The sun., 1880-11-21


"thou canst comprehend with thine own
two and five make eight, thou art bound to
believe 1t, however contrary to thy knowl-
edgo and feeling" With such encourage
ment from the highest spiritual authority, 1t
was natural that every ruler should exact
prompt and absolute conformity from all
his subjects. The abrupt and sweeping al
formations OF creed imposed by successive
sovereigns were, OF course, fatal to any
thing like religious convictions. In q hun
dred years the Palatinate passed through
ten changes OF religion and since the begin
ming Of the present century the tiny princi-
pality OF Glachau, governed alternately by
counts OF pietist and nationalist opin-
ions, has regularly changed its pastors with
It's sovereign, the one sect preaching belief
In the atonement, and the other laughing
that tenet to scorn. Under these circum-
stances, the inhabitants did just what the
whole Protestant Church OF Germany has
been constrained to do. They suited them
selves to all creeds by not caring for any
creeds at all.
The present organization OF the Prussian
National Church, while II vigorously pre-
scribes specific form OF worship, exhibits
significant Indifference to the articles OF
belief professed. This system OF drill and
uniformity in the externais OF the Church
means no more than the presence of the BIZ
BILE In the knapsack Of every Prussian SOL
dier. 1t Is proof OF the soldiers subordi-
nation to his rulers, not OF their solicitude
for his religion. Even the army chaplains,
1t is said, are free to inveigh against the
most sacred dogmas OF the Christian faith.
so long as they preach obedience to military
superiors. That obliteration OF religious diff
fcrences whose logical outcome Is indiffer-
ence was finally accomplished by the Cal
whist sovereigns Of Lutheran Prussia about
forty years ago. FREDERICK WILLIAM w.,
the brother to the present Kaiser, embodied
Lutherans and Calvinists under one denom-
ination, called the Evangelical Church.
furnished with a distinctive service and
liturgy, but unprovided with any stand
ard OF belief. This omission was in
territorial and unavoidable, seeing that the
mechanical union Of doctrines essentially
irreconcilable was contemplated. The act
OF incorporation simply asserted GODS
word" to be the foundation Of the Church.
and left every member to interpret that word
as he chose. The old sects relinquished,
without apparent regret, their former modes
OF worship, which embodied a public pro-
fession OF their faith; indeed, with the ex-
ception OF the protests made in q few
country parishes, scarcely a ripple OF re-
sstance broke the prevailing unconcern 1t
is curious that. under these circumstances,
! the civil authorities were not willing to
leave well enough alone. Wishing to
make the Church still more like q
machine, they drew up in 1876, for
the eight old provinces, n united con-
stitution, with q General Synod as its
organ. AS might have been expected,
the constitution proved too liberal for the
orthodox, and too orthodox for the liberal.
Even this quarrel is conducted in the most
listless fashion, being almost exclusively
confined to the ranks Of the clergy.
| What Is true OF the Prussian Church
may be said, with some qualifications, OF
| all the Protestant churches OF Germany,
which number twenty-six besides the Old
Lutheran and several sects not belonging
to any establishment. They all exhibit the
same spectacle Of stagnation and decay,
the same Indifference and apathy on the
| part Of their nominal adherents, which have
made OF German Professionalism Church
without creed and people without belief