From His Departure for Europe, 1826, to His Return to Princeton, 1828

PROF. HODGE sailed direct from New York on the packet ship “Edward Quesnel,” for Havre, early in October. The first letter which remains is addressed to his mother from Rouen.

Rouen, October 28, 1826. My Dear Mother: — Your kind letter, which I received before leaving Princeton, has often been the subject of my grateful remembrance, especially when reperused. Every.day that I live I feel more deeply the extent of my obligations to you, for every day I become more sensible of the value of the education which your disinterested exertions secured your children, and of the restraints and counsels which kept our youthful feet “from the paths of the destroyer.” It is one of my daily subjects of thankfulness that God has given us such a mother. May He, my beloved parent, richly reward you for all your sacrifices, and give you the satisfaction of seeing your children answering your expectations, and above all things the inexpressible happiness of finding them at His right hand in peace.

Your loving son, Charles.

^T. 28.] FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 105

He writes to Dr. Alexander from Paris.

Paris, November 2, 1826.

My Dear Sir: — There is no person beyond my own family of whom I think as frequently, or with as much affection, now that I am a stranger in a strange land, as yourself; and there is no person excepting my mother to whom I feel so deeply obligated. From my boyhood I have experienced your paternal kindness, and shall cherish as long as I live the recollection of your goodness, and of the many blessings which through you God has mercifully granted me.

It is now a week since we arrived at Havre. Our passage was rather longer than usual, as we were at sea twenty-five days. The greater part of the time the weather was unpleasant, and the voyage much more boisterous than I expected at this season of the year. We, however, escaped every accident, and, indeed, were never in circumstances to excite any apprehension. I found the sea delightful when the weather was fine, but very much the reverse when we were driven to the cabin by rain and storms. It requires no little strength to withstand the disposition to listless idleness which seems to take possession of every one on shipboard. If I may judge by my own experience the sea is no place for study. The only thing of much interest I saw at Havre was the port itself, which is entirely formed of piers, projecting a considerable distance into the sea, between which the water flows at high tide into the docks, where it is confined by large gates, which are closed as soon as the tide begins to fall. Here the shipping is kept floating, although the canal which leads to the docks is at low water perfectly dry. Hence, it is only at high tide that vessels can go either in or out. This is a great inconvenience, for it obliged us to beat on and off the harbor from eight in the morning until five in the evening. The moment the ship touched the dock, a police officer in military dress came on board and demanded our passports. As I and several others had none, we were obliged to appear before the American Consul, and produce evidence of our being citizens of the United States. The Consul gave us a certificate to that effect, upon which the police granted us a passport to proceed to Paris. Our baggage was subjected to the same ceremony. This form was carried through with a good deal of politeness by the officers, who frequently begged our pardon, and asked permission very humbly to do what we had no power to prevent.

The moment you set your foot on land you see you are in the old world. The houses are antiquated in their appearance m the extreme. The streets are narrow, destitute of side-walks and dirty. The people are poorly dressed, clattering along on wooden shoes, none of the women (at least the poorer ones) wearing bonnets, but in place of them a singular kind of cap. You soon see also, that the land is France. We had not walked far before we heard the violin, and discovered singing and dancing going on one side of the way, while on the other people were praying on their knees at the door of a chapel. There is a very ancient and fine-looking church at Havre. On entering it I was very much struck with finding nearly two hundred boys in companies of about fifty each, reciting their prayers or other religious lessons to the priests. I have never in any Sabbath-school, nor in any Protestant church in our own country heard children recite so well. They appeared to have got their tasks perfectly, and repeated them with wonderful volubility. The priest appeared to take a great deal of pains in instructing them, explaining and enforcing what had been recited. The necessity of the sacraments was in one case the subject of the teacher’s remarks. I found the same thing in Rouen when I went to the great cathedral after the service in the Protestant church was over. It is no wonder that the Catholic religion takes so firm a hold of its votaries, since it is so faithfully instilled into the minds of the young. I fear that in this respect Protestants are not as assiduous.

I expected as soon as I got into the country to lose sight of the striking indications of a foreign land which were so obvious in town. But in this I was disappointed. Every thing strikes a stranger as novel. He sees women working in the fields, asses harnessed with immense wooden saddles and almost hid by the immense baskets appended to either side, ploughs furnished with wheels; the whole country destitute of any enclosure, fields of grass or grain and vineyards all mingled together and coming down to the road-side without the slightest fence to protect them. The cattle I saw feeding were generally tied by the horns to a tree, or to a movable stake fixed in the ground. If this was not the case, they were watched. I frequently saw a woman with two or three cows tied by the horns, which she attended from one part of the field to another. Flocks of sheep were always attended by a shepherd and his dog, neither of them very romantic-looking. The cottages looked ancient, were thatched, and green with moss. The people appeared healthy and happy, but their habitations very destitute of what we should consider comfort. The country from Havre to Rouen is very far superior in beauty to any I have ever seen. I had no conception of the eflfect of long-continued cultivation on the general aspect of the country. The fields of grass were as smooth as lawns, and the fields inyET. 28.] FIRST IMPRESSIONS. io7

tended for grain were like Dr. Miller’ s gm-den. Our country is too new to enter into a comparison with this in any species of beauty which does not come at once from the hands of the great Creator. But our country people are far superior in their appearance to the same class here. Not in their personal appearance, for the population of France, as far as I have had an opportunity of observing, look more healthy, and consequently handsomer than ours, but in their appearance of comfort, independence and cultivation.

There are two views on the banks of the Seine which struck me as the perfection of the beautiful. The one is near the village of Cordbee, the other is at the entrance into Rouen, the city as seen from a high hill just on the edge of the town. I presume the latter is one of the finest in France, as it is the subject of a Panorama Mr. Eastburn saw exhibited in London. I entered Rouen with greater interest than I should almost any other place in France, because of the many interesting historical events with which it is associated. Of its eighty thousand inhabitants, only twelve hundred are now Protestant. I had the pleasure of attending their worship on Sabbath, which is so similar to our own, that I felt myself quite at home. There were not more than two or three hundred persons present, sitting principally upon chairs, before a plain pulpit. The preacher appeared to be about thirty-five years old, and was fervent and simple in his manner. His sermon was nearly an hour long, and was listened to with commendable attention. I went up to the pastor after the service, and asked him whether he could speak English. To my great gratification he answered in the affirmative. He told me the extent of his charge, and that the venerable church in which they worshipped was formerly a Catholic chapel, given to the Protestants at the time of the Revolution. He also informed me that there were several British subjects in Rouen, principally Scotch weavers, who assemble every Sabbath afternoon to hear a sermon read by some English gentleman. On this Sabbath there happened to be a clergyman of the Church of England in town, who preached and performed the service. I felt rejoiced to hear the praise of God in a foreign land in my own language, and could not help contrasting the beautiful simplicity of the service, both morning and afternoon, with the service which I had witnessed in the early part of the day in the great Cathedral. This is said to be the finest Gothic structure in France, and certainly to an eye accustomed to the church in Princeton it is sufficiently imposing. I saw it first late in the evening, and on entering its “long-drawn aisles,” lighted only here and there by a dim lamp which scarcely revealed the lofty roof, I did not wonder that such places were trod with awe. In the morning I found at least fifty priests and other religious officers engaged in chanting the service, and about two hundred persons, principally poor, kneeling or sitting in different parts of the building. No one appeared attending to what was going on, or at least few. This building is said to have been founded by William the Conqueror. One of the towers is two hundred and thirty-six feet high, and another much higher was destroyed a few years ago by lightning. The painted windows are very striking to one who has never seen any thing of the kind. The statue of Joan of Arc stands in the centre of the town. There is nothing very striking in it, except that it marks the spot on which the heroine met her melancholy fate.

After leaving Rouen the vineyards became very frequent. They appeared to be composed of currant bushes rather than grape vines, which are only two or three feet high. The grapes were all gathered and the leaves burned. The gardens here, however, look much more green than they do with us at this season. We have lettuce every day for dinner, and I have eaten strawberries which were very fine. They cultivate a species called the Alpine, which continues in bearing until frost. There has yet been no cold weather, but the sun has scarcely been visible since I arrived, and the rain, though not heavy, is almost constant. We did not reach Paris until nine or ten o’clock at night, so that I lost the pleasure of a distant view of this great city. We entered by a very broad, fine street, passing the garden of the Tuilleries, the Place Vendome (ornamented with the column made of the cannon taken by Napoleon at Austerlitz), and several of the finest buildings of the city. It is to this circumstance that I refer the strong impression I received of the grandeur of this celebrated metropolis on first entering it, which has been rather weakened than increased by viewing other and less imposing parts of it. The streets are generally narrow, excessively muddy, destitute of side-walks, and constantly crowded with all kinds of vehicles. I have taken a rapid review of the Louvre, which contains a gallery of paintings one thousand three hundred feet in length, of the Tuilleries, of the Luxemburg, of the king’s library, and of some other objects of interest. I attended the celebration of mass in the king’s chapel on the first of the month. This chapel is a tastefully ornamented room in the Palace, surrounded on the inside by a gallery supported by large stone pillars. I unfortunately took a stand which prevented my having a view of his most Christian Majesty and the Royal family. The officiating bishop was dressed in a splendid robe of gold cloth, and several of his attendants were almost as richly adorned. The middle aisle was filled with the royal guard. The music was said to be very fine. It made no impression on me, much less, at iT:T. 29.] LIFE IN PARIS. lOQ

least, than I have experienced from hearing the simplest melody. There was nothing in the whole service which appeared to me at all adapted to make any man either wiser or better. To-morrow is the regular day for a great festival (the king’s birth-day, I believe), on which it is customary to distribute wine and provisions to the multitude, to illuminate the garden of the Tuilleries, to exhibit fire-works, &c. But as to-morrow happens to be a fast-day, all this is put off to the Sabbath!

I hope you will be kind enough to write to me. Letters from home are more precious than gold. Remember me most affectionately to Mrs. Alexander and every member of your family. I beg of you, my dear father, not to forget me in your prayers, for I greatly need them. I need hardly recuest you to present Dr. Miller the assurance of my affectionate and grateful remembrance.

Yours with respect and affection,

C. Hodge.

He remained at Paris from the 1st of November to the 15th of February, studying French, and Arabic and Syriac with De Sacy.

He settled in a handsomely furnished room near the Pont Neuf, in the Place Dauphine, at the apex of the Island, formed by the Seine, in the heart of the city. He boarded in the family of a Mr. Oberlin, one of the librarians of the King’s Library, living on the opposite side of the thoroughfare to his lodging-room. All his associations were with the Oberlin family, who spoke only French, and with a number of agreeable fellow-boarders, consisting of two barons, one doctor in philosophy, and one captain in the army, who were Swedes, together with a young Englishman, son of Sir Henry Parnell, M. P.

MR. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

Paris, Nov. 20, 1826.

Dear Sarah: — Young Parnell made his appearance among us this

morning for the first time. He is a handsome, amiable-looking youth

of about twenty. He asked me, immediately after our introduction,

whether I came to Paris with a view of studying the French language.

I answered, “Partly so, but principally with a view to Biblical studies.” “Ah!” said he, “they are the most delightful in the world. I wish I could devote my whole life to them.” I said, “You are a citizen of a free country, and can do as you like.” He answered, “Yes; but as I happen to be the oldest son, my father wishes me to enter political life. I still hope, however, the Lord will open my way to the ministry.” You may suppose that I felt somewhat surprised and greatly pleased.

MR. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

Paris, Dec. 21, 1826.

My Dear Sarah: — I went on Monday evening to Professor Stapfer’s — a gentleman who has been very kind and very useful to me. I had the pleasure of meeting there Benjamin Constant, with whose name you must be familiar. He is one of the most distinguished liberals of the Chamber of Deputies, and is a man of extensive influence. He reminded me very much of Timothy Pickering in his appearance, although a younger man. There were two Protestant clergymen there. One of them was the younger Monod, a very evangelical man, who has undertaken the Herculean task of translating Scott’s Commentary into French.

I wrote to Mr. Robinson (Rev. Dr. Edward Robinson), of Andover, now in Germany, to ascertain which university offered the greatest advantages, and the expenses of living, &c. I have received a very full and satisfactory answer from him. He tells me that for the purposes for which I have come hither there is no comparison between any other university at present and Halle. That the advice of every person he consulted directed him to that place, and the result of his own observation, after spending six weeks in Gottingen, and then proceeding to Halle, confirmed him in the correctness of all he had previously heard. There is one very important consideration, that one of its leading theological professors (Tholuck) is a very pious man, the like of which is not to be found elsewhere. Halle, like all old European cities, has narrow, gloomy, and dirty streets. The society, however, he says, is good, and the facilities for study very great. I had, before I received his letter, heard enough to determine me that Gottingen was not the place for me. Eichhorn is superannuated; Staudlin is dead; Planck is in ruins under the epilepsy, so that, as far as theology and Biblical literature is concerned, it is almost despoiled. With regard to expenses, Robinson says that Halle is cheaper than Gottingen, though at the latter a student need not spend more than three hundred or two hundred and fifty dollars per year.

^T. 29.] LIFE IN PARIS. in

With respect to Halle he says: “I find all my expenses here, exclusive of clothes, books, and traveling, and including instruction, lectures, &c., amount to about five rix dollars per week, i.e., three dollars and seventy-five cents of our money, which is at the rate of less than two hundred dollars per annum.” After making all allowance, it is certainly very, very cheap. I pay my Arabic teacher alone almost as much for three lessons a week, i.e., I have to pay five francs or one dollar per lesson. Paris, therefore, is not the cheapest place in the world. Mr. Robinson informs me that the spring lectures commence about the middle of April. Unless I am there at least two months before that time, I shall be utterly unable to enjoy the benefit of the course. 1 have, therefore, made up my mind to leave this about the beginning of February.

MR. HODGE TO HIS WIFE,

Paris, Dec. 28, 1826. ]Ty Dear Sarah: — I would follow your plan of writing something every day, if 1 were not in the habit of spending all my days in the same manner. I rise about eight, at which hour I have my French teacher to attend on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On other days he comes at two o’clock. I read and study until half past ten, when I go to breakfast, which takes rather more than an hour, including delays. I then return to my room, and remain until half past three, when I go three times in the week to my Arabic teacher. At five I go to dinner, and remain at Mr. Oberlin’s generally to seven or later. The evening is almost always spent at home reading and studying until twelve, when I go to bed. When I go out it is generally from ten to two.

MR. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

Paris, Jan. loth, 1827. My Dear Sarah: — I went as I told you I expected to do, to see the king dine on the first of this month. We passed through several of the apartments of the palace, which were very splendidly furnished, especially his chamber of audience, which is hung with crimson velvet and ornamented with gold. The dining-room is very long and narrow. One end was crowded with ladies in their court-dresses, the opposite end was occupied by musicians and singers. Around the table, which was in the shape of a horse-shoe, the principal officers of the king were standing, old Talleyrand among the rest. His Majesty sat in the centre, the Dauphin on his right, and the Daujjhiness on the left. The former looked like a very good-natured man, but his wife always appears out of humor. The little Duchess De Berry sat next to the Dauphin, and as usual seemed full of gayety and good spirits. She is as much liked by the French as the Dauphiness is disliked. Although royalty always sinks upon a close inspection, yet I am very glad 1 went. How it is that the million can by choice consent to exalt one like themselves so much above them, I cannot conceive.

My young friend Parnell has entered the army. This step was much against his will, but the Duke of Gloucester had, as a great favor, offered his father a commission for him in the guards, which he accepted, and then sent to his son for his consent. He is one of the most faultless young men I have ever seen. This, however, is only negative praise, though amounting to a great deal. His simple, humble, devotional piety is his great characteristic. When he is gone I shall lose the principal source of my enjoyment in Paris.

MR. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

Paris, Feb. 12th, 1827.

My Dear Sarah: — I am now preparing for my departure from Paris, which I expect to leave on Thursday or Friday, the 15th or 1 6th.

I preached yesterday for the fourth time for Mr. Wilkes, the English preacher in Paris, who has been so unwell that he has not been able to preach for more than a month. I had the honor of having among my hearers Gen. Lafayette’s family; that is, half a dozen of his daughters and grand-daughters. I was very much pleased with them when I saw them a few evenings since at the Geheral’s. His grand-daughters are very unaffected, pleasing girls, and some of them are quite pretty. The old gentleman looked remarkably well, and is as kind and polite as possible. I left my letter and card on the third ineffectual call, and received soon after a very kind note from him. I met there Baron Humboldt, and was introduced to him. He is not a striking, but a pleasant-looking man, very affable, and has a fine forehead. He kindly offered me letters of introduction to Germany, to any of his correspondents I might desire. An offer I was not slow to accept.

Your affectionate husband, C. H.

A former occasion of his preaching at the Rev. Mr, Wilkes’s service, is noticed in the Journal kept by Dr. Thomas Guthrie, then a young man studying in Paris:

^T. 29.] LIFE IN PARIS, “Jan 21. I then set off for Mark Wilkes’s service, which is held in a part of the Oratoire. The preacher was a Mr. Hodge, an American professor, who had come to Europe for the purpose of studying the Oriental languages. He intended to do so in Germany, but was at present studying French in Paris, as a medium of communication with the Germans. He was a young-like, intelligent, fair, good-looking, thin and rather little man, (Guthrie was six feet two inches); and gave us a capital sermon from the 19th verse of the fifth chapter of I John. The singing was very beautiful. The Enghsh sounded most sweetly and pleasantly to my ear. It brought vividly before my mind the memories of my native land; while the smallness of the numbers, the upper room in which we were met, the irreligious and idolatrous country in which we were maintaining the pious worship of God, reminded me of the infant state of the Christian Church.”

Mr. Hodge writes to Dr. Alexander:

Paris, Jan. 29, 1827.

My Dear Sir: — From the time at which the winter course in the German universities commenced, it was impossible for me to derive any advantages from the public instructions had I proceeded according to my original plan. I therefore thought it most advisable to spend a few months here in studying Arabic, and in gaining as much knowledge of the French as would enable me to prosecute my journey without suffering all the inconveniences of being completely deaf and dumb. The advantages for the study of the Oriental languages here are very considerable, especially for those who wish to cultivate them for the sake of their own literature, or for commercial purposes. De Sacy lectures three times every week on Arabic, and three times on the Persic. His method does not differ from the ordinary manner of hearing a recitation with us. His class, which does not consist of more than seven or eight, read the Koran on one day, and a part of his Chrestomathy on the other. He does little more than explain the force of the words, and any difficulties which may occur in the grammatical form or construction. He is very particular and very attentive, devoting upwards of two hours to each exercise. Besides this Professor Caussin de Perceval lectures on the Arabic grammar three times a week. De Sacy also lectures on Persian. Quatremere on Hebrew. His course, however, is purely elementary, at least at this season, and he has only two or three hearers. Lectures are delivered upon almost all the Eastern languages; Sanskrit, Chinese, Bengalee, Hindoostanee, &c. All these, as well as the instructions in the sciences, law, and medicine, are public and gratuitous. There is a great difference between the lecture-rooms of the Professor of Chemistry and the Professor of Hebrew. The latter having two and the former two thousand hearers, The establishments connected with the medical profession, the schools and hospitals are upon a most munificent scale; indeed nothing can be more liberal than all the arrangements of the government connected with the great literary and scientific institutions of the metropolis.

I have attended the meetings of the Asiatic Society, which consists of forty or fifty near-sighted Orientalists, of whom De Sacy is the President. It was at first amusing and surprising to see every man with the paper or book he wished to read almost in immediate contact with his face. The worthy President is as remarkable for the shortness of his sight as for the depth of his knowledge. This is not a comforting account for Addison, who has commenced already paying the penalty for this species of learning. The proceedings of this Society, having no connection with the Biblical subjects, are not to me very interesting.

I have also attended the meeting of the Institute, which consists of the most distinguished literary and scientific men of Paris, having La Place for their President. At these meetings some paper is read by one of the members, and afterwards discussed. Arrangements are made for the accommodation of strangers and others not connected with the Society, of whom a considerable number are usually present.

