of this life need to be unfolded,
theoretically and practically, in the consciousness of the Church.
What it includes potentially and in principle or idea, requires to be
actualized or made real in Humanity as a new creation in Christ Jesus..
All this is something very different from such a "Fortbildung des
Ghristenthums," as has been commended to us by the rationalist Am-
mon. Christianity can never transcend itself. It can never becorae
absolutely more than it has been from the beginning, in the person of
Christ and in the truth of the gospel. It belongs to its very nature
however, that it should not reraaini in the person of Christ or the letter.
ofthe gospel, but pass over into the life of the Church.. This implies
development. In its very constitution, the Church involves a process ;
which will be complete only when the "new heavens"' shall reflect in
full image the "new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." And still
all this will be nothing more than the full evolution of the life that
was in Christ from the beginning ; and the full power of which has
been always present in the Church, struggling through all ages to
wards this last glorious "manifestation ofthe 'sons of Godi"
I am not able to see, how any intelligent person, with a distinct un
derstanding of what is meant in the case, and any tolerable knowledge
of history, can refuse to admit this, view at least to some extent. Can
^ny such person seriously imagine, that the consciousness of the
Church at the beginning of the secoiid century, in the days of Ignatius
and Polycarp, included all that properly belonged to it in the century
following, or all that it reveals in the sixteenth century, through the
persons of Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and the Reformers in general T
Was the new spiritual creation in Christ Jesus exhibited from the
atart as a finished system, clearly bounded and defined at every point ;
or. was it not rather the power of a, divine life, that was expected to

21
subdue the surrounding elements to its own law, and organize itself
continuously from withinl No one surely can read the masterly Chureh
history of Neander, without being compelled to yield his mind in some
measure to the force of this idea ; and for one who has at all entered
into the spirit of the work, the impression is never likely to bo erased.
Without this idea indeed, Church history may be said to be shorn of
all its interest and meaning. It is no longer entitled to the narae of
history ; and for all practical ends must be counted the raost barren
and useless of all studies ; while in fact in its true form, it is a river of
instruction, deep, broad and full, conveying life to every other depart
ment of theology and religion. No raan who rejects this idea entirely,
can penetrate the spirit of any of the early centuries, or do justice to
the character of a single Church father.
But has not the Church in fact gone backwards at times, instead of
forwards 1 Have not doctrines been obscured! Has not Christianity
been vastly corrupted ? And what shall we say ofthe law of progress,
in view of such facts 1 Does the great Roraan apostacy constitute part
of the development of Christ's body 1 Is the tenth century to be held
in advance ofthe third \
To one who has any right sense of history, questions like these will
not be particularly confounding. Assuredly those who hold the idea
of historical progress, with any proper knowledge, do not concieve of
it-as a continuous movement, under the same form, in the same direc-.
tion. They mean, by it only a movement, whose general, ultimate
tendency is forwards and not backwards ; and which, though it may
seem at times to be differently turned, is still found in the end steadily
recovering and pursuing its original course ; as a stream of water car
ried aside, or pressed back upon itself, by some obstruction, does but
force for itself a more circuitous way, or only gather strength to burst
or overflow the barrier, that so it may roll onward as before. Truth
can be said to advance, only as error is surmounted and thrown into
its rear. But this requires that the error should always, in the first
place, make itself known and felt. A position in which the eleraents
of a still latent error are included, is of course less advanced than a po
sition which has been gained by overcoming the same error after it has,
come to light ; and as this can be reached only through the manifesta
tion of the error, we may say that the intermediate stage itself in which.

22
such manifestation takes place, though it may seera to be a falling-
away as compared with the period before, is nevertheless also an on
ward movement in fact. In certain circumstances it may be absolutely
necessary, that false tendencies should work themselves out through a^
long, vast experiment of disastrous consequences, before they can be so
brought home to the consciousness ofthe Church in theirrootand princi
ple, as to admit a radical cure. Whole centuries even may be compre
hended, in the circuit of such a process. With this explanation then,
we need not shrink from saying that the course of the Church has al
ways been onward, in periods of apostacy as well as at other times ;
onward in such sense, that the position gained in surmounting such
apostacy has never been just the same ground that was occupied before,
but an actual advance upon it that could not have been made in any
other way. The proposition of course holds good, only of the proper
central stream in which the one life of the Church is organically com
prehended and carried forward ; without regard to separate, particular
movements, that may refuse to go along with this in its general course.
In this view, the Middle Ages forra properly speaking no retrogression
for Christianity. They are to be regarded rather as the womb, in.
whieh was formed the life of the Reformation itself. For it is perfect
ly unhistorical, to iraagine that this might have connected itself direct
ly with the life ofthe fourth century, or third, or second, inthe way of
simple continuation, in the same direction, and under the sarae form,_
Palpably the tendencies which at last produced the papal system as a ,
whole, were all in operation as early as the end ofthe second century.
The Middle Ages then as the resolution of the latent mystery ofini-.
quity, in connection with the life of the Church, stood nearer the re
deraption that followed, not only in tirae, but also in constitution, than,
the period that went before. The tenth century, with all its darkness, ,
must be considered in advance of the third.
And so too, according to the view presented in the present work, it-
is our privilege to Ijelieve that the course of Protestantism, (compre
hending since the Reformation the main, central stream of the history
ofthe Church,) involves in tbe same way a true onward movement of
Christianity; although manifestly it has included frora the start certain
false tendencies, which are working themselves out inteiimistically in
great and sore evils. If it should prove inadequate in the end to rise
superior to these, it must stand convicted of falsehood. Our faith is.

23
¦however, that it will in due time surmount them, and thus throw into the
rear the epoch of the sixteenth century itself, by taking a position in
which tlie elements of such aberration shall no longer be found ;
which in such case must be regarded of course as the end, towards
which, through all seeming retrogression in the way of heresy and di
vision, the Church ofthe Reformation has been steadily tending from
the beginning.
Such a view of Church progress is certainly much more full of en
couragement, than any theory in which the idea is rejected. What a
depressing imagination, if only it were properly laid to heart, is that
by which the papacy is taken to have been for eight long centuries the
grave of all true Christianity ; and the honor ofthe Reformation is sup
posed to require that the whole life of the Middle Ages should be re
linquished to Rome, as part and parcel of the great apostacy, instead
of being claimed as the catholic heritage of the Reformation itself. If
Protestantism be not derived by true and legitimate succession from the
Ohurch life ofthe Middle Ages, it will be found perfectly vain to think
of connecting it genealogically with the life of the Church at any ear
lier point. For if it rnight even be imagined possible, to effect a
junction, say with the fifth century, or the fourth, or the third, by
means ofthe small sect ofthe Waldenses and other such "witnesses of
the truth," (than which no dream can well be more visionary,) still,
who that has the least true knowledge of history can feel, that the Re
formation was in fact the continuation simply of the life of the Church
as it stood in either of these centuries, secretly carried forward to the
age of Luther in any such way ? The life of the Church in the fifth,
fourth, and third centuries, looks indeed towards the age of liUther ;
but not imraedlately nor directly. It looks towards it only tlirough the
Middle Period that was to come between ; the entire constitution of
which it may be said to have carried in its womb. If the Reformation
had indeed sprung directly from the life of the third century, it must
have been something -widely different from what we find it to have
been in fact ; a birth, that could only have repeated, in its subsequent
development, the general course of the Roraan apostacy itself ; as we
may see exeraplified, to some extent, in the tendencies of Puseyism as,
borrowed from this distant antiquity. That Protestantism in its true
character has been something immeasurably better, is owing altogether
to the fact that it did not spring in the way of direct historical continua-

24
tion from the fourth century, or the third, or the second ; but strictly
and fully from the more advanced life ofthe Middle Ages, by means
of which only the way was prepared for it to surraount, as it has
done, the gigantic errors that have been left in its rear.
As it regards too the present state ofthe Church, there can be no
comparison again between the two theories, that which admits and
that which rejects the idea of progress, in the same general view. Only
as we can believe that Protestantism is itself a process, which three
hundred years have "not yet conducted to its issue, and that its very
diseases, raonstrous as they may seem, are only helping it onward to a
triumphant resolution of its appointed problem, does it appear possible
to be intelligently satisfied with the present posture of the great exper-
iraent. Thus much it has been thought proper to say on this subject of the
progres.sive development of Christianity; as it is one which is very lia
ble, in certain quarters, to be misunderstood and misrepresented. The
difficulty which is made with regard to it, coraes partly from this, that
no proper distinction is made between Christianity itself in its ideal
character, and the same Christianity as actually apprehended and rea
lized in the life of the Church ; and partly also from the fact, that so
far as some notion of such a distinction may prevail, the relation be
tween the two is still contemplated as outward and mephanical, rather
than inward and organic. In any true view of the case however,
Christianity must be regarded as the only proper idea of humanity
itself. It is not to be joined with its other modes of existence exter
nally, to make them complete; but it is to penetrate all modes of exis
tence alike with its own life, and take them up organically into its own
constitution. Till this be done, humanity must remain imperfect, and
the idea of Christianity cannot be said to be fully evolved in the world.
And yet who will dare to say, that the history of the Church has not
this evolution for its object; which however is only to say, in other
words, that it is such a process as has now been represented. In the
case of the individual believer, something ofthe kind is generally ad
mitted. His religion is expected to pervade his entire nature, not at
once, but gradually and progressively, like leaven* till in the end the
whole man, soul and body, shall appear transfused and transfigured
with the power of it at every point. Here is a process, beginmng at

^¦2'5
regeneration and ending in the resurrection ; and yet at the last it can
not be said properly to include more than it has included from the first ;
only that whioh existed at first in principle merely, or potentially, in a
State of involution, is fully actualized or evolved in the end in the per.
feet life of its subject. But such a process in the case of single Chris
tians separately considered, can never fully represent the relation of
Christianity to our nature. The life of man, in any view, is not some
thing single and separate. ^To a great extent, it holds in the order and
constitution of his nature as a whole. Humanity is not an aggregation'
merely of men, but an organic unity rather in which all raen are one.
And so Christianity]alsoas]the perfect conception of humanity, must take
possession of it not by separate individuals simply, separately taken,
but generically. It must penetrate and transform into its own iraage
the life, the whole life of the race, as such ; and not till this shall have
been done, can it be said to have fulfilled its mission, or actualized its
idea, or accomplished its full development in the consciousness of the
World. Thus we have in the Church as a whole necessarily, the
same progressive, leaven-like action of the Christian life, which we
have just seen to hold in the history of the single believer. The king
dom of heaven here also is like leaven, not simply as diffusing itself ex
tensively through the world, but in a still more important sense as
transfusing itself intensively into the life of humanity itself, as an or
ganic whole. Now we see not yet the life of humanity in this view
thus transfigured, just as little as we see the single saint made perfect
in holiness and glory. Science, and art, and government, and social
life, are by no means yet taken up organically into the living constitu
tion ofthe Church, How then can it be imagined, that the life ofthe
Church involves in its totality no process 1 And does it not lie clearly
inthe nature ofthe caae, that this process must actualize or evolve from
the idea of Christianity, age after age, what was not apprehended in the
consciousness of the Church before, till it shall become complete finally
in the new heavens and the new earth ? Only indeed as it is compre
hended in this general process, can the particular process by which
the salvation of the single Christian is accomplished, frora the new
birth to the moming ofthe resurrection, be carried successfully forward.
He is saved in the Church, the mystical body of Christ ; and can be
come complete, only as the whole is made complete of which he is a
|)ait. His resurrection accordingly, the last result of the organific

26
power ofhis new nature, will be reached only in connection with the
consummation ofthe life ofthe Church as a whole, when in the fullest
and most glorious sense, old things shall have passed away and all
things become new.
I The great question of the age undoubtedly is that concerning the
Church. It is evidently drawing to itself all minds ofthe more earnest
order, more and more, in all parts ofthe world. Where it comes to be
apprehended in its true character, it can hardly fail to be of absorbing
interest ; nor is it possible perhaps for one who has become thus inter
ested in it, to dismiss it again from his thoughts. Its connections
are found to reach in the end, through the entire range ofthe Christian
life. Its issues are of the most momentous nature, and solemn as
eternity itself. No question can be less of merely curious or specula
tive interest. It is in some respects just now of all practical questions
decidedly the most practical. In these circumstances, it calls for at
tention, earnest, and prayerful, and profound. At the same time, the
subject is clearly one of great difficulty and hazard ; as we may see
from the strange confusion and contradiction, in which the controversy
with regard to it has come already to be involved. A subject manifest
ly, that is not to be disposed of in any way satisfactorily, in such flip
pant wholesale style as with some might seem to be considered suffi
cient for the purpose. Both the solemnity and difficulty of it have been
deeply felt, in the preparation of the present work. It is the fruit of
painfully severe thought, baptized it is trusted in the element of prayer.
Not without true spiritual conflict, does it make its appearance in the
world. And not without prayerful anxiety is its course followed, now
that it is launched from the press, as the first fruit ofthe author's la
bors in this form, in the new hemisphere. Should the views it offers
be disapproved in any direction, it is desired only that it may be in the
same spirit of earnestness in which they are presented. If any one
can show them to be wrong, not by declamation or positive assertion,
but with deeper and more thorough exposition of the question itself,
it will be not only respectfully but thankfully received. For the theme
is one that calls for light ; and if the publication should only indirectly
serve this end, by leading to the exhibition of some higher and better
view, in which its own position shall be fairly and truly surmounted, it
will be felt that it has not appeared in vain. The author however does

27
deprecate all hasty and superficial judgment, in which ignorance and
presumption may prevail raore than a heartfelt reverence for truth.
Especially he protests solemnly beforehand against all false or partial
statement ofhis views ; an evil, to which from the nature ofthe subject
and the posture of the times with regard to it, he cannot help feeling
that he is particularly exposed,
J. W. N.
Jiercersburg, March 4^ 1845.

CONTENTS.

Page.
Introduqtion. ...... 32 — 35
PART FIRST.
The Principle op Protestantism, in its original
. historical relation to the Roman Catholic
Church.  36—9*
Preliminary Remarks. Character of a Reformation, as
distinguished from Revolution and Restoration. Hence
a twofold aspect of the Protestant Principle, as re
formatory  36
I'. The Retrospective Aspect ; or the Catholic Union
o.f the Reformation with the period going before. 37 — 50
Necessity of a Preparation including all spheres of
life. •  ar
t. Preparation in the sphere ol Politics and Popular
Literature. ,,..,,. 38
2, Preparation in the sphere of Polite Learning and
Profane Science. , , . • • • 41
3, Preparation in the sphere oi Theology and the
Churfih First ; in a negative respect  43.
Secondly ; in a positive respect
By religious bodies, (the Waldenses, Wicldiffites
and Hussites, Brethren ofthe Common Life,
Oratory of Divine Love, Mysticism), , 44-
By single persons {Nicolas of Clamenge, Pierre
d'Ailly, John Gerson, Savonarola, John of
Wesel, John Goch, John Wessel), , • 46 ¦

50

4. Preparation ia the sphere of Practical Religion ;
the legalistic piety of the Middle Ages a school
master towards the evangelical doctrine of justifica
tion* ....,,•

Page.

47

II. The Prospective Aspect ; or the Protestant Prin
ciple in its original positive force. . • • ^^ — ®^
PreUminary remarks. The idea of progress in the
history ofthe Church. False views ofthe princi
ple of Protestantism, . - . . • 5"'
1. The material principle of Protestantism (principi
um essendi), or the doctrine of justification by
grace alone through faith ; in opposition to all pe
lagian and semipelagian error, or the overvalua
tion ofthe natural will, . , . , 54—70-
A. The Roman Catholic doctrine of justifica
tion, with its presupposed conditions and
necessary consequences, ... 55
B, The Protestant doctrine. , , . . 5&
C. The principal papistical and rationalistic ob
jections answered, , . . . , 66
2, The formal principle of Protestantism (principium
cognoscendi),' or the doctrine of the normative
authority of the sacred scriptures ; in opposition
to the dogma of tradition, or the overvaluation of
human reason, whether that of the Church in Ro
manism or that ofthe individual in Rationalism. 70 — 94
A. The Roman Catholic doctrine of scripture
and tradition. ..... 72.
B. The Protestant doctrine, ..... 76'
C Principal ol^eetions answered'. . _ . QOt
3. The mutual reZaiiore of the two principles. Sup
plementary sides only of one and the sarae princi
ple. Their living interpenetration the criterion of
genuine^, orthodox Protestantism. . ,. .. 9a •

31

PART SECOND. Page.
The Principle of Protestantism in its relation
TO THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF THE PrOTESTANT
Church and its state at the present time. 95 — 176
General survey of the historical course of Protes
tantism. . . . - . . , , 95
I. Diseases or Caricatures of Protestantism ; un-
churchly subjectivism in theory and practice. 98 — 121
1. Rationalism or onesided theoretic subjectivism;
developed especially in Germany and in the bosom
of the Lutheran Church  98 — 106
A. History and character of Rationalism. . 98
B. Its relation to orthodox Protestantism. , 101
C. The altered posture thus of the time. . 102
2. Sectarism or onesided practical subjectivism ;
developed especially in England and America, in
the bosom of the Reformed Church. . , 107 — 121
A. History and character of Sectarism. , 111
B. Its relation to the bible and to orthodox Pro
testantism.  117
C, The altered posture thus ofthe time, ' , 120
II. Puseyism, a well meant, but insufficient attempt to
remedy these diseases. , • , , 121 — 128
1, Its historical justification and weight in opposition
to unchurchly subjectivism. .... 122
2. Its unprotestant character, involving a tendency
backwards instead of forwards  124
III. The standpoint of regular historical progress or
Protestant Catholicism, , . , . 128 — 176
1, Rationalism and Sectarism viewed as a relatively
necessary transition stage to a higher development
of theology and the Church. . . . , 132

.32

Page.

135

2. The separation of the secular spheres of life from
the Church since the Reformation, viewed as an
advance in the naturalization process of Christiani
ty 
3, Signs of a new era in the history of theology and
the Church
A, In Germany  146
B. In America  • 155
4, Ultimate prospect  • 171
Summary, One hundred and twelve theses for the
lime. ,,,,,.,.. 177
Appendix, Sermon on Catholic ITnity, , ¦ 191

THE PRINCIPLE OF PROTESTANTISM.

INTRODUCTION.

Brethren beloved and honored in the Lord.
Guarded and led by the almighty hand, which rules the
winds and the waves, I find myself standing at length in youi*
midst, on the threshold of my new sphere of labor. But little
more than a year ago, I had not the most distant idea of ever
visiting the new worid ; while to you all, my very existence was
unknown. You had sent two worthy representatives of your
Church to the mother country, to secure for your Theological
Seminary a man, whose name simply, carrying with it such a
charm as it does for the friends ofthe gospel on both sides ofthe
Atlantic, was sufficient to clothe the institution with new impor
tance and credit ; for whose sake alone, you were led to embark
in so bold and weighty a movement. In the hands of Him wljo
so often frustrates the prayers and plans ofhis people in one form,
to establish them contrary to their short-sighted wisdom in ano
ther, this distinguished servant of God became the medium by
which you were conducted to myself* In no turn of my life have
I ever held myself more passive, than in this removal to America ;
in none, at the same tirne, have I endeavored more conscien
tiously and steadily to surrender myself entirely to the guidance
of the Lord.
Strong indped was the temptation, I confess, to remain in the
world-renowned metropolis of German science, where my aca
demic carreer had just begun to open under favorable auspices,
in the society of so many cultivated, profound, and noble minds,
well fitted to enlarge and invigorate my inexperienced powers,
and under the fostering care of a pious and highly gifted mon
arch, who has rendered his name immortal also in the annals of
your Church, by the magnanimous interest he has shown in its
welfare ; there, along with the German Evangelical Church and
Theology, though only as one of the least in her service, to fall
or conquer in the deadly war, that now rages with fire and sword
4

34
in the spiritual life of the old world. But the voice of nature
became dumb, when the most competent judges in Germany, ho
nored instructors and beloved friends, men long conspicuous in
the religious history of the age, with strange unanimity joined in
recommending me as one specially qualified for the vacant post
at Mereersburg ; and when your Synod subsequently, after the
most earnest and mature deliberation, saluted me, as from the
mouth of a single man, with the solemn call, Come over and help
¦us /
And thus I stand here to day with the consoling consciousness,
by which all darkness is made light, that in.forsaking literary
connections, country, kindred and friends, as a missionary of
science, I have not ^pursued a road cast up by my own hands.
How could I do otherwise, than I have done ? Israel's pillar of
cloud and fire has gone before me, in clear unbroken vision, from
the palaces of Berlin to the foot of the Blue Mountains ; so that I
almost tremble in view of the vast perspective that is made to open
¦upon me through such foretokenings, and under an unfeigned
sense of my own weakness am ready to ask misgivingly, with
one greater than myself, Who am I, Lord, that thou shouldst send
me ! Yes, I speak it plainly in your presence, when I consider
the vast expectations that rest upon me, and the unmerited marks
of honor which attended my reception on the 12th of August, be
fore all service on my own part, I should be cast down utterly,
were it not for the stay I find in God's encouraging word : 1 will
'be with tky mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt do. Fear
thou not ; for 1 am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. lwill strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee, I icill up
hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, I
give power to the faint, and increase strength to them that have
no might. Even the youths shall faint, and be weary, and the young
men shall'uiterly fall ; but they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength ;'they shall mount up with wings as eagles ;
they shall run. and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
Whether now I shall close my earthly career in tbe western
world, or find myself called to the temporary service simply of
scattering sorae germs that may be watered afterwards and
brought to perfection by more competent hands ; then to return
to my original home, enriched with such observation and experi
ence touching the Church, as are to be gathered from a land,
mirroring like this her youthful infirmities and the fresh practical
zeal of her first love, in one picture ; this, I say, is a question,
which it is not for me, nor for any one else, at this time, to de
cide. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways

35,
ourways ; and the man is to be counted happy, who by humble-
renunciation of his own counsels, and passive surrendry of his
course to the conduct of his heavenly Father, provides against
painful disappointments ; planting his feet on the firm ground of
the actual present, and devoting his entire strength to its claims,.
free of all useless cares or empty dreams for the future. Now at
least I am here, to serve your Church, and in and through this
the Church universal of Jesus Christ. At present, no field is
before me save that to which I have been called in America, and I
have no ear for any call besides, cheerfully resigned to any issue
that may follow. "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord," it
matters not where, in the old world or in the new ; "and whether
we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die,,
we are the Lord's."
In such frame of mind, I proceed, according to ancient, vener
able custom, before entering formally on my appointed- work, to-
liay down in your presence, as representing here the German Re-,
formed Church in this country, a sort of scientific religious con
fession, that may serve to explain distinctly the ground on which
I expect to stand in your midst. I find myself at no loss, in these
circumstances, in choosing my theme. On the practical relations
ofthe service to which I am called, I have already spoken, in my
drdination sermon, at another place. Here we have to do with its
theoretic side ; in such method however, as to hold in full view at
the same lime the connection of this with the other interest, and
the end towards which it should continually reach in the life of
the Church, I may say then comprehensively, that the founda
tion on which I stand, since by tbe grace of God I have come to
any clear consciousness of religion and theology, is no other than
the orthodox Protestant, or what in my view is the same, the Re
forraed Catholic faith ; as it was preached loudly and powerfully
by the reformers of the sixteenth Century, or rather by the Spirit
of God in their persons, at once purifying the Church from the
springs of its primitive life, and raising it besides into a new and
higher form. Upon this ancient, venerable rock accordingly,
against whose front so raany hostile waves have already been
broken, I propcseto build, with divine help, in my present voca
tion ; making due account at the same tirae of the past history of
our Church as a medium of instruction, and having constant re
spect also to the special wants of our own country and our own
age- Allow me then to speak of the Principle of Protestantism,
AND ITS relation TO THE PRESENT POSTURE OF THE ChURCH,
particularly in THE United States.

36

PART FIRST.
The Principle of Protestantism in its original relation to thk,
Roman Catholic Church.
To be true to, its own idea, a Reformation must hold its
course midway, or through the deep rather, between two ex
tremes. , In opposition on the one side to Revolution, or the ra
dical and violent overthrow of an existing system, it must attach
itself organically to what is already at hand, and grow forth
thus from the trunk of history, in regular living union with its
previous development. In opposition to simple Restoration, on
the other side, or a mere repetition of the old, it must produce
from the v?omb of this the birth of something new, Christianity
was such a Reformation, not simply of Judaism, but of Humanity
as a whole. With what gentle and loving accommodation, the
Saviour and his Apos^fe applied theraselves to raeet the general
wants ofthe human heart, and those particularly of their own
time ? Towards the institutions of the old dispensation, disfigured,
though they were with arbitrary human additions, and towards
its official ministers also, however poorly for the most part their
personal character comported with their office, they exhibited all
becoming respect. No iconoclastic zeal distinguished their
steps ; no revolutionary whirlwind gave token of their presence^
Christ mxisi fulfil all righteousness himself, and charged his hea-,
rers to observe and do what was commanded by those who sat in
Hoses' seat, Paul, as he informs us himself, became to the Jew
a Jew, to the Gentile a Gentile, and in one word all things io all
men, that he raight if possible gain all to Christ. John was rea
dy to allow the gift of prophecy to Caiaphas, in his character of
high-priest ; and found no difficulty in admitting, that the ever
lasting light of the divine Logos had shined in darkness through
all ages, gradually preparing the way for its personal manifesta.
tion. And yet the watchword both of himself and his fellow
apostles, openly and broadly proclaimed upon their common ban
ner, was the Lord's declaration. Behold I make all things new !
And what was the result of their mission ? In the end, these hum
ble, unlettered fishermen of Galilee caused both the Jewish and
Pagan systems to fall to the ground together, and turned the
history ofthe world into a difl'erent channel altogether.
The same twofold character belongs to the vast ecclesiastico-
religious raovement of the Sixteenth Century, This too carries
upon its standard the sacred field motto, "1 am not come to des-

37
&vyy hut to: fulfil /" And thus neither the unhistorical radical on,
the one hand, nor the motionless slave of the past on the other,
can find in the true representatives of the Reformation either pre
cedent or pattern.
The case requires to be surveyed under both aspects, in order
that the principle of our Church may be fully comprehended, and
its position turned to right account for the purposes of God's
kingdom,
I. The Retrospective Aspect of the Reformation ; or its catholic
union with the previous history ofthe Church,
In the first place, we contemplate the Reformation in its strictly
historical conditions, its catholic union with the Past, This
is a vastly important point, which thousands in our day appear to-
ove'rlook entirely. They see in the 31st of October, 1517, it is
true, the birth day of the Evangelical Church, and find her certi
ficate of baptism inthe ninety five theses of Luther ; but at the
same time, cast a deep stain upon the legitimacy of this birth-
itself, by separating it from all right relation to the time that
went before. In this way, all interest is renounced in the
spiritnaTxealth'of the Middle Ages ; which however belongs to us.
of right, as fi^lly at least as it does to the Church of Rome. And
what is worse "still, the lie is given practically to the Lord's pro
mise itself, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of tl}e
world I
No work so vast as the Reformation could be the product of a:
single man or a single day. When Luther uttered the bold word
which called it into being, the sound was at once echoed back
again, as in obedience to an enchanter's wand, not only from
every quarter of Germany, but from England also, and France
and Italy, and Spain, He gave utterance to what was already
darkly present to the general consciousness of his age, and
brought out into full view that which thousands before him, and
in his own time, had already been struggling in various ways to
reach. Genuine Protestantism; is no such sudden growthj spring
ing up like a mushroom of the night, as the papist, and certain
narrow minded ulira-protestants,, would fain have us believe. Its
roots reach back to the day of Pfentecost. In all periods of the-
Church, in connection with- the gradual progress of Roraish cor
ruption, it has had its witnesses, though not always fully con
scious of their own vocation. And it was only when it had be
come fully prepared, in all parts of the Christian world, both«e-
gatively and positively, to stand forth in-full separate,.obi,ectiv«:

38
ipanifestation, that the Lord of the Church in the end, from an ,
obscure corner of Germany, called into life the herald, whose
word was to solve the oppressive riddle, with which all Christen
dom had been so long burdened ; the spiritual Columbus, that,
should open thje way into the territory, still unknown though long
at hand, of evangelical freedom.
As the several departments of human life are bound together
by an inward organic union, like the members of the same body ;
while religion in particular, which takes hold upon the entire
man, in the inmost ground of his personalitVT must exert. a modi.
fying influence in every other direction ; the case requires, that
we should take account of the tendencies which led the way to ,
the Reformation, in the spheres of Politics and Science, as well ,
as in that of the C/iurcA strictly talcen.
As it regards the first, it is clear that both Romanism and Pro
testantism rest constitutionally upon a national basis. Christian
ity, in its eternal and everlasting character, .is raised indeed above
every distinction of nation or race. It is a religion for the whole
world. Stijl, on its first publication, ,it found on all sides a given
historical development, a settled system of society, already at
hand. This, of course, it did not seek to demolish and recon
struct, but simply to transfuse with the power of its own divine
life. In this way, it became possible for the old order of exis
tence to break into view again, with all its characteristic faults
and virtues in the bosom of the Church itself, reflecting th?
Christian religion under its own peculiar image. Where pre
viously theeagleof the war god spread forth his powerful talons,
and the earnest, manly spirit of pagan Rome was enabled to or
ganise and hold together, by the force of one gigantic and yet
minutely specific system of Law, the entire world lying submis
sive at her feet ; there, now, a new empire appeared, Rome re
stored in the Church ; built up in, part by the same agencies as
before, invigorated only hy tbe presence of a higher principle ;
subduing the most barbarous nations, under the banner ofthe
cross, and binding the most distant ta a common centre; but at
the same time repeating the lightnings of tbe Capitol in the thun
ders of the, Vatican, directed against every motion of freedom,
and in its conflict with the world gradually taking up all the ele-.
ments of the world's corruption into its own constitution. In
toth cases we meet essentially the same features of character ;
immovable resolution, iron constancy, a restless grasping after
universal dominion, and confidence of perpetual stability ; but iit
connection with all this, an artful cunning policy, disguised be
neath a show of urbanity, the Jesuitic- maxint- of the end. sanctify..

39
ing the means, and a heartless disregard to both national and in--
dividual rights, in the midst of vast pretensions to liberality and
broad-hearted pliant toleration. The papacy is a Christian uni
versal monarchy, erected on the popular spirit of ancient Rome.
And as it is necessary that authority should go before indepen
dence, the general before the particular and single ; which Implies
that barbarous tribes require the foKce of a heavy disciplinary in
stitute, in the first instance, to bring them to a full free knowledo-e
of themselves ; no unprejudiced historian will dispute the merits
ofthe Romish system, as eminently fitted for this service. Nay,
in view of such countries as Italy,,Spain, and Ireland, which have
not yet outgrown their political minority, must we not allow a re
lative necessity, for it, even in our own day ?
Protestantism springs- as all knew-, from the German life,
which may be considered constitutionally its. proper-womb aiid
cradle ; as we find prophetically indicated by many voices ofthe
Middle Period even, like that of Mechtildis, with her, remansurum
pauperem et affiictum coetum in Germania, qui pie ac pure Deum
colat.*^ It was not a matter of mere chance therefore, or some
thing indiflferent in its nature, that the father ofthe Reformation,
surpassing all his followers both at home and abroad, should have
borne upon him the impress of this particular nationality, in its
purest, raost original,, and most perfect form ; and that his Ger
man translation ofthe bible became the recruiting call to so many
thousands, to rally round the standard ofthe new, or rather, reno
vated faith. In- Luther, all the essential traits of the German
nationality are found collected as it were into a single focus ; in
domitable energy, , earnest childlike integrity and simplicity, un
affected humility, and a predominant tendency towards the world
of thought and feeling ;- to which must be added, it is true, a
blunt carriage, running not unfrequently into downright rude
ness, and a certain^ undervaluation of the outward costume of
life, not to be approved in any case. Such a nationality is fitted
constitutionally for a deep, in yvard apprehension of the Christian
system; while the Roman and Romanist spirit, as naturally,
was led to embrace it prevailingly in a more outward way, as a
body of mere rules and statutes. Those forms of character which
* "Qnly the inwardness of tbe German nation," says Hegel {Philo
sophie der Geschichte. Works, 1st ed. vol. 9 p. 417.) "was the soil of
the Reformation ; only from such simple, straight-forward character,
could the great work proceed. Whilst other nations were wholly
taken up with- worldly dominion, conquests and ' discoveries, a plain
monk toiled . after perfection in his . spirit, and ^brought it to, pass."

40*
have distinguished the German nature from the beginning, its
love and truth, its geniality and depth, should be regarded as a
prophetical preparation for Christianity. They were so more-
emphaticially even than the penitential discipline of the Hindoos,,
or "the earnest idealistic longings of the Platonic Philosophy ;
which last, as it is well known, served the purpose of a bridge, to-
conduct so many of the early fathers to Christ.
These two opposite orders of life, which might have seemed to-
be forever disjoined by inward ineradicable hiutual hatred, no
less than by the heaven climbing mountains of snow that separa
ted them outwardly, found the middle wall of partition between
them broken down notwithstanding by the power of Christianity^
as the religion ofthe world: But now in proportion as the Ger
man tribes, under the motherly supervision, of Rome, began to-
wake to self-consciousness,, the old struggle of Arminius also,
which may be said to have foreshadowed the disruption of the-
papal yoke by Christian, Germany, was gradually renewed. The
entire Middle Period is full ofthe conflicts ofthe imperial power
in Germany with the papal authority at Rome, German blood
was poured out like water on the battle grounds of Italy. As far
back as the time of the Hohenstaufen a sect in Suabia declared:
the pope a heretic ; and it was long a popular tradition in Ger
many, that Frederick the Second would one day return, or an.
eagle spring from his blood, to overthrow the Romish' Church,
The conflict grew always more violent and fierce, in proportion
as the papacy surrendered itself, more and more, to the Machia
vellian policy of employing mere worldly influences for the ac
complishment of its ends, and laid itself out, under cover of the
Church, to advance the private interests simply of the popes and
their courtiers, directing the sword of St, Peter against every
liberal movement that came in their way. Such foul prostitution
of things sacred and divine to, mere secular ends^, carried to the
most shamless climax at last in the traffic in indulgences as con
ducted by Tetzel, together with such hierarchal dfespotism intole
rant of all right and all freedom, could not fail to shock the moral
earnestness of the German spirit inthe most serious manner..
How could it be otherwise, in the case of a people, which in its
purest representatives has ever subordinated' national, political,.
simply egoistic Interests to the world-embracing claims of the spi
rit, as embodied in the Church ; and which in the 16th century,.
in particular, when almost every other nation either remained al--
together in communion with Rorae, or stood forth simply on gen
eral protestant ground, chose to be torn in pieces of its own chil
dren, and.tosee its fields laid; waste and its fair, territory divided,.

41
rather than to give up eternal truth for a political advantage, the
momentous issue which divided the Wo Confessions, to save the
unity ofthe nation.
The long cherished opposition just mentioned passed over, to
wards the close of the Middle Ages, into the most distinguished
popular productions of the German national literature,, particu
larly in its epic, dramatic, and satiristic forms. It is sufficient to
remind those who are acquainted with the subject, ofthe Eulen-
spiegel, the German version ofReineke Fuchs, and the Fastnacht-
spiele of Hans Rosenblut, All these compositions served to bring
continua. Uy nearer to the consciousness of the people, the faults
ofthe time, and especially the corruption of the Clergy andthe
pernicious consequences of transalpine influence. In the end the
tendency of the popular national literature found its most eloquent
expounders, simultaneously with the appearance of Luther, in the
persons of Ulrich von Hutten and the celebrated Hans Sachs.
But with all the importance of this political and literary oppo
sition to Italy, it is by no means sufficient of itself to explain the
Reformation. To suppose this would be superficial in the ex
treme ; as is shown at once by the fact, that a large part of Ger-
raany still continues, though in a more inward and free way than
other nations, to do homage to the see of Rome. It would have
been a calamity rather, if the political tendency had drawn the
direction of the Reformation into its own hands. Luther found
no pleasure in the later enterprises of Hutten and Sickingen ;
taking the ground against them, that the Church was not to be
revived by means of outward, carnal weapons, but only by means
of the divine word from which it had its life in the.beginning.
The war of the Peasants, which rose like a dark column of smoke
in connection with the pure flame ofthe reformation, was repudia
ted by him as a miserable caricature of his work ; and just as
little respect did he show forthe Anabaptists and their wild dreams
of liberty and equality.
The way of the Reformation was prepared, in like manner, in
the smaller circle ofthe learned, by the revival ofthe sciences ;
and it is a circumstance accordingly not to be overlooked that the
rapresentatives of the movement, in particular Melancthon,
Calvin and Beza, surpassed in thorough humanistic culture, al
raost all their cotemporaries. The emigration of learned Greeks
to the West, which took place after the destruction of Constanti
nople, and the fruitful labors of Petrarch, had contributed to ex
tend still raore and more the study of the ancient languages ; the
darkness of ignorance and superstition was coming gradually to

42
disperse ; the spiritual horizon of the nations had begun to groW'
clear. In Italy, the ancient life, through living contemplation of
the monuments of classic Art, stood forth in fresh reproductions,
revolutionizing on a large scale the entire hterature, and indeed
the whole order of thinking. Almost all the philosophical systems
of Greece and Rome, were honored again with living adherents
and advocates. Platonism once more, as in the first ages ofthe
Church, excited a longing for something higher and better than
all that was offered by the present. We see this particularly in
Marsiglio Ficino, who may be taken as the representative of a
widely extended feeling, and who especially in his latter years —
a sort of Christian Plutarch — endeavoured to reconcile the culture
ofthe age with Christianity, The knowledge ofthe Hebrew and
Greek languages, promoted with untiring zeal by Reuchlin and
Erasmus, furnished the key to the understanding of the Old and
New Testaments, and enabled the Reformers, (indispensable for
the purpose,) to translate them into the vernacular tongues, and
so to open the way for them into the life ofthe people. It de
serves notice particularly, that the two first editions of^ the Greek
New Testament, that of Erasmus in the year 1516 and that of
the Complutensian Polyglott in the year 1520, appeared simulta
neously with the commencement of the Reformation ; and under
protection too of the papal authority, which dreamed not yet of
the powerful assault, that was to be made upon it soon from this
book. The edition of Erasmus was repeated in a short time, over
and over again, and thus by raeans of the art of printing, not long
before discovered, found its way into thousands of hands.
Il shows strikingly how very general the feeling of opposition
to the superstition and immorality ofthe clergy had become, that
this same small, cowardly and cautious Erasmus was enabled to
occupy so successfully as he did the apparently bold and perilous
position in which he stood. No one attacked the vices, ofthe
clergy so sharply, with the same cutting wit and inexhaustible
humor. His hatred for the monks seemed to be constitutional.
He made it his great husiness, to draw theological study off from
the reigning scholastic method, and back to the fathers of the
Church and the New Testament ; and to this last, not as exhibi
ted in the Vulgate, which he was bold enough to convict of an,
immense mass of errors,, but as found in the original text. And
still, this man stood in the most honorable correspondence with
the leading men of his time. Presents, and marks ot respect,,
were showered upon him from all sides. Wreaths of fame
adorned his person. His presence was courted, with special in-.
vitation, in all parts of the world. And his Encomiun^ Moriae,

43
the most severe of all his works against the clergy, passed du
ring his lifetime through twenty seven editions, and made its
appearance in every cultivated language ofthe age.
But still these scientific and humanistic tendencies again, are
not sufficient to account for the Reformation. Many, by the study
ofthe ancient languages and philosophy, were led, inltaly partic
ularly, into the most decided infidelity, which is worse of course
than superstition itself. Erasmus himself, it is known, drew back
in his -latter years always more and more from the work ofthe
Reformation, We cannot pronounce him void of all regard for
evangelical truth ; but altogether his influence was mainly of the
negative sort, and was just as likely, but for the intervention of
the reformation in its true form, to have called forth a false and
perilous action, in the free thinking, liberalistic style, as it was to
serve the cause in question. "He knew well," as Luther tells us,
who saw through him completely, "how to expose errors, but not
how to teach the truth." Indeed if science and art could have
produced the Reformation, Leo the Tenth, in whom they found so
zealous a patron, must have been one of the best reformers. The
learning and cultivation of the age were primarily of the nature
of a mere instrument, which, as it came to be associated either
with piety or with the spirit of the world, might be made subser
vient to exactly opposite ends.
Leaving behind now the outer court of politics, popular litera-
tureand profane science, as thus far surveyed, we approach nearer
to the proper sanctuary ofthe Reformation, and fix our attention
on the movements by which its way was prepared in the sphere of
Theology and the Church. Here however we must distinguish
carefully between simply negative action, so directed against er
ror as to make war upon the truth more or less at the same time,
and that of a positive character, springing from the life of the
Church itself. The first we find exemplified, in general, by the
sects of the Albigenses, the Beghards and Beguihes, the Bogo-
miles, and Catharists ; and by such men moreover as Arnold
of Brescia, Amalkich of Bena, David of Dinanto, and others,
who whhout any proper Church-feeling, and under the influence
of hyper-spiritualistic, and not unfrequently Manichean and pan
theistic views, set themselves in opposition to truth and error
promiscuously. The Catholic Church regarded all these proper
ly as heretics ; but employed carnal weapons, instead of the
sword ofthe Spirit, to put thera down, and in this way rendered
{hem only so much the more dangerous.
Of rauch greater account, of course, is the positive tendency of
the Theology and Church ofthe Middle Ages towards the Refor-

44
mation. Here we meet whole communities, and also single voi
ces. Among the first, a principal place belongs to the Walden
ses ; who accompany us, in spite of the fierce persecutions of the
papacy, like a lamp in the night, from the middle of the twelfth
Century down to the lime of Luther ; and whose life of simplici
ty and strict virtue is still perpetuated indeed, even in our own
time, amidst surrounding Romish superstition, in the vallies of
Piedmont, near to Turin, They based their opposition to the
reigning Church upon the holy scriptures, which many of their
members knew almost entirely by heart ; so that, in some in
stances, they were called in even by the Romish ecclesiastics
themselves to assist them in their disputations with heretics,
Wickliffe in Oxford, and Hoss in Prague, though apparently
overwhelmed by the ruling hierarchy, had not labored in vain, in
contending against abuses and false doctrine, and in calling men's
minds away from externals to inward godliness, and from human
traditions to the word of God as the only fountain of true theology.
We find a large number of Wickliffites in England ; and from
the Hussites arose by degrees the Bohemian and Moravian
Brethren, who made it their object to restore the simplicity,
spirituality, and strict discipline of the apostolic age. They had
already as many as two hundred churches and houses for prayer,
in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century,
The Society of the Fratres communis vitae also, instituted by
Gerhard Groot, towards the close of the 14th Century, must .
not be forgotten. It proposed to preserve what was true and good
in the conventual system of the age, without its excrescences.
Thus for instance it allowed no monastic Vows, but only free re
solutions in dependence on God's grace. From this association
proceeded many distinguished men, with Thomas a Kempis at
their head ; who preached the word of God in the vernacular
tongue ; devoted themselves earnestly to the instruction of , the
young ; insisted in a style very different from the Pharisaic for
mality ofthe times on deep, inward, practical piety ; and in op
position to the prevalent dry learning of'the schools, acknowledged
no wisdom, bnt such as carried with it at the same time a sancti
fying power.
Attention is due farther to an association that rose in Italy, and
formed an interesting analogy of the German protestantism,
though for reasons easily understood it fell far short of it in its de
velopment. An Oratory of divine Love was established in the
church of St, Sylvester and Dorothea, across the Tiber at Rome,
where in the time of Leo X. as many as fifty or sixty distinguished

45
men, including such names as Contarini, Sadolet, Giberto,
C-*,raffa, and Lippomano, were accustomed to meet statedly
for mutual religious edification. These men, some of whom after
wards struck into a very different path when they came to be
adorned with the cardinal's cap, had come to the very threshold
ofthe evangelical doctrine of justification ! Contarini composed
a treatise on the subject, which led Pole to say, in writing to
him, "You have brought into the light a precious jewel, which
was before half concealed in the keeping of the Church." Ano
ther member of this association M. A. Flaminio writes in his
epistle lo Theodoriua Sauli : "The j^ospel is nothing else than the
glad tidings, that the only begotten Son of God, clothed inour
flesh, has rendered satisfaction to the righteousness of the eternal
Father on our account. He who believes this enters into the
kingdom of God, finds universal forgiveness, i-s changed from a
carnal to a spiritual nature, from a child of wrath to a child of
grace, and leads a life of sweet peace in his conscience."*
But araong all the movements and connections in which a re
formatory element may be discovered to have been at work before
the time of Luther, none is more worthy of being noticed, than
the interest oi mysticism. Its influence was felt indeed by several
ofthe associations to which we have already referred, particular
ly by the Brethren ofthe Common Life. But we find it besides
running in various forms, with raore full development, through
the entire Middle Age; and ihe influence of it, in this view, on
Luther himself, is not to be mistaken. He was the affectionate
-disciple of John von Staupitz, in whom a profound, Augusti
nian, mystical tendency strohgly prevailed ; and he was the pub
lisher and eulogist of the old treatise entitled, "7'Ae German
Theology," which may be regarded as the flower ofthe ascetico-
speculative spirit in this form. The reformatory bearing of ^he
mystical system appeared in this, that it drew attention away
from mere externals, in which the idea of religion and the Church
had become well nigh lost, to the exercises of the heart ; and
breaking through the barriers, which had been interposed between
man and his Maker by the hierarchical frarheworkof the papacy,
and in defiance at the same lime ofthe dialectics ofthe schools,
threw itself directly into the stream of the divine life itself. In
its view, religion was to be apprehended not as a system of forms,
* For more on the subject of this interesting tendency, the influence
of which extended even to the gay, pleasure-seeking Naples, the reader
is referred to Leop. Ranke's, Dieraemisehen Fiepsteim. IGlenundlllen
Jahrhunderi. Vol. 1. p. 134. 5

46
but as the inmost life of its subject. It thirsted after direct com»
munion with God. Mysticism however had nq. power, of itself, to
produce a reformation. It is deficient in practical energy. Pre-*
doniinantly subjective in its nature, and resting too exclusively in
mere feeling, it has no capacity to overcome the world. Its life
proceeds accordingly, in lonely retirement, without action, like
the mysterious flower that unfolds its petals in the stillness ofthe
night, but gathers them in again with shrinking sensitiveness as
soon as they are touched by a hand.
Not less significant however than these collective tendencies, are
the separate strivings towards the Reformation to be considered,
which, show themselves in particular individuals with growing fre
quency, in the course ofthe 15th Century and with the opening of
that which followed. These sprang partly from a practical religious
interest, and partly from an interest in theology as a science, and in
both forms wrought powerfully, in the way of controversy and in
the way of quiet positive teaching, to prepare the way for the new
era that was at hand. The celebrated councils of Constance and
Basel, which had insisted on a reformation ofthe Church in its head
and members, though with their self-contradictory constitution
they could not accomplish the work ; and the deep toned lamen
tations, of a Nicolas of Clamenge, {de Clemangis,) Pierre d'A-
TiLLY, John von Gerson,* and others, over the reigning corrup-
* In the way of example, I present a single passage from the most
conspicuous of these, John von Gerson, Chancellor of the University
of Paris (f 1489). "The Apostle says indeed. Let every soul be sub
ject to the higher powers. But this must be understood with the pro
vision, that such obedience shall not run into blasphemy against God
Almighty, or dishonor to Christ and his gospel. Certainly however
there can be no greater blasphemy against God Almighty, than when
our superiors without distinction expose the Church to sale publicly as
merchandise, and for gold deliver her like a strumpet into the hands of
murderers, adulterers, malefactors of every sort; the Church, which is
the glorious bride, the elected virgin of Christ, that he has purchased
of his mere mercy by his precious blood, his sufferings, his reproach,
the accursed death ofthe cross itself. Judas sold Christ once for
thirty pieces of Silver ; these sell him continually a hundred times
over. In many cases they sell to one, and when they have the money
take his purchase from him again, to offer it the next hour for more
money to another. I conclude then that obedience to superiors ceases
to be a duty, where their works are openly bad and a source of scandal
to the whole Church ; where the shepherds are shearers ; not sheep,
but wolves ; not sober, but drunken ; not prelates, that give their lives
for the sheep, but Pilates, that serve the lusts of others ; casting forth
their net, not to catch souls, but money." {De reformaiione ecclesiae in
concilia universaU. r. 24.) "The Church of the present day is not
apostolic, but -apostate ; not a place to stay in, but to flee from rather
to the greatest distance." (Ib. c. 25.)

47
tion, had served to disseminate a longing desire for a better
state of religion through all sections of Europe. This feeling
found its organs in such men as the Dominican Savonarola of
San Marco in Florence, who preached with prophetic indigna
tion, in the boldest style, not without a hurtful mixture indeed of
political zeal, against the licentiousness that had come to abound
in the Church, and sealed his testimony with his blood in the
year 1498. Such also were John von Wesel, {de Wesalia,)
Professor of Theology at Erfurth, (f 1482), John von Goch, a
native of Cleves, (f 1475), and the F^ieslander, John Wessel
(f 1489). These all insisted more or less clearly on the Augus
tinian doctrine of grace, in opposition to the prevailing Jewish
idea of righteousness hy works and bondage to the law, and ap
pealed to the sacred scriptures as the only sure ground and source
of Christian doctrine. This was carried so far indeed in the case
oi John Wessel, who went beyond all others before the Reforma
tion in his apprehension of the protestant doctrine of justification,
that Luther, under valuing it is truehis own merits, did not hes
itate lo say : "^If I had read Wessel previously, my adversaries
might have supposed that Luther had borrowed all from Wessel,
so well do our views agree." In none of these men however was
tiiere found such a union of all the powers that are needed for a
reformation, as was possessed by Luther and Calvin, for
whom it was reserved accordingly to accomplish so great a
work. Enough has been said already to vindicate an absolute histori
cal necessity to the Reformation, and to expose in its utter empti- ,
ness and' nakedness the reproach, cast upon it by its enemies, as
an uncalled for innovation. We go farther however, and affirm,
that the entire Catholic Church as such, so far as it might be
considered the legitimate bearer of the Christian faith and life,
pressed with inward necessary impulse towards Protestantism ;
just as Judaism — not in its character of Pharisaism and Saddu-
ceeism indeed, but as a divinely appointed preparatory institute,
and viewed' in its true historical import — rolled with steady power
ful stream, in its interior legal, symbolical and prophetipal prin
ciple, directly towards Christianity, as the fulfilment ofthe law,
the prototype of all its symbols, and the accomplishment of all its
prophecies. The Councils of Constance and Basel alone furnish
proof, that the call for a reformation had its ground, not simply in
the sects, and in single individuals more or less estranged from
the objective life of the, Church, but in the heart of the. Church
itself, and in the persons of those who were most fully penetrated
with its life. This affirmation, as well as the appeal to the case
of Judaism, may require some additional illustration.

48
The Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, as already intimated^
vyas a Church of Law and Authority ; well fitted, by means of its
vast disciplinary system, turning on a single living centre and
perfectly complete in all its parts, to exercise a wardship over the
nations, still in their childhood, till such tirae as they might be
ripe for a fuller appropriation of the evangelical principle, and
the use of an independent manly freedom. In saying this, we do
not question the presence of the gospel in the communion of the
Roman Catholic Church, any'more than we doubt the comfort of
the promise, that went hand in hand with the developraent ofthe
Old Testament law. S\.\\\, ihe predominant spirit, in both cases,
was legal ^ as might easily be proved, in minute detail, if this were
the proper place.* Now it belongs always to the nature of the
law, to excite in raan a feeling Ihat reaches beyond itself, and re
fuses to be satisfied by its means ; a feeling that craves reconcil
iation with the lawgiver, and the full possession of that righteous
ness which he requires. More definitely expressed, the law is a
schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, who has fulfilled its requi-
sitions in their largest extent, and makes over to us the benefit of
this obedience, as a free unmerited gift, by the power of his
Spirit. Thus the Jewish dispensation looked always- towards the
gospel ; and in like manner the discipline of the Roman Church
involved an inward struggle, that became satisfied at last only in.
the evangelical emancipation of Protestantism.
It is only from this point of view we come lo understand fully
the personal life of Luther, in which the genesis of our Church
itself is refiected with the most ^ clear and graphic representation..
It vvas no political, national, scientific, or theological interest even,
that impeUed him to his work. The immediate, original ground^
ofit, is to be sought in the very centre ofthe religious life of the
Catholic Church itself, as it stood at the time. This Church, he,
was' proud at one time to call his mother ; and his separation
* This legal character of the Middle Ages was clearly perceived by
many of the forerunners of the Reformation themselves. Specially
worthy of notice in this respect, is an uncommonly striking description
of Cornelius Graphaeus, of Flanders, (born 1482), which is to be found
in the classic work of my much esteemed friend Ullmann, entitled,
Reformatoren vor der Reformation, Vol. 1. p. 153 ff. All who wish to
become acquainted with the forerunners of the Reformation in Ger
many and the Netherlands, may find all they need for the purpose, in
this thoroughly learned and well written work, presented in the m'ost
entertaining: fofm. May th6' learned author soon add to the two
volumes which have already appealed^ a farther continuation on what
still remains of his general subject, at least so far as the philological
and humanistic precursors of the Reformation are concerned.

