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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre .dproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6r!eur gauche, de gauche d droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (^^^^trrtu^^x^t^^^ ^'f^/f^ THK FOREIGN BIBLICAL LIBRARY EDITED liV i UK REV. vv. ROBERTSON NICOLL. M.A., Editor oj the ' Expositor:' - Jt ROTHE^S STILL HOURS. TORONTO: S. R. BRIGGS. TORONTO Vai LARD TRACT DEPOSITORV AXD IJIIiLE DEPOT, Corner of Vonge and Temi-euance Streets. STILL HOURS. »Y RICHARD ROTHE. TRANSLATED BY JANE T. STODDART. mTH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAV BY THE REV. JOHN iMACPHERSON, M.A. TORONTO: S. R. BRIGGS, TORONTO WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY AND IJII3LE DEPOT, Corner or Vo.nce and Tempera.nce Strrets U CONTENTS. Introductory Essay I^-H ExPKR,..c.s . ': PERSONAL. Self-Criticism PosVnr.vT.?""'''""'-^"^ -" ^"^ CHURCH J osiTioN IN Reference to the Present Relation to the Parties of the Da^ * ' Tolerance and Criticism . . * n. THE PRINCIPLES OF SPECULA r The Task of Speculation Fundamental Principles of* Speculahon " ' Speculative System . ION. T„. IT "^- ^^ GOD. The Existence of God The Unity of God The Absoluteness of God The Infinitude of God The Immutability of God . Separate Divine Attributes Pantheism and Materialism • IV. GOD AND THE WORLD Creation of the World Preservation of the World Anuels and Devils The Supersensual World '. Space and Time Spirit . . ' ' ' Creation of the Human Spirit Life (Light) . Man and Mankind Man and Animal , V. ON MAN. I'AOK 9 45 46 SI 56 59 65 73 81 84 91 93 95 98 100 102 108 '•3 123 126 127 128 ^33 136 144 »47 150 CONTENTS. Soul and Body Tersonalitv . . . . Affection and Temperamen Memory .... Guts of Mind Great and Small . Strength and Weakness Conscience The Will Freedom Temptation , Sin .... Good and Evil Selfishness . Pleasure-Seeking . Passion . Vanity . Coarseness Folly Jesuitism PAGE «59 164 168 171 >73 «74 '75 176 178 184 '85 189 192 »93 «93 194 194 194 VI. ON CHRISt. ^.— CHRISTOLOGY. Biblical Dkductions Idea of the Logos .... * '^ Church Doctrine ..!.]'*' *°' The Personality of Christ . . \ ' ' ^^^ The Vocation of Jesus .... ^°^ Personal Character of Jesus ' ' ' * • ^'° God and Christ ... ^" 216 ^.-SOTERIOLOGY. Revelation .... The Bible ■ - \ . \ , ' ' ' ' *\ Faith in Christ . . . .' * Unbelief ••...,' "o Reconciliation •■...." ^^o Predestination '....,'' Substitution ....'.'**' *^^ Justification ...... '' ^^^ Sanctification ■....*'" ^^^ Reward ... *^^ 234 CONTEA'TS. VII. THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE Good, Virtue, Duty Individual and Social Morahiv Union of God and Man Union of Man and God Prayer .... IJelief in God's Providenc The Worth of Life Vocation i.\ Life Work Humility Self-Restraint Independence Dignity . Happiness Suffering Maturity Old Age . Death . . Continuation of Life after Death VIIL THE SOCIAL LIFE OF The Social Sphere Social Duties Intercourse . Sociability . Love Man and Woman IX. ON CHURC The Apostolic Age St. John . . St. Paul Judaism . Heathenism . Mohammedanism Catholicism . Catholicism and Catholicism and . The Reformation . Protestantism The Reformation and 'ths Church Protestantism the State CHRISTIAN. PAGB 341 244 246 249 251 255 256 257 258 261 263 263 267 267 269 271 THE CHRISTIAN. I HISTORY. 277 281 281 284 286 289 295 296 296 301 301 302 302 304 306 307 308 310 I 8 CONTEZ/TS. EKORMED Churches The Lutheran and the R Union Pietism .... Mysticism and Thi-osoi'hy Fanaticism Rationalism . Supernaturalism . schleiermacher . * r^ X. ON POLITICS Church and State Prince and People Authority Ranks of the Community Political Freedom Formation of Parties . Popular Represeniation Absolutism Republics Revolution Germany North and South German Europe . France . Russia . XI QUESTIONS OF CULTURE. History . Culture . Science . Art . Literature Criticism Pedagogy XFL CHRISTIANITV AND THE CHURCH The Church . '^^'^-y^n. Piety The Clergy , Worship . The Sacraments Dogma .... Theological and Secular Science Christianity outside the Church PAr.E 3'7 318 320 321 323 328 331 ii^ 340 344 345 347 348 349 349 350 350 351 353 354 354 357 360 363 365 368 369 370 375 385 393 395 399 401 403 407 x/ INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. The name of Rothe is not by any means familiar to the English reader, but it may be confidently expected that the translation of the volume which IS now presented will most favourably introduce that name to the notice of the cultured and thoughtful as that of one to whom high rank among his own countrymen as a thinker and scholar has been most deservedly accorded. The sententious utterances which constitute the work before us reveal at once the man of deeply disciplined Christian character and of profound and thoroughly matured scholarship' In one respect such a collection of sayings on a wide range of subjects forms a fitting introduction to the study of the life-work of one who devoted all his powers to the elucidation of many of those themes to which passing reference is made ; but, in another respect, it presupposes a certain acquaintance with the author's intellectual characteristics and theological position, without which many of the summary re- marks and terse criticisms could not be fully appre- ciatea. The principal source for information regarding e l.fe and scientific development of our author is the V ' to STILL HOURS. Bern rT ^ constructed by Professor Nippold, of extell y' °" '"^"'^ '■™"' '^°«'e's own lork r.'"f '"f""^"'' correspondence. This large wok of twelve hundred pages sets forth, according to .ts prom.se, a most vivid picture of the Christian man and from its stores we shall freely draw the ma er^ specially required for our present purpose RoL !•/ °"' ^^° ^"" '"■'"=="• completely, as Rothe d,d, to realize the vocation of the scholar must necessarily be uneventful as concerns the r^ of the outward hfe and movement; but as a study of moral and spiritual development, as yielding the d? .1 ''T '"' °' "^^ ""■"-">'. -here, side by s-de w.th abstract speculation, we find tL mos^ gen,al and mtense display of warm human affections s.derat.on It will be the object of this short sketch to set before the reader what it seems desirable t^at he hould know regarding the author, in order to the better understanding of the point and purpose of his statements and criticisms of previous and con em Porary systems and modes of thought • rStti'"*' "" '"" °" "'^' 3°«> January, 1799. m Posen, a cty of Prussian Poland, where h^ was soon after c"Cd l^"^^^ ^^ later to Breslau in Silesia, with which Roth's INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. II youthful days are specially associated. His mother belonged to a family which had long occupied dis- tinguished positions in the public services, and was herself a woman of high mental endowment and rich . Christian experience. The days in which they lived were unsettled, and a vigorous effort was being made to reduce the administration of the several provinces of the kingdom under one gene ' system. The duty of the elder Rothe in his office at Breslau was to arrange and determine the incidence of taxation for the province, and generally to superintend the assessment and collection of the revenue. His know- ledge of principles and details seems to have been very remarkable, and his official fidelity and energy called forth, on several occasions, special recognition and gratifying marks of the approval of distinguished statesmen. Alongside of intellectual capacity of an unusually high order on the part of both parents we find the most attractive and beautiful domestic quali- ties. In such a home, presided over by those whose virtues commanded at once respect and love, Richard Rothe was from his earliest years surrounded by influences which powerfully contributed to mould that character which, in so remarkable a degree, awakened in all who knew him sentiments of high esteem and warm affection. Having passed through the usual course at the Reformed Frederick Gymnasium in Breslau. he was ready to enter upon his university course. He was now in the eighteenth year of hi. age. Religious had Till " ""." P"""^^' ="•" -"•^■. q"-«o„. had already occupied much of his attention • con eagerly l.stened to, and discussions among his tr'hrr;" «>«"'- "^-h occupied their parent thoughts had been heartily and intelligently shared n by young Rothe. Preparation for'conl^a'n ittitudT t3;"a:rard '°7''' ''" ''"-- essent,a„y consists in direct personal fellowshrpri h t-od. The key-note was thus struck in his earlv years wh.ch sounds through his entire religi^us"^" The tendency to depreciate carefully formulated dogmas, „hich was so marked a characListirof ht . nt.fic attitude as a theologian, appears in h s eari,es expressions of religious experience, alongside of an mtense realisation of the power and comfort of prayer .