OP THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. . 
 
 'BV 630 .T6 1877 
 Thiersch, Heinrich W. J. 
 
 1817-1885. 
 On Christian commonwealth 
 
 
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CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
PRIKTED BY MXTERAY AND GIBE, 
 FOR 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 
 DUBLIN, ROBERTSON AND CO. 
 
 NEW YORK, .... SCRIBNEE, WELFORD, AND AEMSTEONG. 
 
ON 
 
 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 ^ranslateti antJ ^UapteU, 
 
 TENDER THE DIRECTION OF THE AUTHOR, 
 FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 DR. HENRY W. J.' THIERSCH, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the CHURCH IN THE APOSTLES' TIME," "CHRISTIAN FAMILY LIFE,' 
 '< THE PARABLES OF CHRIST," ETC. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 18 7 7. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The other works written by the same author are too 
 well known to require any apology from me for bring- 
 ing this, one of his latest works, under public notice. 
 I could only wish that he had found some one more 
 capable than myself of rendering his clear, terse, and 
 classic style of writing. However, I hope that my 
 language will convey with accuracy the meaning of 
 the author. 
 
 I have termed this an adaptation, for the sole reason 
 that the greater portion of the notes with which the 
 original is furnished have been omitted. Consisting, 
 as they do, mainly of references to German writers, 
 they are of more interest to German than English 
 readers. Such portions of the notes as I have deemed 
 indispensable to the meaning, I have incorporated 
 into the main text. 
 
 The subject of the work is one which, in some shape 
 or another, is at the present time occupying the minds 
 of all those who take an interest in our national 
 prosperity; and my desire is that, by giving easier 
 access to the ideas of so deep a thinker, I may be the 
 means of enabling some one, who has the power as 
 well as the will, to apply those ideas to England. 
 
 The object of the work is of a strictly pacificatory 
 nature. It treats of the proper moral appreciation 
 due to the various political and social parties. No 
 attempt has been made to show that any are entitled 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 to unalloyed praise on the one hand, or to unmitigated 
 censure on the other. An endeavour has been made 
 to bring to light such features in each of the various 
 systems as appear to be capable of justification. 
 
 Special attention is called to those chapters which 
 show how all Christian principles are opposed to 
 oppression and misuse of power ; how those principles 
 promote and favour liberty of conscience, civic freedom, 
 and the material as well as the spiritual prosperity of 
 the people. True liberty and political advancement can 
 only exist where there is mutual confidence; and such 
 confidence can only be established upon a durable basis 
 when the various component parts of the common- 
 wealth and of society are convinced that all other 
 parts may be justified upon and deduced from 
 Christian principles. 
 
 The nature of our subject itself shows us that, 
 in considering it, we must recognise two primary 
 divisions. In the one division we have those 
 universally admitted truths, — such as, the deriva- 
 tion of all authority from on high; the duty of 
 the government to care for the well-being of the 
 people ; the duty of subjects to be faithful, respectful, 
 and obedient; the difference between temporal and 
 spiritual power; the duty of making all legislation 
 to accord with the divine commands. All who 
 honestly hold to the Holy Scriptures and ancient 
 Church tradition, will probably be of one mind on 
 these points, and be prepared to admit and uphold 
 them. 
 
 In the other division, we must place all attempts 
 to apply the above axioms to the course of history. 
 For a due consideration of these points, we require an 
 exact knowledge of facts, practical intelligence, and, 
 so to say, a discerning of spirits. Here individual 
 opinion comes into play. Take, for example, the ideas 
 
PKEFACE. vii 
 
 expressed in this work about absolute monarchy, 
 about what is right and what is wrong in the latest 
 ecclesiastical strifes, about social reforms, and about 
 the right of punishment. All these are mixed and 
 intricate questions, regarding which every one may 
 hold his own opinions. It may be that, in the variety 
 of aspect from which the subject can be regarded, 
 some of the historical facts, or even cognate axioms 
 of other affinitive sciences, may seem to require 
 correction ; but no intelligent critic will assert that 
 the need of such adjustment impugns the principles 
 which we are discussing. Any thesis derived from 
 Christian verity continues to be true, although the 
 hypotheses taken from history may contain an element 
 of error. 
 
 In the present day, every citizen has a recognised 
 right to express his opinion and to make use of the 
 freedom of the press, if he believes that he can 
 thereby advance the good of the commonwealth. 
 This work does not pretend to treat its subject in an 
 exhaustive manner, but the rapidity with which events 
 are passing around him has warned the author not to 
 delay its publication any longer, for fear of being- 
 overtaken by the current; and the applicability of 
 many of the arguments it contains to our island home 
 has appeared to me a sufficient reason for desiring 
 that its contents may be more widely known amongst 
 us. 
 
 The Established Church of England is being attacked 
 on all sides; her foes without are ever looking for a 
 weak point against which to direct their assault ; 
 whilst the garrison to whom her defence is entrusted 
 are either quarrelling amongst themselves as to some 
 minor point of ritual, or lulled to sleep by the 
 whisperings of the arch enemy, who proclaims peace 
 when there is no peace : they rely upon the strength 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 of her outworks and fortifications, forgetting that 
 the strongest of those natural defences are of but 
 little avail against an active and unscrupulous enemy, 
 unless manned by a vigilant and determined army of 
 defenders. But of what use are vigilance and deter- 
 mination unless the construction of the fortress and 
 its resources are well known? The aforesaid good 
 qualities are prone to lead to over-confidence; some 
 weak point is left unguarded until too late, and the 
 enemy effects an entrance where kast expected, turn- 
 ing the weapons which were designed for his repulse 
 and annihilation against those whom they should 
 have protected. 
 
 The times are perilous; the working man is com- 
 bining daily more and more with his fellow against 
 the capitalist, whom he looks upon as his enemy, 
 quite overlooking the fact that it is owing to the 
 careful and well-considered application of that capital, 
 under God's providence, that England has assumed 
 her present proud position among the nations. Still 
 we are all of us more quick in detecting the short- 
 comings of others than in recognising our own, and 
 if the capitalists of England would leave tlieir anta- 
 gonists without excuse, they must be careful to see 
 that they have not provoked the unnatural strife by 
 past omissions and neglect. But what if neither 
 party will consent to give way, and by mutual con- 
 cessions to return to a more healthy relation between 
 employers and employed? Do our legislators intend 
 to stand by doing nothing until the two hostile 
 forces have thrown aside all pretence of friendship, 
 have cut away all the links and cords by which they 
 are at present, at least to a certain extent, united, and 
 are drawn up in battle array. It will then, perhaps, 
 be too late; the would-be mediator may find all the 
 animosity with which the two combatants regard 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 each other combined against and poured out upon 
 himself. 
 
 Not a session of Parliament has of late years passed 
 without the position, action, and bearing of the throne 
 being made the subjects of virulent attack, — such 
 attack as would, a few short years ago, have been 
 deemed impossible. 
 
 In the everyday life of society, religion is looked 
 upon either as infatuation, or as designed to curtail 
 our pleasures, and therefore as a bore, or, finally, as 
 a purely Sunday affair. It has become a common 
 saying that business and religion are incompatible. 
 
 These are all points which show whither the current 
 of events is hurrying us. The foundation of all 
 ancient rights is not only undermined, as was the 
 case in 1848, but it is about to sink away from under 
 our feet, and will be carried away by. the waves of 
 the sea. He who feels himself impelled to do any- 
 thing towards defending the remaining fragments of 
 Christian State policy, must make no long tarrying. 
 
 J. W. WATKINS, 
 Captain H. P. Royal Artillery. 
 
 Leipsic, \st December 1876. 
 

 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PA08 
 
 I. DEFINITION OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, ... 1 
 
 II. CHRISTIANITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHORITY AND THE 
 
 VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, .... 6 
 
 III. CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY, . . . 15 
 
 IV. CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES, . . 30 
 V. THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER, .... 44 
 
 VI. COMMON GROUND : EDUCATION AND MATRIMONY, . . 58 
 
 VII. THE STATE CHURCH — FREEDOM OP CONSCIENCE — CHRISTIAN AND 
 
 NON-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION, ..... 63 
 
 VIII. THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS, .... 82 
 
 IX. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, .... 96 
 
 X. THE LAWFULNESS OF TAKING AN OATH IN A CHRISTIAN COMMON- 
 WEALTH, ....... Ill 
 
 XI. THE POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCHISM IN THE 
 
 CHURCH AND THE VARIOUS SECTS, . . . . 117 
 
 XII. THE POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PRETENSIONS 
 
 OF THE PAPACY, ...... 129 
 
 XIII. THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH WITH REGARD TO THE 
 
 WORKING CLASSES, 
 
 XIV. ON CRIMINAL LAW, 
 
 XV. WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, 
 XVI. THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS, 
 XVII. THE DUTIES OF RULERS, . 
 
 149 
 187 
 222 
 235 
 248 
 
CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEFINITION OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 The legislature and the entire condition of society in 
 our countrj' is convulsed, and we live in a period of 
 transition, of which the future and final results are 
 still shrouded in darkness. There was a time when 
 the best men of the age endeavoured to work out a 
 Christian state of society. Now it is not so ; that task 
 is set aside and other results aimed at, not only on 
 account of weariness, but of set purpose, and with full 
 prescience of the result. As, at the end of the last 
 century, the public mind of France was betrayed into 
 the demented assertion, "The State is atheist, and 
 ought to be so ! " so we find now in German papers the 
 foolhard}' expression, " A Christian State is Utopian," 
 whereby they would accuse of folly all those who 
 endeavour to realize that ideal. Still, if we grant that, 
 with such materials and means as we have at command, 
 it may be impossible perfectly to solve so lofty a pro- 
 blem, since when has the principle been recognised, 
 that because the ideal is unattainable, all endeavour 
 to attain at least to as near an approach to it as pos- 
 sible should be given up? If it were allowable to 
 arrange the affairs of the State without regard to 
 Christian principles, it would be equally justifiable in 
 each individual to abstain from endeavouring to become 
 
2 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 really virtuous, because this also, taken in its fullest 
 sense, is an ideal which is far beyond the reach of 
 average men. 
 
 The emploj^ment of the abstract term " State " or 
 " Commonwealth " renders the solution of the question 
 the more difficult. We approach the reality and the 
 understanding of it better, if we think of the people, 
 or the nation, and its rulers ; that is to say, those 
 who are invested with the authority without which no 
 community can exist. The nation, with its leaders, — 
 and all such as have any civic authority are to be 
 numbered amongst the latter, — forms one corporation. 
 Just as a family, consisting of children, servants, and 
 other inmates of the house, with father and mother at 
 the head, forms one moral entity, one responsible 
 personality, so also the nation, gathered under its 
 rulers, forms an abstraction, which we express by the 
 word " State " or " Commonwealth." 
 
 Who will be bold enough to deny that a famih^ 
 ought to be guided and ordered according to Christian 
 principles? Every individual member, and, therefore, 
 also the family as a whole, is called upon, and is bound, 
 to order itself, as to conduct, entirely according to 
 Christian principles. The same calling, the same duty, 
 attaches to a nation when it as such — i.e. the majority 
 of its component members under the guidance of its 
 rulers — accepts the Christian religion and professes 
 allegiance to it. This has occurred. It is no suppo- 
 sition or fanciful proposition, but a gi'and, irrefutable, 
 historical fact. Every one of the European nations 
 which exist at the present day, with the exception of 
 the Jews, who dwell amongst us as strangers, and the 
 Osmanlis, who came amongst us as intruders, have 
 taken this very step. Every European nation has set 
 aside its old heathen religion, and adopted as its own 
 the Christian faith and worship. In that individuals 
 
DEFINITION OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 3 
 
 have been baptized, the body, which is composed of 
 such individuals, has received Christian baptism. But, 
 together with the benefits of Christianity, we must 
 accept its duties. The confession of Christ of necessity 
 inckides also a vow to obey His commands. Christian 
 faith without Christian works is open to that sentence 
 of condemnation which Christ expressed in the saying, 
 " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
 which I say?" But if the matter be seriously gone 
 about, to bring the laws of the land, the public institu- 
 tions, the mode of action of the authorities, and the 
 life of the nation into accordance with the laws of 
 Christ, what is this but an endeavour to realize and to 
 render corporate a Christian State or Commonwealth ? 
 
 Thanks to this endeavour, we have no slaveiy, with 
 its absence of legal status, no immoral worship amongst 
 us ; the claims of the poor are recognised, the sick are 
 cared for, the young are educated, and the dignity 
 of human existence, as established and ennobled by 
 Christianity, is acknowledged. 
 
 Such virtues as flourished in the ancient heathen 
 States, for instance, in the best days of the Eomaii 
 Republic, as faithfulness to an oath, uprightness of the 
 judges, incorruptibility of officials, and self-devotion to 
 the country, have acquired, through Christianity, a new 
 status and a higher sanction than before. Amongst 
 the greatest benefits which have accrued to the nations 
 in consequence of their acceptation of Christianity may 
 be reckoned the principle that God is no respecter of 
 persons. Whereas the whole of the ancient heathen 
 nations inclined to the deification of their kings, and 
 thereby fostered the worst depravities, all who profess 
 Christianity admit the divine principle that the highest 
 amongst the people, as well as the lowest, are equally 
 responsible for their deeds to a heavenly Judge, and 
 that one moral code is binding upon all. 
 
4 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 It would be unintelligible how any one could deny 
 the principle that the State should be formed on a 
 Christian plan, if, in the da3's when this principle was 
 universally and publicly acknowledged, abuses and 
 degeneracy had not crept in. But thus it was, and 
 the fact is undeniable. Even during the whole of the 
 Middle Ages we find antagonism existing between 
 the Christian profession and antichristian mode of 
 life. We have the most explicit confession of Christ, 
 in public announcements, ceremonials, and laws, co- 
 existing with injustice and tyranny, impure living, 
 cruelty, and persecution. This ancient evil assumed 
 even a worse form in despotically governed States 
 after the Reformation under the old i^egime. Since 
 schism entered the Church, the various parties have 
 sought, each in their own way, by insisting upon their 
 own especial orthodoxy, and b}' the want of forbearance 
 connected with it, to arrive as it were at the highest 
 pitch of Christianit}^ But as at the same time the 
 national life was neglected, and corruption gained the 
 ascendancy in the upper ranks, untruth, and those 
 internal anomalies from which the Christian States of 
 the Middle Ages suffered, also became intensified. That 
 we ore all bound to strive to render the State Christian, 
 is an eternal moral truism ; but that a Christian Com- 
 monwealth ever was realized under Henry viii., Ivan 
 the Terrible, Philip ii., Ferdinand ii., or Louis xliv., 
 — to assert that would be a monstrous untruth. 
 
 The better a thing originally is, the worse it becomes 
 when it degenerates.^ The falsity of the nature of the 
 so-called Christian States has not only caused delay 
 and injury, but has also brought about disintegration. 
 The fact of boasting of enjoying a Christian Common- 
 wealth, and at the same time not obeying the highest 
 commandments of God, is hypocrisy ; but hypocrisy is 
 
 * " Corruptio optimi pessima." 
 
DEFINITION OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 5 
 
 repulsive to the best elements in the breast of man. 
 This antagonism is directed not only against the 
 perversion, but against the principle itself. The worst 
 elements of human society take advantage of the 
 opportunity. Under the screen of righteous indigna- 
 tion a resistance is organized, which, whilst far from 
 endeavouring to make virtue a reality, wishes to do 
 away with the effects of Christian principles on the 
 national and individual life. Thus the want of virtue 
 in the clergy, and the causes of offence furnished by 
 them, have not only w^eakened the faith of the people, 
 but have also opened the door to heterodoxy and 
 scandal ; the immorality and tyranny of rulers, who 
 took the name of Christ upon their lips, has lighted up 
 the fires of hatred, revolutions, and mania for destruc- 
 tion amongst the people. He who now takes upon 
 himself after all this to plead for the setting up of a 
 Christian State, has to combat with prejudice, as though 
 he desired to reintroduce the abuses and depravities 
 which existed under the old state of things. We hope 
 to be able to show that a Christian State, properly 
 understood, contains in itself all the conditions neces- 
 sary for the public weal. However much it m&y have 
 degenerated in the hands of men, still the problem 
 has to be solved ; and it is plainly the duty of each 
 and all to aim at a better solution than has ever yet 
 been attained. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHORITY 
 AND THE VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 When the Christian religion became operative in the 
 Roman Empire — when it was announced to our 
 Teutonic forefathere, it found itself in both cases face 
 to face with an established form of government. The 
 preachers of the gospel did not require to construct 
 anything of the sort ; and even if we suppose that 
 opportunity for so doing had been afforded them, they 
 had no commission, no authority, no warrant for any 
 such undertaking. This is clearly evident from the 
 behaviour of Christ and His apostles. Whilst they 
 recognised the existing authority, they claimed no 
 temporal power for themselves, and deduced from their 
 high calling no right to participation in the framing of 
 laws, dispensation of justice, or administration of the 
 State. The narrative of the life of Christ upon earth 
 commences with a statement of the fact that a census 
 was being taken under the authority of the Emperor 
 Augustus. Whilst the orthodox Jews held it to be 
 unseemly to pay taxes to a heathen ruler, Christ said, 
 " Render unto Ciesar the things that are Caesar's." 
 Christ drew the clearest possible distinction between 
 His own servants and the temporal rulers. When 
 Peter drew his sword against the myrmidons who laid 
 hands upon the Just One, Christ rebuked him with 
 the words, " Put up thy sword again into his place, 
 for all they who take to the sword shall perish with the 
 sword." When Christ stood before the judgment-seat 
 
CHRISTLA.NITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHORITY. 7 
 
 of Pilate, He solemnly recognised his office as judge, 
 and the delegated power of life and death which he 
 wielded. Thus He removed the sword from the hand 
 of His own servant Peter, but allowed the servant of 
 Tiberius to retain it. Here we have the foundation 
 laid for those teachings which we find in the epistles 
 of the apostles upon the subject of the authorities 
 ordained of God. 
 
 It is very remarkable to observe how foreign it was 
 to the intention of the apostles to cast any doubt upon 
 the legitimacy of the ordinances which existed in the 
 Roman Empire. The origin of these was in many 
 respects allied with guilt ; the sj'stem upon which the 
 provinces were governed was oppressive. In the very 
 commencement the abuse of authority. was seen in the 
 persecution of Christians. But with all this we hear 
 of no reproach being heaped upon the existing imperial 
 organs. The Christians took no part either in the 
 Jewish war or in any insurrections, and during the 
 cruel persecutions it never occurred that the Christians 
 joined any revolutionary movement in order to put a 
 stop to their o^*n sufferings. 
 
 When the gospel found acceptance amongst the 
 Germanic nations, it entered a sphere where more noble 
 relations existed. It entered a Teutonic kingdom. 
 Here no despotism founded upon usurpation and 
 conquest reigned. Each of the German tribes had a 
 king of its own ; and although in war his power was 
 almost absolute, still, in the normal condition of peace, 
 it was limited. Christianity also recognised the Ger- 
 man kingdom and German legislature. Although 
 ancient church history furnishes us with no example 
 in which Christianity entered into a republic, such as 
 the Grecian republics in olden times were, still we may 
 with certainty conclude from its general behaviour, 
 that any existing form of government, even though 
 
8 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 republican, would have met with recognition from the 
 servants of Christ. 
 
 The question as to which of the different forms of 
 government agreed best with Christian principles was 
 never raised in the Middle Ages. Only in the move- 
 ments of later times, which commenced with the 
 revolution in England, did this question come promi- 
 nently forward. Since then conflicting political parties 
 have appealed to Christian doctrine, and each of these 
 would assert that the form of government which they 
 strove to inaugurate w^as the one commended by the 
 word of truth revealed by God. English history 
 affords the most instructive illustration of this. There 
 both extremes have presented themselves, each with 
 this bold assertion of the divine sanction. 
 
 After the royal prerogative had been brought to its 
 highest pitch by Charles i. and Lord Strafford, Filmer 
 asserted, in the interest of the house of the Stuarts, the 
 theory of the absolute authority of kings, as opposed 
 to which no privileges of Parliament, no rights of the 
 people, might be set up. That such did exist he 
 admitted, but he asserted that they were not original, 
 and had no independent existence, being mere gracious 
 gifts from the king, which he had granted in the 
 absolutism of his power, but which he could also, when 
 he considered expedient, circumscribe or revoke. This 
 inalienable power was given him from above. And he 
 asserted that such kingship, restrained by no other 
 power, was the one ordained of God, — the form of 
 government which corresponded to Christian principles. 
 
 The contrary proposition was set up by Oliver Crom- 
 well and his adherents. A republic was the only form 
 of Christian government. The kingship, misused by 
 the Tudors and Stuarts, had become an object of mis- 
 trust and disgust to all earnest men. From that 
 quarter nothing was to be hoped for for the people, or 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHOKITY. U 
 
 for the setting up of a Christian national life. The 
 people must take the matter in hand themselves, and 
 a righteous, God-fearing, and morally pure government 
 could only be established in the form of a Christian 
 democracy. Under Charles ii. some unfortunate 
 people were executed because they would hear of no 
 king but Jesus. 
 
 When the waves of the first and second revolutions 
 had passed away in England, the views of both parties 
 became more temperate. The political systems of the 
 Whigs and Tories were developed. The form of words 
 in which they expressed their views ran thus : One 
 said, " Authority is from God ; " the others, " Authority 
 exists for the sake of the people." These watchwords 
 serve, even in the present day, as excellent descrip- 
 tions of the fundamental ideas of both parties. 
 
 They are clearly not contradictory. If one of these 
 statements be well founded, that by no means excludes 
 the possibility of the other being also true ; and, in 
 fact, each contains a moral truism, neither can be 
 rebutted from a Christian point of view, and the syn- 
 thesis of the two might serve as an exact expression of 
 the Christian view. Authority is ordained of God, and 
 the divine intention is to promote and secure the 
 welfare of the people. The entire object of authority 
 is to serve for the good of the people, and thus the 
 divine intention, upon which the ordinance rests, is 
 fulfilled. The assertion of the W^higs is Christian, and 
 the reply of the Tories is Christian, so long as both 
 are merely asserted in the positive form. But it would 
 be untrue, and in its consequences contradictory to 
 Christian principles, if either one or the other assertion 
 were set up in a negative or exclusive form. To say 
 that authority does not exist for the people, or that 
 authority is not ordained of God, would in either case 
 be distinctly false. 
 
10 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 The battle which was practically fought out in 
 England was philosophically worked out by sharp- 
 witted thinkers on the Continent, in connection with 
 speculations on the root of social evil and the origin 
 of authoritative power. At the present day they still 
 exist as two scientific theories, which have never 
 been exhaustively examined, and which still await 
 decision. 
 
 One doctrine starts with the assumption of an original 
 equality inherent in all mankind ; it assumes the exist- 
 ence of a natural condition of this kind at first, but 
 which could not continue because it had no organization. 
 For the purpose of living together in safety, a certain 
 order, a protecting power, became necessary. Then the 
 majority voluntarily transferred a portion of their rights 
 to a few, who should assume the task of protecting the 
 life and property of all, and carry on the general busi- 
 ness. It is supposed that authority was founded in 
 this manner. Everything was conducted naturally and 
 humanly, as when, in the present day, a party of 
 emigrants and gold-diggers in California constitute 
 themselves into a community of some sort. The 
 Commonwealth, thus built up according to the ideas of 
 m^en, is, agreeably to this conception, only a mutual 
 assurance office for the life and property of those who 
 take part therein. Grotius and Puffendorf have set 
 forth this doctrine of the status 7iaturalis. Rousseau, in 
 his Contrat Social, has deduced the final sequences from 
 it, and his doctrine became the programme of the 
 revolutionary party in all Europe and America. 
 
 As opposed to the one-sidedness and vacuity of this 
 theory, the defenders of authority and the ancient order 
 of things rely the more emphatically upon the contrary 
 principle. The family, so they say, is the oldest form 
 of authority, and in the family paternal authority is the 
 basis of all. A father, who is bound to nourish, pro- 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHORITY. 11 
 
 tect, and defend his own, — who is bound to preserve 
 unity, justice, and decency in his family circle, — is the 
 origin of all authority. From the paternal authority 
 the civic authority is derived. In ancient times the 
 family grew by the accession of servants, slaves, and 
 wards, by the increase of territorial possessions and 
 general prosperity, to a primitive State. Job and 
 Abraham were kings, just as in Homer the great landed 
 proprietor appears as a king, leaning upon his sceptre, 
 contemplating the labours of the ploughmen, and hand- 
 ing them the refreshing cup. The original State was 
 the patriarchal. 
 
 Now, as the paternal authority in the family certainly 
 is not based upon human invention, nor upon any 
 articles of association signed by the children, in which 
 they abdicated their rights, but upon a divine appoint- 
 ment and law, which preceded the existence of the 
 individual and is out of the pale of man's will, so also 
 civic authority. Later forms of government are derived 
 from the patriarchal State ; it is necessary to retain the 
 connection with the latter, and the entire arrangement 
 and form of the national life must conform to that 
 model. 
 
 Has the natural condition of affairs, as presupposed 
 by Locke and his successors, ever existed? Experience 
 and common sense both inform us that this state of 
 perfect equality, and enjoyment of similar privileges by 
 each individual, never has existed and never could exist. 
 It is a phantom, as is also the supposititious transition 
 from that condition into a full-blown State by a regular 
 form of agreement, and affords no reliable basis for 
 further consideration. Louis von Haller has once for 
 all disposed of this idea in the first volume of his 
 Restoration of Political Science. Moreover, it by r.o 
 means coincides with the facts recorded in history to 
 suppose that all civic ordinances have been derived from 
 
12 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 the patriarchal State. Even admitting that the ancient 
 despotic monarchies of Nineveh and Babylon, Egypt 
 and China, were raised upon such a basis, still in the 
 constitution of European States, such as the Grecian, 
 Roman, and above all those of the Teutonic Middle 
 Ages, we find totally different sources of origin. The 
 paternal poAver of an individual is not the basis, no 
 single authority suppresses all other; but, concomitant 
 with the dignity of the head of the State, we find a 
 second element, that is to say, a body of free and 
 independent men, who have entered into a compact 
 for mutual aid and protection. The ancient history 
 of Iceland, as related by Conrad Maurer, is about the 
 most remarkable instance of a State having arisen from 
 the voluntary association of independent and co-equal 
 heads of families. In such historical facts we are able 
 to arrive at the truth which is at the bottom of the 
 theory of a condition of nature, and the constitution 
 of States therefrom. 
 
 The most noble and most active forms of constitution 
 are just those in which we find the two features of 
 headship and fellowship most distinctly retained. Both 
 these principles existed even in pre-historic times, 
 and it is the endeavour to maintain these principles in 
 action, and to bring them into accord, which underlies 
 the history of the most favoured nations. Whenever 
 we find one principle absorbed by the other, — if such 
 a case were possible, for it probably never will be com- 
 pletely efiected, — we find distorted and miserable forms 
 of government, whether it be apathetic and unyielding 
 despotism, or a restless, wild, and self- destructive 
 democracy. If the theory be true that the movement 
 of the heavenly bodies depends upon the action of two 
 forces which control each other, called the centrifugal 
 and the centripetal forces, we seem to have in nature 
 a constitution analogous to the two forces, which are 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN ITS RELATION TO EXISTING AUTHORITY. 13 
 
 the postulates of civic order, namely, liberty and autho- 
 rity. When both are developed, when both are brought 
 into harmony and consolidated by the experience and 
 labours of centuries, then we have the most perfect 
 constitution of the State conceivable, and the one 
 which satisfies the human wants most completely. The 
 English constitution is the one which most closely 
 approximates to this ideal ; and it is the one held up 
 as an example to be followed, alternately by sticklers 
 for authority and by the enthusiastic worshippers of 
 liberty. It is this very admiration accorded by both 
 parties which may be accepted as proof of the fact 
 that in this instance the two legitimate elements of 
 constitutional existence have been able to assert 
 themselves more thoroughly than elsewhere. 
 
 These principles, the effects of which may be traced 
 in the existence of nations from the very commence- 
 ment, are embodied in the two great parties whose 
 strife is the topic of the present day, of which one has 
 inscribed Conservatism, the other Reform, upon its 
 banners. Thus also we are bound to admit that both 
 of these parties has grounds for existence. It is 
 primarily inaccurate to say that one is Christian, the 
 other antichristian, in principle. Egotism is an 
 element in all political strife, and no party is free from 
 error. But this renders it all the more dangerous for 
 .Christianity to identify itself with either of these par- 
 ties, otherwise it too would be thereby held responsible 
 for their excesses. 
 
 If we desire to arrive at a just and moral appreciation 
 of the political contrasts of our times, we shall never 
 be able to do so as long as we only distinguish two 
 parties. For besides the moderate and reasonable 
 partisans, whether of Conservatism or Reform, we havG 
 the extremes, who either affectionately cling to ancient 
 and oppressive abuses, or else are guilty of an irreverent 
 
1-4 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 love of demolition. We must not only consider two, but 
 four parties. Only thus can we attain to a just appre- 
 ciation of them and their relations to Christianity, 
 and only thus will it be possible to bring about an 
 approximate understanding between the opponents. 
 
 The ministers of the gospel should, in this combat 
 between Conservatism and Reform, avoid placing them- 
 selves in the ranks of either party; otherwise they will 
 embitter the strife by shortsightedly declaring one 
 principle to be Christian, the other to be antichristian, 
 instead of, as their calling requires of them, using their 
 influence to bring about a reconciliation between both 
 parties. 
 
 Christianity does not set up governments, and it does 
 not pull any down. But wherever it finds acceptation, 
 and is allowed to influence public opinion, it assists in 
 softening down asperities and egotism, and in spon- 
 taneously opening up a way to the most perfect form of 
 organic development. Christian doctrine has a_^ human- 
 izing effect upon the feelings and manners. It reminds 
 the powerful ones of their dependence upon God, and 
 of the account which they will have to render to Him ; 
 it endeavours to attune their hearts to good will 
 towards and confidence in their subjects; and at the 
 same time it establishes in the subjects feelings of 
 reverence. It ratifies respect for the law; it endows 
 the ministers of the law with a higher sanction — all of 
 which are results from before which the extravagances 
 of despotism and the egotism of democracy must give 
 way. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 
 
 If what we have said be correct, and if Christianity 
 does recognise the various forms of government, 
 whether monarchical, aristocratic, or democratic, it 
 may be supposed that under each the realization of a 
 Christian Commonwealth is possible. As one may say 
 in regard to the public weal, every form of admini- 
 stration is good if only well administered ; so also a 
 Christian State will everywhere be realized and flourish, 
 where the rulers, the framers and administrators of the 
 law, consider themselves bound by the laws of Christ, 
 and permit themselves to be guided by Christian 
 principles. History has confirmed this assertion. 
 Even although the ideal has never been attained to 
 anywhere, still a Christian form of government and 
 national life has flourished both in monarchies and in 
 republics — e.g. in Geneva, Holland, and the States of 
 New England. These statements, which are calcu- 
 lated to allay and to still all passionate feeling, appear 
 to be admitted on all hands, and to be self-evident ; 
 nevertheless we cannot pass over one argument needful 
 for their confirmation. The elder ones of our contem- 
 poraries can relate much from sad experience about 
 the mighty activity of one party, which had inscribed 
 the motto of a " Christian State " upon their banner, 
 and maintained that an absolute monarchy alone was 
 suited to its realization ; that this was above all the 
 form of government desired of God, and the form which 
 harmonized best with Christian principles. It was 
 
IG CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 admitted that the privileges of corporate bodies, as they 
 existed in the Middle Ages, were admissible under 
 such a monarchy; but that all modern ideas of liberty, 
 such as have come to the surface since 1789, and the 
 constitutions which have emanated from them, were 
 objectionable. Hence the duty of a Christian was to 
 range himself on the side of absolute monarchy, and 
 to oppose the constitutional system. It is the system 
 of anti-revolution, which obtained amongst the greater 
 and lesser powers of the Continent for some fifty years 
 after the fall of Napoleon. The excesses of the demo- 
 cratic party in the French Revolution, and the suffer- 
 ings with which Europe was threatened by the intrinsi- 
 cally revolutionary empire of the first Napoleon, led to 
 this reaction. The wave of the liberation movement 
 which had passed over Europe retired, and it was 
 believed that in re-erecting the old monarchical system 
 one might boast of being in communion with 
 revived Christian principles, and that therefore the 
 entire retrograde movement could be justified. It was 
 Count Joseph de Maistre, the Roman Catholic diplo- 
 matist, who applied a religious hue to the systems 
 represented by Metternich and Gentz. In Prussia the 
 matter was clothed in the garb of evangelical piety. 
 It was customary to extol the Prussian kingdom by 
 means of quotations from the Messianic Psalms. It 
 seemed as though a thirteenth article had there been 
 added to the other twelve of the Apostles' Creed, and 
 that this new article was the assertion of the absolute 
 power of kings. Yilmar required that every Christian, 
 and especiall}' every German Christian, should repeat 
 and subscribe to a political creed recognising the 
 absolute power of princes, and denying the constitu- 
 tional principle. A well-known newspaper, called the 
 New Prussian Journal, proposed the following as a 
 charter for the constitution : — 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 17 
 
 Sec. I. The king commands. 
 
 Sec. II. The people obey. 
 
 We have here only to do with the assertion that this 
 system is an eminently Christian one. We regret the 
 necessity which arises for differing from such as evi- 
 dently are striving after a Christian State. We would 
 much rather not do so, and would prefer not to oppose 
 a tendency whose star is, whether or no, on the wane, 
 were not the spiritual injury which has arisen from 
 the mixing up of the sacred subject of Christianity 
 with the desecrated absolute monarchy so great. By 
 this intermixture the Christian faith was compromised. 
 Prejudice assumed enormous proportions, as though 
 every distinctly Christian profession was in league 
 with despotism, and orthodox doctrine was an invention 
 of tyranny for the oppression of the people. The 
 moral code of Christianity was adulterated with the 
 assertion that princes were above the reach of the law, 
 and could retract their pledged word. Any one who 
 in the present day will plead for a Christian State has 
 to fear being called upon to appear at the bar of public 
 opinion as a participator in those dreadful errors, and 
 as a conspirator with such powers as are inimical to 
 the people. Hence it becomes a duty to defend the 
 Christian State from its friends and worshippers ; and 
 every one does a good work who assists in rebutting 
 so dangerous an error, and disentangles the cause of 
 Christ from that of the despots. 
 
 Is absolute monarchy based, more than any other 
 form of government, upon biblical and Christian 
 doctrines, or even recommended by them ? 
 
 In the Bible such an arbitrary and unrestrained 
 power is mentioned ; but how is it spoken of ? 
 
 It is Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the Babylonian 
 Empire, of whom it is said, " Whom he would he slew, 
 and whom he would lie kept alive ; and whom he 
 
 B 
 
18 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 would he set up, and whom he would he put down." 
 Such was the form whicli royal power had assumed 
 upon Eastern soil. But it is certainly not held up 
 before us as an example of that which is right and 
 desirable. On the contrary, a totally different object 
 was set before the kings of the people of Israel. For 
 it is said in the Mosaic law : " It shall be when he — the 
 king, chosen by the Lord thy God ; the anointed one, 
 whom no one dare lay hands upon — when he sitteth 
 upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write 
 him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is 
 before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with 
 him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, 
 that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep- 
 all the words of this law, and these statutes, to do them ; 
 that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren (his 
 subjects — his brethren !), and that he turn not aside 
 from the commandment to the right hand or to the 
 left : to the end that he may prolong his days in his 
 kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel " 
 (Dent. xvii. 18-20). 
 
 This distinction between the heathen and Israelitish 
 rights of kings comes even more prominently to light 
 in the history of King Ahab. The king wished to pur- 
 chase the vineyard of Naboth, which lies near the palace, 
 and to make for himself a garden of herbs. Naboth 
 declined to part with it, basing his refusal upon the 
 privilege and duty of every head of a family in Israel 
 to hand down the inheritance of his father to his 
 children. So Ahab came into his house heavy and 
 displeased, and he laid him down upon his bed and 
 would eat no bread. Then came to him Jezebel his 
 wife, the daughter of the heathen king of Tyre, the 
 zealous worshipper of Baal ; and when she heard the 
 cause of his humour, she said, " Dost thou now govern 
 the kingdom of Israel ? Arise and eat bread, and let 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 19 
 
 thine heart be merry ; I will give thee the vineyard of 
 Xaboth the .Tczreelite " (1 Kings xxi.). That was the 
 lieathenish, Oriental idea of royal power which the 
 Phoenicians had bronght with them from the court at 
 Tyre, and which they wished to introduce into Israel, 
 that no ro3'alty could exist if laws and the rights of 
 individuals wore allowed to present an impassable 
 barrier interfering with the will of the ruler. 
 
 In the Psalms and in the writings of the prophets 
 the kingdom of the ^^lessiah is foretold. • The ruler of 
 it is to appear furnished with divine power, righteous- 
 ness, and wisdom. But such passages refer to Christ 
 and His future kingdom. In Him dwelleth the ful- 
 ness of the Godhead, and His rule will indeed bear out 
 the sayings of the prophets. To refer such prophecies 
 to any mortal ruler, whether David, Solomon, or any 
 Christian king, would be idolatry. Who dares to place 
 the statements contained in the Messianic prophecies 
 upon an equality with the Apotheosis of Augustus by 
 Horace ? In the whole volume of Holy Scripture we 
 find notliing repudiated and rebuked so earnestly and 
 with such detestation as the idolizing of men. 
 
 It is very true that in a Christian kingdom there 
 ought to be a reflex of the royal action of Christ ; the 
 Christian king should be an image of Christ in his 
 dignity and his working. Granted ; but it must not 
 be forgotten that this image is of clay. With reference 
 to the 82d Psalm, Bacon says in his Essays : " A king 
 is a mortal god upon earth, unto whom the living God 
 hath let His own name as a great honour ; but withal 
 told him that he should die like a man, lest he should 
 be proud, and flatter himself that God, hath with His 
 name imparted unto him His nature also." 
 
 It is true that Scripture teaches us to recognise in 
 the royal office a divine commission, and to respect 
 the same ; but, at the same time, in no other book in 
 
20 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 the world is the weakness, infirmity, unworthiness, and 
 nothingness of man so prominently insisted upon as in 
 the Bible. It would be a monstrous fallacy to wish 
 to deduce from the divine commission that any super- 
 human wisdom and insight had been imparted. It is 
 as certain that the king is not omniscient, as that he is 
 not immortal and not omnipotent. On the contrary, 
 he is born with the same spiritual and corporeal weak- 
 nesses as all other mortals. One difference certainly 
 does exist, and that is, a prince ought to be more 
 deeply impressed with his need of aid, because his 
 duties are so vast and the temptations which surround 
 him so many. 
 
 It is not enough that he consider himself amenable 
 to the eternal laws of righteousness, truth, and charity, 
 and bound to conform to the limitations imposed 
 thereby — an axiom which only a godless person can 
 question; but also within those limitations he is 
 restrained in the exercise of his power by his human 
 imperfections. His Christian principles will be the 
 very thing which will impress upon him the conscious- 
 ness of such restriction. 
 
 There are two considerations which lead to the same 
 conclusion from ditierent causes. The king requires 
 wisdom, and he will seek it from God ; similarly ' to 
 Solomon, who, on ascending the throne, did not pray 
 for riches, honour, and victory over his enemies, but 
 for an obedient and wise heart, that he might be 
 capable of ruling the people of God. But still he will 
 not only look upwards to attain this wisdom, he will 
 also look about for it upon earth ; for if he has the 
 power of deciding in all weighty occasions, insight 
 does not pertain to him alone. As Bacon says : " The 
 wisest princes need not think it any diminution to 
 their greatness, or derogation to their sufficing, to rely 
 upon counsel." The most pregnant action of a king 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 21 
 
 is the promulgation of a law. In this, comprehensive 
 knowledge of the circumstances, and the experience 
 of centuries, is above all things needful ; hence an 
 appreciation of his duties will lead a Christian prince to 
 seek the advice of his subjects. He will seek for the 
 best advice which is to be found amongst his people, 
 the most varied, impartial, and unselfish that is to be 
 had. It is a justifiable desire on the part of the people 
 to see their ruler surrounded with the most trust- 
 worthy councillors, that the sufi:erings and the wishes 
 of his people may not be hid from him, and that neither 
 justice nor mercy may be deficient in his rule. Suppose 
 that in any State tliere were no law binding the king 
 by the consent of his councillors in the promulgation 
 of a new law, or forbidding him to decide contrary to 
 them, still there is a moral obligation, and in a Chris- 
 tian-minded ruler this would have exactly as much 
 effect as a constitutional limitation of his power. 
 
 The other consideration is this : individual rights are 
 under divine protection. Not only the rulers of the 
 country, but also the head of the family, the land- 
 owner, and every proprietor, has within his own border 
 certain rights due to the grace of God. In the history 
 of the people of Israel, it is palpable that these rights 
 existed even prior to the rights of kings. The former 
 are, therefore, equally of divine sanction with the latter. 
 But the very nature of a community and of a State 
 requires that each individual shall be prepared to 
 sacrifice a portion of his own rights for the welfare of 
 all. A form of government necessitates, for the execu- 
 tion of its functions, the payment of taxes and personal 
 service from the people. With new imposts and new 
 laws, fresh demands are made upon the tributary 
 people. But as the life and property of each individual 
 are sacred, a Christian ruler will only make such 
 demands upon the liberality of his people as are actu- 
 
22 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 ally necessary for the well-being of the whole. To be 
 able to form a correct judgment on this point, again, is 
 a matter requiring the wisest consideration. A Chris- 
 tian prince will not here decide for himself His 
 conscience will move him to seek counsel of his people, 
 and in the impost of fresh burdens to obtain the con- 
 sent of those concerned. How far the people are to 
 be allowed to participate in the framing of the laws, 
 and the mode in which the opinion of the nation 
 respecting fresh taxes is to be gathered, are matters 
 which must be ruled by laws which have passed into 
 the domain of history. The principle itself follows, as 
 a matter of course, from the fundamental ideas of 
 prince, people, authority, State, and rights. 
 
 If absolute monarch}' be the form of government 
 most consonant with Christianity, there ought to be 
 observable a similarity of constitution and nature be- 
 tween it and the Christian Church ; but, as a matter of 
 fact, the contrary is the case. In the Christian Church 
 quite different fundamental ideas are prominent. 
 
 The rule of Christ is of a very different kind from 
 that of the despots of heathenish antiquity. It is true, 
 He is King and Lord in the fullest sense of the terms ; 
 but He it is who offered Himself up for the good of 
 His people, and who holds dear each individual soul, 
 even that of the least and poorest. In His dealings 
 as Head of the Church, He regards the sufferings of 
 His subjects ; He listens to the voice of His Spirit in 
 the praj^ers of those seeking help ; He judges the 
 transgressors of His laws ; but the homage which He 
 expects is voluntary, and even in His chastisements 
 He does not override the free-will of man. 
 
 By the appearance of Christ upon- earth, rule has 
 become something very different to what the world 
 ever saw before. Every participation in government 
 is now destined for the well-being of the subjects. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 23 
 
 Government has become, as Franz von Baader says, in 
 reality a service, and being governed has become an 
 act of being served. 
 
 In the Christian Church both principles, that of 
 liberty and that of authorit}', are intertwined. In the 
 apostles, and in the bishops and elders ordained by 
 them, a higher commission, a reverence-requiring 
 authority", was unmistakeably put forth. The Christian 
 ministry did not come into existence as a thing be- 
 gotten by the community ; it existed previous to tlie 
 latter. On the other hand, in every member the dig- 
 nity of Christ is recognised and respected to the utmost. 
 Tlie welfare of all the members constitutes the aim of 
 a religious community, and authoritj^ exists in it for 
 the purpose of realizing this aim. It is true that in the 
 course of time the harmon}' between these two prin- 
 ciples has been disturbed ; and on the one hand the 
 authority of the office-bearer, and on the other the 
 libert}' and the rights of the community, have been 
 pushed beyond bounds. But at the same time the 
 Church has, owing to the fact of these two elements 
 being combined in her and appreciated, contributed to 
 a peaceful development of the national life. In her 
 original, pure, divinely-granted constitution, she is the 
 most perfect of all organizations. With her before them, 
 such as extol a one-sided form of constitution, as being 
 especially Christian, should hide their heads for shame. 
 
 If we look at the visible form which the separate 
 communities took, we find that the original arrange- 
 ment, which should never have been departed from, is 
 the following: — A bishop at the head, who has to guide 
 the whole ; under him a body of elders or priests, who 
 assist him with counsel and action; under these the 
 body of deacons, chosen by the community, from whom 
 the bishop and the elders learn the wishes of the con- 
 gregation. Who can refuse to see in this the organic 
 
24 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 order of the State, where the king, in the position of 
 temporal bishop and pastor of his people, really governs ; 
 the body of elders is represented by the Senate or 
 House of Lords ; and the diaconate is shown forth in 
 the representatives of the people or House of Commons '? 
 Looked at in every aspect, the organization of the 
 Christian Church, as divinely ordered, is suggestive of 
 a limited, not an absolute monarchy. 
 
 Can it be gravely asserted that absolute monarchy 
 is Teutonic ? that it coincides with the German spirit 
 and traditions ? Such an assertion requires no refuta- 
 tion ; still it may be useful, as throwing a light upon 
 the whole subject, to call to mind here certain historical 
 facts. 
 
 Tacitus has laid down the fundamental principles of 
 the ancient Teutonic kingdoms. The kings were taken 
 from the most distinguished families ; the retainers 
 displayed the utmost faithfulness to their prince, and 
 resolved to die for or with him. To defend and protect 
 him, to enhance his glory by acts of heroism, was the 
 duty of his men. If the king fell in battle, for any to 
 return alive was a lifelong disgrace. This is one aspect. 
 On the other hand, Tacitus asserts that, in important 
 matters, not the princes alone, but the whole assembly 
 of the people, were called upon to decide ; and when, in 
 this assembly, the king himself spoke, he endeavoured 
 rather to determine them by persuasive argument than 
 by direct command. Tacitus, in his Germania^ desired 
 to hold up a looking-glass before the Romans of his 
 time, by extolling the noble qualities of our German 
 forefathers. And thus, too, he cast a side glance of 
 reproach at the omnipotence of Roman emperors, when 
 he penned the words : " Neither have kings infinite or 
 free power."^ In the better times, it is true that the law 
 was the ruler of the Romans as well as of the Spartans ; 
 
 ^ " Nee regibus infinita aut libera potestas." 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 25 
 
 but in the evil days of imperial power, matters went so 
 far that the Roman jurists set up the doctrine: "The 
 emperor is not bound by the laws." 
 
 During the Middle Ages the Teutonic kingdom pre- 
 served, in all material points^ its original form. The 
 Frankish kings retained in peace a very limited, but in 
 war — as is necessitated by the position of aflairs — an 
 absolute power. Both principles are most beautifully 
 expressed in the old English traditions. No other person 
 shall be superior to the king. The king confirms the law, 
 and without his sanction no law can take effect. But he 
 alone cannot make the law; he is obliged, before publish- 
 ing any statute, to listen to the advice of the Parliament 
 and to obtain their consent. The proclamation of any 
 new law is announced with the old Norman form, " Le 
 roi le veut." But when once proclaimed, the king 
 himself is subject to it. He above all others is bound 
 to obey it ; he must uphold the ancient principle, 
 " Nolumus leges AnglisB mutari." In the Teutonic por- 
 tion of the Roman Empire, since Charlemagne, the 
 emperor, according to the form of the installation 
 ceremony and his coronation oath, was the supreme 
 protector of rights and guardian of the laws. 
 
 In all Christian States of the Middle Ages, Roman as 
 well as Teutonic, it again and again appears that the 
 nation had a voice in the legislature, although in 
 various forms, — sometimes by two estates, as in France ; 
 or by three, as in England ; or by four, as in Sweden. 
 
 It is only after the division of the Church that wo 
 come upon those evil times, when, by the growing 
 despotism of the Spanish and French kings, and by the 
 usurped power of the German princes, the ancient 
 rights were ignored and the bounds of princely power 
 removed. The rulers assumed the entire power of law- 
 giving to themselves. From 1614, the " Etats generaux " 
 of France were never called together until the out- 
 
2G CHiJISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 break of the great Revolution; and yet the better 
 traditions were so far imperishable, that they were 
 still spoken of in the documents of prominent writers. 
 Under Philip iii. of Spain, Mariana, and under Louis 
 XIV., Duguet, maintained the principle that the king- 
 was morally bound to obey the laws of the land 
 which he at his coronation found existing, and no less 
 also those which he himself gave to the people. 
 
 The proposition which we combat is not native on 
 German soil; it has been developed and taken root 
 in other countries. The ancient Oriental despotism 
 assumed a Christian form in tlie Bj^zantine Empire ; 
 and when Christianity passed over from thence to the 
 Sclavonic nations, it found amongst them a frame of 
 mind closely related to the despotic notions of the 
 East. The Russian autocracy was thus developed, 
 and appeared surrounded with the halo of a supposedly 
 divine and exclusive sanction. 
 
 Ivan the Terrible caused 70,000 inhabitants of Nov- 
 gorod to be put to the sword for no reason whatever, 
 and experienced no resistance ; for, as the Russian 
 historian of those days says, "Nothing equalled the 
 cruelty of the czar excepting the patience of his sub- 
 jects." The Russian priests taught that any one dying 
 in accordance with the will of the czar attains to heaven 
 at once, similarly to the ancient martyrs. 
 
 If ever a murmur arose that the magnates of the 
 land should be allowed to participate in the government, 
 the clergy at once declared such ideas to be Manichaean 
 heresy. Manes it was who taught that there were two 
 eternal j^i'iiiciples; and any one who spoke of any 
 other power in the State, besides that of the czar, 
 was considered partaker in his errors. So too royalty, 
 which, it is true, has received a portion of the honoiu^ 
 and majesty belonging to the eternal King, is con- 
 founded with divinity as being a visible God upon 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 1^7 
 
 earth, and is thus idolized. Verily there is but one 
 God, and I'rom Him do kings derive their dignity ; but 
 He who gives them that dignity has also set bounds to 
 their power. By a divine ordinance, the duration of lile 
 of the reigning monarch is limited ; his knowledge is 
 limited. Why should not his power also be limited? 
 
 Even iu tlie present da}' the Russian czar says, " I 
 liold all Russia in m}' hand." Such a position enables 
 him, when influenced by noble motives, to do good in 
 a grand style. Thus Alexander ii. was able, by his own 
 personal decision, to do away with slavery throughout 
 all Russia. The laithfulness and devotion of the 
 Russians to their common father contains something- 
 very captivating and touching ; but after all the posi- 
 tion is an abnormal one. Alexander i., the humane 
 ruler, considered that his subjects required no guaran- 
 tees for their rights, or against the abuse of the 
 imperial fulness of power. Madame de Stael hereupon 
 gave him the true repl}' : " Sire, you are nothing more 
 than a fortunate accident." 
 
 As the unfortunate Charles i. of England insisted, 
 when he stood before his judges, that it w^as impossible 
 and inadmissible that subjects should also be governors, 
 so also the Emperor Nicholas of Russia declared that he 
 could understand pure democracy, but that a limited 
 monarchy appeared to him inconsistent both with reason 
 and morals. So little did either of those monarchs com- 
 prehend an organic co-operation of the various members 
 in the State ; but this has been a fundamental principle 
 in the Teutonic State from its very commencement. 
 
 Let every one maintain his own fancies and his own 
 tendencies, onl}- do not let us hear any more of asser- 
 tions which would set forth the unorganic as the 
 specificall}^ Christian model. 
 
 The danger in the present day does not consist in 
 the setting up or spread of a Russian autocracy, based 
 
28 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 on biassed ecclesiastical tradition, and surrounded by 
 a halo of Christianity. The present century has learned 
 to know despotism under a far more dangerous form. 
 It is that despotism which is based upon a democratic 
 foundation, and is supported by revolutions ; the " en- 
 lightened despotism" which maintains an attitude of 
 indifference towards Christian religion, and which only 
 permits it to exist for a time as the ornament and 
 appanage of the throne and sceptre ; it is the armed, 
 military despotism, such as Buonaparte wielded, and of 
 which Horace, writing of Achilles, says : 
 
 " He does spurn all laws, 
 And by the sword alone asserts his cause." 
 
 But how, if after all the supporters of an unlimited 
 monarchy have unintentionally by their exertions 
 paved the way for this system and its final triumph ? 
 This is the cause for alarm, which the exaggerations 
 and misapprehensions of the votaries of the so-called 
 Christian monarchical principles have excited. 
 
 Our anxieties on this score go still farther; for a 
 military despotism may be only the precursor of a far 
 worse system, which threatens to surge forth when the 
 estrangement from Christianity among the nations has 
 assumed even greater dimensions. A genial statesman 
 of our time, Donoso Cortes, the Spaniard, has plainly 
 recognised this danger ; and, like a political prophet, 
 has pointed to the horrors of the coming event which 
 is already casting its shadow before. 
 
 According to the prophetical writings of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, we have to expect at the end of the present dis- 
 pensation a mighty tyrant, who will set himself above 
 all divine and human rights, and will claim divine 
 attributes and honours. It is not to be supposed that 
 Antichrist will be manifested in the form of a fierce 
 communistic faction, but rather in the person, and 
 accompanied with all the prestige, of a universal 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND ABSOLUTE MONAUCHY. 29 
 
 monarcli. His precursors have ages ago been visible 
 upon the stage of the world's history. They were the 
 ancient tyrants of Babylon and Assyria, and the lawless 
 emperors of heathen Rome. 
 
 It is a dangerous matter to tell princes that they 
 may set themselves above the laws, and to accustom 
 the people to a blind and unreasoning obedience, as 
 though that were a virtue becoming to Christians, 
 without regarding the distinctions between right and 
 wrong. Supposing that the present possessor of abso- 
 lute monarchy is imbued with Christian ideas, what 
 guarantee have we that his successor will be so? 
 What a misfortune it would be that Christian politi- 
 cians, without intending it, should assist in the setting 
 up of an antichristian throne ! 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 
 
 There is still one word of explanation necessary for 
 those who do not claim an absolute power for rulers, 
 and yet reject all modern liberal tendencies as unchris- 
 tian. They say monarch}^ shall be limited, the form 
 of government shall be organic ; but the limits of the 
 monarchy shall be determined, as they were in the 
 Middle Ages, by the powerful body of the nobility, the 
 clergy, and the boroughs. They say that the truly 
 organic State is the patrimonial of past centuries, as 
 Louis von Haller has described it in a most masterly 
 manner, and that such a form alone corresponds with 
 the Christian ideal ; that, on the other hand, the 
 attempts which have been made since 1789 to divide the 
 power between the crown and a rejDresentation selected 
 from the body of the people is antichristian ; that it 
 is reprehensible to talk of any contract between princes 
 and people, or to set up a written constitution, and to 
 require an oath of observance to be taken. Such is 
 the doctrine which Gentz, Jarcke, Vollgraff, and the 
 political weekly paper in Berlin have taken up. 
 
