USA > Ohio > Stark County > Canton > History of the First Reformed Church, Canton, Ohio > Part 8
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A more strenuous method of persuasion was now adopted. Eight or nine of the new-measure men invaded Canton, secured the use of the Presbyterian church and conducted revival meet- ings, continuing for several weeks. Sermons were preached on themes intended to arouse the careless church members and the unconverted; such as, the lost nature of man, hell and its terrors, man's helplessness, the necessity of conversion, justifi- cation by faith only, heaven and its joys, etc. The purpose of the meetings was not only to lift up the religious conditions of Canton but also to alienate the Reformed people from their pastor, create a division, or even drive him from his congrega- tion. The speakers did not even refrain from indirect public attack upon Rev. Herbruck as he testifies :
"Every imaginable arrow was aimed at me. In a treacher- ous manner, the most disgraceful falsehoods were circulated
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
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about me; always avoiding however, the mentioning of my name."*
Possibly the cause of this wrathful conduct was to be found in the fact that when the "new-measure" men began their meetings, Rev. Herbruck began a series of meetings also :
"I began to hold services each evening in my church in order to keep my church members away from those meetings. I knew of no Reformed minister who could be secured to assist ; hence, the two Lutheran ministers came to my aid, Rev. Fast, and Rev. Lehman. Rev. Lehman from Columbus preached each evening for an entire week."*
At the meetings conducted by the new-measure men great stress was laid upon the mourner's bench. The penitents were urged to come forward so that prayer might be offered in their behalf. When they finally declared themselves as "converted," the congregation would join with them in crying: "Glory! glory! blessed be Jesus! Hallelujah !"" Only those who had gone through such a volcanic experience were declared as being true Christians. "The anxious-bench was made the machine for conversion, and, as it were, the gateway to heaven."*
With the exaltation of the mourner's bench (or anxious bench) there followed the depreciation and elimination of the Heidelberg Catechism and all catechetical instruction.
"The Catechism was laid aside, as not being needed any- more. One of the ministers who had adopted these new meas- ures boldly asserted: We are not obliged to use the catechism any more. If a father has a young horse, and rides him until he becomes old and stiff ; that's no reason why the son should go on riding the stiff, old beast."*
These revival meetings generally paved the way for the introduction of prayer meetings. At the beginning of the new- measure movement these prayer meetings were conducted quietly and with decorum, very similar to the meetings common in our day. However, as the movement spread and developed,
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
+ Dr. Buettner.
6
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disorder and noise became common. Several persons might be praying or testifying at the same time, accompanied "occa- sionally with many sighs, groans, moans, and exclamations."+ The disorder assumed such alarming proportions, that the church judicatories were obliged to pass a number of regula- tory resolutions. The Second District, within whose bounds the waves of fanaticism were running highest, resolved in 1841, "While one is praying the others are to be silent, and pray along in mind and spirit. All noise and all boisterous ranting (Toben) by which the natural emotions are excited (erhitzt) is to be avoided." The Ohio Synod in its general meeting in Canton in 1842, resolved, "That this Synod disap- proves of disorderly conducted protracted meetings, or several- day meetings, the introduction of the mourner's bench, the loud praying of women in mixed assemblages for prayer, as also, the loud praying of several persons at the same time. This, however, does not refer to orderly protracted meetings and prayer meetings."
As the new-measure movement reached its zenith, it be- came necessary to take still more drastic action, which was done in 1849 in the following words, "This Synod discounte- nances and hopes that all ministers and members of the church will discountenance all disorder, noise, and confusion in pub- lic worship; such as, more than one praying at the same time, shouting during public preaching, etc., all rant and wild-fire; as not in our opinion in accordance with the standards of our Church, the spirit of religion, or the teaching of the Bible. The Synod exhorts the brethren to be careful in all things to con- duct their religious meetings in decency and in such order as accords with God's house, and not to violate the constitution and standards of our church in letter or in spirit." New- measurism must indeed have been prospering riotously to call for such treatment.
