USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > The history of the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, 1837-1909 > Part 6
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The Council now made earnest efforts to look else- where for a pastor. Several ministers suggested by members of the congregation were invited to supply the pulpit, but without impressing the congregation
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in favor of extending a call. There is a record of April 24, that Mr. Weyman was delegated "to call on the Rev. C. W. Schaeffer of Germantown to ascer- tain whether he would be willing to take charge of the congregation."
Mr. Lane, however, had not entirely given up hope of securing Mr. Krauth. He maintained a constant correspondence with him, reporting the conditions in the shepherdless congregation and urging a re- consideration of the decision.
August 28, a letter from Mr. Krauth to Mr. Lane told of his final yielding.
" If now there is no change whatever in the views of your people, if they cannot unite upon some other name, I think that God has made it clear to me that it will be my duty to accept a renewed and unanimous call. But if there is any change, if you can unite upon anyone else, I beg of you to do so. . Your people ought to know that my habits are those of a student; that, though I shall, in the fear of God, if I come, try to do all the duties that can reasonably be required of a pastor, I shall not be able to satisfy un- reasonable demands. If I am to be tested by Brother Passa- vant's standard of outdoor and missionary activity, I shall be found wanting. Few men will bear comparison with him, and of those few I am not one."
Mr. Lane reported this letter Sept. 1 and a renewed call was extended to Mr. Krauth, which he promptly accepted. He arrived in Pittsburgh early in Novem- ber, and was installed as pastor of the Church by the Rev. Dr. Sprecher, of Springfield, Ohio.
The records of these years are disappointing and but little of interest can be gathered from them.
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September 10, the death of Henry Graff was an- nounced and appropriate resolutions were passed.
April 7, 1856, Mr. George Alexander was selected as leader of the choir. Permission was granted for the use of a melodeon and thanks were tendered the gentlemen who supplied it.
June 2, Mr. Rahm reported for the committee on Church debt that $6,900.00 had been collected, leaving a deficiency of $600.00. The members of the Council pledged themselves for various amounts as follows : Rev. C. P. Krauth, $125.00; Edward Rahm, $100.00; Mathew Graff, $100.00; George Weyman, $50.00; George Hubley, $50.00; Andrew Getty, $50.00; John Brown, $50.00; Thomas H. Lane, $50.00; Thomas Philips, $25.00; Total, $600.00.
Mr. Krauth received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Pennsylvania College during this year and from this time we refer to him as Dr. Krauth.
November 10, the following is recorded :
" WHEREAS, a portion of the subscriptions to pay the Church debt has been embraced in promissory notes, the request is made of Mr. Weyman to release the docket; and to protect him in so doing,
" Resolved, That the Church Council will guarantee the payment of interest upon same notes until their maturity and that Dr. Shoenberger's subscription be included in this obligation."
This subscription was afterwards paid by the Shoenberger estate.
About this time Mr. Lane was elected treasurer of the congregation, and April 13, 1857, he was chosen assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. For
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many years the Sunday School had devoted a great deal of attention to its Library. In June, 1857, it was reorganized and 390 new books were purchased at a cost of $102.08. The needs of the Library and the cause of Missions occupy a large part of the Sunday School records for many years.
An interesting item of the time is the appointment of a committee "to confer with neighboring congre- gations in order to make a concerted effort to prevent the disturbance occasioned by running the omnibuses past the churches upon Sabbath." The committee later reported success.
July 8, 1858, the young men in the congregation reported that they had collected a sum of money to be expended in repairing and improving the church and they were given permission to carry out their design.
The General Synod held its nineteenth convention in the church beginning May 19, 1859. At this con- vention the Melanchthon Synod was admitted.
The minutes of the Council for many years give ample evidence that membership in the congregation was regarded as a most serious responsibility. Many who became careless were admonished for neglect of their church privileges and some were disciplined. Frequent aid was extended to the needy. Another remarkable feature of the minutes of the Council and of the Sunday School for many years in the early history of the congregation is the frequent appear- ance among the business items of petitions for Divine blessing upon the work.
