USA > Pennsylvania > The Reformed Church in Pennsylvania : part IX of A narrative and critical history, prepared at the request of the Pennsylvania-German Society > Part 13
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" I. He did not report to Coetus, though two meetings were held. During this period he lived as a layman and conducted a small business.
" 2. Afterwards he got a notion to preach again, and took a congregation belonging to the Tulpehocken charge with- out asking permission.
" 3. He has slandered Coetus, having said, in his usual excited manner, in the presence of two members : 'Die Prediger in Coetus sind alle Saubrüder und Lotterbu-
163 See articles by Dr. S. P. Heilman and J. H. Redsecker, Ph.M.
185
Stoy's Cures.
ben.' Subsequently he excepted two or three whom, he said, he still respected. We can endure this, for he is a man of such character that we do not care whether he praises or blames us."
As late as 1773 the Coetus said in its official letter to Holland : "Stoy cannot be received. Last year he pub- lished a satirical article against Coetus, and this year he sent us a threatening circular." Evidently he was no longer suited for membership in an ecclesiastical body.16ª
In the meantime, however, Stoy had become celebrated as a physician. His cure for hydrophobia-which was equally applicable to the bite of wild animals-was for many years accepted as a specific. The recipe has been frequently published ; and though the ingredients are, we believe, generally regarded by physicians as entirely inert, the remedy is still occasionally applied. Its early celebrity is sufficiently attested by the following extract from the account books of General Washington :
" October 18, 1797. Gave my servant, Christopher, to bear his expenses to a person at Lebanon in Pennsyl- vania celebrated for curing persons bit by wild animals, $25.00." "Stoy's Drops" are also well remembered. They are described as beneficial in nervous disorders.
That Stoy was a progressive physician is not to be doubted. He was active in the introduction of inoculation for smallpox, and defended his course with word and pen in the face of much popular prejudice. In 1784 he was
164 Stoy appears to have quarreled with many people. Dr. Egle published in 1883 two of his letters, addressed to Judge Yeates, in one of which, dated Lebanon, Dec. 23, 1775, he formally accused Gen. John Philip De Haas of be- ing a Tory. As De Haas was soon afterwards commissioned by Congress a General in the Revolutionary army, there is some ground for Dr. Egle's sug- gestion that the trouble was with Stoy and not with De Haas .- Egle's " Notes and Queries," I., p. 217.
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elected a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. A long letter to Gen. Joseph Reed on " The Present Mode of Taxation " was published by him in 1779. In it he ad- vocated a single tax on land. Though the general idea appears strangely modern, some of its details were evi- dently impracticable. The original manuscript is among the Harbaugh papers in Lancaster. Stoy died in Leb- anon, September II, 1801, and was buried at the Host church.
The condition of the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania
· MA
ROIT
ARMS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
was in 1764 very discouraging. In the minutes of Coetus for that year we find the following :
" Lancaster, Readingtown, Yorktown, Tulpehocken, Whitehall, Easton-all important places-pray for pastors. Help is more necessary now than it was fifteen years ago; or, at least, it is just as necessary, for there were not so many ' lopers' then as now, and a young generation has grown up without proper training. When congregations are advised to forward traveling expenses for ministers
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Vacant Churches.
from Europe they call to mind the cases of Bartholomaeus and Hochreutiner. The people are suspicious and suggest misappropriation of funds. We beg for five or six preach- ers from the Palatinate or Duisburg. If this cannot be done it might be better to wind up the Coetus."
Possibly the darkness was not as profound as it appeared ; for even before these words were written several strong men had come to the rescue, to be followed soon after- wards by others who exerted an important influence in the development of the church. In this series one or two must, however, be included who failed to attain to this high ideal. John George Alsentz, who arrived in America in 1757, was pastor in Germantown and neighboring churches. He was a thoroughly educated man, as can be · seen from a volume of his manuscripts, written while he was a student at Heidelberg, and now preserved in Lan- caster. In 1761-62 he visited Europe, but on his return to America resumed his pastorate at Germantown, where he labored until his death, which occurred October 28, 1767. He took a prominent part in the affairs of the church, and manifested a true missionary spirit. In 1765 he reported that, besides attending to his charge he had, during the year, visited the congregations, at Providence, Vincent, Reading, York, Lebanon, Swatara, Tulpehocken, Pequea, Tohickon, Oley, and also Amwell and Bethlehem, in New Jersey.
