The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-10-28
warnlng Star and Catholic &9sisnes'.
Wnw oaLRAHs. SUNDAY. OCTOBER ss ir'
TIE PRoTESr4NT CRISIS IN BERLIN
LONDON Tablet, Get. 6.

The Protestant crisis at berlu Ia ThP'u'J
developing itself. II it continues to pro
Rress at it's present rate, 1t is not unnke'y
that, before many months, the National
Liberals may be able TO vary the pastlme
O! priest hunting by a little persecution OF
" orthodox" Protestant preachers. Inc
latest stage in the crisis Is marked ny tue
decision of the provincial Coheiseory oi
Brspdenbur rejecting the Rationalist cler-
gyman, Herr Hossbach, who had been
elected parish minister of st. James's, in
Berlin. As this may hereafter Prove to be
one of the landmarks of the passage OF
German State -Protestantism into Ration
alistic ipfidelity, it is worth while reviewing
briefly the chief features of this incident.
-Fhe iseamhencY, as Enelish churcomen
would say, of the Berlin parish OF st. jamee
being vacant last May, the necessary legal
steps were taken to fill it up. There were
two clergymen attached to the church, one
of whom, Herr Disselhoff, belonged to the
"orthodox" school, the other, Laacke, was
An unfortunate apostate Dominican. 1t
might have been expected that the choice
Of the electors would have fallen upon
her of these but 1t WAS not 30. Under
lew regulationS for the government OF
estant parishes, two bodies share the
Lagement OF parochial concerns. one Is
parochial councils consisting of the
eFgyman and others who have an e1 o9icio
atus; the other is body of representa-
elected by all the Protestant voters of
parish, exactly in the came way as rep
resentatives for the municipality or the
legislature would be elected. These two
bodice, or ecclesiaeticat colleges as they
Are called, by common name, seem to
have thought it advisable to look farther
afield for pastor for st. Jamess. Accord
ipgly, they invited Herr Hossbach, who
was the second clergyman attached to St
Andrews church, to preach sermon in
their presence. Probably they set consid
erable store by the preserce in their new
pastor of the gift OF speech, and of eloquent
exposition of topics " Mich might do service,
instead of sCuud Christian doctrine. AT
least, this would eeem to be the case, jndg-
ing by the event. 1t ia to be noted that
Herr Hossbach was not a candidate for the
vacancy, that he did not himself fer to
preach, or in any way put himself forward
for acceptance. When invited he preache d,
and he left his hearers in no donbt what.
ever as to his opinions. lie declared that
he belonged to "modern liberal Protestant
ism.o He recognized that there were many
mistakes in the Bible, even in the New
Testament, aud, lest there should be any
mistake as to his theological position,
no replied to questions which were ad
dressed to him, and, in the course of these
replies. he stated that Our Lord WAS in no
way different from other men, and was not
born of Virgin. On Thursday, May 81,
HeY1 Hossbach was elected by an over
whelming majority Of votes. There were
forty nine electors. Ono vote was given
In blank, two were given to Disselhof, the
orthodox clergyman of the vacant parish,
eight votes were given to Herr Schuman,
." Liberal" clergyman from the country,
and thirty eight votes were given to Herr
Hossbach. The appointment, to be COM
plete, YsaniTed tie confirmation of the
Provincial Synod, body which was COM
posed on the same principle as the paro
cbial colleges. But somehow the liberal
,,.oNI I>y-o, or
and therefore the chances of Herr Hosshach
we're by no meaos certain.
The election itselt, aud everything con-
oected with il, caus+ d great excit emeht A
protesr WAS at orce lodged with the neces
ss~' -.tcials of the CoDsistOry. Besides
ST. -fOneouS propositions which were
"a extracted from -his probationary ser.
mon before the esCtor-, the protest insist-
I'd on the imV !hitity f his sgurng iona
Eds rbe recognised confessions of faith,
,pksuiuch rs their teaching WAS contrary to
their declGIatIous TIE protest also called
attention to n previous discourse of his,
which be- had published, upon "The Doc
trine OF he Original Christian Community"
10 this pamphlet he declared that tho
Resurrection of OGr Lord was u delusicn
of the Apostles, and he aseailed almost all
the supernatural facts mentioned III the
Gospels. The protest admitted that Herr
Hossbach had been a recognized clergy man
for fifteen years. but on tho other hand
abe dry upmistAkable character of his
statements admitted of no compromise.
Enluckily for hin it happened that, just at
this time, several matters caused consider
able excitement in Protestant circles.
There was the conmoticn in the Supreme
Church Council itself, which was only
Eettled by letter from the King of Prussia.
And such d ietter-sadly but firmly insist
ing on the Indispensable necessity of all
faithfully adheripg to the ancient standards
and upholding the Divinity of Christ. Then
there WAS the Rhode incident, concerning a
clergyman who had modestly proposed to
abrogate the Apostles Creed as antiquated,
and containing propositions which our
treason" would no longer allow US to
tolerate. But this gentleman, on the bare
appearance of prosecution, withdrew all his
brave words, or explained them away. The
Provincial Consistory, in consideration oi
mis- explanations and retractations, cou.
tented itself with severely censuring him
Next came the August conferences of the
clergy of Berlin aud some of the leadin g
religious laymeu, who bewailed the spirit
and tendency OF the age, and passed reso
lations strongly recommending the enforc
ing of a standard of orthodoxy on all mem