Christianopolis;

/in. Izccc' . Vj ,

JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAE

(5ermanic Xiterature an& Culture

^ A SERIES OF MONOGRAPHS

Edited by JULIUS GOEBEL, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES IK THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

CHEISTIANOPOLIS

AN IDEAL STATE OF THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN OF JOHANN VAL-
ENTIN ANDREAE WITH AN HISTORICAL
INTRODUCTION

BY /

FELIX EMIL HELD, PH.D.

Associate Professor of German in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

NEW YORK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH: 85 West 8«nd Street

LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE, AND BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD

1916

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

fiXg'

Copyright, igi6
BY Oxford University Press

AMERICAN BRANCH

JUN 22 i9l6

©CLA433457

PREFACE

It is my belief that Johann Valentin Andreae represents a
very important step in the development of the principles of
education and scientific investigation, and that his works,
now very little known, deserve worthy recognition in the
history of literature. It is the purpose of this investiga-
tion to show the value of his writings as those of a great
teacher and reformer ; and especially to establish his Utopia,
Reipublicae Christianopolitanae Descriptio, in its proper
place among the ideal states of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries. As the Latin original of this Utopia has
become quite rare I have made an English translation of
it, hoping that thereby the attention of students of litera-
ture, philosophy, pedagogy, and sociology may be attracted
to this remarkable document. Recognizing the great value
of Andreae's work Robert Boyle, as early as 1647, i" ^ letter
to Samuel Hartlib, expressed the wish that an English
version of it might be made.

For my introduction to the subject, and for his assistance
and direction in its development, I wish to express my
gratitude and appreciation to Professor Julius Goebel, my
adviser and teacher. I also acknowledge my sincere thanks
to other members of the department of German of the
University of Illinois for their interest and helpful sug-
gestions. F. E. H.

CONTENTS

Preface iii

PART I

ANDREW'S " CHRISTIANOPOLIS," ITS ORIGIN
AND INFLUENCE

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introduction 3

Plato's Republic. Discovery of America and
its effect on European thought and literature.
Robinson Crusoe and forerunners of the same.
Andreae and the shipwreck motif. More's
Utopia. Andreae's life and works; his relation
to education and to educators of the past. Sum-
mary of the purpose of the present investigation.

II. More's '' Utopia/' Campanella's '' Civitas

Sous '' and the '' Christianopolis " . . i6
Views and opinions of Hiillemann, Mohl, Sig-
wart, and later commentators regarding the
originality of the Christianopolis. The Chris-
tianopolis compared and contrasted with the
Utopia and the Civitas Solis. Is it a "copy"
of either? The several purposes of More,
Campanella, and Andreae. Herder's opinion.
Andreae impressed with the government of
Geneva. Analysis of the Christianopolis. An-
dreae's object, educational and religious re-
form. The founding of a " college." The
Christianopolis original in form and content.

III. The '' Christianopolis " and Francis

Bacon's '' New Atlantis " . . . -41
Opposition to Aristotle's deductive reason-
ing. Francis Bacon's life and works. The JVew
Atlantis — date of composition. Bacon's ambition ;
his relation to scholars on the Continent. Ca-
saubon, Weckherlin, Matthew. Analysis of the

vi Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

New Atlantis and a comparison with the
Christianopolis. Salomon's House and the Col-
lege of Six Days' Works. Seeking after "light."
Earlier works of Andreae which contain his
views — the Fama, the Confessio, Die Christen-
burg. Bacon's conception of a college is not the
first in Utopias. External as well as inner evi-
dence make a knowledge of Andreae's works on
the part of Bacon extremely likely.

IV. The " Christianopolis '' and '' Nova Solyma " 75

Immediate effect of Andreae's work more
noticeable in England than in Germany. Nova
Solyma a Utopian romance ; date and author.
Life of Gott. His association with scholars in
the circle of Andreae's friends. The them.e and
purpose of Nova Solyma. Its close similarity
to the Christianopolis. " Light."

V. Andre^^ the Royal Society of London, and

Educational Reform ...... 100

Disciples and followers of Andreae. Come-
nius's efforts to carry on regular correspondence
with Andreae; his relations to Andreae. Simi-
larity of their programs for educational reform.
Hartlib; his unique position in England. Dury,
religious and educational reformer ; his ac-
quaintance with Andreae. Figulus. Hubner.
Comenius and Dury invited to England. Robert
Boyle. The Invisible College. The Philosophi-
cal College. Haacke, a charter member of the
Royal Society. Sprat. The Royal Society of
London, 1662. Its aims. Relation to similar
academies on the Continent. Some important
features of the Royal Society could not have
come through the New Atlantis, which is usually
given as its model.

Bibliography 126

CHAPTER

I.

11.

III.
IV.

V.

VI.

VII.
VIII.

IX.
X.

XL

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

Contents vii
PART II

PAGE

Lhristianopolis 129

Dedicatory i^j

To THE Reader i^o

The Reason for the Journey, and

THE Shipwreck . . . .142
Driven to the Island, Caphar

Salama j^^

The Origin of Christianopolis . . 144
Examination of the Stranger,
First, as to His Ideas of Life and

His Morals 14c

Examination, Secondly, as to His

Person 1^5

Examination, Thirdly, as to His

Personal Culture .... 147
Description of the City . . .149
Agriculture and Animal Hus-
bandry J CO

Mills and Bakeries . . . .151
The Meat Shop and the Supply

House jc^

Metals and Minerals . . . .154

Dwellings jec

Mechanics je^

Public Prayers leg

Food '• * 159

Occupations j5q

Vacation Periods 152

Rewards j5^

Penalties j^.

Nobility j^-

Officials j55

Public Works , .... 168

Vlll

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

XXIII. The Homes 169

XXIV. Furniture and Furnishings . .170
XXV. Night Lights 172

XXVI. The College 173

XXVII. The Triumvirate 174

XXVIII. Religion 175

XXIX. Administration of the State . . 177

XXX. The Minister or Presbyter . .179

XXXI. Conscience 180

XXXII. The Minister's Assistant or the

DiACONUS 181

XXXIII. The Judge 183

XXXIV. Understanding 184

XXXV. Measure 185

XXXVI. The Director of Learning . . 186

XXXVII. Truth 188

XXXVIII. The Tongue 189

XXXIX. The Library 190

XL. The Armory 192

XLI. The Archives . . . . . 193

XLII. Printing 194

XLIII. The Treasury 195

XLIV. The Laboratory 196

XLV. The Drug Supply House ... 198

XLVI. Anatomy 199

XLVII. The Natural Science Laboratory . 200

XLVI II. Painting and Pictures . . . 202

XLIX. Mathematical Instruments . . 203

L. The Mathematics Laboratory . . 204

LI. The Departments of Learning . 205

LII. The Teachers 207

LIII. The Pupils 208

LIV. The Nature of Instruction . . 209

Contents

IX

CHAPTER PAGE

LV. Grammar, The First Department . 210

LVI. Oratory 212

LVII. The Various Languages . . . 213

LVIII. Logic, The Second Department . 215

LIX. Metaphysics 216

LX. Theosophy 217

LXI. Arithmetic, The Third Department 219

LXII. Geometry 220

LXIIL Mystic Numbers 221

LXIV. Music, The Fourth Department . 223

LXV. Musical Instruments .... 224

LXVI. The Chorus 225

LXVIL Astronomy, The Fifth Department 22^]

LXVIII. Astrology 228

LXIX The Heaven of the Christians . 229
LXX. Natural Science, the Sixth De-
partment 231

LXXL History 232

LXXn. Church History 233

LXXHL Ethics, the Seventh Department . 235

LXXIV. The Government 236

LXXV. Christian Poverty .... 238

LXXVL Theology, the Eighth Department 240

LXXVn. Practice of Theology .... 242

LXXVHL Prophecies 243

LXXIX. Medicine 245

LXXX. Jurisprudence 246

LXXXI. The Dwellings of the Youth . . 247

LXXXn. The Temple 249

LXXXHL Vocation 250

LXXXIV. Services 252

LXXXV. Sacred Psalmody 253

LXXXVL The Sacraments 255'

X Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

LXXXVII. Absolution and Excommunication 256

LXXXVIIL Matrimony 258

LXXXIX. Women 260

XC. Childbirth 261

XCI. Widowhood 263

XCII. The Council Hall .... 265

XCIII. The Councilmen 266

XCIV. The Gardens 268

XCV. Water 269

XCVI. The Aged 270

XCVII. Foreigners and Paupers . . . 272

XCVIII. The Sick 273

XCIX. Death 275

C. Burial 276

Conclusion of the Description and

Departure of the Stranger. . 2']']

ILLUSTRATIONS

Johann Valentin Andreae .... Frontispiece

FACING
PAGE

Ground Plan of Christianopolis — Christianopolis . 129

Title Page of the Original Edition of the " Chris-
tianopolis " . . . 143

PART I

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

The conception of an ideal state comes down to us from
the time of the ancients. Plato's Republic is the expres-
sion of the ideal of a philosopher, the representative of the
highest culture of his age, who in the time of his maturity,
after long association with one of the greatest teachers of
his country, after years of travel among diJfferent peoples,
and a life of close attention to the study of social and politi-
cal conditions, reduced the results of his observations and
experiences into concrete form. He pictured to his country-
men a state, free from the corruptions of extreme license
and the dangers of tyranny, and embodying in its laws
and institutions the two fundamentals of his governmental
ethics — man's individual life and personal morality, and his
relation and obligations as a member of state and society.
Plato was a prophet — a prophet of evil, because he saw
clearly and truly the inevitable outcome to which the trend
of events in the Athenian state was leading; a prophet of
good, in that he foretold a better time, analyzed the problem,
and offered his solution. But the Republic is a Utopia
in the literal sense. Plato's state exists nowhere — it is a
purely ideal conception which the author cannot locate in
any definite place.

The Renaissance marks the time when men's thoughts
again were called to the subject of reform. The practical
turn given by Humanism away from sophistical, disputing,
dreamy abstractions, toward the affairs of life; the en-

3

4 Christianopolis

lightenment of the world, spiritually and mentally, due to
the revival of learning ; and especially the discovery of the
western world, all tended to give man and society a new
impetus — a swelling, crowding, longing desire for a fuller,
freer, larger life.

The century after the discovery of America, and the ex-
plorations and voyages of the Spanish and Portuguese which
followed, opened the mind of all Europe to a realization of
the narrowness of its former point of view. New conti-
nents inhabited by unheard of and unthought of races of
people; conditions of life never before known to the civi-
lized world, or if known, forgotten through centuries of
artificiaUty; men living in freedom, without extreme or
noticeable restrictions of law, and yet in reasonable har-
mony and order — these were new conceptions which,
though they by their suddenness struck hard and with
stunning effect, yet cleared a new and immeasurably
broader horizon, and brought out the contrast between
the degenerating artificiality of civilization and the natural,
original condition of man. And while it is true that tales
and legends as wild as those brought back by the Argonauts
to the Grecian world circulated for a century and more,
and found fertile soil in the imaginations of Europeans, yet
in the course of time and in the light of more definite in-
formation, the public mind returned to a normal balance,
and sifted out of the mass of reports, the facts that could
be relied upon. The fountain of eternal youth became a
healthy climate, fresh air, and cool springs; the fabulous
rivers of gold took the form and shape of cultivated fields
and limitless stretches of timber; and the phantastical,
mythical race of beings resolved itself into a simple people,
an example of human life close to nature.

Then followed slowly the discovery of the folk-song

Introduction 5

and folk-poetry as the original language of pure human
nature, and with it, all succeeding attempts to determine the
true character of man. This movement, however, did not
reach its climax until much later — in the eighteenth century
and in the writings of the classical period of German
literature. Experiences of the Moravian and Jesuit mis-
sionaries among the American Indians and association with
the wild tribes led to further investigations into their nature
and customs. A feeling developed that civilization could
be redeemed only by stripping it of all useless and vain
conventionalities; and in order that this might be done,
primitive man would have to furnish the model. Hence
there followed a study of primitive man wherever he could
be found, and a rehearsal of literature which dealt with
primitive races. Herder translated the poems of Ossian,
the Irish bard, the poetic efforts of the Finns and Lapps,
and collected folk-lore from all nations. Goethe, in his
W estostlicher Divan, turned to the primitive life of the
Orient. Even Holderlin, in his Hyperion, had his hero,
when all else failed him, seek after the *' inmost parts
of Asia " and exclaim, ** Man cannot deny that he was once
happy even as the deer in the forest; and after countless
years there still glimmers within us a longing for the days
of the primitive world, when everyone trod the earth
like a god, before (I do not know what) tamed man; and
when instead of walls and dead timber, the soul of the
world, the holy atmosphere everywhere present, embraced
him." ^ Homer and the primitive Greeks were studied with
renewed energy and from an entirely different point of
view. The Hebrews were investigated as a primitive people
and new researches made in the Old Testament. Rousseau
and his " back to nature " were a part of the same move-

^ Holderlin: Gesammelte Dichtungen (Cotta), II, pp. 161, 162.

6 Christianopolis

ment. The literature of the eighteenth century is full of
such expressions as " a whole man," " the complete man,"
" natural man," and the like. The whole problem was an
effort to find the secret of happiness in man as he was put
into the world, pure and uncontaminated by the artificial-
ities and conventionalities of over-civilization. And further-
more, now that the eyes of Europe were opened to the im-
mensity of the newly discovered world, and a definite
locality was provided where such plans could be realized,
the Utopian idea sprang up again, and the distant islands
of the sea ^ were represented as the homes of people living

* An important and well represented type of literature had its
origin in this movement — the Robinsonaden, first definitely
represented by Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, including Robinson stories
in all languages and literatures, and finally culminating in
Schnabel's Insel Felsenburg. In a dissertation, Wackwitz (see
bibliography) summarizes the forerunners of Defoe's Robinson
Crusoe with a view toward determining his sources. Kippenberg
(see bibliography) discusses the Robinson tales in Germany up to
the appearance of Insel Felsenburg. Finally Briiggemann (see
bibliography) in his Utopie und Robinsonade analyzes the two types
of productions, lists the elements essential to each type, and shows
the presence of both in such works as Histoires des Sevarambes of
Vairasse, Robinson Crusoe, and Insel Felsenburg. In these discus-
sions all three writers take notice of the purely political Utopias,
and Briiggemann and Kippenberg make mention of Christianopolis.

The Histoires des Sevarambes, Insel Felsenburg, to a certain
extent even the Life of loris Pines, and other Robinson tales are
composite productions. There is the shipwreck, the casting upon
an uninhabited island of one or more persons, the gradual develop-
ment and improvement of the place (thus far the pure Robin-
sonade), and the ultimate forming of an ideal state, the Utopia.

These two types as independent productions are mutually ex-
clusive; the Robinsonade is necessarily ended when the ideal state
begins, for, as the latter represents a condition of contentment
from which outside elements are to be excluded, so the former
pictures essentially an exile, no matter what sentimental reasons
the individual or individuals may have for regretting departure
when the rescuing ship finally comes.

Bruggemann analyzes the Insel Felsenburg and selects as three

Introduction 7

under reformed systems of government, society, and edu-
cation. It is not surprising that the new world with its
freshness and weahh of beauty should have instilled life
and vigor into the old. It is not strange that Europe should
have been seized with a longing desire for homes in a new

important factors of the whole, i) the motif of compulsory sep-
aration from the world, 2) the feeling of safety in an asylum
from the interferences of civilized society rather than that of
exile from a desirable community, and 3) the problem of sex
relations. While Andreae's Christianopolis is mentioned in Briigge-
mann and Kippenberg, it is only to take passing notice and to add
that Andreae has contributed little or nothing to the development
of this class of literature. A few words will, therefore, not be
out of place to show that the Christianopolis plays a more important
part than has been heretofore shown.

It is generally supposed that the shipwreck motif is common
to all Utopias. Thus Hiillemann (II, p. 5), in attempting to
prove Andreae's dependence upon More, mistakenly says : " Both
ideal states are situated upon an island at which both authors arrive
after having been shipwrecked." In Schlaraifia Politico (p. 122)
it is stated concerning Bacon's New Atlantis: " Like all the other
poets. Bacon tells us how a ship ... is struck by a storm
and wrecked"; — and again (p. 94), this time speaking of the
Christianopolis, " The description begins as usual with a ship-
wreck."

There is a Spanish account in 1609 of ^ shipwrecked mariner,
one Serrano, whose experiences were reproduced by Happel in 1682
in his Insulanischer Mandorell. The original (translated into Eng-
lish in 1688 by Rycaut, and into German by Boll still later) has no
features of a Utopia. The Tempest of Shakespeare (1610 at earliest)
describes the landing of a shipwrecked party and the subsequent
life of the survivors upon an island. This is probably (Introduction
to editions of the Tempest by Hudson and by Boas) based upon
the account of the wreck of a vessel in the Bermudas, which was
printed in 1610. But in the history of Utopias there is no such ex-
perience. More, in his narrative, simply "travels on and eventually
reaches Utopia." Campanella's hero " is compelled to go ashore "
(p. 5), and so arrives at Civitas Solis. Both are very vague. Of
these early Utopias, Christianopolis alone clearly mentions the de-
tails of the arrival of the traveler at the island and of all Utopias
is the first to make use of the wreck. Bacon has no wreck at all,

8 Christianopolis

land. It was only natural that the literature of the time
was crowded with Utopian ideas, and that a new impulse
was given toward improving the corrupted civilization in
which men were living.

Thomas More is the first in this new period to give the
world a picture of such an ideal state, and his Utopia is
the beginning of a literature that played no small part in the

but after Andreae it is an essential part of Utopias and Robinson
stories.

Of the three essential factors of Insel Felsenburg as pointed out
by Briiggemann, sex plays no part in the Christianopolis in the sense
in which it forms a " problem " in the Robinson stories. Neither
is absolute " separation " from the outer world a possible factor,
as the traveler is thrown upon an island whose inhabitants are
already out of the " Robinsonade " stage. However, as is partially
admitted in Briiggemann (Christianopolis, chaps, iv, v, vi), there
is a strict examination which would eliminate all but a very small
per cent of casual visitors; and the cordial invitation to return is
extended at the close, only because this visitor has proved himself
unusually fit to be an adopted citizen in Christianopolis. But
Briiggemann (p. 151) is wrong (as also Voigt, p. 75) in attributing
the impossibility of a " separation " motif to the allegorical char-
acter of the Christianopolis, Just as certainly is it a gross injustice
to the Christianopolis to say that " throughout the whole, more stress
is laid upon laws than upon the individuals' interrelation and
behavior, which latter condition is a result rather of the laws under
which they live than of a natural, inner development" (Brugge-
mann, p. 150). The spirit in Christianopolis is not that of
the "narrow-mindedness of church prudery" (Briiggemann, p.

Briiggemann, strangely enough, does not find in the Christianopolis
suggestions of the very factors which he selects from the
Sevaramhes as having influenced Insel Felsenburg after it ceases
to be a Robinsonade. Yet Sevarambes is undoubtedly dependent
upon the Christianopolis for many of these. First, there is the ship-
wreck already mentioned. In the second division, " Human beings
have a natural bent toward evil. Good laws and examples must
overcome this, else the evil within will choke the good. The gov-
ernment of the Sevarambes and the principles of education have,
therefore, great influence upon the social life of the community"

Introduction 9

social and scientific programmes of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries. The sudden impetus given to science, the
wonderful advance in this field in Italy, Germany, and
England, produced a desire for a new and more practical
system of education. In Germany the unsettled conditions
of church and state, the feeling on the part of Protestants
that the Reformation had not been a complete success, the
counter-reformation among the Catholics, the fore-mutter-
ings of the long struggle of the Thirty Years' War — these
all combined to give impulse to reform. Speaking of this
period and the forces which led to the production of the
Utopias, W. Windelband says : " A new epoch of culture
seemed to have been opened and an exotic agitation seized
the imagination. Unheard of things were to be attained;
nothing was to be impossible any more. The telescope
unlocked the secrets of the heavens and the forces of the
earth began to obey the investigator. Science strove to be
the leader of human thought in its victorious course

(Bruggemann, p. 156, Sevaramhes, p. 190, Christiano polls through-
out). By the seventh year the children (girls as well as boys) are
taken in charge by the state (Sevarambes, p. 192, Christiano polls,
chap, liii). Ideas of community right {Sevarambes, p. 150,
Christianopolls, chap, liii and elsewhere), rank not one of blood
but of virtuous behavior (Sevarambes, p. 149, Christianopolls, chap.
XX ), honesty and good example, the only heritage (Sevarambes, p.
173, Christianopolls, chap, xx), and scores of others in the Utopia
of Vairasse, find their exact duplicates in Christianopolls. And
the conclusion, " The visitor leaves the land with the firm
determination to return and spend his last days there " (Sevarambes,
P- 359), already occurs almost verbatim in Christianopolls. In
other words, the third factor, that of the " asylum " which
Bruggemann finds (before Insel Felsenburg) primarily in Sevaram-
bes, is as strongly emphasized in Christianopolls, half a century
earlier. It seems clear, then, that the Christianopolls of Andreae
gave considerable (and hitherto unacknowledged) incentive to, and
furnished some of the essentials of the Robinsonade and par-
ticularly of Schnabel's Insel Felsenburg,

lo Christianopolis

through nature. Through her discoveries human Ufe was
to be completely transformed." ^

One of the first to divine the dawn of a new epoch in
the history of human civilization and to give expression
to the secret hopes and aspirations of his time by the
creation of a Utopia was Johann Valentin Andreae,^ preacher

* W. Windelband : Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Philosophic, IV,
pp. 323 f^-

^ The effect of Andreae's works on education will be emphasized
in succeeding chapters. His relation to the past can be briefly told.
The history of education from the Reformation to the
beginning of the Thirty Years' War is to a great degree one of
education in Germany. The educational reforms of Luther gave
an impetus that could not easily be checked and that bore fruit
most readily in his own country. After his, the names of Me-
lanchthon, Sturm, Ratke; of Loyola, later of Campanella and Bacon,
take prominent places. Andreae was a great admirer and a loyal
follower of Luther. He speaks of him often and praises the
work Luther did in church and school. But he seriously felt the
need of a " second reformation " in both ; not a return merely to
the teachings of Luther but, as civilization had a century of
additional experiences, a step ahead, a better system for the next
generation. Moreover, Andreae had the scheme for such an
advance. While at the university, he planned a reform of educa-
tional methods — his first published production and his last are
pedagogical works. Nothing lay so near his heart or occupied
so much of his time and energy as education. Bacon, in England,
bent his energies on scientific research ; Comenius strove to im-
prove the school systems. Andreae had elaborate and perfected
plans for all phases of instruction, from the primary grades to
the highest, for the individual and for the state, including develop-
ment spiritual, intellectual, moral, and physical.

Andreae, as has been said, was a staunch supporter of Luther's
educational and religious doctrines, and a careful student of the
whole field in the period following Luther. But he was not de-
pendent upon these for all his material or his methods.

Andreae's pedagogical principles, as outlined in the Christianopolis
and Theophilus, show an advance over Luther (who influenced
him most) — an advance as shown in a more complete and rounded-
out system of education as well as in the subject-matter of the
courses. Luther stood too much under the shadow of Humanism,

Introduction ii

and teacher at Vaihingen, Calw, and Stuttgart, founder of
the " home " at Calw, traveler, writer, and finally general
philanthropist. And his Utopia, Reipublicae Christiano-
politanae Description shows originality in plan of govern-
ment and education, as well as advancement and progress
beyond its predecessors and indeed beyond some of its
immediate successors in the field; while a decade earlier in
his Fama Fraternitatis ^ he outlines a plan for scientific
investigation and gives the model for a " college " or so-
ciety of fellows which shall institute a " general reforma-
tion " of the whole civilized world. Andreae's many-sided
education and experiences, his deep interest in and clear in-
sight into the affairs of men and humanity, his strong
desire to uplift human society and to alleviate pain and
suffering, gave his works recognition and careful considera-

and was too deeply engrossed in the church of his time, to be
able to see the value of the study of any foreign language except
Hebrew and the classics. Hence, although his religious reforms
embraced all nations, his educational system was much less cos-
mopolitan. The educational system of Andreae, just as faithful and
tried a Christian, is broader and considers the world. In questions
of incentives, breadth of curricula, illustrative material, and like
matters, he is far beyond his predecessors, while " he is the first
who requires a regulated gymnasium" (Briigel, p. 174). It is
with reference to matters of this kind that Vogt (p. 166) says,
" Especially the elaborately developed pedagogical principles of
Andreae are entirely his incontestable property." It must be
added that many reforms existing merely " on paper " were
revived by him.

^ The Fama Fraternitatis, one of the so-called " Rosenkreutzer-
schriften " of Andreae, is briefly outlined later (p. 72). The
volume was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and soon ap-
peared (Maack: Geheime Wissenschaften, Intro., xxxvii) in sev-
eral languages: Latin, 1614; Dutch, 1615; FVench, 1616; Italian,
1617; English, 1652. As will be shown in the course of the fol-
lowing pages, Bacon and other English scientific investigators may
easily have had access to the Latin or the French edition. For
references to the Fama, see pp. 39, 54, 59, 72, 119, 120, 121.

12 Christianopolis

tion in his own day, and make them effective even to the
present time and v^orthy of closer attention. His life and
activity may be briefly outlined as follows : ^

Johann Valentin Andreae was born on the seventeenth
of August 1586, the son of Johann Andreae, Dekan at
Herrenberg and later Abt von Konigsbronn. After his
father's death (Valentin was fifteen years old) the boy, ac-
companied by his mother, whose quiet, religious temperament
left an indelible stamp upon his life, moved to Tiibingen,
where he spent six years at the university. These years
were of the greatest importance to him. He perfected him-
self in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; French, Spanish, Italian,
and English. He also read widely in contemporary history
and literature, and he became well acquainted with Eras-
mus, Lipsius, Scaliger, Heinsius, and De Thou — the library
of Christopher Besold being at his disposal at this time.
Not the least of his interests was the study of mathematics
under Mastlin, the teacher of Kepler. In 161 4 Andreae
published a series of lectures. Collectanea Mathematica,^
and in several of his later educational writings, mathematics
play an important part. He kept up a correspondence with
Kepler till the latter's death.

Not completing his work at Tubingen, Andreae spent
seven years in travel. During these years, supporting him-
self to a considerable extent by private tutoring, he visited
Strassburg, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and several towns in
Switzerland. His stay in this country seems to have im-
pressed him strongly. Andreae makes especial reference
in his autobiography to the social conditions in Geneva ; but

^ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie; Realensyklopddie f. Pro-
testantische Theologie u. Kirche; Andreae und sein Zeitalter, W.
Hossbach; Andreae's Vita.

^ Discussed at length by Carl Hiillemann : Valentin Andreae als
P'ddagog, I. Teil.

Introduction 13

he could not tolerate the Calvinistic teachings. " If differ-
ences in religion {religionis dissonantia) had not restrained
me, the harmonious unity of their customs and morals {con-
sonantia morum) would have bound me to the place for-
ever." ^ And so he continued his wanderings, this time
through France, Austria, and Italy. At last (1614) he ob-
tained a position as Diakonus in Vaihingen, which he
retained until 1620. Though full of trials and calamities,
these years were among the most productive of his life.
Some of his best works fall within or just before this period,
as, for example, his Theophilus, which was composed during
this time, though not published until 1649. He was outlin-
ing the theories which he put into practice during the last
half of his life.

Next he was called to Calw on the Nagold, as Dekan and
Spezialsuperintendent. Here he tried to establish a social
system such as had existed in his imagination since his visit
to Switzerland. He made his own congregation the starting
point of his activities, and the children his material. Thence
his efforts spread to the working classes in the city, whether
in his church or not. He founded a mutual protective asso-
ciation among the workmen in the cloth-factories and dye-
works, and supported it from the voluntary subscriptions of
his parishioners and friends. The organization exists to-
day in flourishing condition and .is well endowed. At the
time of the sack of Calw by Johann von Werth's troops in
1634, and again four years later, Andreae lost heavily — not
only in money and property, but especially from the destruc-
tion of his private collection of valuable manuscripts, paint-
ings, and other works of art. The year following the last
raid, Andreae accepted the urgent invitation of Duke Eber-
hardt HI and became Hofprediger and Consistorial-Rat
at Stuttgart. All Wiirtemberg was in a state of absolute
* Vita, p. 24.

14 Christianopolis

devastation. His task was to reestablish the Tiibinger Stift
and the Gymnasium at Stuttgart, as well as to fill the many
vacant pulpits with worthy men, and to provide for the
support of the latter. His personal income was exceedingly
scant; and it was only through the encouragement and
material assistance of Duke August von Braunschweig-
Liineberg that Andreae could support his family and the
numerous refugees who always found a welcome in his
home. After 1650 he withdrew to the Abtei von Beben-
hausen, and four years later to that of Adelburg, where he
died June the twenty-seventh of the same year.

The works of Andreae to be especially considered are
mentioned in the bibliography; of these the Descriptio
and the Fama Fraternitatis are of greatest importance for
the present purpose. The commentators whose opinions
will be discussed in the following chapter are W. Hossbach/
Robert von Mohl,^ G. E. Guhrauer,^ Christoph Sigwart,*
Carl Hiillemann,^ J. P. Glockler,® Schlaraifia Politica,'^ W.
Gussmann,^ Andreas Voigt,^ Joseph Prys/^ J. Briigel/^ and
C. Vogt.^2 Qf these the earlier ones take up the subject
from a philosophical-religious point of view; while those

^ Andreae und sein Zeitalter.

'Die Staatsromane, in Geschichte u. Literatur d. Staatswissen-
schaften, I, p. 165.

® Der Erste Deutsche Staatsroman.

^ Kleine Schriften, Freiburg i/B und Tiibingen.

® Valentin Andreae als P'ddagog, I, II.

^ Johann Valentin Andreae: ein Lebensbild, Stuttgart, 1886.

' Anonymous : Geschichte der Dichtungen vom besten Staate,
Leipzig, 1892.

^ Reipublicae Christianop. Desc, in der ZkWL, Jahrg. 1886, pp.
326 ff., Leipzig, 1886.

^ Die Sodalen Utopien, Leipzig, 1906.

^^ Der Staatsroman des 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts u. sein Erziehungs-
ideal, Wiirzburg, 1913.

^^ Schmidt : Geschichte der Erziehung.

^^ Euphorion, 1910, pp. 38-48.

Introduction 15

which come in the latter part of the nineteenth century or
later, that is, since the rise and rapid development of the
principles of socialism and communism, have for their evi-
dent aim the lessons of common ownership and socialistic
reform. To a considerable extent the prejudiced and er-
roneously formed conclusion of Mohl ^ as to the relation of
the Christiano polls to earlier Utopias, and the comments in
SchlaraMa and of Sigwart have been taken over literally or
in slightly modified form by most of the later writers on
the subject. The number of arguments that have to be
dealt with is, therefore, limited.

It is the purpose of this investigation to prove i) That
the Christiano polls is not a copy or direct imitation of
earlier Utopias, but an independent and original production.
2) That a close comparison of the Christiano polls with
Francis Bacon's New Atlantis shows some striking simi-
larities in form and content ; and that external circumstances,
also, make a knowledge of the Christiano polls on the part
of Bacon extremely probable. 3) That Nova Solyma, a
Utopia appearing anonymously in 1648, attributed (1902)
by the Rev. Walter Begley to John Milton, but since known
to be the work of Samuel Gott, shows direct influence of the
Christiano polls. And 4) that the principles of a general
reformation in education and the plan of a " college " as
outlined in the Christiano polls and other works of Andreae,
were an important factor through J. A. Comenius, Samuel
Hartlib, John Dury, and their associates, in the founding of
the Royal Society of London.

* Mohl came upon the German translation of the Christian op oils
first, and not knowing the original, considered it a production of
the eighteenth century — " the work of some pietist." Having once
expressed an unfavorable opinion on the work, he did not see fit
to withdraw the same even after Guhrauer discovered the real
author.

CHAPTER II

MORE'S UTOPIA, CAMPANELLA'S CIVITAS
SOUS, AND THE CHRISTIANOPOLIS

Of the commentators mentioned in the introduction Carl
Hiillemann ^ does not think that Gussmann and Briigel lay
sufficient emphasis upon the influence of More's Utopia
upon the Christiano polls. He cites a number of passages
showing similarities between the two, chiefly in external
matters such as the description of the town, houses, gar-
dens, and so forth, and in a few details of daily customs
and habits. He also shows that in some cases both authors
used the same vocabulary in dealing with similar subjects.
From this he draws the conclusion, " We see then that the
Descriptio is only in part an imitation of More's Utopia, but
for the rest a remodeling." ^ The author of Schlaraffia
Politica would make More the *' father of all modern
Utopias " and continues, '' For practically all sketches of
ideal states, which have been written up to the present time,
seem to be direct copies (Abklatsch) of the work of More." ®

Robert von Mohl,* on the other hand, sees in the
Descriptio only a recasting of Campanella's Civitas Solis.
He admits that the contrast between real life in state and
society, and a life based upon an exclusively religious-moral
philosophy, would be an excellent motive for a work such as

* Valentin Andreae als Pddagog, II. Teil.
' P. 7.

' P. 43.

* Geschichte und Literatur der Staatswissenschaft, Bd. I, S.
187 ff.

16

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 17

(he insists) Andreae tried to compose. But he denies the
latter's poetic and imaginative ability to do so. *' Unfortu-
nately the good Diakonus of Wiirtemberg did not know how-
to handle the thought cleverly and with inspiration (Geist).
He believed he had done enough when he had substituted
pious reflection for the dissoluteness of the Calabrian, and
the prosaic reality of an orthodox Protestant country for
offensive institutions and the artificially-composed religions
of the same. His imagination was not lively enough to
embody his teaching in living forms. Excepting the fact
that he introduces prayer meetings and the like into his
Christianopolis, and that he quietly restores the order of
marriage and family into Christian society, he depends al-
most slavishly upon the Civitas Solis/' Mohl then cites a
few points of similarity between the Christianopolis and
the Civitas Solis — plan of the city and forms of govern-
ment— and closes triumphantly with the argument, *' At
any rate, Andreae's version (Oberarbeitnng) of the Civitas
Solis is a book very little known; while the original is still
being republished and translated." ^

Christoph Sigwart, careful and reliable as his criticism
usually is, judges the Christianopolis harshly and, it must
be added, very incorrectly when he says : " Inasmuch as
temporal welfare and the abundance of material goods
which serve its ends, not only have no value in themselves
but are even dangerous to piety, every inner impulse to
penetrate into the material activity of work is wanting; for
where knowledge of the world is foolishness, and to know
and love Christ the essence of all wisdom, a noble desire to

* A revival of interest in the Christianopolis in the eighteenth
century is evident from the German translation appearing in 1741,
and again in 1754; and Herder saw in Andreae a prophet whose
influence would be a blessing to any age.

1 8 Christianopolis

rule all nature wisely and aggressively must be lacking." ^
It is hoped that the falseness of this implication will be
made clear in the succeeding pages. Sigwart, like Mohl,
considers the Civitas Solis a pattern for the Christianopolis.
" Andreae was given incentive to write an imitation of the
Civitas Solis, setting up in his De scrip tio an ideal state on
the principles of his Protestant-pious philosophy of life." ^

Andreas Voigt ^ likewise finds in the Christianopolis only
an adaptation of Campanella's Catholic notions to the
Protestant Church, and furthermore considers the work of
only second-rate importance. " In all exterior matters," he
says, '' especially in the form of the city, his (Andreae's)
Utopia coincides with Campanella's. The inner differences
are to be designated throughout as weaknesses and modera-
tions, and besides, are based upon Andreae's stricter ad-
herence to the doctrines of his church."

Joseph Prys * also insists that in important questions, as
in the pansophic character of intellectual education, the
depreciation of the languages, emphasis upon teaching by
observation of pictures, and so forth, Andreae coincides
with Campanella. " The supposition (that is, of borrow-
ing) becomes a certainty," he adds, '' when we remember
that Andreae knew the Civitas Solis in manuscript form,
and that it was first of all through this fact that he was
given the incentive to write his prosaic Descriptio." Ex-
ception will have to be taken also to the following : " Com-
mon to both Utopias is a certain utilitarian tendency in
their pedagogy. In the final analysis, education serves in
both for the advancement and strengthening of the con-

^ Kleine Schriften von Christ oph Sigwart, I, p. 175.
^ Kleine Schriften von Christ oph Sigwart, p. 174.
^ Die Sosialen Utopien, pp. 73 ff.

^ Der Staatsroman des 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts, p. 114, and p. 32
of this chapter.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 19

trolling idea of government." ^ Reference will be made to
this later.

Carl Vogt, in his discussion of Johann Balthasar Schupp,
devotes a number of pages,- to the relation of the Chris-
tianopolis to other Utopias. His point of view seems
clearest and perhaps least prejudiced of all commentators on
this subject excepting, possibly, Briigel in his short but ex-
cellent paragraph. He finds similarities in Civitas Solis and
the Christianopolis as also in Plato, More, and Campanella,
which he attributes more to the time or likeness in subject-
matter than to literary dependence. He also grants that
there are some features in the Nezv Atlantis which resem-
ble the Christianopolis, although he is not willing to con-
cede ^ evidence of any influence of Andreae upon Bacon.
He sees a closer connection, for instance, between the New
Atlantis and More's Utopia; but the passages* he cites in
defense of his point of view are not convincing. Neither
is his criticism of Kleinwachter's opinion ^ sufficiently
defended. Furthermore, in his argument opposing the
theory of an influence of Christianopolis upon New Atlantis,
he seems to misinterpret a passage in Christianopolis.^
The passage in the examination does not read as he
would have it, " Are you a member of the Rosicrucians ? ",
but the government of Christianopolis must be constantly on
guard not to admit into the city " beggars, jugglers . . .
and impostors who falsely say they are Rosicrusians "
(. . . impostoribus, qui se Roseae Crucis Fratres men-
tirentur"),

* Der Staatsroman dcs 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts, p. 115.
^ Euphorion, XVII, pp. 38-48.

^ The statement that Bacon was influenced by Christianopolis is
merely made without proof {Rcalcnzyklopddic f. Prat. Theol. u. K.,
3. Aufl., Bd. I, S. 507).

* Euphorion, XVII, pp. 42, 43. ^ P. 38. ' Chap. iv.

20 Christianopolis

Now, it is hardly reasonable that the Descriptio should be
an " exact copy " of both More and Campanella, espe-
cially as the productions of these two differ in many re-
spects from each other. On fhe contrary it is not very
difficult to show that this statement is true in neither case.
To offset the likenesses in detail, one might also suggest a
number of radical differences in detail. More's island is
crescent-shaped; Caphar Salama is triangular. The dimen-
sions of the former are two hundred by five hundred miles ;
the circumference of the latter but thirty thousand paces.
Utopia includes fifty-four cities; Caphar Salama only
one. The cities of Utopia are one-man governments at
whose head stands a prince; the government of Chris-
tianopolis is a triumvirate, this being considered safer and
more fair. Common tables are the custom in the Utopia.
In the Descriptio each family eats alone, to avoid confusion
and waste of time. The Utopia has an elaborate system of
slavery; in the Christianopolis all citizens are free. In the
Utopia the dead are burned; in the Descriptio they are
buried. Though we read that " they detest war as a brutal
thing," ^ the Utopia lays great emphasis upon preparations
and methods of conducting it, devoting, in fact, one-tenth of
the whole work thereto ; yet it passes over education in a
few words. In the Descriptio, war is hardly mentioned,
while education of the youth and scientific research per-
meate almost every chapter. The religion of the one is a
confused mixture ; the other is a Christian state. And the
ethical standards throughout, hardly admit of comparison.

Campanella gives no description of the island on which
his Civitas Solis lies. His Genoese sea-captain " is com-
pelled to go ashore " and, on emerging from a wood, " finds
himself on a large plain." His city is circular and built on
* More's Utopia, p. 75.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 21

the slope of a hill. Seven concentric walls give repeated
means of defense against an enemy. One ruler has supreme
authority, temporal and spiritual, over all. He settles all
disputes. Boys learn the sciences from magistrates by ob-
serving pictures, " without toil and as if for pleasure."
Marriage and love are based on the principle of advantage
to the state, not to the individual. The Utopia and Civitas
Solis are in dialogue form; the Descriptio is a letter, in
which the writer tells his own personal experiences.
Such teachings and practices as, respect toward one's
elders, hospitality to strangers and travelers, simplicity in
dress and manners of life, moderation in all things,
and so forth, — these are very naturally common to all
Utopias.

That Andreae knew both More and Campanella is cer-
tain. He mentions the former in his introduction to the
Descriptio. In 1619 he translated several of Campanella's
sonnets ; ^ and speaks of him as " the talented, untiring,
heroic champion against the heathen Aristotle " ^ and
against all hypocrites, sophists, and tyrants.^ With the
manuscript of the Civitas, Andreae became acquainted in

* Sigwart, p. 174.

^ Gussmann, p. 437.

' Campanella in a poem, probably one of those translated by
Andreae, speaks of himself as " born to fight Tyranny, Sophistry,
and Hypocrisy." In his Die Christenburg (see Griineisen in Zeit-
schrift fi'ir die historische Theologie, VI, pp. 239, 246, 257), An-
dreae introduces the three chief generals of the enemy as Tyrannus,
Hypocrita, and Sophista. The composition of this epic poem ante-
dates Andreae's translation of Campanella's sonnets several years.
In the introduction of the Christianopolis (p. 11, p. 136 in the ap-
pended translation) he speaks of hypocrisy as having usurped the
place of religion, tyranny that of government, and sophistry that
of letters. And it is to escape the dominion of these three that
the hero in the Christianopolis undertakes his journey (chap. i).

22 Christianopolis

1619 through his friend Tobias Adami, who, being Cam-
panella's editor, was at that time having the manuscript
printed in Germany as a part of Philosophia Realis}

But the chief differences between the v/orks of More and
Campanella as compared with Andreae, are not to be super-
ficially sought in such external characteristics as those men-
tioned above. The plan and conception of the three seem to
be essentially different. .

More was closely in touch with political conditions in
England and on the Continent. Political reform and his
favorite principle of communism are the nucleus of his
Utopia, and in direct connection with this principle is the
problem of the source of supply for the necessities of life.
Hence More makes agriculture the chief occupation, and
states that while there are various trades and crafts, agri-
culture is known to all; and all have training therein, in
school and in the fields.

The Utopia is written in two books, the first of which
consists of a discussion carried on by three persons, as to
what constitutes the best form of government, and what
practices are undesirable. Two abuses are especially cen-
sured— exorbitant taxes intended to swell the coffers of
wasteful monarchs, and monopoly of land and property
granted to privileged classes. So there are rehearsed the
various methods of collecting money from the general pub-
lic— methods common in England in More's own time. And
the Genoese captain is quoted as saying, " To speak my
real sentiments plainly, I must freely own that as long as
there is any property, and while money is the standard of
all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be gov-
erned either justly or happily." ^ This leads directly to a

^ Dr. Emanuel Wessely: Der Sonnenstaat, Introduction, vi.
' P. 30.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 23

description of the government of Utopia, where " people
are governed better than anywhere else." And at the
close, as a summary of the whole, four pages are devoted
to a rehearsal of the reasons for the happiness of the
Utopians, the trend of which is the following : " Thus I
have described to you, as particularly as I could, the con-
stitution of that commonwealth, which is the only com-
monwealth deserving the name. In all other places it is
noticeable that while people talk of common wealth, every-
one seeks his own wealth. But in Utopia there is no un-
equal distribution ; and though no man has anything, yet
they are all rich." ^ It is not difficult to see the chief point
in More's mind.

Just what is the model for the Civitas is not very clear.
Of the various interpretations, Gussmann agrees with Sudre
when the latter says: ''The monastery is the model for
his (Campanella's) social organization. The priestly power
and the church hierarchy are the foundation for the gov-
ernment of his new society. The sun-cities are groups of
cloisters in which men and women live under a strict sys-
tem of government." -

It must be admitted that parallels are not wanting. The
head authority (Metaphysicus), as has been said, the judge
in matters of both church and state, represents the pope,
he with his three subordinate rulers appointing the rest.
While political freedom and religious toleration are re-
peatedly mentioned, both are restricted by law and custom.
Occasionally one even finds a phrase or sentence which
smacks decidedly of the cloister — as when describing the
common dining-room, " On one side sit the women and

' P. 95.

* W. Gussmann : Reipuhlicae Christian opolitanae Descriptio, in
der ZkWL, Jahrg. 1886, p. 439-

24 Christianopolis

on the other the men; and, as in the refectories of the
monks, there is no noise." ^

As in the Utopia, common ownership of property is an
important feature. But carrying the point to a greater
extreme, Campanella would make women part of the
'' Gemeingut " of the state. And his point of view is very
clear. In the Civitas the individual exists for the state, not
the state for its citizens. Hence, that the state may "be of a
high standard physically and intellectually, that it may be
able to defend itself against possible attack, that the race
may continue to be powerful, he has those in authority mate
men and women, even as cattle are bred, considering only
physical and temperamental characteristics, and thus assur-
ing a stalwart offspring; for sexual love, as we have it be-
tween husband and wife, is not known. Should a man and
a woman be inspired with a natural feeling of love, " it is
permitted them to converse, joke, crown each other with
wreaths and garlands, and even to write verses in one
another's honor." But in general " they know in their love
nothing other than feelings of friendliness." ^

While at the Dominican monastery of Stilo, Cam-
panella— then about seventeen years of age — met an old
rabbi to whom he felt strangely attracted. During the week
they spent together, Campanella was instructed in the mys-
teries of the occult sciences — alchemy, astrology, and magic.
Of these astrology exerts the strongest influence in the
Civitas of Campanella. On the walls of the temple,
representations of the stars are to be seen; and verses de-
scribing their size, courses, and secret influences are added.^
Another set of verses explains the homes of trees and
plants, their chief characteristics and their relation to the
stars. Trees are planted by the gardeners, cattle are bred

^ Sonnenstaat, p. 22. ' P. 30. ^ P. 10.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 25

by their care-takers/ — even men and women are allowed
to mate, only when certain heavenly bodies are in conjunc-
tion. Inventions and scientific discoveries are made,^
calamities are averted,^ — in fact '' we do all things under
the influence of the heavens." * As More's Utopia closes
with a lengthy summary, which is to a great extent an
elaboration of the principles of communism, so the closing
pages of the Civitas are a tribute to the accomplishments of
astrology — beginning with an exclamation on the part of
the sea-captain, *' O, if you but knew what they have learned
from astrology . . . ! "

The question is raised by Voigt ^ whether the Descriptio
is to be considered at all seriously, or whether Andreae
intended that it should be taken in a purely allegorical
sense. In support of the latter hypothesis, Voigt quotes a
fable of Andreae's in which Truth, wandering about
nakedly, and complaining of ill-treatment at the hands of
those whom she would like to assist, is given this advice
by Aesop : " Clothe your form in fable and fairy-tale, and
you will be able to do your duty by God and man." ^ Voigt
continues :'" If Andreae was here thinking of his Descriptio,
then we cannot class the latter with those Utopias which
were intended to represent a practical execution of an
ideal; but we must rather look upon it as a mere poetic
expression of his wishes."

Andreae learned early that the safest and most certain
way to fix an argument and to secure the acceptance of
a doctrine, is to give it a touch of poetic fancy. In com-
menting on this characteristic. Herder says : " All that
Andreae writes takes the form of the fable — the expression
in clever garb (Einkleidung) ; he speaks truths to which

^P. 45. 'P. 67. 'P. 70. *P. 68.

" Die Sozialen Utopien, p. 75.

• Andreae : Apologorum Christianorum Manip., VI, No. 29.

26 Christianopolis

we hardly venture to give utterance now, after a hundred
years' advancement. He speaks them with as much love
and honesty, as brevity and sagacity; so that even yet he
stands new and fresh in this quarreling, heretical century,
and blooms in delicate fragrance like a rose among thorns/' ^
We need only refer to the Fama Fraternitatis, the Con-
fessio, Die Christenburg, or the Chymische Hochzeit. Is
this sufficient reason for concluding that Andreae was not
serious, nor hoped to outline a plan according to which a real
social community and city government could exist ? Or shall
we think that Bacon was not in earnest with his Utopia, when
he called it " The Fable of the New Atlantis " ? In ex-
plaining his purpose in the use of satire in the Menippus,
Andreae says : " I call upon God to witness that I have not
persecuted anyone, nor made sport at the expense of an-
other, wantonly; but the cause of Christianity lay near my
heart, and I desired to advance that cause by all means.
As I could not do this directly, I tried a roundabout method
— not, as it seemed to some, for the love of satire as many
pious people do; but that I might accomplish something by
means of jest and biting wit, and inspire love for Chris-
tianity." ^ Shall we regard More less seriously because his
Utopia is an ill-concealed satire on the conditions existing
in his own country? This view would seem to be just as
unwarranted as that of Mohl when he, going quite to the
other extreme, accuses Andreae of a substitution of the
'' prosaic realities of an orthodox-protestant country " for
Campanella's more imaginative efforts, and denies a suffi-
cient tact and spirit (Geist) on Andreae's part to handle
the subject.^ As a matter of fact, the two decades he spent

^Glockler: Johann Valentin Andreae: ein Lehenshild, p. 42.
(Quotation adapted from Herder, XVI, pp. 591 ff., and Teutscher
Merkur, March, 1782.) "" Vita, p. 46.

* Geschichte u. Literatur d. Staatswissenschaft, p. 188.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 27

at Calw as Dekan and Spezialsuperintendent, represented a
continuous effort, in spite of the most discouraging condi-
tions, to put into execution the ideals which he had long
cherished and which he had stated in his Utopia. His efforts
were not successful. The Thirty Years' War sapped the
life and strength of the community, but his perseverance
and his renewed efforts, after each interference, to realize
the very principles taught in the Descriptio, give evidence
of the place the latter held in his own opinion. There is
reason to believe that More, Campanella, and Bacon, as well
as Andreae, looked upon their respective Utopias as the em-
bodiment of the teachings they desired to give to the world.
In his autobiography ^ Andreae gives the following very
interesting and suggestive description of the impression
made upon him by conditions at Geneva — which city he
visited on his journey of 1610. " When I was in Geneva, I
made a notable discovery, the remembrance of which and
longing for which will die only with my life. Not alone
is there in existence an absolutely free commonwealth,
but as an especial object of pride (ornamentum) a censor-
ship of morals (disciplina) in accordance with which in-
vestigations are made each week into the morals and even
into the slightest transgressions of the citizens — first by the
supervisors of the wards, then by the aldermen, and finally
by the magistrate, according as the case demands. As a re-
sult, all cursing, gambling, luxury, quarreling, hatred, con-
ceit, deceit, extravagance, and the like, to say nothing of
greater sins, are prevented. What a glorious adornment —
such purity of morals — for the Christian religion ! With
our bitterest tears we must lament that this is lacking and
almost entirely neglected with us ; and all right-minded men
must exert themselves to see that such is called back to
^ Vita, p. 24.

28 Christianopolis

life." One cannot help feeling that this " ideal state " of
affairs — as it seemed to him — was the germ which gave in-
centive to his efforts of succeeding years. And there can
be little doubt that his ideas of a Utopia date from this
time, especially as his De scrip tio paints just such a pic-
ture of moral purity as here described.

