He answered with a grave and thoughtful `Yes.'
Then our Nitschmann prayed over him earnestly, and ordained him to his office
with the laying on of hands. Nitschmann was uncommonly aroused and happy,
but Anton Seifert was very humble and quiet." John Wesley, who was present,
wrote "The great simplicity, as well as solemnity, of the whole,
almost made me forget the seventeen hundred years between,
and imagine myself in one of those assemblies where form and state were not;
but Paul the tent-maker, or Peter the fisherman, presided;
yet with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
Both Wesley and Benjamin Ingham refer to Seifert as a "bishop",
which is a mistake, though a natural one. Wesley was present
at the ordination, and heard the charge, with example and warning
drawn from the actions of earlier bishops; while Ingham,
in the course of several long conversations with Toeltschig
concerning the Moravian Episcopate and Seifert's ordination,
asked "is Anton a bishop?" and was answered, "yes, FOR OUR CONGREGATION."
This was in view of the fact that Bishop Nitschmann, in ordaining Seifert,
had empowered him to delegate another member to hold the Communion, baptize,
or perform the marriage ceremony in case of his sickness or necessary absence.
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