Dr. Krauth's ministry was not only most accept- able, but very successful. The pulpits of the leading
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denominations in the city at this time were filled by able men. Dr. Spaeth records that :
" Dr. Paxton, afterwards in Princeton, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church ; Dr. Howard, of the Second; and Dr. Riddle, of the Third; Rev. Alfred Cookman became pastor of Christ's Methodist Church; Dr. Lyman, afterward Bishop of North Carolina, was rector of Trinity Episcopal Church- all men of influence and ability. In the Presbyterian Sem- inary, Dr. Jacobus, Dr. Plummer, and Professor Wilson were strong in the pulpit, and preached frequently in the differ- ent churches of the city."
Dr. Krauth was in the prime of physical and in- tellectual life when he came to Pittsburgh, and his great gifts speedily won recognition. He heartily identified himself with his people and confined his labors to their welfare. Although as a speaker he was equal to any demand, he never preached without careful preparation. He used an outline in the pulpit but his delivery was untrammeled and forcible. He was probably at his best as a preacher and speaker while in Pittsburgh, and the influence of his preach- ing and his personality was most timely and powerful. His preaching was positive, and he advanced the cause of pure Lutheranism, without attacking any special abuses and without exciting any special op- position. He thus accomplished much in the four years of his ministry in strengthening the lines of the conservative forces for the struggle which was immi- nent in the congregation and the Synod between his- toric Lutheranism and radicalism.
While exceedingly versatile, popular, and able as a preacher, delightful in the home, beloved of chil- dren, he was pre-eminently the student and the
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scholar. His library, now permanently placed in the magnificent Krauth Memorial Library building erected as a memorial to him on the grounds of the Theological Seminary at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, was even then quite large and constantly growing.
He was a frequent contributor to the Evangelical Review, of Gettysburg, the organ of the conservative party, and to the columns of Mr. Passavant's paper, The Missionary, contributing greatly to the success of this venture. Many of his early articles here in defense of the Augsburg Confession and of historic Lutheranism were later reprinted in The Lutheran or in pamphlet form, and their influence in this critical period cannot be overestimated. Various sermons and addresses were, usually upon special request, printed, among them two "Thanksgiving Discourses" and "Three Essays for the Season," under the title "Poverty." He here completed his translation of the seventh edition of "Tholuck's Commentary on the Gospel of St. John," which was published in 1859, and which ranks among his larger efforts.
The inspiration for his most important literary work, "The Conservative Reformation and Its Theol- ogy," was furnished by a dear friend in the First Church and its publication years later was made possible by the same friend and one other in Pitts- burgh. In 1855, Dr. S. S. Schmucker published the "Definite Platform," as an "American Recension of the Augsburg Confession," in which the Confession was charged with five specific errors (among them Baptismal Regeneration and the Real Presence), and radical changes were proposed in no less than twelve of the twenty-one doctrinal articles. This same
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author's "Popular Theology" had exerted a wide in- fluence in propagating his un-Lutheran views and in strengthening opposition to the confessional party in the Church. Mr. Thomas H. Lane suggested to Dr. Krauth, during his Pittsburgh pastorate, that he prepare a book along similar outlines to offset the destructive influence of the "Popular Theology." Dr. Krauth was favorably impressed, and Mr. Lane de- lighted to speak of a visit to Philadelphia with Dr. Krauth, when they together selected a book in Lip- pincott's bookstore which in size and mechanical appearance might serve as a model for the proposed defense of true Lutheranism.
"The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology" was not actually published until 1871, but much of the material incorporated in it had previously appeared in various doctrinal and historical articles in the Evangelical Review and in the Lutheran and Mission- ary. At the time of its publication Dr. Krauth was Norton Professor of Dogmatic Theology in the Sem- inary at Philadelphia, but the expense of publication was borne by two devoted Pittsburgh friends, Mr. Thomas H. Lane and Mr. George Black.
Dr. Krauth's conspicuous ability naturally invited appeals from other fields. In 1858 an earnest effort was made to have him consider a call to succeed the Rev. Dr. Philip Mayer as pastor of St. John's Eng- lish Church, Philadelphia. An address, signed by thirty-two of the most prominent members of the First Church, assured him of "the perils to which your withdrawal would subject us," and begged him to remain. He promptly declined the proposition.
