FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
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 DEC 1 193 
 
 MEMORIAL ^' 
 
 CAL 8E^ 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM JULIUS MANN. D. D.. LL D. 
 
 Pastor Emeritus of Zion's German Lutheran Congregation, Philadelphia, 
 
 and German Professor of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in the 
 
 Theological Seminary, Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. 
 
 J 
 
 BY 
 
 ADOLPH SPAETH, ID. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 printed for 
 
 The Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania. 
 
 1893. 
 
 [Reprinted from The Lutheran Church Review for January, 1893.] 
 
WILLIAM JULIUS MANN, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Bom in Stuttgart, Wnerttemberg, May 29, 18 19. 
 Died in Boston, Mass., June jo, 1892. 
 
 I. ANCESTORS; EARLY LIFE; SCHOOL DAYS AND 
 UNIVERSITY TIME. 
 
 An old legend to which Dr. Mann himself sometimes re- 
 ferred in a half humorous manner, traced his ancestors back 
 to an officer in the army of the Swedish king Gustavus 
 Adolphus, who, after the death of the brave Northern hero, 
 tired of the vicissitudes of the thirty years' war, had settled in 
 the little village of Hirschlanden, Wiirttemberg. But the 
 church records do not bear out this interesting tradition. 
 They help us to trace the genealogy back to Johannes Mann, 
 who, in 1624, held the position of treasurer of the Church 
 fund(Heiligen-Pfleger) in Hirschlanden, and bought the record- 
 book for the congregation for the sum of four florins. To 
 hold such a position of trust he must have been a man of 40 
 to 50 years, and we are safe in saying that he was born about 
 the time of the Book of Concord, of German and not of 
 Swedish parentage. Descendants of the same name are still 
 found in that village of about 500 souls, belonging to the diocese 
 
 3 
 
of Leonberg, not many miles distant from Stuttgart. When 
 Dr. Mann, in the year 1867, paid his first visit to his German 
 home, after twenty-two years of labor in America, he 
 preached in the village church, where, for two centuries, his 
 ancestors had listened to the Word of God, and among the 
 worshipers on that occasion, several branches of the family 
 were represented. 
 
 Of his ancestors Dr. Mann himself writes : " Most of 
 them were farmers and were in satisfactory circumstances. 
 My father, showing good talents, was by his father, who also 
 was a farmer in Hirschlanden, sent as a boy to the classical 
 school at Stuttgart (Gymnasium). Afterwards he served an 
 apprenticeship in an extensive mercantile firm at Frankfort on 
 the Main, and was for a time clerk in a business in the city of 
 Erlangen, Bavaria. Returning to Stuttgart, he at last settled 
 there, doing business for himself until about 1845, when he 
 retired." 
 
 His father, John George Mann, was a prominent merchant 
 in Stuttgart, a man of broad culture, high social standing, and 
 of sincere piety, whose house was frequented by scholars, 
 poets and clergymen like Ludwig Uhland, Gustav Schwab, 
 Wilhelm and Ludwig Hofacker, Christian Adam Dann, Chris- 
 tian Gottlob Barth, Albert Knapp and others, well known 
 and held in grateful remembrance throughout the Church of 
 Wurttcmberg. There is an interesting entry in Dr. Mann's 
 early diaries referring to a criticism of his father's on the 
 Christmas sermon of one of the most popular and poetical 
 Stuttgart pulpit orators. Young Julius was enthusiastic in 
 his praise of the sermon which set forth the new-born Christ 
 as the King of men and angels, the Saviour of sinners and 
 the Lord of glory. But the father was far from being satis- 
 fied with it, saying that the famous preacher would never 
 convert one soul by his efforts. " A severe judgment," re- 
 marks Julius, "but resting on his firm and clear knowledge of 
 the true way of salvation." 
 
 For more than thirty years John George Mann was treas- 
 urer of the Wurttemberg Bible Society (having also been one 
 
of the original 15 founders of the same), and only about a 
 year before his death Dr. Mann was surprised and gratified to 
 find among the papers of Dr. Helmuth, which were given 
 to him for preservation in the Archives of Synod, a letter 
 from the Bible Society of Wurttemberg in the well known 
 hand of his father, written in answer to an appeal from Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 His mother was Augusta Friederike Gentner, daughter of 
 the Ober-Amtmann Gentner of Freudenstadt, in the Black 
 Forest, Wurttemberg. Her genealogy can be traced back to 
 ante-reformation times, and among her connections we find 
 names honorably known in the history of Wurttemberg, such 
 as the Bilfingers and Weckerlins. She was characterized by 
 a quick and lively spirit, a decidedly poetical cast of mind and 
 great fondness for reading and study. Her mother also was 
 of a literary turn, and there is still in the possession of Dr. 
 Mann's family the manuscript of a History of the Popes during 
 the Middle Ages, in two volumes, written in the firm and even 
 hand of that studious great-grandmother. Dr. Mann's own 
 opinion was that he inherited many of his characteristic quali- 
 ties from his mother. She died at Stuttgart, ten years after her 
 husband, in her 79th year, two years after his first visit to his 
 native town. 
 
 Of these parents Wm. Julius Mann was born on the 29th day 
 of May, 1 8 19, his mother's birth-day. He was the second 
 son of his father's second marriage and one of six boys, born 
 into the family, but neither he nor the brothers knew, until 
 they had reached manhood, that they were not sons of 
 the same mother, so close was the bond of love uniting them all. 
 Theirs was a peculiarly happy childhood, full of sunshine, 
 innocent fun and merriment, governed by a sympathizing, 
 loving mother who always insisted on strictest obedience, and 
 by the good counsels of a tender-hearted father, all pervaded 
 and hallowed by the spirit of a healthy and sincere Christi- 
 anity. Numerous anecdotes are preserved from this time, 
 showing some of the prominent features in the character of 
 the future man, his generosity, his noble ambition, his fond- 
 
6 
 
 ness for wit and humor, his artistic traits. Climbing to high 
 and dangerous places was one of the chief delights of little 
 Julius, and the desire to reach the top of St. Leonard's church- 
 tower haunted the very dreams of the ambitious boy. The 
 organ loft and organ were special objects of interest and 
 investigation, and he was determined to find out how to make 
 music on that mysterious and powerful instrument. 
 
 At the age of nine, little Julius was sent, in company with 
 his elder brothers, to the Latin school in Blaubeuren, a small 
 town in the neighborhood of Ulm, on the southern slopes of the 
 Suabian Alb, at the head of the river " Blau," which rises 
 there from a beautiful deep lake, called " Blautopf" (the Blue- 
 pot). It was a great change from the sunny vine-clad hills 
 and the genial climate of Stuttgart, to the barren rocks and 
 sombre woods of that secluded Alb-Valley, and from the 
 sweet atmosphere of that happy home, to the prosaic life and 
 stern discipline of the Latin school. Life's work began in 
 earnest; and the time and opportunity for learning were put 
 to good use by the industrious young scholar. Five years 
 afterwards, at the age of fourteen, he entered the Gymnasium 
 in Stuttgart, where he received his preparatory education for 
 the University. In the autumn of the year 1837, he matricu- 
 lated at the University of Tubingen, where he took the usual 
 four years' course in philosophy and theology, passing his 
 final examination in 1841. His philosophical studies during 
 the first eighteen months of his university course were more 
 or less under the influence of the Hegelian system, which at 
 that time was still supreme. And even the theology taught 
 in Tubingen at that verv time began to show the influence of 
 those ambitious followers of Hegel, who became the founders 
 and chief representatives of the so-called modern Tubingen 
 School. The ''Life of Jesus" by David Friedrich Strauss 
 had just appeared. And Dr. Christian Ferdinand Baur, the real 
 father and head of that school, was daily growing in popularity, 
 though he had not yet advanced to those extreme negative 
 positions in New Testament criticism, for which he became so 
 famous in later years. 
 
But over against these dangerous tendencies which threat- 
 ened to destroy the faith of the young theologian and to 
 unfit him for the practical ministry, the students found a 
 strong and healthy reaction in the teachings of Dr. Christian 
 Friedrich Schmidt. He was Professor of New Testament 
 Exegesis (his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans being 
 particularly praiseworthy), of Ethics and Practical Theology. 
 The manner in which he directed the homiletical and cate- 
 chetical exercises of his students was of the greatest value to 
 them. He taught them to appreciate the fullness and richness 
 of the Bible text, which they were to handle. A thorough 
 possession of the scriptural matter and a clear and logical 
 mastering of the same was his principal aim with his pupils. 
 He was a biblical theologian in the modern sense of the word, 
 and far in advance of the old supra-naturalistic school of 
 Tubingen, approaching a more positive, churchly and his- 
 torical position. Of all his professors he exercised the deep- 
 est and most abiding influence upon William Julius Mann. 
 All through his life he spoke of Dr. Schmidt with special 
 reverence and gratitude, as the man to whom he was chiefly 
 indebted for his theological training. "Dr. Schmidt," he says 
 in his diary, several years after his graduation, " seems to me 
 to be one of those rare men who understand that most diffi- 
 cult art of blending love and energy in true union." 1 
 
 In his leisure hours he cultivated his aesthetical and poeti- 
 cal gifts, and the " disjecta membra poetae " have been pre- 
 served in a neat little package containing some pretty poems, 
 partly humorous, partly of an ideal flight, full of deep and 
 tender feeling. Beside these he noted down, in the form of 
 short aphorisms, some rich and pithy statements, showing a 
 remarkably mature and thoughtful mind, pondering over the 
 most solemn problems of the human heart and life. "Regen- 
 eration,' he says in one of those leaflets, " might be repre- 
 sented as placing a bright, shining centre in the midst of the 
 darkness of the sinful heart ; sanctification as the growth of 
 
 1 An excellent sketch of Dr. Schmidt is found in the " Deutsche 
 Kirchenfreund," 1852, pp. 300 ff., written by Dr. Ph. Schaff. 
 
8 
 
 that light-centre which gradually develops into a sun. The 
 more it grows, the less it suffers the darkness of the former 
 condition to surround it." 
 
 During his vacation days he was fond of traveling, enjoy- 
 ing the beauties of nature, the treasures of art and the memo- 
 rable places of history beyond the limits of his own beautiful 
 Wurttemberg. " I confess," he says, " that ever since my 
 boyhood, I have been fond of traveling. When I was hardly 
 six years of age, I paid a first visit from my Suabian home to 
 Switzerland, across the lake of Constance, and had a narrow 
 escape, with my father and brothers, because the steamer 
 took fire on our homeward journey. When I was fifteen, I 
 wandered over the long-stretched Wurttemberg Alb to an- 
 cient castles, the homes of native princes and of the imperial 
 house of the Hohenstaufen. Soon afterwards, in company 
 with a brother, I roamed over the hills and vales of the 
 Black Forest as far as the lofty height of the Strasburg 
 Cathedral. During my University years repeated holiday 
 excursions into the mountains of Switzerland and the Tyrol 
 as far as the plain of Lombardy and the Cathedral of Milan, 
 enlarged my horizon. Our beloved river Rhine also was 
 followed from his cradle in the glaciers, down to the level 
 plains of his quiet senility." {Kirchenfrcund, 1855, p. 273). 
 The visit to Milan was, if we mistake not, the occasion for 
 his first literary effort, which was published. He wrote a 
 very happy description of the Cathedral, printed in 1843 in 
 the Jugendbloetter of Dr. Christian Gottlob Barth (1799-1862), 
 the warm friend and advocate of missions, the editor of papers 
 for the young and for the cause of foreign missions, and for 
 many years the favorite speaker at the Basel anniversaries. 
 His truly popular eloquence, his terse and pithy style, his 
 happy mixture of tenderness and humor, seem to have had a 
 special attraction for William Julius Mann, who, in many 
 characteristic features, reminded his friends strongly of the 
 celebrated Dr. Barth. It was Dr. Barth who encouraged him 
 to write, but at the same time enjoined the rule : " Short sen- 
 tences ! Children have small lungs!" We may also in this 
 
connection refer to a well-known saying of Dr. Barth, reveal- 
 ing the secret of his ability to master an almost incredible 
 amount of work. When asked how he ever managed to 
 accomplish so much, he said : " The matter is very simple : 
 I. I do one thing after another ; 2. I work quickly; 3. What 
 I am unable tu take up, I do not touch. This is the whole 
 secret." Those acquainted with Dr. Mann's way of working 
 will easily recognize the same principles as those laid down by 
 his old and venerable friend Barth. 
 
 II. FIRST WORK AS TEACHER AND PREACHER. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation, the young theologian 
 accepted a position in a private boys' school kept by Dr. 
 Hahn in the little town of Bonnigheim, Wiirttemberg. He 
 entered upon his work as a pedagogue with the full enthusi- 
 asm and energy of his nature, and the rich equipment of the 
 excellent training which he had himself received. While he 
 was strict and exacting in his demands on his pupils, and 
 consequently often enough dissatisfied and provoked by their 
 ignorance and laziness, he took special pains in studying their 
 individuality, so that he might be sure to do justice to each 
 one according to his own gifts and character. At the same 
 time he was most severe in criticizing himself, in true humility 
 esteeming all men better than himself. To work, and to work 
 hard, was a real pleasure to him. When threatened once by 
 a severe illness, he exclaims in his diary: " My God, do spare 
 me from sickness ! I am not a man that can lie still." At 
 the same time he always strongly felt the need of social 
 relaxation and the exhilarating and cheering influence of con- 
 genial friends and companions : " If I cannot at times have 
 some real fun, I cannot work, and begin to feel quite uncom- 
 fortable." 
 
 In the midst of his duties as teacher, which he discharged 
 with scrupulous fidelity, he continued his literary efforts. He 
 wrote a little story called " Die Ansiedler in Amerika " (Set- 
 tling in America), published by J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart, 
 1845. I* was written in 1843, when he could not have enter- 
 
10 
 
 tained the idea of coming himself to this country. And yet 
 in this little novel of 117 pages he gives an excellent outline 
 of the geography and history of the land which was so soon 
 to become his home. The first chapter opens with the Lord's 
 call to Abraham : " Get thee out of thy country, and from 
 thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I 
 will show thee." And the very year in which this first little 
 book of his was published, was the year of his arrival in 
 America ! 
 
 Even at this early age he composed with remarkable ease 
 and rapidity. A few dates, taken from his diary, may serve as 
 an illustration. On the 31st of October, 1843, he says: "I am 
 trying to plan a little novel belonging to the Reformation era, 
 but am still in the dark about it." On the following day, 
 November 1st, he has settled on the whole outline of his tale, 
 entitled " Xaverus Hammerschlag," and on the 2d of Novem- 
 ber he is writing away at the first pages. It was intended for 
 the more advanced youth, pre-supposing some Christian ex- 
 perience. He was particularly anxious to be successful in 
 the " psychological treatment of the characters." " This," he 
 says, "I enjoy most." In March, 1844, this work was fin- 
 ished; but he was not satisfied with it, and thought it was 
 not worth printing. 
 
 But, much as he liked the work of the educator, he soon 
 shared in the experience of many other candidates of theology 
 who, after completing their studies, began their practical life- 
 work with teaching the young. The work did not give him 
 thorough satisfaction. It was not, after all, the real ministe- 
 rial work, for which he had been educated, and to which his 
 natural gifts and talents pointed. It was his own desire, as 
 well as that of his pious father, that he should be regularly 
 engaged in ministerial work, in the position of an assistant 
 (vicarius) to some pastor. The opportunity soon offered itself 
 in that, while continuing in his position as teacher in the 
 boys' school, he was appointed assistant by the head pas- 
 tor of the town of Bonnigheim on February 5, 1844. 
 His father was highly pleased with this appointment, and 
 
11 
 
 sent him a copy of the Wurttemberg Agenda, together with 
 his hearty congratulations. In those days the young candi- 
 dates of the Lutheran Church in Wurttemberg were not 
 regularly and fully ordained to the ministry. Ordination, in 
 accordance with the strict Lutheran conception, was reserved 
 for those who were called to a regular pastorate, and was 
 connected with their installation in their first charge. Only 
 since the year 1855 the ordination of candidates who are 
 simply called and appointed as assistants {incarii) of regular 
 pastors, has been introduced. Before this, the young candi- 
 dates, on entering upon their first "vicariat" had to take a 
 solemn pledge, equivalent to an oath, before the superintend- 
 ent of the diocese, or another pastor appointed by him. Ac- 
 cording to this order, William Julius Mann, on the 20th of 
 February, 1844, solemnly pledged himself before " Diaconus" 
 Zeller in Besigheim " to follow the Holy Scriptures as the 
 rule of faith in his preaching and teaching, and never to devi- 
 ate from the form of sound evangelical doctrine, as contained 
 in the Augsburg Confession." " I gave him my hand," he 
 says, " with whole-souled conviction." 
 
