ideas of absolute justice in a manner so insulated and unexplained, as makes his unqualified language more alarming and offensive than his real meaning. He has also given Gale's ideas of absolute justice in such a manner as implies that it is the rule by which God actually administers his moral government. And he has produced the glaring passage to prove the doctrine of infant damnation; when, from the whole connexion, it is perfectly manifest, that Gale had, in his own mind, no reference to that subject what ever. And this is not all. He charges Calvinistic ministers of the present day with giving, and their hearers with greedily receiving, representations of the character of God, which liken him to the "PRINCE OF HELL.” And he says that the understandings of these ministers and their hearers, are "so debased," and "their moral sentiments so brutified," that they have not "sense," nor "spirit," nor "knowledge of right or wrong, enough to distinguish between" the character of God and the Devil. This, we suppose, must be regarded by us as that speaking the truth in love of which Unitarians are emulous to set us an example; and that charity which Dr. Channing eulogizes as the peculiar delight of Unitarians; and an illustration of those honied accents which flow so smoothly in the last number of the Christian Examiner. "We are reluctant to speak anything connected with the sore and bitter irritations of these times. We would to God, that good and sober men could be suffered to pursue their course more quietly. Our very souls are pained and sick of every day's story and every body's strife. May the time. come, yet we dare not pray for its speedy coming, when humble and modest men of whatever name, may go to their graves in peace. Yet it is from the natural reluctance which many of us feel to speak of controversy, that we are charged with covering up the differences, or reducing them to matters of small account. Let us then task ourselves to say something of these things."* 'The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives.' A hideous figure of their foes they draw, Nor lines, nor looks, nor shades, nor colours true; Respectfully, yours, (To be continued.) LYMAN BEEcher. * Christ. Examiner, vol. v. No. 1. pp. 2,3. RELIGION IN GERMANY. To the Editor of the Spirit of the Pilgrims.—Sir, In the Review, inserted in your last number, of the Evangelical Church Magazine, recently commenced at Berlin in Prussia, information of a highly interesting character was communicated to the public, respecting the past and present state of religion in Germany. I send you some additional particulars on this important subject, which will be interesting to your readers. They are derived from the following sources, viz. The State of Religion in Germany; in a series of Discourses preached before the University of Cambridge, England, 1825; by the Rev. Hugh James Rose, M. A. of Trinity College, and Vicar of Harsham; who has travelled and resided in Germany.-Reflexions sugérées par l'annonce du Concours qui doit s'ouvrir pour la Nomination de Deux Professeurs à la Faculté de Théologie, Protestante de l'Academie de Montauban, Par M. Stapfer, ancien Pasteur; inserted in the Archieves du Christianisme du xIx. Siecle, Septième Année. -A Review of these works in the Eclectic Review. And a Letter from the Rev. B. Kurtz, a Lutheran clergyman of this country who lately visited Germany, dated May 14, 1827. The system of the German Neologists is thus described by the Eclectic reviewer. "The outline of their scheme is this:-That the moral contents of the Bible are a Revelation from God, in the same sense in which all intellectual proficiency and practical improvements are gifts of Divine Providence.-That the book of Genesis is a collection of the earliest traditions concerning the origin and primeval history of the human race, containing some facts, but mingled with much allegory, mythology, and fable.-That the institutions of the Israelitish nation, were the admirable inventions of Moses and his coadjutors; the claim of a divine origin having been cleverly assumed, and ably sustained, to obtain the credit and obedience of a barbarous people. That the prophets were the bards and patriotic leaders of their country, warmed with the love of virtue, roused by the inspiration of genius, using the name of the Lord to arouse torpid and selfish minds, and having no other insight into futurity than the conjectures which were suggested by profound political views, and by access to the secrets of camps and cabinets. That Jesus was one of the best and wisest of men, possessing peculiar genius, and an elevation of soul far above his age and nation. That, seeing his countrymen sunk in ignorance and superstition, and apprized of the depravity of the idolatrous nations, he formed the grand conception of a pure, simple, and rational religion, founded on the Unity of the Godhead, enjoining universal virtue, having as few positive doctrines and outward institutions as possible, and therefore adapted to all times and all countries.-That, in order to accomplish his purpose the more readily and safely, he entered into a temporary compromise with the popular opinions and phraseology, assuming to be the Messiah whom the nation expected, and applying to himself various passages of the prophets, such as were calculated to excite the highest veneration. That, by superior natural science, and by dexterously availing himself of fortunate coincidences, he impressed the bulk of the people with the belief of his possessing supernatural powers,-an artifice very excusable on account of its benevolent and virtuous motive.-That, by the envy, revenge, and selfish policy of the Jewish ecclesiastical leaders, he was condemned to die; that he was fastened to a cross, but (in consequence, perhaps, of previous management by some friends in power) was not mortally hurt; that he was taken down m a swoon, and laid in a cool and secluded recess within a rock, where, by the skill and care of his friends, animation was restored. That, when recovered, he concerted measures with his confidential adherents for carrying on his noble and generous views; that, from a secure retirement, known to only a very few of his most intimate disciples, he directed their operations; and that, in a personal interview near Damascus, he had the admirable address to conciliate Saul of Tarsus, and persuade him to join the cause with all the weight of his talents. That he probably lived many years in this happy retirement, and, before his death, had the pleasure of knowing that his moral system was extensively received both by Jews, and by men of other nations.