»■»»» »■»■»»»» VJ if |3»el < m I CO- M s CO. CO ^l^mmmmi.f^f^MM % wmi^ :3 IRKS i^-;. #- hbl.brti BX 4827.03A8 1838 Memoirs of John Frederick Oberlin 3 ^153 DD3Mt,3Dt. t. I *^, #/ J^xlh. Jrei^/rte \%uii/n^ ^.gpwT^ MlISMCDli ^^MM WmmmMUIX :^M:&Jc^izlj^\ (^c M\ni\} a:-iVitu->n. iH A jj/ioifi j^o;i ict: of x.ot32SJ\ scilei'JUKtl . ex 53-11 TO TKR REV. FRANCIS CUNNINGHAM AS A TOKEN OF S I N f K n E AND GRATEFUL E S T E E SI, THIS VOLUME IS VERY AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBEU. V CLhY, PRINTF.R, BREAD-STREET-JHILL. PREFACE. The peculiar delight with which the writer perused the interesting article respecting John Frederic Oberlin, in the Eclectic Review for October, 1827, first induced her to think of compiling a more extended memoir of that extraordinary man ; and she considers it only due to sincerity to make this acknowledgment, as the following pages contain much of M. Lutteroth's " No- tice," there translated by Mr. Conder's abler pen. She has been enabled to carry her design into execution, through the kindness of several individuals who readily supplied her with valuable documents a 2 and papers relative to the subject, and to whom she returns her cordial thanks. She is particularly obliged to P. J. Heisch, Esq. a friend of long standing in Oberlin's family, and a gen- tleman distinguished by his many benevolent exertions in this his adopted country, for the polite manner in which he furnished her with materials from personal recollection, autograph sermons, and interesting com- munications from Strasbourg. To her highly valued friend, Dr. SteinkopfF, she is indebted for the correction of her German translations, and to the Rev. Francis Cunningham, for the use he kindly allowed her to make of various memoranda and letters, written during a short residence in the Ban de la Roche, in the sum- mer of 1820, and also for a number of original papers and MSS. respecting Oberlin. It is to the kindness of these friends indeed, that the volume chiefly owes whatever of interest it may contain ; and, while gratefully acknowledging the sources whence she has derived her materials, the Editor is happy to add, that it has undergone the re- PREFACE. V vision of one whose personal acquaintance with Obcrlin, and the knowledge he possessed of his character, both as a benefactor to his country, and an eminent servant of God, peculiarly qualified him for the task. Under the sanction of this dear friend her Memoir meets the public eye. The works from which such parts as are not original are chiefly translated or taken, are Mr, Wilks's little narrative, entitled "The Ban de la Roche and its Benefactor;" M. Lutteroth's " Notice sur Jean Frederic Oberlin," already alluded to ; the same work in Ger- man, with additions, by M. Krafft ; " Promenades Alsaciennes, par M. Merhn ;" and " Rapport fait a la Soci^td Royale et Centrale d'Agriculture, par M. le Comte Francois de Neufch&teau, sur 1' Agriculture, et la Civilisation du Ban de la Roche." The Editor trusts that the following recital of the astonishing change eSected in the morals and condition of the little flock committed to Oberlin 's pastoral care, and of the unremitting labours of love, which, for a period of fifty years, were crowned with such signal success, may induce many humble labourers in the Lord's vineyard, who, though in different situations and circumstances, have to contend against similar or equal obstacles, to " thank God and take courage." A short account of that venerable individual, Louisa Schepler, whose whole life was devoted to the interests of the Ban de la Roche, and whom it has pleased God to take to himself since the last edition of this Work was published, will be found at the close of the present volume. January, 1838. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Preliininary Remarks — Account of the Ban de la Roche — Its state previous to M. Stouber's time — Stouber's exertions there . P. 1. CHAPTER 11. Oberlin's birth and childhood — Instances of his early benevolence— His act of self-dedication — Influence over others — Arrival in the Ban de la Roche 19 CHAPTER III. Oberlin's first impressions on reaching Waldbach — State of the Parish — Improvements needed — Opposition manifested by the peasantry — Correspondence with M. Stouber — Letters from the latter — His marriage ; and prayer — Improvements in the condition of the Roads — Agricultural improvements, &c 41 CHAPTER IV. Oberlin's address to his parishioners on the commencement of a new year— Erection of a new school-house in the Ban de la Roche- Progress of civilization — Four other school -houses erected — Introduction of infant schools, under the care of conductrices —Public schools— "Weekly assembling of the children at Waldbach, to receive religious instruction — Establishment of a circulatui^ library — Almanack — Specimens of the children's composition — Christian Society established in 1782 — Abrogation of that So- ciety 79 CHAPTER V. Death of Mrs. Oberlin — Its effect upon Oberiin's mind — Louisa Schepler becomes liis housekeeper — Letter from the latter — Letter, taken from a German Magazine, printed at Tubingen, containing an account of Oberlin and his family, in the year 1793 — Death of his eldest son, Frederic 1 CHAPTER VI, Unmolested state of the Ban de la Roche during the period of the Revolution — Oberiin's generous renunciation of his own interesfs i for the sake of his parishioners — His school for the chUdrer of foreigners — His sentiments respecting the payment of tithes- Letter containing a plan for their disbursement — Purchase of Assignats — His influence in exciting a spirit of Christian charity among his people — Account of Sophia Bernard, &c. — Oberlin Decomes a correspondent of the British and Foreign Bible Society — Letters addressed by him to members of the London Committee —Mode of collecting subscriptions and donations for charitable purposes in the Ban de la Roche — Letter to his scholars . . 131 CHAPTER VII. Henry Oberiin's removal to Riga — His sister Henrietta's marriage — Their return to "Waldbach— Letter from Oberlin to P. J. Heisch, Esq.— Letter &om Henry Oberlin to ditto— Mr. Legrand's settle- ment in the Ban de la Roche — Introduction of cotton-spinning ; silk ribbon manufactory, &c. — Tennination of a long-impending law-suit — Henry Oberiin's death — His father's resignation on that occasion displayed in a letter to Mr. Heisch 171 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Medal presented to Oberlin by the Royal Agricultural Society of Paris — Oberlin's private character — His description of himself — Mr. Owen's letter, containing an account of a Ban de la Roche Sabbath — Oberlin's ministry — Sermons — Ministerial labours, &c. — His paternal influence over his flock — Questions addressed to his parishioners— Circulars . . 194 CHAPTER IX. Oberlin's pastoral visits— Interview between Dr. and Mrs. Steinkopff and the conductrice of Bellefosse— Their visit to the cottage of Madeleine Kriiger ; also to that of Sophia Bernard— Letter written by Mrs. C during a visit to the Ban de la Roche, in the summer of 1820 — Letter from Mrs. Rauscher to the Paris Bible Society, containing an account of the death of Sophia Bernard, &c. — Amount of the sums raised at different times at Waldbach, in support of various charitable institutions 264 CHAPTER X. Oberlin's last illness and death— Letter respecting Louisa Schepler, foimd after his decease — His funeral — Prayer delivered upon that occasion — Fragment of an address to his parishioners — Conclusion 291 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER, A short notice of Louisa Schepler / MEMOIRS JOHN FREDERIC OBERLIN. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS — ACCOUNT OF THE BAN DE LA ROCHE — ITS STATE PREVIOUS TO M. STOUBER'S TIME — STOUBER'S EXERTIONS THERE. The memoirs of an individual, whose whole life has been devoted to pious and disinterested exertions for the temporal and spiritual good of mankind, have not unfrequently proved the means of awakening* the desires, and strengthening the resolutions of others to follow him in his career of benevolence. Such an individual was John Frederic Oberlin, a person whose indefatigable efforts for upwards of fifty years, to benefit the simple B 2 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. villagers who constituted his flock, entitle him to universal esteem and admiration. The vi^riter earnestly hopes that the recital of his labours may, under the divine blessing, tend to confirm the zealous and encourage the weak, and lead all who hear it to catch a portion of that sacred glow by which he was himself animated. His character, as displayed in the uniform tenor of his life, presented a remarkable combination of varied excellencies ; for whilst much exalted sanctity and intrepid zeal were conspicuous, an unwearied ardour in doing good, and an habitual willingness to renounce his own interest in order to promote the well-being of his fellow- creatures, were equally evident. In addition to this, his extreme simplicity, conscientious integrity, sweet- ness of temper, and refinement of manner, caused him to be both ardently loved and sincerely revered ; whUst his industry, his agricultural skill, his knowledge of rural and domestic economy, and the energy with which he carried his plans into effect the moment he was convinced of their utility, rendered him not only an example but a blessing to the people among whom he resided, and afforded a delightful proof of the advantages BAN DE LA ROCHE. 3 that may accrue from a union of secular and spiritual duties. Before I proceed with my narrative, it will be proper to present the reader with some description of the Ban de la Roche, the scene of Oberlin's long and useful labours, and to state what had been previously effected there by his predecessor, M. Stouber, a Lutheran minister of congenial spirit with himself. The Ban de la Roche, or Steinthal,* derives its name from a castle called La Roche, round which the Ban, or district, extends. It is a mountainous canton in the north-east of France, between Alsace and Lorraine, forming part of the declivities and western ramifications of the Haut Champ, or Champ de Feu, an isolated range of mountains, detached by a deep valley from the eastern boundary of the chain of the Vosges. It consists of two parishes : the one is Rothau : the other, including three churches, comprises the five hamlets of Foudai, Belmont, Waldbach, Bellefosse, and Zolbach. These last mentioned are almost exclusively inhabited by Lutherans. * Steinthal is the German name for the Ban de la Roche. Its literal signification is, the Valley of Stone.— Dk. Steinkopff. 4 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. llie Champ de Feu, as its name implies, bears traces of volcanic origin. It is higher than Snow- don, rising 3,600 feet above the level of the sea. The village of Waldbach, at which Oberhn re- sided on account of its central situation, stands upon its acclivity, at the height of 1,800 feet; and the usual road from Strasbourg thither lies through the towns of Molsheim, Mutzig, and Schirmeck. Behind the Httle town of Schirmeck the extensive and fertile valley in which it is situated, separates into two smaller ones; the well- wooded vale of Framont on the right, and that of the Ban de la Roche, of which Rothau is the first and principal parish, on the left. The approach to the latter place is romantic in the extreme; the road winding down the side of a steep precipice towards the southern side of the valley, where, after crossing the stream, which flows through its bottom in the character of a mountain torrent, it rises again, and the cottages of the peasantry become visible, partly embosomed in plantations of pine, and beneath immense masses of overhanging rocks.* * The mountains of the Ban de la Roche are composed of granite, porphyry, and argillaceous schistus, which are com- i;an de la ROCHE. The hamlet of Foudai, at the distance of two miles from Rothau, is next in course, and occupies an almost equally picturesque situation. It is succeeded by Waldbach, whose tapering spire and straw-thatched cottages are surrounded by orchards of pear and cherry trees, and by the intermingled foliage of the alder, the ash, and tlie sallow. The temperature varies extremely, according to the height and position of the dis- tricts. On the summits of the mountains, for instance, the climate is as intensely cold as at Petersburgh, though in the valleys below it is so soft and delightful as to resemble that of Geneva, and parts of the Jura. The winter months monly even with their convex surface ; sienite, trapp, and gninstein, projecting on the sides and summits in irregular columns, and pointed cMs, appear originally to have formed the general covering. These rocks exhibit great variety in their grain and con- stituent parts. The granite, which is coarse, and less compact towards the base of the mountains, presents the fineness of marble, about 2,500 feet above the valley ; in these regions it is also found without quartz, taking the appearance of sienite or granite, according to the arrangement of the mica and feldspar. — Wilks. For further particulars relating to the topography of this district, See Propositions Geologiques pour serWr, &c. Par H. G. Oberlin, Doct. en Medecine. 8vo. Strasbourg, 1 806. b3 b MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN generally commence in September, and the snow usually remains undissolved till the following May or June, when the wind blows from the south, thus leaving only a period of four or five months for summer weather. The produce of the canton necessarily varies with the elevation of the several communes ; the highest are cultivated notwithstanding, though to so little purpose, that it is said the wife can carry home in her apron all the hay her husband has mown in a long morning. The harvest differs in time as weU as in quantity. At Foudai it is about a week later, and at Waldbach, a fortnight later, than at Rothau, which is about 400 feet below. The district of the Ban de la Roche comprises about nine thousand acres (of 48,000 French feet), between three and four thousand of which are covered with wood, two thousand are occu- pied with pasture, one thousand five hundred are employed in meadows or garden land, and the remaining fifteen hundred only are cultivated with the plough.* * 4 or 500 potatoes^ 600 rye > 1500 4 or 500 oats ) BAN DE LA ROCHE. 7 In the reign of Louis XV. the whole of this territory was in a most desolate state ; for having been partially the seat of conflict during the thirty years' war (terminated ia 1648), and again in the time of Louis XIV., it was so laid waste as to be scarcely habitable, there being no road from one place to another, and but little { land imder cultivation. About eighty or a hundred families earned indeed a scanty subsistence on its precarious soil, but, being destitute of all the comforts of civilized life, they existed in a state of misery and degradation more easily conceived j than described. This remote district partook, however, with the rest of Alsace, in a privilege denied to the ancient French provinces. When it was incor- porated with France, it was stipulated in the decree that its inhabitants should continue to enjoy an entire liberty of conscience : and whilst the persecuted Protestants of Languedoc and other parts of France, could not find a sufliciently secure retreat for the celebration of their worship, they possessed their own churches, and no re- straint was laid upon their religious assemblies. When M. Stouber, therefore, (who has been 8 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. already mentioned as the predecessor of Oberlin,) entered upon his ministerial duties, in 1750, he had not to proclaim the " glad tidings of salvation" in the midst of intolerance and persecution, nor had he to apprehend any danger from the subtle- ties of theological controversy on the part of a people almost entirely destitute of the means of rehgious instruction. Many difficulties, however, stood in his way in consequence of the deplorable ignorance and extreme wretchedness that uni- versally prevailed — difficulties that would have baffled the endeavours of a mind less ardent and less energetic than his own. The following anecdote will convey some idea of the state of the parish on his first arrival there. Desiring to be shown the principal school-house, he was conducted into a miserable cottage, where a number of children were crowded together without any occupation, and in so wild and noisy a state that it was with some difficulty he could gain any reply to his inquiries for the master. " There he is," said one of them, as soon as silence could be obtained, pointing to a withered old man, who lay on a little bed in one comer of the apartment. STOUBERS EXERTIONS. " Are you the schoolmaster, my good friend ?" mquired Stouber. " Yes, Sir." " And what do you teach the children ? " " Nothing, Sir." " Nothing ! — how is that } " " Because/' rephed the old man, with charac- teristic simphcity, " I know nothing myself." " Why then were you instituted school- master ? " " Why, Sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach pigs for a great number of years, and when I got too old and infirm for that employ- ment, they sent me here to take care of the children." The schools in the other villages were of a similar description ; for, if the schoolmasters were not swine-herds, they were shepherds, who, in the summer, followed their flocks over the mountains, and, during the winter months, im- parted to their Httle pupils the knowledge they possessed.* This, however, was so trifling that many of them were scarcely able to read with * See 9fu^ Obertin's Ccben, con (5. 9}?. ^rafft. \0 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. fluency, and very few could write at all. A total want of method in teaching, and of elementary books, also raised additional hindrances to the learners. If shown the commencement of a chapter in the Bible, it is reported of them that they could seldom find the end of the preceding chapter, and that even the most accomplished of the masters found it difficult to collect the sense of what he was reading, and would allow the children to say for Jesus Je suis, canaille for canal, or to make other mistakes equally egregious without being aware of the error. Stouber's first step, therefore, was to procure some schoolmasters willing to perform, and com- petent to discharge, the duties of their station. Tliis was no easy task, for the office had sunk into contempt, and the more respectable of the inhabitants, regarding it as a disreputable trade, would on no account allow their sons to embrace it. The pastor's ingenuity, however, soon con- trived to overcome this difficulty. He changed the name of the office, and the objection no longer existed. " Well then," said he, " let us have no schoolmasters, since that would not become people of vour situation in life ; but allow me to select STOUBERS EXERTIONS. 11 the most promising of our young men, and to make them superintendents (Messieurs les regents) of the schools." To this proposition they readily acceded. His next business was to arrange a regular alphabet, and draw up a series of spelling and reading lessons for their use, which were printed at the expense of a benevolent individual of Strasbourg, who also presented Stouber with a thousand florins (about 83L) that he might en- courage those schoolmasters whose pupils made the most rapid progress, by giving them the interest of it annually, in addition to their salaries, which were necessarily very small. The next want to be supplied w^as that of a school-house, and for this purpose Stouber begged that the necessary timber might be gratuitously furnished from the surrounding forests, a privilege which the inhabitants of the Steinthal generally had it in their power to bestow. ITie following anecdote shows the persevering character of this remarkable man. In the bad state of the woods at this period the Abbe de Regemorte (royal Praetor of Strasbourg) found an excuse for refusing the humble request for wood to build a school- house. " But your Excellency," said Stouber, 12 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. after having for a long time solicited in vain, " your Excellency will allow me to make a private collection among charitable individuals towards the erection of our new building ? " This request was immediately granted. " Well then," con- tinued the pastor, presenting his hat, " you are, please your Excellency, known as a charitable person, and I will make the beginning with you." On hearing these words the Preetor quickly forgot all the objections he had just been adducing, and gave him liberty to cut down as much wood as he pleased, under the express condition that he should dine with him every time he visited Strasbourg. Having thus happily succeeded in procuring materials, a small building, or rather a log hut, was constructed under Stouber's direction and superintendence : but as he had found obstacles in the worldhness of the governor, so now he had to contend with the ignorance and prejudices of the people. They still opposed themselves to his benevolent efforts ; for as schoolmasters had always hitherto been hired, like labourers, at the lowest price, the cheapest were regarded as the best, and the peasants began to fear that if an stoubek's exertions. 13 increase of knowledge were required from their candidates, there would be a proportionate in-" crease of expense. Nor was this all; for en seeing the unconnected syllables which were pro- posed as lessons for the scholars, they were at a loss to comprehend their meaning, and for a long time opposed their introduction from the idea of some concealed heresy or divination. On perceiving, however, in the course of a few months, that by means of the new spelling-book little children were enabled to read any book that was put into their hands, their elder brothers and sisters, and even the parents themselves, astonished at the rapid progress they were making, and ashamed to remain behind, came forward, and begged to be instructed also. A system of regular instruction for adults, during part of the Sunday and the long evenings of winter, was con- sequently estabUshed, in addition to the schools. Another great object of Stouber's soHcitude was to disseminate and make known the Holy Scriptures, as soon as he considered the people prepared for their reception. Hitherto they had only heard of the Bible as of a large book that contained the Word of God : and when their 14 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. pastor, in order to circulate the Scriptures as widely as possible, divided each of fifty French Protestant Bibles, he had procured from Basle, into three parts, and bound these portions in strong parchment, to enable him to make a more general distribution, he had some difficulty in con- vincing his parishioners that these thin volumes would answer the same purpose as the large book which they had been accustomed to see, and that they were equally the Word of God ; still more to give them any idea of what was meant by the Old and New Testament, or a book, chapter or verse. They were not aware that the preceding minister had been in the habit of adhering to any particular text in his sermons ; this, however, is not surprising, as he himself had not possessed a Bible for upwards of twenty years. No sooner, however, had Stouber placed these Bibles in the schools, with permission to the pupils to carry them home, than the Scriptures began to be read in their different famiUes. Some of them even found their way to the Roman Catholic villages in the vicinity. The priests, it is true, scrictly forbad their perusal, but this prohibition only served, in many instances, as an additional stouber's exertjpns. 15 stimulus to the inquirer after truth. The people secretly procured them for themselves, and some- times, considering their poverty, at a very high price. I might, indeed, mention many anecdotes of the eager delight with which this new and precious privilege was embraced, but it is sufficient to say that the desire of possessing it continually increased, and that the diffusion of Scriptural instruction, both in the Ban de la Roche and its environs, was beginning to be attended with the most cheering results.* A blessing also attended Stouber's discourses in the pulpit, for they were admirably adapted to the capacity and situation of his hearers. He endeavoured in the simplest language to lead their minds to a knowledge of the happiness enjoyed by the people of God, and the means of attaining that happiness; and to convince them that, notwithstanding the poverty of their external circumstances, the Almighty would protect and bless them if they earnestly sought to do his will. He then brought them to consider the all-important doctrines of the Cross, that we can only be regenerated by the influences * For one singular instance, among many others, of the avidity with which the Bible was sought at this period, See a letter of Oberlin's, Chap. VI. 16 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. of the Holy Spirit, and that we must rely solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and re- demption. In 1756, when he had resided about six years at Waldbach, he was appointed pastor to the market town of Barr, on the other side of the Vosges. His parishioners, who, though still wild and uncultivated, had begun to feel the value of his instructions, expressed the greatest regret at his removal, as his intended successor was little more enlightened than his predecessors had been. Four years afterwards the living again became vacant ; and M. Stouber, notwithstanding the reproaches and contempt cast upon him by many of his friends, who could not understand the prin- ciple of the love of Christ, which constrained him to exchange a very profitable and respectable living in a town for a physical and moral wil- derness, felt impelled to return to his beloved Steinthal. The pleasure with which this intel- ligence was circulated through the valley was extreme ; the inhabitants of the different vil- lages, both old and young, went to the top of the mountain, which had separated him from them, to witness his arrival, and to bid him welcome with tears of grateful joy. It was during this latter part of his residence stouber's exertions, 17 in the Ban de la Roche, that M. Stouber's minis- terial labours were so peculiarly successful, and that, under the blessing of God, a general im- provement appeared to take place. He had resided altogether more than fourteen years in this spot, actively engaged in promoting the welfare of his flock, when he had the afflic- tion of losing a wife to whom he was tenderly attached, and Avho, animated by the same spirit as her husband, had warmly participated in all his labours of love. She was buried in the church-yard of Waldbach, and the following touching epitaph adorned her monument, until it was destroyed, with many others, at the time of the Revolution : DURING THREE YEARS OP MARRIAGE, MARGARET SALOME, wife of G. STOUBER, MINISTER OF THIS PARISH, FOUND AT THE BAN DE LA ROCHE, IN THE SIMPLICITY OF A PEACEABLE AND USEFUL LIFE, THE DELIGHT OF HER BENEVOLENT HEART, AND, IN HER FIRST CONFINEMENT, THE GRAVE OF HER YOUTH AND BEAUTY. SHE DIED AUGUST IX, 1764, AGED TWENTY YEARS. NEAR THIS SPOT, HER HUSBAND HAS SOWN FOR IMMORTALITY ALL THAT WAS MORTAL ; UNCERTAIN WHETHER HE IS MORE SENSIBLE OF THE GRIEF OF HAVING LOST OR THE GLORY OF HAVING POSSESSED HER. c3 18 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIJT. Three years after this afflictive dispensation, which he bore mth Christian fortitude, and just when he was beginning to rejoice in the happy transformation eff'ected by his exertions, he was off^ered the station of pastor to St. Thomas's Church at Strasbourg. He accepted it, and it was greatly feared that the Ban de la Roche would relapse into its former melancholy condition. Oberlin perceived the emergency of the case ; his benevolent mind strongly felt the importance of such a field of labour ; it was a sufficient in- ducement for him to undertake its duties that others disdained them, and the veiy misery and moral degradation which had to be remedied, rendered it in his eyes the more interesting ; he therefore left a spot in which the brilliance of his mental powers might have attracted universal homage ; and led, as he conceived, by the hand of Providence, became the successor of M» Stouber in this retired and desolate scene of exertion. CHAPTER II. OBERLIN'S birth AXD childhood — INSTANCES OF HIS EARLY BENEVOLENCE — HIS ACT OF SELF-DEDICATION — INFLUENCE OVER OTHERS — ARRIVAL AT THE BAN DE LA ROCHE. John Frederic Oberlin was bom at Stras- bourg, on the 31st of August, 1740. His father, a man of considerable attainments and respecta- bility, though not in affluent circumstances, held an office in the Gj^mnasium of that city, and de- voted his hours of leisure to the instruction of his nine children, to all of whom he was most ten- derly attached. They in return looked up to him with devoted fondness, and acquiesced in his wishes rather from motives of sincere affection than fihal duty, ever anticipating his desires, and anxiously promoting his happiness by every means in their power Notwithstanding the scantiness of his income, he was in the habit of giving each of his children 20 MEMOIRS OF ©BERLIN. a present of two pfenninge* every Saturday, to spend as pocket-money in fruit or cakes ; and the following pleasing anecdote, in allusion to this circumstance, is related as an early trait of the little Frederic's character : — when the tailor's or shoemaker's bills were brought home on a Saturday night as he knew that his father, who was a man of remarkable integrity and punc- tuaUty, always liked to discharge them imme- diately to their full amount, without deducting, as the tradesmen frequently wished him to do, and as is the usual practice, the odd sous and deniers, he used to watch his countenance, and, if he imagined from its downcast expression that he was in want of money, to run to his savings- box, and return in triumph to empty all his Httle store of weekly pfenninge into the hands of his beloved parent. But this was only one amongst the thousand instances of generosity and benevolence for which he was, even from his earliest infancy, so pecu- liarly distinguished. Self-denial ever seemed his ruling principle ; and he was never so happy as * The smallest copper coin in the countrj, and not equal in value to an English farthing. HIS EARLY BENEVOLENCE. 21 when an opportunity of relieving the oppressed, or distressed, presented itself to his notice. I shall mention some more anecdotes of a similar description, because it is interesting to trace the germ of those dispositions, which, when ripened into maturity, brought forth such remarkable fruits. As he was one day crossing the market-place, when his httle box of savings was nearly full, he saw some rude boys knock down a basket of eggs which a country-woman was carrying upon her head. The woman was in great trouble, when Frederic not only rebuked the boys with much spirit, but ran home, fetched his box, and pre- sented her with all its contents. Another day, he was passing, in Strasbourg market, by the stall of an old clothes vender. A poor infirm woman was endeavouring, without success, to procure an abatement in the price of some article she ap- peared to be particularly desirous of purchasing. She wanted two sous to complete the sum de- manded, and was on the point of leaving the stall from her inabihty to give them. Frederic, pre- tending to be engaged with something else, only waited for her retiring, when he shpped the two sous into the dealer's hand, and whispered to 22 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. him to call back the poor woman, and let her have the gown; and then, without stopping for her thanks, instantly ran away. He, another time, saw a beadle ill-using an invalid beggar in the street ; and following the impulse of the moment, totally regardless of con- sequences, he placed himself in a spirited manner between what he thought the oppressor and the oppressed, reproving the former in strong terms for his inhumanity. The beadle, indignant at such an interruption, wished to arrest the little fellow ; but the neighbours, who knew and loved the boy, came running out of their shops to his assistance, and compelled the man to desist. A few days afterwards he happened to be walking in a narrow lane, when he saw the same person at a distance. " Shall I run away ? " thought he to himself. " No : God is with me. I relieved the poor man, and why should I fear ?" With these reflections he proceeded on his way; and ' the beadle, smiling at him, allowed him to pass unmolested. This early horror of injustice and oppres- sion was implanted by his parents, whose wise instructions and virtuous example were, in his HIS MILITARY AMUSEMENTS. 23 case, crowned with the most gratifying success. To his pious and highly accompHshed mother he often acknowledged himself indebted for his love of the ** things that are excellent," and for the desires he subsequently felt of dedicating his talents and his powers to the good of others. She was indeed a truly admirable woman, and conscientiously endeavoured to bring up her children " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." She was in the habit of assembling them together every evening, and of reading aloud some instructive book, whilst they sat around the table copying pictures which their father had drawn for them ; and scarcely a night passed but, when on the point of separating, there was a general request for " one beautiful hymn from dear mamma," with which she always compHed. The hymn was followed by a prayer ; and thus their infant steps were conducted to Him who has said, " Suffer httle children to come unto me." About this time, by way of relaxation, their father used to take them every Thursday even- ing, at least during the summer months, to his family estate at Schiltigheim ; and on arriving there, he would fasten an old drum to liis waist. 24 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. place his seven blooming boys m a line, and pre- cede them in the capacity of drummer, making them face to right and left, and go through all the military evolutions. The extreme dehght which little Frederic took in this exercise pro- bably induced his early partiahty for the military profession, for, whilst quite a lad, he would mingle with the soldiers, and march with them ; and, having attracted the attention of the officers by the display of his knowledge respecting sieges and battles, he obtained permission to join them in their exercises. His father, however, having destined him to a learned profession, at length interfered, telling the young soldier it was time to renounce this child's play for study and serious labour. Frederic was of an ardent and lively temperament ; but he readily coincided in his father's views, and devoted himself with the same enthusiasm to his hterary pursuits, resolving to tread in the steps of his elder brother, the cele- brated Savant of the same name, who was at this period pursuing his philological studies in the academy at Strasbourg.* By industry and * Jeremiah James Oberlin, a learned antiquary and labo- rious philologist. He wTote "■ Un Essai sur le Patois Lorrain HIS SELF DEDICATION. 25 application, he soon regained the time he had lost ; though, indeed, his military exercises, having had the happy effect of strengthening and hardening his bodily frame, formed an important part of his preparation for the fatigues of the service which awaited him in the remarkable and arduous course which he was destined to follow. The circumstances that induced him to resolve upon taking orders, and devoting himself to the ministry of the Gospel, are not known ; but it appears, from various memoranda found amongst his papers after his decease, that he was, from his very infancy, the subject not merely of pious con\'ictions, but of holy aff"ections towards his heavenly Father. " During my infancy and my youth," he says, " God often vouchsafed to touch my heart, and to draw me to himself. He bore with me, in my repeated backslidings, with a kindness and indulgence hardly to be expressed."* des Environs du Comte du Ban de la Roche, 1775, petit in 8vo.," which contains some verj curious notes upon ancient French, and in which he endeavours to prove that the patois is a corruption of the Latin language. * The remainder of the interesting fragment from which this extract is ta^' a, will appear in another part of the Memoir. 26 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Even at a very early age his frequent prayer was, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. O God, teach me to do thy will." About this time Dr. Lorentz excited a great sensation in Strasbourg, by the ardent zeal with which he preached a crucified Saviour. Frederic's mother, attracted by the general report, went to hear him, and was so much struck with the powerful manner in which he set forth the grand doctrines of redemption and remission of sin, that she entreated her favourite son to accompany her on the following Sunday. Being a student in the theological class at the University, and having been warned by his superiors not to go, it was with some reluctance that he was prevailed on to accompany her. In comphance with her urgent solicitations, he however at last acceded, and was so much delighted with the evangehcal truths he heard preached, that he became a regular and dili- gent attendant of the Doctor's sermons ; and this circumstance probably contributed to strengthen his religious impressions, and to confirm him in the resolutions he had made. At the age of twenty, he solemnly renewed his baptismal con- secration to God by a formal covenant, agreeably HIS SELF DEDICATION. 27 to the method recommended by Dr. Doddridge, in his " Rise and Progress." * Although this interesting document differs but slightly from the original, I shall transcribe it, because it displays so remarkable a union of glowing zeal, and lively faith, with humility and self-distrust. -i- '* Dieu etemel et d'une saintete infinie ! Je desire ardemment de pouvoir me presenter devant * " I would now urge you to make a solemn surrender of yourself to the service of God. Do not only form such a purpose in your heart, but expressly declare it in the divine presence Do it in express words. And perhajis it may be in many cases most expedient, as many pious divines have recommended, to do it in writing. Set your hand and seal to it, ' that on such a day of such a month and year, and at such a place, on full consideration and serious reflection, you came to this happy resolution, that whatever others might do, you would serve the Lord.'' " Make the day of the transaction, if you conveniently can, a day of secret fasting and prayer ; and when your heart is prepared with a becoming awe of the Divine Majesty, with an humble confidence in his goodness, and an earnest desire of his favour, then present yourself on your knees before God, and read it over deliberately and solemnly ; and when you have signed it, lay it by in some secure place where you may review it whenever you please ; and make it a rule with youreelf to review it, if possible, at certain seasons of the year, that you may keep up the remembrance of it." — Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul^ chap. xvii. p. 343. + For the translation of this document, see Appendix, No. I. 28 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. toi, dans le sentiment d'une profonde humilite et avec contrition de coeur. Je sais combien un ver de terre, tel que moi, est indigne de paraitre devant ta divine Majeste, devant le Roi des rois et le Seigneur des seigneurs, surtout dans une occasion comme celle-ci, ou il s'agit de former alliance avec toi. " Mais c'est toi, 6 Dieu de misencorde, qui as dresse le i^lan de cette alliance, qui me I'as fait ofFrir par ton Fils dans ta grace infinie. C'est toi qui y as dispose mon coeur. Je viens done a toi, et je confesse que je suis un grand pecheur ; je me frappe la poitrine, et je dis avec le peager repentant : ' O Dieu, sois appaise envers moi qui suis pecheur !' Je viens, parce que j'ai ete invite au nom de ton Fils, et je me repose en- tierement sur sa justice accomplie. Mais je te supplie de vouloir, a cause de lui, me pardonner mon injustice et ne plus te souvenir de mes peches. Oh ! oui, je t'en supplie, reconcilie-toi avec ta creature infidele. Je suis maintenant convaincu de tes droits sur moi, et je ne desire rien plus que de t'appartenir. Dieu saint ! je me donne aujourd'hui a toi de la maniere la plus solennelle. Cieux, ecoutez ; et toi, terre, prete HIS SELF DEDICATION, 29 I'oreille. Je confesse aujourd'hui que le Seigneur est mon Dieu I Je declare aujourd'hui que je suis du nombre de ses enfans et que je fais partie de son peuple. Entends mes paroles, 6 mon Dieu, et ecris dans ton Livre que je veux desormais etre entierement a toi. Au nom du Seigneur et du Dieu des armees, je renonce aujourd'hui a tons les maitres qui ont autrefois domine sur moi, aux joies du monde auxquelles je m'etais abandonne et aux desirs charnels qui etaient en moi. Je renonce a tout ce qui est perissable, afin que mon Dieu soit mon tout. Je te con- sacre tout ce que je suis et tout ce que j'ai ; les facultes de mon ame, les membres de mon corps, ma fortune et mon temps. Aide-moi toi-meme, 6 Pere de misericorde, a n' employer tout qu'a ta gloire, en le faisant ser^ar a I'obeissance a tes commandemens. Etre a toi, sera mon humble et ardent desir durant tons les ages de la bien- heureuse etemite. Si tu me charges dans cette vie d'en conduire d'autres a toi, donne-moi le courage et la force de me declarer ouvertement pour toi. Fais-moi la grace de ne pas me devouer seul a ton service, mais que je puisse aussi per- suader a mes freres de s'y consacrer. D 3 30 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " J'ai la volonte, Esprit saint, de te demeurer fidele jusqu'a la fin de ma vie, si je suis soutenu par ta grace. Perihets-moi de pouvoir, durant les jours qui me seront encore accordes, acquerir ce qui me manque et ameliorer mes voies. Que les choses de la terre n'exercent pas sur moi leur pouvoir, mais que, pendant le temps, si court de la vie, je ne vive que pour toi. Que ta grace me rende capable, non seulement de suivre cette route que j'ai reconnu etre la meilleure, mais encore d'etre toujours plus actif en y marchant. Je .remets a ta direction ma personne et tout ce qui m'appartient. Conduis toutes choses selon que ton infinie sagesse le trouvera bon. Je m'en remets sur toi pour la disposition de tous les evenemens, et je dis, sans aucune restriction : ' Que ta volonte soit faite et non la mienne !' Emploie-moi, Seigneur, comme un instrument des- tine a ton sendee ! Regarde-moi comme faisant partie de ton peuple ; lave-moi dans le sang de ton Fils bien-aime ; rcvets-moi de sa justice ; sanctifie-moi par son Esprit; rends-moi de plus en plus conforme a son image ; viens avec lui purifier et fortifier mon cceur ; donne-moi la con- solation et accorde-moi que je passe ainsi ma HIS SELF DEDICATION. ol vie dans le sentiment continuel de ta presence, 6 mon Pere et mon Dieu ! et qu'apres avoir cherche a t'obeir et a me soumettre a tes volontes, tu me retires d'ici, a I'heure et de la maaiiere dont tu le trouveras bon. Permets qu'a I'instant de ma mort et aux portes de I'eternite, je me sou- vienne de ces engagement et emploie encore mon dernier soupir a ton service. Et alors, Seigneur, rappelle-toi aussi cette alliance, quand tu verras toute I'angoisse que mon cceur eprouvera dans ces derniers instans, ou je n'aurai peut-etre pas la force de m'en souvenir. O mon Pere celeste, abaisse alors un regard de misericorde sur ton enfant aftaibli et se debattant avec la mort. Je ne veux pas te prescrire, 6 mon Pere, de quelle maniere tu dois me prendre a toi. Je ne veux pas te demander de me preserver alors de cruelles douleurs. Non, rien de tout cela ne sera I'objet de mes prieres. Ce que je te demande avec in- stance, au nom de mon Jesus, c'est de pouvoir encore te glorifier dans les derniers jours de ma vie, de ne temoigner, au milieu des souffrances que ta sage Pro\ddence trouvera peut-etre })on de m' envoy er, que de la patience et de la soumission en ta sainte volonte. Fortifie mon ame, donne-lui 32 MEMOIRS OF ©BERLIN. de la confiance quand tu I'appelleras, et re^ois-la dans le sein de ton eternel amour ;- admets-la dans ies sejours de ceux qui sont morts en Jesus- Christ, dans ces sejours ou des joies qui ne peuvent s'exprimer, sont le partage d*une jeunesse qui ne iinira point. Donne-lui une abondance de paix et de bonheur, tandis qu'elle attendra raccom- plissement des promesses que tu as faites a ceux qui sont tiens, qu'ils ressusciteraient dans la gloire et jouiraient eternellement dans le ciel de ton adorable presence. Et quand je serai descendu au sepulcre, si ces pages viennent a tomber entre Ies mains des amis que j'aurai laisses sur la terre, oh ! permets que leurs coeurs en soient vivement touches ; accorde-leur la grace, non seulement de Ies lire, comme exprimant mes pro- pres sentimens, mais de sentir eux-memes ce qui y est exprime. Enseigne-leur a craindre le Sei- gneur mon Dieu, et a venir se refugier avec moi, a I'ombre de ses ailes pour le temps et pour I'etemite ; qu'ils aient part a tons Ies biens et a tous Ies avantages de 1' alliance que Ton forme avec toi par Jesus-Christ, le grand Mediateur. A lui, et a toi, 6 Pere, et au Saint-Esprit, soient rendues des louanges etemelles par Ies millions de WIS SELF DEDICATION. 