American Lutheranism Volume I Part 2
(Jacobs, 235.) Also in the cause of liberty and humanity the German immigrants in America stood in the front ranks.
34. First Anti-Slavery Declaration in America.--The importation of negro slaves to America was practised by the English and Dutch since the sixteenth century, without disapproval on the part of the Puritans and Quakers, who boasted of being the fathers of liberty and the defenders of human rights. The inhabitants of Germantown, led by Pastorius, were the first to draw up, on February 18, 1688, a protest against this trade in human flesh and blood. The remarkable doc.u.ment, addressed to the meeting of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, reads as follows: "This is to ye Monthly Meeting held at Richard Warrel's. These are the reasons why we are against the traffick of men Body, as followeth: Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful and fainthearted are many on sea when they see a strange vessel, being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken and sold for slaves into Turckey. Now what is this better done as Turcks doe? Yea rather is it worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that ye most part of such Negers are brought hither against their will and consent; and that many of them are stollen. Now, tho' they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall doe to all men, like as we will be done our selves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of ye body, except of evildoers which is another case. But to bring men hither, or to robb and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed which are of a black colour. And we, who know that men must not commit adultery, some doe commit adultery in others, separating wifes from their husbands and giving them to others; and some sell the children of those poor creatures to other men. Oh! doe consider well this things, you who doe it; if you would be done at this manner? and if it is done according to Christianity? You surpa.s.s Holland and Germany in this thing. This makes an ill report in all those countries of Europe, where they hear off, that ye Quackers doe here handel men like they handel there ye cattel. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither, and who shall maintaine this your cause or plaid for it? Truly we can not do so, except you shall inform us better hereoff, that Christians have liberty to practise this things. Pray!
What thing on the world can be done worse towards us, then if men should robb or steal us away, and sell us for slaves to strange countries, separating housbands from their wifes and children. Being now this is not done at that manner, we will be done at, therefore we contradict and are against this traffick of menbody. And we who profess that it is not lawful to steal, must likewise avoid to purchase such are stollen but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possible; and such men ought to be delivered out of ye hands of ye Robbers and sett free as well as in Europe. Then is Pennsylvania to have a good report, instead it hath now a bad one for this sacke in other countries. Especially whereas ye Europeans are desirous to know in what manner ye Quackers doe rule in their Province; and most of them doe look upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done well, what shall we say is done evill?
If once these slaves (which they say are so wicked and stubborn men) should joint themselves, fight for their freedom and handel their masters and mastrisses as they did handel them before, will these masters and mastrisses tacke the sword at hand and warr against these poor slaves, like we are able to believe, some will not refuse to doe?
Or have these Negers not as much right to fight for their freedom, as you have to keep them slaves? Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad? and in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks at that manner, we desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us here in, which at this time never was done, that Christians have such a liberty to do so, to the end we shall be satisfied in this point, and satisfie lickewise our good friends and acquaintances in our natif country, to whose it is a terrour or fairfull thing that men should be handeld so in Pennsylvania. This is from our Meeting at Germantown held ye 18. of the 2. month 1688, to be delivered to the monthly meeting at Richard Warrel's. gerret hendericks derick op de graeff Francis Daniell Pastorius Abraham op Den graeff." (Cronau, _German Achievements_, 20.) This protest was submitted at several meetings of the Quakers. But it was not before 1711 that the Quakers introduced "an act to prevent the importation of Negroes and Indians into the province," and still later that they declared against slave-trading. Also the Salzburgers in Georgia were opposed to slavery, though Bolzius himself was compelled to buy slaves on account of the lack of white laborers. The Germans also were first and most emphatic in condemning the cruelties connected with the "white slavery" of the so-called Redemptioners.
SLAVERY OF REDEMPTIONERS.
35. Cruelly Deceived by the Newlanders.--Toward the middle of the eighteenth century there were some 80,000 Germans in Pennsylvania, almost one-half of the entire inhabitants. In 1749 about 12,000 arrived.
Benjamin Franklin and others expressed the fear: "They come in such numbers that they will soon be able to enforce their laws and language upon us, and, uniting with the French, drive all Englishmen out." Many of the Germans were so-called Redemptioners, who, in payment of their freight, were sold and treated as slaves for a stipulated number of years. Most of them had been shamefully deceived and decoyed into the horrors of this "white slavery" by Dutch and English merchants and conscienceless agents whom Muhlenberg called Newlanders (Neulaender).
In Holland they were called "soul-traders." By means of stories of the fabulous wealth acquired in America they enticed Germans and other emigrants into the signing of papers in the English language which not only committed them and their children to slavery, but sometimes separated husband and wife, parents and children. The following is an instance of the revolting horrors connected with this trade: In 1793, when the yellow fever prevailed in Chester, a cargo of Redemptioners was sent thither, and a market for nurses opened. (Jacobs, 236.) In Pennsylvania this kind of slavery continued from about 1740 to the second decade of the nineteenth century. Quakers and other "friends of liberty and humanity" exploited the system. Foremost among those who exposed and condemned it were Germans, notably Muhlenberg, who described the abominable business of the Newlanders as follows: "These Newlanders first make themselves acquainted with the merchants in the Netherlands.
From them they receive, in addition to free freight, a certain gratification (_douceur_) for each family or each unmarried person which they enlist in Germany and bring to the traders in Holland. In order to attain their object, they resort to all manner of tricks. As long as the comedy requires it, they make a great show in dress, frequently look at their watches, and make a pretense of great wealth, in order to excite a desire within the hearts of people to emigrate to so happy and rich a country. They give such descriptions of America as make one believe it to contain nothing but Elysian fields, bearing seed of themselves, without toil and labor, mountains full of solid gold and silver, and wells pouring forth nothing but milk and honey, etc. Who goes as a servant, becomes a lord; who goes as a maid, becomes a milady; a peasant becomes a n.o.bleman; a citizen and artisan, a baron!" Deceived and allured by such stories, Muhlenberg continues, "The families break up, sell what little they have, pay their debts, turn over what may be left to the Newlanders for safe-keeping, and finally start on their journey.
Already the trip on the Rhine is put to their account. In Holland they are not always able to depart immediately, and frequently they get a small amount of money, advanced by the traders, on their account. The expensive freight from Holland to America is added, also the head-money.
