Johann Gottfried Sillig

Johann Gottfried Sillig (born August 13, 1734 in Waldheim ; † May 22, 1792 in Döbeln ) was a German Protestant clergyman.

Life

Johann Gottfried Sillig was born as the son of Johann Ehrenfried Sillig (1696–1764), a deacon in Waldheim.

He attended the local city school and the Princely School of Meissen , then studied theology for six years at the University of Leipzig and heard lectures from Johann August Ernesti and Christian August Crusius . After completing his studies, he originally wanted to become a professor at the University of Leipzig, but in 1762 he was offered a position as a deacon in Döbeln.

In 1771 there were two major floods in Saxony, which affected almost all rivers. As a result, numerous fruit and forest stocks were badly damaged and there was a famine. Johann Gottfried Sillig gave a sermon on the tenth Sunday after Trinity 1772, addressing the destruction of Jerusalem and admonishing the congregation in which he made the assertion that all those who suffered from their health or lost their lives as a result of the famine, were very great sinners, because the pious were under the protection of God and general plagues were always given in the Bible as the punishments of sinners; Here he divided the sinners into three classes: some would have always been pious and virtuous, others would have been improved by the misfortune and still others, however, remained sinners and these will therefore be even more misery. Some time later he learned that the sermon was interpreted very differently and that it had been misinterpreted and misinterpreted. Therefore he decided to give this sermon under the title Drey Important Questions for the Christians of his time. A sermon on the 10th Sunday after Trin. held to chub . This publication of the sermon led, among other things, to a violent theological dispute. An intensive correspondence arose with his superintendent Johann Carl Friedrich von Brause and several theologians as well as with the then town clerk Johann Heinrich Wolf from Roßwein , who wanted to refute him legally and published a pamphlet under the title Johann Heinrich Wolfs, town clerk zu Roßwein, thorough investigation and necessary refutation by Mr. M. Joh. Gottfried Silligen, Deacon zu Döbeln, among which three very important questions to the Christians of his time, and in particular to his congregation, appeared in print, and the first question was answered against the Holy Scriptures with yes, therefore badly: Are all those whose faces fell victim to the previous heat and famine, and whose bodies had languished, were very great sinners? as well as one by Magister Johann Ehrenfried Wagner in Marienberg and three writings by Magister Gotthelf Friedrich Oesfeld . The conflicting discussion proceeded without further consequences.

In 1770 he had an exchange of letters with Karl Friedrich Bahrdt , to whom he wrote a contribution for his suggestions for the clarification and correction of the doctrinal concept of our church . However, he had a different attitude to education than Karl Friedrich Bahrdt and in addition, he felt degraded by the teachers of the Philanthropinum , of which Karl Friedrich Bahrdt was director at the time, because of his translation of Matthew, which he had published that he stopped correspondence in 1773. He presented his own main principle about education in the Scriptures with the following title: About a general means useful for all nations, to educate people in an absolutely obedient and virtuous manner from the first years of his life. A Dreyhellers pfennig from a father of seven about today's education system . In it he recommends that children should be chastened at an early age and differentiates between sluggish and sleepy children who only need to be chastened when they should learn something; Mediocre children, however, have to be kept in respect by discipline even earlier, and "fiery and very lively children" should be used with due severity towards them before the first year is over. "Young people who could not yet use their intellect should be treated as animals". He also used this method to raise his own children, "... when other people start chastising and beating their children, I'm done." For the school education he had employed Lehmann, later pastor in Schlöben near Jena.

In a second written pamphlet, he recommends that every country and province should establish its own school, with a military institution, a general school class, its own school method with changes if circumstances require, equal rights for all subjects of every class To contribute to education and the state should decide what the children are trained to.

He entertained further correspondence with, among others, Johann Caspar Lavater , with whom he corresponded in writing for twelve years, and Johann Bernhard Basedow .

