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 8
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(85) It is likely that the Trappe organ was made by the same builder. Within four years be- tween his (Mittelberger's) arrival and departure, 1750-54, according to his own words, six organs were imported for the Lutheran churches of the Province: "the third in Providence and the fourth in New Hanover." The success of the St. Michael's organ doubtlessly induced the other churches to apply to him. (From a communication by Rev. Theo. E. Schmauk). One of the first organs used in Philadelphia was imported by Ludwig Christian Sprogel and bought on Sept. 2nd, 1728, by the Epis. Christ's Church for £200.
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occasion of the first celebration held by the Lutheran Sunday-school at Pottstown on August 29, 1846.
Against the wall still hang the long-handled Klingelsack or Klingels- beutel, originally with a little bell86 attached, from which the name was derived. They were dexterously manipulated by the wardens as long as the old church was used, and to be in keeping with the occasion were once more pressed into service at the Sesqui-Centennial. They were followed by the wicker baskets which in turn gave place in 1890 to a handsome set of silver-plated collection plates, presented by the Young People's Lyceum. The old chest, used in Muhlenberg's time for the custody of the deeds of the church, school-house and lots and records of collections and alms, stood also in the old church but has long since dis- appeared. This chest was furnished with two locks and two keys, one of which was in charge of the pastor and the other held by the vestry. An- other interesting article of church furniture was the " Weiberstuhl," a bench or pew for women, most probably the former, and in Muhlenberg's minute book distinguished from the Kirchenstuhl, the common term for pew. It would seem, that the ancient custom of the Churching of wo- men, practiced regularly by the Swedish Lutheran church at Wicaco, was observed also by Muhlenberg. If so, then this bench was the place specially designated for women upon their first attendance at church after child-birth, where they were required to kneel and offer either silent prayer of thanksgiving or a prayer that was provided. The Book of Common Prayer, Oxford, 1769,87 and similarly in editions as far back as
(86) This little bell depending from the Klingelsack gave rise to an immense amount of trouble in the congregation at Germantown, in 1753, of which Handschuh was pastor at the time. Some outsiders made it the object of their derision, and one of the Eldeste, "possessing more of the dove's harmlessness than the serpent's wisdom", thought to mend matters by cutting off the objectionable bell, which he did on his own responsibility. It was a little matter but it kindled a great fire. The disaffected majority of the congregation seized upon it as a pretext for rebelling against the church authorities. A large number of the members at this time were recent immigrants, many of whom were factious, turbulent and intemperate, and fomented strife and contention. This disorderly and recalcitrant element managed to obtain possession of the parsonage and church, expelled the faithful minority, and called the profligate Andreae as pastor, who, however, soon disgusted them by his dissolute character and died a miserable death the same year. The no less notorious parson Rapp was then called as his successor. During one of the many tumults which disgraced the church at this time, an old man was obliged to make a precipitous exit through the window in order to escape bodily injury,-an incident sufficient to indicate the state of affairs which then pre- vailed. The expelled party, about twenty families, worshipped for a number of years in the Re- formed church, and in 1763, by a favorable decision of court, regained partial right to the church. Two years later the entire possession of the church property reverted to the original and rightful owners. (Hazard's Register, Vol. IV, pp. 193-5. cf. also Hall. Nach. I, p. 700 et. seq.)
(87) So also in Das Buch des gemeinschaftlichen Gebets, a translation of the Book of Common Prayer, used in the King's Court Chapel in London by the German Lutheran chaplains. Traces of similarity in practice to the Episcopal church are readily explained by the close connec- tion which existed between the two communions and the correspondence to the Church of England in points of government, ceremonies and doctrine, the Lutheran origin of much of the latter having been clearly demonstrated by Dr. Jacobs in his " Lutheran Movement in England." At a later
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1662, to which this practice conformed, provides for " The Thanksgiving of women after child-birth, commonly called the The Churching of Wo- men," originally known in the first service book of Edward VI, as " The Purification of Women." The rubric directs that " The woman, after the usual time after her delivery, shall come into the church decently appar- eled and there shall kneel." The prayer then follows. It should be stated, however, that no provision is made for this ceremony in either the liturgy of 1748 or 1786, so that if this custom was observed, as seems probable, it was not long continued.