Before they leave Holland, they must sign a contract in the English language. The Newlanders persuade and rea.s.sure the people [who, not understanding the English, knew not what they were signing] that they, as impartial friends, would see to it that, in the contract, no wrong was done their countrymen. The more freight in persons a merchant and captain can bring in a ship, the more profitable it is, provided that they do not die _en route_, for then it may be disadvantageous. For this reason the ships are kept clean, and every means is employed to deliver healthy ware to the market. For a year or so they may not have been as careful, suffering to die what could not live. When parents die on the ships and leave children, the captains and the most intelligent of the Newlanders, acting as guardians and orphan-fathers, take the chests and inheritance in their safe-keeping, and the orphans, arriving on the land, are sold for their own freight and the freight of their deceased parents; the real little ones are given away, and the inheritance of their parents just about pays for the manifold troubles caused to the guardians. This crying deceit moved some well-disposed German inhabitants of Pennsylvania, especially in and about Philadelphia, to organize a society, which, as much as possible, would see to it that, at the arrival of the poor emigrants, they were dealt with according to justice and equity." When a ship of emigrants has arrived in the harbor of Philadelphia, Muhlenberg proceeds, "the newcomers are led in procession to the court-house, in order to take the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain; then they are led back to the ship.
Hereupon the papers announce that so and so many German people are to be sold for their freight. Whoever is able to pay his own freight receives his freedom. Those having wealthy friends endeavor to obtain a loan from them to pay the freight; but these are few. The ship is the market. The buyers pick out some and bargain with them as to the years and days of service, whereupon they make them bind themselves before the magistrate by a written instrument for a certain period as their property. The young, unmarried people of both s.e.xes sell first, their lot being a good or a bad one, for better or worse, according to the character of the buyer and G.o.d's providence or permission. We have frequently noted that children who were disobedient to their parents, and left them stubbornly and against their will, here found masters from whom they received their reward. Old and married people, widows and the frail, n.o.body wants to buy, because there is here already an abundance of poor and useless people who become a burden to the state. But if they have healthy children, then the freight of the old people is added to that of the children, and the children must serve so much longer, are sold so much dearer, and scattered far and wide from each other, among all manner of nations, languages, and tongues, so that they rarely see their old parents or brothers and sisters again in this life; many also forget their mother-tongue. In this way the old people leave the ship free, but poor, naked, and weak, looking as though they were coming from the graves, and go begging in the city at the doors of the German inhabitants; for, as a rule, the English, afraid of infection, close the doors on them. Such being the conditions, one's heart might bleed seeing and hearing how these poor human beings, who came from Christian lands into the New World, partly moan, cry, lament, and throw up their arms because of the misery and separation which they had never imagined would befall them, partly call upon and adjure all elements and sacraments, yea, all thunderbolts and the terrible inhabitants of h.e.l.l to smash into numberless fragments and torment the Newlanders and the Dutch merchants, who deceived them! Those who are far away hear nothing of it, and the properly so-called Newlanders only laugh about it, and give them no other consolation beyond that given to Judas Iscariot by the Pharisees, Matt. 27, 4: 'What is that to us? See thou to that!' Even the children, when they are cruelly kept and learn that they must remain in bondage all the longer on account of their parents, conceive a hatred and bitterness toward them." (G., 474 ff.)
36. Mittelberger on Redemptioners.--Mittelberger, who, in 1750, brought to America the organ built at Heilbronn for the Lutheran church in Philadelphia, and served Muhlenberg also as schoolteacher in Providence, describes, in substance, the sad lot of the Redemptioners as follows: "Healthy and strong young people were bound to serve from three to six years, young people from their tenth to their twenty-first year.
Many parents, in order to obtain their freedom, must themselves bargain about and sell their own children like cattle. A wife must bear the freight of her husband if he arrives sick; in like manner the husband is held for his sick wife; thus he must serve not only for himself, but, in addition, five or six years for his sick spouse. When both are sick, they are brought into the hospital, but only when no buyer is found. As soon as they are well, they must serve in payment of their freight, or pay, if they have property. It frequently happens that a whole family, husband, wife, and children, being sold to different buyers, are separated, especially if they are unable to pay anything on their freight themselves. When a spouse dies on the ocean after one-half of the voyage is completed, the remaining spouse must not only pay or serve for himself, but also for the freight of the deceased one. When both parents die on the ocean, their children must serve for their own and their parents' freight till their twenty-first year. If anybody escapes a cruel master, he cannot get very far, since good provisions are made for the certain and speedy recapture of escaped Redemptioners. A liberal reward is paid to him who holds or returns a deserter. If a deserter was absent for a day, he must serve a week for it; for a week, a month; and for a month, half a year. Men of rank, skill, or learning, unable to pay their freight, or to give any surety, must serve their masters by doing manual labor like ordinary servants. While learning to perform the unaccustomed hard labor, they are treated with lashes like cattle. Many a suicide was the consequence of the abominable deceit of the Newlanders. Others sank into utter despair, or deserted, only to suffer more afterwards than before. Sometimes the merchants in Holland make a secret agreement to deliver their cargo of human beings not in Philadelphia, where they wanted to go, but at some other place, where they expect a better market, thus robbing many of the a.s.sistance of their friends and relatives in Pennsylvania. Many entrust their money to the Newlanders, who remain in Holland, and on their arrival in this country they must either serve themselves, or sell their children to serve for them." (477 ff.) Like the negroes, the Redemptioners could be resold. The newspapers carried advertis.e.m.e.nts like the following from the _Staatsbote_ of Philadelphia: "The time of service of a bond-maid is for sale. She is tall and strong enough to do any kind of work, and is able to perform work in the city as well as in the country. She is not sold on account of a physical defect, but only because her master has many women folks about. She has yet to serve for four and a half years.
The name of her owner may be learned from the publisher of this paper."
(481.) As with the negro slaves the lot of a Redemptioner was not in every case physically a sad and cruel one. In Maryland the laws protected them by limiting the days of work in summer to five and a half a week, and demanding for them three hours of rest in the middle of the day during the months of greatest heat. In 1773 Pastor Kunze wrote: "If I should ever obtain 20 pounds, I would buy the first German student landing at our coast and owing freight, put him in my upper room, begin a small Latin school, teach during the morning hours myself, and then let my servant teach and make my investment pay by charging a small fee." (481.) Some of the honored names in American history are those of Redemptioners, among them Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress during the Revolution, Matthew Thornton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the parents of Major-General Sullivan. (Jacobs, 235.)
LUTHERANS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
37. Roaming About without Altar and Ministry.--Justus Falckner, in a letter to Dr. H. Muhlen, [tr. note: sic!] dated August 1, 1701, describes the "spiritual wilderness" in and about Germantown as follows: "As much, then, as I was able to observe the conditions of the churches in these parts and in particular in this province, they are still pretty bad. Because of the lack of any good preparations the aborigines, or Indians, remain in their blindness and barbarism. In addition to this they are scandalized by the wicked life of the Christians, and especially by the trade carried on with them, and merely acquire vices which were unknown to them before, such as drunkenness, theft, etc. The few Christians here are divided in almost in numerable sects, which kat'
exochen [tr. note: two words in Greek] may be called sects and rabbles, such as Quakers, Anabaptists, Naturalists, Libertinists, Independentists, Sabbatarians, and many others, especially secretly spreading sects, regarding whom we are at a loss what to make of them.
