The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, June 1865
Religion
The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, June 1865
Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Catholic Church -- Periodicals
The reader will have observed that this course of reading made several
important additions to M. Laemmer's religious views. And yet the books
among which his reading lay were either not at all, or not directly
religious. We are now to inquire how far his ideas were modified by any
directly religious training. The answer to this question opens up such
a view of the condition of Protestantism in the country of its birth, as
well deserves our careful study. Let M. Laemmer tell us what fruits it
has produced at Koenigsberg. First of all, in the various schools where
he resided during his stay in that town, there was no common practice of
religion: the religious exercises of the gymnasium were limited to the
singing of a few stereotyped chants. The religious instruction of the
students was attended to by an aged professor, who was one of the leaders
of the Freemasons, and whose religion was the religion of pure reason. He
was assisted in the religious training of the students by a younger man,
whose doctrines were kindred with his own, and whose lectures, though
erudite, were arid. Fortunately for himself, M. Laemmer had learned
from his mother the habit of night and morning prayer. This habit he
retained, although for want of fixed principles it became a work of
mere routine. Such was the state of religion in the gymnasium. In the
city itself things were still worse. From the orthodox Lutheranism of
Superintendent Sartorius, down to the absolute Rationalism of Rupp,
every intermediate stage of error had its exponents and followers in the
city of Kant. In the eyes of Sartorius, Catholicism, which he knew only
from Luther's caricatures, stood on the same level with Rationalism; he
assigned to the Confession of Augsburg almost the same authority which
Catholics claim for tradition, and together with Baur, Nitsch, and Winer,
made an unsuccessful attempt to refute Moehler's _Symbolism_. Rupp, on the
other hand, denounced all symbols, even that of St. Athanasius, which he
declared to be incompatible with Christian doctrine; his system was based
on Indifferentism of the lowest kind, and conceded to women as well as to
men the right of deliberating and of teaching in religious matters. And
yet, these two men, so diametrically opposed to each other in doctrine,
preached for a time in the same church and from the same pulpit. And,
whilst Sartorius, who revered Luther as a man of God, preached to empty
benches, Rupp found assembled around him a crowded audience, composed of
the highest as well as the lowest in the land. The different churches
at Koenigsberg had preachers of every shade of doctrine. During the
course of his studies M. Laemmer made trial of them all, but found not
satisfaction in any. At length, in the midst of this Babel, he became
acquainted with the man who was destined to exercise a most salutary
influence on his life. That man was Lehnerdt, Superintendent-General
of the province of Saxony. Born in Brandenburg, and educated at Berlin,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account