visible
in him. His wife, who was some years older than himself, had attained
to a rigid piety, whilst struggling against the worldly life of the
small prince's court, where she had lived. One may conclude from her
biography, that she was not free from ambition and love of power, with
a slight touch of asperity. Her long, quiet struggle had made her
over-zealous, and she and the pious _Frau_ Bauer von Eyseneck, with
whom she lived later at Frankfort, both belonged to the enthusiastic
members of the community, who were inclined to conventicles, and caused
great sorrow on that account to their pastor, Spener. It may therefore
be assumed that it was chiefly the influence of the wife that drove her
husband on in the course which at last removed him from his office, and
gave him the repute of being an enthusiast and millennarian. But the
hatred of the orthodox party has done injustice to both; they were
honest even when predicting marvels. We will first give the youthful
years of the wife, then some characteristic traits from the life of the
husband, related in their own words. Johanna Eleonora Petersen, by
birth von Merlau, was born at Merlau the 25th of April, 1644. She
narrates as follows[79]:--

"The fear of the Lord has guarded me, and His goodness and truth have
led me.

"I have felt the quieting of his good Spirit from childhood, but have
resisted it from ignorance. My high position in the world has been a
great hindrance to his working; because I loved the world equally with
Him, till I came to a right understanding, and till the saving Word
wrought powerfully in me to conviction. For when I was about four years
old it came to pass that my dear parents, who had lived at Frankfort on
account of the troubles of war, returned into the country, as peace was
established. They brought many things into the country, and my now
deceased mother lived with me and both my sisters on a property at
Hettersheim, called Philippseck, where she believed herself to be out of
harm's way. Then came the servants and told her that a troop of
horsemen were coming, whereupon every one quickly put away what
belonged to them and left; my now deceased mother, with three little
children, alone, of whom the eldest was seven and I four years old,
and the third at the breast. Then did my deceased mother take the
youngest in her arms, and both of us by the hand, and went without a
maid-servant to Frankfort, which was distant a long half-league. Bu