49
ftom her visible head cost him a struggle, a self-immolation, of
which, now that Ihe great rupture is p-isi,it is hard for us to form,
any cleai conception. The most faithful and conscientious of
monks, he subjected himself intellectually to the logical discipline
ofthe schools, and bore prat-tically the prescribed penances and
other legal burdens ofthe Catholic Church, as those of Judaism
had been borne by Paul. To become righteous before God, to
appear as a saint in his presence, was the object for whioh he
wrestled without intermission. But the longer he continued in
this hard school, he became sensible the more of his own weak
ness, and of his imtneasurable distance from the ideal he was la
boring to reach, and in the same proportion was brought' to long
after a redeemer from the body of such death,, and the terrible
conflict between the law in his members and the law of the Spirit ;
till in the end, like his great apostolical pattern,, he beheld the
Crucified in his spiritual glory,, and by faith in him received at
once, in all its fulness, as a free gift, all that he had been vainly
endeavoring to secure by his own strength before. Ofa truth,
we may say, the pains endured. in the mortification of the flesh
and in legal wrestlings after righteousness with God, by the noblest
spirits of the Middle Ages, the Mystics in particular, with the
anxiously religious Augustinian Monk at their.head, are to be re
garded ^as the true birth-pangs of our Protestant Church.*
As the result then of this whole representation, we reach the
following, for the vindication of Protestantism vastly important,
and even indespensable, proposition,: The Reformation is the
legitimate offspring, the greatest act of the Catholic Church 5
and on this account of true catholic nature itself, in its genuine
conception : whereas the Cliurch of Rome, instead of following
the divine conduct of history has continued to stick in the old
law qf commandments, the garb of childhood, like the Jewish '
* We may observe in Calvin also, and to a greater extent indeed than
in Luther, the traces in every direction of the severe legal discipline,
intellectual and practical, which, the Gatholie i^hurch, inspite of all
her corruptions, still continued to exercise at least over minds of the
more serious order. . It would be wholly beyond the capacity of our
own age, to produce such an amount of resolute, vigorous, large pro
portioned character, as is presented to us in the reformers. We have
lost almost entirely the consciousness of the power ofthe law, as it is
felt always in the earlier stages of life. Along with our scientifie
Seminaries, we stand in great want of institutions expressly for the •
cultivation of character ; and in this particular, we might, and shouId>,_.
learn much frqpi the Romish Church, the schools especially of ths-;
Jesuits. 5,f

50
hierarchy in the time of Christ, and thus by its fixation as Ro,,.
manism has parted with ihe character of catholicity in exchange
for that of particularity, ¦\
II. The Prospective Aspect of the Reformation ; or theProtes- .
tantPrinciple in its positive force. .
With this proposition, we have already touched upon, the se
cond essential constituent of the Reformation, . according to
which it is to be viewed as a historical .advance on.ihe part ofthe
Church ; and.in th^ closest connection with the pressure of pre--
vious long accuraiilating want, a new birth . from ^the womb of its.
life in. ths old fow)' The subject however in this aspect, calh,.
now for closer elucidation, in. a direct way.
It must be remarked, .in the fir^t. place, that whan ,we spqak.of
advance or progress here, we. dp so with reference only to the
previous apprehensim of Christianity in the Church, and not to ,
Christiavity \ise\i, as exhibited in its original and for all timess
absolutely nornial character in .the writingsof the New Testa- .
ment. Our comparison- of the relation of th^ Evangelical Church ,
to the Roman Cathplic, with the relation of Christianity to Juda
ism, must.be taken therefore with, a material limitation, Chris-,
tianity stands related to Judaism,- not simply as fulfilment, fo pre
sentiment, enlargement to compression, substance to shadow ; but
is at the same time specifically a new creation. No expansion .
simply ofthe idea of th.e Ol,d Testament, as such, was sufficient ,
for its production. , This could take place only by the creative
act of God, in his incarnation, his life, sufferings, death and re
surrection, as God and man in.one,person, and in the real and full ^
communication of the, Holy Ghost, which had irradia.led the hu-.
man consciousness before only in a transient and sporadic way.
Beyond Christianity itself however, as thus introduced into the
world, there can be no siinilar advance. Our faith must be sub
verted in its very ground, if now that Christ has appeared, "Ihe
fulness ofthe Godhead bodily," and given his Spirit to the apos
tles to "lead them into all truth," we should'allow ourselves to ex- .
pect, like the Jews, a still higher, revelation. In its own nature,
as a new order of life, Christianity has been complete from the
beginning; and there is no room to conceive, tha't any more per-.
feet order can ever take its plaoe, or.that it may be so improved.
aa in the end to outgrow entirely its own original sphere. But-
f Compare, on. the difference between Catholicism and Romanism,
my articles in the Literar. Zeitung of .BeAia, 1943, N, 87 and No. 100.^

51
notwithstanding this, we are authorised,to speak of advance or
progress in the case of. the Church itself, and on the part ofthe
christianized world ; and of this not merely as extensive, in the
spread of the gospel among Pagans, Mohammedans and Jews ;.
but as intensive also in the continually growing cultivation and
improvement of those four great interests ofthe Church, doctrine,
life, constitution, and worship. The Church, not less than every
one of its. members,, has its periods of infancy, youth, manhood,
and old 'age. This involves no contradiction to the absolute
character of Christianity ; for the progress of the Church, out
ward or inward, is never ia the strict sense creative, but in the
way only of reception, organic assimilation] and expansion. In.
other words,all historical development in the Church, theoretical
and practical, consists in an apprehension ahoays more and more
profound ofthe life amd doctrine of, Christ and his apostles, an
ap'propriation, more full and transforming always of their diSr .
tinctive spirit, both as to its contents and its form. Only so far
as a doctrine or ordinance ofthe Church bears this character, may
it be allowed to have normative and enduring force. If it could
be clearly shown for instance, that the doctrines of the trinity and
the two natures in Christ, as dogmatically developed and symbol
ically established, in , opposition to heretical errors in the Fourth
and Fifth Centuries, are not contained so far as substance is coUr
cerned in the New Testament, but contradict it rather, their au
thority raust fall before the culture ofthe age, to make room for a ,
different iview in consonance withjthe scriptures.
In this sense then, the Reformation is an advance, not of
Christianity itself, but of its tenure at least upon the conscious
ness of the Christian world. We may bring forward indeed ,
many passages from the writings of Augustine, Anselm, Bern
ard OP Clairvaux, and other men occupying a position near to
tbe Reformers, which seem to teach the cardinal doctrine of jus
tification by grace ; and it may be affirmed with truth, that all
real christians, from the beginning, had lived upon this doctrine
at bottom,. unconsciously to themselves. But still their piety, in
its general character, must be admitted to carry with it more or
less of a,legal complexion. Only in singly, exalted moments of
their existence at best, were they enabled to lay hold of the free
dom, the assurance of salvation, and full triumphant faith, to
which we have been raised by the Reformation, This merit at
least belongs to the Reformers, that they have brought into clear
consciousness what existed only darkly before in the soul, and
have made that to be common property in the Church which had
belonged previously, only to single and highly gifted individuals.

52
On the other hand, when we bring the soteriological ground prin'-
ciple of the Reformation into the light of the New Testament,.
particularly the epistles of Paul, we find it ratified here with such,
clear and distinct enunciation, that we are readylo wonder why
the Church should not have come to the knowledge of it a great
while sooner. But to penetrate from the surface into the depth,
from the shell to the kernel, is something far more difficult than-,
it seems; a work belonging to God's- chosen instruments, the
architects of the world's history, the wakers of slumhering cen--
t-uries. The new vital principle of'the Reformation, as compared withr.
the form in which Christianity had been held previously, is not to.
be sought in the sphere of the objective, more theoretic doctrines ;
s.uch for instance as the trinity, the incarnation, or the relation
ofthe divine and human natures in the person of Christ. These
it incorporated into itself rather, as they had been previously per
fected by the great oecumenical councils, asserting and maintain
ing thus its catholic interest in the true spiritual acquisitions of
the ancient. Chiirch, On the contrary, the Sixteenth Century
was the classic period for the full exppsition of the Christian so-
teriology, .as standing in the subjective appropriation of the work >
of redemption. The re-appearance of Unitarian and Arian errors
at the time, must be considered a mere accidental excrescence,^
such as we find attending every great historical occasion, Thot
essential, fundamental doctrines of the Reformation . then fall.
within a sphere, which had not previously been occupied by the
decision, of any general council, as inthe case ofthe trinity and,
the constitutioB of Christ's person, and where accordingly it was
possible to advance new scriptural statements, without contradic
ting the true Catholic Church, The movement in this view was
not an, effort, to overthrow and reconstruct the work of this
Church, in the case of its great cardinal doctrines as already pos
itively defined I by the general councils; but to carryforward'
and ,complete that work rather, by going on to define and settle
what had not yet been made the subject of action, in the sarae pos-.
itive style. As little may we say, that the Reformation stood
essentially in an effort to subvert the papEtcy and hierarchy ; al
though' this is often affirmed. Those who regard it in this light,
do not consider that Luther had already uttered his positive life
principle, before he thought ofa breach with the pope ; and that
much later even Melancthon, ; in subscribing the Articles of
Smalcald, professed himself willing to accept the pope, as dejure
humano head ofthe Church, Such a principle besides would give
no distinctioni(between.th3Protestant'Church and the Greek; or-

53
common sects even, which all agree in rejecting the primacy of
Rome to the same extent. The great point was, to eradicate
popedom from the heart itself, which ig, too prone,'away from all
connection with Rome, to make an idol of mere human authority,
in forms that may appear more 'plausible perhaps, but are often
more intolerably tyrannic on this very account.
Still more prevalent is the view, by which the essence ofthe
Reformation is placed in the emancipation of the human mind
subjectively considered ; that is, in the triumphant assertion of
the liberty of faith and conscience, as well as of unlimited' scientif
ic inquiry. Rightly understood this to be sure has its truth ; but
as coraraonly represented, il is a sheer caricature of history. It
is made to mean very often, for instance, a full liberation ofthe
subject frora every sort of restraint, the overthrow of all authority
as such. But of such escape from discipline and rule, the Refor
mers had no thought. Their object was rather to bind man to
the grace of God, and to lead bis conscience captive to God's
word. In every v.iew,. the act of protesting is not the first and
main constituent in the Reformation, but the result only ofa pos
itive affirmation going before. This last accordingly is the great
point, from which alone its true importance springs. Only in
connection with such an original positive life principle, and as
flowing from it, can deliverance from the papacy, and the realitu-.
tion of private judgment to its rights, find any right sense, any
religious value. Apart from ihis connection, they fall over to the
province of infidelity, wilh which the Reformation has' nothing
to do. Such a jiosifive religious principle now, is the doctrine ofthe
exclusive authority of the sacred scriptures as a rule of faith ; and
it is a very current idea, particularly in the Reformed Church,
that this doctrine forms the proper centre and root of Protestan
tism. But this also we cannot admit, although the Christian life
of the Reformers was shaped from the beginning by the scrip
tures. For this principle is formal only, and so secondary, pre
supposing the presence of a definite substance which it must in
clude. In order that the scriptures may be laken as the exclusive
source and measure of Christian truth, it is necessary that the
faith in Christ of which they testify should be already at hand,
that their contents should have been made to live in the heart by
the power of the' Holy Ghost accompanying the word and the
Church. And so all turns upon the ])articular constitution of
this faith. The Socinians, Swedenborgeans, later Unitarians, and
otjier sects, raade the same strenuous appeal to the scriptures as .

54
their only authoritv ; but they stood quite off from the true livings
ground ofthe Reformation notwithstanding, and gave accordingly
a wholly different sense to the bible, in the most weighty points.,
1. Material Principle,
That we may come to the farthest source then, we must inquire
after the material or life principle (principium essendi) of the
Reformation. This, according to history, is no other than the
great doctrine, which is presented by Paul especially as the entire
sum ofthe gospel ; the doctrine ofthe justification of the sinner
before God by the merit of Christ alone through faith. This
doctrine was the fruit of Luther's earnest spiritual conflicts al
ready noticed ; and it formed the proper soul, the polar star and
centre, of his life, from the commencement of his reformatory
career on to his last breath.*- The Romish Church may be said
to urge precisely her most earnest and pious members always to
wards this point ; as we see in the case of i\K Jansenists, con
demned indeed by the pope, and in our own day in such men as
Sailer, Veith, Gossner, Boos, and others. For all earnest

* Hencie he says himself in the Articles of Smalcald, p. 305 (Edir
tion ofthe Symb. Books by Hase) : De hoc articulo cedere aut aliquid
contra ilium largiri.autpermittere nemo piorum potest, etiamsi coelum
et terra et omnia, corruant. Non enim est aliud nomen hominibus
datum, per quod salvari possimus, (inquit Petrus, Act. 4, 12.) et
per vulnera ejus saiiati. sumus (Esaj. 53, 5.). Bt in hoc articulo
sita sunt et consisttMit omnia, quae contra Papam, Diabolum, et,
universum mundum, in vita nostra docemus, testamur et agimur. ,
Quare oportet nos de hac doctri-na es,se certos- et minime dubitare,
alioquin actum esiprorsus, et Papa et diabolus et omnia jus et vjctoriam,
contra nos obtinent.^ — Comp. Form, Cone. p. 683.. and Melancthon, locus.
de grat. etjustif. where he says of the doctrine of justification : Hie
locus continet summam evangelii. When the younger Bengel, (Ar-
chiv fuer die Theol. Bd. 1. St. % S. 469.) and the celebrated historian
Planck, (Worte des Friedens an die kath. Kirche, 1809, p. 47 f.), re
present the whole controversy between the Protestants and Romanists
on the doctrine of justification as of no vital account, a mere logomachy
in fact, the thing finds its explanation in the dogmatic indifferentism
of the age to wjiich these men belonged. But it is incomprehensible
how at the present time, when the difference of the Confessions has
come to be more clearly felt again in a recurrence to its foundations,.
the latest protestant expositor of the catholic system, Koellner, (in
his otherwise very accurate and learned Symbolik der heil. apost,,.
kath. roemisohen Kirche, Preface, p. XIX.) should affirm the same
thing, and find on the contrary the main difference in the, outward .relar^-
tions, constitution and worship ofthe two Churches.

55
legal wrestling after righteousness and holiness leads naturally
at last, to the abandonment of every fleshly confidence, and a re
liance on God's grace alone. It was this doctrine which first
made the scriptures for the Reformers, what they claimed to be ;
and Luther, it is known, employed it as a measure for the sa
cred canon itself, not allowing it to include as God's normative
word any thing that might carry an o[>posite sense. His harsh
censures on certain portions of the established Church canon, the
Epistle of James, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Revelation
of St. John, we do not of course defend, but reject them rather as
one-sided and rash. They form an interesting fact however, in
illustration of the point immediately in hand, the posture ofthe
doctrine of justification relatively to the great reformatory move
ment as its true life principle. Pressed as he was by his Romish
adversaries, with whom James especially was always a favorite
authority, Luther's unfavorable judgraent of the books just
naraed arose altogether from his not being able lo find in them his
cardinal truth, justification by faith only.*
It devolves upon us now to g(^into a somewhat closer exami
nation of'this material principle^of the Reformation ; and for this
purpose, it is necessary to direct our view first, in brief, to the
opposite tenet of the Romish Church. The Christian salvation
rests upon the primary truth, that; Jesus Christ, the absolute God-
man is the only Redeemer and Mediator between man as a sinner
and his offended Maker. It is long however before man is
brought to take up this doctrine in its full import into his con
sciousness, and to part radically with the Judaism that is in him
from his birth. So we find it in the experience ofthe individual
child of God at all times ; and so it has been with the life of the
Church as a whole, frora the beginning. In the Church of Rome,
* From this it appears, with how much wrong tile modem negative
criticism makes its appeal to Luther's example. He, standing in the
element of God's unwritten Word, and animated bj' the one all regula
ting principle of justification, uttered his judgment against certain
parts of the canon handed down by the Church, because they seemed
to him tobe in conflict with that word, as the essence of the gospel
itself. Luther's criticism in one word was the action of faitli in the
free grace of God in Christ, against all human distortion of the truth.
Tbe modern criticism ofa Strauss or Bruno Bauer on the tfther hand,
in full reverse, starts from unbelief in this grace, and is aimed destruc
tively against the positive ground of the gospel itself. (Comp. my ar
ticles on True and False Criticism in the Literar. Zeitung ot Berlin,
1843, N. 40 and N. 61.). Let any one read Luther's judgment upon
the Epistle of James continuously in Walch, Vol. 14, p. 148 f. and he
will be fully satisfied ofthe truth of our representation.

56
we find the doctrine, according to the Council of Trent, ac
knowledged objectively and ia thesi, but always laid under re
striction, as soon it comes to a particular explanation ofthe way,
in which the atonement is carried over into the life of its subject,
and made available lor his salvation. In opposition, not only to
Pelagianism, but to Semipelagiani,sni also, {which may be
charged indeed upon the papal bull, Unigenitvs. A. D. 1711,
and the whole practice of the Church, but not on the Council of
Trent,) she teaches, it is true, Ihat \he grace oi God, as gratia
praeveniens, commences the work of conversion in man, by call
ing him to the salvation which is in Christ.* In her view how
ever, the natural condition of man is not as with us, a state of pos
itive corruption, but holds simply in the absence of supernatural
endotcments, as defectus juslitiae originalis, on the one hand,
and a mere debilitation of the natural powers of reason and free
dom on the other ¦,'\ and so the natural man is made to take part
also in the work ofhis own conversion and justification. When
the power towards good, which is stili in him though debilitated
by original sin, is again set free and invigorated in his gracious
calling, he ciis/)o«es himself, we are told, to the acquisition of justi
fication ; so that God's grace {gratia operans) and the human
will {voluntas humana cooperans) work now in conjunction, the
first in the way of illumination, and the other freely consenting
and moving towards God.ij: As the result of this twofold action

* Cone. Trid. S. VI. c. 5. 6.
¦\ S. VI. deer. I. c. 1. and oan. 4. 5. 7. Bellarmine consequently,
(Disputt. etc. de gratia primi hominis I. 1.) states the doctrine of his
Chureh correctly, when he says : Decent enim (catholici Doctores),
per Adae peccatum totum hominetn vere deteriorem esse factum, et ta-
men nee liberum arbilrium neque alia naturalia, sed solum supernatura-
lia perdidisse. And what he remarks, de gratia primi hom. u. 5., agrees
wilh this fully : Quare, non magis differl st-atus hominis post lapsum
Adae a statu ejusdem in puris naturalibus, quam differat spolialus a
nudo ; neque deterior est humana riafura, si culpam originalera de-
trahas, neque magis ignorantia et infirmitate laborat, quam esset et la-
boraret in puris naturalibus condita. Proinde corruptio naturae non ex
alicujus doni naturalis carentia, neque ex alicujus ii.alae qualitatis ac-
cessu, sed ex sola doni supernaturalis ob Adae peccatum amissione
profluxit. ,
X Cone. Trid. S. VI. can 4. : Si quis dixerit, liberum arbitrium a Deo
motum etexcitatum nihil couperari assentiendo Deo excitanti,et vacant!
quo ad oblinendam just'ijkaiionis graiiam se disponal ac praeporet neque
posse dissentire, si velit, sed velut inanimequoddam nihil omnino agere,
mereque passive se habere ; anathema sit. In the 5th and 6th cap. of
the same session, this is made the subject of farther positive explication.

57
justification in due time takes plaqe, not suddenly however, but
gradually, partly by faith, and partly by works of love. For
justification here, agreeably to the etymology ofthe word indeed,
hut against both classical and biblical use, is taken to mean jfca-
king righteous in the proper sense ; whence it is made the same
substantially with sanctification, and regarded as a property re
siding in the man personally, _;us<i<8a inhaerens or infusa.* The
objective ground of justification, according to the Council of
Trent, is in every view the propitiatory death of Christ ; but the
apprehension of it is not by faith alone. This has justifying pow
er only so far as it is the beginning of salvation, the root of justi
fication, humanae salutis initium, fundamentum et radix omnis
justificationis.^ Full justification however it cannot effect, if it
were only for the reason, that in the Romish view of it, differing
froitij the evangelical, it is exhibited prevailingly as simple histori
cal 'Asenl.ij: The grace becomes complete only by means of
goot; 'rks flowing from faith ; and has different degrees accor
ding), 'swerable to the character and number of these works. §
In this Wciy a proper merit is held to belong to such works ; a
meritum de congruo, as they speak, to those which precede justi
fication, and a meritum de condigno to those which follow.|| ^
* S. VI. cap. 7. Hanc dispositionem seu praeparationemjustificatio
ipsa consequitur, quae non est sola peccatorum remissio, sed et sancti-
ficatio et renovatio interioris hominis per voluntariam susceptionem gra-
tiae et donorum, unde homo ex injusto Jit Justus et ex inimico amicus, ut
sit haeres secundum spem vitae aeternae. Comp. can. 16.
f S. VI. cap. 8. Comp; can. 9, 11, and 12. In the 9th can. it is
said : Si quis dixerit, sola fide impiura justificari, ita ut-intelligat nihil
aliud requiri, quod ad juslificationis gratiam consequendam cooperetur et
nulla ex parte necesse esse eum suEte voluntatis motu praeparari atque
disponi ; anathema sit.
^ S. VI. cap. 6." credentes vera iBSse, quae divinitus revelata at pro-
missa sunt. Comp; Qit. Rom. I. 1. 1. : Nos de ea fide loquimur, cu
jus vi omnino assentimur lis, quae tradita sunt divinitus. Bellarmine^
de justifie. I, 4. Catholi'ci fidem in intellectu sedem habere volunt.
§ S. VI. cap, 10. Sic ergo justificati et amici Dei acdomestici facti,
euntes de virtute in virtutem, renovantur, ut apostolus inquit, de die in
diem ; h. e., mortificando iriembra carnis suae et exhibendo ea arma
justitiae in sanctificationem, per observationem mandatorum Dei et ec
clesiae, in ipsa justitia per Christi gratiam accepta, cooperante fide,
bonis operibus crescunt atque magis jusUJicantur. Comp. can. 13. 14
and 24. In the last it is said : Si quis dixerit, justitiam acceptam non
conservari atque etiam augeri coram Deo per bona opera, sed opera ipsa
fructus solpmmodo et signa esse juslificationis adeptae, non autem ipsi
us augendae Causam ; anathema sit.
I Comp. on the way in which this doctrine was carried out by thp
5

58
Practically however this co-ordination simply of faith and workfe^
¦as producing justification, cannot be preserved ; but the chief
weight must be given to the last ; since they can be multiplied
indefinitely, coming thus under the category of number and quan
tity, whilst faith is one act properly flowing over into a continuous
state. The Romish Church accordingly has carried her estimate
of human virtue so far, that she not only holds s. perfect fulfil-
ment ofthe law 10 be possible ;* but in broad opposition to that
scripture, When ye have done all, say. We are unprofitable ser
vants, has to tell eveniof a surplus meritoriousness of good works,
her so called opera supererogationis, in which ataan may do
more than his duty, and raise himself to the character ofa saint.
Such supermeritorious works are deposited in the treasury or
fund ofthe Church, which has the right to dispose ofthe trust at
pleasure, and may employ it to cover the sins of less adjasciced
Christians, or of souls even that have already passed intr'pulrga-
tory,f Hsnce sprang the traffic in indulgences, the abiimin ition
that gave' the first shock to the moral sensibilities of Luther.
Inthis scandalous trade,' that which forms the inmost sanctuary
of man's life, the pardon of sin and holiness, was put to sale for
the most paltry and outward of all interests, money. The pro
fits thus made were applied to the building of St. Peter's church.

scholastics, the notices furnished in Koellner's Symbolik der heil.
apost. kath. roemischen Kirche. Hamburg 1844. p. 325 ff.
'* Cone. Trid. S. VL cap. 16.
f The Cone. 7'n'i. indeed does not utter itself clearly on this point,
(Comp. however S. VI. cap. 11. can. 18 and 32. S. XXI. de reform, c.
9.) ; and it is remarkable, that the Cat. Rom, has not a word on the
subject. But the doctrine had already become complete with the scho
lastics, particularly Thomas Aquinas ; and the Council informs us, S.
XXV. deer, de indulg., that it was to be held agreeably to the authori
ties, and only the practical abuses of it to be put away. The Roman
Catholic divines accordingly bring it forward without reserve. Comp.
Bellarmine de indulg. I. 1. Exstat in Ecclesia thesaurus satisfaclio
num ex Christi passionibus infinitus, qui nunquam exhauriri potent.—
Ad hunc thesarum superjluentium satisfaclionum pertinent etiam passiones
b. Marine virginis et omnium aliorum sanctorum, qui pluspassi sunt, quam
eorum peccata requirerent. — cap. 14. Res certissima est et apud catho
licos indubitata, indulgentiis juvari posse animas, quae in purgatorio
poenas luunt. Theologians of more evangelical views in the Roniish
Church, such as Hirscher, regard indulgences, to be sure, as the regu
lar continuation simply ofthe early penitential discipline, a remnant of
the old Church punishments. But the whole practice of the Church
serves to confirm the other view.

59'
to gratify the ambition of the popes. But the completion of this
dome, whose Sixtine chapel Michael Angelo had decorated with.
the scene of the La.st Judgment, might be said to have brought
with it at the same time the last judgment for the Rornish Church.
itself, thus fallen into the arms of the world.
Where full justification is thus made to depend on the fluctua
ting subjective ground of human works and raerit, it is irapossible,
on the other side, for a Christian, however honest and humble, to
attain to any certainly of his salvation ; and all such assurance
is expressly condemned accordingly by the Council of Trent, un
less as it may be the product of a special revelation.'* Thus it
happens very generally, that the piety of precisely the most excel
lent and earnest members of this Church, carries with it a legal,
fettered, anxious character, that never allows them to come to the
full joy of faith, the glorious liberty ofthe children of God. The
farther the man advances, the more he sees and feels what is still
wanting ; while such as can be satisfied with themselves, only
show the absence of all right judgment and feeling by this fact.
Such self-righteousness no doubt is much more common in the
Roman Catholic Church, than rigid self-probation or self-knowl
edge. The Tridentine view then of this raost momentous dogma, in
which all siibjective Christianity is comprehended, is fairly charge
able with the following serious defects. 1. A very superficial
knowledge of human sinfulness, in affirming a dispositio, prae-
paratio and cooperatio, on the part of man, as necessarily pre-''
ceding and making way for justification. 2. A confounding of
justificatio with sanctificatio, in the conception of the central idea
itself. 3. A raost insufficient representation of the nature of faith.
4. An over-valuation of good works after conversion, investing the
whole Christian life with a pejagianistic complexion. 5. Lastly,
an entire want of evangelical freedom and assurance.
Now in all these points, which are inseparably connected with
the doctrine of justification itself, the Protestant system, both as
Lutheran and orthodox Reformed, exhibits a greater depth of
Christian consciousness, and an advance consequently upon the
soteriology ofthe Middle Ages. The doctrine as it stands in this
system presupposes necessarily a much more thorough knowledge
of sin, the guilt of which is lo be taken away by justification. The
natural state of man, or his original pravity, is vieived not simph'
as a debilitation of the moral powers, egestas naturalis, justitiae

* Sess, VL cap. 9. and 13. and can.

60
4ebitae nuditas, as Thomas Aquinas expresses il ;. but as a real-
corruption of these powers, of such sort, that before the introduc
tion of a new life-giving principle into his person, so far as a.jus<
titia spiritualis is concerned on which all turns in the case, he is
unable to produce from hiraself anything that is good. After the
will has once raade choice of evil, ilis no longer free, no longer
an undecided liberum arbitrium ; but on the contrary, it is filled
with the contents of evil, sold under its power, and thus an object
of divine wrath.* The only disposition theti which Protestan
tism can require, and in fact does require,j- as a prerequisite to
justification, is the consciousness of guilt awakened by the judi
cial function of the law, that "schoolmaster to Christ," and groun
ded on this the felt need of redemption, which is still included in
our nature in spite of its corruption, and without which indeed
redemption could have no place. This repentance and desire
however are so little operative and meritorious as it regards justi-.
fication, that they form rather the sense of complete unworthi-.
ness, the feeling of absolute emptiness and want, resembling bo
dily hunger, which craves food, but has no power to satisfy its
own call.
The renovation of the sinner can proceed only from the
creative grace of God, If the divine goodness, in the first crea
tion, formed for itself its own object, this is necessary much more
in redemption, where its object is in the first place its opposite.
also and enemy {Rom. 5 : 10.), Not tbe love we bear lo God,
but the love with which he has loved'us in Christ, is the ground of
our salvation (1 JbAre4:. 10-). This love accordingly has pre-.
vented us ; it has borne all sin and expiated all guilt in our stead,
* That the tract may not be unduly extended, we must limit our
selves mostly to mere references, leaving the reader to consult the proof
passages for himself, as every protestant divine at any rate should have
them within reach. We cite the Lutheran symbols, from the edition
of Hase (Libri SymboUci, 1837), the Reformed, aa published by Nie-
meyer, (CoUectio Confessionum in Ecclesiis Refornjatis publicatarum,
1840.). On original sin, and the whole state ofthe unregenerate, see
Chnfessio Augustana, art. 2. (p. 9 sq.). Apologia Corfessi.onis, art. 1. de
pecc-dto origin, (p. 50 sqq.), Articuli Smalcaldici, 111, 1. (p. 317 sq.) ;.
on the Reformed side, Confessio Helveticall. c. 8. 9. (p. 477 sqq.) Cate-
chismus Heidelhergensis, quaest. 7. 8. (p. 431.), Articuli Anglieani, art.
9 (p. 603.), Confessio Gallicana, art. 10. 11. (p. 332.), Confessio Belgica,
art. 15 (p. 370.), Confessio Scoticana, I. art. 3 (p. 342.), Canones Syrtodi
Dordrechtanae, cap. 3. art. 1—3. (p. 708 sq.), Confessio fidei Westmon-
asterienses sive Furitanae, c. 6. §. 1 — 6. c. 9. §. 1  5.
t Comp., for example. Formula Concordiae V. de lege et evaneelio
(p. 711.) ^

61
hut fulfilled at the same time all righteousness, as required by
the law, that is the published will of God. This all sufficient
satisfaction of Christ takes hold upon the individual subjeciively,
in justification. This is a.judicial, declarative act on the part of
God, by which he first pronounces the sin-crushed, contrite sinner
free from guilt as il regards the past, for the sake of his Only
Begotten Sou, and then, (freely,. Ko-m. 3, i 24., without the deeds
of the law, v. 28, by grace, through- faith, and not of himself
Eph. 2 ; 8.) makes over to him, in boundless mercy, the full
righteousness of the same, lo be counted and to be in fact his
own. It is in this way, 1. negatively nemissio peccatorum (Ps.
32 : 12, Rom. 3 : 25. 4 : 7. Luke 11 : 4. 2 Cor. 5 : 19.) and
2, positively imputatio justitiae and adoptio in filios Dei (Rom.
4 : 5, 5 : 9, 2 Cor. 5 : 21, Gal, 3,: 6, Phil. 3 : 9.). Man by
justification steps into the place of Christ, as Christ had previously
stepped into the place of man. What he did altogether, he did
not for himself, but out of free self.saerificing love towards the
human race, of which he is the head,*
Inthis way, all pelagian and semipelagian self-righteousness is
torn up by the roots ; humility is exhibited as the ground ofpiety 5
and all rightful honor is secured to Jesus Christ, as the only and'
all sufficient Mediator between Gdd and'man.

* Conf. Aug. art. 4. (p, 10.), Apol. Conf. art. 3. (p. 71 sqq.). Form. .
Cone. art. 3. (p. 683 sqq.) : Unanimi consensu' credimus, docemus et
confitemnr...., q,uod homo peccator coram Deo juslificetur, h. g. absol-
vatur ab omnibus suis peccatis et a judicio justissimae condemnationis,
et adoptetur in numerum filiorum Dei, atque haeres aeternae vitae scri-
batur, siiie ullis nostris ineritis aut dignitate, et absque uUis praeceden-
tibus aut seqpentibus nostris operibus, ex mera gratia tantummodo,
propter unicum meritum perfectissimamque obedientiam, passionem
acerbissimam, mortem et resurrectionem Dom. nostri J. Chi".,, cujus
obedientia nobis ad' justitiam imputatur.  Reformed symbols :
Conf. Ilelv. c. 15. (p. 494 sqq.) Justificare significat:Apostolo in dis-
putatione de justificatione,. peccata remittere, a culpa et poene absol
vere, in gratiam recipereet justum pronuntiare etc. Cat. Iliidelb. quaest,
eo. (p. 443.)... ut... sine ullo meo merito (Rom. 3 : 24.) ex mera Dei
misericordia (Tit. 3 : 5. Eph. 2 : 8, 9.) mihi perfecta satisfactio (1
Jbhn2 : 2.), justitia et sanctitas Christi (1 John 2 : 1.) imputetur ao
donetur (Rora. 4 : 4, 5. 2 Cor. 5 : 19.)', perinde ac si nee ullum ipse
peccatum admississem, nee ulla mihi labes inhaereret, inio vere quasi
eam obedientam, quam pro me Christus praeatitit, ipse perfecte praesti- .
tissem (2 Cor. 5 : 21.) — a mostclfear, complete and valuable definition.,.
Art. Anglic, art. 11, 12. (p. 603'sq.), Conf. Gallic, art. 18. (p. 334.),..
Conf. Belg. art. 22. (p. 374.), Conf. Scot. art. 12. {p. 346.), Declare.
Thorun. d-! gratia (p. 673.), Can. Syn. Dordr. III,c. 10. (p. 710.), Conf^
jM. PFes/roun. cap. 11, de justif. § 1 — 6j.and c, 12.
6*

&2
Whilst the merit of Christ is thus viewed as the only ground, the-
efficient cause' {causa effciens and emeritoria) of this righteous
ness, the only means of its appropriation, {causa instrumentalis,
instrumentumj organon lepticon,) is presented to us in faith.
This is not a natural product of man, although it finds a basis in
the possibility and want of redemption belonging to his fallen na
ture ; but the free gift of God, which is offeri^d and imparted
to him through the word and sacraments.* Nor is it moreover,
as regarded in the Romish system, (and this is a very essential
point,) a mere historical assent, and so a theoretic process simply ; .
but along with this, and principally, a cordial unconditional trust
in .the atoning efficacy of Christ's merit, a personal appropriation,,
ofittothe entire spiritual life of the subject.f, It holds, back of
the psychological distinction of understanding and will, in tho
inmost depth , of man's personality, apd so works with like in>
fluence upon both.,. The later protectant theologians tried accor-,.
dingly to exhaust the conception of faith, as..much as might be,
under three characters. The first is notitia, the knowledge of its
* Conf. Aug.V. p. 11, Nara per verbum et sacramenta, tamquam
per.instirumenta, donatur Spiritus sanctus, qui fiden)efiScit,.ubi et quan-.
do visum est Deo, in iis, qui audiuflt evangelium,. etc, — ,:-,.Conf, Helv, _
art. 16. (p. 496.) Haec autem fides mgrum est Dei donum, quod solus
Deus ex gratia sua electis suis, secundum mensuram, et quando, cui et ,
quantum ipse vult, donat, et quidem per spiritum sanctum,, mediante .
praedicatione evangelii et oratione fideli.
•]" Besides the passages already cited, comp. Conf, Aug. art. 20.
(p. 18.). More fully in his Loci theologici, p. 226. (ed. of 1562.) Me-
lancthon describes the nature of faith, first as an assentiri universo .
verbo divino, and farther as a Jidueia misericordiae Dei, and then pro-,
ceeds : Fiducia est mo<«s.«n. jio/unteie, necessario respondens assensio-
ni, seu quo voluntas in Christa acquiescit. Comp. Calvin's Instit. chr.
rel. III. 2, 8. Conf . Helv. 11. art. U. (p. 496.) Fides Christiana non
est opinio et humana persuasio,.sed_/5r7n!ssima^«cia et evidens ac con^.
statis animi assensus, denique certissima comprehensio veritatis Dei,
propositae in scripturis et symbolo apostolico, atque adeo Dei,
ipsius, summi boni, et praecipue promissionis divinae et Christi,i.
qui omnium promigsionum est colophon. . Most, masterly also,
and drawn from the deepest expeiience, is the definition of faith.:
by the Heidelberg Catechism, in its answer to the 21st question.
No such deep views, of the constitution of faith, bad been takgn
since the time of the apostles. Sarpi relates that the bishops of,
the Council of Trent, w£re npt able to conceive of it as anything more
than assent simply to historical truth ; and that they were brought into .
\\le greatest embarrassment with the subject, since they could find no .
satisfactory light, either from the fathers or the schoolmen, on, what ~
had not before eome under thorough discussion,.

63
object, Jesus Christ namely and his all sufficient merit ; the se-
cond, assensus, free inward consent to all the scriptures leach of
the mercy of God in Christ ; the third, which is most essential
and full oi com{oTt,fiducia, or the act ofthe will moving towards
Christ and resting in him for redemption, the confidence that
this grace is not only of general objective force, but personally
proper also to the believing subject himself.
In what relation now does this justification stand to holiness,
faith as thus described to woi-ks 1 Decided as Protestantism is in
limiting all justifying efficacy to the apprehension of Christ's
merit by means of faith, it is just as far from denying, however
remotely, the necessary connection between this grace and a
godly. life. This even the most shrewd, clear-sighted and profound
of modern opposers of the system,, has been constrained to ad
mit, when he says : "It would be in the )iighest degree unfair
however, not to . add that accordingjo the Lutheran theory, the
appretiension of this free remission of sins must always draw af
ter it the renewal ofthe sinner, and, a transformation ofhis life to ,
holiness." Genyine Protestantism has ever in its eye the faith of
Paul, that works by love ; or to speak with tlje Helvetic Confes
sion, the_^des, nulla operum fiducia, is al the same time operum
foecundissima. Its very being consists in the appropriation of
Christ, the holy and the just, H& w then. should it not produce
good works, as necessarily as a good tree must yield good fruit 1
It is the parent of all virtues. As soon as we have known and
believed the love which God has towards us (1 John 4 : 16.), we
cannot but love him in return (v, 19.).* This relation between ,
* Conf. Aug. art. 6. (p. 11.), art. 20. (p. 15, 16.), Apol. Conf. art. 3.
(p. 83., 85.). Inthe same, p. 133 sq. it is said : Ideo justificamur, ut
justi bene operari et obedire legi Dei incipiamus. Ideo regeneramur
et spiritum sanctum accipimus, ut nova vita habeat nova opera, novos
affectus, timorem, dilectionem Dei, odium concupiscentiae, etc. Form.
Cone. epit. art. 3. (p. 586.), art. 4. (p. 589.), sol. decl. art. 3. (p. 688.).
The noble passage of Luther in his Preface to the Epistle to the Ro
mans, is known :."0, it ^is a living, busy, active, raighty thing with
faith, that it cannot possibly cease from working good. It does not
ask either if good works are to be done, but before the question is put it
has done them already and is doing them still....; so that it is impossi
ble to sunder works fi;om faith, as much so verily, as that burmng and
shining should be sundered from fire." The Reformed symbols, with
out exception, press this point in terms equally strong, and in actual
life indeed this Church has shown herself more zealous for good works
even than her sister. I refer only to Con. Helv. II. art. 16. (p. 496 sq.),
and Cat. Held. qu. '64. (p. 444.) : neque enim fieri potest, quin ii,, qui
Ghristo per fidem in§iti sunt, fructus proferant gtatitudinis.

64
faith and love is of such inward force, that this last also can have-
no place without the first, as little as one may gather grapes from*
thorns. Faith is always necessarily presupposed in love ; fon
what does not spring from, faith is sin, and so not hive ; the
essence of which is a forsaking of self, while self-seeking forms-
the inmost nature of evil. "Good religious works make never a
good religious man, but agood religious man maketh- good religious
works. So that always the person must first be religious and:
good before all good works, and good religious works fol low and go.
forth from the religious good person. As the tree must be before
the fruit,so must the man be first good or bad in his person, before he
doeth good or bad works. The like we see in all handiwork. A
good' or bad house maketh not a good or bad carpenter, but a
good or bad carpenter .maketh a good or bad house. No work
maketh a master, such as is the work ;- but as the master is, his
work also is such.-^Works, as they make not'believrng, so they.
make not pious either. But- faith, , as it maketh pious, so doth it^
make good works also.'**-
Protestantism, in this way, only places faith and love in their
natural relation to each other, without detracting in the least fron>,
the dignity ofthe last. Rather, with the apostle Paul, it puts
this highest, for the very reason that it comes last ; as the begin
ning is always the less perfect, that points toa more complete form ,
of existence. The Evangelical morality, as the product of free
love and gratitude, is also much more sound; pure, deep, than-the
* Luther's serraon on the Liberty of a Christian' Man ; one of his
most profound productions. (Edition by Gerlach, vol. V. p. 37 f)
The two theses of Luther, ''If faithbe not mithont all work, it maketh
not righteous,' and "/(! is impossible thaL justifying faith should be,
without constantly many good works," have been tiresomely paraded
by the papists as an irreconcilable contradiction. To this howe,ver
Sartqrihs {Evangel. Kirchenzeiiung, 1835.. p. 826.) has rightly an
swered, that both agree admirably, and the more the truth ofthe one is
seen, the more trae must the other sh<5w itself to be at the same time.
In proportion. as the man, renouncing hiraself, ascribes his salvation,
on v and altogether to God's preventing love, the more deep and inward
will be the devotion of his love in return, and his grateful zeal in all
good works ; which flow the more richly from faith, as its fruit, tha
less they, are made to go before it, or, take rank with it, in the wav of
principle or ground. As for the dictum.fin-ally ofthe same great refor
mer, so ignorantly misconstrued, Si in- fide Jkri. posset adulterium, pec
catum non., esset , we must bear in mind, the bold, reckless, whole
sale, sweeping style.in which he was accustomed to speak ; and then.
reflect farther, thkt with him no such sin coM be. conunitted in. faith,.
80 ma he argues simply ea; impossibili.

65
Roman Catholic, which even in its highest exhibitions must be al
lowed to incldde a sinful mixture of spiritual pride or mechanical
formality. Good works then, in the Protestant system, are held to be ac
ceptable to God ; and it is taught even that God rewards them
graciously.* But no room is left for the imagination, that we ,
can earn salvation by their means, much less to think of any sur- ¦¦
plus merit. The entire Christian life is made to appear as a debt \
of gratitude, for the boundless, eternally to be praised love and ,
mercy of God manifested towards us in Jesus Chrisl.f When
we have done all accordingly, we have at best done only what
wasour duty (Luke 17 : 10.).. Sanctification however is in its '
nature a continually progressive work^ that becomes complete
only when the whole body ofthe Church, of which the individual
Christian is a member, has reached its state of perfection. Yea,
strictly considered, even the best works of the believer, so long as
he sojourns in the body,, by reason of the continued presence of
sin in his person, are not good absolutely, but only so much and
so far as they are wrought in him and through him by the Spirit
ofGod.ij: If he might say even with the apostle, "I know no
thing by myself," that is arn conscious of no wrong, he raust with
him also still add, "yet am I not hevehy justified." His confi-
* Apoh Conf. art. 9. (p. 96 and 136.), Form. Cone. act. 4. (p. 700>
aq.), Corif. Helv. II. c. 16. (p. 498.) Placent vero approbanturque a
Deo opera, quae a nobis fiunt per fidem. — Etenim docemus Deum bona
operantibus amplam dare mercedem. — Referimus tamen mercedem
hanc, quam Dominus dat, non ad meritum hominis accipientis, sed ad
bonitatem, vel liberalitatem et veritatem Dei promittentis atque dantis,
qui quum nihil debeat cuiquam, promisit tamen etc. Conf. Belg. art.
24. (p. 378.) Interea non negamus, Deam bona opera in suis remune-
rari ; sed id mera sua gratia fieri dicimus, ut qui dona sua in nobis
coronet. f With admirable judgment aecorcdngly, the Heidelberg Catechism
has comprehended all Christian practice under the article of Gratitude.
The Conf.Helv.il. art. 16. (p. 497.)agreeing with this says: (Bona opera)
fieri debent, non ut his promereamut vitam aeternam, donum Dei enim
est, ut apostolus ait, vita aeterna ; neque ad ostentationera, quam
lejecit Dominus Matth. 6. ; neque ad quaestum, quera et ipsum rejecit
Matth. 23. ; sed ad gloriam Dei, ad, ornandam vocationera nostram,
gratitudinemque Deo praestandam, et utilitatem proxirai. Artie. Ang.
art. 14.
ij: Conf. Helv. II. c. 16. (p. 499.) : Suntmulta praeterea indignaDeo,
et imperfecta plurima inveniuntur in operibus etiam sanctorum. Lu^.
ther's word is known, Justus in om^ti bono opere peccat.

66
dence of salvation ccMiaequently can never rest upon his works oT
love, but only upon the objective rock of Christ's merit, whose he
feels himself to be in faith. Even Paul hiraself, the apostle, at
the end ofhis career — a career, such as no saint ofthe Romish
Church certainly can exhibit — declares it to be the highest object
ofhis desire, that he might not have his own righteousness, which-
was ofthe law, but a foreign righteousness, which was of faith in
Christ, the righteousness namely that is of God by faith. (Phil.
3 : 9.).
The last point of difference in the case before us, regards the
assurance of justification. Being justified by grace through faith,
we have peace, the apostle tells us, with God (Rom. 5 : 1 — 5.).,
This jieaceis a state of mind, which necessarily attends the exer
cise of faith. For God is the fulness of all blessedness ; and
faith is the possession of God ; consequently in itself of beati
fying nature, in itself the assurance of salvation. To be united
to God in Christ, is to be saved. But faith is the consciousness
of this communion. As nothing makes a raan living but life,
nothing raakes him joyful or loving but joy or love, so he can be
made blessed only by faith, which is the same thing with blessed
ness itself.* At the same time to be sure, since faith is at one
time large and strong, as Luther says, at another small and
weak, this assurance of justification must naturally rise and fall.
in the same way.f
Before passing over to the formal pruiciple, it may be well, in.
'^ This assurance of salvation, as secured to us by faith, is pro--
claimed in the loftiest style by the old Church psalmody, and by
Luthek hiraself in a thousand places ; as for instance in his serraon on
the gosp. D. 20. p. trin. where among other things he says : "If death,
make onset ; so have I Christ; he is, my life. If sin make onset ; so
have I Christ ; he is my righteousness. If hell and damnation make
onset; so have I Christ; he is my salvation. Set in upon rae thus
what may ; still I have Christ ; him I can hold forward as my shield,
so that nothing can do me harra." — Calvin's /usfa'i. III. 2. 16: In
summa : vere fidelis non est, nisi qui solida persuasione Deum sibi
propitium benevoluraque patrem esse persuasus, de ejiis benignitate
omnia sibi pollicetur ; nisi que divin-ae erga se benevolentia promissio-
nibus fretus, indubitatam salutis expectationem praesumit.
f Calvin's Instit. III. 2. 17. Nos certe dum fidem docemus esse
debere certam et securam, non certitudinera aliquam imaginamur, quae-
nulla tangatur dubitatione, nee securitatem, quae nulla sollicitudine im--
petaturj; quin potius dicimus, perpetuura esse fidelibus certamen cum-
sua ipsorum diffidentia, tantum abest ut eorum conscientias in plaoidai
sliqua quiete collocemus, quae nulfis omiiino turbis interpelletui..

«7
view of the immense importance of the protestant doctrine tof
justification, to notice the raost acute and weighty objections that
have been urged against it on the part of Roraan Catholic, and
pseudo-protestant, or rationalistic opposers.
1. One ofthe most common reproaches is, that "the protestant
theory of justification encourages a thoughtless reliance on grace
and neglect of good works." Here however the curse turns into
a blessing. For the same reproach was brought against the doc
trine of the apostle Paul ;* and it serves to show consequently
that we agree with him. As he could triumphantly point such
calumniators to the moral exhortations contained in all his epistles
and also to his own life, so do we with like confidence hold up lo
our opponents our symbolical books, and the lives of the Refor
mers themselves, whose moral earnestness and untiring practical
activity were such as to cast all their cotemporaries into the
shade. 2. "It is not possible that God, who is truth itself, can declare
a man to be righteous, and treat him as such, when he is not such
in fact." — The mere treatment involves no difficulty. Even in
the sphere of the natural life, God treats us better than we de
serve, causing the sun to shine, and giving rain, for the benefit, of
the ungodly as well as of the good and pious. The nature of
grace, which falls it is true beyond the range of abstract justice,
consists always in this, that the offender is released from merited
punishment, and put into the positive enjoyment of freedom, that
being thus subdued and humbled, he may be led to pursue a better
life. Love also in general, of which grace is only a particular
modification, shows in its highest utterances the very same char
acter, without which it could never be exercised towards an ene
my. When some unfortunate has fallen into the water, the phi
lanthropist stops not lo inquire, even if it be his own enemy,
whether he is worthy of being rescued, but plunges at once into
the stream, and by his noble, self-forgetting conduct wins the
heart of him whose life he saves. The whole difficulty then in
the case before us must turn, Hot upon God's treatment ofthe be
liever, but upon the idea of his declaring a man to be what he is
not in fact. If however practice and judgment are to be saved

* Rom. 3 : 8. "We be slanderously reported, and some afiirm that
we say, Let us do evil that good may come." Rom. 5 : 10. compared
with 6 ; 1. Gal. 5 : 13. When Peter says, in his 2nd epistle, 3 : 16.,
that there are some things inthe epistles of Paul hard to understand,
which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruc
tion, he has the doctrine of justification mainly in his eye.

68
from irreconcilable contradiction with each other, the first must
involve here the supposition again of the second. When God is
represented by the apostle as having loved men while they were
yet sinners, it does not mean that he loved them as sinners, which
would be lo have loved sin itself in them, whereas this is always
his abomination ; but he loved them as creatures, who were capable
of redemption, and in this view worthy of being loved. He loved
the divine nature which was in them potentially, having reality
indeed only in his own purpose, but destined, through the mani
festation of his grace and love, to actualize itself and become real
subjectively also in man himself. Men are declared righteous
then by God, not so far as they are sinners, but so far only as
they are in Christ, and have thus in this objective way the princi
ple of righteousness in fact ; and this justifying act becomes itself
the occasion, by which the principle is actualized in its subject,
having creative force, quickening the dead, and calling into exis
tence that which had no existence before. The justifying grace
of God does not stand over against the convicted sinner in an ab
stract form, but passes over to him through the medium of faith,
sets him in its own element, and thus lodges in his person a life
gerra altogether new, in which is comprehended from the start
the entire growth of holiness. So Abraham was called a father
of many nations, before he was so actually. Ideally however, in
the divine plan he was such in the fullest sense, God, before
whom the dimensions of lime all give way in the same vast eter
nity, looks upon men in their inmost nature as rooted in Christ,
with whom they are brought into livin^union by faith. For the
relation of Christ to humanity is not outward, but inward and es
sential. He is the second Adam, the spiritual head of the race,
the true centre of all its individual personalitiesj in which only
the idea of the whole is fully realized and made complete. This
whole objection then proceeds upon a perfectly abstract fconception
of the doctrine of justification, which admits the thought of a judg
ment in the divine mind that is not at the same time creative ; and
only against such a conception of the case can it be allowed to
have any force. Many of the Lutheran theologians did indeed
lean towards this extreme, in their anti-pelagian zeal ; but it was
not so with the Reformed. They always acknowledged the true
element here in the catholic doctrine, without sanctioning its
pelagianistic trait,* For there still reraains always this great
* Comp. particularly the whole 11th chapter ofthe third book of
Calvin's Institutes ; for example, § 6. where this agreement and dif
ference are both very clearly stated : Sicut non potest decerpi Christus
m partes, ita inseparabilia esse haec duo, quae simul et conjunctim itt

69
distinction, that the principle of righteousness in man as answer
ing to the justifying act of God never flows even in part from his
own subjective constitution, but only and altogether from his be
lieving union with the objective Christ, and that the actualization
of this principle in his person, is itself conditioned by the declara
tory act, creative at the same lime, going before.
3, "It is unreasonable to ascribe all justifying and saving
power to faith, and lo deny such virtue to love, when the apostle
Paul nevertheless, who is in such great authority with protestants,
places love above faith, ICor, 13 :13,"* — We too proclaim love to
be the highest, the always abiding ; but precisely for this reason it
is not to be found in guilty man, immersed in selfishness and sin,
but only in God himself, the fountain of all love. So the only
way of coming to God, and becoming assured ofhis love in Christ,
through the knowledge and apprehension of which we are made
first capable of love in return, is no other than faith itself ; which
is siraply what our doctrine asserts. The fruit is belter than the
root ; and yet this last carries the tree, and not the first. In this
objection raoreover, it is forgotten, that all justifying and saving
power, causatively considered, is lodged according to our view,
¦neither in human faith, to which we attribute only instrumental
efficacy, nor in human love, but exclusively in God's grace, that
the glory of this may remain complete.
4. Adroitly constructed is the objection : "Faith in the protes
tant view is justifying, not as a dead historical assent, but in the
character of inward humility and trust, as a longing after the Re
deemer, as love consequently though in its infancy ; and thus the
theory, to preserve itself, falls back again unwittingly to the Ro
man catholic dogma." — Now we raay well allow, that there is
an ultimate point, wheie faith raay be regarded as a constituent
ipso percipimus, justitiam et sanctificationem. Quoscunque ergo iii
gratiam recipit Deus, simul spiritu adoptionis donat, cujus virtute eos
reformat ad suam imaginem. Verum, si soils claritas noji potest a
calore separari, an ideo dicemus luce calefieri lerram, calore vero illus-
trari 1 Hac similitudine nihil ad rem praesentem magis accomodum :
sol calore suo terram vegetal ac fecundat, radiis suis illustrat et illu-
minat : hie mutua est ac individua connexio, transferre tamen quod
unius peculiare est, ad alterum, ratio ipsa prohibet. >
* In similar style the argument was pressed by an opponent upon
Melancthon : "dileetio est maxima virtus ; ergo dileotio justificat.
Melancthon however draws from the proposition just the opposite
conclusion : dilectio est maxima virtus, atqui nos eam minime praesta-
mus ; ergo per dilectionem minime ]asii sumus.
7

70
in the development of love, laken in its broadest sense. But an-
less all ideas are to lose them.selves in one another promiscuous-'
ly, we must distinguish and separate on the one hand, as closely,
as we seek connecting relations on the other. Only in the use of
such reflective separation, is any scientific knowledge possible.
We say then, that fallen man, sold under the power of selfish-.
ness, which is the very opposite of love, in order that he may
come to the exercise of this grace, in its true Christian, self-re
nouncing, self-sacrificing form, must first becorae conscious ofthe
divine love in its relation to himself personally, must yield him
self to Christ's love ; and this is itself the exercise of faith. The
receptive element must go before the spontaneous ; humble ap
prehension before self-subsisting action. We are always brought
back accordingly to the protestant thesis, that raan is justified
and saved, not by the love which he exercises hiraself, but by
the love he receives from abroad, that is by faith.
2, The Formal Principle.
So much for the material principle of Protestantism, by which
direct and full access has been made good for man lo the grace of
God in Christ, This doctrine was brought lo the consciousness of
the Reformers, in their inward spiritual conflicts, by means ofthe
written word of God. Whilst tradition as it then stood con- '
tradicted it entirely, directing men for salvation, not to faith, but
to mechanical outward observances and forms ; the almost for
gotten bible was felt to preach the glorious truth, distinctly and
loudly, from beginning to end.* Thus as Christ became lo them
all in all, his word also was laken for the separate and sufficient
fountain of their religious knowledge. To the material or life-
principle of the Reformation accordingly, is joined as its neces
sary complement the formal or knowledge-principle ; which con
sists in this, that the word of God, as it has been handed down
* This experience is described in a lovely way by Luther himself:
"Then, (after coraing to a clear sense of justification by faith,) at once
I felt that I was new born, and had now found a wide, open door to
enter into paradise itself ; saw now moreover the precious scriptures ina
very different light, from all they seemed before ; ran accordingly soon
through the whole bible, and gathered in other passages also accwding to
this rule all its expositions of what is meant by God's work, God's right
eousness and God's faith. And as before I hated this little word right
heartily, God's righteousness, so I began now to hold the same high
and dear as the sweetest and most comforting to me of all words, and
this same passage in St. Paul becarae to me of a truth the very gate of
paradise."

