FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D, 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 ■sec 
 1 
 
WITH , 
 
 THE ' -. 
 
 THE NT? 
 
 HYMNS 
 
 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION. 
 
PRINTED BY J. MILLER AND SON, 
 FOR 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 LONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 
 DUBLIN, . . . GEO. HERBERT. 
 
 NEW YORK, .... SCRIBNER AND WELFORD. 
 
HYMNS 
 
 AND 
 
 THOUGHTS OX RELIGION 
 
 NOVALIS. 
 
 WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 TRANSLATED AND EDITED 
 
 W. HASTIE, B.D. 
 
 Translator of ' The Philosophy of Art; by Hegel (f C. L. Michelet ; 
 Kant's 'Philosophy of Law ;' Outlines of Jurisprudence', by Puchta 
 Punjer's' Christian Philosophy of Religion,' etc. 
 
 DIXBURGH: 
 ARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 CLXxxvni. 
 
THIS BOOK 
 18 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY ANT GRATEFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 MY MOTHER. 
 'Quod spiro et placeo, si p'aceo, tuum esC— W. H. 
 
' I shall point you to a glorious example, which you ought 
 all to know : to that divine Youth who fell too early asleep, 
 to whom all that his spirit touched, became Art, and whose 
 whole perception of the world, became immediately a great 
 poem ; and whom although he has hardly done more in fact 
 than utter his first strains, — you must associate with the 
 richest poets, those few who are as profound as they are vital 
 and clear. In him behold the power of the inspiration and 
 reflectiveness of a pious soul ; and confess that when Philo- 
 sophers will be religious and seek God, like Spinoza, and 
 Artists will be pious and love Christ, like Novalis, then will 
 the great resurrection be celebrated for both their worlds.' — 
 
 SCHLEIEHMACHEK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Translator's Prefatory Note . . . ix 
 
 Biographical Sketch . . . . . xv 
 
 Hymns to Xight ..... 1 
 
 Spiritual Songs . . . . .31 
 
 Thoughts on Religion— 
 
 I. Religion and Theology generally . . 73 
 
 II. Various Historical Relations and Forms of 
 
 Religion . . . . .88 
 
 III. Christianity. The Bible. Worship . . 99 
 
 IV. Higher Religion. Life and Death. The Last 
 
 Things . 112 
 
 V. The Future of Christendom . . 132 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 Stirred by a sympathy which has been freshened 
 by recent study, and moved by a certain pathos 
 in his present relations, the Translator threw off 
 the following English renderings of the Hymns 
 and Spiritual Songs of Novalis, in occasional hours 
 of restful quiet during the last Christmastide. 
 They were severally communicated in those days 
 only to his own inner circle of relatives and 
 friends ; but induced by the sympathetic responses 
 they have evoked, and as unconcerned now as 
 during their production, about popular reception 
 or critical estimate, he has been moved to put 
 these outpourings of the heart of this gifted son of 
 genius — even through an admittedly imperfect 
 medium — within the reach of such other souls as 
 
X TRANSLATORS PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 may be drawn to them at this Eastertide by a 
 similar need of spiritual soothing and solace. The 
 ' Thoughts on Religion ' — gathered out of the 
 chaotic and scattered fragments published by the 
 various German Editors, Critics, and Biographers 
 — have been added in order to give more definite- 
 ness and completeness to the ideas embodied or 
 implied in the romantic and poetical forms. 
 These aphoristic Thoughts have gained for Novalis 
 a permanent place in the History of the modern 
 development of the Philosophy of Religion and 
 are worthy of careful study. They are here 
 arranged in order for the first time ; and they 
 become more intelligible and significant when 
 taken along with the lyrical expression of meta- 
 physical Ideality in the ' Hymns to Night,' and of 
 Christian sentiment in the 'Spiritual Songs,' and 
 when viewed, according to his own definition, as 
 ' scientific poetry,' and as the crowning product, 
 of the development of his spiritual life and thought 
 as a poet. 
 
translator's prefatory NOTE xi 
 
 Since Carlyle wrote his memorable Essay on 
 Novalifl, which made the chords of many an English 
 heart thrill under the fascination and mysterious- 
 ness of his poetic thought, considerable contribu- 
 tions have been made in Germany to a fuller and 
 clearer representation of the life and thinking of 
 the young Philosopher and Poet j and in a forth- 
 coming work — which will exhibit the Thoughts of 
 Novalis on Philosophy, Science and Art — the Trans- 
 lator hopes to make use of this material, especially 
 in dealing with the relations of Novalis to the 
 Philosophy of his time, and to the German 
 Romantic School, of which he was the purest and 
 fairest representative. The present volume is 
 meant to furnish food for meditation rather than 
 for criticism, and to quicken the sympathy of the 
 reader by a reflection of the intuitive and uni- 
 versal art of Novalis himself rather than through 
 indirect descriptions of it. His was truly a high 
 and open soul which knew no lower passion than 
 the glow of immortal love, and lived only long 
 
xii TRANSLATORS PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 enough to realise the transitoriness of the death 
 that pervades our life, so that its every aspect 
 presented beauty and its every pulsation became 
 religion ; and these its more tender and beautiful 
 blossomings and fruitful germs cannot be better 
 presented than in their own simplicity and 
 directness, to those who may have won from per- 
 sonal sadness and pain, the power to enter into 
 the Poet's inspiration and insight. 
 
 It therefore seems undesirable to interpose even 
 one unnecessary word between the heart of the 
 reader and the flow of his sympathy, or to mar 
 the universality of the most human emotions by 
 intruding distracting accidental particulars of a 
 merely critical interest. The Sketch of the Life 
 of Novalis by Just — whom he has himself de- 
 scribed as his ' first, oldest, and trustiest friend ' — 
 is, however, reproduced in order to satisfy all 
 relevant personal interest and to elucidate the 
 individual and literary relations of what follows, 
 to which its unaffected, trustworthy and synipa- 
 
TRANSLATORS PREFATORY NOTE «U 
 
 thetic narration is singularly relevant. The pre- 
 fixed steel Engraving of a portrait of the young 
 
 poet, as he lived and looked in his seventeenth 
 year, reproduces his features and expression in 
 'speaking likeness,' according to the affecting 
 testimony of Tieck, who compares the face of his 
 youthful friend to that of the Evangelist John, as 
 represented by A. Diirer. It has been prepared 
 for this volume through the kind aid of Herr G. 
 Reimer of Berlin, the German publisher of 
 Novalis's works. The Translator has also to 
 acknowledge his obligations to Fraulein Sophie 
 von Hardenberg — the accomplished niece of 
 Novalis and his latest Biographer — for the ready 
 interest taken by her and other members of the 
 noble Hardenberg family in this translation, and 
 for some valuable communications regarding the 
 personal and literary relations of the gifted friend 
 whose name and fame they guard and cherish with 
 just pride and affection. These communications, 
 however, could not be properly utilised in detail 
 
xiv TRANSLATOR S PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 here, but they are reserved for subsequent refer- 
 ence in the connection above referred to. 
 
 A truce, then for a time, to all mere ex- 
 ternal criticism or comparison of Novalis, in 
 presence of the simplicity and unmistakableness 
 of this direct self-presentment. The pure-souled 
 Romantic Poet of the Ideal Creation, as he is 
 here seen sustaining himself in the high Empyrean 
 of the spirit, is acknowledged to be alone among 
 the sweet singers of the world, in some of the 
 deeper strains of his music. Let him then be 
 gently heard as, hidden in the light of his own 
 thought, he soars and sings in the upper world of 
 the Infinite Mystery that is concealed in the 
 everlasting depths of Night and of what is 
 revealed of the Eternal Life that conquers death; 
 and as he sinks again, in sight of the lower 
 shadowed sphere, into calm meditation upon the 
 final world-wide reconciliation even here below, of 
 our Human sorrow with the Divine joy. 
 
 W. H. 
 
 March 1, 1888. 
 
SKETCH OF THE 
 
 Xife of movalts 
 
 By JUST. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
^fiefcB of tf>c Jslife of Sfaxxfia 
 
 WHEN it is said of a man that 'he has genius? 
 it is commonly meant that he has the mental en- 
 dowments which fit him to cultivate the sciences 
 or arts with facility, and to achieve something 
 in them that is not common. If it is considered 
 that this capacity is directed only to a particular 
 art or science, then we say more particularly that 
 'lie has poetical^ mathematical, or other genius.' 
 If this capacity is adapted for the cultivation of 
 sciences and arts in general, then we may say 
 generally that ' he has genius.' A far higher 
 natural endowment, however, is indicated when it 
 is said of any one that 'he is & genius.' And if 
 his capacity is directed definitely to one object 
 only, so that it is said 'he has a philosophical, 
 artistic, technical, or mathematical genius,' this 
 unquestionably means that all the capacities of his 
 mind appear to have a bent given to them l»y 
 
 b 
 
XVlll LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 nature towards the prosecution of this particular 
 art or science, and towards distinction in it as 
 an inventor and master. And finally, when we 
 say in the most general terms that 'this man is a 
 genius,' the expression properly has, and can have, 
 no other sense than that this man possesses pre- 
 eminent capacities of mind so that he is fitted to 
 appear as an independent discoverer and master 
 in every art and science which he may prosecute ; 
 that he possesses the power of learning with 
 facility all of it that is worth knowing, fathoming 
 it deeply, retaining it firmly, arranging it wisely, 
 and judging it acutely; that he possesses all 
 his spiritual faculties in equal strength and with 
 equal power to apply them, and that he has as 
 much facility in directing them to this or that 
 object as he has pleasure and love in exercising 
 them. This conception of 'genius,' is the one I 
 have formed from my acquaintance with the 
 young man Friedricii von Hardenberg (usually 
 called Novalis), whom I knew during several of 
 the years of his short life, and whom I had the 
 best opportunity of observing closely in those very 
 years in which his mind reached its maturity. 
 
 And if it is common to ascribe to 'men of 
 genius,' such faults as that they are superficial, 
 
LIFE OF NOVA Lis xix 
 
 that they do not keep constantly to one object, 
 that they prefer the more pleasing to the more 
 earnest subjects of human knowledge, that they 
 live in their own ideas, or that they will not 
 adapt themselves to the practical applications of 
 life, yet this was not at all the case with Novalis. 
 He wished to learn everything fundamentally and 
 scientifically, and he excluded no object of human 
 knowledge from his interest. At the same time 
 he accustomed himself to practical life, and did 
 not shrink from the toilsome study of those 
 minute details which a really practical man must 
 necessarily know and apply. And with all this, 
 he combined a heart that was open and receptive 
 for all goodness and beauty, and especially for 
 nature, friendship and love; a heart which stood 
 in the most perfect harmony with his intellect so 
 that he neither forgot the claims of the heart in 
 the development of his mind, nor did his thought 
 run counter to his feelings ; and he knew well 
 how to appreciate correctly and to discriminate 
 the head and heart — the thoughts and feelings — 
 of others. 
 
 Hence his early death appeared to all who 
 knew him intimately, as a real loss to science and 
 to mankind. The liberal many-sided, varied, and 
 
XX LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 manifold education which he received, had un- 
 doubtedly contributed much to develop his excel- 
 lent natural endowments. Born of noble rank, he 
 was the son of an excellent, intellectual, respected, 
 successful father ; and he came into close relation- 
 ship with men whose birth, dignity, possessions, 
 connections, spiritual gifts, and knowledge raised 
 them high above others. All the advantages 
 which could flow from these relations were early 
 utilised by him, while the disadvantages which 
 might be connected with them had exercised no 
 special influence upon him. For without under- 
 valuing the civil difference of the various ranks, 
 his free reflective mind recognised only one distinc- 
 tion, — that between the cultivated and the unculti- 
 vated classes of men in all ranks. To the nobility, 
 he assigned only two advantages : the privilege of 
 exercising hospitality and that of liberality in 
 sentiment and education, the latter of which had 
 in particular exercised so beneficent an influence 
 in his own experience.* 
 
 * [The facts mentioned in the following biographical sketch 
 are wholly reliable, having been drawn from the personal 
 knowledge of the writer, or from Novalis's communications to 
 him. This is the chief merit of Just's sketch, which reflects 
 his own straightforward, upright, honourable character. The 
 sketch prefixed by Tieck to the Third Edition of Novalis's 
 Writings is not entirely trustworthy, but its most relevant 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS **> 
 
 Friedrich von Hardenberg [whom we shall here- 
 after refer to as NoVALIs] was born on the 2nd 
 May 1772, at Wiedestedt, an estate belonging to 
 the Hardenberg family, in the district of Mansfeld.* 
 He did not at all distinguish himself in his early 
 years. Sickly in body, his mind too slumbered 
 for a time. His sister, — only a year older than 
 himself, with whom he was educated and whom, 
 as well as the two brothers who followed him, he 
 loved with warm attachment, — applied herself to 
 the elements of the sciences, with the view of 
 encouraging him to learn them out of the love he 
 
 parte have been utilised with great tact and skill by Carlyle 
 /.-•, Vol. II). The accomplished Authoress of Friedrich 
 ton Hardenberg {genaant No calls) Eine Nac/dese, etc. (2nd ed. 
 Gotha, 1883), has added much valuable material and informa- 
 tion mainly from the Archives of the Hardenberg family, and 
 has corrected some important misunderstandings. Dr J. If. 
 Raich has edited the interesting correspondence of Novalis 
 with the Schlegels (Mainz, LSSO). AVillibad Beyschlag has 
 prefixed an elegant sketch of the Life of Novalis to his 
 Edition of Novalis's Poems (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1880). Haym 
 has also given an outline of the Life of Novalis in his import- 
 ant work on the Romantic School. An Essay on Novalis by 
 Dilthey the biographer of Schleiermacher {Prams. Jahr- 
 bUeher, xv. <>:>l' fF.) may also be referred to. — Ta.] 
 
 * [Wiedestedt lies at the foot of the Hart/, mountains. An 
 account of tli<- Hardenberg family ami a sketch of the house 
 in which Novalis was born, is given by Frauh'in Sophie von 
 Hardenberg in her Friedrich von Hardenberg. Eine Nachlese, 
 etc. Tk.1 
 
XX11 LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 had for her. And this plan succeeded. The 
 pious feeling which prevailed in the house of his 
 parents, early exercised an important influence 
 upon him, although it was only in the last years 
 of his life that its full effect was shown. His 
 father was a man of unwearied activity who 
 strove to work with restless assiduity ; and the 
 duties of his calling and those of philanthropy, 
 were supreme and sacred to him. His varied and 
 occasionally distant employments did not allow 
 him personally to superintend the education of 
 his elder children. The education of young Fried- 
 rich was carried on for a time by his mother, 
 whose devout tone of mind was in harmony with 
 that of his father, and the boy hung upon her 
 with a child's love. The eldest daughter, as we 
 have seen, also shared in the same course of in- 
 struction in the first years of their childhood. 
 Afterwards it was carried on and completed by 
 tutors. It was in his ninth year — after he had 
 passed through a severe illness — that his mind 
 fully awoke. He then advanced with remarkably 
 rapid strides in the study of the learned languages 
 and in history. Poems and romantic tales were 
 his favourite recreation ; and his eldest sister and 
 his two younger brothers were his only coin- 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS ^'" 
 
 panions. His parents were, by religious opinion 
 and sentiment, friends of the Moravian Brethren, 
 and felt satisfied and happy in this connection. 
 Nor are they to be blamed for wishing to transmit 
 the good they thus realised to their children. 
 
 With their eldest daughter their pious wish was 
 fulfilled, but their object was not attained at that 
 time with their eldest son. They arranged for his 
 being instructed in the doctrines of the Christian 
 religion by the preacher at Neudietendorf, a Mor- 
 avian colony between Erfurt and Gotha. His 
 childlike simplicity, and his aesthetic as well as 
 his religious feeling, may have found themselves 
 in harmony with this connection ; but how could 
 his intellect, which was now awakened and filled 
 with lofty aspiration, be confined in its struggling 
 after independence and science within the nar- 
 row limits which were here prescribed by faith to 
 all inquiry and knowledge?* 
 
 * [The early training of Xovalis in a Moravian family and 
 under the influence of Moravian teachers, ha<l the most vital 
 influence upon his development, and it is reflected in his 
 Spiritual Songs. In this relation he passed through the same 
 discipline and struggles as his friend Sohleiermacher, who 
 advanced from the fervour and limitations of the Moravian 
 piety, through the philosophical and scientific influences of 
 his time, till he became the greatest theologian of the Nine- 
 ii Century. The later views of Xovalis regarding the 
 Moravians are indicated in his Thoughts on Religion. — Tk.} 
 
 
xxiv LIFE OF NOVAL1S 
 
 His stay at Luclum near Brunswick, could not 
 but be far more welcome to the ripening youth. 
 Here he lived for a year with his uncle, the Land- 
 comthur von Hardenberg. This man possessed a 
 cultivated understanding and a great amount of 
 well arranged knowledge, and he had gathered 
 around him an excellent collection of the best and 
 latest writings of all kinds. These two facts and 
 his connection with great, wise, and good men, 
 his profound knowledge of the world derived from 
 his own experience, his refined tone, the esteem in 
 which he lived, all this certainly proved of great 
 value and assistance in bringing the youth to his 
 early and many-sided development. For he was 
 at the same time independent enough not to be 
 blinded by any of the splendour of external ad- 
 vantages and distinctions; he was quite capable of 
 recognising the true nature of man in any sphere, 
 and thus of gathering into himself only what gave 
 nourishment to his mind and heart. 
 
 The time was now approaching for him to go to 
 the University. In order that he might be 
 thoroughly prepared for it, his father gave him a 
 year's further instruction at Eisleben, under the 
 supervision of an excellent teacher named Jani. 
 Tli is course of instruction was devoted to the 
 
LIFK OF NOYAUS XXV 
 
 ancient languages, and to those branches of know- 
 ledge, the neglect of which was then but too often 
 lamented, both at the universities and in after 
 lit.-. 
 
 Hitherto he had lived under the supervision of 
 his parents, of his tutors, of his uncle, and of his 
 teacher Jani, but now he stepped all alone into 
 the academic world. In the autumn of 1790, he 
 first went as a student to Jena. He next went to 
 Leipsic, along with his second brother Erasmus ; 
 and lastly he went to Wittenberg, where, in the 
 autumn of 1794, he closed his academic career. 
 It is certainly significant as regards his culture, 
 that now he went everywhere upon his own way, 
 without being driven or led by guides or leaders. 
 Thus he gained unquestionably in independence, in 
 personal insight, in the free spirit of inquiry, and 
 in rapid progress. 
 
 A happy concurrence of favourable circum- 
 stances was unusually conducive to the develop- 
 ment of his mind. The Kantian Philosophy was 
 then beginning to be the ruling system, and it was 
 cultivated at Jena by Reinhold and Fichte. He 
 here became intimately acquainted with Fichte, 
 who had obtaine 1 assistance in his education at 
 the sjhool and the university from Hardenberg'a 
 
XXV1 LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 father and a noble lady on whose estate he was 
 born ; and Novalis saw the flashing of the first 
 electric sparks which were then struck from that 
 head of fire. He also already recognised in those 
 days the power of the philosophical spirit which 
 dwelt in Schelling, when he began in Leipsic to 
 give instruction in philosophy in his own room to 
 some of his friends. Novalis became so thoroughly 
 acquainted with the spirit of the Critical Philo- 
 sophy of Kant, that it might have been supposed 
 that his interest was confined to it alone ; but his 
 aesthetic and poetic genius also found rich nutri- 
 ment in the society of the thinkers who were 
 gathered in Jena and Weimar.* The spirit of the 
 time brought into currency the ideas of Freedom 
 and Equality, of the Rights of man and the Prin- 
 ciples of the Political Constitutions. It was thus 
 that his favourite studies at this time embraced 
 Philosophy, the Sciences, the Fine Arts, and 
 Politics in the wider sense of the term. 
 
 * [Among these the chief were Schiller and Goethe. Novalis 
 cherished an enthusiastic admiration for Schiller, and it finds 
 full expression in his letters to the poet in 1791. To Schiller, 
 Novalis owed much of that lofty and pure molality which 
 preserved him from the worst aberrations of the Romantic 
 School. To Goethe's genius he also paid unbounded homage, 
 designating him 'the Stadtholder of poetry on earth,' and he 
 received a kindly and friendly interest in return. — IB.] 
 
LIFE OF NOYAUS xxvn 
 
 Along with all this, however, lie did not fail to 
 make himself acquainted with Jurisprudence, his 
 special study in Leipsic and Wittenberg ; and he 
 must at the same time have acquired considerable 
 preliminary knowledge of Mathematics and Chem- 
 istry as his subsequent progress showed. 
 
