PIETISM AND ITS MISSION.
If any apology can be offered in defence of the ecclesiastical evils
already recounted, it will be, that the fearful devastations of the long
warfare had wrought the public mind into a feverish and unnatural state.
We must not, therefore, pass that cold criticism upon the Church and her
representatives to which they would be justly entitled, had they been
guilty of the same vices during a time of profound peace and material
prosperity.
The philosophy of this whole period of ecclesiastical history may be
summed up in a sentence: The numerous theological controversies, and the
pastoral neglect of the people, before the war, had unfitted both the
clergy and the masses for deriving from it that deep penitence and
thorough reconsecration which a season of great national affliction
should have engendered. The moral excesses apparent during this time had
been produced by causes long anterior to it. Hence, when the protracted
time of carnage and the destruction of property did come, there was no
preparation of mind or heart to derive improvement from it. Had some
provision been made, had theology not abounded in idle disputes, and had
the moral education of the masses been faithfully cared for, instead of
the evils which have been so reluctantly related, there would have been
a lengthy succession of glowing instances of devout piety. And
Protestantism, instead of emerging from the conflict with only equal
rights before the law, would have possessed a sanctified heart, and a
vigorous, truth-seeking mind.
Time was now needed to gather up the instruction taught by those
pillaged towns, slain citizens, and broken social and ecclesiastical
systems. A few years passed by, when the lessons began to be learned,
and signs of rejuvenation appeared. After Spener had commenced his
reformatory labors, he expressly and repeatedly declared that he did not
originate, but only gave expression to, a spirit of religious
earnestness that had already arisen in various quarters. To him belongs
the honor of cultivating and guiding these reassured hearts who had
derived most improvement from the Thirty Years' War. Pietism, the fruit
of their union, became a triumph under the leadership of Spener.
But who were these persons who became aroused to a sense of the
exigencies of the times, and saw that the danger which threatened the
kingdom of God in Germany was now scarcely less than when Tilly was
leading his maddened hordes through the fair fields and over the ruins
of those once happy towns? Some of the clergy were the first to indicate
new life. They preached with more unction, and addressed themselves to
the immediate demands of the parish, especially to provide for the
orphans and widows of those who had fallen in battle. Certain ministers
who had spent their youth in vain theological wrangling, preached
sermons which contained better matter than redundant metaphor and
classical quotations. Müller and Scriver serve as fitting illustrations
of the improvement. They avoided the extended analytical and rhetorical
methods long in use, and adopted the more practical system of earnest
appeal and exhortation.
The clergy needed not to wait long before beholding the fruit of their
labors. For a better spirit manifested itself also among the lower
classes. A singular interest arose in sacred music. Not only in those
venerable Gothic Cathedrals, so long the glory of the Roman Catholic
Church, but in the field and the workshop there could be heard the
melodies of Luther, Sachs, and Paul Gerhard. Young men appeared in
numbers, offering themselves as candidates for the ministry. But let it
not be supposed that these encouraging signs were universal. While the
eye of faith could read the most decided lessons of hope, the religious
dearth was still wide-spread. Nor was it unlikely that in a short time
it would triumph over all the efforts for new life. When Spener rose to
a position of prominence and influence, he saw, as no one else was able
to see, the real danger to the cause of truth; and those affecting
descriptions which we find among his writings, revealing the real wants
of the latter half of the seventeenth century, show how keenly his own
heart had become impressed by them.
It was very evident that the Lutheran Church would require a long period
for self-purification, if indeed she could achieve it at all. The
shorter and more effectual way would be to operate _individually_ upon
the popular mind. And does not the entire history of the Church prove
that reform has originated from no concerted action of the body needing
reformation, but from the solemn conviction and persevering efforts of
some single mind, which, working first alone, has afterward won to its
assistance many others? Its work then reacted upon the parent
organization in such way that the latter became animated with new power.
