672 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar himself in the service of God. In prison the persecuted Apostle writes: "I have a desire to depart." He does not complain, but he wishes to be with Christ. We thank God that He did not consume Jonah in His anger. We thank Him that He directed Elias and Paul to greater service. His last word to brave Daniel is His gracious acknowledgment of that faithful servant's endurance, and the promise of rest in victory: "Go ... thou shalt rest and stand." (Dan. 12: 13; Is. 40: 29.) The commonest temptation besetting the pastor is the temptation to unfaithfulness to Jesus in doctrine, practice, and life. The pastor is also his own mouthpiece when he confesses at the altar: "We have sinned against Thee in desires, thoughts, words, and deeds." He admits that he has fallen in temptation. He is thankful to be standing again. His comfort is not that all the Apostles stumbled and fell; his excuse is not that his flesh is weak but his spirit willing. His comfort and joy is his restoration by the Lord. A long catalog of temptations can be compiled by rereading the form for the installation of a pastor contrariwise, not aflush with self-pity, but as the watchful and prayerful shepherd. In this catalog we mark the common temptation to stubbornness, to the superiority complex, to unevangelical practice, to uncharitableness, to shallowness. To sleepy theologians Jesus said, "Watch and pi"ay that ye enter not into temptation." And while we meditate on the ever-repeated temptations that we ourselves must conquer, we think or the brethren in other parts of the world, in whom the same afflictions are accomplished. (1 Pet. 5: 8, 9.) In our prayer we include those fellow pastors who suffer privation and prison, or whose immediate task it is to re-assemble their congregations as they return from the battlefields. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him" (James 1: 12). "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong" (1 Cor. 16: 13). G. H. SMUKAL Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar EDITOR'S NOTE: Portions of this article first appeared in the Journal of Religion and are being reprinted by courtesy of The University of Chicago Press. From the Centifolium Lutheranum of Johannes Albertus Fabricius, published 1728-1730, to the publication of the Bibliographical Guide to the History of Christianity, compiled by S. J. Case and others two centuries later, there are few works of that nature which do not list the Historia Lutheranismi of Veit Ludwig, Baron Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 673 von Seckendorf. A survey of the histories of Germany reveals that many authors of historical works dealing with the seventeenth century have in one way or another paid tribute to Seckendorf's life and work, and no historian who has produced any comprehensive history of the Reformation during the past two and a half centuries has found it possible to ignore him. In the foreword to his history of Lutheranism, Seckendorf has stated his view of a historian's task and his essential qualifications. For the task of a historian, he believes, should be selected the most able councilor or minister, vivid of mind and of pen, one who has been exercised for some years in the greatest and most weighty affairs, diligent, and of approved virtue, piety, and faithfulness, and to whom all secrets can be safely entrusted. To a man having such qualifications should be committed the writing of historical commentaries, not with diminished, but with enlarged income and advanced position of honor. He must also be a person of good judgment and honesty, for, as Seckendorf directs, not only the acts and events themselves, but also their reasons should be truthfully reported as they were stated in the course of the deliberations. Errors should be noted in a separate account, which is not to be published.1 On the basis of statesmanship and scholarship, Seckendorf qualifies as a historian. George P. Fisher calls him a statesman of thorough education and exemplary integrity, who founded his history on the most industrious examination of original documents.2 An account of Seckendorf's life shows that this appraisal is well founded. Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf came from a family of the German nobility, which took its name from the village of Seckendorf, between Nuremberg and Langenzenn.3 The family was one of the oldest and most numerous in Franconia. It was divided into eleven distinct lines, but only three survived, widely distributed throughout Bavaria, Prussia, and Wuerttemberg. The ancient German records of jousts and tournaments testify to the family's age. It may be said that a man's noble ancestors are of no more value than zeros, unless he heads them as an integral number; but in the seventeenth century noble lineage still spelled opportunity and unlocked the door to social and political preferment.'! For Seckendorf it opened the doors to the Saxon archives, in which many records of the Reformation were kept. Veit Ludwig was a son of Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorf, lord of the manor of Ober-Zenna, chief officer of Herzogenaurach and princely marshal of the Bishop of Bamberg.5 His mother was Maria Anna von Burtenbach, who was a granddaughter of Schertel von 43 G 7 4 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar Burtenbach, a hero of the Schmalkaldic War.6 Veit Ludwig was born on December 20, 1626, at Herzogenaurach, near Erlangen. In his youth Seckendorf was exposed to the horrors of the Thirty Years' War, an experience which deeply affected his whole life. In the year of the historian's birth, King Christian IV was overwhelmingly defeated by the combined forces of Tilly and Wallenstein, and the Lutheran states were left at the mercy of the Catholic League. This was an ominous situation for the Seckendorfs, who supported the Protestant cause. After the battle of Noerdlingen in 1634 they were driven from their ancestral estates and, as the victorious imperial forces advanced, had to leave Franconia. The cruelest blow, however, was the execution of the father. Although a marshal of the Catholic Bishop of Bamberg, Joachim von Seckendorf's sympathies were from the first definitely on the side of the Protestants. When, therefore, Gustavus Adolphus advanced victoriously towards the southern German states, he quit the services of this prince-bishop member of the Catholic League; and when in the autumn of 1631 the Franconian nobility streamed in large nwnbers to the blue and yellow banner, he, too, hastened to join the rarJcs of the Swedish king. In the regiment which Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (called "the Pious") recruited as an ally of the Swedes, he commanded the second company. The instructions of enlistment which the duke gave him on October 13, 1631, at Koenigsberg in Franconia, took him away from his family and at the same time bound hLm closely to the interests of the Ernestine line. When the war had lost its religious significance and had been transformed into a purely political struggle for dynastic prestige, Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorf's sympathies were transferred to the imperial cause of the Hapsburgs. Unfortunately he began to negotiate with PiccolomL.'1i's Imperials before he had severed his connections with the Swedes. When they accidentally discovered this, the Swedes court-martialed him and sentenced him to death. On February 3, 1642, he was beheaded on the market place at Salzwedel, in the presence of the army. An anonymous epigram has him declare: leh griff naeh meines Kaisers Gnad' und hasste nur der Schweden Rath; darum vergoss die sehwedsehe Wuth mein kaiserlich gesinntes Blut.7 The military career of the father placed the responsibility of the future historian's education largely upon the mother. Anna Maria von Seckendorf planted into the soul of her precocious child that spirit of religious reverence and piety which was one of his distinctive traits throughout his life.s The varying fortunes of war compelled the mother to move from place to place, but wherever Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 675 she went, she engaged able instructors to teach her son. Thus he received his early schooling at different times at Coburg, at Muehlhausen, and at Erfurt. In spite of various interruptions, caused by such changes of residence, his progress in learning is said to have been remarkable. In his tenth year he is said to have been quite proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and to have made a start in the mathematical sciences. The father's services under the Swedish banner in the regiment of Duke Ernest undoubtedly redounded to the advantage of the son. Even the father's execution does not seem to have put a stigma on the family, but rather appears to have excited a sense of obligation among his former Swedish comrades in arms. Two years before the father's death, Duke Ernest took charge of the boy, whose splendid talents had been brought to his attention, and in 1639 