ILLINOIS

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS LIBRARY
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
BOOKSTACKSFAITH'S WORK PERFECTED.FAITH'S WORK
PERFECTED;

FRANCKE'S ORPHAN HOUSE AT HALLE.

By A. H. FRANCKE,

PROFESSOR IN THE HALLE UNIVERSITY, AND FOUNDER OF THE
ORPHAN HOUSE.

EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY

WM. L. GAGE.

NEW YORK:

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH,

770, BROADWAY, CORNER OF NINTH STREET.

MDCCCLXVII.

HAORILO P*W"tR LONDON73.4-3 __
1+15 i f Fg-

WILL THE AGED FATHER OP MY SAINTED MOTHER

ijr* ^tbitstion of tfjis gTittlt ^oofe

WHICH, HAD SHE LIVED,

I SHOULD HAVE INSCRIBED TO HER
IN FILIAL LOVE,

SHE HAVING PASSED TO HER REST, I OFFER IT TO HIM,
TO WHOM SHE WAS LARGELY INDEBTED
FOR THOSE LESSONS
WHICH AFTERWARDS WERE CONSPICUOUSLY ILLUSTRATED
BY HER BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE.

218082CONTENTS

page

Introduction, by the Editor .,

First Footfalls of Divine Providence

The Work Widens

A House Needed

IV.

Students Helped

Out from the Narrow into the Broad

VI.

Relief from Pecuniary Embarrassments through the
direct interposition of Providence

Introduction, by the Editor .,.................... i

i.

First Footfalls of Divine Providence.............. iS

II.

The Work Widens ........................................26

m.

A House Needed.................................. 31

IV.

Students Helped ................................ 37

V.

Out from the Narrow into the Broad ............ 41

VI.

Relief from Pecuniary Embarrassments through the

direct interposition of Providence	48vlll

CONTENTS.

VII.

page

Special Providences Continued.................... 59

VIII.

The Act of Incorporation. Sickness in the House .. 69

IX.

Greater difficulties than the Want of Money:

Triumphant Deliverance...................... 75

X.

The Result ...................................... 82

XI.

Closing Note by the Editor .

97/-//./>• a/-

jriFffS".:!

FAITH'S WOm PERFECTED;

OE,

FRANCKE'S ORPHAN HOUSE AT HALLE.

EDITOR^ INTRODUCTION.

O visitor stops at the city of Halle in
Germany in order to take the great
theologian Tholuck by the hand, or to look at him
with more timid respect in the lecture-room,
without halting in one of the large public squares,
and wondering what is the use of an immense
yet not tasteless pile of buildings, which cluster
there, and form one of the chief architectural
features of the city. In palatial importance they
entirely eclipse the University of Halle, spacious2

faith's work perfected.

as even that is ; and no hotel, no private mansion,,
not even that in which Napoleon took up
his residence while he held the place, can be
compared with it for a moment. This congeries
of buildings occupies an entire square, and it is
a good walk to compass it. I passed unchal-
lenged up the staircase leading to the main
entrance; thence through the lofty hall, with a
bookseller's shop on the one side, and a drug
shop on the other, into the spacious rectangle
enclosed by buildings on all sides, and looked
around me, endeavouring to conjecture the uses
of the place. That instant an unseen bell
struck; presently the square filled with such
thronging multitudes of boys and girls, that it
was plainly a school or a system of schools.
Soon a young, intelligent-faced man walked by ;
him I accosted, and learned that I was standr
ing within the world-renowned precincts of
Francke's Orphan House.

A few days later a friend took me to a little
bookstall in a retired street-r-so retired, that I
wondered how any one ever found it out; in

r-^=reditor's introduction.

3

fact, not even a bookstall, but a lodging-room,
where a Mr. Petersen, student of divinity, kept
a meagre assortment of books, old and new, and
now and then, through the kindness of friends,
found a purchaser.* This Mr. Petersen presently-
showed me a thick, square, worn book, very-
old and dingy, leather bound, coarsely printed,
and wholly unattractive. He assured me that
its contents were valuable-—that it contained
Francke's own account of the founding of the
Orphan House, from the very inception to the
perfect completion—with a valuable mass of
appendices and original documents, throwing
light upon the whole of that most remarkable
history of the Triumph of Faith. For the
trifling sum of fifty cents I became the pos-
sessor of this rare volume, whose worth I then
only partly knew.

The next day as I was walking with Professor
Tholuck, he remarked, " Before you leave
Halle, you must, if possible, possess yourself of
a-; curiosity." I inquired what it might be. "At
the bookstall of Mr, Petersen, number so and (S

4	faith's work perfected.

so, in such and such a street," he went on to
say, " you will find a book entirely out of print,
and very rarely met; the entire history, from
Francke's own hand, of the development of this
great Orphan House of Halle. The price is
only twenty silver groschen.,? I looked at him
in amazement. How, thought I, do you know
this ? you, one of the most eminent of theologians,
familiar with the contents of a little, retired
bookstall ? Of course I was not slow to answer
that only the day before, I had found the book
and become its possessor.

That book, bearing the curiously quaint

title

THE MOST BLESSED FOOTSTEPS
OF THE LIVING AND REIGNING,

THE LOVING AND FAITHFUL GOD
FOR THE SHAMING OF THE UNBELIEVING,

AND THE STRENGTHENING OF THE BELIEVING,

DISCLOSED THROUGH THE TRUE AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL

HISTORY OF THE
ORPHAN HOUSE IN HALLE,

I have carefully perused and collated, drawing
out and combining all that illustrates the greateditor's introduction.

doctrines of faith and answered prayer. Much
of it is now but cumbrous detail; the local
regulations of the school, the lists of books, the
catalogue raisonne of donations, the minute
working of all the parts, were not to my purpose,
and I have not used them, excepting in selections
which seemed to illustrate the theme. The
"Footsteps," the first of the bundle of pam-
phlets, I have retained in full. It was translated
into Dutch and English about 1705, but it would
probably be a hopeless task to try to resuscitate a
quaipt English version: the work is better done
afresh. Of the continuations to the " Foot-
steps" I have made a careful use, and have tried
to incorporate such of them as are pertinent.

There are two points of significance in the
work of Francke, to which special attention
ought to be called. One is the great ability,
learning, and scope of the man* In this respect
he seems to stand above any other one whose
career has been familiar to the world as exhibit-
ing an equally trusting faith in the living God.
George Miiller, while a man of powerfully

faith's work perfected.

organizing mind, is not known to the scholarly
world as a lettered man, and never puts forth
any effort to conciliate and convince the unbelief
of men of nice and dainty culture. He has the
simplicity of a child, but it is in his faith alone
that he is most great, daring, and strong. His
efficiency is that of prayer, enjoined with those
humble qualities which, our Saviour assures us,
are to inherit the kingdom of God. Heiririch
Stilling, the well-known German mystic, whose
autobiography was much read years ago, was
able, by h:s downright honesty, his transparent
purity, and his rare unworldliness, to win even
Goethe as a friend; but I have long thought
that Goethe was drawn to him as a study, as
representing one phase of life, as the typical
Pietist, rather than out of any deep sympathy or
thorough appreciation of the man. And there
is in Stilling such a romantic love of the mar-
vellous, such a preference of it to any other thing,
and so* many whimsical Vagaries (not all fully
unfolded in his " Autobiography,?> but hinted at),
that many would not be led to confess the power--

editor's introduction.

of prayer after reading that quaint, simple, and
richly affectionate book with its wealth of faith
and domestic love; who would perhaps be
hindered rather than helped. So Huntingdon,
author of the "Bank of Faith," has so much
egotism, so many foolish conceits (witness, for
illustration, his habit of appending S. S. to his
name on the title-page of his book and on all
occasions, which the reader learns at last, signifies
Sinner Saved), that one wearies of his ignorance
and of his diffuseness. True, the essence of
good is there j the Christian can read that book and
draw strength from it, but the man of the world,
I have thought, might only be hardened by it.

But Francke. is an entirely different type of
man. He stands out as notable in his age as
Dante does in his. He was a profound scholar,
an eloquent preacher, a correct thinker, and a
man of wonderful energy and organizing power.
With Spener he founded the order of Pietists,
and in an age when a subtle infidelity on the one
side, and a dead traditional and entirely respectable
religious formality on the other, were robbing

-:-----—-=-8

faith's work perfected.

Germany of all deep and quick religious life, he
was one of the very few, who preserved the
sacred fire. Spener and Francke and Freling-
huysen, the poet, are a trio whose Christian ser-
vices to their age cannot be overrated. Any one
who reads the admirable resume of Francke's life
which is contained in Herzog's invaluable " Ency-
clopaedia," will discover that great as was the
founding of the Orphan House, it was but a
fragment of his life work. And in going over the
" Footsteps" the reader will not discern one trait
of weakness; the style is simple and direct, but
utterly free from conceit and folly. Francke
wins upon the reader as a wise and energetic
man: wonderfully supported by his faith, won-
derfully answered in his prayer, but uniting the
child-like soul with a large power of influencing
men* a comprehensive insight into character,
and great sagacity and scope of understanding.
Garlyle has caricatured him in his ribald, zig-zag
way (" History of Frederick the Great," vol. ii.
p; 18), and multitudes have accepted the lightnings
like sketch as a faithful portrait.editor's introduction.

