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Text
THE OPINIONS
OF
Professor DAVID F. STRAUSS,
AS EMBODIED IN HIS LETTER
TO THE BURGOMASTER HIRZEL,
PROFESSOR ORELLI,
AND PROFESSOR HITZIG, AT ZURICH.
WITH
AN ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF ZURICH,
By PROFESSOR ORELLI.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THOMAS SCOTT, WEST CLIFF, RAMSGATE,
1865.
�“ --------------------------------------------------- ------->
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�PREFACE.
---------4,——
STRAUSS, the celebrated author of “ The Life
of Jesusf when elected, in 1839, by the proper
authorities to the then vacant chair of Professor of
Theology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland,
and ready to leave his abode in Germany for his new
place of destination, was prevented from doing so on
account of an insurrection of the people of Zurich
and of the surrounding country. Instigated and
headed by their clergy, they took up arms, and
declared their determination to prevent his coming,
calling him “ a heretic and an unbeliever.”
The
authorities tried all possible means to tranquillize
them, to convince them of their being wrong,
and of the groundlessness of their apprehensions ;
but in vain : the people remained firm in their reso
lution, obeying their spiritual leaders. It was at this
critical time that the following letter of Dr Strauss
was written, in order to reconcile the people to his doc-
�4
Preface.
trines, which, he thought were misunderstood by them,
because misrepresented by their clergy. Nothing,
however, could induce them to retrace their steps ;
and at last they actually succeeded in forcing
the authorities to institute a new election, the result
of which was, that another Professor, whom they did
not object to, was chosen, and thus the peace of the
country restored. The letter of Strauss, though not
of very recent date, conveys the clearest idea of his
views in regard to the Christian religion, and for that
reason it may just now be read by some with no small
degree of interest.
*
�A
PROFESSOR ORELLl’S ADDRESS
TO THE PEOPLE OF ZURICH.
Dear Fellow Citizens!
EAD, I beg and entreat you, read quietly and
dispassionately, this little book, in which the
enlightened Doctor Strauss propounds and explains
the tendency of his theology, and of his Christian
belief, in a manner quite intelligible to every one.
With the same candour and clearness did Zwingli
and Luther, those highly enlightened men of God,
formerly communicate their religious persuasions to
the people, in opposition to popcry, when a new and
more beautiful life began to dawn upon them.
After having read the letter, examine first the doc
trine of Doctor Strauss yourselves with all conscien
tiousness : do so in the retirement of your closets,
when the peace of God reigns over you and in your
hearts. Hold fast what is good, that is to say, what
ever appears to you, as rational Christians, to be true,
and good, and beautiful ; reject the rest, which may
seem to you untrue, un Christian, or at least doubtful.
Ask also your ministers by their synodical vow,
R
�6
Professor Orell?s Address.
and on their conscience, what in the letter accords
with the doctrine of our divine Saviour; what, on
the contrary, is opposed to it, and therefore heretical
and condemnable.
Entreat your ministers to enter quietly, and with
a mild spirit, honestly, and without any disguise, as
becomes ministers of Christ, upon whatever points
you may confidently consult them.
Entreat them not to cast angry imprecations
against Doctor Strauss and this little book: such a
proceeding would only become the Pope of Rome.
Beseech your pastors to refute those parts of the
Letter of Strauss which they think to be false, with
sound reasons, and with valid proofs, taken from the
treasure of their erudition.
Dear fellow-citizens, I say with the holy Apostle
Paul (1 Cor. vii, 23-24) : “ Ye are bought with a price ;
be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every
man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”
Take to heart, without any passion, what an old
friend of religious liberty, of the constitution and
laws, which all of us have confirmed by oath, and
especially also of the freedom of popular education,
kindly advises you to do.
Your’s,
Johann Kaspar Orelli;
�LETTER
OF
PROFESSOR DAVID FRIEDRICH STRAUSS.
----------- *-----------
HEN I read in the public papers of the disturb
W ance which my election to the University of
Zurich has created in your town and in your canton
—of the meetings held on that account—of the
speeches which are made—of the writings which are
exchanged ; when I consider the attacks made upon
you, most honourable men, and upon all those who
assisted in bringing about my election—the invectives
thrown out against you, the injuries done to you
from so many sides,—a deep and just sorrow comes
over me, that men to whom I feel myself so highly
indebted should have to pay so dear for their kind
interest in my behalf. And I, for whom you expose
yourselves to the boisterous waves of a popular com
motion, am lying quietly all the while in a calm
harbour, scarcely hearing from afar the roaring storm
and the resounding breakers, and only able to send
you a sympathizing word, but not to appease the
wild waters.