sent him to the Gymnasium at Coburg, where he received a most thorough training.9 When Ernest the Pious entered upon his reign at Gotha, his duchy was indeed in a lamentable state. For eight more years Germany was to be ravaged by war. Thuringia had been the scene of many bloody encounters. Many sections of the country had been devastated. Cities and villages had been largely reduced to ashes. Some were entirely depopulated; others, to a great extent. War, famine, and plague had done their cruel work. The princely domains had been despoiled. Military garrisons occupied all fortified places and exacted crushing contributions. The duke labored to heal the wounds of his people, but not only the economic oneshe was equally concerned about those of a cultural and spiritual nature. He was particularly judicious in the choice of his officials. The most eminent persons of the age presided in his Chancery. He founded an institute for pages for the education of sons of the nobility. This proved its worth not only for those uf the duchy, but it also attracted some sons of the most illustrious houses in other provinces. He wanted to demonstrate that one could become not only an upright, but also a learned man at court. It should be added, however, that he was equally concerned about the schooling of the common man's children. The famous Gotha SchuLbericht was epochal in German pedagogy. Published in 1642, it was an excellent work for its time. In plainness, clarity, and popularity it excelled numberless modern German syllabi and educational handbooks. It was the first printed work of its time intended for the elementary school, allegedly unequaled in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries by any book of like purpose for the secondary schools.1° This, then, is the man who made Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf his protege. From Coburg, Ernest the Pious took him to his new residence at Gotha at the close of 1640. There he enrolled in the Gymnasium 676 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar on February 6, 1641, where he remained nearly two years. Three men exerted a profound influence on rum during that time. His most prominent instructor was the noted Rector Andrew Reiher, the author of the duke's Schulbericht. Under Reiher's supervision the young student progressed so rapidly that he was ready to enter the university at Strassburg within two years. The court preacher, Christopher Bronchorst, with whom he resided, was a kind spiritual father to him. Seckendorf left him an affectionate monument in the Additiones appended to his Christen-Stat.l1 Next to Reiher the most lasting impression was made on Seckendorf by the well-known theologian and philologist General Superintendent Solomon Glass. Him Ernest the Pious had selected as one of the agents in his program of reform in Church and school. In all of the undertakings which aimed at the reforms intended by Duke Ernest, Glass took a prominent part. He kept his eye on the training of the country's youth from the elementary school to the university. He attended to instruction in the Catechism and the secular subjects and took personal charge of the religious instruction in the upper classes of the G y m n a s i 1 ~ m at Gotha. After the death of his teacher John Gerhard, he took over the editorsrup of the so-called Weimarsche Bibelwerk, in which he expounded the prophetic books of the Old TestamenP2 Seckendorf in his old age still speaks of Glass with great veneration. Referring to the fact that Glass was a spiritual father to him for nearly two years while he was at the Gymnasium at Gotha, he calls him a Theologus consummatissimus.13 Theodor Kolde believes that Seckendorf's intimate association with Glass explains rus mildness and aversion to controversy in spite of his most decided firmness in piety.14 During the second year of Veit Ludwig's studies at Gotha the father was executed. This calamity threatened to end the son's academic career, since the mother was left without the necessary funds for his support at school. The Swedes, however, had not forgotten the valuable services wruch the father had rendered to their cause, and now, as if to compensate the family for the execution of the father, the commander in cruef of the Swedish army, Lennart Torsterlsson, to .vhom young Seckendorf had been higl-Jy recommended, persuaded Christina, the queen of Sweden, to pay the mother a pension. This she received as long as Torstensson lived. General Caspar Cornelius Mortaigne of the Swedish army, one of