WHEN Count Gustave, the father of Henry V Albert, died at Magdeburg, his four daughters, Amalie, Anna Sophie, Henrietta, and Louisa, returned to their relations at Wittgenstein and Berleberg, where they too lived in huts in the woods, as Protestant recluses, not uninjured by the dreams, and visions, and wild imaginations, of some of the hermits around them, but at heart simple Christians who were glad to escape from the world of German courts and castles, described in our earlier chapters.
It is easy to believe that neighbouring nobles and clergy were filled with horror at the strange proceedings of Wittgenstein. " The Count of Lippe," wrote Henry Albert to his brother Augustus at Berlin, in 1700, "raves like a mad dog, and has stirred up the Landgrave of Cassel against me. But meanwhile such wonders have been wrought upon people from Lippe, from Brandenburg, from the Palatinate, and from Hesse, that I clearly see God is putting forth His power to bring back lost Christians by signs and wonders, who would not otherwise believe.
"The question is, What are we to do to resist the tide of rage and fury which is ready to overwhelm us ? Had the wonders we see been worked at Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented and believed ; but all is in vain with those who oppose us, they only say it is witchcraft.
" We cannot wonder at this, for they accused Christ of driving out devils by the power of Beelzebub, and the servants must be as the master. I wish nothing more than that your Elector of Brandenburg " (Elizabeth's cousin Frederick) " and other godly princes could but once hear Mr. Hochmann preach, and be witnesses of the power of his preaching. I am certain they would believe, and alter their lives so as to help forward this work of God. Mr. Hochmann prayed earnestly for my brother. I long from my heart for the answer to this prayer."
Countess Louisa wrote at the same time to her sister Sophie, "I can tell you little to rejoice in just now, for persecution, oppression, and disgrace, and suffering even to death, have come upon us from the ungodly world. I own I have not the calm spirit I ought to have in bearing it—not that I am impatient, but I am often troubled and afraid, and this is wrong and sinful, for we ought to be fully satisfied and peaceful in mind, even if God allowed all our beloved ones to be massacred before our eyes, and we should give up our own lives joyfully.
" This last I can better imagine than being able to look on joyfully when God's servants are swept away. I fear, however, if it really came to giving up one's life, I should find I had deceived myself as to doing it gladly. I pray God from my heart that this bit of the old Adam may be forgiven me. But I think it necessary that you should write all particulars to Count Augustus at Berlin, so that if possible these calamities and horrors may be averted.
" Count Rudolf will be here in a fortnight at the latest," (this was Louisa's maternal uncle, the same as the Count de Lippe, who " raved like a mad dog "), "and some think Count Ferdinand will come too, and that they will bring with them a troop of soldiers, under the pretext that they are their honourable servants ; for Count Rudolf has sworn a great oath, and given himself up to the devil, to bind himself to make short work with all so-called Pietists or Quakers, whom he means to drive out wholesale. His brutality is capable of every conceivable insolence, as we know too well from his actions.
" He used the most villainous language in the public street, and in the court of the castle under the countess' windows, abusing Count Henry and all of us together, as the scum of the earth and toad-eaters, who had brought his sister to such a pass of folly. For all this I care not a pin, but it shows what his mind is, and that he throws overboard all reason and all decency, so that he is capable of anything.
" He and his people and all the servants here, act and speak as if he were a god, whom all men ought to fear, considering themselves only fit to be treated by him like small boys. But God orders all. He will carry out His own purposes.
" My darling Phique, [Sophie]
" I am your devoted servant,
" LOUISA.
" P.S.—I forgot to say Count Rudolf has commanded that if Schmitz preaches on Sunday after he has left, they are to drag him down from the pulpit. The countess, on the other hand, has ordered that he should preach in any case. Who will gain the day ?"
Amongst the archives of Wittgenstein is a description given by some unknown traveler of his explorations " amongst the Pietists," whom he appears to have most heartily despised and hated.
" I and a friend," he relates, " resolved, as we were in the neighbourhood of Wittgenstein, to visit the Pietists, or rather enthusiasts, who live there, and to find out how they live and behave themselves.
"When we arrived near Schwarzenau we left our horses in a wood, and went on foot to the castle. There we crossed the Eder, and went to the so-called laboratory." (It will be remembered that alchemy had found a refuge in these wild woods.) " Here we perceived a woman dressed in white from head to foot, whom Major Hackenburg, who was with us, recognized as the Countess of Leiningen Biesterfeld. He sent word to her with his compliments that he was come to call upon her.
