HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

I04
J^eme*
PROTESTANTISM.
At an earlier period, when philosophy
possessed for me a paramount interest,
I prized Protestantism only for its services
in winning freedom of thought,
which, after all, is the foundation on
which in later times Leibnitz, Kant,
and Hegel could build. Luther, the
strong man with the axe, must, in the
very nature of things, have preceded
these warriors, to open a path for them.
For this service I have honored the
Reformation as being the beginning of
German philosophy, which justified my
polemical defence of Protestantism,
Now in my later and more mature days,
when the religious feeling again sure:es
up in me, and the shipwrecked metaphysician
clings fast to the Bible, —
now I chiefly honor Protestantism for
its services in the discovery and propagation
of the Bible.
THE VIRGIN MARY.
Madonna ]Maria was the pretty dame
du comptoir of the Catholic Church,
whose customers, especially the barbarians
of the North, she attracted and
held fast by her celestial smiles.