However, all of them agree in their beautiful principles (si Dis placet): Abolish all good order, and live for yourself as you see fit.
The Quakers are the most numerous because the Governor [William Penn]
belongs to them, so that one might call this land an anatomical laboratory of Quakers. For much as our theologians have labored to dissect this cadaver and discover its entrails, they, nevertheless, have not been able to do it as well as the Quakers are now doing it themselves in this country. It would fill a whole tract if, as could be done easily, I were to describe how they, by transgressing their own principles, make it apparent what kind of a spirit is moving them, while they, by virtue of the foundation of such principles, are scoffers and Ishmaels of all well-ordered church-life. _Hic Rhodus, hie saltant_ (Here is Rhodes, here they dance)." "Also here" (as in Europe), Falckner proceeds, "the Protestant Church is divided in three nations; for there is here an English Protestant Church, a Swedish Protestant Lutheran Church, and people of the German nation belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran and the Reformed Churches. The Swedes have two congregations.... But not without reason have I spoken of the Germans merely as some Evangelical Lutheran Germans and not the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, inasmuch as they are roaming about in this desert without altar and the ministry (scilicet qui ara sacerdotuque dest.i.tuti vagantur hoc in deserto), a miserable condition, indeed.
Otherwise there is a great number of Germans here. But a part of them have joined the other sects, who use the English language, which is learned first by all who come here, and some of them are Quakers and Anabaptists. Another part of them are freethinkers, uniting with n.o.body and letting their children grow up in the same way. In brief, there are Germans here, and probably the most of them, who despise G.o.d's Word and all good outward order, blaspheme and frightfully and publicly desecrate the Sacraments. Spiritus enim errorum et sectarum asylum sibi hic const.i.tuit (For the spirit of errors and sects has here established his asylum). And the chief fault and cause of this is the lack of provision for an external visible church-communion. For since, as it were, the first thesis of natural theology, inborn in all men, is 'Religiosum quendam cultum observandum, A certain religious cult must be observed,'
it happens that these people, when they come here and find no better external service, elect any one rather than none. For though they are Libertinists, nevertheless also Libertinism is not without its outward form, by which it makes itself a specific religion in none of them."
Falckner proceeds: "I and my brother [Daniel] attend the Swedish church, although, as yet, we understand little of the language. And by our example we have induced several Germans to come to their meetings occasionally, even though they did not understand the language, and for the purpose only of gradually drawing them out of barbarism and accustoming them to outward order, especially as one of the Swedish pastors, Mr. M. Rudman, for the sake of love and the glory of G.o.d, offered to go to the trouble of learning the German language and occasionally to deliver a German address in the Swedish church, until the Germans could have a church of their own." In the following Falckner dwells on the great help it would afford in attracting the Indians and the children of the Quakers and drawing the young Swedes to the services if an organ could be installed in the Swedish church. (G. Fritschel, _Geschichte_, 35 ff.) The miserable condition spiritually of the Lutherans in Pennsylvania appears from a letter of their representatives to Dr. Ziegenhagen in London, dated October, 1739, in which they state: "There is not one German Lutheran preacher in the whole land, except Caspar Stoever, now sixty miles distant from Philadelphia." (Jacobs, 191.)
38. New Hanover, Philadelphia, Providence.--It was a motley crowd of Germans that gathered in the land of the Quakers. Indeed, Pastorius, the first mayor of Germantown, was a rather moderate pietist from the circles of Spener, but, as stated above, with him and after him came Mennonites, Tunkers, Moravians, Gichtelians, Schwenkfeldians, disciples of the cobbler of Goerlitz, Jacob Boehme, and enthusiasts who as yet had no name. (G., 242.) Before long, however, the Lutherans outnumbered all other German denominations (Moravians and German Reformed) and sects in the Quaker State, to which they came in increasingly large numbers, especially after the sad experiences of the Palatinates in New York. By 1750 the number of Germans in Pennsylvania was estimated at 60,000, of whom about two-thirds were Lutherans by birth. Though imbued with apocalyptical and mystical ideas, H. B. Koester, who arrived in 1694 with forty families, is said to have conducted the first German Lutheran services in Germantown. Before long he united with the Episcopalians and founded Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, but returned to Germany in 1700. Daniel Falckner, who had emigrated with Koester, opposed the Quakers in Germantown. In Falckner's Swamp (New Hanover), he organized the first German Lutheran congregation in Pennsylvania, and is said to have erected a log church as early as 1704. In his struggle against the mismanagement of Pastorius, Falckner, in 1708, fell a prey to intrigues.
A disappointed man he went to New Jersey, where he served the congregations at Raritan, Muehlstein, Rockaway, and other points, and from 1724 to 1725 also the settlements which Kocherthal had served along the Hudson. Owing to his increasing mental weakness, Daniel Falckner, in 1731, resigned his field in favor of J. A. Wolff. He died at Raritan ten years later. In New Hanover Gerhard Henkel, the first Lutheran pastor in Virginia, continued the work from 1717 to 1728. In Philadelphia J. C.
Schulz, of Wuerttemberg, was the first Lutheran pastor of whom we have any knowledge. Educated in Stra.s.sburg, Schulz arrived in Philadelphia on September 25, 1732. He also served New Hanover and New Providence. At the latter place the first entries in the parish register date back to 1729, and the congregation numbered about one hundred communicant members when Muhlenberg took charge. In 1732 Pastor Schulz, accompanied by two lay delegates, left for Europe to collect money, and, above all, to secure laborers from Halle, for the mission-work in Pennsylvania.
These efforts terminated when Schulz was arrested in Germany for disorderly conduct. Before leaving Pennsylvania, Schulz had ordained John Caspar Stoever, a relative of Pastor J. C. Stoever, Sr., in Spottsylvania, Va., and placed him in charge of his congregations.