 From this time he is regularly engaged in the services of 
 the sanctuary, particularly in preaching, for which he was so 
 eminently gifted. He was very conscientious in the prepara- 
 tion of his sermons, but from the very beginning found it 
 so pleasant and easy that he himself sometimes expres- 
 ses his astonishment at the rapidity with which the work 
 of sketching and writing out a sermon proceeded. With his 
 excellent memory he never had any difficulty in committing 
 them. This was- attended to while he lay in bed at night. 
 The people liked to hear him, and praised the shortness of 
 his discourses. " In this," he says, " I at least hope to give 
 satisfaction. Preaching long sermons is a bad thing, — as bad 
 as preaching too often." . On this, as on other points, he held 
 decidedly his own views, and knew how to defend them 
 against his colleagues. " I cannot dance to the piping of 
 others if I know that their playing is false." He was con- 
 vinced that there was too much preaching, while there was a 
 
12 
 
 lack of really doctrinal sermons, over against the purely- 
 emotional. " We ought to have special catechizations for the 
 adult members of the Church." In his own catechetical in- 
 struction his chief anxiety was, as the pious fathers in Halle, 
 Spener and Francke, had often expressed it, that it should 
 be a matter of the heart, and not of the head ! " Oh, that I 
 had lots of stories to illustrate each lesson, and could com- 
 mand many telling Bible passages ! " 
 
 One of the most interesting features in the notations of his 
 diaries of those days, is his special interest in the Middle 
 Ages and a marked conservatism and outspoken appreciation 
 of the liturgical part of the service. " The Middle Ages have 
 always a special attraction for me," he says ; a I am decidedly 
 conservative in my principles. The old becomes more and 
 more venerable in my estimation. Every change makes me 
 suspicious." — After one of the week-day services, in which 
 the Litany was commonly used in Wiirttemberg, and which 
 consisted simply in the reading of the Word and prayer, 
 though a short exhortation was optional with the minister, 
 he remarks : " I did not add one word to the Psalm. The 
 beautiful Litany, which is long enough in itself, I tried to 
 read as expressively as possible. Our congregations ought 
 to be much better trained to the proper mode of true churchly 
 prayers. They want to be preached to. Their intellectual 
 and religious inertia has reached such a degree that they 
 actually expect the preacher to chew the Word for them, in 
 order that they should digest it. How can these things be 
 improved? Shall we continue in this way, and preach on, 
 confirming them in their old notion, that the word of the 
 clergyman is the principal thing in the service, superior to 
 the Word of God and the prayers of the Church ? I do not 
 believe this to be the right way. Thus the congregations 
 will always cling to what is subjective, the individuality of the 
 preacher, and there is a lack of the true churchly spirit, that 
 spirit which prays for all and prays in all for the one salva- 
 tion." 
 
 His soundness in the faith and his excellent theological train 
 
13 
 
 ing are demonstrated in an essay on the " Christology of St. 
 Paul compared with that of the Epistles of St. John," which, 
 according to the standing rule in the Wiirttemberg Church, 
 he had to submit to his superintendent, in 1844, as vicarius 
 in Bonnigheim. 
 
 In the month of December, 1844, at the special request of 
 Prelate von Klaiber, he became the assistant of Rev. Eytel, 
 at Neuhausen, near Metzingen, in the beautiful Alb Valley, 
 leading up to the ancient town of Urach. He was there until 
 the 9th of July, 1845, and both the superintendent of the dio- 
 cese and the pastor, whom he assisted, testify that he quickly 
 gained general respect and confidence " by his refined man- 
 ners, his truly Christian sermons and catechizations and his 
 edifying visits to the sick." 
 
 III. COMING TO AMERICA. 
 
 But the time of his service to his native country and church 
 was soon to come to an end, and the momentous question 
 presented itself to him of leaving "his kindred and his father's 
 house," and going to a far-off country, which the Lord was 
 to show him. In the month of March, 1844, his intimate 
 friend and former schoolmate, Philip Schaff, left for America, 
 having received a call to a professorship in Mercersburg, Pa. 
 " He goes cheerfully to America," says the diary of William 
 Julius Mann, "and wants me to follow him as soon as possi- 
 ble. I am soon to have a call from a Reformed Congrega- 
 tion. If it should come, would I accept it?" 
 
 A few months later the question was put to him by his 
 American friend if he would be willing to accept a professor- 
 ship of German Literature and History at the College in 
 Mercersburg, if such a call should be extended to him. In a 
 letter written January 31st, 1845, he declares himself ready, 
 with the full consent of his parents to follow such a call, and 
 expresses a desire to have popular lectures on chemistry, 
 physics and geology, included in his work. 
 
 In May 1845, Dr. Ph. Schaff wrote to him from his Western 
 home : " If I were in your position, I would not, with my 
 
14 
 
 knowledge of America, hesitate to come to this country. In 
 Wiirttemberg candidates are anxiously looking out for con- 
 gregations ; here congregations are longing for candidates. 
 There you are hemmed in on all sides in your work, here we 
 have absolute freedom. True, this is poison for those who 
 serve the flesh, but it is a heavenly gift for those who know 
 how to use it for the honor of God and the building up of 
 His Kingdom. There it looks like autumn ; here every thing 
 is fresh and green. I admit there is still a terrible chaos in 
 all church matters, but we have here an immense material for 
 a grand, new epoch in the history of the Church. The Ger- 
 mans, especially in the West, are in the worst condition; they 
 are consequently most in need of help, and the future of this 
 republic depends in great measure on the proper training and 
 Christianizing of our countrymen. This the Anglo-Ameri- 
 cans themselves begin to see, and they look, therefore, with 
 greatest interest upon every thing that is done among .the 
 Germans and for the Germans. Even if the German pro- 
 fessorship should come to nothing, you would be a most use- 
 ful man as a German pastor. Of course one cannot expect 
 just to settle down for a comfortable life in a congregation. 
 But the men that have no courage and delight in denying 
 themselves and suffering for the Lord's sake, are unfit for the 
 ministry in the Old World as well as in the New. Whoever 
 is filled with missionary zeal and ready to be satisfied with 
 little in the beginning, not afraid of any kind of deprivations 
 and sacrifices and willing to gather the scattered Germans into 
 congregations, finds here an immense field of labor and will 
 become a blessing to thousands. It is really a shame that 
 in Germany there are so many candidates standing idle in the 
 marketplace, whilst here multitudes of their countrymen are 
 wandering about like sheep without a shepherd or are falling a 
 prey to ravening wolves. Come over and help us ! I do not mean 
 to urge you, on account of the responsibility I would have to 
 assume. For the same reason I do not hold out brilliant 
 prospects to you. The life of the Christian here as well as 
 with you, is a chain of self-denials and sacrifices and in the 
 
New World the principle rules as well as in the Old, that we 
 must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of 
 God. Those candidates who look upon the ministerial office 
 simply as the cow which is to furnish them with milk and 
 butter, had better stay in Germany. They would only create 
 trouble in this country and would be disappointed in finding 
 the cow not as fat as they expected. For, God be praised, 
 the people here have sufficient taste and judgment, to find the 
 gospel more interesting than the diluted common morality 
 and respectability of rationalism. But I am confident that if 
 you come, you will come with a missionary spirit, and will 
 never lose sight of that great and glorious aim, the building 
 up of the Kingdom of God and the training of the young. May 
 God put His counsel into your heart and overrule all for 
 yourself and your dear ones to the honor of His glorious 
 name." 
 
 Long before this letter reached him, Wm. Julius Mann had 
 made up his mind, to follow his friend to America. In July 
 1845, he left Neuhausen and spent a few weeks with his family 
 in Stuttgart. His brother Adolph had decided to become a 
 missionary and had entered the missionary institute in Basel, 
 and consequently the parents had to give up two sons at the 
 same time, one for America, the other as a missionary whose 
 life-work was to be in Africa. But they made the double 
 sacrifice, though with bleeding hearts, yet with the full assur- 
 ance that it was the Lord's way and will. For His sake they 
 were ready and willing to part from their beloved sons. It 
 was a parting for life from the father, as far as Julius was con- 
 cerned, but to the loving mother a reunion with both sons 
 was granted shortly before her death. 
 
 August the 16th, Wm. Julius Mann left Stuttgart together 
 with his brother Adolph, who, on his way to Basel, accom- 
 panied him as far as Strassburg. The original plan had been 
 to travel via Bremen, but it was changed to the route Strass- 
 burg-Paris-Havre, in order to have the company of a young 
 alumnus of the Missionary Institute of Basel, J. G. Zahner, 
 whose destination was also Mercersbunr. Paris was reached 
 
16 
 
 on the 19th. After a week's sojourn, the travellers continued 
 on their way to Havre via Rouen. On the 9th of September 
 they embarked in the " Havre," and on the 9th of October 
 they landed in New York, where Mr. Mann was cordially 
 welcomed by Gustav Schwab. 
 
 From there the journey was continued via Philadelphia to 
 York, where the Reformed Synod was in session from the 
 1 6th to the 23d of October. There he met his friend, Dr. 
 Schaff, and made the acquaintance of Dr. Nevin and other 
 coryphees of the German Reformed Church. On the 24th, 
 Mercersburg was reached, for the present the end of his 
 wanderings. 
 
 IV. IN THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 The expectation of having a professorship established in 
 Mercersburg, which would have connected him permanently 
 with those institutions of the Reformed Church, was not re- 
 alized. But during the few months of his sojourn there he 
 delivered lectures to the students on German Literature and 
 Universal History. His treatment of the latter made a deep 
 and lasting impression on his hearers, and a number of them 
 requested him to allow them to translate his manuscript for 
 publication in the English language. This encouraged him 
 to continue the work down to the time of the French Revo- 
 lution. Of this " Manual of Universal History," a few frag- 
 ments were published in the Mercersburg Review of Septem- 
 ber and November 1849 and January 1850. The translation 
 was made by J. S. E. (Ermentrout) but did not give much 
 satisfaction to the author of the original. 
 
 Before the close of his first year in America, he received a call 
 to the German Reformed Salem's Congregation in Philadelphia, 
 as assistant of its aged pastor, Dr. Bibighaus, whose acquaint- 
 ance he had made at the Synod in York. On the 1 8th day 
 of January, 1846, his father's birthday, he preached his first 
 sermon in Salem's Church, and on May 17th, 1846, he was 
 formally ordained by Rev. F. Bibighaus and Rev. C. R. Kessler. 
 For nearly four years he served in that congregation, drawing 
 
17 
 
 large audiences by his eloquent sermons, and discharging 
 faithfully, the arduous duties of his position. The burden of 
 all the ministerial work soon fell upon him, and in spite of his 
 willingness and indefatigable zeal he sometimes found it al- 
 most too much for his strength. " Oh, the many words with 
 so few thoughts," he lamented once at a Christmas season, 
 when he had nine sermons to preach in eleven days. The truth 
 is, he was, at the very outset, in danger of being over-worked 
 and consequently a feeling of discouragement and loneliness 
 sometimes overtook him. This depression was aggra- 
 vated by the lack of congenial and sympathizing friends which 
 was deeply felt by him during his first years in Philadelphia. 
 It is true, Dr. Demme, the revered pastor of St. Michael's 
 and Zion's Lutheran Congregations and the recognized leader 
 of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, could not fail to appreciate 
 the talents and the high character of the rising young theo- 
 logian, even at the time when he belonged to Salem's Church. 
 From the very beginning of their acquaintance he treated 
 him with great kindness and showed him special confidence. 
 But weeks and sometimes months passed without their meet- 
 ing, and the modesty and delicicy of Mr. Mann's feelings 
 made him carefully avoid anything that might have been con- 
 strued as looking to his own future interests in cultivating Dr. 
 Demme's friendship. He would not listen to outside offers, 
 but faithfully stood at his post, though his impression was, 
 that he was laboring in vain for better churchly ways and 
 order, against a spirit of Methodism with its narrowness and 
 superficiality, which pervaded the congregation. Many did 
 not understand his preaching at all ; others, while they helped 
 to swell his audiences, would not do anything for the church 
 and the congregation. " The life of an American pastor," he 
 wrote in these days to his friend Dr. Schaff, is truly " a lamen- 
 tation." " Scripture saith that it is good for a man to bear 
 the yoke in his youth, but then they counted men of 70 and 80 
 years fresh and young like Abraham and Methuselah. For I 
 see, the bearing of the yoke will hardly cease before we reach 
 these years." 
 
18 
 
 In May 1849, he was chosen to represent his classis at the 
 meeting of Synod. He was deeply impressed with this ap- 
 pointment, not as a gratification of personal ambition, but as 
 an illustration of the peculiar and magnetic character of his 
 adopted country, which proved such a power of assimilating 
 strange elements and putting them to useful work. He also 
 recognized in his election an evidence, that the more conser- 
 vative, churchly and historical views which had of late ob- 
 tained in the Reformed Church had a fair prospect of holding 
 their own against more subjective and fanatical tendencies. 
 
 The process of Americanization in the best sense of the 
 word, was rather rapid in his case, and in that of his friend 
 Dr. Schaff, as we may readily understand, considering the solid 
 learning, the broad culture, the wide horizon and the thorough 
 philosophical training which both brought with them to Am- 
 erica. Nor did he even at that early stage of his American 
 life escape the scathing criticism of those who held it to be 
 the duty of all true Germans in America to unite in building 
 the grand dome of a Utopian New Germany. In 1845, a 
 brother of the famous Dr. Hengstenberg in Berlin, Candidate 
 Edward Hengstenberg, visited this country. Mr. Mann met 
 him in Mercersburg and was well pleased with a sermon 
 which he heard him preach there. In March 1847, the Evan- 
 gtiischc Kirchenzeitung contained the following reference to 
 Mr. Mann from the pen of said Candidate of Theology : 
 "Many, even among those who brought a solid German edu- 
 cation to America, and at first most decidedly and powerfully 
 stood up for the German interests, afterward, if not down- 
 right renegades, become more and more lukewarm, gradually 
 yielding to the American influences, by which they are sur- 
 rounded. As an illustration of the power which the Ameri- 
 can mind exercises over Germans of solid education, the 
 writer refers to one of his American acquaintances. He ar- 
 rived in America at the same time with him. He was a 
 Wurttemberg theologian, of thorough theological and philoso- 
 phical training, a gentleman of high intellect, a genius, who 
 did his own thinking, and at the same time 'gemutlich,' after 
 
19 
 
 the German, yea, Suabian type. The writer met him again 
 after the lapse of a year, to find that he had taken a com- 
 pletely American turn, all his sympathies were with American 
 ways ; even to his tongue, English came more readily than 
 German (!). He continually addressed the writer, in spite of 
 his protest against this treason (!), in the English language, 
 yea, to mention this characteristic feature, he even spoke 
 English in his sleep." (Evang..Kirchenzeitung, 1847. P. 244). 
 
 V. LITERARY WORK. THE KIRCHENFREUND. 
 
 More satisfaction than in the pastoral work of the Reformed 
 congregation, was found by Mr. Mann in the literary activity 
 to which he was stimulated by Dr. Schaff, as a contributor and 
 co-editor of the monthly " Deutcher Kirchenfreund" from 
 1848 to 1859. It was indeed a bold enterprise on which 
 these two enthusiastic young German Theologians launched 
 out, the one Reformed, the other Lutheran, both loving each 
 other and loving their Lord, both beginners in this new 
 country, thoroughly imbued with what was best in German 
 Theology, and at the same time warm admirers of America 
 and true prophets of her great future in the history of nations 
 and of the kingdom of God. In these days of first class 
 printing facilities all around, we can hardly realize even the 
 mechanical difficulties against which that devoted and self- 
 forgetting par nobile fratrum struggled. More than once it 
 happened, that Dr. Schaff had to take the compositor's place 
 when in the little country town of Mercersburg no capable 
 workman could be found! And where were the German 
 readers educated enough to enjoy and appreciate such a 
 monthly? Where the clergymen of sufficient theological 
 and philosophical training to understand and support the mis- 
 sion of this journal, which, while equally unsatisfactory to a 
 strict confessionalism, and an unprincipled indifferentism, pro- 
 posed,to be a real friend of all that was truly churchly in the 
 German Churches of America ? Though the well-known union 
 istic motto : " In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omni- 
 bus caritas," might frighten off some scrupulous churchmen, 
 2 
 
20 
 
 there is no gainsaying that the " Deutscher Kirchenfreund" 
 did some splendid work in the interest of a truly conservative 
 Christianity everywhere and particularly among the Lutherans, 
 whom it beckoned back to their historical rock from which they 
 were hewn, and whom it warned most faithfully against the hol- 
 low pretensions of American Pseudo-Lutheranism. The Kirch- 
 enfreund was followed in 1849 by the Mercersburg Review , that 
 strong exponent of a historical catholic Protestantism. Dr. 
 Nevin, the leading spirit of that movement, was intimate with 
 Mr. Mann, and greatly admired by him as a "true German 
 theologian." Several of Mr. Mann's articles for the Kirchen- 
 freund were also published in the Mercersburg Review 
 (Ecclesiastical Tendencies, July 1850, The Immigration, 
 November 1850). Both the Kirchenfreund arid Mercersburg 
 Review assisted in paving the way for the " Evangelical Re- 
 view," which also appeared in 1849, tne fi rst timid swallow 
 announcing the approach of a new spring-time of conserva- 
 tive Lutheranism in the East. 
 
 As early as January 1847, Mr. Mann encouraged his friend 
 in Mercersburg and promised vigorous assistance in the new 
 undertaking. But at the same time, faithful to his lifelong 
 principle: " Not to go into the water beyond his depth," he 
 freely expressed also his fears and doubts, whether the whole 
 thing was not somewhat premature. Besides, his preference 
 was for a political paper, weekly or daily, read by thousands 
 and tens of thousands, and teaching them to read the daily 
 events of history with the eyes of a Christian. But waiving 
 his personal opinions, he entered heart and soul upon the 
 work of writing for the Kirchenfreund, with " the pen of a 
 ready writer," as he often said. 
 
