Tzschirner differed from Reinhard in his view
of the antagonism between Rationalism and Supernaturalism. He contended
that there were features of sympathy between the two systems, and that
the work of harmonizing reason and revelation was not impossible. He
therefore attempted, in the present case, what Calixtus had formerly
tried in behalf of the Calvinists and Lutherans. But the syncretism of
Tzschirner was equally difficult of accomplishment. He conceded too much
to the Rationalists: for he would unite them and their enemies on the
ground that the aim of revelation is only to found a moral and religious
institution through the personal agency of a Divine Ambassador; to
strengthen the truths of the religion of reason; and to bring them so
near to the consciences of men that the authority of reason to prove the
origin and contents of revelation cannot be doubted.
But Tzschirner's influence did not consist so much in the particular
plan he would execute as in the tendency toward union which he was the
chief agent in creating.
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