"Did English readers," writes this remorseless
pen, " ever hear of Francke ? Let them make a
momentary acquaintance with this famous German
saint. August Hermann Francke, a Liibeck
man, born 1663; Professor of Theology, of
Hebrew, Lecturer on the Bible; a wandering,
persecuted, pious man; founder of the 4 Pietists/
a kind of German Methodists, who are still a
famed sect in that country ; and of the Waisen-
haus at Halle, grand Orphan House, built by
Charitable beggings of Francke, which also still
subsists; a reverend gentleman, very mournful of
visage, now sixty-four, and for the present at
Berlin, discoursing of things eternal in what
Wilhelmina thinks a very lugubrious manner.
Well, but surely in a very serious manner!
The shadows of death were already round this
poor Francke, and in a few weeks more he had
himself departed. But hear Wilhelmina, what
account she gives of his own and the young
Grenadier Major's behaviour on these mournful
occasions^ The King had fallen into one of his
hypochondrias* and had Francke, the Halle10	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

Methodist, giving ghostly counsel; his Majesty-
ceased to have the newspapers read at dinner, and
listened to lugubrious Francke's exhortations
instead. Hear Wilhelmina—

" 4 His Majesty began to become valetu-
dinary, and the hypochondria which tormented
him rendered his humour very melancholy.
Monsieur Francke, the famous Pietist, founder
of the Orphan House at Halle University,
contributed not a little to exaggerate that latter
evil. This reverend gentleman entertained
the King by raising scruples of conscience
about the most innocent matters. He con-
demned all pleasures; damnable all of them,
he said, even hunting and music. You were
to speak of nothing but the Word of God
only i all other conversation was forbidden.
It was always he that carried on the improving
talk at table, where he did the office of reader, as
if it had been a refectory of monks. The King
had us treated to a sermon every afternoon; his
valet-de-chambre gave out a psalm, which we all
sang. In a word, this dog of a Francke (ceeditor s introduction,



1

A

chien de Francke) led us all the life of a set of
monks of h Trappe/ "

The reader may give what credence he will
to this account. I find no further proof of its
accuracy than what every giddy, frivolous girl
like Wilhelmina finds harsh and hard in a sedate,
elderly clergyman, and what the virulent Carlyle
finds in almost every Christian. Francke was
an earnest, serious man, looking at life as a
weighty thing-—cheerful, hopeful, and happy;
nowhere showing a sour or njiorbid spirit, and
looked up to by even his opponents as a man of
great talents, and a pillar in the land.

Another point is the magnitude of the work
which he accomplished. I speak now of the
Orphan House; but that was enough for any
man's monument. With a capital of only three
dollars and a half, and trusting in the living God's
willingness to answer the prayer of faith, and
believing in the fact that He does answer the
prayer of faith, he dared to begin that great
undertaking, and was safely carried through it,
d in a very few years saw it the foremost

12	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

I

educational institution in Germany, and the most
extensive eleemosynary asylum in the world.
Before his death he witnessed over two thou-
sand children sheltered at once within its
walls, and all its departments—the Orphans'
Home, the Theological Seminary, the Normal
School, the Publishing, the Bookselling, and the
Apothecaries' Departments, the Library, the Esta-
blishment for Widows, poor Students in the Uni-
versity, the Poor of the suburbs of Halle, and for
strolling Beggars-j-in full and successful operation.
It has changed but little from that time to this.
The ample funds in possession of which he was
able toleave the Orphan House have still increased,
and when I was in Halle there were nearly four
thousand children taught there; a corps of almost
two hundred teachers were maintained, many
living within the building; while the Various ap-
pointments, the dining-rooms and reading-rooms,
the school-rooms, hospital, and library, the offices
and gymnasiumj were all that were needed for
the accommodation of such a host.

I will not go here into any recital of the history-*g=fll

editor's introduction.

of the institution—this ProfessorFrancke has fully
done in the " Footsteps.'* He takes the reader
from the first stage, when money was counted in
pence and halfpence, up to the last, when the House
was in the receipt of a princely sum every year,
twenty thousand dollars (gold) coming in from a
single source. Carlyle has said this was the result
of " charitable beggings." It was not. Francke
appealed to no man for money. The King of
Prussia did, indeed, after the institution was
recognized as a power, grant a license to take
collections for it in the parish churches of the
kingdom ; but the cost and the trouble were so
great that it was soon abandoned, and indirectly
led to pecuniary loss rather than gain. The
book is an effective illustration of the truth
that we live and move^ as well as have our
being, in God; that He is a living God, the
prompter of every holy work; that his Spirit
does indeed work within us, to will and to do
after his good pleasure. Francke relied implicitly
upon such a God. He believed so profoundly in
Him that his belief became act He knew that14 faith's work perfected.

the Spirit of God was equal to the work wljich. he
wished to see done} and he was not disappointed.
He did not sit down with folded hands, expect-
ing to see a fair and stately building, fitly
appointed, spring into being before his eyes.
He worked incessantly, he planned, he brought
men together, he assigned them their task; then
he prayed. He asked the living God to move
the hearts of his children to give according
to their means for an object whose end was
the glory of Christ. Had God left Himself
without a witness, this prayer had been in vain ;
had there not been the Spirit of Christ in the
people's hearts, only needing quickening and
direction, this prayer had been in vain. But the
"seed of the kingdom" was yet in the land.
Infidelity and spiritual deadness had not buried
it so deep but it might sprout yet, and bear fruit
to the glory of God.

It is, of course, an open question, whether,
in all the minute details of life, God palpably
leads us, and always shows us the reason why
He leads us as He does and I think there is noEDITOR S INTRODUCTION.

lS

advantage gained to Christianity in commenting
on unanswered prayer with too close an appear-
ance of intimacy with the Divine counsels
respecting our lives. The faith of some may be v
strengthened, but the unbelief of others may be
hardened by it. But in such a work as this, as
well as in that part of George Muller's life which
relates to his career as pastor in Teignmouth and
Bristol, there is the evident work of the Spirit
of God oh the hearts of men, manifested in that
normal method of diffusive beneficence which
only seeks a worthy Christian object on which
to bestow its gifts. The hearts of German
Christians a hundred and sixty years ago had1 the
same love of Christ which animates those who
live to-day; and it only needed to be kindled by
the power of Francke's life and preaching to
prompt to giving even without direct appeal.
There is surely no need of mysticism in this. It
is one of the mast open manifestations of the
genuine Christian life. And Francke has
^ painted it, not in glowing colours, but in an even-
tempered tone, warm and devout, indeed, as he—

16	faith's work perfected.

could only be, but dispassionate, calm, and over-
flowing with good sense and wise discrimination.

An interesting fact connected with Francke,
is that by the law of spiritual genealogy, he was
probably the religious father of George Miiller.
It is interesting to think that in Halle, Miiller
must have known much of the career of
Francke. He carried his recollections to Eng-
land, and in due time he too, ih much the same
way as the German- of 1700, began his Orphan
House, Thus do good men span the centuries •,
thus being dead, they yet speak; though they
rest from their labours, their works do follow
them. It seems a little thing to the readers of
George Miiller's life, that in his early manhood
he made that sojourn in Halle during his wan-
derings; but it was the means, doubtless, of
giving the great Bristol Asylum to the world.

It is a great pleasure to introduce so sound
and healthful a book to the world. It has lain
locked up in an obscure and difficult tongue for
more than a century and a half, and yet it con-
tains the eternal, indestructible truth of Christ.

editor's introduction.

£5

To cull out this little faggot, I have had to turn
over more than a thousand pages, yet the author's
kindling fervour has made it a pleasant task, even
when 1 have thought the words not concen-
trated enough for translation and publication.
The gleaning of what is given here has been a
delightful task to beguik the weary hours of a
sick-room away; and it has been not the least
among nuiiab€rless mercies, that, while cut off
from wonted activities by an invalid's lot, I could
still speak from my chamber to the world.

W. L. Gage.



b18	faith's work: perfected.

I.

first footfalts Of divine providence.

®j||T was formerly the custom in the city of
yij^l Halle and its environs, for the people to
appoint a certain day on which the poor were
allowed to assemble at their doors, and beg once
a week for alms. In Glaucha, the little village
where I lived, just on the outskirts of Halle,
Thursday was the day on which they came to
my door to receive their weekly allowance. I
used for a long time to distribute bread to
them in front of the house; but I thought
afterwards that it would afford an excellent
opportunity for me to reach their souls with
some religious instruction, for the most ofFIRST FOOTFALLS OF PROVIDENCE. ig;

them were grossly ignorant, and many were even
vicious#

So one day, as they stood in front of the
house, I asked them all to come in; I arranged
the older people on one side, and the younger
on another, and began in a friendly way to ask
the children some questions out of Luther's
catechism, to see how much they knew about
religion. Only the men and women listened;
I did not spend more than a quarter of an hour
or so in the catechizing, and closed with a
prayer, then giving them their usual gifts, and
telling them that in future I should try to pro-
vide something for both body and soul, and
asking them to come to my house every Thurs-
day in the same way, which they did. This was
in the beginning of 1694.

When I discovered the excessive ignorance
of these poor people, and found it hard to get
an entering wedge to their minds, .for the firsts
principles of Christianity, I was for a long titae
very much troubled to know how I could make
any impression upon them. It seemed a greatfaith's work perfected.

I

shame to the Christian name that so many
people should grow up like cattle, without any
knowledge of divine things, and especially that so
many children^ in consequence of the poverty
of their parents, should neither be sent to school,
nor enjoy good training at home, but grow up in
the most scandalous ignorance and vice, and
when they arrived at mature years be fit for
nothing, and know nothing but how to rob and
steal1, and commit every vice.

The attempt to send children to school, giving
them the money to pay their weekly tuition, did
not succeed; for it was found that they asked
for the money indeed, but they either did not
go to school at all, or if they did go, they
did not display the slightest traces of it after-
wards.

,1 felt deeply the needs of these poor creatures
who came every week to my house to get their
customary alms. After a time I bought a con-
tribution box, and Christian students of the
University of Halle, and other pious people, used
to carry it around for me, and sometimes I col-FIRST FOOTFALLS OF PROVIDENCE

lected thirty-six cents a week for the benefit
of the poor. Still this did not last long ; the box
used to come in very light, and it seemed as
though it hardly paid the trouble of carrying it
around. Everybody assured me of their heartiest
good wishes, but the poor did not contribute
because they could notj and the rich did not
CQntribute because they would not y and it was
painful to see the shifts which some were put to
who pretended to be great lovers of the king-
dom of God, but who refused to help me and
my cause*

Thm J tmdc this course : I had a1 box put
up in the sitting-room of my parsonage, with
these words painted on it—I John iii. 17
" But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from himy how dwelleth the love of God
in him?" And under that quotation this,
2 Cor. ix. 7 :—" Every man as he purpos&ih in
his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly Qr of
£ necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.99
Thus every one who came into my house had toFAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

remember the poor at least, and to open or close
the heart against them.

It was in the beginning of 1695 that I put
up this box, then I waited a considerable time to
see how God would deal with me, and before
long I found that I had the Divine blessing.

Sometime before I put up the poor-box in the
parsonage, as I was reading the Bible, I came
upon these verses, 2 Cor. ix. 8 \—"And God is
able to make all grace abound toward you $ that
yey always having all sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good work " These words burned
within me. I thought, How can God do it ?
I would gladly do good to many a poor soul had
I the means. But now I must let them go
empty handed away, and without any help from
me» Some hours after that I received a letter
from a Christian friend, who was in the depths
of trouble; he was so poor that he and his
whole family were threatened with starvation 5
he would borrow nothing more from any one,
and if for the love of God, I would give him
something, he would never cease to thank me.first footfalls of providence, 23

I remembered what I had read just before,
and was more troubled than ever to know what
to do | I wept and I prayed; and at last I deter-
mined, without holding counsel with man, to
deal in a Christian way with my friend in his
hour of extremity. I carried my purpose into
immediate act 5 and during that year I gave to
him a hundred dollars, and rescued his family
from the depths of poverty.

This was an excellent proof how God could
make me " abound to every good work;" and
I cannot omit giving this little instance to show
the method; in which God has blessed me from
the beginning, and heartened me and led me in
times of darkness,	.....

About a quarter of a year after I had put up
the; box in my house, a person dropped in the
sum of three dollars and a half. When I came
to take it out, and counted it over in my hand
(there were seven fifty-cent pieces), I ex-
claimed with the joy and assurance of faith,
" Here is a goodly capital to work
WITH i 1 mu5t m a GKeat work with24 faith's work perfected.

this ; I will found a school for the poor
with it."

I took no counsel with flesh and blood, but
went on in faith and bought a dollar and a halPs
worth of books. I then engaged a poor student
to instruct the children two hours cfaily; I pro-
mised to give him eighteen cents a week for his
trouble, with full hope that when the crown or
two which I had left should be spent, God would
open a way to provide me with more.

The beggar children took the books joyfully
enough; but out of the twenty-seven books
which were distributed among them, only
four ever made their second appearance ; the
children sold the others, and then remained away
out ^of shame.

Still I did not allow this to discourage me ;
hut with the fifty cents which were left I
bought mor& books, which the children always
had to leave behind when school was done.
After some weeks I made a desk whence the
books were always taken in the morning,
and where they were laid away at night,first footfalls of providence. 2$

as, I believe, is now the custom in all Poor-
schools.

At Easter, 1695, this school of mine began
with thus slender outfit. For those three
and a half dollars are the real basis and the
first capital on which not only the school for
the poor was founded, but from which rose the
great Orphan Asylum itself.26 faith's work perfected .

II.

the work widens,

Wj CHOSE for the Poor-school in the sum-

^§j mer time a room adjoining my own
study, and had a box fastened to the wall, with
the inscription, u For educating poor children, and
providing them with the needful hooks. Anno
mdcxcv." Under the box, I had this verse from
Prov. xix. 17, " He that hath pity upon the poor,
lendeth unto the Lord: and that which he hath
given^ will He pay him again ^

On Whitsuntide I was visited by some stran-
gers who took a great deal of interest in this
new institution, and gave me a few crowns to
help on the work, and afterwards some others

THE WORK WIDENjS.

27

continued to deposit funds in the box, and thus
to encourage my heart and strengthen my hand.

Soon after this, when some of the citizens
saw that the poor children were carefully in-
structed, they wanted to put their children also
under the same influences, and so they sent
thep, and paid three cents a week for their
tuition. The teacher was employed five hours
daily, and now received fifty cents in addition to
the stipend that I paid him.

Alms were distributed to the poor children
two or three times weekly to make them love
better to come to school, and to help make them
more docile and tractable.

Some people out of town heard of what I was
doing, and sent trifling sums of money to assist
me; others sent parcels of linen to make shirts
of, to help sustain the interest of the children in
their studies. The school was kept the whole
summer through, and the number of pupils, in-
cluding those who paid their tuition, was between
fifty and sixty. In all this it was plain that the
blessing of God rested upon us, for there was not28 faith's work perfected.

a crown collected as capital which He did not
Himself give.

I then began to receive the children of noble-
men and of wealthy persons, giving them not
only special instructors, but also a home with
me. This was the beginning of the gymnasium.
The occasion /or my doing so was that some
persons of influence applied to me for students
to be private tutors in their families. As I could
not respond to their wishes in this matter, be-
cause the students most fitted for this duty wished
to continue their studies longer in Halle, I ad-
vised them to send their children to me, and
promised to supply them with suitable teachers ;
a few were brought at once; others followed as
soon as the arrangement was made public.

In the summer of 1695,1 received a letter
from an influential Christian, in which he offered
me, to my entire surprise, three hundred and
seventy-five dollars, requesting me to use it en-
tirely at my discretion, for the benefit of poor
students. The money arrived soon after, and
I saw in it the evident blessing of God upon my^SSfc=

THE WORK WIDENS.	2g

work, and felt greatly encouraged to continue in
it. This was the first large sum I had received.

This put. into my hands ample means for the
present., I soon looked up those students who
seemed to be in the greatest need, and gave to
them various sums—to some twelve cents, to
some twenty-five cents, to others thirty-six cents
weekly, according to their several necessities—
and many a poor student could live here, and
prosecute his studies, who never would have
been able to have made end&meet without this
help, and must have left the University: some
indeed had nothing at all* excepting what 1 gave
them* The number whom I assisted in this
way was over twenty, the most of diem receiv-
ing about twenty-four cents weekly.

And this is the beginning of the flowing of
that fountain which has never ceased to bless
poor students at Halle from that time to this.
The Lord's name be praised for it.

The same summer another Christian in high
position sent me seventy-five dollars for the benefit
of our poor people y and a good friend sent me also30 faith's work perfected.

fifteen dollars towards maintaining the Poor-
school. God showed Us in these ways that He
would not give up what He had once begun,
but would pour down his blessings upon us, and
do for us " more than we could ask or even
think."

Towards autumn I found it necessary to
procure a room for my Poor-school. And since
I had no more available space in my own house,
I hired a room of my next-door neighbour. The
number of the children still increased so much
that at the beginning of winter I was compelled
to hire even another room. I then divided the
pupils, and put the children of citizens under one
teacher, and the children of poor parents under
another. Each teacher gave instruction four
hours daily, and received fifty cents a week
besides his board and fuel.A HOUSE NEEDED.

lit

A HOUSE NEEDED.

UT I Soon discovered one fatal defect
in my work. Children whom one would
reasonably expect to benefit, received little or no
advantage. Out of school they lost what little
good they gained in School, and then I made the
resolution to take some children wholly under my
charge, and subject them to constant supervision.
And that was the first call for the building of an
Orphan House; thaty th? first thought which led
to the great institution in Halley conceived before
1 had the first pound of capital to accomplish the
work*

When I proposed my plan to some few32	faith's work perfected.

friends, a spirit of interest was awakened, and
three hundred and seventy-five dollars subscribed
at once—the interest upon which, twenty dollars,
I was allowed to use towards helping on my end.

Seeing the blessing of God upon this mea-
sure, I tried to find a poor orphan to educate
with the interest of this money. Four poor
fatherless and motherless children were brought
at once to me, from whom to select one. Rely-
ing upon the Lord, I ventured to take all four.
Yet as one was taken from my hands, by a
family which I trusted, I took the other three >
but almost immediately another one came in the
place of the one who had been taken. I carried
the fouc to Christian families, and gave thirty-
seven cents & week for the care of each child.
This was in the autumn of 1695.

I now learned that when one is relying en-
tirely upon God's providence, it is just as safe
giving a sovereign as a crown-piece to the poor.
For when trusting wholly to God, I ventured to
take these four poor orphans, being without the
means to provide a home and clothing for scarcelyA HOUSE NEEDED,



one of them (for the interest of three hundred and
seventy-five dollars could hardly do this), I had
committed myself unreservedly to God, and relied
wholly upon the promise, "the Lord will provide."

So the Orphan House of Halle was begun
"without reference at all to capital on hand, or to
the promise of wealthy people to continue what
had been begun, but solely in reliance on the
providence of the living God.

The day after I had taken the four orphans
spoken of above, two more were brought to me;
the next day, another \ two days after, another;
and a week after, still another; so that by the
16th of November, nine were upon my hands,
to be brought up in different Christian families.

I engaged a student of theology, George
Henry Neubauer by name, to take a general
supervision of them, to provide all that they
needed, and to see that they lacked nothing which
could contribute to their best welfare, and so
these poor children were committed to me before
>e was bought or hired, under whose roof

they could lie down and sleep.

e^ 34 faith's work perfected.

Meanwhile, the faithful God and Father of
the orphan, who can do for us altogether more
than we ask or can even think, provided for me
more richly than with my faithless reason, I
should ever have dared to dream. For He in-
clined the heart of him who had already given me
the three hundred and seventy-five dollars to
give me seven hundred and fifty additional at
the beginning of the winter.

And in the middle of the winter, another
Christian of ample means sent me two hundred
dollars to help me in my work, another gave me
seventy-five dollars, not so speak of smaller sums,
which came in in addition.

And now, by the favour of God, I could not
only do something to help poor students gain
their education, give a home and clothes to thfe
poor orphans committed to me, and keep in good
trim the Poor-school, but I was able to buy the
house of my neighbour, of whom I had hired two
rooms before, for abo«t three hundred dollars 5
and in the spring of 1696,1 built two apart-
ments in the rear.A HOUSE NEEDED.

35

The work had been begun in faith, and in
faith I meant to continue it, not hesitating to pro-
vide all that was needed for the children of my
charge, but at the same time guarding against
procuring anything not demanded by the sternest
necessity.

