It would have been more
becoming the mature man to leave those earnest appeals to reap their own
reward. The times had changed; and the necessity which had first called
forth his appeal to the idolaters of doubt was sufficient apology.
Schleiermacher wrote other works, of which he and his disciples were
much prouder; but we doubt if he ever issued one more befitting the
class addressed, or followed with more beneficial results. Since his
pen has been stopped by death, those very discourses have led many a
skeptic in from the cold storm which beat about him, and given him a
place at the warm, cheerful fireside of Christian faith. Severe censure
has been cast upon them because of their traces of Spinoza. It is enough
to reply that their author, in the fourth edition, repudiated every word
savoring of Pantheism. Of books, as of men, it is best to form an
estimate according to the purpose creating them, and the moral results
following them. Neander, who could well observe the influence of the
_Discourses_, gives his testimony in the following language: "Those who
at that time belonged to the rising generation will remember with what
power this book influenced the minds of the young, being written in all
the vigor of youthful enthusiasm, and bearing witness to the neglected,
undeniable religious element in human nature.
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