Christianity disappeared entirely in 1649, one hundred years after its introduction by Xavier.' CHINA. While Xavier had failed to reach China, Matthäus Ricci was successful in building up a mission there. As a means of becoming acquainted with the language, learning, and customs of the ChiRICCI IN nese he spent seven years among the Bonzes. His method of procedure was that of "accommodation" to the beliefs and customs of the country. He fused Christianity and Confucianism in his teachings in order to make the former as acceptable as possible. The "Chinese rites" which he made a part of Christianity became a source of serious controversy in later times. But by these concessions, and by the skill which he and his coadjutors and successors manifested in mathematics, the favorite science of the Chinese, he was able to gain the favor of the emperor and to win many of the nobility. The provinces and even the capital witnessed the erection of the temples of the new religion. Upon the death of Ricci, in 1610, Adam Schall took up the work and carried it on with great ability. He had the good will of the emperor, who permitted the erection in Peking of two churches. The enemies of Christianity succeeded in bringing about temporary persecution, but by the end of the seventeenth century there were hundreds of thousands of professed Christians and hundreds of churches, while Christianity was legally recognized and granted perfect freedom. MISSIONS IN SIAM AND In Siam, also, during the seventeenth century, a beginning was made by Constantius. Robert Nobili, a Jesuit, founded a mission in Malabar in 1636. In the West Indies and in Brazil Jesuits made some converts, as also in Paraguay, where, in 1586, they took up the work begun by the Franciscans in 1580. In 1610 they established a Christian State by special permission of the Spanish king, Philip III, from which all Spaniards and other foreigners were excluded except such as the Jesuits saw fit to receive. The plan was to keep the natives in ignorance under the paternal rule of the Jesuits, who gave their converts such supplies as they needed. In order to give proper direction and outlet for the intense missionary activity of the period Pope Gregory XV established, in 1622, the Congregation de Fide Catholica Propaganda. It was com It is impossible to discover the exact truth concerning the alleged machinations of the Dutch, who are accused of having forged a letter in the Portuguese language containing a record of a supposed uprising of the Christians against the Japanese. See Baur, iv, 466, 467. TION DE FIDE PROPAGANDA. posed of thirteen cardinals, three prelates, and a private secretary, and assembled once a month in Rome to consider the interests of the missionary work in foreign lands. All mission- CONGREGAaries were to be nominated by this congregation and to CATHOLICA be subject to its control. They formed apostolic prefectures, including the missions in various countries; the prefects developed into apostolic vicars, and these and their domains into bishops and bishoprics. In 1627 Urban VIII established the Collegium de Propaganda Fide, otherwise called the Collegium Urbanum, which he made subject to the congregation in 1641. The college was devoted especially to the training of young men from all parts of the world for missionary work. LITERATURE: PIETISM. 1. Goebel, M. Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der Reinisch-westphälischen Evangelischen Kirche. 3 vols. Coblenz, 1852–62. 2. Schmid, H. Geschichte des Pietismus. Nördl., 1863. 3. Hurst, J. F. History of Rationalism. N. Y., 1866. Chap. i-iii. 4. Heppe, H. Geschichte der Evangelische Kirche Rheinl. und Westphalens. 2 vols. Iserl, 1870. 5. Ritschl, A. Geschichte des Pietismus. 3 vols. Bonn, 1880-86. See H. M. Scott in Cur. Dis. in Theol., iii, 183, v, 219; C. A. Briggs, in Presb. Rev., 1886, 182. 6. Nippold, F. W. F. Neueste Kirchengeschichte. 3 vols. Berl., 1889-96. 7. Beck, G. Die religiöse Volkslitteratur der Evangelischen Kirche in einem Abriss ihrer Geschichte. Berl., 1891. See also Sachsse, Ursprung u. Wesen des Pietismus, Wiesb., 1884; Frank in Historisches Taschenbuch, Leipz., 1887 (strongly condemnatory of 19th cent Pietism); P. G. Hauck, Pietismus u. Orthodoxie in Baden, in I. T. Beck, Gegenwart u. Zukunft d. Kirche, Bühl, 1894. PHILIP JACOB SPENER. 1. Hossbach, W. Phil. Jak. Spener und seine Zeit. Berl., 1828; 3d ed., 1861. 2. Knapp, G. E. Leben und Character einiger frommen Männer des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Leipz., 1829. 3. Thilo, W. Spener als Katechet. Berl., 1840. 4. Wildenhahn, A. P. J. Spener Lebensbild. 3 vols. Leipz., 1858. Transl. into English by G. A. Wenzel. Phila., 1881. 5. Horning, W. Philipp Jacob Spener in Rappoltsweiler, Colmar, und Straseburg. Strass., 1883. 6. Grünberg, W. Philipp Jacob Spener. Götting., 1893. See Meth. Rev., N. Y., 1896, 808. 