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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 
 
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A 
 
 REUNION 
 
 OF 
 
 Ministers and Churches, 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 Gardnersville, May 14-17, 1881. 
 
 "UNITY OF SPIRIT." 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE COMPILERS. 
 
 |( JUL 1 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 
 
 1881. 
 

 ^RIGHTED. I88l . 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 Or CONGRttS 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A RE-UNION. 
 
 The character and design of the occasion 
 which called forth the sentiments and reminis- 
 cences contained in this unpretentious little 
 volume, are sufficiently indicated in the follow- 
 ing quotations from the Programme : 
 
 " This gathering is intended to embrace all ministers 
 and churches whose relations to this Church and com- 
 munity have been such as to make it a matter of in- 
 terest for them to be personally or representatively 
 present on the occasion. 
 
 " The object will be to refresh the memories and re- 
 vive the associations of other years; to rescue from 
 hopeless oblivion the yet available- fragments of local 
 history, especially the facts of religious development, 
 church extension, and important biographical reminis- 
 cences ; and to blend the experiences of the past and 
 present, as a means of instruction and encouragement 
 for the future. 
 
 " In aiming at this object, all who are to participate 
 are respectfully requested to be loyal to truth and 
 right ; to be fair and faithful to realities and tenden- 
 
 (in) 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 cies ; to be kind, generous, magnanimous, to all per- 
 sons and parties ; to keep the object constantly and 
 distinctly in view ; and yet no one will be expected to 
 stultify himself by any narrowness of thought, feeling, 
 or utterance, as if a sensitive conservatism demanded 
 restraint or sacrifice," 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 " He that is first in his own cause seemeth just ; but 
 his neighbor cometh and searcheth him." 
 
 Our Hartwick brethren, in their " Memorial," 
 have left us, in our Re-union, a single alternative 
 — to correct, or to silently acquiesce in their 
 inaccuracies. Fidelity and justice to all con- 
 cerned require that some of the statements of 
 that publication, which bear upon us, should be 
 noticed. Of the work as a whole nothing 
 needs to be said. We have no wish to detract 
 an iota from its merits. Nothing but self-de- 
 fence, by placing truth within the reach of all 
 who care to understand it, will here be at- 
 tempted. 
 
 I. The Memorial assumes that both the 
 Hartwick and Franckean Synods were irregu- 
 larly inaugurated, because the ministers by 
 whom they were organized did not obtain 
 "letters of dismission" from the ecclesiastical 
 bodies of which they had been members. 
 This is a grave charge, expressed by an equiv- 
 (5) 
 
6 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 ocal term. Doubtless the writer had in his 
 own mind some idea of order, from which the 
 proceedings in .question were thought to be a 
 digression. And no one will dispute his right 
 to hold or to declare such an opinion. But 
 so me of his readers may venture to inquire 
 whether the distinguished gentlemen who 
 founded those Synods were not as competent 
 to judge respecting regularity as he is; and 
 whether it is either courteous or just to set up 
 an individual opinion, unsupported by any pre- 
 tence of authority, as a standard of condemna- 
 tion against so large a number — one against 
 more than a score — and that, too, in a treatise 
 of historical interest, may well be doubted. 
 The general question of regularity will not be 
 discussed. There are cases in which it is in- 
 vested with sacred importance. There are 
 instances in which it is shamefully abused. 
 And there are occurrences respecting which the 
 thought of regularity is ridiculously absurd. 
 Our author may classify the proceedings under 
 review as he pleases. But before we bow in 
 silent acquiescence to his wholesale assump- 
 tion, we shall be glad to have him name a 
 single instance in the entire history of pro- 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. J 
 
 gressive organizations, in which persons leaving 
 one association to found another for reformatory 
 purposes, ever asked or received letters of dis- 
 mission. 
 
 Did Christ and the Apostles ? Did Luther 
 and his associate Reformers ? 
 
 2. The Memorial assumes that the founders 
 of the Franckean Synod were "hasty and in- 
 considerate" in this movement, " inasmuch" 
 as they were active in the session of the Hart- 
 wick Synod of 1836, while it " does not appear 
 from the records," except a certain specified 
 resolution, that there existed any cause for 
 " alienation." And in a similarly assumptive 
 manner, it is stated that there could have been 
 no reasons for a separation arising from differ- 
 ences of opinion respecting revivals, temper- 
 ance, etc., because the Hartwick Synod " had 
 planted itself unequivocally upon the total 
 abstinence pledge, and in nearly all the congre- 
 gations total abstinence societies had been or- 
 ganized." Our author does not say whence 
 he obtained his information on this subject ; 
 but it seems likely that here again he had re- 
 course to the " records." And as these several 
 topics must be disposed of in a group, it may 
 
8 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 as well be said respecting all, that such conclu- 
 sions, derived from exclusively such sources, 
 are entirely out of place in what purports to be 
 authentic history. Of course, no ingenuous 
 mind would question the credibilty of the 
 "records" of ecclesiastical bodies, unless falsi- 
 fication might be sustained by overwhelming 
 testimony. And so, too, family records may 
 be presumed to be reliable. But is it likely 
 that family quarrels will be registered in family 
 records? What credit would a historian be 
 entitled to who declared without qualification 
 that no domestic broils had ever disturbed the 
 peace of a given family ; and gave as his reason 
 for the declaration that the records of that fam- 
 ily contained no traces of strife, or of causes 
 leading to it ? Just as much credit, and no 
 more, as our author is entitled to, when he as- 
 sumes that the Minutes of Synods indicate the 
 measure of discord or harmony prevalent among 
 their members. A member of the Hartwick 
 Synod, just returned from the meeting of that 
 body at West Camp, stated within the last hour 
 that certain proceedings were not to appear in 
 the Minutes, because at some future time they 
 might be used to the injury of the party con- 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 9 
 
 cerned. And certainly the body may be com- 
 mended for prudence in acting so thoughtfully. 
 But if the future historian is controlled by the 
 precedents of our author, he will confidently 
 assert that upon the subject in question no dif- 
 ference of opinion existed. 
 
 Now, the simple truth is, and it is abundantly 
 capable of proof, that such became the deeply 
 rooted divergencies of conviction and purpose 
 among the members of that body at that time, 
 and that, too, respecting the very means and 
 movements to which allusion has been made, 
 that continued co-operation in good faith was 
 an impracticability. And the antagonistic ele- 
 ments which had been multiplying and strength- 
 ening for years, were brought into final and 
 fatal collision in the session of 1836, the very 
 session in which our author finds no appearan- 
 ces of " alienation." The existing dissatisfac- 
 tions and " alienations " had not, indeed, been 
 spread out upon the " records," but they were, 
 nevertheless, sources of serious and ceaseless 
 embarrassment. The President was elected 
 during that session with a view to conciliation. 
 And immediately after the organization, the 
 memorable anti-slavery paper which was pre- 
 
IO HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 sented called forth a flourish of weapons, by 
 which the timid were terrified. This was the 
 decisive moment. The disposition made of 
 that paper was the " last straw which broke the 
 camel's back." Controversy ended ; but it was 
 succeeded by a lull, which clearly enough por- 
 tended the coming storm. The idea of re- 
 formation was abandoned, because it was felt 
 that the time for revolution had come. 
 
 But our motto is " Historical Fidelity!' Ac- 
 cordingly, let us leave no room for misappre- 
 hension respecting a matter of so much mo- 
 ment. More was true of the Hartwick Synod, 
 and of the churches within its bounds, than the 
 " Memorial'* claims for them, especially respect- 
 ing temperance. All the ministers were the 
 friends of this good cause, and a large propor- 
 tion of them were its ardent advocates. And 
 so, too, there were not only societies existing 
 within the limits of all the congregations, but 
 there were among the members not a few earn- 
 est temperance workers. And yet it must be 
 said that our author's conclusion from such 
 facts, that differences of opinion respecting tem- 
 perance could have afforded no reason for sepa- 
 ration, is as groundless as the "baseless fabri 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. II 
 
 of a vision." Said the pastor of one of the 
 churches, " I have seven deacons, all of whom 
 get drunk." That was probably the only church 
 of which such a statement could have been 
 truthfully made. But then cases of intoxica- 
 tion among church members were not infre- 
 quent. And just here came the issue. On 
 the one hand it was claimed that drunkenness 
 was a sin, and should be treated as such — that 
 it should be a bar to the communion — a just 
 cause for excommunication ; while on the other 
 hand, practically, and as a matter of public in- 
 struction, it was held that temperance must not 
 be allowed to disturb the peace of the churches. 
 Said the President of the body, " We must keep 
 temperance out of our churches." 
 
 And in a manner more or less similar, every 
 topic mentioned, and others besides, furnished 
 reasons for the deprecated rupture. Whether 
 those reasons, subjected to thorough scrutiny, 
 would justify the movement to which they con- 
 tributed, is a question not here to be decided. 
 The only point insisted upon is that our au- 
 thor's attempts to show that the movementwas 
 " hasty and inconsiderate," utterly fail to sus- 
 tain his conclusion. 
 