33 tes rachetcs et par les esprits celestes, au travuil et au bonheur desquels tu les associeras ! " Mon Dieu et le Dieu cle mes peres ! toi qui maintiens ton alliance et qui repands tes bene- dictions jusqu'a mille generations, je te supplie humblement, puisque tu sais combien le cceur de rhomme est trompeur, de vouloir me faire la grace d'entrer dans cette alliance avec toute sincerite de cceur et de demeurer fidele a cette consecration qui a eu lieu de moi dans mon ba])teme. Que le nom du Seigneur me soit en temoignage eternel que je lui en ai signe la pro- messe avec la ferme et bonne volonte de la tenir. " JEAN-FnEDEiilC ObERLIN. " Strasbourg^ le \er Janvier, 1760. Renouveli a Waldbach, le \er Janvier, 1770." After ha\dng completed his studies, Oberlin was ordained, but he remained for some years without undertaking any pastoral engagement, either because he did not feel himself as yet sufficiently mature for so responsible a charge, or because no situation offered itself, adapted 34 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. to the view which he had formed of his own character and suitableness. Like the admirable Fletcher,* a man of kindred spirit, who refused to undertake the care of a parish because the emoluments were too large, and the duty was too small, Oberlin wished only for a station where he might find ample scope to be useful: — for, having devoted himself to his Master's service, he sought neither worldly distinctions, nor worldly honours, but determined to be actuated only by the specific and prevaiUng desire of pleasing him, and of living to his glory. During this interval, which lasted from the year 1760 to 1767, he em- ployed himself in private teaching, and became domestic tutor to the family of the then distin- guished surgeon, M. Ziegenhagen, of Strasbourg. Whilst in this situation he acquired that surgical knowledge and acquaintance with medicine, which, in his subsequent life, proved so pecu- liarly useful, and enabled him to render such eminent services to his parishioners . His conscientious uprightness, amiable disposi- ., tion» and entire dependance upon God in the i daily events of life, caused him to be held at this * The Rev. J. W. Fletcher, Rector of Madeley, Shropshire. HIS INFLUENCE OVER OTHERS. 35 time in high estimation among his fellow-citizens ; and the following occurrence is related, as a proof of the influence he had almost imperceptibly ac- quired over them. An honest tradesman, relying on the power of his faith, came to him one day, and, after a long introduction, informed him that a ghost, habited in the dress of an ancient knight, frequently pre- sented itself before him, and awakened hopes of a treasure buried in his cellar ; he had often, he said, followed it, but had always been so much alarmed by a fearful noise, and a dog which he fancied he saw, that the effort had proved fruit- less, and he had returned as he went. This alarm on the one hand, and the hope of acquiring riches on the other, so entirely absorbed his mind, that he could no longer apply to his trade with his former industry, and had, in consequence, lost nearly all his custom. He therefore urgently begged Oberlin would go to his house, and con- jure the ghost, for the purpose of either putting him in possession of the treasure, or of discon- tinuing its visits. Oberlin repHed, that he did not trouble himself with the conjuration of ghosts, and endeavoured to weaken the notion of an 36 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. apparition in the man's mind, exhorting him, at the same time, to seek for worldly wealth hy application to his business, prayer, and industry. Observing, however, that his efforts were un- availmg, he promised to comply with the man's request. On arriving, at midnight, at the trades- man's house, he found him in company with his wife and several female relations, who still affirmed that they had seen the apparition. They were seated in a circle, in the middle of the apartment. Suddenly the whole company turned pale, and the man exclaimed, " Do you see. Sir, the count is standing opposite to you.^" "I see nothing." " Now, Sir," exclaimed another terrified voice, " he is advancing towards you." " 1 still do not see him." " Now he is standing just behind your chair." " And yet I cannot see him; but, as you say he is so near me, I will speak to him." And then rising from his seat, and turning towards the corner where they said that he stood, he continued, " Sir count, they tell me you are standing before me, although I can- not see you ; but this shall not prevent me from informing you, that it is scandalous conduct on your part, by the fruitless promise of a hidden HIS INFLUENCE OVER OTHERS. 37 treasure, to lead an honest man, who has hitherto faithfully followed his calling, into ruin, — to in- duce him to neglect his business — and to bring misery upon his wife and children By rendering him improvident and idle. Begone, and delude them no longer with such vain hopes. Upon this the people assured him that the ghost vanished at once. Oberlin went home, and the poor man, taking the hint which in his address to the count he had intended to convey, applied to business with his former alacrity, and never again complained of his nocturnal visitor. In the year 1766, the appointment of a chap- lainship to a French regiment was offered to Oberlin. As the situation accorded with the military predilections he had imbibed in his child- hood, and promised to open a sphere of exten- sive usefulness, he agreed to accept it, and soon afterwards left M. Ziegenhagen's employ, and commenced a preparatory course of reading. Whilst thus engaged, the curacy of the Ban de la Roche became vacant, in consequence of M. Stouber's removal to Strasbourg. No sooner had the latter decided upon taking this step. 38 MEMOIRS OF ©BERLIN. than it occurred to him, that Oberlin, with whose piety and zeal he was well acquainted, would be admirably calculated for the vacant post, and, with the view of communicating this intelligence, he went to his lodging. It w^as a little attic, up three pair of stairs. On opening the door, the first object that caught his attention was a small bed, standing in one corner of the room, covered with brown paper hangings. " That would just suit the Steinthal," said he to himself. On approaching the bed, he found Oberlin lying upon it, and suffering from a violent tooth-ache. He rallied him about the simplicity of his curtains, and the homeliness of his apartment. " And pray," continued he, after having taken a sun'^ey round the room, " what is the use of that little iron pan that hangs over your table.''" "That is my Idtchen," replied Oberlin ; " I am in the habit of dining at home with my parents every day, and they give me a large piece of bread to bring back in my pocket. At eight o'clock in the evening, I put my bread into that pan, and having sprinkled it with salt, and poured a little water upon it, I place it over HIS MODE OF LIVING. '6$ my lamp, and go on with my studies till ten or eleven o'clock, when I generally begin to feel hungry, and relish my self- cooked supper more than the greatest dainties." Stouber congratulated him on the happiness of possessing so contented a disposition ; and, assuring him that he was exactly the person he had wished to find, communicated the object of his visit. Oberlin was rejoiced at the proposition; but having nearly concluded his engagement to un- dertake the office of military chaplain, he would not accept the cure until a free discharge from his engagement was obtained, and until he was convinced that no candidates for clerical prefer- ment, who had a prior claim to himself, would accept the situation. These two points were soon arranged, in con- sequence of a candidate making application for the one office, whilst the other, which offered scarcely any emolument, was left unsolicited* The Ban de la Roche, as a sphere of pastoral labour, was wholly uninviting to any, but those who, in singleness of heart, were wishing to 40 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. forsake all for Christ ; Oberliii, therefore, after many earnest prayers that a blessing might rest upon himself, and upon the little flock committed to his charge, accompanied his new friend and patron thither, and arrived at Waldbach on the 30th of March, 1767. He was at this time in the twenty- seventh year of his age. CHAPTER III. OBKRLIN S FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON REACHING AVALDBACH — STATE OF THE PARISH — IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED — OPPO- SITION MANIFESTED BY THE PEASANTRY — CORRESPON HENCE WITH M. STOUBER — LETTERS FROM THE LATTER — HIS MAR- RIAGE, AND PRAYER — IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONDITION OF THE ROADS — AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. Ox Oberlin's arrival at Waldbach, he took up his residence in the parsonage house, a tolerably commodious building, formerly occupied by M. Stouber. It had a court-yard in front, and a good garden behind, and stood in a dehghtful situation, very near the church, being surrounded by steep dells clothed with wood, and rugged mountains, the tops and sides of which were partially covered with pines, and a few other straggling trees. The first glance which he threw over the mountains destined to be the scene of his minis- terial labours, convinced him, that notwithstanding E 3 42 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. the partial reformation effected by JM. Stouber's exertions, neither the necessities of his flock, nor the difficulties which opposed their removal, were of any ordinary kind. They were alike destitute of the means of mental and social intercourse ; they spoke a rude yatois resembling the Lorraine dialect, and the medium of no external information ; they were entirely secluded from the neighbouring districts by the want of roads, which, owing to the de- vastation of war, and decays of population, had been so totally lost, that the only mode of com- munication, from the bulk of the parish to the neighbouring towns, was across the river Bruche, a stream thirty feet wide, by stepping-stones, and in winter along its bed ; the husbandmen were destitute of the most necessary agricultural imple- ments, and had no means of procuring them; the provisions springing from the soil were not sufficient to maintain even a scanty population ; and a feudal service, more fatal than sterile land and ungenial climate, constantly depressed and irritated their spirits. Confident, however, that strength would be afforded, if rightly sought, Oberhn at once re- OPPOSED BY THE PEASANTRY. 43 solved to employ all the attainments in science, philosophy, and reUgion, which he had brought with him from Strasbourg, to the improvement of the parish and the benefit of his parishioners. Those indi\dduals over whom M. Stouber had gained an influence, silently acquiesced in the projects of his successor ; but a very determined spirit of opposition soon manifested itself among the opposite party, under the supposition that old practices are always safe, and that whatever is new must be pernicious. They resolved, there- fore, not to submit to innovation, but to try what they might be able to effect by determined resist- ance. On one occasion, soon after his arrival, they laid a plan to way-lay their new minister, and inflict upon him a severe personal castiga- tion, judging that such a measure, at the com- mencement of his career, would prevent his future interference. Oberlin happily received information of their intention, and, without being disconcerted at the intelligence, immediately determined upon a mode of correction, in which the peculiar gentleness and decision that formed such leading traits in his character, were remarkably displayed. 44 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Sunday being fixed upon for the execution of this attempt, when the day arrived, he took for his text those words of our Saviour, in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew : — " But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also ;" and proceeded from these words to speak of the christian patience with which we should suffer injuries, and submit to false surmises, and ill usage. After the service, the malecontents met at the house of one of the part}'', to amuse themselves in conjecturing what their pastor would do, when he should find himself compelled to put in practice the principles he had so readily explained. What, then, must have been their astonishment when the door opened, and Oberlin himself stood before them. " Here am I, my friends," said he, with that calm dignity of manner which inspires even th(i most violent with respect ; " I am acquaintec with your design. You have wished to chastise me, because you consider me culpable. If I have indeed \dolated the rules which I have laid do"\ for you, punish me for it. It is better that should deliver myself into your hands, than that OPPOSED BY THE PEASANTRY. 45 you should be guilty of the meanness of an ambuscade." These simple words produced their intended effect. The peasants, ashamed of their scheme, sincerely begged his forgiveness, and promised never again to entertain a doubt of the sincerity of the motives by which he was actuated, and of his affectionate desires to promote their welfare. A few weeks after this event, another circum- stance, of a similar nature, occurred in one of the adjoining villages. He was informed that the young people belonging to it had determined to seize him the following Sunday, on his leaving their place of worship, and to duck him in a cis- tern. He consequently took occasion to speak in his sermon of the happiness and security enjoyed by those v/ho ti'ust in the Lord ; of the special protection which he vouchsafes to his serv'ants; and of his firm belief that not a hair of our heads can be injured without his express permission. He was in the general habit of returning home on horseback, but this time he set out purposely on foot, desiring a peasant to lead his horse. He had not proceeded far, be- fore he saw two or three men partly concealed AG MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. behind the hedge, and awaiting his approach. He passed them, however, with so calm and com- posed a countenance and step, that they were daunted, and did not venture to put their plan into execution. These occurrences are believed to have had a good effect in accelerating the execution of his projects of reform; for those who had connived in the plots against him, anxious to reinstate themselves in his good esteem, and conscious that they had no better means of succeeding than by warmly seconding the views which they had hitherto opposed, were henceforward among the foremost to assist him. During the first years of his residence in the Ban de la Roche, Oberlin found an enlightened and experienced guide, and a wise and faithful counsellor, in his predecessor, M. Stouber. Tlie following letter, addressed by the latter to his young friend, is full of excellent counsel and advice, and proves that he had himself felt the responsibihty attached to so peculiar a situation : * * When any of tne letters or papers contained in this Memoir have been originally written in French, the editor has generally given them in that language, with translations LETTER FROM STOUBER. 4^ " Strasbourg, June 2, 1768. ******* «T* 5fs ^ 5|s ^ JJC 3|» " Do not, my dear friend, suppose that I could have done any thing hetter than you have done it. God alone can enable either of us to do just so much as he pleases, and no more. The little experience that it cost me long years of labour and dijSiculty to obtain, you will acquire more speedily. You possess it already, in some degree, though still insufficiently. When I was in your situation, a single circumstance, or even a single word, would sometimes discourage and discompose me so much that I did not know what to do. I could not help perceiving almost every day that I had ignorantly committed the greatest mistakes — ignorantly escaped the greatest dangers — igno- rantly lost or acquired the greatest advantages : — that what I sought was evil, and what I shunned good ; — that what I hoped for was nothing, and what I supposed nothing, something. If it was God's purpose that any scheme of mine should in the Appendix ; but when they have appeared in German, as in the present instance, she has thought it better to insert '':';iist literal translations in the body of the work. 48 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. succeed, he caused the heads of the parish to listen to me even when I least expected it, and had made the least preparation for it ; and as frequently permitted the plans upon which I had grounded my hopes of success, and taken the most pains to carry into effect, to become of no avail. "In so deplorable a state are the people of the unfortunate Steinthal, that one in your situa- tion can do nothing but commend them to God, and look for succour and assistance from him alone. If he should see meet to let things go on for a period in their present state, and without any visible improvement, do not be discouraged. He undoubtedly wiU, in his own good time, effect such changes among some of the members of your flock, as neither the folly or the taunts of the remainder, nor the craft and malice of the enemy, shall be able to subvert ; and whilst you trace his finger throughout the whole, and thank him for having crowned your exertions with even this partial success, you will find increased cause for the exercise of self- distrust, patience, and humihty. God will, I feel assured, bless your endeavours, if you continue to maintain that LETTER FROM TOUBER. 49 devotedness of spirit which your letter so sweetly and fei-vently breathes. Only trust every thing to him ; and pray for the blessing which he alone can bestow. You have more influence over others than I have ; and this, provided you fear no one but God, and guard against forming too many schemes, will render you in truth more useful than I have been. But I must remind you that, even when deeply engaged in good works, it is possible to depart from spiritual Christianity; and I would, on this account, urge you to main- tain a constant guard over yourself. You have been brought under the influence of religion, and, in the usual sense of the term, converted to God ; but, without constant prayer to him, and the most zealous watchfulness, there is a danger lest you should rest satisfied with this, and relapse into indifference. By being so inces- santly occupied in the prosecution of your favourite schemes, and destitute of stimulating society, you may become cold and lukewarm in your rehgious duties, and less devoted in your service to God,, even though busily employed in promoting the well-being of your fellow- creatures. I would, therefore, earnestly exhort you, my dear friend. 50 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. to be always * fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,' living only to, and for. Him. Thus you will be enabled to overcome difficulties ; you will find comfort and peace in believing, and he w^ill pro- tect, guide, and bless you. Your work will prosper, not perhaps in the manner which you design, but in the way which God has purposed. " I have no other end in view in this exhorta- tion than your good. I wish you to understand that this is, literally, my only object in wTiting thus plainly. I speak frankly and sincerely to you, because I know that our hearts are closely alHed, and because I have sometimes observed with deep concern the dangers incident to young persons ; coldness and lukew^armness after the first fervour of religious feeling has subsided ; self-sufficiency in what they have effected, and too great tendency to absorption of mind in even laudable and benevolent pursuits. " This is the motive that induces me, once for all, to warn you on this point ; for the heart of man is deceitful, and naturally tends to earth if it is not constantly drawn upwards. " There are yet two things to which I parti- cularly wish to direct your attention : — praj^er HIS MARRIAGE. 51 and the Holy Scriptures. I find it necessary, in order to keep up habitual communion with God, and to fan the spirit of Christianity in my own bosom, to have constant recourse to them, " It is by reading the writings of the Apostles, almost exclusively, that I am enabled to press onward in my spiritual course, and to encourage myself to prayer. " Your's, my dear friend, " In the bonds of Christian love, " G. Stouber." Warned and encouraged by such powerful exhortations, Oberlin went on his way rejoicing, and eventually became established in Christian faith and holiness. But I have now to speak of an event which materially contributed to enhance his temporal happiness. This was his marriage with a very pious and amiable young lady of Strasbourg, named Madeleine Salome Witter. The following particulars are mentioned merely because they are so thoroughly characteristic. 52 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Previous to his settlement in the Ban de la Roche, his mother had anxiously desired to see him united to one who would participate in his labours, relieve him from domestic cares, and cheer and solace him in the remote and lonely- situation in which he was about to be placed. He, however, was easy on the subject, but, out of regard to his parents, agreed to accede to their wishes, provided they could select a suitable companion for him. Mrs. Oberlin had been told in confidence that her son would probably meet with success by asking the hand of the daughter of a rich brewer's widow. He was persuaded to try his fortune in person ; but as it had, from early youth, been a principle with him to wait for some intimation from Providence, whenever his reason proved an insufficient guide, he earnestly prayed that God would be pleased to reveal his will to him, and to direct him in his judgment, whether the marriage would be likely to conduce to his happiness, by the manner in which the mother should receive him. If she should herself make the proposition, he resolved to regard it as a sign of providential approbation ; but, if not, to consider it his duty to abstain from mentioning HIS MARRIAGE. o'-i the subject. He then proceeded towards the house, and rang the bell. The mother gave him a courteous reception, and even called down her daughter, whose appearance did not, however, particularly please him ; they sat do^\^l, talked of a pretended cause of the visit, of the weather, and of the news about the town, till at length, all topics being exhausted, a silence succeeded ; the parties looked at each other in some surprise, for Oberlin was a novel -sdsitor there, and then looked down again. This scene of " silent state" lasted about two minutes, when the latter, who had decided in his own mind how to act, made a pohte bow, opened the door, shut it again, and took his departure, leaving both mother and daughter at a loss to conjecture the cause of this singular visit, and the marriage was never again thought of. The apprehensions of his fond parents were, however, continued. They had long maintained a friendly intercourse with the family of Frederic's former schoolmaster, and he was himself warmly attached to the person of the latter. He had one daughter, a young woman of an agreeable disposition, for whom Oberlin had long entertained a cordial esteem. With his F 3 54 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. consent the parents drew up a preliminary mar- riage contract between them : but a more wealthy- suitor was finally preferred by the family of the schoolmaster, and this circumstance induced the young lady to withdraw from the contract. A few weeks only had elapsed after this circum- stance, when Oberlin received a note from her father expressing a wish to renew the connexion. Upon its receipt, he immediately repaired to the schoolmaster's house, with the note in his hand, which he returned, saying, " My dear Sir, I am accustomed to follow the intimations of Provi- dence. I consider what has recently occurred as an intimation that a marriage between your daughter and myself would neither tend to her happiness, nor to mine. Let us. therefore, say no more about it, and forget all that has passed. Allow me again to participate in your affection, as I can assure you that mine has not been in the least diminished ; nor have I lost a particle of the gratitude I owe you for all your instructions."' He then continued the conversation on general subjects, and the intercourse between the two famiUes remained undisturbed. These two plans having successively failed HIS MARRIAGE. 65 Mrs. Oberlin yielded to the wishes of her son, and allowed him to set out for his parish. She, however, accompanied him to Waldbach, and assisted in arranging his domestic estabhshment, the care of which devolved on his younger sister, Sophia. About a year after his settlement there, Miss Witter, who was a friend and relation of the family, came to pay a visit in the Steinthal, and stopped some weeks at the parsonage. She had lost her father, who was a professor in the University of Strasbourg, at a very early age, and her mother died shortly afterwards ; but although deprived of the benefit of parental instruction, she possessed a sound understanding, and a highly cultivated mind, deeply imbued with religious principles.* She was, however, at this time, more expen- sive and worldly in her habits than her cousin Frederic, and their dispositions did not entirely harmonize. The time of her departure at length drew near. Only two days before the period fixed upon for * See " Acte de renouvellement sincere de mon alliance de Bapteme, &c." written a few years after her marriage with Oberlin — Appendix, No. II. 56 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN her return to Strasbourg, Oberlin felt as though a secret voice "within whispered, " Take her for thy partner I " He, however, resisted the call. " It IS impossible," said he, almost aloud, — " our dispositions do not agree." " Take her for thy partner ! " the voice still continued. He spent a sleepless night, and, in his prayers the next morning, solemnly declared to God, that if he would give him a sign, by the readiness with which Madeleine should accede to the proposi- tion, that the union was in accordance with his will, he would cheerfully submit to it, and con- sider the voice he had heard as a leading of Providence. After breakfast, the same morning, he found the young lady sitting in a summer-house in the garden. Placing himself beside her, he began the conversation by saying, " You are about to leave us, my dear friend : I have had an intima- tion that you are destined, by the Divine will, to be the partner of my life. If you can resolve upon this step, so important to us both, I expect you will give me your candid opinion about it, before your departure." Upon this Miss Witter rose,, from her seat. PRAYER ON HIS MARRIAGE. 57 and, blushing as she approached him, placed one hand before her eyes, and held the other towards him. He clasped it in his own. The decision was made : — a decision which he never found cause to regret, for notwithstanding the determi- nation Madeleine had made not to be aUied to a minister, she became truly devoted to his interests, and the most cordial attachment ever afterwards subsisted between them. The marriage took place July the 6th, 1768. The following affecting prayer, written by Oberhn at this period, will give some idea of the feelings with which, in conjunction with those of his affectionate partner, he entered into the sacred engagement, and also of the spirit which ever afterwards pervaded their peaceful house- hold.* " Priere d'Oherlin et de sa femme^ pour demander a Dieu sa benediction et sa grace : ** Esprit saint, descends dans nos coeurs ; aide- nous a prier avec ferveur et du fond de notre * For a translation of this praver see Appendix, No. III. 58 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. ame ; permets a tes enfans, 6 notre bon Pere, de se presenter devant ta face pour te demander ce qui leur est necessaire ! " Que nous nous aimions seulement en toi et en notre Sauveur Jesus- Christ, comme etant des membres de son corps ! Sois-nous en aide afin que, durant tout le jour, nous ayons Ics yeux fixes sur toi, nous marchions devant toi, et nous nous recueillions en toi ; en sorte que, de jour en jour, notre vie devienne plus spirituelle ! " Permets que nous te soyons fideles dans I'exercice de nos devoirs, que nous nous y exci- tions I'un I'autre, nous decouvrant reciproquement nos fautes, et en cbercbant ensemble le pardon dans le sang de Jesus- Christ ! Quand nous prierons ensemble, et puissions-nous prier souvent et beaucoup I sois, 6 Seigneur Jesus, le troisieme au milieu de nous ; et toi, Pere celeste, rends-nous bien fervens; exauce, a cause de Jesus- Christ, ce que tu nous auras enseigne, par ton Saint-Esprit, a te demander ! " Puisque, dans cette vie, tu as mis sous notre direction ceux de notre maison, donne-nous de la sagesse et de la force pour les conduire d'une maniere qui te soit agr cable. -Que nous leur HIS PRAYER. 59 soyons toujours un bon exemple, et fassions ce que tu nous dis d' Abraham qui commandait a ses enfans et a sa maison, apres lui, de garder la voie de TEtemel pour faire ce qui est juste et droit. Si tu nous donnes des enfans et que tu nous les consen^es, oh ! fais-nous la gr^ce de les elever pour toi, de leur apprendre de bonne heure a connaltre, a craindre, a aimer et a invoquer le Dieu qui a fait alliance avec eux, afin que, con- formement a I'engagement qui sera pris pour eux dans le bapteme, ils te demeurent fideles, depuis le berceau jusqu'a la mort. O notre Pere celeste, que nous leur inculquions ta Parole, toute notre vie, avec douceur, amour et patience, a leur lever et a leur coucher, a la maison et hors de la maison, et dans toutes les circonstances oii ce sera possible, ainsi que tu I'aimes, Seigneur, et que cela convient pour des enfans auxquels tu n'as donne la vie que comme un moyen d'aller vers toi. " Lorsque nous irons ensemble a la sainte Cene, oh ! donne-nous toujours de nouvelles graces, de nouvelles forces, un nouveau courage pour continuer a marcher dans le chemin du ciel ; et, puisque nous ne pouvons nous en approcher 60 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. dans rannee que quatre fois, que nous y prenions part d'autant plus souvent, oui, chaque jour et chaque heure, par la foi ! que nous ayons tou- jours la mort devant les yeux et nous y prepa- rions toujours; et, s'il est une chose que nous puissions soUiciter de toi, oh ! acconde que nous ne soyons pas long-temps separes I'un de I'autre, mais que la mort de I'un suive de pres et de bien pres celle de I'autre.* " Exauce-nous, notre tendre Pere, au nom de Jesus-Christ, ton fils bien-aime. Amen. Et toi, 6 notre epoux, que tons deux nous t'aimions d'un ardent amour, etant toujours en rapport et en communion avec toi! Ne permets pas que nous mettions notre confiance en notre propre justice et en nos oeuvres, mais seulement en ton sang et en tes merites. Sois avec nous, main- tiens-nous fideles, et accorde - nous, Seigneur Jesus, que nous te voyions bientot. Esprit saint, notre Dieu, demeure toujours dans nos coeurs, enseigne - nous a elever a chaque instant nos * The designs of the Lord were diiFerent, and this prayer was not answered. Oberlin, for the happiness of his fellow- creatures, lived forty-two years after the death of his wife. " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." — Isaiah Iv. 8. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ROADS. (31 soupirs vers notre bon Pere ; donne-iious selon nos besoins ta force ou ta consolation. Et a toi, au Pere et au Fils soient la louange, I'hunneur et la gloire, d'eternite en etemite. Amen." Mrs. Oberlin soon became an invaluable assistant to her husband in all his labours of love, tempering his zeal with her prudence, and forwarding his benevolent plans by her judicious arrangements. In the prosecution of those plans much Christian firmness was requisite, for they had, as we have already seen, to encounter the prejudices generally attendant on ignorance, and such as the most unwearied patience and self- denying virtue could alone have surmounted. Almost the first object of Oberhn's provident activity was to repair and widen the roads. In a country where rocks hanging on the steep declivity of a chain of mountains, and rapid torrents pouring from their summits, are per- petually causing considerable falls of loosened earth, the formation and preservation of roads involves an expense far beyond the resources of a poor and isolated parish ; and all the roads belonging to the Ban de la Roche were. 62 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. consequently, during the greater part of the year absolutely impassable. To rescue his parishioners from the half-savage state in which he found them, he judged it neces- sary, as a preliminary measure, to bring them into contact with the inhabitants of other districts further advanced in civilization ; and for this purpose to open a regular communication with the high road to Strasbourg, by which means the productions of the Ban de la Roche might find a market, and materials be procured for exercising their industry and ingenuity. Having therefore assembled the people, he proposed that they should blast the rocks, and convey a sufficient quantity of enormous masses to construct a wall to support a road about a mile and a half in length along the banks of the river Bruche, and build a bridge across it near Rothau. The peasants were perfectly astonished at the proposition. The project appeared to them totally impracticable, and every one excused himself, on the plea of private business, from engaging in so stupendous an undertaking. Oberlin, still intent on the prosecution of his scheme, endeavoured to IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ROADS. 63 refute the objections raised on all sides : " The produce of your fields," said he, " will then meet with a ready market abroad ; for, instead of being imprisoned in your villages nine months out of the twelve, you avIU be enabled to keep up an in- tercourse with the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts. You will have the opportunity of pro- curing a number of things of which you have long stood in need, without the possibility of obtaining them, and your happiness will be aug- mented and increased by the additional means thus afforded of providing comforts for yourselves and your children." But his arguments were concluded with a more touching appeal. He offered them his owti example in the undertaking. " Let all," he said, " who feel the importance of mv proposition, come and work with me." Oberlin had already traced the plan, and no sooner had he pronounced these words, than, with a pick- axe on his shoulder, he proceeded to the spot; whilst the astonished peasants, animated by his example, forgot their former excuses, and hastened, with unanimous consent, to fetch their tools and follow him. He pre- sently assigned to each individual an allotted 64 MEMOIRS OF ©BERLIN. post, selected for himself and a faithful servant the most difficult and dangerous places ; and, regardless of the thorns by which his hands were torn, and of the loose stones by which they were occasionally bruised, went to work with the greatest diligence and enthusiasm. The emula- tion awakened by his conduct quickly spread through the whole parish. The increased number of hands rendered an increased number of imple- ments necessary ; he procured them from Stras- bourg ; expenses accumulated ; he interested his distant friends, and through their assistance funds were obtained ; walls were erected to support the earth, which appeared ready to give way; mountain torrents, which had hitherto inundated the meadows, were diverted into courses, or received into beds sufficient to contain them ; perseverance, in short, triumphed over difficulties, and at the commencement of the year 1770, a communication was opened with Strasbourg, by means of the new road, and a neat wooden bridge thrown across the river. This bridge still bears the name of " Le Pont de Charite.'' The immediate advantages resulting from this great undertaking increased the influence Avhich IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ROADS, 65 Oberlin was already beginning to acquire over his parishioners, and rendered the adoption of his successive plans, particularly that of a regular communication between the five hitherto sepa- rated villages, still more practicable. It seemed as though nothing could daunt their ardour ; and the pastor, who, on the Sabbath, had directed their attention, with that earnestness and warmth by which his own soul was animated, to " the rest that remaineth for the people of God," and the ** city which hath foundations," was seen, on the Monday, with a pick-axe on his shoulder, marching at the head of two hundred of his flock, with an energy that neither fatigue nor danger could diminish. One of the next wants that he found it necessary to supply, was a depot in the valley for agricultural tools and implements of hus- bandry ; for whenever any of them happened to break, or to get out of repair, two whole days' work must be lost in going to Strasbourg to procure more, and even then the poor peasants were destitute of ready money to piirchase them. To remedy this inconvenience, he stocked a large warehouse in Waldbach with the necessary G 3 63 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. articles, and gave the purcliasers credit till their payments came round. He also established a sort of lending fund, under such strict regula- tions, that those who did not punctually repay the money they had borrowed on the prescribed day, were deprived, for a certain time, of the liberty of borrowing again. Another measure, which he considered essential to the progress of civilization, was the intro- duction of trades. There were neither masons, blacksmiths, nor cartwrights, in the country, and the inhabitants were subjected to numerous privations, and to great expenses, in fetching from the neighbouring towns what was needful for the supply of their wants. Oberlin, therefore, selected from among the elder boys some of the readiest abilities, and sent them to Strasbourg, to learn the trades of a carpenter, a mason, a glazier, a cartwright, and a blacksmith. By this means he succeeded in procuring good workmen, who, on their return, not only instructed others in their newly acquired arts, but saved the people of the Ban de la Roche the expense and loss of time they had formerly incurred : nor was this the only advantage accruing from so judicious a IMrilOVEMLNTS IN THE ROADS. 07 stej^, for the money which had hitherto been sent to a distance was now circulated among them- selves. So scarce had money previously been, that the gift of a single sou is said to have over- whelmed a poor woman with joy, as it enabled her to procure a little salt to eat with her potatoes. Finally, Oberhn's soUcitude extended to their dwellings. They were generally wretched cabins, hewn out of the rock, or sunk into the sides of the mountains, and without cellars sufhciently deep to preserve the potatoes, which formed their prin- cipal sustenance, from the frost. Under his super- intendence and direction, however, cellars were constructed, and comfortable cottages erected. In the prosecution of these plans, as well as those introduced at a later period, Oberhn was much indebted to the counsel and experience of his paternal friend, M. Stouber, with whom he maintained a regular correspondence. The following extract from one of his letters deserves insertion in this memoir, because the advice it contains may prove of utihty to others as well as to the individual for whom it was originally designed : — 68 memoirs of oberlin. " My Dear Friend, ****** ****** ** The best advice I can give you, is to care chiefly for the souls of your flock. I would not have you too anxious to render them eager in the pursuit of v^^orldly good ; for, as they become Christians, they will naturally become active, in- dustrious, and provident. You must not allow them to be either idlers, or the slaves of mammon. " By endeavouring too much to induce them to adopt your plans in preference to others, and on account of some supposed superiority over those to which they have been accustomed, you will defeat your own purposes, and excite their suspicion and disgust. I advise you, therefore, to leave them, for the present at least, pretty much to their own devices, and to labour, in charity and love, for the salvation of their souls, firmly believing that by so doing you will obtain the greatest blessing, lliis is the last thing that experience taught me, during my residence in the Steinthal, or rather since I left it. I much regret having occasionally induced the people to do things against their will. If I were now EXTRACT FROM STOUBER's LETTER. 