The necessity of resolutions like these given, becomes the clearer when we further consider certain occurrences that took place within the Canton charge. About 1840, Rev. Abraham
7 Dr. Buettner.
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Keller came to Osnaburg and served the Carrollton and Hersh (or Hursh) congregations in Carrollton County, and the St. Martin's and Uniontown congregations in Stark County. At the beginning of his ministry he had been opposed to the "new- measures," but later developed into an ardent advocate of the same. After coming to Stark County he soon joined hands with the group of eight or nine new-measure men who had already conducted the Canton revival, for the purpose of hold- ing similar meetings in the other congregations of the charge. Dividing themselves into two teams the various congregations were invaded. In Osnaburg the Reformed ministers were joined by ministers of other denominations. A wave of reviv- al enthusiasm swept through the community. Many went to the mourner's bench and professed conversion; among these were also a goodly number of Reformed people. Prayermeet- ings were held in the homes of the "converts." In the Sunday School some of the "converted" began to kneel with the chil- dren and engage in long prayers for their salvation. The cat- echism and catechetical instruction were ridiculed. Disorder and noisy demonstrations crept in. This aroused the larger and more conservative portion of the congregation who were loyal to Rev. Herbruck and his ways, and they rose up and attempted to put a stop to the raging of the "wild-fire," as they called it. Then the converts from various denominations- Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans and Reformed -decided to build a union-church. In less than two weeks a log-church was ready (1842) and Rev. Keller took charge of the new congregation. This aroused violent quarrels and bit- ter animosities. The new congregation loudly boasted : "Now we have the pure Gospel. Before this we were in a state of blindness and irreligion with our pastor, but now we are en- lightened, converted, regenerated, sanctified and saved. Our former pastor was never converted and is unfit to preach the Gospel. His preaching was hay, straw, and stubbles. We are praying constantly that he may be converted and receive the Holy Ghost; because otherwise he is a very good and agree- able man."
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But, alas, after a few months, dissensions and quarrels broke out among the "converted, enlightened, etc.," and finally after many bitter disappointments, Rev. Keller had to give up the Osnaburg field. Several of his children had died, his "con- verts" had largely returned to the church they had left, and frequently the poor man was put to hard straits for his daily bread; but Rev. Herbruck continued to preach in Osnaburg for about thirty years more.
About the same time that the first team of "new-measur- ites" invaded the Osnaburg field, the second team started in to hold revival meetings in one of the country congregations. The description of what happened there will be given in Rev. Her- bruck's own words :
"Protracted meetings were begun in one of my country congregations in a barn which they rented. The leader of the new-measure men, Rev. S- again slandered me in every possible way, but always refrained from mentioning my name. These impudent slanders finally aroused me to an action, which later I greatly regretted. In my entire life I never had a taste for scrapping. I do not remember ever having had a fight with anyone even as a boy. But when these bold insinuations con- tinued, I suddenly lost my good nature. I armed myself with a heavy stick, put five dollars into my pocket, and marched to the barn accompanied by a powerful man. My purpose was to give the fellow a thorough thrashing, and then proceed to a justice of the peace and pay my fine. But the dear God, thanks be unto Him, so directed the matter that I could not carry out my project. When I came to the barn Rev. S --- was not there. I told some of the people who were there what my intentions had been. From that time on the insinuations ceased. So the scheme seems to have been worth something anyhow !"*
These unlawful invasions of the charge of a fellow-minis- ter aroused Rev. Herbruck to send a protest to the Ohio Syn- od, "begging the Synod urgently to put a stop to these mis-
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
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chievous disturbances. My complaint was laid on the table, and was not even considered worthy of an answer."*
As the Synod thus had shown itself unwilling to protect its German ministers who preferred to walk in the conserva- tive, old-Reformed paths, these ministers determined to defend themselves. This defense reached its climax in the formation of an independent Synod in 1846. This Synod became popu- larly known as the "Herbruck Synod," and its history will be. given in the next chapter.