12 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 3. The " confessional" matter, in view of the 
 inherent importance of the subject, the indefi- 
 niteness of its treatment, and its well nigh 
 limitless implications, might seem to demand 
 most serious attention. In reality, however, it 
 amounts to nearly nothing. From the first 
 sensational thrill to this last attempt to throw 
 historical sanction around the charge that the 
 Franckean Synod from its organization had as- 
 sailed the Augsburg Confession, the whole 
 controversy grew out of and was carried on by 
 misapprehension and misrepresentation. The 
 real and the only difference between the 
 Synods respecting this document, from the first 
 and all the way through, was not whether as 
 properly understood it was doctrinally objec- 
 tionable, but whether it was not objectionably 
 liable to be misunderstood. Precisely this lia- 
 bility the Franckean Synod sought to avoid by 
 the articles adopted, and the Hartwick Synod 
 endeavored to guard against precisely the same 
 liability by the " Notes" which were published 
 shortly after. This is the true state of the 
 case, and this is the whole of it. The only 
 real "confessional" question which ever existed 
 between the two Synods, was the great denomi- 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I 3 
 
 national question agitating the Church every- 
 where, whether a change of phraseology is not 
 preferable to perpetual ambiguity. That the 
 pressure was felt elsewhere as well as here, the 
 "Recension of the Augsburg Confession," the 
 " Definite Platform, " any number of Church 
 Declarations, and almost ceaseless contro- 
 versy, are surely sufficient proof. 
 
 And now, if the reader inquires how it was 
 possible for intelligent men to mistake a differ- 
 ence of opinion upon a question of propriety 
 for a difference of doctrine, the answer will not 
 be difficult. If our author, at this late day, 
 contemplating the subject from the grave 
 standpoint of a historian, has been thus misled, 
 it is surely not surprising that the parties, dur- 
 ing the heat of the excitement, should mutu- 
 ally have given occasion for such misapprehen- 
 sion. 
 
 4. Surprise has its limits. And it may well 
 be asked, whether the point has not been 
 reached beyond which blunders cease to excite 
 surprise. If the reader's susceptibilities still 
 hold out, he may, perhaps, realize an additional 
 sensation by reading what our author says 
 about the final defection of all but one of the 
 
14 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 founders of the Franckean Synod. Only the 
 charity which " believeth all things," will dis- 
 cern in these statements any but a motive to 
 fix reproach upon the organization to which 
 they relate. And they are the more to 
 be deprecated, because it is well nigh impos- 
 sible to meet accusations against the departed, 
 without disturbing the feelings of surviving 
 friends. But this sad necessity is a common 
 experience. And those who are least respon- 
 sible for the wrongs which are supposed to 
 exist, not unfrequently are most outraged by 
 the unscrupulous attempts made to taint the 
 reputation or the memory of those upon whom 
 they are falsely charged. But whoever suffers 
 when truth is assailed, it must be vindicated. 
 And if it was the author's aim to crowd the 
 largest number of inaccuracies in the smallest 
 space, the paragraph before us may be cited as 
 a rare example of success. And yet it contains 
 some truth. It is true that " Rev. John D. Law- 
 yer was, in after years, deposed by that body 
 for heresy." And it is just as true that Rev. 
 John D. Lawyer for years, while a member of 
 the Hartwick Synod, cherished the same heresy 
 without being deposed. Whether those who 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I 5 
 
 use, or those against whom they are used, are 
 most injured when such weapons are called in 
 requisition, the reader may be left to decide. 
 This retort is befitting, not only because it is 
 merited, but because it discloses the fact. And 
 yet justice must be done to the Hartwick 
 Synod. John D. Lawyer went into that body 
 as heretical as he went out of it ; as heretical 
 as he was when he was deposed by the Franck- 
 ean Synod. He never was sound in the faith. 
 For more than a decade, in three different 
 Synods, he held, and to some extent sought to 
 propagate, his heresies without disturbance. 
 And yet our author would stigmatize the origin 
 and history of the body by which the false doc- 
 trines of this man were ferreted out, by oppro- 
 briously bringing to view his deposition ! 
 
 It is true, too, that Rev. L. Swackhamer re- 
 turned to and died a member of the Hartwick 
 Synod. And what of that ? Was it discredit- 
 able to him or to the body of which he had 
 been a member, to transfer his relations to that 
 Synod after he had taken charge of a church 
 within its bounds ? Have our brethren aban- 
 doned the rule about which they have been so 
 sensitive and so strenuous ? There were, in- 
 
1 6 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 deed, other features of the last experiences of 
 this dear brother, which entitle his memory to 
 very different treatment from that it has re- 
 ceived in the " Memorial." And as for Rev. W. 
 Ottman, the admission charged upon him has 
 not the semblance of truth in it. Nothing is 
 more certain than that he remained a firm and 
 ardent friend of the Synod to the end of his 
 life. 
 
 Rev. P. Wieting was well enough known in 
 and beyond the bounds of both synods, and it 
 is sufficiently sure that his worth will be per- 
 petuated by other means, so that no patroniz- 
 ing eulogy was needed in such a work as the 
 Memorial. 
 
 And it is strange that the wisdom of silence 
 respecting unappreciated merit is not more 
 frequently exemplified. But if discretion is as 
 rare as accuracy, were it not for the protest of 
 truth to the contrary, it might be a relief to ac- 
 cept even superfluous compliments without 
 discount. A Nestor in the body of which he 
 was a member, this venerable man indeed was, 
 but for very different reasons than those for 
 which this classic name is applied to him by 
 our author. He did not lead his synod as a 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I J 
 
 body into the General Synod. He favored the 
 movement, but he neither originated nor con- 
 trolled it. That movement was thoroughly dis- 
 cussed during several sessions, and the final 
 action was taken with considerable unanimity. 
 It was not carried by management nor by per- 
 sonal influence. But if there was one member 
 who was more earnest and decided than others 
 were in favor of it, that member was not Rev. 
 P. Wetting, but Rev. N. Van Alstine. 
 
 5. Of course, the late "efforts to effect an 
 organic union" between the two Synods re- 
 quired our author's attention. And, as might 
 have been expected, he assumes that those 
 efforts failed " through the want of proper ac- 
 tion on the part" of the Franckean Synod. 
 
 This assumption, it must be confessed, seems 
 much more plausible than its antecedents. 
 The records, at least, do favor it. But things 
 are not always what they seem. The "records" 
 in this matter, no more than in others, contain 
 all the facts. There are indisputable facts out- 
 side of the "records" which place the failure in 
 a very different light. The question has been 
 asked whether the entire movement did not 
 originate in the idea of management. But, 
 2 
 
15 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 however that may have been, it is certain that 
 while there was no failure of favorable "action" 
 on the part of the Hartwick Synod, there was 
 practical hostility to the ostensible object con- 
 templated by the union. Purposes were indi- 
 cated far less loving in their aspects than were 
 the resolutions passed ; far more in accordance 
 with the spirit and sentiments which pervade 
 the " Memorial," as also other more recent de- 
 velopments. 
 
 To those whose information has been wholly 
 derived from the "records," it doubtless 
 must appear that the failure to effect a union 
 was due to the manner in which the matter 
 was disposed of by the Franckean Synod. 
 But whoever has felt interest enough in the 
 history of that movement to examine it thor- 
 oughly, will inevitably be led to the following 
 conclusions : First y that the Hartwick Synod, 
 whether they desired it or not, were not pre- 
 pared for it. Second, that if the Franckean 
 Synod evinced any aversion to the union, it 
 arose from the conviction that if effected, it 
 would only be a union in name. Third, that 
 however desirable such a union might be, 
 however certain that it must ultimately be 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I9 
 
 brought about, the time for its consummation 
 had not yet come. 
 
 6. Great prominence is given in the " Memo- 
 rial " to the evils connected with and growing 
 out of the litigation in which, subsequent to 
 the organization of the Franckean Synod, a 
 number of churches were involved. The idea 
 is carried, and evidently was intended to be 
 carried, that for all those evils this body was 
 to blame. And clearly the decisions of the 
 courts are relied on to justify this conclusion. 
 We shall have nothing to say here respecting 
 the right or the wrong of these decisions. But 
 against the assumption that the edict of a civil 
 tribunal is to be in any sense regarded as a 
 standard of moral rectitude, a decided protest 
 is entered. The principle is not only ridicu- 
 lous — it is monstrous. Jesus Christ was con- 
 demned by the highest civil authority, and so 
 was Martin Luther. And it is at least suppos- 
 able that modern courts are capable of equal 
 outrages upon right and justice. 
 
 No disposition is felt to defend the one body, 
 or to criminate the other, so far as that un- 
 fortunate litigation was concerned. But our 
 author's logic in arriving at his conclusion 
 
20 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 needs a passing notice. It reminds one of what 
 was frequently said during the w r ar of the re- 
 bellion, that all the blood and treasure ex- 
 pended in that dread struggle might have been 
 avoided, if the North had simply allowed the 
 South to have her own way. Very likely. It 
 is, indeed, quite probable that if the supremacy 
 of the slave power had been conceded, the 
 Union might have been preserved without the 
 war. And so, too, might the Church of Rome 
 have remained undisturbed by the revolutions 
 of the sixteenth century, if our great Reformer 
 had not assailed its corruptions. Now, our 
 author is indeed a Southern man ; and yet we 
 will do him the justice to believe, that in that 
 great sectional contest he was not so blinded 
 as to blame the North for all the evils of the 
 war. But respecting the subject before us, 
 upon which he has so assumptively expressed 
 himself, it is not easy, if indeed it is possible, to 
 exonerate him from absurdities equally ridicu- 
 lous. 
 