�'The Opinions of
When after a Jong and obstinate resistance my
election was at last brought about, I thought your
struggle would now be at an end, and I flattered
myself with the hope of being now soon to be placed
personally in the midst of you, and of being able to
begin gradually paying you the debt of gratitude
which has run up so high, by meeting you in the
kindest manner—by shewing you every respectful
attention, and giving you the most friendly assistance
for the common purpose of diffusing truth and light.
But, behold! it was only the beginning of your
troubles ; and the time when I shall be able to shew
myself personally grateful to you—who knows when
it will come ? for it would be in vain for me to sow
the seed of knowledge on a soil overflown by so
many wild waters. Noah was also obliged to wait
till the flood had subsided before he could cultivate
the field and plant vineyards. But why do I speak
to you of gratitude ? Men of your disposition, if
unfavourable circumstances render active gratitude
impossible, are satisfied with that gratitude which
lives in the heart, and that, you may rest assured,
will only be extinguished with life itself.
But how am I to justify it before the tribunal of
the public weal and of science, that on account of
my election men like you are disturbed in their
activity for both in such a deplorable manner ? How
many a fruit, carefully cultivated for the general good
by your active attention, most honourable Burgo
master, is torn unripe from the tree, or, at least, delayed
in ripening by the present storms ! How many an hour
�Professor David F. Strauss.
9
which you, most honoured Orelli, would have dedi
cated to the ancients, for the benefit of all friends of
classic literature, is embittered to you by these nego
tiations, or by indignation at the circumstances in
question! And you, dear Hitzig, how often may
your faithful acting or feeling for me have hindered
you in those labours through which you diffuse such
a, pleasing light in the hitherto darkest parts of the
Old Testament' But here may my desire for the
promotion of the public weal and the progress of
science hold me excused before their united tribunal,
for you intended to do a service to both by bringing
me to your University ; and though, perhaps, you
may have overrated my powers of execution, in my
good-will you were certainly not mistaken. But at
present I am not even allowed to try how far I might
be able to answer your expectations; and so it seems
that you have in vain withdrawn your time and
labour from your more important occupations.
Do not think so, honoured gentlemen! Your
voices have found an echo far and wide, and, still
more, silent sympathy, though they may have no
resting-place in your own immediate neighbourhood :
like the feathered seed of plants, appearing, indeed,
to be blown away by the wind, but often alighting on
a little piece of earth in a distant country, where it
can take root and spring up- Now, or later, through
me, or through another one, at Zurich, or wherever
else in Germany, or in Switzerland, no matter, but
the day will certainly come, when we shall be able to
think and speak rationally and freely of religion,
�IO
The Opinions of
without being called ungodly; and to be really pious
and godly, without abusing reason and condemning
science.
Of this the present occurrences, the
discussions of the three councils, the speeches and
opinions which were heard there, are forebodings not
to be mistaken. Even without any immediate success,
it is, nevertheless, infinitely much that once, in an
assembled council of the people, thoughts have been
uttered like this,—“ that you may be a Christian
without believing in all the words and relations of
the Bible.” They are now wishing, from certain
quarters, to have the results of those discussions, and
the resolutions of those assemblies, repealed. I hope
they will not succeed; but even suppose they do,
those who brought it about would have little reason
to triumph. If they were more judicious leaders than
they appear to be, they would say, in case of success,
with that ancient general, “ another such victory,
and we are lost.” For a single victory and a single
defeat decides nothing yet; the germ of future
defeats lies often concealed in a victory: on the
contrary, the surety of future victories in a defeat—
all depends on the manner in which the contest was
carried on. On the side of those whom they are now
endeavouring to overpower, it was carried on
in open deliberation, where speech was opposed
to speech, where the defender stood up against
the accuser, and where the assembly, as judge,
after having heard both parties, decided for
him who was accused and defended;—an honest,
open contest, an impartial sentence. But on the side
�Professor David F. Strauss.
11
of those who would fain annul this sentence, the
contest is carried on, as on that side all contests have
been carried on at all times. The council-hall is for
certain people unwelcome ground to fight upon,
because there each thrust has to expect a counter
thrust : a much more convenient scene of action for
them is the church, where the breastwork of the
pulpit forms an invincible barrier, and where the
orator must be in the right, because nobody is
allowed to contradict him. This is a court where
only the accuser is heard, but not the accused and his
defender; where the judging congregation pronounce
their “ guilty ” on the mere statement of the former.