Casper Michael Stapel, doctor of philosophy and medi- cine, was a meteor that was soon extinguished. Dr. Good informs us that he had been a Lutheran minister in Meck- lenburg, but had subsequently joined the Reformed Church and studied at Herborn. When he was sent to America, in 1761, his wife refused to accompany him, and this fact may have been the cause of much of his subsequent
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trouble. The congregation at Amwell, N. J., had called him before he sailed, and on his arrival he stirred it up to some purpose. He was an impressive preacher, and had a sufficiently high opinion of himself. In 1763 he was chosen President of Coetus, and on the title page of an edition of Lampe's Wahrheitsmilch, published by him, he was careful to mention the fact. He prepared a church constitution containing novelties of which the Fathers dis- approved, and induced his members to sign appeals in his behalf to the church in Europe to secure a divorce for him from his " stubborn wife " who would not come to America. He began to practice medicine and was remarkably suc- cessful, but broke down morally and died in March, 1766, leaving his charge almost ruined.
In 1762 Caspar Diedrich Weyberg 165 arrived in America, and two years later (1764) he was followed by John Wil- liam Hendel.166 These two men were pillars of strength until the end of their lives. Both were fine preachers, and devoted much attention to the cause of education. When they were respectively pastors in Philadelphia and Lancas- ter, these churches assumed in a certain sense a metro- politan character, and their pastors by common consent became the leaders of the church. For their activity in
165 Caspar Dietrich Weyberg was a native of Marck and studied at Duis- burg. He came to this country as an ordained minister ; was pastor at Easton, Pa., in 1763, and then removed to Philadelphia, serving that congregation from 1763 to 1790. During the Revolution he was imprisoned for his devotion to the patriot cause. His son, the Rev. Samuel D. Weyberg, foolishly changed his name to Whybark, under which name he was known in the South and West. The latter is said to have preached the first Protestant sermon west of the Mississippi River, in 1803, in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
166 John William Hendel was a native of Durckheim in the Palatinate. He was sent to America by the Synod of Holland, and was successively pastor of the following charges : Lancaster, 1765-69 ; Tulpehocken, 1769-82 ; Lancaster (second time), 1782-94 ; Philadelphia, 1794-98. He died of yellow fever, Sept. 29, 1798. His only son, the Rev. William Hendel, Jr., D.D., was an eminent man of a later period.
189
John Daniel Gros.
the founding of Franklin College in 1787, Princeton con- ferred upon both of them the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, at the same time when the same honor was conferred upon Helmuth and H. E. Mühlenberg.
John Daniel Gros (or Gross) was another strong man who came to this country in 1764, though not under the auspices of the synods of Holland. He was born in 1737 in the county of Zweibrücken, probably in the village of Weben- heim. He had intended to be regularly commissioned by the deputies, but when he arrived in Holland he found the ship ready to sail and so came away without his papers. The Coetus, however, strained a point and immediately received him. He informs us in the records of the Union church (Neffsville, Lehigh County) that " on the 20th of Decem- ber he was called by the Reformed Coetus to be teacher and shepherd of a charge consisting of four congregations : Allentown, and others in Whitehall Township, commonly known as Egypt, Schlosser's, and at the Jordan." Here the Allentown church is spoken of as already existing ; but it was hardly more than a preaching point, and Gros is very properly regarded as the founder of the Reformed Church in that city.
It is evident, both from tradition and from the records, that Gros was not very well satisfied with his first charge. In the minutes for 1769 we read: "Gros, hitherto in Whitehall, has received a call from Saucon and Spring- field, and is inclined to accept it. He complains of his house that it is in bad condition, and there is no good water there. The latter is an important matter for a min- ister in this country who has only water to drink, espe- cially in hot summer days, when his health may easily be ruined by drinking unwholesome water."
Gros had supplied Saucon and Springfield at an earlier
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date. This fact is incidentally mentioned in the following interesting item from the minutes of 1768: "Two elders appeared from Lower Saucon and Springfield, two large congregations which had been spoiled by a Landläufer, but have now been brought into fairly good condition by the labors of Dominies Henop, Pomp, Faber, Gobrecht and Gros. They requested admission to Coetus and the service of a regular pastor. The request was granted and they were recommended to the Fathers in Holland." In 1772 Dr. Gros removed to New York and was until 1783 pastor at Kingston. From 1783 to 1795 he was pastor of the German Reformed church of the city of New York, and during most of this time he also held a professorship in Columbia College. In 1795 he published " Natural Principles of Rectitude," an important treatise on moral philosophy. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was con- ferred upon him in 1789 by Columbia College. Though in his later years he rarely attended Coetus, on account of the difficulties of the journey, he was very highly regarded, and several young men were sent to him to receive a class- ical education. He died at Canajoharie, May 25, 1812.