 7. The " Historical Address " alone has been 
 under review. Our author was the chosen 
 historian of the body to do this work. It was 
 delivered before the Synod, and indorsed by 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 21 
 
 it. Accordingly the Synod, as such, is respon- 
 sible for what it contains. It may seem strange, 
 and it is very strange, that such inaccuracies 
 should have been published to the world with 
 such indorsement. There is, however, an ex- 
 planation, and in the judgment of charity, the 
 only one which can be suggested from the nature 
 of the case. It certainly is entitled to some 
 consideration, both as to its bearings upon the 
 author and upon the Synod. 
 
 The writer had no personal knowledge of 
 the affairs about which he wrote, as at the time 
 they occurred he was a resident of another 
 and a distant part of the country — South 
 Carolina. Since he has been a member of the 
 Hartwick Synod, his associations and his 
 means of information have been mainly limited 
 to that body. And it is confidently believed 
 that had such a work as the " Memorial " been 
 written by either of the venerable men who 
 controlled its counsels during the days of syn- 
 odical strife, it would have been pervaded by 
 less partisan feeling and purpose than charac- 
 terize the present volume. 
 
 And now about the Synod. As the mem- 
 bers have made themselves responsible for 
 
22 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 the work done by their historian, if there are 
 any extenuating circumstances, they are en- 
 titled to the benefit of them. 
 
 Of the body as constituted when the " His- 
 torical Address' 7 was delivered, there was but 
 one member who was on the ground and in 
 condition to have anything like a full and fair 
 understanding of that ecclesiastical contest at 
 the time it occurred. For this statement abso- 
 lute certainty is not claimed, yet it is confi- 
 dently believed to be correct. All but that one 
 have since become members of the body. No 
 inconsiderable portion of them are immigrants 
 from other states, while a decided majority of 
 the balance were at that time not even novi- 
 tiates in the sacred profession: 
 
 These facts respecting the author and the 
 Synod do certainly afford an explanation of 
 the errors noticed, but whether they are to be 
 accepted as a palliation or not, the reader must 
 be left to judge. 
 
 Another strange thing — perhaps in keeping 
 with all the rest — must be mentioned. In the 
 general list of the members of the body, as 
 given in the "Memorial, r the name of that one 
 member who only had " a perfect knowledge 
 
HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 
 
 23 
 
 of all things from the very first," and whose 
 understanding in the indorsement of the 
 " Historical Address" may not be challenged — 
 in that list, the name of that one member is not 
 found. Of this strange fact no explanation 
 will be offered— none is needed from us. If 
 silence respecting all the other errors named 
 had been deemed equally justifiable, the neces- 
 sity for these strictures would have been super- 
 seded. 
 
MINISTERIAL CHILDREN OF 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 Sharon— as it was, embracing the territory 
 which now constitutes the two towns of Sharon 
 and Seward — has been a fruitful garden of the 
 Lord. Within a little more than half a cen- 
 tury it has furnished twenty-one men for the 
 Lutheran ministry alone. So far as our in- 
 formation extends, the following names furnish 
 a complete 
 
 LIST. 
 
 Adam Crownse, 1 
 Nicholas Van Alstine, 
 Levi Sternberg, 
 William Ottman, 1 
 David Ottman, 1 
 Marcus W. Empie, 
 Marcus Kling, 
 John Rosenberg, 1 
 Daniel Van Alstine, 
 
 Statt, 1 
 
 Perry, 1 
 
 1 Departed. 
 
 (24 
 
MINISTERIAL CHILDREN. 2$ 
 
 W. H. Shelland, 
 
 J. A. Rosenberg, 
 
 O. D. S. Marcley, 
 
 John Kling, 
 
 J. H. Weber, . 
 
 J. W. Young, 
 
 S. W. Young, 
 
 H. Strail, 
 
 Sefferenas Ottman, 
 
 George Young. 
 Besides the above, the immediate fruit of the 
 field, several others should be mentioned, who 
 went out from churches planted and fostered 
 by the church in this place : 
 
 A. Wieting, 
 G. W. Porter, 
 
 L. E. Densmore, 
 
 B. Fake, / 
 W. G. Thrall. 
 
 Two young men of decided promise died 
 during their course of studies, with the minis- 
 try in view : 
 
 David Rosenberg, 
 Shoemaker. 
 One or two entered upon their studies for 
 
 1 Departed. 
 
26 MINISTERIAL CHILDREN. 
 
 the sacred profession, and turned aside to other 
 callings. 
 
 Of this number some were never in connec- 
 tion with the Franckean Synod ; some were, 
 but are not now, having other ecclesiastical re- 
 lations ; two are no longer properly in the 
 ministry. But the purpose of the present pub- 
 lication will be subserved by these general 
 statements. Only those who have departed 
 this life will be indicated by reference. 
 
THE SISTERHOOD OF 
 - CHURCHES. 
 
 Entire correctness is not claimed for the 
 following exhibit, either as to order or date. 
 Perfection out of confusion is not a human 
 practicability. It is given as the best that can 
 be, and it is believed to be a close approxima- 
 tion to historical truthfulness. 
 
 st. john's evangelical Lutheran church of 
 
 sharon, new york, 
 Was organized 1775, by Rev. P. N. Somers. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. P. N. Somers, 
 " H. Meoler, 
 " A. Crownse, 
 " P. Wieting. 
 
 During the ministry of Rev. Wieting, in the 
 year 1837, the division, consequent upon the 
 organization of the Franckean Synod, occurred. 
 The part of the church which adhered to the 
 Hartwick Synod, retained the original title, and 
 
 (27) 
 
28 SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 
 
 exists under that title now. As it is proposed 
 to trace the growth and multiplication of the 
 part which remained under the pastoral care of 
 Mr. Wieting only, it will suffice to say, that the 
 present pastor of St. John's is Rev. M. J, Stover. 
 The field which now constituted Mr. Wiet- 
 ing's charge was soon divided into two 
 churches. 
 
 GARDNERSVILLE, ORGANIZED 1 845. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. P. Wieting, 
 " P. H. Turner, 
 " C. Diefendorf, 
 " A. N. Daniels, 
 " H. L. Dox. 
 
 LAWYERSVILLE, ORGANIZED 1 845. 
 
 Pastors, 
 Rev. P. Wieting, 
 " M. Kling. 
 
 SHARON, WISCONSIN, ORGANIZED 1 845 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. David Ottman, 
 " M. W. Empie, 
 " R. Smith, 
 " Coons, 
 
SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 
 
 2 9 
 
 Rev. Shaeffer, 
 " H. L. Dox, 
 " L. Ford, 
 " D. H. Snowden. 
 
 ARGUSVILLE, ORGANIZED I 839. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. P. Wieting, 
 " J. D, Lawyer, 
 " M. Kling, 
 " J. R. Sikes, 
 " W. A.Julian, 
 Marsh, 
 " A. L. Bridgman. 
 " L. Ford, 
 
 LEESVILLE, ORGANIZED 184O. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. P. Wieting, 
 " G. Young, 
 " N. Borst, 
 " J. A. Rosenberg, 
 " W. H. Shelland, 
 " G. W. Hemperly, 
 " J. H. Weber, 
 " C. Diefendorf, 
 " S. W. Young, 
 " S. Bruce. 
 
30 SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 
 
 CENTER VALLEY, ORGANIZED 1 84 1. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. D. Ottman, 
 " J. D. Lawyer, 
 " M. Kling, 
 " N. Borst, 
 " J. A. Rosenberg, 
 " J- Kling, 
 " J. H. Weber, 
 " C. Diefendorf, 
 " S. Bruce. 
 
 LITTLE YORK, ORGANIZED 1 848. 
 
 Pastors. 
 Rev. M. Kling, 
 " J R. Sifes, 
 
 " M. Kling. 
 
 At the meeting of the Re-union the above 
 seven churches were all of which reckoning 
 was made, as having been planted and nurtured 
 by the pastoral labors and care of Rev. P. 
 Wieting. But as the result of a free inter- 
 change of views at one of the meetings, it was 
 ascertained that the churches of Freysbush 
 and Starkville were both brought into exist- 
 ence and in their infancy sustained by his min- 
 
SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 3 I 
 
 istrations. So that there are ten churches now 
 where there was but one when he commenced 
 his ministerial labors here. All these churches 
 have good houses of worship ; some have 
 parsonages, all are self-sustaining, and together 
 furnish an aggregate of nearly twelve hundred 
 members. Counting those who have gone to 
 other churches, and those who have gone to 
 the church triumphant, it does not seem im- 
 probable that the grand total of the member- 
 ship does not vary much from fifteen hundred. 
 
 The Re-union contemplated a review of this 
 field as thus unfolded. The result of that 
 gathering will, in part, be found in the follow- 
 ing pages. The great Re-union, in joyful an- 
 ticipation, will disclose the rest. 
 