Stoever, Jr., had studied theology in Germany, and after his arrival in America, 1728, had been active in mission-work among the Lutherans in Pennsylvania, a labor which he zealously continued till his sudden death in 1779, while confirming a cla.s.s at Lebanon. Stoever's aversion to Pietism at first kept him from uniting with Muhlenberg. It was 1763, fifteen years after its organization, before he became a member of the Pennsylvania Ministerium. Concerning Stoever and the Agenda of 1748, Muhlenberg relates the following: "We were minded to employ the very words of our Lord Jesus: Take and eat; this is the body of Jesus Christ, etc. Take and drink, this cup is the New Testament in the blood of Christ, etc. At the baptism of children it was our intention to ask the sponsors, or G.o.dparents: Do you renounce in the name of this child, etc.? To this the opponents [Stoever, Wagner, and their adherents]
objected strenuously before we had finished. We therefore made a change immediately and used the words which their terrified consciences desired, _viz_.: This is the _true body_, etc.; this is the _true blood_, etc., and in the formula of baptism: Peter, Paul, or Maria, dost thou renounce, etc.?" Graebner comments as follows: "If the Wagners and Stoevers [whom Muhlenberg severely censured in 1748] had committed no other crimes but that of compelling the 'united preachers' [from Halle]
to take a decided Lutheran position, one might wish that their influence had extended still farther." In the following year, 1749, however, the Pennsylvania Synod changed the formula of baptism so that the sponsors were asked, "Do you renounce (believe) in the name of this child, etc.?"
(Graebner, 327.)
HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG.
39. Self-sacrificing Halle Emissaries.--The help which Pastor Schulz and his laymen had requested from Halle in 1734 arrived nine years later. Francke's hesitation with regard to questions of salary, etc., drew the matter out until Muhlenberg declared himself willing to accept the call to America without further conditions. He was the instrument whereby it pleased G.o.d to preserve the Lutheran Church in America from complete deterioration and disintegration and from the imminent danger of apostasy through Zinzendorf. Muhlenberg (Muehlenberg) was born at Eimbeck, Hannover, September 6, 1711. In 1738 he graduated from Goettingen. He spent one year teaching in the Orphan Home at Halle, and served a congregation in Upper Lusatia from 1739 to 1741. In 1741 he also published his only work, a defense of Pietism against B. Mentzer.
In the same year he accepted the call to the congregations in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Providence, and New Hanover. September 23, 1742, he landed at Charleston, visited Bolzius and the Salzburgers in Ebenezer, and arrived in Philadelphia, November 25, 1742. From the very beginning Muhlenberg was successful in his opposition to Zinzendorf, who had come to America in 1741 to convert the Indians and to merge the pious of all churches in the _Unitas Fratrum_. Pretending to be a Lutheran, he had wormed his way into the Lutheran congregation at Philadelphia, a.s.suming the t.i.tle and functions of Inspector-General of all the Lutheran churches in America. However, unmasked by Muhlenberg, he now, January, 1743, returned to Germany in disgrace. In spite of many other difficulties, Muhlenberg rapidly won recognition from all the congregations. In 1745 he dedicated his first church in Philadelphia. The _Hallesche Nachrichten_ contain vivid pictures, from the pens of Muhlenberg and his a.s.sistants, of their untiring, self-sacrificing, blessed, and constantly increasing missionary activity, which at the same time served the purpose of encouraging Halle to send additional laborers. The close of January, 1745, saw the arrival of Peter Brunnholtz (who took charge of Philadelphia and Germantown) and of the two catechists Nicholaus Kurtz and J. H. Schaum, who at first served as a.s.sistants and were later on ordained as pastors. Muhlenberg wrote to Halle: "To be brief: the church which must be planted here is at a very critical juncture (Hier ist ecclesia plantanda in einer recht kritischen junctura). Hence we ought to have experienced and strong men, able to stand in the breach and to dare with patience and self-denial.
You, highly venerable fathers, know full well that I am not the man. But I regard my dear colleague Brunnholtz as such a man, and wish that he had two or three colaborers like himself; that would help us. G.o.d would easily direct me to some smaller corner." (290.) In 1743 Muhlenberg sent Tobias Wagner to the Palatines in Tulpehocken Creek, where Gerhard Henkel had already preached, and where, in 1745, Wagner solemnized the marriage of Muhlenberg and the daughter of J. C. Weiser. Services were conducted at this time also in Ohly, Cohenzi, Indianfield, Chester, and Reading (where the Lutherans and the Reformed had erected a church together). In 1745 Muhlenberg conducted a visitation at Raritan, induced Wolff to resign, sent them Kurtz and 1747 Schaum as temporary supply-pastors, and finally, in 1748, induced the congregation to call J. A. Weygand. Following the track of the Moravian Nyberg, who created confusion wherever he went, Muhlenberg secured a foothold also at Lancaster in 1746, at York, and Conewago, in 1747, as well as in Monocacy and Frederick, Md. J. F. Handschuh (Handschuch), who arrived from Halle in 1748, was put in charge of Lancaster. L. H. Schrenck and L. Raus arrived in 1749. The former was stationed in Upper Milford and Sacc.u.m, the latter was appointed vicar in Rheinbeck and Camp. F. Schultz and Heintzelmann came in 1751. The latter received an appointment in Philadelphia and married Muhlenberg's daughter. Baugher (Bager) arrived in 1752, and Gerock the year following.--Pastors and congregations were imbued with one and the same spirit, and considered themselves parts of one and the same church, consisting of the "Collegium Pastorum"
on the one hand and the "United Congregations" on the other.
40. Organizing Pennsylvania Synod.--To stablish the congregations, Muhlenberg, with five pastors and ten congregations, on August 26, 1748, organized the Pennsylvania Synod, then generally called "The United Congregations" or "The United Pastors." This event has been designated by Dr. Graebner "the most important in the history of the American Lutheran Church of the eighteenth century." From the very beginning Muhlenberg's three original congregations were called "The United Congregations." This name was extended also to the congregations subsequently organized or served by Muhlenberg and his colaborers at Germantown, Lancaster, Tulpehocken, York, etc. And pastors and congregations being imbued, as they were, with one and the same spirit, and considering themselves parts of one and the same church, consisting of "The College of Pastors (Collegium Pastorum)" on the one hand and "The United Congregations" on the other, it was but natural that they should unite in a regular synod with regular meetings. The year 1748 was most opportune and suggestive for such an organization. Pastor Hartwick of Rhinebeck had come to Philadelphia. Nicholas Kurtz had arrived in order to be ordained as pastor for the congregation at Tulpehocken. The dedication of St. Michael's Church in Philadelphia brought other representative Lutherans to the city. The Swedes were represented by Provost Sandin and Peter k.o.c.k (Koch), a trustee of Gloria Dei Church, who zealously advocated synodical connection between the Germans and Swedes. Before the public services, Pastors Brunnholtz, Handschuh, and Hartwick met to examine Kurtz. His answers were approved of in Halle as creditable even to candidates in Germany. On the following day, Sunday, St. Michael's was dedicated. Provost Sandin headed the procession from Brunnholtz's parsonage to the new church.