 Let us put one question here, to begin with. Where 
 does the patrimonial State exist ? It has fallen to 
 pieces, and only unimportant fragments thereof remain; 
 upon the ruins of it, absolute monarchy, like that of 
 Louis XIV. and the first Napoleon, was reared. Those 
 precautions against arbitrary rule and misuse of power, 
 which existed in the form of government of the Middle 
 Ages, are no longer to be found. The waves of time 
 
CnniSTIANITY AND MODEitN LIBKKAL TEXDENCIES, 31 
 
 have carried them away. If it were possible to resus- 
 citate them, it would have been achieved by the noble 
 endeavours of Frederick William iv. But his attempts 
 to rebuild monarchy upon the basis of the ancient 
 "estates" or "curioe" resulted in failure, and will 
 not be lio-htly resumed. Hence the practical ques- 
 tion with which we have to deal in Germany, as w^ell 
 as in France and elsewhere, is not whether in a 
 Christian State the power of the king shall be regu- 
 lated by ancient corporations or by modern inventions, 
 but whether it shall be limited by new arrangements 
 or not limited at all. This is the choice which the 
 Avell-wishers of their country have found themselves 
 face to face with in German3^ ever since, at the con- 
 stitution of the German Confederation, a representative 
 constitution was promised ; but that promise remained 
 unfulfilled in the two principal German States. 
 
 What we demand for the supporters of the modern 
 Parliamentary system, is not the acceptation of each 
 and every one of their principles and measures. What 
 we ask for the entire movement is nothing more than 
 freedom of conscience, an exemption from wholesale 
 anathema on the plea of unchristian sentiments, and 
 a recognition of the fact that a Christian State can 
 CO -exist with a constitutional system, and that a 
 Christian conscience is not necessaril}' antagonistic to 
 constitutional ideas. 
 
 How was it that the ancient state of things first fell 
 to pieces in France, and then by a slower process in 
 Germany ? Not accidentally, and also not exclusively 
 owing to the self-will, foll}^, and crime of seditious men ; 
 the change in the course of events had a deeper origin. 
 In France, at any rate, there were fearful abuses, social 
 evils, and restrictions of the public well-being, which 
 came to light under the old system, and, in combination 
 with the sins and provocations of those in authority, 
 
32 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 called forth the divine judgment. But this last, 
 amongst other instruments, makes use of wicked men 
 to carry out its decrees ; and yet such decrees in 
 themselves are lawful and needful. It is not true, as 
 Schiller has said, that the history of the world is the 
 divine judgment of the world; but it is true that it is 
 a divine judgment upon her. 
 
 But supposing it possible anyhow to restore the 
 former condition of affairs, as it existed on the eve of 
 the Revolution, v/e should have the old evils, which 
 attached to the ancient institution, again coming to 
 light, and the old common load of sin would be again 
 heaped upon the supporters of those institutions. The 
 IjCgitimists of France may in many respects be worthy 
 of sympathy ; but if they were to come into power, where 
 would be the advantage, unless they had passed througli 
 a fire of purification, and had thereby been brought to 
 a recognition of, and contrition for, their evil ways 
 which produced the Revolution? Wolfgang Menzel, 
 in his chapter on the " Corruption of Courts " (in the 
 eighteenth century) of his modern history, has collated 
 from facts such a description as must deeply move every 
 reader, and ought to open the eyes of every uncondi- 
 tional worshipper of the age previous to the Revolution. 
 
 Guizot, in his work on the English Revolution, has 
 argued the question, " Why did it succeed ?" and we 
 may also add, " Why did not the French Revolution 
 succeed ?" It would be a very wide-reaching inquiry 
 to attempt to solve this question thoroughly — the reflec- 
 tions of Edmund Burke on the French Revolution point 
 out the way to the solution ; but here it must suffice for 
 us to give prominence to one mighty difference. The 
 twofold English Revolution was carried out at a time 
 when the fear of God was still a power which ruled 
 nations, and by men whose sole object was to realize a 
 Christian life amongst the people and in the govern- 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 33 
 
 ment. The French Revolution broke out at a time, 
 and in a nation, when the Church, having undergone 
 much desecration, had lost its beneficial influence ; 
 when the fear of God had disappeared, and atheism 
 had become a power. The movement was conducted 
 by the hands of men who were inimical to Christianity, 
 and had fallen into the delusion that they could, with- 
 out Christ and without Christian virtues, by means of 
 ideas of liberty and the dignity of mankind, create a 
 new world full of justice, happiness, and peace. The 
 English Revolution, although not free from serious 
 errors, could serve to bring about better times ; the 
 French Revolution reduced Titanic assailants of heaven 
 to leaders of a merely impious undertaking, and neces- 
 sarily collapsed. And yet the requirements and desires 
 which the party in France set forth were in themselves 
 to a great extent well founded and justifiable. Ought 
 it then to have been so difficult to use the same dis- 
 cretion in this historical problem as must be employed 
 in every legal controversy, — that is to say, the power 
 of distinguishing between the justifiable demand and 
 the spirit, perhaps perfectly reprehensible, in which 
 such demand is made? 
 
 Thus we find two elements mixed up in the great 
 French overthrow of government, and in all the con- 
 sequences and imitations which have followed that 
 fearful drama. The entire development of the ideas of 
 liberty since 1789 resembles a turbid, impetuous stream, 
 which hurries along on its troubled surface the most 
 varied matters. But it would be neither just nor 
 politic not to examine it critically. We can hardly 
 suppose that any one will unconditionally uphold the 
 principles of 1789 in common with Napoleon in., nor 
 uncompromisingly repudiate them with Julius Stahl. 
 
 Laurentius Stein, in his interesting history of the 
 social movement in France, has shown that the Revolu- 
 
 c 
 
34 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 tion of 1789 was a social, quite as much as a political 
 transformation. It got rid of great social embarrass- 
 ments, and procured great benefits for the people, which 
 they had a right to have long looked for from a good 
 form of government. The ideas of humanity with 
 which men were then imbued, and which Fichte has 
 most eloquently advocated on German soil, were, not- 
 withstanding the perverted conception of them, reallj^ 
 deduced from Christianity. Those ideas contained the 
 truism, that the dignity of humanity confirmed by the 
 gospel of Christianity ought to be respected in the 
 poorest and least of the members of society. 
 
 A series of liberties which have been demanded and 
 acquired since that time may, according to the Chris- 
 tian standard, be said to be indifferent, being neither 
 decidedly Christian nor antichristian in themselves. 
 The freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, free 
 trade, freedom of business, free emigration, may be 
 deemed useful or otherwise ; but with the various 
 opinions on these subjects Christianity has no concern. 
 If any party which supported such views were to be 
 termed antichristian on that account, and indiscrimin- 
 ately anathematized, it is to be feared that such party 
 would be only thereby thoroughl}^ prejudiced against 
 Christianity. Such a course would make the party 
 unchristian when it really is not so, and that is a 
 responsibility which must not be lightly undertaken. 
 
 Whereas the priuciples of liberty and equality were, 
 during the French Revolution, pushed to extremes with 
 fearfully consequential determination (whence it also 
 comes that those years 1789-95 form the most instruc- 
 tive chapter of modern history), in Germany the same 
 principles were only partially put into practice during 
 the changes of 1830, 18-18, 1866. 
 
 In the latter case, some limitations have been re- 
 tained. A first chamber corresponding to the House 
 
CIIKISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 35 
 
 of Peers, an unconditional right of veto in the crown, 
 a federal council, are so many points of appui against 
 transition into the lawless extreme. At present we 
 are in a transition state, and it would therefore be the 
 less permissible to award unmeasured praise or blame 
 to either party. 
 
 People may say of a charter or constitutional con- 
 tract, that it is not a happy idea to reduce all civil rights 
 to a mere string of paragraphs upon vellum. It may 
 be objected that the teridenc}'' of our age is bent upon 
 codifying all laws and privileges. Savigny's objection 
 may be urged, "that the present generation is not 
 called upon to make laws." We call the English 
 nation fortunate, because their constitution is like a 
 forest of ancient oak trees ; we pity France, because 
 since 1789 there have been no less than ten attempts 
 to improvise a constitution, and we are not surprised 
 that those attempts have only resulted in a crumbling 
 piece of patchwork. Nevertheless we have no right to 
 assert that it is an unchristian act to lay down and 
 ratify the relations between the crown and the nation, 
 between Upper and Lower House, in a charter. It 
 must not be said that reverence is diminished, and the 
 dignity of the crown denied, as soon as any mention is 
 made of a contract between the ruler and his people. 
 Marriage is a sacrament, a union sanctified and ren- 
 dered indissoluble by God, and in this alliance the 
 man is the head of the woman ; but is it, therefore, 
 unchristian to make out a marriage settlement, in 
 which the monetary relations are arranged, and the 
 powers of disposition of the husband over the property 
 of the wife are defined? Both are perfectly com- 
 patible, the sacramental consecration and the temporal 
 contract. Now, w^hat the marriage settlement is as 
 regards the family, such is also the charter as regards 
 the State. It can be agreed to without in any way 
 
36 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 interfering with the sacred dignity of the chief ruler, 
 and without relaxing the bond of union between prince 
 and people. 
 
 There are probably no words more indefinite, none 
 more varied in interpretation, than the expressions 
 "Liberty" and "Progress." And the fact is all the 
 more striking, that the German nation above all 
 others should be so much excited by vague ideas and 
 semi-intelligible phrases. It was so in the sixteenth 
 century, and it appears to be so now. Liberty ! — of 
 what? Progress! — whither? Those are the questions 
 upon which but very few appear able to furnish a 
 reasonable answer. Freedom from the debasing and 
 illegal condition of slavery; freedom from the condition 
 of serfdom ; freedom from all restrictions as to choice 
 of profession and the higher education of children ; 
 freedom to enter into matrimony or to acquire pro- 
 perty; freedom from all legal disabilities ; freedom from 
 the oppression of a compulsory form of^ worship which 
 is antagonistic to conviction, — these are all, so to say, 
 social freedoms ; and who will take upon himself to say 
 that it is unchristian to strive after them or unchris- 
 tian to grant them ? If there be some irreligious men 
 amongst the mass who demand these and similar 
 freedoms, well, let us prevent such men from obtaining 
 a position of rule ; but should we not at the same time 
 recognise and carry out their demands, in so far as they 
 are good, thereby morally disarming and weakening a 
 dangerous party in the State ? 
 
 But freedom from the duty of reverence to paternal 
 and kingly authority; freedom from the stringency of 
 the matrimonial bond ; freedom from the laws of tem- 
 perance and chastity ; freedom to tread all holy things 
 under foot; freedom to cast suspicion upon the best 
 intentions of the Government, anonymously ; under the 
 same veil to vilify all who differ from us in opinion, to 
 
CHllISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 37 
 
 damage the reputation of innocent persons ; freedom 
 to pillage and grind down the poor with usury or 
 oppressive tasks ; freedom from the restraints imposed 
 by the decalogue, — these are all freedoms of a totally 
 different character. They are also strivings after 
 freedom, but as different from those enumerated in the 
 foregoing paragraph as light from darkness, as day 
 from night. 
 
 There is a progress towards the improvement of the 
 moral and material well-being of the people, a progress 
 towards a condition of life based upon charity and 
 justice. To further such progress is the real object of 
 a Christian ruler and of all patriots ; and only in a 
 Christian community can the promises held out by such 
 progress be realized. But there is also a progress 
 towards a condition where the main object is that man 
 begin, continue, and end his existence without God ; 
 where nothing is sacred, nothing is sublime, nothing is 
 inviolable ; where there shall be no Christian family, 
 no Christian school, — a progress towards chaos, where 
 everything ideal is to die out, where the last remnants 
 of the fear of God and subjection to the moral code 
 shall be exterminated. Such progress means the ruin 
 of the nation. 
 
 The strivings after progress of our days are a con- 
 fused turmoil of various and antagonistic elements. 
 What can then be the advantage of a restless, unde- 
 fined spirit of progress, — a rushing on, merely on, away 
 from the evils we know of to those we know not of, — a 
 pushing off into the wild dark ocean, without rudder, 
 without compass, without guiding star, without definite 
 destination ? 
 
 We may well look for a psychological explanation of 
 this curious, undetermined, and unconsidered striving 
 after liberty and progress. One considerable element 
 of the solution lies in an error which is plainly asserted 
 
38 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 by one party, and is by the other made the silent 
 axiom of their efforts ; and that is the idea that man- 
 kind is radically good. All crime, all offences against 
 society, are supposed to be only the results partially 
 of ignorance, partially of evil concomitant accidents, 
 poverty, and want. If freedom of action be permitted, 
 and ignorance be dispelled by education, every virtue 
 would at once shoot forth, and a condition of hap- 
 piness and general contentment would very soon 
 result. 
 
 Your true despot is led astray by the opposite illusion. 
 He considers that all mankind is bad, servile, and not 
 to be improved. When a philanthropic schoolmaster^ 
 once laid his plans for educating and benefiting the 
 people before a despotic king,^ basing them upon the 
 exceeding goodness of human nature, he was told, " I 
 know this breed ; it is an evil race." Naturally, then, 
 such an one believes that mankind is only worthy of 
 the knout. The less freedom of action, the more 
 trammels and despotism, the better. As compared with 
 these views of the despot, the views of those who strive 
 for liberty are noble and amiable. Still there is error 
 on both sides ; one is the Manichaean, the other takes 
 the Pelagian form. In human nature, as it at present 
 is, all the germs of evil are contained. If no funda- 
 mental remedial procedure be adopted, they come to 
 maturity and bear evil fruit. Knowledge alone does not 
 sanctify or ennoble. By the mere tearing down of op- 
 pressive restraint, we cannot raise heroes of virtue. 
 
 And yet man is capable of, and called upon to show 
 forth, the highest foiTu of virtue ; he only requires 
 a moral conversion, a new spirit, the impartation of 
 divine life. Paternal and maternal education of the 
 childish disposition in love and seriousness, sanctifying 
 influences of the Spirit of Christ who dwells in the 
 
 ^ Salzmann. 2 Frederick 11. of Prussia. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND MOI)ERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 39 
 
 Church, and the entire power of the divinely-revealed 
 truth, added to the action of a ruling power, which in its 
 justice and mercy is an image of the divine rule, and 
 which assists education by means of public schools con- 
 ducted upon Christian principles, — these are the powers 
 by the co-operation of which a virtuous nation, and one 
 worthy of freedom, can be trained up. 
 
 Those justifiable liberties or freedoms, of which we 
 have spoken above, are grand possessions. But much 
 depends also, as in the case of other possessions of 
 human life, such as property, talents, and physical 
 strength, upon what use is made of them. The more 
 freedom that is granted to a nation, the more moral 
 solidity, respect for the law, self-control, and regard for 
 the common weal ought to exist, so that liberty may 
 be properly used. A republic, if it is to succeed, pre- 
 mises the greatest possible amount of virtue. This is 
 a lesson taught us by history, an incontrovertible truth. 
 And yet it should not be misapplied, as some narrow- 
 minded statesmen have done, in order to retain the 
 nation in leading-strings, and in order to embitter such 
 freedom as exists, under the pretence of a Christian, 
 paternal care, again and again withholding such 
 freedom, though promised, under the same pretext. 
 The possible or actual misuse must be provided against ; 
 but the misused possession may not, on account of its 
 abuse, be taken away from a nation. Or has it never 
 occurred that authority has been misused ? and is it on 
 that account permissible to tear down all authority? 
 Just in the same position stands the reasonable 
 freedom which has once been granted to a nation. 
 
 The famous announcement of the rights of man by 
 the French National Assembly, on 26th August 1789, 
 which has become the basis and model of so many 
 expositions of fundamental rights since then, appears, in 
 the light of experience, and if measured by the standard 
 
40 CHRISTIAN COMMOin\'EALTH. 
 
 of Christian axioms, as a wonderful conglomerate of 
 truth and error, of beneficial and hurtful elements. 
 
 A fatal error is contained in the proposition, that 
 every individual has an original and inalienable right 
 to an equal participation and co-operation in the for- 
 mation of the laws, — a proposition which necessarily 
 grants universal suffrage in the election of representa- 
 tives for the legislative assembly. When in Germany, 
 during the years 1848 and 1866, we had the election law 
 introduced, which is the consequence of that erroneous 
 idea, we had plenty of opportunity of learning by 
 experience the full scope of that error. 
 
 The roughest and most ignorant citizen would have 
 by his vote just the same influence upon the legislature 
 as the wisest and most experienced ; the former no less, 
 the latter no more. For instance, in a university town 
 the scouts of the students would have more to say to 
 the choice of a representative than the professors, for 
 there are more scouts than professors. 
 
 There may be occasions in which a Government may 
 feel disposed to C9nsult all its subjects, without distinc- 
 tion of position or education, when a tax is to be 
 imposed which will fall upon all, and will press most 
 heavily upon the poor and lowly ones ; for instance, the 
 introduction of a general obligation to carry arms. 
 But to make this in any way a principle of legislation 
 is an error which all the principal lawgivers of anti- 
 quity have avoided. Even the Thetes and the Ca2nie 
 censi in Athens and in Rome had their representatives, 
 but as a class, not according to numbers. At that 
 time it was properly considered that the wisdom 
 required for legislation was the most valuable and rare 
 of endowments. Now it would appear that people hold 
 it the cheapest and most common of all, and that it 
 may be picked up anywhere in the street. If the 
 autocratic system is bad, because it has no conception 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 41 
 
 of an organized State, this is more than ever the case if 
 we concede to the masses an aritlimetically equal amount 
 of co-operation in th6 legislature. It is the thorough 
 denial of all natural organization in civil society. The 
 riglit of each individual to be free from slavery, to be 
 able to found a family and to acquire property, to be 
 equal before the criminal law, may be deduced from 
 Christian doctrine ; but a right to an equal share in 
 the legislation cannot. Burke long ago expressed the 
 really correct idea on this subject in his Reflections^ 
 when he says : " I am far from denying the real rights 
 of men. All the advantages for which civil society is 
 made become man's rights. But as to the share of 
 power, authority, and direction which each individual 
 ought to have in the management of the State, that I 
 must deny to be among the direct original rights of 
 man in civil society." 
 
 The principles of 1789 were those of pure democrac}'. 
 They led, of consequent necessity, to a disappearance 
 of royalty ; but they did not lead to true liberty. It 
 was supposed that a division of power, by which the 
 entire making of the laws should be reserved to the 
 representatives of the people, and the executive power 
 alone should remain to the heads of the State, would 
 be a guarantee for freedom. But it did not prove to 
 be so ; it reverses and becomes a new form of tyrann}', 
 in that the legislative also assumes the executive 
 power. Pure democracy does not fulfil its promises ; 
 for, as we cannot attain to the requisite unity of mind, 
 we are obliged to revert to the expedient of the decision 
 of the majority overruling that of the minority ; and 
 this resource is rendered the more unfortunate, because 
 the result of the voting is often based, not upon intelli- 
 gence, but upon chance. 
 
 And yet we ought not to, as often occurs, employ 
 democracy as a bugbear, and decry the democratic prin- 
 
42 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 ciple as anticliristian. A Christian State can co-exist 
 with a republic. Given a Christian people, which in its 
 family life observes Christian manners, a democratic 
 constitution will certainly not be a hindrance to a 
 Christian regulation of the national life. On the con- 
 trary, a people which chooses its own rulers and deter- 
 mines its own laws, — a people which at the same time is 
 filled with a reverence for God, that has for its object 
 the good of all, and takes the divine moral code for its 
 guide, is a sublime spectacle, and one worthy of all 
 admiration. 
 
 In a republic, also, the character of the ruler makes 
 itself felt as a divine institution. The regents and 
 officials chosen by the people must be impressed with 
 the idea that their duties should be carried out as in 
 the sight of God, and that they will have to render an 
 account of them to the Supreme Judge. Who does 
 not believe that the office of judge under a republic 
 is just as sacred a one as under a monarchy? 
 
 In a democracy, the sovereignty of the people is 
 recognised. It is a grievous mistake to declare 
 that this is the one original, necessary, and always 
 valid principle. The sovereignty of the people was 
 called into play as a desperate resource against the 
 misuse of royal and aristocratic power; and, as the 
 history of all modern revolutions shows us, it never 
 did any good. It was only another power of evil. In 
 places where the sovereignty of the people exists as an 
 actual fact, and is based on historical data, — as, for 
 instance, in Switzerland and in the United States of 
 America, — it has a title to recognition. We have no 
 right to say, "Away with it;" but rather, "Employ it 
 in a manner which shall be pleasing to God." It is, 
 however, a very different thing when a people declares 
 its own sovereignty in defiance of God and His laws. 
 If the principle be asserted in the latter form, and the 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN LIBERAL TENDENCIES. 43 
 
 will of the people be set up, in opposition to the 
 divine commands, as the supreme and only fountain 
 of law, then no form of words can be too strong for 
 protesting against it. But this may be said not alone 
 of the sovereignty of the people. Every form of 
 idolizing men, and the will of men, is antichristian. 
 As Pharaoh of old exclaimed, when he refused to grant 
 permission to the Israelites to go and worship, say- 
 ing, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" 
 so also it is equally reprehensible when a democratic 
 mob does away with Christian worship. It is not 
 democracy itself that is objectionable, but the repudia- 
 tion of the moral code. Every form of government 
 is antichristian which raises its head against God, 
 w^hether it be wielded by the people or by an autocrat. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 
 
 Royalty and priesthood, temporal and spiritual 
 power, are quite distinct, — they may not be con- 
 founded ; the two offices cannot be combined in one 
 person. That principle is distinctly expressed in the 
 doctrines and ordinances of the Christian Church. 
 
 The axiom is peculiar to Christianity. During the 
 pre-Christian era it was never distinctly expressed, 
 and at one time the fusion of both powers was usual. 
 At the time of the patriarchs, Melchizedec appears 
 both as king and priest. In Moses, again, we have a 
 royal and priestly action combined. From that time 
 the two powers separte, — the priesthood is hereditary 
 in the house of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi ; the king- 
 dom is made over to the house of David, of the tribe 
 of Judah. When King Uzziah took upon himself to 
 offer incense in the sanctuary, he was smitten with 
 leprosy as a punishment for the encroachment. The 
 recombining of the two offices, which, notwithstanding 
 the previous warnings, took place in the priestly race 
 of the Maccabees for a short time, was something 
 abnormal. Priestly action on the part of kings was a 
 common occurrence in the times of heathen antiquity, 
 and the Roman Imperator was, ex officio^ chief priest.^ 
 
 The position assumed by Christ forms the most un- 
 mistakable contrast to all of these. It is true that, 
 agreeably to His vocation, and of right. He is King ; 
 but here below His only crown was one of thorns. 
 
 ^ " Pontifex maximus." 
 
THE TEMPORAL AND SPIKITUAL POWER. 45 
 
 He withdrew from the people who desired to set Him 
 upon the throne. In a condition of humility, lie 
 fulfilled His prophetic and priestly mission, and He 
 imparted to His disciples a share of this befare His 
 departure to the Father. They are to walk in His 
 steps ; they continue, as does the Church of Christ 
 generally during this dispensation, in a condition of 
 humility, patience, and servitude. It is only in the 
 coming dispensation that Christ will appear as King, 
 and then, too, will the hidden dignity of royalty, which 
 doubtless dwells in His Church also, be revealed. 
 
 The self-negation of our Lord went so far, that He 
 declined the office of arbitrator in a worldly quarrel. 
 A man said to Him, " Master, speak to my brother, 
 that he divide the inheritance with me ; " and the 
 Lord replied, " Man, who made me a judge or a divider 
 over you?" (Luke xii. 13, 14.) 
 
 As Christ carefully kept Himself at a distance from 
 worldly matters, so also ought His servants to act, 
 whom He has called to a ministerial office, and made 
 it their duty to imitate His example. 
 
 As long as the temporal rulers and their subordinate 
 officers were inimical, or strangers to Christianity, the 
 servants of Christ continued in their borders. They 
 not only actually held themselves aloof from any 
 form of participation in political affairs, from any en- 
 tanglement in State concerns, and from differences 
 respecting meum and tuum, but they also proclaimed, 
 without hesitation, the principle that spiritual rulers 
 had no power to command in temporal affairs, and 
 temporal rulers none in spiritual matters. That was 
 the time when the Christian Church flourished. But 
 when Constantine recognised Christianity, the situa- 
 tion became changed ; the sign of the cross was made 
 the banner of the Roman Empire, and a number of 
 laws were emitted for restraining heathen worship 
 
46 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 and promoting the Christian Church. This change 
 brought about great dangers for both parties. It is 
 not to be overlooked that the bishops at the time 
 of Constantine, taken as a body, were too weak to 
 withstand the encroachments of the temporal power, 
 which assumed the form of benefits. We therefore 
 find at once, that bishops were appointed by the ipse 
 dixit of the emperor, in exactly similar manner as the 
 officials of the empire and the prefects of provinces. 
 The Eastern Church soon experienced the injurious 
 results, when Constantius raised the Arian heresy to a 
 dominant position. 
 
 It was a proper feeling that urged men to look 
 about for a safeguard to protect the Church from 
 such violence. They sought for it in the Primacy ; 
 and, indeed, the action of the great Roman popes 
 of the Christian community did serve to promote 
 independence and purity of doctrine. But now it 
 becam.e the duty of popes and bishops to recognise 
 the independence of the temporal power in its own 
 domain, just as decidedly, and to maintain the distinc- 
 tion between the two spheres, viz. ecclesiastical and 
 civil. We know that this was not the case ; on the 
 contrary, two serious errors crept in. The popes 
 accepted from Pepin and Charles the Great the 
 dangerous gift of royal power and dignity, and they 
 very soon claimed the possession of ecclesiastical state 
 as a divine right and a necessity. At last they 
 asserted that the temporal was altogether an emana- 
 tion from the ecclesiastical power. Boniface viii., in 
 the bull "Unam sanctam," dated 18th November 1302, 
 laid it down as an axiom, which every Christian was 
 bound to believe under pain of forfeiting eternal 
 salvation, that the temporal power was subject to the 
 ecclesiastical : " Both swords — the spiritual and 
 material — are under the control of the Church. The 
 
■ THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. - 47 
 
 latter must be wielded for the benefit of the Church, 
 the former by the Church itself. The former by the 
 hands of the priesthood, the latter by the hands ol 
 kings and warriors, but under the guidance and with 
 the permission of the priesthood. One sword must be 
 subject to the other, and the temporal authority must 
 submit itself to the ecclesiastical ; the spiritual power 
 ordains the temporal, and if it be evil condemns it. 
 Hence, if the temporal power errs, it must be judged 
 by the spiritual." 
 
 This bull was confirmed by Leo x. during his un- 
 fortunate fifth Lateran Council in 1517, just previous 
 to the appearance of Luther. 
 
 The reaction followed, when, after the outbreak of 
 schism in the Church, the Protestant rulers for their 
 part took upon themselves the spiritual oversight, and 
 usurped episcopal authority and functions. 
 
 Evil in both cases resulted. Whenever bishops 
 desire to be kings, and kings desire to be bishops, 
 divinely appointed ordinances and borders are dis- 
 placed, and the consequences cannot but be disastrous. 
 
 Have not, as it is, the clergy more laid upon them 
 than they are able to perform ? But whoever takes 
 upon himself matters which do not belong to his 
 office, will inevitably finish by executing badly his 
 own special and legitimate calling. Thus spiritual 
 blessings languish, and, on the other hand, the people 
 by no means obtain the blessings of a good govern- 
 ment in worldly matters. Since the bishops became 
 princes, the sons of princes wished to become bishops. 
 Woiidliness, want of spirituality, the usual vices of 
 court life, gross offences and laxity, crept in, and led 
 the Church to the brink of perdition. It has been 
 seen from experience in the Pontifical States, and 
 amongst us in the territories of German bishops, how 
 wretchedly a nation is governed by prelates, even 
 
48 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 when they are filled with good-will and good intentions. 
 Poverty, ignorance, and indolence are at the present 
 time in many places the characteristics of a population 
 which has for centuries lain under sacerdotal rule. 
 
 When kings are bishops, this fact undermines the 
 in"^rnal vitality of the Church in the most injurious 
 ipfanner. The entire mode and manner of direction 
 )ecomes worldly, external, and spiritless. If the 
 prince be a true believer, he protects and promotes 
 correct doctrine ; but in his hands it perishes and 
 becomes a lifeless orthodoxy. For, as in the education 
 and appointment of state officials, worldly wisdom is 
 the main object sought for, so also in the case of 
 ecclesiastics, only their acquirements, and but little if 
 at all regarding their virtues or spiritual-mindedness, 
 is inquired into. An affirmation or subscription of 
 orthodox creeds is sufficient, and by this door hirelings 
 and wolves obtain access to the fold of Christ. But 
 in the other case, where the prince and his ministers 
 are inclined to heretical doctrines, these soon strive 
 for possession of professorial chairs and pulpits, meet- 
 ing but little opposition. If in Byzantium it was 
 impossible to guard against Arianism, as soon as it 
 became the imperial court theology, so also in Protes- 
 tant Germany rationalism forced its way in, and the 
 ancient Christian traditions have nearly been over- 
 thrown, since the princes, their councillors, and con- 
 sistories, and the university professors appointed by 
 the princes, took up with rationalism. 
 
 How is it possible to justify, or even excuse, such 
 evils on merely theoretical grounds ? 
 
 The dependence of the temporal upon the spiritual 
 power is supposed to be based upon the following 
 grounds : — It is true that the civil authority is 
 ordained of God; but its object, and the domain upon 
 which it has to fulfil it, is of a subordinate nature to 
 
THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 49 
 
 those of ecclesiastical power. Temporal rulers have 
 to protect carnal life, temporal possessions, and what- 
 ever else belongs to the perishable welfare of mankind. 
 Ecclesiastical powers, on the other hand, have to care 
 for the salvation of souls, for the better part of man- 
 kind, for their eternal welfare. Now the soul being 
 of more value than the body, and as the latter must 
 submit to the former and render obedience to it, so 
 also, it is asserted, the temporal ought to submit to 
 the spiritual power, and permit itself to be guided by it. 
 
 In the first place, we have here the duty of the 
 temporal power conceived in too mean a spirit, for it 
 ought also to deal out justice and law, to protect 
 morality and respectability; on the other hand, the 
 Church should not only distribute spiritual benefits, 
 but also carnal. Withal the appointment and equip- 
 ment of the Church is the more exalted ; but it by no 
 means follows, from the eminence of the duty imposed 
 upon the one power, that the bearer of the minor 
 commission is subjected to it, and is to serve as its 
 handmaiden. The one commission, as also the other, 
 is from God ; the holder of the one as well as of the 
 other is responsible to God, who is above all, and not 
 to the authority which is co-ordinate. The most ex- 
 cellent pastor of souls is on that account no surgeon : 
 and, if he be wise, he will be careful not to lay down 
 rules for the surgeon, or in any way interfere with 
 surgical treatment. It would be futile if he were to 
 justify such an absurd action upon the plea that the 
 soul is of more value than the bod}^, and that the care 
 of the soul is a more important matter than the care 
 of the body. 
 
 In order to show that the power of the Pope, and 
 his position as ruler of a country, is beneficial, — nay, 
 more, necessary, — appeal is made to the fact that only 
 thus, as a sovereign amongst the other sovereigns, is 
 
 D 
 
50 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 it possible for him to carry out his exalted office,' to 
 oppose with effect the mighty ones of the earth, and 
 to assert truth and justice without fear. Hereupon 
 we reply, the execution of such a commission is a 
 matter requiring heroic trust in God. If such con- 
 fidence dwell in a servant of Christ, he can fulfil his 
 mission without a royal crown, ecclesiastical state, 
 army, or navy. When John the Baptist told Herod 
 the Tetrarch the truth, when Paul laid down his testi- 
 mony before Felix and Agrippa, when Ambrosius 
 resisted the entrance of the Emperor Theodosius into 
 the sanctuary, none of them possessed any of those 
 appendages which are declared to be indispensable to 
 the exercise of the temporal authority of the Pope; 
 they all exercised a purely spiritual power. It is 
 just that reliance upon God, without reserve of tem- 
 poral power, which lends to the testimony of the 
 servant of God for His commands, its true value and 
 assures its moral effect. On the contrary, the greater 
 the pomp and earthly panoply of the Pope became, 
 the less moral power would his resistance to princes 
 have. If a prince tells a prince the truth, there is no. 
 great merit in that. Besides which, if the possession of 
 temporal power is to replace any lack of trust in God, 
 the extent of the States of the Church as hitherto 
 defined is much too small, and the patrimony of the 
 Papal chair ought to be as extensive as the mightiest 
 empire. 
 
 The theories with which attempts are made to 
 justify princely power in church matters are generally 
 wanting in distinctness. Constantine, evidently with 
 the object of appeasing the bishops, termed himself 
 the bishop or overseer over the external affairs of the 
 Church (eTTicr/coTTo? Toiv e^(o Tq<i eKKkyaiwiy From this 
 starting point the theory was developed by theo- 
 logians of a jus circa sacra, not m sacra^ which be- 
 
THE TEMPOEAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 51 
 
 longed to Christian princes. But it is difficult to grasp 
 anything so uncertain and undefined as those two ex- 
 pressions are. With dangerous extravagance the title 
 of high priest, ap^iepev^^ was accorded to the Byzan- 
 tine emperors, which sufficiently pointed out their 
 false position. When in the German Reformation 
 the episcopate was unfortunately lost, the Protestant 
 princes took over the exercise of episcopal functions, — 
 naturally only as regards the discipline of the Church, 
 and exclusive of sacramental offices, preaching, and 
 the care of souls, which remained in the hands of 
 ecclesiastics. Up to the present time no hesitation is 
 felt in terming the ruler of the land, in Protestant 
 church-law, summits episcopus, even if he belongs to 
 another confession. The Consistories, composed of a 
 mixture of jurists and theologians, were set up as 
 organs of the royal will, and the most disastrous of 
 church constitutions entered into action. 
 
 The present distinction drawn between the discipline 
 of the Church and the ministry of ecclesiastical means 
 of grace is utterly untenable, and is accompanied with 
 disastrous results for the vitality of the body. In the 
 Scriptures, and in ancient Christian history, we find 
 no trace of such a distinction. A church discipline 
 exercised without sacerdotal consecration, without any 
 connection with the commission which Christ gave 
 His apostles in the beginning, without any pledge of 
 the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, is and must be 
 something monstrous. Protestant princes establish 
 creeds, rituals, hymn-books, catechisms, and church 
 ordinances, for their subjects ; they select and appoint 
 the ministers to their various grades and offices. 
 They do all this, exercising thereby episcopal — nay, 
 more than episcopal, apostolic — functions. If they 
 are really empowered from above to do all this, why 
 do not they consecrate the elements ? Why do they 
 
52 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 relegate to others the celebration of the sacraments, 
 the preaching of the word, and the care of souls ? It 
 is for this very reason that the discipline of the 
 Church has become so very worldly, and her internal 
 vitality has suffered so much ; because the wielders of 
 Church rule have been deficient of spiritual anointing 
 and equipments ; the consciousness of being amenable 
 to Scripture and tradition and of responsibility to 
 Christ was w^anting. As soon as the ordering of the 
 Church comes to be regarded and exercised as a por- 
 tion of civil eminence and State control, the Spirit of 
 Christ is repressed, and every possible opening is 
 afforded for the entry of the spirit of the world. 
 Again, if the temporal rulers are deficient of authority 
 and equipment for the exercise of priestly functions, 
 as they very justly feel that they are, whence do they 
 derive the right to perform episcopal and apostolic 
 actions ? 
 
 Protestant theologians in Germany, feeling the un- 
 tenable nature of the position, have on various occa- 
 sions admitted it to be the result of necessity ; they 
 have compared the princely power in ecclesiastical 
 affairs to a temporary roof erected over the dilapidated 
 ruin of the Church. Intelligent princes have been 
 brought to feel the oppressiveness of their position, like 
 Frederick William iv,, who desired to be relieved of 
 this heavy responsibility, and to make over the 
 direction of the Church to the proper hands again. 
 
 In England, where the various political and religious 
 systems are most sharply defined, Henry viii. was 
 terribly in earnest in propounding the erroneous doc- 
 trine that the king was also head of the Church. 
 Froude the historian, although himself permeated 
 with that erroneous view, the so-called Erastian, has 
 handed down to us a hideous picture of the tyranny of 
 those times. Thomas Cranmer, led away by idolatry 
 
THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 63 
 
 of royalty, saw in tlie supremacy of the king more 
 than a necessitous expedient. When Henry viii. died, 
 Cranmer looked upon his commission as archbishop as 
 at an end; he ceased to perform his functions, and 
 applied to the new monarch, Edward vi., for a renewal 
 of his powers. However curious and repulsive this 
 procedure may appear, it was but the consistent putting 
 into practice of a principle radically wrong. 
 
 The intermingling of the two powers has at all 
 times proved itself to be a most dangerous matter as 
 regards liberty, whether civic or of conscience. This 
 is the result of indifference to divine ordinances, and 
 preferring the inventions of man. Where can the 
 oppressed and persecuted find a haven of refuge, if his 
 bishop is also the ruler of his land, or if his king is at 
 the same time his spiritual chief? A misuse of power 
 is just as possible on the part of a bishop as of a 
 king. It is well for us if we only have to suffer 
 injustice from one, and are able to find an asylum and 
 relief for our woes with the other. 
 
 Which of the two evils is the greater, and which 
 the lesser — that the hierarchy be temporal rulers, or 
 that an autocracy be the guide of the Church — depends 
 upon the varied character of the times. If the hier- 
 archy retains its severity, as in the Middle Ages — if the 
 temporal power allows itself to be swayed by humanity 
 — it may be that the ascendancy of princes is less 
 oppressive and injurious than that of the priesthood. 
 Providence overrules the mistakes of men, and causes 
 even that which they have done amiss to be produc- 
 tive of good as well as evil. Now and again the royal 
 power in the Church proved advantageous. This may 
 serve as some consolation. But any justification of 
 the Apap (the inverse of Papa) — as our old theologians 
 termed the interference of royal power in church 
 matters — is out of the question, and it will continue 
 
54 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 SO until it can be shown that Christ ever said, " Herod, 
 feed thou my sheep." 
 
 It is pleasant to be able to find, in the history of 
 Christian States here and there, the basis of a healthy 
 and proper relationship between these two powers. 
 Such a bright spot in the constitution of the German 
 Empire was the anointing of the emperor, if pro- 
 perly regarded in other respects. The anointing of a 
 king or emperor by the hand of a bishop or pope 
 must not be regarded as the impartation of royal or 
 imperial power. A ruler is ruler, and has a claim to 
 the obedience, respect, and allegiance of his subjects, 
 even before he is anointed, and without that cere- 
 mony at all. He does not derive his power from the 
 Church, nor from any ecclesiastical ceremony, but 
 from his birth, or from election, from state contracts, 
 from the laws, from the consent of Parliament, accord- 
 ing to existing actual facts. The spirituality can neither 
 detract from nor add to his power. But, in that he 
 receives the anointing in the Church, he acknowledges 
 that he requires, for the purpose of fulfilling his 
 exalted duties, the assistance of the Divine Spirit and 
 the grace which Christ alone can bestow. He seeks 
 for it from the right source, and in finding it his 
 position certainly does acquire thereby a more sacred 
 character than before. There is imparted to him, and 
 to his subjects, an assistance for the due performance 
 of mutual duties. The Roman emperor of the German 
 nation used to appear at his coronation in the robe 
 of a deacon, and as such used to read the gospel in 
 the Mass. In this manner his position as regards the 
 Church was beautifully set forth. He is not a priest 
 and not a bishop ; he ought not to become one, and 
 he ought not to wish to become one. But as the 
 deacons were in the beginning set in the Church to be 
 guardians of the poor, protectors of the widow, and 
 
THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 55 
 
 stewards of the goods of the Church, and as laymen 
 to lead the other laymen in a godly conversation, so 
 also the Christian ruler should be a guardian of his 
 people, a helper of the oppressed, a protector of the 
 Christian Church against injustice and violence, and 
 an example of Christian virtue to all. 
 
 The Episcopal Church of England has a heavy burden 
 to carry in the royal supremacy. She feels her humili- 
 ating dependence upon the will of the Crown and Par- 
 liament. She is in a condition of restraint, which, it 
 is true, in one respect assists in preserving her from 
 error, but nevertheless does prevent her from making 
 any progress towards perfection. Still, with all that, in 
 her relations to the State a correct idea finds expres- 
 sion. The bishops have a seat and a voice in the House 
 of Lords, but no minister of the State Church can be 
 chosen as a representative in the House of Commons. 
 This ancient provision is based upon wise grounds ; 
 hereby the relation of the Church to the civil legisla- 
 ture is more correctly expressed than in other coun- 
 tries. The clergy may not be chosen as representatives 
 of the people. Thereby they are kept aloof from the 
 turmoil of elections, and from a sphere of action in 
 which their energies would be withdrawn from their 
 proper functions. An ecclesiastic should hold aloof 
 from the strife of political parties ; he must not be mixed 
 up in quarrels concerning questions of the day. He 
 belongs to his congregation, he must minister to all, be 
 a blessing to all, and he must therefore endeavour to 
 gain the confidence of all, and have access to their 
 hearts. In every congregation there are various 
 political tendencies ; a servant of Christ ought not, by 
 insisting upon his own political convictions, to separate 
 himself from any portion of his flock. He is protected 
 from this danger if it is predetermined that he cannot 
 offer himself as candidate for a seat in Parliament. If 
 
56 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 it frequently occurs amongst us that ecclesiastics take 
 their seats among the representatives of the people, 
 this neither promotes their spiritual office nor the civil 
 legislation. But when, on the other hand, bishops take 
 their seat in the Upper House, not by election and not 
 temporarily, but in virtue of their ofiBce as life-long 
 advisers of the Crown, it may be demonstrated to be 
 proper. It does not denote that they are to take part 
 in every political strife; but it does show that they 
 ought to point out when a law, or any measure under 
 discussion, is antagonistic to the commandments of God 
 or Christian principles. They are qualified to do so, in 
 virtue of their office, in a manner which no one else 
 can, and it is meet and right that a Christian people 
 should afford the servants of Christ, the representatives 
 of Christian tradition, the opportunity of advising in 
 weightier matters. 
 
 The Chorus in Greek tragedy is no idle looker on ; it 
 has a part to play and a place to fill, but its action is 
 different from that of the other personages in the drama. 
 The Chorus ought to occupy the position so beautifully 
 described by Horace : — 
 
 " The manly duties of tbe actor's part 
 The Chorus should support ; with aU due care 
 Fitting its language to the play's design, 
 And uttering nought beyond. It is its role 
 To patronize the good, and counsel them 
 With loving words ; to hold the proud in check. 
 And furious wrath appease ; to praise the meals 
 Where temperance prevails ; and sing the worth 
 Of healthful Justice and of Law, and Peace, 
 Safe with unbolted doors. And more than this, 
 The Chorus is a faithful confidant, 
 And wearies not of praying to the gods 
 To scourge the haughty and console the sad." 
 
 The Chorus represents the religious element in tragedy; 
 and, in fact, its bearing corresponds with the position 
 which the representatives of religion should assume in 
 
THE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER. 57 
 
 society. It is the duty of Christian ecclesiastics also, 
 when the people are excited by political passions, to 
 calm them down, to remonstrate with the arrogant, to 
 foster peace and not strife, to assist the sujBfering and 
 oppressed with counsel and comfort, and to offer up 
 petitions to Heaven for the greatest benefits of this life 
 — for justice, unity, and contentment. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COMMON GROUND : EDUCATION AND MATRIMONY. 
 
 In the confusion of the present day, it is to be desired, 
 as Franz von Baader teaches, that the two confused 
 and intricately commingled powers would separate, in 
 order to be reconciled and then to enter upon a proper 
 relation towards each other. A careful definition of 
 domain, and then a friendly compact between those who 
 exercise authority on one or other of the domains — that 
 is the proposition. This enunciation will probably be 
 admitted by all parties to be nearly correct. But the 
 difficulty lies just therein, in apportioning the field of 
 action and functions to each. For there are domains 
 common to both, so that in the same matter Church 
 and State have each a duty to fulfil and privileges to 
 exercise. Such are the education of the people and 
 matrimony. 
 
 The Church as well as the State has an interest in 
 the public education of the lowest as well as of the 
 highest in the land. Both not only have a right, but 
 it is the duty of each to strive after the spiritual well- 
 being of the people by means of education. Children 
 are born to parents, and upon them rests the respon- 
 sibility, imposed by God, of their training and education. 
 Whatever the civil local authorities, or the State, may 
 do for the public schools, is an assistance rendered to 
 the parents in the fulfilment of their duty. As a 
 matter of course, the authorities are also primarily 
 bound to train up as many intelligent men as possible 
 
COMMON GROUND : EDUCATION AND MATRIMONY. 59 
 
 for the service of the Commonwealth. Such instruments 
 are all the more requisite, seeing that they have not 
 only to care for the material, but also for tlie moral 
 well-being of the people. Now, if the parents as well 
 as the authorities understand their duties, there is but 
 little prospect of conflict arising upon this field between 
 the two parties. The duties of ecclesiastics in respect 
 to public education are derived from the commission 
 which Christ gave : " Teach all nations, baptizing them, 
 and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 have commanded you." Herein we have no authority 
 for compulsory baptism or forced religious instruction ; 
 but when a nation, as such, accepts Christianity, it 
 follows as a necessary sequitur that the spirituality 
 shall take part in public education, and direct the 
 religious portion thereof. Christian parents are in duty 
 bound to impart the rudiments of religious instruction, 
 to their children, themselves. When the pastor comes 
 in to carry on and complete the instruction, father and 
 mother should welcome him, and should endeavour to 
 support his authority and to assist him in carrying out 
 his office. 
 
 Just so should the authorities of a Christian people 
 comport themselves. They may also care for ele- 
 mentary instruction in religion by the appointment of 
 teachers, and then permit the spirituality to step in 
 for the higher grades. They will take care to surround 
 the position of an ecclesiastical religious teacher with 
 dignity. The}^ will provide that the whole of the rest 
 of the instruction, whether elementary, middle-class, or 
 higher, shall be maintained in harmony Avith the moral 
 code of Christianity, and that Christian worship be 
 looked upon with reverence. They are not necessarily 
 obliged to go any farther. The State Church has no 
 inherent right to claim the entire control of the schools, 
 to determine the class-books, or to appoint the teachers. 
 
60 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 If the entire oversight of the schools be accorded to the 
 episcopate, as occurred in the Austrian Concordat, 
 that is a voluntary concession on the part of the State, 
 which must decide whether and for how long such an 
 arrangement is beneficial. This decision ought to be 
 arrived at by mutual agreement, and it is of the last 
 importance to both parties that an amicable arrange- 
 ment be come to ; for nothing can be more dangerous 
 than that the two authorities quarrel, and one seek 
 to undermine the other. 
 
 The subject of matrimony holds a very similar position. 
 It is primarily a union or contract between the betrothed 
 couple. It is more important, more venerable, and 
 more sacred than any other contract relating to pro- 
 perty or mutual rights ; but still, in its nature, it is 
 primarily a civil contract. The ratification and con- 
 firmation of this contract ought to be sought for from 
 the temporal authorities, as they have to care for 
 morality and respectability and that the rights of 
 inheritance are duly regarded ; they have to prescribe 
 the conditions under which a legal marriage may or 
 may not be solemnized. Neither the temporal authorities 
 nor the State can originate matrimony, nor can they 
 conclude it — that is the office of the married couple ; 
 but the State can confirm it, thereby affording it a 
 legal value, and guaranteeing the legitimacy of the 
 children. 
 
 Seeing that the Christian feels himself bound to seek 
 for the divine blessing upon every important step he 
 takes, he will more especially recognise this duty in this, 
 the most serious act of his life, — the completion of his 
 marriage compact and the founding of a family. Hence 
 matrimony ought, as Ignatius teaches Polycarp from 
 Antioch, to be solemnized amongst Christians with 
 the sanction of the bishop. The divine benediction, 
 which Christ has committed to His ministers for 
 
COMMON GROUND : EDUCATION AND MATRIMONY. 6 1 
 
 distribution, should be imparted to it, whereby it 
 obtains a hoHer sanction. Then the married couple 
 are joined by a divine act ; they are assured of that 
 divine assistance and that measure of grace which they 
 require for the fulfilment of their duties. The Christian 
 who should despise the reception of this blessing 
 would thereby deny his standing in Christ, and would 
 announce the reprehensible determination of carrying 
 on a life without God and without Christ, becoming a 
 cause of offence to all to whom Christianity is sacred. 
 
 This distinction between the two aspects of matri- 
 mony as a civil contract and a Christian union is no 
 new discovery. The very oldest church canon — that 
 of the Greek Church — teaches that matrimony is, 
 primarily, a moral compact, secondarily, a mystery or 
 sacrament. It can only be solemnized as a Christian 
 marriage in conformity to the commandments of 
 God. 
 
 The divine word, and the ancient matrimonial code 
 founded upon it, contain irrefragable conditions as to 
 the degrees of consanguinity and affinity by marriage, 
 within which no marriage is permitted ; also regarding 
 the indissolubility of the tie, so that neither of the pair 
 during the lifetime of the other can enter into a new 
 alliance. A marriage in which any one of these con- 
 ditions is disregarded may be, if the civil laws admit it 
 (whereby, however, they do not harmonize with the 
 law of Christ), a valid marriage, so that the right of 
 inheritance in the children is preserved ; but a Christian 
 marriage it cannot be, and a blessing in the name of 
 Christ, who has forbidden such contracts, ought neither 
 to be asked for nor granted. 
 
 In a Christian Commonwealth, therefore, a co-opera- 
 tion of both powers in this domain ought to occur. As 
 soon as a nation, as such, has professed its belief in 
 Christ, it is the duty of the legislature, in the interest 
 
62 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 of all Christian citizens, to bring the civil matrimonial 
 code into consonance with the laws of Christ. 
 
 If, unfortunately, the various Christian confessions 
 are not agreed as to what is the Christian code, there 
 will remain for the temporal power no other resource 
 than to come to an agreement with each separate 
 denomination. Thus, too, it will be justified in allow- 
 ing the Jews to live together according to their own 
 matrimonial laws. 
 
 In this field, also, a definition of border is requisite. 
 The ecclesiastics have no right to insist that the entire 
 ceremony, in both parts, shall be handed over to them 
 to perform. The civil ratification and the ecclesias- 
 tical benediction are originally two distinct acts. In 
 Christian States they have been amalgamated, so that 
 the ecclesiastic performing the marriage ceremony does 
 also impart the civil ratification. In the one act that 
 he performs, he ministers both as an ofi&cial of the Com- 
 monwealth and as a servant of Christ. He imparts to 
 the union not only civil validity, but also sacramental 
 consecration. However* wholesome and reverential this 
 arrangement is, it cannot be said that any absolute 
 necessity for it exists. If we suppose that, in the 
 original compact between Church and State, it had 
 been arranged from the beginning that every marriage 
 should first of all be ratified by a State official, and 
 then be solemnly consecrated in the Church by a 
 minister of Christ, there would be nothing unchristian 
 in that. But other considerations come into play when 
 it is proposed to dissolve the union between the two 
 acts which has so long existed, and which has taken 
 such deep root in the national character. Such a step 
 is a critical juncture in the separation of Church and 
 State, which must be the subject of a special chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STATE CHURCH — FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE 
 
 CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION. 
 
 The title of " State Church " is not a happily chosen 
 one, for it brings too prominently forward her depend- 
 ence upon the power of the State and the erroneous 
 assertion that the direction of religious matters is a part 
 of the business of the State. It is more to the purpose 
 if we use the term National Church. When a nation 
 as such has repudiated paganism and recognised the 
 revelation of God in Christ, when the principal officers 
 and the majority of the people have been baptized, it 
 then follows as a matter of course that in such a 
 country the Christian Church is placed in a position of 
 security and respect. Then the keeping holy of the 
 Lord's day becomes a national observance, and is esta- 
 blished by law. The great Christian festivals become 
 national holidays. In time of affliction, the whole 
 nation unites to humble itself before God. Important 
 transactions and joyful occasions, which concern the 
 well-being of the country, are marked by divine services. 
 The wielders of temporal power solemnly recognise 
 that they owe their position to the mercy of God, and 
 require His assistance for the proper exercise of their 
 official duties. The influence which we have before 
 described as being that which Christianity ought to 
 exercise upon the laws and the government is rendered 
 certain ; and arrangements are made by which the ser- 
 vants of the Church and those of the Commonwealth 
 
64 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 work together harmoniously in those departments of 
 this life which are common to both. And thus a 
 National Church comes into existence. So far all is 
 praiseworthy and of fair promise. 
 
 But if the Christian religion becomes a national 
 matter, and the Church becomes the National Church, 
 it is by no means a consequence that every individual 
 member of the nation necessarily belongs to that 
 Church. It is by no means implied that only Christians 
 may be allowed to have civil rights. But so much is 
 implied that the nation as a whole has accepted Christ 
 and His laws, and that the Christian Church compre- 
 hends the whole country ; so that the land is divided 
 into bishoprics and parishes, and every inhabitant is 
 afforded the opportunity of enjoying the blessings of 
 Christianity and of procuring for his children the 
 benefits of Christian instruction. This ecclesiastical 
 organization, which comprehends the whole country, 
 we term the old parochial system. 
 
 So far the setting up and consolidation of a National 
 Church may be welcomed and recognised as one of the 
 greatest blessings given by Heaven. The evil results 
 of a dominant Church, which fill us with dismay, 
 have not as yet become apparent. Want of tolerance, 
 persecution, and cruelty towards those who are not 
 Christians and towards those who are heterodox ; lust 
 of power, debauchery, and vice amongst the clergy ; 
 debasement of the Church of God to be an instrument 
 of tyranny, — all these things are by no means necessary 
 consequences of the erection of a National Church. 
 The principle upon which a Nationtil Church is based 
 by no means inaugurates such things. In modern and 
 ancient times we have actual proof that such offshoots 
 can be avoided or got rid of Nevertheless, the very 
 first step towards uniting the Church with the State 
 is surrounded with peril. Misconceptions and mutual 
 
THE STATE CIIUKCIT. Q^ 
 
 acts of violence are at liand. Friendly advances fi-oni 
 the mighty ones, and recognition by entire nations, are 
 more dangerous to the welfare of the Church and to 
 true Christianity than persecution on the part of 
 heathen State officials. Whilst Christianity acquires 
 respect in the eyes of the world, and is decorated with 
 worldly honours, it loses in integral worth. The days 
 when Christian faith and life flourished were days of 
 persecution. Even those periods of peace which periodi- 
 cally occurred, quite apart from any union of the 
 clergy with the possessors of temporal power, acted in 
 a debilitating and enervating manner upon the minds 
 and conversation of Christians, Thus it was in those 
 forty years (211-251), from the death of the persecutor 
 Septimius Severus until the outbreak of the. great 
 persecution under Decius. Origenes complains that 
 this period of peace had injured the spiritual life of 
 Christians more than the previous misfortunes. The 
 same degeneration took place during the period of repose 
 between the reigns of Valerian and Diocletian (259- 
 303) ; but the completely altered position of Christians 
 under Constantine acted in an even more enervating 
 and debilitating degree. If the confession of Christ is 
 no longer combined with shame, loss, and persecution ; 
 if it, on the contrary, is productive of advantage and 
 opens the way to preferment, it is impossible to prevent 
 the intrusion of insincerity. At first unconsciously, 
 but subsequently of set purpose, hypocrisy takes the 
 place of former sincerity. A number of individuals 
 are admitted to the communion of the Church in whom 
 no heartfelt conversion has taken place, and in whom 
 no trace of holiness of conversation is to be found. 
 Heathen modes of life gain admittance ; the ancient, 
 severe church discipline becomes impracticable ; there 
 arises a Christian rabble of whom nothing was known 
 in better times. In the living members of the Church, 
 
 £ 
 
66 • CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 too, the holy fire of the Spirit is quenched. Tlie favour 
 of the "mighty ones falls like a blight upon the entire 
 nursery of the vineyard of the Lord. 
 