 From Wittenberg he went to Tennstedt in 
 order to be there introduced to practical life, 
 according to the wishes of his father. It was 
 then that he and I became most confidential 
 friends, and we continued to be such till his 
 death. From that period I can therefore write 
 about him from my own knowledge, what I have 
 hitherto stated having been derived from his own 
 communications and from other witnesses. I was 
 now to be regarded as his teacher and guide ; but 
 in truth he became my teacher. In those branches 
 in which from experience and practice, I perhaps 
 stood superior to him in knowledge, I had to 
 apply all my powers to respond in some measure 
 to his inquiring spirit, which was not satisfied 
 with what was common or known or customary, 
 but sought everywhere for what was subtle and 
 deep and abstruse. And not only was this the 
 case as regarded himself, but he also carried me 
 along with him, freed me from the fetters of one 
 
xxvin LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 sidedness and pedantry, which are so easily forged 
 upon one by the practice of years, and lie com- 
 pelled me to take varied views of the same object 
 by his conversation and writing. He raised me 
 to the ideals which always floated before his own 
 mind as far as my mechanical habit permitted it, 
 and he thus awakened within me the aesthetic 
 sense which had almost fallen asleep. 
 
 All this will be intelligible, but who could have 
 supposed that such a youth, in order to train him- 
 self to the habits of a practical business man, did 
 not shrink from the trouble of going wholly 
 through the same piece of work two or three 
 times over, until it appeared what according to 
 my view, it ought to be 1 Who could have ex- 
 pected that he would draw up for himself whole 
 pages of synonyms and related technical terms, 
 in order to get into his power the alternative and 
 precise expressions required in his business essays, 
 and that he should have worked at the commonest 
 practical functions of his profession with the same 
 zeal as at those matters which were entirely con- 
 formable to the interests of his own mind 1 
 
 Whatever he had to do, he would not do it in 
 half, but in whole. lie did nothing superlicially, 
 but worked everything to the bottom. In this he 
 
LIFE OF NOYAUS xxix 
 
 was pre-eminently supported by his splendid capa- 
 cities, the equipoise of .all his mental powers, and 
 the facility with which he could pursue every 
 subject. He would read through a new book in a 
 fourth of the time which we other sons of earth 
 require to spend upon it. He would then lay it 
 quietly aside as if he had not read it at all, but, 
 when weeks or months afterwards this book was 
 spoken about, he was able to go over the whole of 
 its contents, to quote its most important passages, 
 and to give a definite judgment as to its value. 
 On such an occasion, he would ask whether he 
 might not recommend it for perusal to any of his 
 friends. In this way he also read, worked at, and 
 studied men. And thus it was possible for him to 
 achieve what he has achieved in so short a life. 
 Of the most recent writings pertaining to the 
 scientific and aesthetic branches which belonged to 
 his department and to his age, hardly anyone was 
 entirely strange to him. He had read and studied 
 the most remarkable of them. At the same time 
 it happened that he had come into personal 
 acquaintance with many celebrated scholars, and 
 he knew well the mode and manner in which 
 several of them were wont to study and write. I 
 remember this particularly in reference to J< m 
 
xxx LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 Paul Richter and Lafontaine. His favourite 
 work in the department of the beautiful in litera- 
 ture at that time — in 1795 — was Goethe's Wilhelm 
 Mcister. He knew this book almost by heart, and 
 I believe it may be almost observed from his 
 own Ofterdingen that Wilhelm Meister was his 
 favourite reading. 
 
 There were three things for which Novalis 
 then — and, as I believe, up to his death — had a 
 decided preference : logical sequence in thinking 
 and acting, aesthetic beauty, and science. The high 
 value which he attributed to the first, sometimes 
 led him away so that he could even pass an 
 eulogium on such a subject as the Robespierre 
 system of terror merely on account of its logical 
 consequence, although he could not but hate it on 
 account of its horrors. In this way, he also in 
 the last year of his life delighted the soul of a 
 pious Catholic friend who happened to be residing 
 with me, by describing the logical character of 
 the heirarchy, and into his long description he 
 interwove the whole history of the Papacy so that, 
 drawing upon all the wealth of the grounds and 
 images that his reason and fancy supplied him 
 with, he became the panegyrist of the Papal 
 autocracy. 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS «X1 
 
 He had a similar liking for (esthetic beauty, even 
 when his inner man was not yet attuned to the 
 rational holiness of the Christian religion. Even 
 then the Bible was clear and precious to him 
 because of its aesthetic beauties, and on this 
 account he was certainly the more disposed 
 towards such a form of religion as presented to 
 him for adoration a mother of God, a Madonna. 
 
 Fichte had given a new meaning to the word 
 : and it had much value to my friend. 
 For he wished and strove not only to carry back 
 all that had been hitherto called art and science 
 to one principle and thus to rise to the truth of 
 science, but also to unite all the sciences and arts 
 into a whole. According to his conviction, each 
 one stretched a sisterly hand to the other and a 
 glorious unity combined them all. Therefore it 
 was that he excluded no branch of learning from 
 his inquiry and study. In Wittenberg, for 
 instance, he went through a complete special 
 course of Church History ; and, if he could not 
 study all the sciences and arts at that time, it is 
 certainly a proof of his distinguished genius that he 
 even then wished to study them all, and out of 
 them to make one science. 
 
 With this liking for science and aesthetic beauty, 
 
xxxn LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 it would have been difficult for him to decide in 
 his twenty-fourth year for a practical life, had it 
 not just been that his aesthetic feeling and the 
 sense for quiet domestic happiness, which he had 
 already imbibed early in his father's house, deter- 
 mined him to it. 
 
 When travelling on business with me lie made 
 the acquaintance of Sophie von Kiihn, who, 
 although still in her thirteenth year already pos- 
 sessed character like an adult, and she united spirit 
 and dignity with the charm of a beautiful youthsuch 
 as is found in few.* This amiable creature became 
 
 * [Sophie von Kiihn was born March 17, 1782, and died 
 March 19, 1707. Novalis in his diary wrongly enters 1783 as 
 the year of her birth. Tieck describes ' the rose of Griinin- 
 gen' (as she is called by Sophie von Hardenberg) and her 
 influence over Novalis, with the pen of a poet. ' The first 
 glance of this fair and wonderfully lovely form was decisive 
 for his whole life ; nay, we may say that the feeling which 
 now penetrated and inspired him, was the substance and 
 essence of his whole life. Sometimes, in the look and figure 
 of a child, there will stamp itself an expression, which, as it 
 is too angelic and ethereally beautiful, we are forced to call 
 unearthly or celestial ; and commonly at sight of such puri- 
 fied and almost transparent faces, there comes on us a fear 
 that they are too tenderly and delicately fashioned for this 
 life ; that it is Death or Immortality which looks forth so 
 expressively on us from these glancing eyes ; and too often a 
 quick decay converts our mournful foreboding into certainty. 
 Still more affecting are such figures when their first period is 
 happily passed over, and they come before us blooming on the 
 eve of maidhood. All persons that have known this won- 
 
LIFE OF NOVALI8 xxxm 
 
 his Madonna, and the hope of possessing her gave 
 him the prospect of sucli domestic happiness as his 
 parents enjoyed. But he could only attain to this 
 happiness after becoming initiated into some 
 definite practical occupation. Thus his wishes 
 came into unison with those of his father. The 
 salt-works in the Electorate of Saxony were to be 
 the first sphere in which he was to labour. And 
 in order to be able to take up his duties with 
 advantage, shortly before his departure from 
 Tennstedt, he went through a course of instruction 
 at Langensalza under the famous chemist Mingleb, 
 in Halurgy, that part of chemistry which was 
 necessary for his future occupation. It took only 
 from ten to twelve days for him to go through the 
 whole course of instruction ; and, Mingleb, who 
 was certainly a competent judge in his department, 
 never afterwards mentioned the name of Friedrich 
 von Hardenberg but with respect. 
 
 In February, 179G, Xovalis entered upon his 
 novitiate at the Electoral salt mines. The local 
 managers were his father and the Mining Engi- 
 
 drous loved one of our friend, agree in testifying that no 
 description can ex pr O BB in what grace and celestial harmony 
 the fair luinuc moved, what beauty shone in her, what soft- 
 ness and majesty encircled her. Novalis became a poet 
 every time he chanced to speak of it.' — Tr.J 
 
xxxiv LIFE OF NOYAUS 
 
 neers, Heun and Senff. Each of them was dis- 
 tinguished in his own department. His father 
 was noted for the unwearied and energetic activity 
 with which he sacrificed time, health, and interest 
 to the service and to the common good. Heun 
 was the oldest member of the staff of managers, 
 and he was distinguished by his intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the arrangements of the works, so that 
 my friend called him the living archive of the in- 
 stitution. Senff again had been long publicly 
 recognised for his services, and especially in the 
 engineering department. From all of them 
 Novalis sought to learn. He thus studied, in 
 accordance with his father's wishes, the details 
 and minutiae which deserve special attention in 
 such industries, in order to prepare himself for 
 greater undertakings in his department. His 
 practical life, however, left him also leisure enough 
 for the cultivation of science. In addition to the 
 great store of ideas and knowledge which he 
 carried in himself, and which he went on increas- 
 ing by means of books and written communical ions 
 with learned men, he had besides special occasion 
 — although a sad one — for frequently visiting his 
 favourite Jena. Here he found several of his 
 learned friends, and chief among them Friedrich 
 
LIFE OP XOVALIS XXXV 
 
 Schlegel.* The special reason of these visits was 
 that his Sophie had fallen ill and was placed 
 ander the medical charge of Dr Stark of Jena. 
 Sophie lived for several months in Jena, with her 
 mother and sister, on account of her health. It 
 was here his parents learned to know and love the 
 amiable girl, and they attended to her with 
 parental fondness. It was thus that his love 
 drew Xovalis often to the place which had other- 
 wise become endeared to him by science and 
 friendship. 
 
 Sophie returned from Jena unrestored in health, 
 to the estate of her father at Griiningen in Thur- 
 ingia, where ISovalis visited her from time to 
 4ime. Her illness had led him to make himself 
 closely acquainted with the science of medicine. 
 Unhappily, however, his own knowledge told him 
 that her illness could not but issue in an early 
 death. His heart regarded such separation as im- 
 possible, and always rebelled against it; for his 
 
 * [Friedrich Schlegel, brother of the distinguished lit. rary 
 
 historian and critic August Wilhelm Schlegel, was a promin- 
 rut representative of the Romantic School He was the inti- 
 mate friend of Schleiermachex and Novalis. He afterwards 
 joined the Roman Catholic Church. His principal later 
 writings 'Philosophy of Life,' 'Philosophy of History,' 
 >ry of literature,' have been translated in holm's 
 
 Standard library.— Tb.] 
 
xxxvi LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 principle — correct in itself but not applicable in 
 its universality — that ' what man wills he can/ 
 misled him into believing that his Sophie would 
 not die. This conflict between the heart and 
 the understanding, was still going on within him 
 when he visited her for the last time. But sad 
 experience solved the problem ; for Sophie died 
 on the 19th March, 1797. 
 
 This blow seemed to annihilate his plan of life. 
 It was not permanently so, however, for his career 
 only took a turn and another direction. His first 
 letters to us at Tennstedt gave evidence of his 
 indescribable sorrow, but also of the powerful 
 spirit which found, even in his hard fate, a call to 
 new high thoughts and views. He wrote to me on 
 the 29th March, from Weissenfels, as follows : — 
 'The yearning for Sophie has markedly increased 
 since her death, and with it my feeling for friend- 
 ship has been perceptibly heightened ; her gentle 
 letters have been pleasing nutriment for it. I am 
 glad that you — my first, oldest and trustiest friend 
 — so clearly discerned the real loss that the depar- 
 ture of my Sophie has been to me. Such a confir- 
 mation of my feeling must produce very beneficial 
 effects. The remembrance of what remains to me 
 for life, is at least a significant guidance, and at 
 
LIFE OK NOYAUS XXXVll 
 
 the same time a lovely element in the complete 
 im ige that shapes my consolation. Hitherto this 
 has not appeared to me so clearly as now, although 
 since last evening I have had a presentiment of 
 tilling. If I have hitherto lived in the pres- 
 ence and the hope of earthly happiness, I must 
 henceforth live entirely in the real future and in 
 the faith in God and immortality. It will be very 
 difficult for me to sever myself entirely from this 
 world which I have studied with so much love ; 
 the relapses will bring many a long moment, but I 
 know that there is a power in man which under care- 
 ful fostering, can develop itself into peculiar energy. 
 You would pity me if I were to tell you of the 
 contradictions of my former hours. I do not deny 
 that I am afraid of terrible ossification of the 
 heart, of consumption of the soul. This disposi- 
 tion is among the dispositions of my nature. Soft 
 by birth, my understanding has gradually extended 
 its sway, and, unobserved, has driven the heart out 
 of its possessions. Sophie restored to the heart 
 its lost throne. How easily may not her death 
 give the supremacy again to tin- usurper; audit 
 certainly would take its revenge by exterminating 
 th.- feelings of the heart. The indifference and 
 coldness of the understanding, 1 have already 
 
xxxvm LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 deeply felt, but perhaps the invisible world and 
 its power, which has hitherto slumbered in me, is to 
 save me. — The idea of God becomes dearer to me 
 every day. — How enraptured and calmed w r ould 
 anyone be who, having never yet heard of God, 
 and being very unhappy, was made acquainted 
 with this idea. I hope that it will be like this 
 with me. Certainly it is over with my love to 
 the affairs of men for this stage of being. Cold 
 duty takes the place of love. My proper occupa- 
 tions will be my official employments. Besides I 
 find it too noisy for me everywhere. I shall have 
 to withdraw myself always more into retirement. 
 Thus will the step into the grave become ever 
 more and more a matter of habit. The distance 
 which separates me from it, is thus always becom- 
 ing less. The sciences are gaining a higher in- 
 terest for me ; as I now study them for higher ends 
 and from a higher point of view. In them, with 
 views of the invisible world, among a few friends 
 and in the discharge of duty, I shall live till my 
 last breath, which as it appears to me is not so 
 distant as I often fear. My friends show a silent 
 heartfelt sympathy with me, especially Carl and my 
 father, the latter having sincerely wept for her the 
 first tears he has shed for many years.' 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS XXXIX 
 
 At this very time, there was also much anxiety 
 about the state of his brother Erasmus, with 
 whom lie had been educated and whose heart he 
 shared. This brother had returned from an 
 Institute of Forestry in Franken, whither he had 
 gone from the University, to his father's house in 
 ill-health, and his death was daily expected. This 
 determined the parents who were concerned about 
 the health of their eldest son too, to send him 
 back to Tennstedt for a time that he might 
 live with us in our domestic circle and in quiet 
 retirement with himself. His heart was deeply 
 wounded ; his fancy was revelling in imagery, not 
 indeed wildly, but under the control of his 
 stronger reason. About five days before Easter, 
 he arrived at Tennstedt, but he did not consider 
 himself strong enough to be able to visit the place 
 where his Sophie died and where her remains 
 reposed ; nor did he expect to do it for some 
 weeks to come. On the evening before Easter, 
 however, he felt himself strong enough for this 
 expedition. He celebrated Easter morning — 
 perhaps in the spirit of the resurrection festival 
 of the Moravians — at Sophies grave, and he re- 
 turned at the appointed hour more calm and more 
 cheerful. The same afternoon, he received the 
 
xl LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 news of the death of his brother to whom he was 
 so closely attached. No complaints were heard 
 from him, nor were any tears seen. He spoke on 
 the subject only with reason and emotion, and on 
 matters connected with it ; he was even suffi- 
 ciently composed to talk upon other subjects with 
 presence of mind. The immortal life of his loved 
 ones and reunion with them, were the prevailing 
 thoughts in his soul. This was also expressed in 
 the beautiful w T ords which he then wrote to the 
 third brother Carl : ' Be comforted ; Erasmus has 
 overcome. The blossoms of our dear garland are 
 falling off singly here, in order that they may be 
 put together there more beautifully and for ever.' 
 His phantasy nattered him with the hope — 
 which to his apparent consolation became then in 
 him a certainty — that within a year death would 
 unite him with his beloved one. His peculiar en- 
 thusiasm found rich material in the perusal of the 
 writings of Lavater, which about this time he read 
 almost exclusively. So much the more pardonable 
 was it if he dated for himself a new era from the 
 day on which his Sophie died, or if he lingered 
 gladly in the contemplation of any relics of her, 
 or cherished other little enthusiasms of this kind 
 as he still gave always the due supremacy to 
 
LIFE OF NOVALls xli 
 
 reason. During several weeks of his stay in 
 Tennstedt, he worked and wrote every morning un 
 wcariedlv, and I believe his subjects of study were 
 Physics, Philosophy, and Immortality. The re- 
 mainder of the day was devoted by him to the 
 enjoyment of awakening nature, and to quiet 
 domestic intercourse in which he was cheerful 
 often even to jesting. Thus he once surprised his 
 friends with a humorous poem on the purchase of 
 a garden ; it was the product of a few hours, and 
 only its last lines betrayed the earnest mood 
 which was then prevailing in his soul. 
 
 After a few weeks, Novalis returned to Weiss- 
 enfels, partly from reasons of his own and partly 
 for the sake of his mother and eldest sister who 
 were deeply afflicted by the recent deaths, and 
 with the view of distracting and strengthening 
 both himself and them by little excursions. One 
 of his excursions which he made with the tutor of 
 the younger members of the family, was to the 
 Rosstrappe, and he described it to me in a letter 
 which recalls by the liveliness of its descriptions 
 his Henry o/Ofterdingen, and which gives evidence 
 at the same time of the energy of his reason 
 exerting itself at this period when both his heart 
 and fancy had been so deeply agitated. It con- 
 
xlii 
 
 LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 eludes with cheerful and satirical glimpses of the 
 society which he met, such as the people at the 
 inn, just as if an idle wanderer in search of 
 pleasure were giving a description of the little 
 adventures he had met on the journey, with care- 
 less mind and untroubled soul. 
 
 Thus he spent the summer, alternating between 
 his father's house and the salt-works, and spend- 
 ing the intervals on short excursions and among 
 his friends. And so he regained the equipoise of all 
 his higher powers, and his body became stronger. 
 In the autumn of 1797, the thought of an 
 early reunion with his beloved one was still 
 always present to him, but now no longer with the 
 lively certainty with which he had formerly be- 
 lieved in it. He recovered his taste for life, and 
 especially for a life devoted to science. He felt 
 himself again restored to the state of freedom in 
 which he was before he had become acquainted 
 with Sophie. 
 
 There were two studies which ho now wished 
 specially to prosecute, and one of them more par- 
 ticularly : these were the sciences of Medicine 
 and of Mining. Inclination drew him to the 
 former, duty determined him for the latter. Al- 
 ready acquainted with the prevailing systems of 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS xliil 
 
 medicine, and the latest discoveries, he laboured 
 to establish the science upon a simple principle 
 and thus to give it certainty. Nevertheless, t he 
 wishes of his father and love to his family for 
 whose interests, as the eldest brother, he felt him- 
 self called upon to devote himself, decided him to 
 go to Freiberg and to go through the training 
 requisite for a practical appointment in connection 
 with the Electoral salt-mines. This took place in 
 December 1797. He now devoted himself almost 
 exclusively to Physics, Chemistry, Higher Mathe- 
 matics, Geology, Metallurgy, Engineering, and all 
 the other sciences which are taught at a Mining 
 Institution. His principal guide was Werner, 
 whom he called his chief teacher. Meanwhile the 
 year passed within which he had believed that he 
 was to die. He still lived and his devoted feeling 
 called him to Thuringia to celebrate the day of 
 the death of his Sophie upon her grave. For his 
 love to her remained as strong as ever in his soul, 
 although it had now lost its sole dominion. 
 
 His heart required a female soul to whom he 
 could attach himself. This was necessary for liim 
 too, in order that he might fix himself to a definite 
 sphere of practical life and realise domestic happi- 
 ness. Thus it was that Julie von Charpentier, 
 
xliv LIFE OF XOVALIS 
 
 the daughter of the manager of the Freiberg 
 mines, first drew his respect and then gained his 
 love by her cultivated understanding. In her a 
 gentle and noble heart was accompanied with 
 beauty and grace. His love for her was not the 
 passion which it had been for Sophie ; it was 
 much calmer, but it was not on this account less 
 warm, and it was such as would last for life. 
 Her society gave nourishment both for head and 
 heart, and thus his stay at Freiberg could not 
 but have this two-fold value for him. 
 
