USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Germantown > History of the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Germantown, Ohio : and biographies of its pastors and founders > Part 4
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Another of Mr. Henkel's productions is a treatise on Infant Baptism, written in the form of a dialogue. In reference to this work a committee of his synod,
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of which Rev. D. Worly was chairman, say : " We; hail with pleasure this little book which we doubta. not will find a welcome place in all our Englishe families. It is emphatically, in its contents and style, so far as we have had time to examine it, a book for the times and for the country in which it is our lot to labor. Written in an easy and popular style, it can not fail to please and interest the reader ; scriptural and truthful in its representations, it will guide the earnest inquirer aright; meeting the popular and dangerous objections to the doctrine of baptism, as. held by the church, ably and convincingly, it will be a strong weapon of truth against error in the hands of the humble Christian. We, therefore, heartily recommend it to our pastors and people."
In connection with a collection of his father's poems Mr. Henkel published some of his own poet- ical productions which make up a very readable and entertaining volume. This book bears the significant title of Zeitvertreib.
There is, moreover, extant among Mr. Henkel's writings, in finished manuscript, a little treatise on the Anxious Bench. This, if printed in the ordinary pamphlet style, would make a tract of from sixty to. seventy pages.
As a business man Mr. Henkel bore an unblem ished reputation. He was generally successful in his enterprises. His business ventures were varied. In some of them'he realized large profits. He was at one time possessed of a large amount of property,
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but before he died he had become very much reduced in means. Of this part of Pastor Henkel's life, the writer can not approve. His charge was sufficiently large to claim all his time, and was able to furnish him a competent support. His secular pursuits could not but have a secularizing effect on his own mind, and unfavorably influence his parishioners. But it was then the order of the day in this western country, that ministers followed secular pursuits in connection with their sacred calling. With some this became a necessity in order to supplement their meager salary. This was doubtlessly the case with Mr. Henkel during the earlier years of his ministry. But when the habit is once formed, it is often continued after the necessity has ceased, and that is the effect it had on him.
As a controversialist Mr. Henkel obtained a repu- tation not enjoyed by any of his cotemporaries. He had trained himself for controversy from early youth, and delighted in it. What gave him the pre-eminence and success over most of his opponents was his perfect self-possession. In debate he never suffered himself to become angry, excited, or confused. With a strong nervous constitution, and a digestion that was absolutely perfect, he was able at all times to hold his temper under perfect control. He was also a very fair man, never resorting to sophistry, or otherwise taking undue advantage of an antagonist, in order to carry his point. Personality he avoided as much as possible. The only exception he is known ever to
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have made in this was, when he spoke of the errors and follies of some of the sects. On such occasions he would sometimes suffer himself to become some- what personal, and be unsparing of his lash. He was a bitter enemy to the anxious bench and all that pertains to it, and whenever he happened to get on this subject, he would lay it on his adversary thick and fast. But even then, he would not suffer himself to lose his temper. If he happened immediately after to meet the man whom he had handled so roughly, he would extend his hand to him and treat him with the greatest cordiality. He was a man of great resoluteness and firmness, adhered to his convictions with the utmost tenacity, and no matter to what subject they pertained, religion, politics, or anything else, never shrank from avowing and defending them both in private and in public.
In the matter of discipline, whether in his own family, in the congregation, or in the synod, Mr. Henkel was exceedingly indulgent and forbearing. He rarely ever reproved or punished a child of his, and was very reluctant to proceed with rigor against an offending church-member, holding that the preaching of the Word was the most efficient means of correcting wrongs. If it was at all possible he would speak kindly of the dead. Fault has been; found with him for , this. It has been said, that he: eulogized men whose lives and examples called for , censure and warning rather than for praise and approval. Doubtlessly, his kindliness of heart
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betrayed him into unwarranted extremes on this point. When spoken to on this matter, as he some- times was, he would reply, that he would rather go too far on the side of mercy, than on the side of condemnation. It is even said, that he went so far in this, as to lay himself open to the charge of universalism.
