id not think
that my deceased father would give his consent. But when his answer
came--wherein he wrote that he had many reasons for not wishing me so
far from him in his old age, and had never yet made up his mind to
allow his child to marry below her station, yet he could not withstand
the will of God,--it went to my heart, and I thought it must be of God,
because my father's heart had been touched beyond all expectation. He
left the matter to my disposal, which I did not, however, agree to, but
submitted it entirely to his will. My brother-in-law, von Dorfield,
high steward at the court of Hanau, was much against it, but my
deceased father answered him in a most Christian spirit,[81] that it
was not good for us, of the evangelical faith, to esteem the clergy so
little, as the Papists held their priests so high; further, that his
daughter was not suited to a worldly man; that she would not marry
inconsiderately out of her class, as was known to every one. But God
had called me to this vocation. They were therefore obliged to be
quiet, and my father gave his consent.

"Thereupon my dear husband came to Frankfort, and we were married on
the 7th September, 1680, by D. Spener, in the presence of her Highness
the Princess von Philippseck, my father, and some noble persons of
distinction; there were about thirty, and everything went off in such a
quiet and Christian manner, that every one was pleased. But the demon
of calumny could not refrain from his malice; it vexed his tools that
the marriage was not accompanied by eating and drinking and wild
doings, after the manner of the world. Then they invented this lie,
that the Holy Spirit had appeared in the chamber in which we were
married, in a form of fire, and that we had interpreted the Revelation
of St. John. Such lies were also reported to the Rev. Dr. Heiler, who
had been himself at our wedding. But when he contradicted them, and
stated that he had been present, that nothing had passed but what was
truly Christian, they were ashamed of their lies."

Thus far the wife. The narration of the husband forms a supplement to
hers. But first we will give his account of his youth, and of his
experiences as shepherd of souls. Dr. Johann Wilhelm Petersen begins
thus:--

"I was born in the renowned city of Osnabrueck, on the 1st of June,
1649, after the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia, where my father,
George Petersen, had been sent from Lubeck on business concerning the