USA > Ohio > Stark County > Canton > History of the First Reformed Church, Canton, Ohio > Part 7
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Reasons might be enumerated to account for the failure of the seminary here. Aside from the fact that the general church membership had but a scant appreciation of the need of such an institution and gave it very meager support, a number of other causes were also operative. Thus, Dr. Buettner was a strong union man and used all his influence to bring the Re- formed and Lutheran Synods into one corporate organization. The Reformed denominational consciousness, however, was too strong, and the majority of the membership were opposed to his activities in that direction. Then also, he was a man of thorough scholarship, and planned a course of study absolutely appalling to the students who recalled the quick and easy route by which their own pastors had broken into the ministerial ranks. Besides this he could not adjust himself readily to the shocks which American customs and ways constantly gave his German predispositions. In addition, he was strongly opposed to evangelistic services, and revival meetings while many of the Ohio ministers were very much in favor of them. All these causes worked together to prevent the success of the Seminary.
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The experiences through which Dr. Buettner passed as travelling missionary, pastor, and professor, he later embodied in two volumes of about four-hundred and fifty pages each, entitled "My Residence and Travels in North America." This work is especially valuable for its interesting descriptions of Reformed church-life as it was found in 1834-40. Two other books of abiding value also came from his pen, namely, "A History of the High German Reformed Church in the United States," and "A Brief History of the Reformation." After his return to Germany (1840) he continued his work as pastor to the end of his life.
During the time that Dr. Buettner lived in Canton, Rev. Herbruck zealously attended to the work of his vast parish, and even extended his missionary activities to Portage County and founded a new congregation there. Of his work and experience in connection with this new congregation, he says:
"I also founded a congregation in Portage County, twenty- two miles from Canton. A journey which I once made there, still stands out vividly in my memory. One day coming home from one of the country churches, my neighbor saw how tired my horse was. So he said to me: "Mr. Herbruck, you are killing your horse. Now I have a strong horse in the barn, that is doing nothing, use it occasionally, and let yours rest." I gladly told him that I would be delighted to accept his kind offer. Several days after, I was to conduct a funeral service in Portage County near Limaville. So I went to my neighbor and asked for his horse for the next day. "Certainly you can use it," he said, "I will bring it over early in the morning." The next morning he brought the horse over, and helped me to hitch up. A young man from Canton was to accompany me. Just as we were driving away, my neighbor said : "Mr. Herbruck, I must caution you on a certain point so that you will not be- come frightened if it should happen. This horse once in a while when it has to pull hard becomes stubborn and refuses to go on. In such a case just coax it a little and it will start out again." I asked whether the beast had the habit of kick- ing and he said, No. So we drove off. After going about three
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miles, we came to a mudhole several rods across, and extend- ing the entire width of the road. I said to my companion, Now we are in for it, you know what my neighbor said. If we drive in here and the horse stops, what will we do? He said, "I will get out of the buggy and the horse can pull you through all right." So he got out. But even so, I did not dare to drive through the mud. So I began to philosophize, thinking to myself, My neighbor says if the horse has to pull very hard, it will stop. How would it be therefore if you were to get out of the wagon and sit on the horse, and then it will not have to pull but carry you. So I got up on the horse, and drove into the mudhole. In the very middle the horse stood still. So according to the instructions of my neighbor I began to coax, but it was no use. Then I gave it a couple of jabs in the ribs with my heels. Suddenly, platsch, the horse lay down in the mud, with the preacher still sitting on top. My companion at once came to my assistance and we unhitched the horse and led it out of the mudhole. Then we pulled the buggy over ourselves and hitching up again drove on. But we both were certainly sights to behold. My boots were full of water and mud, and my trousers were mud beplastered to the knees.
"On the way I stopped at one of the deacons of the Peter's congregation. He loaned me a pair of boots, stockings and trousers. On my return I found that his wife had cleaned all my things in fine style, so I got into them and drove home. But I never borrowed that horse again."
