. .,

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* AMERICA*

•YALE-'VMVIEiaSirinf- • iuiiBiR&isr •

Gift of
Charles William Bardeen
Yale 1869
1922

THE

Lutherans in America.
A Story of Struggle, Progress, Influence

AND

Marvelous Growth.

BY

EDMUND JACOB WOLF, D. D.

1 1 r

©Y^itft an (^ritfoc|uci'ion

BY

HENR Y E YSTER JACOBS, D. D.

t  <fi&  s

Hier stehQ ich, ich kann nieM anders.

i  ^s?  a

New York : J. A. Hill & Company, 44 East 14TH Street.
Rostock, Germany : E. Volckmann & Co.
1890.

Copyright, 1889,
By J. A. HILL & COMPANY,

All rights reserved.

PREFACE.

In the preparation of this volume, grateful acknowledgements are due
to my colleagues, Rev. M. Valentine, D. D., LL. D., and Rev. C. A.
Hay, D. D., for valuable assistance ; to Rev. Prof. A. Graebner for the
material of the history of the Missourians ; to Rev. Prof. G. H. Schodde,
Ph. D., for that of the Synod of Ohio ; to Rev. Prof. G. J. Fritschel for
that of the Synod of Iowa ; to Rev. Prof. W. K. Frick for that of the
Swedes /to Rev. Prof. K. O. Lomen for that of the Norwegians^ to Rev.
R. Andersen for that of the Danes; to Rev.G. F. Krotel, D.D., LL. D.,
and Rev. Prof. C. W. Schaeffer, D. D., LL. D., for contributions rela
tive to the history of the Pennsylvania Synod and that of the General
Council ; to Rev. T. W. Dosh. D. D., for the matter of the United Synod,
to Rev. J. Nicum for statistical matter ; to Revs. Prof .L. A. Fox, D. D.,
and Rev. J. Paul Stirewalt for material on the Tennessee Synod, and to
Rev. D. M. Kemerer for similar favors concerning the Pittsburg
Synod, G. C.
The arduous labor of collecting and digesting the material has been
inspired and sustained by the supreme desire to afford to the. Lutheran
people, as well as the general Christian public, a better acquaintance
with their glorious Church, under the firm conviction that to know her is
to love her, and that those knowing and loving her true character will
consecrate themselves to the maintenance of her purity in faith and
life, and the enlargement of her efficiency in extending the word and
kingdom of Jesus.
To the indulgence of the readers and the grace of the Holy Spirit the
imperfect results are humbly commended.
E. J. W.
Festival of the Reformation, i88g.

INTRODUCTION

THERE are three forms of historical composition,
the documentary, the philosophical and the pop
ular. The documentary and the philosophical
the former furnishing the evidence for the facts stated,
and the latter dealing with the principles which under
lie the facts, are intended for scholars, who come to
the study of the subject with some degree of prelim
inary knowledge of what is treated. The critical stu
dent is never satisfied until he can trace the statement
of a fact to its ultimate source, and judge it in the
same light as the historian himself. But there is no
less room for the popular presentation of history.
This is necessarily dependent upon what has been
previously accomplished in the other departments.
The main facts which have been gathered as the result
of minute and extensive research, are woven together
into a continuous narrative, which does not aim at
being exhaustive, but simply at giving what, in the
opinion of the historian, is most important and inter
esting to the general reader. He takes the reader
with him to a mountain side, and points out the path
through which the ascent has been made ; but does
not enter into the details as would the surveyor who
had been commissioned to revise lines, and establish
the validity of conflicting claims.

vi Introduction.
With the growth of the Lutheran Church in this
country, there has been a most commendable cultiva
tion of the department of documentary history by a
few learned and persevering scholars. Chief among
these are the editors of that work of stupendous in
dustry, the revised edition of the Hallesche Nachrich-
ten, Drs. VV. J. Mann, B. M. Schmucker and W. Ger-
mann. Dr. Mann has also laid the Church under ever
lasting obligations by his "Life and Times of Muhlen
berg." The earlier labors, within this sphere, of Dr.
W. M. Reynolds and the recent ones of Rev. J. Nicum,
are not to be forgotton. Unfortunately, the lack of his
torical culture on the part of even our more scholarly
ministers is manifest by the rarity with which the
Hallesche Nachrichten appears on the shelves of their
libraries, and especially by the fact that the publica
tion of that important collection of documents with
the illustrative historical notes brought down to
the present day, has ceased with its first volume.
Such work, however, is not lost. With every advance
in the cultivation of documentary history, an ad
vance in its more popular presentation is required.
The more monographs written within the scope of a
science, the greater the demand for handbooks out
lining the subject. If we compare the readable, and, at
its time, very useful sketch of the life of Muhlenberg
published in 1856, by Dr. M. L. Stoever, with that
above referred to, some idea can be formed of the ad
vance, during this interval, made among us in histor
ical studies. While, therefore, in the past, the popu
lar presentation has not been neglected, and Drs. E.
L. Hazelius, S. S. Schmucker, and C. W. Schaeffer, at

Introduction. vii
different times have furnished sketches, it has been im
possible for any member of our congregations to find
the facts of the origin and development of the Lu
theran Church in America, as known up to the present
time, adequately given in any one book.
In this volume, Dr. Wolf has undertaken to chroni
cle the results so far as they have been made accessi
ble. The popular historian, in some respects, per
forms a self-sacrificing work. He writes a book for
the times; but which, like everything adapted to the
times, can only indirectly serve a permanent end. It
stimulates to the higher appreciation and the more
extensive study of history. It leads students from the
popular, to the cultivation of the documentary and
philosophical spheres. It fulfils an important office
in widening the horizon, and informing the various
parts of the Church of their historical relations. It
becomes a starting-point for earnest activity, both in
practical work and in scholarly investigation.
Two difficulties especially confronted the author of
this work. Historians speak of the necessity of an
historical perspective. A photograph of a building
cannot be taken unless the camera be placed at a con
siderable distance. Those who have made or who
are closely related to those who make history, cannot
well write it. They are the best witnesses concerning
bare statements of facts, but not the best judges as to
principles and results. They cannot see the trees, be
cause of the leaves. A life of Muhlenberg, by Dr.
Kunze, or Dr. Helmuth, would not have been as satis
factory as that of Dr. Mann, written one hundred years
after Muhlenberg's death. We have scarcely reached

v i i i Introduction.
the point whence we can view the Lutheran Church in
America of even the earlier period of this century
with complete historical impartiality. This will be
done in time. Everything will doubtless be subjected
to critical, historical analysis. But, meanwhile, the
story, so far as known, must be told ; and the facts, so
far as known, must be judged, in order to prepare the
way for those who are to follow.
A second difficulty before him, has been that while
the Lutherans of America are separated into several
divisions, on the ground of principles upon which, thus
far, they have been unable to agree, and the discussion
of which has formed a great part of the history during
the period treated, he has endeavored to present an
outline of the external history with entire impartiality.
It is too much to expect of any man, that even with
the highest appreciation of those with whom he dif
fers, he can be completely uninfluenced by his theo
logical standpoint. The writer frankly confesses that
he could not; and hence, would not demand of an
other, what he cannot plead for himself. We have
read with much interest the entire book. We have
admired the general objectivity and impartiality of
the author's judgment. We have been stirred to en
thusiasm by his eloquence, and only on a few points
have we ventured suggestions. Within its own sphere
and for its own purpose, the work is well conceived
and well executed and worthy of high commendation.
The story which is rehearsed is one of the deepest
interest. It abounds in incidents as inspiring and
worthy of commemoration as the far more familiar
history of communions hitherto more prominent in

Introduction. ix
this country. It is at the same time a story of much
intricacy. So various are the sources from whence
our Lutheran people come, and so constant has been
the stream of immigration, placing layer after layer
of successive movements upon one another, that
much confusion would be unavoidable were the ele
ments found here homogeneous in their European
home. This, however, as is well-known, is not the
case. The contrasts which exist in Europe, become all
the more striking when placed in juxtaposition here.
Conflicts which there could be avoided because of
distance or national barriers, here must be faced, as
each theory is put to the severest tests. The distribu
tion which Guizot makes of the history of the civiliza
tion of Europe into three periods, viz.: one of origina
tion, one of experimentation, and one of permanent
and vigorous development, we believe will be found to
be very applicable here. While this is true of the
Church as a whole, it is also true of each particular
element included in it. In one respect, the period of
origination was over with the new era that entered
with the landing of Muhlenberg. In another respect,
we are still in the midst of it, and will remain so as
long as the majority of our communicant membership
are of foreign birth. The period of experimentation
is marked by the several efforts that have been made
to comprise all Lutheran Synods into a general organ
ization. How far this has advanced, and how near or
how far any of the general bodies is to this goal, may
be learned from this volume. In spite, however, of the
fact that the period of experimentation is still dom
inant, that of vigorous development has not been

x Introduction.
delayed. The three periods overlap each other, and
the one begins before the other ends.
There is yet another fact which a careful study of
this volume shows. We cannot but be reminded of
the parallel in the history of the chosen people of the
old covenant. Once there was a time when the efforts
of the prophets were directed to awaken Israel to a
sense of its true importance. There was no national
spirit left; all national self-consciousness had vanished.
Not only the national habits, but even the religious
rites of the neighboring nations became the standards
according to which they endeavored to amend and ad
just what God had given them. But there came an
other period when Israel awoke to a consciousness of
its prerogative and asserted its rights. Soon we find
national apathy succeeded by a self-consciousness that
ran to the opposite extreme, as exhibited in the days
when the new dispensation opened. The name, the
customs, the institutions were cherished as a badge of
their glorious past. All not able to establish its claim
to unquestioned national purity was renounced. Noth
ing good could be acknowledged as coming from any
otherquarter. Both periodsof the history of God'speo-
ple may be found reproduced in that of the Lutheran
Church in America. Both tendencies mayalso befound
to coexist at the same time and place. As the elder
Dr. Krauth said, there was a time when the dom
inant tendency was "to glory that we are like every
body, and consequently nothing in ourselves, livino-
only by the breath of others," or as he might have ad
ded, living by mere sufferance, despised by others as
those having little respect for themselves. Suddenly

Introduction. xi
as the cloud lifted, the great proportions of our Church,
her vast heritage, her wonderful structure of theology,
her rich treasures in every department of religious
literature and her active work in so many spheres of
beneficence, came to view. How easy now to glory
that we are Lutherans, and to fail to appreciate that
in other quarters which we formerly reverenced with
excessive devotion !
The Lutheran Church has come to America, cer
tainly not without some great purpose. When we
review the past, we are astonished at its vitality. If
Lutheranism were mortal, it would have died in this
country long ago. We have lost our hundreds of
thousands of members, and millions of wealth over
and over again. The mismanagement attending im
portant trusts, and culminating in repeated disasters,
Dr. Wolf well traces. But in spite of all we do to
ruin it, on it moves with ever increasing vigor. Where
one is lost, ten are gained ! The conflicts and mistakes
make a noise and attract attention. The processes of
steady growth are silent, extending into numberless
recesses,and making themselves felt only whenthewhole
field is viewed from year to year. We cannot believe
that God is preserving such a communion, and con
stantly extending it, simply for itself alone. Its influ
ence is destined to be felt far and wide beyond its own
boundaries, as its members become more thoroughly
identified with this country, as it ceases to become a
Church of strangers, and, after reaching a more thor
ough harmony within itself, is able to take the posi
tion which belongs to it from its birthright, as the
Mother Church of Protestantism. It has come to

x 1 i Introduction.
America to stay, and to grow, and by renewing its
youth in this new world, to assert itself with all the
power of its earliest days. Wherever this book is
read, it must stimulate most earnest thought as to
what we are, whither we are tending, and what each
one must do to fulfil his trust with respect to that no
ble cause which is committed to us. Our members
certainly cannot discharge their responsibilities intelli
gently and discriminatingly without knowledge of the
facts that are here gathered, and most lucidly and
forcibly exhibited. Henry E. Jacobs.

Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary,
Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa.,
September 27th, 1889.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Page.
THE CHURCH.
The Church Indestructible — Some Corruption — Salvation a Gift — The Heathen Way
— Natural Susceptibility to Error — Indulgences — The Priesthood — The Hierarchy —
The Papacy — General Corruption — The Testimony of History . . . .21
CHAPTER II.
the reformation.
Divine Intervention — The Revival of Learning — The Invention of Printing— The
Mariner's Compass — National Self-consciousness — The Free Cities — Revulsion of
Popular Feeling toward the Hierarchy — The Man for the Hour — His Preparatory
Training — A Genuine Romanist — A Mighty Change — Birth of the Reformation —
Value of Experience— The Light of the Scriptures — Infallibility — The Material and
Formal Principles — Tetzel — The XCV Theses — Spread ~ot the Reformation — A
Picture of the Time  44
CHAPTER III.
THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Luther's Course — Superhuman Protection — Fate of Previous Reformations — Perma
nence of Luther's — The XLVI. Psalm — Luther's Conservatism — Justification by
Faith — Christ's Dominion — Not a New but a Regenerated Church — The Lutheran
Name — Luther's Co-laborers — Melancthon — Amsdorf — Bugenhagen — Justus Jonas
— Other Worthies — An Aroused Laity  75
CHAPTER IV.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA. — THE DUTCH.
Luther and Columbus — Romanism and Liberty — The Founders of the Republic —
Dutch Lutherans — Their Settlement on Manhattan — Their Persecutions — Appeal to
the West India Company — Conventicles Suppressed — Faith Enduring — A Success
ful Appeal — The First Pastor, Goetwater — Change of Government — A South
Carolina Colony — Another Pastor, Fabricius — A Real Pastor, Arensius . . .107
CHAPTER V.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA. — THE SWEDES.
Gustavus Adolphus — A Swedish-American Project — The First Colony — Tolerance —
Missionary Zeal — Bitter Trials — Change of Government — Lutheran Devotion —
Fabricius — William Penn — A Macedonian Cr, — A Life Picture — The Answer — A
Nation's Sympathy — Re-enforcements — Building Churches — The Tears of Christ —
Glorious Success  133

xiv Contents.

CHAPTER VI. Page.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA. — THE GERMANS.
Prostrate Germany — First German Immigrants — First German Congregation — Rev.
Justus Falckner — The Palatines — Rev. Joshua von Kocherthal — Oppression — A
New Outrage— Emigration to Pennsylvania — Spiritual Destitution — The Salzburg-
ers — Pennsylvania Alarmed — The Newlander — Lutherans in the Carolinas — In
Maine — In New Jersey  io9
CHAPTER VII.
THE CHURCH OF THE DISPERSION.
Large Number of Germans— Their Temporal Destitution— Their Spiritual Distress—
A Few Ministers — Occasional Services — Steadfast in the Faith — Innumerable Sects
—Thieves and Robbers— A Cry for Help— Magister Wolf— The Hour of Darkness . 210
CHAPTER VIII.
MUHLENBERG AND HIS COLLEAGUES.
Pennsylvania Congregations — A Deputation sent to Europe — Their Reception — Halle
— Effectual Sympathy — Slow Haste — Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg — His Youth —
His Call to America — The Voyage — His Character — His Welcome — His Labors —
His Enemies — His Colleagues — His Success — Union — A Liturgy — A Synod — A
Noble Ministry — The Power of God  , . 233
CHAPTER IX.
THi' RAVAGES OF WAR.
War and Religion — Devastations in the Church — Ministers Secularized — Infidelity-
Rationalism — Religious Declension — Peculiar Trials of the Lutheran Church — The
Conflict of Language — English in the Colonial Period — Lutheran Care of Episco
pal Churches — Change of Policy — Its Occasion and Extent — Its Deplorable Re
sults — A Measure of Progress — Two Muhlenbergs — Helmuth and Schmidt—
The Schaeffers — Kunze — Henry E. Muhlenberg — J. N. and J. D. Kurtz — Jacob
Goering — Christian Endress — J. G. Schmucker — Geo. Lochman — C A. G. Storch
— F. H. Quitman — Christian Streit — A Presbyterian Estimate — Missionaries —
Bager — Henkel — Butler — Steck — Heyer — The Ministerium of New York — The Unio
Ecclesiastica of South Carolina — The Lutherans Ordain an Episcopalian — The
North Carolina Synod — The Synod of Maryland and Virginia — Dearth of Minis
ters — Want of Schools — Private Training of Candidates  271
CHAPTER X.
FORMATION OF THE GENERAL SYNOD.
The Occasion — Plan — Constitutional Convention — First Meeting — Practical Aims-^
The Law of Success — Recession of the Pennsylvania Synod — Second Meeting —
New Synods — Theological Seminary — Inaugural Charge — Benjamin Kurtz, D. D.,
LL. D.— S. 3. Schmucker, D. D.— C. P. Krauth, D. D.— A Classical School— Edu
cation Society — Missionary Organizations — Sunday-Schools — Publication Enterprise
— A General Revival — Extensive Prosperity — Part Borne by the General Synod —
Its Relations with Other Synods — Multiplication and Accession of Synods — With
drawal of those in the South — Two Tendencies — The Disruption — J. A. Brown,
D. D., LL. D  322

Contents. xv
CHAPTER XI. Page.
THE INDEPENDENT SYNODS.
The Tennessee Synod — Organization — Doctrinal Position — Rev. David Henkel — Use
of the Press — Book of Concord — Catechisation — Missions — Union with the
United Synod — The Joint Synod of Ohio — Missionary Work — Education — Pro
gress — Relation to other Bodies — Literature — The Iowa Synod — Doctrinal Posi
tion — A Seminary — Missionary Zeal — Relation to Other Synods — A Colloquium —
Indian Missions — Internal Disturbance — A Secession — Rapid Growth — G. W. L.
Fritschel, D. D. — The Synod of Buffalo — The Norwegians — Early Destitution —
Proselyters — Organization — Growth — Mission Work — Different Parties — Doctrinal
Issues — Present Divisions — Efforts at Union — Danish Synods — An Icelandic Asso
ciation   372
CHAPTER XII.
THE MISSOURIANS.
A Circle of Pietists — C. F. W. Walther — Martin Stephan — Rationalism — Emigra
tion — A Revelation — Christian Congregations — A School of Learning — Pastor Grab-
au — Rights of Congregations — "The Lutheraner" — The Dogmaticians — Wyne-
ken — Fort Wayne — Dr. Sihler — Loehe — A Practical Seminary — Aggressiveness —
Organization of Synod — A "Pilgerhaus" — Gottlieb Schaller — A Rupture — Col
loquium with the Iowa Synod — With Buffalo — District Synods — The Synodical
Conference — The Predestinarian Controversy — Separation — Statistics — The Patri
archs — The Wisconsin Synod — The Minnesota Synod  406
CHAPTER XIII.
THE GENERAL COUNCIL.
Desire for Unity — An Inspiring Prospect — Fraternal Address — The Reading Conven
tion — The First Meeting — The Four Points — Doctrinal Basis — A Chasm — Co-or
dination of Languages — Philadelphia Seminary — Missionary Work — Charles Por-
terfield K:auth, D D., LL. D.— Beale M. Schmucker, D. D.— The Pennsylvania
Ministerium — The New York Ministerium — The Pittsburg Synod — Purpose of its
Organization — Missionery Zeal — Gottlieb Bassler — The Swedish Augustana Synod
— Immigration — Americanization — Lars P. Esbjorn — T. N. Hasselquist — E. Carls-
son — Organization of Synod — Theological Seminary — Eric Norelius — Jonas Swens-
son — Peter Carlsson — Union with General Council — Olof Olsson — Waldenstrom —
Synodical Meetings — Conferences — Swedish Sects — Home Mission Work — Paroch
ial Schools — Worship — Intelligence  432
CHAPTER XIV.
THE UNITED SYNOD IN THE SOUTH.
Occasion for a new General Body — Preliminary Convention — General Synod, C. S. A.
— Doctrinal Basis — A Pastoral Letter — Desire for Union — A Common Service —
Theological Seminary — Interchange of Visitors with other Bodies — Foreign Mission
Effort — A Colloquium — The United Synod — Institutions — John Bachmann. D. D.,
LL. D.— David F. Bittle, D. D  .64

xv i Contents.

CHAPTER XV. Page.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND CULTURE.
The Reformers and Education— Lutheran Universities — Popular Education — Culture
of the Fathers— Kunze— Helmuth— H. E. Muhlenberg— Want of Institutions-
Pennsylvania College — Parochial Schools — Catechisation — Care for Orphans —
Higher Schools — Lutheran Publications — Periodicals  476
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND MISSIONS.
Interest of the Reformers — Insuperable Obstacles — Missionary Princes — Pietism —
Danish Mission in India — Christian Friedrich Schwartz — First Bible House — First
Missionaries in America — An Example — Lack of Ministers — The Missionary Spirit
— Organization — First Anniversary — C. F. Heyer — Walter Gunn — India Mission —
African Mission— Home Missions — Illustrations  49x1
CHAPTER XVII.
OBLIGATIONS OF OTHER COMMUNIONS TO THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Effect of the Lutheran Movement — Later Developments — Genetic Relation — The
Mother Confession — German Church Diet — Trunk and Branches — The Anglican
Church — The XXXIX Articles — Book of Common Pra er — English Catechisms —
Methodism — The Presb terians — German Reformed — The Moravians . . . 504
CHAPTER XVIII.
DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINES AND FEATURES OF THE EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The Trunk and Branches — Comprehensiveness — Three S) stems — Free Grace  Re
strictions Proposed — Limited Atonement— Baptism— Sacramental Grace — The
Real Presence — Consubstantiation — The Person of Christ — Justification by Faith
— Liturgical Worship — The Common Service— The Church Festivals — Types of
piety  513
CHAPTER XIX.
PRESENT STRENGTH OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES
AND EUROPE.
Numerical Strength — Comparison with the Past — Comparison with Others — Real Ex
pressions of Strength— Union With Christ— A Clear Faith— Instruction of the
Young— Aggressiveness— Institutions— Periodicals— Strength in other Lands . 523
CHAPTER XX.
THE FUTURE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Seed and Harvest— The Living Word— Providence— Progress under Trials— Growth
in every Sphere— Public Recognition— Drawbacks— Advantages -Doctrine— Indoc
trination— Popularity— Vast Material— Conservatism— The Polyglot (. hurch— Pres
tige — Trend of Other Churches— A Conviction • ¦ j3

LIST OF AUTHORITIES.

The following are the principal works consulted in the preparation
of this volume :
Hallesche Nachrichten.
Hallesche Nachrichten, Neue Ausgabe. I.
Mann's Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.
Seidensticker's Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft.
Acrelius' History of New Sweden.
Schaeffer's Early History of the Lutheran Church.
Hazelius' History of the American Lutheran Church.
Schmucker's Lutheran Church in America.
Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit.
Dorchester's Christianity in the United States.
Evangelical Review.
Lutheran Quarterly.
Lutheran Church Review.
Nicum's Geschichte des New York Ministeriums.
Bemheim's German Settlements, Etc., in the Carolinas.
Strobel's History of the Salzburgers.
Kurtz's Church History.
Fisher's History of the Reformation.
Fisher's Outlines of Universal History-
Mommsen's Provinces of the Roman Empire.
Bayne's Martin Luther.
Kostlin's Life of Luther.
D'Aubgine's History of the Reformation.
Robertson's Charles V.
Hausser's Period of the Reformation.
Krauth's Conservative Reformation.
Hagenbach's History of the Church in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thomasius' Dogmengeschichte.
Seiss' Ecclesia Lutherana.
Seiss' Luther and the Reformation.
Herzog's Real-Encyclopsedie.
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia.
Minutes of the different Synods, especially those of Pennsylvania
and the General Synod.
Proceedings of the Lutheran Diets, 1878, 1879.
Morris' Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry.
Briggs' American Presbyterianism,
The Presbyterian Quarterly,

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portraits.

Page.

Luther — Frontispiece,

.

Melancthon,

73

Gustavus Adolphus,

^33

Muhlenberg, Henry Melchior,

233

Kunze, John C,

271

Henkel, Paul,

302

Schmucker, S. S.,

322

Stork, Charles A.,

356

Lehman, W. F.,

380

Fritschel, Gottfried,

386

Walther, C. F. W.,

406

Krauth, Charles Porterfield,

432

Esbjorn, L. P.,

453

Bachman, John,

464

Heyer, C. F.,

490

Andre wsen, 0.,

516

Colleges, Seminaries, Etc.
Augustana College,
Augsburg Seminary,
Bethany College,
Capital University,
Carthage (Illinois) College,
Concordia College, (North Carolina),
Concordia Seminary, .
Elk Horn (Iowa) High School, .
Gaston College,
Gettysburg Theological Seminary,
Hagerstown (Maryland) Female Seminary,
Hartwick Seminary,
Luther College,

460 226216
204
486 376
418 "3
526
34i
509320 128

Illustrations.

xix

Luther Seminary, .
Lutherville (Maryland) Female Seminary,
Midland College,
Missionary Institute, .
Muhlenberg College,
Newberry (South Carolina) College, .
Old Concordia Seminary, .
Pennsylvania College,
Philadelphia Theological Seminary,
Roanoke College,
Staunton (Virginia) Female Seminary,
Thiel College,
Wagner Memorial College,
Wartburg College,
Wartburg Seminary,
Wittenberg College,
Orphans' Homes, Asylums, Etc.
Addison (Illinois) Lutheran Orphan Asylum, .
Germantown (Penn.) Orphan Home and Asylum, .
Jacksonville (Illinois) Lutheran Hospital,
Mary J. Drexel Home, ....
Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Lutheran Hospital,
St. John's Orphan Home (For Boys) Buffalo, N. Y.,
St. Louis (Missouri) Lutheran Hospital,
St. John's Orphan Home (For Girls) Buffalo, N. Y.,
Toledo (Ohio) Lutheran Orphan Asylum,
Tressler Orphan Home, ....
Wartburg Orphans' Farm School,
Wernle Orphan Home, ....
Wittenberg Orphan Home, ....
Churches. First Lutheran Church, ....
Old Swedes' Church (Gloria Dei),
Old Trappe Church, ....
Old St. Michael's Church, ....

Page. 253
488 37° 366457
468 412
329 436 473483
449 447 230 174
289

427442 104 55 79
534
422 538
38835i 43
3«3
317

!39J55
237
262

xx Illustrations. Page.
Old Zion Church, .... 268
Jerusalem Church (Salzburger) Ebenezer, Ga., . 191
Church of the Holy Communion, Philadelphia, Penn., 23
Danish Lutheran Church, .... 208
Emanuel's Lutheran Church, New York, . . 29
First English Lutheran Church, Pittsburg, Penn., . 3 1
Gustavus Adolphus Swedish Luth'n Church, New York, 164
Memorial Lutheran Church, Washington, D. C, . 65
St. Mark's English Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Mo., 70
St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Charlotte, N. C, . 27
St. Paul's German Lutheran Church, Chicago, Ills., 100
Seamen's Norwegian Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., 398
Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, Penn., . 218
Trinity German Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wis., . 39
Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Ohio, . . 90
St. James Lutheran Church, New York, . . 120
Miscellaneous. Luther Memorial Statue, Washington, D. C, . . 48
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo., . 430
Lutheran Mission House, Rajahmundry, India, . 496
Lutheran Mission High School, Rajahmundry, India, 501
Lutheran Mission Church, Guntur, India, . . 493

The Lutherans in America.

CHAPTER I.

THE church.

PERHAPS the boldest utterance ever heard upon
this earth was the announcement of Jesus that he
would found an imperishable institution. " Upon
this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." The universal destroyer
shall fail to overcome the Church. Everything else
under the face of the sun may perish. Thrones and
dynasties, nations and kingdoms, systems and creeds,
may become extinct. Heaven and earth under this
mighty law shall pass away, but the Church of Christ
shall never die. Built upon the eternal rock of truth,
she is indestructible.
The sublimity, the astounding significance of that
announcement, must ever challenge the attention of
thoughtful minds. Casting defiance at the scepter of
death, holding in contempt the teachings of universal
history, a Hebrew sage, in an obscure corner of the
world, and attended by a few humble peasants, sol
emnly avows his purpose to rear a fabric that will
stand fdrever ! The lessons of some thousands of
years had pretty well demonstrated the transitory

22 The Lutherans tn America.
and perishable character of the noblest results of
human endeavor. Nations had succeeded nations
and made the record of their achievements and their
glory, only to disappear again and forever. Colos
sal empires, splendid civilizations, hoary religions,
profound philosophies, vast monuments of art and
the loftiest creations of architectural genius, had fal
len into decay and crumbled into dust. Of all the
mighty past, nothing remained but a few fragmentary
records, a few sporadic tenets of philosophy, of relig
ion and of civil government, a few scattered columns
on the plains of Mesopotamia, and several huge piles
of masonry on the frontier of the Egyptian desert.
The earth was one vast graveyard, in which was
buried all that a hundred generations had either
thought or wrought, with but here and there a broken
shaft surviving to mark the spots which entomb the
exploits and products of human history. And stand
ing thus amid the shadows and ghosts of this uni
versal sepulchre, Christ declares his purpose of estab
lishing a Church that shall defy the law of decay and
death. And here, after nearly two thousand years, the
Church is to-day, with its faith uncorrupted, its vitality
unimpaired, its prayers still rising to God, its songs
never ending, its benedictions and benefactions ever
widening, and its resolve to subdue the earth becom
ing more and more apparent. Its pulsations still give
life to dying men, and multitudes all over the earth
are fleeing to its shelter and clinging to its altars, as if
they beheld in it the one unfailing refuge for man
kind, an impregnable fortress scorning the shocks and

The Church.

23

storms of time, a rock in the midst of the sea unmoved
by tempest or billow.
The indestructibility of the Christian Church does
not, however, make her proof against all phases or
stages of cor
ruption. The
stream of living;
water in its
course from a
virgin spring
through many
lands into the
ocean, continu
ally absorbs
some of the un
clean and filthy
deposits of the
shores it washes
and fructifies.
Sometimes even
very noxious
and poisonous
ingredients are
taken up into the
limpid waves.
While purifying
and refreshing
the earth the noble river contracts in turn some of
its corruptions.
The vanquished nation may react upon the victors.
Roman arms subdued the Greeks, but such was the
power of Greek civilization that Rome in turn became

lb H

CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

24 The Lutherans in America.
Hellenized. The Greeks became the educators of the
Romans, and their manners, culture, art and science
pervaded the great Empire.
"When conquered Greece brought in her captive arts,
She triumphed o'er her savage conquerors' hearts."
So powerful was this reaction, that while the Greek
States became Roman in name, the Roman Empire
itself in the East became Greek.
Christianity entered upon its career with the pur
pose first to reduce to its faith the Jewish nation;
then began its conquest of the Grseco-Roman world.
Afterward came its mission to the barbarians of the
West. The task which the Church thus set for her
self, the complete moral revolution of society, in
volved the application of superhuman wisdom and
divine power. Still the work had to be committed to
human instrumentalities, with all their limitations,
their infirmities, their impurities and their suscepti
bilities, and nothing short of a perpetual miracle
could have prevented the Church from being, in some
measure, contaminated by her contact for a thousand
years with these hoary and corrupt systems which she
proposed to supplant. The principles of these sys
tems had entwined themselves with every institution
of society. They had become inwoven with the whole
texture of domestic and public life, and in the conflict
which now arose between the new and the old, some
times a drawn battle ensued, and sometimes the old
order made large inroads upon the ranks of the new.
There was prodigious vitality in the institutions
both of Judaism and of Heathenism, and though there

The Church. 25
was not that aggressiveness which intrinsically char
acterizes the Christian spirit, yet, when it is remem
bered that heathen tenets and customs, in particular,
coincided with the natural tendencies and instincts of
a depraved humanity, and that the elements which
composed the Church were as yet but partially freed
from these same tendencies and instincts, it may
readily be understood, how, in the progress of the
contest, baleful influences would retroactively pene
trate her bosom. Insensibly something of the spirit,
the beliefs and the customs of the opposing institu
tions would invade the Christian community.
Without ever compromising her attitude or her
mission, the survival of depraved elements within the
pale of the Church, and the character of her surround
ings, would inevitably expose her to the taint of
extraneous and injurious influences. In the course of
her progress, while unfolding and dispensing her own
treasures, she was liable to absorb, in a measure, the
very errors, superstitions and moral impurities which
she was charged to combat. When, at a later stage,
she hoped to facilitate the transition from Paganism
to Christianity by making concessions to heathen sen
timents and customs, and accommodated herself to
national peculiarities, the infection became inevitable.
Her leaven that was introduced into Pagan society
yielded insensibly, before its work was completed, to a
counter-leaven. The power that was to conquer the
world suffered itself to some extent to be conquered
by the world. The energy of the contest became
gradually somewhat relaxed. The leaders of the
Church grew less vigilant, and ingredients of corrup-

26 The Lutherans in America.
tion, penetrated from time to time her bosom and
vitiated her blood.
Her conquests were often so rapid and so vast that
her capacity of assimilation was overtaxed. Like
America, opening her arms to receive and civilize the
world, the Church found herself the mistress of im
mense masses when she lacked adequate resources for
their instruction and spiritual transformation. In this
way "gross errors incorporated themselves in the con
ceptions of the Christian people and in the institu
tions of the Church."
We cannot, in this volume, take account of all the
errors and abuses which, in the progress of centuries,
had corrupted the Church before the Reformation.
Our reference must be restricted to those which most
deeply affected her vital functions, and those which
wrought the greatest wrong and ruin to souls.
Christianity is a religion for the salvation of sin
ners. It answers the cry, "what must I do to be saved !"
It reveals to men a Father's love and offers salva
tion gratuitously to lost and guilty men. " By grace
ye are saved through faith, and this not of your
selves ; it is the gift of God." "Of his mercy he saved
us by the washing of water and the renewal of the
Holy Ghost." "God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on
him might not perish but have everlasting life." This
was the good news proclaimed to sinners by inspired
men who had learned the gospel from the lips of the
founder of the Church. And this message brought
peace to the sinner and effected the renovation of
human nature. Alienated from the life of God and

The Church.

27

fallen from his primordial state, man possesses within
him no power of self-recovery. His own unaided
efforts and strength avail nothing. Salvation is of
the Lord. It is a divine gift. It is the outflow of
infinite meicy.
All that devolves upon man is to grasp the offered
grace, to lay
hold of this sal-
\ vation, each for
himself to make
it his own by
that confiding1
attitude, that
trustful action,
which is ex
pressed in the.
simple exercise
of faith in the
offer and t he
promises. Such
were the simple
terms on which
in the Apos
tolic Church,
both Jews and
Heathen.the no
blest alike with
the vilest of
men, obtained pardon and the grace of the Holy
Ghost. This is, in fact, the feature which distinguishes the
Christian religion from all other religious systems.

ST. MARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, CHARLOTTE, N. C,

2 8 The Lutherans in America.
So far as the latter aim at moral improvement it is
through the action and works of men. They assume
that there lies in man, despite his ruin through sin,
the capacity for self-redemption, the ability to effect
his own salvation, Paganism believes in man. He
may save himself. Christianity believes in the Son
of God. There is salvation in no other.
This vital truth, the very heart of the Gospel came,
in course of time, to be strangely obscured. It was
practically set aside. The pagan idea of salvation
through personal endeavor, through works of self-
righteousness and penance, usurped again the place
of salvation by grace. Instead of a free gift, pardon
was sought as a reward. Men taught that it might be
merited. By doing penance, by submitting to penal
ties imposed by the Church, by self-inflicted sufferings
and privations, by tears and fasts and voluntary mor
tifications, the sinner could find the deliverance for
which he sighed. Instead of being pointed to the
boundless mercy of heaven, men were subjected to a
system of cruel and rigorous exactions. They were
required to go barefooted in the cold, to exchange
their clothing for garments of torture, to undertake a
distant journey, to separate from their loved ones
and deprive themselves of the ioys of life, to enter
the cloister and submit to a rigorous suppression of
natural affection. Regular penitential systems were
devised and horrible hardships prescribed even for
secret sins. The soul yearning for pardon must
obtain by penance, by works, or even by the offer of
money, that salvation which was purchased for the
world by the Redeemer's blood. The essence of

emanuel's Lutheran church, German) new york crrv.

30 The Lttt her ans in America.
heathenism, salvation by man, was substituted for the
cross of Christ, and this fundamental error gave rise
to monstrous conceptions and led to the deepest cor
ruptions of saving truth.
The human mind is never so susceptible of delu
sions and so ready to be misled and seduced as when
tormented by a sense of guilt and perplexed over the
attainment of mercy. Like the unfortunate victim of
a terrible disease it is ready to avail itself of every
device and nostrum that promises to bring relief.
Now, relief was never yet found by a process of pen
ances, by a succession of " works," or by any other
devices whereby impotent man is expected to com
pass his own deliverance. The more sincere and
determined the effort the more clearly must the soul
realize its failure, and experience the impossibility of
doing or suffering enough for securing inward peace
and moral renovation.
Not only the deluded people but their pastors and
teachers came to realize this during the middle ages.
They accordingly devised a system of exchange, by
which in lieu of the heavy burdens which they found
themselves unable to bear and which, even when
borne, brought no salvation, the people might give a
certain sum of money. A price was fixed upon the
grace of God.
Unlike Peter, claimed as the first Pope, the rulers
of the Church would sell God's gift for money. They
denied the gratuitous character of forgiveness and
began to barter and sell in the house of God, like
those who were driven from the temple by the indig
nant Son of God. But unlike those indecent dealers

The Church. 3 1
in animals and coin, the priests of the papacy became
brokers in sin, they carried on a traffic with human
guilt. They made merchandise of the Gospel. They
sold pardon at a fixed sum. Holding this to be per-

Warn
JmpPdM ism

FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH, PITTSBURG, PA.

haps easier for the penitent, and certainly more profit
able to a mercenary hierarchy, it was proposed, " For
a seven week's fast, you shall pay twenty pence, if you
are rich; ten if less wealthy ; and three pence if you
are poor, and so on for other matters." Incest, if
not detected, was to cost five groats, if known six ;

32 The Lutherans in America.
so there was a stated price for murder, infanticide,
adultery, perjury and burglary.
The traffic, which was thus conducted, is known
under the name of Indulgences. Originally and in
the minds of the theologians this was meant as a sys
tem of commutation — the penitent paying a fine of
money in lieu of some disciplinary suffering he was
required to undergo. And the benefit to accrue
from these Indulgences was not the divine mercy,
but exemption from the penalties imposed by the
Church as a just penitential reparation for sins com
mitted. The real effect of these enforced penances
was to make the grace of God of none effect, and
when a pecuniary consideration took their place they
led to incredible scandal and brought religion into
disrepute. The idea which was per se a hideous cari
cature of the Gospel soon developed into an abomi
nable traffic in the salvation of souls.
It is not known that the Church as such ever form
ally and officially declared that an Indulgence deliv
ered from all sin, or was an actual pardon of guilt
before God, but many of its agents affirmed this over
and over, and it cannot be denied that multitudes so
believed. A Jesuit historian speaking of the monks who ac
companied Tetzel, the famous vender of Indulgences,
says: "Some of these preachers failed not, as usual,
to go beyond the matter they were treating of, and so
far to exaggerate the worth of Indulgences, that they
gave the people cause to believe that they were
assured of their salvation, and of the deliverance of
souls from purgatory, so soon as they had given their

The Church. 33
money." "Incredible as it may appear it is the dark,
damnable fact of history that, in praising the immeas
urable value of his wares, Tetzel declared to his audi
ence that he had saved more souls by his Indulgences
than the apostle had by his sermons, that no sin was
so great that an Indulgence cannot remit it — that
even the sins one intends to commit may be par
doned, only pay well and all will be forgiven."
And these payments were valid even in the spir
itual world. If Indulgences availed here for those
who by bitter torments were required to expiate their
offenses, why indeed should they not avail for those
who in purgatory are expiating sins for which they
could not do penance here. A regular tariff of Indul
gences was provided by which those burning in pur
gatory could have immediate exit from their pains,
and those to whom life on earth had been turned to
purgatorial fires might escape by paying the required
ransom. " The very instant that the money rattles at
the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purga
tory and flies into heaven," said Tetzel. Although
the people on receiving their Indulgence had to
promise reformation, it was giving men, in the name
of the Church, permission to sin, and among an ignor
ant and rude people was tantamount to the encour
agement of gross immorality.
This rank offense that smelled to heaven and cast
reproach upon the Church resulted from the funda
mental error of substituting works for faith in Christ.
When works were made co-ordinate with faith, as was
done by the mediaeval theology, and faith itself was
but submission to the Church and not trust in Christ,

34 The Lutherans in America.
the consequences were no less subversive and soul-
destroying. For, according to the scriptures, good
works' are not a condition of salvation but the fruit
and manifestation of saving faith.
Another departure from the principles of the
Church as founded by the Apostles was the institu
tion of a priesthood to intervene between man and
God. The Old Testament sacerdotal service had
found its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, "who offered one
sacrifice for sins forever," and who having by this
"one offering perfected forever them that are sancti
fied," appointed no priests in his Church. In this
again lies a broad and essential contrast between the
Christian religion and all religions which are of
human origin. The soul, however defiled or debased,
has free access to the fountains of grace. It may
come into immediate communion with God. The
Gospel knows of no intervention between the sinner
and his atoning Savior. It presents a publican and
a dying thief justified through the simple cry for
mercy. Confident of having a great High Priest, that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
believers are encouraged to come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4: 14, 16. In
respect to immediate access to God all are priests,
all have the same rights, the same privileges. The
priesthood is universal. The one real Mediator be
tween God and man is Jesus Christ, who is our Advo
cate with the Father, who ever maketh intercession
for us, and who has given his people the inestimable
promise, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever

The Church. 35
ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it
you." This priceless gift of God, this inalienable right was
wrested from men and vested in a special order, a me
diatorial caste, who usurped the place, the office and
the Word of Christ, who claimed to hold in trust the
treasures of grace, to have in their possession the key
of heaven, and to have exclusive authority to dis
pense the blessing of salvation. They stationed
themselves between the soul and its Savior, denied
immediate personal access to God and refused salva
tion to all who would not seek it in those forms and
channels of which they claimed exclusive control.
Faith in the priest became thus substituted for faith
in the Lord Jesus, and in fact this perversion of the
conditions of salvation involved in the priesthood,
rendered it necessary to change the essence of faith,
which from being a confident reliance on the grace
of God through Jesus Christ, came to mean submis
sion to the authority and declaration of the priest.
His forgiveness was God's forgiveness. From his re
fusal there was no appeal. It meant exclusion from
heaven. " Christendom was divided into two unequal parties:
on the one side is a separate caste of priests, daring
to usurp the name of the Church, and claiming to be
invested with peculiar privileges in the eyes of the
Lord ; and on the other, servile flocks reduced to a
blind and passive submission — a people gagged and
fettered, and given over to a haughty caste."
To become really pious one must indeed enter a
monastery. It was the common belief that a truly

36 The Lutherans in America.
religious life was possible only in the clerical profes
sion or in the monastic habit. This was represented
among other things in a picture, which deeply im
pressed Luther in his childhood: "The Church was
set forth as a great ship bound for heaven, carrying
only the clergy and monks, while the laity swam
about in the water, some holding to ropes which
were thrown to them from the ship, others drown
ing helplessly in the waves."
As grace was originally free to all, as there was
in the Christian community an equality in privilege
the Church was really an association of equals. It
formed a community of brethren, with Christ the
elder brother as Lord. No man was called mas
ter. The Church was a brotherhood, a spiritual de
mocracy. The union of its members was not effected
through any outward rule, or by the exercise of
any authoritative ascendency, but a compact associa
tion was formed by the bonds of a fraternal rela
tion, by a oneness of faith and purpose, by ties of
holy affection, by a common interest, spontaneously
ministering to one another, and the greatest of
the number were those who ministered. Christ re
buked all ambitious of pre-eminence among his fol
lowers, and the Apostles in all their letters declined
to be considered lords over God's heritage, and
meekly avowed themselves as brethren and fellow-
servants of all believers.
But, in course of time, the organization of the
Church developed into a powerful hierarchy, a haughty
aristocracy, order towering above order, and gaining
such a domination as to suppress not only all equality

The Church. 37
and fraternity, but all freedom and independence,
the sordid lust of power reducing the flock of Christ
to the most debasing enslavement of soul and body.
At last the Roman See is made the supreme head
of the Church, the monarch of Christendom, the
infallible vicar of Christ upon earth. Never before
had human ambition reached such vaulting audacity.
The bishops of Rome, as if they were the heirs of
the Caesars and had received from them the scepter
of universal power, encroached age after age upon the
rights of the Christian Church, and finally usurped
universal dominion, claiming all people as their sub
jects and requiring from all ranks absolute submis
sion to their commands.
This high-handed and detestable usurpation is
without parallel or analogy. Not content with the
spiritual authority which it asserted — seeing in fact
that without invading the domain of civil authority,
it could not maintain its monstrous despotism in
the Church, the papacy insolently arrogated to it
self the rights of princes, assumed the exercise of
secular power, declared itself supreme over the state
as well as the Church, and claimed to be lord of the
world, "the fountain of laws," having jurisdiction
"over all the inhabitants of the earth."
No such claims were ever made for any heathen
deity. No such exorbitant prerogatives are com
patible with the limitations of the human mind.
They are conceivable only as belonging to the infi
nite God, and as being exercised through his Son
our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a mortal, sinful man,
a child of dust, exalting himself as God, so that he

38 The Lutherans in America.
as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God, and attempting dominion over the
state, over the Church, over the divine Word, over
the souls of men, over earth and heaven and hell, a
dominion from which lay no appeal to any higher
court. The Pope was in the place of God.
Such a subversion of truth must in the nature of
things be attended by the most baleful results. In
stead of being the divine agency for the salvation of
sinners and the moral renovation of mankind, the
Church became a vast political engine employed
for the aggrandizement of power — its energies con
sumed, and its institutions and ordinances debased
and prostituted in interminable contests with those
who bravely defended the rights of the state. Ab
sorbed in such pursuits and contests the bishops of
the Church could give but little attention to the main
tenance of her own purity, to the removal of growing
errors and superstitions, to the instruction of the peo
ple and the salvation of men. Human souls, the
spiritual interests of the race, were sacrificed to the
accomplishment of political ends, and instead of
bringing to the weary the cup of life the hierarchy
was laying on their necks an iron yoke.
The papacy was, besides, often steeped in vices.
crimes and shameful debaucheries. The Holy Father
was surrounded more than once by abandoned wo
men. "That throne which pretended to rise above
the majesty of kings was sunk deep in the dregs of
vice," and the notorious courtesans, "Theodora and
Marozia installed and deposed at their pleasure the
self-styled masters of the Church of Christ, and

TRINITY GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, MILWAUKEE, WIS.

40 The Lutherans in America.
placed their lovers, sons and grandsons in Saint
Peter's chair." This was in the tenth century, notable
as the darkest in the Christian era. But a spectacle
yet more infamous is presented by the pontifical
throne in the times immediately preceding the Ref
ormation. The rapacity, the profligacy and disso
luteness of the papal court at that time are incredi
ble. Alexander VI was openly accused of incest and
every disgraceful crime, and was known to sacrifice
every other interest to the elevation of his bastard
children. Space fails to speak here in detail of other lep
rous taints which were eating the life out of Christi
anity. For the divine institution of marriage and
the sacred precincts of the family, we see the enforce
ment of celibacy on the clergy and its strongest
encouragement on all others. The monastic life
instituted by men was more holy than the married
state instituted by God. The home was no place for
earnest piety. The convent was its proper nursery.
For the intercession of our divine Advocate were
substituted the prayers of the saints, and in cases
of distress or calamity appeals were directed to
them and divine honors accorded them in the very
temple of God. Images and relics were endowed
with supernatural qualities, holiness became a local
attribute, and the Church of God was everywhere
teeming with an idolatry which, excepting in the
name of the objects worshipped, differed but little
from the paganism of the ancient world.
All the evils which prevailed in the Church, error
in doctrine, misrule in administration, corruption in

The Church. 41
life, and the manifold and terrible forms of oppres
sion wrought remarkably in unison with each other
for the development of a colossal system. Popes and
priests, superstition and salvation by human merit,
ignorance and idolatry, false dogmas and moral cor
ruption, each fostered the other, and all joined in
rearing a structure whose towers cast a dark shadow
on the house of God, and whose walls were able to
defy every power on earth.
Sad, indeed, beyond description was the state of
religion and of morals throughout Christendom in
the fourteenth and fifteen centuries. The central
teachings of Christ were overlaid with insidious
errors. The charter of the Church suffered grievous
violence, her character had, in great measure, become
changed, her attributes disappeared. The consciences
of the people were besotted with the perversions of
truth and stifled with a burden of ceremonies. The
worst abuses had become identified with religion, and
moral rottenness that smelled to heaven was con
suming its vitals. The Church was still the Church,
but "the whole head was sick, and the whole heart
faint." The magnitude of these scandals was clearly recog
nized by enlightened minds, and for centuries most
strenuous efforts were put forward for their removal
and for the purging and reformation of the Church.
Every history of that age, Catholic as well as Pro
testant, admits the fearful degeneracy into which the
whole ecclesiastical organism had sunk. The Church
had ceased to command any respect or to exert any
moral influence over the masses. Secular princes

42 The Lutherans in America.
and learned divines gave expression to the crying
need of a thorough reformation in head and mem
bers. Imperial diets were summoned to take in hand
the frightful abuses which were rife in every quarter,
and three consecutive Councils of the Church Univer
sal, at Pisa, at Constance, and Basle, were called
exclusively for the purpose of doing something to
arrest the growing corruption and the general spirit
ual decay. The denunciations which Luther uttered
against the Romanism of his day, were not strictly
original with him. They had been repeated again
and again by the staunchest Romanists, long be
fore Luther was born. Open the literature of the
fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries and your eyes
will stare and the blood will curdle at the exposure
there made of prevailing corruptipns in all spheres
and ranks of the Church. This is in fact the reason
why a Catholic Emperor, for a long time, refused to
have the Reformer burned at the stake. He knew
that his denunciation of the existing order was but
the language of the most pronounced and loyal
Catholic divines in former years, that he was voicing
the sentiment of millions of his contemporaries. Sec
ular princes, like George of Saxony, who bitterly
hated Luther and would gladly have executed him,
denounced in unmeasured and scathing terms the en
croachments of Rome, made a withering exposure of
the prevalent scandals, and brought forward more
than one hundred grievances which they requested
the Emperor to have rectified, while they conjured
him to order a general reformation, and himself
to undertake its accomplishment.

The Church.

43

This historic circumstance reveals the desperate
pass to which things had come : powerful princes cry
ing out against the rapacity and oppression of the
Church, and appealing to the sovereign representa
tive of the nation to interpose for their relief, and that
too when the Church claimed to have not only a
spiritual mission to lighten the sorrows of men and
to raise them to freedom and happiness, but asserted

WARTBURG ORPHANS' FARM SCHOOL, MOUNT VERNON, N. Y.
also political prerogatives which secured for it the
freest access to their souls and consciences. It was
at this juncture, when the wisest men despaired of
help from that institution which claimed to hold in
its bosom all truth and grace, it was then that they
turned to a political ruler for the salvation of man
kind. The shelter of the lambs had become a den
of tigers and lions. The situation was desperate.

CHAPTER II.
THE REFORMATION.
CHRIST had not abandoned his Church. He had
not forgotten the promise of his abiding pres
ence. His hand in the supreme hour of need
brought deliverance. Aye, long before the supreme
hour had arrived, his providence was at work, slowly
maturing the elements and gathering the forces by
which might be effected a thorough reformation of the
Christian community. History has, by a number of ex
amples, taught us that the interventions of God in
human affairs do not occur with magical suddenness
nor as isolated phenomena, but that they involve a
vast sweep of events and evolutions, all converging to
the same consummation. The century immediately
anterior to the outbreak of the Reformation was so
marked with great historic movements, and these
movements had so direct and powerful a bearing on the
Reformation, as to indicate, unmistakably, the agency
of superhuman wisdom and Almighty power, not only
in the ecclesiastical reform itself, but in the extraordi
nary phenomena which combined to usher it into ex
istence. The evidences of a far-reaching, all-compre
hending Providence are incontrovertible. The Refor
mation was the work of God, a work not of a day, or a
year, or a generation, but stretching its roots far back
into preceding centuries, and reaching its crisis at the
signal of Luther's hammer. An amazing concert of
most diverse movements toward one end marks the
44

The Reformation. 45
whole period. Momentous changes were taking place
in the realm of ideas, of government, of inventions and
of discoveries, at once producing and proclaiming a
general awakening of society, and all not only singular
ly coincident with but most strikingly convergent to
a common result.
The great historians have recognized this singular
concurrence of extraordinary events in the political
and social life of Europe during the period preceding
the Reformation. Even the famous naturalist, Baron
Von Humboldt, pauses in his scientific studies to ob
serve : " The fifteenth century belongs to those re
markable epochs in which all the efforts of the mind
indicate one determined and general character, and
one unchanging striving towards the same goal. The
unity of this tendency and the results by which it was
crowned, combined with the activity of whole races,
give to this age a character both of grandeur and of
enduring splendor."
A revival of learning had been kindled through the
advent of Greek scholars who, on the fall of Constan
tinople, sought refuge in Italy. The western world
awakened from the slumber 'of ages, and one of the
mightiest intellectual revolutions ever known occurred
just in time to become one of the potent factors in se
curing the triumph of the Reformation. The human
mind became once more conscious of its powers, and
proceeded to assert its inalienable freedom of expan
sion, of activity, of inquiry, and of criticism, thus break
ing the bonds of sacerdotal training, by which it had
for ages been held in subjection and in ignorance.
This intellectual awakening gave a powerful momen-

46 The Lutherans in America.
turn to literary culture, kindling new aspirations, pro
ducing new tastes, opening up new worlds in the spir
itual and physical universe, liberalizing and broaden
ing the views of men, stimulating in them the search
after truth and giving them new methods for its dis
covery and new weapons for its defense.
The movement affected all classes. Monarchs on
their thrones, like Maximilian I, Henry VIII, and
Frederick of Saxony, applauded it ; illustrious knights
like von Hutten, in order to share the glory of the
new conquests exchanged the sword for the pen ; the
common people, held for ages in abject bondage, con
tracted a taste for intellectual liberty and an appetite
for intellectual food. The human mind was thus
providentially prepared for the Reformation. It
had its eyes open for the light about to burst upon
the world. It was armed for the coming contest
between the old and the new.
And just at this juncture came the art of printihgi
an invention which in its boundless influence on hu
man society surpasses all other inventions ever de
vised by man, and which, arriving at that epoch, added
its own peculiar excitement to intellectual activity,
and in conjunction with the revival of literature be
came a prodigious factor in bringing about the great
moral revolution of the sixteenth century.
Just at this time, too, mariners having learned the
use of the magnetic compass, crossed the trackless
oceans and made the discovery of new worlds, which
in turn again produced new impulses and new ideas,
widened the horizon of "thought and endeavor,
prompted the initial steps of colonization, gave a vast

The Reformation. 47
expansion to commerce and international intercourse,
and to an incalculable extent affected the intellect
ual, social and moral interests of mankind.
Simultaneously with the new learning we witness
a great reaction of national feeling. Nations become
conscious of their rights and their power. Civil gov
ernment is undergoing a process of centralization and
consolidation. Monarchies are acquiring a firm or
ganization and growing into compact state systems,
with rulers capable of withstanding the encroach
ments of the papacy and repelling its insolent assump
tions. It was of immense consequence to the Re
formation that just before or simultaneously with its
rise, princes like Ferdinand of Arragon, Maximilian of
Austria, Frederick of Saxony, Charles V of Germany
and Henry VIII of England, were on the throne,
monarchs who, though they had been carefully train
ed by the clergy, yet had been sufficiently enlightened
by the new learning to recognize the usurpations of
the popes and to gauge their proficiency in the basest
arts of diplomacy and dissimulation. Loyal sons of
the Church, as these princes were, they could detect a
scoundrel under pontifical robes, and they had no
scruple in opposing with all the might of secular
power, those Holy Fathers who were prostituting
their spiritual functions for political ends.
Along with the establishment of stalwart monarch
ies, this era was marked also by the powerful develop
ment of free cities, composed of the sturdy middle
classes, communities whose diversified industry and
extensive commerce had sharpened and invigorated
their practical understanding, and who long before

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The Reformation. 49
the appearance of Luther had learned to defend their
rights against imperious bishops. A great revolution
in the Church would have been impossible without a
profound change in the popular sentiment toward the
hierarchy. The disenchantment of the masses with
reference to Holy Mother Church must be effected,
the faith of mankind in the spiritual authority of the
clergy must be shattered, before any success could
attend so radical a reformation as was called for.
Nothing of abiding results can be achieved independ
ently of the people. And the people had gradually
come to open their eyes. The reactions and com
plainings of a thousand years had acted upon the
popular mind. Men had grown familiar with the
idea, often broached, that the pope was, after all, a
mere man, sometimes even a very bad man. "The
people in general began to suspect that he was not
much holier than their own bishops, whose reputation
was very equivocal. The indignation of Christen
dom had been excited by the immorality of the popes,
and a hatred of the Roman name was deeply seated
in the hearts of nations." Everywhere, from high to
low, was heard a hollow murmur, a forerunner of the
thunderbolt that was soon to fall.
And surely not the most insignificant agent in the
providential concurrence of historic phenomena was
the presence of the Turk on the frontier of the Em
pire. As often as the Catholic states were^on the
verge of making deadly war upon the Protestants, a
sudden invasion of the Turkish legions compelled the
union of the German armies in a defensive campaign
agrainst the common foe.

50 The Lutherans in America.
An extraordinary unity of purpose is thus revealed
by a series of remarkable movements and the. co-
working of the most diverse elements on the eve of
the Reformation — a drama of Providence that chal
lenges the admiration of the philosopher, the faith of
the Christian and the abiding gratitude of the Pro
testant world.
Think of it ! Mahomet and Columbus, Charles V
and Henry VIII, Frederick the Wise and Ulrich von
Hutten, Guttenberg and Erasmus, men of the most
opposite character and aim, all combining to bring
about the same tremendous result, all unconsciously
moving in chorus to the same consummation, destroy
ing the prestige of the Roman See, effecting intellect
ual and spiritual emancipation, producing a porten
tous disaffection with the existing order, and bring
ing on a profound crisis in society, so that princes
and peoples, philosophers and peasants, stood like
sentinels on their watch-towers waiting for a mighty
revolution, listening for the first blast of Luther's
trumpet. They did not listen in vain. The man for the
hour was at hand. The same Lord who, by sun
dry agencies and in diverse manners, had marshalled
and equipped his forces for the great battle, had also
raised up and trained his servant to take the com
mand of these forces and to lead them on to victory,
to impersonate the gigantic revolution and to con
trol the introduction of a new era.
Whenever the clock strikes, the man for the hour
appears upon the stage. To rescue truth from its
enemies, to deliver a people from oppression or an-

The Reformation. 51
archy, to effect beneficent revolutions in society, —
in each momentous crisis the very man required by
the occasion is sure to come to the kingdom for such
a time as this. Moses, David, Cyrus, Alexander, Cae
sar, Paul, Charlemagne, Cromwell, Washington, Lin
coln, were not evolved from a fortuitous concourse
of atoms. They were men sent from God, and came
endowed with the faculties required for their task
and singularly fitted by peculiar experiences to ac
complish their mission. In each case the man, the
time, and the work coincided.
Of no one is this more manifestly true than of
Martin Luther, a genius "in whom was found the
rarest combination of all the gifts and qualities of
spirit, mind, character and will, requisite to the great
work. He was, moreover, providentially trained for
his high mission by the events of his life, and by
being made to experience in his own soul the essen
tial principles of the Reformation." He must needs
also have such undeniable proofs of their divine
power as impelled him irresistably to communicate
to the world this most sacred and precious experi
ence of his life. Bayne, an English layman, says:
"The persuasion, in its various degrees of strength,
from a mere admission of possibility up to impas
sioned confidence, that Luther was a man of God
empowered to speak to his generation, not only per
vaded the mass of his followers, already in the end
of 1520 an enormous multitude, but had a potent in
fluence upon those who resisted him * * * The
sentiment of Europe, a sentiment diffused in the
courts of princes and penetrating to the inner cham-

52 The Lutherans in America.
bers of the Vatican itself was to the effect that
if one went to inquire of God, a more authentic mes
sage from Him might be had through this blameless
monk, this preacher of righteousness, than by the
lips of lordly cardinals, or of Leo spurred and booted
for the chase."
On this man was devolved the stupendous task of
rescuing the Christian Church from tyranny, fetters,
and corruption. And Rome had herself forged the
weapon that was destined to smite her. If there
ever was a devoted son of the Church, if ever the
papistic usurpation had ingrained itself in the soul of
a devotee, if ever a mortal had with all his might
endeavored to follow the prescribed course of seek
ing salvation by works, that mortal was Martin Lu
ther. Reared in the domestic austerity, which was en
forced by the legalistic rigor of the papal system, his
mind had early been filled with the superstitions
which were incorporated with a debased Christianity,
while he was withal possessed of the strongest in
stincts of reverence and religious feeling, rendering
him peculiarly susceptible to the gloom and awe dif
fused by the spiritual instruction of the age. All
sacred things had become associated with a trans
cendency of terror. Even Christ, the dear Redeemer,
"was throned in terror, an iron-featured judge, whose
breath was consuming fire. Only through Mary, his
tender, Virgin Mother, could one safely and hopefully
approach Christ himself." Young Martin was, in the
course of time, occupied with the thought of monkish
holiness, and at the age of twenty-one sought refuge

The Reformation. 53
from an angry God within the precincts of a cloister.
There, by dint of hard endeavor and cruel self-morti
fications, he hoped to work out his salvation and pro
pitiate that gruesome, terrific judge which Jesus
Christ had been represented to him in all the teach
ings he had received both in school and at church.
Of faith in Christ, as the simple, gracious way of par
don, he had positively never heard. His whole trust
had been placed in Mary. Although, on one occa
sion, when he sank to the earth from the shock of a
deafening thunder-clap, he addressed another saint,
crying out as soon as he recovered consciousness,
''Help, sweet Saint Anne; save me, save me, and I
will become a monk."
The liberator of the Church must needs himself
have endured the horrors of slavery. The deliverer
of his age from the wretched superstitions under
which it groaned, must first himself have felt their bale
ful power. It was Paul's personal experience of the
hard Pharisaic bondage that afterwards enabled him,
as a freeman of Christ, to strike its fetters from the
Christian conscience. So with Luther. On entering
the cloister the monks at once subjected their learned
and distinguished novice to the harshest treatment
and imposed upon him the most menial service. His
mind must be humbled, his spirit broken, by the mostf
humiliating offices. He cleans out the cells, sweeps
the Church, and traverses the street with a wallet beg
ging bread from house to house. Returning within
the walls he must shut himself up in a low, narrow cell,
and to all this he submits willingly. He renounces
not only what is pleasing to the flesh, but even the

54 The Lutherans in America.
books that resale the mind, determined to be out and
out a monk, and perform all the works and mortifica
tions, and to undergo all the outrageous severities
and cruelties of an unnatural and monstrous asceti
cism. At a later period, when allowed to resume his stud
ies, he pursued them with such zest that he often hap
pened not to repeat the daily prayers for three or
four weeks together. Then becoming alarmed at this
violation of the monastic rules, he shut himself up
"and began to repeat conscientiously all the prayers
he had omitted, without a thought of either eating
or drinking. Once, even for seven weeks together, he
scarcely closed his eyes in sleep." Nothing was too
great a sacrifice for him in order to secure holiness.
He was resolved to merit heaven by abstinence.
"Never," says a historian, "did the Romish Church
possess a more pious monk. Never did cloister wit
ness more severe and indefatigable exertions to pur
chase eternal salvation."
After he had entered upon his reforming work, and
boldly announced that heaven could not be obtained
by such means he adds ; "If ever monk could obtain
heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly
have been entitled to it. Of this all the friars
who have known me can testify. If it had continued
much longer, I should have carried my mortifications
even to death, by means of my watchings, prayers,
reading, and other labors."
He knew the bitterness of that cup, which Rome
compelled her subjects to drain, and he knew, too,
that it was no cup of salvation. The cloister brought

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56 The Lutherans in America.
him no repose. It gave his conscience no peace.
The assurance of pardon, which he craved, continued
to be his ever-crying want, despite the fastings, watch-
ings, and other outward observances to which he
attended so faithfully. The fears and terrors which
had driven him within the walls of a cell pursued
him within and plunged him into despair. The more
he strove to appease the anger of God, the darker
became the vision of his sins, the more polluted his
heart, and the more frightful his agonies of contrition.
He says that he had recourse to a thousand methods
to stifle the cries of his conscience. Every day he
went to confession, but found it of no avail.
Discovering at last the impossibility of propitia
ting God and securing salvation by his own merits,
realizing the impotency and worthlessness of all these
rigorous and irrational expedients, utterly disappointed
in his expectations of becoming holy, and finding that
notwithstanding his penances and confessions, monas
tic austerities and priestly absolutions he was yet a
lost soul, his life became a mortal struggle. "The
young monk crept like a shadow through the long
galleries of the cloister that re-echoed with his sor
rowful moanings." His body wasted away. His
strength began to fail. His bones could be counted.
His eyes were sunken. He was found lying insensible
on a stone floor. For days he remained like one
dead, exhausted by the struggles and storms through
which he was passing.
A truer portrait of Romanism in its error and its
impotence can nowhere be found. Luther's personal
experience is the best commentary on the corrupt

The Reformation. 57
teachings and the pernicious practices which then
universally prevailed.
But his coming to the light and peace of the gospel
is also the best illustration, the living embodiment of
the Reformation of which he was the peerless and
immortal hero. Luther's religious experience was
the mirror, the microcosm, of the Reformation. His
rich nature compassed all its element. Such were
his great talents and characteristics, and such the
situation of Europe at the time, "that the Reforma
tion, in fact, passed from the mind of the one into the
mind of the other." It pleased God to reveal in his
earnest soul, his Son, Jesus Christ, the bearer of the
world's sin, and then the Reformation sprang living
from his heart.
While he continued to torture his bosom with vows
and works, and a thousand insupportable tasks, Stau-
pitz, the general of the Augustinians, came providen
tially on a visit of inspection. Himself a subject of
saving grace, he not only recognized the deep unrest
and melancholy of Luther, with which others had
grown familiar, but he also clearly understood the
nature of the struggle through which he was passing,
and earnestly pointed him to the wounds of Jesus
Christ, to the blood shed for his sins, and urged him
to cast himself into the Redeemer's arms, and to trust
in him for righteousness. God is love and his favor
is not to be sought with self-torture and mortifica
tions. With these instructions came sweet peace into
his storm-tossed breast, as when the Master calmed
the waves of Galilee. It seemed to Luther that
Jesus Christ himself was addressing to him these

58 The Lutherans in America.
sweet and healing words. He is assured of the for
giveness of his sins. A mighty change passed over
his spirit. Repentance, which had been the bitterness
of anguish, turned now to sweetness and delight.
And the Scriptures — what a new meaning they pos
sess ! What an illumination has come over them!
He studies them with ever-increasing zeal, and they en
ter his mind like great streams of light. " His struggles
have prepared his heart to understand the Word. The
soil has been ploughed deep ; the incorruptible seed
sinks into it with power." He has found the Saviour.
He has found his gospel. He has received salvation
immediately from God, and on the warrant of His
Word. A voice of thunder resounds unceasingly
within his breast, "the just shall live by faith." The
Spirit of God kept pressing these words upon his
heart, until he clearly learned that a sinner's justi
fication proceeds from the mercy of God through
faith, and then he says, " I felt born again like a
new man."
The Reformation was born. Luther himself does
not yet perceive it, though his own experience is the
epitome and the prophecy of the impending crisis.
In its essential features it has been wrought out and
mirrored in Luther's soul. "What was to revolu
tionize Christendom and start afresh the course of
history first revolutionized Luther and started him
in the new life." A new morning dawned upon the
world. Experience is the sovereign test of truth. Here
was an earnest and highly gifted soul seeking its own
salvation, and trying all the expedients which a degene-

The Reformation. 59
rate system had, from time to time, invented and sanc
tioned, but only to sink deeper into the mire of his
sinfulness and spiritual helplessness. At last he is
brought to trust himself solely to the mercy of God
in Christ Jesus, and his conscience has peace, his soul
has an accession of spiritual power.
It was not a momentary thrill that passed over his
bosom. It was not an evanescent calm experienced
by a storm-tossed mind. It was a passage from dark
ness to light, from helpless prostration to spiritual
energy, and new light and new strength continued to
pour into his breast. If periods of despondency
returned, and the dreadful nature of sin pressed again
heavily upon him, he made, in each instance, a fresh
application of the same remedy, and every time it
availed for the same result. He found assurance of
salvation. He attained the abiding joyous freedom
of God's children.
All the ordinances and devices of the Romish
Church having failed Luther in the supreme crisis of
his conversion, he gradually came to recognize their
uselessness and utter worthlessness. Of what value
are fasts and penance and self-mortifications, priestly
manipulations and all the mediatorial assump
tions of the clergy, if they fail to bring the sinner to
his Savior? And when simple faith lands him in
the Savior's arms, what further need has the soul
of them anyhow? " Turning away from all such expe
dients Luther cast himself immediately upon the
warm bosom of his Lord. He found pardon and jus
tification by faith alone.
As the light grew brighter in his soul the surround-

60 The Lutherans in America.
ing darkness became to his eyes more and more ap
palling. The grossness and pernicious character of
the abounding corruption began to weigh heavily
upon his mind. The vast system of works, and merits.
and satisfaction, and indulgences, he now discovered
to be at war with the central doctrine of Christianity,
salvation by grace. Yet everywhere the ecclesiastical
authorities upheld these as the requisite conditions of
salvation, lauded the purchasing power of human
merit, stamped a false value upon man's righteous
ness before the divine judge, and treated the whole
subject of redemption as if it were a commercial
transaction between God and the sinner, the latter
furnishing from his own bankrupt store a fair equiva
lent for the grace received, the priest acting as the
intermediate agent.
In the Bible, a copy of which, to his great sur
prise, he found one day in the University library,
he found none ot these things. The way of salva
tion, as there portrayed, is the very way now reached
by his wandering feet. The answer which in his
profound distress came to Luther, " Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," was the
answer of an inspired Apostle — it was, in fact, the an
swer of the Lord Jesus who came into the world to
save sinners, and who by the shedding of his precious
blood has opened a new and living way unto God. It
is the answer throughout, of the Scriptures, which re
veal the way of salvation. It is the voice of God.
The answer of Rome, on the other hand, was, "Sub
mit to the Church, perform good works, seek priestly

The Reformation. 61
mediation, do penance, make satisfaction." This does
not accord with that. It is the voice of man.
Thus by the stress of circumstances, and through a
profound personal experience, Luther came gradually
to doubt the infallibility of the Church, and with this
to question its authority. It was a hard struggle
with him — for he had been a most loyal son of the
Church. He had most humbly and unquestionably
received her teachings. Even after his enlightenment
he clung with obstinacy to her papal head, and it was
a terrible discovery for him to learn that after all she
was not the depositary of infallible truth, her author
ity was not supreme, the fathers and bishops and
popes had made departures from the Scriptures, Coun
cils were but an aggregate of fallible men, and had
pronounced in favor of errors ; that, in fine, the
only supreme and infallible authority was the in
spired volume.
In this manner the two cardinal principles of the
Reformation came to be developed, the sinner's justi
fication by faith alone, and the Word of God as the
sole authority for faith and life. These two funda
mental truths, the condition of salvation and the war
rant for it, are the poles on which the whole move
ment turned and by which all its essential features
were determined. They formed its heart and its
panoply. The Reformation, let it ever be borne in mind, was
an intensely spiritual work. It was in the best and
fullest sense of the term, a revival. A cry was going
up all over Christendom, what must I do to be saved?
With what mockery and paraphernalia Rome made_

62 The Lutherans in America.
answer to this cry, and how unavailing it was, we have
already seen. We have seen, too, the answer which
came to Luther out of the Scriptures, and how effi
cacious it proved. Having the warrant from God's
Word that the just shall live by faith, and finding that
the ordinances and institutions of the hierarchy were
at war with this truth, he rested upon the authority of
the Scriptures and made a stand for their supremacy,
over against the decrees, the dogmas and tradi
tions of the Church.
These two principles, called in theology the material
and the formal principles of the Reformation logically,
naturally and inevitably go together. Had not God's
holy Word been overlaid and buried under number
less strata of human interpretation, ecclesiastical
authority and conciliar dogmas, the simple way of
life by faith in Christ could never have been obscured
and well-nigh closed. It has been said with striking
force, "the deepest curse under which the Church
was groaning, was the practical dethronement of
God's Word." Now it comes once more to its proper
honor and position. All appeals are taken to it, and
when Luther, in that immortal scene at Worms, delib
erately, at the risk of his life, declares "unless I am
convinced out of the Holy Scriptures, or by clear and
distinct arguments, I may not and cannot retract;
here I stand, God help me," he laid the corner-stone
of Protestantism and defied the assembled might of
Hierarchy and Empire to overturn it. " That was
the appeal of the Church to her divine charter and
charter rights, against a falsifying hierarchy which
was not the Church," The Word thus restored to

The Reformation. 63

o

supremacy, a-nd all dogmas, traditions and claims
tested by its teachings, there was involved in it inevi
tably the right and assertion for every man, especially
for every believer, to study and to interpret the Script
ures for himself. Salvation is an individual matter,
the work of a personal faith resting upon the grace
and promises of God. The sinner having direct
access to his Savior on the ground of the divine
Word, no power on earth can deprive him of his title
or wrest from him that which is to him individually,
as well as to the Church, the embodiment of supreme
authority, the infallible chart to govern his belief and
his conduct. With the assertion of these principles
the Reformation achieved its triumph.
The crisis arrived when Tetzel opened at Juter-
bok his abominable market for the sale of Indulgences.
He was not allowed to carry on his trade in Witten
berg, because the Elector Frederick was unwilling to
have his country drained of money. At Jiiterbok,
however, which was beyond his jurisdiction, the sale
of forgiveness could proceed without hindrance, and
thousands of the deluded people flocked thither to
invest their scanty earnings. A new impetus had just
been given to the traffic in Indulgences by the erec
tion of St. Peter's Church at Rome. Vast sums were
required for the magnificent edifice, and a luxurious
and splendor-loving Pope, Leo X., whose very faith
in Christianity has been questioned, and the morals
of whose court was one of the numerous scandals of
the period, had no scruple, in raising funds, to resort
to this foul, soul-destroying business. " Meanwhile,
the popes were not ashamed to appropriate freely to

64 The Lutherans in America.
their own needs and to other objects, such as the war
with Turkey, that Indulgence money, which was nom
inally for the Church." It is, perhaps, of little mo
ment in what way, or for what ends, a fund thus ac
quired is expended.
For the farming of this revenue in Germany a suit
able instrument was found in Albert, Archbishop of
Mayence and of Magdeburg — Luther's own bishop —
a prince of the Church, who, although drawing the
lucrative proceeds of two Archdioceses, had, by his
fondness for architectural splendor, his extravagant
court, and especially the heavy payment he had
been required to make for his appointment, be
come very deeply involved in debt. So a bargain
was struck between him and the Holy Father by which
he was to retain half of the profits arising from this
nefarious traffic. And it is given as a sober historical
fact, that behind the preacher of Indulgences, who an
nounced God's mercy to all who handed over the price
of sins, stood the agents of the Archbishop's creditors
collecting their principal's share of the proceeds.
Contemporary historians describe "the lofty and
well-ordered pomp with which such a commissioner
entered on the performance of his exalted duties.
Priests, monks, and magistrates, schoolmasters and
scholars, men, women and children, went forth in pro
cession to meet him, with songs and ringing of bells,
with flags and torches. They entered the Church to
gether amidst the pealing of the organ. In the mid
dle of the Church, before the altar, was erected a
large, red cross, hung with a silken banner which bore
the papal arms. Before the cross was placed a large

MEMORIAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D. C.

66 The Lutherans in America.
iron chest to receive the money ; specimens of these
chests are still shown in many places. Daily, by ser
mons, hymns, processions round the cross, and other
means of attraction, the people were invited and
urged to embrace this incomparable offer of salva
tion." The time for reform, one would think, had
certainly come.
To the atrocious and ruinous character of this sale
of forgiveness Luther's eyes became fully opened in
the confessional, where he found conscience-stricken
souls appealing to these Indulgences through which
they purchased salvation. He had for some time
previous warned his congregation against putting
trust in them and had openly avowed his hostility
to the system as it was being worked. He was, in
fact, " burning to protest against the scandal," although
he confessed himself not yet in the clear about all of
its features. He had written to some bishops, receiv
ing various replies, but finding no one prepared to take
any steps in the matter. "Every one," said he, "com
plained of the Indulgences, but nobody was willing to
bell the cat."
At last further silence became impossible. The ruin
of souls, revealed to him as he was hearing confession,
compelled him to rise in opposition. Accordingly,
on the eve of All-Saints' Day, October 31, 15 17, he
posted on the doors of the Castle Church, at Witten
berg, ninety-five Latin theses or propositions on this
subject, hoping thereby to call the attention of eccle
siastics and theologians to the great evil, and by sta
ting his own doubts and opinions to challenge dispu
tation and thus bring about public discussion. Such

The Reformation. 67
a procedure was not uncommon at that day, and at
the Universities, and among theologians, it was the
practice to have such public disputations as a means
not only of exercising learned thought, but of elucida
ting truth.
At ordinary times, therefore, the bold act of the
Reformer in nailing up those theses would not have
provoked any special notice ,or given rise to any com
motion, although by announcing the doctrine of free
and gratuitous remission of sins he heralded the Ref
ormation. But, as we have observed, these were not
ordinary times. The state of mind, all over Europe,
was such that a very trifling incident became the note
of a bugle, at the sound of which all Christendom
sprang into action. Luther's hammer emitted a few
sparks. The inflammable material, which lay in masses
everywhere, caught fire and, as with the rapidity of
lightning, a conflagration spread from Wittenberg
to every part of the Christian world. "In a fort
night," says a contemporary, "these theses were in
every part of Germany, and in four weeks they had
traversed nearly the whole of Christendom, as if the
very angels had been their messengers, and had
placed them before the eyes of all men." " Every one
read them, meditated and commented on them."
Little had the humble monk dreamed of what he
was doing. He had hoped to bring about a simple
public disputation in which he proposed humbly, but
with all his might, to defend the fundamental doctrine
of the gospel, the freeness of salvation through Christ,
and lo ! he has awakened a discussion which is shak
ing the Church to its center. All Europe is involved

68 The Lutherans in America.
in the tremendous commotion, and without ever
having intended it, shrinking in his soul from the very
thought of it, Luther suddenly finds himself at the
head of a colossal movement against the central au
thority of the Church, a movement which no power
on earth could now stay and which, by the irresistible
logic of events, he was charged under God to direct
and control.
The papacy was roused by the terrific noise. This
monk must be silenced. He is summoned to recant
his teachings in the theses and in his publications, and
as this was not in the line of his convictions the ban
of excommunication is hurled against him. When no
one in authority dares to pay any heed to this, and
as excommunication loses its terror if the subject of
it keeps at large prosecuting the work for which he
was anathematized, the congress of the Empire is
convoked in order to dispose of this Wittenberg monk
who set the world on fire. At the fiat of the Pope,
the lord of the kingdoms of this world, the Emperor
is constrained to make effective the bull of excommu
nication. He assembles, in 1521, the great Diet, at
that time the mightiest political body in the world,
and the solitary monk is required to appear in per
son before it. He makes his defense before the
princes and prelates. He solemnly plants himself on
the Word and refuses point blank to surrender his
convictions and his conscience. In God's name he
bids defiance to priests and potentates and powers,
and by his firm stand marks an epoch in the progress
of human freedom. Ready to live or die he is placed
by friends under the shelter of a castle, and from

The Reformation. 69
thence he gives the word of life to the German peo-
in their own tongue.
A large part of the nation have already embraced
the evangelical faith. Great princes of the Empire
refuse to join in the condemnation of a man who has
the courage to tell the naked truth about Rome, and
who once more proclaims the Gospel of a salvation
purchased once for all by the blood of the Lamb.
Electoral Saxony joins the Reformation. So does
Brandenburg, Hesse, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Lune-
burg, Friesland, and nearly all the free cities which
had long been impatient of Episcopal rule : Hamburg,
Liibeck, Bremen, Magdeburg, Frankfort, Gdttingen,
and Nurenberg. As early as the Diet of Spires, in
1526, the countries holding the evangelical faith had
become so numerous and so strong as to extort from
the national congress the right, for the time being, to
maintain the new order, to have the unrestricted
preaching of the Gospel and the organization of the
Churches in independence of the hierarchy, a right
which they never again surrendered, though repeat
edly threatened with violent measures if all was not
brought back under the old papal regime. In a few
more years Schleswig and Holstein adopted the evan
gelical faith, as did also Silesia, Prussia, Anhalt, Ducal
Saxony, Brunswick and the Palatinate, almost the
whole of northern Germany and a large part of South
Germany, inclusive of nearly all the powerful free
cities. Without doubt a majority of the people in
countries which remained Roman Catholic, were in
sympathy with the Reformation and hungering for
the Gospel and its life of freedom, but the intolerance

7°

The Lutherans in America.

of Austria and Bavaria, and the bloody engine of
the Inquisition succeeded in stifling the movement in
those countries.
This astounding revolution was effected within the
short period of ten years, marking a rapidity and a
radical thoroughness such as the world had never
before witnessed. And the only weapon employed
was the torch of the Gospel, which brought men
to realize the surrounding darkness and revealed to

Ijljfeilfilfe

ST. MARK S ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH, ST. LOUIS, MO.
them the way of life. About the same time the doc
trines proclaimed by Luther achieved a like triumph
in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, while the reforma
tion wave rolled on into France and Holland and
England, and "to the utmost boundaries of Europe."
Everywhere it was welcomed as the deliverance for
which men had yearned through centuries of bondage.
From a popular historian of the Reformation,
D'Aubigne, we transfer the following graphic picture
of the amazing rapidity of its course: " Luther's writ-

The Reformation. 71
ings were read in the cities, towns and even villages;
at night by the fireside the school-master would often
read them aloud to an attentive audience. Some of
the hearers were affected by their perusal ; they would
take up the Bible to clear away their doubts, and
were struck with surprise at the astonishing contrast
between the Christianity of the Bible and their own.
After oscillating between Rome and Scripture, they
soon took refuge with that living word which shed so
new and sweet a radiance on their hearts. While
they were in this state, some evangelical preacher,
probably a priest, or a monk, would arrive. He
spoke eloquently and with conviction ; he announced
that Christ had made full atonement for the sins of
of his people ; he demonstrated by Holy Scripture the
vanity of works and human penances. A terrible
opposition would then break out; the clergy and
sometimes the magistrates, would strain every nerve
to bring back the souls they were about to lose. But
there was in the new preaching a harmony with
Scripture and a hidden force that won all hearts, and
subdued even the most rebellious. At the peril of
their goods, and of their life, if need- be, they ranged
themselves on the side of the Gospel, and forsook
the lifeless and fanatical orators of the papacy.
Sometimes the people, incensed at being so long mis
led, compelled them to retire ; more frequently the
priests, deserted by their flocks, without tithes or of
ferings, departed voluntarily and in sadness to seek
a livelihood elsewhere. And while the support
ers of the ancient hierarchy returned from these
places sorrowful and dejected, and sometimes bidding

72 The Lutherans in America.
farewell to their old flocks in the language of anathe
ma the people, transported with joy by peace and
liberty, surrounded the new preachers with their ap
plause, and thirsting for the word of God, carried
them in triumph into the Church and into the pulpit.
"A word of power, proceeding from God, was at
that time regenerating society. The people or their
leaders would frequently invite some man, celebrated
for his faith, to come and enlighten them; and in
stantly for love of the Gospel he abandoned his
interests and his family, his country and friends. Per
secution often compelled the partisans of the Ref
ormation to leave their homes: they reached some
spot where it was as yet unknown ; here they would
enter a house that offered an asylum to poor travel
ers ; there they would speak of the Gospel, read a
chapter to the attentive hearers, and perhaps obtain
permission to preach publicly in the Church * * *
If they could not preach in the Church, they found
some other spot. Every place became a temple."