In his synod he was for many years the most towering figure, exercised a commanding influence, and was largely instrumental in shaping its policy and directing its course. Again and again was he called to preside over its deliberations. When important measures were pending, he was frequently made chairman of the committee, to whom the matter was entrusted for adjustment. He was one of the founders of the Synod of Ohio, and bore a chief part in its organization. He was also one of the prime movers in the organization of the Joint Synod's theological institution, for a number of years, was identified with it as a director, and gave it his warmest support until his relation with it was disturbed by the secret society agitation. His coun- sel was sought by his brethren in synod upon all questions of ecclesiastical interest, and his advice was usually followed. He enjoyed the utmost respect and confidence of his associates.
As a Christian, Pastor Henkel was devout and earnest, free from all ostentation and cant. His was a cheerful, open piety, having very little of the severe and nothing of the ascetic in it. He did not
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make the kingdom of God to consist in eating and drinking, and did not carry his religion in his clothes. On mere externals he laid no stress, and in diet and wearing apparel claimed and exercised all the freedom which by Divine right belongs to the Christian. Having had pious parents, by whom he was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, his Christian faith began its development in him from earliest childhood, and grew up in him with the growth of his years, steadily and contin- uously, until Christian childhood and youth merged into the full and mature stature of Christian manhood. He knew no particular time to which he might point as the period of his conversion. His Christian faith and life ran back so far, that to him there was no conscious beginning of them, but were lost in the dim and unrecalled period of his earliest childhood. A spiritual life thus begun and nurtured is usually succeeded by a Christian manhood that has more of the settled than the doubting, more of the calm and meditative than the fervid and the impulsive, and this effect exhibited itself as a controlling element in the Christian life and labors of Pastor Henkel.
In personal appearance, Andrew Henkel is said to have resembled his father, Paul Henkel; tall, nearly six feet in height, and as straight and erect as an Indian. His step was firm, and his bearing dignified. His health was almost perfect. Of indigestion, rheumatism, and the like ailments, he never knew anything from personal experience. He bore to the
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last the extremes of heat and cold without much discomfort. He dressed always with neatness and taste, and paid much attention to his personal appearance.
As a friend, companion, and pastor, Mr. Henkel was genial and affable. Gifted with wit an humor, and always cheerful, his company was sought and proved pleasant and agreeable. He had many very warm friends. He did not do much pastoral visiting, owing to his many engagements in and out of the church, but whenever he called on any of his parishioners, he was a most welcome guest. He was a decidedly popular man wherever he was known. During the latter part of his life, owing to the posi- tion he assumed on political questions during the war of the Rebellion, he incurred the ill will and displeasure of a few, yet even they could not go so far as to show active enmity toward him.
Mr. Henkel was a man of varied talents. He spoke English and German with equal fluency. He was equally at home in various handicrafts, any tool almost coming ready to his hands. He wrote poetry and painted landscapes. He understood the printing and binding of books. He often changed his secular pursuits, following in turn merchandizing, farming, milling, and was at once at home in his new pursuit, and generally successful. There remains now only to be told the story of the last years and of the closing scene of Mr. Henkel's life.
With the evening of his day, came shades and
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clouds that obscured his hitherto clear and sunny horizen. The Masonic question occasioned him a .. vast deal of annoyance and grief. Schisms occurred in the Joint Synod, in which himself was an actor, and for which he received his share of blame. His political course made him enemies and lost him support. His financial condition was not one of prosperity. His wife was attacked by disease, and was laid on a bed of sickness on which she lingered for many months, and finally, in June 1866, was taken away from his side by death. He himself was beginning to feel the infirmities of age, and found himself compelled to curtail his labors.
In the year 1865 he proposed to the vestries of his charge, that they call an assistant. Their choice fell on his son-in-law, Rev. J. L. Stirewalt. The charge consisted then of three congregations- Germantown, Farmersville, and Slifers, all of which required services in both the English and the German languages. Rev. Henkel, from this time on, attended to the German, and Rev. Stirewalt to the English services, and thus these two men labored on until death called them away.
