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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Protestant Confessions of Faith

Faith, .—That the Catholic Church, which claims the prerogative of teaching revealed truth with infallible certitude, should have drawn up articles of faith and demanded for them the internal assent and outward confession of her children, was logical and consistent; but it is difficult to understand with what logic or consistency Protestantism, which proclaimed the Bible, as interpreted by the private judgment of the individual, to be the sole and sufficient rule of faith, could follow her example. It is said that Protestants look upon their doctrinal standards as authoritative only in so far as they agree with the "word of God"; but each sect so imbues its members from early childhood with its peculiar tenets, that long before they are able to read the Bible intelligently, their religious views are fixed. Stray individuals may change their religion and may be able to gather a sufficient number of followers to form a separate communion; but the bulk of the population remain true to the faith of their parents, or of their native land. In the palmy days of Protestantism, it was not the reading of the Bible that held the denominations together, but their respective Confessions of Faith, inculcated by the preachers and enforced under severe penalties by the civil power. As a practical result, the "word of God" was interpreted in accordance with formulae devised by men; the Anglican read into his Bible the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Lutheran the Augsburg Confession, the "Reformed Churches" the Heidelberg Catechism. Each new sect being obliged to prove its raison d'ètre by showing just how far it differed from others, a very large number of Confessions appeared, varying in size from a few articles to long theological treatises. As a rule, the later Confessions are merely modified copies of the older ones, altered to suit local circumstances or personal views.

TYPES.—Since the Protestant revolt originated almost independently, and simultaneously, in Germany and in Switzerland, there has been, from the beginning, a sharp distinction between the Lutheran and the "Reformed" tenets of Zwingli, afterwards merged into Calvinism. The cleavage between Lutheranism and Calvinism goes deeper than the divergence of views concerning the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Luther drifted into heresy gradually. In spite of his hatred of the pope, he preserved a lingering reverence for the Church in which he had been a monk and a priest for so many years. He retained as much of the ancient beliefs and liturgy as could be made to fit into his peculiar views on sin and justification. So adroitly and tentatively were the changes made in Catholic phraseology and worship, that but few of the Lutheran common people felt they had drifted away from the Church of their fathers. Luther himself, in a famous passage, boasted that the eye of the ordinary layman could detect little or no difference between the Lutheran service and the Catholic Mass. As to the theological opinions, the layman was equally deceived; for it was not new for him to be taught that we are saved by the free grace of God through the merits of Christ's Blood. That the temporal ruler was zealous in the extirpation of "abuses" rather edified than shocked the common man, for a certain jus reformandi had always been claimed, and had frequently been exercised, by Catholic German princes. Quite different was the case with Zwinglianism and Calvinism. Laying no claim to identity or continuity with the ancient Church, the "Reformed Churches" began, generally amidst iconoclastic riots, by rooting out the entire fabric of Catholicism. After the futile attempt of Philip of Hesse, at the Marburg Conference (I-October 4, 1529), to reconcile the German and Swiss Reformers, these went their several ways, hating and reviling each other little less than they hated and reviled the Church of Rome. It is scarcely needless to add that since the collapse of dogmatic Protestantism, its conflicting creeds possess little more than an historical interest. Even where subscription to a Confession is still exacted as a condition for holding office, the ceremony is regarded as a mere formality.

THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS.—(I) The oldest and most authoritative of the Lutheran creeds was the Augsburg Confession. It was drafted chiefly by Melanchthon, on the basis of Luther's Marburg, Schwabach, and Torgau articles, and bore the signature of seven German princes, Elector John of Saxony, his son John Frederick, Ernest and Francis, Dukes of Luneburg, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, Wolfang, Prince of Anhalt, and of the representatives of the two imperial cities, Nuremberg and Reutlingen. On June 25, 1530, copies of it, in Latin and German, were presented to Charles V, at the diet of Augsburg, and the German version was read aloud before the secular and ecclesiastical Estates of the Empire. Charles retained the Latin copy which he brought with him to Spain, giving the other into the custody of the Archbishop of Mainz. Both seem now to be irretrievably lost. The document ought to have retained its original title of Apologia, for it is an artful attempt to persuade the Emperor and the Estates that in the Lutheran doctrine, "there is nothing discrepant with the Scriptures, or with the Catholic Church, or with the Roman Church, so far as that Church is known from its writers".

The Lutherans teach (Art. I) the Nicene belief in God and the Trinity; (Art. II) Original Sin; (Art. III) the Incarnation; Death and Resurrection of the Son of God; (Art. IV) Justification by Faith. By leaving out the obnoxious word sola (alone), the article might be glossed in a Catholic sense. They believe furthermore (Art. V) in a Divinely appointed ecclesiastical ministry, no mention being made of Luther's universal priesthood of believers. They teach (Art. VI) that "faith should bring forth good works, and that men ought to do the good works commanded by God, because it is God's will, and not on any confidence of meriting justification before God by their works", as if any one had taught differently. In Articles VII and VIII, "On the Church", instead of asserting the heresy of an invisible Church, they define it to be "the congregation of saints [the German version has it the assembly of all the faithful], in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments rightly administered". They condemn the Donatists and others who held that the ministry of evil men is useless and inefficacious. In Article IX, "On Baptism", they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that infants are to be baptized. The famous Article X reads as follows: "Of the Lord's Supper they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present and are distributed to those who eat of the Lord's Supper, and they reject the contrary teaching." Here Luther's theory of companation is sedulously slurred over. Art. XI teaches that private absolution must be retained, though in confession it is not necessary to enumerate all sins committed.

Art. XII, "On Penance", teaches that those who fall, after Baptism, may obtain the remission of sins, whenever they repent, and that it is the duty of the Church to absolve the repentant. Penance, they teach, consists of two parts, confession and faith. In the hazy Article XIII, "On the use of the Sacraments", they "condemn those who teach that the Sacraments justify ex opere operato, without teaching that faith in the remission of sins is requisite in the use of the Sacraments", which statement shows how scant was Melanchthons acquaintance with Catholic doctrine. Art. XVI, "On Ecclesiastical Orders", limits itself to the harmless assertion that "no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, unless he be rightly called." Art. XV, "On Ecclesiastical Rites", retains such rites "as may be observed without sin" instancing "fixed holy days, feasts and such like" but "consciences are not to be burdened by such things, as if necessary to salvation." Art. XVI inculcates the duty of obedience to civil rulers. Art. XVII deals with the Last Judgment. Art. XVIII, "On Free Will", is a bold departure, on the part of Melanchthon, from Luther's fundamental heresy of the enslaved will of fallen man. "They teach that man's will hath some liberty to work a civil righteousness, and to choose such things as reason can reach unto; but that it hath no power to work the righteousness of God or a spiritual righteousness, without the Spirit of God." This sounds Catholic enough. Art. XX repels the accusation that the Lutherans "forbid good works", and falsely accuses the Catholics of relying on good works for justification. Art. XXI teaches that we should honor the memory of the Saints, but not invoke their aid.

They conclude the doctrinal part of the Confession with the words: "This is about the sum of our doctrine," with the protest of agreement with the Roman Church given above. "We have no dogmas", Melanchthon wrote to the papal legate, July 6, "which differ from the Roman Church. Moreover, we are ready to submit to the Roman Church, if Rome, with the leniency she has at all times shown to all nations, will consent to overlook and keep silence on some slight matters which we cannot alter, even if we wished to do so. We reverence the authority of the Pope of Rome", etc. Meanwhile Luther was denouncing "the Pope and his crew" as "veritable devils", and Melanchthon styled the pope "an Anti-Christ, under whose rule they would be like the Jews under Pharaoh in Egypt" (Janssen, History of the German People, tr. St. Louis, 1903, V, 254). The "slight matters", which Rome was asked to connive at, are enumerated in seven articles in Part II of the Confession, with such prolixity that we can scarcely blame the emperor if during the reading on a hot day he fell into a slumber. They are grouped under the headings of (I) Communion under both kinds; (2) The Marriage of Priests; (3) The Mass; (4) Compulsory Confession; (5) Distinction of Meats, and Traditions; (6) Monastic Vows; and (7) The Authority of Bishops. To any one who had followed the course of the Lutheran revolution, it must have been amusing to read the following statement: "Our churches are wrongfully accused to have abolished the Mass. For the Mass is retained still among us, and celebrated with great reverence, yea, and almost all the ceremonies that are in use"—evidently the omission of the Canon was a slight matter—"saving that with the things sung in Latin we mingle certain things sung in German."

We have given this synopsis of a document often spoken of, but seldom read, to show the spirit in which it was drawn up. It has been aptly termed a political campaign document, calculated to impress the Estates that the Lutherans, themselves supremely intolerant towards Catholics, should be permitted to proceed in peace in the uprooting of the ancient Faith. The Confession was accompanied with a Preface, written by Chancellor Bruck of Saxony, in which the engagement was made that should the controersy not be settled at the Diet, the signers were "ready to compare views and defend their cause in a general, free, and Christian Council". What this engagement amounted to was made manifest later on when the council convened at Trent. The studied moderation, not to say disingenuousness, of the Augsburg Confession is said to have deceived some members of the Diet, as to the importance of the issue at stake between Catholics and Lutherans; but it could not deceive such veteran controversialists as Eck, Wimpina, Cochlus, and the other theologians to whom Charles referred the document for discussion.

In a remarkably calm and able "Answer", afterwards called "Confutation", they analyze the Confession, giving praise and censure where either is due.