PHII.IP MDLANCTHON.

CHAPTER III.
THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
GOD'S providence and the preaching of the pure
gospel of salvation brought into being the Evan
gelical Lutheran Church. It is the unanimous
testimony of Protestant historians that Luther shrunk
with holy horror from the idea of a separation from
the Church presided over by the Roman See. He
had a most profound reverence for the dogmas and
institutions which had prevailed, through ages. His
attacks. were leveled at first only against a few gross
abuses, and he was so innocent as to believe that the
Pope himself and all pious theologians would join
in their condemnation, when they became fully in
formed of these evils. He could not have believed
that they had become so corrupted by error and so
poisoned by its virus, that they would resist every
attempt at the purification of the house of God. He
had no idea that the chief shepherds of the Church
could brand, outlaw and burn at the stake men who
pointed sinners to "the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world." He had not anticipated
that the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Papacy stood
in irreconcilable conflict with each other. Having
planted himself on the eternal rock of truth, and con
fident of the material on which he stood, he now
could not do otherwise than maintain his position, and
if Rome declared that treason, and proposed to make
73

74 The Lutherans in America.
war upon him, Rome must take the consequences.
The truth was dearer to him than all the sacred tra
ditions he had so profoundly venerated, and the truth,
he well knew, was the only invincible power upon
earth. The Church rests upon God's Word as her
foundation stone. She stands or falls with the doc
trines of grace and so Luther, secure of his position,
went on purging and cleansing the sanctuary as God
led him, until a glorious anti-papal, Evangelical
Church arose over Europe.
God did lead him, and God did protect him. We
have seen how wonderfully the soil was made ready
for the seed of the Word, how events had conspired
to bring on the crisis, how the colossus of Rome was
tottering from its weight, how the reverence for the
Papacy had been shattered and the minds of men dis
enchanted, how a multitude of new ideas had spread
over every land, how society in every grade was pul
sating with a new life, how the printing press had
scattered its pages of light into the most distant
places, and the discovery of new worlds had extended
the horizon of human thought. Everything por
tended a great revolution. All men had a presenti
ment of an impending crisis. Some, judging from the
fearful decay in the Church, foretold the near ap
proach of Anti-christ, while others cherished an ar
dent expectation of a Reformation close at hand. If
God rules in the affairs of men, there was certainly
here, in this universal concurrence, a revelation of his
mighty providence.
And no less conspicuous is the hand of God in the
protection of his servant through all the perils and

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 75
struggles which he encountered, and in the triumphant
issue which crowned his work. From the moment he
uttered truths which were at variance with the exist
ing order in the Church, he jeopardized his life, and
it is one of the marvels of history that, with the ban
of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities branded
upon him, the Reformer escaped unharmed from the
fiery furnace. How did it come about that a power
ful, earthly prince, Frederick the Wise, who never per
sonally met him, and who, for a long time, avowed no
sympathy with his views, saw fit to cast the shield of
protection over his person? How was it that the Em
peror, who was lord of two worlds and fn full alliance
with the papacy in every attempt at smiting Luther
and crushing his work, found himself paralyzed in the
critical juncture and compelled to let the cause ad
vance until it defied repression? How was it that
when Luther walked right into the jaws of death at
Worms, and when scarcely a mortal expected to see
him come out of the city alive, he passed out as he
entered, the hero of the age? The imperial safe-
conduct, under which he went and came, was the fac
simile of the one granted to Huss to assure his safe
return from Constance, but Huss was burnt by the
Council as a heretic, and so was Jerome, his coadjutor,
while Luther, who was spreading doctrines far more
dangerous to the papacy, went back to Wartburg
and from there brandished a sword which pierced the
vitals of his enemies. Savonarola taught in Flor
ence the way of salvation, as revealed in the Script
ures, and instituted a moral and religious Reforma
tion, but he died at the stake as a heretic and a

76 The Lutherans in America.
seducer of the people. Wycliffe maintained that the
only source and rule of faith were the Holy Scriptures,
and sought to inaugurate a thorough reform of
the Church, but, although the civil power protected
his person from molestation, he was stripped of his
offices, debarred from public teaching and kept in
retirement, while his principal friends were either
driven out of the country or forced to recant.
The penalty for the crime of murder in civilized
states is death by hanging. The penalty for attempt
ing the reform of the Church and for preaching a
pure Gospel was, at that period, death at the stake,
and nothing else could have been anticipated for
Luther who boldly bearded the lion in his den. Yet
from the daring step of posting his ninety-five
theses, he kept on teaching, preaching, writing, dis
puting, and publishing, openly, publicly, fearlessly, in
the university, in churches, in the presence of the
great and the mighty, in the palaces of kings, be
fore august assemblies, his enemies having innumera
ble opportunities to poison him, to kidnap, slay or
burn him, and never was molested, never suffered an
injury to a single hair of his head, lived triumphantly
till his work was finished and finally passed away as
the oracle of his age, dying peacefully in the circle
of his friends, with loud thanksgiving to God.
As the leader, so the cause itself received super
human protection. It happens sometimes that the
workman falls, but his work is perpetuated ; some
times, as in the case of Wycliffe, the person of the
leader is shielded while the issue for which he con
tended is crushed. But here the leader and the revo-

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 77
lution, inseparably united, share alike the guardian
ship of heaven. That movement for a purified
Church and a revived gospel, which might at its bold
inception have been strangled by a single hand of
civil or ecclesiastical power, was allowed to move on
unimpeded until, in its advance, it had gathered such
momentum as to sweep before it every barrier, and
to overcome all opposition. The arm of the Most
High was stretched out for its defense, and moved
not only a Frederick and his successors in Saxony
to shelter and shield the precious cause, but also a
king of France and a king of England, notwithstand
ing their religious adhesion to Rome, to offer armed
resistance to the combinations formed for the de
struction of the Reformation. Even Charles V.with
all his hatred of Luther and Lutheranism, and his re
peated resolve to extinguish both, the mighty poten
tate who to the end of his life regretted that he had
allowed Luther's escape, found himself, just at the
moment when he had expected to strike the fatal
blow, compelled by political exigencies to recall vio
lent measures, to make a sudden change of front, and
to allow the Reformers to prosecute their work in
peace. The very Turk, the mortal foe of Christen
dom, whose baleful shadow cast itself from time to
time into the heart of Germany, became more than
once an instrument of Providence to shield the work
of purifying his Church.
In the spring of 1532, for instance, Soliman was ad
vancing towards the gates of Vienna with an army of
three hundred thousand men. An Embassy was sent
to offer him the most humiliating terms of peace, so

78 The Lutherans in America.
that the Emperor's hands might be free to crush the
Lutherans. He at once inquired, "Has the Emperor
made peace with Martin Luther?" and on learn
ing that no such peace had yet been made, he
spurned every offer, and spread such consternation
in Germany that all the resources of the Empire had
to be combined against the common foe.
The Lutheran Reformation thus achieved success,
and resulted in a pure Church, while all previous
efforts were stamped with disastrous and melan
choly failure. Gerson, D'Ailly, and other French re
formers, called together Council after Council, and
made the most sincere and strenuous efforts to purify
the Church in head and members, but all their at
tempts proved wholly abortive. Papal tyranny,
hierarchical assumptions, clerical immorality and all
other scandals and wrongs remained as dominant
and powerful as before. Germany had its reformers
previous to the Reformation, but not a trace of their
work survived to give encouragement or direction to
Luther. In the Low Countries, nearly a century be
fore Luther noble men had denied the power of the
Pope and held out the torch of Evangelical light, but
all had again vanished in the surrounding darkness.
Of Wycliffe's movement in England it is doubtful
whether any germs remained to prove seed-corn for
the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Huss and
Jerome started a reformation in Bohemia which, in
its advocacy of justification by faith and the su
premacy of the Scriptures has been very naturally
regarded as the precursor of the Lutheran Reforma
tion, but soon after their leaders had attested their

The Evangelical Lutheran Church.

79

faith at the stake their followers disintegrated into
factions, became a prey to fanaticism, were dispersed
by the civil authorities and afterwards disappeared
from history.
With all these examples of direful and distressing
failure staring him in the face, Luther resolutely and
without a conscious fear advanced to the attack of
the mightiest bulwarks of Rome, effected the libera-

LUTHERAN HOSPITAL, MILWAUKEE, WIS.
tion of the nations from its thraldom and proceeded
to build up a church without pope, bishop or priest,
tearing down and destroying every structure which
man had erected within the temple of the Most High.
He succeeds. His work stands. It dates a new
epoch not only in the Church but in the world. It
marks the birth of modern civilization. The Church
reformed abides. It survives the discomfiture of its
foes, the storms of succeeding social commotions, the
wrecks of time.

80 The Lutherans in America.
Abraham Lincoln was wont to remark during the
darkest periods of the civil war, that it had always
been his object to find out on which side God is and
then to embrace that side, for that was the side
that would always win in the end. So in the
midst of the tumult created in Jerusalem by the
rapid spread of the gospel, there stood up a notable
philosopher of the Pharisees and put in an eloquent
defense for the Apostles, closing with the earnest
charge to "refrain from these men and let them
alone, for if this council or this work be of man it
will come to naught. But if it be of God, ye cannot
overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight
against God."
That the Reformation was of God can be shown as
conclusively as that the material universe is the work
manship of his hand. In nothing, however, is divine
interposition so conspicuous as in the protection
which marked its progress and the abiding success
by which it was crowned. "When He giveth quiet
ness, who then can make trouble?" The battle-hymn
of the Reformation was the xlvi. Psalm, and it was
not an expression of the lips alone but an immovable
conviction among its adherents that " God was in the
midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall
help her and that right early. The Lord of hosts is
with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge."
But why were success and victory given to Luther,
and withheld from other great and true men who had
conceived a similar undertaking at other times and in
other lands? The real answer to this inquiry is not
the extraordinary personality of the Reformer, trans-

The Evangelical Ltitheran Church. 81
cendent and unapproachable as that is acknowledged
to have been, "a sort of inspired apostle and prophet,'
who came to the stage of history for such a time as
this. Luther was human and had his full share of the
limitations and passions and weaknesses of his kind.
He was but an instrument. Nor is it sufficient to say
that the times were ripe, that the hour had come, for
this, after all, does not indicate what was the decisive
instrumentality which brought about the result.
Compare the revolution which triumphed under the
Lutheran Reformers with the endeavors made so
often in the same line by others, and the unique
ness of their reform and the secret of its success
become manifest. The Paris Reformers, with all
their zeal and energy, directed their attacks against
the open and glaring scandals and the accursed op
pressions which were festering in the Church, while
its falsified faith they had no idea of disturbing, and
the doctrine of gratuitous justification they did not
so much as understand. Savonarola was not content
to purge the Church and its faith, but must also
reconstruct the government of his country. Wyc
liffe formulated a theological system and developed
philosophical speculations of interest to thinkers, but
he made no impression on the people, and by denying
the objective validity of the ordinances, he practically
rendered it impossible to establish a visible Church
or community. Huss, though giving greater empha
sis than Wycliffe to justification by faith, yet fell
into his error of spiritualism, which made the Church
the totality of the predestinate and empowered only
the elect to administer the sacraments, thus vitiating

8 2 The Lutherans in America.
the nature, the import and the office of the objective
Church. From all these errors the Reformation under
Luther was providentially preserved. Taking as his
guide implicitly the divine Word and sternly exclud
ing from the Church one by one the false ingredients
which could not endure its searching test, this great
mind was marvelously held back from those extremes
into which reformers and iconoclasts almost inevita
bly plunge. He, too, was encompassed by these very
temptations. The same insidious tendencies, which
had wrecked previous efforts, were present and threat
ened to weaken, to divert and to vitiate the reform ;
but Luther, like a rock in the sea, stood firm against
wind and tide from every quarter, and with the
Romanists on the right and the fanatics ahd anarch
ists on the left he upheld the simple truth of God
without wavering and without compromise.
His own inclinations often prompted him to a more
radical course as, for instance, on the Lord's Supper,
where at first he was fain to deny an objective pres
ence and to accept the symbolic view, but he had so
completely subjected himself to the Scriptures that
neither the inclinations of his heart nor the argu
ments of his reason could be allowed to sway his con
victions or to determine his conduct.
By his profound religious experience he had been
made to realize that justification by faith was the
central doctrine, and giving this its proper position
in the preaching of the Gospel, in the system of doc
trine, and in the Confession of faith, making it the
doctrine of a standing or a falling Church, he was

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 83
able to steer clear of the dangerous snags and shoals
by which his course was beset, and by which so many
others had been shipwrecked. He not only had an
infallible compass, but he knew the polar star whose
long eclipse had led to many serious errors in the
Church, and he knew also its exact place in the sys- »
tem, and thus the ship of Christ outrode the terrific
storms and billows which it encountered,
"In the middle of the Confession, as its construct
ive center," says Thomasius, "is placed the Article
on Justification :"" It is further taught that we can
not obtain the pardon of sins and righteousness
before God, by our own merits, works, or reparation,
but that we receive forgiveness of sins and become
righteous before God for Christ's sake, through the
faith that Christ has suffered for us, and that for his
sake sins are remitted to us, righteousness and
eternal life gratuitously given. For this faith God
will impute for righteousness before Him, as Paul
declares in Romans iii and iv." Here is the secret of
the power and the success of the Lutheran Reforma
tion. This was its battle-cry and this truth, the heart
of the gospel, made it invincible. Under this banner
the Evangelical Lutheran Church came into distinct
ive being and Jesus Christ was lifted up as the
Savior of sinners. Men were everywhere drawn to
this uplifted Savior, and those so drawn were justified
from their sins, were quickened by the Holy Ghost,
and were united in a living communion with the real
and divine head of the Church. Thus united with
him and possessed of his Spirit they formed an
organic part of the body of Christ. They constituted

84 The Lutherans in America.
a Church of the living God, a part of that great com
munity of saints who, in all lands and all ages, agree
concerning the Gospel, and have the same Christ, the
same Holy Ghost, the same proclamation of grace and
the same sacraments. Not a single note of the true
Church is wanting, not a single element or part of
that building which, not made by hands but being
fitly framed together into Christ, "groweth unto a
holy temple in the Lord." And such was the power '
of the spiritual life pulsating in this company of be
lievers, that within the limits of a single generation it
so extended its borders as to embrace nearly all the
peoples of the Germanic race and the entire popula
tion of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
But while a new and fresh life was throbbing with
in its bosom, it was not in any sense a new Church
which thus spread over Europe. Though it came to
bear the name of Luther its inception or genesis does
not date from the period of the Reformer's career.
"The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the Christian
Church regenerated, renewed and reformed. It is in
all essentials a return to primitive Christianity, a
restoration of gospel teaching to its ascendency in
the house of the Lord, a reassertion of the principles
which marked the Church in the days of her apos
tolic purity, when she had the Gospel and the
Sacraments, but had neither pope nor priest within
.her domain. The Church is not a body of officials
administering elaborate ceremonies and exercising
outward lordship over men's souls ; it is the com
munity of believers in Christ, among whom the Gos
pel is preached in its purity and the Sacraments

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 85
are administered according to divine appointment.^
These and not the former are accordingly the stamp
of a church's legitimacy. And these treasures of
grace were committed, not to an order of ecclesiastics,
but to the whole Church, they are the common herit
age of believers, the inalienable right of the body of
disciples. A set of officials may gradually usurp the govern
ment of a country, claim to be the lords of a nation
and possess themselves of its goods and its rights.
For a people to cast off such a usurpation, to assert
their inalienable privileges, to resume the control of
their property and their government, is not the ruin
of a country, nor indeed the creation of a new country,
but is simply freeing the land from its tyrants and
from the pernicious institutions which their unholy
and oppressive rule had imposed upon the people.
The Lutherans renounced the papacy, they cast off
its fetters, they overturned its ruinous ordinances and
with their hands thus freed they grasped the Bible,
they pronounced the historic creed, they clasped the
ancient faith, they held to the ministry of the Word
and Sacraments. And certainly such a departure from
the abominable corruptions which had been wickedly
brought into the Church, does not involve a depart
ure from the Church itself. It is a return to the true
Church, the pure Church. It is a new birth within
the old Church, which depends for its life not on the
Pope nor any Episcopal administration or manip
ulation, but upon Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, and
upon the Holy Ghost, "the Lord and giver of life."
What, can I not be a member of Christ's Church

86 The Lutherans in America.
without belonging to the Pope's Church ? Is the
Latin Church the Universal Church? Is there not
also a Greek Church ? Can there be no German
Church, no English Church? Must the Bishop of
Rome have jurisdiction over all, a jurisdiction co
extensive with the authority of Christ, and is
Romanism identical with the one holy Catholic
Church? God forbid ! The Scriptures, reason, his
tory, heaven and earth unite in denying this blasphe
mous assumption and with one voice declare that
Christ has a glorious dominion beyond the Roman
barriers. Under that dominion falls the Evangelical Luth
eran Church. She recognizes no other. " For one is
your master, even Christ ; and all ye are brethren."
As there is but one Master in the Church, so there is
but one Priest, "a great High Priest that is passed into
heaven, Jesus the Son of God," "who through the
eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God,"
and by this "one offering hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." And taking his people into liv
ing union with Himself he has made all of them
"priests of God and of Christ." He has constituted
them a universal priesthood, to offer thanksgiving
and intercession each in behalf of the other and in
behalf of all. And in the exercise of that authority
with which the Master has clothed his Church, and in
accordance with apostolic practice, as illustrated both
in the case of Matthias and in that of the seven
deacons, the calling and ordaining of men to admin
ister the Word and Sacraments reverts once more
to the entire assembly of believers, to the body of

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 87
the Church. " Every Church has lawful authority to
ordain ministers for itself. For wherever the Church
is, there is verily the command to preach the Gospel.
Therefore, the churches undoubtedly retain the au
thority to call, elect and ordain ministers. And this
authority is a privilege which God has given especi
ally to the Church, and it cannot be taken away from
the Church by any human power, as Paul testifies,
Ephesians iv., where he says: 'When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts
unto men.' And among these gifts which belong to
the Church, he enumerates pastors and teachers, and
adds that these were given for the edifying of the
body of Christ. Wherefore it follows that wherever
there is a true Church, there is also the power to
elect and ordain ministers." And whether this ordi
nation or appointment be conducted through the
laying on of the hands of the presbytery or of a
single bishop, matters nothing at all, since the cere
mony of ordination is nothing more than the minis
ter's authorization, in the name of the Church, to
perform official functions.
Luther and his co-laborers accordingly did not frame
a new Church. They are not to be considered as
founders of a new Church, but, as they themselves uni
formly claimed, "renewers of the old Church on the
ancient foundations." Christian institutions had fallen
into frightful decay, and the work of the Lutherans was
that of renovation and preservation. Under God
they saved the Church from threatened destruction.
The outward organization with its officials and cere
monies which they renounced, is not the veritable

88 The Lutherans in America.
kingdom of God. That cometh not by observation.
It is a spiritual body with spiritual functions. And
while its life-blood had become seriously tainted and
vitiated it still preserved the vital elements of a
restorative reaction. It had not lost the inherent
capacity for self-purification. Its bosom still con
tained the living power of truth.
Christianity is not a splendid hierarchy, nor is it
a code of priestly prescriptions, but the Gospel of
Salvation. This is its divine, imperishable essence.
Those are human and may pass away without any
hurt to the vitality or integrity of the body of Christ.
The former originated with the Lord himself and
was preached throughout the world by his Apostles ;
the latter came in subsequent ages when the light of
the Scriptures had become obscured and men no
longer saw clearly the way of life. And they did
much to obstruct and corrupt the Gospel. What
was needed, therefore, to heal the hurt of the
daughter of Zion, was that this life-current, purified
and reinvigorated, circulate again through every -
part of the organism, and in this way recover its
apostolic purity and vivific power. The Church
reappeared in its original form, in its native beauty.
It renewed its youth. And the Reformers as they wit
nessed the triumph of their endeavors, may well have
challenged Christendom to show that a single mark
was wanting to make the Church as reformed by
them identical with the Church of the New Testa
ment. They were permitted to realize the promise
of an abiding Spirit wherever the Gospel is preached.
There is, therefore, no pertinence in the sneering

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 89
question, Where was the Lutheran Church before the
Reformation ? As well ask where were your hands
before you washed them ? Where was the wheat be
fore it was threshed from the chaff? Where was the
Jewish Church between the fall of Jerusalem and the
edict of Cyrus?
Could Paul and Peter, the reputed founders of
the Church at Rome, have returned to it in the six
teenth century, nothing short of a special revelation
from heaven could have made them recognize that
Church as identical with the Church which they had
planted. But had they entered a church of the Ref
ormation they must have rejoiced to hear there the
very doctrines of grace which they had proclaimed,
to behold the simple observance of the same Sacra
ments which they had celebrated, and to witness that
the Gospel from the lips of reformers, as it had been
from their own lips, was still the power of God unto
salvation to all them that believe.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is therefore the
revival and the perpetuation of the Apostolic Church.
It is the Church of the Bible. Its roots stretch away
back into the New Testament. Thence it draws its
life. There it beholds its model, with which it stands
ready to be compared and tried by any competent
tribunal. And if it require any other warrant for its
existence, it is its supreme purpose to have the voice
of Christ and his Apostles re-echoed within its
walls, to countenance no other gospel than what they
proclaimed, and to submit to no other dominion over
the faith or the consciences of redeemed men.
It has given occasion for much regret that a body

9o

The Lutherans in America.

of Christians, bearing the unchallenged stamp of
Apostolic Christianity, and proving their identity
with it by "receiving nothing in doctrine or cere
monials contrary to Scripture or to the Universal
Christian Church," should be designated by the name

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, CANTON, OHIO.
of a man, and one at that whose great labors and
services for the Church were rendered fifteen hundred
years after its foundation. It seems to detract from
her glory, if not to discredit her legitimacy, or in some
quarters to impede her progress, as if her name

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 91
pointed to a human originator, or as if Luther were
held in any other light than that of a mighty witness
for the truth.
Just how much there is in a name may be gathered
in part from the specious and lofty sounding titles
appropriated by certain religious organizations whose
errors, fanaticism and warfare upon the historic
denominations allow them a very dubious claim to
recognition as a part of the Christian Church. The
most sectarian of the sects, the bigots who manifest
a malicious hostility towards the great Christian com
munities that have forages borne the indelible signa
ture of God, the multiplying divisions of narrow zealots
which form the greatest obstacle to the Church's
mission, arrogate to themselves such names as " Church
of God," "Disciples of Christ," "New Jerusalem,"
" Christians," etc., as if they constituted the veritable
fold of the redeemed, while the most exclusive and
intolerant of all sects persists in holding on to the
glaring misnomer "Catholic."
It is not often that the representatives of a cause
are allowed to select the name for it, especially not
when such a cause is unpopular, and every new moral
movement is unpopular. Even the felicitous and
appropriate name of " Christians " came, no doubt,
at first from their enemies and by way of reproach.
"Methodists" was the expression of the prevailing
contempt which was directed against the earnest ritu
alists and revivalists of the last century in England.
And so the Lutherans are not responsible for the
name which attaches to their Church. It was em
ployed as a stigma by the malice of their enemies.

92 The Lutherans in America.
The term was first used by Eck, when he published
the Bull against Luther. And afterwards all who fol
lowed Luther in accenting the doctrines of the Gos
pel and renouncing the supremacy of the Pope were
in derision called "Lutherans." Even where they
stood in remote connection with Luther's course or
departed widely from his most pronounced views,
wherever men turned away from priestly tutelage and
mediation to the free salvation offered in the Script
ures, they were scorned and condemned as " Luther
ans," just as in the previous century persons holding
similar views were branded as " Wycliffites " or " Huss
ites." The reformers in England bore this title, so
did those in Holland and in France, and even papist
ical Italy had its " Lutherans."" The saving doctrine,"
says Melancthon, "the precious, Holy Gospel, they
call Lutheran." Little wonder then that they should
thus designate the Church he represented and guided.
What was originally meant as a designation of
reproach becomes a title of glory. The despised
"beggars" of Holland resolutely emblazoned this
epithet upon their banners and taught their haughty
oppressor that the "beggar" with God on his side is
more than a match for the wealth and power of Spain.
The Methodists reared an enduring monument from
the reproaches heaped upon them in the early days
of their movement. And though all who love the
Church that bears his honored name join with Luther
in disapproving of such a title, and protest against the
significance which such a designation was meant to
convey, as if Luther were in any sense either the
object or lord of their faith, yet if its repudiation im-

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 93
plies the rejection of what Luther maintained, the
way of salvation he proclaimed, the Scriptures he de
fended, then will we glory in this word as indicating
and illustrating the most beneficent and far-reaching
advance that Christianity has witnessed since its first
planting by the Apostles.
The name has, it may be, become a historic neces
sity. It must be tolerated "to avoid the misappre
hension and confusion which would arise if it were
laid aside." "We do not call ourselves Lutherans,"
says Gerhard, "but are so styled by our enemies, and
we permit it as a token of our consent with the pure
teaching of the Word which Luther set forth. We
suffer ourselves to bear his name, not as one who has
invented a new faith, but of one who has restored the
old, and purified the Church." Luther had mani
festly received a mission from God to lead back the
Church into God's Word and to cleanse it from its
gross defilements and deformities. If this great work
and the purified and reformed Church which crowns
and perpetuates it, happen, by the logic of events, to
be called Lutheran, so be it, we are ashamed neither
of God's truth nor of his servant. But this in no
sense implies that this Church rests her faith on
Luther's authority.
"She has been known," says Dr. Krauth, "by vari
ous titles, but her own earliest and strongest prefer
ence was for the name Evangelical, and many of her
most devoted sons have insisted on giving her this
title without any addition. No title could more
strongly express her character, for pre-eminently is
her system one which announces the glad tidings of

94 The Lutherans in America.
salvation, which excites a joyous trust in Christ as
a Savior, which makes the Word and Sacraments
bearers of saving grace. In no system is Christ so
much as in the Lutheran ; none exalts so much the
glory of his person, of his office, and of his work.
* * * The name Evangelical is now given, out of
the bounds of the Lutheran Church, to the Christian
ity of the heart everywhere, to all that makes much of
Christ in the right way. Our Church to which it
belongs in the great historic sense, has a claim in her
actual life, second to none, to wear it. She is the
Evangelical Church."
In another connection the same author maintains:
"Our Church is Reformed as against all corruptions;
Protestant as against the assertion of all false princi
ples in Christian faith, life and church government;
Evangelical as against legalism and rationalism,
against all restricted atonement and arbitrary limita
tion of God's love; and through a historical necessity,
created not by herself but by her enemies, she is
Lutheran, over against all perversions, mutilations,
and misunderstandings of the Word under whatever
name they may come, though that name be Reformed,
Protestant, Evangelical, Catholic or Christian."
It was a common distinction durino- the Reforma-
tion, to speak of the Catholic and the Evangelical doc
trine, and historians frequently retain this distinction.
All careful writers among Lutheran divines, let it be
noted, invariably employ the historic title of the
" Evangelical Lutheran Church."
Martin Luther holds, by universal recognition, the
position of the hero of the Reformation. A never-to-

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 95
be-forgotten testimony to this fact was witnessed by
the universal and enthusiastic commemoration of the
four hundreth anniversary of his birth, by the Protes
tant world. The great revolution was, under God,
made conspicuously dependent upon his personal
action, and he rises incomparably above all the re
formers of that or any other era, sustaining a respon
sibility such as never before rested upon any other
man, and achieving triumphs absolutely without a
parallel. Yet the briefest sketch of the Lutheran
Church would be glaringly incomplete without some
allusion to the noble company of his coadjutors, a
circle of men whose attainments, character and serv
ice would have rendered them illustrious at any time
and on any stage, and whose contributions to the
results of the Reformation are not obscured but
lighted up by the close and cordial relation they sus
tained to their peerless leader.
Foremost in this galaxy stands Philip Melancthon,
the inseparable companion, the noble complement of
the great Reformer, a man small of stature but of
gigantic intellect, a child in simplicity and sweetness of
temper, but a master in theology. Learning was his
passion and he was proficient in the wisdom of Homer,
of Plato, of Cicero and of Pliny. His brilliant lectures
in the university were attended by fifteen hundred to
two thousand students and he was named the Preceptor
of Germany. Yet with all his literary attainments he
bowed with the docility of childhood to the Divine
Word and was himself so penetrated with the savor
of Christ that the sweet aroma exhaled from all his
writings. The amiability and refinement of his na-

96 The Lutherans in America.
ture are reflected in all his theological productions,
which are marked with a grace and a perspicuity
which charm all readers and which attest the truth of
his own belief that retirement and silence furnish the
best opportunities for the illuminating action of the
Holy Spirit. From him we have the first Protestant
work on Systematic Theology, the Loci, and it was
his hand that penned the immortal Agustana, the
pioneer and the paragon of Protestant confessions.
Never did two hearts beat in fuller unison than those
of these two great men, the marked diversity in their
constitution harmonized into a perfect unity.
No one of his contemporaries or successors could
be so capable as was Luther himself of appreciating
the character and the merits of his accomplished
lieutenant and invaluable supporter. He estimated
him as an indispensable factor of the Reformation,
and he repeatedly thanked God for the gift of Me
lancthon, and on the occasion of his extreme and des
perate illness he offered for him the boldest and most
memorable prayer to be found in uninspired records.
"Melancthon is a wonder," says Luther: "All men
confess it. He is the most formidable enemy of
Satan and the schoolmen, for he knows their foolish
ness and Christ the rock. The little Grecian sur
passes me even in divinity ; he will be as serviceable
to you as many Luthers." "I prefer," said he on
another occasion, " Melancthon's books to my own
and would rather have them circulated than mine. I
was born to battle with conspirators and devils, there
fore my books are more vehement and warlike. It is
my work to tear up the stumps and dead roots, to

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 97
clear away the briers, to fill up the marshes and pools.
I am the rough woodman who has to prepare the
way and smooth the road. But Philip advances
quietly and softly; he tills and plants the ground;
sows and waters it joyfully, according to the gifts
that God has given him with so liberal a hand."
During the long contest few men stood so near to
Luther as Nicholas Amsdorf, a man of illustrious
birth, of a sturdy personality, of an ardent, impetuous
temper, blended with a sincerity of mind, piety,
straightforwardness and courage that rendered him
infinitely dear to the Reformer.
The two mutually understood and loved each other
from the time they became colleagues in the Uni
versity of Wittenberg, some years before the out
break of the Reformation. Amsdorf was one of the
first to fall in line with the Reformer when he took
his decisive stand, possessing then already clear con
victions concerning salvation through the unmerited,
gratuitous mercy of God, a heart aflame with love for
the truth and a firm faith in its invincible character
and perpetuity. It cost him comparatively little hesi
tation to break absolutely with the Pope, and Rome
knew in reality no more decided or incisive opponent
than the man whom friend and foe called "a second
Luther." The Reformer gratefully recognized in him as he
did in Melancthon a special gift of Providence for the
crisis. He regarded him as a born theologian and
reposed such boundless confidence in his character
and his opinions that he readily devolved on him the
responsibility of representing him on important pub-

98 The Lutherans in America.
lie occasions, knowing with what blows he would
smite the papacy. In the event which seemed often
imminent of himself being cut off, he reckoned Ams
dorf among the faithful number of those who would
successfully maintain the contest with the enemies of
the gospel. Luther calls him "my special friend," and
it may be questioned whether any of his co-workers
shared his confidence so unqualifiedly.
The fact that with his independence of spirit and
bluntness of speech he did not hesitate to administer
reproof even to Luther himself when it was required,
may have contributed momentum to the Reformer's
exalted estimation of this man. He was Luther's
companion to the Diet at Worms, never leaving his
side during that terrible ordeal. He was his confi
dant in regard to the latter's capture and exile, and
was the preacher whom Luther desired to supply his
Wittenberg pulpit during the period of his absence.
The sphere of his reformatory labors was for a long
time the free and tumultuous city of Magdeburo-.
His services were, however, in demand in various
quarters of Germany, but he deferred to Luther's
judgment and remained at that post, while offers of
promotion to very lucrative positions under the hie
rarchy he peremptorily spurned as incompatible with
his conscience.
The most influential co-laborer in the development
and spread of the Lutheran Reformation was, next
to Melancthon, undoubtedly Johann Bugenhagen, an
other of those wonderfully constituted characters
whom natural endowments and providential training
had prepared for co-operation in the great work.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 99
He sprang from a senatorial family, and was com
monly named the Pommern, after his native country,
Pomerania. From early childhood he was acquainted with the
Scriptures but, held under the spell which the legal
ism and Pharisaism of Rome had cast over the
Church, he, like many of his day whose hearts were
groaning for the salvation of the gospel, was kept in
darkness until he heard Luther's proclamation of the
grace of God received through faith alone. He is
described as a charming and imposing personality,
blending in his character the virtues of gentleness
and firmness. By his knowledge of men and an ex
tensive experience in various positions of responsi
bility, he had gained clear conceptions of the circum
stances and real needs of the people, and by his
humanistic education and his long career as a teacher
he had become such a master of philology as to afford
the most valuable assistance in the translation of the
Scriptures. Fleeing from the persecution of the
Catholics he took refuge at Wittenberg, immediately
won the confidence and esteem of Luther and Me
lancthon, and was constrained to join the corps of
professors at the University. On seeing his exposi
tion of the Psalms which he delivered shortly after,
Luther enthusiastically pronounced him the first man
on earth who deserved to be called an expositor of
the Psalms. Declining the most inviting and splendid
ecclesiastical positions to which he was called from
time to time, he took a self-denying, energetic and
most important part in all the varied activities rend
ered necessary for the reformation of the Church,

ST. PAUL S GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, CHICAGO, ILL.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 101
But his peculiar and pre-eminent qualification for
the Reformation lay in the sphere of administration.
He was the Reformer who knew how to give the new
evangelical life in the Church an organic body, to
reconstruct the outward constitutional form in accord
ance with the newly won principles. He has been
properly called "The Pastor" of the Reformation.
In England he would have been called "The Bishop."
For thirty-six years he stood at the head of the
Wittenberg Parish, and was during a portion
of this period also General Superintendent of the
Electorate. But his organizing faculty, so rare among a people
who had for ages been deprived of all share in the
government of the Church, was everywhere in demand,
and, obtaining leave of absence, he effected the organ
ization of the Evangelical Church in Brunswick, in
Hamburg, Luebeck, and in his native Pomerania. He
also gave its constitution to the Church of Den
mark, and with such admirable results that he is to
this day claimed by the Danes as the Reformer of
that country. On him devolved the honor of deliver
ing the funeral sermon of Luther, but his emotion
rendered it often impossible to proceed, while yet he
comforted himself and the great throng of his hearers
that the doctrine of this precious man continued and
would abide forever.
One of the most faithful, zealous and worthy asso
ciates of Luther in bringing a new spiritual life into
the Church was Justus Jonas. He had, at an early
period in his career, been recognized by Erasmus as "a
vessel chosen of God to glorify his Son Jesus Christ."

102 The Lutherans in America.
He first met Luther as the latter was nearing Erfurt
on his famous journey to Worms, and exacted his
permission to accompany him to that den of lions.
From that time on till he watched over the death
struggle of the Reformer at Eisleben, the most inti
mate relation and co-operation bound the two souls
together. Jonas had for awhile followed the profession of
law and his experience as a jurist served him often in
good turn in the varied contests and negotiations
that form so large a part of Reformation history.
His regular official labors at Wittenberg were divided
between preaching and teaching theology, but like
his companions he was indefatigably occupied amid
the stirring scenes and countless problems of the
hour, and on each momentous public occasion, at
Worms, at Marburg, at Augsburg and, in 1538, at the
Frankfort Conference, Justus Jonas forms one of the
heroes of the imposing drama.
He rendered valuable services in the translation of
the Bible, and also translated a number of the most
important writings of Luther and Melancthon from
the Latin into German, and others from the German
into Latin. But his pre-eminent gift was that of elo
quence "in speech and in writing." He was the orator
of the Reformation. "No preacher ever surpassed
him in the power of captivating his hearers." " Pome-
ranus is a critic," said Melancthon; "I am a dialecti
cian, Jonas is an orator, from whose lips flow words
of wonderful beauty and an eloquence full of power."
A historian exclaims : " Divine Providence gathered
around Luther men who were destined to be the light

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 103
of Germany, Melancthon, Amsdorf, Bugenhagen and
Jonas." But a host of worthies are entitled in almost
equal measure with those spoken of, to rank among
the conspicuous gifts of Providence for the devel
opment and maintenance of Luther's work. What
cause ever had, since the days of the Apostles, such
sturdy, stalwart, self-denying partisans ?
It is to be seriously regretted that space fails
here to speak of Spalatin, the pious scholar, the trusty,
sapient adviser of three Saxon electors, the intimate
friend of Luther and his immediate colleagues, the
courtier who, in his close relation to the sovereign,
and especially as the inter-mediary between Luther
and the elector Frederick, was able to exert an incal
culable influence upon the Reformation, whose prin
ciples he shared with his whole heart.
Of Myconius, the Reformer of Thuringia, the his
torian of the Reformation, who had implored Tetzel
to grant him an Indulgence gratis, and who having,
like Luther, agonized for years in the struggle for
justification by means of penances and mortifications,
fell at last into despair over his salvation. From this
he was delivered by the proclamation of grace in the
ninety-five theses, and afterwards, often at the peril
of his life, he consecrated far and near all his powers
to the service of the Reformation. As theologian
he accompanied the embassy of the Elector to Henry
VIII, in 1538, for the furtherance of the Reformation
in England. He is always spoken of as " Luther's
friend." Of Cruciger, one of the mildest and purest char
acters that adorned the Evangelical revolution, who

ro4

The Lutherans in America.

was won to it "quietly" at the Leipsic Disputation.
He was held in such esteem by Luther that the
latter had at one time fixed upon him as his successor
in the event of his decease. His knowledge of medi
cine and of the natural sciences, as well as of He-

LUTHERAN HOSPITAL, JACKSONVILLE, ILL.
brew, proved of great service in the translation of
the Bible.
Of Brenz, the reformer of Wurtemburg, distin
guished equally as an author, an organizer, an admin
istrator, and a confessor who suffered for Lutheran
convictions. Of Osiander, Agricola, and Blaurer; of
Frederick the Wise, John Frederick the Magnani
mous, John the Constant, Ernest of Luneberg, Mar
grave George of Brandenburg, Wolfgang, Prince of
Anhalt, Gustavus Vasa, and other great potentates,
men who counted not their lives dear, men who placed

The Evangelical Lutheran Church. 105
their persons and property, their country and their
all in jeopardy for the Gospel, men so deeply pene
trated by evangelical truth and so confident of its
triumph, that they rivalled the theologians and the
preachers in their zeal for its unhindered proclama
tion among the people and for the renovation of
the Church.
On Melancthon objecting to his Elector signing
the Augsburg Confession lest it would involve him in
danger: "God forbid," he replied, "that I should be
excluded. I am resolved to do my duty without
being troubled about my crown. I desire to confess
the Lord. My Electoral hat and robes are not so
precious to me as the Cross of Jesus Christ." An
other prince voicing his deep convictions declared:
"If the honor of my Lord Jesus requires it, I am
ready to leave my goods and life behind me."
"Rather would I renounce my subjects and my
states," exclaimed the prince of Anhalt, "rather would
I quit the country of my fathers, staff in hand ; rather
would I gain my bread by cleaning the shoes of
foreigners, than to receive any other doctrine than
that which is contained in the Confession." This is
the language, not of theologians, not of preachers
educated and trained, who had made a special or
professional study of the sacred science, but of po
litical lords, of great men of the world, of princes
and laymen, who felt that every precious interest was
involved in the restoration of the pure gospel.
The part enacted by the laity in the Reformation
would, indeed, make a large and telling volume, ac
centing, as it would, the fact that this movement was

106 The LiUherans in America.
largely a revolt against the clerical order, a renun
ciation of all priestly usurpations, and a return to
the simple constitution of the primitive church, which
knows of no essential distinction between clergy and
laity, but embraces all men in a Christian brother
hood. And, excepting a few prominent leaders, who
like Luther had, under the old regime, taken orders,
the Reformation may justly be said to owe its success
mainly to an aroused, intelligent, and consecrated
laity. Luther, it is well-known, taught at an early
stage that even Christian women, and every one who
has been baptized, were, in truth, as much priests as
the pope, bishops and priests of the hierarchy, and
that men are "to put no faith in any other oracle
than the Holy Scriptures."

CHAPTER IV.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA  THE DUTCH.
TO the devout historian it was a notable coinci
dence that just at the time that Martin
Luther was born into the world, Christopher
Columbus was seized with the conviction that Heaven
had commissioned him to discover a new world, and to
find a new domain for the Christian Church. It de
volved upon him, he believed in his heart, to plant the
standard of the cross upon shores, concerning
whose existence men had then as little knowledge
as they had of the possibility of a Church of Christ
outside the barriers of the Roman hierarchy. It Was
in 1483, the year of Luther's birth, that the discoverer
of America found for the first time an opportunity of
laying his daring and visionary enterprise before a
European court. And nine years later, while Luther
was being taught in the schools of Mansfeldt the Ten
Commandments, the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's
Prayer, and was often unmercifully beaten by the
schoolmaster, Christopher Columbus, after breaking
the silence of ages over the trackless waters, offers the
first Christian worship in this western world, falling
upon his knees, and with tears of joy, giving thanks to
God, kissing the new earth which He had given him,
and consecrating it to His glory by naming the first
islands discovered San Salvador and Santa Trinidata.
And just as all Europe is quaking from the commo
tion which the revived faith of the Gospel had pro-
107

108 The Lutherans in America.
duced, Cortez is marching his little band of heroic
Spaniards into the gates of Mexico, overthrowing
the most powerful tribes of the Aborigines, and
opening the way for the conquest of the New World
by the Missionaries of the Cross.
But heaven could not consent that the debased
type of Christianity, which was represented by the
bigoted and cruel Spaniards, and which was about to
be overwhelmed in Europe by the outburst of a new
life in the Church, should appropriate this virgin soil.
This must be reserved for the spread and the sway of
a purer faith. The inestimable treasures of truth,
which had just been recovered from the debris of
ages, were destined to find here a theater for their
fullest expansion and for the unfolding of their
noblest products. What a miscarriage of history it
would have been, had a system, staggering under the
fatal blows of the manifest hand of Providence, seized
at the very crisis a new continent for its baleful tri
umphs. God never meant America to become Roman
Catholic. This land was to be the home of the free.
That powerwhich has always been the enemy of free
dom was not to acquire here an opportunity for strang
ling the genius of liberty when it took refuge in this
western world.
The gospel, in the glorious revelation it makes of
the dignity of the human soul and the equality and
brotherhood of all men, is the mighty liberator, and
here it was foreordained to have a sphere, untram
melled by chains or bars, for creating a nation of
freemen. It is from these shores that liberty is des
tined to enlighten the world. Roman Catholic gov-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 109
ernments, with their maritime ascendency at the time,
might serve as agents in the discovery and explora
tion of this vast continent, they might open the way
across the sea for the grand march of colonization
and immigration, but the establishment of institu
tions must be left to the hands of men who had
learned in the school of Luther, who had imbibed
the doctrines of the Reformation, and who knew
to lay the foundations of a republic in which the
freedom of conscience and the rights of the indi
vidual should be forever secure. An insolent and
infamous Pope, Alexander VI., by a solemn decree
gave, indeed, the whole New World to Spain, but
one greater than the Pope gave it to a people who
along with Luther had renounced all papal authority.
Alexander's infallibility must, about this time, have
been nodding.
It is certainly noteworthy that while for a period
of more than a hundred years after the discovery of
this continent, the Roman Catholics of Spain and
France and Portugal were planting their settlements
and missionary stations over a vast area, extending
from Florida to California, they were not permitted
by Providence to lay the foundation on which the
permanent institutions of a mighty Empire were to
be erected. Their ideas and principles so far from
leaving a permanent impress upon this country, con
tributed so little to the formation of its government
that even the existence of these settlements is un
known except to the student of history.
Speaking of the Spaniards Bryant, in his history
remarks : " Fortunately for the progress of the human

no The Lutherans in America.
race and the future history of North America, all
their efforts to gain a permanent foothold north of
the Gulf of Mexico were in the main unsuccessful."
And another eminent American historian, Dr. Dor
chester, observes: "While thirst for gold, lust of
power and love of daring adventure served the provi
dential purpose of opening the New World to papal
Europe, and Roman Catholic colonies were success
fully planted in some portions, the territory origi
nally comprised within the United States was mysteri
ously guarded and reserved for another — a prepared
people," — a people brought forth in the pangs of the
Reformation, possessed of new ideas and loftier aims
and intended by Providence to found in the New
World a great Christian Republic, one of the might
iest agencies in human progress.
While the first Protestant colonists owed their re
ligious faith and their convictions of civil polity to
the Lutheran Reformation, the true adherents of the
Lutheran Church could not, in the nature of things,
take the leading part in the early settlement of this
country. England and the Netherlands, and in some
measure Sweden, were in the seventeenth century the
only maritime nations among the Protestants of
Europe, the only powers, accordingly, that were pre
pared to establish colonies beyond the sea. "The
Reformation," says Bancroft, "followed by collisions
between English Dissenters and the Anglican Hie
rarchy colonized New England. The Reformation
emancipating the United Provinces, led to European
settlements on the Hudson."
But although debarred through lack of commercial

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch, in
equipments from having the ascendency in the origi
nal colonization of America, it was in accordance
with the fitness of things that Lutherans should form
an element in some of the earliest Protestant settle
ments. Providence has in many instances employed
them as the leaven where others held the more con
spicuous place of the loaf. Their scriptural faith,
their intelligence, their industry, thrift and sturdy
moral principles constitute, it is well known, invalua
ble factors in a liberal and prosperous state, and it
may be attributed to Providence that the earliest
settlement of Lutherans in this land is almost coinci
dent with its permanent settlement.
The first representatives of the Lutheran Church
in this country came notably, not from Germany, the
home of Lutheranism, but from Holland, the land
which during the Reformation furnished the first mar
tyrs for the evangelical faith, an event which called
forth Luther's well-known hymn " Ein neues Lied wir
heben an," said to have been his earliest hymno-
logical composition. Although the Reformation as-
* sumed there at an early period an extreme Calvin-
istic type, prosperous congregations of Lutherans
maintained themselves in different parts of the
country, the strongest of them being the Church at
Amsterdam which afterward became "the foster-
mother of the Dutch Lutheran congregations in New
York and New Jersey." There is no evidence of
their suffering persecution from the State Church
prior to the rise of the Arminian party. From that
time on, although they had no sympathy with Armin
ian doctrines, yet as they had along with their

1 1 2 The Lutherans in America.
brethren in other lands always stoutly repudiated the
extreme tenets of Calvinism, they became involved
in the bitter and relentless persecution of the Armin-
ians which followed the Synod of Dort in 1618.
Intolerance did not stop to make any distinctions
among the opponents of rigorous Calvinism, and
Lutherans fell a prey to the same religious fury which
beheaded a Barneveldt and imprisoned a Grotius.
To what extent their sufferings for conscience' sake
had a part in leading them to embark with others of
their countrymen for the New World is not known,
neither have we any evidence of opposition being
offered to their coming. It seems quite probable
that the religious oppressions as well as the political
commotions which held sway in their native land,
prompted them to go beyond the seas in quest of
peace and worldly prosperity, if not primarily for the
sake of religious freedom. Some of them appear,
at all events, to have come with the first Dutch colony
which in 1623 occupied Manhattan Island, the terri
tory now comprised in the city of New York.
The prospect of commercial advantages had led
the Holland West India Company to found this
colony, and but little concern was consequently mani
fested for the religious interests of the settlers. At
least five years elapsed before the first minister of
the Reformed Church, Jonas Michaelius, came over
and assumed pastoral care at New Amsterdam.
How early the Lutheran settlers took steps to or
ganize a congregation or to celebrate worship accord
ing to the order of their Church, cannot be clearly
determined, but when they moved to have the service

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 113
of their own precious faith they at once encountered
strong and persistent opposition from the Reformed,
who represented the State Church of the fatherland.

And the first picture of Lutherans in America is that
of a noble band suffering persecution, Lutherans in
the Netherlands having been the first Protestants to

114 The Lutherans in America.
obtain the crown of martyrdom, Lutherans from the
same country were now destined to be the first Prot
estants in America to have the honor of suffering
solely for their religious opinions. For although the
English Calvinists in Massachusetts were engaged in
whipping and hanging Quakers and banishing Bap
tists at the same time that the Dutch Calvinists were
fining and imprisoning Lutherans on the Hudson, it
is pretty clearly established now that Roger W illiams
Ann Hutchinson, and the Quakers generally, who
were so obnoxious to the Puritans, were not made to
suffer for their religious views so much as for their
disturbance of civil order, their menace to the peace
and stability of the colony, their dangerous political
tenets and their wanton defiance of the constituted
civil authority. The Lutherans, on the other hand.
never in all history employed their religious teach
ings for the subversion of government. They never
figured as political agitators, and the little band
on Manhattan Island sought only the enjoyment
of their spiritual rights under their own vine and
fig-tree. The first distinct mention of the Lutherans at New
Amsterdam is from the pen of the Jesuit Missionary,
Jogues, whom the Dutch had rescued from captivity
among the Iroquois, and who spent the time from
August, 1642, to November, 1643, in the colony. He
says: "No religion is publicly exercised but the Cal-
vinist, and orders are to admit none but Calvinists,
but this is not observed, for there are beside Calvin
ists, in the colony, English Puritans, Lutherans, Ana
baptists, here called Minists" (Mennonites).

The Earliest Lut Iter ans in America — The Dutch. 115
The opposition to Lutheran worship appears to
have been for awhile not so inexorable as to drive
them from the colony or to prevent their assembling
in private dwellings where religious services after the
Lutheran form were conducted by one of their num
ber. The little band in the wilderness, without
bishop or priest, formed with God's Word a true
Church of Christ. They had a bitter grievance in
connection with the baptism of their children. This
sacrament had to be administered by the Reformed
pastor who required of sponsors a profession of faith
which to a Lutheran conscience must have been, to
say the least, unsatisfactory and compromising.
The settlement of Rev. John Megapolensis as pas
tor of the Reformed Church of New Amsterdam, in
1649, was the signal of more rigorous measures
against the Lutherans and all non-conformists. The
congregation considered itself capable of maintain
ing a pastor and desired to call one from Holland,
formally petitioning Governor Stuyvesant for the
privilege of worshipping publicly in a church by them
selves. The resistance offered by the Reformed pas
tors against this petition was so strenuous, that the
Governor, who was himself a zealous Calvinist, re
fused his permission " for the reason that he was
bound by his oath to tolerate openly no other re
ligion than the Reformed."
The Lutherans hereupon addressed themselves tc
the West India Company and to the Home Govern
ment. The Reformed Pastors made a counter-ap
peal to the Classis of Amsterdam, to which had been
entrusted the office of supervision of ecclesiastical

116 The Lutherans in America.
affairs in America, urging the dangerous conse
quences of making such concessions to the Lutherans,
and entreating them to prevent their being made. It
would be a dangerous precedent.
The instructions which came from Holland in re
sponse to these appeals, were "that they would encour
age no other doctrine in New Netherlands than the
true Reformed." No violence, indeed, was sanctioned,
but it was made incumbent on the Governor "to use
all moderate exertions to allure the Lutherans to the
Dutch Churches and to matriculate them in the Pub
lic Reformed religion." The tolerance granted them
in the fatherland is to be denied in free America, and
this document, bearing date February 26, 1654, ex
presses the hope that the Reformed Religion would
now "be preserved and maintained without hinderance
from the Lutherans and other errors."
The Lutherans have somehow always been consid
ered a "hinderance" by their sister churches. They
have always stood in their way. Their presence has
been dreaded as a menace to sectarian ascendency
and an obstruction to sacerdotal power. Their popu
lar worship, their evangelical doctrine, their childlike
faith and spiritual freedom can never hope for a
welcome among those who are still partial to the
bonds of legalism and who look to works as well as
to faith as a condition to salvation. Standing mid
way between the sensualizing ceremonials and dogmas
of Rome and the pronounced subjectivity of the Re
formed system, a position rendered impregnable by
history as well as by the Scriptures, the Lutheran
Church is no more likely to command favor with the

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 117
denominations of the Reformed type than with the
papal communion. Happily she has vitality enough
not to be dependent on this favor. Woe to her if
she ever courts it at the expense of her principles.
Sustained by the ecclesiastical authorities of the
mother country the Calvinist Governor of New
Amsterdam and his intolerant preachers now resolved
on crushing out the Lutherans. Failing in the effort
"to allure" them into the Dutch churches, and by this
means to absorb them, as they had been instructed
by the Directors, they resolved that resort must be had
to penalties and imprisonments. Persecution must
be tried where persuasion failed. Parents were
henceforth required on presenting their children for
baptism to profess their belief in the doctrines of the
Synod of Dort, the most extreme deliverances ever
put forth by Calvinism, and they must even promise
to train up their children in the same — that is, to
teach their offspring tenets which in their hearts they
abhorred, knowing them to be contrary to the Gos
pel. Rome never did greater violence to the con
science, never showed stronger determination to force
error into the minds of the unwilling. Resistance to
these oppressive and sinful demands was followed by
arrest, by fines, and in default of payment the recu
sants were thrown into prison. They must by force
be made to conform to Calvinism.
Steadfast in their convictions and with the courage
of martyrs the Lutherans persisted in having their
assemblies for worship, and as their numbers, in spite
of their persecutions, were continually increasing and
their spirit growing more resolute and defiant, the

II 8 The Lutherans in America.
wrath of the Reformed Pastors became more bitter
and violent. They lodged complaint with the Gov
ernor against their "Conventicles," as meetings for
worship not authorized by the government were then
called. Such meetings, they claimed, were sure to
breed disorder in Church and State, and they suc
ceeded in having him issue a proclamation "for the
promotion of the glory of God, the increase of the
Reformed Religion," etc., forbidding the holding of
conventicles not in harmony with the established
religion, as set forth by the Synod of Dort. A fine of
one hundred Flemish pounds was imposed for every
violation of this ordinance by the preaching of a ser
mon, and twenty-five pounds on all persons guilty of
meeting in private dwellings for the purpose of wor
shipping together. The penalty for preaching the Gos
pel was accordingly one hundred pounds, the penalty
for hearing it twenty-five pounds. Lutheran services
even in private houses were thus absolutely sup
pressed. Mennonites and Quakers shared with Lu
therans the honors and the horrors of these persecu
tions, but the published placard at Albany (then
Beverswycke), specifically singled out the Lutheran
congregation there as the particular object of this
prohibition of worship.
The Lutheran people were not dismayed, nor dis
posed to surrender their precious rights to worship
God according to the faith of their Church. They
now had recurrence to their brethren in Holland and
sought especially their intervention with the authori
ties of the established Church, with the Directors of
the West India Company and with the States General,

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 1 1 Q
in regard to their grievances, entreating that there
might be granted them, "the united members of the
Church of the unaltered Augsburg Confession," the
same tolerance and right of worship here which the
Lutherans enjoyed in Holland, and that an ordained
minister of their faith might be sent over "to instruct
them and take care of their souls." A more favora
ble response was now vouchsafed. The " overprecise"
and oppressive measures of Stuyvesant were rebuked,
a more liberal policy was enjoined as being indeed
indispensable to the promotion of emigration. The
doctrine of the unaltered Augsburg Confession should
have the same toleration in the New Netherlands
which was accorded it in the fatherland and a pastor
for them, it was promised, would, arrive the following
spring. After this these persecuted people certainly
had reason to hope that they would no longer be
denied the privileges of their religion, and in most
humble terms they implored Stuyvesant to allow
them at least the service of sacred reading and sing
ing. But the Reformed pastors were only exaspera
ted by the orders of the West India Company to
adopt a milder and more Christian course of conduct.
They were inexorable, and in defiance of these orders
secured the continuance of oppressive measures and
the further prohibition of conventicles until they
could once more communicate with the home author
ities. And they forthwith renewed their "importuni
ties with their friends in the Classis of Amsterdam, to
save them from so terrible an evil as the establish
ment of a Lutheran Church in the pious colony of
New Netherlands."

ST.

JAMES LUTHERAN (ENGLISH) CHURCH, COR. MADISON AVENUE AND 73RD STREET, NEW YORK

CITY.

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 121
Notwithstanding the implacable and indefatigable
opposition of the clerical bigots in New Amsterdam,
and to their infinite chagrin and dismay, the long-suf
fering Lutherans had in June, 1657, the inexpressible
joy of welcoming their promised pastor. It was the
Rev. John Ernest Goetwater, who was the first Luther-
ran minister to visit the banks of the Hudson. He
had been sent out by the Lutheran Consistory of
Amsterdam to minister to their suffering brethren in
the New Netherlands, two congregations having been
by this time organized, one at New Amsterdam
(New York), and one at Beverswycke (Albany).
The reception accorded by the civil and ecclesias
tical authorities to this servant of Christ, coming into
this vast wilderness on the sole peaceful mission of
dispensing the Gospel to humble souls whose cry had
gone across the sea, was infamous not to say inhu
man, and, even for that day, without the shadow ot an
excuse or extenuation. And it is strange that while
every popular history expatiates on the wrongs en
dured by the Quakers and Baptists of Massachusetts
about this same time, so little reference is made to
the more cruel, unrelenting and utterly indefensible
persecutions inflicted upon the Lutherans on the Hud
son. This anomaly may in a measure be accounted
for by the quiet patience with which, according to the
spirit of Christianity, they bore their sufferings, seek
ing redress with the general government rather than
resorting to reckless agitation or revolution.
An impartial historian, O'Callaghan, gives the fol
lowing account: "Religious excitement now took the
place of political. * * * The Dutch clergymen

122 The Lutherans in America.
immediately informed the authorities. Dominie Goet
water was cited before them and forbidden to exer
cise his calling. Messrs. Megapolensis and Drisius
demanded that he should he sent back to Holland in
the same ship in which he had arrived. He was
ordered to quit the province accordingly. Sickness,
however, prevented his compliance with this harsh
and unchristian mandate. He was therefore put ' on
the limits of the city,' and finally forced to embark for
Holland," which decree went into execution October
16, the Lutherans protesting in vain.
Though not allowed to conduct any public services,
the presence of a pastor for several months among
the distressed and desolate flock of Lutherans, must
have in various ways proved a blessing to them. It
is doubtful, as he was not allowed to exercise his call
ing, whether he could even baptize their children, as
the law required these to be presented by their pa
rents in the Reformed Church, and he was closely
watched with the suspicion and fear bred of bigotry,
yet he could not be prevented from visiting the peo
ple at their homes, holding domestic worship with
them and in personal ministrations offering them the
counsels and consolations of the Gospel. For even
this boon the hearts of Lutheran confessors would
feel unutterably grateful.
Their bitter persecutors were neither ashamed of
their heartless procedure, nor content with the suc
cess of the efforts they had instigated to prevent the
settlement of a Lutheran Pastor. An exulting report
of it must be forwarded to the home authorities. In
this they glory in their shame and gloat over the tri-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 123
umph by which it was crowned at the hands of the
provincial government. No Lutheran minister should
be allowed to preach the faith of the Reformation
within the limits of their jurisdiction, nor even by
his presence to pollute this soil sacred to Calvinism.
This report, dated August 6, 1657, is preserved in
Volume III. of the " Documentary History of New
York," pages 103-108, and is an interesting specimen
of the malignant spirit of persecution. It is addressed
to the Classis of Amsterdam, "fathers and brothers
in Christ Jesus." It acknowledges their fatherly care
"and the trouble taken by them to prevent the in
juries which threaten this community from the en
croachments' of heretical spirits." "We being ani
mated and cheered by your letters," it proceeds to
state, "hoped for the best, though dreading the worst,
which even now has arrived, to the especial discon
tent and disapprobation of the congregation of this
place, yea of the whole land, even of the English."
"We have already the snake in our bosom."They cer
tainly had not warmed it. "We demanded also that
the noble Lord's Regent should send the Lutheran
minister back in the same ship in which he arrived
* * * in order to put a stop to their work, which
they seemed disposed to push forward with a hard
Lutheran pate." To their credit be it recorded these
malign zealots had some appreciation of the qualities
of a Lutheran head, which may have been one cause
of their consternation when a Lutheran minister set
foot on Manhattan.
The Dutch West India Company, whatever may
have been its previous concessions or promises to the

124 The Lutherans in America.
Lutherans, evidently approved of the expulsion of
Pastor Goetwater, and absorbed as they were in com
mercial pursuits and caring little for the interests of
religion, they now declined to allow them any other
privileges beyond "permission for individuals to pray
and read the scriptures," — a slight improvement on
Romish persecution — and the pastors o f the Reformed
were enjoined to so modify the baptismal formulary
as to remove the greatest grievance complained of by
the Lutherans, and to adopt in general a policy of
moderation so that they might in time be "gained
over." The real ground of hostility to the Lutherans
was apparently the fact that they would not unite
with the dominant Church, an objection to them that
has possibly not yet lost its force in some communi
ties. Warning was, however, also given to these over-
zealous pastors that " if their present course were per
sisted in, a separate Church must be allowed to the
Lutherans." The death blow must have fallen upon the Lutheran
Church in New Netherlands, one would suppose,
when their pastor immediately upon his arrival was
forcibly driven from the country. But with an irre
pressible faith and that "hard Lutheran pate" they
maintained some form of an organization despite the
severe disabilities and oppressions under which they
labored. In November, 1660, we read that "the
Lutherans were promoting a subscription for a cler
gyman of their own." A petition addressed to Gov
ernor Colden, in 1763, affirms that at the time New
Amsterdam passed under English control, in 1664,
"the Lutheran congregation was in organized exist-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 125
ence and enjoyed the benefits of the terms of the
compact made," — a claim which was admitted by the
Colonial authorities. They based upon this their
right to a charter and perfect toleration, in accord
ance with the terms of capitulation made by the
English with the Dutch governor, whereby all their
religious privileges were guaranteed to the inhabit
ants of the province.
The Directors of the West India Company, real
izing that the oppressive measures which had been
employed were proving detrimental to the prosperity
of the colony, resolved in April, 1663, on pursuing a
more liberal and Christian policy. They adminis
tered a severe rebuke to Stuyvesant for the violence
which had been offered to the consciences and rights
of subjects in his colony and put an end once for all
to persecution in New Netherland. About a year
after the arrival of this decree, a British fleet appeared
before New Amsterdam and the rule of the doughty
Knickerbocker himself, as well as of persecution,
came to a sudden termination.
It is the judgment of Dr. W. M. Reynolds that the
Lutherans proceeded with the erection of a house of
worship in 1663, immediately upon learning of the
changed policy of the Directors, but Dr. B. M.
Schmucker says: "The first proof I have found of any
action connected with the erection of the first church
is in June, 1671, when certain dissatisfied members
were compelled to pay subscriptions made for that
purpose." These subscriptions, it is more than likely
had been made some years previous, the protracted
delay quite naturally giving rise to dissatisfaction.

126 The Lutherans in America.
Whenever it was built, this first church stood, for
some reason, "on ground without the gate of the city"
and, of a piece with the singular succession of adver
sities which so long harrassed and tried the Lutheran
Church in New York city, there came subsequently,
during the brief restoration of the power of Holland,
1673-74, an order from Governor Colve that it must
be torn down. The pretext offered for this destruc
tion was that this building along with some others
outside the wall interfered with the necessary de
fences of the place, and this plea would, perhaps, not
be disputed, but for the inflexible hostility which the
Reformed colonists had for half a century borne to
their Lutheran brethren. The property so destroyed
was to be valued by impartial persons, lots of equal
value within the city were to be conveyed to the
owners, and reimbursement allowed for the loss of
buildings. Of the exact location of this first church
no evidence is to be found.
Soon after the whole colony had passed into the
hands of the English government, application was
made by the Lutherans to Colonel Nicholls, the gov
ernor, for permission to call a minister of their Con
fession from Europe, which application was promptly
granted "by an act under his hand and seal." The
successor of Nicholls, Lord Lovelace, made subse
quently public proclamation that James, the Duke of
York, had communicated to him by letter his pleas
ure that the Lutherans should be tolerated, but added
also "as long as his Royal Highness shall not order
otherwise." For some reason, unknown to us, a number of

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 127
Dutch Lutherans saw fit to withdraw from Manhat
tan Island, shortly after it passed under the govern
ment of the British, and they formed a settlement on
James Island, southwest of the Ashley River, in South
Carolina. They were at that time the only adherents
of the Lutheran Church in the Carolinas. Their in
dustry is said to have triumphed over incredible hard
ships, but of their spiritual progress nothing is known
beyond their sturdy protest against the impious and
impudent bigotry, which in 1704, established the
Church of England in the two Carolinas and provided
for its support from the public treasury. The shame
less injustice of such legislation, when the Episco
palians had but a single church in the province, while
the "Dissenters" had three in Charleston and one in
the country, was resented by the people of other
creeds, and they made common cause in endeavoring
to obtain its repeal, the Lutherans bravely uniting in
transmitting a statement of their grievances to the
Lords-proprietors. The Lutherans of New York, having obtained from
the newly established English authorities permission
to call a preacher of their faith, they forwarded
their petition to the Classis of Amsterdam — the Dutch
being still the dominant party in the congregation,
though Lutherans from other countries had in the
meantime united with it, — but four long and gloomy
years were yet to pass by before their earnest en
treaties for a shepherd were granted.
And when, at last, in 1668, more than forty years after
the first Lutherans had settled in New York, and ten
years after the banishment of Rev. Goetwater, they

128

The Lutherans in America.

were to see their petitions granted and their hopes
realized, they alas ! found the fruit of all their efforts
to be like the apples of Sodom, a most grievous

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disappointment. A more unhappy selection could
scarcely have been made for them. The Lutheran
Consistory must have been ignorant not only of the

The Earliest Lutherans in America— The Dutch. 129
peculiar requirements of the situation in this New
World, but they must have been totally unacquainted
with the character of the man whom they commis
sioned. It would have been a sad day for the the
early Christian Church, if the congregation at An-
tioch had made a similar mistake when they sent
forth Barnabas and Saul on the mission to the Gen
tiles. The man's name was Jacob Fabricius. He was
a sorry excuse for the spiritual head of a congrega
tion that had languished so long without pastoral
oversight, and had suffered so much from adversity
and persecution. He proved to be utterly unadapted
to the position.
He had received university training and was a man
of uncommon talents and eloquent as a preacher.
But he was of a haughty and violent temper, had
neither tact nor prudence, and, saddest of all, was a
victim of intemperance.
At Albany, where, as well as in New York, Governor
Lovelace had given him permission to exercise his
office, he became seriously involved with the civil
authorities and also with his congregation. Refus
ing to sanction civil marriage, which was at that time
the law of the province, he proceded, whether from
conscience or from covetousness, to impose a fine of
one thousand rix dollars upon one of his members
whose marriage had been solemnized by a civil offi
cial. The party complaining to the governor, the
latter suspended the arbitrary preacher from his func
tions in Albany for one year, allowing him still to
continue his ministrations in New York, though in.

130 The Lutherans in America.
the course of another year he was there also author
ized to preach his farewell sermon.
The work of erecting a church building in the latter
place, which had been inaugurated prior to his com
ing, received at first, naturally, quite an impetus from
his presence, but he soon became an element of dis
cord in the congregation and his offensive, domineer
ing, behavior threw everything into confusion. The
people became so much dissatisfied that they not
only refused to contribute to his support but they even
declined to pay their subscriptions to the building of
the church. The civil authorities had to be invoked
and it was ordered by the magistrates, that the sub
scriptions made for the church building and those for
the salary of the pastor should be paid "up to the
time of their late public disagreement." Compliance
with this order was of course inevitable, but shortly
afterward certain members of the church, doubtless
its trustees or office bearers, petitioned the governor
to have their accounts settled, adding that they wished
to have nothing more to do with the pastor Fabricius.
His brief and most unfortunate pastorate came to an
abrupt close on August n, 1671.
Surely God must have watched over this strait
ened and struggling little band holding to the faith of
the Augsburg Confession, or the infant would cer
tainly have been strangled in its cradle. Cast down
but not in despair the congregation proceeded to peti
tion for a new pastor, and to their heartfelt joy they
were in a short period permitted to greet him wel
come. His name was Rev. Bernardus Antonius Aren-
sius. He is described as "a gentle personage, and of

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Dutch. 131
a very agreeable behavior," the exact reverse of his
predecessor. It is not known by whose authority he
was sent across, nor is the date of his arrival settled,
but as the same order of Governor Lovelace which
granted permission to Fabricius to preach his fare
well sermon empowered him also "to instal the new-
come minister, according to the custom used by those
of their religion," he must presumably have arrived
shortly before that date.
He served the congregation at Albany as well as
the one in New York. But his career was of that
peaceable, noiseless tenor which seldom attracts the
attention of the historian, and hence but few notices
of this servant of God appear in the contemporary
records. Governor Dongan's report of the state of
the province, April 13, 1687, mentions a Dutch Luth
eran among the ministers then living in New York,
and the editor of the Historical Documents, III.,
page 41 5, speaks in a note of Rev. Bernardus Arensius
who "succeeded Dominie Fabricius and was minister
of the Church in 1688."
What the membership of his two congregations
numbered is nowhere reported, but from a letter dated
September 28, 171 5, and written by one of his succes
sors, Rev. Justus Falckner, we learn that at that time
four' small congregations existed in the province of
New York, " and all these four consist in all of about
one hundred constant communicants, besides strangers
going and coming in the city of New York." The
second church was erected in 1684, on the corner of
Broadway and Rector Street, on the lot which had
been allotted for this purpose by Governor Colve, in

132 The Lutherans in America.
lieu of the one on which the first Church had stood
without the wall.
How long Pastor Arensius continued to live and
minister to these congregations has not, up to this
time, been ascertained, but as there is no trace of the
presence of any other Lutheran minister in the prov
ince prior to the year 1700, it is probable that he
continued until about the close of the century. He
was succeded for a short period by the Rev. Andrew
Rudman, Provost of the Swedish Churches on the
Delaware, but this calls our attention to a settle
ment of Lutherans in another section, who came from
a different country, and whose early history is irradi
ated with brighter scenes than those through which
the devoted band in New York was called to pass.

WtlbaJtMi

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

CHAPTER V.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA  THE SWEDES.
IN the seventeenth century the eyes of all Europe
were fixed upon this continent. Its rulers, in
particular, cast longing glances toward these
shores as offering extraordinary openings for colonial
enterprise and commercial interests. None of them
had a clearer and fuller appreciation of this prospect
than the illustrious hero and martyr of Lutheranism,
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, whose hardy
and adventurous kinsmen were the first to discover
America five hundred years in advance of the Spanish
and English navigators, and whose subjects could stiii
rove the seas. The intuitions of his far-seeing and
comprehensive genius, one of the foremost of his time,
were quick to recognize the advantages offered here
by climate, soil and other natural resources for the es
tablishment of colonies, and promptly devised and
developed a scheme, which contemplated an extensive
emigration from the different countries of Europe.
The primary consideration which moved the royal
heart to this broad and bold undertaking, was the
planting of the Christian religion among the wild in
habitants of the country. While it was proposed, as
with prophetic eye, to provide an asylum for the de
fenseless of every land, and particularly to promote
the common interests of the Protestant world ; while
the commercial interests of his subjects and the exten
sion of his power were elements inherent in the pur-
133

134 The Lutherans in America.
pose of the king, the movement was inspired by Chris
tian zeal and Christian humanity.
Preparations on a wide scale for carrying out this
project were at once set on foot. All classes — the
royal family, the nobles, the military chieftains, the
clergy, and the people generally, caught the enthu
siasm. The Estates in the year 1627 gave their ap
proval to the measure and perfected its plans ; an
admiral with a number of officials and a body of
soldiers was charged with the execution of the enter
prise. Just at this juncture the genius and devotion of
Gustavus were imperatively demanded on another
stage. The very life of that Protestantism, which was
so dear to his heart, was in danger on the continent,
and the peaceful purpose of Christianizing America
had to be suspended, in order to save evangelical
Christianity in its home. The Thirty Years' War was
raging, and the great Lutheran King, constrained by
sympathy for his suffering brethren and zeal for the
faith of Luther, carried his legions across the Baltic,
stayed the tide of Catholic victory, and by pouring
out his life's blood on the field of Lutzen in 1632 be
came the savior of Germany, and preserved the fruits
of the Reformation to posterity.
The American project had taken such hold of the
Swedes, that although the original undertaking had to
be foregone, it was one of those conceptions which do
not die with their author. In fact, amid the fury and
storm of the terrible war in which he was engaged, the
king, himself, never abandoned or forgot his purpose.
Only a few days before that glorious victory at Lutzen

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 135
he recommended to the people of Germany the colo
nial project, which he still regarded as " the jewel of
his kingdom." His enlightened and famous Chancel
lor Oxenstiern, who ruled the country during the
minority of Queen Christina, keenly appreciated the
wisdom of the king's original design, and earnestly set
to work to prosecute the measure for a colony, "with
the intelligence of a statesman and the zeal of a
Christian." A ship of war and another smaller vessel, laden
with people, with provisions, with merchandise for
traffic with the Indians, and with manuals of devotion
and instruction in their holy faith, set sail in
August, 1637, to found a New Sweden on the banks
of the Delaware. The Rev. Reorus Torkillus accom
panied the colony as pastor. They landed early in 1638,
near Cape Henlopen, in the neighborhood of what is
now Lewes, in the State of Delaware.
Land was immediately purchased from the Indians,
who were regarded as the proper owners and posses
sors of the country, and one of the first houses erected
after the fort was the church, which was inclosed by the
same walls, both church and fort being rude structures
and very properly combined into one fortress, a place
of defense against both the foes of the body and those
of the soul. This was the first Evangelical Lutheran
Church erected on this continent. The fort was
called Christina, after the virgin Queen, who reigned
at the time over Sweden. The land occupied lay on
the western side of the river, extending from the mouth
of the Delaware Bay to the Falls of Trenton, and "was
ceded to the Swedish crown forever." Later, by pur-

136 The Lutherans in America.
chase and by treaty, the boundaries of this tract were
expanded westward to the great Falls of the Susque
hanna, near York Haven, so that they embraced the
present State of Delaware and a large portion of
Southeastern Pennsylvania. A formal deed was drawn
up and signed by the hands and marks of the natives.
It was written in Dutch, because no Swede was yet
able to interpret the language of the heathen.
Thus, nearly fifty years before the historic treaty made
by William Penn with the Indians under the Shaka-
maxon elm, the Swedish Lutherans had made honora
ble purchase of their lands from *' the lords of the
country," and it is making a modest but just claim to
maintain that the friendly attitude of the savages
toward William Penn, was in great measure due to the
Christian labors and exemplary lives of pious Luth
erans, who for nearly half a century previous had been
teaching and practicing among them the righteous
principles and the brotherly love of the Gospel,
in close proximity to the very spot laid out by
Penn for his right-angled city. A strong bond of
sympathy had been formed at an early day between
the Swedes and the Indians, and these cordial rela
tions which were never interrupted, proved very
effectual in subduing the passions and conciliating
the feelings of the savages. Thus to the Lutheran
Church "belonged the part of pioneer in the manage-'
ment of a treaty which, for its purity and integrity has,
above all others, a world-wide and everlasting fame."
Finding the Dutch laying claim to all the land be
tween the Delaware and their city of New Amsterdam,
the Swedes confined their settlement to the west side

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 137
of the river. The Dutch, evidently afraid of being
crowded, raised objections even to their occupancy of
the west bank. These greedy Hollanders, who had
never purchased a square yard of the land, and who
bore no special love for Lutherans, claimed the whole
river, claimed pretty much everything, and they made
a wordy protest against "the Swedes building forts
upon our rivers and coasts and settling people on the
land," threatening to protect their rights "in such
manner as we may find most advisable." In those
days it has been expressively observed " the times
gave him the best right who had the most strength."
A second company of emigrants from Sweden with
Lieut. Col. John Printz, under appointment as Gover
nor of New Sweden, and Magister John Campanius
(Holm) as Government Chaplain and pastor of the
congregation, came over in 1642. Three vessels con
veyed the heroic and devout band, and it required six
months to make the voyage. These were shortly suc
ceeded by other ships carrying additional people and
valuable freight, each new company of emigrants
bringing additional clergymen. The colony soon en
joyed a high degree of prosperity. The banks of the
Delaware were dotted with pleasant hamlets. The
people were happy, intelligent and virtuous. They
were animated by the spirit of their holy religion, not
by the spirit of adventure or the lust for gain.
The planting of the Christian Church was, as we
have seen, the first object contemplated by Gustavus
Adolphus. How prominent the religious interest and
consideration for the heathen continued in the coun
sels of those who ultimately carried his project into

138 The Lutherans in America.
execution, may be seen in the instructions given by
the Swedish Council of State to Governor Printz :
"The wild nations the Governor shall understand
how to treat with all humanity and respect, that no
violence or wrong be done to them by her Royal
Majesty or her subjects ; but he shall rather, at every
opportunity, exert himself, that the same wild people
may gradually be instructed in the truths and worship
of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought
to civilization and good government, and in this man
ner properly guided."
That the Swedish statesmen and the colonists
whom they sent to these shores, were not wholly in
sensible to motives of worldly policy, is seen from the
charge given the latter to "allow the wild people to ob
tain such things as they need at a price somewhat more
moderate than they are getting them of the Hollanders
at Fort Nassau, or the adjacent English, so that said
wild people may be withdrawn from them, and be so
much the more won to our people."
"Above all things," says section 26 of the Council's
instruction, " shall the Governor consider and see to
it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, laud
and praise be paid to the Most High God in all
things, and to that end all proper care shall be
taken that divine service be zealously performed ac
cording to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the
Council of Upsala and the ceremonies of the Swedish
Church, and all persons, but especially the young,
shall be duly instructed in the articles of the Christian
faith ; and all good Church discipline shall, in like
manner, be duly exercised and received."

