De Wette's critical labors, in this period of his life, extended beyond the limits of exegesis and reached over into systematic theology. In 1817 he published the Lehrbuck der hist.-krit. Einleitiinf) in die konon. v. npokryph. Biicher des Alien Test., which may be re- garded as the consummation of his critical progress. It passed through seven editions, and was rated by De Wette as the most finished of the productions of his pen. In 1826 the comyilementary Kinhitinui in das Neiie Test, appeared (6th ed. 1860). Earlier than both of these Introductions was his Lehrbnch der hebr.-jiid. Archd- r>%2V, etc. (Leips. 1814, 1830, 1842); and earlier still the Commenfatio de Morte Jesu Chiisti Expiatoria (1813). In this, his first book in doctrinal theology, he assailed the orthodox view of the atonement from a new direc- tion. He represented the death of Jesus as the tma- voidable consequence of liis moral action, and as unex- pected, but grandly met when it was at hand. The philosophical principles on which De Wette's theolog- ical system was built are developed best of all in his
little work Ueher Religion ti. Tlieolor/ie, etc. (Berlin, 181u and 1821). The first part of iiis book on Ciiristian doc- trine appeared in 1813, and was devoted to Bible doc- trines and pervaded by the principle of " historical dc- velopuient." In 1816 lie published ])art ii, on ecclesias- tical dt)ctrines. In liibh- doctrine he distinguished be- tween Hebraism and Jiulaism in the OldTtst.. and the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of the aiiostlcs in the New. Church doctrine was not, to his thinking, a finished prochict, which could undergo no alteration and be developed no further; he saw in it sim[)ly a bond of union which binds together tliose who are members of the Church, but which deserves the att( ntion of the theologian despite every advance that may be made. The presentation of Church doctrine, however, in these books, was simidy that of the Lutheran Church. The author's own system was not given to the public until 1846. In 1819 the Le/nbtick der iJofjmaiik was followtd by a Christliche Sitteidthre {Chisliun Ethics) in two parts, the former of which contained the system of eth- ics, and the latter the history of ethics. In this book De Wette turned aside from the beaten track, in that he did not regard Christian ethics as a mere aggrega- tion of moral iirescriptions, but as a life having its root in a Christian disposition of the heart. His views in this field are still further exhibited in the article Kri- tische Uebersicht der A vsbildvvr/ der iheoloij. Sittevhhre in der eravgd.-billi. Kiiche seif Calixtvs, in the Theolo;;. Zeitsc/iri/t of 1819 and 1820 (edited by himself. Schleier- macher, and Liicke). His published views upon this subject fairly reflected his own theological character. He combined in himself most intimately the scientific and the practical ethical character. His whole being was enlisted in the endeavor to work a moral renova- tion of the German people, and a restoration, on a large scale, of a Christian community in the land. Unable to use the pulpit, he drew up a number of pamphlets and articles for periodicals (181.5-19), which were very influential and became quite popular. This constant endeavor to introduce his ethical views into the rela- tions of practical life brought upon him the censure of the government on the occasion when the P>langen theological student Karl Sand, a member of the Jena Barschmschnft as well, startled the German world by assassinating the dramatist August von Kotzebne under the impulse of an enthusiastic patriotism (March 23, 1819). Kotzebue had been strongly opposed to the success of the liberal movement then being made. De Wette addressed to the mother of this misguided youth a paper in which he condemned the murtler as illegal, immoral, and antagonistic to all moral law, but at the same time characterized the motives from which the action sprang as a most encouraging sign of the times; in explication of which idea he afterwards adduced Jean Paul's judgment of Charlotte Corday. In consequence of having written this letter he was, despite the inter- vention of the academical senate in his behalf, dismissed from his professorship b_v command of the king, Oct. 2, 1819. He declined a sum of money offered him in com- pensation, and retired to Weimar to undertake an edi- tion of Luther's writings (Luther's Briefe, Sendschreiben 2tnd Z)ef/ej//>«?), of which vol. i appeared in 1825, and the final volume (v) in 1828. A supplementary volume was published by Seidenmann in 1856. This was the first comprehensive and complete edition of Luther's works ever publisiied, and was of itself sufficient to earn for its author the fame of scholarship. In 1822 he ])ublished the didactic romance Theodor, cder des Zweiflers Weihe, to which Tholuck replied in 1823 with his Wahre Weihe des Zweifiers.
In 1821 measures were taken by St. Catharine's Church in Brunswick to secure De Wette as its pastor: but, before the arrangement was completed, a call to the tlieological professorship of Basle was extended, which he accepted. Here he not only taught to the great satisfaction of students, but also lectured in weekly evening assemblies where the cultured people of the
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place were his constant auditors. In this way he cov- ered a course of ethics, and anotlier on tlie nature, raan- itestal ions, and influence otrelii^ion; botli ofwliich were published (Berlin, IHIS sij. and 1827), He also j^ave himself steadily to pulpit labor, in which he had never regularly engaged during his earlier years, and published tive volumes of sermons (18-25-2;)), which were supple- mented by a sixtli volume published after his death (1.S49). lie was, however, simply a teacher in the pul- pit— never an orator; and yet the pulpit reacted upon the lecture-room, and led him into the study of theoret- ical homiletics, the fruit of which appears in his val- uable work Amkutuiif/eii iilier Bihlung u. Beiiifsthdtig- keit (let- Gel<t/ic/ien, etc. He also attempted catechetical works, but without gaining the popidar ear.