RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mysticism
was a theosophist rather than a mystic, and his concepts were developed on a non-Lutheran foundation. The Reformed Church was far less favor- ■<^Ele to mysticism than was Lutheranism; Zwingli had no interest in it, Calvin hated it, and Reformed dogma and forms of worship were alike unfavorable to it. In 1671 Gisbertus Voetius (q.v.) could declare that there was no mysticism in the Reformed Church, yet he himself sought, in his Exercitia pietatis, to give a quasi- vindication of mysticism, only to advance no further than the lowest grade of the older system, and to make sound mysticism end where the true mystics made it begin. Nevertheless, a series of Dutch theologians, partly his contemporaries and partly belonging to the following generation, gave increased scope to mysticism, this number including Jan and Willem Teellinck, Jodocus van Lodensteyn, and Willem Schortinghuis (qq.v.), in whom certain basal concepts of Romance mysticism have been traced. Similar ideas may also be found in the writings of the English Puritan Francis Rous (q.v.). In England, moreover, the writings of Bohme inspired a system of theosophy strongly mingled with visionary elements, represented by John Pordage and Jane Lead (qq.v.), as well as by the latter's son-in-law Francis Lee, all of whom inspired the Philadelphian Society which found adherents in many places on the continent. And these writings even influenced the dry school of the Cambridge Platonists (q.v.).
While mysticism thus found but scant recognition in Protestantism, its position was far different in the Roman Catholic communion. In Spain just before the Reformation, mysticism had
4. Post- received a fresh impulse, expressed in Reformationthe Abecedario espiritual of the Minorite
Roman Francisco de Osuna, and shared by his
Catholic brother Minorite, Pedro de Alcantara. Mysticism. At the same time, however, there arose the quietistic and antinomian Alombrados (q.v.). While Juan d'Avila and Ignatius Loyola were acquitted, after trial by the Inquisition, of affiliation wth this sect, the Jesuit founder was strongly influenced by the new mysticism, which, duly regulated arid conformed to doctrine and ordinance, he determined to press into the service of the Church. Nevertheless, he forbade the devotion of the whole life to mysticism, which was restricted to certain times. The masterpiece here is his Exercitia spiritualia (q.v.); and mysticism gave the Counterreformation some of its strongest sinews, and has exercised on the development of Romanism a force which is yet scarcely valued as it should be. About this same period there arose, through Franciscan and Jesuit influence, a spirit of mysticism in the new congregation of Discalced Carmelites, the great names here being Theresa (q.v.) and John of the Cross (see Carmelites) ; and from Spain, especially from the Carmelites, the new mysticism spread to France. Francis of Sales (q.v.) and Mme. de Chantal also belong here, despite the quietism of the latter. Decision concerning Miguel de Molinos (q.v.) is difficult, the problem being whether he valued mystical experiences so highly as to despise the sacraments of the Church, his condemnation, if such was his attitude, being justifiable from the
Roman Catholic point of view. The question of disinterested love of God gave rise in France to the persecution of Mme. de Guyon (q.v.), who exercised an influence over German Protestants, and even over some in Switzerland.
In a certain sense, Pietism (q.v.), the most important movement in the German Church since the Reformation, furthered mysticism. Spener, while not himself a mystic, was not unfavor- 5. Late able to the system, which he aided by Protestant commencing to break down dogmatic Mysticism, barriers. Both Johann Wilhelm Petersen and Gottfried Arnold (qq.v.) were closely associated with Pietism, and the latter did valuable service for the history of mysticism in the concluding portions of his great church history. To this same period belongs the Berleburg Bible (see Bibles, Annotated, I., § 3), and in the second decade of the century there arose, in distant connection with emigrants from the Cevennes, inspiration communities in the Wetterau (see Inspired, The). Mention should also be made, in this connection, of Gerhard Tersteegen (q.v.), who occupies an important position in the mysticism of all ages. The second half of the eighteenth century, with its prevailing Enlightenment (q.v.), which was fanatically hostile to all that was not obvious at first sight, was most unfavorable to mysticism. Nevertheless, even this period had such representatives as Samuel Collenbusch, Jung Stilling, Johann Caspar Lavater (qq.v.). Friedrich Christoph Oetinger and Emanuel Swedenborg (qq.v.) were theosophists rather than mystics, while Philipp Matthaus Hahn and Johann Michael Hahn (qq.v.) occupied a middle ground. On the Roman Catholic side the chief place is due Johann Michael Sailer (q.v.).
It might have been expected that the revolution in thought in the nineteenth century would have given a new impulse to mysticism, especially in view of the romantic movement. It is true that the name of mysticism was again honored; that the memory of such mystics as Eckhart and Jakob Bohme was revived; and that a superstitious and credulous Romish history of mysticism was written by Johann Joseph Gorres (q.v.). Both Romanists and Protestants did much for the history of mysticism in this period, and in the former communion the theory of mysticism was still studied in traditional fashion. All this, however, was the history and theory of mysticism, not mysticism itself. A real mystic, i.e., one who devotes himself to the mystic life and influences others mystically, can scarcely be found in the nineteenth century. The mystical spirit has not vanished, it is true, but the mystical life has disappeared. The reason probably lies in the ever-increasing unrest of the time, which, though a consequence of the inevitable progress of development, renders impossible that quietude and unworldly meditation which mysticism demands; yet it is not impossible that the time will come when, perhaps under new forms, mysticism will again arise and assert its rights.