The Earliest Lutherans in America—The Swedes. 139
The famous compact drawn up in the "Mayflower,"
may have "borne the germs of the republican institu
tions of the United States," but as a charter of relig
ious principles it admits of no comparison with this
That contemplated a state, as in fact those Puritans
were political agitators quite as much as they were
religious zealots. Here is a body of Lutherans per
fectly content with the civil power to which they were
subject, but contemplating primarily a missionary
movement, the establishment of the Church of God

FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. BUILT A. D., 1669.
among the heathen by the colonization among them
of a Christian people. And the Lutherans may hon
estly claim the glory of being the first Protestants to
settle in the unpruned forests of America impelled
by the missionary idea as the chief inspiring cause.
And so they were undoubtedly the first to advance
here the principle of religious tolerance. These
same instructions, given at Stockholm, August 15, 1642,
declare : " So far as relates to the Holland colonists that

146 The Lutherans in America.
live and settle under the government of her Royal
Majesty and the Swedish crown, the governor shall
not disturb them in the indulgence granted them as
to the exercise of the Reformed religion."
This has a ring somewhat different from the pro
ceedings of the Dutch Calvinists in New Amsterdam,
who, as noticed in the previous chapter, a few years
later, resorted to fines, whippings and imprisonments
for the suppression of the Lutheran Church. That
these liberal instructions were faithfully carried out
by the colonists we have every reason to believe.
Pastor Campanius, who arrived with the second
colony, labored not only with enlightened zeal and
marked efficiency over the little congregation with
whose spiritual oversight he was charged, but he took
a deep Christian interest in the welfare of the natives.
He maintained "a constant intercourse with the wild
people," and applied himself eagerly to the mastery of
their language, for which his scientific attainments
stood him in good stead, in the hope that he might
thus be able to proclaim in their own tongue the won
derful works of God.
"His intimacy with the neighboring tribes and their
several chiefs was promoted by the successive gov
ernors ¦ of the colony ; and with the simplicity and
tenderness of one who is dealing with babes, he un
folded before them the great mystery of the Gospel,"
and succeeded by patient assiduity in making them
understand many of its cardinal truths.
If these missionary efforts of Campanius did not
precede those of Eliot in Roxbury, they were at least
contemporaneous with them, and Lutherans share the

The Earliest Lutherans in America— The Swedes. 141
glory of being among the first Protestant missionaries
to the Indians. Certainly in Pennsylvania they were
the first; and before any literary undertaking of the
kind received attention elsewhere, Campanius con
ceived the difficult task of translating Luther's Small
Catechism into the Delaware language. Through
some unaccountable delay in the printing of this work
at Upsala, it did not appear until some time after the
publication, in 1661, of Eliot's translation of the New
Testament into the Mohegan dialect; but the work of
translating preceded it by some ten or fifteen years,
and the inimitable Catechism of the Lutheran Church
was beyond question the first Protestant book to be
translated into a heathen tongue.
Unhappily, the gathering of the natives into the
Christian fold, which had been commenced so zeal
ously and so wisely, was destined soon to be checked
by great trials, and the little bands of Lutherans had
to experience bitter destitution and overwhelming
calamities. The first minister, Torkillus, ended his life at Fort
Christina (Wilmington, Del.), September 7th, 1643,
shortly after the arrival of Pastor Campanius. The
latter departed from New Sweden in May, 1648. The
Rev. Israel Holgh and the Rev. Peter came over
some years later ; but their stay was evidently brief,
since the home authorities followed the unwise policy
of recalling, after a few years' service, the devoted
servants of the Church, who had labored here among
the aborigines as well as among the settlers, so that,
while at times these colonial communities enjoyed the
ministrations of two pastors, they often for a copsid-

142 The Lutherans in America.
erable while were left without any. Of the four
who succeeded Pastor Torkillus, the Rev. Lars Lock
(Lockenius) was the only one who remained in the
country till his death, which occurred in 1688. For
the period of twenty-two years he labored alone
among these people scattered through the wilderness,
preaching at Fort Christina and at Tenacon (Tini-
cum), twelve miles below Philadelphia, where a second
church, "a handsome wooden building," had been
erected shortly after the arrival of Governor Printz,
who fixed his residence in that locality. Of this pas
tor it is said that he was "certainly an instrument in
the hands of God for sustaining these Swedish
churches for so long a time." The Tenacon Church
consecrated in 1646, in what is now Delaware County,
was the first Evangelical Lutheran house of worship
in Pennsylvania.
Most unfortunately for the interests of these first
Lutheran churches in America, the encroaching and
more powerful Dutch in New Amsterdam succeeded in
the conquest of the colony in the year 1655 — less than
twenty years after the first settlement. The Swedish
Governor was expelled from the country, the people
passed under the control of the Dutch, much of their
property was taken from them, the principle men and
families were violently removed, intercourse with the
mother country was entirely broken off, and the little
congregations on the Delaware were left in complete
isolation. Bringing with them the same intolerance
which would allow no Lutheran worship in New Am
sterdam, these Dutch conquerors managed to have
two of the pastors at once sent out of the country

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes 143
with the Swedish garrison, the third one, Pastor
Lock, being permitted to remain according to the
articles of capitulation, but to the great disgust of '
Dominie Megapolensis, the Dutch Reformed pastor
at Manhattan.
Not knowing that their countrymen and brethren
in the faith had been subjugated to a foreign yoke,
a fresh accession to the colony came sailing into
the river in March, 1656, bringing as usual a Luth
eran minister, the Rev. Mr. Matthias. But the Hol
landers forbade the ship which had on board a large
number of people, to ascend the river. This af
forded the Indians, who were wont to call the Swedes
their brothers, an opportunity for showing their con
tinued devotion to them, notwithstanding the fact
that the government had passed into the hands of
the conqueror. Impelled by their friendship "the In
dians united together, went on board the ship, and
in defiance of the Hollanders, conducted the ship
past Sandhook, or Fort Casimir (now Newcastle, Del.),
without its daring to fire a shot, and conveyed it up
to Christina." What proportion of the passengers
remained in this country, now that it was no longer
New Sweden, is not known, but for some reason the
Rev. Mr. Matthias immediately returned to Sweden,
and with him doubtless went some others. Perhaps
the Dutch did not appreciate the solid character of
these people who had come to swell a flourishing
colony which was now under their rule. They would
have made excellent reinforcements to the com
munity, for it had been forbidden in Sweden under a

144 The Lutherans in America.
penalty to take to America "any persons of bad
fame." After this no more ships came from Sweden. No
word, even, ever came across the sea. Communica
tion was absolutely impossible between these isolated
Lutherans and their brethren or their government at
home. There was of course at that period no mail
service between Sweden and America, and even if
they could have written to England no one had any
acquaintance there who could in the least degree
further their cause. It came in course of time that
these Swedes knew no more of their mother country
than what they heard through traditions. A long
period of trial and spiritual destitution followed. All
the outward circumstances of the people were un
favorable to their spiritual growth and the prosperity
of the churches. They were not only deprived of the
protection and support of the Swedish government,
which in those days was of so much importance to
religion, but they had among other cruel ordeals to
suffer pitiless wrongs from the haughty wife of the ex-
governor, who remained in the country some years
after her husband's expulsion, and who had so little
sympathy with her people and with their religious
interests that she is reported to have sold, along with
her farm at Tenacon, the church which was built upon
it. How the church was recovered for them is not
known, but it was certainly used by them without
hindrance till 1700. The bell, however, we are told,
"they had to buy back again by two days' reaping in
harvest time."
The Dutch authorities gave themselves little con-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 145
cern about public worship. Though in some respects
they were very tyrannical, and though they required
all the Swedes, who desired to remain, to take the
oath of allegiance, they had in the capitulation guar
anteed to the Lutherans the liberty of "adhering to
their own Augsburg Confession, as also to support a
minister for their instruction." The Hollanders were
not slow to intermarry with them, and as they erected
no churches they soon coalesced with the Lutherans
in church association.
Some of these Hollanders may, indeed, have been
Lutherans. A small wooden edifice was erected at
Tranhook which was, by nearly two miles, more con
venient for the Hollanders. The only clergyman in
the whole district was the Rev. Lars Lock, and his
faithful ministrations were extended alike to Swedes
and Dutch, to Lutherans and Calvinists. But when his
faithless wife involved him through a second marriage
in an unseemly scandal, "he drew upon himself the
severe animadversion of the presiding Governor and
his Commissary, who required him to intermit his min
istry for some time. In the meanwhile, through the
favor of Stuyvesant, the legal requirements were com
plied with " and the Rev. Lars was again vested with
his gown."
As the earnest little Christian colony had now been
wrested from Sweden and cut off entirely from inter
course with the mother country, the noble purpose of
its founding would seem to have been lamentably
prostrated. And the preservation of the Lutheran
Church under these circumstances may well be set
down among remarkable providences. The friendly

1^6 The Lutherans in America.
relations with the natives remained uninterrupted and
doubtless they continued their missionary labors
among them. A century later the Indians still told
of the treaties between their forefathers and the
Swedes. But this very friendship with the Indians
brought them under the cruel suspicion of the Hol
landers, who charged them with secret plottings,
and under this most unjust imputation arrested and
transported beyond the colony some of the worthiest
men among them. While their ships had enabled the
Dutch to force the surrender of their forts, they seem
to have constantly dreaded the strength of the Swedes
who as late as 1660 numbered but one hundred and
thirty families, and who never exceeded the aggre
gate of one thousand souls.
In September, 1664, the Dutch rule in America
came, as was noted above, to a sudden and inglorious
close, the authorities at New Amsterdam without of
fering any resistance surrendering the country to an
English squadron "three hundred men strong." This
change of government, which at last brought toler
ance to the Dutch Lutherans on the Hudson, could
bring no harm to the Swedes on the Delaware. It
proved in various ways of great advantage to them.
It gave them at least a better prospect of communi
cating with their countrymen at home through the
assistance of the English than had been afforded by
their Dutch rulers. In the terms of surrender it was
stipulated that" they should "remain undisturbed in
their religion as Lutherans, and in the public serv
ice of God, as they particularly insisted."
When the Dutch, nine years later, reconquered the

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 147
country, the first article of the instructions given to
Peter Alrich, who was made Commandant over the
South or Delaware river, required him to "uphold the
true Christian doctrine in accordance with the de
crees of the Synod of Dordt, and admit of no other
doctrine in conflict therewith." The Augsburg Con
fession was thus to be suppressed by force and the
Lutherans of New Sweden were to share with their
brethren in New Amsterdam the sufferings and the
honors of persecution. Fortunately for them and
for the future of this whole country, the English
in little more than a year recovered control of
the Dutch possessions in the New World, and the
little congregations of Lutherans were henceforth. to
enjoy the solace and support of their precious faith
without molestation from a hostile government.
Their lot was indeed distressing, and through their
isolation from the Church of Sweden they were cut
off from the source of spiritual supply, and soon ex
perienced lamentable destitution, deprived as they
were both of ministers to serve at the altar and of
manuals of devotion to nurture their souls at the
fireside and illumine their pathway in the wilderness.
But their Christian zeal and their devotion to their
Church nobly survived their bitter trials. Instead of
growing cold or lukewarm in the absence of pastoral
ministrations, they yearned for the preaching of the
Gospel and made every possible exertion to secure
the services of new pastors, as their aged ones were
stricken down by disease or death.
In 1672 they extended a call to Pastor Fabricius,
who, some years before, had made an unenviable

148 The Ltd her ans in America.
record as pastor of the churches on the Hudson, and
who through his misfortunes there had evidently
become a wiser and better man. Although he again
repeatedly came into collision with the authorities,
who on several occasions suspended him, he fulfilled
a long career of usefulness among the Swedish
Lutherans. He preached mostly in the Dutch lan
guage, but he so far mastered the Swedish that he
could intelligibly hold service also in that tongue.
He preached alternately at Tenacon and at Wicacoa,
a mile below the southern limits of Philadelphia
where a block-house was turned into a church in
1669. It was a wise measure which more than once
in our early history converted those structures which
had been erected for the defense of men's bodies into
fortresses where spiritual weapons could be employed
for the salvation of their souls. The Indians, it was
possible, might fall upon the congregation while at
worship and capture the whole flock. The churches
were accordingly so constructed that "after a suitable
elevation, like any other house, a projection was made
some courses higher, out of which they could shoot,
so that if the heathen fell upon them, which could not
be done without their coming up to the house, then
the Swedes could shoot down upon them continually,
and the heathen who used only bows and arrows,
could do them little or no injury." The Swedes have,
however, never been charged, as were their Puritan
neighbors, with falling first on their knees, then fall
ing on the Aborigines.
After the accession of Fabricius an arrangement
was effected by which the work of the whole district

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 149
was amicably divided so that the Lutherans living
above a certain point were placed under the care of
Rev. Lars Lock, and those below this point remained
under the pastorate of Rev. Jakobus Fabricius. The
latter resided at what is now Kensington and made
the trips to the Wicacoa and Tranhook churches as
also "down into Maryland" by means of a canoe.
He became blind a few years after he had entered
upon his pastorate here, but this affliction did not pre
vent him from watching over his congregation ac
cording to his ability. His associate, Pastor Lock,
was likewise burdened in his old age with many
troubles, so that in the touching phraseology of a
subsequent letter to Sweden "though there were two
ministers in the churches, yet their infirmities made
them hardly equal to one."
William Penn arrived on the shores of the Dela
ware October 24, 1682, having with him twenty ships
filled with people who were to settle the province of
Pennsylvania under him as proprietary and governor.
Although strenuously opposed to his coming, since
they were really the owners of the soil, the Swedes
received the new comers "with great, friendliness, car
ried up their goods and furniture from the ships, and
entertained them in their houses without charge," show
ing a Christian hospitality which continued to be grate
fully recalled by the Quakers for a century later. Penn
was delighted with them and appreciated especially
their kind offices for him with the Indians. They acted
as his interpreters. He relates that he found them
quite as cordial toward him as were the few English
men who lived among them, and he commends their

150 The Lutherans in America.
respect for authority as well as their kind behavior to
the English. "As they are a proper people and
strong of body," he adds, "so have they fine children,
and almost every house full. And I must do them that
right — I see few young men more sober and industri
ous." Abundance of children and habits of sobriety
and industry — from the days of Penn to the present
hour there has never been in this country a genera
tion of Lutherans who did not merit and receive this
encomium. These thrifty and intelligent people so won the es
teem and friendship of their new Quaker fellow-citi
zens that they soon held a place both in the General
Assembly of the Province and in the Governor's
Council. There is a tradition that about this time
an impostor came among them gathering followers
and creating considerable disturbance, and that he
would have brought his countrymen into evil report
and suspicion "had not the honesty of these people
in general been well known by so many proofs
before." But worldly station, earthly prosperity, and the con
fidence and good will alike of the natives and of
Europeans, were no substitute for the ordinances of
the sanctuary and the ministrations of the Gospel.
These were no means of grace to them and to their
children. Well might they have said :
" Thanks to thy name for meaner things,
But these are not my God ! "
Two generations before, their ancestors had come
to these wild shores with their ministers and their

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 151
Bibles, with the Church and the Sacraments and the
Catechism, but the precious books could not last for
ever nor suffice for the multiplying population, and
the ministers had either been recalled to Sweden,
ended their labors in death, or become disqualified
by age and infirmities for the pastoral oversight of the
people. Pastor Lock, after having been for years
incapacitated for the work of his calling, ended a
life of many sorrc*Ws in 1688, Pastor Fabricius to
whom, while blind and decrepit he yet lingered among
them, his congregations could pay the tribute: "He
has faithfully and zealously taken care of us in ac
cordance with the teachings of the Unaltered Augs
burg Confession, in pure doctrine and exemplary life;"
and of whom after sixteen years of labor among them
they said: "He is an admirable preacher but, God's
blessing on him, he is so aged, and has lost his sight
for so long a time ; yet is he one who has taught us
God's pure and true Word, and administered the
Holy Sacraments among us." This devoted man
passed away about the year 1693.
Then followed some years during which not a
single clergyman ministered to these Lutheran con
gregations. But though destitute of the regular
ministry the churches were not closed. The people
continued to assemble in the place of prayer on the
Lord's day, united in singing the Songs of Zion, and
listened to the voice of some pious and competent
layman who read to them the Epistle and Gospel
for the day, offered up prayers and frequently also
read a sermon from Moller's Postilla. Thus while
left like sheep without a shepherd and with many

152 The Lutherans in America.
severe trials of their faith, these Lutherans on the
Delaware present touching evidences of love for the
Church, devotion to her ordinances and an abiding
spiritual interest in her doctrines, They could accord
ingly not content themselves without the regular
dispensing of the Word. They kept hungering and
thirsting for the spiritual refreshment of the preached
gospel. They knew that Christ's cause must languish
without the services of men appointed to its over
sight, and accordingly they left nothing undone to
open communications with the Church in Europe
and to secure laborers for the vineyard of the Lord.
Their earnest efforts in this behalf met again and
again with the bitterest disappointment. No answer
was received to their touching importunities, not
an echo, even, came back to them when they sent
piteous appeals to Sweden for pastors and for relig
ious literature. Evidently, with the sea swarming
with pirates and the circuitous routes of transporta
tion in that day, their letters depicting the distress of
their churches never reached their destination. Re
maining firm and undaunted in their determination
to obtain pastors, they conceived of another plan by
which it was hoped they might succeed. Through
the assistance of New York merchants who traded
regularly with Amsterdam, they conveyed an appeal
to the Lutheran Consistory of that city to procure
for them a Swedish clergyman, either one who might
be known to them as being without charge, or some
one from Sweden who might be reached through the
interposition of this ecclesiastical body.
After stating that their faithful Pastor Fabricius,

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 153

"considering his advanced age, his blindness and his
infirmities " had been constrained to lay down his
office as a minister of the Gospel, they described
their "most deserted condition in regard to their holy
religion," they were "as chickens without the hen, as
sheep without a shepherd, as sick without a physician,
verily in the greatest danger." They urged their
"blessed fellowship" in the faith with this Lutheran
Consistory, their fervent zeal for the honor of God
and the maintenance of their Christian faith, and
pleaded for "the spiritual refreshment alike of the old
and of the young for their eternal salvation." And
as a further and striking evidence of their estimation
of pastoral ministrations, their letter contained the
offer of what must be considered for that day a liberal
support, a salary of one hundred rix dollars with a
house and glebe. But all was in vain. The melan
choly result is told in one brief but affecting sentence :
"The people waited, but no clergyman came."
Equally fruitless were the kindly and zealous en
deavors of William Penn, who, Quaker that he was
and therefore inimical to a regular ministry, imme
diately after his return from America applied to the
Swedish Ambassador at London for his assistance in
obtainingfor these people, clergymen and books from
Sweden, assuring him that he would take care to have
them forwarded from London. Penn himself is said
to have sent them "a box of Catechisms and other
books, together with a Bible in folio, for use in the
church, though all in English."
Souls have never cried in vain for the bread of
life. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Deso-

154 The Lutherans in America.
late and famished, doomed to cruel disappointment
in every attempt to obtain pastors, they were to wit
ness, when all human help had failed, the wonderful
intervention of divine help. No Christian people
anywhere have so often and so vividly experienced,
as the Lutherans in this country, that the very hour
which marks the deepest distress of the church is
wont to strike the signal for its deliverance. Human
counsel, wisdom and strength are brought to naught
that no flesh should glory, and then when the hearts
of men are fully prepared for such a revelation, they
learn that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
There are in fact nowhere to be found brighter in
stances of a heroic and all conquering faith in God
and of singular and manifold interventions of Provi
dence than are presented in the successive chapters
of Lutheran history in this land.
A Swedish gentleman by the name of Printz hap
pened to come hither on an English ship. It was in
those days a rare pleasure for the Swedes to behold
one of their countrymen, and they gave Printz a cor
dial welcome and soon made him acquainted with
their spiritual condition. On returning to Stock
holm he communicated their desire to have ministers,
bibles, hymn-books and other manuals of devotion, to
certain pious laymen in whom their spiritual destitu
tion awakened profound sympathy and a sincere zeal
for the Church of God. They succeeded in bringing
the sore need of these far distant Lutherans to the
notice of the king, Charles X I., who was deeply affected
by their condition and at once gave especial attention

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes 155

to their relief, cherishing "a Royal grace and care for
their eternal salvation and welfare, and for the up
holding of the pure and uncorrupted Lutheran re
ligion." A letter of inquiry was at once dispatched, assur
ing them that as soon as definite and circumstan-

_-*-Klt=7 •- ¦

OLD SWEDES' CHURCH, WICACOA, (GLORIA DEl). DEDICATED JULY 2, I 700.
tial information concerning their spiritual necessities
could be received from them, His Majesty would
most graciously send them not only ministers but also
all sorts of religious books. The letter implored
them to give information "on every particular of their

1 56 The Lutherans in America.
condition in the least as well as in the greatest," and
requested them to send back their response as speed
ily as possible, since "this may lead to your soul's wel
fare and salvation," and it closed with the entreaty
" Be not negligent in the matter which pertains to
your eternal welfare, for you can certainly see that
the great God doth just as speedily help through
lowly friends as through the great."
This letter was in due season received in America
and occasioned the greatest joy. It was looked upon
in the light of a message from heaven, it was cer-
tainlya messenger of divine Providence. The response
to it, we may feel assured, was not long delayed. It
bears the date of May 31, 1693, just eight days after
the reception of the letter from Sweden. The writ
ing of it devolved upon Charles Springer, a Swede
who through singular personal trials had found his
way to his countrymen in Pennsylvania. He was a man
of education. He had been appointed a magistrate
among the Swedes at Christina, and was one of those
pious laymen who in default of pastors conducted
religious services in the Lutheran churches, "a God
fearing man, who spared neither labor nor expense
for the establishment of the Lutheran Church in the
American wilderness." It overflows with gratitude,
rejoicing, and praise to "the great God who, we verily
and in our hearts believe, has and will continue to
have His hand in the completion of this work which
has been begun in so Christian a manner. For we
do not believe that God will forsake us, although we
are in a strange and heathen land, far away from our
own dear fatherland."

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 157
Complying with the request of their friends in
Sweden for full details of their situation, stating
among other circumstances that " our wives and
daughters busy themselves much in spinning both
wool and flax, many also with weaving, so that we
have great reason to thank Almighty God for the
support of our daily life," and that "we live in great
amity with the Indians, who have not done us any
harm for many years," the burden of this communica
tion is of course their spiritual situation, their desire
to " obtain faithful pastors and watchmen for our
souls, who may feed us with that spiritual food which
is the preaching of God's Word, and the administra
tion of the Holy Sacraments in their proper form.
We therefore beg," the letter proceeds, " that there
may be sent to us two Swedish ministers, who are
well learned and well exercised in the Holy Scriptures.
and who may well defend both themselves and us
against all the false teachers and strange sects by
whom we are surrounded, or who may oppose us on
account of our true, pure and uncorrupted service
to God and the Lutheran religion, which we shall
now confess before God and all the world, so that
if it should so happen, which, however, may God avert,
we are ready to seal this with our own blood. We
beg also that these ministers may be such as live a
sedate and sober life, so that we and our children,
led by the example of their godly conversation, may
also lead lives godly and well pleasing to God."
It certainly forms no mean element in the glory of
which Lutherans boast, that their Church was first
planted in this country by men of heroic faith, of a

158 The Lutherans in America.
martyr's devotion to pure doctrine, and of apostolic
zeal for holiness ! To the plea for ministers was
added the request for twelve Bibles, three volumes of
Sermons, forty-two devotional Manuals, one hundred
Hand-books and spiritual Meditations, and two hun
dred Catechisms, for all of which they proposed to
"pay and make satisfaction in all honesty and up
rightness," engaging even in the event that these
books might by some accident be unfortunately lost
on the way, " even then honestly to pay for them."
Of this letter which arrived safely and promptly, it
is said many copies were made in Sweden. It was
circulated from hand to hand and drew tears from
many eyes. The king personally took prompt and
active measures to answer and even exceed their
prayer, and displayed in fact a most royal and pious
zeal to assure the fullest success to the enterprise.
He called to his counsels the Archbishop and other
high dignitaries of the Church, and charged them zeal
ously to exert themselves "to seek out and provide
such learned and godly men as were desired by the
Swedish colony on the South River in America, to
procure faithful laborers for that vineyard of the
Lord," promising that as soon as the men were ready,
proper arrangements should be made for their journey
with generous provisions for their outfit and travel
ing expenses.
The first man chosen by the Consistory was An
drew Rudman, a candidate for the degree in Philoso
phy, who was urged by the most pressing reasons to
enter upon this work, and who after some days' reflec
tion consented. His academic degree was conferred

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 1 59
upon him before his departure. Rudman, with ad
mirable considerateness on the part of the authorities,
was himself allowed to make choice of a fellow-laborer
in his office, and he selected Mr. Eric Bjork, who was
well known to the Provost of the Cathedral in Up-
sala. To these two clergymen a third, Mr. Jonas
Auren, was added by the king's command. It was to
be his chief errand to make a map of the country with
a description of its character and the condition of its
inhabitants; then to come home immediately and
communicate it to His Majesty. Yet that he might
accomplish the more good, he was also ordained
along with Mr. Bjork in Upsala, Rudman having pre
viously taken orders.
All the preparations for the departure of the three
missionaries seemed to have been completed. They
had already taken leave of their friends and were about
to set sail, when to their great sorrow it was discov
ered that the printer had failed to furnish the Indian
Catechism, copies of the translation of Luther's Small
Catechism, which, as noticed above, Campanius had
fifty years previously made into an Indian tongue.
As the evangelization of the heathen was a leading in
centive for their braving the perils of the sea and of the
wilderness, they would not consent to sail until they
were supplied with these precious text-books for their
Christian instruction. They refused to go abroad
and labor among their brethren unless they could at
the same time enjoy the privilege of teaching the way
of salvation to the wild Indians, an example which
commends itself to-day with especial emphasis to such
Lutherans as hold that they have so great a task in

160 The Lutherans in America.
churching the vast emigrant population, that they do
not feel called upon to engage in missionary labors
among the heathen of our own or of other lands.
At last the printer's work was finished and an edi
tion of five hundred Indian Catechisms "in the Amer
ican Virginian language" was placed on board along
with all the other books which had been asked for,
the king graciously donating these to the congrega
tions, with the assurance that it gave " especial grati
fication to His Majesty to hear of the well-being of
said congregations, and of their zeal and constancy in
the pure and evangelical doctrine." On every copy
of these books, even on the Catechisms, were stamped
the king's initials in gilt letters. The party sailed for
London, August 4, 1696, after an affecting farewell
from the king, who sent his orders to the captain of
the vessel directing him "to pay these persons the
kindest attentions." The Secretary of the Swedish
Embassy in London was also advised to forward
them in their voyage from that place, a measure
which proved to be by no means superfluous, for the
English government was not disposed to allow them
the continuance of their voyage, but after consider
able delay this was accorded " in respect for the
Christian work which they had undertaken." The
delay in granting this permission and issuing the
proper passport, turned out to be one of those kind
providences which at the time of their occurrence ap
pear so mysterious and so trying to faith but turn
out so happy in the issue. The ship in which they
had engaged passage and which left port without
them, encountered serious disaster at sea and with

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes 161
great difficulty reached a port in Portugal, and did
not reach America until a year after the arrival of
these missionaries in Pennsylvania.
After a voyage of ten weeks they landed in Vir
ginia in April, 1697, and thence proceeded to Mary
land whither the ship was bound. "Then after the
Governor of Maryland, Francis Nicholson, Esq., had
hospitably entertained them for two weeks, and made
them a donation of twenty-six dollars for their trav
eling expenses, they continued their journey on a
yacht to Elk River, and there they landed on Mid
summer's day, (June 24). Some Swedes dwelt in that
place, who welcomed their countrymen most heartily,
and immediately sent word to their brethren in Penn
sylvania, who came without delay, and with tears of
joy conducted their much longed-for countrymen
overland to their homes.
The first official action of the ministers was to col
lect the congregations together and present their com
mission from the King and Archbishop. This was
done in the Church at Wicacoa on the first Sunday
after their arrival, and at Tranhook one week later.
While ordinarily congregations choose their teachers,
in this case the teachers chose their congregations.
It was agreed that Rudman, having been first called,
should have the privilege of choosing his congregation.
He selected Wicacoa and Mr. Bjork took Tranhook.
"Then they separated with thanksgivings, prayers and
tears, and each one remained with his own flock,
which he must now gather up, as it were, out of the
wilderness." Of the Tenacon Church nothing is re
ported in this connection, and of Mr. Auren it is,

1 62 The Lutherans in America.
simply stated that he remained for some time with
Pastor Rudman "before he entered upon his travels
over the country."
Settled over their regular flocks the two pastors
did not forget the claims of the surrounding heathen.
They labored unweariedly to bring these also to the
marvellous light of the Gospel, and the line of spirit
ual sympathy which had been formed by the enlight
ened activity of Campanius in the preceding genera
tion was greatly strengthened by the labors of these
earnest missionaries.
The care of their own flocks required, of course,
their assiduous attention. The old buildings being
found in a dilapidated condition, one of their first
movements was to agitate the subject of church erec
tion. With little money and large faith, a substantial
building was commenced at Christina in May, 1698.
The ground for it, "together with two fathoms of
ground on the West and South sides for free ingress
and egress," was presented by John Stalcop, an officer
of the congregation. The edifice was built of granite,
sixty feet long, thirty broad and twenty high. The
wall was six feet thick in the foundation, and three
feet at the windows as well as above them. Five
large arched windows admitted the light and there
were three arched doors. Considering the times and
the circumstances this was a magnificent church build
ing, a monument of Lutheran liberality, zeal and
energy. There was great difficulty in obtaining mechanics
and day laborers. "The cost amounted to eight hun
dred pounds. When the accounts were settled, the

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 163
congregation fell in debt to the pastor to the amount
of one hundred and thirty-five pounds, which he after
wards donated. Money, it is remarked was at that
time more abundant in the country than for a long
time since, which may indeed be taken as a strong
proof of God's providence." One gentleman had ad
vanced a loan of three hundred and twenty pounds,
and had taken a note at ten per cent, interest, which
was two per cent, more than the law allowed and it
consequently exposed him to a penalty of one hun
dred pounds. He took the precaution to get under
cover and presented this one hundred pounds to the
congregation which thereupon honored him with'the
front pew in the church and also with a burial place."
Public thanks were afterwards offered to God "who
had moved him to make such a gift," and happiness
and blessings invoked upon him and his children.
These prayers do not seem to have received the an
swer sought, for at a later day the man got into
financial straits and showed his true character "by de
manding anew the whole debt with accrued interest."
The consecration of the church was an occasion of
great solemnity and overflowing festal joy. Gov
ernor Markham was invited to be present, but could
not attend. A public dinner, for which the mem
bers respectively had furnished "all sorts of meat and
drink," was partaken of by nearly the whole congrega
tion. "All rejoiced and praised God for His gracious
care in raising up his Church in this wild land. The
same day, which was Trinity Sunday, was for a long
time after annually celebrated by an evening service
of praise and thanksgiving. Matins were held on

164

The Lutherans in America.

Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, as also throughout
the summer. Garlanded lights and side lights were
made of pine wood, for use in the Christmas service.
A belfry was project
ed, but never com
pleted. The bell was
hung upon a walnut
tree in the church-yard.
Simultaneously with
the erection of a church
edifice at Christina a
similar undertaking
was started at Wica
coa, the membership
of which parish lived
partly in Philadelphia
which had been
founded in 1682, and
which Pastor Bjork
called in 1697 "a clever
little town," and partly
in the various sur
rounding districts,
some even on the
other side of the Del
aware, and in many
cases quite remote
from one another. Of
the necessity for a new
J From Harper's Weekly.— Copyright, 1888, by Harper & Brother*.
church there was but gustavus adolphus Swedish Lutheran
one mind, and four church, new york.
hundred pounds were promised by subscriptions for

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 165
commencing the work. But when it came to fixing
the locality for "a new Mother Church" a terrible con
troversy broke out. The "settlers below" the Schuyl
kill contended for a site at Passayungh, where the
congregation had bought a piece of land for a par
sonage and glebe. The "upper settlers" wished to
have it again at Wicacoa, upon the same ground
on which the old church stood. A third party pro
posed that as Tenakon was the oldest church in the
country, it should be kept up as long as possible, and
then another one should be afterwards erected at the
same place.
Each of the parties became more determined and
at the same time, as is wont to be the case in church
quarrels, "more lukewarm in the Christian work." The
pastor felt himself greatly hindered in his calling by
the turbulence of faction, and became so distressed in
mind and so weary of the protracted strife, that he
relinquished the care of the congregation and threat
ened to return at once to Sweden, though but a few
months before he had written to a friend, that he did
not "know of any place in the world where a Christ
ian minister could live happier or more beloved than
here." He betook himself to Christina and sought
the sympathy and good offices of his friend and
faithful fellow-laborer Bjork, who went over to the
assembled congregation and preached to them a ser
mon on " The Tears of Christ," with a direct reference
to the existing state of things. "And as a part of
them were not present he presently put his admoni
tions and reproofs in a written form, which was sent
around to be read from house to house. The effect

1 66 The Lutherans in America.
of this was all that could be desired — the tears of
Christ ought to settle every quarrel between breth
ren. " They all became humble and penitent on
account of their folly, and bound themselves to
commit the matter wholly and entirely to the judg
ment of the three ministers, as well in regard to the
choice of the place as to the plan and cost of the
church edifice ; and also agreed that there should be
a fine of ten pounds imposed upon any who should
find fault with what was done therein." Both parties
also gave a written pledge to pay their old subscrip
tions to the church edifice, wherever it should be lo
cated, and also "to send down their representatives to
Christina to beg their pastor's forgiveness and be
seech him that he would not forsake them," — an edify
ing spectacle of the saving common sense with which
the Gospel inspires the minds of its subjects.
The ministers finally concluded to build at Wicacoa,
close by the old church. Among the reasons as
signed for this determination were that by the casting
of lots this site had once before been selected for this
purpose ; that a graveyard was already arranged
there; that the site commanded a very fine prospect;
that the value of the property would increase by its
proximity to the city, and that "the name of the
Swedes would ever be held in remembrance, as their
church thus stood in view of vessels as they sailed
upon the river." The difficulty which the lower set
tlers would have in coming over the Schuylkill was to
be relieved by a flat-boat which the congregation
should maintain at its own expense.
The quarrel had delayed the work for an entire

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Swedes. 167
year, but it was now prosecuted with the greatest zeal,
Pastor Rudman being architect, superintendent and
paymaster, the same masons and carpenters who had
been employed on the Christina church doing the
work also on this one, the dimensions of which were
exactly the same. The foundation was of stone, and
the walls of brick, "every other one glazed." In the
course of a year the church was nearly completed, a
cross-wall at the west end being left intentionally unfin
ished, "until it could be seen whether some bells could
be obtained from Sweden." On the second of July,
1700, on the first Sunday after Trinity, the building
was dedicated to the worship of God, under the name
of Gloria Dei,wlth solemn and imposing services, in the
presence of a numerous and promiscuous assembly, a
large part of whom were English people from Phila
delphia, "on whose account the conclusion of the ad
dress was translated into English."
The Christian zeal, the enterprise, liberality and
good taste displayed by the Lutherans in the erection
of these two large, costly and beautiful churches, com
manded the admiration of their English neighbors
far and wide. " The fame of them was noised abroad
to neighboring provinces," and confirmed the high
estimate which had long been formed of these com
munities. "The English inhabitants having been in
terested in the progress of the building both at Wi
cacoa and Christina, continued long after their conse
cration, to gaze upon them with wonder. Strangers
visiting the region of the Delaware walked round
about their walls and with respectful mien were
pleased to enter their sacred courts. Even the gov-

1 68 The Lutherans in America.
ernors of Maryland and Virginia, — Nicholson and
Blackstone, — attended by their respective suites, were
gratified on the occasion of seeing with their own
eyes these noble monuments of Christian zeal and
Lutheran enterprise."
Fully consecrated to the work of saving souls, fired
with a loyal devotion to the pure doctrines of grace,
and manifesting continually- the spirit of progress and
of an enlightened zeal, it need not surprise us to find
that these earnest and cultured ministers, whose char
acter and learning commended them to the foremost
persons of the country, soon found their work appre
ciated by the people of other nationalities. Not only
Hollanders who had long intermingled with the
Swedes as one people became identified with their
congregations, but also many English, Scotch, Irish
and German families, all using the Swedish language.
Great as was the simplicity of these primitive Ameri
can Lutheran divines it never occurred to them that
they had been entrusted with the Gospel for the
preaching of it solely to Lutherans and their children.

CHAPTER VI.
THE EARLIEST LUTHERANS IN AMERICA  THE GERMANS.
IT is noteworthy that, while the Reformation had its
cradle in Germany, and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church is popularly regarded as the Church of
the Germans and their descendants, Lutherans had
occupied this country for several generations before
any distinct traces of their German brethren are to be
found here. The first Lutheran settlers in America were,
undoubtedly, Hollanders, and the first to be regularly
organized under the care of a pastor were Swedes.
It is likewise to be noticed that, while the Portuguese,
Spaniards, French, Dutch and English planted their
standards and founded their colonies on these western
shores, the governments of the great German nation
did not enter upon any such colonial enterprises.
The Hanseatic cities might have furnished the neces
sary transports, but Germany lay prostrate and deso
late from the results of the Thirty Years' War.
Towns and villages lay in .ashes, its fairest districts
had become deserts, and even where prosperity and
political power began once more to revive, the re
morseless wars and aggressions of Louis XIV. quelled
all ambition for the extension of territory or power
and rendered it impossible for German princes to un
dertake any projects beyond the seas.
Hence, to the few of their subjects who found them
selves in a condition to emigrate to the New World,
there remained no alternative but to seek a home
169

170 The Lutherans in America.
among the communities which had been founded here
by other nations. Along time seems to have elapsed
before much of a disposition to leave the fatherland
showed itself. The emigration mania had not, at that
time, seized the German mind. No considerable
body of Germans found their way to America until
1683, almost two hundred years after its discovery.
Such individuals or famlies as had previously come
hither became dispersed almost imperceptibly among
the Dutch, Swedes and English. They were sporadic
pioneers, who were followed by no immediate
re-enforcements or regular accessions. Of a German
Lutheran Church or pastor we have no record
until the eighteenth century. Destined to be the
strongest element in the development of the Evan
gelical Lutheran Church, they were the last in
coming. When the stream of German emigration began
at last to flow in some force, it brought not Lutherans,
but Quakers, the fruits of Penn's missionary activity
in Germany for several years before he founded his
famous colony. Along with those who had avowed
the peculiar tenets and practices of the Quaker relig
ion prior to their crossing of the Atlantic, came a
number of others who had no small measure of sym
pathy with them, and who had been carried away by
the tide of religious extravagance and fanaticism
which marked the close of the seventeenth and the
beginning of the eighteenth centuries : Mennonites,
Mystics, Chiliasts, representatives of the "Awakened"
and of the "Inspired," Ultraists and Separatists of
every kind. It was a motley Babel-host, with singu-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. .171
lar and strong affinities, — malcontents who had these
features in common, that, like the Quakers and New
England Puritans, they were hostile to the dominant
confessional orthodoxy, were identified with the con
venticles of the " Awakened," and repudiated the State
Churches, from which they, in turn, suffered cruel per
secutions. Unquestionably, a mixture of these fanat
ical sects and sectaries formed the preponderating
element in the earliest German emigration to this
country. Some of them had been roaming from
place to place in their native land, and having learned
that in the trans-atlantic Province of William Penn.no
one was molested for his religious faith, they hastened
to this asylum in the wilderness, destined to be the
Paradise of all extravagances, and the fertile nursery
of all " isms."
Somewhat later, in 1734 and 1735, these were fol
lowed by the Schwenkfeldians and Herrnhuter,
the Separatists, thus, for some time, especially in
Pennsylvania, outnumbering the adherents of the
Lutheran and Reformed Confessions. But little trace
of these is to be found until they had attained suffi
cient numbers and strength to call pastors. The Re
formed had, in this respect, the start of the Lutherans,
a pastor, Rev. George Michael Weiss, having been
sent to them by the Palatinate Consistorium in 1727.
The first Lutherans who came from Germany, either
as individuals or in bodies, were evidently scattered
over a wide extent of territory, and it is doubtful
whether they contributed directly to the establish
ment of the Church. The formation of congregations,
it is certain, proceeded slowly and gradually, and in

172 The Lutherans in America.
the beginning of the eighteenth century they were both
"few and weak."
The first German Lutheran congregation organ
ized within the limits of the present area of the United
States, was, undoubtedly, that of Falckner's Swamp
(New Hanover), on the Manatawney, in Montgomery
County, Penn. Its first pastor was Rev. Justus Falck
ner, a man around whose name clusters more than
ordinary interest. He belonged to a family of clergy
men in Germany, his grandfathers on both sides and
his father being Lutheran ministers, and he had him
self been educated at Halle, under Francke, for the
sacred office. On the completion of his studies, he
turned away from it with strong aversion, and in 1700
accompanied his brother to America, where both of
them held a power-of-attorney as land-agents for
William Penn. It was while making a sale of some
lands to the Swedes that he came to regret his decis
ion against entering the ministry, — a change trace
able no doubt to the Christian zeal and spiritual in
fluence of his Swedish brethren in the faith.
Thus by the guiding hand of a gracious Providence
this gifted and learned man, who had fled from his
father's house to escape from the ministry to which
he had been consecrated by parents and friends, now
voluntarily assumes its responsibilities, and devotes
his talents to the saving of his countrymen whom he
found languishing in spiritual destitution. His name
is honored as that of the first pastor of the first Ger
man Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He
was likewise the first Lutheran minister ordained in
this country, his ordination being conducted in the

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 73
Swedish Church at Wicacoa, November 24, 1703, by
the three Swedish Pastors, Rudman, Bjork and Sandel,
who, although they had unquestionably inherited the
boon of Apostolic succession — whatever that may be
— held it in so little estimation, that they proceeded to
the ordination of a man to the sacred office without any
imposition of Episcopal hands. The Archbishop of
Upsala had wisely authorized these Presbyters to per
form such ordinations in his absence. Had the Pres
byters of the Anglican Church been similarly empow
ered by their Bishops, the growth of the Episcopal
Church in the colonies would have made a showing
very different from that which has passed into his
tory. Pastor Falckner proved a zealous and worthy
minister, one of the purest and most efficient of the
earlier ministers in the American Lutheran Church.
He went after a brief pastorate to New York where
he ministered to many people, and in 1723 closed his
earthly labors with congregations which he had or
ganized in New Jersey.
The settlement known as Falckner's Swamp was
probably founded before 1 700. The date of the erec
tion of the first house of worship is unknown. In
1 719 fifty acres of ground were donated for the use
of church and school, but buildings for these pur
poses may have been previously erected.
A considerable tide of Lutheran emigration from
Germany began to pour into these shores early in the
eighteenth century. Large numbers came hither in
171 1, 1 71 7 and the years immediately ensuing, and the
whole period from 1702 to 1727 was marked by large
accessions to the Lutheran population. On June 13,

mm

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 75
1 7 10, as many as four thousand landed in ten vessels
at New York, after a voyage of frightful hardships
from which several hundred had perished on the way.
These were fugitives from the Palatinate for whom
the sympathies and munificence of Queen Anne had
provided not only shelter, clothing and food in Eng
land, but also free transportation to the New World
with subsistence on the way and princely domains for
their occupation. These Palatines were the first
Lutherans whom religious persecution drove to these
shores. Their history is one of tragic interest. Within a
single generation their beautiful country, one of the
fairest and most fertile regions of Europe, had been
thrice devastated by the armies of Louis XIV., who
laid claim to the succession on behalf of his brother
the Duke of Orleans. In these persistent and ruth
less aggressions of a foreign and Catholic sovereign,
the country was overrun by a barbarous soldiery that
knew no pity for old men or delicate women or suck
ing children; and when it was found impossible to
hold what had been conquered Louis gave command
to have the country turned into a desert. "The
French commander," says Macaulay, "announced to
near half a million of human beings that he granted
them three days of grace. Soon the roads and fields
which then lay deep in snow, were blackened by in
numerable multitudes of men, women and children
flying from their homes. Many died of cold and hun
ger ; but enough survived to fill the streets of all the
cities of Europe with lean and squalid beggars, who
had once been thriving farmers and shopkeepers.

i 76 The Lutherans in America.
Meanwhile the work of destruction began. The
flames went up from every market place, every ham
let, every parish church, every country seat, within the
devoted provinces. The fields where the corn had
been sown were ploughed up. The orchards were
hewn down. No promise of a harvest was left on the
fertile plains where had once been Frankenthal. Not
a vine, not an almond tree, was to be seen on the
slopes of the sunny hills round what had once been
Heidelberg." Mannheim, Worms and Spires met the
same fate. They were reduced to ashes. The very
hospitals and orphanages were sacked. The provis
ions, the medicines, the pallets on which the sick lay,
were destroyed. Protestant worship was broken up
and the churches were turned over to Roman Catho
lic priests.
These atrocities and horrors which extended over
the whole Rhine region, threw Germany into frenzy
and called forth the execration of Europe. But the
universal cry for vengeance brought no relief. A few
years later the Duke of Lorges, invading the country
found that, after its two merciless devastations, there
was still something left to destroy, and the work of
demolition, the butchery of peaceful citizens and the
outrage of their wives and daughters were once more
resumed. The treaty of Ryswick (1697) stipulated
that the French must evacuate the country, but also
that the ecclesiastical usurpations of the Catholics
should be maintained throughout the portion of
country which they held. Hence the Catholic princes
who now ruled the country denied the Protestants
the free exercise of their religion, robbed them of t:heir

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans, i 'jj
churches and through Jesuit intrigue, armed force and
inhuman cruelties, threatened the very existence of
the Evangelical Churches, Reformed as well as
Lutheran. Under the stress of their misery many thousands of
the inhabitants, in many cases entire villages, the pas
tor and flock, farmer, vine-dresser, merchant, me
chanic and miner, stripped of their all and forced by
their sufferings to snap every bond that held them to
their native land, fled to the hospitable shores of
Protestant England. They were joined by numbers
from Baden, Wiirtemberg, Hesse and the surround
ing countries. The arrival of such a host of impov
erished refugees created some alarm and dissatisfac
tion with the government which had quartered them
in a camp like an army. But English beneficence
and humanity triumphed. The Queen took them
under her personal protection and in course of time
they cheerfully accepted Her Majesty's munificent
proposal for their transportation and settlement in
America, where it was confidently expected their
thrifty and peaceable habits would render them a
valuable accession to her colonies. A large fund col
lected for them through private contributions in Eng
land was afterwards forwarded, and for this we may
assume they found ample use.
They had been preceded both in England and
America by some of their own countrymen, who had
been moved to emigrate from the Rhine countries,
both by the torn and wretched condition of the fath
erland and by the alluring prospects which vague
reports and American emigration agents held up be-

i 78 The Lutherans in America.
fore their eyes. A Lutheran minister by the name of
Joshua von Kocherthal, accompanied by his family
and sixty-one others, had under great difficulties suc
ceeded in making his way to England. They were
made subjects of the British crown and then shipped
to America, supplied with mechanical implements and
with one year's subsistence, while the Queen do
nated twenty pounds for the support of the pastor
and five hundred acres of land " for the mainte
nance of a Lutheran minister and his successors for
ever." They arrived in New York near the close of
the year 1708 and were settled on the West shore of
the Hudson in the vicinity of what is now Newburg,
where more than two thousand acres of land were
divided between them.
The peculiar and indescribable trials which such a
colony must inevitably experience in temporal inter
ests, were aggravated in this case by religious discord.
When nineteen of the little congregation withdrew as
Pietists, the others proposed to withhold from them
the relief which the authorities had provided for them
in their poverty, but when the Reformed pastors of
New York had by an official investigation ascertained
that this Pietism was no damnable heresy, the gov
ernment ordered them to be also included among its
beneficiaries. In 1709 Pastor Kocherthal obtained
free passage to England in order that he might lay
the distress of the people upon the heart of the
Queen, who accorded him a favorable reception and
granted him substantial aid for the material pros
perity of his people. The measure of their religious
prosperity can be judged, in part at least, by the char-

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 79
acter of the pastors, who served them with more or
less regularity after the decease of Kocherthal in
1719. Falckner had charge of them for some time in
connection with the Dutch churches at New York and
Albany. Rev. W. Christopher Berkenmeier, a man
of ability, learning and excellent character, ministered
to them between 1725 and 1732, and after that, Rev.
Michael Christian Knoll visited them three times a
year, receiving as compensation for this service thirty
bushels of wheat. Of their valuable church property
they were, in later years, fraudulently dispossessed by
the Episcopalians, who fifty years afterwards suffered
similar treatment at the hands of the Presbyterians.
Upon the arrival of the large body of South Ger
mans in 1 710, the greater portion of them went north
ward, where Governor Hunter allotted to them some
six thousand acres of land, which he had purchased
from Livingston's Manor, a large tract now embraced
in Dutchess and Columbia counties, and also an equal
area on the West bank of the Hudson immediately
opposite. This land, heretofore unimproved, they
were to hold and cultivate as tenants, and the govern
ment expected large returns from their thrifty toil.
They soon found themselves in the clutches of hard
masters and their condition was but little better than
the Egyptian slavery of the Israelites. They were
placed under overseers, and in order to satisfy the in
ordinate selfishness and rapacity of Livingston they
were subjected to cruel and most unrighteous extor
tions. These wrongs and hardships drove them to
discontent and resistance. They might as well have
endured in their native land the sword of the French

180 The Lutherans in America.
and the oppression of the Jesuits. Under the tyranny
of the unprincipled men who held them in their
power no development or improvement was possible.
Insupportable trials offered them no future. The
boasted asylum of the oppressed became to them a
land of hard bondage.
Soldiers were called out to reduce them to measures.
But they knew to oppose force with force, and with
weapons in their hands demanded a removal of their
grievances. From this time on they were treated like
rebels. Wearying of their wrongs and their slavery,
the majority, preferring the wilderness inhabited only
by savages to the pitiless maltreatment of their Anglo-
Saxon oppressors, abandoned in the course of three
years the soil which they had redeemed from the wild.
In the dead of winter and amid terrible exposure
and sufferings, they moved farther northward into
the Schoharie region where a large and fertile tract
had been ceded to them by certain Mohawk Indians
with whom they had held a conference in London.
Governor Hunter sternly forbade their removal to
this section, threatened to punish them as rebels, pur
sued them with threats of vengeance and attempted
even to excite against them the Indians, who had
given them a cheering welcome and who remained
their constant and devoted friends. Long ago, they
urged, this land had been surrendered by them to
Queen Anne expressly for the occupation of the Ger
mans. When citizens of Albany sought to hem them
in by buying up the land around them, the Indians
quickly sold the whole of it to the Palatines for three

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 8 1
hundred dollars, and in other ways, as far as in them
lay, these heathen natives came to their relief.
The people encountered for awhile in their new set
tlement difficulties and privations that beggar descrip
tion. They were wanting in everything necessary for
keeping house or cultivating the soil, clothing, furni
ture, implements, cattle. A number of them suc
ceeded in buying jointly an old gray mare which had
to make the round of the colony. Salt had to be
brought from Schenectady, nineteen miles, and from
the same point was carried on the shoulders of one of
their number the first bushel of wheat. This bushel
it is said, brought forth the following year the incredi
ble yield of eighty-three bushels. It is a type of the
prosperity which rewarded their hunger, exposure and
toil. They lived at peace with each other and with
their wild neighbors, but the few Reformed Holland
ers, who in considerable affluence resided here and
there close to them, showed for a long while great
contempt for these poor Lutheran Palatines and
Swabians. Although blest with the sight and the
services of a minister only once or twice a year, they
assembled on Sundays and edified one another as
well as they could through God's Word and the Songs
of Zion. They were of course without any civil ruler.
"Every one did what was right in his own eyes; they
hunted with the Indians, they attempted also to
teach their wild neighbors the arts of peace ; the for
est fell and yielded its place to the waving grain ; the
busy streams were employed in advancing the useful
operations of the mill ; seven villages, small but
thrifty, rose beneath their industry and ministered to

1 82 The Lutherans in America.
their social enjoyment, whilst the long seasons of
labor were occasionally relieved by manly sports, by
innocent and temperate amusements. They felt se
cure, too secure, in the possession of their ground.
The law of nature, the law of nations, they said, would
protect them in the enjoyment of the territory they
had redeemed from the wilderness and improved at
the cost of their own sweat and blood."
Alas! for their simplicity, their ignorance of the
ways of the world, and their blind confidence in the
supposed promises and engagements of the Queen.
The cunning and greed alike of the Dutch and the
English soon subjected them, both under the pretense
of law and in open violation of it, to a series of out
rages and robberies which dismembered this their sec
ond settlement, and sent many of them adrift again
into a more distant wilderness.
Supposing the Indians to have been the sole posses
sors of the soil, they were satisfied with the convey
ance executed by the tribe. It never occurred to
them that it was necessary to obtain patents or title-
deeds from the Royal Governor of New York, and the
absence of these proved fatal to their security and
their hopes, and without any previous intimation of
the crafty designs of the rapacious speculators who
dispossessed them, the very soil which they had
purchased and with severe toil and self-denial had
made productive and habitable, was fraudulently sold
beneath their feet.
Smarting under a sense of great wrongs and out
right robbery they at first threatened resistance by
force of arms. At last they concluded to deputize

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 183
three of their number to carry their appeal to the
home government at London. Arriving there after
a succession of most trying experiences and finding
themselves helpless, without friends or advisers, they
had to see two years pass by before they succeeded,
through the assistance of the German Lutheran court
preachers, in getting their cause before the ministry for
the colonies. They pleaded that at least some indem
nity should be allowed them. But all was in vain.
Their grasping enemies had anticipated them and
secured a favorable decision. Their case was lost.
They were wantonly deprived of their property, their
homes, their all. Avarice, fraud, cunning, triumphed
over simplicity, uprightness and honest labor.
Some of the unfortunate people, yielding to the in
evitable, contented themselves with leasing their own
farms from those who now had to be recognized as
the lawful proprietors, and remained accordingly in
Schoharie. A large company set out further west,
and as if fleeing from the robberies and violence of
civilization plunged once more into the depths of the
wilderness. Led by an Indian guide we find them in
1723 following the course of the Susquehanna and
amid terrible ordeals penetrating the heart of Penn
sylvania, going southward as far as the mouth
of the Swatara, a few miles below what is now
Harrisburg. From thence they made their way
by irregular wanderings up the waters of that
stream till they came to the Tulpehocken region, a
few miles northeast of the present Reading where, in
a beautiful valley, in fair and free and fruitful Penn
sylvania, though still among the Indians, they found

184 The Lutherans in America.
rest for their feet. They were soon followed by
others and in 1729 they were joined by Conrad Wei-
ser, whose father had been their chief leader in Scho
harie, and who himself was to play a conspicuous and
honorable part in the progress of the Germans and
the development of the Church in Pennsylvania — not
to speak of his memorable services as an interpreter
for the Indians with whom he had spent a year of his
youth in the Mohawk valley.
The outrages suffered by the Palatines were ru
mored abroad and the tide of German emigration
was in consequence turned away from New York.
To this it is doubtless owing, in a measure at least,
that the Church never attained in that state the
growth and strength that have long marked it in
Pennsylvania, which on account of various attractions
remained for years the desired haven for the Ger
mans, who are ever seeking a better country.
Of the large host that arrived in New York in 1710
numbers went directly to Pennsylvania, drawn thither
by the kindness, peaceableness and worldly thrift of
the Friends. Some of them "with a capacity for easy
adaptation to their new circumstances assumed the
garb, the manner, and at length even the faith of the
Quakers." A considerable colony of Palatines set
tled New Berne, N. C, in the same year.
Thus by a variety of circumstances, personal prefer
ences, disappointments, disasters, providential deal
ings, it happened that these four thousand Germans,
with their natural increase, were scattered broadcast
throughout the land. "They grow with the growth of
New York and Philadelphia; they cultivate the soil

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 185
on the flats of the Hudson; they are faithful tenants
in Schoharie; they subdue and enliven the wilderness
of Pennsylvania along the Tulpehocken and Swatara."
To the establishment of the Church they could under
the circumstances contribute directly but very little.
Unlike their Swedish brethren they came without pas
tors and religious teachers to watch over their souls,
they lived in constant uncertainty and insecurity,
they were harrassed by pinching poverty and by the
continual aggressions of unprincipled men who had
the countenance of the authorities. Amid their perils,
their unsettled state, and their helplessness, it must
have been impossible for them to erect sanctuaries in
the desert, and although they came hither as the bene
ficiaries of a munificent and Christian Queen, those
along the Hudson and in Schoharie were not permit
ted for twenty years to welcome amongst them a pas
tor of their own, or "to unite in public worship within
any enclosure more dignified than a barn or a hovel
of frame work."
There was here undoubtedly a will, but no way.
How could they build churches when wandering to
and fro year by year and fighting against hunger and
wild beasts, against the oppressions of those in power
and the brutalities of their spoilers? That some of
these South Germans did not remain constant in their
faith and either became indifferent to religious princi
ple or were merged, into some of the sects which then
already swarmed here, may be taken for granted. A
number of them, as was noted above, were drawn in
Philadelphia into the meeting of the Quakers. For
the most part, however, they were firmly established in

1 86 The Liitherans in America.
Lutheran doctrine and at heart desirous of transmit
ting it, pure and complete, to their children. Those
who remained in New York, where the Dutch Luther
ans now had their own worship unmolested, united
promptly with their brethren though of a different
language, and joined heartily and actively in the ef
forts to build up the Lutheran Church. Opportunity
alone was wanting for those who settled temporarily
along the Hudson and elsewhere, to give substantial
expression to their faith and zeal. We have reason
to believe that the devotion of the closet was not neg
lected, that with many, in default of public religious
privileges, there was maintained a church in the house
and the children were reared in the nurture and ad
monition of the Lord. In the traditions that have
been preserved we see the young man thirsting for
God in the desert, prizing his Bible above all worldly
treasures, and drawing solace and sustenance from
its promises while suffering cold and hunger in an
Indian wigwam. And along side of this is the scene
of the sire in extreme old age extolling the grace of
God in Christ Jesus and moving others to tears by
his attestation of the quickening power of "the old
Evangelical Lutheran doctrine," and the effectual
connection of the Spirit of God with his Holy Word.
We know also that Christian friends in England
had generously furnished them with Bibles, hymn-
books and copies of Arndt's "True Christianity," —
that incomparable volume which has for generations
served as a daily chaplain in thousands of Lutheran
homes — and herein they found the spiritual nourish
ment which they craved in their hearts, the means of

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 187
refreshment in their hours of rest and devotion.
Along with these household ministrations of grace,
the instincts of Christian consciousness led them often,
even in the absence of preachers, to assemble for gen
eral edification and for united prayer and praise.
Considerable streams of German Lutheran immi
gration continued, during successive years, to flow into
the country. But the experience of former settlements
in the province of New York diverted the main cur
rent towards Pennsylvania, although some subsequent
arrivals again went northward and joined themselves
to the remnants of the Palatine communities. For
the most part these were people of religious earnest
ness and of devoted attachment to the Lutheran
Church. "From the Palatinate, from Wiirtemberg,
from Darmstadt, and other portions of Germany, they
came, having one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Many
of them sought and found a home in Philadelphia and
vicinity, and. although unable in their poverty either
to build church or schoolhouse, or even to secure the
ground for such an object, they nevertheless main
tained the unity of the faith, and hopefully awaited a
more prosperous day."
One of the most interesting and clearly determined
colonies of Lutherans, that were founded during the
colonial period in America, was that of the Salzburg-
ers, who were settled in what is now Effingham county,
Georgia, just a year after the first English settlement
under General Oglethorpe. They had been driven
from their native land by remorseless persecution.
Their story touched the heart of Europe and it has
furnished pathetic and tragic material to the historian

1 88 The Lutherans in America.
and the poet, who vie with each other in describing
the journey of their exile "under God's free sky, as
they move along over the roads which his good
angels have thrown up for them."
The evangelical doctrines of the Reformation had
at an early period penetrated the mountainous terri
tory of the Archi-episcopal See of Salzburg. Staupitz,
the spiritual father and noble friend of Luther, had
there ended his days. Eminent Lutheran preachers
had zealously proclaimed the Gospel among the peo
ple, and many copies of the German Bible, the Augs
burg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism, had
made their way into the valleys and cottages of that
region. The tortures of religious persecution were
employed to suppress these innovations. Preachers
were driven off or imprisoned. One was beheaded.
Yet the revived faith of the Gospel continued to grow
and to spread, sometimes strengthened by the resist
ance it encountered, sometimes advancing peaceably
while the barbarous procedures for the repression
of Lutheran "heresy " were for a season suspended.
"About the end of 1684, the Archbishop Grandolf
issued an edict, driving out of the country in mid
winter all Protestants refusing to be converted, and
requiring fathers and mothers to leave behind them
all children under fourteen years of age, that they
might be brought up in the Roman Catholic religion."
Several of his successors had resort to less rigorous
measures. In 1727, Leopold Anton, an avaricious, reckless,
hardened sensualist, ascended the Archi-episcopal
throne. In the heat of a drunken fit, he one day

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 89
swore that he would drive the heretics out of the land,
even if thorns and thistles should overgrow their
fields. He was equal to Herod in keeping his oath.
The cunning arts of the Jesuits were first employed
to ferret out such as privately held to the evangelical
faith, and then by all kinds of persuasives, by "every
theatrical art," it was sought to attract them peace
ably back to Catholicism. The policy of cunning
passed imperceptibly into one of violence. Bibles
and other devotional books were taken from them
and the rosary and scapulary forcibly put in their
place. Such as refused them were treated as rebels,
punished by fines, dragged about in irons, and thrown
into horrible prisons, and many hundreds of them
forced to fly from house and home.
The Protestant powers of the empire were invoked
in their behalf, but notwithstanding their tardy inter
vention, insult, outrage and violence continued to be
heaped upon them. The distress of their situation at
last forced them to unite in a compact for life and
death. On a certain Sunday in August, 1 731, about
one hundred men, from every mountain defile, wended
their way over rocky paths to a market village, where
they seated themselves around a table on which was
placed a vessel of salt. "Each man, with earnest
prayer, dipped the wetted fingers of his right hand
into the salt, and lifting them toward heaven took a
a solemn oath. To the true, Triune God they swore
never to desert the evangelical faith, and then swal
lowed the salt as if it had been sacramental bread."
This of course exasperated the Archbishop yet more.
The Lutherans were charged with conspiracy, and

190 The Lutherans in America.
Austrian troops were brought into the country and
quartered upon them. At the same time all the
passes were guarded and emigration was made a
crime. Two months later this policy was reversed. Emi
gration was made compulsory and that under circum
stances of inhuman cruelty. All persons in the coun
try not permanent residents, all farmers without
politica] rights, and all day-laborers and house-ser
vants who adhered to the Augsburg Confession or to
the doctrine of the Reformed, were required under
heavy penalties to leave the country within one week.
Such as were owners of houses or land were allowed
from one to three months, at the end of which they
were to be outlawed and declared stripped of all right,
both of property and citizenship. "Only those who,
within fifteen days, should repent of their errors and
abjure them, and should formally return to the Rom
ish Church were offered mercy." There was no help
against these atrocious proceedings. All the protests
and threats of Protestant Europe were unavailing.
From December, 1731, to November, 1732, the exiles,
aggregating probably thirty thousand souls, might be
seen in numerous companies and at various inter
vals fleeing from the land of their birth, and wander
ing, many of them knew not whither. Though meet
ing with opposition and insult wherever they touched
on Catholic territory, this abuse was more than
equalled by the kindness and sympathy shown theft
everywhere by their Lutheran brethren.
"Men came to honor in them the martyrs of the
truth, the instruments of God who were called again

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 9 1
to awaken a dead Christianity, a leaven to move the
sluggish mass of Evangelical Protestantism ; and the
more favorable the reports concerning the patience
with which they bore their fate, the beautiful, quiet
order of their marches, their exemplary deportment
in the cities and in their quarters, and the evangelical
spirit which they everywhere displayed, the higher
rose the common enthusiasm for them, and the
stronger became the desire to provide for them and
to do them good. Their march, therefore, through
Germany," continues Hagenbach, " assumed the form
of a triumphal procession. When they approached a
city, the clergy, the youth of the schools, and repre
sentatives of the burghers went out to meet them, and
in procession escorted them into the city amid songs
and the ringing of bells. Divine service was cele
brated, addresses and sermons were delivered in
honor of them; they were celebrated in poems, medals
were struck in their memory, and feasts, simple but
hearty, were prepared for them. Men strove for the
honor of having them in their houses and entertain
ing them. Each person wanted one or more of the
Salzburgers under his own roof, and wished to hear
him at his own fireside recount the wonderful leadings
of God and the adventures which he and his compan
ions had experienced ; and then to what a height did
wonder rise when the host and his family, in these
conversations, perceived how deeply these unlearned
people were versed in the Bible, and how skillful they
were in the explanation of doctrine, and in reproof,
and edification."
It was in fact their familiarity with the divine Word

192 The Lutherans in America.
and their steadfast faith in its Author that had
marked them for the fires of persecution. And it
was not only in their flight from the oppressor that
men saw a parallel to the exodus of Israel from Egyp
tian bondage, but in the marvellous deliverances and
preservations which the hand of Jehovah so mani
festly accorded them, and which to their devout im
agination were as clearly miraculous as the manna in
the desert and the fountain bursting from the rock.
Various countries opened their gates to welcome
these fugitives, but the greater portion accepted the
royal invitation of Prussia, whose noble king, Freder
ick William I., after having satisfied himself of their
agreement in faith with the Augsburg Confession,
"from royal Christian pity and heartfelt sympathy
extended them a loving hand "of welcome into his
country in the day of their trouble and banishment.
Berlin became accordingly their general rendezvous.
Their reception was indeed most friendly and cheer
ing. They were greeted with acclamations of joy and
well provided for both spiritually and temporally.
"The king met them at the Leipsic gate, bade them
be of good courage, and gave them a hearty welcome
as beloved children of his country." The queen enter
tained them in the castle-garden and presented them
with Bibles and money. It is said that King William
was greatly surprised at the definite scriptural an
swers he received when addressing to them religious
questions. "He asked a boy of fourteen years of
age, who on account of his faith had left his father
and mother, how he could answer for his conduct.
The boy said, "He that loveth father and mother

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 193
more than me is not worthy of me." The king then
asked how he expected to get along without his pa
rents. The boy answered promptly, "When my father
and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."
Some of the Salzburg exiles passed on to Holland,
some sought a home in Sweden, some in England,
while others in their wanderings looked with longing
eyes beyond the Atlantic for a land of promise.
There the Trustees for establishing the colony of
Georgia "were providing a home for the indigent
population of Great Britain. The distress of the
Salzburgers moved this body to extend to them also
a refuge, and their benevolent consideration pro
voked " the Society for the Propagation of Christian
knowledge to take an active interest in their removal
to Georgia. They were provided with free passage
across the sea. Parliament voted a liberal grant to
the Georgia colony and a fund of several thousand
pounds was raised by contributions to enable the
"Trustees to carry out their generous designs for the
Salzburgers." These noble expressions of Christian humanity and
liberality were largely brought about through the
agency of the Senior Lutheran pastor at Augsburg,
the Rev. Samuel Urlsperger, who had himself been a
sufferer for conscience' sake, and who, after showing
them great personal kindness when on their march,
they halted and refreshed themselves among the
Lutheran people of that city, exerted himself to bring
their cause to the attention of the London Society
above named. And let it here be noted with empha
sis that Urlsperger of Augsburg, G. A. Francke of

194 The Lutherans in America.
Halle, who was a member of the London "Society de
Propaganda," etc., and the Court Chaplain Ziegen-
hagen, at London, were not only largely instrumental
in securing the assistance which brought the Salz
burgers across the Atlantic, but that, to their Chris
tian piety and missionary zeal, more than to any
other human agency, is due the founding of the
Lutheran Church in this country. Of the noblest ex
amples of Hallean pietism, bound together by the
ties both of personal friendship and of the strongest
spiritual affinity, they alike had a heart for the trials
of their countrymen and brethren in the faith who
were separated by the sea from the communion of
their Church, and an enlightened forecast of that
Church transplanted to the American wilderness.
Their apostolical interest in these feeble American
communities and their co-operation with each other
secured not only substantial aid from Germany
and England for successive emigrations, but also
a number of spiritually-minded, cultured and faith
ful shepherds to care for the exposed and forlorn
flocks in the desert. Without this patronage and the
unity of spirit and action which it prompted, they
might have sunk into utter spiritual destitution and
oblivion. Under the promise of liberal grants of land and of
support until they could derive subsistance from the
soil, a company of ninety-one Salzburgers embarked
for America, landing at Charleston, in March, 1734.
They were accompanied by two pastors, John Martin
Bolzius and Israel Christian Gronau, both of whom
had been pupils at Francke's Orphan House in Halle,

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 1 95
and had been educated for the pastoral office at the
university. They were chosen for this mission by
Francke and Urlsperger, and proved wise, efficient
and faithful bishops, rich in the personal experience
of grace, fervent in Christian zeal, and abundant in
labors. General Ogelthorpe, a name which Bancroft pro
nounces a synonym for "vast benevolence of soul,"
gave them a cordial welcome to his colony, offered
them kindly and valuable counsel, and became their
constant benefactor and patron, so that these pastors
subsequently testified : "He bears great love to the
servants and children of God." A " corps of observa
tion " selected for them a district in the interior, thirty
miles from Savannah, a choice which was altogether
satisfactory to the exiles. " Arriving upon the ground
with their wives and their little ones, they set up a
rock; they broke the silence of the wilderness as they
sang a hymn of praise ; they sought the blessing of
the Lord with the earnest voice of prayer; and they
erected a memorial to the goodness of God displayed
in their deliverance by naming their settlement 'Eben-
ezer,' or 'Hitherto the Lord has helped us.'"
Accessions came from time to time, enlarging the
settlement and strengthening its spiritual condition.
A second company, numbering fifty-seven, arrived
early in 1735. The favorable reports concerning the
Salzburgers stimulated the enterprise of the "Trus
tees," and in October, 1735, they fitted out two ships
for Georgia laden with emigrants. Among these
were about eighty Salzburgers. Their voyage has
become famous from the presence of Oglethorpe and

196 The Lutherans in America.
the two Wesleys in the company, and the profound
impression which was made upon John Wesley by the
calmness, the childlike confidence, the heroic spirit
and the joyful singing of these Lutherans during a
storm when every other heart was quaking and some
were almost dead with terror. Wesley's religious
experience had not reached the stage of filial faith
and joy, and the fortitude and cheerfulness of these
people, manifested in calm or tempest alike by men
and women and children, were a revelation to Wesley
which became a blessed factor in the development of
his own spiritual life and of the society he founded.
The majority of this company united at once with
the community at Ebenezer. Others followed year
after year, until they numbered, in 1741, a population
of more than twelve hundred. They were generally
characterized by fervent piety and governed by lofty
Christian principle. "No sooner did they take pos
session of the wilderness than a tabernacle is set up
for the Lord. This is speedily followed by provision
for the education of the children : then an asylum for
the lonely orphan succeeds." It is doubtless for the
latter institution that Whitefield, who was greatly
touched by the spirituality of these people, is said
to have collected money in different parts of the
country. Their pastors justified the wisdom that had selected
them. They possessed admirable administrative
qualities. They well understood the responsibilities
of their position and maintained a careful oversight
of the flock. "The fruits of their labor, as they grew
and ripened at Ebenezer in peace and industry, in

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 197
moral purity and Christian love, presented to the
eyes of strangers and visitors all the appearance of a

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field which the Lord hath blessed." "Their town was
marked by neatness and pleasantness. No drunken,

198 The Lutherans in America.
no idle, no profligate people were amongst them; in
dustry and harmony prevailed, souls were converted
by the word of God, and believers were edified." Ban
croft says of them : "They were indeed a noble army
of martyrs going forth in the strength of God, and
triumphing in the faith of the Gospel under the
severest hardships and the most rigorous persecu
tions. They were marshalled under no banners save
that of the cross, and were preceded by no leaders
save their spiritual teachers and the great Captain of
their Salvation."
Pennsylvania continued to be the " Land of Prom
ise " for German immigrants. Their numbers began
to excite serious apprehensions on the part of the
civil authorities. The colonial records of that prov
ince in 1717 contain an official communication from
Governor Keith, stating that great numbers of foreign
ers, strangers to our language and constitution, are
spreading themselves over the country, and warning
against the danger of so large an influx of aliens. An
other large accession reached the same province in
1727 from Wiirtemberg, the Palatinate, Hesse-Darm
stadt and other German Principalities. No wonder
the English settlers and the government became
alarmed. These strangers threatened to overwhelm
them and were likely soon to gain the ascendency in
the government. Logan, the Secretary of William
Penn, complained that the Germans were arriving in
such masses that they would ere long form a German
colony, and the story of the Saxon Conquest of Brit
ain might repeat itself in the hitherto peaceful do
main of the Quakers. The legislative branch of the

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 199
government took fright over the same spectre, and
addressed, in 1728, an official warning to the Governor,
reminding him that this vast immigration was endan
gering the peace and security of the state and propos
ing the inauguration of measures either to prevent or
restrict the further importation of foreigners. The
Governor sharing their fears, a law prohibiting further
immigration was enacted. Not that there was hos
tility to these people themselves, many of whom it was
admitted were industrious, peaceable and well-dis-
posed^ but it was the purpose to prevent an English
settlement from becoming a colony of foreigners with
the predominance of their laws and language. These
astute Pennsylvania legislators were however not
long in discovering that their fears had gotten the
better of their wits. Their attempt to tackle the emi
gration problem discovered them to be a set of fools.
Their enactment against foreigners proved a terrible
blow to the prosperity of the infant colony. One
year sufficed to abolish all restrictions excepting those
against persons who would become a public burden.
And but a few years later .the very authorities that
had been frightened into hostile procedures against
their further immigration publicly attested the bene
fits which the colony was deriving from these indus
trious Germans who had changed the wild forest into
a fruitful garden. The prosperous condition of the
colony, Governor Thomas declared, was for the most
part due to the industry of the "oppressed protest-
ants from the Palatinate and other parts of Germany "
— a testimony which voiced the general estimate of
the German settlers of Pennsylvania.

200 The Lutherans in America.
The restrictions to their coming being removed,
thousands kept pouring into the colony. In the au
tumn of 1749 twenty-five ships brought 7049 souls,
and for that whole summer the German immigrants
numbered 12,000. The following year witnessed an
other large influx and so succeeding years, especially
1755- This great influx from Germany was brought about,
alas, not by any missionary colonizing of the Church,
nor even by any projects of colonial expansion on the
part of the State. It was the work of ship companies
and their cunning and voracious agents, who carried
on a traffic in human souls which was attended with
nearly all the abominations and cruelties of the Afri
can slave trade. These agents, known as Neulander,
overran Germany, preaching up emigration to the
"New Land" which flowed not only with milk and
honey, but with gold and silver, where men could reap
without having sown, where the maid-servant became
a lady and the ploughman a lord. Operating with
such representations upon the simple-minded peas
antry, especially upon the poor and oppressed classes,
they prevailed upon large numbers to make their way
to the ports of Holland where, before sailing, they
were compelled to sign a contract in the English lan
guage, the purport of which they did not comprehend.
They were crowded and packed into vessels even to
the verge of suffocation and subjected to such inhu
man experiences that during a single year over two
thousand of these wretched people died during the
passage. Such as survived the untold miseries of the
voyage found themselves, on landing at Philadelphia,

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 201
at the disposal of the captain of the vessel, who under
the hammer of the auctioneer, sold husband, wife,
parent, child, to the highest bidder, who in turn held
them in servitude according to age and strength,
three, six, ten or more years, the proceeds of their
sale covering the expense of their transportation.
"Many hardy Germans, having money enough to
pay their fare, preferred to sell themselves for a term
of years, in order to learn the language and the ways
of the country. Others paid half the fare and were
sold for the remainder; and some paid the passage of
the family by selling one or two of their surplus child
ren into bondage during minority." This unhappy
traffic was of course not restricted to the German
population. The number of such bond-servants even
in New England is said to have been quite large.
while in Pennsylvania every kind of business depended
upon the labor of indentured servants. " Many of these
were of excellent character and rose to good positions.
Some bond-maids were married to those who pur
chased them. Through industry and frugality some
servants acquired wealth and founded families that
rose to respectability and honor."
The papers of the day abound in advertisements
offering for sale German immigrants. And the Eng
lish, Dutch and German residents of Philadelphia,
and even some from other colonies, repaired to the
newly arrived vessel and selected from the healthy
passengers such as they deemed best adapted to their
employment. As each member of a family upon their
arrival was liable to be purchased by a different party,
they often became widely scattered, were kept asunder

202 The Lutherans in America.
through long and weary years of bondage, and doomed
in many cases never to see each other's face again.
Great masses of helpless people coming hither under
such circumstances, evoked the deepest commisera
tion of their countrymen. Their wrongs and suffer
ings led to the formation of "the German Society of
Pennsylvania," which aimed to provide such legal as
sistance as might be needed by these foreigners on
their arrival to secure their rights, and especially to
protect them against the injustice and inhumanity of
the sea captains and the shameless treachery of the
emigration sharks.
History thus records a rapid increase of the Ger
man element in Pennsylvania. About the middle of
the century the whole population of the province is
set down between 175,000 and 220,000, and of this
number fully one-half were Germans. Among these
the Lutheran element outnumbered the Reformed two
to one. It may safely be asserted that the Lutheran
population of Pennsylvania alone, in the year 1750,
aggregated the enormous figure of 60,000.
Before the arrival of the Salzburgers, German
Lutherans, evidently Palatines, had settled in Charles
ton, S. C, then a flourishing town. Pastor Bolzius
administered the Lord's Supper to them and he and
his colleague gave probably the impulse to the forma
tion of a congregation, although with some, their love
for the Word and the Holy Sacraments was so great
that they concluded to remove to Ebenezer as soon
as possible. They were without a regular pastor un
til 1755, when the Rev. Joh. G. Friederichs was for
some years in charge, laying the corner-stone of a

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 205
church in 1759. He withdrew shortly after this time
and the church was not built till 1763.
The earliest settlement of Germans in that colony
falls in the reign of Queen Anne. They occupied
various districts in the interior, at the forks of the
Saluda and Broad rivers, on the banks of the Con-
garee and Wateree and along the Savannah, and re
ceived large grants of land from the Queen for church
and school purposes. Of the Dutch Lutherans on
James Island mention has already been made. About
1 735, colonies of Germans and Swiss settled in
Orangeburg, and organized a Lutheran congregation,
the first one in the two Carolinas. With fresh acces
sions in 1737 came also a pastor, J oh. Ulrich Giesen-
danner, a native of Switzerland, who had presumably
been ordained in that country, but was engaged for a
time as teacher of the Halle Orphanage. He was the
first Lutheran minister in the Carolinas and served
this congregation for a period of ten years, laboring
amid great difficulties. A house of worship, built of
wood and clay, was erected some time before 1743.
Immigration from Germany continued and the entire
district was colonized almost exclusively by Germans
and Swiss.
Another colony settled, in 1737, in a district form
erly called Saxe-Gotha, now Lexington county, about
one hundred miles from Charleston. Its numbers
were increased by a large influx of their countrymen
especially in the years 1744 and 1750. A Reformed
preacher had the spiritual oversight of them for some
time, but Lutheran settlers, like others in different
parts of the same colony, made application to their

2 64

The Ltitherans in America.

brethren at Ebenezer for Lutheran ministrations and
for a Lutheran shepherd. The best these could do

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for them was to send them books for devotional pur
poses and for the instruction of the young. Still
another settlement o f German Lutherans was founded

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 205
in Abbeville County, S. C, about 1763 and 1764. In
some of these districts the Lutherans erected the first
churches. In 1 710 two ship-loads of Palatines, numbering alto
gether six hundred and fifty souls, were colonized by
the beneficent Queen Anne in North Carolina, at the
confluence of the Neuse and Trent, where in conjunc
tion with a considerable body of Swiss they formed a
settlement which was called New Berne. A year later
a terrible Indian massacre, instigated by some white
Wretches, almost exterminated the colony and applied
the torch to their humble dwellings. Such as re
mained suffered, like their countrymen in New York,
greater outrages from the white savages than they
endured after this time from the Red men. They
were for the most part of the Lutheran faith, but they
had no pastoral services and no house of worship,
and appear to have been gradually absorbed by the
Episcopal denomination, which was the religion estab
lished by law in the Carolinas.
Some German Protestant families, aggregating fifty
in number, settled in 1714 along the Rappahannock
river, in what is now Madison County, Va. They
were fugitives from the New Berne settlement where
the Indians had spread terror and desolation.
Twenty families were added to them in 1 71 7. The
latter came from the neighborhood of Alsace and the
Palatinate, fleeing from the extreme distress which had
overtaken those fair countries. The Rev. John Cas
par Stoever found there, in 1733, about three hundred
people with an organized congregation, the Hebron
Church, of which he reports himself the first pastor,

206 The Lutherans in America.
and says that for sixteen years it had been without a
pastor and without the ordinances of public worship.
The seeds o f Lutheranism, it seems, were destined to
be scattered, even in the earliest period of American
history over every portion of the country — a proph
ecy and a pledge that the Lutheran Church was ulti
mately to reap a harvest here co-extensive with the
length and breadth of this vast domain. On the wild
and forbidding coast of Maine a few German emi
grants were located in 1739. An accession of forty
families from Brunswick and Saxony was welcomed
by them in 1740. They entered the harbor of Broad
Bay and effected a settlement where the present town
of Waldoboro' stands. They had been tempted away
from their homes by the siren allurements which cun
ning speculators offered them in the form of free
homes, fertile acres, salubrious climate, governmental
protection and provision for the support of their re
ligion — promises which were kept to the ear but
broken to the heart. They found a sterile soil, an
unbroken forest, savage beasts and more savage men.
They suffered incredible hardships and almost per
ished of starvation. The Indians fell upon them in
1746, reduced their rude but peaceful habitations to
ashes, murdered many of the settlers in cold blood,
carried the remainder into captivity and turned the
whole region into a dreary waste.
Strange to tell, a few years later the flattering rep
resentations of General Waldo succeeded in drawing
to this same inhospitable region another body of Ger
mans, as if "the soil that had drunk in the blood of
their martyred brethren, was to them consecrated

The Earliest Lutherans in America — The Germans. 207
ground." Some twenty families landed on the bleak
coast of Maine late in November, i75i,and public
and private charity had to be invoked to provide for
their necessities through a New England winter.
With the opening of spring they journeyed inland
and joined the remnant of their brethren who, after
the massacre, had returned to their old possessions at
Broad Bay. Moved by the magnificent offers and
promises of the "hereditary Lord of Broad Bay," sixty
more families soon followed, and it is claimed by the
historians of Maine that altogether as many as fifteen
hundred Germans emigrated from time to time and
settled on the patent of this self-styled "hereditary
lord." They were doomed for the most part to a
miserable fate. The promises of their so-called pa
tron were left wholly unfulfilled. Numbers arriving
in the fall of the year, "they dragged out a winter of
almost inconceivable suffering. Many froze to death,
many perished with hunger or diseases induced by
their privations."
Instead of large tracts being assigned to them sev
erally on the coast, they were taken into the heart of
the wilderness, they were left defenceless against
the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Indian.
They came into extreme destitution. It is said of
one family that they subsisted a whole winter on frost-
fish, with only four quarts of meal, " and many a wo
man did a hard day's work at planting or hoeing for
a quart of butter-milk." At last, when under dread
ful hardships they had cleared the forest, when they
had brought the land under cultivation, when they had
erected comfortable shelter for their families, and

208

The Lutherans in America.

their improvements had made the property valuable,
these pious, unsuspecting Lutherans discovered that
the title to their lands was not valid, and thus what
the Indians had spared was to be taken from them by
their Christian friends. In this dilemma a number of
them repurchased their lands, receiving other deeds,
only to be harassed again by the harpies of the law
and the greed of inhuman peculators, contrary to
every principle of justice and good faith, with no rem
edy for their grievances and without the least remun
eration or indemnity for their losses.
Although some of the colony were adherents of the

ONE OF THE FIRST DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCHES IN AMERICA.
Reformed worship, and some were Moravians, they
united with the Lutherans, as soon as they had erected
huts for themselves, in building a humble church in a
central position. Though without an ordained pas
tor, they assembled every Lord's Day for public wor
ship. One of their principal men, John Ulmer, took
the lead, acted as their minister and really received
pay as such from the patron of the colony.

