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 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
6 Schaff's "Harmony of Reformed Confession," p. 15.
I2
The Reformed Church in America.
newal of the sacramental controversy. The conflict be- came most violent after the death of Melancthon, and can hardly be said to have subsided before the middle of the seventeenth century. During this period there was an extensive secession from the Lutheran to the Reformed Church and in this movement the Palatinate led the way. In 1559 the Elector Frederick III. formally accepted the Reformed confessions, though he always insisted that he had not renounced his allegiance to the Confession of Augsburg. Other princes followed his example, and so it happened that the Reformed Church became the leading ecclesiastical organization along the whole course of the Rhine, from its source to the ocean.7
After the Elector Frederick had entered the Reformed Church he determined to publish a confession of faith that would serve as a declaration of the doctrine which he had accepted. The work of composition he committed to two young men who thus became the joint authors of the Heidelberg Catechism. Caspar Olevianus (1535-1587) was a disciple of Calvin, and Zacharias Ursinus (1534- 1583) had been recognized by Melancthon as his most promising pupil. The catechism which they prepared was
7 The following are some of the German cities and provinces which con- nected themselves with the Reformed Church after the electoral Palatinate had led the way : Wied (1575), Zweitbrücken (1576), Nassau (1578), Bremen (1581), Witgenstein (1586), Anhalt (1597), Hanau (1596), Baden-Durlach (1599), Lippe (1600), Hesse-Cassel (1604). The elector of Brandenburg, from whom the present imperial family of Germany is descended, did not accept the Reformed faith until 1623. See Cuno's "Gedächtnissbuch reformierter Fürsten."
In many of these places a part of the population remained Lutheran ; and there were also many Catholics ; but there were isolated Reformed churches in parts of Germany besides those here enumerated. The Reformed element was greatly strengthened by the accession of French and Dutch refugees who came in great numbers. Dr. Good claims that "before the Thirty Years' War perhaps one-fourth of (Protestant?) Germany was Reformed."-" Origin of the Reformed Church in Germany," p. 469.
I3
The Heidelberg Catechism.
published in 1563, and became the most generally accepted of the Reformed symbols. "The Heidelberg Catechism," says Goebel, " may be regarded as the flower and fruit of the entire German and Swiss Reformation; it has Lu- theran sincerity, Melanctho- nian clearness, Zwinglian simplicity and Calvinistic SDS. MECCAQUE.SUDENT, FORMOSAE. QUERCUS. fire, all harmoniously blend- ed; and it has, therefore, become and remained the ... common confession of the REFORMATA JOS. German Reformed Church from the Palatinate to the VALDE. CIBER. RJDENT. ZEPICYRJ. Dasderfor PANA TV. AVT&M. SURGE. AQUILO. VENT. AUSTER .. PERFILA HORTUM METAL. Netherlands, including Brandenburg and Prussia. Whoever is not familiar with the Heidelberg Catechism does not know the German Reformed Church, as it was and still remains ; whoever is acquainted with all its par- РЕМ. МОЯГАСЕN: ticulars, its excellencies and imperfections, is alone able EARLY BOOK-PLATE. to appreciate the Christian spirit and Christian life of our Reformed Church in all its strength and weakness." The defense of the Heidelberg Catechism by the Elector Frederick at the Diet of Augs- burg, in 1564, is justly regarded as one of the most heroic scenes in the later history of the Reformation.
To write an account of the varied fortunes of the Re- formed Church in Germany is beyond our present purpose. It may, however, be mentioned that in early days the Church was greatly strengthened by the admission of minor
14
The Reformed Church in America.
bodies, some of which dated their origin from a period long antecedent to the Reformation, as well as by the reception of thousands of refugees from France, Holland, and even from England. As early as 1532 the Waldenses-an ancient body of mediæval origin-held a synod at An- grogna, at which they formally accepted the doctrines of the Reformed Church, and thus proposed to consummate the union of the two organizations ; but this action was not approved by an absent minority who in France and Italy
OLEVIANUS.
