term a fellowship in which the chief bond of union is a common pursuit of the great ends of the divine kingdom. The system of Ritschl is undoubtedly wrought out with ability; it has too its suggestive features. We may be permitted, however, to doubt its capacity to afford permanent satisfaction. In its agnostic attitude toward the realm of metaphysical inquiry, it gives inadequate recognition to the philosophizing faculty, which, indeed, needs to be guarded from arrogating too much to itself, but has, nevertheless, its rights in connection with the themes of religion. While thus it fails in part to meet the demands of intellectual ambition, it has its deficit on the side of heart piety. In its radical opposition to the pietistic conception of religion, and in its interpretation of justification as primarily a gift to the communion, it dims the sense of vital relation between the individual and God.

In his spirit and bearing Ritschl ranked with Dorner and Rothe among the eminent religious personalities of Germany in recent times. Here lies the explanation of no inconsiderable portion of his influence. Probably also the fact that he began his career in the School of Baur, and advanced toward a view of the New Testament more nearly Catholic than that of the great Tübingen critic, has served to widen the circle of appreciative attention.

Prominent representatives of the School of Ritschl in the field of dogmatics are Herrmann and Kaftan. Harnack holds a foremost place as a historian. In each of these writers it is rather the general standpoint of Ritschl which appears than exact reproduction of his system. An opposing liberal school finds in Otto Pflei

derer an able spokesman. Pfleiderer is in the line of succession from Hegel and Baur, but differs from either to an appreciable degree.

The works of Strauss and Baur afforded occasion for a thorough canvassing of the field of New Testament criticism. More recently a corresponding radicalism in dealing with the Old Testament, on the part of Wellhausen and others, has directed much scholarly research to the Hebrew Scriptures, the main problem being the origin of the earlier books of the Hebrew canon. The result has been, that the traditional theory of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch has undergone more or less modification in the minds of a large proportion of theologians. As the critical movement is still in course, it is difficult to forecast its ultimate outcome; meanwhile only those who entertain a narrow and technical view of the Bible have any cause for disturbing apprehensions.

No system of German philosophy which has arisen since the time of Hegel has been brought into close alliance with theology. The pessimistic speculations of Schopenhauer and Hartmann have offered, of course, nothing congenial to Christian faith. Ritschl, as was noticed above, confessed a certain agreement with Lotze; but we are not aware that his school makes any very special account of the system of this genial and able philosophical teacher and writer. In its main features Lotze's philosophy lies quite as near to Christian tenets as most of its predecessors in Germany within the modern era. It is true that in seeking a speculative account of the fact of interaction between the different members or parts of the universe he uses language that is formally pantheistic; but it is to be noticed that he

disowns the cardinal tenets which are ordinarily associated with pantheism, emphasizing very strongly the personality of God, and accepting the reality of design and freedom. His philosophy is opposed to materialism, and is idealistic much in the Leibnitzian sense.

IV.

OUTLINES OF

PROTESTANT

HISTORY IN VARIOUS PORTIONS OF THE CONTINENT.

In the fifth decade of the nineteenth century another was added to the list of armed conflicts which are recorded in the religious history of Switzerland. The outbreak was less a sign of intolerant feeling in the mass of the people belonging to either religion than of the aggressive policy of the Jesuits. In the preceding twenty years they had so far obtained the control of the Roman Catholic cantons as to shape their political action. As a consequence of their manoeuvring, seven cantons, in violation of the integrity of the Swiss Confederacy, formed a special league. This led to a struggle in 1847, the result of which was the abrogation of the special league, and sentence of banishment against the Jesuits.

In German Switzerland, the tendency to liberalism, in the sense of very faint dogmatic requirements for either preacher or communicant, has widely prevailed. Though the call of Strauss to the University of Zürich in 1839 was defeated by a popular protest, rationalistic teaching has been dominant in the theological faculty. Biedermann is known as one of its most distinguished exponents. In Basle, evangelical theology has in large part held the field. Among its representatives Hagen

bach has won an enviable reputation by the broad and religious spirit of his writings, as well as by his scholarship. In the theological faculty of Bern, a rather freespirited type of mediation theology has had currency.

In French Switzerland, the evangelistic labors of Madam von Krüdener, and still more those of the Scotchman, Robert Haldane, started a fruitful impulse in the direction of earnest piety and faith; the latter won to his cause the gifted and eloquent Cæsar Malan (1817). Though frowned upon by the government, and ill-treated by the populace, the earnest men persisted in their work, and an independent church was formed at Geneva, which, in 1832, was equipped with a theological school. Among the scholarly representatives of the movement, Merle d'Aubigné and Gaussen are widely known. The independent communion reacted with good effect upon the established Church.

The neighboring canton of Vaud shared in some measure the pietistic impulse which had been started at Geneva. Owing to obnoxious action of the government, a free church was also formed in this canton (1845–47); The new organization had the good fortune to take its impress very largely from Alexander Vinet, who occupied the chair of practical theology at Lausanne from 1837 to 1845, and who was on general principles an earnest advocate of the separation of Church and State. In Neufchatel, likewise, the action of the cantonal government occasioned, in 1873, the rise of a free church, within whose ranks was included the celebrated exegete, Frederic Godet.

The evangelical movement in French Switzerland made its contribution to the Reformed Church in

France. Vinet served in particular as a medium of transmission. Among those who were the first to share his spirit none obtained a higher name for eloquence and consecrated industry than Adolphe Monod (18021856).

French Protestantism, like that of the neighboring countries, has exhibited from the early part of the century its opposing currents. One wing has been characterized by a pronounced dislike of creed restrictions. In its more conservative representatives this wing approaches the doctrinal position of Channing, with some abatement from his belief in the supernatural character of the New Testament history and oracles; in its more radical adherents it approaches the position of Renan as respects its free dealing with the objective foundation of religion. Representatives of the one or the other phase are Coquerel (father and son), Colani, Reuss, Schérer, Paschoud, Réville, and Pécaut.

In 1848 some of those who wished for a definite theological basis expressed their dissatisfaction with the existing laxity by leaving the established Reformed Church and instituting the Free Church. The movement was led by Frederic Monod, and was joined by De Pressensé, father and son, the latter of whom has obtained celebrity as a theological writer. Bersier and Bost were also connected with the Free Church for a time, but returned at length to the older communion. Meanwhile the orthodox party in the latter was not willing to surrender all demands for positive articles of faith. Under the leadership of the statesman Guizot this wing was victorious at the conference of 1864, and secured by a decided majority a declaration in favor of