 He opened his contributions with a series of not less than 
 nine ponderous articles on the " Church of the Present Time" 
 (February, 184S, to July, 1849). During the twelve years of 
 his connection with the Kirchenfreund — half of this time as 
 editor-in-chief — his papers cover probably the widest range 
 of subjects ever treated in such a journal by one man. Here 
 we find from year to year a most comprehensive and instruc- 
 
21 
 
 tive survey of the whole political constellation of the time, no 
 event of any importance and significance in the historical de- 
 velopment at home or abroad being overlooked ; there are 
 literary sketches (Schiller, 1859); philosophical (Jacob Boehm, 
 1853; Schelling, 1854), and theological essays, including every 
 branch of that wide field. We give only a few illustrations 
 from the different departments : Exegetical (Romans 1 to 7, 
 1858); dogmatical (Thoughts on the Doctrine of the Church, 
 1857); ethical (Religion, Nature and Matrimony, 1859; Chris- 
 tianity and the Theatre, 1857); clmrch-historical (The Peace 
 of Augsburg of 1555, 1855; The Ecclesiastical and Religious 
 Condition of Wurttemberg, 1855; History of the Jews after 
 Christ, 1859); liturgical (The New Lutheran Hymn-book of 
 the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, 1850; Liturgy or Extem- 
 pore Prayer in Public Service? 1853; The German Reformed 
 Church and the Liturgical Question, 1858; On the History 
 of Confirmation, 1856); pastoral (Theses on Ordination, 1854; 
 Synods, 1854; Pastoral Conferences, 1857); congregational 
 (Pew-renting, 1856; Church Choirs, 1855); catechetical (Cate- 
 chization, 1858); devotional (Bible Pictures, 1849; Spiritual 
 Crumbs, [850; The Unjust Steward, 1855); apologetical and 
 polemical (The German Press in America, 1850 ; Christmas 
 and the American Presbyterian, 1857); educational (Universi- 
 ties and their Influence on the National Life, 1852; The 
 Amalgamation of National Traits, 1855; German and English, 
 1856). 
 
 Well might Dr. Schaff, at the close of the first year, pay a 
 glowing tribute to the friend in these touching words: "With 
 deep emotion and with adoration of the wonderful ways of 
 God, we record our special thanks to one of our contributors, 
 in whose company years ago we wandered through the 
 cheerful scenes of Hellas and Latium and the sombre halls 
 of German philosophy and theology. The early bonds of 
 friendship have lasted beyond the days of Stuttgart and of 
 Tubingen. The simple, great word with which we parted 
 ten years ago : ' The Lord be between me and Thee,' has 
 been our guiding star; and now — per varios casus, per tot 
 
22 
 
 discrimina rerum — we are united again in the new world for 
 new work in ' the Church of the Present,' for new hopes for 
 the Church of the future. Under the guidance of the Lord 
 the former home has become strange to us, and the strange 
 land has become a home. The Church of the living God, 
 who has a great people even in America, is truly the be- 
 lievers' fatherland ; wherever it is, there the spring of life 
 pours forth, there the arch of peace stretches its bow, there 
 the gates of heaven are opened." (K. Frd., 1848, pp. 382, 383.) 
 
 VI. IN ST. MICHAEL'S AND ZION'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 During Mr. Mann's pastorate in Salem's Reformed Con- 
 gregation he often had among his hearers many of the most 
 prominent and active members of St. Michael's and Zion's 
 Lutheran congregation. The families with whom he became 
 more intimately acquainted and in whose homes he enjoyed 
 his few hours of leisure and recreation, such as the Schmauks 
 and the Rommels, belonged to the Lutheran Church. His 
 theological and pastoral associations and sympathies had all 
 along been more with Dr. Demme than with the pastors of 
 the Reformed Church. He had repeatedly preached for Dr. 
 Demme and for Rev. G. A. Rc'chert in St. Paul's and St. 
 Michael's, and consequently his gifts as a pulpit orator were 
 well known and highly appreciated in the old congregation. 
 His own theological position had always been essentially 
 Lutheran, though, of course, in the beginning not as clearly 
 defined and strongly pronounced as it grew under the influ- 
 ence of subsequent conflicts. In looking around for a suita- 
 ble assistant for Dr. Demme, it was only natural that the 
 vestry of Zion's congregation should think of Mr. Mann, 
 whom they all knew, and whose personal relations to Dr. 
 Demme were of the most pleasant character. On the 1 8th 
 of September, "being fully convinced that Mr. Mann was 
 animated by the spirit of our Lutheran Church," and " having 
 learned that he would be willing to join the Synod of Penn- 
 sylvania," the vestry of the Lutheran Mother Church of 
 Philadelphia unanimously elected him assistant pastor. Octo- 
 
23 
 
 ber 7th he presented his resignation to Dr. Biebighaus. On 
 October 15th he informed the President of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania of the call he had 
 received, saying that he would apply for admission to the 
 Ministerium at the next convention. With reference to his 
 former connection with the Reformed Church, he says: This 
 step had been taken ''out of consideration for a dear friend, 
 who felt assured that I would not be expected to do anything 
 against my conscience and my conviction. With my present 
 knowledge of church matters in this country, there are other 
 and higher considerations which lead me to embrace an op- 
 portunity of joining again the Evangelical Lutheran Church; 
 and it is the desire of my heart to serve this church in which 
 I was born, and to which I owe my training and education, 
 as the Lord in His goodness will give me strength and wisdom." 
 Having received a favorable reply from President Richards, he 
 at once announced to the vestry of Zion's Church his accept- 
 ance of their call. On the 4th of November he preached his 
 first sermon in Zion's Church, on 2 Tim. 2 : 3, and four 
 years afterwards, when Rev. G. A. Reichert resigned (Janu- 
 ary, 1854), he was elected regular pastor of the congregation 
 by a vote of 237 (Easter Monday, 1854). His solemn instal- 
 lation took place on April 23d, when Dr. Demme, with a 
 heart overflowing with joy, and with touching and eloquent 
 words, presented him to the congregation as his full colleague 
 in the ministry of that historical church. He was, in a direct 
 line from the Patriarch Muhlenberg, the fifth pastor of that 
 congregation. It is a remarkable fact that all the prominent 
 pastors of that church served it for about the period of one 
 whole generation. Muhlenberg, Demme and Mann, the three 
 greatest of them, covered a century with their ministrations 
 in the old church. And what an amount of time and physical 
 endurance the pastoral work required at that time, when 
 the members of the congregation were scattered over the 
 whole territory of the large city, and the pastor had to be in 
 every quarter without the easy and comfortable street-car 
 facilities which we now enjoy! His diary mentions almost 
 
24 
 
 incredible feats of pastoral work performed in those days : 
 Six miles of walking besides the two sermons on a Sunday 
 when the thermometer ranged from 93 to 100 degrees in the 
 shade! 12, yea 16 funerals in one week! Once 5 in one day! 
 No wonder that during the summer of (853, when Dr. 
 Demme was in Europe for the restoration of his health, Mr. 
 Mann was prostrated with sickness during the months of 
 July and August. Fortunately Rev. C. Guenther, a young 
 candidate of theology from Wurttemberg, whose acquaintance 
 Mr. Mann had made at the meeting of the General Synod in 
 Winchester, was willing to remain in Philadelphia, instead of 
 going to Berlin, as his intention had been, to act as Mr. 
 Mann's assistant. . During the few months of his service he 
 won the affection and confidence of the congregation to such 
 a degree that he would have been elected assistant pastor on 
 Mr. Reichert's resignation; but he felt himself bound to return 
 to the service of his native church in Wurttemberg. 
 
 Mr. Mann's work in Zion's congregation may best be told 
 in his own words, as he described it in his farewell sermon, 
 preached November 16, 1884: I am bold to say that I took 
 up my work among you with joy and cheerfulness. And you 
 yourselves gave me much encouragement in it. There was, 
 indeed, no lack of work. As assistant pastor, my Sunday 
 services only consisted in catechization and sermon in the 
 afternoon and evening. During the winter (1850 to 185 1), 
 on Sunday mornings, I crossed over to Camden, and began 
 to preach in a hall there for the German Lutherans of that 
 city. It was, indeed, a small and weak beginning. But after- 
 wards it grew into a flourishing congregation, now in charge 
 of the Rev. J. Dizinger. Here in Philadelphia our congrega- 
 tion was constantly growing, inasmuch as German immigra- 
 tion was particularly strong in those days. The congregation 
 extended at that time over the whole city. Its members lived 
 not only in the central part, where old Zion's and the still 
 older St. Michael's Church were located, but also in the 
 north, south and west. In the " Northern Liberties," where 
 in 1830 St. Paul's Church was erected, with regular Sunday 
 
25 
 
 services, long before this, parish schools with several divi- 
 sions had been established as in connection with the other 
 churches. Afterwards such schools were established in the 
 territory where, in 1856, St. James' Church was built by our 
 congregation; likewise in the southern part of the city, as 
 also in the western section at Fairmount Avenue and Thir- 
 teenth Street. All these schools had to be visited, and their 
 affairs had to be considered and attended to in the meetings 
 of the School Committee. Besides, the members of the con- 
 gregation lived in all parts of the city, and, as far as I know, 
 no one ever has charged me with neglecting my sick. There 
 were at that time no facilities as at present for riding through 
 this large city; and I have surely made hundreds of miles on 
 foot in every direction. . . . 
 
 There has been no lack of care and toil through all these 
 years. Between 1850 and i860, Philadelphia was repeatedly 
 ravaged by cholera. The yellow fever also demanded its 
 victims in the southern sections of the city. I remember, 
 that in one year I attended two hundred and sixty-six funerals; 
 once sixteen in one week, while four others had to be refused 
 for want of time. Once in a cold winter-afternoon I had 
 four coffins 1 before me in the cemetery, those persons having 
 died of spotted fever, which was at that time the scourge of 
 the northeastern part of the city. Often enough in the dis- 
 charge of my pastoral duties, have I come into contact with 
 all kinds of diseases but never have I been attacked. I say this 
 here because there are still found such unreasonable people 
 who think, that a pastor has nothing to do through the week 
 but prepare his sermon for Sunday, and then his work is done. 
 
 In the course of years a new and important duty arose for 
 our congregation, which had grown to be very large. Our 
 schools had become an attraction to many, inducing parents 
 to join the congregation. They certainly did a great deal of 
 good to many children, and the congregation had teachers in 
 them whose memory will be blessed for ever. But it was be- 
 coming more and more difficult, to govern in peace and quiet - 
 1 The diary says "five." 
 
2G 
 
 ness this large congregation, spread over the whole city and to 
 provide properly for its spiritual wants and improvement. 
 The members living around the schools in the different sec- 
 tions of the city soon found the way too far to the churches 
 in the centre of the city. They were anxious to have their 
 own churches. It is well known that the immigrant popu- 
 lation, especially in our large cities, is not blessed with means, 
 particularly in those first years when the start is made in the 
 New World. Ground and material for building, as well as 
 labor, are very expensive. The outcome was, that the con- 
 gregation bought the cemetery in Hart Lane, which is at 
 present used by our German Lutheran congregations of Phila- 
 delphia, while the old cemeteries belonging to the congrega- 
 tion were evacuated and sold; the one in Fifth and Cherry 
 around old St. Michael's Church had become available already 
 in the beginning of the fifties ; the other covered the ground 
 on which our new Zion's Church stands together with the 
 adjoining houses from Franklin to Eighth street. With 
 the money realized by these sales, St. Paul's Church, and St. 
 Johannis at Fifteenth and Ogden — also the church on Fourth 
 and Carpenter street were provided for; they all have now 
 their own beautiful churches and are flourishing, inde- 
 pendent congregations. Old Zion's Church and old St. 
 Michael's were also sold, and on Sunday, September nth, 
 1870, we solemnly entered this new and beautiful house of 
 God. (Zion's Church in Franklin Square). 
 
 My idea had been, that after the division of the large con- 
 gregation into its different sections, the new congregations, 
 had been accomplished in 1867, — and this was really the most 
 significant event in the nearly 150 years of its history — only 
 a small fraction of the whole would remain for my pastoral 
 ministrations. But I was mistaken in this, as in many other 
 things. Certainly our new Zion's Church is a large building, 
 and to me it seemed somewhat too large. But I rejoiced in 
 my heart on seeing it nicely filled. Many people joined us only 
 at this time ; and many dear old members, whole families, who 
 lived at a great distance from the church, were unwilling to 
 
27 
 
 leave the old congregation to which they had been attached 
 so long. 
 
 It is a matter of course that one cannot forget a congrega- 
 tion to which thirty-four years of work, the best strength of 
 our life, have been given. Much less is this possible, if one 
 has been happy in the midst of such a congregation. And 
 this has been my case among you, particularly during the last 
 seventeen years, since we formed a separate congregation for 
 ourselves. When I remember how I went out and in among 
 you, my soul is filled with love to you and gratitude toward 
 God. I was deeply moved, when, some time ago, an old 
 and faithful member of the congregation said to me : " We 
 find it so hard to part from you, because you have been to us 
 not only our pastor but also the friend of our house." And 
 I have been kindly received wherever I went and knocked at 
 the door. A thousand times I shared with you your hours of 
 happiness and your days of sorrow ; the pastor being particu- 
 larly called upon, to rejoice with them that do rejoice and to 
 weep with them that weep. Looking back upon the thirty- 
 four years of my work among you, the question proposes it- 
 self: ''What have I really accomplished during this long 
 period? What is in reality the result and gain for eternity?" 
 And this question is enough to humble me and bow me down 
 and take away any inclination to glory. And yet, I may say, 
 that while in younger years I had no special desire for preach- 
 ing, I have been most happy in this particular function of my 
 ministerial office. The Apostle truly says, " If a man desire 
 the office of a bishop he desireth a good work." I know it 
 and may testify to it as a matter of fact, that in no other call- 
 ing I would have had the same inward satisfaction, which I 
 enjoyed in my office as preacher and pastor. Whether you 
 understand me or not, I know, that in the pulpit I spent my 
 happiest hours. It is a most glorious privilege to testify of 
 the unspeakable love of God, to encourage the souls of men 
 to take hold of Christ by faith and to walk in the way of life. 
 There lies behind us all that is temporal, worldly, vain and 
 perishable, deceptive and charming to the senses. There the 
 
28 
 
 power of truth and of the eternal takes hold of us. The 
 treasures of the word of God are opened up to us, and we drink 
 of the water springing up into everlasting life. 
 
 VII. IN THE MINISTERIUM OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 On June 17th, 1851, at Allentown, Pa., Wm. Julius Mann, 
 together with the Rev. Dr. C. F. Schaefer, was received into 
 the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, which 
 at that time numbered some seventy pastors. The Synod 
 was not long in recognizing the value of the acquisition made 
 by his reception, and beginning with that very year we find 
 that there was no position of confidence and prominence in 
 Synod, to which his ministerial brethren did not cheerfully 
 call him. On the most important points the action of Synod 
 was framed and moved by him. He was charged with an 
 explanation of Luther's Catechism, known afterwards under 
 the name of the Benner Catchism (185 1). During the winter 
 1862 to 1863, in company with his intimate friend, the Rev. 
 G. F. Krotel. who, to his great joy had accepted a call to St. 
 Mark's English Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, he prepared 
 another, fuller exposition which was and still is widely used by 
 our pastors in their catechetical instruction. He did the prin- 
 cipal work in the preparation of the prayers for families and 
 individuals, appended to the Pennsylvania Liturgy of 1855. 
 For many years he was chairman of the Examining Com- 
 mittee. In 1854 he was nominated by the Synod and after- 
 wards unanimously elected by the Board of Directors, as 
 German Professor in Gettysburg. He was himself appointed 
 one of the Directors of the Theological Seminary in Gettys- 
 burg, which position he resigned in 1859. He was a 
 member of the Committee for the German Liturgy and also of 
 the so called Orphan Committee ; later on for many years a 
 faithful Trustee of the Orphans' Home in Germantown. In 
 his office as Archivarius he brought order into the chaotic 
 mass of Synodical papers from the last century to the present 
 time, and arranged them in the most systematic manner, so 
 that it has become an easy and pleasant task for the students 
 
29 
 
 of our history to handle and investigate any of those import- 
 ant documents. In i860, as a comparatively young man 
 among many aged fathers he was elected President, and most 
 vigorously did he in his very first official report stand up for 
 order, discipline, and loyalty to the cause of Lutheranism, 
 as will be seen from the following extract : 
 
 " As long as the constitutions of many congregations open 
 the way to ecclesiastical and official irregularities ; as long as 
 our church members have unsettled views in regard to what 
 are sound Lutheran and churchly principles in faith and prac- 
 tice, and in regard to the best measures for effectually pro- 
 moting the kingdom of God ; as long as ministers differ so 
 widely among themselves in important questions relating to 
 the sacred office, and to what is becoming to bearers of the 
 same; as long as the parts appeal to their rights and liberties, 
 in opposition to the whole and to its spirit, and even threaten 
 to secede, at pleasure, from Synod ; and finally, as long as our 
 Conferences do not exercise an authoritative influence in regu- 
 lating the order and adjusting the local difficulties of the con- 
 gregations belonging to them ; it will be in vain to expect that 
 the office of the President, which in the nature of the case is 
 deprived of all executive power, will be able to protect the 
 Synod in the vigorous maintenance of order and the true spirit 
 of Lutheranism, no matter what additional prerogatives you 
 may secure to it." 
 