In 1780 he had become more and more flat and harsher in his sermons and until then he had used more sentences from prophetic-apocalyptic theology in his lectures, which won over the peasants but turned the higher classes against him. In the summer of 1790 there were riots and revolts among the peasants against the landowners in the area of ​​Döbeln; the peasants relied on the authority of Johann Gottfried Sillig, who expressed himself as if the uprisings were God's judgment of God. Thereupon he was suspended in June 1790 on an anonymous charge. He probably spoke in a sermon of the equality of men before God and of "... that God sets a chair for the count as well as the flayer". Presumably a landowner was present and related the sermon to himself, but Sillig was not aware of his presence. He was called to his superintendent Johann Carl Friedrich von Brause in Oschatz , who opened the suspension for him. Johann Gottfried Sillig appealed against this to the Elector Friedrich August I ; As a result, he was called to the Upper Consistory in Dresden on September 3, 1790 , and was interrogated on the same day. He protested his innocence, that he had provoked the people to unrest. Furthermore, he was accused of having called himself a prophet in a public lecture, which he admitted because he had not considered it punishable to point out prophetic prospects from the Old and New Testaments and to give himself a name . He was then informed that he would have to stay in Dresden until a decision was made. Because he was taken in with a relative who vouched for him, there was no guarding. In the following years, the superintendent conducted witness interrogations and questioned clergymen, school servants and others who testified that Johann Gottfried Sillig had in the past admonished obedience to the authorities. But now the Council of Döbeln appeared as the plaintiff and presented post-recorded sermons that had been recorded by candidates, for which various sham reasons were drawn. The council from Döbeln was asked by the investigative commission, which consisted of the church council and superintendent Johann August Heinrich Tittmann and the chief magistrate Nake, to swear the statements. Johann Gottfried Sillig, who was present, did not use the opportunity to explain the individual statements, but rather let them apply, and he did not ask any of his witnesses to make any further statements. Ten months passed through this investigation, which he had to spend continuously in Dresden. According to the available files, the Schöppenstuhl in Leipzig pronounced its judgment that Johann Gottfried Sillig was no longer allowed to return to his clerical office, had to bear the costs of the process and would be punished with three months in prison. Johann Gottfried Sille applied for clemency to the elector and added the sworn statements of his witnesses who spoke for him. This was followed by the final judgment in April 1792, in which the elector stipulated that Johann Gottfried Sillig was no longer allowed to return to his diaconate, but that he would be granted an annual pension of 400 Reichstaler; in his office he had received 500 Reichstaler annually. After a year and a half he was able to return home, although he was seriously ill with a nervous disease in which his mind became confused and he often lost his speech; he survived the sentence by about four weeks.

Johann Gottfried Sillig had been married since 1762 and had fourteen children, eleven of whom died in childhood. One of his older sons died at the University of Leipzig in 1795 and another son was employed as court master in Freiberg in 1797 .

Works

• Triga regularum criticarum, quae multis VT locis varie vellicatis prodesse posse videntur. Leipzig 1762.
• With the daily growth of the sciences, why is there still so much lack of good preachers? Quibusdam fomnia. Juvenile . Leipzig by Hilscher 1771.
• Reliable correspondence about the strange stories of a second Joseph, in the person of the Saxon American, who has been in Chub so far. Four pieces . Amsterdam 1772.
• The New Testament, Luther's translation without prejudice, for daily use for unstudied Christians of all kinds, translated again and again in an understandable manner. Matthew . Leipzig 1772.
• The New Testament, Luther's translation without prejudice, for daily use for unstudied Christians of all kinds, translated again and again in an understandable manner. Markus . Leipzig 1778.
• About a general means, useful for all nations, to educate people in an absolutely obedient and virtuous manner right from the first years of their life. A Dreyhellers pfennig from a father of seven about today's education system. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1781.
• The New Testament, Luther's translation without prejudice, for daily use for unstudied Christians of all kinds, translated again and again in an understandable manner. Lucas . Leipzig 1781.
• Education, entirely a matter for the state, exceptis excipiendis, otherwise nothing will come of it. As a counterpart to the universal means of absolute child obedience for all nations; Or: another Dreyhellerspfennig from a father of seven children on today's education system . Frankfurt and Leipzig 1782.
• This is how Wilhelmine Sillig thought and wrote in her 16th and last year . Leipzig and Dessau 1783.
• The New Testament, Luther's translation without prejudice, for daily use for unstudied Christians of all kinds, translated again and again in an understandable manner . John. Leipzig 1786.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Friedrich Schlichtegroll: Schlichtegrolls Nekrolog on the years 1790 to 1793, pp. 198–248. Retrieved February 5, 2018 . 
2. ^ Johann Gottfried Sillig (1734–1792) | Country and cross-denominational pastors book. Retrieved on July 24, 2018 (German). 
3. ^ Karl Christian Kanis Gretschel: History of the Saxon People and State, p. 279 . Orthaus, 1853 ( google.de [accessed July 24, 2018]).
4. ↑ Johann Georg Meusel: Lexicon of the German writers who died from 1750 to 1800, p. 172 . G. Fleischer, der Jüngere, 1813 ( google.de [accessed on July 24, 2018]).
5. ↑ Secret Tales and Rathseliges Menschen, pp. 385–398 . 1850 ( google.de [accessed on July 25, 2018]).
6. ↑ Heinrich Döring: The German pulpit speakers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: depicted after their life and work. Pp. 440-446 . JKG Wagner, 1830 ( google.de [accessed July 25, 2018]).
7. ↑ Sven Petersen, Dominik Collet, Marian Füssel: Environment: Events, Spaces and Experiences of the Early Modern Age: Festschrift for Manfred Jakubowski-Tiessen, p. 132 . V&R unipress GmbH, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8471-0395-0 ( google.de [accessed on July 25, 2018]).
8. ^ New newspapers from learned things, Volume 71, pp. 803 ff. ( Google.de [accessed on July 24, 2018]).
9. ^ Karl Friedrich Bahrdt: Proposals for the clarification and correction of the doctrinal concept of our church. Hartknoch, Riga 1771. ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdigital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fwerkansicht%3FPPN%3DPPN669988669%26PHYSID%3DPHYS_0001%26DMDID%3D~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D )