Nicholas Pomp came to America in 1765. He was ac- companied across the sea by three other ministers, Fred- erick L. Henop,167 John Jacob Zufall and Frederick Julius Berger. Henop was a good man, but Zufall and Berger were no credit to the Church nor to themselves. Both were finally deposed.
Nicholas Pomp was an earnest man and was regarded as an excellent preacher. According to an imperfect man- uscript autobiography, in possession of the writer, he was
167 F. L. Henop was born in Dillenburg and educated in Heidelberg. In writing in the album of a friend in Amsterdam, Feb. 3, 1765, he styles him- self "in Americam vocatus." Pastor at Easton, 1765-70; Frederick, Md., 1770-84. Accepted a call to Reading, Pa., but died suddenly.
19I
Nicholas Pomp.
born at Manbüchel in Zweibrücken, January 20, 1734, and was the son of Peter Pomp and his wife Elisa. In his childhood he was almost constantly ill, but received a fair primary education, and learned the Heidelberg Cate- chism by heart. He was a devout child, and early con- ceived the idea of becoming a minister; but his parents did not believe him sufficiently vigorous, and he learned the trade of a tailor. He continues : " As constant sit- ting was prejudicial to my health my parents finally per- mitted me to devote myself to study, and with great de- light I began the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In my 24th year I went to the University of Marburg, in Hesse, to study theology." (Here the manuscript is de- fective.) .
" I received information from Holland that I might be . promoted to the ministry for service in America. As I was willing to undertake the work I was ordained in Cassel, and received an excellent testimonial. The Synod examined me, and as I was pronounced worthy I received 535 guilders for traveling expenses and a recommendation to the congregations in America. I was fifteen weeks on the ocean, between Holland and Philadelphia, arriving at the latter place on the 5th of December, 1765.
" I began at once to serve the congregations at Falkner Swamp and Vincent. After I had been there seven years I married Elizabeth Dotterer,168 a widow with six children and no property, but we lived very happily together. I was not rich, but we had as much as we needed day by day. Together we had but one child, a son whom I named Thomas. After he was grown up I myself edu- cated him for the ministry as well as I could. He became
168 She was a daughter of Henry Antes, and the widow of Philip Dot- terer.
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The Reformed Church in America.
a minister, and has been a great comfort to myself and his mother.169
" After I had served this charge for 18 years I accepted a call to Baltimore, in 1783. My resignation was not will- ingly accepted, and I went away with a heavy heart. In Baltimore I could remain only six years, though I did my best to build up the church. The congregation was so greatly divided that I could not remain longer, for the building of the new church had caused two parties, and I was compelled to take sides in the conflict." (The rest of the manuscript is wanting.)
From 1790 to about 1800 Mr. Pomp was pastor at Indianfield and Tohickon, and subsequently lived with his son in Easton. Harbaugh relates that he supplied several congregations in the neighborhood, and that on one occa- sion he fell from his horse and sustained an injury which rendered it impossible for him afterwards to ride, either on a horse or in a carriage. The people to whom he had preached, however, were so anxious to hear him that they made arrangements to have him carried by four men, on a litter, a distance of from twelve to fifteen miles. This was done several times.170
It was while he was pastor at Falkner Swamp that Mr. Pomp published a volume by which he is best remem- bered.171 It was written to refute Paul Siegvolck's book,
169 Thomas Pomp, born at Skippack, February 4, 1773; died at Easton, Pa., April 22, 1852. He served the church at Easton for 56 years, and also preached at various times at Plainfield, Dryland, Lower Saucon, Upper Mount Bethel, and other churches. He was a man of admirable character and was very highly esteemed.
170 " Lives of the Fathers, " II., 136.
171 " Kurzgefasste Prüfungen der Lehre des Ewigen Evangeliums, Womit deutlich gezeiget wird, dass man die Wiederbringung aller Dinge in der Heiligen Schrift vergeblich suchet. Von N. Pomp, V. D. M." Philadelphia, Henrich Miller, 1774.
193
Pomp's Book.