The introduction of the Christianopolis is by no means
its least interesting or suggestive division. Andreae sees
two classes of persons in the world, one class composed of
those who constantly admire and defend conditions as they
exist; the other, of those who bear patiently the burdens
which are heaped upon them, but who continually sigh for
an improvement of society. The one in its misguided zeal
keeps stirring up trouble and confusion, but accomplishes
nothing ; the other by sense and modesty acts as a conserva-
tive balance. Some have thought that God purposely permits
the one class to be covered by mental darkness, that those
who see the light from above may, when matters arrive at
too evil a stage, overturn the corrupt system. And this is
actually what was done by Dr. Luther, when his pleadings
for reform were not heeded. In the meantime another dark-
ness has fallen upon Christians; the success of the former
reformation is not complete. There is need of another
" general reformation " which shall accomplish what was
missed before. The Devil is trying to persuade even Chris-
tians that no further efforts are necessary. But greed, ex-
travagance, envy, laziness, and a whole catalogue of sins
have again crept into the lives of men. Some still retain
the light of the new religion, a proper conception of learn-
ing and art, of the rules of daily life ; ^ but these are sur-
rounded by tyrants, sophists, and hypocrites. Recently

* Andreae mentions several of these reformers, and includes
Johann Arndt, to whom he dedicates the book.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 29

when a so-called " Bruderschaft " ^ was suggested, whose
teachings were exactly the reform the world needs, — what a
disturbance was created among those who feared the over-
throw of their power, and an abolishment of their deceitful
performances, juggleries, and sophistries. And when it was
discovered that the " Fraternitas " was secret and could not
include the world in general, and when people became con-
fused as to its real meaning, then one praiseworthy man
called out, " Why do we wait for the coming of such a
fraternity? Let us rather make a trial ourselves of that
which seems good to us." Whereupon Andreae suggests
the possibility of persons forming together a community
where the principles of right living and freedom may be
practiced, unhampered by the enemy. " An example of
this rest and safety " is to be found in the lives of the
inhabitants of Christianopolis now to be described, —
not merely as they ought to be, but as they actually live.
No one is compelled to come to this place ; but all who desire
to do so, if found to be of proper character, are welcome.
This invitation is repeated at the close of the work when
the pilgrim returns to his native land, and at parting from
the inhabitants of the island, asks permission to return and
bring along his friends.

A beautiful opening chapter, which probably is partly
responsible for the opinions of some, that the Christianopolis
is a mere allegory, introduces the hero, a stranger in the
realm of the authorities of tyranny, false art, and hypocrisy,
as about to set out anew upon the ''Mare Academicum '* in
search of enlightenment and a peaceful abode. The weather,
fair and favorable at first, soon begins to darken; and the
ship, '' Phantasia," is beaten about by the storms of envy

^ Andreae refers to the so-called Rosicrucian brotherhood.

30 Christianopolis

and slander, driven into the sea of darkness, and finally
wrecked.

Caphar Salama ^ is the island upon which one of the sur-
vivors of the wreck is thrown. Before he can be taken up
into the city, he is subjected to a close examination ^ by
each of three officials. This is an entirely new feature in
Utopias, and serves among other things to give the im-
pression of a more complete and finished production. Later
Utopias make use of and expand this point. The first ex-
amination is preliminary, and a satisfactory conclusion of
the same is necessary before the visitor may be fed or
refreshed. This is a guard against the admittance of tramps
and professional beggars. The second examiner^ is with-
out peer in shrewdness and abilityto read character. It is
his duty to obtain information regarding the stranger's
family, history, manner of life, health, and so forth. He
makes no pretensions toward learning, but leaves this field
to the third.* This examination proves to be the most
embarrassing of all. The visitor, though by self-confession
a scholar, finds himself irretrievably beyond his depths in
the discussions of language, art, science, investigation,
natural history, as also in that of charity, church, and the-

* The name is that of a village in Palestine noted on account of
the battle in which Judas Maccabaeus conquered Nicanor (Wahl:
Clavis Librorum Vet. Test. Apochrif. Philol., Lips, 1853, p. 497).
Reference to the battle is found in Macca., I, pp. 7, 31. O. Kemper
{Der Inselname Capharsalama in J. V. Andreae's Schrift, Christian-
opolis, M. C. G., VIII, p. 186) has traced the history and interpreted
the meaning of this term. He defines the Hebrew words respectively
as " place," " spot," or " village," and " salvation " or " peace," and
the combination as " Friedensdorf ," or "village of peace." This,
with the term " Hierosolyma " (Jerusalem, Friedensstadt), which
Andreae uses in the introduction to Christianopolis, referring to his
" minuta colonia," and again in his Vita, pp. 258, 278, is entirely
in keeping with the purpose of his Utopia as expressed therein.

"" Chap. iv. ^ Chap. v. * Chap. vi.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis' 31

ology. He is now given an escort of three men who accom-
pany him upon a tour of inspection and instruct him in
all matters. An examination into the facts thus obtained
and an analysis of material used will help give an idea of
Andreae's conception of an ideal state, and will be a second
proof of the comparative lack of dependence, in essentials,
upon More and Campanella.

The most important and the most oft-recurring theme in
the Christianopolis is that of education and training of the
youth, and it is this which contains most of Andreae's
personality. The teaching profession ^ is highly honored,
and rightly. For instructors are not chosen from the lower
classes — men who have not the ability to be useful in other
lines, and who are therefore willing to teach for little pay —
but they are selected on account of being remarkable for
character and information. The teachers are of reason-
able age, clean in life, upright, industrious, and gentlemen in
every way. They are equipped with skill, shrewdness, and
sense, and the ability to apply these virtues. For the citi-
zens of Christianopolis realize that to intrust their sons and
daughters to worthless or careless instruction, is to ruin
the individual and the state as well. " For certain it is that
no ones serves youth well except he likewise be able to care
for the state ; and he who proves himself of value to youth,
has already benefited the state." Boys and girls are sent
to the boarding school at six years of age. Parents do not
hesitate to send their children from home, for they have the
best possible care and attention. Education is threefold:
worship of God with a pure soul, practice of a moral life,
intellectual development. Boys recite in the morning, girls
in the afternoon. The other half of the day is spent in
mechanical occupation and household science and art.

* Chap. Hi.

32 Christianopolis

Their physical training consists of running, wrestling, rid-
ing, fencing, throwing, and the like.

Intermediate education ^ is given in institutions of fine
arts, classed as schools of grammar, rhetoric, and languages.
Foreign — modern and ancient — languages are studied and
learned much more rapidly than in other countries. The
chief object is not so much the attainment of learning as a
means of boastfulness, but the ability to hold intercourse
with other peoples, '' both the living and the dead." This is
a chapter out of Andreae's life. With all his study of sci-
ence, mathematics, and theology at Tubingen, he was deeply
interested in foreign languages, ancient and modern; so
that before he was out of university, he was master of seven
or eight. He gives as one object of his trip through France
in 1610, the chance it would give to perfect himself in
French. Prys is hardly justified ^ in comparing the Chris-
tianopolis with Civitas Solis on the basis of lack of apprecia-
tion of the value of languages. On the contrary, in An-
dreae's state it is required that all pupils perfect themselves
in languages, as has already been seen. However, it is
considered a serious mistake to neglect the mother tongue.
For in this a student will express himself most naturally,
and natural development of the mind and soul are especially
to be desired. In rhetoric and oratory the same argument
carries weight. While eloquent speakers and forceful writ-
ers are trained, mere polish and beauty of address are
scorned.

Advanced studies are pursued in seven other auditoria
or lecture halls. Dialectics, metaphysics, and theosophy may
be studied in the second. The practical application of a
good method is the aim of dialectics. Observation of the
True, the Good, and the Beautiful, of unity and harmony, is

^ Chaps. Iv, Ivi, Ivii. ^ Der Staatsroman, p. 114.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 33

the essence of metaphysics. Theosophy is the highest form
of this group. '' Where nature ends, theosophy begins ; it is
the last resort, the finding in God what cannot be obtained
by physical experiment." And only a few, comparatively,
attain this. What fools men are who try to prove through
Aristotle what God alone can fathom! Here Andreae
proves that he is neither a sophist nor an unreasoning be-
liever in astrology or alchemy. His philosophy of life is
suggested in a number of instances throughout this and
other works : Gain all possible information by sensible and
reliable experiment and investigation; but thereafter leave
the impossible, and accept nature and God.

The third auditorium is that of mathematics. Arithmetic,
algebra, geometry, surveying, and mystic numbers are im-
portant as affording good mental training and also for
their practical use when applied to the experiences of every-
day life. Under the term *' secret and mystic numbers "
are not meant the cabalistic and deceiving combinations of
jugglers, but rather the proportions of higher mathematics,
then but dimly understood. " Harmony," *' symmetry,"
" measurements of calculation " are favorite terms with An-
dreae to suggest the divine plan of the universe. He dis-
tinctly states here and elsewhere that faith in God, and not
in superhuman endeavor, must be the test of our efforts.
'' Into these matters which seem to give forth such bril-
liant light let us not pry, unless the light of Christ leads
the way and calls us into the sealed secret." ^

Music 2 is treated scientifically and artistically. This is
the fourth division. A knowledge of mathematics is an
essential requisite. Combination of tones — harmony — is
practiced, and produces almost unbelievable results. Musi-
cal instruments are manufactured and kept on hand — all pos-

* Chap. Ixiii. * Chaps. Ixiv, Ixv, Ixvi.

34 Christianopolis

sible kinds and of the finest quality. Hardly a citizen can
be found who does not play one or the other of them. The
voice is not neglected. But vocal music is restricted almost
entirely to sacred song. The chorus is splendid, and passes
singing through the streets of the city each week.

Astronomy and astrology are the departments of the
fifth auditorium, and these are treated in close relation-
ship to each other.^ It is of importance to observe the
heavens and the heavenly bodies; for man is directly de-
pendent upon them for light, heat, rain, and so forth.
He would be a fool, according to Andreae, who would
deny the practical use of such a science; but there is so
much difference of opinion and quarreling among sci-
entists as to the mystical effect of the planets upon human
beings, that the inhabitants of Christianopolis think it
safer to I'jck toward the spiritual heavens than upon the
visible, for prophetic information. One brief sentence will
serve to explain. '' Experience strengthens faith, but rea-
son is ever in doubt and confusion." Andreae is here en-
tirely consistent with his views as expressed in other writ-
ings and, though he lived in an age when the wisest were
strongly affected,^ is singularly free from contamination
with the extreme teachings of astrology and alchemy.

Natural history,^ secular and church history furnish the
subject-matter for the teachings of the sixth lecture hall.
'' It is needless to tell why they are so interested in natural
history, since the very necessity of the science demands it.
For through it we arrive at a general, as well as a specific,
exact knowledge of the world ; and investigate the move-
ments, characteristics, behavior, and passions of creatures;
what are the elements, form, measure, place, and time .of

* Chaps. Ixvii, Ixviii. ^ See page 121, footnote 2.

^ Chaps. Ixx, Ixxi, Ixxii.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 35

things; how the heavens are moved, the elements are
mixed, how things grow, what metals are useful. . . !*
Natural history accompanies the science of human his-
tory— the relation of the experiences of man.

Ethics, political science, and Christian humility are in
the seventh auditorium. Theology, gift of prophecy, and
sanctification are in the eighth. Three principles stand out
in the political and public life of Christianopolis : preserving
the peace, equality of citizens, and contempt for large pos-
sessions. The practice of these principles guards the state
and its citizens against the three greatest evils : war, slavery,
and corruption in public affairs. The school of prophecy
is intended not to teach the ability to prophesy, as has de-
ceived so many, but to observe the harmony and truth of the
prophetic spirit, as well as to be able to interpret the work-
ings of the holy spirit and recognize inspiration from above.

The library, the armory, and the college must yet be
mentioned as important features of the town.^ The two
former are in the central keep, and are opposite each other.
The one is a storehouse of learning. Ancient books, lost
to Europeans, are to be found here. Most of the citizens,
however, care for only a few reliable books (including, of
course, the Bible), and prefer to get knowledge directly
from the " book of nature." The armory might better be
called a museum. While cannon and guns are on hand in
great numbers and ready for use in case of need, they are
looked upon with horror, and the necessity for their useful-
ness is considered an invention of the Devil.

*' Now it were time that we should approach the very

center of the city, which you might well call its soul and

life, . . . Here religion, justice, and learning have their

abode, and theirs is the control of the city. They have elo-

^ Chaps, xxxviii, xxxix, xxvi.

36 Christianopolis

quence associated with them as their interpreter. Never
have I seen such an amount of human perfection collected
in one place, a fact which you will all acknowledge as
soon as you have heard the description." ^

The art of painting is very highly prized. Like Cam-
panella, Andreae has his city thoroughly fitted out with
paintings. Even the private rooms of the school children
are appropriately adorned. Furthermore, taking a decided
step forward, Andreae causes painting to be taught to the
youth as an auxiliary to his education. The pupils im-
prove their time with the brush, as one form of recreation,
while among us, time is wasted in cards, dice, and so
forth. To this, architectural drawing is added, and all neces-
sary instruments are supplied. It should be noted that in
the Civitas of Campanella the observation of pictures is the
education ; and it is distinctly stated that pupils learn " as in
play and without any effort on their part." ^ This is, in the
extreme, a dangerous method. Education, by means of
sugar-coated and predigested capsules of knowledge, is too
much the tendency in our own day. Andreae could give us
a wholesome warning. His young people, it is true, use
pictures for illustration, but they make their own illustrative
material, and learn by trial and experiment.^

The introduction of experimental investigation and in-
ductive teaching in Utopias, practically begins with An-
dreae; and this is the foundation of his chapters on science
and invention. Among these are descriptions of the labora-
tory,* the drug shop,^ anatomy,^ the theater of physics,'' the
study of nature,^ and medicine.^

* The college will be further discussed in succeeding chapters.

" Sonnenstaat, p. 13. ® Chap. xlvi.

^ Chap, xlviii. "^ Chap, xlvii.

* Chap. xliv. ^ Chap. Ixx.

' Chap. xlv. ® Chap. Ixxix,

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 37

Religion is the leaven of Caphar Salama, for its colony-
is a practical Christian city. There is no hypocrisy nor
compulsion. The inhabitants are here by choice, and live
voluntarily according to the principles of the Christian
religion. Freedom, the keynote of government, is also the
essence of the religious life. Religion has taken up her
abode here to escape persecution.^ Though Andreae's worst
experiences came later than 1619, persecution and the hor-
rors of a religious war were not unknown to this time.
And the name of his " place of refuge " already referred to,^
is typical of his own lifelong desire for a home of religious
peace and rest.

Two plates of bronze, one ^ giving at some length the
confession of faith, and the other * setting forth the aims
and rules of daily life, are publicly posted — not merely
that visitors may become acquainted with their creed, but
that the latter may be ever before the inhabitants. Herein
they pledge themselves to a pure, temperate, and active life,
subject only to the commands of Christ and His representa-
tives. As will be naturally supposed, prayer takes an im-
portant place — at the tables, in school, and in all meetings ; a
fact which gives occasion for Mohl's ironical remark already
referred to, namely, that Andreae merely adds " prayer
meetings," and for the rest, copies Campanella directly.

With such principles of education and religion, the gov-
ernment and social and family life of Christianopolis will
be readily understood. The officials are not feared but
respected. Their offices are performed in kindness and co-
operation. A direct influence of the government of Geneva
(as quoted above from Andreae's Vita) is found in the

* Chap. iii;pp. 58, 59 of the following chapter.

* See footnote i, p. 30 of this chapter.

' Chap, xxviii. * Chap. xxix.

38 Christianopolis

description of the office of chief judge.^ This individual
makes it his business, and it is also his pride, to guard
against the temptations that come to the citizens, and to
help them to resist the same. Lawsuits ^ do not occur, as
property rights are not involved. The jurists are teachers
of political science and Roman law. They are the official
scribes of the community. The senators ^ are truly old, wise
men. They study carefully the history of the past and look
ahead to plan and meet emergencies.

The family is the unit of social life. Chastity is the high-
est virtue, and transgressions are abhorred and punished.
Marriage is a sacred institution. There being no property
endowment, the emphasis is laid upon character and per-
sonal worth. Moderation in the relations between husband
and wife is practiced — there is such a thing as chastity even
in married life. " The crown of woman is motherhood, in
the discharge of which duty she takes precedence of all
heroes of the world." * If one compares the delicacy of
Andreae's chapters relating to woman, with the almost
bestial principles of the purely physical marriage in the
Civitas, an idea of the difference in ethical tone which per-
vades the two works will be obtained. It is not the liberal
and modern '' eugenic " view of Civitas Solis, readjusted to
the " prosaic monotony of an orthodox-protestant town," but
fundamental diflferences in the spiritual make-up of the two
men. Though nowhere as noticeable as in these chapters,
yet the difference of standards and fineness of feeling are
evident throughout.

If, in looking over the content of the Christianopolis, those
features are selected upon which Andreae lays most stress,
and which for him form the essential parts of an ideal state,
and condense them into groups, the following will appear:

^ Chap, xxxiii. ^ Chap. Ixxx. ^ Chap, xciii. * Chap. xc.

Utopia, Civitas Solis, and Christianopolis 39

education, science, and investigation ; religion, music, and
art; government and social connections. A comparison
of the above headings with the emphasized factors in the
Utopia and the Civitas Solis, and also the method of treat-
ment of these items, will show, i) that between the Chris-
tianopolis and the Utopia there is slight or partial agree-
ment only in some matters of social laws, government, and
religion, though even in these fields the differences are
greater than the likenesses; 2) that the Civitas lays em-
phasis upon objective methods of teaching, failure of the
Aristotelian method, scientific investigation of nature, mathe-
matics, and the value of painting. To say, however, as
several do who have been quoted, that this coincidence
necessarily means a copy, is absurd. For these principles
of education were a part of Andreae's system long before
he saw any of Campanella's manuscript. This will be evi-
dent from an inspection of the Fama and the Con-
fessio, which were in print respectively in 1614 and 1616,
and the former of which was circulated in manuscript form
as early as 1610. The introduction of the Fama contains
this prophecy: " The blessed dawn will soon appear, which,
after the passing of the gloomy night of moonshine or the
scanty glimmerings of the sparks of heavenly wisdom which
may still linger with men as presagers of the sunshine,
will usher in the pure day, with which all heavenly treasures
will become known. This will be the genuine carbuncle,
of which we have learned that it will give forth light in
darkness — a welcome medicine to take away all ills and
anxieties of men." Other parts of these earlier works will
be used on later occasions.^ Besides showing Andreae's
early interest in the " wisdom which should reveal all in-
visible things in the world-secret " (knowledge by experi-
^ See pp. 72, 119, 120, 121.

40 Christianopolis

mental investigation), this section is also important because
it shows that even in 1610 the philosopher's stone as such
was for him a myth and merely symbolical of enlighten-
ment.

In defense of the originality of the Descriptio (not con-
sidering minor likenesses in form and detail) it may then
be briefly stated :

i) Andreae's notion of a Utopia dates from his visit to
Geneva, and his seriousness in the matter of a realization of
such an ideal state is proved by his own personal efforts in
the communities in which he Hved.

2) The principles inculcated are not duplicated in preced-
ing Utopias — his conception of an ideal state is a new one;
and the system of education as outlined, a marked improve-
ment over all preceding, and, as far as Utopias are con-
cerned, is strictly his own.

3) In matters of science and education where the Chris-
tianopolis and the Civitas have important points in common,
there is no proof of copying, as the same principles are
found in Andreae's earlier works, especially the Fama,
which antedates the Civitas.

4) As a final argument it may be said with Gussmann, " It
would indeed speak but badly for Andreae's historical great-
ness, if his work, which fits so exactly into the frame of his
other writings, and which is so thoroughly filled with his
own peculiar soul (Geist), were nothing more than a dry
recasting, the trivial bowdlerization (Verballhornung) of
the work of another." ^

* W. Gussmann : Christianopolis, in der ZkWL, Jahrg. 1886, VII,
p. 438.

CHAPTER III

THE CHRISTIANOPOLIS AND FRANCIS BACON'S

NEW ATLANTIS

The story of the revolt against the AristoteHan method
of arriving at conclusions, is one too often discussed to re-
quire lengthy repetition. Suffice to say that many scientists
of the sixteenth century (among them especially Telesio
Bernardino in Italy) were restive under the restrictions of
the old system, and were striving, independently and in co-
operation, to pave the way for a new philosophy of nature.
Among those who fought most strongly against Aristotle
and his teaching as it had passed down from his day, and
one to whom the greatest credit has been given for over-
turning an old and instituting a new system of philosophy,
is Francis Bacon. It would seem that he early conceived
a dislike for Aristotle's system. If we can trust a statement
from Dr. Rawley, which the latter says Bacon made to him
in commenting upon his early student life. Bacon expressed
this dissatisfaction as early as his sixteenth year when a stu-
dent at Cambridge — namely, that at that time " he first fell
into a dislike of the philosophy of Aristotle, on account of
its unf ruitfulness ; it being a philosophy only strong for dis-
putations and contentions, but barren of the production of
works for the benefit of the life of man." ^

Bacon was born in 1560. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon,
had been Lord Keeper of the Royal Seal, to which office
Bacon also later attained. Francis Bacon entered Cam-

* Rawley's Life of Bacon, m Spedding, I, p. 4.
41

42 Christianopolis

bridge at twelve, and completed the regular course in
the liberal arts. Being destined by his father for service
to the state, he accompanied an embassy to France and
spent some tirne at Calais. At his father's death he re-
turned to England and studied law and political science,
which became his regular profession in life. It must be
added, however, that law as such was never his greatest
pleasure. In explanation of this fact a statement of his
own may serve. '' I possessed a passion for research, a
power of suspending fudgment with patience, of correcting
false impressions, of arranging my thoughts with scrupulous
pains. But my birth, my rearing, and education had all
pointed toward politics, not philosophy, and, as is not unfre-
quently the case with young men, I was sometimes shaken
in mind by other men's opinions. I also thought that my
duty toward my country had special claims upon me. Lastly
I conceived the hope, that, if I held some honorable office
in the state, I might thus secure helps and supports in my
labors, with a view toward the accomplishment of my des-
tined task. . . . With these motives I applied myself to
politics." ^ Under Elizabeth and later under James I,
Bacon made great advancement in his profession, and held
the highest offices in the government, until his disgrace and
removal from the chancellorship in 1621. But during this
time and especially during the five years of his life in re-
tirement, he seems to have spent all his spare moments and
to have devoted his best efforts (if we may judge from his
letters and works, and also from comments of Dr. Rawley,
his very intimate friend and the editor of his works) to
the breaking down of what remained of the old method of
Aristotle, and to the building up of a "new system" or

* Introduction to G. C. Moore Smith's edition, Bacon's New
Atlantis, p. 11.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 43

"new instrument" (organum). This was to free the in-
tellectual world from the fetters of pure logic and sophistry
and to open up unknown mines of truth and information —
a system which Bacon maintained was entirely his own and
which would cause a complete revolution in thought. Of his
many works, those which deal especially with the subject
before us are : The Advancement of Learning, published in
English in 1605, the Novum Organum in Latin in 1620 and
the De Augmentis, Latin, in 1623. The Novum Organum
or Instauratio Magna included the Advancement of Learn-
ing in revised and translated form. The Great Instaura-
tion also includes the Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History,
and to this was appended the New Atlantis when the former
was published for the first time by Rawley after Bacon's
death. The Sylva was the last thing that occupied Bacon's
time.

Whether Bacon was entirely unprejudiced and unselfish
in his scientific efforts is a disputed question. Wolff paints
Bacon as an antagonist of Aristotle, endeavoring to dis-
place the latter from his world-throne and to establish him-
self in the vacated place.^ In so doing, he maintains that
Bacon fails to realize or at least to confess that his method
is after all not entirely new, but one which eliminates from
Aristotle his purely deductive reasoning, and merely de-
velops and adapts the inductive. Certain it is that induc-
tion so often ascribed to Bacon did not begin with him;
that the attainment of knowledge through experimental
means and the compiling of masses of detailed facts were,
as already stated, suggested and practiced long before. But
Bacon was keen and quick-witted enough to grasp the value
of this method and first formulated it into definite prin-
ciples. He insists, furthermore, that his induction does not
* Wolff : Francis Bacon und seine Quellen, pp. 235 ff.

44 Christianopolis

consist merely in simple enumeration of details and collec-
tion of facts but in an additional process of exclusion and
rejection.^ This feature is not discoverable in his earliest
works, as for instance Valerius Terminus, but as a result of
his own experience, and perhaps suggestions from others,
gradually appears. So that his final scheme, as described
by Spedding,^ provides for three steps : the ministration of
the senses, of the memory, and of the reason, under which
heads he includes the gathering of facts and material, and
the proper checking of results.

Of all Francis Bacon's works none has created more in-
terest or has been more commented upon than the New
Atlantis — partly because of the uncertainty as to the date of
its composition, partly because of its content, and again,
because it is, as distinguished from Bacon's usual attempts,
a work of fiction. The New Atlantis was first written in
English, not in Latin as stated by Henry Morley in his
Ideal Commonwealths, and others, and was among the
works ^ translated into Latin during the last five years of
Bacon's life to assure their preservation.* There was no
date on the manuscript (it was published in 1627, a year
after Bacon's death, at the end of the Sylva) and the work
is a fragment. We are told by Rawley, '' That his lord-
ship thought also in the present fable to have composed a
frame of laws of the best state or mold of a commonwealth.
But foreseeing it would be a long work, his desire of col-
lecting the Natural History diverted him, which he pre-
ferred many degrees before it." ^ In his summary of the

^ Bacon's Life and Works, I, p. 34.
' Life and Works, I, p. 40.

' Hist, of Henry VU, The Counsels, Civil and Moral, Dialogue of
the Holy War.
* Rawley : Life of Bacon, p. 10,
' Works, III, p. 127, Pref. to the New Atlantis.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 45

works of Bacon's last five years (those of his retirement)
Rawley puts the New Atlantis between the History of Henry
VH and De Augmentis. This would make the date of its
composition about 1623. No one disputed this date until in
comparatively recent years, when, due to the discovery of
some papers in the Harleian Charters, which were attributed
to Bacon, the date was suddenly pushed back seven to nine
years. In the paper referred to ^ the New Atlantis is men-
tioned twice. The contents of the paper would point to a
date between 1614 and 1617, according to which the New
Atlantis must at least have been begun at that time. Dr.
S. R. Gardiner took this view, and in his Life of Bacon in
the Dictionary of National Biography states ''. . . New At-
lantis, formerly supposed to have been written as late as 1623,
but now known to have been composed before 161 7." This
change was accepted by all authorities, and was copied in
encyclopedias and '' lives," until a full analysis of the case ap-
peared in the Athenceum^ in an article by Dr. G. C. Moore
Smith. Dr. Smith pointed out that the paper, representing
an address given by Bacon before the houses of parliament,
was probably the work of Thomas Bushell,^ written after
the death of the former, and put into his mouth for per-
sonal reasons. The argument of the article was accepted
by Dr. Gardiner in the next issue of the Athenceum * and the

* Harleian Charters, III, D, 14.
' Feb. 3, 1900.

' Thomas Bushell (1594-1674) entered the service of Bacon at the
age of fifteen years. His habits were those of a spendthrift. When
introduced at the court, his extravagant clothes were noticed by
King James. He was always in debt, and Bacon came to his rescue
often. When the latter was impeached, Bushell retired from
public life, but returned after Bacon's death and promoted several
mining schemes. In this capacity he seems to have used Bacon's
name for his own private ends.

* Feb. 10.

46 Christianopolis

matter now stands as formerly. The fact that Dr. Rawley,
the private secretary of Bacon, definitely assigns the work
to the last five years of Bacon's life, furnishes the strongest
possible argument. His statement, just quoted, on the title
page of the New Atlantis, suggesting that '' it was unfin-
ished because Bacon, being pressed for time, preferred to
continue the Natural History,'' would seem to be an addi-
tional proof, especially when one remembers that the part in
which Bacon was most interested, that of science and inven-
tion, was already completed. It can readily be seen why
Bacon, having finished that part of his ideal state, and feel-
ing, as he stated several times, that his death would cut off
some of his productions, preferred to leave the rest and
take up his former task — that which lay nearer to his heart.
At any rate Dr. Smith's statement may be accepted: "Ac-
cordingly, any attack on Dr. Rawley's date, on the ground
of the Harleian paper, may be considered to be now
abandoned." ^

It cannot be doubted that Bacon set a high value on the
New Atlantis, and commentators have not hesitated to at-
tribute to it and to the ideals for which it stands a very
prominent place in literature and in the development of
modern natural philosophy. First of all Rawley, " Certainly
the model is more vast and high than can possibly be
imitated in ail things. Notwithstanding most things therein
are within men's power to effect." ^

For those who have written on the subject, the New
Atlantis is the most perfect form of ideal state up to the
time of its publication, and for some, the scheme of a col-
lege and outline for research therein contained, the one and
only model for the Royal Society of London and other

* Smith's edition of the New Atlantis, Introduction, p. 9.
^ Title page of the New Atlantis, Works, III, p. 127.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 47

similar institutions. Furthermore, that this model of a col-
lege and the plans for ** investigating nature " appear first
in the New Atlantis and are entirely original with Bacon
has not as yet been much contested. It will be made clear
further on, that the former contention is not entirely true;
and to show that the latter statement may be seriously
doubted, will be the purpose of the discussion immediately
succeeding. There are certain undeniable likenesses in the
New Atlantis and the Christianopolis of Andreae, and cir-
cumstances point to a relation between them. But before we
take up a comparison of the two, the question as to whether
it is at all possible that Bacon may have known Andreae's
works will be looked into.^

Bacon had regular correspondence with men of letters
in different parts of Europe, and he kept in as close touch
as possible with all available contemporary literary and sci-
entific productions. This cannot be doubted. For although
his personal references to such correspondents, those
whose interests were scientific rather than political, are
comparatively few, certain incidental remarks give evi-
dence of the facts. Only once, so far as is known, does
he mention Campanella. But in this brief reference ^ he
plainly suggests his acquaintance with him and with his
ideas. A letter to Father Redemptus Baranza at Anneci,
preserved in the collection of J. P. Niceron,^ deals with
Baranza's opinion on parts of the Novum Organum, which
was published the second year previous and which Baranza
had evidently carefully perused. Bacon's letter asks the
latter to take up and develop certain phases of natural

^ Simon Goulart translated some of Andreae's works into French.
Andreae's Fifty-two Discourses, translated into French in 1622, are
in the StadtbibHothek at Zurich.

' Bacon's Works, II, p. 13.

* Life and Letters, VII, p. 374.

48 Christianopolis

philosophy, and expresses, as he often does, the desire for
" fit assistants " in the work he was undertaking. He adds
the very suggestive clause, *' I have seen those of your
works that are published, works, certainly, of great sub-
tlety and diligence in your way. The novelists (regularly
at that time for innovators, inventors, and investigators)
whom you name, Patricius, Telesius,^ besides others whom
you do not mention, I have read. . . . Let our acquaintance
be now established." Scaliger ^ is mentioned in the Sylva.^
" Therefore Scaliger does well to make the pleasure of
generation a sixth sense," referring to Scaliger's Exer-
citationes Adversus Cardanum. And direct influence from
the same source is traceable in the description of the
chameleon* and elsewhere. Scaliger was in England in
1566 and kept up relations with the Continent while at the
University of Leyden.

Among Bacon's memoranda of July 26,1608,^ is found this
item: '' Q. of learned men beyond the seas to be made, and

* Telesio Bernardino, the Italian philosopher, was born a Cala-
brian in 1508. He died in 1588. His philosophy is founded on
experience, his researches including physics, chemistry, and as-
tronomy. An academy founded by him in Naples, being intended
to educate scientists and displace Aristotle's method, is still in exist-
ence. His chief work is De Natura, which appeared in fragment at
Rome in 1568 and in Naples in 1586.

' Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) was perhaps the most famous
philologian of the sixteenth century. He studied in Bordeaux and
Paris, specializing in the classics and Hebrew literature. In 1566
he was in England, and spent the next twenty-five years in various
places in South France. He was converted to the Protestant church,
and succeeded Lipsius as professor at Leyden in 1593. He died in
1609. Among his very numerous and various writings are several
on scientific subjects. Heinsius, and later Casaubon, were intimate
friends and comrades of his.

* Works, II, p. 556, no. 694.

* II, p. 460, no. 360, from Scaliger's Adversus Cardanum, p. 196.
" Works, XI, p. 64.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 49

hearkening who they be that may be so inclined." He was
endeavoring to find help in the work of his Great Instaura-
tion from among the learned men of his own country and
the Continent. Shortly after this he tried to interest
Casaubon (who was then at Paris), as is plain from a letter
Bacon wrote him. ^ Bacon knew of Galileo, and, according
to Mr. Ellis' preface to the Descriptio Globi Intellectualis,
" listened eagerly for news from the stars brought by the
latter's telescope." ^

A letter to Sir Henry Wotton ^ is of especial interest. In
this letter Bacon says : " The letter which I received from
your lordship upon your going to sea, was more than a
compensation for any former omission, and I shall ever be
glad to entertain a correspondence with you." * Spedding
tells us that the letter went in company with three copies
of the Novum Organum. Wotton was at the time on an
embassy to Germany; and having a considerable acquaint-
ance with the men of learning in Europe, could do much
to advertise the book. He was so well acquainted with
German, that for years in Ingolstadt and Vienna he was
mistaken for a German.^

' Works, XI, p. 146. ' Works, III, p. 511.

' Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639), diplomat and poet, was educated
at Oxford, and went upon an extensive tour of Europe in 1588. He
visited Altdorf, Linz — where he met Kepler — Vienna, Rome, and
other cities in Italy. In 1593 he was with Casaubon at Geneva and
later in France. In the service of Essex he accompHshed diplomatic
missions in France and Germany, After James' ascension to the
throne, he was given posts as ambassador in various places in
France and Spain. In 1619 he returned to England by way of
Germany. He was present at James' funeral and went to parlia-
ment under Charles. In his acknowledgment of Bacon's letter
and the three copies of the Novum Organum he promised to give
one of the latter to Kepler.

* Works, XIV, p. 130.

" Lucy Aiken : Memoirs of the Court of King James I. London,
1822, I, pp. 117 ff.

go Christianopolis

A study of the lives of three men would seem espe-
cially to point toward a possible connection between Bacon
and the circle of friends and acquaintances of Andreae on
the Continent. These will be taken up separately.

Isaac Casaubon was born at Geneva in 1559. He was edu-
cated, and afterwards taught the classics at the university
in his native city. In 1593 he became acquainted with
Sir Henry Wotton, already referred to, who was at that
time on his travels through Europe; and the latter stayed
for some time at the home of Casaubon while in Geneva.
Casaubon soon had a world reputation among scholars.
The French, especially through the efforts of De Thou,^
tried hard to win Casaubon for France, by establishing him
at one of the French universities, and in 1596 he went to
Montpellier. Even earlier than this he had formed a close
friendship with Scaliger, then professor at Leyden. They
had been introduced by Richard Thomson, an Englishman.
Scaliger, who was eighteen years Casaubon's senior, did
not at first look upon his overtures with favor, but in the
end came to think very highly of his scholarly attainments,
calling him the " most learned man in Europe." They cor-
responded regularly until Casaubon's death in England.
From Montpellier Casaubon went to Paris, taking up a posi-
tion under Henry IV, under the title of Lectureur du Roi.
With James he had already been in communication while
the latter was James VI of Scotland, and he was long
desirous of taking up his abode in London. The death of
Henry in 1610 released Casaubon from any obligations to
stay longer; and the same year he started for England in
the suite of Lord Wotton of Marley, the half-brother of

* De Thou, historian and statesman (15S3-1617). His home was
in Paris, and during the reign of Henry IV, beginning in 1594, he
was president of the parliament. He had a wide circle of pro-
fessional acquaintances, including Scaliger, Heinsius, and Bacon.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 51

Sir Henry. With James he was very intimate. The latter
spent hours in conversation with him and supported him
with a considerable pension. The Bishop of Ely and the
Dean of St. Paul's were his closest friends, and he also
spent much time at Oxford and Cambridge. After his
death in 161 4 he was buried at Westminster. His very
numerous publications deal to a considerable extent with
the classics, and include translations from Greek into Latin.
Among the " learned men beyond the seas," ^ Casaubon is
to be counted.^ He had become acquainted with some of
Bacon's writings and had written to Sir George Gary, ex-
pressing his appreciation of them. Bacon took advantage
of this fact to open a correspondence with him, and this
was at least partly responsible for the call which Casaubon
received from James the following year. This letter ^ ex-
presses the desire for friendship and cooperation in the
great work of scientific research.

The second individual whose life may have formed a
link between those of Bacon and Andreae is Georg Rodolf
Weckherlin. He was born at Stuttgart in 1584, and entered
the University of Tubingen in the spring of 1601, pursuing
the study of jurisprudence. During the years immediately
following his graduation from the university he entered the
diplomatic service and discharged several missions in Ger-
many and France. The three years following 1607 he spent
in England, as secretary of a legation to James I, and in
1614 he is mentioned as acting as private secretary to the
Duke of Wiirtemberg. His marriage to the daughter of
Francis Raworth of Dover called him to England in 161 6,
and after 1624 he was under-secretary of state in England,
having charge of the correction and examination of all

* Cf. p. 48 of this chapter. ^ Works, XI, p. 145.

^ Works, XI, p. 147.

52 Christianopolis

official correspondence. During the civil wars he took his
stand with parliament, though in the expedition against
Scotland he followed Charles. In 1644 he was made secre-
tary of foreign tongues, which office he held until displaced
by Milton in 1649. In 1652 when Milton's sight began to
fail, Weckherlin was his assistant. He died the following
year. Weckherlin is known first of all as a poet, and has
left a collection of several hundred poems. Among these
there is one of some length dedicated to '' Heinrich Wotton,
dem Engelischen Ritter," while another is an adaptation of
one of Wotton's odes.^ This, it is to be remembered, is
the Sir Henry Wotton who lived with Casaubon in 1593
at Geneva, with whom Bacon corresponded and to whom
he sent his Novum Organum in 1620. It will also be noted
that Weckherlin entered the University of Tiibingen the
same year as did Andreae, and that they spent the follow-
ing four years there together, the one in jurisprudence, the
other in theology. And furthermore Weckherlin was a
close friend and for years the secretary of Benjamin von
Buwinckhausen, Stadthalter of Alengon, an intimate friend
of Andreae. At the death of Buwinckhausen, Andreae
conducted the funeral services and in his sermon speaks
of him as '' a man of the greatest worth, of whom I shall
never speak except with great honor." ^ Andreae mentions
Buwinckhausen in his Vita, in various connections.^

The third to be considered is Sir Toby Matthew, courtier,
diplomat, and writer. He was born in 1577 and was edu-
cated at Oxford. In 1598 he visited a friend in France but
returned soon after. In 1601 he went to parliament and there

^ Nos. 44 and 11 of Goedeke's collection of Weckherlin's poems,
Leipzig, 1873.

^Weckherlin's Oden und Ges'dnge in Hopfner, and Vita, p. 113.
^ Vita, pp. 103, 113, 119, 126, 150, 158, 159, 242.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 53

became acquainted with Bacon. The next few years he spent
in Europe, visiting especially Italy and Spain. While abroad
he became converted to the Catholic faith. This, though
he kept the fact secret for a while, made permanent resi-
dence in England impossible, as he refused to take the
oath of allegiance. He was therefore on the Continent more
than in England, though he made several attempts to be per-
mitted to live at home, attempts in which Bacon earnestly
took his part. While in Brussels he received a copy of the
Advancement of Learning and, in 1610, the De Sapientia
Veterorum. During the next few years he translated into
Italian several of Bacon's works, among them the Essays.
At a later period again at Brussels he translated into Eng-
lish The Incomparable Dr. S. Augustine and The Penitent
Bandito. In 1624 he was appointed one of the eighty- four
" Essentials " or original working members of an Academe
Royal, the scheme of which had been completed by Edmund
Bolton.^ In 1625, as a mark of especial favor to Matthew,
Bacon added his Essay on Friendship to the series, referring
in his letter to the friendship existing between Matthew and
himself. In Bacon's will was found a clause by which he
left thirty pounds to be expended in purchasing a ring for
Matthew. The latter died in the English College at Ghent
in 1655. During Matthew's extensive travels in Europe he
visited many towns in Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, and
Germany. During the whole period of their association,
from the time he became acquainted with Bacon in 1601
until the latter's death, a regular correspondence was kept
up between them. Many of these letters are preserved,

* Edmund Bolton (1575-1633), historian and poet. In 1617 he pro-
posed a scheme for a college, and its fellows were actually chosen —
the Academe Royal. But James died, and his successor showed no
great interest in the institution. Hence the organization dissolved.

54 Christianopolis

some quoted by Spedding. All show the closest friendship
between Bacon and Matthew and a great appreciation on
Bacon's part of the literary and critical ability of Matthew.
As Bacon's books came out, copies were at once sent to
Matthew, with a view toward getting the latter's opinion
as well as having them circulated on the Continent. As
is evident from the letters, Matthew was on the lookout
continually for literary men whose acquaintance he would
be glad to make, and whose scientific investigations could
be of service to him in his own researches.

It will be evident from the foregoing pages that a knowl-
edge on the part of Bacon of Andreae's Christianopolis and
the Fama, and some of the other works, which appeared
from 1614 to the time of Bacon's death, and some of which
were circulated even earlier in manuscript form, is not by
any means out of the question. Rather it would seem almost
impossible that Bacon should not have heard of them
through one or the other of their mutual acquaintances. The
problem, then becomes one of inner evidence in the works
in question, to determine, if possible, whether they are
kindred. This matter will be taken up now.

G. C. Moore Smith, in the introduction to his edition of the
New Atlantis, devotes some pages to the tracing of the name
" New Atlantis " to its sources. In the fable itself, Bacon
refers to the " Atlantis," the island mentioned in the Critias
of Plato. This island and the sea around it were named
after Atlas and inhabited by his children and their de-
scendants. Francisco Lopes de Gomara in his History of
the Indias ^ made Plato's Atlantis the continents of America ;
or rather the present America is all that is left of Atlantis
after having been partially sunk into the sea as a result of
an earthquake. Bacon refers to the same Atlantis as hav-

' 1552.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 55

ing been almost depopulated by a great local flood ; and
locates his island of New Atlantis between the Great Atlantis
and the Orient. Of greater interest for the present dis-
cussion, however, is the name of the city built upon the
island. This is Bensalem, Son of Peace or Salvation. The
names Village of Peace, Caphar Salama, and the Hiero-
solyma in the utopia of Andreae seem to have been directly
transferred to Bensalem and to Nova Solyma, A New
Peace, the latter being the Ideal City of Samuel Gott which
will be discussed in the next chapter.

In form and general style the two works under considera-
tion are the same. In each case it is the experience of an
individual as the latter relates it to his hearers or readers,
not a dialogue as was the case in the ideal states of both More
and Campanella. Smith ^ comments favorably upon Bacon's
beginning. " How natural an opening ! No introduction,
no account of persons spoken of, merely, * We sailed from
Peru.' " Bacon's introduction continues, " We had good
winds at first. But then the winds came about and settled to
the west. Next, strong and great winds came from the
south. Finding ourselves in the midst of the greatest wil-
derness of waters in the world, we gave ourselves up for lost
men and prepared for death." Now if we disregard for the
time the allegorical form of the Christianopolis, however
effective this may be, we have almost the identical words.
*' I set sail again upon the sea. I left the port with many
others and exposed my life to a thousand dangers. For
a short time the weather favored us; then adverse winds
drove contrary currents against us and we despaired. The
sailors did their best, but we soon saw destruction before
our eyes and stood in readiness for death." ^

^ New Atlantis, Introduction, p. 23.
" Chap. i.

56 Christianopolis

Then follows the landing. In the Christianopolis^ it is
a wreck and a violent casting ashore. In the New Atlantis
a voluntary landing in boats. But in both cases the adven-
turers are kindly taken up and cared for. In the Chris-
tianopolis ^ the stranger passes three distinct examinations
before he is given full privileges to use the city. In the New
Atlantis the examination and the questioning on the ship
are begun before landing is permitted, and are continued on
shore. The first question, ** Are ye Christians ? ",^ the most
important, is followed by an oath, giving evidence that no
blood has been shed, and that the party is not a band of
pirates. In the Christianopolis the first examination is
likewise a caution against vagabonds and tramps. A further
suggestion of the same is expressed in the address given to
the crew in the strangers' house by the leader.* After
dwelling upon the miracle of their escape and rescue he
adds : " Yet there is m_ore. For they have by commandment,
though in form of courtesy, cloistered us within these walls
for three days. Who knoweth whether it be not to take
some taste of our manners and conditions? And if they
find them bad, to banish us straightway; if good, to give
us further time." The parallel can be traced throughout
the whole story. A mere detail of difference lies in the
fact that Andreae divides his work into short chapters, but
they are so well arranged and so closely connected that we
get the idea of an uninterrupted relation of experiences and
a description of impressions as the visitor passes through
the city, even as is the case in the New Atlantis. In the
Christianopolis the division is merely one of print.

The strangers' house and the fund for strangers in the
New Atlantis is but an elaboration of Andreae's simpler

^ Chaps, i, ii. '^ New Atlantis, p. 131.

^ Chap. iv. ^ New Atlantis, p. 134.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 57

method of showing kindness to strangers and caring for
them after the proof of their worthiness has been estab-
lished. And the latter fact is also carefully investigated in the
New Atlantis. The rather lengthy and somewhat unneces-
sary description of the rooms in which the strangers are
kept, and the preparations made for their reception and
nursing, are very naturally suggested by the fact that here
a whole ship's crew is to be accounted for, instead of but
one individual. The principle of humanity and charity, how-
ever, seems to be brought out just as clearly in the Chris-
tianopolis in a less boastful manner, though Smith ^ sees in
Bacon's detailed account poetic means to greater " natural-
ness " in the description. The latter part of the New At-
lantis 2 is taken up with a description given by one of the
Fathers of Salomon's ^ House as to the purposes and aims
of this " college." At the close of this, or rather in the
midst of it, the narrative breaks off, and it remains for one
to guess under what circumstances the visitors left the
island and returned home to tell their story. But the fact
that they were by especial act merely permitted to stay
longer than the usual time, and not allowed to remain per-
manently as a whole party, together with the farewell state-
ment of the father of Salomon's House, '* I give thee leave
to publish what I have told thee, for the good of other
nations " — these would naturally lead to a conclusion much
like that of the Christianopolis. This will suffice for a com-
parison of the narrative form of the two works.

* Introduction, p. 23, of his New Atlantis.

^•Pp. i56ff.

^ Bacon regularly spells the word as it appears in the Vulgate and
in Luther's translation of the Bible. Though the name is similar
to that of Solamona, the lawgiver of Bensalem, yet the inhabitants
are convinced that he named the place in honor of the Hebrew king
{New Atlantis, p. 145).

58 Christianopolis

A strong point of similarity is found in the religious
conditions in the two places. Bensalem, like Christianopolis,
is a Christian state. A history of the island gives in sub-
stance the following mystical account of the introduction
of the Christian religion into the place.^ Twenty years after
the ascension of Christ, the inhabitants of the east side of
the island saw a great pillar of light in the night. Upon
investigation with boats it was found that the pillar was
unapproachable, until one of those present, a wise man of
the society of Salomon's House, recognizing the miracle,
prayed to God for light, and thereupon found his boat free
to move ahead. The column disappeared as he approached ;
but at its base were found an ark containing the canonical
books of the Old and the New Testaments and a message to
the following effect : " I, Bartholomew, a servant of the
Highest, and apostle of Jesus Christ, was warned by an angel
that appeared to me in a vision of glory that I should com-
mit this ark to the floods of the sea. Therefore I do testify
and declare unto that people where God shall ordain this
ark to come to land, that in the same day is come unto them
salvation and peace and good will, from the Father and
from the Lord Jesus." The implication of the message is
that a safe place was to be found where God might establish
His religion, and have it bear fruit in the hearts and lives
of an honest and wise people. Now we find a strikingly
similar idea expressed in the Christianopolis. First
'\ . . the church, which has been tossed about so many
thousand years on the world-sea." ^ Again, " When the
church wandered as a stranger from east to west . . ."^
But especially in answer to the question " What blessedness
set up its abode here ? " the stranger is told, " When the

* New Atlantis, p. 137. ^ Chap, xxxvi.

^ Chap. Ixix.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 59

whole world raged against the good, and forced them to de-
part out of her boundaries, then Religion, an exile, taking
along her most faithful friends, after crossing the sea and
searching here and there, finally chose this land where she
put her associates ashore ; and later she built a city which
we call * the Christian city/ and desired that it should be the
abode or refuge, if you like, of honesty and uprightness." ^
Compare with this also Die Christenburg, which was com-
posed in 161 5 : '' In the world-sea there is an island, much
favored of God. . . . When evil took possession of the earth,
religion fled hither." ^ Even the questions which bring
out these explanations are strangely alike. It is the
first question for information in both cases. " Who
was the apostle and how was the place converted to the
Christian faith? " The guide in the New Atlantis answers :
" Ye knit my heart to you by asking this question in the
first place ; for it sheweth that ye seek first the kingdom of
heaven." ^ And he then, like the guide in the Christianopolis,
proceeds to explain the manner of the conversion of the
island. A strange and unexpected development for Bacon
is the mystical, mysterious description of the ark contain-
ing the letter and Bible. One is unconsciously reminded of
the secret vault described in the Fama^

Innumerable are the references to prayer and worship
which correspond in the two works: thanks to God for
rescue from the storm and safe landing among a Christian
people; oaths in the name of God and Christ as pledge for
past and future behavior. There is no mention of daily
meals and church attendance in the New Atlantis. But the
prayers at the Feast of the Family,^ to be spoken of again,

* Chap, iii. * Griineisen, p. 254.

'^ New Atlantis, p. 137. * Fama, p. 58 (Geheime Wissenschaften).
° New Atlantis, p. 147.

6o Christianopolis

the only festivity of the sort described, and the benedictions
at the close, are all suggestive of table and family prayers,
as is the case in the Christianopolis. The father of Salo-
mon's House, as he passes through the city, raises his hand
and silently blesses the people. He begins his discourse
about the college with the words, " God bless thee, my son,"
and closes with the same phrase. So also the officer of the
strangers' house ^ comes *' as a priest and a Christian " to
bring what assistance and comfort he can to the afflicted.
And the leader of the crew says in his address to his com-
rades, " Let us look to God, and every man reform his own
ways. Besides we are come here amongst a Christian people,
full of piety and humanity." ^ Again, " It seemed to us that
we had before us a picture of our salvation in heaven ; for we
that were a while since in the jaws of death, were now
brought into a place where we found nothing but consola-
tion." ^ In like manner in the Christianopolis the stranger
is addressed : " How fortunate you are, because after so
vengeful a storm and shipwreck, you have happened to be
landed at this place." * The religious, the Christian ele-
ment in both the New Atlantis and in the Christianopolis is
a very essential part of the whole.