„ the name of Jesus, to which, amid aU h recttd t h° ■"' T°' °' "''^ '"'■ '^""'^ "as 11 r •'°'"'"'' '" ^ '^"^••acteristic way the ead,ng Matures of his spiritual experience. « ad found my Lord and Redeemer," he says wthout the help of any human teacher, and inX' pendently of any traditional ascetic method hlwnl been mwardly drawn towards Him, at a very early under the pressure of a gradually deepening feeling INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 13 Of a personal, as well as a universal human need. But It never occurred to me that there must be any- thmg of a traditional and statutory, or generally of a conventional character, in the Christian doctrine of faith and in the Christian construction of man's life In short, my Christianity was of a very modern sort • It fearlessly kept itself open on every side, wherever m all God's wide world it might receive influences in a truly human way." This liberal or doctrinally lax tendency was greatly fostered by the course of reading from the works of modern German writers, which at this period he diligently prosecuted. Schiller, Goethe Richter, Schlegel, Tieck, and Fouqu^ were his' favourite poets ; and the mystical, pious sayings of Novahs exercised over him, as we might well expect, a wonderful fascination. In later years he cherished this love for the writings of Novalis and over a hundred of the extracts forming the' texts for the remarks which constitute the "Still Hours" are taken from the works of this gentle religious poet and dreamer. The heart of Rothe entwined itself around the verities of the Christian faith, especially around all that is most essential and characteristic in the life of Jesus. This warm, per- sonal piety was always a marked feature in Rothe's life. Christianity was with him something essentially supernatural, and the superficial rationalism of the age could never have any attraction for him. After a short time spent in travel along with a 'ii •4 STILL HOURS. school companion. Rothe, now in liis eigliteenth year entered the University of Heidelberg. This celebrated seat of learning had recently undergone a thorough reorganization, and though it had not yet qu,te recovered from the loss of such men as ^ rarhemeke. De Wette, and Neander, who had been Ber if?. '° *' """"^ """"""^^ University of Berl n, there were still among its professors men whose character and learning alike placed them in the first rank as teachers of youth RoThrr^^'f"'"' """ "'°=' P°'verfully influenced Rothe durmg h,s student years, and in such a way as to affec and la.gely determine his whole subsequent course m life were Daub and Abegg. The Lm of the former ,s st.ll well known to every student of German heology, and though the name of the latter is scarcely remembered at all, we shall find that to Rothes moral and spiritual development. Daub was then at the summit of his illustrious career, and as a speculative theologian, under the influence success,vely of Schelling's and of Hegel's ph lo Ch nstiamty to the cultured and scientific by pre- senmg ,t „„d„ the forms demanded by current systems of philosophy. There was one"^ side ^ should ha" "^ '''■"""'^'' "'^' -"S"- «™th vi h the r?""'°" ^'■"" ■■' '" ^'-'-cordance Tndin n K° "^"'r ■•^<1"'^="'^"'3 of science; and in Daubs speculative presentation of Christian INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 'S truth Rothe foun7his scx^rm^'^^^^^^^^^^^^^ factorily met. Abegg, on the other hand, was a profoundly spiritual man, who devoted all his powers to the building up of the moral and spiritual char- acter of the young men around, and who seemed in an altogether remarkable manner, to have succeeded in infusing his own moral earnestness and intense spirituality into the noblest of the students, who with rare affection and reverence seated themselves at his feet. Such a teacher early won a ruling influence over Rothe. whose sensitive religious nature and genmne piety craved for that spiritual nourishment which Abegg knew how to impart in so stimulating and winning a way. "Daub is a man," says Rothe, in a letter to his father, written during his first session, "of whom not only Heidelberg, but our whole German father' land should be proud. I have no hesitation in saying that he is the first of all living academical teachers and the first of all men. The enthusiasm with which he is here regarded is universal. . . I have never heard any one who can say so much in few words." It was Rothe's privilege to be received by this great thinker in familiar social intercourse and his letters are full of enthusiastic references to the scientific stimulus which he gains from the ^^tw'"""t"'^''' lectures and his conversations with him in his own home. At this time Daub's great work. "Judas Iscariot" appeared, in which the entire speculative system was .1 ! I6 STILL HOURS. ! unfolded in the elaborate treatment which it gave to the doctrine of human sin. The attempt made »n^ this work to recommend Christianity to men of science by expressing religious ideas in terms of philosophical ideas did not meet with the approval of his young scholar and enthusiastic admirer In a letter written in July, 1818. Rothe maintains that such philosophising does not present the essential element in theology. On the contrary, he holds that theology is concerned with the purely positive and historical development and exposition of dogma especially of the two fundamental doctrines of Chris- tianity, the divinity or Divine sonship of Jesus Christ and the redemption of man by Him,-these two' doctrines being again reducible to the doctrine of the Trinity. His attitude towards Daub's system was not that of one who gave it anything like an unqualified acceptance. Writing toward the close of that same year, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the over-elaborateness and speculative subtilty of Daub's theology, and yearns, with all the longing of an earnest, religious nature, after the simplicity that is in the doctrine of Christ Jesus. While then there was much in the teaching and influence of the specula- tive theologian that powerfully and permanently im- pressed the ardent and inquisitive j^oung student, we find m Rothe no tendency to a onesided satisfaction with that which afforded delightful exercise to hi. intellectual nature, while it left the emotional and reli- gious side of his being unsupplied and unnourished i:^TRODUCTORY ESSAY. '7 It was the singular good fortune of Rothe to ha^ in another of his revered teachers one who could in the most admirable way both satisfy and stimulate all his religious and spiritual aspirations. Rothe's admiration and affection for the devout and emi nently pious Abegg receive unequivocal and un- restrained expression in his letters. "Abegg" he says in a letter of that period, " is a true man according to the truth as it is in Christ, a man in whom Christ is formed, as the Scripture says, who IS penetrated through and through with all that is most fundamental in Christianity, who can look on nothing but with Christian eyes. . . . Hence Abegg is a most distinguished and excellent man who is here revered as almost an angel ; and he is' a man of extraordinary philological, and especially bibhco- philological, acquirements, who above all stands where he stands as a man, and never loses his rank as a true and genuine character" This admirable and venerable man taught chiefly New lestament exegesis, and we find Rothe attending his lectures on Romans, on Philippians, on Corinthians. These lectures were so appreciated, that numbers of theologians, whose course at college had been com- pleted, were accustomc. to come into the city as opportunity was afforded, simply that they might be present as listeners to those thoughtful and sugges- tive expositions of Scripture. Quite as important in the spiritual development of Rothe were the sermons which Abegg delivered regularly in one of B i8 STILL HOURS. I ,' the city churches. He describes these sermons as bearing no trace of art, being simple expositions of short Bible texts. They had no formal divisions, but the truth was unfolded according to a natural sequence ; they were full of references to practical Christian experience and of earnest appeal free from all affectation. They were delivered without any manuscript being used, and indeed were never written but carefully thought out. Under two such men, both of tl em men of undoubted personal piety, but in the one the speculative and systematic, in the other, the practical and expository treatment of religious and scriptural truth, receiving special development, the theological students of Heidelberg of that period must be regarded as having been favoured in no ordinary degree. Rothe's college course at Heidelberg was fruitful in many ways, at once in the discipline of his mental powers, and in the formation of character. Here he gained an insight into problems that were to occupy his attention all through life, and here he had those truth-loving principles established which contributed so largely to secure for him a distinctive position and to give to all his work such an air of freshness and originality. His residence at Heidelberg was brought to a close about the middle of the year 1819. Before quitting the university, Rothe prepared and delivered his first sermon. The preparation of this discourse seems to have given him much anxious concern. He wrote in full detail to his father in reference to the text INmODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 whichhe had selected and ^^^^^Z^^^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^ .n reference .0 his experiences on the occasion of .ts dehver,-. The text chosen was 2 Peter i. .