etism of the Halle emissaries in
Pennsylvania? Dr. Mann declared concerning Muhlenberg and his
co-laborers: "Their pietism was truly Lutheran piety, a warm-hearted,
devout, practical Lutheranism." (Spaeth, 1, 318.) However, traces of the
morbid and infected Lutheranism cultivated by Pietists, were but too
apparent also in Muhlenberg and the associates carefully selected for
him by Francke and Freylinghausen in Halle. The piety for which they
strove so earnestly and zealously was, in more than one respect, neither
truly evangelical nor soundly Lutheran, but of a legalistic and
subjective nature. They delighted in evangelistic sermons designed to
convert men in the manner of Halle. They endeavored to ascertain who
were the truly converted in their congregations. As a standard they
applied their own experiences and as models the Halle converts. Instead
of immediately comforting terrified sinners with the full consolation of
the Gospel, they proved them "according to the marks of the state of
grace." _Graebner:_ "While Diaconus in Grosshennersdorf, Muhlenberg had
already published a polemical tract against Dr. Balthasar Mentzer, who
had attacked Pietism, and had pictured the time before the rise of
Pietism as a time of darkness, in which God had 'set up a true light
here and there, until at last the faithful servants of the Lord, the
sainted Spener, Francke, Breithaupt, Anton, and others arose' and 'again
brought forth the Bible.' At that time Muhlenberg advocated private
meetings for souls who had been 'awakened from the sleep of sin,' to
which the Burgomaster of Eimbeck referred when he sent word to
Muhlenberg 'to cease the pietistic conventicles, as they were against
the law of the land.'" (315.)

48. Converts, Prayer-Meetings, Revivals.--Brunnholtz, whose work was
highly praised by Muhlenberg, says of his parishioners, whom,
nevertheless, he admitted to the Lord's Table, that, for the greater
part, they were "totally blind and dead," people who had not yet
experienced any "true change of heart"; that in present-day
congregations one must "be content with the gleanings while looking and
waiting for traces of divine activity, where, when, in whom, and
whether the Spirit can give a rich harvest." It is only too true, he
continues, "that the great multitude, both old and young, are still
buried in carnal-mindedness and in great ignorance, and stand in need
of a true conversion." "There are indeed a few, some also in my two