literature that of Leibnitz; while in France it was the age of military glory and social brilliancy of Racine and Moliere, of Fe'nclon and Bossuet, of Bayle and Vol- taire. German men and women therefore found their own life mean and tiresome, and were carried away by admiration of their splendid neighbor, till it became the fashion to imitate whatever was French in manners, dress, or tone ol thought, and the very language was wretchedly corrupted by the intermixture of French phrases. Of course there was a class, of which king Frederick William I of Prussia may be taken as tin- type, w ho hated foreign ways, and upheld whatever was most antiquated and unrefined as peculiarly German;
but in general the tide set in favor of the foreigners. The French were now the great models, and very unfor- tunate ones for a people whose natural genius was bo totally different. German literature reached, its lowest ebb under these influences. One of the earliest signs, if not the first Bign, of its revival was a rebellion against French classicism, and an admiration tor the master win. i- . i English- Shakespeare and Milton.
Religion Buffered under the same depression. On the one hand was a rigid Lutheranisin which had petrified wdiat had once been living convictions int.. dead dog- mas, and which gave its whole attention to controver- sies about definitions of doctrines in which the people bad ceased to feel a genuine interest On the other hand was a genteel indifference which idolized "en- lightenment" (the favorite watchword of that period), and indemnified itself for its compliance with certain outward observances by laughing at the whole affair in private. Rabener, a satirist of this period, when char- acterizing the earlier pari of the 18th century, says: "There was a time in Germany when no satire could he witty at the expense of anything hut the Bible, and there were lively heads which had. so to speak, a com- plete satirical concordance in readiness, that their wit might never run dry. . . . If a groom is conscious of possessing a more cultivated mind than the dairymaid, he slarll.- h.r by a jest on some text or h\ inn : all the servants scream with laughter, all admire him. down to the very cowboy, and the poor dairymaid, who is not so witty, stands there abashed." When the danger seemed imminent that the great work of the Reformation would
prove in vain, and that it would soon c e to ruin,
providential supply and guidance came in the pietistic spirit which arose. Indeed, the learned Dorner holds, with a large number of others, that this n. « tendency was a necessary stage in the development of Protestant- ism— a supplement of the Reformation — and that Spener, the father of pietism, was the veritahle successor ofMe- lancthon.
But we must First learn what pietism proposed to do before we can properly appreciate its historical impor- tance. Pietism commenced upon the principle that the Church was corrupt ; that the ministry were generally guilty of gross neglect; and that the people were cursed with spiritual death. It therefore proposed, as a theo- logical means of improvement: 1. That the scholastic theology, which reigned in the academies, and was com- posed of intricate and disputable doctrine*, and oh-rure and unusual forms of expression, should he totally abol- ished. 2. That polemical divinity, which comprehended the controversies subsisting between 4 Christians of differ- ent communions, should he less eagerly studiedand less frequently treated, though not entirely neglected. 3. That all mixture of philosophy and human science with divine wisdom was to he most carefully avoided; that is, that pagan philosophy and classical learning should he kept distinct from, and by no means surpersede Bib- lical theology; hut. 1. that, on the contrary, all those .-t u. 1< nt > who were designed for the ministry should he accustomed from their early youth to the perusal and study of the Holy Scriptures, and be taught a plain s_\s-
I. f theology, drawn from these unerring bi
truth. 5. That the whole course of their (duration was to he so directed as to render them usi ful in life, by the practical power of their doctrine and the commanding influence of their example. But it was not intruded to
confine these reforms to students and the clergy. Re- ligious persons of every class and rank were encouraged to meet in whal were called Biblical colleges, or colleges ofpietj iwe might call them prayer-meetings), where some exercised in reading the Scriptures, singing, and prayer, and others engaged in the exposition of the Scriptures; not in a dry and critical way, hut in a strain of practical and experimental piety, win reby they were mutually edified. This practice, which always more or less obtains where religion flourishes (as, for instance, at the Reformation ), raised the same sort of outcry as at
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the rise of Methodism ; and those who entered not into the spirit of the design were eager to catch at every in- stance of weakness or imprudence, to bring disgrace on that, which, in fact, brought disgrace upon themselves, as lukewarm and formal Christians. "In so saying, Master, thou reproachest us also."