Schleiermacher to his Step-Son.
[CCCCLI.] Berlin, 19th May, 1832.
My dear son, immediately before my departure, as well as since my return, up to the present moment, I have been so pressed with business, that I have not been able to write you even a few lines. Even to-day the time for so doing is very sparingly measured out to me; but I dare say you would rather put up with a few words only than remain longer in suspense. It has long been my intention that you should travel, but the present period does not seem to me suitable for the purpose. Once only you can enjoy this privilege, and therefore you ought not to rest satisfied with revelling in the beauties of nature, but ought also to endeavour to make yourself acquainted with the social conditions of the various countries, and to acquire knowledge that may be useful to you in your vocation. But at this moment you would not even be able to enjoy the former in peace. In Switzerland you would find the populations in a state of such intense excitement, that no one would be ready to impart the information you might desire; besides which the various constitutions are in a state of perfect dissolution, and there is great reason to anticipate the outbreak of a civil war. In Italy things are pretty much in the same condition, and under such circumstances, every traveller in the Austrian territories may be sure to be beset by difficulties and annoyances that may occasion a waste of time and money which he ought not in reason to incur. Upon the whole it seems to me better that we should defer this undertaking until after your final examination. Should even the travelling then cost a little more, it will not at all events upset you in regard to your studies, as would be the case at the present moment, and you would also derive more solid advantages from it. Try to follow my advice for this once with a willing heart, but nevertheless keep the project in your thoughts, and in your choice of reading hold your travels in some measure in view… . .
[CCCCLII.] 6th August, 1832.
… . . The resolutions of the Diet which, according to what people say, have been passed in consequence of the urgent representations of the constitutional German governments, and which therefore spring, not from any misunderstandings that may prevail at a distance, but from a home source, have also produced a very painful impression here. It is rumoured that the king has expressed himself to the effect, that he would be very willing to support the gentlemen, if he could but be sure that they would really govern well. Everybody must at present be looking forward with great anxiety to the new press law, which it is thought will remedy many evils. I do not think, however, that it will succeed in so doing… . . Otherwise our social circle is again extending a little in consequence of the arrival of the Steffenses and the Winterfelds. My dear Steffens I find, as far as I am concerned, quite unchanged… . .
Schleiermacher to his Wife.1
[CCCCLIII.]
My dearly beloved wife, it is very long since I wrote to you, and yet I have been wishing very much to do so. I had to write an essay (not merely a flourish of the pen) for the academy, which I read to it the day before yesterday, and besides that there was an accumulation of smaller matters to be attended to. In the meanwhile you must have had the children’s letters, and cannot therefore have been uneasy… . .
In reference to your letter to Hildchen, darling mother, I have something on my mind. You have adopted the way of speaking constantly of the Saviour and placing God quite in the background. If it be the Saviour also who speaks to us from nature, then there can hardly be any direct relation more between us and God. And yet Christ himself seeks above all to impress upon us that through him we come to the Father, and that the Father abides in us. In your way the true simplicity of Christianity is absorbed in some self-made system that Christ would not have approved. I am so afraid that the poor girl may get confused between your ways and mine; for she is no longer so wanting in reflection as not to be struck by the discrepancy. Dearest heart, do try to hold fast the belief that with Christ and through Christ, we are to rejoice in his and our Father.