Melanchthon retorted with an "Apologia" which Lutherans generally regard as their second symbolic book; Charles refused to accept it, because of the violent language used against the Catholic Church. Since Melanchthon looked on the "Confessio Augustana" as his private property, he continued ever after to comment on it, and revise the text to suit his wavering views. Most notorious, and the source of endless controversies amongst Lutherans, was the altered edition of 1540, issued at a time when Melanchthon was under the spell of Calvin. Art. X lost its Catholic tone and was made to read that "with the bread and wine the Body and Blood of Christ are truly exhibited to those who eat in the Lord's Supper", a statement to which a Calvinist might subscribe. We must not, however, throw too much blame on Melanchthon and other preachers; the political magnates have to be considered.

THE SMALCALD ARTICLES.—Any hopes of a reconciliation which were founded on the studied moderation of the Augsburg Confession were rudely dispelled seven years later when the Protestant Estates, assembled at Smalcald, spurned the pope's offer of that General Council for which, with more than dubious sincerity, they had clamored so long, and commissioned Luther to expound the articles in which they differed from the Roman Church. Following the general lines of the Augsburg Confession, Luther, by injecting his strongest anti-papal virus into the document, changed it from an olive-branch into an open declaration of war with the Catholic Church. The pope and the devil are identical; the Mass is the dragon's tail, producing all sorts of abominations and idolatries; purgatory is a Satanic delusion, etc., etc. When asked to affix his signature to this insane effusion, Melanchthon did so, with the proviso that "if the pope would admit the gospel, we might permit him, for the sake of peace and the common concord of Christendom, to exercise by human right, his present jurisdiction over the bishops, who are now or may hereafter be under his authority." The princes, resenting this covert attack upon their spiritual sovereignty, compelled the weak man to write a pamphlet denouncing the pope as anti-Christ.

The Formula of Concord.—Scarcely were Luther's remains placed in the tomb than, as he had foreseen, fierce contentions broke out among the preachers, which shook the Lutheran Churches to their foundations. The earliest of these theological battles raged about the person of Melanchthon, who in his later years departed more and more openly from the two most important tenets of his master; on the subject of free will in fallen man, he approached closely to the Catholic position; regarding the Eucharist he became ever more Calvinistic. He also incurred the reproaches of the orthodox by accepting, with modifications, the "Interim Religion" of Charles V. In course of time, new topics of controversy rose to divide the theologians, until, in 1570, Jacobus Andreae could write "that there were scarcely a couple of preachers among them who did not disagree about some article or other of the Augsburg Confession" (Janssen, op. cit., VIII, 403). Tired of their endless wranglings, which were as destructive of moral and social as of religious order, the Elector Augustus of Saxony proposed to cut the knot "by princely edict". He suggested to the Lutheran princes to convene an assembly to which each would bring his own code of doctrine. From all these different formulae they would then, with the help of a few amicable theologians, construct a general code which should be printed, and should be considered binding on the whole body of preachers. This convention was held at Torgau, in June, 1576. In addition to twelve Saxon divines, whom the Elector had cowed into submission, there were present, Andre, Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Musculus and Koerner.

A new "Formula of Concord", known as the "Torgau Book", was drawn up entirely in the spirit of Luther, eliminating Calvinism and Philipism. This book not being favorably received by several princes, Augustus summoned a fresh convention in the monastery of Bergen, near Magdeburg, where several alterations were proposed. As finally revised, the "Formula of Concord" was sent to the princes to be promulgated and enforced. Augustus of Saxony, John George of Brandenburg, and other princes, gathered their preachers together and compelled them publicly to subscribe their signatures, "not only with their hands, but with their hearts". Many of the princes repudiated the book; the King of Denmark threw his copy into the fire. The only Lutherans at the present day who attach any importance to it are in Missouri. The "Formula" is divided into two parts (I) the Epitome, and (2) the Solida Declaratio. The Epitome sums up Luther's "pure doctrine" in succinct form; the second part goes over the same ground more at large. Although the "Formula" begins with the stereotype Protestant declaration that the Bible is "the only rule and norm" of faith, yet, as Dr. Schaff remarks, it quotes Dr. Luther "as freely, and with at least as much deference to his authority, as Roman Catholics quote the Fathers".

CONFESSIONS OF THE "REFORMED" CHURCHES.—The so-called Reformed creeds, of which thirty or more are extant, are based on the radical tenets of Zwingli and Calvin. We can only notice the most important of them. The Confessio Tetrapolitana.—As the Strasburg preachers, Bucer and Capito, inclined to the Zwinglian view of the Eucharist, they were shunned by the Lutherans at the Diet of Augsburg (1530), and were not allowed to sign the Augustana. They therefore drew up a separate Confession, following the general lines of the Lutheran document, a copy of which had been given to them by Philip of Hesse. Bucer touches upon several topics that Melanchthon had cautiously avoided, among them "the invisible church", the rejection of tradition and of images. The Mass is denounced as "an intolerable abomination". Art. 18, "On the Eucharist", is given so enigmatically, that it is impossible to discover the real meaning. After great trouble the Strasburgers were able to secure the adhesion of three Southern German towns, Constance, Memmingen, and Lindau. From these four cities the Confession obtained the name of Tetrapolitan. It was delivered to the Emperor, July 9. Charles refused to permit it to be read at the Diet, and commissioned the Catholic theologians to confute it. It was printed in the autumn of 1531 at Strasburg, together with a "Vindication". It did not long remain in authority, for the towns subscribed to the Augsburg Confession in order to join the Smalcald League. Zwingli himself sent to the Diet, July 1530, a Confession of Faith in which he openly denied the Real Presence, and denounced purgatory as "an injurious fiction which sets Christ's merits at naught." He also, shortly before his death, sent a Confession to Francis I.

The First Confession of Basle, also called of Müllhausen because adopted by that city, was drafted in 1531 by Oecolampadius and after his death elaborated by his successor, Oswald Myconius. It was promulgated by the city authorities of Basle, January 21, 1534. It is a brief document, moderate in tone and calculated to conciliate the Lutherans. The text, as we now possess it, was revised in a Calvinistic sense in 1561. Of more importance is the Second Confession of Basle, known also as the "Helvetica Prior". In the "Wittenberg Concord" Luther had forced his peculiar views, regarding the Eucharist, on Bucer and several other mediating preachers. The formula was reluctantly accepted by the Southern German towns, whose only protection was to be admitted into the Smalcald League; but it was rejected by the independent Swiss. At the same time, it was recognized that some means should be devised of healing the dissensions among the Protestants, now that the convening of a General Council was in prospect. It was resolved to draft a new Confession which should be presented to the council as the national creed of the Protestant Cantons. An assembly met at Basle, January 30, 1536, composed of the most prominent Swiss preachers and delegates from Zurich, Bern, Basle, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Mülhausen, and Biel. A committee consisting of Henry Bullinger, Oswald Myconius and Simon Grynus, was commissioned to draw up the document. It was written in Latin, and a free German translation made by Leo Judd was adopted by the meeting. Its tone is decidedly Zwinglian, but on the disputed points of the sacraments and the Lord's Supper there is an evident effort to approach as near as possible to the Lutheran phraseology.

A copy of the Confession was brought to Luther by Bucer; and it was a great surprise to the Swiss that the Wittenberg reformer declared himself satisfied with it. Luther's change of attitude was due partly to the political needs and wishes of the Smalcald princes, and partly to the altered phraseology of the Confession on the subject of the sacraments, due to the growing influence of Calvin. Whereas the Zwinglian flatly denied the corporal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Calvin preached His "spiritual presence," which really amounts to the same thing. The "Helvetica Prior" remained for some years the national creed of the Swiss Protestants; but it was superseded in 1566 by the "Helvetica Posterior". This latter document was originally the private confession of Henry Bullinger of Zurich; but it was formally accepted as a symbolic book by nearly all the Reformed Churches of Europe. It follows the main lines of the earlier confessions, but is much lengthier, and more in the nature of a theological treatise. It is the storehouse from which later framers of Reformed Confessions have copiously drawn. These documents of Calvin have been looked upon as of dogmatic authority, viz. "The Catechism of Geneva" (1541), the "Consensus of Zurich" (1549), which in twenty-six articles expounds Calvin's views on the sacraments, and the "Consensus of the pastors of the Church of Geneva" (1552), which proclaims the Calvinistic dogma of absolute predestination.

The Gallicana, for the use of the French Protestants, was the first of the purely Calvinistic Confessions. The original draft was made by Calvin himself. It was revised in various synods, from the first of Paris (1559), to the seventh National Synod at La Rochelle (1571), from which latter town it drew its popular name of "the Rochelle Confession". Its Calvinism is undiluted, and it offers all the peculiar doctrines of that innovator. The Roman Church comes in for a fair share of vituperation, for its "corruptions", "superstitions", and "idolatries" "Nevertheless", it says, "as some trace of the Church is left in the papacy... we confess that those baptized in it do not need a second baptism." This concession does not imply that "idolaters" are to be tolerated; for the Author of just government "has put the sword into the hands of magistrates, to suppress crimes against the first as well as against the second table of the Commandments of God." This Confession remained in authority among French Protestants, until the Voltairianism and Rationalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries deprived it of all value. In the thirtieth General Synod of the Reformed Church of France (June 6 to July 10, 1872), the only approach to a Confession of Faith that could be made was the adoption by the slender majority of sixteen votes of the following vague resolution:

"The Reformed Church of France, on resuming her synodical action, which for so many years had been interrupted, desires, before all things to offer her thanks to God, and to testify her love to Jesus Christ, her Divine Head, who has sustained and comforted her during her successive trials. She declares, through the organ of her representatives, that she remains faithful to her principles of faith and freedom on which she was founded. With her fathers and her martyrs in the Confession of Rochelle, and with all the Churches of the Reformation in their respective creeds, she proclaims the sovereign authority of the Holy Scriptures in matters of faith, and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, who died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification. She preserves and maintains, as the basis of her teaching, of her worship and her discipline, the grand Christian facts represented in her religious solemnities, and set forth in her liturgies, especially in the Confession of sins, the Apostles' Creed, and in the order for the administration of the Lord's Supper."