69 there I would leave them much more to them- selves ; and, however indifferent might be the appearance of their external affairs, the state of their finances, or the conduct of their schools, I would say little to them on the subject of economy or management, but, by evincing a sincere interest in their concerns, I would en- deavour to gain their confidence, and induce them to regard me as their friend; and, then, having once obtained this confidence, and a pro- portionate degree of influence, I would exert it, to the utmost of my ability, to their advantage, both in the instruction of the young and the con- version of the old, seeking to win their aflfections by my earnest desire to promote their spiritual interests. If you adopt this method, my dear friend, God will take care of the rest. Necessity will compel your people to employ themselves, and they will think a thousand times better of their own schemes, than of any that you can propose to them. •* I am far from wishing you to give up your projects, (many of which have been already attended with such admirable success,) but I ac- knowledge that I have, for my own part, felt the 70 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. danger of bestowing too much attention upon such things, rather than upon more essential and important duties. At the same time I would not have you by any means neglect a ready acquiescence in such practical schemes as may suggest themselves to the minds of your people, or the adoption of such as may occur to your- self : — only do not make them your primary object." Oberlin particularly felt the importance of the latter part of this advice in his efforts for the improvement of agriculture ; a branch of rural economy in which the mountaineers, however readily they might acquiesce in his other plans, evinced great reluctance to be instructed, sup- posing that their own knowledge of the subject must necessarily exceed that of their pastor, whose life, previous to his arrival in the Ban de la Roche, had been generally spent in a town. He knew this so well that he determined to appeal to their eyes rather than their ears, believing that they would be more easily led to coincide in his views when they had seen his theories reduced to practice. Belonging to his AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 71 parsonage were two gardens, crossed by very public foot-paths, and these he chose for the scene of his labours. Assisted by a favourite and inteUigent servant, he dug trenches, four or five feet deep, and suiTounded the young trees that he planted in them with such soil as he considered best adapted to promote their growth. He also procured slips of apples, pears, plumbs, cherries, and walnuts, and made a large nursery ground of one of his gardens, hitherto noted for the poverty of its soil ; and then waited with patience for the tmie when his parishioners, observing the success of his experiments, should come of their o^vn accord to express their astonishment, and to ask his assistance in raising trees for themselves. His expectations were not disappointed ; the trees grew and flourished ; and, as the peasants had to pass through the gardens in going to their daily work, they could not iielp stopping to ob- serve the surprising contrast between the scanty supply of their own, and the rich produce of their pastor's land, and at length repaired to him, anxiously inquiring how such very fine trees could grow in such a soil. Oberlin, according to his accustomed method of deriving instruction 72 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. from every incident, first directed their thoughts to Him who " causeth the earth to bring forth her bud," and who " crowneth the year with his goodness," and then proceeded to explain the mode of cultivation, by which, under his all- superintending Providence, their exertions might be followed by similar success. The taste for planting trees was thus diffused, and the art of grafting, in which he himself instructed those who wished to understand it, became a favourite employment. The very face of the country, in consequence, underwent a com- plete change ; for the cottages, hitherto for the most part bare and desolate, were surrounded by neat little orchards and gardens ; and, in the place of indigence and misery, the villages, and their inhabitants, gradually assumed an air of rural happiness. So barbarous, before Oberlin's time, had been the state of the Ban de la Roche, with regard to the most simple agricultural arts, that the old men told him they remembered to have heard from their fathers, that previous to the year 1709, the people of this canton subsisted chiefly upon wild apples and pears. The dreadful AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 73 famine that took place that year compelled them to devise means for procuring some other sustenance ; and with this view they partially cleared away an immense forest, which extended nearly all over the country, and planted a sort of potatoes, (quemattes, or cruattes de tierre, in the patois,) which were then first introduced. Owing to the rigorous seasons, and to the soil having been often swept away from the rocks it covered by the rain, this primitive potatoe had so far degenerated, that when Oberlin came to the Ban de la Roche, in 1767, fields that had formerly yielded from 120 to 150 bushels, furnished only between 30 and 50. The people imagined that the ground was in fault, but no means of remedying the evil ever occurred to them. Oberlin, attributing the circumstance to its true cause, pointed out to them the means of recovering the crops, made them acquainted with Parmentier's useful work on the subject, and procured some seed from Switzerland, Hol- land, and Lorraine, to renew the species. The sandy soil of the mountains being peculiarly favourable to their vegetation, abundance soon returned ; and potatoes of a superior quaUty and ^ 74 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. I flavour became, and are to this day, celebrated as the great production of the place, furnishing not only a sufficient store for home consumption, but also a profitable article of exportation. Believing that great advantages would accrue from the cultivation of leguminous plants and productive herbs,* before unknown in that part * Having acquired, during his residence in M, Ziegen- hagen's family, a thorough knowledge of botany, Oberlin made his people acquainted with the properties of their indi- genous plants, particularly with such as were serviceable for food, health, and the useful arts. The names of some of them will excite surprise, accustomed as we are to pass them by unnoticed. Among them were the stripe-flowered cab- bage, irassica oleracea; common chick-weed, stellaria me- dia ; water mouse-ear chick-weed, cerastium aquaticnm ; common goose-foot, chenopodium bonus-henricus ; common dandelion, leontodon autumnale ; mountain willo\v-herb, epi- lobium montanum ; butter-cup, ranunculus ficaria ; yellow dead nettle, galeobdolon luteum ; white dead nettle, lamium album; common hop, humulus lupulus ; red pimpemal, anagallis arvensis ; great plantain, plantago major; upright crowfoot, ranunculus acris ; twisted snake-weed, polt/gonum bistorta; common sorrel, rumex acetosa ; lamb's lettuce, Valeriana locusta ; bladder campion, cwcM5a/M5 JeAen; water- cress, sisymbrium nasturtium ; and corn cockle, agrostemma githago. He taught them to mix the seeds of the latter with corn in making their black bread ; and to procure a sort of wine, called piquette,from the wild cherry, primus cerasus; juniper, juniperus communis ; dog rose, rosa canina, &c. ; to distil brandy from elder-berries, and to obtain oil from beech nuts. AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 75 of the country, Oberlin's next attempt was to raise saint-foin ; but, as this plant strikes its root perpendicularly, and the soil of the Ban de la Roche is not deeper than two feet at most on the rocks and sandstone, it did not succeed, thouffh the flax which he raised from the seed imported from Riga, and the Dutch clover, which he also introduced, answered perfectly well, and considerably augmented the resources of the inhabitants. This success was probably owing in part to the attention he paid to the management of manure, which constitutes a chief secret in agri- culture. He not only directed his labourers to the means of enriching it by fermentation, but taught them also that all sorts of vegetable sub- stances, even the leaves of trees, the stalks of rushes, moss and fir apples, might be converted into a useful compost. Acting upon his favourite maxim, " que rien ne soit perdu," he also in- structed children to tear old woollen rags into pieces, and to cut up old shoes for this purpose ; and to facilitate their labours he paid them six- teen sous for a bushel, and one sou for the smallest quantity they liked to collect. 76 MEMOIKS OF OBERLIN. These incidents may appear trifling and un- worthy of record to some of my readers ; but they are mentioned, together with others in the course of the narrative, as characteristic proofs of the real interest with which Oberhn entered into every thing likely to conduce to the welfare of his flock. As soon as he was fully convinced that they began to recognize the utility of his instinictions, he endeavoured to point out to them the advantages that would arise from converting the least productive pastures into arable land, and feeding the cattle in their stalls ; in order to increase the quantity of milk and butter, which constituted not only so large a part of their subsistence, but also an article of commerce. This conversion of grass into arable land, in a country where rocks were piled upon rocks, and where in some places large masses must be blasted, and in others removed and covered with good soil before the plough could possibly be employed, required of course a great deal of time and labour ; but the industry and zeal with which Oberlin himself began to put in practice every scheme that successively occurred to him, had AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 77 SO much influence upon the minds of his pa- rishioners, that after the prejudices of the few first years had entirely subsided, they seldom failed to enter into his views, and to imitate his ex- ample : — the plan was tried, and answered his most sanguine expectations. In the year 1778, he formed at the Ban de la Roche, a little Agricultural Society, composed of the more intelhgent farmers and the best in- formed inhabitants of his parish; and, having invited the pastors of the adjacent towns, and some of his friends, to become members, he con- nected it with that of Strasbourg, in order to secure the communication of periodical v/orks, and assistance in the distribution of prizes ; and the latter Society wishing to encourage its in- teresting auxiliary, intrusted to its disposal the sum of two hundred francs, to be distributed among such peasants as should most distinguish themselves in the planting of nursery grounds and in the grafting of fruit trees. The good effects resulting from this measure induced Oberlin hkewise to form a fund, sup- ported by voluntary contributions, for the distri- bution of Drizes to the farmers of each commune, h3 78 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. who should rear the finest ox. A short time afterwards, with a view to prepare the rising generation for continuing the works which their fathers had begun, and to give them the op- portunity of acquiring useful information, he commenced the plan of devoting two hours every other Thursday morning to a familiar lecture on the subjects of agriculture and of useful science. Such indeed was his assiduity, that not a year rolled away in which some astonishing improve- ment was not effected in the condition or the morals of his people ; and the surrounding dis- tricts beheld with admiration the rapid progress that civilization was continually making, in the once neglected and apparently forsaken Steinthal. CHAPTER IV. OBERLIN'S ADDRESS TO HIS PARISHIONERS ON THE COMMENCK- MENT OF A NEW YEAR — ERECTION OP A NEW SCHOOL-HOUSE IN THE BAN DE LA ROCHE — PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION — FOUR OTHER SCHOOL-HOUSES ERECTED — INTRODUCTION OP INFANT SCHOOLS, UNDER THE CARE OF CONDUCTRICES — PUBLIC SCHOOLS — WEEKLY ASSEMBLING OF THE CHILDREN AT WALDBACH, TO RECEIVE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION — ESTA- BLISHMENT OF A CIRCULATING LIBRARY — ALMANACK — SPECI- MENS OF THE children's COMPOSITION — CHRISTIAN SOCIETY" ESTABLISHED IN 1782 — 'ABROGATION OP THAT SOCIETY. While Oberlin was thus zealous in encouraging the progress of agriculture, and in forming his people to habits of industry, he attended with equal solicitude to what related more immediately to his pastoral functions, as the following address to his parishioners, on the commencement of the New Year, 1779, bears ample testimony. 80 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " January 1, 1779. ^'■And he that sat upon the throne said. Behold, I make all things new." — Rev. xxi. 5. " Through the grace of God we have entered upon a new year. Oh I that it may be new with resjDect to our sins, our sufferings, and the tempta- tions with which we may have to combat. " As to sins, may their number diminish day by day, and may we be more constantly animated and governed by the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. As to sufferings and tribulations, may they produce the effect which God designs in sending them, namely, that of detaching our affections from this transitory world, and of ren- dering us attentive to his will and Word. May they quicken us to prayer; and induce us to strive more earnestly to enter in at the strait gate, and to ' press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling.' And as to the temptations which may be placed in our way, may we live entirely to Jesus Christ, and maintain constant communion with him, in order that we may receive, from time to time, fresh supplies of grace and strength to resist them, and be enabled to bring forth fruits of righteousness, to the glory of ADDRESS TO HIS PARISHIONERS. 81 God, and to the honour of his Holy Gospel. O Lord, be thou pleased, with the renewal of the year, to renew our strength. O Lord Jesus Christ, thou hast said, * I make all things new ;' O make our faith new also. " May this year be marked by a more lively, more deep, and more serious repentance ; by greater ferv^our in supplicating the influences of God's Holy Spirit ; by renewed earnestness in devoting ourselves to Him, and to his service. May w^e look to Him, and employ all our mental and bodily powers, our time, and our property, to his glory, and to the purpose for which Jesus quitted his throne, namely, the conversion and happiness of mankind. O may we, this year, apply ourselves, with renewed faithfulness, to obey all his commandments and eJI his precepts. " May this year be distinguished by an increase of the number of the children of God, and of the followers of Jesus Christ; by the weakening of the kingdom of Satan within us, and by the coming of the kingdom of God. " May we, not only during the present, but also during each succeeding year which God shall grant us in this probationary world, become 82 MEMOIRS OF OEERLIN. more and more prepared for a blessed eternity — abound more in prayers of intercession and supplication — shed more tears of penitence, con- trition, love and pity — and perform more good works, in order that we may reap an abundant harvest on that day, when God, through Jesus Christ, shall ' make all things new.' " The instruction of the young also engaged, in an especial manner, a large portion of Oberlin's care and attention. When he entered on his charge, in 1767, the only regular school-house in the five villages, was Stouber's hut, which having been constructed of unseasoned wood, was in a most miserable and ruinous condition. His parishioners were, however, very averse to his proposition of erecting a more convenient one ; and, instead of feeling grateful for the benefit he intended to confer on their children, complained that, notwithstanding their extreme poverty, he wished to burden them with fresh expenses ; alleging that, as the old hut had answered very well hitherto, they were sure it would do for a long time to come. He had no otlier way of silencing their objections, than by ERECTION OF A NEW SCHOOL-HOUSS, 83 entering into a formal engagement with the over- seers of the commune, that neither the expense of building or repairing the projected school-house, though erected for the pubUc good, should ever become chargeable on the parish funds. Had he not made this stipulation, he would have found in the parents themselves the most obstinate enemies of his plans for the happiness of their children. He then applied to some of his benevolent friends at Strasbourg for assistance in defraying the expenses of the erection. But though the money thus collected was by no means sufficient for the purpose, and his own little property and narrow income (not exceeding 1000 fr.) scarcely admitted of his prudently embarking in any undertaking which involved pecuniary responsi- bility, he resolved to commence it; for neither personal considerations, nor the fear of being unable to meet contingent expenses, ever deterred him from putting into execution schemes of use- fulness. He had an unbounded confidence in the goodness of his heavenly Father, and was con- vinced, as he often said, that if he asked for any thing with faith, and it was really right that the 84 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. thing should take place, it would infaUibly be granted to his prayers. — " When, indeed, are our plans more likely to succeed, than when we enter upon them in humble and simple depend- ence upon God, whose blessing alone can render them successful ? " The event afforded a fresh evidence of this truth. Not only was the projected building completed, without material injury to his own slender finances, but, in the course of a few years, a school-house was erected in each of the other four villages ; and such was the progress of civilization, that the inhabitants came volun- tarily forward, and seconded the projects of their pastor, by oiFering to take upon themselves both the trouble and the expense attending them. During the construction of these necessary buildings the preparation of masters continued ; but, as Oberlin had observed with concern the disadvantages to which the younger children were subjected, whilst their elder brothers and sisters were at school, and their parents busily engaged in their daily avocations, he laid down a plan for the introduction of mfant schools also ; probably the very first ever estabUshed, and the INFANT SCHOOLS. 85 model of those subsequently opened at Paris, and still more recently in this country. Observation and experience had convinced him that, even from the very cradle, children are capable of being taught to distinguish between right and wrong, and of being trained to habits of subordination and industry ; and, in conjunction with his wife, he therefore formed conductrices for each com- mune, engaged large rooms for them, and salaried them at his own expense. Instruction, in these schools, was mingled with amusement ; and whilst enough of disciphne was introduced to instil habits of subjection, a degree of hberty was allowed, which left the infant mind full power of expansion, and information was conveyed which might turn to the most important use in after life. During school-hours, the children were collected on forms in great circles. Two women were employed, the one to direct the handicraft, tlie other to instruct and entertain them. Whilst the children of two or three years only were made at intervals to sit quietly by> those of five or six were taught to knit, spin, and sew ; and, when they were beginning to be weary of this oc- cupation, their conductrice showed them coloured I 86 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN pictures relating to Scripture subjects or natural history, making them recite after her the explana- tions she gave. She also explained geographical maps of France, Europe, or the Ban de la Roche, and its immediate environs, engraved in wood for the purpose, by Oberlin's direction, and men- tioned the names of the different places marked upon them ; in addition to this, she taught them to sing moral songs and hymns. Thus she varied their employments as much as possible, taking care to keep them continually occupied, and never permitting them to speak a word of patois."^ With minds thus stored and trained by dis- cipline, the children, when arrived at a proper age, entered what may be called the public * By this means correct French was introduced into the Ban de la Roche, and the patois^ Avhich resembles the old French of the twelfth century, partly abolished. JMr. Wilks gives the following specimen of its variation from the modern French, taken from a letter written in this patois. " Biyet. Mis dchers pere et mere ! Dje so erriv^ e Chtrosebourgue e bouonne sante, si no que dj'ons br^mon evu le piooue et que dj'ons etu bin hodes. Dj'ons errive e chez-hounes do sa." " Lettre. Mes chers pere et mere ! Nous sommes arrives a Strasbourg en bonne sant^, si non que nous avons eu beau- coup de pluie et que nous avons e'te bien fatigues. Nous sommes arrives a six heures du soir." PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 87 schools, and the masters were relieved and en- couraged in their duties (which, in such a situa- tion, were sufficiently arduous) by the progress they had already made. Reading, Avriting, arithmetic, geography, the principles of agricul- ture, astronomy, and sacred and profane history, were regularly taught in the higher schools ; but, although Oberlin carefully superintended the whole proceedings, he reserved for himself, almost exclusively, the religious instruction of this large family. Every Sunday the children of each village, in rotation, assembled at the church, to sing the hymns they had learned, to recite the religious lessons which they had com- mitted to memory during the week, and to receive the exhortations or admonitions of their common father.* * The follo\ving hymn is given as a specimen of those in use at the Ban de la Roche. Pour le nouvel an, en particulier. ^ilf, iHxv :jefu ! \a^ getingen. 15. Air. M.M. 1. " Je ne saurois de I'annee Entre tes mains je remets Sans toi commencer le cours, Ma personne et mes projet^? Auteur de ma destine'e ! Je t'adore et je te prie Sage Arbitre de mes jours ! De renouveller ma vie 88 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Besides this Sabbath service, with a view to excite a spirit of emulation between the several schools, and to improve the modes of instruction by comparing those of the several masters, Oberlin established a weekly meeting of all the scholars at Waldbach. This proved a means of stimu- lating them to industry, for they knew that the " Cher Papa," as he was designated by all his parishioners, attentively watched their progress, 2. 4. " Guide-moi par ta lumiere, " Daigne augmenter cette an- Soutiens-moi par ton amour nee Dans la nouvelle carriere, En moi tes graces, Seigneur Q,ue je commence en ce jour : Que mon ame illuminee Affranchis-moi de Terreur ; Se ddvoue a ton honneur ; Excite et porte mon cceur Et qu'en fidele chretien, A ne vouloir, a ne faire M'attachant toujours au bieu Quele bien,qui pent te plaire. Et fuyant I'hjpocrisie, Je te consacre ma vie. 3. 5. •' J'ai des ma plus tendre en- " Dieu tout-bon fais que je fance Souvent transgress^ ta loi ; Cette ann^e heureusement : Tl est temps que je commence Jesus ! fais luire ta face A me rapprocher de toi ; Sur moi favorablement : Pour assurer mon bonheur Rends-moi ferme dans la foi Fais qu'une sainte frayeur Pour vivre et mourir en toi, Me porte a la penitence, Et pour avoir en partage Pour desaimer ta vengeance. De tes elus Theritage." PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 89 and they were most anxious to secure his ap- proving smiles ; so universally was he beloved, that those smiles were regarded by the children, as a sufficient reward for all the labours of the past week. The success that attended these benevolent and interesting exertions, induced his friends at Strasbourg to increase their subscriptions ; en- do"\^Tnents were even added, (which were lost at the Revolution,) and Oberhn was thus enabled to establish a library of valuable works for the private use of the children ; and to have a nimiber of school-books, such as the " Coup d'ceil sur la Nature," and " L'Ami des Enfans," printed for the exclusive use of the Ban de la V Roche ; he also made a collection of indigenous plants, and procured an electrical machine, and other philosophical and mathematical instru- ments. Prizes were likewise awarded to both V masters and scholars ; and various works upon natural history, and other branches of science, some of which he printed at his own expense, V* put in circulation on the plan of a little book- y society, being retained for three months at a time, first at one village, and then at another, i3 90 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. passing successively from house to house, in order that the younger members of the family might be supphed with a continual fund of useful and agreeable information, Oberlin, about this time, di*ew up an almanack, divested of all the falsehoods and superstitions with which those in use were filled, thinking that their tendency was to mislead and deceive uneducated persons. I do not possess a copy of this almanack, but it concludes with the following passages, in reference to the purpose for which it was WTitten, which show that he thought nothing beneath his notice that seemed likely either to please, or instruct his parishioners. " Advice to my countrymen of the Ban de la Roche, upon this almanack. " 1. The people of Germany have private almanacks, divided, by means of ruled lines, into a number of partitions. In each partition the names of the different individuals of the family are written, with a little blank space below them, in order that some notice may there be made of the manner in which the day has been past, or HIS ALMANACK. 91 any necessary memoranda inserted. I have at length prepared such an almanack for your use. "2. The Strasbourg children are accustomed to find their baptismal names in their almanack, and to celebrate the days on which they are recorded. You may also do the same with yours. They will all be found in this almanack. "3. The fathers and mothers of large and numerous families are often puzzled to find pretty baptismal names, to distinguish their children from those who bear the same family name. Henceforth, if they only consult this new almanack, they will soon be enabled to decide. "4. In your common almanacks you find, and pay for, a number of incomprehensible things; for others absolutely useless ; and for others contrary to the commands of God, such as prognostics of the weather, nativities, predictions from the planets according to birth- days, lucky and unlucky days, or good or bad omens. This new almanack is divested of such nonsense. " 5, The changes of the moon, echpses, and even some information respecting the course of the planets ; the names and figures of the twelve signs of the zodiac : the time of the sun's rising 92 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. and setting ; and even the number of the months, and that of the weeks, are, you will find, never- theless, inserted here. "6. I have been frequently asked the signi- fication of names of a strange origin. By means of this almanack, I am enabled to give a reply to all my parishioners, for it contains the significa- tion of every name, which can be ascertained with certainty. "7. What a pity, you will perhaps say, that it is come so late. I say the same. It ought to have been completed before the end of January. But what good do you possess, the acquisition of which has not been retarded by various delays and obstacles ? For my own part, I am so accustomed to expect this, in every thing I do for you, that I am heartily glad it is accom- plished, even at this late period. " 8. What does it cost, you will inquire. Dear friends! this almanack is the fruit of my long- cherished desires to promote your good. Accept it as such. If it proves of any real benefit to you, or affords you a moment's grati- fication, look up to your heavenly Father, and say, * Thy goodness, O Lord, has crowned me HIS ALMANACK. 93 with blessings. Permit me to thank thee for them ; and do thou strengthen, by whatever means it may please thee to employ, the feeble faith of thy too feeble child.' " Oberlin knew how to blend amusement with instruction in the wisest and most judicious manner ; and whilst his primary object ever was to ground the young people in the principles of our Christian faith, and to induce them to consider religion as the guardian and inspirer of their happiness, he had also the talent of diifusing amongst them that taste for pastoral and agri- cultural Hfe, which their circumstances rendered so i^eculiarly desirable. In order to familiarize the children of twelve or fifteen years of age with these pursuits, they were accustomed to write, under the direction of their teachers, short essays on agriculture and the management of fruit trees, selected and ex- tracted from the best authors. These they after- wards committed to memory ; and, at the annual examination, they were expected to give answers to the questions proposed. The Ban de la Roche presented a delightful 94 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. field for Botany,"^ and they were, even at a still earlier period, initiated in the principles of that pleasing science, being allowed to ramble in the woods, in summer, in search of plants, of which they had learned the names and properties during the winter, and to transplant them into little gardens of their own, which their parents had been induced to give them, for the exercise of their industry and skill. They were also taught to draw the flowers ; an art in which some of them succeeded remarkably well.f * Of 4874 species of i^lants, which compose the French Flora, nearlj 700 are found grooving naturally in the small extent of uneven surface forming the Haut Champ. The flora of these primitive mountains might be estimated at about 1000, including the hypoxylons and other azotic plants. The evergreens, such as lichens, mosses, horse-tails, brakes, hepaticae, coniferae, and the families which delight in elevated or umbrageous situations, and little vegetable mould, form the principal clothing of the heights of the Ban de la Roche. — WiLKS. + The editor has seen several groups of flowers copied from nature by Oberlin's scholars. She has in her possession a garland of roses and heart's-ease, upon which the children of our charity schools would look with astonishment, were they told it was painted by a poor little boy in similar circum- stances with them-selves. The following text is neatly written in French, in the centre : — " Thou shalt also be a crown of SCHOOLMASTERS. 95 From what has been related, it will be sup- posed that the schoolmasters were, at this period, persons of a somewhat different description from the shepherd schoolmasters in Stouber's time. Individuals of the first distinction in the village were generally fixed upon for the office, now become a very important one ; and indeed at Bellefosse, the character of mayor and school- master were at one time united in the same person. They were still called •* Regents," according to M. Stouber's original suggestion, and were paid on a plan fixed by law : widows, masters of families, and each particular child sent to school, had a certain proportion to pay. Among other things, the regents were required to impress upon the minds of their pupils, that from the peculiarity of their local circumstances, (their maintenance depending almost entirely on glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." — Isaiah Ixii. 3. And underneath are in- scribed these words : — " Will you, Mr. Legrand, accept this slight token of sincere gratitude from your humble and dutiful scholar, " GUSTAVUS SCHEIDECKER." Thus were the little children of the Ban de la Roche ac- customed to acknowledge their obligation?, to those who kindly took charge of their education. 96 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. the products of the valley,) it was a duty incum- bent upon them to contribute their share towards the general prosperity; and, previously to re- ceiving religious confirmation, they were expected to bring a certificate from their parents, that they had planted, in a spot described, two young trees.* The day on which the first fruit was * It is the injunction of the Apostle that " whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. X. 31. The views of religion, which Oherlin enter- tained, made him bring the greatest principles to the minu- test operation. He would take a stone out of the road, if it were likely to incommode a traveller, on the principle of love to his neighbour : and, in this manner he argued respect- ing all the duties in which mankind are engaged. Take, for instance, a direction to his people on planting trees. This, Avith other men, would be an affair of convenience ; with him, in his circumstances, it was a religious duty. He thus addressed his parishioners. " November 13, 1803. " Dear Friends, " Satan, the enemy of mankind, rejoices when we demolish and destroy. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the contrary, rejoices when we laboiu- for the public good. " You all desire to be saved by Him, and hope to become partakers of his glory. Please Him, then, by every possible means, during the remainder of the time you may have to live in this world. " He is pleased, when, from the principle of love, you plant trees for the public benefit. Now is the season. Be willing then to plant them. Plant them also in the best possible raanner. Remember you do it to please Him, PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 97 presented to their beloved pastor, was an in- teresting and useful festival. Thus were the clouds of ignorance, which had, for a long period, settled on the Ban de la Roche, gradually dispelled by the enlightening influence of Christian education ; and this at a time when knowledge was considered unnecessary, and dan- gerous for the poorer classes ; and when the modem systems of cheap and mechanical in- struction were almost entirely unknown. The change that was, in the course of a few years, effected in this place, is the more extraordinary when we reflect upon the state of the people pre- vious to Oberlin's arrival ; and, in contemplating it, we are involuntarily led to unite with him, in ascribing the praise to that great and glorious Being to whom alone it is due, and who had thus caused " the waters to break out in the wilder- ness, and streams in the desert." The total renunciation of any thing like merit of his own, formed a remarkable and striking feature in Oberlin's character ; he regarded himself merely " Put all your roads into good condition ; ornament them ; employ some of your trees for this purpose, and attend to their growth." K 98 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. as the instrument whom it had pleased God to employ, and was frequently heard to say, " I have little merit in the good that I have done ; I have only that of obedience to the wiU of God. He has been graciously pleased to manifest his intentions to me, and has always given me the means of executing them." The following specimen of one of the children's writing-books, transcribed from the original, without alteration or correction, wiU perhaps be deemed an interesting document, as it exhibits a specimen of the method of instruction em- ployed by the Ban de la Roche teachers, and a proof of the acquirements made by their scholars. The book belonged to one of the Httle girls of Belmont school, and bears marks of Oberhn's revision. The exercise, of which only a part is inserted, was probably written from dictation. It is given word for word. F. Henriette Virginie Scheidecker, de Ged. Obthographe. No. 5. Filles Chrdtiennes ! Vos meres et vos maitresses sont obligees de veiller sur votre conduite et sur vos demarches, de prendre garde que vous sovez toujours habill^es avec modestie ; d'empecher vos children's composition 99 vanitds et de vous preserver de societes dangereuses. Si votre pere et votre mere ne vous les defendent pas, ils peclient, et vous peehez vous-memes, si vous leur desobeissez et que vous leur causez de noirs chagrins. Composition. Una jeune fille, nominee Dorothe'e, fut envoje'e a la ville par sa pau\Te mere, pour y vendre quelques ceufs qui lui restoient encore pour acheter une miche de pain ; quaud elle fut arrivee au marclie elle voulut encore compter les 24 sols qu'elle avoit pour acheter une miche de pain, elle les avoient perdus par sa poche dechiree, la voila bien chagriaiee, elle retourne pour voir si personne ne les a trouves, mais c'est en vain ; enfin voUa un beau monsieur monte sur un cheval, qui lui dit, pourquoi pleures-tu, ma petite ? — elle lui dit, c'est que j'ai perdu im mouchoir qu'il y avoit 24 sols, dedans, ce monsieur lui dit, je Tai trouve, et veut lui donner un beau mouchoir de soie ; elle dit, oh ! Dieu m'en garde, le mien etoit un vieux mouchoir de coton ; et ce monsieur lui dit, reste fidele, ma petite, et il lui fit present du mouchoir de soie et de la piece d'or." [Then follow sums in numeration, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as the conjugations of several verbs, and some grammatical exercises. These last contain what is called "haute analyse," or the complete parsing of all the principal words in the story above recited.] Geographie. No. 5. [These are probably answers to questions about France."] 1. Le commerce maritime se fait avec les 3 autres parties du monde et ne pent se faire qu'en traversant les mers. 2. Les fils, les toiles fines, et les dentelles. 3. Strasbourg pour les fabriques de tabac. 4. Les produits d'industrie servant a la bdtisse sont : h'3 100 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. planches, les metaiix pour les fourneaux et les serrures, la chaux, les briques et les verres pour les fenetres." \^The sense of this, 2, 3, 4, seems incomplete^ but it is copied from the original.'] 5. Marseille est le port de mer le plus considerable de toute la France. Agriculture. No. 10. [Seems to have been upon the natural history of some atiimal.] 1. Parcequ'ils enfoncent le gazon et lorsque la saison est humide comme d' ordinaire I'impression de pas de ces ani- maux forment autant de trous. 2. Elle pourroit servir de litiere a Tecurie et augmenter le tas de fumier. 3. Les betes s'en portent mieux, etant plus chaudement couchees. 4. Les fumier des boeufs vaut infiniment mieux pour les tcrres sablonneuses et graveleuses que celui des chevaux. 5. Un pre qu'on ne sauroit arroser doit etre amende de deux en deux ans avec du fumier, ou des cendres, ou quel- qu'engrais equivalent. HisToiRE Sainte. No. 5. L Dieu crea au troisieme jour la terre avec tout ce qu'elle produit. 2. La pluie du ddluge dura quarante jours et quarante nuits. 3. Esau etoit habile chasseur et homme de campagne. 4. Ce que Reuben disoit c'etoit pour le delivrer de leurs mains et le renvoyer a son pere. 5. Lorsque les freres de Joseph voiderent leurs sacs, chacun d'eux trouva le paquet d'argent qu'ils avoient doune pour leur ble. CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. 101 In the year 1782, Oberlin, in the hope of advancing the spiritual interests of his people, established a society, which he denominated " The Christian Society." The following is a summary of the Rules, translated from the ori- ginal, in his own hand- writing. Rubricks of the Christian Society^ for assisting the Memory of the Members, and especially that of the Superinten- dents, whose duty it is to see that they are duly observed. 1. Regeneration. 2. Sanctification. 3. " We are all one in Christ Jesus." 4. " Abide in me." 5. " Christ is all, and in all." 6. " Bring forth much fruit." 7. " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." 8. Nourish the inner man, by (1.) The word of God. (2.) Continual prayer. (3.) The frequent use of the Holy Sacrament. 9. The Superintendents are the Overseers, whom the members choose from amongst themselves. \0. Not only the Superintendents, but also all the mem- bers, ought to watch over each other for good ; to exhort and to warn each other, 11. With sweetness, charity, humility, and patience. 12. As to the incorrigible — follow the example of Jesus Christ, Matt, xviii. 15, 16. 13. Meet for prayer on this subject. 14. Be submissive to your superiors. All the members are fellow-workers vnth their pastor^ k3 102 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. 15. Good management. 16. Good education. 17. " Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands." 18. " Search the Scriptures" diligently. 19. Diligence. Diligence with application and energy — • that is to say, industry. 20. " Be careful for nothing." 21. Lose no time. 22. Allow of no idleness or negligence, on the part of those confided to your care. 23. Honest and exact payment : no artfulness or cunning. — See Rom. xii. 17. 24. " Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love." 25. Endeavour to promote the happiness of alL 26. " Provoke unto love and to good works." 27. Appropriate part of your earnings, at stated intervals, to the public good. This Society seems, by the account which is given of it, to have been established for the purpose of prayer and religious conversation. It appears to have been violently opposed and spoken against by some persons in the parish, which induced Oberlin, in the supposition that the scandal of the bad prevailed over the ad- vantage of the good, to put it down about a! year and a half after its formation. At its dis- solution, he delivered an address on the subject to his parishioners. It alludes to the cause of its ABROGATION OF THE SOCIETY. 103 abrogation ; and affords such complete evidence of his devotedness to God, and love to his Saviour, as well as boldness in reproving sin, and prudence in preventing any just cause of censure, that I May 1, 1783. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one ; as thotc. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in ics ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. — John xvii. 20, 21. These verses contain the last desire, the last prayer of our gracious Redeemer — ^his earnest prayer, since it was four times repeated — the union of all his beloved disciples among themselves and with him, as he and the Father are one. As the pastor of your parish, a minister of the Gospel, and a servant of Jesus Christ, my aim ought to be to do the will of Jesus Christ ; to bring souls to him ; and to unite them together in him. Such was my aim, in establishing two years since the Christian Society. Every end requires means. I could have wished that all my parishioners might by degrees have associated themselves with it, I have often publicly invited them. Some have complied. More than one hundred and thirty individuals have been friends to it, and have willingly kept company with us, to listen to what Avas going forward. Some have declared themselves enemies. Some have calumniated it, without even understanding its purport, or wishing to under- stand it, although the doors of the church were open, and they had, more than two hundred times, the opportunity of remaining to see what passed. Some amongst them have calumniated it against their conscience. They have sjiid 104 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. that I placed sentinels at the doors, to prevent those who were not members from entering. This was a downright falsehood. By what means then did you come, you from all the five villages — who were so often auditors without being members ? The greater part of the members did not announce them- selves to be such, till they knew and understood the prin- ciples, by which the Society was regulated. How were they able to do this if sentinels Avere posted to prevent their approach ? How did Mr. the elder, of Waldbach, and Mr. of Foudai, manage, — who, without being members, have been present so frequently.!^ Hoav did Messrs. manage ? — the family of Marechal, of AValdbach, the founders of Rothau, the wife of M. le Regent, and many other persons, who were so often wdth us, that we were never once alone ? There have been many other individuals, who were not members, present. If they have had the hardihood to invent such falsehoods respecting us, as they now refuse to acknowledge, how much greater may they have invented ? Your gracious Lord earnestly desires that you should all be true Christians — such as the Gospel portrays — and such as I have endeavoured to make you, whether through this Society, or through any other means. But, on account of some atrocious calumnies respecting it, I am come to the resolution of abrogating its name and ex- ternal forms : — a thing which I can do the more easily, because Christianity does not consist either in names, or in external forms. I abrogate it then to-day; and I abrogate it, as fully assured of God's direction in doing so, as I was assured of his direction in its establishment. And this partly for the following reasons : 1st. I have, in a gieat measure, obtained the end I had in view. ABROGATION OF THE SOCIETY. 105 2d. Names and external forms are not essential, but are subject to vicissitude. 3d. In the event of my death or removal, this external form would have been liable to change ; and the members, overtaken by surprise, would have resembled, in some de- gree, sheep without a shepherd, and would not have known what to do. It is better that this should happen during my life-time. I have said that I have, in a great measure, obtained my end. First. With respect to those who have been willing to become members. 1st. They have had the opportunity of declaring them- selves on the side of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and of acknowledging him, which is a thing of no trivial im- portance, if we recollect that passage, Matt. x. 32, " Who- soever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him ^nll I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." 2d. They have learned to know more of their spiritual wants ; and how necessary it is for them to be found in Christ Jesus, " without spot and blameless," " rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith." 3d. They have felt, more than ever, the duty and necessity of prayer. Many, previous to the formation of this Society, had not even an idea of that continual prayer of the heart, which Jesus Christ recommends to his disciples, Luke xviii. 4tn. They have been led to feel that many souls are anxious for their salvation. They know, now, where to seek the friends of God, and of Jesus Christ, in order to enjoy the edification and benefit of Christian communion. 