 Between three and four hundred years of 
 ministerial labor, at a very moderate estimate, 
 have been devoted to different portions of the 
 great vineyard by those who were called to the 
 work in this field. Thousands have heard the 
 word from their lips, and the harvest will de- 
 termine how many have believed and will be 
 saved. 
 
THE RE-UNION. 
 
 OPENING EXERCISES. 
 
 At the appointed hour a goodly number of 
 the expected guests' from abroad and a respect- 
 able congregation from the place assembled. 
 The church was moderately decorated, and 
 suitable mottoes were seen here and there. In 
 every aspect it was a meeting of pleasure, and 
 all hearts were hopeful of a delightful occasion. 
 
 As the senior member of the fraternity, 
 Rev. N. Van Alstine conducted the devo- 
 tional exercises. The scripture read was ap- 
 propriate ; the hymn sung was impressive ; the 
 prayer was tender, comprehensive, and inspir- 
 ing. After a second singing, the pastor gave 
 utterance to Words of Welcome, the topic 
 being 
 
 LOCAL INFLUENCES. 
 
 Our present Re- union rests upon local in- 
 fluences. I say our Re-union, because provi- 
 dentially, and by many strong and tender rela- 
 
 (32) 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 33 
 
 tions, extending over nearly the entire period to 
 be brought under review, I feel myself closely 
 identified with you. And yet, for reasons 
 which will soon become apparent, it is befitting 
 that at this point I should say ■, your Re '-union. 
 You feel, as I do not — as I cannot — the power 
 of local influence in this gathering, but for 
 which it would have no significance. Let the 
 form of the statement then be changed. Your 
 present Re-union rests upon local influences. 
 As Christians, you were reared and nurtured 
 under the guardianship of the same denom- 
 ination and brought into the fellowship of the 
 same Church. As ministers, you were for 
 the most part educated at the same institution, 
 and received your credentials from the same 
 ecclesiastical body. And all these sources of 
 fraternal affinities are traceable to the simple 
 fact that you were born and brought up in the 
 same section of country. You became Lu- 
 therans because Lutheranism was here a pre- 
 vailing embodiment of Christianity, and com- 
 mended itself to your understandings and 
 tastes as more attractive, more satisfactory, 
 more desirable, than any other embodiment. 
 You became members of this Church, because 
 
34 WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 in this community there was no other church 
 which equally commanded your respect and 
 confidence. Your attention and your convic- 
 tions of duty were directed to the sacred pro- 
 fession, for the reason that here such facts were 
 unfolded and such instructions were imparted 
 as placed this high vocation prominently before 
 you, drew out your desires respecting it, and 
 satisfied you that God called you to it. For 
 your education you bent your steps to the ven- 
 erable old nursery of the denomination, be- 
 cause all the religious influences by which all 
 your views and habits had been moulded, 
 turned your preferences towards it. And when 
 you thought yourselves in some measure pre- 
 pared to commence the great work of preach- 
 ing Christ, and yielded your assent to the 
 prevalent customs of the religious world, ask- 
 ing ecclesiastical endorsement of that commis- 
 sion which you claimed to have received from 
 God, because within the area of country where 
 all your religious endowments and tendencies 
 had been developed and directed, there was no 
 other body with which you were so fully satis- 
 fied as challenging your attachments and afford- 
 ing scope to your aspirations, you sought for 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 35 
 
 licensure and ordination from the Franckean 
 Evangelical Lutheran Synod. 
 
 And now, permit me to request you for a 
 moment', from the positions in life which you 
 respectively occupy at the present time, to re- 
 trace your footsteps backward along the sev- 
 eral and more or less diverged lines of your 
 personal and professional histories. Note care- 
 fully, as you proceed in your retrospections, 
 how, as the concentric circles of your activities 
 become contracted, the controlling power of 
 influence is increased, how increasingly promi- 
 nent and potential the agencies become by 
 which your plans and purposes were regulated 
 as those agencies lessen in number; how indi- 
 viduality almost sinks out of sight, and relative 
 supervision approximates supremacy ; how 
 much more nearly you approach each other 
 as you near the polar points of your nativity, 
 and how inevitably, presently, your condition 
 and character become identified with your 
 common birth place. Your early habits, your 
 first religious impressions, your conversions, 
 your vocations, your educational pursuits, your 
 ecclesiastical preferences, might have been — 
 must have been — very different had life began- 
 
36 WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 with you elsewhere. But for the fact that it 
 may be said of you, brethren, these men were 
 born here, the world would never have known 
 you as it knows you now. You are what you 
 are because you began to live, move and have 
 your being, in good old Sharon, Schoharie 
 county, New York. 
 
 Nor let it be thought that this is attaching 
 too much importance to local influences. In- 
 fluences are not less truthful and elevating 
 because they are local. That physical causes 
 have much to do with mental endowments and 
 moral character, may not be questioned. And 
 so, too, it is clear beyond dispute that some 
 localities are more favorable to virtuous devel- 
 opments than others are. Does any one ask 
 upon what the discriminating power of local 
 influences depends ? A frank confession of ig- 
 norance is the best reply to this inquiry. And 
 if the curious are not satisfied with this answer, 
 we will respectfully request them to tell us 
 what, without any qualification, that subtle 
 something is which we call influence. The 
 simple truth, and the whole truth, respecting 
 this mysterious subject, is that we are cogni- 
 zant of facts the reasons for which transcend' 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 37 
 
 our comprehension. Why Lutheranism was 
 introduced into this section of country at so 
 early a date, and just when it was, is a ques- 
 tion which, when pressed back beyond a given 
 point, becomes unanswerable. But we accept 
 the fact as we find it. Here, as elsewhere, pre- 
 historic speculations have little practical value. 
 The faith of the Reformation was planted in 
 this productive soil before the now living 
 Church and ministry had any existence. That 
 it has been perpetuated and propagated, if 
 there were no other proof, as there surely 
 is, would be sufficiently demonstrated by the 
 present Re-union. 
 
 And now, having hastily alluded to those 
 inscrutable agencies by which the past so im- 
 pressively represents itself in the present, let 
 us, from the standpoint we occupy, fix our at- 
 tention a little more definitely upon some of 
 the results which lie within the range of legiti- 
 mate contemplation. 
 
 We are here to recognize and to rejoice in 
 the facts and the fruits of the Christian reli- 
 gion, as they have been embodied and exempli- 
 fied in this portion of the State of New York 
 during the last half century; to express our 
 
3§ WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 confidence in and our unfaltering attachment 
 to that system of faith and practice which had 
 its distinctive origin in the glorious Reformation 
 of the sixteenth century, and which continues 
 to bear the name of the illustrious man to whom, 
 under God, more than to any other man since 
 the apostolic era, the Christian world is in- 
 debted for freedom of thought, for the rights 
 of conscience, and for the unrestricted use of 
 the Word of God as the only authoritative 
 source of religious instruction ; to testify our 
 appreciation of the worth and worthiness, the 
 firmness and fidelity, of our Christian ancestry 
 in establishing and perpetuating the Church of 
 the Reformation, with all its essential concom- 
 mitants, in the county of our birth and in the 
 homes of our childhood. We are here to 
 renew our covenant vows with and to the peo- 
 ple of God at whose altars w T e first made a 
 good profession before many witnesses— the 
 people from whom and with whose blessings 
 we went forth as ministers of the New Testa- 
 ment, to proclaim to a sinful race the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ ; and we are here to re- 
 affirm unswerving devotion to this church of 
 our early choice, to each other as ministers sent 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 39 
 
 out by it, and to that economy of grace, the 
 only hope of a fallen world, of which it is the 
 glory of the church to be in some humble sense 
 an exponent. 
 
 Leaving it for our brethren who are to be 
 heard in reply to speak of Ties Unbroken and 
 of Gracious Providences^ it onl yremains for me 
 to welcome you, beloved brethren, as children 
 of this church, back to the fold to which you 
 were first admitted. And in attempting to dis- 
 charge this most pleasant duty, I must confess 
 that a shade of melancholy hangs over my 
 mind which is not dispelled by all the delight- 
 ful associations of the occasion. I am, indeed, 
 painfully impressed that. this most befitting Re- 
 union should have occurred at a much earlier 
 date ; that these words of welcome should have 
 been uttered by lips long since sealed with 
 silence — by him out of whose ministrations 
 and in answer to whose prayers you were put 
 in positions to„represent, as you do to-day, the 
 religious progress of this vicinity during the 
 last half century; and that with you might 
 have been gathered other dear brethren some 
 of whom preceded and others followed after 
 the long-loved and faithful shepherd to their 
 
40 WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 rest and their reward. Reflecting upon the 
 number of representatives of this church who, 
 at any time during the later years of the 
 revered Wieting's life, would have gladly re- 
 sponded to his fatherly call, and shared with 
 him the pleasures and profits of such a family 
 gathering, one can hardly be reconciled to the 
 fact that so befitting an occasion should have 
 been omitted. But while we may regret the 
 omission, we must honor the habits of life and 
 the views of duty which led to it. Everything 
 desirable cannot be crowded into the ministry 
 of one man, however earnest, however pro- 
 longed it may be. And while he did so much, 
 and did it so well, which, in the judgment of 
 all, should not have been neglected, we may 
 with modified reluctance acquiesce in the defer- 
 ence of privileges which might appropriately 
 have received attention at least a score of years 
 before. We will not, accordingly, indulge in 
 vain regrets. The records of the past are 
 crowded with omissions and mistakes. We re- 
 view them with sadness, but we can neither undo 
 them nor correct them. We all owe much to 
 our esteemed brother, whose ceaseless toils 
 extended over forty years in this same field, 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 4 1 
 
 though they closed without affording such an 
 occasion as we enjoy to day. He has gone, and 
 others have gone. He is not here to give you 
 his paternal greetings, and to extend to you 
 the hospitalities of the church of which he had 
 the oversight so long. The cheer, the smiles, 
 the words of wisdom of other dear brethren, 
 too, we miss. Such have been, such are the 
 Divine overrulings. 
 
