"When I had become master of arts at Giessen, I was much loved by the professors, and also was, as far as lay in my power, on terms of friendship with every one. Then was Dr. Spener, of Frankfort, strongly recommended to me; therefore I resolved to go to Frankfort to visit him, in order to see whether the reality came up to the praise. I found him far superior to what I had heard; his was quite a different life and character to what I had seen in general I had indeed, after my fashion, feared God and loved the Holy Scriptures; but by the light of my merely worldly learning these were very obscure to me, so that when I presided at a disputation I feared many passages of Scripture which were brought against me by others. Now I became aware how important it was to understand rightly the spiritual meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and that the learning was not worth much which could be obtained by mere human industry.
"There came at that time to Frankfort, for the purpose of enjoying the friendship and intercourse with the Rev. Dr. Spener, a noble lady, who had formerly been maid of honour at a court; and as I desired much to have, if only for once, some talk with her, I begged the reverend doctor to give me her address in a note. This he did, and I went to her, and presented her with my last disputation, under the impression that it would not be disagreeable to her, as she had learnt Hebrew and had much acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. But she told me that I had therein glorified 'the god Petersen,' and that, for a true knowledge of God in Christ, far more was required than such worldly learning, which produced generally a boastful spirit, and whereby one could hardly attain to the godly simplicity of heavenly things. This speech sank deep into my heart, and I was at once convinced of the truth of it. After that I began to write a little book, wherein I noted down what I heard from pious people concerning the way to true godliness; and I began to practise what I had thus learnt, for without this effectual working all else would be fruitless.
"Now when I had been strengthened in this course, I went back to Giessen, where the change in me was soon perceived; and they began to ridicule me on account of my 'piety.' But I cared little for it."
(Petersen afterwards returned to his home, at Lubeck, and became there professor of poetry, but met with great enmity from the Jesuits. In 1677 he became preacher at Hanover; and was called from thence, in 1678, to Cutin, as the court preacher to the Duke of Holstein.)
"But I had not been long court preacher at Cutin, when it happened that 500 thalers were stolen out of the room of one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber. In order to recover his money he went to a hereditary blacksmith,[[82]] at the village of Zernikaw, that he might 'knock out the thief's eye;' and in order that the smith might do it better he let him know, through an einspänner,[[83]] that the bishop desired it, which was not the case. When the smith is to perform a work of this kind he must prepare a nail three successive Sundays, and on the last Sunday strike this nail into a head made for the purpose; whereupon the thief, as they say, will lose his eye. He must, also, at midnight rise up naked, and go backwards to a hut which he has newly built in an open field, and go up to a large new bellows; take it and blow out the fire with it; upon this two large hell-hounds will appear. This performance having taken place in the night of the first Sunday, the villagers of Zernikaw came to me to complain, as the whole village had no rest for this terrible howling, which they had heard in the smithy, and said I ought to make it known to the duke, that he might stop this wicked work. I told them that these were important things which they had related to me; and asked, seriously, whether the affair was really such as they represented it. They answered that the whole village could bear witness of it, and that the einspänner had empowered the smith to do it. Thereupon I went to the bishop[[84]] (with whom, as it so happened, the gentleman of the bedchamber then was), and I told him I wished to say something to him privately. When I had related all to him he was horrified, sought for further information concerning the matter, and learnt that the einspänner had enjoined the smith to do this in the bishop's name; then he inquired of me what was to be done. I replied that, as his name had been misused for these public wicked proceedings, it was necessary that the hut, which had been built in honour of the devil, should be destroyed in the name of God; this was approved of. Thereupon I proceeded to do it; the boys from the school, noble pages, and many noblemen accompanied me to destroy the work of the devil. The smith had already run away, but his wife came and begged that she might be allowed to keep the new bellows and the iron utensils. But I said she ought to be ashamed of herself to desire to keep among her things what the devil had handled; whereupon she desisted from her petition. But the noble pages set fire to and burnt the hut and bellows, and cast the iron work into deep water. Now there came some merchants, travelling from Hamburgh, who looked on and listened to my discourse. It was just during the period of Christmas, so I took the passage, 'Behold a house of God among men,' and explained it shortly, but said in direct application: 'Behold a house of the devil among the Zernikawers. This is the place where formerly the idol of the Holsteiners, Zernebog, was worshipped, who wishes again to install himself; but has been driven away by the injunction of the bishop.' At the catechising, also, at which the duke, with his court, were in the habit of attending, I made an impressive speech, saying that the thief must be among the court; also that there were conjectures afloat as to who it was, and that if the thief would bring me this money, I called God to witness, I would not betray him. So the thief, at night, would have laid down the stolen money in the churchyard near my house, but could not because the gentleman of the bedchamber had placed his people there to catch the thief. Thus he himself prevented the restoration. The bishop was very angry with the gentleman of the bedchamber, who was obliged to leave the court. But he uttered menaces against me, because I had disgraced him in my sermon, having said that his name, which the smith must have mentioned in his proceedings, would be known by the devils in hell, and that he should take care not to get there himself. But I did not care for his threats, but trusted myself to my God and my office.