5th. They have learned to " be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven" them. Secondly. With respect to those who have not been mem- bers. A number of precious souls have been awoke from their sleep, and, although they could not resolve to declare 106 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. themselves members, yet thej have been induced to pay more attention to their spiritual necessities — have been led to look upon themselves as sinners — have learned to tremble for their salvation — and have become also " instant in prayer." 1st. I cannot sufficiently thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the good that he has, through thia medium, been pleased to effect in my dear parish ; and for the evident blessing that has rested upon it. Ma}'- ne watch over it, and grant that the good fruits brought forth may be perfected, and rendered permanent. May the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ be promoted, and extended, by any other means that he may see meet to appoint. 2d. May he sustain his church, according to his promise. Matt. xvi. 18, so that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." May He, who said to his disciples, " He that receiveth you, receiveth me," register all its members in his Book of Life. May he abundantly shed his Holy Spirit upon them, and " grave them upon the palms of his hands," so that no one may be able to draw them away, or to turn them from him. May he protect them, sanctify them, purify them, and prepare them for their heavenly inheritance. 3d. I thank God also, for all those who have sho^vn them- selves friends to this Society. May He reward you for the joy whick you have thus imparted to your distressed and afflicted pastor. May he bring you nearer and nearer to Jesus. May you become of the number of his own dear people — a people zealous of good works — the sheep of his beloved little flock. 4th. I thank those who have permitted their wives and children to belong to it, and to declare themselves openly. May God recompense them for all that they have done " unto the least of my iDrethren." May he recompense them also .^g^Bchly and eternally, for the good which they have done to their wives and children, in permitting them to participate in the contempt which Jesus Christ suffered; to bear his ARTICLES OF THE SOCIETY. 107 cross; and to become partakers in the promise which our Lord has made to those who confess his name before men. O my dear auditors ! leave, leave, I entreat you, the ways of Belial. Devote yourselves to the Lord Jesus. He is able and Avilling to receive every soul that earnestly seeks him. He Avill cast out none that come unto him ; having shed his blood for all, he desires to receive all into his arms. Hasten then to be saved. Time flies away; death draws near. " There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," than Jesus Christ, whom I preach unto you. Hasten to him. Fly to him. Pray, mourn, weep; seek after him in the secret of j'our hearts, until you find him. Amen. In the course of the year 1784, Oberhn had the following paper printed in French and German, and placed in a conspicuous station in every cottage throughout this extensive parish. It serves to prove at how early a period the subject of missions occupied his mind, and led him to form those monthly prayer-meetings to promote this object, which are now carried for- wards by most of the denominations of Christians throughout the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ desires his followers to espouse his interests ; to aid him in his great work ; and to pray m his name. To conduce to this end he has himself furnished them with one common prayer. For the satisfaction and assistance of some individuals amongst us, a sort of Spiritual Association was established a few years ago ; and by means of printed sheets, the follow- ing aiticles were agreed upon, and circulated : — 108 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. First. Every member of this Society shall pray on the first Monday of every month, th For these several years past I have been repeat- edly threatened with sudden death.* Now, thank God, I am very well. "May God be with you, dear and not to be forgotten friend, and with your dear family. It gives me no concern to think that we shall not see each other again in this world ; — in the next our intercourse will be more frequent, more easy, and more delightful. Adieu. " Your aged friend of seventj'^-three, " J. F. Oberlin. " My sincere respects to the Rev. Dr. Stein- kopff." Henry also wrote to Mr. Heisch about the same time, and as his letter contains some parti- * Oberlia had a most extraordinary and serious illness during the period of the Revolution, in 1794, supposed to be brought on by over-exertion, and he never appeared to have entirely overcome the shock that his constitution underwent. The prevailing disposition of the mind sometimes displays itself during the intervals of delirium, and, whilst his fever lasted, he often distressed poor Louisa, by perpetually calling upon her to bring him thousands and thousands for the fur- therance of his plans. He used often to speak afterwards of the state of his mind during his illness, and of the distinct ideas he had been enabled to form of the difference between the natural and spiritual man. q3 174 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. culars of his truly interesting family, and of various circumstances to which I shall afterwards have to refer, I insert it. " Waldbach, December 11, 1813. " Highly honoured Sir, my valued friend, and former teacher. — My father received your friendly letter on the 10th of April, and he allows me the pleasure of replying to part of it. " The Steinthal has, during the last few years, witnessed many melancholy, but also many cheering events. Conflagrations, formerly so rare, have destroyed many houses in most of the villages ; even the beautiful parsonage of Rothau fell, a few years ago, a prey to the flames. We have also lost, since that period, several of the most worthy inhabitants of our valley, who, both in word and deed, were bright and shining ex- amples to their contemporaries; such were, for instance, Catherine Gagniere and Catherine Banzet. We must likewise include among our apparent adversities the circumstance of cotton- spinning having been on the decline for several years, and as a similar circumstance occurs with regard to weaving, many families have been LETTER FROM HENRY OBERLIN. ITT) thrown into great distress. But God, who has always had an open eye upon the Stein thai, and extended a helping hand towards it, has also manifested himself in the present juncture. Be- sides the excellent magistrates (maires) witli whom the whole of my dear father's parish is blessed, God has given us, in the person of the Count Lezay Marnesia, a prefect who entertains an extraordinary affection for the people of the Steinthal. Through his means in particular, and the striking interposition of Providence, the long- pending law-suit about the forests, which had been so oppressive to the inhabitants, has been brought to an amicable conclusion this year. It also pleased God to send, a short time since, a gentleman into this country who formerly kept a ribbon manufactory in Alsace, and who takes a great interest in effectually assisting the inhabit- ants of the Steinthal. Our good and excellent Louisa Schepler is still ahve, and always, in con- junction with my dear father, observing the same fidelity and self-devotion in the performance of her duties. We, his children, have been very much dispersed, but we were much more so a little time ago than we are now. It is, indeed. 173 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. remarkable how we are concentrated in tlie Steinthal. My brother Charles has been for some years past clergyman of Rothau.* My sister Frederica, who married the Rev. Mr. Rauscher, now resides at Barr, where Mr. Rau- scher keeps a school, and also exercises his minis- terial functions. I am myself, in fine, come to the Steinthal from Russia, or Livonia, though not by the shortest way. I wrote to you, re- spected friend, from Riga, under the date of August 2d, 1811. I wrote also at a later period to Dr. Steinkopff, but I never received an answer from your country. I ought to have mentioned above, that the gentleman who is introducing the ribbon manufactory into the Steinthal is a native of Basle ; perhaps he is not imknown to you. It is Mr. Legrand, who was formerly a member of the Directory in Switzer- land. My dear sister Louisa Charite is married to a good worthy man, the Rev. Peter Witz, of * Charles Conserve, Oberlin's second son, was born in 1776. In the year 1803, he married Sophia Catherine Franck, of Strasbourg, the widow of an officer named Berard. On account of his father's advancing age, he was induced, in 1806, to relieve him of part of his pastoral duties, by accepting the living of Rothau, at which place he still resides. LETTER FROM HENRY OBERLIN. 177 Colmiir. She, as well as dear Frederica, has several children, and so also has sister Henrietta, in Russia. Our beloved sister Fidelite has been for several years lost to us in this world, which grieves me in particular, even now. — The good Fidelite — what a faithful sister she was ! — as faithful a sister as she was a mother and wife.* " I shall now conclude, as it is possible that my dear father and Louisa may wish to add a word themselves. " I remain ever, "Your grateful old pupil and Friend, " Henry Gottfried Oeerlin." * Fiddite Caroline Oberlin was married, in 1795, to the Rev. James Wolff, of Mittelbergheim. She died May 9th. 1809, leaving two little girls, who soon followed their mother to the grave. Her death was a great affliction to her near connexions, but especially to Henry, to whom she was re- markably endeared, and to her father. In speaking of this circumstance, Mr. Heisch, the long and intimate friend of the family, says, " I particularly recollect the warm attach- ment that subsisted between Oberlin's daughter Fidelite, his son Henry, and himself Oh, he did love his children most tenderly ! If I am not mistaken, I saw him weep but once, and that was when he married his daughter Fidelite' to Mr. Wolff. Tears of joy, in the prospect of her happiness, were then mingled with those tears of grief, which a separation from this beloved child could not but occasion. Some time after he repeatedly visited her at Mittelbergheim, and I 178 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Although on Oberlin's first arrival in the Ban de la Roche, the population consisted of eighty or a hundred famihes only, it increased in the course of a few j^ears to five or six hundred, con- stituting altogether three thousand souls. To provide employment for so great a number of persons, even supposing that five hundred could be employed during four or five months of the year in the cultivation of land, and that one third were infants and infirm persons incapable of work, became a most important object ; and gave rise to the introduction of various branches of mechanical industry, adapted to local circum- stances ; such, for instance, as straw-platting, knitting, and dying with the plants of the country. The former was introduced by an invalid captain, whose gratitude for the kind reception he met with on soliciting the hospitality of the generous pastor of Waldbach, induced him to proffer his services in furthering the views of his benefactor^ by instructing the young persons in an art with had once or twice the pleasure of accompanjdng him. It is scarcely possible for any one, who was not an eye witness to this scene, to form an idea of the tender affection that sul> sisted between father and daughter." COTTON-SriNNING. 179 which necessity had previously made him ac- quainted. Besides these employments, Oberlin had suc- ceeded in introducing the spinning of cotton by the hand ; and, as he gave prizes to the best spinners in addition to their wages, this branch of industry for a time succeeded so well, that it once gained for the Ban de la Roche, in the course of a single year, and from one manu- facturer, the emolument of 32,000 francs — an enormous sum, considering the extreme poverty and indigence to which the inhabitants had but just before been subjected. Weaving followed, and, notwithstanding numerous obstacles, pro- mised a large increase of pecuniary means ; but unfortunately, the introduction of machinery at Schirmeck and some of the surrounding villages, produced an entire revolution about the time the preceding letter was written, deprived them of this source of maintenance, and seemed likely to reduce them to their former state of necessity and want. During this emergency, Mr. Legrand, of Basle, formerly one of the Directors of the Helvetic Republic, and of whom Henry makes grateful 180 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. mention, attracted to the Ban de la Roche by- regard and affection for its pastor, and the sim- plicity, intelligence, and integrity, of his pa- rishioners, persuaded his two sons, to whom he had relinquished business, to remove their m.anu- factor)'- of silk ribbons from the department of the Upper Rhine to Foudai, believing that its intro- duction into the Steinthal, by giving employ to a great number of hands, would become not only an advantage but a real blessing to the peasantry there, who were at this period sadly in need of work. The first invasion of the allies, who took possession of their workshops, induced Mr. Daniel and Mr. Joseph Legrand to accede, without hesi- tation, to the wishes of their father, and indeed proved a means of hastening their removal.* In the course of a short time, through the ex- ertions of this benevolent and highly respectable family, industry and happiness again smiled ii * The name of Daniel Legrand is well known in connexion with the Paris Bilile Society, to which he has long been warm and zealous friend. Having himself experienced, in striking manner, the renovating influence of religion, he now takes every opportunity of inducing others, as far as lies in his power, to become " followers of Jesus," and to embrace tliose truths which form the ground of his own faith and practice. SILK MANUFACTORY. 181 the valley:— for whilst the introduction of the silk manufactory caused trade to be carried on with renewed vigour, and gave employment to several hundred hands, it w^as attended with another great advantage, too seldom experienced in manufacturing districts ; this was, that the ribbon looms were distributed about the houses in the different villages, so that, contrary to the usual custom, the children could remain whilst at work under the eye of their parents, instead of being exposed to the contaminating influence of bad example. " Conducted by Providence,*' says Mr. Legi'and, in a letter addressed to the Baron de Gerando,* " into this remote valley, I was the more struck with the sterility of its soil, its straw -thatched cottages, the apparent poverty of its inhabitants, and the simplicity of their fare (chiefly consisting of potatoes) from the contrast which these ex- ternal appearances formed to the cultivated con- versation which I enjoyed with almost every individual I met whilst traversing its five villages, and the frankness and naivete of the children, * See Rapport fait a la Societe Royale et Centrale d' Agri- culture, &c. 182 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. who extended to me their little hands. I had often heard of Pastor Oberlin, and eagerly sought his acquaintance. He gave me the most hos- pitable reception, and anticipated my .desire to know more of the history of the Httle colony whose manners had surprised me so greatly, by placing in my hands the annals of his parish.* There I found an unconnected, but detailed history of the institutions for general instruction founded by his predecessor, and continued by himself. "It is now four years since I removed here with my family ; and the pleasure of residing in the midst of a people whose manners are softened and whose minds are enlightened by the instruc- tions which they receive from their earliest infancy, more than reconciles us to the privations which we must necessarily experience in a valley separated from the rest of the world by a chain of surrounding mountains." -j- * The Annals of the Ban de la Roche were commenced by Oberlin in 1770. t Mr. Legrand soon became a most useful auxiliary to Oberlin, devoting his leisure hours to benevolent purposes. The superintendence and direction of the schools, Avhich he managed in a very superior manner, particularly claimed his attention ; and so great was his ardour in the work, that he TERMINATION OF A LAW-SUIT. 183 With regard to the long- impending law- suit, mentioned in the preceding letter from Henry Oberlin to Mr. Heisch, it seems necessary to give some explanation, more especially as it will afford another proof, in addition to the many already adduced, that the almost unbounded influence which Oberlin had acquired over his people, was always exerted for purposes of bene- ficence. The litigation to which that letter refers, had been carried on for upwards of eighty years, between the peasantry of the Ban and the seigneurs of the territory, with respect to the right of the forests which covered the greater part of the mountains. This ruinous contest, which impoverished both parties by an enormous expense, and discouraged improvement, had sur- vived even the French Revolution, which swept away in a moment so many absurd remnants of ancient feudalism. M. de Lezay Marnesia,* pre- was once about to take up his residence for the seven winter months in Belmont school, had not his health prevented it. * M. de Lezay Marnesia entertained a peculiar affection and respect for Oberlin, although differing from him in his religious tenets. He would sometimes consiilt him on the sceptical objections to revealed religion which presented themselves to his mind, and appear as well pleiised to yield as Oberlin was to gain tlie victory in argument 184 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. feet of the Lower Rhine, who deeply lamented the disgraceful contention, and earnestly desired to see it terminated, at length opened his mind to Oberlin on the subject, and entreated him to use every effort in his power for the restoration of peace, declaring that he knew no other person so capable of effecting it. The latter readily acceded to his wishes, for it was what he himself had long and ardently desired, though the impossi- bility of accomplishing it, until sanctioned by the authority of the magistrate, had hitherto pre- vented his taking an active part in the business.* No sooner had he received this intimation, than he began to take every opportunity of convincing his parishioners, in private conversation, that this litigation was the scourge of the country ; as- suring them that a voluntary sacrifice on their part, for the sake of peace, would be far pre- ferable to the uncertainties of a prolonged law- suit, and that the end they wished to gain could only be obtained by a succession of the most * Oberlin had for several years this motto affixed to one of his doors. " O Gott, ebarme Dich des Steinthals, und mache dem Prozess eiii Ende." ("O God, have mercy on the Steinthal, and put an end to the law-suit T') TERMINATION OF A LAW-SUIT. 18,J wearisome debates. Nor was it in private con- versation only that he urged his plea, for in the pulpit also he frequently insisted on the duty of avoiding subjects of dispute, and on the charac- teristics of that charity " which sufFereth long and is kind, seeketh not her own, beareth all things." Having, in this manner, prepared his pa- rishioners to listen to his proposal, and when he saw that they were ready to receive it, he frankly declared his conviction that they were bound as much by their interest as their duty to consent to an accommodation. His advice was followed. The parties acceded to an agreement advantageous to both sides. What so many years had not been able to effect, Oberlin — the mild and gentle Oberlin — brought about by a few conciliatory words. The prefect was desirous that the inhabitants should not be allowed to forget to whom they were indebted for the restoration of peace. At his suggestion, the mayors in deputation presented to their pastor the pen with which M. de Lezay had signed the solemn engagement, entreating him to suspend it in his study as a trophy of the victory r3 I8G MEIVIOIRS or OBERLIN. which his habitual beneficence of character had, under the divine blessing, enabled him to gain over long- continued animosity and bad feeling. He modestly complied with their request, and was often heard to say that the day on which that pen was used, June 6th, 1813, was one of the happiest of his life.* I must now advert to an affecting event, which happened in Oberlin's family in the winter of 1817. This was the death of his son Henry Gottfried, who had only resided under the pa- ternal roof for about three years after his return from Russia, before he was summoned hence, to taste, as we have every reason to believC; of the joys of heaven. " God's ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts our thoughts :" and it sometimes pleases him to remove to a better country, and to a higher state of existence, those whom we had fondly imagined would become as shining lights in the world, and instruments devoted to his service ; as though to remind us that he can * For several years this memorable pen retained its station in his study ; but it at length disappeared, without any one being able to tell what, had become of it. HENRY OBERLIN S DEATH. 187 effect his own purposes in what way, and in what manner He sees best, without the aid of short- sighted, and, at the best, fallible creatures like ourselves. The immediate occasion of Henry's dea.th was supposed to arise from a cold, which he took in assisting to extinguish a fire that had broken out in the night in a town on his route, as he was maldng, in 1816, a circuit of eighteen hundred miles in the south of France, with a view to inspect the state of the Protestant churches, and to ascertain the means of supplying them more generally with the Holy Scriptures. The fatigue attending the remainder of the journey, added to the seeds of incipient disease, had so shattered his constitution, that, soon after arriving in his native valley, he was induced to remove to Rothau, instead of remaining at Wald- bach, in order to receive the benefit of his brother Charles's advice, who, in addition to his clerical functions, was a medical practitioner. On perceiving, however, that the complaint rapidly gained ground, he desired, with the great- est resignation and composure, to be conveyed 188 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. home again to his father's house, that he might die there. So universally was Oberlin beloved, that his parishioners seized every opportunity of proving their attachment to him and to his family ; and on this occasion a truly affecting scene presented itself. No sooner was Henry's request made kno^vn in the village, than twelve peasants imme- diately presented themselves at the parsonage- house, and offered to carry him upon a litter to Waldbach, which is about six miles distant from Rothau. He could not, however, bear exposure to the open air, and it was therefore found expe- dient to place him in a covered cart ; but, as it slowly proceeded through the valley, the faithful peasants walked before it, carefully remt^ving every stone, that the beloved invalid might expe- rience as little inconvenience as possible from jolting over the rough roads. A few weeks after his arrival under the pa- ternal roof, his life, which had promised such extensive usefulness, drew near its close. Faith, mingled with pious resignation to the will of his heavenly Father, who was thus early pleased to HENRY OBERLIn's DEATH. 189 call him to himself, was strikingly exhibited in his last moments, and on the 16th of November, 1817, without a struggle or a sigh, he sweetly " slept in Jesus."* A few particulars of his close are given in the notes of the sermon which his father preached on the occasion of his death. I shall here insert a translation of them from the original MS. " My son Henry Gottfried, in the midst of distressing bodily anguish, (for as to his mental powers, he enjoyed the full and clear use of them till the last moment of his life,) and under the pressure of acute and lingering sufferings, often said, * Oh mercy ! mercy ! Oh God ! hast thou then ceased to be merciful? — Oh, it is a hard, hard, hard thing to die !' " Half or a quarter of an hour before expiring, his countenance exhibited less suffering, and he said, (although with considerable difficulty,) ' Now * His premature and lamented death is thus recorded in the Fourteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society : " Your Committee think it due to the late Rev. Henry Oberlin, of Waldhach, in Alsace, to bear their testi- mony to that zeal by which he was urged to sacrifice hia valuable life, in exertions for distributing the Holy Scriptures ainong his countrymen." 190 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. a little repose — a little consolation — a little joy.' Then he often repeated, ' From death unto life' — * From death unto life.' " At length he presented his trembling hand to place it in mine ; he pressed mine very sensi- bly ; and retained it in his own, * from death unto life,' for without our perceiving it he ceased to breathe. Twice, beheving him gone, Loaisa Schepler closed his eyes, but they opened again and were raised on high." Henry OberUn was buried in the churchyard of Foudai, where a monument of wood, sur- rounded by willows, is erected to his memory. His venerable father was graciously supported under this hea^y stroke, and in his discourse over the grave of his son, spoke tenderly and familiarly of the departed, as having only preceded them a little way in their pilgrimage, soon to be over- taken, and for ever reunited to those whom he had left behind. The following letter to his friend, Mr. Heisch, exhibits the disinterested manner in which he contemplated his own irreparable loss, when dwelling upon his son's removal to eternal glory. HIS LETTER TO MR. HEISCH. 191 " Waldbach, in the Stcinthal, Jan. Sih^ 1818. " Accept, my dear, not to be forgotten friend, my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the many proofs of your continued affectionate remem- brance. Your name is inscribed on my heart, and yet I find it difficult to give you any as- surance of it, being extremely engaged with labours that are continually increasing, whilst the use of my bodily powers is greatly diminished. I particularly suffer in my eyes, which sometimes altogether refuse me their service, notwithstand- ing the excellent spectacles you presented to me, and one pair of which Louisa gratefully uses. " We all sincerely rejoiced at the departure of our Henry from this world; for besides having been subjected during his whole life to a chain of complicated sufferings, he had suffered for some months past (ever since his missionary journey in France) with peculiar severity, so that his ema- ciated appearance awakened every one's sympathy, and neither medicines nor any thing else could pro- cure him any real alleviation or respite from pain. In consequence of the warm recommendations of our friends, we were induced to call in Dr. Stiickalberger, a very clever physician of Basle, a 192 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. few weeks before our Henry's decease ; bat no sooner had he seen him, and become acquainted with his symptoms, than he said, ' I shall not touch dear Mr. Oberlin with any medicine or remedy, nay, not even with medical advice, being perfectly convinced that if, on the one hand, I may hope to effect any good, or even may effect it, I shall, on the other hand, do more harm than it may again be in my power to remedy.' This was both kind and judicious ; and I had been endeavouring to persuade the other physicians to adopt the same plan, though in vain ; for with the utmost kindness, they were resolved to do all in their power to assist him. God had, in this case, reserved to himself the exclusive prerogative of affording effectual help. Henry, in addition to that spirit of universal benevolence by which he was animated, felt a peculiar interest for two nations, Livonia, together with the whole of Russia, and France. No doubt our and his good Lord now assigns to him some more extensive sphere of activity than he could have had here, not only, perhaps, for the benefit of these two nations, but even for that of other nations and other individuals. May we be his servants ; no HIS LETTER TO MR. HEISCH. 193 matter whether here or there, if we can but be faithful in his service, and of some utility to others. "Henry received your letter of the 17th of October, as well as the elegant silver pencil cases, and commissioned me to return you his sincerest tlianks. He gave them as a remembrance of you to his brother Charles Conserve, clergyman of Rothau, who has shown him extraordinary kind- ness both as a physician and a brother. " Louisa Schepler, and all our dear friends here, thank you cordially for your remembrance, and assure you of their uninterrupted affection and recollection. " God grant that you may become useful in his service ! " Adieu, my long endeared friend ! " Your obliged and faithful, &c. " John Frederic Oberlin/* CHAPTER VIII. MEDAL PRESENTED TO OBERLIN BY THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF PARIS — OBERLIN'S PRIVATE CHARACTER — HIS DESCRIPTION OF HIMSELF — MR. OWEN'S LETTER, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF A BAN DE LA ROCHE SABBATH — OBERLIN'S MINISTRY — SERMONS — MINISTERIAL LABOURS, ETC. — HIS PATERNAL INFLUENCE OVER HIS FLOCK — QUESTIONS AD- DRESSED TO HIS PARISHIONERS — CIRCULARS. Notwithstanding Oberlin's advancing age, and the loss he had experienced in the death of his son, the Ban de la Roche still witnessed a sue cession of useful improvements, and a progress ii civilization and prosperity. So much delighted were his friends at Strasbourg and at Paris with witnessing the success of his indefatigable exer- tions, that, in the year 1818, they agreed to collect, without his knowledge, documents of the good which he had achieved, and to submit them to the Royal and Central Agricultural Society of Paris. M. le Comte Francois de Neufchateau, who id I i MEDAL VOTED TO HIM. 195 had repeatedly visited the Steinthal, was deputed to this office, and requested to propose the vote of a gold medal to the pastor of Waldbach, in acknowledgment of the services which he had rendered, during more than half a century, to agriculture in particular, and to mankind in general. ** If you would behold an instance of what may be effected in any country for the advance- ment of agriculture, and the interests of huma- nity," said he, when addressing the Society upon this occasion, " quit for a moment the banks of the Seine, and ascend one of the steepest summits of the Vosges mountains. Friends of the plough, and of human happiness, come and behold the Ban de la Roche ! Climb with me the rocks so sublimely piled upon each other, which separate this, canton from the rest of the world, and though the country and the climate may at first sight appear forbidding, I will venture to promise you an ample recompense for the fatigue of your excursion. " As for myself, after having formed the admi- nistration of the department of the Vosges, in 1790, and presided over it, in 1791, I had, in 19G MEMOIRS OF OEERLIN. 1793, to travel over those mountains as a com- missioner of the government, at the very period when the parishes of Rothau and Waldbach, before that time dependant on the principality of Salm, were united to the department. I have, therefore, been long acquainted with the valuable services rendered, for more than fifty years, to the Ban de la Roche, by John Frederic Oberlin. Ever since that time, and to the advanced age of seventy- eight, he has persevered in carrying for- ward the interesting reformation first suggested and commenced by his virtue, piety, and zeal. He has refused invitations to more important and more lucrative situations, lest the Ban de la Roche should relapse into its former desolate state ; and by his extraordinary efforts and un- abated exertions, he averted from his parishioners, in the years 1812, 1816, and 1817, the horrors of approaching famine.* * The new crop of potatoes that Oberlin had introduced, formed the principal subsistence of the people during those disastrous years, when the season Avas so cold and rainy that they could not get in two-thirds of the cona at all ; and the scarcity so great, that poor little children, exhausted with hunger, were seen to drop down in the streets. A sack of wheat during that time of distress rose to 145 francs, and the potatoes to nearly one sou apiece. MEDAL AWARDED TO HIM. 197 " Such a benefactor of mankind deserves the veneration and the gratitude of all good men ; and it gives me peculiar pleasure to present you ^\dth the opportunity of acknowledging, in the person of M. Oberlin, not a single act, but a whole life, devoted to agricultural improvements, and to the diffusion of useful knowledge among the inhabitants of a wild and uncultivated district. ***** i^ " We have already ascertained that there is in France uncultivated land sufficient for the forma- tion of five thousand villages. When we wish to organize these colonies, Waldbach wiU present a perfect model ; and, in the thirty or forty rural hamlets which already exist, there is not one, even amongst the most flourishing, in which social economy is carried to a higher degree of perfection, or in which the annals of the Ban de la Roche may not be studied with advantage."* The precise acquaintance which the inhabitants of the Ban de la Roche had acquired, through Oberlin's assistance, with the vegetable productions of their canton, was believed to be the means of preventing the most distressing diseases. * See Rapport fait a la Societe' Royale et Centrale d'Agri- culture. Par M. le Comte Fran9ois de Neufchateau, sur ragriculture et la civilization du Ban de la Roche, &c. s 3 198 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. On the conclusion of this report, the proposed tribate of affectionate gratitude was, by una- nimous consent, awarded to M. Oberlin ; upon which the Baron de Gerando, Counsellor of State, to whose care it was consigned, expressed the gratification he should have in presenting it to the venerable pastor, not only because he regarded it as an act of justice due to his extraordinary services, but also because it would afford such great pleasure to the inhabitants of the Vosges valleys, to find their beloved benefactor, guide, counsellor and friend, regarded as an individual deserving of this token of public admiration and gratitude. But whilst Oberlin was thus gaining the meed of universal esteem by his acts of pubHc bene- ficence, his domestic virtues were endearing him more and more to his family circle, where they always displayed themselves in the most truly amiable light. I shall, therefore, now reverse the picture, and present my readers with a view of Oberlin in his personal and more private, as well as in his ministerial character. In this he will be found to shine as brightly as in his public capacity ; thereby manifesting the pureness and HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 199 the extent of that Christian principle, which con- strained, not only the great movements of his life, but his minutest actions. Oberlin, in his person, was handsome, rather under the usual height, but remarkably dignified in his appearance. There was, however, nothing affected in his manner of carrying himself. His outward garb was evidently the mark of the master mind within him. Dressed, as he usually was when out of doors, in a cocked hat, and with a red ribbon at his chest, the decoration of the Legion of Honour,* his air was so imposing as to call forth the attention and respect of every one who saw him. His manner was grave, but affectionate ; condescending, but in the highest degree gentlemanly. His courtesy towards his parishioners was constantly testified. He did not pass those amongst them who were grown up without pulling off his hat and speaking a few words of kindness, nor any of the children * This decoration was awarded to Oberlin by Louis XVIII. in acknowledgment of the services he had rendered to an extensive population. " The King," he used to say, " has had the goodness to send me this decoration ; but what liave I done to merit it? Who, in my situation, would not have acted as I have done, and perhaps better still.?" 200 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. M'ithout shaking them by the hand, or showing them some Httle act of attention. " Jesus," he often said, " loved cliildren. It is to such as resemble them that he promises the kingdom of heaven." He was always extremely anxious, in every part of his conduct, to prevent the possi- bility of misconstruction on the part of those over whom he watched. " On one occasion," says one of my friends who visited the Ban de la Roche a few years ago, " as we were walking up a hill, he had the arm of his son-in-law, whilst my wife was walking alone. Fearing this might be considered self-indulgent or disrespectful by some of his younger parishioners, whom we hap- pened to pass, he stopped to make an apology to them for this apparent disregard of the law of civility and kindness'" * His manner of accosting his inferiors was perfectly unique. " When our postilion, who appeared to have some previous acquaintance with the Ban de la Roche, met him," continues the same friend, " he and the old man were instantly with their hats lowered to the ground, * It must be remembered that Oberlin was then in his eightieth year. HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 201 whilst Oberlin stepped forward to shake him by the hand, and to make some inquiry about his friends at Strasbourg. This was done with all the sweetness of Christian feeling, whilst there was no departure from the dignity with which his situation and circumslances naturally invested him. Good manners prevailed in these valleys to an extent that is rarely witnessed. The practice of the pastor produced the happiest effects upon the mass of the population. The habitual politeness of the French character might have assisted in this work, but I have never wit- nessed in any other poor people such remarkable and universal suavity — such complete refinement — as in these hardy mountaineers. " As the Cher Papa had the highest regard for his people, so he had the beit opinion of their skill, and wondered that any one should doubt about it. I happened one day, when we were driven by a man who seemed to go on in a hazardous manner, to say, ' Prenez garde.' The old man appeared hurt at this admonition, both on my account, and on that of the driver. He assured me that all was safe, and at the end of our drive took the greatest pains to prevent any 202 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. feeling of vexation which might arise in the mind of his parishioner." Oberlin's habits were very orderly. Every thing seemed to have its place in his house. There was a box to deposit every morsel of litter, and which could only be of service in the stove. His books, a great number of which were in manuscript, were perfectly arranged, and written in a beautiful hand, for it was a point of duty with him, as before stated by Mr. Legrand, to give every letter its perfect formation. His Bible was marked throughout with diiFerent coloured ink, according to the application which he, in the course of his reading, had made of different passages. In conversation he was fluent and very unre- served ; wilUng to communicate all he knew, and, on the other hand, inquisitive as to every thing which he saw, and from which it appeared likely he could derive information. His activity was as astonishing as his zeal ; he never rode on horseback if he could help it, stiU less in the inside of a carriage ; and was accustomed, till prevented by increasing infir- mity, to climb the steepest summits of the Vosges, HIS PRIVATP. CIIARACTEPv. 203 or penetrate through pathless snows, regardless of cold or danger, in order to visit the sick, and administer religious consolation to the dying ; often too, after all the varied and arduous duties of the day, would he travel to Strasbourg in the night to procure medicines, or to obtain assist- ance or information from his friends in that city, that not a day might be lost to the interests of his beloved Steinthal.* The superiority of his intellectual powers appeared in all he said and in all he did; and he possessed great influence over others, every body lovdng and obeying him absolutely, though without servility. His mind was of a most kind, yet of a very energetic and decided order ; though as he seldom, if ever, went from home, he had seen little of the world, and, except in * Oberlin was, at one time, not only minister, schoolmaster, farmer, and mechanic, but also general physician to his parish. The knowledge of medicine which he had acquired during his residence in M. Ziegenhagen's family having qualified him for the post. He also learned to open veins, and esta- blished a dispensary ; and when his ministerial fimctions would no longer allow of devoting so much time to the pur- pose as it required, he delegated the office to his son Charles, and to a young man of talent whom he had sent to study at Strasbourg. 204 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. his younger years, read little but his Bible. His conversation was never more eloquent, nor his views more expanded, than when he talked on the subject of the extension of the kingdom of God, and when he narrated to his boys, as he would frequently do, particulars of the life and adventures of Dr. Vanderkemp, the missionary, Vincent de Paul, and others, by which means he rivetted their attention, and excited the warmest feelings of their hearts. His views of religion were of a very simple and elevated cast . " no cloud of doubt crossed the serene atmosphere of his tranquil joys :" — he continually looked at God as his " Papa celeste," present with him> and rested all his hopes in Jesus, " the Author and Finisher of our faith." His dependance upon his Heavenly Father made him order all the events of his life, in which he felt any difficulty in deciding, by lot ; for this purpose he kept two little tickets, with oui and non upon them, in his pocket, and these, with prayer, he was continually in the habit of using.* * Oberlin bequeathed his oui and non box, the token of his peculiar faith, to the Rev. Mr. Blumhardt, of the Mis sionary Institution at Basle- HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. ?0r. Oberlin, as it may perhaps be supposed, was a great physiognomist as well as a phrenologist, and the system of Gall had in him a zealous partizan ; he was also a warm admirer and dis- ciple of his friend Lavater,"^ and had collected * In the year 1795, Henry Oberlin paid a visit at Zurich, and became acquainted with Lavater, in whose family he was received with more than ordinary affection. This acquaint- ance laid the foundation of the tenderest and most intimate friendship between Oberlin and that distinguished individual, which terminated only with the life of the latter. He died at Zurich, where he had resided the greater part of his life, January 2, 1801, in consequence of a wound which he re- ceived from a French soldier, whom, at the time of the siege, he ran out to separate from another with whom he was scuffling. After lingering in agony for more than a twelve- month, during which time he evinced, by his patience and cheerfulness, the power of that principle which in life had made him so active, he resigned his soul into the hands of his Creator. Lavater was a man of extraordinary powers, and univer- sally beloved by all classes of people. He was as much known in his own country as a zealous and devoted Christian minister, as he is in this country by his stady of physiognomy. This latter study, he used to say, was taken up for little more than amusement. The following note, written during the period of his illness, to Henry Oberlin, who was at that time also suffering from indisposition, is a proof of the sweet and resigned state of his mind. " Erlenbach, Feb. 1st, 1800. " Dear Oberlin, — We must both humble ourselves under 206 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. a great number of silhouettes, both of friends and strangers, under which he wrote bis opinion, always an indulgent one, of the talents and general character of the individual. There was a striking simplicity and artlessness in his character, which occasionally led him to speak of himself and of his owii actions in a manner that some might attribute to egotism but this was far from being the case, for few individuals could be more truly humble, or dis- claim all merits of their own more sincerely than he did. The profile that stands opposite the title- page of this work is considered a remarkably good likeness of OberHn. It is the more interest- ing from the circumstance of having been cut out and highly approved by himself.