A just judgment, an honourable contest, it cannot be
denied!—if the good congregation, who are here to
decide on the Christianity and admissibility of an
elected Professor at the University had only acquired
from elsewhere a knowledge of their own concerning
his doctrines, that they might be able to compare
what their clergymen accuse him of, with what they
know of him themselves, and judge of it accordingly!
But if you ask these people, What do you think that
Strauss really does, teach ? I cannot help smiling
when I fancy what their -answer may be. The
modest and simple burghers who form the greater
part of those communities, will, I am sure, be ready to
confess that they have not read and scarcely seen
the book in question* ; and also the better educated
amongst them, as far as they are not of a learned
profession, should at least confess that, although they
* The Life of Jesus.
�I2
The Opinions of
may have read it, they have not possessed the means
of thoroughly understanding and justly appreciating
it. There remains, therefore, only the judgment of
the clergyman, who, the judges having no judgment
of their own in this affair, is of course accuser and
judge in one person.
But should not the communities be able to rely
with security on the judgment of their clergy ?-—
Certainly, in all those points which refer to the indi
vidual salvation of the members of the community.
On the question, What shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life ? the clergymen have to give an answer
to those committed to .their care, and, without
particular reasons for the contrary, it is always to be
supposed that they will give the right one. But who
would appoint a clergyman, as such, to judge, for
instance, of the best manner of cultivating the soil,
of establishing manufactures, of governing the State ?
“ Well,” you will say, “ that is not his business ; but
the clergymen must certainly know how to judge of
the orthodoxy of a professor of theology, as they have
studied theology themselves.” That they have ; but
will you permit me to make a comparison, in order
to show that nevertheless the majority of the clergy
are at present the least qualified to be impartial
judges in this cause, in which they are themselves so
much concerned. When Guttenberg invented the
art of printing, who were at the time the bitterest
adversaries of the new art, but those who had till
then been engaged in copying books ? And, to
choose some instances of our own days, who opposed
�Professor David F. Strauss.
13
the spinning-engines with the greatest zeal, but those
who had hitherto also been employed in spinning,
but without engines? Who did most passionately
curse the steam navigation? Was it not those who
were also navigators, but only prepared to go by
means of oars and sails ? Would ever a printingoffice have been established if the copiers of books
had been listened to ; or a steam-carriage constructed,
if it had depended on the decision of the coachmen ?
These instances shew sufficiently that the most
implacable adversaries of every new invention, in any
line of business, are for the first time the very mem
bers of the corporation who have hitherto carried on
the same business without the new contrivance.
This may be fully applied to the behaviour of most
of the clergy with regard to those alterations which,
a,mangst others, I am also endeavouring to introduce
in the science of theology. It was at all times, and
it will also in future continue to be, the duty of the
clergy to excite pious feelings in their auditors, to
strengthen their virtuous resolutions, to implant in
children the fear of God, to guard the same in grown
persons against the impulses of passion and of worldly
occupations, to comfort the sick through the word of
God, and to inspire the dying with blissful hope, as a
companion on their last journey.
The Protestant
clergy were, till now, accustomed to perform this task
in the following manner:—They took the Bible in
hand, and said, Behold ! there is a God who in ancient
times created this world in six days, and rested on
the seventh, in commemoration of which the seventh
�14
The Opinions of
day was sanctified for the believers as a day of rest.
At that time God also made man of the dust of the
ground; but man, first innocent and without fault,
was persuaded by a serpent, behind which, perhaps,
the devil was concealed, to eat of a forbidden fruit;
whereupon he was driven out of the garden of Para
dise, and the earth was cursed for his sake. All men,
descended from him, are born sinners since that time,
on account of which hereditary sin they would have
justly incurred eternal damnation from their very
birth; but God revealed Himself henceforth to several
members of the corrupted race;—He appeared to
Abraham in the form of man, wrestled in person with
Jacob and dislocated his thigh: through Moses He
led His people out of Egypt, and gave them the law
from Mount Sinai with His own audible voice. A
series of miracles runs from thence through the whole
history of this people. Balaam’s ass spoke on their
account; Joshua ordered the sun and the moon to
stand still in their course; Elijah obtained fire from
heaven through his prayers, and went up thither in a
fiery chariot. Then the Prophets rose one after
another, foretelling the coming of Christ; and when the
time was fulfilled, Christ appeared himself. He was
in all things like the rest of mankind, with the ex
ception of sin, and of the circumstance that he had
not, like all of us, with a human mother also a human
father; but, in his case, the Divine Spirit supplied
the place of a father. Angels announced his birth at
Bethlehem to the shepherds, and a star guided the
wise men from the distant east, like a torch carried
�Professor David F. Strauss.