In July of 1859, he received a call from St. Mark's
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Church, Philadelphia. The Council of the First Church, appreciating Dr. Krauth's concern for his wife's health and his desire to secure treatment for her in the East, unanimously resolved to grant him as much time as he might wish to be with his family during the coming year, and promised, if he would remain, "to secure the services of a young minister to labor for us in his absence, and when the pastor is here, to serve in connection the Birmingham con- gregation."
The decision was finally made in favor of Philadel- phia, though the force of the struggle appears in the following letter to his father, dated August 23, 1859.
" You will judge how hard and close the conflict in my mind has been, when, after the letter which I mailed this after- noon, I write that letters since received from Philadelphia have led me to a final decision, and that I have determined to go and will write to that effect this week. My Council hold out inducements to me to stay of the most generous kind, so noble and self-sacrificing that it would be ungenerous in me to accept them. The will of the Lord be done. Pray for me. I have been very near to strong crying and tears in the final struggle of this afternoon, but my mind is calm now."
September 12, the Council received and reluctantly accepted his resignation, which read as follows:
" DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN :
" Into your hands I resign the commission which four years ago was given me through you by the congregation you represent-a commission to minister to them at the altar of our common God in the Gospel of His Son.
" It is with regrets too deep to find a natural expression in words I now dissolve those holy ties under the guidance, as
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I humbly trust, of Him in whose Providence they were then formed. For all that you have done, for all that you have been to me, accept my poor thanks. No cloud has dimmed our intercourse. You have shown yourselves only too good, too forbearing. May the Father of all mercies bless you and the dear people over whose interests you watch. These lines mark indeed my sundering from them, but in that love which I shall cherish for them till the heart, to whose chief treasure it belongs, beats no more, in the grateful remem- brance of their kindness, in the memory of all that is tender and hallowing in the relation in which we have stood, in the privilege of praying for them and of begging that I may not be forgotten in their supplications, and in the prospect of that meeting which is to follow the partings of this life,-I shall feel that they have not ceased, and can never wholly cease, to be mine.
" Believe me, dear Brethren in Christ Jesus,
Ever yours, CHARLES P. KRAUTH."
The loss of Dr. Krauth was a deep wound to the congregation. Their affectionate admiration and personal regard remained undiminished throughout his life and still abide as a blessed memory. He frequently visited the congregation again upon invi- tation. His last visit was during a vacancy in the pastorate, when he came to administer the Lord's Supper. It was the first Sunday in Advent and his address was based on the Gospel for the Day. The services all seemed imbued with an atmosphere of pathos. After his return to Philadelphia he wrote that on his journey homeward his mind had been so absorbed by the memories of that blessed occasion that he was involuntarily led to versify the leading
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thoughts of his Communion address, and these were subsequently published in the Workman.
The following is a portion of the lengthy resolu- tions unanimously adopted by the Council :
" That we sincerely deplore his removal from our midst.
" That we shall ever cherish with feelings of gratitude the remembrance of his eminent services in our Church, bearing our united testimony to the signal ability which charac- terized his public ministrations, the devotedness of his pas- toral labors and the hallowed hours of Christian intercourse which have indelibly impressed their influences upon our hearts.
" That we regard the period of his residence amongst us as one of eventful moment to the permanence and prosperity of our Zion, that period having been signalized by an un- usual development and expansion of the energies and influ- ence of this congregation, as well as a general advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom in this city."
Born in Martinsburg, Va., March 17, 1823, Dr. Krauth was educated at Gettysburg, where his father was a professor. For a short time he served a mis- sion in Canton, Baltimore, and in 1842 became pastor of the Lombard St. Church in Baltimore; in 1847 he was pastor in Shepherdstown and in 1848 in Win- chester, accepting the call to Pittsburgh in 1855. Pennsylvania College gave him the degrees of D.D. in 1856, and LL.D. in 1874.
