philosophy the Aristotelians first endeavoured to repel by arguments of an invidious nature, copiously displaying the great danger which this new mode of philosophizing portended to religion and to true piety; and afterwards, when they saw these weapons unsuccessful, by retreating a little, and defending only the citadel of their cause and abandoning the outworks. For some of them coupled elegance of diction and polite literature with their precepts; nor did they deny that there were in Aristotle, though he was the prince of philosophers, some blemishes and faults which a wise man might lawfully amend. But this very prudence made their adversaries more bold and daring: for they now contended that they had obliged them to confess guilt; and therefore opened all their batteries upon the whole school of the Stagirite, which the others had conceded to need amendment only in part. After Hugo Grotius, who was but a timid opposer of the Stagirite, Samuel Puffendorf first pointed out, freely and openly, a new and very different course from the Peripatetic on the law of nature and the science of morals. He was followed with still greater zeal, (notwithstanding he was nearly overwhelmed by the multitude of his enemies,) by Christian Thomasius, a jurist first of Leipsic, and then at Halle; who was not, indeed, a man to whose protection the interests of philosophy might be entrusted with entire confidence, yet he possessed a fearless mind and very superior genius. He attempted a reformation, not of a single science only, but of every branch of philosophy; and both by words and by example continually urged his fellow citizens to burst asunder the bonds of Aristotle; whom however he did not understand, nor had he even read him. The particular mode of philosophizing which he substituted in place of that which had prevailed, was not very favourably received, and soon fell into neglect: but the spirit of innovation which he diffused, made so great progress in a short time, that he may be justly accounted the subduer of philosophic tyranny, or of sectarian philosophy, especially among the Germans. The

[Concerning Christian Thomasius, see Brucker's Historia crit. Philosophiae, tom. v. and his Append. Hist. crit. Philos. p. 859, &c. Yet Mosheim judged more correctly of this memorable man

than Brucker did, who unjustly accounted him a reformer of philosophy. Thomasius was not properly a reformer of philosophy, though he was the occasion of a reform in it; for he improved

Frederican university at Halle, where he taught, was the first to fall in with his views: afterwards the other schools in Germany adopted them, one after another: and from these the same liberty of thinking extended to the other nations that followed the Lutheran religion. Toward the end of the century, therefore, all among us became possessed, not by any law, but in the course of events, and as it were accidentally, of the liberty of philosophizing, each according to his own judgment, and not another man's; and of exhibiting in public those principles of philosophy which each one thought to be true and certain. This liberty was so used by the major part, that, in the manner of the ancient Eclectics, they selected and combined the better and more probable dogmas of the various schools: yet there were some, among whom Godfrey William Leibnitz was the greatest man, who endeavoured to search for the truth by their own efforts, and to elicit from fixed and immoveable principles a new and imperishable philosophy. In this conflict with Aristotle and his friends, so great was the odium against the routed foe, among the Lutherans, that the science of metaphysics, which he regarded as the primary science, and the source of all the rest, was degraded and nearly stripped of all its honours; nor could the otherwise great influence of Des Cartes, who like Aristotle commenced all his philosophy with it, afford to it any protection. But after the first commotions had a little subsided, principally at the recommendation of Leibnitz, it was not only recalled from exile, but was again honoured with the splendid title and rank of the queen of sciences.

§ 12. Many persons, who have formed such an idea of the christian church as no wise man will ever expect to see realized, are wonderfully copious in enumerating and exagge

the philosophical genius of the Germans, just as Holberg did that of the Danes, without being himself a great discoverer of philosophy. Thomasius introduced more freedom of thinking. And this freedom, under his guidance, spread itself not only over philosophy, but likewise over ecclesiastical law. He often went too far, in this matter; and his views were not always the best. The abuse he received from the divines of Leipsic, inflamed him with hatred

against the whole clerical order. At the same time, he must have the credit of abolishing the punishment of heretics, trials for witchcraft, and certain false principles respecting marriage and divorce, &c. See Prof. Schroeckh's Algem. Biographie, vol. v. p. 266, &c. Schl.]

7 No one will better illustrate all these facts than Jac. Brucker, the man best informed on all these subjects, in his Historia critica Philosophia.

