SCHLEIERMACHER ON RELIGION.* THIS is a remarkable book because it

had a remarkable in- fluence upon a nation which for several centuries has guided the religious thought of all Protestant countries. Moreover, it, together with another book, woke up that nation to its duties, at a time of its utmost calamity and depression, and to exert its energies so thoroughly as not only to regain its place, but to become the foremost nation of the world in warfare and in many departments of literature and practical life. The Reden an die Deutsche Nation of Fichte, the sermons of Schleiermacher, the statesmanship of Stein, and the military reform of her Generals were the cause of Germany's new birth and of her unexampled career for the last quarter-of- a-century. Schleiermacher was a mystic in religion, and this book is scarcely known in England, and has not been translated until now. It is an interesting question how it will be received. It will certainly satisfy the anti-dogmatical party, and, being full of deep religious feeling, will, if studied with care and without prejudice, have a good influence upon all Englishmen. By many in Germany the author is con- sidered the greatest theologian since the Reformation. " He was a Churchman whose grand ideas of the union of the Protestant confessions, of a more liberal constitution of the Church, of the rights of science and of religions individuality, will force their way despite all resistance." Neander, the

• Sohloiennacher on Roligion. Trauelated by John Oman, B.D, London : Kogan Paul, Trench, Tralmer, and Co.

great historian of the Church, ascribed to this book his con- version from Judaism to Christianity. Its excellence and defects are summed up in the opinions of others : "It gave me an impulse to an eternal movement, but it furnished me with no bread." " It is a work of infinite objectivity."

Schleiermacher was not a profound scholar, but had a thoroughly cultured mind, and was therefore much more fitted to lecture his country on religion than a mere scholar would have been. No doubt he had a mind essentially mystical, but this tendency was much increased by his early training among the Moravians. His father must have been a peculiar specimen of a good parson, such as is only to be found in Germany. "For twelve years I preached as an actual unbeliever,"—which is another way of stating that, at that time, he did not believe in dogma at all. But he afterwards returned to the orthodox faith, and was very uncompromising in denouncing the similar want of orthodoxy in his son. The Moravians seem to have been at that time the only people in Germany who kept up a distinctly religious spirit and faith. The "Illuminism" had been working for many years, having been much aided by the powerful writings of Kant on the subject. The ideal of this movement may be thus summed up :—" Exami- nation, investigation, and patient interrogation of all witnesses and of all parties, is the only means for attaining sufficient certainty, and above all for setting a fast boundary between that on which a man must take a side, and that which, without injury to his peace and happiness, may be left undecided."

At Halle Schleiermacher was not much influenced by the pro- fessors, though they were remarkable men, but by the study of Kant's Critique, which had a decisive effect on his life. Later on, he gave up the "illuminism" and formed more definite views, especially on the question of the Church and State- the separation of which he held to be absolutely necessary to guarantee complete tolerance, whereas the "Illuminati" looked upon the Church as an appendage of the State for the moral education of the people. " His sermons are marked by great moral earnestness, which at times recalls Kant rather than Jesus Christ." Those preached after the battle of Jena are remarkable in this respect. Throughout the four volumes of them there is hardly any reference to dogma, much less any discussion about it. He seems pur- posely to avoid it, even in those on the doctrine of the Atone- ment. Indeed, he never freed himself entirely from the influence of the "Illuminism," which Kant defines as "man's emergence from self-caused pupilage," and he gives its watch- word as sapere aude,•—" have courage to use your own under- standings." It was peculiarly the movement of the eighteenth century. It amounted to individualism in politics, sensa- tionalism in philosophy, and utilitarianism in morals, though in Germany it took almost exclusively a theological aspect, and its creed consisted of a personal God full of wisdom and goodness, immortality, and the necessity of religious ideals for moral motives. The good which this, in some respects, noble creed might be expected to work in enlightening a nation which, from the Voltairianism of Frederick the Great and the lax morality of his successor, had greatly deteriorated since the times of the Reformation, was much overbalanced by its easy-going optimism, its shallowness, and self. satisfac- tion. Religion was reduced to a few commonplaces, and the deeper needs of man were fast becoming incomprehensible. Kant himself is not to be held accountable for this, as he acted his part well, as far as his teaching went, which in religion had nothing to do with doctrine. This he distinctly points out in his treatise on " Religion within the Limits of Pure Reason," where he states that it is the office of a learned clergy to study the Scriptures, and explain them to the laity, so that the change which comes over men's minds with regard to their views of doctrine should not be allowed to run wild, but be fixed, for the time at least, on a firm foundation of scholar- ship and reverence. From the continued study of Kant, Schleiermacher derived much good and some harm ; but the harm is more owing to the constitution of his own mind, which seems to have been essentially illogical and sentimental. He studied Plato with much advantage to himself and to all, inasmuch as his translation of that great writer is one of the best in any language. He became a member of the Wednesday Club, where he met men of all schools, the two Schlegels, Tieck, and Novalis, to whom the Wilhelm Meister of Goethe was an ideal. His experience in this club influenced the book On Religion, which was written