"Come, Holy Spirit, G.o.d and Lord," was sung. A letter from the Swedish pastor Tranberg, regretting his absence and congratulating the congregation in English, was then read. The address emphasized that "the foundation of this church was laid with the intention that the Evangelical Lutheran doctrine should be taught therein according to the foundation of the prophets and apostles, and according to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the other symbolical books." After singing another hymn, six prayers were offered, two in Swedish by the Swedish pastors, and four in German by Brunnholtz, Hartwick, Handschuh, and Mr.
k.o.c.k. After another hymn a child was baptized, and a sermon preached by Handschuh. Hereupon the ministers, with a few of the congregation, received the Lord's Supper. In the afternoon Hartwick preached the ordination sermon. Then, the lay delegates standing in a semicircle about the altar, Provost Sandin and the four German pastors ordained Kurtz. Muhlenberg read the liturgical formula. On Monday, August 26 (15 Old Style), 1748, the first session of Synod was held, N. Kurtz, the newly ordained pastor, delivering the opening sermon.
41. First Session of Synod.--According to the minutes, written by Brunnholtz and signed by the four German pastors residing in Pennsylvania and a number of lay delegates, the synod consisted of six ministers (including Sandin and Hartwick) and twenty-four delegates, exclusive of the church council of the Philadelphia congregation: four lay delegates from Germantown, three from Providence, three from New Hanover, two from Upper Milford, one from Sacc.u.m, three from Tulpehocken, one from Nordkiel, six from Lancaster, and one from Earlingtown. Peter k.o.c.k represented the Swedish laity. The congregation at York, in a letter, regretted the absence of representatives. The organization proceeded without the adoption of any formulated const.i.tution. Though not formally elected, Muhlenberg, by virtue of his first call and commission by the authorities in Halle, was president of the synod. When, at the second meeting of the synod, in 1749, Brunnholtz, on motion of Muhlenberg, was elected overseer of all the United Congregations, this was ignored by the authorities in Halle, and, Brunnholtz's health failing, the office was soon transferred to Muhlenberg, who exercised it for many years. At the first meeting, after the hymn, "Du suesse Lieb', schenk' uns deine Gunst," was sung, Muhlenberg addressed the a.s.sembly, saying, in part: This union was desired for a long time. The effort made five years ago in the Swedish church was frustrated by Nyberg. Unity among us is necessary. Every member in the congregation has children. In their interest elders are required to a.s.sist in making a good church order. For this purpose we are here a.s.sembled, and, G.o.d willing, shall meet annually. "We preachers, here present," Muhlenberg emphasized, "have not run of ourselves, but have been called here and urged to go. We are bound to render account to G.o.d and to our consciences. We maintain connection with our fathers in Europe. We must not only care for ourselves, but also for our descendants." In part, Muhlenberg's remarks reflected on Stoever, Streit (Streiter, as he is called in the minutes), Andreae, and Wagner. These ministers had not been invited to partic.i.p.ate in the organization of the synod, because, as a declaration put on record by synod explains, "1. they, without reason, decry us [Muhlenberg and his adherents] as Pietists; 2. are not sent and have neither an internal nor an external call; 3. are unwilling to observe a uniform order of service with us, each following the ceremonies of his country; 4. an experience of six years had taught Muhlenberg that their object was nothing but bread; 5. they were subject to no consistory and gave no account of the exercise of their office." The lay delegates were called upon to give a report concerning the efficiency of their pastors, and their opinion concerning the new liturgy, which they regarded as too long. Also the condition of the parochial schools was inquired into. The conference with the laymen was adjourned Monday afternoon, after which they dined together. The pastors then attended to business generally regarded as belonging to them. Hartwick addressed the elders, wishing their congregations every blessing. The Swedish provost expressed his desire to be a member of the body. But Peter k.o.c.k having died, no Swede attended the meeting in the following year. Seven annual meetings were held by the United Congregations, the last at New Hanover in 1754. Revived by Dr. Wrangel and Muhlenberg in 1760, this oldest Lutheran synod in America exists to the present day as "The Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania." (Graebner, 301 ff.)
FURTHER ACTIVITY AND DEATH OF MUHLENBERG.
42. Discouraging Conditions.--The joyous events of 1748 in Philadelphia were followed by disappointments to such an extent that after 1754 the synodical meetings were abandoned till 1760, when, as stated, Provost Von Wrangel revived the synod in the interest of establishing a German-Swedish organization. The failure was caused by various discouragements: the deaths of Heintzelman and Brunnholtz; the troubles in the congregations of Handschuh at Lancaster, Germantown, and Philadelphia; the opposition of Stoever and other anti-Pietists, whom the synod in 1748 marked as undesirables; charges against Muhlenberg and his colaborers, that they were but secret agents of Zinzendorf, etc.; and above all the entirely insufficient support in men and moneys from Halle. The difficulties and discouraging conditions under which Muhlenberg and his a.s.sistants were laboring, appear from the urgent appeal, signed by Muhlenberg, Brunnholtz, and Handschuh, adopted by the synod in 1754, and sent to both London and Halle. Dr. Jacobs writes: "It is one of the most important papers in the Halle 'Reports.' The entire field is surveyed, the history of German immigration traced, and the religious condition of the immigrants described. The manner in which other denominations and the Swedish Lutherans are aided by foreign help is shown, and a very discouraging contrast is drawn. The condition of each parish is then candidly and at length set forth. Three great dangers they see threatening the inner life of congregations, _viz_.: the a.s.sumption, by the leading men of particular parishes, of the right to dictate, as a compensation for the perhaps greater amount expected of them for the pastor's support; the lawlessness of immigrants who abuse the freedom of the country, want to break through all rules, and revile all good order, the regular ministry, and divine service as papacy itself; the introduction of worthless men into the country as pretended ministers by the Newlanders, who sell their services from the ship to Lutherans willing to be deceived in this way. The United Pastors, they urge, are almost powerless to resist. The people are, as a rule, poor.