The enemies of Pietism made the same objection to it that all the
opponents of reform have ever made: "This is very good in itself, but do
you not see that it is not the Church that is working? We would love to
see the cause of truth advanced and our torpid Church invigorated with
the old Reformation-life; but we would rather see the whole matter done
in a perfectly systematic and legitimate way. Now this Pietism has some
good features about it, but it acts in its own name. We do not like this
absurd fancy of _ecclesiolæ in ecclesia_; but we prefer the Church to
act as the Church, and for its own purposes." Thus reasoned the enemies
of Pietism, who claimed as heartily as any of their contemporaries that
they were strict adherents of truth and warm supporters of spiritual
life. But their reasoning, however baseless, found favor; and the Church
gradually came to look upon Pietism not as a handmaid, but as an
adversary.
But we must first learn what Pietism proposed to do before we can
appreciate its historical importance. Dorner holds, with a large number
of others, that this new tendency was a necessary stage in the
development of Protestantism,--a supplement of the Reformation. Though
laughed at for two centuries by the Churchists on the one hand, and by
the Rationalists on the other, it has to-day a firmer hold upon the
respect of those who know its history best than at any former period.
What if Arnold, and Petersen and his wife, did indulge in great
extravagances? Have not the same unpleasant things occurred in the
Church at other times? Yet, because not classed under any sectarian
name, there has been but a transient estimate placed upon them, and
criticism has been merciless. Is not every good institution subject to
perversion at any time? We believe Dorner to be correct, and that Spener
was the veritable successor of Luther and Melanchthon. A recent author,
who has shown a singular facility in grouping historical periods and
discovering their great significance, says: "Pietism went back from the
cold faith of the seventeenth century to the living faith of the
Reformation. But just because this return was vital and produced by the
agency of the Holy Spirit, it could not be termed a literal return. We
must not forget that the orthodoxy of the seventeenth century was only
the extreme elaboration of an error, the beginning of which we find as
far back as Luther's time, and which became more and more a power in the
Church through the influence of Melanchthon. It was this: Mistaking the
faith by which we believe for the faith which is believed. The principle
of the Reformation was justification by faith, not the doctrine of faith
_and_ justification. In reply to the Catholics it was deemed sufficient
to show that this was the true doctrine which points out the way of
salvation to man. And the great danger lay in mistaking faith itself for
the doctrine of faith. Therefore, in the controversies concerning
justifying faith, we find that faith gradually came to be considered in
relation to its doctrinal aspects more than in connection with the
personal, practical, and experimental knowledge of men. In this view
Pietism is an _elaboration_ of the faith of the sixteenth century....
Without being heterodox, Spener even expressed himself in the most
decided manner in favor of the doctrines of the Church. He would make
faith consist less in the dogmatism of the head than in the motions of
the heart; he would bring the doctrine away from the angry disputes of
the schools and incorporate it into practical life. He was thoroughly
united with the Reformers as to the real signification of justifying
faith, but these contraries which were sought to be reëstablished he
rejected.... From Spener's view a new phase of spiritual life began to
pervade the heart. The orthodoxy of the State Church had been accustomed
to consider all baptized persons as true believers if only they had been
educated in wholesome doctrines. There was a general denial of that
living, conscious, self-faith which was vital in Luther, and had
transformed the world. The land, because it was furnished with the
gospel and the sacraments, was considered an evangelical country. The
contrast between mere worldly and spiritual life, between the living and
dead members of the Church, was practically abolished, though there
still remained a theoretical distinction between the visible and
invisible Church. As to the world outside the pale of the Church, the
Jews and Heathen, there was no thought whatever. Men believed they had
done their whole duty when they had roundly combated the other Christian
Churches. Thus lived the State Church in quiet confidence of its own
safety and pure doctrine at the time when the nation was recovering from
the devastations of the Thirty Years' War. 'In the times succeeding the
Reformation,' says a Würtemberg pastor of the past century, 'the greater
portion of the common people trusted that they would certainly be saved
if they believed correct doctrines; if one is neither a Roman Catholic,
nor a Calvinist, and confesses his opposition, he cannot possibly miss
heaven; holiness is not so necessary after all.'"[24]
The enemies of Pietism have confounded it with Mysticism. There are
undoubted points in common, but Pietism was aggressive instead of
contemplative; it was practical rather than theoretical. Both systems
made purity of life essential, but Mysticism could not guard against
mental disease, while Pietism enjoyed a long season of healthful life.
