209

from the conduct of Alexander von Humboldt, who, notwithstanding his great age, went into the popular meetings of the liberal party, and was afterwards presented by the government of Berlin with the freedom of the city. If it is asked how these things can be in an enlightened country, it is to be considered that the bureaucracy is immense, that the press is under strict supervision, that no meetings of the people are allowed, — it being a significant fact that town-halls do not exist in Germany, and that all public gatherings must take place in the hotels, and that the army is obliged to take the oath of unconditional obedience to the king, wholly regardless whether he keeps or breaks the Constitution. There is no prospect of any amelioration during the reign of the present monarch.

If we glance at recent events in the Church, we see in Mecklenburg, that Christian burial was refused to a lawyer, because he did not hold the Lutheran creed. Hengstenberg, Stahl, and others, interceded with the Emperor of Austria in behalf of Borzinscky, a convert to the Augsburg Confession, who was not permitted by the Catholics to enjoy religious rights; but the petition was confiscated and prohibited in Vienna. When, however, the Evangelical Conference at Paris requested these gentlemen to intercede in behalf of the oppressed Protestants in Sweden, this was their reply:

"We beg leave to remark in this respect, that proposals which aim to bring about everywhere a recognition of an abstract, unconditional religious liberty lie beyond the principles of the German Evangelical Church. Our mandate is limited to those who stand upon the ground of the creeds of the Reformation.

"STAHL, HOFFMANN, NITZSCH, HENGSTENBERG.

"To Dr. Steane in London."

In the Preface to the Evangelical Gazette of this year, Hengstenberg declares more plainly than ever his opposition to the Reformed views, and says that he first became dissatisfied with the Calvinistic doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The description which we have given of the character of these New Lutherans is confirmed, among others, by Dr. Tholuck and Dr. Thiersch. The former, in his printed sermon which was delivered at the celebration of the Reformation, contrasts the effective

preaching of the Old with that of the New Lutherans: "And now, already believing, warm, and zealous witnesses of the word are also standing in no small numbers, but where do we hear that the spiritually dead arise under their preaching? The great multitude are not drawn into the Church, and if they perchance enter it, they remain cold and dumb." The latter, in his Preface to Böhm's Shade and Light, remarks: "Of what avail is the 'positive tendency of the younger clergy? Adopted by most of them without the sincere fruits of repentance, they are like the house built upon the sand, that could not withstand the flood, and whose fall was great.' Who can estimate the mass of conscious and unconscious hypocrisy to which the present generation is misled by the tendency adopted and favored by the rulers! It is a dangerous delusion of some conservatives, who consider that the revolution is overcome for centuries. No, with pain be it spoken, the modern Orthodoxy the best productions of which boast that they have come back exactly to the position of Luther or Melancthon-stands no higher than the Old. On the contrary," &c. Well has it been said, in reference to those who rely upon the police more than on the Holy Spirit to draw men into the churches, that, if Jesus was unwilling to pray for legions of angels, much less would he have desired for his Church legions of constables and gens d'armes.

In the midst of this lamentable state of things, it is with real pleasure that we mention the stirring book of Chevalier Bunsen, entitled "The Signs of the Times," which consists of letters in defence of liberty of conscience, and the appearance of which has prevented the continuation of our own articles, "for what can a man do, that cometh after the king?" The three editions which were successively called for within the space of a few weeks, show that these were words fitly spoken, ― really apples of gold in pictures of silver. Leo at once denounced the book and the doctrine in the New Prussian Gazette, maintaining that it was altogether false to speak in general terms of liberty of conscience, for men must first have an "enlightened" conscience, — the same argument that was used in defence of the Fugitive Slave Law! Stahl, in a separate reply, accused

1856.]

Peaceful Treatment of Slavery.