-„. After a short introduction he divided his discourse mto two parts : he treated, first, of the grace and benefits wh.ch God has given us in Christ ; and second of the redeemed. He hoped in this way, he tells us, o be able to show what is specifically Christian in the rel^,on of the Christian, so that his first sermon m,ght be an mtroduction to all sermons that he might afterwards preach. ^ Very characteristic is the description which Rothe ThToT r"T"°" ""■'= ""-««"g occasion. The place chosen fo. his first pulpit effort was a sma. vmage, called Maue, a few miles distant from s^uC^-.. T '"' '^"'" °f °"= °f his fellow pas or and """"^ '^ "^^ ^^^^^''^ -"■»«e, was out on Tl\ T"""^ "'"^ "'^ f"^"" he walked out on the Saturday evening to the quiet parsonage. The greetmg given him on his arrival proved to Rothes sensitive and loving nature the very be^ S h ""«"/" "-^ """^ °f 'he coming Sabbath. The worthy pastor and his wife received genuine kmdhness as immediately won his heart The. very appearance reminded him of a much-' loved uncle and aunt; and the manner in whkh he of the,r fam.ly made him at once feci as if he were - 1 i i 20 ST/Ll HOUHS. among old and well tried friends. When on Sabbath morning he entered the church, that shyness which was natural to him, and often caused discomfort and uneasiness, had completely vanished, and he advanced without any tremor or agitation to the conspicuous isolation of the pulpit. His position was not made any easier by the presence of seven of his fellow students, who walked out that morning from Heidel- berg to hear him preach. His own personal experience through the service was most' delightful. He found no difficulty in making himself heard, and he had the satisfaction of observing that he had completely secured the atten- tion of his audience. This first hour spent by him in the pulpit was one of the pleasantest he had ever known. "I was thoroughly impressed," he says, " with the idea that I was now for the first time in my own proper element, and that I had now found my true life work." He was so fascinated with the solemn services which he was called to conduct, that he declares that it was well for him that he was obliged to hasten away, as otherwise he might have been tempted to give himself so constantly to preach- ing, that his proper studies would have been utterly neglected. This delight experienced in preaching did not arise, as we may be very sure from the character of the man, from any inordinate, vain conceit of his own qualifications and immediate success as a preacher. He was much dissatisfied with the sermon which he had delivered, but not in such TNTRODUCTOR V £SSA V. 21 a way as to regret his delivery of it. He carefully noted its faults, that he might avoid them in future He saw that only long and careful practice would enable h.m truly and faithfully to represent in words the life which lives in us, and to this task he resolved seriously and diligently to apply himself After a brief but thoroughly enjoyable and profitable holiday, spent in travel in Switzerland and southern Germany, along with a congenial companion, we find Rothe entered as a student for the winter session at the University of Berlin. His proper college course having been finished at Heidelberg, he intended by his residence at Berlin to take advantage, not only of the classes of the university, but also of all oppor- tunities for culture which the learned society of the city at that time so abundantly afforded. Of the theological professors with whom Rothe came into contact, undoubtedly Schleiermacher and Neander most powerfully and materially influenced his views, and aided in the formation and development of his scientific opinions. He attended faithfully the classes of Neander on Church history and on the history of dogmas. He found him a hard-working professor, who made his students work; and he amusingly complains that his fingers ached with the amount of matter which he was obliged to take down from his lectures, though he heartily admits that he always found the quality to be quite proportionate to the quantity. He speaks with enthusiasm of the noble character of Neander's Christian life, and evi- 31 STILL HOURS. denfly a deep impression was made by the saintliness and purity of tlie professor's walk and conversation. Rothe however calls attention to a certain melan- choly and dejected air about him that detracted somewhat from the general beauty and attractiveness of his character, and did much to interfere with his success among the youths who gathered around him. The longer he associated with Ncander, the more thoroui^hly he respected him, and came to see in him rich fountains of spiritual life. Rothe also attended the lectures of Schleiermacher on the life of Jesus. These V found extremely in- terestmg and in many ways suggestive. He complains however that they were critical rather than historical and that the net positive result from them was not great. As a preacher Schleiermacher had a great reputation and exerted a powerful influence. Ac cordingly Rothe regularly attended his preaching not without profit, although all the while keenly alive to certain serious deficiencies both in the matter and in the method of these discourses. He compared them with those of Abegg, from which he had reared such advantage in Heidelberg. Those of ^c^^^,. macher lacked the spirituality so characteristic of the sermons of the Heidelberg preacher. They were ust^l and instructive expositions of Scripture pas- sage approached however rather from without than fron: \v.\.u, 7T P°» tJie whole, his experiences of Berlin, scc-.^tv were un^v-oiirable, and during the two sess,cr,-> sp.nt there he often compared the habits INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. n of life in this city and university very unfavourably with those of Heidelberg- While resident in Berlin, Rothe met with and was powerfully influenced by some of the more promi- nent leaders of the Pietist party. There was one side of his nature readily and easily affected by such con- templative and purely devotional modes of thought, and soon repelled by anything that bore an aspect of cold and formal externalism or of rigid and dogmatic ecclesiasticism. In Berlin he frequented the society of the devout, many of whom, impatiently demand- ing greater earnestness and purity of life than the Church could show, had withdrawn from Church communion, and gathered together in meetings for spiritual edification and devotional reading of Scrip- ture. The unsatisfactory condition of the Lutheran Church of that period— the prevailing worldliness of its members, and the generally low tone of spiritual life within its pale— had driven many of the noblest and saintliest of men to join the separatists, and actively to promote the interests of what was perhaps not a non-sectarian, but at least a non-ecclesiastical form of Christianity. In the Pietism of that time there was much to attract one of so devout and deeply religious a nature as Rothe. It was as yet a genuinely healthy move- ment, which was largely felt, and proved mightily influential upon some of the young contemporaries of Rothe, who were destined afterwards to rank among the most distinguished ornaments of the 24 STILL HOURS. .'I Church. Tholuck, Thomasius, and Stier may be named as illustrations of the noble fruit of the much- needed protest against the blighting rationalism and cold, dead orthodoxy that had too long borne sway. The name Pietist was applied as a term of reproach, just as Christian was at first, and as Methodist. Puritan, etc, have been applied in later times. Rothe employs the term, as most fitly designating those who had been awakened to a new life of true Chris- tian faith. Writing in the year 1862. he thus uses the name, while repudiating that which had then come to be designated by it. " I know very well," he says, " what Pietism is. for I have been a Pietist myself and that in good faith, and at a time when Pietists did not stand, as now they do, in honour and favour, as conservative people, but were laughed at. and that —which is a material element in the case— by those whose ridicule could not but painfully affect any tender and feeling heart." What was genuine and true in Pietism was never abandoned by Rothe, but by-and-by he became es- tranged from those who were regarded as leaders of the movement, because of their narrowness and their assumption of an exclusive possession of all that was good. Even while among them Rothe felt repelled by their want of charity toward those who did not belong to their party. In the paper from which we have just quoted. Rothe proceeds to say that Pietism IS true Christian piety, but not the Christian piety ; It IS a lorm of Christianity, and indeed such a form' INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25 as is, when sincerely and consistently professed, most honourable and estimable, but yet only one form among many others, and not necessarily the highest of all. Rothe found reason to object to Pietism as a system, not only for its objectionable exclusiveness, but also on account of its being occupied altogether with religious and not also with moral interests, and so developing a purely personal or private form of Christianity, and overlooking the social elements and influences in Christianity, which are properly developed in the organization and ordinances of the Christian Church. "Hence," he says, "we cannot conceive of a Pietistic people, though we can con- ceive of a Christian people." Individualism, in short, was the bane of Pietism. Perhaps, after all, we shall best describe the re- ligious position of Rothe at this period by saying that he was a man of decided personal piety. The warmth of his religious nature showed itself freely under the genial influences by which he was then more immediately surrounded. A i&ss words from a letter written to his father from Berlin, during the session of 1820, will show in a very pleasing way the simplicity and earnestness of his Christian fViith. "How often," he says, "does one find a jewel where least expected ! In one of the very smallest and least pretentious of churches there is perhaps the very best preacher in all Berlin, Pastor Lofflcr, with whom I was first made acquainted by Neander, and from whom I shall to-morrow, along with Schrutter, 26 STILL HOURS. Thielau. and Heege, receive the holy communion. In view of this I have been wishing that I could along with you both, my dear parents, examine myself, and for