the father's comrades at arms, proved to be an even greater benefactor. As a former intimate friend of the father, he assumed a voluntary guardianship over the orphaned son and enabled him to continue his studies at the university of Strassburg, where he attended the lectures of the then highly esteemed Professors Rebhan, Tabor, and, particularly, John Henry BoecIer. During his three years at Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 677 Strassburg (1642-1645) Seckendorf studied jurisprudence, philosophy, and history. In 1645 he returned to Erfurt to complete his studies at that university.15 In Seckendorf's historical training, Boeder undoubtedly occupies the chief place. Boecler not only ranked high in the field of historiography of that time, but was also an inspiring teacher, who could instill the love of history into the hearts of his students. Among other things, Seckendorf heard him lecture on the Annals of Tacitus and, indeed, in such a manner as D. G. Schreber puts it, "ut in academia adhuc ostenderet, quomodo audita in succum et sanguinem essent convertenda." 16 Having completed his studies, Seckendorf first applied for a position at the court of Hessen-Darmstadt, where Landgrave George II wanted to enlist him in his army and appointed him as a standard-bearer in his bodyguard. His paternal friend General Mortaigne, however, advised him against entering upon a military career. He was evidently convinced that Seckendorf's training fitted him for a more promising career in the civil service. Accordingly Seckendorf left the court at Darmstadt in 1646 and went to Erfurt. On this journey, he stopped at Gotha and paid his respects to Duke Ernest. The latter had not forgotten his promising young protege, whom he had supported in the school at Coburg. He was now to receive the interest on his capital investment. Through Christopher Bronchorst he inquired whether Seckendorf would accept a position as page at the court (1646). In view of the young man's age -he was only twenty -the duke wanted to give him an opportunity to prepare for more important engagements. He accordingly excused him from all the usual work of a page and, instead, put him in charge of the ducal library. The duke's interest in his learned page gave the latter free access to the company of his statesmen, and there he learned from personal observation what books did not tell him. To stimulate his page's interest in the things which he read, the duke instructed him to present at stated times, especially on Sundays, resumes of what he had read and discussed these with him. He had him answer important questions of jurisprudence. The duke even prepared a timetable, or schedule, for the studies of the budding statesman and scholar. The morning was devoted to genealogy, history, geography, theology, philosophy, and especially mathematics. In these studies he was greatly aided by his knowledge of the European languages, all of which he understood, with the exception of English. His ignorance of the latter he deeply deplored. Such assiduous and systematic application to his studies and reading broadened and deepened Seckendorf's learning greatly. All the while he kept in close association with the court preacher, whose influence for piety 678 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar and virtue was so pronounced that, as Seckendorf himself admits, it extended to his most important appointments. But while he cultivated his intellectual faculties, Seckendorf did not neglect his physical appearance. He gave attention to his posture and carriage, fuliy mindful of the great importance of a courtly bearing in the days of Louis XlV. In 1648 the duke advanced his page to the position of a gentleman of the bedchamber. He was now ready to put his protege's training to a practical test. There was sufficient opportunity to try the most experienced statesman. This was the year of the Treaty of Westphalia. Duke Ernest sent him as a messenger to the Swedish General Wrangel, whose army was at the time encamped in the county or Gleichen. Seckendorf persuaded Wrangel to spare the city of Ordruf. The former page's resumes and discussions with the duke had now ripened into abstracts of complicated and difficult documents, and resulted in wise and fruitful counsels, which merited the confidence the duke placed in them.17 Seckendorf's reputation soon spread beyond the borders of Gotha. In 1650 Margrave Erdmann August of Bayreuth invited hJm to accompany his heir, CIU'1stian Ernest, on his journeys through foreign countries. Duke