Reflections on Lessing's Fragments

[sharp] and witty powers of light original: "Lichtskräften." A metaphorical reference to the intellectual faculties and reason celebrated during the Enlightenment, or "Age of Light.",
and they do not know how to place such things under the light of
conscience and do not want to govern it
according to the same.

Among these three writers,
however, the author of The Aim of Jesus and
His Disciples original: "Zwecks Jesu und seiner Jünger." This refers to a controversial work by Hermann Samuel Reimarus, published posthumously by Lessing, which presented a rationalist critique of the New Testament. was still the most upright,
because he also attached his
name to the work—which, however,
was done neither by you The author is addressing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing directly. nor the author
of the Letters on the Bible in a Popular Tone original: "Briefe über die Bibel in Volkston." This refers to Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, a radical theologian known for his "popularized" and often scandalous versions of scripture..
You and he have
played only under a hidden mask,
either to avoid exposing yourselves to the contempt
of the public, or because
your conscience convinced you that you
were a pair of learned lampooners Pasquillanten: writers of anonymous, biting satires (pasquinades) intended to ridicule individuals or institutions.—I meant
to say, learned reviewers or,
in plain German, The phrase "auf deutsch" (in German) is used idiomatically here to mean "in plain, blunt language." book-noticers,
whose principal effort was directed toward
hon- The catchword "ehr-" at the bottom of the page completes the word "honest" (ehrliche) on the next page, where the author describes the critics' attempts to put honest people on the "learned pillory."