sins and errors, for which the gracious t^od has promised me forgiveness, also obtain for- giveness from you. I fall upon your necks, and know mdeed that you are not inexorable, and on my hearty sorrow and repentance from the heart forgive Pray for me. that to me this bread of everlasting life may be more blessed than all earthly nourishment. How wUhngly would I behold this mortal body con- stantly wasting away into dust and ashes, if only the immortal soul in its eternal and unchangeable nature be saved with an everlasting salvation ' " After two years spent in Berlin, Rothe passed into the theological seminary of Wittenberg. Here he entered upon a course of thorough practical training for the work of the Christian ministry. At the unit yersity theology had been studied as a science, but m these seminaries the work is wholly of a homi- letical and pastoral character, engaged upon in a purely practical way, in order to equip candidates for the pastoral office in regard to all the details of their future parochial duties-as preachers, catechists. and visitors in the homes of their people. Bible study IS earnestly and largely prosecuted, sermon plans are sketched and criticised, discourses are preached to rustic audiences from pulpits in the surrounding dis- tricts, listened to by professors and fellow students both manner and matter being subsequently made INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. — ____^ ^^ subject of discussion. Here Rothe was surrounded by society of the most delightful description, and the warm spiritual atmosphere of the place, and the earnest religious lives of teachers and fellow students proved stimulating in no ordinary degree. Among the teachers in the seminary, the one who most powerfully influenced Rothe was Heubner, a man of rare force of character, and an earnest and devoted worker in the Lord's vineyard. Rothe continued, during his stay at the seminary to work faithfully in departments to which his atten- tion had been specially turned in the later years of his university course. He gave attention to the scientific exegesis of the text of the Old and New Testaments, and laid the foundation of subsequent literary work in this department ; but he devoted his time and strength most ungrudgingly to historical investigations, and already had given himself to elaborate studies in the original sources of our knowledge of the beginnings of Christianity-a department which he was destined yet to make so peculiarly his own. All the while however Rothe was most conscientiously diligent in his prosecution of the practical studies and his discharge of proba- tionary duties, which constituted the special functions of the seminary. He enthusiastically engaged upon the work of preaching and catechising, taking part wherever opportunities were presented, in all the' different forms and various departments of pastoral 28 STILL HOURS. His stay at Wittenberg marks a very important stage m his spiritual development, in which the serious impressions made during his residence in Berlin were greatly deepened, and became produc tive of rich fruit. Hitherto it could only be said that Rothe was pietistically inclined, but now he threw himself heart and soul into the movement. His fellowship with Stier in the seminary was mainly instrumental in leading Rothe to give in his adhesion without reserve to that party, which still continued to be everywhere spoken against. Rothe and Stier who were exactly of an age, were powerfully attracted to one another, although in many respects their dis- similarities rather than their resemblances would first arrest attention. They were both ardently attached to the same evangelical faith, and yearned after thorough emancipation from the chilling influence of that dreary ecclesiasticism of orthodox propositions and verbal formularies, into which no living spirit was any longer infused. It is with no ordinary en- thusiasm that Rothe described his friend and enlarged upon their common sympathies. "Stier" he says "is a Christian of the old order; a noble mixture, or rather thorough blending, of the fine scriptural faith of the sixteenth century and of the deep spiritual piety of the Spener school." With such a com- panion he felt in the presence of a true believer who had strong personal conviction and assurance of the truth. His letters written during this period are such as IN TROD UCTOR Y ESS A V. 29 ire such as would satisfy the most ardent and extreme revivalist. He tells of meetings held, of spiritual blessings be- stowed ; he quotes fragments of hymns, and bewails the deadness and formality which he beheld generally prevalent around. It would have been well for the movement, and well too for Rothe, had the leaders of this most desirable and hopeful religious tendency, with its much-needed protest against pure intel- lectualism and heartless formalism, been more equally balanced in the proportion of their intellectual and emotional faculties. It soon however became only too evident that there were among them few men, if any, of Rothe's type ; that while they were un-' doubtedly good, they were also, for the most part, as undoubtedly narrow; that they had no comprehension of or patience with the profounder thought of the great thinker who was among them ; that the ten- dency was developing within the party to regard intelligent reflection as profane, and unreflecting piety as the most satisfactory proof of the presence of simple religious faith. Very gradually this diver- gence between Rothe and the members of the Pietist party developed, until at last their virtual separation from one another was mutually recognised. This estrangement was really most injurious both to Rothe and to his earlier friends. There is no reason why piety should assume such forms as to alienate the intellectual and the rationally inquisitive. For pious men with intellectual tendencies and capacities hke those of Rothe's Pietism ought, not grud^inHy 30 STILL HOURS. but heartily, to afford the freest scope. Such inves- ligations, conducted by a man of personal piety conscious of possessing the confidence of his brethren' would broaden, in such a way as to strengthen, the foundations upon which all true religion rests. The loss to Pietism, in respect of influence on those around, and of moral and religious power within its own circle, from the secession of Rothe was very serious. To himself also this alienation was most disastrous. Largely sympathetic with their religious tendencies, yet conscious of being regarded by them with coldness and suspicion, his scientific investiga- tions were henceforth pursued without the presence of those guards and securities which the surroundin-s of the warm spiritual life of the religious community would have afforded. Earnest personal piety always continued a notable feature in Rothe's character • but more and more, as years rolled on, he found scientific fellowship among those whose sympathies had never gone in that direction. This accounts for the strange and sudden transitions in his writings from fearless even ruthless, statements of intellectual conclusions' to warm, hearty breathings of a pure devotional spirit. During a residence in Breslau of about six months as a licentiate, Rothe associated with several Chris- tian men in their endeavours to promote the interests of true religion. Here he enjoyed much profitable intercourse with Steffens and Scheibel. Together with other likeminded men, they were wont to meet INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 31 for prayer and devotional reading and exposition of Scripture. But, while finding rich nourishment for his spiritual nature in such pious exercises, Rothe was actively engaged in historical studies upon the original sources of early Church history, and in laborious researches into the development of Pau- Hcianism, Manichaeism, and Priscillianism he was laying the foundations for his great work on the " Beginnings of the Christian Church." Already he was drawing off from some with whom he had been brought in contact in the revival gatherings which he frequented. He tells of one, for example, "who, in his zeal against the natural man, and especially against the reason, goes so far as to affirm that the natural man is worse than a beast, and who reaches the conclusion that the regenerate cannot sin." Rothe characterizes these positions as dangerous, and as having a tendency like the doctrine of Gichtel, an enthusiast and separatist of the school of Bohme! but much more violent and extreme than his master. But while repudiating all such views, Rothe very characteristically concludes by a lamentation over his own sinfulness. In the beginning of August, 1823, Rothe received and accepted from Government the appointment of preacher to the German embassy at Rome, and on October 1 2th he was ordained in Berlin. During the following month he married a young lady in Wittenberg, whose sisters were married to Heubner and August Hahn. By this union Rothe was s:till hours. brought into close, lifelong connexion with those ^vo able and ini^uential theologians, to who™ h w largely .ndebted for „uch wise counsel and brotherly help. Entering upon his work in Rome in the be g.n„.ng of ,8.4, he found himself surrounded by a CO gemal socety, and in the discharge of his spiritual dufes he had great comfort and joy. By youn. men h.s a„,val was hailed with peculiar delfght, ar^i his emmently suggestive discourses proved thoroughly h^ Of I»^ T''^ '-''"' ^^"'"'^ --""'- who had h ^"'^ '"^' ■■" '^O'"^' Bunsen, who had been secretary to Niebuhr, the Prussian vacated by h,s patron's removal, was the one most powerfully attracted toward the young ^hapTdn Bunsen and Rothe at once becam.'and^ll thlTh ^fe confnued most attached and loving friends Not only m the pulpit, but otherwise did Rothe seek rfn*^::^:":;-ro:°^^="'~"" Tuesday and Frldar:.