e of faith and devotion. A fourth reason
is to show what that true Christian life is which harmonizes with vital
faith--and what that is which Paul meant when he said, 'I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me.'"

Immediately after the publication of the _True Christianity_ it found a
hearty welcome. The learned and ignorant took equal pleasure in its
living thoughts. Next to the Bible and Kempis' _Imitation of Christ_, it
has been circulated more widely on the Continent than any other book. It
was translated into all the European languages, and missionaries
rendered it into heathen tongues. The Roman Catholics received it, and
claimed it as one of their treasures. When Professor Anton visited the
Jesuit Library at Madrid, in 1687, he inquired for the best ascetical
writer. The librarian produced a copy of Arndt's _True Christianity_,
which, though without preface or introduction, had this simple
expression on the first page: "_This book is more edifying than all
others._"

The spirit with which Arndt wrote all his works was calm and heavenly.
He possessed that beautiful Moravian type of character which defied
persecution by its submission, love, tenderness, and energy. In
referring to his many enemies he wrote on one occasion, "I am delighted
to suffer, and I would endure a thousand times more, sooner than bury my
talent." He was somewhat ascetical in temperament, but he differed from
all that class of thinkers by the clearness of his appreciation of the
wants of his time and his unwearied efforts to meet them successfully.
He did not escape the censure of mysticism; for that was more than any
devout spirit in that age could expect. Some of the most learned took
umbrage at his ardent sentiments and bitter complaint at the impiety of
his times. The opposition to him was well organized, and continued long
after his death. Even at the end of the seventeenth century we find
various writers replying to his celebrated work. But all the blows of
his adversaries have only tended to deepen the love of the people for
his name and writings. It is not an unfrequent occurrence for minds in
Germany, even at the present day, to be led to accept the truths of the
Gospel by the reading of the _True Christianity_. What Thomas a Kempis
was to the pre-Reformation age, Fenelon to France, and Jeremy Taylor to
England, John Arndt has been to the Protestant countries of the
Continent for the last three centuries. Superintendent Wagner only