I have made up my mind to go to Halle instead of Gottingen. Mr. Robinson informs me that more attention is paid to Biblical literature at Halle than at any other university. It has also the great advantage of having Tholuck within its walls, who ‘is as -much distinguished for piety as for his learning. 1 have seen a little work of his on the Theology of the Ancient Persians, which states in the title-page that the materials were derived from Arabic, Persic and Turkish manuscripts, in the Royal Library of Berlin. As Tholuck is at present not more than eight or nine and twenty, he must have published that work when he was about twenty-four or five! This is a wonder to me. I have also seen a treatise of his to show that Christ is the central sun and key of the Old Testament. His work on the Romans, I was told by Profesor Stapfer here, was the best that has been published. He has also written a work which has produced a great impression, on the doctrine of Redemption. One of the leading Professors of Berlin also, Neander, is orthodox on all the great points.

Yours with filial respect and affection,

C. H.

LEAVES PARIS FOR HALLE.

He left Paris on the 15th of February, 1827, at 5 o’clock, p. M., and traveled by diligence during the coldest weather of that entire winter, through Chalons, Metz, Mayence, Frankfort and Leipsic to Halle, passing the Rhine on the ice. He arrived at Halle, Wednesday morning, February 28th, at 2 o’clock.

The same day he wrote to his wife.

My Dear Sarah: — Halle is, beyond dispute, the dirtiest, ugliest, gloomiest town of its size 1 ever saw. It is a great relief to find two Americans here who welcome a countryman with sincere pleasure. Mr. Robinson I think you saw in Princeton. He is reserved and cold, but at the same time he appears to be really kind, and puts himself to more trouble to be of service than many whose feelings lead them to a more warm and cordial expression of good-will. He is one of those men, I suspect, who slowly and surely make their way to your confidence, which they seldom show to be misplaced. I anticipate, therefore, much solid advantage from being associated with him. I have taken a room next to his in a house which belongs to and is in part occupied by Gesenius. Mr. Cunningham, from Boston, is in the same house. He is a handsome young man, apparently very amiable and quite prepossessing. We breakfast and tea separately in. our own rooms, and dine together at half-past twelve at a public house. The rest of the day is taken up in studying and attending lectures, which is the best manner of attaining this exceedingly difficult language. Your husband, C. H.

The day after his arrival he was introduced to Gesenius, Niemeyer, Tholuck and Jacob. The day of this introduction he wrote to his mother,

Halle, March i, 1827.

Dear Mother: — I have seen two of the most celebrated Professors, and have experienced very sensibly how a man sinks into his proper size when seen face to face. When viewed from the other side of the Atlantic, these men seemed something out of the ordinary course of things, but here, whatever their minds may be, their bodies are made of very vulgar clay. I have never been so disappointed in my life as in the appearance of Gesenius, who is the first Hebrew scholar probably in the world. He is not more than forty years old, frivolous, and, what is a woader here, rather foppish in his appearance.

He has a silly laugh for every thing he says, and is in short the last man I should have selected from ten thousand as a distinguished philologist. He is, however, affable, polite and kind in his manners. Although you cannot force yourself to respect him, you feel at ease and pleased in his society. All physiognomy and craniology fail, I think, in reference to such men, for his talents and erudition are unquestionable. I heard him lecture this afternoon, and though by no means imposing even in the desk, he appears to more advantage than in his own study. Tholuck, who is only twenty-nine or thirty, is a very remarkable man. He is a wonder in this part of Germany for being pious, and his countenance is expressive and pleasing. He speaks a multitude of languages, and English among the rest. The German Professors study in complete dishabille. It is a great pity that the literary men of this country should be kept so perfectly distinct as to have none of the advantages which the intercourse with society gives. Tholuck, however, has traveled considerably, and, when out of his study, exhibits a very different appearance. Your affectionate husband, C. H,

When he had been a little more than three months in Halle, in a letter to Dr. Alexander, Mr. Hodge corrected the statement of his first impression of Gesenius given above, and gives an account of his own occupations, “Of the critics, Gesenius appears by far the ablest, and is perhaps, doing the most harm, although he confines himself to the Old Testament, and appears to give himself no manner of concern about any doctrinal subject, and to take no interest in any discussion not purely of a critical character. He says a book is genuine or not, without caring in the least whether it pleases one party or the other. And this increases his influence as it gives him the appearance of impartiality. The first impression which his manner and appearance make, as I mentioned in one of my first letters from Halle, is by no means favorable. But in the lecture-room it is very different. He is so clear and animated, and so perfectly master of his subject, that I do not wonder at his being so popular. His lectures on Job this summer are attended by more than three hundred students, who fill the room almost to suffocation. I attend this course — four times a week — and his lecture on Syriac — twice a week — Reisig on the more difficult points of Greek grammar — five times a week; and Tholuck’s Introduction to Theology — twice a week. My reason for attending the latter is principally to gain an acquaintance with the theological literature; as his object is not merely to give a systematic arrangement of the subjects, and point out the way in which they should be studied, but also to give the character of the most important works belonging to each department. I have private lessons in Syriac three times a week, and German still every day.”

He was at once admitted to the intimacy of Tholuck, and formed a personal friendship, which on both sides remained unabated to the end of their long lives. Not long before his own death, in 1877, Tholuck sent his friend with warm expressions of love, a photographic likeness of himself, which was cherished by his friend with great tenderness for the short year he survived him.

On the nth of March, 18 2y, Mr. Hodge wrote to his wife.

Afy Dearest Sarah: — I have by this time become quite reconciled to Halle. The weather has been of late so fine, that every thing looks more pleasant. I have not seen much of any of the Professors here excepting Tholuck, with whom I walk three or four times a week for an hour or two together. He has been also kind enough to call two or three times and read German with me. Being a young man and a pious one, and being very fond of exercising himself in English, which is one of the fifteen languages he understands, he puts us entirely on a level with himself, and is very instructive. I look at him frequently with wonder. Not older than I, he is the author of some of the best Biblical works in Germany, and has a fund of knowledge which few men attain at the end of the longest life. The great superiority of German learning (and the superiority is great) arises not from the mode of instruction in the universities, but from the excellence of their primary schools. A boy is so well grounded in Greek and Latin that he has no trouble with these languages. As these are the great instruments of learning in all departments, they have nothing to do but to apply them.

Your affectionate husband, C. H.

March ^tk, Sabbath. The evening was spent at Prof, Tholuck’s, with Mr. Robinson and Mr. Cunningham. Our conversation was principally on the doctrines of religion. Tholuck said he thought the doctrine of depravity was the most important doctrine of the gospel, and that he did not believe a Pelagian could be a Christian, Justification, he explains after the manner of the old Lutherans, as founded on the imputed righteousness of Christ. He does not believe in the personal efficiency of the human soul, and, therefore, thinks that all acts come from God; when good, both as to their substance and quality; when evil, the quality is from the sinner himself

In prophecy and types he is also of the same opinion, holding to the double sense. He asked me if I did not find myself unsettled in reading the exegetical works of the modern German school. I answered, no, at which he seemed surprised, and asked what views I entertained about prophecy. I told him I considered the Prophets under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that they often wrote what they themselves did not understand, and when intend- ,ing to describe their own circumstances, or events immediately at hand, really did describe the circumstances of Christ and his church, &c., &c., &c. He exclaimed, Oh, if you are upon that ground Neology never can touch you.

He gave us a very interesting account of the state of religion in Berlin, which he described as very flourishing. He mentioned particularly a Prussian Baron, whose eminent piety first brought him (Tholuck) to reflection and seriousness. The thought which constantly struck him when contemplating the character of this good man was — Can all this be the effect of natural disposition? Is it not the result of divine influence? Neander, he also represented as a model of Christian excellence.

March 6th, Tuesday. This morning I called on Prof Tholuck, agreeably to appointment, and walked a mile or

^T.29.] LIFE IN HALLE. Hg

two out of town with him. Our conversation was principally upon biblical and doctrinal subjects. In their university studies, he told me, they generally commenced by giving a course of Encyclopczdia, which pointed out the several departments of Theology, the method of studying them, and the books of most importance under each. They give the Einleitung or Introduction to the Scriptures, which includes an account of the criticism, authenticity, contents, etc., of the sacred volume. Then Exegesis, and then a Philosophical view and systematic arrangement of the doctrines.

He talked a great deal about the philosophical opinions of the present German Literati. Kant’s system is universally abandoned. Fichte, who followed him, is also forgotten. Schelling has shared the same fate. The reigning philosopher of the day is Hegel. Schleiermacher has a system of his own. The present systems are all Pantheistic. Hegel and Schleiermacher both deny the personality of the Deity and the individuality of the soul of man. The uni-. versal principle with them is God, and, according to Hegel, the world itself is the Realitat of the Deity, and all it contains, the different races of men, and the animals in their various orders, are all modes of existence of this one universal principle. This, at least, is the idea I got from Tholuck’s description. For I do not pretend to understand a system which its author says is comprehended only by two theologians in Germany; and which, as Gesenius very properly remarked to Mr. Robinson, was thereby proved to be not worth understanding. Even the Biblical Theologians of Germany are so led away by the speculative spirit, so characteristic of its inhabitants, that it seems impossible they should be restrained within the bounds of sober and important truth, except by the influence of religion on their hearts. Tholuck, himself, who has much of this philosophizing spirit, considers matter as only a different modification of spirit, the essence of both being the same. I understood him to say that Neander was of the same opinion.

March jth. This morning, at 9, I attended Wegscheider’s lecture upon the Acts of the Apostles, and then Gesenius on Ecclesiastical History. I have as yet been by no means favorably impressed with this oral method of instruction. The only advantages I can perceive attending it, are that information is conveyed to a greater number than would take the trouble to take it out of books, and that viva voce communication is perhaps more spirited ‘and impressive. I called, with Mr. Robinson, upon Wegscheider, and found him in his study surrounded with books. He is rather a dull, heavy man, in his appearance and manner of lecturing. But he was very affable and agreeable in his manners, and appears frank and kind.

March 8th. This morning, at 1 1 o’clock I called upon Prof Tholuck, and walked with him until one. He said it was evident that vital religion was very much increasing in Germany, and he thought, that the pantheistic philosophy of the day was doing good inasmuch as it led men to entertain a “deep religious feeling,” and showed them the insufficiency of the neological systems. Schleiermacher, especially, he thought was made an instrument of great usefulness, partly without designing it, or in a way which he did not contemplate. His authority stands so high that the respect which he manifests for the Bible, and the reverence with which he speaks of Jesus Christ, has great influence. He has thus been the means of awakening the attention to religion of many young men, and of some of great eminence, as Neander, who after renouncing Judaism, was for some time a disciple of Rousseau. Tholuck, himself, attributes much of his religious feeling to Schleiermacher’s influence. About 4 o’clock Tholuck called for me to walk with him, and, although much fatigued by the morning excursion, I could not deny myself the pleasure. His conversation was principally on practical religion.

JET. 2g.’ LIFE IN BERLIN. 121

Saturday, March loth. This morning I had for the first time the pleasure of hearing Tholuck. He was upon the first part of the 5th chapter of Malachi. It was pleasant to hear at least one of the celebrated Professors of the University giving a religious cast to his exposition of Scripture. After his lecture, I walked with him until dinner time. He said he did not always approve of the manner of interpretation adopted by the Tiibingen Professors, and that he thought that Storr especially was often very unnatural. In the afternoon Tholuck was kind enough to call and read with me, or rather for me, a part of Olshausen, on the secondary sense of SS. He professed himself an adherent to the grammatical historical method of interpretation, but said this would bring out the secondary sense.

Monday, March 12th. Spent mostly at home alone, pursuing the dull task of learning German. Heard Wegscheider in the morning and Gesenius in the afternoon.

Tuesday, MarcJi 17th. In conversation with my German teacher, who is a pious young man, I learnt that the number of pious students here is not so great as I had been led to expect. He said there were not more than twenty of the seven hundred, theological students; a much larger number, however, are more or less orthodox. At Tiibingen, he said, there was no pious professor in the university, although much piety in the town. At 1 1 o’clock I walked with Tholuck. He said he thought the number of pious students here was greater than my teacher had admitted. But that it was impossible to say. He was disposed to think that very few of those not religious were orthodox — that in Germany there is such an indefinite variety of opinion that men do not admit of classification. Many profess to be supernaturalists, merely because they believe in miracles. He said the works in general belonging to the department of periodical literature were superficial. Bcrtholdfs, though neological, was the best, except a Catholic one published in Vienna. Tholuck spoke in terms of great admiration of Martyn, and said he was so delighted with his memoirs that he had determined to translate them, but was anticipated. He has himself long cherished a strong desire to consecrate himself to the missionary work. But Providence has as yet closed the way. He spoke feelingly of the peculiar difficulties which most of the present pious learned men have to contend with. Having most of them been previously neologists, they found their old sceptical doubts, particularly with regard to the Old Testament, continually to harass them.

Wednesday March itli. I have, this evening, had the pleasure of conversing for two or three hours with Tholuck in my own room. Our conversation was principally on the philosophical systems of Germany. He said that many Christian theologians were inclined to many of the principles of the Pantheistic philosophers — that they could not conceive how God could create out of nothing — and therefore admit that the material universe and the soul of man are of the divine essence. But they differ from the Pantheists in being persuaded of the personality of the Deity, and the individuality of the human soul, believing that it is the highest exercise of divine power to confer this personal individuality upon his creatures. Schleiermacher would not admit the appellation of Pantheist, which he says is a nick-name, and belongs to the materialistic Pantheists, while he is himself what would be commonly understood by the term. Tholuck said that of English philosophers Reid and Hume were most esteemed, Stewart less, and Locke not at all. It seemed to me a great misfortune that philosophy is mixed up with religion in this country, for it gives so abstruse and mystical a character to the explanations of important truths that there is little reason to be surprised that the term Mystics has been applied to the advocates of piety. Thus, for instance, they make faith to be the development of the life of God in the soul — that is — the divine essence everywhere diffused and the universal agent iET.29.] LIFE IN HALLE, 1 23

unfolding itself in the heart. Tholuck read several passages for me from Schleiermacher’s Dogmatik, but they seemed to me to darken counsel by words without wisdom, Tholuck surprised me by saying that since his twentieth year he had seldom been able to secure more than three or four hours a day for study.

Thursday, March ith, Tholuck called at eleven for me to walk with him. He said he thought the Rabbinical dialect more important for the illustration of the New Testament than any other whatever, and, therefore, more useful to the Biblical student than either Arabic or Syriac. Arabic was of little use except to make use of the “helps” in reading the Old Testament. He said he had been very much struck with the coincidence between the manner of expression and argument in the Rabbinical writers and those of the New Testament.

In the evening, together with Mr. Cunningham, I drank tea with Prof von Jacob, who is an old gentleman, author of some works of distinction on political economy. His daughter is also an authoress, and remarkable for her knowledge of language.

Tuesday, March 20th. Walked with Tholuck at eleven. We were led at first to talk on the possibility of a Christian’s falling from grace, which led to the doctrine of the freedom of the will. Tholuck said, he agreed entirely with the doctrine of Edwards, on that subject. He told me that Schleiermacher, who belongs to the Reformed Church, was strenuous in his defense of some of its peculiar doctrines; maintaining that they alone were consistent. He told me also that there was more vitality among the Reformed than among the Lutherans. Basle, Bremen, Bonn and — the four places in which religion is in the most flourishing state, were principally settled by the Reformed. At Berlin, also, where there is so much religion, the Reformed are numerous. In the evening, I drank tea with Robinson, Tholuck, &c. ‘Tholuck was in fine spirits, and surprised me by his

124 IN HALLE. [1827.

familiar acquaintance with the poetry and lighter works of his own country. Scarcely a book was mentioned from which he could not at once repeat numerous passages.

Thursday, March 22d. This morning I again had the pleasure of walking with Tholuck. He finds a great deal of difficulty, he says, in reconciling the doctrine of the final perdition of all men who die in unbelief to his feelings, and seems disposed to adopt the opinion, that there will be hereafter, other offers of mercy to the souls of men. The passage in Peter, referring to Christ’s preaching to the spirits in prison, he interprets as teaching a descent into the abodes of departed souls, and the offer of salvation, to those who had either not received or rejected them when on earth. He says, that some evangelical men, in Germany, hold something similar to the old doctrine of the Limbus Patrum. Wegscheider maintains strenuously, that Paul taught the doctrine of predestination just as the Calvinists hold it, and urges this as a proof of the little dependence we can place on that Apostle.

Saturday, March 2ph. This morning I took my last walk with Tholuck. He is just leaving town for the vacation. He told me he had much to endure from the many unfounded reports, which the enemies of piety were constantly spreading, respecting the few of that character here. He is much worried at what the Germans call Kleinstadtigkeit, i. e., little-citywn, a most expressive word, which prevails in Halle. As all the other professors are far from orthodox, he is regarded as a strange being, and subject of suspicion and tale-bearing.

March joth. Yesterday at dinner, I made the acquaintance of our countryman, Rev. B. Kurtz. This evening I spent in his company. He informed me that in St. Petersburg he had received one thousand rubles from the Empress, and experienced considerable attention from distinguished personages. He spoke favorably of the state of religion among the Lutherans in the sea provinces of Prussia. Among the Greeks, as far as he could judge from the service of their churches, there was very little piety. The service was in Sclavonic, which the people do not understand. At Konigsberg, he also found a great deal of piety, and in Berlin, as much as is to be met with in Philadelphia or New York. The Royal family paid him great attention, and contributed handsomely to the funds of the Seminary for which he is soliciting. In Copenhagen, he was also received graciously by the King and Queen.

April ist. Sabbath. I had the pleasure of hearing Mr, Kurtz preach a real evangelical sermon on Eph. iii. 19. May God of His infinite mercy bless brother Kurtz for having praised His Son, and representing love for Him to be the one thing needful, without which, with all eloquence and all learning, we should be only as a tinkling cymbal.

April jd. Mr. Kurtz says he has met a great many pious Prussian officers. That in Berlin, in one company, he saw twelve of this character. That the aids of the Crown Prince, and almost all the Governors and Governesses, in the Royal family, are of this character. The Moravians at Herrnhut retain, he says, their evangelical character.

Sabbath, April 8th. This morning I attended the Reformed Church, and heard Herr Rinecker, who is considered the best preacher in Halle. In the afternoon, I witnessed the interesting service, attending the confirmation of from fifty to one hundred children. They came to the church in a procession preceded by the pastor, and attended with music. As soon as they entered the building the organ commenced playing, and an appropriate hymn was sung. The minister then took his stand at the altar, and the children stood up around him. After a short address he commenced a catechetical exercise, which continued for about half an hour. Another hymn was sung; the organ was accompanied by four trumpets. This is the first time I have heard this kind of music in a church. The effect upon my feelings was very strong and very pleasing. The preacher, Superintendant Tiemann then commenced his sermon from

Proverbs, “My son, give me thy heart.” His discourse appeared to me very good, recognizing the leading doctrines of the gospel, and delivered with a great deal of animation. His audience was frequently in tears. In his prayers for the dear children, whom he was about to receive into full fellowship in the church, he prayed for every blessing a Christian heart could desire. After leaving the pulpit he again addressed the children, who read aloud the Apostles’ Creed, and audibly before the congregation professed their faith. After this, they approached the pastor four or five at a time, and kneeled before him. He, in the name of the ever blessed Trinity, blessed them, and recognized them as members of the church, taking each one by the hand, and placing his hand upon their heads successively, as he addressed to them a short exhortation.

The impression which this whole service made upon my mind was very pleasant. And I could not help feeling that however little authority there may be for confirmation, as of divine appointment, that some service of the kind might properly be introduced into our churches. It would have at least this good effect, that baptized persons would then be brought more under the discipline of the church, and the nature of their connection with it would be rendered more definite. I could not help feeling also, from the impression made upon the children and the audience, that few occasions would, humanly speaking, offer better opportunities of doing good to the souls of all present. [This I bear testimony was Dr. Hodge’s opinion, often expressed to the end of his life]. God grant that this little flock of lambs which has been gathered into the fold to-day on earth, may be recognized by the Good Shepherd, as a part of that little flock to whom it is the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom.

Wednesday, April nth. This morning I went with Robinson and Mr. Miiller* to visit Merseburg and the battle-

* Since the Rev. George Müller, of Bristol, England, who was Mr. Hodge’s German teacher in Halle.