At the time of ;my purchasing the adjoining
house, and building the two rooms on, as just
spoken of, I did not think of appropriating them
to the use of the orphans, now twelve in number,
yet I determined afterwards to gather them all
together from the different families where they
were now cared for, and have them all together
under one roof. I constituted the student men*-
tioned before the general superintendent of the
infant asylum, gave him power to procure beds
and bedding, to provide food and drink, to
arrange for suitable instruction, and to look after
the orderly conduct and the cleanliness of all the
orphans ; in one word, to assume the duties of a
father of twelve children. The removing into
the newly-purchased house, however, gave such
dignity to the affair, and caused the report offaith's work perfected,

what I was doing to spread to such a degree, that
within seven weeks I had, eighteen orphans
placed under my charge. My house was filled
to its , utmost capacity, and the duties of the
general superintendent became so onerous
that I was compelled to engage another man to
attend exclusively to the domestic affairs of-the
JiouseholctSTUDENTS HELPED#

IV.

STUDENTS HELPED.

EANTIME I had appointed an hour
every week for the poor students whom
I helped* to meet me ^nd receive their allow-
ance, This gave me a good occasion to
inquire into their lives and their faithfulness in
study, and to form a judgment whether they
made a good use of the funds which I com-
mitted to them : for with men so young it was
difficult to prevent a part of this fund being
squandered on useless objects. I resolved, there-
fore, in God's name, to give out, money no
longer to the poor students, but to provide them
with a free table, relying on that providence to38 faith's work perfected.

which I trusted implicitly, to make my way clear
of pecuniary straits in so doing. I thought that
there would be a threefold gain in this course,
the money spent in this way would go further
than it could in any other way—the provisions
being purchased in large quantities at a time. I
could have a better opportunity of being with
these young men and studying their characters
than could be gained in any other way; and
those who were not very needy, and spent their
weekly allowance in trifles, were freed from that
temptation. On the 13th of September, 1696,
I ventured on this new experiment in trusting
the Lord's goodness. Twenty-four persons sat
down to the newly-established free table, includ-
ing the teachers of the Poor-school, and in this
way one thing helped another, for I could provide
board for the latter, at less cost in this way than
in any other. To accommodate these new de-
mands for space, I first hired and then purchased
the house next adjoining the one which I had
bought before, and connected them by opening
a door between them. They had a commonSTUDENTS HELPED.

39

garden, which made this an excellent arrange-
ment.

And all this I may call the founding of
the whole institution; the reader has been in-
formed about its feeble beginnings, and its estab-
lishment, now I have to portray its growth and
enlarged prosperity. I was able now to give
alms to the poor, not merely on the Thursdays
but every day in the week, and even poor stran-
gers coming from out of town were hospitably
entertained, and received our gifts and religious
instruction besides,

* The Poor-school meanwhile was mt ne-
glected. It continued to grow and to demand
more accommodation. At the first I had divided it
into two classes—one of boys, the other of girls.
When these two classes had grown unmanage-*
ably large, I divided each of them into two
classes according to the age of the schplaj'S. I
put over, them suitable teachers, and provided
them with suitable books; and the movement
was so successful that all the poor children in the
city who were not able to pay for their school-faith's woric perfected.

ing were provided by me with all the means for
gaining a good education.

The school for the children of townspeople

1697,1 made further enlargements, in order to
accommodate those who wished to pursue a wider
course of studies. I appointed skilful teachers,
and formed classes in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,
in history, geography, geometry, music, and
botany.

I received fees from such parents as were
able to pay for the tuition of their children;
but this I may say, because it illustrates my
entire trust in Providence, that no one paid
frie so much as it cost to provide instruction for
his child ; there was a loss in every case, even
where the fees were paid. The very taking of
these children of parents of some means increased
our own burden, and compelled me to look for
even greater blessings from God upon the
undertaking.

-Well to do in the world was also continued. In



FROM THE NARROW INTO THE BROAD. 41

V.

OUT FROM THE NARROW INTO THE BROAD.

HE number of orphans had so far in-
creased on my hands as to make it
necessary to divide them according to sex, giving
to each distinct teachers; and as I discovered
those that excelled in talents, I selected them
out and gave them instructors suited to their
greater capacities, providing that they should be
taught not only writing and arithmetic, but also
the languages and the sciences ; while those who
were destined to become mechanics and artisans
were instructed in the elements of Christianity,
as well as in the three R's#

The number of orphans and poor students4-2	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

who had board gratis, continually increased, and
soon the houses which I had purchased became
entirely inadequate to our wants. I had to begin
to think about a larger house.

Yet there was no model that I could follow ;
there was no orphan asylum then in all Ger-
many ; I could gain no clear idea of the con-
struction and management of other establishments
of a similar character in other countries, as there
seemed to be no good accounts printed and cir-
culated \ I therefore concluded to send George
Henry Neubauer, my general superintendent,
to Holland, to examine the orphan asylums there,
and to make me a report of them, and the
method of conducting them, so that nothing
which the experience of others could teach me
should be wanting to make the orphan asylum at
Halle as perfect as any in existence.

As my limitations became still more uncom-
fortably straitened, I bought the inn known as
the " Golden Eagle/1 standing just outside the
Roman gate, for fifteen hundred dollars, and
transferred my orphans thither 5 but I saw very

FROM THE NARROW INTO THE BROAD. 43

soon that this house was more suitable for a
tavern than for my purpose, not to speak of the
constant increase of the number of orphans and
poor students which soon outgrew even these
enlarged accommodations ; for in the spring of
this year there were a hundred of the former and
seventy-two of the latter; so that with the
teachers and servants, there were hard upon two
hundred people in the house.

The lai'ge open place in front of the
C€ Golden Eagle Inn ** was going to be appro-
priated for a drinking - shop and other uses, which
I thought not favourable to the interests of the
large number of young people committed to my
care \ I therefore ventured to make a contract
for its possession, purposing to proceed to the
erection of a house which should be large enough
to meet all my needs, for the expense for rent to
supply me with the house-room I must have, was
not inconsiderable.

And as the whole work had been conducted
from the very beginning in entire dependence on
the providence of God, and as I had never gone

4+ faith's work perfected*

!l _

on to take any step with the means in hand for its
attainment, but always in the sure expectation
that God would open a way, although I had not
funds in my possession sufficient to build even
a small house* let alone a large one, yet God
gave me courage equal to making a fixed reso-
lution that I would go on and build at once.

I summoned Neubauer from Holland, and
on the 13th of July, 1698, laid the corner-stone
of the Orphan House in the name of God.
Providence had blessed me so far that I had on
hand a considerable quantity of lumber (though
not enough for the edifice); but for other
materials and funds to pay workmen, I must
look from week to week to the hand of that
living God who had already given me such
abundant reason to trust Him,

I counted at first on building the whole
structure of wood, and the foundation was laid
in that expectation, and was therefore light and
comparatively .unsubstantial j but the architect
pronounced the lot of land so suitable to a more
substantial edifice* and remonstrated with me so

FROM THE NARROW INTO THE BROAD. 45

earnestly, and others joined in with him to so
great an extent, that I felt almost persuaded to
venture deeper, and build in a more stable
manner. I soon came unexpectedly into pos-
session of a fine quarry of stope suitable for
foundation work, and this seemed another in-
ducement to build of masonry rather than of
wood. Yet all this would have been without
avail to me unless I had felt able to trust
entirely to the providence of God to bless my
undertaking.

Although I had begun with no ready money
to pay the labourers, yet God opened the way
for me to secure, without any difficulty, the
services of a sufficient number of workmen to
go on with the house. It was my custom, and
one to which they yielded a ready compliance, to
commence the day, and to end the week, with
prayer. And God showed his special care for
the undertaking in protecting all the workmen
from every serious danger, and in granting speedy
recovery to those who were slightly injured
-during the progress of the building.46 faith's work perfected.

Meantime the work advanced so rapidly,
despite its magnitude, and the size of the lot of
land, together with the hardness of the soil to
be removed for the cellar, that in one year from
the day when the corner-stone was laid, the roof
had covered the whole, and God had silenced
the sneers of those who had made light of the
whole undertaking, and who had gone so far as
to blasphemously say that they would hang
themselves on the walls when they should be
high enough. At Easter, 1700, the orphans and
the students began to take their meals in the
new building; very soon all the rooms of the
lower storey were completed, and by Easter,
1701, the rooms of the upper storeys were ready
for occupation* The King of Prussia showed
his appreciation of the work by giving a hundred
thousand bricks for the walls, and thirty thousand
tiles for the roof, which was a great help to me,
and won my heartiest gratitude- The King also
granted me the Royal license., and by Act of
Incorporation raised the Orphan House to the rank
of an institution recognized by the Government.FROM THE NARROW INTO THE BROAD. 4/

And now God, who had done all this for
the benefit of poor and unfriended orphans, and
had become a father to them, inclined the heart
of a prominent Christian gentleman to devote a
portion of his wealth to found a home for poor
widows, and to place it under my care. So I
bought a house just outside of Halle, and fitted
it up for the accommodation of four widows,
a servant and steward, and soon after opened
it to this limited number. My means allowed
me to provide them with all that was absolutely
necessary for life, and to give them about thirty-
six cents a week for pocket-money, besides
all that they might earn by sewing and spinning.
In case of sickness they were provided with
medicine and a doctor. Prayers were held with
them every day, conducted by the steward of
their home ; and we have reason to think that
the influence of this widows' retreat was very
great, and that their prayers redounded to the
benefit of the whole city, as well as the institu-
tions which I had under my charge.48	FAITH'S WORK PERFECTED,

VI.

STRIKING INSTANCES OF GOD*S PROVIDENCE IN
DELIVERING ME FROM PECUNIARY EMBAR-
RASSMENTS WHILE GOING ON WITH THE
WORK.

HAVE already given a number of ex-
amples to show how graciously and
manifestly God anticipated every want, and
always made my way ready for me while I
knew it not > yet those instances were in reality
so striking as well as numerous, that I will
speak more at length of them, and recount
them.

I do not need, however, to dwell on the
general principle of faith in a living God, whichINSTANCES OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

was my starting-point of action. Beginning
without any other capital than this, and Continu-
ing without any other than this, strengthened
every step of my way in this belief, I went 011
not only receiving orphans and poor students
under my charge, but venturing on the building
of my Orphan House. It must be seen at a
glance that a proceeding so unusual must be
interesting to trace step by step ; that the usual
receipts and expenditure would not come and go
in the usual fashion ; that the novelty of the
undertaking would bring much doubt and, per-*
haps, despondency, or, if entirely successful,
much quickening of faith.

