Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/12

Rh timidly halting speculation was to him intolerable. Though his own system may seem to contain extremely doubtful or even fantastic elements, it is allowed by all that it is in its general outlines a noble massive whole, constructed by a profound, comprehensive, fearless, and logical mind. Another peculiarity of his thought was the realistic nature of his spiritualism : his abstractions are all real existences ; his spiritual entities are real and corporeal ; his truth is actual being. Hence Rothe, un- like Schleiermacher, lays great stress, for instance, on the personality of God, on the reality of the worlds of good and evil spirits, and on the visible second coming of Christ. Hence his religious feeling and theological specu- lation demanded their realization in a kingdom of God coextensive with man's nature, terrestrial history, and human society ; aud thus his theological system became a Theologitche Ethik. It is on the work published under this title that Rothe's permanent reputation as a theo- logian and ethical writer will rest. The first edition, in three volumes, was published in 1845-48, and remained twelve years out of print before the second (1867-71, in five volumes) appeared. It was the author's purpose to rewrite the whole, but he had completed the first two volumes only of the new edition when death overtook him. The remainder was reprinted from the first edition by Prof. Holtzmann, with the addition of some notes and emendations left by the author. This work begins with a general sketch of the author's system of speculative theology in its two divisions, theology proper and cosmology, the latter falling into the two subdivisions of Physik (the world of nature) and Ethik (the world of spirit). It is the last subdivision with which the body of the work is occupied. After an analysis of the religious consciousness, which yields the doctrine of an absolute personal and spiritual God, Rothe proceeds to deduce from his idea of God the process and history of creative development, which is eternally proceeding and bringing forth, as its unending purpose, worlds of spirits, partially self-creative and sharing the absolute personality of the Creator. As a thorough-going evolu- tionist Kotbe regards the natural man as the consummation of the development of physical nature, and obtains spirit as the personal attainment, with divine help, of those beings in whom the further creative process of moral development is carried on. His theory leaves the natural man, without hesitation, to be developed by the natural processes of animal evolution. The attainment of the higher stage of development is the moral and religious vocation of man ; this higher stage is self-determination, the performance of every human Junction as a voluntary and intelligent agent, or as a person, having as its cosmical effect the subjection of all material to spiritual existences. This personal process of spiritualization is the continuation of the eternal divine work of creation. Thus the moral life and the religious life coincide, and when normal are identical ; both have the same aim and are occupied with the same task, the accomplishment of the spiritualization of the world. " Piety, that it may become truth and reality, demands morality as its fulfdment, as the only concrete element in which the idea of fellowship with God is realized ; morality, that it may find its perfect unfolding, requires the aid of piety, in the light of which alone it can comprehend its own idea in all its breadth and depth." Rothe follows Schleiermacher in dividing his ethical system into the three parts of the doctrine of moral ends (Cfiilerlchre), or the products of moral action, the doctrine of virtue ( Tugcndlchre), or of the power producing moral good, and the doctrine of duty (Pflichttnlthrt), or the specific form and manner in which that power obtains its results. The process of human development Rothe regards as necessarily taking an abnormal form and passing through the phase of sin. This abnormal condition necessitates a fresh creative act, that of salvation, which was, however, from the first part of the divine plan of development. As a preparation for this salvation supernatural revelation was required for the purifying and revivification of the religious consciousness, and the Saviour Himself had to appear in human history as a fresh miraculous creation, born of a woman but not begotten by a man. In consequence of His supernatural birth the Saviour, or the second Adam, was free from original sin. By His own moral and religious development He made possible a relation of perfect fellowship between God and man, which was the new and highest stage of the divine creation of mankind. This stage of development inaugurated by the Saviour is attained by means of His kingdom or the community of salvation, which is both moral and religious, and in the first instance and temporarily only religious that is, a church. As men reach the full development of their nature, and appropriate the perfection of the Saviour, the separation between the religious and the moral life will vanish, and the Christian state, as the highest sphere of human life representing all human functions, will displace the church. "In proportion as the Saviour Christianizes the state by means of the church must the progres- sive completion of the structure of the church prove the cause of its abolition." The decline of the church is therefore not to bo deplored, but recognized as the consequence of the independence and completeness of the Christian life. It is the third section of his work the PJlichtenlehre which is generally most highly valued, and where his full strength as an ethical thinker is displayed, without any mixture of theosophic speculation. Since Rothe's death several volumes of his sermons and of his lectures (on dogmatics, the history of homiletics) and a collection of brief essays and religious meditations under the title of Slille Stt ROTHERHAM, a market-town and municipal borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is situated at the junc- tion of the Rother with the Don navigation, on several railway lines, 5 miles north-east of Sheffield. The parish church of All Saints, occupying the site of a building dating from Anglo-Saxon times, was erected in the reign of Edward IV., and is a good specimen of Perpendicular. Among the other principal public buildings are the new market-hall, the post office, the court-house, the temper ance hall, St George's Hall, the council hall, and the cor- poration offices. There are a large number of educational and literary institutions, including the grammar school founded in 1483, the people's charity school, the Inde- pendent college, the mechanics' institute, the free library, and the literary and scientific society. There is a large hospital, besides almshouses and various other charities. The town possesses extensive iron, steel, and brass works, potteries, glass works, breweries, saw mills, and rope yards. The population of the municipal borough (area 5995 acres) in 1881 was 34,782. The town is of Roman origin, and was of some importance in Anglo-Saxon times. In the time of Edward the Confessor it possessed a market and a church. Mary queen of Scots stayed a night at Rotherham while a prisoner, as did also Charles I. when in the hands of the Scots. During the Civil War it sided with the Parliament. It was taken possession of by the Royalists in 1643, but after the victory of Marston Moor was yielded up to a detachment of the Parliamentary forces. The townships of Rother- ham and Kimberworth were incorporated as a municipal borough in August 1871, the adjacent suburbs being included in 1879. The corporation act as the sanitary authority, and own the water- works, gasworks, and markets. They have introduced a system of main drainage, and have also provided a public park and a free library.

 ROTHESAY, a royal burgh, and the principal town of the county of Bute, Scotland, is situated in the island of Bute, at the head of a well-sheltered and spacious bay in the Firth of Clyde, 40 miles W. of Glasgow and 18 S.W. of Greenock, with which there is frequent communication by steamers. The bay affords good anchorage in any wind, and there are also a good harbour and pier. The town is the headquarters of an extensive fishing district, and is much frequented as a watering place. Besides two hydropathic establishments, it has several hotels and numerous lodging houses. Facing the bay there is an extensive esplanade. In the centre of the town are the ruins of the ancient castle, supposed by some to have been erected in 1098 by Magnus Barefoot, and by others at the same date by the Scots to defend themselves against the Norwegians. The village which grew up round the castle was made a royal burgh by Robert III., who created his eldest son David duke of Rothsay. During the Commonwealth the castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops. It was burned by the followers of Argyll in 1685, and remained neglected till the rubbish was cleared away by the marquis of Bute in 1816. The principal 