USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > The old Trappe Church, 1743-1893 : a memorial of the sesqui-centennial services of Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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The Old Trappe Church.
Address
BY
Rev. C. J. Cooper.
The Mission of the Old Trappe Church.
The Master's great commission to the Church is " Go and teach all nations." In cheerful and loving obedience, the Church has always sought to be faithful to this last command. Our gathering here on this sacred spot, in such large numbers, is the testimony of the living to the faithfulness of the dead in the discharge of their pious duty. Augustus Church is a monument in time, a sacred mile-stone marking the onward progress of the Church in her ceaseless activity in teaching " all nations" the story of Christ the crucified and risen Saviour of the world. Though surrounded by other monuments more costly in material, more artistic in design, and more imposing in form, yet not one of them, nor all com- bined, can lay claim to so many precious and hallowed associations, or inspire us with such exalted emotions of love and devotion to God and to mankind, as the quaint and venerable little church, in which so many generations of worshippers have gathered to speed on the blessed work of enlightening the nations of the world.
It may rightly be called the cradle of the Lutheran Church in Amer- ica, in which the infant Church was reared, that is destined under the Providence of God to become the great Teacher of the nations gathering on this Western continent. To teach is the particular mission of our Church as her matchless Confessions of faith, her pure and evangelical service, her great universities and teachers abundantly testify.
The Augustus Church had as its first pastor the Patriarch of our Church in this country, a man of learning and piety. Inseparably will these two be associated for all time. This day reminds us of the early struggles of our fathers in their continued efforts to establish on this ter- ritory institutions of learning, built on the foundations of the fathers,
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The Mission of the Old Trappe Church.
breathing the same spirit and devoted to the same great and noble ob- jects of Truth and Righteousness.
Not far removed from Augustus Church stood the school-house. The school-house close by the Church is an object lesson in the history of our Church, which the present generation may well contemplate. It expresses. the correct principle of education. The Bible, catechism, Church hymns, alongside of the secular books, give the proper character of the instruc- tion so necessary to develop the whole man. The fathers also directed their efforts towards higher institutions of learning. They believed in an educated ministry. Their sad experiences made them anxious to secure this end. They were willing to sacrifice much to attain it. The Patri- arch himself was willing to commit his own sons to the terrors of the sea as well as to the dangers of the land in sending them abroad with the hope of securing for the Church men well qualified to minister at her altars and to teach in her pulpits. But the poverty of the people, their scattered and unorganized condition, national differences, and revolution- ary wars obstructed, delayed and often defeated their efforts.
For one hundred and fifty years Augustus Church has felt the tidal waves of rationalism, infidelity and fanaticism, that have successively rolled over our land ; and witnessed the clash of arms as well as the vio- lent tempests of human passions, endangering the very existence of the Church and State. But in this frail vessel was He whom winds and waves obey, even the same who continues to command "Go and teach all nations." Ever faithful to His command, renewed efforts con- tinued to be made, and only within the last quarter of a century have the hopes and expectations of our fathers been realized in the Seminary in Philadelphia and the College in Allentown. Muhlenberg College is proud to bear the name of the Patriarch. The Church in this country has not forgotten the memory of this great and good man. While it is true, as the inscription on his stone so forcibly expresses, " Who and what he was future generations will know without a stone." Yet with Augustus Church as the base, and Muhlenberg College as the shaft, the Church has erected a monument more lasting than marble or brass. The College and the Seminary are the flower and fruit of the planting and sowing of one hundred and fifty years ago, dedicated and devoted to the same great mission, to teach the nations.
Let us on this day think of the toils and labors, sacrifices and devo- tions of our fathers in the interest of evangelical truth, and let this occa- sion fill us, one and all, with new and increased zeal in the great cause of education. Let us rally around our Church and her institutions, willing to consecrate our sons to the Gospel ministry, to equip and endow our institutions with men and means, that they may be able to do their
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divinely appointed work, to teach all nations, with joy and not with sor- row. Since Augustus Church was built, we have become strong in num- bers and in material wealth. While our institutions have shared in this prosperity, they are not what they should be and what we have reason to hope they will yet become. Our people are not educating as many young men as they should, and while there is a decided progress in the matter of liberality, there is still much room for improvement. " Go ye and teach all nations."
III
Greetings from the Tulpehocken Region.
Address
BY
Rev. F. J. F. Schantz, D. D.
Greetings from the Tulpehocken Region.