 In the difficult and delicate questions concerning the con- 
 fessional position of the Synod and the rights of German and 
 English, he endeavored to act as a mediator between extreme 
 tendencies, faithful to the principle, which we often heard from 
 his lips : " Republics are governed by compromises," and 
 which, in those earlier years, he was willing also to apply not 
 only to questions of ecclesiastical policy, but even to the doc- 
 trinal and confessional standing of the Ministerium. In 
 1852 Synod had appointed a committee to report " on the sense 
 in which this Body employs the expression ' Confessions of the 
 Evangelical Lutheran Church.' " At the meeting in Reading, 
 1853, Dr. C. F. Schaefer reported in behalf of this committee. 
 
30 
 
 He gave an extended historical account of the Confessions and 
 of the relation of the Church to them, and closed the report 
 with a resolution, embodying an obligation to the Confessions, 
 clear, unequivocal and without reserve. The great body of 
 the members were prepared for themselves to adopt it, but re- 
 gard to the consciences of weaker brethren made them hesi- 
 tate. At this point Mr. Mann acted as mediator for the time, 
 offering some resolutions which, while expressing a high esti- 
 mate of the Confessions, did not really give them a positively 
 obligatory character. They were unanimously adopted. Dr. 
 C. F. Schaefer in his bitter disappointment comforted himself 
 with the thought, that the action of Synod was "suited to a 
 state of reconvalescence, and a flattering indication that the 
 Apostles' strong meat could soon be safely substituted for 
 milk." (See memorial of Chas. Fred. Schaefer, D.D., published 
 by the Alumni Association, 1880. Also "The Confession of 
 the Evangelical Lutheran Church," by Chas. F. Schaeffer, D.D., 
 Evangelical Review, Oct. 1853, Page 189, ff.) 
 
 In 1856 Mr. Mann presented to the Ministerium an import- 
 ant paper " On the Ministerial Office," in which he took strong 
 ground against the system of Licensure as heretofore prac- 
 ticed in Synod, proving its unscriptural and unlutheran char- 
 acter. This led to the abolishment of this whole institution on 
 the motion of Rev. G. F. Krotel (1857) "That in future the 
 Ministerium consist only of ordained ministers, and all worthy 
 applicants be admitted to ordination." 
 
 VIII. IN THE GENERAL SYNOD. 
 In 1 853, two years after Mr. Mann's reception into the Synod 
 of Pennsylvania, this body resumed its official connection with 
 the General Synod, and during the short period of this re- 
 union, 1 85 3-1 866, we find his name prominent among the 
 delegates who represented the Ministerium of Pennsylvania at 
 the conventions of the General Synod. He was elected in 
 1853 for the meeting in Winchester, Va. The journey to and 
 first sight of Virginia, the entertainment in Mr. Jacob Baker's 
 family, the intercourse with Drs. Chas. Philip Krauth and 
 
31 
 
 H. I. Schmidt were a source of much delight to him. He 
 seemed inclined to take rather a hopeful view of the prospects 
 of Lutheranism within the General Body which certainly at 
 that time was nearer than ever to the realization of those 
 ardent expectations, which looked for a speedy union of all 
 Lutherans in one common organization. " There is," says his 
 diary, "a great deal of indefiniteness and obscurity on distinc- 
 tive Lutheran principles, with an undeniable desire for unity. 
 The Methodistic tendency is declining and the leaders of that 
 movement are losing their influence." To Dr. Ph. Schaff he 
 writes (see Kirchenfreund, 1853, p. 282): " I rejoiced before 
 over the reunion of our old Pennsylvania Synod with the 
 General Synod, and now I rejoice even more. The value of 
 the thing I do not find in the resolutions of the General 
 Synod whatever they may be. It is at any rate without 
 truly organizing authority. Nor do I fail to appreciate the im- 
 portant influence which this body must exercise through its 
 missionary and education society. " There must be a greater 
 future for the General Synod and the Lutheran Church, if 
 calmness, dignity, forbearance and charity will continue to 
 reign. For the present the most important thing to me is the 
 influence which such an assembly of representatives of so 
 many parts of the Lutheran Church in this country must ex- 
 ercise in itself. Such a large convention impresses you with 
 the importance of the Lutheran branch on the tree of God's 
 kingdom. It inspires courage to see such a concentration of 
 prominent, personal abilities. You find that the Church com- 
 mands a considerable force of intelligence, culture, learning 
 and talent. You feel that however much they may differ in 
 their personal aims and preferences, they are all one in their 
 hearty love for the Church of Luther. Brethren have an op- 
 portunity of mingling in close intercourse and coming to a 
 better understanding, and whoever has his eyes opened and is 
 able to compare the past and the present may learn within a 
 few days, to his astonishment, which direction the main current 
 of churchly Lutheran life will take in the future. Altogether 
 tkere is abundant opportunity given in these days to find out 
 
32 
 
 the folly of those, who while in vain trying to hold on to ex- 
 treme positions, spend their strength in favor of stereotyping 
 certain things in the Church which have outlived themselves 
 within one generation. The narrow traditional conceptions of 
 Christianity are a thing of the past. The Church of Christ 
 must not be turned either into a Procrustean bed, nor into a 
 couch of laziness. We can certainly observe on all sides a spirit of 
 inquiry after clear, solid principles for a truly religious and 
 churchly life. And we find in it a testimony that Protestantism 
 is able to renew its strength, because it does not acknowledge, 
 either in life or in doctrine, the miserable principle of perfection 
 which excludes improvement. If I may add one word yet with 
 reference to our transactions in Winchester, I must say that 
 they were pervaded by a delightful spirit of dignity and charity 
 which springs from the fact that we breathe a higher life, that 
 we are conscious of the sacredness of our cause and that we 
 mutually respect each other." 
 
 At the next convention "of the General Synod in Dayton, 
 Ohio (1855), Mr. Mann was present, not however as a delegate, 
 but simply as a visitor for about two days. He wrote a very 
 full account of his impressions in the Kirchenfreund {Blaetter 
 aits dem Wanderbuche, 1855, p. 385 f.) : "I have no desire," 
 he says, " to add anything to the judgments of praise or blame 
 bestowed upon this convention. If denominationalism is a 
 praise, it has proved itself highly wprthy of it. These people 
 mean it well enough with the Lutheran Church after their own 
 fashion. They are anxious that she should be improved by 
 enlarging her territory as much as possible ; that nothing 
 should be lost of the material which she can claim by right of 
 history and nationality, but that her members should be gath- 
 ered, missionary work carried on among them, congregations 
 organized and churches built. There is a great zeal to expand 
 the denomination, to make it large and respectable as it natu- 
 rally ought to be considering the vast material of immigrant and 
 native Lutherans. But alas ! as if the ' nomen ' were everything ! 
 Certainly the name is the most characteristic feature of the 
 General Synod. It is simply used as the watchword for a 
 
33 
 
 party, and being less concerned about the Lutheran character 
 of the doctrinal principles thus adopted, some take their cor- 
 rectness for granted without further examination, while others 
 even revel in the delightful confidence of having corrected the 
 Lutheran Church. The majority of pastors have never made 
 an independent study of the dogmatical peculiarities of the 
 Lutheran Church. They are, according to American custom, 
 completely dependent on the views of the teachers to whom 
 they owe their theological education. If these teachers them- 
 selves have strayed away from the peculiarly Lutheran doctrine, 
 anything is offered as Lutheran doctrine, that with the slight- 
 est modification might just as well go forth into the world 
 under any other name. Thus it happened, that through the 
 lamentable lack of Lutheran educational institutions in this 
 country, the Lutheran Church was most insufficiently repre- 
 sented as to her spirit and doctrine. She had to suffer greatly 
 through foreign influences, which were neither German nor 
 Lutheran, and against which she could not properly defend 
 herself. She seemed to be judged and defeated, before she 
 had even opened her mouth, and, we are sorry to say, in those 
 days even in the German Fatherland, things had taken such a 
 turn that the most hollow rationalism still boasted of Luther's 
 name. But now a desire gradually manifested itself to gain 
 popularity for the Lutheran Church in this country. The 
 hard dogmatical knots of the old Lutheran oak were to give 
 way under the Puritan plane. The body was deprived of its 
 bones and its heart and the empty skin might be filled with 
 whatever was most pleasing, if only the Lutheran name was 
 retained ! The statement of the seventh article of the Augs- 
 burg Confession, that " unto the true unity of the Church it is 
 not necessary that human traditions, rites or ceremonies insti- 
 tuted by men should be alike everywhere," was most exten- 
 sively used, and in their desire to make the Lutheran Church 
 as nearly as possible like others, her leaders were much more 
 ready to adopt foreign elements than to retain her own dis- 
 tinctive features. Thus the Liturgy, the ancient lessons of 
 Gospels and Epistles, the festivals of the Church Year, the gown 
 
34 
 
 and other usages were given up, in order to keep the peculiar 
 and distinctive features of the Lutheran Church in the back- 
 ground. Hoping to gain others they lost themselves. The 
 Lutheran Church had given away her own spirit, and that was 
 paramount to her own original life and character. 
 
 "The more we present to ourselves a true picture of the his- 
 tory of the Lutheran Church in this country, the more do we 
 find this development natural. No one is particularly to be 
 blamed. It is the common misfortune of times and circum- 
 stances. Least of all should we discredit the labor and merit 
 of those who tried to obtain for the Lutheran Church educa- 
 tional institutions ' of her own and thus to secure her future. 
 It was a beginning such as the circumstances permitted. But 
 if at the present time men bar themselves against the great 
 change which has taken place in the life of the Church ; if 
 they oppose the self-consciousness of their Church and her 
 assertion of her own original individuality ; if they fail to ap- 
 preciate the exegetical and dogmatical deepening of the present 
 positive theology; particularly if, from conceit or indolence, 
 they ignore the blessing which God in this sphere has given 
 to the German Church and to the churchly theology of our 
 days, they incur a great responsibility. And certainly the 
 manner in which during the past decade even the Lutheran 
 Church, neglecting her own particular blessings and aping that 
 which was foreign to her, tried to ' make Christianity and 
 Christians,' has found its own condemnation with all its im- 
 proper extravagances, and the moral judgment of everybody 
 ought to refuse henceforth to sing the praises of those measures. 
 Now, if the General Synod of the Lutheran Church would 
 understand this present time, if it would not resist the churchly 
 current, but raise its voice in the spirit of true Lutheranism 
 and lay down principles by which it would confess itself as 
 truly Lutheran, without ignoring or destroying the character- 
 istic features of Lutheranism, it would have a much greater 
 moral weight and could become a centre of strong and far- 
 
 l Such as the College and the Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, 
 which owe so much to the labors of Dr. S. S. Schmucker. 
 
35 
 
 reaching influence. To give expression to certain general 
 Christian principles, may be sufficient as a confession of ad- 
 herence to Christianity at large, but it is far from satisfactory 
 where the connection with a distinct historical Church is at 
 stake. 
 
 " Will the General Synod ever come to this ? Or should we 
 keep aloof from it until it has come to this? We cannot ex- 
 pect a sudden change. Is there then no blessing whatever in 
 it ? Or is the position of our so called Old Lutherans the only 
 possible and correct one ? They came to this country from a 
 state of oppression and even persecution in their German 
 homes. No wonder that some bitterness has grown up here 
 and there. Now they are here; no one oppresses them. 
 They find a Lutheran Church which has managed to keep alive 
 under the most unfavorable circumstances. Having had no 
 strictly Lutheran organization from the very beginning, she has 
 lost much that is Lutheran under a powerful pressure from 
 without. Now they repel their sister who has grown up under 
 such influences. They have themselves passed through many 
 a sad and humiliating experience ; but they at the same time 
 are in advance of us in strict adherence to the confession, 
 churchly practices, discipline, etc. But now they have no 
 patience with their weaker sister, no charitable regard for her 
 historical and other surroundings ; they utterly refuse to have 
 communion with her. They recognize in her neither a 
 Lutheran Confession, nor Synod, nor congregation. They 
 act as if there had never been a Lutheran Church in this 
 country before their arrival Brethren, is this the right way? 
 Thus we remain strangers to each other, instead of the stronger 
 ones showing patience with the weakness of their weaker 
 brethren, and having an influence for good upon them by their 
 sympathy and assistance. Besides, with such absolute seclu- 
 sion, as men are, there will also be found human erring through' 
 a one-sidedness and harshness which is contrary to the spirit 
 of the Gospel." 
 
 As the paper from which the above extracts are taken was 
 passing through the press, Mr. Mann received a little anony- 
 3 
 
36 
 
 mous pamphlet which created a great commotion in the 
 Lutheran Church of those days, and which, if we are not very- 
 much mistaken, had a very decided influence upon Mr. Mann 
 himself, in developing his own Lutheran consciousness and 
 bringing him forward as an outspoken champion of the Lutheran 
 Confession without reserve and compromise. The pamphlet 
 in question was the " Definite Platform, Doctrinal and Disci- 
 plinarian, for Evangelical Lutheran District Synods ; con- 
 structed in accordance with the principles of the General Sy- 
 nod." Every sentence of the work, as the author ten years after- 
 wards publicly admitted, was written by Dr. S. S. Schmucker, 
 the professor of dogmatics in the Theological Seminary of the 
 General Synod, at Gettysburg. This " American Recension " 
 of the Augsburg Confession coolly charged that venerable 
 document, the Magna Charta of Protestantism, with a number 
 of grave errors, and changed or mutilated twelve out of its twen- 
 ty-one doctrinal articles, omitting altogether the second part of 
 the Confession, the seven Articles on Abuses. The " Plat- 
 form " raised a storm of indignation on all sides. It opened 
 the eyes even of the indifferent and undecided ones and caused 
 them to reflect and to realize the ultimate designs of the 
 men at the helm of the General Synod. Many men who were 
 before numbered with the " American Lutherans," and whose 
 full sympathy with the movement was confidently expected, 
 had nothing but stern rebuke for it. In Mr. Mann's case it 
 certainly helped to define forever his confessional position. It 
 at once aroused the German and the Lutheran in him. In 
 bitter irony he exclaimed : " Surely, ye are the men to master 
 Magister Philippus and Doctor Martinus and to give us a new 
 revision of the Augsburg Confession and a reconstruction of 
 the Lutheran Church based upon it ! " And in a short review 
 of the little pamphlet he reminded those who undertook the 
 "recension" of the Augsburg Confession, of the royal advice, 
 written in 2 Sam. 10: 5. But he was not satisfied with these 
 impromptu outbursts of indignation against the Platform. He 
 wrote, what is generally admitted to be, its strongest theologi- 
 cal refutation, under the title: "A Plea for the Augsburg 
 
37 
 
 Confession in answer to the objections of the Definite Plat- 
 form : an address to all ministers and laymen of the Evangel- 
 ical Church of the United States, by W.J. Mann, pastor of St. 
 Michael's and Zion's Churches, Philadelphia. ' The truth shall 
 make you free.' Jesus Christ. For the Lutheran Board of 
 Publication. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1856." 
 
 The,exact history of the origin of this little pamphlet of 47 
 pages is thus related by a member of the Publication Board 
 itself: " One day during a friendly colloquium the conversa- 
 tion turned on the Definite Synodical Platform. This docu- 
 ment had come to us anonymously, bearing no visible sign or 
 mark to indicate its origin. Not to converse about a docu- 
 ment so shrouded in mystery would be stranger than the docu- 
 ment itself. At this fraternal colloquium Rev. Mr. Mann 
 expressed his views on the Augsburg Confession. At the 
 close of his remarks one of the Board (the Rev. E. W. Hutter 
 pastor of St. Matthew's English Lutheran Congregation) re- 
 marked : ' What a pity we have not a stenographer in our 
 midst, to take down the remarks of brother Mann.' Follow- 
 ing up this merely incidental remark, Rev. Dr. Stork moved 
 that brother Mann be requested to write out and submit to 
 the Board his remarks, which was agreed to. One week later 
 Rev. Mann brought the manuscript sheets of his little volume ; 
 they were read and that bi other himself proposed to issue the 
 work on his own responsibility, without the imprint of 
 the Board. From some of the views asserted by the writer 
 several of the Board openly dissented ; and, to avoid their ob- 
 jections, a portion of the work was rewritten by the author. 
 It was only then ordered to be printed." The subsequent 
 refusal of the Board to publish Professor S. S. Schmucker's 
 reply, of course, brought upon them the indignation of the 
 author of the Platform. But the Board had very good reason 
 for its refusal; it was unwilling to stultify itself by lending a 
 helping hand to the furtherance of the Platform movement. 
 And in the month of September, 1856, Mr. Mann received the 
 title of Doctor of Divinity from the Trustees of Pennsylvania 
 College, Gettysburg. 
 
38 
 
 His answer, in recognition of that title, was a little book of 
 152 pages, " Lutheranism in America : an essay on the present 
 condition of the Lutheran Church in the United States " The 
 German manuscript of the original was translated into English 
 by his colleague in the pastorate of Zion's Church, the Rev. 
 G. A. Wenzel. With the impartiality of the true historian, Dr. 
 Mann first describes the various prevailing tendencies, etc., 
 which, at that time, laid claim to the name Lutheran : The left 
 wing, American Lutheranism ; the right wing, the Lutherans 
 of a strictly symbolical tendency; and the centre. This is 
 followed by a presentation of the spirit and life of our Church 
 in America during the last century. The concluding remarks 
 treat of the mission of the Lutheran Church and some " pia 
 desidcria" While moderate and forbearing towards his theo- 
 logical antagonists, the author comes out manfully in defense 
 of the Lutheran Confession. " That invaluable treasure, our 
 Faith, for which our fathers struggled, and suffered, and 
 watched, and prayed, we will not expose to the fluctuating 
 spirit of the age, which has already gained an undue influence 
 over the theology of our times, nor to the arbitrary disposal 
 of individuals. Every alteration now effected in our Church 
 doctrines is not a creative act, by which the Church would first 
 be established. The old Confession, which is co-existent with 
 the Church, is that act which binds and unites the Church, and 
 every alteration makes the foundation of the Church insecure, 
 and the consequence must be that her religious life also must 
 become unsettled and wavering" (p. 150, f). 
 
