d. Eschatology. Spener had interpreted the biblical doctrine of the 1,000 years’ reign as meaning that, after the overthrow of the papacy and the conversion of heathens and Jews, a period of the most glorious and undisturbed tranquillity would dawn for the kingdom of Christ on earth as prelude to the eternal sabbath. His opponents denounced this as chiliasm and fanaticism.
e. There was, finally, a controversy about Divine providence occasioned by the founding of Francke’s orphan house at Halle. The pietists pointed to the establishment and growth of this institution as an instance of immediate divine providence; while Löscher, by indicating the common means employed to secure success, reduced the whole affair to the domain of general and daily providence, without denying the value of the strong faith in God and the active love that characterized its founder, as well as the importance of the Divine blessing which rested upon the work.[499]
§ 167.3. =Theology= (§ 159, 4).--The last two important representatives of the =Old Orthodox School= were =Löscher=, who, besides his polemic against pietism, made learned contributions to biblical philology and church history; and his companion in arms, =Cyprian= of Gotha, who died in A.D. 1745, the ablest combatant of Arnold’s “_Ketzerhistorie_,” and opponent of union efforts and of the papacy.--The =Pietist School=, more fruitful in practical than scientific theology, contributed to devotional literature many works that will never be forgotten. The learned and voluminous writer =Joachim Lange=, who died A.D. 1744, the most skilful controversialist among the Halle pietists, author of the “Halle Latin Grammar,” which reached its sixtieth edition in A.D. 1809, published a commentary on the whole Bible in seven folio vols. after the Cocceian method. Of importance as a historian of the Reformation was =Salig= of Wolfenbüttel, who died in A.D. 1738. =Christian Thomasius= at first attached himself to the pietists as an opponent of the rigid adherence to the letter of the orthodox, but was repudiated by them as an indifferentist. To him belongs the honour of having turned public opinion against the persecution of witches (§ 117, 4). Out of the contentions of pietists and orthodox there now rose a =third school=, in which Lutheran theology and learning were united with genuine piety and profound thinking, decided confessionalism with moderation and fairness. Its most distinguished representatives were =Hollaz= of Pomerania, died 1713 (“_Examen Theologicum Acroamaticum_”); =Buddeus= of Jena, died 1729 (“_Hist. Ecclst. V.T._,” “_Instit. Theol. Dogma_,” “_Isagoge Hist. Theol. Univ._”); =J. Chr. Wolf= of Homburg, died 1739 (“_Biblioth. Hebr._,” “_Curæ Philol. et Crit. in N.T._”); =Weismann= of Tübingen, died 1747 (“_Hist. Ecclst._”); =Carpzov= of Leipzig, died A.D. 1767 as superintendent at Lübeck (“_Critica s. V.T._,” “_Introductio ad Libros cen. V.T._,” “_Apparatus Antiquitt. s. Codicis_”); =J. H. Michaelis= of Halle, died 1731 (“_Biblia. Hebr. c. Variis Lectionibus et Brev. Annott._,” “_Uberiores Annott. in Hagiograph._”); assisted in both by his learned nephew =Chr. Ben. Michaelis= of Halle, died 1764; =J. G. Walch= of Jena, died 1755 (“_Einl. in die Religionsstreitigkeiten_,” “_Biblioth. Theol. Selecta_,” “_Biblioth. Patristica_,” “_Luther’s Werke_”); =Chr. Meth. Pfaff= of Tübingen, died 1760 (“_K. G., K. Recht, Dogmatik, Moral_”); =L. von Mosheim= of Helmstädt [Helmstadt] and Göttingen, died 1755, the father of modern church history (“_Institt. Hist. Ecclst._,” “_Commentarii Rebus Christ. ante Constant. M._,” “_Dissertationes_,” etc.); =J. Alb. Bengel= of Stuttgart, died 1752 (“_Gnomon N.T._,” a commentary on the N.T. distinguished by pregnancy of expression and profundity of thought; from his interpretation of Revelation he expected the millennium to begin in A.D. 1836); and =Chr. A. Crusius= of Leipzig, died 1775 (“_Hypomnemata ad Theol. Propheticam._”)--A =fourth= theological school arose out of the application of the mathematical method of demonstration by the philosopher =Chr. von Wolff= of Halle, who died A.D. 1754. Wolff attached himself to the philosophical system of Leibnitz, and sought to unite philosophy and Christianity; but under the manipulation of his logico-mathematical method of proof he took all vitality out of the system, and the pre-established harmony of the world became a purely mechanical clockwork. He looked merely to the logical accuracy of Christian truths, without seeking to penetrate their inner meaning, gave formal exercise to the understanding, while the heart was left empty and cold; and thus inevitably revelation and mystery made way for a mere natural theology.