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His Spirit of Catholicism, or First Principles of Irenics (4 Books, Giessen, 184850), justly attracted a great deal of attention ; and his election as Bishop, and the fact that this election was not confirmed, made the author of the work still more famous. The bro chure, A few Words to the Thoughtful in Germany, 1845, which he published apropos of the German-Catholic movement, had given a warning against neglecting the rights of the individual, in the attempt to justify the religious and national interests of man. Later, he expressed the hope that a German Synod might be of service in once more uniting the three sides of relig ous life, namely, order, freedom, and union in God, which occupy a foremost place in Catholicism, Pro testantism, and Dissent, respectively. Finally, in the Irenics, he seeks to show that concrete Catholicism, which is equally removed from absolutism and anarchy, is neither intended to be separated from Evangelicism nor blended with it, but that the German spirit demands something in which both are reconciled. Owing to the fact that Baader spoke of him in such a friendly way, some regarded him as a pupil of Baader s. prev next |