"The courtiers, however, leagued themselves against me; they sided almost all with the court mareschal, a Mecklenburger. But the mareschal sought out all kinds of occasions against the duchess and her maid of honour, Naundorf, and made the duke imagine that the duchess followed the advice of Naundorf in everything, and thereby the duke was irritated against the duchess. But, as I was not in their league, the court mareschal asked me in the public saloon, to which party I belonged, the great or the little. By the great party, they meant themselves. I answered that I was on the side of God and justice. The mareschal replied, that they would soon shorten my cloak for me. Now as I perceived that the ill will of the duke to the duchess continued increasing, I went to him, and spoke persuasively to him, that he should not be so alienated from his wife, as those who desired it sought only their own interests. Thereupon the duke went with me to the duchess, and they became reconciled in my presence; and I, as it were, united them again. The bishop told me to keep this secret; but from this time he noted the intrigues of the court mareschal and dismissed him.
"There was also another evil business, for a nobleman of the illustrious court of Plön quarrelled with a nobleman of our court, and they challenged one another. As soon as I discovered this I went to this sheep of my flock, and pointed out to him what an unchristian thing duelling was, as Christ had commanded us to love our enemies. He told me he would take care the quarrel was adjusted, so I was in some measure reassured. But at dawn of day on the morrow, I heard a troop of horses passing by my house, and it occurred to me that the devil was going to have his pastime with this sheep of my flock. I rose, awoke my servant, and as, from my great haste, I could not get a carriage, I went after them on foot. When I had gone a mile I heard some shots at a distance, the signal of the arrival of both parties at their respective places. But I thought that they had already exchanged shots, so I fell down on my knees and prayed God that neither of them might murder the other. Then I ran on, guided by the footprints of the horses, which I could easily see, as many of the Holstein junkers had accompanied my sheep; and as I found them both ready to commence the duel, I went up to my sheep and advised him to abstain from this evil deed. But his opponent thought that he had settled with me to do this, which I denied most solemnly; I also spoke persuasively to the others from the Plönish court. But neither of them would be reconciled. Then said I, 'Now, if you will not, may God make such an example of you both, together with the others that have come here for this duel, as may show his wrath in the eyes of the whole world.' Yet in my heart I wished that they might be preserved from it. Then God so ordained, that the seconds persuaded them and they became reconciled; and I got a carriage which conveyed me back to the house. Who could be more joyful than I, who had deprived the devil of a roast? Nevertheless, the Holstein noblesse were disposed in their hearts to speak evil concerning it, and observed to my lord that in future he would get no honourable cavalier to sit at his table. He, also, in the beginning, was inclined to speak ill of me; and for this reason, because I had followed them on foot. Then one of the equerries came to me and said that my lord had been so offended by my bad conduct that he had taken to his bed. I answered, by the time he rises from his bed he will find that I have done nothing but what was required of me by my duty as a faithful shepherd. Thereupon my lord sent for me, and I showed him that his table could not be adorned by those who opposed themselves to Christ. If I was so watchful and faithful towards a servant, how much more would I be so towards my lord himself. Then was my lord, who truly feared God, quite softened. Soon after, the Duke von Plön visited our court; and my heart feared his reproaches on account of what I had done; but he commended me, and, on the other hand, blamed his court preacher, who had been so near the duellists and had known the affair, yet had not stirred a foot in it. This pleased my lord much, and he thereupon caused a severe edict to be published against duelling.