The latter was far too much engaged in relieving immediate and pressing
wants to fall into the gross errors which mark almost the entire career
of the former. Pietism was mystical in so far as it made purity of heart
essential to salvation; but it was the very antipodes of Mysticism when
organized and operating against a languid and torpid Church with such
weapons as Spener and his coadjutors employed. Boehme and Spener were
world-wide apart in many respects; but in purity of heart they were
beautifully in unison.
Pietism commenced upon the principle that the Church was corrupt; that
the ministry were generally guilty of gross neglect; and that the people
were cursed with spiritual death. It proposed as a theological means of
improvement: I. That the scholastic theology, which reigned in the
academies, and was composed of the intricate and disputable doctrines
and obscure and unusual forms of expression, should be totally
abolished. II. That polemical divinity, which comprehended the
controversies subsisting between Christians of different communions,
should be less eagerly studied and less frequently treated, though not
entirely neglected. III. That all mixture of philosophy and human
science with divine wisdom was to be most carefully avoided; that is,
that pagan philosophy and classical learning should be kept distinct
from, and by no means supersede, Biblical theology. But, IV. That, on
the contrary, all those students who were designed for the ministry
should be kept accustomed from their early youth to the perusal and
study of the Holy Scriptures, and be taught a plain system of theology
drawn from these unerring sources of truth. V. That the whole course of
their education should be so directed as to render them useful in life,
by the practical power of their doctrine, and the commanding influence
of their example.[25]
The founder of Pietism, Philip Jacob Spener, was in many respects the
most remarkable man of his century. He was only thirteen years old at
the close of the Thirty Years' War. His educational advantages were
great; and after completing his theological studies at Strasburg, where
he enjoyed the society and instruction of the younger Buxtorf, he made
the customary tour of the universities. He visited Basle, Tübingen,
Freiburg, Geneva, and Lyons; spending three years before his return
home. From a child he was noted for his taciturn, peaceful, confiding
disposition; and when he reached manhood these same qualities increased
in strength and beauty. His studies had led him somewhat from the course
of theology--at least certain branches of it--and he became greatly
fascinated with heraldry. But gradually he identified himself with
pastoral life, and into its wants and duties he entered with great
enthusiasm. He was for a short time public preacher in Strasburg, but on
removing from that city he assumed the same office in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here the field opened fairly before him, and,
confident of success, he began the work of reform.
The instruction of children in the doctrines of Christianity, as we have
already said, had been sadly neglected, because the pastors of the
church had committed the task to less competent hands. Spener determined
that he would assume complete control of the matter himself, and, if
possible, teach the children during the week without any coöperation.
His labors proved a great success; and his reform in catechetical
instruction, not only in Frankfort, but thence into many parts of
Germany, eventuated in one of the chief triumphs of his life. But he had
further noticed that the customary preaching was much above the
capacity, and unsuited to the wants, of the masses. He resolved upon a
simple and perspicuous style of discourse, such as the common mind could
comprehend. But, seeing that this was not enough, he organized weekly
meetings of his hearers, to which they were cordially invited. There he
introduced the themes of the previous Sabbath, explained any difficult
points that were not fully understood, and enlarged on the plain themes
of the gospel. These meetings were the _Collegia Pietatis_, or _Schools
of Devotion_, which gave the first occasion for the reproachful epithet
of Pietism. They brought upon their founder much opposition and odium,
but were destined to produce an abundant harvest throughout the land.
Spener entertained young men at his own house, and prepared them, by
careful instruction and his own godly example, for great ministerial
usefulness. These, too, were nurtured in the _collegia_, and there they
learned how to deal with the uneducated mind and to meet the great wants
of the people. The meetings were, at the outset, scantily attended, but
they increased so much in interest that, first his own dwelling, and
then his church, became crowded to their utmost capacity.
In 1675 Spener published his great work, _Pia Desideria_. Here he laid
down his platform: _That the word of God should be brought home to the
popular heart; that laymen, when capable and pious, should act as
preachers, thus becoming a valuable ally of the ministry; that deep love
and practical piety are a necessity to every preacher; that kindness,
moderation, and an effort to convince should be observed toward
theological opponents; that great efforts should be made to have worthy
and divinely-called young men properly instructed for the ministry; and
that all preachers should urge upon the people the importance of faith
and its fruits._ This book was the foundation of Spener's greatest
influence and also of the strongest opposition with which he met. As
long as he taught in private he escaped all general antagonism; but on
the publication of his work he became the mark of envy, formalism, and
high-churchism.
