salvation. This opinion was thought by not a few divines to be injurious
to the divine mercy, which is boundless ; and it was therefore combated
in many publications. Yet it found a learned vindicator in Adam Rechen-
berg, a divine of Leipsic ; not to mention others of less note. (35)

36. Among the minor controversies in the Lutheran church, I shall
assign the first place to that which existed between the divines of Tubin
gen and those of Giessen, from the year 1616 onward. The grand point
in debate, related to the true nature and circumstances of that state of
Christ, which theologians usually call his state of humiliation. The par
ties agreed, that the man Christ Jesus really possessed divine properties
and perfections, by virtue of the liypostatic union, even, while he seemed
divested of all glory and majesty and appeared to be a vile servant and
malefactor. But they disputed, whether he actually divested himself of
the use of those perfections while executing the office of high priest, or
whether he only concealed his use of them from the view of men. The
divines of Tubingen accounted the latter supposition to be the fact ; while
those of Giessen, regarded the former as more probable. To this first
and great question, others were added ; which, if I am correct, were
rather curious than necessary, respecting the mode in which God is pres
ent throughout the created universe, the origin and ground of this presence,

tians, would be restored to their own land, have founded his own belief chiefly on such

Then the first resurrection, that of the an- grounds ; yet he believed, that the Scrip-

cient saints and martyrs, would take place ; tures rightly interpreted, that is, mystically

Christ would appear in the clouds of heaven ; explained, were full of these doctrines. And

and living saints would be caught up to hence, in order to convince others, he ar-

meet the Lord in the air, and be changed, gued much from the Bible, particularly from

Thenceforth Christ would reign a thousand the Apocalypse ; and also from the ancient

years on the earth, over a twofold church ; Chil lasts, especially Nepos. His writings

the celestial, composed of the risen saints were voluminous ; consisting of mystic in-

and those changed at his coming, and the terpretations of Scripture, defence of his

terrestrial, embracing all other Christians, peculiar sentiments, many letters, and a

Religion would prevail very generally, but history of his own life. See ScJtroec&k,

not universally. At the end of the thousand Kirchengesch. seit der Reformation, vol.

years, Satan would be let loose ; there would viii., p. 302, &c. Unpartheyische Kirchen-

be a great apostacy ; Christ would come histoire, Jena, 1730, vol. ii., p. 811, &c. -

forth and destroy the wicked ; a new heaven Tr.~\

and a new earth would appear ; and gradu- (35) Those who wish to understand these

ally, all things would be restored to order, controversies, may consult Watch s Intro-

=md holiness, and happiness. Though Pe- duction to the controversies in the Lutheran

tersen was first led into these doctrines, by church, written in German.
tuppised revelations, and appears alwavs to



S88 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART II. CHAP. I.

the true cause of the omnipresence of Christ s body, and some others,
On the side of the Tubingen divines, appeared and took part Lucas Osi*
ander, Melchior Nicolai and Theodore Thummius ; and on the side of the
divines of Giessen, Balthazar Menzer, and Justus Feuerltorn : all of whom
contended ardently and ingeniously ; and I wish I could add, always with
dignity and moderation. But those times permitted and approved many
things, which subsequent times have justly required to be amended. The
Saxon theologians in the year 1624, by order of their sovereign, assumed
the office of arbiters of the controversy : and this office they so executed,
as not to approve entirely the sentiments of either party ; yet they inti-
mated, that the views of the Giessen divines were nearer the truth, thar.
thpse of the other party.(SG) The Tubingen divines refused to admi;
their interference : and perhaps, the divines of Giessen would in time have
done the same. But the public calamities of Germany, put an end to the
contest. It was therefore never settled ; but each party retained its own
views.