"Up to this period I remained unmarried, and should have continued so if my dear father had not exhorted me to marry. A patrician lady had already been suggested to me at Lubeck, who met me in her smartest attire, and whom my father would have been glad for me to marry; but she was too fine for me, and I said that she would hardly suit a clergyman. If I was to marry, no one would suit me better than Fräulein von Merlan, who would not be a hindrance to me in my office; but I was shy about paying my addresses to her, lest she should think I had on this account sought her acquaintance at Frankfort. But some one who was going to Frankfort undertook to tell her my wishes; my love, however, would not give an answer to him who wooed her for me; but she wrote to me, that, though she had no engagement, still she was not at liberty to answer yes; and she proposed to me another young docterin in Frankfort, who was more highly gifted, and would suit me well; but I answered, either she or none, and wrote immediately to Herr Doctor Spener, that he might persuade her to consent. I wrote also to her noble father, who knew me, as I had once been at the Philippseck court, where he was high steward, and preached before his duke. He answered me, that though he had never had an idea of giving his daughter to one who was not of noble family, yet, he did not know how it happened, he was so troubled in mind when he wished to refuse his consent, that he thought it must be the will of God that he should entrust his daughter to the Superintendent Petersen; therefore, he sent herewith his fatherly yes. This letter was sent me by my love, Johanna, and Doctor Spener congratulated me. Who could be more joyful than I when I found that my prayer had been heard? for I had knelt in prayer to my God, that he might interpose to prevent the marriage if it were not his will, but if it were, that he would so trouble the father's mind that he could not withstand it. When, therefore, I read in the father's letter that he had been thus troubled, I perceived that this was what God had intended from all eternity. Then did I travel joyfully by Hamburg to Frankfort, where the bans were published, and I was afterwards married by Herr Doctor Spener.
"In 1685, the holy Revelation which God made through his angel in certain visions to the Apostle and Evangelist John was disclosed in a wonderful way to me and my love. Formerly I had always feared to read such a book, because it was generally considered that it was a sealed book, which no one could understand. But on a certain day I was powerfully moved, and led by my God to read this book, and on the same day and at the same hour, without my knowing it, my love felt the same impulse, and began to read the book, equally not knowing that I had felt a like impulse. Now, when I had gone to my study to note down something that I had discovered, from the accordance of the prophet Daniel with the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation--what the beast and the little horn were--behold, my love came there and told me how she had seriously undertaken to read the holy book, and what she had found therein, and this harmonised with mine, which I showed her, as I had written it down, and the ink was not dry. Then were we mutually amazed, and agreed we would confer together at the end of a month, and observe what we had further found; but we could not withhold it, when we discovered anything singular and of undoubted truth; and it so happened that what she and I found was always precisely the same. We rejoiced much thereat, and thanked God in all simplicity that He had so invigorated us both by his enlightening spirit, as to be able to know the future fate of the church, and to bear witness thereof. For a long time we kept it to ourselves, till we made acquaintance with the Fraulein Rosamunda Juliana von der Asseburg, who, in her testimony, had borne witness to the same, yet not from searching the Holy Scriptures, but by extraordinary grace vouchsafed her from above. Herewith I must also note what happened to my love when she was eighteen, which I here set down in her own words:--'I dreamt that the numerals 1685 were written in golden ciphers on the heaven; on my right I saw a man who pointed to the numbers and said to me, "See at that time will great things happen, and somewhat shall be revealed unto you." Now, it was in this year, 1685, that the great persecution took place in France, and in the same year was the blessed millennial kingdom of the Apocalypse revealed to me and my dear husband, at the same hour; and, without one knowing of the other, did both our treatises so coincide, that we were ourselves amazed at it We were therefore, by divine guidance, convinced of the truth of what we had discovered in Holy Scripture concerning the kingdom of our King. And later we imparted to others in all simplicity our discovery, not caring when learned and unlearned alike gainsaid it.'"
Here we end the narrative of Petersen. They passed the first years of their marriage in peace. He had once accidentally placed his thumb on the passage--"Sarah shall bear a son;" the year following he was made happy by Johanna Eleonora bringing a son into the world, who was, indeed, small at his birth, but who shortly afterwards raised his head in a wonderful way out of his little bed and gave other delightful signs that he would become something remarkable and pleasing in the sight of the Lord. He did actually become, later, a Royal Russian Councillor, and was able to protect his dear parents when the millennial kingdom made their life full of cares; for, alas! it was not granted to them to keep the great light which had been kindled at the same time in both, under a bushel. It would have been better for their earthly comfort had they done so.