71
to us in the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, is
the pure and proper source as well as the only certain measure,
of alt saving truth.
We find here now a similar relation to that which we have al
ready met in the case of ihe material principle, and a corresoond-
ence between the terms on both sides. The word of God answers
to faith, and tradition to love. As the doctrine of justification re
fers back to the doctrine of sin as its necessary presupposition, so
¦does the doctrine of the authority of tho scriptures also to a cor
responding view of the relation of the natural reason to revela
tion. The more favorable the view that is taken ofthe will of
man in its natural stale, the less will be the account made ofthe
blindness ofthe understanding as going hand in hand with sin,
and the higher the consequence attached to the word of man, as
well as to his works, in the business of salvation ; and so the
reverse will hold also in every point. Hence Romanism, as it
makes faith and works to be parallel sources of justification, and
lays the main stress in fact practically upon the last, is only con
sistent with itself, when it invests, here also in the sphere ofthe
formal principle, the word of God and human tradition with equal
authority as sources of religious knowledge,, and gives the second'
in reality the preference above the first. Protestantism, on the
contrary, places both powers in each casein their natural relatiorii
to each other, in the relation namely of ground and consequence,.
cause and effect, origin and process. Faith alone justifies, but
produces at the same time good works as its necessary fruit ; the
word of God is the only fountain and norm- of knowledge, but it
flows forward in the Church, and comes there continttally to
clearer [and deeper consciousness. As moreover, according to
this view, the value of works is estimated by the raeasure of the
faith which forms their ground, so the worth of tradition also is
determined by its organic connection and agreement wilh the word ,
of God, Inasmuch however as history is ever developed by
means of more or less onesided antagonisms, it was natural that
with the Reformation, in opposition lo the reigning overvaluation
of man's works and man's word, the principal emphasis should be
placed upon God's grace and God's word ; not with the repudia
tion indeed, but with some neglect at least ofthe other side. This
was the case particularly with regard to tradition.* The Be«
* We may notice here incidentally, in passing, a very important
fundamental peculiarity ofthe Lutheran Church as distinguished from
the Reformed. This communion, in its genuine form and life, has more
respect for tradition than the Reformed, and its developraent according-
^ has been more historical and gradual, and more largely conservative

gleet here is the more to be excused, sipce the Church of Rome-
imder the credit of apostolical tradition had smuggled into her
communion the most shocking errors, and brought the word of
God almost entirely into obUvion, had repeatedly prohibited it to
the laity indeed in express terms. Tradition was in fact, as
Chemnitz says in his ^xamen. Cone. Trid, the box of Pandora,
cujus operculo omne genus c.orruptelarum, abusuum et supersti-
tionum in ecclesiam inveciumfuit.
As. both principles are thus, inwardly connected, being only two,
different sides indeed of one and the same principle, our exposi
tion ofthe formal, which is now before us, will be materially as
sisted by the acquaintance we have formed with the other.
The Council of Trent receives, according to the first decree
of the fourth session, two sources for the knowledge of divine rev
elation, the word written or the sacred scriptures, and the word
unwritten or tradition ; and these she makes co-ordinate, in the
first instance, as the product ofthe same Holy Ghost, {pari pie-.
tatis affectu ac reverenlia suscipit et veneratur). Such a co-or-.
dination serves itself to depreciate the written word.* But this^
is done still more effectually through the farther definitions and
restrictions, to which it is subjected. In actual practice, the
scriptures fkll behind tradition, as jn the case of the material prin
ciple faith falls behind works. For under the written word of
God, the Church of Rome understands not merely, as we do, the-
canonical books of the Old and New Testarpents, but in open
contradiction to the oldest and purest tradition ofanOniGjsN,
Athanasius, Eusebius, Hilary, and even her otherwise so much
respected Jerome, incorporates into it also the Apocrypha ; mere
human productions, whatever may be their worth.f The dis-
of what was old ; whilst the Reformed, in Puritanism particularly,,
proceeded more violently, and by its contempt for history furnished oc-,
casion, in part at least, for the multiplication of sects. On the other
hand, the Reformed Church is more strenuous than the Lutheran in its
view of the necessity of good works, and has always displayed accord
ingly uncommon practical activity in the Christian life ; whilst the
sister body, revelling in free justification, presses hard on the confines
of antinoraianism ; having been carried in the person of one of her
principal champions quite over to the maxim. Good works hinder salva-.
tion! An exaggeration, which of course the Church soon disowned,
* For it involves the assumption, that their is much wanting in the
scriptures that is necessary to salvation, and that they are consequently
incomplete ; as Bellarmine de verbo Dei 4, 3. expressly asserts.
f Cone. Trid, Sess. IV. deer, de can. script, where at the same time

73
tihction between the divine and human is thus unsettled. This
pantheistic feature runs through the whole system, culminating
in the respect shown -towards ihe pope, as lawfully holding and
exercising the threefold office of Christ himself. Too much)
again is allowed to human agency in the fbrmalion ofthe sacredl
scriptures, by limiting the inspiration ofthe Hbly Ghost to mere
assistance and guidance, {ccssistentia et d-Jrec«i6).J Still farther,
the Latin translation of Jerome, a work of course proceeding
from a particular Church position and reflecting its image, is not
only placed on.a par with the original text, but in actual use pre
ferred to il altogether.* In the fourth place, the charge of dark
ness and ambiguity is brought against the scriptures ;f whence
tradition is held to be necessary for their interpretation ; and it is
counselled that the laity should not read them, except in cases of
special qualification, of which the bishop is to.be the judge.§ In
the protestants,^ for rejecting the Apocrypha, are laid under an ana
thema. ¦^ Bellarmine De verbo div. 1, 15. Aliter Deus adfuit prophetis,
aliter historicis. Illis revelavit futura etsimul'adstitit, ne aliquid falsi
admiscerent in scribendo ; his non semper revelavit ea, quae scripturi
erant, sed excitavit duntaxat, ut scriberent ea, quae vel viderant, vel
audierant, quorum recerdabantur, et simul adstitit, ne quid falsi scribe-
rent, quae assistentia non excludebat laborem.. The Jesuits proceeded
farther, and admitted without reserve the possibility of error, and even
of falsehood outright in the gospels ; as, for example, Alb. Pighi Hier-
arch. eccles. 1, 2. Matthaeus et loannes evangelistae potueiunt et labi .
memoria et mentiri etc.
* (^nc. Trid. S. IV. deer, de edit, et usa s. libr., where the vulgate
is 'pronoancei authentica, andthe rejection of it, that is all departure
from it in interpretation, is prohibited. Comp. Bellarmine de verbo
Dei II. 10., who with proper consequence maintains, that the Vulgate is
free from all material error in translation.
f Comp.-KLEE's katholische Dogmatik, vol. 1. p. 277. 2nd ed.
LiNDANUs (de opt. script.- interpret.) is not ashamed to say even, that
the scriptures without the aid of tradition have no raore value than
Aesop's B'ables : Sacram scripturam, si auctoritas ecclesiae disidera-
tur, non plus per se valere quam Aesopi fabulas. Comp. also the /?i-
struction pastorale 1. of Bossuet, cap. 43.
§ The symbols, it is true, are silent on the point, and in all times
there have been Catholics who have earnestly recommended the study
ofthe bible. (Comp. Extracts on the necessity and use of bible read
ing, from the fathers and other catholic writings, by Leander v. Ess,
2nd ed. Sulzbach 1816). But in strict Roman catholic lands, such as
Italy and Spain, the people are fearfully ignorant of the bible, and the ^
priests oppose every effort ofthe protestants to circulate it, frequently^-
7f

74-
short, the whole tendency ofthe Roman Catholic Church has for,-
Its object, to subordinate the bible to tradition, and then to make
itself the infallible judge of both ; with power to determine at,
pleasure what is God's word and the doctrine of the Church, and
lo anathematise every thing that raay go beyond its past decisions,
even though, as in the case of the Reformation and Jansenism, it.,
should be an actual deepening of the Christian consciousness..
itself. As already remarked, tradition in the Romish , sense, is the un-,
written portion of divine revelation ; by which is meant simply, ^
that it was not commitled lo writing in the beginning by its
author, however it may have been reduced to this form since in
the symbolical books and other productions of the Church. Its
contents are partly expository and partly supplementary to tho
bible ; il springs in, part from Christ himself, and in part frora ,
the apostles under, the guidance of the Holy Ghpst ; it is thus of
like origin and like dignity with the written word,; and has trans
mitted itself through the Church all along, pure and true, under
the constant care of God's Spirit.* Articles of tradition are,
indeed have committed large nurabers of bibles to the flames. It is a
fact farther, that the reading of the scriptures has been prohibited torthe
laity by several. popes, from Gregory VII. down to our own time, and
also by several provincial councils ; as the C. Tolosanum a. 1229.
{can. 14. Prohibemus etiam, ne libros Vet. T. aut N. laici permittan-.
tur habere, nisi forte Psalterium vel Breviarium pro divinis oificiis aut
horas B. Marias aliquis ex devotione habere velit. Sed ne praemissos
libros habeant. in. vulgari translates, arctissime inhibemus) ; so the
0. Tarraconense a. 1234. In any case, according to the whole system
ofthe Church, the reading of the scriptures is not regarded as neces
sary, and the people are referred to the priests as a nearer and surer
fountain of instruction.
* The Council of Trent speaks on this difficalt subject in its 4th
Session, but for, reasons easily uiiderstood goes not into it minutely.
Even to have raised a question here, must have been to put at stake a
number of her most important .doctrines and usages. Bellarmine de
verbo Dei, 4, 3. divides traditions into, 1st traditiones divinae, communi
cated by Christ to the apostles, 2nd traditiones apostolicae, proceeding
from the apostles, though not in their writings, and 3d traditiones ec-
clesiasticae, ancient Church usages and customs. The first stand par
allel in value with the gospels, the second with the writings of the
apostles, and the third with the written decrees and constitutions ofthe
Church. Moehleb's view of tradition, on the contrary, is by no means
strictly orthodox, but, ideal, showing a protestant tinge. Here, as in
his celebrated, bpok also on the unity of the Church, the theology of
Schleiermacher was evidently felt. Thus he distinguishes in his
Symbolik (p. 362 flf, of the 5th e.d. 1838.) between a tradition i^ the.

75
fer.example, infant baptism, the worship of the saints, the doc
trine of purgatory, the sacrifice ofthe mass, the forty days fast
Uefore easier. Its compass is determined of course by the
Church, that is by the Roman Catholic Church, which is taken
to be the Church universal, and so the rightful bearer of this
trust. What she has declared to be apostolical tradition, through
her organs, the popes and councils, must be received in this
character. She decides in the case however according to a fixed
rule, the criterion of catholicity namely presented by Vincentius
LiRiNENSis : quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus credi-
tum est. All valid traditions consequently must have been uni
versally acknowledged by the Christian Church from the begin
ning. But just here comes the knot which the Church of Rome is
npt able to unloose, but only to cut in a violent way.. The uni
versality in time and space which, is called for by the criterion
now mentioned, cannot be shown in favor of a single one of all
her traditions as different from the bible. This point has been
largely handled by Chemnitz, with great learning. Very many
dogmas and usages rose clearly in the Middle Age, or at least af
ter the time of Augustine ; and in the best cases, the alledged
universality reduces itself toa relative majority of voices merely,
which was often very small, and not unfrequently besides the
result of outward influences entirely. In tbe discussion on tradi
tion itself, in the fourth session of the Council of Trent, nothing
like absolute unanimity vvas to be found. The bishop of Chiozza
maintained that the gospels contain all that man needs for salva
tion ; and another prelate declared decidedly, that God's word
consisted not of two parts, that it was a reproach to divine provi
dence to assume that a portion of its revelation had not been
committed lo writing, and that we must rather follow therefore the
example of those fathers, who confined themselves always to the
bible alone. In the discussion on the doctrine of justification a
subjective, and a tradition in the objective sense. The first is nothing
more than "the Christian sense belonging to the Church, and handing
itself down by means of Church training, the word continuously living
in the hearts ofthe faithful ;" the same thing thus with what Schlei-
epmaoher styles the Christian consciousness. Tradition in the objec
tive sense is made to be "the aggregate faith of the Church, through
all ages as exhibited in external historical. testimonies." But this is
to say nothing characteristic of it as distinguished from the sacred
scriptures, which also belong to the aggregate faith of the Chuich in
this form. It is easy enough, in such fashion, to escape the difficulties
of the case; which begin precisely where it comes to the question.of
the concrete contents of tradition as differing from the bible.

7ff
still more considerable want of unity appeared. The archbishop-
of Sienna, the bishop della Cava, Giulio Contarini bishop of
Belluno, and with them five theologians, joined in declaring faith-
lo be the only ground of justification, love and hope its attendants,
and works its evidence or proof; whilst the general of the Au-
gustinians, Seripando, brought forward the view of Gaspar Con--
tarini, which took a raiddle course betv/een the two systems.
But the voice of history, wilh its thousand tongues, is over
whelmed, not answered, by the Church of Rome, with the declara
tion that she is absolutely infallible, the unerring organ ofthe
Holy Ghost, to which all private judgment, all historical-inquiry,,
must yield implicit submission.* To this point in the end the.
whole controversy of right comes ; with it the entire Roman
Catholic system stands or falls. But this highest principle pre
cisely of the infallibility ofthe papal hierarchy, like the highest-
principle of most philosophical systems, is merely asserted, never
proved.. It forms the proton pseudos, the grand falsehood, on
which the whole system rests ; and at the same time its central
sin, creature deification, making itself identical with the universal
Church, yea, wilh the absolute kingdora of God, out of which all
are heretics only and children of perdition.
Protestantism has shaken this. foundation- from its place. It.
plants it.self on the principle, that infallibility belongs to Christ
and his word alone, and.toall else so far only as it may be joined
to him in living union,. This union however, in the present world,
is progressive,, and so always incomplete. In the case ofthe
single Christian, this is as clear as day. As in the best works
of the regenerate sin still continues to work with, more or less
power, so, that they can .never becorae the ground of justification ;
so also error still cleaves to his knowledge, as long as he taber
nacles in the body, and on this account the truth which is unto
* The Council of Trent of course takes this position every where
for granted, and utters all its decisions accordingly. In the nature of "
the case, at- the sarae tirae, it could not be subjected to particular in
vestigation and proof. This would have been nothing less than a
petitio principU ;¦ since to be able to show its divine authority, the Sy
nod must have- assumed the fact as already given.. The Cat. Rom. I.
10, 18. ascribes to the Roman Church, and to this exclusively, freedom
from all error in^rfei ac mrrrum disciplina tradenda ', and so likewise Bel
larmine ecclt' mint. c. 14. Nostra sententia est ecc/ma/» absolute non
posse errare, nee in rebus absolute necessariis, nee in aliis, quae creden-
da vel facienda nobis proponit, sive habeantnr expresse in scripturis,
sive non : et quum dicimus, ecclesiam non posse errare, id intelligimus,
tam de universitate fidelium,4uam de uni versitate- episcoporum.

77
salvation can never be built on human tradition. For error and
sin are ever inseparably related, like the understanding and the
will. Sin is practical error, and error is theoretic sin. If this
hold in the case of the individual, it is hard to see why the same
should not be true ofthe Church also, since this is nothing else
than the organic complex of individual Christians. A bishop ,;
does not become another man, in appearing as the member ofa ,
Synod, made free as by a magic wand from error and sin. As
little is this the case with the whole body. Many sinners make
no saint, raany blind no one with, the gift of sight,, as little as a
quantity of wood can yield iron, or a quantity of stones bread. (
Error and truth differ not gradually, but specifically. If the
Church militant then be not free frora sin, which no one in the
face of history will maintain, so neither is she free from error.
True, she has the unerring word of God, and is styled by Paul
¦¦'the pillar and ground ofthe truth." The truth accordingly can
never disappear from her communion ; and this is the right and
sound side ofthe Roman Catholic dogma. But this by no means
involves the idea of a positive infallibility. Rather, the Church-
has error along with, the truth, by which this raE.y be corrupted,
and obscured, though never absolutely lost. She bears the gol
den treasure in earthen vessels ; along with her ideal, divine na
ture, she possesses also a, real, human existence, which is subject
to the conditions of the finite, and thus also lo the laws of process
and growth. In the Church herself, as .well as in her members
singly taken, we must distinguish different periods of life. She is
not made perfect al once, but is engaged in a gradual process of
development, which holds just in this, that she is ever extrica
ting herself more and more from the Judaism and Paganism, sin
and error, that still cleave to her by nature ; by entering always
more deeply into ihe word of God, in her hands but not for this
reason fully understood from the beginning ; and by incorpora
ting it more fully always with her thinking, feeling and acting ;
till in the end she shall appear the full grown body of Christ,
without spot or wrinkle, infirmity or disease, thus ceasing at the
same time to be a militant Church, and passing over into the
kingdom of God triumphant.
For every unprejudiced person, history confirms this by incon
trovertible facts. Even the most celebrated councils have been
sufficiently characterised by contention and strife, contradictory
feelings and views ;j and human passions and errors have
come into play in their proceedings, as fully as in other places.
Add to this, that popes and councils have not unfrequently ap
peared in direct, contradiction ; a circurastance fatal at once to the

78
claim of infallibility. Thus, in the Arian controversy, several
synods, just as large and oonstitution'al as those afterwards ac
knowledged to be orthodox, declared- in favor of this heresy ; and
while the Council of Constantinople a,, 754, by imperial will the
Seventh Oecumenical, composed of 300 bishops, fanatically
damned all religious images, the next universal synod, held at
Nice a. 787, proclaimed ihe whole proceeding to be wind. More
frequent still have been the cases of contradiction on the f>art of
the popes, among theraselves, and especially to the Church as re
presented by the great reformatory synods of Constance and Ba
sel ; so that with regard to this point, the Roman theologians
theraselves have not been able to agree..
The Protestant Church however can appeal, in favor of her
view, not siraply to the hi.story of councils and popes, but also to
the express testimony of the raost ancient Church fathers; as
Athanasius and Auoustine, for example, without qualification
allow the possibility of error even in the highest administration
of the Church.* The idea ofa positive infallibility, excluding
all and every error, and clothing the decisions of councils with
the character of divine oracles, was first uttered by the Council
of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, with reference to that of Nice ; whose
decrees, it was directly affirmed, were given not hy the fathers of
the synod themselves, but by the Holy Ghost speaking through,
their persons,.
If there be then a-ny unerring fountain of truth, needed to sa--
tisfy religious want; it can be found only in the word of God,.
who is himself the truth ; and this becomes thus consequently
the highest norm-and rule, by which to measure all human truth,
all ecclesiastical tradition, and all synodical decrees. f Having
* Thus the last de,baptismo contra, Donaiistijl, 3. says : Quis nesciat
S. Scripturam omnibus episcoporum Uteris ita praeponi, ut de ilia om
nino dubitari et disceptari non possit, episcoporum autem literas per
sermpnem forte sapigntiorem cujuslibet in ea re peritioris, et per alio
rum episcoporum. graviorem auctoritatem doctioremque prudentiam et
per concilia licere reprehendi, si quid in eis forte a veritate deviatum
est : et ipsa concilia, quae per singulas provincias fiunt, plenariorum
conciliorum anctoritati quae fiunt ex universo orbe chrisiiano, sine ullis
ambagibus cedere, ipsaque plenaria saepe priora posterioribus emendarif.
quum aliquo experimento rerum aperitur qiiod clausum erat et cognos-
citur quod latebat. If the general councils themselves admit and re
quire thus improvement and correction from those that follow, they
cannot be infallible.
f Artie. Smale. 1. 2, 15. (p. 308.) : Ex patrjim verbis et factis non
sunt extruendi articuli fidei,. .,_Regulam. autem aliam habemus, ut vide--

79
¦Jn this way no tival at their side, the sacred ScriptutsS must takft
a far higher place in the protestant system than they are allowed
to hold in that of Rome, similarly lo the view taken of faith also
in the two Churches. Ourolder theologians cannot be charged cer
tainly vvith any want of respect for the bible ; rather fault is to be
found with the inspiration theory of the 17th Century, that it did
not sufficiently recognise the individuality of the sacred writers,
which without the least prejudice to the divinity ofthe matter,
mirrors il nevertheless in every case under a peculiar form.
These bible fathers, as I may style them with Daub, have re
solved the excellence predicated ofthe scriptures into the following
properties, 1, The character of fontal and normal authority
immediately in view. 2. Perfection as to compass and contents
{perfectio s. sujicientia) ; not of course in the absolute sense, as
containing all that can possibly be known of God and divine
things ; but relatively, reaching to all that is necessary to salva
tion, as distinctly expressed in the syrabolical books {continet om
nia, quae ad salutem consequendam sunt necessaria.) All tradi
tions accordingly, unless they be mere consequencfes drawn from
the bible, are either positively false, or contain on.y subordinate
and unessential truth.* It might be presumed indeed beforehand,
licet verbum Dei condat articulos fidei, et praeterea nemo, ne angfelus
quidem. Luther, as early as the conference at Augsburg would be
"confuted only from the scriptures ;" and at Worms, as is known, he
put forward the testimonia scripturarum, and declared his cona'cience
bound by God's word. Form. Con/, ^racf. ^. 570., where the bible is
styled unica regula et norma of all doctrines ; also sol. decl. p 632. —
The Reformed Church proclaims this formal principle throughout with
still more distinctness and decision ; so that it is almost superfiuous to
refer to proof-passages. Conf. Helv. II. art. 1, 2. (p. 467 sqq.), Ai-tic.
Anglic, art. 6. Conf. Belg. art. 3—5. (p. 361 sq.), Conf. Gallic, art.
2 — 5. (p. 329 sq.), Conf. Westmonast. c. 1. § 1—10.
* Schleiermacher {Der christi. Glaube, Vol. 2 § 103. p. 120 f. 3d
ed.) says with much truth : "This original revelation of God in Christ
is raoreover so sufficient, and at the same time so inexhaustible, that so
far as this first point is concerned Christ stands forth at once as the
crown and consummation of all prophecy. For it is not possible, ei
ther for any representation of our relation to God to take place, out of
the sphere in whioh Christ is already known, that shall not fall behind
this revelation ; or for any such advance ever to be made within the
Christian Church, as may show any thing imperfect in the doctrine of
Christ itself, for which something better might be substituted, or to
conceive for the understanding of man, as it regards his relation to
God, anything more spiritual, deep and complete, than has been done
by Christ. With the idea of such a perfectibility ofthe Christian doc
trine, as might allow us to go beyond Christ himself, the idea ofhis

8cr
that the divine wisdom and goodness, in the case of the new cove
nant as well as in that of the old, would provide for a true and
full record ofthe truth, as needed for salvation, in a written forra;
since a merely oral tradition, in the nature of the case, must be
subject to change and distortion, making it impossible at last to
distinguish truth from falsehood. In such passages as Acts 20 :
27. 26 : 22. 2 Tim. 3 : 14—17. Gal, 1 : 8. Rev, 22 : 18. the
scriptures ascribe this character lo themselves quite directly ; and
the claim is made good continually in practical life. The more
any one enters into the contents of the bible, the more he learns
to say with Luther, that it resembles an herb, that by every rub
bing becomes only the more odoriferous, a tree, that by every
shaking throws down only a richer supply of golden apples.
Every valuable exegetical work discloses to us new treasures ;
and our Church, after having lived upon it already three hundred
years, raust still with Paul exclaim in amazeraent, " O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I" — 3,
As it regards form, the bible has the quality of Perspicuity (per-
spicuitas) ; not absolutely again, as excluding every mystery ;
but so, as that all Ihings indispensably necessary to salvation may
be known by jcvery member of the Church from the scriptures,
without the aid of tradition or councils, if only the proper condi
tions are at hfand for the purpose. These include not simply the
general command of intellect and knowledge that are requisite for
the understanding of every human book, by which the loose spirit
ualism of the Quakers is disowned, but a living sense also of
spiritilal need, and a proper affinity with the Spirit from which
the seriptures proceed. And here the Protestant Church appears
in ful^ opposition to Rationalism, in the ease of which the natural
understanding, that cannot discern the ihings ofthe Spirit accord-
in^g-to Paul, (1 Cor, 2 : 14. 13 t 3. 2 Cor, 3 : 5.) is made the
principle of interpretation. That it is properly the Holy Ghost
only which can interpret the scriptures, is admitted by the Ro
mish Church also ; and so all controversy here turns upon the
question, Where is this Holy Ghost ?* The Church of Rome of

peculiar excellence must fall to the ground. On the contrary, all later
excellence here can never be anything else, than the right development
ofwhat is either comprehended in his declarations as handed down to
us, or in such relation to them as to have been necessarily present to
his mind." That Schleiermacher has in his mind the contents ofthe
bible here, as the measure which none can transcend, must be clear to
all who are acquainted with his system.
* Bellarmine de verb. Dei 3, 3. Convenit inter nos et adversarios.
»cripturas intelligi debere eo spiritu, quo factae sunt, i. e. spiritu sanctoi
Toto igitur quaestio in eo posita est, ubi sit iste spiritus.

81
course arrogates its presence, and with this the right interpreta
tion of the bible, entirely to herself, her bishops and her popes ;
and thus in fact exalts herself above the bible, as its infallible
judge.* The Protestant, on the other hand, binds the Spirit,
that "bloweth where it listeth," not to a particular form and sec
tion ofthe Church, but to the word alone, (comp. John 8 : 31,
32.). Where the word is read and preached, there the Spirit
lives and moves and creates light ; that is, in other words, the
scriptures interpret themselves.f When notwithstanding contro
versies arise, as they unavoidably must, and opposite parties con
tend for different senses of the word in their own favor, the Pro
testant requires, it is true, a subjection of the individual to
some general authority ; whether it be a small body of theo
logians, as that which framed the Form of Concord, or a re
gular synod, as of Dort, Westminster, &c., which establish
es a standard of faith for all within its jurisdiction. On
this ground, it is known, the Reformers were earnestly ur
gent for a general council, in which the controversies ofthe
time might be decided. But here still this important difference
prevails between the Protestant and Romish systems, that in the
view ofthe first no such ecclesiastical authority is permitted to
draw its decisions from tradition, but always again from the bible
itself only ; and thus the principle of its self-interpretation in the
Holy Ghost reraains unirapaired.J — 4. The last character of the
* Bellarmine 1. c. 3, 9. has poorly sustained his usual logical acu
men -at this point. He maintains, that as the bible is the subject of
controversy, we must not appeal to it as judge in the case, but only to
something external to it, that is the Church. But the Church is also a
party ; and so not qualified to act as judge, unless in the most partial,
and in the worst sense, extra-biblical style. ,
"(" Scriptura sacra est sui ipsius legitimus interpres. Comp, especially
the Reformed symbols ; for example, Conf. Helv. II. c. 2. (p. 469.) :
illam duntaxat scripturarum intepretationera pro orthodoxa et genuina
agnosciraus, quae ex ipsis est petita scripturis... cura regula fidei et
caritatis 'congruit et ad gloriam Dei hominumque salutem exiniie facit.
ij: The LutheranSivines distinguish accordingly thus : {l.)lndex prin
cipalis est spiritus s. (2.) judex instrumentalis est s. scriptura. (3.) jud.
'ministerialis (also inferior) est ministerium eeclesiasticum. This last
•however raay not "pro suo arbitrio sententiara pronunciare, sed juxta
normam a supremo judice praescriptam, videl. juxta scripturam s.,
quam propterea vocem judicis suprerai et norraam judicis inferioris et
judicem directivum appellamus." Calvin treats of the point Instit.
IV. c. 9. § 13. where the remarkable passage occurs : "Nos certe liben-
ter concedimus, si quo de dogmate incidat disceptatio, nullum esse nee
melius nee certius remedium, quam si verorum episcoporum Synodus
'conveniat, ubi controversum dogma excutiatur. Multo enim plus pon=-
8

82
scriptures is the power {efficacia) with which they operate through
the Holy Spirit on the soul of man, in the way of illumination and
renewal. This however is of no essential consequence toour
present investigation.
When all this is taken together, we may say, leaving out of
view a number of the fathers and mediaeval divines, very promi
nent men it is true, that the holy scriptures were first instated in
their proper rights, in a general way, by the Reformers, It is
felt accordingly lo be a sacred duly with Protestantism, which in
this view also forras a decided advance in the history ofthe
Church, lo circulate them as widely as possible in the languages
accessible lo the people ; whilst it lies in the interest of popery
universally, to restrain their circulation, and to anathematise
all bible societies; under the convenient plea of course, that the
editions are heretical, and the translation- corrupt.
We are now to investigate the relation of the Protestant bible
principle to tradition ; or the place assigned to tradition in the
protestant\ system. To do justice however to this difficult point,
we must first reduce the idea lo its constituent parts ; since the
word is used in very different senses, and by the Council of Trent
in particulkr is ipade so general, as to embrace the whole mass of
what has been handed down in Ihe Church. We may take up
the whole compass of its meaning, under the distinction oiritual,
historical, and dogmatic tradition. To all these forms, the
general delation of Protestantism is such, that it affirms their
historical necessity, whilst at the same time it places them neither
parallel! with '^« scriptures, nor over them, but under them only,
and measures their value by the extent of their agreement with
ihis standard,
1. The first class corresponds in the main, with what Bellak-
MiNE styles ecclesiastical traditions. It comprises the ancient
customs and usages, pertaining lo order and wcTship, which have
gradually acquired the character of catholicity f for example, the
deris habebitejusmodi definitio, in quam eommuniter ecclesiarum pas-
tores, invocato Christi spiritu, consenserint, quam si quisque seorsum
domi conceptam populo traderet, vel pauci homines privatim eam con-
ficerent." He then goes on to establish this view, in part exegetically
(from 1 Cor. 14 : 29.), in part historically ; adding in the end however
that the Holy Ghost may forsake an entire synod, so that the decisions
of such a body are not necessarily free from error, as history shows.
Hoc autem perpetuura esse nego, ut vera sit et certa scripturae inter^re-
tatio, quae concilii suffragiis fuerit recepta.

ss
distinctions ofthe clergy, the Church festivals, the arrangement of
divine service, the specifications of Church discipline, and the
whole range of Church symbolisra, as the custom of praying vvith
the face towards the East, the consecration ofthe baptismal wa
ter, making the sign of the cross, &c. That these points in gen
eral were established after the age of the apostles, needs in the
present posture of historical inquiry no farther argument. It en
tered not into the design of Christ and the apostles, to lay down
more than the most essential ground regulations for the order and
worship ofthe Church. They wished not to burden the new or
ganization wilh forras and ceremonies. This would have been
wholly contrary also to the free genius ofthe gospel, which was
expected rather lo create its own body according to time and cir
cumstances, as its wants might require (comp. jRom.,14. Gal. 4 :.
9, 10. 5 : 4. Coloss, 2 : 16 — 18.). To insist on one constitu
tion and one worship, as alone true and valid, in the case at least
ofthe militant Church, is to fall back again into fleshly Judaism.
So in the Church of Rome itself, many priraitive customs have
gone into disuse, and others again have been introduced much
later, which now form an essential part of the system ; as the
papacy in its present form, the pomp cormected, with the mass,
the splended clerical attire, the festivals of Mary and the saints,.
the details with regard to fasts and penances, praying by the
rosary, and the like. Now in all these secondary things,. Pro
testantism recognises throughout no normative force, as is done
by the Church of Rome, but claims the right to exercise a free
evangelical criticism in the case ; rejecting absolutely all that con-
fficts with the true life of the Church, and serves merely to pro
mote a dead mechanical religion ; whilst it retains only whai is
found to embody with suitable form and expression the Christian
spirit.* As however at the time ofthe Reformation, the Church
* Conf. Aug. art. 15. (p. 13 sq.) . De ritibus ecclesiasticis docent,
quod ritus illi servandi smt, qui sine peccato servari, possunt etprosunt
ad tranquillitatera et bonum ordinem in ecclesia, sicut certae feriae,
festa et similia. De talibus rebus tamen adraonentur homines, ne con-
scientiae onerentur, taniquam talis cultus ad salutem necessarius sit.
Adraonentur etiara, quod traditiones huraanae institutae ad plaoandum
Deum, et promerendam gratiam et satisfaciendum pro peccatis, ad ver-
sentur evangelic et doctrinae fidei. Quare vota et traditiones de cibis
et diebus etc. institutae ad promerendam gratiam et satisfaciendum pro
peccatis inutiles sint et contra evangelium. Comp. art. 22 (p. 20. falsa
enim calumnia etc.), and the whole admirable 8th section in the Apol.
Conf. de traditionibus humanis in eccles. p. 205 — 223. Chemnitz, in
his Exam., lays down in relation to ritual traditions the following very
sound, rule i Ceremoniae in ecclesia sint genere indifferentes,huihero

84-
had well nigh petrified in these outward forms, with the loss in a,
great measure of all inward life, as it was with Judaism, al the
time of Christ ; whilst the apostolic age, as far as we can gather
frora the New Testament, was characterised by the greatest sim
plicity and spirituality ; it was quite natural that the Reforraers
should have been carried too far at times in opposition to the exist
ing systeiji. At the same time, this was not the case so much
with the Lutheran and German Reformed Church, as it was with
the Reformed Church in Scotland and France. For the Romanic
nations, and the English also, are much rnore disposed to attach
an undue value to form, than the inward minded, idealistic Ger-,
mans ; and for this very reason, it was natural for them, when
the spirit was roused to the consciousness and assertion of its su
perior rights, to fall over unduly to the opposite side, on the prin
ciple that one extrenoe begets another. Puritanism in particular, I'
am constrained here openly to acknowledge, through a false spirit
ualistic tendency and an utter misapprehension ofthe significance
ofthe corporeal and outward, showed itself in this case rash in its
zeal, and has sacrificed many beautiful customs, by which reli
gious ideas were sweetly interwoven with comraon life, and out
ward opportunities contihually supplied for the favorable applica
tion of truth to the heart. All this, it is much more difficult to
recover, than to cast away. It is always more easy lo destroy,
than it is to build. The culminating point of this abstract spirit
ualism has been reached in the system ofthe Quaker ; which re
jects even the i^iinistry and the sacraments as mere forms ; but
strangely enough, against its own will, swings clear oyer at the
same time to the very opposite extreme. For of all pthers, the
Quakers are the greatest slaves ofform, and the most barren and
unmeaning besides in their profession ; a palpable satire upon aH
such naked inwardism, an involuntary argument for the necessity
of externalization. 2. To the historical tradition raust be referred; as of first ac
count, the testimonies of Christian antiquity on the gpnuineness
and integrity of the sacred books, the time and place of their com
position, and the settlement of the canon. This tradition the
Lutheran and Reforraed Church hold, to be of great account, and,
they have retained, as is known, the canon ofthe Catholic Church.
But still\failh in the scriptures is made lo rest, in the end, not on
these testimonies of the fathers, but on the inward testimony of
paucae, sint piae et utiles ad aedificationem, ordinem et decorum ; ha-.
beant extra casum scandal! liberas observationes. — Conf. Helv, II. art,
37. (p. 630 sq.).

85
the Holy Spirit, and is not allowed to have any true worth while
it continues a simple blind trust in authority. Then again, these
traditions are for Protestantism by no means infallible and bind-^
ing, but simple historical testimonies only, whose worth is lo be
estimated, partly according to the general credibility ofthe writer
concerned, and partly also, and mainly, according to the measure
of their connection wilh the apostolic age. It is sufficient to show
them not infallible, that previously to the Council of Hippo in the
year 393, they are known not to agr^e with one another, in rela
tion to several books of the New Testament, the so called antile-
gomena of Eusebius. The Church of Rome has so much the
less room for casting reproach upon us here, since in open con-
tradiclion to the oldest and best accredited lr.adition, which we
have once more restored to its rights, she has rejected the distinc
tion of canonical and apocryphal books, and so invested with tra
ditional authority this false co-ordination itself.
Under the same head, in a wider sense, may be reckoned exe
getical tradition. The Council of Trent understands by this
the pretended consent ofthe fathers ; and it was ordained, in the
fourth session, that this should govern the interpretation ofthe
scriptures.* This tradition also Protestantism prizes, without
overvaluation. It is well pleased to find a Church father in har
mony vvith the true explanation of a passage ; as may be sufficient
ly seen for instance, from Chemnitz' Examen Concilii Trident.,
and Gerhard's celebrated system of theology. The religious
life rests on the deepest feeling of communion. It may be safely
affirmed moreover, that for every peculiar exposition of the Re
formers, at least an analogy may be found in the ancient Church,
particularly with Augustine, But still the Reformers by no
means allow a normative authority to the fathers. Respect for
them is not suffered to shackle the farther progress of exegesis,
as in the Church of Rome. f The fathers, in their interpretation.

* Ut nerao... contra unaniraem consensum Patrum ipsam scripturam
sacrara interpretari audeat.
\ Conf . Helv. 11. art. 2. (p. 469.) : Proinde non aspernamur sancto
rum patrum Graecorum Latinorumque interpretationes neque repro-
haraus eorundem disputationes- ae tractationes rerum sacrarum cum,
scripturis consentientes ; a quibus tamen recedimus modeste, quando-
aliena a scripturis aut his contraria adferre deprehenduntur. Nee-
putamus illis ullam a nobis hac re injuriam irrogari, quum omnes uno-
ore nolint sua scripta aequari canonicis.... Eodem in ordine coUocan—
tur etiam conciliorum definitiones vel canones. With this agrees the.-
whole practice of the orthodox protestant interpreters and theologians,.
8*

86,
proceeded in part on wholly unsound principles, as those of Alexr.
a'ndria for instance with their extravagant allegory ; and of a full
agreement, except only in the most essential particulars, it is idle
to speak.:]: The scripture expdsilions of the Reformers show not
only far more agreement, but also sounder sense and tact, and.
saving the single case of Auoustine, who however like all philo
sophical thinkers is a better theologian than interpreter, are
characterised by much greater acuteness and depth,
3. The dogmatico-moral traditions finally, on which most.
hangs', may be taken first in the material view ; comprehending
thus, in the Romish system, all doctrines that are referred to.
Christ or the apostles, without being found in the scriptures.
These we raight look for most naturally, in the apostolical fathers
and the ecclesiastical writers of the second and third centuries,.
But we find here no utterances of Christ and the apostles, that are
not more clearly and fully presented to us in the New Testament.
At tiraes besides, soraething wholly unsuitable and absurd is attri
buted to thera ; as Papias for instance, in Irenaeus, puts an alie--
gorical saying into the mouth of Christ, which he could never
have uttered. It becomes necessary accordingly to proceed here
with the utmost critical caution, and there remains no rule by
which to discriminate the true from the false but the .scriptures..
Our Romish opponents however set more store by the dogmatic
traditions of the middle ages ; which are referred al once to a
divine origin, on the grievously arbitrary principle of Peter a
Soto, quarum observationum initium, auctor et origo ignoratur
vel inveniri non potest, illas extra omnem dubitationem abaposto-
lis traditas esse. All these doctrines, however, which not only
have no foundation in the bible, but for the most part contradict
it outright, such as the worship of the virgin Mary and the saints,
the scholastic theory of justification, purgatory, satisfactions, in
dulgences, &c.,, are with full right rejected by Protestantism ; un-.
der the authority of the apostle's word, "Though an angel from
heaveri should preach unto you any other gospel than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." For how can
the spirit of Christ contradict itself 1 And where do we find il
j;. This Moehler hiraself is constrained to allow, Symbolik, p. 390.
(Sth ed.) : "With the exception of the interpretation of a very few
classic passages, a general agreement here is to be found only in this,
that all educe from the holy scriptures the same doctrinal and moral,
views ;" (even this however holds only in the case of the veriest es
sentials) ; "every one, at the same time, in his own peculiar way ; so
that some as expositors are distinguished models for all times, others
tise not above mediocrity, and others still are entitled to respect only
ior their good ijitention and their love to the Saviour.','

8T
written, that tbe Church has Ihe power at pleasure to create or,
sanction new doctrines ? These then ure no apostolical, but in
their later Romish form at least, altogether human, arbitrary
traditions ; like the self-made Jewish ordinances ofthe Pharisees
and Sadducees, and the false doctrines agamst which we are ex
pressly warned by Christ and his apostles {Matth, 15 : 2. Mark
7 : 3, 5, 13. Gal. 1 :. 14. Cot. 2 :, 8.).
Quite different however, in the second place, is the case ofthe
formal dogmatic tradition. This is such as has not for its con
tents something different from what is contained in the bible, but
forras the channel by which these contents are conducted forward
in history ; the onward development thus of Church doctrine
and Church life, as comprehended first dogmatically in the so
called rules of faith, above all in the Apostles' creed, and then in
the oecumenical creeds, that ofNice and the Alhanasian ; and still
farther as orally carried forward, apart frora all written state
ment, through the entire course of Church history, so that every
one, before he wakes even to self-consciousness, is made involun-.
tarily to feel its power. Tradition in this sense is absolutely in
dispensable. By its means we come first to the contents of the
bible ; and from it these draw their life for us, perpetuallv fresh
and new ; in such way that Christ and his apostles are raade
present, and speak to us directly, in the Spirit which breathes in
the bible, and flows through thc Church as her life's blood.
This tradition therefore is not a part of the divine word sepa
rately from that which is written, but the contents of scripture
itself as apprehended and settled by the Church against heresies
past and always neiv appearing ,\ not an independent source of
revelation, but the one fountain of the written word, only rolling
itself forward in the stream of Church consciousness.^ Much to
the sarae purpose, Martin Chemnitz says :."Haec est vera et
vetus apostolorum traditio, quae nihil tradit extra et praeter
scripturam, sed complectitur summam totius scripturae."*
This tradition Protestantism can and raust allow, without a sur
rendry of its principle. For the Reformers in their great contro
versy had always in their eye, not this conception, but the mate
rial tradition only, as a fountain of knowledge independent ofthe
scriptures, and having different contents. Many protestants are
to be found, to be sure, in our own lime particularly, who entirely
overlook the iraportance of this point; which makes it so much
the raore necessary to give it emphasis. But we can appeal

* Examen Cone, lyident.Parsl.ip. 130. ed..francof..

88
boldly to history, for its support. In the first place, an argument
for holding fast to tradition in this form, is found in the whole
historical connection of the Reformation itself with the period
going before, as this has been already brought into view. Then
we have it expressly declared by the leaders of this vast raove
ment, that men can be saved only in connection with the true
Christian Church, as it has stood from the beginning, against
which the gates of hell cannot prevail ; and that all reformation
therefore, and farther development of doctrine and life, must main
tain essential unity with the collective consciousness of the
Christian Church,* Lastly, our afiirmation is confirmed by the
practice of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches. For these have
appropriated to themselves unhesitatingly the oecumenical sym-

* Particularly worthy of note in this view, is a passage found in a
letter of Luther to the duke Albert of Prussia, ,jn the year 1533. He
is speaking ofthe real presence ofthe Lord in the "eucharist — a doctrine
denied it is true by Zhaingli, but firmly held by CalvIw, -^.s, he expressly
declares particularly in his defensio ad Westphatum, and'^also inhis
Imlit. "This article raoreoveri" the letter proceeds, has beten clearly
believed and held frora the beginning of the Christian Churfeh to this
hour ; which testimony of the entire holy. Christian Church, nf we had
nothing besides, should be sufficient for us. For it is dangerous,and terrir
ble, to hear or believe anything against the united testimony, faith and
doctrine, of the. entire holy Christian Church, as this hath been held now
1500 years, from the begimi«i^fc^nanimously in all the world. Whoso
now doubted thereon, it is even the same as though he believed in no
Christian Church, and he conderaneth thus not only the entire holy
Christian Church as a damnable heresy, but also Christ himstlf and
all the apostles and prophets, who have established and powferfully
attested, this article, where we sav, " / believe in a holy Christian
Church; " Christ namely, Matth. 28 : 20, " Lo I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world;" and Paul, 1 Tim. 3: 15. "The
Church of God, which is the pillar and ground ofthe truth." " Comp.
Helv. II. c. 17. (p. 503.): C(im,nrunionem vero cum ecclesia Christi vera
tanti facimus, ut negemuf eos coram Deo vivere posse, qui cum vera Dei
ecclesia non communicant, sed ab ea se separant. Nam ut extra arcam
Noe non erat ulla salus, pereunte raundo in diluvio, ita credimus extra
Christum, qui se electis in ecclesia fruendum praebet, nullum esse salu
tem certam : et proinde docemus, vivere volentes non oportere separari
a vera Christi ecclesia. The idea of the Church is developed in a
masterly style by Calvin,. /nsKZ. chr. rel.lY.c. 1. § l..ff. He who
has God for his Father, he tells us, has the Church also for his
mother ; and this not simply under the law, but after the Coming of
Christ likewise, who will have us to be children of the new and
heavenly Jerusalem {Gal. 4: 16.). He' then goes on to say, §4.
Verum quia nunc de visibili ecclesia dissererepropositum est, discaraua
vel uno Matris elogio, quara utilis sit nobis ejus cognitio, imo neces-
aaria:. quando non alius est in vitam ingressus, nisi nos ipsa concipiat.

80'
hols, as true expressions of this Church consciousness, that is as
agreeing with the scriptures ; to which they refer still as the un
erring fountain and norm of religious knowledge.* Then again,
they formed in their own bosom a peculiar Reformed and Lu
theran tradition, carrying forward thus the stream of Church
consiciousness in themselves, and giving it representation, in their
symbolical books. This too is in no respect contrary to their
bible principle. For the protestant symbols are Mkev/ise formal
dogmatic traditions, which contain nothing different from the
scriptures, but simply express the faith of Protestantism in the
scriptures themselves, and its apprehension of their contents.
They are the evangelical answer to the interrogation ofthe di
vine Word ;f which founded the Church at first, and by which it

inutero, nisi pariat, nisi nos alat suis uberibus, denique sub custodia
et gubernatione sua nos teneat, donee exuti cariie mortali similes eri-
icus angelis. Neque enim patitilr nostra infirraitas a schola nos dimitti,
donee toto vitae cursu discipuli fueriraus. Adde quod extra ejus gre-^
miura nulla est speranda peccatorum remissio, nee ulla salus, teste
lesaja (37 : 32,) et Joele (2 : 32.). With the greatest severity he then
reproves all those, who without imperious necessity of conscience sepa
rate themselves from the reigning Church. This whole section in fact
sounds so strongly catholic, that Moehler {Symbolik p. 443 f.) accu
ses Calvin of being in perfect contradiction here with hiraself, in leav--.
ing the Catholic Church. But this reproach, is fully answered by the
second chapter of the same book, where Calvin, with that overwhelm
ing moral earnestness which is peculiar to him, exhibits the papacy as
a false Church, because by its ordinances it directly contradicted the
word of God. He estimates thus the worth ofa Church by its agree-.
ment with this unerring standard, the charter ofthe covenant, and the
depository of all truth.. TUl the papists can show, what has not yet
been done, that their Church agrees with the word of God, Calvin
stands fully justified. For the sake ofhis connection with the true
Catholic Church, he was compelled to separate from a communion,
which in its spiritual insolence ckiras to be the only true Church,
without being able to bring anything more than its own assertion in,
proof of the pretension. The true Church, before the Reformation, ex
isted no doubt in the dominion of the pope ; but the papacy must by
no means be identified, for this reason, with the true Chuich ; as little
as Christianity in the beginning was to be considered one with Ju
daism, because Christ and his apostles stood in this system, visited the
temple, and took part in its service.
* Con/. Gallic, art. 5. (p. 330.) : Quamobrem triailla symbola, nera-
pe Apostolicum, Nicaenum et Athanasianum, idcircoapprobamus, quod
sint illi verbo Dei scripto consentanea.
¦f: Hence the known expression, symbola non imprimunt crede^nda, sed
exprimunt eredita. They are not norma Jidei, but norma doctrinae, d.c- .
wording to which the scriptures are to be taught.

90
must be continually set free from remaining alloy, and carried
forward from one degree of light and power to another, till at last
the word itself shall be fully corporealized in its life, and the
written letter thus will be no more needed in the plenitude ofthe
spirit. With this view firmly secured in our minds, we escape the in
superable difficulties, which do in fact incumber the protestant
position as held by many, particularly in our own lime ; who in
vest the bible with the most abstract, isolated character, interpos
ing a lifeless void of eighteen centuries between its completion
ari'd the present time ; while yet, in spite of their own theory, they
do themselves in fact hold it only through the medium of tradi
tion, and see and understand it too only as miriored in the pre
sent con-'ciousness ofthe particular Church to which they belong..
Across inconsequence truly, and glaring contradiction, of which,
the Romish theologians are well pleased to take advantage.
Before closing this part of our discussion, and passing over lo.
the consideration oi the present posture of Protestantism, we have
still to notice the principal Roraan Catholic objections to the scrip
ture principle, and then to make clear, in a comprehensive view,.
its relation lo the material principle.
1. One of the most frequent objections is i "The Church is
older than the holy scriptures, these proceed from her ; this rela
tion between them ought not then to be reversed, as it is with.
Protestantism." True, the Church was in being, before any book
of the New Testaraent existed ; but not before the unwritten word
of Christ and the apostles, which rather was the foundation ofthe
Church, and in substance is the same with, the written.* Now
however this originally oral communication, is fixed and secured
against corruption by the scriptures. Why then should we have
recourse besides lo unwritten tradition, as though these were not
sufficient 1. As long as the apostles lived, the inspired bearers of
the divine word, such tradition was sufficiently safe. In case of
corruption or perversion, the apostles might apply the necessary
correction. But the case must be wholly different, after the
death of these unerring witnesses. If the gospel was to be per-
* Quenstedt replies to the objection in Hand : Quando Pontificii-
arguraentantur in hunc modum : Ecclesia est antiquior scriptura, ergo
tnajorem habet auctoritatem etc., respondeo : Distinguendum inter vet-
bum Dei in scripturis propositum et ipsum scribendi actum, sive inter
scripturae substantiam, quae est verbum Dei, et hujus accidens, quod est
scriptio. Syst. Theolog. 1702. p. 93.

91
petuated in its purity, it became'indispensable that it should be
coramitted to writing ; since all merely oral tradition, in proper'
tion as il becomes removed from its source, is found to grow more
and more turbid through the accession of foreign matter, till in
the end it is no longer possible, without the intervention ofa new
revelation, to make any sure distinction between the truth and
the error. Against such disaster God has provided under the
new dispensation, as before under the old, by causing his word to
be committed to writing, and wonderfully preserving it in this
form from age lo age. Allowing then, as all reasonable protes
tants will be ready to do, that the written word was not necessary
for the rise of the Church, il must still be considered indispensa
ble for its continuance, as the perpetual, pure fountain, and only
certain raeasure of saving truth.*
* We can appeal here even to the testimony ofthe most important
Roman Catholic theologian of the present age. Moehler, in hie
spirited work, Ueber die Einheit der Kirche, Tubingen, 1825, p. 60.
says : "Without the holy scriptures, in which the gospel was first em
bodied, the Christian doctrine would not have been preserved ip its purity
and simplicity ; and it is certainly a great want of right feeling towards
God, io speak of them as accidental," (which however is just what many
Romish theologians, in opposing protestants, have done, and are doing
still,) "because they may seem to have sprung from mefrely accidental oc
casions. What a conception ofthe regency qf the Holy Spirit in the Church!
Withoutthe scriptures moreover, the first link ofthe Church would be
wanting, leaving it thus without any proper beginning, and for this rea
son nnmeariing, confused and chaotic. Without a continuous tradition,
on the other hand, all higher sense for the scriptures would fail us too,
since without intermediate links we could be conscious of no connec
tion. Without the scriptures, we could form no complete image of the
Redeemer, as irust'Worthy materisl would be wanting, and all raust be
made uncertain through fables ; without a continuous tradition the spirit
and interest would be Wanting to form for ourselves any such image,
and the material again likewise, for without tradition we should have no
scripture. Without the scriptures the peculiar form of the discourses of
Jesus would be withheld from us, we should not know hoWthe God-man
spake, &c." What is here said, with as much beauty as truth, of tradition,
impairs not at all the force of the passage in favor of Protestantism. For
tradition is not taken here in the true Roman Catholic sense, as we have
before noticed in the case of Moehler, but as the regenerated reason,
the Christian consciousness of the Church ; which stands not beside
the scriptures as an independent fountain, but is simply the stream of
their contents reaching to us through the life of the Church, embracing
always only what is contained in the scriptures themselves ; the same
view accordingly that we freely and cheerfully admit on protestant
ground itself. The distinguished champion of popery says indeed ex
plicitly, that without the scriptures we should be left without trustwor
thy matter, all being involved infables ; and this, of course applies with

92
-2, "It is through tradition only we have the scriptures them
selves, and are assured of their authenticity, integrity, and divine
character. So likewise we are referred to the Church for the de
termination of the sacred canon, which fixes the liraits of the
written word. Now it is inconsistent, when protestants accept
the canon thus handed down to them by the Church, and yet in
theory reject tradition." With regard to this, it has been already
observed that the.se testimonies ofthe Church on the genuineness,
integrity, and number ofthe sacred writings, have no claim to in
fallible authority ; but are primarily of mere historical character,
subject fairly to critical trial external and internal, and become
fully valid to the individual Christian at last, only through the
self-evidencing power ofthe scriptures theraselves to his spirit by
the Holy Ghost. Properly too, they utter nothing new, give no
contents, are no voice beyond the scriptures, but only upon the
scriptures. "The Church," as Nitzsch says,* "has not made
the scriptures genuine by acknowledging them, but the scriptures
have demonstrated themselves to her, and now make the Church
genuine." And in the same way, apart also from these patristic
testimonies, they still demonstrate themselves as genuine and di
vine, to every earnest reader, by the Spirit of God speaking
through them to his heart.
3. "By rejecting tradition, which imposes definite rules and
limits on the interpretation of scripture, we throw open the door
to lawless subjectivity. This is shown by the actual state ofthe
protestant world, as rent into various conflicting parties, which
without exception appeal to the scriptures in support of the most
opposite doctrines and principles." Here indeed a disadvanta
geous side of Protestantism is brought to view, which we are
constrained to acknowledge with deep sorrow, as will appear here
after. Still however, whilst we readily allow that the curse of
sects is to be ascribed, in large part, to the contempt of Church
authority and the abuses of protestant liberty, we must decidedly
reject the allegation, that tradition alone, and that in the Romish
sense as an infallible judge of scripture, forms a sufficient remedy
for the cure of this disease. The prescription at best leaves us
where we were before, if it bring us not into a plight still worse.
For tradition itself is capable also of various interpretations, and
fair consequence also to tradition in the Roraish sense, so far as it is
made to hold contents of its own, not derived from the scripturesi
Comp. also Baur, Der Gegensatz des Katholicismus und ProtestantismWi
!834. p. 348 f.
* System, der christlichen Lehre, 4th ed. p. 93.