 In the midst of Oreads and Graces, he did not 
 forget the Muses, and these old friends of his con- 
 tinued faithful to him. Evidence of this is given 
 in some poetical productions which were then com- 
 posed, especially, the Hymns to Night and other 
 smaller pieces. They were published in the Jahr- 
 bucher der Preussischen Monarchic of June and 
 July, 1798, and in Schlegel's Athenaeum of 1798 
 and 1800, under the name of ' Xovalis,' then 
 assumed by him.* 
 
 However, everything now depended upon form- 
 ing a fixed plan for his future life. He wished to 
 
 * [The nom de plume 'Novalis,' by which the author of the 
 Hum ru to Ninlit is best known, was, as he tells us, an old desig- 
 nation of one of the branches of the Hanlenberg family con- 
 nected with an estate belonging to them [de Novali). — Tr.] 
 
LIFE OP NOYAUS xlv 
 
 live in the country, and especially in Thuringia, 
 and Ills desire was to obtain a position which 
 would give him definite employment and an in- 
 come, however moderate, with some leisure for 
 science, friendship and quiet domestic joy. Ac- 
 cordingly, iu the summer of 1799, he returned to 
 Weissenfels, in order to be associated as assessor 
 in the management of the salt-works. His first 
 wish was thus fulfilled, and he was further 
 entrusted with the charge of the legal matters 
 connected with the works. In this period he 
 made the acquaintance of some very interesting 
 friends. One of these was Ludwig Tieck, whom 
 lie met in the summer of 1799, and whom he now 
 loved with groat affection. He consulted with 
 Tieck about what he should write ; and along 
 with the poet in Tieck, he loved the man. He 
 spent some enjoyable days with Tieck and 
 Reichardt, Tieck's brother-in-law, at Reichardt's 
 country-seat, near Giebichenstein. His vocation 
 brought him his second friendship. He passed a 
 considerable part of the winter of 1799-1800, at 
 the Electoral salt-works of Artern, and in this 
 little town there were then living two men who 
 were an honour to their profession : Major von 
 Funck and Captain Thilomann, both in the 
 
xlvi LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 Elector's regiment of hussars. Liberality of senti- 
 ment, culture of mind, with more than a super- 
 ficial acquaintance with the latest philosophy and 
 literature, and a collection of the best new books : 
 all this could not but draw Novalis to them and 
 them to him. For each of them found his account 
 in this acquaintance ; it was a source of gain and 
 enjoyment to them all. 
 
 At the same time he was not inactive in his 
 practical duties. To a large extent indeed, he 
 was still but an attentive and quiet observer. 
 Many hours were spent by him in the salt-works, 
 with the air of a distracted mind that dwells in 
 other regions, and yet his mind was just then 
 working on the possibility of practical improve- 
 ments. Thus I can definitely recall among other 
 things, that he busied himself making meteoro- 
 logical observations in order to bring the gradu- 
 ation of the salt-water to a higher stage, and that 
 he studied the mode of manufacturing salt by the 
 heat of the sun technically, chemically and practi- 
 cally. It should hardly be asked what he 
 specially achieved in this department. When 
 one dies in the years of his apprenticeship, we can 
 only inquire and divine as to what he would have 
 accomplished in the years of his maturity. And 
 
LIFE OF XOVALIS xlvii 
 
 thus it was that the manager Heun deeply 
 lamented liis death, when shortly after it he said 
 to me, ' Oh, you don't know what we have lost in 
 him.' 
 
 In the year 1800, the office of a mining superin- 
 tendent fell vacant in Thuringia. This gave our 
 Xovalis the hope of realising his plan in life. If 
 he succeeded in obtaining this post, his sphere of 
 activity would be widened. The various and 
 different employments of a superintendent offered 
 to his accomplished and widely educated mind 
 many opportunities of being usefully active. His 
 connection with the salt-works would remain 
 unchanged and the two offices would not confine 
 him so much in the chains of practical work that 
 he would have to renounce the Sciences and the 
 Muses. With all this he could also now hope to 
 be soon united with his Julia and to enjoy 
 domestic bliss with her. The fates were favour- 
 able; his application was granted. His exami- 
 nation was passed with approval, and nothing 
 was now wanting to the happiness he had longed 
 for but taking possession of it. In the summer of 
 1800, however, he had become sickly and his 
 weakness accompanied him to Dresden. There 
 the sad and unexpected death of a younger 
 
Xlviil LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 brother so agitated him that he burst a blood- 
 vessel ; and now his strong soul only inhabited 
 his feeble body but a few months longer. In 
 Dresden he was lovingly attended by his grown-up 
 brothers Carl and Anton, and thereafter in Weiss- 
 enfels with the same self-sacrificing tenderness 
 by Carl and his Julia, who with his father accom- 
 panied him thither by his request. But all the 
 care of his loved ones and all the help of the 
 physicians were of no avail. Being free from pain, 
 he regarded himself not so much as sick, but 
 rather as weary, and he hoped for healing from 
 the approaching spring. His mind had not sick- 
 ened with his body. He read diligently, especially 
 in the Bible and in the writings of Zinzendorf and 
 Lavater; and at the same time he kept working 
 at the subjects of his profession and at poetical 
 compositions. A heartfelt joy was felt by him on 
 the 21st March 1801, at the arrival of his friend 
 Friedrich Schlegel who was held in particular 
 regard by him. They spoke daily with each other 
 about their literary works. Four days thereafter, 
 on the 25th of March, he fell calmly and softly 
 asleep under the melodious sound of the piano, 
 upon which he had asked his brother Carl to play 
 him something, — and he was to awaken here no 
 
LIFE OF NOVALI8 xlix 
 
 more. For in this sleep he died in the presence 
 of his brother and of his friend Schlegel.* 
 
 * [The close of Novalis's life is described with simplicity 
 and pathos by Tieck, who no doubt drew his information 
 from Friedrich Schlegel. ' The nearer he approached his end, 
 the more confidently did he expect a speedy recovery ; for 
 the cough diminished, and, excepting languor, he had no feel- 
 ing of sickness. With the hope and longing for life, new 
 talent and fresh strength seemed also to awaken in him ; 
 he thought with renewed love of all his projected labours ; 
 he determined on writing Ofterdiivjen over again from the 
 beginning ; and shortly before his death he said on one 
 occasion, ' Never till now did I know what poetry was ; in- 
 numerable songs and poems, and of quite different stamp 
 from any of my former ones, have arisen in me.' From the 
 19th of March, the death-day of his Sophie, he became 
 visibly weaker ; many of his friends visited him ; and he felt 
 great joy when on the 21st, his true and oldest friend, 
 Friedrich Schlegel came to him from Jena. With him he 
 conversed at great length ; especially upon their several 
 literary operations. During these days he was very lively ; 
 his nights too were quiet ; and he enjoyed pretty sound sleep. 
 On the 25th, about six in the morning, he made his brother 
 hand him certain books, that he might look for something ; 
 then he ordered breakfast, and talked cheerfully till eight ; 
 towards nine he bade his brother play a little on the harpsi 
 chord, and in the course of the music fell asleep. Friedrich 
 Schlegel soon afterwards came into the room and found him 
 quietly sleeping; this lasted till near twelve, when, without 
 the smallest motion he passed away, and, unchanged in 
 death, retained his common friendly look as if he yet lived. 
 
 ' So died,' continues the affectionate biographer, 'before 
 he had completed his twenty-ninth year, this our friend ; in 
 whom his extensive acquirements, Ins philosophical talent 
 and his poetic genius must alike obtain our love and admira- 
 tion. As he had so far outrun his time our country might 
 
 d 
 
1 LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 As to the cause of his death, who can say what 
 it was ] W'c can only surmise that his body could 
 no longer produce so much vital force as his too 
 active spirit consumed. His friends mourned for 
 him ; and they who knew him most intimately, 
 regard his death as a loss to science and mankind.* 
 
 Novalis was distinguished above all by the 
 strength and vividness of his phantasy. This 
 faculty made it possible for him to apprehend 
 everything easily, to think clearly and distinctly, 
 and to retain all things firmly in his memory. It 
 mingled itself almost in everything he took up. 
 He himself called it the principal element of his 
 existence, and he also confessed that it worked 
 specially upon his view of Religion. 
 
 As to his views on Religion, he wrote to me 
 from Freiberg on the 26th December, 1798, thus: 
 ' I am glad that my scattered Thoughts have occu- 
 pied some of your hours, and that they have been to 
 
 have expected extraordinary things from such gifts had this 
 early death not overtaken him ; as it is, the unfinished 
 writings he left behind him have already had a wide influence. 
 . . . Without vanity, without learned haughtiness, far 
 from every affectation and hypocrisy, he was a genuine, true 
 man, the purest and loveliest embodiment of a high, immortal 
 spirit. '— Tr.] 
 
 * [The mortal remains of Novalis were buried in the 
 Cemetery of "Weissenfels, where a public monument was 
 erected over them in May, 1872. — Tr.] 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS h 
 
 you what they were to inc and still are, the begin- 
 nings of interesting trains of thought, — texts for 
 thinking. Many are mere counters and have only 
 a transitory value. On some of them, on the 
 other hand, I have sought to impress the stamp 
 of my inmost conviction. I gladly admit that I 
 believe I regard and judge of Religion very differ- 
 ently from the way in which you do, and that I 
 have entered upon a path which must appear to 
 you exceedingly strange. Nevertheless we are 
 friends, and will be friends ; and in this feeling 
 our religions, or rather our theologies, find a meet- 
 ing point. If friendship, love, morality, and 
 activity is the result of them both, they must 
 indeed be sisters and members of that holy family 
 which is made up of the religions which have had 
 their home among men from of yore, which have 
 shown the most faithful care in fostering all that 
 is good and beautiful, which have preserved virtue 
 and love in their bosom during the wildest times and 
 have everywhere maintained and diffused consola- 
 tion and hope, courage and contentment. The 
 Religion which is your friend, has revealed herself 
 to you through her understanding; as a warm- 
 hearted understanding is the main feature in her 
 character. She h;is approached me, through a 
 
Hi LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 warm-hearted phantasy, for this perhaps is the 
 most prominent feature in my peculiar nature. 
 Should not then our manifold diversities and the 
 ultimate principle of our whole human constitution, 
 not be exhibited in this most important relation of 
 all ? You hang a child-like devotion on the 
 unchangeable ciphers of a mysterious document, 
 which for thousands of years has filled countless 
 multitudes of men with divine life, and has 
 accompanied your venerable forefathers through a 
 long period as a Palladium, — a document which, 
 except in a few inconceivable words, contains 
 precepts and examples, histories and doctrines, 
 which are in harmony with all that the best and 
 wisest men and our own consciences have more or 
 less clearly recommended and ascertained and 
 found authenticated, as excellent and true. In it 
 further, and above all this, an infinite world 
 appears to vault it over like a heaven and miracu- 
 lously to open a ravishing prospect into a heavenly 
 future. With what feelings in the heart do you 
 take the Bible, a pledge of immortality, into 
 your hand. How happy must you seem to your- 
 self when you are convinced that you possess in it 
 a Scripture that is more than earthly, an endur- 
 ing revelation, and that in these pages you lay as 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS K" 
 
 it wore firm hold of a guiding hand stretched to 
 you from a higher sphere. Your theology is the 
 theology of the historical and critical understand- 
 ing which seeks a firm foundation, an irrefragable 
 demonstration, and which finds it in a collection 
 of documents, whose preservation alone appears 
 already to be an authenticating miracle, and for 
 whose credibility all historical evidences concur in 
 speaking along with the heart and the reason. If 
 I stand less upon documentary certainty, less 
 upon the letter, less upon the truth and circum- 
 stantiality of history ; if I am more inclined to 
 search for higher influences in myself and to break 
 a path of my own into the primal world ; if in 
 the history and the doctrines of the Christian 
 religion, I believe that I see the symbolical 
 adumbration of a universal Religion for the world 
 that is capable of every form ; if I regard it as the 
 purest model of Religion, as a historical manifesta- 
 tion, and really, therefore, also as the most perfect 
 revelation ; if, from this very point of view all 
 theologies seem to me to rest on more or less 
 happily comprehended revelations, and yet all 
 stand together in the most remarkable parallelism 
 with the history of the civilization of mankind, 
 and to arrange themselves peacefully in an ascend- 
 
HV LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 ing series : then you will not fail to perceive that 
 the most conspicuous element of my existence, 
 which is phantasy, is present in the formation of 
 this view of Religion.' 
 
 With every year, Religion always became to 
 him more of a personal need. Thus he wrote in 
 November, 1800, a few months before his death, 
 as follows : — 'When bodily unrest does not con- 
 fuse me, which on the whole does not happen 
 frequently, then my soul is bright and still. 
 Religion is the great Orient in us, which is seldom 
 obscured. Without it I should be unhappy ; and 
 thus does everything combine into one great 
 peaceful thought, into one calm eternal faith.' 
 
 After Sophie's death he had acquired a liking 
 for the writings of Lavater and Zinzendorf, for 
 Catholic books of edification, and even for the 
 works of Jacob Bohme * From this and from some 
 relations of his earlier life, as well as from the high 
 value which he put on aesthetic beauty, it will 
 appear intelligible and pardonable that in some of 
 his Spiritual Songs there are passages which one 
 
 * [A. full account of the views of Jacob B5hme (usually 
 called Beh men by English writers) is given in Pttnjer's 
 ' History of the Christian Philosophy of Religion,' Vol. I. 
 (T. & T. Clark, 1887). In the same volume there is an 
 account of Zinzendorf and the Moravians. — Tit. 1 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS lv 
 
 would not have expected. But who can read his 
 hymn to Jesus: — 
 
 'O what would I have been without Thee?' 
 
 without being inspired with the pious poet to truly 
 Christian feeling and devout sentiments. 
 
 His Spiritual Songs are only so many parts 
 and fragments of a hymn book which he intended 
 to compose in his last years, along with L. Tieck. 
 The modern hymns appeared to him — and per- 
 haps not wrongly — to be addressed too much to 
 the understanding to have much effect upon 
 the heart. Even in those of Gellert he found 
 too little of the phantasy which, according to 
 him, should pave the way to the heart. If it 
 is thought that he gave too much play to this 
 element, let it not be forgotten that these hymns 
 were his first attempts. After Sophie's death, as 
 we see from the letter already quoted, and which 
 was written shortly after her loss, faith in God and 
 immortality became to him a personal need.* 
 
 * [The Spiritual 8ong$ of Novalis were read by him to 
 Friedlich Schlegel and Tieck in 17'.»!>, and were regarded by 
 them as his most important poetical productions. They are 
 Christian Hymns of grcit merit and of deep fervent sincerity. 
 They display the genius of tin- Romantic School in its purest 
 and highest application, and are appropriately ranked with 
 Schleiermacher's 'Discourses on Religion,' as regards their 
 
 spiritual feeling and enduring worth. They were immediately 
 
Ivi LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 To this faith there was afterwards conjoined the 
 
 belief in Jesus • and now his phantasy and his 
 
 accepted as popular Christian Hymns in Germany, and still 
 hold a foremost place in the Church Services of both the 
 Lutheran and Moravian Churches. It is related by one of the 
 German Editors, that the father of Novalis heard a wonder- 
 fully beautiful hymn sung at a Moravian Service by which he 
 was deeply moved, and on enquiring as to who was the author 
 of it, he received the answer : ' O ! do you not know that 
 your own son composed that hymn ? ' Schleiermacher quoted 
 these Hymns in the pulpit with deep emotion, and through 
 his influence several of them obtained a permanent place in 
 the Berlin Hymn Book. Rothe, the greatest theologian 
 since Schleiermacher, has written a sympathetic and appre- 
 ciative Essay on ' Novalis as a Religious Poet. ' Beyschlag in 
 the Introduction to his Edition of Novalis's Poems, dwells 
 with deep admiration on ' the charm of inward truth ' and the 
 spiritual elevation of these remarkable Christian Hymns. 
 Even more striking is the tribute paid to them by Pfleiderer 
 — no friend of the Romantic School or of Pietism — who says : 
 1 Nowhere is there any sweeter or more powerful expression of 
 that warm and hearty inwardness of Protestant Mysticism 
 which manifested itself in pietism, and exercised so precious 
 and salutary an influence on the German people, then stiff 
 and frozen from the hands of Supranaturalists and Rational- 
 ists alike, than in the Sjoiritual Songs of Novalis. They 
 are the true Song of Songs of pious love to the Saviour, and 
 express the whole gamut of its feelings from the deepest 
 sorrow to the highest blessedness and joy. He who gave the 
 Protestant Church these Hymns, which belong to the most 
 precious jewels of the religious poetry of all ages, he surely 
 — Romanticism notwithstanding — was a good Evangelical 
 Christian.' — Philosophy of Religion, i. 274. 
 
 The translator has arranged the Spiritual Songs in what 
 he believes to be their true order, for the first time. The 
 first hymn is regarded as an Advent Hymn, in vivid anticipa- 
 tive Christmas imagery, longing and sighing for the Incarna- 
 
LIFE OF NOV ALLS 
 
 lvii 
 
 ■esthetic feeling also allowed him to give a devout 
 side glance to Mary. 
 
 His phantasy led him to form a wide and com- 
 prehensive idea of poetry. To him all nature w c as 
 poetical, and in Jacob Bohme he also found high 
 poetry. I could not follow the bold flight which 
 his thoughts here took. Yet anyone initiated into 
 the latest poetry will understand him ; and his 
 Henry of Of ter ding en — at least so it appears to me 
 — will convey to the competent reader what were 
 his thoughts about poetic art. His friends F. 
 Schlegel and L. Tieck have published his writings 
 under the nom de plume of Xovalis, which he had 
 assumed.* We would do him a wrong, however, 
 
 tion ; and from this point of view the succession will be 
 obvious. All the Hymns have been rendered in accordance 
 with the metres of the Hymns in the German. — Tr.] 
 
 * [The ' Writings ' of Xovalis were published in two volumes 
 by his friends L. Tieck and F. Schlegel. Tieck prefixed his 
 biographical sketch to the third Edition. It contained 1. The 
 Romance entitled 'Heinrich von Ofterdingen, '.which remained 
 unfinished; 2. The ' Hymns to Night;' 3. The 'Spiritual 
 Songs;' 4. The 'Scholars at Sais,' a philosophical romance 
 which also remained unfinished ; ">. 'Fragments of mixed 
 Content ' ; and 6. An Appendix of short Poems and Letters. 
 The Fourth Edition (lNL'i*. was edited by F. Schlegel, who 
 added the remarkable fragment entitled ' Christendom or 
 Europe,' about which there has been much controversy. 
 Tieck and the two Schlegels advised Novalifl not to publish it, 
 and in this they were supported by the judgment of Goethe. 
 It was accordingly laid aside and did not appear till it was 
 
lviii LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 were we to judge them as completed master works, 
 or if we tried to read in them the whole man that 
 he was. He says himself that he cultivated litera- 
 ture only as a school training. Thus he wrote to 
 me in the following terms : — 'Literature is an acces- 
 sory thing. You judge me more justly by the 
 
 inserted in the Fourth Edition by F. Schlegel, who had mean- 
 while joined the Roman Church. It has been shown by the 
 earnest and well-informed Authoress of ' Friedrich von Har- 
 denberg,' that Schlegel omitted or suppressed two important 
 paragraphs towards the close of the Essay, and that these are 
 cardinal as regards Novalis's real attitude towards the Roman 
 Church. Dr Raich has attempted to vindicate Schlegel, but 
 has given no satisfactory explanation of the omissions. This 
 Fourth Edition was used by Carlyle. The Essay was with- 
 drawn by Tieck from the Fifth Edition. In addition to these 
 two Volumes, a third Volume was published in 1846, by 
 Tieck, and Ed. v. Billow. It contains a Preface by Tieck 
 (who was then in his 73rd year), the biographical sketch by 
 Just, more than 000 additional ' Fragments,' Extracts from 
 Novalis's last Diary, Miscellaneous Poems, etc. The works 
 referred to in the Note at page xx, supra, also contain some 
 scattered matter. 
 
 Hardly any posthumous works have been so imperfectly 
 edited as those of Novalis, notwithstanding the literary 
 reputation of the Editors. The Fragments in particular, are 
 printed in the most chaotic and accidental way,— a ' rudis 
 indigestaque moles.'' None of this disorder is due to the 
 character or habit of Novalis's thought, which was essentially 
 logical, as Just says ; it is due only to the carelessness of his 
 Editors, and it has had an unfavourable influence upon his 
 reputation. The Thoughts <>>t Religion which form the 
 third part of this translation, have- had to be culled from all 
 the works referred to, and they are now arranged in some order 
 for the first time. — Tu.l 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 lix 
 
 main matter, which is practical life. If I am in- 
 deed good, useful, active, loving and faithful, then 
 you may apply any hard expression as to what is 
 useless and unbeneficial in my regard. The writ- 
 ings of undistinguished men are harmless, for they 
 are little read and are soon forgotten. I regard 
 my literary efforts merely as a means of discipline. 
 I thus learn to examine and reflect upon some 
 things carefully, — and this is all that I desire from 
 it. If the approbation of a sensible friend comes 
 in addition to this, my expectation is exceeded. 
 According to my view, we must rise through many 
 stages before we attain perfect culture ; as writers 
 we have to become for a time tutors, professors 
 and artisans.' 
 