 Only an extraordinary measure of earnestness and 
 temperance, of self-denial and reliance upon God, of 
 firmness and disregard of the world, in the bishops and 
 priests, would be able to get rid of the dangers accom- 
 panjdng the new state of affairs. Such a measure 
 of the Spirit the bishops and priests of the time of 
 Constantine and Theodosius ought to have had ; but 
 history unmistakably shows us how much all of them 
 were lacking. Even at the time of the earliest 
 Christian emperors, the evil burst in like a flood ; it was 
 the oppressive mid-day hour, w^hen the servants of the 
 Lord, whom He had set as watchmen in His vineyard, 
 slept in lieu of watching, and when the enemy found 
 a splendid opportunity of sowing, without fear of 
 detection, a rich crop of tares. 
 
 The degeneration of the Orthodox Church in the 
 East presents to us a fearful example for all future 
 generations. Along with disregard of morality grew 
 up superstition, and ancient pagan practices assumed 
 Christian names. Together with a strictly orthodox, 
 literal creed, Christ was in fact denied. Three hundred 
 years after Constantine, there arose another power in 
 the East, which, without presumption, we may recognise 
 as the scourge in the hand of God wherewith the 
 national Churches of the East which had become 
 worldly were chastised. The victories of the Arabs, 
 and later of the Osmanlis; the humiliation of the 
 Christian Church under the rule of Islam ; the extinc- 
 tion of the light in entire countries, as in northern 
 Africa — such are the significant warnings that rulers 
 and people, bishops and congregations, when they 
 misuse the name of the Lord, will not remain 
 unpunished. 
 
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. 67 
 
 Still, with all this, we have not mentioned the most 
 serious evil. It is the application of violence for the 
 pui*pose of enforcing acceptation of the Christian creed, 
 and the persecution of those who refuse to believe, or 
 fall away from the faith. These errors gained admit- 
 tance even into the Eastern Churches. There the 
 emperors issued orders for the baptism of their legions. 
 The Grecian emperor instituted an inquisitorial process 
 against the Pauliciani. Under a despotic government, 
 such errors are easily taken up by the possessors of 
 power ; the fatal use of the iron hand granted to the 
 temporal ruler is so easy in the domain of the Church, 
 which ought to be kept quite free from it. Such are 
 the consequences of improperly transferring the throne 
 into the sanctuary of the Church. 
 
 But this error assumes a still more serious aspect 
 when the altar itself is converted into a throne for the 
 ruler, when the priests wield the temporal sword, 
 whether personally, or when they by the application of 
 their authority can influence the arm of the temporal 
 power which holds the sword. Heavy is the yoke of 
 a despot of this world ; but heavier still, and less easy, 
 is that imposed by a dominant sacerdotalism, when 
 the priesthood have acquired full possession of the 
 temporal and civil authority. 
 
 When the Germanic nations of the West were 
 received into Christendom, more noble scions sprang 
 up than were lost to her in the East. The Middle Ages, 
 during which the Church and the world were united 
 under a different form, was on the whole a more bene- 
 ficial period. Noble princes, brave knights, heroic 
 bishops, citizens full of independence and activity, the 
 faithfulness of vassals, the childlike reverence for holy 
 things, the poetic inspiration in the service of Christi- 
 anity, the glorification of Christ by works of art, and 
 especially in church architecture, — all such are charac- 
 
68 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 teristics upon which we, being members of a sinking 
 race, may look back with reverence and regret. But 
 who will deny that, at the same time, the disastrous com- 
 mingling of spirit and flesh dims all the brightness of 
 those times ! That is the dark side of a period which, 
 in many respects, is to be admired. Take one instance : 
 how repulsive it is to find amongst the Crusaders a 
 orbid mixture of religion and bloodthirstiness, of 
 cruelty and prayer. The forcible compulsion of the 
 Saxons to accept baptism by Charlemagne was bad 
 ^ i enough ; but that was a mere trifle compared with 
 the system of persecution which Innocent in. organized 
 when he instituted the Inquisition. Blindfold, the 
 people in many places believed they were doing a 
 work acceptable to God when they shed the blood of 
 a Jew. 
 
 Thomas of Aquinum, the greatest theologian of that 
 period, admitted that the Church had received no 
 authority to compel Jews or heathen to accept the 
 Christian faith ; but asserted that she had power, and 
 it was her duty, to use force against such as, having 
 been baptized, had fallen away. The first proposition is 
 correct ; but, we are impelled to ask, why did not the 
 ecclesiastics interfere, when the temporal rulers, law- 
 givers, and warriors endeavoured to compel the Jews, 
 heathens, and Mohammedans, by threatening their 
 lives, or by banishment and confiscation of their goods, 
 to accept Christianity, quite contrary to the mind of 
 Christ ? The second proposition opens the door to the 
 most egregious errors. Even actual falling away, as 
 in the case of Judas, Simon Magus, and other heretics, 
 which took place in the apostolic times, was not resisted 
 by Christ or His apostles with temporal punishment, 
 but with the sword of the Spirit alone. But in the 
 Middle Ages the term falling away, or heresy, was under- 
 stood to embrace every deviation from the doctrine and 
 
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. 69 
 
 commands of the worldly Roman Church ; by which 
 theory the torch was placed in the hands of the 
 episcopate for setting fire under the stake. It is a 
 miserable subterfuge to say, in condonation, that the 
 sentence of death was passed and inflicted according to 
 tlie civil, laws, not by the Church, and that therefore 
 the blame is not to be laid at the doors of the repre- 
 sentatives of the Church. Who was it misled the 
 temporal rulers to the setting up of such laws ? who 
 was it insisted, under pain of excommunication, upon 
 their administration of them ? 
 
 The root and reason of all this lay deeply hidden in 
 the history of the Western Church. How gloriously 
 did the teachers of the Church, during the first cen- 
 turies, defend freedom of conscience, and relegate the 
 temporal power to the domain properly belonging to 
 it ! The}^ had correctly designated the nothingness 
 and worthlessness of an enforced Christianity, the 
 hypocrisy and objectionableness of confession which 
 did not come from the heart. They assigned to God, 
 and to the Spirit of truth, the power of ruling men's 
 consciences. Thus matters stood when the Christian 
 Church was still persecuted. But after the persecu- 
 tions ceased, a century had scarcely elapsed when the 
 light of true knowledge disappeared from amongst 
 that generation of Christians which had grown up in 
 the deleterious atmosphere of an Established Church. 
 The power of discerning the mind of Christ in such 
 matters was lost. The folly and infatuation of the 
 bishops, resulting from the favour and pomp of the 
 empire, was so common that even Augustine, the 
 most enlightened teacher of that period, became 
 the advocate of the persecutions entered upon 
 against the schismatics of his time, the Donatists. 
 So far back into the past can the commencement be 
 traced of a system of intolerance, which during the 
 
70 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Middle Ages grew up into a wide - spreading Upas 
 tree. 
 
 Well might men hope that the Reformation would 
 lay the axe at the foot of this tree ; and not that alone, 
 but that the noxious tree would really be hewn down. 
 In fact, it was one of the first principles enunciated 
 by Luther, 31st October 1517 : "It is contrary to the 
 mind of the Holy Spirit that heretics be burned." No 
 one has testified so plainly as he did to the sacred 
 right of conscience, which no commandment of men, 
 nor dread of man, ought to rule. No one has asserted 
 with greater power the distinction between temporal 
 and spiritual, the separation of their respective domains, 
 the independence of the civil authority resulting from 
 its divine ordination, and the commission of the mini- 
 sters of Christ to proclaim the gospel. It was pos- 
 sible at that time to hope for an efiicient solution of 
 the intricate knot. As a matter of fact, the existing 
 evils were toned down, but no thorough cure was 
 effected. The ancient Papacy was overthrown ; but a 
 new and perverted one arose, in that the Protestant 
 princes, such as Henry viii. in England, took to them- 
 selves the dignities attaching to the chief heads of the 
 Church, and caused the spiritual power to be recognised 
 as an attribute of regal dignity. Hence arose, again, 
 the confusion of Church and world, and in England, at 
 least, the old cruel intolerance. It is an honourable 
 trait in Luther, and it is a proof of how thoroughly 
 (Christian his feelings were, that he never admitted it 
 ,to be right to execute heretics, as even Calvin and 
 Melancthon did. 
 
 The conduct of our Protestant princes in the orthodox 
 ages was guided by the principle asserted by Lutheran 
 theologians, and that was : " Kings and magistrates are 
 set as watchmen not only over the commandments in 
 the second table, which concern life, property, honour. 
 
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. 7l 
 
 and home, but also over the commandments in the first 
 table of the law. They fulfil their duty, therefore, when 
 they suppress a superstitious worship and take measures 
 against heresy and misuse of the divine name." King 
 Josiah, who extirpated all idolatrj^, was the model 
 which noble Protestant princes, such as Duke Ernest 
 the Pious of Gotha, zealously strove to imitate. 
 
 This theory did much good. The divine commis- 
 sion to princes, and their duty to care not only for the 
 material but also for the moral welfare of their people, 
 was thereby established. Hence emanated the whole- 
 some stringency of those days against immorality, 
 drunkenness, and luxury. 
 
 Still the above assertion goes too far, since it admits 
 the ruling power to some fields that do not belong 
 to it. If it looks upon itself as the absolute executrix 
 of the divine commands, it will go too far ; for these 
 commands concern the inward parts, and call for the 
 devotion of the entire man. But the ruling power has 
 not to care for intentions and persuasions ; it cannot 
 punish any one for his thoughts. Just as little has it 
 been commissioned to watch over the whole of private 
 life ; for instance, family worship. It has to order 
 public life, and to protect and advance the welfare and 
 moral progress of the nation. 
 
 The distinction between the commandments of the 
 first and second table cannot be applied at all in this 
 case. A Christian ruling power must assure to the 
 people the sacred observance of the day of the Lord, 
 as one of the greatest possible earthly benefits; and 
 this is based upon a command in the first table of the 
 law. On the other hand, it has nothing to do with 
 the command, " Thou shalt not covet," which stands in 
 the second table. Certainly a Christian government is 
 bound to interdict, in agreement with the nation, the 
 profanation of God's name, scoffing at religion, and the 
 
72 CHRISTIAN COMMOXWEALTII. 
 
 propagation of doctrines which undermine the moral 
 law. But it will also be careful in discerning what is 
 Christian or unchristian worship, true or false doctrine, 
 not to be blindly led by narrow-minded theologians or 
 hierarchs. This really was the case when Lutheran 
 princes, in well-meant zeal, forbade the Roman Catholic 
 forms of worship, and the forms of the Calvinists. 
 As a consequence of the division of the Church, there 
 arose the strictly denominational States ; and thereby 
 the evil of intolerance reached its culminating point, 
 in that the penal statutes, which were intended to be 
 fulminated against heretics of the Middle Ages, were 
 now applied to Christians of other creeds, and in one 
 State Protestants, in the other Roman Catholics, were 
 persecuted. The Inquisition in Italy and Spain ; the 
 persecutions of the Protestants in France and Austria ; 
 finall}', the thirty years' war in Germany, the cruel 
 conduct of Louis xiv. and xv. against the Huguenots — 
 all these were the homble consequences of the false 
 system. 
 
 In founding it, it had been said that, as heresy 
 plunged men into eternal damnation, it was better to 
 punish some with temporal pains in order to save many 
 from everlasting torture — man}^ that is to say, such as 
 would be led astray by the heretics if they were spared. 
 But even supposing that there had been any question 
 of a falling away from Christ, the principle contained a 
 dangerously erroneous conclusion. A means condemned 
 by God can never produce an effect which is acceptable 
 to Him. In reality, the result of the intolerant system 
 was the opposite to that which was expected and hoped 
 for. Far from hindering the spread of erroneous 
 doctrine and unbelief, the cruelties of the Inquisition, 
 the religious wars and the dragoonades, are the prin- 
 cipal causes of the modern apostasy from the sacred 
 cause of Christ. When the ministers of the Christian 
 
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. 73 
 
 religion commend such misdeeds, what ideas must arise 
 as to the nature of the Christian reUgion generally, and 
 what ill feeling towards its Founder ! Can religion be 
 capable of inciting to so much evil? By means of 
 the stake, which, according to an inexcusable mania, 
 was to ensure the salvation of souls, countless numbers 
 have been hurled into the dark abyss of unbelief and 
 doubt of all religion. It is not an ordinary debt of 
 blood-guiltiness which we are all thereby liable for; 
 it is the double curse of innocently shed blood and an 
 accursed profanation of the name of Christ. 
 
 Voltaire and Rousseau, the false prophets of the 
 philosophic century, took possession of this deadly 
 weapon, which the servants of Christ had carelessly 
 left in their way. The hideous hj'pocrisy of the French 
 court, — where atheism and the vices of Sodom and 
 Gomorrha flourished, and whence at the same time the 
 persecution of the Huguenots and the execution of their 
 preachers proceeded, — Portroyal destroyed, and thus 
 a work of the Holy Spirit in the Roman Church was 
 suppressed, — all these things were such crying evils, 
 that unbelief, in that it opposed intolerance tooth and 
 nail, seemed to acquire thereby a moral justification. 
 Those who held the offices of Christian teachers had 
 for centuries failed to insist upon Christian humanity, 
 to protest against torture, the trial of watches, diabolical 
 modes of execution, and persecutions in consequence 
 of religious views ; now, all such abuses fell into the 
 hands of the unbelievers as a useful weapon. They 
 insisted upon those ideas which ought long before to 
 have been asserted in the name of Christ and His com- 
 mandments ; they set them up in their own names, in 
 despite of the name of Christ, in the name of a worldly- 
 mindedness devoid of Christianity. The results obtained 
 in setting aside those dreadful abuses were trumpeted 
 about as justifications and commendations of unbeliei'. 
 
74 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 There arose in the public mind a doctrine, supposed 
 to be wholesome, regarding a humanity apart from 
 Christianit}^, which now, a century after the death of 
 Voltaire and Rousseau, has proved a power capable of 
 moving worlds. It dispossessed a number of evils, but 
 at the same time it fostered new dangers for Christian 
 nations; like an ill-selected medicine, which drives 
 in an acute attack of illness, but at the same time 
 weakens and poisons the whole system. 
 
 Christian or unchristian humanity? Christian or 
 unchristian toleration ? These are the questions. To 
 discern between these two spirits, which are so easily 
 to be mistaken for each other, that is the difficulty. 
 At one time we find that patience, which springs from 
 a disregard of all that is religious, exalted ; and again 
 we find Christian patience, regard for the convictions 
 and conscience of one's neighbour, despised as tokens 
 of indifference and lukewarmness. So great is the 
 perplexity in this matter, that people hardly know 
 whether the expressions "free-thinker" and "toleration" 
 convey praise or blame. 
 
 The two different kinds of toleration arise from 
 perfectly different principles and notions, and have no 
 internal connection, although they may coincide in 
 many outward details. Non-christian toleration regards 
 all religion with indifference. It looks down with 
 supreme contempt upon any one who has any anxieties 
 about the salvation of his soul, the honour of God, and 
 the commandments of Christ. It inquires coldly and 
 contemptuously with Pilate : " What is truth ? " There 
 is no such thing as truth ; why should people trouble 
 one another about differences of views on religious 
 subjects ? Is there any one still so weak in intellect 
 as to lay any stress upon special doctrines, or upon a 
 special form of worship, leave him to the enjoyment of 
 his folly. It says with Yoltaire : " Why should not 
 
CHRISTIAN AND NON-CIIRISTIAN TOLERATION. 7o 
 
 the Huguenots sing their Psalms in bad French, as well 
 as the clergy read their office in bad Latin ? " Itself 
 indiffiirent about divine matters, and careless of eternity, 
 unchristian toleration boasts, like Frederick ii. of 
 Prussia, that, "In my country every one can go to 
 heaven his own way." It says with the Turk, who 
 looks on with apathy at the conflicts of the Christian 
 parties ruled by him : " It is all the same whether dog 
 bites pig, or pig bites dog!" 
 
 Such is the feeling upon which non-christian toleration 
 is based. However much we may value its principles, 
 it certainly has no stability. It takes up a position 
 which cannot long be maintained ; for out of indiffer- 
 ence towards religion there arises hatred to it, and 
 toleration becomes at last the most cruel intoler- 
 ance. 
 
 Christian toleration assumes a different tone. Christ 
 does not wish to have any hypocrites amongst His fol- 
 lowers. God finds no pleasure in forced devotion, but 
 in free-will offerings. He detests unbelief, but there is 
 nothing He detests so much as hypocrisy ; a form of 
 worship consisting of ceremonial only, a prayer of the 
 lips in which the heart is not concerned, He despises. 
 His sacraments and blessings may only be administered 
 to such as are inwardly prepared for and capable 
 of receiving them. Hence Christ used for the intro- 
 duction of His kingdom no violent means, by which 
 only a lying assent can be called forth, but the word of 
 truth, holy conversation, and those miracles which were 
 not punishments, but sheer works of mercy. When 
 many of His disciples went back and walked no more 
 with Him, He made use of no arts of persuasion, much 
 less of compulsion, but said to the twelve, " Will ye also 
 go away ? " He placed before them the free option of 
 remaining with Him or of leaving Him. When Judas 
 had completely forsaken Him, joining himself to His 
 
76 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 enemies, and came to deliver Him into their hands, He 
 said, " Friend, wherefore art thou come ?" and restrained 
 Peter, who had drawn his sword, from committing acts 
 of violence. The apostles followed His example, and 
 employed no force against heretics ; as St. Paul says, 
 " The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 
 spiritual." When they exercised church discipline, it 
 did not occur to them to appeal to the temporal arm 
 for aid, and to call for the infliction of civil penalties. 
 Such means of persecution Saul had at one time 
 employed, when he was still a Pharisee and an enemy 
 to Christ ; but ever since he had received the mind of 
 Christ in himself, he exercised discipline in a different 
 spirit. He pronounced the sentence of rejection or 
 excommunication, and trusted in God that He would 
 confirm it in the conscience of the sinner. He expected 
 that Providence, by means of chastisements inflicted 
 without human aid, would bring the foolish-minded to 
 their senses, and, if possible, still save them. 
 
 When the inhabitants of a Samaritan village refused 
 accommodation to Jesus and His disciples because they 
 were Jews, and were at the time engaged in a pilgrimage 
 to the temple at Jerusalem, James and John wanted to 
 call down fire from heaven to punish them, as Elias 
 did ; but Christ forbade them with the words, " Ye 
 know not what manner of spirit ye are of." 
 
 So that Christ has nowhere given us authority to 
 exclude such as do not believe on Him, on that account, 
 from the benefit of civil rights. It is completely con- 
 trary to His intentions that we attempt to convert 
 others to His paths by treachery or intimidation. Such 
 were the principles of the Church in her best days. 
 The words in the gospel, " compel them to come in," 
 which were later on so much misused, were understood 
 to mean a compulsion by the power of truth, holiness, 
 and charity. By such means was Christianity spread 
 
CIimSTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION. 77 
 
 abroad amongst the nations by the apostles, and those 
 who walked in their footsteps. 
 
 Christian faith is a matter of the heart and of free 
 conviction. The conscience may not be forced ; it 
 must be enlightened by the word of truth. Men have 
 to declare the truth ; it is God's affair to lend their words 
 power. The conscience is sacred, and even an erroneous 
 faith must be spared and respected. The worst harm 
 one can do a man is to bring him to a confession and 
 form of worship which his inward monitor denies. 
 Decency of conduct requires that we respect the various 
 convictions of others ; and even when one is obliged to 
 regard them as erroneous and dangerous, still we must 
 presuppose the individual to possess probity of mind 
 and intention. In a time of confusion like ours, and 
 after that the matter of Christianity has been placed in 
 so bad a light by its own representatives, it becomes 
 all the more our duty to confront such as hold erroneous 
 views with patience. Let them be told what great 
 danger their souls are in, but do not allow their civil 
 honour to be interfered with. In a still higher degree 
 is it fitting that the representatives of the various 
 Christian denominations meet each other, not only 
 with forbearance, but with respect, so that we ma}^ not 
 treat with disrespect that which others reverence. 
 
 If any one, owing to his religious convictions, comes 
 into conflict with the requirements of the authorities. 
 Christian rulers should carefully consider the matter 
 ere they introduce violent measures of compulsion, or 
 compel such subjects to emigrate. It is true, a despot 
 usually hates such as appeal from his demands to their 
 consciences, or their duty to obey God's word and 
 commandments. Why was it that the faith of the 
 Calvinists in France was constituted so heinous a 
 crime? "They have embraced a religion wliich is 
 displeasing to the king ! " This was considered suffi- 
 
78 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEA.LTH. 
 
 cient reason to persecute them to the death. The 
 despot will not allow of any independent conviction 
 beside his own. If he comes across such, he does not 
 rest until he has seduced the persons to deny their 
 convictions and to commit some act contrary to their 
 conscience. It has been often said, that despotism 
 destroys the character of mankind. It is so, and the 
 reason is, because it stifles conscience in the subject, 
 uproots the consciousness of responsibility to God, and 
 thereby pollutes and destroj^s the fountain of all virtue 
 and moral power. 
 
 Therefore one ought, in the name of Christian tolera- 
 tion, to call upon all in authority to honour conscien- 
 tious subjects and to learn to value them ! If there are 
 such as willingly offer up earthly advantages, spare 
 them, for 3^ou will not find any better subjects than 
 they. The faithfulness which, according to the measure 
 of their knowledge, they display towards God, will also 
 lead them to fulfil their duties as subjects to you, in 
 such matters as you have a right to command them 
 as their temporal ruler. Rejoice that there are some 
 who have a conscience, and whose conduct is regulated 
 by higher motives than mere fear of man and by a 
 straining after earthly advantages. 
 
 Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine, when 
 he was in Gaul, had not publicly acknowledged the 
 Christian faith. One day he called upon his officers, 
 of whom he knew that they too were inclined to 
 Christianity, either to sacrifice to idols or to leave his 
 service. Some declared themselves ready to obey the 
 will of their chief, whilst others avowed their inten- 
 tion to resign their position. Before the sacrifice was 
 consummated, Constantius revealed his true intention. 
 He dismissed such as had no fixity of purpose, and 
 retained in his service only such as were true to their 
 convictions, considering that men who would betray 
 
CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION. 79 
 
 their God would have no compunction in betraying 
 their earthly ruler also. 
 
 Modern history has confirmed the fact, that the 
 oppression and driving forth of such subjects as are 
 convicted of no other crime than that they cannot 
 agree with the dominant ecclesiastical S3^stem for con- 
 science' sake, brings a curse upon nations and upon the 
 reigning family. The national misfortunes with which 
 France has been so constantly chastised must bo, 
 partiall}^ at least, referred to the iniquitous oppression 
 of the Protestants and the so-called Jansenists. Spain, 
 Italy, and Austria also suffer from the disastrous con- 
 sequences of similar acts. The fact of offering an 
 asylum for refugees who have left all for conscience' 
 sake has brought much benefit to England and to 
 Prussia. Such a policy is not only commended b}^ 
 worldly wisdom, it is also crowned with the blessing 
 of Heaven. 
 
 True toleration, based upon Christian principles, 
 found its first expression in England. After that the 
 nation, under the Tudors and the Stuarts, had been 
 compelled to drink the bitter cup of intolerance to its 
 dregs, Cromwell granted toleration to all kinds of 
 Protestant worship. To the Independents belongs the 
 honour of being the first who seriously maintained the 
 principle of religious liberty. Cromwell allowed the 
 Jews to build a synagogue in London. William Penn 
 and his Society of Friends were even more consistent 
 in their requirements. At last, under William iii., the 
 principle of toleration gained a complete victory ; and 
 since then it has gone on by degrees doing away with 
 disabilities. 
 
 Every newly-acquired political liberty is a great 
 advantage to a people of solid principles and character. 
 The fear of God and Christian morals are pledges for 
 the proper use of freedom. If these conditions are 
 
80 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 wanting, every new degree of liberty is an acquisition 
 of dubious value. Unhappy Germany, who in her 
 better days, -when she was distinguished among the 
 nations for her fear of God, domestic virtues, decency, 
 faithfulness, probity, and sense of justice, enjoyed no 
 political freedom, no liberty of religious action ! But 
 when in 1848 these advantages, so long withheld, came 
 into her possession, one may say it was too late. The 
 postulates required for a beneficial employment of 
 liberty had already been too much damaged. It 
 was unjustly said. We are not ready for freedom! 
 On the contrary, the time when we were ready for 
 and worthy of it seems to be already passing away. 
 Our liberty has not come to us too soon, but too 
 late! 
 
 Hence, also, the toleration and freedom of worship, 
 which has at last been granted, assumes rather the 
 form of a humane indifference to everything divine, 
 than a respect for the rights of conscience. 
 
 It is not long since that we were obliged to do battle 
 with the injurious action of the old system of intoler- 
 ance. Before the last revolution in Italy, matters were 
 carried so far that in Tuscany, the best governed of 
 the Italian States, officials were obliged annually to 
 send in at Easter a certificate of confession and com- 
 munion ! No medical man dared to visit a patient 
 more than three times, unless during the interval the 
 sick person had sent for a confessor. Under Frederick- 
 William III. of Prussia, air officials were commanded 
 to celebrate the royal birthday by partaking of the 
 sacrament. From the just indignation at such things 
 emanated the resolution of the German Parliament 
 that no one should be compelled to attend any reli- 
 gious ceremony. 
 
 This was one of the fundamental rights which was 
 then assured to the German, nation ; and, as a matter 
 
CIIKISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION. 81 
 
 of fact, the principle has since then been carried out in 
 all parts of Germany. 
 
 If in ancient times, during the spread and intro- 
 duction of Christianity, no one was compelled to receive 
 baptism, it was because people desired to win others 
 to Christ by the power of divine truth alone. But when 
 a modern Parliament enunciates that principle, it is to 
 be feared that thereby a disinclination for all religious 
 actions, and the desire to get rid of all allusion to God 
 in public affairs, is shown to be the influence at work, 
 along, perhaps, with other more noble motives which 
 certainly may still exist. Nevertheless, the principle 
 asserted is in both cases the same, and is right in itself. 
 The liberty allowed by it is taken advantage of by 
 those who wish to separate themselves from Christ, 
 and that is a pity ; but that very liberty is an advan- 
 tage to real Christianity, and it is to be hoped that the 
 latter will gain in sincerity, sterling qualities, and 
 power amongst its adherents under the influence of 
 the principle. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EMA^XIPATION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Owing to the existence of the Jews in the Homan 
 Empire, a great duty was imposed upon the Christian 
 Church, when her persecution ceased, and she herself 
 took part in the framing of the laws and the conduct 
 of public affairs. By the proper, or improper, manner 
 in which she treated the Jews, she was obliged to 
 manifest whether the heads of the Church, notwith- 
 standing the change of their position, had remained 
 true to their former opinions or not. 
 
 Up to this period. Christians had, so far as we know, 
 kept themselves free from the sin of hating and mock- 
 ing at the Jews. The first persecution of the Christians 
 had originated with the Jews, but the Christian com- 
 munity had learnt from their Divine Master to love 
 their enemies, and to intercede for them. Paul, who 
 suffered so much from the Jews, could say : "I love 
 them for the fathers' sake ; and I bear them record 
 that they have a zeal of God, but not according to 
 understanding." This gentleness of mind existed also 
 in the fathers of the Church, and it was increased and 
 strengthened by the hope of an eventual conversion of 
 the Jews to Christ, which is positively foretold in the 
 records of the Old and New Testaments. Of this hope 
 Augustine was still able to say, that it was " frequently 
 reflected upon in the hearts and in the conversation of 
 the faithful." 
 
 When, for the first time, owing to the laws of the 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 83 
 
 Christian emperors, a Commonwealth was to be 
 ordered upon Christian principles, it may well have 
 been justifiable to forbid heathen forms of worship, 
 for they were radically unclean, and in most cases 
 combined with morally objectionable exhibitions and 
 actions. But where was any cogent reason found for 
 Christian rulers to suppress the worship of the 
 synagogue ? Christ Himself had taken part in the 
 solemnization of it ; and if indeed no Christian creed 
 was to be found in it, still it is in all its parts worthy of 
 respect and morally clean. The disbelief of the Jews in 
 Christ is certainly a sin in the sight of God, but not a 
 crime which could be recognised by an earthly tribunal. 
 We Christians ought to cure them of this unbelief, but 
 by persecution we render the disease incurable. The 
 hope of an enlightenment of the Jews at some future 
 time depends upon their experiencing from us Christian, 
 that is to say, just, noble, and benevolent treatment. 
 
 The laws of the Christian emperors were at first 
 temperate ; after the time of Justinian severe measures 
 were adopted, and the Jews fled from the Byzantine 
 Empire. 
 
 Into those laws .the noxious folly crept in, that it 
 was high treason for any one in the Empire to profess 
 a different faith from that of the Emperor. The severity 
 of the old heathen rulers against such as despised the 
 worship of the idols of the land was now turned by 
 Christian rulers against the Jews, because they did 
 not believe in Christ ; and this occurred without the 
 ministers of Christ, so far as we know, in any way 
 raising a protesting voice against it. 
 
 In the empire of the Visigoths, in Spain, the 
 bishops had an opportunity of making their influence 
 more strongly felt than in Byzantium. After that 
 King Reccared [a.d. 588] had accepted the Christian 
 faith, and incorporated it with the law of the State, a 
 
84 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 number of laws were published against Jews and 
 heretics, in which the intolerant and evil spirit which 
 later, after the expulsion of the Arabs, culminated 
 in the Spanish Inquisition, was clearly betrayed in a 
 remarkable manner. Those laws were the commence- 
 ment of a sacerdotal tyranny, for which the ecclesiastics 
 of the West were to blame. 
 
 Whilst the severe enactments against the Jews 
 increased, the hope of the future conversion of Israel 
 decreased in equal measure. Men did not any longer 
 see in them the blood-relations of Christ, whom we 
 ought to win over to Him ; the people whom we have 
 to thank for the spiritual endowments which have come 
 to us ; the heirs to a divine promise, which will still 
 be fulfilled to them. Men saw in them only the mur- 
 derers of Christ, forgetting that we have no right to 
 punish the children for the sins of the fathers, and 
 that Christ had prayed for His murderers. Christian 
 rulers and ecclesiastics foolishly imagined that the 
 time had come when they were to rule this unhappy 
 nation with a rod of iron. 
 
 In the Roman Empire of the German nation the 
 Jews occupied a peculiar position. They were the 
 body-servants of the sacred Roman Empire — a band of 
 slaves, with whom each successive emperor could deal 
 as he pleased. As in those times everything was 
 arranged according to corporations, the Jews also 
 existed as a corporation, enjoying their own laws. But 
 they had no claim to legal protection ; and hence it was 
 that their lot during the Middle Ages was subject to 
 such varied vicissitudes, dependent upon time and 
 place. For a short time they would be allowed liberty 
 to follow their business, amass riches and influence at 
 court, and so on, when suddenly the fierce hatred 
 would break out again against them. If they had 
 practised usury, and attracted the cupidity of their 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 85 
 
 neighbours by their acquisition of wealth, it was very 
 easy to excite the wrath of the populace by fearful 
 accusations. They were said to have murdered Chris- 
 tian children, defiled the host, or poisoned the wells. 
 There is hardly a single town in the German Empire 
 where the Jews were not subjected to murder, lire, 
 and rapine. 
 
 The very fact of their being slaves was their pro- 
 tection against complete extirpation ; for the emperor 
 could not desire to lose his property. 
 
 The persecutions in Spain were even more S3^stematic 
 and cruel. There, during the worst times, under 
 Ferdinand the Catholic, one of their Rabbis addressed 
 the Christians thus : " We are a blessed and at the 
 same time an accursed race. You Christians wish at 
 present to extirpate us ; but you will not succeed, for 
 we are blessed. One of these days you will do all you 
 can to exalt us ; but that, too, will not succeed, for we 
 are accursed." 
 
 The immeasurable weight of crime which Christians 
 have heaped upon themselves by their unchristian 
 treatment of the Jews has not yet been expiated by 
 the Reformation, nor by the changes introduced with 
 it. It is true that a nobler state of mind became then 
 apparent. In that the rights of all were more care- 
 fully respected, the Jews also found more security 
 and protection. Yet it was a long time before the 
 consciousness of our duty towards the people of Israel 
 became at all clear. Luther, who was in other 
 respects averse to the persecution of those who held a 
 different creed, distinctly advised that the synagogues 
 should be burnt and the Jews compelled to take up 
 some kind of manual labour, and that their daughters 
 should have spindle and distaff placed in their hands. 
 Luther, who in other respects held so firmly to the 
 text of Scripture, lost all hope of the conversion of the 
 
86 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Jews, which he had himself distinctly mentioned in 
 the first edition of his Homilies. Such portions of 
 Scripture as Romans, chap, xi., which seemed to 
 have any tendency to favour the nation, were to be 
 construed quite differently ; the heart of a Jew was, as 
 Luther said, as hard as iron, stone, or the devil. 
 
 Thus, even after the Reformation, there was a vast, 
 unefifected task left undone. Modern governments 
 have taken the solution in hand ; they have emanci- 
 pated the Jews in their own way, but whether this is 
 the right way is still a question. 
 
 It was by no means a Christian feeling, but rather 
 an unchristian, which had the most effect in producing 
 the mighty change which took place in the treatment 
 of the Jews. However lamentable the admission may 
 be, it must be made. Their fetters were broken more 
 owing to the influence of a false system than of an 
 increase in true enlightenment. The growing indiffer- 
 ence of Christians to their own religion, the estrange- 
 ment of men of education from Christ, and, finally, the 
 illusive idea of a humanity without Christianity, have 
 exerted the greatest influence in this matter, and on 
 that very account the altered treatment of the Jews 
 has assumed a false, nay, even a dangerous tendency. 
 
 Owing to the divisions in the Church, owing to the 
 causes of offence afforded by the clergy, owing to the 
 religious wars and the alternating oppression inflicted 
 upon each Christian sect in its turn, there had been 
 called into existence that departure from Christianity 
 which was first constituted a system by the free- 
 thinkers in England, under the name of Deism. The 
 Deists were ashamed of the appellation Christian, and 
 were of opinion that it sufficed to hold to faith in God, 
 without any regard to Christianity. This idea, which 
 was suppressed in England, but was then carried over 
 by Voltaire and Rousseau to France, and disseminated 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 87 
 
 there with the greatest success, could not do otherwise, 
 when applied to the region of politics, than promote 
 the entire equality of the Jew with the Christian. The 
 Deists and their successors saw in the Jews like- 
 minded brethren. If in many instances the Jews had 
 nothing to do with the matter, still it pleased the 
 Deists to annoy those who believed' on Christ by ex- 
 tolling and favouring the Jews, who denied Him. 
 
 Here, again, the representatives of this false system 
 were aided by a change on the part of the Jews ; 
 the ancient Sadducean unbelief raised its head again 
 amongst them. Spinoza took it up with a truly fearful 
 boldness of thought and coldness of heart. As in 
 Germany, the entire change of feeling assumed a milder 
 form and an ideal tendency ; so also did this revival 
 amongst the Jews, after it had been planted on German 
 soil in the celebrated Moses Mendelssohn. Lessing 
 started with the usual idea of the Freemasons, that the 
 various religions were only different phases of one and 
 the same faith, eternal in its nature, but never attain- 
 ing to perfect development during the existence of time. 
 In "Nathan the Wise," Judaism, Christianity, and 
 Mohammedanism are compared and placed on a footing 
 of equality; and yet, with a spice of malice, Chris- 
 tianity is characterized as the least good of the three. 
 
 Thus everything was prepared for the assertion of 
 equality for the Jews in the State and in social life. 
 It only required a forcible disruption of the old system, 
 and the new, which was already there, took its place. 
 This occurred in the French Revolution and the asser- 
 tion of the rights of man. Since then the emancipation 
 of the Jews, and their participation in all civil rights 
 and privileges, has formed part of the programme of 
 the modern party of progress throughout Europe. 
 
 The raising into importance of the dignity of man, 
 the insisting upon the rights which emanate from it, 
 
88 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 was a well-founded and necessary revulsion against the 
 remnants of slavery, bondage, compulsion of conscience, 
 the various forms of legal disability, and the too sharply 
 defined distinction of classes. It was in itself a holy 
 postulate that the Jews, after being so long humiliated, 
 should be assured of humane treatment, and that they 
 should be granted liberty and respect for their religion. 
 We may heartily rejoice at the liberty which they 
 acquired in Poland and Holland, in England under 
 Cromwell, and in Austria under the Toleration Edict of 
 Joseph XL, 1781. But with the French Revolution, 
 postulates of a very different nature were insisted upon. 
 It was reckoned amongst the rights of man that every 
 one had a right to take part in the government, and to 
 make the laws of the place in which he lived and paid 
 taxes. To deduce such a postulate from the rights 
 of man is a palpable mistake. The distinctions existing 
 between nations, and their partition upon the face of 
 the earth, is a fact ordained of God, just as much as 
 the distinction between the degrees of age or the difler- 
 ence of sex. Every nation has the right, and it is its 
 duty, to form itself into a well-ordered commonwealth ; 
 but whence arose any obligation to allow every stranger 
 who has accidentally settled in the land to take part 
 in the framing of the laws or the government. A man 
 may live happily and respected in a foreign land as a 
 guest, without possessing the slightest claim to a par- 
 ticipation in the government of the country. 
 
 In the law of the Old Testament, the Jews were 
 bidden to love the stranger : " For ye also were strangers 
 in Egypt, and the Lord loveth the stranger." This duty 
 is incumbent upon us also, and in every Christian 
 State the Jew should meet with benevolent treatment 
 — as strangers. The same law impressed upon the 
 Jew : " Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee (as 
 king) which is not thy brother." Just as little do the 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 89 
 
 rights of hospitality, which strangers ought to enjoy, 
 confer any right to participate in the government. 
 The Jews have even less claim to such right amongst 
 us, seeing that they have forfeited the same at home, 
 in their own land. If the providence of God has not 
 permitted them to rule in their own country, whence 
 do they acquire a right to behave as rulers in ours ? 
 
 The lawgivers of a Christian State may, in admitting 
 the Jews to civil rights, go a long way without any 
 question being raised in the name of Christianity. 
 How much or how little liberty may be granted them 
 is not an ethical, but a national question ; and the 
 national interests must be protected against them, as 
 against every other stranger. To define the amount 
 of concession may and ought to be left by theologians 
 in the hands of jurists and statesmen. 
 
 The assertion of modern Jews, that they are no 
 longer strangers, but that in matters of birth and 
 feeling they are German, French, and English, etc., 
 that their fatherland is here, and that they seek no 
 other, is not to the point ; for with them religion and 
 nationality are most intimately connected, in that their 
 religion makes it their duty to hold fast to their 
 nationality, and to the hope of returning to their 
 country. One stands or falls with the other. If they 
 really wish to abnegate their nationality, they ought 
 to recognise the higher and more perfect religion of 
 Christianity, and enter the . Christian Church. Only 
 when they have done this, have we any pledge that 
 they are in earnest about the abnegation of their 
 special national interests. 
 
 Even in the present day, there exists an unmistak- 
 able antipathy of natural feeling between the Western 
 nations and the Jews. It is a curious coincidence, that 
 those very politicians who have inscribed the prin- 
 ciples of nationality in the largest letters upon their 
 
90 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 banners, sliould, in the most self-contradictory manner, 
 fail to see this anomal}", and pave the way for the rule 
 of the Jew. 
 
 The religion of the Jews, in its present form, has this 
 peculiarity, that it causes its professors to approach 
 us, and at the same time removes them far from us. 
 They are related very closely to us, and we can, 
 in many things, make common cause with them. They 
 recognise the personality of God, the Almighty Creator ; 
 and this admission alone is at present, for all who hold 
 fast to it, a bond of union. They hold the ten com- 
 mandments, upon which all social morality is based. 
 They respect monogamy ; and from the days of their 
 ancestors all domestic virtues, such as family affection, 
 conjugal fidelity, obedience and reverence to parents, 
 have been handed down, wherein they even excel the 
 majority of Christians of our time. And yet it is just 
 their religion which divides them from us. The}^ are, 
 according to the divine ordinance, a separate people ; 
 they are preserved for a future purpose, and maintained 
 in their segregation. This segregation is intensified 
 by their continued non-recognition of Christ. That 
 which is the most sacred matter to us, they regard with 
 horror, and their conscience, however erroneously, calls 
 upon them to avoid any community of religion with us. 
 
 These are the reasons against their complete incor- 
 poration into a Christian commonwealth. The faults of 
 their national character now would not militate against 
 their emancipation. For these faults, which, it is true, 
 showed themselves amongst them under the ancient 
 Roman Empire, their tendency to usury, to base and 
 deceitful modes of gain, have been increased by con- 
 tinued oppression on the part of Christians. Just such 
 faults have been fostered amongst the Grecian Chris- 
 tians under the Turkish rule. In England, where the 
 Jews for the last two centuries have experienced a 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 9 1 
 
 nobler treatment, these faults appear in a minor 
 degree, and the well-to-do Israelites, in a general way, 
 enjoy respect and confidence there. It is true their 
 usurious spirit and growing wealth threaten us with 
 serious dangers ; but these must be combated not by a 
 return to the former exceptional legislation against the 
 Jews, but by a revision of the whole economy of our 
 national system. 
 
 The unconditional equalizing of the position of Jews 
 and Christians has become an accomplished fact in 
 most of the European States since 1848. In Prussia 
 it was asserted in the constitution of 1850. In Eng- 
 land about the same time, under Sir Robert Peel's 
 ministry, their admission into Parliament was per- 
 mitted, with the concession of a form of oath consistent 
 with their creed. No office under Government, save 
 that of Lord Chancellor, is theoretically closed to them. 
 This exception was maintained because the Queen is 
 required, in matters of conscience, to seek the advice 
 of the Lord Chancellor. At present a Jew is Master 
 of the Rolls. 
 
 This equalization of the position of the Jews has 
 been productive of disadvantage for us, and even for 
 them ; for us, because the entry of men who are not 
 Christians into our legislative assemblies has produced 
 a breach in the Christian State. In most of these 
 assemblies throughout the Continent there reigned 
 already so unchristian a tone, that no speaker could 
 refer to the words of Christ and the commandments, 
 without calling forth a storm of reproach and scorn ; 
 and yet the Divine Word and Christian doctrine still 
 remained in force, so to say, as an authority which could 
 be appealed to. But this authority is called in question 
 by the introduction of men who deny Christianity ; and 
 it is to be feared that the last remnants of Christian 
 spirit will be driven out of our Parliaments, and the 
 
92 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 words of Christ will no longer be looked upon as the 
 utterances of the supreme Lawgiver, but only as sen- 
 tences like those of any poet or philosopher. If the 
 arrangement cannot be altered, at least in all cases where 
 questions regarding Christian institutions arise, regard- 
 ing questions which are common both to the State and 
 the Church, such as matrimony and national schools, 
 or regarding the privileges of the different confessions, 
 the Jews should refrain from voting. Such reticence 
 has lately been exercised, with a tact worthy of respect, 
 by the Roman Catholics in the Prussian Chamber of 
 Deputies during the consultations regarding the inter- 
 nal constitution of the Protestant Church ; but, unfor- 
 tunately, no such modesty has as yet been displayed 
 by the Jews. 
 
 The present emancipation promotes the dissolution 
 of Judaism. For if the Jews amongst us held as faith- 
 fully to Moses and the prophets, and the whole of their 
 religious traditions, as is still the case with their 
 brethren in the East, in Russia, Hungary, and Poland, 
 they would not ask for emancipation, but would re- 
 pudiate it; for with equal privileges the Jews must 
 also assume equal duties with other citizens. But such 
 duties introduce a conflict with serious requirements of 
 the Mosaic law, such as the law of the Sabbath and 
 forbidden meats. For a real Jew, to be required to 
 perform military service, or to go through exercises in 
 the use of his arms on the Sabbath, would be unbear- 
 able. He would rather give up all idea of emancipa- 
 tion, and determine to emigrate. It is not long since 
 that the Rabbis of the ancient faith expressed them- 
 selves distinctly opposed to the innovations of the so- 
 called reformed Jews in France and Germany. By 
 the latter, German forms of prayer have been intro- 
 duced in lieu of the old Hebrew ones. They have set 
 up organs in their synagogues (with Christian organists ! 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 03 
 
 because the playing of an organ on the Sabbath is for- 
 bidden as a form of labour). They have imitated the 
 Protestant confirmation of children, . accompanied by 
 the recital of a creed and benediction. All such things 
 the orthodox Rabbis repudiate. In like manner, a real 
 Israelite would consider the marriage of a Jew with a 
 Christian as a thing to be scouted. But for the very 
 same reasons, all Jews, who hold to their ancient belief,, 
 ought, far from asking for emancipation, rather to 
 decline it in the form in which it has been presented 
 to them. 
 
 Modern arrangements tend, in that the Jews accept 
 them, to the rapid ruin of the ancient Israelitic spirit. 
 Our governments have long promoted unbelief amongst 
 the Jews, partly from ignorance of the consequences 
 of their measures. The Kabbis have been obliged to 
 acquire in the Universities a certificate as to their 
 general knowledge. Such men come from the Talmud 
 schools. That is usually their sole preparation. Then 
 they are suddenly plunged into a totally different 
 atmosphere, which they are not able to breathe. They 
 attend the lectures on philosophy, and become ac- 
 quainted with worldly systems which are quite foreign 
 to religion. Their belief in the Talmud breaks up, 
 and with it their belief also in the Old Testament. 
 For a Christian theologian who finds himself in such 
 a mental conflict there is, if he takes the matter 
 seriously enough to heart, help and advice. There is 
 such a thing as Christian philosophy, and a philo- 
 sophical Christian theology; paths of reconciliation 
 are open, and in such a case Lord Bacon's saying is 
 still applicable : " A superficial knowledge of philo- 
 sophy leads away from God ; deeper draughts at the 
 same fountain lead back to Him." But a Jewish 
 theologian is in a much more unfortunate position. 
 He is not capable of digesting philosophy ; he can only 
 
94 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 accept unbelief. A pliilosophy which could lead him 
 back to a faith in the Old Testament without the 
 intervention of Christianity, he cannot find anywhere. 
 The doctrines of the Talmud, however, contain but 
 little which can satisfy a thinking mind. Thus the 
 synagogues are provided with Rabbis who have made 
 shijDwreck of the faith of Moses. 
 
 Modern unbelieving Judaism is a source of corrup- 
 tion to the people of Israel, and it is also a thorn in 
 the side of Christian nations. Wherever we find 
 tradition and all that is sacred denied, scoffed at, and 
 reviled, we are sure to find the irreligious Jewish 
 literati in the front rank. With their faith they have 
 also abandoned their country; nothing is sacred to 
 them. They find a pleasure in destruction alone. 
 Whilst everything else is going to ruin, they still dream 
 of a Jewish rule in the future — the last distorted and 
 corrupted remnant which remains to them of their 
 ancient faith. 
 
 It is difficult to decide which has done the other 
 most harm, whether the unbelieving Jew has injured 
 the Christian, or unbelieving Christians have injured 
 the Jews most. But this much is certain, that when, 
 in the German press, an impious and irreligious tone 
 prevails, this may for the most part be ascribed to the 
 Jewish element. In this respect matters are quite 
 different in England ; even in France, the newspapers 
 observe a more dignified bearing, with regard to the 
 things which are sacred to a Christian people, than in 
 our country. The majority of the papers are either 
 written by Jewish men of literature, or are at least 
 written to the order and in the pay of Jewish 
 capitalists. 
 
 Matters have arrived at such a pass, that a Christian 
 government ought to respect and seek to uphold the 
 few remnants of ancient Judaism which still exist in 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS. 95 
 
 Germany. The antagonism to the synagogues which 
 existed in former ages was principally based upon the 
 fact that, in the Talmud and certain prayers of the 
 Jews, there are revilings and curses directed against 
 Christ and Christianity. But we may reasonably hope 
 that, with a nobler treatment, this sinister hatred of 
 Christianity on the part of the Jews would disappear, 
 as appears really to be the case in England. 
 
 " You will some day seek to elevate us ; but you will 
 not be able." This prophecy is, according to the pre- 
 sent state of affairs, apparently contradicted, if W' e only 
 regard the enormous power of wealth the Jews possess, 
 w^hich daily increases, and which is tangibly appreciable 
 in all classes of life connected with this enterprising 
 and pretentious nation, who have been so long enslaved 
 and have at last regained their freedom ; but the end 
 has not yet come. The ancient hatred of the Jew^s has 
 not yet died out ; it has only assumed another form. 
 Notwithstanding all that is being said about humanity 
 and equality, it is just those who make use of such 
 language that are imbued with and retain the old 
 antipath3^ When the day of terror comes, when 
 Socialism and Communism will for a short period be 
 allowed to gain the upper hand, we shall then see of 
 how little use this pseudo- emancipation has been. 
 When the great raid upon possessors of property breaks 
 out, it will probably be the Jews who will be the first 
 to suffer. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 The cry for disestablishment and the separation of 
 Church and State is daily becoming louder, and is 
 being raised on all sides. In this cry the representatives 
 of the most antagonistic views combine. On the one 
 hand, we have those who wish to see the influence of 
 religion upon civil life put an end to as soon as possible ; 
 on the other, we have those who are honestly seeking 
 after the kingdom of God, and who hope for a period 
 of energy and effectiveness in the Church, as soon as 
 she shall be relieved of the oppressive bonds which the 
 temporal power has laid upon her. Let us for the 
 present consider such hopes as not forming part of the 
 question ; one thing is certain, that the separation may 
 be desired upon very estimable grounds, viz. the dis- 
 approval of the inherent untruth with which the entire 
 system has until now been infected. For the National 
 or State Church would fulfil her duties and carry out 
 her pretensions, only if every minister were filled with 
 the Spirit of Christ, and every member of the State 
 Church, whether man, woman, or child, led a Christian 
 life — if all acts of worship, whether public or pri- 
 vate, were performed with inward conviction and joyful 
 self dedication by all who took part therein ; instead of 
 which we meet at every turn a monstrous distinction 
 between the Christian faith and the actual position of 
 affairs. It is true that here and there pleasurable excep- 
 tions exist ; but, taken all in all, there is no question of 
 
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 97 
 
 the fact that, measured by the standard of the word 
 and example of Christ, both high and low, minister and 
 people, fall very far short of what is required of them. 
 In the services of the Church, lukewarmness or in- 
 difference is palpable ; on the spiritual life of the best 
 Christians there seems to brood an incubus, which 
 must be ascribed for the most part to the general con- 
 dition of Christendom. Under such circumstances, a 
 feverish desire for freedom, spiritual reinvigoration, 
 and a higher tone of activity in the Church, is very 
 justifiable. 
 
 Towards the attainment of this desire, as men hope, 
 the act of separation between Church and State is to 
 conduce. Then we should find sincerity and truth 
 taking the place of hypocrisy; zeal would spring up in 
 lieu of lukewarmness, and activity in place of lassitude. 
 Then it might be possible to reassert the discipline of 
 the Christian Church, which has fallen into such decay 
 and disuse. It is true that, in consequence, fewer 
 would bear the appellation of Christians, but those few 
 would do honour to it. 
 
 With such expectations English Dissenters were and 
 are imbued. Vinet, the most noble and eloquent of 
 the advocates for the separation of Church and State, 
 gave himself completely up to such a hope. The Scotch 
 Free Kirk, which arose from the mighty secession in 
 1843, has inscribed that motto upon her banners. And 
 finall}^, a portion of the highest churchmen in England 
 would be glad to see the Church disestablished, upon 
 the plea that the Episcopal Church would really begin 
 to flourish, were she set free as in the United States of 
 America. But are such hopes and aspirations really 
 based upon any foundation? and would not the ad- 
 vantages which may be anticipated be overborne by 
 disadvantages and dangers which have not been suffi- 
 ciently considered ? 
 
98 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Let us first obtain a clear conception of what is 
 meant by a separation between Church and State. Is 
 it a clear definition of, and distinction between, the 
 spiritual and temporal power, followed by a friendly 
 compact between the two, by which each, unhampered 
 by the other, and yet mutually co-operative, may strive 
 to attain their common aim, the spiritual and moral 
 welfare of the nation? No, that is not what is meant. 
 Is it that gentleness, patience, and mutual respect shall 
 be reciprocally exercised by the adherents of the 
 various religious creeds ? No; this again is not separa- 
 tion between Church and State. Rather, it is insisted 
 upon that the State as such, that the nation and its 
 leaders, shall acknowledge no Christian creed and have 
 no religion. Religion, and especially Christian faith, 
 is to be looked upon as a purely private afiair, affecting 
 the individual alone, and such religious societies as may 
 set themselves up. The Christian Church is regarded 
 as a private association, with which the State has 
 nothing to do. Christian religion is no longer to have 
 any recognised position in public affairs ; it is relegated 
 from the sphere of national life to the chamber of 
 individual feeling, and is to be exercised only in private 
 assemblies, where similarly-minded persons may meet 
 together. The State, as such, is not to assert any 
 recognition of God and of Christ ; it is not to avow a 
 knowledge of any Word of God to which it must 
 submit. The State is atheist. 
 
 Let us first attempt to realize what would be the 
 result of such a condition of affairs as regards the 
 rising generation. Countless numbers who at present 
 still enjoy a Christian training would then be deprived 
 of it. Many parents are so careless that they would 
 not impart to their children any baptism, any religious 
 instruction, or any confirmation, unless usage, the 
 customs of society, and the feeling of respectability 
 
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND, STATE. 99 
 
 connected with those two impelled them so to do/ 
 Many of us who are blessed with Christian faith would 
 not have attained to it, but would have grown up in a 
 heathen condition, unless those beneficent influences of 
 usage and public custom had come to our aid. If all 
 tliis is taken away, we may apprehend that a generation 
 will grow up in which the majority will arrive at a 
 condition of estrangement from God and barbarity, 
 which has hitherto been looked upon as exceptional. 
 This apprehension arises from the already apparent 
 indifference of many ; it is increased by the unfortunate 
 fact that the German nation especially, in consequence 
 of centuries of tutelage, is not accustomed to self- 
 assertion either in political or in religious matters. 
 People have been led into bad habits by a system under 
 which a paternal Government cared for everything, 
 and considered itself bound to arrange every detail of 
 life. Anything which is not promoted by the authori- 
 ties is disregarded, so long as necessity does not compel 
 it to be undertaken. Under such circumstances, to 
 commend the separation of Church and State, to strive 
 after it, and to aim at tearing asunder all bonds which 
 still connect the two, is to assume a grave responsibility 
 with regard to the juvenile population whose welfare 
 is confided to us. 
 
 Protestants especially should weigh these considera- 
 tions ; for the Roman Catholic Church, and the people 
 adhering to it, are better fitted to stand such a trial. 
 The influence of her clergy is great, her organization 
 is compact, the traditions of her independence are 
 well authenticated ; whereas in German Protestantism 
 all these advantages exist only in a very slight degree. 
 