175 rating the defect of the Lutheran clergy of this age. In the higher class of them, they mention arrogance, a contentious spirit, disregard of christian simplicity, lust of domination, a carping disposition, intolerable bigotry, extreme hatred of pious and good men who may honestly deviate at all from the established rule of faith; and I know not what other things no better than these. In the lower class of ministers, they mention ignorance, an inept mode of teaching, and neglect of their most sacred duties and in both classes, avarice, the want of piety, indolence, and habits unbecoming the character of ministers of Christ. One who has leisure and the means of examining the morals and the state of those times, will readily grant that there was not a small number of persons presiding over the Lutheran churches who lacked either the ability or the disposition to point out the way of truth and of salvation wisely and well. But those who are acquainted with the history of our world know that this has been a common evil in all ages. And on the other hand, no one will deny,-unless he is ignorant and ill-informed, or is affected by some disease of the mind,—that there were very many learned, grave, wise, and holy men, intermingled among these bad clergymen. And, perhaps, if one should raise this question; Whether in the times of our fathers, or in our own times, (in which, as many think, the ancient sanctity of the clergy is revived in numerous places,) there were the most preachers in our churches unworthy of the office; a difficult controversy would come up, in which a person of any genius might easily find arguments on both sides. Besides, many of the faults so invidiously charged upon the clergy of this age, if the subject be duly examined, will be found to be not so much the faults of the men as of the times; arising from the public calamities, the thirty years war, (that fruitful source of innumerable evils to Germany,) from a bad education also, and sometimes from the conduct of the supreme magistrates.

§ 13. This last remark will be better understood if we notice some particulars. We do not deny, what many allege, that during a great part of the century the people were not well instructed and taught, either from the pulpit, or in the schools; nor shall we much resist those who maintain that the sacred

eloquence of many places was the art of declaiming boisterously, by the hour, on subjects little understood or comprehended. For though the doctrines and precepts of religion were generally brought forward, yet by most preachers they were dressed out in puerile ornaments, very foreign from the spirit of divine wisdom; and thus were in a measure deprived of their native force and beauty. Yet who can greatly wonder that those men should have amplified their discourses with adventitious matter, who had but very few examples of good speaking before them, and who brought to the sacred office heads full of philosophical terms and distinctions and quibbles, but empty of those things which are of most use for moving the souls of men? We acknowledge, that in the universities more time was spent in the study of polemic theology, and in stating and clearing the doctrines of theology with subtilty and art, than in explaining the holy Scriptures, in unfolding the principles of morals, in imbuing the mind with pious emotions, and in other things necessary in a minister of religion. Yet this fault, I think, will be censured with less severity by one who has learned from the history of those times with what zeal and subtilty numerous adversaries attacked the Lutheran cause, and to what dangers it was exposed from those adversaries, especially from the papists. When war rages on every side, the art of war and of defending one's country, it is well known, is commonly regarded as the most valuable of all arts. I wish they had shown more mildness towards great numbers, who from excessive curiosity, or from ignorance, or the ardour of their imaginations, fell into errors, yet did not disturb the public peace with their opinions. But from education, and from their earliest impressions, (which are well known to have boundless influence,) our ancestors derived the sentiment that corrupters of divine truth ought to be restrained. And the more simplicity and attachment to the divine glory they possessed, the more difficult was it for them to discard the maxim, transfused into their minds from the ecclesiastical law of the papists, that whoever is adjudged an enemy of God, should be adjudged an enemy of his country.

§ 14. In the form of church government, the mode of worship, and other external regulations of our church, little or no

change was made in most places. Yet many and great changes would have been made, if the princes had deemed it for the public good to regulate ecclesiastical matters according to the prescriptions of certain great and excellent men, who, near the close of the century, led on by Christian Thomasius, attempted a reformation of our system of ecclesiastical law. These famous jurists, in the first place, set up a new fundamental principle of church polity, namely, the supreme authority and power of the civil magistrate and then, after establishing with great care and subtilty this basis, they founded upon it a great mass of precepts, which, in the judgment of many, were considered, and not without reason, as tending to this point, that the sovereign of a country is also sovereign of the religion of its citizens, or is their supreme pontiff; and that the ministers of religion are not to be accounted ambassadors of God, but vicegerents of the chief magistrates. They also weakened, not a little, the few prerogatives and advantages of the clergy, which were left of the vast number formerly possessed; and maintained, that many of the maxims and regulations of our church, which had come down from our fathers, were relics of popish superstition. This afforded matter for long and pernicious feuds and contests between our theologians and our jurists. I leave others to inquire, with what temper and designs, and with what success, these contests were managed, on both sides. It will be sufficient for us to observe, what is abundantly attested, that they diminished much, in one place and another, the respect for the clergy, the reverence for religion, and the security and prosperity of the Lutheran church. And hence, most unfortunately, such is the state of things among us, that those of honourable birth, or who are distinguished for strength of genius, or for noble and ingenuous feelings, look upon the study of theology as beneath them, there being neither honour nor much emolument attached to it; and every day the number of wise and erudite theologians is becoming less. This is lamented by those who see in what a perilous state the Lutheran cause now is and perhaps those who come after us will have cause to lament it still more.

§ 15. With the names of celebrated men among the Lutherans, who have promoted their own reputations and the

VOL. IV.

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