A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
of course, no idea of becoming a missionary himself;[63] but, as that was
out of the question, he formed a solemn league and covenant with his
young friend Watteville that when God would show them suitable men they
would send them out to heathen tribes for whom no one else seemed to
care. Nor was this mere playing at religion. As the Count looked back
on his Halle days he saw in these early clubs and covenants the germs
of his later work; and when he left for the University the delighted
Professor Franke said, "This youth will some day become a great light in
the world."
As the Count, however, in his uncle's opinion was growing rather too
Pietistic, he was now sent to the University at Wittenberg, to study
the science of jurisprudence, and prepare for high service in the State
{April, 1716.}. His father had been a Secretary of State, and the son
was to follow in his footsteps. His uncle had a contempt for Pietist
religion; and sent the lad to Wittenberg "to drive the nonsense out of
him." He had certainly chosen the right place. For two hundred years
the great University had been regarded as the stronghold of the orthodox
Lutheran faith; the bi-centenary Luther Jubilee was fast approaching;
the theological professors were models of orthodox belief; and the Count
was enjoined to be regular at church, and to listen with due attention
and reverence to the sermons of those infallible divines. It was like
sending a boy to Oxford to cure him of a taste for dissent. His tutor,
Crisenius, went with him, to guard his morals, read his letters, and rob
him of money at cards. He had also to master the useful arts of riding,
fencing, and dancing. The cards gave him twinges of conscience. If he
took a hand, he laid down the condition that any money he might win
should be given to the poor. He prayed for skill in his dancing lessons,
because he wanted to have more time for more serious studies. He was
more devout in his daily life than ever, prayed to Christ with the foil
in his hand, studied the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, spent whole nights
in prayer, fasted the livelong day on Sundays, and was, in a word, so
Methodistic in his habits that he could truly describe himself as a
"rigid Pietist." He interfered in many a duel, and rebuked his fellow
students for drinking hard; and for this he was not beloved. As he
had come to Wittenberg to study law, he was not, of course, allowed to
attend the regular theological lectures; but, all the same, he spent his
leisure in studying the works of Luther and Spener, and cultivated the
personal friendship of many of the theological professors. And here he
made a most delightful discovery. As he came to know these professors
better, he found that a man could be orthodox without being
narrow-minded; and they, for their part, also found that a man could be
a rigid Pietist without being a sectarian prig. It was time, he thought,
to put an end to the quarrel. He would make peace between Wittenberg and
Halle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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