n which he decided that heaven will open
its gates sometimes to the extremely impious who die without any
external mark of repentance, and also to those who die in gross sin; but
not to such a man as Spener.

The University of Halle was founded for the avowed purpose of promoting
personal piety, Scriptural knowledge, and practical preaching throughout
the land. It had already been a place of instruction, but not of
theological training. The theological faculty was composed of Francke,
Anton, and Breithaupt. These men were deeply imbued with the fervid zeal
of Spener, and set themselves to work to improve and continue what he
had inaugurated. The field was ample, but the task was arduous. While
Spener lived at Dresden, Francke, who taught at Leipsic, enjoyed a brief
personal intercourse with him, and became thoroughly animated with his
spirit. On his return to Leipsic, he commenced exegetical lectures on
various parts of the Bible, and instituted _Collegia Pietatis_ for such
students as felt disposed to attend them. So great was the increase of
attendance, both at the lectures and also at the meetings, that Francke
was suspended and Pietism forbidden. It was, therefore, with a wounded
and injured spirit that he availed himself of the privilege afforded in
the new seat of learning.

Francke was naturally an impulsive man, and his ardent temperament led
him sometimes into unintended vagaries. An extravagance of his once
caused Spener to remark, that "his friends gave him more trouble than
all his enemies." But he was not more erroneous than most men of the
same type of character; and there is not a real moral or intellectual
blemish upon his reputation. His aim was fixed when he commenced to
teach at Halle; and he prosecuted it with undivided assiduity until the
close of his useful life. The story of his conversion is beautifully
told in his own language. Like Chalmers, he was a minister to others
before his own heart was changed. He was about to preach from the words,
"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."
He says: "My whole former life came before my eyes just as one sees a
whole city from a lofty spire. At first it seemed as if I could number
all my sins; but soon there opened the great fountain of them--my own
blind unbelief, which had so long deceived me; I was terrified with my
lost condition, and wondered if Go