On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
edict , and express their opinion respecting a religious declension in the land . The members of the Consistory agreed in the statement , that it was a fact , that certain professors of theology , oriental languages , and philosoph y , sought to undermine the Christian religion , to expose the history of Jesus to
ridicule , atid , in a word , to substitute their dreams of reason into the place of the religion of Christ , of which the fearful consequences were then displayed in France . They therefore , proposed—a rescript , by which the professors should be bound to teach a pure theology , after the Bible and the symbolical books , on pain of dismission ; a commission of spiritual and
temporal counsellors for the examination of the reports ; a sort of high academical polity for the supervision of the professors ; and , finally , an abridgment of the liberty of the press . Herder stepped forwards on this occasion and represented that light and jocular expressions on religious questions were calculated to make the worst impression on young minds ; but that such were altogether unknown in the professors' lectures in Jena ; and that the proposed edict would not only be injurious to the academy
externally , but would spread within it the seeds of calumny and tale-bearing . The Duke ' s private council came to the resolution , that the professors should be admonished orally respecting such abuses of freedom , if such had existed : and when the accused requested a sight and transcript of the alleged facts , the Duke granted it with the declaration , that in such things there should be no secresy , in order that the accusers of heresy should not withhold themselves from the judgment of public opinion , and that others might
be taught caution who might wish to imitate them . The present agitation at the University of Halle , which has , perhaps , spent much of its vehemence through the press , was occasioned by a number of the Evangelische Kirchen Zeitung , which stated , " that the University of Halle has 881 students of theology , and that by far the greater part are under the influence of two professors , Gesenius and Wegschieder , whom the other theological professors follow as their disciples . " " Hence there arises a very interesting
question for the Church of Christ , especially in Northern Germany , what doctrines the greater part of the Halle students of theology , of whom yearly a considerable number enter into the ministry , must be supposed to receive from s . uch men . It is acknowledged by Dr . Gesenius and Dr . Wegschieder that they are rationalists ; and accordingly they allow themselves to describe and to combat as errors what the evangelical church" ( the designation of the United Lutheran and Reformed Church in Prussia ) " acknowledges in its creeds as eternal divine truth . " The article concludes with a wish , that
the facts imparted ( to substantiate the charges ) may at last engage the serious attention of all those to whom it appertains , to the important University of Halle , and awaken their hearts to aid by prayer , by word , and b \ j deed , in healing the wounds which unbelief has inflicted and continues to inflict on a land so richly blessed by the reformation . The King of Prussia is far too considerate , enlightened , and conscientious ,
not to estimate the responsibility of his high station as head of Church and State , and not to feel all the difficulty of satisfying the united claims . Of this an interesting proof has appeared in a paper , which professes to be " a communication of the oral and written expositions of the political chief , as far as they are known . " In it he is reported to say , " But what must be done with such professors , who as teachers and servants of the evangelical church , have written and taught against its creeds and against the acknowledged doctrines of the Scriptures , and who would henceforth teach in this spirit against those fundamental doctrines ; how t \ ie duty of fidelity to the
Untitled Article
586 State of Religious Opinion in Germany .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1830, page 586, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2588/page/2/
-