THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
stamp, and that nowhere in the New Testament is there mention of any ceasing of such sensible manifestations, Lavater inferred that perfect Christianity should still rest upon experiences of this kind. Thus, he acquired the habit of watching curiously and longingly for manifestations of supernatural divine powers. In the animal magnetism of Mesmer, in somnambulism, in Pastor Gassner's exorcisms, he was inclined to detect communications from the silent deity; and to the last he believed that the Apostle John still tarried on earth. His predilection for occult phenomena subjected him to considerable ridicule. However, Lavater recognized the danger of his enthusiastic proclivities and used discretion in the expression of his supernatural anticipations. Regarding Lavater's personality there was much discussion even in his lifetime. The unfriendly and unjust criticisms of Goethe, particularly in the Xenien, have dominated general opinion even to the present; but in other connections Goethe spoke quite differently of Lavater (cf. Wahrheit und Dichtung, III. 14). In practical life Lavater manifested deep piety, trust in God, and love toward man, and he fulfilled the duties of his calling with the greatest fidelity.
Lavater was a voluminous author, and he invariably wrote with a view to " general usefulness." Nevertheless, with his tendency to emphasize practical effectiveness he combined the
Writings, idealism common to the Sturm und Drang period, characterized by a tendency to contemplate and glorify the inner life. Lavater was a prominent exponent of this movement, though, in wealth of ideas and completeness of form, his contributions to the movement fall far behind those of Goethe, Herder, and others. At least three works deserve special mention here. In the case of the first the new style, for Lavater, arrayed itself in the mantle of Klopstock. A lady had besought him for a poem on the blessedness of the glorified. As the task grew upon him, he appealed by letters to his friends for counsel. The poem never took shape, but Lavater published his letters as Aussichten in die Ewigkeit (4 vols., Zurich, 1768-78), being speculations as to the conditions and powers of man after death. The guiding genius of Lavater's ideas here is not imaginative vision, in its proper sense, but psychological and ethical intuition; though these ideas are nevertheless expected to withstand the judgment of physiological and metaphysical science.
In Physiognomische Fragmente (4 parts, Leipsic, 1775-78; Eng.transl., Essays on Physiognomy , 3 vols., London, 1789-98), Lavater sought to portray the greatness of human nature under the wealth of individual characterizations. More independently than elsewhere with Lavater, the esthetic interest stands forth in this work — the esthetic in that higher sense, wherein form is the symbol of an inner content. At the same time, the physiognomic manner of contemplation was to have for its object the Creator's wisdom and his peculiar working in genial men, as the elect witnesses of his greatness. The ethical individualism that reached its most comprehensive expression in this work stands in fundamental accord with Goethe's mode of thought, as
against the rationalistic ethics of the Enlightenment. In Pontius Pilatus (4 vols., Zurich, 1782- 1785) Lavater gives a portraiture of humanity in the mirror of Christ's passion history. The author esteemed this work his most important; but Goethe took offense at the form and substance alike; and from that time these two spirits parted. It has even burdened more indulgent readers to find their way through this whirl of ideas; and yet in this work the author's fundamental thoughts, which he was fain to call his " system," might be supposed to appear most completely centered. Humanity, according to Lavater, lives in individualities, whose particular manifestation is consonant with the divine will, and who must mutually advance one another. Each one can " incite and enkindle the slumbering or inactive powers in his fellow "; can help him to become " livelier, freer, more positively existent, more enjoyable, and more surely discerning." Even God becomes enjoyable only through men. Uppermost on the ladder of humanity stands Christ, the " divine man " and the " manlike God." The infinite is enjoyable for us only in the finite; God humanizes himself in Christ. As touching the operations of Christ, Lavater loves the image of the physician and healing: forgiveness of sins is restoration of lost power. The fundamental thoughts of Christian belief thus appear reduced and adapted to the Gospel of the quickening, to the deification of humanity, as advocated by the youthful spirits of the sixties and seventies of the eighteenth century. With Hamann, Lavater is the Christian spirit of this circle.
Aside from Lavater's numerous collections of sermons and many devotional compilations, there are a number of other works deserving mention. The more important of these are: Schweizerlieder (Bern, 1767), a volume of patriotic songs with which Lavater achieved his greatest success as a poet; Das geheime Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner selbst (2 parts, Leipsic, 1771-73; Eng. transl., Secret Journal of Self-observer , 2 vols., London, 1795), the first of those sentimental disclosures whose more distinguished parallels occur in Goethe's Werther (1774) and Rousseau's Confessions (1781); Abraham und Isaak (Winterthur, 1776), a Biblical drama; Jesus der Messias (4 vols., 1783-86), a Biblical epic; Nathanael (1786), an apology for Christianity and the Bible; Handbibliothek fur Freunde (24 vols., 1790-94); Joseph von Arimathia (Hamburg, 1794), another Biblical poem; and Das menschliche Herz (Zurich, 1798), a poem in six cantos. Lavater also wrote about seven hundred hymns, the best-known collection being Christliche Lieder (2 parts, Zurich, 1776-80). Of Lavater as a poet it may be said that, while he had great facility in metrical expression, he lacked creative power.
G. von Schulthess-Rechberg.
Bibliography: The life by his son-in-law, G. Gessner, 3 vols., Winterthur, 1802-03, is excellent as a source, but uncritical in its use of the material. The best life is by
• F. Muncker, Stuttgart, 1883 (those by F. I. Herbst, Ansbach, 1832, and F. W Bodemann, Gotha, 1877, are closely dependent upon Gessner). Consult further: J. C. Mdnkofer, Die schweizerische Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts, Leipsic, 1861; H. Funck, Lavater und der M arkgruf Karl Friedrich von Baden, Freiburg, 1890; idem, G"cthe und Lavater. Brief e und Tagebiultcr, Weimar, 1901; G A>