RATIONALISM AND ITS EFFECTS
(a) Anti-Christian Philosophy of the Eighteenth Century.
Lecky, /History of the Rise and Influence of Rationalism in
Europe/, 1913. Windleband-Tufts, /A History of Philosophy/, 1898.
Uberweg-Morris, /History of Philosophy/, 2nd edition, 1876.
Turner, /History of Philosophy/, 1906. Binder, /Geschichte der
philosophie ... mit Rucksicht auf den Kirchlichen Zustande/, 1844-
45. Lanfrey, /L'Eglise et les philosophes au XVIIIe siecle/, 1879.
Faguet, /Etude sur le XVIIIe siecle/, 1890. Lange, /History of
Materialism/, 1877 (Tr. from German). Stephen, /History of English
Thought in the XVIIIth Century/, 1881. Taine, /Les origines de la
France contemporaine/ (vol. ii.), 1907.
In the Middle Ages the theory that human reason was to be placed above
faith found able exponents, and more than once men arose who
questioned some of the fundamental principles of Christianity, or who
went farther still by rejecting entirely the Christian revelation. But
such views were expounded in an age when the outlook of society was
markedly religious, and they exercised no perceptible influence on
contemporary thought. Between the fourteenth century and the
eighteenth, however, a great change had taken place in the world.
Dogmatic theology had lost its hold upon many educated men. The
Renaissance movement ushering in the first beginnings of literary and
historical criticism, the wonderful progress made in the natural
sciences, revolutionising as it did beliefs that had been regarded
hitherto as unquestionable, and the influence of the printing press
and of the universities, would in themselves have created a dangerous
crisis in the history of religious thought, and would have
necessitated a more careful study on the part of the theologians to
determine precisely the limits where dogma ended and opinion began.
But the most important factor in arousing active opposition to or
studied contempt of revealed religion was undoubtedly the religious
revolution of the sixteenth century, and more especially the dangerous
principles formulated by Luther and his companions to justify them in
their resistance to doctrines and practices that had been accepted for
centuries by the whole Christian world. They were driven to reject the
teaching authority of the visible Church, to maintain that Christ had
given to men a body of doctrines that might be interpreted by His
followers in future ages as they pleased, and to assert that
Christians should follow the dictates of individual judgment instead
of yielding a ready obedience to the decrees of Popes and Councils.
These were dangerous principles, the full consequence of which the
early Reformers did not perceive. If it was true, as they asserted,
that Christ had set up no visible authority to safeguard and to
expound His revelation, that for centuries Christianity had been
corrupted by additions that were only the inventions of men, it might
well be asked what guarantee could Luther or Calvin give that their
interpretation of Christ's doctrine was correct or binding upon their
followers, and what authority could they produce to warrant them in
placing any dogmatic restrictions upon the freedom of human thought?
The very principles put forward by the Reformers of the sixteenth
century to justify their rejection of certain doctrines were used by
later generations to prepare the way for still greater inroads upon
the contents of Christianity, and finally to justify an attitude of
doubt concerning the very foundations on which Christianity was based.
Empiricism, Sensualism, Materialism, and Scepticism in philosophy,
undermined dogmatic Christianity, and prepared the way for the
irreligious and indifferentist opinions, that found such general
favour among the educated and higher classes during the eighteenth
century.
The movement, that owed so much of its widespread popularity on the
Continent to the influence of the French rationalistic school, had its
origin in England, where the frequent changes of religion during the
reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, the quarrels
between the Puritans and the High Church party, and the spread of
revolutionary principles during the reign of Charles I., had
contributed not a little to unsettle the religious convictions of a
large section of the community. Many individuals, influenced by
pantheistic teaching, did not believe in the existence of a personal
God distinct from the world; others, while holding fast to the belief
in a personal supreme Being, rejected the Trinity and the Incarnation,
and a still larger section insisted on the subjection of Christian
revelation to the judgment of reason, and as a consequence on the
rejection of everything in Christianity that flavoured of the
supernatural. The works of these men were imported from the
Netherlands into France in spite of all restrictions that could be
imposed by the police authorities, and their views were popularised by
a brilliant band of /litterateurs/, until in a short time Deism and
Naturalism became quite fashionable in the higher circles of French
society.
The principal writers of the English school were Lord Herbert of
Cherbury (1581-1648), whose works tended to call in question the
existence of a supernatural religion; John Hobbs (1588-1679) the
apostle of absolute rule, who saw in religion only a means of keeping
the people in subjection; John Locke (1632-1704), nominally a
Christian himself, whose philosophy of Empiricism and Sensualism
barred the way effectively against belief in a supernatural religion;
Charles Blount (1630-93), who like Flavius Philostratus sought to
discredit Christianity by setting up Apollonius of Tyana as a rival of
Christ; Collins, the patron of free-thinkers (1676-1729); John Toland
(1670-1722), who although originally a believer in Christian
revelation tended more and more towards Pantheism; and Tyndal (1656-
1733), who changed from Protestantism to Catholicism and finally from
Christianity to Rationalism. In England Deism and Naturalism secured a
strong foot-hold amongst the better classes, but the deeply religious
temperament of the English people and their strong conservatism saved
the nation from falling under the influence of such ideas.
In France the religious wars between the Catholics and Calvinists, the
controversies that were waged by the Jansenists and Gallicans, the
extravagances of the /Convulsionnaires/, the flagrant immorality of
the court during the rule of the Duke of Orleans and of Louis XV., and
the enslavement of the Church, leading as it did to a decline of zeal
and learning amongst the higher clergy, tended inevitably to foster
religious indifference amongst the masses. In the higher circles of
society Rationalism was looked upon as a sign of good breeding, while
those who held fast by their dogmatic beliefs were regarded as vulgar
and unprogressive. Leading society ladies such as Ninon de Lenclos
(1615-1706) gathered around them groups of learned admirers, who under
the guise of zeal for the triumph of literary and artistic ideals
sought to popularise everything that was obscene and irreligious.
Amongst some of the principal writers who contributed largely to the
success of the anti-Christian campaign in France might be mentioned
Peter Bayle (1647-1706), whose /Dictionnaire historique et critique/
became the leading source of information for those who were in search
of arguments against Christianity; John Baptist Rousseau (1671-1741),
whose life was in complete harmony with the filthiness to which he
gave expression in his works; Bernard le Boivier de Fontenelle (1657-
1757), who though never an open enemy of the Catholic Church
contributed not a little by his works to prepare the way for the men
of the Enclyclopaedia; Montesquieu (1689-1755), whose satirical books
on both Church and State were read with pleasure not only in France
but in nearly every country of Europe; D'Alembert (1717-83) and
Diderot (1713-84), the two men mainly responsible for the
/Encyclopedie/; Helvetius (1715-1771), and the Baron d'Holbach, who
sought to popularise the irreligious views then current among the
nobility by spreading the rationalist literature throughout the mass
of the poorer classes in Paris.
But the two writers whose works did most to undermine revealed
religion in France were Francois Marie Arouet, better known as
Voltaire (1694-1778), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The
former of these was born at Paris, received his early education from
the Jesuits, and was introduced while still a youth to the salon of
Ninon de Lenclos, frequented at this time by the principal literary
opponents of religion and morality. His earliest excursions into
literature marked him out immediately as a dangerous adversary of the
Christian religion. He journeyed in England where he was in close
touch with the Deist school of thought, in Germany where he was a
welcome guest at the court of Frederick II. of Prussia, and settled
finally at Ferney in Switzerland close to the French frontiers.
Towards the end of his life (1778) he returned to Paris where he
received a popular ovation. Poets, philosophers, actresses, and
academicians vied with one another in doing honour to a man who had
vowed to crush /L'Infame/, as he termed Christianity, and whose
writings had done so much to accomplish that result in the land of his
birth. The reception given to Voltaire in Paris affords the most
striking proof of the religious and moral corruption of all classes in
France at this period. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva and
reared as a Calvinist. Later on he embraced the Catholic religion,
from which he relapsed once more into Calvinism, if indeed in his
later years he was troubled by any dogmatic beliefs. His private life
was in perfect harmony with the moral tone of most of his works. He
had neither the wit nor the literary genius of Voltaire, but in many
respects his works, especially /Le Contrat Social/, exercised a
greater influence on the France of his own time and on Europe
generally since that time than any other writings of the eighteenth
century. His greatest works were /La Nouvelle Heloise/ (1759), a novel
depicting the most dangerous of human passions; /Emile/, a
philosophical romance dealing with educational ideas and tending
directly towards Deism, and /Le Contrat Social/, in which he
maintained that all power comes from the people, and may be recalled
if those to whom it has been entrusted abuse it. The /Confessions/
which tell the story of his shameless life were not published until
after his death.
To further their propaganda without at the same time attracting the
notice of the civil authorities the rationalist party had recourse to
various devices. Pamphlets and books were published, professedly
descriptive of manners and customs in foreign countries, but directed
in reality against civil and religious institutions in France. Typical
examples of this class of literature were the /Persian Letters/ of
Montesquieu, /A Description of the Island of Borneo/ by Fontanelle,
/The Life of Mohammed/ by Henri de Bouillon Villiers, and a /Letter on
the English/ from the pen of Voltaire. The greatest and most
successful work undertaken by them for popularising their ideas was
undoubtedly the /Encyclopedie/. The professed object of the work was
to give in a concise and handy form the latest and best results of
scholarship in every department of human knowledge, but the real aim
of the founders was to spread their poisonous views amongst the people
of France, and to win them from their allegiance to the Catholic
Church. In order to escape persecution from the government and to
conceal their real purposes many of the articles were written by
clerics and laymen whose orthodoxy was above suspicion, and many of
the articles referring to religion from the pen of the rationalistic
collaborateurs were respectful in tone, though a careful reader could
see that they did not represent the real views of the author.