Socially the two Utopias are closely akin. The family
is the unit of society, and upon it is built the whole social
fabric. This conception is very far developed in the New
Atlantis. The Feast of the Family is instituted and cele-
brated in honor of him whose family counts at least thirty
living members. On an appointed day the head of the
family, having previously chosen several friends to assist in
the celebration, meets with the members of his family ac-
cording to a stated ceremony. The occasion is made use of

* New Atlantis, p. 135. ^ New Atlantis, p. 136.

'^ New Atlantis, p. 134. * Chap. ii.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 6i

to settle all petty disputes between members, to impress
lessons of morality, piety, patriotism, and obedience; and
to bring all into close association with each other. The
ceremony, rather elaborate and impressive, does not espe-
cially concern us here. The important features are these:
the feast is religious in character, including invocation,
hymns, prayer, and benediction. It bears also direct rela-
tion to the state; for the expenses are supplied from the
state treasury, and the head of the family hereafter wears
a medal presented by the king. Socially it emphasizes
two important points : first, the principle of family unity.
Toward the close of the ceremony, one of the sons is chosen
who shall henceforth live with the father in the latter's
house, assist him in the affairs of his household, and so hold
the family together by taking the father's place in case of
his death. The second is that of raising up a large family ;
for no man is so honored throughout the state as such a
" family-father." He is granted a charter containing many
privileges and exemptions; and the medal presented by the

king bears the inscription, " To , our well beloved friend

and creditor," a title proper only in this case ; '' for they
say a king is debtor to no man, but for the propagation of his
subjects." ^ In this feast they pray to Adam, Noah, and
Abraham, whereof the former two peopled the world, and
the latter was the father of the faithful.

Now, just these features are made emphatic in the
Christianopolis. Family and table prayers and hymns are
the daily rule. Contrary to conditions in all earlier Utopias,
there are no common tables, except for pupils in the board-
ing schools; but the family meets daily around its private
board. The government deals out food and provisions each
week to families,'^ a family consisting of father, mother, and

^New Atlantis, p. 149. ^ Chap. xv.

62 Christianopolis

younger children — the older sons and daughters being in
boarding school or at college. And as to the importance of
family increase, the quotation already suggested in the
preceding chapter will suffice, '' The crown of woman is
motherhood." ^

The second question asked of the guide in the New
Atlantis is one relating to marriage: "Because propaga-
tion of families proceedeth from nuptial copulation, what
laws have you concerning marriage ; and do you keep mar-
riage well ; and are you tied to one wife ? For where popu-
lation is so much affected, such as with you it seems to be,
there is commonly permission of plurality of wives." ^ The
answer to this question is given with a considerable amount
of pride, and shows the following facts : there is not under
heaven so chaste a nation as that of Bensalem, so free from
pollution and foulness. It is the virgin of the world. If the
spirit of fornication be represented by a " foul and ugly
Ethiop " then the spirit of the chastity of Bensalem would
appear in the likeness of a fair, beautiful cherubim. There
are no dissolute women, courtesans, and the like. These
the people of Bensalem detest and they are surprised that
Europeans countenance and permit a nuisance that is so
detrimental to the lives and health of the inhabitants. Purity
in married life even is observed. " For whosoever is un-
chaste, cannot reverence himself. And the reverence of
man's self is, next to religion, the chiefest bridle of all
vices." ^ The marriage relation is the most sacred in life.
Polygamy is not practiced — that would be out of harmony
with the spirit of the family. Consent of parents is neces-
sary for legal marriage.

It will be remembered that the Christianopolis expresses

* Chap. xc. ' New Atlantis, pp. 151 and 152.

• New Atlantis, p. 153.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 63

views almost identical with these.^ *' The glory of a con-
quest over the passions ..." Purity of personal life,
in the single as in the married state, consent of parents on
the part of the contracting parties, permanency and serious-
ness of marriage — these are the chief points in both cases.
Only in one respect does Bacon's ideal differ from that of
Andreae, and here we must admit (as in the case of More
and Campanella) that the latter stands infinitely higher in
the ethical scale. " I have read," says the speaker in the New
Atlantis, '' in a book of one of your men (evidently More)
of a feigned commonwealth, where the married couples are
permitted, before they contract, to see one another naked.
This the inhabitants of Bensalem dislike, for they think
it a scorn to give a refusal after so familiar knowledge.
But because of many hidden defects in men's and women's
bodies, they have a more civil way; for they have near
every town a couple of pools, which they call Adam's and
Eve's pools, where it is permitted to one of the friends of
the man, and another of the friends of the woman, to see
them severally bathe naked." - This was for Bacon a de-
sirable mean, or a compromise between the strictly " eu-
genic " conceptions of More, and his own notions of pro-
priety.

A few other minor points of similarity will be mentioned
before passing to the chief matter, that of the founding
of a college.

Both governments are particular about health regulations
and sanitary conditions. In the New Atlantis the ship's
crew is disinfected (not very thoroughly, it is true) before
landing.^ The city is provided with baths * for health and
cleanliness. Christianopolis has not only baths but an

^ Chap, xviii. * New Atlantis, p. 132.

^ New Atlantis, p. 154. * New Atlantis, p. I57.

64 Christianopolis

elaborate sewer system as well ; ^ and the authorities are
very careful lest contagion come to the citizens through
guests."^

Similar expressions occur in connection with the rules of
hospitality to strangers. At his first meeting with the in-
habitants of Christianopolis the shipwrecked sailor gives
us the following information : " He led me to the city where
he said I would be well taken up, according to the usual
charitable kindliness shown in his country toward unfortu-
nate strangers. I could answer nothing but ' Thanks and
praise to God.' " ^ In the New Atlantis, in the rehearsal
of the past history of the state, the visitors are told : " For
first he (the king) hath preserved all points of humanity in
taking order and making provision for the relief of strangers
distressed, whereof you have tasted." — *' At which," we are
told, '' as reason was we all arose and bowed." *

But the New Atlantis is important primarily and has
become famous chiefly because of the picture drawn and
the description given of a " college," a group of learned
and capable men endowed, and working together toward a
common end — the attainment of knowledge by experiment,
the enriching of the world's store of information by the
process of investigation into nature, and discovering in her
the truths and principles that have existed from all time.
Bacon is ordinarily credited with having originated the en-
tire scheme and as being alone responsible for the founding
of such colleges, academies, and societies in England. It is
not alone his plan of a college that has been so much praised,
nor yet the individual experiments or lines of investigation
that he suggests. For of the latter some have proved to be
visionary, impracticable, and not altogether desirable; and
others were not original, but taken from More, Roger Bacon,

^ Chap. xcv. ^ Chap. iii.

^ Chap, xcvii. * New Atlantis, p. 144.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 65

and other earlier investigators in England and elsewhere.
It is rather the mere suggestion that such an institution
would be desirable and would lead to good results which
is of importance.

As in the case of the other Utopias which have been dis-
cussed, and perhaps even to a much higher degree, this one
represents the author's favorite work. There can be no doubt
but that Bacon considered the New Atlantis, as far as com-
pleted, one of his most important productions, as embodying
the principles which he had developed in years of experi-
ence. Yet the New Atlantis, aside from being a fragment,
is not a complete description of a well-balanced city in the
same sense as the Christianopolis is. In the former, certain
features not always essentials are given very great impor-
tance, as for instance the history of the great Atlantis, while
other factors more necessary for an ideal state are entirely
omitted. Little or no mention is made of education of the
children and youth, occupation of the citizens, and matters
of daily life. This difficulty would not likely have been
remedied even if the work had been finished according to
the plans of the author. Rawley tells us on the title page,
" His lordship thought also in the present fable to have com-
posed a frame of laws, of the best state or mold of a com-
monwealth." ^ And it seems probable that the code of laws
would have completed the work. This fits in well with
Bacon's own life and interests. The account of his life in
the autobiographical statement already quoted ^ shows the
two objects of his life, benefit to humanity by founding a
new system of experimental philosophy, and by a study of
all legal conditions. In the New Atlantis, if completed, the

^ New Atlantis, p. 127, p. 44 of this chapter.
* P. 42 of this chapter.

66 Christianopolis

second object would have been fulfilled in the code of laws,
while the prominence of the first is clear from the esti-
mation in which the college is held, and the purpose which
is ascribed to it : ^ " The knowledge of our foundation
is the knowledge of causes and secret motions of things,
and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the
effecting of all things possible." ^ " It so fell out that there
was in one of the boats one of the wise men of the society
of Salomon's House, which house or college is the very
eye of the kingdom." ^ " Ye shall understand that amongst
the excellent acts of that king, one above all hath the pre-
eminence. It was the erection and institution of an order or
society which we call Salomon's House, the noblest founda-
tion as we think that ever was upon the earth, and the
lantern of this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of
the works and creatures of God."

This object of the college, the direction in which in-
vestigations are to be made, and the methods by which
results are to be obtained are stated more in detail in
succeeding pages of the New Atlantis. But only those mat-
ters which have become practical since Bacon's time will be
considered here.

The organization of Salomon's House,* the College of Six
Days' Work, is not complicated. The work is divided.
Certain members of the staff, so-called fellows, are sent
out into the world at definite intervals of time. It is
their duty to visit the countries to which they are dele-
gated, examine the conditions that exist, note the improve-
ments and changes, especially in the " sciences, arts, manu-
factures, and inventions," and bring back books, patterns,
and instruments of all kinds. They are well provided with

^ New Atlantis, p. 137. ^ New Atlantis, p. 145.

* New Atlantis, p. 145. * New Atlantis, pp. 146-156.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 67

money, so that everything of value is obtainable by them.
Their reports and purchases are examined into by other
members of the college at home. Of these, some read
the books and test the value of experiments ; some try new
experiments based on the results of the former; some col-
lect and tabulate the results, and so forth. The material
actually dealt with covers a broad field. Observation of
wind, weather, and heavenly bodies ; analysis of soils and
their use in forcing the growth of plants; study of trees
and shrubs for their own improvement and the utiliza-
tion of the fruit; study of the habits of bees and silk-
worms ; preparation of drinks — wine, ale, and so forth, also
of medicines and concoctions for the restoration of health;
dissecting of bodies of animals with a view toward obtain-
ing knowledge of the human body. In mechanics there
are experiments dealing with motions in air and water,
forces and projectiles, even perpetual motions.^ There is
the study of sound, light, and smell, resulting respectively in
new scales, colors, and odors. For the performing of these
investigations, large and elaborate rooms have been fitted up.
Deep caves and high towers, laboratories, sound houses,
perfume houses, perspective houses, engine houses, and so
forth, — each equipped according to the latest m.odels.

Concerning the contribution which Andreae made in this
direction, Guhrauer says the following: '' Here then (in the
Christianopolis) principles of genuine natural science based
upon observation and experiment, founded at the same
time by Bacon, are applied to different faculties. And
what is surprising, we see the plan of an academy or col-
lege of natural science, and the sciences and arts con-
nected therewith, with collections of specimens, gardens,

* This was a favorite attempt among all experimenters. Comenius
devoted considerable time to the matter.

68 Christianopolis

and like establishments represented in clear outlines long
before the famous fragment of Bacon of Verulam, which
dressed in like costume pursues like purposes, namely the
New Atlantis, was published, which latter is usually looked
upon as the first impetus for the founding of natural science
academies and colleges." ^

Now it is perfectly true that Bacon and Andreae were
men of somewhat similar type and that their interests fol-
lowed similar lines. Both, one as a lawyer, the other as
a preacher, came in touch with humanity and civilization.
Both were led to see the conditions of society and, being of
sympathetic and at the same time aggressive temperament,
desired to make improvement. Both were men of letters,
university-trained, insatiable students, and alive to all the
ideas that were being promulgated. Both, though born and
living in different countries, were breathing the same at-
mosphere and moving in the same realms of thought. And
it is especially true that in their studies, their attention had
been repeatedly drawn to the insurmountable difficulties
in attaining knowledge through the means thus far placed at
their disposal. Hence one might well see how they would
arrive at somewhat similar results, though working quite
independently of each other. But the very striking agree-
ment between the plans and outlines, even in some of the
details of the institutions which they advocated, makes one
wonder whether the facts do not justify the assumption of
more than a coincidence. In comparison with the views
of Bacon regarding his college as quoted earlier,^ there is
the following from Andreae.

Speaking of the location of the college : '' It is time that
we go into the very innermost part of the city, which is as

* Quoted in Gussmann's article, p. 467.
^ Pp. 65, 66 of this chapter.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 69

it were the soul of the city, and imparts to the latter, Hfe and
inspiration." ^ Bacon calls his college the '' eye " and the
'' lantern " of Bensalem. Again, " Never have I seen the like
— so much human perfection united in one place." ^ And as
for the directions in which advanced education branches out,
things actually done and experiments carried out, very much
in the New Atlantis has its counterpart in the Christianopo-
lis. Andreae's chapter on astronomy ^ outlines the study of
the heavenly bodies, their sizes and distances, courses of
planets, and eclipses. Agriculture and cattle raising ^ are not
only practiced but made a systematic study. The department
is presided over by a man '' exceptionally well versed in the
science of agriculture, pasturing, and cattle breeding." The
use of fertilizer is well understood and the times when it
may be best applied to the cultivated fields. In addition to
the garden plot behind every dwelling house, ^ which serves
to beautify and decorate the lot, as well as to promote the
health of those who take care of it, there are gardens ^ in
connection with the college containing " over a thousand
varieties of plants, as might be called a living botany text."
Some of these are for decorative purposes only, others are to
be used as food, while still others are carried to the drug
shops to be prepared as medicines. The NeW' Atlantis says
of the plants and herbs, '' Many of them we so order as they
become of medicinal use," "^ and '' We have dispensatories
and medicine shops, wherein you may easily think, if we
have such variety of plants and living creatures more than
you have in Europe, the simples, drugs, and ingredients of
medicines must likewise be in so much greater variety." ^

* Chap. xxvi. ° Chap, xxiii.
"Chap. xxvi. ® Chap. xciv.

^ Chap. Ixvii. ''New Atlantis, p. 158.

* Chap. viii. ^ New Atlantis, p. 160.

yo Christianopolis

To return to the Christianopolis, the gardens are well or-
dered, each class of plants having its own proper place. And
it is especially plain that these plots are all for experimental
purposes ; for large gardens are without the city walls where
food materials are raised in proper amounts to supply the
town. In the college gardens also are found birds and
bees '' which are tended with great care/' ^ The practice of
dissection is pursued and the principles of anatomy studied
in an especially equipped apartment.^ As in the New At-
lantis the bodies of animals are made the subjects, and the
information thus obtained is used to increase the knowledge
of anatomy, " there being nothing in the world as wonder-
ful as the workshop of the human body, which they call a
miniature of the universe." It is stated : " They have a
place especially dedicated to the dissection of animals. No
one could find fault with this practice of finding the seat of
bodily ailments and striving to assist nature, except such
a one as, along with barbarians, thinks it unnecessary to
know one's self. There are even among persons who con-
sider themselves scholars, some who know nothing about
where they live, breathe, digest, or discharge, except that it
is somewhere within their skins. But the teachers of Chris-
tianopolis show the youth the operations of life from
the organs of animals ; and sometimes they dissect a human
body, though this is rare." ^

The mechanics are given their proper attention, as are
also the crafts. Laboratories, physical and chemical, serve
as workshops for trying out newly invented instruments.
Minerals and metals are worked. '' In the eastern quarter
of the city are the seven shops fitted out for melting, forg-
ing, casting, and molding of metals. . . . Here, if any-
where, is seen the examination of nature, since whatever the

^ Chap. xciv. ^ Chap. xlvi. * Chap. xlvi.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 71

earth contains in its bowels is brought under the influence
of the laws and instruments of art ; the men are not im-
pelled to their work without knowledge, like beasts, but
have been long ago inspired by careful knowledge (cognitio)
of the things of natural science, and thence take their delight
in the bowels of nature. Unless you listen to the reasons
and look into the anatomy of the macrocosmos, they think
they have told and taught you nothing. Unless you deter-
mine by experiments, and make corrections with better in-
struments for the improvement of the arts and sciencjes, you
are of no value. Take my word for it, if sophistry should
wish to be considered here, it would be a mockery ; to such
an extent do they prefer activity (res) over words. For
here one can greet true and genuine chemistry, and can
listen to her freely and diligently. ... In a word, here
natural science {physic a) is active." ^

As one more important similarity, the conception of the
obtainment of knowledge by inspiration, the dawning of
'' light " must be mentioned. The Christianopolis is full of
references to it, sometimes used purely in a religious sense
and again with reference to an inner light, the flashes of
genius. A few instances may be cited : in the introduction,
'' For the return of light." ^ " That God permitted dark-
ness to fall upon the minds of the godless." ^ " The light of
new religion dawned within us again." * " The deceiver
cannot withstand those who have a higher light within." ^
'' They recognize their mistake, or the lack of light in their
souls." ^ " They try to remind themselves of the eternal
light." '^ " We believe in an everlasting life in which we will
possess perfect light, contentment, quiet, wisdom, and joy." ^

' Chap. xi. " P. 5.

' P. 2. « P. 10.

" P. 3. '' Chap. XXV.

* P. 4- * Chap, xxviii.

J2 Christianopolis

" Those who know not what they want, and so, bhnd guides,
who pride themselves with having much hght, draw others
into the abyss who are still blinder than they." ^ " To pro-
mote the light of truth." ^ " They will never repent that
they have come from darkness into light." ^

From the New Atlantis three instances only will be cited,
but these are important. The one object in sending men out
from the college and having them visit foreign lands, is
knowledge. " Thus we maintain a trade, not for gold,
silver or jewels, nor for silks, nor for spices, nor for any
other commodity of matter; but only for God's first crea-
tion, which was light, to have light, I say, of the growth of
all parts of the world." * The twelve men who go out into
the world are called " merchants of light " ; and '' Then after
diverse meetings and consults of our whole number, to
consider the former labors and collections, we have three
men that take care out of them to direct new experiments
of a higher light, more penetrating into nature than the
former. These we call ' lamps.' " ^

It is not necessary to rely solely upon the Christianopolis
in support of this opinion. An even more striking simi-
larity between the ideas of Bacon and Andreae is to be
found in the Fama, which was written nine years earlier,
and in several intermediate works where the same plan is
found. The '' Fraternitas" is a body of men banded to-
gether for the very same purpose as that suggested in the
New Atlantis — " to institute a general reformation " ® and
" a general reformation divini et humani/' "^ " to discover
the mysteries of nature " ^ and " to study men all over the
earth." ^ This brotherhood, beginning with only four mem-

^ Chap, xviii.

^New Atlantis, p. 147.

' P. 30.

^ Chap. xxix.

'^ New Atlantis, p. 164.

«P. 4.

^ Chap, xxxiv.

' Pp. 3, 12.

»P. I.

Christianopolis and The New Atlantis 73

bers, later increased its membership to include eight, " all
free men through whom a volume of knowledge might be
collected of all that man could hope for." ^ The college is
called that of the Holy Spirit. Its members travel abroad
and learn what they can in foreign countries, but return
upon a set date each year to the college to report, or give a
satisfactory reason if unable to comer These are the essen-
tials of the Fama, and, it would appear, also the elements
of Bacon's College of Six Days.

A few matters of importance might be spoken of in which
the Christianopolis and the New Atlantis seem to differ con-
siderably, or which are looked upon from a different point
of view by the two writers. The idea of freedom, so oft
recurring and so much emphasized in the Christianopolis,
does not play so important a part in the New Atlantis.
Even the political conception of the state is not quite so
democratic as might have been expected. The plan of gov-
ernment in the latter is monarchical and rather centralized.
This is not surprising in view of the fact that Bacon
had been and was on the closest terms of friendship with
the King of England and might expect assistance or hin-
drance according as his works met with the latter's ap-
proval or disapproval. Nor were the Stuarts, with their
ideas of divine right, a type to be pleased with the picture
of an ideal state in which freedom and democracy were too
prominent.^

In the foregoing pages an effort has been made to point

' P. 13. ' Pp. 15 f.

* In the Nezv Atlantis (pp. 154, ISS) we have a lengthy description
of the history, early prominence, and decay of the civiHzation of
America, the large Atlantis. This is a matter which, naturally
wanting in the Christianopolis, can be easily accounted for from the
close relations existing between America and England in Bacon's
time. The description of the clothes and costumes worn on state
occasions corresponds well with the elaborateness and gaudy colors

74 Christianopolis

out that, contrary to the opinion of most commentators on
Bacon, his was not the first Utopia which definitely outlined
an ideal state built upon the basis of modern philosophy ; and
that his college of scientific research based upon an experi-
mental method of reasoning was preceded several years by
another, just as carefully outlined and completely detailed as
his own ; that the elements of the college were present in the
Fama, which was published a decade before the N ew Atlantis
was composed, and was circulated as early as 1610/ More-
over, it is not at all impossible both from his close associa-
tion with continental scholars and from the intimate and
international character of the learning of the time that
Bacon knew these very works either directly or indirectly.
A careful comparison of the two Utopias definitely eliminates
any suggestion of mere coincidence and makes the mental
kinship of Bacon and Andreae almost indubitable.

of dress in the i6th and 17th centuries at the English court. The
Christianopolis is simpler in this respect, and on like occasions
when great and good men are to be described, speaks of the face
and bearing rather than of the dress. On the other hand, Andreae's
interest in music and art, the fact that he was himself musical and
a critic of art, explain the prominence given in his Utopia to
these features. Such evidences of the personality and environment
of the two authors are noticeable in other parts of their ideal
states, which need not be mentioned.

^ A Latin translation of the Fama appeared as early as 1614, and
it is quite probable that through this version Bacon became ac-
quainted with Andreae's ideas.

CHAPTER IV

THE CHRISTIANOPOLIS AND NOVA SOLYMA

The immediate effect of the Christiano polls in Germany
was not so great as might have been expected; it did not
become the pattern for other works of a similar nature, nor
was its publication received with startling enthusiasm. This
will not seem so strange, however, when we remember that
Andreae was as yet not very well known as a writer and
had only local reputation as a man of ability and knowl-
edge of social and religious conditions. His chief works
previous to this time had been published anonymously and he
himself stood decidedly in the background. An additional
explanation for the fact that the Christiano polis met with
seemingly little success, will be found in the horrors of the
Thirty Years' War, with its wholesale slaughter of citi-
zens, destruction of property, devastation of whole sections
of countries, and dissipation of the vital strength of the
German states. Such conditions were not conducive to the
composing of '* ideal states," nor encouraging even to the
studying of works that were calculated to reform church,
state, and school system. Germany had first to recover
sufficiently from the effects of the war to be able to plan
calmly for future improvement. Thus we find that while the
production of More, a man of national fame, had been en-
thusiastically received by his own countrymen, read, re-
edited, and even committed to memory,^ Andreae's Chris-
^ Morley : Ideal Commonwealths^ Introduction, p. 7.
75

"jd Christianopolis

tianopoUs, the work of a private citizen, pastor, and teacher
in a small community, was covered up and all but lost and
forgotten.

In England social and political conditions were not in
the same state of actual turmoil either at the time when
the Christianopolis was published or during the decades
immediately following. While the country was politically
unsettled and almost on the verge of civil rupture, it was
not actually being devastated by war. On the contrary, the
national mind was occupied with just such problems of edu-
cational and social improvement. The elements of reform
took root sufficiently to survive the shock of civil war when
it did come. It will become evident that Andreae's ideas on
education and science, as contained in the Christianopolis,
were carried over to England by some of his friends and
admirers at home; and that the atmosphere there proved
more conducive than in Germany to their further develop-
ment and ultimate practical application. It is a remarkable
fact that seventeenth-century England produced a number
of Utopias. Whether this is due to an exceptional inclina-
tion of the English mind toward the Utopia, or whether it is
to be explained by the state of religious agitation of this
period and widely spread chiliastic hopes of the religious
sects, it is difficult to decide.

Among the half-dozen Utopias, then, that were produced
on English soil, one in particular has an especial claim
upon our consideration^ — first, because it shows some new
features in the development of Utopias as yet little no-
ticed by those who have concerned themselves with this
subject; and secondly, because it bears a close relation to
the work which forms the center of the present dis-
cussion.

Nova Solyma appeared anonymously in 1648. It was

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma "j^j

written in Latin, consisted of six books, and bore on the
title page only the words :

Novae Solymae Libri Sex.
Londoni Typis Joannis Legati MDCXLVIII

The following year a second edition was issued in which the
title was supplemented by the words '' Sive Institutio Chris-
Hani/' followed by a heading for each of the six books. It
is also noted that the work was printed for Thomas Under-
bill, among whose books it is catalogued in the British Mu-
seum. No further notice seems to have been taken of Nova
Solyma. At least we find no reference to it in the literature
of the period. In 1902, however, the entire work appeared,
translated into English, accompanied by a long introduction
and with elaborate notes. The editor of this publication was
the Reverend Walter Begley. In his commentaries Mr.
Begley makes a very thorough comparison of Nova Solyma
with the various works of John Milton, and cites innumer-
able detailed examples of construction, style, vocabulary,
phraseology and thought, to prove that Milton was the au-
thor of this work. Begley divides his argument into a
series of proofs — proofs from music, poetry, pedagogy, and
so forth, and finally proof by elimination. Then in his con-
clusion he states : " The authorship of this romance must
clearly be confined to a very small class of men. Neither
Shakespeare nor Bacon could by any possibility have pro-
duced such a book as this even if the date allowed the sup-
position. No one but a first-rate Latinist could have writ-
ten our romance. . . . As a matter of fact the book could
not have been written by any then-living Englishman except
such men as Alexander Ross, Phineas Fletcher, Dr. Duport,
Thomas May, Thomas Farnaby, Andrew Marvell, Cleve-
land, Cowley, Crashaw, and men of that stamp of erudition.

78 Christianopolis

Now let any scholar try this list of names severally, by the
contents of Nova Solyma — by its tone, its sentiment, its
opinions, its sublimities both in prose and verse, its main-
tained seriousness, its religious principles, and its inde-
pendent theories, — then I think these names will disappear
from the list of probable candidates, and they will be
weeded out one by one till all are gone.'* Milton, there-
fore, he concludes, must be the author of the book.

Quite by accident it has become known that, while Milton
may have influenced the work to some degree, the real au-
thor was quite another person — a man of whom Begley
probably never heard. Stephen K. Jones ^ states that while
collating Baxter's Holy Commonwealth he happened to
notice among the books printed for Thomas Underbill, a list
of three, whose author was Samuel Gott. The first one of
these was the Nova Solyma.

Samuel Gott is a man almost entirely unknown to-day,
and mentioned in none of the encyclopedias or histories of
literature. He was born in 1613. His father, also Samuel
Gott, was a dealer in iron, and seems to have been a man
of some means, for in 1640 his name is mentioned among
those merchants from whom the king hoped to borrow
money. The younger Gott completed the Merchants'
Tailors' School and continued his education at St. Cath-
erine's College, Cambridge. Here he took the bachelor's
degree in 1632. The following year he became a member
of the Society of Gray's Inn and in 1640 was admitted to
the bar. There is no evidence that he ever practiced law.
After his father's death in 1642, he married, retired to a
country estate, and lived privately until shortly before the
time of the return of the Stuarts. After a few years' resi-
dence in London, during which time he was elected an

* The Library, July, 1910, p. 225.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 79

" Ancient," he again withdrew to his home at Battle, where
in all probability he stayed until his death, which occurred
in 1671.

Begley in his argument for Milton's authorship of Nova
Solyma speaks ^ of the prominent part which was being
played at this time in England by four men, all close
friends and associates of Milton. These men, John Dury,
Samuel Hartlib, Theodore Haacke, and William Petty, will
be considered more closely in the following chapter.
They were all vitally interested in the general subject
of education; they were the ones who kept agitating
the subject of the founding of a society for the study of
the natural sciences. It was Hartlib to whom Milton ad-
dressed his Tractate on Education in 1644. It was Hart-
lib who became more and more interested in the idea of
a " reformation work " and in 1647 presented to the High
Court of Parliament certain considerations on reformed edu-
cation and the redressing of public evils for the advance-
ment of God's *' Universal Kingdom " and the general com-
munion of His saints. These are phrases that occur in
Nova Solyma ^ and are, as Begley points out, favorite ex-
pressions with Hartlib and Dury in their doctrine of unity
in churches. In 1649, the year after the first issue of Nova
Solyma, Hartlib edited a work by Dury, in which the latter
begins by saying: "We (referring to his group of investi-
gators) are upon the design of a public reformation;
herein everybody is one way or another, if not engaged yet
concerned, some more, some less, some in private, some in
a public way." ^ Now, as has been stated, Gott took his
degree from Cambridge in 1632. This was also the year in
which John Milton completed his course at the same institu-

* Begley, op. cit, I, pp. 311 ff. ' I, p. 86.

^ Nova Solyma, I, p. 313.

8o Christianopolis

tion. There can hardly be any doubt that Gott was ac-
quainted and closely associated during the succeeding years
with the same group of men as was Milton, especially since
he was constantly at work on the same problems, as his
authorship of Nova Solyma proves, which were occupying
their minds. But these very men were the warmest ad-
mirers of Comenius, the friend and co-worker of Andreae,
and even corresponded with Andreae himself.^ Hence all
the arguments brought out by Begley (and they are many)
to prove that Milton must have written Nova Solyma, be-
cause he knew Hartlib, Dury, and the others well, and
because so many of the ideas contained in the work are
clearly theirs — this argument and testimony have now
double effect in proving the connection between Nova
Solyma and Andreae, since Gott, through these men, had
direct relations to Andreae and his group.

The Utopia now to be considered shows a number of dif-
ferences from all those that have preceded. It is not a
brief summary of laws, education, religion, and customs — a
description of conditions in an ideal city, with the evident
and one purpose of making these known. But in Nova
Solyma we have a long romance, with various characters
and incidents — love, rivalry, robbery, bloodshed, pageants,
and feasts, with scenes shifting to different countries, even
continents — all interwoven and combined in a novel of
somewhat modern type. Yet it is didactic throughout, and
built up on a system of education — a moral and a religious
code which are always discernible. That Gott meant to
teach certain truths, and merely clothed them in the dress
of romance to make the whole easy and interesting reading,
is plain from the titles of the six books which are given
on the first page of the second (1649) issue. For the au-

^ M. C. G., II, p. 236.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 8i

thor, the important facts are summed up: i) Boys. 2) The
creation of the world. 3) Youth. 4) Sin. 5) The age of
the adult. 6) The redemption of man. And in fact these
single words contain the kernel of the respective books.

Two young men, students at Cambridge, have heard of
the famous republic in the East, and being filled with a
desire to learn of the place first-hand, they set out without
the consent of their parents and arrive at Nova Solyma,
after having on the way taken into their services a young
man who proves to be the son of the chief ruler of the city,
and the hero of the story. It might be noted here that
Nova Solyma is evidently on the site of the biblical Jeru-
salem. This statement is not made definitely, but several
references would strongly imply it. The young Cambridge
students^ (and later their father also),- on leaving Dover,
take ship for Joppa. In the second instance, the journey is
made from Joppa to Nova Solyma on horses, and requires a
considerable part of one day. Now as Joppa is the nearest
seaport to Jerusalem and as the distance is thirty or thirty-
five miles, the locations of Jerusalem and Nova Solyma
might well be the same. The description of the place cor-
responds with that of Jerusalem, Nova Solyma being built on
a hill (possibly on hills ).^ The walls "stand four square "
and there are twelve gates named after the twelve tribes, as
in the biblical account.* It is stated that " not a vestige of
the old Solyma remains, but its glories are renewed on a
larger scale." ^ Furthermore, the return of the Jews after
their conversion was to be to the city of Jerusalem, and this
was the indication of the Millennium.^

To continue the narrative, these young men are hos-

* I, P- 98. * Ezekiel xlviii, 31, and Revelation xxi, 12.

MI, p. 181. "Cf. Luke xix, 44.

" 1, p. 78. " Jeremiah xxxi, 8 ff.

82 Christianopolis

pitably taken up and taught the principles by which the
inhabitants of Nova Solyma govern their lives. The visi-
tors make many mistakes and at such times are kindly cor-
rected by their host. In the course of their stay they visit
the schools and are given information as to the system of
education — elementary and advanced — by v^^hich the youth
is trained. They also attend festivities and celebrations,
witness death-bed scenes and funerals, and become ac-
quainted with a representative number of persons in the
city. A love affair, whose beginning dates from the first
day they spend in Nova Solyma, continues throughout the
story, and culminates in the marriage of the two young
men to the daughters of their friend and host — the chief
ruler.

This is in very brief the romance — occupying in time ex-
actly one year, the annual pageant following immediately
upon the general election being used to introduce as well as
to conclude the story. The events themselves, by no means
uninterestingly told, are interspersed, sometimes even inter-
rupted, by lectures, religious teachings, moral discourses,
recitations of poetry, by hymns and songs. Individuals tell
the outward events of their lives, as well as their inner ex-
periences. It is thus that the reader becomes acquainted
with the history of the state, and those facts and principles
which the author wishes to make known — the proper rela-
tion which should exist between man and man, the object of
education, and the relation of the individual to the state — the
extreme importance of a clean, religious life. It will be the
purpose of this chapter to summarize the teachings of Nova
Solyma, and compare them in essentials with those of
the Christianopolis, with which they have so much in com-
mon, and upon which they seem to be based.

It might well be supposed that Gott, living in the same

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 83

country with Francis Bacon, whose New Atlantis had been
pubHshed some twenty years earlier and had been wel-
comed with such great enthusiasm at home and in other
countries, would model his novel upon the Utopia of his
already famous fellow-countryman. And it is not the pur-
pose here to deny that Bacon's ideal state did have its in-
fluence upon, and help to furnish material and ideas for
Gott. There are numerous traces of such an influence in
the form and in the content of Nova Solyma. But in the
main, Gott's object was an entirely different one from that
of Bacon, and in this main object Gott has followed quite
a different model. The most important points in Gott's
mind were neither law (to which Bacon intended to devote
the second half of his work, had he been able to complete
it) nor yet scientific discovery and invention as such, to
which, however, he does pay some attention as an element
in his chief general scheme. Gott's highest aim is the
plan of a system of education, beginning with children, and
continuing through life, resulting in a broad, full, and
complete development for the individual, in the field and
the directions for which he is best adapted by natural
talents; and thus furnishing capable and energetic citizens
for the community, able and willing to discharge their
proper obligations to neighbor, state, and God. While it
is true that no specific statement is made regarding the edu-
cation of girls, the implication is very strong that they are
not neglected. For the two sisters of the hero are well-
bred, well-developed, physically and mentally, and entirely
fit to associate with the men of the family and their guests.
Furthermore, the two boys of the family are, until their
tenth year, under the partial charge and tutorage of a
matron,^ whose experience is thought beneficial to their

^ I, pp. 109-128.

84 Christianopolis

early years. In the pages just referred to, she tells the
boys a long story — a fairy tale — to impress upon them les-
sons of right and wrong, and to instruct how to distinguish
between them " by the critical faculty." It is hardly likely
that boys, the importance of the education of whose early
years is mentioned several times, would be left in the care
of ignorant and untrained individuals. One cannot agree
entirely, then, with Begley's statement ^ when he says,
that throughout the whole work, as also in preceding writ-
ings of the sort, " girls are entirely ignored," even though
the reference to their education is only by implication.

Gott's system of education begins with the children. The
two sons of the chief man in the city are taken as examples,
because the visitors are staying at the home of the latter,
while in the city, and naturally come into contact with the
members of his family circle. These boys are respectively
nine and ten years of age. They have been in the care
of women as well as men, that they might get advantages of
the kindness of the one and the firmness of the other sex.
'' As soon as children can stand on their feet and begin to
walk, they are taught to do so, gracefully and firmly "
..." after that we practice running. . . . Dancing,
swimming, archery and such like pursuits receive atten-
tion." ^ . . . " And thus we do not, like the Europeans,
regard culture as consisting mainly in the accomplish-
ments and training of the mind, and take hardly any
account of the body; nor yet like the barbarians do we
dispense with all mental training and book learning because
we share their high opinion of a strong and enduring
frame. We follow the glorious examples of the Greeks and
Romans and pay our regard to both mind and body." ^
" Our highest endeavor is to kindle into flame the spark

^ I, p. 94; note. ^I, p. 91. * I» P- Qi.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 85

of genius that may be latent in each; for we cannot hope
that those who only follow the trite and vulgar pursuits
of the mob, can ever be so fired with enthusiasm as to
dare, I will not say to do, any truly great and noble act.
Meanwhile we season their minds with the salt of sober-
ness and self-restraint, lest by want of it they should fall into
the splendid sins of the pagan world." ^

Grammar and mathematics are taught early, as these
sciences have close connection with daily life; and they
are taught as much as may be objectively. They also
'* attach importance to the proper exercise of faith and
imagination." ^ Impurity and dishonesty are rooted out, or
rather prevented by anticipation. So the children are
brought up to worship God and love their country, reverence
parents and elders, and treat each other with considera-
tion. And an effort is made that this form of education
be made available to as many children as possible. " Our
plan is to have prudent men of experience who can be
questioned and consulted — who are, so to speak, inspec-
tors and directors of education. And besides these we
have public discourses held frequently in all parts of the
land, not only of a religious nature, but on ethics, the
family life, and such topics. And so you see our educa-
tion gives an entrance to the family circle ; and although
it cannot be successful everywhere, still if anyone is gifted
with abilities out of the common, it looks after him and
looks after his career. No one with natural endowments
of a higher order is allowed to remain unnoticed and
neglected from the obscurity of his birth, as is so often
the case elsewhere. Nor are the less gifted despised on
that account and reckoned unworthy of such educational
care. Indeed we use especial endeavors in their case that

* I, p. 93. ' I, p. 94.

86 Christianopolis

they may be able at least to rise to the full height of
their capacity." ^

Thus far the matter has been one of the preliminary edu-
cation at home. The second stage in the education of the
youth is the entrance into the public academy.^ The reader
is introduced to this, by accompanying the older brother and
his two visiting friends as they take the ten-year-old boy to
enter the institution. After some mutual greetings and in-
troductory remarks, the head tutor at the request of the
visitors, outlines their method and courses. He begins,
" The founders of our republic, in their zealous inquiry
how best to establish it on a sound basis, put the educa-
tion of the rising generation in the very forefront of all
means to that end. They held the opinion that good laws,
an effective army, and all the other defenses of a state,
were of comparatively no avail if obedience and benevolence
and the other virtues which tend to the well-being of man-
kind were not early planted in the minds of the young. . . .
Therefore they spared neither skill nor labor nor expense
in properly preparing the ground at this critical period of
youth. Especially did they bestow every care on this great
public school, or academy, intended for the flower of the
age, and to be an example for all other teaching institu-
tions in the land." ^ " The first and chief care is to induce
the religious habit of mind, the next to inculcate the ethical
duties, and the last care (which others make their first)
is a liberal education, both literary and scientific. Our re-
ligious training is mainly directed to the feelings of a
spiritual character." *

When a boy enters the school, the tutors spend as much
time with him as possible to learn his personality — the faults

* I, p. 96. ° I, p. 235.

' I, p. 129. * I, p. 239, pp. 93, 94 of this chapter.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 87

and the vices, the accomplishments and the virtues, as also
the preferences in subjects. By a psychological process of
directing the energies, the evil tendencies can be and are
diverted into different channels, without retarding develop-
ment and growth. Each pupil is considered separately and
treated peculiarly according to his own special needs. He is
trained for that position and occupation in life which will
best suit him, at which he will be able to make greatest
success and be most contented, and which will therefore
make him fit to render the highest possible services to the
community in which he is to live.

In order that one may know the essentials of statecraft
and government, and the duties toward the same, it is neces-
sary to have studied the history of the peoples of past
times. And that this may be done most successfully, it
should be in the language of the peoples themselves. Hence
general instruction is given ^ in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew,
the last named being of course in this city the native
tongue. All are used in daily conversation, sometimes the
one and then the other; for only thus can the real soul of
the language be mastered. Furthermore, the foreign con-
temporary languages are taught, especially those of the
countries with which Nova Solyma comes into commercial
contact. They are not satisfied with a mere makeshift
knowledge ; but exact pronunciation, use of idioms, and the
" genius of the tongue " ^ are carefully sought after. Thus
they not only can carry on all correspondence and conver-
sation with their trade countries, but are not " subject to
ridicule nor exposed to loss of dignity " ^ when using the
foreign tongue ; in reading the works of an author it is not
the exact translation of a word that counts, but " the
M, pp. 245, 246. * I, p. 246. ' I, p. 246.

88 Christianopolis

' genius ' of the work is revealed and the book, so to speak,
becomes ahve — not a mere dead letter." ^

Specialization takes place in the education of each indi-
vidual when he becomes ready for it; and such specializa-
tion is in the direction in which the greatest talent, interest,
and ability have been shown. In the school of letters and
art,^ prizes are offered for proficiency in style of writing,
rhetoric (by which are to be understood oratory and
debate), poetry, drama, and the novel. "Rhetoric within
the bounds of prudent restraints is a most powerful
weapon, and can be turned to the highest use." ^ This is the
opening sentence of a long eulogy upon rhetoric in which
the tutor mentions its many practical applications. The
artificial flourishes of the haranguer are scorned, as well as
bombast and '' logical puzzles " in writing. Poetry is one
of the highest forms of literature, and it is taught to all
students. For though only few become expert, yet the
training in it gives a touch of refinement which is not to be
attained in any other way.* The poetry of Nova Solyma
is entirely of a religious nature, and excellent examples of
adaptations of the psalms, as well as original themes, epic
and dramatic, are to be found in the records of the school.
In his discussion of the novel, the author permits to be seen
his objections to the cheap love-stories that at the time
were being circulated — to a considerable extent imported
from Spain or built upon the picaresque model. The ideal
of the novel in Nova Solyma is that of a book (the name
of book and author being concealed) whose argument is the

' I, p. 247.
^ I, p. 250.

" I, p. 253.

* Poetry plays the same part in Gott's system of education that
painting does in Andreae's (cf. p. 36, above, and Christianopolis,
chap, xlviii).

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 89

history of a life that is free, that has received a liberal
education and has been well and religiously brought up.
The story keeps within the limits of human possibility,
and deals as a rule with those in the middle ranks of life
" who are the best and certainly not the least numerous."
It is, then, a biographical, realistic production in the
'' Biirger " life that Gott would recommend. There are
certain pupils who, after reasonable effort, show that they
are not adapted to a literary career. These are trained
to some craft, or find useful employment in farming.

The beginning of all education is nature. This is true
whether the matter in hand be a subject like public speak-
ing (where, as has already been seen, naturalness is the
first requirement) or whether it be in the line of scientific
research. " Human ingenuity produces certain extras, but
from no other source than nature do they come. For
what, I pray, can a cook or a physician or a chemist pro-
duce except the preparation or the distillation of natural
products? Nay more, the most peculiar and admirable
results of art, if we thoroughly look into them, we shall
find to be commonplace and inconsiderable ; for indeed, the
very best of them, have been discovered rather than in-
vented." ^ " And religion too has its original foundation
in the very bosom of nature." ^

In answer to the question '' Do you then wish us all to
become philosophers and adepts in the chemistry of na-
ture?" the tutor informs his visitor, "Yes I do, if you are
such adepts as to be able to extract the meaning of the
divine goodness, and such philosophers as to look at com-
mon things with no common views. Philosophers have
been wont to let their studies end in the desire for knowl-
edge and fame only, and have not used them as they ought,

' I, p. 165. ' I, p. 225.

go Christianopolis

to God's praise and glory. Now the special advantage of
natural science is to rise from nature to nature's God, trac-
ing His footsteps everywhere therein." ^ And nature fur-
nishes a spectacle worthy of the deeper consideration of the
inward eye.

The physical development of the boys at academy or
college is not neglected. There is a gymnasium, in and near
which all kinds of " exercises and games are practiced —
running, leaping, games of ball and the quoit, swimming in
the baths, riding, drilling, marching," ^ and so on ; in these
the students are not only encouraged, but obliged to take
part. At all such regular athletic sports masters are present
to assist and coach, as well as to check any improper be-
havior ; '' for nowhere is a boy's natural disposition more
clearly discovered than when in excited play."^

As advanced work for students * who have already ob-
tained their degree in arts, two lecture halls are provided
— the one in which lectures are heard in philosophy and
civil prudence, the other which is fitted up and equipped
for theology, medicine, and jurisprudence. Only the very
best professors and lecturers are engaged, and at the high-
est salaries, to superintend the work here; and students
are given more liberty than in their previous years. A
word should be said here also concerning the type of teach-
ers employed in all the grades of the schools, and the
standing of such men. The following description is given
by the visitors who are being conducted through the school
by the head master : " The tutor was well advanced in
years, of grave and commanding appearance; but his kind
eyes, pleasant voice, and sweet expression all pointed to the
best of dispositions. The inhabitants of Nova Solyma do not

' I, p. 171. ' I» p. 304.

' I, p. 304. * n, p. 7.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 91

hold schoolmasters in contempt, as so many other nations
do, nor do they class them simply as superior servants, who
have to see chiefly that the children are kept safe and do
not get into mischief. On the contrary, they are classed
with the chief magistrates of the nation ; and especially are
those schoolmasters held in honor who have charge of the
young and untrained, for they are invested with the Order
of the Sun, appropriately enough too; for the sun is the
dispeller of all darkness, and renders possible the active
duties of life." ^

Closely identified with the educational system, is the
religious training ; and hand in hand with the latter goes the
use of music. Nova Solyma ^ is a city of christianized
Jews. After a long, wandering, and unsettled life, caused
by *' that most awful deed of crime committed by the fore-
fathers," the chosen people again find themselves under one
government. For a " sudden flash of divine light " re-
moved the " stubborn mental darkness " that had existed.
And it is now fifty years since the nation has been restored
to prosperity and contentment. Here appears the chiliastic
character of the Utopia.

The highest ideal in life is the religious ideal. '' Even
as knowledge is the servant of morality, so both are true
servants of religion." ^ One of the chief themes of the story
is the enlightenment and complete conversion of the two
young men who have sought out the republic from a desire
to know its inner life. Apollos, Joseph, and Jacob — the
three chief religious teachers mentioned — take every occa-
sion to turn the thoughts of the young men to a realization
of the importance of the future life. Two death-bed scenes
are used for this purpose also. Here are shown the agony
of a sinful soul near the moment of its departure from the

*I, p. 234. M, p. 88. • I, p. 306.

92 Christianopolis

earth ; ^ and the contentment and peacef ulness of one at the
time of death whose life has been an attempt to coincide
with the Divine Will.^

'' Inner hght/* " inner feeling," and " revelation " are
expressions often used. " Flashes of light/' ^ " Excess of
heavenly light," * " Dark places made plain as it were by the
light of heaven," ^ " true renewed life of the soul, and a
lively exercise and warm experience of faith," ^ " that inner
life of the soul," ^ '' the fierce light of all sciences," ^ " the
sweetness and light of the intellectual life," ^ '' We believe
every good gift cometh from the same source of divine
light," ^^ " Tis true, I see sometimes a slight ray of
omnipotent grace flitting across the darkness of my night,
with frequent flashes as from some tiny crevice," ^^ " The
light of divine favor seemed to beam on his soul," ^^ '' The
only authority in all cases is divine truth," ^^ " like rays of
heavenly light breaking through their former gloom," ^*
" Clear light of heaven into my poor dark soul," ^^ " And
each glorified saint shall give forth, as doth a lantern, its
own inner light," ^^ are a few of the very frequent refer-
ences to the subject.

There are long discourses, lectures, and private talks on
religious and philosophical subjects — the origin of the
world,^'' origin of evil in the world,^^ discourse on the sab-
bath,^® prayer,2° conception of God.^^ And all point to one
conclusion: The true religion is that of Jesus Christ; real
happiness consists in adapting of the will to that of God.

* II, p. i8o. ' I, p. 227. " II, p. 217.

' II, p. 67. ° I, p. 238. " 11, pp. 219 and 220.

' I, p. 88. " I, p. 245. " I. P- 178, and II, p. 9.

* I, p. 195. " n, p. 168. " II, p. 26.

» I, p. 222. " II, p. 196. " II, p. 190.

" I, p. 223. " II, p. 196. '" II, p. 193.

' I, p. 225. " II, p. 207. " II, p. 149.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 93

A pure, active, and unselfish life is the outward evidence of
Christianity within.

" The people of Nova Solyma take great delight in the
art of music." ^ *' It has indeed a subtle influence, yet so
elevating and vehement that it seems to throw an enchant-
ment on the mind, nor has God failed to include this natural
and suitable instrument among the adjuncts of worship.
. . . The human voice is the fittest instrument wherewith
to praise God." ^ In Nova Solyma the singing of psalms
stands next to prayer in religious devotion.

The educational system, the religious views, and the
proper use of music have now been outlined as they exist
in Nova Solyma. A comparison of these with the views
held by the inhabitants of Christianopolis will show like-
nesses that cannot fail to point to a knowledge on the
part of Gott of the *' Christian state " of Andreae. Though
involving some slight repetition of the material of a preced-
ing chapter, it will be necessary to cite a few references from
the Christianopolis. Where a subject has been discussed
in previous chapters, a page reference merely will be given.

The most striking similarity is found in the very kernel
of the educational systems of the two Utopias. In the
Nova Solyma the essence of the system is twice mentioned,
once in detail ^ and once in substance.* The Christianopolis
gives the same thought exactly, and almost the identical
words and phraseology.^ " The most important duty is to
reverence God with a pure and worshipful soul; next, to
cultivate pious and unsullied morals, and finally to train the
mind." In both instances there is added in parentheses as

^ I, p. 103.

' 11, p. 195.

' I, p. 239, and p. 86 of this chapter.

* I, p. 88, and p. 91 of this chapter.

* Chap. liv.

94 Christianopolis

an afterthought : ''" This order is regularly inverted in the
world." It would not be surprising that these two men,
religious in their make-up, should put religion first in im-
portance in their Utopias ; nor need it be startling even, that
the other two items should follow in the same order. But
inasmuch as in both Utopias this particular matter is taken
as the basis for all the rest, the prominence given to the
statements and the exact similarity of the means of expres-
sion cease to appear as a mere coincidence.

Up to the age of six in the Christianopolis, ten in the
Nova Solyma, children are educated at home. At this
period they are given over by their parents to the public
boarding school, but with earnest prayer.^ So also the
Christianopolis: " Youth the most valuable treasure of the
republic," ^ and " Not without fervent prayer." ^ And in
Nova Solyma: " Youth the most important item in the
state." *

As in Nova Solyma ^ so in Christianopolis, the instruc-
tors are men of the highest talent and ability, and the
description tallies remarkably. In the latter, instructors are
of " mature years, virtuous, upright, industrious ; " they de-
velop the pupils, are held in high esteem, and are capable
in their departments.^ Here as there, the pupils are kept
under close observation and taught as individuals.

In the study of languages, the same principles and pur-
poses exactly are mentioned. In the Christianopolis,'^ as
has already been seen in Nova Solyma,^ the classics and the

'^ Nova Solyma, I, p. 239 ; p. 86 of this chapter.

^ Chap. Ixxix.

' Chap. liii.

^ I, p. 235 ; p. 86 of this chapter.

^ I, p. 234; pp. 90, 91 of this chapter.

* Chaps. Hi, liii, and liv.

' Chap. Ivii.

