New-York tribune., 1870-01-07

oifio1. n wa
ponents. believing age should return, n any Mad
Il must not be Just exactly the old orthodox one d
learning should rse to LIVING sc ngsrsa culture The
Bible should again come 10 honor, put ~ hu'' y" '
spirit rather than Its letter..
Thus a new school of theologans arose,
"whO clearly and acutely this mission OF tne new
age and who contributed largely by ther .G
bring forth creation. which was neitner IKE hs @
stood forth against them as new Powedf nd nowsae to
pety OF heart and education Of the mnd, 70 WHAT was
ancient and to what was new"
Fichte. as DR., Hagenbach remarks, had given the
primary impulse to this movement; and III iact We
may safely assert that the idealstic philosophy had
been throughout q principal cOunteractlVe OF tha'
naked and barren Ratlonasm toward which the-
ology was drifting. But it was Schleermacher' who'
by breathing new life into theology brought IL
into direct communion with modern culture and the
aspirations Of new epoch.
"In opposition as well to the view which makes re-
ligion merely matter Of knowledge-whether as to
dead material OF traditional dOgmas, or az an
subject CT philosophical discusslonas To that wen -.
duces it to moral discipline, he sought 10 eeVae
IL again TO It's true position, TO restore u 10 III, H.,
by feeling he understood, not that feeting move
ment of sensible experiences which passes aShy t y s
Of the humor OF the hour; not that fantastic suscep
bility and emotonality which he himself so In Y
posed: but the nnernOst germ OF the man. he cehira
focal point Of his spiritual fe the source ana fooe "a az
our thinking striving and acting the most e
and original portion OF our inner lfe Religion cannot po
Taught from without, nor communicates ~ aVE gu & U
sentences but must be begoten IN the lG % me- and
lived and make itself known as an allrnilng ana
10 te dsep Of his own self and everything
outward go far as IL makes Itself known as distinct
knowledge or action, is something only secondary u0
rived"
We perceive, from this statement, how schleler-
macher by appealing directly TO sef-consciousness,
independently alike of dogma and of speculation
aimed to revive that sentiment of religion that con-
vcton of its reality and its necessity, which had
been stihed by the one and disspated by the ether
Religion, with him, to be the basis OF theology;
"where there is no experience of divine things such
things cannot be understood. Religion is not prma-
rily matter of knowledge, but of innermost SELF
consciousness Not what God is in himself. but
what he is in his relation to feeling Of dependence
on him. ls the problem which system OF doctrine
has to solve"
Was, then, the problem solved by the system
which Schleiermacher himself reared upon this basis
"a system embracing, conceive, all that IS vital
or essential in Christianity We answer for those
who accepted it, for those who were susceptible to
its influence, on whom it acted with eilicacious
power We shall get no system to solve it for all
times and for all minds. The old questions, the old
struggles continually recur and the fresh faith that
is inbreathed into generation becomes exhausted
in the next. Let us not conclude from this that
society moves in mere succession of circles Rather
we may say that it is because one age overshoots
another that it cannot rest satisfied with the solu-
tions Of the past, but must gain new ones 1or Itself
A passage with which we close our extracts Will
show Dr. Hagenbach's views IN regard to the present
relations of the Church with the age and will serve
also to indicate the general spirit Of his work.
1--WE do not desire q return 10 the good old
times NV narrative would be in VAN II any OF
should indulge this anguid hope FOR believe the view
TO the newest historical development is ths Modern
culture as exhibited in the different departments of
more suppressed than the fulibIown flowers OF Spring
be put back into the buds from which they sprang
the return TO tho dark chambers OF night or the
stream TO tho obscure fountain OF the wilderness Let
him who dreams OF su9h reactions ions ana e Tes'9EeIhs en
heroes Of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and
push himself back into tho times Of the old polemic
theology, Who but Dreamer would :. restore
the The gSa3 %ge century es become the
seventeenth the sixteenth nor can IL leap over or
fespectabe disregard But it is certain that as the
eighteenth century the transition TO the nineteenth
do stand IN the middle Of stream whose cur.
rent rushes toward distant shore. There are many
who charge others with being stagnant while they them
selves would like To stand still with only Just what Mey
have learned with what has been landed 10 them as u
mnsm We live 10 Ger bg age when uRSs an
when certain people think that they advance science by
cutting of the roots and tendris OF aith, while others
imagine that they render falth service by cppng lhe
wings knowledge and research or by closing the eyes
wi zen
is like the aurora borealis shooting above land stiff
fened in iec but yet giving no warmth while the heat OF
class is like consuming hre, whose smoke ana
vapOr darken the land Oh, that light and WaTmtA
would again unite IN the right place and IN THE the
proper way. and that like an electromagnetic fofce
they would pervade our ecclesiastical commnnity and
dwell in i vital principle, 80 that the lght beg
here and the heat there the church might become pro-
ductve by their united energy do not know charm
that unite the twO and such one Will not soon De
found. He who waits for It Will wait In vain ana he
philosophical abracadabra does not know what he Is
about Truth depends not on forms IL Is not an aar
to be cOmprehended in exterior sense and which nav
ing issued, can DO forever taken about III he
pocket as letter or a seal Its character must be
stantly renewed its seal must be always imprinted
afresh; IL must ever DO born anew OF the Splrlt;
True. there eternal truths which are laid
down for US In the Holy Scriptures; and thus
far these truths are pledges and seals Tor us
for all But II look at the Scriptures mparti
ally they do not impress MS as being urdcal documents
ons when the times and relations Of men change must
they be applied to these changed times and relations
and therefore, even be read anew with spiritual eyes, as
with Luther with the most pious and spiritual men OF
ClaudIus, Herder, Lavaer, Hamann, Steifens, and
others. The spirit moves a mediator between the
time Of the sacred writers and and he who does
not 1--we connection with the spiritual current which
what aid the Scriptures afford him. We
would not however recne upon positive coInmunlca-
tion, though 1t be the definite statements OF the
Scriptures themselves, as upon SOFT cushion, ana de
clare that the prosperity OF the Church dependent upon
binding definitions By saving we convert them into
such cushion We must think ana labor and desire 10
exercise the SOUL but at the basis OK this disposition ana
striving there must lie an implicit confidence IN the
power Of truth aud candid and sincere love OF It, Only
those have taken really advanced step in the promo
ton OF truths who have made truth serious matter and
in annals of Church history, whether Or
thodox, hyscs, Petiss lnnovatoTs Ideasts, Famine