^ rThrwL^:- - artist: 'Tr d' "'""," '""'''" y°""^ '^-™ " posi ,on, he gave a lecture on Church history dealini. specally with phases of Church life and the or 2 and growth of Church organisation and inst uti: f Toward the end of the year ,827, after Rothe had laboured for four years in Rome, he had his fir'' senous dlness, which, in connexion with the r Lv •^ INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 33 from the city of Bunsen and others of his best friends' left Rothe in a somewhat unhappy and dissatisfied condition, inch'ned to take a rather melancholy view of his position and prospects of further usefulness in that sphere. Just then through Bunsen came the offer of a- appointment to a professorship in the theological seminary of Wittenberg. This invitation was riost welcome to Rothe, who had always retained the most tender regard for all friends in the seminary and the prospect of a return to Wittenberg was all the more delightful from the fact that his beloved and valued brother-in-law, Heubner, was already resident there. The appointment now given to Rothe was that of the fourth professorship in the seminary; and his colleagues there would be Nitzsch and Schleusner. both old men, over seventy years of age, while the third professor was his own brother-in-law. Rothe's special work here would be in the department of Church history. He would be required to give lectures on the Church life, and this was understood by Rothe as a history of Christianity as distinguished from a history of the Christian Church. The subject was to him thoroughly congenial, and his previous pre- parations rendered him well qualified for the task. Here Rothe made a beginning of his academical labours, in October, 1828. He was now in his thir- tieth year, entering upon what was to be his special life work, with a ripe and varied experience of men and things, which, along with his thoroughly 3» STILL HOURS. competent scholarship and conscientious methods of study, formed an admirable preparation for his collegiate labours. In the seminary he at once began a course of lectures, on which he laboured for several years, on the constitution and life of the early Church. Besides lecturing in his chair, he preached very frequently, and continued the abun- dant hospitality which he had begun to practise in Rome, receiving the students to his house in the evenings, and engaging them there in profitable con- versation on scientific, artistic, and spiritual themes. The time too was one of an altogether peculiar kind. There were students there affected by the most diverse intellectual and religious influences : some from the believing schools of Neander and Schleiermacher, or under the influence of Tholuck and Hengstenberg : others from the philosophical school of Hegel and the rationalistic school of Wegscheider. To all these Rothe proved most use- ful as a moderating power, though perhaps he seemed quite satisfactory to none. He had at least sufficient sympathy with both tendencies to secure the at- tention and win more or less the confidence of rationalists and evangelicals. His labours in Wittenberg continued till 1837, in which year his first publications were issued. Rothe, never rash or hasty, was already in his thirty-ninth year when his first work appeared. This was an elaborate exegetical monograph on the passage Romans v. 12-21. He had commenced it in 1828, '"nODVCTORY ESSAY. on the appearance of Tholuck's "Cora,^i^r7^ Romans, to whose interpretation of this section he was strongly opposed In his preface he lays down sound hermeneutical principles, and reprobates ch,efly the endeavours made by many to prop up a preconceived dogmatic theory by the exposition of Scr-pture texts, repudiating the rationalising exegesis of Ruckert as heartily as the orthodox exegesfs of Iholuck. He msists upon warm Christian feeling and personal religion in the exegete, but at the same time demands perfect freedom from dogmatic pre- judice. He also insists that difficulties be boldly faced that a thorough solution be at least attempted, though they were complete. In this same year he published his great epoch- makmg work on the "Beginnings of the ChrLan Churh and .ts Constitution." He explains his object m w„t,ng this work to be to sketch the course of man's historical development as affected and determmed by Christianity Of this great nndertakmg he only published the first part In the volume issued we have three books. The first ttnL'^'T?' "' ''""°" "' '"^ ^'>"-'' '° Chris, tiamty. The second describes the origin of the Chnst^n Church, sketching first of all the rise of the Christian communities and the formation of a Church constitution, and then the forming and con- In the th,rd book we have the development of the 1 . mm 36 ST/LL HOURS. Christian Church during the first age. No proper explanation has ever been given of the non-appear- ance of the second volume, the materials of which, Rothe says in his preface to the first, were then ready and requiring only slight revision prior to publication. Professor Nippold, the editor of Rothe's •* Life and Letters," suggests that when subsequently the great treatise on Christian ethics was commenced, Rothe felt that there was no longer need for the continuation of his earlier work, and that the historical matter was wrought up into the ethical work. This his- torical treatise at once secured wide fame and high scientific reputation for Rothe, although its attitude satisfied very few. While, on the one hand, there is an apparent churchliness in his idea that traces of the episcopate may be found in apostolic times, there is, on the other hand, a very evident anti-ecclesiastical tendency, which was afterwards largely developed in Rothe, in the view that he takes of the modern Christian state, as that in which, rather than in the Church, the great mission of Christianity must be fulfilled. In 1837 a new seminary was founded at Heidel- berg, and Rothe was appointed director of this institution. On a review of his Wittenberg experi- ence, Rothe felt it his duty to make a new departure in Heidelberg, and from this time onward he gave much more attention to the development of the speculative side, in order to find a satisfactory and permanent basis for the practical. This resolve he INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 37 carried out with special care and elaborateness in his studies in the department of ethics. He gave himself unremittingly to study, refusing to take any part in writing ephemeral articles to theological magazines, even when one was started under the management of his brother-in-law Hahn. He re- garded the work of the theologian as a peculiarly responsible one, and insisted that only well con- sidered and thoroughly digested work should be presented before the public. Meanwhile Rothe was zealously working for and upon his great work on Christian ethics. In 1845 the first two volumes were published. In presenting these to the scientific public, he said that he laid before them his theo- logical confession. In this work he traverses the whole range of moral theology, developing specu- latively the entire system of Christianity. Christian dogmatics he regards as an historical science, in which the Church doctrine, as laid down in ecclesiastical symbols based upon Scripture, is set forth. In ethics again we have the speculative treatment of the truths dealt with positively and historically in dogmatics. Just about the time when the last volume of his great work was published, in 1847, Rothe received calls from Bonn and Breslau. There was an attrac- tion in Breslau, as the residence of Halin, and as havmg been the home of his dearly loved parents ; but meanwhile the attractions of his work at Heidel-' berg forbade him listening to any suggestion of a change. In 1849 however a call was addressed him \\ \ 38 STILL HOURS. again from Bonn, which he saw it to be his duty to accept. During his five years' stay in Bonn Rothe threw himself heartily into the ecclesiastical move- ments of the time ; and of this period he was wont to say afterwards that it was not without fruit to him. but what, from painful experience, he there specially learnt was what he was not suited and had not been intended for. All through those years he entertained a lingering love for Heidelberg, and in 1854 he availed himself of an invitation to return to that city, where he continued throughout the remainder of his life This was a period of great activity, but his work was carried on amid manifold family sorrows and cares. After a long and depressing illness, his wife, with whom he had lived most happily for thirty-eight years, was removed by death. This stroke was very keenly felt by him, and his letters, in answer to his many friends who had written consolatory epistles show at once the tenderness and affectionateness of his nature, and the strong faith and warm Christian piety by which he was sustained. Already Heubner was gone, and in the years that immediately followed one dear friend after another was taken away. He felt himself now very much alone, for his theological position was such as could be rightly understood and sympathised with only by those who had known him in the various stages of his spiritual development. There is a peculiar sadness in his later correspon- dence, as he acknowledges the isolated character of ^ff^S'WWBPiMMMW** m INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 59 his position. The Tubingen school failed to ^pre- ciate his intense spirituality and deep, earnest piety, and regarded him as a dreamy mystic and theo- sophist ; while the evangelical party regarded him as one of the most dangerous of their opponents whose influence against the truth was all the greater because of the devoutness and fervour that lingered in his life and utterances. For some time Rothe had been engaged upon the revision of his great work, " The Theological Ethics " It was on January 31st, 1867, that he wrote the pre- face for the first volume of the second and revised edition. His time was now almost entirely given to his regular class work and the revision of this treatise. His health was manifestly breaking down but he struggled bravely to perform his daily duties. By August 6th his illness became so severe that he could not go to his class-room, and he now lay down upon the bed from which he was never to rise. And on the 20th of this month, the day on which, as he reminded those around, his father died twenty.three years before, he quietly passed away. "Tell them all," he said a few days before his death to one of his ministerial brethren, " tell all my friends, all who take an interest in me, that I die in the faith in which I have lived, and that nothing has ever shaken or diminished this faith in me, but that it has been always growing stronger and more mward." When it was said that perhaps it would yet please God to raise him up, he said, « If so, then ii! !