^ I, pp. 245 f. ; p. 87 of this chapter.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 95

modern languages are taught — the former, to prepare men
to understand ancient civilization, the latter that inter-
course with other states may be facilitated. They also
learn the languages rapidly; and are surprised that Euro-
peans waste years in acquiring one language. And here
again, the essence and concrete meaning of the language is
considered more important than the abstract grammar.

Rhetoric ^ is emphasized — but not the unnatural applica-
tion of it. " Without the natural gift (natura) the accom-
plishment is tasteless, and shows rather something forced,
than ingenious." Poetry and music are in Christianopolis,
as in Nova Solyma, auxiliary forces to religion. " Choral
singing, and singing and chanting of psalms play an im-
portant part in private as in public worship." With them ^
music is no small part of the worship. ** They praise God
especially with words (that is, singing), then also with
harps . . . and all kinds of instruments." ^

In both cities the colleges of theology, medicine, and
law * are located closely together and are so treated. They
are for the advanced students. Students in the Chris-
tianopolis have courses in physical training ^ as in Nova
Solyma. The same forms of exercise are employed, and
under strict superintendency.^

The similarities in religious matters as such, the sacra-
ments, baptism and the Lord's Supper,'' prayer, worship
forms, and so forth, have been sufficiently discussed and

^ Chap. Ivi ; cf . also p. 32, above.

' Chap, Ixxxv.

' Cf. Nova Solyma, II, p. 195 ; p. 93 of this chapter.

* Christianopolis, chaps. Ixxvii, Ixxviii, and Ixxix; Nova Solyma,
11, p. 7.

" Christianopolis, chap. liv.

* Nova Solyma, I, p. 304 ; p. 84 of this chapter.

"^ Christianopolis, chap. Ixxxvi; Nova Solyma, II, p. 198; pp. 91, 92
of this chapter.

96 Christianopolis

require no further comparisons. Politics, society, family re-
lations, and so forth, are wonderfully alike in both states.
The governments are democratic, built up on principles of
liberty; and the note of freedom is loudly sounded through-
out. So in Nova Solyma, "If any humanly authorized
power denies this principle (that is, of liberty and re-
ligion), it is the people's duty to resist and death itself
is to be chosen in preference to such an unjust and mon-
strous tyranny." ^ " Liberty of judgment is conceded to
us, and recommended." ^ '' We have indeed liberty of
will." ^ In the Christianopolis " Christian freedom, there-
fore, cannot tolerate even restrictions, much less threats." *
Yet this feeling of freedom does not in any way lean
toward license, is not at all anarchistic. It is the inner
freedom that regulates the individual will, and makes
it voluntarily obedient to a just, higher authority. Hence
also patriotism is strongly developed. Of this there are
numerous suggestions. In Nova Solyma " That he must
needs relieve his mind in a joyous song of home and
fatherland." ^ Again, " The affairs of the state should
have a special call upon us." ^ '' We are joined in family
and state by the closest ties." And in the Christianopolis
" Those who have deserved well of their native country
have here an enviable reputation." "

The home life in Nova Solyma follows the same prin-
ciple as in the Christianopolis. Filial obedience is the rule.
Children are polite and respectful.^ The disrespect shown
by the two Cambridge students in leaving Europe for the
East without the knowledge of their parents, is severely
rebuked by Jacob — the chief ruler of Nova Solyma. Again

^ I, p. 224. * Chap. xix. ^ Chap. xli.

MI, p. 196. "I,?. 175. M,P. 99.

' II, p. 170. " I, p. 243.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 97

the parting of father and son ^ when the ten-year-old boy-
leaves for academy, is indicative of the closest ties between
the two. Even after the children grow up they are expected
to look to parents for advice and suggestion. So Joseph,
the grown son of Jacob, says, '' that he is not yet independent
of paternal authority, and is simply a member of the family
council." 2 And at the time of marriage, the consent of the
parents of both parties is necessary. ** Now since marriage
is in a way the granting of freedom to one's children, and
sending them forth into a new colony or home, it not
only requires the consent of the parents, but before that,
it requires that they should be consulted. . . . Certainly
it can scarcely be expected, that God will approve of that
marriage of which the parents disapprove." ^ These ideas
of filial obedience and marriage have been brought out in the
Christianopolis already. Marriage is then a sacred institu-
tion sanctioned and approved by parents and by God ; and
patience must be exercised to make it happy. So in the
Christianopolis, '' Their friends recommend to the newly
married couple. Unity, work, moderation, but primarily
piety and patience." * In Nova Solyma '' Discords can be
smoothed out by care and patience." ^ Self-control and
patience are urged in all matters, as the chief virtue.
** Nothing is more worthy than to control oneself/' ^ " The
man who can rule himself is the greatest of all command-
ers." ^ '' To acquire the position of a ruler among men, one
must begin by ruling himself — that is the first great requi-
site." ^ In the Christianopolis, " The glory of con-
quest over one's passions/' ^ " make effort to control our

* I, p. 231. ' II, p. 208.

' I, p. 207. * Nova Solyma, II, p. 130.

' II, p. 205. ' Nova Solyma, II, p. 125.

* Chap. Ixxxviii. * Nova Solyma, II, p. 120.

"Chap, xlviii.

^8 Christianopolis

anger," ^ " to be patient in distasteful affairs." ^ The scenes
around the death-bed are similarly described^ — exhorta-
tion, prayer and encouragement, and contentment, if the
departing one is at peace with God.

Several minor and unrelated points will be but hastily
mentioned: The library and the armory are adjacent. In
both cases the visitors are led through (or past) the one, to
get to the other.* " Mars and Pallas," says Nova Solyma,
'' should not be too far separated." But in both Chris-
tianopolis and Nova Solyma " the pest of war " is a neces-
sary evil. " Nor is it only that one man becomes a pest to
another, but vast multitudes of men, sworn in under a
deadly compact, fitted out with all the weapons of destruc-
tion, . . . are led forth to lay waste a country, to burn its
cities, and to slaughter its principal people; and the more
terror they cause, and the greater ravages they commit, so
much the more do they boast and triumph in such deeds;
and their names are handed down to posterity loaded with
honor, this glorious condition being kept up, perhaps to
cover the vile atrocities of our ancestors from the researches
of later generations, or to encourage posterity to rise to
like wicked barbarity." ^ And in the Christianopolis,
" When other nations are accustomed to pride themselves
with their cannon and war equipment, these people look
upon all their heaps of murderous weapons with horror." ^

As in keeping with the other customs of home life, the
families of Nova Solyma, as has already been noticed in

* Chap. xxix.
^ Chap, xliii.

^ Nova Solyma, II, pp. 67, 180; cf. p. 91 of this chapter, and
Christianopolis, chap. xcix.

* Christianopolis, chaps, xxxix, xl; Nova Solyma, I, p. 243.
^ Nova Solyma, II, p. 38.

« Chap, xl.

The Christianopolis and Nova Solyma 99

the case of Christianopolis, take their meals in their pri-
vate houses and at a family table.

The description of the gardens and the various hues and
colors of flowers therein ^ is almost identical, indeed whole
sections in this connection are very similar.

It would be possible to carry on the process of likenesses
to a much further degree, but this would be tedious and
entirely unnecessary. The general plan of the two works has
undoubtedly been shown to be one ; the system of education
and the ethics of life — the important points in the minds of
both authors — must surely be recognized as the same. (In
the former especially, Bacon's New Atlantis could not
have been the pattern for Nova Solyma.) And enough
parallels have been cited to show direct relation between
the two. When it is remembered that Gott himself was in
all probability in the circle of Andreae's best friends and
warmest admirers — Dury, Hartlib, Comenius, and others —
and that he was interested in exactly the same sort of a
reformation of society as was Andreae, and hence would
eagerly make inquiry of his friends regarding all possible
writings along the line of his work — the evidence that Gott
actually knew Andreae's Christianopolis becomes too strong
to deny.

* Christianopolis, chap, xciv ; Nova Solyma, I, p. i6a.

V

ANDREAE, THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,
AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM

In tracing the probable effect of Andreae's teachings
upon the development of education, and especially the agi-
tation which resulted in the foundation of societies for
the investigation of the experimental sciences in England,
it will be necessary first of all to consider his relations to
certain prominent contemporary educators in Germany and
abroad.^ Among these, Johann Amos Comenius will occupy
an important place. He was born in 1592 in Nivnitz, Hun-
gary, but received his education for the most part in Ger-
many. Having completed his preparatory work at the Latin
school in Herborn, Nassau, he entered the University of
Heidelberg, and after a brief stay in the Netherlands,
returned home, taking up a position as instructor in 1614.

^ G. Waterhouse, in a recent publication (see bibliography), dis-
cusses the literary relation of England and Germany in the seven-
teenth century. After asserting the superiority of German literature
over English in the sixteenth century, and stating that England
paid back the debt in the eighteenth, he continues (Introduction,
xii, xiii) that '' German literature of the seventeenth century is
not worth reading for its own sake " ; that " vernacular literature is
practically unknown," that " the beginning of the century is for Ger-
many a period of absolute stagnation." This is speaking somewhat
extremely, as none of these statements is quite true. That certain
works of Comenius, for instance, were considered important even
in England will be shown later in this chapter ; also that he as well
as Andreae wrote in German and advocated the use of the vernacu-
lar at the same time that Bacon was having his English works trans-
lated into Latin so that they might better survive the effects of time.

100

The Royal Society and Educational Reform ioi

He was later (after he attained the required age) ordained
at Fulnek. During the years of the invasion of the Span-
ish armies, hundreds of prominent Bohemians were driven
out of the country; and in 1627 Comenius, accompanied by
a part of his congregation, withdrew to Poland. He took
up his abode in Lissa, having added to his ministerial duties,
that of director of the local " Gymnasium." In 1613 ap-
peared his first work of importance, Janua Linguarum
Reserata — which made him famous throughout Europe.
This deals entirely with a reform for contemporary educa-
tion. His next publication, the Didactica Magna, shows
his interest also in the rebuilding of the whole system of
scientific research and secured for him a call from Sweden
to superintend a reform of the school system. But he was
more attracted by an invitation extended by the British
Parliam.ent to come to England. The invitation had been
procured through the activity of Samuel Hartlib, who had
opened a correspondence with Comenius, and had caused
to be published the latter's Prodromus Pansophiae. In
1 641, then, Comenius came to London. While political
conditions in England did not at the time admit of the form-
ing of any permanent organization according to Comenius's

Waterhouse states that the influence of English literature on Weck-
herlin, Morhof, and Schupp was great. This is undoubtedly true
(Weckherlin hved in England more than thirty years!), but that
there was also a powerful current in the other direction, through
the same and other individuals, is not mentioned. Only three lines
are devoted to Hartlib, whose great activity in many fields cannot
be overestimated. While Waterhouse records the English transla-
tions of Jakob Boehme's works he seems to have no knowledge of
the remarkable and widespread influence which German mysticism
had upon seventeenth-century England, and the names of men such
as Sebastian Franck, Kaspar von Schwenckfeld, Valentin Weigel,
and Andreae are not even mentioned in his book. See Margaret L.
Bailey : Milton and Jakob Boehme, New York, Oxford University
Press, 1914.

I02 Christianopolis

plans, his visit brought him into association with some of
the most learned men of the time. Among these are to be
counted Hartlib himself, John Dury, and perhaps Milton.
At any rate, the latter's Tractate on Education, published
in 1644 and dedicated to Hartlib, shows a strong tendency
toward Comenius's views on this subject. Choosing be-
tween an invitation to France and a second one to Sweden,
Comenius took up his abode at Elbing in 1642, which had at
that time been given over to Sweden. Here he stayed
most of the following eight years, under the patronage of
Oxenstierna, the chancellor. These years, besides being
spent in practical teaching activity, produced the Novis-
sima Linguarum Methodus which, with his earlier men-
tioned works, presents his method in education. The fol-
lowing six years were spent in various parts of Germany
and Hungary. In 1656 he took up his abode in Amsterdam,
where his death took place in 1671. These years were spent
in work upon his Pansophia (which he did not succeed in
completing) ; and the collection of Opera Didactica was
published in 1657.

Comenius's acquaintance with Andreae's productions be-
gan early. As early as 1628 he wrote Andreae of his interest
in the latter's work, and expressed the hope that " Andreae
will not scorn to consider him in the number of his ad-
mirers, disciples, and pupils." ^ The answer was favorable,
and was probably accompanied by a copy of the laws of So-
cietas Christiana. Comenius's next letter requests Andreae,
" That he should not leave the field of battle before he had
trained up successors; advanced age should not hinder the
veteran general from giving the recruits a start. . . ." ^
The letters exchanged between the two were neither regular
nor numerous. Until 1647 there was no further corre-

^ Mohrke, p. 21. ^ Mohrke, p. 21.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 103

spondence. In that year a long letter from Comenius to
Andreae acknowledges favorable comment on the part of
the latter upon Comenius's Pansophia; and refers in turn
with great praise to Andreae 's Theophilus, which Comenius
must have seen at least fifteen years earlier. The friendly
relations between the two were kept up to a great extent by
Hesenthaler, a young friend of both men ; and ^ a regular
exchange of their later works took place. The request for
correspondence, and so forth, was invariably on the side of
Comenius; and Andreae was always offering excuses for
his neglect. At Andreae's death in 1657, Comenius showed
his further respect for him by the use of a motto of An-
dreae's in the publishing of Didactica Magna.

Just to what extent Comenius is dependent upon An-
dreae for his views on education is hard to say. Being
contemporaries and in direct communication with each
other's works, their effect was in all probability to a con-
siderable extent a mutual one. Furthermore, as Mohrke
very rightly says,^ conditions very often cause like ideas
to rise simultaneously in the minds of isolated thinkers.
Especially was this true in this century when the scholars of
Italy, Germany, England, and France were working under
a common world-impulse, developing solutions to the same
great scientific problems.

If we can believe Comenius's words, he was certainly
indebted to Andreae for his most fundamental ideas. He
speaks of Andreae always in the highest terms, and ranks
him among the first of those from whom he received in-
centive and inspiration for his own work. This he men-
tions again and again early in his career, and as late as 1656
in a letter to Hesenthaler he says incidentally while speak-
ing of Andreae, '*. . . for from him I obtained almost the

* Mohrke, pp. 23, 32. ' P. 138.

I04 Christianopolis

very elements of my pansophic thoughts,"^ and he begs
Hesenthaler that he make an effort to secure for him at any
cost all available works of Andreae, many of vi^hich (includ-
ing the Christianopolis) he had once not merely read, but
possessed and had lost in the burning of Lissa by the Poles
in 1656. Hiillemann ^ and Hossbach ^ accept Comenius's
statement of the case, as supplemented by an analysis of
the productions of the two men. Briigel also concludes
his argument on this point with, " Andreae laid the founda-
tion upon which Comenius completed the admirable struc-
ture of his didactic." * On the other hand, there are those
who deny any debt of Comenius to Andreae, and attribute
the similarity in their methods and plans merely to the
general spirit of reform and investigation which conditions
had brought forth.

A comparison of the views of the two would certainly
seem to support the conclusion of Hossbach and the others
who take stand with him, and would justify Comenius
himself in the frank statement he makes regarding his
position with reference to Andreae. Only a few striking
instances will be cited. The different realms in which edu-
cation should be carried on are for Comenius, as stated in
his Didactica, three: sapientia or eruditio, virtus, and
religio — corresponding to the three so-called divisions of
the activity of the soul, intellectus, voluntas, conscientia.
These are also the elementary principles in the Theophilus
and have already been cited from the Christianopolis.^ The
principle of happiness and prosperity of the succeeding
generation provided by a proper care of the youth of to-
day, is developed by both in exactly the same way —
pubHc schools for all children, of both sexes, and of

* Mohrke, p. 34- ^ Pp- 163 f.

* I, p. I. * Mohrke, p. 14.

^ Chap, liv, and pp. 93, 94, above.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 105

all ranks in life ; ^ instructors of the highest possible type
and ability; not merely lecturing, but actual activity and
effort on the part of the pupils. Languages, ancient and
modern, are to be taught, as in the Christianopolis the
former to acquaint the present with ancient civiliza-
tion, the latter for convenience in intercourse with other
nations. Mohrke ^ gives Comenius the advantage in his
insistence upon proficiency in the vernacular. Instances
will be found, however, where Andreae advocates this just
as strongly. " Those are credulous people who would at-
tribute to Latin that it gives greater wisdom than Ger-
man." ^ " What is not clear in Latin or a foreign modern
language, must be explained in the vernacular. It is foolish
to try to learn the former before one is expert in the
latter." * In the chapter relating to schools,^ the word
'' vernacula " occurs three or four times. Again, the oft-
repeated refrain of Comenius and the essence of his method,
" Everything back to nature, and nothing without nature,"
is according to Mohrke ^ not to be found in Andreae, how-
ever closely one may search for it. This cannot be con-
ceded; for such expressions as'' (where the advantage of
efficiency in rhetoric is the theme), " They look more upon
nature than upon art/' are to be found throughout his
works.

Comenius insists upon exercise for the pupils and cleanli-
ness in their quarters. He recommends the same outdoor
sports as does Andreae and in the same manner bars all
games that require no physical motion, as cards, dice, and
so forth. He emphasizes the necessity of guarding against

* Christianopolis, chap. liii. " Chap. Iv,

* P. 45. •" P. 72.

' Chap. Ivii. ' Christianopolis, chap. Ivi.

* Christianopolis, chap. Iv.

io6 Christianopolis

disease, and requires '' large, roomy, and pleasant halls and
apartments for the pupils." Andreae is just as particular in
these points,^ and by advocating individual attention to
pupils, lays the basis for the Montessori system of educa-
tion, so popular to-day. Comenius accepts Andreae's
views on astronomy, astrology, and mystic numbers
directly. Their objective instruction and scientific re-
search coincide, as do also their methods of learning a
foreign language. Finally and most important of all is
Andreae's scheme for the organization of a college, that is,
a body of men, educated, equipped and desirous of improv-
ing human affairs, " working together " to fulfill a common
purpose. For it was this point in Andreae's plans which
first attracted the attention of Comenius and caused him to
seek a closer acquaintance with the former.

Leaving Comenius for the moment, we will briefly sur-
vey the lives and activities of Samuel Hartlib and John
Dury. The former was born at Elbing, Germany, near the
close of the sixteenth century. His early years are not well
known, and most of the information at hand comes from
some casual remarks of his own. His father was a Polish
merchant and his mother the daughter of an Englishman.
Hartlib came to England about 1628 and was himself a
merchant. It is impossible to over-emphasize the enthusi-
asm of this very interesting man, as also the power and
spirit he lent to the movement of better education in Eng-
land. He felt that the era of democracy was well adapted
for the improvement of all religious and educational condi-
tions, and he devoted his life to the faithful performance of
the mission of realizing such results. His aim was not only
the cultural progress of England or of Germany; but the
thought that he had early imbibed from Andreae — that of a

^Chap. liii.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 107

general reformation of the whole world, was ever present in
his mind. National and world growth by means of the educa-
tion of the youth, was his ambitious purpose. The fact that
parliament appointed him — a foreign-born man — as " agent
for the advancement of universal learning " shows in what
esteem he was held by his contemporaries. He introduced
the writings of Comenius into England. In 1644 Milton
addressed to him his Tractate on Education. Hartlib
published pamphlets on educational and industrial matters
and gave encouragement to all undertakings of this nature.
In 1646 a pension was conferred upon him in return for
his valuable works on husbandry; for, his essay on The
Erection of a College of Husbandry is the first attempt on
record for the founding of an agricultural school.^ All
the time he was carrying on an extensive correspondence
with literary men at home and abroad. The latter part of
his life he spent at Oxford, and he was intimately associated
with the group of men who later became a part of the
Royal Society. His idealistic interests are shown also in
The Description of the Famous Kingdom of Macaria, a
Utopia published in 1641. He made numerous translations
of works into English, especially of the Latin writings of
Comenius. His death took place about 1670.

It was in 1633 that Hartlib first heard of Comenius
through the latter's Janua. He seems to have been natu-
rally an enthusiast for the subject, and from his first ac-
quaintance with Comenius's theories was completely cap-
tivated. Comenius already had conceived the idea of an
Enzyklopadie der Pansophie, and in 1634, in answer to
Hartlib's request, sent him a brief of his plan under the
title, Praeludia. The Pansophie was Comenius's favorite
work and idea, though his plans for the whole were not

* Friedrich Althaus, in Historisches Taschenhnch, 1884, p. 244.

io8 Christianopolis

quite clear in his own mind and in the nature of the case
it was a work he could not hope to complete. It was to be ^
fundamentally a " universal science " containing a resume
of all human knowledge, both resting upon a religious basis
and leading toward a religious enlightenment. As has al-
ready been seen, he attributes the incentive for the idea to
Andreae. And no one can read Andreae's works — espe-
cially the Christianopolis — without discovering in every
chapter just this same thought, " God and nature are the
beginning of all man's knowledge; and all scientific re-
searches have in view the betterment of mankind and the
glorification as well as the ' defense ' of God " — religion
being the basis and the ultimate purpose of the whole;
knowledge and science, the means. In order to enlarge the
means and insure a more rapid and successful outcome of
results, he advocates schools, study of the languages, and
most important of all, the society or college of learned
men, founded to collect information from all countries, to
work out conclusions experimentally therefrom, and to
share the results with the world at large. Comenius's plan
is a Pansophie and includes the world in its scope.

These were the ideas which attracted Hartlib to Comenius
and kept him in correspondence with the latter. Hartlib
was in close touch with men of learning in several coun-
tries and with all new scientific developments in England;
and he saw in Comenius's plan, elements which he felt
would advance the common cause materially. Hence, he
made every effort to bring Comenius to England, that the
latter's mental picture of his work might be personally out-
lined.

In the meantime Comenius had been close to other
enthusiasts in London and in the university towns, chiefly

* Mohrke, p. 32.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 109

through Hartlib's efforts and activity in the cause. One
of these, who took the matter up with almost equal energy
and enthusiasm, was John Dury. He was born at Edin-
burgh in 1596, in a Presbyterian home. His father, a minis-
ter, was banished in 1606 and the son was educated at
Leyden. After completing his university course, he was
made pastor of an English congregation at Elbing (then
under the dominion of Gustavus Adolphus). The English
ambassador to the place, Sir Thomas Roe, took an interest
in Dury's plans of religious unity between the Presbyterian
and Lutheran churches, and gave him recommendations to
Sweden and to men in England. To England Dury went
in 1630. From this time on for practically the rest of his
life, he wandered from place to place visiting Germany,
France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, trying
to bring about unity in the church. In 1661 he went to
Cassel, where he died in 1680.^ It was at Elbing in all
probability that Dury and Hartlib met, although Hartlib
left about 1628, very shortly after the former arrived to
take up his pastorate in the English settlement there. It
has been suggested ^ that Hartlib's departure for England
at this time was partly caused by his willingness to pre-
pare the way for Dury's mission. The latter was pri-
marily a preacher, interested in bringing about unity in the
Christian church. He also had very decided views on
education; and Hartlib here, as in the case of Comenius,
furnished the inspiration and enthusiasm to make the
pedagogical theories practical. During the years that fol-
lowed, Dury wrote (and Hartlib published with a preface)
a number of religious and educational tracts at the sugges-
tion of a ** Christian brotherhood whose members wished
to be of service to one another and to humanity."

^ M. C. G., VI, p. 65. ' M. C. G., Massons, VI.

no Christianopolis

Dury's system of education shows, again, a very notice-
able similarity to the educative principles of Andreae.^
Girls and boys are educated ^ in separate halls — the former
have governesses, and the latter, tutors (the "masters" of
Christianopolis). The schools are supervised by an inspec-
tor. Girls are trained to the duties of mothers and house-
wives— boys are instructed particularly in agriculture, com-
merce, and poHtical science; but all study the languages.
Good methods and excellent instructors save pupils much
trouble and unnecessary difficulty.^ The chief objects are
exactly as in Andreae, and even his accepted order —
i) education to piety, 2) decency in morals, 3) growth in
sciences — is followed. He inserts also " preserving of
health." Under the first head we find all the relations for
daily prayer and worship, as we saw in the Christianopolis,
though these are elaborated and developed according to
Dury's own personal views. His training in manners, and
so forth, is based upon strict morality. The pupils are
closely watched and corrected in their daily behavior.
Character building must begin with the early years. As far
as concerns mental training elsewhere, he complains, pupils
are taught very poorly, and trained in the least important
matters. They are given words, rules, and sections to com-
mit before they understand the meaning.* These blunders
are eliminated by teaching nothing that the pupil cannot
grasp and understand. So education becomes experimental,

^M. C. (7., XVI, pp. 191 ff.

^ See Christianopolis, especially chaps, xxxviii, xlviii, lii, liii, liv.

' Recall here the description of the excellent methods in use at
Christianopolis and the wail of the visitor when he recalls his own
early grapplings with languages.

* It will be remembered how often Andreae complains of the
"dead letters of Aristotle" as compared with the living "genius"
of the subject.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform hi

and is successful in proportion as it promotes knowledge of
nature and the application of her creatures!

The work of the pupils is graded. This is very carefully
done in the Christiano polls, though the whole is less defi-
nitely outlined. For Dury's third or advanced grade there
are exact equivalents in the Christiano polls. The subjects
are even in like groups: medicine, pharmacy, chemistry;
logic, rhetoric, poetry ; theory of music with mathematics.
A' comparison of the indices of the two works will show
surprising likenesses. It will not be necessary to note them
here. The practical applications of science to daily life re-
call the many workshops and so forth, in the Christiano polls,
where the rules and theories are tested and worked out.
Precautions for health — an open location for the school,
plenty of air, absolute cleanliness of the rooms, frequent
baths, physical exercise, regular and informal recreation —
all have been noted before.

Such is the system of Dury, the comrade in arms, as it
were, of Hartlib, and it shows at every turn exact marks
of coincidence with the Utopia of 1619. That Dury was
well acquainted with Andreae's works cannot be doubted.
First of all, he was introduced by Hartlib to Comenius's
works and became, like Hartlib, an admirer of them. It will
be remembered that Comenius in his educational productions
made frank and open use of Andreae. Moreover there is
evidence ^ of direct correspondence between Andreae and
Dury on the subject that lay near the hearts of both men —
education of the youth to insure betterment of society,
church, and state.

The intellectual relationships that had been growing up
for several years between England and Germany were
strengthened and made more definite in 1636 by two young
* M. C. G., II, p. 2Z2,, and Vita, pp. 126, 166.

112 Christianopolis

men, Peter Figulus and Joachim Hiibner. The former,' an
orphan, had been adopted into the home of Comenius, and
now entered the service of Dury, who was at the time
visiting his friend Matthie in Sweden, and endeavoring
to get a letter of recommendation from Oxenstierna (chan-
cellor of Sweden) to the University of Upsala, with a view
toward introducing his doctrines of unity. The other, Hiib-
ner, was a friend of Hartlib, through whom the arrange-
ments had been made at Oxford in 1634 for the publishing
of Comenius's Praeludia. Hiibner's interest in this work was
acknowledged by Comenius, when the latter wrote him a few
years later and sent along a copy of his Didactica. From
this time on, regular correspondence was carried on, and
frank mutual criticism was indulged in which fortunately
did not lead to serious differences. The next edition
of the Praeludia (1639), now called the Prodromus
Pansophiae, with Hartlib's preface, gave additional impetus
to the ever increasing longing for the " society " outlined
by Dury. It was clear that if the principles of the
Pansophia were to become of practical value and the
work completed, a company of organized co-workers
would be necessary. Hence in 1640 definite plans were
undertaken to make the theory a reality. Comenius
was asked to map out the details for a society of scholars
and finally urgently invited to come to England and
describe the whole in assembly. This finally resulted
(after an address to parliament by Bishop Gaudentius, in
which he speaks of Comenius and Dury as furnishing peace
on the foundation of " truth ") in the official invitation,
already mentioned, extended to Comenius and Dury, and in
their subsequent visit and consultation with parliament.
These meetings of 1641 and 1642, twenty years before the
founding of the Royal Society, half a decade before the

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 113

Oxford and London gatherings of Robert Boyle and his
comrades, were undoubtedly the forerunners in England
of the organization as realized under Charles II.

In the early correspondence of Hartlib and Hiibner on
the subject of education and scientific research, a number
of men are discussed and their views. The chief one men-
tioned by Hiibner is Andreae, with especial reference to
his D extra Amoris Porrecta.. In the meantime condi-
tions in England had arrived at a point where national
assistance to educational schemes was not to be immediately
looked for. The king and the parliament were otherwise
engaged, the factions at war ; and the group of scholars and
enthusiasts became scattered. Comenius, after some hesita-
tion, went to Sweden, Hiibner to Paris, to treat in the place
of Comenius with Cardinal Richelieu. Dury remained in
England until 1654.

During the few years immediately succeeding, unavoid-
able circumstances prevented regularity of meetings and
attendance. But interest was still kept up and to a consider-
able extent through the influence of Robert Boyle, the
chemist and natural philosopher. Boyle was younger than
the men thus far discussed and was not in England
at the time of the early meetings of the society in 1641
and 1642. He was born in 1627, and sent to Eton, where
his father's intimate friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was provost
at the time. In 1638 he left England for the Continent,
staying at Paris, Lyons, and Geneva. Later he spent some
time in Italy, studying at Florence with Galileo. The latter
died (1642) while Boyle was at the place. In 1644 he
returned to England and after some years spent in Ireland,
where he had been called on private business, he settled in
Oxford, 1654. Here he met often with Christopher Wren,
Goddard, and others. A laboratory was fitted up and ex-

114 Christianopolis

periments of importance were performed which were writ-
ten up and pubHshed several years later. While still in
London in 1645 he had met with those who remained of
the associates of the preceding years, and these gatherings
were a little later referred to as the '' Invisible College."
During these years Boyle corresponded with Newton, John
Evelyn/ Henry Oldenburg,^ and Hartlib.^ It was not until
after some time that he could be persuaded to read Bacon or
Descartes because he wanted to work out his own views
without prejudice from others. In Ireland, where he spent

* John Evelyn (1620-1706) was born at Wotton and received most
of his education from private tutors. He spent much time on the
Continent and corresponded with Boyle on the subject of founding
a college. He became very much interested in the Royal Society
and held the offices of secretary and president. In a letter to Boyle,
dated September third, 1659 (found in Boyle's Works, edition 1772,
VI, p. 288), he urges the banding together of "gentlemen who have
the common interest of preserving science and cultivating them-
selves," to form a society. His works, like those of Hartlib, deal
with a great variety of subjects.

^ Henry Oldenburg, natural philosopher and man of letters, was
born at Bremen in 1615, the son of a "Gymnasium" tutor. His
education was received in his native city, and he went to England
in 1640, where he made the acquaintance of a number of learned
men in parliament. Returning to Germany, he was for years en-
gaged in diplomatic service, though in private he devoted his time
to scientific research. In 1654 he met Milton, having gone back to
England, and entered into closer relations with the English edu-
cators than before. He lived at Oxford, was much with Boyle and
Petty, and was a part of the early movements, described before,
for the foundation of the Royal Society. He spent the latter part of
his life in England and was the first secretary of the Royal Society.

^ In the correspondence of Boyle and Hartlib (Boyle's Works,
VI, pp. 76-136), covering a period of ten or fifteen years, there are
numerous references to Haacke, Dury, Petty, and also to German
experimenters and men of letters. Hartlib mentions receiving let-
ters urging and furnishing plans for " a real reformation and ad-
vancement in all manner of literature " from a man of the greatest
importance " whose name would be known to those traveling on the
Continent."

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 115

years without chemical equipment, he devoted much of his
time to experiments in anatomy and dissection. The In-
visible College is mentioned several times in his corre-
spondence of the years 1646 and 1647. ^^ ^^^ of his let-
ters he urges a former tutor of his to bring along to
London " good receipts or choice books on any of these
subjects (natural philosophy, mechanics, or husbandry)
which you can procure ; which will make you extremely
welcome to the Invisible College." Later on " The corner
stones of the Invisible College, or as they call themselves,
the Philosophical College, do now and then honor me with
their company." ^

The meetings during these years at London (1645 ^i^d
following) were entirely informal and not as hopeful of
ultimate and permanent organization even as those of a few
years earlier. But they were a desperate attempt to per-
severe and win in spite of the unfavorable conditions.

At some of the meetings Dr. John Wallis was present as
lecturer on mathematics. In his account of one of them
he tells of the subjects discussed and also of the most promi-
nent members who attended. Among the latter was Theo-
dore Haacke, as Wallis says : '' A German of the Palatinate
and then resident in London, who, I think gave the first
occasion, and first suggested these meetings." Haacke was
a Calvmist, bom in 1605 at Neuhausen near Worms. He
received his earlier education at home, but in 1625 came to
England and studied at Oxford and Cambridge. For a
year after visiting continental universities, he returned to
Oxford in 1629, remaining three years. Having been or-
dained deacon and having accepted a charge, he was
appointed to raise money by subscription for benevolences
in Germany, during the war. In 1648 parliament granted
^ Boyle's Works, I, pp. 17, 20, 24.

ii6 Christianopolis

him sole right in the translation into English of The Dutch
Annotations on the Bible. He was often employed by the
government as translator and counsel, and received a pen-
sion. About 1645 he gave fresh impetus to the " meetings
of learned men " and in 1663 was elected one of the original
fellows of the established Royal Society. His work as
translator was notable, and shortly before his death he had
ready for print some three thousand German proverbs,
translated into English.

In 1648 several of the company in London moved to
Oxford, among them William Petty.^ Here also was Boyle
after his return from his Irish estates. A society similar to
that in London was at once formed. This company be-
came in 165 1 the Philosophical Society of Oxford and met
for a generation. Those who remained in London, includ-
ing John Evelyn, continued to meet regularly until 1658,
when the meetings were interrupted by the wars, *' For then,
the place of their meeting was made a quarter for soldiers." ^
At the time of the restoration the meetings were resumed
with renewed zeal and finally the permanent organization
was formed. Sprat ^ states that " the wonderful pacific
year 1660 " marked the real beginning of the Royal Society
and that while the prospective members were arranging
their platform, " the contrivance of it was much hastened
by a certain treatise, and that was a proposal by Master

* William Petty (1623-1687) was born at Romsey in Hampshire.
From his early childhood he showed a taste for mechanics. He
studied abroad, in France and Holland chiefly, making medicine his
specialty at Leyden. Returning to England in 1646, he devoted
himself to mechanical inventions and scientific studies. This
brought him into touch with educators, and he moved to Oxford.
From this time his interests are the same as those of the other
founders of the Royal Society.

^ Thomas Sprat, History Royal Society of London, p. 58.

" Pp. 58, 59.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 117

Cowley ^ of erecting a philosophical college. The intent
of it was that in some place near London there should
liberal salaries be bestowed on a competent number of men,
to whom should be committed the operations of natural
experiments." Charles II finally permitted his name to be
enrolled among those of the members, and issued a royal
charter in 1662.

The aims and purposes of the Royal Society, as given
by Sprat in his history, and the directions in which in-
vestigations were made, cover a narrower field than was
planned in the programmes of either Andreae, Hartlib, or
Comenius. For centuries education had been merely a mat-
ter of scholarship in rhetoric, logic, languages, and subjects
of like nature; but now the Royal Society, the earlier
academy of Telesius in Italy, and the later societies
on the Continent showed a tendency toward narrowness in
the other direction. With Andreae, and this shows the usual
breadth and thoroughness of the man, it was a matter of the
proper balance of all faculties and the development of all
phases of education. It is just in this respect that his
Utopia is so much superior, for instance, to that of Bacon.
His successor, Comenius, and the latter's associates, Dury
and Hartlib, were true disciples of his in this respect. As
a matter of fact, after the founding of the Royal Society in
England, Comenius wrote to a number of its members
on this very point, warning them against one-sidedness in
the organization, and recommending attention to reform in
literary education also.

For this reason a section in Sprat ^ is interesting, in which
he digresses from his theme and rather apologetically inserts
a recommendation for the founding of an academy in lan-
guage and cultural subjects. After congratulating the Italians

* Abraham Cowley, the poet. '^ Pp. 39 ff.

ii8 Christianopolis

on the number of their academies for the study of " lan-
guage, style, and so forth," and speaking in the highest terms
of the French Academy at Paris, " composed of the noblest
authors of the nation " and boasting of the " Great Cardinal
Richelieu " as its founder, Sprat continues : " I hope now it
will not be thought a vain digression, if I step a little aside
to recommend the forming of such an assembly, to the
gentlemen of our nation. ... I shall not stick to say that
such a project is now seasonable to be set on foot, and may
make a great reformation in the manner of our speaking and
writing. The thing itself is no way contemptible. For the
purity of speech, and greatness of empire have in all coun-
tries still met together. Besides, if we observe the English
language, we shall find that it seems at this time more than
others, to require some such aid, to bring it to its last per-
fection. The truth is, it has been hitherto a little too care-
lessly handled ; and I think has had less labor spent about
its polishing than it deserves."

The suggestion of Covv^ley, as quoted from Sprat,^ was
" every way practicable ; unless perhaps in two things : he
did more consult the generosity of his own mind than of
other men. The one was the largeness of revenue with
which he would have his college at first endowed; the
other, that he imposed on his operators a second task of
great pains, the education of the youth. The last of these
is indeed a matter of great weight, the reformation of
which ought to be seriously examined by prudent men.
For it is an undeniable truth, which is commonly said, that
there would be need of fewer laws, and less force to govern
men, if their minds were rightly informed and set straight
while they were young and pliable." ^ This last state-
ment of Sprat coincides exactly with several passages

* P. Ii6 of this chapter. ^ P. 59-

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 119

in the Christiano polls as will be remembered, and also
with the views of Comenius. Sprat is thoroughly in
sympathy with this feature of a college and regrets that it
is as yet unfeasible. *' It was not the excellent author's
fault," he adds, '' that he thought better of the age than it
deserved."

The Royal Society ^ is a general body, the membership of
which is unrestricted by religious belief, nationality, or lan-
guage. Andreae's views were also broad, and his *' reforma-
tion " as described in the Fama, the Christiano polls, and
Theophilus was a general one of the whole world. His
" fellows " also travel into all countries and gather informa-
tion everywhere. In the Fama one " fellow " died in Eng-
land and " his name is well known in that country." ^ In
the Christiano polls the religious requirement was neces-
sarily narrower. In the Royal Society the fellows must be
chiefly "gentlemen, free and unconfined." In the Fama
exactly the same qualification is demanded.

Innumerable are the parallels in ideals between Andreae
and the Royal Society. In many cases it is merely a matter
of the development of a planted seed. The Christiano polls
is never elaborate in description, rather suggestive. But in
the more extended plan of the Royal Society the germs of
the Christiano polls are often discoverable. Sprat complains
that heretofore '' the seats of knowledge have been not labo-
ratories, but only schools, where some have taught, and
all the rest have subscribed." ^ The Christiano polls lays
like stress on experimental learning.* Instruments are to
be made, and even new ones invented, especially those for
mathematics.^ So also Frater R. C. in the Fama on his

" Sprat, p. 63. ' P. 68. '' Sprat, p. 246.

* P. 17. * Chap. Ixxx.

I20 Christianopolis

return from the East spends his last years " making and
inventing new instruments in mathematics." ^

The subject-matter to be investigated by the Royal Society
is included ^ under three heads — God, man, and nature. " As
for the first, they meddle not otherwise with divine things
than only as the power and wisdom and goodness of the
Creator is displayed in the admirable order and workman-
ship of the creatures." In the Christianopolis it is stated
that " What goes beyond natural experiment is accepted as
coming from God." ^ The second head deals with the
" faculties, the constitution of their bodies, and the works of
their hands." And the third, investigation of nature — the
experimental sciences as often mentioned. Here as in the
Christianopolis the latter are related, " and so there will be a
mutual communication of the light of one science to an-
other." *

In discourse, plain speech is to be preferred to in-
volved.^ '' In a few words I dare say, that of all the studies
of men, nothing may be sooner obtained than this vicious
abundance of phrases, this trick of metaphors, this volu-
bility of tongue which makes so great a noise in the world.
But I spend words in vain ; for the evil is now so inveterate,
that it is hard to know whom to blame or where to begin
the reform." This scorn of artificial application of rhetoric
has already been brought out in a preceding chapter of
this discussion of the Christianopolis.

The astronomical observations,^ the library,*^ the courses
of education,^ references to crafts and men working in
metals, the care and study of bees, the gardens and parks,
and scores of other details, all have corresponding factors in

* Fama, p. 12. * Sprat, p. 85. ' Sprat, p. 25

' Sprat, p. 81. ^ Sprat, p. 112. ^ Sprat, p. 32

' Chap. Ixiii. * Sprat, p. 241.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 121

the Christiano polls. The rules for the members ^ have close
similarity with those in the Fama. Fellows pay their ex-
penses, meet at regular intervals — in secret (except as the
society votes to admit others to the meetings). Their pro-
grammes, as they are carried out at the meetings, are alike.
In speaking of Andreae, the criticism is often made that
he leaned too strongly toward astrology, alchemy, and the
supernatural.^ Now in the plan of the Royal Society among
the investigations to be made and at that time not as yet
well understood, are mentioned some that, in addition to
being rather absurd, border on the alchemistic and super-
natural as well : " What river turns wood into stone," ^
" Turning water into earth," * " growth of pebbles in
water," ^ " Springs that petrify," ^ " gold into silver," ^
'' feeding of a carp in air," ^ '' making insects of cheese and
sack," ^ " As to whether spiders are enchanted by a circle
of unicorns' horns or Irish earth roundabout them." ^^ It
might be noted here that Boyle had some faith in trans-
mutation and alchemy, for he was instrumental in repeal-
ing the statute against " multiplying gold." ^^ And even
Bacon was at times, especially early in his career, not quite
ready to give up all the contentions in favor of the magical. ^^

* Sprat, p. 145.

^ Nothing could be plainer than Andreae's position with respect
to this question. He takes every occasion to distinguish between
real and false science, as in chaps, iv, xi, and xliv of the Christian-
opolis and in the introduction of the Fama (already quoted, p. 39).
In the introduction to his edition of Die Christenhurg (p. 246),
Griineisen summarizes Andreae's purpose in this respect as in-
disputably " to contrast the true secret, the basis and kernel of
genuine science, and the deep spirit of the wonders in the realm
of nature . . . with vain secrets and valueless brooding, quibbling,
and trifling with nature."

' Sprat, p. 159. " Sprat, p. 191. " Sprat, p. 223.

* Sprat, p. 191. ^ Sprat, p. 221. *** Sprat, p. 223.

' Sprat, p. 191. ' Sprat, p. 223. " Diet. Nat. Biog.

" Works, III, pp. 289, 331.

122 Christianopolis

As to the relations existing between the Royal Society
of London and the Continent, Sprat himself, one of the
original fellows of the society, acknowledges in his history
a close connection. Yet it must be confessed that he is
more inclined to attribute help to the rest of Europe from
England than to admit the existence of influence in the
opposite direction ; and he gives Germany credit for a very
small share of the results attained. " It is evident," he
says, " that this searching spirit and this affection to sensible
knowledge, does prevail in most countries round about us.
Tis true, the conveniences for such labors are not equal
in all places. Some want the assistance of other's hands;
some the contribution of other's purses; some the benefit
of excellent instruments from the patronage of the civil
magistrates. But yet according to their several powers, they
are everywhere intent upon such practical studies. And the
most considerable effects of such attempts throughout Eu-
rope, have been still recommended to this society by their
authors to be examined, approved, or corrected." ^

Sprat then explains at some length the relations existing
between the Royal Society of London and similar groups
of men on the Continent; the following paragraphs are
quoted therefrom:

" In France, the Royal Society has maintained a perpetual
intercourse, with the most eminent men of art of all con-
ditions; and has obtained from them, all the help which
might justly be hoped for, from the vigor and activity,
and readiness of mind, which is natural to that people. . . .
And, to instance once for all, it has been affectionately in-
vited to a mutual correspondence by the French Academy of
Paris."

" In Italy the Royal Society has an excellent privilege of
* Sprat, p. 125.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 123

receiving and imparting experiments, by the help of one
of their own fellows, who has the opportunity of being
resident there for them, as well as for the king. . . .
This application to the Royal Society I have mentioned, be-
cause it comes from that country which is seldom wont
to have any great regard to the arts of these nations that
lie on this side of their mountains/'

Speaking of the Low Countries, he says :

" And this learned correspondence with him and many
others is still continued, even at this present time, in the
breach between our countries; their great founder and
patron still permitting them to maintain the traffic of sci-
ences, when all other commerce is intercepted. Whence we
may guess what may be expected from the peaceful part
of our king's reign, when his very wars are managed,
without injury to the arts of civil knowledge."

" In Germany, and its neighboring kingdoms, the Royal
Society has met with great veneration as appears by several
testimonies in their late printed books which have been
submitted to its censure ; by many curiosities of mechanical
instruments that have been transmitted to it; and by the
addresses which have been sent from their philosophical
inquirers. For which kinds of enterprises the temper of
the German nation is admirably fit, both in respect of their
peculiar dexterity in all sorts of manual arts, and also in
regard of the plain and unaffected sincerity of their man-
ners; wherein they so much resemble the English, that we
seem to have derived from them the composition of our
minds, as well as to have descended from their race."

In the foregoing pages an attempt has been made to estab-
lish the following points : Andreae, himself influenced some-
what by the spirit of research and the idea of an academy of
science in Italy, developed a system of education and a defi-

124 Christianopolis

nite plan for a college. His ideas in both matters were
accepted and further elaborated by Comenius, who, through
his friend Hartlib and by a personal visit, introduced them
into England. In this, Hartlib was assisted by John Dury,
whose acquaintance with Andreae was not only through
Comenius, but also by direct correspondence. Peter Figulus
and Joachim Hiibner were both also means of intercommuni-
cation— the one between Comenius and Dury, the other
between Comenius and Andreae on the one hand, and
between Comenius and England on the other. The
meetings of these men at London as early as 1641, with
and also separate from a commission appointed by parlia-
ment, were responsible for the first agitation toward not
only a better educational system, but also the founding
of a college of science. Political conditions interfered with
further developments. Had this not been the case, the
Royal Society might well have been founded nearly two
decades earlier than it was. The members of the group
scattered and later founded societies in London and Oxford.
The moving factors of this second attempt, Boyle, Haacke,
and others, were also acquainted with and inspired by the
Andreae-Comenius system.^ These meetings were the direct
forerunners of the Royal Society, which was incorporated
in 1662. Furthermore, Bacon, to whom is usually accorded
exclusive credit for giving incentive to the Royal Society
through his New Atlantis and other works, also bears the

* It may be of interest to mention here that as a result of An-
dreae's plans for a college, a society, similar in purpose and scope
to the later Royal Society of London, was founded as early as 1622,
under the name Societas Ereunetica, at the University of Rostock,
by Joachim Jungius, one of the foremost scholars of the time and
an ardent admirer of Andreae. See G. K Guhrauer, Joachim Jun-
gius und sein Zeitalter, pp. 69 fif.

The Royal Society and Educational Reform 125

stamp of Andreae, and helps to further the latter's views.
The Nova Solyma shows clear traces of the ideas of An-
dreae, some of which could not well have come through
Bacon, — traces in organization, purpose, and results attained.

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HoLDERLiNs Gesammclte Dichtungen. Berthold Litzmann. Stuttgart.
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Georg Rodolf Weckherlins Oden und Gesdnge. Berlin 1865.

HOSSBACH, WiLHELM.

Johann Valentin Andreae und sein Zeitalter. Berlin 1819.
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The Authorship of "Nova Solyma." {The Library, July, 1910,

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KipPENBERG, August.

Robinson in Deutschland bis zur Insel Felsenburg. Hannover 1892.
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Die Staatsromane.
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/. A. Comenius. Berlin 1914.
Lopes, Francisco.

Istoria de las Indias. (After G. C. Moore Smith's edition of

the New Atlantis, Introduction, p. 19.)
Maack, Ferdinand.

Geheime Wissenschaften. I Band. Berlin 1913.

128 Christianopolis

MoHRKE, Max.

Johann Amos Komenius und Johann Valentin Andreae, ihre

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Ideal Commonwealths. New York and London 1901.
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Geschichte der Ersiehung.

SiGWART, ChRISTOPH.

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Francis Bacons "New Atlantis." Cambridge Press 1909.
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Robinson und Rohinsonaden. Bibliographic, Geschichte, Kritik.

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Johann Balthasar Schupp. (Euphorion, 1910, pp. 38-48.)
VoiGT, Andreas.

Die Sozialen Utopien. Leipzig.
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Entstehungsgeschichte von D. Defoes ''Robinson Crusoe."

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]P G H I . HcyKs Phyfnus
l-firLTAJiHortuUcmium.

O P i;^.- K Interior Series irdiun Ci\

S TV tt) Publicaplctcc:

X Y Z. ^. Sxh-y,«- sen:-s dnim.

ir. IB. \9-M-P<!mer,c.
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GROUND PLAN OF CHRISTIANOPOLIS

CHRISTIAXOPOLIS

CHRISTIANOPOLIS

By

JoHANN Valentin Andreae

Thou Most Noble and Worthy Man, John Arndt,
Reverend Father in Christ.

This our new state recognizes and respects thee ; for in-
asmuch as this colony has its source in that Jerusalem
which thou didst build with mighty spirit, against the
wishes of the sophists, it is impossible not to refer all things
to thee, to give thee thanks for the institutions and laws,
to beseech thee at the same time not to think it beneath
thee to communicate out of thy kindness what in thine
opinion should be added or changed. So may God grant
to thy most honored old age that thou mayest see as many
as possible heeding thine interpretation of loyalty, upright-
ness, and scholarship. Farewell, reverend father in Christ,
and continue thou to commend me to God as I give heed to
thee.

Jan. I, 1619. R.D.T.

Most faithfully,

Joh. Valentin Andreae.

HAIL, CHRISTIAN READER.

I see two classes of men in the commonwealth. A class
of those who do not so much approve of those things over
which they are set or under which they are placed, as they
admire them and defend them to the teeth. The other
class, men who endure human affairs, but in such a way, it
is true, that they do not hesitate to wish for better things
and to obey moderate changes. But as the latter class never
readily causes disturbance, because of backwardness and
sense, but rather as far as possible gives way, is silent and
tolerant; so also the former, because of blind madness and
lack of self-control, attack, torment, and not rarely drag
those into the conflict who merely grumble at them though
they may not at all desire it. Of this, Antichrist gave us
the clearest example when he oppressed the church of
Christ with wicked burdens. And it is surprising that there
were people who, though perhaps they may not have ap-
proved of such baseness, at least tolerated it. Be
that as it may, it was admitted and done so disgustingly that
when some sought a correction of such terrible disgraces in
the most temperate way, they were given over to punish-
ment, proscribed from the protection of law, and torn by
God knows what curses; until, as men's minds became en-
raged with the indignity of the thing, an impulse was given
to restore light and dispel the darkness. What now may
be the cause of this, since it opposes all reason, is not very
clear. For whether it be a spirit of ambition, which will
suffer correction from no one, or whether it be greed, which
does so flourish among men; whether it be a mental duU-

133

134 Christianopolis

ness which makes no choice or distinction between good and
evil, or whether people foolishly become accustomed to
things in a way that lessens all ugliness — all this does not at
all compare with the great boldness with which we our-
selves oppose the most evident truth and the most hoped
for good. And so many believe, and not without reason,
that this cloud was sent by God upon the minds of the
wicked, lest they should conform to the modesty of the
good, which can be done with moderate and tolerable
means; that, once convicted of their impudent wickedness
and regarded as unworthy of being yielded to farther, they
may be compelled to do greater things, and thus, when the
mask is removed, lose their influence among the people.

