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CRITICAL NOTICES.
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Art . IV . —Notes and Reflections during # Ramble in Germany , by the Author of " Recollections in the Peninsula , " fyc . London . 1826 . This is a sensible volume ; the work Of a soldier , though no man of blood ; fcut of liberal and Christian tastes and ifeelings . From such an observer we are glad to quote the following commentary on Mr . Rose's observations on the State of Religious Opinion in Germany :
" The German youth have a solidity of thought and sincerity of heart which colours all their conversation on subjects of a deep moral interest . They are largely tolerant on religious matters ; not , as some have unfairly forced the inference , from indifference to religion , but from a holding fast of what is essential in it , and declining all controversy , ail bitterness and quarrelling about the test .
" The Roman Catholic of Germany is unlike any of that great family elsewhere . The Calvinist and the Lutheran love each other as Christians ; all are inclined to mysticism in some slight degree , save the Rationalists , who are as inconsiderable in numbers as they are uninfluential on the mind of the public
at large . The school of the Rationalists has not been without its use ; for man never appears so weak , so helpless , so ridiculous , as when he lights the feeble taper of his reason to examine and pronounce upon the credibility of the facts related , and the mysteries revealed to us in the Bible . ' To live and move
and have our being , ' a miracle to ourselves , and among created miracles of every possible variety ; to find our reason baffled by the first pebble we pick up beneath our feet , all the properties of which we can most scientifically
describe , but of the essence of which we know nothing ; and then to explain away the lees wonderful miracles of Scripture , because our reason refuses to give credit to them , is a something so palpably absurd , that even the patient , inquiring German could not listen to such lectures
long , if they did not sooner drive him forth by inflicting a severe wound in his heart . " I was present in the great church of Lcipsic at the administration of the
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Sacrament . The communicants stood in long files and advanced reverentially towards the altar ; they received the holy elements standing , and passing round the altar , again rejoined the congregation-. The congregation , whether composed of those who were about to communicate , or had done so , or of those who merely assisted at the ceremony , sung a hymn or hymns throughout the
whole service . After deducting largely for the effect produced on me by the sweet and solemn singing of this assembled multitude , and by the black skull cap , the ancient ruffs , ( like those of the Elizabethian sera , ) and the reverend aspect of the officiating ministers , I certainly was impressed , and that strongly , with the feeling and sincere devotion of the communicants . We kneel ait the
altar ; another church sits at the communion table ; these stand and sing a hymn . We all do it in remembrance that Christ died for us , and he knows in all those congregations those who are his , those who feed on him in their hearts with thanksgiving . " " The Roman Catholic of Germany in his church seems quite another being from thai [ the Catholic ] of Italy ; and the character which Goldsmith has so
beautifully and faithfully given of the latter applies in nothing to the German . He is seldom careless or irreverent at the mass ; seldom timid , or formal , or slavish , in his acts of devotion . There is a something staid in his outward performance ; but * the soul ' s sincere desire' is perceptible , and plainly « o , in the expression of his countenance when engaged in prayer . "
Of the statue of the Emperor Joseph II . he says , " Considering the shortness of his reign , I think it doubtful whether his condemned precipitancy and enthusiasm are to be regretted . Whatever he had attempted against the civil power of the
Church of Rome , the priest would have worked step by step in counteraction of his measure : whereas he stripped her of immense and irrecoverable influence , when he opened the treasures of his convents , dispersed their wealth , drove forth the corrupt and idle members , and alienated their wide possessions . The ftalf of what be suppressed never have btsten
Critical Notices.
CRITICAL NOTICES .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1827, page 218, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/58/
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