lf a little better the work of the Holy Spirit, so
as not to exclude man's activity. I had limited a little the idea of
original sin; and in the doctrine of the atonement and justification, I
had endeavored to uphold the value of virtue, and had cleared myself
from the error that God, in his grace, should not pay any regard at all
to human virtuous zeal. That in the doctrine of the Lord's Supper I was
more Reformed than Lutheran, will be supposed as a matter of course."

But in due time he dropped these points of belief, one by one, until he
indulged in all the illicit extravagances of the radical skeptics of
France. The opposition he met with was a sore rebuke, but it failed to
cure him. He set out for a journey to England and Holland with but three
florins in his purse, and he suffered much by the way. He came home
again only to find new edicts against him. On arriving at Halle, where
he had once been honored, he was met with the following repulse from the
faculty, at whose head stood Semler, the father of his doubt: "Our
vocation demands not only that we should prevent the dissemination of
directly irreligious opinions, but also that we should watch over the
doctrines which are contained in Holy Scripture, and, in conformity with
it, in the _Augsburg Confession of Faith_."

He labored as an educator, preacher, professor, and author. He made all
his enterprises subservient to the dearest object of his life,--money.
He wrote plain books for the masses, and his writings were perused
alike in palace and cottage. While a resident in Halle he established an
inn in the suburbs of the city where his depraved nature was permitted
to indulge in those nameless liberties unbecoming, not only the
theologian, but the rational man. His _liaison_ with the servant-girl in
his employ made his wife an object of public pity, and we can easily
understand his injustice to the latter when he tells us himself that he
had never loved with passion. His death was of a piece with his life.
Having been a public frequenter of brothels and the associate of the
loosest company, he died like the libertine. He was taken off by
syphilis.

It is not necessary to enlarge upon the lesson of Bahrdt's life. He was
the German crystallization of all the worst elements of French
skepticism. He began his work with an evil purpose, and never sought the
wisdom of God who promises to give liberally to all who ask him. The
infamy of his life was soon forgotten,