From Halle there went forth during the following century about sixty missionaries, among them Ziegenbalg, Fabricius, Jaenicke, Gericke and Schwartz, whose careers we shall study. Here also was trained Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America, who intended first to go as a missionary to India. Here were published in 1710 the earliest missionary reports in a little periodical which was continued under different titles until 1880, one hundred and seventy years. Among those for whom the heart of Francke yearned were the Jews, in whose interest he founded the Institua Judiaca. From Halle there spread an influence not only through Germany but through the world which is difficult to estimate but almost impossible to exaggerate. By no means the least of the missionary activities which had there their inspiration was that of the Moravian Church, the most ardent in missionary work of all Churches.
The missionary influence did not have any means free course. The opposition shown to the theories of Justinian von Welz continued. Francke was considered no less of a fanatic. This contrary spirit may be shown by the expression of a deeply pious clergyman who concluded an Ascension sermon with the following couplet:
“‘Go into all the world,’ the Lord of old did say; But now ‘Where God has placed thee, there He would have thee stay.’”
[Sidenote: The First Missionary Hymn.] But even in poetic form missionary activity was soon to find an expression. In Halle a Lutheran _Karl Heinrich von Bogatsky_ wrote in 1750 the first Protestant missionary hymn.
“Awake, Thou Spirit, who didst fire The watchmen of the Church’s youth, Who faced the foe’s envenomed ire, Who witnessed day and night Thy truth, Whose voices loud are ringing still, And bringing hosts to know Thy will.
“And let Thy Word have speedy course, Through every land be glorified, Till all the heathen know its force, And fill Thy churches far and wide; Wake Israel from her sleep, O Lord, And spread the conquests of Thy Word!”
Before this time, however, the first call for missionary workers had come to Halle from outside Germany.
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_Bartholomew Ziegenbalg_ Henry Plütschau John Ernst Gründler Benjamin Schultze John Philip Fabricius Christian William Gericke _Christian Frederick Schwartz_ Karl Ewald Rhenius Thomas von Westen Per Fjellström _Hans Egede_ John Jaenicke