Though it may not belong to the general subject matter of this chapter, nevertheless since it adds to an understanding of the social and church conditions of that period, the account of a missionary trip made by Rev. Herbruck in 1840 will be appended. The narrative has been considerably condensed from the original account as written down by Rev. Herbruck.
"In the year 1840 I received an invitation to visit Miami County, Ind. A number of families lived there rather close together who had formerly been members of one of my con- gregations. For several years they had heard no sermon there nor been able to receive the Lord's supper. So in the summer
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of 1840 I started out in company with a member of the Canton congregation. We went on foot to Massillon. From there we rode by canal boat to Cleveland, and then across the lake to Toledo. As the canal was not yet completed from Toledo to Defiance we had to hire an Irishman with two horses and a spring wagon to take us to Defiance. A Catholic priest whom we had met on the boat had joined our company and together we had to pay $4.50 to make the trip. Night overtook us in the midst of the woods and we found lodging for a few hours in a little log cabin. By one o'clock in the morning the jour- ney was resumed. Though the stars shone brightly it was very dark in the woods. The road was new, many stumps still stood even in the wagon tracks, and mud holes were a plenty. The priest dropped asleep, but when ever the wagon hit a stump he would jump up greatly frightened. This won't do, he said, we must start something to keep awake. So we decid- ed that each one was to sing a song. We did so. But while the Irishman was singing he forgot about his driving, and sud- denly upset us into a bottomless mudhole. I was sticking in the mud where it was deepest and the wagonbox lay on top of me. I heard the priest groaning, for he had been injured. But when the driver pulled the box off of me and I crawled out of the mud looking like a mudturtle, he had to laugh in spite of his pain. Fortunately the wagon had not been broken, so we turned it right side up and drove on. From that time on the priest had no difficulty in keeping awake without sing- ing. By twelve o'clock we were in Defiance. From there we travelled on the canal to Ft. Wayne. At Ft. Wayne the priest left us and we hunted up a German tavern.
"A few years before this visit, a relative of my wife had lodged in Ft. Wayne over night, and had been robbed of $500.00, which he had placed under his pillow. As he suspect- ed the proprietor of being the robber he described both the man and the place to us upon his return. The place where this man had been robbed was a small log cabin; hence we carefully avoided such a lodging place, and selected a nice, new frame tavern instead. But as soon as I saw the proprietor, I began
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to suspect that he was the individual who had stolen the $500.00. After supper I sat down on the bench in front of the house. A stranger sat down beside me and we fell into a con- versation. I asked him whether the tavern was considered safe. Oh yes, said he, I think it's all right, the proprietor seems to be making money. Not very long ago, he lived in a small log cabin, and now he has erected this fine frame build- ing. When I heard that, I was certain that I had got into the very place, I had wished to avoid. So I called my companion and said to him: I won't stay here, and told him why. But he laughed and said, We have two pistols with us, and can take care of ourselves. At bedtime we asked for our satchels, and obtained them only with considerable difficulty. The room assigned us had neither lock nor bolt, so I placed a table before the door and a chair on the table leaning against the door in such a way that if the door were moved the chair must fall and awake us. Placing the pistols close at hand we tried to sleep. I could not sleep, however, and about twelve o'clock I heard someone creeping cautiously up the stairs. I awoke my companion. In a moment the door was pushed slightly. I called but received no answer. In a little while the door was pushed again. Then I jumped up, seized a pistol and called, Whoever is there, stay out, or I will shoot. The clicking of the hammer as the pistol was cocked frightened the fellow and we heard him hurrying down the stairs. If the poor scamp had known what a poor shot I was, he would have had no fear. I do not believe I would have shot, and even if I had, I would never have hit him. I always did have the habit when shooting off a pistol or gun of carefully closing my eyes.