 ^ Since the above was written, baptism has been rendered non-compulsory 
 during the six months previous to Christmas 1875 ; and it has been statis- 
 tically asserted that one-third of the infants born during that time in the 
 city of Berlin have not been baptized ! — Note by Translator. 
 
100 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 The great example to which all the advocates for a 
 separation between Church and State in the more 
 ancient States of Europe point, in order to recommend 
 their theories, is that of the United States of America. 
 They assert that there a rigid separation exists, and 
 that there experience has shown how well it works in 
 religious as well as civil matters. The zeal and activity 
 of the various Christian parties, as there exhibited, 
 might be well taken by us as an example worthy of 
 imitation. At the same time, there reigns a spirit of 
 forbearance and mutual recognition; whereas the State 
 is completely free from those ecclesio-political strifes 
 from which Germany is at present suffering, and by 
 which her future is so gravely threatened. There is 
 much truth in this ; and why should we not desire to 
 see these advantages transplanted to German soil ? Yet 
 there remains a tw^ofold question to be raised, — first, 
 whether the separation of Church and State would 
 assume the same form; secondly, whether the same 
 favourable conditions upon which those advantages 
 are based exist also among us. 
 
 There the separation is so complete that the State 
 does not interfere with the religious affairs of the 
 various societies. Freedom of worship is once for all 
 firmly established, and religion is no affair of the legis- 
 lature, whether in Congress or in the individual States. 
 But although no established religion exists there, the 
 Americans, as a people, are a Christian nation. No 
 law compels the adoption of the Christian faith ; but 
 Christian customs are in the ascendant, and custom 
 always has been more powerful than law. It is usual 
 for Congress to be opened and prorogued with prayer, 
 and on these occasions leading ministers of the various 
 denominations are alternately called upon to officiate 
 as chaplains. In all the States of the Union one 
 Christian institution, aiid that the one which has 
 
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 101 
 
 most influence upon the national life, is inviolably 
 maintained, namely, a rigidly strict observance of the 
 Lord's Day ; and this not only by the sanction of 
 custom, but also by law. Many usages exist which — 
 as, for instance, the tendering of an oath — solemnly 
 recognise Christianity. It is a common occurrence 
 that preachers and missionaries, as recognised agents 
 for the public welfare, receive free passes to travel on 
 the railways and steamboats. 
 
 The seven States of New England form the historical 
 basis of the great Republic, which is washed by three 
 oceans ; and those States w^ere founded by the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, those faithful heroes, who, during the reign of 
 James i. and Charles i. of England, emigrated thither. 
 They left their country because they were dissatisfied 
 w4th a Church which had become worldly, and because 
 they were thrust forth by a corrupted and tyrannical 
 court, as at a previous period the citizens of Phocsea, 
 in Asia Minor, migrated in order to escape from the 
 tyranny of the Persians, and to found for themselves 
 a new home beyond the seas. The Pilgrim Fathers 
 sought to find a home in the New World, where the}' 
 might live in peace and liberty ; they did not seek for 
 liberty in order to escape from the laws of God, but 
 rather that they might be able to conform their lives 
 to the word of Christ and serve God without hindrance. 
 Like genuine Puritans, their chief object was to put 
 in practice a purely Christian national life. They 
 succeeded in so doing to an extraordinary extent. 
 To the present day the States of New England, if we 
 regard the social evils of New York as the exceptional 
 accompaniments of all great cities, are the paradise of 
 America, as regarded from a religious and moral point 
 of view. Pennsylvania was also founded with the same 
 objects. Such precedents produced an effect upon the 
 subsequent development of the States, and imparted to 
 
102 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 them a similar impress, although less clearly defined, and 
 weakened by foreign elements. Even on the occasion 
 of their severance from the mother countrj^, although 
 that proceeding cannot be legally justified, still a 
 powerful element of Christianity pervaded the move- 
 ment. The French, as a nation, made their Revolution 
 with the Bible under their [eet. The Americans made 
 theirs with the Bible in their hands. Hence, in the 
 case of America, the necessary conditions existed for 
 the maintenance of a Christian national life, which is 
 strong enough to hold its own without assistance from 
 the temporal power, and to maintain its position 
 without the patronage of the State. There every man 
 is accustomed to be independent ; he knows what he 
 believes in, he knows what he wants to do. He stands 
 up for his religious convictions, and is prepared to 
 make further sacrifices for religious purposes. Such 
 a people is capable of making a good use of un- 
 restricted liberty of worship. In such a case, advan- 
 tageous results may follow from a separation of Church 
 and State. 
 
 But who will take upon himself to assert that the 
 same advantageous conditions exist, and to the same 
 extent, in Germany ? Give us the Christian national 
 customs of the Puritans ; give us the benefits of 
 the celebration of the Lord's Day, which have been 
 so earnestly insisted upon by Calvinists, Scotchmen, 
 Englishmen, and Americans ; make the dominant tone 
 of the press and of public feeling to be that of respect 
 towards Christian religion ; in a word, give us an ener- 
 getic people, conscientiously believing in its creed, 
 then there would be but little mischief to apprehend 
 from a separation between Church and State in 
 Germany. 
 
 This separation would infallibly assume a different 
 form amongst us, less resembling that of the American 
 
SEPARA.TION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 103 
 
 Republic than that which existed during the short 
 period of the first Republic in France. We have 
 already gone so far on the road to apostasy that a 
 complete severance of the State from the Church, and 
 the relegation of Christianity to the domain of private 
 life, would be the first step towards the setting up of 
 the tyranny of Atheism. 
 
 The theory of the separation as proposed by Yinet 
 deserves closer consideration. The chief point is the 
 doctrine restricting the temporal power to interference 
 in purel}^ temporal affairs. But the defenders of this 
 separation admit, that even those may not be ordered 
 without regard to moral principles; that the State 
 must be moral, and be a supporter of morality, although 
 not of Christian but of social morality. The latter is 
 supposed to be capable of existing independently of 
 the Christian faith, and without any regard to it. The 
 component parts of this social morality are, according 
 to Vinet, threefold — namely, Security, Property, and 
 Decency. As soon as men come together to lead a 
 social existence and form a community of citizens, it 
 becomes necessary to protect the life and property of 
 each and every one. For this object some authority is 
 called into being, that is the task with which it is 
 entrusted by the community. The State is an institu- 
 tion for mutual assurance ; such is the contract upon 
 which it is based, and authority or government is only 
 the agent set up by the body of insurers to see that 
 the object of their association be carried out. Niebuhr 
 remarks, that amongst Latin nations the doctrine of 
 a natural state and a social contract still prevails; 
 whereas we have returned to a deeper apprehension of 
 what a State is. Vinet's example is quoted as a 
 confirmation of this remark. Still he certainly did 
 ennoble that deplorable theory, and thus arrived at 
 better conclusions than its exponents usually do. He 
 
104 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 introduces as the third component of social morality, 
 decenc}' and respectability. But in this very fact 
 may be seen how impossible it is to separate social 
 morality from the source of all genuine morality, which 
 is the Christian religion. In the States of heathen 
 antiquity, this third element was very slightly realized ; 
 in the course of time it was almost entirely obliter- 
 ated, and no power on earth was capable of saving 
 and restoring it but Christianity alone. Only a 
 Christian people, and a government which admits its 
 allegiance to Christ and His commandments, will be 
 able to put into practice social morality as Vinet 
 calls for it. Separated from Christianity, such morality 
 will prove to be as unstable as Deism, which always 
 degenerates into Atheism as soon as left entirely to 
 its own resources. 
 
 Somewhat different is the theorj^ under guise of 
 which in our day the complete dissolution of the bond 
 between Church and State is called for. In order to 
 reconcile us to the loss of those supports which have 
 hitherto sustained the fabric of the State, we are 
 referred to the majesty of the law and the respect 
 shown to it. This is said to suffice; and that the 
 State, based upon the law, can still subsist though 
 deprived of the assistance of the Christian Church. 
 
 There is something grand and majestic about a State 
 in which the law is not only made known, but is also 
 observed; where it is applicable to all, even the highest, 
 and where it is regarded with respect by all. That was 
 a fine saying of Demaratus to the Persian king, when 
 the latter wondered how it was that the Greeks had 
 not a despotic government, as the people of Asia had: 
 " They have a king whom they all obey," was the reply; 
 " that king is the law." Respect for the law is not 
 only a political virtue, but it is the political virtue. It 
 comprehends all that makes a good citizen ; it is the 
 
SEPARA.TION OF CIIUKCII AND STATE. lOo 
 
 fundamental principle of all national welfare. It con- 
 stituted the strength of Rome; it is the secret of 
 England's power. That people will do well whose 
 rulers look upon a law once entered upon the statute- 
 book as inviolable, amongst whom every man knows 
 that transgressing, or even circumventing the law, is 
 a mean and disreputable act. A mournful state of 
 degeneracy has set in when people become accustomed 
 to the promulgation of a number of laws without any 
 serious intention of putting them into execution ! 
 
 Theologians are quite right when they draw a dis- 
 tinction between Christian and civil righteousness. 
 Respect for the law comprises, and is, real civil 
 righteousness. Of that there is no question. But 
 the question is, whether this respect can continue to 
 exist when separated from Christian religion, and 
 whether, as must be the case, it can under such condi- 
 tions be propagated and invigorated in one generation 
 after another ? If there is any saying which is entirely 
 consonant with our reason and with history, it is this : 
 The law itself requires a sanction from above, in order 
 to take root in men's dispositions ; and respect for the 
 law only acquires a true basis and proper consistency 
 when it is derived from a regard to higher superhuman 
 and supernatural power. With regard to subjects 
 upon whom the majesty of the law imposes burdens 
 and restraints, this fact is self-evident. The idea of 
 God as ruler of all, omniscient and just, furnishes an 
 impulse and vigour to the observance of the law even 
 when it may be difficult for us, and in cases where 
 no human being w^ould discover or punish the trespass. 
 In a word, in order to respect the law a conscience is 
 necessary, and in order to have a conscience one must 
 \believe on God. If faith is wanting, there can be no 
 Conscience, and without it no respect for the law. This 
 was the case in Rome. As the fear of the gods dis- 
 
106 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 appeared, respect for the law was lost too ; the ancient 
 Roman fidelity to an oath fell to the ground, and 
 oppression in the provinces, and impious attacks upon 
 the constitution of the country became matters of 
 everyday occurrence. Upon the ruins of the old re- 
 publican virtue, there sprang up a fabric of barbaric, 
 inhuman imperialism. In England this sublime feature 
 of the national character, respect for the law, has in- 
 disputably its origin in the Christian faith. Nelson's 
 famous signal before the battle of Trafalgar, "England 
 expects every man to do his duty," produced at the time 
 such an effect, and it still produces the same, because it 
 is a quotation from the explanation of the ten com- 
 mandments contained in the Church Catechism, and 
 because it awakens the most sacred reminiscences in 
 every member of the Anglican Church. This sublime 
 consciousness, that God is the original and final source 
 of all law, and that obedience to the law is obedience 
 to God, was transplanted by the Pilgrim Fathers and 
 the English emigrants to the soil of America. It is 
 no abstract, cold, and dead idea of the law, but this 
 religious respect which forms a basis for all that is 
 great and good; which basis, too, still exists in the 
 United States, along with all the corruption and law- 
 lessness which has crept in and multiplied in modern 
 times. Do those who talk about a State without 
 religion really mean to assert that even an irreligious 
 people can be virtuous, righteous, and happy? If they 
 have not lost all knowledge of human nature, together 
 with their loss of faith, they will be constrained to say 
 with Voltaire, " If God did not exist, it would be neces- 
 sary to invent Him." It is not the Christian State, but 
 the State devoid of all religion, which is Utopian. 
 
 In America we have, under extraordinary conditions, 
 the abnormal spectacle of a State devoid of religion 
 and a religious people. But we may be sure that, in 
 
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATU 107 
 
 our case, if tlie State became devoid of religion, so 
 would the people too. The social evils from which the 
 American Republic suffers would become rampant 
 among us — such as, want of obedience and respect on 
 the part of children towards parents and teachers, 
 irreverent treatment of religious subjects on the part of 
 sectarian teachers, avarice and deceit practised under 
 the cloak of religious zeal, judicial corruption, and a 
 spirit of lawlessness. 
 
 The complete separation which our Ultras strive 
 after, would, when put to the test of experience, be 
 found an absolute nonentity. If the State wished it 
 ever so much, it could not become completely neutral 
 in matters of faith and religion. Every State requires 
 some guarantee for the fidelity of its civil and military 
 officials in the administration of justice; it requires a 
 pledge for the truthfulness of witnesses ; it obtains both 
 by requiring and accepting an oath. Without some 
 solemn, religious assurance of fidelity and truthfulness, 
 the objects of the administration could not be attained. 
 In the face of the unreliability and deceitfulness of 
 mankind, we are obliged, as a last resort, to order 
 an appeal to the Omniscient, Almighty, and Just 
 God. "An oath," as the Bible says, "is an end to 
 all strife." Without it, we could not arrive at the end 
 at all. 
 
 Let us try to realize how the ideal State of our 
 opponents would succeed in such a case. In India the 
 following scene not unfrequently takes place. In some 
 criminal proceedings a witness is called upon to give 
 evidence, and upon the tenor of what he says depends 
 to a material extent the verdict of the jury. The 
 judge asks him. Who or what do you swear by? Are 
 you a Hindoo who swears by the water of the Ganges? 
 No. Are you a Parsee who swears by the holy flame? 
 No. Are you a Mussulman who swears by the Koran? 
 
108 CHEISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 No. What are you, then ? I am nothing. He must 
 be dismissed, and his evidence is of no avail in a court 
 of justice. 
 
 The Atheist cannot take an oath, but neither can he 
 require one to be taken. Tliis is the necessary result 
 which would obtain in a State devoid of religion. If a 
 judge, or any other official, were to proceed to admini- 
 ster an oath on behalf of the State, the reply not only 
 of the Atheist, but of any one who chooses, might be : 
 " How dare you ask me to assert my religious belief? 
 The State has nothing to do with religion; such a 
 requisition is diametrically opposed to the principle of 
 a complete separation between the civil and religious 
 departments." 
 
 Thus, then, the in dispensability of an oath proves 
 that even the most modern State cannot do without 
 some connection with a higher world, some dependence 
 upon the latter — that, in fact, it cannot do without 
 reverence for God ; but this implies a belief in God, 
 and a profession of that belief. Thus it will be found 
 necessary, at every step, to recall into the sphere of 
 national life that religion which had been thrust out. 
 Oaths, and the necessity for their continuance, are, as 
 it were, the link which connects the State with the 
 unseen world, however much men may strive to break 
 asunder this union. 
 
 The expectation of those believers who hope that by 
 such a separation their own spiritual life would be 
 strengthened, and the Church, although more con- 
 tracted in its dimensions, would spiritually flourish, is, 
 on a more careful consideration, found to be very 
 doubtful. A thoroughly sickly organization is by no 
 means improved by the mere fact of an amputation 
 being performed. If no healthy vital powers exist, the 
 operation endangers life. It is true that we all require 
 a renewal and reinvisoration of our Christian faith 
 
SEPAKATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 109 
 
 nnd conversation ; but that is an operation of the 
 Divine Spirit ; it can only reach us by means of some 
 purifying and life-giving act emanating from Christ. 
 If this be wanting, even the enmity of the world and 
 persecution of Christianit}^ will be unable to produce 
 any good effect. It is a mistake to suppose that, on 
 the separation of Church and State, tlie fulness of tlie 
 Spirit would incontinently come upon believers. Even 
 in lands where this separation exists, we hear bitter 
 complaints of the lukewarmness, want of unity, and 
 worldliness of religious communities. If a sick man 
 has lain for a long time upon one side, he hopes to find 
 relief by being turned over upon the other ; but if his 
 wish be gratified, he soon becomes as uneasy as before. 
 The same mistake is made by those who expect, by a 
 separation, to find the Church healed of her infirmities. 
 
 If is not this separation, nor the disappearance of 
 Christian religion from the laws and national procla- 
 mations, that can bring us any good. The nation, 
 as such, must have a conscience as much as every 
 individual must. This conscience of the community 
 finds its natural expression in a Christian profession 
 by the nation ; it derives from such a constant public 
 testimony fresh strength and nourishment, which it, 
 like all other living organizations, stands in daily 
 need of. 
 
 Those praiseworthy things which we observe in the 
 United States — such as liberty of conscience, zeal in 
 religious undertakings, mutual forbearance am^ong the 
 various denominations, peace between the temporal 
 power and religious communities— are not, as is sup- 
 posed, necessarily the results of a separation between 
 Church and State ; they may all exist and flourish 
 in the presence of a firmly -established, reverently- 
 surrounded, and lawful]3^-protected National Church. 
 
 The proof of this is Great Britain. Just as in that 
 
110 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 realm the great political problem has hitherto found 
 the most perfect solution, so, too, has the great ecclesi- 
 astical problem. A firmly-established National Church, 
 combined with freedom of conscience and of worship ; 
 such is the arrangement which is most satisfactory^, 
 which we should desire for ourselves, and which we 
 should strive after. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LAWFULNESS OF TAKING AN OATH IN A CHRISTIAN 
 COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 In the face of the many religious sects and individuals 
 who object on principle to take an oath, as contrary 
 to the express command of Christ contained in the 
 gospel (see Matt, v. 34), it may be advantageous to 
 enter more fully into the question. Christ says (see 
 Matt. V. 33-37) : " Again, ye have heard that it hath 
 been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear 
 thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths : 
 But I say unto you. Swear not at all ; neither by 
 heaven ; for it is God's throne : nor by the earth ; for 
 it is His footstool : neither by Jerusalem ; for it is the 
 city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by 
 thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white 
 or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; 
 Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh 
 of evil." 
 
 An oath is a solemn recognition of God, Almighty, 
 Omniscient, and Just. There is a distinction between 
 the oath required of a witness in cases where a fact or 
 facts are being deposed to, and a promissory oath which 
 is to regulate our future conduct. In both cases we 
 call upon God to witness to the truth of our assertions ; 
 we imprecate His judgment if our words be found to be 
 untrue. Hence perjury is the most grievous abuse of 
 the divine name, the gravest insult to divine majesty, 
 a calling down upon ourselves of divine and temporal 
 
112 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 punishment ; for God will not permit Ilis name to be 
 taken in vain. 
 
 Oaths occur in sayings ascribed to God Himself on 
 weighty occasions, in solemn moments. " By myself 
 have I sworn," says God to Abraham (Gen. xxii. 16, 
 17), "because thou hast done this thing, and hast 
 not withheld thy son, thine only son : that in blessing 
 I W'ill bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply 
 thy seed as the stars of heaven." On the occasion of 
 the installation of the Son of man in His eternal 
 priesthood it is said, " The Lord hath sworn and will 
 not repent. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of 
 Melchizedek" (Ps. ex. 4). 
 
 " Men verily swear by the greater : and an oath for 
 confirmation is to them an end of all strife " (Heb, vi. 
 16; comp. Ex. xxii. 10, 11). There is a divine ordinance 
 in human communities by which strife may be put an 
 end to, whereby justice may be done, peace assured, 
 and life and property protected. This is the duty 
 which has been committed to all authorities from 
 above, and they have to carry it out in a world full of 
 untruth, lies, and deceit. Hence they require an oath. 
 They must call for one in serious matters, in order to 
 assure themselves of the truthfulness of evidence, the 
 fidelity and trustworthiness of their servants and 
 fellow-labourers. There must be a last resource, and 
 this can only be found in a solemn appeal to God, 
 the Judge of all men. Nothing less will suffice, and 
 any one who takes a true oath upon the requisition 
 of the authorities assists them in fulfilling their 
 calling. 
 
 Christ found that, with respect to swearing, de- 
 generacy and misuse had crept in amongst the Jews. 
 Assertions upon oath were customary in common life, 
 as is here pointed out, and in Jas. v. 12. Want of truth- 
 fulness in conversation was widespread, and it could 
 
THE LAWFULNESS OF TAKING AN OATH. 113 
 
 not be said of many, as our Lord said of Nathaniel, 
 " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ! " 
 At the same time the Jewish nation respected and 
 feared the name of God. Hence arose the custom of 
 introducing asseverations on oath into daily conversa- 
 tion, in which asseverations, however, the name of God 
 was avoided. This and that was asserted by heaven ! 
 by earth ! by Jerusalem ! or by the speaker's own 
 head ! This evil habit was succeeded by a still more 
 evil doctrine, which was meant to serve as justification 
 of it. " Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is 
 nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the 
 temple, he is a debtor. . . . Whosoever shall swear by 
 the altar, it is nothing ; but whosoever sweareth by the 
 gift that is upon it, he is guilty." Our Lord strongly 
 opposed such distinctions (Matt, xxiii. 16-23) ; and 
 hence we deduce from His language that there were 
 scribes who maintained that if only the name of God 
 were not expressly used, the truth of the assertion 
 made was not of great importance ; that it sufficed if 
 oaths made in the name of God were kept sacred. We 
 mention here, as a fact which reflects credit upon the 
 Jews, that such excuses for untruthfulness cannot be 
 found in the Talmud. The testimony which Christ 
 bore against such was not borne in vain. 
 
 Christ appeared and did away with solemn asseve- 
 rations in common intercourse. Christ required that 
 His disciples should always act and speak under a 
 sense of the omnipresence and omniscience of God. 
 We are answerable for everything that proceeds from 
 our lips : " For by thy words thou shalt be justified, 
 and by thy words thou shalt be condemned " (Matt, 
 xii. 37). Hence the disciples of Christ ought to be 
 distinguished by the perfect sincerity and simplicity 
 of their language : " Let 3- our communication be, Yea, 
 yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these 
 
 H 
 
114 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 cometh of evil." The serious " Yes " and " No " of a 
 Christian man should have, for all such as know him, 
 the weight of a solemn asseveration. 
 
 So it is in the Christian Church. " Yes," solemnly 
 enunciated and spoken in the presence of God, serves 
 in baptism and at ordinations (in England during the 
 marriage ceremony) in lieu of an oath. In ancient 
 Christendom it was looked for that the authorities 
 should accept the simple " Yes " and " No " of a bishop 
 or priest, and assign to it the same weight as an 
 oath. 
 
 In the meanwhile the authorities constantly require 
 from us Christians, and even from the servants of the 
 Lord, an oath, when evidence is to be given or fidelity 
 promised. We swear when duly called upon, and do 
 so with a full knowledge of the sanctity of an oath ; 
 we look up to God, the just and omniscient, giving 
 Him the honour. We do this with a good conscience, 
 because Christ has not forbidden it. 
 
 It is true that there are many earnest and well- 
 meaning Christians, worthy of all respect, who are of 
 opinion that Christ forbade this also. We honour their 
 conscientiousness and fidelity to their convictions, but 
 cannot agree to their interpretation of the passage ; for, 
 in the first place, we note that Christ in His prohibition 
 only quotes the forms of asseveration in use in common 
 conversation : By heaven ! by earth ! by Jerusalem ! 
 by one's own head! Such are not judicial forms 
 of expression. Then we also observe that, at verse 39, 
 where He says, " Resist not evil," He evidently stipu- 
 lates for the administration of justice. Brethren are 
 not to requite injury for injury, nor reproach for 
 reproach ; but the Government is to punish the evil- 
 doer : it does not bear the sword in vain, and God has 
 committed that office to it. This commission from 
 above Christ did not do away with, but recognised. 
 
THE LAWFULNESS OF TAKING AN OATH. 115 
 
 Hence also in this case He does not gainsay the right 
 and duty of the Government to call for the assistance 
 of an oath in the execution of its commission, as that 
 alone makes an end of all strife among men, and is for 
 confirmation. 
 
 Unfortunatel}^, the language and conduct of Chris- 
 tians in general have not been such that the authorities 
 should look upon our Christian calling as anything very 
 special, or that they should be satisfied with our simple 
 " Yes " and " No." 
 
 The times of the apostasy have come, and godless 
 men have sprung up, who do not hesitate to say — 
 inasmuch as they declare that " there is no God " — that 
 an oath, an invocation of God, is a meaningless cere- 
 mony; and on that ground they object to take an oath. 
 It will eventually come to pass that the reverential 
 taking of an oath on convenient occasions will be looked 
 upon as a proof of and testimony to the Christian faith. 
 
 As amongst the Jews abuses had been introduced, 
 so also amongst us Christians. Nothing is any longer 
 held to be sacred, and amongst other things an oath. 
 But we must not countenance such desecration ; we 
 ought rather to raise our protest against it. In courts 
 of justice, even in trifling cases, an oath is tendered 
 and taken with indifference. The grave responsibility 
 of the act is overlooked, and the consequences upon the 
 consciences of the people are most disastrous. The 
 number of oaths taken is one of those things which is 
 corrupting the social state ; and he would be a bene- 
 factor to mankind who would get rid of this evil, so 
 that an oath should only be required on emergent 
 occasions, and surrounded with grave ceremonial. 
 Political oaths are recklessly called for, carelessly 
 taken, and wickedly broken. Public opinion in this 
 respect is so utterly at fault, that the disregard of 
 political oaths is looked upon quite as a matter of 
 
Il6 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 course ; and yet this misuse of God's name does bring 
 upon us His judgments. 
 
 The abuses in ordinary conversation amongst us 
 nssume a different form to what they did amongst the 
 Jews, and are of a worse kind. The Jews avoided 
 calling on the name of the Lord in vain. With us it 
 is a prominent and evil habit to call thoughtlessly upon 
 the name of God and Jesus on every slight occasion. 
 How our Lord Jesus Christ looked upon this is not open 
 to any doubt. He did not come to do away with the 
 law, but to fulfil it ; and that law says, " Thou shalt not 
 take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; for the 
 Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name 
 in vain." If we take the name of the Lord upon our 
 lips unnecessarily, the foremost evil consequence is, that 
 our prayers lose their efiicacy, and no answer is vouch- 
 safed to our invocation of the divine name. Christians 
 ought to render themselves remarkable by the fact that 
 to them the name of God, the word of God, prayer, the 
 Lord's day, and all the ordinances of God, should be 
 especially sacred. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCHISM 
 IN THE CHURCH AND THE VARIOUS SECTS. 
 
 The bond between Church and State, between the 
 temporal and spiritual power, could be simply and 
 peacefully arranged if the temporal government had 
 only to deal with one undivided Christian Church. 
 When, in the early times of the Middle Ages, the 
 Teutonic tribes, with their dukes and sovereigns at 
 their head, embraced Christianity, those heads of the 
 people had to deal with one body of clergy, which 
 was not split up into parties ; there was only one 
 doctrine in the Church, only one form of worship, one 
 harmonious whole. The office-bearers could explain 
 what they required. The rulers knew with whom they 
 had to do, from whom they had to learn the law of 
 Christ, and whom they had to consult in order to bring 
 their own actions and the laws they promulgated into 
 accord with the divine command. As a matter of 
 fact, the Christian bishops in the empire of Charle- 
 magne obtained a position which nearly corresponded 
 to that which was normal and to be desired. They 
 did not exercise any temporal power, they had nothing 
 to do with the conduct of government ; but they had a 
 place in the councils of the king and of the nation, and 
 could make their voices heard. If any one of the 
 mighty ones of the earth attempted to set himself above 
 the divine law, the bishops could remind him of his 
 Christian callins and Christian duties. But the rela- 
 
118 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 tioiis were disturbed and the bond of peace destroyed 
 when arrogant emperors forcibly interfered with the 
 affairs of the Church, and when Roman bishops, 
 ignoring their calling, stretched out their hands to 
 grasp temporal power, desiring to wield both temporal 
 and spiritual swords, asserting that the temporal was 
 only an emanation from the spiritual power, robbing 
 princes of their thrones, and releasing people from their 
 allegiance to their rulers. In the face of a ministry 
 which raised such pretensions, it became difficult to 
 rule, difficult to uphold a Christian Commonwealth. 
 But since the Reformation fresh obstacles have been 
 added. The presumptuous fabric, whose apex was 
 intended to reach to heaven, was broken down, and the 
 language of the work-people confounded. An earth- 
 quake rent asunder the mighty city, schism in the 
 Church became an accomplished fact; and from the 
 date of the Reformation, Christian princes found them- 
 selves face to face with two sets of ministers, tw^o 
 ecclesiastical parties, of which each declared itself to 
 be the only true one. 
 
 Now, when in a nation either one or the other of 
 these has a considerable predominance, and the ruler 
 himself subscribes to such party from conviction, the 
 matter becomes somewhat less intricate. In such 
 cases it is still possible for a National Church to exist 
 and to maintain satisfactory relations with the State, 
 — as, for instance, in England, Scotland, and Sweden, 
 where Protestantism predominates; or, on the other 
 hand, as in those countries which are nearly exclusively 
 Roman Catholic. Germany was divided into two nearly 
 equal parts. For a long time it was held to be impos- 
 sible that public worship should be conducted in any 
 one territory both in the Protestant and Roman Catholic 
 form. Not only were the Roman Catholic princes con- 
 vinced of this impossibility, but Luther also believed 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCHISM. 119 
 
 that such a state of things would lead to civil war. 
 Grotius, the Dutchman, was of the same opinion. In 
 the Protestant countries of the north, public Homaii 
 Catholic worship was not permitted. This idea of the 
 incompatibility of a dual form of worship with the 
 welfiire of the State was the cause which led to the 
 pernicious principle in the German Empire, that the 
 territorial ruler should decide as to what the religion 
 should be, whether the National Church should be 
 Roman Catholic or Protestant. Gustavus Adolphus 
 was the first who, after his conquests in Germany, 
 proclaimed the principle, of which they had no idea in 
 Sweden, that both forms of worship should be recog- 
 nised, and should co-exist with equal privileges. This 
 theory, then unheard of, was preached by the court 
 chaplain, Fabricius, from the pulpit of Saint Anna, after 
 the Swedish king had taken possession of Augsburg. 
 
 In the peace of Westphalia it was still insisted upon 
 that the ruler and his subjects must be of a similar 
 faith. Only when Frederick il of Prussia had con- 
 quered Silesia did a numerous Roman Catholic popula- 
 tion come under the sway of a Protestant ruler. In 
 the electorate of Saxony, on the other hand, a royal 
 family which had become Roman Catholic ruled ever 
 since 1697 over a Protestant people. When, after the 
 storms of the Napoleonic period, Germany was again 
 subdivided at the congress of Vienna, the various 
 creeds were as little taken into consideration as had 
 been the case under Napoleon. Twelve millions of 
 Roman Catholic subjects were handed over to Pro- 
 testant princes. 
 
 The opponents of a Christian State, well knowing the 
 difficulties which must arise from such a state of things^ 
 asserted that it was no longer possible to set up such a 
 Commonwealth. As people are not contented with an 
 individual who simply avows himself to be a Christian, 
 
120 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 and refuses to belong to any particular denomination, 
 so too they would not listen to the proposal for having 
 a Christian State, it must also have some distinctive 
 creed ; but seeing that, owing to the intermingling of 
 the various parties which had gone on all over Germany, 
 this would bring about endless strife, there was no 
 alternative left but to set up an undenominational, and 
 hence — here we have the fallacy — a Commonwealth 
 devoid of religion. 
 
 Not to be devoid of religion, but to be Christian ; 
 not to be denominational, but to be catholic, is the 
 object which at present should be the aim of the State. 
 Just as much as the denominations could exist side by 
 side in the German Empire, so too can they in each 
 territory: such is the experience of two centuries; that 
 is what has been taught us by history, which has over- 
 leaped all those ancient prejudices. We have been 
 allowed to enjoy a peaceful community of life under 
 one Government, and as citizens of one countiy. 
 
 The Government can and ought to hold fast to its 
 Christian calling, and fulfil the same without regard to 
 the denominational schisms amongst the people. It 
 can do so — it can, by an impartial demeanour towards 
 both parties, maintain the Christian character of the 
 legislation and of the Government, for the simple reason 
 that the strife of the creeds does not affect that aspect 
 of Christianity which has a decided influence upon the 
 State. The strife does not concern the moral law, nor 
 the decalogue ; but it is the fact of upholding the 
 moral law which imparts to the State its Christian 
 character. 
 
 This fact is recognised by the Protestant party. 
 Equality of civil rights for the Roman Catholics as well 
 as Protestants ; the capability of Roman Catholics to 
 fill all offices of State, even in a Protestant State; 
 equality of support and equality of protection for both 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCUISM. 121 
 
 forms of worship, are acquisitions which, it is to be 
 hoped, no Protestant will ever again permit to be called 
 in question. One cannot be certain of a similar 
 liberality on the part of the others. Pius ix., in his 
 Syllabus Errorum (77, 78), has disapproved of granting 
 permission to any other form of Christian worship in 
 Roman Catholic countries, even immigrants of another 
 creed should not be allowed to celebrate their form of 
 worship openly. These are unfortunate premonitions, 
 although better views amongst that party are not yet 
 quite extinguished. 
 
 The reason which, in a State where all creeds are 
 upon the same footing, leads to a similar recognition 
 of both denominations, is not indifference to religion, 
 nor the contemptuous notion that it is folly to lay 
 any stress upon religious questions, but rather an 
 arduously acquired insight into the nature of the 
 Christian Church, in consequence of which the ancient 
 sectarian brusqueness is smoothed down. 
 
 In holy baptism we are incorporated into Christ, and 
 are constituted members of His Church. Baptism with 
 water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost, is the one proper Christian and effective baptism, 
 which may not be called in question or repeated. Such 
 is the ancient Christian doctrine, such is the doctrine 
 taught by the various Christian Churches ; God has so 
 graciously overruled matters, that in this matter of 
 baptism unity still is maintained. Here we have a 
 safe point of departure. As is asserted in the Nicene 
 Creed, there is only one Christ and one baptism ; so also 
 are we all baptized into one Church, and the authorities 
 have a right — nay, more, it is their duty — to regard 
 every baptized person as a member of the one Christian 
 Church, and to treat him as such. As assuredly as 
 the Jews, notwithstanding the divisions which exist 
 amongst them, are still one people in consequence of 
 
122 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 their lineage, and must be treated as a nation, so too 
 we Christians, notwithstanding the divisions and de- 
 nominations amongst us, form one religious community, 
 one Church. Further, however much the Christian 
 ministry may have ramified and become involved in 
 strife, it does as a matter of fact form a unity ; they 
 are the servants of Christ, whom He has set over His 
 large household. The ministers of the various deno- 
 minations participate, though in various degrees, in 
 that commission made over by Christ to His disciples, 
 whether it be as priests or as preachers. Hence the 
 authorities do well in recognising the ministers, without 
 regard to their denomination, as servants of Christ, and 
 in protecting them. Now there exists, no doubt, the 
 unspeakably mournful fact, that one portion of this 
 ministry has anathematized the other, and that this 
 latter has replied with a rude and exclusive bearing. 
 If the authorities, in this matter of strife, do not take 
 the part of either side, and do not allow this excom- 
 munication to form any basis for their conduct towards 
 either party, such a proceeding cannot be blamed for 
 its indifference. Even supposing the anathema to have 
 any value, those who are anathematized would still 
 have to be regarded as Christians ; for in the Christian 
 Church a ban or anathema, even when properly em- 
 ployed, has not the power nor is it intended to 
 separate the individual to whom it is applied from 
 the body of Christ, nor to deprive him of his Christian 
 standing, but is only intended to improve, heal, and 
 save, as a means of Christian discipline. But this ban, 
 which thus hovers between the denominations, has, it 
 is true, been uttered by men, but has never been 
 ratified by Heaven. Of this we are convinced by the 
 manifold experiences of the last three and a half 
 centuries. Had the anathema been confirmed by God, 
 the guilty party would long since have been brought 
 
POSITION OF A CHKISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCHISM. 123 
 
 up for judgment ; truth and Christian virtue would 
 have disappeared, the Divine Spirit would have with- 
 drawn from them, and have left nothing but a plain 
 strewn with corpses. Still such is not the case. If 
 the real condition of a Christian nation be examined, 
 whether it be Roman Catholic or Protestant, we shall 
 find an equal amount of piety and of the fruits of the 
 Spirit in either case. It is palpable that the ministry 
 and the worship are in both cases accompanied by 
 a divine blessing. It is evident that a Christian 
 Government does right in maintaining and protect- 
 ing the existence of both. The faithfulness and 
 mercy of God have evidently cared for both ; should 
 not the attitude of a Christian Government try to do 
 likewise ? 
 
 The researches of science, since the Keformation, 
 have also not been in vain ; they have contributed to 
 the peace of the Church. Whilst passionate decisions 
 and bitterness of feeling have disappeared, owing to 
 depth of research and calmness of reflection, old mis- 
 understandings have been discovered, and a path 
 cleared for their solution. It was seen in the mirror 
 of history what grievous mistakes had been committed 
 on both sides at the time of the separation, so that 
 each does well to modify its judgment upon the other. 
 In the Holy Scriptures, and from ancient Christian 
 records, it is evident the Church once possessed a con- 
 formation which none of the present S3^stems exactly 
 represents, and that in her bosom truths were com- 
 pactly united which now show themselves, here and 
 there, scattered amongst the various denominations : 
 we see that, in the sects, many gifts come to light, 
 and that they are confirmatory and supplementary 
 to each other. The two great parties, Eoman Catholic 
 and Protestant, have not only human permission, but 
 also one derived from a higher source, to exist side by 
 
124 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 side ; and that, too, in the hope that some day a perfect 
 reconciliation and reunion will be brought about. 
 
 For there can be no doubt that the present condition 
 of division is one of suffering, humiliation, and desire. 
 Healing of the wounds and restoration of unity, is 
 what all should earnestly strive for, for the sake of the 
 glory of God, the salvation of souls, the advancement 
 of Christian national life and a Christian State. When 
 Germany, exhausted by the terrible war, attained to 
 rest at the Westphalian peace, it was well known that 
 tlie arrangement of tolerance, which was based upon 
 schism, was only a temporary agreement, a provisional 
 scheme until better times should come, a transitive 
 arrangement until unity of faith and worship should 
 be restored, — until men should agree on the subject 
 of religion. 
 
 Such is the firmly established civil law in Germany. 
 It is the fruit of the bitterest quarrels. And all parties 
 should unite in hoping that this equality of position 
 and similarity of treatment of both confessions may 
 be permanently upheld; the more so, because during 
 the last two centuries experience has shown such 
 parity to be beneficial. 
 
 The monopoly which, in a strictly denominational 
 State, the dominant ecclesiastical party possesses, has 
 always reacted in an injurious manner upon its spiritual 
 and vital powers. Self-contentment and pride, indol- 
 ence and diminution of zeal, are the evil consequences 
 of uninterrupted and exclusive possession of power. 
 Free competition, which may in other matters be 
 attended by some disadvantages, exercises in religious, 
 as also in scientific matters, advantageous effects. The 
 universities would become lethargic if every subject 
 were to" be in the hands of a single professor. The 
 juxtaposition of the Roman Catholic and Protestant 
 religions moreover, under equally auspicious condi- 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS SCHISM. 125 
 
 tions for mutual activity, excites a noble competition. 
 For this reason the general condition of the Roman 
 Catholic theology, ministry, and people in Germany, 
 is so much more favourable than, for instance, in the 
 Latin countries of Europe or in South America; 
 because here constant intercourse with Protestantism, 
 and the need of maintaining its position by spiritual 
 pre-eminence, have advanced the spiritual and reli- 
 gious life. In the same manner, the proximity of the 
 Roman Catholic Church has benefited Protestantism. 
 Wherever the latter has found itself in a minority, 
 as opposed to the old Church party, it has displayed 
 more earnestness and more faithfulness to tradition 
 than in the large Protestant States, where it appears 
 to have gone steadily on to dissolution. 
 
 Our State Church in Germany is twofold ; the 
 Roman Catholic and the Evangelical divisions enjoy 
 simultaneously the coveted position of an Establish- 
 ment, and ought to do so. But when under such cir- 
 cumstances smaller Christian communities come into 
 existence, it would be unreasonable to claim for 
 them either subsidy or support from the State, or a 
 similar position to that of the State Church. Still 
 it is beneficial, and one of the duties of a Christian 
 Government, to allow to smaller and newly arisen 
 Christian communities perfect freedom of worship and 
 the enjoyment of equal civic rights. 
 
 How ought the powers that be to comport them- 
 selves towards the so-called sects ? The attitude which 
 a State devoid of religion assumes towards these will 
 be very different to that assumed by a Christian State 
 based upon parity. The former will, under the pre- 
 tence of perfect indifference, contemplate with secret 
 satisfaction the dissolution of the existing remains of a 
 national Church, and promote such dissolution in an 
 underhand way. Atheistical partisans, who, under the 
 
126 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEAXTH. 
 
 cloak of religion, seek to destroy all religion, will be 
 treated with respect and forbearance. For a time, but 
 certainly not for a continuance, the same indulgence 
 will be extended to decidedly Christian endeavours. 
 The general tenor of the law in such a State will be 
 that all sects are to have perfectly free scope for their 
 activity, provided that they do not come into actual 
 conflict with any specific law, and that even then the 
 transgression of that law shall alone be taken notice of, 
 whereas in other respects the spread of the sect shall 
 have free play. Essentially different is the aspect of 
 a Christian State based upon parity ; whereas it 
 compels no one to attend any religious ceremony, or 
 to profess any religious creed contrary to his own 
 convictions, it certainly does not, blindly and without 
 discrimination, or irrevocably, grant to every existing 
 or subsequently arising sect permission to constitute 
 itself as a body corporate, and b}^ means of public 
 assemblies and lectures to disseminate its principles. 
 It will reserve to itself the right of examining such 
 principles. A Christian Government will look upon it 
 as its duty not to shrink from the trouble of carrying 
 out such an examination. Centuries ago the Mennonites 
 and the Moravians underwent such an examination in 
 Germany, and proved themselves to be deserving of 
 liberty of worship and full civic rights. The former 
 sect owing to their Christian virtues and firmness, the 
 latter owing to the blessings showered down upon a 
 work of Christian charity, proved to be a blessing to 
 the country. Similar confidence ought to be shown to 
 the Methodists, on account of their untiring zeal for the 
 salvation of souls and for the moral elevation of the 
 people. Doubtless old Lutheran communities possess 
 a sacred claim to recognition and protection. If any 
 new appearances of a similar kind should spring up, 
 the examination which the authorities have to submit 
 
POSITION OF A CHKISTIAX STATE TOWARDS SCHISM. 127 
 
 tliem to is not so much dogmatic as moral ; for every 
 Christian, and especially the Government of a Christian 
 State, has a right to decide in questions of Christian 
 morality. Wherever the principles of a sect are at 
 variance with the moral law, whether in respect to 
 matrimony, or obedience to authority in worldly 
 matters, or property, the Government has a right to 
 interfere, and to prevent the dissemination or putting 
 in practice of such principles. The real difficulty lies 
 in such cases where the doctrines of Christianity, but 
 not the moral law, are denied. Here the permission 
 or prohibition of forming such sects is not a question 
 of right or wrong, but of State expediency. Blasphemy 
 against that which is sacred to a Christian nation is, 
 in a well regulated State, an offence punishable by 
 law. If injurious attacks upon respectable individuals 
 or whole classes of society are punishable by law, 
 certainly revilings against that which is sacred to 
 Christians at large are even more so. 
 
 Liberty of discussion within certain bounds is always 
 more wholesome than authoritative suppression. In 
 England the Unitarians, who deny the Godhead of 
 Christ, have beeu allowed to form separate communi- 
 ties. In Germany, where this permission was denied 
 them by the existing law, like-minded persons, that is, 
 the Rationalists, found their way into the professorial 
 chairs and the pulpits of the Protestant Church. The 
 result was that over in England such men have been 
 productive of much less harm than amongst us. 
 
 The entire course which the Legislature in Great 
 Britain took with respect to Dissent, as also the general 
 political development, has been a more normal one than 
 amongst us. There, privileges have been gradually ceded 
 to the sects, and have been subsequently enlarged and 
 increased ; whereas here, an exceptionally long period 
 of oppression and restriction was suddenly followed by 
 an excess of liberty and freedom from restraint, which 
 
128 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 certainly approximated very closely to endangering 
 the Christian Commonwealth : 
 
 " Dread the slave who breaks his chain, 
 Not the freeman's honest claim." — Schiller. 
 
 In England, the advantageous effects of this wiser mode 
 of treatment have long been apparent ; the Christian 
 creed of the nation as a whole has been protected, the 
 uprightness and truth of individual character has been 
 advanced. What the State Church lost as regards the 
 number of her adherents, has been amply made up to 
 her by the exciting reaction produced by the free 
 Churches and sects, whose existence, proximity, and 
 restless activity have been a constant admonition to 
 the ministers of the State Church to distinguish 
 themselves by education, morality, and fidelity to 
 their calling; and whilst completely abstaining from 
 compulsory measures, to keep their congregations 
 together by the bonds of charity, conviction, respect, 
 and pastoral care. 
 
 The condition of all Germany may be likened to a 
 mixed marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant ; 
 and the unhindered co-existence of these two great 
 parties has been productive of great advantages to 
 each. In like manner, a beneficial influence is to be 
 expected when the chief parties in the Church see 
 smaller Christian sects in unrestricted activity around 
 them. For here again the fact is, that every party 
 worthy of the appellation Christian owes its origin 
 and existence, its power and influence, to some verity 
 which until then had been repressed or not sufficiently 
 recognised. It should be the object of Christian 
 statesmen to recognise in the so-called sects such 
 complementary truths as may serve to impress upon 
 all the fulness of the Christian life and Christian 
 doctrine. It is on this account worthy, and the 
 interest, of a Christian Government to respect and 
 recognise such communities. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE 
 PRETENSIONS OF THE PAPACY. 
 
 In Germany, the tolerant and yet Christian State was 
 firmly established. Between the two creeds there 
 existed on the whole a peaceful competition. The 
 battles which took place were for the most part fought 
 out with spiritual weapons. Each party knew that in 
 all essential points their rights were secured. The 
 ecclesiastics on both sides exercised what influence 
 they possessed upon public instruction ; and, as regards 
 matrimony, acted according to the principles which 
 obtained in their denominations. Conflicts with the 
 temporal authorities, such as the strife anent mixed 
 marriages in 1837, were transitory episodes. Mutual 
 toleration went so far that in many places the mutual 
 use of one place of worship existed without disturb- 
 ance. The most remarkable sign of this happy state 
 of peace was the existence of Catholic theological pro- 
 fessorships under a Protestant regime in the prepon- 
 deratingly Protestant universities of Tubingen, Bonn, 
 Breslau, and Giessen. These professorships, as also 
 those filled in the same spirit in Munich, Wurzburg, 
 Freiburg, Munster, and other places, advanced and 
 cultivated Christian knowledge by the side of Pro- 
 testant theological chairs ; the noblest representatives 
 of which theology may be said to have been such 
 men as Mohler, Hirscher, Klee, Dollinger, and others. 
 When in those happy days one happened to be thrown 
 
130 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 in contact with the representatives of Catholicism, they 
 gave one comforting explanation of those appearances 
 in the Roman Catholic Church of former times which 
 gave the most offence. The claims of the Popes during 
 the Middle Ages to a judicial power over kings and 
 nations, and their allegation that the emperor was only 
 a vassal of the Pope, that the Pope could depose kings 
 and give away countries — all these, as we were told, 
 rested upon no divine ordinance. It was a transitory 
 extension of power^ which princes and people pandered 
 to. It was a departure from the true Christian prin- 
 ciple. These claims have died out, and we need not 
 expect that they will ever be revived. The whole of 
 this abnormal development has passed into history. 
 At the time of its occurrence, it produced some bene- 
 ficial effects, too ; but those days will not return. When 
 the question was raised as to how the principle of 
 persecution stood, — whether the present hierarchy had 
 renounced it, whether it was really looked upon as 
 wrong to have employed forcible and cruel measures 
 against individuals of another creed, whom they wished 
 to bring by such means into the Roman Church, — we 
 were given the consoling answer that that was now all 
 over ; that better times had come ; that those persecu- 
 tions were the result of too much intermingling of the 
 temporal and spiritual matters ; that the separation of 
 both was now an accomplished fact ; that now civil 
 rights were firmly established, and hence no relapse 
 into such measures need be apprehended. There is 
 only one assertion wanting, and that we have never 
 heard that party make, viz. that such things were in 
 themselves and in all ages detestable and wicked, and 
 that such acts should be distinctly repudiated, detested, 
 and repented of. We have known bold champions of 
 liberty of conscience who have belonged to the Roman 
 Catholic Church ; as, for instance. Count Montalembert. 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 131 
 
 la Belgium and in England a school of such appeared 
 to spring up, who were good Catholics, and at the same 
 time advocates of freedom of worship. 
 
 Any one who lived through those times looks back 
 upon them as upon a pleasant summer's day, and 
 cannot help looking forward with deep anxiety at those 
 dark clouds which have risen upon the horizon of the 
 latest politico-ecclesiastical disturbances. 
 
 How did matters ever reach such a point ? Those 
 dangerous principles of the supremacy of the spiritual 
 over the temporal power, of the right of the Church to 
 award temporal punishments, and to call upon the 
 temporality to punish heretics, have, it is true, been 
 repudiated by all enlightened theologians in countries 
 where parity of religion existed, but have never been 
 officially denounced from the Papal chair, or formally de- 
 clared to have been done away with. In no Concordat 
 have the rights of Protestants to a celebration of their 
 worship been formally recognised. On the contrary, 
 we are frequently reminded, by suspicious assertions 
 coming from Rome, that although at present it is not 
 proposed to press for the practical carrying out of those 
 principles, still the right was reserved, under a different 
 combination of circumstances, to revert to them. It 
 is true that well -instructed Catholics would not be 
 bound by such assertions ; for the ancient genuine 
 system still existed in full power, by which in questions 
 of faith and morals not the Papal chair, but a general 
 council, had the power of deciding. It was known that 
 the promise of the support of the Holy Spirit, who 
 should lead them into all truth, was made to the 
 apostolic college, and not to any individual bishop 
 separate from the rest. 
 
 During the protracted pontificate of Pius ix,, the 
 horizon has, become clouded over, and the whole aspect 
 of affairs has changed. The official organ of the 
 
132 CHEISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Papacy, the Civilita Catholica, has for the last twenty 
 years been promulgating a totally different theological 
 system, which contradicts the ancient genuine epis- 
 copal system, the principles of the Galilean Church, 
 and the ideas of the greatest Roman Catholic writers 
 of our century. The theology of the Jesuits became 
 predominant in the highest places. In the year 1854 
 Pius IX. created a most dangerous precedent, when 
 he alone, without his Council, proclaimed, as a truth 
 necessary unto salvation to be believed, the dogma of 
 the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. There 
 followed, under Papal authority, the publication of the 
 Syllabus Errorum, in which it is true that, on the one 
 hand, many mighty and seasonable truths were pub- 
 lished ; but, on the other hand, the two principles were 
 repudiated, either that Protestants had any claim to 
 freedom of worship (Prop. 77, 78), or that the Church 
 possessed no temporal power and had no right to 
 employ force (Prop. 24). These are denounced as errors. 
 But thereby we have two assertions, having enormous 
 bearings, set up as truths : " No rights for Protestants ; 
 but, on the contrary, a right of the Roman Catholic 
 Church to employ force." In these few words we have, 
 as in an egg, that monster, persecution and religious 
 war, which is the most wicked of all wars. Still, one 
 might have left Pius ix, and his theologians to hold 
 their own opinions, whilst comforting oneself with the 
 reflection that the conscience of a Catholic Christian 
 is only bound by the revealed truths contained in 
 Holy Scripture and apostolic tradition, without refer- 
 ence to any other doctrines and opinions. According 
 to the really Catholic system, the Pope is capable of 
 error, and should in such cases be set to rights by the 
 General Council. But the final step has been taken 
 upon this fatal road. The Curia succeeded in 
 procuring from the Council of the Vatican, on 18th 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY, 133 
 
 July 1870, the declaration of the dogma that the 
 Pope was infallible in his official decisions, and that 
 such decisions were of themselves unalterable, but not 
 in consequence of the consent of the Church (" ejus 
 modi definitiones ex sese non autem ex consensu 
 Ecclesise irreformabiles esse "). 
 
 This is not the place in which to relate how it came 
 about that matters ever proceeded so far that the 
 bishops, in countries where both confessions were on 
 an equality, in which especially religion and theology 
 flourished, were able to bring themselves to agree to 
 this disastrous conclusion. No ecclesiastical theory of 
 such wide bearings has ever been proclaimed. If the 
 present Pope possesses infallibility, his 267 predeces- 
 sors have also been infallible. In that case none of 
 the claims, officially and solemnly made by them at 
 any time, have grown out of date. Then we have still 
 in force what Bonifacius viii., at the summit of ecclesi- 
 astical pretension, taught the whole Church in his 
 bull Unum Sanctum^ issued from his throne, that the 
 whole creation was made subject to the Pope, and 
 that it was necessary unto salvation to believe this. 
 The paragraphs of the Syllabus which Pius has pro- 
 claimed are no longer matters of private opinion. Any 
 one who has accepted the Council of the Vatican as 
 his guide, must accept all those statements, together 
 with the consequences thereto attaching. The ancient 
 foundations of faith are overthrown, since men have 
 dared to raise the question of " new dogmas ; " for a 
 dogma — that is to say, a truth necessary unto salva- 
 tion, and revealed by God — can only be that which has 
 been proclaimed in the Christian Church from the 
 beginning. Nothing new can ever be raised to the 
 position of a dogma; and a real dogma cannot be 
 anything new, but must be old and original. A new 
 dogma is, to a properly taught Christian, about as 
 
134 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 incompreliensible an article as wooden iron or a round 
 square. 
 
 If, then, this Syllabus is to be looked upon as the 
 legal creed of the Roman Catholic Church, — if we are 
 really to understand the twenty-third proposition as 
 it stands, that the Popes never have exceeded their 
 powers, — then it is easy to explain the excitement and 
 resistance which has been called forth in both rulers 
 and nations. People were impressed with the idea 
 that in Rome a conspiracy was being concocted against 
 all the civil authorities of the world. The tremendous 
 danger was not concealed from our bishops. The Arch- 
 bishop of Munich-Freising did well to send a document 
 to Rome, begging that, in order to pacify the govern- 
 ments, an official explanation should be issued, declar- 
 ing that the new decrees were not intended to renew 
 and confirm the Papal supremacy in worldly matters. 
 How easy would it have been for Pius ix., and how 
 beneficial to the whole Christian world would it have 
 been, to issue such an explanation ! The threatening 
 storm might yet have been thereby set at rest ; but 
 the explanation was never vouchsafed. 
 
 Hence it comes that the new Papal decrees have 
 created a new position for the civil powers. In such 
 countries as the United States of America and Great 
 Britain, where the Roman Catholic Church exists only 
 as a private society, the promulgation of the new 
 dogma may be regarded as innocuous, because those 
 to whom it was addressed lacked both power and 
 opportunity to carry it out. It may be, too, that in 
 Roman Catholic States these principles have not at 
 once openly asserted their destructive efiect. Where 
 a Concordat exists, they may be allowed to rest for a 
 time ; but in States where the two creeds are on a par, 
 where the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches 
 both have the privileges of State Churches, and have 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 135 
 
 mutually to co-exist, the situation is a very different 
 one. There we cannot be surprised to find that friend- 
 ship has cooled down, mutual confidence has disap- 
 peared, and that the strife concerning the legitimate 
 bounds of both parties is carried on^on the common 
 domain. 
 