37. Not long after the rise of this contest, in the year 1621, Herman
Rathmann, a pious and not unlearned minister of the gospel at Dantzic, a
great friend and a public recommender of John Amd s work on True
Christianity, was thought by John Cormnus his colleague, and by many
others, to derogate from the majesty and the efficacy of the holy scriptures.
If we may believe his opposers, he published in the year 1621, in a Ger
man work on Christ s gracious kingdom, the following sentiment : That
the written word of God, does not possess inherent power and efficacy, to
enlighten and regenerate the hearts of men and to convert them to God :
that this external word merely points out the way to salvation, but does
not draw men into it : that God himself, by another and an internal word
so changes the disposition of men, that they are enabled to please him.
This opinion, Cormnus and his associates contended, was the same that
Schwenkfeld formerly held, and that the Mystics professed. But whoever
shall compare together all the writings of Raihmann on the subject, will
perceive, that his adversaries either did not understand him, or have per
verted his meaning. He supposed, I. That the word of God as contained
in the scriptures, had indeed the power of converting men to God, and of"
renewing their hearts. But, II. This power it could not exert at all, on
the minds of corrupt men who resisted it. Therefore, III. It was neces
sary, that a divine power should either precede or accompany it, and pre
pare the rninds of men for its influence, or remove the obstacles which de-

(36) Jo. Wolfg. Jaeger s Historia eccles. To render this at all plausible, resort was
et polit. sanculi xvii., decenn. iii., p. 329, had to the hypostatic union, and to a sup-
&c. Christ. Eberh. Wcismann s Historia posed transfer of divine attributes from the
eccles. saecul. xvii., p. 1178. Walcffs In- superior nature of Christ to the inferior,
troduction to the controversies, &c. [in Ger- Thus the attributes of matter and of mind
man], pt. i., ch. iv., p. 206 : to say nothing were confounded; and a local or material
of Andr. Carolus, Arnold, and a hundred presence was ascribed to the divine nature,
others. [These controversies were natural From such absurd doctrines, stiffly main-
results of Luther s untenable doctrine of con- tained by acute and ingenious men, it was
substantiation ; which supposed Christ s unavoidable that they should feel the dirfi-
body and blood to be always truly present culties besetting them on every side ; and
with the bread and wine of the eucharist. therefore should start various theories, with
For on that supposition, Christ s body must the vain hope of extricating themselves from
sften be present in a great number of places embarrassment. TV,]
at the some time, or have a kind of ubiquity.



HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 389

stroyed the efficacy of the external word. And thus, IV. By this power
of the Holy Spirit, or this internal word, the way was prepared for the
external word to enlighten and renovate the souls of men. (37) There is
indeed some difference, between his views of the efficacy of the divine
word, and the common views of the Lutheran church : but if I do not
greatly deceive myself, whoever shall carefully consider all that he ha6
written on the subject, in his inelegant, nay, often careless manner, will be
convinced that this difference is but small ; and he will perceive, that this
honest man had not the power of communicating his thoughts with pre
cision and clearness. The controversy spread through the whole Luther
an church, the majority following the example of the Saxons and con
demning Rathmann, but others excusing that pious and good man. But
as he died, just as the contest was at its height, in the year 1628, the great
commotions gradually subsided.

38. The private dissensions of some of the doctors respecting certain
propositions and opinions, I do not presume to place on the list of Luther
an controversies : though I perceive, some do it ; not so much however,
if I do not mistake, for the purpose of illustrating and adorning the history
of the Lutheran church, as to create prejudice against it, and to lower the
reputation of good men. For no age is so happy, and no community so
well regulated, but that one individual is sometimes deemed by another to
be indiscreet and erroneous. Nor is it estimating human nature correctly,
to measure the state of things throughout a whole church, by such private
opinions of individuals. In the writings of John Tarnovius and John
AJfelmann of Rostock, in other respects two very meritorious theologians,
certain modes of expression and some opinions were censured, by their
colleagues and others. Nor will this excite much surprise in one who con
siders, that the latter might misunderstand what was itself well said, and
that the former might not have known how to express correctly what they
clearly understood. Joachim Liitkemann, in many respects a man of worth,
denied, that Christ remained a true man, during the three days that he was
dead : while others affirmed the contrary. This was a controversy about
words ; such as we see continually arising and disappearing among men.
Of the same kind, was the dispute between Henry Boetius a theologian of
Helmstadt, and Frederic Baldwin a divine of Wittemberg ; whether it is
in consequence of the merits of Christ, that the wicked will be restored to
life hereafter. John Reinboth, superintendent in Holstein, like Calixtus,
circumscribed the essentials of religion within narrower limits than usual,
and supposed that the Greeks did not err essentially, in denying that
the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son. In both respects, many were
satisfied with him ; but others were not ; and especially, John Conrad Dan-
hausr, a very learned divine of Strasburg. Hence a controversy arose be
tween those excellent men, which was more vehement, than the nature of the
case demanded. (38) But let us not refer disputes of this character to the
class of those which show the internal state of our church in this century.

