The Philosophical Journal for 1798 contained an essay by Forberg " On the definition of the Idea of Religion." Fichte found the principles of this essay not so much opposed to his own, as only imperfect in themselves, and deemed it necessary to prefix to it a paper " On the grounds of our faith in a Divine M 122 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
Government of the world," in which, after pointing out the imperfections and merely human qualities which are attributed to the Deity in the common conceptions of His being, and which necessarily flow from the "cause and effect" argument in its ordinary applica tions, he proceeds to state the true grounds of our faith in a moral government, or moral order, in the universe, — not for the purpose of inducing faith by proof, but to discover and exhibit the springs of a faith already indestructibly rooted in our nature. The business of philosophy is not to create but to explain; our faith in the Divine exists without the aid of philo sophy, — it is hers only to investigate its origin, not for the conversion of the infidel, but to explain the convic tion of the believer. The general results of the essay may be gathered from the concluding paragraph: — " Hence it is an error to say that it is doubtful whether or not there is a God. It is not doubtful, but the most certain of all certainties, — nay, the foundation of all other certainties, — the one absolutely valid objective truth, — that there is a moral order in the world; that to every rational being is assigned his particular place in that order, and the work which he has to do; that his destiny, in so far as it is not occasioned by his own conduct, is the result of this plan; that in no other way can even a hair fall from his head, nor a sparrow fall to the ground around him; that every true and good action prospers, and every bad action fails; and that all things must work to gether for good to those who truly love goodness. On the other hand, no one who reflects a moment, and honestly avows the result of his reflection, can remain in doubt that the conception of God as a particular THEORY OF GOD. 123 substance is impossible and contradictory: and it is right candidly to say this, and to silence the babbling of the schools, in order that the true religion of cheer ful virtue may be established in its room.
" Two great poets have expressed this faith of good and thinking men with inimitable beauty. Such an one may adopt their language: — " ' Who dares to say, " I believe in God"?
Who dares to name him — [seek ideas and words for him.]
And to profess, " I believe in him"?
Who can feel, And yet affirm, " I believe him not"?
The All-Embracer, — [when he is approached through the moral sense, not through theoretical speculation, and the world is looked upon as tlte scene of living moral activity.} The All-Sustainer, Doth he not embrace, support, Thee, me, himself] Doth not the vault of heaven arch o'er us there?
Doth not the earth lie firmly here below?
And do not the eternal stars Rise on us with their friendly beams?
Do not I see my image in thine eyes?
And doth not the All Press on thy head and heart, And weave itself around thee, visibly and invisibly, In eternal mystery?
Fill thy heart with it till it overflow; And in the feeling when thou'rt wholly blest, Then call it what thou wilt, — Happiness! Heart! Love! God!
I have no name for it: Feeling is all; name is but sound and smoke, Veiling the glow of heaven.' * 124 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
" And the second sings: — " 'And God is!— a holy Will that abides, Though the human will may falter; High over both Space and Time it rides, The high Thought that will never alter: And while all things in change eternal roll, It endures, through change, a motionless soul.'"* The publication of this essay furnished a welcome opportunity to those States to which Fichte was ob noxious on account of his democratic opinions, to in stitute public proceedings against him. The note was sounded by the publication of an anonymous pamphlet, entitled " Letters of a Father to his Son on the Atheism of Fichte and Forberg," which was industriously and even gratuitously circulated throughout Germany. The first official proceeding was a decree of the Electoral Government, prohibiting the sale of the Philosophical Journal, and confiscating all copies of it found in the electorate. This was followed up by a requisition addressed to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, as the Conservator of the University of Jena, in which Fichte and Forberg were accused of " the coarsest atheism, openly opposed not only to the Christian, but even to natural, religion;" — and their severe punish ment was demanded; failing which, it was threatened that the subjects of the Elector should be prohibited from resorting to the University. These proceedings were imitated by the other Protestant Courts of Ger many, that of Prussia excepted.
In answer to the official condemnation of his essay, * The above stanza of Schiller's " "Worte des Glaubens" is taken from Mr. Merivale's excellent translation.
APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC. 125 Fichte sent forth his "Appeal to the Public against the accusation of Atheism," Jena 1799; — in which, with his accustomed boldness, he does not confine himself to the strict limits of self-defence, but exposes with no lenient hand the true cause which rendered him ob noxious to the Electoral Government, — not the atheism of which he was so absurdly accused, but the spirit of freedom and independence which his philosophy inculcated. He did not desire, he would not accept of any compromise; — he demanded a free acquittal, or a public condemnation. He adopted the same high tone in his defence before his own Government. The Court of Saxe- Weimar had no desire to restrain the liberty of thought, or to erect any barrier against free spe culation. It was too wise not to perceive that a Pro testant University in which secular power should dare to invade the precincts of philosophy, or profane the highest sanctuaries of thought, however great its reputation for the moment, must infallibly sink from being a temple of knowledge into a warehouse for the sale of literary, medical, or theological merchandize, — a school-room for artizans, — a drill-yard for hirelings. But, on the other hand, it was no part of the policy of the Ducal Court to give oifence to its more powerful neighbours, or to enter upon a crusade in defence of opinions obnoxious to the masses, because unintelligible to them. It was therefore intended to pass over this matter as smoothly as possible, and to satisfy the com plaining governments by administering to Fichte a general rebuke for imprudence in promulgating his views in language liable to popular misconstruction. The appearance of his " Appeal to the Public," however, rendered this arrangement less easy of accomphsh- M 2 126 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
ment. The opinion of the Government with respect to this publication was communicated to Fichte in a letter from Schiller, — " that there was no doubt that he had cleared himself of the accusation before every thinking mind; but that it was surprising that he had not consulted with higher quarters before he sent forth his appeal: why appeal to the public at all, when he had only to do with a favourable and enlightened Government?" The obvious answer to which was, that the "Appeal to the Public" was a reply to the public confiscation of his work, while the private accusation before his Prince was answered by a private defence. In that defence the Court found that the accused was determined to push the investigation as far as his accusers could desire; — that he demanded either an honourable and unreserved acquittal, or deposition from his office, as a false teacher. A further breach between the Court and Fichte was caused by a letter which, in the course of these proceedings, he addressed to a member of the Council, — his private friend, — in which he announced that a resignation of his professor ship would be the result of any reproof on the part of the Government. This letter, addressed to an indivi dual in his private capacity, was most unjustifiably placed among the official documents connected with the proceedings. Its tone, excusable perhaps in a private communication, seemed presumptuous and arrogant when addressed to the supreme authority; — it was the haughty defiance of an equal, rather than the remon strance of a subject. This abuse of a private letter, — this betrayal of the confidence of friendship, — cost Jena its most distinguished professor. On the 2d of April 1799, Fichte received the decision of the Ducal REMOVAL TO BERLIN. 127 Court. It contained a reproof for imprudence in pro mulgating doctrines so unusual and so offensive to the common understanding, and accepted of Fichte's re signation as a recognised consequence of that reproof. It is much to be regretted that the timid policy of the government, and the faults of individuals, prevented in this instance the formal recognition of the great principle involved in the contest, i. e. that civil govern ments have no right to restrain the expression of any theoretical opinion whatever, when propounded in a scientific form and addressed to the scientific world.
During these trying occurrences, the most enthusi astic attachment was evinced towards Fichte by the students. Two numerously signed petitions were pre sented to the Duke, praying for his recall. These having proved unavailing, they caused a medallion of their beloved teacher to be struck, in testimony of their admiration and esteem.
Fichte's position was now one of the most difficult which can well be imagined. A prolonged residence at Jena was out of the question, — he could no longer remain there. But where to turn? — where to seek an asylum? No neighbouring state would afford him shelter; even the privilege of a private residence was refused. At length a friend appeared in the person of Dohm, Minister to the King of Prussia. Through him Fichte applied to Frederick -William for permission to reside in his dominions, with the view of earning a livelihood by literary exertion and private teaching. The answer of the Prussian monarch was worthy of his high character: — " If," said he, " Fichte is so peaceful a citizen, and so free from all dangerous associations 128 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
as he is said to be, I willingly accord him a residence in my dominions. As to his religious principles, it is not for the State to decide upon them." * Fichte arrived in Prussia in July 1799, and devoted the summer and autumn to the completion of a work in which his philosophy is set forth in a popular form, but with admirable lucidity and comprehensiveness,— we allude to his " Bestimmung des Menschen," an essay in which all the great phases of metaphysical speculation are condensed into an almost dramatic pic ture of the successive developments of an individual mind. Towards the end of the year he returned to Jena for the purpose of removing his family to Berlin, where, henceforward, he fixed his place of residence. The following extracts are from letters written to his wife during their temporary separation: — .Iftcljte an Seiner jfrau.