7. Walrond, F. F. Philip Jacob Spener. Lond., 1893. See also Walch, Streitigkeiten innerhalb, der luth. Kirche, vols. i, ii, iv, v, 1730-39; Canstein, Lebensbeschreibung Speners, 1740; Steinmetz in his ed. of Spener's Minor Works, 1746; F. Költzsch, Die Reformatoren d. Zukunft: als Beitr. z. Biographie Spener's Fest Vortrag, Dresd., 1893; M. Rade, Spener in Frankfurt, Frankf. a. M., 1893; J. Lenz, Spener, u. d. Pietismus, Rev., 1895; M. E. Richards, P. J. Spener, Phila., 1897. CHAPTER IX. PIETISM. A PROPER understanding of the Pietistic movement can be had only in connection with a statement of the factors of ecclesiastical life against which Pietism was a protest. A DEFICIENT CLERGY. The relation between the secular authorities and the clergy was such that the former not only could but, as a rule, did stand in the way of all right-minded preachers, not helping, as was their duty according to the constitution of the Church, but hindering the exercise of discipline. When we turn to the clergy themselves we find that the examinations at the beginning of a ministerial career were inadequate, the superintendence provided for was neglected, and university life was in general demoralizing to youth. The clergy fell far below the true standard, even for their time, in point of morals, while their insistence upon the exact form of faith held by Lutheranism was so strenuous as to overshadow all other considerations. At the gymnasia and universities the methods of instruction were mechanical and ill adapted to a fruitful study of theology. DISCIPLINE BY DOCTRINE. Unfortunately, to this must be added the lack of discipline, which made possible the commission of all manner of offenses by the students and the total want of moral sentiment in the universities. In regard to doctrinal theology it CROWDED OUT must be confessed that, while the zeal of the Church for uniformity and purity of doctrine was commendable, this zeal was carried to such an extent as to deprive the masses of a proper estimate of other important elements of ecclesiastical life. Polemics became the order of the day. A new scholasticism arose which lost itself in subtleties, the lay element in the Church was repressed, and the Church became the institution of the theologians. The ecclesiastical life corresponded to the emphasis of doctrine. Preaching was almost wholly didactic and polemic, and was emphasized to the exclusion of interest in other parts of the service. The morning public services were well, the evening poorly, attended. So far as the preaching was not doctrinal it was undignified and unscholarly. THE LACK Outside the pulpit religious instruction was neglected, while what catechization was practiced was adapted to fill the memory, but not to enrich the understanding or move the heart. The Lord's Supper was not neglected, but it was supposed to be mechanically effective, and preparation for its reception was not earnest. Baptism was regarded as a mysteriously operative rite, whose chief office in the popular mind was to prevent the infant from becoming the victim of demons and witches. Penitence was imposed for offenses very much in the spirit of Romanism. The one great means of discipline became exclusion from the holy communion. FOUR PHASES TION. Such a state of affairs was sure to produce a reaction. Grünberg, in his life of Spener, names four phases which this reaction assumed. The first was the mystical. The second was a practical phase, which clearly discerned the public evils in OF THE REAC Church, school, civil, social, and moral life, and strove by practical measures to correct them and to introduce the Christian ideal. Among the chief representatives of this tendency are Meisner, Andreä, Schupp, and Grossgebauer. The third was a theological phase, which strove to secure progress in the formulation of doctrine, but chiefly with a view to practical results. Among its representatives are Konrad Hornejus, Johann Musäus, and Johann Durey. The fourth was a phase led by those who accepted the doctrines of the Church, but who were moved by the desire to promote personal piety in the Church. This was represented by Herberger, Lütkemann, Müller, Scriver, Gerhardt, and others. These phases of the reaction, together with the fact that in England and Holland a somewhat similar movement was in progress, show that the time was ripe for change. The old order had reached its extreme; a new order must follow. The leader, the systematizer, the champion, rather than the originator of the same, was Philip Jacob Spener.' 2 He was the fourth child and eldest son of Johann Philip and Agatha (née Saltzmann) Spener, and was born January 13, 1635, in Rappoltsweiler, Alsace. His parents did their utmost to train PHILIP JACOB him up in a religious life, and their intimate relations SPENER. with the families of the lords of Rappoltsweiler gave him many advantages not afforded the majority of the youth of his time. To the constant early association with nobility may be traced 'Spener did not regard himself, but Arndt, as the originator of the movement. See his Wahrhaftigen Erzählungen, and Ritschl, Pietismus, ii, 98, 163. ? Besides his three sisters, all older, there were four brothers, all younger than himself. |