at Schlegers instigation. His literary companions in the club were the "cultured despisers " of religion, to whom the book is addressed. Their artistic sense most nearly re- sembled his religious sense. Their historical research gave him warrant for claiming a high value for positive religions. Their exaltation of feeling, joined to Moravianism, led to his view of religion. The style of the book, a "literary chiar- oscuro," was formed from them. Schelling said, on reading it : Either he must have made the profoundest philosophical studies, or he must have written it under blind divine inspira- tion." Berkeley was much read at this time in Germany, and it would seem from the resemblances to him in the book that the author had been influenced also by his philosophy. The discourses worked wonders in their effect, especially on those of the Romantic school. Novalis wrote several poems under its influence ; but whether Schlegel was helped by it on his course towards Rome is not very clear, for at this time the artistic admiration for Catholicism, and the revival of the study of the Middle Ages, helped many of the Romantic school to become members of the Roman Church.

The translator, in his introduction, has given an excellent account of the inner life of the author and of the contents of the book ; and upon this we have naturally preferred to base Our own observations, which we conclude with an extract from Neander

" This book was the occasion of a great revolution and mighty stirring of spirits. Men of the elder generation rejected the pantheistic elements in the book with anger and detestation. But those who were then of the rising generation know with what might this book, that testified of the neglected elements in human nature, wrought upon the heart. In opposition to a ono-sided intellectualism, it was of the greatest importance that the might of religious feeling, the seat of religion in the heart, should be pointed out. It was a weighty impulse to science that men were diverted from the arbitrary abstract aggregate called the religion of reason to the historical significance, in the flesh arra blood of life, of religion, and of Christianity as part of religion. This accorded with the newly awakened interest and sense for his- torical research."

On Religion resembles Butler's Analogy in one thing, that it was addressed to those who despised Christianity ; but in all other respects the two books entirely differ, especially in style, which in Butler is impressive but cumbersome, but in Schleiermacher as clear as crystal, almost as clear as that of Berkeley. And yet it cannot have been an easy book to translate. The writer of this article, reading it many years ago, found numerous passages very difficult to understand. Five years afterwards, on reading it again, all had become clear. In the interval, he had gone through a long and thorough course of metaphysical study and of the reading of German theology. This proves that the translator has done the same, and has thus been able to make so clear to English readers, of which we hope there will be many, a book which otherwise might have been very obscure in various parts.

The explanations by Schleiermacher at the end of each of the five lectures—not "speeches"—are interesting, and serve to explain some of their contents. The following opinion of the author about ourselves and our power of understanding him is curious, and perhaps in some measure true :-

"Those proud Islanders whom many unduly honour, know no `watchword but gain and enjoyment. Their zeal for knowledge is only a sham-fight, and their sacred freedom itself too often and too ,e,ssily serves self-interest. They are never in earnest with anything which goes beyond palpable utility. They know nothing of religion,

save that all preach devotion to ancient usages," &c.

We give one extract to show the style of the author and the verfect rendering of the translator :— th:It may be an unexpected and eyen a marvellous undertaking, b. any one should venture to demand from the very class that have raised the wisdom themselves above the vulgar, and are saturated with thorn. j. of the centuries, attention for a subject neglected by retirement, ast as little, I know, do you worship the Deity in sacred sociability, as you visit the forsaken temples. Suavity and

and science, have so fully taken possession of your

'minds, thy' art 0 at no room remains for the eternal and holy Being that 11°8 beyond lid the world. I know how well you have succeeded in stand o:iir earthly life so rich and varied, that you no longer _yourseves, eyoi of an eternity. Having made a Universe for that made you, are above the need of thinking of the Universe They have long • b To priests, least of all, are you inclined to listen. your treat,

because been outcasts for you, and are declared unworthy of of their sanctuary, they like best to lodge in the battered ruins

and destroying sl cannot, oven there, live without disfiguring swayed by an irresistible necessity All this I know, and yet, divinely com- pelled to speak, and cannotl e necessity within me, I feel myself coin- moue else, should liste o take back my invitation that you, and to me "

• This is a serious accusation for his readers, and a grand beginning of his lecture.

Schleiermacher's Life was translated some years ago into English, but was not much read. We remember one charac- teristic of the man. A friend found fault with his pronuncia- tion of the " et," pointing out that it ought to be pronounced " sht," as on the stage. He was convinced, and the next time he preached ho adopted the " sht," and never once during the rest of his life made a mistake.