When the appeal of the Lutheran people of Philadelphia, New Providence and New Hanover was sent to Rev. Doctor Ziegenhagen, of London, for a pastor to meet their spiritual necessities, and Patriarch Muhlenberg arrived in Pennsylvania in November, 1742, no one could tell of the importance of that call, and of the response to the same for the welfare of the German people in other parts of Pennsylvania.
In the Tulpehocken region, 80 miles north-west from Philadelphia, between the mountains north and south of the present beautiful Lebanon Valley, German settlers had built a church as early as 1727, but from that year to the year 1743, they were without the regular ministrations of duly acknowledged Lutheran pastors. Their history in those years was marked by the want of regular ministers, by the imposition of vagabonds, by the strife and contentions marking this " Confusion " in which Leutbecker, Stoever, the Moravian ministers, and Kraft, were participants.
The Trappe congregation, and the associate congregations, had en- joyed the services of their duly accredited pastor but a short time, when the Lutheran people of the Tulpehocken region, whose church had passed into the hands of the Moravians, and who had resolved to build a new church, the corner stone of which was laid on May 12th, 1743, appealed to Patriarch Muhlenberg to care also for them.
Their appeal was not in vain. Muhlenberg visited Tulpehocken in the Summer of 1743, and in the Fall of the same year, Tobias Wag- ner, recommended by Muhlenberg, became the pastor of the congrega- tion, and consecrated Christ Church on Christmas. Unfortunately the ministry of Pastor Wagner was not marked by that harmony between pastor and congregation which is necessary for the prosperity of a con- gregation. Sometime before his resignation the congregation had ap- pealed to Muhlenberg, and he had effected a reconciliation. After Pas- tor Wagner's resignation in the Spring of 1746, the congregation again
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turned to Muhlenberg for help. He willingly aided them as much as he could, and consented to the location of J. Nicholas Kurtz in said region. Whilst the recommendation of Tobias Wagner proved unfortunate, that of J. Nicholas Kurtz, who was first a candidate, who taught and preached, and subsequently an ordained pastor, with full ministerial authority, who labored from 1746 to 1770 with great acceptance, was a great blessing. He was succeeded by Christopher Emanuel Schulze, son-in-law of Muh- lenberg, who was pastor from 1770 to 1809, assisted from 1770 to '73 or '74 by Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg.
The Lebanon Valley from Reading to Harrisburg has, to-day, many Lutheran congregations, whose history would be incomplete without a proper presentation of the services rendered by Muhlenberg, pastor of the Trappe Church, and his co-laborers, to the parent congregations in said region.
On September 3d of this year, the sesqui-centennial of Christ Church, on the Tulpehocken, near Stouchsburg, Berks Co., Pa., where Tobias Wagner, J. Nicholas Kurtz, and · Christopher Emanuel Schulze labored before 1800, was appropriately observed, and on last Saturday and Sunday followed the centennial of the Church at Womelsdorf, not far from the first home and burial place of Conrad Weiser, at whose house Muhlenberg visited often, and secured as his wife Anna Weiser, and not a great distance from the mountain on which on Eagle Point, Muhlenberg, Brunnholtz, and Hartwick, on March 22d, 1751, sang " Wunderbarer König, etc." and " Sei Lob und Ehr dem Höchsten Gut, etc."
The ancestors of many of the members of the congregation at My- erstown, organized in 1811-12, whose first pastor was the sainted Father Baetes, for many years the honored and beloved Senior of the Ministeri- um, were originally members of the First Church (Reed's), and subse- quently of the Second (Christ) Church on the Tulpehocken.
On account of the relation which the Trappe region, with its Au- gustus Church, Patriarch Muhlenberg, Pastor Brunnholtz and other co-la- borers, and the Tulpehocken region, sustained to each other 150 years ago, as well as the bonds which unite us to-day in our common fellowship with the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, I had an ardent desire to attend the sesqui-centennial of the first service in Augustus Church at the Trappe.
And now whilst I am here as a pastor of a Lutheran parish within Tulpehocken region, yet without appointment to represent the Lutheran people in said country, I feel confident that they will ratify what I would yet say to you on this glorious occasion.