 His lively Phantasy was accompanied with a 
 calm Reason. How otherwise would he have had 
 the desire and the power to explore the depths of 
 speculative philosophy 1 But its study was to him 
 not an end but only a means. He set limits to 
 speculation, and Jacobi's letter to Fichte on this 
 subject spake out his own feelings. 'Philosophy,' 
 — thus wrote Jacobi in February 1800 — ' now rests 
 so far as I am concerned only on the book-shelves. 
 I am glad that I have crossed these mountain 
 9 of the pure Reason, and that T dwell again 
 
lx 
 
 LIFE OF XOVALIS 
 
 with body and soul in the varied quickening land 
 of the senses. My remembrance of the toils and 
 troubles I have undergone, makes me glad. It 
 belongs to the apprentice years of training. 
 Exercise of acuteness and reflection, are indispens- 
 able. We must take care not to forget the 
 authors in the mere study of grammar, nor mag- 
 nitudes in mere play with letters. One may 
 esteem philosophy highly without having it as his 
 housekeeper, and living only by it. Mathematics 
 alone will not make a soldier or a mechanic ; nor 
 will philosophy alone make a man.' 
 
 And it was a man in the noblest sense of the 
 term, that Novalis wished to be. His calm reason 
 led his judgment to candour and impartiality. He 
 entirely distinguished the writer from the man, 
 and the friend from both. The severest criticisms 
 on an author did not shock him ; but he could not 
 conceal his disapproval when the man was attacked 
 in the author. Thus in the whole collection of 
 recent Epigrams, there were only two of which 
 he disapproved, because they depreciated the moral 
 worth of the writer. The well-known drama of 
 Kotzebue, in which his intimate friend Fried rich 
 Schlegel was so keenly scourged, did not excite 
 any ill-feeling in him, because it was only one 
 
LIFE OF NOVALIS W 
 
 writer satirizing another, and Schlegel had first 
 thrown down the glove. In like manner he 
 admired Schlegel 's Lucinde as a work of art, but 
 would have blushed to give it into the hand of a 
 modest maiden. Heartfelt sentiment was a prin- 
 cipal constituent of his character. It was so 
 deeply woven into his whole nature that one could 
 not think of him at all without it. It gave value 
 to his phantasy and reason, and individuality to 
 himself. But his phantasy, as he expressed it, 
 was a phantasy of the heart ; and in like manner, 
 the sentiment of his heart was a rational senti- 
 mentality. So it speaks still out of his writings 
 and his letters. It revealed itself especially in his 
 Religion. It was also manifested in his deep 
 attachment to parents, brothers and sisters, his 
 loved ones, and his friends ; and it was shown in 
 the taste which he had for domestic happiness, and 
 for the quiet enjoyment of the society of friends. 
 With all this he was so entirely without pre- 
 tension, and so free from self-assertion that he 
 appeared in these respects likewise to be formed 
 for love and friendship. 
 
 In his intercourse with strangers or in large 
 mixed societies, he was often silent for hours, 
 although he was at the same time an attentive 
 
lxii LIFE OF NOVALIS 
 
 observer of all that passed around him. He was 
 only the more eloquent, however, in the confi- 
 dential circle. It was usually a personal need 
 that he should have the opportunity of pouring 
 himself forth in speech. One could listen to him 
 for whole evenings, and not become tired of hear- 
 ing him j for he was able to give an interest to 
 the commonest subjects. How visibly on such 
 occasions did his friends see the richness of his 
 phantasy, the acuteness of his reason, the fervour 
 of his sentiment. He readily bore contradiction 
 and never showed any ill-feeling at it. If he had 
 given utterance to a paradoxical proposition, he 
 would not give it up, but would even play the 
 sophist in maintaining it. His figure was tall, 
 well-built, and thin. His eye betrayed thought, 
 his mouth friendliness. His exterior was simple 
 and plain ; all ornamentation was contrary to his 
 nature. 
 
 As he himself said, he lived gladly in the realm 
 of the senses, but not in what was sensuous ; for 
 his inward nature was the guide of his outer life. 
 And thus he created for himself an invisible world 
 within the visible world. This was the land for 
 which he yearned. And thither, his life so early 
 over, he has gone home. 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT, 
 SPIRITUAL SONGS, 
 
 AND 
 
 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 BY 
 
 NOVALI S. 
 
 Translated from the German. 
 
Ib^mns to Biobt 
 
'These Hymns to the Night, were written shortly after the 
 death of his mistress : in that period of deep sorrow, or rather 
 of holy deliverance from sorrow. Novalis himself regarded 
 them as his most finished productions. They are of a strange, 
 veiled, almost enigmatical character ; nevertheless, more 
 deeply examined, they appear nowise without true poetic 
 worth ; there is a vastness, an immensity of idea ; a still 
 solemnity reigns in them, a solitude almost as of extinct 
 worlds. Here and there too some light-beam visits us in the 
 void deep ; and we cast a glance, clear and wondrous, into 
 the secrets of that mysterious soul. A full commentary on 
 the Hymns to the Night would be an exposition of Novalis's 
 whole theological and moral creed ; for it lies recorded there, 
 though symbolically, and in lyric, not in didactic language. 
 
 1 Naturally a deep, religious, contemplative spirit ; purified 
 also, as we have seen, by harsh affliction, and familiar in the 
 "Sanctuary of Sorrow," he comes before us as the most ideal 
 of all Idealists.'— Caul yi.e. 
 
 ' AVhy do the Hymns to Night so peculiarly lay hold of the 
 soul of the reader ? It is because they shew the transforma- 
 tion of the poet into a Christian. In these Hymns his deepest 
 sorrow appears transfigured by a higher than earthlyjsplen- 
 dour.'— Sophie von Hardenbeug. 
 
 'The Hymns to Night, those profoundly sorrowful strains 
 of rapturous lamentation and of fervent pain, can be com- 
 pared with nothing that our classical poetry has produced.' — 
 
 Hath. 
 
ilsrmtito to IHujfit 
 
 i. 
 
 Who is there living and endowed with thought 
 who loves not above all the wonders that appear 
 spread out in space around him, the all glad- 
 dening Light, with its colours, its rays and billows, 
 and its mild omnipresence as wakening day 1 As 
 the inmost soul of life, it is breathed by the giant 
 world of the restless stars, which swim and dance 
 in its azure flood. It is breathed by the sparkling 
 stone in its eternal rest, by the pensive absorbent 
 plant, and by the wild burning many-shaped 
 beast. But above all it is breathed by the 
 glorious stranger with the thoughtful eyes, the 
 hoveiing march and the tenderly closed musical 
 lips. As a king of earthly nature, the Light calls 
 
4 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 forth every power to numberless transformations ; 
 it joins and unlooses infinite covenants ; it hangs 
 its heavenly form round every being of earth. 
 Its presence alone reveals the marvellous glory of 
 the kingdoms of the world. 
 
 Yet away I turn myself to the holy, ineffable, 
 mysterious Night. Afar lies the world sunk in 
 a deep vault below ; desert and solitary is its 
 place. Deep sadness breathes through the chords 
 of the breast. In drops of dew will I sink down 
 and mingle with the dust. The depths of memory, 
 the wishes of youth, the dreams of childhood, 
 the short joys and vain hopes of the whole span 
 of life, come forth in gray robes, like the evening 
 mist after the setting of the sun. In other 
 regions of space Light hath pitched his cheerful 
 tents. What if he should never come again to 
 his children who wait for him with the faith of 
 innocence 1 
 
 And now what springs there up at once so 
 full of presentiment beneath the heart, and 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 5 
 
 swallows up the soft air of sadness ? Dost thou 
 also take pleasure in us, dusky Night ? What 
 hidost thou under thy mantle, that comes invisibly 
 but in strength to the souH Precious balsam 
 drips from thy hand, from the bunch of poppies 
 it holds. Thou raisest again the heavy wings 
 of the soul. Darkly and unutterably we feel our- 
 selves moved. Gladly terrified I behold an 
 earnest face which bends to me softly and de- 
 voutly, and beneath infinitely tangled locks it 
 shows a Mother's dear youth. 
 
 How poor and childish does the light seem 
 to me now ! How gladdening and blessed the 
 departure of day ! — Is it only because the Night 
 draws thy servants away that thou didst sow in 
 the wide fields of space, the gleaming spheres to 
 announce, during the hours of thy absence, thy 
 omnipotence and thy return 1 More heavenly 
 still than those flashing orbs, seem to us the 
 infinite eyes which Night hath opened within us. 
 They see farther than the palest of those 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 numberless hosts J unneeclful of the light, they 
 glance through the depths of a loving heart 
 which fills a higher space with unutterable 
 delight. Praised then be the Queen of the world, 
 the high revealer of holy worlds, the guardian of 
 blissful love ! 
 
 IT. 
 
 Must the morning always come again 1 Will 
 the power of the earthly never end 1 Unblest 
 activity consumes the heavenly flow of the night. 
 Will love's mystic sacrifice never burn for aye 1 ? 
 For the Light its time was measured out ; but 
 timeless and spaceless is the reign of Night. — 
 Eternal is the duration of sleep. O sacred sleep ! 
 do not send thy joy too seldom to those who are 
 consecrated to Night, amid this work of the 
 earthly day. It is only fools who misunderstand 
 thee and know of no sleep but the shadow which, 
 in this glimmering of the real night, thou dost 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 7 
 
 throw in pity upon us. They feel thee not in the 
 golden flood of the grapes, in the brown juice of 
 the poppy, nor in wondrous oil of the almond tree. 
 They know not that it is thou who dost hover 
 around the breast of the tender maiden and makest 
 her bosom a heaven. Nor do they divine how, 
 opening thy heavenly gate, thou dost come out of 
 ancient story, and bring with thee the key of the 
 dwellings of the blessed, a silent messenger of 
 infinite Mysteries. 
 
 III. 
 
 Once when I was shedding bitter tears, when 
 dissolved in pain my hope had melted away, and 
 I stood solitary on the bare mound which hid 
 in its dark narrow space the form of my life : 
 solitary as no hermit had ever been, driven by 
 unutterable anguish, powerless, but with one 
 thought of misery yet left : — as there I looked 
 around for help, nor could go forward nor back- 
 
8 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 ward, yet clung with infinite longing to the 
 flitting deadened life : — then there came from the 
 azure depths, from the heights of my old blessed- 
 ness, a thrill of twilight, and at once the band of 
 birth, the fetter of light was severed. Away fled 
 the earthly glory, and with it my sorrow. All 
 sadness was gathered into a new unfathomable 
 world ; and thou, night's inspiration, heavenly 
 Slumber, earnest over me. The scene rose gently 
 aloft, and over the sea hovered my unbound new- 
 born spirit. That mound of earth became a dust- 
 cloud, and through the cloud I beheld the trans- 
 figured features of my beloved. In her eyes, 
 eternity reposed ; I clasped her hands and my 
 tears became glittering links of an indissoluble 
 chain. Thousands of years moved away into the 
 distance like thunder clouds. On her neck I 
 wept tears that gave the new life rapture. It 
 was my first and only dream ; and ever since do 
 I feel eternal and unchangeable faith in the 
 heaven of Night, and its light, my Beloved. 
 
HYMN'S TO NIGHT 
 
 IV. 
 
 I now know -when the last morning will come : 
 when light shall no more scare away the night 
 and love, when slumber shall be eternal, and but 
 one inexhaustible dream. I feel a heavenly 
 weariness within me. The pilgrimage to the holy 
 sepulchre seemed far and exhausting, and the 
 cross was becoming oppressive. The crystal rill 
 which, unperceived by the common sense, drips 
 in the dark bosom of the hill, breaks forth at its 
 foot in the earthly stream ; and whoever has 
 tasted it and hath stood on high on the ridge 
 that bounds the world and looked over into the 
 new land, into the abode of Night : he surely ic- 
 turns no more to the bustle and toil of the world, 
 or to the land where light dwells in eternal 
 unrest. 
 
 High up he builds himself his tabernacles — 
 tabernacles of peace — and longs and loves and 
 looks away till the most perfect of all hours draws 
 
10 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 him to the fountain of the stream. The earthly 
 swims up again borne back by the storm ; but 
 what had become sacred from the contact of love, 
 dissolves, and flows through secret channels to 
 the region beyond, where like subtle odours, it 
 mingles with the loved ones in their sleep. Once 
 more dost thou, cheerful Light, awaken the weary 
 to toil, and breathe in me glad life again ; yet 
 thou wilt not allure me away from memory and 
 its mossy gravestone. Gladly will I touch the 
 diligent hands, and look around wherever thou 
 needest me ; I will laud the full magnificence of 
 thy splendour ; unwearied I will pursue the beauti- 
 ful connections of thy artful work. Gladly will 
 I contemplate the mystic march of thy powerful 
 gleaming recorder of time, and I will explore the 
 equilibrium of the universal forces, and the rules 
 of the wondrous play of numberless spaces and 
 their times. Yet my secret heart remains faith- 
 ful to Night, and to her daughter creative Love. 
 Canst thou show me a heart that is for ever true? 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT " 
 
 tliy sun friendly eyes that can know me1 
 
 Do thy stars grasp my longing hand ? Do they 
 press me tenderly and give me a fondling word in 
 return ? Hast thou adorned them with colours 
 and delicate outline, or was it she who gave a 
 higher and dearer meaning to thy charms? What 
 pleasure, what joy does thy life otler to outweigh 
 the raptures of Death 1 Does not everything that 
 inspires us wear the colour of Night? It is she 
 who bears thee in a motherly arm, and to her all 
 thy glory is due. Thou wouldst vanish in thy- 
 self, thou wouldst perish in endless space, did she 
 not hold thee, did she not hind thee so that thou 
 mightest become warm and, flaming forth, produce 
 the world. Verily T was before thou wert : the 
 Mother of all sent me with my companions to 
 inhabit thy world and to sanctify it with love, 
 so that it might become a monument to oe eter- 
 nally beheld j she hath sent us to plant it with 
 unfading flowers. As yei they haw ripened not, 
 these divine thoughts; the traces of our revelation 
 
12 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 are still but few. The shadow on thy dial will 
 yet show the end of time when thou shalt become 
 like one of us : and when full of longing and 
 fervour, thou shalt be quenched and die. Within 
 me I feel the end of thy activity : I feel heavenly 
 freedom, blissful return. In wild pangs I recog- 
 nise thy distance from our home, thy antagonism 
 to the old glorious heaven. Thy raging and 
 thy tossing is in vain. "[Inconsumable stands the 
 Cross, the banner of the victory of our race. 
 
 My heart is swelling, 
 
 And every pain 
 Feels now indwelling 
 
 Joy's pulse again ; 
 A short time flying, 
 
 Then free I'll rest, 
 In rapture lying 
 
 On Love's own breast ; 
 
 
HYMNS TO mCiUT 13 
 
 An infinite living 
 
 Wakes mighty in nie, 
 I'm looking and giving 
 
 Myself down to thee. 
 On yon earth upheaved 
 
 Thy splendours fade, 
 The garland they weaved 
 
 Gives cooling shade. 
 
 come, my Beloved, 
 
 And clasp me with might, 
 That I with love soothed 
 May slumber the night. 
 
 1 feel in hot-fever 
 
 Death's youth-giving flood 
 To balsam and ether 
 
 Transformed is my blood. 
 
14 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 With heart full of faith new, 
 I live while days flow ; 
 
 And die all the night through, 
 In holier glow. 
 
 Over the far scattered races of men there ruled 
 from of yore an iron fate with dumb power. A 
 dark, heavy bond lay upon their anxious souls. 
 Infinite was the earth : it was the abode of the 
 gods and their home. From eternities its my- 
 sterious structure had stood. Over the crimson 
 hills of the morning, in the sacred bosom of the, 
 sea, dwelt the sun, the all-kindling, living light. 
 An old giant bore up the world of the blessed. 
 Fast immured under mountains lay the primeval 
 sons of Mother-earth, powerless in their destruc- 
 tive rage against the new glorious race of gods 
 and their kin, gladsome men. The dim green 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT J 5 
 
 depth of the sea was the bosom of a goddess. In 
 the crystal grottos there revelled a wanton brood. 
 Rivers, trees, flowers, and boasts had human sense. 
 Sweeter tasted the wine when it was poured by 
 the visible fulness of youth. There was a god in 
 the grapes ; and a loving motherly goddess grew 
 forth to the day in the full golden sheaves. Love's 
 holy rapture was a sweet service of the fairest 
 of the goddesses. An eternally varied festival of 
 the children of heaven and the dwellers of earth, 
 intoxicated life through the centuries like a spring- 
 fcide. All the generations in child-like simplicity, 
 worshipped the tender thousand-formed flame as 
 what was highest in the world. Only there was 
 one thought, one terrible vision : — 
 
 And its dread form amid gay revels showing, 
 Would sudden fill their souls with horror wild ; 
 
 Nor means had all die gods within their knowing, 
 To still www's anxious breasts with comfort mild ; 
 
16 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 Mysterious ill the spectre aye went sowing j 
 
 Nor prayer subdued his rage, nor gift beguiled ; 
 For it was Death who all their merry cheers 
 Suppressed with pain and anguish and hot tears. 
 
 And parted then from everything for ever 
 That stirred the heart in sweetest joy below ; 
 
 From those beloved the most, compelled to sever, 
 Whose life was but vain yearning and long 
 woe; 
 
 And to the dead the dull dream ending never, 
 Seemed but a feebler striving when laid low ; 
 
 A wave all shattered was enjoyment fair, 
 
 Upon the rock of infinite despair. 
 
 With souls emboldened and high glowing breast, 
 Man sought to beautify the mask of dying; 
 
 And gentle youths put out the light and rest, 
 Their end as gentle as a harp's low sighing; 
 
HV.MNs TO NIGHT i7 
 
 1 And memory melts 'mong shady waves' cool 
 crests,' 
 So ran the song, their sad behoof belying ; 
 For all unfathomed was the eternal Night, 
 The awful symbol of a far-off Might. 
 
 At length the old world was verging to its end 
 The pleasure garden of the young race withered, 
 and the unchild-like, growing men strove upwards 
 towards the waste realm of space. The gods van- 
 ished with their train. Nature then stood solitary 
 and lifeless. In iron chains she bound dry number 
 and rigid measure. The boundless blossomings of 
 life fell down into dim words, as into dust and va- 
 pours. Fled was conjuring faith and phantasy, 
 the all-transforming, all-wedding heavenly com- 
 panion. A cold north wind blew unfriendly over 
 the stiffened plains, and the home of wonder fled 
 chilled into the ether. The far spaces of the 
 heavens became filled with gleaming worlds. Into 
 
1 8 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 the deeper sanctuary, into the higher region of 
 spirit, entered the soul of the world with its 
 powers, there to rule till the inbreak of the abid- 
 ing glory of the world. The light was no more the 
 abode of the gods and a heavenly sign; and around 
 about them, they threw the veil of night. Night 
 became the mighty bosom of revelations ; into it 
 the gods returned j and they sank into sleep that 
 they might march forth again in new and more 
 glorious forms over the changed world. Among 
 the people which was despised by all, which was 
 too early ripe, and which had become proudly 
 estranged from the blessed innocence of youth, 
 the new world appeared with a face unseen before. 
 In the poverty and poetry of a lowly dwelling, 
 appeared a son of the first virgin and mother: the 
 infinite offspring of mysterious embrace. The 
 deep divining fertile wisdom of the East first re- 
 cognised the beginning of the new time, and a star 
 showed it the way to the humble cradle of the 
 King. In the name of the far future they paid 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 19 
 
 their homage to Him with splendour and odours, 
 the highest wonders of nature. The heavenly 
 heart unfolded itself in solitude, into a blossom of 
 almighty Love, turned towards the high counte- 
 nance of the Father and resting on the blissfully 
 presentient bosom of the lovely earnest mother. 
 With divining fervour the prophetic eye of the 
 growing Child gazed upon the days of the future, 
 in harmony with His loved ones, the offshoots of 
 His divine race, unconcerned about the earthly 
 fate of His days. Soon the most child-like souls 
 gathered around Him wondrously held by the in- 
 ward power of love. A new strange life sprang 
 up like flowers in His surroundings. Inexhaustible 
 words and the gladdest of tidings fell, like the 
 sparks of a divine spirit, from His friendly lips. 
 From a far coast — born under the cheerful sky of 
 Hellas — a poet came to Palestine and poured forth 
 his whole heart to the marvellous Child : — 
 
20 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 Thou art the Youth who all these years hath 
 stood, 
 In thought inclined o'er graves of mortals sinning : 
 
 A sign of comfort in dark solitude, 
 And of a higher manhood's glad beginning ; 
 
 And what did sink us in our saddest mood, 
 Now draws us sweetly forth to higher winning ; 
 
 In death the eternal Life is shewn forth plain, 
 
 Thou art the Death that makes us whole again. 
 