 But, though ministers and members die, the 
 ministry and the Church survive. There is, 
 thank God, a succession, both ministerial and 
 ecclesiastical, more Divine in its origin, more 
 certain in its perpetuity, and more glorious in 
 its functions than the assumed apostolical order 
 upon which the groundless claim is rested that 
 it is the only foundation of the true Church. 
 Upon this succession this Church continues to 
 exist, notwithstanding the changes which have 
 taken place in the membership, and in the pas- 
 toral relation, And, dear brethren in the min- 
 istry, and brethren and sisters of other 
 churches who are here to recognize your filial 
 relations to the paternal fold, you have evi- 
 dence which satisfies you that those relations 
 are still cherished, though most of you have 
 
42 WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 long been separated from the immediate fel- 
 lowship of this Church. 
 
 And, beloved, in her undying attachment 
 to her children, your Mother has extended to 
 you a cordial invitation to visit your early 
 home; and you have greatly honored us and 
 gladdened our hearts by accepting that invita- 
 tion. And, as you appear in our midst, we 
 meet you with a thousand welcomes. We 
 welcome you to the places of your birth, the 
 scenes of your childhood, the play-grounds of 
 your youth. Here are the hills and the val- 
 leys, the fields and some of the forests, from 
 which you received your earliest impressions 
 respecting nature and nature's God. Though 
 they, like yourselves, have been greatly 
 changed by the legitimate developments of 
 time and the inevitable transformations of an 
 advancing civilization, yet they, too, like your- 
 selves, have retained their essential identity. 
 Here are the same murmuring streams on 
 whose crystal waters you were wont to gaze 
 with childhood's wondering eyes; the same 
 winding highways so frequently traversed on 
 the endlessly diversified errands of youth and 
 early manhood. Here are at least a few of 
 
WORDS OF WELCOME. 43 
 
 the well-remembered dwellings, standing just 
 where they used to stand, showing a little 
 more distinctly, it may be, the marks of age ; 
 while others, though they have been assailed by 
 the irreverent spirit of what we call progres- 
 sive improvement, yet subjecting them to the 
 ordeal of scrutiny you will plainly see that 
 antiquity has been imperfectly concealed by 
 modern fashions. The old, familiar family 
 names are still here — names which, notwith- 
 standing all the enlargements of your associa- 
 tions, you never have forgotten, never can for- 
 get. Here are the graves of many of your 
 youthful associates ; the graves of many of 
 the companions of your riper years ; the 
 graves of nearly all of the fathers and the 
 mothers to whom you were accustomed to 
 look for counsel, and by whom you first saw 
 exemplified the spirit and power of that reli- 
 gion upon the truthfulness and efficiency of 
 which all our hopes for the future depend. 
 We welcome you to these more than classic 
 grounds — to these hallowed associations and 
 memories of other days. We welcome you to 
 this consecrated house of worship in which 
 this church, your chnrc1i,W\e church of your 
 
44 WORDS OF WELCOME. 
 
 early choice, are accustomed to meet and sit 
 as in a heavenly place in Christ Jesus. It is 
 not the same edifice in which you used to hear 
 the Word of God, and in which you took the 
 sacred vows of membership. But it represents 
 the same glorious system of faith and worship 
 to which you then committed yourselves. 
 
 We welcome you to this altar, at which the 
 company of believers here from time to time 
 recognize and renew their allegiance to the 
 Crucified, by the solemn observance of the 
 holy Eucharist ; to this pulpit, which, so long 
 as it faithfully and fearlessly proclaims the 
 whole counsel of God, you will accept as a 
 symbol of that method of religious instruction 
 by which the Gospel is to be made known unto 
 all the world and unto every creature. We 
 welcome you to our dwellings, our family al- 
 tars, our parlors, our tables, to participate with 
 us in all the blessings, all the luxuries, all the 
 sources of enjoyment, with which our bounti- 
 ful Father above has favored us. Dear breth- 
 ren, we welcome you home. Our home is 
 yours. We receive you, not as prodigals 
 driven back to us by destitution, but as faithful, 
 honored sons, from earnest toil in the Master's 
 
UNBROKEN TIES. 45 
 
 vineyard, to relax your hard-pressed energies, 
 and rest a little, that you may go to your work 
 again with renewed vigor. Claim your rights. 
 Use your privileges. Feel no restraints but 
 such as you see fit to impose upon yourselves. 
 We confide in you, and we have no fears that 
 you will abuse our confidence. Make this 
 family gathering memorable; an occasion of 
 blessedness in the largest sense; a means of 
 lasting good, a preparation for and a foretaste 
 of that great Re-union, about the certainty of 
 which we entertain no doubt. This may be 
 the last till then. When that occurs, if not 
 before, we shall hope to meet you all again, 
 together with those who are not with us now, 
 but whose names and virtues are and ever will 
 be embalmed, in grateful memories. 
 
 UNBROKEN TIES. 
 
 REV. M. W. EMPIE. 
 
 Dear Pastor and Friends : It affords me 
 much gratification and pleasure to hear these 
 cordial words of welcome to the home of my 
 childhood and of our fathers — especially the 
 manner of them and their charming effects, 
 reviving as they do the most precious mem- 
 
46 UNBROKEN TIES. 
 
 ories of the " long ago " — memories which 
 cluster around the departed and the living. I 
 am particularly happy, under these circum- 
 stances, to renew former acquaintances and 
 past associations, and to find again the tender 
 ties of social and Christian union, and the sym- 
 pathies which may have been measurably hid- 
 den by time, although never forgotten. 
 
 Here many of us were born. Here I first 
 saw the light of this world. Here our fathers 
 and kindred according to the flesh have lived 
 — here they died — here their ashes repose. 
 Here their survivors, a later generation, live 
 and act, and here they will fall ; aye, they are 
 passing away one by one, and here their dust 
 will mingle with those "gone before" until the 
 resurrection. I feel in a manner strange among 
 you, and somewhat sad, as I appear in your 
 midst to-day. And why ? Because more 
 than forty years have passed away since I 
 moved and acted among you ; and that gene- 
 ration has passed away, at least those older 
 than myself, while those younger have passed 
 out of my recognition. If I chance to meet 
 any of my boyhood associates, they are as 
 strange to me as any others whom I have 
 
UNBROKEN TIES. 4/ 
 
 never seen before. I do not know my own kin- 
 dred, except the older ones, and their number 
 is very small. 
 
 But the ties that bind me to Sharon and to 
 the " loved ones " that I knewjn the past, and 
 their descendants, are not broken — never can be. 
 The mention of any familiar name, or incident, 
 strikes at once a chord of sympathy in my soul, 
 and causes deep and harmonious music within, 
 satisfying, mysteriously, the hunger and thirst 
 that kindred spirits feel. 
 
 Here I was baptized by Rev. A. Crownse. 
 Here I made a public profession of religion, 
 and entered into church relation and fellow- 
 ship ; and here my name is still recorded, and 
 will continue to be — a relation and union that 
 time or distance cannot sever. First Christian 
 communions and church fellowships are dear 
 to and ever present to my memory. I remem- 
 ber well the old church on the hill, and the 
 time and circumstances when I took upon me 
 the vows of discipleship. Forty of us received 
 at the same time the hand of welcome and fel- 
 lowship through our worthy pastor, Rev. P. 
 Wieting. Some of those remain to this day ; 
 some have fallen asleep in Jesus ; some, I fear, 
 
48 UNBROKEN TIES. 
 
 have made shipwreck of their faith and confi- 
 dence. For those last we sadly grieve; but 
 the faithful, living and dead, we fondly cherish 
 in our thoughts and hearts ; and 
 
 " Bless the tie that binds our souls in Christian love, 
 The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that 
 above." 
 
 Christian ties are perpetual. Nothing can dis- 
 solve our union with Christ and his people — 
 * * * "neither death nor life, * * * northings 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." So then those who 
 have lived and died in the Church, and those 
 who are now alive in the body of Christ, are 
 one and inseparable. 
 
 " The saints on earth and those above but one com- 
 munion make, 
 
 One family we dwell in Him, one church above — be- 
 neath, 
 
 Though now divided by the stream — the narrow stream 
 of death." 
 