* He wrote the; following description of his own character to the chastising and fatherly hand of God. It will be good for ns both to be led in this way, and no other. Let us look forward "vvith hope, and expect the best, nor doubt his good* ness one single moment. We cannot be better led than we are. If we possess health, God of his love bestows it ; if sickness, he ordains that it should be so. We have nothing to fear. His love will never forsake us : but will continue to direct us to one goal — even to himself." * Oberlin presented this profile to the Rev. Francis Cun- ningham, durhig his visit at Waldbach, in 1820. HIS DESCRIPTION OF HIMSELF. 207 place beneath it. It will account for the preceding remarks. " A strange compound of contradictory qua- lities. I do not yet exactly know what I am to make of myself. I am intelhgent, and yet pos- sessed of very limited powers : — prudent and more politic than my fellow- clergymen ; but also very apt to blunder, especially when in the least excited. I am firm, yet of a yielding disposition ; and both of these, in certain cases, to a great degree. I am not only daring, but actually cou- rageous ; whilst, at the same time, I am often in secret very cowardly. I am very upright and sincere, yet also very complaisant to men, and in a degree, therefore, insincere. I am a German and a Frenchman ; noble, generous, ready to render service, faithful, very grateful, — deeply affected by the least benefit or kindness, which is ever after engraven on my heart ; and yet again flighty and indifferent. I am irritable to a for- midable degree. He who treats me generously soon gains the ascendency over me ; but opposi- tion creates in me an astonishing degree of firm- ness, especially in matters of conscience. I have a lively imagination, but no memory, properly 208 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. speaking. The histories which I have taken pains to impress on my mind remain with me, but dates and the names of persons I often forget the next day, notwithstanding all the pains I have taken to remember them. I used to speak Latin fluently and even elegantly, but now I cannot utter three or four words together. I make selections from books, and instruct others in some branch of science for a long time ; but a few years after, my scholars, even if they know nothing more than what I taught them, may in their turns become my teachers, and the book from which I made extracts (with the exceptioi of those of a certain description) appear wholly new to me. " I habitually work my way through my studies till I obtain clear ideas ; but if I wdsh to pene- trate deeper, every thing vanishes before me. I have a great talent for removing difficulties in order to render every thing smooth and easy to myself, and to every body else. I am so ex- tremely sensitive, tender, and compassionate, that I can find neither words nor expressions cor- responding to my feelings, so that the latter almost overpower me, and occasion me acute i n HIS DESCRIPTION OF HIMSELF. 209 pain. I am always busy and industrious, but also fond of ease and indolence. I am generally quick in resolving, and equally so in executing. I have a peculiar esteem for the female sex. I am a very great admirer of painting, music, and poetiy, and yet I have no skill in any of them. Mechanics, natural history, and so forth, consti- tute my favourite studies. I am very fond of regularity, and of arranging and classifying, but my weak memory, added to constant employ- ment, renders it difficult to me. I am given to planning and scheming, and yet endeavour, in my peculiar way, to do things in the best manner. " I am a genuine soldier, but I was more so before my bodily powers were so much weak- ened ; I was formerly anxious to be the foremost in danger, and the firmest in pain, but have now lost that desire. From my childhood I have felt a longing and preponderating desire for a higher state of existence, and therefore a wish for death. I am the greatest admirer of military order and subordination, not however in a spirit of slavery, but of that noble affectionate attachment which compels the coward to show courage, and the 210 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. disorderly to be punctual. I feel no obstinacy or disinclination to yield to strong internal con- viction, but on the other hand a fervent, heartfelt joy in yielding to both great and small, high and low, gentlemen and peasants, children and ser- vants, and thence a willingness to listen, and an inclination to suffer myself, if possible, to be con- vinced. But when I feel no conviction I can never think of yielding. I am humorous and a little witty or satirical, but without intentional malice." As the villages of Oberlin's little district were too far apart to allow of his preaching every week in all of them, he took each of the three churches in rotation, and the peasants made an arrange- ment to come in turns with a horse every Sunday morning to fetch him, and to take him home to partake of their dinner after the sermon. It was always a festival for every family who could thus entertain the " Cher Papa" and afforded him an opportunity of conversing about their temporal and spiritual wants. He made a point, when the little repast was ended, of seeing the children of the house one by one in t^uccession, according to their age, and of talking MR. OWEN S LETTER. 211 to them like an affectionate father, in language adapted to their respective capacities, as well as of making a present to each. I cannot here refrain from inserting the lively picture which Mr. Owen has drawn, in his own admirable manner, of a Ban de la Roche Sab- bath ; and in which he also makes an allusion to those three excellent women whose names well deserve to be put upon record wdth that of their pastor. " Basle, September IG, 1818. " The place from which my last w^as dated, Waldbach, has completely filled mj mind, and laid such hold on my warmest affections, that I can scarcely bring myself to think, or speak, or write, on any thing but Pastor Oberlin, and his Ban de la Roche. You will remember that the first foreign letter which awakened an interest in our minds, — the letter which made its way most directly to our hearts, and which, at the cele- bration of our First Anniversary, produced the strongest, and, if I may judge of others by my- self, the most lasting impression upon us all, was that wherein this venerable pastor reported the 212 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. distribution he proposed to make of the Bibles assigned to him, and drew, with the hand of a master, the characters of those women who laboured with him in the Gospel, and to whom, as the highest remuneration he could bestow, and their ambition coveted, a Bible was to be pre- sented.* " I cannot describe the sensations with which I entered the mountainous parish, containing five villages and three churches, in which this primi- tive evangelist, who for more than half a century- has occupied this station, exercises his functions ; and still less those with which I entered his resi- dence, and approached his venerable person. The reception he gave me was such as from the pro- found humility of his character might have been anticipated. My visit to him and his flock was wholly unexpected ; and when I announced to him, in my introduction, that I appeared before him as the Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to testify, on their part, the respect and affection with which they regarded him, as one of the earliest and most interesting of their foreign correspondents, the good man * See page 157. MR. OWEN S LETTER. i2 1 ; j took me by the hand, and drew me geatiy towards the seat which he usually occupies, ex- claiming, but without any turbulence of either voice or manner, — ' Sir, this is too great an honour : — how shall I answer words like these ?' After the first emotions had subsided, our con- versation became familiar; and as it never ceased, from that time to the moment of our separation, to turn more or less upon the things pertaining to the Ivingdom of God, as they appeared in the small scale of his own or the great scale of the Bible Society's labours, it never ceased to be deeply interesting, and pregnant with edification. " The Sunday exhibited this venerable man in the pastoral character, under which it had been so much my desire, might it but be permitted me, to see him. As he makes the circuit of his churches, the turn on this Sunday belonged to Belmont, distant about half a league from the parsonage of Waldbach. At ten o'clock we began to move. Mr. Oberlin took the lead in his ministerial attire, a large beaver and flowing wig, mounted on a horse brought for that pur- pose, according to custom, by one of the bourgeois of the village, whose turn it was to have the 214 MEMOIRS OP OBERLIN. honour of fetching his pastor, and receiving him to dinner at his table. I rode as nearly beside him as the narrow track would allow. Mr. Ronneberg, accompanied by Mr. Daniel Legrand, followed. The rear was brought up by the bourgeois before mentioned, carrying a leathern bag, slung across his shoulders, which contained the other part of the minister's dress, his books, &c. ; and a respectable peasant as an attendant on the general cavalcade. I will not detain you by particulars, which, however interesting, would draw me too far from the main object of my attention. I will only say, that the appearance of the congregation, their neat and becoming costume, their order, and their seriousness, to- gether with the fervour, tenderness, and sim- plicity, with which the good minister addressed them, both in his sermon in the morning and his catechetical lecture in the afternoon, conveyed to my mind the most deUghtful impression — that of a sincere and elevated devotion. The interval between the services was passed, partly in dining at the house of the happy bourgeois, (for the duty of fetching and entertaining their pastor, is, in the estimation of these simple people, a privi- mh. owen's letter. 215 lege of the highest order,) and partly in visiting some of the excellent individuals, both men and women, but particularly the latter, in which this part of the parish abounds. The affability and graceful condescension with which the pastor saluted every member of his flock, wherever he met them, and the aflfectionate reverence ^^ith which young and old returned the saluta- tion, were peculiarly pleasing: it was, on both sides, if a ceremony at all, the ceremony of the heart. On our return to the parsonage, the evening was passed in edifying conversation, and concluded by a French hymn, in which all the household united. On the ensuing morning I had the honour of conveying my venerable host, amidst the bowings of his parishioners, who gazed with wonder at the unusual sight of their stationary pastor seated in a travelling carriage to the house of Messrs. Legrand, at Foudai, another of the villages in this extensive parish. Here we breakfasted ; and, after much pleasing conversation with this amiable, benevolent, and well-informed family, I had the high honour of being introduced to Sophia Bernard, and Cathe- rine Scheidecker ! I ! Maria Schepler, the second 216 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. on the list of this memorahle trio, had, I found, been removed to her rest : the two whom I have mentioned, and who now stood before rae, remained to fill up the measure of their usefulness in the work of their Lord. Never shall I forget the manner in which these inte- resting peasants received me, when, addressing them by name, I told them that I had known them nearly fourteen years, and that the account of their services, communicated to us by the pastor whom they so greatly assisted, had been instrumental in stirring up the zeal of many to labour after their example. ' Oh, Sir,' said Sophia Bernard, the tears filling her eyes at the time, ' this does indeed humble us ;' adding many pious remarks in relation to their obscurity, the imper- fection of their works, and the honour they con- sidered it to labour for Him who had done so much, yea, every thing, for them. The scene was truly affecting. It was not without many an effort that I tore myself from it, and hurried from the Ban de la Roche, that seat of simplicity, piety, and true Christian refinement, to resume my journey along the beaten road, and to pursue my object among scenes, which, whatever plea- • niS MINISTRY. 217 sures I had to expect, would suffer in the com- parison with those which I had left hehind me."* In most of his religious tenets, Oberlin was strictly orthodox and evangelical. The main doctrine that seemed to occupy his whole mind, was that God was his Father, — " Our Father," as he would not unfrequently say, " and thus we may always feel Him." The doctrine of sanc- tification also held a high place in his creed, though, in his discourses, he principally dwelt upon the freeness of the Gospel, the wilHngness of Christ to receive all who come to him in sincerity of heart, the blessed efficacy of prayer, and the absolute necessity of divine grace. It may here be considered necessary, for the sake of biographical faithfulness, to observe that upon some points he certainly held very fanciful and unwarranted notions, more particularly upon those relative to a future state. In the inter- pretation of John xiv. 2, for example, (" In my * This letter appeared in a pamphlet, entitled, " Extracts of Letters on the Object and Connexions of the British and Foreign Bible Society, from the Rev. John Owen, A.M. durina his late tour in France and Switzerland," which is now out of print : also in the Fifteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society. U 218 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Father's house are many mansions,") he con- sidered that there was an exact relation between our state here and the very mansion we should enter hereafter; and this relation, or proportion of happiness, he semed to himself to have so accurately ascertained, by the help of t}'^pes drawn from different parts of the Temple, begin- ning with the outer court of the sanctuary and ending with the Holy of Holies, and from ex- pressions denoting the state of the redeemed in the Book of Revelations, as to be able to draw a map of the other world ; and this map he printed and hung up in his church. He also held the doctrine of an intermediate state, which he sup- posed to be one of continual improvement, and likewise believed that we shall become progres- sively holy in heaven. He seemed to hope that the passage 1 Cor. xv. 28, where it is said that "all things" shall be subjected unto the Almighty, and the Son also himself shall be subjected, ** that God may be all in all," might include not only the little flock of Christ's immediate fol- lowers, but, ultimately, at some almost indefinite period, through the boundless mercy of God, and ihe blood of Jesus, which was shed for the sins HIS MINISTRY. 219 of the whole world, all the race of mankind. And he was strengthened in this belief by under- standing in another than the ordinary sense, that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. It is needless to say of these doc- trines that they are fanciful and mistaken, and not to be defended by an accurate application of Scripture. But, whatever hold they had upon Oberlin's mind, they appeared very little in his preaching, and did not at all interfere with the plainest statement of the doctrine of justification by faith in the merits of our Redeemer, and sanctification by his Spirit, and of the absolute necessity of both the one and the other to meet- ness for the heavenly inheritance. OberHn was accustomed to preach very alarm- ingly on the judgment to come, and the punish- ment ot the wicked ; though, at the same time, he held out the fatherly love of God to every returning sinner, who would seek Him through Jesus Christ. These last-mentioned doctrines may be said to have constituted the leading features of his ministry. He had a remarkable reverence for the Bible, and especially for the Books of Moses and the Gospels. He was led to adopt many of the laws of Moses, because, he 220 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. said, although the ceremonial law is rejected, the object of that law, the glory of God and the good of man, remains, and therefore the law itself ought to be retained. The subjoined note marks a number of passages from the laws of Moses, which Oberlin adopted, and which he applied with great force and interest in his own conduct, and in his instructions to his people.* * Alms. Deut. xiv. 28, &c. xv. 7. Matt. iii. 10. Prevention of Dangers. Deut. xxii. 8. Exod. xxi. 33. Strangers. Exod. xxii. 21. xxiii. 9. Lev. xix. 33, 34. xxiv. 22. Numb. xv. 14. Deut. x. 18, 19. xxiv. 14, 19. xxvi. 12. xxvii. 19. Also for Strangers. Exod. xii. 19. Numb. ix. 14. Solomon appointed a court for Strangers. 2 Chron. vi. 32. This court the avarice of the Jews suiFered to become a market, and from this market Jesus drove the buyers and sellers. Fertility. To make a country fertile, it must be guarded from bad seasons, dearth and famine. Lev. xxvi. 3, 14. Deut. xi. 13, 16. Mai. iii. 10. Politeness. Kom. xii. 10. 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. To protect ourselves from the evil oftvar. Lev. xxv. 18, 19. Deut. xxxiii. 28, 29. Prov. i. 33. Doctors. Exod. xv. 26. 2 Chron. xvi. 12. Law-suit. Matt. v. 39, 40. First-fruits. Exod. xxii. 29. Deut. xv. 19. Payment. Lev. xix. 13. Deut. xxiv. 14. Jer. xxii. 13. Hom. xiii. 8. Matt. v. 25. Health. Exod. xv. 26. Mai. iv. 2. Prolonged Life. Deut. iv. 40. v. 32, 33. vi.2. xi. 9. xvii.20. XXX. 17, 18. XXX. 20. xxxii. 46, 47. HIS MINISTRY. 221 It may, indeed, be doubted whether there was not much in the history of Moses, as well as in his law, which remarkably adapted itself to Oberlin's experience and views. This coincidence has been pointed out to me by the Rev. Francis Cunningham, who visited the Ban de la Roche in 1820, when Oberlin was in the eightieth year of his age. He thus writes : " In contemplating the history and circum- stances of this venerable man, I could not but call to mind that of the Patriarch, whose law, as well as example, he seems so attentively to have followed. Oberlin, like Moses, was trained to another service than that which he was ultimately called to follow.' He had to civilize, as well as to instruct, a people degraded by long habits, deeply rooted, and which sprung from wretched- ness and poverty. Like Moses, he was a great lover of order, and had a singular tact for government. Like him too, he united remarkable meekness with occasional impetuosity, and the truest decision of character. As of Moses at the end of his pilgrimage, so it may be said of Oberlin, his eye was scarcely dim, and his natural u3 222 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. force was hardly abated. They each lived to testify of a people following the ways of God, (Deut. xxxiii. 29,) 'Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord;' and now, as they fought the same fight, passed through the same tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, they dwell together before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple ; they have entered into the same joy, and are crowned with the same reward. For there, this most holy, most devoted, and most useful man, has now opened his eyes to receive the recompense of his faith, his patience, and his labours : — and there, as one who hath turned many to righteousness, he will shine in the crown of his Redeemer for ever and ever." In his sermons, Oberlin was simple, energetic, and affectionate, continually speaking to his people under the appellation of " mes chers amis." He appeared to study a colloquial plainness, inter- spersing his discourses with images and allu- sions, which, had they been addressed to a more refined audience, might have been deemed homely, but which were particularly adapted to the capa- HIS SERMONS. '2'^d cities and wants of his secluded villagers. He would frequently introduce biographical anecdotes of persons distinguished for their piety : and the boundless field of nature furnished him with striking illustrations to explain spiritual things. But the Bible itself, *' la chere Bible,'* as he exclaimed with tears of gratitude a short time before his last illness, was the grand source of all his instructions. It formed the study of his life, and, as he said, constituted his own consolation under all trials, the source of his strength, and the ruling principle of his actions : — how then could he do less than recommend it to others ? He was in the habit of citing very largely from it, from the conviction that the simple exposition of the Word of God was the best means of effi- caciously interesting his flock. His sermons were almost always composed with the greatest care ; and when unable, for want of time, to write them out at length, he made at least a tolerably full outline. In general, he committed them scrupu- lously to memory, but in the pulpit he did not confine himself to the precise words, and would indeed sometimes change the subject altogether, if he saw that another was apparently better suited to the circumstances of his auditory. 224 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. The following extracts, taken from the notes of some of his autograph sermons, are charac- teristic of that originality and devotedness which formed one of their distinguishing features. The first was preached in the parish church of Waldbach the very day after his son Henry's death. Some account of that beloved son has been inserted in a previous part of this Memoir, and it may there be seen that the chief comfort which he experienced in his last moments, was derived from the words which his father took for his text, " De la mort ci la vie." — (" From death unto life.")* " 1817, O I^ov. 16. " LE LENDEMAIN DE LA MORT DE MON FILS, HENRY GOTTFRIED. " En verite, en verite, je vous dis, que celui qui entend ma parole et qui m'obeit, a la vie eternelle^ et il ne sera point expose a la condamnation, mais il est passe de la mort a la vie.'''' St. Jean, v. 24. " De la wort a la vie ! De la mort a la vie ! Voila la devise, le motto, le mot de ralliement des * The editor had prepared translations of these sermons, but was advised by a friend, to whose judgment she is ever glad to yield her o^vn, to insert them in the language in which they were delivered from the pulpit, as they lose much of fheir interest in another dress. Her only fear was lest the book should contain too much French for the Encrlish reader. HIS SERMONS. 225 Chretiens, c. a. d. de toutes les personnes qui ont fidelement garde leur alliance de Bapteme. " Et de toutes les personnes qui etant tombes hors de la grace de Dieu, s'en repentent sincere- ment, se sont souvenus avec douleur de leur alliance de Bapteme enfreinte, et de la violation de leur alliance renouveUee lors de leur confir- mation — qui sont retournes aupres du Sauveur de nos ames, et ont aspire a I'honneur et au bonheur de \dvre devant lui, avec lui, et pour lui. " De la mort a la vie ! Ah, quel aspect et regard serein dans I'avenir ! — queUe esperance joyeuse, quelle teinture delicieuse que cela donne et repand sur toutes les parties de leur vie ici has ! sur tous les travers, sur tons les chemins parsemes de larmes ; quand on sent vivement I'effet de cette parole de I'apotre du Seigneur: * Toutes choses contribuent au bien de ceux qui aiment Dieu.' Toutes, toutes choses, tristes ou joyeuses, douces ou ameres, et les tribulations meme les plus douloureuses — toutes choses con- tribuent au bien de ceux qui aiment Dieu — a leur vrai bien, a leur bonheur, et prosperite eternelle. " Elles sont toutes — et le plus ameres princi- palement— elles sont toutes des echelons qui les 226 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. font monter d'un degre de vertu divine a I'autre, toujours a plus de perfection dans la foi et con- fiance en Dieu, dans I'obeissance filiale et joyeuse a ses commandemens, dans I'liumilite, la douceur, le debonnairete, la delicatesse, dans les senti- mens, le goilt de la bienfaisance, dans la charite, la purete, et un mot, dans toutes les vertus celestes. " Mais en avan9ant le Chretien dans la vertu elles I'avancent dans la ressemblance a Dieu, dans le retablissement de I'image de Dieu, et par con- sequent toujours plus haut dans les regions de la lumiere, toujours plus pres de la residence de Dieu, notre Createur et Pere. Car a chacun sera assigne une demeure plus ou moins grande en gloire, plus ou moins pres de la Source inepuisable de toute felicite, suivant sa plus ou moins grande ressemblance interieure spirituelle et morale avec Dieu. " De la mort a la vie ! Ah, que par cette esperance lorsqu'elle est fondee, I'idee de la mort, d'ailleurs si terrible, perd de sa terreur, a pro- portion qu'on est endroit d'esperer ce changement ravissant. Lorsque nous naissons nous entrons dans la mort : — car c'est ainsi que notre Createur HIS SERMONS. 227 et Pere a qualifie et nomme notre vie presente, pauvre vie pretendue, vie remplie d'epines, de soufFrances, et de larmes. Dieu I'a appelle mort, et elle Test ; depuis que les hommes sont dechus de leur glorieux etat primitif — depuis qu'ils ont detache leurs coeurs de Dieu pour s'attacher a ce qui est passager et perissable — depuis qu'ils ont abandonne la Source d'eau vive et vivifiante, pour se creuser des citernes crevassees, qui ne donnent point d'eau, ou une eau sale, puante, infectee et venimeuse. " Mais quand nous ouvrons nos coeurs a la voix du Divin Pasteur, qui nous appelle si souvent a lui, quand nous aspirons a I'incom- parable honneur et bonheur d'etre re9us au nombre de ses brebis ; — ah, quel changement se fait alors en nous ! — comme de gens mondaines nous devenons celestes ! comme alors I'image de Dieu se retablit successivement en nous ! " Alors le but de nos actions, et la vue, et le dessein de nos entreprises devient tout autre qu'auparavant. Ab ! ce n'est plus alors de devenir riches, et de gagner des avantages passa- gers et perissables que nous desirons, souhaitons, aspirons, dans nos travaux et nos epargnes. Oh, 228 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. non ! Dans runion de nos coeurs et de nos sentimens avec le Seigneur Jesus-Christ, nous epousons ses interets, nous cherchons a I'aider dans sa grande ceuvre, dans I'afFranchissement du pauvre genre humain de tons ses innombrables maux spirituels et corporels, de toute son afFreuse corruption morale, et de tons ses malheurs et innombrables especes de souffrances qui en sont la suite. " Voila le but qui anime les Chretiens, les disciples du Seigneur Jesus, et pour de pareils, la mort, ce roi des epouvantes perd ce qu'il a de plus efFroyable. lis deviennent indifferents a certains egards pour la vie et pour la mort. " Demeurent-ils plus long-temps sur la terre r — c'est pour glorifier le Seigneur, autant qu'ils le peuvent, suivant leur vocation et pour le servir dans sa grande ceuvre. " Sont-ils rappelles de cette teiTC par la mort } C'est pour continuer a le servir dans sa grande ceuvre, et a travailler a ce que le nom de Dieu soit glorifie, a ce que son regne trouve entree par tout, et a ce que tout le monde prenne plaisir a faire sa volonte. " C'est pourquoi St. Paul ne voulut pas se HIS SERMONS, 219 meler d'opter ou de choisir entre la vie et la mort, entre rester plus long-temps dans ce monde-ci ou aller dans I'autre, II dit que son desir seroit bien de mourir pour venir aupres du Seigneur, mais que par rapport aux personnes qui par son moyen avoient ete converties au Seigneur, il pouiToit etre plus necessaire qu'il restat encore dans cette vie ici bas, car son but etoit que le Seigneur fiit gloriiie par lui soit dans ce monde-ci, soit dans I'autre. (Phil. i. 20, 24.) " Et 2 Cor. V. 15, il dit: Le Seigneur Jesus est mort pour tons, c'est afin que ceux qui vivent, ne vivent plus dorenavant a eux-memes, mais a celui qui est mort pour eux. " Et Rom. xiv. 7, 8 : Nul de nous (ses dis- ciples) ne vit pour lui-meme, et nul de nous ne meurt pour lui-meme. Mais soit que nous vivions (dans ce monde-ci) nous vivons au Seigneur ; ou soit que nous mourions, nous mourons au Seigneur : soit done que nous vivions, soit que nous mourions, nous sommes toujours au Sei- gneur. " Ah, chers amis ! que le regard apres une telle vie, que le regard dans le pays de i'autre cote du trepas, est agreable et attrayant ! X 230 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " Que Toil peut en mourant chanter dans le coeur ces sonnets de Drelincoiirt. I. " Le voici le beau jour, le jour tant dcsir^, Oil mon saint Redempteur veut recevoir mon ame, Mon coeur s'eleve a lui, mon cceur est toit de flamme Pour s'elanger au ciel ou j'ai tant aspire'. 11. " Doux moment par mes vceux tant de fois attire ! Tu viens couper enfin de mes malheurs la trame, Jesus, que par la foi j'embrasse et je reclame, M'enleve d'une terre oii j'ai tant soupire. III. " Dieu ! Terre couverte d'horreurs et de charmes, Terre pleine d'erreurs, d'iniquites, d'alarmes, Dont meme les douceurs excitent ma pitid, Si du mortel combat passant a sa victoire, Je laisse dans ton sein ma fragile moitid, Dieu seul sera mon Tout dans le sein de la gloire." Then follow the notes containing the parti- culars of Henry's death, which seemed to intro- duce the personal subject, if it were introduced at all. But it is the more probable that it was not, as the calamity was so recent, and so deeply aifecting to his father. The remarkable affection that existed between the venerable pastor and his ms sEiiMONs. 231 son, has been before alluded to. But in this sermon we have a proof that, whilst he felt for the loss of his child, he could not forget for a moment the state of those before whom he was preaching, and upon whose account he desired to make this sermon one of unusual profit as well as interest. Oberlin, as I have stated above, was fond of drawing analogies between the natural and spi- ritual world. The following extracts from a ser- mon preached on a week day (November 16, 1819) will illustrate the manner in which he did so. It also bears some marks of his peculiarities of view as to a future state : — " Les enfans de ce siecle prennent en sont pris en mariage. " Mais ceux qui seront faits dignes d'obtenir ce siecle-la et la resurrection des morts, ne prendront ni se seront pris en mariage. Car ils ne pourront plus mourir, parcequ'ils seront pareils aux Anges, et qu'ils seront fils de Dieu, etant fils de la resurrection. — St. Luc xx. 34, 36. " Le Seigneur nous presente ici un coup d'ccil, un avenir extremement ravissant pour quiconque 232 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. n'a pas de souci plus grand, plus pressant que de devenir un vrai disciple de Jesus- Christ, un vrai membre de son corps. " Pour comprendre ce beau passage il faut expliquer quelques termes : " 1. Qu'est-ce que le Seigneur entend par le siecle-ci, et par le siecle a venir ? " Par le siecle-ci le Seigneur entend I'etat actual du genre humain, depuis qu'il est dechu de son premier etat glorieux. " Et par le siecle a venir il entend I'etat mer- veilleusement glorieux de ceux en qui Dieu aura pu retablir parfaitement son image, et le premier glorieux etat pour lequel nous avions ete crees. " 2. Qu'est-ce que le Seigneur entend par la resurrection des morts ? Ce n'est pas le reveil general des morts au dernier jour pour com- paroitre devant le tribunal du Juge supreme. " Mais c'est la deliwance parfaite de tons les maux que le peche a attires sur nous, et le retablissement a la gloire primitive. Voila, ce que le Seigneur appelle la resurrection des morts. "3. Qui est-ce qui sera estime digne de cette glorieuse resurrection et du retablissement par- fait de I'image de Dieu ? HIS SERMOxNS. 233 " Ce sont ceux qui se donnent de coeur, et d'ame, et d'esprit, au Seigneur Jesus- Christ, et font des efforts pour entrer par la porte etroite, et qui pour cet effet etudient et gardent soi- gneusement tout ce que le Seigneur a commande a ses disciples — qui par la priere continuelle au fond de leur cceur, et par I'usage frequent de la Sainte Cene, tachent d'etre toujours plus ^troite- ment unis au Seigneur — qui aspirent a aimer Dieu de tout leur cceur, de toute leur ame, de toutes leurs forces, et de toutes leurs pensees — et a aimer le prochain vraiment comme eux-memes, et a etre de fideles valets, et servantes, de Dieu dans sa vigne. " Ceux qui travaillent a obtenir ces graces, non seulement pour eux-memes, mais aussi pour toutes leurs families, et leurs amis, et connois- sances. aussi loin qu'ils peuvent atteindre par leurs prieres. " Quand de pareilles personnes par leur fide- lite, humilite, ardeur et charite, auront passe par les differens cieux inferieurs, et seront parvenus a la saintete parfaite, a la perfection des saints accomplis, et qu'ils pourront etre recus dans la classe, et le rang, des habitans de la montagne de X 3 2;M memoirs of oberlin. Sion ou du royaume des cieux, alors ils recevront le corps glorifie ou la resurrection dont le Sei- gneur parle ici. "4. Alors ils ne mourront plus, ou comme le Seigneur Texprime dans I'Apocalypse xxi. 4. ' La mort ne sera plus, et il n'y aura j)lus ni deuil, ni cri, ni travail ; car les premieres choses sont passees.' " Vous savez, chers amis ! que toute la nature terrestre est une representation du spirituel. Les chenilles, et tous les insectes, passent par differens etats qui ne se ressemblent pas du tout. D'abord au sortir de I'oeuf ce sont de petits vers, qui de tems a autre depouillent leurs peaux superieures et en sortent quasi dans un habit neuf. " Mais eniin ils re9oivent toute une nouvelle forme, celle de chrj^salide. " C'est quasi un tout nouvel animal, tout dif- ferent du premier pour la figure et les proprietes. ". Mais ce n'est pas encore le tout. Sous la forme de cette chrysalide il se prepare encore un nouvel animal, tout autrement parfait qu'il ne I'etoit dans les deux premiers etats, c'est le papillon, orne de belles couleurs, et qui a de tout autre gout et proprietes. ins SERMONS. 235 " II dedaigne maintenant la nourriture gros- siere de son premier etat et en prend une plus pure et plus parfaite. savoir le miel des fleurs. " Et pour ce qui est de ses mouvemens il n'a plus besoin actuellement de ses pieds pour se transporter d'un endroit a un autre ; au moyen de ses ailes il s'eleve lestement et s'elance rapide- ment par dessus les murailles, les rivieres, et les montagnes. " De merae ceux qui sont en Jesus- Christ passant a mesure qu'ils avancent en humilite, charite, saintete, ils passent par difFerens change- mens de leurs corps interieurs, spirituels, visibles aux anges, mais caches a nous sous le corps terrestre. " Et ces changemens continuent de clarte en clarte, de brillant en brillant, jusqu'^ ce que leurs corps soient devenus conformes et semblables au corps glorieux du Seigneur Jesus- Christ. " Ah, chers amis ! quel coup d'oeil ravissant, quelle esperance etonnante et delicieuse. " O animons-nous toujours a poursuivre en Jesus- Christ notre sanctification, et a resserrer notre union avec lui. " C'est par lui, le cher Seigneur, et ce n'est 236 MEMOIRS. OF OBERLIN. que par lui que Ton parvient a tout cela. Car c'est lui qui nous a ete donne de Dieu pour y trouver la sagesse, la justice, la sanctification, et la glorieuse redemption, et delivrance."* Oberlin always concluded the Sabbath after- noon's servdce with catechetical exercise ; and as this was intended more particularly for the benefit of the children, he endeavoured to render his afternoon's discourse even more simple than that of the morning had been, and to adapt iiis lan- guage to the age of his younger hearers. " My friends," said he, upon one of these occasions, wishing to give them, if possible, some idea of eternity, " if a single grain of sand were brought into this room once every hundred years, many centuries must elapse before the floor could be covered. That moment would, however, arrive ; but, even when it came, the spirits of the blest would be still in the enjoyment of heavenly happiness, for they are immortal ; and if a grain of sand were to be brought at the same stated * For other specimens of Oberlin's Sermons, see Appendix, Nos. IV. and V. HIS MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 237 interval for many thousands of centuries, until the room were entirely filled, those happy beings would still be immortal, and eternity would be as boundless as when the first grain was brought." " The good pastor," says Mrs. SteinkopfF, from whose journal the editor has been kindly allowed to make the following extracts, " con- siders his flock as his own children, and they look up to him with the most profound respect and veneration. I never witnessed so dehghtfully affecting a scene as the church of Waldbach, quite full, apparently, of attentive people. It stands very near the parsonage, and is plain, aeat, and clean, with a gallery all round. When we were there, on the 11th of June, 1820, it was completely filled with peasants in the costume of the country, and there was not a countenance among them that indicated indiff^erence ; the greater part evinced the utmost seriousness and attention. When the revered pastor entered, all stood up ; he placed himself before the commu- nion table ; it was plain, covered with a white cloth, fringed all round. He first gave out a hymn. When it was sung, he read a prayer from the ritual, during which all knelt, and 238 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. covered their faces. He then gave out another hymn ; after which he went to one part of the church where the children sat, and called over their names, to see if any were absent. Then all knelt down again whilst he prayed ; then they sung, and he went into the pulpit and gave out his text, after another prayer : ' He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.* Isaiah Hii. 11. He spoke in the plainest and most familiar manner ; mentioned the errors of the times, against which he warned his hearers, particularly dwelling on the importance of sanc- tification. * Those who give themselves up to intemperance,' said he, ' and to the enjoyment of luxuries, without concerning themselves about their poorer brethren, and yet think that with all this they shall go to heaven, because Christ died for sinners, are mistaken. No : the Gospel says quite otherwise. We must deny ourselves, lay aside our sins, lead a holy and godly life, and then our blessed Redeemer wiU save us.' He earnestly warned them against sin. Not a sound was to be heard. Every countenance expressed attention. When he had finished, he read some verses of a hymn expressive of entire devotedness HIS MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 239 to God. * My dear friends,' said he, ' may these be the feelings of our hearts, and as such let us sing them.' They then sang them de hon cceur." The following is a translation : — O Lord, thy heavenly grace impart, And fix my frail inconstant heart ; Henceforth my chief desire shall be. To dedicate myself to Thee ! — To thee, my God, to Thee !~ Whate'er pursuits my time employ, One thought shall fill my soul with joy; That silent, secret thought shall be, That all my hopes are Bx'd on Thee — On Thee, my God, on Thee ! Thy glorious eye pervadeth space, Thou'rt present. Lord, in every place. And, wheresoe'er my lot may be, Still shall my spirit cleave to Thee — To Thee, my God, to Thee ! Renouncing every worldly thing. Safe, 'neath the covert of thy wing, My sweetest thought henceforth shall be. That all I want I find in Thee, In Thee, my God, in Thee ! *' Two children were then brought to be bap- tized ; after which he pronounced the blessing. Whilst the people were going out of church another verse was sung. Those nearest the door went out first, all in order and in silence. There 240 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. are two doors in the chuiich ; the pulpit is placed in the middle, next the back, so that the con- gregation is in front, down each side. Before it stands the communion table. All are seated on benches. There are, against the gallery, half a dozen pictures ; one is of our Saviour on the cross." Dr. SteinkopiF writes the following letter, de- scriptive of the same interesting scene. " Waldbach, in the Steinthal, June 12, 1820. " I cannot describe the veneration I felt on approaching Mr. Oberlin, that servant of God, and benefactor of man, who, in his eightieth year, is still full of health, vigour, and activity, and gladly spends his remaining strength in doing- good. Serenity and cheerfulness are depicted on his countenance; and he dehghts in commu- nicating to his Christian friends something of that peace of God which possesses his own soul. " Yesterday I attended divine service in his church. Notwithstanding a pouring rain, it was completely filled. Mr. Oberlin's assistant in the ministerial office, (the Rev. Mr. Graff,) assured me that every house in the five villages imder his HIS MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 241 pastoral care, was now provided with a Bible, and that every child who came to receive cate- chetical instruction brought a New Testament with him. But for the sake of those who applied from a distance, I gladly complied with his wish to furnish him, and his son at Rothau, with one hundred and twenty German Bibles and Testa- ments. After divine service, three CathoHc peasants applied for De Sacy's Testament. One paid three francs for a copy. He gave Mr. Oberlin the pleasing information that many of his Catholic neighbours had already procured the New Testament, and were in the constant habit of reading it. Mr. Oberlin's son, who lives on the most friendly terms with the Catholic priest, lately presented his schoolmaster with a copy. " I accompanied the venerable patriarch in some of his pastoral ^dsits. Wherever he went, respect and affection met him. The children hailed his appearance. They immediately pro- duced their Bibles, or Testaments, read to him, or listened to his truly paternal exhortations and admonitions."* * See Appendix to the Seventeenth Report of the Britisli and Foreign Bible Society. 242 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Every Friday Oberlin conducted a service in German, for the benefit of those inhabitants of the vicinity to whom that language was more familiar than French. His congregation on a Sunday consisted, on an average, of six hundred persons, but on a Friday of two hundred ; and Oberlin, laying aside all form, seemed on such occasions more like a grandfather surrounded by his children and grandchildren, to whom he was giving suitable admonition and instruction, than the minister of an extensive parish. In order that no time might be lost, he used to make his female hearers knit stockings during the service, not indeed for themselves or their families, but for their poorer neighbours, as he believed that this charitable employment need not distract their attention, nor interrupt that devotional spirit which generally pervaded the Friday evening assemblies. When he had pursued for half an hour the train of his reflections upon the portion of Scripture which he had just been reading, he would often say to them, " Well, my children, are you not tired ? - Have you not had enough } — Tell me, my friends." To which inquiry his parishioners would generally reply, " No, papa. HIS MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 243 go on ; we should like to hear a little more," though, on some occasions, with characteristic frankness, the answer was, "Enough, we think, for one time ;" and the good old man would leave off, in the midst of his discourse, or wait a little, and presently resume it, putting the same ques- tion again at intervals, until he saw that the attention of his congregation began to flag, or until they, perceiving that he spoke with less ease, would thank him for the things he had said, and beg him to conclude. Such was the general esteem in which he was held, that Catholics, as well as Protestants, were fond of attending his preaching. The following conversation took place between an EngUsh gen- tleman and the driver of the car in which it was found necessary to proceed from Schirmeck to Waldbach ; no apology can be deemed necessary for introducing it, in illustration of the respect in which Oberlin was universally regarded by the peasantry. " Vous allez done voir notre bon pasteur Oberlin, Messieurs," said the latter. " Oui, nous allons ie voir. Est ce que vous le connoissez ?" 