15
before them, to the place and the very house of the
Divine Child. When he had grown a man, and was
being baptized by John the Baptist, the Spirit of God
descended npon him in the visible shape of a dove, and
God the father Himself said, in audible words, that He
was well pleased in him. From that time his life was
a succession not only of beneficent actions, but also
of miracles : he raised the dead, fed thousands of
people with a few loaves, walked upon the sea, and
turned water into wine. But he fell into the hands
of his enemies: he died on the cross; he shed his
blood for the atonement of the world. However,
after three days he rose again from the dead, and after
forty more he visibly, and before the eyes of his dis
ciples, ascended into heaven ; from whence he poured
down upon them the Holy Ghost in a rushing mighty
wind, and in tongues of fire ; and from whence he
will come back one day to resuscitate the dead, and
to judge them, together with those who shall then be
still living.
This is the old Christian belief; and who would
be insensible to the elevating beauty and comfort it
contains ? We, certainly not; but for that reason
they ought to be fair enough on the other side also
to acknowledge its insurmountable difficulties, which
are more clearly developed as time advances. God
is said to have walked with Adam in Paradise, and
appeared to Abraham in a visible form, though St
John says that no man has seen God at any time:
and our reason agrees with the Apostle. God formed
man of the dust of the ground: is He not there
�i6
The Opinions of
represented as a human being with hands ? He took
food with one of the Patriarchs, and wrestled with
the other; does not that suppose Him possessed of
bodily limbs ? In Paradise the serpent spoke, and
afterwards the ass of the heathen seer; but is a
speaking animal anything which we are able to
imagine, far less to have a clear idea of ? The sun
stood still in his course ; or, rather, the earth was
stopped in its daily revolution round its own axis.
We know what happens when a carnage is suddenly
stopped at its full speed through some obstacle ;—a
shock ensues, which throws him who has not a very
firm hold out of the carriage; and when, at that
time, the earth was stopped in its incomparably
quicker movement, would Joshua, with his troops,
have been able to pursue the enemies unshaken ?
Would not Israelites and Amorites, together 'with
the towers and houses, not only of Gibeon, but of
the whole earth, have fallen to the ground, from a
shock stronger than that of the most violent earth
quake ? Then, the ascension of Elias and of Jesus;
is, then, the throne of God really above the clouds ?
Do not stars surround the terrestrial globe above
as well as on all other sides ? And are not the stars
worlds ? and is not God everywhere ? If, according
to the Apostle Paul (Acts xvii, 28), we live and move
and have our being in God, what occasion has He
to remove whomever He wants to call to Him
self from the surface of the earth, be it in a fiery
chariot or on a cloud ?
“ But these,” they reply, “ and all other parts of
�Professor David F. Strauss.
17
sacred history which you are offended at—for
instance, the casting out devils, the healing the sick,
the raising the dead—are the very miracles through
which God has proved that it is He who has made
heaven and earth, and all things therein.” What!
would it be impossible, then, to know, by the existing
regulation and the ordinary course of the world
and of nature, that it is God who has created it ?
Who is ungodly enough to dare such an assertion ?
or, shall I rather say, childish enough ? For, indeed,
such a judgment is exactly like the behaviour of
children, who do not think anything of it, when
they are told that the clock, whose pendulum you see
vibrating with such uniformity, and which you hear
striking so regularly every hour, was made by this
artist here; but as soon as this man condescends to
lift up the hammer of the bell with his hand, and
to let it strike out of the common way, once, twice,
01* as often as the child wishes, then the clockmaker
is with the children the celebrated and favoured
man. It is a pity that mankind should be so slow in
putting away childish things. The miracles in the
sense of the old popular belief cannot be of any
particular value but to him who is unable to discover
the power and wisdom of the Creator in the natural
regulation of the world; and we, who are accused
of not believing those miracles which God performed
in Judea at the time of Moses and the prophets—of
Jesus and the Apostles—we do not think much of
them, only because to us they are lost, like a drop in
the ocean, amongst the innumerable wonders which
B
�18
(The Opinions of
God is daily and hourly performing in all parts of
the world created and supported by Him. “ Behold
the finger of God,” they cry ; “ he has stopped the
sun and the moon at the time of Joshua! ” What!
only his finger ? we reply: we see the whole hand,
the powerful arm of Him, who not only stopped the
sun and the moon once for some few hours, but who,
from the creation of the world until now, has upheld
and supported all suns, and moons, and earths, and the
whole host of stars, moving them in their right orbits.