In the cut containing the historic relics is seen the old pewter com- munion vessels and baptismal laver used by Muhlenberg. There are two sets each comprising a flagon, chalice and two patens. The first set standing below in the group, and also the baptismal laver are marked A. D .- H. M., which Muhlenberg obtained from London.88 The second set bears the engraved initials G. F., and was doubtlessly a gift of Gotthelf Francke of Halle. The original pulpit Bible, shown also in the
period the tendency toward conformity went further. The Episcopal term of rector was regularly substituted for pastor. Muhlenberg, in letters and other papers, signed himself rector and is so re- ferred to frequently in the Hallesche Nachrichten. The application for a charter for St. Michael's of Philadelphia, and the charter itself, dated September 25, 1765, is made in the name of Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, rector, vestrymen and church wardens. In the confirmation of the charter, March 3, 1780, the reaction against the unionistic movement is indicated by the reappearance of the term minister instead of rector. But before the reaction came, this approach was carried to the point of a proposal for union, strenuously and persistently urged by the Episcopal church. That these Episcopal overtures were entertained, though fortunately never accepted, is evident from the com- ment at Halle (Hall. Nach., Old Ed., preface to 13th continuation 27, "If the Lutheran congregations in Peunsylvania desire to unite themselves with the English church, they would no longer need the aid of their German mother-church, but will be richly supported and provided with teachers by the former. . . . Friendly and unsectarian as the intercourse of our pastors with them is, they and their congregations still have their doubts about entering into such a religious intermixture, which is generally followed by more divisions than real unity." The desire and readiness of the Lutherans to unite with the English church was, however, much exaggerated in Episcopal re- ports, and the statement that such a union was proposed by the Lutheran synod is an error. (Dr. Jacobs' Hist. of the Luth. Ch., p, 280 .- Dr. Mann's Vergang. Tage, p. 13, cf. Amer. Colon. church, Vol. II, p. 412, and The Evangel. Review, Vol. VII, p. 531 et seq.) This entire movement is thoroughly discussed by Dr. Jacobs in his Hist. of the Luth. Ch. in America, chap. XVII.
(88) Muhlenberg in his diary, under the date January 16th, 1743, (Muhlenberg's Autobiography by Dr. W. Germann, p. 161) writes : " It is so difficult for us here, to obtain a cup; there is no one who can and will make it. We have also none as yet. I might well wish for a few. were they only of copper or tin. It would also be desirable if we could in time supply a bell; for the people live far apart, and one has nothing by which to give them a signal." As this would have involved the additional expense of adding a steeple to the church, the bell was never procured. A steeple, how- ever, was not always regarded as an essential accommodation to a bell. Christ's Episcopal church, of Philadelphia,-the building being originally one story high and without a steeple,-had a bell suspended in the crotch of a tree near by. St. Michael's Lutheran church, of Philadelphia, on the other hand, was provided with a steeple but no bell. In 1750, two years after the church was conse- crated, the steeple was taken down because of defective construction. It was a noticeable fact that in Philadelphia there were very few steeples. A contributor to Hazard's Register (1828-Vol. I, p. 108) states : " Almost every stranger visiting the city immediately remarks as a defect we have no steeples. There are ninety houses of worship and only two or three steeples."-The original communion ser- vice of Christ's Episcopal church, above mentioned, comprises a chalice, the gift of Queen Anne in 1708, two flagons of the same date, and three silver patens dating back to 1712. Other pieces of the service belong to a later period. (Hazard's Register, Vol. III, p. 272.)
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view, was printed in Basel, in 1747, by John Ludwig Brandmüller. In the New Testament there are frequent annotations from the quill of Rev. J. F. Weinland .. It was regularly used until 1833, when, having become badly dilapidated, it was succeeded by a new German Bible presented by the young men of the congregation. The old Bible was rebound by two of Muhlenberg's descendants in 1860, Misses Catherine and Helen Sheaf of Whitemarsh, Pa., " with the hope that it might be preserved and handed down to future generations as a memorial of a faithful and de- voted minister of Christ." The floor in the old church was originally paved with irregular flat sandstone. As these hardy pioneers did not enjoy the luxury of stoves in the church, the sexton was required to scat- ter straw in the pews during the Winter. Old and feeble women brought hot bricks with them to use as foot warmers. It was not until 1814 that the first wood stove was introduced in the old church. The heavy oak stool on which the stove was placed, is still an object of curiosity. In the early part of the present century the men on Sunday morning congre- gated in the tavern, and there awaited the minister. Upon his arrival from Chester Co., they took charge of his horse, and after short prelimi- naries at the tavern, proceeded to the church. This practice was broken up by Rev. Jacob Wampole. During the Summer months the men came without coats, and the boys and frequently the girls attended barefooted. The female catechumens, arrayed in white dresses and caps, gave a unique interest to the annual procession from the school-house to the church on the day of confirmation. The custom of wearing caps at confirmation was abolished here, as at other places, by Rev. Henry S. Miller.