After he was invited to Dresden in 1686, the state church indicated a
decided disapprobation of his measures. He incurred the displeasure of
the Elector by his fearless preaching and novel course of educating the
young. His teaching of the masses drew upon him the charge that "a
court-preacher was invited to Dresden, but behold, nothing but a school
teacher!" He deemed it his duty to accept the invitation of Frederic of
Brandenburg to make Berlin his residence, where, in 1705, he ended his
days, after a life of remarkable usefulness but of unusual strife.
It would be a pleasure to linger a while in the beautiful scenes which
Spener's life affords us. Endowed with the most childlike nature, he
was nevertheless a lion in contest. And yet who will find any
bitterness in his words; where does he wax angry against his opponent?
He did not shun controversy, because his mission demanded it; but no man
loved peace more than Spener. His mind was always calm; and it was his
lifelong aim to "do no sin." His enemies,--among whom we must not forget
that he had a Schelwig, a Carpzov, an Alberti, and a whole Wittenberg
Faculty,--never denied his amiable disposition; and it was one of his
expressions in late life that "all the attacks of his enemies had never
afflicted him with but one sleepless night." It was his personal
character that went almost as far as his various writings to infuse
practical piety into the church. He was respected by the great and good
throughout the land. Crowned heads from distant parts of the Continent
wrote to him, asking his advice on ecclesiastical questions. He was one
of those men who, like Luther, Wesley, and others, was not blind to the
great service of an extensive correspondence. He answered six hundred
and twenty-two letters during one year, and at the end of that time
there lay three hundred unanswered upon his table. His activity in
composition knew no bounds. For many years of his life he was a member
of the Consistory, and was engaged in its sessions from eight o'clock in
the morning until seven in the evening. But still he found time,
according to Canstein, to publish seven folio volumes, sixty-three
quartos, seven octavos, and forty-six duodecimos; besides very many
introductions and prefaces to the works of friends and admirers, and
republications of practical books suited to the times and the cause he
was serving. After his death his enemies did all in their power to cast
reproach upon his name. They even maligned his moral character, which
had hitherto stood above reproach. It was a grave question at the
hostile universities whether the term _Beatus Spener_ could be used of
him. Professor Teck, of Rostock, published a work _On the Happiness of
those who die in the Lord_, in which he decided that heaven will open
its gates sometimes to the extremely impious who die without any
external mark of repentance, and also to those who die in gross sin; but
not to such a man as Spener.
The University of Halle was founded for the avowed purpose of promoting
personal piety, Scriptural knowledge, and practical preaching throughout
the land. It had already been a place of instruction, but not of
theological training. The theological faculty was composed of Francke,
Anton, and Breithaupt. These men were deeply imbued with the fervid zeal
of Spener, and set themselves to work to improve and continue what he
had inaugurated. The field was ample, but the task was arduous. While
Spener lived at Dresden, Francke, who taught at Leipsic, enjoyed a brief
personal intercourse with him, and became thoroughly animated with his
spirit. On his return to Leipsic, he commenced exegetical lectures on
various parts of the Bible, and instituted _Collegia Pietatis_ for such
students as felt disposed to attend them. So great was the increase of
attendance, both at the lectures and also at the meetings, that Francke
was suspended and Pietism forbidden. It was, therefore, with a wounded
and injured spirit that he availed himself of the privilege afforded in
the new seat of learning.
Francke was naturally an impulsive man, and his ardent temperament led
him sometimes into unintended vagaries. An extravagance of his once
caused Spener to remark, that "his friends gave him more trouble than
all his enemies." But he was not more erroneous than most men of the
same type of character; and there is not a real moral or intellectual
blemish upon his reputation. His aim was fixed when he commenced to
teach at Halle; and he prosecuted it with undivided assiduity until the
close of his useful life. The story of his conversion is beautifully
told in his own language. Like Chalmers, he was a minister to others
before his own heart was changed. He was about to preach from the words,
"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."
