Spener had in the meantime acquired reputation as a zealous promulgator of strict Lutheran teachings ; and as he was endowed with great prudence and modesty, and was always willing to share in the burdens of the min- istry, he was able to avoid unpleasant controversy for a time, even in that polemical age. The calm was broken, however, when he ventured, in 1675, to publish his book Pia Desiderin, etc., whose burden was a " heart-felt sigh for such improvement of the true Evangelical Church as shall be pleasing to (iod." The work was approved by the miuisterium of Frankfort, and its statements were everv'where guarded by appeals to the most ap- proved authorities. Its complaints, strong and star- tling as they might appear, were echoed by numerous voices in every part of the land, so that Spener was subsequently able to publish more than ninety letters of commendation received from leading theologians, among whom was Calovius. The remedies proposed for the evils existing in the Church were also in harmony with the Word of God and the spirit of Christianity, but the book was, nevertheless, unfavorably criticised, particularly at Strasburg. The hostility so aroused be- came more intense when the collegia pietatis, by which name Spener's assemblies of laymen for mutual edifica- tion became known, were extended beyond the com- munity in which they first originated, and when it was observed that their multiplication was attended with a growing spirit of exclusiveness, a tendency towards sep- aratism, and occasional eccentricities on the part of their members. The attack on the Pi( lists, as they were now dubbed by their opponents, was led bj' a for- mer friend of Spener, the court-preacher of Darmstadt, Mentzer, and by Dilfeld of Nordhausen, who wrote a work entitled Theosophia Ilnrbio-Speneriana (1679), in which he denied that the new birth is essential to a correct theology. Spener replied in Gotiesgelahrtheit
SPENEU
922
SPENER
allfr fjIauUrjen Christen, and disarmed his assailants ; and tiii-ii wrole a wtirk eniitlcd KUii/tii iibtr dm rtnlor- Unt C/iri.<lfiil/iiitii, etc. 0(W4), in which he successfully coml>au<l the sejiaratist tendency which had crept in ainon^' his lullnwers witliout fault of his. He did not intrixhu-e similar meetiiif,'s for editication in his subse- quent tields of labor, and it has been supposed that they no loufier ct)mmanded his approval; but a letter writ- ten ill .\.I). 1700 to Francke. in which he deprecates the action of the authorities of Frankfort by which the aiU'ijiii piftatis were prohibited, affords positive evi- dence that his cunlidcnce in their utility was uiidimin- idhed.
After a pastorate of twenty years in Frankfort, Spe- ner received a call to the court of Saxony as principal court-preacher, at that time, it may be said, the most prominent ecclesiastical post in Protestant Germany (If.sr.). His call emanated from the elector Joh.lieorg HI himself, and was broujjht about by his own faithful- ness as a minister of the Gospel. Tlie elector at one time became sick while at Frankfort, and Spener was invited to visit him otticially. He assented, on condi- tion that he mif^ht minister to the prince as to a simple man. and without other reference than the soul's rela- tion to its Maker. Tliis plain-dealing pleased the elec- tor, anil resulted in tlie transfer of Spener to the court of Dresden. He departed from Frankfort July 10, 1686. It was soon ajiparent that the influence of the court- preaclier was larjjely confined to the power he might e.xercise as the spiritual counsellor of the prince; but the warlike elector was rarely in his capital, and was not disposed to yield to the control of his chaplain. The self-esteem of the Saxon clergy had been wounded by the appointment of a foreign theologian to the high- est ecclesiastical position in the land, and they began a course of systematic opposition to the new incumbent. Various motives combined to intensify their hostility, among them the fact that Spener's unselfish and ear- nest piety was a constant reproach to their self-seeking and formal dispositions. The source of this opposition was the Lcipsic University, where Carpzov was nursing the disappointment of having failed to secure the ap- pointment to the court in Spener's stead, and where a rebuke administered by the high consistory on Spener's motion because of the neglect to expound the Scriptures which prevailed hail excited the ill-will of the faculty. A still stronger occasion for troidile was given by Tho- masius, a relative of Spener's son-in-law, who in 1688 began to publish a satirical journal, in which the cler- gy, and especially Carpzov and the professors extraor- dinary Albertiand I'feifer, were roughly handled. Spe- ner endeavored to restrain the foolhardy editor, but in vain, and was held personally accountable for conduct of which he <lisapproved. The facidty had counte- nanced the study of the Scrijitures in the original tongues by certain masters of the university as early as IfJXii; but when in 1680 FVancke (<). v.), Anton, and Schade associated themselves with Spener and began the li(dding of collet/ui liildica in (ierman for the editi- cation of themselves and others, among them laymen, tliis favor was withdrawn; Carpzov and Alberti began to preach against the '■ I'ictists," iho rollff/id liiblica and even the original /'/lituhlli/iciiiii were suppressed, and Francke was cit<.'d before the bar of a legal tribunal. To these troubles was addeil the complete loss of the favor of his prince, occasioned by the exercise of the Mime (|uality whi<!h had at first recommended him to tliiil favor the iniMincldng lidiliiy and frankness with which he fullilled tlie diiliis of the i.tlice of confessor. The alii-nalioii of the prince was of course made more complete by the machinations of .Spener's enemies, and became no extreme that he spoke of having to change hi» residence tmlesM Spener were removed from his sight. Kffortx were made to induce the obnoxious preacher to renign his charge, which he refused to do; and thin the Court of IJi-rlin was intliienced to rcipiot his transfer from till- ciiiiri of Saxon v to tlmi of lirandenburg. The