A Short History of Freethought Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 of 2 by J. M. Robertson

distinctly academic cast. This was the adaptation of Leibnitz's system by Christian Wolff, who, after building up a large influence among students by his method of teaching, [1268] came into public prominence by a rectorial address [1269] at Halle (1721) in which he warmly praised the ethics of Confucius. Such praise was naturally held to imply disparagement of Christianity; and as a result of the pietist outcry Wolff was condemned by the king to exile from Prussia, under penalty of the gallows, [1270] all "atheistical" writings being at the same time forbidden. Wolff's system, however, prevailed so completely, in virtue of its lucidity and the rationalizing tendency of the age, that in the year 1738 there were said to be already 107 authors of his cast of thinking. Nevertheless, he refused to return to Halle on any invitation till the accession (1740) of Frederick the Great, one of his warmest admirers, whereafter he figured as the German thinker of his age. His teaching, which for the first time popularized philosophy in the German language, in turn helped greatly, by its ratiocinative cast, to promote the rationalistic temper, though orthodox enough from the modern point of view. Under the new reign, however, pietism and Wolffism alike lost prestige, [1271] and the age of anti-Christian and Christian rationalism began. Thus the period of freethinking in Germany follows close upon one of religious revival. The 6,000 theologians trained at Halle in the first generation of the century had "worked like a leaven through all Germany." [1272] "Not since the time of the Reformation had Germany such a large number of truly pious preachers and laymen as towards the end of the first half of the eighteenth century." [1273] There, as elsewhere, religion intellectually collapsed. As to Wolff's rationalistic influence see Cairns, Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, 1881, p. 173; Pusey, pp. 115-19; Pünjer, p. 529; Lechler, pp. 448-49. "It cannot be questioned that, in his philosophy, the main stress rests upon the rational" (Kahnis, as cited, p. 28). "Francke and Lange (pietists) ... saw atheism and corruption of manners springing up from Wolff's school" (before his exile). Id. p. 113. Wolff's chief offence lay in stressing natural religion, and in indicating, as Tholuck observes, that that could be demonstrated, whereas revealed religion could only be believed (Abriss, p. 18). He greatly pleased Voltaire by the dictum that men ought to be just even though they had the misfortune to be atheists. It is noted by Tholuck, however (Abriss, as cited, p. 11, note), that the decree for Wolff's expulsion was inspired not by his theological colleagues but by two military advisers of the king. Tholuck's own criticism resolves itself into a protest against Wolff's predilection for logical connection in his exposition. The fatal thing was that Wolff accustomed German Christians to reason.