■' ?{?: IB J 40 STILL HOURS. I shall be still at His service ; but I trust that I may now be allowed to go home." Rothe had been an eager and discriminating reader. For many years it had been his habit to record in his notebooks passages which had specially impressed him, together with his own reflections, sometimes expressed in a few pregnant words, some, t: nes running on into considerable details of original thinking. This record of his varied reading had been revised by the author, as if intended for publication or to be used as material in some other work. Many passages were struck out, and some were rewritten. There was however no method observed in the order of the quotations and remarks, these having been simply noted in succession from time to time what- ever the subject of his reading might happen to be. In 1872, five years after Rothe's death. Professor Nippold, of Bern, one of his admiring and affectionate students, published the carefully arranged edition of this posthumous work of his master, which is here pre- sented to the English-speaking public in an English dress. The work of the editor was done in a neat, conscientious, and painstaking manner. The remarks of Rothe were separated from the passages which had suggested his reflections, and were carefully arranged according to the subjects of which they treated under convenient and appropriate heads. In no one work of Rothe do the characteristics set forth in the pre- ceding sketch find so complete an illustration. We see him here as the theologian of wide culture and INTRODUCTOR Y ESS A V. 41 broad sympathies, the thinker of philosophic grasp and scientific accuracy, the daring speculator and unwearied investigator; while at the same time we recognise in him the man of warm and deep personal piety of pure and simple heart, in whom no trace of self-consciousness is found and no taint of per- sonal ambition. To many this collection of choice reflections by so profound and earnest a thinker as Richard Rothe will prove a rich mine of intellectual and religious suggestion, helpful and stimulating in no ordinary degree. So varied too are the themes discussed, that all classes of readers may find some- thing to interest and to instruct, something fitted to throw new light on oft-discussed and long-studied themes, or to lead to new departures in thinking not ventured on before. 111 Ijipi PERSONAL. IMJ in W) I. PERSONAL. ',!'li X LIFE EXPERIENCES. To endure, throughout a whole Hfe-time, the presence of a psychological enigma, most intimately affecting one's own personal concerns, without daring even to attempt its solution, and to feel compelled simply to cling with heart and soul to the belief that it shall one day be solved just as love requires that it should, — this is hard, very hard. Oh, how bitter and unspeakably hard to bear, when one by his circumstances is obliged to spend upon the consideration of his own condition an amount of time and strength which could with propriety be devoted only to an objective lite-work, and would willingly be given to such an object only ! Altogether stupid I am scarcely likely to become- but rather languid and weary. * Although I must indeed confess that very often, 46 STILL HOURS. even through my bodily sensibilities, God has already made my life uncommonly hard, I must also at once acknowledge that He has, on the other hand, been near me with quite uncommon aids of grace, so that I have been able to get through so many decades of this painful life already. Here then, surely, there is room only for humble and adoring thankfulness. * A retrospect of my whole life, from the earliest period of my recollection down to the present hour, leaves with me this impression, that I have been, and am being, guided by a gracious and a mighty Hand, which has made, and is making, that pos; 'ble to me which otherwise to me had been impossible. Oh that I had at all <-imes unhesitatingly trusted and yielded myself to its guidance ! On reviewing my long life, I perceive with shame and confusion how, in my professional labours, the excellence of the subject with which I wrought always raised the insignificant worker to a position of respectability. SELF-CRITICISM. It is to me a painful observation, that there are many heads still worse than my own. s already o at once md, been e, so that ecades of •, there is ess. ) earliest ent hour, een, and y Hand, e to me >le. Oh ted and h shame Durs, the wrought sition of lere are SELF-CRITICISM. ^^ It is my misfortune that I am so'^p^ed in detectmg "slovenly work" in the world, even in thmgs which pass among others with high approval. « My satisfaction will, life depends on my having .ved to some purpose, not on a mere peradventure that I may do so. * The height of my ambition would be attained in a life as active as possible, but yielding substantial results, and at the same time as uniform as possible and free from distraction. * I am losing, to a sl,ocki„g degree, my appreciation of the charms of the " interesting." * As God has constituted me, I am fit for nothin<. else m the world than to be a simple, but perhaps" m the end, not altogether inefficient, professor of theology. * That so small a measure of talent has fallen to mv ot gives me really no pain; all the more however that I have been placed in an office where really first- rate talents are required. * If I had been as fully conscious in my younger years, as I am now in my old age. of my incredible intellectua poverty. I could not have endured the prospect of my life as a university professor w -■«Wiir»a*^.T < mt^ <* 48 STILL HOURS. My idiosyncrasies are an aversion to cockchafers and to letter-writing. One of the beauties of heaven will be that we shall have no letter-writing there. * Letter-writing is an expression of sociality. It is an indispensable adjunct to friendship. * Why have I such a dislike to preaching ? For the very same reason that I detest visiting and letter- writing. * I am a considerable centre, with an immeasurably small circumference.^ The natural respect of a weak head for a strong one (which however need not by an means have a more intense, or qualitatively better, knowledge than the other) is with me, I am thankful to say, a per- fectly familiar feeling. Of myself, I can only say that I am an unprofit- able servant ; but I serve a good Master, who loves me with unwearied faithfulness. * A being so peculiarly constituted as I am ought every moment to be filled with gratitude for the » The middle point has an intensive and variable size. m ' it SELF-CRITICISM. 49 boundless indulgence which he requires and receives from those who have to do with him. He who has such a dearth of talents as I have must pride himself (I speak foolishly) on his honour- able character. * I should like to reallze-were it only for a single day—how a really- gifted man must feel. * I shall never be perfectly happy, until I have reached my own fitting place in the lowest room, as Jiomo gregarius^v^\i,c\i will certainly be given me, at least in the world to come. I have an insatiable longing for a condition in which, surrounded by realities, I should myself be real. * Oh, what blessedness will it be for a man when he has reached his destination and rest, when he has become a being perfectly' balanced, completely m harmony with himself and with the external circumstances of his existence I I am heartily fond of public life, but public swaggering and noise I detest. At the same time I know very well that the one is not to be had without the other, and so I let the empty clatter D 1 I i m $0 STILL HOURS. pass harmlessly by, seeing only that I have no share in making it. * I long, not for rest, but for quiet. * Whenever the monotonous quiet of my individual life is interrupted, a weary longing for its return takes possession of me. The vita monastica is for me the only one of real intrinsic vitality. With such a temperament, one has serious difficulty in struggling through life, and in keeping his head above water while swimming against the steady current of the stream. * My intellectual conceptions must be brought forth with pain. This is a thought to me profoundly humbling. I rank myself always on the side on which one need have no fear. * I am really ashamed on so many points to have to correct the unanimous opinion