 In that the civil power in Germany conceived itself 
 to be challenged by the Papal claims, and felt insulted 
 by the non-recognition of its ambassador, it proceeded 
 at once to issue such laws as seemed called for. 
 Without any consultation with the opponent, it was 
 considered expedient to concert protective measures, 
 not as a matter of mutual agreement, but in accordance 
 with one-sided conclusions. The civil power considered 
 it wise and just to confirm these measures, with the 
 concert of a parliament in which the Roman Catholics 
 formed a minority. Throughout the whole territorial 
 possessions the sphere of action of the ministry should 
 be as much restricted as possible, and a mighty counter- 
 poise of worldly influence should be set up. It is 
 true that the principle is still supposed to be in force, 
 that the interior economy of the Church is to be 
 managed by the Church, and that external matters are 
 to be arranged by the State. No interference with 
 religious matters is said to be intended. But seeing 
 that the question at once arises, " What are interior 
 and what external matters ? " the sole decision has been 
 relegated to the temporal power. Each of the two bel- 
 ligerents has stretched out its arm to the uttermost, in 
 order to command as much of the battle-field as possible. 
 
 Hence we have, in reply to the claims raised in 
 Rome, a set of laws issued, which the bishops, who are 
 faithful to their instructions received from Rome, refuse 
 to recognise. The ministers are obliged to undergo a 
 course of study at the universities, and to submit to 
 a State examination. The temporal power is to be 
 
136 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 informed of their appointment, in order to exercise a 
 power of veto. The national schools are placed under 
 lay inspectors. Civil officials are to register births and 
 marriages ; baptism and marriage by the Church are 
 matters of option, and the State no longer requires any 
 certificates of baptism or matrimony. 
 
 Each of these new measures calls for particular 
 consideration. 
 
 As regards the appointment of the clergy, such a 
 . co-operation of the civil authorities as is required at 
 present in Prussia exists, in many States where the 
 two creeds are on a par, and especially where the 
 Government is Protestant, as a recognised right. There- 
 fore it is scarcely possible for the bishops to define this 
 as anything per se opposed to divine law or divine 
 order ; on the contrary, if a Christian Commonwealth 
 be once established, such a co-operation may be deduced 
 from the principles of the primitive Church. Certainly 
 not from that idea of a temporal power before which 
 everything must bow, but from the principles upon 
 which the rights of a Christian community are based ; 
 for, according to the usages of the primitive Church, 
 the people too, or laymen, had a right, before the 
 ordination or appointment of a minister, to express 
 their wishes or raise objections — in fact, to have a 
 voice in the matter. In a State where both creeds are 
 on a par, the civil authority is regarded by both as a 
 member of the Christian Church, bound to represent 
 the laity, and to speak up for them when required. 
 If, therefore, the civil power demands that she shall be 
 made acquainted with all the ministers who are to be 
 appointed to public positions, in order that she may 
 have the right to object, there is nothing in such a 
 demand that exceeds her legitimate rights. If, then, 
 it be not the matter, but the manner of introducing 
 this claim which is objected to, the solemn assertion 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 137 
 
 of it may well be justified. But it is difficult to 
 comprehend how men will be able to justify their 
 endeavours to embitter the strife by actual resistance 
 and non-compliance, thereby endangering the entire 
 spiritual good of whole dioceses. It is incompre- 
 hensible why, upon this very point, which has led to 
 the arrest of several bishops, no peaceful instructions 
 have been issued from Rome. 
 
 The demand that • the ministry ought to enjoy 
 the benefits of a university education, and exhibit the 
 same in their after lives, is based upon commendable 
 motives. Unfortunately, the bishops in Germany have 
 for one generation done all in their power to withdraw 
 young clerics from the universities, and to isolate their 
 entire education. They have done what they could to 
 bring about the complete vacation of theological pro- 
 fessorships in these institutions, which actually repre- 
 sented the existing peaceful coalition of Church and 
 State ; they wanted to have, in their lower and upper 
 seminaries, the entire control of the education and 
 instruction of ministers. We are afraid that they did 
 not keep before them a proper regard for the welfare 
 of the Church ; they did not consider what would be 
 the mournful results of producing a ministry utterly 
 estranged to the general tone of the nation, narrow- 
 minded in its ideas, and not in harmony with, in- 
 capable of assisting, and without influence over, the 
 educated portion of the nation, which has passed 
 through the public schools. 
 
 The advantage of the Reformation, irrespective of 
 any shortcomings which attached to it, consisted in 
 the fact that an attempt was made to combine Christian 
 piety with true education ; and to a great extent, if 
 not perfectly, the attempt succeeded. The most 
 striking example of this union of piety and mental 
 education that we know of was Melancthon. The con- 
 
138 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 flict between the traditions of the Church, which were 
 mixed up with so much superstition, and the newly 
 sprung up classical education, had assumed a very 
 decided tone in Italy, and threatened Christianity with 
 the greatest spiritual dangers. This evil was opposed 
 by the Reformation of Luther with mighty results ; 
 and at present, again, just such a disturbance is going 
 on now throughout the world. Modern science, like 
 the elegant Epicurism of the Italians during the 
 fifteenth century, is devoid of, and alien to, Chris- 
 tianity. But we must not incontinently reject all that 
 is true and justifiable in scientific, aesthetic, and 
 political developments, or keep such things from the 
 knowledge of ministers and people ; we ought rather 
 to digest them, and, by true education, combat false 
 knowledge. It is not sufficient to keep the people in 
 ignorance, and the clergy, by the entire bent of their 
 education, in narrow-mindedness — an endeavour which 
 at best cannot be for ever successful, and which, in 
 consequence, paves the way for a still greater apostasy 
 from Christianity. That which the best of our con- 
 temporaries justly long for is a lively and real unity of 
 religion and scientific advancement. To realize this is 
 a portion of the duty of the clergy, and especially of 
 the clergy in Germany. 
 
 Seeing that the community — nay, more, every edu- 
 cated Christian — has a right to expect from the spiritual 
 guides, in whom we and our children are to confide, 
 at least an approach to the fulfilment of this task, 
 unquestionably Christian authorities have a right to 
 demand that nothing shall be left undone which may 
 conduce to educating the clergy who are to occupy 
 public positions, recognised by the State, into such 
 men. The requirement that Roman Catholic ministers 
 as well as Protestant shall have undergone a course of 
 university education is per se^ and so far as it goes, 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 139 
 
 justifiable. It is so much to the interest of the 
 Roman CathoHc Church that it should be so, that it is 
 difficult to understand whence comes the opposition. 
 One would think the opportunity of acquiring such an 
 education would be regarded as a benefit. It is only 
 to be regretted that the requisition has been made too 
 late, and that it was not in force during the whole of 
 the past generation. We should be in a different 
 position now ; the Roman Catholic ministry would not 
 have lost so much of their influence and respect, if the 
 young theologians had not been, as was the case, with- 
 drawn from the professorial chairs — if,instead of having 
 ministers who have been educated in Rome, or within 
 the narrow limits of the ecclesiastical seminaries, we 
 had pupils of Sailer, Mohler, Hirscher, or Leopold 
 Schmid, we should probably have avoided much of the 
 present ecclesiastical confusion. Certainly the desire 
 of the bishops to have their students under the pro- 
 tection of an earnestly Christian discipline is highly 
 commendable ; but such discipline can, and should, go 
 hand in hand with a university education. 
 
 The national schools belong to the State, but at 
 the same time they belong to the Church. This 
 principle is open to many modes of arrangement, with- 
 out in any way causing the Christian character of the 
 schools to suffer. When both powers act in harmony, 
 it is almost immaterial whether the oversight of the 
 school is committed to an official of the temporal or of 
 the spiritual estate ; still less does it matter whether 
 the school-inspector is a layman or a priest, if he only 
 possesses the personal qualifications required for his 
 office. Even the complete separation of the school 
 from the Church — so that religious instruction is given 
 by the ministers of the different denominations, just 
 as Other subjects are taught by the appointed masters 
 — can take place without evil results, if a Christian 
 
140 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 people and religious activity, Christian families and 
 faithful ministers, have to be dealt with. Such is the 
 experience of the Old Catholics in Holland, where the 
 above separation exists. 
 
 But who can shut his eyes to the danger with which 
 the cessation of ecclesiastical school inspection is 
 fraught amongst us? It is true, that in the towns it 
 would still be possible to find laymen fitted for the 
 ofiice of school inspectors ; but in the country the 
 pastor is the natural school inspector, and, as a rule, 
 the only man competent to fulfil the ofi&ce. What 
 security can the superintendent of schools have, seeing 
 that he only inspects village schools once a year, that 
 the master is not immoral, a drunkard, and cruel ? The 
 pastor of the place, if only he be to a certain extent 
 faithful to his duty, becomes acquainted with the 
 shortcomings of the master, and has the means at his 
 command of counteracting them. This relationship is 
 now at an end. If the separation of the school from 
 the Church is really insisted upon, the pastor, if he 
 does enter the school at all, will now come and go like 
 the gymnastic or singing master. He will no longer 
 be the one person by whom every one, pupils as well 
 as teachers, is to be taught what is Christian truth and 
 what is Christian conversation. 
 
 The position of our schoolmasters is, as it is, inclined 
 to lead a man, especially if his scientific acquirements 
 are not great, to form too high an idea of his own 
 profession and capacity. Greater independence, and 
 release from all ecclesiastical oversight, can only tend 
 to increase the temptation. Besides which, the Pro- 
 testant communal life in Germany is so weak, and the 
 Christian family life so imperfect, that if the Christian 
 element be eliminated from the public national schools, 
 there is but little prospect of its being replaced by 
 those powers. It is to be hoped that we may not ere 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 141 
 
 long have to experience, even more than at present, 
 how true the cutting speech of the old Duke of 
 Wellington was when he said, "Instruction without 
 religion makes only clever devils." Switzerland, 
 whose development in many points has outrun ours, 
 shows us, in those cantons where the school has 
 been emancipated from the Church and the school- 
 master from ecclesiastical oversight, the bitter results 
 which, in a time like the present, cannot be avoided 
 in any such arrangement. 
 
 In concluding a contract of marriage, to keep the 
 civil and ecclesiastical ceremonies apart is in itself not 
 antichristian. We cannot agree with those who see 
 something profane and derogatory in civil marriage, 
 as laid down in the Napoleonic code. Where this 
 arrangement exists, the Christian should not only bear 
 and comply with it, but heartily respect it also. But 
 the practical question which arises in Germany is 
 totally different. Ought we to divide that which by 
 habit and law has come to be looked upon by the 
 majority, from time immemorial, as one act? Any 
 change in such matters is accompanied by disintegra- 
 tion. Our country-people in particular are extraordi- 
 narily tenacious of ancient customs, and feel injured 
 and molested by any innovations. It is this very feeling 
 upon which is based the maintenance of so many tradi- 
 tions amongst the peasant class. Take away these 
 ideas, and that class will rapidly degenerate into 
 barbarism and brutality. 
 
 With the separation of the civil and ecclesiastical acts 
 in a marriage contract, the latter is naturally left to 
 the option of the parties concerned. Now men may 
 say what they please, the common man understands 
 or misunderstands — the result in both cases is the 
 same — this optional treatment to be an invitation and 
 challenge, on the part of the authorities, to him to 
 
142 ■ CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 set aside the ecclesiastical act as sometliing quite 
 superfluous, and by a contemptuous disregard for it to 
 break away together from the Church and Christian 
 customs. We observe in our antichristian literature 
 an endeavour to bring about an exclusion of all refer- 
 ence to divine interference in the national as well as 
 in the individual career. If it be intended to cause 
 such tendencies to permeate into those strata of society 
 which do not read newspapers and antichristian 
 literature, and who still with a certain naivete cling to 
 Christian customs and convictions, then the means 
 employed are the best that could be devised. It 
 would be difficult to find any other measure which 
 would go so deep. There are many who will not let 
 it be said to them in vain, "You may commence your 
 married life without God, without prayer, and without 
 benediction." The impression created will be all the 
 worse, because the invitation comes from a direction 
 which, notwithstanding all the lawlessness which 
 exists, is still looked upon by the people as the highest 
 authority — namely, the temporal government. 
 
 If the civil marriage contract is introduced, another 
 threatening prospect is opened up to us. The civil and 
 ecclesiastical marriage laws will diverge, and by this 
 change the former will not be improved, but, on the con- 
 trary, will deteriorate. Pseudo-humanity will diminish 
 the number of impediments now opposing certain 
 unions, and divorce and re-marriage will be facilitated. 
 The divine word teaches us to look upon marriages 
 between uncle and niece, nephew and aunt, as unholy, 
 being incestuous ; Christ says, " Whosoever shall marry 
 her that is divorced, committeth adultery." Such 
 unions, legalized, confirmed, and commended by the 
 State, will become more numerous ; and public morals, 
 proper feeling, and the public conscience will thereby 
 become more and more blunted. 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 143 
 
 It is the greatest reproach men have hitherto been 
 able to bring against German Protestantism, that it has 
 undermined the sanctity of matrimony, and that Protes- 
 tant ministers constantly consecrate in Christ's name 
 those unions which He forbids. In Protestant marriage 
 ceremonies the formula is repeated, " Death alone shall 
 part you." After a time the parties can obtain a 
 divorce, and coming again, require and obtain the 
 benediction of another, therefore adulterous, union, 
 when the pastor will again declare, " What God hath 
 joined together, let no man put asunder." If the intro- 
 duction of the civil marriage does produce any good, it 
 will be that Protestant ministers can no longer be com- 
 pelled to solemnize such marriages, and they will have 
 a good opportunity of thinking over the command of 
 Christ, of weighing their responsibility before God, of 
 striving to set up truly Christian marriage laws, and 
 of putting an end, in this matter at least, to the 
 desecration of the sanctuary and the misuse of the 
 divine name. 
 
 We find ourselves in the unwonted position, that 
 Roman Catholic ministers and ecclesiastics appeal to 
 the sacred right of freedom of conscience against the 
 latest ecclesiastico - political laws. It is they who 
 appeal to the words of Saints Peter and John, who, in 
 reply to the prohibition of the Sanhedrim that they 
 should not preach the gospel, said, ''We must obey 
 God rather than men." As a matter of fact, the pre- 
 sent ruling tendencies do threaten liberty of conscience. 
 It is true that such is not the intention of our leading 
 statesmen, but, upon the course which they now 
 pursue, they will find that to be the result. Men pro- 
 pose to solve, with the power that is resorted to in war, 
 the spiritual problem of how the temporal, and spiritual 
 powers are to comport themselves to each other. The 
 clergy will not depart from the instructions which they 
 
144 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 receive from their bishops and from Rome ; then they 
 are deposed and exiled. Others are called in to fill 
 their places, and for the communities there remains 
 none but the cruel alternative either of turning their 
 backs upon the sacraments, or of receiving them from 
 the hands of men whom they cannot for conscience' 
 sake regard as legitimate ministers of Christ. We 
 hear already, in parliamentary speeches and elsewhere, 
 a tone assumed, in which we can detect disregard for, 
 and contempt of, conscience. 
 
 Where it becomes a question of the moral law and 
 of the recognition of eternal truths, we must all take 
 our stand and follow the teachings of an enlightened 
 conscience, even if it cost us our lives. The battle of 
 truth and progress to better things must from time 
 to time be fought out in this manner. Without 
 the principle, "We must obey God rather than men," 
 there can be no martyrdom and no truly religious life ; 
 every hope of a better future state depends upon the 
 existence of such a feeling. 
 
 Only those who dare to obey God rather than men 
 have a fulcrum which is beyond the reach of this 
 world; they alone are in a position to overcome the 
 world, and to preserve mankind from sinking into a 
 moral" Slough of Despond." But in our public assemblies 
 we hear every appeal to such a principle termed pre- 
 sumption, hypocrisy, and rebellion, and cried down. 
 Those who make such speeches, and impute to us 
 high treason whenever we oppose any act, and at the 
 same time appeal to our consciences, would seem to 
 assert that they have no conscience. Those who take 
 offence when we speak of a duty towards God and 
 Christ which takes precedence of all other duties, 
 are open to suspicion that they themselves believe in 
 no other God than the temporal power of the moment; 
 and their speech calls to mind in a solemn manner 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE PAPACY. 145 
 
 the cry of the Jews, who, when Pilate set before them 
 Christ as their King, exclaimed, "We have no king 
 but Csesar ! " 
 
 But still, in all justice, we must not silently pass 
 over the fact that the Roman Catholic party certainly 
 do on occasion employ that ancient and sacred principle 
 inappropriately. It may only be applied to a case in 
 which a divine command, or a divine commission, is 
 called in question. The case is different with ecclesi- 
 astical arrangements which have been set up by men, 
 ecclesiastical prohibitions which may be altered or 
 to which exceptions may be made, or ecclesiastical 
 privileges and exemptions which are not based upon 
 God's word. The canon law consists, for the most 
 part, of human devices. Now herein lies the mis- 
 fortune, that, in consequence of the latest tendencies 
 of the Roman Church, the utterances of the Pope are 
 to be clothed with divine authority, seeing that he 
 claims to be in all ecclesiastical matters infallible, 
 hence the sole judge. To make all Papal instructions 
 without exception count as divine commands, leads 
 to a misuse of the divine name. In order to give 
 men's commands more weight, the divine commands 
 are detracted from, and, by an injudicious appeal to 
 the conscience, the sacred right of liberty of con- 
 science is made an object of doubt and suspicion. 
 
 Far be it from us to employ the usual reproaches 
 regarding the obstinacy of ecclesiastics. Even an 
 erring conscience should be respected and spared.- 
 "We may regret that any one should allow his con- 
 science to be swayed by unfounded ideas, and there- 
 by injure himself But we may not despise him ; 
 on the contrary, if he were to do violence to his con- 
 science for the sake of temporal advantages, he would 
 become unworthy of our respect. Any act which a 
 man does in opposition to his religious convictions, 
 
146 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 and to his own conception of the divine commands, 
 is a sin; for he thereby runs the risk of insulting God. 
 Such acts destroy the character of a man ; for it is to 
 be anticipated that, in cases where it really becomes 
 a question of the divine commands, he will disregard 
 the precepts of God and his own conscience. 
 
 T}Tanny over the conscience is by no means an 
 element in a Christian Commonwealth; on the con- 
 trary, respect for the conscientious opinions of its 
 subjects is one characteristic of a Christian government. 
 
 Such is the disastrous movement to which Pius ix. 
 gave the first impulse. His object was something 
 other than the Christian State; he wished to produce 
 the Papal State. Whilst, however, he fails in setting 
 that up, he is doing his best to overthrow the 
 Christian State. For whither must the conflict in 
 which our Government and our bishops are at present 
 engaged lead ? The situation is becoming unbearable, 
 the injury inflicted upon the Christian portion of the 
 nation incalculable. Both parties are equally obstinate. 
 If matters continue as they now are, it must end 
 in a complete disruption of Church and State. This 
 is what will eventually be the result of the Papal 
 claims. That which the opponents of a Christian 
 State and legislation desire — namely, that all con- 
 fession of Christ shall disappear from public aff'airs, 
 and that religion shall be made a purely private matter, 
 which is what enlightened statesmen do their best to 
 prevent, as being mischievous — is being hurried on by 
 the irreconcilability of the claims on both sides. It 
 is like an unhappy marriage, where, in lieu of living 
 together in constant quarrels and annoyance, a separa- 
 tion a mensa et thoro is looked upon as the lesser evil. 
 But those who suffer most from such a separation are 
 the children; just so will it be when it comes to 
 a separation between Church and State, the rising 
 
POSITION OF A CHRISTIAN STATE TOWARDS THE TAPACY. 147 
 
 generation will be most severely affected by it. Both 
 authorities should support and exalt one another. By 
 their united influence, justice, morality, the fear of 
 God, and every other good feeling, should take firm 
 hold of the national feelings and character; but we 
 are now reaching that terrible condition when the two 
 authorities countermine each other, and thereby 
 destroy where they ought to edify. It is as though 
 the enemy of all that is good had crept in, and used 
 his influence to urge on against one another the 
 two powers which God has ordained for the welfare 
 of mankind, in order to make each destructive of 
 the other. 
 
 By his decree, Pius ix. has shaken the fabric of the 
 whole Church. The mistakes that were made at Rome 
 during the sitting of the Council could not remain 
 hidden from the world. Leibnitz, in the seventeenth 
 century, said that every mistake made by the Church 
 would be laid hold of by atheism as an argument 
 in its own favour ; and this has been the case. Owing 
 to the proceedings in Rome, all ecclesiastical authority 
 has received a blow. Amongst educated men in 
 Catholic countries, unbelief is making huge strides. 
 Public opinion is daily losing its respect for the 
 servants of Christ. Pius ix. has — and this is admitted 
 even by the Protestant party — damaged Christianity in 
 every country. 
 
 A bad look-out ! A real contract of peace between 
 imperial and sacerdotal power is hardly possible, in 
 consequence of the Vatican Decrees; for they call the 
 rights of the temporal power in question, and are 
 incompatible with the entire legislation of Germany. 
 An armistice would still be possible; for experience 
 has shown that the hierarchy knows how to pause in 
 carrying out the principles involved, and has, under 
 certain circumstances, shown itself to be very pliable. 
 
148 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 But even for an armistice such as we hope for, it is 
 a necessary preliminary that passion be put on one 
 side, and that a disposition be shown to hsten to the 
 wishes and proposals of the other party. We cannot 
 decide on which side, at the present juncture, the 
 disinclination to come to an understanding is greater 
 or less. But if on the one hand we have Christian 
 bishops, and on the other Christian statesmen, neither 
 should wait obstinately for their opponents to advance, 
 but should themselves make advances with a view to 
 mutual explanation, thereby practically showing forth 
 their Christian character, and their care for the welfare 
 of the Christian nation committed to them, which 
 really ought to be the common object each is striving 
 for. 
 
 Abraham and Lot allowed their herds to pasture 
 upon ground common to both; and there was a 
 strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the 
 herdmen of Lot's cattle. Now, if both had insisted 
 upon their entire rights and nothing less, and if 
 possible seized possession of the whole country, peace 
 could never have been established. But Abraham 
 did not act thus. He could not bear a state of war. 
 He set an example, which should be followed by 
 Christians under similar circumstances, in that he 
 said to his brother's son: "Let there be no strife, I 
 pray thee, between me and thee, and between my 
 herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we be brethren." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DUTY OP A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH WITH 
 REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 For a Christian State there exists a duty which the 
 heathen State never attempted to perform, which it 
 did not even recognise — namely, to afford protection 
 and assistance to such as have no possessions, or who 
 have fallen into poverty. This serves as an excellent 
 touchstone, whereby to test how far a Christian State 
 has become a reality amongst us. 
 
 In the law under the Old Testament, this duty was 
 kept in view. The law contains a number of humane 
 ordinances, which cannot be found elsewhere in ancient 
 legislation. On the original parcelling out of the land, 
 every family was granted a freehold. If any one, 
 owing to circumstances, was obliged to part with his 
 freehold, he could not sell it out and out, but retained 
 a right to redeem it. If a Hebrew was compelled by 
 want to sell himself as a slave, he regained his free- 
 dom at the commencement of the seventh year. In 
 the year of Jubilee, at the end of seven weeks of 
 years, in the fiftieth year, every man returned to his 
 possession, and thereby the poverty from which he 
 had in the meantime suffered was removed. It is 
 true that this remarkable provision of the year of 
 Jubilee never came into operation, according to the 
 Talmud; but it shows what the intention of the 
 Almighty Lawgiver was, and what should be the 
 
150 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 object of a Christian nation : to guard against the 
 formation of an impecunious class.^ 
 
 Rome, that Paris of the ancient world, is the spot 
 where a class of villeins similar to those of our day 
 was first formed, after the fall of the Republic and 
 the decay of ancient laws and virtues. During the 
 time of the emperors there spread all over Italy this 
 social evil of a sharp line between wealth and poverty. 
 There were manors upon which one rich proprietor 
 ruled over 10,000 slaves. 
 
 In the Christian States of the Middle Ages, it is 
 true that a heavy load of bondage and dependence 
 weighed upon the lower classes; but still there was 
 no misery amongst the masses, and there was no im- 
 pecunious and helpless excess of population growing up. 
 Slavery was hard to be borne, but it possessed some 
 alleviating features amidst its debasing ones, seeing 
 that it was to the interest of the owner to maintain 
 and protect his property. As Bensen shows in his 
 History of the Proletarians^ the peasants, the manu- 
 facturers, and the bondsmen of the Middle Ages were 
 not real villeins. As yet money payments were not 
 prevalent, and the natural exchange, that is to sa}^, 
 the payment of wages in kind, served to prevent the 
 direst misery. It was towards the end of the Middle 
 Ages, owing to the abuses and avarice of the higher 
 classes, that the condition of the peasantry in Ger- 
 many became unbearable, leading to the risings of the 
 lower- classes since 1493. They were put down then; 
 but it was only long after, and by slow degrees, that 
 the complaints of the peasantry were attended to and 
 their burdens removed. 
 
 The modern villein class first arose in Paris, which 
 had already, during the Middle Ages, had its revolu- 
 tions of the beggars, and in the large commercial 
 
 ^ Or, as they were termed in Korman English, " villeins." — Translator. 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 151 
 
 towns in the south of France. Next to France, 
 
 England became the place where industry on a large 
 scale was carried on, where the agglomeration and 
 power of capital was first felt, and a class of labourers 
 produced, who, having no possessions, live from hand 
 to mouth, but may be numbered by millions. 
 
 It is well known how it came to pass that this 
 mighty evil has spread itself all over Europe. Free 
 trade, the discovery and perfection of machinery, the 
 enormous intercourse of nations, the increasing excess 
 of population, the indifference of governments and legis- 
 lators, want of Christian feeling in the upper classes, 
 — all these agencies have co-operated in this matter. 
 
 It was in vain that Bacon, in his Essay on Seditions 
 and Troubles^ warned his readers that the agglomeration 
 of capital in the hands of the few, and the simultaneous 
 increase of poverty, must bring about insurrections, 
 and that it was the duty of the Government to prevent 
 such evils by wise laws. At present the danger of a 
 social revolution surrounds us like a rising flood, which 
 threatens society with destruction. In a Christian 
 State matters ought never to have come to such a 
 pass. But as the case stands, we are liable to the same 
 reproach as our ancestors, that one of the highest 
 duties of a Christian people and a Christian government 
 has been neglected. Here we have a common sin, 
 which all we who belong to the middle or upper classes 
 have a share in. Respectability, comfort, and wealth 
 are all, if not exclusively, at least for the greater part, 
 the result of accumulating the products of labour. 
 Others have worked for us, and have received too little 
 reward for so doing, whereby we enjoy the fruits of 
 their labours. Our hands are not clean. All our 
 possessions are sullied by something, which causes them 
 to be opeiL to the biblical term applied to earthly pos- 
 sessions, " Mammon of unrighteousness." At present, 
 
152 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 care for the working classes and the solution of the 
 so-called social question is of more importance than all 
 political quarrels. In comparison with it, all talk about 
 forms of constitution is mere chatter. Herein lies the 
 great task for our statesmen and legislators; and, so 
 long as it is not set about in an earnest manner, we 
 have no right to talk of a Christian State, or to speak 
 of our much vaunted jurisprudence as a reality. 
 
 Upon the soil of such an unwholesome condition of 
 society as described above, there sprang up, first of all 
 in France, the curious, wide-spreading trees of Socialism 
 and Communism. They assume, in respect to political 
 economy and jurisprudence, the same attitude as 
 heresies do to the Church. They must be tested, 
 disproved, and disallowed ; nevertheless, every heresy 
 serves the purpose of bringing to mind some truth, 
 either at the time neglected in the Church, or else half 
 forgotten by her ; and it is her duty not to disregard 
 this truth or to smother it, but to bring it prominently 
 forward, and to put it in its right light. Thusj too, it 
 is part of the chief duties of science in our day not 
 merely to reject Socialism, but, whilst combating it, to 
 bring to light the truths and neglected duties which it 
 contains and of which it reminds us. A just apprecia- 
 tion of social heresies, a diligent search for the cause 
 of their origin and their development, and a careful 
 discrimination between what is right and wrong in 
 Socialism, what is wholesome and what to be rejected 
 in it, is one of the most necessary intellectual labours 
 of our time. Towards the solution of this problem two 
 authors of our nation have contributed much — Lorenz 
 Stein, in his History of the Social Movement in Frmice^ 
 1850 ; and Frederick Schaffle, in his work upon Capital 
 and Socialism, 1870. It makes us ashamed to feel that 
 a nation which possesses so much that is excellent in 
 its literature on the subject should have lagged so far 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 153 
 
 behiiid as regards any practical action towards the 
 solution of the difficulty. 
 
 With these two authors we so far agree that it is 
 not sufficient simply to condemn Socialism, but that, in 
 order to guard against social revolutions, we must pave 
 the way for social reforms, for the furtherance of which 
 all the component parts of the State are called upon to 
 co-operate and assist. 
 
 Socialism has arisen from the sufferings entailed by 
 modern society. "An enormous mass of misery forms 
 the basis of our much lauded civilisation;" — thus speaks 
 one of the noblest of Socialist writers, Winkelblech. 
 " Bj means of researches carried on during many years, 
 and conducted with scrupulous conscientiousness, I 
 found the extent of suffering to be great beyond 
 expectation. Everywhere I was confronted by poverty, 
 amongst those who undertake work, as well as amongst 
 the workers ; amongst those of the people who stand 
 highest in intellectual culture, as well as those on the 
 lowest step of the ladder ; in the foci of luxury, such as 
 large capitals and commercial towns, as well as in the 
 cottages of villagers ; in the fertile plains of Belgium 
 and Lombardy, as well as in the sterile, mountainous 
 districts of Scandinavia. I found that the cause of it 
 did not lie in nature, but in our own institutions, which 
 are based upon principles of false economy." 
 
 Who can refuse to see that Count St. Simon and 
 Charles Fourier were actuated by the most humane 
 motives, and that during a whole lifetime they made 
 the greatest sacrifices in order to bring about a cure of 
 those evils? As to the serious errors in which the}"" 
 were at the same time entangled, they shared in com- 
 mon with the whole revolutionary age during which 
 they lived. They were governed by mistaken views 
 with reference to libert}^, equality, and the rights of 
 man ; but they differed from the victorious political 
 
154 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 parties of their time, in that they deduced with greater 
 boldness and more acutely consistent train of thought 
 the final results of such ideas. They, too, were infected 
 with the insane idea that in social matters man was 
 capable of raising an edifice upon new foundations, of 
 effecting a new creation. 
 
 Yet we must not forget that such desperate efforts 
 were caused by the unfathomable corruption existing 
 in the ancient state of affairs. The kernel of all 
 Socialism and Communism, the actual heresy in it, is 
 the denial of all rights of property — as Proudhon said, 
 "La propri^te c'est le vol." Yet this perverted statement 
 would probably never have occurred to any one, had 
 not at present a perverted idea of the rights of property 
 existed in society. It is an idea which may with justice 
 be termed atheistical. The proprietor looks upon him- 
 self as a sovereign, who can do as he pleases with 
 his own. In the Mosaic law, it was laid down as a 
 fundamental principle that the land of Canaan belonged 
 to Jehovah. It was committed to the landlords as a 
 loan from God. Just so the Christian who is in 
 possession of this world's goods should not look upon 
 himself as a sovereign, but rather as a steward, 
 who is bound to employ these goods agreeably to the 
 will and according to the directions of the original 
 owner, who is God ; and to recollect that, at the end of 
 his earthly career, he will have to give an account of 
 his dealings to the supreme Judge. But the intention 
 of God in entrusting temporal riches to men is that 
 which is described by Paul when he says to Timothy, 
 " Charge them that are rich in this world that they be 
 not high minded, . . . that they do good, that they be 
 rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
 communicate." When the well-to-do have forgotten 
 their responsibility and neglected their duties, when 
 they take their stand upon the rights of property like 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 155 
 
 a wild beast with his prey between his claws, gnashing 
 upon every one else with rage for fear they might want 
 to have a portion, this does not justify the heresy of 
 Socialism, but it goes far to account for it. 
 
 It is true that, accordiDg to the divine commands, 
 the property of our neighbour is inviolable, and this 
 may be expressed in the words, " Property is sacred." 
 But they are the grossest hypocrites who are always 
 crying out about the sacredness of property, and will 
 not hear of anything else being sacred. First of all, 
 they assist in overthrowing every other sacred thing ; 
 and then, when their pockets are touched, those are 
 suddenly to become inviolable. The rights of property 
 are sacred, but so also is poverty — that is to say, those 
 who suffer want have a sacred right to the pity and 
 material assistance of the possessors of propert}^ 
 
 It is quite true that God has said, " Thou shalt not 
 steal " — nay, more, " Thou shalt not covet thy neigh- 
 bour's house, nor anything that is his;" but He also 
 has said, "Thou shalt not oppress the poor and needy, 
 neither shalt thou keep back his hire, lest he cry 
 against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto 
 thee." 
 
 Christianity sanctions no injury to property, whether 
 caused by the violence of an individual or by the 
 legislature at large. If the property of one individual 
 is attacked, the property of all is in danger. For this 
 very reason, it becomes impossible to guard against 
 every abuse and hardness of heart by laws or authori- 
 tative commands. The State, whether it be a monarchy 
 or democracy, will never be able to do this ; hence 
 arises the necessity for another compensating power, 
 and such an one exists. It consists in the moral 
 responsibility of the well-to-do classes to be charitable 
 and benevolent ; it is the appeal to men's consciences ; 
 it is the proclamation of the moral law, of the divine 
 
156 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 promises and threatenings, to all who are endowed 
 with power, influence, or this world's goods, which has 
 been committed to the servants of Christ. 
 
 If we examine Fourier's system closely, we cannot 
 fail to be astonished at the complete ignorance and 
 disregard of one of the chief elements. Christian 
 faith, with the internal peace which it brings with it, 
 is surely of considerable importance when treating of 
 the happiness of the individual or of the nation. Upon 
 this point, or regarding any substitute for it, Fourier 
 does not say a word. 
 
 Socialism, combined with estrangement from God, 
 produces in the masses the most fearful results that we 
 have been permitted to feel the effects of in modern 
 times. It calls forth the most mighty and at the 
 same time the most dangerous passions. Proud self- 
 sufficiency, intense hatred towards the better-to-do and 
 more fortunate classes, inextinguishable hatred to all 
 authority which obstructs the realization of Socialistic 
 ideas, are looked upon by the uneducated, social- 
 democratic mass as virtues, and welcomed by the 
 leaders as levers for the execution of the catastrophe. 
 If the great political desires of a nation are accom- 
 plished, the whole of the revolutionary fire concen- 
 trates itself as it were upon this one point, the social 
 question, and burns away the more fiercely. When 
 the third French Republic in 1871 went over into the 
 reign of terror of the Commune, we had set before 
 us a beacon, revealing to us what we have to expect 
 from social democracy. 
 
 As compared with Socialism in France, that in Eng- 
 land seems temperate and considerate. The powerful 
 unions of workmen in England do not strive for that 
 which is impossible and unreasonable, not for the 
 abolition of property and dissolution of family ties. 
 They do not expect, by means of violent revolution. 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 157 
 
 but by legitimate means, to attain to everything that 
 can be desired for the improvement and happiness of 
 the working classes. The practical sense, the political 
 education, the clearness of ideas, respect for the law, 
 and the opportune introduction of wholesome legal 
 measures, the relatively healthy general political con- 
 dition of the community, all serve to account for this 
 gratifying fact. It was there that the right of com- 
 bination amongst working men was first fully recog- 
 nised ; there, too, tribunals for arbitration already exist 
 which have done much to decide in cases of dispute 
 between employers and workpeople. 
 
 We, on the contrary, in Germany, appear to be 
 drifting towards the same goal as France. The same 
 part which French infidelity played in European 
 literature, appears, we regret to say, to have been 
 taken up in our days by German infidelity; and it 
 shows itself in Socialist periodicals, such as the Volks- 
 staat (People's State), in its worst, corrosive, poisonous 
 form. Whereas the social revolution is knocking at 
 our doors, we have hardly taken the most preliminary 
 steps for setting our house in defensive array by wise 
 and humane arrangements. On the contrary, as if to 
 accelerate the process of destruction, we have cancelled 
 the laws against usury, and abolished the hours for 
 closing places of refreshment, that last legal restraint 
 upon intemperance. 
 
 We constantly hear it asserted that, "There is no 
 such thing as a social question ; there is no difficult 
 problem waiting solution; there is no danger !" Incom- 
 prehensible blunders, so to say, whilst the horizon is 
 banked with the lowering clouds of the portending 
 storm ! Many are still impressed with the foolish idea 
 that freedom of intercourse would of itself get rid of 
 the evils, and at last bring about a peaceful ordering 
 of society. What marvellous inconsistency to expect 
 
158 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 assistance from free competition, that is to say, from 
 the very principle which has conduced most to plunge 
 us so deeply into our misfortunes. 
 
 Others, who see the storm brewing, content them- 
 selves with observing that a resolute government, 
 with the military at their disposal, would always be 
 powerful enough to crush any insurrection of villeins, 
 as was the case in Paris during June 1848 and in May 
 1871. 
 
 We may certainly expect that the arrangements 
 which Socialism proposes will only endure for a short 
 time. The natural order of things in society, which 
 is opposed to it, will soon take effect again. The 
 crisis will pass away, like the Peasant War of 1525; but 
 it will be worse than that was, and worse for both 
 parties. Those who hug themselves with the idea of 
 the military power shooting down Socialism, and dis- 
 posing of it with bayonet thrusts, forget what is 
 implied by a day of terror setting in, when the 
 Almighty takes away the courage of kings and looses 
 the girdle of the mighty ones. When those in autho- 
 rity are once overcome with the feeling that God is 
 fighting against them, even the military force upon 
 which they relied becomes powerless in their hands. 
 Only a monster can thoughtlessly and foolishly omit 
 to take such measures as might still be capable of 
 partially warding off so great a misfortune. If charity 
 does not impel us to do so, common sense and the 
 instinct of self-preservation ought to. Social revolu- 
 tion is like the Sibyl, who came three times to King 
 Tarquinius, and each time with increasing and more 
 difficult requisitions. Who knows but what it may be 
 the last hour for Germany in which it is still possible 
 to bring about an understanding, by mutual conces- 
 sions, and thereby to divert the flood into a regular 
 channel ? Or is it really to be, as we have occasionally 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 159 
 
 had examples in history, that only a few individuals 
 will recognise the danger and the duties arising there- 
 from ; but that entire classes, impelled by selfishness, 
 refuse to listen to words of wisdom, and, rather than 
 make the necessary sacrifices, will assist in bringing 
 about their own destruction ? 
 
 Let the teachers of political economy measure their 
 strength with this great question of social reform; here 
 we have only space to touch upon the ethic points 
 which arise in considering the notion of a Christian 
 commonwealth. We have to do with moral principles. 
 And we may mention the following as duties which 
 ought to be fulfilled in a Christian community : — 
 To support and encourage working men's associations ; 
 to promulgate penal laws against manufacturers, and 
 other employers of labour, who are guilty of an in- 
 human penuriousness towards their workpeople; to 
 pave the way for an international factory law, by 
 which similar usages may be introduced into all 
 European countries; to prohibit unconditionally Sundaj^ 
 labour; for the temporal powers, the ecclesiastics, 
 and free societies, to co-operate towards the carrying 
 out of an intelligent system of relief for the poor. 
 
 Protection and encouragement for the associations 
 of working men has become a duty which can no 
 longer be neglected, now that the ancient guilds have 
 disappeared. The individual is helpless against capital 
 and the large factories. The association of many 
 working men into a company for the formation of and 
 for carrying on business on their own account, and with 
 a fair share of the profits, is the most obvious, natural, 
 and expedient means of help. The co-operative move- 
 ment in England has already begun to bear much 
 rich fruit there, prompted as it has been by noble men 
 of the higher classes, as for instance Maurice the 
 divine, and Ludlow the lawyer. The system proposed 
 
160 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 by Schulze-Delitzsch is similar, but it wants that bene- 
 ficent element of Christian principle which those men 
 were able, in England, to combine with the movement. 
 But it is in very few cases possible for the working 
 men to bring together the necessary capital at the 
 commencement. Here it is that the duty of which we 
 speak steps in. Not, as Lasalle asserts, a duty of the 
 State to make a present to the working classes of 
 fifteen millions of pounds, by an Act of the legislature, 
 thereby robbing the other classes of so important a 
 portion of their property ; but it is a moral duty, 
 incumbent on all who are possessed of means, to offer 
 their capital at a moderate rate of interest for such pur- 
 poses, and, by a generous disregard of a portion of their 
 income, to do a permanent benefit to the impecunious 
 classes and the whole social system. Victor Amadeus 
 Huber, that noble friend of humanity, has incessantly 
 urged upon us this duty, and fulfilled the same so far 
 as it lay within his means. The same duty which is 
 incumbent on the individual possessor of capital, is 
 also incumbent upon our civic magistrates and large 
 landowners, to further such undertakings. Whoever 
 has an opportunity of furthering this work, either with 
 material or mental assistance, let him lay to heart the 
 saying which Huber selected as a motto for one of his 
 publications : " Therefore, to him that knoweth to do 
 good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 
 
 Another duty lies completely within the province 
 of our legislature — that is, to establish severe laws 
 against the grinding of workpeople by the factory 
 owners. Our Trade Regulations of 1872 contain 
 some good provisions, but the punishments laid down 
 for the infringement of the same are much too slight. 
 And how about their being put into execution ? Chil- 
 dren of twelve and thirteen years of age are to be 
 employed, at most, for six hours in any factory. But 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 1 6 
 
 what happens? Parents, impelled by poverty and 
 blunted in their consciences, agree that their children 
 even at that age shall work for twelve hours, and no 
 measures are taken to put a stop to it. That is what 
 we suffer from in Germany, that laws are being con- 
 stantly passed without any real intention of enforcing 
 them. Happy England ! where the laws for the pro- 
 tection of the working man are energetically put in 
 force. There the factory inspectors, appointed by 
 Government, occasionally walk suddenly into the work- 
 rooms, five minutes after the appointed time for leaving 
 off work. If they find workpeople still employed, the 
 employer is so severely punished that he has no desire 
 to expose himself to such a thing again by any more 
 infringements of the law. A short time ago, the 
 English newspapers reported a case where a milliner 
 had allowed her sempstresses to work until midnight. 
 The excuse was that a bridal outfit had to be com- 
 pleted by a certain day, but it availed her nothing. 
 She w^as punished all the same. In Germany, cases 
 occur which cry aloud to heaven, and no punishment 
 is inflicted upon the transgressors. In lucifer match 
 manufactories, when the necessary provision and care 
 is not taken, there occur cases of that most fearful of 
 all diseases, phosphoric necrosis of the jawbone, in 
 which the life of the patient can only be saved by the 
 excision and complete removal of the lower jaw. 
 "When accidents occur through machinery, at the 
 inquiry it is too often admitted as an excuse that the 
 workman contributed thereto by his own negligence. 
 An anonymous surgeon, in the Allgemeine Zeitung 
 (General Newspaper), has described all these matters 
 from his own experience, and with the pathos of a 
 truly humane heart, in an article suggesting the 
 necessity of a State medical department; but where 
 do we see any sign of help being afforded ? 
 
 L 
 
162 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 What is the real reason that in Germany we have 
 no efficient factory laws, and that at the same time 
 such good laws as do exist are not put in force ? If 
 we put the question to such men as are in high places, 
 the final excuse to which they have resort is, the im- 
 possibility of competing with -neighbouring countries. 
 It is said, if the hours of labour were to be further 
 restricted by law than they already are, if the over- 
 working of women and children were completely 
 abolished, and the law of rest on Sunday were to be 
 strictly enforced, our native industry could not com- 
 pete with the factories of neighbouring countries where 
 such stringent regulations do not exist. Then, again, 
 the injury of our manufactories would react to the dis- 
 advantage of our working classes. These, then, are the 
 true reasons why no Continental State of Europe will 
 be the first to make a commencement. The question 
 is somewhat similar to that of diminishing the stand- 
 ing armies, which no individual government will 
 undertake to do, unless all the others do the same. 
 
 What is to be deduced from all this? Certainly 
 not that the requirements of humanity, wisdom, and 
 justice should remain unfulfilled. It is shown to be 
 the duty of each of the European powers to strive after 
 the setting up of an international, harmonious, general 
 law, which must come into force everywhere at the 
 same time. This idea is not a new one. About 
 twenty-four years ago, Daniel Legrand, a manufacturer 
 of Steinthal in Alsace, a pupil of Oberlin, undertook a 
 journey to all the capitals of Europe, in order to lay 
 before the various governments his draft of such 
 an international factory law, in order to beg for a 
 consideration of the same, and to procure the adoption 
 of initiatory measures which might precede general 
 action. His Christian feelings allowed him no peace, 
 and he made great sacrifices for the attainment of this 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 163 
 
 noble end. He was possessed of the practical experi- 
 ence requisite for preparing • such a draft, and the 
 memorials which he sent in are most probably still to 
 be found in Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Paris, and 
 Turin. The only effect of all his propositions was a 
 number of civil speeches, and nothing more. 
 
 During the lapse of these twenty-four years, the need, 
 the danger, and the responsibility have considerably 
 increased. We may say the' last hour has come in 
 which such large and beneficial measures for the liquida- 
 tion of the old debt, and diversion of social revolution, 
 can still be undertaken with any prospect of successful 
 issue. Meanwhile, Providence has assigned to the 
 new German Empire such a position that our imperial 
 Government is called upon, above all others, to take 
 the initiative in this matter. Whoever plays first fiddle 
 in the European concert, ought to recognise it as a 
 duty too to give the keynote for so wholesome an 
 undertaking. The highest honour of a Christian 
 emperor consists in being a protector of the oppressed, 
 a helper of the wretched, a saviour of the sinking ones, 
 a father of his people ; and in this case he might be 
 more than a father of his own subjects, — he might be 
 a father and benefactor of all the weary and heavily 
 burthened people throughout Christendom. If at the 
 present time a general congress is being convened for 
 determining normal rights in war, why should it be 
 impossible to hold a congress for the preparation of a 
 general law for the protection of the working classes ? 
 
 The next duty of a Christian State is the upholding 
 and canying out of the celebration of the Lord's day. 
 The celebration of the first day of the week, and of the 
 resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on it, is a reli- 
 gious duty for a Christian man ; it is an unconditional 
 duty, which is based on its own grounds, without any 
 regard to the beneficial effects upon the individual, or 
 
164 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 upon the community, which result from its fulfilment. 
 Just as it is impossible- to conceive a Christian family 
 who do not celebrate the Lord's day, so, too, a Chris- 
 tian nation. Such an one, by the public celebration 
 of the Lord's day, professes the Chfistian faith, and 
 without such celebration it cannot acknowledge Christ. 
 Without such celebration the Christian State is not a 
 verity. As, in the days of the old covenant, Israel 
 was recognised to be the chosen people of God by its 
 keeping holy of the Sabbath, so also ought Christians, 
 Jews, and heathens to see by our celebration of the 
 Lord's day that we are a Christian nation, the people 
 of God under the new covenant. As a matter of fact, 
 the early Christian emperors did recognise the neces- 
 sity and the duty of caring for the celebration of the 
 Lord's day by means of imperial laws. Constantine 
 and Yalentinian i. forbade all work, Gratian and 
 Theodosius the Great forbade theatrical shows, on the 
 Lord's day. The Capitularies of Charlemagne also 
 coincide with the above. 
 
 Certainly the manner of carrying out these points 
 during the Middle x^ges was most faulty. When, in 
 the sixteenth century, the recognition of so many 
 abuses and the desire to get rid of them was awakened, 
 it became necessary, as a chief element in any real 
 reformation, that the sanctity of the Lord's day should 
 be recognised in the national life and in the public 
 service. Calvin and his followers were most earnest 
 in endeavouring to fulfil this duty. And this is the 
 one especial point which must be conceded to be the 
 prerogative of the Reformed Church party, that in 
 it, more than anywhere else, an attempt was made to 
 conform the life of the people to the commandments 
 of God. This was what was to be admired in the 
 mother Church at Geneva, the Christian discipline and 
 strict morality which pervaded public and private life. 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 1G5 
 
 Thence the care for the celebration of the Lord's day 
 was conveyed to EngUind and Scotland, and from 
 Great Britain it was carried across to America. In 
 those countries it still exists. In Germany, unfortu- 
 nately, the matter was not earnestly taken up ; and 
 w^hatever did exist in the old Lutheran times, as 
 regards a strict observance of the Lord's day, has 
 disappeared during the subsequent periods of luke- 
 warmness and decline. Even amongst the Reformed 
 Church in the Palatinate, in Switzerland, and in Hol- 
 land, the ancient discipline has disappeared. At 
 present one must admit that both portions of Germany, 
 the Protestant as well as the Roman Catholic, are 
 equally guilty of this grievous sin of the desecration of 
 the Lord's day. Work in the forenoon; pleasure in the 
 afternoon and evening ; the scandals of the following 
 Saint Monday ; the weekly markets, which in Bavaria 
 have been altered so as to fall on a Sunday, — a dis- 
 grace to any Christian national life ; the undiminished 
 traffic of posts and railways, when even the heavy 
 good strains are not excepted, — an abuse which robs 
 hundreds of thousands of human beings of their day of 
 rest ; the special excursion trains on Sunday, — all these 
 matters are a grievous sin w^hich lies at the door of 
 our countr}^, forming a fearfully practical contradiction 
 to our much lauded Christian German State. 
 
 It is futile to urge that the celebration of the 
 seventh day is only a Mosaic command, which we are 
 permitted to disregard. It is true that the Mosaic 
 law contains a number of precepts which, although 
 given by God Himself, still in their literal acceptation 
 had onl}'- a transitory significance. But here we have 
 to do not only wuth a commandment given on Mount 
 Sinai, but with a fundamental law of God, given 
 by the Creator of the world for all people and all 
 times. In that the consecration of one day in seven 
 
166 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 is immediately connected with the creation, Holy 
 Scripture holds up to us the command to celebrate 
 this feast as the oldest of all laws. Just as marriage is 
 based upon an originally divine revelation and institu- 
 tion, so, too, is the consecration of the holy day of rest. 
 It is indissolubly connected with the nature of man 
 and the welfare of the human race. This command is 
 at once a natural and a moral law, the transgression of 
 which entails its own punishment in its effects both on 
 the natural and spiritual life of man. The Christian 
 festival which commemorates the resurrection of the 
 Redeemer has a higher sanction than the Mosaic, and 
 is productive of a richer spiritual blessing. Far from 
 its being the case that the Christian may disregard 
 this ordinance, he brings upon himself more evil, and 
 incurs a greater responsibility, by its infringement. 
 
 Bitter experience teaches us, if we will only look 
 around, what are the results of that desecration of the 
 Lord's day which is so rampant amongst us. As often 
 as the festival recurs, with its celebration in divine 
 worship, with its cessation of earthly toil and worldly 
 amusements, it is a witness to the fact that man does 
 not live for this world alone, but was created to enjoy 
 a higher life. If, during the six following days, he has 
 to labour to procure his earthly food, he ought to 
 employ the whole of the jfirst day in rejoicing in his 
 eternal and heavenly calling, and in storing up some 
 spiritual treasures for the ensuing week. The day of 
 the Lord is to him an earnest and jDrecursor of the 
 future kingdom of peace. If amongst a nation the 
 celebration of this feast is established by law and by 
 custom, without exception or any possibility of in- 
 fringement, all are impressed with the exhortation to 
 reverence ; Christian morals and the fear of God 
 obtain thereby a hold, which nothing else, no invention 
 of man, could replace. Immortality and the eternal 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 167 
 
 destiny of man are the basis of all religious feeling 
 and morality. Upon these the dignity of man and 
 of the Christian rests, and true civilisation emanates 
 from them. Any one who denies the eternal destiny 
 of man, thereby placing him on an equality with the 
 beasts of the field, aims at the overthrow of all civilis- 
 ation, and would lead us on to barbarism. 
 
 What is the desecration of the Lord's day but the 
 denial of our heavenly calling and Christian dignity ? 
 In that the highest earthly authorities, the temporal 
 powers and legislature, sanction and assist in the 
 profanation of the Lord's day, they treat men as mere 
 carnal beings. They permit the employer of labour to 
 treat his workpeople like animals, and to work them 
 to death. This is nothing less than a practical denial 
 of the dignity of man. We are, in fact, told there is 
 no necessity for you to strive after eternal life. Who 
 can be surprised if, after such a practice has gained 
 the upper hand, the theoretical denial follows ? If, at 
 the present time, that hideous folly, that murderous 
 heresy, of man being only a more highly developed 
 animal, makes progress on all sides, we must admit 
 that the desecration of the Lord's day prepared the 
 way for it. 
 
 This much at least should be clear to every states- 
 man, that it is impossible to retain a nation at a high 
 moral standing, if it is not induced and coerced to 
 devote one day of the week to higher interests. In 
 the meanwhile, even disregarding for the moment the 
 prejudicial consequences to religion and morals, the 
 curse of Sunday labour is making itself felt in respect 
 of the health and length of Ufe of the poorer classes. 
 It is a fact that in Paris, amongst the working classes, 
 a grandfather or a man of more than fifty years is 
 rarely to be found ; and this premature exhaustion of 
 the vital powers is to be imputed, to a great extent, to 
 
168 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 the fact that the day of the Lord is misused, partly in 
 labour, partly in intemperate enjoyments and amuse- 
 ments. It is a disgrace to the elected representatives 
 of Christian principles and traditions, that the Socialist 
 Proudhon was the one to stand forward as champion 
 of the necessity and wholesomeness of the celebration 
 of the Lord's day. 
 
 Thus, then, the mass of those who, by undertaking 
 laborious work, serve society, has a sacred right to 
 expect from society that it will procure for and secure 
 to them the undisturbed enjoyment of the weekly 
 day of rest. This right is based upon the spiritual and 
 the bodily welfare of the working and serving classes. 
 To secure this right is one of the chief duties of a 
 Christian government, legislature, and administration. 
 Although it may be anticipated that, owing to the 
 present low standard of popular morality, many would 
 make a bad use of the complete rest on the Sun- 
 day, still that in no way interferes with the duty of 
 the Government to respect the divine institution, and 
 to permit the possibility of every one enjoying the 
 fulness of the blessings which attach to it. This would 
 therefore be a principal feature in the international 
 law which is required for the solution of the social 
 question. 
 
