But there immediately arose a disposition to
consult German theology and philosophy. English students frequented the
German universities, and the works of the leading thinkers of Berlin,
Heidelberg, and Halle, were on sale in the book-stores of London. The
intimate relations of the royal family of England to Germany, together
with the alliance between the German States and Great Britain for the
arrest of French arms, increased the tendency until it assumed
importance and power. The fruit was first visible in the application of
German Rationalism and philosophy to English theology. When Coleridge
came from the Fatherland with a new system of opinions, he felt as proud
of his good fortune as Columbus did on laying a continent at his
sovereign's feet. Ever since that profound thinker assumed a fixed
position, a reaction against orthodoxy has been progressing in the
Established Church. There are reasons why the slow but effectual
introduction of German Rationalism has been taking place imperceptibly.
The war which had agitated England, with the rest of Europe, came to a
close in 1815.
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