In August 1869, Rev. Henkel entered into a . second marriage, making choice for his companion of Mrs. Elizabeth Schwartzle, a widow lady of excellent character. With her he lived in wedded life only eight months. Just two weeks before his death he removed from Germantown to Farmersville, and soon after he took his bed, from which he was
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destined to rise no more. He moved on Tuesday, preached his last sermon in Germantown on Sunday following, took his bed on Thursday of this week, and died on Saturday of the week follow- ing, departing this life on the 23d of April, 1870, having attained to the age of 79 years, 6 months, and 2 days. " His death," says the writer of his obituary, " was calm and triumphant. The faith which he had preached to others gave him consolation and comfort in his last hours. On Monday, April 25th, his mortal remains were brought to Germantown, attended by a large number of parishioners and friends, where appropriate services were held in the Lutheran Church by Pastors G. W. Busby, W. A. Bowman, and C. Albrecht. His body was then conveyed to the cemetery near the town, and com- mitted to the grave."
Mr. Henkel was the father of eleven children, six of whom are still living at this date of writing. He labored in the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of .Ohio, fifty-eight years, forty-four of which were spent in the Germantown charge. He was in union with the Joint Synod of Ohio, until the year 1867, when with his district, the English, he united with the General Council. During his ministry in his last field he performed 1,003 baptisms, 877 confirmations, 495 marriages, and officiated at 683 funerals.
If now we once more look back upon the life and labors of this servant of God, we feel constrained,
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in view of what he was and of what he has done, to bear him an honorable testimony. He was a great, a good, and a useful man. Mistakes he may have made, errors he may have committed, faults and infirmities he may have had, but it is not too much to say, that such were his many virtues, and his great excellencies of character, such his industry and the eminent services which he has rendered the church and the cause of Christ, as to overshadow and out -.
weigh all his defects His memory deserves to be cherished, and his name to be handed down to future generations as a missionary and an apostle, as .. a pioneer and a founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the State of Ohio.
The death of Pastor Henkel left his associate sole incumbent of the Germantown charge. As the field was large, and sufficiently wealthy to sustain two pastors, the subject of a division was agitated, which resulted in the formation of two pastorates out of the one, the Farmersville and the Slifer's congre- gations constituting the one, and the Germantown congregation the other. The former called the Rev. Amos Poorman as their pastor, and the latter retained the Rev. J. L. Stirewalt.
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Rev. J. L. Stirewalt
Was the second son of Rev. John N. Stirewalt, and his wife Hannah, and was born in Waynesboro, Augusta county, Virginia, April 12, 1832. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Paul Henkel, and the sister of Rev. Andrew Henkel. Being, on his mother's side, descended of the Henkels, he came of a long line of Lutheran ministers, and of a very worthy ancestry. He lost his father when quite young, and was early left to the sole training and care of his mother. There were left to this mother three children, all sons, Paul, Julius, and Spener. These their father by his own prayers before his death, had consecrated to the work of the gospel ministry, and on his deathbed had communicated his desire con- cerning them to his wife. The early advantages, however, for education, possessed by these children outside of their home, were exceedingly limited. But they had a mother of rare excellencies, and she, remembering her husband's dying wish, by her diligent, faithful, and self-denying labors, sup- plied to her sons what was lacking them in the schools, with a view of preparing them for the sacred calling of the gospel ministry. Accordingly allu. sions are made in the diary of the subject of this sketch, of three boys gathering every evening around the candlestand with their books, and a firm and loving mother for their teacher. This was the
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foundation of their education. And this pious mother lived to see all three of them educated and inducted into the sacred office in which their father had laid down his life. Yea, more, she lived to see them all laid down in honored and peaceful graves. She her- self, however, did not long survive the death of her last, her son Julius. She now rests by the side of the latter, and of her brother Andrew in the Ger- mantown cemetery. On the 7th of May, two days after her death, on a quiet and lovely Sunday morning, after service in the Lutheran Church, conducted by the writer, we gently laid away her earthly remains in the grave.