(37) See Christopher Hartknock s Preus- Godfrey Arnold s Kirchen-und Ketzerhis-
sis.che Kirchengeschichte, book iii., ch. viii., torie, pt. ii.,book xvii., ch. vi., p. 957, &c.,
p. 812, &c. Godfrey Arnold s Kirchen-und and concerning that of Rcinboth in particu-
Ketzerhist., pt. iii., ch. xii., p. 115, &c. Jo. lar, see Jo. Mailer s Introduct. ad Historian!
Holler s Cimbria Lit., torn, iii., p. 559. &c. Chersonesus Cimbricse, pt. ii., p. 190, &c.,

(38) See on these controversies generally, and Cimbria Litterata, torn, ii., p. 692.



390 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART II. CHAP. 1.

39. Of somewhat greater moment in this respect, were some cor 1 . p. .
versies, which did not relate so much to things as to persons ; or respectp-d iNo
soundness and correctness of certain teachers. Men who undertake to pleoU
the cause of piety and holiness, are often carried by the fervour which
actuates them to some extravagance ; and therefore do not always confine
down their statements to the rigid rules of theological accuracy as pre
scribed by learned divines : and they sometimes borrow the strong and
splendid yet figurative and often obscure words and phrases of those, who
treat of the genuine worship of God and of practical duties, with good in
tentions indeed, yet in a rude and uncouth style. Hence none scarcely,
more readily than these, fall under the suspicion of despising and marring
the truth. Many such examples occurred in this age ; and particularly in
the case of Stephen Prceiorius, a preacher at Salswedel, and of that most
excellent man, John Arnd. The former had published in the preceding
century, some tracts calculated to arouse the minds of men to solicitude
about their salvation ; and these were repeatedly republished in this cen
tury, and commended by many ; and yet were thought by others to abound
in expressions and sentiments, either directly false or calculated to lead on
to error. And there certainly are some unsuitable expressions in those
tracts, which might easily mislead the ignorant ; and some also, that indi
cate too great credulity. Yet whoever shall read his works with an ingen
uous mind, will easily believe that the writer wrote nothing there, treach
erously, and with a bad design. The celebrated work of Arnd on true
Christianity, the perusal of which affords delight to so many persons even
in our own times, was too bitterly taxed by Lucas Osiander, George Host,
and many others, with being written among other faults in a style that was
debased by Weigelian. Paracelsic, and the like phraseology. And it is cer
tain, that this extraordinary man disliked the philosophy that prevailed in
the schools of that age, and on the other hand ascribed much I had almost
said, too much to the doctrines and pretensions of the chymists : and
hence he sometimes used the language of those who tell us, that fire throws
light on both religion and nature. But he has been absolved from all great
errors, by the most respectable men, especially by Paul Egard, Daniel Dil-
ger, Melchior Breler, John Gerhard, Dorscheus, and numerous others : and
indeed, he appears to have derived reputation and renown, rather than dis
grace, from those many criminations. (39) To the class of which we
here treat, belongs also Valentine Weigel, minister of Tschopau in Meissen.
For though he died in the preceding century, yet a great part of his wri
tings were first published in this, and were attacked by great numbers.
I regard him as by no means a corrupt man ; but he also was injured by
his attachment to the chymistry which at that time floated about Germany,
and by his dislike or neglect of the precepts of sound reason. (40)

40. It remains, that we notice the chief persons among the Lutherans,
who felt themselves strong enough to new model the whole system of the
ology, or to draw forth a new one from their own resources. At the head

(39) See Godfr. Arnold s Kirchen-und (40) Arnold treats largely of Weijrel ;

Ketzerhist., pt. ii., book xvii., ch. vi.,p. 940, yet, as usual, not impartially; in his Kir-

&c. Weismanri s Historia Eccles. saeculi chen-und Ketzerhistorie, pt. ii., b. xvii., chi

xvii., p. 1174, 1189. Godfr. Balth. Scharfs xvii., p. 1088.
Supplement, hist., litisque Arndianse, Wit-
ernb., 1727, 8vo, and very many others.



HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 39

of the list stands Jacob Bahmen, a shoemaker of Gorlitz, famous for his
east number of both friends and foes, and whom his patrons call the Ger
man Theosophist. Being naturally inclined to search after abstruse things,
and having learned, partly from certain books, and partly from intercourse
with some physicians, ( Tobias Kober, Baltliasar Walther, and others), the
doctrines of Robert Fludd and the R.osecrucians, which were then every
where circulated and talked of, he discovered by means of fire, and with
the aid of his imagination, a kind of theology which was more obscure
than the numbers of Pythagoras or the characters of Heraclitus. Those
who would commend the man for ingenuity, piety, veracity and honesty,
may do it without hinderance from us : but those who would honour him
with the title of a man taught by God, or even of a sound and wise philos
opher, must themselves lack knowledge ; for he so confuses every subject,
with chymical metaphors, and with such a profusion of obscure terms,
that it would seem as if he aimed to produce jargon. The heat of his
exuberant fancy, if I do not mistake, led him to believe, that divine grace
operates by the same laws as prevail in the physical world ; and that
men s souls are purified from their pollution and vices, in the same way in
which metals are purged from dross. He formerly had, and he still has, a
very great number of followers ; among whom the most noted and famous
in this century were John Lewis Giftheil, John Angelas von Werdenhagen,
Abraham von Franckenberg, Theodore von Tzetsch, Paul Felgenhauer,
Quirinus Kuhlman, John James Zimmerman, and others. Some of these
were not altogether destitute of modesty and good sense : but others were
entirely beside themselves, and excited the compassion of intelligent men ;
as, e. g., Kuhlmann, who was burned in Muscovy A.D. 1684, and afterwards
Gichtel : and not one of them managed their affairs so laudably and well,
as to procure for the sect or its founders any degree of respect and com
mendation with persons of the slightest discernment. (41)

41. Next after Bahmen, it appears should be mentioned those, whom dis.
ordered minds rendered so presumptuous, that they claimed to be prophets,
divinely raised up and endued with the power of foretelling future events. A
large number of such persons existed in this age, and particularly during the
times when the Austrians were contending for supremacy against the Ger
mans, the Swedes, and the French : for long experience shows, that there is
never a greater number of diviners or prophets, than when great revolutions
seem about to take place, or when great and unexpected calamities occur.
The most noted of these were, Nicholas Drabiz, Christopher Kotter, and
Christina Poniatowsky, who have found an eloquent patron in John Amos
Comenius ; also Joachim Greutich, Anna Vetteria, Eva Maria Frolich,,
George Reichard, and some others. But as no one of them was the cause
of any great commotions, and as the progress of events very soon divested

(41) It is not necessary here to cite au- in many other places. [" Bcchmen, ho\v-

thorities ; for the works of Bcehmcn are in ever, had the good fortune to meet with, in

every body s hands, and the books which our days, a warm advocate and an industri-

confute him are no where scarce. What ous disciple in the late well-meaning, but

can be said in favour of the man and his gloomy and visionary Mr. William Law,

followers, may be seen in Arnold, who is al- who was, for many years, preparing a new

ways most full in extolling and lauding those edition and translation of Bookmen s works,

whom others censure. Concerning Kuhl- which he left behind him ready for the press,

mann, and his execution, see the TJnschul- and which have been published in 2 vols.

dige Nachrichten, A.D. 1748, p. 905, and 4to, since his death." Mad.}



392 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART II. CHAP. 1.

their predictions of all their authority, it is sufficient to have shown gener
ally, that there were among the Lutherans of this age, some disordered
minds, that affected the honours and the authority of ambassadors of heav-
en.(42)

42. I would give a somewhat more distinct account of some, who
were not indeed so wholly beside themselves as to claim to be prophets oi
God, yet sadly deceived themselves and others by marvellous and strange
opinions. Esaias Stiefel and Ezekiel Meth, both of Thuringia, not long
after the commencement of the century, expressed themselves so unusually
and so improperly, that they were thought by many to arrogate to them
selves divine glory and majesty, to the great dishonour of God and our
Saviour. I can believe, that though they greatly lacked sound sense, yet they
were not so far beside themselves ; and that they only foolishly imitated the
lofty and swollen phraseology of the mystical writers. Thus they may
serve as examples, to show how much cloudiness and folly, the constant read-
ing of mystical books may spread over uncultivated and feeble minds,(43)
Paul Nagel, a professor at Leipsic who had some tincture of mathematical
knowledge, conjectured from the indications of the stars, future occurrences
both in church and state ; and among other things professed to be certain,
from their indications, that a very holy and heavenly kingdom of Christ
was to be set up on the earth. (44)