We rejoice in the early planting of the Lutheran Church at the Trappe. We rejoice that God has allowed the church in which the fath-
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Greetings from the Tulpehocken Region.
ers worshipped 150 years ago to stand to this day. We rejoice that the congregation has for many years had the privilege of worshipping in this beautiful church building, erected in the present century. We rejoice that the congregation has, in these many years, had the faithful services of godly and able pastors, to minister to the members by the Word and sacraments of divine appointment. We rejoice with you that here many souls were regenerated, justified and sanctified, and made the heirs and joint heirs of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
But what of the future of Augustus congregation at the Trappe, and of the churches whose history is of like date ? To these and to the congregations that were organized in the years that followed, I would say, let us stand firmly by the Confessions of our Church and her cultus, as did the fathers of 150 years ago. Your Church Record contains the action of the Augustus congregation on May 27th, 1750, which shows how firmly the fathers adhered to the doctrines of the Church of the Reformation. The proclamation at the laying of the corner stone of Christ (Tulpe- hocken) Church on May 12th, 1743, on record in the well-kept Church Book of the congregation, signed by 166 persons, shows not only their firm adherence to the Confessions of our beloved Lutheran Church, but also how carefully they guarded against the abuse of their sanctuaries by errorists.
And what of the future growth of the Lutheran Church in this coun- try? The Ministerium of Pennsylvania, organized in 1748, held its third meeting in June in the year 1750, in Augustus Church at this place. The following ministers were present: Patriarch Muhlenberg, Pastors Brunnholtz, Handschuh, Kurtz, Schaum, Weygand, Schrenck and Rauss. The congregations had sent fifty-four deputies. Patriarch Muhlenberg entertained the ministers and the members of the congregation the deputies. The Minutes of the late Annual Meeting of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania contained the names of 295 ordained ministers. What a wonderful growth in these years on the territory now occupied by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania ; but the figures-60 Synods, 5242 Pastors, 9352 Con- gregations, and 1,330,917 Communicants in 1892, tells us of the growth of the Lutheran Church in America in 150 years.
Was this growth attained without any labors of ministers and mem- bers of the Lutheran Church in the years that have passed ? How soon the names of many of us present on this joyful occasion shall no longer be found on the roll of the Synod ; how soon the names of many here present, who are now communicants of the Church on earth, shall no longer be regarded as communicants in the Church Militant, is known to God only.
But would we labor faithfully for the preservation of that which the
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Lutheran Church has attained in this country, and would we see her bor- ders enlarged to supply the spiritual wants of many in this country who are in great distress, and send also many messengers of Glad Tidings to those who are without the Word of Life in heathen lands? Then let all pray, and give liberally for the sup- port of institutions of learning ; for the aid of indigent young men who are called to the ministry, in their preparation for the same ; for the sup- port of Home Missions and Church Extension in our own country and for the support of Foreign Missions in heathen countries.
Does any one lack the proper zeal for the Lord's cause ? Then let him go into old Augustus Church ; let him remember that the record of the church shows that of the £254 2s. and 8d. received to- wards the erection of the church, £115 7s. were re- ceived by Muhlenberg from Hr. Hofprediger Zie- genhagen in London and Prof. Francke in Germany as collected monies ; let him remember alsc, that the first ministers in this country came from Germany, where they had enjoyed the advantages of good institutions of learning, by the liberal aid of Christian benefactors, and that many were receiving aid in the first years of their ministry in this country from Christian friends in the Fatherland.
If such considerations be not sufficient, then let him kneel before the old altar in the old sanctuary, and let him ask God to increase his faith, and to fill his heart with love, that he may leave that sanctuary with the necessary inspiration to pray sincerely and to labor diligently for the ex- tension of the kingdom of our blessed Lord.
God bless the pastor and members of Augustus Church, and may all of us, who have been permitted to rejoice with them on this festive occa- sion, return to our homes with increased love for the Church of our fath- ers, and give God the praise that is due Him for His grace.
Biographical @ @ @ @ Sketches.3
REGISTER OF PASTORS OF AUGUSTUS CHURCH.
HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, D. D., December 12, 1742-October 7, 1787.
PETER BRUNNHOLTZ, (associate), February 7, 1745-June, 1745.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER HARTWIG, (substitute), October, 1761-April, 1762. JACOB VAN BUSKIRK, (substitute), May 16, 1762-1764.
JOHN LUDWIG VOIGT, December 13, 1765-August, 1793.
JOHN FREDERICK WEINLAND, August, 1793-February 4, 1807.
JOHN PETER HECHT, June 1, 1808-August, 1813.
HENRY ANASTASIUS GEISSENHAINER, October, 1813-April, 1821.
FREDERICK WILLIAM GEISSENHAINER, SR., D. D., April 23, 1821-April, 1823.
FREDERICK WILLIAM GEISSENHAINER, JR., D. D., March 30, 1823-March, 1827.
JACOB WAMPOLE, July 22, 1827-April 27, 1834.