 In so serious a matter no irresolute or half measures 
 are of any use. Unfortunately, in our imperial Trade 
 Regulations of 1872, such were considered sufficient. 
 In the factories, Sunday labour should only take place 
 in urgent cases, and with the free consent of the work- 
 people so employed (sec. 105). But the self-interest 
 and avarice of the employer will never want for an 
 excuse to call some piece of work urgent. The general 
 practice in our factories is well enough known. 
 Repairs to machinery and cleansing of pipes, tubes, 
 etc. are simply postponed to Sunday. It is true they 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 169 
 
 iniglit be executed just as well on Saturday or Monday, 
 but the profitable employment of the factory must not 
 be interrupted for even a quarter of an hour. That is 
 termed urgent. The least diminution of the profits of 
 the master is considered a much greater evil than 
 interfering with the day of rest for the working man. 
 As to the free consent of the employed, it is thus : A 
 portion of the workpeople, owing to the pressure of 
 povert}^ and in consequence of a want of Christian 
 principle, are glad of the w^ages earned on Sunday ; 
 but the others, who would gladly go without, dare 
 scarcely,- w^hen it comes to their turn, refuse to work 
 on Sunday. Owing to their dependent position, they 
 fear lest the master, or the superintendent, or the 
 work-master would make them suffer for so doing on 
 the first opportunity. Thus those paragraphs of the 
 Law are absolutely void, and leave untouched the 
 mountain of abuses which they were intended to get 
 rid of How far godlessness may be carried on the 
 part of those who have the powder, may be deduced 
 from a fact which occurred in a town on the Baltic. 
 There exists in that spot an enormous trade in timber. 
 The logs are partially saw^n up, partially rough hewn, 
 for export and for shipbuilding. As these labours were 
 carried on on the Lord's day also, the numerous work- 
 people sent a deputation from their number to the 
 owner of the establishment, with the ingenuous peti- 
 tion that he would be pleased to excuse them this, as 
 God might punish them for so doing. The reply 
 which they received from the wealthy man ran thus : 
 " I am your God." 
 
 The objections which will be raised to the proposals 
 which are about to be laid before the German Parlia- 
 ment, for the assurance of the celebration of the Lord's 
 da}'-, may be easily foreseen, but they may be also very 
 easily combated. It will be said that the loss of 
 
170 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 income in various trades, as well as the incomes of the 
 postal and railway service and other public under- 
 takings, would be too serious, the welfare of the State 
 and of the people would suffer too much. To this we 
 reply, that the community has as many duties, to fulfil 
 as an individual. The latter is told to work for six 
 days, and to rest on the seventh, in full confidence that 
 God will bless the labours of the six days, thereby pro- 
 curing for him all that he requires for sustaining his 
 life. Six days of work, with a blessing from above, 
 are worth more to the Christian than seven working 
 days without such blessing. The representatives of a 
 Christian nation ought also to allow themselves to be 
 guided by such a conviction. When it becomes a 
 matter of reverencing a divine command, men must 
 not allow themselves to be too much swayed by con- 
 siderations of temporal disadvantages. The former 
 must be enforced, even though no promise were 
 attached to it. But in this case there is such a 
 promise, and the experience of many can confirm the 
 fact of its having been fulfilled. There is no instance 
 of a man having closed his business on a Sundaj'-, in 
 obedience to the divine command, who has been 
 in consequence brought to ruin. Let an instance be 
 brought forward if such be known. On the contrary", 
 there exists a noble example before our very eyes, 
 "which proves as clearly as the sun at noonday that 
 the celebration of the Lord's day is practicable for a 
 whole nation, and not only that it is not injurious, but 
 that it produces beneficial results. It is the example 
 of Great Britain. There the law of the realm is still 
 maintained, all workpeople rest, the theatres are 
 closed, no public amusements take place, no letters are 
 delivered, and the railway traffic is confined to a few 
 passenger trains. In the expectation that the Lord's 
 day will really be devoted to the service of God and 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 1 7 1 
 
 family edification, and will be spent quietly, but at the 
 same time recognising the fact that the hard-working 
 man must have time for physical recreation and re- 
 invigoration, and for wholesome pleasures, places of 
 business and workshops are closed on Saturday at one 
 or two o'clock in the afternoon. Care is also taken 
 that on Saturday opportunity shall be given for excur- 
 sions into the countiy, and for returning again on 
 Monday morning in time for the commencement of 
 work. Besides this, the working man has, in the 
 course of the year, several days of rest instituted by 
 the civic authorities, such as Whitsuntide and the 
 Bank holidays. As the Jews as well as others are 
 bound to obey the laws of the State, and because they 
 still observe the Sabbath, they are obliged to close 
 their houses of business for two days in the week. 
 But England and Scotland certainly are not sunk in 
 poverty, and this one example is sufficient to confute 
 any preconceived ideas of the impossibility of a national 
 observance of the Lord's day. For those who look 
 below the surface, the manner in which Sunday is kept 
 in one of the populous cities of England makes a deep 
 impression. In Scotland, we grant that in some cases 
 the matter is carried to excess ; but such instances are 
 no disproof of the beneficent working of the system on 
 the whole. Unchristian, carnal, and pleasure-seeking 
 men, it is true, do not know what to do with them- 
 selves on an English Sunday. They complain bitterly 
 of its deadly weariness. We cannot help their com- 
 plainings, for the fault lies in themselves, and not in 
 the arrangement. Nothing would be more senseless 
 than to disturb a wholesome institution, thereby setting 
 the welfare of the whole nation at stake, for the sake of 
 appeasing the dissatisfaction of such persons. 
 
 Not only has the strict observance of the Lord's day 
 brought no disadvantages with it, but rather it is one 
 
172 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 of the chief pillars upon which the happiness and pro- 
 sperity of England are built. One is reverence for the 
 law ; the other is the observance of the sanctity of the 
 Lord's day. These two fundamental principles are 
 connected one with the other, and react one upon the 
 other. Reverence for the law, that source of all civic 
 virtue and political greatness, requires to be based 
 upon religious grounds, and to have its origin in the 
 fear of God ; and these are the very feelings which the 
 observance of the Lord's day calls into prominence and 
 strengthens. 
 
 In England all the elements necessary for a social 
 revolution are present, so numerous is the body of the 
 working class, so perceptible is the inequality of wealth 
 collected in the hands of the minority, the upper ten 
 thousand. But England has been, and will probably 
 long be, spared any such convulsions. Socialism itself 
 is there more intelligent and more temperate than 
 amongst us. In addition to other wholesome arrange- 
 ments, the observance of the Lord's day is one of the 
 things that protects England from a downfall. If this 
 were removed, the ship of the State would be irre- 
 sistibly hurried along to destruction. If Socialism is to 
 be overcome, if Germany especially is to be protected 
 against social revolutions, depend upon it that this is 
 not possible unless the State be Christian. 
 
 Heathen antiquity knew nothing of a governmental 
 relief of the poor. The authorities and the bulk of 
 the community knew nothing of the duty of charity. 
 Public benefaction, and care for those who were suffer- 
 iug in any wa}^ was first called into existence by the 
 Christian Church ; and yet the Mosaic law had pre- 
 ceded it. The people of Israel had been told to release 
 their brethren from debts at the end of every seventh 
 year, " to the end that there be no poor amongst you." 
 When the harvest was gathered in from the field or 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. l73 
 
 the vineyard, the ground was not to be gleaned by the 
 owner, but something was to be left for the poor and 
 needy. When the Sabbath year came round, that 
 which grew spontaneously was to belong to the poor ; 
 besides which, in every third year, a tenth part of the 
 produce of the fields was to be given for the benefit of 
 the poor, the widows, orphans, and strangers. The 
 Israelite was not permitted to take any interest from 
 his brother. The working man was not to be kept 
 waiting for his wages, but they were to be paid to him 
 in the evening. All injustice or hard-heartedness 
 towards the needy was threatened with the disapproval 
 of God. 
 
 The duty of mercy towards the poor and suffering of 
 all classes was, by the words and example of Christ, 
 confirmed, more deeply implanted, sanctified, and ex- 
 tended beyond the limits fixed by the Old Testament. 
 The Christian community, filled with the spirit of 
 Christ, carried out this duty, and we find that its 
 execution was secured and regulated by two divine 
 institutions. The first-fruits of all sources of income 
 were voluntarily and gladly brought by believers and 
 dedicated to the Lord ; deacons were chosen and 
 appointed, in order, in the exercise of their wisdom, to 
 assist the poor out of such funds belonging ' to the 
 Church. This much we gather from the New Testa- 
 ment. Somewhat later the principle appeared in 
 ancient Christendom, that, of the first-fruits or tithes 
 thus brought up, at least one-fourth belonged to the 
 poor. But the fathers of the Church repeatedly 
 enjoined, that if the ministers could support them- 
 selves, or if a time of special need occurred, all the 
 revenues of the Church, even the holy vessels and 
 other treasures, were to be applied to the relief of 
 necessity. Out of these beginnings sprang, in the 
 Middle Ages, all those undertakings and foundations 
 
174 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 for the relief of the poor, which, noble as the cathedrals 
 of those days, are deserving of our admiration ; but, at 
 the same time, it was an unfavourable change which 
 caused the office of deacon — a lay and not a priestly 
 office — to fall into desuetude, and allowed the relief of 
 the poor to fall, for the most part, into the hands of 
 the clergy. 
 
 Since the Reformation there has gradually crept in 
 — and not only in the Protestant, but also in the 
 Roman Catholic States — a secularization of the goods 
 of the Church. In proportion as the temporal authority 
 assumed the care and distribution of the property of 
 the Church, so also did it incur the responsibility of 
 relieving the poor. According to the calculations of 
 Sir Archibald Alison, the English historian, the pro- 
 perty of the Church which has been secularized for 
 the last 350 years, would, if it were now available for 
 charitable purposes, suffice to alleviate the pauperism 
 and misery which exists in all Europe. So much the 
 more does it behove our * governments to make the 
 most strenuous exertions in that direction. 
 
 Even setting aside the fact of the property of the 
 Church having passed into the hands of the State, it 
 is the duty of the Government to care for the poor — 
 first, on the ground that it is a Christian government, 
 and its duty is to take part in the common duties of 
 Christianity ; secondly, because it, to a certain extent, 
 has taken up the position of the office of deacon in the 
 primitive Church — as, for instance, the emperor, as 
 head of the Roman empire in the German nation, was 
 looked upon as the head deacon of the Church. 
 
 In this matter, too, experience has taught us how 
 wrong it is that both powers, spiritual and temporal, 
 should go their own way, without regard for each 
 other. Like education, the relief of the poor is a 
 common field, which both must labour in with their 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 175 
 
 united strength. Only in the case of such co-operation 
 — in other words, only in a Christian State — can the 
 gigantic task which is in this matter set before us be 
 even approximately solved. Wherever the relief of 
 the poor rested entirely in the hands of the clergy 
 and the cloisters, much was truly done to relieve 
 necessity; but at the same time laziness and alms- 
 seeking w^ere encouraged, and the poor Avere in no 
 way encouraged to be active and self-reliant. To this 
 day the consequences are visible in those districts of 
 Germany which were formerly ecclesiastical domains. 
 Nowhere else do we find so ignorant, unthrifty, and 
 helpless a population. That is the result of a purely 
 clerical relief of the poor. 
 
 A similar example of purely secular relief of the 
 poor is before us. In England, rates and poor-laws 
 have been introduced, and the effect is as follows : — No 
 man is obliged to die of starvation ; every one has 
 a right to claim admittance into the workhouse of his 
 parish, erected and maintained for him at the expense 
 of the State. But the arrangements in the workhouse 
 are such that a residence there is terrible, and one can 
 understand how many unfortunate beings prefer death 
 from starvation to " going into the house." The work- 
 house is like a prison. If a family is compelled to go 
 there, man and wife, boys and girls, are separated, and 
 each placed in the division of the establishment to 
 which they belong. The option of leaving is at any 
 time free ; but this option affords small comfort, for 
 any one who has been in the workhouse is ashamed of 
 the fact, and does not easily resume a position amongst 
 his fellow-citizens. Finally, the whole arrangement is 
 productive of the following disadvantageous effect upon 
 the rich and well-to-do, that they, if not disposed to 
 be kind-hearted, stifle all appeals to their conscience 
 by the reply that, having paid their poor-rates, their 
 
176 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 duty at least has been done. No one need suffer from 
 hunger, for the workhouse is always open to him. 
 
 In Germany another course is pursued. In our 
 towns the relief of the poor is in the hands of the 
 poUce. Out of the funds which the community collects, 
 weekly relief is distributed by the civil authorities. It 
 is true that, as a rule, the minister of the parish, as is 
 only right, has a seat at the board for the relief of the 
 poor ; still the distribution of the relief granted is a 
 civil matter, and it is a common complaint that little 
 or no advantage or blessing seems to accompany this 
 police relief The gifts produce, as a rule, no moral 
 effect at all upon the recipients. Most of them receive 
 such gifts without an atom of thankfulness, without 
 being conscious of any obligation to make an effort to 
 raise themselves above requiring such assistance ; it is 
 looked upon as a provision which the community is 
 •bound to make for the poor. Discontent and grumb- 
 ling is not an uncommon concomitant of the receipt of 
 eleemosynary assistance. 
 
 In addition to this relief by the police, a good deal 
 is effected out of means supplied by the Church, volun- 
 tary associations for the exercise of Christian benevo- 
 lence, and many individuals carry out works of charity 
 without any one else being made aware of the fact. 
 But, so long as these various modes of relief act 
 independently of each other, the whole system for the 
 relief of the poor is injured by being thus split up. 
 Cunning fellows enjoy, at one and the same time, the 
 advantages of all. Owing to a want of organization, 
 the means collected are squandered with little benefit. 
 Every one must admit that our relief of the poor pro- 
 ceeds upon no organized system. If such existed, 
 fewer would receive relief, but then such as did could 
 be materially assisted. 
 
 The problem which has to be solved is simple 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 177 
 
 enough: to relieve want, and yet not to encourage 
 idleness ; to stretch out a helping hand to the needy, 
 and at the same time to excite their sense of honour 
 and duty ; to afford an opportunity of earning some- 
 thing, however little, to such as are capable of labour ; 
 to prevent a misuse of alms and reckless squandering 
 of them ; to awaken in the hearts O'f those who possess 
 nothing the hope of gradually putting something 
 together, and thereby to induce in them habits of con- 
 tentment and saving. Where shall we find this problem 
 solved ? Not in the one-sided clerical relief of the 
 poor during the Middle Ages ; not in the relief of the 
 poor by the civil authorities as in more modern times ; 
 but only where that relief is considered the duty of the 
 diaconal office. The diaconate is the link which is 
 now-a-days wanting. So long as it existed, the distribu- 
 tion of material aid was combined with moral religious 
 influences and support. A bond of union was formed 
 for the two elements which should here work together, 
 — practical knowledge, and a sanction from above. 
 
 In the present day there are splendid means avail- 
 able for the realization of the Christian diaconate. At 
 various points arise truly wise suggestions, and under- 
 takings containing much real truth, which should 
 be promoted, welcomed^ and imitated. The " Cite 
 Ouvriere," in Muhlhausen, perhaps stands at the head 
 of the list of such undertakings. V. A. Huber founded, 
 in Berlin, the Co-operative Building Society, which, 
 being contented with a low rate of interest, supplies 
 the w^orking man with wholesome dwellings ; which 
 dwellings, after a term of years, by a regular payment 
 of rent, become the property of the working man. 
 Gustavus Werner's establishments, in Reutlingen and 
 other places in Wurtemberg, are a standing proof of 
 what Christian love, combined with an active spirit, 
 can do. The proposals of the Countess Butler-Heim- 
 
 M 
 
178 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 hausen, to found colonies of poor people, in which the 
 adults should find employment and assistance, and 
 orphan children should be provided with instruction, 
 are well worthy the consideration of our magistrates 
 and provincial authorities. But the employment of 
 such means, and their proper organization, is not to be 
 expected so long as Church and State remain inimi- 
 cally sundered and are mutually repellant. Our only 
 hope lies in a reconciliation between the two — in fact, 
 in a Christian Commonwealth. 
 
 Finally, let us be allowed to call to mind how well 
 adapted Christian doctrine is to bridge over the chasm 
 which exists between these two sections of society, 
 those who have means and those who have none, and 
 to assist in the healing up of this deep wound. 
 
 In the light of Christian truth we recognise society 
 as an organization, and the distinction of classes as 
 something necessary and ordained of God. The differ- 
 ences existing in mental power are not a matter of 
 chance or of human invention. Just as the different 
 bodily capabilities with which we are born, and which 
 cannot be reduced to a level of uniformity by any 
 power or dexterity of man, are assignable to the provi- 
 dence of God, so too is the variety of our position in 
 society. It is agreeable to the will of God that well- 
 to-do people and needy ones exist side by side and are 
 dependent upon each other. As, in the vegetable 
 world, all plants do not attain the same growth, but 
 trees, shrubs, and grasses are all different, so too the 
 all-ordering eternal Wisdom has ordained certain 
 grades in society amongst men. The rigidity of de- 
 marcation between those grades, the indifferent and 
 hostile attitude of the various members of the organi- 
 zation towards each other, come of evil, and must be 
 got rid of. So also hatred between nations is a sin, and 
 yet the distinctions between nations are ordered of God. 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 179 
 
 We must quite disabuse our minds of those erroneous 
 ideas of social position which in our days are being 
 disseminated, and which appear to be countenanced 
 by the introduction of universal suffrage. In them 
 society is looked upon as a mere aggregate of similar 
 atoms, a mere numerical entity, something like a heap 
 of sand. Under such circumstances, it appears very 
 distasteful and very unjust, to the individual who has 
 to work hard for very little emolument, that another 
 should have little to do and many enjoyments. What 
 is the good of equal political rights without an equality 
 of wealth and means of enjoyment? No wonder then, 
 that, as soon as the fear of God is got rid of and the 
 light of faith is extinguished, Communism, with all its 
 extreme consequences, should spring from such pre- 
 mises. But did not Menenius Agrippa, the Koman, 
 when he brought back the discontented poor who had 
 gone out to the holy mountain, set forth a more 
 correct and profound doctrine regarding society, in 
 comparing it with the human body, in which the 
 various members have different functions, by which 
 they serve one another and support the welfare of the 
 whole organization? The description given us in the 
 Bible of the Christian community agrees with it, and 
 civil society too is just the same. 
 
 Still there remains the oppressive harshness with 
 which, owing to the faults of men, the various grades 
 of society are separated ; and with that is connected a 
 constant temptation for the lower classes to indulge in 
 discontent, murmurings, and violent attempts to right 
 themselves. But Christianity sheds a ray of comfort 
 into this gloomy region of life. Christ Himself assumed 
 the form of a servant, and thereby reflected honour 
 upon the position. He did not come to be waited 
 upon, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for 
 many : " Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He 
 
180 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 became poor, that we through His poverty might be 
 rich." Hard and menial labour, which, according to 
 the ideas of the heathen world amongst the Greeks 
 and Romans, was despicable and assigned to slaves, 
 has acquired respectability through Christianity. 
 Many members of the early Christian communities 
 were slaves, and most of such were the property of 
 heathen masters. Paul addresses these serving men, 
 who had no rights, no protection, and no position, in 
 those wonderful words : " Servants, be obedient to 
 them that are your masters according to the flesh, 
 with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, 
 as unto Christ : not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; 
 but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God 
 from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the 
 Lord, and not to men : knowing that whatsoever good 
 thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the 
 Lord, whether he be bond or free." 
 
 It is a verity which is often proclaimed, that Christ 
 is the Head of the Church ; but Paul here reveals to 
 us a truth which is but seldom recognised, and at the 
 present day almost forgotten. Christ is also the Head 
 of society — not merely as an imaginative ideal, but 
 as a matter of fact. Christ, the Son of man, is raised 
 to the right hand of God ; to Him is given all power 
 in heaven and upon earth. The power and authority 
 which is exercised here below by men is derived from 
 Him ; He is, in fact and in truth, King of kings and 
 Lord of lords. If we liken society to a pyramid, the 
 apex of it reaches to heaven ; for Christ is that apex. 
 As, for instance, in a monarchy the subordinate 
 ofl&cial is a servant of the king; as in an army the 
 commonest soldier serves under the orders of the 
 sovereign, and in so doing asserts his dignity and feels 
 himself raised by that consciousness, just so is it here. 
 The Christian to whom Providence has assigned a 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 181 
 
 lowly position and one despised of men, knows that in 
 his position he serves Christ, the supreme Ruler. And 
 Christ is an omnipresent Ruler ; His eyes are upon all 
 His servants ; their troubles and sufferings are all 
 known to Him; He never forgets anything that has 
 been done out of love to Him and confidence in Him ; 
 He is the most generous of kings in the rewards He 
 showers upon His servants. 
 
 "Ye serve the Lord Christ." This consciousness 
 raises His servant above all petty feelings. It makes 
 him conscientious, so that he fulfils the duties of his 
 position, even when no human being is overlooking him 
 and no one would discover the secret transgression or 
 dereliction of duty. He yields an upright obedience 
 and seeks the good of his master. The consciousness 
 of so doing makes him contented, and furnishes him 
 with perseverance and patience, even when he is not 
 appreciated by men and is ill-treated by those over him. 
 It preserves him from slavishness and adulation. He 
 has no reason to ingratiate himself with his earthly 
 master, because he looks to a higher Ruler, of whose 
 justice and goodness he is perfectly convinced. 
 
 Christ is the Head of all human society ; He is the 
 Lord and Judge of all. From this fact we can deduce 
 what is the proper attitude of a master. Paul says : 
 "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just 
 and equal," "forbearing threatening: knowing that 
 your Master also is in heaven ; neither is there respect 
 of persons with Him." 
 
 These truths are perhaps still recognised in the case of 
 servants who form part of the family or of the house- 
 hold. In such cases, at least occasionally, there is still 
 a consciousness of the fact that masters and servants 
 are bound to one another by a moral tie ; that reverence 
 is due from those in subjection ; justice, good-will, 
 kindness, and cordial interest, from those in authority. 
 
182 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 But all this ought also by rights to be the case be- 
 tween manufacturers and their hands. The master 
 tradesman is not the only one who should care for his 
 apprentices and shopmen, feeling a sense of responsi- 
 bility for their moral as well as their physical well- 
 being. The manufacturer, too, who works on a large 
 scale, and employs a number of people, ought to have 
 the same feeling towards his workpeople and their 
 families. Riches, power, and influence are given to 
 him by Christ. He should look upon himself as holding 
 a commission from Christ, and employ all those gifts 
 according to the will of Christ ; for Christ, whom God 
 hath set to be the Judge over all men, will call him 
 too before His judgment-seat, requiring of him an 
 account of how he has used the goods confided to his 
 care. 
 
 However strange it may sound to the working class, 
 it is a fact that they should honour the rich man who 
 gives them employment, and serve him faithfully. 
 They must not look upon him as an enemy, but as a 
 father. "Thou shalt honour thy father and mother;" 
 this commandment includes masters also. And why ? 
 Because all fathers should be masters, and all masters 
 fathers. We must not wait for our superiors to act in 
 a fatherly manner towards us before we show them 
 honour. The duties of reverence and fidelity are of 
 themselves binding, and must be fulfilled, because 
 Christ the true Master is in the masters. 
 
 This life, in which Providence has made an unequal 
 distribution of the goods of this world, is the school of 
 preparation for the world which is to come. Here 
 every one in his own place ought to show fidelity and 
 obedience, practising those virtues by which he will 
 be rendered capable of serving Christ in the future 
 kingdom. At the judgment-seat of Christ there is no 
 respect of persons. The soul of a poor man is, in the 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 183 
 
 sight of God, of as much value as that of a rich man. 
 He who has shown forth patience and charity here 
 below in a humble position, will some day have it said 
 to him, " Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things." When we 
 look up to God as the Ruler of all things, and to the 
 kingdom which is promised to us, then all feelings of 
 impatience and envy die out. 
 
 The Christian verity teaches us to look upon the 
 rich man in his true light. The poor man must 
 recognise in such an one a being to whom God has 
 entrusted much ; he is not his master, that he should 
 have a right to call him to account for the use he has 
 made of the goods entrusted to his care. Another will 
 do this ; He who entrusted the goods to the rich man 
 will also require an account of him. The rich may 
 not despise the poor; the poor may not judge the rich. 
 It is the less permissible for him to do so, because he, 
 the poor man, cannot say that, if he were suddenly to 
 come into possession of those goods, he would turn 
 them to better account. To use wealth with temper- 
 ance and wisdom, neither to hoard nor to squander it, 
 — to maintain the Aristotelian mean between the two 
 extremes, — is a great matter ; and no one can say of 
 himself that he would be able to do this without 
 having actually been put to the proof and done it. 
 
 Contentment is a virtue and a duty which must be 
 constantly preached ; but we must not forget what 
 great temptations in this respect the working classes 
 are exposed to. It is a justifiable attempt on the part 
 of the working men, at a time when all necessaries 
 of life have risen in price, to strive for an increased 
 value to be placed upon bodily labour, time, strength, 
 and health ; but any continued beneficial alteration 
 in this respect is not to be expected, because with the 
 increase of wages of the labourer, and partially in 
 
184 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 consequence of that very increase, the price of goods, 
 whether manufactured or raw products, which the 
 labourer requires also increases. Hence, by a natural 
 law, in the course of time the old status is resumed, 
 wherein unskilled labour, as it is termed, in which 
 mere bodily strength is required, only receives just so 
 much wage as will suffice for the procurement of 
 absolute necessaries. Thus in reality that saying of 
 Christ is fulfilled, "Ye have the poor always with 
 you." Hence also arises the constant demand made 
 upon those who are well-to-do to be benevolent. 
 
 One cause by which in our days contentment is 
 rendered more difficult, is the result of a social de- 
 velopment in which the individual has had no choice. 
 Formerly every class had its corresponding mode of 
 life, its code of honour, its ideas, — every one, whether 
 citizen, farmer, or servant, felt that he was a member 
 of a particular guild ; he took a pride in his peculiar 
 garb, and clung to ancient ways and customs. He did 
 not strive for anything else ; he was proud of being a 
 man of mark in his class, and to bring honour upon 
 his class, corporation, or guild. These distinctions are 
 rapidly disappearing; hence, naturally enough, the 
 lower classes do all they can to act the same as those 
 above them. Just as the difference of apparel has 
 disappeared, so that on a holiday a blacksmith may 
 be mistaken for a baron, so, too, there has arisen 
 amongst working men a wish to enjoy all the pleasures 
 at the disposal of their superiors. The working man 
 has been raised out of his proper position, which 
 naturally brings with it a feeling of being ill at ease ; 
 and if he has not good and firm principles, it produces 
 restless striving, envy, covetousness, and murmuring. 
 
 And yet there is here still a possibility of remedy, 
 and even of cure. It was not in vain that Paul said 
 to the needy for their comfort, " Godliness with con- 
 
DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE WORKING CLASSES. 185 
 
 tentment is great gain. Having food and raiment, let 
 us be therewith content." Does the present generation 
 still know that contentment, that peace of mind under 
 want, that quiet homely joy in the most modest 
 circumstances and pleasures, that was so often to be 
 found amongst our pious ancestors ? 
 
 Jean Paul tells us of his grandfather the old rector, 
 Johann Richter, in Neustadt, on the Culm, how that he, 
 being a man of faith and of prayer, was oppressed with 
 the bitterest poverty even till his hairs were grey with 
 age, and yet he was full of contentment and merriment. 
 Hebel has left us in his poems a reminiscence of what 
 peaceful joy, what childlike happiness, there was to 
 be found even at the end of the last century in the 
 cottages of the peasantry. 
 
 A spoilt child of rich parents will hardly look at 
 the most costly toys ; a genuine and modest child is 
 pleased and overjoyed with the commonest playthings 
 and the simplest pleasures. The rising generation is 
 a spoilt, discontented, fretful, unbearable child. 
 
 The hidden source from which all our happiness 
 comes is not yet closed, if w^e will only return to and 
 partake of it. Man in his folly seeks for the cause of 
 his discontent outside of himself He has an idea that 
 if he could only enjoy this or that pleasure he would 
 be satisfied. He does not recognise the cause of all 
 his troubles, which is within himself, in his love of 
 pleasure and his own ambition. He does not see that 
 these passions devour him like a raging fire. His 
 pleasures do not serve so much to appease those 
 passions as to incite them ; and a man who has yielded 
 to his passions when he has got what he wanted is 
 always longing for something more. The heart of man 
 is insatiable. This is the chief cause of all our misery. 
 If this evil were removed, the external evils that we 
 have put up with would be bearable. Christ offers us 
 
186 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 peace with God, that does satisfy the heart, and we are 
 at peace with mankind. If this peace be established, 
 we can enjoy the gifts of God even if they are given us 
 in the smallest portions to partake of. 
 
 Dangerous blindness of our Socialists and societies 
 of working men, who repudiate from their midst the 
 principles of Christianity, and place themselves at the 
 service of the misanthropic powers of unbelief! Such 
 unhappy blind men, the opponents of Christian truth, 
 are in a spiritual condition resembling hydrophobia, 
 when the patient in his delirium avoids and repels the 
 only element that could refresh him. Only amongst a 
 Christian people and in a Christian State is help for 
 the poorer classes possible. Where can any doctrine 
 be found which is more apposite and terrible to the 
 mind of the selfish rich man, or more comforting and 
 balmy to the oppressed, than that parable of Christ 
 which shows us the unmerciful spendthrift in the place 
 of torment, and represents Lazarus as being consoled 
 in the bosom of Abraham ? 
 
 When ministers of religion properly understand their 
 duty of awakening the consciences of those who have 
 this world's goods by boldly proclaiming Christian 
 truths, and thereby provoking noble feelings in them, 
 it will not be without effect upon the community at 
 large. Where Christian feelings are put into practice, 
 where manufacturers and employers of labour, even if 
 at present only in individual cases, are benevolent, and 
 devote wise care to their workpeople, the latter are 
 still found to be — thank God for it ! — appreciative and 
 thankful. Where they meet with Christian treatment, 
 Christianity can still find a way into their hearts. It 
 is not yet too late to avert the impending judgment, if 
 the upper classes fulfil the duty of charity or brotherly 
 love, and a legislature be introduced which shall be 
 agreeable to the calling of a Christian Commonwealth. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ON CKIMINAL LAW. 
 
 What is the origin of the power of punishment vested 
 in the State ? What form should the exercise of that 
 power assume in a Christian Commonwealth ? 
 
 The existence of a power whose province it shall be 
 to punish the evildoer dates from a period anterior 
 to the existence of the State itself. The power of 
 punishment has an origin existing before the State, 
 and this was in the family. If we go back to the 
 commencement of historic times, we find that the 
 head of the family possessed the power of punishing 
 all the members of his household. The family formed 
 a comprehensive unit, and if it were attacked from 
 without, the family had a right to defend itself and to 
 retaliate. But things could not remain thus. The 
 family was destined to grow into a tribe, the tribe to 
 become a nation. A regular government was to be 
 ordered, and the handling of justice and the protection 
 of the common weal were to be placed in the hands of 
 the authorities. As in the constitution of the family, so 
 too in the constitution of a government, and its power of 
 punishment, we ought to recognise a divine ordinance. 
 
 The transition from one condition to the other, it is 
 true, only took place slowly, and the vestiges of the 
 original power of punishment go deep into the his- 
 torical times. The Mosaic law, and also that of 
 ancient Rome, show us the traces of the transition. 
 According to the Mosaic law, the parents of a dis- 
 
188 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 obedient son were to bring him before the elders of the 
 town, and they were to pronounce the sentence of 
 death upon him. The desire for bloody vengeance 
 had to be got rid of. In the Mosaic law this does not 
 occur all at once ; it is there limited. The involuntary 
 manslayer could fly to one of the cities of refuge ; a 
 regular trial was held upon him, and the avenger of 
 blood dared not to lay hands upon him. His punish- 
 ment existed in a species of exile or confinement in a 
 fortified place. In the days of the Roman Republic 
 the "judicium domesticum " still existed. The "patria 
 potestas " over the life of the children survived longest 
 amongst the Romans and Galatians. 
 
 In most of the ancient States great lawgivers arose 
 as benefactors of mankind. Their pre-eminent wisdom 
 was much looked up to. The citizens agreed to the 
 proposed laws. The legislature was called into exist- 
 ence with the co-operation of the people and with 
 solemn contracts, and solid axioms were set up as to 
 what was to be considered a crime, and what the 
 form of process was to be, what form and what extent 
 the punishment was to take. That w^as the case with 
 the laws of Lycurgus, Solon, and the twelve tables in 
 Rome. Whilst an agreement was come to, the laws 
 at once received a moral and religious consecration, 
 and the exercise of the office of judge was built upon 
 a religious basis. The law was administered with 
 reference to the highest of their gods, Zeus, whose 
 attribute was that he would not allow the evildoer to 
 go unpunished. So also in the Mosaic law it is said 
 " the judgment is God's ;" and the judges, in that they 
 gave their sentence as holding a divine commission, 
 were called gods. 
 
 Out of these simple historical principles proceeds 
 one very important consequence. As is the case with 
 the State in a general way, so also more especially 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 189 
 
 the power of punishment inherent in it has been at 
 one time entirely deduced from a divine ordinance, at 
 another,, again, entirely from a social contract amongst 
 men. These two aspects are not incompatible. The 
 true conception lies in a combination of both. Both 
 elements are mentioned in history: a primitive com- 
 mission which passed from the family to the State, 
 and an agreement by which the laws of the people 
 were one by one established. The power of punish- 
 ment, like any other privilege, is exercised by a 
 commission from the community, and yet at the same 
 time in virtue of a divine commission. 
 
 The Mosaic decalogue was the republication of an 
 original divine law, which from the beginning was 
 the basis of all human society. With the words, 
 "Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother, thou 
 shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, 
 thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness 
 against thy neighbour," God took our families, our 
 property, and our characters under His own protec- 
 tion. This is the protection which society requires. 
 This protection He wields by means of the authorities; 
 and for this purpose He has invested them with the 
 power of inflicting punishment. Because this power 
 proceeds from Him, it possesses an ethic character. 
 It is based upon the commands of God; its duty is 
 to put in force the justice and benevolence of God. 
 It has to minister to the material and moral wel- 
 fare of the people; for the one can only be main- 
 tained and advanced in combination with the other, 
 and not separate from it. 
 
 Of such sort were the fundamental principles of 
 justice in the antechristian States, irrespective of 
 national peculiarities — recognisable notwithstanding 
 all the darkness and error connected with a state of 
 heathendom. 
 
190 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 When, however, a nation accepted Christianity, 
 what form was the right of punishment to assume 
 amongst such a people ? In such a case, one maxim 
 which we have before discussed becomes of great 
 importance. Christianity recognises all constitutional 
 forms which it finds existing, as it also does actual 
 laws or penal enactments. In such a case there never 
 was any question of creating something new ; on the 
 contrary, the object was to bring national law, whether 
 civil or criminal, into full force. The ministers of 
 the Church have nothing to do with introducing or 
 abolishing the power of punishment; they have no 
 right to interfere in the matter. 
 
 Still, Christianity ought to make its influence felt 
 even in this matter, and that in a threefold direction. 
 First, it should uphold the commission, the power, 
 the dignity of the government, and the sanctity of 
 the judicial oflice; secondly, it should enunciate and 
 elucidate the divine principles; and finally, it should 
 subdue selfishness, hardness of heart, and cruelty. 
 In that the servants of Christ proclaim the principles 
 of the Christian moral law, in that they endeavour 
 to fill high and low with a Christian spirit, their 
 influence upon the penal code cannot remain in abey- 
 ance. When the true light shines forth, the dark 
 remnants of heathenism disappear. Whereas ecclesi- 
 astics have no right to interfere in worldly matters, 
 no laws to dictate, none to abolish, but are bound to 
 leave intact the entire responsibility of the temporal 
 power, still they too are bound not to remain silent 
 spectators when, for instance, slavery or torture, the 
 cruelty of sentences or the self-will of the judges, 
 contravenes the mind of Christ. By instruction, 
 warning, petition, and mediation, they will endeavour 
 to procure that those vested with power, of their own 
 accord and with the assistance of their legitimate 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 191 
 
 advisers, shall gradually bring everything into harmony 
 with the word of God. 
 
 Truly a great undertaking, and one which has as 
 yet never been perfectly carried out! The carrying 
 out of it would be very easy, if one could take the 
 Mosaic law, and then and there proceed to apply it 
 to a Christian people. But that is simply impossible; 
 for that law, although given of God, was intended for 
 the Israelites alone, and for no other people. As a 
 matter of fact, it is quite unsuitable for application 
 to a Christian nation ; for in it the criminal law is 
 interwoven with the ceremonial law, and this, if taken 
 literally, has been utterly done away with for us. 
 Besides which, it contains elements, such as the 
 permission of polygamy and divorce, contrary to what 
 Christ has declared. Finally, it presupposes at every 
 step that intimate incorporation of Church and State 
 which came to an end in Christ, and that in such a 
 manner that the ordering of a Christian life and its 
 success depend upon the capability of distinguishing 
 between the spiritual and temporal spheres. 
 
 Still, we can learn much from the Mosaic law on 
 this very subject of the right to punish. That law 
 distinguishes itself from all heathen legislation by its 
 combination of earnestness and mercy. The holiness 
 of God, and disapproval of any intentional transgres- 
 sion of His commands, form one chief feature. The 
 other consists in benevolence towards the lowly, pro- 
 tection of the helpless, and care for the poor. Are 
 there not in the book of Deuteronomy a number of 
 humane ordinances, which Johannis von Miiller justly 
 admired? In Egypt and Persia, in Sparta, Athens, 
 and Rome, nothing was to be found comparable to it. 
 In this general character of the Mosaic law, we see 
 the glowing beams of that dawn which was to cul- 
 minate in the full daylight of Christ. 
 
192 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 For, looked at from au ethic point of view, what is 
 the peculiar characteristic of the revelation of God 
 in Christ Jesus? The holy earnestness against all 
 evil is preserved, being asserted and developed to the 
 utmost; paternal clemency and the unspeakable love 
 of God appears in Christ, vivified and personified. 
 Both are impressed upon the feelings of believers by 
 the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 But the earnestness and the goodness of God must 
 also be manifested to the children of men by means 
 of the temporal powers. This ethic feature should be 
 especially exemplified in the judicial office. If this 
 be exercised in the proper manner, it at once becomes 
 a finger pointing to the just action of the Divinity, 
 and at the same time it assures the full enjoyment of 
 those temporal benefits which Divine goodness has 
 appointed for us poor mortals. 
 
 If we ask how far this ethic character is expressed 
 by our criminal laws and the mode of their adminis- 
 tration, the reply must be one that we are ashamed 
 of; for in the whole history of the criminal law, 
 since the introduction of Christianity into the Roman 
 Empire, two contradictory elements appear to gain 
 the upper hand alternately, — first of all heathen cruelty 
 and hardness of heart, and then modem laxity and 
 weakness. Both continue to the present time. To 
 one of these Christian mercy must be opposed ; to the 
 other, Christian earnestness. 
 
 The one evil with which our penal code was too long 
 chargeable was the severity which had been handed 
 down from heathendom, and which was continued by 
 the Roman law to the Middle Ages, or even to later 
 times. It is true that the Roman civil law is, in its 
 way, the most perfect that ever was framed. In it 
 we find the most subtle exposition of all questions 
 relating to mewn and tuwn, and science is obliged 
 
ON CKIMINAL LAW, 193 
 
 constantly to refer to these axioms ; but, compared 
 with it, the criminal law lagged far behind. The 
 principles laid down in the ancient law were by no 
 means amplified in a spirit of justice and equity, 
 rather during the reign of the emperors they distinctly 
 deteriorated. New and cruel modes of punishment 
 were added to those in use in early times, such 
 as condemnation to working in mines, castigation, 
 increase of the terrors of the punishment of death, 
 and exposure to death from wild beasts ; besides 
 which, the scope of the crime of high treason was 
 largely increased. If the old distinction made in 
 the treatment of freemen and slaves was evil, much 
 worse was the distinction which now obtained between 
 honestiores and humiliores. 
 
 Although Christianity has been accepted since the 
 days of Constantine, there has been no improvement 
 of the criminal law. The changes which have been 
 made are, for the most part, only an increase in 
 severity. Since the removal of the throne to 
 Byzantium, the kingdom became more and more 
 Orientalized, and the spirit of the ancient heathen 
 East showed itself to be more powerful than the spirit 
 of Christianity. The laws issued from Constantine to 
 Justinian against heretics were evil ; the regulations 
 made for protecting morality and matrimony alone 
 were a gain. The intercession of the Christian bishops 
 occasionally intervened, with a view to tempering 
 and alleviating too violent sentences. 
 
 The legal usages of the ancient Teutonic nations also 
 lagged behind the requirements which Christianity 
 imposes. They, too, contained cruel punishments ; on 
 other occasions, the compositions or money payments 
 were contradictory to the idea of justice. Unfor- 
 tunately, the introduction of any improvement from 
 the Roman law was not to be looked for, as in the 
 
 N 
 
194 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Middle Ages it had been made an object of study 
 under the form given it by Justinian, and had 
 partially been put in force in the Roman Empire 
 of the German nation ; on the contrary, it rather 
 increased cruelty and barbarism. Torture was intro- 
 duced and fearfully practised. Whereas in Rome, the 
 qucestio per tomienta was only originally permitted 
 to be applied to slaves and strangers, but never to 
 Roman citizens; amongst us Teutons, free men and 
 women were subjected to it. This fearful evil came 
 among us partly in consequence of the studies of the 
 Jurists in Bologna, partly in consequence of the 
 ecclesiastical proceedings of the Inquisition against 
 heretics, and the trials for witchcraft which sprang 
 from the latter. 
 
 The criminal punishments in the. Middle Ages 
 were so terrible, that the severe code of the Emperor 
 Charles v., the details of which are now read with a 
 shudder, was looked upon as a beneJBcent alleviation. 
 The Reformation introduced some attempts to im- 
 prove the criminal law, but in all principal points 
 it remained as before. Our ancient German modes 
 of procedure, by means of a regular charge, jury, 
 oral and public trial, which have been maintained 
 in England, but which in Germany were set aside by 
 the Roman inquisitorial mode of procedure, were not 
 restored at the time^ of the Reformation. The punish- 
 ment of death for theft or infringement of the game 
 laws still remained in force ; the cruelties which took 
 place at executions were not done away with; the 
 rack, that insensate and unchristian means for the 
 supposed extraction of the truth, was used at least 
 as cruelly in Protestant countries as in Catholic ones. 
 Occasional warnings were issued by the Pope against 
 excess of cruelty. It is one of the most perplexing 
 problems contained in history, why all ecclesiastics 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 195 
 
 did not raise their voices in protest with greater effect. 
 It is the greatest reproach which can be cast at the 
 age of orthodoxy. Although individual Christian 
 men, such as Meyfart and Von Spee, and after them 
 Thomasius, protested and testified against these cruel 
 abuses, they still continued to exist; and this relic of 
 heathendom remained in force until the latter half 
 of the eighteenth century; the abolition of it, which 
 had been neglected by the acknowledged represen- 
 tatives of Christian principles,- was brought about by 
 another spiritual power. 
 
 This was that process of development which has 
 already been spoken of before when treating of tolera- 
 tion ; that which in the orthodox age had been 
 shamefully neglected, was subsequently effected in the 
 philosophic century. An alteration in the modes of 
 criminal procedure, and of punishment, should have 
 been insisted upon in the name of Christian humanity ; 
 but the introduction of this Christian principle was 
 left for the opposers of Christian verity. These, the 
 representatives of spurious French enlightenment, 
 Voltaire and Rousseau, raised the standard of humanity 
 apart from Christianity, and under this banner they 
 applied for a reform of the criminal code. This was 
 the manner in which they dealt with morality gene- 
 rally ; whereas they treated Christianity with disdain, 
 they boasted of their morality — ^for which, however, 
 they were indebted to the former — as though they had 
 themselves originated it. Men liked the fruit, and it 
 was held up for admiration, whilst the axe was being 
 laid to the root of the tree which bore it. Benevolent 
 monarchs, such as Frederick n., Maria Theresa, Joseph 
 II., Catherine ii., adopted humane courses. The rack, 
 ingenious modes of inflicting death, and the laws 
 against heterodoxy were abolished. This is that great 
 and permanent service which the age of enlighten- 
 
196 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 ment has rendered. Such are the advantages which 
 accrued to the Christian world through a school of 
 men who, having no Christian feelings or convictions, 
 fought for a principle which is essentially Christian. 
 
 If the genuine source of all humanity be not recog- 
 nised, that is to say, the word of Christ and His Spirit, 
 then it becomes necessary to find another, a philosophic 
 basis, for the duties of humanity. Hence it was sought to 
 deduce the humane alterations of the penal code, which 
 were acknowledged to be the business of the age, from 
 that theory of a natural condition and of a social con- 
 tract, which has been before treated of But this theory 
 excludes every supernatural element and any reference 
 to God from the idea of a commonwealth. That is 
 only to be a mutual insurance ofi&ce for the protection of 
 this world's goods. It has no longer any ethic source, 
 and, as far as morality is concerned, has only to do 
 with that because it is a very useful means of main- 
 taining individual and public safety. But if the entire 
 power of the State is based upon a social contract 
 alone, the right of punishment must also rest upon the 
 same. Its only object is the maintenance of general 
 safety. It has nothing to do with setting forth the 
 justice and goodness of God, nothing to do with the 
 realization of an idea of eternal justice. The idea of 
 retribution is eliminated from all punishment, and 
 the only object in view is to render the criminal, 
 because he is dangerous to society, innocuous, — to 
 prevent the repetition of the offence by him, and to 
 guard against the imitation of his crime by others. 
 Then it is a consequent deduction that the injury 
 inflicted upon the criminal shall be the least possible, 
 concomitant with the public safety. 
 
 For, naturally, it must be presupposed that, in con- 
 cluding the contract, every individual has only .given 
 up so much of his own rights and liberties as are 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. .197 
 
 absolutely necessary for the attainment of the objects 
 of the Commonwealth. 
 
 The ancient teachers of a natural law, Grotius and 
 Pufendorf, did not follow out to the full extent the 
 consequences of their own principles, when the}^ 
 allowed the government to retain a powder of life 
 and death over the citizen. Beccaria was consistent 
 when he denied generally the right of capital punish- 
 ment, in his ecstatic work, Dei delitti e delle pene 
 (1764). It could not have been an article in the 
 original State contract, that the individual in the case 
 of a serious trespass gave up his right to live. Granted 
 that he wished to do so, he had no right to dispose of 
 his own life ; and why should he wish to do so, seeing 
 that the object of the State can be obtained without 
 this ? Beccaria considers that compulsory labour has 
 a more deterrent effect than capital punishment. It 
 is true that Beccaria would have been quite consistent 
 only if he had denied the right of the authorities to 
 resort to any violent or death-dealing measures in 
 putting down rebellion, or to carry on war at all. In 
 both these cases the government deals with the lives 
 of the citizens, and, what is more, with the lives of the 
 innocent. What right it can have to do this will be 
 difficult to determine from Beccaria's point of view. 
 
 The bias of the foregoing tendencies had a whole- 
 some counterpoise, so long as earnest morality had not 
 disappeared from public opinion ; but a straight line 
 which once departs from the right course always 
 increases its divergence. Thus it would have been 
 with this biased humanity, if a powerful counterpoise 
 had not been applied at the right time. This was 
 found in the philosophy of Kant. 
 
 It was an age when morality had been reduced to a 
 theory of mere happiness. To Kant belongs the 
 honour of having, in opposition to this, reasserted the 
 
198 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 idea of duty and its inflexible laws in all their true 
 dignity. He performed the same service for the 
 criminal law when he based, as he did in his Meta- 
 physical Elements of Jurisprudence (1797), punishment 
 upon the right of retaliation. This same active morality, 
 which Kant revived and rendered capable of dispelling 
 the mists of an impotent and sickly imitation, enabled 
 him, in opposition to the vapidity of his contem- 
 poraries, to reject the doctrine of convenience, and to 
 recognise in the judicial power of the State a reflex 
 of eternal justice. 
 
 The corrective to ancient heathen cruelty ought to 
 have come from the representatives of Christian 
 traditions ; but it came from the ^^<^5^-philosophers of 
 the French school of infidelity. The corrective to 
 pseudo-humanity, which became necessary, ought to 
 have come from those who are appointed to declare 
 the fulness of Christian truth ; again, it was not offered 
 by them, but by a great moral philosopher, who had 
 embraced but few of the doctrines of Christianity, who 
 was, however, imbued with many of the feelings of a 
 true Christian. 
 
 Was the remedy applied by Kant effectual in its 
 action? Unfortunately, we cannot say it was; on the 
 contrary, up to the present day, the criminal law 
 appears to be in a vacillating state. The doctrines of 
 Kant, Feuerbach, and Hegel are partially at variance 
 with themselves — partially, too, at variance with the 
 doctrines of humanity, which, in the meantime, had 
 made even greater progress. 
 
 With humanity, kindness, and forbearance alone, no 
 family can be managed, much less a State. A whole- 
 some severity is absolutely requisite, otherwise the 
 most superficial objects of the State will not be 
 attained. Feuerbach attempted to find a proper place 
 for this severity, in his Revieiu of the Fundamental 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 199 
 
 Principles and Mcuvims of the Penal Law (1799, 1800), 
 which at the time acquired much influence ; but he 
 does not seek to attain his object in the manner 
 sketched out by Kant. His principle is not retaliation, 
 but intimidation, and the psychological effect produced 
 by it. Punishment must be intimidating to the 
 criminal and intimidating to others. It is true that, 
 even if we retain the theory of a one-sided contract, 
 this much may also be said ; but, if we go no farther, 
 we have still no ethical basis for punishment, and 
 we are dangerously near proposing the most cruel 
 punishments, as being the most effective means of 
 intimidation. 
 
 In the theory of Feuerbach, too, the right of 
 punishment is independent of ethics. It is cer- 
 tainly necessary to draw a line between the two. 
 The administration of justice has only to do with the 
 external demeanour of man, with such acts as can 
 be taken cognisance of by man, and in so far as they 
 affect the welfare of his fellow-men and the welfare of 
 the community. The moral law, on the other hand, 
 embraces the entire life of man; it refers also to that 
 which is within, and works upon the corresponding 
 feelings. But here it by no means follows that the 
 two spheres of action are separate and divided ; the 
 distinction between them may not be looked upon as 
 a separation. On the contrary, justice and morality 
 have the same relation to each other that two con- 
 centric circles have ; their superficial area is different, 
 but they have a common centre. The divine will and 
 the divine law is the basis of both. If the right of 
 punishment is maintained without regard to this basis, 
 it is then cut off from its source of vitality. The 
 separation of justice from morality, in which Feuer- 
 bach and Fichte agree, contradicts our feelings of what 
 is right, and appears to be one of those subtleties 
 
200 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 which can only be accounted for by the unpractical 
 mental aberrations of our German speculative reasoners. 
 
 Feuerbach insists that, in the passing of a sentence, 
 no regard should be had to the greater or lesser degree 
 of moral obliquity of the action ; not the immorality, 
 but the illegality ought to be punished. " Civic punish- 
 ments are not moral punishments; they are based upon 
 the right of self-defence ; their object is security and 
 intimidation. It is not the breach of duty contained 
 in, but the danger accruing from, the action, which 
 renders amenable to civic punishment." If a criminal 
 has been badly brought up, is ignorant, or of weak 
 mind, these, according to Feuerbach, are no reasons for 
 mitigating the punishment, but rather for increasing it. 
 Such a criminal is in consequence more dangerous, 
 and should receive a severer sentence. The deduc- 
 tion is logically correct ; but it is, therefore, -all the 
 more a proof that some error must be contained in the 
 axiom. If the right of punishment has no connection 
 with the divine attributes and divine intentions, if it 
 fulfils its object by means of terrorism, then the proper 
 symbol to be displayed above the entrance to a court 
 of justice would no longer be Themis with a balance, 
 but rather a three-headed Cerberus. 
 
 Hegel, in his Philosophy of Laiv^ which he lectured 
 upon in the second decade of the present century, has 
 very justly denounced this theory of punishment. He 
 rejects the theory of a State contract; he admits the 
 State to be a higher power placed over the individual ; 
 he designates the view, that crime is an evil to be got 
 rid of, as superficial. He says : " It is a distinct ques- 
 tion of right and wrong and of justice. By taking the 
 other superficial view, the objective aspect of justice 
 is set aside. The different motives of intimidation, 
 improvement, etc. are quite in place ; but they pre- 
 suppose the justice of the punishment itself." Thus 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 201 
 
 Hegel inclines to the doctrines of Kant, and his 
 philosophy, represented by Keinhold Kostlin amongst 
 criminal jurists, was adapted to act as a wholesome 
 antiseptic to the vapid doctrines of humanity which 
 are in such favour now. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, these doctrines, in lieu of the 
 antidote being applied, have been developed to an 
 extreme degree, acquiring a preponderating influence 
 upon public opinion and recent acts of the legislature. 
 
 An important advance in this direction took place 
 as a result of the unwholesome development of the 
 theory of monomania. Men are inclined to accept as 
 an excuse for the criminal, that, although intelligent 
 and accountable for his actions in other respects, still, 
 with reference to the one point, he has been acting 
 under an insane impulse. It is very true that evil 
 passions, when a man gives way to them, acquire a 
 power over him which is similar to insanity — a psycho- 
 logical process which is set forth in all its naked truth 
 in Shakespeare's Macbeth. But just as true is the 
 counter statement, that every step which a man takes 
 on this road to ruin, by which he allows evil passions 
 to assume such a mastery over him, is his own act, his 
 own fault, for which he must be content to be held 
 responsible. Heinroth, although he erred on the side 
 of severity, was quite right in bringing this aspect of 
 the truth into prominence. 
 
 Once arrived so far, there remained only one further 
 step to be taken upon the path of error ; and this has 
 been taken by our most modern Materialists. A 
 daring unbeliever has expressed it in the following 
 language: — "With such nerves, such a bringing up, 
 and such surroundings, the criminal could not act 
 otherwise ; " hence he was obliged to commit deeds of 
 violence, arson, and murder. Whence did the State 
 then derive its right to punish him ? Those whom we 
 
202 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 call criminals are merely diseased, mad, or unfortunate 
 persons. Therefore — and this is the necessary deduc- 
 tion — let us do away with houses of correction, and 
 have instead asylums, hospitals, and houses of 
 restraint ; no more cells for rogues and murderers, but 
 in lieu a Prytanium ! 
 
 The responsibility of man for his actions is an irre- 
 versible fact. Conscience is part of a man's being, and 
 it is as criminal as it is futile to try and stifle it by 
 sophistry or casuistry. Moral feeling and common 
 sense teach us to treat a man who has committed a 
 single evil action, not more mildly, but more severely, 
 if it can be shown that his whole character is bad ; 
 for his character is the result of his own actions, and 
 he is responsible for them. 
 
 Thus, then, the responsibility of man is a necessary 
 and irreversible fundamental principle not only in the 
 interests of morality, but also of the general welfare. 
 This latter will not long remain unaffected, if we once 
 reduce our administration of justice to a mere matter 
 of police regulation, placing the punishment of a 
 criminal on the same level with the safe keeping of a 
 vessel containing virulent poison. 
 
 Punishment must be looked upon as retributive, 
 and must assume the form of a just retaliation. This 
 principle is in itself right, and must be maintained^ 
 still we do not overlook the objections that may be 
 raised, the dangers with which it is surrounded, nor 
 the limitations to which it must be subjected. 
 
 The first objection that will be raised is derived 
 from the imperfection attaching to the administra- 
 tion of all human justice, even with the best laws 
 and the best intentions of those who have to deal 
 with them. This is really the case, and the experi- 
 ences of the philanthropist must be very painful : the 
 fact should make the dispensers of justice extremely 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 203 
 
 careful. But still that is no reason for abolishing 
 the principle itself, for throwing away the sword 
 and scales of justice, for being content with the 
 staff of the constable, and for using that as spar- 
 ingly as is consistent with public safety. If perfec- 
 tion is not within our reach, still we must strive to 
 carry it out in at least as approximate a manner 
 as possible, — a principle which is of itself right, 
 otherwise we might just as well abandon all attempts 
 to realize any ideal in human affairs. . 
 
