GERMAN EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. xix
ence to the Symbolism. The lamented author had intended to introduce many amendments into this new edition, and so to render it more complete, partly by transferring into it several things from his work, entitled, New Investigations of Doctrinal Differences,―partly by incorporating with it the results of new researches. As regards a very considerable part of the work, his intention he has happily been able to carry into effect. Many articles and sections-as, for example, that on original sin-have received from him extension or greater precision, or have been entirely recast. The like he had designed in respect to the articles on the doctrine of the sacraments, and the following sections. Down to the close of his life, this concern of his heart ever occupied him; but the final execution of his design was not permitted by Divine Providence.
May this new edition produce those blessed effects, which had ever been intended by the author, and that have, doubtless, gained a rich recompense for him before the throne of God!
Preliminary remarks. Lutheranism, from its origin down to the middle of
the eighteenth century. Rise of Rationalism. Michaelis. The school of
Semler. Morus and the elder Eichhorn, and others. The more open infidels
Nicolai, Bahrdt, and Basedow. Deism the legitimate offspring of the Reform-
ation. Reymarus and Lessing assail Christianity. Glance at the German
literature of the eighteenth century, in its relation to the Christian religion.
Anecdotes of Göthe's extraordinary admiration for the Catholic liturgy and
Catholic art. Glance at the philosophy of Kant, Jacobi, and Schelling, in re-
lation to Christianity. Further advances of theological Rationalism. Weg-
scheider, Paulus, and others. The ethical principles of Rationalism. Its
influence on life. Partial reaction against Rationalism in the Protestant
Church. Reinhard, Storr, and others. The party called "Old Lutherans."
Their conflict with the Prussian government. The new "Evangelical Church",
founded by the late king of Prussia. It promotes, instead of remedying, reli-
gious indifference. The modern Pietists. Their leading divines. Partial
services they render to the cause of Christianity. Degeneracy of Pietism.
Appalling examples of religious fanaticism. The last stage of Rationalism.
The Mythic divines, or Strauss and his followers. Conflicting judgments pro-
nounced on this school by the theological faculties of the Prussian universi-
ties. Hopes of religious regeneration in Protestant Germany. Number of
conversions to the Catholic Church. Transition to Catholic Germany. Its
moral condition, from the treaty of Westphalia down to the middle of the
eighteenth century. Intellectual improvement in the reign of the empress
Maria Theresa. Doctrines of Febronius, and their influence. Joseph II. and
his ecclesiastical policy. Consequences of that policy considered. The schis-
matical declaration of certain prelates at Ems. Rise and influence of the
order of the Illuminati. French revolution. The moral and political causes
that facilitated the triumph of its arms and its principles in Europe in general,
and in Germany in particular. Its moral and political effects in the Rhenish
provinces. Spoliation of the Catholic Church in Germany, and its conse-
quences. The restoration of general peace in 1814. Commencement of a re-
ligious regeneration in Austria. Religious regeneration in Bavaria. Oppres-
sion of the Church in the Prussian dominions, in Würtemberg, in Baden, and
other minor states. The captivity of the archbishop of Cologne. The gen-
eral resuscitation of religious life in Catholic Germany. The anti-celibatists
in Würtemberg and Baden. The Hermesians in Prussia. Glance at the lit-
erature and philosophy of Catholic Germany in the present century.
Birth of Moehler. His education, and anecdotes of his early years. His
studies at the university of Tübingen. His ordination. He officiates as chap-
lain in two country parishes. Anecdotes of him during his pastoral ministry.
His return to Tübingen. His classical studies. His appointment to the place
of private teacher of theology in that university. His literary journey to the
most celebrated seats of learning in Germany. His acquaintance with the
celebrated Plank. Remarkable consequences of that acquaintance. His re-
turn to Tübingen. He publishes his first work, "Unity of the Church." Ex-
cellences and defects in that work. He declines the offer of a professorship
at Freyburg. He publishes his "History of St. Athanasius, and of the Church
in his time." Reflections on the Arian contest, and on the life and writings of
the great Athanasius. Moehler declines the offer of a professorship in Prussia.
He is appointed professor in Tübingen, and lectures on the doctrinal differ-
ences between the Catholic and Protestant Churches. Publication of the
"Symbolism." Extraordinary sensation it produced throughout Catholic and
Protestant Germany. Parallel between that work and Bossuet's "History of
the Variations of the Protestant Churches." Dr. Baur's controversy with
Moehler. The latter is appointed professor of divinity at Munich. Beneficial
influence of his labours at Tübingen, in a moral as well as intellectual point of
view. His reception at Munich, and his professional activity in that univer-
sity. Account of his miscellaneous writings. Of his work entitled "Patrolo-
gy." Moehler's journey to Southern Tyrol for the re-establishment of his
health. His return to Munich. Relapse of illness. The Prussian govern-
ment offers him a prebendal stall at Cologne, and a professorship at Bonn.
He declines both. He is knighted by the king of Bavaria, and appointed to
the deanery of Würzburg. His last illness. His death. Description of his
person. Account of his eminent piety and amiable character. Estimate of
his genius. His influence in the literary and theological world. His most
celebrated theological contemporaries. Conclusion.
MANY of the facts related in the following biographical sketch, rest on the authority of two short memoirs of the illustrious writer, the one by Dr. Ruhn, professor of Catholic theology at the university of Tubingen, the other by the anonymous author of the interesting introduction prefixed to the fifth German edition of the Symbolism. For many other particulars, I have been indebted to the kindness of Dr. Reithmayr, professor of divinity at the university of Munich, as well as to that of Dr. Benkert, dean of Würzburg, and of Dr. Dux, rector of the ecclesiastical seminary in the same city.
The following memoir is preceded by an historical survey of the state of Protestantism and Catholicism in Germany during the last hundred years. To enable the English reader the better to understand the general scope and tendency of the work I have translated, as well as the many allusions and references it contains to the great changes that in modern times have occurred in the Protestant theology of Germany, I have endeavoured, according to my humble ability, to take a rapid historical view of those changes. Though, indeed, only the elder Protestantism, in its opposition to the Catholic Church, is analyzed in this work, and the Rationalism, which sprang up in Germany towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and which has almost entirely superseded the old Lutheranism,-is, for the reasons assigned by the author himself, not here formally investigated; still, as frequent comparisons are instituted between the older and the more modern systems of German Protestantism, some degree of acquaintance with the latter is evidently highly useful for the better understanding and appreciation of the work now translated. But this great revolution in the German Protestant Church can be comprehended in all its bearings, and estimated in all its results, only through a comparison with the state of German Catholicism during the same period. Under this impression,
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