" You probably wish to know how I live. For many reasons, the weightiest of which lie in myself and in my cough, I cannot keep up the early rising. Six o'clock is generally my earliest. I go then to my writing desk, so that I am not altogether idle, although I do not get on as I could wish. I am now working at the " Bestimmung des Menschen." At half-past twelve I hold my toilet (yes! — get powdered, dressed, &c.), and at one I call on M. Veit, where I meet Schlegel and a reformed preacher, Schlegel's friend, f At three * The original phraseology of this last passage is peculiarly cha racteristic: " 3ft eS toatyr, ba{5 er mif bent licfcen ®offe in Seinbfeltgf citen frcijriffen tft; fo mag bieS bcr liebe ©off mit ifym afimacfien; mtr tfjut bag nicfytS."
t Schleiermacher.
LETTERS TO HIS WIFE. 129 I return, and read a French novel, or write, as I do now to you. If the piece be at all tolerable, which is not always the case, I go to the theatre at five. If it be not, I walk with Schlegel in the suburbs, in the zoological gardens, or under the linden trees before the house. Sometimes I make small country parties with Schlegel and his friends. So we did, for exam ple, the day before yesterday, with the most lively remembrance of thee and the little one. We had no wine to drink your health, — only sour beer, and a slice of black bitter bread with a thin bit of half- decayed ham stuck upon it with dirty butter. Polite ness makes me put up with many things here which are scarcely tolerable. But I have thought of a better method for country parties.
" In the evening I sup on a roll of bread and a quart of Medoc wine, which are the only tolerable tilings in the house; and go to bed between ten and eleven, to sleep without dreaming. Only once, — it was after thy first alarming letter, — I had my Her mann in my arms, full of joy that he was well again, when suddenly he stretched himself out, turned pale, and all those appearances followed which are indelibly imprinted on my memory.
" I charge thee, dearest, with thy own health and the health of the little one. — Farewell."
****** " I am perfectly secure here. Yesterday I visited the Cabinet Councillor Beyme, who is daily engaged with the King, and spoke to him about my position. I told him honestly that I had come here in order to take up my abode, and that I sought for safety because it was my intention that my family should follow me.
130 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
He assured me, that far from there heing any desire to hinder me in this purpose, it would be esteemed an honour and advantage if I made my residence here, — that the King was immovable upon certain principles affecting these questions, &c."
****** " I work with industry and pleasure. My work on the ' Vocation of Man' will, I think, be ready at Mi chaelmas, — written, not printed, — and it seems to me likely to succeed. You know that I am never satisfied with my works when they are first written, and there fore that my own opinion on this point is worth some thing By my residence in Berlin I have gained this much, that I shall thenceforth be al lowed to live in peace elseivhere; — and this is much. I venture to say that I should have been teased and perhaps hunted out of any other place. But it is quite another thing now that I have lived in Berlin under the eye of the King. By and by, I think, even the Weimar Court will learn to be ashamed of its con duct, especially if I make no advances to it. In the meantime something advantageous may happen. So be thou calm and of good courage, dear one, and trust in thy Fichte's judgment, talent, and good fortune. Thou laughst at the last word. Well, well! — I assure you that good fortune will soon come back again." ****** " I have written to Reinhold a cold, somewhat up braiding letter. The good weak soul is full of lamen tations. I shall immediately comfort him again, and take care that he be not alienated from me in future. If I was beside thee, thou wouldst say — ' Dost thou hear, Fichte? thou art proud — I must tell it thee, if EARLY EDUCATION OF HIS SON. 131 no one else will.' Very well, be thou glad that I am proud. Since I have no humility, I must be proud, so that I may have something to carry me through the world."