93
to a greater extent indeed than the bible, in proportion as th6
writings in which it is lo be found are of greater compass. Il is
prodigious injustice, to ascribe all clearness to man's word, and
all darkness lo the word of God, The history of the Church be
sides informs us plainly, that different sects have stayed them
selves on tradition as well as upon the holy scriptures. This was
done, for instance, by the Gnostics, and again by the Arians at
the council of Antioch ;* also hy the Arteraonites, who according
to EusEBiusf affirmed-, that their error with regard to the person
. of Christ had been held hy the apostles and the whole Chuich
down to the tirae of the Roman bishop Victor, and was first ex
changed for a different view under his successor Zephyrinus, It
is known loo that different views still prevail in the Church of
Rome, without loss of orthodoxy, on several by no means unim-
portant articles of the Tridentine system ; and it is owing only to
the outward force she employs to restrain all tendencies, of the
more free sort, as in the case of Jansenism and Hermesianism,
that these differences come not to more open contradiction and
collision. In this way however, the disease is not cured, but only
covered over ; to break forth the more dangerously again, in its
^own time. Such tyranny over the conscience and against free
inquiry, is contrary in the view of oat Church to the free
nature and spiritual constitution of the gospel. As little as the i
present, so sadly divided condition ofthe Evangelical Church may
he considered her proper normal and perfect state, it still forms
an advance as compared with the posture ofthe Church of Rome,
to which the crisis is still future. What vital energy must not
'Protestantism possess, to endure so long, and renew its youth con-
¦tinually, in spite of such distraction !
In directing our view now lo the relation ofthe two principles
to each other mutually, il raay be observed that they are insepa
rably joined as contents and form, will and knowledge, and strict
ly taken constitute but two sides of one and the same principle,
which resolves itself into the maxim, Christ all in all. All sects
•accordingly, which either deny justification by faith alone, as the
Socinians, Unitarians, and Swedenborgians, or reject the written
word, as the Schwenckfeldians and Quakers, are to be excluded
from the territory of orthodox Protestantism, however they may
claim to belong to it and seem to stand in its connection. Where-
ever either element comes to be held in a onesided way, a devia
tion has already taken place from the original character of the
lleformalion. Christ, or in an imraediate view his Spirit, is ever
* Socrates Hist. Eccles. II. 1 0.
t Hist. Eccles. V. 28. 9

94
in the word and with the word ; never without or beyond the
word, written or preached ; yea, he is himself the living, personal
word. The word again can be understood only by faith, in union
with the spirit of Christ speaking to us through the letter. By the
word, the objective Spirit bears witness to the subjective spirit,
that it is born of God.* The material element with<jut the objec
tive basis ofthe formal, becoraes swarming inwardism, and in the
end sheer subjectivity. The formal element without the material,
on the other hand, conducts to stiffj lileless and soulless external-
ism, the idolatry of the letter ; and coraes besides' to Ho right un
derstanding of the scriptures, to which the key is found only in
justifying faith as produced by the Spirit of God. We have a
like result in Philosophy, where Idealism and Realism come not
to a living interpenetration. The first sundered from tne second
becomes a barren, merely formal thought-thinking ; the second
without the first sinks into rough empiricism and materialism.
In thus breaking through the interposed obstruction of hier
archical authority, vi-ndicatmg to Christ his exclusive and all suf
ficient mediatorial rights, bringing man back from dead works to
God's grace, fiom vain traditions to God's word, and thus by
means of both obtaining for him direct access to his Savior, and
through him to his heavenly Father, Protestantism at the same
time gave no countenance to loose and unrestrained wilfulness in
thought or practice. On tl»e contrary, Ihe freedom it has intro
duced is such as has solid contents, not excluding but including
allegiance to law and order. It has hound the religious spirit
indissolubly to God's grace and God's word, and by so doing set
it free from all human ordinances running counter io thesame.
The positive element, is accordingly the first. Our Church is
primarily Evangelical. Piotestation is its second character, and
has respect only to that wh'ch invades destructively the objective
ground ofthe gospel. Positively evangelical, it becomes al the
same time negatively protestant towards all opposing error. In
short, its freedom is the blessed liberty of the children of God,
which stands in unconditional obedience lo the Lord and to his
word, and is identical thus with moral necessity. f
* The relation is happily exhibited by Calvin Instit. III. c. 2. § 6.
Principio admone.idi sumus, perpetuam esse fidei relationem cum verbo,
nee magis ab eo posse divelli, quam radios a sole, unde oriuntur. —
Quare si ab hoc scopo, quera collimare debet, vel minimura deflectit
fides, naturam suara non retinet, sed incerta est credulitas et vagus
mentis error. Idem verbum basis est, qua fulcitur et sustinetur, unde
si declinat, corruit. ToUe igitur verbura, et nulla jam restabit fides.—
Unde et fidem definit Paulus obedientiam, quae praestfetur, evangelio
(Rom. 1 : 5.).
f Excellent instruction on this point is to be found in the truly mas-

95

PART SECOND.
The Principle op Protestantism in its relation to the later de
velopment and present state of the Protestant Church.
The new religious views comprehended in Protestantism, ac
complished a remodiHcation of the entire world, in government,
science, art, and social life. Modern history is nn inexplicable
riddle, without the Reforraatlon. We are not called however to
quit the strictly theological sphere. Rather, having now complet
ed the historico-doctrinal part of our subject, we must pass on to
consider the kelation of the Protestant principle to the
POSTURE AND WANTS OF THE ChUROH IN OUR. OWN AGE.
It must be acknowledged something reraarkable always, that
the last days of Luther and Melancthon, who had attained to
such a full measure of evangelical liberty and joy,, should have
been characterised nevertheless by a deep melancholy. Only ill
will can attribute this lo their personal char-acter.,. and only the
most superficial reflection reckon it to the discredit of their work,*
terly sermon of Luther, on the Liberty of a Christian Man ; where he
handles the seemingly contradictory propositions, "A Christian Man
is a free lord over all things," and, "A Christian Man is a bound ser
vant of all things, and subject to every man in Christ."
* The distinguished critic and historian Thomas Carlyle, who has
well apprehended and described the character of Luther, at least in its
human greatness and historical significance, observes ofhis melancholy
very beautifully {Heroes and Hero Worship p. 164.) r, "The basis ofhis
life was sadness, earnestness. In his latter days, after all triumphs
and victories, he expresses himself heartily weary of living ; he con
siders that God alone can and will regulate the course things are taking,
and that perhaps the day of judgment is not far. As tor him, he longs
for one thing : that God would release him from his labor, and let him
depart and be at rest. They understand little ofthe man who cite this
in discredit of him ! I will call this Luther a true great man ; great in
intellect, in courage, affection and in egrity ; one of our most loveable
and precious men. Great, not as a hewn obelisk ; but as an alpine
mount-ain — so simple, honest, spontaneous, not setting up to be great at
all ; there for quite another purpose than being great !; Ah, yes, unsub-
duable granite, piercing far and, wide into the ht;avens ; yet in the clefts'
ofit, fountains, green beautiful vallies with fiowers ! A right spiritual
hero and prophet; once more a true son of nature and fact, for whom
these centuries,, and many that ate to come yet, will be thankful to
bjsavea..

96
They were sad, not on their own account, but on account of the-
Church, which lay immeasurably more near to their hearts, than
all personal prosperity. And tbe men were not imposed upon by
their own imagination ; their sad forebodings, in view of the perils
outward and, inward to which Protestantism stood exposed, aftei?
its glorious pentecostal period, had in fact a prophetical character.
The great rent, frora which Christendom still continues to bleed,
had now taken place ; the Church hitherto one was divided ; in
dividuals and. whole nations were set loose frora the bonds of
hierarchical discipline. The Reformers had not sought the sepa
ration ; it was however unavoidable. They must themselves set
their seal to it, after the pope had uttered his damnatory sentence,
if they would obey God and their own conscience rather than men,
and honor Christ's crown of thorns above the triple crown of gold
with its arbitrary decrees. It was simply the objective course of
history itself, and wilh this, one would think, they might have set
their hearts at rest. But history, since the presence of sin, un
folds itself only through extremes in the way of action and reac
tion, A religious principle, once uttered, becomes the property
of the whole world, communicates itself like fire to all other de
partments of life, rushes onward restless and; onesided to its ex
treme consequences ; and then, by inherent dialectic process,
strikes over into its opposite. Dislodge a heavy rock from its place
on the summit ofa mountain, and it rests not till it finds the bot
tom ofthe valley below, and there breaks into a thousand pieces.
All flesh is as grass ; only the word of God abideth forever. This
was well understood- by the great men of whom we speak. Al
ready indeed ihey had been compelled to witness with their own
eyes, much fleshly misunderstanding of their pure work ; false
consequences drawn from il ; confusion and division by its means,
though not by its fault. In all this, they saw now the slendeR
beginnings of greater distraction to come, and were made sorrow
ful by the prospect. Time has since verified their fears. What
they thus despondingly anticipated, lies painfully disclosed before.
our eyes.
Protestantism has now a history of three hundred years, in its-
rear — a short, but most stirring and active life. True, it has
built no Gothic domes, painted no Raphaelian madonnas, founded
no monastic orders ; in such spheres, its laurels are not found.
But it possesses a scholasticism, less philosophically deep per
haps, but quite as acute, as that ofthe Middle Ages, and at the
same time much more biblically sound and solid. It carries in, ,
its bosom a mysticism, not less,, inward and full of feeling, specu
lative and practical, than, that^ which preceded, it ip the Roman,

97
Church. Its- hymns and. chorals, in Germany at least, raay stand
comparison with the richest creations of Church art in earlier
times. From the snows of Greenland to the islands ofthe South
Sea, from the sundered walls ofthe mammoth Asiatic State to the
western shores of America, its missionaries are scattered among
the heathen, vying iu devoted and untiring zeal with those ofthe
ancient Church. It calls a literature its own, which is truly a
literature for the loorld, and the power of which continues to be
felt with boundless influence upon the civilization of the human
race. To it belongs, at all events again in Germany, a theology,;
to which, in point of mobility, learning, spirit, penetration, free
dom from prejudice, and skilful delineation, nothing equal is to
be found in the earlier history of the Church. From it also has
sprung the modern philosophy, with its succession of systems,
which in their kind are something no less bold and grand, than
the papacy itself and its dogmatic image, the metaphysics of the
schools. Il has organised states, and given them immunities,
which our age for no price would comraute again with the servi
tude of the ancient hierarchy. Compare Prussia with Italy,
England with Spain, the Free States of North Araerica with Bra
zil, and the truth of this declaration will be at once felt. To Ro
manism itself, though serving on the one hand to fix it in its own
principle, it imparled on the other a new impulse ; calling into
life the Jesuits, for its defence ; purifying like a storm its moral
atmosphere, so that il could venture no more to nominate such a
pope as Sixtus IV, Alexander VI or Julius II, It stands indeed
continually over against its powerful adversary still, as a corrector
and waker frora sleep ; and who will not admit, that the greatest
modern defenders of popery, a Moehler, a Goerres, for in
stance, are so formidable as they are, simply because they have-
sharpened their weapons on the whetstone of protestant science.
In short, without this influence the vast communion of Rome, like
the Greek Church (at least in great part), must have passed over
into a state of putrefaction, so as to present al best only the spec
tacle ofa praying corpse. Traverse the lands in which Protes
tantism has fixed its seat,'from the northern boundary of Sweden.
to the Sandwich Islands, from the southern declivities ofthe Him-
alayah lo the banks of the Mississippi ; almost every where you
raay find theologians victoriously contending against infidelity
and superstition ; preachers, who like Paul are not ashamed ofthe
gospel of Christ crucified, but hold all the glory of the world in<
contempt for its sake ; a strict raoral order ; a blooraing doraestic
life ; an acquaintance wilh the bible ; a freedom and joy of faith
in the inward man ; such as you may seek in vain in the central
seat itself of the Church of Rorae, There is still sufficient salt in<
9*

98
the system, with all its diseases, to save it from corruption ; full'
as much certainly as belonged to the Catholic Church toward the-
close of the Middle Ages ; material enough therefore for a new
Reformation. High and low, learned and unlearned, die happily
within its bosom every day, with nothing but the bible in their
hands, and faith in the free unmerited grace of God in Iheir-
hearts. Only blindness itself can deny, that Protestantism still-
continues the great moving force of the time, holding the helm of
the world's political and spiritual history ; while every other
form of action comes to have deep significanco, only as -standing
with it in hostile or friendly relation*.
r. The Diseases op Protestantism;
We raay not however, and will not, for this reason, close our.
eyes to the shadow that falls frora this gigantic system, on the.
other side. In its inmost centre there is lodged, as in the heart
of the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation, a danger-'
ous disease ; and, wo to us, if we look not round betimes for st-
remedy. This raust be sought, not beyond" the system itself,.
but only again within its own bosom, in that sarae apostolic circle
into which the Judas has crept, as was the case also, according
toour previous showing, with the Reformation itself. Along -
with the bright aspects just noticed. Protestantism has also its
Revolutions, its Rationalism, its Sects; which are all the more
dangerous as foes, inasmuch as they all claira to be i(s raost true
and legitimate offspring.
With the first, the spirit of political revolution, we have here
no concern. It falls not within the theological territory. To the
other two however our attention must now be directed ; then to
the reaction of Puseyism ; and finally to the true remedy for
these diseases, in its most essential points.
1. Rationalism ; or onesided theoretic subjectivism^
Rationalism has developed itself mainly in the Lutheran
Church-, upon what may be styled its classic soil. Germany is
the proper home, not only ofthe Reformation, but of all the deeper-
spiritual movements which have been called forth by this, during
the last three hundred years. Thither then we must first direct
our view. To the creative period of the Lutheran Church, which
came to a close with the Form of Concord, succeeded immediate
ly that of logical comprehension; as in the Catholic Church the
patristic, dogma-producing time was followed- by the scholastici.

99
This protestant school learning was accompanied indfied, like that:
which preceded it in the Church of Rome, with mystical tendencies
of various sorts ; but still it gave tone lo the age. Its great effort
accordingly was to reduce to system the theological acquisitions
ofthe period of the Reformation, with a demonstration, in part
dialectic and in part biblical, extending lo the smallest separate
particulars. Our business here, is not to bring^ into view the
many merits of this period, in whichf such men as John Gerhard,
HuTTER, Quenstedt, Calovius, rise before our vision, but only
to show in what respect it tended necessarily lo call forth opposi--
tion. Shutting itself up frora the start within the narrow circle of
the Form of Concord, it stood in a perfectly e-xclusive relation,
not only towards the Reformed system of doctrine, but also to
wards, the diverging peculiarities of the Melancthonian school ;
and thus gradually degenerated, like the scholastic theology of
the Middle Ages,. into dry dogmatism and stiflined' orthodoxy, in
which religion was made lo consist in sound knowledge, and its
practical nature thrust wholly out of sight. Justification was
separated abstractly from holiness ; whilst as it regarded the
formal principle, the theory of inspiration, contrary to the more
free view of -*he Reformers,, became so overstrained, that the
scriptures were made to assume a magical character, in which i
their human, natural side was not allowed at' all to appear. All,
this opened the way for an -opposite movement.
The reaction showed itself first, in the sphere ofthe material'
principle, under the form oi Spenerian Pietism-; which in oppo
sition to such forms of outward intellect successfully asserted the
vast importance of holiness and the verification of faith in pracr
lice. This mission it, fulfilled with great earnestness ; but not
without a certain onesidedness, particularly in its later character,
which gave its orthodox adversaries, with their superior science,
the advantage of right in many points. Pietism contributed much,
along with its kindred' spirit among the United Brethren, by
whom all confessional distinctions were undervalued, to dissemi
nate a religion of sickly sentiment and sighs, aversion to clear
definite conceptions and to a regularly digested system of theolo
gy, and since the confession of the truth is the ground of the
Church, along with all this a want of true Church feeling.
This was the first step, we may say, towards Rationalism ; the
nature of which holds in this, that it allows the idea of religioii to
resolve itself into simple morality, or in the end into mere good
citizenship, a result full as onesided as thc error of identifying it
with theoretic orthodoxy. Men who could acknowledge the truth

100
belonging to Pietism, whilst they still continued to stand firm on.
the solid ground of the old Chuich faith, such as the great J, A..
Bengel, who stands out to view as the religious ornament ofthe
Eighteenth Century and of his native Wurtemberg in particular,
were not common ; and their number grew always raore small,
as the century advanced towards its close. The chord once struck
found every day a clearer response. The undervaluation ofthe
Church and her symbols, led gradually to the undervaluation of
the apostles and their writings, and terminated finally in a denial
ofthe divinity of Christ himself. The transition of the pietestic
tendency over into the rationalistic, is .strikingly exhibited in thf
case of the celebrated professor of Halle, Semler ; who was
brought up in the pietestic school,, and continued lo adhere to it
all his life also, in the way of what he called "private piety," but
became nevertheless, through his special dislike to doctrine, and
his bold critical and historical investigations, the proper father ofthe
German Neology, and contributed beyond all others to unsettle the
recieved views, with regard to the canon and the subject.ofinspira-
tion. Other elements, in part foreign, the English deism, the French
infidelity, whose leaders found unfortunately so powerful a protector
in Frederick the Great, and lastly the immeasurably flat philosophy
of Wolff,, raaking all in heaven and. on earth clear by making all
shallow, came in to support this fatal tendency ; so that towards
the close of ihe revolutionary century it had almost universal
possession ofthe pulpit and professor's chair, and was fairly and-
fully at home with the visible rulers of the Church, the general,
superintendents and counsellors of consistory.
Rationalism again, however, hae its own historical develop
ment. In its first stage, it appeared as a shallow, popular auf
klaerung, by which religion and the Church were both cleared of
all deeper meaning. Afterwards,, by means of the philosophy of
Kant, which had in the mean tirae taken hold on the consciousness
ofthe age, it assumed a more scientific form. The familiar, every
day style of thinking, was made to give place to inlelleclual,
philosophically cultivated reflection. Finally, it culminated in
the destructive speculative theology, or untheology rather, which
within a short period past has burst, like a wild monster, with
terrific desolation, from the carnp of the negative criticism and
Hegelian logic. Compared with this, the old coramon Rationalism-
is only a haimless child. The critical and doctrinal writingsof
Strauss, Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, and their associates, may
be regarded as a complete concentration, full of spirit and keen,
penetration, of all assaults heretofore raade upon Christianity ; so
that if they should be fully overcome, apologetic divinity Height

101
hold a true triumph, and allow her armour to hang long without
use. Rationalism, it is true, even in its first stage, had exchanged.
the protestant doctrine of justitication for pelagianism, and put the
holy scriptures into the same class with mere human books. It
still left standing however some fundamental religious truth, as
the being of God, his providence, the freedom and immortality of'
raan, and paid great respect particularly to the morality of Chris
tianity. It is not lo be denied, that Kant's Kritik ofthe Practical
Reason is animated with great moral earnestness, and may have
served as a schoolmaster to bring some to Christ. Being separa
ted however in itself from the personal ideal of morality, Jesus
Chiist, the absolut'? God-man, it was pervaded with the poison of
stoic self-righteousness, and could make no stand therefore against
the ever growing stream of the negative movement. The specu
lative Rationalism has now fully demolished the brittle structure,
and thus realised in the world of thought, what the French Revo
lution under Robespierre accoraplished in actual life. The entire
sacred history of our Savior is resolved into a collection of
myths, unconsciously produced by the imagination of the infant
Church, and forming a tissue of inward and outward contradic-.
tions. One Church dogma after another is given to the winds,
as an iraperfect conception, self-annihilated gradually by the on
ward course of scientific criticisra.. Yea, the whole supernatural
world is drawn over into the present life, as a mere product of the
religious fancy without all objective reality, and the infinite God-,
head itself must shrink into the finite spirit of man. This is
Pantheism in the most scientifically complete and perilous formi
the world has ever yet seen,, exalting the general idea of humanity
to the throne of the universe, and proclaiming it the creator, pre-.
server, and redeemer of all things. No farther progress seeras
possible in this direction, unless it be to reduce the theory to
practice, by building temples for the worship of genius, as has
been already proposed, and in some parts of the new world ac-.
tually carried into effect ; and by composing liturgical forms, in.
which the- human spirit may offer prayers and sing speculative
hallelujahs, in measured logicordialectic process, to the honor and
glory of itself.
It would be an error however, to suppose that the representa
tives of this tendency are agreed among themselves. They stand-
to one another, in part at least, in the raost contradictory relation ;
so that the negative theological literature of Germany, at the pre
sent time, appears a lumultuating chaos of systems and theories,
whose affinity often is such as holds between fire and water. In,
^e nature of the case, when the hunian understanding is raisedi

loa
to the highest tribunal, full scope is given to the wilfulness of pri
vate judgment at the same tirae.
This extreme climax of unbelief proclaims itself tobe, the ulti
mate necessary result of Protestantism, To this we answer how
ever in the words ofthe apostle John, concerning the antichristian
errorists of his own day : They went out from us, (in the way of
outward, historical derivation,) but they were not ofus. For if
they had been ofus, they would no doubt have continued wilh us
(1 John 3 : 19.). It belongs to the very nature ofthe Reforma
tion, as we have seen, that it makes the clearest distinction be
tween sinful man and a holy God, prostrates utterly the imagina
tion that the human will may redeem itself, or the natural under?
standing know the truth by its own power, and requires ao uncon
ditional submission on the part of the sinner to God's grace and
God's word. Here, on the contrary, the divine grace is taken to-
be a mere objective reflex of the power belonging to man himself,
and the subjective reason, or understanding rather,* is made the
fountain and norm of knowledge. If there was ever a radical
confusion of Ihings totally heterogeneous, we have it in the pre
tension just mentioned. The tendency in q.uesi ion deserves to be
regarded only as a christiarily refined paganism, whose very
character stands in a deification ofthe universe, anddhe worship
of the forces, either physical or spiritual, in which it has its con
stitution. It might be shown, that all the heathen. mythologies.
find their image in this modern infidel cultivation,.
From this it may now be seen clearly, that the standpoint of
our time is wholly different from that of the Reformers. The
most dangerous enemy with which we are threatened on theoretic
ground, is not the Catholicism of Rome, but the foe within our
own borders ; not tlie hierarchic papacy of the Vatican, but the
worldly papacy of the subjective understanding, and protestant
infidelity ; not the Concilium Tridentinum, but the- theology of'

* Rationalism arrogates to itself the title of ration-ality or reason as
specially its own. In truth however, it moves not at all in the sphere
of reason, but only in that of the abstract understanding, the region of
mere finite thinking, entangled in contradictions and external appear
ances, the standpoint of reflection. Reason, on the contrary is the
power of perceiving the sopern-dtural, the infinite, the harmonious
unity, the essence of things, the primal idea of the absolute. It is the
longing of the spirit after its true country, its home-drawing towards
God and the revelation he has made of himself in Christ ; just eis con
science is the point of contact between the human will and the ground-
of all will in God. Reason then, in its inmost nature, is a receptive
feculty, that must go beyond itself for its contents.

103
lunbelief, as proclaimed by a Roehr, a Wegscheideh, a
-Strauss, a Feuerbach, and others of the same stamp. Must
not all serious believing protestants feel theraselves more closely
related in spirit to a Bellarmine or a Moehler, who agree
wilh them in acknowledging the trinity, the deity of Christ, atone
ment by his blood, and the divine inspiration a'nd infallibility of
the scriptures, then they are to Strauss and Bruno Bauer, by,
whom all these articles are rejected ? I will by no raeans deny
indeed, that a certain affinity also may be traced, in another view,
between protestant Rationalism and the Catholicism of Rome ; in
the fact that the tradition principle of the one corresponds with
the reason principle ofthe other, while both rest upon a pelagian
basis in which all right apprehension of the deep corruption of sin
is wanling.f Even the pantheistic character of the- latest Ratio
nalism is not without its analogies, in the absolute infallibility and
supremacy in Church and State claimed by the papacy, and in
the doctrine of transubstantiation, according to which the priest
\ This is allowed by the more discerning and honorable Roman
theologians. Thus the powerful Moehler, in the Preface to the first
edition Ofhis Symbolik, from which all the recent apologists of poperv,
who are of any account, draw their material (p. XI.) : "The catholic has
Mis advantage moreover, that his system includes, as well what the rational
ists honor onesidedly er exclusively iri Christianity, as what is made prom
inent in the s-ame Christianity just as onesidedly oi exclusively by
the orthodox protestantism. These two extremes are in fact, in his faith,
balanced and fully reconciled. It holds as much affinity with the one as
with the other ; and the catholic accordingly can comprehend both,
since his system is the unity qfboih. The naturalistic protestants are in
debted to Luther directly only for this, that he has procuied for them
the freedom of daring to profess what is directly opposite to him and to
the religious communion which he established ; and the orthodox pro
testants are bound with them by nothing, but the oppressive feeling that
Luther has founded a Church, whose conception constrains them to tol
erate patiently such opposers in their midst, as a case admitting no
help. The catholic on the contrary has an inward affinity on the
ground of his faith with both, and thus stands higher than both and
overlooks both. He has what belongs to both, only without their one
sided defects." Corapare the description which Melancthon gives of
the rationalistic and pelagianistic theology ofhis time in the Apol. Con.
and his Loc. Theol. We may refer also to the fact, that the more free
investigations which gradually led to Rationalism, had their origin in
part in the Catholic Church, as we may see in the case of Petavics in
dogmatic history, and Rich. Simon in the criticism and history ofthe
bible. The Jesuits first proclaimed the principle of the sovereignty of
the people, which produced the French Revolution, and by their casuis
try opened the way for the formal overthrow of all morality, with
which all religious faith also must necessarily fall at the same time.

104
1)y his consecrating act produces the body of the Lord, the crea-
ture Ihe Creator, and sensible elements are taken lo be the imme-
-diate contents of the Savior's flesh and blood. . But a great dif
ference holds notwithstanding between the two systems, of which
we must not lose sight, if we would be equal to the questions of
the time. For Romanism, in the first place, is in this respect at
most only half pelagian and half rationalistic, that it makes the
grace of" God and the sacred scriptures co-ordinate wilh works
and tradition, and equally necessary as the ground and fountain
of salvation ; whilst Rational-ism, in true stoic style, dreams of
being able to do aU by its own strength, and to know all by rea'
son simply, separated from its proper divine contents and contra
dicting thus its own design ; on which account the idea ofa su--
pernatural revelation is rejected, and Christ himself is degraded to
a natural hero of virtue, a second Socrates, a mere raan accord*
ingly however ideally apprehended, A farther difference con
sists in this, that Romanisra in making works necessary to justi
fication and salvation looks lo the deeds of the whole Church, and
by tradition, as a fountain of knowledge and rule of faith supple
mentary to the bible, intends properly the reason of aZZ Christian
history, showing itself thus in the character oi objective, churchly
¦semipelagianism and semirationalism ; whilst protestant Ratio
nalism holds the isolated will and reason of the individual suA
ficient for the purposes of salvation, and in this way is altogether
subjective and unchurchly in its nature. This then, as already
said, stands in vastly more direct opposition to the essence of
Christianity and orthodox protestantism, than the eneray which
the Reformers were called to combat, Luther and Calvin, if
they -should make their appearance now, would act very different
ly, in the altered state of things, frora what they did three hund
red years ago. Their main zeal would be directed no doubt
against such purely negative pseudo-protestantism, as something
altogether worse than popery itself.
We need to bear this in mind, in our activity for religion and
the Church at the present time ; that we may not lose sight of
our true character and calling as protestants, in view ofthe false
pretensions with which we are surrounded, on the part ofthe un
believing and ungodly, who profess to stand upon the sarae ground
and to glory in the same name ; and who show themselves loud
est possibly in their cry against jiopery and Jesuitism, only to
cover their hostility to 'all faith and righteousness. Such have a
nominal title only, but none that is historical, to appear in the
protestant character. That caution is needed here in a high de»
gree, in our present circurastances, is not to be doubted. By

103
making common cause with such destructive protestants in their
opposition to Catholicism, whether the immediate object be politic
cal or religious, we raust render the most efficient support and aid
to this interest itself ; which has already indeed, with serpent
wisdom, contrived to draw immense advantage from such anti-
prolestant connections between Christ and Belial. The attack
intended to overvvhelm the enemy, rt-coils in this case necessarily,
in the way of self-annihilation, upon its source. Rather let us
never forget the much that we hold in common wilh the Roman
Church, the bond of union by which she is joined with us in op
position lo absolute unbelief ; whose wild ravages are displayed
also in her own bosom, particularly in France. Let us first with
united strength expel the devil from our own teraple, into which he
has stolen under the passport of our excessive toleration, before we
proceed to exorcise and cleanse the dome of St. Peter. At least,
let this be our main business.
It may be said however perhaps, that Rationalism, at least in the
philosophical form now described, has for our own country no
danger. But il should be remerabered, that the evil does not hold
simply in the form. The main thing is the principle from which
it grows ; the general standpoint of a cold, abstract intellection,
to which all that is mystical or supernatural in Christianity is
found displeasing. In this view, we raay discover affinities with
the German Rationalism, not only in the Unitarian and Universa
list heresies of this country, but in much also that passes for ortho
doxy. That unbelief has not yet acquired here the same giant
force, is not owing so rauch to the greater prevalence of personal
piety, or to the moral earnestness of the English character, as
to the onesided practical tendency and want of scientific spirit
generally predominant. Where a man does not think, it requires
no great skill to be orthodox. But the orthodoxy that includes
no thought, is not worth a farthing. In countries where scien
tific feeling has prevailed, though with less force, as Holland and
France, results have appeared quite analogous with the course of
thino-s in Germany. In Holland particularly the old established
orthodoxy, having degenerated in great part into dry and lifeless
forms, found itself assailed by Arminianism, which itself again
ran out finally into formal Pelagianism and Rationalism. In the
ca se before us, it may be expected that the disposition to explore
a given principle, and carry it out to its proper consequences, will
c onlinually gain ground; and with this change, if no scientific
counterpoise^ be provided in season, Rationalism must assume
a mono-, vis "a more dangerous form. Why should it not find its
¦ way into England and America, even as the Deism of the first
10

106
country, from which it is descended, wandered formerly over into
Germany, to complete there its university training 1 Time and
space are continually becoming more compressed ; the intercourse
of the nations more active and free. Emigration frorn the old
world is on the increase. Acquaintance wilh German literature
is extending daily ; and it would not be difficult to show, that
many respectable divines of this country, who employ themselves
with it only under its abstract intellectual form, have without
their own knowledge or will admitted the rationalistic principle;
which needs only to be cultivated, as a germ in the earth, by
those who may come after them without their piety, to grow up
wards in a short time into a mighty tree. Shall I say, that even
inthe liturgies and hyran books ofthe German American Chur
ches rationalistic elements are by no means rare, without being
perceived by those who use them ? In many cases, clergymen
who were educated at the Gerraan universities in the palmy day
of Rationalism, have been here improved indeed in their hearts
under the salutary influence of practical piety, but have al the
same time retained the poison, for which no scientific antidote
was at hand, in their heads, and communicated it also involun
tarily to others. lwill simply notice the fact besides, as of a
kind lo justify anxiety, that so many ofthe German periodicals of
the country, particularly in the West, are lending themselves, as
organs more or less expert, to the service of infidelity, wilh the
worst influence on the more common class especially of our emi
grant population. True, these sheets, so far as they are known
to me, are mostly both in matter and style beyond description
miserable ; such as dare not show themselves in Germany at all,
unless in the lowest ale-houses. The great body of their readers
however, of course, are not aware, that all this style of pretended
light and liberality has been fairly exterminated by German
science in its most recent form, or we may say even by the Ro
mantic school itself; and then, practically, it comes to much the
sarae, whether infidelity goes about in the antiquated coat and cue
style ofa Bahrdt and Edelmann, or in the modern philosophi
cal cloak of a Strauss or Feuerbach. We have good reason
therefore to stand upon our guard in this quarter also, and lo pre
pare ourselves before hand for the crisis that may come-*

* As many of my readers probably never see the publications re
ferred to, while at the same time it is iraportant that they should know
soraething of the infernal spirit, which is at work to underminS the
faith of the German population in America, I will submit here to the by
no means pleasant task of furnishing a sample of its character ; sele6-
ting for the purpose a few striking passages only from the collection of

107
2. Sectarism ; or onesided practical subjectivism.
We turn now to the other grand disease which has fastened
itself upon the heart of Protestantism, and which raust be consid
ered only thc more dang'-rous, because it appears ordinarily in the
iraposing garb of piety, Satan Iransformi'd into an angel of light. ,
This is the sect sysie^m, which reigns especially in our own land,
favored by its free institutmns and the separation of the Church
from the St,ite, and is (iititled accordingly to our particular atten
tion. Whilst Rationalism has been nurtured mainly in the bosom
ofthe Lutheran Church, the poisonous plant of sectarianism has
flourished rnost on Reformed ground, and with the practical
nations, England, and her now full grown, emancipated daughter
Araerica.
various papers I h-ave received, on account of attacks they have con
tained against me for my ordination sermon, as mentioned in the pre
face. 1 might bring forward quite a body of political sheets, published
only by immigrant Germans ; but it may be better to limit mys.^lfto
two of religious, or much better anti-religious- pretension,, which appear
in wholly opposite sections of the union. ,:
The "LicHTFjiEnND," published by .C. Muehl and Strehly in Her
mann, Missouri, contains in No. 6. of its 5th year;: along with other
products ofthe most superficial, spiritless and jejune forra of rational
ism, an essay on baptism ; in- which it is represented as an old usage of
pagan and Jewish origin, which "Rabbi Jesus" was pleased to retain
m his, system, but that has now become wholly unmeaning, or rather
"irrational" and "grossly superstitious." — "Ofa trine immersion or
sprinkling with water," we are told, "nothing was known in the be
ginning ; but this was introduced only after the introduction, at a later
period, ofthe nonsensical doctrine of one God consisting of three persons ;
of which, as we have shown on a different occasion, no trace is to be
found in connection with early Christianity." — "Have children sins
then," sneerino-ly inquires this apostle of infidelity, this jack o'lantern
philosopher, 'that call for forgiveness 1 On the topic of original sin, aa
discussed by us in our preceding year, we have handled this
point at large and exposed the ridiculousness of ihe Church doc
trine." — "It is said of baptism farther" (the reference is to Lu
ther's Catechism,) "that it redeems us from death and the Devil.
But this is still more false ; since baptized and unbaptized alike die ;
and as for the Devil, it is well understood that ihis is an invention
simply of diseased imagination, ihat carries us back io the times of ihe most
gross superstition and rudeness. The devil who plays spectre in the
doctrine ofthe Church, is long since killed dead, and no longer creates
fear ; though it cannot be denied that there is still devil enough in the
world, and particularly in America." This last remark has certainly
much truth, of which the writer hiraself may be taken as good practical
proof. — In the same number we read: "This bugbear" (ofthe ortho
dox Lutheran and Reformed Church) "is the old theology which has

Ids
This difference has its ground in the national character of the-
Germans and the English, who stand in a relation to each other
similar to that ofthe ancient Greeks and Romans. For the better
understanding then of this part of our subject, a short ethnogra
phic digression may not be out of place.

long since outlived itself, For who in our time can still believe io
three Gods, a propitiation of God by blood, a descent into hell, and
other devil's play, as expounded here to a hair in the largest style. —
Let no one say however that people do not play with puppets when
they grow large and old. The history of religion, ancient and modem,
teaches us that men continue to be children, however old they may be."
The religious history of Hermann in Missouri appears however to form
a special exception ; and the most learned Messrs. Muehl, Strehly, and
company, are to be regarded, we presume, as the only truly rational
men the world has yet seen.^ What a pity no one should think of
making them professors of theology and philosophy ! It is enough to
drive one mad, such a perverse world, with its childish religious histo
ry,— In No, 10 ofthe same year a characteristic article is found abusing
the Pennsylvania synods, which however is too long to be presented
here ; also a report on the rationalist associations in Heiiaann and
Augusta, exhibiting in the case of the first, among others, the following
spirited resolution, " That we hold all and every title, assumed by the
clerical tribe, such as Reverend, Ehrwuerdig, Hochwuerdig, &c, for a
ridiculous, aristocratic pretension, repugnant to free, republican feeling,
which every free man should reject with scorn." That these honest
heroes of liberty should abolish such titles among themselves, must be
approved as altogether rational and natural ; though we should think it
hirdly necessary ; for none surely who care for decenc-y or truth are
Ukely to burden them with any titles ofthe sort.
The "Lichtfreiind" however sheds but the pale glimmer of a glow-.
worm, as compared with the full blazing biightness of another period!-,
cal, which makes its appearance at New York, edited by Samuel Lud-.
vigh, under the blinding title "Die Fackel -J' with the motto, " Out cf,
the ruins of Judaism and Christianity, Rationalism will raise its head j
Qut ofthe rubbish cf temples and churches will rise halls of science." Here
we read, in No. 4 ofthe 2nd year, (14. Dec. 1844.) among other things,
such blasphemies as we find it almost too much to copy : "Dass nach
der Lehre des Herrn V. die Asteroiden Bruecbstuecke eines grossen
Planeten seien, ist in meinen Augen ebenso richtig, als der heilige
Geist eines Gottessohn machen kcenne. Wenn Planeten Junge machen
kcennen, so bleibe man doch ja fein ira Glauben des alien Gottes, und
lasseihn durch seinen heiligen Geist hier auf Erden noch andere gcett-
Ijche Jungfern-Kinder erzeugen. Wie aber seine keuschen Marien in
jenen Planeten aussehen muessen, das begreift raein Hirnkasten
nicht !" The same writer presents his confession of faith, or no faith
rather, which is pronounced by Herr Ludvigh, "the quintessence of the
highest human spirit." It is to be found with hira, inscribed on glass,
and all "whose means allow them to honor sucha pearl" can be fur-.

109
The German, when true to his better nature, is distinguished
by inwardness, heartiness, and a tendency lo contemplation and
deep thought. His favorite home is the ideal region of truth and
beauty. He possesses at the same time inexhaustible energy and
endurance. He can devote his whole life to the developraent ofa
nished with it there for five dollars. It is of such sort, as to throw
Feuerbach himself into the shade, whose "Wesendes Chrisienthums"
is diligently turned to account by the "Fackel." "1 believe" (thus
speaks this "very distinguished scholar" of Boston) "in an inexplica
ble, exalted eternal existence, whose narae no tongue has ever yet
uttered, which was, is, and shall be, past, present and future, in all
three eternally without change ; which was, is, and shall be, one and
the same iu endless union with itself and the majestical whole ; whose
power comprehends itself and all, from eternity — that I also have
sprung from its bosom, and as a shoot of its eternal endure forever —
that my eternal deposited in my mother ks seed, impregnated into a
germ and brought into the world, formed my present — that I have here
heaven and hell, joy and sorrow alike — that when my present shall here
dissolve, its elements will be reduced again to the mass out of which I
was taken by my birth — ^thatno miracle can occur in th* course ofthe
whole — thatmanand spirit are but spokes in the eternal wheel, no one of
more account than another to its movemen1>-that no dead shall or can come
ever again — that the judgment ofthe living must have place here as the
consequence of their acrtons, and that for the dead none is needed — that
the most glorious temple is nature under the vault of heaven, and that
a God among the stars, crowned with suns, raust blind us to the pomp
and splendor of churches, and is too high for human worship — that
what the priests teach is only falsehood and delusion, and the hope of
a life to come a mere contrivance for gain — ^that the consciousness of
praiseworthy actions is a true paradise and a state of divine peace — that
an aflfectionate faithful wife, and loving children, are the true heavenly
angels, and in the opposite case also they are the hateful devils — that
man needs a wise teacher, for his own welfare and that ofothers — that
I must respect myself, before I can deserve to be respected by others —
that I must do right, before I exact right — that the noble man is a god
of the earth, but a rough, unprincipled one the most hateful of all venom
ous monsters — that when I have lived as a man, and loved my fel
low men, I can peacefully resign my ashes to corruption in the urn of
oblivion, and finally that soraething from my eternal thus laid down
shall be my resurrection." What this, residuum shall consist in, we
are informed by the great dogmatist himself. Moscowy leather for
boot soles ! And this nauseous filth of a demented brain is offered for
five dollars ! Utilitarianism, in such a case, may well be indulged with
its Cui bono ? The Bostonian philosopher seems himself to have but
small hope of replenishing his hungry purse, from the profits of his
system. He confesses to his friend Ludvigh : "A real dog's life among
men, who are like asses and tigers ! 1 have had much, and still have
much to bear ; my old skin is tanned to moscowy leather. Whoever
shall work it into boot soles hereafter, he will have soles that may be-
expected to last." 10.*

110
philosophical thought or some learned investigation, and feeE
himself happy while so doing under the raost unfavorable circum
stances, even sitting on a shoemaker's bench, like Jacob Boehm,
or suffering hunger with Keppler, He reckons among his coun
trymen, the greatest philosophers and artists. An idealist by
profession, he has but little tact for practical life. Readily and
easily he adapts himself to all outward relations, foreign countries
and new tongues, not setting himself to remould them to his own
taste, if only he may be left free to follow his inward theoretic
bent. He seeks his highest crown in the Gemuethlichkeit,ithat forms-
especially the ornament of the German woman, and in science,
the prid© and joy of the man. Hence accordingly almost all
movements in the German Church have turned upon doctrine.
She produced all the leading ideas ofthe Reformation, but left to
other nations the business of outward organization. She presents
at this time in particular a mixed mass of systems and schools, a
pattern chart of all possible views and tendencies. But they all
continue notwithstanding in one Church connection, only in rare
instances run into separation, schism, sectdom. In Germany,
one may often meet with disputations among the younger class,
where different persons contend, amid clouds of tobacco smoke,
with the greatest keenness and most thorough learning, bringing
out the inmost principles of their subject, making thera stani,
forth like day and night, and not resting till they are pushed to
their most extreme consequences. But at last, their strength ex
hausted — they join in the friendly glass and song, and exchange
a general kiss, as though nothing had occured, — When however
it does come to separation, a case exemplified too often among
Germans in this country, we find this usually in an excentric
style. For the German cannot well observe moderation. He
has a decided tendency to extremes, both in politics and religion.
As he can rise very high, so he can fall very low.
Quite different is the Englishman, and the American resting on
the sarae basis. .True, he shares with his kindred Germanic race
the same ethical force, which no storms can overcome. But
since the time of William the Conqueror, a strong Romanic ele
ment has been found associated with his nature. The energy of
his will accordingly takes a different direction, one which is out
ward namely, into practical life. A born realist, he possesses the
greatest talent for organization ; shrinks from no difficulty, where
the call is for order and form ; his character is marked and
strong. For philosophy and art in their higher forms he cares
but httle ; single praisworthy examples excepted, as among later
writers particularly Coleridge and Carlyle. Such studies are

Ill
for him not sufficiently practical, useful, tangible. He laughs at
the speculations of the modern Gerraan philosophers, as unfruit
ful, baseless, fantastic visions, and still continues lo cherish a truly
superstitious veneration for the erapiricism of Locke. The Ger
man Gemuethlichkeit, with its expression of full, warra, heartfelt
tenderness, he regards with distrust as effeminate weakness, or
sickly sentimentality. So far is he from raaking himself at home,
with passive self-renunciation, in foreign relations, he seeks
rather every where lo bend and cut thera to his own nature. Go
where he may, he remains always an Englishman. Even when
he travels into other lands, he expects more accommodation to
his national peculiarities on the part of the people, than he is pre
pared lo yield to theirs. So in this country, his will, language,
manners and customs, are made the measure to which Span
iards, Swedes, Hollanders and French must adjust themselves as
they best can ; and it is quite possible that the German nationali
ty also, as it now holds among us under a distinct form, both in
language and life, may gradually be swallowed up at last in the
same Anglican ocean. A result however that must be considered
calaraitous, and which, all Germans should endeavour with all
their might lo avert. In conformity with this character, the con
troversies belonging to the history of the English and North-
American Churches,, turn not so much on doctrine, as on the
constitution and forms of the Church. In place of schools and;
systems we have parlies and sects, which in raany cases appear
in full inexorable opposition, even while occupying the platform
ofthe very same confession. The mere question of patronage
has produced in Scotland, during the last century and in our own
time, very important secessions ; though the freedom of the Es
tablished Church in that country is of a high order, as compared
with the condition of the German Church ; which nevertheless.
has no thought of a separation from the State on this account ;,
content if she may be internally free, in the rnidst of the deduc
tions of philosophy and the creations of art.
Sects, it is true, do not owe their origin to the Reformation.
They have root in the general nature of man, its sinful ambition
and pride. The apostles were called to oppose the evil, in the
very infancy of the Church^, as we may learn from 1 Cor. 1..
10 ff., as well as from other passages. The first centuries exhi
bit a vast nuraber of sects,, and they extend through the whole
Middle Age, The Catholic Church however has gradually over
whelmed them, partly by spiritual superiority and partly by out
ward force. Through the emancipation of a large portion of
Christendom from the Roraan yoke, in the 16th century, much

112
more ample scope was secured for the action of subjective free'
dom, so that it became possible for such separations to acquire
independent strength and clothe themselves wilh a regular con
stitution. Still they were held back, at the beginning, by the
thunder of Luther's voice, and the colossal weight of his person,
Calvin too had such a religious horror of heresies and sects, that
he hewed to pieces without mercy the unprincipled Libertines of
Geneva with the sword of his spirit, and even suffered the dis
tinguished Spanish physician, Michael Servetus, to be burned, for
denying the doctrine of the trinity. In England, the energetic
goverment of Elizabeth was enabled to unite the conflicting
tendencies of protestantisra, though not indeed without violence
towards the most stubborn opposers, under a common heeid, in the
form of a complete state Church organization. But under her
successors, this degenerated continually raore and more into mere
external forraalism. The consequence was the Puritan revolu
tion, by means of which under Cromwell the more free protes
tant element gained the ascendancy, though only for a short time.
Laud atoned for the hierarchical Charles I. for the political
sins, of the new protestant popedom, each with the sacrifice of
his own life. The deep moral earnestness, the stern self-discip
line, the unbending force of character, exhibited in Puritanism,
must fill the unprejudiced historian with high admiration. There
was reason in its war against the tyranny of false forms. When
it is beheld, with inexorable zeal for the first and second com
mandments, storming the altars and turning St. Paul's cathedral
into a stall for horses, it strikes us as a divine judgment, the
scorn of the Most High himself, directed against the proud crea
tions of men, and one is reminded ofthe conduct of Mosesj when
with indignation at the calf worship of the Israelites, he dashed'
the tables of the law to pieces.
But here precisely lies the weakness also of this tendency. Pu
ritanism has a zeal for God', but not according to knowledge. In
flamed against the despostism of bad forras, and the abuse of
such as are good, it makes war upon form in every shape, and
insists on stripping the spirit of all covering whatever, as though
the body were a work of the Devil. If the choice were simply
between a bodiless spirit and a spiritless body, the first of course
must be at once preferred. But there is still a third condition,
that ofa sound spirit in a sound body ; and this is the best of all,
alone answering to the will and order of God. For the body is
the divinely forraed, natural habitation of the spirit, without which
it wanders about ghostlike, exposed lo all inclement powers, and
must in the end perish, with cold. It is worthy of notice, that a

113
large part of the puritan or presbyterian congregations in England,
and also a considerable section of the congregational interest in
North America, in the beginning of the last century, fell over to
Unitarianism, The failure of life, was a failure of orthodoxy at
the same time. Whereas in the case of organizations belter se
cured by forms, the orthodoxy in the same circumstances has
still maintained itself at least wilh statute force, so that when hfe
has returned again, after a period of collapse, (against which no
constitution as such can make the Church secure,) it has found at
once its established Church channels, by which lo flow forth
among the people.
With this rugged, abstract spiritualism stands closely connect
ed, the unhistorical, revolutionary tendency of Puritanism. It
has no respect whatever for history. Il would restore pure, prim
itive Christianity, with entire disregard lo the many centuries
of development that lie between, as though all had been labor in
vain, and the Lord had not kept his own promise to be with the
Church always lo the end ofthe world. It is not surprising, on
this account, that Cromwell, who overturned in such stormful
style the ecclesiastical creations of an older time and even stained
himself with the blood ofa king and an archbishop, should hard
ly he named without horror in the bosom of the Episcopal Church,
and that the great and lofty qualities which undoubtedly belongedito
his character should be so generally overlooked, or regarded with
out respect,* He that traraples father and mother under foot,
has no reason to find fault wilh his children, when they treat him
in the same way, and prove the instruments of a divine Nemesis
to bring hira to a sense of his own wrong coramitted against his
tory. With vastly more wisdom, prudence and moderation, did
the founders of Methodism commence and carry forward their
work of reformation, Whitefield and the two Wesleys never
laid aside their respect for the mother Church, but notwithstand
ing its degeneracy labored in its communion and died within its
bosom. The Wesleyan movement, it is true, included a secession -
al element from the beginning, which the force of circumstances
soon rendered too strong to be restrained ; and the result was the
establishment ofa separate Church, The divorce however was
unnatural and wrong ; and the form into which Methodism has
since run, in this country particularly, (the fair evolution of its
* An attempt indeed to do him justice has been made recently by
Thomas Carlyle, in his book on Heroes, Sect. VI : The hero as a King.,
Carlyle however is constitutionally no episcopalian, but a Scotch prea--
byterian.

114
original onesided subjectivity,) is not suited certainly to unsettle-
this judgment. In the nature of the case, the contemporaneous
Secession irom the Church of Scotland, notwithstanding the emi
nent piety of the principal actors in it, must fall under the same
condemnation. The results of it as transplanted again to Ameri
can soil, furnish a painfully ridiculous commentary on the false
tendency involved in it from the start.
Puritan protestantism forms properly the raain basis of our
North American Church. Viewed as a whole, she owes her
general characteristic features, her distinctive image, neither to
the German or Continental Reformed, nor to the German Luther
an, nor to the English Episcopal communion, but to that band of
Independents, who for the sake of their faith and a good conscience
forsook their native land before the time of Cromwell, sought ref
uge first in Holland, and finally landed with prayers and tears
on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. To this New England in
fluence must be added indeed the no less important weightof
Presbyterianism, as derived subsequently from Scotland and Ire
land. But this may be regarded as in all essential respects the
same life. The reigning theology of this country is neither that
ofthe Heidelberg Catechism, nor that ofthe Augsburg Confession,
nor that of the Thirty Nine Articles. Itis the theology ofthe
Westrainisler Confession.
We may never ungratefully forget, that it was this generation!
of godly pilgrims which once for all stamped upon our country
that character of deep raoral earnestness, that spirit of strong in
trepid determination, that peculiar zeal for ihe sabbath and the
bible, which have raised it to so high a place in the history ofthe
Christian Church, and enable U now to compare so favorably with
the countries ofthe old world. For our German emigration in
particular it must be counted a high privilege, that it is here
brought into contact with the practical piety of the English com
munity, and by degrees also imbued raore or less with its power ;
though with the loss, to be regretted on the other side, of many
German peculiarities. Thousands of souls, thatj might have
died in vanity and unbelief io their native land, have been thus
rescued, we raay trust, from eternal perdition,.
But whilst we thankfully and joyfully acknowledge this, we
have no right still to overlook the fact, that along with the same
tendency an unhistorical and unchurchly character has inserted
itself also into the inmost joints of our religious life. The scrip
tures are the only source and norm of saving truth ; but tradilioa

115
is the channel, by which it is carried forward in history.* The
letter of revelation transforms itself continuously into life and ac
tion, and this not simply in the individual believer as such, but
in the Christian Church as a whole, to which as his mother the
individual raust hold hiraself subordinate as indeed it is only
through her he receives the scriptures themselves. The plan of
redemption, moreover calls for more than the rescue simply of
individual souls. God's will is that the body of the redeemed
should exhibit an organic comraunion, that may be the image of
the union that holds between hiraself and the Only Begotten Son,
This conception of the communion of the Church, however, as
the body of Christ, few here seem lo have reached, in its depth
and glory. The principle of Congregationalism, which has exer- '
cised such vast influence upon the entire conformation of our re
ligious views and relations, leads legitimately to full Atomism,
The bible principle, in its abstract separation frora tradition, or
Church development, furnishes no security against sects. They
make their appeal collectively to the sacred volume ; the Devil
himself does so, when it suits his purpose. Strongly also as
Puritanism and Congregationalism, in their theocratic, state
Church period, endeavoured to secure a religious and civil union
of their raembers, a subordination of the individual to the general,
the system is clearly impotent in this direction. It includes no
limitation for the principle of sects. In its own nature it is un
historical and onesidedly spiritualistic, and has no reason on this
account to require or expect, that its children should be bound by
its authority, more than it has itself been bound by the authority
of its own spiritual ancestry. The theocratic period accordingly
soon ran its course, Wilh the Revolution, the separation of
Chuich and Stale became general and fixed. As there was now
no hierarchic bond on the one hand, as in the Church of Rome, so
neither was there any civil supremacy on the other, as in Ger
many, the Episcopal Church of England and the Greek Church
of Russia, by which the single eleraents might be held together.
The emigration from the old world increased meanwhile with
every year, transporting with it the germs of sectarian distinction

* When we speak here, and afterwards occasionally, in favor of tra
dition, the reader is requested to bear always in mind what we have
already said of the different kinds of tradition. We plead for it, not of
course in the Romish sense, whioh malies it a source of knowledge in
dependent ofthe bible, and co-ordinate with it in rank, but as exhibit
ing the consciousness the Church has of the contents of the bible, the
Christian reason in the form of history, the living word of God in the
Church as it flows forth from the word written.