 A source of comfort to us in our conflict 
 here is that the saints in heaven sympathize 
 with us who remain. A great cloud of wit- 
 
UNBROKEN TIES. 49 
 
 nesses, they cheer us in our race, and possibly 
 minister to our success. Another is, we shall 
 soon finish our work and join them in the city 
 of God. (i We shall know each other there" 
 and forever enjoy uninterrupted communion 
 with all the blood-washed and sanctified. An- 
 other is, that while we leave cherished associ- 
 ates here in the church, co-workers and co- 
 worshipers, behind, we shall gain a more 
 numerous band of saints and acquaintances 
 "over there" — to say nothing of the millions 
 of all ages and nations, with whom we have 
 had no acquaintance here, but whom we shall 
 soon learn to know and love. We w r ho have 
 lived an average generation and more, having 
 known a larger number of those " passed over " 
 than we know of remaining ones, shall not 
 enter the "home of the saints" as strangers, 
 but shall find ourselves among a host of famil- 
 iar friends. We joyfully anticipate meeting 
 at the very gate of heaven multitudes of our 
 former kindred and friends, viz : our fathers, 
 mothers, children, neighbors, pastors, teachers, 
 and fellow pilgrims who before us died in the 
 Lord. 
 
 The ties that thus bind earth and heaven 
 4 
 
50 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 together are not involuntary or arbitrary, but 
 of heavenly birth and holy sympathy — spiritual 
 and eternal. 
 
 " So star by star declines, till all have passed away ; 
 So morning high and higher shines, to pure and per- 
 fect day. 
 Nor sink those stars in empty light, 
 But hide themselves in heaven's own night." 
 
 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 REV. J. A, ROSENBERG. 
 
 Providence is that manifestation of -the care 
 and supervision which God exercises over His 
 creatures. It includes the direction of all the 
 affairs of the world. It recognizes God as the 
 source of all things, as holding the reins of 
 universal government, and regulating all things 
 to the promotion of His glory and the interest 
 of His creation. 
 
 This doctrine has been uniformly held by 
 the Church. It has been well-nigh universally 
 acknowledged by the world. Much of the 
 'development attending the world's history has 
 grown out of this acknowledgment. Practically 
 the Deity may be eliminated from the affairs of 
 men ; but theoretically there is little disposition 
 to either question or ignore Him. 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 5 I 
 
 Whence is this doctrine ? 
 
 It rests upon the consciousness of the world. 
 
 Whether we account for this consciousness 
 or not, there can be no doubt respecting the 
 fact. A controlling power is recognized — is 
 felt — is acknowledged. It becomes the final 
 rest of hope to the world. 
 
 The various expressions of religious senti- 
 ment, through all stages of human development, 
 whether these expressions are right or wrong, 
 sufficiently attest the position here assumed. 
 It is hardly supposable that a principle that 
 finds universal recognition can be altogether 
 without foundation in fact. 
 
 A universal providence is found in the very 
 nature of things. 
 
 He that could create the world, with its teem- 
 ing millions, its vast variety of being — with the 
 utter dependence involved — would not leave it 
 to the contingencies of chance. What is of 
 sufficient importance to call forth creative en- 
 ergy, must command proper care and attention. 
 
 God cannot be eliminated from the world. He 
 fills the universe. He is the source of life. 
 By Him all things exist. But this doctrine is 
 most clearly and emphatically taught in the 
 
52 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 Scriptures. Our progenitors in Eden " walked 
 and talked with God," in the days of their 
 purity. They were compelled to answer to 
 His voice after their sin and fall, and to obey 
 the authority that drove them from the garden. 
 The cry of Abel's blood was not unheeded, 
 nor was Cain able to hide his crime. Noah 
 built his ark of safety by Divine direction, 
 while the old world perished by the visitation 
 of Divine power. Men planned by means of a 
 tower to climb above any subsequent flood, 
 but the confusion of tongues and the disper- 
 sion of the people was the result. 
 
 God would have a chosen people, and Israel 
 came into being. Egypt could hold this peo- 
 ple so long as they needed a nursery, and so 
 long as their condition there was needed as a 
 means of discipline ; but then Egypt could hold 
 them no longer. The inhabitants of Canaan 
 must yield their homes and their lives, because 
 God gave the land to His own chosen people. 
 And we will find the Divine hand equally ap- 
 parent and effective in the whole history of the 
 world. 
 
 Thrones are established and nations are 
 reared. When these have met, or have failed 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 53 
 
 to meet, the object of the Divine purposes, they 
 have fallen to ruin, and others have been es- 
 tablished. Thus God has declared himself in 
 the affairs of the world. "He that runneth 
 may read." 
 
 The same is true of communities, of families 
 and of individuals. In the circumscribed and 
 minute affairs of men, the providences of God 
 are as signally displayed as on the larger field 
 of nations and of the world. Noah and his 
 family were saved because of the Divine direc- 
 tion. Moses was the child of a special and 
 gracious providence. The symbol of the Di- 
 vine presence was with him in such a manner 
 that all the people were made to understand 
 that he was a child of providence. Even the 
 proud and unwilling monarch of Egypt was 
 forced to its acknowledgment. Saul, in his re- 
 bellion against God, was constrained to say, 
 " Who art thou, Lord ;" and quickly came the 
 answer, " I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." 
 
 The language of Jesus was, " Not a sparrow 
 falls to the ground without your Father." God 
 cares for them. The gracious aspect appears 
 in the fact that the same authority declares 
 that care and interest increase as value in- 
 
54 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 creases. Much more will He clothe and feed 
 His people. " He numbers the very hairs of 
 their heads." 
 
 While these proofs might be indefinitely ex- 
 tended, we may well assume that nothing more 
 is needed. What follows then ? 
 
 God's hand is to be recognized in bringing 
 about those conditions out of which churches are 
 developed. 
 
 The Church is preeminently the creation of 
 God. It requires little knowledge of human 
 nature to see the impossibility of church exist- 
 ence, without a superior and gracious mould- 
 ing power. Men are called and qualified to the 
 work of the ministry, but only as they are 
 called of God. People are called from dark- 
 ness to light. Moral conditions and desires 
 are changed. Demand for the church is cre- 
 ated. Organizations are effected. The com- 
 bined forces of ministers and people are 
 brought to the cultivation of the Master's vine- 
 yard. By their work under the divine blessing 
 "the wilderness is made to bloom as the rose." 
 Thus Gocf s hand is ever seen and ever shaping 
 the conditions out of which human good is se- 
 cured. 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 55 
 
 All is of grace. 
 
 The benefits growing out of these providen- 
 tial interpositions may be measurably recount- 
 ed, but never fully comprehended. 
 
 What an honor to be chosen of God as the 
 recipient of His grace, care, mercy, and then the 
 medium of His glorious designs to the world ! 
 Yet all this is implied in the existence of the 
 Church. The blessings which flow from this 
 condition can never be estimated. The life and 
 efficiency of the Church is one of the results. 
 
 Without God's favor we are dead to all that 
 can make for our good ; with it we are quali- 
 fied to receive, to enjoy, and to utilize our be- 
 ing with the high aims of the gospel. 
 
 While these positions will be accepted as in 
 the main correct, have they an application to 
 the history of this locality ? Is it the result of 
 chance that the gathering of to-day has become 
 possible ? 
 
 A pastor and people are brought together ; 
 they enter upon their sacred work. The years 
 come and go ; numbers are added to the church, 
 and organizations are multiplied. Among these, 
 numbers hear the Divine call to the work of 
 the ministry ; they go from the mother church 
 
56 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 to other fields of usefulness, and their work is 
 crowned with no small degree of success. 
 Some have been called from their labors just 
 as they were entering the field, others after 
 years of successful toil. Others of the num- 
 ber are spared to the work of the Church. 
 We are permitted to respond to the call of this 
 Re-union, upon ground memorable from the 
 associations of childhood, and rendered sacred 
 as the birth-place of spiritual life and early reli- 
 gious association. 
 
 Do we recognize a gracious Providence here ; 
 if so, what good end can it subserve ? 
 
 There is a gratification in the social aspect 
 that is afforded by the occasion, We meet 
 again, after years of separation and toil ; we 
 take counsel together. We look on the scenes 
 of youth, recall the conditions that served to 
 blend our lives with the interest of the Church 
 of our fathers ; wherein we find not only our 
 work, but our higest enjoyment. These things 
 are a source of no small gratification. He who 
 said: " Rejoice evermore," can bring about 
 those conditions in which rejoicing is possible. 
 
 There may be a gracious providence in this 
 reminder of those that are absent. How con- 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 57 
 
 spicuous in his absence the respected and 
 lamented Pastor who, during a period of forty 
 years, ministered in holy things in this com- 
 munity. To most of us he was a spiritual 
 father. We not only cherish his memory and 
 emulate his virtues and efficiency, but are re- 
 minded of the lapse of time. The end is by 
 and by. But younger men are absent. Some 
 of them were our seniors in years and in the 
 ministry. Some were juniors in both, yet their 
 work is ended. We shall see their faces no 
 more. 
 