JET. ig.] LIFE IN BERLIN. 12/

field of Rossbach. We set off at five o’clock, and the day proving remarkably fine, we had a very pleasant ride. Merseburg is a pleasantly situated town of about nine thousand inhabitants, and about half an hour beyond it lies the field upon which Frederick the Great, in 1757, defeated the French. A simple monument is raised on a small mound in the middle of the extensive plain. The inscription states that the monument was erected by the 3d corps of the Prussian army after the battle of Leipsic in 18 13, the previous monument having been removed or destroyed by the French. From the foot of this monument we counted between forty and fifty villages, which were all distinctly visible from the spot. From Rossbach, we rode over the country to Liitzen. Here we had the pleasure of visiting the simple monument erected on the spot where the body of Gustavus Adolphus was found, after the sanguinary battle of Liitzen, 1632. This monument is nothing more than a large granite stone, on which the name of the fallen hero, and the date of his death are cut. Stone seats are placed around for the convenience of visitors. Here one of the greatest generals and monarchs of his age fell. Here Charles XH. of Sweden stood. Here Napoleon fought and conquered almost for the last time. The great battle between the French and the Allies, in 18 13, occurred on the opposite side of the town. But Liitzen itself was afterwards occupied by the French, and the Allies filled the surrounding country.

Friday, April 17th. This being Good Friday, I attended the service of the Lutheran church this morning. The Lord’s Supper was administered after the ordinary exercises. The three pastors of the church proceeded to the altar, on which was a small silver image of our blessed Saviour, and several large wax candles, very like the altars seen in Catholic chapels. The officiating clergyman read an explanation of the sacred supper, and an exhortation to the people, and then turned to the altar, and in a solemn voice chanted the consecrating service. The two other clergymen first received the communion from his hands kneehng; then one of them took his stand at one end of the altar, while the officiating clergyman stood at the other. One took the bread and the other the cup. The people then approached, three or four at a time, and kneeling before the first suffered him to place the consecrated wafer in their mouths; they then rose and proceeding to the second clergyman, in the same way received the wine at his hands. In neither case were they allowed to touch the element with their hands. I should have thought myself in a Catholic chapel, were it not for the sound of the German language instead of the Latin. Very few of the Lutheran clergy retain their belief in the doctrine of consubstantiation, and yet the customs and ceremonies which arose out of it, are almost all preserved. I felt like a stranger here, and longed for the time when again, in the simple Scriptural manner of our church, I could partake of the memorials of our dying Saviour’s love.

Wednesday, April 18th. This day has been observed as the Jubilee of Niemeyer, the Chancellor of the University, who has now completed the fiftieth year of his academical life. We called with all the rest of the world to present our felicitations to the old gentleman this morning. lis rooms, which are spacious, were crowded with strangers, and ornamented with the numerous presents which had flowed in upon him at this season. Here we met among many other strangers, Schleiermacher and Bishop Eylert, from Berlin, Bishop Westermeyer, from Magdeburg, Tittmann from Leipsic, &c. &c. At eleven o’clock the company met in the Hall of the University. Professor Schultz read a Latin address; after which, the Curator of the University, presented Niemeyer with a beautiful porcelain vase in the name of the King. Bishop Eylert made a long discourse in German. Tittmann and his colleague from Leipsic each spoke in Latin. The pro-rector then exhibited

JET. 29.] GNADA U AND MA GDEBURG.

the marble bust of Niemeyer, which the University had caused to be made as an expression of their esteem. He received also a porcelain vase, presented by his numerous pupils of past days, and a silver civic crown from the city of Halle, to which he was a great benefactor during the last war.

Gnadau, Saturday, April 28th. This morning at eight o’clock I left Halle with the intention of making a short tour before the lectures commenced. The whole of this part of the country is a great plain. The land is generally fertile, and the villages frequent and miserably built, and the people poorly clad. Gnadau is a settlement of the Moravians, the congregation including only two hundred members. The village is remarkably neat, and the people superior in appearance to those of the neighborhood. In the evening, at seven o’clock, I went to the Prayer Hall, where the brethren assemble for their evening worship, and heard only singing. In the morning at half-past eight, I went again, and heard the Liturgy read and sung. At ten o’clock was the regular preaching. The preacher chose for his text the passage of St. John which describes our Saviour as the Good Shepherd. Like all the sermons I have heard in Germany, this sermon was hortatory, instead of doctrinal, and unlike most it was pious and animated. From all I could sec and hear, I should judge that the spirit of pure and simple piety is preserved in a high degree among these people, and the superior comfort and intelligence of the inhabitants was very striking.

Monday, April ^oth. This morning early I rode over to Gloetke, a small village about five miles distant, and spent a very pleasant day with the pastor, Westermeyer. This is a pious and intelligent young man, son of the Bishop of Magdeburg. He was brought to an entire change in his views and feelings during a six months’ residence in England and Scotland.

Magdeburg, Tuesday, May ist. As this city, with the exception of the Cathedral and a icw small houses, was

130 MAGDEBURG. [1827.

Utterly destroyed by the Austrian general Tilly, 163 1, it is comparatively modern, and therefore agreeable. It is situated on the Elbe, has numerous manufactures, and contains about 33,000 inhabitants. The fortifications of this place are said to be among the most formidable in Germany, and the garrison at present between two and three thousand men. In the evening I called upon Bishop Westermeyer, and was very kindly received.

Wednesday, May 2d. I visited this morning the celebrated Cathedral. The tout-ensemble of this building, either externally or internally, is not striking, and will not admit of comparison with that of Rouen. But it contains many most interesting monuments and works of art. Near the altar is interred the Emperor Otho I. who died a. d. 973. His tomb is now covered with a plain marble slab without an inscription; the silver railing by which it was surrounded was taken away by Tilly. His wife’s tomb, an English Princess, is striking from the ancient figures which are sculptured upon it. I was shown the helmet, commander’s staff and gloves of mail of Tilly, which were secured after his defeat near Leipsic, and deposited here by Gustavus Adolphus. The pulpit was a most beautiful piece of 17th century workmanship, made of alabaster and profusely ornamented with figures relating to Scripture history. Among the various tombs which are shown to the stranger, there was none to me so striking as that of the Archbishop Ernest, erected in 1497. It is entirely of bronze, and covered with figures for the most part emblematic. A figure of the Archbishop in his robes lies upon the top; his countenance is remarkably fine. The whole monument, although so old, appears fresh and new. ... I drank tea to-day with Bishop Westermeyer, and was impressed very much with the free and friendly manner in which he treated me. They all had so much to ask about America that I learned but little about Germany. Through the influence of the good Bishop, I obtained permission from the Com-

^T. 29-] LEIPSIC. 131

mander to ascend the tower of the Cathedral, a thing which on military grounds is permitted to few. The ascent is by 240 stone steps, and the view is very extensive.

In the evening I called on the pastor Storig, who, I understand, is almost the only orthodox minister in Magdeburgh. Here again the warm-hearted kindness of the Germans was manifested. The pastor and his family were particularly desirous of learning the character of the Presbyterians in America, whom they appeared to regard very much as we do the Covenanters or the Puritans. He told me he agreed with the younger Westermeyer, who, I find, is looked upon as something out of the ordinary course, since he is what we should call faithful and pious.

Oil Thursday, May jd, I left Magdeburg, and reached Leipsic the evening of the next day.

Saturday, May th. I walked out this morning to see the appearance of Leipsic during the great fair, which attracts people from so many different and distant places. The streets were thronged with a very heterogeneous crowd, Greeks and Jews, Hungarians, Frenchmen, etc., etc. All the streets which were wide enough for the purpose, were lined with booths in which every variety of article was exposed for sale. The most numerous class of merchants appear to be Jews. Their signs written in German and Hebrew are everywhere to be seen. They almost all wear their beards, and the better sort are clothed in a silk frockcoat reaching down to their feet, and bound round their waist with a girdle. The poorer class have a similar dress of cotton and woolen, and many of them seem miserably destitute. The Greeks were dressed in a loose frock of green cloth reaching to the knees, the sleeves large and open except at the wrist. Their appearance was tasteful. The Hungarians had large loose coats of wool, of its natural color, reaching to the feet. I spent a considerable part of the day in the museum, which contains all the literary publications of this part of the country and some from France and England.

132 LEIPSIC. [1827.

Sabbath, May 6th. This morning I went to the St. Thomas Church at half-past seven, when the service commenced. The church was crowded, the singing continued for nearly an hour, when the superintendent Tzchirner, ascended the pulpit and preached a very interesting sermon, as far as I could understand. The Lord’s Supper was afterwards administered with more ceremony than I had yet seen it in a Lutheran Church. The Consecration Service was as usual chanted, one minister standing at the altar, and the other immediately behind him. Two little boys clothed in black frocks and white scarfs stood on each side of the altar. I observed that the ministers and their attendants bowed not only when the words “Jesus Christ” occurred, but when he repeated the phrases “this is my body,” “this is the New Testament in my blood.” When the communicants received the wafer, it was placed in their mouths, and the little boys held a blue napkin spread out beneath to prevent the least particle falling to the ground. The same precaution was observed when the wine was administered.

Monday, May Jth. This morning I called on Professor Hahn, to whom I had a letter. He is a man of about thirty-five, I should suppose, rather small and by no means imposing in his appearance. He received me with great kindness, and offered to call with me upon any of the other Professors whom I wished to see. We accordingly called on Professor Linden, who has the superintendence of the Pedagogium. He as well as Prof Hahn are Christians, as pious men are emphatically called here. In the afternoon, I went with Messrs. Robinson and Cunningham to the garden, in which there is a simple monument to Prince Poniatowsky, erected near the spot on which he lost his life, in attempting to cross the Saale.

Tuesday, May 8th. This morning Prof Hahn called, and accompanied us to Prof Tzchirner’s. This gentleman is the continuator of Schrockh’s Ecclesiastical History, and author of the Analecta and some other works. He is now

-ET. 29.] LIFE IN HALLE. engaged in writing the history of the fall of Paganism. He is also distinguished as the great anti-Catholic champion. He is a very polite and agreeable man, considerably advanced in life. In his sentiments, I am told, he agrees more with the English and American Unitarians, than with the German Rationalists. I also had the pleasure of seeing Prof Winzer and Prof Beck, who is quite old, but very amiable and kind in his manners, Rosenmiiller was the only other one of the Leipsic literati whom I had the pleasure of calling upon. He is a tall, great-headed man, has an impediment in his utterance, and does not impress a stranger so agreeably as some other of the gentlemen mentioned.

This evening I returned to Halle.

May 1 2th. I have had the pleasure of seeing Tholuck several times since my return. He seems much benefited by his journey, and has had, he says, his heart warmed in Berlin, and has heard many circumstances of an encouraging character, relative to the progress of vital piety in Germany.

May 20th. Having since this day week dined in company with Tholuck every day, and expecting to continue this agreeable and profitable arrangement, I have already increased my acquaintance with the character and opinions of persons whom I have no opportunity of seeing personally, and I hope to do so still more.

Tholuck says, that Professor Hengstenberg of Berlin was formerly of Bonn, and a very warm and decided rationalist. Although now not more than twenty- five years old, he was already so distinguished that professorships in several departments were in his offer, Greek, Oriental Languages, Philosophy and Theology. He determined, however, to leave Bonn, and left behind him a strong and open declaration of his principles. Shortly after, he was led to attend a religious service among the Moravians. The discourse made such an impression on his mind, that his confidence in the truth of his own opinions was very much shaken. He betook himself to the simple study of the Bible, and at last came out a firm and practical believer in the great truths of the Gospel. He is now Professor of Oriental Languages at Berlin, and exceedingly bold. In one of his first lectures he said: “It matters not whether we make a god out of stone, or out of our own understanding, it is still a false god; there is but one living God, the God of the Bible.” This declaration was received with hissing and scraping by a large part of the students, by which he was little intimidated. He often asserts that it is only the heart which doubts.

Olshausen, the pious professor in Konigsberg, is also a young man not more than two or three and thirty. He too was formerly a Rationalist, but when his heart was once touched his opinions changed of course. Tholuck told me he used to think he was one of the last persons likely to be converted. He was continually exhorting him (Tholuck) to beware of Pietism and Mysticism, and reproaching him with being a Herrnhutter. Shortly after one of these conversations, Olshausen thought he would see for himself what Moravianism was, and so read the Life of Zinzendorf On Tholuck’s next visit he was surprised to see him dejected and sad, and asked him if he were not well. “Yes,” he answered, “but my dear Tholuck, I have been railing at you as a Herrnhutter, but I knew not what it meant, and thatliooli (Life of Count Z.), showed that I did not know what I am myself” He is now one of the warmest and most decided Christians in Germany.

May 26. I have within a few days had the pleasure of several interviews with the Rev. Mr. McCall, who has been for six years a missionary among the Jews in Poland. He appears to be a warm and sincere Christian, entertaining most of the opinions relative to the Jews, which their peculiar friends generally hold respecting their restoration and future exalted state in the church on earth, etc. He says yET.29.] LIFE IN HALLE. 1 35

that the Jews are very willing to hear, so much so that there is no necessity to seek them; they come in crowds to the house in which they know the missionary is to be found. They are exceedingly ignorant; when best educated their learning being confined to the Talmud. The Scriptures have little authority with them. They have a common saying which illustrates their sentiments on this point, viz.: “The Scriptures are water, the Mishna wine, the Gemara spiced wine.” The Pentateuch and historical books they can generally understand, but the Prophets few of them can translate. They are complete Pharisees in all their opinions and customs, and are generally sincere in their faith. There is a class among them calling themselves German Jews, who are generally infidels. Another sect, which is of recent origin, but which has taken the old name Hasidim, pretend to peculiar sanctity. Their rabbis are infallible, work miracles, give absolution, etc. The Jews are miserably filthy and offensive when not raised much above the ordinary level by wealth. They are, however, more moral than either the Catholics or Protestants of Poland. Little has been effected among them as yet, except the production of a general spirit of inquiry, and the diminution of their prejudice against Christians. Very few of them can be induced to engage in agriculture. They prefer merchandise in its various forms.

Among the Catholics, who are exceedingly degraded and superstitious, there have recently been several conversions. That of a young priest has excited a great deal of attention. Mr. McCall speaks of him as likely to become a second Luther. The Grand Duke Constantine is very favorable to missions and adverse to the Catholics. Mr. McCall, when passing through Berlin, was sent for by the Crown Prince,* who was very inquisitive about the mission, and expressed his approbation and interest in

•Frederick William IV., elder brother of the present Emperor of Germany.

its success. It is interesting in a country where the King is head of church and state, and has such uncontrolled sway, to know the character of those who are likely to influence the religion of Germany. As illustrative of the character of the Crown Prince it is worth while to mention some things which he said to Mr. McCall. He expressed his deep regret that so large a portion of the clergy had renounced the pure “Bible faith,” and preached such “stupid stuff” as the Rationalists do in its place. He was rejoiced, he said, that there were several in Berlin who now preached the true doctrines. He spoke of the state of the English Church, where, he said, they retained the doctrines, but had not much of the living power of the gospel, God grant that he in whose hands so much power may one day be lodged, may use it for his glory.

Halle, June 20th. Tholuck surprised me very much this evening by the account which he gave of the prevalence of Rationalism in Germany from 1790 to 18 15 or ’17. During this period, with the exception of the Tubingen theologians, there was scarcely a voice raised against the prevailing system of Deism. He had himself lived to his fifteenth or sixteenth year without having seen any person who believed in the Bible! excepting one boy, in the school to which he went. In this school the Deistical system alone was taught: and this was almost universal. Of the old men, who belonged to the preceding generation, some few remained who still held to the old system, but in town and country, among professors and pastors, the Rationalistic opinions were so dominant, that with few exceptions no one had courage to support the contrary doctrines. Professor Harms of Kiel, blessed be his memory! was the first to break this dreadful stillness. Upon the occasion of the ter-centennial celebration of the Reformation of Luther, he published the theses of that great man, and added many of his own against Rationalism. He was overwhelmed with abuse. No less than eighty pamphlets of all kinds in Ger-

^T. 29.] VISIT TO DRESDEN. 1 37

man and Latin were directed against him. But from this time the advocates of the truth began to multiply, and its progress has been constant, and in some departments rapid ever since.

August. I have recently had the pleasure of seeing two pious preachers from the neighborhood of Elberfeld, Messrs, Sanders and Krummacher. The account which they give of the state of religion in that region is very encouraging. In a small party, however, the doctrine of predestination has been carried out into practical antinomianism. These people feel themselves above the gospel and all its ordinances, and when they condescend to enter a church it is easy to see from their listless, careless, assured manner, that they think the doctrines which they hear are only fit for babes.

Monday, August 2’jth. This morning I left Halle with Dr. Tholuck and Mr. Ehlers for Dresden. Our ride to Leipsic was pleasant, and enlivened by the debates of these gentlemen on philosophical points. Tholuck maintained that what actually is, is all that is possible. That the world cannot possibly be other than it is. He bases this opinion on the attributes of God. He urges the idea that attributes and essence are the same in the divine Being. That beauty, holiness, knowledge are in God essential, that is, that God is essential beauty, holiness and knowledge, etc., and that all the beauty, holiness and knowledge in the universe is not only derived from God, but is the beauty, holiness, etc., of God, so that God is not only the most perfect Being, but is all that is good or beautiful in the universe. He makes the conscience of man and all his moral and religious powers the essence of God. For God cannot be only the partaker of good, but must be all that is good. In answer to my objection that we cannot conceive of beauty as an essence or seyn (esse), any more than of proportion as an essence, Tholuck replied, that proportion was an essence, so that the proportion or relation of four to eight, and of eight to sixteen is an essence, seyn. Proximity is also an essence, a seyn, etc. Tholuck appeals strongly to Augustine in support of his ideas on this subject, particularly to his ‘Confessions.’ One very important principle of Tholuck’s whole system seems to be entirely false. He appears to make what the Germans call A?ischaiiung, the test of all truth respecting invisible things, that is, the ability of forming a distinct image of the subject before the mind. This they call intuition, and when they cannot have such an Anscliammg of any subject they cannot feel its truth. But, as I said to Tholuck, it is utterly impossible to form such a bild, or image of the soul, or of God, or of any spiritual subject. But he maintained that all clear ideas of these subjects assume this form, and that this is the test of the correctness of these ideas.

We reached Dresden Tuesday evening, August 28th, and put up at the Golden Anchor tavern. The next morning I visited the gallery of paintings, which is the object of most interest among the curiosities of this city. This famous collection, thought to be the finest in modern Europe, is by no means so imposing in its arrangement as that of the Louvre. With regard to the pieces themselves, I am not able to give any judgment. I was much disappointed. Many of the paintings which are extolled as master-pieces produced very little impression upon me. The Night of Correggio belongs to this class. I can conceive that an artist can take pleasure in discovering the beauties of the proper distribution of light, which proceeds from the infant Saviour, but this is as little adapted to the untutored eye, as the intricate harmony of sound to the untutored ear. The figures in this piece have no individual beauty. The same confession I am obliged to make with regard to most of the productions of Rubens. The coloring is indeed surprising, but the effect, for me, seldom, either strong or pleasing. The Madonna of Raphael is an exception. This was as much above, as the others were iET. 29.] DRESDEN, 129

below my expectations. The infant here is wonderful; the expression of the eye belongs to no human infant, but we may well imagine such an expression in the case of our Saviour. The Virgin is the ideal of human purity and beauty; what the human frame may be when this corruption has put on incorruption, and this mortal is clothed with immortality. The Magdalen of Correggio, also, is a beautiful picture, and many others which at first produced little impression. I found it far more interesting, after repeated visits to the gallery. But on every visit I was attracted and held bound by Raphael’s Madonna.

On Thursday morning I called with Tholuck and Ehlers, upon the pastor Stephani, a man of about forty-five, of very friendly and open manners, plain and blunt in all he says. He is a warm Lutheran, reads the works of the Reformer by day and night, and unfortunately insists as much upon the peculiar tenets of his church as upon the points essential to godliness. He is, however, a great blessing to Dresden, and has served to keep alive a spirit of piety among the common people. He was educated in Halle about twenty years ago, and related many circumstances to show how utterly to all appearance religion and orthodoxy had died out. No one ever thought of preaching on the leading truths of the gospel, and some went so far as to propose to introduce a new Bible, which should contain more interesting histories than those relating to the Jews, and a purer system of morals.

This evening we drank tea with Mr. Zahn, a pious young man who is director of a seminary for the education of country school-masters. At 9 o’clock all his pupils were collected in the lecture room for prayers. After singing a few verses Tholuck read and expounded the words, from our Saviour’s last address to his disciples, “In this world ye shall have tribulation,” &c. He made this a test of Christian character in a very happy manner. “If,” said he,” the world satisfies us; if in the society and pleasures of

140 THE SAXON SWITZERLAND. [1827.

the world we find no deficiency, nothing that gives pain, that leaves our most urgent wants unsatisfied, we are not the disciples of Christ. But if we are constantly longing for the joys that flow from His presence, then we have part in His promise. ‘’I will give unto you eternal life.”