It was thus that our hero Doctor Luther proceeded;
when men would not heed his prayers and tears, he began to
breathe threats out of the Word of God. Accomplishing
nothing by submissiveness, he began to rise up. When he
had carried on siege for a long time, he began to storm the
opposing power, and with such success, that WE REJOICE
though they gnash their teeth. I am rather inclined to
think that this very drama may be played again in our own
day. The light of a purer religion has dawned upon us ; in
accordance with it, the administration of public affairs has
been regulated, and the brilliancy of letters and arts has
been restored; we may be able entirely to triumph over
many conquered enemies — superstition, dissoluteness, and
rudeness.

But the secret snares of the Devil give us trouble, as a
result of which our rejoicing is made less firm, and a mere
name without the substance is left us. For though all our
doings should be patterned after our Christ, whose name we
bear and confess, yet it happens on account of our weak in-
dulgence that Christians differ in no respect from men of

Hail, Christian Reader 135

the world. For whether we look at the churches, the
courts, or the universities — nowhere is there a lack of un-
scrupulous ambition, greed, gluttony, license, jealousy, idle-
ness, and other mastering vices at which Christ violently
shuddered, but in which we chiefly delight. From this may
very easily be imagined the joy of the Devil, who when he
has secretly stolen from us the kernel, gladly allows us to
glory in the shells and rinds, and it is easy to notice our
simpleness in that we are content with the bare shadow of
anything, though we listen like religious, polished, and
educated men. And yet that impostor does not deceive all,
and least of all those who have a higher light within.

Very many of these, men of most fervent spirit, have
lifted their voices loudly even before us, and will con-
tinue to do so very zealously in the future also. From
their number I will mention only Doctor John Gerhard,
Doctor John Arndt, and Doctor Mart. Moller, as especially
deserving it of me, most upright theological scholars, al-
though the last named is a little disturbed on the subject of
the Lord's Supper. When these men noticed that the whole
world was resounding with disputations, so that the spirit
of Christ could hardly be heard through them, they desired
greatly to procure intermittent silence, which should be
devoted to piety and should permit a breathing space after
the heat of disputing, and thus unite scholarship with up-
rightness in such a way that each might add splendor to the
other. This was asked for very modestly, and allowed
with the greatest ill will. Since the bishops of the churches
would acknowledge the presence of no simony, the political
leaders no dishonesty, the university no lack of education,
being warned against devotedness, uprightness, and letters,
they were accused of treason. If we put faith in those
who answer the argument, it will appear that the whole

136 Christianopolis

church is full of windows, into which anyone may fly
whenever it pleases him, and where he may whisper to his
liking; the republic, a market place where vices may be
bought and sold ; the academy, a labyrinth in which it is a
game and an art to wander about ; and whatever is squan-
dered upon these is pure gain. Defenders arose who
were willing to be betrayed ; good people would have taken
oath upon their innocence, while now the evil ones detest the
public testimony of their evil deeds. For the erring world
would much prefer to have its acts concealed than to have
them praised in public.

Those who perform sacrifice in the church have grown
incensed because the security or rather the nothingness of
their calling, the carelessness of their sermons, their cul-
ture, smacking all too much of the world, are not approved.
And yet the churchmen forbid all this. The greedy ones of
the world roared because the harshness of their law, the
license of their morals, the accumulation of their riches,
their contempt of eternity were not praised. And yet even
their own civil authority prohibits these. Teachers of let-
ters babbled on behalf of their lack of knowledge of the
arts, lack of languages, cheapness of their academic de-
grees, the insatiable depth of their expenses, and even
against the direct wishes of scholarship ; and so, as igno-
rance was willing or rather required it, hypocrisy has under-
taken and violently usurped the protection of religion,
tyranny that of civil authority, quibbling that of letters,
it is true, with many and diverse judgments ; but the cham-
pions of God, or the servants of a good cause, remained
unafraid. For though particularly of some they might have
hoped for and expected greater fairness, learning, and espe-
cially greater moderation, who were thought to be well
versed in the affairs of the state, and of great merit; yet

Hail, Christian Reader 137

anyone who has once examined the world more closely,
has clearly noticed that nothing is more intolerable to
impostors, than truth and uprightness; and they hate these
so thoroughly that, in the impotency of their wrath and
forgetful of themselves, they throw off their masks, covers,
and wrappings, rush forth bare, and thus give way the secret
of their wickedness. No sensible man can see without re-
pulsion how basely gluttony in the midst of the church,
moral looseness in the very public square and in the schools,
empty titles without stability, and prodigality without limit
are overlooked — nay, even comrpended and brought before
the public. This is just the reason why these persons, from
whom one would least expect it, give way and yield to
truth more readily, since when once convicted of their own
mistakes they find nothing left except infamous impudence
and low banter ; and with these they try in vain to exonerate
themselves. And so with their innate politeness they hear
and bear reproofs ; they confess their faults or their mental
darkness, the inventions of the Devil, the force of habits,
credulity, and other shackles of the same sort ; and wish that
they were faultless again.

A certain fraternity, in my opinion a joke, but accord-
ing to theologians a serious matter, has brought forth evi-
dent proof of this very thing. As soon as it promised,
instead of the taste of the curious public, the greatest and
most unusual things, even those things which men gen-
erally want, it added also the exceptional hope of the cor-
rection of the present corrupted state of affairs, and even
further, the imitation of the acts of Christ. What a con-
fusion among men followed the report of this thing, what
a conflict among the learned, what an unrest and com-
motion of impostors and swindlers, it is entirely needless to
say. There is just this one thing which we would like to

138 Christianopolis

add, that there were some who in this blind terror wished
to have their old, out-of-date, and falsified affairs entirely
retained and defended with force. Some hastened to sur-
render the strength of their opinions ; and, after they had
made accusation against the severest yoke of their servitude,
hastened to reach out after freedom. And then, to get
closer to the matter in hand, there were some who made
accusation against the principles of Christian life as heresy
and fanaticism. Others even embraced this with a whole
heart. While these people quarreled among themselves,
and crowded the shops, they gave many others leisure to
look into and judge these questions. Of this now we have
this benefit, that, as it seems to us, the world is not so sure
of its affairs as it would like to seem, nor is it so steadfast
in its views that it cannot be turned aside; nor yet (and
this is the chief point) are all so far from Christ that no
one would be willing to admit His rules of life and then
regulate his own life according to them, if the opportunity
were given. Moreover I am prone to praise the judgment
of a man of the most noble qualities in piety, ethics, and
nature who, when he saw that men were undecided and
for the most part deceived by the report of that brother-
hood, answered, " If these reforms seem proper, why do
we not try them ourselves? Let us not wait for them
to do it.", — meaning that there was nothing to hinder us
from learning these things from the Gospels and making the
attempt from the praiseworthy examples of devoted Chris-
tians, if we really wished to imitate the life of Christ and
improve our daily lives. For we certainly would not com-
mit such an injury against Christ and His Word, as to prefer
to learn the way of salvation and emulate it, from some
society (if there really is such a one) — hazy, omniscient
only in the eyes of its own boastfulness, with a sewn shield

Hail, Christian Reader 139

for an emblem and marred with many foolish ceremonies,
than from Him who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the
Life, whose precepts are so in evidence and so easily
located that we have to make use of the greatest subter-
fuges and evasions to avoid them. For if our conscience
urges us that we have ground for complaint against the too
great security of religion, the impurity of life, and the
mockeries of learning, what shall hinder us from driving out
of ourselves at least (if others do not desire it) the vices of
life, from planting virtues instead, and from joining closer
to our Christ whom we fear is farthest removed from our
affairs ?

It is quite certain that nothing gives this permission to us
or to Christ except the fear of the judgments of men, which
attempts to preserve us from our own friends and the usual
customs of life, and to keep for us the good will of men ; yet
which none the less a little later hurls us through the dif-
ficulties of this age, to groan and grieve when it is too late,
naturally, because we have given faith to the world and
denied it to Christ. And this is to be considered the best
determination, which, when the Word of God has been
heard and accepted, does not look to men or to any society
or assembly for approval, but stands at the command of
God and of the human conscience, walks zealously under
the direction of the Holy Spirit, and bears unjust criticism
no more unwillingly than the croaking of frogs ; since alto-
gether it is evident that only a very few people dare to
attack piety, uprightness, and character in the open, but by
circumlocutions rather trifle, lie, or try to devise something
at which after a while they can bark. And so you will hear
first of all the words *' fanatic," " turbulent," and " a dan-
ger to literature " ; then you will be accused and will have
to look at the wounds of a chimsera and the conflicts of

140 Christianopolis

blind gladiators. But if you quietly put your faith in a
clear conscience, you will yet take the greatest joy with you.
Now, my excellent reader, you see as an evident example
of this Christian security, this new Republic which it seems
best to call Christianopolis. For inasmuch as other
people (and I myself also) do not like to be corrected, I
have built this city for myself where I may exercise the
dictatorship. And if you should call my own insignificant
body by this name, perhaps you would not be so far from
the truth. But even as the laws almost everywhere are
good and yet the morals of the people loose, so I fear you
will suspect that the case is the same with the citizens of
my state. However that may be, I have determined not to
praise my citizens, but to describe them; and to reveal and
communicate to you according to what statutes we are
commanded to live. I could not speak to you about dif-
ferent things more frankly or freely, I could not give you the
facts with less restriction, nor draw forth your opinion more
unreservedly than in this manner. Whether you approve
or disapprove of this matter I shall praise you, provided
you give answer with like candor. But if you answer me
with some sophism, nothing will be easier for me than to
bear your unfavorable criticisms and ignore you. If you
find our state at all attractive, nothing shall be denied you ;
if you decline it, nothing shall be thrust upon you. My citi-
zens do neither waste their own substance nor do they covet
yours. Furthermore they are willing to accept whatever
you care to give them, and they are glad to give you what-
ever you desire. Our laws compel or constrain no one ; they
do persuade — standing forth with the Word of God and not
giving way to Satan. Moreover, they admit every good
man as an adviser. The structure has no art, but abundant
simplicity.

Hail, Christian Reader 141

We have not told everything. Perhaps we have said
more than the wicked can stand — less than we offer to the
good, however often they may wish it mentioned.

Finally let me say, it is a public show, a thing which
has not been said to the disadvantage of the famous Thomas
More. As far as concerns my own work, it ought to be more
easily laid aside as not being as serious or as clever as his. I
have written to my friends, since one can joke with them;
I should not dare to write to eminent men, even if I wished
to do so ; I should not be able to if I dared ; and I should not
want to if they permitted it. So great is my respect for
them, such the knowledge and confession of my inexperi-
ence. At any rate, those may read who wish to, and let
them remember that among friends many imperfections are
overlooked which would not stand the critical test of evil
wishers. If anyone doubts the truth of my story, let him
put off passing judgment until all reports of wanderings and
sea travels have been made. But the safest way will be
(provided Heaven permits, the land does not interfere, and
the sea is calm, with Christ the guide of your voyage,
and your comrades all desirous of a just life), for you
to embark upon your vessel which has the sign of the Cancer
for its distinctive mark, sail for Christianopolis yourself
with favorable conditions, and there investigate everything
very accurately in the fear of God. So farewell, my Chris-
tian reader, and gird you on the road to heaven.

CONCERNING THE STATE OF
CHRISTIANOPOLIS.

THE REASON FOR THE JOURNEY, AND THE SHIPWRECK.

While wandering as a stranger on the earth, suffering
much in patience from tyranny, sophistry, and hypocrisy,
seeking a man, and not finding what I so anxiously sought,
I decided to launch out once more upon the Academic Sea
though the latter had very often been hurtful to me. And
so ascending the good ship. Phantasy, I left the port to-
gether with many others and exposed my life and person
to the thousand dangers that go with desire for knowledge.
For a short space of time conditions favored our voyage;
then adverse storms of envy and calumny stirred up the
Ethiopian Sea ^ against us and removed all hope of calm
weather. The efforts of the skipper and the oarsmen were
exerted to the limit, our own stubborn love of life would
not give up, and even the vessel resisted the rocks; but
the force of the sea always proved stronger. Finally when
all hope was lost and we, rather of necessity than on ac-
count of bravery of soul, had prepared to die, the ship col-
lapsed and we sank. Some were swallowed up by the
sea, some were scattered to great distances, while some
who could swim or who found planks to float upon, were
carried to different islands scattered throughout this sea.

^ Mare Aethiopicum. Probably intended to imply " Sea of
Stupidity."

142

TITLE PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION
OF THE " CHRISTIANOPOLIS "

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 143

Very few escaped death, and I alone, without a single com-
rade, was at length driven to a very minute islet, a mere
piece of turf, as it seemed.

II.

DRIVEN TO THE ISLAND, CAPHAR SALAMA.

Everything here pleased me, except I did not please
myself. The island, moreover, small though it had ap-
peared, had a great abundance of all things, and there was
not a foot of soil to be seen which was not under cultiva-
tion or in some way put to use for mankind. The site of the
island, such as I found it to be a little later, I will not re-
fuse to explain. It is in the Antarctic zone, 10° of the south
pole, 20° of the equinoctial circle, and about 12° under the
point of the bull.^ To trifling minutiae I will never answer.-
The form is that of a triangle, whose perimeter is about 30
miles. This island is rich in grain and pasture fields,
watered with rivers and brooks, adorned with woods and
vineyards, full of animals, just as if it were a whole world
in miniature. One might think that here the heavens and
the earth had been married and were living together in
everlasting peace.

While I was drying my undershirt, the only garment I
had saved, in the rays of the morning sun, an inhabitant
of the island, some one of the many watchmen of the
place, came upon me suddenly. He inquired into my mis-
chance with all kindness, and while sympathizing with
my misfortune, bade me trust him and accompany

* Andreae seems purposely to locate his Utopia in an impossible
place.

144 Christianopolis

him to the city, where, with their usual consideration
toward strangers and exiles, the citizens would supply my
needs ; and he added : " Happy are you whose lot it has
been, after so severe a shipwreck, to be thrown on land
at this place." And I answered only, " Thank God ! Glory
to God!"

III.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANOPOLIS.

Meantime the sight and the beauty of the city as we
approached it surprised me greatly, for all the rest of the
world does not hold anything like it or to be compared with
it. So turning to my guide I said : " What happiness has
established her abode here? " And he answered : " The one
that in this world is generally very unhappy. For when the
world raged against the good and drove them out of her
boundaries, religion, an exile, gathering about her the com-
rades whom she regarded the most faithful, after crossing
the sea and examining various places, finally chose this land
in which to establish her followers. Later she built a city
which we call Christianopolis, and desired that it should
be the home, or, if you prefer, the stronghold of honesty
and excellence. The generosity of this our republic to all
in want, you are about to experience. So if you desire to
traverse the city (but you must do it with dispassionate
eyes, guarded tongue, and decent behavior) the opportunity
will not be denied you ; nay, the city lies open to you in its
individual parts." Then I answered : " Oh, blessed hour
when after so many monstrous sights seen with dread and
exertion, I shall be granted the privilege of observing some-
thing really elegant and beautiful. I shall evade neither the

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 145

bath, the razor, nor the brush, that, being washed, scraped,
and cleansed, I may be admitted to the pure abodes of truth
and goodness. For how unfortunate my mistakes and
evasions have been, has become known to many, a long time
ago. Oh, may I some time see better, truer, more fixed, and
more stable conditions — in brief, those which the world
promises, but never and nowhere produces ! '*

IV.

EXAMINATION OF THE STRANGER^ FIRST, AS TO HIS IDEAS OF
LIFE AND HIS MORALS.

Now we had approached the eastern gate, when my com-
panion introduced me to the prefect of the day's guard. He
received me pleasantly and asked me what I desired.
'* Very many things," said I, " for as you see I have been
cast up from land and sea. But now since I seem to have
met God Himself here, why should I not seek largely of
that which I have lacked all my life ? " The prefect of the
guard smiled and kindly advised me, inasmuch as this
island had nothing indecorous, not to prove to be one of
those whom the citizens of the community would not tolerate
among them but would send back to the place from which
they had come, such persons as: beggars, quacks, stage-
players who have too much leisure, busybodies who worry
unnecessarily in the details of unusual affairs, fanatics who
however have no real feeling of piety, drug-mixers who
ruin the science of chemistry, impostors who falsely call
themselves the Brothers of the Rosicrucians, and other
like blemishes of literature and true culture, whom this city
has never ceased to suspect. Then when I had purged my-

146 Christianopolis

self by a testimony of my inmost conscience, and had with
many words vowed the service of my whole powers to
truth and to integrity, he said : " There is no reason now
why you should not have the benefit of our goods, and what
is much more important, of ourselves.'* So saying, he
grasped me by the hand, took me into the home of some
watchmen or guards near by, and refreshed me with very
savory food and drink.

EXAMINATION, SECONDLY, AS TO HIS PERSON.

Now when I had put on different clothing, not at all
extravagant, but easily procured and comfortable, he gave
me over to some attendants who took me to my second
examiner. This man appeared as one born for the purpose
of drawing forth from a man his innermost and most private
thoughts. He returned my greetings very kindly and put
several friendly questions to m.e, meanwhile watching my
bearing and the lineaments of my face very critically.
With a smile rather than with serious expression he in-
quired as to my native land, my age, my manner of life,
all, as it were, incidentally. After a few courtesies had been
exchanged, he said : " My friend, you have undoubtedly
come here under the leadership of God that you might
learn whether it is always necessary to do evil and to live
according to the custom of barbarians. That this is not
the case we will give you proof this very day as we ought
to all persons. And all the more gladly will we do this
since neither nature nor your fortune seem indisposed, but
rather you possess a heart favorable to the influences of

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 147

both. And if God indeed rule you, so that you be free from
the attractions of the flesh, then we do not doubt that you
are already ours, and that you will be forever." While
thus speaking (as I seemed to notice) he was studying the
calmness of my being, the modesty of my countenance, the
closeness of my speech, the quiet of my eyes, my personal
bearing, with such thoroughness that it seemed to me he
could scrutinize my very thoughts, with such affability that
I could conceal nothing from him, with such respect that
I felt I owed everything to him. And so, when my mind
had been laid bare all around and he had at length touched
somewhat on the subject of letters, he said: "My friend,
you will grant me your indulgence when I discourse in
so unscholarly a way as I have done. Be not discouraged,
for in this community of ours you will find no lack of men
who are fairly steeped in learning and culture." At the
same time he issued a command to an attendant that he
should accompany me to a third examiner. And so he
shook my hand and bade me farewell, urging me to have
confidence. But I thought to myself: "Heaven help me!
If they call this ' discoursing in an unscholarly way,' what
shall become of me ? "

VI.

examination, thirdly, as to his personal culture.

Now when I came to him, I found no less kindness than
in the former case ; for let me say once for all, all haughti-
ness and pride are banished from this place. But when I
heard this man speak, I felt more ashamed than ever before.
I had to " know nothing " with Socrates, but in an entirely

148 Christianopolis

different sense. How I regretted having spoken of litera-
ture! He asked me, in most pleasant terms it is true, to
what extent I had learned to control myself and to be of
service to my brother; to fight off the world, to be in har-
mony with death, to follow the Spirit; what progress I
had made in the observation of the heavens and the earth,
in the close examination of nature, in instruments of the
arts, in the history and origin of languages, the harmony
of all the world; what relation I bore toward the society
of the church, toward a compendium of the Scriptures, the
kingdom of heaven, the school of the Spirit, the brother-
hood of Christ, the household of God. I was amazed when
I understood that so very little had been made a part of
myself, of the many things which are so freely and in such
generous amounts given to man. And so, doing all that I
could under the circumstances, I turned to frank confes-
sional and said : " Most honored sir, all these things I am
entirely unacquainted with and I have never had instruc-
tion in them. But of this much I assure you on my word,
that within me I have very often wrestled with them, desired
to know them, and have dared to attack them." Whereupon
he almost shouted out aloud. " You are ours," he said,
"you who bring to us an unsullied slate, washed clean, as
it were, by the sea itself. It but remains that we pray God
that He inscribe upon your heart with His holy stylus the
things which will seem, in His wisdom and goodness, salu-
tary to you. And now truly you shall see our city in its
individual parts. And after you have returned we will
listen to whatever you may further desire of us, in so far
as we are mentally prepared and provided." And he gave
me three men, Beeram, Eram, and Neariam, worthy indi-
viduals as was evident from their countenances; and they
were to show me around everywhere.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 149

VII.

description of the city.

If I describe to you the appearance of the city first of all,
I will not be making a mistake. Its shape is a square,
whose side is seven hundred feet, well fortified with four
towers and a wall. It looks, therefore, toward the four
quarters of the earth. Eight other very strong fowers, dis-
tributed throughout the city, intensify the strength; and
there are sixteen other smaller ones that are not to be
despised ; and the citadel in the midst of the city is well-
nigh impregnable. Of buildings there are two rows, or
if you count the seat of government and the storehouses,
four; there is only one public street, and only one market-
place, but this one is of a very high order. If you measure
the buildings, you will find that from the innermost street,
being twenty feet in width, the numbers increase by fives
even up to one hundred. At this point there is a circular
temple, a hundred feet in diameter. As you go forth from
the buildings, the intervals, storehouses, and the rows of
houses are each twenty feet wide and the wall is twenty-
five feet. All buildings are in three stories, and public
balconies lead to these. All this can, however, be better
understood from the accompanying plate.^ All buildings
are made of burnt stone and are separated by fireproof walls
so that a fire could not do very severe damage. Spring
water and flowing water are here in great abundance, sup-
plied partly by artificial means, and partly by nature.
Things look much the same all around, not extravagant nor

* For this and futur^ references to the plan of the city, see
diagram following p. 128.

150 Christianopolis

yet unclean ; fresh air and ventilation are provided through-
out. About four hundred citizens live here in religious
faith and peace of the highest order. We shall have some-
thing to say about each individual one. Outside the walls
is a moat stocked with fish, that even in times of peace it
may have its uses. The open and otherwise unused spaces
contain wild animals, kept, however, not for purposes of
entertainment but for practical use. The whole city is di-
vided into three parts, one to supply food, one for drill and
exercise, and one for looks. The remainder of the island
serves purposes of agriculture and for workshops. These
I have noted down in some way or another in the plan.
And next we must take a trip through the city.

VIII.

AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY.

In the farthermost section of the corporation which
faces east is the farm quarter. It is divided into two parts,
the agriculture proper on the one side, and the animal hus-
bandry department on the other. For all the grain, vege-
tables, and greens which the state can get from the island,
and all the pack-animals, beef-cattle, and flocks of which
they have need, are kept in fourteen buildings, so con-
structed that they will shelter the guards and care-takers
also. For, since the buildings rise in three stories, as I
have shown, they hold more than one would suppose.
Whatever waste materials accumulate, are taken through
the gateways in the corner towers and carried to the edge
of the walls, until the time arrives for distributing them
over the fields and meadows. Directly opposite these build-

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 151

ings is a rather large tower, thirty by forty-five feet, which
connects the farm buildings with the city buildings ; it also
incloses a space of land, so that under the tower a rather
broad vaulted entrance into the city is open, and smaller
doors lead to the individual houses. This tower can be so
fortified on both sides at the gates that there can be no
passing back and forth through the walls to the town when
once the gates are closed. A hall with windows all around,
is built under the dome of this tower. Here the citizens
of that side of the town may come together, as often as the
ordinances require, and act on sacred as well as on civil
matters. Uriel, a man very expert in agriculture, soil fer-
tility, and breeding and care of animals, lives above in
this tower. Kapzeel and Simea, subordinate to Uriel, are
the prefects of the towers, and they assist him in his work
whenever it is possible. Here there is no rusticity, but the
agriculture of the patriarchs is reproduced, the results
being the more satisfactory, the closer the work is to God
and the more attentive to natural simplicity.

IX.

MILLS AND BAKERIES.

Seven mills and as many bake shops adjoin these two
public storehouses which face south; while seven meat
shops and as many provision chambers are on the side that
faces north. Larger towers divide the two sides as in
the former case ; and likewise, towers very much like those
smaller ones, inclose them. The mills do not only grind
the grain and have it stored on the upper floors, but what-

152 Christianopolis

ever is to be done with machinery apart from fire, is done
here; and as this is a place for originality to work its way,
there is a great variety of such for devising pleasure and
wonder on the part of the spectator. Here paper is made,
trees are sawed into beams, and arms and tools are polished.
All the bread which is necessary to supply the island is
baked in these bake shops, and all flour is kept here. Be-
tween these are tanks for oil, and underneath, cellars are dug
out for receiving wine. And the men in charge of the storing
and packing away, are expert tasters. Neria, who lives in
the middle tower, has charge of these^ and Simea and Gadiel,
prefects of the small towers, assist. The arrangement is
that each prefect is responsible to two of the four men.
You will be surprised how a supply of provisions, not at all
very great, can be made to suffice for temperate habits in
everything. For though no one in the whole island ever
goes hungry, yet by the grace of God or the generosity of
nature, there is always abundance, since gluttony and
drunkenness are entirely unknown. Of the distribution of
food I will speak later; let me add just one thing now, that
everything is done neatly and with proper appreciation of
the gifts of God. Men that have to do the heavy work do
not become wild and rough, but remain kindly; the guards
are not gluttons, but are temperate, not evil-smelling but
cleanly washed. And to conclude, the government is ad-
ministered in a way so advantageous in all respects, that the'
people can enjoy all these privileges with a pleasure that is
decent and need not be concealed.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 153
X.

THE MEAT SHOP AND THE SUPPLY HOUSE.

A DISTRICT on the north is devoted to the slaughter houses
and to fourteen other buildings which have to do with the
same. This part has no suggestion of the bestial about it.
And yet in other places I have seen men become coarse from
the daily custom of shedding blood, or the handling of meats,
fat, hides, and the like. Here also there are kitchens in-
tended for the roasting, boiling, and cleansing of animals;
but which know no delicacies or dainties. And inasmuch
as they praise neatness and sanitation, there are wash houses
for washing the clothes and linen.

The provision chamber is divided into several rooms; it
has butter, lard, suet, grease, tallow, and other supplies of
this kind; but also fish, dried and fresh, and all kinds of
fowl, not only for the inhabitants but also for strangers
and traveling merchants. For there is the greatest oppor-
tunity for commerce in this island, though the inhabitants
of the place, individually, have nothing to do with it. Such
matters are left to those selected to attend to them. And
here the real value of exchange appears, which looks not
so much at the gain, as at the variety of things ; so that we
may see the peculiar production of each land, and so com-
municate with each other that we may seem to have the
advantages of the universe in one place, as it were. From
this, the recognition of this little point, our earth, and also
the generosity of God, the Giver of all, becomes manifest;
and finally, that which is the gift of all men, is rendered
that of every individual. I will not say more along this
line now, for in the first place there is need of too much

154 Christianopolis

else, and then the subject will recur often in the rehearsal
of other parts. Thirhena and his comrades, Kapzeel and
Zarphat, have charge of this part of the work, and they
regulate the daily life and the work of the subordinates.

XI.

METALS AND MINERALS.

There remains the section on the west which is given
over to the forge. For here on the one side are seven work-
shops fitted out for heating, hammering, melting, and mold-
ing metals; while on the other side are seven others as-
signed to the buildings of those workmen who make salt,
glass, brick, earthenware, and to all industries which require
constant fire. Here in truth you see a testing of nature
herself; everything that the earth contains in her bowels
is subjected to the laws and instruments of science. The
men are not driven to a work with which they are unfa-
miliar, like pack-animals to their task, but they have been
trained long before in an accurate knowledge of scientific
matters, and find their delight in the inner parts of nature.
If a person does not here listen to the reason and look into
the most minute elements of the macrocosm, they think that
nothing has been proved. Unless you analyze matter by ex-
periment, unless you improve the deficiencies of knowledge
by more capable instruments, you are worthless. Take my
word for it, if sophistry should undertake to prattle here, it
would be a mockery — to such an extent do they prefer deeds
to words. Here one may welcome and listen to true and genu.-
ine chemistry, free and active ; whereas in other places false

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 155

chemistry steals upon and imposes on one behind one's back.
For true chemistry is accustomed to examine the work, to
assist with all sorts of tests, and to make use of experiments.
Or, to be brief, here is practical science. Sesbazar with his
two assistants, Zarphat and Gadiel, have charge and seem to
require not so much the labor itself as a fit exercise for the
human body. For while among us one is worn out by the
fatigue of an effort, with them the powers are reinforced
by a perfect balance of work and leisure so that they
never approach a piece of work without alacrity. More-
over, as I looked on the work, this self-reproach kept com-
ing into my mind, that, urged by so long a time, employed
at so much expense, assisted by books, I had learned noth-
ing of all these things, which it is altogether fitting one
should know, and that by my inexcusable folly I had neg-
lected the countenance of nature, which is after all the most
attractive.

XII.

DWELLINGS.

When then I had examined the inclosure containing
the shops and the storehouses, I entered through the east
tower and saw the city proper, square and with two rows
of buildings facing each other. The street which separates
these rows of houses is twenty feet wide, and is of sufficient
width, when you stop to consider that horses and wagons
are not used upon it. The buildings on the outer side are
fifteen, those on the inner side twenty-five feet wide; they
are thirty-three feet high and most of them forty feet long on
the side facing the street. The walks are arched and sup-

156 Christianopolis

ported by columns five feet wide and twelve high, that rainy-
weather may do no damage. Where the walls face each
other, a walk is formed by the balconies on the second and
third stories, all of which it has been deemed wise to repre-
sent in the diagrams. The larger side of the city, if you stop
to count the towers, has thirteen buildings, the smaller side,
eleven, making eighty-eight in all ; ^ and, if this is multiplied
by three, they constitute two hundred and sixty-four homes.
The distribution of these is shown on the sketch. No one
need be surprised at the rather cramped quarters ; for there
being only a very few persons, there is also need for only a
very little furniture. Other people who house vanity, ex-
travagance, and a family of that sort, and who heap up
baggage of iniquity, can never live spaciously enough. They
burden others and are burdened themselves, and no one
measures their necessities, nay even their comforts, easily
otherwise than by an unbearable and unmovable mass. Oh,
only those persons are rich who have all of which they
have real need, who admit nothing else, merely because it is
possible to have it in abundance ! For as often as I have seen
wealth on this earth I have also always noticed dissatisfac-
tion standing by ; but in only the one condition, which we call
" lack," has contentment appeared.

XIIL

MECHANICS.

In walking around the city, I could easily notice what
the distribution of the craftsmen was. For even as the
^Probably a typographical error in the original.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 157

city is four-cornered, so also its inhabitants deal with four
materials : metals, stones, woods, and the things that are
needed for weaving ; but with this difference, that the occu-
pations which require more skill and innate ability are as-
signed to the inner square, while those which admit of more
ease in working, to the outer or greater square. And
they, furthermore, regard clock-makers and organ-makers,
cabinet-makers, sculptors, and masons on the same basis.
This feature, moreover, is entirely peculiar to them, namely,
that their artisans are almost entirely educated men. For
that which other people think is the proper characteristic
of a few (and yet, if you consider the stuffing of inexperi-
ence as learning, the characteristic of too many men al-
ready) this the inhabitants argue should be attained by
all individuals. They say neither the subtleness of letters
is such, nor yet the difficulty of work, that one man, if given
enough, cannot master both. And yet there are some who
incline more to this or to that occupation, who, if they pre-
fer to make a craft a specialty, are made masters over their
fellows, that they may in turn train up others and still others.
I saw what mechanics I thought were workers in brass, tin,
iron; knife-makers, turners, makers of jewel cases, of
statuary, workers in gypsum, fullers, weavers, furriers, cob-
blers ; and among the nobler crafts, sculptors, clock-makers,
goldsmiths, organ-makers, engravers, goldleaf-beaters,
ring-makers, and innumerable other like trades not to be
despised. Tanners, harness-makers, blacksmiths, wagon-
makers, trunk-makers, stonecutters, glass-makers, all these
you will find here. Now that we have named those that
follow the trades it might be said that patching, sewing, and
embroidery are all done by the women. All these things are
done not always because necessity demands, but for the
purpose of a competition among the mechanics, in order

158 Christianopolis

that the human soul may have some means by which it and
the highest prerogative of the mind may unfold themselves
through different sorts of machinery, or by which, rather,
the little spark of divinity remaining in us, may shine
brightly in any material offered. . Of the overseeing and
incentives, as also of the hours of leisure and of work, we
will speak later.

XIV.

PUBLIC PRAYERS.

Before I proceed, something should be said regarding
their public worship. Three prayers are offered each day,
morning, noon, and in the evening, when thanks are given
to God for blessings received; and on bended knee and
with folded hands, a continuation of His aid and a worthy
death are implored in a solemn formula. No one may be
absent from these prayers, except for the most urgent rea-
son; parents bring all their children hither that they may
learn even in infants' prattle to praise God. Then a reading
from the Holy Scriptures is listened to, and the meeting, of
about half an hour, is dismissed with a hymn. If the day
be a special day, on which some remarkable instance of
God's grace is to be commemorated, somewhat more time
is expended in the devotions. These meetings are held in
the larger halls of the towers, and each one has his assigned
place. And nothing is more worthy of Christians than this
observance. For though we owe secret prayers to God, our
best ones, and very frequent, yet this communion of spirits
and prayers has a distinctly pleasant sound in the ears of
God, and an especial efficacy. Those who neglect this are

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 159

perhaps a little bit too sure of their salvation, while those
who are expecting at some time a communion of saints,
even as they plan all things in this world with a view
toward the heavenly fatherland, so they are occupied in
divine praise more diligently and more eagerly than in any
other thing. On this account, happy and very wise are
those who anticipate here on earth the firstlings of a life
which they hope will be everlasting ; and most unfortunately
foolish are those who close their life with this most grievous
mortality.

XV.

FOOD.

Their meals are private to all, but the food is obtained
from the public storehouse. And because it is almost im-
possible to avoid unpleasantness and confusion when the
number of those partaking of a meal is so great, they pre-
fer that individuals shall eat together privately in their own
homes. Even as the food is distributed according to the
nature of the year, so also it is apportioned weekly accord-
ing to the number of families. But provision of wine is
made for a half year, or if conditions admit, of still longer
period. They get their fresh meat from the meat shop,
and they take away as much as is assigned to them. Fish,
as also game, and all sorts of birds are distributed to them
according to each one's proportion, the time and age being
taken into consideration. There are ordinarily four dishes,
and these after being carefully washed are prepared by the
women, and are seasoned with wise and pious words. Who-
ever wishes to have a guest may do so, and the parties con-

i6o Christianopolis

cemed, join their dishes accordingly ; or if it be a foreigner,
they ask from the public supplies what may be necessary.
For the kitchen, which I have mentioned above, serves this
purpose, that whatever decency requires beyond the regular
measure may be obtained from it. Since grown children are
brought up elsewhere, in most instances a family consists
of four or five, less frequently six individuals, father,
mother, and one or two children. Servingmen and serving-
women are a rare thing, nor very noticeable, except in the
case of those attending the sick, those in confinement, or
babies. The husband and wife perform together the ordi-
nary duties of the home, and the rest is taken care of in
the public workshop. Matters relating to boys and girls
just arriving at adolescence, we shall hear of later. Let
us just consider for a minute what an enormous burden we
would be freed from, if the multiplex difficulty of providing
food and drink, and the perplexity and daily care of stuffing
our stomachs were taken from us.

XVI.

OCCUPATIONS.

Their work, or as they prefer to hear it called, " the
employment of their hands," is conducted in a certain pre-
scribed way, and all the things made are brought into a
public booth. From here every workman receives out of
the store on hand, whatever is necessary for the work of the
coming week. For the whole city is, as it were, one single
workshop, but of all difi^erent sorts of crafts. The ones in
charge of these duties are stationed in the smaller towers

Concerning the State of Christianopolis i6i

at the corners of the wall; they know ahead of time what
is to be made, in what quantity, and of what form, and they
inform the mechanics of these items. If the supply of
material in the work booth is sufficient, the workmen are
permitted to indulge and give play to their inventive genius.
No one has any money, nor is there any use for any private
money; yet the republic has its own treasury. And in this
respect the inhabitants are especially blessed because no one
can be superior to the other in the amount of riches owned,
since the advantage is rather one of power and genius, and
the highest respect, that of morals and piety. They have
very few working hours, yet no less is accomplished than in
other places as it is considered disgraceful by all that
one should take more rest and leisure time than is allowed.
Since in other places it is true that ten working men with
difficulty support one idler, it will not be difficult to believe
that with all these men working there is some time of
leisure left for the individuals. And yet they all together
attend to their labors in such a way that they seem to
benefit rather than harm their physical bodies. Where
there is no slavery, there is nothing irksome in the human
body which weighs down or weakens. And who will doubt
that where God is favorable, all things are done with greater
force and zeal, more easily and more accurately than where,
against the wishes and favor of God, a mass of useless
buildings is heaped up?

i62 Christianopolis

XVII.

VACATION PERIODS.

It will not be unprofitable for us to see how the inhaW-
tants of Christianopolis spend their leisure time, or to name
it more properly, the breathing spell which is allowed one.
When they have cheerfully done enough to fill the require-
ments of piety, patriotism, and literature, and have exer-
cised their bodies in the mechanical arts according as
the season admits, they take longer or shorter periods of
quiet. This vacation, they say, they owe not so much to
the flesh as to the spirit, not less to the soul than to the
body. There is the greatest need that we return to our-
selves as often as possible and shake off the dust of the
earth; that we may restock our minds with generous reso-
lutions and attack vice, it is necessary to take a fresh
start; that we may revive the wearied faculties of the soul
and sharpen our wits, we must stand near or even sit
down upon a whetstone. Thus you will not expect to find
the sporting of fools nor the noise of aimless wandering, the
result of this national rest; but a relaxation of the mind,
intent upon some subject, and especially a recollecting of
things that pertain to a care of the future life, lest any-
thing at all dearer or higher than God be brought back to
us. So during these free hours it is common to see the
greatest calmness among the citizens, many devoting them-
selves to some special service to God, or to some neighbor
bearing a cross, or especially instructing each other mutually
in Christian conversations. But alas how different among
those who struggle in the world and whom Satan harasses,
who weary the spirit and relax the flesh, who are occupied

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 163

in the mud and rest in filth ! They are never less with
themselves than when alone. How therefore should they
hear the Lord speaking among us ! How should they at-
tempt to do manly deeds of valor! How should they give
birth to new offspring of genius or discover new inventions
when between the tumults of others and themselves they
grow deaf and stiff !

XVIII.

rewards.

And now, I judge, you will want to know of what ad-
vantage it is for one of regular morals and excelling
talent to live in this city when you hear nothing of re-
wards. Well, he of the Christian City solves this difficulty
very easily; for it is glory and gain enough for him to
please God. And yet incentives of the Holy Spirit are
not lacking. For really deeds of the children of God are
of such weight with these citizens, so often are they praised,
and in so many ways are they impressed upon the minds
of the youth, that every generous nature burns with a de-
sire to imitate. Besides, the pleasure of the consciousness
of having done right, the dignity of a nature that has over-
come darkness, the greatness of dominion over the pas-
sions, and above all, the unspeakable joy of the companion-
ship of the saints, take possession of a refined soul far too
deeply than that the renouncing of worldly pleasure should
be feared. Even if anything makes it worth while on the
part of a Christian to be preferred to others, here there is
no prerogative except of virtue, in this order that the greatest
worth is that of devotion to God, then of moderation, after

164 Christianopolis

that of a subdued nature, and finally of human strength;
and as far as each one is nearer the will of God, that much
the more fitted is he thought to be for governing others.
And since the world changes this around, understands but
little the experience of a good life, and pricks up its ears
to hear the pipe of vanity, it subjects the mind and body
to the poorest guide. It is not surprising for one not to
know what he wishes or does not wish, and for blind leaders,
though promising light, to follow a far blinder one into the
abysses of darkness.

XIX.

PENALTIES.

In the same way we may say of penalties, there is no use
of these in a place that contains the very sanctuary of God
and a chosen state, in which Christian liberty can bear not
even commands, much less threats, but is borne voluntarily
toward Christ. Yet it must be confessed that human flesh
cannot be completely conquered anywhere. And so if it
does not profit by repeated warnings (and in case of need,
serious corrections) severer scourges must be used to sub-
due it. For this purpose fit remedies are on hand, not of
one sort only, but chosen to suit different individuals. For
truly, if one withdraws the sustenance from one's carnal
appetites, or substitutes the cudgel for the tickle of lust,
much may be remedied. It is the art of arts to guard against
permitting sin to become easy for anyone. On the other
hand, how wicked it is to vent one's wrath against those
toward whose ruin you hurl stones. At any rate, the judges
of the Christian City observe this custom especially, that

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 165

they punish most severely those misdeeds which are di-
rected straight against God, less severely those which injure
men, and lightest of all those which harm only property.
How differently the world does, punishing a petty thief
much more harshly than a blasphemer or an adulterer. As
the Christian citizens are always chary of spilling blood,
they do not willingly agree upon the death sentence as a
form of punishment ; whereas the world, ever prodigal even
of a brother's blood, pronounces wantonly the first sentence
which occurs to it, feeling safe in this subterfuge that it has
not personally employed sword, rope, wheel, and fire, but
only through a servant of the law. Christ be my witness, it
is certainly handsome logic on the part of a government to
make thieves of dissolute characters, adulterers of the
intemperate, homicides of loafers, witches of courtesans,
in order that it may have someone with whose blood to
make expiation to God ! It is far more humane to tear out
the first elements and roots of vice than to lop off the ma-
ture stalks. For anyone can destroy a man, but only the best
one can reform.

XX.

NOBILITY.

In this republic no value is set on either succession of
title or blood apart from virtue. For while it is true that
those who deserve well are given the highest rank and are
decked with medals, yet the advantage of this to their
children, as in advance of others, is that they are admon-
ished more frequently of this family example, and thus the
heredity of virtue is inculcated. For if they possess this,

i66 Christianopolis

they are easily moved to the laudable memory of their
parents; in such a way however, that a free choice may not
be detrimental to the new virtue. For those who rise in
life by the help of God, which is the first moving factor of
all virtues, are to be honored in the worship of God, and
employed in conducting the state business. But this is
always evident, that divine gifts rise here and sink there,
thus showing that excelling is not a human attainment nor
due to the distribution of a few men, but to the choice of
heaven. It is not necessary to state what a mistake those
make who so frequently take the license of sinning and
the tinder of corruption out of the prerogative of family
distinction, with the result that the offspring of heroes,
who has not deteriorated, is an object of surprise. For
as it is true that parents climb the lofty citadel of virtue
over the difficult hills of work, so children often slide
through the labyrinths of extravagant pleasure to the low-
est engulfing depths of vice. If these should look back or
around into the affairs of mortals, they would never admit
that what might have commended them to God and men,
did, by free rein to their pleasures and destruction of
their flatterers, direct them into the readiest downward path
of body and soul.

XXI.

OFFICIALS.

This central part of the state is governed by eight men,
each of whom lives in one of the larger towers. Under them
are eight other subordinates, distributed through the smaller
towers. The spirit of all of these is rather parental than

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 167

overbearing; and the fear of those intrusted to the authori-
ties is not greater than their respect. For whatsoever they
may order others to do, this they do also themselves. They
do not lead any more with the voice than by their example.
Nothing is easier than imitation under conditions of this
kind, nothing more natural than following an example,
where no one corrects except he be himself above criticism ;
where no one teaches except he be himself learned; and
where the rule itself is the precept. He who first brought
violence and disdain into the world had nothing divine about
him. God approaches His own, and is approached of them.
God is heard of them and hears. So far from mutual
worship and contempt being permitted us, earthen vessels
of the same clay, it is not even seemly. Since all things
in the Christian Republic are referred to God, there is no
need of secrets and councils of state, in which Satan in
his kingdom rejoices. Here everything is open, giving
opportunity, forsooth, to fear God and to love one's neigh-
bor, which is the very crowning point of human society as
well as of divine law. What answer then will they give,
who convert religion, justice, and human intercourse into
veritable chains, shackles, and prisons; and who with
wrinkled brow, poisoned dress, and oily tongue, a hardened
heart and a grasping hand, wish not merely to be in com-
mand of men, but to lord it over beasts and fill whole
volumes with these monstrosities? Surely neither the law
of God nor the Gospels of Christ admit confusion; and
yet they never praise the human dominion in their followers,
but always inculcate a common brotherly communion. And
now because the church has renounced these principles, she
has become richer and more formidable, but not at all holier,
she who could not be influenced even in her last cleansing
to lay aside arrogance and harshness and persuade her

1 68 Christianopolis

curators to use a more sensible government. And so the
Christian grieves and is kept in the midst of Christianity
neither giving orders nor yet sufficiently obeying.

XXII.

PUBLIC WORKS.

There are also public duties, to v^hich all citizens have
obligation, such as watching, guarding, harvesting of grain
and wine, working roads, erecting buildings, draining
ground ; also certain duties of assisting in the factories, which
are imposed on all in turn according to age and sex, but
not very often nor for a long time. For even though cer-
tain experienced men are put in charge of all the duties,
yet when men are asked for, no one refuses the state his
services and strength. For what we are in our homes, they
are in their city, which they not undeservedly think a home.
And for this reason it is no disgrace to perform any pub-
lic function, so long as it be not indecent. Hence all work,
even that which seems rather irksome, is accomplished in
good time and without much difficulty, since the prompt-
ness of the great number of workmen permits them easily to
collect or distribute the greatest mass of things. Who does
not believe, since we are willing, all of us, to rejoice in and
enjoy privileges and conveniences of a community, that
the care and the work are ordinarily imposed upon a few,
while continual idleness and gluttony are made permissible
to the many? On the contrary, who denies that every citi-
zen^ in his own place and order, owes his best efforts to the
republic, not merely with his tongue but also with hand and

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 169

shoulder? With an entirely mistaken sense of delicacy do
the carnal-minded shrink from touching earth, water, stones,
coal, and things of that sort; but they think it grand to
have in their possession to delight them, horses, dogs, har-
lots, and similar creatures. Now the inhabitants of Chris-
tianopolis laugh at this and not unjustly, since painted on
their coats of arms they show here and there, not implements
of fierceness and pomp, but those of humanity and work;
and against other people the former prove a confession of
their vanity and brutality.

XXIII.

the homes.

No one owns a private house; they are granted and as-
signed to individuals for their use ; and, if the state desires,
they easily change their abodes. Almost all the houses are
built after one model ; they are well kept and especially free
from anything unclean. There are three rooms in the aver-
age house, a bathroom, a sleeping apartment, and a kitchen.
And the latter two are generally separated by a board par-
tition. The middle part within the towers has a little open
space with a wide window, where wood and the heavier
things are raised aloft by pulleys. The house has one door
and the head of the house is responsible for it. This leads to
the balcony from which one ascends either through the
towers or by way of a spiral stairs. In this connection the
plan should be examined carefully, for there is not leisure to
recount details. At the rear of each building is a garden,
kept with much care and nicety, inasmuch as the gardens
are conducive to health and furnish fragrance. The roof

170 Christianopolis

serves a common purpose; for the walls, built up in steps
and frequently constructed as a check for fire, separate and
the gutters unite it. The buildings have double windows,
one of glass and one of wood^ inserted in the wall in such a
way that each may be opened or closed as is desired. There
are small, private cellars, for not a great deal need be
stored in them. And so whatever extravagance and burdens
there may be in the world, these people draw together into
what you might call a very suitable shell, where nothing is
lacking which should cover a man and contain his belong-
ings. The houses are kept up at the expense of the state,
and provision is made by the carefulness of inspectors that
nothing is thoughtlessly destroyed or changed. Fire can
hardly ever do any damage or break through and spread.
They drive out cold with furnace heat, and counteract heat
with shade. How unfortunate are those who believe that
they have built lasting dwellings for themselves here and
then discover too late that they have been working in the
dark for others; meantime they have never been at home,
not even in their own bodies. But even more unhappy, if
Christ passes by their inauspicious palaces and enters the
huts of the poor!

XXIV.

FURNITURE AND FURNISHINGS.

Now it will be easy to guess what the furnishings are.
There are none except the most necessary, and even then
scant. The beds for both family and stranger are com-
fortable, neat, and well arranged. The neatness of the
women provides for clean bed- and table-linen as well as

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 171

underwear and chaplets. There are the necessary dishes
for the table and enough cooking utensils. For why should
you want great numbers of things when all that you may
reasonably desire can always be obtained at the public store-
house? They have only two suits of clothes, one for their
work, one for the holidays ; and for all classes they are made
alike. Sex and age are shown by the form of the dress.
The cloth is made of linen or wool, respectively for sum-
mer or winter, and the color for all is white or ashen gray ;
none have fancy, tailored goods. Drinking goblets are for
the most part of glass, yet some are tin and the rest brass.
Of the arms and letters we will speak later. It is quite
evident that all this furniture requires no care except that
incident upon cleaning, no guarding except the simplest,
no expenses except the most insignificant; yet they are
not less effective than the heaps, caves, chests, and like
prisons of the riches of this world. If you need any in-
strument other than what is in daily use, you may get it
at the supply house. For there are enough implements on
hand, both private and public^ since the whole state is one
of artisans. Moreover, they ought to be ashamed of them-
selves who are inactive in the great multitude, but in the
meantime pride themselves with all sorts of vessels and in-
struments, while they do absolutely nothing except with
other people's hands, eyes, and ears, and in the same way
accumulate wealth with useless solicitude; wretched they
are in the midst of such a laborious and manifold group of
props, with which they hope to be raised from the ground
on stilts and appear sublime. They are made fools equally
for their attempt to wander over the earth and to fly toward
the sky.

172 Christianopolis

XXV.

NIGHT LIGHTS.

They do not allow the night to be dark, but brighten it
up with lighted lanterns, the object being to provide for the
safety of the city and to put a stop to useless wandering
about, but also to render the night watches less unpleasant.
They would strive in this way to resist the dark kingdom
of Satan and his questionable pastimes ; and they wish to
remind themselves of the everlasting light. What Anti-
christ expects from the great number of wax candles, let
him see for himself; but let us not shrink back from any
system which lessens the fear of a man working at night in
the darkness, and which removes the veil which our flesh
is so anxious to draw over license and dissoluteness. And
there is no reason why we should consider expense here,
when in other matters these citizens are exceptionally
economical and when in other places there is the greatest
extravagance in most all affairs. Oh, if we would but turn
more to the light, there would not be such an opportunity
for every sort of meanness, nor such great numbers of
swindlers ! Would that the light of our hearts were burn-
ing more frequently, and that we would not so often
endeavor to deceive the all-seeing eye of God ! Now that
the darkness serves as excuse for the world and opens it
for all sorts of baseness, while it spreads blindness over
those things of which it is ashamed, what will be the situa-
tion when at the return of Christ, the Sun, every fog will
be dispelled and the world's corruptness which it guards
with so many covers, shall appear, when the wantonness of
the heart, the hypocrisy of the lips, the deceitful deeds of

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 173

the hands, and its much other filth shall be a disgrace to
itself and a mockery to the blessed?