 We look into the pews. They are filled as 
 in years gone by. In this fact there is an ele- 
 ment of joyous gratification. The years roll 
 on. Changes occur, but God and his church 
 remain. Yet we ask, Where are those so 
 familiar in the days of our youth? Here and 
 there Ave see a well-known form, yet how 
 changed ! The countenance is furrowed by 
 the plowshare of time ; the once raven locks 
 are adorned by the frosts of winter. The eye 
 may remain undimmed, the vigor of a youthful 
 manhood survive, capacities that are not sec- 
 ond to those of other years exist, but we can- 
 not overlook the fact that time is passing — 
 
58 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 " The night cometh." Said one who was 
 among the first to go from this church as a 
 minister of the Gospel, and who labored zeal- 
 ously and often with great success : " Could I 
 live my life over, I would be much more zeal- 
 ous than I have been.' 7 
 
 We may need just this gathering at this 
 juncture of time, with the lessons involved, to 
 prompt us to proper activity. " Walk in the 
 light while ye have the light." 
 
 By this gathering the church is reminded of 
 a portion of her history, her origin, her trials, 
 labors and triumphs, her ingathering and ex- 
 tended influence for good, reaching to other 
 portions of the church, resulting in God's 
 glory and the salvation of many. Has she 
 not existed by the gracious providence of 
 God ? It seems to us, her distinctive charac- 
 ter and mission have been the results of a 
 Divine and gracious guidance. 
 
 The time was when her position was distinc- 
 tive. Hers was a new departure — a moral rev- 
 olutionary condition. In this condition she 
 was not only an object of wonder, but, to put 
 it mildly, of opposition and persecution. But 
 let us not dwell on this aspect of her history, 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 59 
 
 though it might afford matter for volumes. 
 God was in her history. Faith and devotion 
 to principle have secured success, as they ever 
 will secure it. 
 
 The Church still lives. She will continue as 
 long as Christ is made her Head, and His glory 
 the guiding-star of her pilgrimage. The fathers 
 are not. They who stood in the battle front, 
 with few exceptions, have passed away. Others 
 have succeeded to their places and their work. 
 So we move. The work continues, but the 
 workmen fall. 
 
 In recounting these facts, we may hear the 
 Divine admonition, " Be ye also ready.'' A 
 little longer, and we of to-day will give place 
 to others. 
 
 Some of us have gone forth from these altars 
 seeking broader fields of usefulness. We were 
 brought into her folds by the truth fostered by 
 the mother Church. At her altars our young 
 lives were consecrated to the service of God. 
 Some have labored long and faithfully. They 
 have borne the " burden and heat of the day.'' 
 The sun is far down in the western horizon. 
 Soon it will be night, and there will be rest. 
 
 Others there are of less years, who, in the 
 
60 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 
 
 vigor of their manhood, are effectively wield- 
 ing the sword of the Spirit. Others still are 
 coming for the labor of the harvest fields. 
 
 The number of those who have gone from 
 this church, as ministers of the wprd, has been 
 a matter of wonder. And the power that has 
 been developed has not been overlooked. The 
 spirit here imbibed has been carried elsewhere. 
 We believed, and therefore have we spoken. 
 God has owned and honored, and now permits 
 us the pleasure of this re-union. But pleasure 
 is not all. There is a broader design. We 
 shall do well to fathom those designs and make 
 haste in their accomplishment. 
 
 If some have departed, we thank God that 
 others remain. Respecting some we can say, 
 they have been familiar from childhood. Their 
 counsels have been earnestly sought and care- 
 fully. heeded ; and their counsels are still de- 
 sired and respected. Their preaching has not 
 only interested, but often thrilled the writer. 
 As a result, high aspiration has been enkindled. 
 To say so much will be allowed, though in the 
 presence of those to whom reference is made. 
 We thank God that they live and are still doing 
 valiant service for the Master. We greet them 
 
GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 6 1 
 
 as fathers of the Church. We rejoice in that 
 gracious Providence that has perpetuated their 
 lives and their usefulness. 
 
 But others have fallen. Some almost in 
 youth, just as they became well equipped for 
 the battle. Some suddenly, in the prime of 
 manhood, when they seemed to us a necessity. 
 Others have fallen in riper years, well nigh 
 "like a shock of corn fully ripe." But here, 
 as elsewhere, we recognize a gracious hand. 
 Theirs is the eternal gain. 
 
 Time will not permit us to dwell on those 
 providences that are of a. personal character. 
 A little reflection will recall their multiplied 
 numbers, as well as their gracious character. 
 
 From God we can have nothing but gracious 
 providences. These are easily seen in those 
 things we account mercies. They are not less 
 gracious in the clouds — the storm. These 
 may be equally expressive of the Divine good- 
 ness. To God be all glory — to us faith, hope, 
 patience, final perseverance. 
 
 STATEMENTS. 
 After the usual devotional exercises during 
 the Saturday evening session, an excellent pre- 
 
62 POEM. 
 
 paratory sermon was preached by Rev. W. H. 
 Shelland. Text, Heb. xii. 22-24; topic, Chris- 
 tians Company. 
 
 The balance of the time was occupied with 
 the poem and reminiscences. 
 
 POEM. 
 
 BY REV. A. L. BRIDGMAN. 
 
 Now may my numbers, soft and clear, 
 
 Fall gently on each opening ear ; 
 
 May light Divine descend and shine 
 
 On this poetic soul of mine. 
 
 The wintry storms are now all past, 
 
 The angel Spring has come at last ; 
 
 The Artist's pencil, though unseen, 
 
 Begins to paint the fields in green. 
 
 Earth's landscapes now with beauty shine, 
 
 And Nature looks almost Divine. 
 
 Since God is dressing up the spring, 
 
 And birds in every forest sing ; 
 
 Since Nature smiles, and groves are fair, 
 
 And Sol's mild lustre warms the air, 
 
 Shall those not have a pleasant time 
 
 Who listen to my strains sublime ? 
 
 May their communion here be sweet, 
 
 And kindred souls each other greet. 
 
 May it be such as angels feel, 
 
 And duly stamped with Heaven's own seal ! 
 
 There is a union here of hearts ; 
 
POEM. 63 
 
 And you have come from different parts 
 
 Your various histories to relate — 
 
 To give your past and present state. 
 
 Your minds are in a proper mood 
 
 To give us only what is good. 
 
 We shall expect the finest wheat 
 
 Made into bread for us to eat ! 
 
 And that there be no signs of destitution, 
 
 A spacious field is under contribution. 
 
 The mouths of our souls will be open wide 
 
 To receive the nourishment you may provide ! 
 
 O give us not a meagre meal, 
 
 Since our stomachs are large, and will hold a good 
 
 deal! 
 And the poet will bid all those God speed 
 Who will satisfy our mental need ! 
 Some will give fish and others fowl, 
 And I trust no one will have cause to growl. 
 Some will supply nectar, and others wine — 
 The unfer merited juice of the vine ! 
 The essays that will here be read 
 Will furnish food for heart and head ; 
 The preachers will show their radiant faces, 
 And their hearts will glow with all the graces. 
 They will lead us into pastures green, 
 And they will not leave our spirits lean ; 
 And if tears run not down our cheeks in a flood, 
 The preacher's appeals may stir our blood. 
 And may their words so eloquently flow 
 That all may feel a heavenly joy below ! 
 Some will go back to their former days, 
 And tell us of their youthful ways. 
 
64 POEM. 
 
 They will paint for us the shining rills 
 
 That wound like silver ribbons from the hills ; 
 
 Tell us of the forest's grateful shade ; 
 
 How merry sunbeams on the waters played ; 
 
 With rapture allude to the golden hours 
 
 They spent among the brooks and flowers. 
 
 Many things they will joyfully tell 
 
 On which their memory delights to dwell. 
 
 They will speak of scenes of joy and mirth, 
 
 When they could hardly keep their hold on earth ! 
 
 Tell how their* faculties unfolded, 
 
 And by what means their characters were moulded. 
 
 Tell how the hill of science they ascended ; 
 
 On what conditions their success depended. 
 
 Of Hartwick's classic halls they'll speak, 
 
 Where they learned the Latin and the Greek. 
 
 They'll speak of an inward, mysterious power, 
 
 Which often lasted-'to the midnight hour. 
 
 They will show us how the truly wise 
 
 Will give their faculties good exercise. 
 
 Can we win harvests from the soil 
 
 Unless there be exhausting toil ? 
 
 Perhaps some one of them may slyly tell 
 
 (And all could do the thing right well) 
 
 How Cupid sent a dart 
 
 Not into the head, but heart. 
 
 For this we know is a tender part ! 
 
 Ran not the tide of rapture high ? 
 
 Can any miss the reason why ? 
 
 And when that bright angel drew nigh, 
 
 And all the time that she was by, 
 
 No common glory kindled in the eye ! 
 
POEM. 65 
 
 To give our verse variety and grace, 
 Some graver thoughts will now demand a place. 
 Some will refer to the happy hours 
 
 When first heaven's path they trod, 
 And gave with an undying trust 
 
 Their being up to God : 
 When no more they put the que stion, 
 
 Who will show us any good ? 
 For the joys of God's salvation 
 
 Overwhelmed them like a flood. 
 All parts of God's creation 
 
 Then wore a different face, 
 For then their inward being 
 
 Was touched with heavenly grace. 
 The beaming of the countenance, 
 
 The flashing of the eye, 
 Told plainly to all Christians 
 
 That heaven was very nigh ! 
 That holy book, the Bible, 
 
 Was then no longer sealed, 
 For its beauty and attractions . 
 