Sometimes references were given to other articles of a very different
kind, where probably opposite views were established by apparently
sound arguments. The originator of the project was D'Alembert, who was
assisted by Diderot, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Condillac, Buffon, and
D'Holbach. The work was begun in 1750, and in spite of interruptions
and temporary suppressions it was brought to a successful conclusion
in 1772. The reviewers and the learned world hailed it with delight as
a veritable treasure-house of information. New and cheap editions of
it were brought out for the general public, and in a remarkably short
time the influence of the Encyclopaedists had reached the lowest strata
of French society. Many of those in authority in France favoured the
designs of the Encyclopaedists, and threw all kinds of obstacles in the
way of those who sought to uphold the teaching of the Church, but soon
they had reason to regret their approval of a campaign that led
directly to revolution.
(b) The Aufklarung Movement in Germany.
See bibliography (viii. a). Tholuck, /Abriss einer geschichte der
Umwalzung seit 1750 auf dem Gebiete der Theologie in Deutschland/,
1839. Staudlin, /Geschichte des Rationalismus und
Supranaturalismus/, 1826. Bruck, /Die rationalistischen
Bestrebungen im Kath. Deutschland/, 1867. Weiner, /Geschichte der
Kath. Theologie in Deutschland/, 1889. Wolfram, /Die Illuminantem
in Bayern und ihre Verfolgung/, 1898-1900.
In Germany the religious formularies, composed with the object of
securing even an appearance of unity or at least of preventing
religious chaos, were not powerful enough to resist the anti-Christian
Enlightenment that swept over Europe in the eighteenth century. At
best these formularies were only the works of men who rejected the
authority of the Church, and as works of men they could not be
regarded as irreformable. With the progress of knowledge and the
development of human society it was thought that they required
revision to bring them more into harmony with the results of science
and with the necessities of the age. The influence of the writings
imported from England and France, backed as it was by the approval and
example of Frederick II. of Prussia, could not fail to weaken dogmatic
Christianity among the Lutherans of Germany. The philosophic teaching
of Leibniz (1646-1710), who was himself a strong upholder of dogmatic
Christianity and zealous for a reunion of Christendom, had a great
effect on the whole religious thought of Germany during the eighteenth
century. In his great work, /Theodicee/, written against Bayle to
prove that there was no conflict between the kingdoms of nature and
grace, greater stress was laid upon the natural than on the
supernatural elements in Christianity. His disciples, advancing beyond
the limits laid down by the master, prepared the way for the rise of
theological rationalism.
One of the greatest of the disciples of Leibniz was Christian Wolf
(1679-1754), who was not himself an opponent of supernatural religion.
The whole trend of his arguments, however, went to show that human
reason was the sole judge of the truths of revelation, and that
whatever was not in harmony with the verdict of reason must be
eliminated. Many of his disciples like Remiarus, Mendelssohn, and
Garve developed the principles laid down by Wolf until the very
mention of dogma was scouted openly, and Theism itself was put forward
as only the most likely among many possible hypotheses. In the
revulsion against dogmatic beliefs the party of the Pietists founded
by Spener towards the end of the seventeenth century found much
support, while the Conscientiarians, who maintained that man's own
conscience was the sole rule of faith, and that so long as man acts in
accordance with the dictates of conscience he is leading the life of
the just, gained ground rapidly. Some of its principal leaders were
Matthew Knutzen and Christian Edlemann who rejected the authority of
the Bible. The spread of Rationalism was strengthened very much by the
appearance of the /Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek/, founded in 1764 by
Nicolai in Berlin, through the agency of which books hostile to
Christianity were scattered broadcast amongst a large circle of
readers.
These rationalistic principles, when applied to the Bible and the
interpretation of the Bible, helped to put an end to the very rigid
views regarding the inspiration of the sacred writings entertained by
the early Lutherans. Everything that was supernatural or miraculous
must be explained away. To do so without denying inspiration the
"Accommodation" theory, namely that Christ and His apostles
accommodated themselves to the mistaken views of their contemporaries,
was formulated by Semler (1725-1791). But more extreme men, as for
example, Lessing (1729-1781), who published the /Wolfenbuttler
Fragments/ written by Reimarus in which a violent onslaught was made
upon the Biblical miracles more especially on the Resurrection of
Christ, attacked directly the miracles of Christianity, and wrote
strongly in favour of religious indifference.
The rationalistic dogmatism of Wolf when brought face to face with the
objections of Hume did not satisfy Immanuel Kant (1720-1804), who in
his /Critique of Pure Reason/ (1781) denied that it was possible for
science or philosophy to reach a knowledge of the substance or essence
of things as distinguished from the phenomena, and that consequently
the arguments used generally to prove the existence of God were
worthless. In his own /Critique of Practical Reason/ (1788), however,
he endeavoured to build up what he had pulled down, by showing that
the moral law implanted in the heart of every human being necessarily
implied the existence of a supreme law-giver. For Kant religion was to
be identified with duty and not with dogmatic definitions. Such a line
of defence, attempting as it did to remove religion from the arena of
intellectual discussion, thereby evading most of the objections put
forward by the rationalistic school, was a dangerous one. It led
gradually to the rejection of external revelation, and to dogmatic
indifference. Such a theory in the hands of Herder and above all of
Schleiermacher (1768-1834) meant an end to Christian revelation as
generally understood. For Schleiermacher religion was nothing more
than the consciousness of dependence upon God. Given this sense of
dependence, variations in creeds were of no importance. Between the
religion of Luther and the religion of Schleiermacher there was an
immense difference, but nevertheless it was Luther who laid down the
principles that led to the disintegration of dogmatic Christianity,
and in doing what he did Schleiermacher was but proving himself the
worthy pupil of such a master.
The unrestrained liberty of thought, claimed by so many Protestant
reformers and theologians and ending as it did in the substitution of
a natural for a supernatural religion, could not fail to have an
influence in Catholic circles. Many Catholic scholars were close
students of the philosophical systems of Wolf and Kant in Germany, and
of the writings of the Encyclopaedists in France. They were convinced
that Scholasticism, however valuable it might have been in the
thirteenth century, was antiquated and out of harmony with modern
progress, that it should be dropped entirely from the curriculum of
studies, and with it should go many of the theological accretions to
which it had given rise. Catholicism, it was thought, if it were to
hold the field as a world-wide religion, must be remodelled so as to
bring it better into line with the conclusions of modern philosophy.
Less attention should be paid to dogma and to polemical discussions,
and more to the ethical and natural principles contained in the
Christian revelation.
The spread of Gallicanism and Febronianism and the adoption of these
views by leading rulers and politicians, thereby weakening the
authority of the Pope and of the bishops, helped to break down the
defences of Catholicity, and to make it more easy to propagate
rationalistic views especially amongst those who frequented the
universities. As a rule it was only the higher and middle classes that
were affected by the /Aufklarung/. Everywhere throughout Europe, in
France, in Spain, in Portugal, in Germany, and in Austria this
advanced liberalism made itself felt in the last half of the
eighteenth century, particularly after the suppression of the Jesuits
had removed the only body capable of resisting it successfully at the
time, and had secured for their opponents a much stronger hold in the
centres of education.
It was in Germany and Austria that the /Aufklarung/ movement attracted
the greatest attention. The Scholastic system of philosophy had been
abandoned in favour of the teaching of the Leibniz-Wolf school and of
Kant. The entire course of study for ecclesiastical students underwent
a complete reorganisation. Scholasticism, casuistry, and controversy
were eliminated. Their places were taken by Patrology, Church History,
Pastoral Theology, and Biblical Exegesis of the kind then in vogue in
Protestant schools.
The plan of studies drawn up by Abbot Rautenstrauch, rector of the
University of Vienna (1774), for the theological students of that
institution meant nothing less than a complete break with the whole
traditional system of clerical education. In itself it had much to
recommend it, but the principles that underlay its introduction, and
the class of men to whom its administration was entrusted, were enough
to render it suspicious. The director of studies in Austria, Baron von
Swieten, himself in close contact with the Jansenists and the
Encyclopaedists, favoured the introduction of the new plan into all the
Austrian universities and colleges, and took good care, besides, that
only men of liberal views were appointed to the chairs. In the hands
of professors like Jahn and Fischer, Scriptural Exegesis began to
partake more and more of the rationalism of the Protestant schools;
Church History as expounded by Dannenmayr, Royko, and Gmeiner, became
in great part an apology for Gallicanism; the Moral Theology taught by
Danzer and Reyberger was modelled largely on a purely rational system
of ethics, and the Canon Law current in the higher schools was in
complete harmony with the views of Febronius and Joseph II.
