institution subject to
perversion at any time? We believe Dorner to be correct, and that Spener
was the veritable successor of Luther and Melanchthon. A recent author,
who has shown a singular facility in grouping historical periods and
discovering their great significance, says: "Pietism went back from the
cold faith of the seventeenth century to the living faith of the
Reformation. But just because this return was vital and produced by the
agency of the Holy Spirit, it could not be termed a literal return. We
must not forget that the orthodoxy of the seventeenth century was only
the extreme elaboration of an error, the beginning of which we find as
far back as Luther's time, and which became more and more a power in the
Church through the influence of Melanchthon. It was this: Mistaking the
faith by which we believe for the faith which is believed. The principle
of the Reformation was justification by faith, not the doctrine of faith
_and_ justification. In reply to the Catholics it was deemed sufficient
to show that this was the true doctrine which points out the way of
salvation to man. And the great danger lay in mistaking faith itself for
the doctrine of faith. Therefore, in the controversies concerning
justifying faith, we find that faith gradually came to be considered in
relation to its doctrinal aspects more than in connection with the
personal, practical, and experimental knowledge of men. In this view
Pietism is an _elaboration_ of the faith of the sixteenth century....
Without being heterodox, Spener even expressed himself in the most
decided manner in favor of the doctrines of the Church. He would make
faith consist less in the dogmatism of the head than in the motions of
the heart; he would bring the doctrine away from the angry disputes of
the schools and incorporate it into practical life. He was thoroughly
united with the Reformers as to the real signification of justifying
faith, but these contraries which were sought to be reestablished he
rejected.... From Spener's view a new phase of spiritual life began to
pervade the heart. The orthodoxy of the State Church had been accustomed
to consider all baptized persons as true believers if only they had been
educated in wholesome doctrines. There was a general denial of that
living, conscious, self-faith which was vital in Luther, and had
transformed the world. The land, because it was furnished with the
gospel and the sacraments, was considered an evangeli