116
and material for new religious formations. Tendencies which had
found no political room to unfold themselves in other lands,
wrought here without restraint. All the circumstances ofthe
country, in one word, have contributed to precipitate the Church
into those evils precisely, with which she was least qualified in her
original character successfully lo contend.
Thus we have corae gradually to have a host of sects, which it
is no longer easy to number, and that still continues to swell from
year to year.* Where the process of separation is destined to
end, no human calculation can foretell. Any one who has, or
fancies that he has, some inward experience and a ready tongue,
may persuade himself that he is called to be a reformer ; and so
proceed at once, in his spiritual vanity and pride, to a revolutio
nary rupture with the historical life ofthe Church, to which he
holds hiraself immeasurably superior. He builds himself of a
night accordingly a new chapel, in which now for Ihe first time
since the age of the apostles a pure congregation is to be formed ;.
baptizes his followers with his own name, to which he thus se
cures an immortality, unenviable it is true, but such as is always
flattering to the natural heart ; rails and screams with full throat
against all that refuses to do homage to his standard ; and with
all this though utterly unprepared to understand a single book, is
not asharaed to appeal continuaUy to the scriptures, as having
been sealed entirely, or in large part, to the understanding of
eighteen centuries, and even to the view of our Reformers them
selves, till now at last God has been pleased to kindle the true
light in an obscure corner of the new world ! Thus the deceived
multitude, having no power to discern spirits, is converted not to
Christ and his truth, but to the arbitraty fancies and baseless
opinions of an individual, who is only of yesterday. Such con
version is of a truth only perversion ; such ideology, neology ;
such ea;posilion of the bible, wretched imposition. What is built
is no Church, but a chapel, to whose erection Satan hiraself has
made the most liberal contribution.
Such is the aspect of our land. A variegated sampler of all
conceivable religious chimeras and dreams, in connection with
more sober systems of sectarian faith ! Every theological vaga-^
bond and pedler may drive here his bungling trade, without pass
port or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure. What is to
come of such confusion is not now to be seen.

* The latest work on the American Church, An Original History cf
the Religious Denominations at present existing in the United States, <^c. by
I. D. Rupp, Philadelphia, 1844, gives an account of not less than forty
one protestant sects, but is notwithstanding by no means complete.

11?
Nor is it enough that all these poisonous weeds shoot up thus
wild and luxuriant, in our protestant garden. Even those divi
sions of the Church, that are essentially rooted in the same evan
gelical soil, and that cannot well be included in the category of
sects, stand for the most part in such hostile relation to one ano
ther, and shew so little inclination or impulse towards an inward
and outward union in the Lord, that one might weep lo think of it.
There are indeed single cases of honorable exception, which I
know how to value. Without them, we might well nigh despair.
In a broad general view of the case however, particularly as it is
exhibited in the periodical organs of the different denominations,
the evidences of a wrong spirit are sufficiently clear. Jealousy
and contention, and malicious disposition in various forms, are
painfully common. We see but little of that charity, which suf
fereth long and is kind, envieth not, vauntelh not itself, is not
puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil ; that rejoieeth not in
iniquity, but rejoieeth in the truth, wherever it raay be found ;
that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, en
dureth all things. No, alas ; with shame and humiliation be it
confessed, the different sections of our orthodox Protestantism
also, are severally bent on securing absolute dominion, take satis
faction loo oft;en in each other's damage, undervalue and disparage
each other's raerits, regard more their separate private interest
than the general interest of the kingdom of God, and show them
selves stiff willed and obstinately selfish wherever il coraes to the
relinquishment, or postponement even, of subordinate differences
for the sake of a great common object.
To the man who has any right idea ofthe Church, as the com
munion of saints, this state of things raust be a source of deep
distress. The loss of all his earthly possessions, the death of his
dearest friend, however severely felt, would be as nothing to him,
compared wilh the grief he feels for such division and distraction
of the Church of God, the body of Jesus Christ. Not for the
price of the whole world, with all its treasures, could he be in
duced to appear as the founder of a new sect. A sorrowful dis
tinction that in any view ; and one besides that calls for small
spiritual capital indeed in these United States.
I ara well aware, that many respectable Christians satisfy their
minds on the subject of sectism, by looking at it as the natural
fruit of evangelical liberty. In the main matter, the leading or
thodox protestant parties, they tell us, Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Methodist, Lutheran and Reformed, are all one ; their differences
have respect almost altogether to government and worship only,
11

118
that is to the outward conformation of the Church, in the case of
which the Lord has allowed large freedom ; and so far as they
may have a doctrinal character, they may be said to regard not so
much the substance of the truth itself, as the theological form
simply under which it is apprehended. The separation of these
Churches, in the mean time, is attended, we are told, with this
great advantage, that it serves to stimulate their zeal and activity,
and to extend in this way the interest of religion. This last point
we shall not pretend here to dispute ; but the advantage, so far
as it may exist, is to be ascribed, not to the divisions in question as
such, but only to God, who in bis wisdom can bring good out of
all evil. In the balance of the last judgment raoreover, good
works that proceed from ambition and emulation, only will be
found to carry but little if any weight,
' Frora those however who undertake to justify the sect system
as a whole, the apologists of religious fanaticisra and faction, I
would fain require some biblical ground in favor of what is thus
upheld. Not a solitary passage of the bible is on their side. Its
whole spirit is against them. The Lord is come to raake of twain
one ; to gather the dispersed children of God, throughout the
whole world, into one fold, under one Shepherd. His last com
mand to his disciples was, that they should love one another, and
serve one another, as he had loved and served them. His last
prayer, before his bitter passion, was that all his followers migh^
be made perfect in one, as he was in the Father and the Father in
him. Of the first Christians we read, in the Acts of the ApostleSj
that they were of one heart and one mind, and continued steadfast
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of
bread and prayer. Paul exhorts the Corinthians in the name of
Jesus Christ, that they should all speak the sarae thing and that
there should be no divisions among thera ; but that they should
be perfectly joined together in the same raind and in the same
judgment. They must not call themselves after Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or Christ in the way of parly or sect. For Christ was
not divided ; and Paul had not been crucified for them ; and no
one had been baptized into the name of Paul, but all into the
name of Christ. The entire view taken by this apostle of the
nature ofthe Church, as the one body of Christ, whose members
all partake of the same life blood and are set for mutual assist
ance ; having one hope of their calling, one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all ; endeavoring to keep the
unity ofthe one body and one spirit in the bond of peace ; this
view, I say, inflicts a death blow, with one stroke, on the whole
sectarian and denominational system. Peter describes the Church

119
as a single spiritual teraple, built up with living stones on the
same living foundation, Jesus Christ, John places one great
mark of Christianity in love to the brethren ; and when in his
old age he was carried to the church, having no strength more
for any long address, he would still repeat that one exhortation,
as comprehending all besides. Children, love one another.
Perhaps however the sect system must still be regarded, as at
all events the last necessary consequence and unavoidable fruit of
Protestantism ? So many protestants even, and of course all pa
pists affirm. If such were the fact, the Reformation must stand
in direct contradiction to the holy scriptures, and be adjudged by
its own umpire to condemnation, as a. sinful work of man. But,
God be praised, the case is not thus bad. The reproach is ofthe
same order wilh that other, which as we have already seen would
shove us into the arras of Rationalism and Pantheism, as our only
legitimate resting place.
As in that case, so in this we repel the alliance as unnatural
and false. The sect-system, like Rationalism, is a prostitution
and caricature of true Protestantisra, and nothing else. We have
shown, in the first part of this tract, that the Reformation was no
arbitrary novelty, but the fruit of all the better tendencies of the
Catholic Church itself; that the Reforraers airaed at no separation
frora the reigning Church, but that this was wholly the work of
the pope. Had they Ibeen permitted to preach the pure word of
God with freedora, and lo administer the sacraments according to
Christ's appointment, they would have remained in their original
communion. But in what orthodox protestant party of our day,
is this forbidden 1 No man is in danger with us of being burned
or deposed, for preaching the gospel. Both in the Reformed
Church and in the Lutheran, thank God, the word raay be pro
clairaed in its purity ; in both the conversion of souls may go
forward without hindrance. In this view therefore our position
is wholly different ; so that modern sectaries have no good reason
whatever, for breaking comraunion with the Church. True, there
are defects and faults enough in each of these Churches. But
these may and should be reproved within the communion itself,
that so if possible the whole body may be healed. When more
over the Reformers, for conscience' sake, and because they would
obey God and his word rather than raen and their ordinances,
proceeded to form a communion of their own, nothing could be
farther from their intention in doing so, than to throw open the
door for the system of sects. Their object was not ^to upset the
Church, and break the regular course of its historical life ; but
only to restore to it once more the clear light and sure rule of

1:2th
Sod's word ; not to emancipate the individual to uncontrolled!
freedom, but to bind hira to the definite objective authority of
God's truth and grace. Luther exhibited the doctrine of justifi-.
cation as precisely the true ground of Christian union, and fought
wilh all the strength ofhis gigantic spirit against the fanatical and.
factious tendencies ofhis tirae. His last wish, as that of Melanc
thon also, wrestled for the unity ofthe Church. His most de
pressing fear was still : " After our death, there will rise many
harsh and terrible sects. God help us !" Calvin utters himself
against sectaries, with his own peculiar cutting severity,* and re-i
pulses the reproach that Protestantism itself was a sect, in the
Strongest terms.f
From all this it appears, thai in this practical respect also, as
well as in its theoretic relations as before considered, the posture
of the Protestant principle is different now frora what it was at
the time of the Reformation. The most dangerous foe with which
we are called to contend, is again not the Church of Rome but
the sect-plague in our own midst ; not the single pope of the city
of seven hills, but the numberless popes, German, English; and
American, who would fain enslave protestants once more to- hu^
man authority, not as embodied in the Church indeedV, but as
holding in the form of mere private judgraent and privJate will.
What we need to oppose to these, is not our formal prin/ciple; for
they all appeal themselves to the bible, though without right ;
but the power of history, and the idea of the Church; as the pillar
and ground ofthe truth, the mother of all .believers, with due sub-

* Instit, iy,c.,l.
¦j- Ibid. IV. c. 2. §. 5.. Jara vero quod leos schismatis et haereseos
nos agunt (Roraanenses), quia etdissimilem praedicemusdbctrinam, et
suis legibus non pareamus, et seorsura conventus ad preces, ad baptis-
mum, ad coenae adrainistrationera aliasque sacras actiones habeamus :,
gravissima quidem est accusaiio, sed quae nequaquam longa aut laborio-
sa defensione opus habet., Haeretici et schismatici vocantur, qui dissi-
dio facto ecclesiae communionem dirimunt. This communion howeyer
with the true Church and her only head Christ, he goes on to say, the
protestants have maintained, and for this reason have been thrust out
from the false Church, as the apostles formerly, who had the true spirit
of the Old Testament, were expelled from the Jewish synagogues.
Eant nunc (§. 6.) et clamitent haereticbs nos esse, qui ab ipsorum ec
clesia recesserimus, quum nulla alienaiionis causafuerit, nisi haec u'na,
quod puramveritatis professionem nullo modo f erre possunt. Taceo autem,
quod anathematibus et diris nos expulerunt. Quod taraen ipsum satis
superque nos absolvit, nisi apostolos quoque schismatis damiiare v.elint,.
quibuscum similem habemus cuasam.

121
ordination always to the written word. In this controversy we
may be said rather to have the Roman Church, in a certain sense,
on our side ; though we may never employ against sects the same
carnal weapons, and propose not for ourselves such unity as is
offered lo us from her hand. For this in the end is an outward
sameness only, in which thc divinely ordained prerogatives ofthe
individual subject are disregarded and trampled under foot,
and all opposition as it rises from tirae to lime, is either covered
with a hypocritical raask, or kept down by the strong hand of
power. Hence accordingly when it comes to full strength, and
can no longer be repressed, its violence proves vastly more de
structive, than it would be in connection with Protestantism ; as we
see strikingly illustrated in the case of the French Revolution.
We ought never to forget however, that Romanism has already
drawn, and continues to draw still, its principal advantage from
the pseudo-protestant sect system, as well as from Rationalism.
Its recent show of new life and power finds here precisely its pro
per explanation. Continually its laugh of malicious triumph is
going up, in view of our cancerous affection. If then we would
contend- successfully with Romanism, we must first labor to put
away from ourselves the occasions, that now lay us open so-
broadly lo its attacks. Away wilh human denominations, down
wilh religious sects ! Let our watchword be : One spirit and one
body! One Shepherd and one flock ! All conventicles and chapels
must perish, that from their ashes raay rise the One Church of
God, phenix like and resplendent with glory, as a bride adorned,
for her bridegroom.
Rationalism and Sectarism then are the most dangerous ene
mies of our Church at the present time. TJiey are both but dif
ferent sides of one and the same principle, a onesided, false
subjectivity, sundered from the authority of the objective.
Rationalism is theoretic Sectarism ;, Sectarism is practical Ra
tionalism.
IL Puseyism, the reaction op these diseases, but not
their remedy.
Who now will guide the vessel of orthodox. Protestantisra safe
ly between these rocks 1 In such peril, the helmsman looks anx
iously around for help, come whence it may. Possibly the reefs
draw still closer together, so that the ship proceeding in the same
course, must at last inevitably founder. Were it not best then,.
that it should tack about, and seek again- the old- havonfronn
which it started?

122
So think the Puseyites, so named frora their leader, or the^
Tractarians, as they are styled frora their principal organ, the
"Tracts for the Times," or the Anglo-Catholics, as they choose-
to be called themselves. Let us see, whether they have found the
true remedy foi' the complaints ofthe Protestant Church.
It is scarcely more than ten years, since the tendency in ques
tion appeared in the ancient metropolis of English theology, in
the midst of the venerable remains of Church antiquity, and upon
the same seats of instruction, where once along with schoolmen
and papists the voice of Wickliepe sounded, and where the In
stitutes of Calvin were afterwards for a long time honored, as
the highest dogmatic authority. Within this short period, it has
spread throughout the old and new worlds. Sympathies long pre
pared for its reception, have been met by it in every direction ;
particularly in the old anti-"Union" Lutheranism of Germany,.
which has been transplanted also to this side of the Atlantic, It
has brought into clear consciousness, on all sides, spiritual .ten
dencies and wants which were not previously understood. Al
ready thus it appears clothed with a world-historical importance.
I have myself hardly ever before had such an impression ofthe
objective power of the "idea," as during the course of my late
travel,,lhrough Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, England, and
North America ; encountering as I did everywhere, in the per
sons of distinguished ministers and laymen, if not precisely Pu
seyism, itself, at least aspirations and endeavors ofa raore or less
kindred spirit. Of what avail against such a life question, the
true burden of the age itself, can. be the hue and cry of Popery \
Romanism I nonsensically kept up by our intelligence and-anti-
intelligence prints 1 Grapple with the subject in earnest. Bring
the fire engines. Extinguish the flame. If ye do but idly stare
al it, or stand before it lamenting and railing wilh folded hands,
assuredly it will soon burst triuraphantly through the roof, and'
leave you at last houseless and bare. Nothing can well'be more
shallow and miserable, and full, of senseless pretension withal,
than the style in which the controversy with Popery and Pusey-
isra, is lo a great extent, conducted in our religious periodicals.
It may be said lo be for the most part amraunition expended in
vain, time and labor- lost for writer and reader alike. If the ten
dencies in question encounter nothing raore solid than such e-
phemeral opposition, their victory may be counted sure.
I look upon Puseyism as an entirely legitimate and necessary
i;eaction against rationalistic and sectaristic pseudo-protestofll.
ism, as well as the religious subjectivism of the so called Low

; 1-23
Church Party ; wilh which the significance of the Church hue
been forgotten, or at least practically undervalued, in favor of
personal individual piety, the sacraments in favor of faith, sancti
fication in favor of justification,, and tradition in its right sense in
favor of the holy scriptures. I make indeed no question, but
that wilh many who belong to this neo-catholic school a feeling
of poetical romance is more prevalent than true religious convic
tion ; that others again, araong the clergy especially, are swayed
more or less by hierarchic interest ; and that still a third class,
largest of all perhaps, are carried along with the alluring move
ment by the current of mere fashion. But with all these allow
ances, when we take the movement in its whole compass as exhib
ited in its authors and leaders in England, we must admit that
it jrests upon decidedly religious and true Church ground, and •
springs from grief on the one hand over the disjointed, discinclur-
ed character of the age, and an endeavour after Christian catholi
city and unity on the other. Hence we find it characterised.
by deep moral earnestness, reverential solemnity, and a, certain
spiritual dignity of tone and manner even in controversy itself.
Il has a proper feeling of respect for history ; looks reverently
afterthe remains of the religious' life of other days ; cherishes a-
filial homage towards the Christian Past. It exalts the authority
ofthe general over all ihat is simply single, and makes the reason,
of the Church to be more than that of the individual ; counteract
ing' thus the rage for independence that rules the time. It
holds fast to the importance of the sacraments, as oBjective insti- <
tutions ofthe Lord, that hang not on the precarious state ofthe
subject, but include an actual living presence of Christ for the
purposes they are intended to secure, as real as that by which he
stood among his disciples in the daysof his flesh. It restores the
week services, the Church festivals, andjfrequent coraraunionsafter
the example- of the first ages ; lays stress on religious discipline
for the whole man outward as well as inward ; seeks lo revive
the sense of sacrificial consecration to God ;' has an open eye for
Church Art, and takes pleasure in beautifying sanctuaries and
altars ; on the principle that what is best should belong to the
Lord, and that such deception is only the natural expression of
childlike love, as it might be expected to show itself even towards
a human friend^ being well suited at the same time fo assist devo
tion in the way of support and elevation- through the senses.
With all this it designs not al all to fall' back to Romanism, but
only to revive- once more the fair usages, lost and forgotten, of
the undivided, universal primitive Church, as nearest to the age
of the apostles and so to the fountain of Christianity ; and thus
also, to hold within theProlestant communion such as feel thera-

124 i
selves urged to forsake it, through dissatisfaction with the usua-
nakedness and barrenness of its worship.
In all this, considered by itself, I find nothing that is absolutely
wrono-. Rather il is my firm conviction, that we must ourselves
appropriate fully some of the more general views lying at the
ground of Puseyism, to be secure against its advances, and to
prevent its errors from spreading continually more and more
along with its truth. We too must take a wider range, and our
faith in the one universal Christian Church must show itself to be,
not merely a confession of the raouth, but power and truth, life
and act. We too may not seek the perfection of our own com
munion, apart from the perfection ofthe entire Christian Church.
We too raust be like the good householder who gathers up even
the fragments, appropriating to ourselves frora the stores of early
Christian history in particular, what has sprung from God and
proved a blessing to thousands and millions. We too must bear
in mind, that the single can hold with advantage only in due sub
ordination lo the general, and that there can be no true freedom-
save in the form of subjection to the authority of God,
So far we go wilh the young Oxford hand in hand, at the
hazard even of being called reformed Catholic, or catholic Pro
testant. So soon however as it comes to the choice of the raeans,
by which the object in view is lo be reached, we are constrained
to part wilh il, as unsound and unsafe. Its "tracts for the times"
are not just "tracts for eternity." Its grand defect, forming an
impassable gulph between it and our position, is its utter misap
prehension of the divine significance of the Reformation, with
its consequent development, that is of the entire Protestant period
ofthe Chureh. As to Romanisra, so to Puseyism also, there is
wanting the true idea of development altogether. It regards the
Church as a system handed down under a given and complete
form, that must remain perpetually the same. It confotrads with
Christianity itself, which we may never and can. never transcend
and which is always equally perfect, the raeasure of its apprehen
sion on the part of raankind, or its appropriation into the con
sciousness ofthe Church, which like the life of the spirit univer
sally, from first to last, has the character ofa genesis or process,
and passes through different stages of growth.. With all their
historical feeling, the Puseyites show themselves wilh regard to
the Reformation absolutely unhistorical. They wish lo shut out
of view the progress of the last three centuries entirely ; to treat
the whole as a negation, if possible ; and by one vast leap to car-
ny the Church back to. the point where it atdod; before the separa-

125
tion ofthe Oriental and Western Communions, when however the
tendencies were already at work which led with historical necessi
ty afterwards to the popish system in its worst form. Turn and
twist as they may, with their external, mechanical conception of
the Church and episcopacy, the Reformation can be to them pro
perly an apostacy only frora the true Church, and they must un
church entirely all those Protestant bodies that have parted with
the episcopal constitution. Their doctrine of episcopal succes
sion, with its denial ofthe universal priesthood of all believers, the
episcopal aijd apostolical character of every inwardly and out
wardly called minister of Christ, involving the papistical idea of
a clerical mediatorship between God and man — this is the old
leaven of the iPharisees, which has never been thoroughly purged
out of the Anglican Church, and that raay be said now lo offend
Protestant feeling in the writings ofthe Oxford school in particu
lar, frora beginning to end. If this succession were taken as one
simply of doctrine and ministry, successio Spiritus Dei, doctrinae
evangelii and ministerii divini, it would carry a perfectly ration
al meaning, necessarily included in the conception ofthe Church,
as the abiding and indissoluble communion of believers in Christy
and in this view it might be confidently claimed by the whole
orthodox Protestant interest, with which both word and sacra
ment, ministry and ordination, are continued, and the founders of
which derived their own ordination regularly from the Catholic
Church. But instead of this, the idea is limited to the order of
tbe bishops, unscripturally sundered from the laity and lower
clergy, as though they were specifically different in their nature,
and were alone competent to transmit ministerial power. All
ends in a personal, outward, mechanical succession. The Spirit
of God, whose very nature il is to be free, is thus bound to a par
ticular ecclesiastical structure, for which no sure authority can be
found in the New Testament ; and the apostolical legitimacy of a
Church, is raade to turn upon a question of history, in the case of
which besides by reason of the darkness that hangs over certain-
periods, during the earlier part especially of the Middle Ages no
satisfactory result is possible. Altogether a most crazy founda
tion, on which to build so raomentous an interest. According to
this theory, Paul was illegitimate fully, because he had his ordi
nation neither from the Lord nor frora an apostle, but from a sim
ple presbyter in Damascus. His judaizing. adversaries, who had<
already in substance ihe puseyite view, were right then in divesU
ing hira at once of all apostolical credit. How monstrous again
is the position, necessarily involved in the same theory, that the
dead Armenian and Greek denominations, because they have-
bishops, .belong regularly to the Holy Church Catholic,, while;

126
the German Reformed, Lutheran, and Presbyterian bodies, with
all their religious life, are flatly denied any such character, and
even their most godly and successful ministers are branded as ec
clesiastical bastards, or mere hirelings privily smuggled into the
sanctuary. God be praised, for that word of the Lord, "By
their fruits ye shall know them," and that love is made, in ano
ther place, the criterion of discipleship.
Let it be allowed that the Tractarians are right, and all un-
bishoped Churches are left without hope, till their clergy submit
lo have their character made valid by the hands of his Grace of
Canterbury, or some diocesan Onderdonk on this side the At
lantic ; unless indeed they should prefer to have recourse at once
to the holy father at Rome, or the patriarch no less holy of Con
stantinople, Preposterous imagination ! Can the Church be ren
ovated, by putting on a new coat 1 I have all respect for the
episcopal systera. It possesses in fact many undeniable advan.
tages, and by its antiquity besides must command the veneration
of all who have any right historical feeling. But the thought
must be utterly rejected, that it carries in its constitution as such
the proper and only remedy, for the existing wounds of Protes
tantism, Does it offer any sure guaranty for union 1 The con
tests with which the English Episcopal Church has been torn,,
especially for tbe last ten years, (to say nothing of the posture of
our American Episcopacy at this moment,) sufficiently show the
contrary. Or does il furnish raore efficient raeans for the promo
tion of true inward piety .'' Let the state of the Greek Church,
always true to the episcopal succession, be taken in reply ; or the
Roman Church as it stood towards the close ofthe Middle Age»
and as it stands still in entire countries ; or the Church of Eng
land itself, as it appeared under the last Stuarts and during the
eighteenth century. No, we need something higher and better
than anointed lords and consecrated gentlemen. Such aristocra
tic hierarchs and proud bearers ofthe apostolical succession pre
cisely, like the pharisees and highpriests of Judaism, have them-
selves again and again secularized the Church, rocking it into
the sleep of lifeless formalism or religious indifference. Timeo
Danaos et dona ferentes. Little children, keep yourselves from
idols, be afraid of false gods even under episcopal attire 1 It is the
Spirit that maketh alive ; the letter killelh.
As the Puseyites, in this question of governraent and order^
which they invest with undue religious importance both doctrinal
and practical, stand upon essentially Roraan Catholic ground,* it
* The papists, at the time of the Reformation, appealed in just thft

127
is quite natural that they should surrender in its behalf also what
has been gained in point of doctrine by the Reformation. The
points in which they still declare their system to be different from
popery, are comparatively subordinate and unimportant. Of the
true Protestant principle they have no conception, or else seek to
cover it over, as Newman in tract No. 90 on the Thirty Nine
Articles, with Jesuitical interpretation. The sola fide on which <
the Reformers lived and died, they have never had experience of
probably in themselves, and accordingly they let it go for a small *
price. The sanctity on which they insist appears thus on closer
examination lo carry rather the character of an outward legalism, ,
an unfree, anxious piety, reminding us of monkhood, wilh undue ¦
stress laid upon the observance of particular Church forms, fasts
and self-imposed discipline. In the Lives of the Saints, as brought
forward under the direction of Mr. Newman, the old Jewish
work-righteousness presents itself again in its full arrogant pa
rade. With the scripture principle it fares no better, in the hands of
these gentlemen. It has been abandoned, almost from the start,
for the Roman dogma of tradition. They wish to bind upon our
necks all that has come down to us frora the fathers, without any
critical sifting by means of science or God's word, even the ex
travagant and utterly unsound, though often ingenious allego-
ristic interpretations of the Alexandrian school. Quite a com*
pliment to us certainly, not simply as protestants in general, but
same style to the perpeiua episcoporum successio. Calvin {Instit. IV. c.
§ 2.) answers well : Primum ab illis quaero, cur non Africam citent et
Aegyptum et totam Asiam. Nempe quia in omnibus illis regionibus
desiit sacra episcoporum successio, cujus beneficio se ecclesias reti-
nuisse gloriantur. Eo igitur recidunt, se ideo veram habere ecclesiam,
quia ex quo esse coepit, non fuerit episcopis destituta, perpetua enim
serie alios aliis successisse. Sed quid si Graeciam illis regeram ?
Quaero igitur iterum ad ipsis, our apud Graecos p6riisse ecclesiam di-
cant, apud quos numquara interrupta tuit ilia episcoporum successio,
unica, eorum opinione, ecclesiae sustos et conservatrix. Graecos
faciunt schismaticos. Quo jure ? quia a sede apostolica desciscendo
privilegium perdiderunt. Quid? annon multo magis perderemerentur
qui a Christo ipso dejkiunt ? Sequitur ergo evanidum esse praetextum
successionis, nisi Christi veritatem quam a patribus per manum accepe-
rint, salvam et ineorruptam posteri retineant acineapermaneant. Comp.
§ 3 where he refers to the relation of the prophets to the bearers of the
Jewish hierarchy, who in the sarae way laid claira to teraple, ceremo
nies and succession, as all their own, and bitterly persecuted these di
vine messengers, the bearers of the Holy Ghost, and so the true suc
cession.

128
as the friends also of a sound grammatico-historical scrip«
ture exegesis I So, very recently, the organ of Puseyism in this
country, the iVete York Churchman, has gone so far as to de
fend in many respects the last bull of his Holiness of Rome
against Bible Societies. The case of Mr. Cary too is well known,
who was ordained by 'bishop Onderdonk, though he had dis
tinctly declared that he could subscribe to the decrees of the
Council of Trent.*
Altogether Puseyism shows itself, in this way, to be no safe
guide, in the present great need of the Church. Its raission must
be regarded as preparatory only lo that more full and perfect dis
pensation, by which in the end the captivity of Jacob is to be re
stored. It has done much, and raay do still more, to bring the
great problem ofthe age horae to the consciousness ofthe Protes'
tant world. But for the solution of the problem itself, it is found
to be utterly incompetent. It were to be wished now indeed, that
the whole question might he wrested out of such unskilful hands;
since the truth which lies at the ground of the movement, is in
-danger of being brought into general miscredil, at least for a time,
by the false style in which it is here presented.
III. The true standpoint ; Protestant Catholicism or
Historical Progress.
Puseyism then looks backwards ; we look forwards. It tends
towards Rome ; and is there in spirit already ; even though it
should never outwardly complete the transition. We move tow
ards Jerusalem, the new, the heavenly, the eternal. Its way is
turned towards the fleshpots of Egypt, the old ignominious servi
tude of the house of bondage. Ours is onward to the land of
proraise, that flows wilh milk and honey. Possibly when it shall
have reached the last consequences of its principle, and stands
confronted with the tyrannic sceptre beyond the Red Sea, the
better part of it at least raay penitently sraite upon its breast, and
turn back again upon its own way ; even at the hazard of being
doomed to wander yet forty years in the Protestant wilderness.
There are still to be found in this refreshing encampments, shady
groves of palm and fruitful oases, heavenly manna and quails in
abundance. Before us still moves the fiery cloudy pillar of Is
rael ; at our side, fresh water flows from the rock, al the bidding
* According to the representation of Drs. Smith and Anthon, in
their Statement of Facts in relation to the recent Ordination in St. Stephen's
Church, New York, 1843.

129
of God ; and full in view is the lifted brazen serpent, the symbol
of the proraised Messiah, to which every sin wounded soul raay
look and be healed. Patience only, under the weight of our
weary way ! Canaan raust be reached at last. No premature
catholicity and unity factitiously produced, that raust prove after
all only a transient mask. The Lord himself will help his people,
and complete the work ofthe Reformation, in due time, by a new
and more glorious creation ; or conduct it rather to its own true
and triumphant result. The less we presume to take the matter
wilfully into our own hands, the more we wait humbly on the
leadings of the divine will, following step by step along the quiet,
true historical way, the nearer and more sure is the hour, when
he shall appear, to gather the disjecta membra ecclesiae once
more together, and form them into a more glorious body than the
World has ever yet beheld.
Let us never forget that fidelity to her inherited patrimony, on
the part of the Churchy is indispensable to her farther prosperity.
We must declare against Puseyism, on the historical or catholic
principle itself. For genuine Catholicism holds in organic union
with the pure history of the Church, and through this with the
apostles, through them with Christ, and through him finally with
the eternal Father himself, whose thoughts of love and peace are
unfolded in more large and glorious measure always with the
flow of time. We are faithless apostates, if we allow ourselves
with overweening presumplion,lo trample under foot the work of
the Reformers, Puseyism occupies extreme ground here, on two
sides. Towards the Church fathers it is slavishly true, taking
upon itself the yoke of human bondage ; towards the Reformers
it is even to perfidy ungrateful. Luther and Melancthon, Cal
vin and Beza, were indeed sinful and falUble meri, like ourselves.
Of this they had the most ful) consciousness themselves, and have
declared us free accordingly from all bondage to men. We will
not then fall into the error, which they have themselves most
sharply reproved. We readily allow that in their zeal for the
purification of the Church, they threw away more than was
necessary or wholesome. But we cannot consent to give up any
thing material, of their positive conquest particularly in the form
of doctrine. Assuredly they need not shun a comparison here
with the deepest, most intellectual and most pious, among the
Church fathers and schoolmen. They sought not their own, but
the honor of God, No human doctrine, but God's word only,
would they exalt to absolute supremacy. This they preached
with unshaken boldness and the most noble disinterestedness ; and
so when their hard day's work was done died happily in the faith
12

130
of Jesus Christ Crucified, as their righteousness and salvation.
The Lord has spoken his yea and amen upon their work ; and the
Church which sprang from it still stands fast in its strength, in
spite of the numberless storms that have passed over it from
without, in spite of the deadly foes to which it is still exposed
within its own bqsora.
But we raust go still farther. As the Puseyites in contradio-
tion to the Reformation affect to be catholic, (in the Roman
sense, catholic in show, particularistic in fact,) so as a matter of
course they are unprepared altogether to understand or appreciate
the subsequent developraent of the Protestant principle. In the
history of the Protestant Church they can see only progressive
falling away ; in Rationalism and Sectarism, a work purely of
the devil. This is a second point on which we differ from them ;
and where we come into collision also with the stiff confessionists,
the hyperorlhodox Lutherans of the old stamp, the sons of Abra
ham Calovius and Ernest Valentine Loescher, These in
deed acknowledge the divine character of the Reformation, at
least in its Lutheran form, and in this respect we stand on com
mon ground with them, against English and American Puseyism.
But they will not allow the development of the Church to extend
beyond this point. Whatever progress raay have had place be
fore, all must be considered complete with the orthodoxy ofthe
sixteenth century ; circumscribed and made fast in the narrow
bounds of the Form of Concord, With blind raisestimation of
the rights and prerogatives ofthe Reformed Church, and of the
special wants precisely of our time, they make Lutheranism to be
the same thing with the ideal or absolute Church itself, and fall
thus into an error as bad as that of Rome, to whose view all that
lies beyond its own borders is but daranable heresy and schism.
This form of thiiiking bears it is true the narae of Luther ; but
with his boundlessly free spirit it stands in no affinity whatever;
just as little, we may say, as another section of the sarae nominal
interest in this country, which has long since sacrificed the origi
nal spirit of the Lutheran Church, along with the Gerraan lan
guage itself, to the totally different genius of Methodism. It is
the presentiment and earnest hope ofthe greatest German theolo
gians, that we stand at this time on the eve of a more comprehen
sive Reformation than that which is"past, which is to crown and
complete the work of our fathers, bind together again what has
been separated, and actualize the last absording wish of Luthek
and Melancthon, of which notice has already been taken. ,0f
course, the Form of Concord, worthy as it is in itself of all re
spect, can never bring us to any such result as this. As little at

131
the same time however can we be helped towards it, by raetho-
dislical "New Measures," the anxious bench and other such like
quack appliances and medicaments, that work upon the nerves
far more than the soul. The old measures employed by Christ
and the apostles, which have stood the test of historical experiment
from the beginning, are vastly more lo be relied upon. Eighteen
centuries of use have not worn away their edge or force ; rather
it is their invaluable quality, that they becorae always more keen
and effective the raore frequently they are applied. With such
methods raoreover we reach results that are solid and radical, in
stead of deceptive appearances only that soon pass away, and
leave the case worse too often than it was before.
We condemn, without qualification, both Rationalism and Sec- .
tarism. Still our historical sense itself will not allow us, to look
upon them as the work of Satan only, God, who brings good
out of evil, has been wisely active also in the immense system of
destruction, that has been going forward in the Christian world in
these forms, since the beginning of the last century. "God writes
on a crooked line," says an old Portuguese proverb. Through
the heathenish larve of rationalist, pantheist, sectarian, and fac
tious irreligion, wilh which the age is marred, we discern the re
generated psyche ; in the process of corruption, the still living
germ that may be expected to, burst its decaying shell, and leave
the earth behind, and grow upwards into a tree beneath whose
shadow the world may rest. Like the developraent of the pa
pacy during the Middle Ages, the Rationalism and Sectarism of
the modern Protestant Church also has its conditional historical
necessity, and along with this a certain justification, an eleraent of
truth, that needs to be incorporated into the process with which theol-
ogy and the Churclj are to be still farther developed. Let us il
lustrate thisj in the way of hint at least, by two or three general
observations; though of a kind, it is true, tobe fully intelligible
only lo such as are thoroughly acquainted with Church history.
The details of the subject and its application to particulars, may
then be carried out by the intelligent for themselves.
As Catholicism towards the close of the Middle Ages settled in
to a character of hard, stiff objectivity, incompatible with the
proper freedora ofthe individual subject, now ripening into spirit
ual manhood ; so Protestantism has been carried aside, in later
times, into the opposite error ofa loose subjectivity, which threat
ens to subvert all regard for Church authority. These extremes
as such are both equally false. Both however involve a princi
ple that is true and divine ; the falsehood results from the onesided

1»2
way in which this is held' in each case. Necessity and freedom^
dependence and independence, generality and singularity, are the
two poles, around which human existence and all history revolve.,
The perfection of both is the union of both-. The highest freedora
stands in the service of God. The divine law is at the same time
the true expression of particular will, the only forra of free inward
power. Genuine obedience towards the Church, coincides with
the highest degree of personal piety. The life ofthe single mem
ber in the body and for the body as a whole, constitutes also its
own raost healthy and vigorous state. Separated frora the body,
it is given over at once to a process of dissolution.
Rationalism and Sectarism then are false and hateful, not sim
ply as they are subjective and appertain to the sphere of the indi
vidual, but as they are onesidedly subjective, in opposition lo the
general, aqd with con<e?np< of the principle of authority, as em
bodied in the Church. So far accordingly as the just claims of
the subjective reach, both may be said to have their vindication
as necessary and important in Church history. In what this
right, this element of truth consists, is now to be shown.
Rationalism shows its bright and dark sides in this, that it
: fixes its view onesidedly on the human in Christ, in Christianity
and in the Church, the earthly body only of their incarnate divio,,
ity, and is so carried away towards what is natural and visible
merely, as to have no sense or perception of the supernatural,
, eternal and divine. Its principle is the abstract understanding,
which walks the treadmill of mere finite categories and' contra
dictions, without coming ever to the last ground and inmost unity
of its subject. So far however as Christianity and the Church
fall within thC' finite, earthly sphere of man's existence. Rational
ism also raust be considered in place, and not without its merits.
Il has served to overthrow many false prejudices, and has made
many contributions of permanent worth lo history and criticisih.
But besides this, its influence has been salutary, ina certain
sense, on the whole tone and spirit of the later evangelical Ger-.
man theology. Only ignorance or prejudice can deny, that the
older orthodoxy, including its first protestant form also, raade too
little account of the conditions under which only the revelation of
our religion in the way of history could take place. Hence, for
instance, its resort to unsound and extravagant allegory, and its
fairly magical conception of inspiration, overlooking entirely the
human individuality ofthe sacred writers, which notwithstanding
stares us in the face in every single book. In this respect, the
scientific Rationalism of Germany, by bringing in a severe criti..
cism and grammatico-historical exegesis, which form thp natural

¦133
ground and necessary condition of all theological knowledge of
the bible, has wrought clearly with purifying power in the Church,
the traces of which are not to be mistaken in the most orthodox
works of the modern evangelical school. The old faith has sus
tained in this way no loss, Il remains essentially the same. It
has come forth from this critical fire, improved only in its forra
and argument, and cleared of all sorts of dross, Il has lost noth-
ingj in living power, inwardness and depth, whilst it has gained
in freedom and solid scientific strength. We must not refer Ra
tionalism to sheer ungodliness as its source, but are bound to ac
knowledge in it also a scientific conscience which the old ortho
doxy, though with the best intention, too often wounded in the
most sensible manner. The latest speculative- Rationalism has
this merit besides, that it has helped to destroy the common Ra
tionalism wilh which it was preceded ; as Strauss, for instance,
in his Life of Jesus, has exposed wilh great acuteness the unna-
turalness ofthe so called natural explanation of miracles, as con
ducted by Paulus of Heidelberg ; and the forraer style of attack
also against the doctrine ofthe trinity and' the divine incarnation,
has been long since shorn of its force by the Hegelian specula
tion. It must be admitted however, that the- most recent produc
tions of this speculative Rationalism fall back again rather to the
old trivial and popular, scientifically surmounted standpoint, so
that the systera is involved thus in self-conderanation;
But readily as we allow, that we are indebted to this transition
phase of theology generally considered, for an understanding in.
part of history and the natural side of Christianity, we must still
maintain that this understanding can become true and coraplete,
only where with the good side of the tendency in question, there
is found united the determined faith of the old orthodoxy. For
the body is the product of the soul, which- it forms as an organ
for its own use. It is the eternal Word, which has become flesh
in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, in the sacred scriptures, and
in the Church. He then who has the flesh only without the
word, the body without the spirit, has in the end no more-
than a corpse.
As it regards Sectarism, in, the second place, it must also be
allowed that it alraost always has its ground in certain practical
defects of the Church, as that of Rationalisra holds in the flaws
and infirraities of the orthodox, theology, and in this direction is-
not without right. Thus Quakerism appeared in opposition to the-
oulward raechanisra and dead formality, that had taken posses
sion of the Church of England, in the beginning ofthe seventeentfei
12*

134
century. Anabaptisra finds its apology in the melancholy Ihct,.
that many baptized persons in the Church live like heathen, the
consequence in a great measure of the want of proper Christian,
education. Modern Methodism, in its various forras, has its well
grounded complaints to present, against a dead Church ortho
doxy, which is found too often along wilh unsound life rejecting
all life, along with protracted prayer-meetings all serious prayer,
and along with wild fanatical awakenings conversion in every
form, making thus no distinction in its zeal. In almost every
sect we may find some particular side of the Christian life clearly
and strongly marked ; where as in a mirror the Church should
see her own defects, the wrinkles or spots that mar her visage, so
as to do penance for her unfaithfulness, by which so many of her
best members have been, led lo forsake her communion. The
divine significance of sects then, their value in the history of the
Church, consists in this, that they are a disciplinary scourge, a
voice of awakening and admonition, by which the Church is
urged to new life and a more conscientious discharge of her duties.
The system has a favorable operation farther; as it tends to.
spread religious interest and stimulate Christian zeal. In this
country perhaps, if there were no sects, we should not have
half as raany congregations and houses of worship as we have-;
now, and many sections in the west particularly would be desti
tute of the blessings ofthe gospel altogether.
But while this is thankfully admitted^ two things still need to.
be kept in view, A sect, in the first place, loses its right to exist,.
in the same degree in which the body from which it is a secession,,,,
has corrected the faults that led to it. If it persist in its separa
tion notwithstanding, it is either carried into full unbelief, or sinks
into a slavish observance of particular lifeless forms, preparing.
in this way its own grave, as is strikingly illustrated by. many
cases in Church history. Then again,, a sect as such, can never,
in its subjective isolation, provide successfully even for the partic
ular interest to which il is pedantically devoted ; since every
single religious truth belongs to a g.reat organically constitute'di!
whole, and, can become complete accordingly only in connection.,
with this as the source of all its life.. Christianity is an indivisi
ble unity ; its truths are links only of an indissoluble chain re
turning intoitself. Here exactly we may see the spiritual pricle
and narrow-mindedness of sectarism, that it fancies it can pros
per and reach perfection, standing on its own, frail feet, in ab
stract separation ftora the general life of the Church. Break a
branch from the vine, and it raust soon wither. Separate a ray
frora the sun, andt it is extinguished,. Remove a child, frorai the- "

135
care of parents and guardians, and il will grow wild. Cut a hand
from the body, and it will fall into decay. If sects then would be
true to themselves, they must as soon as they have fulfilled their
commission unite themselves again with the general life of the
Church, that they may thus as organic members of the body ac
quire new vital energy ; and the Church, on her side, should
make special efforts to gather once more under her motherly pro
tection and care, the ehildren that have forsaken her and are
now estranged from her bosom. To this duty the Reformed
Church is specially called, as the largest part of these modern
separatistie movements have sprung from her communion.
We must now quit for a raoment the field of theology and thS'
Church, in the narrower sense, and cast a glance on the develop
ment of Protestantism, in its relation as a vast whole lo the general
course of the world's history ; that we may discover how far
there is included in it in this view also, the promise of a new,
glorious future. We shall then be prepared, to bring all together
in a general image.
To the Lord and his kingdora belongs the whole world, with
all that lives and moves in. it. All is yours, says the apostle-
Religion is not a single, separate sphere of human life, hut the
divine principle by which the entire man is lobe pervaded, refined
and made complete. Il lakes hold of him in his undivided total- ,
ity» in the centre of his personal being ; to carry light into his
understanding, holiness into his will, and heaven into his heart ;
and lo shed thus the sacred consecration ofthe new birth, and of
the glorious liberty ofthe children of God, over his whole inward-
and outward life. No form- of existence can withstand the reno
vating power of God's Spirit. There is no rational element that
may not be sanctified ; no sphere of natural life that may not be
glorified. The creature, in the widest extent ofthe word, is
earnestly waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, and-
sighing after the same glorious deliverance. The whole crea
tion aims, towards rederaption ; and. Christ is the second Adam,
the new universal man, not siraply in a religious but also in an'
absolute sense- The view entertained by Romish monaslicism
and Protestant pietism, by which Christianity is made to consist
in an abstract opposition to the natural life, or in fiight from the
world, is quite contrary to the spirit and power ofthe gospel, as
well as false to its design. Christianity is the redemption and )>
renovation of the world. It must make all things new.
Such morbid views are powerfully counteracted in this country,
by the sound practical feeling which, so generally prevails. A

136
different mistake however, nearly as false, is widely established,
according to which science, art and politics, are placed in a rela
tion, not of absolute hostility indeed, but of entire indifferetice to-
religion, that is properly in no relation to it at all. The idea
seems to be, that a man's piety is deposited in one corner ofhis
spirit, his politics in another, and his learning in a third. All
good and necessary in their place, but having nothing whatever
to do with one another ! According lo this view, it might seem to
be expected farther that religion should never come into any clo.f
ser union with the common secular departments of life. It must
be counted pernicious, if the Church should be drawn into nearer
contact with the State, or art be made more extensively subser
vient to divine worship, if Christian morality should seek to occupy
all social relations, or Christian theology presume to incorporate
with itself the results of worldly science, philosophy in partic-
nlar. It were a vast object gained for the interests of American Pro
testantism, if this radically false and miserably narrow prejudice,
opposed as it is to all true and proper progress on the part ofthe
Church, could be effectually subverted. The theme is indeed one
ofthe very highest consequence. It enters into the inmost hfe of
the time, and includes in itself the most raoraenlous questions with-
which the time is concerned. The following historical ^hints,
which we are not perraitted here farther to pursue, raay serve
possibly, in some measure at least, to direct attention to the
subject. We set out then with the assumption, that Christianity stands,
in an absolutely negative, hostile relation only to sin and death,
while all that is properly human, the world with its several
spheres, government, science, art, and social life, is regarded by
it as of divine institution and force ; which religionis requiredac-
cordingly neither to annihilate nor yet to overlook as foreign to
ils nature, but on the contrary to occupy and fill with its own
heavenly spirit. This itself serves loshow,.lhe universal charac
ter of the gospel, and the catholicity of the Church. Il follows of
course, that no one of these spheres of natural life can reach its
highest stage, its true perfection, until il has come to be thorough:
ly transfused wilh the leaven of Christianity, In the absolute
view of the case therefore, there can be no perfect scholar or philos»,'
opher, no perfect ideal artist, whether architect, or sculptor,, or'
painter, or musician, or poet, no perfect statesman, and finally no
truly moral man, who is not at the same time animated through
out with the living power of faith. It follows again with equal-
necessity from the same view, that the Church cannot be saidi ta.

