ism" or the direct and single
intercourse of the soul with God. Still more different was the
world-view of the nineteenth century, built on "an extra-Christian,
though not yet anti-Christian foundation."

In the very same year in which Lamprecht's volume on the German
Reformation appeared, another interpretation, though less profound and
less in the economic school of thought, was put forth by A. E. Berger.
[Sidenote: Berger] He found the four principal causes of the Reformation
in the growth of national self-consciousness, the overthrow of an ascetic
for a secular culture, individualism, and the growth of a lay religion.
The Reformation itself was a triumph of conscience and of "German
inwardness," and its success was due to the fact that it made of the
church a purely spiritual entity.

The most brilliant essay in the economic interpretation of the origins of
Protestantism, though an essay in a very narrow field, was that of Max
Weber [Sidenote: Weber] which has made "Capitalism and Calvinism" one of
the watchwords of contemporary thought. The intimate connection of the
Reformation and the merchant class had long been noticed, _e.g._ by
Froude and by Thorold Rogers. But Weber was the first to ask, and to
answer, the question what it was that made Protestantism particularly
congenial to the industrial type of civilization. In the first place,
Calvinism stimulated just those ethical qualities of rugged strength and
self-confidence needful for worldly success. In the second place,
Protestantism abolished the old ascetic ideal of labor for the sake of
the next world, and substituted for it the conception of a calling, that
is, of doing {729} faithfully the work appointed to each man in this
world. Indeed, the word "calling'" or "Beruf," meaning God-given work,
is found only in Germanic languages, and is wanting in all those of the
Latin group. The ethical idea expressed by Luther and more strongly by
Calvin was that of faithfully performing the daily task; in fact, such
labor was inculcated as a duty to the point of pain; in other words it
was "a worldly asceticism." Finally, Calvin looked upon thrift as a
duty, and regarded prosperity, in the Old Testament style, as a sign of
God's favor. "You may labor in that manner as tendeth most to your
success and lawful gain," said the Protestant divine Richard Baxter, "for
you are bound to improve all your talents." And again, "If God show you
a way in which you may l