" Das Ewige Evangelium," which had been extensively circulated by the Universalists of Oley. Considering the circumstances under which it was written, Mr. Pomp's reply was a very creditable publication. He was a man
Rurggefaßte Prüfungen
der Lebre
des
Ewigen Evangeliums:
&Somit
Deutlich gegeiget wird,
Das man die Wiecerbringung aller Dinge in Der heiligen Schrift. vergeblich fuchet. Huf Begehren vieler Freunde zum Drud befördert
von R. Pomp, V. D. M.
Philadelpia, Bebrudt ben Benrich miller, 1774.
of decided talent and his personal excellence was fully ap- preciated. He died at Easton, Pa., Sept. 1, 1819.
John Theobald Faber was another eminent man of this early period. He was a native of Zozenheim in the Palat- inate and studied at Heidelberg. When he came to America in 1766 he was accompanied by John George Witmer and probably by Charles Lange. Of these three
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The Reformed Church in America.
men Faber was the only one whose ministry was thoroughly successful.172 He was twice pastor at New Goshenhoppen -the intervening years being occupied by brief pastorates in Lancaster and Indianfield. He was stricken by fatal illness in his pulpit, Nov. 2, 1788, dying soon after he felt the stroke. It is a remarkable fact that nearly 45 years later his son and successor, John Theobald Faber, Junior, fell dead while preaching in the same pulpit.
John George Witner (1735-1779) appears to have been an unfortunate man. He was pastor at Muddy Creek for some years, but he was not well supported and " suffered from chronic melancholy." In 1772 he became pastor of a charge in what is now Lehigh County, consisting of the
172 The original of the following letter, addressed by Alsentz to Faber, is in possession of the author :
GERMANTOWN, Sept. 19, 1766.
Reverend and honored Sir !
My heart is full of thanksgiving to our faithful father who has mercifully protected you with the pinions of His grace, because of your happy arrival in our American vineyard. My soul rejoices, and I congratulate myself on ac- count of the assistance which you bring us, and of which we sorely stand in need.
Ihave been informed that you preached yesterday in Philadelphia, and that you expect to visit and preach for me next Sunday. I have therefore already written to Bro. Weyberg, requesting him to inform you, that I have announced the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and that it might therefore be well to select a subject suitable to the occasion ; fearing, however, that the letter may have miscarried, I venture to write directly to yourself.
Will you please inform me whether you prefer to preach in the morning or in the afternoon, so that I can make my arrangements accordingly ? I am able to say in advance that we shall have the largest audience in the morning, as many of the members reside at a great distance from the church ; and as a stranger you would, in my opinion, find it most agreeable to preach at that service.
I also beg you to inform me whether you belong to the Faber family of Zozenheim. Also, what is the name of the gentleman who accompanies you ? I remain, with great respect,
Your faithful Brother,
JOHN GEORGE ALSENTZ.
Plura Coram. I am very unwell, and hope you will therefore excuse the brevity of this letter.
195
Dalliker and Bucher.
congregations at Upper Milford, Saltzburg, and Chestnut Hill, and here he seems to have labored successfully.
Frederick Dalliker (1738-1799) was a native of Zurich. He came to this country as an ordained minister in 1768 ; preached in New Jersey, and became in 1782 Nicholas Pomp's successor in Falkner Swamp. There he was very popular and successful. An old man who personally re- membered him described him to the writer, many years ago as a little, good-humored, red-faced man, with a shock of white hair. As we have already remarked, several ministers were admitted to Coetus who had not been sent by the authorities in Holland. John Conrad Bucher was a very interesting personage. He was born at Schaff- hausen, in Switzerland, June 13, 1730, and died at Leb- anon, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1780. Thoroughly edu- cated for the ministry at Marburg, Basel, and other universities, he had, for reasons which we cannot now de- termine, entered the military service of Holland. Subse- quently he came to America as an officer in the British colonial service, and distinguished himself in the French and Indian war, and rose to the rank of captain. Having been stationed at Carlisle the religious necessities of the people appealed to his sympathy and he began to preach, at least as early as 1763. In 1765 he resigned his com- mission and devoted himself exclusively to the work of the ministry. He was the founder of the Reformed Church in Carlisle. In 1766 the Coetus requested permission to or- dain him. The minutes say: " His coming to Carlisle and several other congregations was providential. The charge is too poor to send him to Holland for ordination- what shall we do?" That the Coetus ordained him, with or without permission, is not to be doubted, but the exact date is uncertain.
