Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600 -- Juvenile fiction; Families -- Juvenile fiction
"'"George William, by the grace of God duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg,
patron of our churches."
"'And below (this is a verse--I will translate it as well as I can):
"'"_Through the grace of God I am alive again, and give you the call to
church by my voice. Come willingly, be brisk and ready, then will I also
speak out gloriously when you are going to the grave._"
"'"_Anno 1681, Nicholas Greue in Hannover cast me._"
"'Our ringing is still done with this bell, which has a very fine tone,
and whoever likes can still at the present day read on it the above
inscription.
"'The Friday before Palm Sunday was fixed for the consecration of the
bell; the duke arrived the day before with his wife; spent the night
with his lord of the manor, attended the evening and morning worship and
the preaching on Friday the fast day, and was present at the
consecration of the bell, which took place immediately after divine
service. When the bell was drawn up into the tower, and hung upon its
scaffolding, ready for its first ringing, and when the first stroke
softly sounded, then Breyhan and the duke and duchess beside him, the
nobleman of Hermannsburg, who was called Von Haselhorst, and the
bailiff, whose name was Pingeling, together with the whole congregation,
fell upon their knees in the churchyard; and while the bell continued to
be softly rung, the prayer of consecration was spoken. After the
Paternoster, the full, sonorous notes of the bell pealed out, and there
was not an eye but had tears in it as the long-missed tones floated off
so gloriously through the air. The dear Breyhan's heart was bounding,
and full of joy he spoke out--"Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart
in peace." The afternoon they spent at home, only the duke could not
refrain from making a trial at the wood-cutting, which however did not
succeed very well; whereupon then the pastor magnanimously promised that
he would content himself with the observance hitherto rendered, and
never demand of the duke personally that he should make hay or do days'
works. Then the duke requested that for his sake the evening worship
might be held earlier to-day, for he wished to get back again to Zelle.
"'From that time he came again once every year, either for Good Friday
or for Easter; and in the year 1686 he followed to the grave the remains
of Pastor Breyhan, who died in the thirty-fourth year of his age. The
evening of Wednesday before the sixth Sunday after Trinity (the date is
not given in the church book), when he felt his end drawing near, he had
the great bell rung once more; and while it was ringing, at which time
the greater portion of the parish, either in their homes or standing in
front of the house, were in prayer, with a glad gesture he fell asleep.
His dying lips prayed, "Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takest away the
sin of the world, have mercy on me, and give me Thy peace, O Jesus.
Amen."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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