-That this religion, though a human contrivance, is the best and most useful for the general happiness of mankind, and therefore ought to be supported and taught, at least till the prevalence of philosophical morality shall render it no longer needful. "Such a system as this is held boldly and throughout by some, and by others in various degrees of approximation. They go under the denominations of Rationalists, Neologists, and Antisupernaturalists; and we have been informed that other terms are employed to express, like the nomenclature of a West Indian population, the differing shades and hues of this belief or nonbelief. "The most celebrated supporters of this system, in some or other of its gradations, are believed to be, or to have been, Paulus, Eichhorn, Eckermann, Gesenius the author of the Hebrew Lexicon, Gabler, Wegscheider, Bretschneider, Van Hemert of Amsterdam, Schiller the late dramatist and historian; and to these we fear we must add Heinrichs, Niemeyer, and Schleiermacher, the author of A Critical Essay on the Gospel of St. Luke, which has been translated into English. These writers have certainly rendered useful services to the cause of Bible learning. In numerous dissertations, essays, and commentaries, they have contributed stores of Oriental and Rabbinical attainments to the illustration of history, allusions, and phraseology, in both the Old and the New Testaments. It is especially worthy of observation, that, in their bringing out of the grammatical sense of the Christian Scriptures, they frequently state certain opinions and persuasions as entertained by the apostles, which are no other than the GREAT DOCTRINES of religion, as held by the orthodox churches of ancient and modern times. These are, the ascribing to Christ those attributes which are peculiar to Deity; the assertion of an expiatory design in the sufferings and death of Christ; the referring of all events to the decrees and providence of God; the reality and necessity of Divine influence in order to true holiness in principle and action; the existence and temptations of wicked spirits; and the immediate happiness or misery of the human soul on its separation from the body. It is to be observed, that, in making these statements, the Rationalist interpreters are most careful to avoid the declaration of their own belief; they appear to keep ever in view the character under which they write, that of mere narrators of what were the opinions of other men, in a distant age. But it is obvious, that this very character, this confinement to the bare construing of the text, and the cold assertion of its meaning, this very indifference (whether real or affected) to that meaning, and all united with the admitted skill of the writers, in all the critical requisites, renders their testimony of greater value. Nor should we forget one consideration more: that, if these interpreters had followed their own evident bias, they would have given a sense to each passage, of a very different character from that which they have done. As, when Porphyry and Julien, and the malignant Jew who wrote the Toldoth Jesu, admit the reality of our Lord's miracles, but satisfy themselves by referring them to magic as the cause, we feel the value of their testimony, but are unmoved by their arguing; so, in this case, we accept the depositions of enemies to evangelical doctrines, that those doctrines were believed and taught by the apostles, while our feelings towards the authors of the depositions are those, not of approbation, but of strong censure and deep pity. "The Latin writings of Koppe and his continuators, of the younger Rosenmüller, Schleusner, and Kuinöl, have been the chief instruments in making Englishmen, to a limited degree, acquainted with the existence and opinions of this school of spurious theology; and the intercourse of our Bible societies las brought, more effectively than any other method was likely to have done, before the minds of Christians in general, an exhibition of the evil itself, and of the means by which Divine Providence is, we trust, counteracting it. But the Latin works of the authors just mentioned, (of whom the two latter are narrators, not supporters of the system, and E. F. C. Rosenmüller appears, by the more recent publica tions of his Scholia, to have relinquished it,) and of some who are less extensively known among us, do not amount to a complete exhibition of the case. It is in the vernacular writings of the authors referred to, that we must seek for the full exposition of their opinions, and the application of those opinions; and it is in the vernacular writings also of some of their countrymen, that we can obtain their best confutation. It is our earnest wish, that the lovers of truth, and of really free and rational inquiry, would do all in their power to promote the study of the German language in our own country; we are persuaded that it would be found the best way of making the poison inefficient, and the antidote successful. "Mr. Rose gives the following sketch of the radical principles and the character of the antichristian party. "The Rationalizing divines have done this,—they have chosen to suppose a system which they think reasonable, which they think ought to be the Christian system; and they resolved to make it so at any expense of Scripture. I have no hesitation in saying, that their whole system of historical interpretation is built on these notions, and, loudly as its excellency is vaunted, I cannot but consider it most fallacious and dangerous. That a real and sound interpreter of God's word must add, to a critical knowledge and complete familiarity with its language, the widest historical knowledge, the knowledge of the opinions, pursuits, and customs of the Jewish, and indeed of the Greek and Roman nations; that, in examining the words and phrases of Scripture, the peculiar opinions and habits of thought existing at the time of the writer, and likely to influence his style, must be investigated, is most true: but this is not the peculiar merit of the Rationalists; this is the old and sound grammatical interpretation which was used by critics far, very far, superior to any one of them, and long before the existence of their school, and which will be used by future critics when that school, its follies, and its mischief, have passed away, and are forgotten. What is peculiar to them is this; that, in interpreting the New Testament, their first business is always, not to examine the words, but to investigate the disposition and character of the writer, and his knowledge of religion, the opinions of his age on that subject, and finally, the nature of what he delivers. From these, and not from the words, they seek the sense of Christ's and his followers' discourses; and they examine the words by these previous notions, and not by grammatical methods. They seek for all which Christ said, in the notions held by the Jews in his time; and contend that those are the points first to be studied by an interpreter. They seek thence to explain the history, the dogmatical part of the New Testament, nay, those very discourses of Christ in which he delivers points of faith and morals; and thus to inquire, not what the Founder of our religion and his disciples really thought or |