The Heidelberg Catechism, published in 1563 by order of the Elector Palatine, Frederick III, was generally accepted by Calvinists throughout the world as a faithful and authoritative exposition of the faith of the Reformed Churches. It was written by two professors at the Heidelberg university, Zachary Bär (commonly known as Ursinus) and Caspar Olewig (Olevianus). It was drawn up with the twofold purpose of furnishing a manual of Christian doctrine and serving as a public profession of faith. In 129 questions and answers, it treats of man's sin and misery (3-11), the redemption by Christ (12-85), and the gratitude of the redeemed (86-129). The second part is the largest, as it gives an explanation of the Apostles' Creed and the sacraments. The third part deals with the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. The general tone of the document is moderate, with the exception of the truculent 80th question, for which the professors are not responsible; for it did not appear in the first edition, and was later inserted by the fanatical Elector. Since it has been in no small measure the source of Protestant anti-Catholic intolerance, it is worth while to lay it before the reader:

"What difference is there between the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass? The Lord's Supper testifies to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross; and that by the Holy Ghost we are engrafted into Christ, who with his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is to be there worshipped. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead have not forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is still daily offered for them by the priests; and that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and is therefore to be worshipped in them. And thus the Mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry."

Dr. Schaff doubts the "wisdom of inserting controversial matter into a catechism"; but strangely enough pronounces, that "it must be allowed to remain as a solemn protest against idolatry" (Creeds of Christendom, I, 536). If the central dogma of the Catholic worship is really idolatrous, what is the harm in proclaiming it as such in a Confession of Faith? The Heidelberg Catechism was translated info all the languages of Europe, and into several extra-European tongues. It obtained great authority in Scotland and England; but during the following century it was supplanted by the Westminster Confession. It was introduced into America by the Dutch and German Reformed churches, and is said to be now more highly prized by the American Reformed Churches than by the Germans in the Fatherland.

The Confessio Belgica is venerated as of symbolic authority, together with the Heidelberg Catechism, by the Reformed Churches in Belgium, Holland and their offshoots throughout the world. This document, consisting of thirty-seven articles, was written in French about 1561, by Guy de Bray, assisted by other preachers. The intentions of the authors, we are told by one of themselves, was not to issue a new creed, but to prove the truth of their belief from the canonical writings. They follow closely the Confessio Gallicana, seeking to support their theses by texts of Scripture. Translations were made into Dutch and Latin, and the document was submitted to Calvin and many other Reformed divines. In 1562 a copy was transmitted to Philip II with a letter protesting the innocence of the innovators from crime and rebellion. In the opinion of Calvinists, the wrecking of churches and maltreatment of priests and nuns were not crimes but imperative duties. Art. 36 admonishes magistrates of their obligation "to remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship; that the kingdom of anti-Christ (i.e. popery) may be destroyed." The Confessio Belgica was revised and adopted by the successive synods in the Netherlands, until finally the Synod of Dort, in its 149th session (April 29, 1619), subscribed to it as the public creed of the Reformed Churches. The Synod of Dort, the most representative gathering of the Calvinists, was convened by the authority and at the expense of the States-General. It opened its sessions at Dort, or Dordrecht, November 13, 1618, and concluded its labors after 144 sessions, May 9, 1619. In addition to the Dutch and Belgians, there were delegates from Great Britain, the Palatinate, Hesse, and Switzerland. The delegates chosen by the French Huguenots were forbidden by the crown to leave France. The occasion of this international gathering was the defection from pure Calvinism of the Remonstrants (see Arminianism). Since the members of the synod were orthodox on the subject of predestination absolute, the condemnation of the Remonstrants was a foregone conclusion. The canons were framed in the most unbending form, and 200 ministers who refused to subscribe were deposed. Although the foreign delegates attached their names to the canons of Dort, yet, outside of the Netherlands, these were never regarded as authoritative. In England, especially, there was fierce opposition, and from rival pulpits the pros and cons of God's (or Calvin's) eternal decree were thundered into the ears of the bewildered people.

The numerous Minor Reformed Confessions, such as the Marchica (Brandenburg), the Hungarian, the Bohemian, and the Polish, being of a local and for the most part of an ephemeral nature, need not detain us. For an account of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church the reader is referred to the article Anglicanism. When the American colonies achieved their independence, the Anglicans in America, until then subject to the Bishop of London, formed themselves into "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America" and, after lengthy debates, in a General Convention held at Trenton, New Jersey, 8-September 12, 1801, adopted the Thirty-Nine Articles, omitting in Art. 8 the Athanasian Creed and making such other alterations as were demanded by the changed political conditions. They retained the offensive coda to Art. 31, in which "the sacrifices of Masses" (i.e. the public worship of the vast majority of Christens) are denounced as "blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits"; but in later editions the milder statement is substituted, that Transubstantiation "hath given occasion to many superstitions". Episcopalians, also, have not yet eliminated from their articles the calumny (Art. 22), that the "Romish" doctrine sanctions the "Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics".

The Scottish Confession—By the year 1560, Protestantism in Scotland, through the aid of English gold and troops, had gained complete ascendency. Losing no time, the Protestant "Lords of the Congregation", convened a revolutionary Parliament of the estates of the realm, at Edinburgh, August 1, whose first act was to repudiate the Catholic religion, and commission John Knox and other preachers to compile a new creed. Familiar with the Swiss Confessions, Knox performed his task in four days. The document, amended by the leaders, was submitted to Parliament and with very little discussion and a mere handful of dissentient votes, ratified by the estates, August 17 Though repudiated by Queen Mary, who was at the time in France, it was imposed upon the people as the religion of Scotland and the exercise of the ancient worship was forbidden under penalty of confiscation, exile, and death.

The "Confessio Scotica", or "Confession of the Faith and Doctrine belevet and professit be the Protestantis of Scotland", begins with a brief preface, in which the writers "take God to recorde in our consciences, that fra our heartis we abhorre all sectis of heresie and all teachers of erroneous doctrine." They do not claim to be infallible. "Gif onie man shall note in this our Confessioun onie Artickle or sentence repugnand to God's halie word" they "do promise unto him satisfactioun fra the mouth of God, that is, fra his holy scriptures, or else reformation of that quhilk he sal prove to be amisse." This hypothetical admission of fallibility, so remarkable in a Calvinistic document, was practically harmless; for no one ever convinced John Knox that he was in error.

The Confession presents, in twenty-five articles, a summary of the Christian Faith as held by the Scottish Protestants. The articles follow broadly the lines of the Apostles' Creed. They are written in a vigorous, original, and, for a document proceeding from the pen of Knox, in an extremely moderate style. The moderation was obviously due to the necessity of securing, if possible, for the sake of legality, the signature of the Catholic sovereign. Although the ground tone of the Confession is Calvinistic, yet the Calvinistic tenets are not set forward with prominence. It is only when treating of the "Kirk" and the Sacraments that the "Papistical Kirk" and the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Mass are denounced and misrepresented: "The notes, signes, and assured tokens whereby the immaculate Spouse of Christ Jesus is knawen fra the horrible harlot, the Kirk malignant, we affirme, are nouther Antiquitie, Title usurpit, lineal Descence, Place appointed, nor multitude of men approving ane error." In addition to the usual Protestant notes of the true Church, viz. "the trew preaching of the Word of God" and "the right administration of the Sacraments", the Confession assigns a third element peculiar to the Scottish Kirk, i.e. "Ecclesiastical discipline uprightlie ministered, as Goddis Worde prescribes, whereby vice is repressed, and vertew nurished". The development of Presbyterianism was a lucid commentary on the new principle herein tentatively propounded. In Art. 24, "Of the Civile Magistrate", the Confession proclaims openly the duty of suppressing the Catholic religion. "To Kings, Princes, Rulers and Magistrates, wee affirme that most chieflie and most principallie the conservation and purgation of the Religioun apperteinis; so that not onlie they are appointed for Civill policie, bot also for maintenance of the trew Religioun, and for suppressing of Idolatrie and Superstioun whatsoever."

After the forced abdication of Queen Mary in 1567, Parliament again proclaimed the Confession as the creed of "the only true and holy Kirk of Jesus Christ within this realm"; and it remained the doctrinal standard of the Scots, until superseded by the Westminster Confession. In the estimation of the Presbyterian preachers, the Confession of Knox was sadly defective; it had failed to denounce with sufficient vigor the Roman Antichrist. This omission was deemed particularly unfortunate about 1580, when the young King James VI had fallen under the spell of his French kinsman, Esme Stuart, upon whom the king had bestowed the earldom of Lennox, and who reigned supreme in his councils. It was probably at the suggestion of this able and unscrupulous politician, that James commissioned the preacher John Craig to draw up the most violent condemnation of Papistry that ever issued from a Calvinistic pen. It is known to historians as the King's Confession, sometimes as the "Scotica Secunda", later, when the religious conflicts in Scotland turned on the question of prelacy in general, as the "National Covenant". After endorsing the Confession of Faith in 1560, it proceeds to "abhor and detest all contrary Religion and Doctrine; but chiefly all kind of Papistry in general and particular heads", among others, "the usurped tyranny of the Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the Kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men; all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things, against our Christian liberty;... his five bastard sacraments, with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine added to the ministration of the true sacraments without the Word of God; his cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament; his absolute necessity of baptism; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation; his devilish mass; his blasphemous priesthood; his profane sacrifice for sins of the dead and the quick; ... his worldly monarchy and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn vows; his erroneous and bloody decrees made at Trent, with all the subscribers and approvers of that cruel and bloody band conjured against the Kirk of God." This "Confession" was subscribed by James and his Court at Edinburgh, January 28, 1581; afterwards by the Presbyterian Assembly and by persons of all ranks. It remained for generations the strong spiritual pabulum which fortified the Scottish people against Papistry, until men began to think for themselves.