 In 1859 he again represented his Ministerium as one of the 
 delegates to the General Synod's convention in Pittsburg. 
 In some respects this meeting presented a prelude to what was 
 to come five years afterward in York. The question of admit- 
 ting the Melanchthon Synod greatly agitated the General 
 Body. This Synod had been recently formed by some mem- 
 bers of the Maryland Synod, who gathered around Dr. Benja- 
 min Kurtz on the ground of " elective affinity," and who repre- 
 sented an advanced American Lutheranism. There was just 
 reason to doubt both the regularity of the formation of this 
 
39 
 
 Synod and its acceptance of the faith of the Church. Dr. W. 
 J. Mann was prominent in opposing the admission of this 
 Synod, which had practically, though not formally, substituted 
 the Definite Platform for the Augsburg Confession. It was 
 Dr. Chas. Porterfield Krauth who, in the case of the Melanch- 
 thon Synod, for the last time, acted as a liberal mediator, in 
 the interest of forbearance and compromise in the General 
 Synod. He moved to admit the Melanchthon Synod with the 
 request, that it should express officially its " adhesion to the 
 principles of Synodical division recognized by the General 
 Synod," and also with a fraternal solicitation " to consider 
 whether a change, in their doctrinal basis, of the paragraph in 
 regard to certain. alleged errors, would not tend to the promo- 
 tion of mutual love and the furtherance of the great objects for 
 which we are laboring together." 1 The Pennsylvania delega- 
 tion, headed by Dr. Mann, reported to the Ministerium on this 
 point as follows : " The admission of the Melanchthon Synod 
 was opposed by your representatives, for the reason that its 
 application was connected with a certain confession of faith 
 which appeared to us to come into conflict with the Unaltered 
 Augsburg Confession. Yet as the same Synod was at the 
 time of its admission earnestly requested to withdraw its offen- 
 sive confession, as far as it contained aspersions against the 
 Confession of our Church, it is hoped that said document will 
 in due time be withdrawn." Dr. Mann's own impressions of 
 this meeting of the General Synod were not as favorable as in 
 former times. He foresaw the storm that was brewing. 
 " With much apparent willingness to concede," says his diary, 
 " there were in reality no concessions. I did not leave with 
 very hopeful feelings." 
 
 This was- the last meeting of the General Synod which Dr. 
 Mann attended. He was not present in York, in 1864, when, 
 on the reception of the Franckean Synod, the Pennsylvania 
 delegates withdrew from the Convention, to report to their 
 Ministerium. Nor was he at the memorable meeting in Fort 
 
 1 Dr. Krauth's explanation of his position in this case is found in 
 " First Free Lutheran Diet in America," page 142. 
 
40 
 
 Wayne, in 1866, where the Pennsylvania Synod was declared 
 to be " out of practical relations " with the General Synod. 
 But when the final question of withdrawing from the General 
 Synod and forming a new General Body on a positively Lutheran 
 basis came up, at the meeting of the Pennsylvania Ministerium 
 in Lancaster, 1866, Dr. Mann was chairman of the committee 
 into whose hands the whole matter was given. His own judg- 
 ment and the action originally proposed by the committee did 
 not go quite as far as the Synod finally decided. The recom- 
 mendation was simply to appoint a committee " to correspond 
 with other Lutheran Synods with reference to the propriety 
 of calling a convention of such Lutheran Synods, churches and 
 individuals as may be favorable to the organization of a general 
 ecclesiastical body, on a truly Lutheran basis." But the Synod 
 went beyond this in appointing a committee which should at 
 once " prepare and issue a fraternal address " containing an in- 
 vitation " to unite in a convention for the purpose of forming a 
 union of Lutheran Synods." Dr. Mann always had his doubts 
 about the wisdom of this step, and subsequent events could 
 easily be construed as a strong argument in favor of his 
 view. With his natural caution and prudence he was not very 
 enthusiastic in favor of " leaving one shore without knowing 
 where and how a landing could be effected." " The man who 
 leaves one shore without seeing the shore on the other side 
 always puts himself in a difficult predicament." Still, 
 waiving his personal doubts and difficulties, he loyally served 
 his Ministerium in bringing about the desired union of 
 Synods. 
 
 In an extensive and popular article {Lutherische Zcitsclirift, 
 Nov. 17, 1866), entitled, " What is at stake? " (Urn was es sich 
 handelt), he reviews the whole controversy between the con- 
 fessional party led by the Synod of Pennsylvania and the un- 
 lutheran majority of the General Synod. " The rupture," he 
 says, " had been coming for a long time. It has simply 
 brought to light the fact that without true inward unity an out- 
 ward union has no value. The very fact that men are willing 
 to forbear, proves that they have much to bear in each other- 
 
41 
 
 On the surface they profess to love each other, but in the 
 heart they are afraid of each other. They are bound together 
 and yet separated from each other. The whole thing is tainted 
 with a lack of inward truthfulness. And this puts upon it the 
 seal of condemnation. Neither party has what it really desires. 
 But either party is anxious to be at the helm and the party 
 having least of true moral feeling and honor will be least 
 scrupulous in the choice of nieans by which it may be strength- 
 ened numerically and otherwise 
 
 " What then is the aim of the conservative Lutheran side ? 
 It wants nothing but to keep the Lutheran Church Lutheran, 
 and to preserve what is peculiar to her in doctrine and forms 
 of worship. What does the unlutheran party aim at? It 
 means to rob the Lutheran Church of this country more 
 and more of what is peculiar to her and to make it as 
 nearly as possible Reformed. It is true, they have not yet 
 given up the Lutheran name, but they have already manufac- 
 tured an appendix to it. We should not wonder if the 
 Lutheran name even would be dropped entirely. This would 
 certainly be more honest. But of course, we have no assur- 
 ance that this will be done. 
 
 "This certainly is the peculiar feature of the unlutheran party, 
 that it is essentially addicted to Reformed views. Dr. S. S. 
 Schmucker has for a long time professed views which are in 
 manifest conflict with the doctrine of the Lutheran Confessions, 
 while they agree with that of the Reformed Confessions, espe- 
 cially with the Zwinglian type. In this spirit many of his 
 publications are written, and in this spirit for many, many years 
 he has been teaching as professor in a Lutheran Seminary. 
 He is animated by a Reformed-Zwinglian spirit, and has en- 
 deavored to make his pupils of the same mind. To him and 
 to them the truly Lutheran conception of Christianity has 
 never been revealed. He himself has not the slightest sym- 
 pathy with it. 
 
 " The question then for us Lutherans in this country at the 
 present time is simply this : Shall our Lutheran Church abide 
 by her old original Confession, by her original understanding of 
 
42 
 
 the word of God, or shall she give it up and adopt on her part 
 the doctrines of Zwingli and of the Reformed Church ? " 
 
 IX. IN THE GENERAL COUNCIL- 
 
 In the first steps toward the formation of the General Coun- 
 cil Dr. Mann took an active and sympathetic part. He was a 
 member of the committee which, in behalf of the mother 
 Synod, sent out the fraternal appeal, calling for the organiza- 
 tion of the new body on a positively Lutheran basis. He 
 attended the preliminary convention in Reading, December, 
 1866, which deliberated on the fundamental articles of faith 
 and Church polity forming the basis of the General Council. 
 Soon after the Reading Convention he wrote to his friend Dr. 
 Schaff : " Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well, and 
 if we want to be Lutherans we will be consistent ex anitno 
 Lutherans and not Lutherans with the mere sham of the name. 
 These were my thoughts concerning the convention in Read- 
 ing. It is the greatest nonsense to attempt in behalf of the 
 Lutheran Church to run a race with Methodists or Presby- 
 terians, as our new-Lutheran brethren, who bear the name, are 
 doing, proclaiming it as the most glorious feature of the 
 Lutheran Church, that she had no character of her own, but 
 could be turned and twisted, in life and doctrine, like a wet 
 rag or a nose of wax. In taking this position we do not con- 
 tend for the old scholastic views or the dogmatic pugilism of the 
 fierce old champions of Lutheranism. But true it is those 
 fellows were men of clear heads, strong will and decided char- 
 acter." (January 2, 1867.) 
 
 Dr. Mann went to Fort Wayne in November, 1867, as a 
 delegate of the Pennsylvania Synod to the first convention of 
 the General Council, and sent an interesting correspondence 
 on the proceedings to Brobst's Lutherische Zeitschrift (Nov. 
 23 and 30, 1867). 
 
 " The Synod of Pennsylvania," he says, " knew well enough 
 what the Church needed. She had a right to expect that 
 other Synods would be found in close spiritual affinity with 
 herself, which would be ready to enter into more intimate re- 
 
43 
 
 lations with her. In this she was not mistaken, and in the 
 month of December (12th to 14th) of last year delegates of 
 different Synods, from the East and West, met and united in 
 the adoption of a number of fundamental articles of faith and 
 Church polity and prepared the draft of a constitution for a new 
 union of Synods on the basis of our Lutheran Confession, as 
 we have received it from our fathers of the Reformation time 
 and as they themselves understood and interpreted it. 
 
 "Of course this was by far not all. The point now was that 
 the various Synods which had been represented in Reading 
 by delegates, or other Synods as such, should formally accept 
 the articles and constitution, adopted in Reading, as the basis 
 of the general representative body, and thus organize the 
 General Council of the Lutheran Church. This is necessary 
 if we are really to work together for the common interests of 
 our Lutheran Church in this country. We must guard the 
 Church against the corruption of the Lutheran Confession, 
 gather well-ordered congregations in our cities and in the 
 country, secure for them good pastors, sound in the faith and 
 well educated and equipped for their work ; provide for the 
 congregations the right kind of prayer-books, hymn-books and 
 a sound religious literature ; and carry on the work of foreign 
 missions. Truly there is plenty of work in every direction, 
 and such work as can only be accomplished by the coopera- 
 tion of truly Lutheran Synods that are of the same mind. 
 
 " With this a beginning has been made. It is true, by far 
 not all the Lutheran Synods of this country are represented 
 in Fort Wayne. The Lutheran Church of the South is not 
 here. Of course the Synods belonging to the old General 
 Synod are absent. What should they want to do here ? who 
 only care to be called, but vigorously refuse to be, Lutherans. 
 But we are in reality more anxious to be truly Lutheran and to 
 believe the true Lutheran doctrine, than simply to be called so. 
 We miss also the Missourians, those indefatigable champions 
 of our Lutheran Church in the West, who so faithfully resist 
 the destructive tendencies of the spirit of the age. They are 
 absent, because, as we are now, we cannot come up to their 
 
44 
 
 high standard of churchly doctrine and life. Others we miss 
 whom we would like to see with us. Perhaps we may yet 
 be granted the joy of having them with us. 
 
 " But all the more heartily do we rejoice over those who are 
 with us and keep to us. There are men here from far and 
 near. Here are our native American brethren, in whose 
 hearts the genuine faith of our old German Luther is living. 
 Here are we, the immigrant children of this country, called 
 to cooperate in the building of the spiritual temple if we are 
 to enjoy its blessings without being ashamed of ourselves. 
 Here are brethren from the centre of our country and brethren 
 from the East; and brethren from the far West and North- 
 west. And we understand each other. We have a heart for 
 each other. We must deal honorably and faithfully with each 
 other. Candor, freedom, truth must reign, otherwise no 
 progress, no blessing can be expected. It is a peculiar feature 
 of this Convention that brethren, with whom, thus far, the 
 German has been almost exclusively the Synodical language, 
 are thrown together with a circle, in which, as a matter of 
 course, the English enjoys the same rights with the German. 
 One result is, that the discussions are carried on strictly after 
 the parliamentary rules, acknowledged by all English speak- 
 ing church conventions. Brethren, who have not been accus- 
 tomed to this, receive new impressions. The historical 
 development of church-life in our country is thus clearly set 
 before our eyes. 
 
 " It is manifest, how important it is that justice should be 
 done to the English interests, without abandoning what has 
 hitherto been recognized as Lutheran principle in faith and 
 life. No doubt, we have entered upon one of the most im- 
 portant and critical periods in the history of our Lutheran 
 Church in this country. The West has gained an importance 
 for our Church, which no one could have divined twenty 
 years ago. And yet we are only in the beginnings, in this 
 respect. We see how much depends on this, that the General 
 Council should stand in the nearest and kindliest relations 
 possible to the German Lutherans in the West and should 
 
45 
 
 cooperate hand in hand with tbem in the great work which 
 the Lord has committed to us. 
 
 " It is true, in attending the sessions of this Council, we can- 
 not but feel, that, while there is much unanimity with refer- 
 ence to the fundamental articles of faith and church polity, 
 the principles prevailing with reference to many practical 
 questions, differ greatly. The East with its church-life rests 
 on a history. It is not laying the foundation, as the brethren 
 in the West are doing, who found there a tabula rasa, on un- 
 occupied territory. We in the East have to build upon the 
 churchly foundation which has been laid by generations be- 
 fore us. We have not simply to deal with the present, but 
 with a past weighing upon us with all its complications, 
 stereotyped usages and reigning opinions, on which we are 
 to a great extent dependent. From this many difficulties 
 confront us, of which our Western brethren have no concep- 
 tion. On the other hand certain principles and views obtain 
 in the West, from which the Eastern brethren differ, the latter 
 being much more strict on the same points. 
 
 " It seems to be generally admitted that there is a difference 
 between fundamental principles and questions of a disciplinary 
 character. Nor can it be denied that the very best intentions 
 and a kindly disposition reign on all sides, together with a 
 manly candor and straightforwardness without which every- 
 thing else would only be a lie. May we then not indulge in 
 the hope that a blessed work will be accomplished? There 
 will be no lack of difficulties. There must be struggles every- 
 where in this world. But this is no reason to doubt the 
 progress and final success of the good cause." 
 
 In spite of these hopeful and sympathetic utterances we do 
 not find Dr. Mann prominently connected with the practical 
 work of the General Council in subsequent years. Though he 
 was almost regularly elected a delegate he very rarely attended 
 the conventions. If we mistake not, he was present only in 
 Philadelphia 1877 and 1885, and in Minneapolis 1888. At the 
 first Philadelphia Convention he took an active part in the 
 warm discussion on pulpit and altar fellowship and on the 
 
46 
 
 test question of the appeal from the New York Ministerium, 
 
 he voted with the strictly confessional party. Soon after the 
 adjournment of that meeting, in a letter to Dr. Schaff, he ex- 
 pressed himself very freely on the difficulties, which he had 
 in his own mind on those exciting questions which agitated 
 the church. Perhaps we get here, at least a partial insight, 
 into those feelings and convictions which kept him from tak- 
 ing a more prominent part in the work, and the conflict of 
 the General Council in those days. 
 
 " Nothing but conflicts," he says, " between feelings and 
 theological reasoning ! Being rooted and grown on the sym- 
 bols of the sixteenth century, the Lutheran Church cannot do 
 justice to the pressure of the nineteenth. Torn away from 
 those ancient, manly and solemn testimonies, she is a histori- 
 cal lie, and the contemptible shuttlecock of the fluctuating 
 opinions of the day. There is no real satisfaction in either 
 direction. And yet, in truth, there is no time less fitted to 
 formulate symbols than ours. I do not feel comfortable in 
 this whole affair. Without adopting the folly that there is 
 no gospel and no salvation outside of the Lutheran Church, 
 I am yet opposed to unionistic tendencies, knowing, that 
 in Germany too, the union is no match for the spirit of the 
 times. It is hard to think of a more miserable chaos. Where- 
 over serious conscientious scruples rule over the soul in 
 matters of religion, there we find an antipathy against all sorts 
 of Unionism. And yet, how desirable that all Christians 
 should at this time be united against the ruling power of in- 
 fidelity ! But for the present no one will be able to help us 
 out of the conflict and confusion of our times." 
 
 And in a letter, written about ten years later, he says : " I 
 cannot be a Lutheran and a Zwinglian or a Calvinist at the 
 same time. Being the one, I am, as a matter of course against 
 the other. Wherever principles are at stake I shall declare 
 my position accordingly, and consider Church-unionism a 
 monstrosity" (Unding). To many people certain dogmatical 
 questions may seem to be of secondary, and church union of 
 primary importance. But I have never yet found that those 
 
47 
 
 who declare certain dogmas to be secondary were willing to 
 adopt the opposite views for the sake of church union. There 
 it becomes manifest that even in ' secondary matters ' they 
 will hold on to their opinion. 
 
 " How far it may be proper for me, being conscious of 
 having many and important points in common with men of 
 another faith, to express this recognition in churchly official 
 acts, — on this question, I confess, I am not perfectly clear, 
 and novvhere have I found a clear and satisfactory answer to 
 it. To attempt to settle it simply by a certain feeling of good 
 will and kindness is extremely questionable." 
 