The Prince-bishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne spared no pains to
propagate these liberal views amongst those who were to be the future
priests in their territories. In the University of Mainz Isenbiehl's
views on Scripture brought him into conflict with the Church; Blau,
the professor of dogma, denied the infallibility of the Church and of
General Councils; while Dorsch, the professor of philosophy, was an
ardent disciple of Kant. A similar state of affairs prevailed at the
University of Trier, at Bonn which was established for the express
purpose of combatting the ultramontanism and conservatism of Cologne,
and to a more or less degree at Freiburg, Wurzburg, Ingolstadt, and
Munich. By means of the universities and by the publication of various
reviews these liberal theories were spread throughout Germany. An
attempt was made to reform the discipline and liturgy of the Church so
as to bring them into harmony with the new theology. Many advocated
the abolition of popular devotions, the substitution of German for the
Latin language in the missal and in the ritual, and the abolition of
clerical celibacy.
In Bavaria matters reached a crisis when Weishaupt, a professor of
canon law in Ingolstadt, founded a secret society known as the
/Illuminati/ for the overthrow of the Church and the civil authority,
to make way for a universal republic in which the only religion would
be the religion of humanity. His speculative views were borrowed
largely from the Encyclopaedists, and his plan of organisation from the
Freemasons. At first the society was confined to students, but with
the accession of the Freiherr von Knigge it was determined to widen
the sphere of its operations. Every effort was made to secure
recruits. The Freemasons gave it strong support, and Ferdinand of
Brunswick became one of its members. It had its statutes, ritual, and
decrees. Fortunately the members quarrelled, and were foolish enough
to carry their controversies into the public press. In this way the
Bavarian government became acquainted with the dangerous character of
the sect of the /Illuminati/, and a determined effort was made to
secure its suppression (1784-1785).
(c) Freemasonry.
Gould, /History of Freemasonry/, 3 vols., 1883-87. Findel,
/Geschichte der Freimaurer/, 3 auf., 1870 (Eng. Trans.). Claudio
Jannet, /Les precurseurs de la Franc-maconnerie au XVIe et au
XVIIe siecle/, 1887. Deschamps et Jannet, /Les societes secretes
et la societe/, 1882. Kloss, /Geschichte der Freimaurer in
England, Ireland und Schottland/, 1847. Hughan, /Origin of the
English Rite of Freemasonry/, 1884.
Whatever about the value of the fantastic legends invented to explain
the origin of Freemasonry it is certain that the first grand lodge was
formed in London on the Feast of St. John the Baptist (1717). That
before this date there were a few scattered lodges in England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and that these lodges were the sole remaining
relics of a peculiar trade guild, composed of masons and of some of
the higher classes as honorary members, there can be little doubt. The
society spread rapidly in England, Scotland, and amongst the
Protestant colony in Ireland. From Great Britain its principles were
diffused throughout the rest of Europe. Freemason lodges were
established in Paris (1725-1732), in Germany (1733), Portugal (1735),
Holland (1735), Switzerland (1740), Denmark (1745), Italy (1763), and
Sweden (1773). The Freemasons were bound together into a secret
society, the members of which were obliged by oath and by the threat
of severe penalties to obey orders and to maintain silence regarding
its affairs. The society had its ritual, its degrees of apprentice,
fellow, and master, and its passports and signs. The particular lodges
in each country were united under a national grand lodge, and though
the various attempts that have been made to bring about an
international organisation have failed, yet there can be little doubt
that Freemasons throughout the world maintain the closest relations,
and at least in general policy act usually as one man. Freemasonry was
patronised by members of the royal family in England, by Frederick II.
of Prussia, Francis I. of Austria, the Grand Duke Francis Stephen of
Tuscany, and by Philip Duke of Orleans, who accepted the office of
grand master in France. Its members were recruited principally from
the higher and middle classes, as the entrance fees and expenses made
it impossible for anybody except the comparatively wealthy to become
members. At the time when the society was formed it was the nobility
and middle classes who formed public opinion in most countries, and it
was thought that if these classes could be won over to support the
principles of Freemasonry, they in turn could influence the mass of
the people.
Freemasonry was established at a time when Deism and Naturalism were
rampant in England, and it secured a foothold in most of the
continental countries in an age noted for its hostility to
supernatural religion. In the first article of the /Old Charges/
(1723) it is laid down that, "A mason is obliged by his tenure to obey
the moral law, and if he really understands the art he will never be a
stupid atheist or an irreligious libertine." The precise meaning of
this injunction has been the subject of many controversies, but it is
clear from the continuation of the same article that the universal
religion on which all men are agreed, that is to say, a kind of
natural Christianity, was to be the religion of Freemasonry. The
society professed to be non-sectarian in its objects, but the whole
tendency of the rules and of the organisation in its practical working
has been to promote contempt for dogmatic orthodoxy and for religious
authority, and to foster a kind of modified Christianity from which
specifically Catholic doctrines have been eliminated.
In France and in Austria Freemasons and Rationalists worked hand in
hand for the overthrow of the established Church and for the spread of
atheistical views. The society professed also to forbid political
discussions, but here too the articles of the constitution are
intentionally vague, and it is fairly evident that in most of the
revolutions that have disturbed the peace of Europe during the last
hundred years Freemasons have exercised a very powerful influence. For
many reasons the anti-religious and revolutionary tendencies of
Freemasonry have been more striking in the Latin countries, France,
Spain, Portugal, and Italy, than in England or Germany. In 1877 the
Grand Orient of France abolished the portions of the constitution that
seemed to admit the existence of God and the immortality of the soul,
and remodelled the ritual so as to exclude all references to religious
dogma. This action led to a rupture between the Grand Orient and the
lodges of England, Germany, and America. Yet many of the Freemasons in
these latter countries sympathised with the attitude of their French
brethren, and insisted on interpreting after their own fashion the
very ambiguous formula by which the existence of a grand architect is
recognised. There can be no doubt that even in England a man may be a
Freemason accepting loyally all its articles, and yet refuse to
believe in the existence of a personal God distinct from the world.
Freemasonry aims at establishing a spirit of comradeship and
brotherhood among its members. They are bound to aid one another in
every possible way and practically in all conceivable circumstances.
However objectionable such a practice, and however dangerous to the
public weal and to the interests of the state it may be, it is
precisely this feature of the society that won for it its greatest
number of adherents.
Freemasonry was condemned by Clement XII. in 1738. In the constitution
/In eminenti/, in which this condemnation was promulgated, he
explained the reasons that induced him to take this step. These were
the anti-religious tendencies of the society both in its theory and
practice, the oaths of secrecy and obedience to unknown superiors, and
the danger to Church and State involved in such secret combinations.
This condemnation has been renewed by several of his successors, as
for example Benedict XIV. (1751), Pius VII. (1821), Gregory XVI.
(1832), Pius IX. (1865), and Leo XIII. (1884). Since 1738 Catholics
have been forbidden under penalty of excommunication to become members
of the society or to promote its success. According to the
constitution /Apostolicae Sedis/ (1869), which is in force at the
present time, excommunication is levelled against those who join the
Freemasons or similar bodies that plot against the Church and
established authority, as well as against those who favour such
organisations and do not denounce their leaders.
(d) The Suppression of the Society of Jesus.
Cretineau-Joly, /Clement XIV. et les Jesuites/, 1847. De Ravignan,
/Clement XIII. et Clement XIV./, 1856. Theiner, /Histoire du
pontificat de Clement XIV. d'apres des documents inedits des arch.
secr. du Vatican/, 2 vols., 1852. Weld, /The Suppression of the
Society of Jesus in the Portuguese Dominions/, 1877. Rosseau,
/Regne de Charles III. d'Espagne/, 1907. Riffel, /Die Aufhebung
des Jesuitenordens/, 3 auf., 1855. Foley, /Records of the English
Province of the Society of Jesus/, 1877. Hogan, /Hibernia
Ignatiana/, 1880. Taunton, /The Jesuits in England/, 1901.
From its foundation by St. Ignatius of Loyola and its approval by Paul
III. the Society of Jesus had remained true to the teaching and spirit
of its holy founder and loyal to the Holy See. In the defence of the
Church, especially in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and France,
in the domain of education and of literature, in the work of spreading
Christianity amongst the races and peoples in India, China, Japan, and
America, the Jesuit Fathers took the foremost place. They laboured
incessantly to stay the inroads of heresy, to instil Catholic
principles into the minds of the rising generation, and to win new
recruits to take the place of those who had gone over to the enemy.
But their very success was sufficient to arouse the wrath of their
adversaries and the jealousy of their rivals. Lutherans and
Calvinists, enraged by the success of the Counter-Reformation,
denounced the Jesuits as enemies of progress and enlightenment, whose
very existence was a danger to the peace and the liberty of Europe.