According to your belief, dumb animals have spoken
like men, and thereby proclaimed the glory of God ;
also, according to ours, do the animals proclaim the
glory of God through the artificial construction of
their limbs, through their wonderful instinct and
their various abilities. Why force us to believe that
an animal has spoken with human language, since the
truly great and glorious thing in the creation of God
is this,—that He is praised by each creature in its
own language, by a chorus of beings of so many
voices? You find it particularly elevating, that
Christ has twice fed thousands of people with a
small provision, through the power of his Father.
What, only twice ! and a long time ago, has your
God been doing what ours is doing every year—yea,
every day ? For it is, indeed, but a small provision
which we intrust every year as seed to the soil of
our fields and gardens ; but the seed brings fruit, as
Christ says, “some an hundred fold, some sixty,
Some thirty,” (Matth. xiii, 23) satisfying every
day far more than only four or five thousand, so that
�Professor David F. Strauss.
19
many fragments are remaining. In short, you cannot
mention any miracle which we have not also, and
even greater and more splendid.
“ But is, then, our Saviour no longer anything
extraordinary ? ” they ask. “ Is the Son of God
nothing but a common man ? ”—A. man, a real man ?
yes ! but a common one ? No! the Son of God
he is also to us, only not in that coarse sense which
must always be an offence to reason. Tell me, is
Christ called only Son of God in the Scripture ?
Is he not quite as often called the son of man ? And
is this not a sufficient proof that it must be possible
for an individual to be the Son of God, and yet at
the same time the son of man ? Therefore, to us
Christ is the son of Joseph and Mary : God sanctified
the fruit of their union; He breathed into it the
beautiful and pure soul, the high and powerful spirit
which the child showed already at an early age; and
for that reason we call the son of man very justly also
the Son of God. And so the other miraculous events
of his life. God himself is said to have pronounced
upon him twice, that he was His beloved Son in
whom He was well pleased, adding that mankind
ought to listen to him. What do we lose by doubting
these relations? Having removed the offence we
took in fancying God speaking with human voice,
we certainly do not feel inclined to call that a loss.
But we do not lose anything else; for, considering
the godliness and purity of the life of Jesus, and
then thinking of God and his holiness on one side,
and of our destination on the other, we know,
�20
The Opinions of
without a positive declaration, that God must have
been pleased with a life like that of Jesus, and that
we cannot do anything better than adhere to him.
We do not, therefore, lose more with those voices
from, heaven than is lost for a beautiful picture from
which a ticket is taken away that was fastened to it,
containing the superfluous assurance of its being a
beautiful picture. Whether Christ has healed sick
persons through a mere word or touch—what is that
to us, who are no longer benefited by it, and who
will never be able to do the same ? God may have
endowed him with particular powers for the purpose of
such performances : that was calculated for those who
were his contemporaries. He does not help us any
longer by means of those powers, like the blind man
at Jericho, or the leper and the lame man at
Capernaum, or the dead at Nain and Bethany ■ but
he opens our eyes through his doctrines, that we may
know the holy will of God; he strengthens our feeble
endeavours to follow his example through exhorta
tions and promises; he purifies our hearts through
his Spirit, and awakens us through the communion
of his life, into which he receives us, to a new life of
holiness and righteousness.
“ But what,” they ask us, “ becomes of the atoning
death of Jesus according to your creed ? Is he to
you as well as to us the Lamb of God, slain for the
sins of the world ? ” Here we must ask you a
question in return : Do you consider the atonement
in this way, that God was during the whole time of
the Old Testament always an angry and jealous God,
�Professor David F. Strauss.
21
seeking vengeance on mankind, and that only the
blood of Christ appeased his wrath and softened his
disposition towards the human race ?
