II., his great-grandson, is the second, founder of the greatness of Prussia. After the terrible
devastations of the Thirty Years’ War he gathered the broken fragments of his provinces into a
coherent whole during his long and successful reign (1640–1688). He was the most enlightened
and most liberal among the German princes of his age. He protected the independence of Germany
against French aggression. He was married to Louisa Henrietta, princess of Orange, of the Calvinistic
faith, and authoress of the popular resurrection hymn, "Jesus, meine Zuversicht."^796 He secured
toleration to the Reformed churches in the Treaty of Westphalia. He gave refuge to over twenty
thousand French Huguenots, who with their descendants became an important element in the
Prussian nationality and the Reformed church. His son Frederick became the first king of Prussia,
and was crowned at Königsberg, Jan. 18, 1701. He founded the University of Halle, 1693, which
ultimately absorbed the University of Wittenberg by incorporation (1815), and assumed an important
position in the history of German theology as the nursery, first of pietism, then of rationalism, and
(since Tholuck’s appointment, 1827) of the evangelical revival.
With John Sigismund began an important confessional change, which laid the foundation
for the union policy of his successors. He introduced the Reformed or Calvinistic element, which
had been crushed out in Saxony, into the Court and Dome Church of Berlin, and gave the Heidelberg
Catechism a place besides the Augsburg Confession. His grandson, "the great Elector," strengthened
the Reformed element by his marriage to a princess from Holland, who adorned her faith, and by
inviting a colony of French Huguenots who left their country for the sake of conscience. It was
therefore quite natural that the Reformed rulers of a Lutheran country should cherish the idea of a
union of the two confessions, which was realized in the present century.^797
We have seen that Old Prussia was Lutheranized under the direct influence of the Wittenberg
divines with whom Albrecht was in Constant correspondence. In Brandenburg also, the Lutheran
type of Protestantism, after many reverses and controversies, was established under John George
(1571–1598); the Formula of Concord was forcibly introduced, and all Calvinistic teaching was
strictly forbidden. The Brandenburg "Corpus Doctrinae" of 1572 emphasizes Luther’s word that
Zwingli was no Christian, and the Brandenburg chancellor Dietelmeyer is known by his unchristian
prayer: "Impleat nos Deus odio Calvinistarum!"
But the Elector John Sigismund, who by travels and personal intercourse with Calvinistic
princes and divines conceived a high regard for their superior Christian piety and courtesy, embraced
the Reformed faith in 1606, and openly professed it in February, 1614, by declaring his assent to
the four oecumenical symbols (including the Chalcedonense) and the altered Augsburg Confession
of 1540, without imposing his creed upon his subjects, only prohibiting the preachers to condemn
the Calvinists from the pulpit. In May, 1514, he issued a personal confession of faith, called the
"Confession of Sigismund," or the "Brandenburg Confession" (Confessio Marchica). It teaches a
moderate, we may say, Melanchthonian and unionistic Calvinism, and differs from the Lutheran
(^796) Several English translations; one by Miss Winkworth, "Jesus my Redeemer lives." The hymn has a long and interesting history. See
A. F. W. Fischer, Kirchenlieder-Lexicon, I. 390-396.
(^797) For fuller information, see Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, I. 554 sqq. To the literature there given should be added Ranke, Zwölf
Bücher Preuss. Geschichte, Leipz. 1874, I. 185-192; Kawerau in Herzog2, XIV. 227-232; and Wangemann, Joh. Sigismund und Paul
Gerhard, Berlin, 1884. The literature on the Prussian Union refers to the history after 1817, and is very large. We mention Nitzsch,
Urkundenbuch der evangelischen Union, Berlin, 1853; Jul. Müller, Die evangel. Union, ihr Wesen und göttliches Recht, Berlin, 1854;
Brandes, Geschichte der kirchlichen Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 1872,’ 73, 2 vols.; Mücke, Preussen’s landeskirchliche
Unionsentwicklung, 1879; Wangemann, Die preussische Union in ihrem Verhältniss zur Una Sancta, Berlin, 1884.