THE OLD CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION.89
Though many of the Lutheran churches and congregations suffered during the French and Indian War, 1755-63, the Trappe church fortu- nately escaped all injury, as the depredations of the savages were com- mitted some distance further in the interior.90 But it did not survive the
(89) This account is based chiefly upon a series of excellent historical sketches on " Providence," including copious extracts from Muhlenberg's diary, covering the revolutionary period, published in the Providence Independent, by F. G. Hobson, Esq., who kindly placed them at my disposal, for which he has my warmest thanks.
(90) Muhlenberg frequently came in contact with the Indians, especially owing to the position of his father-in-law, Conrad Weiser as Indian interpreter, who frequently traveled with Indians in his company. While on a visit to his father-in-law on July 5th, 1747, at Tulpehocken, about fifty miles distant from Trappe, he met an Indian chief with his retinue, and on April 19th of the follow- ing year at Trappe he entertained at dinner another Indian chief and his sons. Ten years later this chief reminded him of his act of hospitality, adding that on that occasion the Indians gave him the name of one of their former sachems, Gachswungarorachs, a name long and euphonious enough to mean "a teacher whose words ought to go through the hard obstinate minds of men
SESQUI-CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL OF THE OLD TRAPPE CHURCH.
HISTORIC VESSELS OF THE EV. LUTH. AUGUSTUS CONGREGATION.
CHALICE. FLAGON (INSCRIPTION G. F.)
COMMUNION PLATE. CHALICE. ANCIENT MINUTE BOOK
ORIGINAL PULPIT BIBLE.
COMMUNION PLATE.
FLAGON (INSCRIPTION AD. H. M.)
BAPTISMAL LAVER.
COMMUNION PLATES.
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Revolutionary war unscathed. It was then used for a time both as out- post of the American militia and as a hospital. The day after the skirm- ish at Warren's tavern, Chester County, and six days after the disastrous battle of Brandywine, Washington with his whole army, on September 17, 1777, crossed the Schuylkill at Parker's Ford and marched toward Trappe, a distance of four miles, coming out on the great road just above the church. On September 19th, Muhlenberg with a telescope could see the British camp across the Schuylkill. All night long the American army moved past the old church to the Perkiomen, one regiment at mid- night encamping on the bare ground in front of Muhlenberg's house. The next morning he missed many chickens and vegetables. The army retreated on September 22d, leaving Philadelphia exposed to the British, and occupied the hills above Trappe, one regiment under General Arm- strong quartering near the church. On September 25th, while the army was lying at Pottsgrove (Pottstown), Muhlenberg entertained at breakfast Lord Sterling, General Wayne, their aids and officers. That night his barn was occupied by soldiers, and the little hay that he had reserved for Winter was scattered and spoiled. The next day the American army moved from Pottstown toward Trappe, but at Limerick Square turned off and proceeded to Schwenksville. General Armstrong, however, with three or four thousand Pennsylvania militia continued down the Great
like a saw through knotty trunks of trees." (Dr. Mann's Life and Times of H. M. M., p. 198). Muh- lenberg had frequent occasion to hear of Indian massacres during the French and Indian war, especially from Kurtz at Tulpehocken, (Hall. Nach. II, p. 210, p. 241, and Old Ed., p. 1007-1008), where in 1756 at different times thirty persons were murdered and scalped and on July 2, 1757, a family of seven ruthlessly massacred. The following extract of a letter dated Tulpehocken, July 4, 1757, and most probably written by Kurtz, recounting the latter massacre, appeared in the " Penn- sylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser," Thursday, July 14, 1757 : "The Indians are murdering about six miles from my house, and if we get no assistance from the country, all the inhabitants of Tulpehocken will move away. The country should rise and send a large Body to drive the Indians away and keep a strong Guard in the houses on the Frontiers, besides the Soldiers, or all will be lost." At Heidelberg, Berks County, where Kurtz was also pastor of the Lutheran congregation, similar scenes were enacted. A graphic account of the barbarous work of the Indians in this region, at this time was also sent to the same journal on July 9, 1757, of which the following is an ex- cerpt: "Yesterday, about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, four Indians killed two children ; they at the same time scalped a young woman of about sixteen, but with proper care she is likely to live. A woman : was cut terribly with a Tomahawk, her Life is despaired of. One