Are not the triumphs of German lyric poetry hereafter to be sought in the path which he is treading? And is there any one of the many German poets whose relation to his age and to the future, is more worthy of careful study? We believe that the land of the Reformers is itself to be reformed. It will arise from its spiritual lethargy, like the strong man from his sleep. Its torpor is unnatural. It will emerge from the clouds and darkness in which it has enveloped itself. It has sought. for prouder and higher truth than that which came from the manger, and so has been obliged to feast upon unsubstantial vapors. The brilliant pictures of fancy have dazzled and blinded the eye of simple faith. With a bold wing, that dared to approach the very sun of suns, imagination has sped her

"flight from star to star,

From world to luminous world, as far

As th' Universe spreads its flaming wall,"

and returned to lay at our feet the riches of worlds before unexplored. We glory in her conquests. But let her not proudly disdain the Mighty One, who alone has given her the power to win her most splendid victories. We rejoice in the wonderful discoveries of German philosophy. But we think that it has absorbed the minds of the Germans so completely that its errors have not been clearly seen. Its startling novelty and freshness, its profound analysis, its bold speculations captivated this imaginative people. But Kant, and Fichte, and Hegel, and now Schelling, are gone. What disciple wears the mantle of either? What expounder of philosophy now gathers at his feet the youth of Europe and of America to receive his dicta as the words of an Apostle? If the ardent love for this science has not subsided, the passion with which its problems were discussed, has certainly been moderated. We hear nothing now of new schemes of philosophy, but we are constantly receiving new histories of philosophy. Learned professors are quietly sifting and recording the thoughts of the past. Calmness is a prerequisite to truthful decision; and, therefore, we look to the next fifty years for the ripened and winnowed harvest of German philosophy Sober reflection and the light of advancing science shall bring out in fuller relief the truths which have been discovered, and expose the errors by which they have been obscured. Fondly as the Germans now cling to the leading ideas of one or another

of the four great thinkers whom we have mentioned above, we believe that the day is approaching when the mass of the people will reject those parts of their systems which cannot be harmonized in the main with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A fact which indicates a tendency in the popular mind towards purer Christian sentiments is the wide-spread and increasing popularity of such authors as Julius Sturm, the liberal Roman Catholic, Oscar von Redwitz, Albert Bitzius, and Gustav Jahn. These writers are scarcely known in America, and are indebted for their fame in Germany rather to the purity and simple-hearted piety, than to the literary merits, of their works. We think, moreover, that the prevailing spirit of the chief universities of Northern Germany is more favorable than it was thirty years ago. The progress is slow, but we believe that the movement is in the right direction. But, were there no such encouragement apparent, we should still look forward with unwavering confidence in that strong faith which forms the fundamental element of German character. Its vision may for a time be obscured, and its voice for a time be drowned. But the God

like will echo the voice of God. It will not hold its peace always. Luthers will rise as its heralds and champions, though there be as many devils in the way as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses.

If Germany is gravitating back to the God whom she has deserted, can we doubt what must be the character of her poetry in the future? Must it not be imbued with a higher and a holier spirit? Must it not be the utterances of the deep emotions that swell the hearts of the nation? Shall it not paint the world as viewed by eyes which do not merely see "men as trees walking," but which have received from above an almost celestial clearness of vision? Shall not Geibel, then, be honored as one of the first to catch the earliest breakings of the better life that is springing up, and to lend to it the melodious voice of the poet? Many shall arise who are greater than he. We do not claim that his poetic merits entitle him to a place with Goethe, or Schiller, or even Uhland. He lacks the boldness of conception, the comprehensiveness and the originality of a great poet. He charms those whose sympathies and sorrowings and hopes resemble his own, by his pleasing utterance of those mysterious feelings which

"Hid from common sight

Through the mazes of the breast
Softly steal by night."

But he has little of the power of captivating hearts that are unlike his own, and moulding them into his own image. He cannot paint to them ideal worlds, of which they have had no çonception, with the startling vividness of life. It is doubtful whether he has any talent for dramatic writing. "König Roderick," the only piece which he has written for the stage, is unworthy of notice. His works indicate a greater aptness for Epic than for dramatic poetry. But it is evident that lyric poetry is his field of excellence. On the whole, however, it is rather as a pure and a Christian poet, than as a great and a brilliant poet, that he deserves our respect and esteem. We regard him with interest as one of the heralds and instruments of a great spiritual change. We fondly hope that his songs are but the preludes to the national anthems that shall yet rise triumphant from that land of saints and martyrs. We trust that the holy light which is shed from his works, is but the faint ray of morning, which shall yet be blended with the brilliant light of the full and perfect day.

ARTICLE V.

THE ELEMENT OF TIME IN PROPHECY.

By E. P. Barrows, Professor at Andover.

THE Prophecies of the Old Testament may be distributed into two classes: those in which the succession of events in time is more or less clearly indicated, and those in which this indication is wanting. Of the former class of prophecies we have a fine illustration in the revelation made to Abraham concerning the servitude of his posterity in Egypt, and their deliverance and return to Canaan: "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and

they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Here the element of time makes a prominent part of the revelation. The limit of servitude is exactly specified: "they shall afflict them four hundred years." The order of events is also distinctly marked. The affliction is not to come in Abraham's day, but afterwards : "thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age:" it is to be brought to a close by God's judgments upon the nation whom they shall serve, and "afterward shall they come out with great substance;" and, finally, the time for their return to Canaan is specified: "and in the fourth generation shall they come hither again."

To the same class may be assigned, also, many of the prophecies recorded in the book of Daniel and in the Apocalypse, as must be plain to the most cursory reader; but upon these we will not dwell.

Of the other class of prophecies, in which the element of time is wanting, a pure specimen may be found in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. Let us examine this magnificent vision of the latter-day glory in connection with the preceding context. In the fifty-ninth chapter the prophet occupies himself with rebuking the sins of God's ancient covenant people, and shows that these are the occasion of their present distress: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear." 2 Of these sins he gives a long and black catalogue, and then adds: "Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon-day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; and for salvation, but it is far off from us." As the prophet had intro

1 Gen. 15: 13-16.

duced this description of the desolate condition of God's people with a catalogue of their sins, so now he closes it with a new portraiture of the same. Their corruption is universal and irremediable by any human power. "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor." The decisive moment has now come when the cause of truth and righteousness must be lost, or Jehovah must himself interpose for the glory of his own name. Accordingly he appears in awful majesty to vindicate his cause: "Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense." The result of this Divine interposition is the universal diffusion of the knowledge and fear of the Lord: "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come

Lord shall lift up a standard

in like a flood, the Spirit of the against him." Next follows a promise that "the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob;" and, finally, a statement of God's everlasting covenant with his church, which secures to the end of time her perpetuity and triumph over all her foes: "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever." 5

The

Such is the preface to this bright vision of the latter-day glory. The prophet's position is manifestly that of his own age. abounding iniquities which he describes are those to which his own eyes and ears are witnesses. Wickedness, darkness, and misery encompass him, such as no human power can overcome.

1 Vs. 14-16.

2 Vs. 16-18.

3 V. 19.

4 V. 20.

5 V. 21.