URSINUS.
maintained their ancient order. In the Palatinate they had been numerous but were absorbed by the Reformed Church during the Reformation." 8
The Hussites of Poland were also in 1627 " grafted upon the Reformed Church, and in the next decade grew to be one with it." 9
The gathering of isolated churches was begun by John à Lasco (1499-1560), who is called " the Reformer of Poland," though his influence in the organization of the
8 Goebel, Vol. I., p. 35, note.
9 De Schweinitz's " Moravian Manual "; also "History of the Unitas Frat- rum," p. 633.
15
John à Lasco.
churches extended from England to Bohemia. He was a Polish nobleman and had been appointed a bishop in the
Gomesà Lase mam
Roman Church, but renounced all earthly preferment and became a poor exile for the cause of what he conceived to be the truth. His life reads like a romance of chivalry,
16
The Reformed Church in America.
and certainly deserves more attention than it has generally received.10 It was to him that the organization of the ear- liest of the so-called Fremdengemeinden was mainly due. Among these were the Dutch and French Reformed Churches in Frankfort-on-the-Main.11 A few years later, in 1562, the Elector Frederick III. granted authority for the establishment of two churches of refugees-Dutch and French-in the town of Frankenthal, which soon became a great center for commerce and manufacture.12
This town was, however, burned by the French in 1689, and since that event it has never attained to its former prosperity. Similar congregations were founded in many places along the Rhine and even in Switzerland. The large Reformed Synods of Juliers, Cleves and Marck were chiefly founded by fugitives from Holland during the per- secutions of the Duke of Alva, though they afterwards be- came thoroughly German. It was in this region that the Reformed ideals of independent church-government and the " sanctified congregation " were most completely de- veloped.13
At a later date, especially after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, large numbers of Huguenots settled in Branden- burg in response to the invitation of Frederick William,
,
10 The authorities are mostly German and Polish and leave much to be de- sired. The Reformer wrote his name à Lasco, though the family name was Lasky. One of his brothers appears to have been surnamed "Jaroslav." It is evident that in those days surnames were far from settled .- "Johannes à Lasco," von Petrus Bartels, Elberfeld, 1860, p. 3.
11 The English congregation in the same city, of which the Scotch Reformer, John Knox, was for some time the pastor, returned to England in 1558 .- Goebel, I., p. 346.
12 " Pfälzisches Memorabile," XIV., p. 5.
13 Rauschenbusch, a Lutheran writer, says: "The Reformed prospered in the provinces of the Lower Rhine because they had a general organization and practiced the principles of self-government, while the Lutherans had no such organization and depended on princes who utterly neglected them."
17
The Great Elector.
" the Great Elector." The culture and skill of the French exiles became a blessing to the land in which they made their home.14
We have mentioned these particulars because they serve to show that the Reformed Church is derived from many sources, though in all its variations it manifests a common life. Sometimes it has been called "a threefold cord," deriving one of its strands from Zurich, another from Gen- eva, and the third from Heidelberg. Other writers have fancied they discerned a certain analogy between the Church and the river Rhine, on whose banks so many of its members formerly dwelt. "Springing from obscure sources in Switzerland, it derives its tributaries from France and Germany, while it flows onward to refresh the plains of Holland."
The golden days of the Reformed Church of Germany were of brief duration. In the Palatinate, immediately after the death of Frederick III., there was a reaction during which it lost some of the ground which it had gained. Then came "the wilderness of wars," which occupied the greater part of the seventeenth century and the earlier years of the eighteenth. During these strug- gles the Reformed Church was a great sufferer, because its chief seats were in the Rhine country where the con- flict raged most fiercely. Indeed, the Church was so greatly prostrated that it is rather surprising that, by the terms of the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, it was recog- nized as one of the established religions of Germany.
This recognition was mainly due to the personal influence of its most distinguished defenders, the Great Elector, Frederick William of Brandenburg, and the Landgravine,
14 See Zahm's "Einfluss der Reformirten Kirche auf Preussen's Grösse," 1871.
.
18
The Reformed Church in America.
Amelia Elizabeth, of Hesse.15 It did not, however, pre- vent the Jesuits from attempting to regain the Palatinate
(MERIAN 1645.)
. HEIDELBERGA
HEIDELBERG BEFORE ITS DEVASTATION BY THE FRENCH.