In this place it seems proper to give an estimate of the benefits and the injuries wrought by the new-measure move- ment.
That it worked out grave injuries in the church cannot be denied. A shallow and superficial type of church-life and Christian-life was fostered by the methods used to gain mem- bers and converts. Quarrels, divisions, censoriousness, intem- perate speech, spiritual conceit and pride were the general accompaniments of a revival effort. The departure from the spirit and the usages of the Reformed Church was so violent that the Church was threatened with absorption into the strong- er denominations whose methods were being so enthusiasti- cally adopted. The repudiation of the catechism and all relig- ious instruction of the youth meant the loss of the finest aid to piety that the church possessed. Some parts of the Ohio Syn- od have never recovered from the non-Reformed elements which were then introduced into its life. To this day the cate- chism and religious instruction are tabood by certain of its ministers; others have limited the period of instruction to a few weeks with scarcely an effort to enrich the mind with any of the wonderful answers of our Catechism; and only a few of its ministers give religious instruction the prominence it occupies in the German Synods.
But on the other hand it must also be acknowledged that the movement served to arouse the church spiritually as it had never been aroused before. Many prayer-meetings and devo-
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
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FIRST REFORMED CHURCH, CANTON, O.
tional meetings during the week were started where none had ever existed; Sunday-schools were transformed into opportun- ities for teaching religious truths instead of the German lan- guage; family-worship was begun in numberless homes where before it had been looked upon as "a species of saintly affec- tation." The curse of intemperance and impurity was dimin- ished, and even successfully suppressed in many localities. Especially was the entire church aroused to the danger of mere formalism and lifeless orthodoxy that was content with being confirmed and partaking of the Lord's Supper occasionally, and leading a "reasonably decent" life, without having any notion of a real heart experience. The emphasis which the new-measure movement placed upon a personal, religious ex- perience and heart assurance had a quickening, spiritual effect upon the foes as well as friends of the movement. Interest in missions was also aroused, more young men for the ministry offered themselves, the spirit of benevolence increased, and thousands of new members were won. In the year 1843 alone, the total increase in Ohio as a result of this movement was 1536 souls.
Though we may still deplore the extravagance and fanat- icism into which some of the leaders of the movement fell; and though we may regret the turmoil and violent scenes enact- ed within the bounds of the Canton charge; those who dispas- sionately judge the matter will probably be willing to concede that it required something "powerfully strong" to arouse the people from their religious self-contentment.
REV. PETER HERBRUCK At age forty-five
CHAPTER XII THE HERBRUCK SYNOD
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F ROM 1846-1852 about a score of German ministers main- tained an independent Synod. This Synod called itself officially "The German Synod of the High German Reformed Church of Ohio and Adjacent States." The popular name by which it was known among the people, however, was "The Her- bruck Synod"; so called after Rev. Peter Herbruck who was the main leader and spirit in effecting and maintaining the organization. Since the secession from the Ohio Synod took place in the Osnaburg church, and all congregations of the Can- ton charge joined the new Synod with their pastor, the "Her- bruck Synod" thus becomes of peculiar interest to us.
The causes which led to the organization of this indepen- dent Synod have already been discussed in the last chapter. The friction created by the transition from the German to the English became more and more acute as time passed. Finally in 1844 the Ohio Synod decided that English congregations might be organized within the bounds of German congrega- tions even when these were opposed. This decision of Synod threw the German ministers into a very belligerent frame of mind. The opposition of the German ministers in eastern Ohio was increased by the fact that the English pastors were nearly all new-measure men; and this sanction of the Synod to organ- ize English congregations meant in numerous cases not only the division of congregations and the erection of rival churches, but also the arousing of great bitterness between former fel- low-ministers and fellow-members. Just how much influence the temperance agitation had in bringing about the secession it is difficult to say, but doubtlessly it must be rated as a strong contributory cause.