The following instances will make all this
clear:—

Before the Easter of 1696 came, I was re->
duced to unusual straits, hardly knowing what wq
should do the next week. I had not yet become
accustomed to be so tightly pressed; but God
opened a way at just the right hour, for precisely
at the moment of my sorest need, some one (I
know not to this day whom, whether man or50	faith's work perfected.

woman, old or young) was moved to send .me
seven hundred and fifty dollars. The Lord
repay that opportune giver !

At another time we were reduced almost to
destitution, and the steward came to me with the
tidings that he was out of meat, and grain, and
wool, and clothing; I made it at once the subject
of special prayer. A person, not of wealth, but
of influence, providentially present, became
aware of our need, and letting our trying cir-
cumstances be known to others, we were at once
relieved, and our wants supplied. God asserted
the truth of his Word, that He hears the young
raven's cry. Directly after my prayer for help
in our distress, while I was taking my dinner,
some one knocked at my door. I opened it, and
found an old friend, who offered me seven
pounds. Three more followed thereafter; and
so all my wants were supplied, and God showed
Himself true to us.

In 1698, a Christian lady sent me a ducat
[about two dollars and a quarter], with this word,
that once a ducat had come to her most oppor-

INSTANCES OF GOD S PROVIDENCE.

tunely for her wants, and that she sent me one
with the hope and prayer that God would bless my
poor orphans by putting into my hands a great pile
of ducats.

Very soon after, another friend brought
me twenty-five ducats more. The same day a
person in Sweden sent me two ducats; and not
long after, I received through the post twenty-
five more, without the donor's name. Not many
days elapsed before an old friend of the institu-
tion, who had given me money before, sent
twenty ducats 5 and not long after all this, Prince
Louis of Wurtemburg died, and in his last hours
drew from his drawer a satin purse containing
five hundred ducats, and said, " This is for the
Orphan House at Halle." This last gift was of
inestimable service in enabling me to go on with
the building.

When this heap of ducats lay before me on
the table, I remembered the prayer of the pious
lady who sent me the single ducat, arid wrote
that she hoped that God would send me a great
pile of ducats for my orphans.

U, OF ILL LIB.52

faith's work perfected.

In February, 1699, I experienced again the
most trying want. It was the severe proving of
my faith. The larder was destitute, and I knew
not which way to turn. I kept revolving over
in my mind continually this verse, u Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all other things shall be added unto you yet
the care of the temporal was constantly wrest-
ling in my soul with my care for the eternal. I
had a great effort to cherish my faith in God
undisturbed by the want of the present time.
As I paid out the last piece of money, I uttered
in my heart this prayer, " Domine, respice ad
indigentiam meam !" that is, " Lord, look in
compassion on my need."

I went forth from my chamber at once, on
my way to the University, to deliver my usual
lecture to my class, - and unexpectedly found
a student below, who handed me a package con-
taining seventy dollars, which a friend more
than two hundred miles away had sent me for the
use of the Orphan House.

And so it always was, that although no halfINSTANCES OF GOD S PROVIDENCE

week went by without bringing heavy demands
on me, yet God. always anticipated me, and
raised up means at the most opportune moment
to meet my necessities, and at the same time to
strengthen my faith. Gradually I grew strong
and untroubled in the conviction that each hour
would bring the help to bear its burden, and my
faith could not be shaken that God would carry
me through, and grant me to see the fulfilment
of all my plans and hopes.

On the ioth of March I was wholly out of
funds. To my surprise a public hangman came
in to see me, and brought me four dollars,
which, coming from such a quarter, gave me new
assurance of the favour of God.

Soon after this we were out of everything.
The steward came in with his accounts, and
showed me how sore was our need. I had no
money for him, and he had nothing for- the
household. It was another of our dark hours,
I bade him hope on, and have faithj and then
continued my own labour (I was dictating), till
I had finished what I was on, and then retired to

...........„..................

faith's work perfected.

pray. But just as I was closing the door to my
room, a merchant appeared, and placed in my
hand a roll containing twelve hundred and fifty
dollars, to be appropriated to the needs of the
Orphan House. I thought of the words of Holy
Writ (Isa. lxv. 24), u Before they call, I will
answer ; and while they are yet speaking, I will
hear," Going into my chamber, I offered a
prayer of thanksgiving instead of supplication,
for my wish and expectation had been changed
into perfect fulfilment.

On the 21st of March, I received a letter
from the post, enclosing four ducats and this
rude couplet

" Qne raised from sickness by the Lord,

Gives this God's goodness to record."

I do not know whence it came, but it was
most opportune, for we were entirely without
funds.

About Michaelmas 'we were again reduced
to great need $ but the weather was so fine and
invigorating that it gladdened my heart, and IINSTANCES OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE

felt like even exclaiming, How good it is to have
nothing, %nd to rest entirely on God and his con-
stant providence ! I was entirely confident that
a way would be opened to us out from our place
of need, and felt perfect repose in my spirit.
The master-mason who had come once before
to inquire whether I had any money to pay off
the workmen with, came again and asked, u Is
anything come yet ?" I answered, u No, but I
have faith in God." Scarcely had I said the
word when a student came to me with thirty
dollars in his hand, which he said came from a
donor who wished his name to remain unknown.
I went at once to the master-workman, and
asked him how much money he needed to pay
off the men. He answered, " Thirty dollars."
" Have you no need ofmore ?" I asked. "No."
I told him then how wonderfully God had remem
bered us, providing just the sum neededj and
the incident served for the strengthening of his
faith as well as mine.

- Not long after, when I hardly knew which
to turn in order to go on with the building56	faith's work perfected.

I received through the post four hundred
dollars with a note from a student stating that
that sum had been given him for the use of
the Orphan House. I cannot tell how much
this confirmed my belief in the kind Provi-
dence that was lfeading us through darkness
to light.

One day we were in such want that I re-
peated with unwonted earnestness the petition,
"Give us this day our daily bread." Then I
quietly and trustfully waited, being sure that
help would presently come. And true enough,
my prayer had not long been uttered when a well-
known friend rapped at the door and put into
my hand four hundred dollars. My earnest
prayer was answered.

' In the year 1700 I was sick for eight weeks.
At last I was able to walk out, and to thank God
for permitting me to enjoy again the blessings of
light, and air, and exercise, and society, and
work; on my walk a paper was given me, and
anpther on my return, each being a cheque for a
hundred dollars, and with the second one a letterINSTANCES OF GOD's PROVIDENCE. 57

of great kindness and encouragement, bidding
me God-speed in my work. This letter and
cheque were from a merchant residing more
than five hundred miles away.

At another time a Christian nobleman was
visiting me, and inspecting the institution; he
saw with pain how narrow were our circum-
stances, but unfortunately he was himself poor,
and unable to assist us. Yet the same day
he met a wealthy friend, described our work,
and received from him a gift of fifty dollars for
us, which he brought with tears, so rejoiced was
he at being able to minister thus unexpectedly
to our wants.

At another time of want a merchant who
lived eight hundred miles from Halle sent me
five pounds, in South Germany currency, ask-
ing me to take the trouble of expending it
in behalf of the Orphan House. Two other
donations of the same amount each, soon fol-
lowed this.

Another time when we were hard pressed
God moved the heart of a pious peasant to bringfaith's work perfected.

all the money he could hold in his hands. It was
one pound in small change. At another time
still, a nobleman brought me all that he could hold
in both hands. It was twenty-two dollars.SPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED.

VII.

SPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED.

T has often happened that when friends
Ihav.e been present, and have heard of
the wonderful riianner in which God had suc-
coured us, they have been disposed to do some-
thing for us, some instances of which I will
mention.

There was present once a Christian stranger
who gave me twenty dollars for the poor, and
while he was still with me at dinner, there came a
lad who brought me twenty dollars, and a written
promise that the same amount should follow
every year, if the Lord should give health and
strength y the lad would not say, however, who6o	faith's work perfected.

sent him, but asked for a receipt and went away.
My guest was so affected by this circumstance
that he immediately added fifty dollars to his
gift. The promise to give me the twenty dollars
yearly, I might add, was literally fulfilled.

Of course, the work on which I was engaged
was largely spoken about, and it was often the
case that when people heard how wonderfully
God had blessed my labours, or read about the
Orphan House, they felt constrained to assist me.
A nobleman, for instance, after reading about
the work devoted twenty dollars yearly to it, and
always made his remittance promptly. Once
when I took some ducats to a broker to be
changed into North German currency, when he
learned that it was for the poor and the orphans,
he added twenty dollars as his own gift*

It happened once that I was in great need of
a hundred dollars, but I did not know which way
to turn to get one, let alone a hundred* The
steward came to me and told me how destitute
the house was. I had nothing for him, and told
him to come after dinner. „ Meanwhile, I betookSPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED. 61

myself to prayer. In the afternoon he came,
but I had nothing for him, and bade him come
again in the evening. A friend visited me in the
after part of the day, and he and I joined in
prayer, yet in spite of the necessities of my posi-
tion and our urgent needs, I did not feel con-
strained to ask importunately, but on the other
hand, was moved to thanksgiving to God for all
his past mercies, not only to me, but to all the
saints of old. When this good friend took his
leave and I opened the front door, there stood
on the one side of the entrance the steward whc>
had come again to know if J had anything for
him, and on the other side a gentleman who
handed me a purse containing a hundred and fifty
dollars contributed in behalf of the Orphan
House. What could be clearer to me than
that the cause I loved and laboured for was
under the direct care of God, the eternal and
living God, who not for a moment sleeps, and
who still, testifies that as He was to pur
fathers, so He is still to us ?

At one time I wa$ ii| need of thirty dollars62	FAITH'S WORK PERFECTED.

to pay the workmen with. There were then visit-
ing me some strangers, one of whom had for-
merly promised me ten dollars, and the other,
four dollars, but had appeared to have for-
gotten their promise. Meanwhile, I needed the
money sorely, yet I had to send my master-work-
man empty-handed away, telling him that there
stands the Orphan House, and up there in the
heavens dwells God, and doubtless He will pro-
vide for us. He went back and found the work-
men standing together, and waiting for their pay.
Unexpectedly a friend came up, and the master-
workman told him of the difficulty he was in.
He at once lent him fifteen dollars, but before he
had fairly counted it out, and made it over, I
received a gift of thirty dollars, which met all
present Heeds.

