To be near unto God - pagina 245

heroic sacrifice, our fathers steadily held this in They insisted on the fact that God had front. implanted the sence of himself in man (sensiis divinitatis), and that this was the seed of all religion (semen religionis). But when persecution ceased, this real spiritual background of all true knowledge of God was wantonly forsaken, and far too much place was given to intellectual abstractions. Abstract knowledge of the true God superceded the knowledge which is eternal life, with the necessary result that book-learning supplanted true godliness, and that the life of the

church become enervated and weak. The Church stood not alone in this. The retreat from reality to the paper-world of abstract inventions of the mind became noticeable in every Even art, and department of the higher life. with it poetry, became at length infected with Forms, words, phrases, rhymes this evil virus. and poetastry took the place of golden speech, which springs up from the fountain of life itself. This was inevitably followed by an equally onesided reaction, which brought nothing but emotions, simple impressions, pure sensations, with the necessary result that the consciousness was dimmed, inner perceptions became vague, thought became confused and utterances chaotic.^ Such was the case in poetry and literature, and such also in religion. Nothing remained except perceptions, sensations and impressions, which with unbelievers led to a return to polytheism, and made believers lose themselves in sentimental Mj'Sticism. For let it be well understood, all tihis is dominated, in every domain, including that of religion,

by strong

currents in 241

all

of

human

life.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen