me parts of Germany who
will not wish to be called a Christian. Learn to distinguish the
spirits. The sum of my exhortations is humility and love!"

The most poetical and not the least penetrating of the evangelical
school is Lange, once a farmer, but now a laborious professor at Bonn.
How deeply he has imbibed the spirit of the Scriptures may be seen in
the _Bible Work_, which Dr. Schaff is now editing for the use of the
American public. Religion, according to Lange, is subjectively a
life-emotion of the human nature, and objectively a revelation of God.
In the former case it may be termed natural, in the latter, revealed.
The world is not a mere world, but a self-revelation of God in its
fullest import. Creation is not simply creation, but a divine testimony.
Nature is not nature alone, but a seed of life proceeding from the
spirit and returning to the spirit. The proof of the true human
conception of God, as well as of man, is their harmonious union in the
conception of the God-man. This is the centre of all doctrine. The world
is a progressive succession, developing the divine germ. History unites
itself to revelation as a second creation, elevating man to continuous
growth. God's providential changes unite with the active faith of man,
and they do not constitute an isolated act of God, but a great
historical combination of revelations. They rise gradually and find
their completion in the God-man.

Miracles are the penetration of the absolute or new human-divine life
principle into the sphere of the old natural human life. The revelation
of the divine-human in Christ is the absolute miracle which manifests
itself in a succession of single miracles. A miracle is supernatural and
contrary to nature only in reference to the old life, and, in its
highest meaning, is in conformity to a higher law. Therefore, miracles
are the natural law of all natural laws taken together. Inspiration is
in consonance with miracle; and there is a dissimilarity of inspiration
observable in the Scriptures. The Old and New Testaments are very
different, so also are the canonical and hagiographical writings. The
word of God is contained in the Scriptures, and is there brought into
living unity and operation with the mind of man. This union does not
exclude human imperfections. But such imperfections are of a superficial
character, and in no wise affect the kernel and religious centre of the
Bible.[73]

The two most prominent divines in the