 The next objection is, the impossibility of practi- 
 cally enforcing the lex talionis as Kant would 
 have it. How is it possible, in cases of rape or 
 arson, to retaliate upon the criminal in a similar 
 manner? What barbarities would it not entail, if 
 the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a 
 tooth, were to be enforced ! But who obliges us to 
 render retaliation so mechanical, or rather so indiscri- 
 minating ? The science of ethics is something different 
 to that of mathematics. There is no reason why every 
 act of violence should be compensated for by a similar 
 act ; but the object in view is, that every infringement 
 of the law should react upon the evildoer. The 
 corner-stone of justice should be so firmly laid that 
 any one who comes in contact with it, to upset it, 
 should only injure himself. He who transgresses one 
 of the laws, " Thou shall not kill ; thou shalt not 
 steal," which have been ordered for the protection 
 and welfare of the community, should find by experi- 
 ence that he has thereby injured himself, and that he 
 is fighting against a power which is too strong for him. 
 His misdeeds recoil upon himself, and he should be 
 made to feel the greater or lesser heinousness of them 
 by the degree of punishment which is inflicted upon 
 him. 
 
 When we insist upon the doctrine of retaliation, we 
 
204 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 are reproached with calling into play feelings of 
 revenge and cruelty. This would be true if it were a 
 question of private retaliation. The individual may 
 not take revenge, and the community, too, is prohibited 
 from being actuated by revenge. If we start with the 
 notion of a one-sided contract, then, indeed, the men- 
 tion of retaliation becomes very suspicious. From 
 that point of view, morality calls for the punishment 
 of criminals not as an act of retaliation, but in self- 
 defence ; and we. are bound to use only so much 
 violence as is necessary for such self-defence. 
 
 But it is very different if a higher Power reigns over 
 us, and the human judge is to be regarded as an organ 
 and exponent of His justice; then the sentence and its 
 execution have nothing to do with human desires for 
 revenge. 
 
 In a heathen State, retaliation may be accompanied 
 by cruelty. In a Christian State, it is true that reta- 
 liation is terribly serious; but other considerations 
 come into play to. reduce its severity. Punishment 
 is not intended to be injurious to the criminal, but, 
 on the contrary, to bring him to reflection, and, in 
 that he submits and confesses the justice of it,. to save 
 his better self 
 
 If we maintain the principle of retaliation, it is not 
 just to accuse us of inhuman intentions ; for in that 
 we do maintain that principle, we at the same time 
 subject ourselves to retaliatory justice, and bind our- 
 selves to accept whatever in that name may threaten 
 us personally. 
 
 Our opponents would be entitled to reproach us 
 with hardness of heart if we meant to say that retalia- 
 tion should be the sole characteristic of punishment ; 
 but that is the peculiar feature of a Christian State, 
 that room is found for mercy by the side of strictly just 
 retaliation. That is the true Christian principle ; the 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 205 
 
 evil deed is punished, and yet at the same time the 
 doer may and does find pity and assistance. Cer- 
 tainly, if there are still any penal establishments which 
 are training colleges for crime, — if the released criminal 
 does not find a helping hand stretched out to assist him 
 in his return to a better mode of life, — both sentences 
 and punishments have a taint of cruelty. The powers 
 of the State, in whose name the sentence is pronounced, 
 are bound to take care that there is no lack of spiritual 
 care and comfort for the condemned. We must all of 
 us get rid of that unchristian Phariseeism, which looks 
 upon a man, who has once been found guilty of a crime, 
 as shut out for ever from society. These are lofty 
 subjects for the State to deal with, and any one who 
 talks of retaliation must also bear in mind these 
 duties. Who does not thankfully admit that at the 
 .present time many noble minds are working in this 
 direction ? 
 
 The power of punishing becomes dangerous when 
 it is pushed too far, and it will be so whenever the 
 idea of what the State is, is incorrectly taken up. 
 Do not let us suppose that at present there is no 
 danger of extending the domain of the State and its 
 authorities too far. That occurs when, in modern 
 fashion, all the actions of our lives are placed under 
 civil surveillance, and all progress (a very indefinite 
 and unsatisfactory term) is looked upon as under the 
 control of the State. The temporal powers have just 
 as little call as the ecclesiastical to do everything; 
 and for that very reason it is necessary that the two 
 spheres exist, and side by side, in order that there 
 may be room for freedom. 
 
 If we may be allowed to regard the new criminal 
 code of Germany of 1871 as a mirror in which we 
 may see a reflection of the present position of penal 
 science, there can be no doubt that in it a strong bias 
 
206 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 of humanity preponderates, just as in our modern 
 educational establishments excessive gentleness and 
 forbearance are too prominent, and the corrective of 
 Christian earnestness is wanting. 
 
 Men are mistaken in supposing that seriousness of 
 retaliation can be eliminated from our criminal code 
 without injury to the safety of the public. If, in cases 
 of serious crimes, the punishment bears no proportion 
 to the offence, the popular feeling of justice and the 
 national conscience becomes deadened ; for we must 
 not overlook the fact that, in the great majority of 
 men, the distinction between good and evil, and 
 serious moral decision, is much less maintained by 
 what they were taught as children and still have 
 preached to them, than by the equity with which they 
 see the penal code administered at the hands of the 
 temporal power. Once let it become the rule that 
 crimes or public misdemeanours are either insufficiently 
 or not at all punished, and the result will be that 
 public opinion will come to look upon such things as 
 no longer reprehensible. It is no question of the 
 horrors of the cat-of-nine-tails or of military law, but 
 of the effects produced by a proper administration of 
 justice upon the popular conscience. That will be 
 lulled to sleep if humanity becomes immoderately 
 predominant ; it is kept awake and active when in 
 judicial transactions, as is the case in England, a solemn 
 earnestness predominates,- and in the publication of 
 the sentence direct reference is made to the supreme 
 Lawgiver and Judge, against whom the accused has 
 sinned, and to whom he is advised to look for mercy. 
 But enervation of the popular conscience necessarily 
 reacts in a deteriorating manner upon the general 
 welfare and the general security. 
 
 Let us here point out the various tendencies which 
 a one-sided humanity assumes, and see whether the 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 207 
 
 objects of the State — namely, justice and humanity — 
 are really served by them individually. 
 
 1. In order to reduce the number of charges and 
 proceedings, in order to prevent so many cases of 
 crime coming to light, it has been determined with 
 reference to a number of oJBfences that they are not to 
 be prosecuted by the State and punished at its instance, 
 but that this is to be relegated to the injured indi- 
 vidual. This is even the case in respect of rape, sec. 177, 
 the next heinous crime to murder. Here the charge 
 cannot be withdrawn ; but in cases of serious bodily 
 injury, the charge, once preferred, may be withdrawn 
 at any time before passing sentence, sec. 232. Thereby 
 powerful and influential criminals have always a 
 chance of impunity, in that the injured parties may 
 be bought off, or, owing to fear of ulterior consequences, 
 will not come forward to prove anything. The door is 
 set wide open for bribery and corruption ; b.ut if a 
 poor man, or one without connections, has committed 
 the crime, he may rest assured that he will be charged 
 and convicted. Where do we here find any equality in 
 the sight of the law ? But even supposing that neither 
 bribery nor intimidation takes place, still it is a serious 
 matter for the injured party to prefer a criminal charge, 
 as there is always an appearance of private revenge. 
 No such invidious suspicion can attach to the State. 
 When it prefers a charge, every one knows that it is 
 only fulfilling a duty without any selfish object in 
 view, and purely for the purpose of vindicating the 
 law. The purity of the administration of justice, and 
 the maintenance of the dignity of the law, seem to 
 call for a revision of these professedly humane regula- 
 tions respecting the initiation of charges. 
 
 2. The humane tendencies of the age have led 
 to milder forms of sentence being awarded to attempts 
 at murder and to manslaughter. At the same time, 
 
208 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 the code contains severe punishments against cases 
 of theft. If the code already contains a disproportion 
 between the sentences apphcable to these crimes, the 
 well-known inclinations of our juries go still farther. 
 They are very ready, in cases of murder and man- 
 slaughter, to recognise mitigating circumstances, but 
 in cases of theft to allow the extreme of severity to 
 come into play. In Swabia a short time ago, a man 
 who killed his wife with a brick got one and a half 
 years' imprisonment in the House of Correction. 
 Had he been convicted of habitual theft he would 
 probably have got ten years (sec. 244). It almost 
 seems as though our jurors were influenced by heathen 
 traditions, as though they had some faint notion of 
 the ancient German compensations in cases of murder 
 and manslaughter, and that in consequence these 
 crimes did not strike them in their full enormity. If 
 such really is the case, we have arrived at a point 
 where ancient heathen traditions and modern ideas, 
 of humanity meet. 
 
 This evil has very wide bearings. First of all, the 
 moral conscience of the nation is injured. Between 
 crimes against the life and crimes against the property 
 of our neighbour, there is not only a graduated, but 
 a specific difference. The guilt of blood is of a 
 different kind from that guilt which the thief has 
 taken upon himself. This difference arises from the 
 dignity of the person of man, whom God created after 
 His own image. 
 
 The Mosaic law demanded the death of the pre- 
 meditated murderer : the thief was to be punished with 
 forty stripes and a four ' or five-fold restitution of the 
 stolen property ; if he was unable to pay, then the 
 punishment of imprisonment in the form of slavery 
 came into play, and this continued until the next 
 ensuing Sabbath year. A similar standard should be 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 209 
 
 employed by us in apportioning punishments for these 
 two forms of crime. Any one who attacks the life 
 of a man not only robs him of all his earthly goods, 
 but he also wickedly interferes with the prerogative. 
 of God, who has reserved to Himself the disposition 
 of life and death. He takes upon himself a load of 
 guilt, which he can never entirely free himself from. 
 A human life is something sacred, and that, too, in a 
 totally different sense to that in which we say our 
 neighbour's property ought to be sacred. Here we 
 have something in itself sacred, the destruction of 
 which calls for the severest punishment. If, in opposi- 
 tion to this, in our law and in our practice there be 
 no difference, or only a difference of degree, made 
 between attacks upon life and those upon property, 
 or eventually men come to consider property more 
 sacred than life, then the question may well arise, " Is 
 this really maintaining the dignity of the person of 
 man ? Is this real humanity, or the contrary ? " 
 
 Another very injurious consequence is, that the 
 people feel a want of harmony in this matter between 
 the human administration of the law and divine 
 justice. Hence arises a dangerous conception regard- 
 ing the authority of the government and of the law, — 
 the right of punishment is no longer exercised as in 
 the service of eternal justice, but as is most conducive 
 to the interests of those who wield it; the divine 
 commands are no longer reflected from its surface, 
 but the avarice and selfishness of men. This is all 
 fuel to the fire of the Socialists, who assert that all 
 our social and civic ordinances are mere inventions, 
 originating in the selfishness of men of property. 
 He who promotes such ideas acts contrary to the 
 common weal. That is undermined when property 
 is deified, and crimes against the image of God are 
 carelessly dealt with. 
 
210 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 3. The punishment of death for the crime of infanti- 
 cide has been done away with (sec. 217). Even in 
 cases where it has been committed in a wicked and 
 .aggravated manner, capital punishment can no longer 
 be inflicted. 
 
 This is an old and deep sore in the administration 
 of our law that we here touch upon. In the days 
 of terrible severity, the punishment of death was 
 applicable ; but even then the usual course was, that 
 the seducer at the same time got off scot free; and 
 yet in many cases he, by having brought an inexpe- 
 rienced and, tmtil then, perhaps innocent female to 
 this condition of desperation, is a participator in the 
 murderous act — in fact he is a double murderer, both 
 in the spiritual and bodily sense. Gretchen is be- 
 headed. Dr. Faust goes his way unaspersed. This is 
 how matters formerly stood; and it could not be 
 allowed to remain so, the judicial anomaly was too 
 startling. In this case the object should have been 
 to make the seducer responsible as accomplice in the 
 misdeed, and at least to award to him the punishment 
 of loss of character. But it would seem that no such 
 thing was thought of. The impunity of the heartless 
 offender still continues. A false path was persevered 
 in; and as men would not quit it, naturally it became 
 necessary to assign the mildest possible form of punish- 
 ment to the crime of child murder, reducing it to two 
 years' imprisonment. Still the inevitable result is, 
 that an impression gains ground that the legislature 
 does not set so high a value upon the life of a child. 
 Here we have humanity reverting into cruelty. We 
 have already heard the voices of some godless men 
 demanding that the procuration of abortion shall not 
 be punished at all. 
 
 4. Out of our strivings after humanity which are 
 not restrained by any stern morality, we find noxious 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 211 
 
 ideas have sprung up in modern legislature regarding 
 matrimony, conjugal fidelity, and modesty generally. 
 It is said to be humane to remove all obstacles to 
 matrimony, even those which God Himself has de- 
 creed ; to facilitate divorce, and even to afford the 
 adulterous party an opportunity of remarriage. This 
 same so-called humane spirit appears to have influ- 
 enced some of the arrangements of our German penal 
 code. 
 
 There is no prohibition of concubinage. No matter 
 what offence open profligacy may give, the law affords 
 no power of interference ; neither the criminal law nor 
 the police can intervene. In the Napoleonic Code 
 there is a punishment laid down if a married man 
 keeps a concubine in his own house ; in accordance 
 with it, the wife can require and obtain her removal. 
 With us it is different. The wife in so pitiful a case 
 will look in vain for any legal means of getting rid 
 of the cause of offence, of asserting her own position 
 as wife, her dignity as mother and helpmeet. Her 
 only means of redress is an action for divorce. 
 
 Again, an action for the punishment of adultery 
 is in no case possible, unless a divorce has been 
 judicially obtained on that ground (sec. 172). The 
 result is, that a man cannot bring an action against 
 the seducer of his wife unless he has previously been 
 divorced from her. . Is not this similar to a denial 
 of justice in one of the worst cases of injury? If the 
 marriage be dissolved, an action for the subsequent 
 punishment of the seducer can hardly have any 
 object. 
 
 The trading in profligacy, which Origenes terms 
 the pestilence of youth, which was successfully inter- 
 dicted amongst the people of Israel, is alluded to in 
 our penal code ; but how ? In the article on police 
 misdemeanours. At the same time as the neglecting 
 
212 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 to destroy caterpillars, the carrying of a sword-stick, 
 or driving a sledge within the limits of a town without 
 bells is prohibited, we read : "A female who shall 
 carry on a trade in unchastity, contrary to the police 
 regulations, shall be punished with imprisonment." 
 The thing itself is not punishable ; it can only be 
 punished when the local or district police regulations 
 on the subject have been disregarded. Here we have 
 one of the direst ojffences against the dignity of a man 
 and a Christian placed in the same category as a 
 number of indifferent and morally harmless actions. 
 How can such a combination, and the entire course 
 of procedure, act otherwise than demoralizingly upon 
 the people? To them, that which is morally objec-' 
 tionable will also appear harmless; for at the same 
 time the police have the power, in all cases in which 
 it seems good to them^ and under such conditions as 
 they may predetermine, to grant permission. 
 
 It is deserving of recognition that our penal code 
 does endeavour to restrain the most flagrant offences 
 by the enactments against procuration (sees. 180, 181). 
 
 God grant that this may be seriously carried out ; 
 for a conscientious government, sec. 361 furnishes 
 yet one point on which a position in accordance with 
 duty may be taken up. It is made discretionary to 
 enlarge the scope of the police regulations, which 
 have been mentioned, to an unconditional prohibition ; 
 still it is deeply to be regretted that the true 
 principle has not been maintained in our penal code, 
 but has been insulted and denied. 
 
 Let us again resume : the weakening and aboli- 
 tion of the laws, by means of which in days gone by 
 the sanctity of matrimony and purity of manners 
 were protected, began more than a century ago. It 
 was no fortuitous occurrence. It did not come about 
 apart from the condition of the people. It was called 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 213 
 
 into existence partially owing to a predominant de- 
 generacy of morals. We may say such laws are the 
 codification of a state of things already existing in 
 the community. They are a terrible witness against 
 our nation, which during its heathenish condition was 
 remarkable for its conjugal fidelity and modesty of 
 manners. But there is another aspect in which such 
 laws must be regarded. They have their origin in an 
 attempt to make the statutes accord with customs 
 and manners prevailing at the time ; and this is called 
 humanity. But the fact is, this assumption contains 
 a fearful untruth. 
 
 In ancient Rome, even during the commencement 
 of the Imperial times, it was considered that whole- 
 some and strict laws ought to be promulgated, as a 
 dam to check the increasing corruption of morals. 
 That very thing constitutes the majesty of the law 
 and of the legislature, that they restrain the passions 
 and vices of men, that they protect such good customs 
 as still exist, and that they try to recover such as 
 have been lost. So long as the laws are pure, there 
 is still a hope that a powerful government may oppose 
 the evil and co-operate to bring about better times. 
 But in our days the opposite seems to be the principle 
 which has been adopted, that the law must accom- 
 modate itself as much as possible to the wicked lusts 
 of mankind. The offences which occur in daily life, 
 and, it is very true, did also occur in former times, 
 may pollute the stream of morality and of custom, 
 but impure laws poison the very source. A beginning 
 has been made in allowing the laws to diverge from 
 the pattern which is eternally in force ; where will 
 the deterioration stop? What pledge have we that 
 further concessions will not be made ? Public opinion 
 is changeable, moral feelings become more and more 
 blunted under such laws as we now have. The calls 
 
214 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 for liberty of the flesh will be ever increasing, and is 
 the law really to keep pace with the increasing 
 corruption ? 
 
 No ; it ought to be a witness against the evil, and 
 a protection and support to the good. The lawgivers 
 are answerable for this. » Even regarded from the 
 shallow theory of a mere social contract, the duty of 
 the government can and must be maintained, not only 
 to care for the life and property of the subjects, but 
 also for the respectability, morality, and purity of 
 family life. 
 
 For whilst these good qualities disappear, all noble 
 feelings die out, and a dark, lawless spirit, which is 
 inimical to the welfare of the community, takes 
 possession of the desecrated position. What, then, 
 becomes of humanity ? It was not true humanity or 
 love for our brethren of the human race that intro- 
 duced such laws, but a spirit of darkness inimical to 
 the life of man, which, under the mask of humanity, 
 sought in this manner to carry out its foul designs, 
 which are the extirpation of all virtue and the ruin of 
 the country. 
 
 In our criminal code the punishment of death is still 
 retained, — that is to say, for cold-blooded, premeditated, 
 and prearranged murder in general, and for attempted 
 murder when directed against the life of the sovereign 
 (sees. 80, 211). 
 
 These ordinances are at variance with the whole 
 spirit of the code. The punishment of death in it 
 appears an anomaly. It was at one time abolished, and 
 we know how it came to be reinstated. The contro- 
 versy on the subject is by no means concluded, and we 
 may not shirk the question whether in a Christian Com- 
 monwealth capital punishment has any place at all ? 
 
 It is here no question of capital punishment for other 
 crimes, as it formerly existed, and which no one wishes 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 215 
 
 to see revived, but with regard to the punishment of 
 death in cases of murder or attempted murder. 
 
 Has the government the power, in extreme cases 
 and for the most serious crimes, to award and to inflict 
 capital punishment ? If the reply be affirmative, is it 
 advisable for it to exercise such power ? And what 
 if it declines to put such power in force ? This would 
 seem to be the manner in which the question must be 
 treated. 
 
 1. Has the government any such power? The 
 answer which we, as heralds of Christian doctrine, have 
 to give is not optional. It is here no question of our 
 own inclinations and wishes. We have the Holy 
 Scriptures, and we must refer to them, being bound 
 by their authority. On the authority of the Scripture 
 we must say, " The government has such power." 
 
 When Christ stood before the judgment -seat of 
 Pilate, who, as prefect of the Imperator Tiberius, had 
 to decide upon the charge, which was a question of 
 life and death, Pilate said to Christ, " Knowest thou 
 not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power 
 to release Thee ? " Christ did not dispute this power ; 
 on the contrary. He recognised it, and asserted in His 
 answer that Pilate had not been charged with it by 
 accident or by the will of man, but had received it 
 from God. He said, " Thou couldest have no power 
 at all against me, except it were given thee from above." 
 The word i^ova-ia (translated in our text as poiuer) 
 which Christ used, for He spoke Greek with Pilate, does 
 not denote illegal power, such as a robber possesses 
 over those who have fallen into his hands, but a 
 legitimate power. Pilate understood the reference to 
 God ; he felt his conscience touched, and reflected upon 
 his responsibility. "From thenceforth Pilate sought 
 to release Him." If Christ had considered the power 
 of the government in dispensing life and death to be 
 
216 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 an assumption, or a human invention, or anything of 
 itself improper and objectionable, He would have 
 expressed Himself very differently. With these words 
 of Christ, the teaching of St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
 Romans perfectly agrees : " The powers that be are 
 ordained of God. . . . He is the minister of God to 
 thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be 
 afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is 
 the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon 
 him that doeth evil." He speaks here primarily of the 
 Roman power, and the sword which it bore was the 
 symbol of the jus vitce et necis. He beareth not 
 the sword in vain. What can this mean, other than 
 that the power can in extreme cases make use of it 
 against the evildoer ? When Paul was arraigned upon 
 a capital charge, and defended himself before the 
 Roman prefect Festus, he said, " If I be an offender, or 
 have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not 
 to die" (Acts xxv. 11). 
 
 In all these cases it is heathen authorities to whom 
 this power is ascribed, so that there is an original 
 commission, applicable to all nations and continuing 
 for all time, which is the source of such power ; and we 
 shall probably not err when we state that both Christ 
 and Paul in their assertions referred to that divine 
 ordinance which existed even in the days of Noah : 
 " At the hand of every man's brother will I require the 
 life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man 
 shall his blood be shed : for in the image of God made 
 He man " (Gen. ix. 5, 6). 
 
 Man dare not take the life of man, for he certainly 
 cannot give it to him. This is a pure truism ; and if 
 it were only man dealing with man, the objections to 
 and inadmissibility of any capital punishment would 
 be evident. It is only when a higher form of justice 
 reigns over us, and when it makes use of men upon 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 2 1 7 
 
 earth as its ambassadors and instruments, that we can 
 entertain any idea of the disposition of life and death 
 being in the hands of men. 
 
 That which is said in Scripture regarding blood- 
 guiltiness finds its confirmation in the consciences of 
 men. Cain wanders restlessly and a fugitive, finding 
 no peace. Macbeth cannot sleep any more. So it is 
 too at the present day, and it will be thus so long as 
 there are men upon earth. The consciousness of 
 having committed a murder, the recollection of the 
 dead, constantly pursues the guilty man. It is no 
 superstition induced by education, it is the divine 
 voice which calls to him, " Where is thy brother Abel? 
 What hast thou done ? The voice of thy brother's blood 
 cries unto me from the ground." Granted that the 
 criminal is able in the bustle of the world, or by 
 exciting or engrossing pursuits and pleasures, to deaden 
 the sound of this voice for a time, still in the sleepless 
 hours of the night, or in dreams, it will make itself 
 heard, all the louder, in accusation against him. The 
 numbers who, not being punished by men for blood- 
 guiltiness, have gone mad or committed suicide are 
 sufiicient proof of this. If a murderer is moved to 
 confession, and really repents of his crime, he feels 
 himself impelled not to ask for his life to be spared ; 
 his own conscience confirms the justice of capital 
 punishment. It does sometimes occur that such a 
 criminal not only welcomes death as an atonement and 
 a relief from his misery, but actually begs that capital 
 punishment may be inflicted. Capital punishment 
 may be abolished, but who will abolish the Eumenides 
 w^ho pursue Orestes ? 
 
 We may not require of the authorities to expunge 
 capital punishment from the code. If it be only 
 retained for the most rare cases, still it remains as a 
 wholesome warning, as the awful background of the 
 
218 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 entire legislature, a witness to the connection existing 
 between human and divine justice. 
 
 2. But now we approach a very different question. 
 How about the exercise of this fearful power ? Is it 
 advisable ? Ought not a Christian government rather 
 to desist from using it, and in all cases to allow a 
 mitigation or alteration of sentence to take effect? 
 Here we touch a point upon which the opponents of 
 capital punishment have much to say that is true and 
 worthy of being laid to heart. The danger of judicial 
 murder taking place is seldom completely excluded, 
 especially now that a jury have it in their power to 
 find a verdict of guilty upon circumstantial evidence, 
 and that personal confession is no longer absolutely 
 necessary, as was formerly the case in Bavaria, 
 according to the Codex Maxiinilianeus. It is better 
 that nine guilty men escape death, than that one 
 innocent man should suffer it. 
 
 The scenes which occur upon the scaffold, and the 
 undoubtedly barbarizing effect which public executions 
 produce upon the spectators, undoubtedly have much 
 weight. In such cases there arise in men of coarse 
 feelings something of that fiendish pleasure with which 
 the heathen Romans used to look on at the gladiatorial 
 combats. That brutality which feeds upon the sight 
 of Spanish bull-fights finds here congenial aliment. 
 Public executions do not diminish the number of 
 criminals ; even the horrors with w4iich executions 
 were accompanied in former centuries do not appear to 
 have deterred, but rather to have awakened a pleasure 
 in cruelty, and thus indirectly to have increased crime. 
 If an execution must take place at all, the carrying of 
 it out in the court of the prison, in the presence of 
 selected witnesses, is the lesser evil. 
 
 It is a fearful thing that amongst a Christian people 
 crimes worthy of death and executions should occur at 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 219 
 
 all. Richard Rothe was quite right in saying that the 
 day on wiiich an execution takes place should be 
 passed as a day of mourning, humiliation, and repent- 
 ance by the whole nation. 
 
 If capital punishment is retained in the code, 
 sufficient care must be taken that the necessary 
 supplementary paragraphs are also there. In many 
 cases, to push the literal reading of the law to extrem- 
 ities becomes the greatest possible injustice. If this 
 should occur in a case where life and death are at 
 stake, care must be taken that an antidote be avail- 
 able. In order to find such a remedy, our modern 
 lawgivers have allowed extenuating circumstances an 
 extensive scope, and the consideration of them is re- 
 mitted to the jury. 
 
 Trial by jury, oral examinations, and publicity of 
 trial are all great benefits. The German people had a 
 very ancient right to them ; but they were long with- 
 held, and at last given back in the year 1848. He 
 who knows from experience what the former course of 
 procedure was, will know how to value these blessings. 
 As in an organized State the people have a right to 
 participate in the legislature, so, too, it is only right 
 that they should have a voice in the decision affecting 
 the life and liberty of a citizen. According to the 
 ancient German principle, every one has a right to 
 trial by his peers. This is effected by the institution 
 of trial by jury. 
 
 Jurors have to deliver a verdict upon the facts. Still 
 it by no means follows that they, more than others, are 
 also capable of deciding as to extenuating circum- 
 stances. Here we have some of the most difficult 
 questions, as to free agency and soundness of mind, 
 calling for consideration. If the decision upon these 
 points is handed over to the jury, then we have those 
 mitigated verdicts which have been mentioned above, 
 
220 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH, 
 
 and which are utterly at variance with justice. The 
 legal advisers of rulers, who have a wider range of 
 vision than jurymen, would probably be more capable 
 than the latter are of weighing attendant circum- 
 stances, and appraising the degree of mental responsi- 
 bility. Hence the English mode of procedure appears 
 to be the most commendable ; agreeably to it the 
 jury have nothing to do with extenuating circum- 
 stances, and are not permitted to allow them to exert 
 any influence upon the verdict. But if any such have 
 come to light during the trial, the jury have the power, 
 in delivering their verdict, to recommend the guilty 
 person to the clemency of the sovereign. 
 
 The proper complement of the stringency of the law 
 consists in the power of mercy vested in the throne. 
 If a contradiction arises between the letter of the law 
 and feelings of moral justice, between the human and 
 heavenly command, the difficulty finds here its proper 
 solution, in a gracious resolution of the sovereign. He, 
 by mitigating or remitting the sentence, exercises his 
 highest and most glorious attribute. He acts in such 
 a case as the representative of the highest Lawgiver, 
 and his action becomes thereby the reflection of divine 
 action, in which justice and mercy are combined. 
 
 3. If a government should deem it right not to 
 exercise the power of life and death, or to renounce 
 it, what is then to be said? Answer: Ecclesiastics 
 are not entitled to interfere. 
 
 The Empress Elizabeth of Russia never signed a 
 death warrant, but always commuted the sentence 
 into banishment to Siberia. If our rulers choose to do 
 the same, it is not fitting that any objection should 
 be raised. They have the right, if they have so 
 much confidence in their people, to try what eflect 
 so much clemency will produce upon the community. 
 If, as is the case of the latest Swiss federal constitu- 
 
ON CRIMINAL LAW. 221 
 
 tion, capital punishment be erased from the statute- 
 book, it would be unworthy of the servants of Christ 
 to protest against this. Christian bishops, in ancient 
 times, assumed a different attitude. 
 
 Ambrosius, Augustine, and other great teachers of 
 the Church, did, it is true, recognise the power of the 
 authorities to threaten the criminal with death; but 
 when it came to be put into effect, they exercised in 
 many cases their right of intercession in favour of 
 the condemned man, and saved his life. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 
 
 How is war compatible with a Christian Common, 
 wealth ? Does it not form the most complete antithesis 
 to the feelings with which every Christian should be 
 filled, and to that condition of material and moral 
 progress which is the object of the State, and more 
 especially of the Christian Commonwealth ? 
 
 There is only one ground upon which war can be 
 justified ; it is the same, and can be no other than 
 that upon which the right of punishment rests. The 
 government is called upon, and it is its duty, to 
 protect those who do right from injury and violence, 
 and to inflict penal justice upon evildoers. For this 
 purpose is the sword, of which Paul speaks in his 
 Epistle to the Romans, given into its hands. It is 
 nowhere written that any other sword has been given 
 to it. Authority does not carry two swords. The 
 sword of justice is the only one confided to it by God. 
 If it desires to carry a second, — apart from the exercise 
 of justice to carry a sword for the execution of selfish 
 objects or for satisfying revenge, — this becomes a 
 usurpation which it cannot base upon any divine 
 permission, and for which it cannot produce any divine 
 commission, being opposed to the divine commands. 
 A Christian ruler will only put his power into force 
 for the purpose of executing justice, and will enter 
 upon warlike action for no other purpose. 
 
 The government owes to its subjects protection of 
 
WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 223 
 
 their rights. That is the reason why it employs the 
 sword against the murderer and rebel, the internal 
 enemies of society; and for the same reason, too, it 
 is bound to draw it against the external enemies of 
 the State. Every nation has a right as such to 
 exist, and the government is bound to defend the 
 country against foreign attack. Where no State 
 exists, the duty of defence against predatory attack 
 devolves upon the individual. In cases of necessity, 
 where no governmental assistance can be invoked, the 
 individual in defending himself and his property acts 
 in the name of the government, and the act of self- 
 defence is subsequently, when the government is 
 made acquainted with it, recognised by it as justifi- 
 able. In an organized State, this duty devolves 
 exclusively upon the government. Private war must 
 disappear. Connivance at duelling by a Christian 
 State is a denial of Christian principles, and at the 
 same time a contravention of the authority of the 
 law, to say nothing of the absurdities, barbarisms, 
 prejudices, and anomalies with which duelling is con- 
 nected in the form it at present assumes. 
 
 When Christ said, in His Sermon on the Mount, 
 "Resist not evil," He enjoined that brotherly feeling 
 by which all His disciples ought to be bound together. 
 He in that sentence no more withdrew the commission 
 of the authorities to resist evil and to punish it, which 
 He on other occasions solemnly recognised, than He 
 did away with the paternal right of chastisement. 
 No father has a right to lay his power down, and to 
 look passively on at all sorts of evil in his family; 
 just as little is the government called upon to lay 
 down the sword of justice. 
 
 The making of war in the service of justice 
 is recognised as being possible, and is admitted in 
 Holy Scripture. If it were otherwise, and every war 
 
224 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 were declared to be iniquitous, it would on no pretence 
 be permissible to exercise the profession of arms ; but 
 such an occupation is expressly permitted in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 When the soldiers came to John the Baptist and 
 asked, "What shall we do?" they were not told, 
 " Take your discharge, and give up the profession of 
 arms," but, " Do violence to no man, neither accuse 
 any falsely, and be content with your wages." When 
 Christ showed His pleasure in the centurion of Caper- 
 naum, and when Peter ordered the Roman centurion 
 Cornelius and those who were with him to be baptized, 
 no word was said about their renouncing military 
 service ; in accordance with which, the ancient 
 Christian Church, taken as a whole, considered it 
 permissible to accept military service even under 
 heathen commanders. 
 
 War is the most fearful scourge of heaven, not 
 only because it spreads untold evils over both the 
 nations who are at war, but more especially because 
 it almost inevitably gives occasion for the letting 
 loose of devilish passions in many individuals. For 
 this very reason, on every occasion when war is 
 declared or carried on, there rests upon the authorities 
 an enormous responsibility, such as in no other case 
 supervenes. For the same reason, too, Christianity 
 and humanity enjoin us to obviate as much as 
 possible, by international contracts and conventions, 
 the cruelties and deeds of horror which follow in the 
 footsteps of war. The task is difficult, but one that 
 must be undertaken. The Convention of Geneva, 
 which has already done so much good, and the Con- 
 gress at Brussels, belong to the most comforting 
 occurrences of our present century. 
 
 Suffering humanity longs for peace. The Christian 
 Church sends up a prayer to heaven : " Give peace in 
 
\VAll AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 225 
 
 our days ; " " Take away ambition and lust of conquest 
 from the hearts both of rulers and of people ! " Is it 
 possible to consider ambition or lust of conquest as 
 noble qualities ? When they come into play and 
 influence the actions of the State, the Christian calling 
 both of the authorities and of the nation is denied; 
 and when they penetrate amongst the people, the 
 morality of public opinion is ruined ; for such passions 
 are completely antagonistic to Christian principles. 
 National hatred cannot co-exist with Christianity or 
 with humanity ; it, like every other species of hatred 
 between man and man, is a sin. 
 
 Xenophon tells us that Cyrus learned in his youth 
 to hate a lie ; for, in the ideas of Zoroaster, that was 
 the object of education. The Persians taught their 
 boys to use the bow and to tell the truth. When 
 Cyrus had become a young man, and was instructed 
 by his grandfather in the art of war, he heard with 
 surprise of quite a different doctrine, — how to deceive 
 and by stratagem to defeat an enemy. Upon inquiry, 
 he was told that this was only allowable towards an 
 enem}'- and in time of war ; thai, as regards friends and 
 countrymen, the duty of truthfulness existed in full force. 
 
 The surprise of Cyrus ought to exist amongst us, 
 and in a higher degree, seeing that we are Christians; 
 for in the present day deceit and cunning are em- 
 ployed in war. We require much clearness of perception 
 and conscientious discernment, in order to prevent a 
 degeneration taking place in our moral ideas. 
 
 The art of self-defence consists of feints and sur- 
 prises, by which the opponent is taken unawares and 
 overcome ; they are part of the art, we expect their 
 employment. In this respect, the art of fighting is 
 similar to that of chess. In war, feigned attacks and 
 retreats are made in order to deceive the enemy as to 
 the real intentions of the campaign. This occurs when 
 
 p 
 
22Q CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 war has been declared. The declaration of war con- 
 tains an intimation that such means will be employed. 
 Thus both sides understand, men are prepared for 
 them ; and if such take place, the opponent raises no 
 objections — they constitute no betrayal of confidence. 
 
 Here we have the distinction. Confidence may not 
 be abused, it may never be employed to the disad- 
 vantage of the enemy ; the noble-mindedness of the 
 opponent may not be deceived — as, for instance, by a 
 fraudulent hoisting of the hospital flag. Fidelity in 
 the maintenance of contracts, a punctual observation 
 of an agreed armistice, punctilious respect for the 
 bearers of a flag of truce — these are duties which 
 admit of no exception, no evasion. The proper 
 military feeling of honour looks upon any breach of 
 them as disreputable and detestable. It becomes, 
 therefore, a question of deciding what the situation 
 is ; what are the cases in which confidence has been 
 expressly declared at an end, and those in which it is 
 affirmed and expected. 
 
 If peace be concluded, both parties are bound to 
 consider it as a real peace, and, as becomes Christian 
 people, to look upon it as a basis upon which mutual 
 confidence is restored. The continuance of arts of 
 deception during a condition of peace is detestable ; 
 but that is unfortunately the mournful part of our 
 present position. There is neither open war nor yet 
 peace between the States of the continent of Europe ; 
 or rather, it is war under the hypocritical mask of 
 peace. None of the Powers has confidence in the 
 others ; evil deeds and bitter experiences have been 
 prominent; noble and Christian principles have dis- 
 appeared. None of the powers expects to find such 
 in the others. Fierce passions in the people and 
 leading men amongst them are the predominant motives 
 of action. This latent condition of war, quite unworthy 
 
WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 227 
 
 of the Christian appellation, antagonistic to humanity 
 and political virtue, is the severe chronic malady under 
 the burden of which the nations groan. The effects 
 of the evil display themselves in a twofold manner. 
 The present position of affairs destroys the characters 
 of statesmen; hence diplomacy has become the art 
 of lying, and lies have become political science. From 
 the same evil arise the monstrous armaments, the end- 
 less increment of standing armies, and in connection 
 therewith the increase of poverty and moral depravity. 
 
 It is the first duty of our statesmen to recover 
 from this position, by a recognition of Christian 
 principles, by calling noble feelings into pla}'', and by 
 paving the way for a union of nations, founded upon 
 truth and justice, by establishing an international law. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the endeavours of science, from 
 Hugo Grotius until now, we are very far from the 
 introduction and holding sacred of an international law. 
 It is impossible to bring that about in practice, or even 
 in theory, except Christian principles are recognised 
 as furnishing the pattern which is to be followed. 
 
 In heathen antiquity, a stranger was looked upon 
 as an enemy ; the nations, sharply sundered, and held 
 together by no common moral bond, fought with 
 inhuman cruelty. History and the monuments of 
 the East are full of such records. Even in the 
 doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, that brutality is not 
 overcome. Any thought of an equal and common 
 dignity of man, and of any duty incumbent upon all 
 to love as brethren, was very foreign to their ideas. 
 To possess slaves, and to enslave the conquered, 
 was looked upon as quite allowable. It is true that 
 the Roman laws of war contained noble feelings of 
 honour and humanity : " To spare the conquered and 
 to humble the proud. ... A magnanimous lion is 
 satisfied with having prostrated the bodies; the fight 
 
228 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 is at an end when the enemy lies at one's mercy." 
 These are genuine Roman sayings; and yet the pro- 
 minent characteristics of that iron empire were, lust of 
 conquest, severity, and deceit towards the nations that 
 still opposed them. 
 
 In Christ there first dawned upon the world a light, 
 in which a just and humane attitude o-f the nations to 
 one another appeared to be a desirable and attainable 
 object of pursuit. Paul was obliged to come and 
 announce this great fact to the philosophers at Athens: 
 " God, that made the woyld and all things therein, seeing 
 that He i» Lord of heaven and earth, . . . hath made 
 of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 
 face of the earth, and hath determined the times before 
 appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that 
 they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel 
 after Him, and find Him,, though He be not far from 
 every one of us : . . . as certain also of your own poets 
 have said. For we are also His offspring " (Acts xvii. 
 22-27). The unity of God, the common Father, and 
 the unity of the whole race of men, was proclaimed ; 
 and upon these truths is based the duty of brotherly 
 love, justice, good-will, and fidelity — as from every 
 individual towards every individual, so also on the 
 part of every nation to every nation, and from State to 
 State. It is nowhere stated that this duty is only 
 •incumbent upon us in our relations with Christian 
 men and Christian nations, that a Christian nation 
 ought to wait until the neighbouring nations become 
 Christian before they can enter into brotherly rela- 
 tions with them. The object was then set forth, and 
 the way to attain it revealed ; but although the Roman 
 Empire, as such, recognised the Christian religion, the 
 entire task was a long way from being accomplished. 
 The ancient heathen notion of a universal rule still 
 worked on, — that notion of repelling, and the lust of 
 
WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 229 
 
 conquering, those nations which had not submitted to 
 the Empire. In the Middle Ages the way was paved 
 tor a better state of things. Princes and people did 
 entertain the idea of one Christian family of nations. 
 In the Pope, that common guardian of our barbarian 
 forefathers, as Johann von Miiller calls him, there 
 appeared to exist an authority fitted for intercession 
 and establishing peace amongst the whole of Western 
 Christianity. But that grand idea was marred by 
 a want of toleration towards those who differed in 
 faith. In the Crusades there manifested itself a 
 reprehensible mixture of Christian watchwords and 
 apparently Christian spirit, with bloodthirstiness and 
 want of integrity towards infidels. And how was it 
 possible that any mutual attitude based upon integrity 
 could exist amongst Christian nations, so long as the 
 wicked maxim was maintained, "that it was not 
 necessary to keep faith with a heretic"? By the per- 
 secutions of the Moors in Spain, and of the Jews in 
 the whole of the West, the Christian international law 
 was denied. The federation of Christian States ought 
 to hold out their hand to such nations as are not 
 Christians, and, without requiring any acceptance of 
 creeds or baptism, invite them to recognise and 
 practise those humane and just principles which we owe 
 to the doctrines of Christ. The Mohammedans, Jews, 
 and heathen ought to have been able to recognise 
 the truth of the Christian religion from the actions 
 of Christian nations ; instead of which, the European 
 conquerors in America, by their conduct towards the 
 heathen, have incurred an immeasurable debt of guilt. 
 
 Still, for such nations as were within the pale of 
 Christianity, great blessings flowed from their recog- 
 nition of the fact that they all formed one family, en- 
 closed in a sacred bond. These good things have fallen 
 into decay since selfishness and self-idolizing of rulers, 
 
230 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 lust of conquest and intrigue, became predominant 
 in the time of Louis xiv. In the eighteenth century 
 the moral bonds between State and State were almost 
 entirely destroyed. The Revolutions, the approach of 
 which Leibnitz foretold when he saw all nobility of 
 political principle passing away, and the Napoleonic 
 empire, filled with the spirit of ancient Rome, were 
 not adapted to draw those bonds closer. Then came 
 the wholesome reaction which took place at the fall 
 of Napoleon. With the return to a lively Christian 
 faith, there arose a general feeling that the age of 
 lust of conquest and hatred of nations had come to 
 an end, and that from that time forth a compact 
 based upon justice and charity should arise amongst 
 Christian rulers and European nations. The intelli- 
 gent philosopher, Franz von Baader, composed his 
 memoirs " On the necessity produced by the French 
 Revolution for a fresh and intimate connection of 
 religion with politics," which served as the cause, or 
 at least as the inducement, for Alexander i. of Russia 
 and Frederick William iii. of Prussia, in connection 
 with Emperor Francis i. of Austria, to set up the Holy 
 Alliance. This was the most important attempt ever 
 made to bring into actual practice a code of inter- 
 national law worthy of the Christian name, and to 
 put an end to that disgraceful and injurious condition 
 of hostile and suspicious suspense. The fundamental 
 principles were : The solemn recognition of the Tact 
 that Christ is the Head not only of the religious, but 
 also of the civic community; that temporal rulers 
 derive their dignity and authority from Him, and 
 that, consequently, they are in duty bound to exercise 
 their powers according to the mind of Christ, with 
 justice and mercy ; and that there exists a brotherly 
 bond of union amongst Christian nations, which ought 
 to be recognised and held sacred. 
 
WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 231 
 
 It would be very wrong to refuse to admit the 
 benefits which Europe owes to the Holy Alliance. 
 Therein lay salutary progress, compared with the state 
 of international law during the Middle Ages, and com- 
 pared with the religious wars of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries. In this alliance the three 
 great divisions of the Church were recognised as 
 beii.g, what they really are, members of one Christian 
 body, — three mighty branches borne by the same 
 stem, not three separate bodies which have nothing to 
 do vith each other, and devoid of mutual duties. The 
 Greek Catholic Czar of Russia, the Roman Catholic 
 Enperor of Austria, and the Protestant King of 
 Prussia, made a compact on the common ground of 
 Ciristianity. To the idea which was thereby ex- 
 pressed, we owe the quiet and happy period during 
 vhich the three confessions on the whole lived to- 
 gether in peace and mutual respect, — a position which, 
 unfortunately, owing to later events, has been put 
 an end to. Europe owed to the Holy Alliance a peace 
 which endured for forty years, — Germany, indeed, 
 enjoyed it for fifty years, — disturbed only by partial 
 disturbances. Meanwhile, the principles which had 
 been agreed to as the basis upon which the compact 
 was made, were not faithfully adhered to by the 
 governments themselves, not properly appreciated by 
 the people, and in the course of decades lost footing • 
 everywhere. This very lamentable result may be 
 traced to a fundamental error made in originating the 
 alliance. The principle of international law which 
 was set up was correct, but the true principle of 
 statute law was wanting. This was only formulated 
 in a very incomplete manner, and in the background 
 there remained one truly pernicious prejudice, which 
 biased all three governments. At that time only two 
 political parties were recognised, the party of Reform 
 
232 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 and that of Conservatism ; and as, in the French Re- 
 volution, the Reformers had been guilty of crimes, all 
 reform was looked upon as dangerous and to be 
 rejected. The Conservatives were always looked upon 
 as being right, the others wrong. The fact was com- 
 pletely ignored, that both principles, that of authority 
 as well as that of liberty, were equally necessary to 
 the life of the State and equally justifiable. Both can 
 be overdone, and both the extremes which arise there- 
 from are objectionable. Prepossessed by that short- 
 sightedness, and guided by a superstitious dread of 
 revolution, the governments introduced the system of 
 protection under which the people suffered, and were 
 excited to want of confidence and exasperation. Of 'he 
 rights of the people, of the privileges of parliamenis, 
 and of guarantees for freedom, no mention was made 
 in the proceedings of the Holy Alliance; and in tha"i 
 the governments opposed all those things, the evil, 
 which Napoleon in his displeasure on the island of St. 
 Helena had prognosticated, became a realized fact, 
 namely, Cest une alliance des rois contre les peuples. 
 Hence the revolutions of 1820, 1821, ISaO, and 1848. 
 The whole system became so rotten, wanting in vital 
 truth and power, that its dissolution was inevitable. 
 A new Napoleonic empire arose in 1851, which declared 
 the treaties of 1815 to be void ; and the last remnant of 
 the system of States set up in connection with the 
 Holy Alliance, the German Confederacy, was broken 
 up in 1866. 
 
 Since then the temple of Janus has been thrown 
 open afresh, and its open condition is permanent. The 
 system of international law nations proclaimed in 1815 
 has disappeared ; a new, better, or even partially satis- 
 factory one has not taken its place. 
 
 An attempt is being made to prepare the way for 
 setting up a code of international law by means of 
 
WAR AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 233 
 
 science. The present intellectual tendency endeavours 
 to establish this new law apart from Christian prin- 
 ciples. It is this "modern international law of 
 civiUsed States" which Bluntschli has attempted to 
 formulate in the shape of a statute - book, a code 
 of 862 paragraphs. However excellent the material 
 in its individual sections may be, the groundwork 
 is utterly insufficient : humanity not based upon 
 Christian doctrine. It was the great mistake made 
 by rationalistic Protestant theologians, that they 
 presumed to proclaim moral doctrines without the 
 doctrines of faith: morals without religion. It is a 
 similar mistake for jurists to wish to isolate inter- 
 national law from Christian faith. The feeling of 
 right and wrong, moral tact, disregard of all low- 
 minded and unworthy means, fidelity to treaties, and 
 mutual confidence, are elements indispensable to an 
 international law. Whatever of such feelings existed 
 in ancient times, sprang from the primitive religion 
 and its traditions ; when they fell to pieces, those 
 feelings were lost too. Th^ Christian religion has 
 confirmed, regenerated, and refined them for us. If 
 it be undermined, those noble principles are also in 
 danger of dying out. They are not dry goods, which 
 can be laid by and taken out for use at pleasure, 
 they are living impulses which cannot be cut off from 
 their source ; and that source is Christ, who by His 
 doctrines. His institutions, and His spirit, produces 
 and maintains such ideas and feelings. If Christ be 
 hidden from the nations, and His spirit banished, no 
 philosophy, no legal doctrines, can resuscitate the 
 expiring political virtues, reverence for the law and 
 brotherly love ; the fruit, once separated from the 
 tree, perishes. If in our days morality and rectitude do 
 exist without religion, it is only in exceptional cases, 
 which may simply be explained by the fact that the 
 
23-i CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 spirit of Christianity, under the influence of which we 
 have all grown up, even when its origin is disavowed, 
 continues to act for a time. When the sun has actually- 
 sunk below the horizon, daylight continues for half an 
 hour. Who is so bold as to deduce from that fact the 
 assertion that no sun at all is necessary, and that we 
 could have light just as well without it ? The religious 
 reaction of 1813 and 1814 was a gleam of sunshine 
 in the present century ; the conclusion of the Holy 
 Alliance also was a ray of light, which unfortunately 
 soon passed away. We ought to look back to that 
 epoch and take a fresh start from there ; the nations 
 ought to call upon their rulers to return to the prin- 
 ciples then proclaimed, not of statute, but of inter- 
 national law, and to act accordingly. 
 
 The wants of the age point to the fact that congresses 
 of the European Powers — not of the rulers alone, but 
 combined with representatives of the people — might be 
 the means of averting threatening wars. One glorious 
 example has sho^^m that even great powers, without 
 injury to their dignity or influence, can determine a 
 proximate casus belli by arbitration, wherein England 
 and America brought the question of the Alabama 
 claims to a happy issue. Such commencements afford, 
 at least, a glimmer of hope. 
 
 The extreme party, which has formed the so-called 
 "League of Liberty and of Peace," talk about a mighty, 
 peaceful, Union of Republics. This must remain a mere 
 visionary dream, if for no other reason than that 
 amongst the people the state of mind requisite for a 
 permanent condition of peace is at any rate not 
 present in a greater degree than amongst the govern- 
 ments. The monarchical form of the European States 
 is not the obstacle standing in the way of setting up an 
 international law which should bring peace ; it is the 
 decay and absence of Christian principles. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Gentleness and justice on the part of those placed in 
 authority, obedience and fidelity on the part of subjects, 
 and self-sacrifice on the part of every one for the sake 
 of the common weal and the country, are pre-Christian 
 commands, which were well known to ancient heathen- 
 dom. The moral greatness of antiquity consisted in 
 its political virtue. There were just kings, such as 
 Zaleucus ; and some who sacrificed themselves for the 
 sake of their people, as Codrus. From Germanic 
 antiquity tradition has handed down to us, like a 
 glorious inheritance, the fidelity of the liegeman who 
 would not even in death desert his leader in battle. 
 
 When a prince and people take up Christianity, no 
 new relation is created thereby, no new duties are im- 
 posed ; but the old connection is indeed permeated 
 by a new spirit, a new light is cast upon existing 
 duties, and a new measure of divine support is accorded 
 to rulers and to people, in order to enable them to 
 fulfil those duties : the bond between them is drawn 
 closer. The Christian subject is shown that obedience, 
 reverence, and fidelity are not only civil, but also 
 religious duties ; it is the will of God that they be 
 religiously fulfilled. Every duty, whether of rule or 
 of obedience, should be performed in the fear of the 
 almighty and omniscient One, to whom we are respon- 
 sible for all our actions. Rulers have to thank the 
 Christian religion for the fact that their subjects are 
 
23>6 CHRISTIAN COMiMONWEALTir. 
 
 bound to them by the strongest tie that there is, 
 namely, that of conscience. From this arises the 
 conscientiousness of the Christian in paying taxes, in 
 the exercise of official duties, and in the management 
 of goods confided to his care. The ancient Christians 
 were remarkable for the punctuality with which they 
 paid taxes — not from any fear of men, lest they should 
 be found out and punished for want of honesty, but for 
 conscience' sake ; because the .Government is the hand- 
 maid of God, and should exercise a commission from 
 Him for the protection of society, being therefore 
 justified in demanding from all subjects the means 
 requisite thereto. Paul has taught us this (Rom. xiii. 
 5-7). One of the original, immutable duties incum- 
 bent upon a Christian nation, and upon every Christian, 
 is the duty of offering intercession for the authorities ; 
 and it is immaterial whether they are Christian or not, 
 and whether their rule be mild or oppressive. But 
 the intercession is not an empty form nor a flattering 
 piece of adulation ; it is based upon a consciousness 
 that God directs the hearts of kings, and that a just 
 and benevolent government is among the most precious 
 of earthly gifts that God can bestow. His own wants 
 compel the Christian to offer up the intercession; 
 because it is only under the protection of a just and 
 humane government that it becomes possible for a 
 Christian community to fulfil its task, lead a godly and 
 honourable life, and bring the truth to the knowledge 
 of all men. By an upright participation in the prayer 
 for kings and all authorities, we are at once protected 
 from temptation and error ; every one must feel that 
 scoffing, reviling, and insubordination are not com- 
 patible with such intercessions. It is morally impos- 
 sible that the two antitheses can co-exist in one and 
 the same mind. 
 
 To the Christian, a mystery has been revealed which 
 
THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 237 
 
 is hidden from the profane intellect. The latter, 
 swayed by false ideas of the origin and nature of 
 society, looks upon the king as chief constable — or, as 
 a modern Greek has sarcastically expressed it, as chief 
 butler, whose duty it is to see that every one is served. 
 We, on the other hand, see whence the dignity of the 
 ruler comes; we know that all authority is derived from 
 Christ, the Lord of lords and King of kings ; it is His 
 invisible support that maintains the existing authorities 
 in their places. With the existence of so many bad 
 passions, subversive principles, and wild revolutionary 
 ideas in society, as it now is, the fact of there being 
 any order, authority, and power with which the govern- 
 ment still rules the people, the protection which is 
 afforded to kings, is a continuous miracle performed 
 by the divine might. Thus the Christian sees some- 
 thing of the honour and majesty which are in Christ 
 transferred to the head of the State ; and in however 
 small a degree, yet partially also to all who have part in 
 the commission, and are placed in subordinate offices 
 or other places of honour. This is the basis of the 
 Christian's reverence for the government, as Peter has 
 impressed upon us .•■ " Submit yourselves to every 
 ordinance of man for the Lord's sake ,* whether it be 
 unto the king " (this was the title in Greek of the 
 imperator), " as supreme " (who is over all, and only 
 under God) ; "or unto governors, as unto them that 
 are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and 
 for the praise of them that do well. ... As free, and 
 not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, 
 but as the servants of God'. . . . Fear God. Honour 
 the king" (1 Pet. ii. 13-17). 
 
 This respect for authority is far from being a base 
 conception, a slavish homage, or flattery; because it is 
 based upon the fear of God and not of men, it contains 
 the most powerful corrective to the errors of servility. 
 
238 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 We honour in the ruler not the mortal, sinful, and often 
 faulty individual, but Him who has bestowed this ofiBce 
 and authority ; we may not derogate from his dignity 
 because of any blemish that may attach to his private 
 life, but also just as little may we extol such blemishes or 
 consider them to be right and proper. Luther says, " A 
 wicked government must be obeyed, but not praised." 
 Every one is bound to know the ten commandments ; . 
 and if the government requires anything of us which is 
 contrary to the moral law, we must, as Peter reminds 
 us, never forget that we are servants of God, and in 
 such cases, with all due respect, decline to obey. 
 