These charges were re-echoed by Jansenists and Gallicans, by infidel
philosophers and absolutist politicians, and, stranger still, by many
whose orthodoxy could not be questioned, but whose judgment was warped
by their annoyance at the wonderful success of a comparatively young
organisation. The Jesuits were accused of favouring laxity of morals
on account of the support given by some of them to Probabilism, of
sympathising with Pelagianism on account of the doctrine of Molina, of
supporting tyrannicide on the strength of the work of Mariana, of
upholding absolutism on account of their close relations with the
rulers of France, and Spain, and of seeking to undermine governments
and constitutions by their secret political schemes and their
excessive wealth. Garbled extracts taken from the works of individual
Jesuits were published as representing the opinions of the body, and
the infamous /Monita Secreta/, purporting to contain the instruction
of Aquaviva to his subjects, was forged (1612) to bring discredit upon
the Society.[1]
More than once the combined assaults of its enemies seemed on the
point of being crowned with success. During Aquaviva's tenure of
office as general (1585-1615) the society was banished from France and
from Venice, while the demands of the Spanish Jesuits for a Spanish
superior, backed as it was by the influence of the court, threatened
to destroy the unity of the Society. Again in the time of Paul Oliva
(1664-1681) and Charles Noyelle (1682-1686) controversies regarding
Jansenism, Probabilism, the /Regalia/, and the Gallican Declaration of
the French clergy (1682), endangered the existence of the Society in
France, and threatened to lead to misunderstandings with the Holy See,
but under the Providence of God these dangers were averted, and the
eighteenth century found the Jesuits still vigorous in Europe and not
less vigorous in their labours among the heathen nations.
But their opponents though beaten time and again were not
disheartened. The infidel philosophers of the eighteenth century
recognised in the Jesuits the ablest defenders of the Catholic Church.
If only they could succeed in removing them, as Voltaire declared, the
work of destroying the Church seemed comparatively easy. Hence they
united all their forces for one grand assault upon the Society as the
bulwark of Christianity. They were assisted in their schemes by the
Jansenists, eager to avenge the defeat they had received at the hands
of the Jesuits, and by the absolutist statesmen and rulers of Europe,
who aimed at the enslavement of the Church, and who feared the Jesuits
as the ablest exponents of the rights of religion and of the Holy See.
The Jesuits controlled to a great extent Catholic education both lay
and clerical, and it was hoped that by installing teachers devoted to
state supremacy and Enlightenment in their place the future of
absolutism and of rationalism might be assured.
The attack on the Jesuits was begun in Portugal during the reign of
Joseph Emmanuel (1750-1777). He was a man of liberal views, anxious to
promote the welfare of his country, as well as to strengthen the power
of the crown. In accomplishing these objects he was guided by the
advice of the prime minister, Joseph Sebastian Carvalho, better known
as the Marquis of Pombal.[2] The latter had travelled much, and was
thoroughly imbued with the liberal and rationalistic spirit of the
age. He regarded the Catholic Church as an enemy of material progress,
and the Jesuits as the worst teachers to whom the youth of any country
could be entrusted. A treaty concluded with Spain, according to which
the Spaniards were to surrender to Portugal seven of the Reductions of
Paraguay in return for San Sacramento, afforded him the long desired
opportunity of attacking the Jesuits (1750). The Indians on the
Reductions, who had been converted by the Jesuits, were to be banished
from their lands to make way for mining operations in search of gold,
and though the Jesuits tried hard to induce their people to submit to
this decree, the Indians, maddened by the injustice and cruelty of the
treatment of the Portuguese, rose in revolt. The Jesuits were blamed
for having fomented the rebellion. By orders of Pombal they were
arrested and brought to Portugal, where the most extravagant charges
were published against them in order to damage them in the eyes of the
people.
The Portuguese government appealed to Benedict XIV. to take action
against the Society. The Pope appointed Saldanha an apostolic visitor
to examine into the charges that had been made. Though the
instructions laid down for the guidance of the visitor were precise in
every detail, Saldanha, unmindful of the restrictions imposed by the
Pope and without hearing any evidence that might favour the accused,
decided against the Jesuits and procured the withdrawal of their
faculties in Lisbon (1758). In September of that year a plot directed
against one of the royal officials, but supposed to have for its
object the murder of the king, was discovered and attributed without
any evidence to the Jesuits. They and many of their supposed allies
among the nobility were arrested and thrown into prison; their schools
were closed, and various fruitless attempts were made to induce the
younger members to disown the Society. Finally in September 1759 a
decree of banishment was issued against the Jesuits. Most of them were
arrested and despatched to the Papal States, while others of them,
less fortunate, were confined as prisoners in the jails of Portugal.
Father Malagrida, one of the ablest and most saintly men of the
Society, was put to death on a trumped-up charge of heresy (1761).
Clement XIII. (1758-1769) made various attempts to save the Society,
and to prevent a breach with Portugal, but Pombal determined to push
matters to extremes. The Portuguese ambassador at Rome suddenly broke
off negotiations with the Holy See and left the city, while the nuncio
at Lisbon was escorted to the Spanish frontier (1760). For a period of
ten years (1760-1770) friendly relations between Rome and Portugal
were interrupted.
In France the Jesuits had many powerful friends, but they had also
many able and determined enemies. The Jansenists who controlled the
Parliament of Paris, the Rationalists, the Gallicans, and not a few of
the doctors of the Sorbonne, though divided on nearly every other
issue, made common cause against the Society. They were assisted in
their campaign by Madame de Pompadour, the king's mistress, for whom
the Jesuit theology was not sufficiently lax, and by the Duc de
Choiseul, the king's prime minister. The well-known Jesuit leanings of
Louis XV. and of the royal family generally, imposed a certain measure
of restraint upon the enemies of the Society, until the famous La
Valette law suit offered its opponents an opportunity of stirring up
public feeling and of overcoming the scruples of the weak-minded king.
The Jesuits had a very important mission in the island of Martinique.
The natives were employed on their large mission lands, the fruits of
which were spent in promoting the spiritual and temporal welfare of
the people. La Valette, the Jesuit superior on the island, had been
very successful in his business transactions, and encouraged by his
success, he borrowed money in France to develop the resources of the
mission. This money he could have repaid without difficulty, had it
not been that during the war between France and England some vessels
bearing his merchandise were seized by the English (1755). La Valette
was in consequence of this unable to pay his creditors, some of whom
sought to recover their debts by instituting a civil process against
the procurator of the Paris province. For several reasons the Jesuits,
though not unwilling to make a reasonable settlement, refused to
acknowledge any responsibility. The creditors insisted on bringing the
case to trial, and the court at Marseilles decided in their favour.
The Jesuit procurator then appealed to the Parliament of Paris, at
that time strongly Jansenist in its tendencies. The Parliament, not
content with upholding the verdict, took advantage of the popular
feeling aroused against the Society to institute a criminal process
against the entire body (1761).
A commission was appointed to examine the constitutions and privileges
of the Jesuits. It reported that the Society was dangerous to the
state, hostile to the /Gallican Liberties/, and unlawful. The writings
of Bellarmine and Busenbaum were ordered to be burned, and the famous
/Extrait des Assertions/, a kind of blue-book containing a selection
of unpopular views defended by Jesuit writers, was published to show
the dangerous tendencies of the Society and to prejudice it in the
eyes of the people. The Provincial of the Jesuits offered for himself
and his subjects to accept the Declaration of the French clergy and to
obey the instructions of the bishops, but the offer, besides being
displeasing to the Roman authorities, did not soften the wrath of the
anti-Jesuit party, who sought nothing less than the total destruction
of the Society.
Louis XV. endeavoured to bring about a compromise by procuring the
appointment of a vicar for France. With this object he called a
meeting of the French bishops (1761), the vast majority of whom had
nothing but praise for the work of the Jesuits, and wished for no
change in the constitution of the Society. Similar views were
expressed by the assembly of the French clergy in 1762. Clement XIII.
laboured energetically in defence of the Jesuits, but in open
disregard of his advice and his entreaties, the decree for the
suppression of the Society was passed by Parliament in 1762, though
its execution was delayed by orders of the king. Meanwhile proposals
were made to the Pope and to the general, Ricci,[3] for a change in
the constitution, so as to secure the appointment of an independent
superior for France, which proposal was rejected by both Pope and
general. In 1763 the Jesuit colleges were closed; members of the
Society were required to renounce their vows under threat of
banishment, and, as hardly any members complied with this condition,
the decree of banishment was promulgated in 1764. Clement XIII.
published a Bull defending the constitution of the Society, and
rejecting the charge against its members (1765), while the French
bishops addressed an earnest appeal to the king on its behalf (1765).
The example of Portugal and France was soon followed by Spain. Charles
III. (1759-1788) was an able ruler, anxious to restore the former
greatness of his country by encouraging the establishment of
industries and by favouring the introduction of foreign capital and
foreign skill. He was by no means irreligious, but he was influenced
largely by the liberal tendencies of the age, as were also in a more
marked degree his two principal ministers Aranda and de Roda. Popular
feeling was aroused by the favour which the king showed towards French
capitalists and artisans, and in some places ugly commotions took
place. The ministers suggested to the king that the Jesuits were
behind this movement, and were the authors of certain dangerous and
inflammatory pamphlets. Secret councils were held, as a result of
which sealed instructions were issued to the governors of all towns in
which Jesuit houses were situated that on a fixed night the Jesuits
should be arrested (1767). These orders were carried out to the
letter. Close on six thousand Jesuits were taken and hurried to the
coast, where vessels were waiting to transport them to the Papal
States. When this had been accomplished a royal decree was issued
suppressing the Society in Spain owing to certain weighty reasons
which the king was unwilling to divulge. Clement XIII. remonstrated
vigorously against such violent measures, but the only effect of his
remonstrances was that the bishops who defended the papal interference
were banished, those who would seek to favour the return of the
Society were declared guilty of high treason, and the punishment of
death was levelled against any Jesuit who attempted to land in Spain.