 In treating of Dr. Mann's relation to the General Council, 
 we cannot pass by his attitude towards the liturgical and 
 hymnological activity of that body, as represented in the 
 " Kirchenbuch," with its Order of Service and its collection 
 of psalms and hymns. The Reading Convention (Dec. 12-14, 
 1866), which determined on the organization of the General 
 Council, lost no time in appointing English and German 
 Hymn-book Committees, in which all the District Synods 
 were to be represented. For the English part of the church 
 the principal part of the work had been accomplished by the 
 Pennsylvania Synod, whose committee prepared the Church 
 Book, which the General Council adopted as its own. But 
 in the German portion of the church nothing had thus far 
 been done towards securing one book fitted for such a gene- 
 ral body on a strictly Lutheran basis. The Reading Conven- 
 tion resolved, " that a Committee of one from each Synod 
 here represented be appointed to prepare a German Hymn- 
 book, having reference to the work already done by the Wis- 
 consin and Ohio Synods, and report their labors at the next 
 meeting of this body." The Pennsylvania representative on 
 this committee was the late Rev. A. T. Geissenhainer. 
 
 Dr. Mann, who was in a position to know what measures 
 were likely to be taken by the Reading Convention, consid- 
 ered this movement premature, and was greatly concerned 
 that there might be a clashing of interests between the Penn- 
 sylvania Synod's German Hymn-book and one possibly to be 
 
48 
 
 issued by the general body. On December 1st, 1S66, there 
 appeared in the Lutherische TLeitschrift an article under the 
 heading : " Gesangbuchs-Verbesserung. Neues Gesangbuch," 
 which fully represents his views on the subject at that time. 
 "The Hymn-book Question, it is said, seems at the present 
 time to be a prominent topic of discussion in several Synods 
 of our church. The joint Synod of Ohio has been at work 
 for some time with the edition of a new hymn-book, and pos- 
 sibly has finished it by this time. The Synod of Wisconsin 
 has undertaken a revision of the Pennsylvania hymn-book by 
 striking out a number of hymns and substituting better ones. 
 Thus there is a fine prospect of our having three hymn-books, 
 besides those of Missouri, Buffalo, Radde, Gettysburg, etc. . . . 
 
 " Now I love to see unity and uniformity in our church 
 books which are to be used in the public service, — one good 
 Liturgy and one good hymn-book in all and for all the 
 churches of our Lutheran Zion. Would it not be better if 
 these Synods would yet wait a little while until the new gen- 
 eral body is organized, and then in the fear of God take up 
 this work in common with all the Synods of sound faith, and 
 thus prepare a substantial, truly Lutheran hymn-book, which 
 would become the common treasure of all the Lutheran con- 
 gregations of this country? Even if some years should pass 
 by, it would be no disadvantage; the work of those brethren 
 also would not be lost ; it would find grateful recognition ; 
 and until that time we could manage to get along with what 
 we have. 
 
 " I willingly admit that the old Pennsylvania hymn-book is 
 capable of improvement. Though it has become dear to 
 me through a use of many years, I am not blind to its de- 
 fects. I miss many a jewel, and I know a number of hymns 
 which might be supplanted by better ones. But even such a 
 revision would probably fail to give general satisfaction. Nor 
 must it be forgotten that any alteration of the old hymn- 
 book would, for the present, meet with legal opposition 
 such as would be most unpleasant for those who would under- 
 take it. 
 
49 
 
 " The Synod of Pennsylvania knows by experience the diffi- 
 culties connected with the introduction of a new hymn-book. 
 She knows how many congregations have become attached 
 to the present book, and could not therefore think lightly of 
 a revision or the introduction of a new hymn-book. And yet 
 I believe that, with a view to the future and to the welfare of 
 the Church at large, she would not refuse her cooperation, 
 with the prospect of attaining something more perfect." 
 
 At the first convention of the General Council in Fort 
 Wayne, Dr. Mann was substituted for Rev. A. T. Geissenhai- 
 ner on the German Hymn-Book Committee ; and as the 
 chairman of this committee he laid before the General Coun- 
 cil a set of rules which were to guide the committee in the 
 preparation of the new book. The report closed with the 
 recommendation " that the liturgical service in the German 
 Hymn-book be made to conform to that of the English 
 Church-book." With these instructions, unanimously adopted, 
 the work of the German Kirchenbuch was fairly mapped out. 
 But here also was the end of Dr. Mann's connection with that 
 work. Yea, for reasons indicated in the above-quoted article, 
 the connection of the Synod of Pennsylvania with the pro- 
 posed Church Book was to end then and there, the delega- 
 tion of the Pennsylvania Synod, on motion, being " excused 
 from appointing a representative upon the German Hymn- 
 book Committee." But at the fourth convention in Lancaster, 
 Ohio (1870), a new committee was appointed with two mem- 
 bers of the Pennsylvania Synod, whose number was gradually 
 increased as the work went on. Thus the Pennsylvania 
 Synod had her share also in the work of the German Church 
 Book, as she had the exclusive honor of the preparation of 
 the English book. When the Church-book appeared, Dr. 
 Mann made no effort to introduce it in his congregation. At 
 the meeting of the Ministerium in Pottstown, 1881, being 
 President of Synod, he led the opposition against it, which 
 demanded the continuation of the old Pennsylvania Hymn- 
 book. 
 
 Is it true that Dr. Mann was on principle opposed to litur- 
 
50 
 
 gies as such and to the whole liturgical development in the 
 General Council? To say this would be doing him great 
 injustice. There are few, if any, pastors in the whole Penn- 
 sylvania Synod who have so strongly and eloquently pleaded 
 for liturgical services as Dr. Mann has done with his ready 
 pen. Read his articles in the Kirchenfreund (1853, pp. 321 ff, 
 and 441 ff.) on the question: " Liturgy or Extempore Prayer 
 in Public Service?" " No doubt," he says, " our services are 
 lacking in one great and sacred thing, — the true spirit of 
 worship before the Lord God. They contain much more of 
 man's service than of God's. It is man who makes a display 
 of his talents, his smartness, his learning, and of whom, as 
 their preacher, the members of the congregation are proud, 
 instead of Christ being great before us, and the congregation 
 bowing down to the dust before Him. The spirit of adora- 
 tion, and consequently the spirit of true service itself, has 
 greatly deteriorated among us through the extravagant pre- 
 dominance of the pulpit. And the prayers, as extempore 
 prayers, are mostly nothing but a tiresome concatenation of 
 stereotyped phrases and common-places. In the Liturgy the 
 congregation meets something different from the individuality 
 of the minister. Over against this subjectivism the common 
 faith and adoration of the church as a communion finds there 
 its proper expression. The organic participation of the con- 
 gregation in the service, which is demanded by the truly 
 reformatory principle of the spiritual priesthood of believers, 
 is lacking without a good liturgy. Those who would like to 
 see the church quickened with a new religious life, manifest- 
 ing itself vigorously also in acts of confession, do not know 
 what they are doing if they fail to recognize the participation 
 of the congregation in the service as a principal means for 
 the improvement of a living piety, and refuse to advance it by 
 all means." — The slow dragging music in which almost uni- 
 versally the chorals are sung, is forcibly contrasted with the 
 fresh, vigorous and lively rhythm of the Reformation time. 
 "The composers of the sixteenth century would hardly recog- 
 nize their own tunes in our singing! — The men of the Refor- 
 
51 
 
 mation cannot be sufficiently praised for their sober treatment 
 of the liturgical question. Luther particularly arranged his 
 new order of service on the most conservative principles. 
 He only meant to cleanse the Roman Catholic liturgy from 
 anti-scriptural additions; but his ' Evangelical Mass' retained 
 whatever was not contrary to pure doctrine. It would have 
 been impossible for Luther to think of a service without fixed 
 forms of prayer and confession, as the right and orderly thing 
 in the Christian Church." Speaking of the early Lutheran 
 Church of our fathers in America, Dr. Mann points to the 
 fact that her original liturgical character was in the beginning 
 clearly recognized in this country. "We know well enough," 
 say the concluding paragraphs of those articles, " that the 
 true participation of the congregations cannot be reached 
 simply by synodical resolutions and liturgies prepared for 
 introduction. The congregations themselves must feel the 
 want, on their part, to praise God with one heart and one 
 mouth. Only then will we obtain something better than a 
 purely mechanical, outward, and therefore dead performance. 
 But the ministers of the Word have to do their duty to gain 
 for themselves a clearer insight into the true nature of Chris- 
 tian worship, in order to be able to spread this understanding 
 also among their congregations." 
 
 Five years afterward, in an article on " The German Re- 
 formed Church and the Liturgical Question " {Kirchenfreund, 
 1858, pp. 9-15), he treats the same subject in a still more 
 direct and practical manner, recommending most warmly the 
 newly published liturgy of the Reformed Church. " The lan- 
 guage," he says, " is the old biblical and churchly language in 
 its sublime simplicity, plain and unadorned compared to 
 modern poetical stiltedness, and yet most edifying. Some 
 will say, time will prove whether the book is good or not.. 
 But whoever thinks this way confounds two things, viz., ' good 
 in itself and ' suited to the taste of the time.' The Reformed 
 Church may find it impossible to carry through the idea of 
 this book within the next ten or twenty years in the life of her 
 congregations, and to make it familiar in her homes and. her 
 4 
 
52 
 
 services so that it becomes a real growth like the Book of 
 Common Prayer in the Episcopal Church. Such things are 
 very hard to introduce where people have not been accustomed 
 to them from childhood. But to say that for this reason the 
 book is not good in itself, would be paramount to accepting 
 the taste of the times as judge over churchly principles, which 
 can never be decided by a merely popular taste, dependent 
 upon habit. Or should the work of the Church ignore correct 
 principles in order to accommodate itself to prevailing opinions, 
 deeply rooted prejudices and pure habit? More and more 
 people begin to understand that our Protestant form of service 
 as it is commonly found, consists chiefly in listening to the 
 singing of a choir, to a rather stereotyped prayer (though it 
 claims to be extempore) and a somewhat lengthy sermon. 
 The congregation, which certainly ought to take the principal 
 part in a congregational service, has least to do in it. There 
 is no inward desire for a common, cheerful manifestation of 
 our religious life in confession, song and prayer. We have no 
 hope of ever seeing a change in this respect. But it is most 
 appropriate that over against this lamentable reality the picture 
 of a better church service be presented. You may say that 
 this is not the time to make and introduce liturgies. And yet 
 our very time needs to be reminded of what a true congrega- 
 tional service ought to be. The difficulties which are, at 
 present, in the way of the introduction of a correct liturgical 
 service were well known to the Synod and to the committee. 
 But this could not move the committee to present something 
 contrary to correct churchly principles. It cannot be expected 
 that the highest tribunal of the Church should simply accom- 
 modate itself to a general defect. It has the duty, not to sanc- 
 tion but to correct, as far as possible, such defects. And cer- 
 tainly the thing is well deserving of a trial, if perhaps a fresh 
 and more living participation of the congregation in the ser- 
 vice might thereby be effected." It needs no commentary to 
 show how well every one of these words is fitted to the work 
 of the General Council's Committee, the Church Book, which 
 appeared about twenty years later. 
 
53 
 
 Wherever an opportunity was afforded to Dr. Mann to 
 hear a fair presentation of the treasures of our old churchly 
 songs, he did not hesitate to give full and enthusiastic expres- 
 sion to his delight. That beautiful choral service in the Church 
 of the Holy Communion, during the General Council's session 
 in 1885, fairly overwhelmed him and he pronounced it in his 
 motion on the next day " a choral service no less full of in- 
 struction and encouragement than of sacred emotion and holy 
 pleasure ; " there " we realized the beauty of ancient and espe- 
 cially Lutheran Church music, and acknowledge it as a con- 
 vincing proof that in this direction also the Lutheran Church 
 needs not to go out of the galaxy of her ancient talent granted 
 her, and the musical treasures entrusted to her, for the edifica- 
 tion of her congregations and families." How often during 
 the last years of his life, especially on festival days, after 
 attending the full liturgical service of our Church did we hear 
 the testimony from his lips : " What a solemn and edifying 
 service this was ! " and his last communion on earth he enjoyed 
 on Easter morning with the full service of the German Church 
 Book in St. Johannis. 
 
 We close these testimonies of our sainted brother on the 
 Church Book question, with a quotation from his biography of 
 Muhlenberg. Speaking of the hymnological work of the 
 patriarch, and particularly of the hymn-book of 1786, his 
 biographer says : " Muhlenberg was too conservative a Church- 
 man to deprive Lutherans of hymns to which tradition and 
 habit had attached them, and which strenuously echoed the 
 Lutheran faith. In this respect this hymn-book, the largest 
 part of which Muhlenberg compiled, and which was published 
 by Synod in 1786, is much superior to the one edited under 
 Synodical authority in 1849, but does not attain to the merits 
 of the Kirchenbuch edited by the General Council of the 
 Lutheran Church in America, and representing the highest 
 standard of liturgical and hymnological theory:" (P. 500.) 
 
 But with all this recognition of the correct principles repre- 
 sented in the liturgical and hymnological work of the General 
 Council, with all his pronounced churchly conservatism and 
 
54 
 
 his fine aesthetic taste, there were other and weighty points 
 which made it difficult, if not impossible, for Dr. Mann to be 
 in full sympathy with the Kirchenbuch and to take an active 
 part in its introduction. The " pressure of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury," which made him frequently so uncomfortable with 
 regard to the confessional question, was felt by him even more 
 directly in the practical sphere of the service in God's house. He 
 was too modern a man in the whole cast of his mind, too much 
 given to reflection, to believe in a simple, natural and naive 
 enjoyment of those ancient forms of service of the sixteenth 
 century and of pre-Reformation times. Besides he had his 
 full share of that peculiar Suabian individualism, which enter- 
 tains an almost invincible repugnance to anything like fixed, 
 stereotyped forms of however ancient authority. The Pennsyl- 
 vania hymn-book of 1849, which was modelled after the 
 Wiirttemberg hymn-book of 1842, (that halfway compromise 
 between pure churchly principles and modern likes and dis- 
 likes), had taken possession of his heart, even when he was 
 still in the Reformed Church. And now, when the Church 
 Book appeared, Dr. Mann was nearing the sixties, and accord- 
 ing to human expectations he had only a few years of active 
 ministerial work before him. The Church Book was a radical 
 departure from the hymn-book of 1849, which had been chiefly 
 the work of his predecessor and colleague in Zion's Church, 
 the revered and beloved Dr. C. R. Demme. Considering all 
 these points, we can understand that Dr. Mann shrunk from 
 the difficult and delicate task of bringing the old congregation 
 from the hymn-book of 1849 over to the Kirchenbuch of 1877. 
 
 X. IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 The establishment of the Theological Seminary in the city 
 of Philadelphia by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania was an 
 important feature in that movement towards a full, unreservedly 
 Lutheran position, which culminated in the organization of the 
 General Council. The Seminary was founded for a double 
 object: first to secure a full theological course in both lan- 
 guages for all who should need it ; and secondly to maintain 
 
55 
 
 a doctrinal standard in full conformity with the confession of 
 the Church. Dr. Mann was chosen as one of the original 
 three full professors of the institution. He was the German 
 Professor of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, Dr. C. P. Krauth 
 being the English Professor, and Dr. C. F. Schaefer the German- 
 English. 
 
 From the beginning he was delighted with his call to this 
 new field of labor, for which he was so eminently fitted by his 
 brilliant gifts and rich experience as a teacher. He was will- 
 ing at once to devote himself entirely to the new work, and 
 immediately after his election as professor he handed in his 
 resignation as pastor of Zion's congregation. But the congre- 
 gation would not let him go, and for twenty years he had to 
 carry the double burden as pastor of the large mother congre- 
 gation and as professor and housefather of the Seminary. For 
 a number of years his services to the Seminary were entirely 
 gratuitous, and to the end of his life he never drew his full 
 salary as a professor. His preparations for his lectures were 
 most exact and conscientious. The branches which he taught 
 were Hebrew, Ethics, Symbolics, Homiletics and New Testa- 
 ment Exegesis. He had much to give to his students, but 
 he also demanded much of them. As soon as he had received 
 his appointment as professor, he formed a sort of Hebrew 
 Club with his newly arrived colleague in the pastorate, and in 
 those short weeks preceding the opening of the Seminary, a 
 good deal of the prophet Isaiah was read by the two friends. 
 Though the drudgery of teaching Hebrew grammar gradually 
 became very distasteful, still nothing could give him greater 
 satisfaction than the recognition of some of the Hebrew stu- 
 dents of his training by such scholars as Dr. Harper and Dr. 
 Hilprecht. In his presentation of Symbolics he was particu- 
 larly happy in giving clear historical outlines of the different 
 ecclesiastical groups, and following the various doctrinal sys- 
 tems up to the very roots and principles from which they 
 sprang. While from his own individuality he would probably 
 never have made a satisfactory professor of dogmatics in the 
 full panoply of our old Lutheran scholasticism, no one ever 
 
56 
 
 complained that his Symbolics did not give a perfectly true 
 and accurate statement of all that is distinctive and character- 
 istic in the Lutheran Confession. The important and difficult 
 branch of Ethics found in him a most excellent teacher. His 
 thorough philosophical training, his own moral strictness and 
 conscientiousness, his deep insight into the practical life of the 
 Christian, his comprehensive knowledge of all the social relations 
 and problems of our present time fitted him admirably for this 
 particular subject. In the homiletical exercises, which he super- 
 intended, he was an unsparing critic of the first crude efforts 
 of his students, but at the same time full of suggestions and 
 practical hints from the rich storehouse of his own experience 
 as an eloquent and popular preacher. The form was alto- 
 gether of secondary interest to him, while he insisted that the 
 riches and the fullness of the divine word in the text should be 
 thoroughly studied, sincerely felt and carefully expounded by 
 the witness of God's truth in the pulpit. 
 