The Westminster Confession.—In the Reformed Churches of English speech, all the earlier standards were practically supplanted by the "Westminster Confession of Faith" and the "Longer" and "Shorter Catechisms". These documents, together with a "Directory of Worship", were the fruits of the long labors of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, convened in Westminster Abbey by authority of the Long Parliament at the opening of the Civil War. After the abolition of prelacy in September, 1642, the religious condition of England was completely chaotic. In order to stem the evil, Parliament by an ordinance dated June 12, 1642, "thought fit and necessary to call an Assembly of learned, godly and judicious divines, to consult and advise of such matters and things, touching the premises, as shall be proposed unto them by both or either of the Houses of Parliament, and to give their advice and counsel therein to both or either of the said Houses, when, and as often as they shall be thereunto required." Lest any of these invited "divines" should be tempted to dispute the omnipotence of Parliament, they are admonished that "this ordinance, or anything therein contained shall not give unto the persons aforesaid, or any of them, nor shall they in this Assembly assume to exercise, any jurisdiction, power, or authority ecclesiastical whatsoever, or any other power, than is herein particularly expressed". The ordinance provides that forty members shall constitute a quorum; "that William Twisse, Doctor in Divinity shall sit in the chair." Should he die, or be "letted, Parliament shall appoint' his successor." Furthermore, "in case any difference of opinion shall happen amongst the said persons so assembled, touching any of the matters that shall be proposed to them, as aforesaid, that they shall represent the same, together with the reasons thereof, to both or either the said Houses respectively, to the end such further directions may be given therein as shall be requisite in that behalf." The ordinance mentions by name one hundred and twenty-one "divines"; but, as if these were not sufficiently muzzled, it adds ten lords and twenty commoners as "lay assessors". On June 22, King Charles, from Oxford, issued a decree condemning the proposed assembly, annulling beforehand all its proceedings, and prohibiting his subjects from taking any part in it. This had the consequence of keeping nearly all the Episcopalians away, thus placing the Puritans in supreme control. The assembly was formally opened in King Henry VII's chapel in the historic abbey; but since no matter for discussion was submitted to the divines by the Parliament, and they were inhibited from taking the initiative, an adjournment was taken until the following week, when, as its first task, the assembly was ordered to revise the Anglican "Thirty-nine Articles", "for the purpose of simplifying, clearing, and vindicating the doctrines therein contained". Ten weeks were devoted to this work; the divines had remodeled the first fifteen, when they were ordered to lay aside the "Articles" and engage in matters of more pressing importance to the Parliament. The war with King Charles was proceeding with disastrous results to the Parliamentary party. Success seemed possible only through the aid of the Scots.

Now the Scots demanded, as an indispensable condition of alliance, "the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline and government, according to the Word of God, and the example of the best reformed Churches". In other words, they insisted upon the adoption by the English of Presbyterianism in its integrity, a system repugnant to the national instincts and traditions of Englishmen. But there was no alternative, except the collapse of the rebellion. A "Solemn League and Covenant", framed by the Presbyterian preacher, Henderson, was sworn and subscribed by the Scottish and English Parliaments, by the General Assembly of Scotland, and by the Westminster divines, and afterwards by the lords and commons of both nations. To aid the inexperienced English divines in drawing up Presbyterian formularies, six Scottish commissioners, four preachers and two laymen, were sent to Westminster, with authority to take part in the discussions, but without votes. On October 12, 1643, the Assembly received an order from the Lords and Commons to forthwith confer and treat among themselves, of such a discipline and government as may be most agreeable to God's Holy Word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other Reformed Churches". Also, "touching and concerning the Directory of Worship, or Liturgy, hereafter to be in the Church". This order was the signal for protracted and at times bitter disputes between the Presbyterian majority and the Scottish commissioners on the one side, who advocated the adoption of the full Presbyterian machinery of Church government, and on the other the Independents and the Erastians, the former of whom argued for the complete independence of each separate congregation (see Congregationalism) while the latter opposed any kind of jurisdiction independent of the civil power. Although the Independent members numbered scarcely a dozen, and the Erastians were fewer still, their influence was vastly in excess of their numerical strength; for the Independents were in close touch with Cromwell's army and the Erastians could count on the sympathies of an Erastian parliament. Into the details of this debate, we need not enter. While it was still raging, an order was sent down to the Assembly "to frame a Confession of Faith for the three kingdoms, according to the Solemn League and Covenant". This task presented no extraordinary difficulties; all the Puritan factions were) as regarded matters of doctrine, more or less strictly Calvinistic, and there was not one Arminian in the assembly. Moreover, the Westminster divines had copious material to work upon in the numerous Reformed symbols already in existence. The Confession occupied their attention from August 20, 1644, until September 25, 1646, when the first nineteen chapters were sent to the Commons, and a few days later a duplicate copy was presented to the House of Lords. The Lords gave their assent to "The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines", so the title ran; but the Commons refused to take definite action until they had the complete Confession before them. This took place on December 4, 1646. A limited number of copies was printed for the use of the Parliament and the assembly; but the House of Commons, probably to gain time, demanded that each assertion should be supported by Scriptural texts. This was promptly done by the divines (April 29, 1647); whereupon the Commons ordered 600 copies, "and no more", to be printed. This edition was received as authoritative by the Scottish Church and Parliament, and was regarded by Presbyterians generally as their authentic Confession of Faith. But in the eyes of the Erastian Parliament of England, it was simply "The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines", convoked by its authority, and valueless without its sanction. After intermittent discussions, which extended above a year, the Parliament, June 20, 1648, ordered an expurgated edition to be printed by its authority, in which every reference to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church is carefully eliminated.

As to its contents, the Westminster Confession of Faith, is the most elaborate, as it is the latest of the Reformed creeds. In thirty-two chapters, divided into sections, it labors to give a full and logical exposition of Christian doctrine as understood by the Reformed Churches. Chap. i, "Of the Holy Scripture" gives a list of the inspired books, including the deutero-canonical books of the New Testament and rejecting the "Apocrypha" of the Old. "The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the authority of any man or church, but wholly upon God". "The Supreme Judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in Whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Ghost speaking in the Scripture." Chap. ii repeats the ancient doctrine "Of God and of the Holy Trinity". Chap. iii, "Of God's Eternal Decree", teaches that "God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass". The divines strive to ward off the obvious objection to this fatalistic tenet by denying that it makes "God the author of sin", or that violence is offered to the will of the creature. Yet, in the same breath, they insist, that "He hath not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future", and that "by decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death". The elect, who fell in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, effectually called and eventually saved; but "neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified and saved, but the elect only. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of is own will, whereby He extendeth or withholdeth mercy as He pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by, and ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice." The "Confession" judiciously warns the preachers that "the doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care". In Chap. v, "Of Providence", we find the unintelligible utterance, evidently having in view the Supralapsarians, that God's providence "extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding". Chap. x, "Of Effectual Calling", teaches that "all those whom God hath predestined unto life, and those only" are effectually called and saved. "Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved." Chapter xxi, "Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day", differs from the Continental creeds by adding the injunction that the Sabbath is to be kept holy by observing "a holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations", and that a man be "taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy". Chap. xxii, "Of Lawful Oaths and Vows", gives the divines an opportunity for denouncing "popish monastical vows" as "superstitious and sinful snares". Chap. xxiii, "Of the Civil Magistrate" (one of the chapters expunged by the Parliament), states that "the civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and the Sacraments or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed". In the American revision, this is made to read that "as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest" etc. In Chap. xxiv, "Of Marriage and Divorce", "such as profess the true reformed religion" are admonished that they "should not marry with infidels, Papists, or other idolators". Divorce is permitted on grounds of "adultery, or such willful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church or civil magistrate". Chap. xxv, "Of the Church", speaks in no complimentary terms of the "Pope of Rome", who is denounced as "that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God". The doctrine of the Sacraments differs in nothing from the earlier Calvinistic creeds. Chap. xxix, "Of the Lord's Supper", proclaims that "the Popish Sacrifice of the mass", as they call it, "is most abominably injurious to Christ's one only sacrifice", whilst the doctrine of transubstantiation "is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; overthrowing the nature of the sacrament; and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries". These are the main features of the "Westminster Confession of Faith" which are of interest to a Catholic. For many generations, the "Westminster Standards", viz., the Confession and the Catechisms, leavened the religious thought and controlled the conduct of the Presbyterians of Scotland, Ulster, and America. They were also accepted, with modifications of various sorts, Congregationalists, the Regular Baptists, and other newer sects.