In Naples, where Ferdinand, son of Charles III. of Spain then ruled,
the suppression of the Jesuits was planned and carried out by the
prime minister, Tanucci, a man hardly less unfriendly to the Society
than Pombal. The Jesuits were arrested without any trial, and were
sent across the frontier into the Papal States (Nov. 1767). Much the
same fate awaited them in the territories of the Duke of Parma and
Piacenza, where the minister du Tillot had pursued for years a
campaign against the rights of the Catholic Church. In 1768 Clement
XIII. issued a strong protest against the policy of the Parmese
government. This aroused the ire of the whole Bourbon family. France,
Spain, and Naples demanded the withdrawal of this /Monitorium/ under
threat of violence. The Papal States of Avignon and Venaissin were
occupied by French troops, while Naples seized Benevento and
Pontecorvo. Various attempts were made to secure the support of the
Empress Maria Theresa, and to stir up opposition in the smaller
kingdoms of Italy. But Clement XIII., undaunted by the threats of
violence of the Bourbons, refused to yield to their demands for the
suppression of a Society, against which nothing had been proved, and
against which nothing could be proved except its ardent defence of the
Catholic Church and its attachment to the Holy See. In January 1769 an
ultimatum was presented by the ambassadors of France, Spain, and
Naples demanding the suppression of the Society. The Pope refused to
agree to it, but before the threats it contained could be carried into
execution Clement XIII. passed away (Feb. 1769).
In the conclave that followed the Bourbon rulers made every effort to
secure the election of a Pope favourable to their views. Their
representatives were instructed to use the veto freely against all
cardinals known to be favourable to the Jesuits. After a struggle
lasting three months Cardinal Ganganelli was elected and took the
title Clement XIV. (1769-1774). He restored friendly relations with
Parma, opened negotiations with Portugal, created the brother of
Pombal a cardinal, appointed Pereira, one of the court theologians, to
a Portuguese bishopric, despatched a nuncio to Lisbon, and brought
about a formal reconciliation (1770).
It is not true that before his election Clement XIV. had bound himself
formally to suppress the Jesuits. Hardly, however, had he been crowned
when demands were made upon him by the representatives of France and
Spain similar to those presented to his predecessor. Clement XIV.
promised to agree to the suppression (1769), but asked for time to
consider such a momentous step. In the hope of satisfying the
opponents of the Jesuits the Pope adopted an unfriendly attitude
towards the Society, and appointed apostolic visitors to examine into
the affairs of the seminaries and colleges under its control, from
most of which, as a result of the investigation, the Jesuits were
dismissed. He offered to bring about a complete change in the
constitution of the Society, but this offer, too, was rejected.
Charles III. of Spain forwarded an ultimatum in which he insisted upon
the instant suppression of the Society under threat of recalling his
ambassador from Rome. This ultimatum had the approval of all the
Bourbon rulers. Faced with such a terrible danger, the courage of
Clement XIV. failed him, and he determined to accept the suppression
as the lesser of two evils (1772). In July 1773 the Brief /Dominus ac
Redemptor noster/, decreeing the suppression of the Society in the
interests of peace and religion, was signed by the Pope. The houses of
the Jesuits in the Papal States were surrounded by soldiers, and the
general, Ricci, was confined as a prisoner in the castle of St.
Angelo. The decree was forwarded to the bishops to be communicated by
them to the Jesuits resident in their dioceses. In most of the
countries of Europe the decree of suppression was carried out to the
letter, the Jesuits as a body submitting loyally to the decision of
the Pope.
Catharine II. of Russia, however, and Frederick II. of Prussia were
impressed so favourably by the work of the Jesuits as educators that
they forbade the bishops to publish the decree in their territories.
In 1776 an agreement was arrived at between Pius VI. and Frederick
II., according to which the Jesuits in Prussian territory were to be
disbanded formally and were to lay aside their dress, but they were
permitted to continue under a different name to direct the colleges
which they possessed. The Empress Catherine II. of Russia continued
till her death to protect the Society. In 1778 she insisted upon the
erection of a novitiate, for which oral permission seems to have been
given by Pius VI. In the other countries many of the Jesuits laboured
as secular priests, others of them united in the congregation, known
as the Fathers of the Faith (1797), and others still in the
congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart. In 1803 the English
Jesuit community at Stonyhurst was allowed to affiliate with the
Russian congregation; in 1804 the Society was re-established with the
permission of Pius VII. in Naples, and in 1814 the Pope issued the
Bull, /Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum/ formally re-establishing the
Society. Strange to say the very next year (1815) a persecution broke
out against the Jesuits in Saint Petersburg, and in 1820 they were
expelled from Russian territory.
It was fear of the Bourbon rulers that forced Clement XIV. to agree to
the suppression of the Jesuits. By sacrificing a society that had been
noted for its loyal defence of and submission to the Pope, he had
hoped to restore peace to the Church, and to avert the many calamities
that threatened its very existence in France, Spain, Portugal, and
Naples. But he lived long enough to realise that his weakness led only
to new and more exorbitant demands, and that the professors, who had
taken the chairs vacated by the Jesuits, were only too ready to place
their voices and their pens at the disposal of the civil power and
against the Holy See. The suppression of the Society was hailed as a
veritable triumph by the forces of irreligion and rationalism. The
schemes that this party had been concocting for years were at last
crowned with success; the strongest of the outposts had been captured,
and it only remained to make one last desperate assault on the
fortress itself. The civil rulers, who had allowed themselves to be
used as tools for promoting the designs of the rationalists and the
Freemasons, had soon reason to regret the cruelty and violence with
which they treated the Society of Jesus. In a few years the Revolution
was in full swing; the thrones of France, Spain, Portugal and Naples
were overturned, and those members of the royal families, who escaped
the scaffold or the dungeon, were themselves driven to seek refuge in
foreign lands, as the Jesuits had been driven in the days of Clement
XIV.
----------
[1] On the /Monita Secreta/, cf. Bernard, /Les instructions secretes
des Jesuites/, 1903. Duhr, /Jesuitenfabeln/, 1904. Gerard, /Jesuit
Bogey/, etc. (/The Month/, Aug., 1901, p. 179).
[2] Du Breuil, /Un ministre philosophe, Carvalho, marquis de Pombal/
(/Revue historique/, 1895, pp. 1 sqq.).
[3] Carayon, /Le pere ricci et la suppression de la compagnie de Jesus
en 1773/, 1869.
(e) Failure of Attempts at Reunion. Protestant Sects.
Bossuet, /Oeuvres completes/, 1846 (vii.). /Oeuvres de Leibniz/,
etc., 1859. Kiefl, /Der Friedensplan des Leibniz fur
Wiedervereinigung der getrennten Kirchen/, 1903. Lescoeur, /De
Bossueti et Leibnitii epistolarum commercio circa pacem inter
Christianos conciliandam/, 1852. Tabaraud, /Histoire critique des
projets formes depuis trois cents ans pour la reunion des
communions chretiennes/. Kahnis, /Der innere gang des deutschen
Protestantismus/, 3 Auf., 1874. Franke, /Geschichte der
protestantism Theologie/, 1865. Erbkam, /Geschichte der
protestantischen Sekten im Zeitalter der Reformation/, 1848.
Whatever hopes there might have been of restoring unity to the
Christian world during the early years of the Reformation movement,
the prospects of a reunion became more and more remote according as
the practical results of the principle of private judgment made
themselves felt. It was no longer with Luther, or Calvin, or Zwingli
that Catholic theologians were called upon to negotiate, nor was it
sufficient for them to concentrate their attention upon the refutation
of the /Confessio Augustana/ or the /Confessio Tetrapolitana/. The
leading followers of the early Reformers found themselves justified in
questioning the teaching of their masters, for reasons exactly similar
to those that had been alleged by their masters in defence of their
attack on the Catholic Church. The principle of religious authority
having been rejected, individuals felt free to frame their own
standard of orthodoxy, and were it not for the civil rulers, who
interfered to preserve their states from the temporal dangers of
religious anarchy, and to supply by their own power some organisation
to take the place of the Catholic hierarchy, Calvinism and Lutheranism
would have assumed almost as many forms as there were individuals who
professed to accept these religious systems. As it was, despite the
religious formularies, drawn up for the most part at the instigation
and on the advice of the civil rulers, it proved impossible for man to
replace the old bulwarks established by Christ to safeguard the
deposit of faith. As a consequence new sects made their appearance in
every country that accepted the reformed doctrine.
In France some attempts were made by Cardinal Richelieu to bring about
a reunion between the Catholics and the Calvinists. In taking these
steps he was influenced more by considerations of state than by zeal
for the welfare of the Church, but the gulf separating the two parties
was too wide to be bridged over even by French patriotism. In Poland,
where unity was particularly required and where the disastrous
consequences of religious strife were only too apparent, Ladislaus V.
determined to summon a conference at Thorn in 1645 to discuss the
religious differences, but though it was attended by representatives
from several states of Germany it produced no good results.
In Germany the work, that had proved too great for the theologians,
was undertaken by the princes in 1644, with no better results. Later
on, at the instigation of the Emperor, Christopher Royas de Spinola,
an Austrian bishop, spent the last twenty years of his life (1675-
1695) in a vain effort to put an end to the religious dispute.