Rev. Herbruck who had become the generally recognized leader of the old-Reformed, anti-new-measure men had ad-
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dressed a protest to the Synod in 1844, asking for suitable leg- islation against the arrogant fanaticism of the new-measure agitators from which he had suffered. The Synod not only ignored the request, but also gave permission for the organiza- tion of rival English congregations in German fields. This was too much. The German ministers began to discuss means of redress privately, but it was not until the meeting of Colum- biana Classis at Osnaburg in 1846 (June 3) that the complete break came.
The animosities broke out as soon as the opening sermon had been delivered, as described by Rev. Herbruck :
"Father Sonnendecker was president of the Classis. Ac- cording to the constitution he was to preach the opening ser- mon. He excused himself by explaining that he was sick, and not prepared to preach a set sermon, and contented himself with delivering a brief but very appropriate address to the Classis. Hardly had the aged father sat down, when one of the new-measure men jumped up, and said, 'That was no open- ing sermon, etc., etc.' The aged father was insulted in such a way that the tears stood in his eyes. The next step was, that all of them began speaking English, though every one could speak German. This was done to prevent those of us who could not speak English from taking part in the debate. I begged the gentlemen to use the German, saying that the con- gregation was German, and the members of the Classis were all German. The answer given me was: 'We will speak as we wish, for this does not concern anyone else.'"*
Rev. J. W. Hamm was elected president. One of the Ger- man men immediately made the motion, "That we declare our- selves independent of the General Synod of Ohio."} The motion was "strongly opposed by the valiant brethren of the cross, and our Reformed Zion."ยก
When the time for the noon recess arrived the motion was still under discussion. During the noon hour the German
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
7 Minutes of Columbiana Classis. The secretary was an ardent new-measure man.
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THE HERBRUCK SYNOD
brethren got together under the leadership of Rev. Herbruck, because, "I and some of the other brethren saw that things could not continue in this fashion any longer. We met in a private house and discussed the matter. The decision was to separate, and organize a new Synod which would stand firmly upon the old foundations and customs of the Reformed Church. A can- vas of the members of Classis disclosed the fact that our party had a majority of one. At the opening of the afternoon ses- sion one of our number made the motion that we separate from the old Ohio Synod, and form a new synod under the name of "The German Synod of the High German Reformed Church of Ohio and Adjacent States."*
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The resolution as formulated by them read, "Whereas, the so-called new-measure men have made powerful attacks upon our congregations, and have destroyed the peace and quiet in many places; Therefore, resolved, that we declare ourselves independent of the General Synod until said Synod adopt measures to arrest such innovations."t
A vigorous discussion followed. When the motion was put, it carried by a majority of one, and "the following brethren seceded : Revs. P. Herbruck, H. Sonnendecker, J. W. Hamm, F. Ruhl, C. Zwisler and George Weber."t
As soon as the result had been announced, "Things began to happen. The leader of the new-measure men, Rev. S-, was present though he was not a member of the Columbiana Classis. He arose and said to the new-measure men: You are now the Columbiana Classis; those who have thus torn themselves away have no business here any more. You must now organize and go on with your business. The brother who had been elected as president at the morning session was in sympathy with us but was unwilling to be at odds with the other faction. So he left the president's chair and withdrew. The father of the leader of the new-measurites was on our side, he at once arose, sat down in the president's place and declared,
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
+ Minutes of Columbiana Classis.
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Now I am president, and not one of you can take this place from me. The leader of the new-measurites nevertheless insisted that officers should be elected and business should pro- ceed. A tumult arose. During the excitement an elder of the church went to the leader of the new-measurites, grabbed him by the collar and shoved him out of the church. Like a swarm of bees his adherents followed him, and the men of the old school were alone. Then we adjourned to meet on October 3, of the same year in New Lisbon, Columbiana County, when the new Synod was to be organized .* "
The new-measure men went at once to the union-church which had been built four years before under Rev. A. Keller and reorganized by electing Rev. Keller as president. The remnant of Columbiana Classis contained only four ministers (A. Keller, A. Stump, F. Stump, N. Pfaltzgraf). Aroused by the exciting scenes through which they had just passed, they got together and solemnly composed and adopted a report in which the following remarkable words occur. "It might be thought by some that the secession of some brethren is an un- happy event for the Classis, but we cannot but hail it as a gracious epoch in our history by which we have at once been rid of men who oppose the spirit of piety and every sacred institution of our holy religion. We cannot regard it as a blessing to any Church to have in their midst men who oppose prayermeetings, protracted meetings, revivals of religion, etc., and we bless God that we are rid of such material. Imploring God's blessing upon us in the future, we can trust in him for blessed results."t
When the exciting day at last drew to its close and the ministers found their way to their places of entertainment a new surprise awaited some of them. The news of the day's happenings had been carried throughout the congregation. "A great excitement arose among the members of the church. The members in favor of the new-measures, who had