Saturday, September ist. We left Dresden on an excursion of a few days in the interesting country further up the Elbe, called the Saxon Switzerland. Mr. Zahn accompanied us a few hours distance to our dining-place. He and Tholuck, in a long argument against Ehlers and myself, maintained that every thing in nature had Bewusstseyjt, consciousness, a sense of life — trees, stones, everything that exists. The arguments for this opinion were mostly drawn from general pantheistic principles. For although these gentlemen abhor Pantheism, they have, as far as their philosophy is concerned, many principles in common with it. About 10 o’clock we passed the Elbe at Pillnitz, the country residence of the King of Saxony. The grounds are simple and neat; the palace is simply a row of low buildings, occupying three sides of a hollow square, facing inwards. We dined at Lohmen, a village situated at the foot of the first mountain. After dinner we rode about an hour up the mountain, and then commenced our tour on foot under the direction of a guide. We descended, by a flight of narrow stairs, partly cut in the rock, and partly made of wood, into a deep valley, or rather cleft, which intersects the mountain in various directions. It is sometimes twenty or thirty yards wide, and at others only a few feet, the rocks rising on either side, in most instances perpendicularly, two, four, or six hundred feet. Huge masses of rock have fallen into this cleft, and where it is narrow, have been stopped in their course, and remain jammed between the sides. After a while we began to ascend at an opening where the ascent is gradual and easy. Poor Tholuck began to walk too soon after dinner, and hence was exceedingly unwell and could enjoy nothing. The ascent brought us to the summit on

^T. 29.] THE SAXON SWITZERLAND. 141

the bank of the Elbe; here the rocks rise perpendicular to the bed of the river, eight hundred feet high. From this point the view is very extensive and very peculiar. On the right you look over a large plain gradually rising toward the horizon, over which immense piles of rock are scattered. Some of these, as the Konigstein and the Lilienstein, are miles in circumference, and rise perpendicularly for twelve hundred feet. On the left we look over a vast number of these rocky prominences, which stand as the skeletons of mountains, from which all the softer parts have been washed away. The prominence on which we stood is called the Bastey. A bridge of wood is built over some of these caverns, which gave us access to part of the mountain which was formerly the resort of thieves, and afterwards the place of refuge of the inhabitants in times of war. Evident indications that this wild region was once inhabited are still visible — such as flights of stairs cut out of the rocks, the remains of walls by which the breaches of the natural bulwarks were closed, &c., &c.

Tholuck, being too unwell to proceed, went by a nearer way to the rendezvous of the carriage, and I proceeded with the guide for an hour or two through the customary pathway along the mountain. Early in the evening we reached a bathing establishment, with an excellent public house, romantically situated just without the small town of Schandau, on the banks of the Elbe. Here we had a quiet Sabbath, September 2d. On our return we passed through Pirna and Konigstein. Near the former place we visited a very extensive hospital and asylum for insane persons. The physician kindly went over the establishment with us, and showed us the means of amusement and cure they had devised for their patients. The latter are various bathing establishments, chairs, and beds, which can be set in rapid rotary motion, the quickness and duration of the motion being proportioned to the state of the patient. Near this is Konigstein, the celebrated fortification, built upon the rock above mentioned. It has, I believe, never been subdued by force. It contains a well said to be seven hundred feet deep, cut through the rock. We reached Dresden again on the afternoon of Monday, September 3d.

September th, Dresden. This morning we spent about an hour with Dr. Neander. He is rather an old-looking man for thirty-five, has much of the Jewish countenance, and his manners, though peculiar and awkward, are exceedingly kind. The poor man has studied himself almost to death. He is so weak, and his nerves so much shattered, that he is not allowed to walk out alone. There is perhaps a constitutional weakness of nerves about him, as his sisters are very peculiar. The one who is traveling with him came hurrying home the other day in a great fright, lest some one should murder her brother in her absence. Neander is beyond competition the first man in his department in Germany, and is as much distinguished for his piety. Yet his opinions are peculiar and arbitrary. He believes in miracles, and yet gives himself the greatest trouble to explain away the gift of tongues. I heard him at length endeavor to interpret the passage in Acts as a mere natural occurrence — but very unsatisfactorily. He said the various classes there mentioned spoke for the most part the same language, that the number spoken did not exceed four, and these the Apostles might have learned in the ordinary way. The XaXslv jXioaaoK: mentioned in Corinthians, he explains of “ecstatic speaking,” as Plutarch says the priestess of Apollo” spoke with tongues. I am told Neander is a Sabellian and Patripassian, but I know not. It is pleasant to see that talent in Germany, at least in the learned professions, has fair scope. Neander’s father was a Jew, who trafficked in old clothes. Twesten’s was a lamp-lighter. Tholuck’s a silver-smith.

I had the honor of dining twice with Twesten, who is a hale, healthy-looking man. He belongs to the orthodox party, and has the character of being more variously learned iT:T. 29.] LEIPSIC. 143

than most of his h’terary brethren — not only in the various branches of Theology, but in Philosophy, and the natural sciences, medicine, law, &c., &c. He seems to have the principle that a man to be properly cultivated should submit his mind to the influence of all kinds of knowledge. He goes to the theatre from a sense of duty to cultivate his taste. He has published the first volume of a system of Theology, which, as far as its philosophy is concerned, is like that of Schleiermacher, from whom, however, he of course differs in many important points. He has got free from the chains of Pantheism, the fragments of which hang around many otherwise orthodox professors of the present day. He makes the world, however, a living being, if I understand Tholuck correctly.

I had also the pleasure of meeting Prof Ritter, of Berlin, who is more of a gentleman than most of the German Doctors in externals. He has lately published a system of Logic, directed against the Half-Kantians and Pantheists. What his own opinions are I do not know, and suspect that it is not easy, from his books, for a common man to discover. He says that every earnest and deep thinker has always acknowledged that the human race has a general personality distinct from that of the several individuals, /. e., the personalitat der Menschheit, distinct from that der Menschen.

September lotJi. I left Dresden in tJie Post for Leipsic, where I remained three or four days, and had the pleasure of seeing much of Prof Hahn, whose kindness I have much reason to remember with gratitude. I heard him lecture on the 15th chapter of ist Corinthians. His manner was feeble, but what he said was clear and to the point. Hermann I heard read on Hesiod. His lecture was in Latin, and his manner very hesitating, a fault, I am told, which he has as much when speaking German as Latin. I called also on the preacher Wolf, and had about an hour’s conversation with him. Dr. Heinroth, who has written several works in

144 JENA. [1827.

favor of orthodox Christianity, is a small, active, fami-Har man, speaking loud and bold on every subject. His views are his own, and as he expresses his ideas on Christian doctrines in philosophical language, it is not always easy for the uninitiated to understand what he means.

I left Leipsic on the evening of the 14th, in order to reach Weimar on the morning of Saturday, the 15th. After spending an hour or two in walking through the town, and particularly through the Park, I rode over to Jena. Jena lies in a hollow, surrounded by abrupt and high hills. On one of these the Prussian army was encamped when it was so totally defeated by Napoleon in 1806. The pass through which he led his army and drew his cannon is so steep and difficult, that an unencumbered man finds it no easy task to make his way. In Jena I heard two miserably cold anti-christian sermons: the one delivered in the University Church, was by a young man without a trace of Christian character in his discourse, and was intended for the students, of whom I saw only one present. I have nowhere else been so strongly impressed with the total absence of religion. I am told that the students boast of the fact that they have nothing of fanaticism among them. Fighting duels seems to be as common here as ever. A few weeks since, a young man, the only son of a widow, was killed. I have been in Halle seven months without hearing a word said on the subject. Yet one of the students lately said that they occurred almost every day or two. Jena, however, has always been particularly famous in this respect, and here the method of fighting is more dangerous than in the other universities, as thrusting is the fashion and not “slashing.” In Gottingen also, according to the statement of one of its students, duelling is still exceedingly common. The students are divided into innumerable Landsmannschaften, which are not formed merely for the different states, but for every neighborhood of the same state. Those from the

^T. 29.] JENA AND HALLE. I 45

same district band together, and have to maintain their own honor. If one be insulted, accidentally touched while passing in the street, or the like, he or some other of his company must fight the offender, or some one belonging to his clan. And so it goes on, often half a dozen such affairs in a week.

I had a letter from Dr. Tholuck to Dr. Baumgarten Crusius, and from Gesenius to Dr. Hofmann. The former I found buried in his books, although it was afternoon. He had not yet made his toilet, which with a German Professor, whose studying habiliments are rather peculiar, is essential to his appearance in public. This good and famous man was driving his studies without, to the best of my observation, even the encumbrance of a pair of pantaloons. As, however, he is one of the most learned theologians of his day, and withal received me so kindly, I should not discourse on such particulars. He is now engaged in printing three works — the one is a Dogmengeschichte; the other a Biblical Theology; and the other I have forgotten. He was kind enough to introduce me to Prof Schott, Editor of the New Testament, &c. He is an old man, and rather peculiar in his manners. With Dr. Hofmann I supped on Monday evening, and was very much pleased with him and his family. He is distinguished as an Orientalist. Reads Arabic, Syriac, Hebrew, Sanskrit, &c., &c. His Syriac Grammar, which is just leaving the press, will be far the most full and extensive yet published.

I left Jena on Tuesday, September 18th, for Halle, where 1 remained until October lOth, engaged principally in writing. It was vacation; my friends were absent. I supped one evening with Gesenius, in company with Reisig, the two Professors Niemeyer, Professors Meyer, Jacob and Friedlander. Such loud talking and laughing would seldom be heard among an equal number of English literati. Reisig is a complete Bursche, loud and indelicate, but apparently good-natured.

146 HALLE AND WITTENBERG. [1827.

LETTER FROM THOLUCK RECEIVED BY MR. HODGE WHILE
STILL IN HALLE.

Radensleben, Near Ruffin, Sept. 22, 1827.

My Dear Beloved Brother in tJie Lord: — I am sitting in a statelycastle; opposite me are the dove cotes and gardens, and the great highway; in the room near me my beloved friend, Hengstenberg; round about me the articles for the Church yournal. The sky is cloudy, the air is heavy, but my heart is light and dwells upon a far distant land, and a beloved brother in another part of the world, whom God has given to me. You, dear brother! You have become so dear to me that I can scarce express to you my love. But were our bond not secure in God, it would be in vain; and had we not been directed to each other, in the spiritually dead Halle, our bond would not have become so firm on God. Therefore I am sincerely thankful to gloomy Halle

I reached Berlin about 8 o’clock in the evening. On the second day I met by appointment Justice Focke, a very intimate friend of mine, who said much to me regarding you, and is very proud of you. On the third day I dined with the Patriarch (Baron Kottwitz), in a great company. O what vivifying power springs from such Christian fellowship.

Hengstenberg was not in Berlin, but at his parents-in-law, upon a country estate 40 miles from Berlin. On the fourth day of my presence in the city, a coach suddenly made its appearance, and bore me in the country to visit him. Here I have been for eight days. My dear friend, how are you passing your time in Halle? Does it pass pleasantly or drag upon your hands. Pray leave behind the gloomy place, and hasten to friendly Berlin.

Now with sincere love, I commend you to God, and to the protection of His grace. Your faithful, A. Tholuck.

On Wednesday evening, October loth, I left Halle, after a residence of seven months, probably forever. A thought which makes one sad, however little interest the object may have in itself, which is seen for the last time. I reached Wittenberg about six o’clock the next morning. I first visited the Seminary which is intended for the more practical part of the preparation of students of theology for their office. At present there are about twenty-five students, of whom a considerable portion are considered really pious.

^T. 29.] WITTENBERG.

The old Prof. Schleusner, whom I wished very much to see, was not in town. Prof. Heubner I heard lecture on the history of Jacob and Joseph. This exercise was altogether practical, and his remarks were characterized by a spirit of genuine and devout piety.

After the lecture, I had the pleasure of attending him, in a walk around the town, in company with the Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian ambassador in Rome, who also has the reputation of being a Christian. He is at least very zealous against the rationalists. We spent the evening at Dr. Heubner’s, the conversation turning on the King’s new liturgy, to which the clergy of Wittenberg are warmly opposed; more, I believe, from the source from which it comes, than from its contents.

I visited, in the course of the day, the church in which Luther used to preach, and in which Luther and Melanchthon lie buried. A simple iron or bronze plate marks the spot where these great men are awaiting the resurrection of the just. An original likeness of each hangs on the wall over their graves. These likenesses, which are in themselves fine pictures, are said to be remarkably true. The Church is also ornamented with bronze figures of the Electors of Saxony of that period. In walking down the main street I was struck with the following inscription on one of the houses. Hier zvohnte, Ichrte iind start Melanchthon. “Here Melanchthon lived, taught, and died.” The house in which Luther lived was formerly a cloister, and is now occupied by the Seminary. His chamber, however, is left undisturbed, as he occupied it; the same stove, the same table of solid oak, and the same window chair, which three hundred years ago supported the cumbrous weight of the bold Reformer. The walls are covered with a thousand names of insignificant persons — distinguished from the number, the cipher of Peter the Great is preserved from a fate, to which the others seem with little remorse relinquished, by being covered by a pane of glass.

148 MOVES TO BERLIN. [1827.

BERLIN.

On Friday, the 12th of October, I arrived at Berlin and put up in the Stadt Rome, under the Linden. The first impression which Berlin makes on a stranger is very imposing. The streets are broad, the houses large and well built, and the avenue lined with a four-fold row of trees is certainly the finest street I have yet seen in Europe. On Saturday, the 13th, I went early to see Tholuck, who was on a visit to Berlin. I found him wrapt up in his schlafrock, hard at work. His reception was extremely affectionate. We walked together about the town and through the Thier-Garten, which is a great forest before the Brandenburg gate. In the evening he took me to the house of Otto von Gerlach. Here I met with a number of Christians; the Landgerichtsrath Focke; Kammergerichtsrath le Coq; the Count von der Reke; several military officers, and others. Tholuck read and expounded a passage of Scripture; we prayed and sang a couple of hymns. The rest of the evening was spent in religious conversation. My heart was rejoiced at the prospect of having such a place of religious communion accessible every week.

[In order to introduce to the reader this remarkable circle of Christian men with which it was the happiness of Mr. Hodge to be associated during his residence in Berlin, and with some of whom he corresponded for many years, I will give a short account of the brothers von Gerlach, drawn chiefly from Tholuck’s biographical notice of Otto von Gerlach in Herzog’s Encyclopaedia. There were four brothers von Gerlach, born in the following order: William, a lawyer; Ernest Ludwig, statesman; Leopold, a soldier, and Otto, a clergyman. They sprang ot a noble family; one of the few which followed the Brandenburg family when they went into the Reformed Church, the members of which had, for a hundred years, served the king in office. The friends of Mr. Hodge were Ludwig and Otto. Of the latter, Tholuck

^T. 29.] EX PLANA TOR Y NO TES. I aq

says that, “in 1820, after studying law, he came to Bed in, entering a circle in which Christian life existed in freshest bloom. It was the beautiful time of first love, when a number of young men of rank, principally of the military and legal professions, some of them returned from the wars of liberty, drew together in loving friendship in Christ. Under the impressions made on him in this beautiful society, his early love for the gospel was strengthened, and after much conflict he gave up the prospects of ambition, and entered again the academic career. In 1828 he became Privat docent in the University of Berlin. In 1834 he became pastor of the Church of St. Elizabeth, built by the king, in the suburbs of Berlin. Here he was indefatigable in preaching and all kinds of pastoral labors. He zuas the Wesley of Berlin. Translated the lives of Wesley and Baxter. Founded the Berlin Foreign Missionary Society. All the methods of promoting worship and religious life, which have since been adopted, found in this man a previous example.” He reached the very highest positions possible in his profession. Councillor of the Consistory, Court Preacher and Honorary Professor Ordinarius. He died Oct. 24th, 1849.

Ludwig von Gerlach, the elder brother, was born nearly three years earlier than Mr. Hodge. He fought through the wars against Napoleon, and afterwards entered the judiciary service of his country. He founded the Kreuz-Zeitung, the organ of the High-Church party. In 1865 he became Privy-Councillor of the Supreme Court of Justice of the province of Magdeburg.

The Life of Hengstenberg, by Dr. Bachman, frequently details these gatherings of devoted Christians, mentioning the same names that recur so frequently in Professor Hodge’s Journal — Hollweg, Lancizolle, the Gerlachs, the Chancellor le Coq, the adjutants of the Crown Prince von Roeder, Count v. d. Grobcn, von Senfft, the Ober prasidcntin von Schonberg and Caroline Focke, the Theologians

I 50 EX PLANA TOR V NO TES. [1827.

Neander, Tholuck, Strauss, Couard, Lisco, and the preachers Ritter, O. von Gerlach, Lindl, Gossner and others. It was a wide-embracing bond of friendship in the Lord, of men and women of the most different ages, rank and conditions in life, in the midst of which the Patriarch Baron von Kottwitz moved pre-eminent. — Sec. 1,193.

Much light is thrown upon the society with which Prof. Hodge was brought in contact, by the description given in this work of the great revival of piety against RationaHsm, which had several years before sprung up in Germany, i. e., in 1823. The most varied elements of rank and culture, of church connection and of Christian tendency found themselves thrown together in these awakened circles. But the feeling of inmost union held all together; in faith and love they knew they were one. In every corner of Germany and Switzerland, wheresoever a little believing company came together, a living witness for evangelical truth arose. The remarkable move in the Catholic Church of South Germany, emanating from Boos and Gossner, drew thither more than one traveler from Berlin; young men of the Kottwitz circle, von Lancizolle, HoUweg and others, made the journey to Bavaria, and there knit together the most intimate relations, and received the impulse to an eternal progress. It was thus as Tholuck expresses it, “that beautiful primitive time of first love, when the consciousness of that which unites the Church of Christ far out-weighed the consciousness of that which divides it.” Confessional differences constituted no barrier to the communion in love and work for the kingdom of God; in the joy and custom of what is common, the idea of a union of believers out of all churches could arise. One hears with the same edification the reformed Theremin and Couard, with the Lutheran Janicke and Strauss, the preachers of the Brother Communion with the Catholic Lindl and Gossner; * one embraces

* Gossner joined the Evangelical Church in 1826.

.ET. 29.] EX PLANA TOR Y NO TES. I 5 1

in the same love the believing brethren in the Cathohc Church, with the Reformed Swiss and Lutheran zealots in Silesia. Not to what confession one and another belongs, is the question; it is enough to know themselves one, and to confess faith in the name that is given to men, one Salvation. A Catholic ecclesiastic commended to a Protestant pastor for directions, a humble person, taking it for granted that he was to receive the Lutheran communion. Many Catholics were active members of the Bible Society.

Full twenty different devotional hours could be enumerated during twenty years in Berlin, (p. 192) daily on Sunday and week-days. Sometimes in many parts of the city, and without by the Hamburg gate, &c., at an appointed evening hour larger or smaller circles might be found gathered about their leader. And it seems to be regarded as a healthful life that in none of these assemblies any sectarian tendency, a disposition to degrade the public worship of God, was manifested. Had any worshipper been disposed to this, he was immediately set right, and confuted out of the word of God.

At the same time the so-called pietism of the revival times is clearly distinguished from the old pietism, in that the latter set itself in opposition to the Church, in which, with all its lifelessness, the foundation, the pure doctrine of the word of God, remained untouched; the new pietism developed itself in opposition, not to the Church itself, but against the rationalistic corruption of doctrine in the Church. The pietism of the revival times had not, like the old, orthodoxy as its opposite, but it carried orthodoxy in its bosom. It was easy, therefore, for it to proceed by appointed churchly paths. Only when the Church placed itself in opposition to the newly awakened life, did this enter upon a separate existence. Fortunately, in Berlin, the churchly connections were never entirely broken, hence the possibility and security of a decided Church development later, was secured.

152 JOURNAL RESUMED. [1827.

In 1823 the evangelical party constituted a great people, increasing from year to year. In many pulpits of Berlin, the witness for Christ, the only Saviour, had again become clear as a power which filled the deserted churches anew. Theremin at the Dom, Bishop Anders, of the Brother Communion, Couard at St. George’s, Loffler at the Gertraude Church, Frederick Strauss in his double office of Dom and Court preacher and Professor in the University, brought multitudes under the influence of the truth. From the whole city multitudes came together who had an ear for the word of God; and many also who had hitherto stood aloof, were aroused to ask after the way of life. Couard’s preaching was particularly crowded, so that there was not standing room in the ample church. [Vol. i. pp. 187, &c.]