Heedless of repeated rebuffs, he passed from court to court in Germany
till at last at Hanover he saw some prospect of success. Duke Ernest
August assembled a conference of Lutheran theologians (1679), the
principal of whom was Molanus, a Protestant abbot of Loccum. The
Lutheran theologians were willing to agree that all Christians should
return immediately to their obedience to the Pope, on condition,
however, that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be suspended,
and that a new General Council composed of representatives of all
parties should be assembled to discuss the principal points in
dispute. On his side Royas was inclined to yield a good deal in regard
to clerical celibacy and the authority of secular princes in
ecclesiastical affairs. Innocent XI., while not approving of what had
been done, praised the bishop for the efforts he had made to bring
about a reunion.
Leibniz, the librarian and archivist of the Duke of Brunswick, having
taken already some part in the work of bringing about a
reconciliation, entered into a correspondence with Bossuet, the Bishop
of Meaux. He favoured a compromise on the basis of acceptance of the
beliefs of the first five centuries, and published his /Systema
Theologicum/ as a means of bringing the Catholic standpoint before the
minds of his co-religionists. Bossuet and the French historian
Pellisson reciprocated his efforts, but the schemes of Louis XIV. and
the hopes of the English succession entertained by the House of
Brunswick out an end to all chances of success.
From the beginning, though Luther and Zwingli were at one in their
opposition to Rome, they were unable to agree upon a common religious
platform. The Sacramentarian controversy, confined at first to Luther
and Carlstadt, grew more embittered after Zwingli had espoused openly
the side of the latter. Several German princes having embraced the
views of Zwingli, it was felt necessary to preserve some kind of unity
amongst the Reformers, especially in view of the threatening attitude
assumed by Charles V. A conference was called at Marburg (1529), at
which Luther, Melanchthon, Osiander, and Agricola agreed to meet
Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Butzer, and the other Swiss leaders. The
conference failed to arrive at a satisfactory agreement, but in 1536
the Concord of Wittenberg was concluded, whereby it was hoped that
peace might be restored by the adoption of a very ambiguous formula.
Luther, however, refused to allow himself to be bound by the
agreement, and the controversy went on as violently as before.
In the meantime Calvin had undertaken to preach doctrines on the
Eucharist entirely different from those put forward by either Zwingli
or Luther, with the result that Zurich found itself in conflict with
Geneva as it had found itself previously in conflict with Wittenberg.
To restore some semblance of unity among the Swiss Reformers
Bullinger, the recognised head of the Zurich party, entered into
communication with Calvin, and a doctrinal agreement was arrived at
known as the /Consensus Tigurinus/ (The Zurich Concord) in 1549. Later
on this was confirmed by the /Confessio Helvetica/ (1564).
After the death of Luther in 1545 Melanchthon became the acknowledged
head of the Lutheran party. On many questions he was inclined to
disagree with the doctrine of his master. His teaching in regard to
the Eucharist began to approximate more closely to the views of
Calvin, so that the Impanation and Companation theories of Luther lost
favour in Germany. The Philippists or Crypto-Calvinists gained ground
rapidly in the country, with the result that the German Protestants
were split up into hostile sections. A conference was held at Naumburg
in 1561, but it broke up without having done anything to restore
religious unity. At last in 1576 the Elector August of Saxony summoned
an assembly of theologians to meet at Torgau, for the discussion of
the differences that had arisen between the orthodox followers of
Luther and the Crypto-Calvinists or followers of Melanchthon. Jacob
Andrea, chancellor of the University of Tubingen, was the life and
soul of the reunion movement. Taking the plan of agreement that had
been formulated by him as a basis for discussion the conference drew
up the /Book of Torgau/, copies of which were despatched to the
Lutheran princes and theologians for an expression of their opinion.
When this had been received the /Book of Torgau/ was revised (1577)
and a Formula of Concord (/Formula Concordiae/) was compiled,
embodying the Confession of Augsburg, Melanchthon's Apology for this
Confession, the Articles of Schmalkald and the two Catechisms issued
by Luther (1577). But as there was no authority to enforce this
Formula several of the states refused to accept it.
In Saxony under Christian I. (1586-91) the Philippists in favour at
court triumphed over their adversaries, but on the death of Christian
the orthodox Lutherans secured the upper hand, and Nicholas Crell, the
prime minister and chancellor of Saxony during the previous reign, was
thrown into prison, and later on he was put to death (1601). Calvinism
continued to make steady progress in Germany. It was introduced into
the Palatinate during the reign of Frederick III. (1583), and though
suppressed by his son and successor, it gained the upper hand.
Similarly in Hesse-Cassel, in Lippe, Brandenburg, and Anhalt, it
gained many new adherents. All attempts at peace amongst the warring
sects having failed, Calvinism was recognised formally at the Peace of
Westphalia (1648).
Violent controversies broke out among the Lutheran party in Germany on
many other matters besides the Eucharist. One of the early followers
of Luther named Agricola,[1] afterwards a professor of Wittenberg
(1539), in his efforts to emphasise the teaching of his master on good
works proclaimed that the spirit of fear so characteristic of the Old
Testament had given way to the mildness and love of the New, and that,
therefore, Christians who had received justification were no longer
under the obligations of the law. This is what was known as
/Antinomism/, a form of error not unknown amongst the early Gnostics
and amongst some of the heretical sects of the Middle Ages. Agricola
was assailed violently by Luther (1538-40), fled to Berlin (1540), and
returned at a later period to make his submission, but Luther refused
all his attempts at reconciliation. Melanchthon, however, adopted a
more friendly attitude. The controversy continued for years, and
/Antinomism/ of a much more exaggerated form spread into other
countries, particularly into England, where Parliament was obliged to
legislate against its supporters during the reign of Charles I.
Closely associated with the Antinomist controversy was another known
as the /Osiandrist/,[2] from the name of one of its principal
participants, Andrew Osiander. The latter, a professor of Hebrew at
Nurnberg, perceiving the dangerous results of Luther's teaching on
good works sought to introduce some modifications that would obviate
the danger involved in the latter's apparent contempt for good works.
For this reason he condemned the general absolution that had been
introduced to replace auricular confession, and insisted upon the
elevation of the Host as a profession of belief in the doctrine of the
Real Presence. Having become involved in a sharp dispute with his
colleagues at Nurnberg he left the university, and accepted a
professorship at Konigsberg in Prussia (1549), where he was supported
by the ruler Duke Albert. In regard to Justification he taught that
forgiveness of sin and satisfaction should not be confounded with
Justification, that the latter is effected by the indwelling of God in
the person of the justified, that though the human nature of Christ is
a necessary condition for redemption it is by the divine nature that
the indwelling of God in man is effected, and that on account of this
indwelling the holiness of God is imputed to the creature. This
teaching aroused considerable opposition. Osiander was denounced by
Morlin and others as Anti-Christ. Duke Albert sought the views of
leading theologians only to find that as they were divided themselves
they could lay down no certain rules for his guidance. Osiander died
in 1552, but the quarrel continued and for a time it seemed as if it
would lead to rebellion. Finally the adversaries of Osiander
triumphed, when they secured the insertion of their views in the
Prussian /Corpus Doctrinae/ (1567) and the execution of Funk the
leading supporter of Osiandrism (1601). Another professor of
Konigsberg at this period, Stancarus, maintained that Redemption is to
be attributed to the human nature rather than to the divine nature of
Christ, but he was expelled from the university, and denounced on all
sides as a Nestorian.
On this question of good works a violent controversy broke out after
the Leipzig /Interim/ (1548). Luther had depreciated entirely the
value of good works as a means to salvation. On this point, however,
Melanchthon was willing to make considerable concessions to the
Catholics, as indeed he did in 1535 and 1548, when he admitted that
good works were necessary for acquiring eternal happiness. This view
was supported warmly by Major, a professor at Wittenberg, who was
denounced by Amsdorf as an opponent of Luther's doctrine of
Justification (1551). Amsdorf, Flacius, and others maintained that
good works were a hindrance rather than an aid to salvation, while
Major clung tenaciously to the position that good works were
meritorious. /Majorism/, as the new heresy was called, was denounced
in the most violent terms because it involved a return to the doctrine
of the Papists. Major was suspended from his office as preacher (1556)
and was obliged to make a recantation (1558).
The /Adiaphorist/ controversy broke out in connexion with the Leipzig
/Interim/ (1548). In this attempt at reconciliation Melanchthon was
not unwilling to yield in many points to the Catholic representatives,
and to agree that several of the doctrines and practices of the Church
that had been assailed by Luther were at least indifferent and might
be admitted. For this he was attacked by Matthias Flacius, surnamed
Illyricus[3] on account of the place of his birth, a professor of
Hebrew at Wittenberg since 1544. The latter protested against the
concessions made by Melanchthon, denounced as impious the union of
Christ with Belial, and returned to Magdeburg, where he was joined by
Amsdorf and others who supported his contention. He was driven from
the city and at last died at Frankfurt in 1575.