J. F. LOUGHLIN


text: Author:Martin Stanislaus Welsh

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Author:Martin Stanislaus Welsh


text:
Author:Thomas O'Conor Sloane

Editorship Roles regarding Amazing Stories

 * Amazing Stories/Volume 01/Number 01 (credited as Managing Editor)
 * Amazing Stories/Volume 01/Number 02 (credited as Associate Editor)

title: Author:Thomas O'Conor Sloane


text:
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Knackfuss, Hermann

KNACKFUSS, knack'foos, Hermann, German artist and writer on art: b. Wissen, Rhenish Prussia, 11 Aug. 1848. He studied in the Düsseldorf Academy (1865-69); went through the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71); then continued art study under E. Bendemann, later under E. von Gebhardt. He won the state prize (1874) which paid for his studies at Rome (1875-78). He taught anatomy in the Cassel Academy (1880) and history of art (1890). His noted works are ‘Battle of Mühldorf’ (belonging to the Kaiser); ‘Battle of Turin,’ in Berlin Zeughaus; mural decorations in the Potsdam Treppenhaus of the officers' casino; ‘Entry of the Kaiser and Kaiserin into Jerusalem’ (1902); a ‘Holy Family’ altar picture in the Fulda Cathedral (1893); mural decorations in the Wohlau (Silesia)

author of the following works, among others: ‘Deutsche Kunstgeschichte’ (1888); for the serial Kunstlermonographien he has contributed articles on Raphael, Rembrandt Rubens, Michelangelo, Dürer, Murillo, Holbein, Titian, Velazquez, Frans Hall, van Dyck, Menzel, etc.


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Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Winsor, Justin

WINSOR, JUSTIN, an American historian; born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 2, 1831. He was superintendent of the Boston Public Library in 1868-1877, and librarian of Harvard University in 1877-1897. He published: “Bibliography of Original Quartos and Folios of Shakespeare” (1875); “Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution” (1880); “Memorial History of Boston” (edited, 1880-1882); “Narrative and Critical History of America” (edited: 8 vols. 1884-1889); “Christopher Columbus” (1891); “From Cartier to Frontenac” (1894); “The Mississippi Basin”; and “The Struggle in America Between England and France” (1895). He was the highest authority on the early history of North America. He died in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 22, 1897.


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Klostermann, Heinrich August

KLOSTERMANN, klōs'tẽr-mȧn, (1837—). A German Lutheran theologian, born at Steinhude and educated at Erlangen and Berlin. He was repetent and docent of theology at Göttingen until 1868, when he accepted a chair of Old Testament exegesis. He wrote: Vindiciæ Lucanæ (1866); Das Markusevangelium (1867); Untersuchungen zur alttestamentlichen Theologie (1868); Probleme im Aposteltext neu erörtert (1883); Zur Theorie der biblischen Weissagung und zur Characteristik des Hebräerbriefes (1889); Der Pentateuch (1893); and Geschichte des Volkes Israel (1896).


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 HAD a peculiar method of wandering without very much pain along the stormy path of life, although, in a physical as well as in a moral sense, I wandered almost barefoot,—I hoped, hoped from day to day; in the morning my hopes rested on evening, in the evening on the morning; in the autumn upon the spring, in spring upon the autumn; from this year to the next, and thus amid mere hopes, I had passed through nearly thirty years of my life, without, of all my privations, painfully perceiving the want of anything but whole boots. Nevertheless, I consoled myself easily for this out of doors in the open air, but in a drawing-room it always gave me an uneasy manner to have to turn the heels, as being the part least torn, to the front. Much more oppressive was it to me, truly, that I could in the abodes of misery only console with kind words.

I comforted myself, like a thousand others, by a hopeful glance upon the rolling wheel of fortune, 157


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158 and with the philosophical remark, "When the time comes, comes the counsel."

As a poor assistant to a country clergyman with a narrow income and meagre table, morally becoming mouldy in the company of the scolding housekeeper, of the willingly fuddled clergyman, of a foolish young gentleman and the daughters of the house, who, with high shoulders and turned-in toes, went from morning to night paying visits, I felt a peculiarly strange emotion of tenderness and joy as one of my acquaintance informed me by writing, that my uncle, the Merchant P in Stockholm, to me personally unknown, now lay dying, and in a paroxysm of kindred affection had inquired after his good-for-nothing nephew.

With a flat, meagre little bundle, and a million of rich hopes, the grateful nephew now allowed himself to be shaken up hill and down hill, upon an uncommonly uncomfortable and stiff-necked peasant cart, and arrived, head-over-heels, in the capital.

In the inn where I alighted, I ordered for myself a little only a very little breakfast,—a trifle—a bit of bread-and-butter—a few eggs.

The landlord and a fat gentleman walked up and down the saloon and chatted. "Nay, that I must say," said the fat gentleman, "this Merchant P, who died the day before yesterday, he was a fine fellow."


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Rh "Yes, yes," thought I; "aha, aha, a fine fellow, who had heaps of money! Hear you, my friend" (to the waiter), "could not you get me a bit of venison, or some other solid dish? Hear you, a cup of bouillon would not be amiss. Look after it, but quick!"

"Yes," said mine host now, "it is strong! Thirty thousand dollars, and they banko! Nobody in the whole world could have dreamed of it—thirty thousand!"

"Thirty thousand!" repeated I, in my exultant soul, "thirty thousand! Hear you, waiter! Make haste, give me here thirty thou—; no, give me here banko—no, give me here a glass of wine, I mean;" and from head to heart there sang in me, amid the trumpet-beat of every pulse, in alternating echoes, "Thirty thousand! Thirty thousand!"

"Yes," continued the fat gentleman, "and would you believe that in the mass of debts there are nine hundred dollars for cutlets, and five thousand dollars for champagne. And now all his creditors stand there prettily, and open their mouths; all the things in the house are hardly worth two farthings; and out of the house they find, as the only indemnification—a calash!"

"Aha, that is something quite different! Hear you, youth, waiter! Eh, come you here! take that meat, and the bouillon, and the wine away


text: Author:Charles William Sloane

title: Author:Charles William Sloane


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160 again; and hear you, observe well, that I have not eaten a morsel of all this. How could I, indeed; I, that ever since I opened my eyes this morning have done nothing else but eat (a horrible untruth!), and it just now occurs to me that it would therefore be unnecessary to pay money for such a superfluous feast."

"But you have actually ordered it," replied the waiter, in a state of excitement.

"My friend," I replied, and seized myself behind the ear, a place whence people, who are in embarrassment, are accustomed in some sort of way to obtain the necessary help—"my friend, it was a mistake for which I must not be punished; for it was not my fault that a rich heir, for whom I ordered the breakfast, is all at once become poor,—yes, poorer than many a poor devil, because he has lost more than the half of his present means upon the future. If he, under these circumstances, as you may well imagine, cannot pay for a dear breakfast, yet it does not prevent my paying for the eggs which I have devoured, and giving you over and above something handsome for your trouble, as business compels me to move off from here immediately."

By my excellent logic, and the "something handsome," I removed from my throat, with a bleeding heart and a watering mouth, that dear breakfast, and wandered forth into the city, with my little bundle under my arm, to seek for a


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Rh cheap room, while I considered where I was to get the money for it.

In consequence of the violent coming in contact of hope and reality I had a little headache. But when I saw upon my ramble a gentleman, ornamented with ribbons and stars, alight from a magnificent carriage, who had a pale yellow complexion, a deeply-wrinkled brow, and above his eyebrows an intelligible trace of ill-humor; when I saw a young count, with whom I had become acquainted in the University of Upsala, walking along as if he were about to fall on his nose from age and weariness of life, I held up my head, inhaled the air, which accidentally (unfortunately) at this place was filled with the smell of smoked sausage, and extolled poverty, and a pure heart.

I found at length, in a remote street, a little room, which was more suited to my gloomy prospects than to the bright hopes which I cherished two hours before.

I had obtained permission to spend the winter in Stockholm, and had thought of spending it in quite a different way to what now was to be expected. But what was to be done? To let the courage sink was the worst of all; to lay the hands in the lap and look up to heaven, not much better. "The sun breaks forth when one least expects it," thought I, as heavy autumn clouds descended upon the city. I determined to use


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162 all the means I could to obtain for myself a decent subsistence, with a somewhat pleasanter prospect for the future, than was opened to me under the miserable protection of Pastor G., and, in the meantime, to earn my daily bread by copying,—a sorrowful expedient in a sorrowful condition.

Thus I passed my days amid fruitless endeavors to find ears which might not be deaf, amid the heart-wearing occupation of writing out fairly the empty productions of empty heads, with my dinners becoming more and more scanty, and with ascending hopes, until that evening against whose date I afterwards made a cross in my calendar.

My host had just left me with the friendly admonition to pay the first quarter's rent on the following day, if I did not prefer (the politeness is French) to march forth again with bag and baggage on a voyage of discovery through the streets of the city.

It was just eight o'clock, on an indescribably cold November evening, when I was revived with this affectionate salutation on my return from a visit to a sick person, for whom I, perhaps—really somewhat inconsiderately, had emptied my purse.

I snuffed my sleepy, thin candle with my fingers, and glanced around the little dark chamber, for the further use of which I must soon see myself compelled to gold-making.


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Rh "Diogenes dwelt worse," sighed I, with a submissive mind, as I drew a lame table from the window where the wind and rain were not contented to stop outside. At that moment my eye fell upon a brilliantly blazing fire in a kitchen, which lay, Tantalus-like, directly opposite to my modest room, where the fireplace was as dark as possible.