 The poet full of joyfulness passed to India. 
 His heart was intoxicated by sweet love, and he 
 poured it forth in fiery hymns under that mild 
 sky, so that thousands of hearts bent to him, and 
 the glad tidings took root and shot forth a 
 thousand branches. Soon after the poet's depar- 
 ture, the precious Life became the victim of deep 
 human depravity and was sacrificed. He died 
 young in years, torn away from the world He 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 21 
 
 loved, from His weeping mother and His tremb- 
 ling friends. Those loved lips drained the dark 
 cup of unutterable sufferings. In terrible anguish, 
 the hour of the birth of the new world drew near. 
 He struggled hard with the terrors of old death, 
 and the burdens of the old world lay heavy upon 
 Him. Yet again He looked with a kindly glance 
 to His mother, and then the loosening hand of 
 Eternal Love came, and He slept. For a few days 
 there hung a deep veil over the foaming sea, and 
 over the quaking land. The beloved ones wept 
 countless tears. The mystery was unsealed ; and 
 heavenly spirits rolled the old, old stone from 
 the dark grave. Angels sat by Him as He slept, 
 shaped in tender forms from His dreams. 
 Awakened in new Divine glory, He ascended the 
 heights of the new-born world. With His own 
 hand He buried the old body in the tomb He had 
 left; and then His Almighty Hand laid upon 
 it the stone which no power shall ever remove. 
 Thy dear ones still weep tears of joy, tear, of 
 
2 2 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 affection and of infinite gratitude, by Thy grave. 
 Ever and ever again, joyously terrified, they see 
 Thee rise from the dead, and see themselves with 
 Thee. They see Thee weeping with a sweet 
 fervour on the blessed bosom of Thy mother ; 
 they see Thee walk in earnest speech with Thy 
 friends ; and they hear Thee speaking words that 
 seem as if they had been broken from the tree of 
 life. They see Thee hasten with fullest longing 
 into the Father's arms, bringing with Thee the 
 young humanity and the inexhaustible cup of the 
 golden future. Soon Thy mother hasted after 
 Thee in heavenly triumph ; she was the first to 
 be with Thee in the new home. Long ages have 
 flown since then, and in ever higher splendour 
 Thy new creation has unfolded itself. Thousands 
 have gone from pain and torture to Thee, full 
 of faith and longing and faithfulness ; and with 
 Thee and the heavenly Virgin, they roam in the 
 kingdom of love. They serve in the Temple of 
 heavenly death ; and they are Thine for evermore. 
 
HYMN'S TO NIGHT 2 3 
 
 The stone is rolled away, 
 
 Humanity is risen ; 
 We all are Thine for aye, 
 
 Now freed from bonds of prison ; 
 The bitterest sorrow flees 
 
 Before Thy chalice golden ;" 
 And life and earth find peace, 
 
 In Thy Last Supper holden. 
 
 Death sounds his bridal call ; 
 
 The lamps are brightly flaring 
 The virgins stand preparing, 
 
 With oil in full for all ; 
 Now on the ear comes falling 
 
 The far march of Thy train ; 
 And all the stars are calling, 
 
 With human tongues again. 
 
2 4 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 To Thee, O Virgin, rising, 
 
 A thousand hearts foreknown 
 This shadowy life despising, 
 
 Have longed for Thee alone. 
 They hope for gracious healing, 
 
 With joy now fully guessed ; 
 If Thou, with holy feeling, 
 
 Wilt press them to Thy breast. 
 
 And many once consuming, 
 
 Life's strength in bitter dole, 
 From all the world's presuming, 
 
 To Thee have turned the soul. 
 And they to us appearing, 
 
 With help in pain and care, 
 Have drawn us upward, Hearing 
 
 The eternal world that's there. 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 2 5 
 
 Now weep in pain no longer, 
 
 O'er any grave l>eloved ; 
 By loving Faith made stronger, 
 
 And Love ne'er to be moved ; 
 This gift no robber taking, 
 
 Shall mar Night's soothing charm ; 
 
 And Heaven's own Angels waking, 
 
 Shall guard the heart from harm. 
 
 O joy, that Life is hasting 
 
 To endless life above ; 
 Now larger longings tasting, 
 
 With sense transformed in love. 
 The starry world melts flowing 
 
 Into life's golden wine, 
 To feed our souls aglowing, 
 
 Till we as starlight shine. 
 
26 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 And Love is freely given ; 
 
 Nor is there parting more ; 
 The full life rolls in Heavn, 
 
 A sea without a shore ! 
 One night of bliss unending ; 
 
 One everlasting Hymn ! 
 While God's face o'er us bending 
 
 Shines sunlike, never dim. 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 2 7 
 
 VI. 
 
 LONGING FOR DEATH. 
 
 Down into Earth's dark bosom, down ! 
 
 From realms of Light departing ; 
 The sting of pain, wild tortured frown, 
 
 Are signs of happy starting ; 
 The narrow boat will bear us o'er, 
 Swift to the further heavenly shore. 
 
 Eternal Night ! then praised be thou ! 
 
 Be praised, eternal Slumber ; 
 The day has made us warm ; pale now 
 
 Press cares we cannot number ; 
 No more 'tis joy abroad to roam, 
 We rise to seek the Father's home. 
 
28 HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 What seek we in this world below, 
 
 With all our care and duty ? 
 The old is worthless, let it go ! 
 
 How shall the new bring beauty % 
 O sad, forlorn, and out of time, 
 Who warmly love the golden Prime. 
 
 The golden Prime, when senses light, 
 In upward flames were glowing; 
 
 When men the Father's hand and sight 
 Felt, His own presence knowing j 
 
 When high and simple thought was rife, 
 
 And time showed forth the perfect life. 
 
 The golden Prime, when blossom'cl full 
 
 The primal races nourished ; 
 And children tried in Death's pained school, 
 
 The Heavenly vision cherished j 
 And though Life joyous accents spake, 
 Yet many a heart for love would break. 
 
HYMNS TO NIGHT 29 
 
 The golden Prime, when glowing young, 
 
 God came Himself revealing ; 
 In sweet love-life went men among, 
 
 And died young for their healing ; 
 Nor drove he pain and grief away, 
 That He might dearer with us stay. 
 
 Restless, the golden Prime we see 
 In Night's dark shade enveloped ; 
 
 Nor stilled our burning thirst will be 
 By all in time developed ; 
 
 But we to home must also go, 
 
 To see that holy Season's flow. 
 
 What still keeps back our late return? 
 
 The dear ones long are waiting ; 
 Their graves shut in life's utmost bourne, 
 
 And all is sad and satins: ; 
 Naught's left for us to seek again ; 
 The heart is worn, the world is vain. 
 
3° HYMNS TO NIGHT 
 
 The Infinite, the Mystery, 
 
 Streams through us sweetly thrilling ; 
 As if there came from far on high, 
 
 Our grief's own echo, stilling ; 
 The loved ones surely longing too, 
 Have sighed and yearned for us anew. 
 
 Down to the soul's own sweetest Bride, 
 
 To Jesus, the Beloved ! 
 Rejoice ! the evening glimmers wide, 
 
 To hearts by sorrow proved ; 
 A dream breaks all our bonds apart, 
 And sinks us in the Father's heart ! 
 
Spiritual Songs. 
 
' As a Poet, Novalis is no less Idealistic than as a Philo- 
 sopher. His poems are breathings of a high, devout soul, 
 feeling always that here he has no home, but looking, as in 
 clear vision, to a "city that hath foundations." He loves 
 External Nature with a singular depth ; nay, we might say, 
 he reverences her, and holds unspeakable communings with 
 her : for Nature is no longer dead, hostile Matter, but the 
 veil and mysterious Garment of the. Unseen ; as it were, the 
 Voice with which the Deity proclaims Himself to man. 
 These two qualities —his pure religious temper, and heart-felt 
 love of Nature — bring him into true poetic relation both with 
 the Spiritual and the Material World, and perhaps constitute 
 his chief worth as a Poet.' — Carlyle. 
 
 'We know the pathos of the lyrical poetry of Novalis 
 already from the Hymns to Night. The inspiration of pain 
 which predominates in these Hymns, is separated only by a 
 transient boundary from the feeling of sympathy, from the 
 religious joy, the blessed peace, and the infinite consolation, 
 which forms the ground-tone of the Spiritual Songs.' — Hatm. 
 
 1 Novalis is the type of a modern religious Poet, and even 
 of a Christian life that will only attain its full realisation in 
 the future.'— Rothe. 
 
Spirit xtctC Scmgs 
 
 Where, world's Consoler, stay'st Thou still 1 
 Long waits the room which Thou must fill. 
 All things desireful watch for Thee, 
 All yearning for Thy blessing free. 
 
 O Father, send Him forth with power ; 
 Give from Thy hand this richest dower ; 
 But pureness, love and shame divine 
 Have long kept back this Child of Thine. 
 
34 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 lay Him now into our arm, 
 Still from Thy heavenly breathing warm ; 
 In dim clouds softly gather'd round, 
 Now let Him here below be found. 
 
 In cooling streams, or sparkling dew, 
 Or flaming fire, let Him burst through ; 
 In light and dew, in sound and breeze, 
 Shed through Earth's frame its great release. 
 
 So shall the sacred light be fought ; 
 
 So shall Hell's rage be brought to nought ; 
 
 So shall, as flowers eternal burn, 
 
 The long lost Paradise return. 
 
 The Earth bestirred buds green again ; 
 The Spirit strong makes all things strain 
 The welcome Saviour to receive, 
 While all hearts bowed to Him believe. 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 35 
 
 The winter vanes ; ;i new year nigh 
 Stands by his crib, an Altar High ; 
 It is the whole world's first New Year, 
 That with this Child doth now appear. 
 
 Dim eyes behold the Saviour true, 
 The Saviour lights those eyes anew ; 
 His head the fairest flowers adorn, 
 From which He shines like smiling morn. 
 
 He is the Star ; He is the Sun ; 
 The Fount whence streams eternal run ; 
 From herb and stone and sea and light, 
 Shines forth His radiant vision bright. 
 
 Through all things gleams His infant play ; 
 Such warm young love will ne'er decay ; 
 He twines Himself, unconscious, blest. 
 With Infinite power, to every breast. 
 
36 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 A God for us : Himself a child, 
 Whose heart loves all, divinely mild, 
 Becomes our food, our drink, our dress ; 
 His dearest thanks our faithfulness. 
 
 Earth's misery groweth more and more, 
 And gloomy griefs oppress us sore ; 
 O Father, let Thy loved One go, 
 And see Him live with us below ! 
 
8PIRITUAL SONGS 37 
 
 II. 
 
 Far in East the dawn is glowing, 
 Gray old times becoming young; 
 
 From Light's radiant fountain flowing, 
 Streaks of glory bright are flung : 
 
 Ancient yearnings, holy adumbration, 
 
 Finding Love's divine transfiguration. 
 
 Down at last to Earth descending, 
 
 Comes Heav'n's own all-blessed Child ; 
 
 Breezes blown from pure skies bending, 
 Breathe round Earth a music mild : 
 
 Breathing fan to new eternal splendour 
 
 Life's long hidden spark in brighter wonder 
 
3 s SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 From deep vaults illumined never, 
 
 Springs new Life in leaf and bud ; 
 Since He, bringing peace for ever, 
 
 Plunged into Life's foaming flood ; 
 Now His hands are stretch'd forth full and pressing, 
 Lovingly to all who ask His blessing. 
 
 Let His glances, mild and gracious, 
 
 Deeply sink into thy soul ; 
 And His joy, eternal, precious, 
 
 Over thee shall ever roll': 
 All hearts and thoughts, with all their sense and 
 
 willing, 
 Shall then begin to joy in Life's fulfilling. 
 
 Boldly seize those hands appealing, 
 
 By His radiant face be won ; 
 Turn to Him with all thy feeling, 
 
 Like the flower toward the sun ; 
 If but to Him thou turn'st, thy whole heart showing, 
 He'll prove thy faithful bride, His Heart bestowing. 
 
SPIRITUAL S0NO8 39 
 
 New Power divine to us is given, 
 
 Godhead which us oft dismayed 
 From south to north, the germs of Heaven 
 
 Divinely waked, are full display'd ; 
 So let us now in God's own garden growing, 
 Wait faithful till each bud's eternal blowing. 
 
40 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 III. 
 
 If only I have Him, 
 If He is but mine, 
 If on even to the grave's dark brim, 
 
 My heart's faith I ne'er resign ; 
 Naught I'll know of sadness, 
 Feeling only worship, love and gladness. 
 
 If only I have Him, 
 
 I'll all else let go ; 
 Following the pilgrim's pathway dim, 
 
 I my Lord alone will know ; 
 I'll leave all others still, 
 To tread the broad, full, garish road at will. 
 
SPIRITUAL soNGS 4* 
 
 If only I have Him, 
 
 Glad I'll fall asleep ; 
 And like a sweet eternal hymn, 
 
 Still His Love shall o'er me sweep ; 
 And with soft compelling, 
 Shall my soothed soul be made Love's dwelling. 
 
 If only I have Him, 
 
 The world too I gain ; 
 Blest as the gladsome hands that trim, 
 
 And that hold the bridal train ; 
 While new glories brighten, 
 No earth's terrors now my soul can frighten. 
 
 If only I have Him, 
 
 He's my fatherland ; 
 And every gift with golden rim, 
 
 Comes bright gleaming, free to hand ; 
 Friends lost and lov'd so fain, 
 In His own followers I find again. 
 
42 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 IV. 
 
 Weeping, now for ever weeping, 
 I must live my sorrow keeping ; 
 
 Oh that He would yet appear ! 
 Shall thus ever holy sadness, 
 Pain and grief, destroy all gladness 1 
 
 Come, then, Death and dry my tear. 
 
 Ever still I see Him dying, 
 
 Always watch Him suffering, sighing, 
 
 Ah ! this heart will also break ! 
 These eyes are still the world beholding, 
 Yet their tears no measure holding, 
 
 Dim all joy for 1 1 is dear sake. 
 
SPIRITUAL 80NGS 43 
 
 Are not all hearts sorrow-broken'? 
 Shall His name no more be spoken 1 
 
 Is the world's whole being fled ? 
 Him are my eyes no more perceiving, 
 No life and love from Him receiving"? 
 
 Is He now for ever dead 1 
 
 Dead 1 Is this the hope of ages 1 
 O come, tell me now, ye sages, 
 
 Tell me what it all can mean'? 
 He is dumb, — and no replying 
 Comes on earth to all my crying, 
 
 No one tells where He is seen. 
 
 Him I can no more discover ; 
 Ne'er my heart shall joy recover ; 
 
 All is now a gloomy dream ; 
 My spirit died with Him when dying; 
 Would that I were with Him lying, 
 
 Peaceful, where no day-stars gleam. 
 
44 SPIRITUAL SOXGS 
 
 Thou, of Him and me the Father, 
 Let Thy hand to Him now gather 
 
 Our remains in one sad tomb ; 
 Soon shall grass be o'er us waving, 
 Soon the wind be o'er us raving, 
 
 And decay our forms consume. 
 
 If they knew His love's excelling, 
 All men would of Christ be telling, 
 
 And all else they would let go ; 
 All would feel that love supremest, 
 Weep with me till life's extremest, 
 
 And would sink in bitter woe. 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 45 
 
 V. 
 
 The heart is sad and troubled ; 
 
 The times are full of dread ; 
 In distant shadows doubled, 
 
 Dim spectres gather head. 
 
 Wild terrors slowly creeping, 
 Their horrid shapes unroll ; 
 
 Black nights that scare all sleeping, 
 Oppress the burdened soul. 
 
 All sure supports all falling ; 
 
 Nor finds life trust or stay ; 
 Mad whirling thoughts appalling, 
 
 No more the will obey. 
 
46 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 And frenzy's stare resistless, 
 Bids every voice be dumb ; 
 
 The pulse of life sinks listless, 
 And every sense is numb. 
 
 Who has that cross upraised, 
 To comfort every heart % 
 
 Who dwells in Heaven, all-praised, 
 To help our grief and smart 1 
 
 Go to that sign of wonder ; 
 
 Nor vain your yearning deem ; 
 Its light the clouds will sunder, 
 
 And scare that troubled dream. 
 
 An Angel-form descending, 
 Holds forth a saving hand ; 
 
 Now in full joyance bending, 
 Thou see'st the Promised Land. 
 
SPIRITUAL BONGS 47 
 
 VI. 
 
 To all I tell that still He lives, 
 
 And now is risen again ; 
 He in our midst His presence gives, 
 
 And with us will remain. 
 
 I tell't to every one, who tells 
 
 It to his friends anew, 
 That in our midst for ever dwells 
 
 The Heavenly Kingdom true. 
 
 And now the world to sense renew'd, 
 
 Appears our Fatherland ; 
 Each soul a new life takes, imbued 
 
 With rapture, from His hand 
 
4^ SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 And clown into the salt sea now, 
 Hath sunk Death's form of fear ; 
 
 And all with calm unclouded brow, 
 May watch life's close draw near. 
 
 The darksome way which He hath trod, 
 Leads up to Heaven's own gate ; 
 
 All reach the Father's blest abode, 
 Who on His counsel wait. 
 
 Now weep no more in sorrow here, 
 When some loved eyelids close ; 
 
 Reunion in the higher sphere, 
 Will sweeten all life's woes. 
 
 And now for every noble deed, 
 Each heart may freshly glow ; 
 
 For gloriously such living seed, 
 In fairer fields will grow. 
 
SPIRITUAL BONG8 49 
 
 He lives, and now with us will stay, 
 
 Though others all forsake ; 
 And so to us this Easter day 
 
 The world anew doth make 
 
5° SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 VII. 
 
 I know not what would still be wanting, 
 Did I possess His love divine ; 
 
 If He to me this joy were granting, 
 That I were His and He were mine. 
 
 I see so many wandering vainly, 
 
 Who search with wild distorted face ; 
 
 Themselves the prudent deem, yet plainly 
 Of life's true treasure find no trace. 
 
 One dreams he seized it ; naught availeth j 
 For all he grasps is only gold ; 
 
 Another round the whole world saileth, 
 His fame but breath when all is told 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 5 1 
 
 And this one seeks a wreath of laurel, 
 Another would be victor crown'd ; 
 
 Each one pursues an empty bauble, 
 Mere glittering nothings only found. 
 
 Has He not brought the love expected 1 
 
 Have ye forgot who died for you 1 
 Who gave His life, despised, rejected, 
 
 By bitter sorrow proved true 1 
 
 Have ye then naught of Him been reading 1 
 Nor yet a word of Him have learned ? 
 
 His heavenly life, His holy pleading, 
 And all the good for us He earned 1 
 
 How He came down, Heaven's own best token, 
 
 The fairest mother's lofty child ? 
 What words of truth by Him were spoken, 
 
 How many felt His healing mild? 
 
5 2 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 How He, such love in Him abounding, 
 
 Gave all Himself for us away? 
 And laid Him down in earth, thus founding 
 
 God's Holy City, once for aye ? 
 
 Are not these words glad tidings bringing ? 
 
 Is such a One not good and true 1 
 Are not ye all doors open flinging, 
 
 For Him who trod the abyss for you 1 
 
 And do ye not give up all, willing, 
 Glad to renounce each wish beside ; 
 
 Your hearts with all His dear love filling ; 
 If His own grace within abide 1 
 
 O take Thou me, Thou Lord of blessing, 
 Thou art my life, my world, my all ; 
 
 Though naught of this wide earth possessing, 
 I know thou'lt save whate'er befall. 
 
SPIRITUAL 80S 53 
 
 The lost Thy love restores unending, 
 
 Faithful to all Eternity ; 
 The heavens worship rapt and bending, 
 
 And yet Thou dwell'st in love with me. 
 
54 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 VIII. 
 
 If all were faithless proving, 
 
 Yet faithful I'll remain ; 
 That gratitude unmoving, 
 
 Ne'er die on earth again ; 
 For me those nails were driven, 
 
 In pain Thou died'st for me ; 
 And so with joy I've given 
 
 My heart for aye to Thee. 
 
 Oft I go bitter weeping, 
 
 That Thou in pain hast died ; 
 While those Thou lov'dst are sleeping, 
 
 Nor have Thy love descried ; 
 Thy love alone constraining, 
 
 Thy great work Thou hast done ; 
 No fame wcrt Thou here gaining, 
 
 Yet no one thinks thereon. 
 