The question of man's co-operation in his conversion gave rise to what
was known as the /Synergist/ controversy. Luther had laid it down as a
first principle that man contributed nothing to the work of his own
conversion, but though Melanchthon agreed with this view in the
beginning, he was disposed at a later period to attribute some
activity to the human will, at least in the sense that it must
struggle against its own weakness. This view was strengthened and
developed by John Pfeffinger, a professor at Leipzig, who taught
publicly the necessity of man's co-operation (1550), and published a
treatise in defence of this position (1555). Pfeffinger's doctrine
aroused the opposition of Amsdorf, Flacius, and the other leaders of
the orthodox Lutheran party. Leipzig and Wittenberg joined hands to
support the doctrine of co-operation, while the majority of the
professors at Jena took the opposite side. One of the latter however,
Strigel, supported Pfeffinger, and a public disputation was held at
Gotha under the presidency of Duke John Frederick. The Lutheran party
demanded the punishment of Strigel and his supporters so vigorously
that the Duke was obliged to arrest them, but, annoyed by the attempt
of the Lutherans to set up a religious dictatorship to the detriment
of the supremacy of the civil ruler, he established a consistory
composed of lawyers and officials whose duty it was to superintend the
religious teaching in his territory. The anti-Synergists, having
protested against this measure as an infringement of the rights of the
spiritual authority, were expelled, and Jena entered into line with
Wittenberg and Leipzig for the defence of Synergism. With the change
of rulers came once more a change of doctrine. The princes, alarmed by
the violence of the controversy, assembled a conference at Alternburg
in 1568 which lasted four months without arriving at any agreement. On
the accession of the Elector August the leading opponents of the
Synergists, including a large number of the superintendents and
preachers, were deprived of their offices.
By his lectures and teaching at the University of Hemstadt George
Calixt[4] gave rise to a new and prolonged discussion known as the
/Syncretist/ controversy. The Duke of Brunswick having refused to
accept the /Formula of Concord/, the professors at the university
which he had founded felt themselves much more free in their teaching
than those in other centres of Lutheranism. Calixt denied the ubiquity
of Christ's body and the attribution of divine qualities to Christ's
human nature. Though a strong opponent of several distinctly Catholic
or Calvinist beliefs he saw much that was good in both, and he longed
for a reunion of Christendom on the basis of an acceptance of the
beliefs and practices of the first six centuries. He was charged with
aiming at a confusion of all religions, and in proof of this charge it
was alleged that he rejected the Lutheran teaching on Original Sin and
on man's natural powers of doing good even before justification, that
he defended the meritorious character of good works, the supremacy of
the Pope, at least /de jure ecclesiastico/, and the sacrifice of the
Mass (1639). In 1643 a disputation was held, in which Hornejus, a
colleague of Calixt, supported his doctrine especially on the
meritoriousness of good works. The appearance of Calixt at the
conference summoned by the King of Poland in Thorn (1645) to promote a
reunion with Rome, and the friendly attitude which he had adopted
towards the Catholics and the Calvinists helped to increase the
suspicions of his adversaries. Calixt died in 1656, but for years
after his death the spirit of toleration, that he had done so much to
foster, was one of the distinguishing features of the University of
Helmstadt. It was during this controversy that the Branch Theory,
namely, that Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism formed three
divisions of the one true Church, was formulated clearly for the first
time.
Amongst the Calvinists the extremely crude doctrine on Predestination
taught by Calvin soon proved too much for the faith of many of his
followers. Several of them, holding fast by Calvin's teaching,
contended that regardless of Original Sin God had created some for
glory and others for damnation, that Christ had died only to save the
elect, and that to these alone is given the grace necessary for
salvation (Supralapsarians). Others, horrified by the cruelty of such
a doctrine, maintained that the decree predestining some to hell
followed the prevision of Original Sin (Infralapsarians). This view
had been put forward by Theodore Koonhort, and had found considerable
support, but it was attacked by the majority of the Calvinist
ministers, and a bitter controversy ensued. The orthodox party
summoned to their assistance Arminius[5] (Hermanzoon), a distinguished
young Calvinist preacher, who had attended the lectures of Beza in
Geneva, but whose strict views were modified considerably by a sojourn
in Italy. Instead of supporting the Supralapsarians, his sympathies
were entirely on the side of the milder doctrine, and after his
appointment to a professorship at Leyden (1603) he became the
recognised head of the Infralapsarians. His chief opponent was Gomar,
also a professor at Leyden, who accused Arminius of Semi-Pelagianism.
Arminius, while repudiating such a charge as groundless, rejoined by
pointing out that according to his adversaries God was the author of
sin. Both appeared before an Assembly of the States in 1608 to defend
their views, and though the majority were inclined to favour Arminius,
silence was imposed upon the two principals and upon their followers.
In the next year Arminius himself died (1609), but his doctrines were
upheld by Episcopius supported by the learned jurist, Oldenbarneveld,
and the Humanist, Grotius. In replying to the charge of heresy brought
against them the followers of Arminius presented to the States a
Remonstrance embodying their doctrines (1610) and on this account they
were styled Remonstrants. The States adopted a neutral attitude at
first, but, as the Gomarists or anti-Remonstrants violated the
injunction of silence by founding separate communities, the
authorities were inclined not merely to tolerate but to support the
Remonstrants.
Maurice, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, anxious to
strengthen his position by allying himself with the orthodox
Calvinists, began a bitter campaign against the Arminians.
Oldenbarneveld and Grotius were arrested and brought before the synod
of Dordrecht (1617), at which the former was condemned to death, while
Grotius was imprisoned for life though he succeeded in escaping after
two years. Another Synod was held at Dordrecht (Nov. 1618-April 1619)
to which representatives came from all parts of Holland, the
Palatinate, England, and Scotland. From the beginning the followers of
Arminius were admitted only as accused persons, and were called upon
to defend themselves against the charge of heresy. Against them the
authority of Calvin was urged as if it were infallible. As the
Arminians were suspected of republican principles William of Orange
and his supporters were decidedly hostile. The Remonstrants,
despairing of getting an impartial hearing, left the Synod. The five
Articles contained in the Remonstrance were discussed, and decrees
were issued regarding those portions of Calvin's doctrine that had
been called in question. It was agreed that faith is the pure gift of
God to be given by God to those whom He has predestined by His own
mercy and without any reference to their merits for election; that
Christ died only for the elect; that man's will does not co-operate in
the work of his conversion; and that the elect are exempted from the
dominion of sin, so that although they may be guilty of serious crimes
they can never become enemies of God or forfeit the glory to which
they were predestined. The decrees of the Synod of Dordrecht were
received generally in Holland, Switzerland, France, in the territory
of the Elector of Brandenburg, and in Hesse, but in the other portions
of Calvinist Germany and in the greater part of England they met with
serious opposition.
/Anabaptists/.[6]--The belief that baptism could not be conferred
validly on infants who have not arrived at the use of reason was held
by many of the Middle Age sectaries, and was revived at the time of
the Reformation. Its supporters, claiming for themselves the liberty
of interpreting the Scriptures according to their own judgment,
maintained that they had divine sanction for their teaching. The
leaders of the sect in Saxony and Thuringia were Thomas Munzer and
Nicholas Storch. They represented the extreme left of the Lutheran
party maintaining the equality of men and the community of property.
In Zwickau, where the movement originated, violent disturbances broke
out, and the leaders retired to Wittenberg where they were joined by
Carlstadt. It required the presence of Luther himself to prevent the
city from falling completely into their hands. Owing to the dangerous
character of the radical principles defended by the Anabaptists
several princes of Germany joined hands for their suppression. They
were defeated at the battle of Frankenberg (1525) and Munzer was
arrested and put to death. Before his execution he returned to the
Catholic Church.
Despite this defeat the party made considerable progress in West
Germany and in the Netherlands, where the people were so disgusted
with their political and social conditions that they were ready to
listen to semi-religious, semi-social reformers like the Anabaptists.
They took possession of the city of Munster in Westphalia. The two
principal leaders were John of Leyden (a tailor) and John Matthyas or
Matthieson (a baker), the former of whom was appointed king. The city
was besieged and captured in 1535, and the principal Anabaptists were
put to death. In Switzerland the movement made considerable progress.
From Switzerland it spread into southern Germany, but the triumph of
the princes during the Peasants' War destroyed the hopes of the
extreme Anabaptists, and forced the sect to discard most of its
fanatical tendencies. The leader of the more modern Anabaptist sect
was Menno Simonis, a priest who joined the Society in 1535, and after
whom the Anabaptists are called frequently Mennonites.[7] The latter
rejected infant baptism and Luther's doctrine of Justification by
faith alone. They protested against oaths even in courts of law and
capital punishment.
/Schwenkfeldians/.[8]--This sect owes its origin to Caspar von
Schwenkfeld (1489-1561), a native of Silesia, who, though attached to
many of the doctrines of Luther, believed that Luther was inclined to
lay too much stress on faith and external organisation to the
exclusion of real religion. He thought that more attention should be
paid to the mystical and devotional element, in other words to the
personal union of the individual soul with God. According to him, this
should be the beginning and end of all religion, and if it could be
accomplished organisation and dogma were to be treated as of secondary
importance. He rejected infant baptism, regarded the sacraments as
mere symbols, denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and
maintained that in the Incarnation the human nature of Christ was in a
sense deified. Schwenkfeld held several interviews with Luther in the
hope of winning him over to his opinions but without success. Owing to
his quarrel with the master, Schwenkfeld was banished from Strassburg
in 1533, and condemned by a Lutheran assembly at Schmalkald in 1540.
His doctrines found considerable support in Silesia and in the states
of several German princes, though it was only after Schwenkfeld's
death that his followers began to organise themselves into separate
communities. Owing to persecution many of them fled to America where
they settled in Pennsylvania (1634). In 1742 the sect was tolerated in
Prussia.
