THE PAST AND PRESENT OF RATIONALISM.

BY HENRY VON DER HYDE COWELL, B.A.

THE publication, in this country, of Dr. Hurst's "History of Rationalism," of which three editions have been previously issued in America, presents a favourable opportunity for tracing the rise and results of the rationalistic spirit which is having so important an influence on English theology. Dr. Hurst's book diverges too much, in some parts, from its subject, and it lacks method throughout; but it will be found to be a very useful repertory of facts by all who are interested in the history of religious opinion. Dr. Hurst gives at the outset various definitions of the word rationalism, but I think none of them so satisfactory as that of Dr. Mansel. In his celebrated “Bampton Lectures" he says, "It is that system whose final test of truth is placed in the direct assent of the human consciousness, whether in the form of logical deduction, or moral judgment, or religious intuition." The word reason being employed to denote sometimes the faculty of comparison, and at others the regulative faculty, an indefiniteness clings to the word rationalism, which makes it difficult to mark out the limits of an inquiry such as that now before us, and obliges us to class together men who differ most essentially. Thus, Mr. Lecky's "History of Rationalism" treats of subjects that have little relationship to theology, and Dr. Hurst's book brings Dean Stanley and Strauss, Julius Charles Hare and Bishop Colenso, Coleridge and Comte, under one designation. And it is not easy to see how this can be avoided. All we can do is, while preserving the generic title, to make each individual responsible only for his own opinions.

What makes the history of rationalism especially interesting to us as Englishmen is the fact that some of the principles that led to it originated in this country, spread hence to Germany, exhausted themselves there, and then returned to their native soil, modified by foreign thought.

1 History of Rationalism, by John F. Hurst, D.D. Trübner and Co., 60, Paternoster Row, London, 1867.

2 On the meaning of the word, see Farrar's "Bampton Lectures" (1862), p. 589.

The philosophical systems of Bacon and Locke gave rise to English Deism, Hobbes developing from the one, and Hume from the other, principles from which their masters would have revolted. Voltaire and Rousseau spread scepticism in France. And then English and French Deism combined in one stream with the Wolffian philosophy, and spread through Germany. Unbelief found favour with Frederick II., and "that thinvisaged man, in top-boots and cocked hat, surrounded by his infidelity and his dogs at Sans Souci, dictated faith to Berlin and Europe."

Thus prepared, Germany only wanted an exponent of the sceptical feelings running secretly beneath the surface of society. This she found in Semler, who, reared in sternest pietism, loosed his hold eventually of his old faith, and propounded his accommodation theory, in which he taught that Christ and His apostles adapted themselves to the barbarism and co-existent prejudices of the people. This led him to distinguish between the local and temporary, and the permanent and eternal in Scripture.

This theory of Semler's gave rise to the far more vicious sentiments of Edelmann and Bahrdt, who were the most decided enemies of Christianity that have appeared in the late centuries.

The literary influence of Lessing and the philosophical tenets of Kant gave efficiency and permanency to rationalism among their fellow-countrymen.

Hume's infidelity led Kant to investigate; and, as the result of his studies, he struck out his celebrated system, which has so greatly modified subsequent metaphysical studies. He showed that the "understanding" is limited by certain laws, and distinguished between the logical faculty and "reason," the realm of intuition. "He detected, as he supposed, innate forms of thought in the mental structure, which form the conditions under which knowledge is possible. When he applied his system to give a philosophy of ethics and religion, he asserted nobly the law of duty written in the heart, but identified it with religion."1 "Kant designed," says Dr. Hurst, "in the main, to curb the illicit exercise of reason, but his failure to endorse the great doctrines of our faith threw him on the side of the rationalists." But, besides his personal influence, his philosophy was afterwards the starting-point whence Fichte and Schelling evolved their pantheism and Hegel his absolute idealism.

The Kantian philosophy was opposed by Herder, who held 1 See Farrar's "Lectures," p. 324.

that the great problem of life is to beautify humanity. But his influence was counteracted by other Weimar celebrities, of whom the most prominent were Schiller and Goethe, the former of whom infused into his poetry the philosophy of Kant, and the latter that of Schelling. Contemporaneously with these literary influences there was a gradual insinuation of doubt into the minds of the young. The pulpit was turned into a professor's chair, or the platform of the lecturer; the productions of the Weimar poets became more familiar to the people than the Psalms of David; and the very children were taught that Christ did not really die on the cross, but disappeared.

The downfall of Napoleon led to a reaction against the infidelity that had been imported from France. But to the influence of Schleiermacher most is due in the way of bringing back a more spiritual state. His theology was based on the philosophy of Jacobi, on feeling instead of reason. His theory finds an echo in the words of our laureate :

His system was too mystical, and led to sentimentalism; but it tended at the time to thaw the frozen life of German theology, and so was of much service then, besides kindling the light that burnt so brightly in his disciple, Neander: from him many a torch of truth has been lit.

