Lampe on Church History: Dedication

Friedrich Adolph Lampe

MAGNIFICENT LORD, bear it not grudgingly, that I, by the singular providence of God separated from THY presence, which to me was ever so highly valued, so sacred and amiable, most eagerly seize upon the first occasion of declaring my grateful heart.  Thus is it helpful to comfort the soul, bearing even now with hardly any patience the absence of a MAN, whose face verily was to me like the face of an Angel of God, with the image of THY virtues and favors set before the eyes:  and also to recall those most pleasant hours that I snatch from THEE, as often as by thy singular favor, wherewith thou wert embracing me apart from any deserving, thou wast furnishing free access to THEE, and wast granting a closer observation of the excellent qualities of THY mind.  I know with what great splendor THY Humility shines among them, and singular THY Deference and Modesty, which I would not wish to offend with an even more copious display of my sense of THEE, increases the glory of those qualities.  Nevertheless, in a man, whom thou hast lifted up with thy Benevolence, whom thou hast embraced with undiminished friendship, whose imbecilities thou hast so many times preferred so benignly to bear and to interpret, convert that not into a vice, that he, made bolder by absence, with the bars of his bashfulness broken, has somewhat more freely opened to THEE the treasures of his heart.  No mortal, in the brief course of the life that I have travelled, has exhibited himself to me, concerning whom there was so great and perpetual conflict within me of profound admiration and the most tender affection of love.  The most lovely chain of so many excellent qualities of soul, dwelling in the visible body, which chain thou nevertheless referrest and attributest not to THYSELF, but completely to the altogether free Grace of God alone, a chain conjoined with that dignity in the Republic, to which divine mercy hath seasonably carried THEE, on many occasions instilled fear and reverence, but bound to love, stirred by THY Humanity in such a way that I must ever take precautions, lest by so greatly loving thee, I might honor thee less than is right, or, touched with excessive reverence, without reason place a restraint upon my greatest tenderness.  What oweth the City, what the Church, what the School, to THEE, it acknowledges with thanksgiving daily, and shall not remain silent in the coming ages, until thy value to Piety, Righteousness, Prudence, Vigilance, and unwearied Labor for the public Welfare will be evident among thy People.  Deriving thy origin from the stock of so many Consulary Men, whom Bremen numbers among the primary Defenders of its Liberty and Religion, thou dost daily hasten to anticipate their praises with generous emulation, which thou hast now fulfilled.  Religion calls THEE its Bulwark, Erudition its Ornament.  But how immense were the benefits, whereby thou didst bind me to THYSELF, I prefer to keep hidden in the memory-shrine of my mind, rather than prolixly to declare them, lest perchance either I should furnish fresh fodder for envy, or should appear to be motivated by the desire for my own advantage, more than by the brilliance of THY merits.  I am sensibly aware, neither do I shrink from THY judgment here, to which I have attempted ever with all effort to show pure candor of a reverential mind, although thou hast loaded me with innumerable indications of THY read will toward me, that nothing renders me more liable to THEE, than that holy and sincere worship of the Highest Deity, which THY counsels and efforts breathe in every respect.  The rarer is that glory among the Magnates in the whirlpool of this age, the greater the thanks to be given to God and His Spirit, the sole Fountain of all heaven gifts, in my judgment, that by THY example He willed both to honor and to incite the study of manly Piety, so contemptible and hateful to the world.  This most pleasant image has been daily present to me, although separated from Thee by an interval of places; and, as often as it is renewed, just so often it kindles my spirit by a certain silence impulse to renew prayers and pantings for THY safety.  This duty I owe, not only to THEE, but also to the City, which has furnished for me pleasant hospitality for two terms and more, and which has its principal hopes, in this cloudy state of affairs, among so many imminent tempests, after God reposed in THY prayers and Thy management.  Therefore, that impetus, wherewith I am eager to raise publicly this sort of monument of my confidence in THEE, shall excuse the audacity, with which I inscribe so small a present to THY so illustrious Name.  I am soliciting no new favor, but that the former, which in my presence thou didst so benignly and so often promise, thou mightest continue to me although absent, I ask once and again, however unfair I have been to THEE, if concerning this I ever doubted, which thou hast pour out upon me so constantly, and hast sealed to me in my departure so prolixly.  If it had depended upon THEE, I would never have migrated to these shores, neither would foreign soil ever cover my bones and ashes, thou wert attempting by new and strong chains to bind me to my Native City.  But what knots I would never have been able to break, those a mightier hand, which guides all human affairs, loosed.  This is the one in particular, of which I am mindful, that I was less yielding to THINE exhortation and desires.  But thus is was not so able to offend THEE, and to estrange Thy soul from me, that rather I, adorned with new signs of THINE unshaken benevolence, was merely dismissed from THEE, with thee rightly reflecting, that in the case of the divine will, even when that appears to cross our intentions, we are always holily to acquiesce, not understanding the hidden ways of the Lord before the event.  Therefore, I, untroubled in this respect, see that nothing remains for me, except to beware, lest any forgetfulness of my debt towards Thee ever seize me, and, since my poverty is able to yield no other recompense, I shall continually pour out ardent prayers before the Throne of Grace for THY salvation, for every sort of prosperity for THY Government, and for the continual blessedness of THY most illustrious House.  Farewell.  Thus inscribed at Utrecht on the Rhine, on the Ides of April, 1721.