Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
LETTERS. 230
inner and the outer, the truth and the form, differ in prin-
ciple. The dogmas of the Church can contain the purest,
fullest truths, although many of them have become fixed in
a@ manner and in phrases which no longer suit the more
extended knowledge of mankind. This belongs to the
nature of the shell, and to throw away with it the kernel,
would be the same as throwing away the baby together
with the water in which it has been bathing. Within the
shell the fruit was fostered for a certain period, and when
the shell bursts, it is in order that the fruit may appear in
a more complete and purer form; in a form more adequate
to its life and truth. The most Christian and learned
priests in the Evangelical Church — amongst them the
noble Neander in Berlin — acknowledge openly the want
of such a regeneration of the Church. But they demand,
and they are right, that one ought not to misunderstand,
nor let the solid tenor of the dogmas volatilize, and that
before creating new ones, one ought thoroughly and rightly
to fathom the sense and essence of the Christian revela-
tion. How strange the world would look, if one or the
other dogma, one or the other article of our creed, was to
be taken away: the experiment is not a new one in the
world. During the French Revolution this was done
thoroughly, by declaring all the Christian articles of faith
invalid, and the soil, on which this was done, became incar-
nadincd with blood. The noble Condorcet, who, amongst
all the French Naturalists, urged this doctrine to the utter-
most, and endeavored to establish the hope of the perfecti-
bility of mankind upon earth by means of arts and sciences,
etc. etc., finished his career by suicide. But this anarchy
in the realms of reason could not be of any long duration.
The instant a calm moment set in, Robespierre decreed
that “there exists a God.” And soon again the old doc-
trines asserted their right, as indestructible foundations of
the nature of man and of the stability of society, purified in
much from the old dross, but still in many points impure and
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