137
have completed its career, till the whole world shall appear trans
figured with its divine spirit, and states, and sciences, and arts,
with all their glory, shall fall down before the altar ofthe Most
High in full, free worship.
Let us novv apply this standard to history ; for the purpose of
deterraining according to it the relation between Catholicism and
Proteslanlism, in the direction here noticed, and also the pro
per wants of our own time so far as the same view is. con
cerned. Catholicism, particularly in its mediaeval Roraa-no-Germanic
period, carried with it,'j if we put out of view its monastic institu
tions, a very distinct sense ofthe nihil humani a me alienum puto
as just described. It is this precisely which renders the Middle
Ages so grand and venerable, that religion in. this period appears
the all moving, all ruling force, the centre around which all raoral
struggles and triumphs, all thought, poetry and action, are found
to revolve. All sciences, and philosophy itself, the science ofthe
sciences, were handmaids to theology, which based itself on the
principle oi Augustine, Fides praecedit intellectum. Before the
pope, as the head and representative of Christendom, all states
bowed themselves with reverent horaage ; and even the Gerraan
emperor himself could not feel secure in his place, save as form
ally acknowledged by the chief bishop of the Church. Princes
and people arose at his bidding, forsook country and friends,
submitted to the most severe privations, to kneel at the Savior's
torab and water it with thankful tears. According to the reign
ing idea, the State stood related to the Church like the moon to.
the sun, from which it borrows all its light. All forms of life,
all national manners, were suffused with magic interest frora the
unseen world. The holy sacraments ran like threads of gold",
through the whole texture of life, in all its relations, from infancy
to old age. The different arts vied with each other, in the service
ofthe Church, The most magnificent and beautiful buildings of
the period, are the cathedrals ; those giant stone flowers, with
their countless turrets, storming the heavens and bearing the
soul on high, and their mysterious devotional gloom, visited nev
er by the light of the natural day, but only by mystic irradia
tions poured through stained glass ; doraes, the authors of which,
stood so completely in the general life of the Church, and were so
occupied only with the honor of God in their work, that with a
divine carelessness they have left even their own naraes to perish
in oblivion. The maxim was. Let the best house belong to the-
Lord. The richest paintings were madonnas and images of Ihe-
saints, as produced by a Fka_ Bbato Angelico da,, Fibsole, a

138
Fra Bartolomeo, a Leonardo da Vinci, a Peeugino, a
Raphael, and a Michael Angelo. It was felt, that the fairest
among the sons of men, and the connections in which he stood,
must furnish the rnost worthy material for the pencil. The most
lofty and impressive music, according to Old Testament example,
resounded in the public worship of God. Poetry sang her deep
est and raost tender strains to the Lord and his bride ; and the
greatest pnet of the Middle Ages, Dante, has left behind him in
his "Divine Comedy" an image siraply ofthe religious spirit and
theological wisdom of the age, as occupied with eternity itself
and all its dread realities. Truly a great time, and for one who
is prepared to understand it, fraught with the richest spiritual in
terest. He that has no heart for the excellencies of this period,
the beauty that belongs lo the Middle Ages, must be wanting
in genuine culture, or al least in all right historical feeling.
The true Church historian leaves to every age its own peculiar
advantages, without concern. He presumes not with narrow
prejudice to reduce all to one measure, but recognises wilh joyful
satisfaction, under the most different forras, wherever found, the
footsteps ofthe Lord, the presence of his Spirit, as secured to the
Church by his own promise through all ages. He does not con-
struct history, after the measure of some poor conceptions of his
own ; he does not correct it by the standard of the lime in which
he hiraself lives ; but he lakes il up and reproduces it, as God
has allowed it to occur, in the progressive explication of his plan
of redemption, which apparent obstructions even, yea the rage of
diabolic passion itself, must only help forward in the end. How
ever firmly settled he may be for himself in a particular standr
point, he thinks not of circumscribing the boundless fulness of
the divine life by the narrow horizon of his own view. With alt
his respect for the Reformation as a true work of God, he is not
rendered insensible by it to what was excellent and beautiful in
earlier times, in which also men oi immortal name lived and work
ed and suffered, and when also God made his presence gloriously
felt, and kept watch over the Church continually with the eye df
his love.That must be regarded certainly as a most unwise policy, by
which Protestants for a long time allowed themselves to renounce
all interest in this period, and resign its treasures wholly to the
Church of Rome, as though nothing but darkness and barbarism
belonged to its history. The error indeed is still widely preva
lent in this country — forthe most part ho.wever, a sin of profound
ignorance — -so that the stereotype title for that period is simply.
The Dark Ages 1 O, lliou light of the Nineteenth century ! How

139
hast thou tarried with thy rising, hiding thyself for a thousand
years behind the clouds, in cowardly fear of those dying men, the
popes ! Corae now, ye poor unfortunate children of darkness, ye
Legs and Gregorys, ye emperors ofthe house of Saxony and
the Hohenstaufen, Anselm, and Thomas AauiNAs, Bonaven
tura, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Dante Alighieri and
Petrarch, Erwin of Steinbach and Bramante, Leonardo
DA Vinci and Raphael, Francis of Assisi and Thomas a
Kempis ; come forth frora your graves, and be illuminated by the
light that now reigns ; learn how lo govern Church and State,
from our synods, consistories, and advocates ; study philosophy
and theology at Andover and New-FIaven ; practise poetry,
Church building, and painting, amid the encouragement that is
given to the arts in practical, money loving America ; and lake
lessons ofpiety frora the "camp meetings" ofthe Albright Breth
ren, and sects of the same spirit. Bui they have no desire to
corae back, the mighty dead ! With a compassionate smile, they
point our dwarfish race to their own imperishable giant works,
and exclaim, Be humble, and learn that nothing beseems you so
well. In Germany this foolish prejudice, God be praised, has been
happily surmounted, since through Herder and Wieland, and
still more by the Romantic school, particularly Tieck, Novalis,
and the two Schlegels, the poetic wealth of the Middle Ages has
been brought to view ; their significance in the general history of
the world, by Moser, John von Mueller, and Leo ; their uni
versal human interest, by Goethe in his Faust and Goetz von
Berlichingen ; and finally their ecclesiastical magnificence and
theological depth, as well scholastic as raystical, by the later works
on Church history and the development of doctrines, and in partic
ular also by various raonographs on Innocent III., Hugo of
St. Victor, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux,
Henry Suso, Tauler, Savonarola, John Wessel, and others.
It should be borne in mind, that the Middle Ages after all are the
cradle of the Reformation, They exhibit to us, not simply the
Roman, but the Romano-Gerraanic Catholicism, in whose arms
the Reformation is borne like the infant Christ by the madonnas
of Raphael, True, the madonna appears in the foreground, after
the Roraish style. But still the highest beauty of the virgin moth
er, surrounding her with the loveliness of heaven itself, flows
mainly from the adoring, blissful gaze with which she is absorbed
in the divine child, that smiles and plays upon her bosora, and
yet bears the world upon its hand. So too the Middle Ages have
their richest charra, in the longing and earnest expectation with

140
which they look forward to the Reformation-, as the ripe fruit of
the previous struggles of the Church, the strong and joyous
child of her deep birth>-pangs endured for long centuries before.
Even now the Roman Catholic Church, which since the six
teenth century lives almost entirely of her past greatness, retains
much ofthe character under consideration, though no longer the
mistress of the world. She embraces all spheres of huraan life,
attends it through all its stations frora the cradle to the grave,
pervades all conditions with her spirit, anoints all occupations
with her consecrating oil, and in this way exercises a rauch
greater power than^Protestantisra over the consciences and spirits
of those who stand in her communion. In the raidst of the visible
world, reraembrancers of the world unseen meet us on all sides,
in crosses, churches, images of saints, relics, and expressive
symbols of every kind. True we encounter in the same quarter
also, all sorts of superstition, error and abuse. These it is an
easy thing to assault with rude hand, and anathematize incons
tinently as the work of the devil. Instead of this however it
might be well if more pains were taken to fathom and bring hpme
to ourselves, {as could be done with great profit and no great dif
ficulty, where proper knowledge and feeling were combined in the
inquiry,) the original truth, and the deep religious want, that lie
at the ground of almost every abuse and error, and impart to it
its lough life. "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is
.good." Notwithstanding all now said however, one radical fault charac
terizes the relation of the Roraan Church to the world. She does
not sufficiently respect the world in its own divine rights, and
seeks to subject it to herself in a violent, unnatural, preraalure
way, without regard to the measure of her own development. In
stead of waiting hurably, and following the course of tribulation
prescribed by Christ, she would anticipate in a fleshly way the
ideal stale, when "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness
of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the
people ofthe saints ofthe Most High, whose kingdom is an ever
lasting kingdora" {Daniel! : 27.), and when it shall be said, that
"salvation, and strength, and the kingdora of our God, and the
power of his Christ is come" (Rev, 12 : 10,), Thus the heathen
mythologies also were a fleshly prolepsis ofthe mystery of the
incarnation.* The papacy in the Middle Ages conducted itself
* A similar thought is uttered also by J. P. Lanse, {Vermisehti
/ScAn/ien, Vol. IV. p. 84,) when he says in his striking way: "The
characteristic fault of the papacy is the show it makes ofaperfeet

141
tyrannically towards the Slate, and trampled on the rights of the
nations ; it permitted not science and inquiry to take their own
course in a free way ; it surrounded the arts with arbitrary
bounds ; in a word, il affected to swallow up the world at once in
a wholesale way. The world however, thus overwhelraed but
not assimilated to the true life of the Church, has re-asserted its
rights in the bosom of the Church hself, and taken revenge upon
it by impressing this w-ith its own character, especially at the
papal court. Romanism forms accordingly a secular state, at
the expense of the free, qtiietly advancing, inward character of ;
Christianity, Its worship has an outwardly pompous complexion ; ;
filling the senses ; half heathenish. Even , in doctrine, this re- ,
markable dialectic process may be seen ; particularly in the^og;'-'" '
ma oF transubstantiation ; according to which, on the one hand,
the divine is revealed only through the annihilation ofthe natural
substances, bread and wine, here representing the world, and this
in virtue of the consecration ofthe priest, of course the act ofa
mere creature ; while however, on the other hand, these trans
muted elements, retaining still in fact their natural character, are
made the object of divine worship, by which raeans a paganizing
creature deification comes to prevail. Thus we find explained the '
seemingly inexplicable contradiction of the system, its contempt
for the world in one direction and its undue regard for it in anoth<>
er. Monkish austerity and pelagian secillarity dwell harmo
niously together in the same cell.
The powers ofthe world, under the legal discipline of the
Middle Ages, became gradually mature. The Church however,
refusing lo distinguish between different periods of life, and un
willing to put away the rod at the proper time, paid no respect to
the change. The world then avenged itself on a large Scale, by '
breaking away frora the Church entirely, and entering upon a
new course of development for itself^ This took place with the
Reformation, It is accordingly in this respect also a process of ;
«mancipation ; but as such here too not yet complete ; requiring
still a closing act, to unite once more what has been disjoined,
Christianity, In popery, the Christian world-renovation is exhibited
in a premature, hypocritical, violent way — exhibited a tout prix. All
that is human is sacrificed, all truth, all reality, development itself, to
secure this dazzling show of Christian perfection. Popery is thus the
impatience of shallow, unsound Christian feeling, that cannot wait
quietly for the end of the world, and so will have it before its time ';
through impatience settled, and by its settled character again impatient.
All is forced ; that which is a process must appear throughout an issue,
(das Werden ein Gewordenes,) though the truth itself even should be
lost, yea openly resisted, to secure the point.
13

142
The vi'orld since the sixteenth century, has reached a measure
of cuUivation, such as it never possessed before. The Protes
tant States are incomparably superior to those, which have been
or are now under the staff of the Roman bishop ; showing alto
gether more order, obedience and contentment ; whereas the pope
has often enough preached insurrection against the temporal
powers, released subjects from their oalh of allegiance, and favor
ed and sanctioned state conspiracy and the murder of kings. , In
place however of the forraer slavish dependence on the Church,
the opposite extreme has come to prevail. The Protestant States
have either separated themselves entirely from the Church, (at
least this is the case with our own), or in contradiction to the
principles of the Reformation have subjected it raore or less to
their dominion, as in Germany, England, and Switzerland, so
that out of Church stales have arisen state Churches. For ia
these countries, the governments have taken the supreme adminis
tration of the Church into their own hands, and thus in practice
at least make Caesar to be pope, which is no whit better than
making the pope lo be Caesar. It is true indeed, that in a num
ber of Slates the freedom ofthe Romish Church loo is restrained
by the secular authority, as in Austria, and still more latterly ia
Russia, Spain and Portugal. Wilh inflexible consistency .how
ever, she steadily protests against every such invasion, and al
ways contrives in the end lo make good again her pretensions;
as is strikingly shown by the noted affair of Cologne, and recent
events in Spain, as well as by the controversy on the subject of
Church instruction in France. ,-,
Protestant science, philosophy in particular, is so far from be
ing the mere handmaid of theology and the Church, that il ap
pears just as often atleast arrayed against thera. Above all'in
Germany, philosophy is regarded commonly as the all compre
hending, absolute science of reason itself, of which theology is
only a single branch. We cannot hesitate a raoment lo bestow
the title Christian on the scholastic philosophers of the Middle
Ages, an Anselm, a Peter Lombard, or a Thomas Aquinas ;
but there is no room for this, in the strict sense, in the case of
Locke, Hume, Wolf, Kant, Fichte, &c., if for no other rea
son, for this alone that they show theraselves destitute of huraility
and penitence, which are the ground of all piety. On the
other hand however, considered in the way of pure science only,
the modern systems, -internally united like the links of a chain
from Leibnitz down, (a view to be sure but dimly apparent in
this country, where the empiricism of Locke still sways its des
potic sceptre over the most republican spirits,) exhibit a vastness,

143
^eplh and comprehensive variety, that find no parallel in tho
Church of Rome, whose only approved philosophy, indeed may
be said lo be the scholastic Aristotelian, The advantage of all
this to the Protestant theology is at least so rauch, thai it has be
come more scientific. '
A like aspect of things is presented to us, in the sphere ofthe
Arts and Polite Literature. These too, since the Reformation,
have emancipated themselves more or less from the Church. If
we except our sacred hymns and chorals, in the case of which
certainly a wonderful productivity has ['appeared in the Gerraan
Church, the Lutheran especially during the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries, we possess almost no works of Church art that
are fairly entitled to the name. All artistic ornament has been
banished from the Churches on principle ; and our modern
structures bear more resemblance often to a theatre, or a Grecian
temple, than to the true idea of a Christian house of worship.
Thorwaldsen has indeed formed statues also of Christ and the
apostles ; but they are by no means equal to his mythological rep
resentations. The painters since the Reformation, until very
recently the Duesseldorp school, Overbeok, Cornelius, Kaul-
bach, (in his Destruction of Jerusalera,) and other masters, part
ly catholic and ^partly protestant, began to bring in a change
again, have had recourse to the kingdora of nature and to profane
history for their subjects, rather than to the bible and Ihe Church.
So the Dutch painters in particular. The greatest modern com
posers, even such as are catholic, as Mozart, Beethoven, and
the Italian school, are not certainly to be counted Church artists
in the strict sense. The prayers and priest choirs of the Magic
Flute and the Nemesis in Don Juan, as well as the Requiem,
show only that the raodern world is impregnated with Christian
ideas and feelings, without surrendering still its natural charac
ter ; and of Beethoven's incomparable symphonies it has been
strikingly observed by one fully at home in the subject, that they
are so many monologues of the absolute "Me" of the present age,
that wilh desperate struggle to stand upon itself, sinks into im
measurable grief and braves it again with saucy humor, bringing
as it were all its resources together lo sustain itself in the arduous
task. Our poets of the first rank, (araong whom we cannot
reckon the pious but tedious singers Milton and Klopstock,)
take them altogether, are forms that spring from nature only.
Shakespeare belongs rather of right to the Middle Period, whose
traditions have supplied him with almost all his poetic material.
He is in a certain sense the completion of Dante, in whom is
Kiirrored the religious glory of that time. Goithe has his bright

144
and dark side both in this, that he is alt nature, in the laBgert ami
most comprehensive sense of the word. Where he introduces
Christianity, it is exhibited, (except perhaps in Faust, which how.
ever moves rather in the mediaeval elements,) not at all as tho
universal life-power by which the whole world is to be pervaded
and renewed, but as being itself simply a remarkable object in
nature, one only among the countless phenomena in which the
universal genius is required to feel the same interest. Charac
teristic in this view is the episode style, in which the confessions,
ofa virtuous soul are presented in the midst of gay actresses and
amiable coquettes. Schiller's ideal isabstract, moral nature ;
the gigantically struggling, Stoic will. The religious element
with him, where il appears in objective dramaiic forra, is catholic,
as in the Maid of Orleans, in Maria Stuart, and in Wallenstein;
and where it proceeds from his own breast, a mere home-sickness,
an unsatisfied longing, as it flows upon us for instance, in sorrow
ful wise, in the poera, '¦^Ach aus dieses Thales Gruenden."
Byron shows hiraself a stranger in full lo the peace whispering
accents ofthe gospel, and to all true humility. His home is the
howling storm of all wild passions. He is the demoniacally in.-
spired poet of despair..
Still who raay refuse his admiration to the vast poetical powers
and resources, the natural greatness simply of Ihe-e extraordina
ry raen ; who persuade himself that God has introduced such co
lossal figures into our raodern world without purpose, and allowed
them to exert so measureless an influence on the culture of mil
lions for no end whatever 1 No ; such a mass of thought and
beauty cannot possibly be lost for the kingdom of God. Rather
it challenges the Church to the high and solemn task of subduing
this gigantic life to the power of her own spirit, that so she may
rise above it, and attain thus lo a higher position than any ta
which she has yet come.
As it regards finally the order of coramon social life, we may
say that Christianity wears no longer a distinguishing priestly
dress, but the ordinary citizen's coat. The almost universal ban
ishment of the gown from the pulpit itself, in this country, is
characteristic in this view ; a noveUy at the same lime which is by
no means to be approved, as savoring of an unhistorical spiritu
alism and a want of proper respect for what is sacred. The ab
stract, extramundane character of religion has been laid aside, and
the claims of the present life are more fully appreciated. Mar
riage is no longisr depressed beside celibacy as a higher grade of
sanctity ; but the minister is expected, to, let the light of his-examr-

145
pie shine before his congregation, as a husband and a father,^
Monkery is abolished, and men are directed to exercise their vir
tue in the natural employments of life, and while standing and
working in the world, to' keep themselves unspotted from it. True
al the same time, purely material interests, traffick and trade, in
dustry and steam, and along wilh all this utilitarianism and self-
ism, have acquired an importance to which they are not entitled.
For the spirit ought to reign over matter. But still, in the hand
of God, even steamships and railroads must serve to extend more
rapidly his kingdora.
This whole posture of the world towards the Church carries
now both a discouraging and a cheering aspect, as has already
been intimated in the notice of particulars. It is an unsound con
dition ; since all divinely constituted forms and spheres of life
should stand, and must in the end st^nd, in perfect harmony with-
one another. It serves to show the weakness of the Church, that
she has allowed these natural interests thus to overtop her in her
growth, instead of mastering tbem, and so directing them contin
ually to the glorification of their Creator. It is crying int;ratitude
besides on the part of the world, that luxuriating now in her own
prosperity, she affects to be independent of Christianity, yea even
presumes to oppose it broadly ; while yet she is indebted to it for
the best she has, and without an inward reconciliation to the
Church, a full return to the element of religion, can never fulfil
at all her own highest destiny. Forthe end or scope of all his
tory is this, that the world may resolve itself into the kingdora of
God, reason into revelation, morality into religion, and earth into
heaven. All sciences must be raised and refined into theosophy,
all government into theocracy, all art into divine worship, and
the whole of life into a joyful proclamation of the glory of
God. Since however this ultimate identification of the world with
Christianity, raay be apprehended also as an absolute moulding '
of the Church into all the forms of the world, the full identifica
tion of Christianity wilh nature, we raust recognize again on the
other side an encouraging advance towards this end, in the pre
sent relation of the two'syslems. The Christian principle by mean>j
ofit has become more naturalized, more at home in the world. It
stands no longer in mere abstract opposition to the natural life :
has the world no longer under itself as a foreign eleraent ; but is
forming it into itself, much as this raay be denied by the world in
its present stage. The modern culture is not that of heathenism,
but is carried throughout on the shoulders of Christianity, draws
from this constantly its raost substantial life, and raust on this ve
la*

146
py accountf however unwillingly, come into subjection to it in the-
end. In this respect also then. Protestantism is only an apparent
regression; in truth il has carried the Church materially forward.
Roman Catholicism here has remained behind the lime ; and has
either refused altogether, with- wilful bigotry, to admit the advance
of modern cultivation ; or has yielded to the force of il to a cer
tain extent, only for the raost pari where it has stood in near con
tact with Protestantism, and always in consequence at least of its
influence either direct or indirect. The more recent catholic the
ology, for instance, .springs from Germany, and is conditioned in
its best productions by Protestant elements. Let any one think
only of Hug, M(ehler^ von Drey, Gehring, Hirscher,
Staudenmeier, Papst and Guenther. The principle seats of
Romanism, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, have done little or nothing
in this sphere, within the last centuries, and as it regards the edu
cation of the people, are incredibly far back.
Thus in this case also our contemplations point us, not back
wards, but forwards to a rich future for Protestantism, that will
leave all the glory of the Catholic Church far in the rear. The
better tendency of the time is indeed' towards objectivity ; not to
wards that of the Middle Ages however, that could be upheld on
ly by violently crushing, or wilfully restraining, the rights of the
individual subject ; but it seeks the objective rather in a higher
form, in which it shall be enriched and spiritualized by all that
has been gained on the part of the subjective, the good fruits of
the development of Protestantism through a period of three
hundred years. The day must come when all the forms of life
which God has constituted in the world shall feel, that they need
a union with religion and the Church, to realize in full their own
idea, and when they shall volun|tarily return lo the Lord, and lay
their richest products upon his altar. That raemorable word of
Bacon, Philosophia obiter libata abducita Deo, penitus hausta
reducit ad eundem, may be applied with just as much force to
Art, Politics, and Social Order, and must be fulfilled sooner or
later in all.
That our hope of a newe life for Protestanism, to be secured
through its full reconciliation with the objective idea ofthe Church,"
is no empty dream, raany appearances of the present time, in '
part still incomplete indeed and solitary, serve to jshow. These
now demand our attention ; which will be directed auain. first to
Germany, and then, lo America.
Germany is still far from having corapleted her part in the
world's history. Such as are e^cquainted with the present state of

147
the country, as il regards science, morals and religion, and:
viewed in comparison wilh what it was during the last century
and the beginning of this, will understand the force of this remark.
What a melancholy lime was that, when English deism, French
frivolty, and superficial German popular philosophy, were joined
in coramon conspiracy against the Church. Pietism indeed had
still its representalives ; for the most part however spiritual crip
ples, who placed the substance of Christianity in a iew poor
forras, and turned- the fresh air oflife into an. uncomfortable, gloo-
ray charaber of death. The Moravian Brethren, it is true, were
not without influence ;, but it was exerted, apart from theology, in
the stillness only of retired practical life. True again, Suprana-
turalism, technically so called, the last scientific stand on the part
of orthodoxy, mustered, in men like- Reinhard and Storr,,
learned and venerable Theologians in, opposition to the Rational
ists ;. but its position was onesided, in the way particularly of a
loo abstract conception of the formal principle of Protestantism,
and it treated wilh the enemy so far, that in the end it fairly fell
over to his side, as we see in the case of Schott, Ammon and
Bretschneider. Its whole standpoint was outward and empiri
cal ; of the Holy Ghost in the Church it had no sense whatever,-
and could- not possibly therefore keep its ground. So dry and
waste had the German Church then, become, that minds of the
deeper,, more earnest order, such as Stolberg, Novalis and
Frederick Schlegel, were fain lo take refuge in the bosom, of
Catholicism. And the revolutionary epoch was so shorn of all
religious life and consciousness, that Schleiermacher, in hia
masterly Discources upon Religion,, of the year 1779, found it ne
cessary to start from the beginning ; takjng his stand as it were
in the Court of the Gentiles, to teach his Wolfian, Kantian and
Philanthropistic cotemporaries, the nature of religion first in gen
eral, that he might gain footing again, for an intelligible represen
tation of the Christian system.
And how does it now stand with the German theology 1 Iam well
aware indeed of the fearful episode, that has broken in from the
left side of the Hegelian philosophy upon the quiet, regular course
of its development, already ripening towards the best results ; an
episode like the storm ofthe July Revolution, which raay be said
to have brought up the rear of the political convulsions, through
which France was carried with the close of the last century.
Taking however a broad, general view, and looking. especiaUy
to the most recent movements, we may say with full confidence
that the theology which now has the floor of the age, is,
not rationalism, but orthodox.y resuscitatedj with a higher life

148
from its ruins. With the decision, power and fervor of the old
Church faith, it unites at the same time that scientific freedom,
disentanglement from prejudice, and full roundness of method,,
which have becorae possible only through the modern develop-
ment of rationalism and philosophy. Look now where we may
either in the widely extended shool of Schleiermacher, with its
numerous derivations, the most independent of which are present
ed to us in Neander, Nitzsch and J. Mueller ; or among,
those who are more or less ruled by the conservative elements of
the Hegelian philosophy, in the writings especially ofa Gceschee,.'
RoTHE, DoRNER, Martensen, Hoffmann, Hasse J either lo the
productions of the orthodox Unionist tendency of a Hengsten-
BERG and his spiritual colleagues, or the New Lutheran theology
of a Harless and others ; everywhere, it is true, we find much
mixed disputation and hard conflict, the result however in part of
mere misapprehension ; but still everywhere also the spring-breath
of a newly wakened faith, and the bursting germs of a new,
bright and fruitful era in theology. This must be rich and full,
in proportion as the boundless range of history has been brought
more fully and clearly into view, by the untiring, most learned*'
and profound researches, monumenta cere perenreiora oi GerraaOi)
scholarship and German diligence combined. What is most ani.
mating however is the genial union of free scientific interest and
true Church feeling that is showing itself in some of the the
ologians who have been named, and in many more especially who
are now coraing forward. This Church feeling shows itself more
over in the formation continually more and more of ministerial
associations, for conference on reigning defects and mutual encour
agement in efforts after improvement ; and paiticularly also- in
the concern now so general, which is felt to have the Church
service renewed aud enriched, by thrusting aside all watery, ra
tionalistic pretended improvements, and falling back in a proper
way to the incomparable treasures ofthe old Church songs an^
liturgies. Here again however the new which is at hand, will be
not a mere repetition, but an enlargement and rectification ofthe
old ; inasmuch as by means of the vast researches of science, in
which Rationalism itself has fulfilled an iraportant part, the wealth
of all centuries, as already intimated, is now rendered accessible
to such an extent as never before. In short, the German Church
and Theology, in spite of all difficulties and dangers, may be
said to have a fair wind, and it were disgraceful cowardice just
now to draw in the sails, and stand despairingly inactive with
hands folded upon the bosom. It is the period emphatically for
hope and action.

14»
And from what quarter has this favorable change proceeded ?
Not wholly from theology and the Church themselves, but in
large part, and indeed mainly, from the side of the secular life,
involving thus to some extent already a verification of the idea,
that all natural relations are lo be pervaded in a new way hythe
spirit of religion. This precisely is striking and peculiar in Ger
many, that the same foe, the same science in particular, whioh
inflicted such deep wounds upon its orthodoxy, has again turned
round of its own accord, and furnished the means for their cure.
For this very reason however, the cure must prove vastly more
thorough, than such soundness as raay be maintained in other
lands, where all tbe attacks of philosophy and secular culture
against Christianity, aie repelled only with the rusty armor of
the old apologetic methods, or simple proofless appeals to pious
feeling. It is justly remarked by I'holuck, in his learned and
spirited work against the Leben Jesu of Strauss, that the shallow
race of rationalistic illuminalists, at whose head Nicolai of dull
and tedious meraory once slood, received its death blow first
among the laity, by the powerful wing-stroke of the Romantic
writers, Tieck, Schlegel and Novalis ; after whioh it was
consumed to the bone hy the lixivium of ingenious satire, and so.
remanded back again to its original nothing. The Romantic
school indeed fixed its view not so much upon tho holiness of re
ligion as its beauty, making it an object of aesthetic enjoyment,
which the ironic "me" saw under itself; but it helped raightily
nevertheless to put an end lo the reign of the mere bald under
standing. The abstract separation of Christianity and art, has
since thai time disappeared more and raore from the consciousness
ofthe cultivated in Germany. Art itself, in many ofilsmost
important representatives, has again become religious, in particu
lar painting, and music and poetry. True, the poetry of despair
and of sentimental world grief is still to be met with on all sides ;,
but it has of late pronounced its own doom, by plunging into poli
tics and all sorts of projects for the world's amelioration, which
contradict entirely the very idea of art.
A second powerful agent in the production ofthe change which
has been mentioned, is presented to us in the modern philosophy
since the rise of Schellino. He freed German science and
with il theology also, from the bonds of Kant's standpoint of re
flection, and Fichte's subjective idealism, and led forth the spirit
again into the objective world both of nature and history. Speak
as men may against German transcendentalism, as the word'
passes here in a wholesale way, this at least no one acquainted
with the subject can deny ; that at the very time when the most

150
celebrated theologians cast away the cardinal evangelical doc
trines ofthe incarnation and atonement, as antiquated supersti-'
tions, ScHELLiNG and Hegel stood lorth in their defence, and
claimed for them the chai acter of the highest reason ; and that
while the reigning view saw in history only an aggregate of ar
bitrary opinions, a chaos of selfish passions, they taught the world;
to recognize in it the ever opening sense of eternal thoughts,
an always advancing rational development of the idea of hu
manity and its relations to God. Such a view must gradually
overthrow the abrupt revolutionary and negative spirit which
characterized the last century, restoring respect for the Church
and its history, and making roora for ihe genuine power of the
positive.* It is true indeed, that one section of the Hegelian.

* Just after I had written this, the article of Professor Stowb, in the
Bib. Repos. Jan. 1845, entitled Teutonic Metaphysics or Modem TVans-
cendeniaksm, came to ray sight ; and as it has been already welcomed in.
several papers as highly important and seasonable, I do not feel at lib-,
erty to pass it over in silence. I am truly sorry, to find myself disap-^
pointed in Dr. Stowe. In view only ofhis relations to my honored in-'
etructor and friend Dr. Dobnek, now counsellor of consistory and pro
fessor of theology at Koenigsberg, I held him capable- of understanding
and appreciating the German philosophy and theology, much beyond,
what he has shownin this unfortunate article. It is not in my mind at
all to undertake a wholesale defense of any system of German philoso
phy as such; for I prize too much the liberty of thoughtto be bound by
any philosophical school, and yield my reason to be -led. only by the
bible. But raen like K.4NT, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, who have
devoted their whole life to the most laborious and profound inquiries,
and who beyond all question belong to the greatest names in tbe histo
ry of the world, should be treated in different style by such a man as
Stowe, injustice only to his own character. Instead of saying a word.
to us on the contents of the later positive system of Schelling, he in
forms us of his controversy with Dr. ?avlus of Heidelberg, which has,
nothing in the world to do with- the matter in hand ; and even takes the
pait of this wretched rationalist, who closed his career as a writer with
a literary theft, against the great philosoplwr^-not dreaming at all, as,
it would seem, that it is precisely the acknowledged merit of this last,
to have overcome the standpoint of the abstract understandings fromj
which the old common Rationalism made wai upon all the deep^Jif
truths of Christianity. For this "common sense," entitled as it is to
all respect in its own sphere, the region of the simply finite, will air.
ways hold' the doctrines of the trinity and incarnation for nonsense;,
since according to its shallow, empty way of reasoning, three cannot
be one nor one three, God cannot be manner man God. If then no
higher principle be allowed to prevail in theology, it must be shorn of'
all its deeper import. Such a higher principle is the reason, by, which
we apprehend, the supersensuous, the infinite, the divine.. But it is.

151
'school, (the so called left side), has produced the laleSt and most
dangerous I'orm of Rationalisra, in which the doctrine of myths
and pantheistic hero-worship are raade to play so large a part.
But illis tendency is diametrically opposed to the historical, ob
jective element, ihat clearly rules the spirit if not always the letter
ofthe great philosopher's writings, and cannot be regarded there
fore at all events as a complete application ofhis system to theol
ogy. And then again.it must be considered, that the movement
in question is rendered so dangerous, just because it has received
into itself, pantheistically caiie.itured to be sure, so many truths
of Christianity, for which the old Rationalism had no organ what
ever, and because it is conducted also with so much more spirit
Schelling precisely who has successfully asserted the supremacy of
this principle in science. To be convinced of this, let Dr. Stowe read
Schelling's Lectures on the Method of Academic Study, particularly
the fifth and sixth. He will find there a raost masterly and powerful
argument against the presumption ofthe mere understanding, in thrust
ing itsclf with its poor surface-skimming nature into the region of the
higher sciences, which have to do with everlasting ideas — making all
flat by trying to make all clear. Hegel's works Prof. Stowe tells us
he has " waded through" — so long since however, or in such cursory
style, that he can no longer recollect of how many volumes they con
sist, missing the mark entirely in his general guess (p. 86.). No
wonder that his memory should be found still more at fault, as it re
gards the actual contents of this exceedingly difficult system. In fact
he does not pretend to draw from the fountain itself, but only from the
Conversations-Lexicon of Beockhaus ; an ass's bridge notoriously fof
superficial jand lazy thinkers, used by shopkeepers' clerks, but by no
true German scholar, at least in so weighty a case. After giving us in
this way a most lean skeleton, translated as he himself says not ad
sensum, but only ad verbum, he informs us with all honesty that he
cannot understand the philosopher at all. He cannot find out indeed
"what the man means by any thing he says in all his writings," so
far as examined. Yet he adds, "Eel no one say I have caricatured the
system" — as if a translation of isolated fragments ad verbum only,
could possibly in such a case be anything else than caricature ! What
a raan by his own confession does not comprehend, it might be as well
perhaps that he should not undertake to explain. Especially so, where
as in the present instance the explanation is expected to carry with ita
sort of " official authority" for the general public. Hegel has errors
and sins enough to answer for, no doubt. But this is no reason why
he should be loaded with misrepresentation, and made to appear little
better than a fool at the bar of the comraon understanding. It is al
ways however sheer, gross raisrepresentation, when his words or
thoughts are violently sundered from their true historical life, and forced
to stand by abstract translation in new connections and relations entire
ly, in which inevitably all their original sense is transmuted, for the po
pular mind especially, into bare nohsense.

152
and depth ; which itself again is to be referred to a general ad
vance, that may be easily remarked also in the form ofthe later
theology as more scientific than before. The very latest specu
lation besides, in the person of the still living founder of the Iden
tity System, Schelling himself has iaken a direction decidedly
towards positive revelation ; and it may be said now with good
certainty at least, that the bloom period of the pantheistic logic
and purely negative anti-theology is already over, Strauss and
his colleagues, by reason ofthe much greater weight of religious
and Church feeling they have been called to encounter, have out
lived themselves much sooner than their predecessors Paulus,
Wegscheider, &c, ; and Bruno Bauer, the object now of al
most universal aversion, has been formally deprived of his office,
a thing of whose like no body scarcely would have dreamed
twenty years ago. Such as are acquainted with the state of
things in this quarter must allow, that the latest critical and
philosophical opposers of Christianity, have in a great measure,
by their own contradictions and extravagance, destroyed them
selves ; so that, as before remarked, the leaders of the orthodox
theology, after a brief interregnum, are again at the helra ofthe
vessel under the raost encouraging auspices.
In Germany, philosophy, as the spirit of the age exalted to
scientific consciousness, exerts a controlling influence, over all de
partments of higher knowledge. From the school of Schelling
accordingly, in such men as Eshenmeyer, Steffens, Schu
bert, a decidedly religious tone has been imparted to investiga
tions in the sphere of nature, by which this department has been
effectually rescued from the hands of atheism and abstract deism.
Steffens in particular has made it the great object ofhis fife, in
his scientific and poetic representations, to reconcile nature with
religion, the cultivated world consciousness with the con-
sciousness of Christianity. So also the greatest later histo
rians, as Leo, Ranke, Haug, show a special interest in
religion and the Church, as forraing the central force and
life pulse properly of the world's history ; and bring them con
tinually into the view of their readers, unfettered by the old
spiritless pragmatism, with living reproduction, and that freedom
frora prejudice and love of justice, peculiar to the German mind)
by which every age is allowed to enjoy its own proper greatness
unimpaired. Philology itself, both oriental and classical, has
come by its inward development to stand in a new relation to the
holy scriptures. The earlier Rationalism imposed its own arbi
trary hypotheses and neological dreams on the Old and NeW
Testaments by a fearful grammatical recklessness and truly
wheel-breaking exegesis ; and even the Supranaturalisra ofthe

153
same period, as exhibited by Storr and others, lies open to cen»
sure in the same view. But before the bar of the later philologyj
this is no longer possible* Professor Winer, of Leipzig, whose
grammatical authority as free from all theological bias is univer->-
sally acknowledged, says unreservedly, "Our exegetical contro
versies have led back usually to that sense as correct, which the
Protestant Church held in the beginning,"* Such a man as C. Fr,
Aug. PriTzsche, who stands in no inward affinity with the
spirit ofthe bible, but who as it regards philological learning and
accuracy, (at times even pushed to excess,) is fairly rivalled
araong recent interpreters only by Harless and Bleek, finds
hiraself constrained, frora the grararaalico-historical standpoint
alone, to prefer in the raost iraportant cases the interpretations of*
a Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Bengel,
to those of the Rationalistic school ; and Strauss himself has
rendered good service to the cause of truth, in his Leben Jesu, by
the overwhelming force with which he has employed the reductio
ad absurdum upon the violent exegetical processes, made use of
by the older Rationalism, in carrying out its so called natural ex
planation of miracles. Unbelief is thus forced to look in future
for help in some different direction ; it can no longer cover its
nakedness with a philological mantle. The scientific study of
language itself, by its own inward developraent and without any
regard to Christianity, has led to the immensely important result,
that the Church, orthodox Protestantism in particular, has under
stood the bible in substance correctly, and must be allowed there
fore lo have all right against Rationalism at the bar of science, if
only the assumption ofthe divine inspiration of the scriptures be
securely established.
Finally, the political circumstances of Germany have also con
tributed much to the new impulse which has been given to reli
gion. In the war for freedom particularly against the French
Usurper, both princes and people were overpowered wilh an ever
memorable, sacred enthusiasm, when the Lord of hosts, after long
continued well deserved oppression, interposed so powerfully by
the thunder of battle, and revealed hiraself so clearly in the direc
tion of events. Since that time too, the State has begun to
change its posture materially towards the Church. Formeriy
this was treated too generally as the mere creature of Caesar,
* Leipziger Literatur Zeitung 1833. N. 44. Comp. the Preface to
the third edition ofhis Grammar of N. T. Idioms, p. IV ff., as well as
the whole admirable work itself. A similar regeneration has been ef-*
fected by Ewald and Hitzis in the department ofthe Old Testament.
14

154
being regarded, simply as one among the several institutions by
which the State was, expected to serve its own purposes. Now
however it is coming to he understood and felt, that the Church
has a life of its own, and that f he State consults its own welfare
best, when this life is respected as an independent interest, and
suffered to develope itself freely from its own nature. If any one
will compare the administration of the present kings of Prussia
and Wirteraberg with that of their predecessors, particularly
Frederick the Great, he: will at once admit the great change
which has taken place in this respect ,
From the State moreover, under Frederick William III,
proceeded in the first instance that Union ofthe Lutheran and
Reformed Churches, which has since become almost universal in
Germany, and raust be regarded now as a great, step gained ,to-
wards Ihe catholicity and unity necessarily, involved in the idea of
the Chuitch itself. It is not good either, that Christ's bride should
bear the narae of a mere man, as Lutheran and the like,* The
title JE^vingelical is much more catholic and appropriate ; though
not in the sense to be sure which it is frequently made to carry
in our western States, when used as a mere cloak for rationalism
and indifferentism. The stiff^, absolute Old- lutheranism of Prussia
and Bavaria may be considered indeed a salutary reaction against
the indifference of many of the friends of the Union to doctrines i
and in this view, we are glad to find its representatives in this
country also. But apart from this particular advantage, it is cer
tainly a crying, stubborn misapprehension of the wants of our
time, which reach far beyond its narrow horizon. It is truly ri
diculous indeed, thus to fancy the Form of Concord the absolute
perfection of theology, and lo require virtually that not only the
Greek and Roraan Churches,, but the Reformed also wilh its
* The designations, Presbyterian, CongregatioTial, Protestant Episco
pal are also unsatisfactory, as referring only to government ; which
however is clearly but a secondary element of the Church, belonging
not to its spirit but to its outward form. Our title. Reformed, coupled
only if need be with the national distinction, is plainly the best. For
it implies no dependence whatever on any particular man, and includes
the view besides that we are no new body, but the old Catholic Church
itself, only regenerated and purified frora human additions. As how
ever this term has acquired in Germany a definite historical sense, in
opposition to the idea of Lutheranism, it was altogether proper that the
title Evangelical should be preferred. Names in so weighty a case are
not mere smoke, but the impression ofthe idea ; and it is known that
Luther most decidedly disapproved the designation of his followers
after his o-wn name.

155
German, Low Dutch, French, English, Scotch and American
branches, should make it their great business to subscribe it and
submit themselves to Lutheran baptism. The futtlre belongs cer
tainly to the " Union," and within its range precisely the most
religious life is to be found at the present time. The raost impor
tant and pious theologians of Germany, as Neander, Hbngsten-
BERG, Twesten, Marheineke, Sartorius, Tholuck, Muel
ler, Hupfeld, Nitzsch, Sack, Bleek, Kling, Hahn, Lange,
Hoffmann, Luecke Liebner, Ullmann, Rothe, Umbreit,
Schmidt, Dorner, Landerer go with it fully ; though for
themselves a number of them prefer, in a doctrinal respect at
least, the Lutheran standpoint. To be sure the Union, in its
present forra, is to be viewed merely as a beginning ; and the
closer adjuslraenl of il, especially in the symbolical direction,
creates just at this time no small difiicufty. Nor can it be denied,
that the measures of the government to promote Church improve
ment in Prussia, labor under the defect of raore or less irresolu
tion. Good will is present, but there is a lack of fixed principles
and talent for practical organization ; for which at all events, the
German, whose spiritual universalism is always multiplying pos
sibilities and doubts before him, has never been particularly dis
tinguished. The case however is in its own nature immensely
difficult, and becomes still raore so by the manifold spiritual ten
dencies, and peculiarly diversified forms of culture, that enter in
to the constitution ofthe Prussian Stale ; enough to confound the
most thorough practical skill, that is not prepared to violate all
the rights of history. And then it must not be foi^otten, that the
whole Evangelical Church is at present in an interimistic state,
involved in a process of fermentation and transition, which brings
along with it necessarily a measure of uncertainty and experi
ment. In any case, this is something better however than to re
pose lazily on pillows worn out by use, or to dreara with un-
bounded self-complacency and pretension of being in a condition
already coraplete.
Let us leave however the king of Prussia, with his spiritual and
secular counsellors, to work out as they best may, under the favor
of heaven, the problem they are called to solve, and turn our at
tention once more upon our own land. What prospect is there
here, in the way of encouragement for the Church ? May we hope
to see our Protestant Zion conducted safely out ofthe Babylonish
captivity of sectarism and faction, without being carried to old
Rome or young Oxford ?
We have no such deep scientific conflicts araong us, as those
we have just had in our view. The philosophical life questions

156
of Germany, the relation of the Church to the Arts and to th&
State, wilh which the greatest minds there are exercised in the
severest way, bring no trouble whatever to the Araerican. Cut
bonol he is ready to exclaira, in view of every speculation ofthe
sort ; dubbing it perhaps with the convenient title transcendental
ism or mysticism, to justify his contempt. What has it accom
plished for the souls of men or their bodies'! Can it fill an empty
pocket, or an empty stomach ? Flas il ever manufactured a steam
boat, or so much even as a pin ? Such is the style, in substance
if not in form,;, in which the interest of philosophical thinking is
too often undervalued in this country, in fiavor ol what is practical
and useful. With such a spirit, of course, 1 can feel no sympathy.
It is greatly to be lamented, that the German Churches of Ameri
ca in particular should be so sadly defective, in theological and
philosophical culture, and without a single literary intiiiluiion alier
the pattern of^the GerJ^nan. gyiiinasia or univorsities. The result
of this must be in the end, that our congregalion.S; will lose, them
selves in the English, denominations, with the sacrifice of their:
own proper character entirely, unless they can be broujjht be
times into spiritual coramqnication with the mother Church in
Germany, On the other hand, if they might be led, thus lo paitir
cipale with proper life in thcilater movements of Oertrian theolo
gy, they would lake a position .peculiar to tlKmselves, and must
exercise gradually an important influence alsoon their, Eoglisfe,
sister Churches. For, these too n?ed a vastly more thorough und
vigorous, theology, to c^^rry them prosperously lorwaid, and make
them siiperior lo the foes that now threaten thtm Irom tvery .side*
Theology is no less necessary for the regeneration of Protestant-,
ism now, than it was for the accompligbment of ihe Ri forraatioa
in the sixteenth century. To prevent raisunderstanding, it maiy
be well lo be a little more particular on the importance of iheolfi.
ogy, in its relation to practical Church life.
Some take ground on principle against all theological training,
as injurions to the interests of living, practical piety. Such are
welcome to the illiterate declaimers in whnm they choose to take
delight, with all their rant and noise and animal excilenunt ; raen
who trample under foot the apostolic caution with regard to this
point, {James 3 : 1,) and in their wretched spiritual, pride deal
forth the stale conceits and fantastic soap bubbles of their own
poor bi-ain, forthe inspirations ofthe Holy Ghost. Alas for ihe
congregations, whose want of discernment leads them to accept
such husks for bread'. Show us then, ye opposers of knowledge,
¦which the apostle makes the element of eternal life, where are
the men whom a miraculous- illumination of the Spirit has con-

157
stituted theologians with a single stroke ; and no one will be raore
ready to show them respect than ourselves. But ye substitute
your own fanatical feeling for the Holy Ghost, Pentecosts are
not common days in history ; and according to the general rule
and order of God, which we are bound humbly to observe, even
our spiritual bread is lo be earned by the sweat of our brow. Our
intellectual and moral faculties are given us, not lo be buried or
left to rust, but lo be put to use and raade productive. We are
directed to search the scriptures continually, and lo grow in all
wisdom and knowledge. If the apostles themselves, after an in
tercourse of three years with the Master of all masters, needed
still an extraordinary furniture of divine gifts for their work, it
must certainly he considered no small presumption, when a little
religious experience merely, and this often in the most superficial
forra, together with some tolerable fluency of speech, is held, as
with many in this country at the present tirae, a sufficient prepara
tion for the raost important and difficult of all offices. Let us
hope, that the age of such presumption raay soon come to an end.
For nothing is more adapted to bring the ministry into disrespect,
to strip the pulpit of its true sacred dignity, and to make the
Church itself in the end an object of general indifference and
derision. Others pronounce theology useful at least ;, and regard this as
quite a fine corapliraent paid lo the science. These are your
utilitarians and materialists, who raeasure the value of all things in
heaven and upon earth by the interest they bring. While seem
ing to praise it, they sink the first of all sciences into the sarae
category with a bushel of potatoes ; and indeed lower, since these
last raay lay claim to a much more general and palpable utility.
Theology is neither useful nor harmful ; it is raised immeasura
bly above the poor category of serviceableness ; it is- no raeans,
with which to procure soraething beyond^ itself, as we employ
money or a mechanical instrument ;. but an end in, itself, and for
any one who will hold a prominent place in tbe Church just as
indispensable, as the knowledge of law for a statesman or the
knowledge of nature for a physician. It is absolutely necessary ;
so that no well ordered condition of the Church is to be though t
of, where theology does not flourish.
The necessity for it does not spring from mere outward occa
sions, but frora the inmost nature of the Christian faith itself.
Our religion is not simply for feeling or for the will sepa
rately taken, but full as much for the faculty of knowledge
also, the undferslanding and reason ; it seeks to penetrate and per-
vade harmoniously all the powers of man's nature, and thus to
refine and perfect him in the undivided totality of his person, it
14*

158
belongs lo the inmost nature of faith, that it should raise itself
continually to clearer consciousness, attain always toa more dis
tinct and full knowledge of its object, that is of God as revealed
in Christ. Pistis is in itself the fruitful gerra of a true gnosis,
and rests not till it becomes at last the vision of God face to face,
which is at the same time also the conception ofthe full blessed
ness of heaven itself. If faith be true, it must allow this to be
shown, so far as this may be possible in the present world.
Christianity is not against reason, but only above reason.* Only
superficial knowledge is irreligious ; true, thorough knowledge
stands in covenant whh faith, and is not possible without it. But
faith should be ever struggling lo become knowledge ; Christiani
ty should enter always raore and more into the comprehension of
reason. "Negligentiae mihi videtur, si postquam confirmati
sumus in fide, non studemus quod credimus intelligere." Thus
speaks the greatest theologian ofthe Middle Ages, one ofthe most
eminently pious men at' the same tirae belonging to the history of
the Church. f So Augustine, whose name is above all praise,.
and before whose powerful spirit both the Catholic and Protes
tant Churches bow with almost equal reverence, represents growth-
in theological knowledge to be a growth of God in the soul itself.
"Crescat ergo Deus, qui semper perfectus est, crescat in te-
Quanto enim magis intelligis Deum etquanto magis capis, videtur
in te crescere Deus. Intelligebas heri modicum, intelligis hodie-
amplius, intelliges eras multo amplius ; lumen ipsum Dei orescit
in te, Proficit quidem in Deo interior homo, el Deus in illo vide
tur crescere, ipse tamen minuitur, ut a gloria sua decidat et in
gloriam Dei surgat,":j: Theology appears thus an indispensable
organ in the life of the Church ; its head, its consciousness, and
soils ornament and joy ; theology of course in the sense of our
protestant ancestors, in whose production are joined oratio, medi-
tatio and tentatio, the theologia regenitorvm, besides which in
deed there is none that is entitled to the narae,
Happy is he, who has attained to this exalted view ! A genera
tion that crawls in the dust may style hira, in pity or derision, an
idealist, perchance even a phantast. But all this he counts aa
honor. For he knows that it is not gold nor steam, but ideas.

* Or, to speak with Pascal, " La foi dit bien ce que les sens ne
disent pas, mais jamais le eontraire.. Elle est audessus, non pas contre."
f Anselm of Canterbury, in the beginning, of his work,. Cw Deus
homo ?
X In Evang. Joann. c. 3. tract. 16-

159
that rule the world, and constitute the soul, the hearths blood of
history, producing in it all that is either true or abiding. For no
price would he separate hiraself from the regina scientiarum ;
all the glory of the world, all the praise of men, are lo hira as
nothing, in coraparison with the excellency of the knowledge of
God in Christ,
Il follows then with, logical necessity, that the progress ofthe
Church moves hand in hand with the progress of theology. Where
ignorance rules an age, where the diligent study ofthe scriptures
is neglected, there at the same lime the whole Christian life grows
sickly, and one forra of error after another creeps into the sanc
tuary. On the contrary, where genuini piety flourishes, where
the whole Church is made to feel the life giving presence of God's
Spirit, there knowledge shows itself clear and fresh to the same
extent. What is it we admire so much in the age ofthe apostles 1
The striking union ofthe deepest insight into the character and
works of God, wilh the most vigorous activity ; the full toned
harmony of all the powers of the soul, filled and governed by one
and the same principle. Paul, who la-bored more than all the
rest ofthe apostles, is also a master in the way of knowledge, to
whom we are indebted for the fullest development of doctrine, a
wonderfully profound exhibition of Christian truth, and raost
powerful confutation of error al the same time. By his scriptural
arguments, and his keen logical corabinations and conclusions, he
so handled his adversaries, both heathen and Jewish, as to leave
them ever after without excuse for their unbelief. John, the
apostle of loVe, has been styled not without reason.by the Church,
the "Theologian" per eminentiam. For by the eagle flight of
his believing speculation into the depths of God and his Word,
made flesh for our salvation, as existing before the world, he may
be said to have led the way to Christian theology in its bold and
glorious course.* His love is only the strong will-force of
knowledge ; his knowledge but the keen vision of love. The
whole history of the Church furnishes proof, that the men who,
have exerted the greatest and' raost happy influence, the wakers of
a new life, the pillars in the temple of God, have always been dis-
* Hence the ancient hyran sings of him :
Volat avis sine meta,
Quo nee vates nee propheta
Evolavit altiraus.
Tam implenda, quam impleta
Numquara vidit tot secreta
Purus homo purias..

160
tinguished also above their cotemporaries by a thorough scientifie
cultivation. It is sufficient to call up the naraes simi-ly of such men
as Irenaeus, Origen, Cyprian, Athanasius, the Cappado-
cian Gregory, Basil the Great, Augustine, Anselm, Thomas
AauiNAs, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Beza, John Ger.
HARD, Spenee, Bengel, Wesley, Edwards. Where a new
religious moveraent is not rooted at the same lime in a solid doc
trinal ground, the case of our later awakenings too generally, it
is found also to have no enduring force, or at all events cannot
carry the Church forward as a whole.
Shall now the general rule as established by the history ofthe
Church, have no application lo the time in which we ourselves
live 1 There is an opinion indeed, that the Reformers and theolo
gians of the seventeenth century, have accomplished in theology
all that is to be done, so that we need now only to hold fast this
Protestant tradition, and hand it on mechanically to the next gen
eration. This principle of stagnation is openly advocated by
one at least ofthe most influential theological journals of the
country, whose authority with a large portion of the Araerican
Church is counted well nigh infallible. With all our respect
however for the piety and statiding of its conductors, we must
protest decidedly against every such view. How inconsistent, to
admit a perfectibility and actual prepress, both of the individual
and ofthe race, in all departments of mind, in the natural scien
ces, in jurisprudence, in the knowledge of history, in political
development, in all material or outward interests, in morality and
piety, only not in philosophy and theology. Is then the bible
alone a book so clear and plain, that all its depths are already
exhausted 1 Are then the powers ofthe human raind so abstract
ly separate frora one another, that one raay become absolutely
complete without the rest 1 Have our Protestant ancestors per
haps declared themselves to be infalfible, requiring us lo receive
their decisions as oracles ; or have they not rather set us free
frora all bondage to men ? Did their work too, in its theoretic
character only, spring forth at once complete like Minerva from
the head of Jupiter ; or was it not rather a gradual process, in
which they were themselves led from one view and one measure
of clearness still onward to another? If Proteslanlism be indeed
the blind faith of authority, an unthinking rehearsal of what has
been handed down, let us- then confess at least that we have no
reason to reproach popery on this score.. But the case stands
not thus. Protestantisra is the principle of moveraent, of progress
in the history ofthe Church-; progress, not such as may go- be
yond the bible and Christianity, but such ^ as consists in an ever

161
extending knowledge of the bible itself, and an e»er deepening
appropriation of Christianity as the power of a divine life, which
is destined to make all things new. Our Church should be al
ways prepared to give an account of her faith with joy, and to
contend manfully ugainst all huraan distortions of the truth,
against every false and injurious representation ofthe gospel.
She dare not, unless she would renounce herself, stiffen into life
less stability, and suffer herself to be left in the rear by her adver
saries in the way of scientific movement. Rather she must explore
still farther and farther the inexhaustible mines of God's word, and
seek a more full and free representation continually of her own
principle ; remembering always that there is still beyond measure
much to be learned, and that she can never become complete in
herself, except as her knowledge also may be carried to the
highest point.
But the proper home of Protestant theology is Germany, and
hence we may say that those who refuse to make account of the
Gerraan theology, set themselves in fact against the progress of
Protestantism. The land which gave birth to the Reformation
stands pledged by that movement itself, not to rest till the great
work shall have been made coraplete ; when the revelation of God
in Christ shall be apprehended in full, and the contents- of faith
shall be reduced lo such form as lo carry with them also the
clearest evidence and raost incontrovertible certainty in the way
of knowledge. We wish not to depreciate in the least the raerits
acquired in forraer times, by the Dutch and tbe English in partic
ular, in the way of biblical study, critical, exegetical aud anti
quarian. The German is always disposed rather to put an undue
value on what is foreign, and has long since appropriated the re
sults of these investigations,, and worked thera into the process of
his own cultivation. But what is all this, beside the gigantic
creations of the Gerraan theology 1 All its heresies cannot destroy
my respect for it. In England and Araerica one learns first, to
prize it according to its true worth. It must not be forgotten,,
that even the German Rationalism, worthy of all reprobation as
it is, gives evidence, at least in its better forms, of an extraordi
nary scientific energy and a deep interest in the investigation of
truth, from which we are au-thorized to draw a favorable conclu
sion on the opposite side. For only an archangel can become a
devil. As England and America would not have been able at all
to produce so fearful an enemy of Christianity as David Freder
ick Strauss, so must they have been rauch less able to meet
him with a proper refutation ; and I shudder at times, to think of'
the desolation bis writings must occasion, if they should come to.

162
be rauch read, which raay God prevent, in this country.* It
must be borne in mind also on the other side, that there is a spetiies
of orthodoxy, by no raeans rare, which rests upon the foundation
of mere convenience or intellectual indolence, or the lowest mo
tive possibly of self-interest, and is consequently no whit better,
yea by reason of such hypocrisy in its constitution is even much
worse, than open and honest unbelief.
If we look into Church history, we shall be still less disturbed
in our estimate of the German theology, by the heretical eleraents
that belong to it, since they raust appear to us only as negative
conditions of a new doctrinal conquest, fThus the full determina
tion and clear, close definition of the doctrines of the trinity and
of the relation of the two natures in Christ, as exhibited to us in
the oecumenical councils, were conditioned throughout by a suc
cession of heresies in the direction of these articles. The Pelagian
error must serve, in the hand of God, lo unfold and establish
more profoundly, through Augustine, the doctrine of divine
grace and human liberty. At the Reformation also, heretical
tendencies, Socinianism, Anabaptisra, Antinomianisra, &c., come '
into view ; as in a period of such vast excitement was to be ex
pected. They wrought with salutary force on the developraent of
orthodox Protestantism, making it necessary for it lo understand
more clearly its own commission, to discriminate more closely
its proper sphere, and to fortifiy itself against unauthorized con
sequences and various misapprehensions of its true character.
So we may say, that the later heresies of Germany are but the
nagative side of the process by which the theology of that coun
try has been advancing towards higher and raore solid ground
than it occupied before. In this view, nothing can well be raore
unfair than to confound thera with the idea of German theology
itself. Those who do so, only show their own ignorance of the
actual posture of Ihings in Ihe German Church at the present tirae.
It is lo be lamented indeed, that the representations usually exhi
bited of German theology in this country, by those who pass for
its friends as well as others, have been, and to a great
extent still continue to be, borrowed from a period, which has
been fairly surmounted and left behind in Germany itself ; the

* I was informed by a friend, one of the Fellows of Baliol College
in Oxford, that two prorainent young clergymen of the English Church
h-ad fallen upon the Life of Jesus by Strauss, and were so overpowered
by it as absolutely to despair of all scientiflc help in opposition to it,
with the resources or from the standpoint ofthe English theology as it
has stood thus far.