He says: "My whole former life came before my eyes just as one sees a
whole city from a lofty spire. At first it seemed as if I could number
all my sins; but soon there opened the great fountain of them--my own
blind unbelief, which had so long deceived me; I was terrified with my
lost condition, and wondered if God were merciful enough to bless me. I
kneeled down and prayed. All doubt vanished; I was assured in my own
heart of the grace of God in Christ. Now I know him, not alone as my God
but as my Father. All melancholy and unrest vanished, and I was so
overcome with joy, that from the fullness of my heart I could praise my
Saviour. With great sorrow I had kneeled; but with wonderful ecstacy I
had risen up. It seemed to me as if my whole previous life had been a
deep sleep, as if I had only been dreaming, and now for the first time
had waked up. I was convinced that the whole world, with all its
temporal joy, could not kindle up such pleasure in my breast."
A few days afterwards he preached from the same text as before. The
sermon was the first real one that he had preached. Henceforth his heart
was in the work for which God had chosen him.
He preached in Halle statedly, for, in addition to the duties of the
professor's chair, he was pastor of a church. His ministrations in the
pulpit became extremely popular and attractive. Naturally eloquent, he
won the masses to his ministry; and by his forcible presentation of
truth he molded them into his own methods of faith and thought. Nor was
he less zealous or successful in his theological lectures. He commenced
them in 1698, by a course on the _Introduction to the Old Testament_,
concluding with a second one on the New Testament.
In 1712, he published his _Hermeneutical Lectures_, containing his
comments on sections and books of Scripture, particularly on the Psalms
and the Gospel of John. In his early life he had observed the dearth of
lectures on the Scriptures; and he accordingly applied himself to remedy
the evil. His principles of instruction were, _first_, that the student
be converted before he be trained for the ministry, otherwise his
theology would be merely a sacred philosophy--_philosophia de rebus
sacris_; _second_, that he be thoroughly taught in the Bible, for "a
theologian is born in the Scriptures." His _Method of Theological Study_
produced a profound impression, and was the means of regenerating the
prevailing system of theological instruction at the universities.
But Francke is chiefly known to the present generation by his foundation
of the Orphan House at Halle. This institution was the outgrowth of his
truly practical and beneficent character; and from his day to the
present, it has stood a monument of his strong faith and great humanity.
Its origin was entirely providential. It was already a custom in Halle
for the poor to convene every week at a stated time, and receive the
alms which had been contributed for their support. Francke saw their
weekly gatherings, and resolved to improve the occasion by religious
teaching. But their children were also ignorant, and there was no hope
that the parents would be able to educate them. So he resolved to do
something also in this direction, and secured some money for this
purpose. But yet the parents did not thus apply it; whereupon he placed
a box in his own dwelling, that all who visited him might contribute. He
knew that then he would have the personal distribution of such funds.
During three months one person deposited four thalers and sixteen
groschen; when Francke exclaimed, "That is a noble thing--something good
must be established--with this money I will found a school." Two thalers
were spent for twenty-seven books; but the children brought back only
four out of the whole number that they had taken home. New books were
bought, and henceforth it was required that they be left in the room. At
first Francke's own study was the book depository and school-room; but
in a short time his pupils so greatly increased that he hired adjacent
accommodations. Voluntary contributions came in freely; new buildings
were erected, and teachers provided; and before the death of the
founder, the enterprise had grown into a mammoth institution, celebrated
throughout Europe, and scattering the seeds of truth into all lands.[26]
It became a living proof that Pietism was not only able to combat the
religious errors of the times but also to grapple with the grave wants
of common life. Is not that a good and safe theology, which, in addition
to teaching truth, can also clothe the naked and feed the hungry?
Francke's prayer, so often offered in some secluded corner of the field
or the woods, was answered even before his departure from labor to
reward; "Lord, give me children as plenteous as the dew of the morning;
as the sand upon the sea-shore; as the stars in the heavens; so numerous
that I cannot number them!"