SPIRITUAL son.,- 55 
 
 Thou stand'st with love o'erflowing, 
 
 Still faithful each one near ; 
 Thy faithfulness still showing, 
 
 Though faithless all appear ; 
 Yet faithful love victorious, 
 
 At last is felt by all ; 
 And at Thy feet more glorious, 
 
 Shall sin's sad children fall. 
 
 And now that I have found Thee, 
 
 leave me not again ; 
 Let all the love that bound me 
 
 To Thee, for aye remain ; 
 And yet may all high thinking 
 
 Look heavenward for its rest, 
 Men, brothers, in love sinking, 
 
 And falling on Thy breast. 
 
56 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 IX. 
 
 Of the thousand hours of gladness, 
 Which I found amid life's sadness, 
 
 One doth still supreme abide ; 
 One 'mid thousand sorrows glowing, 
 Taught my heart its highest knowing 
 
 Who for us hath lived and died. 
 
 All my world was broken lying ; 
 As from gnawing canker dying, 
 
 Heart and blossom pined away ; 
 All my life's possessions cherished 
 Every wish in dust had perished, 
 
 But to torture came the day. 
 
SPIRITUAL SON 57 
 
 As I thus in silence sicken'd, 
 
 Long'd for death as sorrows thicken'd, 
 
 And but stay'd from frantic fear ; 
 Then on sudden as from Heaven, 
 The stone from off the grave was riven, 
 
 And all within was bright and clear. 
 
 Whom I saw, and whom beholden 
 By His side in vision golden, 
 
 Ask not : for it still I see ; 
 But of all life's hours of joyance, 
 That hour shall from all destroyance, 
 
 Ever fair and open be. 
 
58 
 
 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 X. 
 
 Who in his chamber, sad and lonely, 
 Sits pouring forth the bitter tear : 
 
 To whom when life brings sorrow only, 
 All things around bedimmed appear ; 
 
 Who back through forms of vanished pleasure, 
 As down a deep abyss doth gaze, 
 
 Down which a sadness without measure 
 Draws him with sweet and strange amaze : 
 
 It is as if vast riches, wondrous, 
 
 Lay heaped and locked for him below, 
 
 And he did grasp their old key pond'rous, 
 With breathless breast and all aglow. 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 59 
 
 The future lies before him dreary, 
 
 A slow .and horror-waking form ; 
 He roams around alone and weary, 
 
 And seeks himself through inward storm. 
 
 I fall into his arms bewailing, 
 
 And say, * Such heart as thine was mine ;' 
 But I was heal'd from all my ailing, 
 
 And now know where is rest Divine. 
 
 Thou too must find the world's Consoler, 
 Who deepest loved and bore and died ; 
 
 Who died with joy, Death's great Controller, 
 For those who ev'n His love deride. 
 
 He died ; yet with each day's appearing, 
 
 His love and He arise anew ; 
 And everywhere canst thou Him near 
 
 Kind comfort in His arms so true. 
 
60 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 From Him will come new blood and living, 
 New breath be breath'd in thy dead frame ; 
 
 And if thy heart to Him thou'rt giving, 
 His will be thine and aye the same. 
 
 What thou hast lost, He lias been finding, 
 With Him are all whom thou didst love ; 
 
 His hand for ever will be binding, 
 Thee and the loved ones found above 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 XL 
 
 61 
 
 what would I have been without Thee 1 ? 
 
 What without Thee would I be not 1 ? 
 Dark fear and anguish were about me, 
 
 Alone in this wide world, my lot. 
 No certain love had I been proving, 
 
 The future, an abyss concealed; 
 When sorrows deep my heart were moving, 
 
 To whom had I my care revealed 1 
 
 Alone, consumed by love and longing, 
 
 Each day appear'd as dark as night ; 
 And, though hot tears were ever thronging, 
 
 I rushed along life's wilder'd flight ; 
 By unrest through the turmoil driven, 
 
 I felt a hopeless grief within ; 
 Who could without a friend in Heav'n, 
 
 On earth a sure stay ever win? 
 
62 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 But now has Christ, Himself revealing, 
 
 Become to me the Truth, the Way ; 
 The Light of Life, past all concealing, 
 
 Drives boundless darkness quick away ; 
 With Him is manhood crowned by duty, 
 
 And fate through Him doth glorious show ; 
 Ev'n in the north all India's beauty, 
 
 Must round this lov'd One joyous blow. 
 
 Life now is filled with love o'erflowing, 
 
 The whole world speaks of love and rest ; 
 Now leaves to heal all wounds are growing, 
 
 And free and full beats every breast. 
 For all his thousand gifts so precious, 
 
 His humble child, I hold Him dear ; 
 And in our midst He comes most gracious, 
 
 Where two or three are gather'd here. 
 

 
 
64 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 Within the heart where life should brighten, 
 
 An evil spirit dwelt and reigned ; 
 If truths betimes the soul did lighten, 
 
 But more unrest was all it gained ; 
 An iron hand in earth's dark prison, 
 
 Held fast the soul in dread of doom ; 
 And Death's drawn sword in fearful vision, 
 
 Did what remained of hope consume. 
 
 Then came a Saviour to deliver, 
 
 The Son of Man with love and power ; 
 He lit within the fire that never 
 
 Will cease to glow till life's last hour ; 
 And now we see the open'd Heaven, 
 
 Eternal home for our abode ; 
 And to us faith and hope are given, 
 
 That we may feel akin with God. 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 65 
 
 Now conquer'cl Sin hath lost his terror, 
 
 And joyous every step is now j 
 And this pure faith to guard from error, 
 
 We wreathe around the children's brow. 
 And by it life new consecrated, 
 
 Now flows on like a blessed dream ; 
 And by eternal love elated, 
 
 The glad farewell no death doth seem. 
 
 And still in wondrous glory living, 
 The Holy Saviour standeth near ; 
 
 His crown of thorns, His faithful giving, 
 Still draw from us affection's tear. 
 
 Then welcome all whose sins are wipen, 
 Who seize His hand, His goodness prize ; 
 
 They, in His heart received, shall ripen 
 
 To golden fruit of Paradise. 
 
 E 
 
66 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 XII. 
 
 When our heart dismayed and troubled, 
 
 All but sinks in dark despair ; 
 When by sudden sickness doubled, 
 
 Gnaws within us poignant care ; 
 When we see our loved ones languish, 
 
 Pain and grief their life consume, 
 Clouds darken round us in our anguish 
 
 Which no rays of hope illume. 
 
 Oh ! then God bends down from Heaven, 
 
 All His love comes near again ; 
 And as we long that good be given, 
 
 By us stands His Angel plain ; 
 Brings the cup of life's refreshing, 
 
 Whispers comfort, courage new ; 
 And we pray, not vainly, wishing 
 
 Rest for our dear loved ones too. 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS 67 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A DITHYRAMBIC HYMN. 
 
 Few are there who know 
 
 The Mystery of loving, 
 
 Who feel insatiableness 
 
 And eternal thirst. 
 
 The Eucharist 
 
 Has Divine significance, 
 
 But to earthly senses all an enigma. 
 
 Yet who once ever 
 
 From clear lips warm and beloved, 
 
 Hath drawn life's own breathing : 
 
 Who hath felt heart-glow 
 
 Of holy feeling in trembling thrills ; 
 
 Who hath opened his eyes 
 
 To measure the heavens' 
 
 Unfathomable depths above, 
 
 ►Such one will eat of His body, 
 
68 SPIRITUAL SONGS 
 
 And will drink of His blood likewise, 
 
 Evermore. 
 
 Who has yet found the high meaning 
 
 Of the earthly body ? 
 
 Who can yet say 
 
 He understands the blood ? 
 
 All body is one ; 
 
 But one 
 
 In the blood heavenly, 
 
 Swims the most blessed pair. 
 
 that the world-sea 
 
 Were reddening now, 
 
 And into fragrant flesh, 
 
 Would burst forth the rock ! 
 
 Ne'er endeth the meal so sweet, 
 
 Never is love satiated ; 
 
 Ne'er inward nor its own enough, 
 
 Can it possess the Beloved. 
 
 By lips that are aye tenderer, 
 
SPIRITUAL SONGS °9 
 
 Becomes transformed what is enjoyed, 
 
 More inwardly and closely. 
 
 Warmer the pleasure 
 
 That thrills the soul through ; 
 
 Thirstier and hungrier 
 
 Grows the heart : 
 
 And so lasteth love's sweet enjoyment, 
 
 Eternal to eternity. 
 
 If the prudent had once, 
 
 But once tasted it, 
 
 They would leave everything, 
 
 And would sit down with us 
 
 Yearning at the table, 
 
 Which ne'er is drawn. 
 
 They would know then the fulness 
 
 Of infinite loving, 
 
 Would praise the nourishing 
 
 Body and blood. 
 
Ubouobts on IReliQion. 
 
1 Everything is seed-corn. ' — Novalis. 
 
 'Tieck thinks he may be likened to Dante . . . "We 
 should incline rather to call him the German Pascal than 
 the German Dante. Between Pascal and Novalis, a lover 
 such analogies might trace not a few points of resemblance. 
 Both are of the purest, most affectionate moral nature ; both 
 of a high, fine, discursive intellect ; both are mathematicians 
 and naturalists, yet occupy themselves chiefly with Religion 
 nay, the best writings of both are left in the shape of 
 "Thoughts," materials of a grand scheme which each of them, 
 with the views peculiar to his age, had planned for the 
 furtherance of Religion, and which neither of them ived to 
 execute.' — Carlyle. 
 
 'The confessional Ecclesiasticism is approaching its end. 
 Christianity is striving to create for itself a new vestment, 
 and hence arises its apparent want of influence upon the 
 souls of men at this moment. A new phase in the develop- 
 ment of Christianity is in the act of coming ; it is the throes 
 of this birth which the present generations must endure. — 
 Novalis was one of the first Prophets of this new time.' 
 
 Sophie von Harden berg. 
 
 ' Many of his great thoughts will yet, in time coming, lend 
 their inspiration ; and noble minds and deep thinkers will be 
 enlightened and enkindled by the sparks of his genius.' — Tieck. 
 
^(>c>uc$l?ts on "glel'tcjtort. 
 I. 
 
 RELIGION AND THEOLOGY GENERALLY. 
 
 Relicjion embraces in itself the whole sphere of 
 the so-called super-sensible and super-terrestrial. 
 It is partly theoretical, partly practical. 
 
 All absolute feeling is religious. 
 
 Love is the final end of the world's history, the 
 Amen of the universe. 
 
 Absolute Love, independent of the heart and 
 grounded upon faith, is Religion. 
 
74 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Love can pass through absolute will into Re- 
 ligion. We become worthy of the highest being 
 only through death, atoning death. 
 
 All our natural tendencies and desires appear 
 to be nothing but applied Religion. The heart 
 seems to be, as it were, the religious organ. Per- 
 haps the highest product of the productive heart 
 is nothing else than Heaven. Religion arises 
 when the heart, withdrawn from all single real 
 objects, feels and makes itself an ideal object. 
 All individual desires unite into one desire, whose 
 wondrous object is a higher Being, a Deity ; and 
 hence genuine piety embraces all the feelings and 
 tendencies. This natural God eats us, produces 
 us, speaks with us, trains us, lets Himself bo eaten 
 by us, be begotten, and be produced by us, and is 
 the infinite matter of our activity and of our 
 suffering. If we make our beloved one into such 
 a God, this is applied Religion. 
 
THOUGHTS ox RELIGION 75 
 
 God is a mixed conception. It has arisen out 
 of the combination of all the faculties of the soul, 
 by means of a moral Revelation. 
 
 We must think of God as personal, as we think 
 ourselves as personal. God is just as personal 
 and individual as we are ; for our so-called Ego is 
 not our true Ego, but only its reflection. 
 
 It is among men that we must seek God. The 
 Spirit of Heaven reveals itself most clearly in 
 
 human events and feelings. 
 
 All Faith is wonderful and miraculous. God 
 exists in the moment in which I believe in 
 Him. Faith is indirectly miraculous power. 
 Tli rough faith we can perform miracles for our- 
 selves at every moment, and often for others too 
 if they have faith in us. Faith is activity and 
 sensation in another world perceived here below ; 
 
76 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 it is an observed transmimdane act. The genuine 
 Faith refers only to things of another world. 
 Faith is the feeling of an awakening and acting 
 in another world. Will is applied earthly faith. 
 Faith is the perception of realized will. 
 
 If one has God in the heart he does not need to 
 ponder ; for then there is only one great elevating 
 feeling in the soul. Upon the divine face there 
 are no clouds; there is but one splendour, one 
 glory there. The man is other than the child, and 
 to be a man comes from God. 
 
 May there not be a faculty in us which plays 
 the same part here as the environing ether around 
 us, that invisible visible matter, the stone of the 
 philosophers, which is everywhere and nowhere, 
 everything and nothing? We call it instinct or 
 genius. It is everywhere a prior thing ; it is the 
 fulness of the future, the fulness of times generally ; 
 it is in time what the stone of the philosophers is 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 7 7 
 
 in space. Reason, phantasy, understanding, and 
 sense are only its several functions. 
 
 There are many flowers in this world which are 
 of sup^r-terrestrial origin, which do not flourish in 
 this clime, and are properly heralds, summoning 
 messengers, of a better existence. Among these 
 messengers are pre-eminently to be reckoned 
 Religion and Love. The highest happiness is to 
 know one's beloved as good and virtuous ; the 
 highest care is care for such a one's nobleness. 
 Attention to God and needfulness to those 
 moments at which the ray of a heavenly convic- 
 tion and calm breaks into our souls, is the most 
 beneficent experience that we can have for our- 
 selves and those we love. 
 
 To act morally and to act religiously, are united 
 in the most essential way. We ought entirely to 
 aim at inward and outward harmony; to fulfil at 
 once the law and the will of God, and each for its 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 own sake. There is therefore a one-sided moral 
 acting and a one-sided religious acting. 
 
 The more moral we are, so much the more are 
 we in harmony with God ; so much the more 
 divine are we, and so much the more allied with 
 God. It is only through the Moral Sense that 
 God becomes perceivable to us. The Moral Sense 
 is the sense for existence without external modi- 
 fications. It is the sense for alliance, the sense 
 for what is highest, the sense for harmony, the 
 sense for freely chosen, discovered and yet 
 common Life and Being; it is the sense for the 
 thing-in-itself ; it is the genuine sense of divina- 
 tion. To divine is to perceive something without 
 outward occasion of contact. The word 'sense' 
 points, indeed, to immediate external knowledge, 
 contact or mixture ; and it is certainly not quite 
 appropriate here. It is, however, an infinite ex- 
 pression, just as there are infinite magnitudes. 
 The special element can here be expressed only 
 approximately and as our need requires it. This 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 79 
 
 sense is not a sense ; or, in other words, it is a 
 sense in reference to that which is not sensible. 
 
 God and Nature must therefore be separated. 
 God is the goal of Nature, that with which it has 
 yet to harmonise. — The moral God is something 
 much higher than the magical (natural) God. 
 
 For God there is no devil at all ; for us, how- 
 ever, he is unhappily a very active phantom of the 
 brain. 
 
 All that is good in the world is the result of 
 the immediate activity of God. 
 
 God can appear to me in every man. 
 
 As from every genuine citizen the genius of the 
 State shines forth, so in a religious community a 
 
»c THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 personal God reveals Himself, as it were, in a 
 thousand forms. Neither does the State nor God, 
 any more than any spiritual reality, appear single, 
 but rather in a thousand manifold forms. Only 
 pantheistically does God appear all ; and it is only 
 in pantheism that God is all, everywhere in every 
 individual. 
 
 Religion cannot be otherwise proclaimed than as 
 love and patriotism. If anyone is to be made to 
 be in love, how is a beginning properly to be made ? 
 
 If anyone is without sense for Religion, he 
 must yet have something in its place which may 
 be to him what Religion is to others. Hence 
 many controversies may well arise between them, 
 since the objects and senses of both must have 
 much resemblance, and everyone uses the same 
 words for his own objects and yet the two things 
 are entirely different. From this there must arise 
 much confusion. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 8 1 
 
 Can Miracles work conviction 1 or is not true 
 conviction — this highest function of our soul and 
 of our personality — the only true God-proclaiming 
 miracle 1 Every miracle must remain isolated in 
 us, unconnected with the rest of our consciousness, 
 a dream. But an inward moral conviction, a 
 divine intuition : this would be a real abiding 
 miracle. 
 
 The propensity towards the miraculous and the 
 mysterious, is nothing but a striving after a non- 
 sensible spiritual stimulus. 
 
 Miracles, as facts contrary to nature, are anti- 
 mathematical. But there is no miracle in this 
 sense, and what is so called, is just made conceiv- 
 able by mathematics ; for to mathematics nothing 
 is miraculous. 
 
 Miracles stand in a reciprocal relation with the 
 operations of natural laws ; they limit off' each 
 
 F 
 
82 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 other mutually, and together constitute a whole. 
 They are united in that they reciprocally cancel 
 each other. There is no miracle without a 
 natural event, and conversely. Has nature al- 
 ways been conformable to law, and will she always 
 remain conformable to law 1 
 
 All that is mystical is personal, and conse- 
 quently it is an elemental variation of the universe. 
 
 Belief is a mixture of will and the impulse of 
 knowledge. 
 
 A truly devout soul sees God's finger every- 
 where, and gives constant attention to His indica- 
 tions and dispensations. 
 
 Spinoza and others have, with peculiar instinct, 
 sought everything in Theology, and have made 
 Theology the seat of Intelligence. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 83 
 
 Theology as the doctrine of Religion, is scien- 
 tific Poetry. Poetry is among the feelings what 
 Philosophy is in relation to thoughts. 
 
 Among the ancients Religion was already in a 
 certain measure what it has to become with us, 
 namely, practical poesy. 
 
 Reason, soul, earnestness, and science are in- 
 separable from the cause of God. 
 
 The spirit leads an eternal self-demonstration. 
 
 The highest is the most intelligible, the nearest, 
 the most indispensable. Only through acquaint- 
 ance with ourselves and desuetude of ourselves, 
 does there arise for us an inconceivability which 
 
 is inconceivable in itself. 
 
$4 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Love is a product of the interaction of two 
 individuals, and hence it is mystical and universal, 
 and capable of being infinitely developed like the 
 individual principle itself. 
 
 We can of ourselves know nothing ; all genuine 
 knowledge must be given to us. 
 
 Conviction is believed knowledge, and conversely. 
 One conviction arises in the understanding merely, 
 one in the senses, one in the will. A harmonious 
 and unmonotonous coincidence of all three, consti- 
 tutes the perfect conviction. 
 
 Nothing is more attainable to the spirit than the 
 Infinite. 
 
 The more object there is, so much greater is the 
 love to it ; and to an Absolute Object there corre- 
 sponds absolute love. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION $5 
 
 The world depends on faith. Faith and pre- 
 judgment are one. A thing is to me as I accept 
 it. 
 
 We are more closely connected with the in- 
 visible than with the visible. 
 
 As the eye only sees the eye, so does the under- 
 standing only see the understanding, the soul souls, 
 the reason reason, spirit spirits, the imagination 
 only imagination, the senses senses. So God is 
 known only through a God. 
 
 Faith has also degrees. It dispones. The 
 whole world has arisen out of the power of faith. 
 In the will is the ground of the creation. Faith 
 is an effect of the operation of the will upon the 
 intelligence. The power of faith is therefore will : 
 And from the application of this force, the world 
 gradually arises. 
 
86 
 
 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 It is certain that an opinion gains very much as 
 soon as I know that some other one is convinced 
 of it, and really accepts it. 
 
 If our intelligence and our world harmonise, we 
 are like God. 
 
 To the genuinely religious man nothing is sin. 
 
 It is through Religion that men tirst rightly 
 become one. 
 
 What is universal in every moment endures j for 
 it is in the whole. The whole works in every 
 moment, in every manifestation. Humanity, the 
 Eternal, is omnipresent ; for it knows neither 
 space nor time. We are, we live, we think in 
 God ; for this is the personified species. There is 
 no universal or particular to our senses. Canst 
 thou say it is here or there ? It is all ; it is 
 
THOUGHTS ON KELIGIOX &7 
 
 everywhere. In it we live and move and have 
 our being. All that is genuine, all that is per- 
 sonal, all truth lasts for ever. 
 
 He who once wills to seek God, finds Him every- 
 where. 
 
 Science is only one half ; faith is the other half. 
 
 Faith is a feeling of knowing. Apprehension 
 is a knowing of feeling. 
 
 Man's power and incitability are strengthened 
 when he is armed by faith. 
 
 Faith is so far a voluntary means of bringing 
 forth feelings in ourselves. We can and ought to 
 increase and develope this faculty and capacity 
 infinitely more than is yet done. 
 