The Earliest Lutherans i?i America — The Germans. 209
In the first quarter of the eighteenth century Ger
man and Dutch Lutherans were found in New Jersey.
Congregations were organized at Hackensack, where
Dutch Lutherans had settled somewhere about 1680
or 1690, and in Bergen, Hunterdon and Salem Coun
ties, where also the Dutch and German Lutherans
were combined.
These churches were for the most part organized by
Falckner, for some time the only Lutheran minister
in New York and New Jersey. He labored some
twenty years in this section, diligently hunting up the
settlements of Lutherans and faithfully ministering to
them. He was succeeded by Rev. Berkenmeier, who
from 1725 to 1732 served all the congregations in that
region, bringing some of them to marked prosperity.
He in turn was followed by Knoll, Wolf and the ever
faithful pastors of the Swedish churches on the Dela
ware, who though living a hundred miles remote, and
overburdened with the cares of their own churches,
kept a watchful eye on the German and Dutch con
gregations in both these provinces, and again and
again are seen kindly ministering, in whatever lang
uage was required, to these brethren in the faith.
No traces have been found of a Lutheran settle
ment in Maryland during this period, but a recently
discovered letter of Lord Baltimore, written to his
agent in 1732, offers in his free colony an asylum to
the Palatines and Salzburgers. The reasons for de
clining this invitation are unknown,

CHAPTER VII.
THE CHURCH OF THE DISPERSION.
THE Apostle Peter addressed his first epistle "to
the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion
in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bythi-
nia," (Rev. Vers.) We can have no better definition
for the Lutherans who during the first half of the eigh
teenth century were scattered throughout the "divers
provinces and regions" of the New World, all the
way from Maine to Georgia. The Germans especially
had become numerous. The Palatines had multiplied
rapidly both by natural increase and by large rein
forcements from the father-land, and they had become
dispersed over nearly all the colonies. The German
Lutherans, who kept pouring into Philadelphia by
thousands upon thousands, were scattered far into the
interior, having strong and flourishing communities in
Montgomery, Berks, Lancaster and York Counties.
Their entire number throughout the country at the
middle of the century fell probably but little short of
100,000. The great majority of these lived in Penn
sylvania, where they were recognized as a large and
notable element of society. In other colonies likewise
they made their presence felt, and both by their thrifty
ways, their pure morality and their ardent piety at
tracted the admiration of their neighbors. Dr. Dor-
chester says : "The German emigration was not only
extensive but very pure, and almost wholly Protestant,
with a high standard of morality and distinguished for

The Church of the Dispersion. 2 1 1
Christian virtues." They consisted, however, for the
most part, not of the great ones of the world.
As among the early Christians "not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,"
were among them. They sought in this land refuge
from the political and ecclesiastical oppressions which
had kept them in poverty and misery. It was largely
the extremity of their distress, the desperation of
souls whom religious persecution and the ravages of
war had stripped of their earthly all, that drove them
to these hospitable shores. Their coming was em
phatically a struggle for existence. And existence is
about all that many could boast of for the first gene
ration of their settlement here, numbers of them be
ing content with the servitude of years for their pas
sage which put the sea between them and their op
pressors. There were indeed among them persons from the
higher classes, men of influence, of culture and of
means, who rendered to their brethren in the faith
great services both for their temporal and spiritual
welfare. In the case of not a few, industry and fru
gality gradually brought prosperity and wealth, but
the masses of them were not landed proprietors or
wealthy merchants. On their arrival they found
themselves in an almost unexplored wilderness, in a
state of absolute destitution, and a long period must,
in the nature of things, elapse before their laborious
toil would yield them more than the necessities of a
livelihood. Besides the ordinary trials in a wild dis
trict which they were the first to settle and subdue,
they were subjected to unrighteous maltreatment by

212 The Lutherans in America.
neighbors and officials into whose clutches they had
fallen; the tenure to their lands, which their labor
and indescribable hardships had cleared and brought
under cultivation, was in a number of cases pro
nounced invalid. Princely domains allotted to them
by royal munificence were in turn wrested from them
after their improvements had made them valuable.
The emigrant runner and the real estate shark, then,
as now, seem to have formed an infernal partnership,
by which they first lured these people into the desert,
and then, after by their pains it had been made to
blossom as the rose, they dispossessed them of their
homes and despoiled them of their property. One
shrinks from portraying the cruelties, the wrongs, the
robberies, the harrowing sorrows which were endured
by those in whom the doctrines and treasures of our
church were first translated into this country.
Although these trial's were such as most fully tested
her vitality, yet to look for a vigorous upbuilding of ,
the Church under such circumstances would be, to say
the least, to expect moral miracles. Such miracles
are indeed not unknown, and the depth of her poverty
has more than once coincided with the period of the
Church's bloom. Yet it is unwarrantable to cite here
the rapid development of primitive Christianity ; for
then the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit supplied those
resources which are indispensable to the maintenance
of religious ordinances and institutions. A cer
tain proportion of this world's goods is ordinarily
necessary for the supply of an adequate ministry, for
the provision of places of public worship, and forthe
education of youth. Inevitably therefore the estab-

The Church of the Dispersion. 213
lishment and growth of the Church was sajijy_retarded
by the necessitous circumstances and miserable con
dition of those Lutherans who settled the primeval
forests of America. Of material there was no lack.
There never has been. Fields white to the harvest
are ever calling for Lutheran reapers. The very
abundance of the material staggered and overwhelmed
the heroic men who sought to rear out of it a
Christian church. With all their zeal for their spir
itual mother and their love and sympathy for her peo
ple, they seem to have deplored and deprecated the
continuous streams pouring in, "because they were
calculated by their very dependence and helplessness
to divide the attentions of the pastors, already over
burdened with labors, and to cramp the energies of
congregations already established."
A few of the colonies, like the Swedes and Salzburg
ers, had brought pastors with them, and they organ
ized flourishing congregations immediately upon their
arrival, and wherever there were Lutheran congrega
tions served by Lutheran pastors, a church-building
and a school-house would soon rise out of the earth.
On the shores of the Delaware and in the savannas of
Georgia the silence of ages was broken by the songs
of Zion, and the joy and prosperity which marked
those godly communities show what might have been,
had all the Lutheran settlements been supplied from
the very first with earnest and faithful ministers.
Alas ! what might have been in every period of our
church in this country, had the supply of the minis
try been at all times equal to the demand, had the
number of workmen been commensurate with the

y

214 The Lutherans in America.
work? Here has been the fatal drawback to the
growth of the American Lutheran Church. This has
been her vital hurt, her festering sore. From the
time, two centuries ago, that her wandering fugitives
were scattered over the bleak mountains and trackless
forests of this wide new world, down to the closing
decade of the nineteenth century, there has never
been a period in the Lutheran Church which did not
reveal vast numbers of her neglected children over
whom the heart must sigh as over lost sheep that
have no shepherd. The Church's wants appear always
to be multiplying faster than the means of supplying
them, the laity increasing in more rapid proportions
than the ministry. At the close of the year 1888 sta
tistics show that the average yearly gain of new
churches during the last four years is four hundred
and sixteen, that of ministers only one hundred and
sixty-six. The temporal condition of these early Lutherans was
then but equalled by their melancholy spiritual desti
tution. The great body had come over the water
without any religious instructors, without any organ
ization or formal bond between them, and without any
pecuniary means with which either to erect houses of
worship or to employ ministers had it been possible
to procure any of their language. There was no mis
sion board to care for them. There was no charita
ble organization in the fatherland to interest the pub
lic in their behalf. They had come, too, from the
numerous different principalities and governments of
Germany, in one of the most gloomy periods of its
history, and they were therefore without any bond of

The Church of the Dispersion. 215
national sympathy or co-operation, but rather alien
ated from each other and divided by traditional ani
mosities and antipathies, while not a single govern
ment in Germany is known to have given either aid,
comfort or protection to a solitary company of its
suffering emigrants.
Sweden, with the hearty encouragement of its sov
ereign, forwarded generous assistance to the Lutheran
congregations of its American colonists on the Dela
ware, and supplied them with a continuous succession
of able pastors, who brought their churches to a high
degree of prosperity. The Dutch, the English and
the Scotch extended a large measure of support to
the missionaries and congregations of their respective
churches in the New World. But the thousands of
Germans in Pennsylvania and the adjacent provinces .
had not a single state government, nor a single church
organization to look after their spiritual welfare, and,
excepting the active Court-chaplain Ziegenhagen in
London, and the noble Francke at Halle, and a few
more of their Pietist brethren, there seems to have
prevailed universal and absolute indifference among
the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Germany
toward the spiritual welfare of their brethren who had
emigrated to America.
There were laboring among the dispersed Luther
ans of this country, about the year 1735, eight regular
ministers. Two of these cared for the flock at Eben
ezer. Two Swedish pastors ministered to their coun
trymen in the little nook around Philadelphia, now
embraced partly in the State of Delaware, partly in
Pennsylvania. In the province of New York was?

o

<

OQ o w?Jo u

The Church of the Dispersion. 217
stationed since 1725 Rev. William Christopher Berk-
enmeier, serving congregations at New York, Albany,
Athens, Newberg (Quassaik), and West Camp, besides
three in New Jersey, preaching in Dutch, German and
English as circumstances required. The congregation
in New York was large and prosperous. Although
thousands of Lutherans were settled along the Hud
son and the Mohawk, and in other parts of the colony
and of New Jersey, there was no other regularly or
dained minister in all that district. Rev. John Cas
par Stoever was with the little colony on the Rappa
hannock, and another Stoever, a relative of the above,
bearing exactly the same name, who came to this
country in 1728, was residing at New Holland, Lan
caster County, Pa., having for a brief time served the
congregations at Philadelphia, Providence and New
Hanover: Rev. J. U. Giesendanner was the spiritual
shepherd of one of the South Carolina communities.
Between these few laborers intervened distances ex
tending hundreds of miles, with no roads connecting
the different localities, with no possible means of
travel save on horseback, with no protection against
the wild beasts that prowled through the forests and
no security against the savage who was ever lying in
ambush for the white intruder into his hunting-
grounds. The large province of Pennsylvania, with a
Lutheran population of sixty thousand, had in all its
area one solitary German pastor.
Long before this period the Puritans of New Eng
land had an average of more than two ministers to a
congregation, and all of them men of education, for
the most part voluntary exiles from England where

2Ii

The Lzitherans in America.

they suffered for their convictions. So far as the care
of their own laborious parishes and their knowl
edge of the language
permitted, the Swed
ish pastors ministered
to the little German
congregation in Phila
delphia and dispens
ed the gospel occa
sionally to the numer
ous surrounding settle-
m e n t s, preaching i n
groves and barns, and
founding churches at
Lancaster and German-
town (1730) and at
York (1733). From
the beginning the most
cordial relations ob
tained between the
Swedes and the Ger
mans. The Salzburg
pastors extended their
ministrations to some
of the struggling com
munities in South Car
olina. The Dutch con-
TRINITY E. L. CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA.
gregation in New York
reached out a hand to their destitute German breth
ren. As far as in them lay, and with as close sympa
thy as the state of the country permitted, there was co
operation between these sporadic Lutheran beginnings.

The Church of the Dispersion. 219
With almost superhuman labors and hardships minis
ters traveled from one field to another, most of them
able to preach in Dutch, German, Swedish and Eng
lish. But it was like throwing an occasional crumb to
souls at the point of starvation. Irregular services
at long intervals are little better than none. The
ministrations are too limited and too hasty to leave
permanent impressions. The life of a Christian so
ciety cannot be maintained by a casual religious serv
ice. No church can be established without constant
pastoral oversight. No flock can be folded unless it
be regularly fed and watched and tended.
It suggests a miracle when we read of one congre
gation that survived although the Lord's Supper had
not been administered in it for eight years. What
progress was possible in a case like that of Ncwberg
on the Hudson, whose contract with the pastor stipu
lates : "We do call, constitute and receive Mr. Wm.
Christopher Berkenmeier, for our lawful teacher of the
parish of Quassaic, to minister unto us twice a year, as
well in the preachingof the Holy Gospel purely accord
ing to the Holy Scriptures and the Symbolical Books
of our Lutheran Church, as in administering the Holy
Sacraments according to Christ's institution, and
practicing the usual ceremonies of the fellow-believers
of the unalterable Confession of Augsburg." The
purest doctrine and the most complete sacramental
service twice a year would hardly be adequate for the
'building up of a live and vigorous Christian congre
gation. . Effective organization under such circum
stances was impossible. With others the situation
was still more forlorn. They did not for years have

2 20 The Lutherans in America.
a single service. The children grew up in ignorance,
except where parents of extraordinary piety would
instruct them in the way of salvation. Whole families
in great numbers were left without baptism or relig
ious teaching. Many moved to and fro in the hope
of having the advantages of churches and schools.
Besides this absolute lack of Christian institutions
and schools, every outward circumstance and influ
ence, as is the case in frontier life to-day, was unfa
vorable to morality and religion. Where such bul
warks as the church and school are wanting, the forces
of evil are sure to become bold and aggressive, and
irreligion and immorality overgrow the neglected and
uncultivated soil. Because of abounding iniquity the
love of many waxed cold. Childhood's instructions
were forgotten, the hold of ancestral traditions and
influences was weakened, faith for the want of nourish
ment languished, and many of the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, wandering and forlorn, fell a prey to
devouring worldliness and ungodliness. Among the
Palatines in particular there was a sad declension in
spiritual life, and numbers became indifferent to relig
ious principles. In the absence of the Church and
the Gospel the knowledge of God faded from their
minds. On others the severe trials to which they were ex
posed and the sorely felt spiritual privations which
they endured, wrought out a very different result.
Some had been so deeply rooted and grounded in the
doctrines and experience of the Gospel, that the very
extremity of their distress only revealed to them the
preciousness of their faith and begot in them the pur-

The Church of the Dispersion. 221
pose of transmitting it uncorrupted to their children.
They had not suffered in their native land the loss of
all things for their holy religion, now to despise its
precepts or its principles in the land of their exile.
The consciousness of their salvation in Christ, which
sustained them under the horrors of persecution,
nerved and cheered them in their poverty and strug
gles where no one molested them for conscience' sake.
They were mighty in the Scriptures. They had a
daily preacher in the large quarto of Arndt's "True
Christianity." They could enliven their daily toil
with the songs of salvation. They turned their rude
homes into a joyful Bethel.
A people grounded like the Salzburgers in the faith
of the Gospel, who, amid the most cruel outrages of
persecution, were ever occupied with thanksgiving,
praises and prayer; whose glowing earnestness and
spiritual joy so melted the heart of Germany that
their passage through the country was welcomed as
the medium for the regeneration of its formalistic
and dead churches ; who, as they passed down the
Rhine "between the castled crags, the vineyards and
the white-walled towns that adorn its banks, con
versed amid hymns and psalms, of justification," were
not in serious danger now of departing from the liv
ing God.
The fire upon the altar was kept burning so
brightly, and it received such nourishment from the
study of God's Word and the use of devotional manu
als at the fireside, and from the public services con
ducted by the laity in many localities, that the cold
winds of adversity only heightened and strengthened

222 The Lutherans in America.
the flames. The dreary and cheerless forests of
Pennsylvania were lighted up and warmed by the
sunbeams of the Gospel and the fervor of Lutheran
Pietism. Such spiritural nutriment as they enjoyed but deep
ened the craving for a fuller supply. The imper
fect administration of divine service, the very oc
casional delivery of a sermon by a preacher from a
remote locality, by one who was perhaps an utter
stranger to them and to the very Gospel he pro
claimed, kindled in them an ardent craving for the
stated enjoyment of the sanctuary, the full fellow
ship of their church, and the regular dispensation
of God's pure Word and the holy sacraments by resi
dent pastors. And they knew whence to look for
help. In their distress they called upon the Lord.
And they persisted in their prayers with a confidence
that is sure of being ultimately heard.
But the preachers of the Word, though receiving
their commission from Heaven, never fall from the
skies. To organize congregations, build churches and
maintain Christian schools, ministers are indispensa
ble. To raise up ministers here in advance of Semi
naries or Professors for their training, and where the
people were absolutely without means either to found
the Seminaries or maintain their instructors, was sim
ply impossible.
In the meanwhile, with nothing in the nature of
pastoral care, with no one to direct or defend them,
the very fervor of their piety exposed these colonial
Lutherans to the greatest spiritual danger. Their
eager hunger foe the Word prompted them to run for

The Church of the Dispersion. 223
it where it had been poisoned by heresy and fanat
icism, or to accept it from polluted hands. "Where
soever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together." Sectists and impostors know their prey,
and they know, too, their opportunity. Given, a
body of earnest Christian people, disorganized, scat
tered over vast reaches of country, famishing for the
bread of life and weary with toil and privation, and
the cunning of the fox and the rapacity of the wolf
offer but a feeble comparison for the craft and avidity
with which these pounce upon their victims. One of
the strongest features which marked the early colo
nial history of America was that the land was swarm
ing with "innumerable sects." "There is not a sect
in the world which is not fostered here," wrote a faith
ful observer. This was particularly true of Pennsyl
vania, which was not only founded by a fanatic, but
which was avowedly and consistently established as a
home for the unconditioned and illimitable freedom
of all sects, opinions and parties — a liberty which in
our day is celebrated as the ideal state of society, but
for which the people of that day, after enduring for
ages the restraints of force and authority, were as lit
tle prepared as was the French nation in 1789 for the
free institutions of a Republic. While, therefore, it
is the fashion to laud the principles of tolerance
which prevailed throughout the province of the
famous Quaker, it serves on the other hand as a dark
background, putting in strong relief the terrible havoc
produced in the Lutheran and other churches by the
rage of rampant and reckless fanaticism. Teaching
things which they ought not, perverting the way of

224 The Lutherans in America.
life, rooting up the saving doctrines of grace, clothing
error in the garb of sanctimoniousness so as to
seduce the simple-minded — they not only "sub
verted whole houses," but large communities, mislead
ing the unwary, confounding the unstable, and wrest
ing the Scriptures to the destruction of many souls.
What the wild beast of the field did not devour
was wasted by the boar out of the wood. The
absence of true pastors, faithful shepherds who give
their life for the flock, furnished the opportunity for
the thief and the robber, who for filthy lucre's sake
usurp the sacred office. With the melancholy and
protracted dearth of men properly fitted for the min
istry and regularly ordained, we need not wonder
that the land was overrun with clerical vagabonds,
irresponsible and wretched pretenders, crafty impos
tors, ignorant schoolmasters, persons who for scandal
ous crimes had been deposed from the office in Eu
rope, and others, who, without any concern for the
salvation of souls, intruded themselves into this call
ing from the vilest motives, creating disturbance and
confusion among the simple-minded and confiding
people, and spreading havoc and desolation every
where. Instead of gathering together and strength
ening what they found, they only tore asunder and
scattered such organizations as had been formed, and
by their scandalous lives they brought such reproach
upon the Lutheran name as to delay — indefinitely, in
many communities — the practicability of establishing
the Church. In some cases, as the last of a long series
of calamities, these wily and wicked impostors entered

The Church of the Dispersion. 225
in where disorder and confusion already prevailed,
and so made that disorder and confusion absolute.
One of the earliest documents on Lutheran history
in this country contains the following melancholy
passage : " From the very beginning of this century
(the eighteenth), and even until the present day, it
has been the misfortune of Pennsylvania that many
men who had never studied at all, or who had never
had any thorough instruction in Christianity and
science, or who, even having once occupied the pas
toral office in Germany, were deposed and thrust out
for their bad conduct, resorted to that fine country, and
by flattering speeches and insinuating ways imposed
upon private persons and even whole congregations,
and 30 stole into the office of pastor. It is easy to
see what a miserable service must be rendered to
souls by men who seek only their own profit, and who,
as soon as greater gains invite them elsewhere, at
once forsake the congregation they had professed to
serve. Such hirelings have spread great disorder,"
etc. (Halle Reports). And another historian, Rev.
C. W. Schaeffer, D.D., LL.D., observes: "The Luth
eran faith was exposed to reproach by the infamy of
those who had forced themselves — uncalled and un
qualified — into the pastoral office; and reflecting
minds and believing hearts both saw and felt that
what ought to be done must be done quickly."
In the depth of their distress they not only made
: supplication to the Lord, but a piercing cry for help
went across the waters. They pleaded most earnestly
that faithful and suitable pastors and teachers for
themselves and their children might be sent over, and

The Church of the Dispersion. 227
in most moving terms laid before their friends in the
fatherland the lamentable spiritual condition of the
people in this country. They sighed for deliverance
from the wretched impostors who were laying waste
the congregations, from the scheming fanatics who
were alluring the unwary and the unstable into the
pitfalls of error, and from the strife and distraction
which are so natural and so destructive to a people
without leaders and without proper organization.
Letters of this kind were despatched, from time to
time, by different parties to Holland, to Hamburg and
elsewhere. Dr. Ziegenhagen, writing in 1734, concern
ing the Lutherans in America, says ; "It is, alas! too
true that the Evangelical churches scattered here and
there in America, especially in Virginia, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, etc., (American Geography was then in
its infancy), are in a very deplorable conditition, par
ticularly in regard to the Word of God and the Holy
Sacraments, and such appointments as are necessary
for proper instruction in the Divine Word and the
right administration of the Sacraments. I have re
ceived many mournful communications from several
of these churches, in which they make the most touch
ing appeals for Bibles, Prayer-books, Catechisms, Pas
tors and other tokens of our Christian sympathy.
They even assert that in consequence of the great lack
of the means of grace there is danger that they and
their children may relapse into heathenism. I am
greatly distressed for the reason that I hardly know
what to do by way of relief."
Aye, there was the rub ! what to do by way of relief.
Here was required wisdom, a knowledge of men, and

228 The Lutherans in America.
a knowledge of the real condition of America. Organ
ization was needed, system, authority. Who was to
be sent? and who could say to this one, "go, and he
goeth, and to another come, and he cometh ? " There
were imploring letters, urgent appeals, voluminous cor
respondence which required months to pass over the
sea and then was often overshadowed by distrust and
personal ignorance between the correspondents — but
how under such circumstances could deliverance be
sent to the children of Israel, groaning in Egyptian
darkness if not in Egyptian bondage? Thus, only to
add another chapter to the story of their distress, it
need not be wondered at that once and again men
were sent over who were either wholly unadapted to
the peculiar needs of these churches, or who, so far
from building up the feeble congregations, did much
to destroy and exterminate them — to extinguish what
was ready to die.
An example of the former class was the Rev. Mich
ael Christian Knoll, whom the Lutheran ministers of
London ordained as a successor to Rev. Berkenmeier
in the churches at New York and Hackensack, a man
who neither personally nor as preacher could com
mand respect, and under whose ministry the congre
gations gradually dwindled away. A sorry example
of the latter class was Magister August Wolf, who
was sent by the Ministerium of Hamburg to the Rari-
tan churches in New Jersey. A regular blank call for
a pastor was made out by these congregations, and,
along with money for his passage, forwarded through
the kind offices of Berkenmeier, leaving the selection
of a " German Studiosus theologian " to this body.

The Church of the Dispersion. 229
"A more unsuitable individual could not have been
palmed off upon the Raritan congregations. Of his
orthodoxy there was no doubt. He had not even the
faintest semblance of Halle Pietism, so much abhorred
by the adherents of the orthodox party, to which in
these times the Hamburg ministry, and on this side of
the Atlantic William Christopher Berkenmeier and
Michael Christopher Knoll belonged." He is credi
ted with fine classical and literary attainments. His
congregations received him with joy and the most
kindly prepossession, only to experience more keenly
the bitterness of disappointment and the ruination of
the church. Capricious, conceited, arbitrary and un
principled, he was positively without any gifts or char
acter for the ministerial office. The first shock his
conduct gave the people was the close reading of his
sermon from manuscript, a practice of which they had
possibly never heard, but they contrived to bear with
this because he claimed to have lost his memory dur
ing the voyage across the ocean, although he at the
same time gave them to understand that he considered
read sermons good enough for such rustics. An inju
dicious marriage soon brought him into discredit, and
the brutaf maltreatment of his wife, a divorce from her
by the civil courts, and other scandalous procedures
made his further pastoral ministrations insufferable.
But he had recourse to the civil magistrate, and for
ten or more years kept harrowing these people before
the courts, and compelling them to pay him the salary
for which they had contracted — to pay him, in fact, for
the misery which he had brought upon them and for
the approximate annihilation of the congregations.

230

The Lutherans in America.

The result of this ministerial adventure is set down
as follows : The sacred office was brought into re
proach, the Sacraments were no longer observed, there
was no instruction of youth, no pastoral care for the
sick, the congregations were dispersed, their members
reduced to a few families, and their general devasta
tion was so noised abroad over the land that it be
came a by-word and a proverb, even a street song, in
every German community.
Worse and worse, more and more wretched grows
the condition of the Lu-
theran Church — if a
church it may be called —
at this time. Lutherans
were here — a multitude
o f them — b u t, properly
speaking, this great and
dispersed mass did not
constitute a Lutheran
Church.' There was no
organism. The church
was void and without
form, and darkness brood- WARTBURG C0LLEGE' WAVERLY' 10WA-
ed over the chaotic elements ; and the darkness was
steadily deepening, and to many it was verging on
despair. Deliverance seemed impossible. A prey to
fanatics, a prey to false brethren, a prey to strife and
distraction among themselves, these Lutheran sheep,
widely scattered and wofully straitened, were " helpless
and sick and ready to die." Destitute of all spiritual
care and protection, with no bond of union between
them for mutual strength and support, and with no

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The Church of the Dispersion. 231
ecclesiastical connection with the fatherland to yield
them relief, the wild beasts that prowled round their
dwellings and the savage Indians ever lurking in am
bush to butcher the white intruder, were but the
symbolic figures of a more deadly foe — the arch-
adversary who compasses the camp of the saints, and
whose prey is the Church of the living God. Surely,
arguing from human premises, men must have con
cluded that the Lutheran Church could have no field,
no mission, no history in America.
But is it not always the darkest hour before the
dawn ? Is not the very brooding of the darkness over
the face of the deep the pledge of a coming world ?
Does not the night always precede the day? Has any
good cause ever been founded except through great
tribulations? Is not the cross the emblem of Christ's
Church, and have the disciples such an advantage
over the Master that they can attain the crown with
out the endurance of suffering and shame? Has
God ever granted victory to his people before he has
made them submit to the fiery trial of their faith and
the testing of their character by placing them for a
season "in heaviness through manitold temptations? "
Has our Lord's fasting for forty days and forty nights
no significance or suggestion for his Church? Must
the forty years' wandering through the desert by
God's chosen race be divested of its lesson for all
who walk by faith, though we are so clearly told that
all these things happened unto them for types, and
that "they are written for our admonition?" "Be
loved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing hap-

232

The Lutherans in America.

pened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are par
takers of Christ's sufferings."
The God of Luther was still alive — the Hearer of
prayer was still on the eternal throne. His interposi
tion was long delayed ; it always is, in our view.
"Gottes Miihlen mahlen-langsam." But his counsels
were ripening. A great and glorious church was to
overspread this land with the faith of the Reformer
and the priceless and uncorrupted treasures of the
Reformation, but her birth in the New World, like her
birth in the old, must be amid pains and anguish and
travail, through a long night of sorrow and gloom.
The morning was sure to come. Beyond the dark
ness faith descried the glimmer of a better day. A
new epoch was at hand.

CHAPTER VIII.
MUHLENBERG AND HIS COLLEAGUES.
THE faith of Luther animated many of his sorely-
tried spiritual children in the New World. A
faithful God, they felt assured, could not forsake
them in their deep distress. And they waited patient
ly for his salvation. Yet they must bestir themselves.
Many who were pining for the ordinances and minis
trations of their Church, and praying with many tears
that God would awaken in the hearts of their Euro
pean brethren an interest in their condition, felt moved
also to leave nothing undone to bring their destitution
before the eyes of those brethren.
Their repeated letters, however urgent and affecting,
had proved unavailing. No letter or number of letters
could properly or adequately describe their spiritual
misery. The results of their correspondence were
totally unsatisfactory. Ministers who came over osten
sibly in response to these piteous appeals, and who
were welcomed as servants of God come to advance
the interests of the Church, had turned out to be in
reality its destroyers.
Some of the people finally determined that a living
delegation should personally represent to influential
Lutheran divines in Europe the extremity of their needs,
and by travelling about excite general sympathy in their
behalf, solicit contributions towards the erection of
church buildings and school-houses, and especially seek
for a proper and competent man for the pastoral office

234 The Lutherans in America.
and teachers for the instruction of the young. This ac
tion was taken in the year 1733 by the congregation of
Philadelphia conjointly with that at New Providence
and the one at New Hanover, or Falckner's Swamp,
situated respectively some twenty miles from Philadel
phia. The latter congregation was founded by Pastor
Falckner in 1703. He was succeeded by Rev. Gerhard
Henkel and after him the neighboring Swedish clergy
occasionally preached there and rendered pastoral ser
vices. At Philadelphia Pastor Fabricius while serving
the Swedish Churches preached in theyears 1688-1691
also for the German Lutherans, who appear, however,
at that day to have had neither church-building nor
organization, and held their worship for a long time
in the Swedish Church at an early hour. In 1734
Lutherans and Reformed conjointly rented for &r£ "a
weatherboarded house " for the use of divine worship —
the first instance probably of a Union Church. The
first trace of Lutheran services at New Providence
(The Trappe) is in 1732, when a certain John
Christian Schultz officiated there and at New Han
over and Philadelphia. There is no proof that he was
an ordained clergyman, yet he proceeded to grant
ordination in 1733 to John Caspar Stoever, the cere
mony being conducted in a barn which served for many
years as a Bethel. The organization of a congregation
with constitution and officers dates doubtless from the
year 1733.
These congregations, two of but recent organiza
tion, and said to embrace each 500 families, more or
less, "having joined together in the name of God and

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 235
with prayer for his gracious help," felt constrained to
commission two of their number, Daniel Weisiger and
Johann Daniel Schoner, accompanied by the above
named Schultz, to plead their cause with the
Lutherans of Europe.
The oral representations, which this deputation was
to make abroad, were supported by an open letter in
which it was shown that the condition of the people
was in the highest degree deplorable, that they were
"in a land full of sects and heresy, without ministers
and teachers, schools, churches and books," and that
their children and descendants were in danger of slid
ing back into heathenism. It contained entreaties for
help in the propagation of " the pure Evangelical
doctrine, seeing that upon this depends the salvation
of so many souls," and closed with the prayer that " in
America also, by the preaching of the Word of God,
the way of life may be made plain to those who con
fess the Christian faith ; and also, by that Grace which
extends towards all men, be opened up to the heathen
tribes who occupy the land. May He the Good Shep
herd, who is not willing that any should perish,
graciously watch over his poor forsaken sheep whether
among Christians or heathen, and all for his love and
mercy's sake. Hallelujah ! "
The commissioners made their way first of all to
Dr. Ziegenhagen, Court-preacher in London, who
furnished them with letters of recommendation
especially to Halle, that focus of spiritual influence, the
fires of whose altar were just then rekindling and reani
mating a formal Christianity, some 6000 of its
preachers having already borne the flames of living

236 The Lutherans in America.
piety into as many congregations. The first to inaugu
rate the work of heathen missions and the diffusion of
the Scriptures, pietistic Halle was now destined to
become the fountain of unspeakable blesssings to
America, the agency for establishing over that new and
vast domain what it had re-awakened in Germany, a
church in which pure doctrine and holy living, ortho
dox faith and evangelical piety should blend and har
moniously reflect the glory of the Gospel.
It was well, perchance, that the proper organization
of the Lutheran Church in this country was deferred
until its foundation could be laid by men who were
reared in the school of Pietism, and who had become
grounded in the true faith and at the same time imbued
with its glowing zeal and its practical activity. For
although Lutherans had been for a century found in
considerable numbers, it cannot be said that outside
of the Swedish Churches there had been up to this
time any definite organism or any real progress.
The representation of the condition of the Lutherans
of America made a deep impression at Halle, where
Dr. Gotthelf August Francke, "atypical representative
of Pietism in its first and purer form," who in relig
ious earnestness and practical talents was a worthy
son of his renowned father, Augustus Herman Francke,
now stood at the head of the university and its affili
ated benevolent institutions. O f one mind with Ziegen-
hagen, he was ready at once to co-operate in mea
sures for the relief of their distressed brethren. His
services to this end proved of inestimable advantage to
the Lutheran Church in America. It was in accord
ance with eternal fitness when, on the occasion of the

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues.

237

first Jubilee of the Halle Institutions in 1748, Francke
felt constrained to commemorate among other things
the great blessings which proceeding from Halle
had "so richly refreshed the Lutheran congregations
in North America." "The Lutheran Church of the
New World," says Dr. Mann, "owes its best support
in external means and spiritual forces in the last cen
tury, to the men of the Franckean Institutions, the

THE OLD TRAPPE CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, PA.
(Dedicated October 6th, 1745.)
Hallean Pietists. It was apparently a small force but
its efficacy continues to this day." And Halle, after
many years, saw the bread which it had so generously
cast upon the American waters, floating back to its
source, returning to revive and strengthen its institu
tions in the time of their distress. During the devastat
ing wars of Napoleon these institutions were almost
wholly destroyed, and in response to the appeal of
their directors the American churches which had

238 The Lutherans in America.
been founded by the Halle missionaries forwarded to
them liberal pecuniary aid.
While Halle at once became and ever after re
mained the center for affording succor to America,
many people in all parts of the fatherland were deeply
moved as they learned of the affliction of Joseph. A
widespread sympathy was excited which, took the form
of generous contributions for the erection of church-
buildings and schools and for the support of pastors,
to which were added, of course, many Bibles and
other devotional manuals. Encouraged by the ap
probation and patronage of Halle, "they met with
warm hearts and fervent prayers and material aid
everywhere." But above all things was this commission charged
to procure a true and faithful pastor. This was the
matter of greatest solicitude. This was the critical
and pivotal feature of the situation. In gathering
material supplies for the aid of congregations little
discrimination is required, and funds may be col
lected with the dispatch demanded by the urgency of
those who are crying for aid, but when a personality
is required, a leader, and a ruler, only one in a thous
and may possess the requisite qualifications. Dr.
Francke with the warmest sympathy for these destitute
congregations in Pennsylvania, and prepared from love
to God and his Word to do the utmost in his power,
had likewise a clear, practical discernment of the pe
culiar requirements of such a field, the appalling diffi
culties by which it was beset and the great lack of
persons whose training and individuality would com-

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 239
mend them for the position. He exercised, therefore,
the greatest caution.
The Lutheran churches in Germany had at the time
no dearth of ministers, some of whom it could have
spared to the feeble flock this side the Atlantic. There
were numerous candidates ready to receive appoint
ments, and there were doubtless some whose studies
had not been completed, who would gladly have
accepted a commission to travel to America and
try their gifts and their fortunes here. But there
must be no experiments where Christ's cause is at
stake. The policy of putting up with anything had
been sufficiently tried. There must be no more dis
appointments, no more mistakes, such as had already
overwhelmed these struggling churches with disaster
and brought dishonor on the Lutheran name. " We
are willing," writes Francke, in 1734, "to co-operate
according to our ability and with God's grace," but
whatever is undertaken, he maintained, must be done
intelligently and wisely, with mutual understanding
and pledges, and upon a firm and sure foundation.
A formal request was accordingly forwarded to
the congregations to communicate the fullest inform
ation on all particulars. Assurances must be given
that the minister or ministers sent would be accorded
becoming reverence and submission. Proper order
must be observed in every particular. The clergy
man suited for this work must be a man of ripe ex
perience, of sound judgment, of executive capacity,
"a man of solid commanding character, and one who
could be depended on to do his utmost in labor and
sacrifice for the welfare of the churches and the youth

240 The Lutherans in America.
committed to his charge." Such a person, again,
must receive ordination in Germany and as a pre
requisite — according to Lutheran usage, a regular
and formal call must be made out for him by the
churches seeking his services, a call accompanied by
pledges not only of financial support distinctly speci
fied, and to be paid in current funds and promptly,
but also of that love and submission which are due
to the sacred office. It was further required of these
congregations "not to make any unreasonable de
mands upon the pastors, or such as may be in con
flict with the Word of God, or with the doctrine of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church."
All this involved a protracted correspondence, — a
correspondence which has been largely preserved in
Hallesche Nachrichten, and which is replete with affect
ing interest in bringing out the enlightened and delib
erative zeal of Ziegenhagen and Francke, and the
earnest piety, the undaunted faith, the touching im
portunity and the sturdy American good sense of
these long-suffering people. Weisiger, "whose name
deserves to be held in remembrance for his intelligent
devotion and laborious enterprise in behalf of the
church," had to return without a pastor, though not
without hope, and his final appeal once more urged :
"Send us pastors who will teach us and our children
in the Word of God, who will administer the holy Sac
raments in our congregations."
Years of waiting had thus to be added to the long
and gloomy years through which our Lutheran ances
tors had already passed. But they were years of
prayer and of hope, supplications going up unto God

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 241
not only from the sorely-tried, languishing and shep-
herdless flocks of America, but also from the warm,
earnest and believing hearts of Germany, " that the
Lord Himself may designate the right man, — the man
who confiding in the strength of the Almighty, has the
courage and capacity to gather together the lost sheep
of the scattered flock, and bring them back to the
Great Shepherd."
And He who sent Moses to his people groaning in
Egypt, who sent out Paul far hence to the Gentiles
sitting in darkness, who raised up Luther with the
light of His Word for those who were watching for
the dawn, now also, in answer to many prayers, brought
forth a deliverer and an apostle for America, a man
combining in himself to a marvellous extent the quali
fications indispensable for the work to be accom
plished, a man deeply penetrated by the Pietistic
Spirit, and who as a manifest instrument of Provi
dence was destined to build from the precious, but
chaotic and scattered elements, the foundations of the
Lutheran Church in a new world.
His name was Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg. He
was born at Eimbeck, in Hanover, on the 6th day of
September, 171 1. According to good Lutheran cus
tom he was baptized on the day of his birth, and was
confirmed in his twelfth year. His early youth re
vealed liberal endowments, thirst for knowledge, in
dustrious and successful study, a predisposition to
independence of thought, serious religious convictions,
and a benevolent heart. Such was his fondness for
learning, that while as a lad he was engaged in some
ordinary vocation he clandestinely devoted every

242 The Lutherans in America.
spare moment to his books ; spent his evenings at
study, exercised his voice, and attained such pro
ficiency from private instruction, that when admitted
to the highest classical school of the place, he took at
once the front rank, and distinguished himself by his
rapid progress in Latin, Greek and other branches.
By means of beneficiary aid and by rendering personal
services to one of the professors he was enabled to
obtain a thorough education, entering the University
of Gdttingen in 1735. His moral fibre and the spirit
uality of his character he showed at this stage by sur
mounting the temptations and perils of university
life, and by choosing for his companions fellow-stu
dents of a positively religious turn. Through these
he came for the first time into immediate contact with
the Pietistic movement, experiencing great spiritual
benefits from this association, and learning among
other vital truths, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost
is the indispensable prerequisite for a preacher of the
Gospel. Upon his graduation he was happily ap
pointed teacher in the Orphan House at Halle, and
thus came directly under the influence of its earnest,
spiritual and practical Christianity. His evangelical
zeal, his aptness in teaching, and his missionary ardor
pointed him out as a suitable man to labor among the
heathen, and prompted the Halle leaders to send him
out to India.
But God was reserving him for another field, and
circumstances accordingly arose which prevented the
execution of this plan. Christopher Frederick Schwartz
was chosen for the India Mission, while Muhlenberg
was, in the course of a few years, to follow the star

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 243
of empire westward. In the meanwhile he was ap
pointed to the Pastorate of Gross Hennersdorf, in
Saxony, a few miles south of Herrnhut, the head
quarters of Moravianism. In the autumn of 1739 he
was solemnly ordained a minister of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His situation was not meant to be enchant
ing, and occasions for stirring up his nest were not
wanting. Finding himself one evening at Halle, the
guest of Francke, the latter at supper brought to his
notice the subject of the " Call to the dispersed Luth
erans in Pennsylvania," and proposed to him "to make
a trial of a few years." Without any hesitation and
to the joy of the Francke household, Muhlenberg re
plied, that if he could see in it the will of God he
would go, and that he felt bound to go wherever
Providence called him. Yielding to the first impulses
of a heart loyal to Christ, the issue was at once de
cided. The prospect of such an undertaking might
have dismayed the most heroic spirit It could be
easily foreseen that it was beset with innumerable ob
stacles, hardships and perils, but so far from being
appalled by these the devotion of an apostle exclaims :
"None of these, things move me, neither count I my
life dear." And thus while feeling keenly the sepa
ration from his native land and beloved friends, the
love of Christ and his precious church prompted him
to surrender cheerfully home, friends, country, associ
ations, comforts, studies, everything dear to nature, for
what was then materially and morally a howling wil
derness. That memorable scene at Francke's supper table
transpired September 6, 1741. On December 91

244 The Lutherans in America.
Muhlenberg, "under considerable emotion," preached
his farewell sermon, and eight days later he took his
departure, going out with Abraham's faith, and like
him not really knowing whither he went. Having
completed the necessary preparations for the long
journey, he made his way to London. His stay in that
city was for various reasons protracted for nine weeks>
but this delay proved to be very fortunate. He de
rived especially great spiritual benefit from his daily
intercourse with Ziegenhagen, who received him with
thanks and praises to God.
It was the 13th of June 1742 that his vessel set sail
from Gravesend. With a profound feeling of the
responsibility he had assumed and of the difficulties
he would have to encounter, and with serious mis
givings about his own ability for the work, he
combined a strong and heroic faith by which he
always committed himself implicitly into the hands of
the Lord. Knowing that besides the ordinary perils
of the deep, the ship that was bearing him was both
unseaworthy and overloaded, and that she would
probably be attacked by pirates, he exclaimed on
hearing a poor Salzburger mother singing " Ein
feste Burg": "that is a better protection than the
ten iron cannon with which the vessel is provided."
The passage to Charleston, S. C. required no days
and was one of " unusual peril and exhaustion." The
prophet on board was, however, this time no Jonah
fleeing from duty and exposing the ship to danger,
but a most faithful servant of God cheerfully sacrific
ing himself to the call of duty. He proved not a
curse but a blessing to his companions. The ship be-

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 245
came a church, his fellow-passengers, the crew and
several negro slaves, a mission field for this ambassa
dor of the Cross. Although suffering exceedingly from
sea sickness he is seen daily instructing in intellectual
and spiritual things the children on board. Sunday af
ter Sunday he preaches, in the morning German to the
few Salzburgers on board, in the afternoon with blun
dering attempts at an English discourse, using Latin
terms where his limited vocabulary failed him and
having the captain put them into English. Everyone
was taken under his pastoral supervision. To the
negroes especially he gave the kindliest attention,
endeavoring to plant in them the germs of religious
knowledge. Excepting the few Salzburgers there
was not one on board who could enter into his relig
ious views and feelings or even afford him social
companionship, yet he commanded by his Christian
demeanor and official faithfulness the high personal
esteem of the whole ship's company.
Arriving at Charleston, September 23, 1742, Muh
lenberg made his way to Ebenezer. This was in ac
cordance with the wishes of Ziegenhagen, who hoped
that a visit to these brethren would be serviceable
to this pioneer for Pennsylvania, and that one of the
pastors might accompany him to that province and
assist him in the work of organizing the Lutheran
Church there.
Muhlenberg's brief sojourn among these brethren
whose Halle training gave them the fullest sympathy
with his views, brought him bodily and spiritual
refreshment. He came here for the first time in con
tact with a German- American congregation, freed from

246 The Lutherans in America.
the stifling pressure of state authority, and its success
was most instructive and encouraging. But sweet as
were the days of repose, the call of his Lord is to
Pennsylvania and although it was late in the fall and
an almost unbroken wilderness of 900 miles stretched
between him and the goal of his journey, he must
hasten onward.
With a spirit of brotherly kindness and great self-
denial, Bolzius, having obtained the magnanimous con
sent of his congregation, accompanied him. But upon
reaching Charleston, and finding themselves in great
perplexity as to the time and manner of proceeding
on their journey, Bolzius felt constrained to return to
Ebenezer. Muhlenberg is once more left absolutely
alone. Ready to die or to live he gave his soul into the
hands of God and, notwithstanding the protestations
of men knowing the season and the sort of craft on
which he engaged passage, committed himself to a
frail and wretched bark and endured a terrible voyage
to Philadelphia. His fortitude if not his faith at one
time gave way to such an extent that he piteously
begged the captain to be put ashore. Still he would
preach to the ship's company whose profanity made
his hair stand on end, and when too weak to stand he
preached from his bed in a sitting posture.
But in spite of waves and tempests and perils of
every kind, the vessel which bore the founder of the
American Lutheran Church could not perish, and at
last it bears its precious freight quietly and serenely
up the Delaware, passing here and there the thriving
homesteads of Swedish Lutherans and, as it nears

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 247
Philadelphia, offering a view of Tinicum Island, on
which just about one hundred years before the first
Lutheran house of worship in the New World had
been erected.
It was on the 25th of November 1742 that Muhlen
berg set foot in Philadelphia. He was in the prime
of life, in vigorous health, possessed of a robust con
stitution capable of enduring exposures and hard
ships, and was eminently qualified for his peculiar and
momentous task, by an extraordinary versatility of
talents, by general culture, by theological soundness,
a benignant disposition, a penetration of human
nature, a faculty for administration, a resolute will
and prodigious energy, a world-conquering faith and
absolute consecration. Combining the highest qual
ities of pastor, preacher and leader he seems to have
been specially endowed by the Holy Ghost with the
charisms vouchsafed to the Apostolic Church. He
was without doubt a man sent of God to the Lutheran
Church of America, its heaven-ordained Bishop. His
coming was the signal of a new era. It was like the
arrival of a captain in the midst of a scattered,
dispirited and demoralized host. It was to the
Church what the advent of spring is to the earth after
a long, dreary and stormy winter. It was the instru
ment of her firm establishment and her organic life.
Finding himself a stranger in Philadelphia, without
even a letter of introduction, and falling in with a
German who belonged to the New Hanover Church,
he set out on horseback that very day for his desti
nation. The following Sunday found him in the rude pulpit

248 The Lutherans in America.
of "a log building not yet finished within," and the
Sunday after he addressed large audiences in Phila
delphia, preaching in the forenoon in the old butcher-
shop in which the Lutherans and the Reformed held
their services alternately, — we have no proof that a
regular normal Lutheran organization existed, — and
in the afternoon in the Swedish Church located be
yond the southern limits of the city. Its pastor, Rev.
Dylander, had died the year before. The pastor of
the Church at Christina, (now Wilmington, Del.) Rev.
Tranberg, gave Muhlenberg a hearty welcome and
every encouragement in his mission. The third Sun
day he officiated at New Providence (The Trappe)
preaching in a barn.
Muhlenberg's reception by the congregations to
which he was sent, was determined in large measure
by the state of things which he found prevailing. No
announcement of his coming anticipated him and but
for Ziegenhagen's testimonials, he would likely have
been regarded as one more impostor, although there
must have been, to some at least, a different ring in
his preaching. Some, like famished sheep, were so
hungry for the food of life that they received him
with profound thanksgiving. Long neglected, and
denied the stated ministrations of the Church, they
now received them joyfully and with their whole
hearts. But there were others whom hope deferred
had made sick at heart. And as pretenders one after
another continued to affect pastoral services, some
adhered to one and some to another. A number
had gone off to the Moravians, whose leader, Count
von Zinzendorf, claimed " ecclesiastical authority over

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 249
all the Lutherans in the Province ; " not a few had
witnessed so much of the disorder and the distraction
which had long prevailed, that they were unwilling
to have anything further to do with churches or par
sons, while of course there were not wanting those
wary and selfish ones who mean to wait and see what
turn things will take.
Happily for the Church, Muhlenberg came hither
not seeking his own but another's cause, not for filthy
lucre but for the sake of souls, and he stood prepared
to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Nor was it long before he had cheering evidences
that humble as was the beginning, and dark as was
the outlook, the hand of God was with him.
Although meeting with bitter opposition from both
the disorderly and the fanatical elements that were
disposed to maintain the field they had preoccu
pied, he was very soon acknowledged by the three
congregations as their legitimate and sole pastor, and
his faithfulness, dignity and the irresistible charm of
his manner soon commanded universal love, esteem
and sympathy. Multitudes came to hear him wher
ever he preached. Many cheered his heart by proofs
of deep spiritual earnestness, others became awakened
under his searching discourses, movements of the new
life in Christ succeeded the paralysis of indifferentism
and worldliness, the congregations submitted to
formal reorganization, Church discipline was intro
duced, peace, concord and order triumphed over the
reign of lawlessness, division and strife, schools were
opened, the catechisation of the young was prosecuted,
Muhlenberg personally attending not only to the lat-

2 co The Lutherans in America.
ter, but throughout the week teaching also the child
ren the simplest rudiments, youths nineteen and
twenty years of age coming to him "with their ABC
book." The field of labor to which he was called consisted
of the three congregations already named, and situ
ated many miles apart, and the extent of his labors
here, especially when the erection of churches and
school-houses began, was sufficient for two or three
ordinary men. But with vast fields white unto the
harvest stretching in remote distances on every side,
his missionary ardor could not be confined to this
territory. It soon overleaped these limits and in a
few years the boundless continent became his parish.
Lutheran centres with various stages of organization
were to be found in all directions, and, although they
had but little prospect of regular pastoral services
they continued with the constant increase of immigra
tion to spring up everywhere. Muhlenberg felt con
strained to visit these one after another, not only
such as were adjacent, but those lying more remote
like Lancaster, York, Hanover, and the churches in
New Jersey and New York. This requiredhim to
travel hundreds of miles through pathless forests.
over declivitous mountains, across swollen streams,
under pitiless rain and snow and storm, to ride often
for many hours through the darkest night unattended,
and in imminent peril of his life from the savages,
from the wild beasts and from sheer exhaustion.
On reaching a Lutheran community, he would pro
ceed with preaching, often even in the depth of winter
under the open sky, administering the sacraments,

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 251
teaching and confirming the young, establishing
order, reconciling antagonisms, excluding incongru
ous elements, exposing the errors and tricks of the
sects, kindling afresh the love for the Church and her
services, strengthening everywhere the things that
remained and were ready to die, and restoring once
more confidence and respect for the sacred office.
With all these arduous and almost superhuman
labors for the general interest, he never forgot the
essential office of the true shepherd, the care of the
individual sheep. His remarkable wisdom in leading
such as were troubled and awakened to unburthen
their souls to him, his rare tact in pointing out to
them the way of salvation, and his burning zeal in
this direction, are among the greatest secrets of
his wonderful power over men. " My saddest con
cern," he mournfully exclaims, " is that to the special
care of each soul there is too little time and opportu
nity given." And notwithstanding that roads, rivers
and storms were such that " one would not like to
drive his dog out of the house, yet willingly do I go,
at any day or any time left free to me, and visit souls in
whom the Spirit has begun his work." It was a com
mon practice with him at the close of the Lord's Day
to spend hours in private with awakened and penitent
individuals, directing inquirers to the Lamb of God.
His biography narrates many striking cases of spir
itual awakening, and shows that the renewal and
salvation of the individual was the unquenchable pur
pose of his ministry.
His concern for the individual soul was only
equalled by his conscientious solicitude for the spir-

252 The Lutherans in America.
itual life of the congregation. In illustration of this,
note his requirement of the Church Council, on the
occasion of his first administration of the communion,
to testify to the moral character of the people who
had handed in their names. With the same spirit,
when for the first time he visited York and the conore-
gation asked to have the Holy Supper, he declined to
administer it to them, on the ground that they first
needed repentance and the application of God's
Word. Not the least of Muhlenberg's cares nor the least
of his achievements, was his conflict with the legion of
scandalous impostors that had intruded into the
feeble and defenseless folds and by their infamous
conduct had, in many localities, brought reproach
upon the Lutheran Church and on the pastoral office.
Though they assailed him with the poisoned shafts of
calumny, though they employed every weapon of cun
ning and malice to counteract his influence, and to
prevent the progress of Christ's kingdom, they were
constrained to flee before this resolute ambassador,
who came to the defense of the churches with the
scathing weapon of God's truth and with the divine
principle of order and organization. Not one of
them could withstand him — not even Count von Zin-
zendorf, who was, indeed, no impostor, but a danger
ous intruder into Lutheran congregations.
For several years he labored solitary and alone.
A certain Rev. Tobias Wagner had, indeed, arrived
shortly after Muhlenberg, and exercised a brief and
desultory ministry respectively in some half dozen
congregations in Pennsylvania, but intimate fellow-

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues.

253

ship and effective co-operation with a man of his turn
of mind were out of the question. Berkenmeier and
Knoll entertained strong prejudices against Muhlen
berg's Pietism, and persistently sought to undermine
his influence by impugning his orthodoxy and his

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loyalty to the Lutheran Church. " Mr. Berkenmeier,"
says Dr. B. M. Schmucker, "claimed for himself and
the men from Hamburg, a more positive Lutheran
orthodoxy than he conceded to Hartwig, Muhlenberg

254 The Lutherans in America.
and the others trained at Halle. He earnestly warned
the congregations against them." This distrust was
as unfortunate as it was unwarranted. As Pastor
Berkenmeier was a man of ability, learning, unim
peachable conduct and widely extended influence,
especially among the Lutherans of New York, one
may, in some degree, imagine what might have been
the effect upon the Lutheran Church of that genera
tion and of succeeding generations, had not the un
warranted suspicion of Confessional unsoundness kept
these two excellent men from, uniting their counsels,
their strength and their influence for the gathering,
the organization and the advancement of the Lu
theran Church.
With his practical insight and his prophetic and
hopeful foresight, Muhlenberg very soon recognized
the great work to be accomplished here for and by
the Lutheran Church, and he at once sent urgent peti
tions to Halle for co-laborers. In January, 1745, his
heart was cheered by the arrival of three men whom
the Halle Fathers had sent out to his assistance.
Their advent was the occasion of such joy that the
anniversary of it was for a number of years cele
brated in the circle of this devoted brotherhood as a
grateful memorial serving for the spiritual refresh
ment of all.
Their names were Peter Brunnholtz, John Nicol.
Kurtz, and John Helfrich Schaum. The first one
alone had been ordained. He was "a man of dis
tinguished moral worth, and of extraordinary de-
votedness to the cause of Christ." The latter two
had reached a certain stage of preparation, but they

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 255
were expected to prosecute their studies under their
superiors, while they served as catechists and teach
ers in the congregational schools, a sphere in which
they were needed quite as much as in the pulpit.
Sensible of the strength which comes from union,
the two pastors made an amicable distribution of their.
work, extending their ministrations to outlying sta
tions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, accessible by
a day's journey, and most heartily and to the fullest
extent co-operated with each other. As a reminder
of the rivalries and strifes which had marked the re
lations of the numerous impostors and pretenders,
these co-laborers became known everywhere as " the
united ministers," and the effect of such union was
soon visible in every quarter. The upbuilding of
Zion progressed at a wonderful rate, the desert be
gan to blossom as the rose. The catechists besides
their work of catechising the young and conducting
schools, were much occupied also in preaching, were
authorized to baptize infants and in cases of emer
gency to administer the communion to the sick, thus
faithfully testing and improving their ministerial quali
fications until each was deemed worthy of ordination
and settlement over his own parish.
The fame of the blessed work of these pastors was
not long in spreading over the colonies and from
every quarter, even away up in the Mohawk valley,
came earnest petitions for the services of "the united
ministers." And whenever Muhlenberg learned of
German Lutherans, destitute of pastoral ministrations.
and this was true of scores of communities, he was
ready to render assistance as promptly as possible,

256 The Lutherans in America.
and so were his associates, all having the same spirit,
all laboring for one end. Their missionary work ac
cordingly branched out rapidly both east and west,
north and south, and Muhlenberg especially, with in
defatigable application and with an astounding capac
ity of endurance, made frequent journeys on horse
back for a distance of fifty and even a hundred miles,
traversing terrible roads, dangerous swamps and deep
streams, in the fiercest weather, and at the hazard of
his life. On one occasion he and a companion after
riding all day, were compelled for want of finding a
house at which to lodge, "to continue riding through
the wilderness, with the rain pouring down heavier,
and the poor horses wading up to their knees through
water and mire, until at two o'clock in the morning,
totally worn out and half dead, they reached their
quarters." We meet him at Lancaster, at York, at McAllister-
town (Hanover), where in 1746 he found a considera
ble congregation, and passing beyond the Maryland
boundaries, he is on the Monocacy and at Frederick.
Journeying in another direction he visits the churches
on the Raritan, at New York, up the Hudson, and late
in life he undertakes the laborious journey to Ebene
zer, Georgia, to exercise his mediating powers and
quiet the serious disturbances which had broken out.
No earthly remuneration could be any considera
tion for such hardships, exposures, toils and conflicts
in the service of Christ's Church, but a mind like his
must have enjoyed the recompense he found in the in
estimable privilege of preaching repentance and faith
in the Lord Jesus to listening multitudes, many of

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 257
whom had traveled ten and even twenty miles to hear
him, some with hot tears lamenting to him their priva
tion of the means of grace, while others were awakened
under the power of his earnest sermons. With extra
ordinary readiness the congregations submitted them
selves to his counsel and to his authority, bound them
selves to the observance of order and discipline, and
pledged their adhesion to "the holy Word of God as
given by prophets and apostles, in the Unaltered Augs
burg Confession and the other Symbolical Books." Al
though the churches which he visited had, one by one,
been seriously disturbed by persons playing the role of
Lutheran ministers, and many had been led into error,
the people promptly recognized the voice of a Lutheran
shepherd, as he discoursed on the nature of true repent
ance, and on the person and offices of Christ. Under
the light of his instruction and preaching and in virtue
of the stable organization which he effected, the demon
of confusion was summarily dispelled. Congregations
that had become " deplorably demoralized," felt the in-
vigoration of a new life. With the return of order and
union they became conscious of strength, and although
it was impossible at once to supply them with regular
pastors, schools were established, the youth were cate
chised, a sermon was read each Lord's day to the assem
bled people, church-buildings began to be erected and
everything was done to make ready for the advent of
an ordained preacher.
Another co-worker, the Rev. J. Fr. Handschuh, who
like his colleagues was a man of deep personal relig
ious experience and of glowing zeal for practical god
liness, was sent over by Francke in the spring of 1 748.

2t;8 The Lutherans in America.
He served successively the churches at Lancaster,
Germantown and Philadelphia.
Soon after his arrival Muhlenberg and Brunnholtz
in conjunction with Handschuh made provision for
the proper ordering of the public worship, the admin
istration of the sacraments and the unification of the
congregations by formulating a common liturgy. A
short formulary had heretofore been used but it was
not " in all its parts harmonious," and the preparation
of a more complete order had been deferred until
there should be more laborers on the ground, and "a
better knowledge of the condition of things in this
country " should be obtained. The Swedish Liturgy
was found to be unsuited to the German Churches
because it required the chanting of the collects, which
Germans from the Rhine and Main districts con
sidered " papal." And it was also deemed inexpedient
to adopt any of the numerous German Agenda, since
the members of the churches had come from so many
different localities, each of which had its own formu
lary. They accordingly took the Liturgy of the
Savoy congregation of London as the basis, making
such abbreviations, modifications and additions "as
after due consideration of the circumstances in which
we are here placed appeared advisable and calculated
to edify, and adopted it tentatively until we had a
better understanding of the matter, and determined
to use it with a view of introducing into our congre
gations the same ceremonies, forms and words."
A step of yet greater importance and more far-
reaching in results was the formation during the same
year, August 14 and 15, 1748, of a Synodical organi-

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 259
zation. The bonds of affection and faith which united
these German pastors extended also to their Swedish
brethren, who were men of a kindred spirit, unceas
ingly active in preaching, and caring for the spiritu
ally destitute, and who in conformity to the instruc
tions of the Archbishop of Sweden stood ready for
the most intimate fellowship and co-operation. Dif-
erences of language and nationality were sunk in the
desire to make common cause for the maintenance
of the Gospel, the development of the Church, and
especially for the exclusion of the fanatical " Zinzen-
dorfers," who were everywhere intruding into Lu
theran congregations, creating disturbances and di
visions. The first proposal for a union came from an active
and wealthy layman, Peter Koch, an officer in the
Swedish congregation at Wicacoa. He elaborated a
"Regulation " forever uniting the two branches of the
Church. But his scheme was deemed impracticable
and several further attempts of a similar kind were
likewise frustrated. Both parties felt more and more
the need of such an alliance in counsel and action.
An annual conference including a few of the elders
of the German and Swedish congregations, it was felt,
would impart greater efficiency to the efforts of the
ministry and promote the general good of Zion. The
Swedish pastors had in fact been closely identified
with the German communities before the arrival of
the Halle ministers, having been instrumental in
founding congregations in localities which to-day are
among the strongest centres of Lutheranism, and sup
plying, with great considerateness and zeal, some of

260 The Lutherans in America
the older congregations on the Hudson and elsewhere
with preaching. They and their churches stood ready
therefore for a union.
The churches served by the " United Ministers "
had come to be known generally as "The United
Evangelical Congregations." Here was the nucleus
for a permanent and compact organization. And it
was reasonable that other German congregations
should desire to share the advantages of such an
association, and gladly entrust their well-being into
the hands of men who had gained their confidence
and esteem by " their elevated character as servants
of God, and their firmness in holding fast to the Un
altered Augsburg Confession." It was, in particular,
a petition of this character from the congregations at
Tulpehocken and Northkill that led to the decisive
step. There were present at this meeting Muhlenberg,
Brunnholtz, Handshuh, Kurtz, Hartwig and the Swed
ish Provost Sandin, with his colleague Naesman, and
the delegates from their respective congregations-
Muhlenberg, by common consent presided, but to the
Swedes was accorded a general precedence, and all,
longing "with united hearts and God's grace to ad
vance the welfare of our poor Church in America,"
took an active part in the solemn deliberations.
The effect of this first organization was to merge
the pastors and congregations into a joint body, in
which each congregation or pastoral district became
an organic part, surrendering its independence to the
general authority, and receiving in turn through lay.
representation a voice in the government of the

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 261
Church, as a whole, and of its constituent parts.
The decisions of the united body had binding force
with the congregations, and even the call for a pastor
from any one of them was henceforth addressed to
Muhlenberg, and by him submitted to the assembled
ministerium. The proceedings of this convention embraced, first,
the ordination of the catechist, J. N. Kurtz, a request
for which was presented by his congregations. He
was subjected to a very rigid examination concerning
his awakening, course of life, attainments, library,
motives for seeking the ministry, Lutheran ortho
doxy, and the exercise of the pastoral office in public
and private. Francke, to whom these ministers for
warded regular reports, " thought too much was ex
pected of the young candidate," and observes that
the questions "were answered better than they would
have been by one out of ten preachers before our
German consistories." This was the first case of
synodical ordination, and administered at the first
synodical convention in this country. J. H. Schaum
was ordained at the meeting of the synod in Lancas
ter the ensuing year.
Secondly, the dedication with imposing ceremonies
of St. Michael's Church in Philadelphia. The Synod
attended in procession, the Swedish Provost Sandin
and Hartwig in the lead. A congratulatory address
in English, written by the oldest Swedish minister,
Tranberg, was read, after which followed a historical
address, which among other thing stated that the
building had been erected "that the doctrines of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church might be preached in it

262

The Lutherans in America.

according to the prophets and apostles, and in agree
ment with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and
all the other Symbolical Books." After this the
whole building and its parts, the pulpit, baptismal
font, altar, were formally dedicated to the preaching
of the saving Word and the administration of the
Holy Sacraments according to the Symbolical Books
of the Lutheran Church. The representatives of the
congregation solemnly promised for this purpose to
preserve the building for the use of their children and

life1 * ^itwHwt

J!

st. Michael's church, Philadelphia. (Dedicated Aug. 14, 1748.)
children's children. After some further singing, " all
the ministers and delegates kneeling around the altar,
each minister, except Muhlenberg, offered a short
prayer, Sandin and Naesman in Swedish, the others
in German." After another hymn and the baptism
of a child, Handschuh delivered the dedication ser
mon, which was followed by the administration of the
Lord's Supper.
Another day was occupied in ascertaining through
the delegates the relation between the pastors and their

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 263
congregations, the condition and wants of the parochial
schools, and the ratification of the Liturgy, the lay del
egates expressing their satisfaction with the form which
had been prepared, and with the plan to introduce the
the same form in all the congregations, " though they
thought that during cold winter days the service would
be somewhat too long."
Before adjourning, the synod resolved to meet an
nually, alternating between Lancaster and Philadelphia,
each congregation at its own expense to send two el
ders. Thus were laid the foundations of the Evangeli
cal Lutheran Church in this country. How wisely and
how firmly, may be judged from the fact that this body,
under the name of the "Evangelical Lutheran Minis
terium " of Pennsylvania and adjacent states, after the
lapse of a century and a half is not only still in exist
ence, but embraces to-day an aggregate of 265 minis
ters, 442 congregations and more than 100,000 commu
nicants, notwithstanding that more than fifty synodical
organizations with half a million of communicants have
directly or indirectly sprung from it.
The most salutary results began at once to De appar
ent. With the hearts of the pastors beating in unison
their hands were now also united, and they felt girded
for their task, while the congregations peaceful within
themselves and in vital fellowship with one another,
became conscious of improved spiritual life, of renewed
strength and of the most encouraging prospects. The
establishment of order, authority and discipline was fol
lowed not only by a steady and rapid growth of the
congregations already founded, but by the gathering of
new congregations, and the development of new centers

264 The Lutherans in America.
in every direction, rendering re-enforcements to the
ranks of the clergy imperative. Francke found it now
relatively easy to meet this demand, so that in a few
years a considerable force was added to those already
named. Among the most eminent and worthy of these was
Rev. J. D. M. Heintzelman, whose services at the
Francke schools pointed him out as especially fitted
for missionary work in Pennsylvania. His career as
pastor of the Philadelphia congregation was one of
great usefulness but cut short by an early death.
Another excellent co-laborer arrived shortly after
from Halle in the person of Christopher Emanuel
Schultze, who so commanded the respect and love of
Muhlenberg- that he secured his eldest daughter in
marriage. He possessed extraordinary gifts as a
preacher and as a catechist had no superior. He was
most conscientious and indefatigable in the discharge
of his office, and " overwhelmed with labors beyond
his strength." One of his sons, after serving for
awhile as pastor, was obliged to relinquish the office
on account of bodily infirmities, and this grandson of
Muhlenberg was twice elected Governor of Pennsyl
vania, serving from 1823 to 1829. Justus H. Chr. Hel-
muth came in 1765. He had been reared in the Halle
Orphanage and had also passed through the Univer
sity. He combined superior talents for teaching and
preaching, labored for awhile and with great success
at Lancaster, then followed a call to Philadelphia,
where he became a member of the Philosophical
Society and was for eighteen years Professor of the
Oriental Languages and of German in the University.

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 265
With him arrived his bosom friend, John Fr. Schmidt,
who was pastor at Germantown during the Revolution,
and during the brief English occupation of Philadel
phia became a refugee, his congregation likewise have-
ing been dispersed. Later he became Helmuth's co-
laborer in Philadelphia.
Another true son of Halle was the Rev. J. L. Voigt
a person of marked individuality, of pronounced lit
erary tastes, and always sustaining close personal
relations to Muhlenberg whose successor he became
at the Trappe. His devotional meetings there " among
those of his membership who felt a deeper spiritual
interest " were viewed with disfavor by some who were
not friendly to the man. With him arrived another of
like spirit, John Andrew Krug, the two having been
ordained at the same time. Of the latter, Dr. Mann
says : "His unaffected humility, his sincere piety, and
his zeal for the welfare of those who were entrusted
to his care, could not fail to gain for him the esteem
and the affection of those who were spiritually bene
fitted by his pastoral services, with whom, as a true
Hallensis, he held private devotions in addition to the
usual public service." He began his pastoral career at
Reading, declined subsequently a call to Baltimore,
and removed in 1771 to Fredericktown, Md. from
whence a year later he made an extended missionary
tour into Virginia.
Muhlenberg had sent his three sons while yet quite
young to Halle for their education and in due time
these returned and entered upon the active duties of the
ministry. With them came John Christopher Kunze,
" the most gifted and the most scholarly " of all the

266 The Lutherans in America.
missionaries sent from Halle to Pennsylvania. Im
mediately upon his arrival he became the associate of
Muhlenberg in Philadelphia. Later he removed to
New York where he succeeded in uniting the German
congregation and the old Dutch church.
To these may be added names like Gerock, sent
hither by the Church authorities of Wiirtemberg,
who, though not sustaining intimate relations to the
Halle pastors, connected himself with the Synod, and
had long pastorates in Lancaster, New York and
Baltimore ; Hartwig, who, after having finished his
University course in Germany, and having for a short
time missionated among the Jews, was sent by the
Hamburg ministry to the congregations on the Hud
son, and identified himself with Muhlenberg and his
colleagues ; and especially the Swedish pastors, pre
eminent among whom were the Provosts Acrelius and
von Wrangel, whose active co-operation over the whole
field of the German Lutheran Church, and whose
affectionate and beautiful attitude toward the Ger
man pastors, entitles them to the lasting gratitude of
all Lutherans ; and Bager, another Hallean pupil, who
arrived in 1752, served for awhile the church in New
York, and for many years the churches at York, Han
over and neighboring localities.
Besides these may yet be mentioned Weygant,
Raus and Schrenk. There were yet others who had
pursued a course of study in Europe, or served as
teachers, and who were here for a season employed
in catechising and occasional preaching under super
vision, and after a fair and thorough trial were ad-

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 267
mitted to ordination upon the presentation of a call
for their services.
Exclusive of those who would not fellowship these
Hallean Pietists, and of the few Georgia and Virginia
pastors, with whom the great distance rendered co
operation impossible, the Ministerium embraced in
1 768 twenty-four members, and it would be no easy
task to find in this country, at that time, another
group of men measuring up to the standard of these
in piety, in culture, in devotion to the Church and her
Creed, and in self-sacrificing activity for the exten
sion of Christ's Kingdom and the upbuilding of the
waste places of Zion.
Measureless praise has been bestowed in our litera.
ture upon the "Pilgrim Fathers " for their abandon
ment of native land and their attachment to the truth
and to their forms of worship, yet it has been truly
said, " in genuine piety, Christian heroism, and ener
getic devotion to the cause of the Redeemer, the men
who planted the Lutheran Church in this Western
Hemisphere, will not suffer in comparison with them.
Their history presents a most beautiful example of
patient endurance and untiring zeal in the service of
God. Their indefatigable and self-denying efforts,
their earnest and faithful life, illustrating the doc
trines of the Church they loved, and for whose ad
vancement they were toiling, made a deep impression
upon their contemporaries, and secured the confi
dence and sympathy of all with whom they were
brought in contact. The prevalence of the German
language among them, and the preservation of their
records in their native tongue, have deprived them of

268

The Ltd her ans in America.

the position in the early history of our country to
which their acknowledged literary character, their
virtues, and their influence justly give them a claim."
And, although the marvellous triumphs of Christi
anity largely make up the history of the Church, the
sound and rapid progress of the Evangelical Lu
theran Church under the labors of Muhlenberg and
his colleagues has but rarely had a parallel. With a
consecration to the cause that recoiled from no self-
sacrifice, with an extraordinary sagacity and adapta-

ZION'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. (Dedicated June 25, 1769.)
tion to circumstances, with a co-operation that was
apostolic in spirit and statesmanlike in policy, with a
heroism seldom eclipsed in the field of missions or on
the field of battle, and with a superhuman endurance
of toils and burdens, these men were everywhere pre
paring the soil and sowing the seed of God's truth.
And the Lord and Head of the Church was mani
festly working with them and confirming the Word.
Extraordinary and powerful results followed their
activity. A general awakening prevailed through all
the vast region surrounding their labors. A high

Muhlenberg and his Colleagues. 269
standard of spirituality was maintained, and the ear
nestness and the fervent prayers of the pastors were
reflected in the active zeal and the Christian virtues
of a devout people. There was a steady increase in
members, efficiency and influence. In Philadelphia,
St. Michael's Church, which at the time of its conse
cration in 1748 was regarded by many as too large
and too costly a structure for so small a congre
gation, was found to be too contracted, the communi
cants alone numbering some seven hundred. By
unanimous consent of the congregation, accordingly,
the vestry purchased a valuable lot of ground on the
corner of Fourth and Cherry Streets, and began the
erection of Zion Church, laying the cornerstone at
the meeting of the Synod in 1766, and consecrating it
June 25, 1769, before an immense concourse of
people, the' Ministerium, the pastors of the Swedish
and Reformed congregations, the Commissary of the
Episcopal Church, the Provost and faculty of the
academy, the Mayor of Philadelphia and other digni
taries, participating in the solemn festivities. This
church was for many years regarded the largest and
finest house of worship in America.
The wave of a quickened church life spread far and
wide in every direction. From the Delaware to the
Susquehanna and the region west of it, congregations
arose and multitudes of various nationalities flocked
to their altars. The tide extended over into Mary
land, along the Monocacy and down into the heart of
Virginia, and northward into the interior of Pennsyl
vania, while numerous flourishing churches were scat
tered over New Jersey, and those far up on the Hud-

270 The Lutherans in America.
son were not only strengthened but multiplied. The
power of the Most High was shown to be still inher
ent in the Gospel mustard seed, and this mighty
growth of it, with the songs of praise in its branches,
proceeded in the face of the most adverse influences,
and at a period, too, when both the ministers and con
gregations were constantly harassed by the devasta
tions of the long raging struggle between the English
and the French for the possession of the country,
many being cruelly murdered, and numbers compelled
to fly from their harvests and their homes.

:5s

REV. JOHN O. KIXXK, D. D.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RAVAGES OF WAR.

IT has been well said that moral deterioration is a
concomitant and a consequence of war. Destruc
tion and waste in every department of society at
tend the shock of arms. The saddest havoc is seen
in the sphere of religion. No other calamity is so
apt to extinguish the kindly light of the Gospel, or
undermine the foundations of virtue.
The long and exhaustive conflict of the Revolution
is a most lamentable illustration of this. It is a well
attested truth that the twenty years following the war
was "a time of the lowest general morality in Amer
ican history." Those familiar with the ravages and
sufferings of the war in general will ask no proof of
this. Some fifteen cities and numerous villages were
reduced to ashes. Thousands of the best citizens
perished on the field of battle. Many were held in
captivity or compelled to flee from their homes to
find, on returning, their dwellings blotted out and
their households hopelessly scattered. Places of wor
ship were in many localities either burnt or converted
into hospitals, prisons, or even stables, their pews and
galleries cut up for fuel. Out of nineteen church-
edifices in New York only nine could be used for
worship when the war was over. The ministers had
in numerous cases to flee for their lives. During the
siege of Boston all but two of the Boston pastors
fled from the city. Mr. Schmidt, the Lutheran pastor
271

272 The Lutherans in America.
at Germantown, was obliged to do the same while
the enemy occupied that place ; the English posses
sion of New York drove F. A. C. Muhlenberg away
from his church, and on their approach to Philadel
phia his brother, Henry Ernest, was compelled to flee
with his family. Returning for a season he was again
forced to retire. " Disguised under a blanket, with a
rifle on his shoulder, he nearly fell into the enemy's
hands, through the treachery of a Tory innkeeper."
Whole congregations were dispersed and in numer
ous cases absolutely extinguished. The attendance
of hundreds before the war was reduced sometimes to
less than a dozen after its close. Of the ninety-five
Episcopal parishes in Virginia, twenty-three had
during the progress of the war become "extinct or
forsaken, and of the remaining seventy-two, thirty-
four were destitute of ministerial services, while of the
ninety-one clergymen, twenty-eight only remained
who had lived through the storm." One of the two
Lutheran congregations in New York city disappear
ed altogether during this period, while those in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania suffered severely.
"At Ebenezer, in Georgia," says Dr. Hazelius, "the
war and its detrimental consequences to the cause of
religion were felt more than in any other part of our
Church. The people were in general attached to the
principles of our revolution. From the very com
mencement they took an active part in favor of
liberty. They argued : ' For the sake of liberty we
have left home, lands, houses, estates, and have taken
refuge in the wilds of Georgia; shall we now again
submit to bondage? No, we will not.' Upon this

The Ravages of War. 273
principle they acted throughout the contest and on
account of their devotion to it they were driven from
their homes by the British forces. One of their min
isters had unfortunately embraced the other side, and
actually went so far in his Tory zeal and unnatural
wickedness, as to lead the enemy to Ebenezer, to aid
in the destruction of the settlements, and in driving
the inhabitants to the inhospitable wilderness. Their
beautiful house of God was turned into a stable for
the horses of the British soldiers, and sometimes
served as a Lazaretto for the sick and wounded."
When the victorious close of the war permitted the
poor exiles to return they found their beloved Eben
ezer destroyed. They now erected buildings on their
farms and plantations and thus became scattered over
a distance of from two to ten miles from the former
town of Ebenezer. The congregation was virtually
broken up and was without a pastor. And the his
tory of this community is but a picture of the general
distress that overwhelmed many hitherto flourishing
congregations. The ministers were in large part seized by the
martial spirit and rushing to the defense of their
country abandoned their suffering and exposd flocks.
Some went forth as chaplains, others exchanged the
sword of the Spirit for the carnal weapon. The old
est son of the Patriarch Muhlenberg, John Peter
Gabriel, who served both Lutheran and Episcopal
churches in Virginia, fired by the general political and
patriotic excitement, gave notice to his congregations
of his farewell sermon. A large audience assembled.
At the conclusion of divine service, he exclaimed,

274 The Lutherans in America
" There is a time of war and a time of peace, and now
the time to fight has come," and throwing back his
clerical robe he stood before them in a colonel's
uniform and the next day was off for the war.
Others, conversant with public affairs, gave up, like
the younger Muhlenberg, F. A. C, the pulpit for the
forum, the office of spiritual shepherd of the people
for that of their political representative in the halls
of legislation. o
Thus while the preaching and the general influence
of the clergy had been for some time " rather martial
than sanctifying and spiritual," their sermons sound
ing the notes of freedom and the tocsin of war, and
promoting, in this way, the tendency to indifferentism
and worldliness, many now became entirely secular
ized. Their spiritual warfare was doomed to a truce.
"In many localities the means of grace were wholly
suspended for a long time, and the religious safe
guards were broken down." The ministrations of
the Gospel ceased just when the need for them was
sorest. The churches generally throwing all their in
fluence in support of the cause of independence, expe
rienced retroactively almost total paralysis, especially
throughout the Middle States, in which the Lutheran
congregations were mainly found. "Religion suf
fered serious decay, and the churches presented a wide
scene of desolation." The revolution in government
was attended by a revolution in the Church, which
was as baneful in its fruit as the former was bene
ficent. The war for independence lasted eight years.
Surely the agitations and the immoralities of this

The Ravages of War. 275
long period, the neglect of the" ordinances and the
virtual suspension of spiritual activity in many com
munities, attended often by the unhappy division of
sentiment regarding the war, which separated families
and broke up many prosperous congregations, would
sufficiently account for a state of profound spiritual
apathy, worldliness and disorder, from which it
seemed for years after the conclusion of peace impos
sible to rouse the churches.
But the devastations of the Revolution had been
preceded by the devastations and harassments of a
nine years' struggle, 1 754-1 763, between the English
and the French for the possession of the country.
And they were followed by a series of national diffi
culties and political dissensions, which with the uni
versal financial distress and the grinding taxation be
came a severer strain on patriotism and on morals
than the war itself had been. That was the critical
period of our country's history, "the era of bad feel
ing," the dark age of American Christianity.
Thus for more than a generation, from the outbreak
of the French-Indian war to the inauguration of Pres
ident Washington, the whole country was torn and
swept by the ravages of war, and the churches, besides
sharing in the general suffering, were rent and deso
lated by the greater ravages of party violence and
passion. A period of endless antagonism and irrita
tion, a state of restlessness, recklessness and insecur
ity, brought the public mind to the verge of despair,
the Church to the borders of destruction.
The two bloody contests had introduced a more
terrible and murderous enemy than even grim-visaged

276 The Lutherans in America.
war itself. War slays' its thousands, Infidelity its tens
of thousands. During the French and Indian war
English officers and soldiers introduced deistical sen
timents among our people. Young Americans in the
army readily imbibed these new ideas, drank deeply
of the poisoned cup and on their return home spread
the contagion among the circles in which they moved,
producing everywhere a relaxation in morals as well
as a defection in religion.
The Revolution brought us the generous and mem
orable assistance of the French arms, but the very
gratitude of our people for this timely and priceless
intervention, and the peculiarly friendly relations
which bound the two nations together, served only to
predispose many of our leading minds to French ideas
of religion. Our sense of indebtedness assumed the
form of an infatuation for everything represented by
the French, so that Americans became easy victims to
their specious theories. Our statesmen, fired with en
thusiasm over France, came under the spell of its
atheism. A frightful apostasy from religion ensued.
Skepticism and reckless blasphemy became common.
Infidelity was never more rampantand more aggressive
and bitter, never more prevalent among influential
citizens and professional men, never more deleterious
in its work. Revelation was decried as without
authority or evidence, moral obligation as a cobweb.
" The clergy were a laughing stock or objects of dis
gust." Young men, especially, became enamored of
the new ideas. Bishop Meade of Virginia wrote that
scarcely a young man of any literary culture believed
in Christianity.

The Ravages of War. 27 J
In 1795 Yale College had but four or five students
who made profession of the Christian faith. Prince
ton a few years earlier reported two, and its President,
Dr. Smith, complained grievously of the mischievous
and fatal effects which the prevalent infidelity had
wrought in the moral and religious character of the
students. The rninds of multitudes had become unsettled.
There was a general breaking away from the old
moorings of faith and life. " Wild and vague expec
tations were everywhere entertained especially among
the young, of a new order of things about to com
mence, in which Christianity would be laid aside as an
obsolete system, would altogether disappear."
The Christian Church, stricken and suffering from
the desolations of nearly twenty years of war, with
many of her watchmen, like the Muhlenberg brothers,
permanently detached from the pastoral office, was in
no condition to stem this dark tide of unbelief with its
attendant decay of piety and moral degeneracy. But
this was not the worst. The Church feeling the
assaults of her enemies, and fully alive to her perils
and responsibilities, might even in the face of all these
untoward circumstances, have withstood this onset of
the powers of darkness and achieved a glorious vic
tory by that faith which overcometh the world. But
her sword had become blunted, the temper of her
weapons sadly vitiated. An eviscerated creed sapped
her energy and made her impotent against the attacks
of a determined and panoplied foe.
Coincident with the revolutionary struggle and the
ensuing internal conflicts, and doubtless in a measure

278 The Lutherans in America.
growing out of and stimulated by these, a wave of ra
tionalism came into the land and gradually passed over
all denominations. The spirit of independence was
abroad, and along with the renunciation of the old
forms of government men were ready to cast off the
old forms of faith, to repudiate a strict spiritual au
thority as well as an oppressive political rule. With
freedom of religion made a part of the organic law of
the land men advocated the broadest toleration, the
utmost liberty of thought, within the pale of the
churches. Along with the strong revulsion against the
rigorous Calvinism of New England, came a general
reaction against all "human" systems of faith. Ortho
doxy was unfashionable. "Creeds and Confessions
were abhorred, and freely denounced in sermons." It
was even claimed that they were " outworn " and had
been "generally laid aside." A few fundamentals were
all that was needed. And doctrines that had always
been deemed fundamental received the sneer and sar
casm of the pulpit. Reason was made the arbiter of
faith. Rationalistic methods and contrivances were
applied to all phases of Christian revelation and life.
The Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, nur
tured and sheltered the spirit of doubt until she became
verily the bulwark of unbelief. Instead of staying the
tide of infidelity and its concomitant dissipation and
materialism, she contributed to swell its volume. And
it is not without significance that along with the dark
picture given of the low morality of the people, it is
generally claimed that that of the clergy was not much
higher. Laxity of moral and religious sentiment
among all classes was the feature of the age.