Whoever
considers it thus is, not to speak of the unreasonable
ness and unworthiness of the whole idea, contradicted
by Jesus himself, who declared that the love of God
towards the world was the principal motive why God
gave his only begotten Son (John iii, 16). If,
therefore, God was already beforehand merciful and
inclined to forgive, it is impossible to conceive that,
besides repentance and improvement on the side of
man, the death of an innocent person should have
been required, and that without it God should not
have been able to indulge in his mercy, and really to
pardon the sins of those that are penitent. Never
theless, the death of Jesus is also to us an image
and surety of our forgiveness and salvation. If that
man whose mind was one with God did not desist
from loving sinful mankind even unto death, yea,
prayed to God for his murderers, we are able by the
mildness of this godly man to measure the mercy of
God Himself, and His willingness to pardon even
those who have most grossly offended Him, provided
only they repent. If an Elias, who caused fire to
fall from heaven upon those who were sent out to
apprehend him, seemed to teach an angry God
(though the Lord had revealed himself even to him
in a still small voice, 1 Kings, xix, 12-13) we
see, by the forbearing and placable disposition of the
dying Christ, that God is love.
According to the old Christian belief, Christ rose
�22
The Opinions of
again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. So
he did also according to ours; but not only once,
and at the end of his life; but at all times he arose
from those dead, whom he orders to bury their dead
(Matth. viii, 22), and to such a life he awakens
already at this side of the grave all those who follow
him; for he says himself, “ He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath ever
lasting life, and is passed from death unto life.”
(John v, 24). In like manner there was no occasion
for his being carried up to God into heaven by a
cloud at the end of his career, as he soared thither
already during his lifetime in each prayer which he
said at night on lonely mountains, or in the day,
surrounded by his disciples.
Moreover, what St
Paul demands of the Christians (1 Thess. v, 17)
being fully the case with him, that is to say, his
life being a praying without ceasing, he was
continually with God, which he intimates himself
by saying to Nicodemus, “ The Son of man which is
in heaven ” (John iii, 13), where also the conversation
of the true Christian is already in this life, according
to St Paul (Phil, iii, 20).
“ But do you also believe,” they ask us, “ that
Christ will come back to judge the world ? ” We do
believe it, we reply; only, his coming to judge is to us
not, as it is to you, such a one that is always delayed
from century to century, and never takes place:
but in us the Lord passes judgment every day, for he
has given his spirit into our hearts to judge us,
punishing us when we are doing or coveting’ evil, and
�Professor David F. Strauss.
23
rewarding us with peace and happiness, when we are
guided and governed by it. And since thus our
inward judge, our conscience, purified and sharpened
by the spirit of Christ, is adjudging and preparing to
us already in this life reward or punishment, happi
ness or sorrow, according to what we deserve, does
not this clearly indicate that also in a future fife the
Divine Judge will assign to each of us that mansion
in his Father’s house which he has made himself
worthy of here upon earth ? Is there any occasion
for a particular solemn day of judgment to do this ?
I do not think so: the rich man was at least con
demned, and the poor Lazarus made happy, imme
diately after death, and without any day of judgment.
“ But are also our bodies to be raised again to eternal
happiness or damnation ? ” The apostle Paul speaks
of a trance, in which he was caught up to the third
heaven; adding, whether he was in the body or out
of the body, he could not tell, God knew it; but he
knew that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard
unspeakable words (2 Cor. xii, 2). We do also hope
with the Apostle to enjoy bliss and happiness in a
future life; but whether in the body or out of the
body, we leave to God, who will arrange it so as it is
best for us.
“ All this sounds well enough,'5 perhaps many a
one will say to us, who thinks more clearly and more
quietly about the matter; “ but still you throw away
too much of what is related and taught in the Bible,
and you despise the Divine revelations, the collection
of which you convert into a book of fables.” We do
�24
The Opinions of
not despise the revelations and their records ; we
only try to obtain a more correct idea of them.
We do certainly not believe that God spoke like a
man with Abraham and Moses, nor that he sug
gested to those who composed the writings of the
Old and New Testament, word for word, what they
were to write. But God revealed Himself to mankind
at all times in their own minds, in the works of
the creation (Rom. i, 19), in the history of the
nations, and finally in some particularly gifted men,
whom he raised amongst them as lawgivers and
prophets, as teachers and apostles. Such men rose
amongst all nations, but chiefly amongst the JewSy
who very early entertained the notion that there is
but one God, that He is the Almighty Creator of
heaven and earth, that He is not to be repi’esented
by any image or likeness, that He is the holy Law
giver and the just Ruler of the destinies of mankind.