88 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 II. 
 
 VARIOUS HISTORICAL RELATIONS AND 
 FORMS OF RELIGION. 
 
 The more reflective and genuinely poetical a man 
 is, so much more developed and historical will be 
 his religion. 
 
 I am convinced that true revelations are attained 
 rather through cold technical understanding and 
 calm moral sense, than through phantasy which 
 appears to lead us merely into the realm of spectres, 
 — the antipodes of the real Heaven. 
 
 Prophesyings might, even from the complaisance 
 and concordance of fate with the prophet, become 
 true. 
 
 The seer is the perfectly circumspect man. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 8 9 
 
 In order to be properly acquainted with a truth, 
 we must have previously disbelieved it and dis- 
 puted against it. 
 
 Unbelief is lack of a divine organ and of deity. 
 There are therefore direct and indirect Atheists. 
 
 A good deal of Scepticism is nothing but im- 
 mature Idealism. The Realist is an Idealist who 
 knows nothing of himself. Realism is crude 
 idealism at first hand. 
 
 May not the Devil, as the father of lies, be 
 himself but a necessary phantasm 1 Deceit and 
 delusion alone are opposed to truth, virtue and 
 religion. Caprice, slavish wilfulness, superstition, 
 waywardness, perversity and a self-will that is 
 determined by mere contingencies, are opposed to 
 the free will. It is from these that deception 
 arises. 
 
9° THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 All illusion is as essential to truth as the body 
 to the soul. Error is the necessary instrument of 
 truth. With error I make truth. All transition 
 begins with illusion. I see out of me what is in 
 me ; I believe that that has happened which I am 
 just doing. Faith is the operation of illuding, 
 the basis of illusion. All knowing in the distance, 
 is faith. An idea viewed as out of me, is a thing. 
 
 All knowing begins and ends in faith. The ex- 
 pansion of knowledge, forwards and backwards, 
 is an out-pushing or enlargement of the domain of 
 faith. 
 
 Anything that is arbitrarily chosen, although 
 accidental or individual, may become the organ 
 of our world. A vision, a star, a region, an old 
 tree, or anything of this kind, may form an epoch 
 in our inner life. This is the gross realism of 
 fetish worship. 
 
 Light is the symbol of genuine intelligence and 
 circumspection. Thus light is by analogy the act 
 
THOUGHTS OX RELIGION 9 1 
 
 of the self-stirring of matter. The Day is accord- 
 ingly the consciousness of the planet ; and while 
 the sun like a god animates the centre in eternal 
 self-activity, one planet after the other opens one 
 eye for a longer or shorter time, and refreshes 
 itself in cool sleep for new life and perception. 
 Here, then, is Religion ; for, is the life of the 
 planet anything else than sun-worship 1 Here, 
 too, dost thou present thyself to us, thou antique 
 child-like Religion of the Parsees, and we find in 
 thee the Religion of the universe. 
 
 It is strange that in so many religions, the gods 
 appear to be lovers of the ugly. 
 
 The too early and immoderate use of religion is 
 extremely prejudicial to the growth and prosper- 
 ing of humanity, just as brandy and such-like are 
 prejudicial to the physical development. 
 
9 2 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 It is strange enough that the Greek mythology 
 was so independent of Religion. It appears there 
 was a development of Art in Greece before Religion, 
 aud that an infinitely sublime idealism of Religion 
 was instinctive in the Greeks. Religion was es- 
 sentially an object of human Art. Art appeared 
 divine ; or Religion appeared artistic and human. 
 The sense of Art was the sense that generated 
 Religion ; the Deity revealed Himself through Art. 
 
 The Greek mythology appears as existing for 
 the more cultivated men, and to be thus in entire 
 opposition to Christianity. Pantheism is a third 
 termination. 
 
 In most of the systems of religion we are re- 
 garded as members of the Deity ; and if these do 
 not obey the incitations of the whole — even al- 
 though they may not act intentionally against the 
 laws of the whole, but only wish to go on their 
 own way and not to be meml ors— they are treated 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 93 
 
 medically by the Deity, and are either painfully 
 healed or wholly cut off. 
 
 If God could become man, He can also become 
 stone, plant, animal, and element ; and perhaps 
 there is in this way a continuous redemption in 
 nature. 
 
 Nothing is more indispensable to true religious 
 life than a Mediator connecting us with the Deity. 
 Man absolutely cannot stand in immediate re- 
 lation with the Deity. In the choice of this 
 intermediate member, man must be entirely free. 
 The slightest compulsion in this connection does 
 harm to his Religion. The choice is character- 
 istic ; and, consequently, cultivated men will 
 choose very much the same intermediate members, 
 whereas the uncultivated man will be usually 
 determined in this by accident. As, however,*so 
 few men arc capable generally of a free choice, some 
 mediators will become more un : versal, whether it 
 
94 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 be by accident, by association, or by their peculiar 
 suitability for it. In this way the Religions of 
 the different countries arise. The more indepen- 
 dent the man becomes, so much the more does 
 the quantity or extent of the intermediation 
 diminish ; its quality becomes the more refined ; 
 and its relations to the individual become more 
 manifold and more cultivated. Thus we have 
 Fetishes, Stars, Beasts, Heroes, Idols, Gods, one 
 God-man. It is soon seen how relative these 
 choices are; and imperceptibly the mind is driven 
 to the idea that the essence of Religion does not 
 depend upon the quality of the mediator, but 
 consists in the view held of mediation, or in the 
 relations to it. 
 
 It is Idolatry in the wider sense, when I regard 
 this Mediator, in fact as God Himself. It is 
 Irreligion, when I accept no Mediator at all ; and 
 so far, superstition and idolatry and unbelief or 
 theism — which may also be called the older 
 Judaism — are both forms of Irreligion. — On the 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 95 
 
 other hand, Atheism is merely the negation of all 
 Religion as such, and has therefore nothing at 
 all to do with Religion. The true Religion 
 accepts the Mediator as a Mediator, holding him, 
 as it were, to be the organ of the Deity or the 
 sensible manifestation of the Deity. In this 
 respect, the Jews, in the time of the Babylonian 
 captivity, received a genuinely religious tendency, 
 a religious hope, a belief in a future religion, 
 which transformed them fundamentally in a won- 
 derful way, and which has preserved them in the 
 most remarkable permanence till our time. 
 
 True Religion appears, on closer examination, 
 to be divided by counter designations into Pan- 
 theism and Monotheism. I use a license here in 
 not taking Pantheism in the common sense, but 
 understanding by it the idea that everything may 
 be an organ of the Deity, or a Mediator. In like 
 manner, Monotheism is used in opposition to 
 Pantheism to designate the belief that there is 
 only one such organ in the world for us, which 
 
9 6 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 is considered as alone conformable to the idea 
 of a Mediator, and by which alone God lets 
 Himself be perceived. This organ is therefore 
 such as I am compelled by myself to choose ; 
 for otherwise Monotheism would not be true 
 Religion. However incompatible these two forms 
 of Religion may appear to be, yet a union of them 
 may be effected if the Monotheistic Mediator is 
 regarded as the mediator of the mediating world 
 of Pantheism ; and if it is, as it were, centralised 
 by him, so that the one makes the other necessary, 
 although in different ways. Prayer or religious 
 thought thus consists of a three-fold ascending in- 
 divisible abstraction or position. 
 
 Every object may be a Temple to the religious 
 man, in the sense of the Augurs. The Spirit of 
 this temple is the omnipotent High Priest, the 
 monotheistic Mediator, who alone stands in imme- 
 diate relation with the Deity. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 97 
 
 What is Mysticism 1 What must be mystically 
 treated 1 Religion, Love, Nature, the State. — 
 All that is select is related to mysticism. If all 
 men were a pair of lovers, the distinction between 
 mysticism and not-mysticism would fall away. 
 
 Mystical faith in what has actual existence, as 
 in the old and known, and mystical hope of all 
 that is to come, or of the new and unknown, are 
 two important characteristics of the humanity of 
 the past. 
 
 Why is it that ' Virtuosity ' cannot find a place 
 in religion 1 Because it rests upon love. Schleier- 
 macher has proclaimed a kind of love as religion — 
 an art-religion — almost a religion like that of the 
 artist who worships beauty and the ideal. Love 
 is free ; it chooses by preference what is poorest 
 and most in need of help. God therefore accepts 
 most readily the poor and sinners. Are there 
 loveless natures 1 Then there are also irreligious 
 natures. 
 
 G 
 
9 8 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Spinozism is a surfeit with deity. — Spinoza is a 
 God-intoxicated man. 
 
 The Moravians annihilate their reason ; the 
 Emotionalists annihilate their understanding ; the 
 Intellectualists annihilate their heart. No act is 
 more common in us than the act of annihilation. 
 And just as common is the act of position. We 
 posit and assume a thing arbitrarily, because we 
 wish it. This is not done from conscious wilful- 
 ness, for something is here actually laid down for 
 the will, but from an instinctive act of will which 
 unquestionably has its foundation in inertness. 
 To raise oneself above all the trouble of inquiry 
 and to put an end to all controversy and division, 
 internal and external, is an extremely convenient 
 mode of proceeding. It is a kind of magic by 
 which \, o arrange the world around us according 
 to our convenience and caprice. 
 
THOUGHTS »)N RELIGION 99 
 
 III, 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. THE BIBLE. WORSHIP. 
 
 The Christian Religion is specifically the re- 
 ligion of joyful feeling. Sin is the greatest 
 stimulus to love of the Deity ; the more sinful 
 man feels himself, so much the more Christian he 
 is. Absolute union with the Deity is the purpose 
 of sin and love. 
 
 The Christian Religion is also pre-eminently re- 
 markable in this that it so decidedly claims and 
 lays value upon the mere goodwill in man, and 
 upon his proper nature without any development 
 of it. It stands in opposition to science and art, 
 and selfish enjoyment. It proceeds from the 
 common man ; it animates the great majority of 
 those who are imperfectly cultivated in the world ; 
 it is the light which begins to gleam in darkness ; 
 it is the germ of all democratism, the highest fact 
 
ioo THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 of popularity. Its unpoetical exterior, its resem 
 blance to a modern domestic picture, appears to be 
 only lent to it. It is tragical and yet infinitely 
 mild : a genuine drama, a mingling of comedy 
 and tragedy. 
 
 The annihilation of sin, that old burden of 
 
 humanity, and all belief in repentance and ex- 
 piation, has been specially effected by the revela- 
 tion of Christianity. 
 
 The religious problem is to have sympathy with 
 the Deity. — Infinite sadness of religion. If we 
 are to love God, then He must be in need of help. 
 How far is this problem solved in Christianism 1 
 
 Christianity is throughout historical religion, but 
 it passes into the natural religion of morality, and 
 the artistic religion of poetry or mythology. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION "" 
 
 History is applied morals and religion, as well 
 as applied anthropology in the more general sense. 
 Hence the wonderful connection of history with 
 our destination, of Christianity with morality. 
 
 Love is altogether a malady : hence the won- 
 drous significance of Christianity. 
 
 There is no religion which may not be Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 Is there a real distinction between the secular 
 and the spiritual? Or is this polarity of our 
 theology just of an Old Testament character. 
 Judaism is diametrically opposed to Christianity, 
 and lies, as well as it, in a certain measure, at the 
 bottom of all theologies. 
 
 In Christianity wo have to study eternities. It 
 becomes to us always higher, more manifold, and 
 
 more glorious. 
 
102 THOUGHTS OX RELIGION 
 
 I must have regular superstition towards Jesus. 
 Superstition is generally more necessary to re- 
 ligion than is commonly believed. 
 
 Adam and Eve : What was effected by a 
 revolution must be undone by a revolution (bite of 
 an apple). 
 
 No circumstance in the history of religion is 
 more noteworthy than the new idea that arose 
 with Christianity of a humanity and of a universal 
 religion. With this idea proselytism arose. Ex- 
 tremely remarkable is also the dispersion of the 
 Oriental Jews into the West and the diffusion of 
 the new religion among the people who were the 
 civilized conquerors of the world, and who com- 
 municated it to the conquered and uncivilised 
 nations. 
 
 All that is national, temporal, local, individual, 
 may be universalised and thus canonised and 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 103 
 
 made universal. Christ is sucli an ennobled 
 citizen of his country. 
 
 What we call belief in reconciliation, is nothing 
 but the confidence of a complete poetical wisdom 
 in the destinies of our life. 
 
 Martyrs are spiritual heroes. Every man has, 
 in fact, his martyr years. Christ was the great 
 martyr of our race. Through Him martyrdom 
 has become infinitely profound and holy. 
 
 The Bible begins gloriously with Paradise, the 
 symbol of youth, and closes with the eternal 
 kingdom, with the Holy City. Its two chief 
 divisions are also genuinely historical on the great 
 scale. In every great historical member, the 
 great history must, as it were, be symbolically 
 rejuvenated. The beginning of the New Testament 
 is the second higher fall ; sin is what has to be 
 
104 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 atoned for, and it is the beginning of the new 
 period. The history of every man ought to be a 
 Bible. Christ is the new Adam. 
 
 A Bible is the highest task of literature. 
 
 Should not the Bible be conceived as still in 
 growth "? 
 
 Very much in Scripture is local and temporal. 
 See the Old Testament. 
 
 In the Gospels there lie the outlines of future 
 and higher gospels. 
 
 When the spirit sanctifies, every genuine book 
 is a Bible. But it is rare that a book is written 
 for the sake of the book ; and if the spirit is like a 
 noble metal, then are most books Ephraimites. Cer- 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION l0 5 
 
 tainly every useful book must at least be strongly 
 alloyed. The noble metal is not to be used pure 
 in commerce and common life. It is with many 
 true books as it was with nuggets of gold in 
 Ireland ; they are used for long years only as 
 weights. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is more than the Bible. He is 
 to be our teacher of Christianity, not a dead earthly 
 ambiguous letter. 
 
 The history of Christ is as certainly a poem as 
 it is a history ; and generally it holds that that 
 history is only a history which can also be romance. 
 
 The resemblance of our holy history to legend- 
 ary tales La extremely remarkable. At the com- 
 mencement, there is an enchantment, then a 
 wondrous reconciliation, and so on: the fulfil- 
 ment of the condition of the curse. Frenzy and 
 enchantment have much that is similar ; an en- 
 chanter is an artist of frenzy. 
 
ic6 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Dithyrambs are genuinely Christian products. 
 
 The Catholic Religion is to a certain extent 
 already Applied Christian Religion. The Philo- 
 sophy of Fichte is also perhaps Applied Chris- 
 tianism. 
 
 The genuine Gothic temple is truly religious. 
 
 Praying is in religion, what thinking is in 
 philosophy. Praying is making religion. Sermons 
 ought properly to be prayers. The religious sense 
 prays as the organ of thought thinks. Religion 
 progresses to religion. It lias a special religious 
 world, a religious element of its own. 
 
 Men ought to be ashamed if they cannot bring 
 their thought to think what they would. Pray 
 God for his aid that ho may help to drive away 
 anxious thoughts. Learn only to know an anxious 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION io 7 
 
 thought to be such the moment it is so. With 
 fervent prayer and fixed purpose much is possible. 
 So soon as you become anxious, and sad vexing 
 thoughts press upon you, then begin most heartily 
 to pray. If the first attempts do not succeed, you 
 will certainly succeed in time. 
 
 A sermon is a fragment of the Bible, of the 
 holy book, of the canonical part of the Bible. 
 Every sermon ought to awaken religion, and to 
 present the truths of religion; it is the highest 
 thing that a man can deliver. Sermons contain 
 contemplations of God and experiences of God. 
 Every sermon is an effect of inspiration ; it must 
 and can only be genial. 
 
 In the process of representing the Perfect, how 
 is wearisomeness to be avoided 1 ? The contempla- 
 tion of God appears as a religious effort to be 
 too monotonous. Let any one recall the perfect 
 characters in the drama, or the dryness of a 
 genuine purely philosophical or mathematical 
 system. In this way even the contemplation of 
 
10S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Jesus may be wearisome. The sermon must be 
 pantheistic ; it must contain applied individual 
 religion, individualised theology. 
 
 Sermons ought to be associations of divine in- 
 spirations, of heavenly intuitions. — Sermons should 
 properly be called legends j for the proper matter 
 of sermons is legendary matter. 
 
 The preacher must first of all seek to arouse 
 enthusiasm, for this is the element of religion. 
 Every word must be clear, warm, and heart-felt. 
 He must seek to isolate his community in the 
 world, to give it Esprit de corpSj to enlighten and 
 raise it above the world and the higher ranks, to 
 make its calling dear and its life agreeable, and 
 to fill it with noble self -feeling. 
 
 Sermons must absolutely not be dogmatic, but 
 be directly addressed to the quickening of the 
 
THOUGHTS OS RELIGION ico. 
 
 holy senso of intuition and to the animation of the 
 activity of the heart. Sermons and hymns may 
 contain histories. Histories work pre-eminently 
 in a religious way. Instructive and preparatory 
 and moral sermons, belong to another species. 
 God's word must become genuine sermons, inspira- 
 tions, religious manifestations, revelations in words. 
 Repose, congregation, architecture, ritual and 
 music, are suitable for this purpose. Genuine 
 religion expresses itself properly through a pure, 
 satisfying and all-animating enthusiasm, which, 
 like warmth, elevates everything. Spiritual songs 
 or hymns, and sermons must be simple and yet 
 highly poetical. 
 
 In the most of Lavaters hymns there is still 
 too much that is earthly, too much morality and 
 asceticism, while there is too little of the essential, 
 too little mysticism. Hymns ought to be very 
 living, inward, universal, and mystical. 
 
 The element of lamentation, the expression of 
 
HO THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 sorrow in our church music, is conformable merely 
 with the Religion of repentance, or the Old Testa- 
 ment, in which we still properly are. The New 
 Testament is still to us a book with seven seals. 
 We have, however, some excellent attempts at 
 true spiritual music. 
 
 The clergy and the Moravians have at least this 
 distinguishing and remarkable characteristic that 
 they are idealists by profession, and practise 
 religion ex prqfesso ; they make it their main busi- 
 ness, and properly live in this world as in and for 
 another world. 
 
 The Moravians have wished to introduce the 
 spirit of children. But is it the genuine spirit of 
 the kind ? Or is it not rather a childish mother- 
 spirit, an old- wife spirit. — When Christ says 
 become like children, He means indeterminate 
 children, and not distorted, effeminated, sweetish, 
 modern children. 
 
THon.HTS ON KKLKilOM I1J 
 
 In religious assemblies, every one ought to rise 
 and communicate divine history to others from the 
 treasury of his experiences. This religious atten- 
 tion to the gloamings of the sun of the other world, 
 is a chief requisite of the religious man. As every- 
 thing can be made the object of an epigram or of 
 an idea, so may everything also be transformed 
 into an utterance, into a religious epigram, into 
 God's Word. 
 
 Our whole life is worship. 
 
H2 THOUGHTS OX RELIGION 
 
 IV. 
 
 HIGHER RELIGION. LIFE AND DEATH. 
 THE LAST THINGS. 
 
 As yet there is no Religion. We must first 
 found a training school of genuine Religion. 
 Think ye that there is Religion 1 Religion must 
 be made and produced through the union of a 
 number of men. The fullest germs of the new 
 Religion lie in Christianity, but they also lie there 
 comparatively neglected. 
 
 The opinion regarding the negativity of Chris- 
 tianity [expressed by F. Schlegel], is excellent ; 
 Christianity is thus elevated to the rank of being 
 the basis of the projecting power of a new world 
 and humanity, of a living moral space. Absolute 
 attraction, annihilation of the present, apotheosis 
 of the future, as the specifically better world : this 
 is the kernel of the promises of Christianity, and 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION « 13 
 
 hereby it attaches itself to the Religion of the 
 antiquarians, the divinity of the antique, the re- 
 storation of antiquity, as a second principal wing. 
 The two hold up the universe, as the body of an 
 angel in eternal poise, in eternal enjoyment of 
 space and time. 
 
 Christianity is too political, and its politics 
 much too material. On the other hand, a 
 symbolico-mystical polity is permissible and even 
 essential. 
 
 The spiritual world is in fact already disclosed 
 to us ; it is always manifest. Did we suddenly 
 become as elastic as might be necessary, we would 
 see ourselves in the midst of it. Our present 
 defective state always makes a method of salvation 
 necessary ; formerly it consisted of fasting and 
 moral purifications, now perhaps a strength ruing 
 method may be necessary. 
 
