Schleiermacher to Christlieb Reichel, Bishop of the Congregation of the United Brethren in Berthelsdorff.
[CCCCXLIX.] Berlin, 3rd April, 1832.
Beloved and honoured friend, I have long owed you an answer to your kind and lengthy communication relative to the departure of our dear Albertini. The news came very unexpectedly upon me, for it so happened that I had not for some time seen the good Stobwasser,1 who has now also been called away, and who was then already very ailing; and the last news which he had communicated to me regarding our friend, and which was most gratifying to me, was that he had specially requested to have the narrative of the life of my late sister2 sent to him without any curtailment.
That he also remembered me so kindly in his last days has been like a soothing balsam to the wound inflicted by his death. What can we say to it? It is a sad loss to the congregation, and to many kind, pious souls beyond its limits. But new seeds are ever sprouting forth with gladdening promise; and though the work of the Lord may not seem to prosper equally at all times, it will not suffer because individual labourers have been called away, even in the midst of the most energetic activity. It has, more especially, long been evident to me, that in the congregation, as in the church, the presence of pre-eminent individualities is far less important than the faithfulness of the great mass, and a right understanding of the Gospel by them, and that the necessity for remarkable individual combatants will grow ever less urgent. This is more particularly applicable to the community of the United Brethren, among whom certain maxims are once for all established, and the internal conflicts cannot, thank God, be so violent. Nevertheless, even this faith does not suffice to soothe the wounded heart at first; the feelings will vindicate their rights, and I have, therefore, wafted many a sigh after our beloved friend, and rejoice at every word from his lips in each new number of the Gemeinenachrichten (the Journal of the Congregation), and am always fearing that it may be the last. For this reason, also, I have been much pleased to learn that we may expect the publication of a collection of his discourses. Not long after your valued letter came to hand, I received the account of his life and the discourse by dear brother Kölbing… . .
I always thought it probable that he would leave no record from his own hand of the providential guidance of his life, and I cannot attach any blame to him on this account, though I hope his example herein may not be too extensively followed, and that the custom of recording the events of their life may not fall into total desuetude among the brethren. What he says about his want of diligence while in the Pædagogium, must refer to the time previous to my arrival, and I know that it was from me that he received an impulsion towards the study of botany, and also of mathematics, which latter he had, strangely enough, entirely neglected. But as regards our other studies, the impulsion came more from him than from me.
I would fain have learnt something more explicit about the various changes that had taken place in his mind since the period of our separation; but even had I questioned him on the subject, I should hardly have learnt much. I can only say that in spite of all the sceptical tendencies that had been developed in us, he was even at the time of our separation, firmly determined to remain in the Congregation. And thus in reference to him also the appositeness of the observation has been proved, which the reverend old Zembsch addressed to me when I paid him a visit, during my professorship at Halle: “Brother Baumeister,” said the reverend old man, “seems at that time not to have taken into consideration that it is only through scepticism that theologians are formed.” For myself I may say in reference to this, that amid the various conflicts which I am necessarily exposed to in my career, and amid the numerous misunderstandings of the extreme parties on both sides, through which I am obliged to wind my way, it is ever a great encouragement to me when I discover even a faint glimmer that leads me to think that we hold the same goal in view and are labouring for the same end. Therefore, your expressions on this head have been highly gratifying to me; they concur with my clearest consciousness, yet I do not marvel when many minds, though resting on the same basis, nevertheless fail to understand me. However much this pains me on the one hand, on the other I must confess, that the more I reflect, the more confirmed I am in the conviction, that I am walking in the path assigned to me, that in so doing I am effecting that which I am destined to effect, and that I ought not for any consideration to diverge from that which is natural to me, if I would not by my own act destroy the blessing that attends my vocation. Thus at least I learn to unite, quietly within myself, with many who believe themselves far distant from me, and herein dwells a peculiar life-giving energy… . .
My dear Albertini is one more added to the number of those who have stood nearest to me during some period of my pilgrimage, and who have gone before me. As for my dear sister Lotte, I rejoiced when she was relieved from the yoke, as she herself so much desired it; yet it is a heavy trial to have lost so faithful a heart, one who had lived through my whole life with me, and who had ever clung to me with faith and love. But she was called away in the right time, for had she lived to see the departure of our dear Stobwasser, to whom and also to whose wife she was most tenderly attached, it would almost have been too much for her.
Should I be able to carry out a little plan which I have sketched out for the Easter holidays, it is possible that I may pay a flying visit to Herrnhut. My hearty greetings to … . I commend you all most heartily to the Lord.
Your faithfully attached
SCHLEIERMACHER
The Mother to the Son (at Aix-la-Chapelle).
[CCCCL.] Berlin, 6th May, 1832.
… . I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that your dear father is taking a little tour for his recreation. He left on the second holiday, immediately after church. I shall never forget the impression it made upon me, to see dear father in his blue blouse, with his silvery white hair, as lively and youthful as a young lad about to wander forth into the world for the first time, giving a parting word to all, who pressed round him with joyful emotion… . . On the 10th they will be back, and father will then no doubt at once answer your letter about your travelling project… …
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