At the end of the vefj frext week, I was in
want again, and it so happened that Friday was
the day for me to Settle my household accounts,
and Saturday those of the building, yet there was
no money on hand for either. But I felt sure it
Would all come right, I was confident that GodSPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED.

would show me a clear token of his care. I
quoted the divine promise, I Sam. vii. 12, to the
steward, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us 5"
and had no doubting about the end. The next
day brought fifty dollars.

Another time our necessities were so urgent
that the steward was compelled to sell a silver
spoon which had been given to us, and yet not
even that met our wants. But just then came
in most opportunely, when the steward was almost
giving up to despair, a hundred dollars, sixty s>t
which were needed at once. Two or tfar^e-
hours after this I received a letter stating that a
friend had ten tons and a half of garden produce
on the way for me. When the steward saw
this double manifestation of God's care, he felt
deeply pained at the wicked faithlessness of
his heart, and resolved that he never again
would distrust the Lord's readiness to pro-
vide.

Oftentimes when we felt, ourselves destitute,
and no large gift came in, we would find in the
box nailed up at the door a thaler or a ducat, or a64 faith's work perfected.

double-ducat piece, enough for present needs,
and to show the watchful care of God.

I cannot and need not go further into detail.
Other gifts, some of them hundreds of dollars at
a time, I received, and as a general rule just
when they were most needed. I have entered
fully enough into these things to show how won-
derfully God anticipated all our wants, and met
us just at the hour of need. I ought to say,
however, that these gifts were by no means from
the rich alone. That verse of Paul, 2 Cor. viii.
2, was eminently true of some of my benefac-
tors, " The abundance of their joy and their deep
poverty abounded unto the riches of their libe-
rality." Those who could not give money gave
what they could—tin plates and cups, flax and
yarn, linen, caps, hats, and stockings, sometimes
complete suits of clothing, corn, peas, meat,
fish, books, beer, salt, feather-beds and bedding,
webs of cloth and remnants, silver forks and
spoons, gold rings, costly stones and jewellery of
all sorts ; in one word, gifts of all kinds and de-
grees of value, all useful in their way, or capableSPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED. 65

of being converted into money, and all testifying
that a watchful untiring God and a loving Father
had the Orphan House in his faithful keeping;
that its interests were always dear to Him ; and
that He never despised my prayers, nor disre-
garded my faith in his constant providence.

It would be delightful, of course, for me to
enter into a detailed summary of all the gifts to
us, and the touching and cheering words which
have often accompanied them. Since the time
of our sore money trials were over, hardly a day
has passed without bringing in a donation, either
large or small. Ministers struggling to live on
narrow incomes have sent us a few shillings^ or
a pound, or ten, or twenty, or fifty ; pious stu-
dents in the University, out of their meagre
funds, have straitened themselves to help us.
Widows, not a few, have sent their gifts, and with
them their prayers ; children have sacrificed the
pennies which they had laid by for playthings and
sweetmeats, that the orphan children might have
a home. I have even had one little gift of a penny
where I knew that poverty in its most trying form66

faith's work perfected.

made even that a sacrifice, and it was more to
my heart than many dollars would have been
from the rich. Nor have these donations been
from Germany alone, but from Poland, Sweden,
Denmark, Russia, France, England, and, in fact,
from almost all the countries of Christendom I
have received them. Indeed, from England I
have had some of my largest gifts. The entire
record (and I have kept it entire) of all the
moneys, the articles of jewellery, silver plate,
precious stones, clothing, food, and presents,
either to be used or to be sold for the benefit of
the institution, would fill a volume of much
larger size than this. I am amazed as I look
back and read page upon page of such records as
these:—

From a poor student, three dollars.

From an Austrian merchant, fifty dollars.

From a farmer a little way out of Halle, three
tons of vegetables.

From a Christian mother, a diamond ring,
which I sold for a hundred and fifty dollars.

From a widow, ten dollars, with a re-SPECIAL PROVIDENCES CONTINUED.

6;

minder of the promise attending the widow's
mite.

From another widow, twenty cents.

From a Bavarian nobleman, twenty dollars,
with a promise to pay the same amount yearly
during his life.

From a merchant, the bequest of a thou-
sand dollars.

From a little child, with its love and its
prayers, nine cents.

From an Englishman, twenty dollars.

From a pastor, thirty-six cents.

From a schoolmaster, fifty cents.

Page after page of such entries I could tran-
scribe, the sums ranging all the way from a few
pence up to thousands of dollars. They are
repetitions, it is true, one of another, with a slight
change of names and amounts, but the effect on
the mind, on seeing the stupendous columns, and
the immense aggregates, makes one cry out,
" What hath God wrought!" In the letters
accompanying these gifts, all the sweet Bible
words about faith in God, all the gracious pro68	faith's work perfected.

mises of God were revealed, and "used to fill
my heart with joy. But it would defeat my
purpose to reproduce them all here. Enough
has been given already to show how graciously
God led us, how hard He tried us at first, how
widely He opened his hand afterwards, when we
hadc< proved Him," and showed us that indeed He
had a blessing for us too large to receive.THE ACT OF INCORPORATION.

VIII.

THE ACT OF INCORPORATION. SICKNESS IN
THE HOUSE.

N 1698 the Prussian Government recog-
nized my work and its public utility, by
giving me a regular act of incorporation, and by
allowing me to solicit contributions in all parts of
the kingdom. This my friends considered a
great step gained, and I do not wish to say that
it may not have been to my advantage, for
doubtless it was in accordance with the wise
though hidden purpose of God, but the con-
sequences which followed it were, judging by
human appearances alone, far from beneficial to
my undertaking.-

70	faith's work perfected.

One thing which stood in my way was the
cost of collecting contributions. But when you
consider the difficulty and expense of procuring
a small army of collectors of the right stamp,
men both capable and trustworthy, you will see
that only in the shrewdest manner could the
bare cost of collecting be met, not to speak of
accumulating a great sum for an object so little
known and understood as mine. For the Orphan
House in Halle was the first one of the kind in
Germany; the public mind was not prepared to
admit its claims unchallenged, and it was a great
work to get a hearing. The end was, that only
in Berlin and in three provinces did I make any
attempt at taking contributions, and there with
but meagre success.

But other evils came in. It was commonly
supposed that because the Government had recog-
nized the institution, it had largely endowed it,
and would provide amply for all its wants.
Those who had known of my trials supposed
them at an end, and felicitated me on my good
fortune and the happy issue of those wearisome— .

THE ACT OF INCORPORATION.	71

years of poverty and uncertainty. Those who
had been donors before, now ceased to give, for
they saw no necessity longer of individual con-
tributions, now that the State had taken the
Orphan House in charge ; and not only so, but
they felt free to send us any number of poor and
homeless children, supposing that our endowment
was ample enough to meet any exigency. It
was even reported that I was in the receipt
of twelve thousand dollars yearly from the
Prussian Government! No wonder that I was
overrun with applications ! Between the neglect
of friends on the one hand, in the fancied
idea of my liberal allowance from the King, and
the crowds of applicants on the other, I was
worse off than I had ever been. I should have
been glad to go back to the old ways. In fact,
I found the principle of dependence on faith and
prayer the best. While I relied on God I was
successful, but when I began to felicitate myself
on gaining a strong arm of flesh, I began to see
my weakness. After all, the way in which I
began asserted itself as more reliable in all its

72

faith's work perfected.

contingencies and exigencies than the help of
an earthly king, however kindly disposed and
strong.

One of the sorest evils we had to contend
with, in consequence of the crowded state of the
House, was sickness. We were remarkably
favoured indeed, in receiving without expense
the services of an eminent physician of Leipsic
in assisting pur own house-doctor in difficult
cases, yet the rooms were so full that it made
it very difficult to care properly for the sick.
Added to this was the fact that the year 1699
was signalized by the prevalence of a peculiarly
malignant type of fever which seized on the most
vigorous and blooming, sparing the weak and
ill-conditioned* We contended with it in vain,.
It seized upon the teachers as well as the taught,
and hurried them into a common grave. No
medicine then known seemed to have any power
to stay its course : it yielded to no treatment.
We knew not which way to turn to stop its
ravages, but I bethought me of the power of
prayer, and God graciously heard me ; and notSICKNESS IN THE HOUSE.

73

long after, a physician in another place sent me a
specific, which proved efficacious in saving life
and in averting the disease. And I am sure that
it will not be thought fanciful that God should
be able to stay the progress of disease, by blessing
the use of natural agents, and by directing the
attention to them. He does not arrest sickness by
naked power, but He is abundantly able to incline
the hearts of skilful physicians to serve the poor,
and He is not,less able to direct the mind than
the heart, and can easily open human eyes to the
hidden uses of nature in healing diseases.

I will not close this chapter without acknow-
ledging the kindness and true Christian spirit of
all the people who have approached me claiming
to be friends of the enterprise. It might be
supposed that some might be drawn to me in
hope of pecuniary advantage or selfish aims, but
I have never found traces of that spirit; a lofty
disinterestedness has always been the most
striking characteristic of those with whom I have
had dealings. It would be pleasant to speak in

detail of benefactors of the House, but I cannot

===^FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

s

a

do so; and in fact one wonderful feature of all
the Lord's conduct of this matter has been that
the names of the donors have been unknown to
me even to this time. This hints at the true
undertone of the whole ; that the springs were
indeed moved of God \ that men gave u as they
were moved of the Holy Ghost." Hardly a
great gift came accompanied with the name of
the donor; that was withheld out of a modesty
which I did not always understand, but now
know to have been indicative of the need that
God should have all the glory.