In 1817, William III. sought to unite the two branches of the Protestant church. The devotees of reason saw their danger, and two works were issued, which were the first formal exposition of their system. These books were Röhr's "Letters on Rationalism," and Wegscheider's "Institutes." But they came too late to the help of a crumbling system which was then tottering to its fall. 'With the name of Neander we trace the morning light of reviving faith."

There was for a time, indeed, a reaction produced by Strauss, whose mythical theory startled so many; but it called forth masterly replies from Neander, Lange, Hengstenberg, Dorner, and others; and when Strauss again appeared as the biographer

of our Lord in 1835, his "Life of Jesus popularly treated" was coldly received.

Meanwhile the Tübingen school was formed by Baur, and other popular developments of rationalism were organized. But it assumed gradually a more pantheistic and revolutionary form; and when the restoration was completed in 1849, the reaction against rationalism became so decided that the leaders had reason to tremble for their lives. And now the gospel gleams more brightly over Germany than it has long done.

Rationalism arose in Holland through similar influences to those which gained access for it to Germany. Contentions over the creeds and coldness in the clergy were its pioneers. Bekker, a disciple of Descartes, of whom Voltaire said, "He is a very good man, a great enemy of the devil and an eternal hell," was the first rationalist in the Dutch church. The works also of English and French sceptics had a wide distribution in Holland. Then came the notorious Pastoral Declaration of 1816, which no longer required of candidates for the ministry unqualified subscription to the ancient confessions. A group of men, under the leadership of Bilderdyk, endeavoured to revive the faith, but they only caused an important secession, in which there was little stability. On the one hand there was the rationalistic party, with its frigid learning; and on the other, practical fervour without culture. There was need of a third party to combine the best features of the other two. The Groningen school was formed to supply the deficiency. It was originated by the attempt of Professor Van Heusden (written by Dr. Hurst Van Heusde) to combine the philosophy of Plato with the theology of Schleiermacher. Many rejected their tenets because they depreciated the formularies of the Church. The Leyden school started, therefore, with the aim of uniting the old traditions with the new opinions. But this again waned before the Empiric school, led by Dr. Opzoomer, whose system resolves itself ultimately into Pantheism. Against these various rationalistic tendencies stands opposed the Ethical-Irenical school, which gathers together the foremost of the orthodox party. In 1864, the Confessional Society of Ministers and Members of the Netherlands Reformed Church was formed at Utrecht. It is maturing schemes for diffusing purer teaching through the country. The issue of this movement must be awaited hopefully.

Turning to France, we find that half a century ago the Reformed and Lutheran churches were sunk in sceptical formalism.

They were divided into two parties, the one adhering to the supernaturalism of the eighteenth century, which was a cold shadowy creed, and the other to a system of philosophical Deism. The apostasy went so far that a pastor and his elder carried the communion-plate to the mayor to be melted down for the nation. Improvement began about 1820. To Frederic Monod belongs the imperishable honour of commencing the work of renovation. A foreign agency contributed to the awakening, Dr. Charles Cook doing on the Continent, on a smaller scale, the work of revival effected by Wesley in England.

Earlier rationalism was aided by the philosophy of Descartes. More lately, Comte's system of positivism has led the prevailing thought. But the critical school of theology is beyond all comparison the most popular antagonist to orthodoxy in France. This school has been brought into notoriety lately by "La Vie de Jésus" and "Les Apôtres" of M. Rénan. It has also been popularized by the preaching of Athanase Coquerel, jun., editor of the Lien. The foremost opponents of rationalism in France are M. Edmond de Pressensé and M. Guizot, and they very ably meet their adversaries.

When the scepticism of Voltaire and his disciples was penetrating the French mind, the Reformed church of Switzerland did not long remain unaffected by it. Happily through the influence of Haldane on Merle d'Aubigné, Adolphe Monod, Malan, and others, a reaction was produced. A school of orthodoxy was established at Geneva. But the name of Vinet, at Lausanne, who adopted the more evangelical portion of Schleiermacher's system as the basis of his theology, is pre-eminent among those who sought the revivification of real religion. He held some ultra opinions on the subject of Church and State; but his able advocacy of spiritual religion makes his name an honoured one among men of great diversity of opinions. While other parts of Switzerland are rising above the injurious influences of rationalism, Zurich is one of its acknowledged European centres. The opinions there held are the direct result of the Hegelian philosophy applied speculatively to the obsolete destructive rationalism of Germany.

Dr. Hurst divides English rationalism into three departments, -philosophical, literary, and critical. He traces back the first of these to Samuel Taylor Coleridge; he considers Thomas Carlyle the originator of the second; and he classes Jowett, the authors of "Essays and Reviews," and Bishop Colenso, under the third