The Ravages of War. 279
Thus the influences from every quarter combined
for the corruption of society, for the alienation of the
people from the sanctuary, for the depravation of the
faith and the paralysis of all forms of Christian ac
tivity. In the crisis that called for the Church's most
earnest exertions and the marshaling of her spiritual
powers, she was found despoiled of her best armor, her
energy sapped, her right arm palsied. What remained
in her pale from the desolations of war was taken pos
session of by rationalism, and rationalism extinguishes
Christian zeal and cuts the nerve of Christian action.
This defection from the faith extended to all denom
inations. Some of the pulpits openly espoused Unita-
rianism, others proclaimed Universalism, while many
others gave voice to kindred forms of rationalism, all
agreeing in their hostility to the the theology of the
Reformation. It was therefore impossible for the Church to fulfil
her mission. Her enemies were intensely active, she
herself was lukewarm, and her resistance to the mighty
foe was feeble and desultory. The degeneracy of
morals in society had a correlative in the lamentable
decay of piety in the Christian community. The
Church was conformed largely to the lax and worldly
elements outside of it. Discipline was out of vogue.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,
after similar deliverances in previous years, declared
in 1798: "We perceive with pain and fearful appre
hension a general dereliction of religious principle
and practice — an abounding infidelity — a dissolution
of religious society seems to hit threatened. Formal
ity and deadness, not to say hypocrisy, visibly per-

280 The Lutherans in America.
vade every part of the Church. The profligacy and
corruption of public morals have advanced with a
progress proportioned to our declension in religion."
The Evangelical Lutheran Church had her full
share of these disastrous experiences. Rev. Storch
writing from North Carolina, in 1803, says: "Party
spirit has risen to a fearful height. The prevalence
of infidelity, the contempt of the best of all religions,
its usages and servants, the increase of irreligion and
crime, have occasioned me many sad hours." She had
fearful trials in addition to those which threatened the
extinction of other denominations that had advanced
beyond her in organization and growth. She was
subjected to fiery ordeals which once more and to the
last degree tested her vitality and her inherent powers
of endurance.
The discontinuance of aid from the mother Church
in Germany which coincided with the war between
England and the colonies, was no calamity. Com
merce was rendered precarious, and neither pastors
nor literature nor any other contributions to the
maintenance of the Church any longer flowed in, but
this was one of those blessings that come disguised in
the garb of adversity. Rationalism, now at its height,
had poisoned the heart of Germany. Even pietistic
Halle, had become the center of that "Illuminism"
which made war upon the old faith in the creeds and
liturgies and hymns of the Reformation. It was a
sovereign mercy to the Lutheran Church of America
that intercourse with Germany was broken off just at
this juncture, and that young, feeble and exposed as
she was, she escaped the full force of that destructive

The Ravages of War. 281
rationalism, which reigned in the latter country and in
many localities uprooted the institutions of the Gos
pel. It was enough that she became a prey to the
dominant laxity of faith in this country and to the in
direct influences of unbelief which from time to time
were borne to her bosom in her own language from
across the sea.
A peculiar trial involved in the development of the
Lutheran Church in America, scarcely less serious
than the temporary defection of doctrine and as wide
reaching and pernicious in its consequences, was the
conflict of language. This ordeal, relatively unknown
to other communities, she had unfortunately to en
counter in this critical period. The three large
Dutch Reformed congregations in New York, in
whose services an English note had never been
heard before the Revolution, readily accepted the in
evitable, and surrendered the dialect of the Stuyve-
sants, but the great body of our German ancestors
had no idea of making such a concession to the lan
guage of their adopted country.
To say nothing of the much greater preponderance
of Germans in comparison with the Dutch, or of the
steadfastness and tenacity which characterizes the
German mind, it is certainly not to the discredit of
those people that they clung with a religious and pas
sionate devotion to their mother tongue, the tongue
of their fatherland and of their holy mother Church.
To part with a language means far more than the sur
render of forms of expression, grammatical structure
and linguistic idioms. It is almost equivalent to the
immolation of a people on the altar of a foreign and

282 The Ltdherans in America.
unfriendly race. Their past is to be severed from their
future. The ideas, the modes of thought, the literary
and devotional treasures, the usages and the habits of
a people, their most sacred traditions, their very his
tory, must sooner or later be given up and lost, when
once their language is no longer the vehicle of their
daily intercourse and of their public worship. The
fear has often been voiced that the very faith of a
people loses its identity and individuality by being
transferred to another tongue.
It is the refinement of cruelty as well as the height
of political sagacity when tyrants compel the con
quered races in their dominion to use the language of
the conqueror in every department of education. A
province is not subdued until it surrenders its vernac
ular. To what extent the fathers in this country com
prehended the significance of the change we do not
know, but they contended against it with a violence
and a persistence as if the loss of their language in
public worship was tantamount to the extinction of
their Church and the loss of all that was dear.
The Lutheran Church of America glories to-day in
her polyglot character and rejoices in the Providence
that enables her ministers, like the Apostles on the
day of Pentecost, to declare to all the diversified na
tionalities that flock to these shores, " in their own
tongues, the wonderful works of God." This certainly
emphasizes the world-wide reach of her mission and
the golden harvests that await her sickle in all com
munities and localities. But the language problem
has also proved to her the occasion of untold calam
ities. The fierce opposition to the introduction of

The Ravages of War. 283
English services, the unprotestant attempt to confine
her worship to a foreign tongue, became in all the
great centres of population the most serious obstacle
to her success, lost multitudes to her fold, limited her
sphere, cramped her spirit, confined her influence, and
placed her at such disadvantage to the other Churches
of the land that even to this day, after bleeding and
suffering from it for a hundred years, the Lutheran
Church still feels the consequences of this policy. It
was as ruinous in results as it was irrational in theory.
It was essentially a blow at her life. The effort to
make the Lutheran Church a church for the Germans
only was a stab at her evangelical and apostolical
character, which devolves upon her the mission of
giving the restored Gospel to the world and preach
ing it in every tongue. It was the renunciation of her
birthright. It was casting aside her crown. No won
der that in some localities it almost caused her extinc
tion and in all places it inflicted on her irreparable
injury. This opposition to English did not manifest itself
in the earlier colonial period. Muhlenberg conducted
English services before he was in the country a year,
and in New York he officiated in Dutch and English
as well as in German. So his colleagues and his sons
eagerly mastered the language of the country that they
might extend the area of their ministrations, recogniz
ing the duty of providing the young as well as their
unchurched fellow-citizens with the word of life, and
doubtless foreseeing the inevitable disasters which
must follow the neglect of opportunities and the fail
ure to meet responsibilities. An English address was

284 The Lutherans in America.
delivered at the dedication of St. Michael's in 1748.
Handschuh, who became pastor at Germantown in
1 751, officiated there occasionally in the English
language. Their Swedish contemporaries were capa
ble of using the English tongue and preached it not
only in their own churches but very frequently also in
the churches of their English neighbors. Pastor Rud
man early in the eighteenth century supplied regular
ly two Episcopal churches in and near Philadelphia
during the vacancy of their pulpits. Hesselius in 1721
received ten pounds per annum from the " Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel " for preaching twenty
times a year in the vacant English churches.
The Episcopal Church in its feeble infancy in Penn
sylvania was nursed by the Swedish pastors, who at
various places and for considerable periods preached
in its pulpits while the congregations were destitute
of a pastor of their own order. And this they did, too,
not for any worldly gain, for they often received no
compensation for their labor, not even the payment of
their expenses. They were in fact instructed by the
Archbishop of Sweden "to attend no vacant English
congregations for a salary or for the sake of gain."
Should they find time from their arduous labors among
their own congregations to visit the destitute English
population, they should do this from the promptings
of Christian charity, and such services as they con
ducted for them, they were further charged, must be
"according to our Evangelical Lutheran doctrine and
discipline." They ministered in this way, from time to time, to
quite a number of Episcopal congregations and, in fact,

The Ravages of War. 285
as the Episcopalians were then but few and in mean
circumstances in this province, kept some of them from
extinction. Their services were in demand by the
English residents in every quarter, the people entreat
ing their administration of the ordinances, as "other
wise their children would become unchristened heath
en, or Quakers, and their' churches would be changed
into stables alongside of Quaker meeting-houses."
Their "ready assistance and substantial services "were
acknowledged by Episcopal clergymen. Although
their preaching and their ministrations gave them
great influence with these Episcopal congregations, and
they are said to have been as popular with them as
with their own people, they were so devoid of the sec
tarian spirit that it never occurred to them to alienate
these congregations from their denominational body,
though this might no doubt have been easily accom
plished. When the situation was in after years unfortu
nately reversed, and these very Swedish churches had
to seek supplies from the Episcopal clergy, the spirit
which dominated this assistance was also the reverse
of that which prompted the Lutheran ministers with
great personal sacrifice to dispense the Gospel to their
Anglican brethren. How such ignoble sectarianism
succeeded in wresting those churches from the parent
trunk need not here be detailed.
Most of the pastors who served the Swedish churches
and rendered so much assistance to the Episcopalians
were men of liberal education and quite acceptable
preachers, and as a rule could officiate very satisfac
torily both in German and in English. Their own con
gregations were at an early period quite willing to

286 The Lutherans in America
have the English introduced, the English services
being regularly conducted in the afternoon, sometimes
at night. Some churches had "generally double
preaching, first in German, then in English, almost
every Sunday." This was felt to be necessary not
only for the sake of some of the Swedish descendants
who did not understand Swedish, but also for the sake
of so many English living around, who although con
nected with the English Church would otherwise have
had no church service. At the funeral of pastor Tran-
berg in 1748 an English discourse was delivered. In
1763 Von Wrangel delivered a series of lectures in St.
Michael's Church in the same language.
Sometimes the newly arrived Swedish pastors felt
constrained to attempt preaching in English before
they had a sufficient command of the language. But
they made rapid progress in its acquisition and soon
delighted their English auditors. One of them, the
Rev. Dylander, whose Christian zeal and fluency in
the German enabled him to found German churches
at Germantown and Lancaster, regularly conducted
an early morning service in German in his church at
Wicacoa, preached at the usual hour in Swedish and in
the afternoon in English, and his English was so ele
gant and his address so engaging that he captivated
the English population, and he became so popular
with that element that he was called upon to solem
nize most of their marriages. This so excited the Eng
lish Episcopal clergyman that he lodged a complaint
against him before the Governor, who, however, de
clined interfering, declaring that the people had in this
country the right to get married wherever they pleased.

The Ravages of War. 287
Von Wrangel also drew such crowds that he was
obliged often to preach in the open air.
No serious disturbance seems to have been caused
by the use of several languages in public worship
prior to the Revolutionary war. Even amid the
storms of the great conflict Rev. Streit introduced it
in South Carolina. Pastor Knoll, who withdrew from
the New York church in 1750, was accustomed to hold
English services there. The patriarch Muhlenberg
during his brief pastorates in that city in 1 75 1 and 1 752
held an English service each Sunday evening, which
was more largely attended than any other service.
" The descendants of the Dutch families, who could no
longer speak or understand the tongue of their fathers,
and many of the surrounding community crowded the
church." Many Episcopalians were in attendance.
This may have been the real ground for the complaint
that his loud preaching disturbed the worship in Trin
ity Church just across the street. It was the first even
ing service of any kind ever held in the church and
as no fixtures for lighting the building had been pro
vided, candles were fastened on top of the pews.
" There was but one copy of the Hymn Book used on
hand and Mr. Muhlenberg was wont to give out the
lines and lead the singing. When he found that the
German chorals were unfamiliar to the English audi
ence he selected hymns with metres found also in
English hymns and used familiar English tunes, when
the whole congregation united heartily." Dr. B. M.
Schmucker further observes: "However Mr. Berken
meier may have disliked the pietists, there were many
earnest Christian souls in the surrounding congrega-

288 The Lutherans in America.
tions who were drawn to the services by the fervent,
pungent, practical and evangelical preaching of Muh
lenberg. The English urged the erection of galleries
in the church to accommodate the numerous attend
ants." The impulse thus given to the prosperity of that
congregation, the large attendance of such as were not
identified with the Lutheran Church or with the Ger
man population, indicate what might have been had
the language of the country at the right juncture been
everywhere introduced into Lutheran worship. It ad
mits of no question that if Muhlenberg could have
remained at New York, Trinity Lutheran Church
would not only have become united and very strong
but would at an early day have grown into a flourish
ing English Lutheran congregation. Nor can there
be any doubt that such a congregation in New York
a century ago would have immeasurably affected the
development of Lutheranism in that city, and that the
Mother of Protestantism would hold there to-day a
commanding and influential position second to no
other communion.
This liberal policy of the patriarch and his col
leagues, so consonant with the Protestant character of
the Church, so well adapted to her mission and so full
of promise, was unhappily and completely reversed at
the close of the Revolution. And the excitements,
animosities and convulsions of that protracted strug
gle had no little share in bringing about this ill-fated
change, which seriously arrested the progress of the
Church and for a long period crippled her activity
and confined her influence. The spirit which had

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WITTENBERG COLLEGE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO,

290 The Lutherans in America.
been raised for the purpose of exciting and sustaining
the revolt did not subside when the contest was over.
It remained to plague the land as the demon of strife
and of party spirit in all the relations of society. The
people had been long habituated to contend for their
rights, to resent the slightest infringement of them, to
chafe against all forms of government and to resist
everything that savored of authority. They were
irritable, contentious, ready to quarrel over any trifle,
with no respect for magistrates and no consideration
for the rights of others. Political excitement kept the
public mind at the highest tension and domestic
commotions often threatened greater calamities than
a foreign foe had inflicted.
That the Germans had a serenity of temper and
pacific instincts which kept them out of the general
turmoil, is not to be expected. It is not their nature.
Nay their communities had some additional and pecu
liar causes of irritation and bad feeling. The people
had been lamentably divided in their attitude toward
the war. "Many of the old German settlers, who had
on their arrival taken the oath of allegiance to the
British Crown, conscientiously entertained the opinion
that they ought not to act contrary to their sworn
promise, while the majority of their brethren in the
faith adopted without hesitation the new order of
things, and cheerfully defended the cause of liberty
and independence with their blood and treasure."
This difference of sentiment was the occasion of great
bitterness of feeling and caused not only blighting
divisions in families but in many cases destroyed
flourishing congregations.

The Ravages of War. 291
Such was the state of mind in which the people
were found when the German churches had to meet
the problem of introducing the English language, a
problem on which was suspended the life or the death
of the Church in this country. For its solution there
was needed pre-eminently a spirit of conciliation, a
supreme purpose to harmonize by concessions, to
effect unity and promote the general good by the sur
render of individual preference and rights. But these
golden virtues were unhappily absent and the respec
tive congregations were so charged with contentions,
factions, and arbitrary elements, that the proposal to
introduce the language of the nation was the signal
for the outbreak of strife and bitter dissensions, and
the temporary triumph of the opposition paralyzed
the energies of the Church and arrested her normal
development. How much German conservatism may have contrib
uted to this conflict, how far those tardy and unpro-
gressive national characteristics, which never hurry
to conform to new conditions and never change
merely for the sake of change, may have united with
the stormy passions of the period in the fixed opposi
tion to the use of English cannot now be determined.
German became the party clamor. German literature,
German education, German character, was all the cry,
and blinded by prejudice and passion, possibly, too re
strained in some measure by reverence for ancestral
institutions and the mother tongue, these people mor
bidly failed to understand that the founding of a new
nation meant inevitably the obliteration of national
distinctions, to which the Church, according to her

292 The Lutherans in America.
own genius and mission, must at every cost except the
sacrifice of truth adapt herself.
The contention was sharp, violent and protracted.
In some places, as in Philadelphia, the parties were
pretty equally divided and the annual election of
officers turned on this question and witnessed scenes
more becoming a political convention than the house
of God. As many as 1400 votes were polled in the
joint congregation in the year 1806, and when the Ger
man party once more won the day a colony withdrew
and founded St. John's, the first exclusively English
church in Pennsylvania, which for more than fifty years
had for its pastor Rev. Philip F. Mayer, D. D., one of
the most accomplished and useful men that have hon
ored the Lutheran pulpit.
So fixed was the determination of many to have the
German tongue not only during their natural lives but
to perpetuate it at any cost, that the civil law was in
voked and the congregations adopted charters requir
ing the exclusive and permanent use of the German.
The language of worship must be as unalterable as the
laws of the Medes and Persians, Even the Ministe
rium " must remain a German-speaking body," and it
was enacted that " no proposition can be entertained
which would render necessary any other language
than the German in synodical meetings and business
transactions." Education, literature, legislation, courts, ordinary
trade and public intercourse, were conducted in the
English language, whereas the Church called of God
to permeate, purify and sanctify all these, was by a
strange infatuation decreed to be German. That she

The Ravages of War 293
survived such a suicidal policy is another proof that
her life is from God, and that notwithstanding the per
versity and unfaithfulness which at times are opposed
to her progress, the gates of hell cannot prevail against
her. Only a divine institution can survive the follies
and passions of its adherents.
While this hostility to using the language of the
country in public worship proved exceedingly detri
mental to the general interests of the Church, its ruin
ous effects were especially glaring in the large cities of
New York and Philadelphia. In the former city the
Anglicized descendants of the Dutch as well as
the rising generation of the Germans were constrained
to separate by hundreds and even thousands from the
Church of their fathers, and in Philadelphia a similar
withdrawal of the educated and progressive elements
went on for years. Many who remained became in
different to sanctuary services of which they under
stood but little, and lost their interest in a church that
refused to them and their children the Gospel in the
language of their country. And these serious losses
aggravated in turn the strife between the parties who
favored and those who opposed the introduction
of English, rendering peace and prosperity impos
sible. This insane policy opposed to the providence of
God and the universal practice of Protestants, as well
as to the dictates of reason, caused immeasurable in
jury to all the best interests of the Church. Its most
far-reaching and disastrous consequence was the insur
mountable barrier it raised to the establishment of
schools for higher education and for the training of

294 The Lutherans in America.
candidates for the sacred office. The Synod as well
as the principal congregations being divided into war
ring factions, harmony of operation, so essential to
success in any project, was out of the question. The
Germans could not favor the founding of an institu
tion which would inevitably give prominence to Eng
lish and strengthen that element. The English party
had no mind to contribute to an academy or college
designed to perpetuate the German as the language
of their Church. Thus for nearly half a century all
educational movements were frustrated. And that
church which is the parent of modern education as
surely as she is the mother of Protestantism, was left
without a single educational agency except her paroch
ial schools, and a large portion of her ministry and
especially her laity sank to a level of intelligence that
became as much of a reproach as it was a calamity.
In spite of the unhappy condition of the Lutheran
Church in this period, in spite of the overwhelming
obstacles which she encountered and which cast their
portentous shadows far into the future, there was some
advance, some extension of her borders. But it did
not have the proportions which the faithful labors and
the bright prospects of the previous period had antici
pated and which the golden opportunities now war
ranted. Contrasted with the activities and progress
of the Church before the war, this has been very prop
erly regarded an era of declension. Yet there was
life. The word of the cross resounded from many'
Lutheran pulpits and silently wrought as the power of
God unto salvation. Many of the ablest preachers
were indeed heard no more. Schaum, after a faithful

The Ravages of War. 295
ministry of thirty-three years, entered into his rest in
1778. The elder Muhlenberg, after a career of un
surpassed usefulness and apostolic power, extending
over a period of forty-five years, passed away amid
the most touching expressions of his faith and love on
October 7, 1787. His two gifted sons, Frederick A.
C. and John Peter Gabriel, who had begun their min
isterial labors before they had reached their majority,
and had early developed eminent capacity for the
sacred calling, had been swept by patriotic enthu
siasm, the one into the arena of politics, the other
into the field of battle. And they never returned to
the ministrations of the altar, but filled spheres of
usefulness and distinction in the service of their
country. Frederick was elected to the Continental
Congress in 1779, was re-elected a number of times,
and in the first and third Congress after the adoption
of the Constitution was chosen Speaker of the House.
Peter became a Major-General in the army, sustained
intimate relations to General Washington, was elected
Vice-President of Pennsylvania in 1785 when Frank
lin was chosen President, was a member of the First
Congress, the Third and the Sixth. In 1801 he be
came a United States Senator, which post he resigned
to accept the appointment from Jefferson of Collector
of the Port at Philadelphia. His statue in the National
House of Representatives is one of the two contribu
ted by Pennsylvania to that illustrious collection of
patriots and statesmen.
But what was gain to the state was loss to the
church. The glorious achievements of such men in
political life show what they might have accomplished

296 The Lutherans in America.
had they returned to the Church which needed their
services even more than the young republic. And it
is an example of the ordeal which the Church had to
sustain at that time, through the diversion of much of
her most serviceable material to the paths of civil life.
The Muhlenbergs undoubtedly illustrate the general
tendency of the age. The interests of the Church
were sacrificed to the urgent and all-engrossing po
litical and material issues.
Provost Von Wrangel of the Swedish churches, the
loving and sweet friend of Muhlenberg, who had been
personally a source of great encouragement to him,
who had rendered invaluable services to the Church
in general and guided many souls to the experience
of grace, had been recalled to Sweden, and had pre
ceded his noble friend to the heavenly reward. Ger-
ock, who had preached fourteen years at Lancaster,
had served as its first pastor and for six years the
new and spacious Christ Church in New York, died
as pastor of the church in Baltimore, in 1787, after a
pastorate of fourteen years. Other devoted and faith
ful men, having in less conspicuous scenes rendered
the full measure of their strength to the cause, were
from time to time summoned to their rest, and there
were but few of equal capacity and devotion to take
their places. No more laborers were sent over by
the Halle Directors, the Rev. J. F. Weinland, who
arrived in 1783, being the last. Nor were there any
further arrivals from Sweden, the last being Nicholas
Collin, sent over in 1771. Before the close of the
Revolution the Swedes had to seek supplies from the
Episcopal churches.

The Ravages of War. 297
To reinforce the ministry to any extent from the
native population was out of the question. The
schools of the country had been almost everywhere
broken up by the war, and the youth who should have
been acquiring their education for the ministry were
either called into the military service or, in the absence
of the father in that service, required to take his place
on the farm or in the shop.
Yet the Lord of the harvest did not suffer his fields
to be wholly desolate. Good and worthy and able
men labored with marked efficiency in various parts
of the land. Helmuth and Schmidt, as joint pastors,
had charge of the large congregation in Philadelphia,
worshiping in the two churches of St. Michael's and
Zion. The former was one of the most eloquent
men of his day, and adhering strictly to the orthodox
faith and speakingwith the unction of spiritual fervor,
he held and swayed his large audiences as with a
spell. Schmidt was inferior to him in the gift of elo
cution, but was uniformly instructive in the pulpit and
was most admired by his most intelligent hearers.
He, too, was strictly orthodox and firmly opposed to
the growing latitude which began to prevail among
his brethren. Both of them were uncommonly faith
ful in their pastoral ministrations, and manifested in
every way the deepest concern for the spiritual life of
their congregation. During the prevalence of the
yellow fever in Philadelphia, in 1793, they displayed
heroic self-sacrifice in ministering to the sick and
burying the dead. On one occasion when six hun
dred and twenty -five of his members had already been
buried, Dr. Helmuth said from the pulpit, "Look

298 The Lutherans in America.
upon me as a dead man," and immediately went forth
again to attend the sick and the dying.
F. D. Schaeffer, D. D., a devout and holy man, a dis
ciple of the Arndt and Spener school, labored with
notable zeal and success at Germantown, and when
subsequently transferred to Philadelphia as the suc
cessor of Schmidt, actively urged that provision be
made for those who understood only the English lan
guage, a position which is said to have caused him
great suffering and the issue of which deeply grieved
him. Besides his personal labors which are held in
perpetual remembrance by his congregations he gave
to the Lutheran ministry his four sons, all men of solid
gifts and of eminent worth.
Dr. David Frederick Schaeffer, a man "almost un
rivaled for general personal attractions, who labored
in season and out of season ; in town and in the coun
try ; on the Sabbath and during the week; in the pul
pit and out of the pulpit ; beside the sick-bed and in
the catechetical class;" and held an intimate and influ
ential relation to all the leading movements of his own
denomination, and with many important public enter
prises out of it, began preaching at Frederick, Md., at
the age of twenty-one and continued his indefatigable
labors there for thirty years. He was the founder of
the first English periodical in the Church. Frederick
Solomon was pastor at Hagerstown and died at the
age of twenty-five. Dr. Frederick Christian during
his three years pastorate at Harrisburg succeeded in
introducing English services. In 1815 he accepted a
call to Christ Church in the city of New York, where
he preached in two languages until the erection of St

The Ravages of War. 299
Matthew's church in 1823, from which time he preached
exclusively in English. Dr. Charles Frederick Schaef
fer, whose noble, intellectual and moral qualities made
him a man of mark throughout the Church for fifty
years, and whose labors as author, and as professor
successively in the three principal theological institu
tions maintained by the Church in his time, secured
him an influence not surpassed by any of his contem
poraries, entered the ministry in 1832.
Dr. J.C. Kunze's extensive culture constituted him an
"ornament of the American Republic of letters." He
was one of the most profound men of his day, and he
has always been considered one of the brightest lights
that ever shone in the American Lutheran Church,
which in turn he regarded with an enthusiastic devo
tion. He spent fourteen years as the associate of
Helmuth in Philadelphia, and twenty-three years in
laboring under great discouragements and trials for
the upbuilding of his beloved Church in the city of
New York. He belonged to the strict confessional
party but was tolerant towards slight departures. He
rejoiced with Helmuth over the fire which was kindled
in their congregation in the year 1782, and later at
New York. Those were precious hours to him when
a penitent in tears came seeking help in the interests
of his soul. His fearless rebuke of the desecration of
the Lord's day exposed him to scurrillous attacks
from his German countrymen. When the political
and atheistical ideas of the French Revolution be
gan to pervade the community to an alarming ex
tent, he entered the lists along with such eminent
divines as Mason, Linn and Livingston, "to sound

300 The Lutherans in America.
the alarm of danger then threatening our firesides
and our altars."
Henry Ernest Muhlenberg, D. D., the youngest son
of "the Patriarch," was a profound theologian and an
original thinker, who held to the great truths of Chris
tianity with much tenacity, but " could allow very
considerable latitude on minor points." He was
pastor of the Church at Lancaster for thirty-five
years and maintained the most watchful oversight of
the spiritual state of his flock. Rev. Benjamin Kel
ler, one of his spiritual children, speaks of him as a
"model pastor " and among other things states that
"he appointed two days in the week immediately pre
ceding the Communion for private conversation with
those who intended to join in it. This gave him an
opportunity of finding out the spiritual state of the
communicants, and of counseling, admonishing, en
couraging, comforting as the respective cases might
require." Was it the prevalence of lax views of the
Sacrament that led to the discontinuance of this prac
tice, which at one time was general in the Church and
which must commend itself to every pastor as reason
able and proper?
Rev. J. N. Kurtz, after experiencing almost un
paralleled exposures and hardships at Tulpehocken
for twenty-two years, labored till nearly the close of
the century in and around York. He ardently es
poused the cause of the colonies but was for a time
seriously embarrassed by his oath of allegiance to
King George. While the Colonial Congress sat at
York, its chaplain, Rev. (afterwards Bishop) White,
lodged in his house. He was one of the best Latin

The Ravages of War. 301
scholars then in this country. In the pulpit he was a
" son of thunder," a man of extraordinary moral cour
age, proclaiming the truth with indomitable boldness,
yet he possessed withal such tact and tenderness, that
the Lutheran churches lying far beyond his parish
made continual requisition for his services for the al
laying of strife, and the reconciliation of disaffected
members. He was for the Lutheran churches in that
region what Muhlenberg was for the churches in the
eastern part of the State, in New Jersey and New
York, their pacificator.
His son, Dr. J. Daniel Kurtz, "a man of much more
than ordinary powers, an evangelical, impressive and
earnest preacher, and an eminently faithful and affec
tionate pastor," had charge of the church in Baltimore
for nearly fifty years, assisting for a while and finally
succeeding his father's friend, Rev. Gerock.
After the retirement of Rev. J. N. Kurtz from
York, that congregation was served by his son-in-law,
the Rev. Jacob Gcering, who preached Jesus Christ
and him crucified in such a way that "no one could
listen to him without being convinced that he had a
deep inward experience of every sentiment that he
uttered," and whose ministry of twenty-five years was
blest with extensive awakenings, which brought large
numbers into the church, and gave an impetus to its
prosperity which continues to this day. Although he
had never entered the precincts of a college he mas
tered the Latin and Greek languages, the Hebrew and
its cognates, became quite proficient in Church History
and Patristics, and gathered a vast amount of infor
mation on almost every branch of science. When

302 The Lutherans in America.
strongly urged for nomination to the office of
Governor of Pennsylvania, he declined on the ground
that the kingdom which he served was not of this
world, and that he coveted no higher honor than
that of being a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus.
Among the representative ministers of the day a
prominent rank was held by Dr. Christian Endress,
who after holding for six years the position of princi
pal of the large congregational school of Zion and St.
Michael's in Philadelphia, took charge, in 1801, of the
church at Easton, and in connection with it served for
some years at intervals not less than a dozen localities
on both sides of the river. In 1815 he succeeded the
Rev. Dr. Henry E. Muhlenberg at Lancaster and in
the face of powerful opposition and violent personal
abuse succeeded in introducing the English language.
He was an able and faithful minister of Christ, one
that " you could never hear without feeling that you
were in contact with a discriminating, powerful and
earnest mind." He is classed with the " liberal party,"
and was " a decided Arminian." He was a diligent and
independent student of the Scriptures.
Dr. John George Schmucker went to Hagerstown
in 1794, a charge which then embraced eight congre
gations, and though he, like most of his Lutheran
contemporaries/entered upon his work when quite a
youth, he speedily acquired both in and out of the
pulpit an influence which falls to the lot of compara
tively few ministers. In 1809 he succeeded Gcering
at York, where with unremitting assiduity and great
success he labored for twenty-six years. He passed in
his early years through profound religious experience

¦- J/

REV. PAITX. HENKEL.

The Ravages of War. 303
and he reached an advanced stage of spiritual life.
He was, besides being a faithful pastor, a voluminous
author. As a preacher he was earnest and impres
sive, fearless in exposing vice, unfaltering in his advo
cacy of moral reforms, and warmly attached to the
American Bible and Tract Societies, which he regarded
as "grand instrumentalities for the conversion of the
world." Besides the eminent services he rendered
the Church in founding and promoting some of her
most important institutions, he is deserving of grate
ful remembrance, like Muhlenberg, Kurtz and Schaef
fer, as the progenitor of successive generations of min
isters that have added largely to the efficiency and
glory of the Lutheran communion.
Among the most learned and laborious of the Lu
theran divines of this period was the Rev. George
Lochman, D. D., who from the year 1794 served the
congregation at Lebanon with a number of affiliated
congregations, extending his pastorate over twenty-
one years and frequently declining invitations to more
eligible fields of labor. In 181 5 the peculiar circum
stances of the congregation at Harrisburg constrained
him to accept a call to that place, where his ministry
continued to the close of his life in 1826, "with fre
quent and signal tokens of the divine favor." He gave
his support to every measure that promised to advance
the public welfare and, like Muhlenberg, Von Wrangel
and others, maintained a fraternal attitude toward
other evangelical bodies. But in his estimation the
Lutheran Church was the one pre-eminently loved of
Christ, and the only thing that could at any time dis
turb his unmeasured kindness of heart was "some in-

304 The Lutherans in America.
vasion of what he esteemed the rights and prerogatives
of the good old Lutheran Church, for which he enter
tained an affection next in strength and devotedness
to that he felt for his divine Master."
A man of eminent attainments of character was the
Rev. F. W. Geissenhainer, D. D., who completed his
theological studies at several German Universities be
fore the age of eighteen, and who, on account of his ex
traordinary qualifications for the office, was ordained
at twenty, in a country where the rule was twenty-five.
Coming to America in 1793, he labored in Montgom
ery county, Pa., until he was called to New York on
the death of Dr. Kunze in 1808. Returning some
years later to his former charge in Pennsylvania, he
was recalled to New York in 1822, and remained
pastor of St. Matthew's Church until the close of his
earthly life in 1838.
In North Carolina the war reduced the churches to
a feeble and impoverished condition. Rev. Adolphus
Nussman, whom the Consistory of Hanover had sent
as a missionary to that province in 1773, was still
laboring there. Through him an appeal for help was
forwarded to a mission society founded in .connection
with the University of Helmsta^dt for the purpose of
extending aid to the brethren in that region. Besides
other substantial forms of relief for their spiritual des
titution, this society sent over in 1788 a young minis
ter by the name of Charles Augustus Gottlieb Storch.
He had received University training, possessed a wide
range of knowledge, and besides his familiarity with
Hebrew, Greek and Latin, was able to converse flu
ently in five or six languages. His preaching was

The Ravages of War. 305
interesting and edifying to all classes ; "for his thoughts
were presented with such admirable perspicuity that
the most illiterate could comprehend them ; and yet
they were so rich and elevated, and often powerful,
that the best educated minds could not but admire
them." He located at Salisbury and served from the
first, in connection with that, two other places ; but he
soon established other congregations in Rowan, Lin
coln and Cabarras counties, and paid several visits to
destitute churches in South Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia. In the pastoral relation he is said to have
been a model of tenderness, diligence and fidelity.
Repeatedly invited to occupy other and more eligible
fields, he declined them all in view of the great dearth
of ministers from which that region was suffering,
though his learning and eloquence would have fitted
him for the most cultivated and refined communities.
His son, Rev. Theophilus Stork, D. D., the founder of
St. Mark's, Philadelphia, and of St. Mark's, Baltimore,
was an eloquent and polished divine ; and his grand
son, Charles A. Stork, D. D., who succeeded his father
in Baltimore and who was cut off in the prime of his
usefulness while Professor of Theology at Gettysburg,
was a brilliant example of sanctified culture.
Frederick Henry Quitman, D. D., the father of Ma
jor-General Quitman, studied at Halle during the
period of "Illumination," under such lights as Semler,
Gruner and others of the Rationalistic School. He
arrived in this country from Holland in 1795. For
thirty years he divided his labors among a number of
churches on the Hudson, often preaching seven or

306 The Lutherans in America.
eight times a week, either in the German, Low Dutch
or English language.
Rev. Christian Streit served for some time as chap
lain of the Army of Independence, and was taken pris
oner by the British while he was pastor at Charleston,
S. C. He took charge of the church at Winchester,
Va., in 1785, and also of the one at Strasburg, for
merly included in Rev. (Gen.) Peter Muhlenberg's
pastoral district. He continued to labor in this field
until summoned to his reward in 181 2. He acted as
bishop of all the churches in that part of the Valley of
Virginia, and laid the foundations of numerous con
gregations throughout that whole region, preaching
at first in both English and German ; but the views
and circumstances of his people allowed him in his
later years to officiate exclusively in English.
Another minister "to whom both the nation and
the Church, in their early and feeble day were alike
indebted," was the Rev. John Nicholas Martin, who,
while pastor at Charleston, S. C, during the Revolu
tion, endured great sacrifices and sufferings on ac
count of his ardent patriotism.
Such were the leading men who presided over the
Evangelical Lutheran churches during the closing
decades of the eighteenth century and the earlier
years of the nineteenth. No other denomination
could, at the time, boast of a ministry that surpassed
them in intellectual culture, in pastoral aptitude and
fidelity, and in the highest qualities of pulpit elo
quence. A Presbyterian clergyman, the Rev. William R. Dc-
witt, D. D., who had an intimate personal acquaint-

The Ravages of War. 307
ance with some of these fathers, says of them : " They
were but one generation removed from those who
first came to this country from Germany. They, for
the most part, pursued their theological studies with
them, and while doing so resided in their families.
From them they imbibed much of that pastoral sim
plicity and kindness, which so greatly distinguished
them as a class, and which contrasted so favorably
with the sterner elements in the characters of many
of the Scotch-Irish ministers, the first Presbyterian
pastors of this region."
Under their earnest and laborious ministrations
the older congregations maintained a steady pros
perity. Such as had suffered most seriously from the
ravages of the war, gradually revived, and new con
gregations were organized in many localities. The
ministers who. occupied the outer borders of the
Church were zealously affected to care for the feeble
churches in their vicinity and to extend the Gospel
into the regions beyond. They undertook mission
ary tours into remote districts, gathering together the
scattered children of the house of Luther, and plant
ing in newer and destitute settlements the church of
Christ as the centre of light and the bulwark of vir
tue. The Rev. Bager, who was for years pastor of the
churches at York and at Hanover, was wont to visit
every six weeks a small band of Lutherans at Balti
more, and extended his missionary journeys also
westward as far as Grindstone Hill, in the neighbor
hood of Chambersburg, traversing an area extending
fifty miles in one direction and fifty in another, and
strewing over the soil the seeds of divine truth, from

308 The Lutherans in America.
which the more than one hundred churches of Balti
more, and of Franklin, Cumberland, Adams and York
counties in Pennsylvania, are to-day reaping the har
vest. A large number of excellent people, who trace
their lineage to this active pioneer of Lutheranism,
have an honorable place in the congregations which
he founded. His grandson, Dr. H. L. Baugher, for a
long time the President of Pennsylvania College, and
the son and namesake of the latter, have in their de
votion to the Church and their labors for its ad
vancement proved themselves worthy descendants,
while others have shown exceptional liberality in the
support of her institutions.
No more active, indefatigable and self-denying mis
sionary than the Rev. Paul Henkel ever labored in
this country. He was a great-grandson of Rev. Ger
hard Henkel, one of the first Lutheran ministers who
came to this country from Germany. Serving at dif
ferent times what might be regarded as a fixed charge
at New Market, Va., and in Rowan County, N. C, he
never confined himself to any such limitations. The
whole surrounding country was his parish. He laid
the foundations of quite a number of churches in
Augusta, Madison, Pendleton and Wythe Counties,
Va., and without authorization from any mission
Board, and without dependence upon any missionary
fund, he made repeated tours through western Vir
ginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio ; hunt
ing up the lost ; administering the Word and Sacra
ments ; instructing and confirming the youth, and so
far as practicable organizing new congregations.
With all this he found time for the preparation of a

The Ravages of War. 309
series of devotional volumes in English and in Ger
man, and took part in the training of quite a number
of candidates for the ministry. He passed away from
his earthly labors in 1825, but five sons took up
his work in the church militant, and their honorable
name, their zealous consecration to the Church and
her doctrines, have been perpetuated without inter
ruption in the Lutheran pulpit to the present day.
The Rev. John George Butler labored for some time
in the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania. Subse
quently he visited the destitute Lutheran settlements
in the territory now embraced in Huntingdon, Blair,
Bedford and Somerset counties. Again he is found
exploring the waste places of the State of Virginia.
He made Botetourt county his headquarters, but with
all the energies of an ardent soul he was constantly
prosecuting missionary operations into districts lying
far beyond, often making appointments a year in ad
vance and never failing to meet them. "He was an
nually commissioned by the Synod of Pennsylvania to
travel through the western part of Virginia and Ten
nessee, to stop for a time wherever there was a pros
pect of being especially useful, to catechise and con
firm the young, to distribute copies of the Bible and
the hymn-book, and to organize congregations wher
ever it was practicable."
In 1805 he removed to Cumberland, Md., where a
congregation had been organized and a log house of
worship erected in 1 794. His regular charge consisted
here of eight congregations, one forty-seven, another
sixty miles from the place of his residence, receiving
from all these congregations about one hundred and

310 The Lutherans in America.
fifty dollars. "In visiting a neighborhood remote from
his residence he usually remained from four to eight
weeks, preaching and catechising the youth daily, vis
iting the people from house to house, praying with
them, and exhorting all to become Christians or to
grow in grace. Before leaving, it was his custom to
preach a farewell sermon at a school-house, in a mill,
or some other convenient place, there being usually a
very large attendance. At the close he requested all
to unite with him in singing a farewell hymn. During
the singing of the first stanza the fathers came forward
and one by one gave him the parting hand. After he
had spoken to them a few suitable words, they would
turn and pass out of doors, generally weeping as they
went. The mothers did the same while the next verse
was being sung ; then those whom he had confirmed ;
then all the rest, and finally he himself followed. Then
in front of the house all arranged themselves in a cir
cle, with him in the center, and thus they sang the re
maining verses. After that he knelt with all of them
on the cold ground, and spreading his hands to heaven
prayed with and for them. The doxology followed
and the benediction. And now in an instant he was
upon his horse, and away he went, perhaps to return
no more. The impression made by such a scene was
overpowering. He wept and they wept ; and in the
remembrance of what he had said, the good seed of
the word brought forth rich fruit," — fruit which has
kept ripening and multiplying for successive genera
tions, and the gathering of which at this time employs
the labors of scores of ministers in the western coun
ties of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The Ravages of War. 3 1 1
Thus rolled the wave of missionary operations till it
reached, before the close of the century, the very sum
mit of the Alleghenies. But the mountains themselves
form no barriers to the spread of the Gospel. And
weak and poorly organized as was the Church, the ag
gressive spirit of Christianity moved it to follow the
streams of immigration and to plant the cross on the
wild prairies of the west. One of the noblest of these
pioneers was Rev William Carpenter, who after serv
ing for twenty-six years the old Hebron church in Mad
ison county, Va., followed a colony of his own congre
gation to Boone county, Ky. This little band had
kept up religious meetings in their humble cabins for
eight years when Mr. Carpenter paid them a visit to
catechise the children and administer the Sacraments.
He felt constrained to cast his lot among them and
for twenty years, to the close of his life in 1833, he
exercised his ministry in that remote region. During
the same period a pupil of his, Rev. Geo. Daniel Flohr,
cultivated a large missionary field in south-western
Virginia. His residence was in Wythe county, but his
congregations lay in three different counties, and four
of them were distant from his residence, nine, twenty-
two, thirty, and forty-seven miles.
In Pennsylvania we trace Rev. John Michael Steck
taking charge of congregations in Bedford and Somer
set counties, in the year 1789. He located at Greens-
burg in 1792, performing arduous missionary labors in
that part of Pennsylvania, which was yet a wilderness.
His son, Michael John Steck, accepted a call to Lan
caster, Ohio, in 1816, and by appointment of Synod,
made extensive missionary tours. He was the first

312 The Lutherans in America.
Lutheran minister to officiate in Columbus, O., hold
ing services in an upper room of a private house in
1819. Rev. Colson was laboring at Meadville in 1814
to which place Rev. C. F. Heyer was sent out by the
Pennsylvania Synod in 181 7. He was the ideal of a
Christian missionary and for sixty years rendered in
calculable services to his Church both in this country
and in India.
As the borders of Zion became extended and minis
ters and congregations were multiplying, the great dis
tances to be travelled over in attending the annual
meetings of the Pennsylvania Synod, as well as the
desire to promote the efficiency of the churches
through closer affiliation and a more compact or
ganization, prompted the ministers in different states
to organize separate conferences or associations.
The first of these organizations, the second synod of
the American Lutheran Church, was " The Synod and
Ministerium of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
the State of New York and adjacent parts," which was
formed at Albany in the year 1786, with Dr. Kunze as
President. Its constitution and regulations were al
most identical with those of the mother synod, "except
that the German language was not constituted either
the language of synod, or that wherein divine service
was to be celebrated, except where the circumstances
of a congregation would require it." As early as 18 15
it became almost entirely English. Although there
were ten ministers between New York and Troy, and
several in New Jersey, only three were present at the
first convention. And of the more than twenty-five
congregations only two were represented.

The Ravages of War. 313
During the year 1788 seven ministers with fifteen
congregations located in the Carolinas formed a kind
of synodical organization under the title Unio Eccle-
siastica of the German Protestant Churches in the
State of South Carolina. Its principal object seems
to have been to provide " for the proper legal incor
poration of all the German churches which were lo
cated in the interior of the state." The evil of con
founding or merging the two Churches into one was
carefully guarded against, and the act of incorporation
stipulates that " it is not to be understood that any
member of either confession should forsake his con
fession, but that both Lutheran and Reformed, who
are members of one or the other of the incorporated
Churches, and who have hitherto united in the attend
ance on worship, shall continue to enjoy the same
rights and privileges, without the least reproaches in
consequence of their respective confessions." Nor can
this corporate alliance be chargeable with unsound
ness in the faith on the part of the Lutherans, for "all
the Evangelical Lutheran ministers were formally
sworn on the Symbolical Books " at the first meeting.
Rev. Friedrich Daser, A. M., was chosen Senior or
President, Rev. F. A. Wallberg, Secretary. Both were
Lutherans, as were in fact all but two of the ministers,
and nine of the fifteen congregations.
The ecclesiastical consciousness of that region
seems to have been at that time somewhat confused,
since the first convention of the Lutheran Church in
North Carolina, held in St. John's Church, Cabarras
county, May 1794, proceeded to examine and ordain a
minister for the Episcopal Church. His name was

314 The Lutherans in America.
Robert Johnson Miller, and this extraordinary inva
sion of Episcopal prerogative on the part of a Lu
theran Ministerium was in response to a petition from
Mr. Miller's people of White Haven Church, in Lin
coln county. It must have been in strange times that
Episcopalians could forget the Apostolic Succession
and Lutherans ordain a man to minister for that de
nomination. Rev. Miller's ordination certificate is
still extant. It ought to be deposited with the House
of Bishops as a companion piece of the memorable
deliverance on the " Historic Episcopate."
This conference seems to have been called for no
other purpose than the ordaining of Mr. Miller. No
synodical organization was effected until the year
1803. The principal impulse leading to the organiza
tion seems to have been the great religious awakening
which passed over the country in the first years of the
present century. The ablest minds of the Church in
that section, Revs. Storch and Henkel, became greatly
disturbed and perplexed over the phenomena which
they witnessed and which in some measure unsettled
their own people. They hesitated to call the move
ment fanatical or to denounce it as unscriptural, for
they discovered a remarkable change in persons who
had been previously either ungodly in their lives or
avowedly skeptical in their views. As there was di
vision of sentiment among the German ministers, this
instead of leading to strife or alienation, " drove them
to more intimate communion with each other in their
official acts, and they had thus the opportunity to in
vestigate this matter more closely."
About this time, too, the assistance which the

The Ravages of War. 315
Helmstaedt Mission had been rendering to the
churches in North Carolina came to an end, and these
churches were accordingly thrown upon their own re
sources. Distracted by the revivalistic excitement,
and deprived of the parental guidance and the ma
terial support of their friends in the fatherland, they
felt the need of united counsels and active co-opera
tion for their own defence and prosperity, and " that
the instruction and quickening influence of the Gospel
may be brought to many thousands of souls who have
hitherto been necessarily deprived of the same."
Thus originated at Salisbury, May 2d, 1803, the North
Carolina Synod, or Conference, as these bodies were
then sometimes called, exercising henceforth sole
ecclesiastical jurisdiction in those parts. The Penn
sylvania Ministerium had, in fact, never extended its
jurisdiction beyond Virginia, the churches farther
south having been under the care of a European
missionary society, or else independent alike of the
care or fellowship of any ecclesiastical body. The
ministers present were Gottfried Arndt, Carl A. G.
Storch, Paul Henkel and Robert J. Miller, who had
been charged in his ordination certificate " to obey
the rules, ordinances and customs of the Protestant
Episcopal Church," but who, notwithstanding, served
Lutheran congregations for twenty-seven years.
By this organization a new life appears to have been
infused into the Lutheran Church in the Carolinas.
With the exception of Rev. Faber in Charleston, who
was doubtless prevented by the great distance which
separated him from the localities where the synod
usually met, and the Rev. F. J. Wallern, who always

316 The Lutherans in America.
remained independent of synodical connection, all the
Lutheran ministers residing in South Carolina united
subsequently with this body. The greatest drawback
to large and rapid growth was the want of ministers
of the Gospel, "and in order to supply this demand,
pious laymen were licensed as catechets, who after
wards became candidates for the ministry ; in this way
originated the licensure system."
In October, 1812, some ten ministers, missionaries
sent out by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, held in
Washington county, Pa., the first ecclesiastical confer
ence west of the Allegheny mountains. The organ
ization of an independent body, which was discounte
nanced by the mother Synod, did not occur until Sep
tember, 181 7, at New Philadelphia, Ohio. It was the
work of the younger members in opposition to the
judgment of the older ones, and only three of the
ministers participating in the organization had been
ordained. The Synod of Maryland and Virginia was formed
in the year 1820.
Thus moved neither by doctrinal or ecclesiastical
differences, nor, so far as known, by any other cause
of dissension, but mainly by the circumstances of their
situation and the consideration of the interests of the
Church, there were organized four additional synods
before the end of the first quarter of the present cen
tury. The extension of the Lutheran Church, not
withstanding great obstacles, kept pace with the growth
of the country and with the rapid multiplication and
expansion of our population. Its whole strength,
which at the beginning of the century numbered but

The Ravages of War.

317

seventy ministers and three hundred congregations,
embraced now one hundred and sixty-four ministers,
four hundred and seventy-five congregations, and forty-
five thousand communicants. But one hundred of the
congregations were pastorless.
The latter statement reveals the saddest feature of
the Church at that period and brings into view the
most serious barrier to her rapid progress. A num
ber of circumstances combined unfortunately to pre-

WITTENBERG ORPHAN HOME, WITTENBERG, WIS,
vent the establishment of schools for the training of
ministers, the inflow of suitable men from Germany
had long since ceased, and in consequence there was
such a dearth of laborers that nearly one-fourth of the
congregations were deprived of pastoral ministrations,
and but few preachers could be spared to prosecute
missionary operations on the frontier.
The enlightened founders of the Church in this

3 1 8 The Lutherans in America.
country were not only alive to the interests of general
education but with signal zeal they endeavored to de
velop institutions for the training of a ministry. The
language of her people placed them even then already
in comparison with others, at a great disadvantage.
but this evil was sought to be remedied by a project
devised by liberal-minded men like Benjamin Frank
lin, Conrad Weiser and William Smith, who secured
large sums in England for the maintenance of elemen
tary schools in which to educate and Anglicize the-
German population. But these efforts and the flour
ishing parochial school of Philadelphia could not sup
ply a cultured ministry for the Church, and Dr. Kunze,
at a day when apparently all the means and resources
for such an institution were wanting, conceived the
project of a High School, and, with his "Society for
the promotion of Christianity and all useful knowl
edge among the Germans," opened, amid festive cere
monies, his " Deutsches Seminar," February 15, 1773.
But this noble beginning of a theological school, which
might have raised up a large body of cultured minis
ters, perished like many other precious institutions in
the storms of the Revolution. "When peace was re
stored in 1783 there was no institution in which Ger
man youths could be advanced beyond the limits of
the elementary branches."
This want was supplied in part through the Univer
sity of Pennsylvania, then the foremost liberal school
of the State, and which had connected with it from the
year 1780 a German Department, that is a "German
Professorship by which, through the medium of the
German tongue, instruction in the learned languages

The Ravages of War. 319
was to be imparted." The first incumbent of this
professorship was the learned Dr. Kunze, who was
succeeded in 1784 by his colleague in St. Michael's
and Zion, the eloquent Dr. Helmuth. Their prestige
and ability secured at once a liberal patronage, and as
many as sixty students were in attendance during
1785, a number considerably greater than that of the
English students, so that the large recitation room of
the English, the most commodious and beautiful in
the building, was given up to the Germans.
A number of Lutheran ministers received their clas
sical training in this University, some of them being
the beneficiaries of the German Society of Pennsyl
vania, among the latter such distinguished names
as George Lochman, Christian Endress, David F.
Schaeffer and Samuel Schmucker.
Franklin College was founded in 1787, but compar
atively a small number of Lutheran clergymen re
ceived their training in it. Rev. Henry A. Muhlen
berg, for a long time pastor at Reading, and after
wards attaining high distinction as a civilian, and Rev.
Benjamin Keller, one of the most lovely and useful of
the Church's servants, were among the number. A
kind of private Seminary for theological instruction
was begun somewhat earlier by Rev's. Helmuth and
Schmidt, and such lights of the Church as George
Lochman, J. G. Schmucker, Endress, J. Miller, Baker,
Butler and Baetes were prepared in this institute for
the Lutheran pulpit. Kunze was moved to accept
the call to New York in 1784, by the offer of a profess
orship in Columbia College, in which institution he
hoped to be able to accomplish something by way of

320

The Lutherans in America

supplying the great destitution of ministers. In 1815
Hartwick Seminary, in New York, was opened with
nineteen students the number growing within a few
months to forty-four. The founding of this school
was the result of a munificent legacy left by Pastor
Hartwig for a school in which young men should be
trained both for the office of pastor and for that of
missionary among the Indian population. Its first

----- -

**HSER6Um ALB*** H.Y.
HARTWICK SEMINARY, HARTWICK, N. Y.
president was Dr. Ernst Ludwig Hazelius, a man who
brought to this country thorough German culture, em
inently fitting him for an instructor. He was an earn
est Christian. Although not more pronounced in his
Lutheran faith than many of his contemporaries, he
was instrumental through his students in putting an
end to the sway of rationalism in the New York Min
isterium. A number of the abler ministers, in addition to the

The Ravages of War. 321
exhaustive labors which their large pastoral districts
required, furnished private instruction, taking young
men into their homes, often giving them boarding
and even -books gratuitously, and assisting them in
their earnest endeavors to master theological studies.
To the disinterested and stimulating efforts of this
character, from men like the Schaeffers, Dr. Loch
man, and Drs. Geissenhainer and Quitman in New
York, the Church is indebted for many of the most
active, worthy and useful men that labored in her
vineyards during the last quarter of the eighteenth
century and the first quarter of the nineteenth.
Of course no individual pastor, burdened with the
cares of one or, sometimes, many congregations, what
ever may have been his own attainments in theology,
could do the work of a theological faculty, whose time
and abilities are given exclusively to this calling.
Hence though the Church was honored in that period
by men of eminent culture, to whom the best institu
tions awarded the title of Doctor of Divinity, who
commanded the admiration and personal esteem of
the foremost men of the day, and whose abilities were
frequently sought for in the counsels of state, the
standard of theological education necessarily de
clined, the number of men rightly equipped for the
holy office was very much limited, and a correspond
ing depression of the life and activities of the
Church and a restriction of her progress became in
evitable.

CHAPTER X.
FORMATION OF THE GENERAL SYNOD.
A BRIGHTER day was about to break over
the Church. Its sun rose indeed amid over
hanging clouds, nevertheless it rose and ushered
in a period of extraordinary prosperity, development
and expansion. The spirit of Christianity is the
spirit of unity. The mission of the Chief Shepherd
was "to gather together in one the children of God
that were scattered abroad." Sin and error cause
divisions and alienations. The Gospel, as it reconciles
men to God, binds them also to one another in sym
pathy and affection. He that loveth God the Father
of all, loveth also his brother, and where love is men
are drawn together
This fraternal spirit was animating the hearts of
many in the Lutheran Church during the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, and its fruit was the organi
zation of the General Synod, which, recalling in many
respects the blooming period of Muhlenberg, formed
like that a new era in the history and operations of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of this country.
She became once again distinguished by unity, life,
activity and wonderful progress. Those having the
same faith, culture, traditions and blood even, would
naturally be attracted together by the affinities of
the Gospel, but they felt also the necessity for a
closer bond of union in order to promote, by com
bined effort, and on a comprehensive scale the general
322.

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I

lllpS'l1

REV. S. S. SCHMUCKER, D.

Formation of the General Synod. 323
progress of Zion. This sentiment had been growing
for years and the desire seemed general, that there
should be some central connection in order that
unnecessary and injurious divisions might not arise,
that more general conformity in the usages and devo
tional books of the Church might prevail, and
greater strength and increased efficiency imparted to
those enterprises, in which concentration is so essen
tial to success.
To satisfy this Christian yearning for fraternal fel
lowship, to provide for the increasing wants of the
individual congregations, and to meet the responsi
bilities of the Church as a body, the Lutheran com
munities must needs enter into organic relations with
each other. The situation was ripe for carrying it
into execution. The Spirit of God had prepared the
Church for an advance.
The initiative came fittingly from the Synod of
Pennsylvania, which was the mother of the other
Synods, and which still embraced more churches and
pastors than all the others. The first traces of it are
found in the meeting of the Synod at Harrisburg in
181 8, where it was "Resolved that the Synod regard
it as desirable that the different Evangelical Lutheran
Synods in the United States should in some way or
other stand in closer connection with each other ;
and that the Reverend Ministerium be charged with
the consideration of this matter, and if the Reverend
Ministerium recognize the advisability of it, to develop
a plan for a closer union, and to see to it that some
such desirable union be effected if possible." " Extra
ordinary unanimity and the most hearty concord and

324 The Lutherans in America.
brotherly love prevailed " at this meeting, for which
the secretary records fervent thanksgiving.
The officers were appointed a committee on cor
respondence to give efficacy to the movement. Com
munications expressive of the Synod's action were
accordingly forwarded to the other Synods, and they
were invited to send deputies to the next annual meet
ing of the Pennsylvania Synod, to be held in Balti
more, Trinity week, 1819, for the purpose of consider
ing the expediency of organizing a General Synod.
At that convention a letter was read from Pastor
Quitman, of New York, favoring a more intimate
union of the Synods. No mention is made of the
Ohio Synod. But the North Carolina Synod, hold
ing " that towards such a Union of our Church all
possible assistance ought to be rendered," promptly
elected its secretary, Rev. Gottlieb Shober, to attend
the above meeting at Baltimore, and in the name of
his Synod, "endeavor to effect such a desirable
union." He was accorded a seat and a vote, and his
presence for this particular object gave great en
couragement to the Synod to proceed with it. It be
came the paramount subject of consideration. A
committee was appointed consisting of Rev. Drs. F. D.
Schaeffer, J. Daniel Kurtz and J. George Schmucker
with Messrs. Demuth, Keller and Schorr of the laity,
and the delegate, Rev. Shober, to examine the
whole matter and to outline a plan as early as pos
sible. The report of the committee was thoroughly dis
cussed and its plan for the establishment of a General
Synod adopted by a vote of forty-two to eight. Its,

Formation of the General Synod. 325
first paragraph states that in view of the extension
of the Church "over the greatest part of the United
States of North America, and as the members of the
said Church are anxious to walk in the spirit of love
and concord, under one rule of faith, * * * it ap
pears to be the almost unanimous wish of the exist
ing synods or ministeriums, that a fraternal union of
the whole Evangelical Lutheran Church in these
United States might be effected, by means of some
central organization."
How to effect such " a fraternal union " was the
problem. The Lutheran Church recognizes in no
form of Church government any divine right beyond
that of the sovereignty of the individual congrega
tion, which includes the office of preaching the Gospel
and administering the sacraments. This principle
being guarded the fathers were at liberty to adopt any
polity that would best subserve the end in view. The
outline of a plan modeled largely after the constitu
tion of the Presbyterian General Assembly formed
the basis of discussion with the committee, but some
prominent features of the Congregational system were
also introduced. The powers of the General Body
were made chiefly advisory, the judicial and executive
authority being left mainly in the hands of the indi
vidual synods. It was designed to serve as "a joint
committee of the special synods," and the internal
management and government of these was to be re
tained perpetually in their hands, "subject only to
this restriction, that such rules and regulations do not
conflict with these fundamental principles of the
general organization."

326 The Lutherans in America.
Section 4 of the proposed plan surrendered to the
General Synod "the exclusive right, with the consent
of a majority of the special synods, of introducing new
books for general use in the Church, and also of mak
ing improvements in the Liturgy ; until this however
takes place, the hymn-books now in use, the Small
Catechism of Luther, the Liturgies already adopted,
and such other books as have been received as
Church books by any of the existing synods, shall
continue in use as they may choose. The General
Synod however has no power to make or to demand
any alteration whatever in the doctrines hitherto re
ceived by us."
Provision was made for the organization of new
synods, especially in States not yet having any such
organization. Unless the permission of the General
Synod shall have been formally obtained, " no newly
organized body shall be recognized as a lawful Min
isterium among us, and no ordination performed by
them as valid."
The plan thus adopted by the Synod of Pennsyl
vania as "a proposition for a General Union of the
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United
States of North America" wa's signed by J. George
Schmucker, President, and Conrad Jaeger, Secretary,
and was published for general distribution among all
the ministers and delegates of the several synods,
with the understanding that they were to take action
upon it as soon as possible, and that if three-fourths
of the Synods adopted it, "at least in its spirit and
essentials," the President of the Synod of Pennsylva
nia should proceed to call a convention of deputies,

Formation of the General Synod. 327
who at such time and place as he might determine,
should meet for the purpose of framing for themselves
a constitution to be conformed as nearly as possible
to the plan proposed.
The proposition having been favorably received by
the requisite number of synods, the convention for
effecting the proposed organization was announced
to be held at Hagerstown, Md., October 22, 1820.
There appeared as deputies from the Synod of Penn
sylvania, Drs. George Lochman, F. W. Geissenhainer,
Christian Endress, J. G. Schmucker, H. A. Muhlen
berg (a son of Henry E. Muhlenberg, D. D., and grand
son of the Patriarch), and Messrs. Christian Kunkel,
William Hensel and Peter Strickler; from the Synod
of New York, Rev. Drs. P. F. Mayer and F. C. Schaef
fer; from the Synod of North Carolina, Revs. G.
Schober and P. Schmucker; from the Synod of Mary
land and Virginia, Rev. Drs. J. D. Kurtz, D. F. Schaef
fer and Mr. G. Schryock. " It was much regretted by
all present, that from the Synod in the State of Ohio
the expected deputies did not appear." J. D. Kurtz,
D. D., was chosen President of the Convention and H.
A. Muhlenberg, D. D., Secretary. A more important
meeting was never held within the bounds of the Lu
theran Church this side of the Atlantic, and a nobler
band of enlightened men could not have been found
at the time within her pale — or outside of it.
They seem to have realized the responsibility with
which they were charged in laying the foundations
of a united Lutheran Church on this continent, and
with the spirit of the utmost harmony they built so
wisely that their structure with some modifications,

328 The Lutherans in America.
still remains, and has been by general consent one of
the most powerful instruments in determining the
character and advancing the general welfare of the
Church. Although false friends within and hostile
assailants from without have often exposed it to re
proach, few men familiar with its history will withhold
from it the praise that directly or indirectly, by its
own development on right lines, as well as by stimu
lating its opponents to a right development, " it has
proved a great blessing to the Church. From its in
fluence the happiest results have flowed, even to
Synods which did not formally unite with it." "It
was at this crisis," says the Rev. Charles P. Krauth,
D. D., in The Lutheran and Missionary, March 17,
1864, "that the life of the Church displayed itself in
the formation of the General Synod. The formation
was a great act of faith, made as the framers of the
constitution sublimely express it, in reliance 'upon
God our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit
in the word of God.' The framers of that constitu
tion should be as dear to us as Lutherans, as the
framers of our Federal Constitution are to us as
Americans." The convention agreed unanimously upon a consti
tution which was essentially identical with the plan
that had been proposed by the Pennsylvania Synod.
It was referred to the several Synods with the provis
ion that if ratified by three of the Synods partici
pating in its preparation, it should be considered bind
ing, and the chairman of the convention was author
ized to call the first meeting of the united body at

330 The Lutherans in America.
Frederick, Md., on the third Monday in October, 1821.
The absence of deputies from the Synod of Ohio hav
ing occasioned much disappointment, a friendly letter
was ordered to be addressed to its President "encour
aging him, if possible, to prevail on said Synod to
unite with their brethren in the adoption of the con
stitution." So confident were these deputies of the
ratification of their work by the requisite number of
synods, that in their zeal they proceeded at once with
the initial step's for the founding of some of the insti
tutions contemplated. One committee was appointed
to form a plan for a Seminary of Education. This
consisted of Drs. Schmucker, Lochman, Endress,
Geissenhainer and Muhlenberg. Another committee
was charged to form a plan for a Missionary Institu
tion. A third committee was to form a plan in aid of
poor ministers, and ministers' widows and orphans.
At the next annual convention of the Pennsylvania
Synod, held in Chambersburg, June, 182 1, "after every
article had been maturely considered and unanimously
agreed upon," the constitution was adopted by a vote
of sixty-seven against six. The Synod of Maryland
and Virginia at its next meeting, in Frederick, Sep
tember 2-4, also adopted it with entire unanimity.
And so did the Synod of North Carolina. In the
Synod of New York the subject encountered singular
indifference. In 1819 this body had discussed at some
length the plan proposed, and Drs. Mayer and Schaef
fer represented" it at the convention to form a consti
tution in 1820. These delegates reported at the sub
sequent meeting of that Synod in 182 1, and presented
the Constitution to the General Synod. "The same

Formation of the General Synod. 331
was read and debated, and it was finally resolved that
the secretary exert himself to secure more copies of
this constitution and that the further discussion be
postponed." The question of uniting was referred to
the congregations. In 1822 the secretary reported
that only a few congregations had communicated their
decision. "The majority of the answers indicated,
however, that the connection with the General Synod
was for the present not feasible, (unpraktisch)," though
no objections were raised against the project.
Three of the synods having ratified the constitution,
the first regular convention of the General Synod met
in Frederick, Md., October 21-23, 182 1. Rev. George
Lochman, D. D., conducted services in the morning
in the German language, Rev. J. G. Schmucker, D. D.,
preached in the afternoon in German, and Rev. C.
Endress, D. D., at night in the English language.
Representatives were present from the Synods of
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia.
Those from the first were Drs. J. G. Schmucker, Loch
man and Endress, with lay deputies C. A. Barnitz, F.
Sharrets and P. Brua; from the second, Revs. Shober
and Scherer ; from the latter body, Rev. D. F. Schaef
fer and John Ebert, Esq. Thus while fifteen repre
sentatives had participated in the formation of the
constitution, only ten took part in the proceedings of
the first regular meeting. " But on account of a pre
vailing epidemic and an error in the advertisement of
the newspapers concerning the time of meeting, there
were absent four deputies elected by the Synod of
Pennsylvania, two by the Synod of North Carolina
and two by the Synod of Maryland and Virginia."

332 The Lutherans in America.
The whole number, therefore, properly constitut
ing the first meeting was twenty. Dr. Lochman
was President of the body, Dr. David F. Schaeffer
Secretary, and Hon. C. A. Barnitz, Treasurer. The
number was small. Their resources were slender.
Formidable obstacles confronted them. But the Spirit
of Christ had wrought within them strong desires
and high expectations. There was withal a reso
lute will and a lofty, world-conquering faith.
Keenly sensible of the immediate and pressing needs
of the Church, the members of the first General Synod
wrestled earnestly with the problems of Ministerial
Education, Home Missions, and the Catechisation of
the Young. While clearly perceiving the necessity for
a Theological Seminary it was deemed advisable,
among other reasons, "on account of the pressure of
the times," to defer its establishment for several years,
but in the meanwhile measures were proposed in an
ticipation of the early founding of such an institution.
The subject was to be agitated, the minds of the con
gregations prepared for it, and a well selected and
extensive library collected for the use of the Seminary.
Considerable discussion having been given to the
subject of Home Missions, "the several district Synods
were earnestly recommended to send one or more mis
sionaries to such parts of the country as, in their opin
ion, stood most in need of them." Drs. Endress,
Schmucker, Lochman, D. F. Schaeffer, and Rev. Sho
ber were appointed to prepare an English Cate
chism. At this covention the the Pennsylvania Synod
reported on its roll eighty-five ministers, who had dur
ing the year confirmed "about four or five hundred

Formation of the General Synod. 2>ol
persons " and whose congregations maintained two
hundred and ninety-five schools. The Synod of
Maryland and Virginia reported fifteen ministers who
had confirmed five hundred and eighty during the year,
and the Synod of North Carolina thirteen ministers
and two hundred and twenty confirmations.
So wise and beneficent an organization as the Gen
eral Synod was designed to be can not proceed very
far without hindrances and antagonisms. It began its
career, indeed, with remarkable freedom from oppo
sition. But every new departure in civil or religious
society, every forward movement in the cause of truth
and righteousness, must run the gauntlet of denuncia
tion, hostility and misrepresentation. The price of
every noble institution is a struggle for existence.
The general union of Lutheran Synods in this coun
try must submit to the same law of trial, and only
after it has stood the fiery test and proved its vitality,
its worthiness to live, could it expect to go forward
with the divine work of developing the Church and
extending her borders. The laudable endeavor to
unite the different sections of the Church, so that by
harmony of counsel and concert of action a general
advance might be effected, had scarcely been inaugu
rated when the whole movement seemed to be sud
denly frustrated. " The hopes which had been cher
ished for the improvement of our Zion seemed blasted,
and many were disposed to abandon the project of a
union." Happily the project was of God, and brave
and capable men with strong faith and with true hearts,
men capable of enduring hardship and of meeting the
issue, were provided for the crisis.

334 The Lutherans in America.
At the second convention of the General Synod,
held at Frederick, October 19-21, 1823, the Pennsyl
vania Ministerium, the parent synod, which had been
really the founder of the General Synod, was not rep
resented. At its regular convention in the year 1823,
it passed resolutions severing its connection with the
general body. This withdrawal was not caused by
any doctrinal divergence between the former body
and the latter. Neither had any misunderstandings
arisen among the leaders, nor any dissatisfaction with
the avowed plans and purposes of the organization.
Nor indeed was the recession designed to be perma
nent, but only "until such time in the future as the
congregations themselves shall see their mistake of
our true intention, and shall call for a reconsideration
of these resolutions."
The trouble arose with the congregations. The
idea was conceived and spread among them that such
an organization might become an instrument of eccle
siastical tyranny. Dolorous predictions were uttered,
malicious representations circulated and violent hos
tility excited against it. So jealous, indeed, were the
people of their political rights, the price of which had
not yet been forgotten, so suspicious were they of
authority, and so morbidly sensitive was their dread
of power in any domain, that they professed to fear in
such a union necessary for the strengthening and up
building of the Church, an institution dangerous to
the liberties of the American people. Ministers of
other denominations were largely instrumental in ex
citing these groundless fears and inflaming bitter op
position to a movement designed to enhance the

Formation of the General Synod. 335
growth and influence of the Lutheran communion.
They unfortunately succeeded to such an extent that
the ministers of the Pennsylvania Synod felt con
strained to yield to the adverse pressure, unreason
able and mistaken as it was, and to dissolve formal re
lations withthe general body. So far were the leading
men of the Synod from manifesting any antagonism or
unfriendliness to the General Synod, that they con
tinued to view it "as highly beneficial to the interests
of the Church," and strongly deplored the " peculiar
circumstances " which compelled them to this course,
circumstances which the General Synod itself recog
nized " as excusing if not absolutely necessitating the
attitude of the Old Synod in its temporary recession."
Expressions of the most cordial good feeling and con
fidence were exchanged, and the hope indulged and
expressed on both sides that the enforced separation
over which both grieved would come to an early and
happy end.
The absence of a delegation from the Pennsylvania
Synod, on whose leadership and influence so much
had been reckoned, cast a deep gloom over the second
convention. It certainly looked as if the General
Synod could not survive this overwhelming disaster
in the first years of its feeble beginnings. It is not
surprising that "very little seems to have been done."
The wonder is that there was heart to do anything.
Yet some measures were adopted which were impor
tant as exponents of the spirit that animated the little
body of delegates.
Such was the appointment of a committee to open
communication with the Lutheran Church in Europe,

336 The Lid her ans in America
in order to elicit "correct information relative to the
spiritual prosperity of our Church in the several em
pires, kingdoms and places abroad, to promote the
unity of the Church, and to invite the prayers and ex
ertions of each other, for the prosperity of the Church
of Christ in the world." An address prepared by
Revs. S. S. Schmucker and D. F. Schaeffer, and pub
lished for general distribution in all the synods, ex
presses grateful acknowledgment to God for the
prosperity and rapid extension of the Church, which
had reached an aggregate of one hundred and seventy-
five ministers, nine hundred congregations and over
fifty thousand communicants. It upholds the Gen
eral Synod as loudly called for by the best interests
of Zion, as needful to guard "against diversity in
doctrine and practice, and to prevent discord and
schism." It rejoices that "the spirit of piety and zeal
is advancing throughout their borders," asks the
prayers of the Church for more ministers to carry the
Gospel to the frontier, urges liberal contributions to
the missionary fund, exhorts the several synods "to
persevere in their evangelical habit of annually send
ing out missionaries, lauds especially the Ohio Synod
and the Tennessee Conference, for making all possible
exertions to meet the pressing calls for Gospel minis
trations which come to them from the remote west,
and pleads with the latter body to dismiss its scruples
and apprehensions respecting the constitution of the
General Synod.
A Formula or Directory of Discipline and Govern
ment, which had been adopted by the Synod of Mary
land and Virginia, " was carefully examined, and wa§

Formation of the General Synod. 337
unanimously approved, as fully accordant with Scrip
ture and sound reason, and in harmony with the es
tablished principles of the Lutheran Church."
The disheartening impression produced by the loss
of the Synod of Pennsylvania was in a measure coun
teracted by the presence of two delegations from
bodies which had not heretofore participated in the
General Synod. Rev. Peter Schmucker and Rev. J.
Steck appeared as representatives from the Synod of
Ohio. This body soon severed its connection, al
though in this instance, as in that of the Pennsylvania
Ministerium, cordial relations and a measure of co
operation with the general body were maintained for
a number of years.
Rev. J. G. Schmucker, D. D., and Rev. J. Herbst
were received as representatives "appointed by the
conference of the ministers west of the Susquehanna,
belonging to the Synod of Pennsylvania." A special
conference of these ministers held two weeks before
at York, Pa., had selected these brethren as their rep
resentatives. The fears and the prejudices against
the General Synod seem to have been altogether
local, and as they did not exist west of the river, these
congregations with their ministers proposed a sepa
rate organization and thereby they secured the con
tinuance of their connection with the General Synod.
An actual separation from the Pennsylvania Synod
had not yet been consummated. At another special
conference held at Greencastle, November 6-9, 1824,
they resolved upon the formation of a synod to in
clude all the territory of the State west of the river.
This action was communicated to the mother synod

338 The Lutherans in America.
at its next regular convention, with a plea for the
recognition of the new body as one of the regular
synods of the American Lutheran Church. Among
the reasons alleged for this movement were the dis
tance and expense" connected with attendance upon
synodical meetings, and the advantages of a small
body for the better cultivation of the field within its
bounds, for a closer union among brethren, and for
the better supervision of their private and official
walk. Their desire for preserving the union with the
General Synod had also doubtless some weight. Its
leaders were among the staunchest and most zealous
advocates of that body. When their petition came
before the parent synod at Reading in 1825, the latter
expressed pain at the separation of these brethren, but
agreed to recognize them as a sister synod.
Separations and new aggregations were thus taking
place, but as yet the attitude of each division or
organization of the Lutheran Church to all the others
was peaceable and friendly, except in the territory of
the Synod of North Carolina.
The constituency of the General Synod was up to
the year 1830 limited to the Synods of North Carolina,
Maryland and Virginia, and West Pennsylvania, a
body feeble in numbers but strong in energy, faith and
devotion to the Church. The discouragements ex
perienced, the opposition that began to rumble in
certain quarters and some malicious aspersions had
the happy effect of stimulating its friends to greater
zeal and exertion. The loss of powerful allies re
sulted in rallying the forces that remained and closing
the ranks.

Formation of the General Synod. 339
At its next meeting, in Frederick, November 7, 1825,
energetic measures were taken "to commence forth
with in the name of the Triune God, and in humble
reliance on his aid the establishment of a Theological
Seminary," in which shall be taught, " in the German
and English languages, the fundamental doctrines of
the sacred Scriptures, as contained in the Augsburg
Confession." Although Hartwick Seminary, whose
curriculum was not confined to theological studies,
was at the time reported to be " in the most flourish
ing condition," it was held to be "a solemn duty of the
General Synod imposed on it by the constitution and
due from it to God and the Church, to provide for the
proper education of men of piety and of talents for
the Gospel ministry." If the Church was to live and
maintain a distinct existence, it must be supplied with
a learned and consecrated ministry, a band of breth
ren, who experienced the same training, were governed
by the same principles and directed by the same
spirit. The committee charged with the preparation of a
plan were Revs. B. Kurtz, S. S. Schmucker, J. Herbst,
B. Keller and Messrs. Harry and Hauptman. The
General Synod elected the first board of directors, but
their successors were to be elected by the Synods con
nected with the General Synod and contributing
pecuniary aid to the institution. The General Synod
also elected the first professor, S. S. Schmucker, after
which, it was provided, the Board of Directors shall
have the exclusive authority of electing additional pro
fessors. Agents were appointed to prosecute the so
licitation of funds, Drs. Lochman, Endress and Muh-

34° The Lutherans in America.
lenberg, and Rev. Demme for the Synod of East
Pennsylvania, the name now for some time given to
the Old Synod; Dr. Schmucker and Revs. Herbst and
Keller that of West Pennsylvania ; Revs. Stouch
and Steck, Ohio and Indiana; Dr. P. Mayer and
Revs. Geissenhainer, F. C. Schaeffer and Lintner, the
Synod of New York ; S. S. Schmucker, Philadelphia
and the Eastern States ; Revs. Reck, Meyerheffer and
Krauth, Virginia ; Revs. B. Kurtz, H. Graber, Roth-
rauf and Little, Maryland; Rev. W. Jenkins, Tennes
see; Revs. J. Scherer and J. Reck, North Carolina;
and Revs. Bachman and Dreher, South Carolina.
Rev. Benjamin Kurtz was at the same time selected
to proceed to Europe and solicit money and books for
the benefit of the Seminary.
A few months later, March 1826, the Board assem
bled at Hagerstown, adopted a constitution, and
accepted the offer of $7,000 and use of a building from
Gettysburg, not only because it made the most gen
erous proposals, but because it was deemed most
central. On the first Tuesday in September the in
stitution was opened with ten students, of whom Jona
than Oswald, D. D., and J. G. Morris, D. D., LL. D.,
still survive. It was a day of profound rejoicing over
the answer " to the prayers and desires which many in
our Zion have long breathed forth." The second
year saw the number rise to twenty-three, and the
school soon won its way to the heart and confidence
of the Church and prospered beyond the most san
guine expectation of its friends. Viewed from the
present state of the Church those were the days of
feebleness and poverty, yet, the situation being con-

Formation of the General Synod.

341

sidered, the efforts and liberality of our fathers do not
suffer in comparison with what we boast of to-day.
Prof. Schmucker in canvassing Philadelphia for funds
wrote : " My solicitations have been directed chiefly
to the members of the Lutheran churches, whom I
found to be a liberal, wealthy and generous people."
In less than a year subscriptions amounting to $17,513
were made.
Thus was founded the Seminary of the General

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, GETTYSBURG, PA.
Synod, which for many years was the principal train
ing school for Lutheran ministers in America, which
has for nearly seventy years been sending out a con
stant supply of able ministers of the New Testament,
and which has furnished not only a large majority of
the most eminent and successful pastors, missionaries
and professors connected with the General Synod,
with which body it still holds a formal connection, but

34 2 The Lutherans in America.
also a number of the founders and leaders of the Gen
eral Council and many of the most distinguished min
isters of the United Synod. It was the first product
of the General Synod, as it was in fact the principal
object contemplated in its organization. The subject
had been warmly agitated in various quarters, but
especially in the Synod of Maryland, which was at the
time largely composed of stirring, zealous and enlight
ened young men, such as C. P. Krauth, Benjamin
Kurtz, Abraham Reck, S. S. Schmucker and, leader of
them all, David F. Schaeffer. The principal impulse
to the General Synod's action as well as the draft of
the constitution of the seminary are to be ascribed to
this illustrious group. The professor's oath bound
him to the Augsburg Confession and the Catechisms
of Luther " as a summary and just exhibition of the
fundamental doctrines of the word of God." The
charge of Rev. Schaeffer at the installation of Profes
sor Schmucker contains the following : "As the Lord
has signally favored our Church — as her tenets are
biblical, and her veriest enemies cannot point out an
important error in her articles of faith, no more than
could the enemies of the truth at the Diet of Worms
prove the books of the immortal Reformer erroneous.
Therefore, the Church which entrusts you with the
preparation and formation of her pastors, demands of
you (and in her behalf I solemnly charge you) to es
tablish all students confided to your care, in that faith
which distinguishes our Church from others. If any
should object to such faith, or any part of it, or refuse
to be convinced of the excellence of our discipline
they have their choice to unite with such of our Chris-

Formation of I lie General Synod. 343
tian brethren, whose particular views in matters of
faith and discipline may suit them better. I hold it,
however, as indispensable for the peace and welfare of
a Church that unity of sentiment should prevail upon
all important matters of faith and discipline among
the pastors thereof. Hence I charge you to exert
yourself in convincing our students that the Augsburg
Confession is a safe directory to determine upon mat
ters of faith, declared upon the Lamb's book." A sen
timent of charity for other denominations of Chris
tians is expressed "but the different genera and spe
cies should be preserved according to their peculiar
nature." With the retirement of the older leaders through
age and death, and the withdrawal of the Pennsylvania
Synod, several young men came to the front who by
their ability and their prominence swayed for a gen
eration an influence equalled by none of their con
temporaries in the Church. One was Benjamin Kurtz,
D. D., a grandson of Rev. John Nicholas Kurtz.
Subject in early youth to deep religious convictions
he studied theology under Dr. Lochman and entered
the ministry in 1815, assisting for a while his uncle, J.
D. Kurtz, D. D., in Baltimore, but accepting shortly
a call to Hagerstown. He was the only Lutheran min
ister in Washington county, which comprised then at
least ten congregations. During his pastorate of six
teen years he succeeded — not without bitter and stub
born opposition — in introducing English preaching,
prayer-meetings, Sunday Schools and temperance
societies. Upon the establishment of the theological
seminary he was commissioned to proceed to Ger-

344 The Lutherans in America.
many to solicit aid for the young and needy institu
tion. The German ministers in London became once
more the medium of communication, and through
these he was cordially commended to the ecclesiasti
cal authorities of Germany, under whose patronage
he pleaded his cause with marked effect in the presence
of the highest classes, including royalty itself. Im
mense crowds attended the churches in which he
officiated and his preaching and his cause won exten
sive popularity. He was absent nearly two years and
returned with about $10,000, besides a large number
of books for the library, while the stream of liberality
which he opened continued to flow long after.
In 1833 he took editorial charge of the Lutheran
Observer, a paper which, under his conduct for thirty
years, became a notable power, every onward move
ment finding in it an earnest and able advocate. Late
in life and amid the opposition of nearly the whole
Church he projected the Missionary Institute, located
at Selins Grove, Pa., for the purpose of preparing for
the Lutheran ministry such candidates as were either
too far advanced in years or prevented by other cir
cumstances from pursuing a collegiate course and a
full theological curriculum.
S. S. Schmucker, D. D., was a son of Rev. J. G.
Schmucker, D. D. He pursued his classical studies
at the University of Pennsylvania, and after reading
theology for a time under his father, took the full
course at Princeton Seminary. He was without doubt
at that time "the best educated young man in the Lu
theran Church in this country." He was also recog
nized throughout his career as a man of devoted

Formation of the General Synod. 345
piety, of exalted Christian character and of self-sacri
ficing zeal for the advancement of the Church and her
institutions, fighting for years ill-health with one hand
while with habits of indefatigable industry the other
was toiling and writing in behalf of the interests of
Zion. Endowed with rare qualities of leadership, it
fell to his lot to do the principal work in providing
the necessary ecclesiastical literature. To his clear
head and persevering activity the Church is mainly
indebted for the Formula of discipline, English hymn-
book, liturgy, catechism, and the constitution of the
Theological Seminary.
Called to preside over this institution at its founda
tion, he was for some time its sole professor and he
may justly be called its father. He held this position
until 1864, a period of nearly forty years, and during
this time, by his ascendency over the minds of his stu
dents, his numerous publications, his debates at synod,
and his manifest devotion to every cause of public in
terest, he was beyond question the most conspicuous
and influential man in the Lutheran Church in Amer
ica and the best known to the Christian community
outside of it.
Notwithstanding his laborious activity and mani
fold cares in connection with the Seminary, the estab
lishment of Pennsylvania College, the collection of
funds, erection of buildings and the like, he was one
of the most prolific authors that the Church has yet
produced. The most important of his publications
were his " Popular Theology " which passed through
nine editions, "Psychology," a translation of Storr and
Flatt's " Theology," " Lutheran Manual," and the " Lu-

34^ The Lutherans in America.
theran Church in America." He was an ardent advo
cate of Christian union and his " Fraternal Appeal,"
published in 1838, gave him such recognition in differ
ent churches and countries that when in 1846 he at
tended the first meeting of the Evangelical Alliance
in London, Dr. King of Ireland did not hesitate to
call him the father of the Alliance.
His liberal attitude toward other denominations
and his qualified acceptance of some of the distinctive
tenets of his own Church exposed him, especially in
his later years, to the criticism and stern opposition
of many of his Lutheran brethren. At the beginning
of his ministry, when great doctrinal laxity prevailed,
he stood in advance of the majority of Lutheran min
isters in holding to the Augsburg Confession. But
when about 1850 there set in a decided reaction in
favor of the faith which had for centuries distinguished
the Lutheran Church, and which was emblazoned on
her banner as it was first unfurled on these shores,
when in the language of the elder Krauth " the Church
was disposed to renew her connection with the past,
and in her future progress to walk under the guidance
of the light which it has furnished," Dr. Schmucker
not only did not sympathize with the movement but
he opposed it by voice and pen with all his ability.
The result was sharp controversies, painful alienations,
many of his warmest friends deprecating his course
and deeply regretting that he could see only error in
statements and definitions which they believed to be
the truth of Scripture, but no one questioned the sin
cerity of his convictions or the completeness of his
consecration to Christ and his Church.