Ernest, however, could not spare him and, furthermore, did not think a great deal of trips to other lands; so he withheld his consent. In the following year, 1652, after Seckendorf had passed a rigorous examination by four privy councilors, the duke appointed him to the important judicial positions of court councilor and councilor of justice. It is interesting to note in passing that this made him a member of the same privy council of which the father of August H. Francke was a member during the last years of his life.Is In the year 1656 Seckelldorf was made privy court councilor and as councilor of the board of domains was charged with the management of all the ducal estates. In these positions he rendered important service in regulating the finances of the country and in a number of diplomatic affairs. It is rather significant that this is about the time when he published his Teutscher Fuersten Stat. One may well assume that in his various executive and judicial positions he put into practice the principles which he enunciates in that work. In the same year the duke of Altenburg appointed him to the position of court judge at J ena, where he took a leading part in the numerous beneficent reforms of the duke. The ability with which he served there is attested by the court decisions which have been preserved in the archives.l9 Upon the death of Dr. William Schroeter, the chancellor of Gotha, in 1663, Duke Ernest, in 1664, elevated Seckendorf to the vacant position. Therewith the latter was placed at the head of Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 679 the highest councils in both Church and State. This position, however, he held for only a short time. In the autumn of the latter year he asked for and received an honorable release. Though the duke and the ex-chancellor parted as friends, the reasons for Seckendorf's resignation as stated by him indicate that life at the court of the rehabilitating and reforming duke was no sinecure. Seckendorf complains in the introduction to his Christen-Stat that he, too, soon got into affairs of state which kept him from engaging in learned activities. Doubtless Seckendorf's chief reason for quitting the service of Duke Ernest the Pious was his desire to obtain a position in which he would have more time for scholarly activity.2o The scholar was beginning to triumph over the statesman. In view of the circumstances under which Seckendorf labored at the ducal court, it is not surprising that his achievement in the field of history while at Gotha was limited to writing a part of an ecclesiastical history ordered by the duke.21 It was scarcely possible for Seckendorf to produce a work there like his Historia Lutheranismi, no matter how much the duke desired him to do so. However, it was quite natural for him to wTite a work like his Fuersten Stat. This handbook of public law was merely a presentation of the principles with which he had to operate in an official capacity from day to day. Thus if one would see Seckendorf as a statesman, one need but observe him putting into practice what he himself specifies in that book; and inasmuch as the affairs of Church and State were closely related in Saxony, the Fuersten Stat also clearly reveals his position with regard to the Church as an institution. He describes the modified Caesaropapism which obtained in Saxony at that time according to the religious settlement of the Treaty of Westphalia. He declares: "Dass aber die Hohe weltliche Obrigkeiten, welche niemand als den hoechsten Gott ueber sich haben, oder eine andere weltliche Gewalt, auEf gewisse masse, und mit Vorbehalt der vornehmsten obrigkeitlichen Botmaessigkeiten ehren und erkennen, auch in geistlichen una, Kirchen-Sachen, nach ihrer Masse, das Regiment zu fuehren haben, lernen wir aus dem Wort Gottes, welches dissfals keine Ausnahme machet, sondern alles der Obrigkeit untergibt, uns auch den Zweck oder EndUrsache dieser Goettlichen Ordnung insgemein anzeiget, dass sie nemblich uns zu gute ihr Schwerd und Macht fuehre." 