From 1845 to 1847 Julius was employed as a dry goods clerk in Winchester, Virginia. During these two years he attended divine service in the Lutheran Church of that town, then under the pastoral care' of Rev. C. P. Krauth, now of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania. From 1848 to 1849 he attended school at: the New Market Academy, Virginia. While in attendance at this school he confirmed his baptismal covenant, and became an active member of the church of the place. The time had now come when the great question of his future calling was to be decided. He began the study of medicine, but soon abandoned it, and gave his attention to law. This also becoming distasteful to him, he decided to enter upon the study of theology. He went to Columbus, Ohio, where he spent the years 1851 and 1852 in the college and seminary of the Joint Synod. He
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left Columbus, in 1853, his health having failed him, and returned to New Market, Virginia, where he completed his theological studies under the direction of his uncles, Revs. Ambrose Henkel and Jacob Stirewalt. In 1854 he was ordained a deacon by the Tennessee Synod with the right to preach, to cate- chise, baptize, etc., but not to perform the acts of confirmation and marriage. His first labor in the ministry was that of an assistant to his uncle in his large and laborious charge. On the 11th of Septem- ber, 1854, he was married to Vandalena, daughter of the Rev. Andrew Henkel, of Germantown, Ohio. Soon after his marriage he was elected principal of the New Market female seminary for one year. In this position he was assisted by his wife The school prospered under his management. His labors at this time were truly arduous. After the duties of the school-room during the week, he preached regularly on every Lord's Day. This labor proved too great a task for his feeble constitution. Accordingly he resigned his principalship after one year's service, and in 1855 accepted a call from the East German- town charge, in Wayne county, Indiana. Here he entered upon a sphere of labor more congenial to his tastes, and better adapted to the exercise of his peculiar gifts, for, Providence had endowed him in an eminent degree with those talents which so well fitted him for the office of preacher and pastor. With characteristic earnestness and zeal he entered upon his work. He found the field somewhat
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divided, but soon succeeded in restoring harmony and
peace. The congregations grew in numbers, in faith, and in charity.
In the year 1856 he was fully ordained to the gospel ininistry. In 1858 he accepted a call to the Lima charge where he succeeded his brother Paul. who had been removed by death. Here he soon won the hearts of the people, and the respect and esteem of the entire community. But in one year his health failed to such an extent as to compel him to resign and undertake an agency for the Lutheran Standard in the Southern States. During this time he was a regular contributor to the columns of the Standard, in which he first exhibited his ability as a descriptive and humorous writer. But this change also did not improve his health, and he resigned his agency and retired to his mother's farm in Virginia.
Whilst engaged in farming, the war of the Rebel- lion broke out. The part which he acted during this trying time is most creditable to his head and his heart. He was opposed to the secession of his state from the Union, and clearly foresaw that the act could only bring with it suffering and disaster. He did all he could in his humble sphere to prevent the consummation of the act, but did not assume an openly hostile attitude to it, knowing very well that, in the excited state of feeling then prevailing, that would be foolish and dangerous. He, however, was and remained during those few years of fratricidal' strife a decided Union man, and patiently shared in
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the sufferings, to the infliction of which he had contributed nothing, nor was in the least degree to be held responsible, or to be blamed for. And these sufferings were great. He sustained the loss of property, endured fear and anxiety of mind, and was subjected to constant disturbance and annoyance. The locality in which he lived, the Valley of the Shenandoah, was the ever repeated scene of conflict between the armies of the two sections. At one time it was occupied by the Northern, and at another by the Southern army. When the Union army held possession Southern sympathizers were oppressed and punished, and when the Rebel army gained possession Union men were made to suffer. Hold to what side they would, the people were persecuted. Their position was therefore a most trying and painful one, and attended by innumerable evils. Mr. Stire- walt labored faithfully for the alleviation of the suffering of this time, without partiality to friend or bitterness to foe. He attended to the sick and wounded soldiers of both armies, comforted, fed, and nursed them as opportunity presented itself. At the close of the war he was for awhile engaged in the laudable work of collecting money to provide artificial limbs for maimed and crippled soldiers, and succeeded in gathering a large sum for this purpose. Referring .to this period, one of his most intimate friends says : " His cheerful, hopeful, and believing spirit never forsook him. Even amid the clash of arms, and the tumult of war, his. desire to do good
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to the souls and bodies of men manifested itself in the self-sacrificing spirit with which he devoted himself to works of charity and mercy."