The theological instruction of Francke and his coadjutors in the
University of Halle was very influential. During the first thirty years
of its history six thousand and thirty-four theologians were trained
within its walls, not to speak of the multitudes who received a thorough
academic and religious instruction in the Orphan House. The Oriental
Theological College, established in connection with the University,
promoted the study of Biblical languages, and originated the first
critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, it founded missions to
the Jews and Mohammedans. From Halle streams of the new life flowed out
until there were traces of reawakening throughout Europe. First, the
larger cities gave signs of returning faith; and the universities which
were most bitter against Spener were influenced by the power of the
teachings of his immediate successors. Switzerland was one of the first
countries to adopt Pietism. Zürich, Basle, Berne, and all the larger
towns received it with gladness. It penetrated as far east as the
provinces bordering on the Baltic Sea, and as far North as Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden. Many of the Continental courts welcomed it, and
Orphan Houses, after the model of Francke's, became the fashion of the
day. The Reformed church was influenced and impelled by it, and even
England and the Netherlands indicated a strong sympathy for its
practical and evangelical features. No higher tribute can be paid it
than that of Tholuck, who avers, "_that the Protestant church of Germany
has never possessed so many zealous Christian ministers and laymen as in
the first forty years of the eighteenth century_."
There are two names intimately connected with Pietism in its better
days, which it would be improper to pass over. Arnold, the historian of
Pietism, and Thomasius, the eminent jurist. They were both alike
dangerous to the very cause they sought to befriend. The former, in his
_History of Churches and Heretics_, took such decided ground against the
existing church system that he was fairly charged with being a
Separatist. He attached but little importance to dogmatics, despised
orthodoxy, and inveighed against the church as if she were the veriest
pest in the land. While a student at Wittenberg he applied himself to
the study of Mysticism, and now claimed that its incorporation with
Pietism was the only salvation of Christianity. He held that great sins
had existed in the church ever since the days of the Apostles, the first
century being the only period when it enjoyed comparative purity.
Thomasius, very naturally, held Arnold in high esteem, and lauded his
services in the following language: "He is the only man, or at least the
first, who has avoided the follies into which others have fallen, and
discovered and fully exposed the errors which have been especially
committed by the Englishman Cave; he has maintained that the Church of
Christ, with respect to life and conduct, had begun to fall into decay
immediately after the ascension of our Saviour, and still more after the
death of the Apostles, and that this degeneracy had enormously
increased since the age of Constantine the Great."[27]
Thomasius, though not personally connected with Pietism, gave it all his
influence. He was Director of the University of Halle, and defended the
Pietists from the standpoint of statesmanship. He believed Pietism the
only means of uprooting the long-existing corruptions of education,
society, and religion. He opposed the custom of teaching and lecturing
in Latin, warmly advocating the use of French, and subsequently of
German. He wished to cultivate the German spirit, and spared no pains to
accomplish his purpose. While yet a teacher at Leipzig he announced a
course of lectures to be delivered in the German language. The outcry
was great against him; but he persevered, and henceforth delivered all
his lectures in his mother tongue. Since his time the use of Latin, as a
colloquial, has gradually decreased, and at the present day the German
is the chief language employed at the universities. Thomasius was also
the first to combat the system of prosecutions for witchcraft, and the
application of torture in criminal trials. He was a thorough and
indefatigable reformer. His name was a tower of strength in his
generation; and he left a vivid impress upon the German mind of the
eighteenth century. He published many works, some of which were directed
against the ministry because of their neglect of duty.
A new generation of professors arose in Halle. C. B. Michaelis, the
younger Francke, Freilinghausen, the elder Knapp, Callenberg, and
Baumgarten, took the place of their more vigorous predecessors. It is
deplorable to see how Pietism now began to lose its first power and
earnest spirit. The persistent inquiry into scriptural truth passed
over into a tacit acquiescence of the understanding. Reliance was placed
on the convictions, more than on the fruits of study. Spener had blended
the emotions of the mind and heart, reason and faith, harmoniously; but
the later Pietists cast off the former and blindly followed the latter.
Hence they soon found themselves indulging in superstition, and
repeating many of the errors of some of the most deluded Mystics.
Science was frowned upon, because of its supposed conflict with the
letter of Scripture. The language of Spener and Francke, which was full
of practical earnestness, came into disuse. Definitions became loose and
vague. The _Collegia_, which had done so much good, now grew formal,
cold, and disputatious. The missions, which had begun very auspiciously,
dwindled from want of means and men. External life became pharisaical.
