His mind was always calm; and it was his
lifelong aim to "do no sin." His enemies,--among whom we must not forget
that he had a Schelwig, a Carpzov, an Alberti, and a whole Wittenberg
Faculty,--never denied his amiable disposition; and it was one of his
expressions in late life that "all the attacks of his enemies had never
afflicted him with but one sleepless night." It was his personal
character that went almost as far as his various writings to infuse
practical piety into the church. He was respected by the great and good
throughout the land. Crowned heads from distant parts of the Continent
wrote to him, asking his advice on ecclesiastical questions. He was one
of those men who, like Luther, Wesley, and others, was not blind to the
great service of an extensive correspondence. He answered six hundred
and twenty-two letters during one year, and at the end of that time
there lay three hundred unanswered upon his table. His activity in
composition knew no bounds. For many years of his life he was a member
of the Consistory, and was engaged in its sessions from eight o'clock in
the morning until seven in the evening.
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