The religious writings of the ancient Jewish nation
being the only ones in which this foundation of true
religion is to be found so pure and strong (for which
reason even the New Testament relies on and appeals
to the Old in this respect), they are also holy to us ;
and the books of Moses and Samuel, the Psalms and
the Prophets, are indispensable to our edification.
But it is a mistake to think that the holiness of those
books obliges us to consider every idea which they
contain, and every history they relate, as literally
true. Poi* instance, the history of the creation,—a
pious Israelite, lost in contemplation of the wonderful
works of God, and reflecting upon their origin,
�Professor David F. Strauss.
imagined the particulars of this event in his peculiar
way. With simplicity of mind he divided the labours
of God, as we men do ours, into daily portions;
he related the formation of the inorganic and of the
organic worlds in corresponding verses or sentences ;
and, as a Jew, being accustomed to the celebration of
the seventh day, he made also the Creator rest on
this day. Afterwards he, or another one, reflected
on the immorality and misery of mankind : he could
not believe that they had been originally created by
the good God in such corruption and for such misery :
their getting into such a bad state he thought must
have been their own fault, and so he wrote down the
history of the fall of our first parents. Several
remarkable events had happened to the Israelitish
nation, chiefly in the earlier period of their history ;
they had escaped from servitude in Egypt under
strange circumstances, and after a long migration
they had conquered the land of Canaan in bloody
wars. These occurrences, of course, continued to
live in the mouths of the people from generation to
generation. They were right in seeing the finger of
God in these events : but being unable to see that the
very doing of God had been this, that He had let the
people grow strong during their servitude in Egypt,
that hereafter at the right time He caused a man like
Moses to rise, and endowed him with all the gifts
necessary for the deliverance of His people, moreover
thatHeletthe Israelites meet in Canaan with corrupted
tribes, divided amongst themselves—being unable to
understand this invisible influence of God, and yet
�i6
The O'pinions of
being justly convinced of a co-operation of God,
they imagined the Divine activity with regard to
the departure from Egypt in this way, as if God had
ordered Moses in an oral conversation to deliver His
people—as if He had visibly, in the pillar of cloud
and of fire, marched before the army, and so forth.
This was written down in after-times, which is the
real origin of the relations thereof in those writings
that are commonly called the books of Moses. It is
a similar case with the New Testament. Thus, the
first Christians asked themselves, whence in Christ
comes this clearness of mind, this sublimity of spirit,
this purity of heart, which is nowhere else to be
found in any human being ? He was not produced
by sinful seed, was their answer; he immediately
descended from God, the fountain of all light,—which
gave rise to the relations of his supernatural produc
tion, contained in the Gospels of St Matthew and St
Luke. As a higher’ spirit, he appeared to have come
down upon this earth for a short time; but after his
departure from it, to have returned to God, whence
he came; which caused the relations of his resur
rection and ascension, and so forth.
By this view of the matter the Bible is by no
means degraded, nor are Christians dissuaded from
reading it; on the contrary, it is the only point of
view from which the reading of the Bible will be truly
edifying for a thinking Christian. As long as he
fancies himself bound to believe literally in all the
histories of the Bible, he finds with every step a
stumbling-block for his reason, the removal of which
�Professor David F. Strauss.
27
causes him. so much trouble, and puts his mind into
such a state of doubt and disquietude, that the best
profit from reading the Bible is lost to him. How
many a one has never yet attempted to consider the
moral doctrines of Jesus on account of his mind being
constantly occupied with the miracles, either faithfully
admiring or curiously reflecting on them ! How many
a one, on the contrary, has thrown aside the whole
Bible with scorn and indignation, because its miracu
lous stories offended him! The view we take of it
prevents both these results. He who adopts it will no
longer be induced by the splendour of the supernatural
to turn away from the less shining but more important
parts of the contents of the Bible ; nor will he be
deterred from reading it by the incongruities
in its relations. We rejoice in the piety and
simplicity of its authors, and in the deep meaning
of their narratives, though often obliged to con
sider them as mere tradition or poetry.
