GERMANY, ENGLAND, AND SCOTLAND. PART I. TRAVELLING RECOLLECTIONS. INTRODUCTION. I HAVE been requested to give some account of the journey I undertook in the year 1845. The task imposed on me is not easy for on the one hand it is both disagreeable and perilous to speak of one's-self; while, on the other, a vague dissertation filled with generalities can have but little interest. I am thus placed between two shoals, and incur the risk of being either ridiculous or dull: I will do all in my power to steer clear of the first, but I cannot promise to avoid the second. My journey occupied four months, which were divided, in pretty equal portions, among three countries, England, Scotland, and Germany. These three nations have each an individual character; for the people of England and of Scotland, though united under the same government, are nevertheless essentially different. I might easily state their distinguishing characteristics; but I remember, that however great may be the differences which separate nations, that which they have in common is of still higher importance. All are alike in some essential points, and participate in their estrangement from that God who ought to be the centre and the life of all. It may be said of each of them, "The people weary "themselves for very vanity," (Hab. ii. 13.): and also, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, in Christ "Jesus." All nations are called upon to rise and look forward to that restoration which the God-man came to bestow upon the new race of whom He was made the Saviour and the King. "There shall be a root of Jesse," saith the prophet; "to it shall the Gentiles seek." The human race may be compared to an immense temple ruined, but now rebuilding, the numerous compartments of which represent the several nations of the earth. True, the different portions of the edifice present great anomalies; but yet the foundation and the corner-stone are the same. All spring from the same level, and all should be directed to the same end. The walls of the building have been thrown down, and the stones scattered by a great earthquake; yet a mighty Architect has appeared, and his powerful hand is gradually raising the temple-walls. The only difference between one side of the edifice and the other is, that here the restoration is somewhat farther advanced, while there it is less forward. Alas! some places are still overgrown with thorns, where not a single stone appears. Yet the Great Architect may one day look down on these desolate spots, and there the building may suddenly and rapidly spring up, reaching the summit long before those lofty walls which seem to have outgrown the others, but which are still standing half-raised and incomplete. "The last shall be first." The discriminating features of the several families of mankind, the regenerating principle among the numberless races of the earth, do not consist in a greater or less proportion of natural talent, in different degrees of political advancement, or in closeness of attachment to their ancient national traditions. All these may indeed be of some consequence; but the essential point is their degree of participation in those heavenly influences which alone can call the dead mass of humanity to life; and in short, their interest in the person and work of the Redeemer. The heathen are on the lowest steps; next come the Moslem; then those Christian nations most unacquainted with the doctrine of free grace; and, lastly, those among which there is a people who are able to say, "The foundation is "Jesus Christ." These evangelical nations are the capital of humanity—a capital, alas! still meagre and incomplete! These are general principles that we must not lose sight of in contemplating the three countries of which I am to speak, England, Scotland, and Germany. The worldly-minded traveller sees little but diversities and contrasts: the Christian traveller should especially notice relations and identities. I may add, that the three nations I have mentioned are perhaps the three most illustrious branches of the evangelical Christian family. These pages are a mark of the affection I bear them; and even when speaking of the faults I may have met with, my doing so with freedom should be regarded as an additional proof of my love and esteem for them. Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes. Si defendere delictum, quam vertere, malles: HORAT. ad Pisones, l. 437. GERMANY. 1. Solitary Life. The Scientific and the Practical Elements in the Church. Transformation.-2. First Movement. Infidelity. First Arrival in Germany. Struggles. Kiel and Kleuker. Rieu. Exceeding abundantly. Deliverance. Rationalismus vulgaris. Emancipation of Mind. Hegel. Orthodox and Heterodox Tongues. Strauss. His Successors, Bruno Bauer, Feuerbach, Stirner. Atheism. Materialism. Oxford. Friends of Light. 3. Faith. Jubilee of the Reformation in 1817. Festival of the Wartburg. Revival of Faith. Practical School. A Defect. Doctrine of Election. The Gospel preached to the Poor. Scientific School. Its Doctors. Symbolical School. Evangelical Gazette. Absolute Conservatism. Ecclesiastical School. The Union. The Liturgy. Lutheran Movement. Silesia.-4. Second Movement. Christian Societies. Society of Gustavus Adolphus. Assembly of Stutgard. Universality and Mixture. The two great Principles of Protestantism. Different Nationalities and Christian Catholicism. Conservatives and Aggressives: Negatives and Positives: Externals and Internals. A probable Separation.-5. German Churches. A slow Passage or a Leap. Visit to a German Theologian. The Foundation of the Church. The Mind and the Body. Radicalism and Conservatism. Science and Life. The State and the Church. The Monarchical and the Representative Systems. The German, the Roman, and the Genevese Systems. An Evening at Stolzenfels. The Inauguration. The King of Prussia.6. German Catholicism. Manheim, Heidelberg, Stutgard. Worship. Catholicism, Evangelism, Morals. Orthodox Minority, Rationalist Majority. Radical Constitution. Music and Repasts. The true Baptism of a Church. Probable Futurity. M. Gervinus. The Life of Faith. Germany stirs. The Vocation of a People. Geneva. I. SOLITARY LIFE. ON leaving Switzerland my course lay among the mountains of the Black Forest, where I visited |