TRIUMPH OVER DIFFICULTIES,

GREATER DIFFICULTIES THAN THE WANT OF
MONEY : TRIUMPHANT DELIVERANCE. -

;T must be thought by my reader that
pecuniary difficulties were the only ones
that I had to contend with ; there were others
that were more trying to my feelings than even
the narrow circumstances to which I was sub-
jected. True, it was a daily trial of faith to rely
implicitly on the care of Providence ; those who
have a full purse know that it is no slight thing
to provide for the wants of some hundreds of
persons; but with nothing in the larder, and
with nothing in the purse, it needs no imagination
to see that one must be hard pressed oftentimes

76 faith's work perfected.

to know which way to turn ; and that I often
was, for it did not always happen that God
met my wants just at the hour of need; some-
times I was compelled to cry out with the
Psalmist, " How long, O God, how long?"—
and I have known the time when, for want of
money to buy a few candles, we have all spent a
whole evening in darkness, and been brought to
pretty sharp hunger.

But harder to bear than this were the mis-
apprehensions of people who tried to work upon
the public mind, and prejudiced it against me,
All kinds of charges were made ; and those
opposed to religion were influenced to believe
that I was an impostor or a fanatic. Those
were provings of my spirit more subtle and
powerful than any others I ever met. It was
said that it was madness to build on so huge a
scale. What could a vast system of houses be
for ? Why not confine myself to the accom-
modations with which I begun ? I made brief
answer to this—u That the Lord was rich enough
to pay for it all that I had not gone to workTRIUMPH OVER DIFFICULTIES.	77

without counting the cost, for I knew that the
Great Steward of the universe would think the
paying the expenses of the Orphan House at
Halle a very little thing."

It was said that I abused the children; that
I gave them food which swine ought not to eat,
and meagre at that. Such idle reports I could
not meet in palpable shape, and disprove them;
but they died at last as all lies will. Yet it was
sore to bear this \ for though we were at times
pinched for food, yet it was very seldom. My
pecuniary embarrassments were more generally in
the way of my going on with the building than
with the common wants of the body, and there
was never any protracted suffering. There was
such system in the whole direction that I knew
just how everything was managed; and I knew
that the table was always wholesome and abundant
enough.

It was alleged that large sums of money came
into my hands, which I appropriated to my
private use ; that I was laying up riches for my
family to enjoy after my death; and as this stung78	faith's work perfected.

as a poisoned arrow, it needed faith—a great
deal of faith in God—to go on my way amid
such charges as this ; but God bade me look up
and go on. The rumours of great amounts of
money lying in my hands drew crowds of
orphans and indigent persons to my door—far
more than I had any accommodations for,
spacious as were the new buildings. It was said
that I had one roomys// of money—gifts of ten
thousand dollars were spoken of as of not unfre-
quent occurrence ; and it was reported that my
great trouble was to know what to do with it
all. Meantime the public never saw into the
real state of the case. During all the time,
when hundreds were thronging in, I was never
a day without being more or less straitened ;
large and frequent as were the donations, after
the work was fairly under weigh, yet they never
surpassed our urgent needs, and while crowds
were standing in the outer hall, some living at a
great distance from Halle, and demanding help,
my steward would sometimes be in close con-
sultation how we could give our own orphans aTRIUMPH OVER DIFFICULTIES.	79

dinner. Thus wrongly was I misjudged, arid
evil spoken of. It was also said that I was
becoming secular in my habits; that having
become a business man I had lost all my pious
habits; that I was engrossed in money affairs,
and could not be expected to attend to religion at
the same time. God forgive those my ac-
cusers, and give them more of what they missed
in me !

They said also that I neglected my pastoral
office, for it will not be forgotten, that all this
time I was a pastor, and had my own church to
care for; and it is true that the great and grow-
ing interests of the Orphan House drew me
away from the duties of my pastorate; but I
saw that my place was made good by a man of
great excellence and worth ; and not till then
did I feel that I could accept the new trusts that
God had plainly assigned me. I remained the
nominal pastor, and as far as I could I super-
vised the spiritual interests of my church; but
the adjunct pastor assumed the most of the active
labours of the position.

80	faith's work perfected.

But it would be in vain for me to recount all
the false and wicked charges which were brought
against me. Happily God strengthened me, so
that I went on despite them all. The openly
irreligious people made light, of course, of an
undertaking that rested on prayer and faith as its
basis, and it grieved me to see their unconcealed
opposition. But worse than theirs was the
faithlessness of cold-hearted nominal believers-
men who pretended to trust God, but who could
not take Him at his promise. But the end
justified all my confidence, and shamed their
unbelief. I had not reckoned, the result proved,
without my host. I became " more than con-
queror through Him that loved us and died for
us." And the Orphan House at Halle, with
its ample appointments and its flourishing depen-
dencies, stands as the visible monument of the
wonderful favour of God.

The favour of the Prussian Government has
been displayed to me in a remarkable degree, and
the favour of good men, not in my own country
alone, but throughout all Christendom. The

TRIUMPH OTta ©IFFICUI/TIBS»

institution is at the time that I write put on such
a foundation that, humanly speaking, and as far
as can be seen now, it will be a perpetual bless-
ing to Germany and the world. Its funds are
ample, and its management has, I have every
assurance, the public confidence. For all this
I desire now, and while I live, to bless the Lord.
He was my counsellor from the beginning, and
my leader all through the work, and to Him and
Him alone be all the glory.8l	faith's work perfected.

X.

the result,

S stated in a letter by Baron Canstein,*
in 1706, to a member of the Prussian
Government:—

" My bear Sir,—I have recently visited the
great establishment at Halle, which was founded
and has been brought to its present advanced
prosperity by Professor Francke, of the Uni-
versity in that city. My visit was so pleasant

* The writer of this letter was later the founder of the
Canstein Bible Society, an institution which publishes its works at
Francke's Orphan House, and sends them forth from there. It
has been a great blessing to Germany, and is still in active
operation.the result.

and so quickening to my: faith, that I cannot deny
myself the privilege of describing the institution,
as it exists now—a kind of little world, yet all in
harmony and a state of great efficiency. The
history of the rise of this Home for Orphans,
with its dependent schools, is not a common one ;
it is not the common-place development of an
institution which has been fostered by Govern-
ment patronage, but it is one that began in
faith, and has been continued in faith up to the
present time. Relying on the great fact that
God is, that He still 1 moves,' as wel} as * has
his being,' Professor Francke has been em-
boldened to go on with this work, beginning it
without capital, and only expecting that God
would provide from day to day. He had dared
to build a system of edifices of palatial size, be-
lieving that God would dispose the hearts of his
children to give the necessary means; and he has
been justified in this trust, for the Orphan House
is complete, is paid for, and is still in the receipt

of means to sustain its usefulness.

" Francke's Institution, as it perhaps#4	faith's work perfected.

strictly to be called, is a unit, by virtue of one
controlling purpose—-viz., the exercise of a wise
charity, and by virtue of the strong, clear mind
and will which direct all its pnovements. Pro-
fessor A. H. Francke is pastor of the church in
Glaucha, a suburb of Halle, and a Professor in
the University of Halle. Yet unit though it is,
it unifies many diverse things, and k made up of
parts, in themselves very unlike. It is a bundle
of sticks which do not resemble one another at
all, and yet make a whole of great strength and
unity. I will speak of these parts one by one.

" The first is—

"THE DIVINITY SCHOOL,

An institution which grew out of the necessity
for helping poor students of theology, and of
using their services at the same time as teachers
of the destitute children. From the very first,
Francke employed indigent young men studying
in the University, as his co-labourers in the
Orphan House, and in the schools for the poof.
Many a young man has been saved to theTHE RESULT.

85

ministry in consequence of this help; many a
wise teacher has been trained by the preparatory
drill which he has gained under Francke. Funds
came }n from the v^ery first to help indigent
students,, and they now enjpy a free table in the
general dining-room of the House, they have
apartments for study, and receive special in-
struction in the ancient languages. Professors in
the University come to the Orphan House, and
give their lectures on Hebrew, Greek, and
Oriental literature : the Hebrew Bible i§ now
printing in the House, under the auspices of the
professor m this department > and thus ends so
varied are made to help each other; the students
are always at hand when they are needed as in-
structors; the cost of providing their food is a
light expense when so many hundreds are to be
fed, and the rooms are as commodious as those
of the University proper for the purpose of
lecture?.

" THE TEACHERS' SEMINARY.
: Theological Seminary was mainly for the

age of young men who wished to become

1 ........ ■..........:"'T';v"r:i " "

J



As the
advant

faith's work perfected.

clergymen, it was early deemed good to found a
department where thorough teachers might be
trained. The needs of the orphans and the
destitute children were so urgent at the outset,
that Francke had to look around to secure help,
and none stood so ready at his hand as young
men of needy circumstances, who wished to
gain an education. Many of these were pious,
and exercised a healthful religious influence over
the young. He began with only ten, giving them
a home with him and a small salary besides, and
claiming from three to five hours daily of them
as teachers. The increase of the schools, de-
manded an increase of instructors, and the
number expanded gradually to its present size.
The studies pursued in the seminary are mainly
those which will be of special service in teaching
the children, and far more attention is given
to a thorough acquaintance with the rudiments,
than with branches which will be foreign to their
after use. The means for providing all these
men with their living, and the stipend which is
paid to them, have always come as the response

THE RESULT.	87

to faith ; no man has ; been asked for it; no
provision has been made by Government for it;
all has been in answer to the c fervent effectual
prayer of the righteous man/ This department
has been a great blessing to the Orphan House,
and I might even say to Germany, for the five
years' course of instruction secures the most
competent instructors for the great schools of the
kingdom.

« THE FREE TABLE.

The free table is an excellent feature in
Francke's institution, mi one which finely
illustrates the faith of the founder.: It was,
humanly speaking, very hazardous for a clergy-
man without means to open his house to twelve
young men, and offer them their board free; but
Francke did it, and was justified in it. He be-
lieved in God, and it was imputed to him for
righteousness ; and the Lord opened the hearts
of his children, so that in a short time Francke
gave their meals to yet twelve more, soon to
twelve more* and now the number .is almost a

88 faith's work perfected.

hundred of these young men who sit down in
the great hall of the Orphan House. This pro-
vision secures an ample supply of wholesome
food to these young students; for it was found
to be the case that many were so self-denying in
their efforts to gain an education, that they
begrudged themselves an adequate supply of
nourishing food. But now they must have it,
and besides a dollar is spent to far better advan-
tage when laid out in providing for hundreds than
for one. The free table affords also an excellent
opportunity for Professor Francke to study the
character of the young men. If any are im-
postors, he Ends it out; and they know each
other, and are better known than they could be
iT they Jived <a3one, ;and boarded themselves.
The table, too, is made a -means of religious
improvement. A chapter of Scripture is read,
and remarks are made. A hymn is Sung, and a
constant effort is made to keep in mind the
bountiful hand of God. Nor does this lead to
a mechanical, perfunctory service, as it might'
under other circumstances; but the peculiarTHE RESULT.