15 Cuno's "Gedächtnissbuch," p. 49.
19
The Palatinate.
for the Church of Rome. They were supported by the imperial government, and in regions where the people were too poor to maintain Protestant worship they often succeeded in gaining possession of the ancient churches. In 1685 the last Elector of the Reformed house of Sim- mern died, and the government of the Palatinate fell into the hands of the Roman Catholic house of Neuburg. This was a great blow to the Reformed Church, which still included the great majority of the people of the Pa- latinate. That the Protestants were oppressed was after- wards boldly denied by the new Elector, but the reverse might easily be proved.16
The presence of a common danger brought the churches of the Reformation in the Palatinate more closely together. By an electoral decree the Reformed and Lutherans were in many places required to worship in the same building, and they thus learned to know each other better. Many peculiarities of ceremonial gradually disappeared, and members of both churches conceived the idea that the dif- ferences which separated them were not insurmountable. " It was in the Palatinate," says Goebel, "that the way was opened for the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, which was instituted by Prussia in 1817, and has since extended over a great part of Germany." We might add that the Simultankirchen of the Palatinate were no doubt the prototypes of the Union churches with which we in America are so familiar.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century the Reformed Church, no less than the Lutheran, was greatly influenced by the religious movement known as Pietism.
16 The King of Prussia, the States-General of Holland, and the King of England (as Elector of Hanover) formally protested against the oppression of Protestants by the Elector of the Palatinate, and the King of Prussia even went so far as to institute reprisals .- Goebel II., 514.
20
The Reformed Church in America.
To describe this movement is beyond our purpose, and it may be enough to say that, so far as the Reformed Church is concerned, it took its rise in the great revival instituted by Jean de Labadie (1610-'74). The influence of Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705), often called " the father of Pietism," was also greatly felt in the Reformed Churches, though he was himself a Lutheran. In the Reformed Church the adherents of the Pietistic movement were gen- erally known as " die Feinen." Most of them remained attached to the Church, though some ran into various forms of mysticism, or hovered over the line which sepa- rated faith from fanaticism. It has been usual to call all these people Pietists, though it would be convenient to limit the term to those who remained attached to the churches (Lutheran and Reformed), while the sectarians might better be known as Mystics.
That Pietism in its best form became a source of life to the Reformed Church can hardly be doubted. Not to speak its earliest and most pronounced representatives- such as Tersteegen, Untereyck, and Lodenstein-great theologians like Coccejus, hymnologists like Joachim Neander, and preachers like Lampe, Menken, and the Krummachers were all of the pietistic type.
The Reformed Church of Germany has been to a great extent absorbed by the Evangelical or United Church, though the number that still holds to the ancient standards is not inconsiderable. There is also a " Reformirter Bund" which claims to lay special stress on principles which are supposed to be peculiarly Reformed. In Switzerland and Holland the church is still " by law estab- lished." Perhaps the most thoroughly organized Reformed Church of the continent is that of Hungary, which num- bers about two millions. Altogether it is estimated that
21
Reformed Emblems.
the Reformed Church throughout the world-not includ- ing the Presbyterians-has a membership of about ten millions.17
The Reformed Church has often been called "the church of the martyrs." According to Dr. Schaff, its losses by martyrdom in fifty years were greater than those of the primi- tive church in the first TENEBRAS three centuries. Of POST course, it had its mo- ments of triumph, and the achievements of Coligni, William of Orange, and the Great Ut ECCLE Elector will never be forgotten ; but during the A.D.MOLIX. GALLIA greater part of its history NOTSI GIES. nie Marie Brandt TALL WAS DOIS: LONS. Mathieu. it was an ecclesia pressa, and it was not in vain BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU CONSISTOIRE DE L'EGLISE that it was called "the FRANÇAISE QU REFUGE À BERLIN. church under the cross." On ancient seals and escutcheons appear the EX-LIBRIS OF THE CHURCH OF THE REFUGEES, BERLIN. chosen emblems of the Church; such as the burning bush, the lily among the thorns, the ship tossed by the winds, and the anchor turned heavenward. All these devices tell the same story-the story of a church that has suffered persecutions innumer- able, but has in all its dangers been marvelously preserved.
17 For a full account of the present status of the Reformed Church see Good's "Origin of the Reformed Church of Germany," p. 459. Also the author's "Historic Manual of the Reformed Church."
CHAPTER II.
AMERICAN PIONEERS.
French and Hollanders-Peter Minuit-Dutch Ministers-Swiss Linguists.
