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    THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

  _A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PROMOTION OF TRUE CULTURE. ORGAN OF
             THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE._

               VOL. IV.      JANUARY, 1884.      NO. 4.


Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

_President_—Lewis Miller, Akron, Ohio.

_Superintendent of Instruction_—Rev. J. H. Vincent, D.D., New Haven,
Conn.

_Counselors_—Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D.; Rev. J. M. Gibson, D.D.; Bishop
H. W. Warren, D.D.; Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D.

_Office Secretary_—Miss Kate F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.

_General Secretary_—Albert M. Martin, Pittsburgh, Pa.




_Transcriber's Note: This table of contents of this periodical was
created for the HTML version to aid the reader._




Contents


                         REQUIRED READING
  German History                                          189
  Extracts from German Literature                         193
  Readings in Physical Science
      IV.—The Sea                                         196
                         SUNDAY READINGS
  [January 6]—On Spiritual Christianity                   198
  [January 13]                                            199
  [January 20]                                            200
  [January 27]                                            200

  Political Economy
      IV. Distribution                                    202
  Readings in Art
      I.—Architecture.—Introduction                       204
  Selections from American Literature
      Fitz Greene Halleck                                 207
      Richard Henry Dana                                  208
      William Cullen Bryant                               208
      Henry Wadsworth Longfellow                          210
  Night                                                   211
  Eccentric Americans                                     211
  The Stork                                               214
  Gardening Among the Chinese                             215
  Eight Centuries With Walter Scott                       216
  Astronomy of the Heavens For January                    218
  Work For Women                                          219
  Ostrich Hunting                                         220
  Christian Missions                                      221
  California                                              222
  Table-Talk of Napoleon Bonaparte                        224
  Early Flowers                                           225
  Botanical Notes                                         227

  C. L. S. C. Work                                        228
  Outline of C. L. S. C. Readings                         228
  Sunbeams from the Circle                                229
  Local Circles                                           230
  C. L. S. C. Round-Table                                 233
  Questions and Answers                                   234
  Chautauqua Normal Class                                 236
  Editor’s Outlook
      The Headquarters of the C. L. S. C.                 238
      Evangelists                                         239
      The New Time Standards                              240
      Père Hyacinthe                                      241
  Editor’s Note-Book                                      241
  C. L. S. C. Notes on Required Readings for January      243
  Notes on Required Readings in “The Chatauquan”          245
  Talk About Books                                        248



REQUIRED READING

FOR THE

_Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle for 1883-4_.

JANUARY.




GERMAN HISTORY.

By REV. W. G. WILLIAMS, A.M.


IV.

The C. L. S. C. student is already aware that it is not pretended
here to write the history of Germany, but properly these are entitled
“Readings in German History.” To write with any degree of fulness or
detail the history of a people which has played so large and important
a part in the modern world, would require more volumes than are the
pages allotted to us. It has been, and still remains the design to
select those events and characters of greatest interest, and which have
had the largest influence upon the current of subsequent history. The
purpose, also constantly in view, has been to stimulate the reader to
further study of the subject, by perusal of the best works accessible
to the reader of English.

In this number no choice is left us but to pass, with only a glance
or two, over the long period from the death of Charlemagne to that
day-dawn of modern history, the Reformation. It is the period in which
the historian traces, successively the beginning, vicissitudes, decay
and extinction of the Carlovingian, Saxon, Franconian and Hohenstauffen
houses. Following these is the great interregnum which precedes the
Reformation. Included in this long stretch of time are what is known as
the “dark ages.” Yet in Germany it was not all darkness, for now and
then a ray of light was visible, prophetic of the rising sun, which
heralded by Huss, appeared in the person and achievements of Martin
Luther. It is about the work and character of the latter personage that
we purpose to make the chief part of this chapter. Especially are we
disposed so to do, now that protestant christendom is celebrating the
four hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great reformer, and all
civilized mankind has its attention called to his bold doctrines and
brave career.

But, before we are prepared for Luther, we must note the change which
has come in the claims and pretensions of the church. The different
attitude which made possible a few centuries later, such a mission
as Luther’s can not better be exhibited than during the reign of the
Franconian Emperor, Henry the Fourth.


HENRY THE FOURTH—HIS SUPPLIANT VISIT TO CANOSSA.

The student of the history of the Romish church is aware that during
the first five centuries after Christ the pope was vested with little,
if any, other powers or dignities than those which pertained to him
as Bishop of Rome. His subsequent claim to unlimited spiritual and
political sway was then unthought of, much less anywhere advanced.
Even for another five centuries he is only the nominal head of the
church, who is subordinate to the political potentates and dependent
upon them for protection and support in his office. But in the year
1073 succeeded one Gregory VII., to the tiara, who proposed to erect
a spiritual empire which should be wholly absolved from dependency
on kings and princes. His pontificate was one continuous struggle
for the success of his undertaking. Of powerful will, great energy
and shrewdness and with set purpose his administration wrought great
change in the papal office and the relations of the church to European
society. His chief measures by which he sought to compass his design
were the celibacy of the priesthood and the suppression of the then
prevalent custom of simony. The latter bore especially hard on the
German Emperor, much of whose strength lay in the power to appoint the
bishops and to levy assessments upon them when the royal exchequer
was in need. In the year 1075 Gregory proclaimed his law against the
custom, forbidding the sale of all offices of the church, and declaring
that none but the pope might appoint bishops or confer the symbols
of their authority. With an audacity unheard of, and a determination
little anticipated, he sent word to Henry IV., of Germany, demanding
the enforcement of the rule throughout his dominion under penalty of
excommunication. The issue was a joint one, and a crisis inevitable.
No pope had ever assumed such an attitude or used such language to a
German Emperor. Henry was not disposed and resolved not to submit.
So far as a formal disposition of the difficulty was concerned the
case was an easy one. He called the bishops together in a synod
which met at Worms. They proceeded with unanimity to declare Gregory
deposed from his papal office and sent word of their action to Rome.
The pope, who had used every artifice to gain popularity with the
people, was prepared for the contest and answered back with the ban
of excommunication. The emperor might have been able to carry on the
struggle with some hope of success had he been in favor with his own
subjects.