"Cooks, men and women, have the happiest lot of all serving mortals!" thought I, as, with a secret desire to play that fire-tending game, I contemplated the well-fed dame, amid iron pots and stewpans, standing there like an empress in the glory of the firelight, and with the fire-tongs sceptre rummaging about majestically in the glowing realm.

A story higher, I had, through a window, which was concealed by no envious curtain, the view into a brightly lighted room, where a numerous family were assembled round a tea-table covered with cups and bread baskets.

I was stiff in my whole body, from cold and damp. How empty it was in that part which may be called the magazine, I do not say; but, ah, good Heavens! thought I, if, however, that pretty girl, who over there takes a cup of tea-nectar and rich splendid rusks to that fat gentleman who, from satiety, can hardly raise himself from the sofa, would but reach out her lovely hand a little further, and could—she would with a thousand


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164 kisses—in vain!—ah, the satiated gentleman takes his cup; he steeps and steeps his rusk with such eternal slowness—it might be wine. Now the charming girl caresses him. I am curious whether it is the dear papa himself or the uncle, or, perhaps— Ah, the enviable mortal! But no, it is quite impossible; he is at least forty years older than she. See, that indeed must be his wife—an elderly lady, who sits near him on the sofa, and who offers rusks to the young lady. The old lady seems very dignified; but to whom does she go now? I cannot see the person. An ear and a piece of a shoulder are all that peep forth near the window. I cannot exactly take it amiss that the respectable person turns his back to me; but that he keeps the young lady a quarter of an hour standing before him, lets her courtesy and offer her good things, does thoroughly provoke me. It must be a lady—a man could not be so unpolite towards this angelic being. But—or—now she takes the cup; and now, oh, woe! a great man's hand grasps into the rusk-basket—the savage! and how he helps himself—the churl! I should like to know whether it is her brother,—he was perhaps hungry, poor fellow! Now come in, one after the other, two lovely children, who are like the sister. I wonder now, whether the good man with one ear has left anything remaining. That most charming of girls, how she caresses the little ones, and


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Rh kisses them, and gives to them all the rusks and the cakes that have escaped the fingers of Monsieur Gobble. Now she has had herself, the sweet child! of the whole entertainment, no more than me—the smell.

What a movement suddenly takes place in the room! The old gentleman heaves himself up from the sofa—the person with one ear starts forward, and in so doing, gives the young lady a blow (the dromedary!) which makes her knock against the tea-table, whereby the poor lady, who was just about springing up from the sofa, is pushed down again—the children hop about and clap their hands—the door flies open—a young officer enters—the young girl throws herself into his arms. So, indeed! Aha, now we have it! I put to my shutters so violently that they cracked, and seated myself on a chair, quite wet through with rain, and with my knees trembling.

What had I to do at the window? That is what one gets when one is inquisitive.

Eight days ago, this family had removed from the country into the handsome house opposite to me; and it had never yet occurred to me to ask who they were, or whence they came. What need was there for me to-night to make myself acquainted with their domestic concerns in an illicit manner? How could it interest me? I was in an ill-humor; perhaps, too, I felt some little heartache. But for all that, true to my resolution,


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166 not to give myself up to anxious thoughts when they could do no good, I seized the pen with stiff fingers, and, in order to dissipate my vexation, wished to attempt a description of domestic happiness, of a happiness which I had never enjoyed. For the rest, I philosophized whilst I blew upon my stiffened hands. "Am I the first who, in the hot hour of fancy, has sought for a warmth which the stern world of reality has denied him? Six dollars for a measure of fir-wood. Yes, prosit, thou art not likely to get it before December! I write!

"Happy, threefold happy, the family, in whose narrow, contracted circle no heart bleeds solitarily, or solitarily rejoices! No look, no smile, remains unanswered; and where the friends say daily, not with words but with deeds, to each other, 'Thy cares, thy joys, thy happiness, are mine also!'"

"Lovely is the peaceful, the quiet home, which closes itself protectingly around the weary pilgrim through life—which, around its friendly blazing hearth, assembles for repose the old man leaning on his staff, the strong man, the affectionate, wife, and happy children, who, shouting and exulting, hop about in their earthly heaven, and closing a day spent in the pastimes of innocence, repeat a thanksgiving prayer with smiling lips, and drop asleep on the bosom of their parents, whilst the gentle voice of the mother tells


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Rh them, in whispered cradle-tones, how around their couch—

"The little angels in a ring, Stand round about to keep  A watchful guard upon the bed Where little children sleep."

Here I was obliged to leave off, because I felt something resembling a drop of rain come forth from my eye, and therefore could not any longer see clearly.

"How many," thought I, as my reflections, against my will, took a melancholy turn—"how many are there who must, to their sorrow, do without this highest happiness of earthly life—domestic happiness!"

For one moment I contemplated myself in the only whole glass which I had in my room—that of truth,—and then wrote again with gloomy feeling:—"Unhappy, indeed, may the forlorn one be called, who, in the anxious and cool moments of life (which, indeed, come so often), is pressed to no faithful heart, whose sigh nobody returns, whose quiet grief nobody alleviates with a 'I understand thee, I suffer with thee!'

"He is cast down, nobody raises him up; he weeps, nobody sees it, nobody will see it; he goes, nobody follows him; he comes, nobody goes to meet him; he rests, nobody watches over him. He is lonely. Oh, how unfortunate he is!


text: Author:John Lawrence Finnerty

title: Author:John Lawrence Finnerty


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Klosterneuburg

KLOSTERNEUBURG, klōs'tẽr-noi'bōōrK. A town of Lower Austria, on the right bank of the Danube, six miles west-northwest of Vienna. It is the seat of the oldest Augustinian monastery in Austria. It was founded by Margrave Leopold III. of Babenberg in 1106-36. The palatial abbey buildings, erected by Charles VI., contain a library of more than 40,000 volumes (1500 incunabula) and 1600 MSS. In the museum is the Austrian archducal hat, used in the ceremonial of swearing allegiance. The old German monastery church of Saint Maria contains a number of fine paintings and a magnificent high altar. Population, in 1890, 8988; in 1900, 11,595. The town was built by Charlemagne on the site of a Roman castle, and made a city by Duke Albert I. (1298) under the name of Neuburg-Klosterholben.


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Klotz, Christian Adolf

KLOTZ, klṓts, (1738-71). A German Latinist and literary critic, born at Bischofswerda. He was educated at Halle, Leipzig, and Jena; qualified as docent and became professor at Jena when only twenty-four years old. A year afterwards (1763) he was chosen professor of philosophy at Göttingen, and in 1765 became professor of oratory at Halle. He is remembered chiefly on account of his quarrel with Pieter Burmann, the younger, and of his criticism of Lessing's Laokoon, the brochure Ueber den Nutzen und Gebrauch der alten geschnittenen Steine (1768), which Lessing answered in his Briefe antiquarischen Inhalts (1768-69). Klotz had a remarkably pure Latin style, which is best shown in his satiric works, Mores Eruditorum, in his Opuscula Latina (1760), and in his journal, the Acta Literaria (1764-72). His other works on classical subjects include the editions of Tyrtæus (1764) and of Vida's De Arte Poetica (1776), Opuscula Philologica et Oratoria (1772), Vindiciæ Horatianæ (1764), and Lectiones Venusinæ (1771). Consult Hansen, Leben und Charakter Herrn Klotz (Halle, 1772), and Hagen, Briefe deutscher Gelehrten an Klotz (1773).


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168 Why dies he not? Ah, who would weep for him? How cold is a grave which no warm tears of love moisten!

"He is lonesome in the winter night; for him the earth has no flowers, and dark burn the lights of heaven. Why wanders he, the lonesome one; why waits he; why flies he not, the shadow, to the land of shades? Ah, he still hopes, he is a mendicant who begs for joy, who yet waits in the eleventh hour, that a merciful hand may give him an alms.

"One only little blossom of earth will he gather, bear it upon his heart, in order henceforth not so lonesomely, not so entirely lonesome, to wander down to rest."

It was my own condition which I described. I deplored myself.

Early deprived of my parents, without brothers and sisters, friends, and relations, I stood in the world yet so solitary and forlorn, that but for an inward confidence in heaven, and a naturally happy temper, I should often enough have wished to leave this contemptuous world; till now, however, I had almost constantly hoped from the future, and this more from an instinctive feeling that this might be the best, than to subdue by philosophy every too vivid wish for an agreeable present time, because it was altogether so opposed to possibility. For some time, however, alas! it had been otherwise with me; I felt, and


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Rh this evening, more than ever an inexpressible desire to have somebody to love,—to have some one about me who would cleave to me—who would be a friend to me;—in short, to have (for me the highest felicity on earth) a wife—a beloved, devoted wife! Oh, she would comfort me, she would cheer me! her affection, even in the poorest hut, would make of me a king. That the love-fire of my heart would not insure the faithful being at my side from being frozen was soon made clearly sensible to me by an involuntary shudder. More dejected than ever, I rose up and walked a few times about my room (that is to say, two steps right forward, and then turn back again). The sense of my condition followed me like the shadow on the wall, and for the first time in my life I felt myself cast down, and threw a gloomy look on my dark future. I had no patron, therefore could not reckon upon promotion for a long time; consequently, also, not upon my own bread—on a friend—a wife, I mean.