" Of all that thou writest to me, I am most dissatis fied with this, that thou callest our Hermann an ill- bred boy. No greater misfortune could befall me on earth than that this child should be spoiled; and I would lament my absence from Jena only if it should be the cause of that. I adjure thee by thy maternal duties, by thy love to me, by all that is sacred to thee, let this child be thy first and only care, and leave everything else for him. Thou art deficient in firmness and coolness; — hence all thy errors in the education of the little one. Teach him that when thou hast once denied him anything, it is determined and irrevo cable, and that neither petulance nor the most urgent entreaties will be of any avail: — once fail in this, and you have an ill-taught obstinate boy, particularly with the natural disposition to strength of character which our little one possesses; and it costs a hundred times more labour to set him right again. For indeed it should be our first care not to let his character be spoiled; — and believe me, there is in him the capacity of being a wild knave, as well as that of being an honest, true, virtuous man. In particular, do not suppose that he will be led by persuasion and reason ing. The most intelligent men err in this, and thou also in the same way. He cannot think for himself yet, nor wrill he be able to do so for a long time; — at present, the first thing is that he should learn obe dience and subjection to a foreign mind. Thou mayst 132 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
indeed sometimes gain thy immediate purpose by per suasion, not because he understands thy reasons and is moved by them, but because thou in a manner sub- mittest thyself to him and makest him the judge. Thus his pride is flattered; thy talk employs his vacant time and dispels his caprices. But this is all; — while for the future thou renderest his guidance more diffi cult for thee, and confirmest thyself in a pernicious prejudice."
****** " Cheerfulness and good courage are to me the highest proof that thou lovest me as I should be loved. Dejection and sorrow are distrust in me, and make me unhappy because they make thee unhappy. It is no proof of love that thou shouldst feel deeply the injus tice done to me; — to me it is a light matter, and so must it be to thee, for thou and I are one.
" Do not speak of dying; indulge in no such thoughts; for they weaken thee, and thus might be come true. No! we shall yet live with each other many joyful and happy days; and our child shall close our eyes when he is a mature and perfect man: till then he needs us.
" In the progress of my present work, I have taken a deeper glance into religion than ever I did before. In me the emotions of the heart proceed only from perfect intellectual clearness: — it cannot be but that the clearness I have now attained on this subject shall also take possession of my heart.
" Believe me, that to this disposition is to be as cribed, in a great measure, my steadfast cheerfulness, and the mildness with which I look upon the injustice of my opponents. I do not believe that, without this RESIDENCE AT BERLIN. 133 dispute and its evil consequences, I should ever have com<3 to this clear insight, and the disposition of heart which I now enjoy; and so the violence we have ex perienced has had a result which neither you nor I can regret.
" Comfort the poor boy, and dry thy tears as he bids thee. Think that it is his father's advice, who indeed would say the same thing. And do with our dear Hermann as I wrote thee before. The child is our riches, and we must use him well."
If the spectacle of the scholar contending against the hindrances of fortune and the imperfections of his own nature, — struggling with the common passions of man kind and the weakness of his own will, — soaring aloft amid the highest speculations of genius, and dragged down again to earth by its coarsest attractions; — if this be one of the most painful spectacles which the theatre of life presents, surely it is one of the noblest when we see such a man pursuing some lofty theme with a constancy which difficulties cannot shake, nor the whirlwind of passion destroy. Nor is the scene less interesting and instructive, if the inherent nobility of its central figure have drawn around him a few souls of kindred nobleness, whose presence sheds a ge nial brilliance over a path otherwise solitary, although never dark nor doubtful. Such -was now Fichte's posi tion. The first years of his residence at Berlin were among the most peaceful in his life of vicissitude and storm. Withdrawn from public duties, and uninter rupted by the sources of outward annoyance to which he had lately been exposed, he now enjoyed a pe riod of tranquil retirement, surrounded by a small N 134 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
• circle of friends worthy of his attachment and esteem. Friedrich and Wilhelm Schlegel, Tieck, Woltmann, Reichhardt, and Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, were among his chosen associates; Bernhardi, with his clear and acute yet discursive thought, his social graces and warm affections, was his almost daily companion. Hufeland, the king's physician, whom he had known at Jena, now became bound to him by the closest ties, and rendered him many kind offices, over which the delicacy of friendship has thrown a veil.