If any discrepancy between this account and that which Dr. Hodge gives in his Journal, is perceived the reader will consider (i) the difference of the means and standards of estimate of the German Professor and the American stranger. (2) The difference between the times described by each, i.e., between 1823 and 1827-8 — and (3) The difference between Halle and Berlin.

JOURNAL RESUMED.

On Sunday, the 14th, I went to hear Schleiermacher, not knowing of any more evangelical preacher who had service in the morning. The sermon was peculiar. The words were Biblical, but the whole tenor so general, the ideas so vague and indefinite, that it was impossible for me to understand exactly what he meant. His text was, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c. This is the first and great commandment. This, he remarked, was the highest end of our existence, to come to this full love of the Supreme Being — that this end can be attained only through Jesus Christ, M^hom he called the source of all truth, and the truth itself. The difference between this law as presented

^T. 29.] BERLIN. i-i

in the Old Testament and as it stands in the New, is this, that in the Old Testament it was part of a law, a coercive, external command, while in the New it is the spontaneous result of a renovated nature. It is no longer a law, but the voluntary bent of the heart; and to bring about this spontaneous tendency of the soul to God is the great work of Christ. This is what I took to be the drift of his discourse. In the afternoon I went with Tholuck to see the good patriarchal Baron Kottvvitz, who has been so long and actively engaged in the service of the Redeemer. In the evening I attended a religious service at the Baron’s, and heard a very warm, pious sermon from the Moravian Bishop Anders, who is to sail for America in a few days. Here I met a large circle of religious friends, partly the same I had met the evening before. Among others a very interesting man. Prof Hollweg, the present Rector of the University.

Saturday evening, October 20th, I attended the same meeting that I did a week ago. Tholuck had left town a day or two before for Halle. The services were conducted by a young candidate of Theology.

On Sunday I heard Marheineke, a warm advocate of Hegel’s philosophy. His sermon was dry and general. In the afternoon, in the same Church, I heard an evangelical discourse from the junior Pastor, delivered with a good deal of animation and feeling.

On the 23d Neander began his lectures to a crowded audience, on the Epistles to the Corinthians.* His manner is clear and simple, and the wonderful compass of his historical knowledge enables him to bring many very interesting and striking illustrations of the passages he wishes to explain.

December 16th. Since my last date I have attended regularly the lectures of Neander, and part of the time those

*Full MSS. report of these lectures, fully written out by Dr. Hodge, are in existence.

of Hengstenberg* and Bockh. Mr. Monod, of Paris, came early last month to reside in the same house with me, which I have found very agreeable. Some time since he gave me a very interesting account of the religious exercises of the daughter of Baron Cuvier on her death -bed. She had been

* EXTRACT FROM THE LIFE OF HENGSTENBERG, BY DR. I. BACH-MAN. — GUTERSLOH, 18y6-18jg. — Vol. ii.p.jo. [iSyg.) Particularly pleasant to Hengstenberg was his acquaintance with Professor Hodge, of Princeton, in America, who, after he had spent the summer of 1827 at Halle, in intimate association with Tholuck, came, in the winter of the same year, to Berlin, and here, as also Monod, industriously attended upon Hengstenberg in his lectures and at his house. Even at their first meeting he had much pleased Hengstenberg, particularly because of his “simplicity, modesty and sincerity,” and at the end of the Semester, April 27, 1828, he thus expresses himself: “I was, in those days, much with Hodge, whose departure grieves me much, and to-day I took a long walk with him. He told me much that was delightful of America, of the great Christian earnestness which prevails there, the great moderation in conduct, the consistency in denying the world; and he himself is the best evidence of the truth of what he says.” But in the following letter he speaks of both these foreign friends: “I have now, for the first time, heard much of the beautiful activity which the French preacher, Monod, has exercised here. For instance: Hodge and Monod sit together at the lecture; a student looks into Hodge’s note-book, which is written in English, and asks him whether he is an Englishman. No, says Hodge, an American. That caused the student, who supposed that all Americans must be copper-colored, such astonishment, that he uttered an oath. Monod reproves him with earnest words for the misuse of the name of God. The student receives the reproof thankfully, Monod goes home with him after lecture, and talks with him of salvation hi Christ. He finds a receptive heart, and the acquaintance is continued until he came to full decision. — Monod is at table with Ancillon, and hears that a little French physician, a Catholic, is studying here, who has an earnest disposition. This is motive enough for him to visit him. He finds in him absolute ignorance of the doctrine of salvation, but a very receptive spirit, and it was not long before he was united with him in the Lord. Yesterday he was with Hodge. Such activity cannot fail to give ofi’ence. There are about Hodge and Monod the most wonderful and wildest stories in circulation.”

/ET. 29.] BERLIN. 1^5

some years pious, a state to which she was suddenly brought after a long season of thoughtfulness; awaking, as one of her friends expressed it, one morning, without well knowing how or why, in peace with God. She was on the eve of being married when taken ill. As she approached the hour of her dissolution her faith became more and more triumphant, so that she was the astonishment and admiration of all who saw or heard her. Her physicians, ignorant of the gospel and of its effects, looked on in silent wonder. Her poor father, whose name is famed through the civilized world, was often seen kneeling for a half an hour together in prayer, by her bed-side. God grant that he and others by this event may be brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

The death of the Baron de Stael, who was one of the leading men among the pious Protestants of France, is an event, humanly speaking, to be deeply regretted. His last hours also were such as to evince the power of the gospel, and to leave the most pleasant conviction on the minds of his surviving friends, that he had entered into his rest.

I have heard several evangelical preachers since coming to Berlin, particularly Strauss and Lisco. The former is court preacher, and much of an orator; the latter is remarkably simple and faithful.

The French Protestant Church here, once so flourishing, is now in a very low state. There are nominally 5,000 persons belonging to their several congregations, and they have funds to the amount of ;^50o,ooo, but the congregation on a Sabbath does not generally exceed twenty or thirty persons.

I drank tea, the other evening, with the Lieutenant Senfft. Prof. Hollwcg, the Rector of the University, who is a very interesting man, apparently about thirty-five years old, gave us an account of the recent revival of religion in Pomerania. A young officer of Hussars, who was for some time in service in Berlin, was brought to the knowledge of the truth. He resigned his commission in the army and retired to his estate in Pomerania. Here he found the clergy and people alike sunk in the deepest indifference to vital religion. He began his work in his own family. God blessed his efforts. His brothers, who had hitherto lived at variance, were reconciled to each other, in being reconciled to God. His father also was converted. He and his brothers now began to assemble the peasants on their estates for religious instruction and worship. The clergy, of course, opposed them violently, and appealed to the Government. But the word of God produced a most powerful effect. Multitudes were awakened. In one house belonging to these gentlemen 600 persons, regarded as truly pious, are in the habit of meeting to worship God. The Government issued an order to the military to disperse all such assemblies. But the colonel refused, and appealed to the military commander of the Province, the Crown Prince, who forbade any such step being taken. A commission was now appointed to examine the nature of this religious excitement, all the members of which, with the exception of Prof Heubner of Wittenberg, were Rationalists. Their report was unfavorable. But Heubner made such a representation to the king that all persecution from the side of those in authority has been prevented. This is not the first instance I have been informed of, in which the king and members of his family have shielded true Christians from the oppressions of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Unfortunately the writings of two famous mystical writers, Gichtel and Jacob Boehme, fell into the hands of two of these young noblemen, and gave them a complete mystical cast. They have ceased all their efforts to do good, contemn all their former active course, and place all religion in mystical union with God, and private contemplation.

This morning I attended worship at the Duke of Cumberland’s. His Chaplain appears to be an amiable young man of the High Church orthodox order, but a very cold, uninteresting preacher.

;Er. 29-] BERLIN. 1 57

December 2^th. This morning I went with Justice Focke to the Erziehungshaus. It contains about fifty boys, from seven to fourteen years of age, all of whom have been already convicted of some crime. They are placed here for reformation and education. The institution has been in operation about three years, in which time thirty pupils have been regularly dismissed, of twenty-seven of whom the directors have the most favorable accounts. After the children had sung a hymn they were examined by the teacher respecting the object and the observance of Christmas, and then more generally on the history of our Saviour, giving all the leading prophecies of Him in the Old Testament, and then showing their fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth. Since I have been in Europe I have witnessed no scene with such pure and decided pleasure. On the 23d I attended, for the first time, the Lord’s Supper in the Lutheran Church. It was administered by the Pastor, Lisco, at 7 o’clock in the morning. The communicants proceeded into the confessional, where, after a very feeling address, the Pastor repeated a general confession of sins, and called upon those present to say whether they confessed themselves sinners in the sight of God, trusted in Jesus Christ for pardon, and had the purpose of leading a holy life. On receiving an affirmative answer, he pronounced the usual form of absolution. We then returned into the Church, and the sacrament was administered in the usual way. I have recently been more than ever, I think, affected by the sense of the indescribable excellence of our adorable Saviour, His character has appeared in a purity and beauty which my blind eyes have been long in discovering. O that I could see more of this loveliness every day, and be more transformed into his image.

December 2yth. I took tea this afternoon with Lieutenant von Senfft. He gave us a very interesting account of a revival of religion in a village in Silesia. A young man, a miller, came from that village to Berlin for employment, and was providentially directed to a pious man, in whose family he lived some time. On his return he related to his father that the man with whom he had lived used to read and pray in his family. The father immediately declared his purpose to do the same. The neighbors came in from time to time to hear the Scriptures, Some mocked and others prayed. The result, as Lieut, von Senfft witnessed, was about thirty persons, of all ages, in this village were converted to the Lord, and were living in the faith and love of the gospel. From this village the fire spread to others.

In the evening all our usual circle of friends assembled at Justice Focke’s to meet Tholuck, who had just arrived. It was a great pleasure to meet the dear man once more after so long a separation. The evening was spent chiefly in religious conversation. Returning home, I walked with Ludwig Von Gerlach, a man who has excited more love and respect in me than almost any other I have seen here. He took this opportunity of speaking to me very seriously respecting my political principles, not so much in their political as their Christian aspect. I was surprised to find how much that was unchristian mingled in all my feelings on this subject. With this dear man I cannot agree in his opinions, yet I felt that he was much more a free-man in his heart (with all his strong ideas of the divine right of kings) than I.

This night thirty years ago I was born. Thirty years of love and mercy. Thirty years of sin. Thirty years and nothing done. Oh my God, from my soul I pray thee, grant me thy Holy Spirit that if permitted yet longer to live, it may be to more purpose, — that my time may be better improved in working out my own salvation and the salvation of my fellow-men. Bless, O God, my dear, precious mother, who, thirty years ago, first rejoiced over me. That thou hast so long spared her to me I thank and bless Thee. Still spare her, oh. Lord, and grant that every succeeding day she maybe more and more filled with thy Holy Spirit, and more richly crowned with thy tender mercies.

JET.30.’] BERLIN. 1^9

December 28th. To-day I dined with Tholuck at Justice Focke’s. They both made me a present of a devotional book on the occasion of my birth- day. The Lord bless these dear friends for being the means of quickening me in the life of godliness. The love of the Saviour is of all bonds the purest and the strongest. Tholuck drank tea with me and Mr. Monod. In answer to a question of the latter, he spoke very much in favor of always reading with the pen in hand. He said that for the period of two months in the year 1820, he recorded every important idea which occurred to his own mind — everything interesting he heard in conversation, or in reading. The records of these two months he finds still valuable.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF DRS. ALEXANDER AND MIL-LER TO MR. HODGE WHILE STUDYING IN GERMANY.

Their affection and care for him is rendered very evident by their long and frequent letters; and their prayerful anxiety for the preservation of his personal orthodoxy and spirituality under the special exposures of his life in Germany is interesting, especially in view of the fact which his after-life rendered so conspicuous, that their prayers in this behalf were fully answered.

Dr. Miller writes, July 21st, 1827:

“You have no doubt been informed that we are going on in Princeton, as to the Seminary, very much as heretofore; but with respect to the College and the congregation by no means favorably. The number of students in the College is about eighty, and when the present Senior Class shall leave us, the number, I think, will fall below fifty. Nor do I perceive any prospect of a better state of things. On the contrary, I am afraid the Institution has not reached the lowest point of depression. The multiplication of Colleges all around us; the zeal, enterprise, and ostentatious publications of their officers, and the incessant importunity of their begging for funds, seem to be gradually taking away from us all our human resources and hopes. Some of the members of the Board of Trustees, however, are still sanguine that the College will retrieve its affairs before long l6o LETTERSFROM DRS.ALEXANDERAND MILLER. [1827.

“We all long to see you, and shall be glad of your return at the earliest possible hour that your plans will admit. I do not believe, my dear colleague, that you appreciate as you ought your importance and acceptance in our Institution. 1 know that your mind was often much oppressed by a sense of your own want of adequate qualification, and I was willing and even desirous that you should visit Europe if it were for nothing else than to get cured of this inordinate and morbid impression. But pray come back as soon as you can consistently with the substantial execution of your main purpose. We greatly desire and need your presence.”

Again Dr. Miller writes, Jan. 29, 1828:

“You will probably learn by letters which wiil have reached you before this, that the winter session in our Seminary opened with a larger accession than we expected. We have matriculated thirty-eight new students. Four more have returned whom we expected never to have seen again, and who had been absent for some time. So that our whole accession may be estimated at forty-two, which makes our whole number at present one hundred and nine — something like fifteen more than we had the previous session.

“Our College goes on feebly. The present number of the students is about sixty-five or sixty-six, and rather on the decline than on the increase. I am afraid it will be reduced to extremity before long, and that some crisis in its affairs is not very distant. What that may be, whether for the better or the worse, I can scarcely conjecture.”

Dr. Alexander wrote:

“Princeton, March 24th, 1827.

“My Dear Sir: — * * * I hope while you are separated from your earthly friends, you will take care to keep the communication with heaven open! Remember that you breathe a poisoned atmosphere. If you lose the lively and deep impression of divine truth — if you fall into skepticism or even into coldness, you will lose more than you gain from all the German professors and libraries. May the Lord preserve you from error and from all evil. You may depend upon any aid which my feeble prayers can afford. Write as often as you can. Do not be afraid of troubling me. Affectionately, yours.”

And again, Dr. Alexander writes:

“Princeton, July 27, 1827.

“* * I suppose that before I write again you will have left Halle,

but of this you must give me early notice. * * * The air which you

breathe in Germany will either have a deleterious effect on your

moral constitution, or else by the strength of faith required to resist its

/ET. 30.] LETTERS FROM DRS. ALEXANDER ANDMILLER.lQl

effects your spiritual health will be confirmed. I pray God to keep you from the poison of Neology! I wish you to come home enriched with Biblical learning, but abhorring German philosophy and theology. I have been paying some attention to Kant’s philosophy, but it confounds and astonishes me.”

Again Dr. Alexander writes:

“Princeton, Aug. 16, 1827.

“I feel anxious to hear from you, to know how you are, and what progress you make in the literature of Germany. You must come home loaded with riches. Much will be expected of you. But I know how little can be acquired by man in the course of a whole life-time — and when I think that you have the disadvantage of having the language to acquire and the multiplicity of objects to which your attention must be turned, I confess that my hope of any great success is not sanguine. But it will be worth while to have gone to Germany to know that there is but little worth going for. It will at any rate place you on a level with the other trajfeled literati of this country. But whatever you may gain of literature and knowledge of the world, I hope and pray that you may not lose any thing of the love of the truth and spirituality of mind. On many accounts we miss you very much.... For many weeks Dr. Miller was sick, and then the whole charge of the Seminary was on me. I wish now to begin in good earnest to prepare for another world. I think before very many years you will be senior Professor in this Institution, and I am afraid you will see trouble. But stifficient to the day is the evil thereof. Let to-morrow take care of itself. I remain affectionately yours,

“A. Alexander.”

On October 30, 1827, Dr. Alexander writes: “I rejoice to learn that you live in an infected atmosphere, without being yourself infected. May God preserve you.”

Again Dr. Alexander writes:

“Princeton, May 14, 1828.

“I mentioned to you that Dr. Henry intended his library for our Seminary. But the entire matter became subject to the disposition of his father, and under the influence of certain persons he has been induced to give another direction to the bequest. At least there remains no doubt but the books will be transferred to the Allegheny Seminary. The matter was laid by him before the Directors in a letter, but they referred the whole question to him again, to dispose of as he thought best. The idea which the old gentleman seems to entertain is that we have books enough, and that his son’s library is not

1 62 JOURNAL IN BERLIN. [1827.

needed here. Inter nos this new Seminary will afifect us here rriore than all the rest put together. It is received by many as the last stronghold of orthodoxy, and the most secure deposit for funds intended to support the truth; and at this time I have little doubt that Dr. Green and others of our staunch friends feel a deeper interest in that Institution than in this. These are merely my own conjectures. After all, we shall be forced to look to New England for students.

“Your little family we see very often, and they are as well in health as they can be. April was a month of storms, and Mrs. Hodge experienced some inconvenience from coming so early, but she seems to bear every thing patiently, and is cheerful.

“Make haste and come home. There will be much for you to do. The two crazy old men that are here need some one who has vigor of nerves to put his shoulder under the burden. In truth, however, we do not expect your aid until the fall, so make the best of your visit to Britain. You were very specially remembered in the public

prayers offered up here during the late meeting

“I remain affectionately yours, A. Alexander.”

JOURNAL RESUMED.

[From this time Mr. Hodge, having obtained a ticket from Baron Humboldt to attend his lectures on physical science, regularly kept full notes of those lectures as long as he continued in Berlin.]

December 2g. This evening I heard Tholuck lecture at Otto Von Gerlach’s. This was the most Christian, heartfelt exhortation I have heard for a long time. He spoke principally from the words, “Quench not the Spirit.”

Dec. 30, Sunday. This morning heard Strauss preach a New Year’s sermon. As usual, it was evangelical, but his manner is too violent. Lieut. Senfift walked home with me. He is one of the most brotherly Christians I have seen. Prince William, the king’s second son, [the present Emperor] with an income of 36,000 thalers, which is very small for his expenses, gives 6,000 to the poor. He is remarkably correct in his conduct. He wished very much some years ago to marry a young princess to whom his father objected as not vornehm enough for a king’s son. The matter was committed to the faculties of law, etc., in yET. 30.] BERLIN. 1 63

the universities, but the king at last decided positively in the negative, and poor Prince William had to give up the lady. This is hard. Berlin deserves the name which French Christians have given it, viz.: La Villc de St. Jean. Of the propriety of the name I had a proof this evening at the Lady Schonberg’s, in the affectionate manner in which the Christians here act towards each other, and towards strangers whom they regard as such. The two adjutants of the crown prince and their wives were there. Major von Roder (one of these gentlemen) is fondling even in his manners. “Kiss me,” he said to Count Graben, his brother officer, who was passing him. Which request was complied with without hesitation and without remark. There is something delightful in the exhibition of the gospel in these military men; such a warmth and openness of feeling; such an entire absence of stiffness or presumption. The whole company seemed as if they were of one heart. The Graf Schepin was another of these Christian officers, Gossner lectured in his usual extempore manner on the 13th chapter of Mark. Speaking of Christ’s coming, he said, “Are you so ready that you could see the world destroyed as calmly as a child looks at his falling house of cards?” The peculiar prominence of the Saviour, common to the preaching and prayers of the Germans, is very marked in the case of Gossner. I have heard him pray several times exclusively to the Saviour. Not praying in the name of Christ, but simply to Christ. The manner of address too, is such as would appear very strange in English; as 0, du klcines Kind.

I was told this evening by Judge Focke, that in all the great revivals of religion which have occurred in Germany of late, the same bodily exercises which excited so much attention in the south and west of our country, have been present to a greater or less degree. In Pomerania, cases of what were called demoniacal possession occurred. A young woman was often thrown into the greatest bodily agitation, rolling over and over, and her mind subsequentlythrown into a state resembling the heathen ecstasy, in which she would prophesy (in what sense of that word I know not). These were only transient seasons; for the rest she appeared to be a true, humble Christian. These extraordinary appearances soon ceased. It is certainly remarkable that on both sides of the Atlantic, seasons of religious excitement should be attended by such similar outward disturbances. I suppose it was to cases of this kind that Tholuck referred the other evening, when speaking on the passage “Quench not the Spirit,” he said, “We should be careful not off-hand to condemn as fanaticism, anything of an extraordinary character, which attended unusual outpourings of the Spirit.”