"The next day we rode down the canal to Huntington. At that time Huntington was a little village of about eighteen houses, if I remember rightly. In the neighborhood were a number of families formerly belonging to my parish in Ohio. These I looked up. In the second home that I entered, the father and children greeted me with tears, saying that the mother had been buried four weeks before, but they had been unable to find a minister to conduct a service. So I acceded
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to their wish and conducted a funeral service in a school house before a reverent congregation. In the village of Huntington I also preached in a schoolhouse and conducted a funeral serv- ice. One of the farmers loaned us two horses and so my com- panion and I also rode to Miami County, where I preached in private houses four times, administered the Lord's Supper, and baptized a number of children. I was told that no Reformed minister had ever visited that community before. On the re- turn trip from there, a forest several miles in extent had to be traversed. Suddenly we came upon a clearing in which there was a little log cabin. A woman was standing at the washtub before the door. She looked at us very closely and suddenly cried out: Isn't your name Herbruck? After receiving my answer, she hurried to us, and began to weep, saying, "Oh, how glad I am to see you again. How often I have thought of you, and desired to hear you preach." I discovered that I had con- firmed her in the Zion's congregation.
"Having returned the borrowed horses in Huntington, we started for our dear homes again."
CHAPTER XI THREE PERPLEXING QUESTIONS
D URING the first ten years of Rev. Herbruck's pastorate, three perplexing questions gradually forced themselves upon the attention of the congregations as well as the pastor of the Canton charge. These questions had to do respectively with the change of language from German to English, with the tem- perance agitation which was sweeping over the state, and with the new measure fanaticism that threatened to subvert Re- formed denominational consciousness and customs.
The first question that demanded consideration was the language in which the services should be conducted. In 1826, the minutes of the Ohio Synod were printed in English for the first time. That year Rev. Faust requested only ten English copies for all his congregations, but within four years the num- ber of English copies needed had increased to one-fourth of the entire number requested by the charge. The cause of this rapid change to the English is very plain. The majority of the early settlers were Pennsylvania Germans. Their children grew up with only scant school opportunities at best; and such educational facilities as were available were all English. Con- sequently there was an ever lessening number who could read and use the German. It was almost imperative therefore that the pastor of the Canton charge should be able to officiate in both languages. This seems to have been the chief reason why the congregations hesitated at the beginning to call Mr. Her- bruck as regular pastor. After he had taken complete charge of the congregations there thus remained little groups of mem- bers throughout the charge who wanted some English preach- ing. In Canton this group, not seeing any way of attaining their desire united in 1837 with a like group from the Lutheran congregation and organized an English congregation which later became the Trinity Lutheran church. Similar losses of members occurred in the other congregations of the Canton
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charge. In 1837 Dr. Buettner declared that Osnaburg was the most German village which he had found in Ohio; neverthe- less when he became pastor some months later he found it nec- essary to conduct his catechetical instructions in English as well as German. The language question for thirty-five years remained a constant source of irritation in the congregations ; for although Rev. Herbruck later became quite proficient in the use of the English language, he would never consent to use it for a public address or sermon.
The second question with which the congregations and pas- tor had to grapple had to do with the use of intoxicating liquors. The use of intoxicants was all but universal. The social customs and ideals of the people "almost enforced the habit of drinking in ordinary intercourse." Drunkenness and its attendant evils had increased to a point "of which it is diffi- cult for us at this date to form a clear conception." About 1830 a great wave of temperance agitation swept over the coun- try. The movement did not aim especially at the prohibition of the manufacture or sale of intoxicants, but rather sought to combat drunkenness by breaking down the prevalent vicious social usages, and upholding and inculcating total abstinence as the ideal and duty of the Christian. At the beginning the movement was entirely religious without attempting to invoke the law or secure prohibitory legislation.
The early pastors of the Reformed Church in Ohio fre- quently speak of the prevalence of drunkenness and Sabbath- breaking, and hence, quickly gave their support to this temper- ance movement, which showed promise of effecting a decided reformation. The sentiment in the Synod was, however, not unanimous and tremendous discussions were aroused. These discussions were especially acrid in the second district of the Ohio Synod to which the Canton charge belonged.