Amid the amenities of such society, and withdrawn from the anxieties and disturbances of public life, Fichte now devoted himself to the development and completion of his philosophical theory. The period of danger and difficulty through which he had lately passed, the loss of many valued and trusted friends, and the isolation of his own mental position, naturally favoured the fuller development of that profound re ligious feeling which lay at the root of his character. It was accordingly during this season of repose, that the great leading idea of his system first revealed itself to his mind in perfect clearness, and impressed upon his subsequent writings that deeply religious character to which we have already adverted. The passage from subjective reflection to objective and absolute being, had hitherto, as we have seen, been attempted by Fichte on the ground of moral feeling only. Our Faith in the Divine is the inevitable result of our sense of duty; it is the imperative demand of our moral nature. We are immediately conscious of a Moral Law within us, whose behests are announced to us with an absolute authority which we cannot gainsay; the source of that authority is not in us, but FINAL DEVELOPMENT OF HIS PHILOSOPHY. 135 in the Eternal Fountain of all moral order, — shrouded from our intellectual vision by the impenetrable glories of the Infinite. But this inference of a Moral Law giver from our intuition of a Moral Law is, after all, but the ordinary "cause and effect" argument applied to moral phenomena, and is not, strictly speaking, more satisfactory than the common application of the same course of reasoning to the phenomena of the physical world. Besides, it does not wholly meet the facts of the case, for there can be no doubt that in all men, and more especially among savages and half- civilized people, the recognition of a Divinity precedes any definite conception of a Moral Law. And there fore we do not reach the true and ultimate ground of this Faith until we penetrate to that innate feeling of dependence, underlying both our emotional and intel lectual nature, which, in its relation to the one, gives birth to the Religious Sentiments, and, when recognised and elaborated by the other, becomes the basis of a scientific belief in the Absolute or God, — the materials of the edifice being furnished by our intuitions of the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. Fichte's thoughts being now directed more steadily to the strictly religious aspect of his theory, he sought to add such an intellec tual validity to our moral convictions, to raise our Faith in the Divine from the rank of a mere inference from the Moral Sense, to that of a direct intuition of Reason. This he accomplished by a deeper analysis of the fact of consciousness. What is the essential character of our knowledge? — that which it preserves amid all the diversities of the individual mind? It is this: — that it announces itself as a representation of something else, a picture of something superior to, and independent of, 136 MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
itself. It is thus composed of a double conception: — a Higher Being which it imperfectly represents; and itself, — inferior to, derived from, and dependent upon the first. Hence, it must renounce the thought of itself as the only being whose existence it reveals, and regard itself rather as the image or reflection of a truly Highest and Ultimate Being revealed in human thought, and indeed its essential foundation. And this idea cannot be got rid of on the ground that it is a merely subjective conception; for we have here reached the primitive essence of thought itself, — and to deny this would be to deny the very nature and conditions of knowledge, and to maintain an obvious contradiction; this namely, — that there can be a conception with out an object conceived, a manifestation without sub stance, and that the ultimate foundation of all things is nothing. By this reconciliation, and indeed essen tial union of the subjective with the objective, Reason finally bridges over the chasm by which analysis had formerly separated it from the simple Faith of common humanity. Consciousness becomes the manifestation, — the self-revelation of the Absolute, — and the Absolute itself is the ground and substance of the phenomena of Consciousness, — the different forms of which are but the various points wherein God is recognised, with greater or less degrees of clearness and perfection, in this manifestation of himself; while the world itself, as an infinite assemblage of concrete existences, conscious and unconscious, is another phase of the same Infinite and Absolute Being. Thus Consciousness, far from being a purely subjective and empty train of fancies, contains nothing which does not rest upon and image forth a Higher and Infinite Reality; and Idealism it self becomes a sublime and Absolute Realism.