The war closed after a period of four years, but its rigors were felt long after, in the effects which it had wrought. The beautiful and fertile valley of the Shenandoah was one vast field of destruction and devastation. Fences were gone, houses and barns lay in ashes, and cattle and horses had disappeared. Our brother had lost all his earthly possessions and desired to turn away from the place where every object recalled events which brought pain to his heart and tears to his eyes.
In the month of August, 1865, the English District of the Joint Synod of Ohio, held its annual sessions in Germantown, Ohio. Rev. Stirewalt was present as a visitor. Rev. Henkel was entering on his declining years. The attention of the congregation was called to Mr. Stirewalt, and they concluded to call him as associate pastor. In the month of November of the same year he moved to German- town, to divide with Rev. Henkel the labors of the charge. Here his efforts were crowned with great success. Large classes of catechumens were instructed and confirmed by him, and others who, during the many years of Mr. Henkel's ministry for one cause and another, had become alienated from the church, returned and renewed their membership. In 1867 the church which had been built in 1830 was partially taken down, was rebuilt and enlarged, and
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made quite an attractive place of worship. In the execution of this undertaking the main burden rested on Mr. Stirewalt. He overlooked and superintended the work, and secured the money to pay for material and labor.
In 1869 the General Council appointed him as its Home Missionary, to travel and labor chiefly in the State of Indiana. To this work he devoted one half of his time, giving the other half to his charge. This appointment he filled for several years with commendable industry and success. Whilst engaged in this work, he wrote a series of letters, which were published in the Lutheran and Missionary, in which he gave the result of his observation and experiences, over the signature of "Indiana." They were highly entertaining and amusing, as well as instructive. He was a close observer, a good judge of men, was gifted with a large share of ready wit, and had a keen sense for the ridiculous. His quick and pene- trating eye would detect what others would pass by unnoticed, and would extract a laugh from events and objects, in which others saw nothing to interest or to amuse. These gifts and peculiarities he exhibits in a marked manner in his " Indiana" letters. For this reason they were received with great favor by the readers of the Lutheran.
If there was one passion more largely developed in him than any other, it was his desire to be well thought of by everybody. He had an intense craving for the esteem and good will of all men. As
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this had always been an absorbing element of his nature, he had made it his lifelong study to please men, and win their friendship and affection. In this effort he was successful. In the art of captivating people of all classes, insinuating himself into their affections, and winning their confidence, he had acquired a readiness and a skill, peculiarly his own and rarely ever seen in any other man. It was this principle of the man that accounts for many of his acts. Wherever there was a man of mark within convenient distance of him, he was determined on, and always succeeded in, making a friend of him, He disregarded the conservative policy of his synod attended all sorts of meetings, and fraternized with different Christian people. He paid not the least attention to the so-called " Akron Rule" of the General Council, that Lutheran pulpits are for- Lutheran pastors only and that Lutheran altars are, for Lutheran communicants only. He invited Christians of all denominations to his communions; and exchanged pulpits with preachers of various creeds. And himself found access to pulpits to which no Lutheran pastor of his synodical connec tion had ever been admitted. Whilst by means of this peculiarity he made many friends, he also made a few enemies. Some of his ministerial brethren accused him that he was making conscious efforts to win for himself, and alienate from them the esteem and confidence of their own people, of which however, he was doubtlessly innocent.
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