 In his position as housefather he insisted on good order and 
 discipline in the Seminary. It was not too much for him to 
 appear at the bedside of a lazy sleeper who had accustomed 
 himself never to hear the bell for rising and chapel service. 
 But at the same time he was the kindest and most sympathiz- 
 ing friend of his students, always ready to do what he could 
 for those who stood in need of sound advice and active assist- 
 ance. In December, 1875, when the smallpox broke out in 
 the Seminary, and two students succumbed to the pestilence, 
 he was untiring in his heroic and self-sacrificing devotion to 
 the poor sufferers and to the institution itself. He had the 
 care of the sick, whom he visited every day and frequently 
 more than once a day. And the whole management of the 
 house with all the necessary measures for ventilation and disin- 
 fection, etc., was in his charge. He says of his experience in 
 those days : " I went through an amount of trouble which I 
 hardly ever expected to have." 
 
 We npy conclude this short reference to his Seminary work 
 with a few passages from his " Recollections of an old Pro- 
 fessor," which he wrote in Munich, July, 1889, for the memo- 
 rial number of the Indicator : 
 
57 
 
 "It was on a morning in October in the year 1864, that I marched 
 from my house, at that time on Fifth street, near Fairmount Avenue 
 (then Coates street) to the Book store on Ninth street, south of Arch 
 street, Philadelphia. Synod had ordered the establishment and open- 
 ing of the Theological Seminary ; the Professors were elected and in- 
 stalled, the students were expected; the work had to begin. I think, 
 eleven young brethren had presented themselves before the faculty for 
 admission. The number, though small, was not discouraging, for they 
 were large-hearted men. When I reached the book-store that day. I 
 was conducted to the rear building of the house and there, in a small 
 room on the second floor, I found those students seated around an oval 
 table and began my lecture. I recollect that it was the first lecture 
 given in the Seminary. Among other subjects, my task during the year 
 was to expound the Epistle to the Romans, and in that lecture I nar- 
 rated to the class the life of Paul, the Apostle, and tried to depict to 
 them the character of the man who did more than any other by his 
 apostolic dignity, missionary spirit and energetic devotion, to open the 
 way for the gospel of Christ, in its tour around the world. I can never 
 forget the close attention with which that class of students listened to 
 my words and thereby greatly encouraged me. 
 
 "As a professor who was placed in his position by the kind confidence of 
 Synod and who has been in active service from the beginning of the work 
 of the Seminary up to the present time, I recollect that I used the German 
 language for years, which resulted in the fact that our English students 
 derived no benefit whatever from me, excepting that they learned a 
 little Hebrew, which I had to teach in English or not teach at all (and 
 that little in most cases did not remain with them long) ; whilst other 
 important branches, like Ethics and Symbolics, which also should have 
 been taught in English, were by those students missed entirely during 
 the whole Seminary course. This deficiency in their training was not a 
 matter of choice, but was one of those strange necessities belonging to 
 the transition period in the linguistic difficulties of our Lutheran Church. 
 I also recollect the time, when these students, knowing their own in- 
 terest, came and begged me to use the English language along with 
 the German, so that they also might be benefited by my instruction. I 
 felt that I could grant this petition with a good conscience, and I am 
 also thoroughly convinced that no German student could honestly say, 
 that he suffered from this cause in his training in the German language.'' 
 
 It was natural for him with his constitutional timidity and 
 caution, not to be over-sanguine concerning the possibilities 
 and prospects of such a vast undertaking as this Seminary- 
 was for the Synod of Pennsylvania. " I remember the time 
 
58 
 
 very well," he says, " when I would have looked with incred- 
 ulous eyes upon any one who might have told me that the 
 old Synod of Pennsylvania could undertake the establishment 
 of a Seminary of her own. I recollect the time when I con- 
 sidered our dear brother S. K. Brobst, of Allentown, — a man 
 of blessed memory — as a very amiable enthusiast, when he 
 spoke to me privately from time to time about the necessity 
 of a Seminary of a truly Lutheran character in the midst of 
 the Pennsylvania Synod." So, when the removal of the in- 
 stitution to Mount Airy became a necessity, he would some- 
 times say, with a sort of desperate resignation : " I shall 
 never live to see it." But when the day came for the laying 
 of the corner-stone on the beautiful spot, where our Seminary 
 now stands, what a joyous, hopeful and happy spirit of spring- 
 time breathed through his stirring and beautiful address on 
 that occasion ! He lived to see it and to work in it and to 
 Sfive the best strength and time of the eve of his life to his 
 work in Mount Airy. It would indeed be hard to tell which 
 he loved best, the congregation whose pastor he had been 
 for thirty-four years, or the Seminary to which the twenty- 
 seven ripest years of his life were given. On his death-bed 
 in the few moments when his mind was wandering, he was in 
 the class-room, with his beloved students. 
 
 XI. ADDITIONAL LITERARY AND PHILANTHROPIC WORK. 
 
 When Dr. Mann's connection with the " Kirchenfreund" 
 ceased in 1859, that paper was continued by the publishers, 
 Messrs. Schaefer & Koradi for a number of years, simply as a 
 collection of interesting articles selected from German theo- 
 logical journals. But Rev. S. K. Brobst, the enthusiastic 
 and persevering pioneer of Lutheran German journalism in 
 the East, and a life-long devoted friend of Dr. Minn, at once 
 secured his co-operation for his " Zcitsc hrift" and '*Jugend- 
 freund!' His leading articles in the former paper cover al- 
 most as wide a range of subjects, as his former contributions 
 to the Kirchenfreund, but as a matter of course they had to be 
 of a more popular character. They were particularly strong 
 
59 
 
 and able in the line of apologetics, defending the old Chris- 
 tian faith against modern infidelity, especially in its German 
 development. See his Letters on '' Believers and Unbe- 
 lievers " (Glauben and Unglauben 1863). "Why should we 
 have a Sunday? " (i860). " Hints for those who are charged 
 with the training of the young" (1861). Also his Synodical 
 sermon of 1861, published in the Zeitschnft, is chiefly of this 
 character. His views on the progress of God's Kingdom in 
 modern history were set forth in those comprehensive and in- 
 structive sketches, called " Rundschau," with which the new 
 year generally opened. The rest of his contributions were 
 mostly devoted to practical questions for congregations, pas- 
 tors and Christians. They were full of pastoral wisdom and 
 true spiritual unction. A living Christianity pulsates in them 
 and everywhere do they insist on the manifestation of a pure 
 faith in an honest, upright Christian life. His contributions 
 to Mr. Brobst's Jugendfreund, over the signature " M. S. N.," 
 were continued for many years and were a source of great 
 pleasure to him. It is impossible to read them without the 
 impression, that those little sketches were a labor of love on 
 the part of the writer. The deep theologian and philosopher 
 did not think it beneath his dignity to sit with the little ones 
 in the nursery, going with them over their picture-books and 
 pointing out all their beauties and funny things. Here his 
 powers of imagination and humor have full sway. But with 
 all his playfulness and merriment he always returned to the 
 one thing needful. 
 
 In 1863 his friend Dr. Ph. Schaff had founded another Ger- 
 man monthly called Evangclisclie Zcugnisse, and published by 
 Ig. Kohler, Philadelphia. A considerable part of the editorial 
 burden of this homiletical journal rested on Dr. Mann's shoul- 
 ders, as Dr. Schaff was frequently absent in Europe. Dr. 
 Mann was, however, not very enthusiastic over it. Though 
 almost every number contained something from his pen, he 
 considered it " a crime against good taste to print stale ser- 
 mons." To write sermons was to him a horrible penance. He 
 left it to others whom he found willing " to risk their trifling" 
 
60 
 
 reputation and to look upon the Evangclisclic Zeugnisse as a 
 pulpit of . larger dimensions." His own written sermons 
 appeared to him " as mere funeral sermons of the preached 
 ones." 
 
 For over three years (1864-1867) he was at work on the 
 translation of an English Commentary to the New Testament 
 for the American Tract Society. At the very outset he had 
 his doubts and misgivings about it. He knew well the diffi- 
 culty of transforming English, " such English, such theologi- 
 cal English into anything like good fluent German. It is not 
 the words and. the language, but it is the whole manner of 
 thinking, of looking at things, where the difference rests. 
 For the Germans something according to their own genius 
 should be given." The more the work progressed the less 
 was he satisfied with it. His only recompense was the 
 renewed and thorough study of the New Testament to which 
 it led him. Apart from this he considered it a labor improbus 
 and finally gave it up, though he had nearly finished the 
 whole work. 
 
 He found more satisfaction in the editing of Ig. Kohler's 
 large family Bible, which appeared in 1865, and with which he 
 had been occupied about two years and a half. He revised the 
 parallel passages and headings of chapters, and wrote short 
 introductions to the different books, giving some general hints 
 and historical points, to assist the reader in the proper under- 
 standing of the sacred writings. In addition to this he wrote 
 a preface (dated Oct. 1, 1864), one of the most forcible apolo- 
 gies of the Bible to be found anywhere. Unbelievers and 
 mockers, Christians and pastors are invited to this word of 
 life which is addressed " to that point in men which no human 
 word can properly reach — the conscience." 
 
 About this time (1866 and the following years), he also fur- 
 nished regular contributions to the Lutheran and Missionary, 
 especially on European affairs and on German theological lit- 
 erature (the Church abroad). Later on he was an industrious 
 writer for the Lutheran Church Rcvieiv (from 1882 to 1891 )- 
 chiefly on ethical, philosophical and historical topics. The 
 
61 
 
 most extensive and elaborate contribution is a series of four 
 articles on Albert Ritschl and his theology, of which he made 
 a special study during the last years of his life. Owing to 
 this author's uncouth and stilted language he found this by 
 no means an easy task. He looked upon his theology as a 
 compromise between modern philosophy and the traditional 
 creed ; an attempt to present Christian teaching in a form which 
 accommodates itself to the ways of modern thinking. He ad- 
 mits that Ritschl has emphasized certain sides in Christianity 
 which, though not unknown heretofore, have perhaps not been 
 fully appreciated in their importance for the Christian's life. 
 He was willing to accept as " the ethical result " of Ritschl's 
 three volumes on "Justification and Reconciliation " the idea : 
 " Christianity a task and an accomplishment." But after all 
 he sums up his judgment in the sentence : " If Paul is right, 
 Ritschl is wrong." 
 
 For the last twelve years of his life his literary work was 
 concentrated upon the early history of our Lutheran Church 
 in America. A long array of smaller German books, histori- 
 cal and biographical, the goodly English volume " Life and 
 Times of H. M. Muhlenberg," and the new edition of the 
 Halle Reports, all belong to this department. This was in- 
 deed a different kind of work and writing from what he had 
 been accustomed to heretofore. In those fresh and sprightly 
 articles of his earlier literary period there was no elaborate 
 searching of documents and evidences. He carried all his 
 references within himself, in the well filled storehouse of his 
 never failing memory, and the thoughts burst forth like springs 
 of living waters. But here he had to settle down to endless 
 search after petty details, to be hunted up in dusty folios and 
 faded Church records. And he proved himself fully equal to 
 this toilsome work. In spite of its comparatively narrow hor- 
 izon, he found it most instructive and stimulating. Having 
 once bestirred himself to do this work to the best of his abil- 
 ity, he soon became very fond of it and found an enjoyment 
 in it, which few people could fully appreciate, just as only a 
 very few would be able to realize the amount of work and 
 
62 
 
 patient toil, represented in one little number of those reports. 
 He was associated in this great work with Rev. Dr. German, 
 of Windsheim, Germany, and with our lamented Dr. B. M. 
 Schmucker. To those who had an opportunity of knowing Dr. 
 Mann and Dr. Schmucker and of recognizing the remarkable 
 and peculiar talents of both, it was a special gratification, to 
 see those two men, so different in many respects, and naturally 
 often antagonistic, united in beautiful harmony on the evening 
 of their life in one common work for our beloved Church, 
 learning to know and to value each other more and more as 
 they progressed in their labor of love. 
 
 There is, no doubt, a providential significance in this concen- 
 tration of Dr. Mann, in the ripest years of his life, upon our 
 patriarch H. M. Muhlenberg and his times. As stated 
 above he did not take an active part in the controversies and 
 labors that engaged the General Council after its immediate 
 organization. There was much in those details, that was 
 neither interesting nor attractive to him. But as he busied 
 himself in his quiet study and drew for us the life-like 
 picture of that noble man of God, whom all parties cannot 
 but revere and accept as the best type of Lutheranism in 
 America, he contributed the most important building material 
 for the future unity of our Church in this country, proving be- 
 yond the possibility of a contradiction, that the position of 
 the General Council is not only correct in principle and 
 theory, but also the true historical one in the very beginning 
 of a Lutheran Church organization in America. 
 
 In addition to all these endless labors as pastor, professor 
 and author, Dr. Mann still found time to show an active 
 interest in philanthropic work not directly connected with the 
 church. He was a faithful member of the German Society, 
 a wise counselor in all its deliberations, and for many years 
 the chairman of its Library Committee, serving the society to 
 the best of his ability by his excellent literary taste and judg- 
 ment and his intimate acquaintance with the standard publi- 
 cations in German as well as in English. As a member of 
 the Pennsylvania Prison Society, he was a regular visitor to 
 
63 
 
 the Eastern Penitentiary, carrying human sympathy and the 
 light of God's word into the criminal's cell. In this, as in all 
 his labors, he was most punctual and systematic. He kept a 
 list of the German prisoners, with the numbers of their cells 
 and the dates of his visits, which, with very rare exceptions, 
 were paid from week to week. In the German Hospital 
 (since 1884) and in the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadel- 
 phia Mother- House of Deaconesses (since 1888), he served as 
 trustee to the time of his death. He was also, for a number 
 of years, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Bible Society. 
 
 XII. THE END. 
 
 Dr. Mann was married in 1849 to Margaretta Rommel, the 
 daughter of John Rommel, a devout and intelligent Christian, 
 and for many years the superintendent of St. Paul's Sunday- 
 school. The widow survives him, with one son and three 
 daughters. He paid several visits to Europe, — the first in 
 1867, when he saw his aged mother for the last time, and 
 afterwards in 1875, and again in 1889 and 1890; the last two 
 journeys were undertaken chiefly for the sake of Mrs. Mann's 
 health, which was restored by her visits to Carlsbad. In 
 1889 the journey was extended to Italy, and Genoa, Florence, 
 Rome, Naples, the Island of Capri and Venice were visited. 
 
 During the forty-seven years of his American life Dr. Mann 
 was repeatedly prostrated by severe attacks of sickness. " I 
 cannot boast," he says, " of a superabundance of physical 
 strength." Besides his severe illness in the summer of 1853, 
 when Rev. Mr. Gunther took his place in the congregation, 
 he suffered most painfully from neuralgia in the right ear in 
 1 86 1, and had again a serious attack of sickness in the spring 
 of 1865, from which he recovered very slowly. In 1878 he 
 was once more laid up for several weeks, and ever since that 
 time his hearing was somewhat affected. But in spite of 
 these repeated storms which shook his bodily constitution, 
 he showed a wonderful vitality, never sparing himself, work- 
 ing as few other men could have worked, and exposing him- 
 
64 
 
 self to constant danger in the performance of his ministerial 
 duties. Even after he had passed his seventieth year he 
 showed no signs of failing. " Up to my seventy-third year," 
 he said, " I have hardly known what it is to grow old." In 
 1890 he now and then complained of not feeling well, and 
 thought "perhaps the evening bells are tolling." But to the 
 wider circle of his friends it was quite unexpected when, on 
 the morning of October 28, 1891, he was prostrated by that 
 sudden attack of heart failure which at once brought him to 
 the very gates of death. Though he rallied once more, there 
 could be no doubt that the days of his public life and work 
 were over. He resigned his professorship in the Seminary, 
 confining himself, with all the strength that was left to him, 
 to his study and the continuation of his beloved Halle Re- 
 ports. After a visit to Atlantic City in the spring of 1892, 
 his strength for a time seemed greatly improved. He again 
 attended the meetings of the Pastoral Association in Mount 
 Airy, and made one of his most brilliant extempore addresses 
 in the May meeting on the condition and influence of the 
 Jews in modern history. But when the time came for the 
 Synodical Convention in Reading, he did not feel strong 
 enough to attend the meeting, as he was very much pros- 
 trated by the great heat. He longed to get out of the city 
 and to enjoy the balmy sea-breezes of Pigeon Cove, Massa- 
 chusetts, where he had been greatly benefited in the pre- 
 ceding summer. He left the city on Wednesday, June 15th, 
 in company with his wife and two daughters. On the way 
 to Falls River he was taken quite sick on the steamer, 
 and when they reached Boston, it was found necessary to 
 stop at a hotel and call in medical assistance. A few precious 
 days were granted to him in that quiet retreat with his be- 
 loved ones. He hardly tasted the bitterness of death. Softly 
 and gently the Lord carried His faithful servant home on the 
 evening of June 20th. He had reached an age of 73 years 
 and 22 days. 
 