HE honor of preparing the way for the estab- lishment of a Reformed Church in America belongs to the French and Holland- ers. Calvin himself favored the expedition under Vil- legagnon which in 1556 attempted to found a Prot- estant settlement on the coast of Brazil ;18 and every stu- dent of American history is familiar with the mournful ARMS OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. story of Jean Ribault's Hu- guenot colony in South Carolina, which, in 1565, was exterminated by the Span- iards under Menendez.
The Hollanders, we know,
18 Stähelin's "Johannes Calvin," (II , p.) 234.
22
23
Peter Minuit.
founded New Amsterdam in 1614. Though they had no settled ministry until 1628, when the Rev. Jonas Mich- aelius arrived from the West Indies, there were probably " Ouderlings " and " Krankenbezoeckers " among them from the beginning ;19 so that it has been plausibly asserted that the Heidelberg Catechism was taught in America be- fore the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
That there were Germans among the early Dutch set- tlers has been fully recognized,20 and it has even been esti- mated that one-third of the Reformed Dutch Church in America, as originally constituted, was of German origin. These Germans, however, soon acquired the language of the majority, and made no attempt to organize separate churches. This involved no sacrifice, for it has been stated that " even to this day the peasants of Friesland and Westphalia regard Holland as more nearly related to them than high-Germany.21.
Peter Minuit deserves the foremost place among these German pioneers. He was the first governor of New Amsterdam, and subsequently conducted the Swedish Lutheran colony which, in 1638, settled on the western shore of Delaware Bay. That he was a native of the German city of Wesel, and that in early life he was a dea- con in one of the Reformed churches of his native city, are facts which are sufficiently attested.22 He seems to
19 Sebastian Jansen Kral and Jan Huyck came to America in 1626 to serve as Krankenbezoeckers. Tablets to their memory have been erected in the Middle Collegiate Church, New York.
20 Corwin's "Manual of the Reformed Church in America," p. I.
21 Löher's "Geschichte der Deutschen in Amerika," p. 28.
22 On the ground of his peculiar name-which has been written in many ways-it is supposed that he was of Walloon descent and that he was con- nected with the French Reformed Church at Wesel. The early records of that church are unfortunately lost, but the fact of his official position is confirmed by contemporary evidence. For the general subject see Acrelius,
24
The Reformed Church in America.
have been the first in North America to employ the policy of dealing fairly with the Indians which was accepted and developed by William Penn.23
That the Germans constituted an important element in the Reformed Dutch Church is further indicated by the number of its early ministers who were of German descent. Some of these were almost cosmopolitan, for they had travelled about until they had learned to preach in several languages. The Rev. Samuel Drisius, we are told, was born in London of German parents, educated in Germany, and could preach fluently in German, Dutch, English and French. From 1652-'73 he was a Dutch pastor in New Amsterdam, but also preached English, and once a month went to Staten Island to serve the Huguenots and Vaudois who were settled there.24
The number of ministers who could preach German and Dutch, but did not include French among their acomplish- ments, was of course much greater. Some German min- isters even became so thoroughly Dutch that they disguised their nationality by a change of name. Bernardus Free- man, who came to America in 1700, and became eminent for his labors among the Indians, was a native of West- phalia, and was in all probability originally named Freyman. Johnannes Casparus Fryenmoet, an eminent minister at a somewhat later period, was a native of Swit- zerland and was properly called Freyenmuth.
"History of New Sweden," Kapp's "History of Immigration," Broadhead's "History of New York," Dubbs' "Historic Manual," Cort's "Minuit Me- morial," Good's " Reformed Church in the United States." There are valu- able MSS. in Stockholm, which were in part copied by the late Joseph Mickly, and the subject has been at various times discussed in the Historical Maga- zine and the Penna. Magazine of History.
23 On his voyage homeward from America he visited the West Indian island
of St. Christopher to obtain a cargo, and there lost his life in a hurricane.
24 Corwin's "Manual," 3d ed., p. 246.
25
Swiss Linguists.
These examples may serve to illustrate a state of affairs which existed not only in New York but throughout the southern colonies. In the latter region very many of the early ministers were Swiss, who are supposed to be consti- tutionally great linguists. We know that many pastors preached German and French ; and where the nationalities were mixed, as they were in South Carolina and Georgia, this was an unavoidable necessity. In some place's the people spoke a patois which became more corrupt as their knowledge of English increased. Dr. Zubly was not the only Reformed minister in the far south who officiated regularly in German, English and French.