In a congregation of three hundred members scarcely fifteen can be found able to contribute toward the building of churches; and the responsibility for debts incurred must, therefore, as a rule, fall upon the pastors themselves. Many thousands of Lutheran people are scattered throughout North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, etc. No provision is made for the traveling expenses of the pastors or supplies for their places, if these Lutherans are cared for. People come often one and even two hundred miles to hear a sermon and receive the Sacrament, and weep bitterly over the dest.i.tution, which no one endeavors to remove. They [the signers of the appeal] contrast the condition of a pastor in the New with that of one in the Old World. The latter has the a.s.surance of necessary support, of protection in his office, of all needed buildings, of provision for the proper instruction of his people. The former has none of these. Among ten families there is scarcely one or two that contribute according to their promises. The sects diffuse among the people the ideas, to which they lend too ready a.s.sent, that the pastors as well as their hearers ought to work at a trade, cut wood, sow and reap during the week, and then preach to them gratuitously on Sunday. They hear such things wherever they go--in papers, in company, on their journeys, and at the taverns. The picture is a very dark one. The pastors feel that they do not see how it is possible for them to advance; and yet to recede or even to be stationary must be fatal." Jacobs continues: "Such representations probably had something to do with the impression current for a while at Halle that Muhlenberg was visionary and eccentric, so strange do his statements seem to those incompetent from personal observation to appreciate the urgency of the situation in Pennsylvania. If there was any time when, even for a moment, Muhlenberg entertained the suggestion of transferring the care of the Lutherans of Pennsylvania to the Church of England, it was only at some such time when he and his a.s.sociates in the synod were allowed to struggle on under such burdens almost unaided, while union with the Church of England would at once have provided all missionaries sent thither with an appropriation almost sufficient for support, and with far better protection against the prevalent disorder. If the Lutherans in Europe could not meet the demands of the hour, we can pardon the thought, which never became a fixed purpose, that, sooner than have the thousands for whose care he felt himself responsible neglected, some other mode of relief would have to be sought." (246 ff.)
43. Further Activity and Death.--In May, 1751, as related above, Muhlenberg became pastor of the Dutch congregation in New York. From 1753 to 1761 he once more labored in New Hanover and Providence. During this period he made visits to Raritan (1757, 1758 for nine weeks, 1759 with his family, again in October, 1759, and in January, 1760), his a.s.sistant J. H. Schaum in the mean time representing him in Providence.
October 29, 1761 Muhlenberg returned to Philadelphia to allay the strife which had broken out. Here he lived in his own home, and maintained an intimate intercourse with Dr. Wrangel. By the new congregational const.i.tution, which his congregation subscribed to in 1762, and which, in the course of time, was adopted by nearly all the congregations in Pennsylvania, Muhlenberg's influence was extended far and wide. In 1769 he dedicated the new Zion Church at Philadelphia.
(The national memorial services of Benjamin Franklin [1790], of Washington [1799], and of Abraham Lincoln [1865] were held in this church.) September 8, 1774, he arrived in Charleston, accompanied by his wife and daughter, where the congregation had requested him to settle their quarrel, which he did with skill and success. His real goal, however, was Ebenezer, where he, by order of the authorities in Europe, was to conduct a visitation and to repair the harm done by Triebner. Here he drafted a new const.i.tution, which was adopted by the Salzburgers and resulted in a temporary peace. On February 6, 1775, he began his journey back to Pennsylvania. When the vestry of his congregation at Philadelphia in 1779, without further ado, elected Kunze to be his successor, Muhlenberg conducted himself with dignity. The congregation rescinded her action, whereupon Muhlenberg resigned, and was given a pension of 100 Pounds annually and granted permission to preach occasionally in the church. As early as 1748 Muhlenberg had compiled an Agenda, which at first was circulated in ma.n.u.script, and was printed in 1786 in a somewhat modified form. The only objection which, in 1748, the congregations raised to the Agenda was that "public worship would last too long, especially in the cold winter months"; wherefore "they requested that it be abbreviated." In 1782 Muhlenberg also did the chief work in preparing the hymnal, which was printed in 1784. In the same year Pennsylvania Academy conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Muhlenberg accepted the t.i.tle, but requested his friends not to make any use of it in their intercourse with him. Muhlenberg died October 7, 1787. Taking leave of his friend for this life, he spoke of the journey ahead to his true fatherland, repeating the words of the hymn: "Ich hab' vor mir ein' schwere Reis' Zu dir in's Himmels Paradeis, Das ist mein rechtes Vaterland, Darauf du hast dein Blut gewandt."
Shortly before his death he prayed the stanza: "Mach' End', o Herr, mach' Ende An aller unsrer Not, Staerk' unsre Fuess' und Haende Und la.s.s bis in den Tod Uns allzeit deiner Pflege Und Treu' empfohlen sein, So gehen unsre Wege Gewiss zum Himmel ein." Muhlenberg's funeral was attended by eight Lutheran pastors, the Reformed minister Schlatter, and a great concourse of people, so that Pastor J. L. Voigt was compelled to deliver his oration in the open. Memorial services were conducted in New York and in many other places, as well as in almost all congregations belonging to the synod. In Muhlenberg the greatest man whom G.o.d had given to the Lutheran Church of America in the eighteenth century, "the patriarch of the American Lutheran Church," had pa.s.sed away. His body was interred just outside the walls of the church in Trappe. A marble slab over his grave bears the inscription: "Qualis et quantus fuerit, Non ignorabunt sine lapide Futura Saecula. (Future ages will know his character and importance without a stone.)" (484. 521.)
44. Tributes to, and Estimates of, Muhlenberg.--In his letter to Dr.
Freylinghausen in Halle, Muhlenberg himself reveals the pious and humble frame of his mind as follows: "To-day, December 6, 1762, it is forty years since I set foot in Philadelphia for the first time; and I believe that my end is no longer removed very far. Had I during these forty years served my Lord as faithfully as Jeremiah, I could look forward to a more joyful end. But I must now account it grace and mercy unparalleled if the gracious Redeemer, for the sake of His all-sufficient merits, will not regard my mistakes and weaknesses, but receive me graciously." Speaking of Muhlenberg's faithfulness, Dr. E. A.
W. Krauss remarks: "Muhlenberg continued faithful in things both small and great, even after he had received a.s.sistance from Germany, and one coworker after another began to labor at his side. Before long his activity had exceeded the sphere of his three congregations. On request he visited the scattered Lutherans in Germantown, Tulpehocken, Lancaster, York, Raritan, Frederick. He was the counselor of poorly served congregations, the judge in their quarrels. Confidence was everywhere reposed in him. "By reason of his talent for organizing, his erudition, but, above all, his unselfishness, his modesty, dignity, and piety, he was in universal demand, and was compelled to take the lead, which he also kept till his blessed departure from this world."
