Wernsdorf, Gottlieb (1)

professor of theology in the university, provost in the court church, general superintendent of the diocese of Wittenberg, and ecclesiastical councillor to the duke of Weissenfels, was born February 25, 1668, of a noble but poor family. His theological position was that of strict Saxon orthodoxy, united with Spenerian earnestness as respects the practice of Christianity. His personal piety, and also his irenical disposition, are attested by Zinzendorf, who was at that time a student at Wittenberg (Spangenberg, Leben Zinzendorfs, I, 3). The only literary production of Wernsdorf which has come down to us is his Disputationes Academicce (published by Zeiblich, 1736, 2 volumes, 4to), whose subjects are the leading questions of his time, e.g. the controversies with Halle and the mystics, and with unbelief and indifferentism. He defends the idea of a mediate inspiration of the symbolical books, as well as their soundness throughout, not confining his argument to their doctrinal parts. The witness of the Spirit to our salvation is made by him to consist in a conclusion deduced from the Scriptures by the human mind, and the operation of the Spirit solely in the bringing to mind of all the passages of Scripture which can demonstrate that the judgment of the understanding with respect to our ad6ption as sons of God is well founded. Wernsdorf's book gives evidence of wide learning, a love of truth, an anxious holdingfast to the traditional views of Wittenbergian orthodoxy, and unfailing moderation. His students admired especially the elegance of his literary style. He died July 1, 1729. See Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.