"But what in all the world," said I yet once more seriously to myself, "what helps beating one's brains?" Yet once more I tried to get rid of all anxious thoughts. "If, however, a Christian soul could only come to me this evening! Let it be whoever it would—friend or foe—it would be better than this solitude. Yes, even if an inhabitant of the world of spirits opened the door, he would be welcome to me! What was


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170 that? Three blows on the door! I will not, however, believe it—again three!" I went and opened; there was nobody there; only the wind went howling up and down the stairs. I hastily shut the door again, thrust my hands into my pockets, and went up and down for a while, humming aloud. Some moments afterwards I fancied I heard a sigh—I was silent, and listened,—again there was very evidently a sigh—and yet once again, so deep and so mournful, that I exclaimed with secret terror, "Who is there?" No answer. For a moment I stood still, and considered what this really could mean, when a horrible noise, as if cats were sent with yells lumbering down the whole flight of stairs, and ended with a mighty blow against my door, put an end to my indecision. I took up the candle, and a stick, and went out. At the moment when I opened the door my light was blown out. A gigantic white figure glimmered opposite to me, and I felt myself suddenly embraced by two strong arms. I cried for help, and struggled so actively to get loose that both myself and my adversary fell to the ground, but so that I lay uppermost. Like an arrow I sprang again upright, and was about to fetch a light, when I stumbled over something—Heaven knows what it was (I firmly believe that somebody held me fast by the feet), by which I fell a second time, struck my head on the corner of the table, and lost my consciousness, whilst


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Rh a suspicious noise, which had great resemblance to laughter, rung in my ears.

When I again opened my eyes, they met a dazzling blaze of light. I closed them again, and listened to a confused noise around me—opened them again a very little, and endeavored to distinguish the objects which surrounded me, which appeared to me so enigmatical and strange that I almost feared my mind had wandered. I lay upon a sofa, and—no, I really did not deceive myself,—that charming girl, who on this evening had so incessantly floated before my thoughts, stood actually beside me, and with a heavenly expression of sympathy bathed my head with vinegar. A young man whose countenance seemed known to me held my hand between his. I perceived also the fat gentleman, another thin one, the lady, the children, and in distant twilight I saw the shimmer of the paradise of the tea-table; in short, I found myself by an incomprehensible whim of fate amidst the family which an hour before I had contemplated with such lively sympathy.

When I again had returned to full consciousness, the young man embraced me several times with military vehemence.

"Do you then no longer know me?" cried he indignantly, as he saw me petrified body and soul.

"Have you then forgotten August D, whose life a short time since you saved at the peril of


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172 your own? whom you so handsomely fished up, with danger to yourself, from having for ever to remain in the uninteresting company of fishes? See here, my father, my mother, my sister, Wilhelmina!"

I pressed his hand; and now the parents emgraced me. With a stout blow of the fist upon the table, August's father exclaimed, "And because you have saved my son's life, and because you are such a downright honest and good fellow, and have suffered hunger yourself that you might give others to eat you shall really have the parsonage at H Yes, you shall become clergyman, I say!—I have jus patronatum, you understand!"

For a good while I was not at all in a condition to comprehend, to think, or to speak; and before all had been cleared up by a thousand explanations, I could understand nothing clearly excepting that Wilhelmina was not—that Wilhelmina was August's sister.

He had returned this evening from a journey of service, during which, in the preceding summer, chance had given to me the good fortune to rescue him from a danger, into which youthful heat and excess of spirit had thrown him. I had not seen him again since this occurrence; earlier, I had made a passing acquaintance with him, had drunk brotherhood with him at the university, and after that had forgotten my dear brother.


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Rh He had now related this occurrence to his family, with the easily kindled-up enthusiasm of youth, together with what he knew of me beside, and what he did not know. The father, who had a living in his gift, and who (as I afterwards found) had made from his window some compassionate remarks upon my meagre dinner-table, determined, assailed by the prayers of his son, to raise me from the lap of poverty to the summit of good fortune. August would in his rapture announce to me my good luck instantly, and in order, at the same time, to gratify his passion for merry jokes, made himself known upon my stairs in a way which occasioned me a severe, although not dangerous, contusion on the temples, and the unexpected removal across the street, out of the deepest darkness into the brightest light. The good youth besought a thousand times forgiveness for his thoughtlessness; a thousand times I assured him that it was not worth the trouble to speak of such a trifling blow. And, in fact, the living was a balsam which would have made a greater wound than this imperceptible also.

Astonished, and somewhat embarrassed, I now perceived that the ear and the shoulder, whose possessor had seized so horribly upon the contents of the rusk basket, and over whom I had poured out my gall belonged to nobody else than to August's father, and my patron. The


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174 fat gentleman who sat upon the sofa was Wilhelmina's uncle.

The kindness and gayety of my new friends made me soon feel at home and happy. The old people treated me like a child of the house, the young ones as a brother, and the two little ones seemed to anticipate a gingerbread-friend in me.

After I had received two cups of tea from Wilhelmina's pretty hand, to which I almost feared taking, in my abstraction of mind, more rusks than my excellent patron, I rose up to take my leave. They insisted absolutely upon my passing the night there; but I abode by my determination of spending the first happy night in my old habitation, amid thanksgiving to the lofty Ruler of my fate.

They all embraced me afresh; and I now also embraced all rightly, from the bottom of my heart, Wilhelmina also, although not without having gracious permission first. "I might as well have left that alone," thought I afterwards, "if it is to be the first and last time!" August accompanied me back.

My host stood in my room amid the overturned chairs and tables, with a countenance which alternated between rain and sunshine; on one side his mouth drew itself with a reluctant smile up to his ear, on the other it crept for vexation down to his double chin; the eyes followed the same direction, and the whole had a look of a


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Rh combat, till the tone in which August indicated to him that he should leave us alone, changed all into the most friendly, grinning mien, and the proprietor of the same vanished from the door with the most submissive bows.

August was in despair about my table, my chair, my bed, and so on. It was with difficulty that I withheld him from cudgelling the host who would take money for such a hole. I was obliged to satisfy him with the most holy assurances, that on the following day I would remove without delay. "But tell him," prayed August, "before you pay him, that he is a villain, a usurer, a cheat, a—or if you like, I will—"

"No, no; heaven defend us!" interrupted I, "be quiet, and let me only manage."

After my young friend had left me, I passed several happy hours in thinking on the change in my fate, and inwardly thanking God for it. My thoughts then rambled to the parsonage; and heaven knows what fat oxen and cows, what pleasure grounds, with flowers, fruits, and vegetables, I saw in spirit surrounding my new paradise, where my Eve walked by my side, and supported on my arm; and especially what an innumerable crowd of happy and edified people I saw streaming from the church when I had preached. I baptized, I confirmed, I comforted my beloved community in the zeal and warmth of my heart—and forgot only the funerals.


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176 Every poor clergyman who has received a living, every mortal, especially to whom unexpectedly a long-cherished wish has been accomplished, will easily picture to himself my state.

Later in the night it sunk at last like a veil before my eyes, and my thoughts fell by degrees into a bewilderment which exhibited on every hand strange images. I preached with a loud voice in my church, and the congregation slept. After the service, the people came out of the church like oxen and cows, and bellowed against me when I would have admonished them. I wished to embrace my wife, but could not separate her from a great turnip, which increased every moment, and at last grew over both our heads. I endeavored to climb up a ladder to heaven, whose stars beckoned kindly and brightly to me; but potatoes, grass, vetches, and peas, entangled my feet unmercifully, and hindered every step. At last I saw myself in the midst of my possessions walking upon my head, and whilst in my sleepy soul I greatly wondered how this was possible, I slept soundly in the remembrance of my dream. Yet then, however, I must unconsciously have continued the chain of my pastoral thoughts, for I woke in the morning with the sound of my own voice loudly exclaiming, "Amen."

That the occurrences of the former evening


text: Author:Samuel Magner Donovan

title: Author:Samuel Magner Donovan


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Rh were actual truth, and no dream, I could only convince myself with difficulty, till August paid me a visit, and invited me to dine with his parents.

The living, Wilhelmina, the dinner, the new chain of hopes for the future which beamed from the bright sun of the present, all surprised me anew with a joy, which one can feel very well, but never can describe.

Out of the depths of a thankful heart, I saluted the new life which opened to me, with the firm determination that, let happen what might, yet always to do the right, and to hope for the best.

Two years after this, I sat on an autumn evening in my beloved parsonage by the fire. Near to me sat my dear little wife, my sweet, Wilhelmina, and spun. I was just about to read to her a sermon which I intended to preach on the next Sunday, and from which I promised myself much edification, as well for her as for the assembled congregation. Whilst I was turning over the leaves, a loose paper fell out. It was the paper upon which, on that evening two years before, in a very different situation, I had written down my cheerful and my sad thoughts. I showed it to my wife. She read, smiled with a tear in her eye, and with a roguish countenance which, as I fancy, is peculiar to her, took the pen and wrote on the other side of the paper:

"The author can now, thank God, strike out a


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178 description which would stand in perfect contrast to that which he once, in a dark hour, sketched of an unfortunate person, as he himself was then.

"Now he is no more lonesome, no more deserted. His quiet sighs are answered, his secret griefs shared, by a wife tenderly devoted to him. He goes, her heart follows him; he comes back, she meets him with smiles; his tears flow not unobserved, they are dried by her hand, and his smiles beam again in hers; for him she gathers flowers, to wreathe around his brow, to strew in his path. He has his own fireside, friends devoted to him, and, counts as his relations all those who have none of their own. He loves, he is beloved; he can make people feel happy, he is himself happy."

Truly had my Wilhelmina described the present; and, animated by feelings which are gay and delicious as the beams of the spring sun, I will now, as hitherto, let my little troop of light hopes bound out into the future.