XXVI.

THE COLLEGE.

Now is the time when we approach the innermost shrine
of the city which you would rightly call the center of
activity of the state. It is square, two hundred and seventy
feet on the outside, a hundred and ninety feet on the inside,
bounded by four corner towers and intersected by as many
others, opposite each other and inclosed by a double line of
gardens. There are in the whole building four stories, ris-
ing respectively to a height of twelve, eleven, ten, and nine
feet; and the towers extend eight feet more even above
these. Toward the market-place, on the inside, there is an
open porch, very attractive with its seventy-two columns.
Here religion, justice, and learning have their abode, and
theirs is the control of the city ; and eloquence has been
given them as an interpreter. Never have I seen so great
an amount of human perfection collected into one place,
and you will confess the same when you shall have heard a
description of the sights. And yet I often wonder what
people mean who separate and disjoin their best powers, the
joining of which might render them blessed as far as this
may be on earth. There are those who would be considered
religious, who throw ofif all things human; there are some
who are pleased to rule, though without any religion at all ;
learning makes a great noise, flattering now this one, now
that, yet applauding itself most. What finally may the

174 Christianopolis

tongue do except provoke God, confuse men, and destroy
itself? So there would seem to be a need of co-operation
which only Christianity can give — Christianity which con-
ciliates God with men and unites men together, so that
they have pious thoughts, do good deeds, know the truth,
and finally die happily to live eternally. Let us then co-
operate once lest we be separated for eternity.

XXVII.

THE TRIUMVIRATE.

Now let US consider why they prefer an aristocracy to
a monarchy. For though a monarchy has many advantages
yet they prefer to preserve this dignity for Christ, and
they distrust, not without cause, the self-control of human
beings. Christ does not tolerate too absolute a representa-
tive, nor does a man raised too high look up at the sky ; he
looks down upon the earth. One's own experiences are the
nearest, and they are worse, the more one is given to tyranny
and weakness of character. In such an instance, at least,
the triumvirate is the safest form of government, when it
admits only the best in the state and those most experienced
in public affairs, since one must work up through all steps
of virtue to it. Each one of the leaders does his own duty,
yet not without the knowledge of the others ; all consult
together in matters that concern the safety of the state.
Each has a senate, but on fixed days they all meet together
that decision in the most important matters may be reached
with common consent. As is fitting, all these men must be
loyal, prudent, and wise ; yet some are designated for these

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 175

ranks, or distinguished as being more exact. The chan-
cellor announces all the decrees of the senators, repeats
them, and makes them public. This man must be one of
greatest tact and trustworthiness. No litigation is adjusted
here ; for the citizens have no controversies too great to be
settled by the arbitration of the tribunes. But questions of
the truth of the Christian religion, the cultivation of vir-
tues, the methods of improving the mind ; also the need of
treaties, war, negotiations, buildings, and supplies are de-
liberated upon, with great, yet modest freedom and with a
proper appreciation of the gifts of God. So it comes that
they act upon serious matters calmly while other peoples
become disturbed and anxious over trivial things, a very
evident witness of their vanity, who roll up and impose
troubles upon themselves, or if there are none, trump up
some in order that they may torture themselves in bearing up
under them.

XXVIII.

RELIGION.

Looking all these things over, I might have suspected
this place of being some fanatical city, since, in the world
whatever seeks the skies is heretical. But a double plate
on which stood the sum of their confession and profession
inscribed in letters of gold, soon freed me from error. The
words of this tablet, as I wrote them down, have the fol-
lowing import:

I. We believe with our whole heart in one triune God, very
good, very wise, great, and everlasting : the Father, who created the
world out of nothing, preserves, moves, and directs the same, whose

176 Christianopolis

ministers are good angels, against whom the condemned Satan is
rebellious, whose delight is man, once the divine image and prince
of the world, to whom sin is hateful, whose interpreter of all
wisdom and summary of all uprightness is the Scriptures, and
whose love, through the giving of His Son, is most open and kind.

II. We believe with a whole heart in Jesus Christ, the Son of
God and Mary, coequal with the Father yet like us, our Redeemer,
united as to personality in two natures and communicating in both,
our Prophet, King, and Priest, whose law is grace, whose scepter
is that of peace, whose sacrifice, that of the cross.

III. We believe in the same regeneration of the Spirit, the admis-
sion of sin, even the brotherhood of our flesh with Him and in
Him, and the restoring to dignity, lost by the fall of Adam.

IV. We believe that by His life, suffering, and death He has
given satisfaction to the justice of God, that mercy has been
merited, the same has been brought to us through the Gospels,
given over to our faith, intrusted to the purity of life, and that
thence the dominion of sin was crucified, destroyed, and buried.

V. We believe that the kingdom of hell and the poison of
death have been destroyed, and that in the victory of the resurrec-
tion, security has been restored to us under the care of God.

VI. We believe the kingdom of Christ is infinite and eternal,
where He is present to His church at the right hand of the Father
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and that He feeds, keeps, and quickens
her spiritually with His Word, even as He does literally with flesh
and blood.

VII. We believe His supreme judgment, which He shall pro-
nounce upon all men, good and evil, with highest majesty, and
shall distinguish the just from the unjust most critically.

VIII. We believe with our whole heart in the Holy Spirit, our
Comforter and Teacher, by whom we are sanctified, enlivened, and
equipped, after we go from freedom to doing good, by whom
we are made wise beyond nature, armed against nature, and
put at peace with her; by whom we grow warm, are united and
divided into languages ; by whom we see and hear the past, present,
and future properly correlated; by whom we look into the Word
of God.

IX. We believe in a holy, universal church, purified by the water
of baptism from infancy, and fed by the communion of the
eucharist, thus guarded with the seals of the new covenant, taught
in the ministry of the Word, disciplined with the cross, ready to
serve in prayers, active in charity, generous in communion, powerful
in excommunication, which though distributed over the earth, the
unity of faith joins, the diversity of gifts strengthens, Christ, the

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 177

Bridegroom and Head, renders invincible, and which the standing
of the different classes and the purity of marriage embellish.

X. We believe in a free forgiveness of all sins through the min-
istry of the Word, and in the obligation of our gratitude and obedi-
ence on account of this.

XI. We believe in the general resurrection of the human flesh,
so much desired by the faithful that on account of it they par-
ticularly love a natural death ; so formidable to the wicked that on
account of it they consider the natural life to be especially cursed.

XII. We believe in an eternal life by which we shall obtain
perfect light, ability, quiet, knowledge, plenty, and joy; by which
also the malice of Satan, the impurity of the world, the corruption
of men shall be checked; by which it shall be well with the good,
and evil with evil-doers, and the visible glory of the Holy Trinity
shall be ours forever.

XXIX.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE.

Thus far it has been permitted us to hear about the re-
ligion ; the Other tablet prescribes the rules of daily life, and
the words read as follows:

I. We strive with all our strength to submit ourselves in all
reverence and adoration to God, the one Founder and Ruler of
the human race, and to prefer nothing in heaven or on earth to
Him; to refer our life and all our actions to His glory and to
succeed with His aid.

II. We strive never to provoke the holy name of God with any
form of blasphemy, never to alienate it by grumbling, dishonor it
by frivolity, neglect it on account of laziness ; and we strive to
regard reverently the most holy mysteries of our salvation.

III. We strive to have leisure ever for our God, to rest from
the confusion of cravings of the flesh, to provide a quiet shrine
for the Trinity, a pure dwelling place for our neighbor, breathing-
space for all creatures, to devote our time only to the Divine Word.

IV. We strive to preserve and practice love to parents, respect
to our superiors, propriety to our equals, modesty toward those that

178 Christianopolis

have been trusted, labor for the republic, a good example to pos-
terity, and to perform the duties of Christian love with mutual
kindnesses.

V. We strive to bridle our wrath, to restrain our impatience, to
value human blood, to forget revenge, to abhor jealousy, and care-
fully to imitate the very gentle heart of Christ.

VI. We strive to shield the innocence of youth, the virginity of
maidens, the purity of matrimony, the unpolluted restraint of
widowhood, and to overcome luxury and intoxication with the tem-
perance and fasting of the flesh.

VII. We strive to enjoy the goods intrusted to us by God, as
diligently as possible, peacefully, properly, and with giving of
thanks; to exercise the duties of acquisition and distribution as
justly as possible, of employment modestly and of conservation
safely.

VIII. We strive to propagate the light of truth, the purity of
conscience, the integrity of bearing testimony, freely and correctly,
to reverence the presence of God at every time and place, to protect
the innocent and to convict the guilty.

IX. We strive to disturb nothing of another, nor to confound
divine with human things, to submit to our lot, to inhabit our
dwellings peacefully, and to despise the sojourning place of the
whole world.

X. We strive so to establish our intercourse that each one's
property be given and preserved to him, and that no one would
rather covet the affairs of another than to put his own in order and
devote them to the glory of God and the public safety.

When I had read these tablets I was not a little more
strengthened in the belief that here lived a people of Christ,
whose religion agreed with that of the apostles and the
state administration with the law of God. For although
pseudo-Christians boast of these two characteristics, yet
anyone who associates with them, even occasionally, will
easily see that their words are sacred, but their secret acts
unfeeling; though their confession is honorable, their con-
fusion is distressing; it will be evident that their formula
of peace is very frequently a thoroughfare of discord ; mean-
time they accuse their flesh and yet will not accept the help-
ing hand of God nor the corrections of the Spirit.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 179

XXX.

the minister or presbyter.

Now when I was led away from this place, I was ad-
mitted into the presence of the chief priest, not by any means
a Roman pontifex, but a Christian. His name was Abi-
aldon, a man of revered old age and from whose countenance
there shone real divinity. No one is more practiced in the
Holy Word, no one more experienced in the same. When
he was graciously and zealously speaking with me, I recog-
nized the ambassador and mediator of God ; he did not look
at things of the earth at all. When I attempted according
to our custom to recognize this man with titles, he, disdain-
ing such earthly absurdities, would not tolerate it, saying
he considered himself sufficiently well appreciated if I be-
lieved him to be the servant of God and my spiritual father.
They say that he is very often inspired of God and that he
then announces some unusual things, but with the greatest
modesty of the spirit. Only once a week, and that on Sun-
day, he addresses the people and teaches them with divine
eloquence ; and they confess that they have never listened to
him without receiving an inward impulse for good. He is
ashamed to advise others to do a thing which he has not
already done himself. Hence when standing before the
people, though he be silent, he teaches. His whole time he
spends in sacred meditations and especially in efforts to
further Christianity, and he seeks no other refreshment
than heavenly food. When he blessed me I felt something
warm within me, and it permeated my whole being. Truly
this genuine theology is more efficacious than the assertions
of many among the worldly. I blushed when I remembered

i8o Christianopolis

the pride, greed, jealousy, and wine-drinking of some, and
the other sins of our sacred order. You would suppose that
they did not themselves believe what they were persuading
others to believe, granted that they have actually learned to
persuade anyone. Under their good favor, I was well
pleased with Abialdon, a man of fervent spirit, but tem-
perate flesh, a lover of the heavens, but forgetful of the
things of the world, always doing, rarely speaking, intoxi-
cated with God, abstaining from voluptuousness, guarding
the flock, neglecting himself, first in merit, last in boasting.

XXXI.

CONSCIENCE.

I DO not hesitate either to praise the wife of the preacher
(for he is a married man). Her name is Senidis, a very
excellent woman, observing to the last detail the rules of
piety and moderation. She neglects nothing of which it is
right that her husband should be advised. Being very sen-
sible herself, she is not often deceived ; and being upright
she does not deceive others. She always bears an untroubled
countenance and is of calm mind, being, as she well knows,
most happily married. She has blessed her husband with a
numerous and beautiful offspring; two of these children
are daughters, Alethea and Parrhesia. She guards her own
affairs carefully, takes greatest pride in her married state,
and seeks nothing else. In order that nothing may go
wrong, because of her negligence, she tends things care-
fully and aspires to cleanliness in everything. She speaks
when there is reason. At other times she prefers to keep

Concerning the State of Christianopolis i8i

silent. When there is need of skill and diligence she has
no equal ; for this reason the hangings and coverings of
the shrine were woven by her hands. When I remember
her, I am disgusted with worldly women ; for they either
are superstitiously scrupulous, or altogether dull, or they
rudely scold, or they admit anything however wicked, or
they wrinkle up their faces, or they revel wantonly; finally
they keep giving their husbands advice, and never in sea-
son; they never love them sincerely nor take care of them
economically. Forsooth, such is the light-mindedness of
the consciences of the world, that after the dances of human
vanity, when the honey of vices has turned bitter, they do
not turn to God with a timely change of heart; but they
annoy one with their dog-like yelps and drive people to
desperate, hasty acts. Happy is that holy matron who by
her example has taught that it is possible to pay the closest
attention to one's affairs, and yet be holy with a joyful
countenance.

XXXII.

THE minister's ASSISTANT OR THE DIACONUS.

The church of the Christian City has also a diaconus by
the name of Achban. He is very closely associated with
Abialdon, and his duty is to educate the youth, distribute the
sacraments, perform marriage ceremonies, and give com-
fort to the sick. Not that this is not also the office of the
presbyter himself, but less his than that of the diaconus.
The superior does not despise his colleague, but rather
the colleague has the greatest respect for his superior.
The former does not burden and weigh down the latter

i82 Christianopolis

with heavy tasks, but the latter supports the former. The
one does not command, but the other is naturally obedient.
Even as between father and son there should be a mutual
affection, exactly such is the relation in this case, though
there is little difference in their ages. No power commands
more effectively and none serves more readily than love.
The diaconus does not care to make any changes, nor
does he ever forget himself so far as to boast. But he is
glad to hear from his spiritual father what God commands,
what is best for the church. He preaches one sermon be-
fore the people in the middle of the week. I do not
know why they should meet in assembly less often than
others, unless it be, as I suspect, that they prefer to have
sermons well prepared, a thing impossible when there are
too many in a given time; and they make up the difference
generously with their daily prayers and readings. They
receive from their theological seminary those who read in
public the devout meditations of illustrious servants of God,
a custom which they think far in advance of the juvenile
efforts of others. And it did not displease me either when
I heard a reading grounded on a firmer basis than mere
doubtful memory. Truly one man is not sufficient to
hearken unto the Holy Spirit, bridle his passions, tame
the barbarians, bear his labors, take care of his family,
and earn his daily bread; and yet the world asks this very
thing of ministers twenty years of age; and, for fear they
may have a lack of something to do, they are compelled
to combat hunger. I marvel at two points truly, in the
case of men who prevail upon mere boys to care for their
souls, and who are prevailed upon to intrust their souls to
them. Of course I would give way if there were many
like Timothy, but since I see so few of these, and especially
since I see so much wickedness, I grieve for the lot of the

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 183

church which is vexed at the sluggishness and audacity of
the world.

XXXIII.

THE JUDGE.

Then I met the second of the triumvirs, Abiefer by name,
a man born after such a pattern that he does to no one
what he would not wish done to himself, and what he desires
for himself, he tries to secure for all. Neither blood nor
riches, which here amount to nothing, exalted him; but a
calm and peace-loving soul. He does not make his responses,
confined, as it were, and seated on a tripod ; and a citizen
does not tremble at his look; but like the rising sun, he
shines upon all and clears up everything. To state it all
briefly, he is the pater familias of the city, and he re-
joices in being called the minister of Christ. It is his duty
to keep close watch over the measures, weights, and num-
bers, and to administer the specific proportion of things.
Whatever methods they exercise in taming their passions
and in thoroughly overcoming Adam, these he considers his
sphere and he regulates everything with a view toward
life eternal. For he feels that the best plan for a republic
is one which agrees as nearly as possible with heaven; and
being very pious himself, he believes that a propitious God is
the salvation of a city, the destruction of the same a wrathful
God. So he strives that the Divinity become not ofif ended by
the sins of the citizens, that it rather be conciliated by adorn-
ments of faith. Hence the city is invincible, unless it yield
first to its own vices. No evil however small is admitted
into it, and the citizens do not fear Satan's influence, but

184 Christianopolis

overthrow it as soon as possible. Surely one could never
wonder enough at the feeling of security of the world, which
tolerates the public trading in vices and does not fear con-
tagion; which offers abominations to God and is not sure
of the latter's disgust ; which deals with the greatest political
schemes and yet boasts of a Christian society ; which thinks
it has provided enough for itself when it is sure that one is
not lacking who will govern it with great pomp and with
the greatest protection of all lusts. Even as the Christian
City i& august and most flourishing because of its watchful-
ness of justice, so worldly cities wither away from day
to day under the weakness of wickedness.

XXXIV.

UNDERSTANDING.

Now I pray that you listen to some facts regarding his
wife. I have never seen a woman less credulous, I have
never heard conversation deeper or more considerate. But
if she once believes a thing and repeats it, you may depend
upon its being true. Hence she does not do anything with-
out cause, a cause in which her husband agrees. She has
the sight of an eagle, eyes that can bear the light of the
sun and can see very far. She tolerates no empty rumors
nor the unreliable reports of the crowd. She does not
tolerate the concealment of virtue nor the advertisement of
vice ; she does not countenance the restriction of liberty nor
the loosing of servitude; nor does she stand any overhasti-
ness. Her husband is not ashamed to discuss difficult prob-
lems with her ; he hears her freely, but reserves the decision

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 185

for himself. If she gets a little too curious regarding mat-
ters of his sphere he holds her in check and admonishes her
of heaven, and requires that she restrict herself to her own
duties. Thus she lives peaceably and joyfully, under the
direction of her husband, a very fitting example to those
who either communicate all things or nothing with the
women. Whoever has a logician for wife cannot even
believe in God, unless the wife gives her approval, and he
takes oath to all her foolishness as being entirely true.
He who has an Athenian, never bears the slightest inter-
ruption. What utterly absurd things are done in a republic
because the why is neither known nor tolerated. The world
has faith in the unbelieving, follows the blind, is mortally
afraid of the weak, raises the lazy, and admits Heaven knows
what absurdities. It ought not, then, take offense when
someone laughs at it; it should rather appreciate the talka-
tive ones who keep asking it with importunity why it does
and suffers this or that. The world will never regret hav-
ing been urged from darkness into light, from servitude into
freedom.

XXXV.

MEASURE.

As assistant to this second triumvir stands Achitob, the
state economist, whose care it is that the state revenues and
storehouse supplies are so distributed among the individuals,
that not less than his just amount falls to each one. This
is not so difficult a task as one might suppose; for since
no one lays claim to any prerogative or asks as his right
more food than the season of the year and the custom of

1 86 Christianopolis

the city prescribe, but all preserve an equal ratio, the di-
viding is quickly done in accordance with the number, and
the amount of the year's produce ; and to see that the food
is cleanly and properly cooked, is the special duty and care
of the women, who also are to seek out and prepare for the
sick those articles of food which are best adapted to them.
Achitob has great ability at figuring and he so divides the
yearly produce among the citizens that they never hunger,
nor yet feast at the expense of their intellectual nature.
This is a very desirable arrangement, especially in com-
parison with those^ some of whom suffer hunger and others
of whom measure the divine goodness not by plenty, but
by superabundance and nausea. They are unworthy of
life who seek the chief thing in life on the table or in the
stomach, and who pay no attention to the food of heaven;
but while the poor-looking servants of God are ascending
to heaven, these persons, swelled by the foods of the world,
are forced down to hell by the weight of their bellies.
Nature is content with but few necessities; neither earth,
sea, nor air is sufficient for the gluttony of one man until
at length he is tortured in fire without end or measure.

XXXVI.

THE DIRECTOR OF LEARNING.

The third of the triumvirs, Abida, has the sphere of
human learning. I found him, contrary to expectation,
without haughtiness or laziness. All about the man was
kindly, nothing crabbed. It was thought there was little
he did not know; yet in his modesty he professed an igno-

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 187

ranee of all things. There was lack of nothing except,
among his colleagues, the decorations of titles. He always
said that the man who studied as a disciple under the direc-
tion of the Holy Spirit, had accomplished something. When
I inquired as to the sum of all learning, he mentioned Christ
and Him crucified, saying that all things pointed toward
Him. He seemed at one time contemning the earth and
praising the heavens ; and then again he seemed to be esti-
mating the earth highly, and the heavens as of less value.
For he insisted that a close examination of the earth would
bring about a proper appreciation of the heavens, and when
the value of the heavens had been found, there would be a
contempt of the earth. At the same time he entirely dis-
approved of all that literature which did not bring one
nearer to Christ; if it tended to separate one from Christ,
he cursed it. He centered all importance in the church,
which had been tossed about so many thousands of years
upon the world-ocean; to the church were due, he said, all
tongues, all history, all reasoning, all signs of nature, all
arts of the heavens ; then finally one might expect the gift of
blessed eternity. Only Christians have knowledge, but it is
of God. All remaining things are foolishness, because they
come out of one's self. These facts surprised me greatly,
when I heard all things made light of, which among others
are praised highly. But I was convinced when I remem-
bered why we are born into this world, namely, to enjoy
Christ, our absolute necessity, our invaluable gain. But
when it falls our lot to die, woe to the miserable literature
which has fed us for a few days on smoke ! Arise, thou
sacred science which shall explain to us Christ, that we may
here learn things that are not to be unlearned, but to be
increased and extended into all ages !

i88 Christianopolis

XXXVII.

TRUTH.

I OWE it to the excellent matron, his wife, since she was
kind to me, to explain incidentally what kind of a woman
she is. Nothing about her is false, everything simple
and open. Whatever she sees, against divinity or humanity,
she disapproves, but she chooses with kindness and sense.
She knows of nothing so objectionable as hypocrisy and
sophistry; she looks at all things from top to bottom, and
such as she finds them, she makes them known to her hus-
band. She sets no value upon gossip; but rejoices in the
silence of the Spirit ; if any difference of opinion arises
among the women, no one is more fit for conciliation than
she is. Her conversation is brief and full of Christ, as is
self-evident, and she convinces her adversaries without ex-
citement. She preserves her modesty inviolate, though sev-
eral times she was wooed by the philosophers on account
of the charm of her countenance. Oh, marriage, blessed and
much to be preferred by all persons, which unites those
who are joined unencumbered with prejudices, cringing
flattery, and falsehood! And though they are deceived by
them, the deception pleases them and they prefer to hear
monstrous fabrication rather than facts that are in accord
with their own feelings. Alas for such willing blindness,
such voluntary sadness ! In the presence of their dead
bodies they dream of immortality; in the darkness they
dream of clear light; in the midst of crime they dream of
a well regulated life ; with shackles on their feet, of wings ;
and what not. How true it is that the number of fools is
never greater nor more intolerable than among those who

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 189

profess wisdom. This most praiseworthy woman has done
me this kindness, that she warned me of many mistakes,
never before known to me.

XXXVIII.

THE TONGUE.

The chancellor whom I mentioned above was in the
neighborhood. He, too, is anxious to be called a minister of
Christians. He is of great importance ; hence I would con-
sider him a very bad influence in a wicked state, but an
excellent one in a good state. They make sport of us who
believe that he hears one thing and speaks another. I have
found him frank and even perhaps somewhat heedless. He
has good cause for avoiding intemperance; as a matter of
fact, he married Moderation, a woman of excellent coun-
sel, and she, as she is very observant of sacred silence,
tempers all his conversation very happily. When he has
to speak of God, he trembles ; when of Christ, he exults ;
when of the Holy Spirit, he becomes enthusiastic; when
his speech concerns man, he grieves; when it concerns na-
ture, he investigates ; when Satan, he is disgusted ; when the
world, he is ashamed ; when death, he smiles ; when heaven,
he looks up. Never does he seem to be doing less than
when he discusses daily matters; to such a degree he says
we are engaged in details. He values time not to the first
minute, but to the sixth or seventh, so that hour-glasses
are not at all required. Coins are not cared for elsewhere,
as he guards his words, for fear some hateful or poi-
sonous one will escape his lips. And so all around the

IQO Christianopolis

Word of God resounds, Jesus speaks, the Holy Spirit
breathes, man is ennobled, human nature is controlled,
Satan gnashes his teeth, the world laughs, death loses its
sting, and the heavens open. It is surely an admirable in-
strument of God, which guards the oaths and rights of
humanity, and is anxious to imitate the Word of God. For
what Christ is to the universe, that this interpreter is to this
Christian society^ in that he brings to light all that is hid-
den, and makes known the secret corners. If God favors,
he praises Him ; if He tests misdeeds, he confesses ; if He is
angry, he intercedes ; and if He imposes a cross, he accepts
it. If Satan interferes, he disputes the matter; if the flesh
oppresses him, he sighs; and if supplies are withheld, he
warns ; what need of more cases ? Whatsoever the Creator
commands and is befitting the creature, he attempts ac-
cording to his own ability and carries out with the readiest
obedience, while the carnal-minded carry around burning
torches in their mouths with which they set God, men, the
world, and themselves afire, so that finally they blaze in inex-
tinguishable flame.

XXXIX.

THE LIBRARY.

When now I had paid my respects to these chief men, I
was to be shown the halls of the citadel. There were
twelve, destined to preserve the public affairs, all arched,
thirty-three feet wide, thirty-three feet long, but not over
twelve feet high. In the first room, a library of consider-
able size, were guarded the creations of great and in-
numerable natures, divided into groups and distributed

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 191

according to subject-matter. Whatever we think has been
lost, this I found there, to my very great surprise, al-
most without exception. There is no language on earth
which has not contributed something of its own to this
place, no mind which is not here represented. Yet the
citizens seemed to me not to consider the use of it very
highly, and they were satisfied with fewer books — the
more thorough ones. The highest authority among them is
that of sacred literature, that is, of the Divine Book; and
this is the prize which they recognize as conceded by divine
gift to men and of inexhaustible mysteries; almost every-
thing else they consider of comparatively little value, yet
they are very well read and fortified in advance by this
remedy, that they admire nothing that is mere babble. And
they write books too, not because of any desire for reputa-
tion, but with a view toward spreading the Christian faith,
scorning the world, and rebuking Satan. This is the ardent
desire of all, to realize how little one really knows, and from
this starting-point to aspire to the true knowledge and to
disdain the vain boast of the human mind. But there are
many things which it is expedient not to know in this life,
wherefore a holy simplicity is for many a library in itself.
Others say they have enough to study out of the volume
of this universe. While very many assert that they find
more within themselves and trace the sources of all arts
more easily, than out of whole piles of books. And so
they are disgusted with all things ;n the world which do not
have in them anything godly, and they collect them for a
mockery of the human mind that they may convince their
people of the uselessness of such. Farewell then to books,
if we follow them only! Hail Christ, the Book of Life,
out of which more easily, surely, and safely we may learn
all.

192 Christianopolis

XL.

THE ARMORY.

Of the armory, which lies on the other side, they have a
still more critical opinion. For while the world especially
glories in war-engines, catapults, and other machines and
weapons of war, these people look with horror upon all
kinds of deadly and death-dealing instruments, collected in
such numbers ; and they show them to visitors not without
disapproval of human cruelty — disapproval, because so
much is being contrived for seeking and dealing death, when
death itself is so very near, and even hidden in one's bosom ;
disapproval, that a man will take such a risk to bring upon
his nearest brother that at which he himself trembles ; that
so much danger is being overlooked in the hope, doubtful
and for the most part treacherous, of some gain or another ;
finally that such fierceness and violence is expended upon
striving for things of absolutely no value, when a greater
and more deadly danger impends from Satan, the world, and
even from our own selves. However, they do bear arms,
though unwillingly, for keeping off some greater evil, and
they distribute them privately among the individual citizens,
that they may serve in the homes in the case of sudden
emergency. Meantime, they impress all the more seriously
upon them that they be mindful of their spiritual armor,
never expose their bodies, defenseless and bare of virtues,
to Satan, never through drunkenness and gluttony forget
their watches, but that they be swift and brave at their sta-
tions, elude the enemy in ambush, and when he takes the
oflfensive, repel him, strengthened with the spirit of God.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 193
XLI.

THE ARCHIVES.

The hall adjoining the library is set apart for preserving
the judicial proceedings, laws,, and public acts of the state.
Here one may see the annals of many periods, from them
behold the words and deeds of their predecessors, and
compare these with the things accomplished or being ac-
complished at present. If anything has been honorably
and bravely done, it stands out as an example and a
stimulus; if otherwise, they have opportunity to change
and, as it were, upbraid themselves. No one may be igno-
rant of the past history of his country; but the latter so
strongly re-echoes every age, that they think they have
lived in almost any age. Those who have excelled in merit
to the advantage of their country, have great reputation;
nor do those have less fame who have shone forth in
loyalty to God, good sense toward the citizens, bravery
against the enemy, or genius in the direction of the arts.
When others neglect this, they are not without blame. How
few people of to-day know the movements, plans, and trans-
actions of a former age, or hear the lives of predecessors
openly and frankly described ! Meantime people dream that
they all were demigods ; and if anyone says they have made
a mistake in anything, they resent it. No one really
writes about the affairs of the world except flattery, the
greatest enemy of posterity. Flattery loves the deceit her-
self, and so rejoices to pass it along to her children ; though
her own people accuse each other mutually, though they
live basely in fact, yet their lives as pictured by the para-
sites, are the very images of virtue. Hence it is that many

194 Christianopolis

consider the biographies of the elders somewhat doubtfully,
when they see that they stand forth from the pens of the
authors on a slippery footing. The frankness of just one
man, Thanus, received the applause of the public ; but though
one may praise, he is hardly permitted to imitate. If anyone
would attempt the same thing among his own people, he
would be flogged. Men are so base that though they do not
at all revere the sight of God, yet they themselves can
hardly bear to look upon their likenesses represented accord-
ing to life, nor to expose them to the view of posterity.

XLII.

PRINTING.

Next to this is situated the printing shop, the home of an
invention that has proved itself for both the advantage and
the disadvantage of our age ; in this place at least it is harm-
less. For beyond the Holy Scriptures and those books which
instruct the youth and aid the devotion of the citizens, little
printing is done. Private copies of the Bible are owned by
individuals in their own language, as are also principles of
confession, books of hymns and prayers, and such other
documents as make for piety. Whatever inquiries benefit
the school, are printed in great numbers so that they may
serve Christian boyhood. Scattering literature which ex-
presses doubt concerning God, which corrupts the morals
or imposes upon man's mind is not permitted. To whatever
extent printing presses are defended elsewhere, they never-
theless err to the limit; for though everyone's curiosity is
satisfied, one's own ambition and the purse of the printer, yet

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 195

no concern is felt for God, or the harm to one's neighbor.
How many vast volumes of nothingness, what a mass of lies
and fallacies are accumulated in the twofold output of the
year! One is surprised that there are men who can read
through even the titles. For these are the fruits of a
learned, boastful age, that the wise and the unwise, side by
side and publicly, trifle with such an abundance of produc-
tions, and think that unless someone has placed their name
in the public market catalogue, it is all up with literature and
religion. For nothing can be collected so foolishly, invented
so tastelessly, described so crudely, presented so uselessly
but the bookshops will keep it.

XLIII.

THE treasury.

Adjoining the armory is the treasury; this has no use
at all among the citizens, but is not to be scorned in its
relation to foreigners. No one would believe what an
amount of coined gold and silver there is here in stock;
with it they may pay tribute to Caesar, support mercenaries
when it becomes necessary, trade with foreigners, give to
strangers, and support their industries. Whatever has
money value, they think has least value ; what has been pur-
chased with blood, has the greatest value. The inscriptions
on the coins are, on the one side, // God Be with Us Who
Can Be Against Us, and on the other side. The Word of the
Lord Endures Forever. The former face bears the repre-
sentation of an eagle with a cross athwart; the latter, their
city resting on a book. And so, money which weakens every

196 Christianopolis

other part of the world, lies here unnoticed and of no fur-
ther value except for its usefulness ; and it has no need of
an especial guard, since no one in the republic can use it.
So here men are served without injury by that which among
others is injurious and insuppressible, more than all dragons
and monsters. To money is due public corruption; with it
the heavens are sold, the soul is fettered, the body bound,
hell bought. Whatever sin is committed is attributed to
money and not unjustly, when men accuse themselves before
having been caught by so very cheap a thing. How easily
bought is the human race which has sold its Christian lib-
erty to Antichrist, its natural liberty to tyranny, and its
human liberty to sophistry; and has surrendered its
wretched efforts for the cheapest return : superstition, servi-
tude, and ignorance!

XLIV.

THE LABORATORY.

Behind the treasury is the laboratory, dedicated to
chemical science and fitted out with most ingenious ovens
and with contrivances for uniting and dissolving substances.
No one here need fear because of the mockery, falseness,
or falsehoods of impostors; but let one imagine a most
careful attendant of nature. Here the properties of metals,
minerals, and vegetables, and even the life of animals are
examined, purified, increased, and united, for the use of
the human race and in the interests of health. Here the
sky and the earth are married together; divine mysteries
impressed upon the land are discovered; here men learn to

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 197

regulate fire, make use of the air, value the water, and test
earth. Here the ape of nature has wherewith it may play,
while it emulates her principles and so by the traces of the
large mechanism forms another, minute and most exquisite.
Whatever has been dug out and extracted from the bowels
of nature by the industry of the ancients, is here subjected
to close examination, that we may know whether nature has
been truly and faithfully opened to us. Truly that is a
humane and generous undertaking, which all who are true
human beings deservedly favor. Others, on account of the
wickedness of too many or angered by their unhappiness,
refuse with foolish haughtiness every investigation of na-
ture and examination of human reason, considering them-
selves sufficiently wise when they make attempts at the most
ingenious art, with one or the other form of mockery, and
do not at all remember how infinitely many things they
accept and believe only because they have been marked
down and mentioned to them; how carelessly they spurn
the most evident gifts and remedies of nature, and yet
obey the most ridiculous tales of peddlers and quacks. I
have transgressed, I suppose, against the haughtiness of
many, and against the prejudice of many; but they will
grant me their forgiveness when they hear that I did not
exercise this art but only watched it ; and being of courteous
nature, I interpreted it more kindly and advantageously.

198 Christianopolis

XLV.

THE DRUG SUPPLY HOUSE.

Outside the gate now, stands the pharmacy, and no place
in the world has a more carefully selected collection. For
inasmuch as the citizens have a strong inclination toward
the natural sciences, this pharmacy is for them a veritable
miniature of all nature. Whatsoever the elements offer,
whatever art improves, whatever all creatures furnish, it is
all brought to this place, not only for the cause of health,
but also with a view toward the advancement of education
in general. For how can the division of human matters be
accomplished more easily than where one observes the most
skillful classification, together with the greatest variety!
This is a very liberal conception, though contrary to the
accepted school, and it is entirely inseparable from literature.
For what a narrow thing is human knowledge if it walks
about as a stranger in the most wholesome creations and
does not know what advantage this or that thing bears to
man, yet meanwhile wanders about in the unpleasant crackle
of abstractions and rules, none the less boasting of this as
a science of the highest order! It should rather be the
aim, after something has been accomplished with that
theory, to prove its practical value to men ; after the nomen-
clature of things, to recognize also the things themselveSo
Shall theory be so needy that after receiving the precepts
of the arts, she should make no attempt at the accomplish-
ment of anything and in the very profession of scholarli-
ness, should consult those who are unlearned? There is
enough of our life, if it is spent economically, that we may
obtain the best things far more easily than the worst. There

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 199

is more vexation and irksome labor in the foolishness with
which men wear out their powers, than in those things
which can raise them aloft and admit them to a contempla-
tion of our earth. So they are whirled around and whirl
others about in a perpetual maelstrom — in irrevocable in-
famy.

XLVL

ANATOMY.

They have also a place given over to anatomy, that is,
the dissecting of animals, because nothing is so nearly a
miracle as the workshop of the bodies of living things, and
especially of man, who may be called a miniature example,
an epitome, of the whole world. The value of ascertaining
the location of the organs and of assisting the struggles of
nature no one would deny, unless he desires to be as igno-
rant of himself as are the barbarians. And yet there are
some persons, even among the educated, who do not know
where they live, feel, breathe, digest, or discharge, ex-
cept that they think these functions are performed some-
where within their skins. For them, right differs very little
from left, or lowest from highest. The inhabitants of Chris-
tianopolis teach their youth the operations of life and the
various organs, from the parts of the physical body. They
show them the wonderful structure of the bones, for which
purpose they have not a few skeletons and of the required
variety. Meantime they also show the anatomy of the hu-
man body, but more rarely because the rather sensitive
human mind recoils from a contemplation of our own suf-
ferings. Let us, therefore, lament the fact that our little

200 Christianopolis

dwelling so carefully formed, snatched from so many dan-
gers, and not a few times clad more delicately than damage
to life warranted, should end by passing into such a state of
foulness and horror. But even as the origin of our life is a
thing to blush at, so the rapidity of our dying has its cause
of shame with equal merit. Meantime we do hardly find
the number of our diseases, nay even, we rarely compute
all the afflictions of one member of the human body. Let
us then praise our Christ who, though clad in the same flesh
as we, obtained for us the ability of sometime being able
to take up again our decaying bodies, purified and refined.
In consideration of this we will bear the grievous burden of
the flesh, readily and willingly, wherever it pleases Him ; we
will give over all our members to God ; we will dedicate
them to His service and will freely return them to Him when
He demands them.

XLVII.

THE NATURAL SCIENCE LABORATORY.

Upon this follows the hall of physics, and this cannot be
too elegantly described. For natural history is here seen
painted on the walls in detail and with the greatest skill.
The phenomena in the sky, views of the earth in different
regions, the different races of men, representations of ani-
mals, forms of growing things, classes of stones and gems
are not only on hand and named, but they even teach and
make known their natures and qualities. Here you may see
the forces of agreement and of opposition; you may see
poisons and antidotes ; you may see things beneficial and in-
jurious to the several organs of man's body. When I have

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 201

mentioned these things, it is all of no value unless you shall
see everything before your eyes. For if you should wish to
examine only those cases even, in which the rare, freakish,
and unusual specimens of nature are kept, there would be
no end. Truly, is not recognition of things of the earth
much easier if a competent demonstrator and illus-
trative material are at hand and if there is some guide
to the memory? For instruction enters altogether more
easily through the eyes than through the ears, and
much more pleasantly in the presence of refinement than
among the base. They are deceived who think that
it is impossible to teach except in dark caves and with a
gloomy brow. A liberal-minded man is never so keen as
when he has his instructors on confidential terms. To what
shall we attribute it that we see many professing natural
science who hesitate when placed face to face with some little
herb, unless we suspect that they have never been admitted
to this very pleasant view of nature? If these people should
hear citizens of Christianopolis or even boys at their play
recognizing, naming, and investigating according to their
characteristic marks and signs thousands of herbs, classify-
ing them with respect to diseases, they would blush per-
haps, or, what is more to the purpose, they would never
leave this auditorium unless they left it instructed with a
broader knowledge of nature.

202 Christianopolis

XLVIIL

PAINTING AND PICTURES.

Opposite the pharmacy is a very roomy shop for pictorial
art, an art in which this city takes the greatest delight. For
the city, besides being decorated all over with pictures repre-
senting the various phases of the earth, makes use of them
especially in the instruction of the youth and for rendering
learning more easy. Ajid so the individual rooms have pic-
tures adapted to them, and they thus advise the youth of the
things pertaining thereto. Besides, pictures and statues of
famous men, with their manly and ingenious deeds, are to
be seen everywhere, an incentive of no mean value to the
youth for striving to imitate their virtue. But they are
seriously commanded to observe purity, this being taken, I
believe, as a result of the audacity and impurity of the world,
which poisons the eyes of the innocent with impure pic-
tures. The divisions of this art, or rather the comrades,
are architecture, perspective, methods of pitching and forti-
fying camps, and even sketches of machines and statistics.
Whatever of the dramatic spiritual things have, or what-
ever else there may be like literary elegance, it can all be
seen here, purposely prepared for scholars. The very time,
which these people spend with a view toward this learned
enjoyment, others waste oftentimes in dice, chess, or in other
still more foolish games ; from these, the latter get the fol-
lowing wonderful use : that for examining into matters and
explaining them to other people they have no knowledge
at all, but they gaze in useless wonder. How much more
happily the others practice with the brush, so that wherever
they enter, they bring along their experienced eyes, their

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 203

hands adapted to imitation, and what is of greater impor-
tance, a judgment equal to and already trained for things,
not unfruitful or mean. At the same time also the beauty
of forms is so pleasing to them that they embrace with a
whole heart the inner beauty of virtue itself and the ele-
gance of a Christian life.

XLIX.

mathematical instruments.

Adjoining this workshop is an excavated place for
mathematical instruments, a testimony of human acuteness
and energy against our mortal chains. For though the sky
is so far distant from us and the wings of our original per-
fection are wanting, yet we are not willing that anything
should take place there without our knowledge. Hence we
determine the ways of the stars with a number of mechanical
devices, and mark them down, to such a degree of accuracy
that it is surprising that man could have enough patience
and perseverance to enter upon such theories. I will not
enumerate the instruments here, inasmuch as nearly all of
them are understood from the description of the most emi-
nent Tycho Brahe.^ A very few have been added, and
among these is the very valuable telescope recently invented.
The instruments which serve the purpose of geometry are
here, and a great number of the common ones which aid the
efiforts of students. But why do I rehearse these facts, as
if I did not know how useless all ingenious implements
seem to the masses who make an effort not to be able to use
any mathematical instrument! They betray themselves by

^ Danish astronomer, 1546-1601.

204 Christianopolis

this very fact, in that they throw aside half of learning, and
though born for practical human affairs, render themselves
useless. Therefore, until those who profess to be broadly
educated without mathematics shall return into her favor,
I shall not believe nor will I bear witness that they are really
educated ; I will pronounce them only half educated, and
they shall bear testimony to this accusation against them-
selves whenever they shall suffer themselves to be led forth
upon the forum of human sciences. When then they shall
recognize the value of the instruments of the liberal arts and
the profits of computation, and shall skillfully apply them,
they should be honored. If like strangers in a foreign land
they shall bring to humanity no assistance or counsel or
judgment or device, then I think they deserve to be con-
temned and classed with the tenders of sheep, cattle, and
hogs.

L.

THE MATHEMATICS LABORATORY.

Finally, to hasten on, I saw also the neighboring hall of
mathematics, remarkable for its diagrams of the heavens,
as the hall of physics is for its diagrams of the earth.
Here was represented graphically the primary motion as
well as those motions derived from it. A chart of the star-
studded heavens and a reproduction of the whole shining
host above were shown. Whether one cared to see the
hemisphere convex, concave, or flattened ; the particular and
accurate figures of individual stars ; the harmony of the
heavenly bodies and their mutual, admirable proportions;
geographical charts of the earth; different illustrations
representing tools and machines, small models, figures of

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 205

geometry; instruments of mechanical arts, drawn, named,
and explained — of all these, nothing was left to be desired.
There an opportunity was given to make accurate observa-
tions of the positions of heavenly bodies and, a more recent
development, observations of the spots on the stars, all made
known with incredible care and with an acuteness more
than human. Here one's eyes could feed, that is, the eyes of
the learned ; here were illustrations for short cuts in memo-
rizing. Assuredly when I had observed all these things,
I gradually came to be less surprised at the wonderful learn-
ing of these people, seeing that it had such mechanical as-
sistance. Generally in the world, though all other things
are lavishly spent, no assistance (none at least to speak
of) is provided for the youth; on the contrary the students
are compelled to struggle with difficulties. If perchance
some one of them should break through safely, he has little
interest as to how he may draw anyone else out. Nay, if
there is advantage to himself in so doing, he blocks the
advances of the one struggling to follow, with new dams
and new stones. So expenses are made a boast without
practical results, arts without instruction, learning without
books, charity without a kindly feeling, in short, a drilling-
ground for a good mind with no desirable exercises.

LI.

the departments of learning.

When I had been conducted from this place to a higher
floor, I saw a school, roomy and beautiful beyond expecta-
tion, divided into eight lecture halls where the youths, the

2o6 Christianopolis

most valuable asset of the republic, are molded and trained
to God, nature, reason, and public safety. For if injunctions
are given to individuals to bring up their children excel-
lently, vi^hy should they not do the same for the common-
v^ealth that the best method of education and instruction
be entered in upon? For this most important of all duties
they have furnished this very elaborate place, that they
might thus declare their love and care for these, their chil-
dren of greatest promise, and that they might, as it were,
merit future happiness in advance. All this is not after
the infamous example of the world. For when the world
seems to love her children most of all, she often shuts
them up in some out of the way, unhealthy, and even dirty
prison, where they are brought into contact with filth and
become accustomed to such jails. Here all is open, sunny,
and happy, so that with the sight of pictures, even, they at-
tract the children, fashion the minds of the boys and girls,
and advise the youths. They are not baked in summer nor
frozen in winter ; they are not disturbed by noise nor fright-
ened because of loneliness. Whatever is elsewhere given
over to luxury and leisure of palaces, is here devoted to
honorable recreation and pursuits, an investment that is
nowhere more satisfactory or better paying. For even as
the earth when well cultivated returns with interest what
has been intrusted to it, so youth when steeped in the life-
blood of the republic and impelled to a joyous harvest, pays
back everything with usury. This is the summit of happi-
ness, to be able with one and the same effort to preserve the
safety of the republic and the adjustment of the future
life, so that the children which we bear here, we may find
to our satisfaction have been born for the heavens as much
as for the earth.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 207

LII.

the teachers.

Their instructors are not men from the dregs of human
society nor such as are useless for other occupations, but
the choice of all the citizens, persons whose standing in the
republic is known and who very often have access to the
highest positions in the state. For surely, no one can
properly take care of the youth, unless he is also able to
discharge the duties of state; and he who succeeds with
the youth, has thereby already established his right to serve
in governmental affairs. The teachers are well advanced
in years, and they are especially remarkable for their pur-
suit of four virtues : dignity, integrity, activity, and gen-
erosity. For if they are not successful with their scholars
and disciples and are not highly valued by the public;
if they do not excel others in reverence toward God, up-
rightness toward their neighbor, and in firmness and modera-
tion in their own lives, and are not an example in virtue ; if
they do not give evidence of skill, wisdom, and the highest
power of judgment for instruction and education, as well
as a recognition of crises in the natures of their puj)ils ;
if they do not prefer to spur their charges on as free agents
with kindness, courteous treatment, and a liberal discipline
rather than with threats, blows, and like sternness ; if
these are not their ideals as instructors, then the citizens
of Christianopolis do not deem them worthy of organizing
this miniature republic, the successor of the greater, nor
of being intrusted with the very substance of their future
safety. As they succeed so well in keeping up a condition
at all times resembling a state government, they can with

2o8 Christianopolis

good grace warn others, not lightly to expose the very valu-
able, supple, and active youth to the vilest, most vicious,
insipid, and coarsest men, merely because such may be had
more cheaply. Under such care children are brought up to
waste their parents* goods, not by measures but by whole
bins; and perhaps later on they in turn leave behind them
children even worse than themselves.

LIIL

THE PUPILS.

Now it will be well to mention who the pupils are and
of what sort. All the children of citizens in general, chil-
dren of both sexes, are taken into training. When they
have completed their sixth year, the parents give them over
to the state, not without prayers and pious vows. The pupils
are divided into three classes : the children, the youth,
and the mature. Here they eat and sleep, and receive men-
tal and physical training. The more numerous their off-
spring, the happier the parents are, for they then lack noth-
ing; from this one fact it can be seen how unrestrictedly
the citizens live. No parent gives closer or more careful
attention to his children than is given here, for the most
upright preceptors, men as well as women, are placed over
them. Moreover, they can visit their children, even un-
seen by them, as often as they have leisure. As this is an
institution for the public good, it is managed very agreeably
as a common charge for all the citizens. They see to it
carefully that the food is appetizing and wholesome, that
the couches and beds are clean and comfortable, and that
the clothes and attire of the whole body are clean. The

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 209

pupils wash often and use linen towels for drying. The hair
is also combed to prevent anything unclean from collecting.
If diseases of the skin or body are contracted, the individuals
in question are cared for in good time; and to avoid the
spreading of the infection, they are quarantined. They do
these things as diligently as the world attends to its duties
neglectfully. For there is no need of my mentioning here
the dirtiness of the schools, the uncleanness of food and
beds, and the rudeness of those in charge toward the
scholars ; inasmuch as those who have suffered these in-
dignities bear witness not so much with cries and com-
plaints, as with bodies feeble throughout all life, for this
very reason.

LIV.

THE NATURE OF INSTRUCTION.

Their first and highest exertion is to worship God with a
pure and faithful soul ; the second, to strive toward the best
and most chaste morals ; the third, to cultivate the mental
powers — an order, reversed by the world, if any thought of
God still remains among the inhabitants of the latter. More-
over, they feel themselves dedicated to God, by the law of
their birth into this world, as well as by the agency of their
parents. They begin their study not with some absurd
deposition, that is, some prelude of foolishness, but with
earnest prayers. From this they proceed through the fixed
stages of those beginning, those advancing, and those who
have completed the course, with high-sounding titles, it is
true ; but they unlearn these easily on growing more mature.
The titles are a great incentive to the degrees, as a noble

2IO Christianopolis

mind is raised by praise while it is stimulated by a slight
disgrace. There is need of strict uprightness on the part
of those who give the titles, lest while they are thus play-
ing, they should haply trifle with the youth. This is where
much wrong is done in other places, and all the more so be-
cause it is not without gain and loss. For to accept pay and
to sell the ignorant to the state, is certainly not just. Pun-
ishments are inflicted with fasting and work ; if there is need,
with whipping ; in extreme cases, though rarely, by imprison-
ment. The young men have their study periods in the
morning, the girls in the afternoon ; and matrons as well as
learned men are their instructors. I do not know why this
sex, which is naturally no less teachable, is elsewhere ex-
cluded from literature. The rest of their time is devoted
to manual training and domestic art and science, as each
one's occupation is assigned according to his natural in-
clination. When they have vacant time, they are permitted
to engage in honorable physical exercises either in the open
spaces of the town or in the field. Here they may contest
in running or wrestling, they may play ball, or even exercise
with weapons ; or, if they are old enough, they may break
horses. You will approve of all these, if you do not for-
get that moderation and careful supervision are required in
everything.

LV.

GRAMMAR, THE FIRST DEPARTMENT.

Now we will examine the schools of the arts, they being
also divided into three sections in accordance with the age
of the pupils. The first is the school of grammar and Ian-

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 211

guages. There, after the requirements of devotion, prayer,
and singing have been satisfied, and sacred as v^ell as other
wise sayings that tend toward virtue have been spoken, the
work of the boys consists in learning to name all sorts of
things and actions in the three languages, Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin ; in being able to repeat them in classes, inflecting
them in the comparisons, cases, tenses, proper persons, and
numbers; finally in joining them and defining them with
modifiers. Here they see to it that what they read, they
actually understand, and what they do not understand, they
translate into their native tongue. What audacity it is to
teach a boy anything at all comprehensive in Latin, when
he does not know what you wish or what he is expected to
do ; with the same effort and profit you might improve his
memory in some other foreign language ! And how incon-
siderate it is to expect any translations into Latin from the
mother tongue before the boy knows what Latin is ! They
are careful too, that they may not overload delicate, fragile
natures with too great a variety or amount of studies, as
it is but too certain that immature keenness of mind can
be most easily dulled in this way so that the mind will be
permanently unsettled. They are foolish who conceive ex-
travagant hopes out of the precocity of childhood, and even
further these hopes, when generally such a condition ends
in dullness. They want firmly-rooted natures and they ob-
tain these through liberal recreation ; in this way the memory
is strengthened, power of judgment is drawn forth, indi-
vidual frankness is fostered, and work is gradually adapted
to the talents.

