t over
her son, who might now have been our mainstay, if he had not been
spoilt by these false ideas. My father disapproved of all this still
more strongly, and expatiated at such length from dogmatic and
polemical divinity, that I could well see in what account he held
these new spiritual institutions. Meanwhile he was obliged to be
on his guard, for the whole Court were in favour of this party;
many were undoubtedly very well-meaning Christians, but there were
also undeniably many idlers and adventurers, who entered these
institutions, and found their good, comfortable life very easy. All
the evidence of their life in the flesh--which evidence was not
rare nor imperceptible--was of no avail; who could succeed here?
Occasionally there was a convert who lived in shame with his
maidservant; it was not investigated, it was a calumny, and in case of
necessity they placed him elsewhere, if his peasants were too Lutheran.
By degrees my brother insinuated that my father also had not yet
entered the narrow way, and that he could not be helped to it. They
roamed about the woods day and night, so that moonlight devotion, which
many now again recommend, is nothing new. They sang the new hymns
together; the Duke often indeed gave the conveyances for these
meetings, together with refreshments; nay, he often himself was the
coachman, when he wished publicly to do honour to some old shoemakers'
wives who had much faith, for the Saviour's sake. I am so far from
wishing to exaggerate the state of things, that indeed I have not said
all. The period for the annual pilgrimage came, for this custom had
been retained from the old times and institutions of the monks. In many
places the grace of the Saviour was supposed to dwell abundantly,
almost visibly, and thither did the brothers and sisters make their
pilgrimages, in reality contrary to the principle laid down by Christ,
that neither Jerusalem nor Samaria was the special abiding-place of His
spirit. Many of them brought their provisions with them. My brother
assuredly did not travel to Ebersdorf without money, but brought
nothing back, for he had bought this or that little book to give to the
brothers as a memento. This enthusiasm had its real views, that aspired
to great ends, although directly afterwards they were moderated,
because the Philadelphian reckoning did not coincide with them. During
these my brother's pious journeys, my mother died, for the remembrance
of whom I daily bles