Christian Schrinks' wife bravely defended herself and children, wresting the gun out of the Indian's hand who assaulted her, as likewise his Tomahawk, but afterwards was obliged to run to save her own life, and two of her children were taken captive in the meantime." A detailed account of the dep- redations of the savages throughout these regions is given by Prof. David Brunner in his "Indians in Berks County, Reading, 1881." Two young girls whom Muhlenberg confirmed, and who with their father had moved a short distance into the interior were also barbarously murdered. (Dr. S. S. Schmucker's Luth. Ch. in America, p. 21, and Hist. of all relig. denom. in the U. S. 1844, p. 385.) ' At these and other churches during the earlier period, as well as during the French and Indian war, the men came armed to services, ready to contend against the subtle and savage foe, and sentinels were stationed outside to guard against surprise. (Prof. A. L. Graebner's Hist. of the Luth. Ch., p. 246.) The Swedish Lutheran church at Wicaco, first known as Wickegkoo, built as a block-house about 1669, was provided with loop-holes, " that it might be used as a place of defence against Indians and other enemies." (Hazard's Annals, p. 379. Dr. C. W. Schaeffer's Early Hist. of the Luth. Ch. p. 22.)
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Road and took up his headquarters in the church and school-house. The following morning, September 27th, Muhlenberg went to the church to bury the child of one of the vestrymen, but found it filled with officers and soldiers, with their arms stacked in one corner. The choir-loft was full of soldiers, one playing the organ and the rest lustily singing. Straw and filth were scattered everywhere, and on the altar the soldiers had piled up their provisions. Muhlenberg calmly entered without a word, but some began to mock and others called to the player at the organ for a Hessian march. He sought out Colonel Dunlap and asked him if this was the promised protection to civil and religious liberty, but the latter ex- cused himself by saying that as the militia was composed of all nations it was difficult to maintain strict discipline. The soldiers in the meantime had turned their horses into Muhlenberg's blossoming buckwheat-field of three acres near the church, and what was not consumed was trampled to ruin. On October 2d, the militia under Armstong left Trappe, marched to Philadelphia after joining the main army, and on the 4th the battle of Ger- mantown took place. After the battle. the army returned to the old camp, the militia quartering again at Trappe. The old church was now transformed into a hospital. Washington, on October 5th, rode up to the S. W. entrance of the church on his white charger, and dismounting entered the church and spoke words of cheer to the wounded and dying. Here the regiment remained until December, and on the 12th of that month, 1777, Washington and his whole army went into Winter quarters at Valley Forge. On repeated occasions while the troops were being re- cruited in the neighborhood for the war, Muhlenberg preached to the soldiers in both English and German. His son, Frederick Augustus, on the evening of August 23, 1776, delivered a parting sermon to a company of soldiers recruited in New Hanover under command of Capt. Richards, from the text Neh. 4 : 14, "Be not ye afraid of them : re- member the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your breth- ren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses."
The period during which Trappe became the scene of military oper- ations, was not without annoyance and danger to Muhlenberg. He not only sustained personal losses at the hands of foraging and reckless parties of the American soldiery, but was also considerably worried and alarmed by British menaces, to which his decided rebel sentiments and aid to rebel troops exposed him. On December 11, 1777, he wrote in his diary. " I am informed that the British threaten to capture me and wreak vengence ;" and again on the 13th, " Am in constant dread of a party from Philadel- phia, British. I received one message after another that the British officers are very bitter against me and threaten to capture me." He again states, on June 10, 1778, that he received the report " that the
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name of Muhlenberg is made very suspicious among the Hessian and English officers in Philadelphia, who threaten bitterly with prison, torture and death, if they can catch the old fellow. I have kept myself as quiet as possible and could not do otherwise, as I had no call to meddle with political affairs."91 These threats, probably for want of convenient op- portunity, were fortunately not put into execution. The church itself, though shamefully desecrated, did not sustain any serious damage.92
REPAIRS.