212 Christianopolis

LVI.

ORATORY.

The more mature students are taught oratory in this
same school, where they learn to refute all sorts of argu-
ments in accordance with the rules of the art, and to adorn
their speeches with little flowers of elegance. Much stress
is laid upon natural force, less upon artificial form; and so
he who is able to further the former, is the best instructor
for the youth in oratory. Without nature, art is something
barren and shows more traces of painstaking than of actual
talent. So, oftentimes good theorists in oratory are poor
speakers, inasmuch as in life they desire to seem broad be-
cause of their natural ability. However, if speech is an
indication of the thought, it is easily evident why at times
language does not flow fluently from the tongue. Yet there
are some people, for the most part foolish men, who hope
to rise through mere imitation, — foolish, for as they destroy
their own chances and do not reach others, nothing can be
quite as split up, rough, and out of place. The thing needed
here is native, inborn sense, and a husbanding of whatever
peculiar talent God has granted. For there is no master
more perfect in eloquence than He who made the language.
An admirable instance of this is found in the Holy Scrip-
tures, which do not merely buffet the ears of men, but pene-
trate the very heart. In this there is no need of exaggera-
tion or of any other extreme foreign form. If one speaks
truthfully, modestly, and heartily, he has outdone Cicero in
eloquence. To speak briefly, whatever breathes the spirit,
will have tremendous effect ; whatever smacks of artificiality
will be powerless. He has accomplished much who has

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 213

acquired a taste for God's style; for what fools consider
simpleness is nothing other than wisdom. As soon as the
orators of the world have ceased talking, the lifeless sound
and the elegant form of the words have already escaped;
whereas the soul remains unsatisfied. When divine truth
calls to us in oratory, the heart glows, the spirit is stirred,
one's whole nature becomes active. They should hear these
words who are too much satisfied with themselves, as often
as they speak without God, nay, even as they confess, with
their gods — they who despise Christ to such an extent that
they prefer in their speeches any idol, any demon to the holy
mysteries of Christianity. Meanwhile they lay claim to all
elegance of expression in themselves and are sufficiently
talkative if the world demands such; but it is to be feared
that the same parties will be speechless before the tribunal
of Christ.

LVII.

THE VARIOUS LANGUAGES.

Those who are of sufficient age give their attention also
to various modern languages ; not merely for the sake of
knowing more, but that they may be able to communicate with
many peoples of the earth — the dead as well as the living;
and that they may not be compelled to put faith in every sup-
posed scholar. Learning a language is very easy for them,
though other people get so confused. For if they do not
acquire fluent use of one language in a year, they think they
have accomplished nothing; whereas if other people do not
devote ten years to the same task they seem greedy of
time. They say that nomenclature is most important, and

214 Christianopolis

that a little grammatical study is needed in addition. They
begin with easy reading related to a subject already known.
One would hardly believe what an advantage the study of
cognates is in learning a language. Memorizing and re-
peated use do the rest. I grieved when I recalled with what
disputes I was driven to study so that I did not know what
I was doing. Here I learned as if in play, a fact I hardly
dare mention lest I awaken envy. Yet I must not omit say-
ing that I learned to consider of comparatively small value
the study of languages along with that of literature in gen-
eral; not that we should throw it all overboard, but that
we should not value such study beyond its use. For he is
not necessarily wise who speaks in this or the other lan-
guage, but he who speaks with God. If righteousness and
honesty are at hand, it matters little in what tongue they
are spoken ; if they are absent, it is of no advantage whether
one goes astray speaking Greek or Latin. Too easily per-
suaded are they who attribute to the Latin language the
power of making them better educated, rather than to the
German. But the Latin language must be preserved because
it is in itself valuable in a good many ways, and also be-
cause it is biting, and unsympathetic with every trivial con-
tradiction. Then it has what may reproach me, a man woe-
fully untaught in its use, intolerant of its civilization, out
of sympathy with its fastidiousness, or, as it itself is wont
to insist, barbarous.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 215
LVIII.

LOGIC, THE SECOND DEPARTMENT.

The second school is called that of logic, being named
after one of the noblest of arts. Here the boys, when they
have already made some progress, learn to apply the instru-
ments of method to every variety of human affairs, to
classify whatever is given them, then to form a syllogism that
they may see what is necessarily true, what is possible, and
where some fallacy of judgment lurks. Here truth has an
especial standard by which it may be tested; but as it is
rather unpolished, some people from among the proud
have applied it carelessly, not to say faithlessly to divine
truth. And this is that Helen, for whose sake the Greeks
raised such a tumult, and the Trojans perished. She is
beautiful, it is true, but she bears herself all too rudely
above her surroundings and tramples her equally deserving
sisters under foot. One feels like laughing at those who,
while they possess this instrument, think they need nothing
else, though they lack everything. But they have horns — let
them use them ! No skilled workman boasts of his sun-dial
pin or his plumb-line alone, unless there is something of his
own work on hand to exhibit. These sophists, when they
have proved that man is capable of laughing, that the sun
has been obscured, or the equality of two angles of a triangle,
sing their own praises as if something had been especially
well done ; and then they rest leisurely for all time to come.
Very differently do those, who provide themselves with all
sorts of arts, love to arrange them rationally and in orderly
manner, and when there is need, draw them forth one at
a time from their several places. This they recognize as

2i6 Christianopolis

the chief good of logic; they do not subject all things to
it — especially not God. They incite their talented men to
recognize what reason has been intrusted to them and to
test their own judgment of things lest they find it necessary
to seek everything outside of themselves and to bring in the
theories from without. For man has within him a great
treasure of judging if he prefers to dig it up instead of
burying it with mounds and weight of precepts. Yet this is
surely the very kernel of all reason, to listen to God obedi-
ently who is as far from all falseness and counterfeit as He
is always closely joined to the truth. Let us in truth love
the true. Let us not seek a reason from Him who is
above all reason.

LIX.

METAPHYSICS.

In this place others hear lectures on metaphysical sci-
ence, which withdraws from everything concrete, and soars
aloft to the first beginnings of creation, a science indeed
worthy of a man whose natural bent takes him from earthly
things. Here they look at the true, the good, the beautiful,
unity, order, and the like, all the more successfully because
they have divine light in addition. Where philosophers have
groped in darkness, they consult the divine sun and ascend
to the known God, who was unknown to the pagans. More-
over it would be surprising if a man who has traveled men-
tally so far that he can differentiate between elements and
things, should return so basely to his own body and should
wallow with it in all sorts of filth; or that one who could
see the true vision of the good and the beautiful, should be

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 217

caught and deceived so easily by the false, the evil, and the
misshapen. It appears, however, that a slippery place is
found wherever man goes out of himself and that he falls
staggering. And so, he would stand most firmly grounded in
one true and good God, who would deliver to Him a soul
stripped of the garments of the flesh. Such a one shall hear
things that cannot be related, and he shall behold the uni-
verse, as it was created in the original perfection, in a sky,
not darkened nor yet overcolored but clear as crystal. So
with the greatest delight on his own part, and with no
little admiration of others, he will understand the first lines
of art and the first points of things. This true beauty, while
it is unknown to many, produces in them a nausea for this
world and leaves the body itself unattractive because of a
number of imperfections and the heaviest burdens of the
earth. Thus, persistently and eagerly the citizens of Chris-
tianopolis are in this hall that they may acquire the ability
to leave themselves and learn to withdraw from earthly mat-
ters. By this means they find themselves again, and receive
far nobler qualities with interest.

LX.

THEOSOPHY.

This same hall serves also for the study of something still
higher, and this is theosophy, a science which does not
recognize any human invention or research, but which owes
its whole existence to God. Where nature ends, this begins ;
and, taught by the highest divinity, it preserves its sacred
mysteries religiously. Few men, even among the most faith-

2i8 Christianopolis

ful, may embrace theosophy, for it is only God who can
work benefits, with His light or with the cross. God re-
veals Himself in a moment; He keeps Himself long within
His shrines ; He is always the best, though rarely seen ; yet
His infinite works have been revealed and in them every
true Christian may rejoice. We are without foresight who
prefer Aristotle, who value this insignificant little man and
not the wonderful works of God, which put him to shame.
He never could nor did he wish to believe the fiat of God,
the service of the angels, the spirit of fire, the density of
water, the pressure of the atmosphere, the raising up of the
earth, the immortality of man, the voice of the dumb ani-
mal, the inertia of the sun, the bounds of the earth; yet
these are all established facts with us. If we would but
give ear to God, far greater wonders than these have been
set forth at His throne. Why should we not listen to Him,
when His very smallest single act deserves all faith with us,
and is invincible ? If we believe one miracle, we must accept
all which He offers us ; for how can we distinguish between
the works of Omnipotence? So this school is one of
humility and obedience, where young minds learn to sub-
mit to the words of God and in His secrets rather to apply
a devout silence than unseemly inquisitiveness. Let philos-
ophy worry as it will ; theosophy rests easily. Let her con-
tradict, theosophy will give thanks. When the other hesi-
tates, this one sits securely at the feet of Christ. Happy is
the man who rises at the first call of God ; happier he who
follows ; and happiest who never once looks back, but con-
tinually presses on. This is the chief thing in the prayers
and desires of a holy man : if God is pleased, it is well ; if
He wishes us exercised and crushed because of the weakness
of our flesh, God's will be done.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 219

LXI.

arithmetic, the third department.

The third hall is named for arithmetic, the very home
of all subtleness. He who is One and Three has endowed
this with infinite riches. If you consider human need there
is no branch of knowledge to which this does not bear
some help of first importance. If you consider the under-
takings of man's mind, you will discover that man struggles
almost with infinity, in this one direction, and worms his
way far into the secrets of progression. I am disposed to
say that a man who does not know arithmetic is ignorant
of a great deal. Hence, this study is pursued by the in-
habitants of Christianopolis with the greatest perseverance,
and every day they find in it something to admire, some-
thing which sharpens their wits and lessens their labors.
In algebra they have no equals, because it calls forth all
the powers of man, treats physical units in an entirely
unique manner, and solves the most intricate problems with
incredible keenness. But they do not forget what an effort
it requires to untie the snares set by Satan, when even
human skill can involve one so far; what power of com-
puting would be needed to unravel the riddles of the world,
what need of examination to explain the impossibilities of
the flesh, when so much labor is expended in tracing the
principles and sources of an art ! Even though they strive
after nothing at all more lofty, yet they think that such per-
sons should not be tolerated who, out of pure laziness, de-
prive themselves of a convenience in computing and so
variously applicable a short method in problems. And if
they should hear that there are among human beings such

220 Christianopolis

as these, who nevertheless boast of their learning, I doubt
if they could refrain from giving some offense. For among
them it is evident that they do not permit their citizens
to be ignorant of all these arts and yet strut about as
office-holders. If among people of the other type it shall
begin to be proper to have real knov^ledge, and this knowl-
edge be applied to doing things, zealous talent, I imagine,
will not be wanting to many, nor will fortune desert them.
Meanwhile we will regard those as generous who, though
they do not actually favor the arts, at least do not persecute
them with extreme hatred.

LXII.

GEOMETRY.

The next in order are those who study geometry, the
own sister of arithmetic, a science which expresses in lines
what arithmetic does in numbers. Hence it adapts itself
especially to human wants and applies the deepest proposi-
tions and theorems to practical matters with admirable dili-
gence. For geometry measures not only the dimensions
which are near at hand, as the top or the bottom, nor merely
regular shapes, but all figures besides. It passes through
them, changes, balances, transfers, raises, and plays a most
elegant part in all human labors. If one desires theoretical
research, nothing is more subtle; if one desires to apply
practical problems, nothing is more convenient or rapid.
If you intrust to it any talent, the same is returned nimble
and applicable to anything. Hence, the inhabitants of
Christianopolis set much store by it, since they see that there

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 221

is no art which is not rendered easier by it, and that man
becomes more expert for taking up such arts. Among the
thoughtless this art becomes worthless even as all the rest of
mathematics. It is very evident, however, that they pay
the penalty for it, in that they have to exert themselves more
in their labors, and even watch other people's short cuts
with tearful eyes. Why should it be surprising that geom-
etry is neglected when intrigue, avarice, gluttony, vice, and
wrath, yea even stupidity and rashness, have no measure and
will tolerate none? The citizens of Christianopolis, while
they measure various things, first of all make an especial
effort to measure and weigh themselves, then also to value
the goodness of God. For it is not of so much importance
for us to know the acreage of our little fields, as the meager-
ness of our little bodies, the narrowness of the grave, and
the comparative insignificance of the whole earth. In this
way the vanity of our brain will most easily contract, and
the swelling of our heart will subside. This will help render
man forgetful of himself, patient in misfortune, apprecia-
tive of God, and mindful of future death that we may prefer
to grow in value, rather than that we be brought from our
former state of little value, to nothing by an angry God.

LXIII.

MYSTIC NUMBERS.

Those who are older rise even higher. God has His
numbers and measures, and it is fitting that man should
regard them. Surely that supreme Architect did not make
this mighty mechanism haphazard, but He completed it

222 ChRISTIANOPOLIS

most wisely by measures, numbers, and proportions, and He
added to it the element of time, distinguished by a wonderful
harmony. His mysteries has He placed especially in His
workshops and typical buildings, that with the key of David
we may reveal the length, breadth, and depth of divinity, find
and note down the Messiah present in all things, who unites
all in a wonderful harmony and conducts all wisely and
powerfully, and that we may take our delight in adoring the
name of Jesus. Moreover, these matters are not understood
through any human skill, but rest upon revelation and are
communicated to the faithful and from one to the other.
Therefore they walk into a veritable labyrinth whosoever
borrow poles and compasses from human philosophy with
which to measure the New Jerusalem, figure out its^ regis-
ters and sacred computation, or fortify it against the enemy.
Let it be sufficient for us that Christ has made plain to
us all the means which strive to improve and support life;
let us all be careful not to approach too hastily everything
that glistens, unless the figure of Christ is evident and
beckons us into the hidden inner parts. This over-confidence
has deceived some of the greatest men, and all the more
contrary to expectation, because it seemed to them that they
were not speaking without inspiration. In this cabala it is
advisable to be rather circumspect, since we have consider-
able difficulty in present matters, grope in events of the
past^ and since God has reserved the future for Himself, re-
vealing it to a very limited number of individuals and then
only at the greatest intervals. Let us then love the secrets
of God which are made plain to us and let us not, with the
rabble, throw away that which is above us nor consider
divine things on an equal basis with human; since God is
good in all things, but in His own, even admirable.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 223
LXIV.

MUSIC, THE FOURTH DEPARTMENT.

The fourth school is spoken of as that of music, and one
cannot enter it unless one has had arithmetic and geometry ;
for it depends to a considerable extent upon measure and
number. Here again man has given a specimen of his
excellence, inasmuch as he multiplies three tones with limit-
less variety; so that he excels not only in language but
even in the cries of animals and in the songs of birds.
He even vies v^ith heaven, where there is always melody.
It can never be computed what trivial things man turns to
the highest uses. With very few letters he speaks so many
tens of thousands of words ; with very few tones he produces
an infinite symphony. Yet the world has not been able to
keep from abusing the legitimate joy of heaven with the
evil of Satan, and subjecting it to deceit. So it comes
that we have the madness of dancing, the frivolity of vulgar
songs, the wickedness of roisterers. All of these things
have been long ago driven out of this republic and are now
unheard. They like that sort of music which has a prophetic
spirit, a whole-souled harmony resounding to the heavens.
Whatever the saints have composed, whether it be of a
joyful, lamenting, commending, or beseeching nature, this
is the material for their music: and daily outbursts of the
spirit increase the supply. Here sacred poetry lends its
assistance, yet not the sort which sings of Venus and
Bacchus. Moreover, they have an exact distribution of
voices according to age and sex, so that when they meet in
public the tones of all of them can sound forth in harmonious
concert. Nothing can be compared with the majesty of this

224 Christianopolis

music ; for when the favor of the Holy Spirit, the success of
the composition, impressiveness of the words, and the force
of harmonious volume unite, the greatest charm must re-
sult. And they have this advantage too, that the chief points
of the Christian religion, examples of an upright life, the
most memorable of the deeds of God, are included in their
songs and they receive them into their souls by this agreeable
medium. More prudent are they than those of the world,
who, when among the blandishments of the flesh they have
hummed their indecent and foolish songs long enough, are
finally compelled amid the stings of death and pricks of
conscience to roar something sadder.

LXV.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

In the theater of mathematics there is also a place for
musical instruments, yet here likewise they are employed in
great number and variety. You would have difficulty find-
ing anyone who is not skilled in their use, though each one
has the liberty to choose which he is partial to, the lute, the
violin, harp, or wind instrument ; or the combination of all,
as it were, the organ, of which they have very elegant speci-
mens. They are in the habit of recommending to their
students very accurate technique, that they may foster
promptness toward public affairs, and especially readiness
and adaptability of the whole body toward God. For they
very frequently admonish them that they should be toward
their Creator and their neighbor what the hand which moves,
raises, and lowers the fingers according to an inner impulse

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 225

and outer marks is to music. This might well be men-
tioned to those who are on all sides subjected to the rules
and requirements of an art, but do not care to listen to God
who would attune them to His instruments and offer them,
what they call a tabulatura, of the duty they owe Him.
Hence these discords in the various ranks of life, the con-
fusion of human works and ceremonies, and the neglect of
divine law — sounds which can never be pleasing to God, but
must be ever objectionable. It would be better if they
would render the laborious services, which they so readily
offer the world, to God who is in no manner so severe or
harsh but who is more anxious to preserve and care for His
instruments, however fragile they be, than the world is
desirous of breaking and casting aside her strongest tools.

LXVI.

THE CHORUS.

That they may contribute to public worship as much as
possible, they make use of solemn music also. This they
do by means of a chorus which passes through the city once
every week, in addition to the holidays. All in the school
march two by two, men on the one side, girls on the other ;
and in proper order they traverse the streets of the city,
sending up a hymn to God, as much with the voice as with
different kinds of instruments. They are arranged accord-
ing to age in such a way that the voices are well distributed
and the less experienced are reinforced by the more
mature. When I was there the one hundred and twenty-
seventh Psalm was sung, in which the care of the state

226 Christianopolis

was intrusted to God. I have never heard more volume
or better harmony anywhere^ than when they walked
with easy step under the arched porticoes. My eyes and
ears were thoroughly delighted, and I wished that I might
always be able to be present during this sacred service
of praise. They do this in imitation of the angelic choir
concerning whose songs God Himself bears witness.
Since they consider the service, protection, warnings, and
instruction of these very highly, and are anxious to have
them as near as possible to themselves, they hope, and not
without reason, that the heavenly chorus may be singing
along in the same measure with them. Who would not be-
lieve that these pure souls take more delight in such a public,
spiritual joy than they would in the noise of a city confused
with the power of the world ! Or who would doubt that
they offer more to souls raised aloft with a pure joy toward
God, than to those sad and worn out under the torture of
vanity! They say (and I believe it) that they never return
from one of these choral processions except with spirits
strengthened and anointed, as it were, with divine breath ;
that they never feel the guardianship of the angels more
closely at hand and remarkably than when their hearts are
bubbling over with a complete joy in God. They say that
in this way God is praised, the soul is enlivened, the flesh
is put aside, the world avoided, and Satan put to flight.
But what about the world? While she is playing the fool,
snoring, and wasting her oil, the Heavenly Bridegroom has
entered and has tightly closed the door behind Him.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 227

LXVII.

astronomy, the fifth department.

Astronomy lays claim to the fifth school, and it is as
deserving of humankind as any other art. For with in-
credible diligence it shows us the movements and gentle rota-
tions of the heavens, the orbits and positions of planets, the
location of the constellations, their arrangements and dif-
ferences, then also the number and size of the visible stars
and their relations to each other, almost gives entrance into
the very sky, and renders the same, as it were, tributary to
this our own territory. And surely it is worthy being prac-
ticed by the kings of the earth, since it seems to command
the sky. The inhabitants of Christianopolis set much store
by it, nor do they fear falling away by the motion of the
earth or being thrown off by unheard of star-dwellers. The
honor is sufficient for them, which Christ bestowed upon the
earth when He dwelt upon it as a human being. God shall
see to the other things. Yet let us examine those now who
look at the sky no more observantly than any beast. As
far as they are concerned the sun might rise in the west, and
but for their calendar they know no time. If these people
make any pretensions to knowledge, it is a great disgrace
for them to care nothing about what the holy patriarchs
studied with the greatest earnestness; whereas if they have
no ambition they are to be reproved for keeping on the
ground the countenance which was given man to be raised
aloft. Every excuse carries with it its disgrace which de-
prives man of his humanity, or if you please, his divinity.
Surely man has not ascended to those highest abodes on his
own legs, nor has he observed those most confusing laws

228 Christianopolis

without God's guidance. Hence, only the most noble-
minded natures have an inclination toward astronomy; the
base and earth-born are satisfied to eat acorns and husks.

LXVIII.

ASTROLOGY.

In this same hall, astrology, valued highly for many rea-
sons, is offered. For whatever the earth owes the sky, and
whatever the sky communicates to the earth, they who have
experienced both test out. The all-wise Creator has
so made his greatest work interdependent, that it governs
and yet obeys itself. Hence the governing influence of the
stars is noted, with a greater admiration of human thirst for
knowledge than for dependability of the results. Experi-
ence fosters confidence, theoretical reason creates doubt;
between the two, the earth confesses her inferiority to the
sky. The effect of the sun and the moon are the more easily
recognized. Of the remaining stars, those who practice the
art have as many differences of opinion. I could not under-
stand, when they conversed with me on the subject, what
the inclinations of the inhabitants of Christianopolis were.
At any rate, they subject their thoughts, however hampered
by the hindrances of the body, to God and God alone.
They say that it is an uncertain thing to make everything
dependent on the first moment of existence and birth,
and from this moment to accept judgment of life or
death. And so they emphasize rather this, as to how they
may rule the stars, and by faith shake off the yoke if any
exists. Hence they recognize a new sky, other stars and

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 229

movements, where Christ is the moving factor. Through
His mercy they break the power of all ill will, of every thing
contrary^ weak, or foreign. The most fortunate horoscope
is that of adoption into the ranks of sons of God, whose
Father, when consulted by prayer, rarely is silent upon any-
thing; when besought rarely refuses anything, so far is it
from Him to expose them to wanderings of the stars. The
wanderer on the earth realizes this; and in the shadow of
God he fears no storms of the sky. Those who have wis-
dom beyond this, are wise to themselves. Moreover, let
us not excuse the stupidity of those who, though they seem
to themselves to be in a position to crush everything under
their feet and even foolishly scorn the very sky, are men
according to the days of the week, now servile, now rebels ;
to-day admirers, to-morrow scoffers ; never fair-minded,
always crude. For he who does not know the value of
astrology in human affairs, or who foolishly denies it, I
would wish that he would have to dig in the earth, cultivate
and work the fields, for as long a time as possible, in un-
favorable weather.

LXIX.

THE HEAVEN OF THE CHRISTIANS.

There is a great difference between man and man, but a
far greater difference between a Christian and a man of
the world. The man of the world does not serve as many
things as the Christian has dominion over. The latter is
not only free from all offense of Heaven, but he is even
reconciled to the same. Hence he receives his daily gifts
from a friend, as God orders all creatures to be kindly

230 Christianopolis

disposed toward the Christian. To what extent the heavens
favor the Christian, and how he obeys the impulses of faith,
are beyond the conception of the non-believers. How
singly he is intent only on the church, no one outside of her
knows or comprehends. The sun, the stars, the rainbow,
hail, and dew, to mention only a few — with how many bless-
ings have they benefited loyal men ! The favor of heaven
accompanied the church when it wandered as a stranger
from the east into the west, and tamed men whom formerly
it had kept as barbarians. The favor of heaven teaches us
with prophecies and miracles, rebukes wickedness, raises
the heads of the pious, and makes them look up with a
hope of restoration. With what wonderful harmony heaven
assists the history of the earth and benefits the church in its
varying fortunes, it is hardly possible to say. Because only
a few care for this, it happens that still fewer grasp the
prescribed path of the church in these lands, and though
they praise religion, they conclude that flourishing times
have come to this age by chance. Meantime they them-
selves do not consider the words of Antichrist, of Ma-
homet, and of similar false prophets, nor will they tolerate
such investigation on the part of others. Yet they see other
clouds arise and they exclaim against them; if they would
judge as worthily of the signs of the times, as of the ap-
pearances in the sky, they would not have to hear " hypo-
crites " from Christ. The inhabitants of Christianopolis
seek first of all a spiritual heaven and are solicitous for it.
They love a physical sky the more because they know it
always has been and will continue to be propitious to Chris-
tians. As they have founded their city under its blessed
auspices and on a favorable anniversary, they know that
the ill will of heaven will never come upon the city as long
as it honors God.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 231
LXX.

NATURAL SCIENCE, THE SIXTH DEPARTMENT.

The sixth hall has its name from natural philosophy,
which I have already suggested in the hall of the same
name. How very zealous they are in this field, it is need-
less to affirm, since the very necessity of the study requires
it. For by its help we arrive at a knowledge, general and
special, of each world, and examine into the movements,
qualities, behaviors, and phenomena of their creatures. By
it we discover of what material things are made, what is
their form, measure, place, and time ; how the heavens move
and how they appear, how elements mingle and how they
increase, for what purpose living animals and plants exist,
of what use metals are, and especially, what the soul, that
spark of divinity within us, accomplishes. All these, for-
sooth, are very beautiful things, and it is below his dignity
for man not to know them, after the faithful investigations
of so many men. For we have not been sent into this world,
even the most splendid theater of God, that as beasts we
should merely devour the pastures of the earth ; but that
we might walk about observing His wonders, distributing
His gifts, and valuing His works. For who would believe
that the great variety of things, their elegance, advantage,
and maturity, and in short, the utility of the earth, had
been granted to man for any other reason than for his
highest benefit? If anyone believes that all these blessings
are due him without gratitude, nay even without considera-
tion on his part, he is basely deceived. It is rather man's
duty, now that he has all creatures for his use, to give
thanks to God Himself in the place of them all; that is, he

232 Christianopolis

should offer to God as much obedience as he observes in
His creatures. Then he will never look upon this earth
without praise to God or advantage to himself; but with
an admonition toward moderate use and exact observa-
tion. Blessed are they who use the world and are not used
up by it as far as God has generously granted it! He who
recognizes Christian liberality will never subject himself to
the base servitude of creatures.

LXXI.

HISTORY.

History, that is, a rehearsal of the events of human trag-
edy, accompanies natural science. Words cannot do sufficient
justice to the importance of this. Yet scarcely anywhere
among mortal men does it appear uncorrupted, so deep are
the secrets of the human heart, so generous our rating of
ourselves, so bold our critical judgment of others, so subtle
the apologies for human errors. The inhabitants of Chris-
tianopolis grasp truth very firmly, and they prefer to tell
the truth though it bring shame to them, than to tell a lie to
their glory. And so they want everything written down very
plainly, and they confess all their doings, even their faults,
frankly in order that posterity may know the events of the
past without disguise. It is a very sad thing to look back
through so many thousands of years upon the tyranny of
Satan, the growth of crime, the monstrous deeds of men, the
hideousness of wars, the horrors of massacres, the boast-
ing of conceit, the arrogance of wealth, the confusion of
ranks, and the secrets of wickedness. All these conditions

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 233

suceed each other in the world, recur often, and disturb
the entire period. How pleasant it is, on the contrary, to
contemplate the champions of God, germs of virtue, dignity
of the human soul, abundance of peace, restful quiet, con-
fession of one's shortcomings, the fullness of contentment,
varieties of gifts, invincible strength of holiness. There are
scholars who are bold enough to be unacquainted with such
facts and who rank them with fables ; they are very worthy
themselves to be told of in fable. Meanwhile, it is clearly
evident that as many as are ignorant of past events, are
likewise of little value in the present and unprepared
for the future, however bold and arrogant they may be as
to other things. For as the study of human history makes
man gentle, humble, and careful, so the ignorance of it
keeps him crude toward himself and others, proud, and
hasty toward his own and the state's undoing.

LXXII.

CHURCH HISTORY.

Since the inhabitants of Christianopolis make every-
thing in this world second to the church, they are concerned
in its history more than with any other. For as this is
the only ark which can contain those to be saved, they pre-
fer to be solicitous about it rather than about the waters of
the universal flood. So they relate with what immeasur-
able goodness of God that insignificant little flock was col-
lected, how it was taken up under His covenant, put in order
with laws and fortified with the Word ; they tell with what
weak instruments it was extended, with what very strong

234 Christianopolis

machines it was attacked, with what evident aid it was
defended ; with how much blood, with what prayers its
safety was established, with what a roaring on the. part of
Satan the banner of the cross triumphed; how readily the
tares grow up, how often its light is drawn back into a
corner, how many eclipses the light suffered, especially
severe and dense under Antichrist; how it emerged often-
times out of desperate circumstances, and in our own
age under the guidance of the great Luther ; with what filth
and spots it is frequently besmirched, how much trouble it
has with the sons of the flesh. Many such points as these,
as well as periodical and harmonious changes in the
church, they have at hand, and impress them carefully
upon the youth that they may learn to trust God, distrust
the flesh, scorn the threats of the world, and bear patiently
the darkness of this age. This is all very well too, how-
ever others may boast of their neglect of ecclesiastical his-
tory. For how little the latter is required even in the case
of ministers, and how very little, where it is offered, is
done in comparison with one or a second syllogism, need
not be enlarged upon in this place. This is a trick of Satan
who, while he removes from before our eyes the past dis-
putes of the pious, and the scourges of heresy, leaves any
possible clouds of the church, in place of the serene and
unmistakable light, until we under some delay gradually
accustom ourselves to superstition and wickedness. Oh,
if men would but stop to look back at the seriousness of
our reformation, simony and a false impression of security
would not impose upon so many ; and oh, that religion would
be guarded more seriously which abhors not only the Ro-
man doctrine, but her morals also! Meantime the inhabi-
tants of Christianopolis think very often not so much of the
church in the larger sense, but also of their own small one

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 235

within their hearts, that whatever is done within them for the
spirit against the flesh and on behalf of heaven against hell,
as often as they are conscious of the divine Presence, they
may note it down, that thus they may believe and know that
they are the elect and beloved of God.

LXXIII.

ETHICS, THE SEVENTH DEPARTMENT.

The seventh school has ethics as its chief subject, their
guide in all human virtues, in prudence, justice, moderation,
bravery, and kindred qualities ; not only do they wish her to
be careful in precepts and rules, but in very deed, especially
shining in daily examples. It is ridiculous to advise others
to do what we contradict in our lives. Those who boast of
nothing but heaven, should not savor of the earth; those
who inculcate justice should do injury to none; those who
advocate temperance should not live in extravagance ; those
who boast of bravery should never be cast down. If there
are any who go in advance, those are not lacking who follow,
whose examples are very many. Here they give reward for
work done; for they drive from the society of good men
every item of luck. They say that fortune is purely fictitious
and rests upon our own notion ; that we seek or shun re-
spectively, what we picture good or bad for ourselves. Since
it could be in our power, that conditions be always suffi-
ciently well with us, we accomplish as a result of our own
persuasion that we must needs suffer evil and be in want.
They say that we will always be in need, as long as we de-
sire what we cannot obtain ; that we will always have abun-

236 Christianopolis

dance, as long as we possess only those things of which no
one can deprive us. This is altogether true; for no one
else is to blame for our unhappiness except ourselves, we
who, while we covet individually what is due to all, and
while thus keep attacking other people's rights, always have
one with whom to quarrel — there is always someone who
may conquer or suppress us ; or if no one actually disturbs
us, surely we never satisfy ourselves. And since the citizens
of this ideal city understand these facts, they are not will-
ing that their greatest treasure should dwell anywhere ex-
cept in their own breasts. And because they do not want a
purely imaginative treasure they believe and recognize
Christ as the one by whose love they are joined together in
perfect mutual friendship, by whose perfect truth they are
directed, whose perfect courtesy they obtain, by whose per-
fect generosity they are covered, or, to mention it all in one,
by whose humanity they are ennobled. That it may please
us to imitate this, or that it may be permitted through
those who usually fill the earth with the basest morals and
vainest practices, I do with a whole heart pray God, the
author, preserver, and rewarder of a moral and well regu-
lated life.

LXXIV.

THE GOVERNMENT.

More subtle than this is government, which very evi-
dently employs a constructive mind for ruling men and for
protecting population. I have already said that they have
preferred government by aristocracy to other forms, because
this approaches more closely to the Christian society. In

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 237

this they establish three good qualities of man : equality, the
desire for peace, and the contempt for riches, as the world
is tortured primarily with the opposites of these. They
have also put the culture of the soul on a higher plane and
have made it known, that anyone may know himself more
easily. The chief point with them is that Christians ought
to be different from the world round about, in morals as
well as in religion, that they ought not be permitted to do
everything, though it be right for others; that they ought
not tolerate all that others bear. They say that the Gospels
require a different government than that of the world, and
that the judgment of it lies with the Christian religion.
They chide the world for permitting haughtiness among
those in high places, immorality among the clergy, dis-
honesty among office-holders, extravagance among the citi-
zens, deviations from the right by all persons ; and only on
this one pretext, because they are men. For they say that
this merely denotes a lack of serious attempts and a correct
constitution of government, since man is really not an un-
tamable animal; afterwards even the very wrestling-
grounds of evils are opened so that it is surprising that
even now one can resist. They say that very many prac-
tices also, which are evil and harmful, are looked upon as
good and praiseworthy; and the criticism of these is not
permitted. Excellent laws stand out to the view; but if
anyone would urge their enforcement, he would be ridiculed.
It did not seem to them, they said, that a government was
formed after the model of Christ, where God was made of
less account than men, the soul less than the body, the body
less than riches ; where the vices of wealth are not consid-
ered a crime ; the virtues of poverty not praiseworthy ; where
the instigator of crime receives a reward ; the one corrupted,
death ; where the soul of a man may be sold for any price.

238 Christianopolis

I could not answer all these arguments, however much I
tried. So I referred the matter to the political scientists of
our age, who would not portray the world in so many vol-
umes unless they knew what would be profitable to the afifairs
of mortals. Yet I have thought that many things are said
against the morals of our age not unjustly, which could be
corrected with no greater difficulty than that with which the
world maintains her own. We see that our own affairs can
be well enough defended from injury, provided we look
upon divine things and the holy name of God with some
reverence ; since some are said to have observed super-
stitiously, others fanatically; but only the Christians by
their own boasting do not blush to enumerate them among
impossibilities.

LXXV.

CHRISTIAN POVERTY.

It is not sufficient for Christians to be good according to
the teachings of ethics and government, but they choose as
their model Christ Himself, a far higher Master. As He
is the most perfect embodiment of the highest virtues, He
deserves to have imitators. Moreover these virtues go
beyond human excellencies and are included under the
symbols of the cross ; and those, who have devoted themselves
closer to man, have called these Christian proverty, by which
we renounce even the things that are permitted the world,
that we may possess only Christ. Those who join this group
unlearn, leave, and bear everything. They prefer simplicity
to intelligence, ignorance to knowledge, silence to eloquence,
humility to dignity, credulity to shrewdness, want to abun-

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 239

dance, studying to teaching, bearing to doing; and whatso-
ever things are considered lowly on earth, provided they
are harmless, these they desire. Do not believe that these
are Roman Minorites,^ sly and grasping of all that is great-
est on this earth; nor yet hypocritical saints of their own
understanding and secret pride. It is a happy race of men,
and skilled in whatsoever they do on earth. Whatever they
have of the gifts of God, they divide in common, reserving
almost nothing for themselves. They are not irritated by
being offended, nor puffed up by fame ; they are not elated
by abundance, nor yet depressed by poverty; they do not
admire hair-splitting arguments, they do not consider the
most insignificant things below their notice; they are not
worried by the threats of the age, they are not caught by
report of things of the present; they are not disturbed by
noise, nor are their wits sharpened by separation from
others; they are not afflicted in life nor terrified by death.
There are only a very few of these, nor could they easily
be other than such as already have penetrated through all
things, to whom already human affairs and human knowl-
edge are apparent, to whom after the wanderings on the
earth the only thing in their wishes is the certainty of
heaven. No one is more voluntarily foolish, none more
surely ignorant, none more easily in want, no one more
readily serves, than those who, respectively, are experi-
enced in controlling the slipperiness of wisdom, the wind-
ings of knowledge, the burdens of possessions, the risks of
dangers. Hence those who are accustomed to laugh at and
criticise such people, only bear witness by that very fact
that they have no taste for human affairs, but wallow about
in the very mire out of which they arose by the grace of
God.

^ Franciscans.

240 Christianopolis

LXXVI.

THEOLOGY, THE EIGHTH DEPARTMENT.

Now the eighth school is left, which is devoted to theol-
ogy, the queen of all that human beings possess, and the
mistress of philosophy. This, first of all, teaches the mode
of expression of the Holy Ghost in the Holy Scriptures;
their strength, elegance, efficacy, and depth, that the stu-
dents may know what is meant by this or that diction and
this or that combination of words ; and that they may learn
to admire this sort of language more than all the eloquence
of this earth. Then they are urged toward a devout imita-
tion of this divine speech that, when they shall have collected
for themselves from their boyhood days a mighty treasure
of holy thoughts, they may know how to adapt them also
to the needs of mortals, and may learn to speak to others
with the same spirit, the same words with which the
apostles of Christ preached the Gospel to the people.
Thirdly, they arm them with the arguments and the firmness
of the unconquered Word so that, when they are attacked
by heresies or when the father of false argument, Satan
himself, battles against them, they may understand how to
defend the sincerity of truth borrowed from the source of
truth, and that they may learn how to preserve the clear
founts of Israel in every time and place from the contami-
nation of earthly mire or human theorizing. This they call
scholastic theology, which teaches them to know, imitate,
and defend the words of Holy Writ; and in this they train
their students so as to remind them that these matters do
not of themselves actually accomplish anything in Chris-
tianity, but that they do tend toward preparing one for

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 241

accomplishing something. Moreover, they avoid the names
of sects especially, nor do they at all willingly pronounce
them; and though they love to hear the name of Lutheran,
yet they strive first of all to be Christians. From which I
gather that they do not agree with those who, though they
admit any translation as safe, and go securely to sleep
with the same, are not very much concerned whether the
Holy Spirit has said this or something else. Next, that they
do not restrict all theology to the experience of addressing
an audience, since it may occur that a man, as wicked as he
is ignorant, will speak forth to the people borrowed words
even though they be holy. On the other hand they do not
admire those by whom all theology is converted into dag-
gers, swords, and bows, and who admit no worship of God
except it be of a disputatious or contentious nature. Finally
I gather, that they do not permit every harmless difference
of opinion to generate factions and hate, but teach their
pupils in such a way that, as often as there is need, they
may be able to form opinions on versions of the Scriptures,
address assemblies, defend the truth, avoid schisms, and
what is perhaps more fortunate and surely more moderate,
that they may prefer to be engaged in the adjusting of a
Christian life on the ground that Christ prefers holy men
to scholars, obedient ones to logicians ; because the
very arts of the soul accomplish less in the last oppositions
of death than does the strength of conscience, purified by
the blood of Christ.

242 Christianopolis

LXXVII.

PRACTICE OF THEOLOGY.

Thence they gird themselves with a great devotion for
practical theology. This teaches them to pray, to meditate,
and to stand trial. This is the wisdom which impresses
the Holy Scriptures upon us and carries them over into our
lives, that we may make known the mysteries of God. Here
not merely the approval of the Divine Word is required,
but its unanimity and harmony. For as Christ is the sum
total of all secrets, so the regeneration in us is the begin-
ning of a new childhood, youth, and even maturity, and
urges upon us that which is in agreement not with Adam,
but with Christ, our Book of Life. Those who establish
their theology according to artificial rules do not compre-
hend this. For there is need of a biting and bitter acid,
taken internally, to tear down the inner structures and
break them to pieces. Unless we cease, Christ will not
begin; unless we are silent, God will not speak; unless we
accept it passively, the Spirit will not be active. This is
that sabbath for the sake of which all the pious on earth,
throughout all ages, have been ridiculed. Such is the mad-
ness of the saints of Christ that they not only believe in
Christ crucified, but even are willing to be crucified them-
selves. Such is the foolishness of the Gospel of Paul to
glory in nothing except his own weakness. Here is usually
a greater danger from Satan, who, being always evil, is
here at his very worst, in that he creeps into man so
stealthily that the latter is no longer God's. Hence the evi-
dences of fury, sleeplessness, delirium, and other mockery of
a soul not inspired of God but proceeding from itself. So

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 243

the citizens of Christianopolis are accustomed to advise their
ovn people and others seriously to ask nothing, to attempt
nothing for themselves beyond Christian simplicity, w^ith-
out the advice of God. For we cannot all be snatched into
the third heaven as was Paul ; yet we can with him become
fashioned like Christ. If we obey the Gospels, if we obey
the apostles, this will meet the requirements of true theol-
ogy, and we will be in no want of revelation or of preaching
of angels in any other form. And even as genuine theology
does not consider those coarse and sensuous Christians, so
also it does not recognize those who are so extremely pre-
cise and those who are drawn out into the realm of the
purely mental. The best moderation of the cross is that
which according to the balance of Christ places a fitting
weight upon all the children of God, and trains them indi-
vidually in such a way that they may have a reason for
asking aid of God.

LXXVIII.

PROPHECIES.

If now our very kind Father shall favor one man some-
what beyond others, they do not unceremoniously reject the
fact but test the prophesying spirits. So they have a school
of prophecy, not at all that they would give instruction in
the virtue of soothsaying which deceives so many, but as a
place where they might observe the harmony and truth of
the prophetic spirit. And as this cannot be done without
divine suggestion, they confer on the matter in the fear of
the Master to see whether any unusual portion of light
may have been bestowed upon anyone. For rarely has any-

244 Christianopolis

one who can adjust all types of the Scriptures according
to their differences, who can draw forth prophecies out of
their most private shrines, who can reconcile the ceremonies
of Moses with those of Christ, who can grasp the arguments
of the apostles and even Christ, drawn forth from the Old
Testament, or accomplish other things like these, under
so many interpreters, — rarely has such a one estabhshed
any faith at all with them. In truth many have caused them
doubt as to whether one or another may not have given
out judgment too indiscreetly. And so they confess that as
far as concerns the forecasting of future events or the in-
terpretation of past, they do not comprehend as yet the
oracles of the Holy Spirit, yet none the less they are content
in the divine revelation in which eternal salvation rests.
Moreover they beseech God that He may be willing in His
great indulgence, to make known to His children somewhat
of the profound wisdom that lies hidden in the depths of His
Word, and to reveal His Son to them, in every sacred page.
How much they accomplish by this pious prayer, they did
not tell me*

Now I have in my uncouth style hastened through
the points that were shown me in the Christian schools,
and I trust I may not have injured the facts because
of my poor writing and perhaps even my forgetful-
ness. I would hope that some of the facts, though not
all and even if only a very few, may please my pious and
Christian reader or even give him courage to visit Chris-
tianopolis and get surer and more detailed information than
I have given. If he will communicate them with the same
frankness and freedom as I have done, he will deserve the
greatest thanks from those in truth for whom this shall have
been so seasonably done; but especially the greatest grati-
tude from me for assisting and correcting my work.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 245
LXXIX.

MEDICINE.

Four rooms are left on this floor which also I was given
an opportunity to inspect, two assigned to the study of medi-
cine, two to jurisprudence. I will speak of the former first,
however much may be due the other. No one will easily ex-
plain the subtlety, method, and reasonableness of the science
of medicine. It must be confessed that it is a remarkable
gift of God, given over to human dexterity and observation.
We say nothing further about it here because it has been
very highly praised in the chapters on physics, chemistry,
anatomy, and pharmacy, on which it is mainly based. Yet
the science has its separate seat here where it examines into
diseases and prepares remedies ; and where also it gives in-
struction in case anything outside of the regular schools
comes up. Of course each sensible man provides for his
own body in such a way that he may live adequately for his
daily duties, rather than be slow and dull in spirit. Hence
the physicians very often prescribe temperance and exer-
cise for their citizens, as being the safest precautions for
health. In the other room surgery is practiced which offers
advice and practical assistance for the human body. We
human beings are so wretched that we have to be salved,
scraped, burned, cut, torn, and emptied, and there is not a
single little part of the body which is at all safe from
innumerable dangers. So there is need of all sorts of
activity and various instruments that these disadvantages
may be met and the defects repaired. Moreover it is an
excellent thing among all these afflictions of the human body
to be mindful of our imperfections or rather the penalties

246 Christianopolis

for them, and to lay aside the crests of our vanity the more
readily ; and then to hasten to that Physician for whom it is
very easy not only to heal the sick parts and to restore
what has been removed, but to revive the dead and to col-
lect those that have been scattered into the finest dust.
Moreover we will respect medicine, not so much because
it offers us an unusually long life or sets itself against
death, but because our excellent Creator has wished that
through His creatures and their use, benefit should be
brought to us.

LXXX.

JURISPRUDENCE.

With all respect to the lawyers I must say there is no
need of them at all among our Christianopolis friends. For
as they live by their own laws and are bound to no other
law except for a yearly tribute, they do not wish to be
bothered by foreign rescripts, codes, pandects, or other
legal digests, in canon, indulgence, or extravagance. Here
there is nothing that may not be easily explained, nothing
more noticeable than justice, and no one enters into legal
dispute with another. Hence suits and those who carry
them on all amount to nothing. It is an easy matter to settle
quarrels and disputes, and there is no need of a corpus
juris. So they think they have avoided many traps and
snares, and especially dangers to the soul with unrest of
the body. If they especially minded loss of goods, they
would bear this even less. For it is always true that techni-
cal law always takes, draws, rubs ofif, or abjures; presses,
beats, hammers, strikes, twists, or shakes out ; abducts, pur-

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 247

loins, robs, embezzles, sweeps, or carries away something if
a person prefers to live by strife rather than tranquillity.
However, these methods are to be attributed rather to poli-
ticians than to the better scholars of the law. And so the
lawyers have a school here also, though it is honorary rather
than necessary. Yet that they may not be idle, they serve
the political government, and they interpret the Roman laws,
which are full of equity and honesty. I noticed about the
same situation in the room of the notary; he seemed to
be present to fill a place, and did not accomplish anything
of great moment in this republic. Yet if anything is to be
copied, it is intrusted to these men. And to the art of writ-
ing as to a summary of the most valuable invention has been
given this honor that it also may have its name in the cata-
logue of the arts. Some people say also there is some mean-
ing in the forms of the letters as there is in numbers, com-
ing forth out of order and value. The citizens of Chris-
tianopolis do not insist upon this ; they delight rather in
tendering their hearts to God that He may write down with
His finger what things will add to the security of the pres-
ent or the future life. Such is their sacred incantation, such
their art of divination, this the sum of their mystic litera-
ture, of which they are all the more desirous, as it is more
certain.

LXXXI.

the dwellings of the youth.

The two stories that remain are reserved for bathrooms
and dormitory purposes, two sides being given over to the
boys and the third to the girls. For since they want this
sex also liberally educated, they take particular care that

248 Christianopolis

those men who are placed over the youth have such wives
as can teach the young women and the girls. The arrange-
ment of the rooms will be plain from the accompanying
sketch. This one fact should yet be mentioned, namely, that
the boys are so associated with those who are grown up,
and the adults so observed by the married men, and the in-
spection is so carefully carried out all around, that, to the
utmost possible extent, moral corruption of the youth is
avoided. And as such can happen so rarely under a system
of training which has kept up its innocence during a long
series of years, it is to be valued above every happiness,
especially when we remember what perversion, corruption,
and offense of the youth there is elsewhere in schools and
public educational institutions. Everyone carries with him
domestic, rustic, or even paternal and inborn evil and
wickedness, and communicates these to his comrades, with
so poisonous a contagion that it spares not even those who
ought to be consecrated entirely to God, but winds its way
with varying wickedness, deceit, and rudeness, and takes
possession of them so entirely that they cannot throw it
off throughout their whole lives, and among the most honor-
able offices; and this is done with lamentable pollution of
the innocent, since the plague of one individual spreads to
many, and as individuals contribute one is affected. So
that now parents have to fear almost nowhere more than
where they persuade themselves their children are being
most plainly educated toward God. And right here there is
especial need of very eager prayers that they may commend
their dear ones very carefully to divine custody, whose sole
care it is through the angels' guardian power to avert from
them those impure and pestiferous lips, to stop their ears,
and to strengthen their hearts toward the love of modesty
and abhorrence of impurity.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 249

LXXXIL

the temple.

And finally the temple, which is in the middle of the place,
was shown me, a work of royal magnificence in which ex-
pense and talent vied with each other. This should not be
criticised, however, since no one in the republic is in want.
The form of the temple is round, its circumference being
three hundred and sixteen feet and the height seventy.
In the one half where the gatherings take place, seats
are cut and excavated from the earth that the structure
may ascend less, and that the ears of all may be equally
distant on all sides from the voice of the speaker. The
other half is reserved for distribution of the sacraments
and for music. The senators have a separate place there
with the councilmen, not at all far from the speaker's
platform, as I have shown in the sketch. But also the
sacred comedies, by which they set so much store,
and are entertained every three months, are shown here
in the temple, in order that the history of divine things
may cling the more firmly in the minds of the youth, and
that their own talents may be rendered the more skillful
and ready in handling such things. I could not sufficiently
admire their artistic skill in these matters, as I myself saw
the Jercmia of Naogeorgus ^ played before the people. The
surrounding wall of the temple is full of windows so that it
admits light all around. The other parts of the walls are
elegantly resplendent with sacred pictures or representa-
tions from biblical history. I saw no image except that of
the crucified Christ and it was skillfully designed with a view
* Thomas Naogeorg, dramatist, 1511-1578,

250 Christianopolis

toward moving even the hardest heart. The rest of the
adornments I cannot easily describe unless I wished this
done in detail. Suffice to say I could not enough admire
the art and beauty, especially when I recalled those who,
under the pretext of religion, despoil the churches, and
when the desolation of the temples has been effected, do not
nevertheless forget to provide for their own domestic lux-
ury. Of a surety they are evangelical Christians with con-
sciences to whom it seems a sin if the gifts of ancient sim-
plicity offend the people anywhere else than in their homes !
Oh^ the religious reformers who, in order to empty the
shrines, have offered their own homes for useless and
boastful pomp ! Those who forbid the decorating of the
temples of God, or who are as tenacious in this matter as
they are prodigal in others, might find something here to
learn. However, it is not my business here to teach what
I think right, but to rehearse what I saw.

LXXXIIL

VOCATION.