 H 
 
U4 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 All that we experience is a communication ; and 
 thus the world is in fact a communication, a 
 revelation of spirit. The time is past in which 
 the Spirit of God was intelligible. The sense of 
 the meaning of the world has been lost ; we have 
 stopped at the letter and, in attending to appear- 
 ances, have forgotten what appears. Formerly 
 everything was regarded as a manifestation of 
 spirit ; now we see nothing but dead repetition 
 which we do not understand. The meaning of 
 the hieroglyph is wanting. We still live on the 
 fruit of better times. 
 
 All conviction is independent of natural truth ; 
 it relates to magical or miraculous truth. One 
 can only be convinced of natural truth, in so far 
 as it becomes miraculous truth. All demonstra- 
 tion is based upon conviction, and is consequently 
 only a succedaneum in a state in which there is a 
 lack of thoroughgoing miraculous truth. All 
 natural truths accordingly rest, in like manner, 
 upon miraculous truths. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION IT 5 
 
 Christianity is entirely historical religion, but it 
 passes into the natural religion of Morality and 
 the artistic religion of Poetry or Mythology. 
 
 Self-alienation is the source of all humiliation, 
 as on the contrary it is the ground of all genuine 
 elevation. The first step becomes a look inwards, 
 a separating off and contemplation of ourself. He 
 who stops here only gets half way. The second 
 step must be an active look outwards, a self-active 
 sustained contemplation of the external world. 
 
 Anyone to whom it has once become clear that 
 the world is the Kingdom of God — when this 
 great conviction has permeated him with infinite 
 fulness — goes consoled along the dark path of life, 
 and gazes with deep divine calmness into its storms 
 and dangers. 
 
u6 THOUGHTS OX RELIGION 
 
 What is an anxious hour, a painful night, a 
 gloomy month, to a long happy eternity ? It re- 
 quires the highest patience to resist unrest and 
 anxiety ; but it is also the remedy against them. 
 
 Patience is two-fold : a calm endurance of want 
 and a calm endurance of excess. Genuine patience 
 springs from great elasticity. 
 
 All anxiety comes from the devil j courage and 
 joyfulness are from God. 
 
 If the soul is calm, the body will also soon be 
 calmed. 
 
 What does not help at once, helps in time. 
 Only let not courage and faith be lost. 
 
 Every gloomy thought is an earthly and transi- 
 tory thought of anxiety. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION > 1 7 
 
 The heart is the key of the world and of life. 
 We live in this helpless state in order to love and 
 to be bound to others. Through imperfection we 
 become capable of the influence of others, and this 
 external influence is its final cause. In states of 
 disease, it is only others that can and ought to 
 help us. Christ, regarded from this point of view, 
 is undoubtedly the key of the world. 
 
 Genuine innocence is as little lost as genuine 
 life is. The usual innocence exists only once like 
 the individual, and comes no more again than he 
 does. Whoever, like the gods, loves the first-born, 
 will never find the same taste for the second inno- 
 cence as for the first, notwithstanding that the 
 last is more than the first. Some things can 
 appear only once, because, ona belongs to their 
 nature. 
 
 Our life is both absolute and dependent at the 
 same time. We die only to a certain extent. Our 
 life must therefore be in part a member of a 
 greater common life. 
 
n8 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 The common everyday life is a priestly service, 
 somewhat like that of the Vestals. We are 
 occupied with nothing but the preservation of a 
 holy and mysterious flame, which appears as 
 double. It depends upon ourselves how we cherish 
 and wait upon it. May not the manner in which 
 we cherish it be perhaps the measure of our fidelity, 
 love, and carefulness for the highest, and the 
 character of our essential being 1 ? Is not faithful- 
 ness to our calling a symbolical sign of our reli- 
 giousness, that is, of our real nature 1 
 
 It may ahvays be admitted that man has a pre- 
 dominating propensity to evil. So much the 
 better is he by nature ; for it is only the dissimilar 
 that attracts. 
 
 One can only become in so far as one already is. 
 
 As earthly beings we strive after spiritual 
 development, after spirit generally ; as extra- 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 119 
 
 earthly spiritual beings after earthly development, 
 after body generally. It is only through morality 
 that we, as both, attain to our ends. 
 
 To have desires and to control them, is more 
 praiseworthy than to avoid desires. 
 
 Opposing what is bad to virtue, is giving it too 
 much honour. 
 
 He who regards life otherwise than as an 
 illusion that annihilates itself, is still himself 
 en tangled in life. 
 
 Our life is imperfect because it has periods ; it 
 should be only one period, and then it would 
 be infinite. The process of relation is the sub- 
 stantial element. Where increase is combined 
 with condensation, there is life. 
 
120 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Fear may be even a symptom of an agreeable 
 object, as in reverential awe. 
 
 One must necessarily be terrified when casting a 
 glance into the depths of the spirit. The sense of 
 depth and the will, have no limits. It is with them 
 as it is with the heavens. The imagination stands 
 still, exhausted ; and its mere momentary constitu- 
 tion is thereby indicated. Here we come upon 
 the possibility of spiritual diseases, — in short, upon 
 the doctrine of the spiritual life and constitution ; 
 and the moral law appears here as the only true and 
 great law of the gradual elevation of the universe, 
 as the fundamental law of harmonious development. 
 Man advances in successive steps, and with every 
 real step he advances more easily; with all acquired 
 velocity space increases. It is only the look that 
 is turned backward which carries forward, as the 
 look that is turned forward leads backward. 
 
 An absolute impulse after perfection and com 
 pleteness, is disease as soon as it shows itself to be 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION »2I 
 
 destructive and averse to what is incomplete and 
 imperfect. 
 
 We ought not merely to be men ; our destina- 
 tion is to be more than men. Man in general is 
 a universe, but a universe that is indetermined. 
 It may and ought to be at once determined and 
 undetermined. 
 
 All that man makes is a man ; or— what is the 
 same thing — a constituent element of a man, a 
 
 human being. 
 
 A character is a perfectly formed will. 
 
 There is a mode of totally realising our will. 
 
I2 2 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 We must get the body as well as the soul into our 
 power. The body is the instrument for the forma- 
 tion and modification of the world ; we must there- 
 fore seek to develop our body into an all-capable 
 organ. Modification of our organ is modification 
 of the world. 
 
 The more spiritual and developed a man is, so 
 much the more personal are his members, e.g., his 
 eyes, his hand, his fingers, etc. 
 
 There is only one Temple in the world ; and 
 that is the human body. There is nothing holier 
 than this high form. Bending before men is an 
 act of homage to this Revelation in the flesh. We 
 touch Heaven when we lay our hand on a human 
 body. 
 
 Man is a Sun ; his senses are the planets. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 123 
 
 Man is the higher Sense of our planet. He is 
 the star which connects it with the upper world; 
 the eye which it turns towards Heaven. 
 
 Man has always expressed a symbolical philo- 
 sophy of his being in his works, and in his doing 
 and suffering. He announces himself and his 
 gospel to Nature ; he is the Messiah of Nature. 
 
 The present heaven and the present earth are 
 of a prosaic nature ; this is a world-period of 
 utility. The judgment of the world is the begin- 
 ning of the new, formed, poetical period. 
 
 Our conscience already proves our relation, con- 
 nection, and possibility of transition to another 
 world ; it demonstrates an inner independent 
 power and a state out of the common individuality. 
 
1-4 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 The synthesis of soul and body constitutes the 
 person. The person again is related to the spirit 
 as the body to the soul. It also falls away and 
 comes forth again in an ennobled form. 
 
 Transitoriness, frailty, is the character of Nature 
 combined with Spirit. It gives evidence of 
 activity and universality, of the sublime per- 
 sonality of the spirit. 
 
 Everything is of itself eternal. Mortality and 
 mutability even constitute a prerogative of higher 
 natures. Eternity is a sign — sit venia verbis — of 
 non-spiritual natures. The perfect condition is 
 a synthesis of eternity and temporality. 
 
 Our spirit is an associational substance ; it pro- 
 ceeds from the harmony or simultaneousness of 
 
THOUGHTS OX RELIGION T25 
 
 the manifold, and maintains itself by this. The 
 spirit is the social concentrating principle. Only 
 a spirit, an association, has given it existence. 
 Death transposes it in the great association to 
 somewhere else, awakens it somewhere else. 
 
 The blossom of the flower is the symbol of the 
 mystery of our spirit. 
 
 It is only the coward who is not immortal. 
 
 The future is not for one who is sick ; only the 
 glance of the healthy can lose itself boldly in its 
 wonderful ways. 
 
 Misfortune is a call to God. Man can only 
 become holy through misfortune ; hence the old 
 saints even threw themselves into misfortune. 
 
126 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 All that we call ' accident,' is from God. 
 
 We must not seek our righteousness in the 
 
 world. 
 
 Death is nothing but interruption of the inter- 
 change between the inner and the outer stimula- 
 tions between soul and world. 
 
 Death is the romanticising principle of our 
 life. — Through death life is strengthened. 
 
 Death is a self-conquest which, like all over- 
 coming of self, procures a new easier existence. 
 
 We leap like an electric spark into the other 
 world. There is increase of capacity. Death is 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 127 
 
 transformation, suppression of the individual 
 
 principle, which now enters into a new, more 
 enduring, more capable connection. 
 
 The life of a truly canonical man, must be 
 thoroughly symbolical. Under this presupposition 
 is not every death to be regarded as an atoning 
 death 1 This is more or less understood ; and are 
 there not several extremely remarkable conse- 
 quences to be drawn from it % 
 
 A demon who can appear — really appear — must 
 be a good spirit ; as is the man who can really 
 do miracles and who can really cultivate inter- 
 course with spirits. A man who becomes spirit, 
 is at the same time a spirit who becomes body. 
 This higher kind of death — if I may so express 
 myself — has nothing to do with the common 
 death j it will be something that we may call 
 ' trans6£U ration.' 
 
1 28 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Our world is what it is as member of the uni- 
 versal system of the world ; its changes are deter- 
 mined with and through the changes of the great 
 svstem. 
 
 The last day will not be a single day but just 
 that period which is also called the millenial 
 kingdom. Every man can evoke his last day by 
 his morality. The millennial kingdom is continu- 
 ally present among us. The best among us who 
 already in the time of their life attain to the 
 spiritual world, die only in appearance ; they let 
 themselves only seemingly die ; and thus too the 
 good spirits who on their side have attained to 
 communion with the corporeal world, do not 
 appear in order not to disturb us. He who does 
 not desire to attain to completion here perhaps 
 attains it above, or must begin another earthly 
 career. May there not also be a death in the 
 world above, the result of which may be earthly 
 birth 1 In this way the human race may be 
 smaller and less in number than we think. But 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 129 
 
 again it may be thought of otherwise : — spectres, 
 indirect, false, deceptive transfigurations — results 
 of obscuration. Only to the wise man who is 
 already transfigured here below, do embodied 
 spirits appear. 
 
 We are near awakening, when we dream that 
 we dream. 
 
 Our Life is no dream, but it may and perhaps 
 will become one. 
 
 The phantasy represents the future world as 
 either in the heights above, or in the depths below, 
 or in a metempsychosis unto us. We dream of 
 journeyings through the universe. Is not the 
 universe then in us 1 We do not know the depths 
 of our spirit. The mysterious path goes inwards. 
 
 1 
 
J 3° THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 Eternity, with its worlds of the past and future, is 
 in us or nowhere. The outward world is the 
 world of shadow ; it throws its shade into the 
 realm of light. It indeed appears at present to us 
 inwardly very dark, solitary, formless ; but how 
 entirely otherwise will it seem to us when this 
 gloom has passed, and the body from which the 
 shadow was thrown has moved away. We shall 
 then have more enjoyment than ever, our spirit 
 having endured want. 
 
 The individuality in Nature is quite infinite. 
 How much does this view animate our hopes of 
 the Personality of the universe. 
 
 The world is any case the result of an active 
 reciprocity between me and the Deity. All that 
 arises and exists, arises out of a contact of spirits. 
 
 All accident is wonderful, is contact of a Higher 
 Being]: a problem or datum of the actively religious 
 sense. 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 13 1 
 
 Our conscience already proves our relation and 
 connection with a higher world, and the possibility 
 of a transition to it. It demonstrates an internal, 
 independent power, and a state out of the common 
 individuality. 
 
 Is it not enough to know that in this life we are 
 capable of beginning a flight which death, instead 
 of interrupting, rather accelerates, as its continu- 
 ation depends solely and only on the constant 
 direction of our free will] 
 
 We shall understand the world when we under- 
 stand ourselves, because we and it are integrant 
 halves. We are children of God, Divine germs. 
 We shall yet be what our Father is. 
 
3 2 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 THE FUTURE OF CHRISTENDOM * 
 
 Have the nations all that belong to man, — with 
 the exception only of his heart, of his sacred organ 1 ? 
 Will they not, like men, become friends on the 
 biers of their loved ones'? Will they not forget 
 all enmity when the divine pity speaks to them, 
 even when one misfortune, one sorrow, one feeling 
 has filled their eyes with tears 1 Does not sacri- 
 fice and devotion seize them with all-constraining 
 power, and do they not long to be friends and 
 allies? 
 
 Where is that old, dear, sole saving faith in the 
 government of God upon earth 1 ? Where is that 
 heavenly trust of men in one another, that sweet 
 devotion which accompanies the outpourings of a 
 divinely inspired soul, that all-embracing spirit of 
 Christendom % 
 
 Christianity is of a three-fold form. One of its 
 
 * [This section contains the closing paragraphs of the Frag- 
 ment entitled ' Christendom or Europe,' which was written in 
 1799.— Tr.] 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION *33 
 
 forms is the generating element of Religion, as 
 joy in all Religion. One is Medievalism generally, 
 as faith in the universal capacity of all that is 
 earthly to be the bread and wine of eternal life. 
 And one is the Faith in Christ, His mother, and 
 the saints. Choose which of these you wilL 
 Choose them all three : all the same you thereby 
 become Christians and members of a single, eter- 
 nal, unspeakably happy community. 
 
 The old Catholic faith, the last of these forms, 
 was Applied Christianity j it was Christianity 
 become living. Its omnipresence in life, its love 
 of art, its deep humanity, the inviolability of its 
 marriages, its philanthropic communicativeness, 
 its joy in poverty, obedience and fidelity, make it 
 unmistakable as a genuine religion and contain 
 the outlines of its constitution. 
 
 It is purified by the stream of time. In inward 
 indivisible combination with the other two forms 
 of Christianity, it will bless this earthly world for 
 ever. 
 
 Its accidental form is as good as annihilated. 
 The old Papacy lies in the grave, and Rome has a 
 
134 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 
 
 second time become a ruin. Shall Protestantism 
 not at last cease and give place to a new and more 
 enduring Church 1 
 
 The other parts of the world wait for the recon- 
 ciliation and resurrection of Europe in order to 
 associate themselves, and to become fellow-citizens 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven. Shall there not again 
 be in Europe soon, a multitude of truly holy souls 1 
 Shall not all the true kindred of religion become 
 full of yearning to behold Heaven upon earth, and 
 gladly assemble and sound their sacred choirs'? 
 
 Christendom must again become living and 
 active, and form for itself once more a visible 
 Church without regard to the boundaries of 
 countries. This Church will have to receive into 
 its bosom all the souls that are thirsting for what 
 is above the earthly, and become the willing 
 mediator of the old world and the new. 
 
 It must pour out the ancient cornucopia of 
 blessing again upon the peoples. Out of the 
 sacred bosom of a venerable European Council, 
 Christendom will arise, and the work of the 
 awakening of religion will be carried on, according 
 
THOUGHTS ON RELIGION 135 
 
 to an all-comprehensive divine plan. No one will 
 then protest more against Christian and worldly 
 oppression ; for the essence of the Church will be 
 genuine freedom, and under her guidance all 
 necessary reforms will be carried out as peaceful 
 and formal duties of the State. 
 
 But when and how soon shall this be? Of the 
 time we cannot enquire. Only let there be 
 patience. It will, it must come : the holy time 
 of eternal peace, when the New Jerusalem shall 
 be the capital of the world. Until then, be 
 cheerful and brave amid the dangers of the time, 
 ye Associates of my faith. Preach forth the 
 divine Gospel in word and deed ; and remain 
 faithful to the true, the infinite Faith, — even unto 
 death. 
 
(A 
 

 ' 
 
Jfesns all-sufficient 
 
 If only he is mine — 
 
 If but this poor heart 
 Never more, in grief or joy, 
 May from him depart, 
 Then farewell to sadness, 
 All I feel is love, and hope, and gladness. 
 
 If only he is mine, 
 
 Then from all below, 
 Leaning on my pilgrim-staff, 
 Gladly forth I go 
 From the crowd who follow 
 
 In the broad, bright, road, their pleasures false and 
 hollow. 
 
 If only he is mine, 
 
 Then all else is given ; 
 Every blessing lifts my eyes 
 And my heart to heaven, 
 billed with heavenly love, 
 Earthly hopes and fears no longer tempt to move. 
 
 There, when he is mine, 
 Is my Fatherlar 
 
 
 And my heritage of bliss 
 Daily cometh from his hand. 
 Now I find again, 
 In his people, love long lost, and mourned in vain. 
 
 •1). 
 
 I here 
 
 ill dawn 
 
 i wake 
 
 v take 
 nmd. 
 
 he grave 
 
 ■ sea, 
 
 and brave 
 
 The way of darkness that he trod 
 
 To heaven at last shall come, 
 And he who harkens to His word 
 Shall reach His Father's home. 
 
 Now let the mourner grieve no more, 
 Though his beloved sleep j 
 
 A happier meeting shall restore 
 
 Their light to eyes that weep. 
 
 Now every heart each noble dud 
 With, new resolve may dare; 
 
 A glorious harvest shall the seed 
 In happier regions hear. 
 
W LEADER. 
 
 IKMIIKR 10, 1903. 
 
 ion $ ielfc 
 
 rFRICA. 
 
 • nt.) 
 
 write, and south of 
 
 Every one knows 
 
 Erica, a country that 
 
 Mition al present in 
 
 iting cinli s. If the 
 as k« rn in ite work 
 teeming millions of 
 the pnrsnit of gold, 
 Itn-tch our her hands 
 >nlv to tell what we 
 
 (inter, we were told, 
 [nd, although it was 
 < t out on our 
 ride brought ns to 
 ■ ire -aw OS at 
 *h of Scotland Mi- 
 ff tli* 1 famons Indian 
 Duff. The house is 
 ilding in t hat strange 
 jof place. We don't 
 |nor envy those who, 
 re to live on a bare 
 ■iv»r hank- BO high 
 :y and a few maize 
 iging eyes. Duff is 
 with such mi- 
 ld amid Buch dreary 
 •e others, but this is 
 ii. Sabbath was 
 
 old and bleak, 
 
 ►n comfortably tilled 
 
 liny as church 
 
 ion practice in most 
 
 >rthy missionary, the 
 
 1 the praise himself, 
 
 heartily with him, 
 
 in th; most 
 
 On, and i 
 
 compan-d with the great mass of the un- 
 believing population around. A" be -aim' 
 time, Christianity i- well diffused, and one 
 may | out-of-the-way corners, and 
 
 find one- and twos who call J 
 Saviour and Lord. Two evils chiefly 
 hinder the progress of the Gospel in 
 Katraria — immorality and drink. A 
 rule either the one or the other is the cause 
 of backsliding in the Church. 
 
 3 
 
 TYNDAL BIBLE SCHOOL. 
 
 All lovers of th.- Word of God should feel 
 a lively interest in the growing work of the 
 Tynd.if Bible School . and there can be few who 
 wculd not rind valuable help for their own 
 study in one of its various correspondence 
 
 ossicle, adapted 
 to all capacities, and range from special 
 courses for advanced Bible students, conducted 
 by well- 1 wn ministers, down to a post-card 
 
 for Lose who have, or think they have, 
 "no time"' to study the Bible at all. As tlw 
 work of the school is carried on entirely by 
 postal correspondence, it is available for mem- 
 
 •a all parts of th<' three kingdoms, and is 
 also extending abroad. 
 
 Taking its name from the martyrto whom we 
 so largely owe our P^nglish Bible, the Tyndal 
 Bible School was commenced with the opening 
 century, in the hope of stimulating the study 
 of those who were comparatively "'unskilful in 
 the Word of righteousness." It very soon be- 
 
 ■ violent, however, that "those who know 
 
 it b -t are hungering and thirsting to hear it 
 like the i large proportion of the 
 
 members who joined the school were a 
 mature Bible students, not a few t> 
 christian workers. It theref< 
 
 ope of the work, and 
 i t«>r adv 
 students, the first of which Pastor Fuller G 
 kindly undertook to conduct. I 
 
 for the autumn term, commencing 
 
 II. Waller. 
 I ).!).. late Principal of St John's Hall. High- 
 bury. < fther daises provide simpler stud 
 young Christians, and for children, special 
 
 _a«S -its heilUF made for Bible cl:.--es ;i n.l