December jist. I spent this evening with Tholuck, in company with others, at Neander’s. Neander had just been reading a review of Bishop Hobart’s sermons in the Christian Observer. He was much surprised to find such high church principles in America, which he thought little accordant with the spirit of freedom. He said he was going CatholiscJi. Tholuck said, that it was singular that from England, three works should at this period make their way to the Continent, all tending to promote the Catholic cause; “Lingard’s History,” already translated into German, French and Italian; “Dallas’s History of the Jesuits,” also translated; and “Cobbet’s History of the Reformation in England,” this last, particularly as translated by Catholics, is a matter of offence to the Protestants here. Neander said, he thought “Hug’s Introduction to the New Testament,” although the best, was very imperfect in its historical part. The accommodation theory, he said, had been given up by all Rationalists of any consequence. This led to a conversation on the doctrine of Inspiration. Neander was disposed to recognize the infallibility of the Apostles in all doctrinal points, but not in their manner of proving them. Thus it was certain that Christ was God, but all Paul’s arguments in support of the doctrine from the Old Testament are not of force, as in the 1st chapter of Hebrews. To this succeeded a long discussion on the doctrine of Predestination. All were opposed to it. Calvin, Neander said, makes God the author of sin, and this he considered the dangerous tendency of the doctrine. He admitted that those who represent the cause of a sinner’s rejection of the gospel as lying in himself, avoided the dangerous practical tendency of the doctrine. He acknowledged freely that it is entirely of grace, that men are brought to faith and salvation. But it lies with every man, either to accept or reject this grace. This he considered to be involved in the idea of- man’s efficiency and freedom, selbstbestimmung. Tholuck remarked that the two extremes were Pelagianism, and the making God the author of sin. Truth lies in the midst. To this I believe all freely assented, predestinarians and anti-predestinarians. Neander maintained that it was clearly to be inferred from the Scriptures that those who have no offer of the gospel in this world, will have it in the world to come. This follows necessarily, he said, out of the principles contained in the Bible. As to others nothing can be distinctly affirmed. He thought that the passage in which our Saviour says, “The sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come,” implied that other sins might - be forgiven, or that sinners might be brought to faith in Christ after death. In both these points Tholuck concurred. In coming away, Neander shook me very affectionately by the hand, and said to Tholuck, “Tell our friend Hodge, that though we dispute with him, we belong to the same Lord, and are one in heart.”

Read at evening prayer with Monod the 90th Psalm.

So closed another year of sins and mercies.

To Jesus Christ, God over all and blessed forever, may my life be consecrated. His kingdom come, His will be done. Amen. Charles Hodcre.

January 2d, 1828. I spent this evening at Professor Hollvveg’s, Rector of the University, with Tholuck, the Gerlachs and others, Tholuck asked which was the better way when working among the heathen, or Christians sunk in error, as the members of the eastern churches, to preach pubHcly against the reigning doctrines, and come out as reformers and form a distinct sect, or to confine attention alone to the heart, and let all abuses alone, to be cast aside by those whose hearts are changed. Prof. Hollweg was for the latter. Tholuck seemed more inclined to the former. It seemed to me that neither pointed out the exact course. The truth and all the truth should be preached as by Paul with like wisdom and faithfulness, and each truth in proportion to its importance; regeneration and atonement above all. The men of our day are too feeble. They speak too softly to the people. They are not like the prophets and apostles.

The Christians here seem inclined to think it is against the spirit of the gospel for women to be authors!

Saturday, th. This evening I went with Mr. Robinson to Otto von Gerlach’s. A discourse from Zinzendorf was read.

Monday yth. Called with Mr. Robinson upon Neander, and found the dear little man in a very talkative humor. He is very inquisitive about the United States, and seems afraid of the increase of the Catholics among us.

Thursday, loth. Drank tea this evening with Hengstenberg. He remarked, that Gesenius scarcely in any one point, differs in his views of the Old Testament from De Wette. He has only carried further but what De Wette had said in fewer words. Jahn, he thinks, on the testimony of Heubner, was a Christian, and did not defend the authenticity of the various parts of the Old Testament, because he was a Catholic. This led to a conversation on Jahn’s view of the original state of man. Hengstenberg maintained that our first parents were in many respects

JET. 30.] BERLIlf. 1 67

children; they had indeed the image of God, but undeveloped and wibewiisst. I objected to this the light in which they are presented in the Old Testament, and especially the position of Adam as our federal representative. This led to a long conversation on the point of representation, Hengstenberg said, he would willingly admit it as a fact if it was taught in Scripture. But he thought it was not, or at least not clearly, and that if it were, it left us just as we were without it, as it is impossible to conceive how we are made sinners in this way. He admits hereditary original sin — not as an evil or sickness, but as a sin — but how to reconcile it with the attributes of God he cannot answer. This is the mystery; the fact he admits.

Sunday, 17th. Heard, this morning, Theremin preach a very plain, excellent sermon on the barren fig-tree. In the evening I attended the meeting at the Frau von Schonberg’s, the company much the same as before. Gossner lectured on the 1 2th chapter of Acts. His remarks on the efficacy of prayer, and the influence of afflictions in driving us to pray, were very excellent. His Roman Catholic peculiarities are striking. He addressed both his prayers from beginning to end to the Saviour; and as the last verse of the hymn which was sung, spoke of the hand of the Saviour leading His people, he addressed this hand for some time, 0 du He be hand, O thou dear hand which was nailed on the cross for us. His warm piety, his experience, his sufferings make him an interesting man.

Ludwig von Gerlach came home with me and remained until 2 o’clock. As usual we got into a religious political debate, for politics with him rests on religion. The result of our conversation was for me very interesting, as I have clearer views of his ideas of the foundations of government. He had previously spoken of the authority of kings as analogous in its basis to that of fathers. But to-night he made it rest solely or mainly on the right of property. He said, We have only to think of a man with considerable property, servants, tenants, etc.; whose property is constantly increasing, until he becomes a prince. Two hundred years ago the King of Prussia, as Graf von Niirnberg was not so rich as an English lord. But by marriages, by gifts, by purchases, by conquests, his property has increased to its present size. He and all kings are ground owners; all others are tenants under him. But their rights are as sacred as his, and his rights may, as has occurred in England particularly, continually decrease — he and his tenants may, from time to time, as circumstances require, make new contracts. If the king disregards the rights of the tenants to a certain degree, they have a right to exclude him and call the next heir, from whom they may exact a promise of respecting their rights — as, for instance, when James II. of England was excluded and the Orange family succeeded, it was upon the condition that they and their successors should remain Protestant. It is with states as with individuals, property may be increased in an unjust, as well as in a just manner; but as in the case of the individual, the title of property, though bad at first, became sanctioned by time, by contracts, etc.; so it is with kings. All this he forced me to admit, and I feared that I was completely foiled in the argument. My resort was this — having obtained the concession that the king’s authority is founded on property, and not on the parental relation, which is entirely a different thing, I put lm first to historically proving that kings were the real proprietors of all the ground in their respective kingdoms, and here my great inferiority in historical and legal knowledge put me to a great disadvantage. I therefore asked secondly, on what rested the right of property itself? What was its moral ground? He answered, “God’s command,” but he conceded that the ultimate ground was expediency in its best sense, /. <?., a tendency to promote the good of society. Then, I claimed, when this right interfered with this object, it ceased to exist. This principle he recognized. It is recognized in every community. When

.ET. 30.] BERLI^r. 1 69

the private right of property vesting in an individual comes evidently into conflict with this object, his right is sacrificed to the pubHc good, e. g., the sacrifice of private property in cuttinor new streets and roads, and in time of war. Having fixed this principle, we agree, that admitting this right of property in kings, it could be justly invalidated on the same grounds on which the private right of property may be invalidated. So far we agreed. Now it is for me to prove that the immense accumulation of property in the hands of kings, as proprietors of whole countries, is inconsistent with the well being of society, the best interests of man. When the enjoyment of another’s right of property is inconsistent with the enjoyment of my right of property, one or the other must yield. In the case of nuisances, when the right of property of one interferes with the right of property of many, there is no doubt which must yield. But a fortiori, when the right of property of one interferes with or endangers not merely the rights of property of millions, but their moral and religious improvement, their best interests in this world, and their hopes (more or less) in the next — the case is clear enough — what is to be done.

He is a noble fellow. Though grieved with my obstinacy, he gave me tzvo kisses when he went, (one, however, less than usual). Happily he does not wear mustachios.

Wednesday, 16. This evening I drank tea with Major von Rodcr, his two brothers, and several others. The Major is a very affectionate, free and easy man. His heart seems always full of pious feeling. He talks of the Saviour as one talks of a friend. The difference between the free German manifestation of feeling, and our reserve, is very striking. Roder had three brothers killed in the last war, and he himself was shot through the side of his head, which has destroyed the hearing of one ear and the sight of one eye without disfiguring him in the least. Yesterday and to-day the thermometer is about one degree above zero of Fahrenheit.

Friday, January 18. Thermometer still about zero. This evening the Lieutenant von Senfft drank tea with me. He read some letters which he had received lately from friends. One from an officer, whom he described as a rough and imperfectly educated man, who, having been brought to the knowledge of the Saviour in Berlin, is now working with great effect in the place in which he is stationed. All these were dead before, but at present several of his brother officers have been converted, and many of the citizens come to him to talk about their souls, and the children flock to him for tracts and religious books. Er muss vicl bcten, said Senfft. He related also that six or seven of his personal friends had been awakened from their indifference in the first instance by Schleiermacher. Monod related a conversation he had this afternoon with Mr. Ancillon, one of the Councillors of State. He spoke very severely against devotional meetings, and thought that all religious meetings out of the Church should be forbidden. His reason was that those assembled could talk of politics. Happily for Prussia, the king has much more liberal and Christian views than many of his ministers. Senfifl, speaking of the king, praised his economy very much. He is far from spending his income, and is constantly laying up money, although he gives liberally whenever called upon. He allows his unmarried sons 36,000, his married sons 80,000, and the Crown Prince 120,000 thalers per year.

Sunday, 20th. I heard this morning a very indifferent sermon from the Probst Neander (not the professor). In the evening I was at Neander’s. He is very much interested in the state of the Church in America, and wishes very much that the Church and State could be separated here. On this subject there was much conversation this evening, for his liberal views are not shared by all his friends.

Thursday, 2^. This afternoon I attended a meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Schleiermacher read a short paper on “Kings being authors,” Humboldt, on “The Analogy of Languages,” and a translation of an Eastern mythological poem. The astronomer Enke read an account of his progress in forming certain astronomical tables. It was strange to see the old Duke of Cumberland, the Crown Prince, and several other members of the Royal family at such a meeting.

Friday, February i. I called this morning upon the exminister Bekedorf. This gentleman, while in the government, had the charge of the primary schools and the Seminaries for teachers. Since his passing over to the Catholic Church he has vacated his station, but continues the superintendence of the journal devoted to the school system. He was exceedingly polite in communicating information on this subject, and promised to send me his work, in which the whole system is explained. He said his first grand object was to get proper teachers, and for this purpose at least one main seminary for teachers is established in each of the ten Prussian provinces. These are intended for the preparation of teachers for all schools below the gymnasia (which are under another system) excepting those of the very lowest order, in which merely the most indispensable branches are taught. The preparation of teachers he considered the main object. The support of the teachers came from the people, not from the government. Every man, whether he had children or not, was assessed according to his property, and all then had the right to send their children to the school, and the civil authorities had the right to force reluctant or negligent parents to send their children. The same plan is carried out in all parts of the kingdom among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. All must send their children to school.

Monday Fveni?ig, February th. I was at Professor HoUweg’s. There were several Professors of the University and their wives present, and Ritter, the great geologist and physical-geographer, among the number. I was very glad to have an opportunity of seeing this interesting man. He is mild and humble, with a remarkably intelligent face. I was always under the impression that he was rather of the free-thinking school, as so many devoted to his branch of science are. But to my delight I learned that he was a Christian. Strauss, the popular Court Preacher, was also there; a man of astonishing vivacity. The subject of the connection between Church and State was introduced. On this subject his opinions are ultramontanist. He makes the king the ordinarius of the whole Church — the supreme bishop. Against this the whole company exclaimed — Baron Bunsen, the Count von Graber, Major von Roder, Senfft, Le Coq, Hollweg. This I thought was a good sign. They appeared almost as much shocked as I was to hear Strauss declare his conviction, that if the State withdrew its support from the Church in this country, it would fall entirely. After a hundred years, there might be some traces of Christianity left, but that would be all!!

Tuesday, th. This evening I attended a meeting at Strauss’s. There were about fifteen or eighteen students, privatim-docentes, &c., present, with Baron Bunsen and Count Graber. One of the students read a translation of one of the discourses of Macarius. On this there was considerable conversation, displaying on the part of the young men a considerable acquaintance with this and other Fathers. The subject of conversation was then stated — whether the justitia vitae of a Christian was really or only figuratively a sacrificium; on this point there was a warm debate pro and con., for above an hour: the whole a mere logomachy. This gave me occasion to remark the effect on their minds, of the universal attention to philosophy required of the students in Germany. They were acute and discriminating, but amazingly deficient in plain, healthy good sense. A second question was started.” In what sense can public worship be called a sacrifice? In the same, or in a different sense from that in which the justitia vitae is

JET. 30.] BERLIN. 175

SO called?” Here again the opinions were various. Bunsen, though a layman, has occupied himself much with the subject of Liturgies, and has got the notion that the Opferidce should be the reigning idea in Christian worship. In this there is nothing of a papistical sense; he means merely a presentation of ourselves before God, as a living sacrifice consecrated to his glory. But the abuse of this term lies so near, that most present objected to its being employed. I was particularly delighted to hear Graber, in his soldier’s uniform, cry out against the idea that men could give anything to God. “I have,” said he, “nothing but my sinful, hateful self to give. Shall I call that an offering, when the Bible calls Christ an offering? To apply the same term to things so infinitely different, is too much.” His good sense and warm Christian feeling made him see more clearly and express more forcibly the true merits of the case, than all the speculating theologians present.

Stinday, February loth, 1828. This evening Otto von Gerlach came to see me. His conversation is always instructive. He spoke a good deal of the Jews, and of the efforts made for their conversion. Of all those with whom he had anything to do, he found only one in whom he has entire confidence. The numerous instances of disappointed hopes exceed almost belief They turn out badly after the longest probation; they make the most enormous demands; have the idea that they are the lords of the world; that all exists only for them. In short they are here as they are with us in America. The good king, much to the scandal of all classes, to-day gave a ball at mid-day, during Church time, and is said to have requested his sons to give a maskball next Sunday. This is something quite unusual here. The king appears to have few resources in himself, takes little interest in the government, and therefore turns to the theatre and to balls to fill up his head and heart. A. Von

H said he was “1’ homme le plus ennuye et le plus ennuyant dans le mond.” Otto von Gerlach thought the

BERLIN. [1828.

measures of the minister Hardenberg, for the liberty of the peasants, most unjust. In many cases, where they were tenants on leases of six years, the rule that by giving up one-half of the land to the proprietor, they should receive the other in fee-simple, was applied. The peasants themselves, he says, regard the king as making them pure peasants. The liberal party, which had its fall in 18 19, was unfriendly to the rights of cities and communes, and confined its views to making the general government liberal, while it endeavored to stretch governmental authority over the most minute arrangements, allowing no town to elect its own officers. The Anti-liberal party opposed this, and by its success prevented Prussia being brought into the state in which France is at present, where the mayor and officers of every city, commune, department, and province, is appointed by the central government. In Bavaria, Wiirtemburg, and other places, where constitutions have been given, the people are in reality less free than before, as the central governments meddle with everything. This almost everywhere in Germany is far more the case than it was one hundred years ago, except in the kingdom of Saxony, and in Mecklenburg, where the old regulations are preserved. Gerlach gave several instances of the evil of the central government meddling with everything. The ministry ordered at one time that mathematics should be introduced into all schools in the kingdom, and made the Bildiingsprincip. After a few years another general order came directing that all the schools should be newly organized, and conducted on a different principle, and so it changes. In one province an order was issued that all houses must stand fifty feet apart, and they actually tore down houses to prevent their standing too near together.

Wednesday, 2yth. This evening I drank tea with Hengstenberg. I was surprised to hear him and other gentlemen present, say that the idea usually entertained of the learning of the German clergy generally, was erroneous; that he was

/ET. 30.] BERLIN, 175

sure the majority could not read the Greek Testament. This he ascribed to the influence of Rationalism, as formerly the reverse was the case. Almost every preacher was in the habit of taking the original Scriptures in the pulpit and commenting on them more or less in every discourse.

MarcJi 2d, 1828. To-day I attended the disputation of my good friend, Otto von Gerlach. His Theses were in a true evangelical spirit, and were not attacked by his opponents with much force. His opponents were the privat docent Pelt, and Drs. Wegner and Schneckenburger. The accession of Otto von Gerlach to the University may be considered as a very favorable circumstance for the cause of truth in Berlin.

Wednesday, March 12th, This evening the Herrn von Billow and von, from Pomerania, drank tea with me, in

company with the Gerlachs, Focke, Le Coq, &c. These two gentlemen come from the very midst of the revival which is still continuing in that country. It commenced in 1820-21, by the agency of two brothers of Von Biilow. After various struggles with the ministers and civil authorities, in which this gentleman was often fined, and the gens d’ armes were sent to scatter the people who assembled in his house, the work appeared to subside. But it has now broken out anew. Eight hundred often assemble in his mansion; these he regards as true Christians. Much that is disorderly and much that is very remarkable has occurred — visions, prophetic powers, possessions, &c. — as might have been expected among a people so little cultivated, and in a state of so much excitement. With these two gentlemen I was exceedingly pleased. They had the same fervent freshness of feeling which men active in revivals most commonly have with us. Before the evening was over, they proposed singing and prayer. As the clergy in Pomerania are peculiarly opposed to every thing like vital piety, these, and other young men, have taken upon themselves the office of preaching, and stand in a very uneasy relation to the Church, their sentiments on Church discipline, on the nature of the Church, and the rights of members agreeing very much with those of the Puritans.

Friday, 14th. I dined to-day with these gentlemen at Justice Focke’s. A servant, with whom they were previously acquainted, came from Potsdam to see them, and these noblemen kissed and hugged him as though he had been their equal and brother.

In the evening I called for a few moments, with Lieutenant von Senfft on the Grafin von Graben. She is a most interesting, lovely woman, full of ardent feelings of piety, and with much more vivacity than is common among German ladies.

Saturday, ith. Had a long conversation with Otto Von Gerlach about our form of Church Government. Here all the ecclesiastical affairs are under the direction of the consistorium and the ministerium. Each province has its consistorium; the members appointed by the king, of equal numbers of clergymen and laymen. There are many merely nominal members, as the title of Consistorial Rath is often given as a mere matter of honor. The consistorium has very little power. It has the duty of examining candidates and watching over the doctrines preached. The executive government of the several circles, of which there are generally two in each province, has the right of patronage, /. e., exercises the king’s patronage within their limits, which extends to about one-half the congregations. The other half receive their pastors, some by the appointment of the magistrates of towns, others by that of the landholder; a very few have the right of choosing their own pastors. The power of the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, and of his council, extends over the whole kingdom, and is very great. Otto von Gerlach relates several instances of the interference of the government in the most harmless affairs, as in the case of his own brother, who was several times molested for having a prayer-meeting in his house. And the candidate Meinhof told me of his being called to account for having talked and prayed with a man who called to see him under considerable religious excitement.

[Under date of March 20th, Mr. Hodge writes to his wife.” I shall soon be left alone here. That is, my house companions, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Monod, are going in a few days, the former to Halle, the latter to Paris. You will be surprised to hear that the sober Mr. Robinson has fallen in love. I received a note, a day or two ago, written by him (as his modesty prevented a personal communication) with the official information that the Fraiilein Von Jacob had consented to accompany him to America as his wife. I have spoken to you, I believe, of this lady and her family before in my letters. Robinson has done zvell. The lady is agreeable and very accomplished, speaking several languages, and acquainted with the literature of most European nations.”]