His pastorate of St. Mark's, Philadelphia, was of short duration. In 1861 he resigned to become the editor of The Lutheran, and when the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia was founded in 1864 he was chosen professor of Dogmatic Theology. In 1868 he accepted also the department of Mental and
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Moral Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1873 he was Vice-Provost of that institution.
He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, an active member of the American Committee on Re- vision of the Old Testament, and a member of numerous historical, philosophical, and philological societies. In addition to his larger works, Commen- tary on St. John, Vocabulary of Philosophy, The Augsburg Confession, The Conservative Reformation and its Theology, Infant Baptism and Infant Salva- tion in the Calvinistic System, Berkeley's Principles, and others, he was an Associate Editor of Johnson's Encyclopedia and also contributed to Appleton's and other cyclopedias, and wrote countless important articles for Church papers and periodicals. His death, January 2, 1883, removed one of the most bril- liant, as well as one of the most profound, represent- atives of the Lutheran Church in America.
6
CHAPTER VIII Pastorate of the Reb. Reuben Hill, D.D.
1859-1866
URING the vacancy Mr. Wey- man served as chairman of the Council. Upon motion of Mr. Lane, Council decided by a vote of six to five to call a congregational meeting to con- sider the name of the Rev. Dr. Emanuel Greenwald, of Easton, Pa., but there is no record of further action.
Owing to the uncertainty of past procedure in the nomination and election of pastors and Church offi- cers, a committee was appointed to prepare rules to govern future elections. After much discussion, two Rules and eight By-laws were adopted October 17. The Rules required the Church Council to nominate for pastor one person "whom they have reason to be- lieve would be useful and acceptable" and to submit his name to a congregational meeting, a two-thirds vote of the Council being declared a sufficient majority to nominate a candidate, although a unanimous recommendation is desirable.
The By-laws required two public announcements for congregational meetings; organization of the meeting by election of president, vice-president, and secretary; voting by ballots marked "For a call" and "Against a call"; a record by the secretary of
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all the legal voters who deposited ballots; electors to be only such as "have paid one year's pew rent or rent for part of a pew sufficient for one person at least and who shall not be in arrears for such rent for more than one year and shall be in full communion with the English Evangelical Lutheran Church"; and a two-thirds vote for an election.
October 31, 1859, a letter was received from the Rev. Reuben Hill, of Hagerstown, Md., accepting the Council's invitation to preach. November 16, Mr. Hill was elected pastor at a congregational meeting. But twenty-two votes were cast. Mr. Hill accepted the call and arrangements were made for his in- stallation on the last Sunday in January, 1860, Dr. Passavant being invited to deliver the charge to the pastor and Dr. Krauth to the congregation.
Early in the year 1860 it was decided to hold quar- terly communions, on the first Sundays in February, May, August, and November, instead of six com- munions a year.
February 6, the use of the lecture room was ten- dered the Birmingham congregation for three lec- tures in aid of their Church.
In April of this year the attention of the Council was centred upon the claims of Allegheny as a mis- sion field. As early as 1846 a Sunday School had been established there by members of the First Church, under the direction of Mr. Passavant. After three years it was discontinued for a while, but was soon revived. In 1854 a church building was secured and in 1859 the School reported 350 scholars. Dr. Passavant was now (1860) Missionary Superintend- ent of the Synod, and in a lengthy letter to the
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Council of the Pittsburgh congregation he proposed beginning regular services in Allegheny every Sun- day afternoon at three o'clock. He asked that Mr. Hill preach the first sermon, promising that Revs. Reck, Ulery, and Lawson, and he himself would as- sist in conducting future services. He refers to Allegheny as a place of 40,000 inhabitants and in conclusion says :
" If the Council approves the proposed suggestion I think the way will be gradually prepared for the establishment of a second Church and tho' there is little likelihood that many of the older families of the parent Church would leave it, yet many a wanderer from God would be reached and many a careless family would be gathered into the fold of Christ."