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
1 Minutes of Columbiana Classis.
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THE HERBRUCK SYNOD
a minister of the old school as guest at once told him to get out. The members in favor of the old school ways did the same to their new-measure guests."*
According to the resolution adopted at Osnaburg, the seceding ministers met in New Lisbon on October 3. Although only six ministers had voted at Osnaburg to leave the Ohio Synod, there were ten present at the organization and eight more requested to be received as members of the new Synod. Most of them were from Ohio and Pennsylvania. To us the most important action of the meeting was the statement of the reasons for the secession. This document was written by Rev. Herbruck, who was chairman of the committee which had this matter in charge. This statement was addressed to the pastors and members of the entire Reformed Church, and expresses the keen regret of the new organization that separation should have been made imperative by the excesses of the new-measure men, and "the evil treatment which we have received from them." The following reasons for the secession are then set forth: "Departure from the ancient usages, doctrines, and symbols of the Reformed Church, and the introduction of the mourner's bench and its accompani- ments. The invasion of our congregations by the new-meas- ure men, whereby peace has been destroyed, and faction and hate engendered. The ways and means employed by the new- measure men to establish a spiritual hierarchy in the church."#
The new Synod also declared its firm adherence to the Bible, the Heidelberg Catechism, all the doctrines, usages and symbols of the Reformed Church, and adopted the old consti- tution of the Ohio Synod. It furthermore declared that, "We are prepared at any moment to unite with the Ohio Synod again so soon as the causes of our complaints have been removed, the evils done away with, and the transgressors punished."
During the brief history of the "Herbruck Synod," twen- ty-five ministers were on its roll, but the greatest number at
* Herbruck Reminiscences.
# Minutes of the "Herbruck Synod" for 1846.
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any one time was only eighteen. Already at the first session the cause of foreign missions was unanimously recommended to the congregations, and in home missionary work consider- able activity was shown. "After several years the Synod also decided to publish a church-paper entitled, The Evangelist. A goodly number of subscriptions had already been gathered,"* and one number of the paper was published ; but the first num- ber also was the last. The paper was discontinued because the Synod had reached the decision to unite again with the Ohio Synod.
The sentiment in the Columbiana Classis and the Ohio Synod had been changing very rapidly. The fanaticism of the new-measurites had produced a reaction. In the old Colum- biana Classis grave conditions had developed. Several new ministers had been ordained after very insufficient preparation. A number of these drifted into theological vagaries. Views absolutely at variance with the teachings of the Reformed church were proclaimed. The sessions of the Classis seethed with theological debates. These experiences had a very sober- ing effect upon the others. The Classis began to legislate against, "all disorder and confusion" at a public service; as well as, "everything that destroys the solemnity of worship and the spirit of devotion." The Catechism and catechetical in- struction were emphasized again, and were introduced once more by some of those who had discarded it; and "the dis- orders and errors of fanaticism" were condemned.
At one time three of the ministers were suspended for heresy and refusal to obey the authority of the Church; one left the Reformed Church, several died, and finally only three ministers were left in the Classis.
The Ohio Synod also had changed from its position of 1844. The permission to organize English congregations with- in the bounds of existing German congregations was revoked ; the complacent ignoring of the complaints of the German min- isters against new-measure excesses gave place to stern reso-
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