Sunday, March 2jd. I heard Lisco preach this morning on the Fall of Peter. The Church was so full that it was impossible to get a seat. Last Sunday Mr. Robinson could not get in at all, not even open the doors. It is a good indication that those ministers who preach the gospel faithfully have their churches overflowing. In the evening I drank tea with Lisco, met the Moravian minister, Mr. Semler, and von Senfft. The conversation at first turned on the late order of the Ministerium, requiring every student, who is to be examined, to produce a certificate of regular attendance upon Church and the Lord’s Supper. The students, with the approbation of the faculty, petitioned against this. The Ministerium returned a very severe, harsh answer, viz. — that such inexperienced youth ought not to have the presumption to think they could change the opinion of Ministers, &c., &c. This the students received in the mildest possible manner, and said they would endeavor to show the Ministerium that they did not need such external inducements to make them do their duty. In consequence of the active part which one of the students took in the petition, his Hcentia conscionandi has been refused him. This whole affair has excited great attention. The Christians, as well as the liberals, are exceedingly opposed to the order of the Ministerium. Schleiermacher, who belongs to the latter description, refuses to give certificates to those who attend his Church or Communion table, and he tells them to say to the Consistorium, that he will not act according to the requirements of the Government in this respect. The whole thing will, I suspect, fall through.

Mr. Couard complained of the operation of censure in reference to printing the tracts of the Tract Society. He said it was so hard to satisfy those in authority that a tract did not lead to scparatisnius, a thing as much dreaded as a revolution in politics, Mr. Semler said that in an article he wrote for the newspaper on establishments for the poor, he remarked that “nothing could be done until the education of the poor was put on a Christian basis.” The word “Christian” was struck out, and “moral” inserted, because the Ministerium had forbidden any thing to appear which might bring before the public the “religious movement” of the day. Lindner, a Professor at Leipsic, was displaced from his office as teacher of religion in one of the largest schools there, because in explaining the passage that a man must love Christ more than father, mother, &c., his remarks tended to diminish the respect of children for their parents, and therefore had a revolutionary tendency. Prof Lindner is an excellent man. This is equal to the solicitude of the pastors of Geneva, who requested Mr. Monod to erase from his sermon the expression, that “if a man hate not his father, &c.” I have been pained to hear from Monod that the state of morals, even in the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, is exceedingly corrupt, and particularly in Berne and Lucerne, Geneva forms a striking exception.

^T. 30.] BERLIN, lyg

The Swiss battalion in Berlin from Neufchatel is said to be the most corrupt of any in the Prussian guards, if not of the whole army. Monod says it is the same with the Swiss officers in Paris. Mr. Semler mentioned that the battalion in the Tyrol has been the means of the greatest good in that country. The soldiers serve eight years, and during that time they have a constant course of religious instruction.

It is said that the Ministerium wish to send Prof. Hengstenberg to Bonn, or force him to relinquish the Kirchen-Zeitung. It seems as if a storm was brewing. The Ministerium censured the Theological Faculty respecting the petition of the students, and particularly Neander. The Hegelians are working strongly against the Evangelical party. Marheineke had the amazing presumption to say to Neander in a meeting of the Senatus Academicus, “Thou ignorant man (p. 149). You are unworthy that I should answer you.” “Happily,” replied Neander, “You are not my judge.” When some person present exclaimed at Marheineke’s conduct, asking how he could call one of the most learned men in Germany an ignoramus, he answered, “He knows nothing of Philosophy,” i e., Hegel’s system.

Wednesday, March 26th. Das Hohe Ministerium are much dissatisfied with the Evangelische Kirchen-Zeitung, and have given Hengstenberg to understand that he must either give it up or be removed to another University. He preferred the latter. Whether their threat will be executed remains to be seen. They warned him that if he appealed to the Crown Prince, who they know is favorable to the Zeitung, he would be lost, so says Ancillon. In Weimar a tract society has been suppressed, and the distributer punished with a fine of 20 Florins. The state of things throughout the Herzogthum Weimar must be deplorable. The superintendent, Prohr, in writing for a person to fill an important vacancy in the Church, told his correspondent to select a rationalist, and added “but do let him be of good morals.”

l8o BERLIN. [1828.

Sunday, March ^oth. I was, this evening, at Madame Schonberg’s for the last time, as she is about to leave Berlin for a while. The company was larger than usual. Gossner preached in his peculiar way from Matt. 27: i. He said, as the enemies of Christ rose early to plot His death, should not Christians rise early to take counsel with the Holy Spirit, how they may serve, love, and honor Him? As they bound the Saviour with cords, so should we bind Him with faith, love and hope, to our souls. As Judas betrayed his Master for gold, he begged us to think how often we had sold Christ, His presence, His communion, for the sinful enjoyments of this world; and that ill-gotten wealth could do us no good; that one day we would be glad to throw it away. Judas’s repentance not being joined with faith availed him nothing, etc. Prpf. Lancizolle, who was present, gave me an interesting account of the course of instruction for confirmation which he had received from Von Ancillon, then a pastor in the French Church. He said it was not until the last week that he was told there was such a book as the Scriptures. All the previous instruction was about sun, moon, stars and all other points than those relating to the doctrines of the Gospel. It is in this way that the good effects of the method of instruction are lost,

March Jist. There was a review to-day of the whole Guard in garrison in Berlin. The King conducted the review, attended by all the higher officers, his sons, etc. Through the kindness of Lieutenant Von Senfft I obtained an excellent place on the Zeughaus for viewing this display of the flower of the Prussian army. There were 10,000 men, cuirassiers, lancers, dragoons, infantry, horse and foot artillery. The Prussians think their own army the finest in the world, and I should think it ought to be from the amount of attention devoted to it.

April ist. I dined to-day at Madame Schonberg’s in company with the Graf Lippe, his wife and daughter, a

Polish Hauptman Gauratcki, and another Graf, whose name I do not know. This Graf Lippe is from Cleves. His lady takes a great interest in missions, inquired of the state of religion in America, and spoke of Mrs. Judson’s letters, etc. Almost everywhere the indications of the spread of religion among all ranks in this place, are to be seen. Strauss said, some days since, that it was seldom he had an hour to himself before night, since he was so constantly occupied by persons calling to see him to converse on the state of their souls and ask his counsels.

Friday April th. This was Good Friday. I attended Church in the morning and went to the communion. Lisco preached, as usual, with much simplicity and feeling. It gave me pleasure to find by my side, at the communion table, the dear Neander; for whose character I have- conceived the greatest reverence.

Simday, 6th. In the morning I was at Church; in the evening with Neander. He showed me several passages from the letters of Jacobi, in which he speaks of the folly and extremity to which the German philosophers permit themselves to be led away in their speculations. He expressed the greatest abhorrence of the spirit at present prevailing among this class of men; this making themselves God, or reducing God to an idea (Begriff) — so that Hegel says that Nichts ist die allerhochste Realitat. I asked Neander if he did not think that something of the spirit or principles of the Pantheistical system had passed over into the evangelical writings of the present day in Germany, and said that the idea that alles Seyn ist das Seyn Gottes seemed to me of this character. He said, “By no means — all that was meant by that phrase is that God is the only real independent substance, and that all other existences are grounded in a mysterious way in Him.’ This, he said, was contained in the idea of the omnipresence of God, and in the declaration of Paul that “in Him we live, and move, and have our beins:” — and that e ou xac oc bo are all things.

The £? 6y, he said, means something more than merelyefficient cause. I asked him, then, in what relation our efficiency stood to that of God? He replied, that in all good we were merely the organs of God, and that sin only broke off this relation, I said, this coincided with the idea of the older theologians as to the eonciirsiis Dei in all our acts. He replied — “Yes, I think they were perfectly right on this point.”

In coming away, the dear man pressed my hand very kindly, and said, “I think we can agree.” He seems to think that if he debates with any one, or differs from him, he does him a wrong, and is uneasy until the feeling of perfect peace is restored.

A few days before this I had a conversation with the Gerlachs on the Personalitat der Menschheit They maintained that the race of man was a whole, as a tree is a whole. No one stands for himself; so that the race is not a collection of individuals as an army is, but of the constituent parts of one great whole. It is on this idea they explain the idea of original sin. The whole race was then in Adam, as completely and as really as an oak is in an acorn. It was not Adam as an individual, but Adam as the human race who sinned. To the question, “Are we conscious of having personally participated in the sin of Adam?” They replied, “That very question is founded on a false view. It is not /, as an individual, that there sinned; it is not a matter for my consciousness, but for the consciousness of the Menschheit (humanity).”

TImrsday, Apjdl 8th. This evening the Lieutenant von Senfft called for me, and we went to drink tea with the Geheimrath and Professor Schmalz. There is here a large family of daughters, who, with their mother, are pious. There were two or three other gentlemen present. Otto von Gerlach, who is much of a musician, took his seat at the piano, and the company sang various parts of an oratorio by Gans, the death of Christ, which is always performed here on Charfreitag — also parts of Handel’s Messiah and of his Judas Maccabeus. They sang, also, one piece from an old German composer, Bach, whose works have long been neglected, but which they say are equal to almost any of the best German compositions.

Friday, April nth. This morning I rode out in company with Messrs. Amory and Cunningham, to see the prison, at Spandau. The Inspector went round with us and showed us everything. There are here five hundred prisoners, of whom ninety are females. The greater part of these are employed in the manufacture of cotton and wool in various shapes. Those condemned to hard labor turn the great wheel which sets the machinery in motion. The prisoners are neatly dressed. There are thirty-six cells for solitary confinement, for the punishment of offences committed within the prison. A young man is considered ruined when once sent to prison in this part of Germany, the corrupting influence is so great. The number of crimes since 1806 have increased amazingly. Four thousand persons are arrested every year in Berlin alone, and of these seventy-five per cent, are condemned. The greater part of the female prisoners are in for life, for murdering their infant children. The proportion of murderers is astonishing. The Inspector said that his confidential prisoners were all murderers, whose sentences had for some reason been exchanged from death to imprisonment for life. He said he found they were uniformly less hardened and depraved than the thieves who came back upon them half a dozen times. There is a Chaplain for the prison who preaches every Sunday, and visits the prisoners twice in the week. They are also supplied with Bibles,

Sunday, 17th. I heard Lisco this morning preach from the words: “I am the light of the world.” In the evening I was at Neander’s. Dr. Julius, a gentleman from Hamburg, was there. He has been some time in England, examining their prisons, and is about publishing a work on this subject. Neander, as usual, found occasion to speak of the danger arising from the spread of Hegel’s philosophy, which, by making the Begriff God, deifies man. He showed me a remarkable passage in Jacobi’s work on religion, in which the Prophecy of Lichtenstein is quoted. This predicts that the world will become so refined that it will be as much unfashionable to believe in God as in a spectre, and that men will go still further, and make themselves, and God, and the universe but a spectre. This, he says, is wonderfully accomplished by Hegel’s system, which makes God but an idea — nullity the origin of everything — and the universe a mere phantom. Neander thinks that Schleiermacher’s change of opinion, as exhibited in the difference between his Reden uber die Religion and his Dogmatik, has arisen from his approaching nearer to Christianity — the main point of difference is, that in the latter he appears to admit the personal existence of the soul after death. He spoke also of the wonderful contrast between the practical common sense of the English, and the speculative spirit of the Germans, and he again referred to the passage in Jacobi, in which he says, that the Germans must always have a golden calf to go before them, and an Aaron to offer sacrifice — but that they are always willing to see the calf destroyed and reduced to powder, provided this be not done by a Moses, but by another Aaron, who will make them another calf. Thus is it with their philosophical systems. The system of Hegel has become a matter of ridicule in the little, low papers which appear here in Berlin. One man is made to ask his neighbor, Weisst du wohl dass du gar nicht existirst? Wie so denn — Weil alles was ist, ist vernunftig — du bist unvernunftig — daher existirst du nicht.

Tuesday, ith. I went on Saturday last, with Messrs. Amory and Cunningham, to visit the Gewerbs Institut, an establishment for the education of artists and mechanics, similar, though on a much larger scale, to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Lectures are delivered on Che-

/F.T. 30.] BERLIN. 185

mistry and the various branches of natural philosophy, and the students have regular instruction in drawing, modeling, etc. They also work in the preparation of all kinds of machinery, make casts, original and copied. The institution is furnished with models of the best English, French, and American machines. There is a young American here employed by the Prussian Government to erect and superintend various spinning and weaving machines. He was raised in the Brandywine factories, near Baltimore, and seems to give great satisfaction. The American machines have displaced the English, and every year there is a complaint that one expensive machine is rendered useless by the Yankees inventing a better. A spinning machine, established in Spandau, a year since thought to be the best possible, is put into the background by one just received by the Government; the production of the latter to the former being as eleven to five.

Wednesday, 16th. Spent the evening with Justice Focke, and Ludwig and Otto von Gerlach. John 10 —

Saturday, 19th. Visited Potsdam in company with Messrs. Amory, Cunningham, and Mr, Lowell, an intelligent and interesting young man from Boston. The day was fine and our ride agreeable, although the country is remarkably uninteresting until you reach the neighborhood of Potsdam, where the dull, barren, sandy wastes are rendered somewhat susceptible of cultivation by the numerous lakes of the Havel. When we entered Potsdam the cavalry regiment of the Guard were parading with their fine music in the garden of the palace. We went first to visit the palace of Sans Souci and its grounds. The latter are beautifully laid out and ornamented. Before the time of Frederick the whole was a barren waste of sand. Sans Souci stands on the top of a hillock, the south side of which is covered its whole length with hot-houses, from top to bottom. The palace was built after the Seven Years’ War, and is only one story high. It consists of the main building,

1 86 POTSDAM. [1828.

and two wings separated at some distance from it, and one of them on much lower ground. The east wing contains the picture gallery. The Hall is splendid, made entirely of Italian marble. The pictures are of the Flemish and Italian schools. These are twenty-seven by Rubens, all horrible. The most celebrated are a Vertumnus and Pomona, by L. da Vinci; a Sleeping Venus, by Titian; two or three by Raphael, the most distinguished being an Ecce Homo, which is by far the most affecting picture in the whole collection. In the palace of Sans Souci itself there is nothing very interesting, excepting the rooms of Frederick as he left them. Voltaire’s room, his bed and table, are still in statu quo. It made me almost sick to look around me. For of all men who ever lived he most excites my bad feelings. From this we walked through the gardens to the new palace — another piece of Frederick’s enormous extravagance — it is conjectured to have cost 11,000,000 Prussian dollars. Nobody ever used it. It is the Versailles of Prussia. In returning, we stopped at the Church where Frederick and his father are buried. Under the pulpit there is a recess in which their coffins lie on a marble floor. To stand near the ashes of a man who had acted so conspicuous a part during his life, and contrast the gloomy little receptacle of his body with his gorgeous palaces was well adapted to produce a deep impression of the emptiness of worldly glory. Tuesday, April 29th, I visited, with Justice Focke and a few other friends, the Kunst Cabinet in the palace. The collection is neither very large nor remarkable. The king has caused to be prepared a wax figure of Frederick I. which is said to be a most striking likeness. The face is formed after a cast taken immediately after death. The clothing is such as he wore, and the sword is the one which hung by his side during the seven years’ war. The insignia of the various orders, and hat worn by Napoleon and taken at the Battle of Waterloo are here preserved.

In the evening some of my friends came to drink tea with me and bid me farewell for ever in this world, humanly speaking. Otto Von Gerlach sang a hymn and his brother Ludwig prayed before we separated. They were kind enough to present me with a German Stamm-Buch, i. e., a book in which friends inscribe their names under the date of their birth, together with some sentence or verse expressive of kind feeling or important truth. That written by Neander is beautiful. I happened the other day to be sitting in his study, when the messenger handed this book to him, then altogether unknown by me. Neander quietly and rapidly wrote his sentence and returned it to the messenger without remark.

cyov po ^0 u J) t u II of

“Let us stand fast in the liberty in which Christ has made us free; whom alone to serve is a glory and a joy; and let us not become slaves of men or of any other creature, To rejoice in the Lord, to be nothing in one’s self; in the Lord all thincrs.” A. Neander.

1 88 LEAVES BERLIN. [1828.

Wednesday joth. I remained at home. Justice Focke Tippleskirch, G. von der Recke, and Cunningham, came to see me in the course of the day. I left Berhn, taking my last farewell of Von Senfft and Dorfs at the Post-office. I did not expect to have my heart so interested by a stay of six months in any place. The kindness, the Christian love, the warm-hearted conduct of those with whom I have passed this winter so happily, will remain deeply impressed on my heart as long as I live. When I bid my friends farewell I cried like a child. Neander’s farewell I shall never forget.

May I St. I arrived in Halle about 12 o’clock. The evening I spent with Mr, Robinson at the Staatrathin Von Jacob’s.

Tholuck had gone to Rome for a season, and Mr. Hodge saw his friend no more. A little while before, while Mr. Hodge was at Berlin, Tholuck, on the eve of his departure for Rome, addressed him the following letter. (The original in English).

Halle, April, 1828.

My Dear Hodge: — You will have been greatly astonished

as many have at my resolution to spend this year in Rome. There is certainly a number of circumstances that make it a scrupulous matter, but the opportunity was so very favorable, and some accidents encouraged it so much, that I could not resist any longer. A pious Professor will supply my place this year, and according to all probability remain my colleague. This is the most important fruit of the plan with respect to Halle.

As to my state here, I must thank God that, since my complaints have lessened, I feel like new-born. I feel, of course, the burden of a lonely, friendless life. I feel particularly the tediousness of continual dogmatical researches and disputations, which are so very seldom interrupted by other occupations and distractions; but being more delivered than I was when you were here from the constant aggression, I can find access to the throne of grace, and can be satisfied with God’s ways

I am sure that I shall not only enjoy much at Rome, but that I shall be of use also as well to Bunsen as to the congregation. I shall

^T. 30. ] LE TTERS FR OM THOL UCK’. i g g

draw much profit myself, I h.o&, from being employed practically in

the gospel

I cannot express what I feel at the idea of my not seeing you again. You have been sent to me through God’s mercy as a messenger of glad tidings, as a comforter in cheerless hours, as an elder brother to show me the simple way to heaven. I owe you very much, or more properly I have reason to be most thankful to God for what He has bestowed upon me by your means. And never! never! on this side of the grave shall I see you again. My eyes run with tears! Dear friend, do not forget me; do not forget to pray for me.... I am in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Yours most cordially, A. Tholuck.

Remember me most cordially to our dear Monod.

Again he wrote from near Rome, at the time that Mr. Hodge was on the eve of embarking from Liverpool, and believing that he was already at home, Tholuck addressed the letter to Princeton. (The original in English.)

Frascati, July 30, 1828. My Dear and Beloved Friend and Brother in Christ: — You are now, I am sure, safely brought to your dear home, and sit cheerfully smiling among wife and children, thankful for all the great mercies of our Lord. And here I sit, too, among dear children (although not my own) in happy Italy, thankful for the mercies of my Lord, where I can rest a little from all the afflictions and tribulations of past years. ... I found myself well, better than in Halle, and soon became delighted with the enjoyments which the family circle of Bunsen and he himself offered to me. He has six amiable children, a most respectable wife, and him I found a thorough and sincere follower of Christ. My pastoral duty also gave me much pleasure, having an audience before me in which the simple gospel tidings met with a ready reception. Since the first of July (the heat in Rome getting more and more intense), we removed to the country, where I now reside with the family in a beautiful villa surrounded with the Sabinian and Albanian mountains, having Mons Soracte in the face, and in a distance at the right side the aterna Roma, at the left the borders of the sea. One day passes swiftly away after the others, under useful and edifying conversation. The morning begins with family prayer and hymns sung by the boys. The day closes again with singing hymns. Neither philosophical nor critical doubts trouble the mind where it daily experiences the sweet comfort of Christian communion. Like

I go GOE TTINGEN. [1828.

a dreary waste my life in Halle lies behind me. I was sick all the days I lived there — sick in body and sick in mind. Oh! what patience have you then had with me! I hope you would find’ me now another man. But blessed be my Saviour who sent you then to my great consolation and comfort. You see then, dear Hodge, that I may justly call this, my present abode, a place of rest. When the disciples returned from their missionary tour, the Saviour told them: avairamads oklyov. This I do now, but only oTlyov, By no means I shall protract this absence from Halle.