It is evident that such conditions would render it diffi- cult to write a minute history of this early period, even if the materials were accessible. It is true that we know very little about the early history of the church in the far south ; but the feeble gleams of light which are occasionally af- forded us reveal a state of affairs which is, to say the least, confusing. It is not unusual to find a German-Swiss min- ister coming to America under the auspices of the Church of England, serving for some time in a French field, and then-possibly after a period of disappearance-emerging once more into history as a member of a Presbyterian synod. The fact is that in those days the denominational spirit had not been developed, and that Reformed ministers, coming from the Fatherland, frequently identified them- selves with either of the national branches of their church as location or other conditions seemed to require.
CHAPTER III.
THE IMMIGRANTS.
Palatines-The Swiss-Michel and Graffenried-John Peter Purry-The Rev. Joseph Bugnion-Germans in Pennsylvania-The Huguenots.
T may perhaps be taken for granted that in every early German settlement in America there were some members of the Reformed Church. That they represented different nationalities and varied greatly in ecclesiastical us- ARMS OF THE PALATINATE. ages has already been in- timated. To attempt a de- scription of their peculiar characteristics is, therefore, almost a hopeless task. The English called all the Germans " Pal- atines," because many came from the Lower Palatinate, though it may perhaps be doubted whether the majority of the early settlers were actually natives of that province. Indeed, it does not appear that the Germans ever used the word " Palatine " among themselves except in its spe-
(26)
-
27
Switzerland.
cial application. As a general term it came to convey a trace of contempt, and it was not pleasant to be called " Pfälzer," unless you were actually a native of the Pfalz.25
In enumerating the constituent elements of the Reformed Church in the United States, it may be interesting-with- out attempting to settle questions concerning priority or rela- tive importance-to refer at some length to several of the nationalities which the term " Palatine " was made to in- clude.
I. THE SWISS .- That Switzerland contributed its full quota to the settlement of America is a fact which historians are just beginning to recognize. That the Swiss failed to leave deeper traces on the history of the country is per- haps mainly due to their differences in language and cus- toms. Those who came from the French cantons were naturally supposed to be Frenchmen, while those who spoke German were soon lost in the German multitude.
The main reasons for the Swiss migrations of the eighteenth century appear to be sufficiently plain. It is true that Antistes Solomon Hess, in his writings on the subject, has sought to minimize the reasons, declaring the migratory movement to have been the result of an inexplic- able " craze "; but it seems evident that Switzerland was so greatly overcrowded that emigration had become a ne- cessity. For ages that little country had been the refuge
25 For the English to use the term "Palatines " was natural enough. The marriage of Princess Elizabeth to the'Elector of the Palatinate had familiarized them with the use of the word, and with intense interest they had followed the career of the unfortunate "Winter Queen." The subsequent War of the Palatinate-and especially the terrible invasion of 1689-had revived this in- terest ; and when the Great Migration occurred, about 1709, it was but natural to call all the German emigrants "Palatines." In the term itself there was nothing disrespectful, but it is never pleasant to ignore your proper nation- ality. Germans highly appreciate the historic splendor of Holland, but no German likes to be called a Dutchman.
28
The Reformed Church in America.
of religious and political fugitives, who had been kindly received, though they added considerably to the popu- lation. Especially after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes many Huguenots had come to Switzerland, and by their artistic manufactures had deprived the less skillful natives of their means of sup- port. In some cantons, it is true, religious separatists were harshly treated, and this no doubt led to their emigra- tion; but this cannot have affected the Reformed people who belonged to the estab- lished church. Swiss writers Mappen von Bern. acknowledge that the people had become restless and dis- satisfied, and it is evident that it had become necessary to open a channel to relieve the country of its surplus population.
As early as 1663 Peter Fabian, of Berne, had visited the Carolinas, in America, but it does not appear that he founded a settlement. He was, however, the author of the official report of the English expedition, which he accom- panied.26 In the early history of the Carolinas the names of Franz Ludwig Michel and Christopher Graffenried fre- quently appear. Michel is said to have visited America twice, in 1701 and 1703; but Graffenried, who became Michel's partner and associate, was the real founder of the Swiss Colony in North Carolina. He led the company which in 1710 founded New Berne; and under Locke's Constitution he bore the title of Landgrave of Carolina.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.