Sect. 8. THEOLOGIA GERMANICA

The "Theologia Germanica," an isolated treatise of no great length
by an unknown author, was written towards the end of the fourteenth
century by one of the Gottesfreunde, a widespread association of
pious souls in Germany. He is said to have been "a priest and warden
of the house of the Teutonic Order at Frankfort." His book is both
the latest and one of the most important productions of the German
mystical school founded by Eckhart. The author is a deeply religious
philosopher, as much interested in speculative mysticism as Eckhart
himself, but as thoroughly penetrated with devout feeling as Thomas
ˆ Kempis. The treatise should be read by all, as one of the very
best devotional works in any language. My only reason for not
translating it in full here is that a good English translation
already exists,[30] so that it seemed unnecessary to offer a new one
to the public. I have therefore only translated a few characteristic
passages, which are very far from exhausting its beauties, and a few
of the more striking aphorisms, which indicate the main points in
the religious philosophy of the writer.

Sect. 9. MODERN MYSTICISM

The revival of interest in the old mystical writers is not
surprising when we consider the whole trend of modern thought. Among
recent philosophers--though Lotze, perhaps the greatest name among
them, is unsympathetic, in consequence of his over-rigid theory of
personality--the great psychologist Fechner, whose religious
philosophy is not so well known in this country as it deserves to
be, has with some justice been called a mystic. And our own greatest