no one suspected at that time that in the forgotten work of Reimarus there lay a dangerous historical discovery, a kind of explosive material such as can only be collected by those who stand free from every responsibility towards historical Christianity, who have abandoned every prejudice, in the good sense as well as in the bad�and whose one desire in regard to the Gospel history is to be "spirits that constantly deny." [1] Such thinkers, if they have historical gifts, destroy artifical history in the cause of true history and, willing evil, do good�if it be admitted that the discovery of truth is good. If this negative work is a good thing, the author of the "Letters to the German People" performed a distinguished service, for his negation is radical. The new Church which was to be founded on this historic overcoming of historic Christianity was to combine "only what was according to reason in Judaism and Christianity." From Judaism it was to take the belief in one sole, spiritual, perfect God; from Christianity the requirement of brotherly love to all men. On the other hand, it was to eliminate what was contrary to reason in each: from Judaism the ritual system and the sacrifices; from Christianity the deification of Jesus and the teaching of redemption through His blood. How comes so completely unhistorical a temperament to be combined with so historical an intellect? His Jesus, after all, has no individuality; He is a mere eschatological machine.
In accordance with the confession of faith of the new Church of which Ghillany dreamed, the calendar of the Feasts is to be transformed as follows:�
1. Feast of the Deity, the first and second of January.
2. Feast of the Dignity of Man and Brotherly Love, first and second of April.
3. Feast of the Divine Blessing in Nature, first and second of July.
4. Feast of Immortality, first and second of October.
Apart from these eight Feast days, and the Sundays, all the other days of the year are working days.
From the order of divine service we may note the following: "The sermon, which should begin with instruction and exhortation and close with consolation and encouragement, must not last longer than half an hour."
The series of Lives of Jesus which combine criticism with fiction is closed by Noack's Story of Jesus. A freethinker like Ghillany, but lacking the financial independence which a kindly fate had conferred upon the latter, Noack led a life which may properly be described as a constant martyrdom, lightened only by his intense love of theological studies, which nevertheless were
- ↑ "Ich bin der Geist, der stets verneint."�Mephistopheles in Faust.