89

history of the institution, and the unquestioned
faith of Professor Francke, make every
meal a religious enjoyment and a means of
grace.

"THE LATIN SCHOOL.

If Francke's institution has any offshoot
which is not connected with it by the tie of
organic life, it is this. It is a school for the
children of the nobility, and of people well to
do in the world, who desire instruction in the
advanced branches. It took its rise thus:—
When Francke was beginning his schools for the
poor and for orphans, it was soon found out in
Halle and the neighbourhood that he was a man
of remarkably sound judgment, energy, Chris-
tian character, and skill as an educator. He was
earnestly asked to select young men whom he
might recommend unqualifiedly as private tutors,
and let them go from his humble house to the
mansions of the rich. This he did not choose
to do. He preferred to keep the young men
around him, and have an eye to all their progress.go	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

But he proposed to certain of the nobility to
send their sons to live under his roof, and be
instructed: there ; they did so, and the c Pada-
gogium,' or Latin School, thus sprung into
being—at first embracing but twelve pupils, but
now, after a lapse of only about ten years, em-
bracing between fifty and sixty. Here instruc-
tion is given in the ancient and modern languages,
in all the polite branches of literature, and in
the sciences. Yet it would be unfair to pass by
the fact, that this institution is not, and has never
been, self-supporting. Were it not for the other
schools, Professor Francke would not receive
enough, even from the rich, to be able to educate
their sons. So the Latin School links in with
all the rest, and shares a common blessing.
The same living and loving God watches
over its interests who watches over all the
rest. The same Beneficence which preserves
the school for orphans, preserves the school for
the sons of noblemen. God's hand is extended
in blessing over the whole great institution.THE RESULT.

"THE ORPHAN HOUSE PROPER.

The fourth department is that of the
Orphans, embracing the system of buildings
where they are lodged, and have their instruc-
tion. The name Orphan House is given,
indeed, to the whole congeries of buildings ; but
it is apparent that the home of the orphans is
but a part of Francke's institution. Yet it is
the part which most fills the public eye, and
draws the public sympathy ; and it is to that
that Francke has devoted himself with the most
assiduous care. The main building devoted to
this purpose is six storeys in height, about one
hundred and fifty feet wide, and is handsomely
finished. It is by far the largest building in the
city, and is really imposing in its appearance.
There are many military barracks, which only
give the observer the idea of size ; but the main
building of the Orphan House is not only colossal
in proportions, but symmetrical, and a great
ornament to the city. The whole house is built
in the form of a hollow square, and the buildings92	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

on three sides of the rectangle are not elegant—
simply commodious. It is the large building on
the fourth side which attracts the most attention,
standing as it does on one of the large public
squares of the city. There are buildings
adapted to all the varied wants of a large colony
of children—a bake-house, a brew-house, a
slaughter-house, a gymnasium, a wash-house,
together with the dining, sleeping, and school-
rooms needed for more than a thousand souls.
And all this was built without any accumulation
of capital. From day to day the Lord provided
what was required, and Francke received, in
answer to his prayers, without asking the assist-
ance of any man, every dollar to pay the work-
men, and buy all the materials. He began with
nothing;. he never was beforehand with his
means, yet he received so much, that though
venturing to build of brick and stone, and in an
expensive style of finish, he was not in arrears
for this work. It is a signal trial of faith, and it
is so regarded by all true Christians. Since the
work was done, the same loving Father has con-THE RESULT.

93

tinued to supply all the wants of the inmates ;
arid although there have been hours of darkness,
yet the Lord has always shown his mercy in the
end.

"THE APOTHECARIES' DEPARTMENT.

The frequent cases of sickness in so large a collec-
tion of children, early made it necessary to provide
for this class of needs. The apothecary department,
now of much magnitude, began with the boiling
of herbs for tea, and with the preparation of com-
mon household medicaments. It now has its
large dispensary, with separate rooms for putting
up and storing medicines, and is much used by
the inhabitants of the city. Some of the remedies
which have been employed by the house-physician
have proved signally efficacious, and a gentle-
man in possession of a medicine called by him
essentia dulcis bequeathed the receipt of its
manufacture to Professor Francke. The income
from this source is very large (twenty thousand
dollars yearly), and the cures which have been
wrought by it amazing, and are certified to by the94	FAITH S WORK PERFECTED.

leading regular physicians of the city and neigh-
bourhood. The gift of this gentleman has done
much to enrich the institution, and to put it on a
permanent foundation.

"THE BOOK-STORE.

Very early Professor Francke provided the chil-
dren who came under his charge with books,
and as the institution has advanced, the need of
a department to meet this want became so obvi-
ous as to lead to the establishment of a large
book-store, where are kept all the works pub-
lished at the institution, and a general assortment
of useful works. This, too, is now large, and
meets the wants of a great number of people in
the city, who make their purchases at the House
rather than elsewhere.

« THE PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT.

There having been expressed a wish that a ser-
mon of Francke's should be widely circulated,
a project was started that it be printed in theTHE RESULT.

95

House. A press was procured, types and ink
bought, a printer hired, and the sermon was
published. This was the beginning of the pub-
lishing department, which, under the blessing of
God, has expanded till it has become one of
the first establishments of the kind in Germany.
Not long after Francke began to publish, a great
impetus was given to the effort by the unexpected
proposal of the distinguished Spener, that one of his
works should issue from the publishing department
of the Orphan House. Thenceforward it became
a power in the land; and now, not only are all
the school-books used in the institution printed
and bound under its own walls, but works in
Hebrew and the Oriental languages have
appeared, besides standard religious works. The
whole management has been conducted with an
eye to the good of the Church of Christ; nothing
of doubtful character has been allowed to appear,
and Francke's wise and careful supervision has
been bestowed on every work issued. The
founts of types in the Greek, Hebrew, Syriac,
and Arabic characters, are among the most com-faith s work perfected.

plete in the land. Among the works of a learned,
character issued, may be mentioned Boyle's
c Dissertation on the Style of the Scriptures/
translated into French and German. The bind-
ing and printing-house have been self-supporting,
as much of the labour is done by the larger lads
in the schools."

(The distinguished author of this letter does
not refer to the great Bible-publishing depart-
ment established by himself within the Orphan
House, using its presses, binding, etc., and well
known to this day as the Canstein Bible Depo-
sitory, a most valuable means of circulating
the Scriptures through Germany. Over five
millions of Bibles have been scattered over the
country through Baron Canstein's efforts, and
there is no cessation in the good work. I may
remark that Canstein was the inventor of the
art of stereotyping; he first applied it to the
Bibles issued by him).—ed.

" other eleemosynary departments.
Under the broad roof of the Orphan House

CLOSING NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 97

are clustered besides all the agencies specified, a
home for widows, an establishment for the care
of poor people, in Glaucha (the suburb of Halle
in which the buildings stand), and an establish-
ment for strolling beggars.

And this great and comprehensive charity
has all been carried into effect through the efforts
of a single man ! Who shall doubt the po wer
of faith ? who shall now doubt the . power of
prayer ?"

XI.

CLOSING NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

INCE the introduction of this little work
was written, and the rest of its pages
were culled from Francke's voluminous docu-
ments and translated, I have been so happy as
to pay another visit to this flourishing institu- !
tion. It still maintains its old reputation, and98	faith's work perfected.

never was it more influential for good than at
the present day. The Director, Dr. Kramer, a
brother-in-law of the great geographer, Carl
Ritter, is not only eminent for his attainments in
Greek literature, but for his efficiency as the
manager of a great and complicated system of
schools and foundations like this. In the Pada-
gogium, I had the pleasure of meeting and mak-
ing the acquaintance of the distinguished geogra-
pher, Professor Daniel, the German editor of
cc Ritter's University Lectures," a man of great
urbanity, and of the kindliest presence. But a
word of special acknowledgment is due to Dr.
Tschischnitz, the English teacher in the institu-
tion, who did me the favour to conduct me to
every part of the great pile of buildings. Let no
visitor to Halle fail to call upon this courteous
gentleman, who is quite at home in our language,
and who will, I am quite sure, be pleased to act
as cicerone. The statue of Francke, executed
by the great sculptor, Rauch, stands near the
end of the square enclosed by the buildings, and
is a most happy conception, portraying the goodCLOSING NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 99

man with an orphan child grasping each hand.
The buildings recently erected, especially the
Re-al School, testify to the constant expansion of
the institution, and its ability to meet new wants,
and the one just referred to might for elegance
and convenience be taken as a model in England
or America. Nor has the printing department
fallen behind, while so much else has been
advancing. No greater contrast can be easily
conceived than between the reports of Francke
which I have used in the preparation of this work,
and the books which are published at the Orphan
House now: some of them works of great
eminence, such as the German edition of Ro-
binson's " Biblical Researches." Indeed, the
printing now executed there is so admirable that
many English publishing houses carry their
books through the Orphan House press. I
mention these things to show how faithful God
still remains to those who have continued faith-
ful to Him. One cannot go into the great dining-
room and see five hundred lads, neatly dressed,
light-hearted, well-mannered, come and takeioo faith's work perfected.

their places, while one of their number repeats
the familiar German grace—

" Lord Jesus, come, and be our Guest,

And let thy blessing on us rest,"

without feeling grateful that Francke lived and
made all things ready, so that destitute children
almost two hundred years after him, should have
all this care, and good nurture.

And thus it is, whatever else may fail, God
abides sure. His promises are as durable as the
foundations of the earth. Whoever else prove
false, God may be trusted. Francke was a
simple-hearted, true, believing man -> but every
man in our time who has the same faith may
have the same blessing. For God and Christ
are the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

the end.

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