163
period ofthe older Rationalism, in which the truth might be said
to have become for a tirae so entangled in the folds of error, as
hardly to be distinguished from il, even in the writings of its most
orthodox defenders. There is reason to believe that this ratio
nalistic orthodoxy, as represented for instance by such men as
Ernesti and Morus, has indeed been raade the vehicle, by which
more or less of a truly pernicious neologiCal spirit has been intro
duced into the American Church, in the name of German theolo
gy. Undoubtedly at least, rationalistic elements and tendencies
are extensively involved in the religious thinking ofthe country,
even under what are regarded often as its most orthodox forms.
Elements and tendencies that need only to be carried out consist
ently to their proper consequences, to show theraselves in their
true light, Eleraents and tendencies, it may be added, which the
orthodox German theology ofthe present day, all slandered as it
is, would reject as heretical and false, no less decidedly than it
rejects the entire standpoint of a Bretschneider hiraself.
Nothing, I repeat il, can well be raore unfair, than lo confound
the true, positive theology of Gerraany, now so successfully
asserting its spiritual independence, with the negative heretical
entanglements of a forraer lira'e, from which it has extricated itself
in large part already, and is in the way of extricating itself still
more triumphantly, we may hope, in time lo come.
It is not to be desired of course, that the mighty struggles of
the German philosophy and theology should repeal themselves, in
their whole compass, in this country. Rather it may be trusted,
thai the victory achieved by believing science in Germany, over
both the popular and speculative forms of Rationalism, will re
dound to the general benefit ofthe entire Protestant Church, But
what we wish is this, that the spirit of the German theology in
its belter form, as now predominant, might be transplanted into
our midst, and with proper modification of course and adjustment
to our circumstances made lo enter organically into our religious
life. Here all must be more practical ; science must go hand in
hand with the proper activities of the Christian life. As we will
have no order of priests specifically different from the laity, so we
want no separate order of theologians, restricting to itself all sa
cred wisdom. Such a union of the German scientific and Eng
lish practical tendencies, would furnish a belter form of existence
than either of these separately taken ; which it raight seem to be
the vocation of Araerica in particular to realize, where German
elements, in the Middle and Western States especially, are enter
ing so largely, and with such vast increase every year, into the
social mfLss, I regret not in the least the modification, which

164
Ihe science of Germany, and its theology in particular, must thus
undergo, lo be turned here to any good account. Rather I re
joice in it, wilh all my heart. For decided foe as I am to the
mere utilitarian principle, I ara well aware that Gerraan science,
is but loo prone to run to an extreme in the other direction, and
thus to lose itself in unprofitable speculations and subtleties that
come in the end to nothing.* Nor should it be forgotten, that a
large proportion ofthe German emigration has been, and still is,
of such a character, that we must wish to see it brought under
the force of the English nationaUty for its own sake, and have
reason to bless God for the favorable change it has been raade to
undergo by this raeans in part already. But this is not enough.
May we not trust that the tirae is at hand, when the Araerican
Gerraany shall again rise from the ruins of its own nationality
and language, purified and enriched with the advantages belong
ing to the English character, and so enter upon a new career of
its own, that shall be fraught with lasting benefit to the whole
country. Altogether there seems to be reason to believe, Ihat the way is
opening at least towards such an order of Ihings as the wants of
the lime are found to demand. There are indications certainly
which imply, that our Church relations are destined, before a
great while, to assume in one way or another a new form. The
system of thinking which has hitherto prevailed is coming to lose
its authority, at different points. Difficulties are causing them
selves lo be felt, where formerly they were not imagined lo exist.
Ideas of deep and far reaching import are steadily working their
way, where only a few years since perhaps hardly a trace of
their presence was to be found,
Tbe absolute despotism of the Metaphysics of Locke, is in a
measure broken. In spite ofthe earnest warnings of certain in
fluential literary organs, the general unconditional confidence with
which the system wa,^ formerly held, has been seriously shaken ;
particularly, it would seem, in New England. Let us hear on
this point Professor Stowe, of Lane Seminary, who will not at
least be suspected of any improper leaning towards German tran
scendentalism. "The metaphysics of Locke," he tells us, "un-

* To which the well known verse in Ggsthe's Faust rmy be applied
in all its force :
. . . . Ein Kerl, der speculirt,
Ist wie ein Thier, auf duerrer Heide
Von einem boesen Geist im Kreis herumgefuehrt,
Und rings umber liegt schcener gruene Weide.

165
der various modifications, have prevailed over English and French
mind, the most effective mind in the civilized world, for raore than
a century ; a long period certainly in an active and thinking age,
for any one system of mental science to maintain its dominion.
This style of philosophizing did not long retain its ascendency
among the Germanic nations, but was there entirely overthrown
more than sixty years ago : and for about twenty five years past,
there has been a gradual but certain undermining of its influence,
in France, England, and the United States. Almost all the ar
dent, youthful, investigating mind in these countries, now feels
that the system of Locks, in all its modifications, is meagre, un
spiritual and unsatisfying, and is anxiously looking for some
thing better,"* This change has been produced mainly, by the
writings, on the one hand, of the French eclectic Cousin, who is
known lo have borrowed largely from the later German philoso
phy, and by the works of Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle on
the other, both of them thoroughly steeped in the element of Ger
man thought, Coleridge, a noble, fertile, half poetic, half phi
losophic spirit, proceeded from the school of Schelling, which is
characterized by a tendency towards the objective and historical ;
whence it is not strange, that his numerous disciples in England
sympathize to a certain extent with the Puseyite movement,
though not so as to yield themselves to it in a slavish way. One
ofthe raost able and interesting productions called forth in this
connection is The Kingdom of Christ by Fr, Dan, Maurice of
London, Carlyle's mind is raore of the negative, critical order-,
with a strong leaning to pantheism ; as is seen particularly, in
his hero worship, which reaches even to Mohammed, and to
wards G<ethe rises into extravagance itself. By the uncommon
richness of his intellect however, and his keen portraits, he exerts
a kindling influence on youthful, excitable spirits, and at all
events enlarges the field of their vision and opens before them
new regions of thought. He sees the defects of our lime indeed,
and of our present Protestantisra, only too well ; but has no power
to direct us lo any positive remedy. Hence a certain character of
gloomy dissatisfaction, not to say cynical despair, runs through
all his writings. Still the knowledge of the disease raust always
precede its cure ; and in this view the widely extended influence
of this energetic writer is to be considered favorable, as leading
beyond itself to soraething that may be better.
In theology itself, directly or indirectly, Germany is coming to
* The BibUcal Repository and Classical Review, New York.
•January 1845. p. 65. 1'5

166
be raore and more widely felt. An almost absolute authority
having, been exercised for nearly a .hundred years in Church his
tory by the learned chancellor of Goettingen, Mosheim, long
since thrown into the back ground in his own country by those
who have come after him, the works of Neander and Gieseler
have at length raade their appearance here also in an English
dress. These it is known are distinguished for the most conscien
tious study of original sources ; to which must be added in the
case ofthe firstihe genial presence ofa deep religious spirit,- that
lovingly welcomes the manifestations of the divine life under all
forras, and causes thera lo live again upon the historic page with
magic reproduction. We could wish only it were pervaded with
deeper Church feeling. The History of the Reformation also by
Merle D'Aubigne, which has had such an immense circulation
in this country, is properly speaking, in its main parts, a skilful
working up of German material, particularly the "Geschichte der
Reformation" by Maeheinecke, which still reraains superior lo
it in the estimation of all competent judges.* Still all this, as
* The recent production of the celebrated Genevan Doctor, trans
lated for the Biblical Repository, Jan. 1845, under the title, ^^Lutheranr
ism and ihe Reform ,• their Diversity essential io their Unity," can raake
still less pretension to originality. We hold this essay important on
account of its catholic spirit, and tendency, and for the acknowledgment i
it contains that the questjpn concerning the Church has now become,,
the first question, "the greatest, the all engrossing subject." We have
been really surprised however, to see hqvy Dr. Merle allows himself to
plunder German authors. One idea is taken from the first volume of
Twesten's Dogmatik ; three ideas are borrowed from Lange's academ
ical inaugural address at Zurich ; all the rest are found in the well
known book of Gcebel on the "Union." Here we meet the representa
tion for instance, that Lutheranism places the material principle fore
most, the Refqirned Church the formal ; that the first has pioceeded on
the maxim of holding fast all that is, not expressly condemned by God's
word, the last on the maxim of rejecting all for which no explicit au
thority is to be found in the bible ; that the work of reformation with
the first was carried on prevailingly in a doctrinal and theological way,
while with the last it took also a practico-moral and political form ;
that the first was aristocratic and monarchial, the last democratic and '
republican ; that the first showed itself exclusive and in the end hostile,
to the Reformed Church, while this Jast was always disposed, to a
union with Lutheranisra, but perseveringly opposed to all peace with
Rome ; &c. &c. Even the examples, p. 139, 148, and 160, are copied
from Gcebel. — All this is mentioned, not to depreciate at all the Gene
van theologian, but only to show, how ready the most distinguished
French writers are to take lessons in the school of German learning,
and to recommend their example to imitation in this country. Why
should we , undervalue in German, what we are ready to laud as exhib-

16T
eompared with the wealth of the German literature, is out a- small!
beginning. It would be easy to name more than a score of new
works, of exegetical and dogmatic character in particular, which
are full as worthy lo be translated as those which have been men
tioned, and some of them much more so, A special society has
been formed in French Switzerland for transplanting the belter
theological literature of Germany into that country, which has al
ready entered upon its work with good success. Much raore
might we look for some institution of the sort here, and that no
such measure has been thought of only shows how little interest
the Germans of this country lake in the monuments vvhich reflect
the greatest honor on their own race. They are put to shame ia
this respect, even by the English ihemselves. The best literary
institutions ofthe land are coming to understand, that no raoderit
education can be coraplete which does not include sorae acqtiain-
tance with Gerraan learning, and think it necessary accordingly
to raake some provision for the cultivation of it in their academical
course. The most distinguished theologians in the country, such,
as Stuart, Hodge, Robinson, Stowe, &c., have bestowed their
careful study on the theological literature of Germany, and ac
knowledge themselves, under lasting obligations to its help; This
study ought not indeed to be confined simply to the critical, isa-
gogical, and antiquarian departments, which some appear lo con
sider most valuable and safe ; though in fact they have been oc
cupied to a great extent by Rationalism,. We need to have
rather, in larger measure, the spirit and the itZeas of the later
German theology. We need lo fortify ourselves in this way
against errors, and tendencies to error,, to which we are already
exposed. A^iainst the rationalism of the abstract understanding
on the one hand, and a disposition to pantheistic sentimentalism and
reverie on the other, we can have no better protection in the way
of science than is here placed within our reach. In no other
quarter, have these false forras of thoughtbeen raet and vanquish
ed in the sarae thorough style. Gerraany has produced the
most pious as well as the most godless philosophers and theolC-
ited to us at second hand in French ¦!. What confidence is to be reposed
in the judgment of those who undertake to proscribe the entire theolo
gical literature of Germany, as worthless and fullof peril only to the
Church, without having read perhaps a volume ofit themselves, while
they suffer the same material to be smuggled in iipon us in any ijuan-
tity from a different quartet; as profitable and wholesome in the highest
degree 1 The French theological literature, such as it is, owes nearly
all its value to the use of German helps ; and when all is done, it may
be pronounced immeasurably poor and meagre, as'coiripared with the-
tbeolog,ifial.literatnrjB of Germany itself.

1:68
gians ; those whose influence has been the most. salutary, as welt
as those who seem lo have been born only to work mischief and
death. The greatest demerit ofthe land and its highest glory, are
found here in close conjunction. So il was with Greece, where
the Sophists appear in intimate connection with a Socrates, and
along with the followers of Plato the followers of Epicurus.
One tendency is always naturally coupled with another, as its
own opposite.
This then is one desideratum, in our circumstances. A fresh,
vigorous theology, iij, which the most decided faith might appear
in union with the ijiost free and thorough scientific culture, could
not fail to advance us to a new position, and to give us a triumphr
ant advantage over infidelity and popery and semirpopery in aU
their forms.
This however of itself is not of course enough. We need also
a change in our practical Church state, an antidote to the sect
plague. What is first wanted in this direction is the conviction,
that the present distracted condition of Protestantism is contradic
tory to the idea of the Church, whose normal character necessa
rily includes catholicity and unity, as well as an earnest sacred
grief on this account. Nor have we any right lo console our
selves with the fancy of a vague spiritual unity, in the case. It
belongs to the inward always, if it have life, to manifest itself in
an outward way. The soul must form itself a body, as its appro
priate organ. Visibility lies necessarily in the conception of the
Church, which is the body of Christ ; the mark of upity conse
quently must also clothe itself in an outward, form. The unity
we are to seek must be no dead sameness indeed, but such as is
full of life, one and endlessly manifold* at the sanie time. Here
again the case requires, not that we should go back to the old,
but that we should igo forward rather wilh all that bas been won
by Protestantism, in the way of developed' subjectivity. Outward
unity does- not require one visible head, as the pope, who is called
antichrist for this very pretension. This place belongs to Christ
alone, and he needs no vicarius, since he is himself present in
his own body. In the apostolic age, and long after, the unity of
the Church was maintained, without any such human chief bishop.
Even at the end of the sixth century, Gregory the Great, it is
known, wrote tq the patriarch of Constantinople :* "Certe Petrus
Apostoloriim priraus, merabrum sanctae et universalis Ecclesiae,
Paulus, Andreas, loannes, quid aliud quam singularium sunt
plebium capita, et tamen sub uno capite omnes membra ?" And
* lib. V. epist. 18.

169
in another letter :f "Ego autem fidenter dico, quia quisquis se
universalem Sacerdotera vocal, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione
sue Antichristum praecurrit, quia superbiendo se caeteris prae-
ponit. Nee dispari superbia ad errorem ducitur, quia sicut per-
versus ille Deus videri vull super omnes homines ; ita quisquis
iste est, qui solus Sacerdos appellari appelit, super reliquos Sacer-
dotes se extoUit." Neither is a single organization absolutely
necessary, as the Puseyites dreara. The unity raust proceed
from within, from the deepest ground of the religious life itself;
and then it will provide for itself a suitable external forra. What
this will be, we are not prepared now of course to say. In any
case however, a living outward intercoramunicatlon must come to
hold among all Christian Churches, such as may furnish praetica
proof that they are not only one spirit, but one body also, that is
the body of Jesus Christ.
What cheering indications now, the guaranty of a better futui-e
in this direction, can the time be said> to bring to our view ?
There, to be sure, in England and America, is the mighty move
ment of Puseyism. With this however we can, make no coramon,
cause ; if for no other reason, yet siraply as non-episcopal Protes
tants, whom it unchurches without ceremony altogether ; on
which account too, it can never find much favor on the continent
in Europe. It has been already shown, in the way of objectioni
to the system, that it has no proper sense of the world-historical
importance of Protestantism in its origin and later development.
It leads backwards rather than forwards. Still it must be count
ed on the other hand a salutary fermentation. It has served to
bring up again, with powerful interest, the great questions ofthe
Church, Catholicity and Unity, These questions belong not ex
clusively to the Episcopal Church, and there is no reason why
they should be identified at all with the idea of Episcopacy, They
challenge the attention of the entire Christian comraunion. We
may make roora for them, and yield ourselves to their power,
without surrendering ourselves in so doing to the errors of the
false tendency with which they stand connected in the Oxford
Episcopal school. The force of them has already begun to be
felt indeed, in some measure, in other denominations. The dif
ferent sections of orthodox Protestantism have not by any means
now the same quiet confidence in their own position, as the neplus
ultra oi Church perfection, the unimprovable absolute of Chris;
tianity itself, which they had only ten or fifteen years ago. Il is-
coming to be felt that the present posture of Ihings cannot be

f, ad Maurioium Aug. lib. VII. ep. 33.
15^

170
rested in as permanent and ultimate, and along with this is wakiiJg-;
the desire for something better. Single voices are heard here.
and there, from the bosom of the Evangelical Church, calling for.
a true union araong all who belong to the household of faith, in,
spirit, soul and body, and find a lively echo in many a breast. .
It is to me a source of great satisfaction and encouragement, to
find araong these the man with whora I am called to labor as a
colleague in the same institution ; with whora altogether, not
withstanding the entirely independent and widely separate spheres,
of our previous history, God be praised, that I have been enabled,.
to my own no small surprise, so fully to sympathize, in ihe most
weighty points, from the first moment of our acquaintance.*
True, appearances are not such at present as to encourage the,
idea, that a general union will soon take place. The differences .
which prevail in doctrine, government and worship, and the ab-,
stract view too generally taken of the relation of Christianity to.
the world, stand hopelessly in the way. Rather, division threatens
to go still farther ;. as the question of slavery, to say nothing of,
other difficulties, is fastening itself with resistless force upon the
heart of the Church. Episcopal Methodism is already rent by it.
into two great sections, which are not, likely soon to be reconciled.
Other denominations, it is to be feared, will be gradually in
volved in similar division. At this, very tirae, there are strong in
dications that the great Presbyterian body, oiboth schools, will.
very soon find it necessary lo raeet the question in its whole
length and breadth ; and already the most serious apprehensions
are entertained of a new ecclesiastical rupture, on its account.
In the Protestant Episcopal Church, on other grounds, as all.
know, there is still less show of peace. The mournful scandal of
the Onderdonk trial, has brought the quarrel between the
puseyite and evangelical parties to its climax. The puseyites are
now in desperate plight, not only by reason ofthe moral wreck,
of their principal leader in the view, of the public, but still more
as they are drawn into collision with their own principles ; since
they declare the sentence of suspension which has taken place to .
* [A very long note occurs here inthe German work, containing a,
special reference to the translator's serraon on Catholic Unity, preached
at the opening of the Convention ofthe Reformed Dutch and German
Reformed Churches, Harrisburg, Aug. 8, 18-14, with a series of extracts
exhibiting its principal thoughts. For various reasons, it has been
considered best to attach the whole serraon to the present publication,
in the way of an appendix ; to which of course it is enough at this -
place to refer. The original note closes witlta notice also of the last
chapter in particular ofthe second edition ofthe "Anxious Bench," as
•i\nfolding the same general views- Tnp Transla-tor.]

1.71-
be unjust, though passed by a decided majority of their own,
bishops, those anointed and inviolable bearers of the apostolical
succession, wronging thus in heart at least the duly of canonical
obedience. The appeal of Dr. Seabury to the example of
Fenelon, {si parva licet componere magnis,) who himself.'
read in his Church, the papal bull directed against his own
person, is here of no avail. For Fenelon submitted him
self truly to. the judgment ofthe Church, acknowledged the faults
charged upon his work Explication des Maxime^s des Saintes,
forbade the reading of it in his diocese, and burned all the copies
of it he could, reach, in a court belonging lo his archiepiscopal
palace, with his own hand. This the puseyites could not easily
be brought to do in the case of their Tracts for the times ; and in
the present instance they even proclaim the suspended Onder
donk openly to be their bishop, still ; so that even that outward .
subjection to the decision of the court of bishops, for which. Dr..
Seabury takes credit to himself in his noted sermon, amounts at
last to nothing. Whether they will now go over in mass to,
Rorae, or form a Church of their own, remains lo be seen. At.
all events the raatter has gone so far, that they must either bend ,
or breakv
Still all these storras that gather, in the horizon, will but serve '
fully to purify the atmosphere. The disease must pass through
its last crisis, before it can be thoroughly cured,. The growth of
division will cause the longing after Christian union, to break .
forth at last with irrepressible force. The mighty advances of
the Romish Church, stalking forward through the motley crowd
of our sects, in proud confidence of victory, as a single man,
though in very questionable alliance with the raost rank political
demagoguism, must in the end compel the Protestants to take an
other position, in order that they may save themselves. The
conflict is waxing more earnest every day. Who would have
thought twenty years ago, that popery was ever to acquire ira
portance in the land of fi-eedom-?* Now according to the Metro- -

* [I -remember very well, that wiien the venerable Dr. Alexander,
of Princeton, less than twenty years ago, splemnly warned the students ,
under his care of the danger that was to be expected frora this quarter,
exhorting us to prepare for the conflict with Rorae as the g-reo/ contro
versy ofthe American Church, his words to most were very rauch like
eaipty wind. And yet, how prophetical they have proved to be alrea--
dy- ! What a change in fact have not the last five years only produced,
in the posture of Romanism in this country relatively to both Church
and State 1 The numerical increase of the body is no proper measure
of its. actual gain.. By. far the largest amount of progress is in the

r72
politan Catholic Almanac, for the year 1845, it embraces in the-
United States, a population of 800,000 souls ; 21 episcopal dio
ceses with one apostolical vicarship ; 675 churches, 709 priests ;
28 male, and 63 female seminaries ; 94 orphan houses and other
benevolent institutions ; a multitude of convents and religious
associations ; as Jesuits, Redemptorists, Lazarists, Augustinians,
Dominicans, Eudists, the Society of the Precious Blood, the
Brethren of St. Joseph ; also, Sisters of Charity, Carmelitesses,.
Nuns of the Visitation of Mary, Nuns of Loretto, Dominican
Nuns, Ladies ofthe Good Shepherd, Sisters of Notre Darae,
Sisters of Providence, Ursuline Nuns, Ladies of the Most Sacred
Heart, &c. There appear among us besides ten weekly and,
three monthly Roman Catholic periodicals ; to which must be
added now the Quarterly of Brownson, a man of much reading
and ready pen, whose accession to the Church has recently been,
hailed wilh no small triumph. Romanism directs its eye mainly
towards the West, well knowing that this must hereafter give
law to the whole land. " Give us the West," says one of its,
bishops, "and we will soon lake care of the East."
For the final issue of the conflict we have no fear ; since the
Lord of hosts reigns supreme. Let all human work fall lo pieces,.
that the work of God may have the more free scope. In the end,
all must advance the 'glory of his name, and the welfare ofhis
children. We will not be dismayed then al the gathering coij-
flicl. We will carry on the sacred war in word and in life, keep-

form of preparation for action, that is expected to tell with wide effect
hereafter. It is actually startling, to find in what broad, comprehensive
and far reaching style, the policy of the system is revealing itself on
all sides, and with how much quiet, unaffected confidence, it is pursu
ing a course that looks confessedly to nothing less than the spiritual
conquest of the whole land. Within a very short time, the Catholic
press has gained imraensely in point of respectability and power ; and
there is reason to believe that the literary weight of the systera will be
made to press upon us, in the course ofthe next ten years, in a way of
which few have begun, to dreara. Most assuredly the American
Church has need now, to consider well the danger that is fast gather
ing upon her in this direction. But alas, how few seem to understand
what the times require, or to be prepared for the emergency which is at
hand. How few show themselves qualified to go to the ground ofthe
controversy, and to deal with it in its principles. Here precisely is our,
greatest danger. For one who has only begun to comprehend some
thing ofthe force ofthe ideas that are involved in the conflict, and who
oan feel at all the nature ofthe historical crisis to which we have come,
it is truly alarming, to consider the style in which the championship
of Protestantism araong us is too generally conducted. — Translator.] ,

173
ing always in view the honor of God and the interest ofthe
Church ; forgetting not our own faults in our zeal against those
of others ; not wilh the rough weapons ofthe flesh in the way of
wild fanaticisra, but with the weapons of the Spirit, the sword of
God's word, the breastplate of faith, and the helmet of hope.
Let it be a war of extermination against all error and division,
but a conflict of prayer al the same tirae and love towards the
souls ofthe blinded enemies ofthe Church, to win them if possible
to eternal life. Then shall we be soldiers in the sense of Paul,
worthy followers of this spiritual hero. Then shall we too at
last be adorned with the crown of righteousness, which the glori
fied apostle has long since received from the judge, who holds
hfe and death, heaven and hell, in his almighty hand. — As raem
bers of a particular division of the Church of Christ, we must be
true to the patrimony of our fathers, conscientiously turn to pro
fit the pound entrusted to our care, and advance with free, gen-.
uine historical progress as the wants ofthe tirae may require. To-,
forsake the Church comraunion in which we have been born,.
naturally and spiritually, without urgent reason, is base perfidy.
Let us labor then loithin our own denomination and for it, as
knowing that God has given us here our own special commission
to fulfil. We will manifest, in this very way, our Church feehng
and regard for history. Only, let all be subordinated to the in
terest of the general kingdom of God, If we have any right idea
ofthe Church, as the communion of the redeemed transcending
all limits of time and space, we shall feel that we cannot extend
our view too far. We may not exclude the Romanists them
selves. Let thera go on to treat us as lost heretics ; we raust
still return good for eviU We believe confidently that even for
this Church, which once thrust out our fathers with terrible ban
frora its bosom, the Lord has still great things in store. Why
should we despair of another reformation, as impossible in the
case of its vast and powerful communion 7 This is wished and
hoped for, by many even of its own best members.* Proleslant-
* [Who can say, what vast results may not yet proceed from the
agitation, which is going forward in the German Roman Catholic
Church at this very time, in connection with the case of priest Ronge,
andthe stirring example set by the congregation at Schneidemuehl ? ¦
All accounts concur in representing the excitement to be imraense, and-
not likely soon to subside. The idea of a separation from the head
ship of Rome, with a general retention at the same tirae ofthe catholic
system, is taking hold of many minds, in every direction, with extra-.
ordinary power. Steps indeed have begun to be taken, it would seem,
towards the organization of churches on this plan in a number of the
most prominent places, Berlin, LeipSic, Breslau, Dresden, Elberfeld.,,

174
ism cannot be consummated, without Catholicism. ; not in the-
way of falling back to the past, but as coming into reconciliation
with it finally in a higher position, in which all past errors shall
be left behind whether protestant or catholic, and the truth of
both tendencies be actualized, as the power of one and the same
.life, in the full revelation of the kingdom of God. Theconsum-
raalion of both, will be at the same lime their union. Il is writ-
ten, John 10 ; 16:, "There shall be one fold and one Shepherd" —
a word that can be accomplished in its full and absolute sense,
only when all confessional antagonisms shall come lo an end.
It is an interesting and beautiful thought, (to be felt indeed only
by those who have sorae sense for the philosophy of Church his
tory,) by which the three most conspicuous apo--!tles, Peter,
Paul and John are made lo stand as the representatives in char
acter of three great stages of development, throu,!jh which the
Church is to be carried to its final consummation. We meet the
idea even among sorae of the old theologians, particularly with
the prophetic monk Joachim of Flore, in the twelfth century.*
Among the moderns H. Steffens (in his Four Norwegians,) and
H. E. ScHMiEDER, (in his Introduction to the Hoi;/ Scriptures,)
again bring it into view. Very recenth' however, it has been
&c. If only the Catholic Church in Germany might be severed from
Rome, what vast bearings the event must h-dve, at the present crisis,
on the history of Christianity ! Still, the whole movement as yet needs
to be regarded and spoken of with caution. We know too little of its
moral constitution, its secret principles and reigning spiiit. to speak of
it with much confidence. Let us hope, that we shall soon be perraitted
to look upon it, through the raedium of a proper critical review, on the
part ofthe evangelical press in Gerraany itself. It is certainly very
precipitate, to say the least, for our religious papers, on the authority
of the notoriously rationalistic correspondence cf the N. York Schnell-
post, to glorifiy John Ronge at once as a second Ilussor Luther. His
second letter furnishes painful evidence, that he stands in the element
of a widely different spirit. To say nothing ofthe air of self-reliance
which runs through the whole -article, what must we think ofthe
Christianity ofa man, who can say, "Humanity is the Church of God,.
and in it rules the Spirit ; to this Church I am sworn." t Is not this
the very cant of Rationalism itself ? The whole movement however is
deeply interesting, in this view at least, that it serves to show the force,,
with which the spirit ofthe age, even in the Church of Rome itself, is
struggling towards a new order of life. In such a case it is not strange
that much should seem dark and chaotic. But the Spirit of God, we-
may trust, is moving on the face ofthe deep. Translator.]
* Compare on him, NKi.lU)EV.'&^£irchengesckichie, Band-Y, Abth. I.*
g.291ff.

175
¦clothed wilh new poetically scientific interest by the greatest living
philosopher ; who in the evening of his days has again come
forth, like the sun fiom behind the clouds, and is now pouring
the last splendid rays ofhis genius from Berlin, oyer the philosoph
ical horizon of Germany. Schelling closes his Philosophy of
Revelaiion, promised in vain for twenty years past as the comple
ment and crown of the negative systera published in his youth,
with a section on the great periods of the Church. So far as I
can recollect from his lectures, this is the araount of his view.
The Lord chose three favorite disciples, who are to be regarded
as types al the same tirae of as many stages of development for
the Church, Peter, the apostle ofthe Father, the New Testament
Moses, or the representative ofthe principle of authority and law,
answers in his personality and form of doctrine to the first sta
dium of Church history, the period of Catholicism, flowing over in
the end lo popery itself. Paul, the apostle of the Son, the New
Testaraent Elias, the representative ofthe principle of movement,
and of the free justifying power of faith, is the type of Protestant
ism. Both stages, separately taken, are onesided and incbmpletek
The principles of authority and freedora, law and gospel, hope
and faith, must at last become united. The Roraan Catholic
Church, il is true, has like Peter denied her Lord by a threefold
gradation in the way of apostacy ; but she will one day yet go
out and weep bitterly. Then will the Lord turn towards her wilh
a look of compassion, and restore her again to confidence and
trust. This will be, al the sarae time, the epoch of the final re
conciliation of both comraunions. So united, they will forra the
ideal Church, whose type is exhibited to us in the disciple that lay
on Jesus' bosom, the apostle of the Holy Ghost, the apostle of that
love which shall never fail, the law of freedom made perfect and
complete in the gospel. To hira corresponds, under the old
economy, John the Baptist, in whose person the rigor of the law
and consolation of prophecy are united. As he immediately
preceded the first appearance of Christ, like the dawn of morning,
so also the revivification ofthe spirit of John the evangelist, in the
Church, will open the way directly for his second coming, to es
tablish the Church absolute and triumphant, in which law and
freedom shall both be perfect in one, and the results of all previous
development appear conserved as the constituent elements of a
higher and more glorious state. To this refers the mystical
sense of Christ''s word, John 21 : 22, where he speaks enigmati
cally of John's tarrying till his second coming. — Such is an out
line of this prophetical speculation of Schelling. We mean not
of course, lo endorse it as correct ; though it is certainly inge
nious and beautiful. But putting out of view all that may seera

1^6
te be simply fancy, it still turns at least upon a great and most
consoling truth as it regards the Church, to which, though in
quite different forra, the faith and hope of thousands upon thou
sands of Christians have been directed.*
May the Nineteenth Century, by a magnificent Union, con
summate the ever memorable Reformation of the sixteenth ! May
the New World, enwombing the life spirit of almost every nation
ofthe Old, prove the birth soil of this new era for the Church !
As the distractions of Protestantism have been raost painfully ex
perienced here, so here also may the glorious work of bringing
all the scattered merabers of Christ's body into true catholic union
be carried forward with the greatest zeal and soonest crowned
with the great festival of reconciliation, transmitting its blessings,
in grateful love, to the world we honor and love as our general
fatherland.

* The reader is referred to substantially the same thought, presented
by the celebrated Church historian, Neander, at the close of the third
'edition ofhis History ofthe Planting ofthe Christian Churchb

^77

GENERAl SUMMARY.
The following Theses have been added by the author, not for tht)
purpose of presenting any new matter, but simply to furnish a clear
"synopsis of the leading thoughts exhibited in the treatise itself. Of
course, to be fully understood, each proposition must be examined ih
the light of the connections in which it comes forward in the general
work. If any should chose to disregard this admonition, and undertake
to hold up single propositions to reproach, according to the sound
simply which they may carry to the ear of popular prejudice, in their
separate form, it will be quite easy to fix upon the author the charge of
heresy, in the most opposite directions. This low polemic trick can be
practised here, without even the small amount of cleverness it calls for
in ordinary cases. The author has himself furnished to its hand, in
these Theses, all the opportunity it could wish, to do hira wrong in this
way. Can the trick itself however, in such circumstances, cease to be
either dishonorable or immoral ? Translator.

THESES FOR THE TIME.
Introduction.
1. Every period of the Chui:ch and of Theology has its partid-
'nlar problem to solve ; and every doctrine, in a measure every
book also ofthe bible, has its classic age, in which it first comes
to be fully understood and appropriated by the consciousness of
the Christian world.
' 2. The main question of Owr time, is concerning the nature of
the Church itself, in its relation to the world and to single Chris
tians.
I. The Church in general.
3. The Church is the body of Jesus Christ. This expresses her
communion with her Head, and also the relation of her merabers
to One another.
4. In the first respect, she is an institution founded by Christ,
proceeding from his loins and animated by his spirit, for the glory
of God and the salvatitfQ of man ; through which alone, as its
necessary organ, the revelation of God in Christ becomes effec
tive in the history of the world. Hence out of the Church, as
¦there is no Christianity, there can be no salvation.
16

178
5. In the second respect, she is, like every other body, a living
unity of different merabers ; a communion in faith and love, visi
ble as well as invisible, external as well as internal, of the most
manifold individualities, gifts and powers, pervaded with the
samC: spirit and serving the same end.
6. The definition implies farther, that as the life of Ihe parents
flows forward in the child, so the Church also is the depository
and continuation of the earthly human life ofthe Redeemer, in
his threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King.
7. Hence she possesses, like her Founder, a divine and human,
an ideal and real, a heavenly and an earthly nature ; only with
this difference, that in her militant stage, freedom from sin and
error cannot be predicated of her in the same sense as of Christ ;
that is, she possesses the principle of holiness and the full truth,
mixed however still with sin and error.
8. To the Church belong, in the wider sense, all baptized per
sons, even though they raay have fallen back lo the world ; in
the narrower sense however, such only as believe in Jesus Christ.
9. The relation of the Church lo the world, wilh its different
spheres, of science, art, governraent, and social life, is neither one
of destruction on her part nor one of indifference ; but the object
of it is, that she should transfuse the world with the purifying
power of her own divine life, and thus bring it al last to its true
and proper perfection.
10. The ultimate scope of history accordingly is this, that
Christianity may become completely the same 'with nature, and
the world be forraally organised as the kingdom of Christ ; which
must involve the absolute identity of Church and State, Theology
and Philosophy, Worship and Art, Religion and Morality ; the
state ofthe renovated earlh, in which God will be All in all.
11. In relation to single Christians, the Church is the Mother
from which they derive their religious life, and to which they owe
therefore constant fidelity, gratitude and obedience; she is the
power of the objective and general, to which the subjective and
single should ever be subordinate.
12. Only in such regular and rational subordination can the
individual Christian be truly free ; and his personal piety can as
little come to perfection apart from an inward and outward com
munion witb the life ofthe Church, as a limb separated from the
body, or a branch lorn from the vine.

17ft
13. Christianity in itself is the absolute religiou, and jn this
view unsusceptible of improvement.
14. We must not confound with this however, the apprehen
sion and appropriation of Christianity in the consciousness of
mankind. This is a progressive process of development, that
will reach its close only with the second coming ofthe Lord.
15. All hi^torical progress then, in the case ofthe Church,
consists, not in going beyond Christianity itself, which could
only be lo fall back to Heathenism and Judaism, but in entering
always more and more, (materially as well as formally,) into the
life and doctrine of the Redeemer, and in throwing off by this
means, always more and more, the elements of sin and error
still remaining from the state of nature,
16. It is possible for tbe Church to be in possession ofa truth,
and to live upon it, before it has come to be discerned in her con
sciousness. So it was, for instance, with the doctrine ofthe
trinity before the time of Athanasius, with the doctrine of divine
grace and human freedom before Augustine, and with the evan
gelical doctrine of Justification during the Middle Ages. Thus
the child eats and drinks, long before it has the knowledge of
food, and walks before it is. aware of the fact,, rauch less how it
walks. 17. Tbe idea^ unfolded in comprehensive and profound style
fariicularly by the later German Philosophy, that history in--
solves a continual progress towards something belter, by means
of dialectic contrapositions, {Gegensaetxe), is substantially true-
and correct,
18, It must not be forgotten however, in connection with this,
that there is Bj corresponding movement also on the part of evil,
towards that whicl^ is worse. Light and darkness, the wheat ,
and the tares, grow together till their development shall become
complete.' 19. We must distinguish in the Church accordingly between-
idea and manifestation. As to her idea, or as comprehended in
Christ, she is already complete ; in the way of manifestation how
ever, she passes, like every one of her merabers, outwardly and
inwardly, through different stages of life, until the ideal inclosed,
in Christ shall be fully actualized in humanity, and his body ap
pear thus in the ripeness of complete manhood.
20. Such a process of growth is attended necessarily wilh cer
tain diseases and crises, as well theoretical, in the form of hexe--
ties^a^. practical, in tbe form of schisms.

180
21, These diseases are to be referred partly to the remaining.
force of sin and error in the regenerate themselves, and partly
lolhe unavoidable connection of the Church with the still un
christian world, by means of which, the, corrupt elements of this,
last are always forcing their way into her communion,
22. They can never overthrow however the existence ofthe
Church. The Church may fall down, sore wounded, divided and
torn, without ceasing for this reason tobe the body of Christ.
Through, her humiliation gleams evermore the un wasting glory of
her divine nature.
23. In the wise providence of God, all heresies and schisms
serve only lo bring th.e Church to a more clear consciousness ot
her true vocation, a deeper apprehension of her faith, and a purer
reyelatiop ofthe power included in her life.
24. But the presence of disease in the body requires to the same
extenta remedial or curative process, that is a reformation.
25, Protestantism consequently, in the true sense, belongs in
dispensably to. the life ofthe Church ; being the reaction simply
other proper vitality, depressed but not destroyed, in opposition.
t,o the workings of disease in her system.
II. The. Refokmation. .
26. Protestantism runs through the entire history of tte Church,
and will not cease till she is purged -completely from all ungodly
elements. So, for instance, Paul protested against Jewish legal-.
ism ai)d Paean licentiousness as found insidiously at work in the
first Christian communities, the Catholic Church ofthe first cen-.
turies agaipsl the heresies and sch-isms of Ebionitism, Gnosticism^.
Montanism, Arianism, Pelagianism, Donatism, &c.
27. The raost grand and widely influential exhibition of Protes
tantism, is presented to us, under the forraal constitution ofa spe
cial Church, in the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, as orig
inated, and in its raost deep, inward, and truly apostolic form,,
carried out and consurnmated by the German nation.
28. It is a jejune and narrow conception of this event, to look
upon it as a restoration simply of the original state of the Church,
or a renewal of Augustinism agaiqst the PeJagian system^ by
which it had been supplanted.,
29. Such a view proceeds on the fundamentally erroneous sup-
positiop, that the religious life revealed in the person of Christ

WI
iwrimarily,, and by derivation frora him in his apostles, has been
fully actualized also from the beginning in the general mass of
the Church,
30, Rather, the Reforraatlon must be viewed as an actual ad-^
vance of the religious life and consciousness of the Church, by
nneans of a deeper apprehension of God's word, beyond all pre
vious attainments of Christendom.
31, As little is the Reformation to be regarded as a revolution
ary separation from the Catholic Church, holding connection at
best perhaps wilh some fractionary sect of the Middle Ages, and
only through this and the lielp of certain desperate historical
leaps besides, reaching back lolhe age ofthe apostles.
32. This contracted view of Protestantism is not only unhisto
rical and unchurchly altogether, but conscious or unconscious
treason at the same time to the Lord's promise that he would
build his Church upon a rock, and that the gales of Hell should
not prevail against it,, as well as to his engagement, "Lo I am-
with you always even to the end of the world," and the apostolic
word, "The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth."
33. Rather, the Reformation is the greatest act ofthe Catholic «
Church itself, the full ripe- fruit of all its better tendencies, particu
larly of the deep spiritual law conflicts of the Middle Period, '
which were as a schoolraaster towards the protestant doctrine of
j.ustification. 34. The separation was produced, not by the will of the Re- f
formers, but by the stiff-necked papacy ,^which like Judaisra at the
time of Christ, identifying itself in a fleshly way with the idea of ¦
the absolute Church, refused to admit the onward movement.
35. Thus apprehended, Protestantisra has as large an interest '
in the vast historical treasures of the previous period, as can be -
claimed rightfully by the Church of Rorae. Hence the argu
ments drawn by Romanists from. this quarter, and particularly
from the Middle Ages, the proper cradle of the Reformation, have
no application against our standpoint.
36. Equally false finally is the view, whetherpopular or philoso- )
phical, by which the Reformation is raade to consist in the abso
lute emancipation ofthe Christian life subjectively considered from
all Church authority, and the exaltation of private judgraent to
the papal throne..
37, This view, confounds with the Reformation- itself the fouli
1.6*

i82
excrescences that revealedi themselves along with it in the be
ginning, and, the onesided character of its development since,
38, On the contrary, it is quite clear from history that the Re
formers aimed lonly at such liberty of faith. and conscience and:
such independence of private judgment, as should involve a huna-
ble subjection ofthe natural will, which they held to be incapable -
of all good, lo God's grace, and of the human reason to God's
word. Indeed .their opposition to the Roman traditions was itself
based on the conviction, that they were the, product of.such.reason.
sundered from the divine word, . '
39, The material, or life principle of Pfotestaatism, is the doc
trine of justification by grace alone, through the- raerits of Jesus
Christ, by means of living faith ; that is the personal appropria
tion of Christ in the totality of the inner man..
40, This does not overthrow, good, works,;- rather, they are
rightly called for .and made possible only in this way ; with de
pendence however on faith, as being its necessary fruit, the sub>-
jective impression of the life of Christ, in opposition to Pelagian
ism, which places works parallel witb faith, or above it even,
41. The formal or knowledge principle of Protestantisra, is the
sufficiency and unerring certainty of the holy scriptures, as the
only norm of all saving knowledge,
42. This does not overthrow the idea of Church tradition ; but
simply makes it dependent on the written word, as the stream is
upon the fountain — the necessary, ever deepening onward flow of
the sense of scripture itself, as it is carried forward in the con
sciousness of the Christian worid ; contrary to the Romish dog
ma, by which tradition, as the bearer of different contents altogeth-
er, is made co-ordinate with the bible or even exalted above it.
43i These two principles, rightly apprehended, are only differ
ent mutually supplementary sides of one and the same principle,
and their living interpenetration forms the criterion of orthodox
protestantisra. 44. Opposition ' to the Roman Catholic extreme, according to
the general law of historical progress, led the Reformers to place
the strongest emphasis on justification and faith, scripture and
preaching ; whence the possibility of a onesided developraent, in
vvhich holiness and love, tradition and sacrament, raight not be
aUowed to come to their full rights.
45. Respect, for the Reformation as. a divine work in noway

rss
forbids the admission, that it included some mixture of error and! '
sin ; as where God builds a Church, the Devil erects a chapel by-
its side,.
46. fn any view moreover the Reformation mustbe regarded:- i
as still incomplete, Il needs yet its concluding act, to unite what I
has fallen asunder, to bring the subjective to a reconciliation with-
the objective,
47* Puritanisni may be considered a sort of second reforma
tion, called ¦ forth by the reappearance of Romanizing elements in
the Anglican Church, and as such forms the basis to a great ex^-
lent of Araerican, Prptes.tantism, particularly in New England.,.
4&. Its highest- recommendation, bearing clearly a divine sig-; j
nature, is presented in its deep practical earnestness as it regards \
religion, and , its zeal for personal piety' ; by which it has been .
more successful perhaps than any other section of the Church,.
for a tinie, in the work of saving individual souls..
49.. On, the other hand,, it falls. far behind the German Refor
mation .by its revolutionary, unhistorical, and consequently un
churchly character, and carries ,in iteelf no protection whatever,
against an indefinite subdivision of the Church into separate
atomistic sects. For having no conception at all of a historical
developraent of Christianity, and wilh its negative attitude of blind
irrational zeal towards the past in its own rear, it may be said to
have armed its children with the same right, and the same ten
dency, too, to treat its own authority with equal independence and .
conterapt. in. The Present state. of the.Chuechi
50. Protestantism has formed the starting point and centre of
almost all important -world movements in the history of the last
three centuries, and constitutes now also the raain interest ofthe
time. ,
51. The history of Protestantisra, in the spheres of religion,
science, art and government, especially since the commencement
of the 18tli century, may be regarded as the development ofthe
principle of subjectivity, the consciousness oi freedom.
52. In this developraent however, it- has gradually become es
tranged toa great extent frora-itsown original nature, and fallen-
over dialectically into its opposite, according to the general course
of history.

184
53. Its grand maladies at this tirae are Rationalism and Sic^
tarism, 54. Rationalism is onesided theoretic religious subjectivism,
and its fullest and raost perfect exhibition, has taken, place accord
ingly in Germany, the land of theory and science, and in the bo
som ofthe Lutheran Church.
55. Sectarism is onesided practical religious subjectivism, andi
has found its classic ground, within the territory of the Reformedi
Church, in the predorainanlly practical countries, England: and.
America. 56, These two maladies of Protestantisra stand in a relation to
it, similar to that of the papacy to Catholicism in the Middle
Ages ; that is, they have a conditional historical necessity, and
an outward connection with, the system to which they adhere, but
contradict nevertheless and caricature its inmost nature,.
57, The secular interests,, science, art,.government, and social
life, have become since the Reformation always more and' more
dissociated from the Church, in whose service they stood though
with unfree subjugation in the Middle Ages, and in this separate
form are advanced to a high slate of perfection,
58, This is a false position ; since the idea of the kingdom -of
! God requires that all divinely constituted, forras and spheres of
life should be brought to serve Him, in the raost intimate alliance
, with religion, that God raay be All in all,
59, The orthodox Protestantism of our day, with all its different
character in other respects, is distinguished in common wilh Ra
tionalism and Sectarism, particularly in this country, by the
quality of onesided subjectivity ; only with the advantage of
course of a large araount of personal piety.
60, Its great defect is the want of an adequate conception of
the nature of the Church, and of its relation to the individual
Christian on the one hand; and the general life of man on the
other,, 61. Hence proceeds, first, indifference towards sectarian, or at
least denominational divisions, which are at war with the idea of
the Church, as the body of Christ,.
62. Secondly, a want of respect for history, by which it is af
fected to fall back immediately and wholly upon the scriptures,.
without regard to the development of their contents inthe life of
the Church, as.it has stoodfromithe beginning.

185
63. Thirdly, an undervaluation of the sacraments, as objective
institutions of the Lord, independent of individual views and
states, 64. Fourthly, a disproportionate esteem for the service of
preaching, with a corresponding sacrifice in the case of the litur--
gy, the standing objective part of divine worship, in which the
whole congregation is called to pour forth its religious life to God.
65. Fifthly, a circumscribed conception of the all pervading
leaven-like nature of the gospel, involving an abstract sepa-
ralioo of religion from the divinely established order ofthe world,
in, other spheres.
66. To this must be added in the case of a number of denomi
nations the fancy of their own perfection, an idea that their partic
ular traditional style of religion can never be improved into any
thing better ; which is a rejection of the protestant principle of
mobility and progress, and a virtual relapse accordingly into the
ground error of tbe Romish Church,
67. From all this it is clear, that the standpoint, and wilh it the
wants of our time, are wholly different from those ofthe sixteenth-
century.. 68. Our most immediate and most threatening danger is not
now from the Church of Rome, but from the in part heterodox
and antichristian, in part orthodox and pious, but always
onesided and false subjectivism, by which the rights of the Church
are wronged in our own midst ; which however must itself be con-.
sidered again as indirectly the most alarming aspect of the danger
that does in fact threaten us on the side of j^prne ;, since pqe ex
treme serves always to facilitate the triurnph of another,
6a. The red.eemjng tendency of the age therefore is not such,
asjooks directly tpthe ecnancipation.of the individual and subjec
tive from the bonds of authority,. as at the time ofthe Reforma-.
tion, but it is that rather which regards the claims ofthe objective
in-thejrue idea ofthe Church.
70. Nx)t until Protestantism shall have repented of its own,
feults, and healed its own wounds, raay it expect lo prevail finally
over the Church of Rome.
71. As this duly has been thus far in a great measure neglect
ed, it is to be taken as a divine judgment in the case, that Popery
has been enabled to make such formidable advances latterly, es-.
pecifilly in England and the United States..

186
72, Puseyism, (with which of course we must not confound the
spurious afterbirth of fantastic, hollow hearted affectation, always
to be expected in such a case,) raay be considered in its original
intention and best tendency a well meant, but insufficient and un
successful attempt, to correct the ultra subjectivity of Protes
tantism, 73, In this view we have reason to rejoice in its appearance, as
indicating on the part ofthe protestant world a waking conscious
ness of the malady under which it labors in this direction, and
serving also to promote right Church feeling,
74. By its reverence for Church antiquity it exerts a salutary
influence a,gainst what raay be viewed as the reigning error of our
time, a wild revolutionary zeal for liberty, coupled with a profane
scorn of all that is holy in the experience ofthe past.
75. So also its stress laid upon forms exhibits a wholesome
reaction against the irrational hyper-spiritualism, so common
among even the best protestants ; which the doctrine ofthe resur
rection alone, as taught in the bible, is enough to prove fallacious.
76. Church forms serve two general purposes ; first, they are
forthe lower stages of religious development conductors over into
the life ofthe spirit ; secondly, they are for the Church at large
the necfessary utterance or corporealization ofthe spirit, in the
view in which Oetinger's remark holds good, "Corporeity is the
scope of God's ways,"
77. All turns simply on this, that the form be answerable to
the contents, and be actuated by the spirit. A formless spiiilual-
ism,is no whit belter than a spiritless formalism. The only right
condition is a sound spirit within a sound body.
78, The grand defect of Puseyism, on Ihe other hand, is its.
unprotestant character, in not recognising the importance ofthe
Reformation, and the idea of progress in the life ofthe Church
since. 79. Il is for this reason only half historical and half catholic ;;
since its sympathy and respect for the past life ofthe Church stop.
short with the Sixteenth Century.
80. Its vieiiv!, ofthe Church altogether is outward and meohani-.
cal, excluding the conception ofa living developraent through the
successive periods of its history.
81. This character appears particularly in its theory of episco
pal succession; which is only a new forra ofthe old pharisaie

i87
JiJdaism, and moreover makes the apostolicity of the Church de
pendent on a historical inquiry, (in the case of which besides no
ahsolute certainty is possible,) resting it thus on a wholly preca
rious human foundation.
82. Puseyism is to be viewed then as nothing more than a
simple reaction, which has served to bring to light the evils of ultra
pseudo-protestant individualism, but offers no remedy for it save
the perilous alternative of falling back lo a standpoint, already
surmounted in the way of religious progress.
83. The true standpoint, all necessary for the wants ofthe
time, is that oi Protestant Catholicism, or genuine historical pro-
gress. 84. This holds equally remote from unchurchly subjectivity
and all Romanising churchism, thoughit acknowledges and seeks
to unite in itself the truth which lies at the ground of both these
extremes, 85. Occupying this conservative historical standpoint, from
which the moving of God's Spirit is discerned in all periods ofthe
Church, we may not in the first place surrender anything essen
tial ofthe positive acquisition secured by the Reformation, wheth
er Lutheran or Reformed.
86, Neither may we again absolutely negate the later develop*
ment of Protestantism, not even Rationalism and Sectarism them
selves, but must appropriate lo ourselves rather the element of
truth they contain, rejecting only the vast alloy of error from
which it is to be extracted.
87. Rationalism and Sectarism possess historical right, so far
as the principle of subjectivity, individuality, singleness and inde
pendence, can be said lo be possessed of right ; that is, so far as
this coraes not in contradiction to the principle of objectivity,
generality, the Church, authority and law, so far then as it con
tinues subordinate to these forces.
88. Rationalisra was a necessary schoolraaster for the ortho
dox theology, destroying its groundless prejudices, and compell
ing il both to accept a more scientific form in general, and also in
particular to allow the human, the earthly, the historical, in the
lh,eanlhropic nature of Christ and the Church, to come more fully
to its rights.
89. Whilst however the earlier historico-crilical Rationalism
has promoted a right understanding of the natural and historical
in Christianity, this understanding in its case remains still but
half true, since it has no organ for ideas, the inward life of
which history after all is but the body.

188
90. The later speculative Rationalisra, or pantheistic My tholo-
gism, or the Hegelingians as they have been deiidingly styled,
(Dr. Strauss and his colleagues,) which from the fibionilic stand
point ofthe old systera has swung over to the opposite extreme of
docetic Gnostic idealism, fails to apprehend the idea ofChristiani-
ty in its full truth and vitality, and Substhutes for it a phantom or
mere shadow, since it has no organ for historical realitv, thfe
outward life without which after all the idea must perish.
91. As in the first centuries the theology ofthe Catholic Church
gradually developed itself, through scientific struggles with the
two ground heresies, Ebionism or christianizing Judaism, and
Gnosticism or christianizing Heathenism, so now also we are to
look for a higher Orthodoxy, overmastering inwardly both forms
of Protestant Rationalism, which shall bring the real and the
ideal into the most intimate union, and recognize in full as well
the eternal spirit of Christianity as its historical body.
92. The germs of all this are al hand in the later movements
and achievments of the believing German theology, and need
only a farther development to issue at last in a full dogmatical re
formation. 93. Separation, where it is characterized by reh'gious life,
springs almost always from some real evil in llie state of the
Church, and hence Sectarism is to be regarded as a necessary
disciplinarian and reformer ofthe Church in its practical life.
94. Almost every sect represents in strong relief some single
particular aspect ofpiety, and contributes to the more full evolu
tion of individual religious activity.
95. Since however the truths of the gospel form an insepara
ble unify, and the single member can become complete only along
with the whole body of which it is a part, it follows that no sect
can ever do justice fully even lo the single interest lo which itis
onesidedly devoted,
96, Sects then owe it to themselves, as soon as they have ful
filled their historical vocation, to fall back again to the general
Church communion frora which they have seceded, as in no other
way can their spiritual acquisitions be either completed or secured,
and they must theraselves otherwise stiffen into monumental pet
rifactions, never lo be revisited whh the warra life pulse of the
one universal Church,
97, It is a cheering sign of the time, Ihat in the most different
Protestant lands, and particularly in the bosom of the Reformed
Church, in which religious individualism both in the good and in
the bad sense has been most fully developed, it is coming to be

189
felt more and more that the existing divisions ofthe Church are
wrong, and with this is waking raore and raore an earnest longing
after a true union of .all believers, in no communication whatever
with the errors either of Oxford or Rome,
98, Finally, also the liberation of the secular spheres oflife
from the Church since the Reformation, though not the ultimate
normal order, forms notwithstanding as compared with the pre
vious vassalage of the world to a despotic hierarchy, an advance
in the naturalization process of Christianity,
99. The luxuriant separate growth of these interests, as unfold
ed in the Protestant States, Sciences, Arts, and Social Culture,
lays the Church under obligation to appropriate these advances
to herself, and impress upon thera a religious character,
100. The signs ofthe time then, and tbe teachings of history,
point us not backwards, but forwards to a -new era ofthe Church,
that raay be expected lo evolve itself gradually from the present
process of fermentation, enriched wilh the entire positive gain of
Protestantism. 101. As the moveraent of history in the Church is like that of
the sun from East to West, il is possible that America, into whose
broad majestic bosom the most various eleraents of character and
education are poured from the old world, may prove the, theatre
of this unilive 'reformation.
102. Thus far, if we put out of view the rise of a few insignif
icant sects, and the separation of Church and Stale, which lo be
sure has very momentous bearings, American Church history has
produced nothing original, no new fact in the history of the
Church as a whole.
103. No where else however is there at present the same
favorable room for farther development, since in no country of the
old world does the Church enjoy such entire freedom, or the same
power to renovate itself frora within according to its own
pleasure. 104. The historical progress of the Church is always condi- 1
tioned by the national eleraents, which forra its physical basis.
105. The two leading nationalities, which are continually
coming into contact in this country, and flowing into one another
wilh reciprocal action, are the English and the German.
106. Tbe farther advancement of the American Church, con
sequently, must proceed mainly from a special combination of
17

190
Gerraan depth and Gemuethlichkeit, with the force of character,
and active practical talent, for which the English are distinguished.
107. It would be a rich offering then to the service of this ap.
preaching reforraation, on the part of the Gerraan Churches in
America, lo transplant hither in proper raeasure the rich wealth of
the better German theology, improving it into such form as our
peculiar relations might require.
108. This their proper vocation however they have thus far
almost entirely overlooked, seeking their salvation for the most
part in a characterless surrendry of their own nationality.
109. In view of the particular constitution of a large part of
the German emigration, this subjection lo the power of a foreign
life raay be regarded indeed as salutary.
110. But the time has now come, when our Churches should
again rise out of the ashes of the old German Adam, enriched and
refined with the advantages ofthe English nationality.
111. What we most need now, is theoretically, a thorough, in-;
telleclual theology, scientifically free as well as decidedly believ
ing, together with a genuine sense for history ; and practically, a
determination to hold fast the patrimony of our fathers, and to go
forward joyfully al the same lime in the way in which God's
Spirit by providential signs may lead, wilh a proper humble sub
ordination of all we do for our own denomination to the general
interest of the One Universal Church.
112. The ultimate, sure scope of the Church, towards which
the inmost wish and most earnest prayer of all her true friends
continually tend, is that perfect and glorious unity the desire of
which raay be said to constitute the burden of our Lord's last,
memorable, intercessory Prayer.