22 Thi" position of Seckendorf with regard to the relation between Church and State not only explains why he considered it quite proper for an eminent statesman to write church history, but it also sheds some light on his attitude towards the role of the princes in the Refonnation. Seckendorf's reputation as a statesman precluded any protracted period of inactivity on his part. Scarcely had his resignation 680 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar from the services of Ernest the Pious become known when he received three written invitations from as many imperial princes to enter theirs. Of these Seckendorf accepted the position offered him by Duke Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz (Altenburg). At the court of Duke Maurice he succeeded the ailing John Henry Meene as chancellor and president of the consistory. So once again he was at the head of not only the secular, but also of the ecclesiastical affairs of a state. If he had hoped to find more leisure for his studies in his new position, he was doomed to disappointment; in view of his ability some seemed to think that there was no limit to the amount of work that he could be expected to do. Not only was Duke Maurice well satisfied with his new statesman, but other courts as well desired the use of his services. On a joumey to Bohemia he was presented by Prince Lobkowitz to Emperor Leopold, with whom he conferred for some time. On that occasion he also became acquainted with the famous Lambecius, with whom he thenceforth carried on a scientific correspondence.23 In 1669 the Elector of Saxony, John George II, appointed him as his privy councilor, with a very respectable pension, a position which he held for eleven years, to the time of the elector's death.24 This induced him to resign from the position of a court judge at Jena. The death of Duke Emest did not sever the ties which bound Seckendorf to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Duke Frederick, who succeeded his father, was an admirer of the statesman and requested the benefit of his services as one of his vassals; therefore he appointed him in 1676 as director of the states as the successor to the deceased Lord of Einsiedeln -a move which was respectfully ratified by all the states. Upon the death of Dr. John Thomas (1680), privy councilor and chancellor of Altenburg, the duties of the vacated position were added to his load. Thereby he became thoroughly acquainted with the finances of Altenburg. This enabled him to record his observations in a manner which has been greatly appreciated by students of German fiscal institutions. A desire to reduce the number of his services by giving up his position at Zeitz was not granted; on the contrary, Duke Maurice exacted a promise from him not to leave his services as long as the duke lived. When, therefore, Duke Maurice died on December 4, 1681, Seckendorf felt free to carry out his long-cherished plans to retire. He resigned from all of his positions in Zeitz, but retained those of Altenburg and accepted a position as privy councilor to Duke John George at Eisenach. In 1677 he had bought the manor Meuselwitz, near Altenburg, which seemed to him to be an ideal place, both in natural beauty Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 681 and construction, for a place of leisure, where he could spend the declining years of his life doing the things that he had so long wanted to do. In the beautiful palace which he built there, removed from the distractions of the court, he hoped to be undisturbed in his religious meditations and scholarly pursuits.25 There he spent seven happy years, fully persuaded that he would not again be overburdened with official appointments. During this time he carried on an extensive correspondence with the principal learned men of the day. Many of his letters have been preserved. He also published his Christen-Stat and the prodigious work on which his fame as a church historian rests: the Commentarius historicus et apologeticus de Lutheranismo sive de Reformatione. But once more, and for the last time, he was to be drawn into the limelight of public affairs. When the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick, later the first king of Prussia, was casting about for a chancellor to head his newly founded university at Halle, his choice fell on Seckendorf, who had been his privy councilor since June, 1691, and with whose candor, wisdom, and experience he had been impressed. He appointed him September 9, 1692. AcceptL."lg the proffered position, Seckendorf left his beloved Meuselwitz to take up his residence in Halle, where he arrived on October 31. His duties as chancellor of a new university, together with his efforts to settle a religious controversy, were too much for the weakened constitution of the aging scholar. After a sickness of only two weeks he died at Halle, on December 18, 1692, only two days less than sixty-six years old. His body was taken to Meuselwitz for burial; but the elector ordered a memorial service to be held at Halle, in which