Paul the Elder Child

Paulus Kind der Elder (born February 19, 1734 in Chur ; † June 8, 1802 there ) was a Swiss Reformed pastor .

Paulus Kind was a son of the guild master Christian Kind from Chur. After attending Latin school , on March 25, 1751, he attended the "Collegium philosophicum" in Chur and then studied at the University of Halle . After 1752 he worked as a private tutor in Soglio GR and in 1753/1754 as court master in Chur. On June 16, 1757 he was accepted into the Evangelical-Rhaetian Synod in Filisur . This would have allowed him to take on a pastor's position in the canton of Graubünden , but Kind became a field preacher in the Netherlands .

In 1759 he took over the pastor's position in Schiers . He carried his pietistic sentiments into the community and held edifying meetings for children in the town hall on Sundays. He thought the church was godless and wanted to transform it in an exemplary way. At first they had also sought his pastoral care, but after two years the mood turned against him.

In 1761 he left Schiers and spent the next two years traveling. On his return he took over the pastor's position in Haldenstein and became a professor at the "Collegium philosophicum" in Chur. 1772, he was on the regulators Church free preachers and 1789 dean of the church Federal . In 1792 he was elected pastor and antistes at the Martinskirche in Chur, where he stayed until his death.

In 1792, 1793 and 1800 he was the moderator of the Synod, which shows his high reputation; Child is one of the most influential Pietist theologians in Switzerland in the 18th century. His correspondence with the Basel theology professor Johann Christoph Beck was of particular importance. His numerous publications consist almost exclusively of sermons.

Works

• Words through which one can be saved: or a clear idea of ​​how God begins, continues and gloriously crowns his work of grace in a soul (Lindau 1761)
• Reliable and conscientious news from his teaching post in Schiers in Prettigau for two years, countered by false reports (1761)
• Faith only or the temptation of poor, desolate and despondent sinners to Jesus Christ the only consolation and salvation in the whole world (Lindau 1765)
• Monument to the great deeds of God in the leadership of the soul of Countess Anna von Salis, immortalized on October 24, 1767 (Chur 1768)
• A sermon of fidelity wrought by the Holy Spirit to the believer in their profession about Gal. V. v. XXII (Chur 1772)
• A sermon was given to his audience at St. Regula after the terrible fire in Ems. August 7, 1776 (Chur 1776)
• A sermon by the community of saints on the first Sunday after the tax collection for Löbl. Municipality of Ems presented on August 21, 1776 (Chur 1776)
• Collection of some sermons (Chur 1777)
• Jesus, the blessed savior. Praised in a sermon on Math.XVIII, 11 (Chur 1778)
• The sure means of gaining the spirit that is indispensable to us. Praised in a Pentecost sermon on Lucä XI, 13 (Chur 1778)
• The established fearlessness of the believers about Psalm 46, 2-4 (Chur 1783)
• The life, blessed sick beds, and joyful dying, of the high-born, high-wise and wise-wise Peter von Salis, president and chief guild master; as well as co-lord of the court rulers: Oberach, Wietnau and Haßlach (1784)
• A sermon of temperance about 2. Petri IV 6. (Chur 1785)
• The crowned faith. About Johannes I, 12th in a preparatory sermon for Christmas 1790 (Elberfeld 1790)
• A sermon of the power of the gaze of Jesus. About Luc. 22, V. 54-62 (Chur 1791)
• Synodal speech on 2 Timothy 3, v. 14 (Elberfeld 1794)
• Speech at the inauguration of several preachers (Basel 1795)

literature

• J. Jürgen Seidel : Child, Paulus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Erich Wenneker :  Child, Paulus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 840-842.