Formation of the General Synod. 347
A life-long associate of Prof. Schmucker and his
ablest co-laborer in the establishment and upbuilding
of the institutions at Gettysburg and the preparation
of church manuals, was Rev. Chas. Philip Krauth,
D. D. After preaching for some years in Virginia, he
was for seven years pastor of St. Matthews, Philadel
phia. Chosen the first President of Pennsylvania
College he held that position from 1834 to 1850, when
he accepted the chair of Biblical Philology and
Ecclesiastical History in the Seminary, devoting
henceforth to the day of his death his time exclusively
to this Institution in which he had for years previously
been imparting instruction.
He was a man of marked intellectual force, of sin
gular purity of character, of a generous heart, a benig
nant disposition, courtly manners and a princely
mien. His reading covered the whole field of theo
logical science and that of polite literature. He was
a forcible writer and in his prime an eloquent preach
er. He had his very being in the General Synod
from its organization all through his life, and his
loyalty to the Confessions and historic principles of
the Lutheran Church was never questioned. Parties
whose hostility to these was undisguised were wont
indeed to call him " Symbolic " and " Old Lutheran."
His sound judgment and calm temper led to his
appointment on the most important committees, and
in 1 841 he served as chairman of the committee en
trusted with the duty of preparing an English liturgy.
Though not given to theological controversies he
commanded a strong influence and his opinions had
great weight among his associates and students. A

34^ The Lutherans in America.
most intimate life-long friend says of him: "He was
the most unselfish man I ever knew. All his labors,
studies, prayers, and earnings were for the good of
others. When his name was mentioned it was with
reverence; when his conduct was spoken of it was
with approbation. No student ever left Gettysburg
who did not admire his character as a man." His
piety was indeed of the highest type, the students
spoke of him as " the beloved disciple," and his calm
and holy life fittingly closed with the words "Peace(
all is peace."
The energy of the new life pulsating through the
body of Christ could not expend itself on a single in
stitution. The very object of the Seminary was to
produce a revival of every languishing interest, to give
momentum and homogeneity to every form of Chris
tian enterprise. The General Synod was small in
numbers, it was feeble in resources, it was threatened
with serious dangers and even with dissolution from
its birth, but its leaders had energy, devotion, self-
sacrifice and, as the spring of these, that divine faith
which worketh under the impulse and channel of love.
They were prompted by zeal for the Redeemer's king
dom. They were animated by the spirit of brotherly
love, while harmony of aim and counsel enabled them
to move as a unit. And they went forward, conscious
of the spiritual power inherent in the Church, confi
dent of the smile of heaven upon their endeavors, and
expecting the happiest results.
To furnish suitable candidates for the nascent
Seminary a classical school was at once opened at
Gettysburg. It was intended primarily "to enable

Formation of the General Synod. 349
persons of slender means or advanced years to secure
the most useful and necessary preparatory studies,"
and to afford an opportunity for others " to be pre
pared for entrance into the different colleges of our
country." But it prospered so rapidly that in a few
years it grew into Pennsylvania College, and Lu
theran students could complete the curriculum of
study in an institution of their own Church.
The machinery of instruction being provided,
measures were taken to secure the proper subjects
and the means for their support. The Church must
share the pecuniary burden contracted in acquiring a
thorough education for her clergy. Educational
associations, " Ladies Mite Societies," sewing societies,
and other agencies for gathering funds were accord
ingly instituted in numerous congregations. The
Maryland. Synod, in its annual report, October 1831,
attests its "gratitude to the ladies of the Lutheran
churches at Frederick, Taneytown, Shepherdstown and
Baltimore, who by the labor of their hands jointly
contributed the sum of $582.31."
At the meeting of the General Synod, in York, 1835,
the organization of a General Educational Society
was effected, officers were elected and directors ap
pointed not only from the General Synod, but also
from the Synods of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
York, the co-operation of all being contemplated.
After the trial of various methods in the administra
tion of this cause, the district synods in 1855 respect
ively assumed entire charge of it, leaving the Parent
Education Society to depend on legacies and special
donations for its peculiar sphere. This beneficiary

35° The Lutherans in America.
expedient for supplying the ever-increasing needs of
the Church has been of incomparable service. With
out the beneficiaries hundreds of congregations must
have died for want of spiritual sustenance. The
twenty years of active operations by the parent society
gave the Church some two hundred pastors. Many
of these have occupied the most important positions
in the Church. Four became presidents of colleges,
one a professor of theology, while many were called
to the largest and most intelligent congregations.
There was no difficulty in finding proper employ
ment for the newly equipped ministerial recruits.
When the air is surcharged with missionary fire men
with tongues of flame are sure to find places where
they may give utterance to the glad tidings. The first
graduates showed what spirit was in them as they went
"where the destitution was greatest and the cry for
ministerial supply most urgent." The tides of emi
gration had begun to sweep away thousands from the
older congregations in the east, and the Church like a
faithful mother was yearning after them, recognizing
at the same time in their destitution her golden oppor
tunity for the extension of her blessings and the ad
vancement of her influence. The General Synod being
composed of delegates representing the widely sepa
rated and remote sections of the Church became the
medium of intelligence concerning the extent and
necessities of the field, and through it the cry for spir
itual assistance was clearly heard by all the congrega
tions, and the burden of their scattered brethren laid
on their heart, while mutual consultation, unity of aim

Ph

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35 2 The Lutherans in America.
and concert of effort rendered efficient action practi
cable and certain.
The living spirit is sure to seek embodiment and to
strive after formal organization, by which alone it can
find a proper and effective exercise for its powers.
Missonary societies were formed in many congrega
tions and by all the synods, the General Synod for
some years giving simply its moral support and en
couragement to the synodical societies. In Balti
more, 1833, it appointed a standing Committee on
Missions, whose immediate province was to gather
and report information. At York, in 1835, ^ adopted
a lengthy and ringing report declaring that " more
must be done if the frowns of Heaven are not to rest
upon our churches," and urging that "the destitute
parts of our country must be supplied with the Gos
pel, and as soon as possible our hands must be exten
ded to the heathen." The more men felt the need of
supplying our own rapidly-extending country the more
the claims of the heathen world pressed upon them.
A mass meeting in the interests of Home Missions
was called at Mechanicsburg the following year.
At Hagerstown in 1837 tne General Synod cordially
endorsed a convention, held at that time and place,
for the organization of a Foreign Mission Society,
adjourning its own sessions from time to time to
allow its members to participate in this convention,
which was composed of delegates representing churches
without as well as within the pale of the General
Synod. Revs. H. N. Pohlman, W. D. Strobel and
others were in attendance from New York, Revs. J.
Medtart, C. W. Schaeffer and Dr. F. W. Heckel

Formation of the General Synod. 353
appeared as delegates from the Missionary Society
of the Old Synod, besides other clerical and lay mem
bers of that body, charged to assure the convention
of their co-operation. During the same convention
the Central Home Missionary Society held its first an
niversary, these different associations, though distinct
from the General Synod, realizing their dependence
upon it for moral support, while they widened its
sphere and stimulated its activity.
The Church took also a lively interest in Sunday
Schools which at this period were coming into vogue.
One of the first societies organized under the impulses
of the General Synod was a Lutheran Sunday-school
Union, which was founded in 1829 and for some time
held its anniversaries in connection with the meetings
of the General Synod. Flourishing schools sprang
up in a number of congregations and the foundations
were laid for that successful Sunday-school work which
has been a prominent characteristic of Lutheranism.
The publication of a suitable and necessary church
literature was undertaken. Church periodicals were
established. An English Hymn-book, based on that
of the Synod of New York was published, also a
Liturgy based on the German Agenda of the Penn
sylvania Synod, a Collection of Prayers and an Eng
lish Catechism. A Lutheran Book Company began
business in Baltimore in 1836. A cordial and general
support was at the same time rendered to the unde
nominational Bible and Tract Societies, and Lutheran
ministers and people co-operated largely with organi
zations to counteract the evils of intemperance.
While a large proportion of these beneficent move-

354 The Lutherans in America.
ments originated directly with the General Synod,
that body sounding the keynote and the district
synods re-echoing the strain until it was heard on
the very borders of Zion, the general body was in
other cases but the exponent of the prevalent feeling,
registering and voicing the spirit of the congregations,
giving it direction and momentum. Whether a move
ment proceeded from its bosom or came to it from its
constituencies, the General Synod was the grand in
strument for marshaling the various elements, offer
ing one rallying point instead of many, and promot
ing a "united policy." No one acquainted with the
history of that period will deny to it the honor of
being either the prime originator or the principal
supporter of all the enlightened measures then put
forth for building up the interests and fulfilling the
mission of the Church. For half a century it was the
most conspicuous and the most influential factor in
advancing her usefulness and her glory.
Symptoms of renewed spiritual life attested every
where the presence of the Holy Ghost. The pulpit
was marked by peculiar earnestness and pastors ex
celled in self-sacrificing fidelity in the catechism class
and in house to house visitation. The congregations
experienced "an increased degree of spirituality," so
that they "abounded in lives of prayer, of faith and
love, of pious deeds and of zeal for Christ," and real
ized their mission to spread the Gospel and to exer
cise the grace of giving in the support of "all benevo
lent institutions." The pastoral address issued by the
General Synod in 1831 affirms: "Education and Mis
sionary Societies are increasing, and we know of no

Formation of the General Synod. 355
benevolent institution in our country, that does not
number among its patrons some of our most devoted
members." The Synod of South Carolina number
ing but thirteen pastors reported in 1836 the sum of
$ 1,660.60 for missions and education, the West Pennsyl
vania Synod $769.91 for the same year, and the Hart-
wick Synod with fifteen ministers gave $1,467.83 in
two years. " Prayer meetings conducted according to
the Scriptures were numerous," and viewed as "a
great blessing to many souls on the brink of eternal
ruin." Students for the ministry multiplied in a
rapid ratio.
So far from being exhausted by the founding of
one seminary or the support of one professorship, the
interest in theological education kept increasing and
led to the undertaking of a second professorship at
Gettysburg in 1829. A collecting tour of Professor
Schmucker through the north yielded the large sum
of $14,917, collected mostly from Congregationalists
through the active co-operation of Professor Stuart.
The proposal of the Board to call the second pro
fessor from the ranks of Lutheran theologians in Ger
many met with unexpected opposition from the Old
Synod "because an European could not so well ac
commodate himself to the peculiar views and situa
tion of our ecclesiastical and civil institutions." The
choice fell on Dr. Hazelius who in 1830 was made
Professor of Biblical and Oriental Literature and the
German Language. The library, numbering six thou
sand volumes, was at that time the largest theological
library in the country.
Hartwick Seminary also attained a prosperity it

35^ The Lutherans in America.
had never enjoyed, and before the surrender of its
honored professor to Gettysburg, called as his
assistant Rev. G. B. Miller, who for many years filled
this position with great usefulness. At the same time
a cheering support was given to the seminary at
Lexington, founded by the Synod of South Carolina,
and that of the Synod of Ohio, established at Colum
bus. The relation of the General Synod to this advance
ment of the Church is well set forth in the pastoral
letter which it addressed to the churches in 1835.
"Will it be too much to say that since 1820 this
Synod has been a means under God of greatly reviv
ing our American churches; spreading abroad the
spirit of reformation ; firing with new zeal ministers
and laymen ; elevating the standard of piety among
us ; diffusing a spirit of benevolence among our
people ; furnishing, by means of her seminaries min
isters for congregations ready to perish, and through
the medium of her publications, bread to those starv
ing." When this body had been but ten years in ex
istence its members could testify before angels and
men: "The temporal and spiritual, the external and
internal concerns of our Zion have been advanced
with unparalleled success." These pastoral letters
show how the brethren were cheered by the rapid
spread of the Church in every quarter, how they more
than realized their brightest anticipations, and how
these happy results enforced upon their conscience the
duty of the hour. A noble Christian optimism shines
through the review of the situation which they were
wont to publish after each meeting. With what joy

REV. CHARLES A. SXORK, ». D

Formation of the General Synod. 357
they speak of the increasing extent and rising impor
tance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. "Since the
establishment of the General Synod, God has favored
us with many glorious manifestations of God's power
and grace."
They deemed it just to judge of results by what had
been in former days. Comparisons were drawn be
tween the state of the Church "ready to sink into in
significance" at that critical juncture when the Gen
eral Synod was founded, and " the favorable and cheer
ing results which in a few years were reported from all
sections." " Our Synods, and the General Synod as
well as the churches, enjoy an amount of the public
confidence and esteem which must satisfy and encour
age greatly every Lutheran." The only drawback to
the rapid expansion of the Church was again as always
an inadequate army of ministers. Many of the most
inviting points could not be occupied, and so great
were the labors and exposures of many pastors that
often their strength was prematurely exhausted. It
was a sad reflection made at York in 1835 that with
"two hundred and twenty laborers among eight hun
dred congregations, not a few have entered premature
graves." Of others it was said that as the result of
overwork "they bear evident marks of a wasting con
stitution and of a dissolution not far off."
While the revived prosperity of the Lutheran
Church is doubtless largely to be ascribed to the
formation of the General Synod, it was not confined
to the synods organically incorporated with it. The
activity and advance of those not associated with it
were, however, directly or indirectly stimulated by

358 The Lutherans in America.
the general body, whose paramount influence in de
termining the character and advancing the interests
of the native Lutheran Church is not likely to be
gainsayed. The Pennsylvania Synod was permeated by the
same spirit and developed along the same lines.
Bonds of strong and conspicuous sympathy kept it in
practical co-operation with the measures of the Gen
eral Synod. The majority of it's ministers heartily
united with the latter in Missionary, Education and
Sunday-school work and " in the preparation of a uni
form liturgy for the use of the Church." Its congre
gations contributed freely to the support of the semi
nary at Gettysburg and a large proportion of its young
men were sent to study in its halls.
Dr. S. S. Schmucker in his "Retrospect of Luther-
anism " testifies : " Much might be said of the honor
able manner in which the greater part of the brethren
and churches in East Pennsylvania, and elsewhere,
whilst yielding to the prejudices of the weaker mem
bers, yet continued to afford their substantial and in
creasing aid to every good work undertaken by this
Synod, so that much of the credit for what has been
achieved, is justly due to their co-operation." And
Dr. C. P. Krauth, Jr., in an editorial in the Lutheran
and Missionary, May 3, 1866, says : "The relations of
that Synod to the General Synod were never antag
onistic or unfriendly. * * * Throughout there
was a majority of her ministers favorable to active
co-operation with the General Synod." But they for-
bearingly deferred for the time to the reactionary
minority which opposed Bible Societies, Theological

Formation of the General Synod. 359
Seminaries, Missionary and Sunday-school Associa
tions and in short all organized forms of Christian
activity. Assurances of "undiminished affection" for the
brethren of that body were repeatedly expressed by
the General Synod, confident of " the ardent attach
ment" which many in that body bore to it. In the
minutes of 1827 it rejoices that "this Synod continues
to be in a prosperous condition, and some churches
in its bounds have been visited with peculiar seasons of
refreshment." The desire for the return of this body "to that union
in the establishment of which they sustained a princi
pal part and which will remain to after ages a monu
ment of their zeal for the cause of God," was fre
quently voiced by the General Synod. Reviewing
"the harmony, unanimity and evangelical zeal" which
animated the brethren of the Synod of Pennsylvania,
they longed for the day when they should see them
"unite their counsels and energies with ours." In the
Old Synod also, the matter of reuniting with the
General Synod was from time to time agitated, espec
ially in 1839 and 1840, but the apprehensions and
prejudices which led to the withdrawal in 1823 were
found to be still smouldering. They were readily
inflamed by the prevalence of the English language in
the General Synod and the popularity of the "new
measures" within its bounds. Final action was there
fore deferred on the plea that "the time had not come."
The consummation so long devoutly cherished by many
on both sides was at last realized in 1853, when seven
pastors and seven lay-delagates appeared as represent-

J

60 The Lutherans in America.

atives of that body and were welcomed with great joy
at the meeting of the General Synod at Winchester,
Va. Two years previously the Synod had endowed a
German Professorship in Pennsylvania College. The
incumbent of this chair was likewise to give instruc
tion in the Theological Seminary.
The New York Synod, which had taken an honor
able part in the founding of the General Synod, came
into organic relations with it in 1837. The Ohio
Synod after having a representation at one meeting,
stood aloof, yet its missionary zeal is often lauded
in the proceedings of the General Synod. No antag
onism had as yet developed, and delegates to this
body as well as to the Synods of Pennsylvania and
New York, were appointed by the General Synod as
late as 1829.
One of the most conspicuous features of the General
Synod was its conciliatory attitude toward synods not
in its connection. It not only sought their counsels
and energies to be united with it, but as their approval
of its doctrinal character, its general spirit and grand
aims, was well known, it avowed its readiness to make
any concessions " consistent with the grand design of
the association," in order "to conciliate all minds
and afford full and general satisfaction."
It sought to embrace the whole church. And as it
brought together a large proportion of the most intel
ligent and influential clerical and lay representatives
from remote sections, joined them into a family of
brethren, ascertained from them the interests and
needs of the whole church, inspired mutual confidence,
and provoked one another to good works, it was in-

Formation of the General Synod. 36]
strumental in developing a consciousness of strength,
awakening a sense of responsibility, and engendering
a fellow feeling. It united the wisdom, piety, ability
and energy of the Church, north, east, south and west,
and by the concentration of all her resources»for ob
jects to which no individual synod could have been
competent, it was able to provide in large measure
for the wants and prosperity of the whole Church.
A warm spiritual life coursing through all the
arteries of Christ's body, and wise leaders directing
it, there was a rapid expansion of the Church's bor
ders as well as of her influence and power. Follow
ing the steady flow of population, missionaries organ
ized new congregations on the territory now embraced
in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. These,
though widely scattered, were united into a new synod
in 1835, under the title of the Synod of the West.
Among its founders were Revs. William Jenkins,
Daniel Scherer and Abraham Reck. In a few years
it numbered twenty-three ministers — to-day more than
a thousand Lutheran ministers preach in those parts
— and in 1840 it united with the General Synod.
The following year the English district of Ohio, now
the East Ohio Synod, did the same. The Synod of
South Carolina united in 1835, that of Virginia in
1839. The Synod of East Pennsylvania, whose organ
ization on the territory of the mother synod in 1842
is to be ascribed largely to the increasing demand for
English services and for the progressive measures
then commonly associated with English, united in
1843, and with it the Allegheny and Southwest
Virginia Synods; the Miami Synod in 1845, the I Hi—

362 The Lutherans in America.
nois and Wittenberg in 1848, the Olive Branch in
1850, the Texas, Northern Illinois and Pittsburg
Synods in 1853, the Kentucky, Central Pennsylvania
and English District of Ohio (the second English
District of the Joint Synod of Ohio) in 1855, the
Northern Indiana, Southern Illinois and English
Iowa in 1857, the Melanchthon in 1859.
The maximum of the General Synod's growth was
reached in the year i860, when it embraced 26 synods
spread over almost the entire territory of the Union,
all the synods in fact which comprised to any extent
the native Lutheran population, except that of the
Joint-Ohio and the Tennessee, aggregating 864 out
of 1 3 1 3 ministers, and 164,000 out of 245,000 communi
cants, i. e. two-thirds of the Lutheran Church in this
country. The out-break of the civil war caused the with
drawal of the synods south of the Potomac, with a
total of 125 ministers, 205 congregations, and 21,098
communicants. A rupture more serious in character and more far-
reaching in consequences was soon to be experienced.
At the time of the organization of the General Synod
confessional laxity had deeply penetrated the life of
the Lutheran Church, although a stricter and conser
vative element also remained. Both tendencies came
into the general body and continued for many years
side by side without any sharp antagonism or con
flict. " It embraced elements," says Dr. C. P. Krauth,
" which were distinctively Lutheran and others dis
tinctively Latitudinarian. The first party was on the
whole more Lutheran in doctrine and more active in

Formation of the General Synod. 363
piety than the second. Their relatively higher Lu-
theranism was connected with a relatively higher
spirituality and aggressiveness. Though they had so
far felt the evil tendency of the times that they fell
far below the doctrinal decision and consistent Lu-
theranism of Muhlenberg and his co-laborers, yet they
were relatively decided, relatively Lutheran, and their
Lutheranism had something of the ardor and earnest
ness of that earlier time. It was their desire to make
the General Synod as strong in government and as
Lutheran in doctrine as they possibly could. The
more decided Lvitheran influence prevailed and the
friends of the laxer tendencies dropped off from the
General Synod." Dr. K. gives this as indubitably in
part, the philosophy of " the tacit withdrawal of the
Pennsylvania Synod."
" While it guarded against taking a position which
would necessarily exclude the laxer elements, the Gen
eral Synod always maintained that the strictest Lu
therans could conscientiously unite with it and that
their objections on the score of laxity were un
grounded." The Tennessee Synod gave indeed a
more pronounced adhesion to the Confessions than
the General Synod, "whose constitution shows only
too many sad traces of the embarrassments of the
period," yet upon its subsequent acknowledgment of
the doctrinal articles of the Augsburg Confession as a
standard of faith, "it was the only voluntary body on
earth, pretending to embrace a nation as its territory
and bearing a Lutheran name, in which the fundamen
tal doctrines of Lutheranism were the basis of a
union." Such is the testimony of the ablest mind the

364 The Lutherans in America.
Church has produced in America, when speaking of
the formation of the General Synod. The two ten
dencies dwelling in one body must inevitably develop
their inherent nature, and their antagonistic character.
So strong, however was the desire for unity and so
paramount the spirit of conciliation that a sharp col
lision was for a long time averted. The conservative
clement sought more and more to revive the princi
ples of historic Lutheranism, which had fallen into
desuetude under the rationalistic sway of the previous
period. It studied with ardor the confessions of the
Church, brought once more to light its devotional
treasures, and endeavored to foster the Lutheran type
of Christianity by returning to "the good old ways of
the fathers." Others were so carried away with the
ideal of the American type of religion that they
fancied the only way to get the warmth of Methodism
and the vigor of Presbyterianism was, as Dr. C. A.
Stork put it, "to disembowel their own Church of
heart and lungs."
A few leading representatives of this element pro
gressed to the point of publishing (anonymously) in
1855 an "American Recension of the Augsburg Con
fession," from which they omitted certain alleged
" errors contained in the Confession," Baptismal Re
generation and the Real Presence of the Body and
Blood of the Savior in the Eucharist being designa
ted among others. Its appearance raised a storm
throughout the Church. " Extremely unlutheran, un-
churchly and even rationalistic positions were as
sumed "by some who defended the " Platform," says
Dr. Morris in his " Fifty Years in the Lutheran Minis-

Formation of the General Synod. 365
try." On the other hand it was indignantly and
universally rejected by the Eastern Synods, their judg
ment being well expressed in the resolution prepared
by Dr. J. A. Brown and adopted unanimously by the
Synod of East Pennsylvania which denounced it as a
"most dangerous attempt to change the doctrinal
basis and revolutionize the existing character of the
Lutheran Churches now united in the General
Synod." The opposition to this onslaught on the Confession
was so decided and overwhelming that the authors of
it, though men of prominence and ability, at once lost
their prestige, and the subject was never so much as
mooted in the General Synod. But it became a
touch-stone for the trial and rapid development of
the two tendencies, and the agitation which followed
awakened grave fears of an ultimate disruption. A
few years later at York, 1864, the General Synod ex-
plicity repudiated the charge that the alleged errors
were contained in the Confession, and "before God
and his Church " declared that the Augsburg Con
fession, "properly interpreted, is in perfect consist
ence with the Holy Scriptures as regards the errors
specified." At the same convention it so amended its consti
tution as to require all synods seeking connection
with it "to receive and hold the Augsbufg Confession
as a correct exhibition of the fundamental doctrines
of the Divine Word and of the faith of our Church
founded on that Word." By this doctrinal basis im
posed on the District Synods as a condition of union
with it, and the previous adoption of Luther's Cate-

366

The Lutherans in America.

chism "without qualification," and the definition of
fundamentals in the Liturgy of 1847," it is the testi
mony of Dr. C. P. Krauth, Jr., "the General Synod's
Lutheran soundness is fully vindicated." " These tes
timonials," he maintained "are its real basis, official
statements, back of which no man has a right to go."
The growing ascendency of positive Lutheranism
stimulated the antagonism of the laxer element. Vio
lent discussions and agitations ensued, which were

MISSIONARY INSTITUTE, SELIN'S GROVE, PA.
heightened by complaints of doctrinal unsoundness
and neglect of the German interest at Gettysburg.
The heart of the body had become exceedingly sensi
tive. The tension between opposing principles had
reached a degree which made a break imminent on
the slightest disturbance.
The crisis was reached in 1864, at York, when the
Franckean Synod applied for admission. This body
had been charged with serious defection from Lu
theran doctrine, had for a quarter of a century stood
aloof from the General Synod, and had not given any

Formation of the General Synod. 367
recognition to the Augsburg Confession. Its appli
cation was accordingly rejected, until it should for
mally adopt the Confession as received by the Gen
eral Synod.
The Franckean deputies felt aggrieved by this ex
clusion. They urged that "in adopting the constitu
tion of that body, the members of the Franckean Synod
fully understood that they were adopting the doc
trinal position of the General Synod." Their friends
on this representation were able to call for a recon
sideration, which after an earnest and protracted dis
cussion resulted in receiving them by a vote of ninety-
seven to forty, with the understanding that their
Synod, at its next meeting, declare in an official man
ner, its adoption of the doctrinal articles of the Augs
burg Confession, as a substantially correct exhibition
of the fundamental docrines of the Word of God.
The "minority entered a protest, expressing deep
grief "that by this action of the General Synod its
constitution has been sadly and lamentably violated."
The delegation of the Pennsylvania Synod further
presented a paper, recalling that their Synod had re
newed organic relations, with the reservation that
should the General Synod violate its constitution,
and require assent to anything conflicting with the old
and long established faith of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, its delegates shall protest against such action,
withdraw from its sessions and report to their body,
and declaring their purpose "to withdraw from the
sessions of the General Synod, in order to report to
the Synod of Pennsylvania at its approaching con
vention."

368 The Lutherans in America.
The vote for the admission of the Franckean Synod
was by no means entirely on confessional lines. Many
who gave their voice in favor of it regarded the adop
tion of the constitution of the General Synod by that
body, a virtual adoption of the Augsburg Confession,
and held that their promise to adopt it formally
at their next regular session was evidence of their
good faith.
The withdrawal of the Pennsylvania delegation was
unanimously approved by that Synod at its next con
vention. Nevertheless it adopted the constitutional
amendments which had been sent down to it, as to the
other synods, and the following year chose a full dele
gation to the General Synod at its meeting at Fort
Wayne, but in the organization of that body the chair
ruled that that Synod must be considered "in a state
of practical withdrawal from the governing functions
of the General Synod," and that consequently its
delegation could not be received until after the organ
ization of the convention.
Three days' discussion of the question followed this
parliamentary ruling, the members of the Pennsylva
nia delegation participating. They were subsequently
requested by resolution "to waive what may seem to
them an irregular organization of this Body, and to
acquiesce in the present organization." Their re
sponse to this was, that if "this Body shall now declare
that the Synod of Pennsylvania had, as it claimed to
have, the constitutional right to be represented before
the election of officers, and to take part in it, we are
perfectly willing to waive the right of voting, will ac
quiesce in the present organization, and will take our

Formation of the General Synod. 369
seats in this Body, equals among equals." The reply
of the majority that "they could not conscientiously
recede" from their action, and a protest from the mi
nority, closed the conflict on the floor of the Synod.
The die was cast. The prospect of a general
Evangelical Lutheran organization in this country
was dispelled. At its next convention the Pennsyl
vania Synod formally severed its relations with the
General Synod. The Ministerium of New York fol
lowed, at the cost of a schism in its own constituency,
nearly all its English churches and pastors adher
ing to the General Synod. The Pittsburg Synod also
withdrew and experienced a rupture. The English
Ohio, the Minnesota and the Texas Synods took the
same course, and the Synod of Illinois was disbanded,
to be reorganized on the lines along which the whole
Church, including not a few individual congregations,
was being rent asunder.
Shortly after the unhappy dissensions at York in
1864, Rev. James A. Brown, D. D., succeeded Dr. S. S.
Schmucker as Professor of Theology in the Gettys
burg Seminary. He immediately became one of the
most conspicuous as he was probably the ablest
champion of the General Synod. He wielded a pow
erful pen, was skilled in polemics, and on the floor of
Synod, in particular, was such a master in debate as
to bear down all opposition. He had been wont to
affiliate with the conservatives, and was firmly set
against certain teachings and tendencies of their an
tagonists. He had inflicted heavy blows on the "Defi
nite Platform" and other deviations from sound Lu
theranism, and was wont to denounce all fanaticisms,

37o

The Lutherans in America.

and but for the unhappy conflict now thrust upon the
Church, he might have long co-operated in the de
velopment of the Lutheran Church with many of
those who left the General Synod ; but when in the
progress of the struggle the assaults of the opposition
were directed principally against the Seminary over
which he presided and against the doctrinal basis of
the General Synod, he contended with might and

MIDLAND COLLEGE, ATCHISON, KANSAS.
main against what he considered the revival of the
" Old Lutheran theology."
" As the result of his teachings," says Dr. Charles
A. Stork, "there went forth from Gettysburg a suc
cession of young men who had a new view of the Lu
theran Church, of her theology, her spirit and genius,
and of the work she had to do. * * They were
learning to value their own mother Church, and her

Formation of the General Synod. 371
rich and full type of Christian doctrine and life. It
is true our young men did not know Lutheran theol
ogy thoroughly ; on many minor points they were
cloudy. But they were set on the way to know that
theology. They had a belief in the true individuality
and value of her type of life, and they began to build
the walls on the old foundations. For much of this
the Church of to-day owes a debt of gratitude to Dr.
Brown's theological work." His sudden disability by
a stroke of paralysis in the prime of his eminent en
dowments, caused universal sorrow, and was viewed,
even by those most hostile to his position, as a great
calamity. Since the division in 1866 six synods, several of them
having grown up in the west, have united with the
General Synod, which now aggregates 23 synods, 997
ministers, 1,364 congregations, and 153,064 communi
cants. It receives and holds "with the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of our fathers, the Word of God, as
contained in the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments, as the only infallible rule of faith
and practice, and the Augsburg Confession as.a cor
rect exhibition of the fundamental doctrines of the
Divine Word, and of the faith of our Church founded
upon that Word." And whatever may have been
the case in the past, the specific doctrines of the
Lutheran Confessions are to-day taught explicitly
and ex animo in all the theological schools connected
with the General Synod. The standard reference
book in each of them is Schmid's Theology of the Lu
theran Church.

CHAPTER XI.

THE INDEPENDENT SYNODS.

THE TENNESSEE SYNOD.

THE very year which brought into being the Gen
eral Synod witnessed also the organization of
the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod, a
body which, for a long time, was its only antagonist.
Whatever other causes may have been active in sepa
rating the founders of this body from the Synod of
North Carolina, doctrinal hostility, both to that body
and to the newly-formed General Synod became im
mediately prominent. Rev. Dr. Bernheim says : "Doc
trinal differences were at first not very apparent, ex
cept on the ordination question ; however it was per
ceptible, as early as 1816, that everything was tending
toward a disruption, and that only some occasion or
circumstance was wanting to produce it."
The1 occasion was offered when the North Carolina
Synod, in order to send a representative to the Penn
sylvania Synod in 1819, for the purpose of consider
ing the project of a General Synod, held its annual
meeting six weeks earlier than the appointed time.
When the regular time arrived on Trinity Sunday,
Rev. Philip Henkel, who had given notice that he
could not recognize the irregular meeting, his brother,
Rev. David Henkel, a catechist of the synod, and Rev.
Joseph Bell, a candidate, assembled at Organ Church,
372

The Independent Synods. 373
Rowan county, N. C, for the purpose of holding
Synod. The two latter were ordained by the former.
As the use of the church was denied them for Synod
ical business, the ordination took place in the grove
adjoining. The proceedings of the earlier meeting
were pronounced null and void, and the three brethren
assumed the name and title of the Synod of North
Carolina. Warm controversies ensued and these de
veloped a sharp conflict of doctrine which rendered
fruitless all attempts at reconciliation in the following
year, when both bodies assembled at the same time
and place to hold a Synodical convention. After
an earnest discussion of their differences, the majority
withdrew to another building. Those who remained
soon adjourned and a few months later, July 17, 1820,
completed the organization of the Tennessee Synod,
adopting this name on account of the state in which
they met, their congregations being scattered also
over the Carolinas and Virginia.
The doctrines dividing the two parties were chiefly
Original Sin, the Person of Christ, and especially Bap
tism and the Lord's Supper. On all these the North
Carolina Synod was condemned as holding unluther-
an views, and "the plan for a general union of our
church," so warmly espoused by that synod, was de
clared to be "against the Augsburg Confession." The
General Synod was denounced as a hierarchy depriv
ing the congregations of their rights," a measure re
plete with mischief, threatening imminent danger to
the liberties of the American people." All the other
Synods were in fact condemned as heretical.
The new organization was the only synod which

374 The Lutherans in America.
then formally and unqualifiedly received the Augs
burg Confesssion. Its members considered it for a
long time their special mission to oppose the General
Synod and to preserve and develop the pure Lutheran
faith in America. Their leader and ablest champion
to the time of his death was Rev. David Henkel, a son
of Rev. Paul Henkel. By close application and pri
vate study he had acquired a knowledge of Latin and
Greek, of Hebrew and Theology, and understood the
mastery of men as well as of books.
For the sake of preserving a language which con
tained the treasures of Lutheran literature, German
was at first made obligatory in the discussions of the
Synod, but in less than twenty years its use disap
peared, and that without any abatement in the devo
tion to Lutheran doctrine. During a period of forty-
five years the Augsburg Confession was recognized
as a sufficient exponent of the Lutheran faith, while
Luther's Small Catechism was the manual for the in
struction of the young. But in 1866 the other Symbols
were declared to be a faithful scriptural explanation
of the doctrines contained in the Augsburg Confes
sion. As general indifference to those features which
characterize the Lutheran Church had long prevailed,
the apprehension of Lutheran doctrines was to these
men like a new and rich discovery, and the tide run
ning strongly against them, had the effect of making
them very firm and zealous in their maintenance.
Great stress was laid upon them in their preaching.
They were talked about constantly by the way and at
the fireside and made an all important element in the
examination of candidates for the ministry. Thus

The Independent Synods. 375
the clergy, whatever their defects, have always been
well grounded in Lutheran dogmatics.
A high standard of general education was always
advocated, and though proper institutions were at first
lacking, all candidates were expected to submit to an
examination in Greek and Hebrew. Even after they
had received license to preach as deacons they were
required to prosecute their studies from two to six
years before they could enter fully the pastoral office.
The Synod, in the interests of a thorough preparation
and indoctrination, deviated in this for some time from
the Lutheran principle of the parity of ministers.
Fully persuaded that the doctrines of the Lutheran
Church were the doctrines of God's Word and recog
nizing the duty of those who have came to a knowl
edge of the truth to publish it to the world, these
Tennesseeans had recourse to the press and issued
from time to time a number of translations from Ger
man theological works, as well as original doctrinal,
devotional and polemic treatises, being in this respect
as well as in their unreserved acceptance of the Con
fession far in advance of the other Lutheran Synods.
Fortunately a publishing house had been founded by
the Henkel family as early as 1805 at New Market,
Va. When the Tennessee Synod was formed this
came at once into its service, and it had until very re
cently good grounds for the claim that it has pub
lished more distinctively Lutheran theological works
in the English language than any other publishing
house in the world. Its most daring and important
enterprise was the English translation of the Chris
tian Book of Concord, or the whole of the Lutheran

CONCORDIA COLLEGE, CONOVER, N. C.

The Independent Synods. $JJ
Symbols, the first edition of which appeared in 185 1.
It was a work of faith and self-sacrificing devotion, con
ceived and directed by a layman, Dr. Samuel Godfrey
Henkel, but encouraged and supported by the Synod.
A second, revised edition was called for three years
later. "Luther on the Sacraments" was issued in 1853,
and Luther's " Church Postil," Sermons on the Epis
tles for the Sundays and Festivals of the year, in 1869.
The result of these publications in reviving and pre
serving the faith of our fathers cannot be estimated,
and the pain of heart with which we note this first
rupture of the Lutheran body in America, is consider
ably relieved when one sees how the providence of God
employed it to recover the buried and almost for
gotten treasures of the Reformation and to coin them
into the current language of this great country.
Catechisation was from the beginning the main re
liance for building up congregations. For many
years no one except in very special cases was con
firmed without a previous course of instruction. The
pastors were wont to teach continuously from ten to
fifteen days of six hours each. They used the Cate
chism as a basis. With this they propounded ques
tions to awaken thought, and after stating clearly a
specific truth required each catechumen to find and
mark the proof-text in his own bible. They dismissed
no subject until they were sure that conviction had
been wrought. Patient, faithful and devoted in this
work, they made their catechumens intelligent Lu
therans, enlightened Christians, and it was only in
rare cases that a member of their congregations, no

378 The Lutherans in America.
matter what his location or situation, left the Lu
theran Church.
Always animated by the missionary spirit, the ag
gressive work of the Synod was very much hindered
and has been largely misunderstood through a singu
lar article in its Constitution. Dreading whatever
savors of the union of Church and State, it prohib
ited the Synod from becoming an incorporated body
and from having a treasury for either missions or
Theological Seminaries. This precluded efficient
organization and a business-like management of the
cause, but although this interfered materially with the
garnering of the harvest, it did not damp the ardor
nor arrest the activity of sowing the seed. The statis
tics may not be flattering, but the ministers, almost to
a man, were missionaries in every sense of the word.
With no board to aid them, no treasury to support
them, they made long journeys North, West and
South, in nine different States, on horse-back, over
rough ways, through wild and thinly settled districts,
exposed to serious dangers, and suffering great priva
tions, teaching, preaching, baptizing, organizing con
gregations and administering the Holy Supper, trust
ing for their expenses to the communities which they
visited. Some of the ministers devoted half their
time to this work. In later years missionary opera
tions have been conducted through the three confer
ences into which the Synod is divided.
As the visible result of her missionary work, the
Tennessee Synod points to the organization of the
Indiana Synod in 1835, the English Conference of
Missouri, which has become a district of the Missouri

The Independent Synods. 379
Synod, and the Holston Synod, organised in i860 by
the ministers and congregations in the State of Ten
nessee. Notwithstanding these separations and in
spite of a multitude of pecLiliar obstacles, the parent
body still numbers thirty-two ministers, somewhat
more than one hundred congregations, ten thou
sand communicants, " intelligent, reading, thinking
and industrious people," and has flourishing schools at
Conover and Dallas, both in the State of North
Carolina, and at Luray, Va. Concordia College at Con-
over has both a Theological and a Collegiate depart
ment, and is controlled by the Synod. The other two
are female institutions in the hands of successful in
structors. In one of its first conventions this Synod
put upon record its conviction that slavery is an evil
and appealed to the government to devise measures
for its abolition. It called likewise upon slave-owners
to provide in the meantime for the Christian educa
tion of their slaves, a large number of whom it
appears from the pastoral reports were baptized by
its pastors. The Columbus Standard was its organ
till the outbreak of the war. It now publishes " Our
Church Paper."
The Synod maintained its independence until in
July 1886 at Roanoke, Va., it joined with the other
Lutherans Synods of the South in forming the United
Synod, a union being thus effected of bodies which
had for fifty years antagonized each other. The
grounds for this happy consummation are numerous.
Time had softened the asperities of religious contro
versy. Old prejudices had died away. A spirit of
concord and co-operation had made itself felt. A

380 The Lutherans in America.
sense of responsibility to gather the harvest which
Providence had ripened, pointed to union as the con
dition of success. The Tennesseeans were not con
scious of any relaxation of Lutheran orthodoxy, yet
in some respects a more liberal tendency prevailed.
A new constitution was adopted in 1866 and the ma
jority were sufficiently satisfied with the confessional
advance which marked the other Synods to enter into
organic relations with them. Finally by education, by
long contact and personal association, both parties
had mutually come to a better understanding of each
other's spirit principles and work.
THE JOINT SYNOD OF OHIO.
The oldest Lutheran organization west of the Alle
gheny mountains is the Joint Synod of Ohio and ad
jacent States. Its beginnings date back to 18 12, be
tween which date and 181 7 special conferences were
held of the various Lutheran pastors who had found
their way to the new State of Ohio. The name
of Conference was retained down to the year 1830.
The first meeting of the Joint Synod, as such, was not
held until 1833. Its origin and development did not
spring from the deliberations of an older body in the
East, but rather from the necessity of the case as seen
and appreciated by a few Lutheran pastors. People
of the Lutheran faith were found among the early set
tlers of Ohio, chiefly in Fairfield, Perry, Pickaway,
Montgomery, Columbiana, Stark and Jefferson coun
ties. The missionary spirit that now prompts the
Lutheran Synods to look to the spiritual interests of
their brethren who seek homes and fortunes in remote

REV. TV. P. LEHHAKN.

The Independent Synods. 381
districts, did not operate then as it does now. The
understanding and appreciation of the historic teach
ings of the Church of the Reformation had not been
so fully developed, and accordingly had not become
so determined and aggressive. The few weak synods
had, besides, such an abundance of labor in their own
territory that little could be done for the destitute
brethren in the West. The pioneer gospel work de
volved therefore, of necessity, mainly upon those who
in themselves felt the call and the need of planting
the Lutheran Church in the new settlements and
gathering into folds her scattered children.
The work of that day had a unique character and
was really indicative of greater zeal and fervor than
are the organized missionary efforts of our synods in
the new West at present. Neither money nor honor
awaited those first messengers of the cross. They
could expect only a living, a poor one at that as a
rule, and the approval of their conscience. By men
of this stamp and actuated by this spirit were laid the
foundations for the first Lutheran Synod of the West.
They employed almost exclusively the German tongue
the object being to gather into congregations those
who in Europe had been members of the Lutheran
state churches, or in the East had been Lutheran.
Even yet is the Home Mission activity of the Lutherans
distinguished from that of the other denominations by
the fact that it aims primarily, and often exclusively,
at gathering their own lost sheep. The English por
tion of the Church has of late years addressed itself
more to the general public and with cheering results.
The founders of the Ohio Synod introduced English

382 The Lutherans in America.
at an early date. The rapid Americanization of the
German Lutherans, especially in language, made it im
perative, and soon led to the organization of an Eng
lish district.
These pastors had a task before them not easy to
accomplish. The Lutherans were widely scattered.
They were poor in this world's goods, but, as a rule,
anxious to hear the Gospel and from teachers of their
own Church. The facilities for getting from one place
to another were exceedingly poor, and the almost end
less journeys of these preachers, generally on horse
back, always involved great fatigue, privation and
often danger. One would frequently spend six or
seven weeks on a missionary tour of this sort. Such
hospitality as the people could give he accepted, and
his remuneration was generally little o r nothing. The
story of the ups and downs of these men and the zeal
they displayed reads almost like a romance. It is
refreshing in these days when the general tendencies
of the churches, and of their pastors, in a measure too,
are toward effeminacy and ease, to read of the sturdy
courage, the untiring activity, and the persistent
heroic enterprise of these men. They were, perhaps,
not as deeply versed in theological lore as are the pas
tors of to-day. Their libraries consisted merely of a
handful of books, and they did not have the time or
opportunity to secure scholastic attainments. But
though lacking in their heads they were rich in their
hearts. Their preaching was the promulgation of the
simple Gospel truth without much rhetorical flourish
or ornamental paraphernalia. But they worked sue-

WERNLE ORPHANS HOME, RICHMOND, IND.

384 The Lutherans in America.
cessfully in a field that required greater devotion and
enterprise than do the missionary efforts of to-day.
The growth of the Ohio Synod has been steady,
and in comparison with most of the other Lutheran
Synods, rapid. Its present statistics are two hundred
and seventy pastors, sixty-five parochial school teach
ers, four hundred and twenty congregations and fifty-
seven thousand eight hundred and seventy-two com
municants. It was from the beginning zealous for
education and in the number of its institutions com
pares very favorably with the other Lutheran bodies.
The Theological Seminary at Columbus was estab
lished in 1833. Capital University at the same place.
in 1850. It sustains now five different higher institu
tions, with nearly three hundred students for the cleri
cal or pedagogic vocation, and a Home sheltering one
hundred orphans
The running expenses of these institutions reach
the sum of $30,000, all of which except what is de
rived from the publishing house at Columbus, is pro
vided by the benevolence of the congregations. The
cost of their erection has also been borne by the
people in general, the largest single donation thus far
made being $5,000.00, contributed several years ago for
the liquidation of the debt on Capital University.
The rapid. growth of the work of the Synod in the
last ten or fifteen years as compared with that of the
decades preceding, is due largely to the rapid
development of missionary interest and the increase
of territory occupied by the Synod. Ten years ago
the different districts of the Synod, of which there
were six, two English and the rest German, did a

The Independent Synods. 385
little work in this direction, but the appointment of a
general Mission Committee, in 1884, marked the begin
ning of a new era. Missionary work is now being done
in twenty states and territories, from North Carolina
and Maryland in the East to Oregon and Washing
ton Territory in the West. Formerly there was not
a single missionary engaged exclusively in the work,
the pastors doing what they could in this direction in
addition to their congregational duties, now there are
twenty-six missionaries under the direction of the
Committee and fully twenty-five more have been called
for. Some of these missionaries have as high as a
dozen, fifteen or even twenty preaching places, the ma
jority of which in a short time generally become fully
organized congregations. The annual expenses of
the Mission Committee are about twelve thousand
dollars, a large proportion of which is raised by the
Sunday-schools on Children's Day. The most of this
work is among the German emigrants of the West,
although English interests are cared for also, particu
larly in the larger cities. The cause is growing in the
Synod in a most encouraging manner and is one of
the best signs of its inner prosperity and soundness.
The Ohio Synod has all along, with the exception
of about a dozen years when it was in connection
with the Synodical Conference, been an independent
body. Efforts were made in earlier times to form a
union with the General Synod and later with the
General Council ; but in both cases the attempt
proved a failure. This was the case principally on
account of the conservative and strictly confessional
Standpoint of the Ohio Synod. The union with the

386 The Ltdherans in America.
Conference was severed in 1881, on account of the
doctrine of Predestination as taught by the Missouri
Synod, the leading member of the Conference. The
Synod has at no time enjoyed a more flourishing
period than it does now, and the prospects for success
ful work were never better. The language question
has caused but little difficulty. Just now it is the trans
ition period, and in fully one third of the charges both
German and English preaching are required, the
former for the older the latter for the younger
element. There are thirty or forty exclusively Eng
lish congregations. This state of affairs is reflected
in the institutions, in which the German and the
English are both used as mediums of instruction and
intercourse. On the floor of Synod both languages
have equal rights and all transactions are recorded
in both. Its popular periodicals, TheStandard and
Die Lutherische Kirchcnzeitung, and its theological
journals, The Theological Monthly and Theologfische
Zeitblaetter are ably conducted, and it has made valu
able contributions to permanent church literature.
THE IOWA SYNOD.
The German Synod of Iowa and other States ac
cepts the Bible as the only rule of faith and the Lu
theran Confessions as "the pure and unadulterated rep
resentation of the divine Word and Law." It con
demns secret societies as anti-christian and repudiates
all unionistic tendencies. Holding unreservedly all
doctrines of faith expressed in the Symbolical Books
as binding, it allows diversity of opinion on theological
questions which do not come in conflict with articles

Rev. GOTTFRIED FRITSCHEL, E>. ».

The Independent Synods. 387
of faith. Among such "open questions " in which full
agreement, though desirable, is not absolutely neces
sary to Church fellowship, are " the development and
explanation of Eschatology, Anti-Christ, the Sabbath
and the Holy Office."
In the fall of 1853, Rev. G. Grossman, Superintend
ent of the first Protestant Normal School of this
country, who had come into collision with the Mis
souri Synod on one of the above "questions," removed
his school to Dubuque, Iowa, so as not to occasion
schisms in neighboring congregations of that body.
After some disheartening trials, he began teaching
here with two students who had accompanied him ;
several were sent from Germany and on November
10 a seminary was opened in a building which served
as church, parsonage, school-room and professor's resi
dence. Free lodging was the professor's salary. In
the following July Rev. Sigmund Fritschel became
second instructor. These two in company with Rev.
J. Deindoerfer, who had left Michigan along with
Grossman and settled west of Dubuque, and Rev. M.
Schueller who served a congregation near Dubuque,
formed themselves, August 24, 1854, at St. Sebald, into
the EvangelicanLutheral Synod of Iowa.
No Synod in the United States has been founded
under more discouraging prospects. Its three congre
gations — one consisting of less than six families — were
absolutely unable to support a seminary. Once dur
ing that year the institution was actually discontinued
for a few days, when an unexpected gift enabled the
work to be resumed. But for many years all had to
live and labor in great poverty as but little financial

388

The Lutherans in America.

support came from congregations. The seminary
was removed to St. Sebald, 1857, where a part of its
support could be raised on a farm. The professors
for the time received house-rent and board. Rev. S.
Fritschel had accepted a call to a congregation in
1854, as only one teacher could be supported ; but in
May, 1857, his brother, Rev. Gottfried Fritschel, took
his place, while a year later he returned to the sem
inary. In 1855 the Synod had five ministers and five con-

ttyBiilR

GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ORPHAN ASYLUM, TOLEDO, O.
gregations, in 1856 nine and eight respectively; in
1858 these figures had grown to eighteen and thirty-
one ; in 1861 to thirty-six and fifty. In its eleventh
year, 1865, it reached fifty ministers, seventy congrega
tions and six thousand communicants.
From its organization this body showed earnest
missionary zeal. No distance was too great, no roads

The Independent Synods. 389
too rough, no season too unfavorable ; in the heat of
summer and in the cold blasts of western winters,
through mud, slush and frozen streams, ministers
sought and served new fields of labor. One professor
frequently walked twenty-five miles and back be
tween Saturday and Monday; another served congre
gations more than forty miles from his place of resi
dence, traveling mostly afoot.
When the Buffalo and Missouri Synods maintained
a contest, especially on the ministerial office, the Iowa
Synod held an intermediate position between the
democratic view of Missouri and the episcopal of
Buffalo. It seemed for a time as though Iowa could
work in harmony with Buffalo, and ministers of the
former synod were called to congregations of the lat
ter. But on account of certain eschatological views
entertained by some of the Iowa men, these friendly
relations were not long maintained.
The Missouri Synod took from the beginning a hos
tile stand toward members of the Iowa Synod. By
its influential press these were vigorously attacked
and the reproach of heresy was sought to be fixed
upon them even in Germany. All endeavors to pro
mote a good understanding between the two bodies
proved vain, all explanations were misunderstood or
misinterpreted. But Iowa did not relax its efforts
to bring about peace with Missouri as well as with
other synods. Its relations with the Minnesota and
the Wisconsin Synods became very friendly, and event
ually its continued endeavors were so far successful
that a Colloquium was held with the Missouri Synod,
November 13-19, 1867, at Milwaukee, Wis. The re-

390 The Lutherans in America.
suit was deemed encouraging by many. Though no
agreement had been attained peace seemed possible.
Throughout this period the territory of the Iowa
Synod continued to widen. A number of congrega
tions were formed in the vicinity of Toledo, Ohio, Des
Moines, Iowa, Madison, Wis., in south-eastern Mis
souri, in Illinois and elsewhere. Missionary work was
also undertaken among the Indians. The first trials
were made in 1856 by Rev. Jakob Schmidt in Canada;
he went in 1858 to the Crows or Upsarokas between
the Yellowstone river and the Black Hills. In 1859
he and M. Braeuninger, Doederlein and Seyler with
two colonists started to establish a station on the
Powder river, Wyoming, but i860, missionary Braeun
inger was murdered by a band of Sioux.
A new station on the Deer Creek, Neb., was estab
lished among the Zistas or Cheyennes. Three Indian
boys were given to be educated ; missionary Krebs
translated Luther's Catechism into the Cheyenne
language and in 1863 the missionaries had commenced
to preach in the Cheyenne language, when the Sioux
induced all Indians in Nebraska to go upon the war
path. The missionaries reluctantly withdrew, only
when a party of Sioux approached expressly to mur
der them. Thus unhappily ended the Indian mission
in its very infancy. The Indian boys fled with the
missionaries and were afterwards baptized. Two of
them lie buried at St. Sebald ; a plain cross marks the
place; and the short inscription: "Two Indians,"
tells the story of a relatively fruitless enterprise.
The persistent attacks upon the Synod created
gradually dissatisfaction within its bosom. In order

The Independent Synods. 391
to set forth unmistakably its position the paragraph
stating the doctrinal basis was changed to the form
which had been used at every ordination from the
very beginning. No change of doctrinal position was
intended, but simply a more unmistakable form was
adopted at Davenport 1873. The Synod was at once
charged with having surrendered its former doctrinal
basis, and by various means it was sought to produce
dissatisfaction and disharmony within the body.
From May 1, 1874 until October 15, 1875 the attacks
of the " Lutheraner " were sent broadcast to ministers
and members of the Iowa Synod. As a result of this
the appearance of an organized party in the Synod
divergent in objects yet one in opposition, and the
dissolution of the Synod, seemed inevitable. The gen
eral meeting appointed for 1876 had to be held in
1875 at Madison. It adopted a series of resolutions
clearly and finally stating its doctrinal basis ; and the
opposition broke into fragments. About twenty min
isters severed their connection, leaving the number in
the Synod about one hundred. Only a few of the
congregations could be induced to secede with them,
and the withdrawing ministers connected themselves
mostly with Synods of the Synodical Conference.
In a suit-at-law brought by a majority of the con
gregation at Wilton, Iowa, to recover property from
the minority and the pastor, the decision was in favor
of the Iowa party, and the Supreme Court of Iowa
sustained the judgment of the lower courts.
It had been alleged that the attacks upon the Iowa
Synod were made on documentary evidence from
official publications of the Synod. These proofs were

392 The Lutherans in America.
examined and refuted in " Iowa and Missouri," an ex
ceedingly thorough work in which it is claimed the
position of the Iowa Synod was fully vindicated.
The Theological Seminary was removed in 1874 to
Mendota, Ills., and occupied a building of the former
Mendota College of the General Synod.
The severe trials through which the Synod passed
gave it greater strength and a rapid increase. At the
Ouarto-Centennial, celebrated in 1879 at Maxfield,
Iowa, a Teachers' Seminary was established. In 1885
the College founded in 1868 was united with it and
the institution is now in a flourishing condition at
Waverly, Iowa, with an able staff of instructors. The
Seminary also outgrew its quarters and when the
Synod in 1888 called for $10,000 to erect buildings
at Dubuque, the congregations responded with $15,000.
The new building will accomodate ninety students.
Home Mission work was systematically organized
in 1879 and the Synod has since worked quietly, but
diligently, throughout the West, among the immi
grants. Though every year from fifteen to twenty
new workers are sent into the field these are insuf
ficient to supply all the urgent applications. The rapid
increase of recent years is as follows: 1875, one hun
dred and fourteen ministers, one hundred and eighty
congregations; 1882, one hundred and seventy minis
ters, two hundred and seventy-five congregations ;
1889, two hundred and seventy-two ministers, five hun
dred congregations, and not less than forty thousand
communicants. The Synod is divided into six districts, which meet
annually ; whilst the delegate Synod meets every third

The Independent Synods. 393
year. Conferences are held for deliberation and the
discussion of theological questions. Visitations are
made to superintend the enforcement of the princi
ples of the Synod. All the money necessary for the
support of the Synod and its institutions is raised by
the voluntary contributions of the congregations.
Besides the Seminary and the College, the Synod
sustains two Orphans' homes; one at Toledo, Ohio
and one at Andrew, Iowa. Support is given to the
Foreign Missions of the General Council as well as
to some Missionary Societies in Germany. The
Wartburg Publishing House furnishes Lutheran books
for home, school and church use, and three periodicals,
the " Kirchenblatt," the " Kirchliche Zeitschrift," and
" Waisenhausblaetter." A Mutual Aid Society assists
widows and orphans ; and a " Pfarrwittwen-Kasse "
pays an annuity to widows of deceased ministers.
The Iowa Synod has always maintained friendly
relations with the General Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, and has worked in harmony with
it. But thus far it has not united organically with
the Council ; while it sincerely hopes the time will
come when every obstacle to union may be removed.
One of its strong men, Rev. Gottfried Fritschel,
D. D., has just passed to his reward. From the time
of his ordination in 1857 he served as Professor in
the Wartburg Seminary, where he labored with un
faltering diligence, with profound attainments and
with enthusiasm for the Lutheran Church and her
faith. Not less than four hundred students sat at
his feet during this period and " he has left an impress
upon all these minds which the Lutheran Church in

394 The Lutherans in America.
America will never cease to feel." He was beloved
as a preacher as he was tireless in missionary activity.
Of an irenic temper and diffident almost to £. fault,
circumstances forced him into controversies which he
conducted with great ability and vigor. The pros
perity which has attended the Iowa Synod and its
Seminary is due under God in large measure "to the
unpretentious and quiet but solid and faithful work
which he did as a professor and teacher."
THE NORWEGIANS.
Kling Petersen, the first immigrant from Norway
of whom we have any history, came to America in
1821. He returned after three years and aroused an
American interest among his people. Rigging out a
small vessel, he left Stavanger with fifty-two persons,
July 4, 1825. Landing in New York, October 9, the
little band proceeded to Rochester, N. Y., where they
formed the first Norwegian colony in America.
In 1836-7 the first colonists settled in the west along
Fox river, in La Salle county, 111. Since then there
has been a steadily increasing stream, bringing some
years as high as fifteen thousand. These new comers
are scattered over the whole country, so that Nor
wegian Lutheran churches are now found from Port
land, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, from Manitoba to
Texas. For years the people were destitute of pas
toral care. They had brought with them their Bibles,
hymn-books and devotional manuals, and thus they
enjoyed the means of private edification, but having
no church organization they suffered sad spiritual des
titution. On every returning Lord's day they were

The Independent Synods. 395
forcibly reminded of the wonted ringing of the church
bells, of the stately churches, the beautiful liturgical
service, the soul-stirring song, the richly robed minis
ter, the elaborate sermon — in short of the entire wor
ship, as they had enjoyed it in their native home.
Those of a more decidedly Christian character called
" Hauge's Friends," having been awakened by the re
ligious movement under Hauge in Norway, did all in
their power for spiritual improvement. They assem
bled with the people both on Sunday and week days
for mutual edification. They had experienced the
grace of God upon their own hearts, and would thus
with power and unction exhort the people. They
encouraged the faithful, strengthened the weak, and
awakened the slumbering; but this supplied only in a
measure the pressing want, and could not fill the place
of public worship and pastoral care.
Scattered as sheep without shepherd these strangers
were also subject to the proselyting schemes of sec
tarians. The Episcopalians approached them with
their specious plea of "essentially no difference."
The Baptists by ordaining a proselyte expected to
gain entrance into the Lutheran fold. Even the Mor
mons attempted, but in vain, to make inroads among
them. Very few were misled by these encroachments.
Some of them gladly returned to their spiritual home.
The faith that possessed their hearts guarded them
against a trumpet giving "an uncertain sound." The
Norwegians are conservative. Their Lutheranism
has such root in their hearts that they do not readily
exchange it for every new " ism." Proselytism among
them has, therefore, seldom been a success.

396 The Lutherans in America.
A spiritual awakening visited, in 1839, the commu
nity along the Fox river, where lay preachers were
laboring, and in the following year the first "meeting
house " was erected. There was no ordained minister
among them until 1843, when Mr. C. L. Clausen, who
had been a lay preacher in the old country, having re
ceived a call from the congregations at Muskego and
Yorkville, Wis., was ordained by a German Lutheran,
Rev. C. F. Krause, of Milwaukee. In 1845 tne nrst
Norwegian Church was built in Muskego.
A synodical organization was attempted in 1846,
but beyond a declaration of general principles noth
ing was effected. Another meeting, called at Middle-
town, 111., in September, 1848, in order to meet the
demands of the State laws, adopted as a rule for the
congregations the " Church Discipline of the Franck
ean Synod," by which one of the ministers had been
ordained. The Hauge's Synod dates from 1850.
No closer union between congregations took place
until the fall of 185 1, when the Norwegian, Swedish
and English Lutherans united to form the Synod of
Northern Illinois. In the year i860, the two former
withdrew on account of doctrinal differences, and in
June of the same year organized the Scandinavian
Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in which the
Norwegians and Swedes worked harmoniously to
gether until 1870, when they separated on the line of
nationality, and the Norwegian Augustana Synod
was formed. It was composed also of followers of
Hauge, having special concern for conversion and
being in sympathy with the Hauge Synod, but more
conservative, "prizing the Lutheran faith above every-

The Independent Synods. 397
thing," yet dispensing with Liturgical worship. This
body was the first to establish Sunday-schools and to
introduce English in public services.
Those who in 1870 formed the " Conference " form
erly belonged to the Augustana Synod, but a reaction
against its bald worship and in favor of churchly
practice led to the formation of a separate body. Its
special zeal for churchliness and home missions has
given it phenomenal progress.
With efficient organization and an ever-increasing
emigration the Norwegian communion has had a
steady growth. From the feeble beginnings little
more than a generation ago have sprung 460 minis
ters, over 1,400 congregations and more than 140,000
communicants, maintaining five Theological Semina
ries, two colleges, three preparatory schools and four
religious papers.
The work of gathering in has been relatively easy.
Even when wanting in personal piety the respect of
the Norwegians for the Church and the Lutheran
faith is such that unless they have become quite un
godly they mostly seek of their own accord the
Church to which all belonged in the old country. A
little encouragement seldom fails to win them.
Great missionary activity has been shown from the
beginning, and it has been constantly increasing.
This aggressive zeal is largely due to the foreign
missionary interest which prevails in the mother
church, and which is intensified here where means and
opportunity are at hand. Two missionaries from
Madagascar, each visiting congregations here some
six months, within the last year, collected about

398

The Lutherans in America.

$11,000 for that field. At its first organization the
Church here was exclusively a missionary enterprise.
No sooner had the old congregations become well
established and self-supporting, than calls came to
them constantly from new regions to send them

NORWEGIAN SEAMEN'S CHURCH, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
ministers and establish churches among them. Nor
has the cry abated yet. Immigration is greater than
ever before, removals from the old settlements and
cities are constantly going on, and the people are now
scattered into nearly every state and territory in the

The Independent Synods. 399
Union. The majority of the annual Seminary gradu
ates are sent into the mission field. With all that has
been accomplished the means at hand are still utterly
inadequate to meet the demands constantly made
from all directions.
Great praise for the growth of the Norwegian
Church is due to the early ministers, who laid a good
foundation. Constrained by the love of Christ and
deeming themselves called of God and men, because
of the spiritual wants of their countrymen, they shrank
from no sacrifice. The pioneer work was connected
with all manner of hardships. The earliest immi
grants were mostly poor people, many of them even in
actual want. For years they had to battle against
poverty, sickness, and numerous privations and disad
vantages. Among such people, widely scattered, the
first ministers were called to labor, necessitated to
make long and difficult journeys, and to preach in small
crowded houses and as a rule with no compensation.
In this way, by being more of itinerant than local
preachers, with many congregations and preaching
places, it was that the people were kept together and
preserved to the Church. The sermon had often
little polish, but it had pith and marrow. It gave
the pure, unadorned and unadulterated Word. And
this is what the people longed for and what gave them
strength and joy. A visit from the pastor every four
or six weeks had to suffice. It proved a season of re
freshing and kept them constant in the faith. The
work was arduous, done for love's sake and not for
lucre. It was richly blessed of God to the spiritual
nourishment and preservation of many people.

400 The Lutherans in America.
[/ The Norwegian branch of the Church presents a
remarkable spectacle. From the very beginning of
its organization here there have been three different
parties, which have now grown to five, each maintain
ing tenets and practices of its own, while all claim to
be distinctively Lutheran. Different tendencies came
over from the mother church. Some of the emigrants
were adherents of the reformer Hauge, marked by
great simplicity and earnestness. Others came here
in full sympathy with the State Church. These
were opposed to the pietists, of a more churchly turn,
zealous for the faith, and devoted to the usages of the
home Church, a full liturgy, clerical vestments, etc.
Their ministers came generally from the Universities.
Another element was mediate between these.
These diversities became here more fully developed,
and violent controversies broke out. Yet the organi
zation of different Synods had not been possible had
not questions and differences of a graver nature
arisen. The pietistic and orthodox tendencies might
have been united in their work and in brotherly love
had not important doctrinal issues come to the
front. The first trouble of this kind "arose with the first
two ministers who advocated the doctrines of Grundt-
vig." So radical a departure from the Lutheran
doctrine rendered co-operation in work impossible.
The breach already existing was greatly widened.
Another conflict turned on the activity of laymen,
whether they should have the right of prayer and ex
hortation in public assemblies. Those of the Hauge
Synod had always recognized this right as inherent in

The Independent Synods. 401
the universal priesthood. The rigidly orthodox would
suppress all such activity. Another question was that
of the Sabbath, the one party following the sixteenth
century theologians, the other those of the seventeenth
century, especially Spener. Many other important
questions have created dissension and caused still
wider separation: Absolution, "the world's Justifica
tion," and lastly Predestination, which has now rent
the "Norwegian Synod," a body which "has always
been uncompromisingly 'Missourian,'" the majority of
its pastors being trained at St. Louis, and which has
been eminently successful in educational work and in
winning the masses.
These separations have not arisen from different in
terpretations of the Confessions — all accept these with
one accord. All are firm Lutherans. The present
divisions are: Hauge Synod, organized 1850, 43 min
isters, 126 congregations, 9,222 communicants; "Nor
wegian," organized 1853, 174 ministers, 610 congrega
tions, 60,684 communicants ; Augustana, organized in
i860, 32 ministers, 80 congregations, 5,000 communi
cants ; Conference, organized 1870,101 ministers, 436
congregations, 33,165 communicants; Anti-Missourian
organized 1887, no ministers, 400 congregations, and
35,000 communicants. The latter have not effected a
Synodical organization, but hold annual meetings and
have their own college, seminary, and weekly.
In the midst of the warfare long raging, there have
always been in all the Synods those inclined to peace,
who have bewailed these divisions and have longed
and labored and prayed for a better understanding,
for brotherly Igye and for a union °f the whole Nor-,

402 The Lutherans in America.
wegian Church. Efforts to this effect have been made
from the beginning. The work of union dates back
to the work of separation. Conferences for this pur
pose were held in 1859, in 1863 and in 1864.
For years no further attempt to bring the different
parties together was witnessed until in 1881 when they
all met for conference in St. Ansgar, Iowa. The situa
tion had become considerably changed. Twenty
years of conflict had modified the minds of many.
All were now disposed to see how nearly they agreed
rather than as before to find how greatly they differed.
The results of the meeting were encouraging beyond
what had been anticipated. Other conferences which
have been held annually since have been equally pro
motive of peace.
The greatest impetus was given to the union move
ment in 1888, when a committee of seven, clerical and
lay, from each of the Synods, except the "Norwegian,"
met in Eau Claire, Wis., for the purpose of devising a
plan of consolidation. The result far exceeded the
the peoples' expectation. A settlement of the old
controversies was effected and a draft for a new con
stitution and articles of agreement were drawn up.
A meeting of representatives from the congrega
tions for the consideration of this plan was held in
November 1888, at Scandinavia, Wis. The whole
plan with but few alterations was unanimously
adopted. This plan, which has since been unani
mously adopted by three bodies at their annual meet
ings, now goes to the congregations, and will come up
for fina] action at the next meeting of each of the
Synods, which are to convene at the same time in

The Independent Synods. 403
Minneapolis. If approval carries they can at once
unite and form the new Synod and organize their Sem
inary with five professors as already agreed upon.
All essential matters having been settled, these three
bodies now look forward confidently to a union. The
fourth, Hauge's Synod, is hesitating. Still there is
hope that when the Synods come together in 1890, the
United Synod will embrace this body also.
The " Norwegian Synod " has kept entirely aloof
from this movement, yet the hope is cherished that in
due time this body will also be one with the others
so that ultimately one United Synod shall be formed
from the five now existing. DANISH SYNODS.
A society for missionary work in America was
founded in Odense, Denmark, October 1869. Several
ministers had previously come to this country and
three more were now sent over by this association.
These united in 1872 in a Synodical body, known as
"The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amer
ica." Although passing through the usual trials and
conflicts, this body has made such progress that it now
numbers 44 ministers and more than 4,000 communi
cants. It supports a Theological Seminary at West
Denmark, Wis., four High Schools, an Orphan Home,
an Emigrant House and a Sailors' Mission. In for
eign missionary work, for which it has furnished a
missionary and his wife, it co-operates both with the
General Council in the Telegu field' and with the
Church of Denmark among the Tamuls and Sandthals.
"The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church Associa-

404 The Lutherans in America.
tion " was organized in 1884 by some Danish ministers
who in a fraternal spirit withdrew from the Norwe
gian-Danish Conference. It has now 16 ministers,
maintains a Theological Seminary at Blair, Neb.,
with two Professors, and has sent a missionary to
Utah. It seems very desirable that these two Danish
bodies should unite, and those unacquainted with their
difficulties may see no reason for their separation, but
as Rationalism and the teachings of Grundtvig have
caused great disturbances in the Church of Denmark,
sufficient time must necessarily elapse for all parties
in this country to purge themselves from these errors,
before the Danish Lutherans can harmoniously and
effectively co-operate.
A vigorous Icelandic Association was organized in
1885 with 4 pastors and about 4,000 communicants.
It reports now 22 congregations.
THE SYNOD OF BUFFALO.
This body held its first meeting at Milwaukee, Wis.,
June, 1845, four ministers and eighteen laymen being
in attendance. The leading spirit was Rev. J. A. A.
Grabau, who came to this country in 1839 and estab
lished a theological school at Buffalo. In its some
what hierarchical view of the ministry it came into
conflict with the Missouri Synod. A colloquium with
representatives from that body was held in 1866 and
as a consequence a number of the ministers and con
gregations passed over into its bounds. Another sec
tion withdrew about the same time, and after maintain
ing for a while a separate organization its members be
came absorbed in different synods, The original

The Independent Synods. 405
synod consists now of twenty-one ministers, thirty-five
congregations, and five thousand communicants.
THE MICHIGAN SYNOD.
Which assisted in the organization of the General
Council, withdrew in 1888 on account of dissatisfac
tion with the latter's position on pulpit and altar
fellowship. It embraces about forty ministers, fifty-
five congregations, and ten thousand communicants.

CHAPTER XII.

THE MISSOURIANS.

T<

HOWARD the close of the third decade of the
jj present century, those days of rationalistic rule,
there was at the University of Leipzig a small
circle of students whom their academic fellow-citizens
termed Mystics or Pietists, or Hypocrites and Obscur
ants. They would spend the hours which others de
voted to the loud pleasures of the beer mug, in the
seclusion of some quiet room, where they might have
been found closeted with some obscure volume, the
writings of Arndt, Francke, Spener, Rambach, Fresen-
ius, or some other theologian of like character. A
theological candidate of riper years and spiritual ex
perience, named Kuehn, was the leader of this little
band, and the path he endeavored to point out to his
associates was a via dolorosa through dark depths of
anguish and contrition, a series of experiences like
those through which he had passed before he found
peace and rest in Christ Jesus.
In the fall of 1829 this circle welcomed a young
man of eighteen years, the son of a clergyman in Sax
ony, a youth with a good classical education, who had
until recently " felt himself born for music only."
When his father declared that he would set him adrift
without a farthing if he should "turn musician," but
promised him a thaler a week if he would study theol
ogy, the son set his face toward Leipzig and theology,
406

REV. C. F. XV. WAETHER, I> D.

The Missourians. 407
and there we find him, young in years, slender of
stature, in delicate health, shifting as best he could
with his thaler a week, but turning to every advan
tage his talents and opportunities.
The young student was Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm
Walther. An elder brother introduced the youth to
that circle of Pietists mentioned above. Soon the
younger Walther was far gone in the direction in
which the influence of Kuehn and others was exerted,
his soul was filled with anguish under the pangs of a
troubled conscience ; sighs and sobs and tears gave
evidence of the storm that raged in his bosom and
threatened to engulf every hope and to shut out every
ray of consoling light which had dawned in his soul.
While he was struggling with despair God used the
gentle hand of a woman to draw him from the precf
pice. The wife of a revenue officer at Leipzig, whose
home had been opened to him, perceived the trouble
of the pious youth, and from her lips came words of
comfort drawn from the Gospel, and from her heart
rose many a fervent prayer to a throne of grace that
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
might be granted to that troubled soul.
God in his wise providence led young Walther to
seek spiritual advice and consolation also from an
other, from a man who was in future years to be in
strumental in leading him across the ocean. Martin
Stephan was the pastor of a Bohemian congregation
which worshiped in St. John's Church at Dresden, a
preacher who had for years proclaimed to vast multi
tudes that flocked to that unostentatious church in
the suburbs, what was then very rarely heard from

4.08 The Lutherans in America.
German pulpits, Christ and him crucified. Stephan
was renowned as a spiritual adviser who had profound
knowledge of the human heart and was ever ready to
minister what each individual soul required. This man
one day received a letter from a stranger, a student
at Leipzig, who disclosed to him his innermost soul
and solicited an answer. When the answer came, Wal
ther held the letter in his hands, and before he broke
the seal prayed to God to keep him from accepting
vain counsels and consolations. But after he had read
Stephan's letter, he was like one who had been lifted
from hell into paradise, and his tears of anguish were
changed into tears of joy.
A year and another year passed away, and then
young Walther's days seemed nearly numbered ; pul
monary disease forced him to relinquish his studies
and seek rest and relief at home. During these weary
months he found in his father's library the works of
Luther, and here he laid the foundation of the inti
mate acquaintance with the writings of the great Re
former which distinguished him in later years. In the
spring of 1832 he returned to the university, improved
in health, but without hope of ever becoming phys
ically able to work in the ministry. He completed
his studies, passed his first examination, and was then
a private tutor from 1834 to 1836. In 1837 he was
ordained to the ministry in the village church of
Braeunsdorf in Saxony, amidst a congregation which
for forty years and more had not heard the Gospel of
Christ and had sunk deep in intellectual, moral and
religious depravity. The form of public service, the
hymn-book, the school-books, were, like the school

The Missourians. 409
teacher and the superintendent, steeped in Rationalism,
and when Walther, true to his vow and to the Sym
bols of the Lutheran Church which he had sworn to
follow and maintain, endeavored to work a change
toward sound Lutheranism, stumbling blocks without
number were thrown in his way, until his troubled
conscience was beset on every side.
Walther was not the only Lutheran in Saxony who
suffered under the rod of a rationalistic and unionis-
tic regime, and when in those days Stephan was look
ing toward the United States of America as an
asylum of true Lutheranism, to which his attention
had been directed by Dr. Benjamin Kurtz of Balti
more, and finally came forth with a definite plan of
emigration, Walther with others caught up the signal.
In September 1838, as many as 707 persons had
entered their names upon the rolls ; ministers, school
teachers, lawyers, physicians, artists, gave up their
positions, married men and women left their husbands
and wives, parents their children, children their
parents ; a part of their joint possessions was turned
over to a common treasury ; four ships were chartered
and a fifth, the Amalia, was also occupied mostly by
members of the company. All of these ships left
Bremerhafen in November 1838. The Copernicus
arrived at New Orleans on the last day of the same
year, three others in January 1839; the Amalia was
lost with all on board.
The passengers continued their pilgrimage to St.
Louis, then a city of about 16,000 inhabitants.
Stephan had prevailed upon his followers to make
him their bishop and to sign a document in which

41 o The Lutherans in America.
they pledged themselves to allegiance and obedience.
He surrounded himself with every kind of luxury, and
during the few months of his rule he drew from the
common treasury more than 4,000 thalers for his own
sustenance and comfort. To secure a still more un
limited exercise of his power, he aimed at isolating
the community under his sway. A tract of land was
purchased in Perry county, Mo., and here the emigrants
amid untold hardships began to build up a number of
Saxon colonies. A small flock remained in St. Louis
and chose the elder Walther for their pastor.
Stephan, who had also repaired to Perry county,
ruled like a Pasha. A magnificent episcopal palace
was in process of construction. Then came a revela
tion which fell like a thunderbolt among the colonists.
One dark night the younger Walther arrived from St.
Louis. To a young theological candidate he confided
his secret. It was in one of the dormitories for the
colonists and, though all seemed fast asleep, the con
versation was carried on in Latin, and a physician
lying on the straw not far away heard, what he and
others had suspected before, that Stephan had been
leading a life of shameful immorality and had now
been found out through the confessions of several of
his victims. Soon after, a number of the emigrants
who had remained at St. Louis arrived, a formal
council was held and Stephan was solemnly deposed
from his office. Provided with ample means, he was
taken across the Mississippi fiver in a skiff and landed
near Devil's Bake-oven, a grotesque rock at the
water's edge. He died in 1846 in a log cabin a few
miles from Red Bud, Illinois.

The Missourians. 411
The colonists were at first stunned and bewildered.
Such had been Stephan's extravagance and misman
agement that the funds of the emigrants were far spent,
and abject poverty stared them in the face. The min
isters and candidates were troubled by the question
whether the colonists constituted Christian congrega
tions with authority to call ministers, and many of the
laymen also entertained doubts concerning the right
of the ministers to hold their office here after having
left their charges beyond the sea. Walther, too, was
for a time tossed about by doubts and fears. But
better counsels prevailed, and soon things gained a
more favorable aspect. In the midst of all their
hardships and poverty, the candidates Fuerbringer,
Brohm and Buenger, with the aid of the ministers,
Walther, Loeber and Keyl, had organized a school
of learning in which Religion, Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
German, French and English, History, Geography,
Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Natural History,
Mental Philosophy and Music were to be taught. In
a log cabin the school was opened which has since de
veloped into two distinct institutions, Concordia
Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., and Concordia College
at Fort Wayne, Ind., both of which are flourishing
to-day and have educated hundreds of young men
for the ministry in the Lutheran Church. The first
faculty consisted of Ottomar Fuerbringer, Th. Jul.
Brohm and Joh. Fr. Buenger, and the log cabin has
been preserved to this day.
The younger Walther was soon the acknowledged
leader. Stephan had never been quite at ease on
Walther 's account, and had even stigmatized him as

412

The Lutherans in America.

his Judas, and it was Walther who now fought down
the doctrinal errors which that hierarch had taught,
that the Lutheran Church was the Church, without
which there was no salvation, that the ministry was a
mediatorship between God and man, and entitled to
unconditional obedience in all things not in conflict
with the word of God, that questions of doctrine were
to be decided by the clergy alone, in whose hands also

OLD CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ALTENBURG, PERRY CO., MO.
rested the power of the Keys. With convincing
clearness Walther set forth the truth until it held the
field victorious, and at a later day, the weapons tried
and found true against Stephanism were again drawn
and wielded with like success in other encounters.
In January, 1841, the elder Walther was called to
his rest, and his brother was chosen to succeed him as
pastor of the "Saxons" at St. Louis, who were then

The Missourians. 413
still worshiping in the basement of an Episcopal church.
Both the congregation and the parochial school in
creased rapidly, and in 1842 Trinity church was
erected, with a basement for school-rooms. In 1844
Cand. Buenger, who since 1841 had been in charge of
the school, became Walther's assistant. In the same
year a branch school was opened in another part of
the city, and this school was the germ of Immanuel's
church, which was organized in 1847 and erected a
house of worship in 1848, where henceforth to the
end of his days Buenger officiated as pastor. While
the trowel had thus been busy, the sword had not
rusted in the scabbard. Separatistic elements had
caused much trouble in the congregation.
Another conflict of greater dimensions and of
longer duration had sprung up. In 1839 a band of
German Lutheran emigrants had come over under the
leadership of Pastor Grabau, who had suffered perse
cution and imprisonment in Prussia for his refusal to
submit to the unionistic policy of the government. At
Buffalo, where he had settled with most of his follow
ers, Grabau in 1840 issued a "Pastoral Letter," of
which he sent a copy to the Saxon ministers in Mis
souri with a request for their opinion. The request
was granted, but the "opinion" was not satisfactory to
Grabau. In his " Pastoral Letter " and the correspond
ence to which it gave rise, Grabau maintained that a
minister not called in accordance with the ancient
" Kirchenordnungen" was not properly called; that
ordination by other clergymen was by divine ordi
nance essential to the validity of the ministerial office;
^hat God would deal with us only through the minis-

414 The Lutherans in America.
terial office ; that a minister arbitrarily elevated by
the congregation was unable to pronounce absolution,
and what he distributed at the altar was not the body
and blood of Christ, but mere bread and wine ; that
through her Symbols and Constitutions and Synods
the Church at large must decide what is in accordance
or at variance with the word of God; that the con
gregation is not the supreme tribunal in the Church,
but the synod as representing the Church at large ;
that the congregation is not authorized to pronounce
excommunication ; that Christians are bound to obey
their minister in all things not contrary to the word
of God. In all of these points the Saxons differed
from Grabau, — denying what he affirmed, and affirm
ing what he denied. He now drew up a list of seven
teen charges of error against them and declared that
he could no longer consider them orthodox Lutheran
ministers. Thus the controversy carried on afterwards
between the Synods of Buffalo and Missouri had
sprung up years before either body had an existence.
The doctrines which the Saxons maintained against
Grabau and his followers were not only taught but
practiced in Perry county and St. Louis ; the congrega
tions not only claimed but exercised what by divine
right a Christian congregation should claim and prac
tice, instead of leaving it to the ministry. Church dis
cipline was exercised in accordance with Matthew xviii ;
doctrinal matters were discussed ; the college at Al-
tenburg was formally adopted and considerately
treated as the foster-child of the congregations.
In 1844, the congregation at St. Louis resolved on
the publication of a religious periodical which had"

The Missourians. 415
been planned by Walther, and in September of that
year the " Lutheraner " made its first appearance. To
secure the publication of this and the following num
bers, many members had subscribed for two copies,
and the congregation had agreed that if the expenses
should exceed the receipts, the deficit should be cov
ered from the common treasury or by free contribu
tions. From its beginning the "Lutheraner" gave
forth a clear, decided, uncompromising ring, and the
type of Lutheranism which it advocated was to the
generation of those days a strange phenomenon, so
strange that by many it was not even recognized as
Lutheranism at all, and chiefly for this reason Wal
ther made it his object to show from the writings of
the Fathers of the Lutheran Church, that he was not
promulgating new tenets, but the doctrines laid down
in the Confessions and in the writings of the best
teachers of the Lutheran Church. This, not an undue
reverence of the Fathers, prompted Walther to intro
duce into his doctrinal expositions numerous extracts
from the works of those earlier theologians; not as
authorities but as witnesses he called them forth from
the dust of oblivion, and before many years Germany
was being ransacked for those old parchment-bound
volumes, and dealers wondered what people wanted
with those mummies in the American backwoods,
whence came the growing demand for what had long
lain unnoticed as unmarketable dross.
Among the few who hailed with joy the first num
ber of the "Lutheraner" was another pioneer of
western Lutheranism, a man whose name will be pro
nounced with reverence as long as a Lutheran Church

416 The Lutherans in America.
remains in America. Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyn-
eken landed at Baltimore about half a year be
fore the Saxons trod the banks of the Mississippi.
He was a man of powerful frame and a well educated
mind, fiery and energetic, filled with a burning zeal to
carry the Gospel of Christ to his countrymen in the
western solitudes, of whose wants he had learned
through missionary magazines in the old world. He
was recommended by Rev. Haesbaert to the mission
ary committee of the Synod of Pennsylvania, and
soon the young missionary is laboring amid hardships
and privations in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, trav
ersing the forests and prairies on foot and on horse
back, in fair and foul weather, by day and by night,
and sowing the seeds of life in a spiritual wilderness.
Fort Wayne was then a small country town. The
first German and at the same time the first Lutheran
who had settled here was Henry Rudisill, who with
his wife, a daughter of the Henkel family, had arrived
in this community of Frenchmen and Indians in 1829.
A Lutheran he would remain, and by his endeavors a
current of German immigration was led to Fort Wayne
and vicinity. In 1837 a congregation was organized
with Rev. Jesse Hoover, a member of the Pennsylva
nia Synod, as its pastor. But when in the fall of 1838
Wyneken first set foot into the town, young pastor
Hoover had been laid to rest. At the urgent request
of the congregation Wyneken established his head
quarters there. The Lutherans had neither church
nor parsonage; they worshiped in the court-house
until the building threatened to fall, then here and
there, until the little frame church erected in 1839

The Missourians. 417
afforded them shelter. From Fort Wayne Wyneken
extended his missionary excursions, until a painful dis
ease of the throat interrupted his labors. In 1841 he
went to Germany for treatment. As soon as his
health was sufficiently restored, he started out to agi
tate the cause of the church in America; by personal
solicitations he engaged the sympathies of a number
of prominent men, and by public addresses as well as
through a brilliant pamphlet he inspired into thou
sands of hearts a feeling of responsibility for the
brethren in the New World.
When Wyneken returned in 1843, he had ripened
into a man of mature powers and of confirmed Lu
theran convictions. It was in those days that the
first number of. the "Lutheraner" appeared, and when
Wyneken had perused it, he joyfully exclaimed :
"Thank God! There are more Lutherans in Amer
ica ! " Soon Wyneken and the "Lutheraner" were
companions in arms, both being violently assailed
by the Methodists, the "Lutheraner" for its articles,
Wyneken for his portraiture of Methodism which had
been reprinted in America.
Great joy was also awakened by the first number
of the " Lutheraner," at Pomeroy, Ohio, where Dr.
Sihler was then stationed, one of the men whom
Wyneken had drawn westward. He was a member of
the Synod of Ohio, and was endeavoring in various
ways to exert his influence against certain features of
doctrine and practice which claimed his attention.
One day, early in 1845, -while Sihler was instructing
catechumens, a horseman alighted at his door, and a
moment later Wyneken introduced himself. He was

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, ST. LOUIS, MO.