244 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " Si je le connois ?" continued the man. " Oui, je le connois bien. Je I'ai entendu precher maint fois." " Mais vous etes Catholique, n'est-ce pas ?" " Oui, nous sommes Catholiques, nous autres a Schirmeck ; neanmoins, cela ne nous empeche pas d' entendre quelquefois le bon pasteur de Waldbach." " Trouvez-vous qu'il precbe bien ?" " Mais oui. Je le crois bien. Souvent il nous fait tout pleurer a chaudes larmes." The honest charioteer spoke a very intelUgible French, quite distinct from the patois of Schir- meck ; and this circumstance, together with a certain touch of military sang froid in his manner, not entirely concealed by his fustian jacket, prompted the inquiry whether he had served under Napoleon. " Oui, Monsieur, vous y etes," rephed he, " J'ai eta soldat, moi. Quand on est soldat, on attrappe facilement bien des mauvaises habitudes." " Pour tout ce que j'ai trouve jusqu'ici, on les attrappe assez facilement par tout." " C'est possible," said the man. " Pour moi, je vous dis franchement que je n'etois pas mieux que les autres ; et quand je vais entendre precher HIS MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 245 le Pasteur Oberlin, il me fait bien sentir que je ne suis pas trop bon a present meme. 11 a raison, M. le Pasteur a raison ; car c'est vrai, c'est bien vrai cela." " Oui ; mais ne pensez vous pas que c'est une verite bien essentielle a savoir ? Ne croyez vous pas que celui qui nous fait sentir nos erreurs est un de nos meilleurs amis ?" " Oui. Pour etre gu'ri, on doit savoir sa maladie." " Certainement. Vous etes done bien heureux d'avoir un ministre qui vous fait sentir la verite." " Vous avez raison. Et je vous assure que c'est un homme qui cherche de nous etre utile en toutes sortes de manieres." " Dites-moi ; qu'est ce qu'il a fait done ?" " Qu'est ce qu'il a fait ! II fait tout ce qu'on pent faire. A'^oyons. II y a tant de cboses. Premierement, cette route ici, c'est lui qui nous I'a faite." " Oui ; mais ce n'est pas absolument la meil- leure du monde." " Cela pent etre ; mais voyez vous, Monsieur, il n'y a pas beaucoup d'annees que nous n'aurions pu passer meme avec un petit char comme ceci. y 3 246 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Monsieur le Pasteur a surveille toute cette route ; il a meine travaille avec ses propres mains, pour encourager les autres." " Et ce petit pont la que nous allons traverser?" *' Oui, surement, et ce pont aussij c'est lui qui I'a fait faire." " II doit etre riche pour faire tant de choses." " On pent dire oui et non." " Comment ?" " On pent dire oui; parceque s'il avoit tout ce qu'il a donne aux autres, il auroit ete tres riche. On pent dire non, parcequ'il ne garde rien, abso- lument rien ; il donne tout aux pauvres ; tout. Monsieur, tout.* Vous allez voir sa maison. II ne faut pas penser de la trouver bien glorieuse."-}- But to return to Oberlin himself. One of his prevailing desires was that all, to whatever class or denomination they might belong, whilst conscientiously adhering to their own * " He has laid up nothing for his children," said Louisa to a clergyman who visited the Ban de la Roche, in Septem- ber, 1825, "but he mil leave them with the benedictions of heaven, and none of them will ever want bread." + The editor is indebted to the MS. notes of Dr. Edmund Clarke for this conversation, which has also appeared in the Eclectic Review. It was thought that much of the spirit of the original would be lost in a translation. II[S MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 2-17 peculiar creeds, should grow in an acquaintance with those common truths which constitute the essence of the Gospel. " Are you a Christian ?" said he to a Catholic gentleman who visited the Ban de la Roche in the autumn of 1820; "if you are a Christian, my dear friend, we are ot the same religion. If you believe in the utter depravity of human nature, in the necessity of repentance, and, whilst adoring God, pray to Him to crown your efforts to become better, we are of the same religion. Follow the law traced by the dear Saviour ; it only is the true law. AU the forms and ceremonies that different sects have added to this law are of little importance.* * It must be conceded that the. spirit of liberality in this venerable pastor was, in some instances, carried to too great a length. His humility and simplicity of mind, divested of fastidiousness and party feeling, led him, perhaps, too readily to embrace in the arms of Christian charity some whom he would have found deficient in the fimdamental doctrines of our reformed religion. If, however, we cannot entirely ap- prove of his want of discrimination, v/e must admire that true spirit of brotherly affection which induced him to look with kindness and toleration upon all whom he had reason to hope loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, "Whatever error in doctrine, or peculiarity of sentiment, may appear in some parts of Oberlin's character, the editor cannot but think that in all the main truths of Christianity his views were clear and simple, and that the devoted earnest' 248 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Perceiving that the eyes of his visitor were directed to a portrait of Luther that hung against the wall of his study, " That man has been," said he, " like every founder of a sect, much applauded and much calumniated. And if you will promise me not to be offended," continued he, smiling, " I will tell you something about him. The popes, for a long time, arrogated to themselves temporal powers and privileges, in a very dif- ferent spirit from that spirit of humility by which the first followers of Jesus Christ were distin- guished. Taking advantage of the credulity of the people, they extended their dominion over nearly the whole of Europe ; Turkey alone being free from their sway. Leo X. wished to unite ness, ardent zeal, and disinterested benevolence by which this extraordinary man Avas so eminently distinguished, sprung from love to a crucified Redeemer, and humble reliance upon his death and merits. If some of the more evangelic doctrines of the Gospel do not appear so prominently in this Memoir as could be wished, may not the deficiency be attri- buted, in some degree, to the character of its subject — a character in which the fruits of true religion, rather than its doctrines, are exhibited : — in which the active, laborious pastor, placed in very peculiar circumstances, and called to very unusual duties in the discharge of his high oflSce, is brought before the reader's notice, rather than the more retired Christian in his secret walk with God. Ills MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 249 the Christian princes against this latter kingdom, but it was necessary to obtain money in order to secure their co-operation. Leo, who was remark- able for the patronage he afforded to the fine arts, was also in want of funds to finish the famous cathedral of St. Peter. He devised the plan of selling indulgences. These were notes payable at sight, for the enfranchisement of souls in pur- gatory ; a place never mentioned by Jesus Christ and his apostles. Depots of them were opened in the priests' houses, the monasteries, and even in the public-houses. The priests were employed in persuading the people to purchase them. An Augustine monk, the son of a blacksmith, of Eisleben, was led to consider what power these indulgences could possibly possess, and ascending the pulpit, after a priest who had been inculcating these doctrines, he excited in the minds of his hearers the indignation with which his own was filled. This Augustine, whose name was Martin Luther, proceeded to apply to several princes, some of whom espoused his cause. He spread the doctrines of the Reformation ; abolished those of the monks ; and taking Scripture for his guide, returned to the simple communion of bread 250 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. and wine ; he denied the power of baptism to talce away original sin ; condemned auricular confession ; and declared that popes and councils had no authority to add any thing to the religion of Jesus Christ and his apostles, seeing that if Jesus Christ had wished his religion to be dif- ferent from that which he taught, he would him- self have delivered it diiFerently. Luther opened the way for a great revolution, and violent means were taken to oppose his proceedings. I wiU add no more," continued he ; "I only wished to mention the causes and the principal effects of the Reformation. Luther was not the founder of a new religion ; he only brought us back to the religion of Jesus Christ. God will regard all who adhere to the doctrines of his divine Son with equal favour, be they Catholics or Lutherans." The following anecdotes are illustrative of the paternal influence which Oberlin exercised over his flock, as well as of his readiness to assist those who diflFered from him in their religious tenets. A young woman of Schirmeck, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, had married a Pro- testant of Waldbach. This man had enemies; he was, comparatively speaking, rich, and his HIS PATERNAL INFLUENCE. 251 fortune might possibly have some connexion with the motives of their animosity. The young woman became the mother of a little girl, who, by mutual consent, and in pursuance of the marriage agreement, was to be brought up in the rehgion of the former, and baptized by the clergyman at Schirmeck. To repair thither it was necessary to take the road over the moun- tains ; but at the moment of their setting off, they were informed that the enemies of the husband had laid a scheme to waylay them at a particular turn of the road, to spring out upon him when he reached it, and to compel him by menaces and ill-treatment to consent to their unjust demands. Their journey could not very well be delayed, as the priest had been informed of their intended arrival ; and yet they were afraid to undertake it on account of the impending danger. In this painful dilemma they went to consult Oberhn. He, after exhorting them to place their trust in God, most kindly offered to accompany them, to render his aid and protection should they require it. On arriving at a spot in the forest where there was reason to fear an ambuscade, Obeiiin 252 MEMOIRS OF OBKRLIN. knelt down, and, extending his hands over the young people, exclaimed with a loud voice, " Great God ! Thou seest wickedness lying in wait, and conspiring mischief. Thou seest inno- cence in alarm. Almighty God I avert the danger, or give thy children strength to sur- mount it." At this moment several men, who had been concealed behind a thicket of beech-trees, dis- covered themselves, and rushed forwards, utter- ing the most threatening exclamations. Oberlin took the little infant in his arms, and advanced towards them with a calmness which did not conceal his indignation, yet still left room for the hope of pardon. " There," said he to them, " is the babe which has done you so much injury — which disturbs the peace of your days." Dis- mayed at the presence of their pastor, whom they little expected to meet with in the character of an escort to persons going to perform a Roman Catholic ceremony, and finding from the few words which he had addressed to them that he was not ignorant of their bad designs, they did not attempt to dissimulate, but, confessing their crime, begged pardon of the young man, and HIS PATERNAL INFLUENCE. 253 offered terms of reconciliation. Thus providentially rescued from the danger which had threatened them, the young people continued their walk to Schirmeck, while Oberlin returned to Waldbach with the men whom he had thus prevented from doing evil. When they reached the entrance of the village, " My children," said he, as he left them, •' remember the day on the mountains, if you wish that I should forget it," Another morning, (in the early part of his ministry,) as OberHn was at work in his study he heard a great noise in the village. Rushing out, he perceived a foreigner whom almost the whole population were loading with abusive and threatening language. "A Jew! a Jew!" re- sounded on all sides, as the good pastor forced his way through the crowd ; and it was with difficulty that he could obtain silence. As soon, however, as he could make himself heard, he rebuked them wdth great warmth for having proved themselves unworthy the name of Chris- tians by treating the unfortunate stranger in so cruel a manner. He added, that if this poor man wanted the name of a Christian, they wanted the spirit of Christians. The same enlargement 254 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. of mind distinguished Oberlin on all occasions. And whatever men might say, he still remem- bered the Apostle's injunction, Gal. vi. 10 — " Let us do good unto all men." I shall conclude this chapter respecting Ober- lin's private and ministerial character, with the following questions, which he addressed to his flock in writing, requiring from them satisfactory replies to each inquiry. They prove that his soHcitude for their welfare descended to the smallest details, both with respect to their tem- poral and spiritual concerns, and that he neglected nothing to which he thought it his duty to call their attention. Questions addressed hy Pastor Oberlin to his Parishioners. 1 . Do you, and your family, regularly attend places of religious instruction .'' 2. Do you never pass a Sunday without em- ploying yourself in some charitable work ? 3. Do neither you, nor your wife or children, ever wander in the woods on a Sunday, in search of wild raspberries, strawberries, whortle-berries, mulberries or hazel nuts, instead of going to QUESTIONS TO IIIS PARISHIONERS. 255 church ? — and, if you have erred in this manner, \vill you solemnly promise to do so no more ? 4. -Are you careful to provide yourself with clean and suitable clothes for going to church in on the Sunday ? * 5. Do those who are provided with necessary clothes employ a regular part of their income to procure them for their destitute neighbours, or to relieve their other necessities ? 6. Have your civil and ecclesiastical overseers reason to be satisfied with your conduct, and that of the other members of your family ? 7. Do you so love and reverence our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, as to feel united in the bonds of Christian fellowship with that flock of which he is the Pastor ? 8. Do the animals which belong to you cause no injury or inconvenience to others ? — (Guard against this, for it would be as fire in tow, and a source of mutual vexation.) 9. Do you give your creditors reason to be * Dm-iiig the first years of Oberlin's residence in the Ban de la Roclie, the inhabitants were so miserably off for wearing apparel that they could only go to church by tunis, being obliged to borrow each other's clothes in order to appear decently atthed. 256 MEMOIRS OF OBEKLIN. satisfied with your honesty and punctuality ? — or can they say of you that you are more desirous of purchasing superfluous clothes than of dis- charging your debts ? 10. Have you paid all that is due this quarter to the churchwarden, schoolmaster, and shep- herd? 11. Do you punctually contribute your share towards the repairing of the roads ? * * That Oberlin considered the repairing of roads as a reli- gious duty incumbent upon all his parishioners, (since it conduced to the public good,) appears from the following curious and characteristic letter, which he addressed to thera Nov. 9, 1804. " Road between Foudai and Zolbach. '■'• Dear friends of Foudai ! — Several persons at Zolbach have long been desirous that a certain road on jour district, which runs towards Zolbach, should be mended and put into repair. " Such a measure would tend greatly to the advantage of Foudai. But for whose sake will you do it.? Will you do it from love to your Heavenly Father, to whom you pray every day, and whom in the Lord's Prayer you call Father, and Avho requires you to prove your faith by your works ? Will you do it from love to the Lord Jesus Christ, who, during his stay upon earth, went about doing good, and who has redeemed us in order to make to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works? Will you do it from love to God's children who are at Zolbach ? — ^you know that all the services which you render to the children of God, and the followers QUESTIONS TO HIS PARISHIONERS. 257 12. Have j-oii, in order to contribute to the general good, planted upon the common at least twice as many trees as there are heads in your family ? 13. Have you planted them properly, or only as idle and ignorant people would do, to save themselves trouble ? 14. When the magistrate wishes to assemble the commonalty, do you always assist him as far as lies in your power; and, if it be impossible for you to attend yourself, are you careful to inform him of your absence, and to assign a proper reason for it ? 15. Do you send your children regularly to school ? 16. Do you watch over them as God requires you should do ? And is your conduct towards them, as well as your wife's, such as will ensure their affection, respect, and obedience ? of Jesus Christ, God regards as done to himself. Will you do it from love to the servants of mammon who are at Zol- bach, in order to set them a good example, and to vdn. their affections by your kindness ? — or, Avill you do it from com- passion to the animals which yoiu* Heavenly Father has created, and which he has himself honoured by his covenant with Noah after the deluge, Gen. ix. 9 ?" z 3 258 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. 17. Are you frugal in the use of wood ? And do you contrive to make your fires in as econo- mical a manner as possible ? 18. Do you keep a dog unless there be abso- lute necessity ? 19. Have you proper drains in your yard for carrying off the refuse water ? 20. Are you, as well as your sons, acquainted with some little handicraft work to employ your spare moments, instead of letting them pass away in idleness ? With regard to the purport of the fifth ques- tion, as Oberhn was most particular in devoting a certain share of his own income to the alleviation of the wants of others, and in accustoming himself to the strictest self-denial in order to increase his means of doing good, so he used his utmost en- deavours to persuade others to imitate his ex- ample, and to avoid any superfluity in their clothes or manner of living, that they might be the better able to assist their poorer neighbours. He addressed the following advice to the mothers in his parish, on observing that it was becoming a prevalent fashion amongst them to put cambric frills to their little boy's shirts — an QUESTIONS TO HIS PARISHIONERS. 259 extravagance which he deemed extremely repre- hensible : " Various mothers are, I observe, beginning to put frills of muslin or of cambric to their children's shirts. Do not do so, dear friends. Unpick them, cut them off, and seek not to increase the vanity of your children, which is already naturally too great. Cut off all the finery that does not correspond with your station in life, and employ yourselves in clothing the poor families of this extensive parish ; many of whom are in an extremely miserable condition. " Love your neighbours as yourselves. Re- nounce every superfluity, that you may be the better able to procure necessaries for those who are in want. Be their care-takers — their fathers and their mothers — for it is for this purpose that God has blessed you with more temporal wealth than he has done them. Be merciful. ITie time may come when you yourselves will stand in need of the mercy of God." The following note bears also the same import : its superscription is. 260 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " SURPLUS OF HAY. " Waldbach, March 13, 1803. *• Dear Friends, — Is not this one of the two principal commandments — ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?' Matt. xxii. 39. Is it not as much as to say, when thy cattle can spare a little of thy hay, supply those who stand in need.-^ But as thou canst not give to all who want, choose those who are in the greatest neces- sity and poverty, and from among them, select such individuals as are most earnest in obeying the commandments of Jesus Christ, and in en- deavouring to work out their salvation vdth fear and trembling. Say to thyself, ' To such will I sell my hay,' and then let them have it at so low a price, that they may rejoice and bless God. " And afterwards be careful to furnish them with the means of liberating themselves from the debt which they have incurred, as far as thou art able to do so. " Be the father of the poor, and God will be thy father. Remember that it is impossible to love God with thy whole heart, without loving thy neighbour also. " Tread not in the steps of others, but be thou CIRCULARS. 261 a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be the father of the poor. Choose those who fear God most. Make good speed about it, for perhaps thou wilt not be much longer in possession of terrestrial riches." The following little circulars, in allusion to the sixteenth question, addressed at different times by Oberlin to his parishioners, prove how constantly he endeavoured to instil into their minds the necessity of bringing up their children in habits of subordination, and under their own inspection. " Waldbach, February 27, 1801. *' Dear Friends, Fathers and Mothers ! — I have a request to make to you. You give shepherds to your sheep, to lead them into green pastures, to feed, tend, and preserve them from danger, and you do well. | " But have you no fears for your children } ^ Does not Satan go about to tempt them to do *{' wrong ? Then give them shepherds likewise, and . never allow them to be left to their own devices. Let them work and amuse themselves under proper ^ inspection and superintendence, but let this super- V intendence be wise, prudent, gentle, kind, and 262 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. engaging, and whilst it leads you to take part in their amusements, and to direct, animate, and enliven them, let it also restrain them within due bounds. Whatever it costs you, God w^ill restore it a thousand fold. « May 29, 1803. " ' And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother ? And he said, I know not ; Am I my brother's keeper?' Gen. iv. 9. The Lord said to Cain, * Where is Abel thy brother } ' Oh, may these words resound continually in the ears of every parent, ' Father, where is thy son } ' Fathers of Belmont ! Fathers of Bellefosse, of Waldbach, of Foudai, and Zolbach! Father, where is thy son ? In what village ; in what house ; in what company? How is he employed? It behoves you to be able to answer these inquiries by night and by day ; on Sundays and on work- ing-days ; wherever you are, and whatever you are doing. You are the guardians of your children ; and whether they are employed in work, or in relaxation and amusement, it is your duty to superintend and direct their amusements and pursuits. CIRCULARS. 263 ** Do it ; do it, henceforth, with faithfulness, vigilance, and zeal; with earnest and secret prayer that God may pardon you for past unfaith- fulness, and deliver your sons from the sin and danger into which your carelessness, and want of parental watchfulness, may have driven them. This is the desire of " Your papa and minister " J. F. Oberlin." CHAPTER IX. OBERLIN'S pastoral visits — INTERVIEW BET^VEEN DR. AND MRS. STEINKOPFP AND THE CONDUCTRICE OF BELLEFOSSE — THEIR VISIT TO THE COTTAGE OF MADELINE KRUGER ; ALSO TO THAT OF SOPHIA BERNARD — LETTER WRITTEN BY MRS. C. DURING A VISIT TO THE BAN DE LA ROCHE IN THE SUMMER OF 1820 — LETTER FROM MRS. RAUCHER TO THE PARIS BIBLE SOCIETY, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF SOPHIA BERNARD, ETC. — AMOUNT OF THE SUMS RAISED AT DIFFER- ENT TIMES AT W^U.DBACH, IN SUPPORT OF VARIOUS CHARI- TABLE INSTITUTIONS, It was not in the pulpit alone that Obeiiin sought to make known the truths of the Gospel ; he was in the habit of paying pastoral visits to all the cottages in his parish ; of conversing wath their inhabitants on the subjects connected with their eternal welfare, and upon the various plans adopted by benevolent individuals in different parts of the world for the dissemination of reli- gious knowledge. In the hope of advancing their moral and spiritual welfare, he kept a book in which he oberlin's pastoral visits. 265 made private memoranda respecting their various states, a task for which the insight he obtained into their respective characters, during his fre- quent visits, peculiarly qualified him. Amongst other heads in the book were " Idlers" and " Bad Managers/' The Ten Commandments also furnished him with many distinct heads, under which he made remarks upon the state oi his congregation, particularizing the conduct of such persons as he deemed reprehensible, that he might be the better able to adapt his discourses to their edification. The affectionate manner in which he entered into familiar conversation with them upon such subjects as the diffusion of religious knowledge, the conversion of the heathen, and the exertions of God's devoted servants in bearing to others the " unsearchable riches of Christ," seldom failed to gain their attention, and to awaken in their hearts the warmest interest, whilst it had, at the same time, a most happy effect upon their man- ners, inducing, in some of the poor women par- ticularly, a refinement and softness not often met with in persons of the same class, entirely free from pride, awkwardness, forwardness, or A A 266 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN grossierete. The following anecdote is a pleasing illustration of these remarks. During Dr. and Mrs. SteinkopfF's visit to the Ban de la Koche, in 1820, they one day took a walk up the side of the mountain with Mr. Graff. The little path they were following led to Belle- fosse, whither they were going, to pay a visit to Madeleine Kriiger, one of the exemplary poor women of that village. Many peasants had bowed to them as they passed, with an air of courtesy, and the women had addressed them with " J'ai I'honneur de vous saluer, Madame," making at the same time a curtsey that would not have disgraced an English drawing-room. In the middle of a wood, through which the road led, they met a peasant, simply attired, with a pleasing open countenance, and a basket at her back. " Madame," said she, addressing Mrs. Steinkopff, " J'ai I'honneur de vous saluer," and a most profound curtsey accompanied her words. " Good morning ! I am rejoiced to have met you, my dear Priscilla," said Mr. Graff, returning the salutation ; " I have the pleasure of intro- ducing you to this lady and gentleman from England. You are well acquainted with the DR. AND MRS. STEINKOPFF S INTERVIEW. 2G7 name of the gentleman. He is Dr. Steinkopff, one of the Secretaries of the Bible Society, which has suppHed us with so many Bibles." " Oh ! God be praised for it, my dear Sir I " replied the peasant. " Yes, I am well acquainted with your name ! I have read the reports which make men- tion of you. Is it possible/' and she joined her hands together, " that I have the honour of seeing you here on earth ! Often, yes, often I think of the people of whom I read, and who have been brought to our dear Saviour, through the means, through the generosity of that noble Society. Ah, what reason have we to rejoice, who live in the abundance of spiritual blessings; and how much should we wish to procure the same advantages for those who are destitute of them ! Yes ; we are very rich here, in this Ban de la Roche. Oh, that we may never be unfaithful to that light which God has been pleased to grant us ! I am truly delighted with all that I hear, and especially that I have the pleasure of seeing you. I recollect what our good pastor one day said at a funeral, when he saw a poor child weeping bitterly over its grandmother, whom they were going to bury : * My dear child, in- 268 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. stead of weeping for your grand-mamma, who is now no more, endeavour to live in a manner conformable to the will of God ; believe, dear, in your Saviour, and then, in his good time, you will meet her again in heaven, never more to be separated.' / also pray. Sir, that it may please God to grant me grace to live the life of a Chris- tian, that when I die my spirit may join those pure and happy spirits who have done so much good upon earth." The manners and expression of this interesting young woman," says Mrs. Steinkopff, " were very superior ; for with all the animation and sprightliness of the French, much zeal and humility were conspicuous." '' On reaching Belief osse," continues the latter, " we visited the white-washed cottage of Madeleine Kriiger ; its neat painted casements and clean steps announced the comfort to be found within. We entered through a kitchen, with a well-furnished dresser and good oven. * Happily come,' said she, * you do me too much honour. I am this moment returned, and I should be sorry not to have been here on your arrival ; my door is not yet unlocked ;' and as she spoke she reached the key and opened it into VISIT TO SOPHIA BERNARD. 2G9 a very good room, at one end of v^hich stood her bed with pretty blue cotton curtains, and on one side a long table with benches around it, all as white as wood could be made ; on the table lay a Moravian text-book open, in which she had been reading. Whilst we were there, a tall agreeable looking man, with a slouched hat, and blue trousers and jacket, came in ; he was mayor and schoolmaster at the same time." They afterwards proceeded to the neat, clean, and comfortable cottage of Sophia Bernard, at Foudai, with whom they were to take tea ; she met them at the door, and showed them into a good sized room, where, on a long deal table, almost as white as snow, were placed some beautiful flowers, and cups and saucers, cream and cakes, supplied by Mrs. Legrand, who, with her husband, sons and daughters, drank tea with them. The cups and saucers were very hand- some, being of white and yellow china, and had different German sentences upon them. Upon Mrs. Steinkopff's cup this motto was inscribed, " Bete fur michy ich will fur dich beten." (" Pray for me, and I v;ill pray for thee.") Two benches were placed along the table, and Sophia stood A A 3 270 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. behind to wait. She was, like many of the female peasants of the Steinthal, delicate in her appearance, with a mild and gentle countenance, and peculiar humility of deportment. She looked upon her guests with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction, listening to all that was said, and lifting up her hands in gratitude to God, for what she heard concerning the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom on earth by the success of Missionary and Bible Societies. On the depar- ture of her visitors she knelt down, and prayed very fervently for their protection. The following letter, written by Mrs. C during her visit to the Ban de la Roche in the summer of 1820, describes the same scene, and also presents so lively and animated a picture of the venerable pastor and his family, that it can- not but be read with interest and delight. " Ban de la Roche, June 7, 1820. " My dearest , ***** My last letter from Strasbourg was written in low spirits ; the sun has since shone upon us. We are now in a most uncommon and interesting MRS. C 'S LETTER. 2/1 spot — every thing is novel, but the One Spirit which acknowledges the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which is the same ; and dehghtful it is to feel it the same, amongst other nations and languages. It is confirming to faith to find the children of God in every place looking only to the same Saviour, and built upon the same foundation. " I wish I had power to convey to you an idea of our present interesting and curious situation. In the first place, I must introduce you to the room I am sitting in. It is perfectly unique. I should think the floor had never been really cleaned. It is filled with old boxes, and bottles, and pictures, and medicines, and books, but every thing is in its place. Two little beds are stuck up in each corner, and there are a few old chairs, &c. The window looks upon the tops of the mountains, near which we are, — separated from the world ; but this is a spot highly favoured, remarkably illuminated by the blessed light of the Gospel. I must now teU you of our journey here, and arrival. " On Saturday morning, after an early break- fast, we left Strasbourg. I was rather sorry to 272 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. quit our comfortable hotel, where I began to feel tolerably settled, and the place, as a town, pleased me. We soon left the high road, and as there were no more post-houses, we took a pair of horses to make our way as well as we could through the mountains. The roads w^ere not quite so bad as I expected, yet their narrowness, and the steep precipice on one side, made me nervous. But we were charmed by the interest and beauty of the scenery : — before we had gone far we found the valleys luxuriant in vines and fine trees ; a mountain river running through the valley, and presenting different views in every turn of the road. F. and I both thought we had never seen more exquisite home scenery. The postilion lost his way, and led us up a delicious valley. Though we enjoyed the scenery, our situation was not very pleasant, and we were anxious to arrive early ; for we went perfect strangers, without any introduction or having given any warning, but we felt confidence in going amongst Christian people. Having reached the right road again, we entered the pass leading into the Ban de la Roche; it was exceedingly interesting ; we were upon the famous road, dug MRS. C 'S LETTER. 273 out of the rock, made by Mr. Oberlin himself, and his parishioners, for before he came the place was almost inaccessible. " However good the roads were in comparison, I could not be satisfied to stay in the carriage, so we walked on to a very romantic little village, where Mr. Legrand and his family live, intimate friends of Mr. Oberlin. I fear you have not seen the book he wrote about Mr. O. and this place ;* it gives great interest to it. It is really wonder- ful what he has effected. We inquired for their house. Mrs. Legrand was pointed out to us ; she had a fine open countenance, but was dressed in a far commoner manner than any of our maids, who would appear like ladies in this place. The women here are a hundred years at least behind us in luxury and fashion, and outward appearance ; such simplicity I never saw. I will now intro- duce you to the Legrands, a most cheerful and happy family. Their house is complete in its way, and full of comfort for a foreign habitation. The father and mother, with their two sons, both * Letters to the Baron de Gerando, on the Agricultiu-e of the Ban de la Roche, from which extracts have been given in this work. 274 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. married to sweet women, live together. They seemed beaming with goodness and happiness; evidently most domestic, and I should trust reli- gious people, devotedly attached to Mr. Oberlin, their friend and minister, for whose sake they settled in this place. " After this pleasant introduction to the Le- grands, we again set off for Mr. Oberlin's, a mile and a half further, (a romantic walk through the valley,) accompanied by Mr. Legrand. On the way we met this most venerable and striking man — the perfect picture of what an old man and minister should be. He received us cordially, and we soon felt quite at ease with him. We all proceeded together towards his house, which stands on the top of a hill, surrounded by trees and cottages ; if we live to return you shall see my sketch of it."^ Owing to the fatigue of our journey, I felt quite overdone on our first arrival. I could see nothing like a mistress in the house ; but an old woman, called Louise, dressed in a long woollen jacket and black cotton cap, came to welcome us, and we afterwards found that she is an important person at the Ban de la Roche : she * See the sketch of Oberlin's residence, in the Title-page. S LETTER. 275 is mistress, housekeeper, intimate friend, maid of all work, schoolmistress, entertainer of guests, and, I should think, assistant minister, though we have not yet heard her in this capacity. Besides Louise, the son-in-law and daughter, and their six children, live here, two young girls, protegees, and two more maids out of the parish. Mr. GraiF, the son-in-law, is a minister, and a very excellent man. There is much religion and simplicity both in him and his wife ; but the latter is so devoted to the children that v/e seldom see her. We were ushered into the salle a manger, where stood the table, spread for supper ; a great bowl of pottage — a pewter plate and spoon for every body ; — the luxury of a common English cottage is not known in the Ban de la Roche. But we see the fruits and feel the blessed effects of religion in its simplest form ; it is a great privilege to be here, and I trust will be truly useful to us. " Tuesday. — We are become more acquainted with this extraordinary people. They are as interesting as they are uncommon. I much regret that I cannot speak the language more fluently ; yet I get on as well as I can, and have had a good deal of pleasing communication with 27o MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. them. 1 only hope you will read Owen's letters, with the description of his visit on a Sunday to this place ; it will give you an interest in our present situation.* Also, in the Appendix of the First Bible Society Report, read Mr. Oberlin's letter. -j" I never knew so well what the grace of courtesy was till I saw this remarkable man. He treats the poorest people, and even the children, with an affectionate respect. For instance, his courtesy, kindness, and hospitality to our postilion, were quite amusing. He pulled off his hat when we met him, took him by the hand, and treated him with really tender consideration. He is, I think, more than eighty — one of the handsomest old men I ever remember to have seen — still vigorous in mind and spirit — delighting in his parish — full of fervent charity. He has talked a great deal to F , The meals are really amusing : — we all sit down to the same table, maids and all, one great dish of pottage or boiled spinach, and a quantity of salad and potatoes, upon which they chiefly live, being placed in the middle. He shakes hands with all the little children as he passes them in the street, speaking * See p. 211. t See p. 155. MRS. C 'S LETTER. 277 particularly to each of them. The effect which such treatment has had in polishing these people, uncivilized and uncultivated as they formerly were, is quite wonderful. They have been taught a variety of things which have enlarged and refined their minds ; besides rehgion — music, geography, drawing, botan}^ &c. My sketching Tias been quite a source of amusement in the parish, and my sketch-book handed about from one poor person to another.* If you go into a cottage they quite expect you will eat and drink with them ; a clean cloth is laid upon a table, washed almost as white as milk, and the new milk and the wine,'i~ and the great loaf of bread are brought out, yet they are in reality ex- ceedingly poor. Their beds also look so clean and good that they would astonish our poor * "As I was one day sketching upon the mountain, a group of poor peasant women attracted mj attention, and I begged one of them to stand still for a few moments, that I might sketch her in the costume of her country. ' Ah ! Madam,' she replied, smiling, 'you shall sketch me. I should like 3'ou to have a picture of me in your book, because you wiU then be led to remember me, and perhaps to "pray for me.' " f The usual wine of the country, called hirschemrasser, is distilled from the fruit of the \vild cherry. 278 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. people. In some respects I think they are de- cidedly cleaner than our own peasantry. Their dress is simple to the greatest degree. The women and girls all dress alike, even down to the very little children. They wear caps of dark cotton, with black ribbon, and the hair bound closely under. Every body — maids, children, poor and rich, call Mr. Oberlin their ' Cher Papa,' and never was there a more complete father of a large family. We breakfast at seven ; the family upon potatoes boiled with milk and water — a little coffee is provided for us. "We dine at twelve, and sup at half-past seven. Every thing is in the most primitive style. I never met with such a disinterested people. It is almost im- possible to pay them for any service they do for you. In our visits to the poor we have been afraid of offering them money ; but we feel anxious to throw in some assistance towards the many important objects which Mr. Oberlin is carrying on amongst them. _It is almost past belief what he has done, and with very limited means. Three poor dear w^omen are noted for their benevolence ; one especially, who is a widow herself with several children, has undertaken to . 's LETTER. 27l^ support and bring up three orphan children ; and she has lately taken another, from no other prin- ciple than abounding Christian charity. One seldom meets with such shining characters. Mr. O. told Mr. C the other day he did not know how to pay Louise, for nothing hurt her so much as offering her money. No one could be more devoted to his service, and that in the most disinterested manner. Her character has im- pressed me very much. We had a delightful walk to a church about two miles distant, on Sunday morning ; the numbers of poor, flocking from the distant villages, dressed in their simple and neat costume, formed a striking object in the scene. It happened to be the Sunday Mr. O. goes to the next parish, where his son requires his assistance in giving prizes to the school children. Wednesday evening. — The poor charm me. I never met with any like them ; so much spi- rituality, humility, and cultivation of mind, with manners that would do honour to a court ; yet the homely dress and the simplicity of the pea- sant are not lost. The state of the schools, the children, and the poor in general, is quite 280 MEMOIRS OF OBEKLIN. extraordinary, and as much exceeds our parish as ours does the most neglected. " We have spent our time in the following manner : Since Sunday the mornings have been very wet ; we have therefore been chiefly shut up in our own room, reading, WTiting, and drawing ; the eldest of the GraiFs (Marie), a sweet girl, is a good deal with me, to read and to talk with me. The children and young people in the house are becoming fond of me ; our being here is quite a gaiety and amusement to them. About three o'clock Mr. Legrand comes for us, to take us dif- ferent excursions, &c. He seems to us one of the kindest persons we ever met with, full of conversation ; nothing can exceed the torrent of words they all have. The old gentleman delights in talking to F , and tells him every thing about himself, his family, his parishes, &c. Our room joins his librar}'', and all the family are free to enter whenever they like. The whole system is most amusing, interesting and useful. It is a capital example, and instructive for the minister of a parish. There is a spirit of good fellowship and kindness amongst all the people that is quite delightful. The longer we have been here, the MRS. C 'S LETTER. 