Great weight was attached to long prayers. A Duke of Coburg required the
masters of schools to utter a long prayer in his presence, as a test of
fitness for advancement. Pietism grew mystical, ascetic, and
superstitious. Some of its advocates and votaries made great pretensions
to holiness and unusual gifts. This had a tendency to bring the system
into disrepute in certain quarters, though the good influences that it
had exerted still existed and increased. It might disappear, but the
good achieved by it would live after it. But a strong effort was made by
Frederic William I. to maintain its prominence and weight. From 1729 to
1736, he continued his edict that no Lutheran theologian should be
appointed in a Prussian pulpit who had not studied at least two years in
Halle, and received from the faculty a testimonial of his state of
grace. But when he was succeeded by Frederic II., commonly called
Frederic the Great, that University no longer enjoyed the royal
patronage, and Halle, instead of being the school of practical piety and
scriptural study, degenerated into a seminary of Rationalism.
It was charged against the Pietists that they wrote but little. Writing
was not their mission. It was theirs to act, to reform the practical
life and faith of the people, not to waste all their strength in a war
of books. They wrote what they needed to carry out their lofty aim; and
this was, perhaps, sufficient. They did lack profundity of thought; but,
let it be remembered that their work was restorative, not initial.
Pietism, though it ceased its aggressive power after Francke and
Thomasius, was destined to exert a reproductive power long afterwards.
From their day to the present, whenever there has arisen a great
religious want, the heart of the people has been directed towards this
same agency as a ground of hope. Whatever be said against it, it cannot
be denied that it has succeeded in finding a safe lodgment in the
affections of the evangelical portion of the German church.
Witness Bengel, who was a Pietist of the Spener school. He was warmly
devoted to the spread of practical truth and a correct understanding of
the Bible. Kahnis says of him: "We might indeed call conscientiousness
the fundamental virtue of Bengel. Whatever he utters, be it in science,
or life, is more mature, more well-weighed, more pithy, more consecrated
than most of what his verbose age has uttered. In the great he saw the
little, in the little the great." In the present century the church has
had recourse to Pietism as its only relief from a devastating
Rationalism. Not the Pietism of Spener and Francke, we acknowledge, but
the same general current belonging to both. Its organ was the
_Evangelical Church Gazette_, in 1827, and among the celebrities who
attached themselves to it we find the names of Heinroth, von Meyer,
Schubert, von Raumer, Steffens, Schnorr, and Olivier.
Pietism lacked a homogeneous race of teachers. Here lay the secret of
its overthrow. Had the founders been succeeded by men of much the same
spirit, and equally strong intellect, its existence would have been
guaranteed, as far as anything religious can be promised in a country
where there is a state church to control the individual conscience. The
great mistake of Lutheranism was in failing to adopt it as its child.
The skeptical germ which soon afterwards took root, gave evidence that
it could prove its overthrow for a time, at least; but the evils of
Rationalism were partially anticipated by the practical teachings of the
Pietists. Rationalism in Germany, without Pietism as its forerunner,
would have been fatal for centuries. But the relation of these
tendencies, so plainly seen in the ecclesiastical history of Germany, is
one of long standing. From the days of Neo-Platonism to the present they
have existed, the good to balance the evil, Faith to limit Reason. They
have been called by different names; but Christianity could little
afford to do without it or its equivalent, in the past; and the Church
of the Future will still cling as tenaciously and fondly to it or to its
representative.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Auberlen: _Die Göttliche Offenbarung_, vol. I., pp. 278-281. The
second volume of this important work has been completed, but the gifted
author has just died. His book must therefore take its place in the
catalogue of brilliant but hopeless fragments.
[25] Watson, _Theolog. Dict._ Art. _Protestant Pietists_.
[26] Schmid, _Geschichte des Pietismus_, pp. 290-293. How greatly this
movement was favored by Providence, may be seen from the Report
presented to King Frederick William I, shortly after Francke's
death:--1. The Normal School with 82 scholars and 70 teachers; 2. The
Latin School of the Orphan House, with 3 Inspectors, 32 teachers, 400
scholars, and 10 servants; 3. The German Citizens' school, with 4
Inspectors, 102 Teachers, 1725 Boys and Girls; 4. Orphan Children, 134,
and 10 overseers; 5. Number accommodated at the tables, 251 students,
3600 poor children; 6. Furniture, Apothecary, Bookstore, employing 53
persons; 7. Institution for women unable to work.
[27] Schmid, _Geschichte des Pietismus_, pp. 475-486.