After the union of the West Pennsylvania Classis and the Ohio Synod had been consummated considerable differences of opinion developed. It was hoped to facilitate the process of amalgamation by dividing the territory into three districts which would meet as district Synods annually, and as a Gene-
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ral Synod every three years. The former West Pennsylvania Classis became the first district; the congregations in Virginia and Ohio east of Marietta, Zanesville, Columbus and Toledo were in the second district; all other congregations farther west constituted the third district. This division was made in 1839.
In 1841 the second district after a heated discussion passed the following resolution : "We consider the use of intoxicating liquors as being most injurious to the morals and health of the people; therefore we advise the members of the congregations and the pastors of our district to join the Temperance Associa- tions ; and we as ministers herewith declare that we will abstain from the use of such liquors."
Against this resolution eight of the ministers presented a minority report which is recorded in the minutes together with their names. In this report the protesting brethren solemnly aver their opposition to the resolution passed, "Because on no page of Holy Scripture can we find that the use of excellent, spirituous liquors is forbidden or accounted as injurious ; and we are unwilling to burden the consciences of our congrega- tions with human enactments. But we do agree with that which the apostle says in the Epistle to the Philippians in the third chapter in the second half of the fifteenth verse .* "
This advanced position on the temperance question, taken by the Second District of the Ohio Synod, did not stand by itself in the Reformed Church; but was probably inspired by the resolutions of the older Synod in the East taken the year before which stated that "The Synod considers the influence of intemperance as a deplorable hindrance to the spread of the Gospel and equally detrimental to the temporal and eternal interests of mankind: therefore, be it resolved, First, that we
* The ministers who signed this minority report were A. Begeman, Peter Herbruck, D. Rahauser, J. Schlosser, N. Franz, J. Schmidt, A. Neu, D. Marburger. The quotation referred to is as follows: "And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you." The quotation seems as inappropriate as the contents of the reso- lution to which it was appended.
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will not only abstain from the use of spirituous liquors for ourselves, but also, as much as in us lies, will support the cause of temperance in our congregations, by our influence; Second- ly, in view of all the information presented concerning the evil effects of intemperance, the Synod considers the manufacture, the sale, and the use of spirituous liquors as an evil, which should be banished from the church."
That these temperance resolutions of the higher church courts would arouse violent opposition was to be expected ; that the pastors of German congregations would have no sym- pathy with them was but natural. Throughout the Second District up to the beginning of the temperance agitation those who sold intoxicants were considered quite as respectable church members as any others, the taverns were the common meeting-places for the Germans, while the tavern-keeper was generally one of the most liberal supporters of the church. The German pastors found themselves in a serious predicament. If they supported the temperance movement many members would turn away from the church and withhold their financial sup- port; if they tried to remain neutral, the friends of the move- ment were alienated and their bitter criticism was aroused. Even if the members of the German congregations left to themselves might have been able to work out the problem in their own way, they were not permitted to do so; but became the objects of violent attacks by their American neighbor- churches. The German pastors were publicly assailed as "dead bones," "stumbling blocks," "dutch preachers," and such like pet epithets. Hence it can be easily seen that many congrega- tions and some pastors looked askance at the prominence which the Synod resolutions gave the question.
The division of the Ohio Synod into three district-synods which met annually did not prove satisfactory. Instead of uni- fying the Synod it threatened to disrupt it. As the meeting of the first General Synod of the three districts approached in 1842, it became clear that some other plan must be adopted. The meeting was held in our Canton church, and marked an epoch in the Reformed church history of Ohio. The district
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plan was abandoned,and in its stead the territory of the Synod was divided into five classes,* which were to meet annually in the spring; while the Synod was to meet annually also, but in the fall. The Canton charge became a part of the Columbiana Classis. Furthermore a plan was adopted for closer union with the mother Synod in the East. The Ohio Synod adopted the constitution of the mother Synod, and agreed to an inter- change of the reports on the state of religion and statistics, each Synod agreeing to print both reports in their own minutes ; besides this, each Synod was to send two fraternal delegates to attend the meeting of the other, such delegates having the right to join in the deliberations and to vote.