/Socinianism/.[9]--The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity found many
opponents in Latin countries about the time of the Reformation.
Michael Servetus, Gentilis, Campanus, and Blandrata, attacked the
Trinity from different points of view, but by far the most dangerous
adversaries of the doctrine were Laelius Socinus (1525-1562) and his
nephew Faustus Socinus (1539-1604). The former of these became a
member of a secret society founded at Vicenza (1546) for the
discussion and propagation of anti-Trinitarian views (1546). The
principal members of this body were Gentilis, Blandrata, Alciatus, and
Laelius Socinus, a priest of Siena and a man who stood in close
relationship with some of the leading Lutherans and Calvinists. When
the society at Vicenza was suppressed several of the prominent members
fled to Poland for asylum. Laelius Socinus, though he remained at
Zurich, was looked up to as the guiding spirit of the party till his
death in 1562. His nephew Faustus Socinus then stepped into the place
vacated by his uncle. The anti-Trinitarians in Poland, who had begun
to style themselves Unitarians since 1563, had established themselves
at Racow. In 1579 Faustus Socinus arrived in Poland, at a time when
the anti-Trinitarians were divided into opposing factions, but in a
short while he succeeded in winning most of them over to his own
views. The doctrines of Socinus and of his principal disciples were
explained in the /Catechism of Racow/ (first published in 1605) and in
the numerous theological works of Socinus. In 1638 the Socinians were
banished from Poland, and violent measures were taken against them by
most of the Catholic and Protestant princes of Europe.
Though Socinus professed the greatest respect for the Sacred
Scriptures as the one and only source of all religion, he claimed the
right of free interpretation even to the extent of rejecting anything
in them that surpassed the powers of human understanding. In this
respect he was as much a rationalist as any of the extreme
rationalists who fought against Christianity in the eighteenth
century. God, he maintained, was absolutely simple and therefore there
could be no Trinity; He was infinite, and therefore could not unite
Himself with human nature, as was assumed in the doctrine of the
Incarnation; the Holy Ghost was not a person distinct from the Father,
but only the energy and power of the Father as manifested in the
sanctification of souls. Christ was not God; He was merely the Logos
born miraculously and deputed by God to be a mediator for men. He
ascended into Heaven, where He was in some sense deified and endowed
with supreme dominion over the universe. Hence in opposition to the
Unitarians Socinus maintained that Christ should be worshipped as God.
He died on the cross according to the command of the Father, but it
was by His example of obedience and by His preaching rather than by
the vicarious sacrifice of His life that man's redemption was
effected. The work of redemption which Christ began on earth is
continued in Heaven through His intercession with the Father. From
this notion of the redemption it followed as a logical consequence
that the sacraments could not be regarded as channels of grace or as
anything more than external signs of union with the Christian body.
The Socinian doctrine was condemned by Paul IV.[10] (1555) and by
Clement VIII. (1603).
/Pietism/.[11]--This movement among the Lutherans resembled closely
some of the developments of Mysticism in the Catholic Church during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its object was to direct
attention to the spiritual and ethical side of religion regardless of
dogma and external organisation. One of its greatest leaders was
Spener,[12] a student at Geneva, and later on a preacher at Frankfurt.
In his endeavours to bring religion to bear on the daily lives of the
people and to awaken in them a sense of their personal relations to
God he founded the /Collegia Pietatis/, private assemblies for the
study of the Scriptures, for the discussion of the means of
redemption, and for a general revival of religious zeal. With the same
object in view he wrote the /Pia Desideria/ (1567), which was much
prized as a spiritual reading book by the devout Lutherans of Germany.
He emphasised the idea of a universal priesthood, which he thought had
been somewhat neglected by the leaders of the Lutherans, advocated for
those who were destined for the ministry a training in spiritual life
rather than in theological lore, encouraged good works as the best
means of securing eternal bliss, objected to polemical discussions,
and welcomed the establishments of private societies for the promotion
of Christian perfection. About the same time Franke and Anton
undertook a similar work in Leipzig by founding the /Collegium
Philobiblicum/ principally for students and members of the university.
This society was suppressed at the instigation of the Lutheran faculty
of theology, and the two founders of it were dismissed. In a short
time Spener was appointed to an office in Berlin and was received with
great favour at the court. By his influence three of his leading
disciples, Franke, Anton, and Breithaupt were appointed professors in
the University of Halle, which from that time became the leading
centre of Pietism in Germany. Students flocked to Halle from all parts
of Germany, from Denmark, and from Switzerland. An attempt was made to
explain away Luther's teaching on good works, and to insist on the
practical as distinct from the intellectual aspect of Christianity.
This relegation of dogma to a secondary place, and the establishment
of private assemblies to supplant the ecclesiastical organisation and
the established liturgy, led to the development of separatist
tendencies and ultimately to the promotion of dogmatic indifference.
It is a noteworthy fact that Semler was one of the students most
sincerely attached to Pietism at Halle.
/Herrnhuters/.[13]--This sect was only a development of the Moravian
Brothers founded in 1457 by one of the Hussite leaders. It owes its
development in the eighteenth century to Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760),
a wealthy nobleman and a Pietist of the school of Spener. A number of
the Moravian or Bohemian Brethren having appealed to him for a
suitable place to establish a settlement, he offered them portion of
his estate at Hutberg (1722). As they were inclined to quarrel amongst
themselves he undertook in person the work of organisation. He
appointed a college of elders to control the spiritual and temporal
affairs of the community, together with a college of deacons to
superintend specially the temporal wants of the brethren. Like the
Pietists generally he paid little attention to dogmatic differences,
allowing the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Moravians to have their own
separate elders. As he was anxious to undertake missionary work he
received Holy Orders, and wished to preach in Bohemia, but the
Austrian government refused to allow him to continue his work in that
province, and even secured his banishment from Saxony. He went through
Europe visiting Holland and England and established some of his
communities in both these countries, after which he returned to
Herrnhut in 1755. During his lifetime Zinzendorf was looked upon as
the head of the whole community, but after his death it was much more
difficult to preserve unity. The Herrnhuters made some progress in
Germany, but their greatest strength at the present day is to be found
in England and the United States.
/Swedenborgians/.[14]--The founder of this sect was Emanuel Swedenborg
(1688-1772), who was born at Stockholm, and educated at the University
of Upsala. He was a very distinguished student especially in the
department of mathematics and physical science, and after an extended
tour through Germany, France, Holland, and England he returned and
settled down in Sweden, where he was offered and refused a chair at
Upsala. From 1734 he began to turn to the study of philosophy and
religion. After 1743, when he declared that Our Lord had appeared to
him in a vision, had taught him the real spiritual sense of Scripture,
and had commanded him to instruct others, he abandoned his
mathematical pursuits and turned entirely to religion. As Judaism had
been supplanted by Christianity, so too, he maintained, the revelation
given by Christ was to be perfected by that granted to himself. He
rejected the Justification theory of Luther, the Predestination
teaching of Calvin, the doctrines of the Trinity, of Original Sin, and
of the Resurrection of the body. The one God, according to him, took
to Himself human flesh, and the name, Son of God, was applied properly
to the humanity assumed by God the Father, while the Holy Ghost was
but the energy and operation of the God Man. The new Jerusalem, that
was to take the place of the Christian Church, was to be initiated on
the day he completed his great work /Vera Christiana Religio/ (1770).
He claimed that the last Judgment took place in his presence in 1757.
During his own life he did little to organise his followers except by
establishing small societies for the study of the Bible, but after his
death the organisation of the new Jerusalem was pushed on rapidly.
From Sweden the sect spread into England, where the first community
was established in Lancashire in 1787, and into America and Germany.
For a long time the Swedenborgians were persecuted as heretics in
Sweden.
----------
[1] Kawerau, /J. Agricola/, 1881. Elwert, /De antinomia Agricolae/,
1837.
[2] Moller, /Dr. Andreas Osiander/, 1870.
[3] Preger, /M. Flacius Illyrikus und seine Zeit/, 2 Bde., 1859-61.
[4] Dowling, /The Life and Correspondence of Christ/, 1863.
[5] Maronier, /Jacobus Arminius/, 1905. De Bray, /Histoire de l'eglise
Arminienne/, 1835.
[6] Keller, /Geschichte der Wiedertaufer und ihres Reichs/, 1880.
[7] Schyn, /Historia Christianorum qui Mennonitae appellantur/, 1723.
[8] Hofmann, /Caspar Schwenkfelds Leben und Lehren/, 1897.
[9] Bock, /Historia Antitrinitariorum maxime Socinianismi/, 1774-84.
Lecler, /F. Socin/, 1884.
[10] Denzinger, op. cit., no. 993.
[11] Ritchl, /Geschichte des Pietismus/, 1880-6.
[12] Hossbach, /Ph. J. Spener und seine Zeit/, 1853.
[13] Camerarius, /Historica narratio de Fratrum Orthodoxorum
ecclesiis/, etc., 1625. Hamilton, /A History of the Moravian
Church or the Unitas Fratrum/, 1900.
[14] Tafel, /Documents concerning the Life and Character of E.
Swedenborg/, 1875-77. Gorres, /Emanuel Swedenborg, seine visionen
und sein verhaltniss zur Kirche/, 1827.