As many as have been consecrated to the church regard
nothing before or above their calling. This is their con-
fidence, this their shield, and this their crown. The parents
wish for and seek in earnest prayer, though they do not buy
nor obtain the result through custom, that sometime they
may produce in their family interpreters or ministers of
God, since they realize that this is the summit of human
dignity. So whenever especial gifts of God, and, as it were,
intimate acquaintance with the Holy Spirit, become ap-
parent ; when a life is permeated, as it were, with heavenly

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 251

thoughts ; when there is even a secret harmony of prayers
in favor of one individual, then there arrives at the same
time the heavenly and Christian message of a call which
corresponds to an inward impulse of the heart and encour-
ages them with a confidence in their spiritual duty. And
when public and stated prayers are added to that, and the
laying on of hands, they say that divine grace very noticeably
appears and that a man, already good before, becomes even
better. Hence the calling is valued among the people and
is considered effectual ; while by the preacher it is a mark
of heavenly favor that he has entered into a sacred covenant
with God that he might be assisted and taught by Him;
that he himself be silent upon nothing which is true or
wholesome, nor add anything of human invention, and that
he render up life and blood if necessary for the congrega-
tion of God ; at the same time also that he renounce earthly
immunities and express indeed the will of the good spirit.
Blessed indeed is that church whose ministers are not dedi-
cated to the ministry for support, condemned to it because
of their dull natures, admitted because of some little learn-
ing, pushed into it on account of the generosity of their
parents, raised to it by the price of blood, promoted because
of the agreement of curiosity, merely to find out how
much they can accomplish for or against souls ! Blessed
indeed is that church whose ministers determine their
honor by the Word of God, their wealth by the increase of
the church, their scholarship by the discomfiture of the
Devil, their enjoyment by the putting aside of the flesh,
their fame by the testimony of the poor, their purpose by the
wreath of faith ! Happy indeed is that church in which God
calls, man obeys, the angel assists, the government agrees,
the people give ear, and the youth grow up! But alas
to those who have transformed and debased into a certain

252 Christianopolis

frivolity and carelessness of vocation, the solicitude and
bravery of their elders, by which they, called of God, fear-
ing for their souls, have freed their necks from the deceits
of Antichrist.

LXXXIV.

SERVICES.

Of their sermons which are delivered in the temple, we
have already spoken. The presbyter and the diaconus give
them ; the former explains the Holy Scriptures, the latter
the chief principles of religion. There are others subor-
dinate to these who succeed them after death; for it is not
permitted here to look longingly at the dead. The service
is begun and ended with prayers and sacred psalmody. I
saw nothing foreign to our so-called Augsburg Confession ;
for they disapprove our morals, not our religion. When
they pray or hear the Word of God, they fall down on their
knees and raise their hands; they even beat their breasts,
that they may awaken their souls. To do nonsense in the
temple, or to fall asleep, they consider a sin. Though
there are daily readings out of the works of holy and devout
learned men, none the less they attend in large numbers.
For whatever attention is given religion, this they consider
the highest occupation. And if half the time of their lives
is devoted to this, they still think it is too little. I was
surprised at the behavior of these men when I noticed them
jumping for joy at times, and often dissolving in tears;
for they cannot rehearse either the goodness of Christ or
the misdeeds of men without emotion. The events of the
life of Christ are so distributed throughout the year that

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 253

the individual, remarkable acts may have a memorial, and
to these times they adapt their festivals, which however are
not puffed up by affectation or fancy. In their ceremonies
they are not spectacular, for they wish rather to improve
than to astonish men. The dress of all is respectable, and
that of the ministers is in no respect unusual. The color
appropriate for religion is white, that of statesmanship red,
of scholarship blue, of the working class green. Yet this
fact does not affect Christians so much that they regard dis-
tinction of color greater than that of virtues and vices ; nor
do they regard indifferent ceremonies of such value that all
care, examination, and sacred judgments should be anni-
hilated by them. Is it because the vices of men are greater
than we can oppose that we whittle straws and strain gnats
just to be doing nothing? At Christianopolis, because they
sow virtues and uproot vices, they confer regarding trifles
at their leisure.

LXXXV.

sacred psalmody.

Music plays not at all the least part in divine worship
with them, however much puritanical melancholy may ob-
ject. They praise God chiefly with the voice, but also with
sound of trumpet, harps and zither, drums and chorus,
strings and measure, cymbals and various organs. The
holy prophets thought this proper, and Christ neither ad-
vised against nor prohibited it. Thus Satan is mocked,
who never rejoices with his own except when so doing will
injure God's cause. They have many sacred songs, and
that they may be able to sing them well together, they each

254 Christianopolis

bring along their little books and thus supplement their
memory. In these songs they admire especially the spirit of
the songs of Luther, though they do not spurn others. It
is a pleasant thing to hear the whole congregation singing
together in four or more parts, and yet not violating the
time and rhythm of the composition. The practice of as-
sembling daily for prayers makes this possible. That which
has to do with numbers possesses something divine and
penetrating into the souls of man. So all the best admire
the poetry of David and hold it in high esteem, and favor
also the poetry of to-day, if it is pure and Christian. Who-
soever lowers the standard of this, is accused of abuse of
his talent; whoever traces it down from its source, is con-
sidered by them as deserving to be crowned with laurel.
Let no one believe that elegance in poetry is out of the
question unless mentioning idols ; let no one charge the
sacred writings of crudeness. It is a trick of Satan, who
perverts our hearing so that the music of the zither appeals
to us less than the sound of the bagpipe. And what makes
sacred song so powerless over us, makes it leap about so
wantonly, other than the sluggishness within us toward the
good, and the sensational tickle of evil ? On the other hand,
what quiets or disquiets our thoughts unless it be, respect-
ively, the spirit of sacred song and the shamelessness of
worldly music? Whatever genius the worldly songs may
possess, they become useless under test of the cross; while
however much simplicity the sacred ones have, they refresh
the soul beyond belief though previously the words and
syllables were neglected. Let us give thanks to God who
is ever willing to be near the silent or the prayerful, the
grieving and the singing, and willing to hear them com-
passionately.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 255

LXXXVI.

the sacraments.

The sacraments are administered as instituted by Christ
and according to the rites of the early church; frequently,
because of their great value ; reverently, on account of their
high dignity ; elaborately, because they are observed by the
devout. When children are baptized in the name of the
Trinity, they have witnesses of their faith and obligation,
first of all the father, but also an honorable married couple
and absent friends are bidden; and all these pledge their
faith for the sacrament and charge themselves with the
care. For they say that godparents should stand in the
place of the parents and should render an account to God
for their spiritual children. The observation of a guardian
should not be more diligent than that of a godfather ; while
their mutual love will be perchance the greater, as the
bonds uniting them through Christ are closer. Those who
here seek gold commit a grave fault; those counsel most
wisely who require the best observers for their children and
monitors of their virtues. As often as the holy supper is
offered, as it invites all, so also unless actual necessity
prevents, all attend and thus bear witness to their peace
with men. The elements consisting of unleavened bread
and wine are given at the altar where a haughty countenance
can make no change. As many as approach bring along
a contrite heart, a faithful soul, and a body ready for cor-
rection, and a little later they show by actual deed what
they have promised. This is their most welcome tribunal
where offenses are adjudged and removed. For he who
can be angry at his brother to deny God or not to accept

256 Christianopolis

Him, such a man is a horror to the state and not at all to
be tolerated. Then also those stand here who, after having
given way to the deceits of the Devil, have again become
reconciled to the church ; and for their salvation and repent-
ance they are as heartily congratulated as they were la-
mented at their fall. And especially do they see to it that
no crime be charged to church or state; but they free and
cleanse themselves and others with the Christian expiation.
Those who neglect this, are crushed by their own and others'
misdeeds. There was a time when evildoers were inter-
ceded for before the church ; now, as this turned out evilly,
it is different. And yet the world boasts that there is
nothing more severe and consistent than her discipline.
But this praise surely our predecessors bear ; what we shall
do, our posterity will speak of sometime, if there be any.

LXXXVII.

ABSOLUTION AND EXCOMMUNICATION.

The keys which Christ left for binding and loosing, they
preserve very religiously, while others use the one to the
extreme and hide the other; so that it is said of them that
they use the former up and lose the latter. The inhabitants
of Christianopolis confess the sum of their sins singly, many
of them even into the ears of a friend — for there is no
one among them without a rather close friend — or into
the ears of a clergyman; and by this frankness they say
that their burdens are very much lightened. Through
His ministry, Christ promised clemency in return for
earnest repentance, eager faith, and careful amendment,

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 257

but He threatens strict justice for dissembling. There
is no fear lest anyone grow up ignorant of the Christian
religion, since this is required in the school and carefully
attended to. Moreover, that the consciences may be
strengthened, many ministers are chosen to this very duty,
but only such as are remarkable for innocence of life and
fervor of spirit. If anyone distrusts men, no one is urged
to reveal his secrets, but he is left to God, the reader of
hearts. Against backsliders, especially those who remain
stiff-necked after the vain warnings of brothers, fathers,
and civil authorities, they pronounce the wrath of God, ban
of the church, disgust of the state, and the abhorrence of
every good man, with such success that it seems as if they
have been shut off from the universe, that is, all the crea-
tures of God. They consider this more severe than death
and they all make great effort for the recovery of such a
man. If at last he continues to resist and is stubborn, they
expel him from the republic. Before this is done they tax
him with the most extreme and debased labors or even with
blows, by which means they prefer to punish the sins, than
spill his blood, as far as this is permitted. Surely the world
accomplishes little when it freely punishes the evildoers with
fine, disgrace, or death and does not shake the lethargy out
of their lives by which alone they are so rapidly driven to
destruction, nor breaks their wantonness with hunger and
work that they may either recover or be restrained. Poor
indeed is that physician who is more ready to burn and
to cut, than to cleanse and to revive. Nowhere will a repub-
lic be found more fortunate than such a one which preserves
as many of its citizens as possible and destroys the least
possible number. The chief aim of such a state is : that
after divine reverence has been inculcated and the foulness
of sin exposed we learn earlier to be unwilling to sin, than

258 Christianopolis

not to dare to ; but if we do dare then that we be not able ;
and if we break through absolutely, that we be compelled to
atone for our acts and cleanse ourselves.

LXXXVIII.

MATRIMONY.

Matrimony is undertaken by them with great devotion,
approached with great caution, cherished with great gentle-
ness, regarded with great consideration. Yet it is nowhere
safer to get married than here. For as the unusualness of
the dowry and the uncertainty of daily bread are lacking,
it remains only that the value of virtues and sometimes of
beauty be made. It is permitted a youth of twenty-four
years to marry a girl not under eighteen, but not without the
consent of the parents, consultation of the relatives, appro-
bation of the laws, and benediction of God. There is with
them the greatest reverence of relationship of blood. The
factors considered in joining in marriage are for the most
part conformity of natures and propriety; but also, a
thing that is elsewhere so rare, recommendation of piety.
The greatest fault is considered to be impurity and the
laws against such offenders are severe. But by removing
opportunities they easily eliminate the sins. The marriages
have almost no expense or noise ; they do not at all expect
worldly foolishness and senselessness. Young men con-
duct the groom and young women the bride, and they all
show their approbation with heart and prayer, when the
bond has been joined. Then the parents of both and the
nearest relatives come together^ shake hands and remind the

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 259

newly married couple of the value of agreement, work, and
moderation, but especially of devotion and patience. And
so without any drunkenness, which usually initiates all
sacred functions elsewhere, but not without a hymn and
Christian congratulations, they are married. There is no
dowry at all except the promises of Christ, the example
of parents, the knowledge acquired by both, and the joy of
peace. Furniture is provided together with the house out
of the public store. In this summary fashion they render
most safe and speedy, our cross, punishment, torment, pur-
gatory, and however else we are accustomed to call
inauspicious marriages. If now there should be any un-
pleasantness, the difficulties are smoothed and ironed out
from the experiences of all the friends; meantime no
infidelity comes up, for it is severely punished. The grief
which God feels at our desertion. He has not expressed
more forcibly than in the case of the forgetting of parental
and conjugal love. He has proved His justice with His
zeal, in that we may abhor ingratitude and faithlessness,
and punish them at the same time. Since the world has
turned these two enormities into a joke, there are always
worse conditions that follow upon bad ones, always per-
sons who will later outdo former impostors. Hence
so many evils of impurity which pour out vices, confuse
the dowry-gifts, surround the family with diseases, pour
down curses, scatter disgrace, slacken the conscience, cause
repletion, scatter filth, squander wealth, call forth the
threats of the Master, sow desperation, loose punishment.

26o Christianopolis

LXXXIX.

WOMEN.

The married women make use of the knowledge which
they acquired while in college. For whatsoever human in-
dustry accomplishes by working with silk, wool, or flax, this
is the material for woman's arts and is at her disposal. So
they learn to sew, to spin, to embroider, to weave, and to
decorate their work in various ways. Tapestry is their
handiwork, clothes their regular work, washing their
duty. In addition to this they care for the house and the
kitchen and have them clean. Whatever scholarship they
have, being mentally gifted, they improve diligently, not
only to know something themselves, but that they may some-
time also teach. In the church and in the council hall they
have no voice, yet none the less do they mold the piety and
morals, none the less do they shine with the gifts of heaven.
God has denied this sex nothing, if it is pious, of which fact
the eternally blessed Mary is a most glorious example. If
we read the histories, we shall find that no virtue has been
inaccessible to women, and there is none in which they have
not excelled. However, rarely do many of them compre-
hend the value of silence. Yet we have some whom we might
compare with or even prefer to men — real Monicas,^ dedi-
cated to the church, pleasing to their parents, peaceful with
their husbands, observing the rites of widowhood, generous
toward their children, courteous toward their friends, use-
ful toward those in want, neighborly to all. Among these,
filial loyalty requires that I mention my mother. The cases
elsewhere, in which very many women are too lordly, are

^ Referring to the mother of St. Augustine.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 261

rather the fault of those men who are effeminate enough
to marry such mascuhne women. There is nothing more
dangerous than situations where the women rule in secret
and the men obey openly; on the other hand, nothing is
more desirable than that each party takes charge of his or
her special duty. It is a rare thing among them, and not at
all considered a manly act, for the husband to beat his wife ;
and the wife who is flogged is rather disgraced among her
acquaintances. Their greatest boast is that of peace in the
family. It is a monstrous thing to be joined in body and to
disagree in spirit. Women have no adornments except that
mentioned by Peter ; ^ no dominion except over house-
hold matters; no permission to do servants' work (a thing
that will surprise you), unless disease or some accident
demands it. No woman is ashamed of her household duties,
nor does she tire of attending to the wants of her husband.
Likewise no husband of whatsoever employment thinks him-
self above honorable labors. For to be wise and to work
are not incompatible if there is moderation. Within rea-
sonable bounds, nothing is more sensible than to further the
public good with word and deed.

XC

CHILDBIRTH.

The crowning accomplishment of women is bearing chil-
dren, in which they take precedence of all the athletes of
the earth; unless mayhap it would seem of greater impor-
tance to kill a human being than to give birth to one. It is
certainly little short of the miraculous for a woman to
M Peter, III: 3, 4.

262. Christianopolis

bear such pains, and for the child to survive the great dan-
gers. When a child is born the friends offer as congratula-
tion the hope of the heavenly kingdom, they sympathize in
the miseries that must be borne in the meantime. But this
fact exceeds all others in importance, that we have been re-
born by the birth of Christ into life, we who are doomed to
die. They have no birthday banquet; for I have already
mentioned that they can dispense with wine in their sacred
and solemn ceremonies, a thing that others do not wish to
do. Midwives are held in the highest regard, but none
except the most capable are considered. The more religious
a woman is, the more fitted for this office, provided of
course the scientific knowledge is not lacking. Unless the
case demands it, they do not tolerate nurses, for they desire
that the children drink the milk of the mothers. Those who
have charge of women in labor and the infants, are for the
most part widows, whose special duty this is. There are
also young women who take care of children. Baptism is
administered in the presence of the congregation unless the
child is dangerously ill. If it is deprived of the rite, they
know that the seed of the faithful has been washed clean by
the blood of Christ, and so they hope for the best. The
period of confinement is forty-two days, after the expira-
tion of which they give solemn thanks to God. During
these days, lighter food, as is fitting, is brought from the pub-
lic commissary. For the medical skill even of the women is
by no means without results. Meanwhile if the husbands
wish to live apart, they can ; if not, they are not driven out.
They have the greatest desire for conjugal chastity, and
they set a premium upon it, that they may not injure or
weaken themselves by too frequent intercourse. To beget
children is quite proper ; but passion of license is a disgrace.
Others live together like beasts; yet even the cattle have

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 263

characteristics which put such persons to shame, who might
better with mutual love and mutual aid first care for heaven
and later for things of the earth. So the citizens of Chris-
tianopolis believe that there may be to a certain extent
fornication and pollution even in marriage. Oh, the carnal-
minded who are not ashamed to make sin out of lawful as
well as unlawful practices ! But what can we do, when
there are on all sides places for feasting and places of
allurements, when even the very names of fasting, temper-
ance, vigilance, and work among us are held in suspicion
or are unknown? And so it happens that while we are
dreaming that all things are permitted us, we take no
pleasure in the things that are really good and healthful,
pure and undefiled.

XCI.

WIDOWHOOD.

Since no bond survives death, even the closest marriages
are dissolved. If a husband dies, his widow leaves the house
and withdraws into the home for widows, where she serves
the state in some capacity, and marries again if she likes,
but not before the expiration of a year, out of respect for
her former love. If a woman dies, her widower eats with a
neighbor or with others in the public house, till after a year
he may marry again. There is no danger at all for the
orphans, since all children are brought up with equal care
in the college. For there is no one in this republic who has
only individual parents. The state itself is a parent to each.
The regard of widows is in accordance with their devotion,
self-restraint, and industry. So they are honored like

264 Christianopolis

mothers, and are employed in bringing up the girls. For it
is fitting that those who have experienced the emptiness of
this world should advise those who are less protected,
should restrain, and correct them. For Satan never operates
against us with his secret devices more easily than when he
promises pure joys, where in reality there is least of pleas-
ure, very much pain and disgust. Hence as many as take
their delight in lusts of the flesh or follow the ways of
beasts, we must rightly consider them either entirely
without experience or lacking in their senses. It is mad-
ness to value the known world, foolishness to long for
the unknown. So this is the duty of widowhood, to lessen
the reputed value of the flesh among the inexperienced, to
curb lustful desires among those who value impurity, since
they show by their own example that, it is not always neces-
sary to follow after the flesh, nay that it is far better to
abstain for reasons of personal advantage, spiritual as well
as civil. We may grow warm, but in such a manner that
the spirit shall not catch fire ; let us restrain the warmth but
without extinguishing the spirit; we may grow cool, with-
out allowing the body to freeze; let us keep ourselves
warm, yet not so as to kindle the body. Luxury displeases
God, marriage pleases Him, widowhood is honored, and
virginity is precious to Him. The highest grace and the
greatest excellence of a chaste man is Christ's confession of
the closest union with him.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 265

XCII.

the council hall.

The council hall is situated above the temple, and is
intended for the rarest and most august and solemn meet-
ings. In these meetings the highest rulers are created and
enter into mutual faith with the people. Here the statutes
of the republic are read, here ambassadors from foreign
parts are heard. It is of the greatest splendor, either to
uphold the majesty of the republic, or that through the
eyes it may teach generosity of disposition. For as
the history of the earth is expressed here in vari-
ous ways, so also those shine most brightly who deserve
best in the affairs of men. Here I saw among the heroes
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and of my own sov-
ereigns, Christopher, Duke of Wurtemberg, most Christian
princes, and others of no less virtues. Here were expressed
alternately the advantages and disadvantages of the gov-
erning virtue or vice; on the one side the very essence
of watchfulness, tares of inactivity, light of humility, whirl
of undesirable ambition ; on the other side power of love,
slipperiness of tyranny, result of good example, chaos of
dissoluteness; elsewhere the simplicity of truth, the sound
of sophistry, elegance of refinement, the clattering crudeness
of barbarism. The form of the divine, of the Christian, of
the human, and the Satanic kingdoms, their likenesses and
differences, laws and affairs were all here represented, and
the result whether fortunate or sad was everywhere attached.
Here was shown the likeness of the last judgment in its
glad as well as in its horrifying phases, with the rewards
of virtues and the punishments for vices all skillfully repre-

266 Christianopolis

sented. What shall I say ? It seems to me that I saw here,
or nowhere ever, the real microcosmos, not with lavish ex-
travagance, but devoted to the real education of man. If
now we compare with these the heaven of the gods, the
earth of the satyrs, the sea of Neptune, and the Hades of
Pluto, how we will grow cool and how we will be laughed
at that the human mind stands forth and comes into the
open in nothing except foolish fables and dreams, and yet
wishes to preserve among men the opinion and reputation of
divine culture, love of country, and of scholarly skill.

XCIII.

THE COUNCILMEN".

The councilors are the most distinguished of all the
citizens, conspicuous for their piety, honesty, and industry,
and tried out by long experience. In number they are
twenty-four, chosen equally from the three orders, honored
as well as loved by the citizens because of their high regard
for the state. The citizens have elevated these not to re-
move them from all virtues, but to appoint them as lights
of the same, as it were, to all the rest. So they all have
a zeal for religion, peace, and learning, out of which comes
an abundance of all good things. The councilors take no
pleasure in strutting before others, sucking the sap out of
others' goods, or fattening lazily. But as the sun shines, so
they brighten everyone, consult for all, work for all. If
anything rather serious takes place, they themselves pray to
God eagerly and require prayers of the people also. They
observe the praiseworthy deeds of their predecessors very

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 267

carefully, and transmit them inviolate to their descendants.
I have nowhere seen a more diligent investigation of the
past, nowhere a more solicitous care for the future. Hence
they examine the present according to models, and if they
find that they are deteriorating a single bit, they repair the
matter. If on the other hand a thing can be improved in
method, they rejoice greatly that opportunity has been given
to bear testimony to posterity that they have not lived in
vain. Yet they judge this thought to be a praiseworthy one,
if they have preserved the flower and safety of the state.
No one departs from the path of their former national life
lest it might seem that they have become a different people,
instead of being the same race, with a more approved skill in
their duties. And so a fitting place of honor is preserved for
labor and respectable occupation. As they honor the feeble
more, so they burden them less, and the younger serve as
their prop ; so they have twelve additional extraordinary
substitutes. If any one of these commits an unusually grave
offense, though they say this can hardly occur, he is removed
from his position, and the matter seriously looked into. The
reward of all is the consciousness of right, in which they
exult, namely, that they have been able with divine assist-
ance to propagate the Gospel, to protect their subjects, to
ennoble the youth, adorn the land, and to increase the
number of dwellers in heaven.

268 Christianopolis

XCIV.

THE GARDENS.

Around the college is a double row of gardens, one gen-
eral and the other divided into plots corresponding to the
homes of the citizens ; both are fitted out with more
than a thousand different sorts of vegetables in such a way
that they represent a living herbarium. They are not per-
mitted to confuse the order of the distribution of the plants,
which by the skill of the gardener are made to conform to
the various zones of the sky, a wonderful and clever com-
bination of colors, representing as it were a painted plate.
They have here a number of birds in cages and the bees in
their hives are very carefully tended. The plants that are
for medicine, cooking, or decorative purposes are all in
separate plots. Hence they furnish various uses and pleas-
ures,— fragrance, purifying of the air, honey, drugs, har-
monious song of birds, and information. There is plenty of
water, which is carried by artistically arranged pipes, nor
is the music out of harmony with the water. But they
avoid all too great expense. Outside the walls they have
their very extensive gardens, in which they raise crops for
food purposes, for the others have been planted rather for
their elegance. Moreover they learn here to judge the value
of human beauty, which is the flower-gathering of a single
year. We are born, we grow up, we are in our prime,
we droop, and pine away. Out of our death there is again
the rise and increase of others. Oh, happy are those who
among the wholesome plants learn also to trust in God who
feeds the flowers and clothes them without any care on their
part ; who learn to note down the variety and diverseness of

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 269

His gifts, and to connect their pleasant odor with God !
But why enumerate what man should learn from the crea-
tures of God, when the smallest leaf contains the whole
lesson? Rather let us wonder at those who, though they
love the earth most of all, neglect entirely that which is
the best of the earth, its use and beautiful decoration. Yet
they are not willing to seem to burden the earth, though
they tread it with crude feet. Let us lament the lost para-
dise and long for its restoration. For though we look upon
natural objects now with faulty vision, when our sight has
been restored through the cross, we will behold all things
not on the surface, but in their inmost depths.

xcv.

WATER.

Christianopolis has water as well as excellent land.
I will not now mention navigation in the presence of some
who, like fungi, never move from their place. Perhaps
sometime I will go into this in detail. Now I must
explain what service they have as regards drinking and
washing. An abundant supply of very clear water
has been introduced into the city which they have
distributed first into the streets and then into the
houses, so that water abounds everywhere and can be
obtained close at hand. Next, by means of underground
canals, they have conducted the outlet streams of a lake
through the alleys, so that the flowing water frees the
houses of their daily accumulations, a scheme that is more
conducive to public health than anything else easily thought

270 Christianopolis

of. Whence those seem to me to be very wise who want
man not only when crested and plumed, that is, dressed ac-
cording to modesty and fashion, but also when naked and
convinced of human necessity, assisted and liberally pro-
vided for. For as these conditions accuse us to ourselves
and draw us down from the lofty halls of our imagina-
tion to the filthiness of our mire, so they also advise us of
reasons why we should not live uncleanly. Hence they
have baths, that have been in use from early times. But for
the most part the baths are private and only those for the
children are public, for they fear the temptations of nudity.
Then there are sanitary washrooms in quiet places; also
washing of clothes, which man soils in various ways; and
other arrangements for keeping men clean. Oh, this body
of ours ! How unclean, how polluted, how moist, how
sweaty, how decayed, how filthy! And yet it pleases the
soul, dictates to it, wears it out, and at last crushes it!
Pity us, Oh Thou source of life, wash and purify that un-
cleanness, this body of ours, the impure blood, with Thy
most holy blood, that we who are so ugly in our impurity
may be dressed in the robe of Thine innocence and rendered
acceptable in the sight of God ; that we may not be ashamed
when Thou shalt return to each one according to his deeds !

XCVI.

THE AGED.

The aged of both sexes stand in the highest esteem,
and so they take especial care that they be not afflicted with
any trouble, as old age is in itself a disease. So they have

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 271

appointed people who nurse them, cheer them up, honor
and consult them. For since the powers of mind and body
fail them together, they have to be kept bolstered up and
inspired with young blood ; for they grow weak on account
of the disgust of human life, and at the memory of so many
accidental injuries, and so many errors of their own. Since
with great labor and merit toward the republic they have
discharged their duties with noticeable faith and care, even
up to decrepit old age, no amount of honor and respect is
considered enough in gratitude. And since finally they do
possess the greatest truths of human life, not merely by
way of some subtlety of theory, but through rough practice
and experience of material difficulties, nothing can be
thought up so ingenious and subtle that when rubbed
against the whetstone of old age, it will not give up much
of its own opinion, and accommodate itself more nearly to
human conditions. If any of the youth but knew with what
mistakes, sweat, shame, dangers, and snares the old people
have acquired these truths, all of which they have buried
within them and which they keep under the one word cave,
beware ! — never would they be so thoughtless as to laugh
at the advice of the old, and admire their own plans. But
old people also have this advantage, that since they have
sent such a throng of acquaintances ahead to their rest;
since they have seen the good eventually ascend and very-
many evil fall ; since they have observed the kingdom of
God and the little ship of the church stand against the
attacks and storms of Satan, and finally triumph ; since they
have noticed the increasing offspring of virtues and the
fruits of piety, they also gladly lay themselves down to the
end of life, commend to all the naturalness and ease of death,
and precede them all in their familiarity with death. For
inasmuch as all our study and all our wisdom are noth-

2'^2 Christianopolis

ing but a consideration of death, it is befitting that those
who have spent the most time therein, should be of all
mortals the most experienced in matters relating to death.

XCVII.

FOREIGNERS AND PAUPERS.

Toward strangers and foreigners they show the great-
est kindness and generosity, of which I myself, a man in
the deepest straits, am 'an evident example. Yet they are
careful that the citizens do not contract any contagious
disease as a result of too great liberty on the part of the
guests. Evil practices of taverns, elsewhere so common,
are unheard of and unknown to them ; and if they did know
of them, they would heartily disapprove of them. They
keep a guest frugally for a day or two ; an exile they sup-
port for a long time; and a sick person they care for very
kindly. They help the poor sufficiently and do not allow
them to leave without material aid. However, they examine
them all very closely in their words and behavior, and then
do their charity. No beggar is known or tolerated ; for they
judge that if anyone is really in need, the republic ought
not to have to be warned of its duty; neither of which
however can happen, and this is right. If a person is
physically strong, he is never permitted to deny the republic
his efforts, and these are sufficient for the food he gets. Yet
elsewhere both these provisions are neglected. For when
not rarely those persons starve who accomplish the most
hard work, and when breaking down under their load they
are deserted and cast aside ; on the other hand when those

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 273

who have basely rejected their heavenly gifts, and v^ho
escape all sweat on account of weakness of their flesh, when
they are supported for the most part out of the state funds —
it cannot but be that the '* bread snatched from the children
is being cast before the dogs." In this respect we are alto-
gether bound by the rule of the world; for the wealth of
the world for the most part, serves the purposes of wicked-
ness and extravagance, rarely, and then very injuriously,
giving aid to the works of Christ ; and so it is exposed to the
thievery of impostors, jugglers, quacks, tramp musicians,
and hair dressers, that Christ may appear to be disgusted
that such wrongly collected property should have been al-
lowed to pass to so wicked an owner. Meantime, Christ
does not lack means to support His own, for whom there is
plenty even in their want. Nor are persons wanting who
take off their clothes, throw them down, and strew the road
for Christ. I myself, though I have always found the world
greedy, stingy, and base toward me, have learned among
the citizens of Christianopolis that there are still some
who, for the sake of Christ and through Christ, desire very
much to share their all.

XCVIII.

the sick.

As diseases are of various kinds, so also ought our piety
be manifold. The citizens of Christianopolis have observed
this particularly, who have learned how to care for and
comfort the souls, minds, and bodies that are afflicted. All
of them strive to be able to come to their own and other
people's assistance in case of need. Medicine, surgery, and

274 Christianopolis

the kitchen are all equally at the disposal of the sick, and
everyone is prompt to assist. He who stands high socially
does not exhaust the supply of drugs, while the lowly do not
sufifer for want of alleviation; crowds of physicians do not
linger around the great, nor does loneliness afflict the com-
mon people. Yet after all, more rich people on earth are
made away with than poor. Married women and widows
here have the greatest opportunity and skill, and the state
very kindly commends to them the care of the sick; they
even have hospitals intended to take care of them. Along
with the rest of the medicine they are also accustomed to
cheer the spirits of the sick and to remind them of their
former strength, lest they lack Christian fortitude. Then
they bid them heed their usual moderation that they may
not indulge their agitated bodies too far. And last also
they urge them toward obedience to the instructions of
medical attendance that they may not refuse to accept the
unpleasantness of care imposed upon them. With these
three the cross of Christ is received, lifted up, and borne.
When a plague rages it is wonderful to relate how little
effort there is to escape ; they await the hand of God. For
he who believes that the amount of God's good will is
limited, never understands how he may remove himself and
withdraw. Persons whose minds are unbalanced or injured
they sufifer to remain among them, if this is advisable;
otherwise, they are kindly cared for elsewhere. This is
what is done in case of the violent; for reason commands
that human society should be more gently disposed toward
those who have been less kindly treated by nature. For
even we are not just as God would have us; yet, such
as we are, He sustains us with limitless clemency and long-
suffering.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 275
XCIX.

DEATH.

Who will say that those in Christianopolis, though they
live correctly, have an unsatisfactory death? Nay, since
they die daily, who would doubt that sometime they shall
live forever? More than any other this republic does not
know death, and yet acts on such confidential terms with it.
When they compose themselves to '' sleep " — for so they
call death — they are very collected. They bear witness to
their religion and regard Christ as a pledge of their faith.
They also bear testimony to their love of country and seal
this with a pious prayer. The rest they leave to God.
They have no need of testaments, yet if they have any last
wishes, they mention them to their friends. While one is
struggling with death, public prayers are sent up for the
victory of the Christian warrior. If a soul is in anguish,
witnesses of divine truth are at hand and interpreters who
demonstrate that God wishes all Christians well. If they
suffer physical torment, the assurance of future comfort,
health, and everlasting glory counterbalances this. Why do
I explain this at such length ! Fitting words and deeds are
necessary in each individual case, and these are given.
Many are present at the deathbed, that they may witness
the critical change from human to Christian life. For a
single example will accomplish what no warnings can do
with us. Yet in their humility and state of equality they
have little of which death could deprive them; while our
very body is too valuable to us, out of which we are not
driven without trembling and which we are horrified to
leave behind us. With a whole soul they pray that God,

276 Christianopolis

before whom they are about to stand, may be kindly disposed
to the departed, and in the place of useless complaint they
commend the soul to Him with an appropriate hymn.
Finally they pray that when it shall be pleasing to God, they
also may find their peaceful sleep with a contrite and faith-
ful heart, one firmly founded on Jesus Christ.

C

BURIAL.

The lifeless body they dress in a white robe, and on the
day following the death they bear it away with uncoA^ered
face ; large numbers of people accompany it. Young people
sing sacred songs of Prudentius,^ and other hymns. The
nearest relatives follow, for the most part, with calm face,
and wearing their usual clothes. For they say that con-
gratulations are more befitting a Christian than grief; and
that such sad manifestations have no other result than to
weaken the survivors. After the body has been lowered
into the grave and covered with the earth from whence it
came, they hear the Word of God, intended to give them a
cheerful attitude toward death, and to inform them as to
life. Rarely is an epitaph of the deceased left, for they
say that this can hardly be done with fairness. Such as
each one has been, God knows ; and posterity will transmit
the facts. And this is safer than an inscription that has
been bought, forced, or composed. A biographical sketch of
those especially deserving is kept in their records, and the

^ Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 348-410, one of the most noted
of early Christian poets.

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 277

fact that these are few speaks more loudly than with us
where the great number and immense crowd of heroes
renders the record suspicious. The cemetery is very
spacious and beautiful, but outside the city ; for they con-
sider the city to be for the living. I saw a representation
of Death leading every order of flesh to the grave, skillfully
and ingeniously painted on the walls. No one has any sort
of a marker except an iron cross stamped with the name
of the deceased. From this the descendants count their
ancestors. When this becomes too old it is removed and
the name is inscribed in the funeral volume, where it can
be more easily found. It is not surprising that they are
somewhat careless in these matters, since they count this
life of least value and long for the other. So neither these
ideas nor other peculiarities of theirs ought to seem absurd
to us; since it stands to reason that whoever has a desire
for a future blessed life ought indeed believe with us, but
must live differently in every respect.

My Christian reader, these are the things which I saw
and heard in that blessed republic of God, and which I
frankly confess I learned. The thing that grieves me espe-
cially is that my memory does not suffice for the great
variety of things and that I have not the eloquence to ex-
press the things which I do remember; so you will easily
see that I am no historian. Moreover I wish now that I
had the style of those who can tell more than they saw.
As for me, I confess that I can never tell all. So if I have
not understood their meaning nor given account of their
institution with sufficient skill, there is reason why I should
regret my lack of perceptive power and why I should warn
my readers not to attribute any fault to the citizens of
Christianopolis, but rather to me. It may have happened —

278 Christianopolis

and I really fear it has — that I have overestimated the
value of less important matters, and undervalued greater
ones; that I have told things in reverse order; that I be-
came confused as a result of my admiration of them; that
I W3LS not admitted into the inside of their government.
What would you have of me ? I am a young man who has
not as yet grasped the significance of the secrets of states-
manship, but I look at only the external elegance. And
if I should ever be permitted to penetrate into these, my
desire to communicate my observations to others will not be
lacking. It remains now that we hear in what manner I
departed from that place. God forbid that I should ever
suffer myself to be separated from this repubHc !

Well, when I had inspected everything, I was brought
back to the chancellor that I might report to him
how I felt toward the citizens. '' My friend," said
he to me, " you have seen how and where we live.
As all human things are imperfect, we have not
been able to show you anything beyond our mortal lot;
but we have lessened the burdens of our mortality, we
trust, and according to the pattern which we have showed
you. We chose it not because it was more perfect than all
others, but perhaps because it was easier. Whatever dis-
advantages are connected with it, are gradually removed
by the vigilance of the administration. If it is the object
of life to praise God and love our brothers, then the trifles
of human life will not be of such great moment that they
will render Christians anxious and trouble them. When you
shall have returned to your own people pray be a most gentle
and moderate interpreter in all respects. We aspire to no
praise; we deprecate jealousy; or, if it cannot be helped, we
bear it. Our huts are our own care, let others see to their
palaces. If they rage against us, we will pray that the sea

Concerning the State of Christianopolis 279

may not convey them to us. We worship the same God,
profess the same religion. If our customs are different, it
should not be regarded a crime, as we live in a different
quarter of the world. We do not force our manners upon
others, nor do we defend them to the limit. Let those who
are better than we, judge us, teach us, criticise us; they will
find that we are no less teachable than we are patient. If
they can find valid excuses for all their conditions we will
bring accusation against our own, and will urgently require
better. Meantime let them be patient with the contradic-
tory teachings of a single very small island. Do you re-
main ours, we pray, here and elsewhere."

I did not restrain the tears when I compared the kind-
ness of this man with the stubbornness of others, and I
said with trembling voice : " Whatever my people may
call me, I will be yours. To you I dedicate this body
of mine, since nothing else is left me, that my mind
may be freer. Permit that I return to my people and
secure an honorable release lest I hear myself called
'fugitive.'" Here the chancellor laughed and said: ''Oh
you, who are so anxious to comply with the past, yet so
timid as to the future ! But go, my guest, whithersoever
you will, and compare our republic with other better ones,
that you may report to us the good and advantageous points
which you shall find elsewhere. For we desire not to be
preferred to others, merely to be compared with them. No
one will be a better friend to us than he who shall make
our state conform more nearly to the kingdom of heaven, or
(what is the same) remove it farther from the world.
Hence we have long wished for an abode situated below the
sky, but at the same time above the dregs of this known
world." Then I answered : " Unless I am entirely deceived,
the place where I shall rest will be with you. If any other

28o Christianopolis

land has better conditions, perchance I am not worthy to
enjoy them. To this, your republic, I dedicate my labors, my
studies, my wishes, my prayers. I give up the guidance of
myself to you, who have learned how to control others. I
will eat and drink, sleep and watch, speak and be silent at
your command. I will worship and adore God with you.
Now I ask but one favor, that I may be permitted to invite
my friends, excellent men, who are scattered throughout the
countries of the world, to come with me also." " By all
means," replied the chancellor, '' for we do not live too
crowded to be able to accommodate a whole boat load of
honest men."

While he spoke thus the twelfth hour, noon, sounded
forth, and the sweet melody of bells was heard, which
is the warning for solemn prayer. So he saluted me
in farewell, bade me go in the name of the Master, and
return safe under the guidance of God, bringing along as
many comrades as possible. And as he extended to me the
right hand of Christ's love, he said : '' Take heed, my brother,
that you do not give yourself over to the world again, and
estrange yourself from us." And I answered heartily:
'' Where thou goest I will go, thy people shall be my people,
and thy God, my God. Where thou diest, I w411 die, and
there will I be buried. And so may Jehovah be propitious
to me, as death alone shall divide me from thee ! " Then I
received from him the benediction, with the kiss of peace,
and I went away, and am now walking about among you,
that, if this republic pleases you, this worship of God, this
intercourse of men, this form of education, you may go
thither with me at an early day in the name of God. Fare-
well, and be strong in Christ.

FINIS.

INDEX

INDEX

Academe Royal, 53, 118.
Adami, Tobias, 21.
Advancement of Learning, The,

43, 53.

Advcrsus Cardanum (see Ex-
ercitationes Adversus Car-
danum).

Aesop, 25.

Aiken, Lucy, 49.

Althaus, Friedrich, 107.

Arndt, Johann, 28, 131, 135.

Aristotle, 21, 33, 41, 42, 43, no,
218.

Athenaeum, The, 45.

Atlantis, 54, 55, 65, 7Z-

Atlas, 54.

Augsburg Confession, 252.

August von Braunschweig-
Liineberg, 14.

B

Bacon, Francis, 7, 10, 11, 15, 19,
27, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57,
59, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72,
72, 74, 77, 82, 83, 99, 100, 114,
117, 121, 124.

Bacon, Nicholas, 41.

Bacon, Roger, 64.

Bacon s Life. Letters, and
Works (Spedding, Heath, and
Ellis), 41. 44, 46, 47, 48, 49.

Bacon's New Atlantis (G. C.
Moore Smith), 42, 46, 55, 57.

Bailey, Margaret L., loi.

Baranza, Father Redemptus, 47.

Baxter, Richard, 78.

Begley, Walter, 15, 77, 78, 79,

80, 84.
Bensalem, 55, 57, 58, 62, 63, 68.
Besold, Christopher, 12.
Boas, Fred Samuel, 7.
Boehme, Jakob, lOi.
Boll, F. C, 7.
Bolton, Edmund, 53.
Boyle, Robert, 113, 114, 116, 121,

124..
Boyle's Life and Works (J. and

F. Rivington), 114, 115.
Brahe, Tycho, 203.
Briigel, Julius, 11, 14, 16, 104.
Briiggemann, Fritz, 6, 7, 8.
Bushell, Thomas, 45.
Buwinckhausen, Benjamin von,

52.

Campanella, Thomas, 7, 10, 16,
18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27,
31, 36. 39, 55, 63.

Caphar Salama, 20, 29, 36, 55.

Cary, George, 51.

Casaubon, Isaac, 48, 49, 50, 51,
52.

Charles Stuart II, 49, 52, 113,
117.

Christenhurg, Die, 21, 59.

Christianopolis, 19, 29, 31, 34, 35,
37, 58, 63, 70, 93, 94, 95, 98,
99. no.

Christianopolis, The, 7, 8, 9, to,
15, 16, 17, 18. 19, 20, 21, 28, 29,
30, 31, 32, 38, 39, 40, 47, 54,
55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62,
65, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 72, 75,
76, 82, 88, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97,

283

284

Index

98, 99, 104, 105, 108, no, III,

119, 120, 121.
Chyniische Hochzeit, 26.
Cicero, 212.
Civifas Solis, 7, 16, 17, 18, 19,

20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 32, 36, 38,

39, 40.
Cleveland, John, 77.
College of Six Days' Works, 66,

Comenius, Johann Amos, 10, 15,
67, 80, 99, 100, loi, 102, 103,
104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109. Ill,
112, 113, 117, 119, 123, 124.

Confessio, 26, 39.

Cov/ley, Abraham, 77, 117, 118.

Crashaw, Richard, 77.

Defoe, Daniel, 6.
De Sapientia Veterorum, 53.
Descartes, Rene, 114.
Descriptio, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21,

25, 27, 28, 40.
Descriptio Globi Intellectualis,

49- .
Description of the Famous

Kingdom of Macaria, The,

107.
De Thou, Jacques Auguste, 12,

50.
Dextra Amoris Porrecta, 113.
Dialogue of the Holy War, 44.
Didactica Magna, loi, 103, 104,

112.
Duport, James, 77.
Dury (Duraeus), John, 15, 79,

80, 99, 102, 106, 109, no, III,

112, 113, 114, 117, 123, 124.^
Dutch Annotations on the Bible,

The, 116.

Erection of a College of Hus-
bandry, The, 107.

Ensyklopddie der Pansophie,
107, 108.

Essentials, The Eighty-four, 53.

Evelyn, John, 114, 116.

Exercitationes Adversus Car-
danum, 48.

Fama Fraternitatis, 11, 14, 26,
39, 40, 54, 59, 72, 73, 74, ii9,
120, 121.

Farnaby, Thomas, 77.

Feast of the Family, The, 59, 60.

Fifty-two Discourses, 47.

Figulus, Peter, 112, 124.

Fletcher, Phineas, 77.

Franck, Sebastian, loi.

Galilei, Galileo, 49, 113,
Gardiner, S. R., 45.
Gaudentius, John (Bishop), 112.
Gerhardt, John, 135.
Glockler, J. P., 14, 26.
Goddard, 113.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, 5.
Gott, Samuel, 15, 55, 78, 80, 82,

S3, 84, 88, 89, 93, 99.
Goulart, Simon, 47.
Great Instauration, The (see

Instauratio Magna).
Griineisen, Carl, 21, 59.
Guhrauer, G. E., 14, 15, 67, 124.
Gussmann, W., 14, 16, 21, 23, 40,

67.
Gustavus Adolphus, 109.

H

Eberhardt III, 13.
Elizabeth Tudor, 42.
Ellis, R. L, 49. \
Erasmus, Desiderius, 12.

Haacke, Theodore, 79, 114, 115,

124.
Happel, Werner, 7.
Harleian Charters, 45, 46.
Hartlib, Sam.uel, 15, 79, 80, 99,

Index

28s

lOI, 102, 106, 107, 108, 109,
III, 112, 113, 114, 117, 123.

Heinsius, Daniel, 12, 48, 50.
Henry IV (France), 50.
Herder, Johann Gottfried von,

5, 17, 25, 26.
Hesenthaler, Magnus, 103, 104.
Hierosolyma, 55.
Histoire des Sevarambes, 6, 8, 9.
Holderlin, Friedrich, 5.
Holy Commonwealth^ 78.
Homer, 5.
Hopfner, Ernst, 52.
Hossbach, W., 12, 14, 104.
Hiibner, Joachim, 112, 113, 124.
Hudson, Henry Norman, 7.
Hiillemann, Carl, 7, 12, 14, 16,

104.

Ideal Commonwealths, 44, 75.
Incomparable Doctor S. Augus-
tine, The, S3-
Insel Felsenburg, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Instauratio Magna, 43, 49.
Insulanischer Mandorell, 7.
Invisible College, The, 114, 115.

James Stuart I, 42, 45- 49. SO,
51, 53.

Janua Linguarum Reserata, lOi,
107.^

Joachim Jungius und Sein
Ze it a Iter, 124.

John Frederick, Elector of Sax-
ony, 265.

Jones, Stephen K., 78.

Judas Maccabaeus, 30.

Jungius, Joachim, 124.

K

Kepler, Johann, 12, 49.
Kemper, O., 30.
Kit)oenberg, August. 6, 7.
Kleinwachter Fr., 19.

Lipsius, Justus, 12, 48.
Lopes, Francisco, 54,
Loyola, Ignatius, 10.
Luther, Martin, 10, 28, 57, 134,
234, 254-

M

Maack, Ferdinand, 11.
Marvell, Andrew, 77.
Massons, 109.
Mastlin, Michael, 12.
Matthew, Toby, 52, 53, 54.
May, Thomas, 77.
Melanchthon, Philipp, 10.
Menippus, 26.
Milton, John, 15, 52, 77, 78, 79,

102, 107, 114.
Milton and Jakob Boehme, loi.
Mohl, Robert von, 14, 15, 16, 17,

18, 26, 37.
Mohrke, Max, 102, 103, 104, 105,

108.
Moller, Mart., 135.
More, Thomas, 7, 8, 16, 19, 20,

21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 31, 55,

62, 63, 64, 75, 141.
Morhof, loi.
Morley, Henry, 44, 75.

N

Naogeorg. Thomas, 249.

Natural History (see Sylva Syl-
varum).

New Atlantis, The,. 7, 15, 19, 26,
42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 54, 55,
56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,
72, 73, 74, 82, 99, 124.

Newton, Isaac, 114.

Nicanor, 30.

Niceron. J. P., 47.

Nova Solyma, 81, 82, 87, 90, 91,
93, 94, 95, 96, 98.

286

Index

Nova Solyma, The, 15, 55,
7^, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83,
88, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,
124.

Novissima Linguarum Methodus,
102.

Novum Organum, 43, 47, 49, 52.

Oldenburg, Henry, 114.
Opera Dtdactica, 102.
Order of the Sun, 91.
Ossian, 5.
Oxenstierna, Axel, 102, 112.

Patricius, 48.

Penitent Bandito, The, 53.
Petty, William, 79, 114, 116.
Philosophical College, The, 115,

116.
Philosophia Realis, 21,
Pines, Joris. 6.
Plato, 3. 19, 54-
Praehidia, 107, 112.
Prodromus Pansophiae, loi, 102,

103, 112.
Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens,

276.
Prys, Joseph, 14, 18, 32.

R

Ratke, Wolfgang, 10.

Rawley, William, 41, 42, 43, 44,

45, 46, 65.
Raworth, Francis, 51.
Republic, 3.
Richelieu, A. J. (Cardinal), 113,

118.
Rohinsonaden, 6, 8, 9.
Roe, Thomas, 109.
Rosenkreutserschriften, 11.
Rosicrucians, 19, 28.
Ross, Alexander, 77.
Rousseau, J. J., 5.
Royal Society of London, The,

15, 46, 107, 112, 114, 116, 117,
119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124.
Rycaut, Paul, 7.

Salomon's House, 57, 58, 59, 66.
Scaliger, Joseph Justus, 12, 48,

50.
Schlaraifia Politica, 7, 14, 15, 16.
Schmidt, K. A., 14.
Schnabel, J. G., 6, 9.
Schupp, Johann Balthasar, 19,

lOI.

Schwenckfeld, Kaspar von, lOi.

Serrano, 7.

Sevarambes (see Hist aire des

Sevaramhes) .
Shakespeare, William, 7, 77.
Sigwart, Christoph, 14, 15, 17,

18, 21.
Smith, G. C. Moore, 42, 45, 46,

54, 55, 57- .
Societas Christiana, 102.
Societas Ereunetica, 124.
Society of Gray's Inn, 78.
Socrates, 147.

Sonnenstaat, Der, 21, 23, 36.
Sodalen Utopien, Die, 14, 18, 25.
Spedding. James, 41, 44, 49, 54-
Sprat Thomas, 116, 117, 118.

119, 120, 121, 122.
Sturm, Johann, 10.
Sudre, 23.
Sylva Sylvarum, 43, 44, 46.

Telesio Bernardino, 41, 48, 117.
Teutscher Merkur, 26.
Theophilus, 10, 13, 103, 104, 119.
Thirty Years' War, The, 9, 10,

27, 75.
Thompson, Richard, 50.
Tractate on Education, 79, 102,

107.

U

Underhill, Thomas, 77.
Utopia, 7, 20, 22, 23.

Index

287

Utopia, The, 8, 16, 19, 20,
23, 24, 26, 39.

21, 22,

Vairasse, Denis, 6, 9.

Valerius Terminus, 44.

Fi^a, a6 i/)^a Conscripta, 12, 26,

27, 30, 37, 52, III.
Vogt, Carl, II, 14, 19.
Voigt, Andreas, 8, 14, 18, 25.

W

Wackwitz, Fr., 6.
Wahl, 30.

Wallis, John, 115.
Waterhouse, G., 100, loi.
Weckherlin, Georg- Rodolf, 51,

52, lOI.
Weigel, Valentin, loi.
Werth, Johann von, 13.
Wessely, Ignaz Emanuel, 21.
West'dstlicher Divan, 5.
Windelband, W., 9.
WolfiF, Emil, 43.
Wotton, Henry, 49, 50, 51, 52,

113, 114.
Wotton, Lord of Marlcy, 50.
Wren, Christopher, 113.
Wiirtemberg, Christopher, Duke

of, SI, 265.

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