(_Lebensbilder_, 694.) Dr. H. E. Jacobs sketches Muhlenberg's character as follows: "Depth of religious conviction, extraordinary inwardness of character, apostolic zeal for the spiritual welfare of individuals, absorbing devotion to his calling and all its details, were among his most marked characteristics. These were combined with an intuitive penetration and extended width of view, a statesmanlike grasp of every situation in which he was placed, an almost prophetic foresight, coolness, and discrimination of judgment, and peculiar gifts for organization and administration." Dr. A. Graebner writes: "The task which Muhlenberg found set before him when he entered upon the wild and disordered field which had been allotted to him here, was such that, if any one in Halle had been able to tell him and had told him what was awaiting him in America, he would hardly have found the necessary courage and cheerfulness to lay his hand to the plow which was to convert this wild bramblepatch into an arable field. Still, where could a second man have been found at that time who would have proven equal to the task in the same measure as Henry Melchior Muhlenberg? Richly endowed with a robust physique and a pious mind, with faithfulness in matters great and small, with cheerful, but firm courage, with restless activity and a spirit of progressive enterprise, with wisdom and prudence, with the ability to inform himself quickly and to accommodate himself to the circ.u.mstances, and, in addition to this, with the necessary independence of volition and action,--characteristics seldom found combined in one and the same person,--Muhlenberg was splendidly equipped, both as to degree and variety, with the gifts which a missionary and an organizer has need of. And from the very first day of his planting and watering G.o.d gave a rich increase to his labors, so rich, that Muhlenberg could say with a grateful heart: 'It seems as though now the time had come that G.o.d would visit us with special grace here in Pennsylvania.' Furthermore, self-exaltation was utterly foreign to him. 'G.o.d does not need me,' he would say; 'He can carry out His work also without me.' Likewise, he was ever content although he never saw much money. During the first half-year of his stay in Philadelphia he earned his board by giving music lessons."
(279.) Dr. A. Spaeth: "Though there were Lutheran congregations and pastors among the Dutch on the Hudson, and among the Swedes on the Delaware, as early as the first half of the seventeenth century, and, later on, among the numerous German immigrants, still the real organization of the Lutheran Church in America, on the foundation of the fathers, only dates from the middle of the eighteenth century, and is due to the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, by common consent the patriarch of the Lutheran Church on this continent, through whose efforts the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, 'The Mother Synod,' was established in 1748. In missionary zeal, in pastoral tact and fidelity, in organizing ability and personal piety, he had no superior." (_C.P.
Krauth_, 1, 316.)
MUHLENBERG'S CONFESSIONALISM.
45. Unqualified Subscription to Entire Book of Concord.--Like the "Fathers in Halle," Muhlenberg, self-evidently, desired to be a Lutheran and to build a Lutheran Church in America. He himself says, in a manner somewhat touchy: "I defy Satan and every lying spirit to lay at my door anything which contradicts the teaching of our apostles or the Symbolical Books. I have often said and written that I have found neither error, nor mistake, nor any defect in our Evangelical doctrine, based, as it is, on the apostles and prophets, and exhibited in our Symbolical Books." _Dr. Spaeth:_ "The standards of the Lutheran Church of the sixteenth century were accepted and endorsed by Muhlenberg without reservation, and in his whole ministerial work he endeavored to come up to this standard, as he had solemnly pledged himself in his ordination vow before the theological faculty of the university at Leipzig, on August 24, 1739, which committed to him the office of 'teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments according to the rule given in the writings of the prophets and apostles, the sum of which is contained in those three symbols, the Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian, in the Augsburg Confession laid before Emperor Charles V, A. D. 1530, in the Apology of the same, in Dr. Luther's Large and Small Catechism, in the Articles subscribed to in the Smalcald Convention, and in the Formula of Concord. He solemnly promised that he would propose to his hearers what would be conformed and consentient to these writings, and that he would never depart from the sense which they give.' (Dr. W. J. Mann's _The Conservatism of Henry Melchior Muehlenberg_, in the _Lutheran Church Review_, January, 1888.) And this was the position not of the patriarch alone, but of his colaborers, of the whole Synod of Pennsylvania, which he organized, and of the sister- or daughter-synod of New York, during the lifetime of Muhlenberg and Kunze. 'Those fathers were very far from giving the Lutheran Church, as they organized it on this new field of labor, a form and character in any essential point different from what the Lutheran Church was in the Old World, and especially in Germany. They retained not only the old doctrinal standards, but also the old traditional elements and forms of worship; the church-year with its great festivals, its Gospel- and Epistle-lessons, the Liturgy, the rite of Confirmation, preparatory service for the Lord's Supper, connected with the confession of sins and absolution. Their doctrinal position was unmistakably Lutheran, in the sense in which Lutheranism is historically known, and is something individual and distinct, and as such stands in opposition to Romanism on the one hand, and to Zwingli, Calvin, and all other so-called Protestant parties on the other. Those fathers were admitted to the ministry on condition of their own declaration that they were in harmony with the Confessio Augustana Invariata, and with all the other Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church. They demanded of those whom they admitted to the sacred office the same condition. They allowed no organization or const.i.tutions of congregations without demanding the acknowledgment of all the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church as the doctrinal basis.'" (1,317.) In a letter dated June 14, 1774, and addressed to one of the members of the Lutheran congregation at Charleston, S. C., some of whose troubles and difficulties he had endeavored to adjust, Muhlenberg stated the rule of his own personal course as follows: "During the thirty-two years of my sojourning in America, time and again occasions were given me to join the Episcopal Church, and to receive four or live times more salary than my poor German fellow-members of the Lutheran faith gave me; but I preferred reproach in and with my people to the treasures in Egypt." (Jacobs, 298.) The confirmation form of the Agenda contained the question: "Do you intend to remain true to the truth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as you have learned to know it and solemnly confessed it?" (G.,498.)
46. Pledge of Pastors and Congregations.--In like manner as Muhlenberg himself, all his colaborers and congregations were pledged to the Lutheran confessions. The religious oath which Brunnholtz took reads, in part, as follows: "I, Peter Brunnholtz, do solemnly swear and before G.o.d Almighty do take an oath upon my soul . . . that I will abide by the pure and unadulterated Word of G.o.d, as, according to the sense of the Spirit, it has been diligently compiled from Holy Scripture against all errorists in the three chief Symbols, and especially also in the true Lutheran church-books, as the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, its Apology, the Smalcald Articles, the two Catechisms of Luther, and in the specific Formula of Concord, and that I will teach according to them."
(G., 283.) In similar fashion, Kurtz, Weygand, and all pastors solemnly promised to discharge their office "according to the pure doctrine of the apostles and prophets and all our Synodical Books." (_Lehre u.
Wehre_, 1856, 120.) According to the Agenda of 1748 the catechumens promised faithfulness unto death "to the truth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church which they had solemnly confessed." (488.) From the very outset, Muhlenberg also had the congregations subscribe to articles in which they confessed themselves to G.o.d's Word and the Lutheran Symbols.