JOHN WILLIAM RICHARDS, D. D., May 11, 1834-March, 1836.
JACOB WAMPOLE, April 4, 1836-January 3, 1838.
HENRY SEIPLE MILLER, April 8, 1838-May 30, 1852.
GEORGE A. WENZEL, D. D., August 22, 1852-September 17, 1854. ADAM SCHINDLER LINK, September 19, 1854-March 1, 1858. GEORGE SILL, March 27, 1859-October 1, 1863.
JOHN KOHLER, D. D., January 1, 1864-September 27, 1873. OLIVER PETER SMITH, June 10, 1874-May 1, 1889.
ERNEST THEODORE KRETSCHMANN, June 23, 1889.
SESQUI-CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL OF THE OLD TRAPPE CHURCH.
J.C/93
HON. FREDERICK AUGUST CONRAD MUHLENBERG.
GEN. JOHN PETER GABRIEL MUHLENBERG.
REV. HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, D.D.
REV. GOTTHILF HEINRICH ERNST MUHLENBERG, D.D.
REV. JOHN CHRISTOPHER KUNZE, D.D.
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Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.
REV. HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, D. D.
Eimbeck, a town in Hanover, Prussia,-where in 1826 the old Muh- lenberg house was destroyed by fire, where the family name has now dis- appeared, and where not even a tablet exists to cherish the memory of one of its most worthy sons,-is distinguished as the birth-place of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, universally and justly acknowledged to be the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. Melchior Henry, (the order given in the baptismal register at Eimbeck,) baptized on the day of his birth, September 6, 1711, was the son of Nicolaus Melchior Muhlenberg, descendant of a once baronial family, whose titles and possessions were dissipated by the Thirty Years' War, a member of the town council and an officer of the church, and Anna Maria (neé Kleinschmidt), daughter of a retired military officer. His early school training from his seventh to his twelfth year he received at Eimbeck, where he began the study of the Latin language. Obliged to leave school shortly after his confirmation in his thirteenth year by reason of the sudden death of his father from a stroke of palsy, he was put to work assisting his brother at his trade until his eighteenth year. The experience of this period was a hard discipline in the school of poverty, divinely blessed as a wholesome preparation for the privations and hardships of later years. His evenings, in obedience to an inner impulse, he had devoted to study for a number of years, and at the age of twenty-one was encouraged by Rector John J. Schüsster, whose private tuition he had enjoyed for some time, to re-enter the public school at Eimbeck. He now applied himself zealously to the study of arithmetic, Latin, Greek and other branches, at the same time giving at- tention to vocal and instrumental music. Like Luther at Magdeberg and Eisenach, in company with other choristers of the school, he turned his fine tenor voice to profitable account in singing before the doors of the more prosperous families of the town. The following year, 1733, he entered the school at Zellerfeld under Rector Raphelius, teaching four hours a day for his support, and devoting the rest of his time to a vigorous pros- ecution of his studies, mastering a number of the Latin classics and Greek New Testament, acquiring the rudiments of Hebrew and French and gaining greater proficiency in playing the clavichord and organ. After a year and a half at Zellerfeld, a year again at Eimbeck, he was matricu- lated March 19, 1735, as a student in the newly established University of Göttingen, his first year's support being secured to him by a stipend pro-
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vided by his native town. Here he enjoyed the special favor of his theo- logical professor Dr. Oporin, who gave him a room in his own house and employed him as private secretary. Providence raised up other generous and influential patrons for him in Hr. von Münchhausen, founder of the Göttingen university, and Counts Reuss and Henkel by whom his three years' course was greatly facilitated. In 1736, he with two other students rented a room and opened a charity school, which soon grew into the Göttingen Orphan House and is still in beneficent operation. The fol- lowing year he was permitted to preach and catechise in the university church. After graduating in 1738 and spending a short time at the uni- versity of Jena, he was installed as teacher in the Halle institutions through the influence of Counts Reuss and Henkel. Here the serious im- pressions made by the death of his father and the religious awakening ex- perienced at Göttingen were deepened by his contact with the Halle Piet- ism under Gotthelf Augustus, son of Augustus Hermann Francke, founder of the Halle institutions, which left its impress upon his whole future course. At first he gave instruction to the lower but soon after to the higher classes in Greek, Hebrew and some theological branches, and as inspector of the medical ward gained an experience which proved to be of great practical value throughout his subsequent ministry. The plan of sending him as a missionary to Bengal lapsing because of a temporary lack of funds, he received a call on August 12, 1739, as pastor to Grosshenners- dorf, in Lusatia, for which, after sustaining a satisfactory examination by the consistorium of Leipsic, he was ordained by Superintendent Dr. Deyling on August 24th. As pastor at Grosshennersdorf he became also inspector and diaconus of the Orphanage at that place, founded and maintained by the Baroness of Gersdorf, Count Zinzendorf's aunt. While on a visit at Halle on September 6, 1741, Dr. Francke at supper offered him a call to Pennsylvania, adding that he should make a trial of it for a few years, to which Muhlenberg promptly responded that "if it was the divine will, he would and must follow whithersoever Providence deter- mined." He returned to Grosshennersdorf and preached his farewell ser- mon on December 9, 1741. Passing through Halle, Eimbeck where he saw his mother for the last time, Hanover, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, he took ship at Helvoetsluys, April 14, 1742, for England. Part of the way to Amsterdam was very profitably beguiled in taking his first lessons in the Dutch language from a Holland merchant traveling with him in the stage-coach.