"This countess, you must know, had left her husband some years before, to wander about with the Pietists, and had at last settled in this country. She was going to the mill, but turned back to meet us, and spoke in a friendly way to the Count of Wied, who was one of our party, and invited us into the laboratory.
" She took us without the least ceremony into her room, which looked very wretched and miserable ; begged us to sit down, but there were no chairs ; offered us coffee, for which we waited a long while in vain.
"The Count of Wied told her he thought she had done wrong in leaving her husband and children, and living in this wretched way. She replied she had not left her husband, but that he had turned her out of doors, and she was quite willing to go back to him if he would have her. She once went home to his castle, but was refused admittance.
" The Count of Wied answered that no doubt that was true, but she had such a number of good-for-nothing Pietists amongst her acquaintance, and had, no doubt, such strong intentions of lording it over her husband, that he was quite right in refusing to take her back.
" We then went on to see the other countesses, and she went with us, telling us as we went that she did not like us to give her her title, it only distressed her, for she had given up all for Christ.
"We arrived at the place where the other ladies were living. The eldest countess, Amalie, was standing at the door, and received us in a friendly way, taking us into her room, where we found the Countess Christiana Louisa, of Schadek, with her two children, a boy and girl, who stood there looking very wretched and unhappy. We pitied them heartily."
(This pity was wasted on the little girl, Sophie Charlotte, who grew up an earnest Christian, and loved the simple primitive life of her childhood, She thanked God for those happy days. For a time after her marriage she returned to the world, but was again awakened by the Spirit of God, and lived for many years as a faithful servant of Christ.)
" We saw also the Countess Henrietta, very badly dressed. The conversation was interspersed with Bible texts, and meanwhile coffee and bread and butter handed round. We all ate heartily, except a certain cavalier from Hesse, to whom Countess Amalie said that perhaps he was afraid something had been done to the coffee and bread and butter to change him to their religion.
" Afterwards we went to see one of the pastors, who had been turned out of his parish in Dillenburg, because he said little children ought not to be baptized, and also that the Lord's Supper is only for Christians who have a sound belief, who are born again, and converted.
" Just before this pastor's house we met a young man called Barthel, with a long beard ; for several of the men amongst these people let their beards grow, supposing that they are thereby doing something specially in accordance with the word of God.
"Generally the men amongst them are strong young fellows who hang about in their dressing-gowns talking to the women, going about with them in an unseemly manner, always in their company—here and there to be met wandering two and two in the woods, and building huts and hollowing out caves for themselves, under the pretense of serving God, and thus causing a great scandal."
It was, in fact, just at this time that the good Count Henry Albert, and the sober, God-fearing Pietists of Wittgenstein, were awakened to the sad truth that much that had appeared to them of the Spirit was in reality of the flesh. They found out too late that if we neglect to provide for honest things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men, unseemly behaviour will speedily grow into sinful courses, and those who make an excuse of Christian affection and Christian liberty for disregarding the earthly relations and proprieties of life, will fall lower than the people of this world, who are held in by the bit and bridle of ordinary rules.
" Use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh," was a precept forgotten by some of these young men and women.
The extremely unsuitable marriages of Count Henry's sisters, and of some others of the younger ladies, roused up the count himself, and the right-minded amongst the Pietists, to weed out from their community those who were setting evil examples, and bringing dishonour upon the cause of Christ.
We find warnings and lessons for ourselves in all the histories of the people of God, from the days of Noah till now. When true faith in God, and love to Christ, and zeal in His cause, are reviled as enthusiasm and excitement, the natural mind in the believer is ready to rush to the conclusion that any sort of enthusiasm or excitement is the work of the Spirit.
And when once the working of the imagination is allowed, and natural feelings are baptized by the name of spirituality, we are building up a house which will speedily fall, and great will be the fall of it.
True faith in God is not a delight in the marvellous, and true love to God and His people is not the indulgence of natural emotions. Nor need we fear that in yielding up ourselves to the guidance and wisdom of the Spirit of God, we should be any the more lukewarm or indolent, because a tight rein is kept upon our own inclinations and impulses.
But the world, incapable of receiving the Spirit of God, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, naturally classed together the faith and devotedness of the really spiritual amongst the Pietists, and the wild foolishness and wickedness of others who bore their name. Satan has never ceased to sow tares amongst the wheat, and only to the eyes of faith it is given to distinguish between them.
Amongst those who grieved most deeply over the sins and follies of the community, was the preacher Hochmann, named in the letter of Count Henry to his brother Augustus.
A short account of Hochmann is needful before returning to Mulheim on the Ruhr, where we shall hear of him again.