(299.) The congregations, in agreement with the const.i.tution of 1762, pledged their pastors to preach "the Word of G.o.d according to the foundation of the apostles and prophets and in conformity with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession." True, the Pennsylvania Synod, at its organization in 1748, did not draw up any special articles of confession, yet, according to the Agenda which had been previously adopted, it was regarded as self-evident that all pastors and congregations subscribe to the Lutheran Symbols. The synodical const.i.tution of 1778, which was entered in the official book of record begun in 1781, contained the following provisions: "As to his life and teaching, every pastor is to be found in consonance with the Word of G.o.d and our Symbolical Books." "In case complaints are lodged against teachers, the investigation must concern itself with: 1. express errors against the clear sense of Holy Writ and our Symbolical Books of faith." (529.) Muhlenberg's devotion to the Lutheran doctrine appears also from the interest and zeal which he showed in furthering the inst.i.tution of catechetical instruction and in establishing parochial schools. One of the chief questions to engage the attention of the first convention of Synod in 1748 was, "What is the condition of the schools?" Yet, though Muhlenberg, in the manner described, stood for confessional Lutheranism, it cannot be maintained convincingly that his influence in this direction was sound and salubrious in every respect.
His was not the genuine Lutheranism of Luther, but the modified Lutheranism, then advocated in Europe and Germany generally, notably in Halle and the circles of the Pietists, a Lutheranism inoculated with legalism, subjectivism, indifferentism, and unionism. Muhlenberg's confessionalism was of the historic kind, that is to say, reverence for the venerable Lutheran symbols rather than the living power of Lutheran truth itself, directing, permeating, and shaping one's entire ecclesiastical activity both as to teaching and practise.
MUHLENBBERG'S PIETISM.
47. Subjectivism of Halle Pietists.--Following are some of the aberrations of the Pietists in Halle: That doctrine was of minor importance for, and as compared with, piety; that sanctification was not contained in, but must be added to, faith; that repentance and conversion were urged in such a manner as if man himself could force them; that such Christians as could not tell of certain peculiar penitential struggles and sensations of grace were regarded as unconverted; that the a.s.surance of salvation was not based on the objective Word of G.o.d, but on subjective marks, notably such us were found in those converted in the circles of the Pietists; that the afflicted, instead of being comforted with the Gospel of the unconditional pardon of the entire world, were bidden to feel the pulse of their own piety; that such as did not manifest the symptoms of conversion _a la_ Halle, were judged uncharitably and looked down upon as not being truly converted; that the "revived" and "awakened" were regarded as the real church in the Church, the _ecclesiolae in ecclesia_. And what of the pietism of the Halle emissaries in Pennsylvania? Dr. Mann declared concerning Muhlenberg and his co-laborers: "Their pietism was truly Lutheran piety, a warm-hearted, devout, practical Lutheranism." (Spaeth, 1, 318.) However, traces of the morbid and infected Lutheranism cultivated by Pietists, were but too apparent also in Muhlenberg and the a.s.sociates carefully selected for him by Francke and Freylinghausen in Halle. The piety for which they strove so earnestly and zealously was, in more than one respect, neither truly evangelical nor soundly Lutheran, but of a legalistic and subjective nature. They delighted in evangelistic sermons designed to convert men in the manner of Halle. They endeavored to ascertain who were the truly converted in their congregations. As a standard they applied their own experiences and as models the Halle converts. Instead of immediately comforting terrified sinners with the full consolation of the Gospel, they proved them "according to the marks of the state of grace." _Graebner:_ "While Diaconus in Grosshennersdorf, Muhlenberg had already published a polemical tract against Dr. Balthasar Mentzer, who had attacked Pietism, and had pictured the time before the rise of Pietism as a time of darkness, in which G.o.d had 'set up a true light here and there, until at last the faithful servants of the Lord, the sainted Spener, Francke, Breithaupt, Anton, and others arose' and 'again brought forth the Bible.' At that time Muhlenberg advocated private meetings for souls who had been 'awakened from the sleep of sin,' to which the Burgomaster of Eimbeck referred when he sent word to Muhlenberg 'to cease the pietistic conventicles, as they were against the law of the land.'" (315.)
48. Converts, Prayer-Meetings, Revivals.--Brunnholtz, whose work was highly praised by Muhlenberg, says of his parishioners, whom, nevertheless, he admitted to the Lord's Table, that, for the greater part, they were "totally blind and dead," people who had not yet experienced any "true change of heart"; that in present-day congregations one must "be content with the gleanings while looking and waiting for traces of divine activity, where, when, in whom, and whether the Spirit can give a rich harvest." It is only too true, he continues, "that the great mult.i.tude, both old and young, are still buried in carnal-mindedness and in great ignorance, and stand in need of a true conversion." "There are indeed a few, some also in my two congregations, concerning whom I have the well-founded hope that they have been awakened from the spiritual sleep of sin and are being drawn to the Son by the Father." "With regard to my congregation here in Philadelphia, I am not able to boast very much of the majority and of the outwardly great number, since there is still much corruption among them. The Lord, however, has granted me a small remnant, who have been awakened by the Word, and who earnestly seek after the paths of peace, permitting themselves quietly, but in earnestness, to be prepared for the rest of G.o.d." Muhlenberg says: "True repentance and conversion according to the Word of G.o.d is a difficult matter and a rare occurrence." "We continued our labors upon the inner and outward upbuilding of the Church, because a small, divinely sanctified seed was noticed among them." What Brunnholtz and Muhlenberg looked for in the communicant members of their congregations whom they regarded as unconverted were, no doubt, the Halle symptoms. In 1748 submissiveness to be guided by the pastor was numbered among these marks. When the elders of the congregation in Lancaster opposed their pastor and insisted upon their opinion, which was not wrong by any means, they were admonished "to convert themselves with all their hearts, since otherwise they could not properly wait on their office, and the pastor's trials in the congregation would become too great." (319.) The "small remnant of the converted" were nurtured by the pastors in "special prayer-meetings in the houses." (320.) This was the practise of Brunnholtz in Philadelphia. And Muhlenberg wrote from New York in 1751: "I have learned that among the Reformed here there is a small body of awakened souls who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is said that this awakening was brought about by the younger of the two Reformed pastors.
My hostess also belongs to the Reformed congregation. Some years ago she was so terrified by the opinion of the unconditional decree of G.o.d that a hysterical malady set in with which she is still somewhat afflicted. I searched for the marks of the state of grace. She answered sensibly, which gave me hope that she is in a state of grace. My host desired me to go into a private chamber with him and his weak spouse, and to pray in secret, which we did." "At the close of the day my dear host again desired that I pray with him and his wife in private, since she thereby had experienced strength and relief on the former occasion. On the 30th of July I was taken to the pious English merchant, who had some awakened souls with him. They sang a psalm, read a chapter from a devotional book, and urged me to pray at the close. After a time the dear souls returned to their homes, and I remained with him till eleven o'clock and employed the time in pleasant and edifying conversation with him and his G.o.dly wif