281 more we have been struck with the uncommon degree of virtue which exists among them. On Monday eveningj after sketching Legrand's house, we were taken to the cottage of Sophie Bernard, where we found the table spread in the most complete manner for our tea, a luxury we had not enjoyed since we left England. Here we passed some time, eating, talking, and reading the Bible ; and it ended with prayer, by Sophie Bernard, in a sweet and feeling manner. We then had a charming walk through the valley home. Tuesday, in the afternoon, we ascended towards the very top of the mountains, to another of his villages, where we again found some delightful women, and a capital school. This afternoon we have been drinking tea with the Legrands ; so comfortable and complete a house and family is rarely to be met with in any country. The three pairs have each the most complete little dwelling, but under the same roof. Our intercourse with them has been truly pleasant ; they have treated us with real Chris- tian kindness. ^c * * * * * " Colmar, Friday evening. — Our scene is again BC3 282 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. quite changed : — we are returned to the common world; and I now find myself by a comfortable fire at a good hotel, which is quite a luxury after the primitive fare of the Ban de la Roche, where we found but little indulgence for the body, though we were treated with genuine hospitality. They live sadly in the clouds. The sun does not appear very often to shine upon them. I never was so struck with the diflference of climate as I was to day, in coming down into the plains. It poured with rain for the last day or two ; and all yesterday, in the mountains, every thing was soaked with wet ; but on entering the plains the dust began to fly. Delightful and uncommon as is this retreat, I must acknowledge we have rather enjoyed the comforts of the town, and the conveniences of this place. It would be a trial to me to live suiTounded and buried by mountains. I could not help rather feeling for Marie GraflF, who is sensible of her privations. However, they are happy and contended, and highly blessed ; and it is a great privilege to have passed this time with them; an event which must always be valuable through life. We parted from the excellent old man with many kisses, in the full MRS. RAUSCHEk's LETTER. 288 spirit of Christian love ; and the same with the rest of the household. We left them very early, accompanied by many of the family, and proceeded to Foudai, where the Legrands live. Here we breakfasted, and separated with many tears on their part. They are a most warm-hearted people. We then proceeded over such a road as would astonish our Norfolk and Suffolk friends. How- ever, I am thankful that we got through safely. I am getting more bold, and can bear the pre- cipices much better than at first. We passed some beautiful country, but whilst on the heights the rain and mist were so great we could not see much. " The thoughts of the Ban de la Roche, and the impression of this day, have been very plea- sant to me, and I have a secret satisfaction and comfort in the prospect of getting to Basle, where I trust I shall have the great consolation of hear- ing from you." Hi * * * * * The following extract, from a letter addressed by Mrs. Rauscher to the Paris Bible Society, presents a delightful picture of the good effects resulting from the instructions and example of 284 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. her beloved parent, and from an education founded on the Holy Scriptures. It also speaks of the death of Sophia Bernard, an event which happened in the spring of 1822, about two years after the visit alluded to in the preceding interesting letter. This letter is dated March 14, 1826. " Our parish has now possessed the Holy Scriptures for more than a century, and they form the basis of daily instruction in the schools. In addition to this, the young people have long been in the habit of receiving religious instruction from their pastor, so that a gradual and imper- ceptible improvement, resembling the growth of plants in a well- cultivated garden, has taken place. You may form some estimate of their moral progress, by the spirit of charity which manifests itself on occasion of the death of a j)007 father or mother leaving a numerous family ; and by the eagerness with which the relations, friends, or neighbours of the deceased, take charge of the children, not to treat them as strangers and dependants, but as members of their own household. These noble actions do not arise from any fixed methodical rides, nor are MRS. RAUSCIIER's LETTER. 285 they confined to any particular epoch ; but are owing to the instructions of the good pastor, and to the excellent regulations which he has led his parishioners to adopt. " Tliis delightful spirit of benevolence parti- cularly manifests itself, also, in the eager alacrity with which the young people assist the old and feeble in their rural labours. No sooner are their ovm tasks completed in the evening, than the signal is given, and they set off to execute in concert some labour, w^hich, by its charitable object, becomes a recreation. Is a new cottage to be built —the young people take upon them- selves the task of collecting the materials to- gether, and of assisting in its erection. Does it happen that a poor man loses his cow — his only support — the whole parish subscribe and raise a sum sufficient to replace it. Is a poor man visited with a misfortune of any kind — he is not the only sufferer — for all his neighbours partici- pate in his affliction, as the Apostle says, * If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.' 1 Cor. xii. 26. " These admirable works are doubtless effected by the influence of the Holy Spirit from on high, 286 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. and by that spirit of Christian benevolence which the attentive and constant perusal of the Holy Scriptures cannot fail to inculcate. "I will just mention as a single instance, among many others, of the transforming power of religion, that one young woman refused to marry, that she might devote her time, her talents, and her strength, to works of benevo- lence ; and, allowing herself only the bare ne- cessaries of life, she presented the fruits of her assiduous and unremitting industry to the excel- lent and pious institutions of the present day; she also sold all that she thought she could do without, and gave the produce to such objects as she believed calculated to advance the kingdom of our adorable Lord and Saviour. " The excellent Sophia Bernard, after whom you inquire, left her dwelling here below to inhabit a brighter mansion, about four years since, to the great regret of the whole parish, and of the inhabitants of the adjacent villages, who, though of a different religious denomination, considered that they had lost in her a mother, consoler, and comforter. ** Catherine Scheidecker and Maria Miller still MRS. RAUSCHER's LETTER. 287 live, though the former is very infirm.* They both continue to walk in the path of Gospel truth ; endeavouring to follow the steps of their Divine Master, and praying to him continually for the salvation of their famihes, and that of all the inhabitants of their parish, as well as for every individual living. Both are poor in the wealth of this world, but rich in faith ; and they take every opportunity of evincing their gratitude to God, whose love is shed abroad in their hearts. " My venerable father sends you the salutation of a friend and brother in Christ Jesus our Lord, and implores the blessing of Almighty God upon you, and the labours of your society. He longs for the joyful period, when, released from his narrow prison-house of clay, he may enter upon that happiness which is to be acquired only through the merits of the Son of God, whose name is the * Wonderful, Counsellor, the Prince of Peace."* * She died in the autumn of 1826, and has doubtless re- ceived the " crovn\ of life " promised to those who are " faithfiil unto death." 288 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. I have already stated that it was the practice in the Ban de la Roche, to meet on a particular evening, at stated periods, to read the Scriptures and pray for the Divine blessing on various religious institutions, and afterwards to make a collection for them. The collections thus made, consisted of voluntary contributions according to the abilities of the donor, and the sums that were sometimes raised are truly astonishing ; 290 francs having been at one time remitted to the Paris Bible Society, and on another occasion, the sum of 500, to the London Committee, in furtherance of the same object. The following extract is taken from a letter addressed by Mr. Daniel Legrand, to Professor Kieffer. It is dated July 17, 1825. "As all that our venerable patriarch receives and possesses, is only employed for the advance- ment of the kingdom of his Divine Master, he has again remitted to me 100 francs, desiring me to forward them to the Bible Society at Paris. His Louise (the name of his faithful housekeeper) has added to it ten francs for the same purpose, and ten for the Missionary Society at Paris. She CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS. 289 has a single field, and this is the amount of the rent. May the Lord put a peculiar blessing upon it!"* It would be almost repetition to say that these contributions towards 'public institutions did not prevent the inhabitants of the Steinthal from appropriating large sums to charitable societies nearer home. Their beneficence was not, how- ever, confined to their immediate vicinity; for the Foundation for Protestant Theological Students at Strasbourg, the Reformed Theological Society at Montauban, and particularly the Protestant Institution for the Education of Poor Children of the Neuhof, near Strasbourg,^ were indebted to Oberlin and his people for much efficient as- sistance. \ What can we add to facts so full of eloquence } ' Whilst contemplating the rich blessings which * The editor has the pleasure of stilting, that since the first edition of this volume was published, Louisa Schepler has received one of the " Prix de vertu" distributed annually by the Academie Fran§aise, in consequence of a bequest by M. de Monthyon. Nearly the whole of this sum, amounting to 500C francs, she has, with her characteristic disinterested- ness, appropriated to benevolent purposes, chiefly among the poor of the Ban de la Roclie, v.-ho are stiD in extreme want. f For an account of this Institution, see Appendix, No. VI. c c 290 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. Oberlin disseminated around him, and which the pervading influence of his example so greatly augmented, we can only earnestly hope that the " centre" of Christian benevolence being once moved, " circle after circle" may succeed, and tenfold good be effected. ** Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green ; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." — Jere- miah xvii. 7, 8 CHAPTER X. OBERLIN S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH — LETTER RESPECTING LOUISA SCHEPLER FOUND AFTER HIS DECEASE — HIS FUNERAL — PRAYER DELIVERED UPON THAT OCCASION — FRAGMENT OF AN ADDRESS TO HIS PAKISHIONERS — CONCLUSION. Towards the latter part of Oberlin's life, the infirmities of age precluded his discharging the greater part of his pastoral functions, and he was therefore compelled to delegate the charge to his son-in-law, Mr. Graff, being able to do little more than occupy himself in constant prayers for his beloved flock.* That no individual might be omitted in his intercessions at the throne of grace, * In consequence of an apoplectic attack, Mr. Graff was compelled to relinquish his pastoral duties in the Ban de la Roche soon after Oberlin's decease, and to remove, with his wife and children, to Strasbourg, where he now resides. Mr. Kauscher is his successor, and occupies the parsonage house at Waldbach. Louisa Schepler lives with him and his family. 292 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. he used in the morning to take his church register of baptisms in his hand, and to pray, at stated intervals during the day, for every person whose name was there mentioned, as well as for the community at large. At all periods of his resi- dence in the Ban de la Roche, Oberlin had a deep feeling of the value of intercessory prayer , and so alive was he upon this point, and so fearful lest he should omit any one whom he particularly wished to remember, that he wrote the names of such persons in chalk upon the black door of his chamber. His strength had greatly diminished ; his figure indeed was not bent, but symptoms of infirmity had made their appearance, and his white locks announced advancing age. He no longer left his home but from necessity, and devoted more time than formerly to the labours of his study. Several essays, on various subjects, found since his de- cease, appear to have been written at this period, and a refutation of Cicero's work, ' De Senectute,' drawn up in 1825, was probably the last he attempted. His last illness attacked him suddenly, and was of short duration. On Sunday, the 28th of May, LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 293 1826, he was seized with shiverings and faintings, which lasted till a late hour of the night. The whole of the two following days were passed in alter- nate consciousness and insensibility ; but he often exclaimed, when his strength permitted, *' Lord Jesus, take me speedily ! Nevertheless thy will be done !" On the evening of Tuesday, Mr. Daniel Legrand, who had been absent on a mis- sionary excursion to Basle, came to see him. He appeared delighted at his return, and, tenderly embracing him, said in a distinct voice, and in an accent of paternal solicitude, " The Lord bless you, and all who are dear to you ! May He be w'ith you day and night !" On the Wednesday he appeared considerably weakened by the con- vulsions he had undergone, and the want of nourishment, as a few drops of water were all he had been able to taste ; he however still intimated by signs, when he was unable to speak, the tender affection which he felt for his children, his friends, his faithful housekeeper, Louisa, and all the members of his flock. During the night, between Wednesday and Thursday, the 1st of June, w^hich was a very distressing one to his attendants, he continued c c3 ^i^'i MtMOlRs OF OBERLIN. almost incessantly to utter plaintive cries, as if in pain, though at intervals of ease he would seize the hand of either of his children who hap- pened to be nearest to him, and press it to his heart. When Mr. Legrand arrived, at six o'clock in the morning, from Foudai, he had lost the use of speech, and his arms and legs had become cold and lifeless. He, however, reco- vered strength sufficient to take off his cap, join his hands, and raise his eyes for the last time towards heaven ; his countenance, as he did so, beaming with faith, joy, and love. After this effort his eyes closed, never again to open ; but it was not till a quarter after eleven that his spirit forsook its mortal tenement, and that the passing bell announced to the inhabitants of the valley that they had lost the pastor, bene- factor, and friend, who for nearly sixtj* years had so unceasingly laboured and prayed for them. It w^ould be impossible to describe the grief which his loss occasioned : sorrow was depicted on every countenance : and not only in his own house, but in every cottage throughout his exten- sive parish, was his memory embalmed by the tears and regrets of those who had participated LETTER TO HIS CHILDREN. 295 in his labours of love, or enjoyed the benefit which his unremitted kindness afforded. His care for those who had any peculiar claims on his affection, extended even beyond the grave. He was particularly anxious to evince his grati- tude to the excellent Louisa, who had faithfully served him during a period of fifty years ; and the following sealed letter, in which he speaks of her good qualities, and begs his children to treat her as a sister, was opened a few days after his death. It is dated, Waldbach, August 2, 1811. " My very dear Children, — In leaving you, I commend to your care the faithful nurse who has brought you up — the indefatigable Louise. The ser^dces which she has performed for our family are innumerable. Your dear mamma took her under her care before she had attained the age of fifteen ; but, even at that early period, she ren- dered herself useful by her talents, her activity, and her industry. On the premature decease of your beloved parent, she became at once your faithful nurse, your careful instructress, and your adopted mother. Her zeal for doing good ex- 296 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. fended beyond the confines of our own family. Like a devoted servant of the Lord, she went into all the surrounding villages, where I sent her, to assemble the children together, to instruct them in God's holy will, to teach them to sing hymns, to direct their attention to the wonderful works of nature, to pray with them, and to communi- cate to them all the knowledge that she had her- self derived from me and your mamma. This was not the labour of a moment ; and the innu- merable difficulties which opposed themselves to her benevolent employments would have dis- couraged a thousand others ; for, whilst on the one hand she had to contend with the wild and froward characters of the children, she had, on the other, to correct their patois, and, conse- quently, after having spoken to them in that dialect, which was necessary to make herself understood, to translate all she had said into French. The bad roads and the inclement wea- ther, so frequent on these mountains, presented another difficulty : — but neither sleet, nor rain, nor wind, nor hail, nor deep snows under foot, nor snow falling from above, detained her from her purpose ; and when she returned in the LETTER TO HIS CHILDREN. 297 evening, though exhausted, wet, and weary, and chilled with excessive cold, she would set herself to attend to my children, and to our household alTairs. In this manner she devoted not only her time and abilities, but also her health, and all her bodily powers, to my service, and to the service of her God. For many years past, indeed, her lungs have been injured, and her constitution absolutely ruined by over-fatigue, and by sudden transitions from heat to cold, and from cold to heat, having often, when warm with walking, crossed the snows, and sank into them to such a depth as to be scarcely able to get out. She received a sufficient recompense, you will perhaps say, in the ample salary that I allowed her. No, dear children, no : since the death of your dear mother, I have never been able to prevail on her to accept the least reward for her services ; she employed her own little property in doing good, and in the purchase of her scanty wardrobe ; and it was always as a favour that she received from me some slight articles of dress and provisions, which I owed, notwithstanding, to her econom}^ and good management. Judge, dear children, judge of the debt you have contracted, from her 298 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. services to me, and how far you will ever be from repaying it. " In times of sickness and affliction, how kindly has she watched over both you and me — how tenderly has she sought to mitigate our pains, and to assuage our griefs. Once more I com- mend her to you. You will evince, by the care that you take of her, how much attention you pay to the last wish of a father, who has always endeavoured to inspire you with feelings of grati- tude and benevolenqe : — but, yes; — yes: — you will fulfil my wishes. You will be, in your turn, both individually and collectively, all that she has been to you, as far as your means, situation, and opportunity permit. " Adieu, my very dear children, your papa, " J. F. Oberlin." So well disposed were Oberlin's children to fulfil this request, and to coincide in their father's views, that they offered Louisa an equal share of the little property he had left. This, however, she refused, asking nothing more than permission to remain an inmate of the family, and to be allowed to add the honoured name of Oberlin to HIS FUNERAL. 299 her own. "It is almost superfluous to say," writes one of his children, "that whilst a de- scendant of Oberlin's remains, Louise shall want for nothing, at least, until they themselves are destitute." Oberlin's funeral took place on the 5th of June, During the four days that intervened between his decease, and the simple and aiFecting cere- mony which consigned his remains to their last home, heavy clouds rested on the surrounding mountains, and the rain poured down in inces- sant torrents ; this circumstance did not, however, prevent the inhabitants of the Ban de la Roche, of all ages and conditions, nearer or more remote, from coming to pay a last tribute of respect to the remains of their " Cher Papa," whose vene- rable countenance they were permitted to see through a glass lid, which, under the direction of Mr. Legrand, covered the coffin, which was placed in his study. Early in the morning of the day fixed on for the interment, the clouds cleared away, and the sun shone with its wonted brilHancy. As they left the house, the president of the Consistory 300 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. of Barr, the Rev. Mr. Jaegle, placed the clerical Tobes of the late pastor on his cofhn, the vice- president placed his Bible upon it, and the mayor affixed to the funeral pall the decoration of the Legion of Honour. At the conclusion of this ceremony ten or twelve young females, vrho had been standing around the bier, began to sing a hymn in chorus, and at two o'clock the procession took its departure, the coffin being borne by the mayors, elders, and official magistrates. In front of it wallced the oldest inhabitant of the Ban de la Roche, carrying a cross, which Louisa had given him, to plant on the tomb, and on which the words Papa Oherlin, were engraved in open letters. So numerous was the concourse of people assembled on the occasion, that the foremost of the train had already reached the church of Foudai, where the interment was to take place, before the last had left the parsonage, although the distance was nearly two miles. The chil- dren of the different schools formed part of the melancholy procession, chanting, at intervals, sacred hymns, selected and adapted for the occa- sion. At the moment of their approaching the HIS FUNERAL. 30l village, a new bell, presented by Mr. Legrand in commemoration of this day of general mourning, was heard to toll for the first time, and to mingle its melancholy sound with that of all the bells in the valley. The burying ground was surrounded by Roman Catholic women, all dressed in mourn- ing, and kneeling in silent prayer. On arriving at the church, the coffin was placed at the foot of the altar, and as many persons entered as the little edifice would contain, though more than three-fourths of the company had to remain in the church-yard and the adjoining lanes. Not- withstanding the pressure of so immense a mul- titude, the utmost order and solemnity prevailed. Several females, who could find room no where else, sat down on the steps of the altar, leaning with melancholy aiFection against the coffin, as though anxious to cling to the very ashes of one whom they had so much revered and loved. Many distinguished individuals were present on the occasion, and several Roman Catholic priests, dressed in their canonicals, took their seats among the members of the Consistory, and evidently participated in the general grief. Mr. Jaegle then mounted the pulpit, and commenced the 302 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. service by reading a manuscript of Oberlin's, dated 1784, and found among his papers after his death. It is filled with so many expressions of ardent attachment, and earnest intercession for his beloved parishioners, that I cannot refrain from inserting it.* Fragment, written by Oherlin, in 1784. " I was born at Strasbourg on the last day of August, 1740, and baptized on the 1st of September, in the church of St. Thomas. " During my infancy and my youth, God often vouchsafed to touch my heart, and to draw me to himself. He bore with me in my repeated back- slidings vnth a kindness and indulgence hardly to be expressed. '• I arrived in this parish, in the capacity of pastor, on the 30th of March, 1767, when twenty-seven years of age. " On the 6th of July, in the year following, God united me to that beloved woman, whom (after having received many services from her hands) you, six months ago, followed to the * This fragment has been already alluded to, in a preceding part of the Memoir. FRAGMENT 303 grave. Her name was Madeleine Salome Witter. I have had nine children. Two, who are yet living, were bom in the Ban de la Roche ; the others at Strasbourg. Two have already entered Paradise; and seven remain in this world. On the 18th of January last, ten weeks after her last confinement, my wife, although in apparently good health, was suddenly taken from me. Upon this occasion, as upon a thousand others in the course of my life, notwithstanding my over- whelming affliction, I was upheld by God's gracious assistance, in a remarkable manner. " I have had all my Hfe a desire, occasionally a very strong one, to die, owing, in some degree, to the consciousness of my moral infirmities, and of my frequent derelictions. My affection for my wife and children, and my attachment to my parish, have sometimes checked this desire, though for short intervals only. I had, about a year since, some presentiment of my approaching end. I did not pay much attention to it at the time, but, since the death of my wife, I have fre- quently received unequivocal v/amings of the same nature. MilHons of times have I besought God to enable me to surrender myself with entire 304 MEMOIRS OF ©BERLIN. and filial submission to his will, either to live or to die ; and to bring me into such a state of resignation as neither to wish, nor to say, nor to do, nor to undertake any thing, but what He who only is wise and good sees to be best. " Having had such frequent intimations of my approaching end, I have arranged all my affairs, as far as I am able, in order to prevent confusion after my death. For my dear children I fear nothing ; but, as I always greatly preferred being useful to others to giving them trouble, I suffer much from the idea that they may occasion sorrow or anxiety to the friends who take charge of them. May God abundantly reward them for it ! With regard to the children themselves, I have no anxiety, for I have had such frequent experience of the mercy of God towards myself, and place such full reliance upon his goodness, his wisdom, and his love, as to render it impos- sible for me to be at all solicitous about them. Their mother was, at a very early age, deprived of her parents, but she was, notwithstanding, a better Christian than thousands who have enjoyed the advantage of parental instruction. " Besides this, 1 know that God hears our ADDRESS TO HIS PARISHIONERS. 305 prayers; and ever since the birth of our children, neither their mother nor I have ceased to suppli- cate Him to make them faithful followers of Jesus Christ, and labourers in his vineyard. " And thou, O my dear parish ! neither will God forget nor forsake thee. He has towards thee, as I have often said, thoughts of peace and mercy. All things will go well with thee. Only cleave thou to Him, and leave Him to act. Oh ! mayst thou forget my name, and retain only that of Jesus Christ, whom I have proclaimed to thee. He is thy pastor ; I am but his servant. He is that good master, who, after having trained and prepared me from my youth, sent me to thee that I might be useful. He alone is wise, good, almighty, and merciful; and as for me. I am but a poor, feeble, wretched man. " O, my friends, pray, in order that you may all become the beloved sheep of his pasture. There is salvation in no other than Jesus Christ ; and Jesus loves you, seeks you, and is ready to receive you. Go to Him, just as you are, with all your sins and all your infirmities. He alone can deliver you from them, and can heal you. He will sanctify you and perfect you. Dedicate DD 3 30G MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. yourselves to Him ! Whenever any of you die, may you die in Him ; and may I meet you, and accompany you with songs of triumph, in the mansions of felicity, before the throne of the Lamb ! " AdieUf dear friends, adieu ! I have loved you much ; and even the severity vi^hich I have sometimes deemed it necessary to exercise, has arisen from my earnest desire to contribute to your happiness. " May God rev^ard you for your services, your good deeds, and the deference and submission which you have shown towards his poor unworthy servant. May he forgive those who have pained me by opposition. They doubtless knew not what they did. " O, my God ! let thine eye watch over my dear parishioners ; let thine ear be open to hear them ; thine arm be extended to succour and protect them. Lord Jesus ! thou hast entrusted this parish to my care, feeble and miserable as I am. Oh, suffer me to commend it to thee, to resign it into thy hands. Give it pastors after thine own heart. Never forsake it. Overrule all things for its good. Enlighten them, guide ADDRESS TO HIS PARISHIONERS. 307 them, love them, bless them all ; and grant that the young and old, the teachers and the taught, pastors and parishioners, may all in due time meet together in thy paradise ! Even so ! Father, Son and Holy Spirit ! — even so. Amen !" After the solemn reading of this pathetic docu- ment, which was evidently intended for Oberlin's dying charge, Mr. Jaegle read the following verses from the 103d Psalm : " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits ; who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruc- tion ; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies." And the 14th verse of the 7th chapter of the Book of Revelation, which Oberlin had himself selected to serve as texts to the discourse to be pronounced at his funeral, conscious, as he often declared himself to be, that however numerous and useful the good works he had performed, they needed "to be washed in the blood of Christ." The Rev. Mr. Jaegle then delivered a discourse, 308 MEMOIRS OF OBEKLIN. which was listened to with the profoundest atten- tion. On its conclusion the whole congregation knelt down, and repeated the following prayer : — " Dieu tout-puissant, nos jours sont en tes mains, tu regies toutes nos destinees avec la plus haute sagesse. Par ta volonte, nous entrons dans cette vie et nous rentrons dans la poussiere quand tu I'ordonnes. Graces te soient rendues pour les sublimes consolations que tu nous as donnees par I'Evangile de ton Fils qui est venu nous annoncer la vie et I'immortalite ; con- solations sans lesquelles nous serious livres au desespoir, lorsque ceiix que nous aimons nous sont ravis par la mort, ou quand elle s'approche de nous avec ses terreurs. Que la sagesse, que I'amour du bien emanant de toi, source de tout bien, nous accompagne dans notre route vers r^ternite ; que nous y passions un jour, comma tes enfans soumis et fideles, avec la conscience d'avoir suivi tes commandemens, et d' avoir j)refere le salut de nos ames aux biens et aux plaisirs trompeurs de la terre. " Seigneur, notre Dieu, tu as appelle vers toi notre bon pasteur, notre bon pere ; tu lui as donne une place dans les demeures etemelles qui CONCLUSION. 309 sont preparees aux justes. O ! que son souvenir se conserve parmi nous ; que I'amour de toi et de ton Fils qu'il a tache de nous inspirer, que I'amour de la religion, sans laquelle il n'y a ni paix ni esperance, ne s'eiFacent jamais de nos coeurs ! C'est alors que nous reverrons dans un meilleur monde, quand le sommeil de la mort aura ferme nos paupieres, celui dont nous pleurons en ce moment la perte, et que nous nous rejouirons avec lui du salut eternel auquel tu nous as appelles par notre Sauveur Jesus-Christ. Amen !" Another hymn having been sung, the coffin was conveyed to the churchyard, where the grave was dug on a little eminence on one side of the edifice, under the shade of a weeping willow, planted over the tomb of Henry Oberlin. The Rev. Mr. Braunwald, pastor of Goxviller, and vice-president of the Consistory of Barr, then delivered an appropriate address, in which he par- ticularly enlarged on Oberlin's domestic virtues.* M. Bedel, a physician of Schirmeck, then stej^ped forward amongst the crowd, and pronounced a short eulogy on the deceased, and amidst the tears of the assembled multitude, which formed, * See Appendix, No. VII. 310 MEMOIRS OF OBERLI!vr. perhaps, the most eloquent funeral oration, his remains were consigned to the grave. In delineating the character of this extraordi- nary man, we have not, it is true, had to ti'ace his steps, with those of the philanthropic Howard, through the desolate regions of Russia, nor to witness his expiring sighs in the dreary wilds of Tartary; we have not had to follow him, with the pious and indefatigable Martyn, across the sunny plains of Persia, to communicate the glad tidings of salvation to the benighted heathen, nor to see him, regardless of his own shattered health, sacrifice his life to the glory of Christ amongst the nations of the East : — Obeelin's sphere of usefulness was at home. — But there, in the secluded recesses of his beloved Vosges, the benevolent ardour of Howard, and the self- denying zeal of Martyn, were eminently dis- played. To get good from heaven, and to do good on earth, constituted, indeed, the sole aim of his life, and constrained the dedication of every talent, and the consecration of every power, to ' the service of his Lord and Master. Humility \ was intimately blended with his other Christian ' CONCLUSION. 311 graces ; and, deeply conscious of his ow^n in- ability to advance one step in holiness, or to induce others to follow him in his path Zion- wards, without divine assistance, he meekly depended on, and earnestly implored, the aid of God's Holy Spirit : repeatedly uttering his favourite maxim, " Rien sans Dieu." So far from being actuated by the hope of reward for any personal worthiness, he disclaimed all merit of his own, and, firmly believing in the divinity, rested entirely on the propitiation of Jesus. " Tout au Sauveur," was his constant motto, and constituted the moving principle of his exertions. " What, said he to a minister who visited him a short time before his last illness, " did not our dear Saviour suffer for us ? — Nothing then is difficult when we do it for Him, To Him let us wholly devote ourselves." Through the all- sufficiency of that Saviour's atonement, he is now, undoubtedly, praising God in that kingdom of light and love, for which whilst on earth he so ardently longed ; and, having exchanged the graces of time for the glories of eternity, is joining in the triumphant song of the " ten thousand times ten thousand :" 312 MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." — "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever !" :i|5]]itaeiPi4afg ^iiapter, CONTAINING A SHORT NOTICE OF LOUISA SCHEPLER. LOUISA SCHEPLER. The name of Louisa Schepler seems so inti- mately connected with that of Oberhn, and with the annals of the Ban de la Roche, that the editor conceives no apology can be needed, for attaching some little record respecting her to the memoirs of the beloved Pastor whom she has now followed to glory. The active benevolence, self-denying spirit, and devotedness of heart to Christ, which distinguished her through life, and have been already exhibited in the preceding pages, shone yet more conspicuously, if possible, after the death of that revered individual whose bright example had stimulated her in all her undertakings for the good of his people. As time rolled on, her name. 316 LOUISA SCHEPLER. connected as it was with that of OberHn> not- withstanding her retirement amidst the secluded mountains of the Vosges, became known in France; and in the autumn of the year 1829, she received one of the Rewards of Merit (Prix de Vertu) distributed annually by the Academic Fran- ^aise, in consequence of a bequest by M. de Mon- thyon. This unexpected gift overwhelmed her with gratitude and joy, not from any selfish consideration of personal aggrandizement, but because it placed at her disposal a larger fund for the relief of her fellow-creatures than she had ever before possessed. The following extracts from a characteristic letter acknowledging this donation, will evince the spirit in which it was received. Mr. Legrand, to whose care it was forwarded for enclosure, thus writes: — " I gave your letter to Louisa Schepler, and a copy of the document which decrees to her 5,000 francs. I confess I was partly ashamed and partly delighted on receiving, shortly after, the enclosed, written so entirely in the spirit of Papa Oberlin. Yes, — that excellent woman, who has been for half a century the confidante and com- LOUISA SCHEPLER. 61 i forter of the poor people of the Ban de la Roche — the individual in whose bosom they have reposed their wants, their cares, their trials — she, who unites wisdom with her benevolence, and is actuated in all her efforts by a simple desire to please her heavenly Father, will no doubt be guided aright as to the distribution of the sum bequeathed, and the Divine blessing will rest upon it. How incomparable the wa/zje declara- tion of the poor Louise : ' Oh, chere dame, 5,000 francs ! — c'est beaucoup, oui, e'est beaucoup ; mais vous voyez que je pourrais en employer encore autant.' " The letter alluded to is as follows : — it is ad- dressed to Madame Treuttel, of Paris, and is dated, Waldbach, Sept. 4, 1829. " Dear and highly-esteemed Lady, " I take up my pen in order to have the honour of replying to the letter which you were so good as to write to me on the 18th of August last. Yes, dear madam, yes, — I am astonished at the merciful hand of God, so graciously extended towards me. Never, no never, was I anxious to possess wealth E E 3 318 LOUISA SCHEPLER. for its own sake, or for the gratification of my own desires ; but often, O how often ! have I longed for it, that I might be enabled to relieve and succour those who are weighed down by poverty and distress. This bountiful supply will enable me to assist many who are in need. I will mention afew cases which more* particularly occur to me. One, is that of a poor widow who is in great affliction ; her potatoe crop having'^failed, she is utterly unable, even with the strictest economy, to pay the rent of her little cottage, which stands greatly in need of repairs, or to meet the expense of a new chimney, which, by the order of the mayor, she is compelled to have built. * Where shall I betake myself?' she has often said to me, bursting into tears ; ' I shall have to quit my little cottage. O, if the good Papa were but living ! ' ' The Almighty Father is not dead,' I used to reply ; ' trust in Him, for it is from Him alone that we can obtain help. He is rich in means. He can supply all your need.' Another poor widow is anxious to have some, new flues for her stove, but has not money to pay for them. Another poor aged widow, who has been ill for a long time, and has only a LOUISA SCHEPLER. 319 wretched bed to lie upon, with scarcely any clothes to cover her, and no fire by which to warm herself, stands greatly in need of relief; the dear Papa used, indeed, to assist her annually, in making some little repairs to the walls of her cottage, which are in a tottering state, but since his death she has been very badly off. Besides these few instances, I know of many families where there are young children who have scarcely a bed to lie upon. Our dear deceased pastor used to inquire into their wants, and go from cottage to cottage, secretly supplying, from his own resources, one with a bed, another with a cow, another vrith a goat, &c. How shall I rejoice to do the same ! " You see, dear madam, that after having been for so many years the help-meet and the almoner of our venerable Papa, I am not become insensible to the wants of my fellow-creatures, but am, on tlie contrary, truly thankful that my dear Saviom- should have reserved for me, towards the close of my life, the joy of being able to help them." 5^ ***** * *' Another case is this moment brought before 320 LOUISA SCHEPLER. my notice. It is that of a poor honest youn^ man, the father of five children, who is about to sell his cow, as a last resource, because he cannot earn sufficient for their support. Oh, chere dame, 5,000 francs! — c'est beaucoup, out, c'est beau- coup ; mais vous voyez que je pourrais en employer encore autant I have also nephews and nieces, who are all poor, and who, having large families of young children, naturally look for some assistance from their last and only aunt. May I, therefore, beg you, dear madam, to have the proposed donation paid into a banking house at Nancy, which Mr. Legrand will have the goodness to name to you, and where I can draw for a little at a time, as I require it. " Oh, blessed be the Lord, a thousand and a thousand times, who is the centre and the source of every perfect gift ! — Blessed be the noble and generous donor, who already reaps the fruits of his benevolence in a happy eternity ! — and may the Lord abundantly bless all my dear friends, and grant to his unworthy servant wisdom and prudence, rightly to occupy the talent thus in- trusted to her care. — Amen. Amen. " Receive, dear and honoured friend, and bene- LOUISA SCHEPLER. 321 factress of the Ban de la Roche, this imperfect assurance of the sincere gratitude of " Your devoted servant, " Louisa Schepler." The same Christian benevolence and sympathy for the wants of others, animated this humble and devoted servant to the very last ; and, amidst the weakness and infirmities of increasing age, she still manifested a deep interest in the well- being of all around her. During the last spring and summer, it became evident that her end was drawing nigh ; her strength gradually decreased, and nature began to give way, until, on the evening of July 25, 1837, after a short illness of only four days, it pleased God to take her to himself, through the atone- ment of that Saviour whose merits constituted her only hope.* Mr. and Mrs. Legrand, with two of their daughters, visited her in the morning of the same day ; her faculties were unimpaired, * Louisa was seventy-six years of age, having been a conductrice fifty-eight years. The letter which brought the writer intelligence of her death contained a lock of her hair, sent from the family as a last remembrance of one whose name had so long been dear to the fn'-iKls of Oberlin. ^22 LOUISA SCHEPLER. and she conversed with them at intervals for about an hour, in a weak and tremulous voice, giving them all her dying blessing, and expressing a deep sense of her own unworthiness, and humble confidence in her Redeemer. The Rev. M. Rauscher (husband of Oberlin's youngest daughter, FredericaBienvenue,) preached her funeral sermon, July 28th, and read, accord- ing to the wish of the deceased, her will, which was as follows : — " Maij Uth, 1837. " TO BE READ FROM THE PULPIT ON THE DAY OF MY FUNERAL. " As I have for some time had a presentiment that the Lord is about soon to take me to himself, I have resolved to commit to paper the last desires of my heart. For many years past, I have se- lected for my funeral text the words of our dear Saviour, St. Luke xvii. 10, 'So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say,We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was our duty to do.' " I beg our dear Pastor will keep to his text, and not say one word of eulogy in reference to me ; LOUISA SCHEPLER. o'23 recollecting what St. Paul says in his Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. iv. ver. 7 ; ' What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it ? ' " To God then, and to his honour and glory, be rendered back all that we have through grace received from Him. Yes ; — through grace ! for what are we, and what can we do, without the aid of his grace and Spirit? So far from deserving either eulogy or praise, all our capacities, all our talents, nay, our very existence itself, being the free gift of the grace of God, it only remains for us to cry with the publican, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' I now bid farewell to all my benefactors and benefactresses. May the Lord bless and reward them in eternity for all their kindness to me, and for all the care they have bestowed upon me! " I bid a general farewell to all my friends, and to all my neighbours ; I thank them for all the kind attentions they have ever paid me. I bid farewell to all my nephews and nieces ; I earnestly entreat them to seek life in Christ Jesus. To all my god-sons and god-daughters I bid 324 LOUISA SCHEPLER. farewell, until that time when I trust we shall be re-united together again in a happy eternity. And to you, dear children of the knitting- school of Waldbach, and to all the children of the parish, I bid farewell. I leave you, but in body only, for I shall continue to pray to my dear Saviour to bless you and to draw your hearts towards him- self Think often of your Louisa, who has loved you so much. I shall continue to pray that the Lord may raise up another person whom you will respect, obey and love, as you have done me. Yes ; do so, dear children, and I shall rejoice in eternity. " Finally, I bid farewell to all the parish. Ah ! how do I wish to be able to convey to our dear pastor and father, when I shall meet him in heaven, good tidings of a people so dear to his heart.