When asked more closely, he based his opinion of me on the dispute between me and Br. Teichelmann, as well as on the fact that I never attended the service in Klemzig when I was there, neither in the evening nor in the morning. Partly, I replied, this had not happened because the evening hours were the only time and opportunity to talk to my busy bride, and also that I had felt rejected by him because he had told Brother Teichelmann that he wanted nothing to do with the mission and me of course [had] thought that it was useless to carry water to the sea. His statement stems from a misunderstanding of Teichelmann's claim that he would not deviate from his instructions even a hair, which he would now not do after understanding our instructions and conversation with Br. Teichelmann.

In response to my objection that I had personally felt very hurt by the fact that he had told my bride not to get involved with me until a certain condition had been met, he replied that at the time he had neither understood the state laws nor the instructions precisely enough, and that he had made a mistake in transferring the rules of other missionary societies to ours. But even assuming that, according to my instructions, I should not get married without the prior consent of my company, I would still be the person to whom he should have turned first ( 237 ), and that he would have put me in a bad light by not doing so. He didn't say much in response, but said that I shouldn't have withdrawn from the service because of personal dislike. At one point it seemed to me as if he did not yet see my and Bertha's union as being in accordance with the divine will, but he limited himself to the opinion that Mr. Fiedler and his daughter could have avoided these incidents with greater caution and vigilance, but added that even Fiedler declared at the time that he no longer knew about me that it was God's will [that I] should have his daughter, as he did about Schlinke. --

We talked a lot about public confession without fully agreeing on it. In defense he argued that the Jews had confessed their sins before John the Baptist, and that the state of the community was such that everyone had fallen into church discipline. He had not started the matter without plenty of thought and some fruit, and I should tell him what he should have done under the circumstances as he described them. I not only told him my opinion, but also added that his procedure was dangerous, to which he replied that I should just let them have it, I'll see that it was and will be right and beneficial for them.

When I asked him whether he would me [and Bertha] get married before news came from the company, should we wish it sooner, he first replied that I should give him an hour to think about it, but then, when I reminded him that he could do so with a clear conscience ( 238 ) if he gave me as much trust as one owes to an honest man, he found no objections, neither in the state laws nor in our instructions, so he could never be taken to task about it be blamed.

Finally, I asked him about the accusation made by a community leader who said that I had behaved in such a way that the community had to withdraw from us, whether he agreed with this assertion he had made? He denied this, saying he