Arriving at England April 16th after an exceedingly rough passage, he was cordially welcomed the following evening in London by Rev. Fred. M. Ziegenhagen, D. D., Court preacher of St. James' German chapel, and a staunch friend of missions especially of the Pennsylvania
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Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.
field. Here he formed a brief but valuable acquaintance with a young man who, in 1745, became professor at Göttingen university, and subse- quently distinguished as an Orientalist, Exegete and Author, John David Michaelis. After nine weeks of the most profitable intercourse with Dr. Ziegenhagen and other Lutheran pastors, and further preparing himself for his future work by a diligent study of English, in which he had already made a beginning at Göttingen, he set sail for America on June 13th. During this exceedingly tedious and wretched voyage of twelve weeks and three days, the great distress and discomfort he suffered from sea-sickness and more serious ailments, the meager accommodations of the vessel, the miserable stock of provisions and the failure of water, was poignantly intensified by the boisterous and godless behavior of the ship's company. Though frequently despairing of any good results, he after a time held service every Sunday in English, and daily ministered to greater profit and with more satisfaction to himself, to a family of Lutheran Salzburgers bound for Georgia.
He reached Charleston September 22d, and with pastor Gronau, whom he met at Savannah, proceeded to Ebenezer, Georgia, where he spent one week in delightful and mutually profitable conference with the Salzburg pastors, Revs. Boltzius and Gronau. The latter, in writing of Muhlenberg's visit, declared, " Never before have we spent so blessed and so happy a season at Ebenezer." Boltzius, who, according to Ziegen- hagen's plan, was to accompany Muhlenberg to Pennsylvania, went with him as far as Charleston, but owing to the uncertainty of finding a vessel for the voyage, after a few days it was deemed best for Boltzius to return to his congregations. After a delay of almost five weeks, Muhlenberg, on November 12th, embarked in an unseaworthy sloop, and surviving a most dangerous and miserable voyage reached Philadelphia on Novem- ber 25, 1742. His first sermon in Pennsylvania he preached at New Hanover, November 28th, in an unfinished log structure, his second at Philadelphia, December 5th, in a carpenter shop, and his third, Decem- ber IIth, in a barn at Providence (Trappe).
He was at once compelled to meet and withstand the assumed claims of Count Zinzendorf, who, calling himself a Lutheran even after he became a Moravian, whose dream it was to effect an amalgamation of all religious parties in which each might still retain its distinctive features, " was in a fair way to bring under him the whole German population ;" and to unmask the arrogant pretentions of a deposed Lutheran minister from Germany, Valentine Kraft, who falsely claimed to be a commis- sioned superintendent of all the Lutheran congregations in the province. Having succeeded in establishing his authority by his determined yet courteous stand, as well as by his credentials from Europe, he soon gained
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the confidence of the people and brought his eminent gifts as an organ- izer successfully to bear upon the confused and distracted condition of affairs in the three congregations. Other stations were soon brought under his pastoral supervision, and when in January, 1745, Rev. Peter Brunnholtz arrived from Germany as his co-laborer, after a joint service of five months he resigned the congregations at Philadelphia and Ger- mantown to his colleague, and retained Trappe and New Hanover, ex- tending his pastoral labors to many remoter points where congregations were organized from time to time. On April 22, 1745, he married Anna Maria, daughter of Conrad Weiser, Esq., Indian interpreter, and estab- lished his home at Trappe. Eleven children, four of whom died in in- fancy, were the fruit of this happy union.
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