of contemporaries by my own convictions, and so to seem keener- sighted than they. One of. the things which I find it most difficult to comprehend is how it comes about that there are men— yes, a considerable proportion of men— who have a smaller measure of insight than I have myself. SELF-CRITICISM. SI My one strong point is, that I know exactly where my weaic points arc. « The power of distinguishing between great and small, real and unreal, has from childhood onward been present with me in no ordinary degree. f ;: My critical tendency inclines me, in the domain of science, to criticise my own thoughts rather than the thoughts of others. * A very common form of narrow-mindedness is that shown by the originator of a system of thought, when he imagines that, because it satisfies him as an individual, it must be in itself satisfactory. From this form of narrowness at least I know that I am free. ATTITUDE TOWARDS THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH I have cause to thank God that He has given me the power of at once discerning, in the historical phenomena of the present, amid the whirling clouds of chafif, the good grains of corn which have shaken themselves free from that chaff. ■■ li4 52 STILL HOURS. It is noteworthy, as a thoroughly logical conse- quence, that our theologians have to write "moral- religious," while I write "religious-moral." IN I always find among the Christians around me only the believing confidence that God ivill conduct victoriously the cause of His kingdom in Christ, through the course of history, perhaps even in our own day; whereas on my part, aided by my con- ception of the kingdom of God in Christ, I perceive quite distinctly that God is conducting victoriously the afiairs of His kingdom through the course of history, and even at this present hour. In one point I am certainly a step in advance of most contemporary theologians. I am on terms of agreement wilh the moralist or ethical Christians of the day, without being guilty of any indifference toward religion and positive Christianity. I have no objection to any one setting his powers to work in whatever direction he can most success- fully employ them, although that direction may not be particularly pleasing to me. This only I insist upon, that such a rule shall be held to apply to myself as well as to others. * I am well aware that in theology I play only upon THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH. S3 one single instrument ; that instrument however forms an essential part of the orchestra. I do not pretend to be in any sense the orchestra itself. It IS my vocation and my only ambition that I should learn to play my own instrument as well as possible No one can become a well-furnished theologian by studymg under me alone, regarding it even from a merely human point of v\^v,. He who simply plays, as I do. his own instrument alone in the orchestra must give to his playing another sort of attention than he who, along with many others, performs upon some particular instrument, or even perhaps not upon any one in particular. * That my whole conception of life is untenable and worthless can be proved only when, in its final development, it has been wrought into a regular system. In the pure interest of objective truth, I can therefore do nothing more useful than continue most resolutely the elaboration of my own specu- lative system. For this one gift I may, without seeming boastful give thanks to God, in acknowledging that He has endued me with the power of seeing when there is nothing beneath the surface, nothing but empty forms and words, without power or substance, though set forth with great pretension. Mil m 1 ! « i I II ^v 7 1 1 54 ST/ZL HOURS. A place in an ecclesiastical board of control and similar institutions seems to me undesirable even for this reason, that there can be no great honour in merely issuing orders in regard to matters of which the whole art lies simply in their execution. * It would be wrong on the part of any one to abandon his own individual way of working ; but whoever considers his own way of doing a thing absolutely the best must either be very vain or very narrow-minded. Of this absurdity at least I am certainly innocent. If only I knew how, I should gladly do my work better than in my own way it is done. I get on very well with my theological opponents, and do not need to fatigue myself in wrestling with them, simply because I make no claim to be right, or to have established my own conviction, whether in theology or in any other science, but only propose to carry stones to the building. It is for the builders themselves to decide what they are to do with them. That is no affair of mine. Should they be able even to roll them completely away from the spot, for my own part I have no objection even to that. The work assigned to me has been done; its results I leave with Him by whom the work was given. What distinguishes my attitude from that of my h, THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH. 55 colleagues is that they are self-conscious, while I am free from any such feeling. * A discovery which has caused me no small sur- prise is, that the characteristic distinction between myself and most others consists in this, that while to me personally the fundamental propositions of religion, and especially of the Christian religion, are thoroughly self-evident, and form quite spontaneously and immediate ': the universal and permanent pre- supposition f . :i u my considerations, others invariably busy themselves first of rix with making sure of these fundamental propositions by the aid of reflection. Thank God! I know by heart the multiplication table of my Christian-religious mode of thought, and do not need to be always reckoning it up anew. * I am thankful to say that I have never been obliged to employ artificial, or indeed any express or special contrivance, in order to secure the presence of reli- gious ideas, and to work myself into a religious frame. Such contrivances, therefore, even the com- monest and most approved, seem to me of little value. * Never, never by any means, shall a good cause, on account of the worthlessness of its supporters, be to me a subject of aversion and scorn. * In so far as I speak only of matters which in these ',: I \\ r lA \ ■« 56 STILL HOURS. times must engage the attention of such as labour in theology, I shall patiently endure all the displeasure of my contemporaries, which the one-sided and dis- proportionate representation of these things calls forth. Enough that I have said exactly what I had to say. I sing my own part in the music, poorly as it may sound when sung by itself alone. * My theology belongs to quite another era from that of the Reformers. That era is not mine as an individual, but that of modern times in general. * I cannot understand those people, who would have the great moral revivals and revolutions that have taken place in the world, without the improprieties and disadvantages which are inseparable from such movements in their early stages. I POSITION IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT. It is quite possible for a man, from an objective point of view, to rejoice sincerely and honestly in the changes of modern times, and yet, for his own part, to wish himself back in the past. * We can work for the future only at the cost of suffering discredit in the present. He who desires his work to be really effective must seek no reward for himself from his doings. P0SITI0I7 IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT 57 Even in the deepest poverty of the present, our wealth consists in this, that whatever we have ex- perienced in the past is not lost, but has remained our own. Because the evils of the world in every age are always new and different evils, not those of the past which, because men have grown accustomed to them' they scarcely count as evils at all, therefore each new age seems worse than the last. A sure method for accurately testing the average worth of our contemporaries is to take, as a funda- mental maxim, that theirs is, at any rate, a much higher worth than our own. * One reason why I should not care to begin the world again is, that life grows more wearisome from generation to generation. * We must not seek to be wiser than our time, but only to have a perfect understanding of it'— to recognise distinctly what its aims and tendencies are. * Men excellent in themselves may become perfectly useless (in State. Church, etc.) by disdaining con- stantly to learn new lessons from their time. This learning does not in any sense mean doing homage to the spirit of the age ; but it means the development U . i "1" ipi i I m W •I' I- ■HIHV 58 STILL HOURS. of one's self alongside of that spirit by continually learning to understand it better. * Are not these the true interpreters of history, these men, so wondrously wise in their own opinion, who seek the characteristic marks of their age amidst its dust and rubbish ? * It is only too common for a man to complain that his times are bad, because he does not find in himself the strength requisite for undergoing thr^ heavy toil which they lay upon him. In old age especially t! is is naturally an oft repeated complaint. * A new thing that appears in history, miserable as it may seem in its early childhood, and .J-.wly as it may advance to the perfection of ripened manhood, means yet incomparably more than some completely outgrown product of antiquity, gray-haired and vener- able though it be. Our time is specially sensitive in all that concerns principles. * The fault of our age, as regards religion, is not so much that it is on the wrong track, as that it does not know it is on the right one. * He who desires to accomplish a work for the ff^-4770N TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 59 present must have something of the future dwelling in him. ** * Every one, who is called to be in any measure prcuctive in the world, needs indispensably some discernment (literally, faculty of scenting) the future. * In order to be in a position to judge of the general direction taken by the road on which we are travel- ling, we must be able to se<-, a good way on in front. * ^ It is characteristic of modern times, that in them intellect as stick ranks high. 