The
author of the Gospel of St Matthew tells us, and
certainly believed himself, that some heathen wise
men of the east had been guided by a star to the
newly-born babe Jesus : we do not take this literally,
but we explain it as a beautiful symbol of the light
which, in Christ, dawned also upon the heathen. In
like manner, the relation of the fall of man in the Old
Testament, if it does not teach us how the first man
fell, certainly shews us, as it were in a mirror, how
men are led, by consciousness of present misery and
imperfection, to picture to themselves a forfeited
prior state of innocence and happiness ; and also how
�28
"The Opinions of
it is that at this day we bi’ing ourselves to fall, or
suffer ourselves to be led away to siu. Thus the
Bible remains to us a fountain of edification: but
we are also edified through the creation, and through
the way in which mankind is guided in great as well
as in small things ; of which the Bible forms only
one single part, but the most remarkable and the
most instructive one. These three books, that of
Nature, that of History, and the Bible, must supply
each other. We ought not to neglect one on account
of the other, for only together do they constitute the
one entire revelation of God.
But where have I got to ? All this I certainly do
not wish to tell you, most honoured gentlemen, who
know it as well as I do, and who know also very
well that these are my opinions. My words have
insensibly turned to others who cannot know this
as well as you do, and who may, perhaps, still take
your advice about it. I do not, indeed, expect this
of that excited multitude, who, glowing with a hatred
of heresy by no means Christian-like, are now pre
paring, under the cloak of piety, to defend all other
worldly interests whatsoever: to these I have
nothing to say, remembering the words of Christ,
which expressly forbid us to lay the treasure of
religious persuasion before such people. But the
chief thing which I wanted to say to you, and from
which I made this digression, was, that the aversion
of the greater part of the clergy to the new view of
the Christian religion is as little to be wondered at,
as everywhere the irritation of the members of a
�Professor David F. Strauss.
29
corporation against a new invention, by means of
which their business is carried on in a simpler way
than that in which they learned it. Most of the clergy,
I said, are accustomed to excite pious feelings in
their auditors by means of clinging to the letter of
the Bible relations and ideas: our professing to
be edified and to edify others with a more liberal
view of the same narratives, puzzles them and excites
their indignation, because they are not prepared for
such a thing.
Let them be as angry as they like, and let them
abuse and calumniate us as much as they please,
they or their successors will at last as surely be
obliged to accommodate themselves, and to come
round to our new method, just as any new inventions
in the department of mechanical business, such as we
mentioned above for the sake of comparison, must
at last be adopted, even by those who at first most
objected to the inconvenient innovation. Of course ;
for who orders now-a-days a book to be copied by
hand which he may have cheaper and handsomer in
print? In like manner, it must, sooner or later,
come to this, that nobody will condescend to listen to
a clergyman who thinks of edifying his auditors by a
sermon in which the dry passage of the children of
Israel through the Red Sea—the walking of Jesus
upon the water—the finding of the piece of silver in
the fish’s mouth by Peter — are defended and
explained as real miracles. Then they will ask the
clergyman,—Are you not able to tell us something
more important of Jesus and Peter than this ? Can
�30
Opinions of Professor Strauss.
you not prove the divine omnipotence through some
thing greater than what he is said to have done once
at the time of Moses ? When it shall have come to
this—though it may yet require a good while, for
daily experience shows that God has not in mankind
a pupil who makes too rapid steps in learning—
whether they will then still think of us I do not
know, nor is it of any consequence; but we are even
now permitted to give ourselves this testimony, that
we have done what was in our power to bring about
the time promised by Christ, when God shall be
worshipped in spirit and in truth.
May the consciousness of this elevate you, most
honoured gentlemen, above the many adversities
that now surround you, as it has in similar disappoint
ments kept up the spirits of
Your sincerely devoted servant,
and, I may say, colleague,
though at present still in partibus,
David Friedrich Strauss.
Stuttgart, 1st March, 1839.
PRINTED BY C. W. REYNELL, LITTLE PDLTENEY STREET, HAYMARKET.
�
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Title
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The opinions of Professor David F. Strauss, as embodied in his letter to the Burgomaster Hirzel, Professor Orelli, and Professor Hitzig, at Zurich : with an address to the people of Zurich
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 30 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Printed by C.W. Reynell of Little Pulteney Street, Haymarket. Includes bibliographical references. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Creator
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David Friedrich
Date
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1865
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Subject
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Theology
Identifier
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RA1606
CT150
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (The opinions of Professor David F. Strauss, as embodied in his letter to the Burgomaster Hirzel, Professor Orelli, and Professor Hitzig, at Zurich : with an address to the people of Zurich), identified by <span><a href="www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.
Contributor
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Orelli, Johann Kaspar von and Strauss (ed)
Church Controversies
Conway Tracts
Theology
Zurich