In 1814 the old church was very extensively repaired at a cost of $664.891/2, the Reformed congregation, worshipping in the church at the time, contributing about $100. The roof was re-shingled, and a board floor laid in the church for the first time, new window sash were put in and the organ, altar and choir-loft re-painted. It was at this time that the old church was first dashed with a smooth coating of mortar, thus altering its external appearance. Sixty-five bushels of lime at thirty-one cents a bushel, hauled from Philadelphia, were used for the purpose.
From 1850 to 1860 the fate of the old church trembled in the bal- ance. A committee appointed to examine the building in 1850, when it was deemed by some to be no longer safe for occupancy, reported that there was no danger of anything giving way with the exception of an iron brace on the king-post near the chimney, that the building was not worth a new roof, and that a little patching would do for the present. On February 22d, 1851, when the building of the new church was in con- templation, it was unanimously resolved that the old church should .re- main standing " until a new church should be built and until the vestry should deem it proper to take it down." But as the old building. es- caped this threatened demolition, it was again repaired in 1853, one hun- dred dollars having been generously contributed for the purpose by H. H. Muhlenberg, M. D., of Reading. Two years later the surplus of the gift still remaining was expended in repairing the roof.
The year 1860 was a great crisis in the history of the old church. On the 16th of February a terrible storm demolished a part of the roof, leaving the walls exposed to the rude mercy of the elements. A meeting was called on the 28th to determine the fate of the venerable temple. If the great damage the church sustained was not a warrant it came very nearly being the "excuse for resigning it to the desolation which the
(91) Sprague's Annals, Vol. IX, p. 11.
(92) In a letter to Dr. Freylinghausen of Halle, written at Providence, in October, 1778, Muh- lenberg says that " St. (evidently a typographical error) Augustus church and congregation in Providence has hitherto been served partly by pastor Voigt and partly by my son, Frederick Au- gustus and myself, and (the church) has continued to be spared, excepting that it was used several times as quarters for large numbers of soldiers during the wet and cold weather." (Hall. Nach., Old Ed., p. 1410.
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hand of Providence itself had already begun."93 A motion was actually made to tear it down. The majority favored it because they felt the heavy debt still remaining on the new church would not justify them in incurring the additional expense of restoring the old building. A few, however, pleaded earnestly for it, and asked the privilege of soliciting subscriptions. A committee for the purpose was accordingly appointed consisting of those who favored the plan, and to their lasting honor be their names herewith recorded, Rev. George Sill, pastor, Samuel Gross Fry, David Y. Custer, Samuel Garber and Horace Royer. The committee, however, found few to respond to their solicitations, and when almost in despair, appealed to the Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D., a great-grandson of the illustrious patriarch, then pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, New York City, and well-known as the author of the hymn No. 542, " I would not live alway." He replied that he, through his sister, Mrs. Rogers, and other members of the family would gladly extend to the committee the aid desired in securing the venerable old building from its impending ruin. The work was at once begun and speedily carried to completion. The building was re-roofed, the walls again rough-cast and the church generally repaired. The formal services of re-opening the old church were held on the 5th and 6th of Sep- tember, 1860. Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D., who had been very properly invited to deliver the re-opening sermon, preached on Wednesday morning, September 5th, to an immense congregation from the text Rev. 19 : 10, " The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." Dr. William J. Mann preached in German on the following morning. An address, preparatory to these exercises, was delivered by Rev. Dr. Jacob Fry, then of Carlisle, Penna., on the evening of September 4th, and on the following evening services were conducted by Rev. George Sill, the pastor, Rev. E. W. Hutter, pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church of Philadelphia, preaching the sermon. Other ministers present on this occasion were Revs. G. I. Miller, C. A. Baer, J. W. Hassler, Wil- liam Weaver, H. Wendt and J. I. Wampole of the Lutheran Church ; Rev. Dr. Cruse and Rev. Millett of the Episcopal Church, and Revs. Dechant and Kooken of the Reformed Church. Dr. Muhlenberg's ser- mon, in which he presented a strong plea for Lutheran-Episcopal union, was printed, by urgent request, in pamphlet form.
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