The Missourians. 419
on his way to Baltimore, to succeed his friend Haes-
baert, and he stopped to behold the face of the man
who was to be his successor at Fort Wayne.
Soon after the Doctor's arrival at this place, where
he was to serve the Master for forty years, another
fruit of Wyneken's sojourn in Germany was planted
in American soil and entrusted to the care of Wyne
ken's successor in the pastorate of St. Paul's.
Among the men whom Wyneken had won to the
American cause was Wilhelm Loehe of Neuendet-
telsau. Loehe had not only gathered about him a
number of young men whom he gave a practical prep
aration for the ministry in America, but he also con
ceived and executed the plan of opening a seminary for
the same purpose in the New World. For its site he
selected Fort Wayne, and in 1846 he sent over eleven
young men together with a talented candidate of
theology by the name of Roebbelen, who with Dr.
Sihler was to give these young men and others who
might be recruited in America, a training which would
in a few years fit them for missionary and pastoral
work among the Germans in this country. This was
the beginning of the " Practical Seminary " which was
at a latter date combined with the " Theoretical
Seminary " at St. Louis and, still later, transplanted to
Springfield, 111., where it is flourishing to-day.
The work of those early days with the ways and
means employed by the pioneers, is on a more ex
tended scale and in a wider field going on to-day in
the Synod of Missouri. Still the voices of preachers
are heard in the wilderness ; traveling missionaries
are traversing the forests and prairies and towns of

420 The Lutherans in America.
the Nortff South, East, and West; congregations are
gathered, and where the Word is being preached to
the old, schools are opened for the young ; small
churches are built at first, which, in time, give place to
larger ones, and, when the means of the congregation
permit, a school-master is called to the minister's side,
both ministers and teachers coming from the colleges
and seminaries, (a teachers' seminary is sustained by
the Synod at Addison, 111.,) the humble beginnings of
which we have witnessed. Purity and unity of doc
trine are still being guarded and propagated and de
fended, while brotherly fellowship with others who
hold the same ground in doctrine and practice is still
sought and cherished, as it was sought and cherished
by Walther and Wyneken and their brethren in the
" colonial " period.
In the spring of 1846, Dr. Sihler and two other
ministers had a conference with Walther and other
Saxon ministers at St. Louis. Sihler had severed his
connection with the Synod of Ohio. Wyneken had
given strength to the movement at a conference held
at Cleveland in 1845. The formation of a synod was
now taken into consideration by the congregation at
St. Louis and the clergymen there assembled. In
nine meetings the draft of a constitution, in which
every vestige of hierarchical leaven had been most
carefully avoided, was discussed. A similar confer
ence was held in July of the same year at Fort Wayne.
Sixteen ministers were present. Six others had signi
fied their full sympathy. The constitution with a few
modifications being approved, it was resolved to com
plete the formal organization at Chicago in April

The Missourians. 421
1847. There the "German Evangelical Lutheran
Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other States" was
formed by twelve congregations, twenty-two ministers
and two candidates. Under the constitution which
was adopted and signed at this meeting and, with a
few alterations, is in force to-day, only those ministers
whose congregations had entered into membership
with the Synod, and the lay delegates by whom con
gregations were represented, were entitled to suffrage,
other ministers being only advisory members. The
" Lutheraner " was made the official organ of the
Synod with Walther as editor. A missionary com
mittee was chosen, and various other measures gave
evidence of the earnestness with which the assembly
entered upon the task of building up Zion in the land
of their pilgrimage.
Here, then, was a Lutheran synod which declared in
its constitution that the acceptance of all the Symbols
of the Lutheran Church without exception or reserve,
abstinence from every kind of syncretism, from mixed
congregations and mixed services and communions,
a permanent, not temporary or licensed, ministry, the
use of purely Lutheran books in churches and schools,
should be and remain conditions of membership with
this body, but which, on the other hand, claimed no
authority over the congregations connected with it,
thus leaving intact the freedom of the churches.
At Chicago a resolution was passed to invite pastor
Loehe to attend the meeting of the coming year,
which was to be held at St. Louis. Loehe did not
come, but letters arrived which announced that
another wish had been fulfilled ; Loehe had made

422

The Lutherans in America.

over to the Synod the Seminary at Fort Wayne.
The cordial friendship between him and Missouri con
tinued for several years. But doctrinal difficulties
arose. In a pamphlet which Loehe published in 1849
he spoke of the ministerial office in terms very much
like those of Grabau. About the same time letters
to Loehe from America presented the Missourians
in an unfavorable light, and he soon entertained
thoughts of gaining a new basis for his operations in
America. Several Franconian colonies had been
planted in the Sagi- r~-_ ~ -— - — rzz~~z — — •iS=-=,
naw valley under his
guidance, and in 1850
he matured a plan for
erecting a "Pilger-
haus" at Saginaw, a
peculiar combination
of a temporary home
for colonists, a hos-
pital, a theological BUI
seminary, a 1 1 united
IVJ EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN HOSPITAL, ST. LOUIS, MO.
in a little common
wealth which was to be regulated by a liturgical rule
that would give it the character of "a kind of protest-
ant cloister." For its management and the leader
ship of the work to be centered there, Loehe had
singled out a talented young theologian, Gottlieb
Schaller, who after completing his theological studies
at the University of Erlangen had gained renown as
a teacher and preacher. Loehe had in 1848 directed
him to America, and although he had in 1849 joined
the Missouri Synod, Loehe still hoped to see his

The Missourians. 423
Timothy in the position which he now held out to
him. But at the Synod in 1850, Schaller was, after a
warm and protracted discussion, fully convinced of
Loehe's errors, and afterwards he labored for many
years by Walther's side as minister of Trinity church
and Professor of Theology in the Seminary at St.
Louis, where they were both laid to rest in 1887.
The "Pilgerhaus," was opened in 1852. It was
afterwards removed to Iowa, and with it went Loehe's
heart, who thus virtually became the founder of the
Iowa Synod.
The Synod had spared no endeavors to prevent the
impending rupture between Missouri and the man
who had done so much for the Lutheran Church in
the West. In 1851 the matter was laid before the
Synod convened at Milwaukee, and so important did
the continuation of friendship and fraternal co-opera
tion with Loehe appear to the Missourians, that a
delegation was sent to Germany on a mission of
peace. One of the delegates was Walther, then Pro
fessor of Theology and President of Concordia Col
lege. The other delegate was Wyneken, one of
Loehe's dearest friends and a man eminently fitted
for this task. But though many difficulties were over
come, a complete understanding was not reached by
the interviews between Loehe and the American dele
gates ; the kind feelings which were renewed were
but of brief duration ; and the new synod which grew
up under the influence of Neuendettelsau shared
Loehe's doctrinal positions and his antagonism to
Missouri. Among the points at issue between the Synods of

424 The Lutherans in America.
Iowa and Missouri, were the doctrines of the Church,
Missouri holding that the Church of Christ is invisi
ble, while Iowa recognized a visible and an invisible
side; "open questions," with which Iowa classed the
doctrines of the Church, the Ministry, Chiliasm, Anti
christ, while Missouri maintained that these doctrines
are clearly set forth in Scriptures and therefore are
in no sense open questions; Antichrist, of whom Mis
souri affirmed that he is the Roman pontiff while Iowa
held that the Antichrist in the strictest sense of the word
is an individual person yet to be expected ; Chiliasm,
which Missouri rejected in its subtle as well as in its
crass forms, while Iowa held that not every form of
Chiliasm must be rejected ; the question to what ex
tent subscription to the symbols of the Church enjoins
the acceptance of the doctrines laid down in such sym
bols, Missouri holding that one who subscribes the
symbols unconditionally thereby declares acceptance
of all the doctrines laid down in them, while Iowa
claimed that to be of binding force a doctrine must be
stated in the symbols ex professo, not only occasion
ally, and that, therefore, a distinction must be made
between the doctrines contained in the Symbolical
Books. These points were discussed in a colloquy by
representatives of both synods who met at Milwaukee
in 1867, but no satisfactory result was reached.
A similar "colloquium " had, in 1866, been brought
about between representatives of the Buffalo Synod
and that of Missouri. Grabau had branded Walther
and his followers as heretics. Walther had, in 1852,
published his book on "the Church and the Minis
terial Office," which had previously been approved by

The Missourians. 425
the Synod. In this book Walther showed by numer
ous extracts from the Symbols of the Lutheran Church
and from the writings of her orthodox teachers, what
former centuries had voiced forth as the Lutheran
doctrine on these subjects. Now, shortly after Gra
bau had left his own synod, three ministers and as
many laymen of each synod met at Buffalo, and when
in February, 1867, twelve ministers of the Buffalo
Synod were assembled at Buffalo with five Missouri
ans, a formal recognition of fraternal unity was sealed
and the near future saw eleven of them members of
the Synod of Missouri.
In 1872 the Synod celebrated its twenty-fifth anni
versary. The meetings were held in Mercantile Li
brary Hall at St. Louis, and here it appeared to all
eyes that conventions of all the ministers and school
teachers and of lay delegates from all the congrega
tions were no longer practicable. The Synod then
numbered four hundred and twenty-eight ministers and
two hundred and fifty-one school teachers, and the
numbers were fast increasing. It was therefore de
cided that thenceforth from two to seven congrega
tions should delegate one minister and one layman to
the triennial meetings of the general body, which had
years ago been divided into four district synods.
At this jubilee meeting there was also discussed the
draft of the constitution of the Synodical Conference,
a union of Lutheran Synods which was soon after, in
July, 1872, completed at Milwaukee. The synods
which were represented at the first meeting were those
of Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and
the Norwegian Synod, which had previously by collo-

426 The Lutherans in America.
quiums between representatives convinced themselves
of each other's orthodoxy. The Synod of Illinois was
afterwards merged into that of Missouri. For a num
ber of years, the synods worked together in harmony
of faith, until the great "predestinarian controversy"
led to a rupture which has not yet been healed.
This controversy did not come unforeseen. On
the floor of the Synod in 1872 a hard struggle had
been predicted, and when the new decade was ushered
in the struggle had begun. It was Prof. Schmidt who
first within the Synodical Conference raised his voice in
public against the doctrine of predestination as set
forth in the reports of 1877 and 1879 of the Western
District of the Missouri Synod. He directed his
attack especially against the position held by Wal
ther and the Synod, that God's predestination is a
cause of our salvation and of everything thereto per
taining, faith and perseverance in faith not excepted,
that in the decree of predestination the faith of the
elect was not presupposed, but included. The contest
soon waxed very hot. Walther and the Missourians
were desirous of bringing about an understanding,
and in January 188 1, the theological Faculties and
the Presidents of synods and district synods in the
Synodical Conference responded to a call for a col
loquium at Milwaukee. When five days of earnest
debate had brought the dissenting parties no nearer
to each other, and the representatives of Ohio could
remain no longer, the colloquy was closed. As the
controversy proceeded, the doctrine of conversion
came to the foreground. Missouri maintained that
conversion is the work of divine grace alone, wrought

GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ORPHAN ASYLUM, ADDISON, ILL.

428 The Lutherans in America.
through the means of grace, which, though they come
with equal power and earnestness to all, do not attain
the same results in all ; but that this mystery must
not be explained away by denying with Calvin the
earnest will of God to convert all, nor by denying the
utter depravity which incapacitates all alike to concur
in their own conversion ; that the conversion of sin
ners rests in God's grace alone, and they can in no
way or measure be credited with their own conversion;
that the non-conversion of sinners rests in their own
hardness of heart alone, and God is in no wise the
cause of their non-conversion. The other side held
that the effect wrought by the grace of God in the
work of conversion depended in a measure on man's
conduct toward the means of grace, which Missouri re
jects as synergistic, while Ohio denounces Missouri's
position as Calvinistic.
The controversy led to the separation of Ohio and
the Norwegians from the Conference the latter severing
their connection in the hope of meeting with less diffi
culty in overcoming the commotion which this contro
versy had created within their own Synod.
Great inward profit accrued to the Synod of Mis
souri and the synods still connected with it in the
Synodical Conference from this controversy. Hun
dreds and thousands of its members were led to a
deeper and clearer understanding of the truths at
issue, and a habit of careful and extended research
in the Scriptures and the Symbols was deepened and
strengthened in many, both ministers and laymen.
Nor was the outward progress of the Synod stayed
by the great controversy. From 1878 to 1888 the

The Missourians. 429
Synod well nigh doubled the number of its minis
ters. The Joint Synod at present consists of thirteen
District Synods, which embrace the entire Union.
The number of ministers, according to the statistics
of 1888, is 1030, the number of school teachers 617,
that of congregations, not including unorganized mis
sions, 1,480, that of communicant members, at a low
estimate, 279,150. The missions of the Synod are the
Home Missions carried on among the Germans in
this country by the District Synods, Emigrant Mis
sions in New York and Baltimore, Missions among
the Jews, English Missions, and conjointly with other
synods of the Synodical Conference, a Negro Mission.
The higher institutions of learning for the education
of ministers and school teachers are, besides those
mentioned in the narrative and still in operation, a
college at Milwaukee, Wis., a preparatory collegiate
institute at Concordia, Mo., and another in New
York. In these schools upward of 1000 students were
in 1889 instructed by 40 professors. Of benevolent
institutions, there are within the Synod an institute for
the deaf and dumb at Norris, Mich., eleven asylums
for orphans and invalids, and several hospitals. The
periodicals of the Synod are "Der Lutheraner," " Lehre
und Wehre," "Homiletical Magazine," and "Schul-
blatt"; of the Synodical Conference, the " Missions-
taube " and the "Lutheran Pioneer;" besides, eight
religious periodicals published by conferences, socie
ties, or individuals. The Synod publishes its own
hymn-books, school-books, Bibles, prayer-books, etc.,
all of which with the periodicals and a voluminous
theological literature contained in the synodical reports

43°

The Lutherans in America.

and other publications in the form of books and pam
phlets, issue from the Synod's Concordia Publishing
House, the total receipts of which in 1888 were over
$152,357- Of the patriarchs of the Missouri Synod but few
remain. Wyneken was President of the Joint Synod
from 1850 to 1864, when Walther was again elected
to this office. In 1876 Wyneken, after a protracted
illness, fell peacefully asleep in Jesus at San Francisco,
Cal. Walther was considerately relieved of the presi-

tomk

Wm/k
liliis

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Hill

ft

CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, ST. LOUIS, MO.

dency in 1878 ; yet the eve of his life was a time of
vigorous activity in the service of the Master. He
wrote copiously for the press; he presented theses at
synodical meetings, at which he was eminently the
theological teacher ; he was regular in his lectures to
the students of the seminary. When at the meeting
of the Western District in 1886 he had completed a
series of eloquent theological discussions, each of
which had lasted several hours, he closed with tears
and in faltering accents ; he felt that his work was

The Missourians. 431
done. His physical energies were fast failing, and the
Synod unanimously resolved that he should rest.
Time passed on, and the venerable Doctor was
slowly but steadily sinking, and while the Joint Synod
was in session at Fort Wayne, on the 7th of May,
1887, the Lord called His weary servant to his eternal
rest. Thousands from the Missouri and sister synods,
who had come from all parts of the country, formed
the greatest funeral procession St. Louis has wit
nessed, as they followed the precious dust of this great
man in Israel to its last repose.
Of the other members of the Synodical Conference
the Synod of Wisconsin numbers 140 ministers, and
50 teachers of parish schools. It has a prosperous
college at Watertown, Wis., and a Theological Semi
nary at Milwaukee, and embraces about 70.000 com
municants. Its official publications are the " Gemeinde
Blatt," and "Schulzeitung." The Synod of Minnesota
comprises 51 ministers, 18 teachers and 12,000 com
municants, has a college and theological seminary
combined at New Ulm, Minn., and publishes the "Sy-
nodal-Bote."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE GENERAL COUNCIL.

IT would be an error to suppose that the spirit of dis
integration was back of the internal differences and
external circumstances which led to the disruption
of the General Synod in 1866. On the contrary the
spirit of unification, "a hearty desire for the unity of
Zion," exerted undoubtedly a powerful influence in de
termining this result.
The time seemed ripe for a general organization of
the Lutheran Church, national in its scope and com
prehending all the numerous Lutheran bodies, Ameri
can and foreign, that receive unequivocally the Augs
burg Confession. Several of the largest synods had
just separated from the General Synod. The South
ern Synods, after the dissolution of the Confederacy,
were ready, it was hoped, to enter again into organic
fellowship with the Northern churches, and they might
for various reasons prefer to ally themselves to a new
body rather than rejoin the old one. The recognized
leaders of the Pennsylvania, New York and Pittsburg
Synods had, by the course which they pursued, reached
a good understanding with the representatives of the
Joint-Ohio, Iowa and Tennessee Synods. Even Dr.
Walther of the Missouri Synod expressed his great joy
over the action of the Pennsylvania Synod in with
drawing from the General Synod — a step which he
held "will undoubtedly be connected with consequen
ts

REV. C. r. KRAUTH, D. »., 1,1,. D.

The General Council. 433
ces not only of the utmost importance, but also of the
most salutary character." The administration of the
Lord's Supper to a number of the Pennsylvania
Synod's delegates by the pastor of a Missouri Church
at Fort Wayne, during the memorable convention of
1866, was regarded as significant. The co-operation
of the large Scandinavian element might also be con
fidently anticipated. It was an inspiring prospect, a
consummation devoutly to be wished, the union of the
various powerful bodies which vied with each other in
emphasizing the historic faith of the Lutheran Church.
Then, too, synods still incorporated with the General
Synod gave a clear recognition to the Augustana, and
embraced men who were profoundly convinced that
the duty, the wisdom and the glory of the Lutheran
Church in this country, require the retention of those
distinctive features in doctrine and cultus which have
ever been her life's blood and breath.
Accordingly at the one hundred and nineteenth con
vention of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, 1866, a fra
ternal address was issued " to Evangelical Lutheran
Synods, ministers and congregations in the United
States and Canadas, which confess the Unaltered
Augsburg Confession, inviting them to unite in a con
vention for the purpose of forming a union of Luther
an Synods."
This call urged "the needs of a general organiza
tion, first and supremely for the maintenance of unity
in the true faith of the Gospel, and in the uncorrupted
Sacraments, as the Word of God teaches and our
Church confesses them ; and furthermore for the pres
ervation of her genuine spirit and worship, and for

434 The Lutherans in America.
the development of her practical life in all its forms."
"A great necessity is therefore laid upon us, in the
Providence of God, at once to take steps to meet a
want, which has been so urgent, and the painful con
sciousness of which continually grows." "The condi
tion and wants of our Church in this land, make it
clear that we are not moving in this matter on insuf
ficient or doubtful grounds. With our communion of
millions scattered over a vast and ever-widening ter
ritory, with the ceaseless tide of immigration to our
shores, with the diversity of surrounding usages and
of religious life, with our various nationalities and
tongues, our crying need of faithful ministers, our im
perfect provision for any and all of the urgent wants
of the Church, there is danger that the genuinely
Lutheran elements may become gradually alienated,
* * * that the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace may be lost, and that our church, which alone in
the history of Protestantism has maintained a genuine
catholicity and unity, should drift into the sectarian
ism and separatism which characterize and curse our
land." "Apart from these extraordinary reasons, our gen
eral vocation as a Church, the interest of foreign and
home missions, of theological, collegiate and congre
gational education, of institutions of beneficence, of a
sound religious literature, all demand such an organ
ization as shall enable our whole Church in this land
in its varied tongues, to work together in the unity of
a pure faith."
No favorable response to this Fraternal Address
came from any synod still identified with the General

The General Council. 435
Synod, but representatives from the Synod of Penn
sylvania, the English, English District, and Joint
Synods of Ohio, from the Wisconsin, Michigan, Pitts
burg, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Canada, New York,
and the Norwegian Synods, assembled at Reading,
December 11, 1866. The Augustana Synod was rep
resented by letter. The president of the temporary
organization was Rev. Professor W. F. Lehman of the
Joint Synod of Ohio, of the permanent convention,
Rev. G. Bassler of the Pittsburg Synod, two names
that will long be endeared to the Lutheran Church
for their living exemplification of its faith and spirit.
The preliminary step toward effecting an organiza
tion was the unanimous adoption of the " Funda
mental principles of Faith and Church Polity." A
committee was appointed to outline a constitution to
be submitted to the respective District Synods.
Whenever ten of them should have accepted this, it
was provided that it shall at once go into effect and a
convention be called under it, whose title shall be
"The General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America."
The requisite number of synods adopted the consti
tution and the first convention met accordingly, No
vember 20, 1867, at Fort Wayne, Ind., where the divis
ion of the General Synod had occurred the previous
year. Twelve were represented. The several districts
of the Missouri Synod sent a communication proposing
a series of free conferences before consummating an
organic union. The Joint Synod of Ohio also de
clined to adopt the constitution but "sent delegates
to sit in conference on such subjects of difference as

The General Council. 437
may exist." While heartily desiring a union of Lu
theran Synods, this body saw practical difficulties in
the way, on account of which it could not yet form a
connection with the General Council. Relative to
such difficulties it asked for an answer on the follow
ing points :
First. — What relation will this venerable body in
future sustain to Chiliasm ?
Second. — Mixed Communion?
Third. — The exchanging of pulpits with sectarians?
Fourth. — Secret or unchurchly Societies?
The delegates of the Synod of Iowa offered a com
munication of similar import with the exception of
question first, proposing that the Council officially re
nounce church fellowship with such as are not Luther
an, that it exclude from synodical connection, from the
communion and from the pulpit, all who are " not
purely Lutheran," and asking for the enforcement of
this principle against the practice implied in the three
last questions given above.
The answer given to this paper was to the effect
that the Council was not prepared to endorse the po
sition of the Iowa Synod, but would "refer the matter
to the District Synods until such time as by the
blessing of God's Holy Spirit, and the leadings of
his Providence, we shall be enabled, throughout the
whole General Council and all its churches, to see eye
to eye in all the details of practice and usage."
The Iowa Synod holding that there must be com
plete and hearty agreement not only in the principles
of faith, "but also in an ecclesiastical practice accord
ant with such faith," refused to complete its connec-

438 The Lutherans in America.
tion with the Council, its representatives contenting
themselves with the privilege of debate at its conven
tions, which they continue to enjoy. For similar
reasons the Synods of Ohio and Missouri decided not
to enter into the union, and a few years later the
Synods of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota con
cluded to withdraw from it.
Such was the origin of the famous "Four Points"
which have gained a historic interest in the Lutheran
Church. They became a most important factor in
the development of the General Council, arresting
in its very first convention the realization of the
original plan of its founders, and in no small degree
"damping the bright and perhaps somewhat sanguine
expectations of its warmest friends," while they kept
the body for years in constant agitation.
On the doctrinal basis, which " accepts and acknowl
edges the doctrines of the Unaltered Augsburg Con
fession in its original sense as throughout in conform
ity with the pure truth of which God's Word is the
only rule," and holds that "the other Confessions of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church, inasmuch as they
set forth none other than its system of doctrine, and
articles of faith, are of necessity pure and scriptural,"
there was entire and spontaneous unanimity among all
those Synods now for the first time brought into
official and fraternal contact. The same is true of
their reception of the Fundamental Principles of Faith
and Church Polity, but when it came to the applica
tion and enforcement of these principles, the disagree
ment was so decided that the Council was after all
able to rally less than half of the great Lutheran

The General Council. 439
community which had heretofore maintained independ
ent and isolated organizations.
The wide chasm which now appeared between these
bodies and the General Council, was in the first place,
as stated by Prof. Spaeth, "the natural result of the
historical development, through which those various
sections of the Church had passed, which now en
deavored to form an organic union. The Lutheran
Church in the Eastern part of our country, having
been founded about 150 years ago, had passed through
all the different stages of church life, suffering and
death, by which the history of the Church and Theol
ogy of the German Fatherland was characterized in
that period. We need not be surprised to find that
during this time many things had crept in, which were
in conflict with the spirit and Confession of our
Church. Over against those things the renewed
appreciation of the Lutheran Confession and the
honest return to the same was of comparatively recent
date. It was therefore not to be expected that there
should have been on all sides at the very outset a
thorough insight into all the consequences and obli
gations of a decided and consistent adoption of the
Lutheran Confession. On the other hand most of
the Lutheran Synods of the West had been founded
at a much more favorable season. Out of the very
fullness and freshness of the revived Confession,
partly even in the martyr spirit of a persecuted
church, have their foundations been laid and their
structures raised. Accordingly their whole congrega
tional life could much more easily and more consist
ently be organized on the principles established in

440 The Lutherans in America.
the Confession, and many evils could be excluded
which in other places had taken root and had been
growing for nearly a century."
The first and supreme interest kept in view in the
formation of the General Council being that of purity
of doctrine and the development of a sound cultus and
practice from this source, that subject has in the main
absorbed the discussions of its annual conventions
and the literary activity of its teachers. In this
sphere it has rendered invaluable services, the whole
Church appreciating its contribution to the knowledge
of Lutheran teaching and Lutheran history.
From the beginning the Council has considered it
one of the great tasks to be accomplished by it that
the different languages and nationalities "should be
firmly knit together in this New World in the unity of
one and the same pure faith." Recognizing the language
of the country, and holding that Lutheranism is bound
and is able to preserve its faith and its spirit in an
English garb, its pastors and churches were from the
first entreated "to suffer no distinction of language to
interfere with the great work which God has assigned
to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in this country."
And its success in the practical co-ordination of lan
guages and nationalities is not only without a parallel,
but commends itself as a marvellous and glorious
achievement. Diversities of language, diversities of
gifts, but the same Spirit, was the watchword of the
Apostolic Church, and the spectacle of the German,
the Scandinavian and the American elements so
widely separated by language, nationality and training,
standing together and working harmoniously in one

The General Council. 441
ecclesiastical body "without giving and taking offence,
provoking and encouraging one another to appropri
ate the good features found in each," recalls the day
of Pentecost, rebukes the sects which make the Ameri
canization of the Lutheran immigrants the pretext for
their proselyting devices, and offers to Lutherans, in
particular, one of the most cheering pledges of the
rapid and wide enlargement of their Church. Al
though the German and Scandinavian languages are
used in perhaps a majority of the congregations, and
these languages have full rights in the conventions
of the Council, most of its proceedings are, by com
mon consent, conducted in English as the tongue most
familiar to the vast majority. The English has, in
fact, been adopted as the official language. There is
no danger of it ever becoming a foreign body, a new
Scandinavia or a new Germany on American soil.
"-•A. notable element of the Council's strength and
success is the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
Its establishment antedates the disruption of the Gen
eral Synod, and was itself a recognition of the diverse
tendencies that prevailed between those who sought
primarily to uphold the standards of the Church and
those who represented the " American " type of Luther
anism. Warm controversies were raging in periodicals
and other publications, and an irreconcilable antag
onism showed itself especially at Gettysburg, where
in the same building, one professor in almost every
lecture disparaged and discredited the Confessions,
while another one constantly inspired his students
with the highest veneration for them.
The Pennsylvania Synod believed that its views

442

The Lutherans in America.

and wants could not be satisfied in that institution and
was agitating for some years the founding of another
under its immediate control, which should conform to
its doctrinal position and give proper attention to the
education of German pastors.
The gift of $30,000 for the endowment of a profes
sorship by Mr. Charles F. Norton, a like sum from

ORPHAN HOME AND ASYLUM FOR AGED, GERMANTOWN, PA.
the Synod, along with other generous donations, en
abled it in the fall of 1864 to open a seminary with
five eminent professors, and with provision for a full
course of theology in both German and English.
The establishment of the seminary at that juncture
became naturally an occasion for aggravating the
controversies that were already agitating the church,

The General Council. 443
and it contributed no little in determining the result
at Fort Wayne in 1866. Coming so soon after the
withdrawal of the delegation at York in 1864, the im
pression spread that the Synod had already severed
its connection with the General Synod, and strength
ened the purpose to contest its re-admission.
The policy of the Council in concentrating its Eng
lish and German interests in one theological school,
while the General Synod with a much smaller constit
uency is endeavoring to keep up five, has given to
the Philadelphia Seminary an exceptional prosperity.
The missionary activity of the General Council can
not be properly estimated without considering its
polyglot composition and the relation which the con
stituent synods sustain in this respect to the general
body. The General Synod being much more homo
geneous is able to commit the entire administration
of its Home Mission work to the two boards of Home
Missions and Church Extension. While likewise pur
suing this method with its prosperous foreign mission
the Council is constrained not only to have three
Home Mission Boards, an English, a German, and a
Scandinavian, but also to leave the greater part of
this interest to the respective synods.
The General Council has been distinguished by the
number of able, learned and eminent divines upon its
roll. Several have already passed to their eternal
reward, although the body on which they have left
their indelible impress is yet in comparative infancy.
The prominence and influence of two of these in
founding and shaping the Council call for a pause at
this point. With a surprising coincidence they bear

444 The Lutherans in America.
the names of Krauth and Schmucker, names that will
never fade from the memory of the Lutheran Church.
They were sons respectively of the two venerable
Gettysburg professors, sons that surpassed "the praise
of their great sires," especially in the incalculable and
ineffaceable results of their activity.
Charles Porterfield Krauth, D. D., LL. D., was be
yond question the most gifted, the most learned and
the most renowned theologian of the English Lu
theran Church, commanding even in Germany recog
nition "as one of the chief scholars in the great
Church of theologians." His brilliancy and versa
tility, his vast erudition, his combination of breadth
and depth of culture, and his voluminous writings
gave him an exalted station among his contempo
raries. Dr. Schaff his colleague on the American
Committee of Old Testament Revisers, speaks of his
death, which occurred before he had attained three
score years, as a great loss "to the whole Church of
Christ in this land, and to the republic of letters.
Our country has produced few men who united in
their own persons so many of the excellences, which
distinguish the scholar, the theologian, the exegete,
the debater and the leader of his brethren. His learn
ing did not smother his genius, nor did his philosoph
ical attainments impair the simplicity of his faith."
His crowning glory, his imperishable monument, is
found in his incomparable service in behalf of the
faith, history and cultus of the Lutheran Church.
Having by years of close study come to the convic
tion that the full truth of God's Word was nowhere
set forth with such clearness, purity and fullness as in

The General Council. 445
her collective Confessions, and that in all their doc
trinal teachings these were in conformity with that
Word, he expended his talents and energies in their
interpretation into the thought and idiom of this na
tion, in their exposition, elucidation and defense. His
own heart held captive by the discovery of the rich
treasures of the Church, he earnestly called her chil
dren to the consciousness of their inheritance.
As Editor of the Lidheran and Missionary, as Pro
fessor in the Philadelphia Seminary, as author of the
Fundamental Principles of Faith and Church Polity
and other important official documents, as President
of the Council by common consent for ten years, and
especially by his "Conservative Reformation," he
exerted an epoch-making influence over the Lutheran
Church of this country..
His fellow-laborer and life-long friend, Beale M.
Schmucker, D. D., offers a striking proof that faith as
well as blood leaves its impress upon posterity. Rep
resenting one of the distinguished families which in
each successive generation contributes at least one
worthy son to the ministry of the Lutheran Church,
he inherited the strong and splendid personal qualities
which characterized alike his grandfather and his
father, each in his day and peculiar environment being
the model of a cultured Christian gentleman.
In view of subsequent developments in the Church,
what a stroke of Providence it must have been to
locate young Krauth and young Schmucker soon
after the completion of their training at the Gettys
burg institutions, in neighboring towns in the State of
Virginia, where, with a standing engagement to spend

446 The Lutherans in America.
together one week of every three months and with
regular correspondence during the interval, they
jointly studied the doctrines and history of their
Church. It was there that the theological position of
these sons of Gettysburg Professors underwent a
powerful change, and to an humble parsonage in the
Valley of Virginia may be traced the birth of a move
ment that has affected almost the entire Lutheran
Church of this country and permanently changed the
stream of her development.
No one was more active or zealous than Dr.
Schmucker in founding the General Council and its
institutions, and no one has done more in the prepara
tion of nearly all its official documents, especially its
hymnal, catechisms and forms of worship, for which
he possessed rare gifts and through industrious and
minute research had acquired uncommon attainments.
In Liturgies he had no superior in this country or in
Germany, in his own Church or in any other. A
learned Episcopal bishop was wont to refer his clergy
to him as being better posted than himself on all
questions pertaining to the " Book of Common
Prayer." His labors in this sphere were prompted
by the interests of divine worship, by the desire of his
heart to have the believer on coming to the throne of
grace employ the most appropriate terms ' which the
Holy Spirit has put upon the lips of God's Children
through many ages."
^- THE PENNSYLVANIA MINISTERIUM.
The General Council is essentially an alliance of
Synods. Its most powerful member is without ques-

The General Council.

447

tion the Pennsylvania Ministerium, the parent organi
zation of this country, the founder of the General
Synod in 1820 and of the General Council in 1867.
Its history is for nearly a century the history of the
Church. Although in previous chapters its progress,
its operations and strength are noted, it well merits a
separate chapter. Yet as nothing short of an entire
volume would suffice to bring out fully its place and
part in the development of the Church, further details,
however interesting and important, cannot here be at
tempted. One of its noblest products in recent years
is the establishment of Muhlenberg College at Allen-
town, Penn., in 1867.
THE NEW YORK MINISTERIUM.
Another strong constituent of the Council is the
Ministerium of New
ft York, the second oldest
Synod in America, which
through all the changes
of a century has uniform
ly sustained relations of
warm sympathy to , the
Mother Synod. It num
bers over 26,000 commu
nicants, supports a Pro
fessor in the Philadelphia
Seminary and has lately
established the Luther
Wagner Memorial Col
lege at Rochester, N. Y. Since the separation of
nearly the entire English element in 1867, it has been
predominantly a German body but a number of vigor-

INN

1 V
If

WAGNER MEMORIAL COLLEGE,
ROCHESTER, N. Y.

448 The Lutherans in America.
ous and prosperous English Churches have in recent
years been organized. A compendious history of this
body prepared in the German language by Rev. John
Nicum has been published by official authority.
THE PITTSBURG SYNOD.
The Pittsburg Synod has a history of its own which
claims some notice. Organized in the city of Pitts
burg, January 15, 1845, by eight ministers and six lay
men it represented some forty congregations with a
membership of about 3,500. The western section of
Pennsylvania had heretofore been common ground
for the German Synod of Ohio, its English district,
the English Synod of Ohio and the Synod of West
Pennsylvania. These eight ministers stood con
nected with seven different synodical bodies. The
time for uniting themselves and their churches in one
body would seem to have been ripe, especially as the
territory they occupied lay at the extreme limits of
the Synods which were respectively and in a desul
tory fashion seeking to cultivate it. A centre was
needed, co-operation, a. common purpose.
Hence it was resolved to sink all minor differences
of opinion, such as preferences for literary, theological
and benevolent institutions, and to igmore such dis-
tinctions as were commonly designated by the terms
" old and new measures." Having thus disposed of
the obstacles which blocked the way of union they
formed an association in order
First. To bring the hitherto separated congrega
tions of Western Pennsylvania into one body,
Second. Provide these churches with a holy and

THIEL COLLEGE, GREENVILLE, PA.

4c0 The Lutherans in America.
competent ministry, either through stated supplies or
permanent pastors,
Third. Build up and reorganize such as were lan
guishing, Fourth. Carry the Gospel to destitute settlements
throughout that territory.
This body has won the honorable, distinction of
"the Missionary Synod." It has been singularly
aggressive in all church works and abundant in sacri
fices, alms and labors. While holding firmly to the
Church's Confession, cherishing her pure faith and
maintaining a conservative tendency, the bond which
united its congregations has been conspicuously its
educational, missionary and charitable work.
In 1850ft sent a missionary to Canada who was
soon followed by others. Their success in that prov
ince led to the organization of a separate Synod in
1861. In 1851 missionaries were sent to Texas and
material support was given to the feeble congrega
tions there, until they also were able a few years
later to organize a Synod, which like that of Can
ada stands connected with the General Council. The
Minnesota Synod also owes its existence to this body's
activity. Missionary work has been successfully car
ried on in Nova Scotia and missions have been sus
tained in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Wheel
ing, Fort Wayne, Canton, Cleveland, Chicago and
other western cities at an expense of not less than
$100,000. The Synod can point to many flourishing
churches which its far-seeing efforts brought into ex
istence. A generous support has also been given to
the cause of ministerial education. A successful col-

The General Council. 451
lege is in operation at Greenville, Penn., and a num
ber of institutions of mercy, sheltering orphans and the
suffering, evince the spirit that animates this body.
Its eight ministers have multiplied to 109, notwith
standing the withdrawal of a number with their con
gregations during the crisis of 1866, and it now em
braces 190 congregations and 20,000 communicants.
It united with the General Synod in 1853, in "the
hope that a connection with the Parent Education
and Missionary Society of that body would widen its
field of influence." "Its separation from the Genera]
Synod and union with the Council in 1867 resulted
from the firm conviction that the change would
enhance its opportunities for building up the Redeem
er's Kingdom."
Of its founders all but one have been called to the
Church above. Pre-eminent among the group was
Rev. Gottlieb Bassler, who was for nine years Presi
dent of the body, and who by his extraordinary talents
as an organizer did more to develop the Lutheran
Church in Western Pennsylvania than any other
man. His purity of character, his humility, honesty,
generosity, his judgment and his devotion to convic
tion were such that no one could be long in contact
with him without coming under his influence.
THE SWEDISH AUGUSTANA SYNOD. -(/<A..- '
/,'-,' f^L.r "?¦
The thrilling episode of the Swedish Colony of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries occupies an
earlier chapter of this volume. The humble begin
nings, rapid growth and earnest spirit of the Swedish

452 The Lutherans in America.
Augustana Synod, offers another bright portion of
the history of the Lutheran Church in America.
The immigration from which it has sprung began
about 1845, reached noticeable proportions in ten
years, rose after the war to tens of thousands annually
and continues a large and steady stream. There are
now in this country a million of Swedes of the first
and second generations. W'hile the great mass is to
be found in the northern part of the Mississippi Val
ley, there are Swedish Lutherans in Puritan New
England and in the new Northwest beyond the Rocky
Mountains. Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul are
their ecclesiastical and social centres. In Minnesota
they form one-sixth of the population.
Most of these people are farmers. Others are me
chanics and laborers. Not a few are the leading mer
chants and business men of their communities.
In the earlier days of immigration, while their
number was small, the Swedes seemed possessed of
inordinate haste to lay aside every national peculiar
ity and to Americanize by wholesale. Their marvel
ous increase, coupled with the multiplication of
Swedish newspapers and schools, has led to a reac
tion. The tendency towards the use of the English
language in worship, as well as in business, is now,
generally speaking, more gradual and is more readily
kept within churchly channels. A wide difference
obtains in this matter between rural and city districts.
Where a farming community is exclusively Swedish,
the customs and even some of the costumes of the
fatherland persist. In mixed communities, especially
in cities, a great change is effected in a single genera-

REV. TU. P. ESBJORN.

The General Council. 453
tion. But the Scandinavian generally Americanizes
more rapidly than the German.
The man selected by Providence to lay the founda
tions of the Swedish Lutheran Church in America,
was Rev. Lars P. Esbjorn, who settled in Henry
county, 111., not far from Rock Island. In 1850 with
but ten members he founded the first regular Lu
theran Church, at Andover. The original church
edifice still stands, but the congregation now worships
in an immense building, and holds the first rank
among the Swedish congregations.
Esbjorn was a true bishop. He visited the scat
tered settlements, organizing congregations and pre
paring the way for pastors. When it became neces
sary to find a man for the Scandinavian professorship
in Capital University, Springfield, 111., all eyes turned
to him. Thence he was in i860 called to the newly
established theological seminary in Chicago. He
subsequently returned to Sweden and died in the
service of the State Church.
Esbjorn associated with himself two men of God,
who continue unto this day the beloved patriarchs of
the Synod, Rev. Tuve N. Hasselquist, D. D., and
Rev. Erland Carlsson. The former began in 1855
his editorial career by issuing a politico-religious
weekly, entitled "Hemlandet, det Gamla och det Nya,"
i. e. The Old and the New Fatherland. Out of it
have grown the substantial Chicago weekly "Hem
landet," edited by Hon. John Enander, and the weekly
synodical organ "Augustana och Missionaren,"
edited by Dr. Hasselquist. Through these papers,
and, in his capacity as president of the Synod for ten,

454 The Lutherans in America.
and of Augustana College and Theological Seminary
for twenty-six years, Dr. H. has been the instructor,
champion, and spiritual father of the Swedish people
of this country.
The equally important position of pastor at
Chicago was occupied for twenty-two years (1853-
1875) by Rev. E. Carlsson. The fervor of his pulpit
ministrations and his masterly skill as an organizer
were blessed to the building up of Immanuel Church,
now a parish of sixteen hundred communicants. As
president of the Synod and of the college board, he
skillfully guided and developed the energies of the
Synod and impressed it with a spirit of " faith that
worketh by love."
The Swedish work was brought into connection
with American church life by the temporary union of
the Swedes with the Synod of Northern Illinois — a
General Synod body. As this synod simply affirmed
the Augsburg Confession to be "a summary of the
fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion substan
tially correct," the Swedish conferences carefully guard
ed their rights on entering the body. Feeling hampered
by the union, they abruptly withdrew in i860, and im
mediately formed an organization of their own, com
posed of the Chicago, Mississippi, and Minnesota Con
ferences, and containing half as many Norwegians as
Swedes. The first convention of "The Scandinavian
Augustana Synod" was held in the Norwegian church
at Jefferson Prairie, near Clinton, Rock county, Wis.,
June 5, i860. Twenty-eight pastors, representing five
thousand communicants, participated in the organiza
tion. The most important step taken was the found-

The General Council. 455
ing of a theological seminary at Chicago. This sem
inary has been the chief source of supply for the
Synod, the pronounced sentiment of the body favor
ing a ministry educated in America. This has con
duced to such unity of view and strength of attach
ment to the Synod as to render it difficult to effect a
change in the organization, now that it has grown so
numerous and widely extended, making the attendance
and entertainment of the whole body impracticable.
Among the notable founders of this Synod mention
should be made of the following: Rev. Erik Norelius,
born in Sweden, but educated at Capital University,
Ohio, the pioneer of the Minnesota Conference, one of
the originators of nearly all its institutions, the college
begun at Red Wing, 1862, the Weekly Skaffaren, and
the Vasa Orphans' Home. His three volume history
of the Synod, now in press, reveals the painstaking
scholar and the graceful writer ;
Rev. Jonas Svensson of Andover, 111., remarkable as
a preacher and a catechist. It was not uncommon for
him to preach for three hours, without notes and with
out fault of logic or excess of verbiage. His catechu
mens were readily distinguished by their thorough
knowledge of divine things ;
Rev. Peter Carlsson, who after years spent in the
forests of Minnesota, went to the Northwest and
founded the leading churches in Idaho, Washington,
and Oregon.
During this, "the patriarchal period," although under
the external pressure of temporal poverty and many
other difficulties, such as the Civil War, and the great

456 The Lutherans in America.
Sioux outbreak in Minnesota in 1862, the develop
ment was more internal and tranquil.
The theological seminary was removed in 1863 to
Paxton, 111. An American professor and a Norwe
gian — Rev. Wm. Kopp and Rev. A. Weenaas —
were added. A general collection in Sweden yielded
$10,846. Five thousand volumes were received from
the library of the late King Oscar I.
In 1867 the Synod participated in the formation of
the General Council, in whose deliberations its dele
gates have taken an honorable part. It early pro
nounced against indiscriminate communion, pulpit
fellowship, and secret societies. Persons connected
with lodges were in most congregations permitted to
remain, but no new ones were received ; in others
they were excluded. Saloon-keepers are also exclud
ed, and a strong temperance sentiment prevails.
About 1865 there came to Kansas at the head of a
Swedish colony a man who has awakened extraordi
nary enthusiasm in the Synod, Rev. Olof Olsson. He
settled at Lindsborg, Kansas, which under his magnetic
leadership became a centre of singular power and
activity. At one time his people sent him to the
legislature of Kansas. Prof. Olsson is an interesting
writer. His ability as such was of great service when
the hyper-evangelical tendency in Sweden ran out into
the Waldenstromian heresy — a species of Socinian-
ism taught in Sweden by Waldenstrom, who is now
propagating his views in this country. From pulpit
and theological chair (at Rock Island) Prof. Olsson
fought this error. Above all he enkindled a burning
zeal in all the students of the college and seminary.

MUHLENBERG COLLEGE, ALLENTOWN, PA.

458 The Lutherans in America.
The Synod holds an annual meeting continuing for
about ten days. Two or three sermons are preached
daily, and doctrinal discussions occupy much time
when not, as latterly, crowded into the background.
The Synodical council, consisting of the President
and Vice-President of the Synod and two representa
tives from each conference, spends several days in
preparing business for the Convention. The Minis
terium meets next. Every applicant for ordination
and every ordained minister dismissed to this Synod
must appear before it for examination touching his
faith and life. In the ordination as many ministers
as possible unite in the laying on of hands. Not only
the Augsburg Confession but the entire Book of Con
cord is accepted.
The Synod deals with general questions — ordina
tion, the institutions at Rock Island, home missions
outside of the Conferences, missions among the Mor
mons, foreign missions, and publication.
The Conferences, dealing with most of these
questions within their own bounds, and having edu
cational and charitable institutions of their own. are
virtual sub-synods. They meet twice a year for a
week or ten days. In order that each congregation
may be reached, they are subdivided into mission dis
tricts, which are conferences in the usual sense of the
term, and in which preaching predominates.
The college and seminary were transferred to Rock
Island, 1875. The St. Ansgar's Academy at St. Peter
Minn., was reopened as Gustavus Adolphus College;
and about the same time, the publication of three new
papers — Barn Vannen (Children's , Friend) by Rev.

The General Council. 459
A. Huit, and Ungdoms Vannen (Friend of Youth),
a monthly, and Korsbaneret (The Banner of the
Cross), an annual, was begun.
The present decade is viewed as " the transitional
period." The fathers are gradually relaxing their
hold ; a generation born or educated here is coming
forward ; an unmistakable Americanization has
set in. The magnificent Bethany College has been
built at Lindsborg, Kan., and Orphanages have lately
sprung up at Mariedahl, Kan., Staunton, Iowa, and
in the old settlement at Jamestown, N. Y.
The publication cause has taken a new phase. The
Synod in 1875 sold its bookstore to a Chicago firm
in consideration of an annual payment of $1,000 for
ten years, and now a vigorous society, the Augus
tana Book Concern, publishes a number of periodicals
and books and is a source of revenue to the Church.
The work of the Synods covers the Union. The
eastern-most Church is at New Sweden in the Maine
forests. New England is missionary ground. In New
York stands the handsome Gustavus Adolphus Church.
In Philadelphia Zion Swedish Church. The Illinois
Conference extends into the copper districts along
Lake Superior. Chicago has twelve Swedish churches
and the Swedish Augustana Hospital and Deaconess
House. Rockford, 111., has a church seating two thou
sand. It cost $65,000. The congregation at Moline, a
suburb of Rock Island, numbers twelve hundred.
Rock Island has a group of five college buildings
the latest a costly stone structure in chaste Gothic
style, one of the finest Lutheran college buildings in
the land. Its erection was made possible by the gift

460

The Lutherans in America.

of $25,000 from the Hon. R. S. Cable, president of
the Rock Island Railway Company. Augustana College
and the institutions at St. Peter and Lindsborg now
contain business and musical departments. The semi
nary makes full provision for the English interests.
Minneapolis and St. Paul form the second great
Scandinavian center, with already over fifty thousand

AUGUSTANA COLLEGE, ROCK ISLAND, ILL.
Swedes. Augustana church, Minneapolis, has a congre
gation of nearly two thousand. At St. Peter there is a
college with a- large faculty and 245 students, and there
are several flourishing academies. The peculiar dif
ficulties of this field are the vast floating population,
the increasing worldliness of the later immigration,
and the pernicious activity of the sects.
An element which by every sacred bond is united

The General Council. 461
with the Lutheran Church, is sought to be wrested
from it by Methodists, Baptists and especially the so-
called Mission Friends. With the latter the Congre-
gationalists have been courting fellowship. Some years
ago a determined effort was made by the Episcopa
lians to appropriate this rich Lutheran material.
Through their agency the Swedish bishops were per
suaded at one time to grant letters of dismissal, recom
mending the emigrants to the care of Episcopalian
rectors where Swedish Lutheran pastors could not be
found. Not many Swedes were alienated from their
church by this proselyting device. There is very lit
tle high, church tendency among those that come to
this country, and though they were accustomed to
Episcopal government in the State Church, they know
nothing of Apostolic Succession or the divine right of
bishops. Firmly grounded in the doctrines of the
Gospel, indefatigable in promoting evangelical ac
tivity and spirituality, and united as one man, the Au
gustana Synod has been wonderfully successful in
preserving the Swedish people from fanaticism and
gathering them into churches of their own faith.
Effective English work has been done at Minneapo
lis, and at St. Paul. Lutherans of eight nationalities
have been gathered into these congregations. By the
same pastors congregations have been established at
Red Wing and West St. Paul. Other attempts have been
made by the Synod itself to solve the English problem
at Chicago and Rock Island by separate congregations,
at Galesburg, Rockford, Denver, and elsewhere, by more
or less frequent English Sunday evening services.
The Nebraska churches with their own school cen-

462 The Lutherans in America.
ter at Wahoo, and noble deaconess work at Omaha,
have since 1887 constituted a distinct Conference.
The Kansas Conference covers a wide field — Kansas,
Texas, Colorado, which it cultivates with self-sacrific
ing zeal. Out of the labors of Rev. Peter Carlsson
on the Northwestern coast and Rev. J. Telleen in
California, has sprung the Pacific Conference. To
rescue the Swedes sunk in Mormonism, Prof. S. M.
Hill, 1882, began work at Salt Lake City. A church
has been erected and an academy begun. A number
of pastors now labor in the Territory of Utah.
The home missionary work has sorely taxed the en
ergies of the Synod. At times settled pastors have
spent a month every year in the mission field. Again
they have served four or five churches until these were
strong enough to support their own pastors. Occa
sionally catechists have been employed, but the chief
dependence has been students of theology, pious col
lege students of all stages of preparation, and pro
fessors ordained and unordained.
The parochial schools maintained by most congre
gations and taught by students have been an agency
of great good. They are held for a month or more
during the summer. A few hold sessions of six
months or more. Instruction is given in Bible His
tory, Luther's Catechism, the Swedish Language,
Church History, and Church Hymns. To this the
pastor adds a six months' term of catechization, meet
ing his class from two even four hours a day once
or twice a week. Confirmation takes place about
Palm Sunday. A public examination precedes.
At " Hogmessa " (High Mass), or the Sunday morn-

The General Council. 463
ing service, the full liturgical service (according to the
hymn-book of 1819) is used. It is in the main that of
the Common Service, with the Confession of Sins, the
greater "Gloria" (a verse of " Allena Gud i himmelrik,''
"All glory be to God on high)," the pericopes, collects,
etc. On high days the minister intones his part of the
service. The Lord's Prayer is often merely indicated
by the opening words, the people following in silence.
The sermon is as a rule extemporaneous and on the
Gospel for the day. Prayer-meetings are held, at
which the laity take part in prayer and exhortation.
The Week of Prayer is observed.
The people are earnest readers of such devotional
works as Luther's sermons, Arndt's True Christianity,
and the writings of the Swedish Pietists, Rosenius and
Fjellstedt. The Bible with brief notes by Fjellstedt,
or Melin, and the Book of Concord are found in many
households. This fact augurs well for a continuance
of Christian knowledge and true godliness, despite
the temptations incident to the twofold transition
from poverty to affluence and from the language and
customs of Sweden to those of America.
The strength of this synod is 292 ministers, 582 con
gregations, 343 church buildings, and 76,000 communi
cants, with 19,889 scholars and 2,606 teachers in the
Sunday-schools, 272 parochial schools and 11,464
pupils. The contributions for educational purposes
were, in 1888, $28,415; home missions, $14,538; for
eign missions, $5,946 ; church extension, orphans, etc.,
$19,476; the whole averaging $1.00 per member. The
synod doubles every fifteen years.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE UNITED SYNOD IN THE SOUTH.
THE rupture of the Federal Union in 1861 was
regarded final by the great body of the people in
the Confederate States. The members of the
Lutheran Church shared this conviction, and believing
their civil and political separation to be beyond re
call they deemed it expedient and necessary to have a
new general ecclesiastical organization. The move
ment was abetted by the alienation inevitably growing
out of domestic war and by the bitterness of feeling
which a sharp conflict of sentiment on sectional insti
tutions naturally produced, while the general desire
for a more pronounced adherence to the Augsburg
Confession which a few years later triumphed also in
the General Synod, had already attained decided
strength in the South.
A preliminary convention of a few delegates at
Salisbury, N. C, May 15, 1862, accomplished little be
yond the appointment of special committees to pro
vide for submission to a subsequent meeting, a con
stitution for the new body, a Formula of government
and discipline, a Hymn-book and Catechism, and a
Liturgy. A year later delegations from the Synods of North
and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and South
western Virginia assembled at Concord, N. C, and
formally organized " The General Synod of the Evan-
464

Rev. JOHN BACHHAK, D. D., I,r,. D.

The United Synod in the South. 465
gelical Lutheran Church in the Confederate States of
America." Rev. John Bachman, D. D., LL. D., was
elected President and Rev. David F. Bittle, D. D.,
Secretary. The doctrinal basis was declared to be
"the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God
and the only infallible rule of faith and practice," and
"the Ecumenical Creeds and the Augsburg Confes
sion as the exponents of this faith." A clause allow
ing liberty of construction on several articles of the
Confession was added, but a later convention expunged
it. The work of the other committees was accepted,
the "Southern Lutheran" was made the organ of the
body, the founding of a publishing company was re
solved on, and the organization of the new body was
perfected with a remarkable degree of harmony.
The second annual meeting was marked by the ap
pointment of a Committee on Domestic Missions.
When the body met again, June 14, 1866, the wai
had ended, the Union was restored, a new title had to
be adopted to conform to the changed situation, the
problem of a continued separation from the Church
North had to be grappled, and the founding of a theo
logical seminary was advocated as the most pressing
need of the hour.
A pastoral letter urging the continuance of a sepa
rate organization protested that this was due to no
desire to keep up sectional animosity either in Church
or State, but to a firm persuasion " that the prosperity
of our beloved Zion in the South can best be sub
served in this way." Connected with the General
Synod from its organization, the result on the progress
of the Southern Churches had not been satisfactory.

466 The Lutherans in America.
They had patronized the educational institutions and
the literature of the North to the serious neglect of
their own resources and the detriment of their own
development. It devolved on them now to make
proper sacrifices by way of building up and sustaining
institutions and publications in their midst, and no
longer to retard their growth by an unhealthy depen
dence upon the Church in the North. This letter also
decried the latitudinarianism which, by ignoring every
feature which distinguished the Lutheran Church
from other denominations, extinguished that church
love so essential to church activity, and furnished the
excuse for the transition of ministers and members
to other communions. A decided stand for Lutheran
orthodoxy, it claimed, was required at this particular
juncture. The division which was then taking place
in the General Synod was finally pointed to as a
decisive argument for not renewing organic relations
with it. The perpetuation of a general body for the
South was thus decided, and at the same session the
Constitution was so modified as to give to it both
legislative and judicial powers.
At the next convention, in 1867, the South Carolina
Synod transferred its theological seminary at New
berry to the control of the General Synod, offering at
the same time to support a professor from its own
funds. Rev. A. J. Fox appeared as a commissioner
from the Tennessee Synod to confer with reference to
.the union of that Synod with this body. This is the
first step towards merging all the Southern Synods in
one body, which was happily realized nineteen years
later. Assurances were given to the Tennessee Synod

The United Synod in the South. 467
not only of a cordial reception as an integral part of
the General Synod on its truly Lutheran basis, but
also of the obligation laid upon this body by its basis
to allow neither in its publications nor its theological
schools any doctrine at variance with the Augsburg
Confession. The Holston Synod was admitted in
1868, the Mississippi in 1872. At these conventions
the problems of the most earnest deliberation were
those of a theological seminary and a church paper ;
those brethren clearly recognizing that only a trained
ministry and an enlightened laity can effect any perma
nent and thorough upbuilding of the church. At
Winchester in 1870 the prosecution of Home and
Foreign Missions was warmly canvassed and methods
were proposed for enlisting the interest of the whole
church. This convention has become memorable
from a special communication received from the ven
erable Dr. Bachman expressing his prayerful concern
for the prosperity of the church, and affirming that
"there is nothing in our doctrines that should prevent
a union of the whole church, both in Europe and
America." In the interest of a consummation so de
voutly to be wished, he suggested to the Synod "the ap
pointment of delegates to meet those of other synods
in consultation for the purpose of promoting a greater
uniformity in our books of worship than at present
exists. Other denominations have gained very much
by establishing a uniform mode of worship. If this
object could be accomplished our Church would, in my
opinion, be more respected at home and abroad, and
would accomplish a far greater amount of good."
The General Synod was not prepared to take action

468 The Lutherans in America.
on this suggestion but it is well to note what spirit
conceived the project of the Common Service. Six
years later when the revision of the Book of Worship
was under discussion "with a view to bringing it into
more complete accord with the true Lutheran cultus,"
it was resolved that the powers of the committee
be so enlarged as to invite the co-operation of the
General Synod North and the General Council, by
the appointment of similar committees, with a view

NEWBEBRY COLLEGE, NEWBERRY, S. C
to the adoption of a Common Service for the whole
Church. The suggestion was promptly adopted and
afterwards heartily and unanimously accepted by the
other two bodies, and "the common consent of the
pure Lutheran liturgies of the sixteenth century"
made the basis for the preparation of the service. The
Theological Seminary was in 1872 removed to Salem,
Va., the seat of Roanoke College, where with two pro
fessors it soon attained a fair measure of patronage.

The United Synod in the South 469
At the meeting in 1878 fraternal relations were
opened with the General Synod North, after assur
ances from that body that its deliverances on the war
were in no way designed to reflect upon the Christian
character of the ministers and churches of the South
ern Synods. An official visitor from the General
Council was at the same time received and accorded
"all the privileges of an advisory member." Peculiar
interest was given to subsequent conventions by the
presence and diplomatic addresses of distinguished
corresponding delegates from these two bodies. A
committee was also appointed to look after the moral
and religious interests of the colored face, with especial
reference to the establishment of Lutheran churches
and educational and eleemosynary institutions among
them, and the General Bodies in the North were
invited to "co-operate in the advancement of this
imperatively needed work."
At Charlotte, N. C, in 1882, an entire evening was
devoted to the subject of union with other General
Bodies of the church. "A full and courteous ex
pressions of opinion was given by all the members"
and it was
Resolved, "That this General Synod does honestly
and earnestly desire to promote unity and concord
between all the parts of our Evangelical Lutheran
Church in this land, and stands prepared to co-operate
in any concurrent movement of other General Bodies
towards an organic union of our entire church upon
an unequivocal Lutheran basis."
The committee on Missions was authorized to select
and sustain a missionary in the foreign field under

470 The Lutherans in America.
the direction of the Foreign Mission Board of the
General Synod North. This action was carried out
with enthusiasm, but the course of the missionary who
was thus sent out involved this promising movement
in total failure.
The fifteenth and last convention of the General
Synod South, held at Roanoke, Va., June 23, 1886, was
made memorable by two events. The first was the
report of its Committee on a Common Service that at
a full meeting of the three committees, held in Phila
delphia, in May, 1885, "a scheme of the normal service
of the Lutheran Church " had been agreed upon with
out dissent, and that this had been subsequently and
with absolute unanimity approved and adopted by
the General Synod at Harrisburg. The other was the
merging of the General Synod South into "the United
Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the
South," a union consummated between the General
Synod and the Tennessee and the Holston Synods in
accordance with a previous understanding and prelim
inary arrangements.
Two ways stood open at this juncture to the Synods
which embrace nearly all the Lutheran congregations
south of the Potomac. Either they must individually
enter into organic relations with one of the general
bodies that assert a national compass, or else perpet
uating their sectional organization it behooved all of
them to be incorporated into one body so as to gain
the inestimable advantage of concentration. The
strong current of reaction toward distinctive Luther
anism which was passing over the entire Church had
especially affected the southern portion, and was bring-

The United Synod in the South 47 *
ing into close sympathy bodies which had for many
years kept up a sharp conflict with each other. A gen
eral and sincere interest in their union was therefore
quite preceptible and the realization was recognized
as alike feasible and in the highest degree desirable.
The Tennessee Synod made a formal deliverance
on this subject which soon called out a hearty
response from the Synods of North and South
Carolina, Georgia and Virginia. The General Syrtod
at its session in Charleston, 1884, declared itself "un
willing to have these divisions continue any longer
without an earnest effort on their part to remove
them," and while acknowledging the fidelity of the
Tennessee Synod in its defense of the faith, it ex
pressed its own devotion to the same precious truth,
and argued that the causes for separation having
passed away there should now be on the ground of a
unity of the faith a formal realization of it in
practice. A commission was constituted " consisting of one or
dained minister and one lay member of the various
district Synods, who shall meet in conference with the
Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee
Synod for the purpose of maturely considering this
subject etc."
The Diet or Colloquium to consider the project of
an organic union was held at Salisbury, N. C, Novem
ber 12 and 13, 1884. It was composed of Commis
sioners from the General Synod South and delegates
from all the Southern Synods except that of Missis
sippi. The spirit of harmony ruled this convention.
The basis for union which was unanimously

472 The Lutherans in America.
adopted accepts the Holy Scriptures as the only
standard of doctrine and Church discipline, and the
Ecumenical Creeds and the Unaltered Augsburg
Confession as "a true and faithful exhibition of the
doctrines of the Holy Scriptures in regard to
matters of faith and practice." The other Lu
theran Symbols were declared to be " true and
scriptural developments of the doctrines taught in the
Augsburg Confession, and in the perfect harmony
of one and the same pure, Scriptural faith."
A constitution to be submitted to the different
bodies represented was also agreed upon. It allowed
the new body only advisory powers except in such
matters "as pertain to the general interests or opera
tions of the Church," namely liturgies, theological
seminaries, foreign missions, important home mission
ary operations etc.
The General Synod at its next meeting in Roanoke,
Va., June 23, 1886, gave its cordial approval to this
basis, regarding it "as essentially identical with its
present doctrinal basis," and also accepted the consti
tution as satisfactory. Similar action had already
been taken by the Tennessee and Holston Synods.
As their representatives were present at Roanoke
only the formalities were required for the organiza
tion of the body contemplated and these being execu
ted with entire unanimity, "the United Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South," was form
ed. The Church of that section has thus come into
one compact and harmonious body, working unitedly
and with a new impetus for the advancement of the
Gospel, notwithstanding the fact that there exist di-

',: ¦ ¦ TWf

lUUHi

ROANOKE COLLEGE, SALEM, VA.

474 The Lutherans in America.
versities of opinion and practice as marked as those
which still divide the Church in other parts of the
country. This happy result must in the main be ascribed to
the peculiar development of the Southern General
Synod. Feeble in members and resources, it was
called upon by extraordinary circumstances to -break
away from its former associations. It was thus en
abled to plant itself definitely upon the Church's Con
fession and to issue a Book of Worship with Cate
chism, Confession and Prayers, that has had an
immense educational influence in promoting unity of
faith and uniformity of worship, in cementing the
hearts of the people to their church, and preparing
them for earnest co-operation with all in whom they
recognize like precious faith and who are ruled by the
same spirit. The numerical strength of the United
Synod embraced in 1888, 8 district synods, 186 minis
ters, 392 congregations, and 33,625 communicants.
Besides the Educational Institutions already named
as under the auspices of the Tennessee Synod, there
are in the bounds of the United Synod, colleges at
Salem, Va., Mt. Pleasant, N. C, Newberry, S. C. ,with a
theological department; and Female Seminaries at
Staunton, Marion and Wytheville, Va., and at Mt.
Pleasant and Charlotte, N. C.
If the growth of the Lutheran Church in the South
has been relatively slow, this is in part undoubtedly
due to the absence of immigration. It has not been
wanting in church love nor in church activity com
mensurate with its opportunity. And it has been

The United Synod in the South. 475
honored by a large proportion' of able, eminent and
consecrated divines.
Towering above all others was the Rev. John
Bachman, D. D., LL. D., Ph. D. (Berlin), for nearly
sixty years pastor of St. John's, Charleston, which
under his ministry became the most influential con
gregation in the South. He took a profound interest
in the general work of the Church, and his influence,
while he stood in connection with the General Synod
or with the General Synod South, was always thrown
on the side of a large, unselfish and permanent policy.
To him chiefly the college and seminary, both now
located at Newberry, S. C, owe their existence.
From him came the first suggestion of a Common
Service. The dignity, force and simplicity of his per
sonal character gave Dr. Bachman a wide fame
throughout the Southern States, but his greatest
distinction was that of a man of science. He was in
the first rank of ornithologists in his day. With
Audubon, whose two sons married his two daughters,
he prepared "The Birds of America" and "The
Quadrupeds of America." He was a member of
numerous scientific societies and numbered among his
correspondents such men as Humboldt and Agassiz.
No other man on that territory has greater claims
on the reverent memory of his church than David F.
Bittle, D. D. His self-sacrificing and successful labors
as President of Roanoke College, his indomitable
world-conquering faith, his pulpit unction and power
and exalted Christian character, place his name on the
scroll of immortality.

CHAPTER XV.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND CULTURE.
THE first to liberate the human mind from mediae
val darkness and error, the Lutheran Church
has always fostered thorough intellectual culture.
She is distinguished as "the church of theologians."
Her scholars were the principal teachers of Christendom
in the sixteenth century, and they have within the pres
ent century restored the glories of the best age of
Christian learning. "Her wonderful literature her
great universities, her systems of popular education
are felt by the world."
The Reformation under Luther made an epoch in
education as well as in religion. The debasing super
stitions against which the battle was waged derived
their strength from ignorance. A reforming Church
must spread the light of knowledge. Recovering her
true character the Church cannot be unmindful of her
function as teacher. She kindles the highest powers
of the human mind and then employs them to en
lighten the world. Education is at once her duty
and the most effective instrumentality for extending
her sway.
The Lutheran Church took organic form with this
instrument in her hands. Her cause was from the
outset the cause of learning. She arose into distinct
ive being, identified with the highest educational in
stitutions. The Reformers, every man of them, occu-
4*6

The Lutheran Church and Culture. 477
pied university chairs. The superiority of her doctors
became a current argument for her doctrine. Witten
berg was the focus of the grand revolution. In it:;
lecture-rooms, and a little later in those of Leipsic,
Jena, and Tubingen, were found freedom of inquiry
and freedom of teaching, and thence shone forth the
living rays which turned the darkness into light.
While sustaining and developing those illustrious
institutions which are still the pride of Europe, and to
which the learned men of England and America ever
repair to complete their education, the genius of Lu
theranism has been equally zealous in establishing
schools for the masses. Luther's writings and espe
cially his translation of the Bible set the people to
reading, made them eager for knowledge, and with the
new energy awakened in every sphere prepared them
for those measures of general instruction to which the
Reformers gave their earnest attention. Popular edu
cation dates from the Reformation, and certainly
no other countries have furnished such thorough, gen
erous and universal systems of instruction as those in
which the Lutheran creed has been predominant.
There are no illiterates in Lutheran lands. Other
nations have from ten to eighty per cent.
This jewel was happily not lost in the trying pro
cess of transplanting the church into a new world.
The earliest preachers had received a liberal training.
Of the Swedish pastors of the seventeenth century, it
is recorded that with few exceptions they were men of
liberal culture, " eminent alike for learning, pulpit
power and fervent piety." Acrelius and von Wrangel
of the last century were "distinguished and scholarly

478 The Lutherans in America.
men." The patriarch Muhlenberg and a number of
his colleagues could speak fluently a half dozen lan
guages, including ancient and modern. Long before
the Lutheran Church was able to found academic in
stitutions, a number of her clergy received the title of
Doctor of Divinity from the colleges of other denom
inations. Some of them were elected College Trustees
and such was their recognized zeal in the cause of
science that they were specially welcomed to com
mencements and enrolled among the learned societies
of America and Europe.
Dr. Kunze's varied acquirements made him " an
ornament of the American republic of letters." He
was professor of Oriental languages in Columbia
College, having in that domain no superior in
America, and doing more than any other individual
of his day "to promote a taste for Hebrew literature."
"He was deservedly recognized as among the very
first of scholars, and cherished by the learned and
liberal of every denomination as an example of the
refined influence which elevated pursuits so uniformly
stamp on human character."
Dr. Helmuth, who succeeded him as Professor in
the University of Pennsylvania, "had a richly en
dowed and well cultivated mind," and published a vol
ume of hymns, and other religious works. His col
league, Rev. J. F. Schmidt, was an accomplished
astronomer and mathematician. H. E. Muhlenberg,
besides being a profound theologian, an original
thinker, a celebrated Orientalist, and a proficient in
almost every department of science and literature,
made a specialty of Natural History, in particular of

The Lutheran Church and Culture. 479
Botany, in which he became an authority and gained
the title of " the American Linnseus." He carried on
an extensive correspondence with the foremost nat
uralists of Europe, and through the newspapers and
other publications contributed much to the progress
of Natural Science. He was a member of the Ameri
can Philosophical Society and quite a number of
philosophical and physical societies in Europe.
That the Lutheran people of the last century were
generally not illiterate, is pretty clearly indicated by
the fact that half of Franklin's printing of books and
purely literary matter was for the Germans.
The fathers had received their culture at European
Universities. Unfortunately the first generation of
native ministers could enjoy no such facilities. Re
peated efforts to found higher institutions had
proved abortive, or perished in the storms of the
Revolution, and the Church did not control a single
classical or theological school, excepting the share
she had in Franklin College, founded in 1787. This
was due to the straitened circumstances of the
people and above all to the language problem. A
German institution would have been under the circum
stances an exotic, repelling the patronage of Americans.
And an English institution could not be maintained
until the Lutheran population had become more
¦ thoroughly anglicised.
In theory the Church always asserted a high stand
ard of training for her ministers. No young man
said the General Synod at its first meeting, is to be
admitted to the study of theology before he has ob
tained a diploma or its equivalent. And she has at all

480 The Lutherans in America.
times been honored with a fair proportion of learned
divines whose range of culture placed them alongside
of the foremost scholars of the country. We need
but instance the Schaeffers, Schmuckers, Krauths,
Storks, Dr. P. F. Mayer, Dr. John Bachman, and
Profs. M. Jacobs, H. L. Baugher and M. L. Stoever,
three men whose solid attainments and whose abiding
success in raising Pennsylvania College to its honor
able rank, were only paralleled by their self-sacrifice
to the cause of higher Christian education. That
leaders of such power and prominence had as a rule
received their own training where another faith pre
vailed, is a circumstance not to be overlooked in
studying the tendencies of their day, and its lesson
should never be forgotten.
While the founding of institutions for higher cul
ture had of necessity to be delayed until colleges of
other denominations had been maintained for one or
even two centuries, the instruction of the children was
from the beginning made a leading function of the
Church. The first Lutherans brought with them from
the fatherland the parish school, and, straitened and
widely dispersed as they were, they could no more
dispense with these Christian nurseries for their
children than with the Church itself. A congregation
without its school was not to be thought of. Even
when there was no pastor, the congregation must •
secure a teacher. Beside the rude log church a
school-house always arose, and it is suggestive that
Muhlenberg, who is said to have never lost sight of
the training of the children, and who at first person
ally gave instructions in the rudiments, built a school-

The Lutheran Church and Culture. 481
house at the Trappe even before he began the
erection of a house of worship. Significant likewise,
is the fact that the second topic which engaged the
attention of the first synodical meeting "was the con
dition of the Parochial Schools ; each pastor laid be
fore the Synod the actual state, the wants and pros
pects of his school."
Our fathers held that the young should be trained
inside the church and not outside of it; that educa
tion should be in the hands of Christian teachers,
should be seasoned and conserved with the Gospel,
should include the moral as well as the intellectual
nature, and that it is a function worthy of and incum
bent on the pastor, who indeed was often the main if
not the sole teacher of the parish school. What the
Church has gained by abandoning this institution and
leaving her children to the mercy of secular educa
tion, is a question of no little consequence. It should
be carefully pondered along with the more general
inquiry as to the measure of advantage which any
church derives from the surrender of inherited bless
ings for the sake of conforming to other denomina
tions and keeping in line with the spirit of the times.
In these schools the children were thoroughly in
doctrinated in God's Word, as well as taught the ele
ments of a secular education. Receiving religious
instruction from competent teachers six days of the
week, they became rooted in the faith of the Church,
and laid the foundations of those solid virtues for which
the Lutheran people were always distinguished. Prior
to the establishment of the common schools the Penn
sylvania Synod had hundreds of these church schools.

482 The Lutherans in America.
The corporation of Zion Church, Philadelphia, main
tained {out, and their grand work was at one time rec
ognized by the donation of five thousand acres of
land from the State of Pennsylvania.
It costs a pang to write here that, so far as known,
hardly a solitary parish school exists to-day in the
English- portion of the Lutheran Church, although its
poignancy is somewhat relieved by the knowledge that
several thousand are maintained by the German and
Scandinavian congregations.
While holding that all education should have a
Christian character, and conforming, in the days of
her poverty, her universal practice to this ideal, the
crowning feature of the Lutheran Church is her sys
tem of specific Christian instruction to the. young-
The book she prizes next to Holy Scriptures is her
Catechism, a treasure not equalled in any other church,
and which is said to have the widest circulation of any
uninspired volume.
A minister without this Catechism is an anomaly in
the Lutheran Church. He is out of his element. He
has missed his calling. An unfailing tribute paid by
every historian to the fathers, is their fidelity in cate
chisation and their success in preparing by this means
candidates for confirmation. No work of greater spir
itual power is on record anywhere. To these instruc
tions thousands attributed their conversion. To them
is to be ascribed in large measure the revived and
blooming state of the Church in their day.
Whatever derelictions may have since then been
chargeable to individuals, or to measures in conflict
with the Lutheran system, neither the leaders of the

STAUNTON FEMALE SEMINARY, STAUNTON, VA.

484 The Lutherans in America.
Church nor any of its bodies have ever failed to bear
their testimony to this invaluable medium of saving
the young and preserving the Church of God. One
of the first acts of the General Synod was the appoint
ment of a committee to prepare a Catechism, "the
present state of the church requiring an English edi
tion." A report presented to the General Synod at
York, 1835, declares : " If it had not been for that ex
cellent course of lectures, which is given to our young
people preparatory to confirmation, our people would
in a great measure, have remained altogether stran
gers to the power of godliness." Dr. Hazelius in his
History of the American Lutheran Church, 1845, or>
serves : " Many of us still remember the time when re
missness in the religious instruction of children was a
fault in our preachers, seldom discovered but least for
given; and can we forget, that this instruction pecu
liar to the German churches created so strong- an at-
tachment to the Church that it almost amounted to a
fault? This instruction is now sparingly imparted, and
what is the consequence? The attachment to the church
has been weakened so much that the causes of this
alarming fact have frequently been made the subject
of inquiry in our church paper, and we are sorry to
say that among all the causes assigned, we have
missed the one which is at the root of the evil, viz.:
' The remissness of many of our pastors in the religious
instruction of youths?'"
One of the most laudable features of Lutheran edu
cational work is the care of the orphan. By no other
sign does she more clearly testify that she has the
spirit of God "in whom the fatherless findeth mercy."

The Lidheran Church and Culture. 485
When we recall the instrumentalities by which the
Lutheran Church came into organic being in America,
it may be said that she had her birth in an Orphan
House. That glorious institution at Halle communi
cated the breath of life to the unorganized mass ready
to perish on these shores, and from that same fount
ain the Church was nursed for fifty years. The
great preachers, of that period were graduates of that
orphanage. It is therefore not surprising to read that
"one feature marked all the early Lutheran preachers,
their attention to the young, the poor, the sick, and
especially the widow and orphan."
The Salzburgers had hardly erected their own
homes in the savannas of Georgia, when in 1742 they
founded an Orphan House with four boys and four
girls. The same institution became also an asylum
for the sick, and received the warm sympathy and sub
stantial support of Whitfield, whose own attempt at a
similar institution in Savannah was doomed to failure.
The charge of the orphan, like some other import
ant trusts, experienced for some time a melancholy
neglect, but with the revival, latterly, of a better church
life, a new impulse has also been given to this humane
and godly work. At least thirty-three Orphan Homes
throughout the country are now supported by the Lu
therans — eight by the Missouri Synod, six by the
Swedish Augustana, two by the Iowa. Some are not
specially connected with any Synod.
In connection with the orphanages, mention can
simply be made of the hospitals, about ten in number,
and the Deaconess Institutes, the most splendid of
which is the "Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia

486

The Lutherans in America.

Mother-house of Deaconesses." The building con
sists of a central edifice two hundred and fifty feet
long and two wings connected with it at right angles,
each two hundred feet in length, the gift of John D.
Lankenau, Esq., who has also pledged himself for its
maintenance as long as he lives.
The courage, the struggles and the self-sacrifice
by means of which some twenty-one theological sem
inaries and as many colleges have been built up, and
the work these are doing for the education of youth

CARTHAGE COLLEGE, CARTHAGE, ILL.
to serve in the holy office and in other influential sta
tions, would occupy a volume. Reference to all but a
few may be found in other chapters. Wittenberg Col
lege, at Springfield, Ohio, is a worthy monument of
Ezra Keller, D. D., whose services in pioneer work both
in the sphere of religion and education can hardly be
overestimated. Carthage College, at Carthage, 111.,

The Lutheran Church and Culture. 487
and Midland College, at Atchison, Kan., have but re
cently come into being under the auspices of the Gen
eral Synod. They encounter the usual trials of such
schools, but they command the sympathay and sup
port of that body, and from whatever point they may
be judged can no longer be regarded as experiments.
The Female Seminaries at Hagerstown, Lutherville and
Mechanicsburg are on the territory of the General Syn
od, but receive patronage from all portions of the church.
Fourteen years ago an incomplete list of Lutheran
publications made a considerable volume, compiled
under the name of Bibliotheca Lutherana, by Dr. Mor
ris. Since then a large number of valuable works
have been added, and although no other ministers
have as laborious a lot as the Lutheran, and although
some of the ablest men of the Church, like Drs. C. P.
Krauth, Sr., J. A, Brown, and C. A. Stork, have left
nothing more permanent and complete than Review
articles, yet the array of Lutheran literature makes
a substantial library. The first known publication
by a Lutheran in America was a volume entitled
"Grondlycke Onderricht von sekere Voorname Hoofd-
stucken der Waren, Loutern, Saligmakenden Chris-
telycken Leere, etc., by Justus Falckner, in 1708.
Schmucker's translation of Storr and Flatt's Biblical
Theology, in 1826, became a text-book in seminaries
of other churches. His Popular Theology passed
through nine editions. Siess' works have a world
wide fame. Their titles fill many pages. Valentine's
Natural Theology is a text-book in a number of
American colleges. C. F. Schaeffer's translation of
Kurtz's Sacred History has been extensively used as

488

The Lutherans in America.

a text-book in theological seminaries. Krauth's Con
servative Reformation is the masterpiece of Lutheran
authorship in this country. Sprecher's Groundwork of
Lutheran Theology is a work of rare ability. Zieg-
ler's Catechetics, The Preacher, and The Pastor, are
valuable manuals for the clergy. Harkey's Justifica
tion by Faith should be in every home. Dr. Mann's
literary activity covers, besides valuable English and
German volumes, a wide field in the periodical litera
ture of America and Europe. Theophilus Stork, B.

LUTHERVTLLE FEMALE SEMINARY, LUTHERVTLLE, Md.
Kurtz, Greenwald, C. W. Schaeffer, Spaeth, Morris,
Rhodes, and Gerberding have enriched the devotional
literature of the church. Profs. Schodde and Weid-
ner have published valuable contributions to theolog
ical science. The latter's Introductory N. T. Greek
Method is adopted in a number of seminaries. Wal-
ther's '' Kirche und Amt," " Evangelien-Postille," " Epis-
tel-Postille," and " Pastoral Theologie," have passed
through many editions. Seyffarth, that prodigy of
learning, wrote numerous volumes on Egyptology,
Chronology, etc. Bachman's fame rests largely on

The Lutheran Church and Culture. 489
his contributions to Natural History. Profs. L. M.
Haupt and S. P. Sadtler have won high distinction in
the ranks of scientific scholarship. Among the most
important issues are the translation of Schmidt's Dog-
matikof the Lutheran Church, by Drs. Hay and Jacobs,
an English edition of the Book of Concord, with com
panion volume giving Historical Introduction, Notes,
Appendixes and Index, by Jacobs, and a revised edi
tion of Walch's "Luther's Sammtliche Schriften," by the
Faculty of Concordia Seminary.
The first periodical published was " Das Evangel-
ische Magazin," founded by Dr. Helmuth. "The Luther
an Intelligencer" began in 1826, with D. F. Schaeffer as
editor. It was afterwards changed to the "Lutheran Ob
server." " The Literary Record," a journal formerly pub
lished by the Linnsean Association of Pennsylvania Col
lege, wasa scientific journal of great merit. "The Luth
eran Standard" was begun in 1841. "The Lutheran
Quarterly" succeeded in 1871. "The Evangelical Re
view," which was founded in 1849. "The Lutheran
Church Review" was founded in 1882. "The Lutheran,"
"The Lutheran Evangelist," "The Lutheran Visitor,"
"Our Church Paper "are the other English weeklies.
"The Workman " and " The Lutheran Witness " are bi
monthly. "The Lutheran Home," "The Theological
Magazine," "The Augsburg Teacher," "The Church
Messenger," and " The Young Lutheran " are monthlies.
Besides these are a number of children's papers, some
fifty German periodicals and nearly as many Swed
ish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic mes
sengers of light and strength that regularly visit the
tabernacles of godly Lutherans.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND MISSIONS.
AN American historian of reputed learning and
fairness says: "The conversion of the heathen oc
cupied no place in the thoughts of the great
leader of the Reformation. The followers of Luther
for more than a century entertained the same preju
dice against missions." This is a fair specimen of the
misrepresentations of the Lutheran Church.
The truth on this point is stated in Herzog's Real-
Encyclopaedie : " Luther himself already seizes every
opportunity offered by a text of the divine Word
in order to remind believers of the distress of ' the
Heathen and the Turks ' and earnestly urges them to
pray in their behalf and to send out missionaries to
them. In accord with him all the prominent theolo
gians and preachers of his day and of the succeeding
period inculcated the missionary duty of the Church.
Many also of the Evangelical princes cherished this
work with Christian love and zeal." It was the Refor
mation with its new spiritual life that once more re
vived missionary operations which had entirely ceased
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the
labors of the Lutheran Church were the earliest in
that sphere as they have been the most productive.
" All missions, Catholic and Protestant alike, with the
benefits of every sort they bring us, are in several im
portant senses a debt which Christendom owes to Mar-
49°

FATHER HEVER.