43. Christian Holurg, of Luneburg, a man of an unstable and restless
spirit, under the assumed names of Elias Pralorius and Bernard Baumann,
published a vast number of invectives against the whole Lutheran church ;
and thereby involved himself in various troubles. Yet for a long time, by
dissimulation and deception, which he doubtless supposed to be lawful, he
led the more charitable to regard him as less faulty than he actually was ,
and he was accounted an acrimonious assailant, not so much of religion
itself, as of the licentiousness and vices of those especially who ministered
in holy things. At length however, he rendered himself universally odious,
and went over to the Mennonites.(45) Very similar to him, though supe
rior in petulance and acrimony, was Frederic Brecklmg ; who being eject
ed from the ministry, which he first exercised in Holstein and afterwards
at Zwoll in Holland, continued to extreme old age in Holland, connected
with no religious sect. Various of his tracts are extant, which, although
they vehemently urge and recommend the cultivation of piety, and display
implacable hatred against both vice and the vicious, yet show the writer to

(42) Godfrey Arnold has done the world them all. His Index Bibliothecae, was print-
service, by accurately collecting the visions ed after his death, Amsterd., 1670, 4to, em-
and acts of these people, in the second and bracing a great number of chymical, fanati-
third Parts of his Kirch en- und Ketzerhisto- cal, and prophetical writings.
He. For now, such as have occasion to in- (43) See Christ. Thomasius, Historic dei
vestigate the subject, have the ready means Weisheit und Narheit, vol. i., pt. iii.,p. 150.
of ascertaining with certainty, what was in Godfr. Arnold s Kirchen-und Kctzerhistorie.
itself most probable beforehand, that what pt. Hi., ch. iv., p. 32.

these persons deemed divine communica- (44) Arnold, loc. cit., pt. Hi., ch. v., p.

tions, were the fictions of their own minds 53. Andrew Carolus, Memorabila Eccles

led away by their imaginations. There was ssec. xvii., pt. i., lib. iii., cap. iv., p. 513.

in honest, illiterate man at Amsterdam, in (45) Arnold, loc. cit., pt. iii., ch. xiii., p.

Ihe middle of the seventeenth century, Ben- 130. Andrew Carolus, loc. cit., vol i., p.

edict Bahnsen of Holstein, who was so cap- 1065. Jo. Hornbcck, Summa Controvere.,

tivated with such writings and prophecies, p. 535. Jo. Matter, Cimbria Litterata,

that he carefully collected and published torn ii., p. 337, &c



HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 295

have been destitute of the primary virtues of a truly pious man, charity
wisdom, the love of truth, meekness and patience. (46) It is strange, that
such vehement and heated declaimers against the defects of the public re
ligion and its ministers, as they profess to be more discerning than all oth
ers, should fail of discovering, what the most simple daily learn by com
mon observation, that nothing is more odious and disgusting than an angry
reformer, who is always laying about him with sword and dagger ; arid
that they should not perceive, that it is scarcely possible for any one suc
cessfully to cure in others, the faults of which he is himself guilty. The
expectation of the millennial kingdom, which seldom exists in well-inform
ed minds, and which generally produces extravagant opinions, was embra
ced and propagated by George Lawrence Seidenbecher, a preacher in the
Saxon region of Eichsfeld : and for this, he was deprived of his office. (47)
44. We shall close the list of this sickly family, (for it is not neces
sary to name a great number, since they all pursued much the same
course), with the most odious and the worst of them all, Martin Seideliiis, a
Silesian of Ohlau ; who laboured to establish a sect in Poland and the
neighbouring countries, near the close of the preceding century and the
commencement of this, but whose extreme absurdities prevented his meet
ing with success even among the Socinians. This most daring of mortals
supposed, that God had indeed promised a Saviour or a Messiah to the
Jewish nation ; but that this Messiah had never appeared, nor ever would
appear, because the Jews by their sins had rendered themselves unworthy
of this so great a deliverer promised of old to their fathers : that of course,
Christ was erroneously regarded as the Messiah ; that it was his only bu
siness and office to explain the law of nature, which had been greatly ob
scured by the fault of men ; and therefore, that whoever shall obey this