early youth. On her marriage, and removal to Dresden with her husband, she remained faithful to her convictions, seldom went to court, and, as the solicitations of royalty itself could not prevail on her to join in the amusements usual there, she was left to pursue her own way, and was universally esteemed. Though the defects of the Lutheran Church could not escape her singular penetration,-for her understanding was far above the common level,she was sincerely interested in its prosperity, and her exertions in its behalf were greatly blessed by the Lord. At Dresden she became acquainted with Professor Franke and his colleagues at Halle, and, from her affectionate regard to the memory of these men of God, she continued her yearly benefactions to the institutions which they had founded, though she no longer sought from thence the assistance which she required for carrying on the work of God, for, when br. Vierorth entered into connection with the Brethren's Church, she obtained the desired help from that quarShe entered into rest, January, 1750.

ter.

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In 1721, General von Hallart accepted an invitation from Czar Peter the Great to enter again into his service, and requested his tutor to accompany him as chaplain. Dr. Anton, Professor Franke, and the other Halle divines, whom he consulted on this occasion, having expressed their conviction that it was a leading of Providence, he was ordained by Abbot Breithaupt, in Magdeburg Cathedral, on the 14th of March, having passed his public examination before the government-board and the consistory on the preceding day. He set out from Dresden with the General and his suite, April 1st, and, passing through Lusatia, Silesia, Poland, Prussia, and Courland, arrived at Riga, May 13th. "Here," he writes, "I visited the General-Superintendent Brueningk, and offered myself for examination by him, as I should have to preach, not only in Riga, but wherever we might be quartered in Livonia. He, however, declined it in the most obliging manner, saying that I had already been approved of by a master in Israel, and by the Halle divines, and was at liberty to preach the Word of God wherever I went; that I was bishop, consistory, and pastor, all in one, and needed to give account to no one. At the same time, he expressed his love and esteem for the Halle divines, and communicated to me a letter which Theodosius, the Archimandrite of the Alexander Newsky convent, in St. Petersburg, had written to him by command of his Imperial Majesty, in which he asks to be informed of the points of difference between the Lutheran and the Greek Church. The Archimandrite, in his letter, called the General-Superintendent "brother," and expressed his cordial love and affection for him."

While at Riga, our late brother had the joy to trace a work of grace in the heart of a Russian merchant, who came from a considerable distance beyond Tobolsk, and who requested to be re

membered in his prayers. "From Riga," he continues, "we traveled by way of Wollmar, the residence of pastor Neuhausen, who was said to be the only awakened minister in Lettonia, but who was from home at the time, to Dorpat, where I found a rightminded man in pastor Wildberg, and afterwards, clergymen of similar views, in pastors Suter, of Camby, and Wollin, of Urbs. At Narva I called on pastor Rodde, whom I had known at Halle as a worthy man, and from whom I obtained much valuable information, as he had traveled about in the country while chaplain to general Weide. In the course of my journey from Riga to this place, I gathered, that ecclesiastical matters had fallen into the greatest confusion, owing to the double calamity of war and pestilence; and that ministers had been appointed, whatever might be their qualifications for the office. Some of these I happened to see, and of course I heard things which pained me deeply; as such preachers could only increase instead of removing the inconceivable ignorance and blindness of the poor peasantry.

July 2d, we arrived in St. Petersburg. Pastor Nazzius gave me a somewhat cool reception, though, on second thoughts, he joined in a weekly prayer meeting, which I held with his two assistants. His predecessor, Toll, was the first German minister resident in St. Petersburg, and appears to have been an upright, worthy man. The Czar had a great regard for him, and would converse with him for hours together on religious subjects.