The ministers who had opposed the temperance resolution in the Second District the year before, brought in a complaint at this meeting; but the Synod permitted the resolutions to stand. As the agitations continued, the Synod finally in 1844 passed the most drastic resolutions of its history in the words : "Resolved, that this Synod considers the custom of drinking brandy or using spirituous liquors as most injurious, and de- structive of all principles of true piety. Resolved, further- more, that this Synod decidedly disapproves of the use of spirituous liquors by the ministers, and takes the position that all who are guilty in this particular justly deserve the severest censure of this body to which they belong."
Though the Synod had spoken thus clearly, the opposing minority would not acquiesce. This is indeed greatly to be regretted. Had the support been unanimous among the min- isters, the temperance sentiment and position of the Reformed Church in Ohio would have been already seventy years ago, as advanced as it is today. Though Rev. Herbruck was entire- ly conscientious in his attitude of opposition to the temperance convictions of the Synod, that fact did not shield him against the untoward consequences that followed. Throughout the charge in the various congregations were little groups who
* The names given the classes were Miami, Lancaster, Columbiana, Sandusky, Westmoreland, and Erie. The first four were in Ohio, the last two were in Pennsylvania.
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were utterly opposed to the liquor traffic. Some of these mem- bers bitterly criticized the attitude of the pastor; others sim- ply left the Reformed Church. This departure caused a two- fold loss : it removed the leaven of "dry sentiment" which was sorely needed in that age of general intemperance; and fur- thermore, other and most undesirable elements were attracted, and for a half century the congregations of the Canton charge became the welcome haven of liquor dealers, saloon-keepers, and bartenders. Even as late as 1880, the sentiment of the Canton congregation was such that a saloon-keeper was per- mitted to act as a Sunday-school teacher and leader of the choir.
The third and most momentous question of all had to do with the so-called "new-measures" movement. These "new- measures" borrowed largely from Methodist and Presbyterian sources, consisted of series of revival meetings, meetings for prayer and relating of religious experiences, and especially the use of the mourner's bench. The mourner's bench was simply the front pew which the preacher urged those to occupy who professed "conversion," desired "to get religion," or wished to "consecrate" their lives anew to God. As long as these new methods were introduced judiciously and used with proper decorum they met with comparatively little opposition, and real good was accomplished in awakening apathetic church-mem- bers satisfied with the mere outward forms of religion. As the movement spread, however, the enthusiasts for the new measures among the ministers were quite swept from their Re- formed moorings and fell into astonishing excesses. Probably nowhere in Ohio did these excesses surpass the heights reached in Stark and surrounding counties between 1840 and 1846. Furthermore it is difficult to conceive how events more strenu- ous and exciting could have transpired anywhere than within the bounds of the Canton charge.
Most of the neighboring Reformed preachers had gone in for the "new measures" with great enthusiasm, but Rev. Her- bruck was determined to adhere faithfully to "the old foun- dations and customs" of the Reformed Church as he had
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always held them. The "new measure" men made an effort to win him over to their side. The effort and its result make interesting reading in Rev. Herbruck's own words :
"At that time, I was the only Reformed minister in Stark County, so far as my recollection goes, who still held to the old foundations and customs of our beloved Reformed Church. At the beginning the attempt was made to persuade me with nice words to adopt the 'new-measure' ideas. One minister came to my house and used all his powers of persuasion in the effort to swing me into the movement. Among other arguments he said: You are not being supported by your congregation as you ought to be. This also used to be my condition ; but since I have gone in for the 'new-measure' ways, the same people who used to pay one or two dollars, now pay five or ten. You see 'new measurism' brings bread into the home. I promptly told him that I wanted no bread that had to be earned by vio- lating my inner convictions ; rather than do that, I would hang my black coat on a handy peg, and go out into the woods and split fence rails."*
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