Joachim Justus Breithaupt, professor of theology at the university, preached on the theme: "Heavenly Satiety in Time and Eternity," basing his remarks on Psalm 17: 15. Christian Thomasius, the noted jurist, delivered a funeral oration on December 29, when the body was taken to Meuselwitz to be placed in the family vault.26 Seckendorf was twice married. His first wife was Elisabeth Juliana von Vippach, of an ancient noble house of Thuringia. She bore him two daughters, who died in childhood. Upon her death in 1684, he married Sophia Susanna von Ende. She bore him a daughter, who died at birth, and a son in 1690, to whom was given the father's name, but who died when only five years oldP Seckendorf's name was to live on only in his works. As a statesman, Seckendorf carved himself a niche in the hall of fame of seventeenth-century Germany. In that environment of political disintegration within the Holy Roman Empire after the Thirty Years' War there was little opportunity for lasting great-682 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar ness. One might speculate what his stature in history would be had he occupied the place of some of his non-German contemporaries, for instance that of Clarendon or Colbert. As a historian, too, Seckendorf's achievements must be viewed against that background of political particularism, which, to say the least, was not conducive to the writing of history on a national scale. Though Seckendorf's reputation as a scholar rests on his three major works -Teutscher Fuersten Stat, Christen-Stat, and Commentarius historicus et apologeticus de Lutheranismo sive de Retormatione, he also exhibited some talent in belles-lettres. For his own recreation, as he says, he translated Lucan's Pharsalia.28 He turned Lucan's hexameters into unrhymed German Alexandrines. On the basis of this metrical innovation Friedrich Gundolf ascribes to him a peculiar place in the school of Opitz's poetizers. His blank verse offended the German taste for didactic poetry. To the followers of Opitz, says Gundolf, rhyming and poetry were synonymous, and they could not conceive of verses in their own language without the musical ending of rhyme.2!l Seckendorf himself refers to his translation of Lucan as a mere pastime.30 Next to Lucan, Horace was his favorite poet. When only twentythree years old, he wrote a poem for the dedication of the villa which Duke Ernest had erected on the Inselberg of the Thuringian Forest. His fame as a poet, however, rests mostly on his contributions to ecclesiastical hymnology. His best-known hymn was "Liebster Vater, solI es seyn" -the Lord's Prayer to be prayed before dying. It appears already in the large hymnbook of Celle in 1696.31 Seckendorf's reputation as a scholar was greatly enhanced by his contributions to the Acta Eruditorum. Between the years 1683 and 1692 he wrote more than two hundred articles for this noted periodical. 32 We may conclude this brief account of Seckendorf as a statesman and scholar by quoting the appraisal of two of his greatest contemporaries: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christian Thomasius. In a letter addressed to Seckendorf in 1682, Leibniz writes: "1 am undecided what 1 should admire more in your letters, the tmbelievable humanity with which you have conferred your benevolence upon an unknown person or the remarkable ability to write, which is almost unknown today in the case of a man of your order." 33 This praise may have to be discounted as personal flattery. On the other hand, in the same year he wrote to Raisson, declaring Seckendorf to be "reputed as one of the most learned and able men in Germany." 84 Again making due allowance for the eulogistic extravagance of a funeral oration, we may regard the words of Thomasius, who had been Seckendorf's colleague. Thomasius laments at the latter's bier: "Seckendorf Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 683 is dead! Alas, indeed! the great, the learned, the virtuous, yes, the God-fearing Seckendorf has died." Thereupon he enumerates the baron's excellent qualities and speaks of his incomparable writings.35 Schreber, summing up all the eulogies bestowed on Seckendorf, applies to him the words, repeated by others: "Omnium nobilium quondam Christianissimus et Christianorum nobilissimus." 