A fortnight after, I made the acquaintance of the Archbishop of Pleskow, Theophanes Procopowitsch. I had heard much of him from Professor Franke, when the general was preparing to set out for Russia, and the latter was so much interested in these accounts, that he requested the Professor to recommend a book suitable for presentation to the Archbishop. This was Michaelis's Hebrew Bible, with notes, and the Professor gave me the Latin edition of Arndt's "True Christianity," to present in his own name. Having announced myself to the Arclibishop, I was admitted to a solemn audience in the presence of some Bishops and Archimandrites and his own suite. On my delivering Franke's book, he expressed his cordial thanks, and said, he wondered that this great divine should know his name, and think on him and his monks. He then inquired about the University of Halle and the state of the Lutheran Church, and said, on taking leave: "We acknowledge you as our brother in Christ, and beg you to consider us in the same light." When he found that I had come on foot, he insisted that I should use his carriage in returning.

August 2d.-The General waited on the Archbishop, in order to present the Hebrew bible, and took me with him as interpreter. The Archbishop gave us a very cordial reception, and said that the gift would be a new incitement to him to read the bible above all other books. In reply to the inquiries made by the General,

*

as to the present state of the Russian branch of the Greek Church, he frankly owned that it was miserable enough, the real worship of God having been supplanted by a host of superstitious ceremonies. The Czar was anxious to remedy this state of things, being convinced that religion was the best foundation for the welfare of an empire; but suitable men were wanting among his own subjects, and foreigners would be suspected by his people. At parting, he gave me a copy of the sermon which he had preached before the Czar last year. There were formerly no sermons in the ordinary Russian worship, but a selection of texts, with commentaries from the fathers, were read, as also the prayers. But when the Czar heard the public discourses and exhortations delivered in other churches, he wished to introduce this mode of instruction in his own dominions, and this Archbishop was, as far as I know, the first who made the trial. In the above-mentioned sermon, the Archbishop refers very forcibly to the outward meanness of our Lord and His apostles, and the contempt and persecution to which the latter were exposed, and how they preached a doctrine foolish and offensive in the extreme to human reason;-that we must regard ourselves as loathsome and abominable in the sight of God, which is a hard thing for man to admit; that there is no salvation but in Jesus Christ alone, who was condemned and crucified as a malefactor by His own nation; and that there is no redemption, nor cleansing from sin possible, but in His blood,-a statement which is repeated more than once; that it is easy to understand why such a doctrine should be resisted and persecuted in every possible way. But it is the more wonderful that the preaching of these poor Jews,notwithstanding, found such entrance, and that the gospel has now pervaded the whole world,—a fact which we ought to take to heart, and seek in like manner to experience its power."

This Theophanes was a native of Russian Poland, and had received the elements of his education in a Jesuit convent there, and had been sent by that order to Rome, in order to be prepared for a mission to Russia. But meeting in the library of the mission-college with Luther's Latin treatise "On the Babylonian Captivity," his former uneasiness of mind increased, and at length he fled from the place. At Kiew, the only or at least the most celebrated Russian college, the Czar became acquainted with.him, in. consequence of an oration which he delivered on the victory at Pultowa, and called him, as preacher, to St. Petersburg. Here he obtained Chemnitzs "System of Divinity" from pastor Nazzius, and was so struck by the article on Justification, that he made the merits of Christ the constant subject of his discourses, no longer

* Such is still the case in the Greek Church, if not universally, at least in many of its branches, as was stated to the editor some years ago, by pastor Holzschuher, of Jassy, in Moldavia, while on a visit to England.-Ed. P. A.

mentioning saints and images. On this account an information was lodged against him by the clergy, and, as he would not recant his doctrine, he was condemned to be burnt alive. The sentence had, however, to be confirmed by the Czar, who was abroad at the time. When the minutes of the proceedings were laid beforehim, on his return, he was not a little incensed, and, declaring the decision null and void,gave the judges to understand, that if they stirred any further in the matter he would sentence them to the knout. Theophanes, on the other hand, was received with greater favor than ever, and made first Bishop, and then Archbishop. It was a common saying of the Czar, that if he had but a dozen such men, he could make something of his people. Yet, sensible as the Archbishop was of the imperfections of the Church to which he belonged, he submitted to all its ceremonies and regulations, that he might not stumble the weak and ignorant. He departed this life, September 19th, 1736.