 This was held to be the case even by the strictest 
 Tories in England under Charles i. and James ii. In 
 such cases passive resistance is the duty of the Christian. 
 This is not rebellion ; we accept the consequences, and 
 to suffer is to obey. Thus did the Christians act in 
 olden days : if they were called upon to sacrifice to the 
 gods, to swear by the familiar spirit of the emperor, 
 or to burn incense before the image of the emperor, 
 they declined to do so, suffering the punishment and 
 glorifying God by their martyrdom. 
 
 But questions of a different sort are stirring men's 
 minds at present. What is to be done when a govern- 
 ment bearing the title of Christian exceeds its com- 
 petence, and uses its power to attack the rights of the 
 people ? 
 
 What is the duty of a Christian when a revolution is 
 drawing nigh ? How ought he to behave during the 
 revolution and after it? 
 
 There are lawful means for opposing the abuse of 
 power ; of these the Christian ought to make use, so far 
 as is compatible with his particular position in society, 
 — as, for instance, as official, clergyman, or military 
 man. If it be a question of defending existing rights 
 and ancient laws, he too must resist encroachments ; 
 
THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 239 
 
 and where his calling obliges him to speak, he must 
 come forth with boldness of speech as an example to 
 others. How far the lawful means may extend, and 
 where they cease, cannot be determined by any general 
 Christian principles ; it becomes a question of positive 
 right and wrong, and should be decided by jurists, not 
 by theologians. As early as 1287, in Aragon, the 
 nobility obtained the recognition of their right to resist 
 the encroachments of the royal power by force of arms. 
 Whether, in extreme cases, the representatives of the 
 people may refuse to pay taxes, can neither be affirmed 
 nor denied upon general ethic grounds, but depends 
 upon the constitution and laws of the particular State. 
 
 Still we must not overlook the fact that the Christian, 
 when he feels it to be his duty, as representative of the 
 people, as author, or in any other capacity, to oppose 
 the action of the government, is animated by a very 
 different spirit to that which generally inspires the 
 individuals composing the opposition with us. He 
 fulfils such a duty, not for the sake of bringing about 
 a violent convulsion, but in order to prevent it. He 
 raises his voice in opposition, not to bring himself into 
 notice, to bring the government into difficulties, or to 
 gain the applause of the masses, but only for the sake 
 of fulfilling his duty towards the community and the 
 government itself in a satisfactory manner. 
 
 He is careful to avoid the mistake of supposing that 
 he is wiser and better than those who actually are in 
 possession of power ; he does not fondly imagine that 
 if he were offered a seat in the cabinet all would be 
 well. He is conscious and mindful of the enormous 
 responsibility resting upon those who rule ; and that 
 consciousness urges him to sympathize with those who 
 are in such a position, and to be temperate in any ex- 
 pressions which he may employ in objecting to their 
 mode of action. 
 
240 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 That which is most objectionable in the manner in 
 which, at the present day, men generally take up the 
 part of opposition, is the self-sufficiency and the ignor- 
 ing of the common fault, the insolent spirit of com- 
 plaint, which only seeks for the causes of the evils from 
 which we suffer in those set over us. " Ye people, do 
 not quarrel with your princes and their councils. Do 
 not seek in them alone for faults and crimes which 
 are common to the whole mass of the people. The 
 government is only an artificial focus in front of the 
 reflector formed by the comm'unity. If every individual 
 for his own part, and the community in general, would 
 refrain from all evil, the worst government would soon 
 be radically improved. Whenever such complaints 
 arise, it generally occurs that the fault comes quite as 
 much from below as above, and an earnest desire to get 
 rid of it should come unanimously from both parties." 
 These are words of Goerres in the Rhenish Mercury^ 9th 
 April 1815. They contain the same truth which 
 Origenes long ago uttered : " God punishes the sins of 
 a nation by giving them^ a wicked ruler." In the 
 existence of a tyrannical government,, we must not 
 imagine that we have an unintelligent and aimless 
 caprice of fortune, but a wise intervention of divine 
 Providence. 
 
 If all lawful means are exhausted and yet no benefit 
 produced, still the Christian patriot has one more hope, 
 — ^that the Almighty, who' has reserved to Himself the 
 judgment of princes,, and has forbidden us to take 
 matters into our own hands by rebellion, will hearken 
 to the prayers of the oppressed that He will, at such 
 time and in such manner as may seem best to Him, 
 assist them. He does not require any transgression of 
 His commands on our part to enable Him to intervene 
 and to save ; on the contrary, if we exalt ourselves 
 and clamber up into the judge's seat, which belongs to 
 
THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 241 
 
 the Lord and not to us, we spoil a good cause and 
 destroy our claim to divine assistance. The worldly 
 proverb runs : " Heaven helps those who help them- 
 selves" (Aide-toi et le del faickra). In such a case, 
 where it is a question of revolutionary action, the con- 
 trary is more correct : " Heaven does not help those 
 who help themselves." More than one nation has had 
 to learn this by bitter experience. No good comes of 
 it. A revolution caused by unlawful means does not 
 produce any satisfactory results. In the whole course 
 of legitimate action, we are called upon to use our 
 intelligence and all our powers ; but we may never 
 put our hands to illegal means. The Holy Scriptures, 
 and in accordance with them the conscience of a 
 Christian also, condemn the principle of doing evil that 
 good may come. That principle is, and always will be, 
 objectionable, whether in private life, in national affairs, 
 or in political matters. 
 
 "Revolutions are like death," says Goerres, "of whom 
 only cowards are afraid, but with whom only fools dare 
 to play. These catastrophes in history are of such 
 terrible import, and productive of such serious conse- 
 quences, that only madmen or desperadoes desire to 
 bring them about." 
 
 They do not arise by accident. When, in the year 
 1848, the popular movement raised its head like the 
 raging waves of the sea. King Ernest Augustus of 
 Hanover was advised to order out the artillery. 
 Whereupon he truly said : " When an entire nation 
 becomes uneasy and revolts, there must be some mighty 
 and just causes for it." He determined upon nomi- 
 nating Stueve, the leader of the opposition, to a seat 
 in the Cabinet, and he had no cause to repent of his 
 resolve. 
 
 Where an overthrow has taken place, like the fall of 
 the Bourbons in France, Naples, and Spain, it is, as a 
 
 Q 
 
242 CHEISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 rule, not difficult to detect the objective justice of it. 
 We see therein the hand of the Guider of the world, the 
 supreme Judge, of whom it has been said : " Wisdom 
 and might are His : and He changeth the times and 
 the seasons: He remove th kings, and setteth up kings" 
 (Dan. ii. 20, 21). But with all this, the violent and re- 
 bellious are not thereby acquitted of guilt. Both sayings 
 are true, "Their deeds are displeasing to the Lord," 
 and, " They are instruments in His hands, by which, 
 without their knowledge and understanding, a divine 
 intention is carried out." For the action of Providence 
 in the historyof the world is on thiswise: "God punishes 
 the godless by means of the godless. He employs the 
 bands of the wicked as His scourge ; and when that 
 has done its service, He throws it into the fire." The 
 Christian is called upon to assume a very different 
 attitude. Those who fear God cannot allow themselves 
 to be made the instruments of revolution. Just at 
 such times it is most necessary for them to uphold the 
 law, and to insist with the greatest determination 
 upon the maintenance of divine ordinances and com- 
 mands.. [The Grecian war of independence (1821-1827) 
 was of a very different kind to the revolutions which 
 we have been speaking of above, and must be dealt 
 with in a special manner. The author has attempted 
 to do this in his work. The Fortunes of Greece from the 
 Commencement of the War of Liberty , Frankfort-on-the- 
 Maine, 1863.] 
 
 ■. With reference to these questions, errors have from 
 time to time crept into Christian doctrines. On the 
 part of the Pope, the erroneous doctrine has been 
 sedulously proclaimed, that the highest spiritual 
 authority has the power to release a nation from its 
 oath of allegiance to an excommunicated and heretical 
 ruler. Pius v. in 1569 acted thus towards Queen 
 Elizabeth of England, and thereby produced untold 
 
THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 243 
 
 misfortunes ; amongst others, the decapitation of Mary, 
 Queen of Scots. 
 
 Certainly a prince, as member of the Christian com- 
 munity, is placed under pastoral care and oversight ; 
 and when he -transgresses the commandments of God, 
 the minister should refuse to him, as well as to any 
 other person in such a case, the administration of the 
 sacraments. Ambrosius was quite right in refusing to 
 allow the Emperor Theodosius to enter the sanctuary, 
 on account of his blood-guiltiness. But the regal 
 authority may not be impugned. The king, as king, is 
 only subject to God ; we may not refuse to obey, to 
 intercede for, or to be faithful to him. The decision 
 of the question whether Elizabeth was the lawful queen 
 of England belonged to the Parliament in London, and 
 not to the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 Similar is the question of assassinating a tyrant. The 
 Spanish Jesuit Mariana took upon himself, in his book 
 De rege et regis institutione^ which, strange to say, is 
 dedicated to King Philip iii., to justify the assassina- 
 tion of Henry iii. of France by the Dominican monk 
 Clement. He maintains that against a tyrant, — that is 
 to say, against one who has seized upon the throne by 
 violence, who acts contrary to the laws and suppresses 
 the true religion, — such means are allowable. Ehud 
 acted thus, in the Book of Judges, when he smote 
 Eglon, the king of the Moabites, with a dagger, thereby 
 freeing the people of Israel (Judges iii. 12-30). Ac- 
 cording to ancient ideas, it was a praiseworthy act in 
 any one to free his country from a tyrant at the risk 
 of his own life ; in Rome, the first and second Brutus 
 did so, and in Athens, Harmodius and Aristogiton. 
 Melancthon was also of the same opinion ; the most 
 eloquent exposition of it, however, is to be found in 
 Schiller's Tell. Still it is a dogma which can never 
 find acceptance in the ethics of Christianity. The 
 
244 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 tyrant of Mariana, when once he is in possession of 
 regal power, must be regarded as ruler. The legal 
 representatives and heads of the nation may refuse to 
 obey him or to recognise him, and may declare war 
 against him; but the individual subject is not empowered 
 to resist him, much less to proceed against him with 
 treachery and assassination. Mariana's error proceeds 
 from a confusion of heathen and Christian morality ; it 
 is the same admixture of the two elements which is 
 observable in art and poetry, in Michael Angelo's 
 pictures and Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. Heathen 
 mythology should not be mixed up with Christianity ; 
 even from an aesthetic point of view this cannot be 
 justified, much less in a moral aspect. In the days 
 when the Christian Church kept itself pure from any 
 admixture of heathenism, men had other conceptions. 
 During the great persecutions, no Christian was ever 
 guilty of an attempt upon the life of a Nero, Decius, 
 or Diocletian, in order to free the Church from her 
 sufferings. 
 
 Strange to say, the same confusion came from quite 
 another direction, in the case of Oliver Cromwell and 
 his party. He was impressed with the idea that a 
 divine commission had been laid upon him (which he 
 thought to be able to show by the results — that is, the 
 victories gained in the civil wars), empowering him to 
 carry out the revolution to the end, and to condemn 
 the king to death. Thus extremes met. On the one 
 hand, it was the Pope who assumed to himself the right 
 of judging rulers, which Christ had never given to His 
 servants ; on the other, it was the Calvinistic Puritans 
 who had the hardihood to cite their king, in the name 
 of the community of believers, to appear before the 
 judgment-seat of his subjects.. In later times, Merle, 
 in Le Protedeur, has dared to justify the execution of 
 Charles i.; and, further still, to compare Oliver Crom- 
 
THE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 245 
 
 well, as a perfect Christian character, with Paul and 
 Luther. So that we see it is possible to be a famous 
 historical writer upon the subject of the Reformation, 
 and yet be utterly ignorant of wholesome doctrine and 
 devoid of divine light. 
 
 When Christians come into the unfortunate position 
 that the legitimate ruler of their country is violently 
 overthrown and a usurper becomes possessed of power, 
 how are they to act? Certainly Christians, and 
 especially ministers, should be heedful of tendering 
 their allegiance to the new government in too great 
 haste. It was a grievous fact, when, on 24th February 
 1848, Louis Philippe, the benefactor of the clergy, 
 was driven away by the Revolution, that on the 
 following day, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the 
 response should be sung, Domine salvmn fac rempubli- 
 cam. 
 
 Conscientious men, in such a case, tender no new 
 oath until they shall have received permission so to 
 do from the ruler to whom their former oaths bound 
 them, and they prefer to submit to some amount of 
 persecution rather than be guilty of fickleness. Such 
 occurrences are so rare, so intricate, and so varied in 
 their attendant circumstances, that it is impossible 
 to regulate beforehand what course should be pursued 
 in all cases by laying down a set of casuistic rules. 
 Much must be left to the discernment and conscience 
 of the individual. 
 
 When a new power has established itself and taken 
 root, the Christian community may n,ot refuse to offer 
 intercession in services of public worship for this new 
 authority; for it is only the existing authority, and 
 not the one that is overthrown, which can afford that 
 protection required by society, upon which order, peace, 
 justice, and the flourishing of all Christian virtues 
 depend. For all these benefits we are dependent 
 
246 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 upon the existing government; hence we pray for 
 wisdom and assistance for it from above. When the 
 ecclesiastics present this intercession at the head of 
 their congregations, the duty of reverence and obedi- 
 ence is thereby recognised ; but no opinion is expressed 
 as to the origin of this new power, nor of the principles 
 upon which its institution was based. There is scarcely 
 a State in which the present form of government has 
 not been, at least in part, the result of revolution and 
 usurpation. We are at all times ready to honour the 
 existing power in the State; but we reserve to ourselves 
 the right neither to commend nor to approve of any 
 revolution or usurpation, whether proceeding from 
 above or below. 
 
 With the constant change which is going on in 
 human affairs, new relations of duty and of rights 
 spring up. Even if the origin of any particular 
 government be marked with an unclean spot, still 
 between it and the people a moral bond of union may 
 in course of time grow up and be confirmed. It is 
 similar also in other affairs of life. If an ordination 
 has taken place in defiance of any ecclesiastical law, 
 it is on that account irregular, but not invalid. If a 
 marriage has been celebrated in the face of some 
 existing impedimentum prohibens, for instance, without 
 the requisite paternal consent, there arises a moral 
 objection, but no invalidity of the marriage. Here the 
 principle holds good, Non faciendum, sed factum valet. 
 If a government which was illegitimate in its origin 
 has actually assumed a position, it intertwines itself 
 at least so much with the people that no one can be 
 held criminally responsible for adhering to it. The 
 contrary mode of procedure would be unjust and 
 cruel, as is now being exemplified in the civil war in 
 Spain. It is a beautiful and humane principle of the 
 English law, that no one who has taken up arms for 
 
IHE DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. 247 
 
 a de facto government can on that account be dealt 
 with for the crime of high treason. 
 
 The heralds of Christian morality do well in afford - 
 ing room for the free exercise of conscience in every 
 individual, as to what political party he may choose 
 to belong to; and yet Christian doctrine does not 
 favour the ultkas of either party. The effect of 
 Christianity is to temper extreme views ; hence we 
 may expect to find it attacked and blamed by both 
 parties. And we do find that a purely scriptural form 
 of creed is stigmatized by one party as superstitious, 
 by the other as heretical. It does not fare better 
 with Christianity than with her Lord and Master, who 
 was crucified between two thieves ; so we need not 
 wonder if the position of a Christian in the time of 
 political storms and revolutions, as here described, 
 should be reprobated by the one party as servile, and 
 by the other as revolutionary. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE DUTIES OF RULEES. 
 
 The ruler is a servant of God, and he is placed in that 
 position for the good of the nation. This is the sum 
 of Christian doctrine. Not only is an idea expressed 
 in these words ; they are the embodiment of a reality, 
 a great fact, which remains unchangeable and un- 
 changed in all times, and notwithstanding all the 
 changes in the opinions of men. This fact may have 
 become obscure to the consciences of men, and it may 
 be denied a thousand times over, but still there it is 
 and remains unaffected. The duty of any Christian 
 ruler is to recognise this fact, to maintain his real 
 position, notwithstanding the inclinations of his own 
 heart — notwithstanding, if it must be so, the opposition 
 of the whole world. 
 
 Three wholesome moral impulses will arise from this 
 actual bond of relationship, so long as it is vivid and 
 present to the mind of the ruler. 
 
 He will feel himself responsible to God for all he 
 does and permits as ruler ; for regal power is not a 
 private possession, given to be employed according to 
 a man's own pleasure, it is a loan committed to his 
 hands by the King of kings, who is Himself the 
 source of all power and might. He is bound to 
 exercise it according to the mind and commands of 
 the Giver, who is the real owner. The ruler is the 
 incumbent of an office, and he will have to give an 
 account of his stewardship to the supreme Judge. 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 249 
 
 " God is no respecter of persons." " Wo must all 
 appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." These, 
 and similar passages in Scripture, should be guiding 
 stars for the manner of government of a Christian 
 ruler. They will fill him with a holy fear, they will 
 prevent his assuming too much to himself, they will 
 protect him against his own passions, and they will 
 at all times incline him to prudence and conscientious- 
 ness. 
 
 This same truth is the Archimedean point, situated 
 outside of this world, upon which a ruler can lean for 
 support to overcome the world. In the execution of 
 his onerous duties, the consciousness of his mission 
 from above will endue him with firmness and calm 
 confidence. The fear of men is a power which will 
 fetter every one who has no point of support other 
 than this world affords. Great as is the duty of a free 
 man not to tremble before the threatening countenance 
 of a tyrant, still greater is the duty of the ruler 
 calmly and imperturbably to resist the "depraved 
 ardour of an excited mob." The. Christian ruler 
 finds strength in his confidence in the Almighty, from 
 whom he has received a commission to protect and 
 foster what is right. 
 
 The Christian ruler will constantly derive fresh 
 strength from the same source, to confirm his love to 
 his people and to make him ready to sacrifice himself 
 for their good ; for he is the servant of God, and he 
 is placed in the position which he occupies for the 
 good of his people. To secure this, the greatest benefit 
 Providence has granted to mortal man, 'is the ruler's 
 calling; for this purpose, and for it alone, has such 
 extraordinary power been bestowed upon him. It has 
 not been committed to him in order that he may 
 employ it to satisfy his own selfish w^ill, not that he 
 may exalt himself above his brethren and look proudly 
 
250 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 down upon them, not that he may consult his own 
 pleasure and gratify his insatiable lusts, but that he 
 may be the greatest benefactor of his people. 
 
 Between him and his people there exists a sacred 
 bond, and according to the divine intention it should 
 be a bond of love. A Christian ruler will not wait to 
 see whether he is beloved of his people, before com- 
 mencing to fulfil his duties of love towards them ; he 
 will follow the example of that mightiest of sovereigns, 
 Christ, who first loved us, and gave Himself for His 
 people, before they recognised His love for them. It 
 is the way of this world, that with the best intentions 
 we must look for ingratitude and a want of recognition. 
 The ruler, too, is not spared learning this bitter truth 
 by experience; on the contrary, he has a greater 
 amount of it to experience than others. But even 
 that will not make him misanthropical ; he will not 
 visit upon all what some, and it may be many, have 
 neglected in their duty towards him. Love, by which 
 he is inspired, is a flame which many waters cannot 
 extinguish ; he will not lose courage or hope, he will 
 not become bitterly minded or conceive a mean idea 
 of mankind. In reliance upon the divine love, and im- 
 pressed with the task which it has given him to do, 
 he will always be ready to devote himself to his calling, 
 endeavouring to elevate his people and to render them 
 happy. The whole time and bodily powers of a ruler 
 should be devoted to caring for his people. An 
 enlightened ruler will be industrious, like Frederick 
 the Great, and will consider day and night how he 
 may benefit his people, like Maximilian ii. of Bavaria. 
 If a bishop were to refrain from devoting*' himself to 
 the good of the flock confided to his care, if he misused 
 his position to seek his own good and to advance that, 
 the verdict of all right-minded people upon him would 
 be a very severe one. Would not a ruler deserve the 
 
THE DUTIES OF EULEES. 251 
 
 same, who should forget that he is called upon to live 
 entirely for his office and for his people ? For rulers 
 are also bishops and shepherds of their people : Homer, 
 for instance, terms Agamemnon a shepherd of the 
 peeple, and Holy Scripture uses the same symbolical 
 language in speaking of kings. 
 
 These are no new truths; they are contained in 
 an ancient, much used, often objected to, but deep- 
 meaning and eternally true formula, Dei gratid. From 
 time immemorial, the rulers of Christian States have 
 termed themselves princes by the grace of God, — or, 
 as the Greek expression runs, e\eet ©eoO, by the mercy 
 of God. A curious misapprehension has attached 
 to these words. Many — one may almost say public 
 opinion — -in the present day look upon them as desig- 
 nating absolute monarchical power. They have become 
 a bogie, behind which people imagine they can detect 
 a system of oppression and of enmity to the people 
 peeping forth. Such a mistaken conception can only 
 be accounted for as resulting from a long and grave 
 misuse of power by those in authority ; the reference 
 to divine grace became a desecration of the divine 
 name in the mouths of unworthy bearers of the office, 
 and only thus was it possible that so much cavil and 
 objection should arise. The actual meaning of the 
 words is not responsible for that. Properly under- 
 stood, the inscription Dei gratid around the effigy 
 of our rulers upon coins is rather a pledge for a just 
 and humane form of government ; for in that a ruler 
 proclaims that he is what he is by the grace of God, 
 he admits that he has not to thank himself or his own 
 merits for his power or his illustrious position. He 
 admits that he is not worthy of the crown which he 
 wears ; it has been lent to him, in consequence of an 
 undeserved confidence which the Kuler of all things 
 has been pleased to lepose in him. He will have to 
 
252 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 account for that which has been committed to him by 
 the grace of God ; he may not use it according to his 
 own wishes. 
 
 Further, if the ruler is appointed by the grace of 
 God, he must regard himself as a gift, made of divine 
 clemency to the people ; as an instrument by which 
 the Almighty will carry out His benevolent intentions, 
 administer justice, afford protection, and maintain the 
 welfare and peace of the nation. In all this there is 
 certainly no justification for the ruler to exalt himself 
 above the law, to tear down all limits to his power, 
 and to infringe the rights of his people ; for the same 
 superhuman power, to whose goodness he owes his 
 royal dignity, is also the Protector of justice and of 
 the law. 
 
 Now, whether the highest position in the State has 
 come to its possessor by birth and inheritance or by 
 the election of the people, in both cases its derivation 
 from the mercy of God is still a fact. Regarded in a 
 true light, republican magistrates, judges, commanders, 
 and presidents are all what they are by the grace of 
 God. Even they, however limited their duties, how- 
 ever short their term of office may be, are, like kings, 
 the servants of God, placed in the position which they 
 occupy for the good of the people. 
 
 Instead of demanding that the phrase Dei gratia 
 should be erased from the title and from off the coins 
 of our rulers, people ought rather to insist upon its 
 retention, in the hope and desire that it may also 
 be inscribed upon the hearts of rulers, in order that 
 their nobleness of mind and the character- of their 
 actions may correspond to the admission and the vows 
 which are expressed in those two words. • 
 
 The majesty of a princely calling will be a spur to 
 a Christian ruler for working indefatigably to render 
 himself competent for the same. There are callings 
 
THE DUTIES OF EULEKS. 253 
 
 in life for which one can thoroughly prepare oneself by 
 a course of study, in a certain amount of time ; here 
 it is otherwise. The requirements of a position of rule 
 are manifold and almost immeasurable, and frequently 
 only a very short time is given for preparation before 
 taking up the highest office. On that account, a ruler 
 should always learn to extend the horizon of his mind, 
 and to labour indefatigably at his own improvement. 
 He will be careful to avoid the foolish notion that 
 aptitude for his calling was conveyed by the accident 
 of his birth. He will be far from supposing that he 
 is an oracle, or that inspiration from above gives him 
 a correct insight into everything without any trouble 
 or painstaking on his part. -^He certainly may hope 
 for the assistance of divine wisdom, and he ought in 
 prayer to seek for divine guidance and protection ; 
 but, at the same time, he will not leave a stone un- 
 turned, by diligent exertion and by employing the 
 means which Providence has placed at his disposal for 
 that purpose, to qualify himself for the duties entrusted 
 to him. 
 
 There is one very ancient book which contains the 
 wisdom of twenty centuries, and is in all parts specially 
 written for the use of rulers. Should a Christian ruler 
 allow the Holy Scriptures to lie on his shelves unused ? 
 That book is full of information regarding the duties 
 of rulers, the dangers and temptations of their posi- 
 tion, the divine punishments and rewards which a 
 king must look for according to his actions. Amongst 
 the books of the Apocrypha, there is one which seems 
 to come next to the Scriptures in value, and may aptly 
 be termed the mirror of princes, namely, the " Wisdom 
 of Solomon addressed to Tyrants," commonly called 
 the Book of Wisdom. Christian ethics are, above all 
 other sciences, worthy of and require careful study 
 by a ruler for the proper understanding of his duties. 
 
254 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Princes must endeavour to acquire their knowledge of 
 religious duties from the unadulterated ancient tradi- 
 tions of the Church. 
 
 If there be amongst those who are teachers in the 
 Christian Church, men who with the unreservedness of 
 the ancient prophets, with the courage of John the 
 Baptist and Paul, reprove kings when they depart 
 from the ways of God ; who are firm, like the ancient 
 bishops ; who tell their rulers the truth, like Luther and 
 some of the Lutheran court preachers of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, — a Christian ruler will do 
 well to keep such men about him, and to listen to 
 their exhortations. 
 
 The truths of our faith, the commandments of God, 
 and the principles of Christianity have to be learned 
 by us, and by our rulers as well, from the Scriptures, 
 from tradition, and from the lips of the servants of 
 Christ ; the highest as well as the lowest are all 
 obliged to apply to these sources of information. But 
 that is no reason for supposing that a ruler would do 
 well to select ecclesiastics as his counsellors in state 
 matters. It does not correspond with the divine order 
 or intention that cardinals, bishops, or theologians 
 should officiate as Cabinet ministers or assist in ruling 
 in temporal matters. In the deciding of political 
 questions, in all matters connected with the govern- 
 ment, a ruler should hearken to his temporal advisers. 
 Skilful jurists and practised men of business, in whom 
 he may expect to find firm moral principles, are those 
 whom he should select for his confidants and instru- 
 ments. 
 
 " When the age was more pious, the ruler still had 
 friends ; ecclesiastics and nobles held positions about 
 his person, as familiar acquaintances. If he con- 
 templated any ill-considered act towards his people, 
 a friend, in form of a knight, would step forward 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULEES. 255 
 
 and say, ' Honour forbids it,' or a minister of the 
 Church would say, * God disapproves of it.' As long as 
 the age continued pious, the ruler honoured his old 
 friends ; when things took an evil turn, he got rid of 
 them, as being troublesome legacies left by a morose 
 father. Then the ruler was left alone ; but loneliness 
 produces ennui, and ennui arrogance. Hence it comes 
 that, from time immemorial, the nations have pondered 
 how again to furnish their rulers with companions from 
 amongst the people who shall know the truth and 
 speak it, in lieu of those boon companions whom chance 
 may throw in their prince's way." 
 
 Exhortations such as this, taken from the Rhenish 
 Mercury^ will find a response in the mind of an intelli- 
 gent ruler; he will look about him to discover the 
 most excellent men for every branch of the State 
 economy, — for war, finance, trade, and agriculture, for 
 law and education. The political views of individual 
 men will have less weight with him than their capa- 
 bilities ; he will strive to attain to that rare art which 
 Napoleon i. possessed in a high degree, that of finding 
 the right man to fill the right place. He will hunt up 
 the old and experienced, and not trust himself blindly 
 in the hands of new-born talent. He will give heed to 
 the counsels of his ministers, following the parliament- 
 ary discussions with attention ; he will encourage the 
 utmost freedom of speech in the council chamber. He 
 will require from the officials that they are considerate 
 and prudent in their remarks upon the government to 
 outsiders, but unreserved to their superiors. He will 
 welcome the freedom of the press, and make use of it ; 
 he will not depend implicitly upon his informants, but 
 read for himself, in order to become acquainted with 
 the wishes and. difficulties of the various parties. 
 
 Happy is the ruler who, like Frederick the Great 
 and John of Saxony, has served in every office of the 
 
256 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 State, from the lowest upwards, and has thus learned 
 to know every branch of government, whether political 
 or legal. 
 
 Because our lives only embrace a span of time, it is 
 very necessary to glean information from the experi- 
 ences of earlier centuries ; and for whom could the 
 study of history be more attractive and useful than for 
 a prince ? 
 
 Treasures of experience are to be found in the writ- 
 ings of the great historians of antiquity ; splendid 
 examples, noble principles, in Livy, Plutarch, and in 
 the. incomparable Tacitus, who gained the deepest 
 insight into the hearts of princes, who has recorded 
 for us the errors into which they so easily fall, and the 
 degeneracy of which they are capable. He who will 
 matriculate in the higher branches of statesmanship 
 must study the constitution of England and her his- 
 tory. The two great epochs of modern days — the 
 English and French Revolutions — are full of inex- 
 haustible mines of instruction for rulers. The writings 
 of statesmen like Lord Bacon and Sir Edmund Burke 
 contain the most precious materials for nourishing the 
 mind of a prince. 
 
 Yet let us pause here, in order not to go too deeply 
 into a subject foreign to our own ; for we are not 
 dealing with statesmanship, but with ethics. We will 
 therefore endeavour to show how, from the centre of 
 Christian truth, rays of beneficent light fall upon 
 various points in the extensive circle comprising the 
 calling of a ruler. As in every other sphere of human 
 action, princes too are exposed to be tempted by 
 arrogance and weakness. We will speak first of these 
 two different sorts of temptations, and then touch upon 
 certain of the positive duties of princes, bearing in our 
 mind always the peculiar dangers and requirements of 
 the present day. 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. • 257 
 
 None of the evil passions of the human heart are so 
 deeply rooted, so obstinate, and so tenacious of life, 
 as self-exaltation and pride. The temptation to yield 
 to these is stronger in the case of a ruler than in 
 others. The pernicious results of this passion, too, 
 assume great dimensions in his case. A Christian 
 ruler will watch more carefully over himself, and 
 beware of arrogance, for the very reason that he is not 
 accountable to any earthly superior for his mode of 
 government ; he will keep his eye the more steadily 
 fixed upon his invisible Judge. Whilst maintaining 
 his dignity and authority as regards other men, he 
 will always preserve the humble position of a subject 
 towards God. The splendours which surround him, 
 the honours which are accorded him, must not render 
 his heart foolish ; for all these are not tendered to him 
 individually, or to his personal qualities, but to his 
 office. If he is addressed in terms of fulsome praise, 
 he will reply in the words of Charles v. : " Your lan- 
 guage and the praises you ascribe to us remind us 
 how we should conduct ourselves." 
 
 There can be no aspiration more dangerous than 
 that a prince should long for absolute power. Uncon- 
 trolled despotic power, if placed in the hands of any 
 individual, is the cause of ruin to himself and to others. 
 In a slaveholder, all noble feelings, if he ever possessed 
 such, are destroyed by his position. He looks down 
 upon his fellow men ; he cannot bear contradiction ; 
 he silences the language of truth ; he hates and sus- 
 pects all independence of character; he becomes en- 
 tangled in an insane conceit of his own gi^eatness; 
 and, once arrived at that stage, nothing can any longer 
 restrain him from criminal acts. Cambyses had an 
 excellent father ; but he inherited from him an evil 
 legacy, that of despotic power. Nero possessed bril- 
 liant talents, and for the first five years he governed 
 
258 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 well. Both, under the baneful influence of their posi- 
 tions, fell into that condition bordering on insanity, 
 when they would no longer submit to any restraint 
 imposed upon their criminal lusts. 
 
 The arrogant despot not only ruins himself, but also 
 all about him, — his subjects and his kingdom; he 
 finds most characters weak, but he completes their 
 ruin. Tiberius, when he entered upon his govern- 
 ment, found a Senate inclined to gratify his despotic 
 lusts : paratos ad servitium homines, were his words 
 as he left the council room. After a reign of twenty- 
 three years, he left the Senate a mass of irremediable 
 corruption. 
 
 A Christian prince will carefully instruct himself as 
 to the limits imposed upon his power by the legislature ; 
 he will take the coronation or constitutional oath in 
 deep and holy seriousness. A very ancient intellectual 
 error, and a wicked self-deception of the human heart., 
 combine to confound sovereignty with arbitrary power. 
 The arrogant ruler sucks in such nonsense like a sweet- 
 tasting poison, persuading himself that his despotic 
 lusts are consecrated and justified from above ; he 
 ensconces himself behind the mistaken idea, that 
 absolute regal power is an original gift from God, of 
 which he cannot divest himself This erroneous doc- 
 trine works disintegratingly upon the morality of the 
 ruler and the existence of his kingdom ; a notion 
 arises that the prince or leading statesman has a 
 special divine mission to establish absolute power, 
 that he is at the same time empowered to get rid of 
 every obstacle at any price. Such a statesman or 
 ruler becomes so dazzled with the idea, that, to attain 
 this end, he fancies himself no longer bound by the 
 moral law ; but it is blasphemy to invoke the name 
 of God as an authority for infringing the command- 
 ments of God. 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 259 
 
 From this point of view, the despot imagines himself 
 always at liberty to retract promises or to cancel privi- 
 leges which he has conceded to the people. Thus he 
 destroys confidence, and undermines the foundations 
 of his throne. Occasionall}' we see in a menagerie, at 
 feeding time, how the keeper will hold up before a 
 wild beast in a cage a piece of meat on an iron fork, 
 and take it away again, repeating this until the animal 
 is furious with rage. Unfortunately w^e have seen 
 governments which, having forsaken the paths of true 
 wisdom, have, in incomprehensible infatuation, acted 
 thus towards their people. 
 
 An inquiring young prince of our day asked a learned 
 man, whom he honoured with his confidence and 
 friendship, " Whether kings, who are placed in such 
 an unusual position, are equally with other people 
 bound to obey the moral law ? " He received the 
 expressive reply : " King Philip of Macedonia handed 
 over his son Alexander to Aristotle to be instructed 
 in mathematics, with a request that the philosopher 
 should not oblige the young prince to go through all 
 the usual drudgery and labour in learning the science. 
 Aristotle replied : ' king, there is no royal road to 
 learning mathematics.*" As in mathematics, so too 
 in morals. 
 
 That which the soft voice of the deceptive heart 
 whispers to princes, " That God will not be so particular 
 with them, and that from them the usual virtues of 
 private life cannot be demanded," was distinctly enun- 
 ciated by the courtiers of Louis xiv. in their wicked 
 saying : " Le sang des rois ne souille pas." The 
 difference is merely one of degree. If a royal youth is 
 once allowed to depart from the path of virtue, no one 
 can say for certain where the degeneracy will end. 
 
 Princes, not a whit less than other men, are answer- 
 able for the purity of their private lives, and perhaps 
 
260 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 are rather more so, on two accounts. First of all, the 
 actions and habits of a prince do not remain hidden, 
 however much he may desire it or imagine that it is 
 so. Every private individual is more capable of con- 
 cealing his sins than a prince. But, in addition, we 
 must remember the extensive influence which the 
 example of a prince exercises. So to say, the entire 
 authority with which he is clothed enters the service 
 of evil, — it becomes a certificate of character for sin. 
 All who have similar wicked inclinations feel justified 
 and permitted to do likewise. 
 
 "Quite right," some will say; "the same laws of 
 morality, justice, and honour are applicable to the 
 private lives of princes as of other people. But here a 
 line must be drawn. There is a totally different sphere, 
 which may not be confused with the former — that of 
 higher political economy, regarding which the limited 
 intelligence of the subject may not form an opinion. 
 In matters of royal and State action, a timid regard 
 for the moral law must not be insisted upon." 
 
 This pretension is by no means new ; it is as old as 
 the falling away from Christian principles. This, as is 
 well known, was first put into shape at the time of the 
 so-called renaissance in Italy. Modern Epicurism was 
 then developed ; then it was that godless despots and 
 politicians simultaneously rejected and abjured all 
 moral principles. As usual, it was first put in prac- 
 tice, and then theoretically justified. This theory was 
 asserted by Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine Secre- 
 tary of State, in his Principe^ written at the time of 
 Leo X. and dedicated to the Medician Lorenzo. He 
 was the first who dared to assert that a prince might 
 avail himself of morally reprehensible means for the 
 compassing of his ends ; that he was not bound to be 
 guided by the moral law, but by State reasons. In 
 other countries of Christendom, better principles still 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 261 
 
 prevailed. The Spanish general of the Jesuits, Pedro 
 de Ribadaneira, in the year 1595, dedicated to King 
 Philip II. a refutation of Machiavelli and all similarly- 
 minded politicians ; but in the evil times of Louis 
 XIV. those wicked principles spread from the court at 
 Versailles almost all over Europe, and brought about 
 the ruin of political virtue. Better ideas have since 
 gained ground, and some brilliant examples exist ; but 
 the times in which we live are much afflicted with the 
 same disease. The wicked tradition takes root, the 
 course of the world exercises its power, and high-prin- 
 cipled characters become fewer and fewer. Men say 
 that there is no such thing as political morality, and 
 we must give up such ideas. If a question arises re- 
 garding the greatness of our country, even those means 
 are permissible which in private life would be repro- 
 bated. The strongest expression which we remember of 
 this false doctrine is to be found in an Italian news- 
 paper, which said, " Italy would enter into a compact 
 with the devil himself to attain her unity." 
 
 The whole of this distinction, together with the pro- 
 position that the higher branches of political economy 
 are exempted from the application of the moral law, is 
 a denial of and a challenge to the Almighty. In the 
 chamber of the heart, in the family circle, and in pri- 
 vate intercourse, Christian religion is still allowed a 
 place ; but in State affairs it must be got rid of. That 
 is to say, they wish to debase the living God to a minor 
 house deity ; in the large State edifice there shall be 
 no more room found for Him, and in the most impor- 
 tant concerns of human life He shall no longer have a 
 voice. He shall no longer have a right to interfere 
 when nations, statesmen, and princes depart from the 
 paths of virtue, truth, and justice ! 
 
 It is the apostasy of our days which speaks in such 
 language. We might expect that at least one party 
 
262 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 would strenuously oppose this. "The priest's lips 
 should keep knoWledge, and they should seek the law 
 at his mouth ; for he is the messenger of the Lord of 
 hosts." Such is the manner in which Holy Scripture 
 speaks of the duties of ecclesiastics and theologians. 
 They should, by their fearless testimony, support 
 morality to the last. 
 
 When, in the French court, morals were destroyed, 
 and the pernicious example spread to the courts of 
 other countries, the Jesuits sinned in that they 
 weakened and subtilized the strictness of the moral 
 law, in order to bring it into accord with the then state 
 of social ideas, and to preserve their own position and 
 influence as confidants and confessors in noble houses. 
 Do the theologians of our day stand up manfully 
 for the divine commands ? When flatterers, those 
 dangerous enemies of Christian ro^^alty, absolve rulers 
 from their obedience to the divine laws, do the theo- 
 logians oppose this, as their profession and dignity 
 require them to do ? 
 
 We will not take upon ourselves to reproach the 
 whole class, but one single shocking example must not 
 be passed over here in silence. An evangelical theo- 
 logian. Professor von der Goltz, professor and doctor of 
 theology in Basle, in an academical speech (printed in 
 Gotha 1872, pp. 12, 13) says that he maintains the 
 aphorism, " that in politics much is good which in 
 private life is bad, and that means which would other- 
 wise be objectionable are sanctified by the end." " I 
 hold it to be superfluous," he continues, "to enter upon 
 a refutation of those applications which the Jesuits 
 have made of the principle, The end sanctifies the 
 means. But the principle is in itself not so false as is 
 generally supposed; it is only the Jesuitical applica- 
 tion of it to hypocritical ends, and to absolutely repre- 
 hensible means." " In the service of the State, the 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULER?. 263 
 
 standard by which actions must be judged, as to their 
 goodness or otherwise, is different from that in use in 
 private life; and the moral task of regulating the 
 life of a community sanctifies many means, the em- 
 ployment of which in personal interests would be 
 reprehensible." 
 
 Thus speaks a false theology. Is no Pascal to be 
 found to hurl his winged lightnings against it, and 
 wither up our modern sophists? Is there no philo- 
 sopher now alive, like Kant, who can throw a ray 
 of light into this dark chaos of mistaken ideas and 
 unconsidered language ? 
 
 A Christian prince will keep this misleading doctrine 
 far from him, even though it be garbed in ecclesiastic 
 attire. In the flattering and toadying ideas which it 
 contains, he will see nothing but a series of insults to 
 his royal as well as his Christian dignity. He will 
 consider it absolutely necessary to the preservation of 
 his royal honour, that he turn his back upon such 
 preachers. The temptations which the spirit of this 
 world brings in its train, and those which arise from 
 the heart of man himself, are trying enough for every 
 mortal ; but especially for those set in high places, there 
 is no need that they be made more deadly still by a 
 theology which conforms itself to the world. 
 
 The reflections which are most adapted to protect 
 a Christian prince from such errors are these. In 
 the execution of our duty, dangers, embarrassments, 
 and apprehensions do doubtless come before each of us. 
 In order to bring about the realization of an object 
 which is in itself allowable, the crooked way of base 
 and immoral modes of action occasionally appears to 
 be the safest. Still He who gave the moral law fore- 
 saw this ; none of these difficulties were hidden from 
 His omniscience ; He made us subject to the moral 
 law ; and in that He permits us to be surrounded with 
 
264 CHKISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 obstacles, He makes trial of our obedience, promising 
 such as stand firm under the temptation, and hearken 
 more to His divine voice than to the suggestions of the 
 deceitful, wicked, and desperately foolish (although it is 
 supposed to be so wise) heart of man, a reward which 
 defies computation." In such feelings of duty and 
 confidence in God, the Christian ruler finds strength 
 to deny himself the assistance of any unsanctioned 
 means. 
 
 Moreover, he will remember that Christ has said : 
 " Whoso shall break one of the least of these command- 
 ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the 
 least in the kingdom of heaven." This is the standard 
 by which he will judge such teachers. 
 V In accordance with this harmonizes that well-con- 
 sidered lesson which has been imparted to us by those 
 great representatives of philosophic morality, Kant and 
 Fichte, who say : "All moral laws are imperative ; he 
 who disturbs one of them damages the whole code ; they 
 must be obeyed without regard to the pleasantness or 
 unpleasantness of the result." 
 
 Napoleon once, when upon the island of St. Helena, 
 raised the question as to whether a ruler should be 
 guided in his action by his conscience or by the ap- 
 plause of the world. The conclusion he came to was 
 characteristic of his sinister mind: it was by the applause 
 of men. He considered that a ruler w^ho followed the 
 dictates of his conscience might be a good and noble 
 regent, but not a great man. Not a great man ! Cer- 
 tainly not one of those whose path streams with blood 
 and tears; not one of those who are looked upon as 
 scourges of mankind. 
 
 When a powerful ruler is wanting in knowledge of 
 himself, when he omits to watch over his own actions, 
 when he departs from the consciousness of his responsi- 
 bility to God, those passions will obtain the mastery 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 265 
 
 over him that bring the greatest misfortunes upon 
 nations, in that they cause wars which could be 
 avoided without any dereliction of duty. Ambition, 
 once inflamed, becomes a powerful demon, which 
 darkens our moral judgment and deadens all feelings of 
 humanity ; it hurries the ruler along on a mad course, 
 as though the patient, obedient, industrious people 
 were only created for the purpose of shedding their 
 blood to increase the glory of his crown. The ruler 
 who, without being obliged by his duty, brings war 
 upon his people, is responsible in the eyes of the 
 eternal Judge for all the blood that is shed, all the 
 scenes of misery and all the acts of cruelty which even 
 the best of officers cannot completely prevent during 
 a war. When the Emperor Ferdinand ii. lay on his 
 deathbed, his prayer wrung from the terrors of his 
 soul was, " Cleanse me from the sins of others, God." 
 It is not improbable that those fearful deeds which 
 the imperial armies had committed in the years 1618- 
 35 passed then before his mind. 
 
 So much for the temptations of arrogance; but 
 .there are also temptations of weakness. 
 
 It is weakness which leads a ruler to suppose he is 
 bound to ratify everything that the majority of his 
 Parliament determine. In almost all our constitu- 
 tional States, without exception, the royal prerogative 
 still exists; the Crown still has the right of veto, and 
 not merely a suspension veto, but a peremptory one. 
 The sovereign is legally justified in refusing his sanc- 
 tion to any proposed measure, which is opposed to his 
 conscience. It is, of course, more pleasant to swim 
 with the stream, to give way to the spirit of the age, 
 to agree through thick and thin with the mass of the 
 people and their demands ; but it is a denial of, and 
 repulsive to, the royal dignity and duty. 
 
 It is a sign of weakness in a ruler when he supposes 
 
266 CHRISTIAX COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 that he is bound to subscribe to all that his ministers 
 propose to him, without regard to his own judgment. 
 Certainly they are responsible, and the arrangement is 
 not a bad one which renders some minister of State 
 responsible to Parliament, and, on appeal, to the Court 
 of Chancery also, for every decision of the king. By 
 such means the conscience of the royal advisers is kept 
 alive ; their business is to assist in bearing the burdens 
 of State, but not to relieve the ruler entirely of 
 them, to render him a mere puppet, a writing machine, 
 a nonentity. By no means ; he still has the power of 
 personally deciding, and with it the responsibility of 
 exercising that power. Adequately to fill the position 
 and calling of ruler, not only is the spirit of wisdom 
 necessary, but also that of fortitude. Where it is 
 wanting, even good qualities may be injurious to a 
 ruler. He must guard against weak councils ; he must 
 take up his position in confidence in God, and be ready 
 to assume the responsibility for his decisions. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth of England, at the end of her long 
 reign, was able to say that she had never formed an 
 opinion as to the guilt of an accused person upon the 
 first reports which reached her. This is a sign of a strong 
 mind and a character accustomed to self-government. 
 It is weak to allow oneself to be guided by a first 
 impression, to be filled with aversion and prejudice, 
 instead of hearing both sides of the question and calmly 
 considering all the circumstances of the case. Sus- 
 picion, fear, antipathies, and narrow-minded obstinacy 
 are the concomitants of weakness of character. 
 
 Such errors assume their worst form when rulers do 
 not listen to the advice of their legitimate and respon- 
 sible advisers and counsellors, but allow themselves 
 to be influenced by the suggestions and back-stairs 
 influence of favourites. It is only a weak-minded 
 prince who lends his ear to backbiters; a man of 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 2G7 
 
 character and of a good conscience holds them at a 
 distance. 
 
 The burden of the crown is great, the cares multitur 
 dinous, the peace but rare ; the position of the ruler is 
 lonely, his experiences bitter. A ruler cannot but fear 
 lest those about him should be self-interested, and on 
 that account disguise the real thoughts of their hearts. 
 Selfishness, hypocrisy, and subserviency meet him at 
 almost every turn. Where can he find the consolation 
 of friendship ? where disinterested good-will or confi- 
 dential candour? The deprivation of these must be 
 some of the heaviest trials a ruler who has a heart is 
 obliged to submit to. One substitute he can obtain, 
 and that is when he can take a noble helpmeet to 
 share his life. In her society he can refresh his jaded 
 mind ; here he has no coldness,' no disguise, to be afraid 
 of A ruler, more than any other man, requires to be 
 happily married in order to enjoy his human existence. 
 If he is so fortunate, let him know how to appreciate 
 his happiness. 
 
 But he must also endeavour to understand, the true 
 position of his consort. She has been given to him 
 as helpmeet, in order to help him to bear the burden 
 of life, but not of office. She may be endowed wdth 
 the rarest qualities of mind, and yet she has no busi- 
 ness to mix herself up with the government, or to rule 
 the king. Even a surgeon, an ecclesiastic, or a judge, 
 if he is a wise man, will not drag his wife into the 
 weighty cares of his calling. These he is not called 
 upon to share with his wife, and she must not assume 
 to herself any influence in that sphere. Similarly with 
 the profession of king. The influence of a queen upon 
 affairs of State belonging to her consort may be 
 more noble than any other unjustifiable influence, 
 but it is not on that account justifiable; it does not 
 excite confidence, it is not wholesome, it is not a sign 
 
268 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 of strength of mind a,nd insight on the part of the 
 ruler. 
 
 Yet a word or two on the chief positive duties of 
 royalty. The administration of law and of justice is 
 the chief debt a ruler owes to his people. He can 
 only fulfil this duty by the employment of good 
 instruments ; hence he will exercise the greatest 
 prudence in the selection of men to fill high positions, 
 especially of his judges, and he will courageously 
 proceed against such as are unfaithful and unjust. 
 The independence of the judicial bench will be sacred 
 to him ; it is true that they dispense justice in his 
 name, but not under his influence. 
 
 King John of France said: " If allegiance and good 
 faith were lost upon earth, they ought still to be 
 found in the hearts and in the mouths of kings." To 
 keep faith is the best, the wisest policy, and the one 
 enjoined both by reason and Christianity. 
 
 Prudence in deliberation, maturity of resolution, 
 and, when once a decision is arrived at, firmness 
 in determination ; to be slow to excite hopes, but, 
 when once a thing is promised, to accord it uncom- 
 promisingly, — these are characteristics which make a 
 government strong, and ensure the joyful obedience 
 of the people. What can be more incentive to danger- 
 ous attacks upon the throne and the government than 
 promises made in fear and haste, out of weakness or 
 false cunning, afterwards repented of, and, with a 
 change of circumstances, withdrawn ? 
 
 Admitted that a ruler, badly advised, had conceded 
 more than was necessary, more than prudence per- 
 mitted, of the prerogatives of the crown, he will 
 certainly avoid the dangerous resolution of retracting 
 such a concession. He will see that the confidence 
 which is produced in a nation by the inviolability of 
 his promised word is worth more, and is a more 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULERS. 269 
 
 valuable pledge for the stability of his throne, than 
 any extension of royal privileges which may have 
 been too much circumscribed. 
 
 In a healthy form of government, the course of the 
 legislature, when it is a matter of promulgating new 
 laws, should be circumspect, dignified, and majestic. 
 The hurried mode of legislation which at present 
 takes place in some of the Continental States, makes 
 the contrary impression. A cautious monarch will 
 counteract this as much as possible ; for it conduces, 
 more than men imagine, to a weakening of authority 
 and mutual confidence. 
 
 The kings of England promise in their coronation 
 oath to preserve the Christian Church in peace. Even 
 without that oath, the duty is incumbent on every 
 Christian ruler. Peace for the Christian Church from 
 the violence and insults of her enemies ; peace between 
 her and the Powers of the world by reciprocation and 
 explanation ; peace within the Church by obliging 
 the different parties to respect each other, and by the 
 powers of the State being careful in theological 
 quarrels not to take the part of either side, thereby 
 only embittering the strife, — these are objects and aims 
 worthy of a Christian ruler. 
 
 Jung Stilling in the commencement of this centurj^ 
 said: "Those rulers who can look on in silence whilst 
 their subjects deprive Christ of His divine sonship 
 and royal majesty, will some day have to learn by 
 experience how that Christ will look on in silence 
 whilst they are being robbed by their people of their 
 own sacred dignity." When we quote this remarkable 
 saying, we by no means wish to advocate any compul- 
 sion of conscience, by which only hypocrites can be 
 created and nothing durable or wholesome can be 
 built up. From any such misapprehension, all that 
 we have before said about freedom of conscience fully 
 
270 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 exonerates us ; but the conservation of the sacred 
 things belonging to a Christian people is a very 
 different matter to compulsion of conscience or obliga- 
 tion to perform religious ceremonies. We still have 
 laws which forbid blasphemy or rude attacks upon the 
 foundations of morality, such as matrimony, modesty, 
 and property, against actual scoffing at morality and 
 decency. Unhappily, the courage and resolution re- 
 quisite to put them in force are wanting. In this 
 respect Germany is at present worse off than France ; 
 still we may assume that those whose duty it is to 
 interfere, only require to be set in motion by their 
 superiors to make them carry out their duties at 
 once. 
 
 Where the laws do not suffice, the example furnished 
 by those in high places is capable of producing extra- 
 ordinary results. The ruler is, as a result of his 
 position, not only the source of all authority, but also 
 of all honour; he is bound to appear in all his 
 conduct as the " first gentleman," a nobleman sans 
 peur et sans reproche. The tone of society is taken 
 from him ; his ideas and his actions establish the 
 rules of taste in the upper circles, and much farther 
 downwards in the social scale. Queen Victoria has 
 succeeded, by the firmness and integrity of her will, 
 in achieving a remarkable feat. She has abolished 
 duelling amongst the officers of her army and navy; 
 she will not permit the officers of her own forces to 
 engage in deadly combat with each other. What 
 in Germany is looked upon as impossible, has been 
 carried out in consequence of the feeling which 
 emanated from the English court. 
 
 If a ruler and his family furnish a brilliant example 
 of pure morality and conjugal fidelity, if he personally 
 looks upon vice as dishonourable and despicable, if 
 he banishes it from all court ceremonials, and lays the 
 
THE DUTIES OF RULEIJS. 27l 
 
 weight of his displeasure upon it, it may be expected 
 that far and wide in his kingdom a proper moral 
 feeling- will increase, that virtue will acquire respect 
 and value, and that vice will be obliged to hide itself 
 from the light of day, creeping back to those noisome 
 caverns whence it came. 
 
 A ruler may not lay aside his dignity ; his appear- 
 ance in public should correspond thereto, and should 
 command reverence and respect. But it is only a 
 weak or misanthropical mind that would consider 
 the retirement and unapproachableness of an Oriental 
 despot as necessary to the maintenance of majesty. 
 In the light of truth, the ruler knows himself to 
 be not only ruler, but also father of his people ; hence 
 he will provide that, at suitable times, even the lowest 
 of his subjects can obtain access to him. If he has 
 true nobility of mind, he will run no danger thereby 
 of provoking contempt or impertinent boldness. A 
 Christian ruler does not despise the poor and un- 
 educated; he is only mindful of the fact that he 
 belongs to all his subjects, and that a sacred bond 
 connects him with the poorest and most insignificant 
 member of his people. He has a right to require love 
 and confidence from them. Let him try to awaken 
 these feelings in them, by allowing them from time to 
 time access to his person. 
 
 The interests of the well-to-do classes are more than 
 sufficiently represented in our great bodies of State, 
 the First and Second Chambers. The proprietor class 
 can help themselves ; but the day - labourer and 
 artisan are differently placed : they must depend upon 
 the sympathy of the Crown. It may be hoped of a 
 Christian ruler, that, as the protector of those who 
 cannot protect themselves, he will initiate large 
 measures, which, without interfering with property, 
 shall prevent usury, diminish the sufferings of the 
 
272 CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 working classes and their families, and advance the 
 material as well as the moral welfare of the needy. 
 King Alfred the Great on his deathbed said to his 
 son : " Endeavour to be a lord and father of your 
 people. Be the father of the orphan and friend of the 
 widow. Assist the poor, protect the weak, and with 
 your whole might convert what is wrong into what is 
 right. And, my son, govern thyself according to the 
 law. Then the Lord will love 3^ou, and your reward 
 shall be with God." 
 
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 SERMONS 
 
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 MOSES: 
 
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