 On the following Friday, June 24th, his body was laid to 
 rest in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. At the 
 
65 
 
 house, No, 114 North Thirty-fourth Street, the Rev. William 
 Ashmead Schaeffer, pastor of St. Stephen's Church, read the 
 service for the burial of the dead. Dr. Charles W. Schaeffer, 
 the senior and chairman of the Theological Faculty, and a 
 life-long, warm friend of Dr. Mann, addressed the family in 
 words of tender sympathy and appreciation of the departed 
 one. Rev. Hugo Grahn, the oldest of his German colleagues 
 in the city, closed with a German prayer. There was general 
 regret that the public service could not be held in Zion's 
 Church, whose faithful pastor he had been for thirty-four 
 years. But the work of repairing and painting in preparation 
 for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the congrega- 
 tion had already been commenced and the scaffolding erected, 
 so that the church was not available for such a funeral ser- 
 vice. The churches of St. Johannis (German), St. John's 
 (English), and of the Holy Communion were offered for the 
 funeral service, and on account of its central location, the 
 family decided in favor of the latter. The large edifice was 
 crowded with members of all our Lutheran Churches in 
 Philadelphia and from the whole territory of our Synod. 
 
 As the body was carried into the church by pastors who 
 had all been pupils of Dr. Mann, it was followed by the vestry 
 of Zion's Church, the directors of the Seminary, a delegation 
 from the New York Ministerium, which was at that time in 
 session in the City of New York, and about 200 clerical breth- 
 ren. After an organ-prelude Rev. F. Wischan announced the 
 hymn: " Mein Glaub ist meines Lebens Ruh," which was a 
 favorite of the departed brother, and after the singing offered 
 prayer in the German language. Rev. E. Nidecker, Dr. 
 Mann's assistant and successor in Zion's Church, read the 
 Scripture and Dr. A. Spaeth delivered the German address, 
 basing his remarks on John 9:4. "I must work the works of 
 Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh when no 
 man can work." This was followed by the aria from Haendel's 
 Messiah : " I know that my Redeemer liveth," after which the 
 Rev. Dr. J. A. Seiss delivered the English address. It was 
 generally regretted that Dr. G. F. Krotel, the intimate friend 
 
66 
 
 of Dr. Mann for more than thirty years, whose name was on 
 the programme for the principal address in English, could not 
 be present on account of sickness. Professor H. E. Jacobs, 
 D.D., followed with an English prayer, and a last opportunity 
 was given to take a parting look at the features, which were 
 so familiar to the hundreds that passed the coffin. It was 
 nearly seven o'clock in the evening when the last words of 
 the burial service were spoken at the grave in West Laurel 
 Hill Cemetery. 
 
 Dr. W. J. Mann was undoubtedly one of the most highly 
 gifted, genial and original men the Lutheran Church ever had 
 in this country. In addition to his uncommon natural en- 
 dowments he had the advantage of an excellent classical and 
 theological training, such as his native Wurttemberg, celebrated 
 for its educational institutions, could afford. His learning was 
 not confined to theology and its nearly related departments; 
 it covered the widest range, not only of philosophical and his- 
 torical subjects, but also in the vast kingdom of natural philo- 
 sophy, physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. Much as he had 
 acquired in the days of his youth, he never ceased studying 
 and learning, adding new treasures to his rich stores from 
 year to year. He was an indefatigable reader; but faithful 
 and reliable as his memory was, he constantly aided and 
 strengthened it with pen and pencil, taking notes and making 
 copious extracts from books and journals, wherever he would 
 find anything that seemed worth retaining. There was no 
 trace of scholasticism in his knowledge. Everything he 
 knew he had appropriated and digested, so that his own mind 
 had full control over it, and whatever he brought out of his 
 storehouse appeared to be altogether his own, bearing the im- 
 print of his individuality. The freshness and directness of the 
 living word was everything with him and compared to this all 
 that was written or printed seemed to be of small account. 
 As the world and its history, and the Church and her life and 
 development, so his own thoughts, his whole system of 
 philosophy and theology seemed to be in constant motion. 
 According to the turn it might take, according to the impres- 
 
67 
 
 sions received, he would have very different views of the same 
 topic in succession as quick as the changes of the kaleidoscope. 
 With his eminently critical mind, and his thorough knowledge 
 of the world he was naturally inclined to pessimistic views, 
 but it was the pessimism of the child of God, which is sick of 
 this world and its ways, and longs to be at home in everlasting 
 peace. 
 
 Among his many natural gifts and endowments his aesthetic 
 and artistic talents, his thorough appreciation of the beautiful 
 in art and nature must not be forgotten. All through his life 
 he used and enjoyed that precious gift of holding fast with his 
 quickly sketching pencil, any charming landscape which he 
 might come across. Many a poem of deep and tender feeling 
 and well-shaped form was written by him, and even in the 
 English language he was successful in this line. But his 
 greatest enjoyment and comfort he found in his musical en- 
 dowment. What a treat it was to listen to him when he sat 
 at his beloved piano, revelling in musical thoughts and dreams. 
 With striking originality and ability he would take up a theme 
 and carry it through in the most elaborate manner, until at 
 last he would return to his favorite, Handel and his master 
 piece, the Messiah, concluding with some reminiscence from 
 that grand oratorio or with a plain German choral. 
 
 All those gifts and accomplishments were ennobled and 
 sanctified by the sincere piety of a truly devout and godly 
 heart. To have a live experience of the mercy and grace of 
 God which overcomes the guilt and power of sin and makes 
 new creatures in Christ Jesus, this was to him the very centre, 
 the moving and controlling power of his whole life. From 
 this fountain sprang that indefatigable ability to work and his 
 delight in it, which are such prominent features in his charac- 
 ter and life as it manifested itself to outsiders. His capacity 
 for mastering an almost incredible amount of work ; was some- 
 thing phenomenal. One of its secrets was the wise and con- 
 scientious arrangement of his working time, and particularly 
 the use he made of his early morning hours. 
 
 The love of God, that dwelt in his heart, made him gentle, 
 
68 
 
 kind and forbearing in his intercourse with others. If ever he 
 thought that by some rash word, in the heat of debate, he 
 might have hurt another's feelings, he hastened to make his 
 peace with the offended brother. And the wrong that was 
 done to him, the slanders and calumnies which were at times 
 heaped upon him, were freely and fully forgiven by his gener- 
 ous and truly humble heart. Though he himself was of a 
 tender and extremely sensitive nature he bore such wrong hero- 
 ically, knowing too well the nature of the human heart, and 
 comforting himself with the grace of his God and Saviour. 
 
 In a circle of congenial friends he was the merriest and most 
 enjoyable companion, brimful of wit and humor, who loved to 
 let himself go in innocent pleasantry like a child in its hours 
 of play. In his family relations, as son, husband, father, grand- 
 father and brother, he was full of deep and tender affection, 
 making his beloved ones feel how truly and fully he sympa- 
 thized with them in their joys and sorrows. What they and 
 those who enjoyed his more intimate friendship have lost, 
 cannot be told. 
 
 After such a life of incessant devotion to duty, of days and 
 nights of uninterrupted work, the bitterest experience, from 
 which his active restless mind shrunk with natural horror, was, 
 " to be confined to the sick-room, to be obliged to stop, though 
 all around there is the call for work." Though threatened by 
 this dark and gloomy shadow he was, in God's providence, 
 quickly delivered from it. He hardly tasted the night, which 
 forbade him to work. The Lord promptly called him to the 
 rest above. 
 
 Requiescat in pace et lux aetcrna luceat ei. 
 
69 
 
 LIST OF DR. W. J. MANN'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 1843. Der Dom in Mailand. Jugendblnetter von Dr. Barth & 
 
 Haenel. (March 1843.) 
 1845. Die Ansiedler in America. Stuttgart. Steinkopf. 
 
 1 848-1 859. Contributions to the Kirchenfreund. 
 
 1848. Die Kirche der Gegenwart (eight articles from Feb. 1848 
 
 to July, 1849.) — Der gegenwaertige Zustand Deutschlands 
 vom historisch-politischen Standpunct aus betrachtet. 
 
 1849. Ein Weihnachtstraum. — Bibelbilder. 
 
 1850. Neujahrs. — Epistel an den Kirchenfreund. — Die Deutsche 
 
 Presse in America. — Das neue Lutherische Gesangbuch. — 
 Geistige Brosamlein. — Kirchliche Tendenzen und ihre 
 Gegner. — Die Einwanderung. 
 
 1851. Neuere Kirchliche Organisations. — Versuche in Deutsch- 
 
 land. — Das Mystische im Glauben und die Aufklaerung. 
 — Die deutsche Theologie der Gegenwart und ihr Einfluss 
 — Saat und Ernte. Gen. 8, 22. — Die Zukunft der protest- 
 antischen Kirche. 
 
 1852. Des Jahr 1851. — Deutsche Notstaende im der neuen Welt. — 
 
 Universitaeten und ihre Bedeutung fuers ceffentliche 
 Leben. — Claus Harms' Selbstbiographie. 
 
 1853. Jacob Bcehme, der teutonische Theosoph (4 articles.) — Lit- 
 
 urgie oder freies Gebet beim oeffentlichen Gottesdienst ? 
 
 1854. An unsere Leser. — Rundschau. — Buecherschau. — Am Grab 
 
 des Herrn. — Ordinations. — Thesen. — Das Synodalwesen. 
 — Aphorismen ueber die Nacht. — America und die 
 Deutschen. — Schelling. 
 
 1855. Rundschau. — Kirchliche Armen and Krankenpflege. — 
 
 Verschmelzung nationaler Eigentuemlichkeiten. — Him- 
 melfahrts-Gedanken. — Die Bibliotheca Sacra und die 
 Pastoren in Deutschland. — Blaetter aus dem Wander- 
 buche. — Vom ungerechten Haushalter. — Der Augs- 
 burger Religionsfriede 1555. — Gemeinden und Sing- 
 chcere. 
 
 1856. Rundschau. — Blsetter aus dem Wanderbuche — Das Ver- 
 
 mieten von Kirchenstuehlen. — Deutsche und Englische 
 Sprache. — Kirchlicher und religiceser Standpunct Wuert- 
 tembergs. — Die Heilige Schrift ein Ganzes. — Die Fortset- 
 zung des Theologischen Studiums ein Beduerfniss fuer 
 den Evangelischen Prediger. — Zur Geschichte der Con- 
 firmation. 
 
 1857. Rundschau. Der Zinsgroschen. — Christfest und The Amer- 
 
 ican Presbyterian. — Miramida. — Christentum und Thea- 
 
70 
 
 ter. — Der Pastor und sein Umgang. — Jacobi i, 25. — Pas- 
 toral-Conferenzen. — Gedanken zur Lehre von der Kirche. 
 — Der Pastor und die Kranken. 
 
 1858. Rundschau. — Die Deutsche Reformirte Kirche und die Lit- 
 
 urgische Frage. — Kalender. — Katechese.— Die gegen- 
 waertige religiose Bewegung. ■ — Gedankengang von 
 Roem. I-XI. Das heilige Land und die Gegenwart. — 
 Zur Confirmationsfrage. — Amt, Stand und Person des 
 I'redigers. — Brand des Schiffes Austria. — Deutsche Pettier 
 in America. 
 
 1859. Rundschau. — Religion, Natur und Ehe. — Einfluss derevan- 
 
 gelischen Predigt der Gegenwart. — Ein edler Einwan- 
 derer. — Die europaeische Kriegsfrage, Die evangelische 
 Kirchen-Zeitungund der Umschwung der Dinge in Preus- 
 sen. — Ein Besuch in Economy. — Die Sonntags Frage. — 
 Schiller. — Aus der Geschichte der Juden nach Christo. — 
 Abschied. 
 
 1849. Universal History. — Introduction. Translated by J. S. E. 
 
 (Ermentrout.) Mercersburg Review. (3 Articles.) 
 
 1850. Ecclesiastical Tendencies. — Mercersburg Review. The 
 
 Immigration. Mercersburg Review. Sermon preached 
 in Salem's German Reformed Church. 
 1853. Review of Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures on the Principle, 
 
 Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church. — Evan- 
 gelical Review. (April.) 
 
 1855. Mormonen — Article in Herzog's Real- Encyclopaedic 
 
 1856. A Plea for the Augsburg Confession, in answer to the objec- 
 
 tions of the Definite Platform, etc. For the Lutheran 
 Board of Publication. Philadelphia, Lindsay & Blakis- 
 ton. 
 
 1857. Lutheranism in America : an essay on the present condi- 
 
 tion of the Lutheran Church in the United States. 
 Dr. Schmucker's Symbols. Article in the Evangelical Re- 
 view, April. 
 
 1869. Johann Christoph Friederich Schiller in Schiller-Album. 
 
 Schajfer <X: Koradi. Phila. 
 " Ibid. Six Sonnets on Schiller. 
 
 i860. Lebensbilder vom Missionsfeld. Lutheran Board of Publi- 
 
 cation. 
 
 1 860-1 892. Contributions to Lutherische Zeitschrift, afterwards Herold 
 <.\; Zeitschrift. 
 Contributions to the Jugendfreund. 
 
 1863. Dr. Carl Rudolph Demme. Funeral Address. Philadel- 
 
 phia. C. W. Widmaier. 
 
71 
 
 1863-1865. Contributions to Evangelische Zeugnisse, a Homiletical 
 monthly published by Ig. Kohler, Philadelphia. 
 
 1863. Luther's Kleiner Katechismus, erklaert in Fragen und Ant- 
 
 worten, zum Gebrauch in Kirche, Schule und Haus (W. 
 J. Mann and G. F. Krotel). 
 
 1864. Edition of Kohler's Family Bible. 
 1866. Contributions to Lutheran & Missionary. 
 
 Festgruss zum Zions-Jubilaeum. Philadelphia. G. W. 
 Widmaier. 
 
 1868. Dr. K. F. E. Stohlmann. Funeral Address. Also Memo- 
 
 rial in " Lutherische Herold." 
 
 1 868-1 873. Contributions to Rev. S. K. Probst's Theologische Monats- 
 hefte. 
 
 1868. Was ist das Fundamental im Christenthum ? Thesen und 
 
 Referat. 
 
 1869. Blick in die Zeit. 
 
 1870. Welche Bedeutung hat die Stelle, Matth. 18: 15-17, fuer 
 
 die Frage der Kirchenzucht. 
 
 1872. Sensations-Predigten. 
 
 1873. Dr. Strauss und der neue Glaube. 
 
 Der Zeitgeist der Gegenwart und sein Einfluss auf die 
 Erziehung. 
 1872. Der Deutsch-Franzcesische Krieg. Philadelphia. Ig. 
 
 Kohler. 
 
 1872. General Principles of Christian Ethics: the first part of the 
 
 system of Christian ethics by Chr. J. Schmidt, D.D. Phila-' 
 delphia. The Lutheran Book Store. 
 
 1873. The Great Reformation. The Lutheran Book Store. Phila- 
 
 delphia. Address at the Reformation-Festival of the 
 Seminary. (Delivered in German.) 
 
 1878. Preface to Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. Philadel- 
 
 phia. Ig. Kohler. 
 " Theses on the Lutheranism of the Fathers of the Church 
 
 in this Country. (Proceedings of First Lutheran Diet.) 
 
 1879. Vergangene Tage. Aus den Zeiten des Patriarchen Dr. 
 
 H. M. Muhlenbergs. Vortrag bei der Reformationsfeier 
 des Seminars. 
 
 1880. Sketch of Dr. Chas. F. Schaefer. Memorial. Published 
 
 by the Alumni Association. 
 
 1881. Heilsbotschaft. Philadelphia. Im VerlagdesWaisenhauses. 
 
 1882. Leben und Wirken William Penns. Reading. Pilger Book 
 
 store. 
 Contributions to the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia: Kunz, 
 John Christopher; Lotze, Hermann Rudolph; Muhlen- 
 
72 
 
 berg, Heinrich Melchior; Schaeffer, Charles Frederick ; 
 Schmucker, Samuel Simon ; Theological Seminary Phila- 
 delphia. 
 Ein Aufgang im Abendland. Reading. Pilger Book store. 
 
 1884. Die gute alte Zeit. 
 
 Das Buch der Buecher und seine Geschichte. Reading. 
 Pilger Book Store. 
 
 1885. Abschieds-Predigt am 16 Nov. 1884. Der Gemeinde zur 
 
 freundlichen Erinnerung gewidmet. 
 
 1886. Hallesche Nachrichten. I Volume. Allentown. J. H. 
 
 Diehl. 
 
 1887. Life and Times of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. Phila- 
 
 delphia. G. W. Frederick. 
 
 1888. Die persuenliche Freiheit. Tract. 
 
 1889. Baptismal Regeneration. Tract. 
 1880-1891. Contributions to the Workman. 
 
 1882-1891. Contributions to the Lutheran Church Review. 
 
 1882. Suicide. — Russia. 
 
 1883. A Sign of the Times. 
 
 1884. Benedict de Spinoza. — East India and its Religious Pros- 
 
 pects. 
 
 1885. Unsound Devotional Literature. Geo. H. A. Ewald. 
 
 1887. Psychological Questions. — Lutherans in America before 
 
 Muhlenberg. 
 
 1888. The Conservatism of H. M. Muhlenberg. — Von Scheie's 
 
 Symbolik. 
 
 1889. Human Mind versus The Universe. — Questions in Ethics. 
 
 1890. Albert Ritschl and his Theology, (four articles). 
 Contributions to American Church Review (New York) 
 
 Church Union. 
 
 1891. An Ordination Certificate of the time of Muhlenberg. 
 1891. Christoph Columbus. Philadelphia. Ig. Kohler. 
 
 1 leinrich Melchior Muhlenberg's Leben und VVirken. Phila- 
 delphia, Pa. Pastor A. Hellwege. Roxborough.