The Lutheran Church and Missions. 491
tin Luther." So says a learned representative of a
great missionary church. If the Reformers failed to
organize any movement for the conversion of the heath
en world, this failure might be sufficiently accounted for
by the prevailing heathenism which had become rank
within the limits of the Church, and the uprooting of
which taxed all their thoughts and energies. But it
must further be borne in mind that the Protestant
nations had no means of communication with heathen
countries. The hegemony of the seas was during
that century in the hands of the Catholic powers,
Spain and Portugal, while Lutheran Germany had
neither commerce nor colonies, the indispensable pre
requisites in that day for the prosecution of missions
outside the pale of Christendom. Geographical open
ings are quite as necessary to the spread of the Gospel
as the zeal inspired by the Lord's command and the
love of humanity. It is the testimony of one of the
most devoted living missionary champions that " the
time had not come for Protestant missions." Self-
sacrificing love and the heroism of faith were present,
but the obstacles were insuperable.
What manner of spirit was begotten from the first by
the Lutheran Reformation is attested by the establish
ment of the first Protestant mission,by Gustavus Vasa,
as early as 1559, for the conversion of the heathen
Lapps in the extreme North of Sweden, and by the
noble efforts of his successors for the prosperity of
this mission. Where contiguous territory did not
offer a heathen population for evangelization, Christ
ian princes like Christopher of Wiirtemberg and
Ernst the Pious, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, exhibited an

492 The Lutherans in America.
apostolic zeal for the general diffusion of evangelical
doctrine. To the latter belongs the honor of intro
ducing the Lutheran faith into Russia.
The Thirty Years' War prostrated and desolated
Germany, so that in the seventeenth century foreign
missionary enterprises were absolutely impossible.
Yet the spirit of missions lived and a circle of jurists
in Liibeck " bound themselves to obedience to the
missionary mandate," and one of them, Peter Heyling,
went in 1635 as far as Abyssinia, where he translated
the New Testament into the Amchar language, gained
access to the court and became minister to the King.
The ultimate fate of his mission remains unknown. A
generation later, Baron von Welz issued several stir
ring appeals to all •• Orthodox Christians of the
Augsburg Confession," for the formation of a Society
for the spread of the Evangelical Religion, urging the
establishment at every University of a faculty of mis
sions, and the preparation of students for work among
the heathen. He appropriated 36,000 marks for mis
sions and set out for Dutch Guinea where he soon
died. The great Leibnitz conceived such an enthusi
asm for missions that " he designated China as a
suitable field whither Lutheran missionaries ought to
go, and even incoporated these thoughts in the consti
tution of the Berlin Academy of Sciences."
Denmark was the first Lutheran state to take her
place among the maritime nations. This was in the
seventeenth century. The way to heathen peoples
was now for the first time opened to the Lutheran
Church. And simultaneously the rise of Pietism with
its revival of practical Christianity awakened a new

The Lutheran Church and Missions.

493

and decided interest in the salvation of the heathen.
Liitken, the Court-preacher at Copenhagen, had long
sustained a friendly intercourse with Spener and
Francke, when his King, Frederick IV., commissioned
him to engage missionaries for foreign lands. He
selected two pietist students at Halle, Ziegenbalg
and Pliitschau, who sailed for Tranquebar, India, in
July, 1706. The material support for the mission
came from the Lutheran King of Denmark, its spirit
ual direction from Halle and especially its great

LUTHERAN MISSION CHURCH, GUNTUR, INDIA.
leader, Augustus Herman Francke, who seems to have
gotten the first impulse toward heathen evangelization
from Leibnitz. His mind once kindled with mission
ary ardor became remarkably active in the cause. As
founder of the Orphan House at Halle he was indeed
"providentially fitted to induce a spirit of devotion in
young missionaries, and to develop a missionary
constituency at home." Halle was from thenceforth
the centre of mission activity for the heathen.

494 The Lutherans in America.
Ziegenbalg, " the parent of Eastern missions," trans
lated the New Testament into the Tamul language.
The mission spread into the English possessions.
Re-enforced from time to time by a number of excel
lent missionaries from the Halle Orphan House, chief
among whom was Christian Friedrich Schwartz, "the
patriarch of Lutheran missions," it attained great
prosperity, resulted in 40,000 conversions, and pre
pared the way for the successful evangelization of
India during the present century.
It does not fall within the scope of this work to
trace the growth and extent of missionary operations
by the Lutherans of Europe, but as the charge of
indifference to heathen evangelization has found its
way into historical works, it becomes a duty to state
here that the Lutheran Church was carrying forward
on a vast scale a successful mission in India one hun
dred years before any of the English Churches had a
single missionary station in heathen lands. "With
the grand opportunities afforded by its colonies, and
domination on the seas, England did next to nothing,
during the eighteenth century for missions." It was
from Lutheran Halle that " missionary zeal spread
over other countries and other denominations."
As the diffusion of the Scriptures is an essential
feature of missions, it is due to the truth to record
here the fact that in this sphere also the work of the
Lutheran Church antedates the efforts of other
churches by a hundred years. The British and For
eign Bible Society was organized in London, March 7,
1804. And this is tritely claimed as the first institu
tion of the kind, whereas the Canstein Biblical Insti-

The Lid her an Church and Missions. 495
tute, founded at Halle by the private fortune of Baron
von Canstein, began its blessed work in 1710, and has
since circulated many millions of copies of Holy Writ.
Thousands of the early Lutherans in this country had
in their possession the Bibles of this institute for gene
rations before the idea of any other Bible Society was
conceived. The Swedish colonization of America, it has been
already noted, was distinctively a missionary project.
And the earliest Lutheran pastors on these shores
were among the first, if not absolutely the first, to pro
claim the knowledge of God to the aborigines, as
Luther's Catechism was the first book ever translated
into their language. And Muhlenberg's spiritual in
terest in the slaves is among the earliest instances of
such sympathy with that class in Pennsylvania.
For two hundred years all was missionary work in
this western world. Tranberg and other Swedish pas
tors impaired their health and shortened their lives
by extending their ministrations to the Episcopalians
and German Lutherans whom they found in forlorn
spiritual destitution. Whether those devoted men
had their own local congregations or not, they were
journeying to "and fro, across forests, streams and
mountains, enduring exposure, hardships, perils and
sufferings, seldom surpassed by the most thrilling
records of self-sacrifice among the heathen. They
were quite justly called "the missionaries." Let Dr.
von Wrangel's course as described by Muhlenberg in
1762 serve as an illustration : "He preaches on Sun
day in the forenoon in Swedish in his own Church
(Wicacoa); in the afternoon he goes on horseback a

496

The Lutherans in America.

distance of six miles to a congregation on the other
side of the Schuylkill, and delivers a second, sermon ;
in the evening he again preaches in his own church,
and this third time in English. Every fourth week
he undertakes a laborious tour through the province
of Jersey to his destitute congregations. Through
the week-days he visits other scattered outposts of his
church, goes from place to place, holds catechisation

LUTHERAN MISSION HOUSE, RAJAHMUNDRY, INDIA.
in the houses, and in spite of his indescribable labors
and exertions among his dispersed sheep, he is willing
from time to time to visit the destitute flocks of poor
German Lutherans, and to bring joy by administering
to them the means of grace, although he could give
convincing proofs that he has laid upon him more
than enough work among his own nation." This
apostolic portrait could be duplicated many times,
by men who with unquenchable zeal journeyed over
immense distances and sought from day to day in

The Lutheran Church and Missions. 497
English, German, Swedish and French, to minister to
all classes, giving their especial care to the sick, the
poor and the inmates of prisons.
The Church here was born of the spirit of missions.
Her life was nursed for years from the bosom of the
mother churches of Europe. And although she has
at times faltered under great obstacles or blighting in
difference, she has never wholly forgotten the com
mand, " freely ye have received, freely give."
On the first occasion of a general assemblage of the
church, at the convention in 1820, a committee was
appointed "to form a plan for a Missionary Institu
tion." And the first meeting of the General Synod
earnestly urged the District Synods to send out mis
sionaries. If sometimes disposed to lament that more
extensive operations were not undertaken, we should
remember that at no time did they have sufficient min
isters "to fill the vacancies of their immediate neigfh-
borhdbds." Serving so many congregations that they
could give them only one sermon in four weeks,
it is very evident that "a more efficient and sufficient
supply of pastors" was demanded, before a large num
ber could go to the destitute regions of the country
or any be sent to the heathen. Already in the last
century "the old synod appointed some itinerant
preachers to visit for a month or two new settlements
about the skirts of our country, and similar exertions
were made in almost every synod established since,"
but those who engaged. in this work had to take the
time from their own congregations, which were but
half supplied before. Such was the missionary activity
of all the synods for more than a generation, and to

498 The Lutherans in America.
this activity, desultory and unorganized as it was, the
church is largely indebted for its power and influence
in many parts of the country.
The first issue of an English journal, in 1826, had
an article on Missions, and so had every subsequent
issue of that year, a symptom of the spirit that pre
vailed in the church and which had long been nurtured
in congregational and synodical societies. In 1835
the General Synod set apart an hour on the first
Monday in every month, "in the evening at early can
dlelight for concert prayer in all our congregations,
to petition the Lord for an outpouring of his Holy
Spirit on our churches — that He would call more la
borers into the harvest, and revive a missionary spirit
in us and our congregations." At this same meeting
an expression of feeling was asked from the District
Synods respecting the establishment of a Foreign
Mission. In 1836 the Pennsylvania Synod formed itself into
a Mission Society for propagating the Gospel among
the destitute portions of the Lutheran Church in
America and " ultimately to co-operate in sending it
to the heathen world."
A Central Home Missionary Society was organized
the same year at Mechanicsburg, and a " German For
eign Mission Society" the year following, in connec
tion with the meeting of the General Synod at Hagers
town. Besides the members of the latter body, forty-
four delegates were present. Every Synod except
the Ohio and the Tennessee was represented in the
convention, great enthusiasm prevailed, and a collec
tion of $300.00 was lifted. A wide-spread interest in

The Lutheran Church and Missions. 499
the cause was soon awakened. At the first anniver
sary of the Society, in 1839, several brethren indi
cated their willingness to go out as missionaries to
the heathen under the auspices of this society.
The first person selected was Rev. C. F. Heyer,
who as a missionary in Western Pennsylvania had
exhibited those rare qualities of faith and self-denial,
simplicity, energy and patience which form the requi
sites for the evangelization of heathen lands. He
readily accepted the appointment, in 1841, but on dis
covering that he was to be placed under the super
vision of the American Board, he returned his com
mission. He then wrote to the President of the Penn
sylvania Synod's Missionary Society that he "preferred
going into the heathen world under the the direction
of an Evangelical Lutheran Missionary Society,
rather than be dependent on other Christian denomi
nations," and offered to go as their missionary, they
to name the country for the mission, pay toward his
travelling expenses whatever funds were in thetreasury,
while he himself would invest $1,000 of his own
property in support of the Mission. The committee
to whom this letter was referred, found that there
were " not sufficient means at hand to form and main
tain a heathen mission," but "on motion of Dr.
Demme, seconded by Dr. Baker, it was unanimously
Resolved, That we in reliance on Divine Providence,
commence a heathen mission," also that "we receive
brother Heyer as missionary in our service." His
offer of $1,000 from his own purse was declined. The
Executive Committee took immediate measures to
send him to Guntur in the Madras Presidency, where

5oo The Lutherans in America.
he arrived alone in the spring of 1842. The General
Society having reconsidered its proposed connection
with the American Board, sent out a year later, Rev.'
Walter Gunn to the same field. He was cordially
welcomed by Rev. Heyer, as a fellow-laborer in the
cultivation of that promising field which has since
yielded an extraordinary harvest. The two societies
adopted in 1845 a plan of Union, each remaining dis
tinct, appointing and maintaining its own missionaries,
but occupying the same district, "having but one in
terest and one aim in the foreign field, the joint mis
sion to be known as"the American Lutheran Mission."
Mr. Heyer remained in charge of the field for four
teen years, returning at the age of 65 to America.
The mission then, 1857, embraced three principal
stations, Guntur, Palnad and Rajahmundry, Samulcotta
being added later. The Pennsylvania Synod having
united with the General Synod, the direction of the
mission devolved wholly upon the General Foreign
Missionary Society. When this was so weakened by
the division in 1866, as to be unable to carry the
whole interest, it relinquished the Rajahmundry and
Samulcotta stations. In 1869 the General Council un
dertook the care of these and Father Heyer, not far
from eighty years of age, hastened once more to India
to recover those fields and re-establish successful
operations. Both bodies have since respectively pros
ecuted the work with zeal and vigor. And India has
had no missions whose results are more gratifying.'1'1
The General Synod mission numbers in India to
day 11,387 communicants, gathered into 335 congre
gations. Besides the support of 7 missionaries if enr-

The Lutheran Church and Missions.

5°i

ploys 165 gospel workers, sustains 152 schools with 209
teachers and 4,108 pupils. The Watts Memorial Col
lege, toward which a single family contributed $10,000,
has just been established. For the foreign work $82,-
404.71 were collected from April, 1887, to April, 1889.
The Council's mission reports a total of 80 workers,
1993 baptized Christians, and 767 pupils in the schools.

LUTHERAN MISSION HIGH SCHOOL, RAJAHMUNDRY, INDIA.
A mission was also founded in Africa, on the St.
Paul's river, Liberia, in i860, by Rev. M. Officer. The
progress of this work, the self-devotion of the succes
sive missionaries, some of whom sacrificed their lives in
a deadly climate, the ever-widening influence of this
fountain of grace in the desert, and the testimony of
travellers to its blessed character, would cover many
bright pages.
Other bodies co-operate either with these two Gen
eral Bodies in Foreign Missions or with European
Societies. . To the Home Mission work the Lutheran Church

502 The Lutherans in Amercia.
has a peculiar call. Besides the ordinary opportuni
ties for extending Christ's Kingdom through the con
stant expansion of the native population, there are
annually coming to this country and spreading over
every part of it, hundreds of thousands who have been
baptized, instructed and confirmed by the Lutheran
Church, and who require now her fostering care in
order to be gathered again into her bosom. If they
can but have a faithful Lutheran pastor they form, in
a few years, flourishing congregations.
The General Synod has organized its work effect
ively, supporting annually over ioo missionaries and
aiding in the erection o f 30 to 40 church-buildings. The
combined collections for both these causes for the bi-
ennium ending March 31, 1889, was $125,000. The fund
of the Church Extension Board amounts to $133,320.
In the Council this work is only in part done by the
three boards of the General Body, but its extent and
success are likewise commendable. Not less than two
hundred missionaries are laboring in different sections
and among various nationalities, and the sum of
$50,000 is annually expended. The Joint Synod of
Ohio reports thirty missions. The union of the
Southern Synods has evidently quickened the mission
ary pulse in those parts, and the flourishing missions
founded in several cities bespeak the increased ac
tivity that has set in. A vast work in this sphere is
done by the Missourians, the Iowans, the Norwegians
and others, the majority of their pastors being mis
sionaries even where they serve also self-sustaining
congregations, pushing the work in almost every town
and city, the people being liberal in their offerings.

The Lutheran Church and Missions. 503
A children's Missionary Society under the auspices of
the General Synod has been efficient both in stimulat
ing interest and in raising funds. The most notable
advance in this cause is the organization of the Women's
Missionary Society within the same body, which on the
occasion of its tenth anniversary discovered its collec
tions to have reached the sum of $100,000.
A few examples of successful missions are subjoined:
Grace English Lutheran Church was organized in
Baltimore, September 13, i885,with forty-one members.
Within four years that congregation has grown to
622 communicants, and conducts a Sunday-school
numbering 650. It received aid from the boards for
several years and now owns a property worth $30,000,
has an annual revenue of $4,000 and contributes to
benevolence $500.
The Church of the Redeemer in Utica, N. Y., was
organized April 27, 1879 with 28 communicants. To
day it numbers 400, with a " Sunday-school enrolment
of about 325 and an almost equal number in its mis
sion school." It has received no assistance from any
Synod or mission board, owns a property that cost
$35,000 and has an annual income of between $3,000
and $4,000. The pastor of this congregation writes
that there is a parallel to it at Buffalo, and that he
assisted during the past year in organizing two mis
sions in other cities of New York, "which bid fair to
excel this record. None of the four have received
any mission aid."
Other instances with results equally encouraging
might be cited.

CHAPTER XVII.
OBLIGATIONS OF OTHER COMMUNIONS TO THE
LUTHERAN CHURCH.
SO great and so various is the debt which the
Christian world owes by common consent to the
Lutheran reformation that it is impossible to ex
press the full extent of it. It broke the power of the
papacy ; it tore asunder the fetters of priestly rule ; it
restored the Church to her freedom ; it put her once
more in possession of the divine Scriptures. From
Wittenberg as the centre the wave of reform swept
onward until it reached the boundaries of Europe,
purifying and reviving the Christianity of different
nations. The writings of Luther and the disciples of
Luther, as if wings had been given them from heaven,
were found everywhere spreading the light of salvation
by grace, and in an amazingly brief period a reformed
church replaced the corrupt hierarchy throughout the
greater part of Germany, in Denmark, Sweden and
Norway, in a number of Swiss Cantons, in Hungary,
Holland, England and Scotland.
The revolution from various causes took on a dif
ferent form in some of these countries, and there soon
came to be known besides the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, the Episcopal, the Reformed, the Presbyterian,
and later a number of other bodies, evolved from these,
have sucessively taken their place among Christian
denominations. The Lutheran Church holds the preeminence over
504

Obligations of other Communions. 505
all, first by the fact of her antedating every one by a
number' of years. She was so well recognized as a
distinct factor long before the Reformation developed
beyond her pale, that all the earliest reformers in
every country were called Lutherans. But priority
in time is a wholly inadequate exhibition of the re
lation between the Lutheran Church and others.
That relation is genetic. It is the truism of history
that the Lutheran is the parent Evangelical Church.
She is the mother of Protestantism. Historically all
other Evangelical Churches have sprung from her.
Their presence is the expansion of the Lutheran
Reformation. They owe their existence to. the prin
ciples she so earnestly and triumphantly maintained,
to her translation of the Bible, and to the saving
doctrines her leaders proclaimed at the hazard of
their lives. Her Confession, which was from the be
ginning clearly recognized as the genuine expression
and symbol of her being, is the mother Confession,
the standard of pure and original Protestantism, "the
greatest of all the Reformed Confessions "says Bishop
Bull, as well as the first. " It struck the keynote," says
Dr. Schaff "to the other Evangelical Confessions."
And it is so broad, so comprehensive, so .scriptural
that it has at different times been signed or acknowl
edged by great Reformed Doctors and Princes, by Cal
vin, Farei, and Beza, by Frederick 1 1 1, of the Palatinate,
Sigismund of,Brandenburg, and the Great Elector.
Inasmuch as nearly all the great Protestant Form
ulas are based upon the Augsburg Confession, the
substance of it and often the language being incorpo
rated into them, and inasmuch as it maintains that "in

506 The Lid her ans in America.
doctrine and ceremonials among us there is nothing
received contrary to Scripture or the Church Univer
sal," the responsibility for putting forth tenets in con
flict with this confession, promulgating other creeds
and thereby organizing divisions in the Protestant
host, does not lie with the Lutherans. They have not
departed from the original Evangelical stream, others
have. At the German Church Diet in Berlin, 1853.
1400 clergymen representing the Lutherans, Reformed,
United and Moravians, joined in a public acknowl
edgment of this confession, testifying their agreement
with it "as the oldest, simplest, common document of
publicly recognized Evangelical doctrine in Germany."
The hope has often been expressed in other
churches that "it may one day become the United
Confession or Ecumenical Creed of all the Evangel
ical Churches in Germany." If broad enough to
embrace the Evangelical Christendom of Germany, it
must be sufficiently comprehensive for the Evangelical
Christendom of the World. Such admissions on the
part of intelligent Protestants are tantamount to the
recognition of the Lutheran Church as the mother of
them all. They have gone out from her, not she
from them. She is not a "sister denomination." The
sisters are her daughters. It is historically untrue, it
is unjust and misleading, to represent the Lutheran
Church as a branch of the Evangelical Church. She
is the strong body, the massive and living trunk from
which they all have sprung, and on which they still
depend. Into these branches, their leaves, their bloom,
their fruit, her life has been transfused. Her teach
ings, her literature, her hymns, her liturgies, have passed,

Obligations of other Communions. 507
and continue directly or indirectly to pass, into these
Churches beyond what many think or dream.
In the case of some communions, particularly the
Church of England and her daughter, the Protestant
Episcopal Church, this indebtedness is quite obvious
and unquestioned. The English Reformation had its
origin in the study of the writings of the Lutheran
Reformers. Those given to reading German books at
Oxford and Cambridge were called Lutherans.
Tyrtdale's New Testament, which is substantially our
present authorized version, is largely dependent upon
Luther's translation. His Pentateuch is even more de
pendent. Its first edition was published in Germany
by Hans Luft, Luther's printer. The introductions
and notes are nearly all literal translations of Luther.
Coverdale's Bible, where it does not appropriate
Tyndale's is largely a translation of Leo Juda's Zurich
version, which again is a revision of Luther. Rogers,
the translator of Matthew's Bible, was for eleven years
a Lutheran pastor. Conferences between the Eng
lish theologians and the Lutherans were frequent
and protracted, and during the reigns of Henry VIII.
and Edward VI. the Germans were pressed by letters
and by legations to come to the assistance of the Eng
lish in reforming the church. Melancthon, in recog
nition of his incalculable service to Lutheranism, was
appointed Professor of Divinity in Cambridge Univer
sity. He felt constrained to decline, but Bucer and
others accepted similar positions of influence, and took
a prominent part in preparing the formulas which em
body the faith and worship of the Anglican Church.
Lutheran principles and tendencies had from the first

508 The Lutherans in America. ¦
predominated among the English and when they pro
ceeded to a doctrinal reformation, the composition of
a national creed, their XXXIX Articles, in the lan
guage of Archbishop Lawrence "were borrowed from a
Lutheran creed." "In some instances," adds this great
Episcopal authority, "it amounts to a direct transcript
of whole passages and entire extracts, without the
slightest omission or unimportant variation." Speak
ing of the X Articles which appeared after the nego
tiations in London, 1538, between Myconius and the
English Bishops, the same author says: "In the whole
of these articles the ideas and language of the Lu
theran divines have been closely followed. Many of
the forty-two articles (afterwards reduced to thirty-
nine) owe their origin to the same source, and even
those which cannot be traced with certainty exhibit a
correspondence with the general opinions of the Ger
man divines."
And again: "Our Reformers * * * chose to
give reputation to their opinions and stability to their
system by adopting * * * Lutheran sentiments
and expressing themselves in Lutheran language,"
"purely Lutheran," " couched in the very expressions
of the Lutheran creed." Of Cranmer he says : " From
the Lutherans he had learned almost everything,
which he deemed great and good in reformation."
Bishop Bull says : "the meaning of our articles can
scarcely be perceived" by any one who is ignorant of
their source. And Bishop Whittingham : "the Aucrs-
burg Confession is the source of the XXXIX Articles,
their prototype in form, their model in doctrine, and
the very foundation of many of their expressions."

Obligations of other Communions

509

The origin of the "Book of Common Prayer" is like
wise to be credited to Lutheran agencies. The Luther
ans had revised, purified and translated the services of
the ancient Church, and the Lutheran revision had been
issued in many editions before the revision of the old
service was undertaken across the channel. And when
the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. was brought
out, it presented very few divergences from the Lu-

HAGERSTOWN FEMALE SEMINARY, HAGERSTOWN; MD.
theran service. "The offices of our Church," says
Archbishop Lawrence again, "were completely re
formed after the temperate system of Luther." The
successive stages of this are easily traced. The Mis
sals in use in England, from which the English revis
ion and translation were made, agreed very closely
with those used in Germany, from which the Lutheran
Liturgies were prepared. With the latter Cranmer,
by his sojourn in Germany in, 1533, had, grown quite

510 The Lutherans in America.
familiar, and especially with the Order of Branden-
burg-Niirnberg, having married the niece of Osiander,
who with Brentz prepared that Order. Melancthon
and Bucer drew up subsequently, 1543, a service for
the Archbishopric of Cologne, which was in great
degree conformed to that of Niirnberg, and "from
this work" says Lawrence: "All our offices bear evi
dent marks of having been partly taken. * * In
our Baptismal Service, the resemblance between the
two productions is particularly striking." Thus, as
Hardwick admits, though the Book of Common
Prayer has been mainly derived from the ancient and
Mediaeval Liturgies it has been " in no inconsiderable
degree through the medium of a Lutheran Compi
lation." The first Anglican Catechism was a literal transla
tion by Cranmer in 1548, of the Kinder-Predigten of
the Brandenburg-Niirnberg Kirchen-Ordnung, which
Justus Jonas had translated into Latin. And what is
known as the Catechism of the Church of England was
prepared from Brentz's with suggestions from Cran-
mer's Niirnberg Catechism.
The great Methodist Church is commonly viewed
as an offshoot of the Episcopal Church. This very
fact goes to reveal its indirect dependence upon the
Lutheran Church. But since the XXV articles which
embody the doctrines of that body are in language
and substance almost identical with the XXXIX of
the Church of England, they are readily traced to
their original source. "They are only remoter issues
from the same Lutheran fountain." But Methodism
has a more direct indebtedness to Lutheranism. It

Obligations of other Communions. 5 1 1
is beholden to the Lutheran Church for the spiritual
birth of its founder. Sailing to Georgia in 1735 on a
vessel which carried a number of Salzburgers, who in
the fierceness of the storm and the extremity of human
distress were kept in perfect peace, Wesley realized
that his religion was destitute of the calm, confiding,
and joyous spirit which made these Lutherans sing
praises to God, when every other heart " was quaking
and some were almost dead with terror." Wesley
had been accustomed to legalistic bondage and Puri
tan austerities. He had sought salvation by " the works
of the law," but strange feelings were aroused in his
heart, when he found a company of men, women and
children who knew no fear. It was a revelation to
him of the import and power of the Gospel. Even
then he did not attain the personal experience of the
heavenly gift, but when he returned to London and
listened there in a Moravian meeting to the reading
of Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, he
passed suddenly from darkness into light. "I felt"
he wrote " my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did
trust in Christ alone for salvation."
The Presbyterian and other Calvinistic bodies "have
always looked upon Luther and the Lutherans as the
authors of their Reformation." Bossuet says: "All
the Calvinists, Germans, English, Hungarians, Poles,
Dutch and all others, in general, who assembled at
Frankfort, through the influence of Queen Elizabeth,
all these having acknowledged those of the Confes
sion of Augsburg, namely, the Lutherans, as the first
who gave a new birth to the Church, acknowledge also
the Confession of Augsburg as common to the whole

512 The Lutherans in America.
party." And Turretin, speaking of the concurrence of
the Reformed Calvinists with the Lutherans, says it is
evident "from the Augsburg Confession alone, which
both parties admit, and to which both desire to be re
garded as adherents."
The German Reformed Church grew out of the
Melancthonian development in South Germany, where
Frederick III., appealing to Melancthon and the al
tered Augsburg Confession in defense of his Lutheran
orthodoxy, charged two men Ursinus and Olevianus,
the former an adherent of Melancthon, to draw up
what is known as the Heidelberg Catechism, which is
recognized in Germany and in this country as the
doctrinal standard of that communion. The Mora
vians, a name made glorious by devoted and heroic
missionary zeal, hold to the Augsburg Confession as
their only symbol of doctrine.
Rightly and truly, therefore, the great Protestant
communions are bound to look upon the Lutheran
Church as the mother of them all. And this histor
ical and vital relation has not been sundered, though
it is often ignored. The biblical and theological treas
ures of the Lutheran Church, though recoined in the
transition, form the richest element of the religious
literature of Protestantism. And the distinguished
teachers of the great theological seminaries through
out this land have, almost without exception, sat at the
feet of the learned Lutheran Professors in the Ger
man Universities. "Evangelical Christendom owes
more to the Lutherans, for everything pure, blessed
and great in its religion, than to any other class of
men since the Apostles fell asleep."

CHAPTER XVIII.
DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINES AND FEATURES OF THE
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
HOW other churches have drawn from the Lu
theran much of what is best in their systems is
in part exhibited in the foregoing chapter. In
their departure from her they have, however, not car
ried with them every important element of the parent
church. The life in the trunk has not passed in all
its richness into the branches. Or it has been so
modified as to show in the branches a different and
distinctive form. It would be an easy task to note
these variations which the branches respectively have
developed; nevertheless.it is in accordance with the
logic of history to speak of the doctrines and features
which distinguish the Lutheran system. They may
be summarized under the one idea of comprehensive
ness. The Lutheran Church is characterized by a
breadth, a fullness, an inclusiveness known to no other.
She has much that other communions do not have.
Their differentiation is due to their leaving or losing,
denying or abridging some of her excellences. They
are poorer, narrower, incomplete. They represent
avowedly or logically, a curtailment of the riches of
grace, a limitation of its benefits, a lowering of its effi
cacy. The Lutheran Church accepts and holds the
whole truth of the Scriptures, with its normal historic
development. In and with this truth, she knows, is the
Holy Spirit, so that wherever presented, in Word or
513

c; 14 The Lutherans in Amei'cia.
Sacrament, it brings salvation to every one who does
not make it of none effect through unbelief. As she
does not sever the Spirit from the Word, neither does
she take away aught from the consensus of the Church,
from the Person of Christ, the mercy of God, the offer
of salvation, or the content of the Sacraments. Her
doctrines are in every way richer, her distinctive life
fuller and more complete, all embracing and many-
sided as the grace of the Holy Ghost.
Standing midway between Rome and ultra-Protest
antism, maintaining doctrines that separate her from
both, while holding to the ecumenical creeds which
unite her to both, the Evangelical Lutheran Church
differs fundamentally from the Roman Catholic:
First, In receiving the Scriptures of the old and New
Testaments as sole and sufficient authority for belief
and life; Second, In ascribing salvation wholly to
the mercy of God. Then she differs from all others
who in any way limit mercy or make grace contingent
upon aught but Word and Sacrament. Such is the
abounding magnitude of divine grace, such is its free-
ness, that the greatest sinner has direct access to its
fountains. It is of no moment to him whether he who
offers him absolution received Episcopal or Presby-
terial ordination, or no ordination at all. The validity
of Baptism, the reality of Christ's Presence, the power
of the Gospel, the work of the Holy Ghost, are not de
pendent on any ecclesiastical legitimacy. Salvation
comes through the means of grace in accordance with
the promises, which are not bound to any sacerdotal
order, line of succession or legalistic conditions. And
indeed such is the measureless amplitude of God's

Distinguishing Doctrines. 515
mercy, that all efforts either to supplement or pur
chase, or in any other way to limit or condition it, are
at war with its essential character.
Now, according to the tenets of one denomination
the believer cannot feel assured of his salvation unless
grace has come to him through the right channel ; the
Gospel and the Sacraments in which it is visibly
offered, counting for nothing, it would seem, unless
dispensed by one whose credentials bear the stamp of
the "Historic Episcopate."
According to those of some others all the promises
and provisions of grace have no meaning except to
such as by a "secret election in eternity were chosen
to become its subjects.
In another the salvation of the soul is in some de
gree jeopardized if the entire body was not immersed
in the waters of Baptism.
In yet another quarter, God's Word, the Sacra
ments, the atonement, and the hidden work of the
Spirit, avail nought until you can evidence your con
version by an inward consciousness, supposed to be
an unfailing proof of regeneration, while others put
such stress upon personal efforts and such reliance
upon repentance and reformation that salvation is
made largely the outcome of such exercises.
To Lutherans the boundless mercy of God leaves
need for nothing more. All our need is complete in
Christ. Man gives nothing. He only receives. Faith is
receiving. And in the exercise of faith pardon is real
ized and a new life is begotten in him by the Holy Ghost.
This curtailing and restricting of grace meet us un
der various forms. It is seen in the limited atonement

5 1 6 The Lutherans in America.
which is one of the five points of Calvinism, whereas
Lutheranism holds with the Scriptures that Christ is
" the propitiation for the sins of the whole world."
It is seen in the withholding of Baptism from little
children, whereas Lutherans, in common with the great
historic churches, draw no line and raise no barriers at
this gateway of the Church, but bring their offspring
to the font, believing that being offered to God by Bap
tism "they are received into God's favor" and made
subjects of the quickening Spirit. The Church shuts
out no' one, not even babes, from its blessings.
It appears particularly in the denial of sacramental
grace, which separates what God has joined together.
The Sacraments are reduced to empty signs and me
morials, Baptism being merely a symbol of spiritual
washing, the Supper merely a remembrance of Christ's
death. Lutherans while acknowledging them as signs
and memorials, lay chief stress upon them as vehicles
and bearers of grace, through which the ascended Lord
comes into contact with the individual soul, imparting
to it in Baptism the new life, nourishing it in the Sup
per by the Communion of his body and blood.
It comes out very strikingly in the doctrine of the
Lord's Supper, where almost universally other Prot
estant Churches teach that the Holy Eucharist is but
a picture, or memento of the suffering and dying Sav
ior, and that the ordinance contains nothing peculiar,
nothing mysterious.
Lutherans believe that in the Holy Supper there are
present with the elements and received, sacramentally
and supernaturally, the body and the blood o f the Lord
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his institution, and

i

REV. O. ANDERSEN.

Distinguishing Doctrines. 5 1 7
the words of the Apostle: "The cup of blessing which
we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ?
The breadwhichwebreakisitnotthecommunionof the
body of Christ ?" Believers receive this to the strength
ening of their faith, unbelievers to their judgment.
The enemies of the Lutheran Church have sought to
fasten on her the reproach of consubstantiation, al
though not a single Lutheran teacher has ever advo
cated it, and the Church's defenders have with one
mind and voice continually denied it.
The doctrine of Roman Catholicism is that by the
consecration of the priest, the bread and wine are
changed into the body and blood of Christ. Nothing
remains of the elements. This is transubstantiation-
Consubstantiation modifies this change to the ex
tent of the difference between "trans " and " con," so
that the bread and wine instead of wholly disappear
ing, intermingle with the body and blood of the
Savior, forming one substance. The Lutheran doc
trine most clearly and strenuously denies that any
change occurs. The bread remains bread, the wine
remains wine, but in the reception of these elements,
there is a partaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, a com
munion of His body and His blood.
The most striking example of the dwarfing and
narrowing process of other theologies, is that which
pertains to the Person of Christ. The Lutheran
Church embraces Christ as the God-man, begotten of
the Father from all eternity and born of the Virgin
Mary, the two natures inseparably and forever united
in one person, the divine and the human attributes
sharing in every act and work so that "every act of

5 18 The Lutherans in America.
the Son of God is also an act of the Son of Man and
every word of the Son of Man is also a word of the
Son of God."
Others present a Christ divided, a Christ divested
of one or the other of his natures. When he is born,
he is but a human child. When he dies upon the
cross atoning for the sins of the world, he suffers only
as a man, the descent into Hell is only that of a human
soul. When he gives himself in the mystery of the
Holy Supper, when he is present "where two or three
are gathered in his name " he is only divine, his human
nature which unites him to us and in him unites hu
manity to God, being confined to heaven. Lutherans
always comprehend both natures in the one, forever
indissoluble, Person.
And this undivided and indivisible Christ, the God-
man, is the heart of the whole plan of salvation. Oth
er systems begin with the Bible, with the decrees of
God, with the Church. Lutheranism begins with
Christ. Its theology rests on this immovable center.
It is not unusual to designate justification by faith
as the central doctrine of the Lutheran Church, but
this is simply the reverse of the same truth. Jesus
Christ is the sole objective ground of redemption.
Faith is the subjective appropriation of redemption.
Christ is the fixed sun from which light and life stream
to the world. Faith is the opening of the eye and of
the heart to receive the light and the life. Justification
is realized by faith resting on the merits of Christ.
Around this shining center everything revolves.
And thus Lutheran theology and Church life honor
and exalt and magnify Jesus Christ beyond any other

Distinguishing Doctrines. 519
system. Romanism obscures him behind the Virgin.
Calvinism makes him an agent in the saving of the.
elect. Anglicanism has sought to confine his grace to
narrow channels. Methodism often dims his crown
by its conjunction of experiences and works with grace-
Lutheranism makes him all in all.
In harmony with its distinguishing doctrines the
Lutheran Church has also its characteristic worship.
The church of the people, its worship is not that of
the priests, or of the preacher, it is the people's wor
ship, and they are therefore provided with forms to
kindle, to exercise and to sustain the spirit of worship.
The Reformers proceeded with the liturgy just as they
did with the teaching of the Church. They purged
out corruption and error from the forms of public de
votion, restored them to a scriptural standard and put
them into the vernacular tongue. Every Lutheran
country and city adopted its liturgy during the six
teenth century, and all these agenda had with immate
rial differences the same service, except in South Ger
many, where the influence of Carlstadt made itself felt
in the cultus.
A Lutheran Church without a liturgy was unknown be
fore Rationalism becameenthroned in Germany. Then,
as the vital truths of Christianity were abandoned by
the pulpit, they were also removed from the people's
hymn-book and cast out from their forms of worship,
and the liturgies, in many cases, cast out altogether.
Many of the English congregations in this country,
influenced doubtless by the dominant churches around
them, dispensed for some time with prescribed forms,
yet it is significant of the spirit of the Church that

52o The Lutherans in America.
the first measure at the first convention of the first
Synod was the adoption of a liturgy "with a view of
introducing into our congregations the same ceremo
nies, forms and words."
At an early period of its history the General Synod
made provision for an English Liturgy. To provide a
satisfactory English Service for the Lutheran Church
proved, however, under the peculiar circumstances, no
easy task, and for half a century successive committees
wrestled with the necessary but difficult undertaking.
In 1883 the three General Bodies representing the
English-speaking Lutherans entered into an agree
ment to prepare a common service on the basis of
"the common consent of the pure Lutheran Liturgies
of the sixteenth century," and assigned this work to a
joint-committee whose unanimous report was adopted
by the three Bodies without a dissenting voice. The
General Synod, commonly regarded as but moderately
liturgical, heartily and solemnly gave its unanimous
approval to this undertaking at three consecutive
sessions, at Springfield instructing the Committee to
follow " the well-defined basis of the pure Lutheran
Liturgies of the sixteenth century," at Harrisburg ac
cepting the unanimous conclusion of the Committee
when it presented " the order of Service of the Lu
theran Church," and at Omaha ordering it to be pub
lished "in all future editions of the Book of Worship
and the Book of Worship with tunes."
A feature that has never been wanting to the Lu
theran Church is the observance of the great festivals
of the Christian Year, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter,
Ascension and Whitsunday, Though maintained

Distinguishing Doctrines. 521
also by a few others, they are peculiarly precious to
the Lutheran Church, since in consonance with her
system of doctrine they exalt Christ. They magnify
his incarnation, his atoning death, his triumphant
resurrection, his glorious return to the Father, his out
pouring of the Holy Ghost. These events are the im
movable foundations of Christianity.
Doctrine and worship exert a potent influence up
on thought and character, and peculiar types of doc
trine and worship will have their counterparts in types
of piety, and peculiarities of spiritual life. The char
acteristics of the fruit are the outcome of the root.
With the cardinal position of justification by faith in
the Lutheran system, there is absolute freedom from
the shackles of the law. 1 1 was the work of the Luther
ans to restore and enthrone Pauline theology, and un
der its sway believers come to realize their unqualified
freedom from every yoke and burden. Knowing by
the Scriptures that they are " the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus," they behold in God not a despot
but a dear Father. We are under grace, not under the
law, children, not servants, obeying from the heart and
not by constraint of external precepts. The obedi
ence of a child is nobler than that of a servant. A
spontaneous service is infinitely better than an en
forced one. The law within the heart working out
wardly, impelling to cheerful, holy obedience, develops
a Christian character which can never be reached by
any law of outward observances. And it is a surer
safeguard against both antinomianism and spiritual
sloth. Having peace with God through faith and hav
ing the indwelling Spirit, the innermost promptings of

522 The Lutherans in America.
the heart will ever move men to ask "what can we
render unto the Lord for all his benefits to us."
A childlike faith, spiritual freedom, a calm, cheerful.
sunny frame such as Wesley beheld in the storm-
tossed Salzburgers, are wont to mark those who have
been reared on the Lutheran faith and have grown up
in its healthful atmosphere. They strive after holiness
in temper and life " not for the sake of winning Heaven,
or escaping Hell," but from love to him who first loved
us. Their chief concern is to have continual fellow
ship with God, the strength of their heart and their
portion forever.
The Lutheran Church is of course, like the other
historic communions, somewhat affected by environ
ment. She has not always had a free, normal, un
trammelled development. The oak does not attain the
same grandeur and symmetry in every climate or in
every variety of soil. So the Lutheran body, " the
purest and sublimest of churches," has sometimes
been dwarfed and warped, hindered in her noble prog
ress, deprived of her true glory. Yet none who know
this majestic tree of life, whose leaves have been the
healing of untold millions, will deny that under favor
able circumstances its character and fruits are what
they are here represented.

CHAPTER XIX.
PRESENT STRENGTH OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE.

THE numerical strength of the Lutheran Church in
this country reaches, according to the latest sta
tistics attainable (1889), a total of 4,514 minis
ters, 7,804 congregations, 1,099,708 communicants
Of these there are embraced in the

Ministers.

Congregations.

Communican

Synodical Conference, .

1,221

I,8lO

362,000

General Council, .

§95

1,576

270,076

General Synod,

997

I,364

I53>o64

United Synod,

186

392

33,625

Independent Synods,

¦ i,i32

2,562

263,943

Disconnected with Synods,

83

IOO

17,000

No proper conception can be had of the strength
which these numbers indicate except by comparison.
Measured by the past they reveal the mighty hand of
God in the planting and progress of the Church in
America. The vast increase is of God. By his grace
feeble beginnings have developed into a powerful
communion. Not many years ago the Lutheran Church was
classified "among the smaller Presbyterian bodies."
She was virtually unknown and unrecognized, scarcely
mentioned in statistical tables. Since then she has
overtaken one after the other of the tribes until she is
acknowledged among the largest and most influential
denominations of the land. 523

524

The Lutherans in America.

An approximate estimate of the Church's numbers
for the last century gives the following:

Year.

Ministers.

Congregations.

Communicants.

1780,

, 70

300

1814,

85

380

40,000

1823,

175

600

45,000

l833,

300

680

57,000

1845,

520

1,030

145,000

1853,

850

I,75»

200,000

1863,

M31

2,677

285,217

1868,

1,748

3,111

351,860

1873,

2,3°9

4,n5

485,080

1878,

2,910

5>!36

65°,529

l883,

3,429

6,130

785,987

l885,

3,720

7,037

893,202

. Her comparative rank among
Churches of this country appears
latest statistics :

The Methodists Number
The Baptists "
The Presbyterians "
The Lutherans "
The Congregationalists Number
The Episcopalians
The Reformed "

the evangelical
according to the

4,747>I3° 3,974,589 1,259,234 1,099,708 475,608 459,642 277,632

Figures yield, however, an unsatisfactory and inade
quate exhibit of a church's strength. Numbers are no
proper expression of moral forces. Mathematics do
not apply to what is spiritual. In that sphere one
and one may be more than two and two. Statistics
may include clergy, communicants and congregations
that weaken rather than strengthen a church. They
maybe minus quantities, One earnest soul may count

Present Strength. 525
for more than multitudes who have the form but not
the power of godliness.
A Lutheran congregation may be equal to a Meth
odist one, or to a Presbyterian, or to an Episcopalian.
It may also, though numerically and externally weaker,
represent more than either or many of these. Pri
marily the question is how much Christian truth does
it represent? For what compass of the Gospel does
it stand? What is the degree of its spiritual endow
ment? To what extent is it the body of Christ?
Surely in this the strength of the Lutheran Church
is nowhere surpassed, is equalled by none. She holds
and preaches the truth as it is in Jesus with a fullness
and emphasis heard nowhere else. Salvation by faith
alone, Christ the center of all her teaching, Christ ex
alted in her pulpit, her festivals and her liturgies, herein
lies the essential strength of the Lutheran Church. "If
the Lutheran Church does not compass the truth and
salvation of God, they are not to be found on earth."
And, what is of preeminent value, her faith is clearly
defined and fully set forth in her Symbols, which are
becoming more and more the study of her ministers,
and adhered to with a firmness that has no parallel in
any other Church.
A transcendent feature of her strength is the instruc
tion of the young. She is the only Protestant com
munion that has retained the Catechism as an indis
pensable feature of religious training, as she is also
the only one that to any extent retains in her hands
general education. In Sunday-school work the Eng
lish congregations are surpassed by none, and in many
localities their superior efficiency is unchallenged.

526

The Lutherans in America.

With four thousand pastors annually catechising
the young, with some 300,000 children taught in par
ish schools, with more than half a million reared in well-
conducted Sunday-schools, the Lutheran Church has
an incalculable element of power that wins admira
tion from all who are acquainted with her.
Faithfully nurturing and guarding her own, she
shows, besides, an aggressiveness, a missionary zeal
and a general prevalence and growth of liberality, that
indicate an immeasurable capacity for extension, while
her ministry, along with their fidelity in preaching ob-

GASTON COLLEGE, DALLAS, N. C.
jective truth, have no superiors in learning, in self-sac
rifice and consecration.
Features like these rather than statistical tables
show the essential and effective strength of a church.
Not the muster roll of an army, but its fighting capac
ity, its morale, and above all, the justice of its cause,
represent its real power.
An approximate measurement of the strength of the
Lutheran Church may also be obtained from the fol
lowing exhibit of her principal educational institu-

Present Strength.

527

tions, the most powerful human agencies for promot
ing her efficiency and growth :

THEOLOGICAL

SEMINARIES.

Name.

Opened.

Location. Profs.

Studs.

Hartwick, .....

1816,

Hartwick Sem.,

3

is

Seminary of General Synod,

1826,

Gettysburg, Pa.,

5

55

Theolog. Dept. of Capital University,

1830,

Columbus, Ohio,

3

3°

Southern, .....

1830,

Newberry, S. C,

2

4

Theolog. Dept. of Wittenberg Col.,

l845»

Springfield, 0.,

3

18

Concordia, ....

1846,

St. Louis, Mo.,

5

140

Wartburg, ....

1854,

Dubuque, la.,

3

64

Theolog. Dept., Miss'ry Institute,

1858,

Selins Grove, Pa.,

2

J3

Philadelphia, ....

1864,

Philadelphia, Pa.,

4

70

Swedish Augustana,

1864,

Rock Island, 111.,

3

48

Augsburg Augustana,

1869,

Minneapolis,Minn

•3

34

Practical Concordia,

1873,

Springfield, 111.,

3

209

Norwegian-Danish Augustana,

1874,

Beloit, Iowa,

2

9

Wisconsin Synod's,

1878,

Milwaukee, Wis.

3

33

Hauge's Red Wing,

1879,

Red Wing, Minn.

2

36

German of General Synod, .

1881,

Chicago, 111.,

3

IQ

Minnesota Synod's,

1884,

New Ulm, Minn.,

2

12

Michigan Synod's,

1885,

Saginaw, Mich.,

3

18

Norwegian, .....

1886,

Northfield, Minn.

,2

23

Two Danish, ....

4
21
Three Norwegian Seminaries are about to consoli
date at Minneapolis and will open with five professors.
Name.
Pennsylvania College,
Wittenberg College,
Concordia College,
Capital University,
Roanoke College, .
Newberry College, .
North Carolina College,
COLLEGES. Founded. Locality.
1832, Gettysburg, Pa.,
1845, Springfield, O.,
1849, F°rt Wayne, Ind.,
1850, Columbus, O.,
1853, Salem, Va.,
1858, Newberry, S. C,
1858, Mt. Pleasant, N. C,
Profs.
Studs.
14
205
18
250
7
218
8
148
n
I40
8
67
5
57
528

The Lutherans in America.

Name,
Augustana College,
Luther College,
Northwestern University,
Muhlenberg College,
Wartburg College, .
Augsburg College, .
Carthage College, .
Thiel College,
Gustavus Adolph. College,
Bethany Col. and Nor. Ins.,
Concordia College,
Wagner Memorial College,
Midland College,

Founded. Location.
i860, Rock Island, 111.,
1861, Decorah, la.,
1865, Watertown, Wis.,
1867, Allentown, Pa.,
1868, Waverly, Ia.
1869, Minneapolis, Minn.,
1870, Carthage, 111.,
1870, Greenville, Pa.,
1876, St. Peter, Minn.,
1881, Lindsborg, Kan.,
1882, Conover, N. C,
1885, Rochester, N. Y.,
1887, Atchinson, Kan.,

Profs.

Studs.

30

194

9

131

7

161

1 1

151

6

65

5

90

4

136

10

III

J9

272

i.3

25*

7

162

5

5i

5

70

Hartwick Seminary with 7 Professors and 95 students and the Mis
sionary Institute with 8 Professors and 90 students, at Selins Grove,
Penn., are institutions of a higher grade, preparing men for advanced
college classes.
There are numerous flourishing Female Seminaries
which, by the higher education of women, contribute
an incalculable momentum to the advance and influ
ence of the Church.
To the educational institutions are yet to be added
the flourishing Publishing Houses, which issue a great
mass of literature in some half dozen languages. The
total number of periodicals is at least 131. Of these
42 are English, 53 German, 24 Norwegian or Danish,
9 Swedish, 2 Icelandic, and 1 Finnish.
In connection with the exhibit of the strength of
the Lutheran Church in this country, her numbers in
Europe are presented below. The facts that she pos
sesses more territory than any other two of the great
Protestant families, and embraces a population al
most as large as all other Evangelical bodies com-

Present Strength. 529
bined, make a moral addition to her strength here
that is of great significance.
In this country the statistics represent only actual
communicants. In Europe they indicate generally the
aggregate population comprised within the Lutheran
State Churches. THE LUTHERANS NUMBER AS FOLLOWS :
Denmark, Norway and Sweden, ..... 8,508,000
German Empire, omitting the Reformed in the Prussian
Union,  24,483,000
Austro- Hungary,  1,550,000
Russia,  5,060,000
France, England, Holland, &c, ..... 225,000
Add those in Africa, Asia and Australia, .... 298,000
" " America, including Brazil, West Indies, and
Greenland  1,152,000
Total in the world, .... 41,276,000
These are comprised in 36,000 congregations, and
ministered to by more than 25,000 clergy.

CHAPTER XX.
THE FUTURE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
IT has been no easy task to sketch the past and
present of the Lutheran Church in America. It
seems presumptuous to attempt the delineation of
her future. Yet coming events cast their shadows be
fore. The humblest sower forms an idea of what
the harvest will be. Growth depends indeed largely
on conditions, yet the sapling is the promise of a
mighty oak.
The church is a tree of life, and it is the nature of
spiritual as of physical life to grow, to develop in
strength and dimensions. With the quick and quick
ening Word coursing through her veins, the inherent
vitality of the Lutheran Church, tested and strength
ened as it has been by storms of adversity, is itself the
pledge of boundless increase.
The conspicuous interpositions of Providence for
her preservation and progress in this western world,
vouch furthermore for the future favor of the Most
High. It was God that brought her across the deep,
that laid her foundations in this land, that protected
her in crises of supreme peril. The waters have roared
around her until the mountains shook with the swell
ing thereof, but God has been at once her refuge and
her strength, her " feste Burg," so that in the face of
overwhelming odds she has advanced to marvellous
prosperity. Review the ordeals through which the
530

The Future of the Lutheran Church. 531
Church was called to pass for many years, the poverty
and the wrongs of her early colonists, the ravages of
protracted wars, the paralysis of rationalism, the dis
persion and disorganization of her material, the havoc
of proselyting sects, and more trying than all, the
strain put upon her by the language conflict, and then
on that dark background, strive to behold her present
extent and power, and the heathen, even, must cry out
" the Lord hath done great things for them ;" to which
we 'exultantly respond " the Lord hath done great
things for us ; whereof we are glad."
It is a miracle that the Lutheran Church is not ex
tinct in America. What shall be said of her triumph
ant progress in the face of successive and over
whelming adversities ! She has not only maintained
her existence but she has come forth from her ad
versities purer, stronger, more united and more active,
her roots growing deeper, her trunk mightier as the
storms have swayed her to and fro. No other church
has labored under the difficulties, disadvantages and
struggles to which the Lutheran has been subjected,
and yet no other has in the last forty years shown
such a ratio of progress. In some large districts
she has gained more within a quarter of a century
than all the other evangelical churches combined.
For a long time her growth had been slow, much
impeded and often intermitted, but slowness, too, is a
virtue in -some cases, and great things in nature,
history or grace are never sudden. When at last
it became rapid, the sure warrant of its reality and
soundness was the fact of its manifestation in every
sphere. There has been vast progress not only in

532 The Lutherans in America.
numbers, but in Confessional fidelity, in Churchly
practice, in Church love, in conviction and enthusiasm,
in efficient organization, in education, in missionary
activity, in benevolence. The advance in every re
spect is so marvellous that many can hardly believe
it. Think of the Lutherans fifty years ago: "Pos
sessed of a language mostly foreign, widely scat
tered over an immense territory, destitute of facilities
for education in the spirit and learning of our Church,
poorly supplied with the regular ministrations of 'the
Word and Sacraments, often distracted with strifes
about what language they were to worship in, without
a literature worthy of the name, — lacking in efficient
organization, assailed on all sides by the ignorant or
wilful misrepresentations of the denominations around
them, and made the prey of proselyting sects."
Then there was no missionary fund and not a single
"missionary preacher in all the land wholly given up
to the work." Now the number of those wholly or in
part doing missionary work is not less than one
thousand, and the amounts annually expended on
this cause reach hundreds of thousands, while the
liberality of the people towards the cause of mis
sions and education, has been steadily improving
until gifts of $5,000 to $25,000 are not unusual, and
legacies of $50,000 to $100,000 are reported. Then
there was one English and probably a German period
ical, each with a few hundred subscribers. Now there
are altogether over one hundred and thirty Church
journals bearing light to one million of readers.
Humble beginnings of theological education had been
started in a few centers. Now not less than 20 semi-

The Future of the Lutheran Church. 533
naries, with 69 professors and 700 students seek to
meet the growing wants of the Church. Then there
was a single college, feeble and struggling, now there
are twenty, some in equipment and attendance ranking
with the better colleges of the country, with millions
of dollars invested in property, libraries and endow
ment, and thousands of young men receiving a liberal
education, a large proportion of them, about 1,500 pre
paring for the ministry.
With the exception of the writings of Dr. S. S.
Schmucker, there was a generation ago hardly any
literature in the English tongue setting forth the his
tory, character and claims of the Lutheran Church;
to-day, though much is yet to be desired, there is a
a number of solid volumes that offer a fair exhibit
of her distinguishing excellences.
The time was, and not so very long ago, when others
did not know the Lutheran Church, when in fact she
hardly knew herself, when she seemed afraid of her
true self, when her children had no appreciation of
their patrimonial possessions, when her champions
were always on the defensive and some were fain to
apologize for their ecclesiastical connection. At pres
ent the Lutheran people exult in their birthright. They
have become alive to the peculiar glory of their Church,
conscious of her strength and relative position, and
cognisant of her incomparable opportunities. Igno
rance of the Lutheran Church no longer airs itself,
but blushes at its exposure. Where once the tide
bore ministers and people away from Lutheran altars,
it is now bringing in not a few from other altars.
While formerly Lutherans quoted the practices of

!ff.;**ff*iit«,

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ST. JOHN'S ORPHAN HOME, (FOR BOYS), SULPHUR SPRINGS, NEAR BUFFALO, N. Y.

The Future of the Lutheran Church. 535
others as presumptively correct, it is not uncommon
now to see Lutheran usage pointed to as a valid
endorsement of what is desired. The immense signifi
cance of all this is beyond description. It forms an
inestimable element of hope in the future of Luther
anism, and this hope itself is a force of measureless
possibilities. Once all was discouragement. Now a
prospect opens to the Lutheran Church such as no
other communion commands.
If then notwithstanding trials and struggles un
known to other churches, the Lutheran Church has
steadily progressed, doubling her numbers on an aver
age every thirteen years, if with the most limited out
ward resources and equipments, she has startled the
public mind by the prosperity and power she has
attained, what may she not be expected to accomplish
with the vantage ground she now holds, a situation
full of inspiration and of hope.
Struggles and trials will doubtless still oppose her
progress. Problems remain to be solved, glaring
weaknesses and disadvantages are yet to be overcome,
but she has no longer to contend with many of the
most formidable obstacles that once blocked her
path. And her discouragements are insignificant com
pared with those of some other bodies.
One vital problem pressing upon the Church is her
adjustment to the demands of our country and age.
Another is the fuller occupation of the large cities
with English congregations. Happily she is con
scious of her need and duty in these things, and favor
able changes are here also apparent. The total of
Lutheran Churches in many of the principal cities is

536 The Lutherans in America.
encouraging. New York has 20, Philadelphia 34, Bal
timore 18, Washington 11, Pittsburg 18, Omaha 10,
Portland 8, San Francisco 8. An increasing propor
tion of these is English. Sixteen years ago Balti
more had 4 English Churches. Now it has 12.
The English membership was then 995, now it it
nearly 4,500.
Whatever circumstances may work to the future
detriment of the Church, it is very manifest that in
many respects she possesses extraordinary advan
tages. First. — Of all churches she holds the purest, clear
est, most definite and most complete system of scrip
tural doctrine. She is firmly grounded on her Sym
bols, and these stand immovable amid the upheaval
and tumult that are shaking some other creeds. While
someare seeking in desperation to adjust their faith to
modern thought or scientific discovery, the Lutherans
know of nothing in their creed that has become unset
tled, nothing that has to be given up. Not the faintest
voice is heard for a revision of her standards. " Her
confessional position and consequent church life," says
Dr. Valentine, "represent the best and truest outflow
of genuine Christianity." From a church that holds
the truth in love and loyalty the Holy Ghost will
never depart.
Second. — One of the brightest signs of her future is
her custom of inculcating this faith in her children. It
is not an idle boast that by her catechisation she gives
them an education that is without parallel. And who
can tell the full import of such indoctrination in this
skeptical age? With religious instruction banished

The Future of the Lutheran Church. 537
from our public schools, with infidelity wantonly taint
ing our literature, with a godless press read at every
fireside, with unsanctified science aiming its shafts
at the most holy truths, with rampant sensualism and
worldliness, it may well be feared whether the multi
tude can be held to Christianity unless they have been
rooted in it and grounded in it in childhood.
Third. — As she is the church of the children, so
she is the church of the people. It is no discredit to
her that she does not attract the devotees of fashion,
or that she fails to satisfy some who prefer social
standing to spiritual improvement, but wherever a
Lutheran congregation has become properly estab
lished, her teachings and her usages are wont to com
mend themselves to the thoughtful.
Fourth. — Her present numerical strength is a pledge
of a great future. Her communicants number 1,100,-
000 souls. The children in her homes number no less.
Including these more than 2,000,000 of a baptized
membership, it is estimated that there are to-day in
the United States 7,000,000 people who properly be
long to the Lutheran household of faith, who look to
the Lutheran Church for whatever spiritual ministra
tions they receive. And this grand total is steadily
increasing from the native population and through
the multitudes that come hither annually from the
Lutheran lands across the sea. Nor is it without
meaning for the future that although the Lutherans
have failed to occupy fully some of the great centers
in the Last, they have spread themselves everywhere
over the great West. Nearly all of the Scandinavians
have settled west of Lake Michigan, and two-thirds

538

The Lutherans in America.

of the Gerrnans west of Buffalo. In a number of
western states the Lutheran population preponder
ates. The uniform story, persistently repeated by
the representatives of other bodies, is that the vast-
ness of the Lutheran field is beyond all compari
son, that multitudes are waiting to be gathered by
her shepherds.
Fifth. — Another great element of future strength is
the conservative character of this immense Lutheran

E. V. L. ST. JOHN'S ORPHAN HOME (FOR GIRLS), BUFFALO, N. Y..
population. Whether it comes from foreign shores or
is born in this land, the solidity and sterling virtues
of this stock are unsurpassed. Its industry and thrift,
its peaceableness and intelligence, make it the choice
and the enduring element of the nation. Underlying
these virtues are the sturdy health and physical stam
ina which characterize these people and make them
prolific beyond all others. They form a race whose
physical and spiritual attributes are the pledges of
large families. To it belongs the future of this country

The Future of the Lutheran Church. 539
and from it by God's grace the Church of the Reforma
tion will have its future growth as it has had its past.
Sixth. — Another striking advantage of the Lutheran
Church is her polyglot character. She can teach and
preach in every tongue spoken in this country by Pro
testants, and in her numerous seminaries she is edu
cating preachers to minister to the English, the Ger
man, the Swede, the Norwegian, whatever may be the
language of any wanderer to her altars.
Seventh. — Not the least of her advantages is her
prestige, her name, her glorious history. It is some
thing to be a Lutheran, to belong to a church whose
roots penetrate the soil of four centuries and may
readily be traced to the Apostolic age. A church that
is not the product of a day, or of a generation or two,
has- the promise of a future such- as is not assured to
the religious mushroom growths of our age.
To these infallible signs of the rapid extension and
glorious future of the Lutheran Church might be ad
ded that manifest trend of the Evangelical Churches
toward some of the most prominent features of Lu
theranism. Notice the demand of the day for a
Christo-centric theology, which is the soul of the Lu
theran system ; the higher view of the Sacraments
which many are seeking after, and which has been a
conspicuous mark of Lutheranism; the growing pop
ularity of the Church Festivals, notwithstanding the
amazing course of the International Committee in
keeping them out of the Sunday Schools ; the general
"groping in the dark for a better service," for some
thing "to render the service of worship more vigorous
and impressive," feeling after such helps as have al-

540 The Lutherans in America.
ways been embraced in the Lutheran Liturgies. Are
not these strivings the unmistakable symptoms of a
powerful yearning in the .minds of others for those
treasures which the Lutherans have always possessed ?
Any disinterested and devout observer must recog
nize in these phenomena the hand of Divine Provi
dence. And surely her own children, who survey the
past of the Lutheran Church in this country and be
hold her present growth, who have faith in the Gos
pel and know to what extent their Church is its em
bodiment, must share the conviction, neither forced nor
faltering, that in the days to come, her doctrines will
be sown over every foot of the soil of this great coun
try as sure as the sun rises.
" Gottes Wort und Luthers Lehr
Vergehet nun und nimmermehr."

INDEX.

Page.
Acrelius, 266, 477
Albany, 118,121, 129, 131, 217
America and Roman Catholicism, 10S f
Amsdorf, 97 f
Anhalt, Prince of, 104 f
Anne, Queen, 175, 178, 203, 205
Arensius, Rev. B. A., 130 ff
Arndt's "True Christianity," 186, 221
Articles, XXXIX, 508
Athens, 217
Augsburg Confession, 219, 251, 260, 262,
339. 342f, 346, 363, 36S ff, 371, 374. 433,
438, 458, 4641, 4^7, 472> 505 f, 5" f
Bachman, Rev. J., 465, 467, 475, 488 f
Bager, Rev. J. G., 266, 307 f
Baltimore, Church in, 296, 301, 307 f, 503
Baptism, Infant, 516
Baptists, 5iSf
Bassler, Rev. G., 435, 45°
Baugher, Rev. H. L., 308, 480
Berkenmeier, Rev. W. C, 179, 209, 217,
219, 229, 253 f, 287 f
Hible Society, . 494 f
Bittle, Rev. D. F., 465, 475
Bjork, Rev. E., 159, 161, 165, 173
Bolzius, Rev. J. M., 194, 202, 246
Brenz, 104
Brown, Rev. J. A., 369 ff
Brunnnoltz, Rev. P., 254 f
Bucer, 507
Buenger, Rev., 411 ff
Buffalo Synod, 389, 404 f , 424 f
Bugenhagen, 98 f
Butler, Rev. J. G., 309 f
Calvinism, 515 f, 519; Intolerant, 114 ff, ngff
Campanius, Rev. J., 137, 149, 159
Canada Synod, 449
Canstein, Baron von, 495
Carlsson, Rev. E., 4S3f
Carolinas, Lutheran Charch in, 127, 355 f
Carpenter, Rev. W., 311
Catechisation, 377 f , 462, 482 ff, 525 f , S36 f
Catechism, Anglican, 510
 Heidelberg, 512
 Luther's, 36S, 374, 39°, 482
translated into an Indian tongue, 141,
159 f, 39°
Charles XI, 154, 158, 160
Charleston, 202, 306, 475
Christianity, Essence of, 26 f , 29, 88
Christ, Person of, 517 f ; the center, 518 f
Christina, 135, '42, l62f
Church, indestructible, 21 f ; corrupt, 23 ff,
29, 33, 40 ff; a brotherhood, 36; a po
litical power, 38; authority, 61; uni
versal, 85; rights, 8Sf

Page.
Church , Lutheran, 73 f , 78; of God, — ; a true
Church, 83 f ; no new Church, 84, 87 ff;
differs from Roman Catholic, 514; trials
in America, 210 — 232, 2801, 296, 399,
530 f ; Polyglot, 282, 528, 538; progress;
294, 307, 53" ! strength, 523 ff, 537 ; in
cities, 535 f ; in Europe, 528 f, 535;|moth-
erof Protestantism, 505 f; no sect, 506;
distinctive features, 519 ff; future, 530 ff
Colleges, 527 f, 533
Columbus, 107
Common Prayer, Book of, 509 f
Concord, Book of, 375, 458
Concordia Seminary, 411
Conference, Synodical, 385 f
Consubstantiation, 517
Conventicles, 115, 117 f, 122
Conversion, 426, 428
Cortez, 108
Council, General, 393, 432 ff, 456, 500 f
Coverdale's Bible, 507
Cranmer, 508 ff
Cruciger, 103 f
Danish Synods, 403 f
Denmark, 492 f
Deaconess Institutes, 485 f
Declension, Moral, 40 f, 279!
Definite Platform," 344 f, 3°9
Discipline, Formula of, 336 f
Doctrines, Lutheran, 513 f
Dutch Lutherans, 108 f ; first in America,
in; persecuted, 113, 117 f, 119, 121 f;
organized, 124 f; erect a church, 125
Dutch Persecutors, 113, n6f, i2iff, 139,
I42f, 147; moderate aggressions of,
I36f, 142; conquered by English, 146
Dylander, Rev., 248, 286
East Pennsylvania Synod, 361
Ebenezer, J95f, 204, 245f, 256, 272
Education, 196, 293f, 297, 3i8f, 348f, 375,
429, 474, 476ff,525
 Society, 34gf
Endress, Rev. Christian, 302
England, Church of 507f
English Services, 167, 261, 283ff, 298, 302,
306, 312, 343, 359, 361, 381, 397, 441,
452, 46of
Episcopal Church established in the Car
olinas, 127
Episcopalians, 179, 272, 287, 314, 461,
515; cared for by the Swedes, 284^
indebted to the Lutherans, 5071
Ernst, the Pious, 49if
Esbjorn, Rev. L. P., 453
Fabricius, Rev. J., i2gf, I47ff, 151, 153, 234
Faith, Essence of, 33, 35

542

Index,

Falckner, Rev. J.,
Falckner's Swamp,
Fanaticism,Festivals,Flohr, Rev. George D.,
Forts turned into Churches.
Fort Wayne,
Francke, A. H.,
 G. A.,

Page.

172., 179, 209
1721", 234, 247
223f, 227
5201, 539
311 148
4i6f, 418
493
i93ff, 215, 236, 238ff, 243,
261, 264

Franckean Synod, 366ff
Franklin, Benjamin, 318, 479
Franklin College, 319, 479
Free Cities, 47
French Indian War, 275f
French Reformers, 78, 81
Friederichs, Rev. John G., 202
Fritschel, Rev. G., 383, 393f
 Rev. S., 387f
Geissenhainer, Rev. F. W., 304, 321
Georgia, 187, 193
German, clamor for, - 291 f ;
injury to the Church, 2g^f
 Emigrants, large numbers of, i73f,
i98f, 2ooff; testimony to, 199, 2iof;
 poverty and trials of, 2ioff, 2i8ff, 224ft,
23°U 235, 290
 Society of Pennsylvania, 202, 319
Germantown, 218
Germany founding no Colonies, 169,
215, 491
 helping the Lutherans in America, 238, 344
Gerock, Rev. J. S.( 266, 296, 301
Giesendanner, Rev. John Ulrich, 203, 217
Goering, Rev. Jacob, 301 f
Goetwater, Rev. John Ernest, i2if

Grabau, Rev. J. A. A.,

404, 4I3'

Gronau, Rev. Israel C,

I94f

Grossman, Rev. G,

3«7

Grundtxig,

400

Gunn, Rev. Walter,

500

Guntur,

500 f

Gustavus Adolphus,

133; a martyr to

Protestantism, 134

Hackensack,

209, 228

Halle, 235ff, 242f, 254, 280, 493f

Handschuh, Rev J, F.,

257^ 262, 284

Hanover,

256

Hartwick Seminary,

32°, 3551

Hartwig, Rev.,

253, 26°, 320

Hasselquist, Rev. T. N.

453f

Hauge,

395, 4°o

 Synod,

396, 4Cof , 403

Hazelius, Rev. E. L ,

320, 355

Heathenism, Essence of

28; reacting on

Christianity, 25, 26, 28

Hebron Church,

205f, 311

Heinzelman, Rev. J. D.

M., 264

Helmuth, Rev. J. H. C

264, 297ff,

3r9, 47S

Helmstaedt,

3°4, 315

Henkel, Rev. David,

374

Page.
Henkel, Rev. Gerhard, 234, 308
 Rev. Paul, 3°8f, 3*4
 Rev. Philip, 372f
 Dr. S. G., 377
Herrnhuter, 171
Heier, Rev. C. F., 312, 499f
Holland, Lutherans in, uif, "3f
Hospitals, 485
Humboldt on fifteenth century, 45
Hunter, Governor, I7gf
Huss, 75, 78, 81
Icelandic Association, 404
Illinois Synod, 369, 425^ 438
 Northern, Synod, 454
Impostors, 223ff, 248, 252, 257
India, 493f, 4ggf
Indians friendly to the Swedes, 136, 143,
146, 157; to the Germans, i8of;
Massacre, 205f
Indulgences, 306°, 63f, 66
Infidelity, 276!, 209
Iowa Synod, 386ff, 423f, 437f
Jacobs, Professor M,, 480
James Island, 127
John the Constant, I04f
Jonas, loif
Justification, s8f; central, 82f, 518
Keller, Rev. B., 300, 319
 Rev. Ezra, 486
Knoll, Rev. M. C, 179, 228f, 253, 287
Koch, Peter, 259
Kocherthal, Rev. J. von, I78f
Krauth, C P., 347*
 C. P. Jr., 444ff, 488
Krug, Rev. J. A., 265
Kuehn, 4o6f
Kunze, Rev. J. C, 265f, 299f, 3i8ff, 478
Kurtz, Rev. B„ 33gf, 343f, 4og
 Rev. J. D., 301
 Rev. J. N., 254f, 261, 30of
Laity in the Reformation, iosf ; conduct
ing service, 151, 156, 221, 4oof
Lancaster, 218
Language conflict, 28iff, 44of, 47g
Latitudinarianism, 3°2f, 374
Lehman, Professor W. F., 435
Leibnitz, 4g2f
Leo X., 63
Licensure, 316
Literature, Lutheran, 375f
Liturgy, 258, 263, 327, 347, 353, 358, 446,
463, 467ff, 5i9f, 557
Livingston, 179
Lochman, Rev. G., 303L 321
Lock, Rev. Lars, I42f, 145, I48f, 151
Loehe, William, 419, 421ft
Luther, a Roman devotee, 52ff, 73; conver
sion 56ff ; at Worms 62, 68; on indul
gences, 66ff; excommunicated, 68;
protected, 75f; personality, 8of; con
servatism, 82; above all Reformers,
94f; on Missions, 49of

Indt

ex.

543

Page.
Lutheran Church, (see Church) Name, 90ft;
Glory of, 92f
Lutherans, all Reformers, 92, 505, 507; not
Colonizing, 1 iof ; not political mal
contents, 114; a hinderance, 116, 119,
123; steadfast, n8f, 124, 157, 22off,
233, 397; first missionaries in America,
139, I4t ; first to practice tolerance,
I39f; assisting English reformers, 507
Lutherans, German, preceded by Dutch
and Swedes, i6gf; widely scattered,
i7r, 2i7ff; numbers, 173?, 2i3f, 216;
spiritural destitution, 2i8ff, 23of, 235
Lutheraner, The, 414J, 417, 421
Maine, Lutherans in, 2o6ff
Mann, Rev. W. J.,
Markham, Gov.,
Martin, Rev. J. N.,
Maryland Synod,
Mayer, Rev. P. F.,
Measures, New,
Megapolensis, Rev. J.,
Melancthon, Mercy, Boundless,
Methodists,
Michaelius, Rev. J.,
Michigan Synod,
Miller, Rev. G. B.,
 Rev. R. J.,
Ministerial Office,

163
306
216, 342292
359. 361
115, 122, 143
95"", 5«7. 510
5*4
91, siof, 515, 519 112
405356
3H, 316
~™»««.  -.., 4", 413L 422,, 424i
Ministers, lack of, 2i3f, 214!!, 3i6ff, 321, 357
Minnesota Synod, 43t, 438, 449
Missionary Institute, 344
Missions, 133. I37ff, i4of, 146, 159, 162, 236,
307ff, 332, 35off, 3°°f, 378, 38of, 384f,
388ff, 3921. 397f, 403, 4l6f, 4i9f, 42g,
443, 449. 462, 469f, 49°ff, 497ff, 52&, 532
Missouri Synod, 386, 387, 38g, 404, 4o6ff,
420ft", 435, 437
Monastic Life, 36, 3g, 53f
Moravians, The, 248, 25g, 512
Muhlenberg, Rev. F. A. C, 272, 274, 2g5f
 Rev. H. A., 3ig
 Rev. H. E., 272, 300, 478!
 Rev. and Gen. P., 273^ 295!
 Rev. H. M., youth, 24iff ; comes to
America, 245f; work, 2486°, 256, 48of ;
re-enforced, 254; use of English, 283
287f; death, 295
Myconius, io3
Neulander, 2°°
New Amsterdam, Church in, 125ft", I31, 186,
272, 287f, 293, 2g6, 2g8f,304
New Berne, 184, 205
Newburg, 178, 217, 2ig
New Hanover, (see Falckner's Swamp.)
New Providence, (see The Trappe),
New Jersey, Lntherans in, 209
New York, (see New Amsterdam),
 Synod, 312, 320, 33of, 360, 369, 447f
Nicholson, Francis 161

Page.
Norelius, Rev. E., 455
Norton, C F., 442
North Carolina, Lutherans in, 205, 304f,
3^1 323
North Carolina Synod, 3i4f, 338, 372!
Norwegians, 394ff, 428
Nussman, Rev. A., 304f
Oglethorpe, General, ig^i
Ohio Synod, 316, 327, 330, 336f, 360, 380ft,
417, 428, 435
Ordination, 86f, 173ft
Orphan Asylums, ig6, 393, 429, 48sf
Oxenstiern 135

PalatinatePalatines,Papacy, immorality of
Penitential Systems,
Penn, William,
Pennsylvania, College,

1 75f
175, 177, '79ff, iS7 38f
28, 30, 59
136,, !49, '53, 170
i83f, 187 198, 202, 223
348f, 360, 480

 Synod, 258ft. 315, 323ft, 330, 334f
358ft, 367ft, 417, 433, 442f, 446, 48if, 498
Persecution, (see Salzburgers and Palatines).
Petersen, Kling, 3g4
Philadelphia, 164, 187, 218, 234, 248, 369,
2g2f, 297f, 341
 Seminary, 441 ff
Pietists, 178, 23511
Pittsburg Synod, 369, 44§ff
Platform, Definite, 364^ 36g
Plutschau, 493
Points, Four, 447ff, 456
Polity Church, 86f, 325, 336f, 4i3f, 421
Practical Seminary, 419
Pra er Meetings, 463
Predestination, 386, 401, 426f
Presbyterians, 5nf
Press, Lutheran, 489, 528, 532
Priesthood, of N. T,. 34, 86
Printing, discovery of, 46
Printz, Lieut.-Col., 137
Providence in the Reformation, 44f, 5of, 68,
74f ; in the Lutheran Church, 154, 160,
162, 172, 53of
Publications .Lutheran, 487^ 533
Puritan, political agitators, 139
 Ministers, 2i7f
 persecutions, 114, 121

Quakers,Quitman, Rev. F. H.,

i7of, i84f
3051, 321, 323

Raritan. 228f
Rationalism, 277ft, 406, 4°8f, 5r9
Reform, efforts at, 401, 75f, 78, 8r
Reformation, beginning of, 57f; providence
in, 44ft, 5of, 68, 74, 77 ; principles of,
61; progress, 6gff; protection of, 76ff;
triumphant, 79f, 504
Reformed, The, 171, '78, 181, 28r
 German, 512
Revival, 354', 360, 39°

544

Index.

Revolution, The,
Rudman, Rev. A.,

Page.
27iff; dividing the
Germans, 290
132, 158, 161, 165,
l67. 173, 284
416
5i6f, 539
40,53
4ogf, 4i2f, 414, 420
261, 269
28, 5gf ; sold for

Rudesill, Henry,
Sacraments,
Saint Worship,
St.- Louis,
St. Michael's,
Salvation, Man's part, money, 30, 31
Salzburgers, 187ft, '94f, 22if, 272f, 485, 511
Sandel, Rev. A.,
Savanorola,
Schaeffer, Rev. C. F.
 Rev. D. F.,
 Rev. F., C
 Rev. F. D.,
Schaller, Rev. G., 422f
Schaum, Rev. J. Helfrich, 254, 261, 2g4f
Schmidt, Rev. J. F., 265, 27if, 2g7, 478
Schmucker, Rev. B. M., 445f
 Rev. J. G., 3o2f
 Rev. S. S.,
Schoharie, Schools, Parochial,
Schultz, Rev. J. Christ,
Schultze, Rev. C. E.,
 Governor,
Schwartz, C F.,
Scriptures,
Sects,
Seminar, Deutsches,
Seminaries, Theological,
Seminary, Theological at Gettysburg, 330'
c a ^u D ^ 332' 339' 345> 3S5f
Seyffarth, Rev. G., 488
Shober, Rev. G. 324
Sihler, Dr., 4i7ff
South Carolina, 202ft, 218
 Seminary, 466, 488
Spalatin, 103
Spirit and Word, 5i3f
Staupitz, 57
Stephan, Martin, 407ft, 412
Stoever, Rev. John Casper, 205, 217, 234
 Professor M. L., 480
Steck, Rev J. M., 311
 Rev. M. J , 3iif
Storch, Rev. C. A. G, 304^314
Stork, Rev. Theoph., 305
- — ; Rev. C. A., 305
Streit, Rev. C, 287, 306
Stuyvesant, Governor, 115, 117, 119, 125
Sunday Schools, 353, 397
Supper, the Lord's, 5i6f
Swedish Colony, founded, 135ft; a mission
ary project. 133, 137ft, J59f, 1^2; con
quered, 142; trials, 144, 147, 151ft,
157; picture of. 157; high character,
150, i67f; activity of Ministers, 209,
215, 217; preaching English, 284;

173
75,8i
299, 4872g8
2g8f

344ft", 487
i8off, 185
333, 461, 480ft 234* 264264
49+
oiff, 70, 73, 82
J57, 170ft; 223
318 527

Page.
Swedish culture, 477; relation to Germans,
25gf , 266, 496; churches become Epis ¦
copalian, 285
Symbolical Books, 219, 257, 262, 313, 347, 374
377, 486, 409, 421, 438, 472, 525, 536
Synod, General, 322ft, 331ft, 372, 500ft, 520;
influence of, 328, 335, 348, 350ft,
354ft, 36of, 469; rupture, 362ft;
soundness, 362!, 365^ 371
 General, South, (see United Synod),
 Norwegian Augustana 396
 Scandinavian, 396f, 454^
 Swedish, 45off
 United, 379ff, 4648!
Synodical Conference, 425f, 431
Synods, New, 36if, 371
 Southern, 362, 37g, 432
Tenacon Church, 142, i44f, 165, 247
Tennessee Synod, 336, 363, 372ft, 466, 47if
Tetzel, 32f, 63f
Texas Synod, 449
Theses, Ninety-five, 66f
Torkillus, Rev. R., 135, 141
Tranberg, Rev. P., 248, 261, 286, 4gs
Tranhook Church, t45, i4g, 161
Trappe, The, 234, 248
Tulpehocken, 183, 260
Tyndale's New Testament, 507
Unio Ecclesiastica, 313
Urlsperger, Rev. S., *93ff
Vasa, Gustavus, 4gi, 536
Virginia, 205
Voigt, Rev. J. L., 265
Wagner, Rev. Tobias, 252
Waldoboro, 2o6ff
Walther, Rev. C F. W., 406ft, 421, 423^
43°f> 432, 488
Weissiger, Daniel, 235, 240
Weiser, Conrad, 184, 318
Welze, Baron von, 4g2
Wesley, John, ig6, 511
West, Synod of the, 361
West Camp, 217
West Pennsylvania Synod, 337!
Whitfield, Rev. Geo., 196, 485
Wicacoa, 148, r6i, 1648
Wisconsin Synod, 431, 438
Wolf, Magister, A., 228
Wolfgang, I04f
Woman's Missionery Society, 503
Worship, Private, 115, 117, 122, 158, 186
Wrangle, Provost von, 266, 286f, 2g6, 477, 495
Wycliffe, 76, 78, 81
Wyneken, Rev. F. C. D., 415ft, 423, 430
Year, Christian, 520
York, 218, 252, 300
Ziegenbalg, 493f
Ziegenhagen, 194, 215, 227, 235, 240, 244
Zinzendorf, Count, 248, 252

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 09863 1840