I hope, too, that my sermon for the next Sunday may not be without benefit to my hearers; and even if the obdurate should sleep, I hope that neither this nor any other of the greater or the less unpleasantnesses which can happen to me may go to my heart and disturb my rest. I know my Wilhelmina, and believe also that I know myself sufficiently, to hope with certainty


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Rh that I may always make her happy. The sweet angel has given me hope that we may soon be able to add a little creature to our little happy family, I hope, in the future, to be yet multiplied. For my children I have all kinds of hopes in petto. If I have a son, I hope that he will be my successor; if I have a daughter, then—if August would wait—but I fancy that he is just about to be married.

I hope in time to find a publisher for my sermons. I hope to live yet a hundred years with my wife.

We—that is to say, my Wilhelmina and I—hope, during this time, to be able to dry a great many tears, and to shed as few ourselves as our lot, as children of the earth, may permit.

We hope not to survive each other.

Lastly, we hope always to be able to hope; and when the hour comes that the hopes of the green earth vanish before the clear light of eternal certainty, then we hope that the All-good Father may pass a mild sentence upon His grateful and, in humility, hoping children.


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text: Author:Edward Gregory Fitzgerald

title: Author:Edward Gregory Fitzgerald


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Klotz, Matthias

KLOTZ, KLOZ, or CLOTZ, (1640-96). A well-known Bavarian violin-maker, and head of the celebrated family of violin-makers of that name. He was born at Mittenwald and was probably a pupil of Jakob Stainer (q.v.). Although he was the maker of several very excellent specimens, he did not as a rule exercise sufficient skill or care in the selection of his wood. His varnish is considered by modern experts to have been of good quality, but this, like the undoubted beauty of his model, was more than discounted by his negligence in the respect above mentioned. — His two sons, (born in 1675) and (born c.1677), were also makers of violins and greatly surpassed their father in every way, although the work of Georg is noticeable

for the same fault that marred that of his father. Sebastian was the best workman of the entire family. He marked his violins with a secret mark only distinguishable, as a rule, by connoisseurs. It consists of the initials S. K. marked in some obscure part of the instrument. — In a subsequent generation was, also born at Mittenwald, in the first half of the eighteenth century, who is conspicuous for the fact that he used Swiss pine instead of white larch for the bellies of his violins; and further, used a label of his own, instead of that which marks the other Klotz examples. He exhibited remarkable skill and knowledge in selecting his materials, in consequence of which they have improved very much with age, and are considered to possess a broader and more resonant tone than those of any other of the Bavarian makers. — His son inherited his skill in the selection of materials, and, although not as well made as those of the elder Klotz, his instruments are held in considerable estimation. His model is somewhat broader than that of the typical Klotz violin. — A distant relative, , who worked about 1740, has also left some good examples. His model is flatter and broader than those of the makers above named and is distinguished for its excellent workmanship, seasoned wood, and rich orange-red varnish. The tone is brilliant.


text: Author:Edmund Thomas Shanahan

title: Author:Edmund Thomas Shanahan


text: Author:James Martin Gillis

title: Author:James Martin Gillis


text: Author:Tirso López Bardón

title: Author:Tirso López Bardón


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Winsor, Justin

WINSOR, wĭn'zẽr, Author:Justin Winsor (1831-97). An American historian and librarian, born in Boston, Mass. He was educated at Harvard College and continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg. From 1868 to 1877 he was superintendent of the Boston Public Library, and from 1877 till his death librarian of Harvard University. His historical work was chiefly of a bibliographical and cartographical kind. The first book was a History of the Town of Duxbury (1849). This was followed by several valuable bibliographies, as that of the literature of the battle of Bunker Hill (1876), of the original quartos and folios of Shakespeare (1875), of the earlier editions of Shakespeare's poems (1879). etc. His more original work comprised The Readers' Handbook of the American Revolution (1880); Christopher Columbus (1891), a very iconoclastic book; From Cartier to Frontenac: A Study of Geographical History in the Interior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534-1700 (1894); and the Exploration of the Mississippi Basin (1895). He was also editor of a Memorial History of Boston (1880-81), and a Narrative and Critical History of America (1884-89) — a most scholarly performance and his most useful work, no small part of its value being due to his own bibliographical and cartographical contributions.


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 ''Better that a man's body should be destroyed than his soul. The worst death of the soul is freedom to err.'' Author:Augustine of Hippo.

''It would be hard to calculate the perilous import of so treacherous an utterance, an utterance the latent sentiment of which has been responsible for I know not how much human agony. Menacing indeed to human happiness was such a claim, and in the course of time when the corporate body of the church became all-powerful in Christendom, it put into tyrannical practice what had been but a theological theory''. Author:Llewelyn Powys

is the purpose of this chapter to trace the origin of witches, wizards, and devils, the widespread belief in them at the time of pagan Rome, and the manner in which these were incorporated into Christian theology.

With the rise of Christianity and the gain of political power by its adherents, the perverted pagan idea of witchcraft became the source of the most terrible persecutions in the bloody history of religion. The numerous references to witches and devils in both the Old and New Testaments established the authority for the organized religious mania that scourged both Roman Catholic and Protestant Europe, and extended its tentacles into the New England colonies.

Instigated by ecclesiastics, and carried into effect by the intellectual serfs, their adherents, hundreds of thousands of "witches" were tortured and burned during the


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164 sway of the Witchcraft Delusion. With the Bible as an inspiration, the clergy inflamed the superstitious minds of the masses of that time with the conception of a ceaseless strife between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan for possession of their souls and their bodies.

We of the present age may readily wonder how such a belief could have had so firm a grasp on the minds of our ancestors. Perhaps we will be tempted to attribute it to the ignorance of that time, particularly to the ignorance of the untutored masses. On the contrary, this does not approximate the actual situation. History reveals that the greatest minds of that age, men eminent in law, letters, and philosophy, not only defended this conception strenuously, but even engaged in the extermination of "witches."

That men of such superior intellect could defend such a barbaric institution, which today is revolting to our senses, necessitates the conclusion formulated at the end of this chapter.

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that it was possible by supernatural means to inflict evil on their fellowmen, and all the sects of philosophers admitted this, with the exception of the Epicureans, who denied the existence of evil spirits. The magicians, in Greece and Rome, were at times punished because they injured men and not because they offended the gods. During the latter period of pagan Rome, some of the emperors passed laws against the magicians, if it was proven that by casting the horoscope the magicians had ascertained what was, according to their belief, the most auspicious time to start a rebellion against their rule. The emperors, however, notably Marcus Aurelius and Julian, were the patrons of magicians who foretold coming events to


text:
Author:William Mathews

Works

 * Getting on in the World
 * Words: their Use and Abuse
 * Orators and Oratory

title: Author:William Mathews


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Rh them. The public methods of foretelling the future, such as the oracle of the gods, formed part of their religion.

When the first Christians came into Rome and spread Christianity throughout the empire, they were inspired by an intense religious enthusiasm. They thought much less of the civil than of the religious consequence of magic, and sacrilege seemed much more terrible in their eyes than anarchy.

The Christians found in Rome a vast polytheistic religion in contrast to their own in which the entire world was divided into the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. For them the world seemed to be teeming with malignant demons, who had in all ages persecuted and deluded mankind. "According to these Christians, the immediate objects of the devotions of the pagan world were subsidiary spirits of finite power and imperfect morality; angels, or, as they were then called, demons, who acted the part of mediators, and who, by permission of the Supreme and Inaccessible Deity, regulated the religious government of mankind. The Christians had adopted this conception of subsidiary spirits, but they maintained them to be not the willing agents, but the adversaries of the Deity; and the word demon, which among the pagans, signified only a spirit below the level of a Divinity, among the Christians signified a devil." (Lecky.)

"This notion seems to have existed in the very earliest period of Christianity; and in the second century, we find it elaborated with the most minute and detailed care. Tertullian, who wrote in that century, assures us that the world was full of these evil spirits, whose influence might be descried in every portion of the pagan creed. If a Christian in any respect deviated from the path of duty, a visible manifestation of the devil sometimes appeared to terrify him. The terror which such a doctrine must have spread among the early Christians


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166 may be easily conceived. They seemed to breathe an atmosphere of miracles. Wherever they turned they were surrounded and beleaguered by malicious spirits, who were perpetually manifesting their presence by supernatural arts. Watchful fiends stood beside every altar, they mingled with every avocation of life, and the Christians were the special objects of their hatred. All this was universally believed, and was realized with an intensity which, in this secular age, we can scarcely conceive. The bearing of this view upon the conception of magic is very obvious. Among the more civilized pagans, magic was mainly a civil, and in the last days of the empire, a political crime. In the early church, on the other hand, it was esteemed the most horrible form of sacrilege effected by the direct agency of evil spirits. It included the whole system of paganism, explained all its prodigies, and gave a fearful significance to all its legends. When the Church obtained the direction of the civil power, she soon modified or abandoned the tolerant maxims she had formerly inculcated; and in the course of a few years, restrictive laws were enacted, both against Jews and heretics." (Lecky.)

Constantine, after his conversion to Christianity, enacted laws against the magicians. These were made more rigid under Constantius, his son, but suspended under Julian. These persecutions were renewed by Valentinian, spasmodically carried on to a slight extent, and then lapsed. During the period that elapsed between the sixth and thirteenth centuries the executions for sorcery were comparatively rare.

It is to be borne in mind, then, that magic as existing in pagan Rome was part of the religious conceptions of the Romans. The oracle as well as the various demons, which to them signified what the word "angel" signifies to us now, formed an elaborate system of mythology and