cording to moral religion (an appellation which, of all the public forms of religion, can alone be applied to Christianity) it is a fundamental principle that every one must use all possible efforts to become a new man (Luke xix. 12-16.)" Comp. his Lehre vom kategorischen Imperatio (in der Kritik der praktischen Vernunft.)

3 Ibid. p. 52: The moral culture of man must not commence with the amendment of his conduct, but with a complete change of his mode of thinking, and the establishment of his character." (Comp. the distinction which he made between legality and morality; Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, p. 106.)

Ibid. p. 157 ss. Of course by religion he understands the religion of reason, to which historical faith must gradually elevate itself (p. 169.) Concerning the Divine grace (according to the principles of the Kantian philosophy) comp. Trieftrunk iii. p. 132 ss. concerning the effects of grace see p. 166 ss. By saving faith he understands (p. 204), 1. That man does himself all he can in order to obtain salvation; 2. That he leaves the remaining part to the wisdom of God.

5 Bengel bitterly complained of the Pelagian tendencies of his age; men become increasingly strangers to the effects of grace, and that to such an extent that Pelagius, if he could rise again in our day, would undoubtedly be dissatisfied with the present aspect of his system. See Burk p. 238. The Rationalists and the advocates of the prosaic tendency of the age took offence principally at the supernatural effects of grace. See Spalding, J. J., über den Werth der Gefuhle, 1764. Junkheim, J. L. Z., von dem Uebernaturlichen in den Gnadenwirkungen. For further particulars see Bretschneider, Entwurf p. 667 ss. and comp. Wegscheider, § 152 ss. especially § 161. (de unione mystica.) The Rationalists acknowledge no other practical Christianity than that which manifests itself in external exertions, and for the most part misunderstand the true nature of Mysticism, the dynamic in the doctrine concerning faith and its internal effects. On the other hand the Christian Rationalists (in distinction from the Deists) always urge the importance of making our disposition the source of our actions, and reject the lifeless observance of the law; see Wegscheider § 155. p. 542; in reference

to the words of Luther: "Good and pious works never consti-
tute a good and pious man, but a good and pious man performs
good works; the fruit does not bring forth the tree, but the tree
brings forth fruit." (Walch xix. p. 1222 ss.) Comp. Stäudlin,
Dogmatik p. 417, and others, quoted by Hase, Dogmatik p. 419.
6 The differences obtaining among them had, for the most
part, reference to the conflict in the mind of the repenting sinner,
to the questions whether grace may be lost or not, whether it is
possible to attain moral perfection in this present life, to the unio
mystica cum Deo, etc. Thus Wesley (1740) differed from the
United Brethren in reference to the necessity of good works, and
the various degrees of faith, see Southey (translated by Krum-
macher) i. p. 298 ss. Wesley and Whitefield separated from
each other, because the former asserted the universality of grace,
while the latter advocated the particularistic theory; see ibid.
p. 330 ss The Pietists charged the United Brethren with a
want of zeal in the work of sanctification. Bengel charged Zin-
zendorf with Antinomianism. Abriss der Brudergemeinde p.
128 ss.
In opposition to the doctrine of spiritual union (as the
United Brethren understood it) he expressed himself as follows,
p. 145: "This doctrine has the appearance of the greatest spiri-
tuality, but in reality it offers richer food to the flesh than any
man of the world, however powerful he may be, can obtain."
Comp. on the other side Idea fidei fratrum § 118. § 149. ss.
§ 169. ss. According to Swedenborg the imputation of the
merit of Christ is a word without meaning, unless we understand
by it the forgiveness of sin after repentance, for nothing belong-
ing to the Lord can be imputed to man, but he (the Lord) can
promise salvation after man has repented, i. e., after he has per-
ceived and acknowledged his sins, and if he afterwards, from love
to the Lord, abstain from them. This condition being fulfilled,
the promise of salvation is made to man in such a manner that
man cannot be saved by his own merit or his own righteousness,
but by the Lord who alone has fought with and overcome hell,
etc. See Göttliche Offenbarung i. p. 47. Ibid.: “There is a
Divine faith, and a human faith; those who repent possess
Divine faith, but those who do not repent, nevertheless believe
in imputation, possess human faith."

