joyed. It terminated its existence in 1792, having inflicted
incalculable evil upon the popular estimate of the vital doctrines of
Christianity. Being the great organ of the Rationalists, it sat in
judgment upon the sublime truths of our holy faith. With all the rage of
an infuriated lion it pounced upon every literary production or
practical movement that had a tendency to restore the old landmarks. Its
influence was felt throughout Germany and the Continent. Every
university and gymnasium listened to it as an oracle, while its power
was felt even in the pot-houses and humblest cottages. Berlin was
completely under its sway, and _Berliner_ was a synonym of
_Rationalist_. Oetinger wrote a curious passage in a volume of sermons,
published in 1777, in which he descants _On those things of which the
people of Berlin know nothing_: "They know nothing of the Lord of glory;
they are sick of these shallow-pated Liebnitzians; they wish to know
nothing of the promises of God; they have nothing to do with the
salutations of the seven spirits; they form a mechanical divinity after
their own notion. The Berliners know nothing of man so far as he is a
subject of divine grace; nothing of angels or devils, nothing of what
sin is, nothing of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ,
and still less of the communion of saints, and that the spirit can be
communicated by the laying on of hands. They know nothing of the truth
that baptism and the Lord's Supper are agents for a spiritual union with
Christ; they know nothing of heaven and hell; nothing of the interval
before the resurrection. Neither do they wish to know anything save what
may harmonize with their own depraved views. But the time will come when
Jesus will show them how they should have confessed him before the
world." This was Berlin, and Berlin was Germany.

The position of Rationalism during the last quarter of the eighteenth
century was surrounded with circumstances of the most conflicting
nature. Had it been advocated by a few more such ribald characters as
Bahrdt its career would soon have been terminated from the mere want of
respectability. But had it assumed a more serious phase and become the
protege of such pious men as Semler was at heart, there would have been
no limit to the damage it might inflict upon the cause of Protestantism.
And there were indications favorable to either result. However, by some
plan of fiendish malice, skepticism received all the s