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Early Life and Studies (§ 1). His Work in Leipsic, Erfurt, and Halle (§ 2). His Philanthropic Institutions (§ 3). His Service to Missions and Pedagogy (§ 4). His Writings (§ 5).

August Hermann Francke, founder of the charitable institutions at Halle bearing his name, was born at LGbeck Mar. 12, 1663; d. at Halle June 8, 1727. In his third year his father, a jurist, removed to Gotha, on the call of Duke Ernest I. the Pious (q.v.), and died there a few months later. The pious influences of his home determined the son to study theology. He was edu-

In Leipsic his future Pietistic tendency began to manifest itself by his absorption in Holy Scripture. fie helped to found the Collegium philobiblicum (see PmTIsM) for a closer study of Old and New Testament exegesis. These Bible studies became very popular, and Francke confessed that he grasped the deep truths of Scripture first in these gatherings; but he was still dissatisfied with himself. In 1687 he went to Liineburg to continue his Biblical studies under the guidance of the learned superintendent Sandhagen. The period at Lfineburg was destined to become the turning-point of his inner life as he dated from this time his conversion. In 1688 he was again at Hamburg, where he continued his exegetical studies under the influence of the learned preacher Johann Winkler, a friend of Spener. Toward the end of the same year he returned to Leipsic, visiting Spener at Dresden for two months on the way. The intimate intercourse with this congenial man exerted a great influence upon Francke, and ever after they were united by a bond of cordial affection, assisting each other in their labors and keeping up their correspondence until 1702.

After Francke's return to Leipsic in Feb., 1689, and the resumption of his earlier academic activity, his influence began to make itself felt in larger

circles. By his lectures-which were chiefly exegetical,and attended by so many that the largest auditorium could hardly hold all his hearersas well as by his sermons and his per z. His Work sonal intercourse with the students,

in Leipsic, he was the originator of a movement Erfurt, which struck deep roots in the minds

and Halls. of his hearers and was destined to effect a deepening of piety by a conscious devotion to Christ in a living, personal faith. It was inevitable that his success should arouse envy, and it must be confessed that not everything in the movement of Francke and his friends was commendable, as, for instance, the contempt of science and distrust of earnest philosophical study united with self-complacency and conceit among those who were only superficially inspired by the Spirit. Francke's chief opponent was his colleague, J. B. Carpzov (q.v.), at whose instigation, the faculty prohibited the continuation of the Collegia biblica and instituted a formal investigation against Francke, the result of which was that he had to confine himself to lectures of a philosophical nature. In 1690 he gladly accepted a call to the Church of the Augustinians at Erfurt. Here he developed again in an extraordinary manner his successful activity in the spirit of Pietistic Christianity. Students from Leipsic and Jena followed him to Erfurt, and his influence made itself felt beyond the town. But the opponents of Francke rose again and instituted a commission, the result of which was his dismissal from office (1691). He went to Gotha and from there was invited to Berlin by Spener. Owing to the latter's influence, he received in 1692 a parish at Glaucha., now a suburb of Halle, and at the same time the chair of Greek and Oriental languages in the University of Halle. Here he found among his colleagues a circle of congenial men who followed the tendency of Spener. The opposition of the orthodox town clergy was soon overcome. Francke's parochial activity and pastoral care exercised the deepest and most far-reaching influences. His sermons centered in the great theme of Pietistic theology, sin and grace. They were spontaneous utterances of his innermost being and testimonies from his own experience. His practical activity enlivened his lectures and made his study of the Bible more fruitful for the calling of his students, and his scientific work in its turn had a wholesome effect upon his sermons and religious instruction. He entered into intimate relations with his colleagues J. J. Breithaupt and Paul Anton (qq.v.), who held the same theological convictions, and the three men gave to tile newly founded faculty its characteristic stamp of Pietism. The chief factors were a profound study of the Bible, an unfolding of the thoughts of salvation contained in it without the mechanical dogmatics of the orthodox, practical guidance in the successful performance of the clerical office, and insistence upon pious conduct and a godly life. In accordance with Franeke's general views his lectures treated first of all Biblical exegesis, but hermeneutics, hoiniletics, and parenetics were not excluded.

But his chief activity belonged from the beginning to his congregation. His eminent gifts showed