'if. Thank God ! I am fully convinced that, even in the province of the intellect, progress is made with the same inconceivable slowness, of which in material nature we have something analogous in the world of the infinitely little. Even that measure of time according to which a thousand years are as one day. IS here utterly inadequate. RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. For every man whom I see visibly bringing forth fruit g'l-'ly do I praise God, the Creator, without caring to inquire whether, by growing up in some different way, he might have presented even a more stately appearance and borne fruit that would have had a yet sweeter taste. * --e surest way to ruin a good cause is to turn it ^i \ sir 4 ' ll^H 6o STILL HOURS. into a party affair ; for then its supporters cannot, in every separate case, keep strictly to truth and justice, and they must, besides, seek to make it work directly on the masses, which is impossible without an admix- ture of impure ingredients. The unfailing sign of a partisan is that he fights his enemies iinconditionally, and for that very reason criticises their actions with prejudice, suspicion, and injustice. * Wherever I see anything stupendous in its own way, there I do reverence, though the way itself may not please me at all. * When, for the attainment of his own ends, a man does not scruple to exercise constraint upon the moral convictions of another (even though it may be in a very mild way), that is partisanship. Because I happen to desire a certain thing, that is no reason why I should wish a.iy one else to agree with me, otherwise than of his own accord. * One characteristic of the present generation is its frank and unscrupulous boldness in exercising con- straint upon the moral convictions of others— for good purposes. Semper solus esse volui nihilque pejus odi quam juratos et factiosos {Erasmus). RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 6l The chief reason why Ifind it so easy to keep on friendly relations with others is, thrt most men's individualities present so sharp a contrast to my own. I rejoice to think that others are dififerent from myself, and that the world is wide and full of variety. * Not even for the best cause could I ever be per- suaded to agitate. Not that I mean to pronounce decidedly against all agitations ; for they are in- separable from the party life, which, under certain circumstances, is indispensable in a community. There will never be any want of those, who are bond fide capable of agitating; but for that very reason, those who could only do it mala fide ought to be released from the duty of doing it at all. To this latter class I belong. ■^ It is an occasion of grief and shame that, in judging of the great religious movements of the world, men should (as so often happens), because of the worthlessness and imperfections of those who seem to be their visible supporters, mistake the significance of the movements themselves, and dis- parage them with a haughty superiority, whose narrow-mindedness brings its own certain punish- ment. God keep me from all manner of assumption of superiority ! 62 STILL HOURS. Not only would I refuse to belong to another's party, but I would not on any account make or up- hold a party rallying round what was simply my own personal conviction. He who cannot be important without having a row of ciphers attached to him, and who at the same time wishes to be important, must of course form a party. * On whatever point the quarrel may turn, I am not, and never will be, able to persuade myself that I alone am right and my opponent entirely wrong. * It is quite possible for two men to be striving after the same end, and yet to have altogether different designs, and to be animated by quite diverse senti- ments. Esprit de corps may be very easily created with the help of pride. * To my mind it is a psychological mystery that any one should desire to see the world (whatever world it may be, even the smallest) governed entirely according to his own opinions. For the cultured man it is a point of honour to avoid every appearance of cherishing such a desire. * It is sad^ but none the less a fact, that the RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 63 Redeemer, in order to carry on the struggle for His kingdom, had to divide His forces into two rival camps, which are now on fighting terms with each other. Only by using both alike for the furtherance of His kingdom can He attain the result He desires. It is like a review, in which different corJ>s of the same army operate against each other. Neverthe- less, the final victory will rest with one of the parties, which will then, although after many errors, be acknowledged as the true one. Well for him who, while boldly attacking his opponents, yet recognises 111 them his friends, and is joyfully conscious that both alike have much in common. * The opponents of an evil cause need only leave it room enough ; in time it will destroy itself. * Christians fight «as though they fought not." * Beware of speaking contemptuously of those who are not of your opinion. Beware of arrogance and self-sufficiency, whoever you may be ! * The clearness of a conviction is the best preserva- tive against its over-passionate enforcement. ^ A man is never in a worse case than when he shares his principles with narrow-minded people, who make a foolish use of them. m ir rl r!:.i m 'I i STILL HOURS. Against fanaticism (especially party fanaticism) even a noble man is not secure. I certainly appear to be in advance of many others in being able, with tolerable ease, to imagine myself in the situation of those whose individuality and individual position in life are quite different from my own. * In order to see our way clearly in history, especially in that of the present, we must apprehend its various tendencies with the same precise and logical keen- ness which belonged to their d. priori conception, but which, in their empirical manifestation, never comes clearly to the light. Such a mode of apprehension is indispensable to myself, and this is what people call my finical or hypercritical tendency. Without this definite sharpness of conception, we have before us merely vague, vanishing historical factors, and we must grope about continually amid uncertainties and imperfections. * As regards difference of opinion, no one is per- sonally a more estimable man because his dwelling happens to be more favourably situated than the dwellings of others, as the standpoint for a free, open, and picturesque view of the landscape. I so often find, to my very great surprise, that people candidly object to some course of action RELATION TO THE PARTIES OF THE DAY. 65 which, in itself (objectively considered) is perfectly correct, simply because many or most of those who uphold it are acting from bad or impure motives, or because it is practised by those who are (no doubt with perfect reason) personally obje.rionable to them- selves. * True agitation confines itsc;' lo waking up the drowsy. * The real power in some men's characters is looked upon indulgently by others as a charming and inno- cent childishness. With such a judgment they may well be content. To most people it is a psychological impossibility to hold a conviction for themselves alone. Although I have attached myself to a party (every one who holds a genuine conviction must do so now-a-days), yet I am unsuited for a true partisan ; because it is so easy and natural for me to look at matters from my opponent's point of view, and to recognise and cheerfully acknowledge how far his views are right. TOLERANCE AND CRITICISM. Every one must undoubtedly judge of things as he sees them. On this point therefore we have no right to reproach another, vexatious as his wrong opinions may often be to us. Nothing m.ore certainly E M 66 STILL HOURS. secures tolerance towards others than our reah'zation of the need of systematic thinking, and our remem- brance of the close dependence, in all our conceptions, ot one idea upon another. * ^ Is impartiality a thing that may be acquired > A view on all sides can be had only from the top of the mountam ; but we may climb up and gain it. It is Of course quite natural that every man should consider his own profession the most important, only he must not forget that others have exactly the same opinion of theirs. A man may, with perfect consistency, be inwardly certain of his own conviction, and yet cherish no hought of obliging others to assent to it; indeed, the one is an excellent test of the other. We shall never convince another that he is wrong unless we begin by frankly ac', nowledging how far he is right* There are very few people who can understand that, in any given case, it is another's duty to act quite differently trom themselves. The keenest-sighted man will become blind to wide provinces of experimental knowledge if he habitually avoids turning his gaze in their direction TOLERANCE AND CRITICISM. ___ (>1 It is lost trouble to attempt to makr^,^ understand what for him has no existence. * There is a large-hearted Christian tolerance, which s much more eiTectual in l