Much is hoped from Bunsen’s future career. He is decided to leave soon his present situation and to occupy an important one in the ecclesiastical department of the Ministerium. He now studies Hebrew very hard. I read the Psalms with him. He is a little too averse to Republican States, and consequently to your happy country. Believe me, my dear brother.

Your true friend in Christ, A. Tholuck.

ON HIS WAY HOME, VIA GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE
AND ENGLAND.

Journal. — On the morning of the d May, I left Halle for Goettingen. I dined at Eisleben, where Luther was born. The room in which this event occurred is a school-room. In another apartment are preserved many relics of the Reformer; such as his table, desk, letters, &c. The country from Halle to Nordhausen is much more varied than any part of North Germany I had yet seen. From Heiligenstadt to Goettingen, the first part of the road is very interesting, hilly and abounding in trees. I arrived in Goettingen about eleven, and stopped at the crown tavern. In the morning Mr. Wm. Amory called to see me. We walked together round the town, and found the public promenade very pleasant. Goettingen itself has little to recommend it in externals. In the afternoon we visited the museum and attended the lecture of Blumenbach. It is impossible to give any idea of the manner of this extraordinary man. One would suppose he was desirous of showing the capability of the human face of assuming queer forms. He talks with as much unconcern as in his

^T. 30.] GOETTINGEN.

Study. We called to see him the next morning. He received us very kindly, showed us his collection of skulls, and begged us to try and get him from America various articles he yet needs to complete his collection. He spoke very favorably of many Americans he had known. Although about eighty years of age, he has alJ the vivacity and interest in all persons, and things he has anything to do with, as though he were in the prime of youth. I called on Prof Llicke with the letter of Dr. Neander. He appears to be about thirty-five, an amiable and friendly man. He was kind enough to call on me at four o’clock and take me to see several of the other theological professors. We first called on the elder Planck, a man apparently between seventy and eighty. He had such an asthmatic affection that it appeared difficult for him to converse. We then called on Prof Pott, a man of about fifty. He talked chiefly about books, and the great library, the pride and pillar of the university. We called also upon Prof Hemsen. The decided manner in which he came out in the late difficulties, respecting the missionary society, has gained him the confidence of all Christians. He and Liicke both spoke very warmly against the Berlin philosophical school. Liicke appears to be a great friend of Schleiermacher, although reckoned as belonging to the orthodox party, and not a little abused by the opposers of the present struggle for life in Germany. He said that he had little difficulty in this place; that the professors treat him kindly, and his auditorium is well filled. On the evening of May 6th, I drank tea with the two Messrs. Amory, and met several professors and teachers of the university. I had a long talk with Prof Reiche on Mysticisms. He is a most decided Rationalist, yet without that bitter hatred to the truth and its advocates which so strongly characterizes most of his school. It is as clear as day that the most intolerant and bitter spirit rankles in the bosom of many who have made the greatest advances in the Aufklarung of the times. I

192 GOE TTINGEN. [1828.

visited the library and saw Prof. Beneke, to whom Prof. Patton had given me a letter. He spoke of Patton with affection, and it is pleasant to find how universally the Americans, who have been to Goettingen, are remembered with respect and affection. I called also to see Prof. Ewald, whom I regard as one of the most remarkable men I have seen in Europe. He is about twenty-four, looks much younger, is modest in his manner even to bashfulness, although confident even to arrogance, in his writings. He has more hearers than any other Professor who reads on theological subjects. He expressed his hope of being soon able to find time to write a Syriac Grammar. Hoffman, he says, has made no new step, has been diligent, but that is all. He regrets the opinions of Vater, Eichhorn, &c., on the Pentateuch; makes it with the exception of Deuteronomy very old. Job he sets between seven and eight hundred years b, c. The present prologue is, he thinks, spurious. The latter part of Isaiah he rejects. We went afterwards to meet Mrs. Goeschen, a lady whom I had met nearly a year ago at her son-in-law, Westermeier’s. We drank tea with Blumenbach. Mrs. Goeschen and family were there. The old gentleman talked a great deal of our Indians, for whom he seemed to have a great liking. His wife is mother general of the Americans, whom she praised to the skies. The last thing she said to me was, “Send us plenty of Americans.” Prof. Hemsen was kind enough to come and sit half an hour with me this afternoon. He gave no very encouraging account of the prospect of doing much good to students at present. No missionary-society, after all, had been formed. No prayer-meetings were allowed. All that had been gained in the late struggle was that a missions stunde was held, in which the missionary journals were read. He presented me in the name of Prof Pott, with the first part of the commentary on Corinthians, an attention on the part of Dr. Pott I had no ground to expect. I supped at Prof. Liicke’s, but was obliged to come

JET. 30.] WUPPER THAL. 1 9 3

away early, in order to meet the stage passing from Hanover to Cassel.

The 8th and gth of May, I passed in Cassel. The new part of this city is very beautiful. The old part is not remarkable. The gardens and walks round the town are the finest I have seen in Germany.

At 5 o’clock I left Cassel. The country from this to the Rhine is generally varied, and fertile, and beautiful. The dominions of the Elector of Hesse Cassel are marked by a degree of poverty I cannot account for. The villages are the most miserable, and the people more ragged-looking than any I had elsewhere seen in Germany. The aspect of things change for the better as soon as you enter the possessions of Prussia. As soon as the Wupperthal (the valley of the Wupper, a short but copious stream entering the Rhine on the eastern side, about fifty miles below Cologne) commences, a scene is opened which could not have been expected in Germany. The poverty which everywhere else characterizes the peasantry, here disappears. Well-built houses, tasteful gardens, and a general appearance of refinement and comfort everywhere meet the eye. The entire valley, of which Elberfeld is the centre, is almost a continual Village, filled with manufactories of every kind, so that the traveller feels as if he were suddenly transported to England. Elberfeld contains about twenty-two thousand inhabitants, and is probably the richest place of its size in Germany.

These Rhine provinces of Prussia have much that is peculiar and interesting in their ecclesiastical arrangements. They formerly had, under a Catholic Prince, their own Presbyterian form of Government. This, however, has been much weakened since they were brought under the dominion of Prussia. Each Circle has its Presbyterium, consisting of the pastors of one or two elders for each congregation, and each Province has its Synod. But the actual government of the Church is taken, for the most part, out of the

194 KRUMMACHER. [1828.

hands of the Presbyteria and Synods, and given to the Consistoria, as elsewhere in Prussia. The Consistoria examine candidates, and alone can depose a pastor, and that only by reporting to the Ministerium in Berlin, from whom the act of deposition must proceed. The changes which have recently occurred, have principally been brought about through the influence of the clergy. The Rationalists in this part of the country are said to be favorable to the Consistorial form of ecclesiastical administration, as it brings them more in connection with the state, and gives them more worldly power. The congregations, however, have retained the right of electing their own pastors, and hopes are entertained that the powers and rights of the Presbyteries will be restored.

I heard the pastor Krummacher preach in the morning. The Church was large and crowded. The people seemed mostly of the poorer class, although, I am told, that the richer part of the population are remarkably regular in their attendance on Church. The sermon was peculiar. The subject was the rainbow, which he made, first a sacrament, and then considered as a type of the Church. The points of resemblance were five; origin, color, form, position, and. This was carried through with a good

deal of taste and talent, but the whole discourse wanted that authority and power which belong alone to truths obviously contained in the word of God. I called to see the Pastor Wichelhaus, to whom I had a letter. He received me kindly, and gave me the information concerning the ecclesiastical government of these provinces I have recorded above. He also informed me that in the Wupperthal, during the prevalence of infidelity all over Germany, orthodoxy still retained its place, and the spirit of piety, although for a time depressed, never lost its hold on the people. All the preachers in this neighborhood are considered orthodox and pious. In the present state of lively religious feeling here, there are two dangers which struck

^T. 30.] DUSSELDORF. jgr

me as threatening to disturb the beauty of this part of God’s vineyard. The first is a tendency among some few of the preachers to antinomian principles. The other is the extravagant allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament. In the evening I visited the Superintendent Snecklager, where I met four or five other preachers from the neighborhood, and a Mr. Le Grand from Basle.

Tuesday, May 17th. I left Elberfeld at six o’clock for Dusseldorf, distant about fifteen miles. It contains about sixteen thousand inhabitants, a majority of whom are Catholics. The country in this neighborhood is perfectly flat on both sides of the Rhine, and continues so until Bonn. In the afternoon I walked out to Dusselthal, the institution of Count von der Recke. This was originally a cloister, surrounded by a brick wall, and including thirty-six acres of land. There are now a large dwelling-house, a brewery, oil and flour mills, a long house, including carpenter’s and smith’s shops, &c. The Count has now eighty boys and fifty girls, all poor protestant children, with the exception of two Jewish children. He told me that all his ’ long-continued efforts to do something good for the Jews had proved ineffectual. They had all proved themselves to be actuated by such selfish and worldly motives that he was unable to say that he regarded one of all those under his care from the commencement of the institution a sincere Christian. The amazing pride they always manifested made it exceedingly difficult to get along with them. Simon, he said, had given him more trouble than words could well express. He complained of the extravagant ideas entertained by the English Christians as to the dignity and future destiny of the Jews, and said he could not find in the Bible that they were destined to be the rulers of the world. The Jewish inmates left in mass when he made it plain that the attraction he offered them was religious instruction and not worldly gain. The Count has the entire expense of the support of the institution on his own haads. Voluntary

196 COLOGNE AND BONN. [1828.

contributions from Christian friends amount to very little — and the product of the labor of those engaged in the various industries is far from being sufficient. I asked him what he thought of the plan of the American Jewish Society. He said he thought they were engaged in an utterly hopeless effort.

On the 14th, at four o’clock in the morning, I left Dusseldorf for Cologne, where I arrived at nine o’clock. It contains sixty thousand inhabitants, chiefly Catholic, twelve thousand beggars, and twenty-seven churches. The Cathedral, commenced in A. D. 1248, but never finished, is the most beautiful specimen of Gothic architecture in Germany. It contains the bodies of the wise men of the East, and the staff of Peter. St. Peter’s church contains the famous picture of the Crucifixion of Peter, by Rubens, and some remarkable painted windows. In another church are preserved the bones of the eleven thousand virgins. This is a hot-bed of Catholic superstitions.

I left Cologne at two o’clock, and arrived at Bonn at six. Here the mountains commence and the beautiful scenery on the banks of the Rhine. I soon met Mr. Woolsey, who continued with me three days in Bonn, and went with me by steamboat to Coblenz. I have got to love him ten times more than ever.* I called on Prof Nitzsch, to whom I had a letter from Neander. He is a middle-aged man, rather melancholy-looking. I also called on Prof Sack, a very agreeable and affable man, and apparently a friend of piety and the truth. I heard Schlegel lecture, and was disappointed in his appearance and manner. Freytag

* President Theodore D. Woolsey said at Dr. Hodge’s Semi-Centennial Commemoration, April 24th, 1872: “Some years after (I had known him in Princeton Seminary) I was in Bonn, and he coming into (out of) Germany, I think in 1828, stopped in Bonn. I saw him, and went up the river with him to enjoy his society. Then he spoke to me I may say — if permitted to speak of myself — that I was in darkness) — he poke to me words of cheer, of comfort, of strength. 1 do not remember the words, but I remember the impression, and that impression will go with me through life.”

^T. 30.] LETTER TO HIS WIFE. I 97

lives a mile or two out of town, and therefore I did not see him. The University of Bonn is not more than ten years old. Yet it has nearly one thousand students, of whom from three to four hundred are studying theology, about two-thirds being Catholic. The Elector’s palace and its beautiful grounds have been appropriated to the service of the University.

(Here the Journal ends.)

PROF. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

SuRSEE, May 28th, 1828.

My Beloved Sarah: — I have seen the Alps! If now I never see any thing great or beautiful in nature, I am content. I felt that as soon as I saw you, I could fall at your feet and beg you to forgive my beholding such a spectacle without you, my love. You were dearer to me in that moment than ever. I left Basel about one o’clock with a young English gentleman for Lucerne. We rode about fifteen miles and arrived at the foot of a mountain. As the road was steep and difficult, we commenced walking up the mountain in company with two Swiss gentlemen. We ascended leisurely for about two hours before we reached the top. I was walking slowly with my hands behind me, and my eyes on the ground, expecting nothing, when one of the Swiss gentlemen said with infinite indifference — “Voila les Alpes.” I raised my eyes — and around me in a grand amphitheatre, high up against the heavens, were the Alps! It was some moments before the false and indefinite conceptions of my life were overcome by the glorious reality. The declining sun shed on the immense mass of mingled snow and forests the brightness of the evening clouds. This was the -first moment of my life in which I felt overwhelmed. Every thing I had ever previously seen seemed absolutely nothing. The natural bridge in Virginia had surprised me — the Rhine had delighted me — but the first sudden view of the Alps was overwhelming. This was a moment that can never return; the Alps can never be seen again by surprise, and in ignorance of their real appearance.

Berne, Jime 2d. I am now writing in Berne. After having completed a short tour among the mountains, we reached Lucerne about twelve on the 28th of May. We took a hasty dinner and set out for Mount Righi, after having procured mountain shoes and walking poles. We crossed Lake Lucerne, and then commenced the ascent ior three hours. The sun was shining for the first hour, which, with

IQg LETTER TO HIS WIFE. [1828.

the difficulty of the way, made it by far the most severe task I had ever undertaken. We were obliged to he down every ten minutes. After the first hour the ascent was not so severe. There was a shower of rain, and enough of cold wind. After three hours and a half, we had accomplished the task. It was so cloudy and so late that we could see little from the summit, which is 5,550 feet above the sea. We went flattering ourselves with being repaid by beholding the rising sun. But we were again disappointed. There was so dense a fog that nothing could be seen. About 7 o’clock it began to clear — and then the sight was splendid. From this point you overlook the varied surface of the north of Switzerland. To the right and on the left you have a view of the long, unbroken chain of lofty Alps. Of these we could see but little, yet we were amply repaid by the grandeur of the prospect to the right, and the ever varying forms of the clouds as they drove over the plain below. We descended to the lake on the other side of the mountain. The lake of Lucerne deserves all the praise which has been lavished upcui it for romantic scenery, and almost every spot on its vast borders is rich in associations with the heroic memories of the deliverance of Switzerland. At Stanze my English companion gave out. We took a carriage to Sachseln, where we slept. The next morning we rode to Lungeren, and then, partly on horseback and partly on foot, crossed the Briinig and dined at Brienz. We were rowed over this beautiful lake in three hours, and on the evening of the 29th reached Unterseen, which lies on a plain between the lakes of Brienz and Thun. The next morning I set out alone with the guide for Lauterbrunnen, distant about a three hours walk. This is one of the most beautiful valleys in Switzerland, closed by the Jungfrau, one of the loftiest mountains. It is also famous for the waterfall of the Staubbach, which falls nearly perpendicularly 925 feet. I rode up the Wengern Alp, which separates Lauterbrunnen from Grindelwald, on a mule, in four hours. On the top we enjoyed two cloudless hours of surpassing grandeur. We were within musket shot of the immense masses of rocks of the Jungfrau and Eiger, which rose from our level between 6,000 and 7,000 feet. This near view of these immense mountains of ice, rock and snow is as overpowering as the first distant view of their grandeur. We saw and heard at least twenty avalanches. It was like a long-continued thunder-storm, so rapidly did one falling mass succeed to another. The mountain we passed had still so much snow that the mule could proceed no further. I tlTierefore commenced the descent on the opposite side on foot. In four hours we reached Grindelwald, having made a detour to get to one of its famous glaciers. What will my wife and mother say to my lameness — walking nearly twenty miles and riding ten in one day?

>ET. 30.] LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. I 99

But with heartfelt gratitude I may say it has not injured me in the least. Saturday was so disagreeable that I had to relinquish plans — and so, returning to Unterseen, a walk of five hours, and dismissing there my guide, I made the best of my way to Berne,

Yours, &c., &€., Charles Hodge.

PROF. HODGE TO HIS MOTHER.

London, June 28th, 1828.

My Dear Mother: — From Geneva I made an excursion of

three days to the valley of Chamouny to see its celebrated glaciers and to get a view of Mount Blanc. Having seen in the Canton of Berne scenery of the same kind, the impression was by no means so strong as when things at once novel and sublime strike the sight. I crossed the celebrated sea of ice, an enterprise of much more difficulty than I expected, and attended by a degree of danger that, had I been aware of it, would have deterred me from the attempt. The ice changes from month to month in these immense glaciers, so that you are never secure in finding it in a good state, unless your guide has passed at that particular place within a few weeks. These glaciers are immense bodies of snow and ice, and will fill up the elevated valleys of the mountains. The one called the Sea of Ice is eighteen leagues long, and from one to three miles broad. The surface is as irregular as the ocean. What may be called the waves are ten, twenty, or fifty feet high. The difficulty consists in getting up and down these waves, and over the chasms which run in all directions, and are often slightly covered with snow. With a careful guide, however, accidents are exceedingly rare. Those which do occur are generally the result of the folly of young men who disregard the advice of their conductors. The guides in these mountains are regulated just as pilots are in the difficult harbors of maritime nations. They are examined, must receive certificates, and are responsible for the safety of all whom they conduct. I found the excursion of this day — walking nine hours under circumstances which required great muscular effort — too much for my limb. Otherwise I was scarcely fatigued at all. Were it not for that weakness, I should think myself equal to any amount of bodily fatigue.

From Geneva to Paris the country is not peculiarly interesting. At Paris I felt myself almost at home. I dined one day with ten Americans — Dr. J. R. Clark, Dr. Hopkinson, Dr. Ralston, Dr. Cunningham, Mr. Chauncey.

I left Paris for London with the dear good Mr. Chauncey, and am now settled with him in good, comfortable lodgings.

Your son, C. H.

200 LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. [1828.

PROF. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

London, 27th, 1828.

My Dearest Sarah: — As Mr. Chauncey had been by Calais

and Dover, he preferred the route by Dieppe and Brighton. We spent one day in Rouen to view the old churches, &c. After a ride of six hours we found ourselves in Dieppe. Our passage over the Channel was not pleasant — but in twelve hours after leaving Dieppe we were standing on the chalky shores of old England. You may suppose it was with a swelling heart I trod upon the soil of the mother country, which, with all her faults, is the most wonderful and

admirable the world has ever seen St. Paul’s church is much

the most sublime and striking of any I have seen when viewed from under its immense dome. We attended last evening the House of Commons. You are aware that they sit in a room very much like a Methodist meeting-house — that the members wear their hats and lounge about as they please. I heard about twenty speak in the course of three hours, and never heard so much poor speaking in my life. I have never attended Congress, and therefore can make no comparison; but I am sure our General Assembly does not offer a sight of twenty such dull people.

Your own husband, C. H.

PROF. HODGE TO HIS WIFE.

London, July 5th, 1828. My Dear Sarah: — A few evenings ago I attended the debates in the House of Lords, and heard the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Bute, Lord Calthorpe, and several other members speak. All most miserable speakers, excepting the Duke, who can say what he wants in a plain, sensible manner. The whole assembly is far from imposing, and the members almost as negligent as those of the Commons, lounging about and talking to each other. Lord Calthorpe is a very pious, excellent man, and therefore I heard him with pleasure, although he is a very poor speaker.

Your own husband, C. H.

Mr. Hodge visited the usual sights in London, and heard Dr. Wardlaw, of Edinburgh, preach twice. He was kindlyentertained over Sabbath at the house of Mr. Roberts, about five miles out of the city. He and Mr. Chauncey spent the 12th, 13th, and 14th of July in Cambridge, and heard Charles Simeon preach, with great delight, and

.ET. 30.] RETURN HOME. 20I

visited Professor Lee, to whom he was introduced by a letter of Tholuck’s. But as it was vacation the majority of the professors were absent. Returning to London, he went to Oxford and visited the Colleges, but all the gentlemen to whom he bore letters were absent, enjoying their vacation. He then visited Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, and Warwick, the seat of the Earl of Warwick, and went thence to Liverpool. On the twenty-second he left Liverpool for a rapid visit to Edinburgh, of which not a single line of record survives. On the ist of August he sailed from Liverpool, in the Caledonia, for New York. He reached his home, in Princeton, about the 18th of September, 1828, WHERE THERE WAS JOY. Then was the first abiding image of his father, and of Drs. Alexander, Miller, and Maclean, who gathered to the greeting, fixed in the mind of the collector and recorder of these memoirs. From this point journals and domestic letters cease to be copious, and personal recollections begin to yield their contributions to the history which remains to be traced.