36 L. W. SPITZ Concordia, Mo. References 1) Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf, "Praeloquium," Commentarius historicus et apologeticus de Lutheranismo (Lipsiae: Sumtibus Jo. Friderici Gleditschii, 1694), 2) George P. Fischer, The Reformation (New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1873), p. 573 f. 3) "Seckendorf, Veit Ludwig Von (1626-1692)," Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XXIV, 11th ed. Dan. Godofredus Schreberus remarks: "De derivatione Seckendorffiani nOlninis certi aliquid dari vix poterit." Historia vitae ac meritoTUm perillustris quondam domini Viti Ludovici a Seckendol'ff (Prostat Lipsiae in Officina Brauniana, 1734), p.2. 4) Friedrich Eberhard Rambach (ed.), Johan Peter Nicerons Nachrichten von den Begebenheiten und Schriften beruehmter Gelehrten mit einigen Zusaetzen (24 vols. Halle: Verlag und Druck Christoph Peter Franckens, 1749-1777), XVII, pp.300-312. 5) Johann Huebner, U)1;partheyische Kirchen-Historie Alten und Neuen Testaments (2 vols, Jena: Verlegts Johann Bernhard Hartung, 1735), II, 364 f. Seckendorf's biography is epitomized from the Sncer decadum septenarius memoriam Theologorum nostra aetate clarrissimoTUm renovata exhibens. . .. (Lipsiae, 1705), pp.l,062 sqq., of the chief court preacher of Electoral Saxony, Dr. Heinrich Pipping, in Elias Frick (trans. and ed.), "Vorrede," "Hen'n Veit Ludewigs von Seckendol'fJ, ausfuehrliche Historie des Lutherthums, und del' heilsamen Reformation (Leipzig: Joh. Friedrich Gleditsch und Sohn, 1714). 6) Seckendorf, "Praeloquium," Commenta1·ius. 7) Reinhold Brode, "Die schwedische Armee nach dem Prager Frieden und die Enthauptung des Obristen Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorff," Jahrbuecher der Koeniglichen Akademie gemeinnuetziger Wissenschaften zu Erjurt (Neue FoIge; Erfurt: Verlag von Carl Villa ret 1860-), XXI, 113-53. 8) Cf. Bartholomaeus Elsner, Leichenpredigt auj F r a t ~ Anna Maria von Seckendorff, cited by Ernst Lotze, Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff nnd sein Anteil an der pietistischen Bewegung des XVII. Jahrhtmderts (Quedlinburg: H. Kloeppels Buchdruckerei, 1911), p.12. 9) Ran.'lbach (ed.), op. cit., p. 302. 10) Johannes Mueller (ed.), Special-und sonderbahrer Bericht / wie nechst Goettlicher Vel'leyhung / die Knaben vnd Maegdlein auff den Dorffschaften / vnd in den Staedten die vnte1' dem vntersten Hauffen der Schul-Jug end begriffene Kinder im Fuerstenthumb Gotha / Kurtz-vnd nuetzlich vntemchtet werden koennen vnd sollen. Auff gnaedigen Fuerstl. Befehl auffgesetzt vnd gedruckt zu Gotha bey Peter Schmieden / 1m Jahr 1642 (Plauen im Vogtl., 1883), p.108 f. 684 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: Statesman and Scholar 11) Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf, "Additiones," Christen-Stat (Leipzig: verlegts Joh. Friedrich Gleditsch, 1685), p.169. 12) (Tholuck t) George Loesche, "Solomon Glassius," Realencyklopaedie fuer protestantische Theologie und Kirche, ed. Albert Hauck, Vol. VI (1899). 13) Commentarius, III, 313 f. 14) "Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf," Realencyklopaedie fuer prot. Theol. und Kirche, Vol. XVIII (1906). 15) Rambach (ed.), op. cit., pp. 302 f. Lotze, op. cit., p. 14. 16) Ibid., p. 24. 17) Rambach (ed.), op. cit., pp.303-5. 18) Ibid., p.306. Lotze, op. cit., p.16. 19) Rambach (ed.), op. cit., p.306. 20) Lotze, op. cit., p.20. 21) Cf. "Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf," Kirchliches Handlexikon, ed. Carl Meuse!, Vol. VI: Compendium historiae ecclesiasticae 1660--64. 22) Ibid., p. 286 f. 23) Rambach (ed.) ,op. cit., p. 307 f. 24) "Zuschrift," Christen-Stat. 25) "Praeloquium," Commentarius. 26) Rambach (ed.), op. cit., pp.308-11. 27) Ibid., p. 312. 28) Friedrich Gundolf, "Seckendorffs Lucan," Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Jahrgang 1930/31 (Heidelberg: Carl Winters Universitaetsbuchhandlung, 1931), XXI, 4. 29) Ibid., p. 3. 30) Ibid., p. 5. 31) Eduard Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs der Chrlstlichen, insbesondere der deutschen evangelischen Kirche (8 vols. 3d ed. rev. Stuttgart: Druck und Verlag der Belser'schen Verlagshandlung, 1866-1876), III, 267 f. 32) Schreberus, op. cit., Appendix. 33) Preussische Akademie cler Wissenschaften, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Saemtliche Schriften und Briefe. Erste Reihe Allgemeiner Politischer und Historischer Briefwechsel. (3 vols. Leipzig: K. F. Koehler Verlag, 1923-1938), III, 530. 34) Ibid., p.187. 35) Christian Thomasen, Allerhand bissher publicirte kleine teutsche Schriften (Halle: Gedruckt uncl verlegt von Christoph Salfeld, 1701), pp.549-52. 36) Op. cit., p. 113. Cf. "Herrn Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf Christen-Stat." Acta Eruditorum, 1685, p. 343.