rity not often enjoyed by a periodical.
They were factious in the extreme, and became one of the principal
agents in effecting the Revolution of 1848. They breathed mildew on
everything stable in government and sacred in religion. But,
Samson-like, they fell amid the ruin which they inflicted upon others.

Quite a new form of Rationalism was then presented in the popular
conventions of the Protestant Friends. These individuals held that by a
return to the spirit of the Reformation, Germany would be endowed with a
new and living energy. But it must not be the Reformation as the church
would have us understand it. It must be an impulse and spirit, not an
outward attachment to form and compulsory authority. They were popularly
called Friends of Light, and embraced all the schools of Rationalists
throughout the land. Their convocation was the parliament of German
infidelity. Professing adherence to some of the doctrines of
Christianity, they so glossed them that even the atheist could be a
member without violating his principles.

Their founder was Pastor Uhlich, who, in company with sixteen friends,
held the first meeting at Gnadau, in July, 1841. The second convention
met at Halle, and was numerously attended by clergymen, professors, and
laymen of every class of society. The session at Koethen, in 1844, was a
great popular assembly. It was addressed by Pastor Wislicenus, of Halle,
whose lecture was subsequently issued as a reply to his antagonists,
under the title of _Whether Scriptures or Spirit?_ Not the letter, but
the spirit, is the ground of true religion. The spirit permeates
humanity, and hence there is no occasion for the observance of the law.
The spirit comes with its own law; it is a law in itself. The
Evangelical church stands safe only when resting upon freedom. The
glory of the church is the absolute freedom of its members. The
Scriptures are very good in their way. They are a witness of the faith
of the first times, but were never intended for these cultivated days.
The church is freed from the exterior law and elevated to the inner law
of freedom.

Guericke, the church historian, called attention to Wislicenus in the
_Evangelical Church Gazette_. Great surprise was manifested at once, and
the sober mind of the nation became aroused to a sense of the danger now
threatening the foundations of faith. In a short time the Saxon decree
was issued against all assemblies which called in question the Augsburg
C