211

Bunsen of "praising Channing as the most noble and enlightened of the anti-Trinitarians or anti-Athanasians." Hengstenberg, and the People's Paper (a misnomer), with their train, joined in the cry, for they could not endure a man nullum servitii signum cervice gerentem. The book was even condemned from the pulpits of Berlin; the strict Union theologians, who wish only liberty enough for the Union, silently disapproved it, Dorner being the only one who had the moral courage to defend it. And thus it has happened, that an effort, which in England and America would have been hailed with gratitude by every good man, is regarded only with suspicion by the religious men here, the absolutism of the State, and the subserviency of the Church to the temporal power, having so stifled their instincts for relig ious liberty, that they neither love nor desire it. How different was the language of Lord Brougham (who wishes to abolish even the Act of Toleration), as we heard him support the bill for Religious Worship presented by the Earl of Shaftesbury: "I want to see the government take several more steps in this direction, until every vestige of oppression be blotted from the statute-book." But it really seems to be the height of the ridiculous when Stahl, whose work heaps so much scorn upon Locke, and Milton, and Jefferson, reserves for himself the right of an English translation! Verily, in reply to such religious despots, we can only say, in the words of Tertullian, Non est religionis cogere religionem; and to those traditionists, whether in the Old World or in the New, who cling to the dead letter of their effete formulas, we would repeat the maxim of Augustine, Cedat consuetudo veritati.

E. J. Y.

ART. IV. PEACEFUL TREATMENT OF SLAVERY.

THE public mind of the North is in a state of unusual excitement, not unnaturally nor unreasonably, for events of an unexpected and disreputable character have recently produced their natural effects, stimulating men to

violence, and giving prudent persons reason for painful anticipations as to the result of institutions which require and presuppose a great deal of calmness and wisdom on the part of those who are to maintain them. Republics, even representative republics, are not selfsustaining institutions; they simply organize the force of men who are capable, and in the habit, of self-government, and afford to such men the means or organizations for resisting external attacks, leaving to those who constitute the state the care of guarding themselves from mistakes, excitements, rashness, and ignorance. If any disturbance of regular functions occur, there is neither safeguard against popular disorder, nor means of cure, other than calm reflection, and the firm action which naturally ensues upon adequate deliberation. It does not necessarily follow, that because the people govern themselves, therefore they will be wise, and govern themselves well. It only follows that they are adequately secured against some of the forms of tyranny which have been but too frequent in the world, and all of which should be averted, if it be within the power of human nature to ward them off. As the perversion of the best things constitutes, according to the proverb, the very worst condition, the better the form of government, the more disastrous will be the consequences of its failure; and every motive is appealed to, which can operate upon reasonable minds, to preserve in efficiency the institutions of which experience has shown us the advantages. We know from the past what we gain by adhering to what has been established; we do not know the benefits to be derived from change; and it is, therefore, only when existing evils become unendurable, and when we see our future path tolerably clear from threats of worse than we now suffer, that we are justified in hazarding a change.

There is something of sublimity in the fact that millions of men can be put into a state of extreme excitement by the violent and ignoble act of an individual; and though it may create a certain feeling of pride in the assailant, yet, if he knew the character of the comments upon his conduct by the great majority of judicious persons, he would feel a mortification for which there could be no possible compensation. There is

1856.]

Alarmists and Agitators.

213

something still more sublime in the recovery of millions of people from such sudden and violent excitement, and in the spectacle they may present of calm firmness and dignified self-respect. If they perceive the effect of composure upon themselves and others, they will certainly exhibit it, recollecting that it is always early enough to resort to force and violence, when all other means of redress have been found ineffectual. But calmness under difficulties or provocations is not the fashion of to-day. We are expected, even required, by the prevalent tone of feeling, to be prompt, vehement, spirited, as it is called; that is, ready at all times to assert our rights, and maintain them. And undoubtedly it is proper and necessary to maintain rights. The question is as to the best mode of doing it; whether we should be always talking about them, and proclaiming our readiness to assert them, or whether we should say little, and act whenever necessary or expedient. Excitable, ardent people, and those who are ambitious to be first in the path which the public are taking, are apt to adopt the course which will attract attention to themselves, as if they really were what they attempt to appear to be, leaders of the public mind. And they generally succeed, not in being leaders for any length of time, but in showing their own want of ability to lead aright; and they are compelled to fall back into the ranks of followers, or at least to cease to mislead. Such men do mischief, both by stimulating others to the pursuit of the wrong object, and by drawing them away from those objects which are the more important.

But there is another class of aspirants who are more adroit and more dangerous,—those who pursue plans, or induce the people to pursue plans, which are in themselves desirable and praiseworthy, without proper regard to the character of the means they employ, or the time and place for using them. These men pursue their aims, or rather the aims of those who stand beside or behind them, without regard to the expediency or wisdom of the means they take to accomplish their plans, and brand with the nickname of timeservers and doughfaces those who think that the way in which a good is sought is an object greatly to be considered in the attainment of that good. Such persons are not to be