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A. A Sketch of Schleiermacher’s Life. · PROFESSOR, PREACHER, AND PATRIOT IN BERLIN

The much-talked-of university to be established in Berlin at last became a fact. Schleiermacher is considered to have had a powerful influence in its formation. Fichte was its rector, but Schleiermacher stood at the head of the faculty of theology, as Savigny at the head of that of jurisprudence, arid the organization of the theological studies and the spirit he introduced into them ushered in a new epoch. His Kurze Darstellung des theologischen Studiums, which was published at this time, exhibits his view of the nature and relations of the various theological sciences. This little book was a pathmaker in the proper apprehension of the subject, and an evidence of its great value is seen in the fact that it is still being studied and republished. For the first time the various theological disciplines were comprehended in their integrity by the determination of their organic relation to a single principle. Schleiermacher’s views on the subject have been much criticized, but his great merit is beyond dispute. But Schleiermacher’s activities in Berlin were by no means confined to the duties of his professorial position. He was incessant n\ multiform labors for the public good. Preaching, lecturing, writing, philanthropic work, participation in ecclesiastical and political affairs, his efforts in the reorganization of state educational institutions, and the instruction of youths went on together. Add to this his wide social relations, for his home be came one of the chief social centers in Berlin, and we get some idea of the extent of his capacity for work. At the same time we find here an explanation of the fact that his university lectures were never given that completeness and perfection of form which is desirable in order to a thorough knowledge of his views.

To enter extensively into Schleiermacher’s connection with the history of Prussia during the later Napoleonic wars would lead us very far afield. We must here content ourselves with a few brief references. The regeneration of Prussia was owing in no small degree to him. From a very early period in this great struggle he apprehended the immensity of the interests at stake and at the same time perceived the incapacity of the Prussian government. He saw that the power of the French movement lay in its popular basis, and felt that the hope of his own country lay in her people. They must be aroused to a realization of their rights and responsibilities. As he saw it, the safety of the German fatherland lay in German. Protestantism; the cause of Christianity and the cause of Protestantism were one. To him, therefore, the conflict with Napoleon was at bottom for the interests of true religion, and on that account, unlike Fichte, he flung himself into it with all his might. He was in close touch with the political leaders throughout and co-operated with them. After the peace of Tilsit, which left Prussia clinging to the skirts of Napoleon, the nation, stirred to indignation over its humiliation and the partition of its territories, began to rouse itself to action. A reformation was soon in progress. Schleiermacher boldly denounced the selfishness, the cowardice, and the want of faith in God which were the root of his country’s shame, and summoned the people to repentance. While patriots like Stein and Scharnhorst aimed at placing the civil and military affairs of Prussia on a truly national basis, he wrought for the reawakening of the church.

The French were not slow to recognize in him a dangerous man, and as early as 1808 one of his letters intimates that he had been arrested and brought before Marshal Davoust and had been rebuked by that officer as a hot-head and provoker of disorder. But his perfect composure during the interview thwarted the marshal’s intention to keep him under restraint. He continued the good work of preparing his countrymen for that desperate grapple with the tyrant which he felt could not long be delayed. His sermons and his lectures pointed that way. His house became a resort for Prussian patriots. In one of his letters he notes incidentally that at the close of a lecture there was a meeting of the Defense Committee at his house. We find him in the autumn of 1811 traveling in Silesia on a political mission, evidently of a dangerous kind, but the exact nature of which is not clear. Between the years 1810 and 1813 his letters frequently express alarm over the country’s prospects and a deep distrust of the character and ability of the royal government. After Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow he urged strenuously that Prussia should identify herself with the common interests of Europe, and great was the rejoicing when her government broke the alliance with Napoleon and declared against him. We find a fine expression of his feelings in a sermon on “A Nation’s Duty in a War for Freedom,” preached on March 28, 1813, from Jer. 17:5-8 and 18:7-10, on the occasion of the king’s summons to the people to unite in the cause of the fatherland. He hails the change of policy as an evidence of a revived trust in God after a disgraceful submission to a foreign foe and as a renewal of their devotion to the divine purpose in the nation’s life. He warned the people against personal ambition and selfishness and urged all classes to perform their part.

On the calling out of the Landwehr (“militia”) he was one of the first to enrol himself in a regiment and submitted to several hours’ military drill daily. The nature of his influence at the time is vividly represented in Bishop Eilert’s description (quoted by Lücke in Studien und Kritiken, 1850, and transl. by Miss Rowan) of a special occasion when a portion of the Landwehr made up of students of the university and the Gymnasium as a body requested Schleiermacher to preach and administer the sacrament to them just before their departure. At eight o’clock on the evening of May 13, 1813, they assembled in Holy Trinity Church, having piled their arms in and around the building.

After having pronounced a short prayer, full of unction, Schleiermacher went up into the pulpit. There, in this holy place and at this solemn hour, stood the physically so small and insignificant man, his noble countenance beaming with intellect, and his clear, sonorous, penetrating voice ringing through the overflowing church. Speaking from his heart with pious enthusiasm his every word penetrated to the heart, and the clear, full, mighty stream of his eloquence carried everyone along with it. His bold, frank declaration of the causes of our fall, his severe denunciation of our actual defects, as evinced in the narrow-hearted spirit of caste, of proud aristocracy, and in the dead forms of bureaucratism, struck down like thunder and lightning, and the subsequent elevation of the heart to God on the wings of solemn devotion was like harp-tones from a higher world. The discourse proceeded in an uninterrupted stream, and every word was from the times and for the times. And when, at last, with the full fire of enthusiasm he addressed the noble youths already equipped for battle, and next turning to their mothers, the greater number of whom were present, he concluded with the words: “Blessed is she who has borne such a son; blessed is the bosom that has nourished such a babe,” a thrill of deep emotion ran through the assembly, and, amid loud sobs and weeping, Schleiermacher pronounced the concluding Amen.

Notwithstanding the suspense and terrible anxieties of those days, his life was a happy one because of the character of his family life and enrichment of his spiritual nature. For a time, during the war, he sent his family into Silesia, thinking it a safer place for them than Berlin was likely to be. Great was his alarm when that country itself became the theater of war, but happily they escaped all injury. During this time the letters between him and his wife are full of expressions of tender regard for each other and their children and at the same time of a calm trust in the grace and goodness of God. More and more we are impressed, as we study his career, that in the simple relations of everyday life more than anywhere else is to be seen the true greatness of this wonderful man. We shall see a reflection of this later in the theological view of the identity of the spheres of the natural and the supernatural.