- 31 -

     In Switzerland Pietism was regarded with suspicion by the authorities; in Zürich, for example, there was something of a witchhunt after the prophecies of Hans Ulrich Giezendanner, a local goldsmith, had been interpreted as a denunciation of the government. In 1717 Pietism was banned from the city, but in 1722 this ban was modified to allow meetings on certain conditions. One of these was that men and women must be segregated, which suggests that Pietists were also under suspicion on moral grounds. Also in 1717, after a young woman had gone into an ecstatic trance during an Easter Monday service in St. Gallen, it was discovered that she belonged to a group led by Giezendanner which included many of the local Protestant clergy. In northeast Switzerland many clergymen had some sympathy with Pietism, which may explain why complete separation from the church did not happen and the persecution of Pietism was generally not very severe.

     At first sight, Bräker's view of Pietism can appear largely negative. By the time he began his autobiographical writing in the 1760s Pietism was already in decline, and Simmler says that by the 1780s only a few groups were left in the Toggenburg, though some were in Bräker's own commune of Wattwil. The Pietists' ignorance, exclusiveness, spiritual arrogance and unhealthy emotions are satirised in his novel "Jaus the knight-errant", and he is known to have admired and imitated Samuel Butler's "Hudibras", a satire on Puritanism published in 1765. The vision, scholarship and charisma of the movement had run dry. But although Bräker stopped going to Pietist meetings when his grandmother died, he continued to read Pietist books and discuss them with his father. As a reluctant soldier in Berlin, he turned for comfort to a Pietist hymnbook. I think that some of the Pietist mindset of his youth remained with Bräker all his life. "He who wishes to comprehend God with his mind becomes an atheist" said Zinzendorf, and "incomprehensible" is Bräker's favourite adjective for God. His tendency to make allegories on trivial objects, from a butterfly or a snow-shower to the behaviour of his children, reflects the Pietist style. As he grew beyond the narrow faith of his youth, he began to insist that true religion is shown in works of love, rather than doctrinal statements, echoing the Pietist view that religion must come from the heart rather than the head. He also shared the Pietists' fervent belief in Providence, that God cares for His people as individuals, and even apparent disasters can be turned to good in the life of the believer.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

11. Other matters as they come to mind:


     Our household was increasing in number. Another child came along regularly every two years: many to sit at table but none as yet to work. We were obliged to employ many day-labourers. My father never had much luck with the cattle, there was always one that was sick. He was of the opinion that the heavy growth of weeds on our pasture was chiefly to blame for this. Every year the interest exceeded the profits. We cleared large tracts of woodland, in order to have more grazing and money from selling the timber, yet as time went on we sank deeper and deeper into debt, and were continually throwing good money after bad.

In winter I and the others near me in age were sent to school

11

, but in Krinau school lasted only ten weeks, and several of these we missed because of heavy snowfalls. Moreover, I could already be employed in all kinds of useful work. We were set to earn something during the winter-time. My father tried all kinds of spinning: flax, hemp, silk, wool and cotton, and he taught us how to card and to knit stockings and the like. But in those days nothing brought much income. Our diet was restricted until it was mainly milk and more milk, and we were allowed to go about in rags and tatters, to save money. Until my sixteenth year I rarely went to church, and

11

The school at Krinau was kept by Jorg Brunner; Bräker attended it for ten weeks each year for six years. The curriculum was limited to the three Rs and psalm-singing. (Voellmy, v 1 p 15).



Contents