191

APPENDIX.
The following sermon is added to the translation of Professor
Schaf's work at the request ofthe author himself, in place ofthe
very long extract frora il in the Gerraan edition of which notice is
taken in a note on page 170 ; and in corapliance at the same lime
with a desire of the same sort expressed by others. There is a
sufficient affinity between Ihe two publications in their general
spirit and scope, to justify their being connected in this way.
An additional reason for publishing the sermon is found in the
fact, that sorae doubt has been raised latterly with regard to its
theological soundness ; whilst at the same tirae copies of it have
becorae hard to find, published as it was originally only in news
paper form. Some who gave but little heed to it when it appeared
in this way, have come lo take more interest in it since. In these
circumstances, it seems proper to republish it, that il may be tried
on its own merits. The sermon derives some importance, both
from its subject and its occasion. Of all themes, the most rao
mentous at this lime is the true idea ofthe Church. A false ten
dency prevails on this subject in a large .section ofthe Protestant
world, to which the views presented in the sermon are directly
opposed. In this view, its approval by so respectable a body as
the Triennial Convention at Harrisburg, is entitled to attention.
This approval too was in no respect ambiguous or uncertain ; as
along with the public vote of the Convention recoraraending its
publication in the Weekly Messenger and Christian Intelligencer,
the most decided expressions of satisfaction with it were given in.

192'
a more private way. Il was gratifying fo receive from the lead
ing brethren of the Dutch Church in particular explicit testimo
nies in its favor, as a seasonable vindication of important truth in
opposition to those loose views ofthe Church which have become
so common. No change is made in the sermon as originally
written ; only, as a support to sorae of its positions, a few notes
are added, serving raainly to show the ground occupied by Calvin
and the Reformed Church generally in the Sixteenth Century.

CATHOLIC UNITY;
A sermon delivered at the opening of the Triennial Convention
of the Reformed Protestant Dutch and German Reformed
Churches, at Harrisburg, Pa., August 8th, 1844.
BY REV. JOHN W. NEVIN, D. D.
Eph. IV. 4 — 6. — There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are-
called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through aU, and in you all..
This is the image of the Church, as delineated by the hand of
an inspired Apostle. In the whole world, we find nothing so re
splendently beautifiil and glorious, under any other form. The
picture is intended lo enforce the great duty of charity and peace,
araong those who bear the Christian narae. In the preceding
part ofthe epistle, Christ is exhibited as the end of all separation
and strife to them that believe, and the author of a new spiritual
creation, in which all former distinctions were to be regarded as
swallowed up and abolished forever. Reference is had in this
representation primarily to the old division of Jew and Gentile ;
but in- its true spirit and sense, it is plainly as comprehensive as
huraanity itself, and looks therefore directly to every other dis
tinction of the sarae sort, that ever has been orever shall be
known in the world. Christianity is the universal solvent, in
which all opposites are required lo give up their previous afiinilies,
no matter how old and stubborn, and flow together in a new com
bination, pervaded with harmony only and light at every point.
"In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth, anything, nor un-
circuracision, but a new creature." "Those who were far off, are
made nigh by his blood." "He is our peace, who hath made
both one, and hathi broken. down the middle wall of partition be
tween us; making in himself of twain one new man," In him,
all spiritual antagonism araong men is subverted. The human
world is reconciled 'fii:sl with God, and then wilhitself, by entering
with living consciousness into the ground of its own life as revealed
in his person* Such is the idea of Ihe Church, which is " the-
body of Christ, the fulness of Hira that filleth all in all," Andi
now at length, passing from -doctrine to practice,, the Apostle calls.
LT*

t94
upon those lo whom he wrote to surrender themselves fully to the
clairas of this exalted constitution, "I therefore, the prisoner of,_
the Lord beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation where--
with ye are called. With.all lowliness and' meekness, with long-.
suffering, forbearing one another in love ; endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Such a temper, and
such a life, are necessarily included in the very conception ofthe
Church, as here described, "There is one body and one Spirit,
even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one
faith, one baptisra ; one God and Father of all, who is above all,.
and through all, and in you all." He does not say. Let there be
one body and one Spirit; as simply urging Christians to seek
such agreement among themselves as might justify this view of
their state ; but the fact is assuraed as already in existence, and is.
made the ground accordingly ofthe exhortation tbat goes before.
There is one body and Spirit, and therefore are ye bound to keep
the unity of the' Spirit in the bond of peace. The unity of the
Church is not something which results first from the thought and
purpose of the vast membership, of which it is composed ; but on
the contrary, it is the ground out of which this niembership itself
springs, and in which perpetually it stands, and irom, which it
must derive evermore all its harmony, and stability, and activity,
and strength.
Frora the beginning, this great truth has dwelt deep in the con
sciousness of the Christian world. Through all ages, and in all
lands,thal consciousness has been uttering itself as wilh one mouth,
in the article of the creed, Ibelieve inthe Holy Catholic Church.
The Church is one and universal; Her unity is essential to her
existence. Particular Christians, and particular congregations,
and_particular religious denominations, can be true to theraselves,
only as they stand' in the full, free sense of this thought, and
make it the object of their calling to fulfil its requisitions. The
manifold is required to feel itself one. All particularism here
mustbe false, that seeks to maintain itself as such, in proportion
exactly as it is found in conflict wilh the general and- universal;
as embraced in the true idea of tbe body of Christ. .
I propose to consider, in the fuilher prosecution ofthe Subject
at this time, first, the Nature and Constitution ofthe Holy Catho
lic Church, in the view now stated ; and secondly, the Duty of
Christians as it regards the unity, by which it is declared to be
thus, Catholic, and holy,, and true..

195
I: We are to consider the Nature of Catholic Unitv, a«c
comprehended constitutionally in the idea of the Chris- -
tian Church,.
Unity does not exclude the idea of difference and multiplicity. .
Indeed it is only by raeans of these, that it can ever appear under
an actual, concrete forra. Where the one does not carry in itself
the possibihty of separation and distinction, it- can never be raore
than a sheer abstraction, an absolnte nullity. The idea of one
ness, however, does require, that the different and the manifold as
comprehended in it, should be in principle the same, and that all
should be held together by the force of this principle actively felt
crt every point. Such is the unity ofthe Cbristian Church, It is
composed ofa vast number of individual raerabers ; but these are-
all actuated by the power ofa common life, and the whole of this
life gathers itself up ultimately or fundamentally in the person of
Jesus Christ, He is the principle or root ofthe Church ; and the
Church through all ages, is one, simply because it stands, in the
presence and power of this root, universally and forever.*
Every Christian,,.as such, is the subject of a new spiritual life,.
that did not, belong to him in his natural slate. This is in no
sense from himself ; for that which is born of the flesh, is flesh,
and cannot be cultivated into any higher character. Only that
which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. The Christian has his life
from Christ. He is not only placed in a new relation to the law,.
by the imputation of the Savior's righteousness lo hira in an out
ward forensic way ; but a new nature is imparted lo him also, by
an actual communication of the Savior's life over into his person.
In his regeneration, he is inwardly united lo Christ, by the power
ofthe Holy Ghost, and thus brought within the sphere of that
"lawoflhe spirit of fife," by whioh in tbe end the "law of sin and
death" is overpowered and destroyed in all them that believe. A
divine .seed is implanted in hira, the germ of a new existence,
which is destined gradually to grow and gather strength, till the
whole man shall be at.last fully transformed into its iraage. The
new nature thus introduced, is the nature of Christ, and il con
tinues to be his nature through the whole course of its develop.
ment, onward to the last day. The believer has indeed a sepa
rate individual existence ; but this existence has its ground in the
life of Christ, just as in any other case the individual begins at
first and stands always afterwards,, in the force of the generic
* Incorporari enim (ut ita loquar) nos Christo oportet primum, ut-,
inter nos uniamur.. Calvin, on 1 Gor. X. 16-..

196
nature to which it belongs. His sanctification doe? not consis,t in
his being engaged simply to copy the excellencies of Christ, as a
man might admire and copy the character of a Moses or a Paul ;
but it consists in this, that the very life of the Lord Jesus is found
reaching over into his person, and gradually transfusing it with,
its own heavenly force. The old nature is not at once destroyed ;
but the new nature of Christ is inclosed in it, as the papilio in the
folds of the chrysalis, and in due time this last must triumph over
the first entirely, leaving it behind as an empty sepulchre in the
final resurrection. Thus emphatically, Christ and the believer
are one. Because I live, we hear him say, ye shall live also. He
that is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit.
This raystical union, as it is sometimes terraed, is rauch more .
strict, there is reason to believe, than is commonly imaginedi-
There is none on earth raore intiraate and inward. It is real and
close as the union, which binds the branches to the trunk ofthe
vine. It forms such a bond, as holds between the members and
the head ofthe same natural body, "Except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of Man," Christ himself has said, "and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed-, and my blood is drink indeed. He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in rae, and
I in him. As the livirig Father hath sent rae, and I live by the
Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." This is
indeed figurative language; but if it have any meaning at all, it
teaches that the union of the believer with Christ is not simply
moral, the harmony of purpose, thought and feeling, but substanr
tial and real, involving oneness of nature. "We are raembers of
his body, ofhis flesh, and of his bones."*
* The passage, Eph. V. 30, with its whole connection, is very won
derful. Rationalizing commentators of course endeavor, to turn it into
mere sound or figure ;. with violence however to the entire spirit ofthe
text as vrell' as its letter., Calvin is clear upon it, and strong. The
language, he tells us is not hyperbolical, but simple. Nor does it refer
to Christ's genera! participation of the human nature, but to something
more emphatic in his relation to his people. As Eve was formed from
tlie side of Adam, and was thus a part of himself, so we are made
membersof Christ by, coalescing-into one body with him through a par--
ticipation ofhis substance. The power of this truth is exhibited to us
in the Lord's Supper, which the apostle has here in his mind. "Totum
autem ex eo pendet, quod uxor ex came et ex ossibus viri
formataest; eadem ergo unionis internes et Christum ratio, quod.se
quodammodo in noatransfundit. N«qiie enim ossa sumus ex,ossihus-
ejiis et-caro ex came, quia ipse- nobiscam.est homo ; sedquia Spiritus
sui virtute nos- in corpus suum. inserit, ut vitam ex eo hauria-.
mus."'

197
This may sound mystical ; but after all it is no more difficult
lo coraprehend than the fact of our union lo the same extent with
the person ofthe first Adam. As descended from him by natural
generation, weare not only like hira in outward form and inward
spirit, but we participate truly and properly in his very nature.
We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. His
humanity, soul and body, has passed over into our persons. And
so it is in the case of the second Adam, as it regards the trulv
regeneraie. They are inserted into his life, through faith, by the
power of the Holy Ghost, and become thus incorporated with it,
as fully as they were before with tbat corrupt life they had by
their natural birth. The whole huraanity of Christ, soul and
body, is carried over by the process of the Christian salvation
into the person of the believer ; so that in the end his glorified
body, no less than his glorified soul, will appear as the natural
and necessary product of the life, in which he is thus made to
participate.* His resurrection is only his regeneration, fully re
vealed at last and complete. Our life now is hid with Christ in
God ; but when he appeareth, then shall we also appear wilh him
in glory. The Christian is spoken of at times accordingly, as
already the subject of all that has been reached in the personal
life ofthe Savior. He is not only dead with him, but risen also,
and exalted along with him at the right hand of Godi This re-.
presentation rests ihrougboul upon the fact, that his life is ground
ed in the life of Christ, and so includes potentially all that belongs
lo this from the beginning.
* Camem ergo Christi, sine ullis ambagibus, fatemur esse vivificam ;
oon tantum quia semel in ea nobis salus parta est, sed quia nunc dum
sacra unitate cum Christo coalesciraus, eadem ilia earo vitam in nos
spiral, vel ut brevius dicani, quia arcana Spiritus virtute in Christi
corpus insiti, oommunem habemus cum ipso vitam. Calvin, Consens,
de Re Sacram. 0pp. Tom. IK {Amsterdam Ed. 1667) p. 657. — Jam
qais Bon videt, communionem carnis et sanguinis Christi necessariam
esse omnibus, qui ad coelestem vitam aspirant 1 Hue spectant illae
Apostoli sententiae (Ephes. 1 : 23, et 4 : 1 5,) Ecclesiam corpus esse
Christi et ejus complementum, ipsum vero esse caput, ex quo totum
eorpus coagmentatum et compactain per commissuras, incrementum
corporis facit ; corpora nostra membra esse Christi (1 Cor. 6 : 15.)..
Quae omnia non posse aliter efBci intelligimus, quin lotus spm7« et
corpore nobis adhaereat. Sed arctissimam illam societatem, qua ejus,
oorni copulamur, splendidiore adhuc elogio illustravit, quum dixit, nos
esse membra corporis ejus ex ossibus ejus et ex came ejus (Ephes. 5 :
30.). Tandem ut rem omnibus verbis maj<>rem testatur, sermonem ex-
clamatione finit, Magnum (inquit) istud arcanum ! Extremae ergo
dementiae fuerit, nullam agnoscere cum came et sanguine Domini
gdelium communionem, quam tantam esse declarat Apostolus, ut eaijj.
^dmirari, qnam explicare malit. Instit, IV. 17. 9.,

198
The idea of this inward union on the part of the believer with
the entire humanity of Christ, has in all ages entered deeply into
the consciousness of the Church. Hence no doubt much of the
favor which has been shown towards popish and semipopish er
rors, in the case of the Lord's Supper. Hence loo the earnest
ness, with which the reforraers generally maintained tho doctrine
ofthe real presence in this sacrament. They saw and felt, more
clearly than many of their followers seem to see and feel now,
that the life of the believer involves a communion with the body
of Christ, as well as with his spirit. Calvin is particularly strong
with regard to this point ; and some have found it hard lo find
any sense whatever in his language on the subject* But after
all there is no greater darkness in il, than is presented by Paul,
when he says. We are memh' rs «i his body, ofhis flesh, and of
his bones. Thus also we are i-.ughl in the Heidelbergh Catechism,,
that to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christy
is "not only lo embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings
* Dr. Dick {Lectures on Theology,) though of no great weight in
himself may be taken perhaps as a pretty fair representative ofthe pre
vailing raodern view, when he says {Led. XCI,) after giving a quota
tion from Calvin : "I confess I do not understand this passage. It
supposes a communion of belie»ers in the human nature of our Savior
in the Eucharist, and endeavors to remove the objection arising from
the distance of place, by a reference to the Almighty power of the
Spirit, much in the same way as Papists and Lutherans solve the diffi
culty attending their respective systems. If Calvin had meant only
that, in the Sacred Supper, believers have fellowship with. Christ in
his death, he would have asserted an important truth, attested by the
experience ofthe people of God in every age ; but why did he obscure
it, and destroy its simplicity, by involving it in ambiguous language 1
If he had anything different in view; if he meant that there is some
mysterious communication witlrhis human nature, we must be permit
ted to say that the notion was as incomprehensible to himself as it is to
his readers." That Calvin did entertain this last "notion," there is
not the least room to doubt ; and as may be seen in the foregoing note,
hfi held it to be insane {exiremcie dementiae) to have any other opinion.
The view accepted by Dr. Dick, from Zwingli, he went so far as to call
profane.. He is most distinct in rejecting the idea, that the union of the
believer with Christ is simply moral. To partake of Christ's body ani
blood is not merely to believe on him, but a mystical process which ia
the result of faith. Noris it simply to appropriate hit, merits. " Ex-
cipit Westphalus, merita Christi vel beneficia non esse ejus corpus,
Sed cur locutionem, qua splendide nostram cum Christo communionem,
commendo maligne extenuatl Neque enim tantum dico applicare meri-.
ta, sed ex ipso Christi corpore alimentum percipere animas, non secus
ao terrene pane corpus vescitur." 0pp. Tom. IX. p. 668. Nor is it
enough with him to say, we partake of Christ's Spirit. "Neque enim
simpliciter Spiritu sup Qhristum in nobis habitare trado, sed ita nps^

Id9
and death of Christ, and thereby to obtain the pardon of sin and
life eternal ; but also, besides that, to become more and raore
united lo his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in
Christ and in us ; so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we
on earth, are notwithstanding, flesh of his flesh, and bone ofhis
bone ; and that we live and are governed forever by one Spirit,
as members of the same body are by one sotll."
Partaking in this way of one and the sarae life. Christians of
course are vitally related and joined together as one great spiritual
whole ; and this whole is the Church. The Church is his body,
the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. The union by which it
is held together, through all ages, is strictly organic. The Church
is not a mere aggregation or collection of different individuals,
drawn together by similarity of interests and wants ; not an ab
straction simply, by which the comraon in the midst of such mul
tifarious distinction, is separated and put together under a single
general term. It is not merely the all that covers the actual ex-

ad se attollere, ut vivificum carnis suae vigorem in nos transfundat."
Ibid. p. 669. He will hear of nothing less than a participation of
Christ's substance, soul and body: "Carnem Christi nobis edendam pro-
poni siquis sincere et luculente tradit, ego unus sum ex numero ; mo
dum tantum definio, quod Spiritus sui virtute Christus locorum distan-
tiam superet, ad vitam nobis e sua came inspirandam." Ibid. p. 670.
"In sacra sua Coena jubet me sub symbolis panis ac vini corpus ^c
sanguinem suum sumere, manducare ac bibere ; nihil dubito, quin et
ipse vere porrigat et ego recipiam." Inst. I'V. 17. 32. It is useless
however to multiply extracts. Calvin's doctrine on this point is in no
respect uncertain. Nor was he singular at all in his view. It was in
¦fact the established view of the entire Reformed Church, in the Six
teenth Century ; for the bald theory of Zwingli outraged the religious
consciousness of tbe age. "There is no controversy among us," says
Zanchius, "whether the bread in the right use of the Supper be truly
the body of Christ ; the only question is concerning the manner in
which the bread is his body." All the Reformed Confessions speak
in die same strain. The Belgic Confession, for instance, after telling us
that the mode of the communication is incomprehensible, does not hesi
tate, insisting still upon the reality of it as it had been previously af
firmed, to employ the strong expression : "Interea vero nequaquam
erraverimus dicentes, id, quod comeditur, esse proprium et natutale
corpus Christi, idque quod bibitur, proprium ejus sanguinem." Those
who choose to do so, may pour contempt on all this as the "obsolete
mysticism of the Reformers." But such would do well at the same
time to consider seriously, whether in departing from the orthodoxy of
the Sixteenth Century at this point, they may not have yielded their
own minds possibly to the power ofa rationalizing element, which if it
were rigidly pushed to its consequences could hardly stop short of
Socinianism itself.

300
tent of its membership, but the whole rather in which this mem
bership is comprehended and determined from the beginning.
The Church does not rest upon its members, but the members
rest upon the Church. Individual Christianity is not something
older than general Christianity, but the general in this case goes
before the particular, and rules and conditions all its manifesta>
tions. So it is wilh every organic nature. The whole is older
and deeper than the parts ; and these last spring forth perpetually
from the active presence of the first. The parts in the end are
only the revelation of what was previously included in the whole.
The oak of a hundred years, and the acorn from which it has
sprung, are the same life. All that we behold in the oak, lay hid
in the acorn from the start. So too the human world all slept
originally in the comraon root ofthe race. Adara was not sirap
ly a raan, like others since born ; but he was the man, who com
prehended in himself all that has since appeared in other raen.
Humanity as a whole resided in his person. He was strictly
and truly the world. Through all ages, man is organically one
and the same. And parallel with this precisely is the constitution
of the Church. The second Adam corresponds in all respects
with the first. He is not a man merely, an individual belonging
to the race ; but he is ihe man, emphatically the Son of Man,
comprising in his person the new creation, or humanity recovered
and redeemed, as a whole. Whatever the Church becomes in
the way of development, it can never be more in fact than it was
in hira from the beginning. Its life is not multiplied nor extended
in quantity, by its growth, Christ is the root ofthe Church; and
to the end of tirae it can include no more>in its proper life, how
ever widely distributed, than what is included in the root itself.
The unity ofthe Church then is a cardinal truth, in the Chris
tian systera. It is involved in the conception of the Christian sal
vation itself. To renounce it, or lose sight ofit, is to make ship
wreck of the gospel, to the same extent. There is no room here
for individualisra or particularism, as such. An individual dis
sociated entirely frora his race, would cease to be a raan. And
just so the conception of individual or particular Christianity, as
something independent of the organic whole, which we denomi
nate the Church, is a moral solecism that necessarily destroys
itself. Christ cannot be divided. The members of the natural
body are united to the head, only by belonging to the body itself.
Separated from this, they cease to have any proper existence.
And so ilis here. We are not Christians, each one by himself
and for himself, but we become such through the Church. Christ
lives in his people, by the life which fills his body, the Church ;

201
and they are thus all necessarily one, before they can be
many.* The life of Christ in the Church, is in the first place inward and
invisible. But lo be real, it must also become outward. The
salvation ofthe individual believer is not complete, till the body
is transfigured and made glorious, as well as the soul ; and as it
has respect to the whole nature of man from the coraraencement,
it can never go forward at all except by a union of the outward
and inward at every point of its progress. Thus too the Church
must be visible, as well as invisible. In no other way can the
idea become real. Soul and body, inward power and outward
form, are required here lo go together. Outward forms without
inward life can have no saving force. But neither can inward
life be maintained, on the other hand, without outward forms.
The body is not the man ; and yet there can be no man, where
there is no body. Humanity is neither a corpse on the one
hand, nor a phantom on the other. The Church then must ap
pear externally, in the world. And the case requires that this
manifestation should correspond with the inward constitution of
the idea itself. It belongs to the proper conception of it, that the
unity ofthe Holy Cathohc Church should appear in an outward
and -visible way ; and it can never be regarded as complete,
where such development of its inward power is still wanting.
"There is one body," the Apostle tells us, "and one Spirit, even as
ye are called in one hope of your calling." Such Is the true
normal character of the Church ; and so far as it may fall short
of this it labors under serious defect.
The Apostle does not mean lo affirm however, that the want of
such outward and visible unity necessarily and at once over-

* Nee vero satis est electorum turbaih cogitatione et animoque com-
plecti, nisi talem ecclesiae unitatem cogitemus, in quam nos esse insi-
tos vere simus persuasi. Nisi enim sub capite nostro Christo coadunati
simus reliquis omnibus membris, nulla nobis manet spes haereditatis
fnturae. Ideo Catholica dicitur, seu universalis ; quia non duas aut
tres invenire liceat quin discerpatur Christus ; quod fieri non potest.
Quin sic electi Dei omnes in Christo sunt connexi, ut quemadmodum
ab uno capite pendent, ita in unum velut corpus coalescant, ea inter
SB compage cohaerentes, qua ejusdem corporis membra. Calv. Instit.
IV. 1. 2. Speaking afterwards of the visible Church as carrying the
title Mother, he says : non alius est in vitam ingressus, nisi nos ipsa
concipiat in utero, nisi pariat,nisi nos alat suis uberibus, denique'sub
custodia et gubernatione sua nos teneat, donee exuti came mortali,
similes erimus angelis. — Adde quod extra ejus gremium nulla est
'speranda peccatorum remissio, nee ulla salus. Ib. §. 4.
18

^0^
throws the existence ofthe Church. It is seldom that the actual,
in the sphere of Christianity, fully corresponds with the ideal.
And as a general thing, this correspondence, so far as it may
be secured in any case, is reached only in a gradual way. The
inward requires time to impress its image fully upon the outward.
Religion is a process in the individual soul, and also in the life of
the Church. Objectively considered, it is complete, and harmo
nious, and true to itself at every point, from the beginning ; but
in becoming subjective, all this may seem for a season to fail,
The life of Christ in the Church includes in itself potentially frora
the first, all that it can ever become in the end. But it may
happen that for a long timethis hidden force shall be embarrassed
and repressed by untoward influences, so as not to, find its ade
quate form and action in the actual order ofthe Church. Thus
we behold at this tirae the Christian world in fact, broken into
various denominations, wilh separate confessions and creeds,
among which too often polemic zeal appears far more prominent
than catholic charity. Such distraction and division can never be
vindicated, as suitable to the true conception of the Church. They
disfigure and obscure its proper glory, and give a false, distorted
image of its inward life. Still the Church is not on this account
subverted, or shut up to the precints of some single sect, arrogant
ly claiming to be the whole body. The life with which it is ani
mated does indeed seek an outward revelation in all respects an
swerable lo its own nature ; and it can never be fully satisfied;
till this be happily secured ; but as a process, struggling constant
ly towards such end, it raay be vigorously active at the same
time, under forras that bear no right pioportion whatever to its
wants. We may not doubt therefore, but that in the midst of all
the denorainational distinctions, which have corae to prevail par
ticularly since the tirae ofthe Reforraation, the life ofthe Church,
with all its proper attributes, is still actively at work in every
evangelical coramunion. The " one body," raost unfortunately,
is wanting for the present ; but the "one Spirit," reigns substan
tially notwithstanding through all coramunions, and binds them
together as a great spiritual whole. Joined together in the com
mon life of Christ, in the possession of one faith, one hope, and
one baptism, the vaiious divisions ofthe Christian world, are still
organically the same Church. Jn this forra, we hold fast to the
idea of Catholic Unity, as the only ground in which any true
Christianity, individual or particular can possibly stand.

203
II. Having in this general way considered the nature bfthat
oneness lohich belongs to the constituiioh of the Catholic
Church, we are prepared to contemplate, in the second
place, the Doty op Christians with regard to it.
This is comprehended generally in the obligation of all, ear
nestly and actively to seek the unity ofthe Church, in its raost
comiilete form. We have seen that in the actual circumstances
of iht' Church, idea and fad do not for the most part fully corres
pond. It is only in the way of development and process most
generally, ihat we find the fir.=t revealing itself in the form ofthe
second. Thus the unity ofthe Church, is soraething which is not
at ohc^e rtalized, as a matter of course, by the appearance ofthe
Church in the world. The actual, in fact, stands far behind the
ideal. But still this relation cannot be rested in as ulliraateand
right. It can hold wilh truth, only as an intermediate stage, '
through which the life ofthe Church is constantly struggling to- '
wards a revidation, that shall be in all respects adequate to its i
nature. This development is not blind of course and necessary, !
as in the sphere of mere nature, httt moral, involving intelligence
and will. The Church is required, to seekand maintain her own
unity ; and this obligation falls back necessarily in the end upon,
Chrisliaiis as such. They are bound to maintain "the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace," and cannot be true lo their voca
tion, except as they consciously endeavour, so far as in them lies,
tn have this unity made in the largest sense complete ; so that all
Christ's people may be "one body" as well as "one spirit," even-
as they are called- in one hope of their calling..
This might seem to be in some sense the great necessity of the
Church. "Neither pray I for these alone," is the Savior's solemn
language, "but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word ; that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world ^
may believe that thou hast sent me," Wonderful words ; to be
understood only by living communion with the heart of Jesus
himself. If such was the spirit of Christ, the spirit ofthe Church
must necessarily be the same. The whole Church then must be
r-egarded as inwardly groaning over her own divisions, and striv
ing to actualize the full import of this prayer; as though Christ
were rnade to feel himself divided, and could not rest till such un
natural violence should come to an end. And so if any man be :
in Christ, he cannot fail, so far as this union may reach, to pray
and work for the same object, the Catholic Unity of the Churchy -<
as the most important interest in the vi'orld.

204
1, It is the duty of all then, to consider and lay to heart the
evil that is comprehended in the actual disunion and division,
which now prevail in the Catholic Church, I say in the Catholic
Church ; because the one Spirit of Christ is supposed to pervade
the whole body, notwithstanding this vast defect, binding it to
gether through all parts ofthe world, with the force ofa comraon
life. But this cannot change the nature ofthe evil itself. It only
renders it indeed the more glaring and painful. The Church
ought to be visibly one and catholic,, as she is one and catholic in
her inward life ; and the want of such unity, as il appears in the
present state of the protestant world, with its rampant sectarian
ism and individualism, "is a lamentation, and shall be for a la«
mentation," until of God's mercy the sore reproach be rolled away.
We frequently hear apologies made for the existence of sects in
the Church, They are said to be necessary. The freedom and
purity ofthe Church, we are told, can be maintained only in this
way. They provoke each other lo zeal and good works. With
out them, the Church would stagnate and' grow corrupt. They
are but different divisions of the same grand army, furnished for
battle variously according to their several tastes, but all moving
in the same direction against the common foe, and forming togeth
er in this order a more powerful array than if no such divisions
had place.
This sounds well ; and no doubt many so far impose upon
themselves, as to. . think it all correct. But il is false notwith
standing, and injurious to Christ-, Our various sects, as they
actually exist, are an immense evjl in the Church. Whatever
may be said of the possibility of their standing in friendly cor
respondence, and only stimulating the whole body lo a more-vi
gorous life, il is certain that they mar the unity of this body in
fact, and deprive it of its proper beauty and strength. The evil-
may indeed in a certain sense be necessary ; but the necessity is
like that which exists for the-rise of heresies, itself the presence of
a deep seated evil, in which the Church has no right quietly to
acquiesce. Our sects, as they actually stand at this time, are a
vast reproach to the Christian cause. By no possibility could-
they be countenanced and approved as good, by the Lord Jesus-
Christ, if he should appear again in the world as the visible head'
of his people. This all must feeh
We do not suppose indeed that the visible unity of the Church
demands a single visible head, like the pope of Rome, vvho is just
ly styled Antichrist for this very pretension. We do not suppose
that it can hold only under a given organization, stretching its.

205
arms from one end of the earth lo the other, according to the-
dream of the High Church Episcopalians. But this much most
certainly it does require, that the middle walls of partition as they
now divide sect from sect should be broken down, and the whole
Christian world brought not only to acknowledge and feel, but
also to show itself evidently one. How far it is from this at the
present time, it is not necessary lo say. Now what is wanted,
first of all, is a clear perception on the part ofthe Church, that is,
on the part of Christians generally, that the want of such visible
unity is wrong, and such a wrong as calls aloud continually for
redress. Without this most assuredly, the captivity of Zion will
never come to an end. The heart of the Church must be filled
with an earnest sense other own calamity, as thus torn, and rent-
with such vast division, before she can be engaged successfully to
follow after union and peace. Il needs lo be deeply pondered-
wpon, that the spirit of sect and parly as such, is contrary to
Christ. The present state of the Church involves the sin of
schism, to a most serious extent. Denominations are not indeed, '
necessarily sects, and every separate ecclesiastical position is not
to be denounced al once as schismatic. But to whatever extent
particular denominations may stand justified before God in occupy
ing such positions, it is certain that in some quarter a schismatic
spirit raust be at work to create and maintain the necessity by
which this is supposed to be right; Take it altogether, there is
schism in our divisions. The unity of Christ's body is not main
tained. This it is that challenges our attention. This we are
called upon to consider and lay lo heart.
Nor should it relieve the case at all to our feelings, that we
raay not be able to see how it is possible to bring this slate of
things to an end. An evil does not cease to be such, simply be
cause it may seem to exclude all hope ot correction. Those who
seek lo reconcile us to- the system of sects in the Church, by in
sisting on the impossibility ot reducing thera lolhe same commu
nion, presume greatly either upon. our ignorance or our apathy as
it regards the claims of the whole subject. If we know that the
Church is called by her very constitution to be visibly, as well as
invisibly one, we are not likely to believe that any difficulties
which,sland,in,thfi way of this are absolutely insuperable in their
own. nature. And if we have come to feel the weight of thc
fnterest itself, as exhibited inlhe-lasl prayer ofthe Savior, weare
not likely to be soothed and quieted over the general surrendry
ofit by a view which cuts off all hope of its ever being recover
ed^ Let it be admitted, that there is no way open, by which;
we have any prospect of seeing these walls ot partition- brokem
1.8*

206
down • still il is none the less the duty of all who love Christ, to ,
take to heart the presence ot the evil itself, and lo be humbled
before God on account of it, and lo desire earnestly that it might
come to an end. What is most deplorable in the case, is that so.
many should be willing to acquiesce in it, as soraething necessa^
ry and never to be changed. And what is most needed in these
circumstances, therefore, is that anxiety and concern should lake
the place of such indifference, and that men should be brought to.
acknowledge openly the reigning wrong of these divisions in the
Church, and lo inquire earnestly after some way of escape.
To such earnest interest the subject is well entitled; for it
includes, as already said, one of the very deepest necessities of
the Church. Can any one suppose, that the order ot things,
which now prevails in the Christian world, in the view before
us, is destined to be perpetual and final 7 Does it not lie in the
very conception of the Church, that these divisions should pass
; away, and make roora tor the reign at last of catholic unity and,
' love 7 If sects as they now appear have been the necessary fruit-
ofthe Reforraation, then must we say that the Reformation, be
ing as we hold it to be from God, has not yet been conducted for
ward lo its last legitimate result, in this respect. What il has
divided, it must have power again in due lime to bring together
: and unite. Our protestant Christianity cannot continue lo stand'
in its present form. A Church without unity can neither conquer
the world, nor sustain itself. We are bound therefore to expect,.
that this unity will not always be wanting. The hour is coming,.
though il be not now, when the prayer of Christ that his Church
may be one, will appear, gloriously fulfilled in.ils actual character
and slate, thri^ughout the whole world. But before this great
change shall be effected, it will be the object first of much earnest
desire and expectation. Not while Christians continue forest
contentedly in the present system, as either sufficiently good in,
itself or al least fatally incapable of remedy, can any such new
order come forward to occupy its place. The result will be
reached, only after it shall have corae tobe generally felt that the
present construction ofthe Church is falseand wrong;; and when<
with such conviction, the hearts of men shall have been prepared
earnestly to seek, and cordially to welcorae a more excellent way.
It is not by might and by power, we know, not by outward ur
ging and driving in the common, radical' style, but only by the
Spirit ofthe Lord, that any such revolution as Ihis can ever be
accomplished. A crusade against sects, or a society to put down
sects ; movements and efforts of every kind, that address them
selves lo the overthrow of sects, siraply in a negative way, can.

207-
answer no good purpose here in the end. If the evil is ever to be
effectually surmounted, it musl be by the growth of Christian i
charity in the bosom of the Church itself. No union can be of i
any account al last, that is not produced by inward sympathy and.
agreement between the parties il brings together. But this pre
paration ofthe heart is itself something to be sought and cultiva
ted ; and we may say that the .very first step towards it, consists
in just that consideration and concern which is now represented lo
be due in the case of Christians to the whole subject. In vain
may we look for any such deep inward action in the Church as
is needed to make room for a closer external union, if it begin,'
not al least in this form.
Christians then are bound to consider and lay to heart the evil
slate of the Church, in the view now contemplated. This might
seem lobe indeed the most they have it in their power imraedlate
ly to do in the circumstances, ll is that therefore which is main
ly and primarily required. Nor may it be regarded as of only.
small account. An immense object would be gained, it simply
the conviction of deep and radical defect here were made lo fasten
itself upon the general consciousness of the Church, Without
this it is in vainto hope for deliverance frpm any other quarter..
But this is not the entire duty created by the case. There is a
call not merely for reflection and concern, but also for action.
2. It has already been admitted, that the interest in question is
not to be secured by any atterapts towards a siraply outward
reform. A no-sect party in tbe Church, bent only on pulling (.
down and having no power to reconstruct, must ever be found j
itself one of the worst forms of separatism, aggravating the mis- j
chief it proposes lo heal. It is not by renouncing their allegiance '
to particular denominations, and affecting to hold themselves inde
pendent ot all, that men may expect to promote the cause of
Christian unity. The union ofthe Church in any case, is not to I
be established by stratagem or force.. To be valid, il mustbe free, '
the spontaneous product of Christian knowledge and Christian
love. It can never hold externally, till it is made necessary by
the pressure of inward want, refusing tobe satisfied on any other
terms. But all this does not involve the consequence, that there
is nothing to be done on the part of Christians, to hasten this
consummation in its time. It is by inward and' spiritual action
precisely that the way of the Lord is lo be prepared, for any such
deliverance ; and to such action all who love the prosperity of
Zion are solemnly bound. Every Christian, in his place is re- :
quired to "keep the unity ofthe Spirit in the bond ot peace." All
are under obligation to cultivate the spirit of Christian charity in

208.
their own hearts and to exemplify the power of it in their owa
lives. All are bound to pray for the peace ot Jerusalera ; and to
"bow their knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named," that he
would grant us all, even his whole Church. Calholio, "according
to the riches ot his glory, to be strengthened with might by his.
Spirit in the inner raan ; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by.
faith ; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to.
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and
depth and height ; and to know the love of Christ which passeth.
knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Unto this glorious object all are required to labor, "striving accor
ding to his working, which worketh in his people mightily." It
is demanded ot all that they should at least endeavor, raore and
more, to descend into the heart of Jesus, and take the raeasure of
this great interest, as unfolded there, in what might seem to be the
main burden ot his last priestly prayer. It is the duly of all
to follow after the things that make tor holiness and peace ; and,
to seek in- every way the coraing ot God's kingdom, with new
power and glory, in the hearts of his people, that they maybe
brought to understand and feel, continually more and more, the
force of that common life, by which they are all one in Christ
Jesus. All this would-be in the most iraportant sense, lo "prepare the
way ofthe Lord, and to raake straight in the desert a high way
for our God ;" and the result of it would soon be, that the glory
of the Lord should be revealed, and all flesh made to see it togeth
er. When it shall have come lo this, that by such inward and
spiritual action the Church shall be fully ripe for union, thediffir
culties that now stand in the way will be soon found crurabling
and dissolving into thin air. "Every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be raade low ; and the crooked
shall be raade straight, and the rough places plain." It may be
utterly irapossible for us to anticipate before hand, the way in
which, this shall lake place, or the form under which il shall
appear. But in. the circurastances supposed, the want will pro»
vide for itself. The life that is at work will find.room.and scope^
in sorae way, for its own free action. With, reference to every
suchcase, it is written: "Behold I will do a new thing ; now it
shall spring forth.; shall ye not know it 7 I will even make a
way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of
the field' shall honor, me, the dragons and the owls ; because I
give waters, in, the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give
drink lo my people, my chosen." That whichjs impossible with.
men, is easily accomplished by God.

209
3, Then itis the duty of the Church, in the third place, to ob
serve and improve all opportunities, by vvhich it is made possible
in any measure, from lime to lime, to advance in a visible way
the interest of catholic unity. The reformation that is needed
musl indeed sf)ring spontaneously from within ; but the process
can go forward notwithstanding only in the exercise of intelli
gence and will, and by the help ot counsel, forethought, and wise
calculation, al every point. We are not at liberty in the case to
run before the Lord, presumptuously taking the whole work
into our own hands ; but weare bound, at the same time, to follow
promptly where he leads. Just so soon, and so far, as the way
raay be open in any direction tor advancing the outward and visi
ble oneness of the Church, without prejudice to its true inward
integrity, il is our solemn duty lo turn the occasion to this
high account. Il is not to be imagined of course that the general
reconciliation -of the divisions that now prevail in the Christian
world, in whatever form il raay at last appear, will be effected I
suddenly and at once. Il must come, if it come al all, as a pro
cess, gradually ripening into this glorious result. Every instance
then in which the open correspondence and communion of partic
ular sections of the Church, is raade to assume in a free way, a
more intimate character than it had before, deserves to be hailed,
as being lo some extent at least an approximation towards the
unity, which the whole body is destined finally to reach. No
movement ot this sort can be regarded as indifferent. The in
terest just named, is the highest that can occupy the heart ofthe
Church. Whatever can serve in any way to bring together the
moral dispersions ofthe house of Israel, musl be counted worthy
ofthe most earnest regard. All Christians then, in their various
denominational capacities, are required, as they love the Church
and seek the salvation ofthe world, to encourage with all their
raight a closer visible connection between the different parts of
Christ's body, in every case in which the way is found to be open
for the purpose, il is terrible to be concerned, however remotely,
in dividing the Church ; but a high and glorious previiege, to
take partr even lo the smallest extent, in tbe work of restoring
these divisions, where they already exist. I would not for the
world be the fbunder ofa new sect, though assured that millions
would at 'last range theraselves beneath its shadow ; but if I
raight be instrumental with the humblest agency in helping only
to pull down a single one otall those walls of partition, that now
mock the idea of catholic unity in the visible Church, I should
feel that I had not lived in vain, nor labored without the most ara
ple and enduring reward.

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In view of all that has thus far been said, we mayinow be
prepared, respected and beloved brethren in the ministry and
eldership ofthe Reformed Church, lo estimate aright the weight of
the occasion, by which we are brought together this day. The
very object of this Convention is to bring into closer visible union,
the two denominations we have been appointed to represent.
Apart altogether from the counsels and action ofthe Convention
itself, the simple fact that these bodies have been engaged to enter
into the friendly arrangeraent, by which it is called to meet, de
serves to be regarded wilh special interest. In the raidst of the
religious divisions and dissensions that arfi abroad in the land, it
is cheering to find in any quarter, an active movement in favor ot
the opposite interest. May we not trust that th<} measure will be
owned and blessed of God, and that through his blessing it raay
be followed in tirae to come with consequences of good, far more
vast than we have power now to imagine.
Il is true indeed, that the Reformed Dutch and German Re
formed Churches in this country, can hardly be regarded as dif
ferent denominations, and certainly not as different sects, in any
right sense of the term. They have been from the beginning-
substantially the same Church ; different national branches only
ofthe one great communion of the Reformed, as gloriously re--
presented in the ever memorable Synod of Dort. The faith of
Switzerland, the faith ofthe Palatinate and the faith of Holland,
in the Sixteenth Century, were emphatically one faith. Trans
planted to this country too, the same Churches have been closely
related from the first ; in a certain sense borne upon the knees,,
and nourished from the breast, ofthe same compassionate mother.
For the fostering care of the Synod of Holland was never more
active in. favor of the- scion taken from iis own trunk, than it
showed itself to be in planting and rearing the kindred vine
brought over from, Germany. Nor has the sense of this relatioa-
ship been lost since. StiU the two bodies have stood separate and
apart as distinct religiousorganizations,. with comparatively little
knowledge- of each other's circumstances, and nearly as much
apparent estrangement as is seen to characterize the relations of
sects generally. It is well therefore that now in- the end, we
should be permitted to rejoice inthe prospect ofa communion,
from this time forward; more intimate and full. It is well that
the claims of our kindred life have come lo make themselves so
felt on both sides, that we are brought thus openly to recognize
their force, and give visible expression to the one spirit by which
we are consciously bound together. The Church, at large have
reason to rejoice, inthis union. It is something won.for the cause

211
of catholic unity, in the broadest sense, that these two divisions of
the Reforraed Church, should thus embrace each other in the
presence of the whole world, and proclaim theraselves outwardly
as well as inwardly the same ; "one body, and one Spirit, even
as we are called in one hope of our calling."
Nor should it be allowed lo impair the force ot this declaration,
that no such union has been contemplated in this case, as might
involve a fbrmal ecclesiastical amalgaraation ofthe two Churches
concerned. All are agreed that nothing of this sort, is for the
present at least, lo be atterapted or desired. Both Churches
would- only be erabarrassed by the raeasure, if it could possibly
be carried into effect. But happily no such amalgamation is
needed in our circumstances, to realize the fullest unity the
Church is called to seek. A merely territorial separation, where
different religious bodies not only hold the same faith, but are
openly identified as one int^esl, cannot be said in any fair sense,
to involve ecclesiastical disunion. The Presbyterian Church ot
this country for instance, resolved according lo the recommenda
tion of some into separate independent Synods, would be one
Church still, if only there might be the presence of one Spirit al-
ways, sufiicienlly active to proclaim this unity and cause il to be
felt, in a public way. And in the same manner the Reformed
Dutch and German Churches may be as closely bound together
as the honor of religion requires, forraing in fact but one coramu
nion, while yet they continue denominationally distinct, as before.
No closer connection than this in fact has yet come to hold, be
tween the two Synods of the German Reformed Church itself, as
here represented at this time. The only visible bond by which
they are held together, is the present Convention,
In these circumstances it is plain enough, that no great amount
of action, in the coramon sense, can reasonably be expected from
this body. We musl not allow ourselves however to estimate
the importance ofthe arrangement by this measure. The simple
fact of the Convention itself, as an open public demonstration ot
the mutual confidence and good will 9f the Churches lo which we
belong, carries in it a moral value, in all respects worthy ofthe
occasion. But the correspondence thus established can hardly
fail besides, to open the way directly for a more friendly state of
feeling between the two Churches, by bringing thera to know each
other better, and lo feel more extensively the force of that spiritual
relationship by which they are united. If this Triennial Meeting
should serve no other purpose, than to maintain and strengthen
such right feeling, it would well deserve fo be perpetuated on this
account only. But it may be expected in the end lo do more than

212
this, it is the want of mutual familiar knowledge of each other's
circumstances, and mutual familiar confidence in each other's
feelings, on the part ofthe two Churches, which now more than
anything else is likely to circumscribe the range of the Conven
tion's action at this lime ; by creating delicacy, and caution, and
restraint, when under different circumstances no call tor any such
feeling might be supposed to exist. In the course of time, it may
be trusted, the connection which is now established, will itself
serve lo bring each Church more clearly before the eye, and thus
more near lo the heart, ofthe other. Points of common interest
will be multiplied and room tor common action extended. The
relation of the two bodies may be expected lo become more'free, as
il becomes more familiar. In this way, it is quite possible at least,
that a much wider field for counsel and action may ultiraately be
opened for the Triennial Convention, than any have yet been led
to anticipate, Il would seem to lie in the very nature ot the case, that
Churches so related, historically, ecclesiastically, and geographi
cally, as the Reformed Dutch and German Reformed Churches in
this country, should find occasion tor common counsel and cora
mon action, in many respects. By wise co-operation, they may
surely expect to make themselves felt with more effect in the land
at large, Ihan they are likely to be by standing wholly separate
and apart. The interests represented in the two Churches are in
all material respects the same ; and this itself would seem to re
quire, that they should regard them as a coramon cause, and
combine their strength in carrying thera forward. In the great
work particularly of Home Missions in the broad valley ofthe
West, it should be seriously considered at least whether such con
junction ot counsels and efforts be not called tor at their hands.
I shall not pretend however to say, in what several directions or
in what several forms, occasion may be found tor the two bodies
thus to join in carrying forward the sarae general work. That is
a question, which as yet none of us can be rightly prepared
to answer. Only we may take it tor granted that opportunities
tor such co-operation will not fail to exist ; while we trust to the
hallowed influences that shall spring from this union itself to bring
thera in due time to light.
I raay be permitted in conclusion to say, that the lime has
come, when the Churches ofthe Reformation generally have need
lo seek among themselves a closer correspondence and alliance,
than has hitherto prevailed. The work ofthe Reformation is not
yet complete. In every great movement of this kind, the direc-
lion taken by the general mind is liable in the end to become

213
more or less extreme; and the consequence is then a reaction to--
wards the abandoned error, which is often more dangerous to the
cause of truth, than all the opposition it had to surmount in the be
ginning. To such extreme the tendencies taken by the Christian,
world in the religious revolution of the Sixteenth Century, have
been unfortunately carried ; not of course through the force of the
principles which constituted the soul otlhat revolution at the first,
but by reason ofthe gradual paralysis of these principles, where
they previously prevailed. The most distressing phase of this
bastard protestantisra, the liberty ot the Reforraation run raad,
has been presented inthe modern rationalisra of Germany, and.
the Continent of Europe generally. A different form of it we
have jn the religious radicalism, with its infidel and semi-infidel
affinities, into which the dissenting interest.of Great Britain has;
been to some e^^tent too plainly betrayed. And finally it is the
same evil substantially which stares us in the face, in the un
bridled licentiousness of pAvate judgment, as it appears in the
endless multiplication of sects, on our own, side ofthe Atlantic.,
All this may be considered the action of a general force which'
has been at work for three centuries, but has only come to reveal
itself fully in these startling consequences, within a comparatively
recent period. And now, by a necessity which holds in the in
most constitution ptour nature, a wide-spread reaction has begun
to show itself, which may well cause the friends of truth to Irem-
Wp, This it seeras to, me is the true secret of the mysterious
oharra which popery is found ot late lo be exercising again over
men's minds, where its power appeared once to bg effectually
destroyed ; and the true secret at the same tirae of (he remarkable
success, which has attended thus far the progress ofthe Oxford;
dqctrines in the J^piscopal Church, both in England and in this
country, ' In this view, the movement must be regarded as spe
cially serious. For it is in no sense the result of accideni or ca
price. It springs from the deepest and most general ground, in
the character of the age. It belongs to the inmost history ofthe
Church, It is the grand rebounding movement of the Reforma
tion itself, by which more fully than ever before ig to be tried the
truth and stability of the principles, from which the Reformation.
sprang, and by which it triumphed in the beginning, .
The contest ofthe Sixteenth Century then is again challenging
the strength ofthe whole Christian, world. The work ofthe Re-- /
formation, is still to be made complete. It is not enough now j
simply to cry out against popery and puseyism, as a return to ex- ,
ploded errors. The truth as it wrought mightily in the souls of.
the reformers, must be understood as well as felt. . There is an?
19^

214
opposition to the errors of Rome and Oxford, sometimes displayed'
in our own country, which may be said to wrong the cause it
affects to defend almost as seriously as this is done by these errors
themselves. In its blind zeal, and shallow knowledge, it sinks
the Church to the level ofa temperance society, strips the minis
try of its divine comraission and so ot its divine authority, redu
ces the sacraraents to raere signs, turns all that is mystical into
the raost trivial worldly sense, and so exalts what is individual
above what is general and catholic, as in tact to throw open the
door to the most rampant sectarian license, in the name of the
gospel, that any may chopse to demand. Opposition to Oxford and
Rome in this form, can never prevail. If the cause ofthe Refor-.
mation is to be successfully maintained in the present crisis, I fe--
peat il, it must be, not simply by holding fast stubbornly to the
forras in which, the faith ofthe Reformation was originally ex
pressed;. but by entering with free and profound insight into that
faith itself. What is wanted is a republication, of the principles of
the Reformation, not in tbe letter merely that killeth, but in the
hving spirit of the men^ who wielded thei^.with such vast effect
in. the Sixteenth Century, Never was there a mpre solemn call
upon the Reformed Churches, to clothe themselves fully with the
ppwer ofthe life that is enshrined in their ancient symbofs. And
surely, in these circumstances, when the vpry. foundations ot their.
common faith, are threatened, not by a casual and transient (biq-
ger, but by a force that is lodged deep in the very constitution of
the age, and may be said to carry in itself the gathered strength'
q( centuries ; when questions ot vital import, which were sup
posed to have been settled, long ago are again to b'e encountered'
and resolved, on an issue th?it inVolyes the very existence of these
Churches themselves ; when in one word the vast strtiggle ofthe
Reformation is tobe taken up in its original .spirit and" carried
forward, through a crisis that may be considered final and ide-
cisive, to its proper consummation ; surely, L say, in circumstan
ces like these, the Churches in question should, feel themselves
engaged to narrow as much as possible the measure of their sepa
ration, and .strengthen the consciousness of their unity. The in
terests by which they are divided are iew and small, ps compared
¦ivith those that should bind them together. The gipry of God
and the honor ©this truth, as well as thei'rown common, safety,
require that they should stand out to the view ofthe worid, not as
many but as one, the Church, (not Churches,) ot the Refocm^itipn,
Ihe body of Christ, 'sthe pillar and .ground of the truth," one body^
and one Spirit, even as Ihey are called in one hope of their call
ing. May the great Head.of the Church, hijmselt interpose, in
^ays that to. his own wisdom, shall seem, best, to conduct the

215:
hearts and counsels ofhis people to, this result ; and in the mean;
time bestow richly upon us who are here present the glorious
power of his grace, that we may be enabled lo be faithful to this -
high interest especially inithe exercise ofthe trust now committed'
to our hands, maintaining , the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of.
peace.

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