e, men to whom their country was indebted for
a remarkable revival of spiritual religion. Their further influence may,
perhaps, be traced through Francke on Count Zinzendorf and the
Moravians,[511] and through Wolff on the mystic rationalism of later
Germany. The German Romanticists of the end of the last and the
beginning of this century were extravagant in his praises,[512] Schlegel
declaring that he was superior to Luther. Novalis was scarcely less
ardent in his admiration. Kahlman protested that he had learnt more from
him than he could have learnt from all the wise men of his age
together.[513] In England, both in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, he had many devoted followers and many violent opponents.
Henry More speaks of him as a good and holy man, but at the same time
'an egregious enthusiast,' and regrets that he 'has given occasion to
the enthusiasts of this nation in our late troublesome times to run into
many ridiculous errors and absurdities.'[514] J. Wesley admitted that he
was a good man, but says 'the whole of Behmenism, both phrase and sense,
is useless.'[515] With an absence of appreciation almost amounting to a
want of candour, not uncommon in this eminent man towards those from
whom he disagreed, he will not even allow that he had any 'patrons'[516]
who have adorned the doctrine of Christ. 'His language is barbarous,
unscriptural, and unintelligible.' 'It is most sublime nonsense,
inimitable bombast, fustian not to be paralleled.' Bishop Warburton also
refers to him in the most unqualified[517] terms of contempt. William
Blake, most mystical of poets and painters, delighted, as might well be
expected, in Behmen's writings.[518] A far weightier testimony to their
value is to be found in the high estimate which William Law--a
theologian of saintly life, and most thoughtful and suggestive in his
reasonings--formed of the spiritual treasury which he found there. He
can scarcely find words to express his thankfulness for 'the depth and
fulness of Divine light and truth opened in them by the grace and mercy
of God.'[519]

This extreme contrast of opinions may be easily accounted for. To most
modern readers Jacob Behmen's works must be an intolerable trial of
patience. They will find page after page of what they may very
pardonably call, as Wesley did, 'sublime nonsense' or unintelligible
jargon. Repetitions, obscurities, and verbal barbarisms abound in them,
and the most ungrounded fancies are po