, neglect of the high functions of the
pastorate, and other flagrant evils of the day, made the devout and
far-seeing tremble for the cause which had engaged the great minds of
the Reformation era. What could be done? A steady and gigantic effort
was necessary to be made or the great Reformation would die by its own
hand. Happily there were men, though somewhat removed at first from
public observation, whom God was intending to employ as conservative
agents. Often in the history of the church, when there has been no
prospect of success and progress, and when the votaries of error seemed
everywhere triumphant, God was secretly preparing the instrumentality
which, Joseph-like, would in due time perform the work of preservation
and restoration. There have been pessimists who were ever ready to cry:
"Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and
I am left alone, and they seek my life." But when the hour of crisis
came, God's answer was heard: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." This was true at the present
period, for there were a few men whose services were destined to be of
great value to the Protestantism of Europe.

We mention first of all the prince of mystics, Jacob Boehme, shoemaker
of Gorlitz. Gieseler chooses to stigmatize him with "contempt of all
Christianity of the letter and of all scientific theology;" but men can
only be measured by the standard of their age. Did they serve their
generation well? If so, we grant them all honor for their work. Let
Boehme be tested by this method, and we do not fear the result. We are
not unmindful of many of his absurd notions, of the fanaticism of his
followers--for which he is not in the least chargeable--and of the many
extravagances scattered through his twenty-eight treatises. But that he
intended well, served his church and his Master, led thousands to
self-examination, taught his nation that controversy was not the path to
success or immortality, his whole career proves beyond confutation.

His life, from beginning to end, is a marvel. He was born of poor
peasant parentage in 1575; and, after being taught to read and write,
was apprenticed to a shoemaker. His time was divided between reading his
Bible, going to church, making shoes, and taking care of the cow. But in
that boy's heart there were as deep a conscientiousness, imperturbable
patience, purity of soul, and love of God as can be found in a