It was in that day of distress that Uhland first poured forth his
notes of awakening; that Koerner sounded the bugle-call of freedom; that
Rueckert molded sonnets stronger than bullets; and Kerner sighed for a
world where there is no war, and no rumors of war.
Thus, when liberation came, no one class could claim to be the sole
agent of its accomplishment. But it is certain that if the religious
spirit of the people had not been appealed to and aroused, all literary
and aesthetic efforts would have been in vain. It was the religious
consciousness of the masses east of the Rhine which, being thoroughly
awakened, drew the sword, and gained the victory of Waterloo. If we view
that great crisis in European history in any light whatever, we cannot
resist the conviction that its importance in the sphere of religion was
equally great with its political magnitude.
The King of Prussia, Frederic William III., began the work of
ecclesiastical reconstruction. There were three questions of great
delicacy, but of prime importance, which he attempted to solve; the
constitution of the Protestant church; the improvement of liturgical
forms; and the union of the two Protestant confessions.
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