7 De Wette considered the subject in question in a twofold aspect, each of which may, in a certain sense, be called the right one (viz., the religious, and the ethical aspect, that of faith and that of reason), Religion und Theologie p. 242 ss. (comp. Dogmatik § 76 ss.) Hegel used the word liberty in a higher sense (in opposition to the liberty of choice), viz., as liberty which has its origin in the union with God, so that in one respect all is grace, in another all is liberty, the actions of God appear as ours, and vice versa: see Philosophie der Religion i. p. 157. Hase, Hutterus redivivus p. 274. For further particulars comp. Schleiermacher, christliche Glaubenslehre ii. § 86-93. § 106112. Nitzsch, System der christlichen Lehre p. 138 ss.

8 For a considerable time no controversy respecting this doctrine had been carried on. It was revived in the course of the eighteenth century by the work of Joachim Lange: die evangelische Lehre von der allgemeinen Gnade, Halle 1732. J. J. Waldschmidt, a pastor in Hesse, defended the Calvinistic doctrine in opposition to Lange, 1735. For the further progress of this controversy see Schlegel, Kirchengeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts ii. 1. p. 304. Von Einem ii. p. 323.

9 In his work: Vom Geist des Christenthums, p. 154. (Dogmatik p. 234): "Fortunately our age has consigned to oblivion. all these unscriptural and lifeless errors, as well as the entire controversy respecting the various gifts which was carried on in a most unchristian spirit, and may that hand wither which shall ever bring it back!" (Herder agreed with his contemporaries in forming a very low estimate of Augustine and the doctrine concerning the effects of grace; for further passages comp. his Dogmatik p. 230 ss.)

10 In his essay: Ueber die Lehre von der Erwählung (theologische Zeitschrift, herausgegeben von Schleiermacher, De Wette, und Lücke, part i. p. 1. ss.) On the other side: De Wette, über die Lehre von der Erwählung, etc. (theologische Zeitschrift part ii. p. 83 ss.) Bretschneider, (in der Oppositionsschrift von Schröter und Klein, iv. p. 1–83.) Schleiermacher, christliche Glaubenslehre ii. § 117-120. The milder aspect which he gave to the doctrine in question consists in regarding election not as referring to the lot of man after death, but to the earlier or later,

admission to the union with Christ. The literature is given by Bretschneider, Entwurf p. 677 ss.

11 The views of Abr. Booth advanced in his work: the reign of Grace (translated into German by Krummacher, Elberf. 1831) were combated by J. P. Lange, Lehre der heiligen Schrift von der freien und allgemeinen Gnade Gottes, ibid.

1831.

453

FOURTH SECTION.

THE CHURCH. THE SACRAMENTS. ESCHATOLOGY.

§ 299.

THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE CHURCH.

As the spirit of worldliness gained increasing ground among the professed followers of Christ, it could not be expected that they should have a clear and abiding sense of the existence of the Church. The friends of the so-called enlightenment thought that every approach to an independent development of ecclesiastical life, in opposition to the state, had a hierarchical tendency. After the chancellor Pfaff, in Wirtemberg, had defended what is called the system of ecclesiastical collegia, in opposition to the territorial system,1 the latter was advocated by those who regarded the Church as an institution which the state may use for corrective purposes, or, at the utmost, admitted the utility of the ministry of the gospel.2 Considering the general want of ecclesiastical life, it cannot be a matter of surprise that a growing desire after Christian fellowship manifested itself among individuals, which led to the formation of smaller churches within the Church universal, such as the Society of the United Brethren. Others, e. g., Swedenborg, having lost all faith in the present, established the Church of the New Jerusalem, in the ideal