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Philanthropy stands in intimate relations to revived christian faith.
Sometimes it is its forerunner, at others its co-operator, and always
its follower. Whenever a land is morally prostrate and helpless, the
ministry skeptical or indifferent, and the sects arrayed against each
other, if humane efforts can be discovered, there is hope of better
times. Love of the body of man is the unfailing Baptist-herald
announcing the speedy care of his soul. The only indications of
evangelical faith in Germany at the closing period of the eighteenth
century were the quiet labors of such devoted friends of humanity as
Oberlin, Hamann, Lavater, and Claudius. And philanthropy assumed a more
stalwart form in the same ratio as religion gained strength over the
popular mind.
We have already spoken of the celebrities of Weimar. Students and
aspirants to fame from all parts of the Continent went thither, hoping
to enjoy at least a few conversations or perhaps a subsequent
correspondence with one of the ruling literary divinities. To have a
word of advice from Goethe, and to hear Schiller read an ode in his own
study was a memory of life-long value.
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