Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for AmericaBancroft, Jane M. (Jane Marie)
Religion
Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America
Bancroft, Jane M. (Jane Marie)
Deaconesses
of faith shamed him, but he had not yet learned the secret of their
power. He was yet without a deep, spiritual life. From Giessen he went
to Goettingen, where he devoted himself to a year's study of history,
philosophy, and theology. During the holidays, as is the custom with
German students, he made repeated pedestrian tours. In this way he
visited the great free cities of the north, Bremen, Hamburg, and
Lubeck. From Goettingen he and his brother went to the theological
seminary at Herborn, where the following summer he passed with credit
his theological examination. He was now ready to enter God's great
school of practical life to be further fitted for the mission he was to
accomplish. In September he went to Cologne and was employed in the
house of a wealthy merchant as a private tutor. This was a great change
for the quiet youth of country habits. He took great pains to
accommodate himself to his surroundings, and to acquire the truly
Christian art of becoming all things to all men. In after life, when
speaking of this period and its usefulness to him, he wrote: "It is a
great hinderance to a man, even to his progress in the kingdom of God,
not to have been brought up in gentle and refined manners from his
childhood." Although a faithful and devoted teacher his life-work was
not forgotten. He constantly sought to widen his knowledge and
experience, was made assistant secretary of the local Bible society, and
formed friendships which led to his appointment to the pastorate at
Kaiserswerth. This was a Catholic town formerly of some importance. The
ruins of an imperial palatinate are still to be seen there, but in
Fliedner's time it had become a little village of workmen dependent on
a few manufacturers. On January 18, 1822, alone, and on foot, to save
his poor society the expense of his journey, Fliedner entered the town
where his life was henceforth to be centered. He was to share the
parsonage with the widow of a previous pastor, and his sister was to be
his housekeeper. His income was one hundred and thirty-five dollars a
year. Only a month after his arrival the great firm of velvet
manufacturers who provided the work-people with employment failed, and
the little church community seemed about to be dispersed. The government
offered him another and better appointment, but he felt that he must be
a true shepherd, and not a hireling, and would not leave his people. He
decided to make a journey to collect money to form a permanent endowment
for his church. A journey over sixty years ago, to a young German of
quiet habits, was a very different matter from a similar trip taken in
this day of railroads and steamboats. To Fliedner it seemed a very
important matter; and so it was in its results, which reached far beyond
the little congregation he served. With great hesitation he began at
Elberfeld, a town near at hand. A pastor of the city, to encourage him,
accompanied him to friends, and on parting gave him a friendly
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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