The Council put itself on record as strongly op- posed to such a movement at that time, eleven mem- bers signing a letter of reply, dated April 11, 1860. They regard it impossible that
" another public service could be added to the pastor's duties with justice to himself and the congregation. Nor do we regard the one Church which now represents the interest of our denomination in this city so confirmed in its position that it could be depleted of its membership without jeopard- izing its very existence, to say nothing of impairing its influence and diminishing its vitality." The statement con- cludes with the belief that their first obligations are " to sustain and perpetuate that which has been secured by years of toil and sacrifice and whose welfare demands the devotion of an entire and undivided membership."
The matter did not drop, however, and four months later the Rev. Mr. Reck, who had succeeded Dr. Passavant as Missionary Superintendent, again
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brought it before the Council. A committee of four was appointed to confer with those interested in the movement, and upon their report the Council, Au- gust 9, adopted a reply stating that they did not yet think it wise to organize, but suggesting "occasional preaching" under the supervision of the pastor and Council of the First Church.
" The establishment of a mission separate and apart from the membership of the Church in Pittsburgh seems to us inadvisable, if not entirely impracticable. Aside from the fifty or sixty families who attend the Church on this side, the English Lutheran material is such as to be moulded into faithful members only by time and arduous labor. It will undoubtedly, in any successful event, require the leaven of the old lump to be cast in in order that the new may be leavened. To build at all it must be on the foundation already laid."
The letter closes with these recommendations: to hold preaching services once a month under the super- vision of the First Church; to secure, as soon as the necessary means can be obtained, an additional min- ister to labor there in connection with the pastor; after one year's united pastoral labor, to have the membership on that side of the river form a self- sustaining congregation, if they are able, "with the hearty approval and sympathy of the parent Church." The signatures of the entire twelve mem- bers of the Council are appended to this statement: George Weyman, David A. Foulke, J. S. Newmeyer, George Hubley, Dr. A. Lange, A. S. Getty, Thos. H. Lane, Geo. J. Duff, John B. Chalmers, E. Rahm, W. S. Moore, Chas. H. Gillespie.
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The movement, however, was too strong to be checked or even directed, and October 1 thirty-two members applied for dismissal to organize the con- gregation in Allegheny. Their request was granted and others applying later were also dismissed, and the "First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Allegheny" was organized October 21, 1860. This name was changed, December 6, 1876, to "Trinity." The first pastor was the Rev. Henry Reck, who was succeeded, November 29, 1863, by the Rev. John G. Goettman. The congregation evidently lacked the elements of strength which the Council of the Pitts- burgh Church had hoped to develop, and at the time of the division it went with the General Synod.
December 3, the small attendance at the evening services was considered and a committee was ap- pointed to prepare a series of resolutions and the pastor was requested to preach a sermon bearing upon it.
February 4, 1861, a committee was appointed to "in- vestigate the matter of establishing a mission Sunday School on Penn Ave. among the Germans in that locality," but the effort was later abandoned because of the "present depression of business and the un- settled condition of affairs."
In July of this year the condition of the treasury caused the Council to assess an additional five per cent. on the valuation of pews and to borrow $300 for one year at interest not to exceed nine per cent.
January 8, 1862, the committee appointed to collect funds to pay the Church debt reported that they had discharged that duty, and the receipt of Mr. Weyman was given for $952.53 in full for all claims of any
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kind that he held to this date against the First Church.
September 7, 1863, a letter was read from the Board of Directors of Pennsylvania College and the Theo- logical Seminary at Gettysburg asking for assistance in raising funds to repair the damages to buildings and grounds that resulted from the great battle of July previous. It was decided to bring this appeal to the congregation the next Sunday and a collection was taken on the following one, and one hundred dollars appropriated.
The pastor was also requested to appoint a com- mittee of twenty members with instructions to deter- mine what amount of money would be required to purchase a lot and build a new church for the con- gregation, and whether such a sum could be raised.
Early in 1864 the pastor's salary was fixed at $1,500.
January 4, the pastor reported that the Rev. W. A. Passavant had informed him that a lot near Oakland had been given to him for church purposes and that he now wished to convey the same to this congrega- tion in trust for a Lutheran Church. A committee was appointed to call upon him to obtain fuller information.
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