When the Archbishop returned General von Hallart's visit, the Baroness was present, and a very interesting conversation took place. He related the manner in which the Czar had been first led to think of reforming the national Church. He was attacked in his youthful days by an illness which defied all medicines; the head of St. Christopher, a venerable relic, was then resorted to, in order to work a miraculous cure; but the Czar, detecting some extraordinary piece of jugglery on the occasion, fell into a violent passion, which happily turned the course of the disorder, and led to his recovery. He often remarked, that the Czar was well disposed to the Protestant Church, and himself not less so, especially as he could well conceive, from the opposition which he met with, what difficulties Luther must have encountered in his work of reformation. But, as Luther had by God's help surmounted every obstacle, so he trusted that a brighter day might ere long dawn on the Eastern Church.

The principal acquaintance which our late brother made, in relation to the cause of Christ in the following years, was with officers, amongst the rest, with generals Wuetgenau, Bohn, and Von Campenhausen, the latter of whom especially, showed much friendship to our Brethren, when they came into Livonia, and rendered them every assistance in his power. In the course of his inquiries as to the effects of the Lutheran ministry among the peasantry, our late brother was sorry to find, that the preachers were satisfied, if their doctrine was merely assented to, or uncontradicted by their hearers. Yet, though he noticed this, and other defects, both by word of mouth and writing, he did not on that account break off his connection with Halle, but endeavored to procure a supply of persons of kindred sentiments, some of whom afterwards became his colleagues and assistants. The first of these was Mickwitz, who came, in 1722, as chaplain to General

von Campenhausen, and subsequently became first pastor at Reval. In June, 1722, br. Vierorth proceeded with General Hallart to Moscow, and had the pleasure of meeting on the journey with many awakened persons among the Swedes, returning from their Siberian exile, as also with several of their officers, who had founded a school at Tobolsk, on the model of that at Halle. Several of these captives subsequently joined the Brethren's Church either in Livonia, or in the congregations of the Brethren in Germany. While at Moscow, he declined an invitation to become the second minister of the new church there.

In December, he traveled with the General to the borders of the Crimea and Little Tartary, and arrived at Bialogrod, January 1st, 1723. Here he formed the acquaintance of Colonel Schultz, a man of extraordinary fortunes, who had now been eighteen years an exile; of the Archbishop of the place; and of father Richter, the Roman Catholic chaplain of General Weisbach, who conceived such a regard for him, that he would allow his people to attend his preachings and prayer meetings, in which they distinguished themselves by their seriousness and attention. Here too he had several Greeks, and some members of the Reformed Church, among his hearers.

"In November," he writes, "the Archbishop of Pleskow introduced me to the the Archbishop of Astrachan, and in the following March to two Tartars from Siberia, one of whom was the son of a Khan, the other a brother of their high-priest. I had some very interesting conversation with both. There were many awakenings in St. Petersburg the same year. In October, vicepresident Nieroth offered me the direction of his orphan-house, at Alp in Esthonia, which, however, I declined."

In the beginning of 1725, the General notified to the Czar, that the term of his engagement was nearly expired, and that he purposed leaving Russia; so that br. Vierorth was in hopes of returning to Halle. But the Czar Peter died on February 8th, and the General's discharge was deferred till March.

"June 17th," our brother continues, "I preached for the last time in St. Petersburg, and recommended my hearers, who had increased so that the place was often filled an hour and more before service began, to attend the ministry of pastor Pietschman. On the 27th, we set out for Wollmarshof, an estate which Catharine I. had presented to the General. Both he and his consort wished me to remain there, and undertake the pastoral charge of the place; but I could not feel freedom to do so. In September I was called to the cathedral church at Reval. As this interfered with my purpose of going to Halle, I consulted Dr. Anton and Professor Franke on the subject, and by their advice accepted the