* But, alas ! oh. Lord Jesus Christ, thou who didst come to seek and to save that which was lost, be graciously pleased, by thy infinite grace and love, to bring back all the wandering sheep of our parish ; be graciously pleased to soften their hearts, and to grant that attention to thy word * It will be perceived that Louisa had, unconsciously perhaps, adopted some of her pastor's notions. Though fanciful, they are characteristic, and must not, therefore, be omitted. LOUISA SCHEPLER. o2b and commandments may take the place of that sad levity and indifference now so prevalent. Quicken them, O Lord, to life — to life in Thee, who art thyself the Fountain of life. " And to you, my dear friends, the conduc- trices of our schools, I bid farewell, until we meet again on the great day. I entreat you not to slacken your endeavours, but to redouble your diligence, your energy, and your zeal, in guiding this young flock in the path of wisdom and virtue, and in conducting them in tender youth to that dear Saviour who is the great Friend of children. Endeavour to instil upright principles and con- scientious habits. Speak to them often of the presence of God. Inspire them with love to their Saviour ; with love to their neighbour, and to one another. Seek also to inspire them with a horror of lying, swearing, disobedience to their parents, and every other species of vice. " Oh, dear friends ! you especially who are called to the instruction of youth, the Lord has committed to you a very responsible trust — a noble though laborious duty. May you fulfil it to His honour and glory, and be found faithful until the time of harvest." F F 326 LOUISA SCHEPLER. The Rev. M. Rauscher, jun. pastor of Saint- Die, and grandson of the venerable Oberlin, then made an appropriate address on the tomb of Louisa. In speaking of this young minister, Mr. Legrand says, " The spirit of Oberlin mani- fests itself again in this grandson of his, who, during the last few years, has considerably ad- vanced in faith, in love to his Saviour, and in Christian charity." The address will probably be deemed interesting. It is as follows : — " My Brethren ! — I willingly come amongst you this day, to fulfil a last duty of filial piety towards our good and dear Louisa. She has entered into that rest after which her soul aspired ! She now sees Him whom she loved, and in whom she believed, and contemplates with holy rapture the Saviour who redeemed her with his blood ! We are not met to-day to lament her loss, but to rejoice in her joy ; though on our own account we cannot but weep. " She is happy ! Never could those words be pronounced with more entire confidence. Surely there is not an individual amongst us but will be ready to exclaim, ' Let me die the death of the LOUISA SCHEPLER. 327 righteous ! ' But let us take care, my brethren, that we do not mistake the cause of her salvation, or build our own hopes on a wrong foundation. Let us take care that we do not give to the creature, that worship and adoration which belongs only to the Creator, and to the gracious Redeemer of our souls. Let us take care that we are not so absorbed in works, as to forget Him who alone can give power and ability for the performance of them. The example of our dear departed friend will not, at least, be the cause of leading us into so deplorable an error. I appeal to those who knew her. You know, if ever she permitted any one to derogate from her Lord the honour she conceived to be due to him alone. You know, if ever she gloried in any other thing than in her own infirmities, and this only that the strength of Christ might be made perfect in her weakness. You know, if ever she was ashamed to confess her misery and defilement, and to attribute all the good which God enabled her to do, to the effects of his mercy in Christ Jesus. " Let Christ then be honoured on this tomb to-day, as he has been by the life of our much- loved sister and mother ! 32S LOUISA SCHEPLER. ' She was a sinner like ourselves, my brethren. Like ourselves, she v^^as devoid of all merit in the sight of God. Like ourselves, she was placed under the yoke of condemnation and death. But she had heard the good news, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and had accepted this news with confidence and joy. She had cast herself at the feet of her Saviour, under a deep sense of her own innate corruption and spiritual misery. Thus it was that she obtained mercy ; thus it was that He who is ' meek and lowly of heart ' addressed her with the language, ' Daughter, thy sins are forgiven ; ' thus it was that she became clothed in the robes of His righteousness, and was made to pass from death unto life. " Her works, her pure and holy life, her patient endurance of trial, her charity, her zeal, were the result, not the origin of her faith — a second grace added to the first grace: — fruits by which the Lord will mark her for his own, and by which he will distinguish her from those who, being desti- tute of genuine faith, serve him with the mouth and with the lips, whilst their hearts are far from him. LOUISA SCIIEPLER. 329 " Well, my brethren, poor and unworthy sinners as we are, we shall be capable of doing that which has been done by our dear departed friend, if we have the same faith, the same implicit trust in a Redeemer, the same humility. " If we feel ourselves to be far behind her, and expect that the little we can do will fall far short of what she was able to effect — it is not that we have less physical strength than she had, or are less capable of effort ; — it is the help of God that we want ; — we are not sufficiently sensible of our owTi weakness and inability; — we are not little enough in our own eyes, and, consequently, we do not cast ourselves with sufficient self-renuncia- tion at the foot of the Cross. " We believe, it is true ; but we believe more with the intellect and the head, than with the heart. We seek the Lord ; but we do not cling to him as the shipwrecked mariner clings to his last plank : we do not hold him by the hand, as though we felt ourselves falling down a precipice. We love Christ ; but, alas ! our love for him is so cold, so lukewarm, so formal. We are always so fearful of doing too much ; whilst in other pur- suits we are all zeal and ardour. 330 LOUISA SCHEPLER. " My brethren ! ought not the example of our good Louisa to confound and humble us ? It is true that this pious and faithful servant of God, whose very appearance was edifying, and who exhibited in her words and actions a living exem- plar of her Saviour, is no longer in the midst of us ; but we possess better gifts still. We have only to go to that living Fountain, whence she herself drew all that we saw in her to admire and love. Has not the Lord promised to be with his own until the end of the world? Has he not offered to supply them daily out of the fulness of his grace, his riches, and his power ? — Gracious Redeemer ! He waits not until we come to him. He knocks himself at the door of our hearts, and entreats us to accept the ransom which he has paid for us — the adoption of children, which we acquire in and through him. Let us not mistake his voice, my brethren. Let us not allow him to extend his merciful arms towards us in vain. Let us not trample under our feet the fruits of his passion and of his death. We have only to offer him, in return for the sacrifice of his precious blood, hearts corrupted and defiled by sin ; but let us not hesitate to make this happy exchange : LOUISA SCHEPLER. 331 let us not hesitate to surrender our hearts to him, sinful and polluted as they are, when he graciously promises to give us new hearts — hearts of flesh — hearts cleansed by his blood, sanctified by his Spirit, and transformed into his likeness. " Shall we who, in this highly-favoured coun- try, have witnessed so many bright tokens of our Saviour's presence, so many miracles of his grace, so many proofs of the efficacious power of Divine love on the hearts of sinners, shall we have wit- nessed these things in vain ? Shall we not feel a holy ambition to enlist ourselves in the ranks of God's people, and to be numbered among the righteous — among the followers of those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb ? Shall not we, who have this day met to deplore the great void made by the death of our good Louisa, pray the Lord to raise up amongst us new instruments of usefulness, and to pour down upon our hearts an abundant measure of that spirit which he so graciously permitted to descend upon his humble servant ? Lord, under a deep sense of our own unworthiness, our spiritual blindness and ignorance, our desperate wickedness, we would cry, ' Have mercy upon us, O our God! 332 LOUISA SCHEPLER. If Thou will, we shall be clean ! If Thou will, our eyes shall see, our feet shall go in the way of thy commandments, our mouths shall be opened to glorify thy name, our works shall praise thee. Nothing is impossible with thee, O our God. Breathe, then, breathe life into these dry bones. Triumph over the opposition of our souls ; and grant that here and every where all knees may bend before the name of thy beloved Son, and that here and every where all voices may confess that Jesus is the Lord, to his glory, and to the salvation of all. " Now, to Him who first loved us ; To Him who redeemed us ; To Him who washed us in his blood, Be all honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen." The editor cannot refrain from taking this opportunity of making some allusion to the state of the Oberlin Fund, referred to in her first edition of these Memoirs. At that time (the summer of 1829) it amounted to 7,876 francs ; and it was stated, that if 12,000 francs could be raised, the interest of that sum would be sufficient LOUISA SCHEPLEK. 333 to carry on the plan, set on foot for condiictrices in each of the five villages of the Ban de la Roche. This fund, she is happy to state, now amounts to 11,329 francs, half of which is in the hands of Mr. Legrand, and the other half in the hands of Messrs. Treuttel and Wiirtz, who allow five per cent, interest. The income arising from this source is sufficient for the support of four condiic- trices, who visit regularly at the four villages of Waldbach, Bellemont, Bellefosse, and Zolbach, twice a week each ; the conductrice of the fifth village of the Ban de la Roche (Foudai) being entirely supported by Mr. Legrand, a gentleman whose name has frequently appeared in the pre- ceding Memoirs, and is intimately connected with that of the " cher Papa." In order to establish conductrices for each of the five villages, and for every day in the week, the interest of an additional capital of 2,500 francs would be required ; and the editor need scarcely add, what great pleasure it would give her to receive subscriptions for this purpose. Several liberal donations have already been intrusted to her care to forward to the Ban de la Roche ; and 334 LOUISA SCHEPLER. the lively gratitude they have awakened there, has been evinced by letters she has received both from Louisa herself, now gone to her eternal rest, and from Madame Rauscher, who, with her hus- band and children, resides in the parsonage-house at Waldbach. These letters have, from time to time, been accompanied by some of Oberlin's printed texts, alluded to in Chapter V. ; a few words of grateful acknowledgment being inscribed on the back of the paper. The following is a copy of one of them. " Au nom de la famille de I'ami Oberlin, notre P^re cheri, j'ai I'honneur d'oiFrir a Madame nos sinceres remercimens pour la somme de 253 francs (pour la Fonda- tion Oberlin), qu'elle a en la bonte de nous faire remettre par Tentremise de Mons. Heisch, et de la part de Ma- dame , de , a laqiielle nous prions cette ch^re dame de presenter les vifs remercimens de toute la famille. " Waldbach, le 1 Juin, anniversaire de la mort de notre cher Pere, safille, " Frederique Bienvenue Rauscher, nh Oberlin. " Louise Schepler, Conductrice depuis 58 ans." The charity referred to, and for which con- tributions are solicited, bears, it is true, the name of Oberlin, in order to perpetuate the memory of the beloved and revered Pastor in whom it LOUISA SCHEPLER. 335 originated, but his own language to each of his parishioners ever was, '* Oh, puissiez-vous oublier mon nom, et ne retenir que celui de Jesus-Christ que je vous ai annonce ! " Jannarii, 1838. iv^lFFUMBE^- APPENDIX, No. I. VPage 27.] A Solenm Act of Self-Dedication to God. Wrilten by Oberlin, the 1st of January, 1760, and renewed by him the \st of Jamiary, 1770. Eternal and infinitely holy God! Under a feeling of deep humility and heart-felt contrition, I earnestly desire to present myself before thee. I v/ell know how unworthy such a sinful worm is to appear before thy Divine IMajesty, before the King of kings and Lord of lords, more especially on such an occasion as this, even to enter into a covenant transaction ^Tith thee. But the scheme and plan, O Father of mercies, is thine own ; thou hast, in infinite condescension, otfered it me by thy Son. Thy grace hath inclined my heart to accept of it. I come, therefore, to thee, acknowledging my numerous transgressions ; and, with the repentant publican, strike my breast, sajing, " God be merciful to me a sinner." I come, because I have been invited by the name of thy Son, and I rely entirely upon his perfect righteousness. Be pleased, I entreat thee, for his sake, to pardon my ingratitude, and no more remember my sins. Be reconciled, I beseech thee, to thy disobedient creature, who is now convinced of thy right to him, and desires nothing so much as to belong to thee. Holy God ! I this day surrender myself to thee in the most solemn manner. " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth." I this day acknowledge the Lord is my God ; I this day declare myself to be of the number of his children, and that I make one of his people. Hear my words, O my God, and write in thy book that I henceforth devote myself entirely to thee. In the name of the Lord God of hosts, I this day renounce all former lords that have had dominion over me ; the joys of the world, in which I have G (J 338 APPENDIX. too much delighted, and all carnal desires. I renounce all perish- able things, in order that my God may constitute my All. I conse- crate to thee all that I am, and all that I have ; the faculties of my mind, the members of my body, my fortune, and my time. Grant me grace, O Father of mercies, to employ all to thy glory, and to live in obedience to thy commands ; vrith an ardent and humble desire to continue thine throughout the endless ages of a happy eter- nity. Shouldst thou be pleased to make me, in this life, the instru- ment of leading others to thee, give me strength and courage opoily to declare thy name. Enable me not- only to devote myself to thy service, but to persuade my brethren to dedicate themselves to it also. Grant that through the assistance of thy Holy Spirit I may be supported in life, and kept faithful unto death. Enable me, diiring the rest of my days, to acquire that of vrhich I stand most in need, and to amend my ways. May the things of time no longer exercise dominion over me ; but may I, during the short remainder of my life, live solely to thee. Grant me grace, not only to tread in the path which, I am convinced, is the best ; but enable me also to be always most active in walking in it. I resign myself, and all I am and have, to thy direction, to be disposed of in whatever manner thine infinite wisdom shall see good. I leave the management of all events to thee, and say without restriction, " Thy will, not mine, be done ! " Employ me, O Lord, as an instrument consecrated to thy service. Look upon me as constituting one of thy flock. "Wash me in the blood of thy beloved Son. Clothe me with his righteousness. Sanc- tify me by his Spirit. Transform me more and more into his image. Impart to me, through him, all needful influences of thy purifjing, cheering, and comforting Spirit ! and grant that my life may be passed under the habitual sense of thy presence, O my Father, and my God ! And, after having endeavoured to obey thee, and to do thy will on earth, take me hence at what time, and in what manner Ihou Shalt see good. When the solemn hour of death approaches, and I stand on the verge of eternity, grant that I may remember this covenant, and employ my latest breath in thy service. And be pleased, O Lord, when thou seest the anguish I may have to endure in my last moments, and when I may not, perhaps, have sufficient strength to recall it, to remember it too. Then, O my heavenly Father, look down with pity on thy feeble child, and enable him to struggle with death. I wish not to prescribe to thee, O my Father, in what manner thou oughtest to take me to thyself. I wish not to ask thee to preserve me from agonizing pain. No ; nothing of that kind shall form the object of my prayers. What I earnestly entreat in the name of Jesus, is, to be enabled to glorify thee in the last hours of my life, and to evidence, in the midst of whatever sufferings thy all-wise Providence may see meet to afflict me with, patience APPENDIX. 339 and submission to thy holy will. Strengthen my soul ; give it con- fidence when thou shalt call it hence ; and receive it to the embraces of thine everlasting love. Admit it into the mansions of them that sleep in Jesus — into the mansions where indescribable joys ■n'ill be its portion for ever. There permit it peacefully and joyfully to await the accomplishment of the promise thou hast made to all thy people — even that of a glorious resurrection, and of eternal happiness in thine heavenly presence. And when I am gone to the grave, if these pages should fall into the hands of any of my surviving friends. Oh, grant that their hearts may be sensibly affected ; grant them grace not only to read them as the expression of my own sentiments, but to feel for themselves also what I have expressed. Teach them to fear thee, O Lord my God, and to seek refuge with me, under the shadow of thy wings, through time and through eternity ; that they may partake in all the blessings of thy covenant, tlu-ough Jesus Christ, the great Mediator. To Him, and to Thee, O Father, and to the Holy Spirit, be everlasting praises ascribed by the millions of redeemed spirits, and by all those other celestial beings, in whose work and blessedness thou shalt call them to share. My God, and the God of my fathers ! Thou who keepest thy covenant, and who scatterest thy blessings to a thousand generations, I humblj supplicate thee, since thou knowest that " the heart of man is deceitful," to vouchsafe to me grace to enter into this engage- ment, with all sincerity of heart, and to remain faithful to my bap- tismal covenant. May the name of the Lord be an eternal testimony, that I have signed this covenant transaction, in the stedfast and earnest desire of keeping it. John Frederic Oberlik. Strasbourg, the \st of January, 1760. Renewed at Waldbach, the 1st of January, 1770. APPENDIX, No. II. [Page 55.] Acfe de renouvellement sincere de mon alliance de Bapteme, faite en presence et au nom de la tris Sainte Trinite, de Dieu le fere, de Bicu le Fits, et de Dieu le Saint Esprit. VoYANT que I'anniversaire de la grace de mon bapteme s'approche, je me demande a moi-meme, si c'est au service de Dieu, que j'ai employe les annees nombreuses qu'il m'a donnees a vivres; mais 340 APPENDIX, hflas ! je devrois avouer, pleine de honte et de douleur, que j'ai vole mon plus beau temps a Dieu, pour le donner au Dieu de ce monde-ci et pour le passer a son service : cependant, je ne sens ni honte, ni douleur, ni vraie horreur du peche dans mon ame, que faire ? c'est toi, mon Dieu, qui devras operer tout ceci en moi. Tu le feras. Tu m'as ouvert les yeux au point de me faire connoitre, que je ne t'ai pas servi. Tu feras le reste de meme ; oui, j'en suis sure, et quand meme tu te caches, pourtant a la fin tu te feras sentir a mon ame avec ta divine vertu. J'ose dire de meme que j'en ai eu deja des preuves. Au nom de la tres Sainte Trinite et a la face des saints anges, je promets que par son assistance je veux consacrer a Dieu le reste de ma vie ; mais Seigneur Jesus, qu'ai-je promis ? Je prends bien-trop sur moi, pauvre ver de terre que je suis, moi avec mon extreme froideur, qui ne vols qu'obscurite autour de moi et en moi, moi je veux me consacrer au service de Dieu. Oui, je veux! C'est la precisement que mon Sauveur aime a manifester son nom, a faire eclater sa misericorde et sa tendresse infinie oii I'homme n'a plus aucun merite ni aucune force ; cher Sauvem- ! je ne vols que du mal en moi ; je suis d'autant plus malade puisque je ne sens pas meme ma maladie. Mon Sauveur, tu ne m'abandonneras pas, tu ne peux que prendre pitie de moi, ta promesse est claire. Tu ne peux que prendre pitie de moi ; tu m'as donne dans le cceur cette parole ; " Je te sauverai dans le mauvais temps, je te rassassierai de longue vie, je te mon- trerai mon salut." Qu'est-ce que le salut, si non les biens spirituels ; qu'est-ce que la longue vie, sinon la vie eternelle et bien heureuse? C'est de toi que je tiens cette gracieuse promesse ; c'est toi qui as bien des fois console mon ame par la, dans les evenements affligeants, je I'ai bien vivante dans mon ame ; quand Satan voudra m'enlever cette consolation, fais qu'elle me soit bien puissante dans mon coeur. Renvoye a I'ennemi ses dards envenimes, qu'il m'elance ; fais que conduite par ton cher Saint Esprit, je continue mon pelerinage comme une personne qui desire etre veritablement ton enfant et qui se sent raehetee par ton sang. Voila, cher Sauveur, mon cceur et mes mains ; je suis a toi ; moi avec mon cher mari et mes chers enfans. Je veux que nous soyons tous a toi entierement d'ame et de corps ; prends et possede tout ce que j'ai ; rends-nous prets et arrange nos cceurs tellement que nous puissions, a toute heure comparoitre, fondes sur tes merites seuls, devant ta sainte face. Si cet ecrit tombe apr&s mon deces entre les mains de mes enfans, ou d'autres personnes, fais que ce ne soit pas sans faire une impres- sion salutaire sur leurs ames. Encore une fois mon tres cher Sauveur je me donne a toi ; accorde- APPENDIX. 341 nioi ton Saint Esprit, qui me conduise et me gouverne ; donne-moi un coeur docile et ob6issant, et une attention fidele a sa voix. — Donne-moi I'esprit d'un enfant qui t'aime, et qui n'aie pas peur de toi comme une esclave. — Donne-moi une foi vive que nulle incre- dulite ne me separe de toi. A I'heure de mon dec^s, cher Sauveur, souviens-toi de ta pauvre servante, que tes anges m'accompagnent jusques devant ton trone ; fais-moi entendre alors ta voix de paix et de grace, qui dit, — " Venez, les benis de mon Pere, possedez en heritage le royaume qui vous a 6te prepare des la fondation du monde." Seigneur Dieu, Jesus-Christ, mon Sauvem- aimable, ajoute a tout cela ton tendre — oui ! Tr^s Sainte Trinite, dis ton oui, ton amen a ma pri^re. J'ai compose cet acte et je le signe de ma main par le mouvement et la pleine volonte de mon coeiir. Madeleine Salome Oberlin, nee Witter. Watdbach, 1777. APPENDIX, No. III. [Page 57.] Translation of Oberlin's Prayer on his Marriage. Holt Spirit ! descend into our hearts : assist us to pray with fervour from our inmost souls. Permit thy clvildren, O gracious Father, to present themselves before thee, in order to ask of thee what is necessary for them. May we love each other only in thee, and in our Saviour Jesus Christ, as being members of his body. Enable us, during the whole day, to look solely to thee, and to walk before thee, that we may be gathered together in thee, and thus become daily more spiritually minded. Grant that we may be faithful in the exercise of our duties, that we may stimulate each other therein, warning each other of our faults, and seeking together for pardon in the blood of Jesus Christ. When we pray together, (and may we pray much and frequently,) be thou, O Lord Jesus, the third in the midst of us. And do thou, O heavenly Father, enable us to be very fervent ; and grant, for the sake of Jesus Christ, that which thine Holy Spirit shall teach us to ask. G G 3 342 APPENDIX. Seeing that, in this life, thou hast placed the members of our household under our authority, give us wisdom and strength to guide them in a manner conformable to thy vdH. May we always set them a good example, following that of Abraham, who commanded his children and his household, after him, to keep the Avay of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. If thou givest us children and pre- servest them to us, O grant us grace to bring them up to thy service, to teach them early to know, to fear, and to love thee, and to pray to that God who has made a covenant with them, that, conformably to the engagement which will be undertaken for them at their baptism, they may remain faitliful from the cradle to the grave. O heavenly Father, may we inculcate thy word, according to thy wiU, all our lives, with gentleness; love, and patience, both at their rising up, and at their lying down, at home and abroad, and under all other possible circumstances ; and do thou render it meet for the children to whom thou hast only given life as a means of coming to thee. And when we go together to thy Holy Supper, O ever give us renewed grace, renewed strength, and renewed courage, for continu- ing to walk in the path to heaven ; and, as we can only approach thy table four times in the year, gi-ant that in faith we may much more frequently be there, yes, every day and every hour ; that we may always keep death in view, and ahvays be prepared for it ; and, if we may be permitted to solicit it of thee, O grant that we may not long be separated from each other, but that the death of the one may be speedilj^, and very speedily, followed by that of the other. Grant us our requests, O gracious Father, in the name of Jesus Christ thy well-beloved Son. Amen. And O merciful Redeemer, may we both love thee with an ardent devotion, always walking with thee, and holding communion with thee, not placing our confidence in our own righteousness and in our owm works, but only in thy blood and in thy merits. Be with us ; preserve us faithful, and grant. Lord Jesus, that we may soon see thee. Holy Spirit, dwell always in our hearts ; teach us to lift up our thoughts continually to our gracious Father; and give us according to our need, strength and consolation. And to thee, to the Father, and to the Son, be praise, honour, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen. APPENDIX. S 13 APPENDIX, No. IV. [Paye 236.] 1804, Mars 23. Entree. Seignedr Jesus-Christ, notre adorable Redempteur, fais-nous la grace qu'aucun evenement entre nous ne se passe sans laisser sur nos coeurs des impressions salutaires. Que nous nous demandions par ex : a I'occasion du trepas du jeune liomme dont le cadavre est enferme dans le cercueil, oii sera-t-il actuellement — etoit-il pret pour la mort — avoit-il ete fidele a son alliance avec Dieu — avoit-il cherche le seul necessaire avec I'em • pressement qu'une chose si importante requiert, et de tout son cceur — ses forces, et ses talens corporels et spirituels, et son temps, les a-t-il employes suivant I'intention de son Createur c. a. d. avant toutes choses pour rejouir, consoler, servir, soulager ses parens, et par la, de les mener a la sanctification, et a la preparation d'une moisson etemelle? Et nous-memes, si a sa place la mort nous avoit enleves, ou serions- nous actuellement ? O Seigneur, decille nos yeux alin que i'amoui- propre et I'esprit de presomption ne nous en impose ; faisons-nous a tous egards ce que tu souhaites — prions-nous pour nos enfans, et nos filleuls avec tant d'instance, d'ardeur, et de perseverance que nous puissions esperer d'heriter avec eux la gloire et la felicite etemelle que Jesus-Christ nous a acquise ? Cher Seigneur, daigne faire que ces reflexions nous animent a im zele redouble. Amen. Le jeune homme que vous enterrez est Samuel Conserve, fils de Claude Loux, de Zolbach. Les parens affliges du defunt m'ont charge de temoigner leur gratitude aux personnes qui dans leur longue tribulation leur ont prete des secours. lis demandent a Dieu, le grand Remunerateur de toutes les oeuvres de charite, qu'il veuille les en recompenser dans ce monde et dans rcternite. 344 APPENDIX. APPENDIX, No. V. [Page 236.] 1822. O.Pentecote aVautel. " Je vous baptise d'eau, mais celui qtii vient apres moi, est plus puissant que moi, et je ne suis pas digne de ltd p-orter ses souliers ; c'est lui qui vous haptisera du St. Esprit et de feu." — Matt. iii. 11. Cheks amis ! Par le saint Baptime nous avons ete refus enfans de Dieu, d'apres la premiere destination du genre humain. Mais un enfant sans obeissance, envers son pere, ne perd-il pas son droit d'enfance ? Et avez-vous accompli les ordres de Dieu — ses ordres, pas seulement ceux du Nouveau Testament, mais aussi de I'Ancien, dont le Seigneur nous assure qu'il ne laissera pas trans- gresser un seul iota ? Les avez-vous accompli tons et parfaitement ? Avez-vous aime Dieu de tout votre cceur, et de toute votre ame ? — et le prochain I'aimez-vous, et I'avez-vous toujours aime, comma vous-meme? Avez-vous en consequence de ce double amour execute constamment toute la volonte de Dieu bonne, agreable et parfaite ? Avez-vous constamment fait tous vos efforts pour entrer par la porte etroite ? Helas : helas ! me repondra tout homme sense— il s'en faut infini- ment ! Ah, si le Seigneur vouloit entrer en jugement avec nous qui est-ce qui subsisteroit 1 Et voila le but de la Pentecote ! C'est de nous avertir que le pre- mier Bapteme ne suflat pas, il faut, a force de prier instamment, ob- tenir le deuxieme bapteme, le bapteme du Saint Esprit et de feu, cette force et vertu merveiUeuse qui vivifie en nous la parole de Dieu, qui la fait jetter des racines dans notre coeur, et porter du fruit. Dites, chers amis ! Quand vous semez vos semences quelconques, par quelle force, par quel secret merveiUeux et magique empechez- vous que ces semences si tendres et delicates ne pourrissent pas dans la terre ; mais au contraire qu'en se multipliant elles vous recompen- sent si largement de vos peines ? Certes — aucune puissance humaine ne pent operer cette merveille. Mais, c'est que Dieu, ce Papa tendre et misericordieux de toutes ses cheres creatures, par sa bonte et par amour pour ses enfans — car c'est comme tels qu'il aime tout ce qu'il a cree ;— le cher Pere celeste. APPENDIX. 345 dis-je, communique aux semences des plantes aussi comme une cspece de bapteiue de feu et de vie ; qui, pas seulement les garantit de la pourriture ; mais qui leur communique une vertu nierveilleuse, quasi creatrice et divine, la vertu d'en produire d'autres de leurs especes, et de se multiplier. Et — oh amis ! C'est cette meme vertu divine et nierveilleuse, que nous devons, par nos voeux et soupirs ardents et perseverants, mais secrets, taclier d'obtenir sur la semence de la Parole de Dieu, lorsque nous I'ecoutons a I'eglise, ou que nous la lisons pour nous-memes, ou lorsque nous la communiquons a nos enfans et nos domestiques, soit le matin, soit d ditTerentes reprises par jour suivant les circonstances. Alors celui, qui multiplie vos semences que vous confiez a la terre, vous baptisera aussi de feu et du Saint Esprit, et benira en vous, et les chers votres, les semences de sa Sainte Parole. Et il arrivera que vos, et vos families, malgre toute la corruption des coeurs, et les ex- emples seducteurs de ceux qui habitent sur la-terre, et malgre les tentations et les sieges des esprits de I'armee de Satan, — vous devi endrez de saintes plantes de I'Eternel, capables d'etre transplantees dans le paradis de Dieu, sans crainte, ni risque de dechoir jamais de votre ineffable felicite. APPENDIX, No. VI. [Page 289.] This admirable Institution, founded in 1824, is destined for the reception of neglected children, from the age of five to that of con- lii-mation. It is not confined to those of Strasbourg only, but extends its benefits to children of any other part of Alsace or elsewhere • there are already two children from Paris there, for whom the Luthe- ran consistorj- of that city pays the fixed annual stipend of 150 francs. The children of foreigners are not excluded, although those of natives similarly circumstanced have the preference. The candidates for ad- mission have to produce a certificate of birth from the civil autho- rities ; a certificate of poverty from their minister ; a certificate from a physician that the cliild has been vaccinated ; and finally, a written agreement from a respectable person, binding himself to take care of the child after its leaving the establishment. Tlie Institution consists of a school on the plan of the Protestant parochial schools in Strasbourg, with this difference, that the children 340 APPENDIX. are taught the most necessary parts of geography, natural history, and astronomy, during their leisure hours, and religious instruction is afforded by the small Lutheran catechism ; and also a school of industry, in which, at present, tailors' work is the chief emplojonent, though it is intended at a future time to instruct the boys in the trades of shoemaking, baking, and weaving ; in the mean time, how- ever, they are employed, under the direction of their master, formerly a teacher at the institution of Mr. Fellenburg, of Hofwyl, in turnery, cabinet work, pin-making, book-binding, plaiting, ribbon weaving, &c., and the girls with domestic occupation, knitting, sewing and spinning, &c. The children are also practically instructed in garden- ing and agriculture. The institution is kept up by voluntary contri- butions, which are received by the following members of the committee. M. C. W. Krafft, President. Professor Herrenschneider, Honorary Member. And Messrs. Legrand, Foudai, Ban de la Roche. N.B. Twenty-four children are already received, and ninety are on the list, soliciting for admission. " Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." — Psalm xli. 1. APPENDIX, No. VII. [Page 309.] Chr6tiens, mes freres ! Nous venous de faire une grande et sensible perte ; le bon pere Oberlin nous a quitte; il a termine en paix sa carrifere terrestre. Autour de sa tombe je vois les fideles des deux paroisses du Ban de la Roche, les fiddles de "VValdbach et de Rothau, unir leur douleur et leurs larmes a celles des enfans et des nombreux amis du venerable defunt. Si, penetre de sentimens d'amour et d'admiration pour le venerable pasteur de Waldbach, je parle dans ce jour de deuil, je sens bien, mes freres, qu'il m'est impossible de vous retracer dignement les hautes vertus et les belles qualites de I'homme de bien que nous pleurons. Notre 6glise consistoriale perd en ce vieillard respectable un des pasteiurs les plus z61es, un homme distingue par ses talens et ses vertus ; la paroisse de Waldbach, le Ban de la Roche en general, un bienfaiteur, le pere le plus tendre ; sa famille, ses amis, leur modele, j i APPENDIX. 347 la source de leur bonheur ; I'humanite, un de ses plus beaux orne- mens. Quelle time pure et elevee, quelle simplicite, quelle affability, quelle indulgeuce, quelle droiture, quelle candeur avons-nous admire en ce bien-heureux vieillard! Plus qu'octog6naire, le vc-nerable Oberlin fit servir ses forces defaillantes a la gloire de son Dieu, et jusqu'au dernier soupir il a implore les secours de I'Eternel sur cette chi^re paroisse, centre de toutes ses aflFections. Quels tendres soins il a portes i ce troupeau ch6ri, confie a sa garde et a sa conduite ! Digne serviteur de son divin Maitre, zele successeur des apotres, il se devouait tout entier au bonheur de ses semblables. Pendante cinquant-ncuf ans il a voue toutes ses forces, physiques et intellectuelles, tout le temps de sa vie toute laborieuse a la civilisation de cette interessante contr6e, civilisation deja com- mencee par le pieux Stouber, avec le desinteressement le plus noble, avec une fermete imperrurbable, avec un zele k toute epreuve, il a, en sacrifiant volontiers toute sa fortune, tout fait, pour que la secu- rite, I'aisance, le bien-etre habitassent vos humbles demeures. C'est au bon pasteur Stouber et k Oberlin, votre p&re, que vous devez vos 6glises et vos ecoles; c'est Oberlin qui a forme vos instituteurs ; c'est lui, qui a fait couvrir vos rochers nus et arides de terre fertile ; c'est lui, qui a change tons ces hameaux en villages florissans ; c'est lui, qui travaillant avec vous, a fait reparer et elargir vos chemins : c'est lui qui temoignait une noble compassion k vos pauvres, qui les nourrissait dans les temps de disette; c'est lui qui a secouru les veuves et les orphelins, qui a protege les delaisses ; c'est lui . . . mais arretons-nous : vos cceurs reconnaissans parlent, vous acheverez vous-memes ce faible tableau de ce qu'il a fait pour votre prosp6rit6. Dans son humanite, Oberlin ne se laissait point borner pas des vues ^troites, il ne faisait point de distinction de culte, il etait persuade que I'intolerance deshonore la charite. Qu'etait-il dans le sein de sa famille ? Ah qui I'a pu y voir sans etre touche, emu, attendri ! Qu'etait-il a sa ch^re compagne ; h toi, valeureux Frederic ; a toi, pieux Henri, a vous, bien-heureuse Fide- lit6, a vous, zele WolflF; a vous, nos amis, Charles et Sophie, Henriette et Graflf, a vous, bon Graff, qui pour remplir les devoirs d'une piete filiale voulutes soulager le bon p^re de toutes ses fonctions penibles, k vous, Louise et Witz, Frederique et Rauscher ; a vous, ses petits fils et petites filles ; k vous, bonne Louise Schepler? — Quel epoux, quel p^re et ayeul ! Quel accord, quelle unite, quel amour, quelle piete filiale dans cette heureuse famille ! — Qu'etait- il a ses nom- breux amis ? k toi, noble, patriarcale et pieuse famille de Foudai, k vous, digne et respectable Legrand ? Le pieux Oberlin ranimait le flambeau de la foi, illustra la religion dans nos contrees. Plus encore que du bien-etre de ce monde, il s'occupait du salut de vos ames immortelles. La gloire de tons ses S48 APPENDIX. efforts, et le prix de toutes ses sollicitudes etait votre bien-etre spi- rituel, fideles de la paroisse de Waldbach ! Avec quel feu, quelle action, quelle simplicite, quelle pers6verance il vous prechait I'evangile du Christ, ce don precieux du ciel, les verites de la religion gravees dans son cceur I II vous enseignait a trouver dans la sainte Bible, dans les preceptes de Jesus-Christ, le remade k tons vos maux, la ressource a toutes vos miseres, la verit- able source des plaisirs les plus purs, du bonheur de la vie presente et de la vie future. C'est, I'evangile a la main, qu'il vous a purifies, eclaires, consoles, sanctifies. N'est-ce pas lui qui, par sa parole et ses exemples, a nourri dans vos coeurs Tamour de Dieu et des hommes ; n'est-ce pas lui qui vous a conduits aupr^s de ce Redemp- teur qui a souffert pour nous ; a cette vertu tout chretienne, a cette foi fervente qui fait la felicite du Chretien ; qui vous a presente notre adorable Sauveur dans les demeures celestes, ou il nous attend, ou il est alle nous preparer une place ; n'est-ce pas lui qui vous a si souvent exhortes a travailler pour I'aliment qui est permanent jusque dans la vie etemelle ? * C'est a votre digne patriarche que vous devez cette parole de grace ; c'est lui qui vous a distribue cette manne qui nourrit vos ames ; c'est lui qui a porte I'evangile dans vos maisons et dans les cabanes de tant de pauvres hors de cette paroisse. Oh ! mes freres, puisez dans ce tresor qui ne tarit jamais, qui s'enrichit k mesure qu'on y puise ! Benissez le nom d'Oberlin, benissez la memoire de ce juste qui peut dire, en verite avec Saint-Paul, le grand apotre : " J'ai servi le Seigneur en toute humilite, avec beaucoup de larmes et parmi beaucoup d'epreuves. Je ne me siiis epargne en rien de ce qui vous etait utile, vous ayant preche, et ayant enseigne publiquement et par les maisons, vous conjurant de vous convertir k Dieu et de croire en Jesus-Christ, notre Seigneur. Je ne fais cas de rien, et ma vie ne m'est point precieuse, pourvu qu'avec joie j'acheve ma course et /i ' le minist^re que j'ai re^u du Seigneur Jesus, pour rendre temoignage ^ I'evangile de la grace de Dieu. J'ai passe parmi vous en prechant lei royaume de Dieu. Je vous prends a temoins que je suis net du sang/ de tons. Car je ne me suis point epargne a vous annoncer tout Id conseil de Dieu. Je n'ai convoite ni I'argent, ni Tor, ni la robe de. personne." t I Ne retrouvez-vous pas dans ces traits i'image de votre venerablei pasteur Oberlin ? j Et, mes freres, qu'a-t-il fait pour la propagation de la sainte reli gion de Jesus-Christ, .i)Our la propagation de nos livres saints Parlez, Sccietes Bibliques de Strasbourg, de Paris, et de Londres • Saint Jean, xiv. 2: vi 27. + Actes, ch. xx. IS ct siiiv. J APPENDIX. 349 j Parlez, institutions des Missions de Basle etdc Paris ! Que d'ar/^ent \ il a su amasser, que de dons i! a fait parvenir a ces pieuses societes, ; pour que la Bible soit repandue partout, pour que la doctrine du i Christ penetre meme dans les climats les plus sauvages, chez les I nations les plus barbares ; pour que Dieu et le Sauveur soient adores par tous les habitans de la terre. Quelle jouissance pour lui, de voir ; en parcourant les rapports des Societes Bibliques et des Missions, la I benediction du Seigneur repandue sur son oeuvre ! I Sa carriere pleine d'epreuves, de privations et de dangers, ses ) iOngues souflrances ont revele son ame tout entiere et les vertus sublimes dont elle etait le foyer. Une patience que rien ne pouvait alterer, une resignation eminemment chretienne I'ont toujours rendu superieur a tous ses maux. II a envisage la mort d'un ceil ferme, avec le calme et la serenite du juste. En quittant cette terre, il se recommenda a son Dieu, il pria pour sa famDle, pour ses amis, pour sa paroisse ; et en benissant la terre, son ame s'est elancee dans les c'ieux. Oberlin nous a quittes ; sa mort fut la recompense de sa vie toute remplie de bonnes oeuvres, d'actions justes et genereuses. I Quel concours a son convoi fun^bre, quel deuil, que de larmes ! / Deux paroisses, huit communes, cette foule d'amis, d'etrangers, tous nous disons d'une voix : c'est un horame de bien auquel nous rendons lies derniers devoirs; c'est Oberlin, notre pere, notre bienfaiteur que •.nous pleurons; c'est I'amitie, le respect, la reconnaissance qui nous lont amenes a cette tombe! — Ses cendres reposeront au milieu de ■ Ivous, bons habitans du Ban de la Roche ; cette tombe qui renferme >8es restes mortels, sera pour nous tous un lieu sacre. Nous mon- itrerons cette tombe a nos enfans et nous leur dirons : Ici, repose loberlin, notre pere. II nous a rendus heureux, son image est gravee idans nos cceurs, I'amour est plus fort que la mort ; Waldbach sera un 'pio/iument permanent de sa gloire ; les noms d'Oberlin et de Wald- , ^ach seront a jamais unis dans la meraoiie des hommes. \ \ Adorons les voies de la providence, mes freres ! A la place du ,*jenerable pere, le Seigneiur vous a donne le digiie epoux de la fiUe I X'Oberlin, I'ami de son coeur, le serviteur selon le cceur de Dieu. I ?'est le bon p^re lui-meme qui a fait ce choix, et ce choix est un ' louveau signe de la protection du ciel sur ce troupeau. C'est avec ine parfaite connance qu'Oberlin a remis a ce successeur le depot , Acre dont le divin INIaitre I'avait charge. Eh oui, Chretiens, adorons tous cette providence qui nous unit el wus separe, nous afflige et nous console, entrons dans ses vues, ccomplissons ses desseins sur nous. Soyons unis des na^uds de lette oharite, qui est le plus parfait de tous 'es biens; aimons-nous itendant cette vie mortelle, aimons-nous encore au-dela. Aimons- ous en Dieu dans le sein duquel nous nous retrouverons un jour H H 350 APPENDIX. pour etre reunis h jamais, si nous le servons ici-bas avec fidelite. Vouons a ce Dieu tout bon une enti^re resignation, uue foi inebran- lable. Que le p^re de toute misericorde soit le consolateur at I'appui de la famille affligee, des amis du venerable defunt, de cette paroisse remplie de deuil ! Adieu, venerable Oberlin! dans les demeures celestes, tu mois- sonnes ce que tu as seme, tes ouvres te suivent ; delivre de tous les maux, ton Seigneur te dira: " Je connais tes ceuvres, ta charit6, ta foi, ta patience." * Adieu, noble ami, adieu, respectable pere ! Jamais ton image ne s'efikcera de notre ame, toujoui'S tu seras I'objet de notre veneration ; ta memoire, la memoire du juste, demeurera a jamais en benediction. Amen, * Apoc. ii. 19. mm w > ,. jk L v. V ^f' ':#r.^%i '#'^ -^^( :^V ^^P^rA' ^^ >r 1'1M Mm^m^/^^WA V, fj^ I - ^. 'm^ f.-^rM lf;^".i 1