t at Thymern, where they had
obtained a property, as their former property at Nieder-Dodeleben had
been too unquiet for them, and the peasants had become too hostile. In
1718, Petersen succeeded, by victorious disputations, in restoring to
the Evangelical communion the Duke Moritz Wilhelm von Sachsen-Zeitz.
They died at a great age--she in 1724, he in 1727.

After Spener had been removed to Berlin, the University of Halle became
the intellectual centre of Pietism; it was there that the impassioned
Franke, with his companions Breithaupt and Anton, led the theological
party. Henceforth the youth were systematically trained in the faith of
the Pietists; immense was the concourse of students; only Luther had
collected a greater number at Wittemberg. At Halle the dangers of the
new tendency were evident: the colleges became mere schools for the
propagation of their views; industrious, patient labour in the paths of
human science appeared almost superfluous; not only the controversial
points of the orthodox, but all the dogmas of the Church were treated
by many with indifference and contempt. The mind was overstrained by
intense prayer and spiritual exercises. Instead of unruly lads who
sharpened their backswords on a stone, and drank immense glasses of
beer, "_fioricos or hausticos_," in one draught, pale fellows crept
through the streets of the city in a state of inward abstraction, with
vehement movements of the hands, and loud outcries. All the believers
rejoiced over this wonderful manifestation of divine grace; but their
opponents complained of the increasing melancholy, and of distractions
of the spirit, and of nefarious proceedings of the worst kind. Vain
were the warnings of the moderate Spener.

From Halle, Pietism spread to the other Universities. Wittemberg and
Rostock withstood it long, and were for many years the last bulwarks of
orthodoxy. Even at the courts this faith gained influence: it forced
its way among the governments, and after 1700 filled the country
churches of most of the German territories. And its dominion was not
confined to Germany: an active intercourse with the pious of Denmark
and Sweden, and the Sclavonian East, contributed to maintain the inward
communion of these countries with the spiritual life of Germany, which
lasted till the end of the century. Even the orthodox opponents were,
without knowing it, transformed by this Pietism; the old scholastic
disputes were silenced, and they endeav