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The Reformed Church in America.
In 1768 two calls to Bucher were presented to the Coe- tus. The one was from Lebanon, Quitopahilla, Heidel- berg, White Oak and Rapho ; 173 the other was from Read- ing. The decision was left to his own judgment, and it is known that he went to Lebanon, which was afterwards the main center of his activity. He was the founder of many churches, and his memory is held in affectionate remem- brance.
John Christopher Gobrecht was another minister who was ordained by Coetus without the consent of the Synods of Holland. He was born at Angerstein, Germany, Oc- tober II, 1733, and died at Hanover, York County, Pa., November 6, 1815. In his youth he learned the trade of a weaver, but was in no sense illiterate. After his arrival in this county, in 1753, he was instructed in theology by Alsentz. In 1766 the Coetus requested the privilege of ordaining him, representing him as " a man well qualified for the ministry who has been called to the pastorate of a congregation that had been almost ruined by a Land- läufer." If Harbaugh is correct in fixing the date of his ordination at September 28, 1766, they did not wait for a reply. He was successively pastor at Tohickon, Muddy Creek, and Hanover; and in the last-mentioned place he spent the concluding 27 years of his minis- try. His influence in Coetus was great; and in his person and character there was something patriarchal which commanded universal respect.174 One of his sons, the Rev. John Gobrecht, was for more than thirty years pastor of the Allentown charge. Another son was chief
173 A small congregation in Rapho Township, Lancaster County, popularly known as Gantz's church, now extinct.
174 The writer is in possession of Gobrecht's copy of D'Outrein's "Gülden Kleinod der Lehre der Wahrheit," an extensive commentary on the Heidel- berg Catechism which was his constant vade mecum.
-
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Ordination.
coiner of the U. S. mint, and designed the beautiful pattern-pieces which are known by numismatists as "Go- brecht dollars."
The Reverend Frederick Faehring (1736-1779) is the only other minister whom we shall mention in this connec- tion as having been ordained by Coetus before 1770. He studied at Princeton, and was afterwards instructed by Alsentz, Weyberg and Pomp. The minutes of Coetus for 1769 contain the following rather laconic statement : "Faehring has been examined and ordained pastor of Germantown, Witpen and Worcester. We are afraid the Fathers will not approve, but it was a necessary act." Faehring afterwards became pastor of the German Re- formed church of the city of New York, and also served several charges in the Reformed Dutch Church.
The refusal of the authorities in Holland to permit the American ministers to confer the rite of ordination was a source of constant disagreement and finally led to separa- tion. In 1765 the Coetus formally requested this privi- lege. " Why should we not ordain?" they inquired. " The Presbyterians do it and their church flourishes." The Hollanders were, however, unwilling to depart from their usual colonial policy ; and it is almost comical to ob- serve how, on a number of occasions, the Coetus per- formed the rite on its own responsibility and afterwards profoundly begged pardon of the Fathers in Holland.
A constant source of friction was the division of the Holland stipend. It came irregularly and gradually de- creased in amount, but such as it was it had to be ap- portioned. The Coetus requested the Fathers to designate the individual recipients of their bounty, but this was not generally done. It had therefore to be divided by a com- mittee, and in a small ecclesiastical body this frequently
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The Reformed Church in America.
led to dissatisfaction. It is evident, however, that there was an earnest effort to use the charities in accordance with the best interests of the Church. The following para- graph from Harbaugh's "Life of Schlatter "-though it might now be corrected and supplemented-may serve to give a general idea of the extent of these benefactions :
"The first distribution on record is in 1755. The amount distributed in that year was £418, 15s., 6d., Penn- sylvania currency. The amount varied very little from this up to the year 1761 or 1762. In 1757 it was £357, 2s., Iod .- in 1758, £385, 14S .- 1759, £395, 14S., 7d. Soon after 1760 the amount seems to grow gradually less ; no doubt because the congregations increased, and many of them gradually became self-supporting. In 1770 it was £85, 14s., 3d .- in 1773, £46, 6s .- in 1778, it was 450 guilders. The last gift we find acknowledged is 100 guilders, for the use of the congregation in Baltimore in 175 יי .:
The following lists-also taken from Harbaugh-show how the stipend was distributed in early days :
1755.
MINISTERS.
CHARGES. AMOUNT RECEIVED. £. s. D.
Rev. Weiss
Goshenhoppen
35 15 O
" Rieger Schaeffer's church 15 00 0
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