 Stood gloriously revealed. 
 Martial and sentimental songs 
 
 Were then no longer heard, 
 For the song of Christ's redemption 
 
 Was the one their bosoms stirred. 
 They called on all who dwell below, 
 
 And all who dwell above, 
 To sing the joys and wonders 
 
 Of Christ's redeeming love. 
 5 
 
66 POEM. 
 
 Some will tell us of their call 
 
 God's holy word to preach, 
 And something of the spirit 
 
 In which they sought to teach ; 
 O, what were fame and gold to them, 
 
 When the impulse stirred within, 
 And they longed to see the sinner saved 
 
 From the guilt and power of sin ? 
 We will hear from some of the progress made, 
 Since deep foundations were at Hartwick laid. 
 They'll tell us something of the rounds they've run, 
 And sketch a little of the work they've done ; 
 For this we think no person will dispute, 
 That in due time good trees will bear good fruit. 
 Some will describe the state of things some fifty 
 
 years ago, 
 When the tide of vital piety was running rather low. 
 For all preachers then were not in haste 
 To reclaim and till the dreary waste ; 
 But the Father sent his servants forth, 
 
 And soon with sweet surprise 
 They saw the precious seed spring up, 
 
 And lovely verdure rise. 
 The altars then were thronged 
 
 With the old and with the young, 
 And the song of God's salvation 
 
 With holy joy was sung. 
 And multitudes of precious souls 
 
 From time to time were born ; 
 And many of that number now 
 
 The heavenly courts adorn ! 
 
POEM. 6/ 
 
 Some will talk about the field in 188 1, 
 And the part which is assigned them will doubt- 
 less be well done ; 
 For they will have a conscience 
 That things be rightly told ; 
 They will not make the age all iron, 
 Nor altogether gold. 
 Some will dwell upon the future — 
 A many-sided theme — 
 And the way it will be treated 
 Will prove no idle dream ! 
 'Tis not at all presumptious 
 To approach this theme anew ; 
 And our faith in those who treat it 
 Will be generous and true. 
 Their thoughts will be intelligent, 
 And robed in neat attire ; 
 Their minds will move with freedom, 
 And their hearts will glow with fire. 
 These men are on the mountain-top, 
 Surrounded by the light ; 
 May they pity those who are below, 
 Who dwell in shades of night! 
 Do they see the future, fraught 
 With all good and lovely things ? 
 That we may soar to those bright heights 
 May they lend their radiant wings ! 
 When that glorious time comes 
 We will sound the loud trumpets 
 And beat the big drums ! % 
 
 The landscape shall smile 
 In liveliest sheen, 
 
68 POEM. 
 
 And the fields shall be clothed 
 
 In a far brighter green. 
 
 Then poets and birds will more sweetly sing, 
 
 And continue longer on the wing. 
 
 Then the preacher will not stretch 
 
 Beyond his measure ; 
 
 And the people will not stare 
 
 At his stolen treasure. 
 
 Then he will not flaunt 
 
 In borrowed plumes ! 
 
 Then he will cease to glory 
 
 In tobacco fumes !' 
 
 Some will speak of the departed, 
 
 Whose forms we'll see no more 
 
 Until we are admittted 
 
 To that bright and peaceful shore. 
 
 The mists of earth to them are rolled away, 
 
 And now their spirits revel 
 
 In everlasting day. 
 
 They blend their notes 
 
 In that grand celestial chorus 
 
 Of the mighty army 
 
 Who have gone before us ! 
 
 They dwell in a land where no discord jars ; 
 
 Where their heads are crowned with, immortal 
 
 stars. 
 If w r ith faith and courage 
 W 7 e tread the path they trod ; 
 On Heaven's golden hills with them 
 We'll enjoy the smiles of God. 
 Some are present here to-day 
 Whose toils are nearly o'er ; 
 
SABBATH SERVICES. 69 
 
 Who can almost hear the waters beat 
 
 Upon the golden shore ! 
 
 They soon will tread the flowery plains 
 
 That never knew the night ; 
 
 And Heaven will break upon them 
 
 In a flood of golden light. 
 
 SABBATH SERVICES. 
 
 Six out of the seven churches were occupied 
 by the members of the Fraternity during the 
 morning hour. All were present at the 3 
 o'clock p. m. service, and listened to the essay 
 for the hour, and to some miscellaneous re- 
 marks by different members. 
 
 In the evening the house was crowded. 
 Rev. N. Van Alstine delivered the communion 
 discourse — a plain, practical sermon — text, 
 Rom. vi. 23 ; topic, "God's Great Gift to Man." 
 The communion was very large and deeply 
 impressive. 
 
 THE FIELD IN 1831. 
 
 REV. M. W. EMPIE. 
 
 A. D. 1831, a half century ago! — well, I 
 was here then, a lad of seven years. Why I 
 should have been chosen to present to this 
 meeting the history and scenes of that remote 
 
70 in 1831. 
 
 but interesting period, I cannot divine. I have 
 a very faint recollection of that time and its 
 events, and shall have to draw largely upon 
 tradition for what I may say. 
 
 Sharon is my native town (Sharon and 
 Seward were then one). Here I received all 
 my early training, social and religious, which 
 in some respects was ample and satisfactory, 
 although in others unfortunate. I was well 
 trained at home, brought up to industry and 
 virtue, and a regular attendant at church. But 
 in those days we had no Sabbath-schools, no 
 books or periodicals specially adapted to chil- 
 dren, except the catechism and a few story 
 primers. 
 
 This Lutheran field embraced the two 
 churches of Sharon and New Rhinebeck, in 
 each of which services were held on alternate 
 Sabbaths, while on afternoons and evenings 
 services were held in many school-houses and 
 private dwellings. Many preaching services 
 (and well attended) were also held on week 
 days. The Sharon church was located on the 
 hill one-half mile north of here. The one at 
 New Rhinebeck was built in 1798, and is still 
 standing, a relic of the past. 
 
IN 183I. 71 
 
 Qut of these churches or congregations grew 
 the following, viz: Sharon, Gardnersville, Law- 
 yersville, Pleasant Valley, Leesville, Argusville, 
 Little York, and Sharon, Wis., in all eight, ag- 
 gregating over 1,000 members, with present 
 materials for more than twice as many more. 
 
 But to return, the religious opportunities of 
 fifty years ago were in keeping with the gen- 
 eral intelligence, and the natural advantages 
 and improvements of the period. Those were 
 developed in limited degree. I may here re- 
 mark, that nearly all the improvements and 
 inventions which so signally favor our genera- 
 tion, have been introduced within the last half 
 century, i. e. y labor-saving machinery, rapid 
 transit, instant communication, etc. I may 
 name implements of husbandry, inventions to 
 facilitate domestic labors, . methods of travel 
 and of transmitting knowledge, the art of pro- 
 ducing sun-pictures ; and we might add a 
 thousand triumphs of art and science, relating 
 to war, commerce, business, education, pleas- 
 ure, etc., which now are in general use, and are 
 familiar to every school boy, of which the 
 fathers of even less than fifty years ago were 
 entirely ignorant. 
 
J2 IN 183I. 
 
 The religious advantages of those days were 
 few and simple. The children were baptized, 
 and. brought to church (a commendable prac- 
 tice, which, I am sorry to say, has fallen into 
 disuse), and most of them were instructed out 
 of the catechism and Testament, and taught to 
 say prayer^. I will, however, not assume to 
 speak of the general practice among the church 
 members of that period. I will speak for my- 
 self and for my home. From my first recol- 
 lection, prayer was wont to be made in my 
 father's house. Family worship was maintained 
 morning and evening. It consisted of prayers 
 at evening, Scripture reading, singing and 
 prayer in the morning, and every member of 
 the family was required to be present. Further- 
 more, family discipline was maintained accord- 
 ing to the gospel, for which I am very grateful 
 to this day. My first and only reading books 
 for a long while were the New Testament, the 
 Catechism, the " Lutheran Hymn Book," pub- 
 lished in 1828 ; " Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress," 
 and the " Wonders of Nature and Providence." 
 
 The following incidents are among my first 
 recollections of church-going. I sat with my 
 good mother (the sexes occupying different 
 
in 1831. 73 
 
 sides of the house) ; I wore a stove-pipe white 
 beaver, with a silver cord and tassel arranged 
 in some way on the side of it, which I thought 
 was very nice and becoming. Another was a 
 mystery, connected with the a Dominie" who 
 occupied the goblet-shaped pulpit, over which 
 hung the famed sounding-board, which I was 
 fearing might some time fall on his head. 
 When the preacher sat in the pulpit he was 
 out of sight ; when he arose to perform any 
 part of his service, his head to me was just 
 visible ; and not noticing when he sat down, I 
 wondered what had become of him, and noti- 
 cing the hearers on the side galleries, which 
 were not far from the pulpit, I concluded he 
 must have jumped from his coop among them. 
 Another thing which attracted my attention, 
 was the way church collections were lifted. 
 On either side of the pulpit there was hung on 
 a nail a long pole with a black bag on the end, 
 in the bottom of which there was suspended a 
 small bell. These the deacons took down and 
 passed around from seat to seat among the 
 hearers. The bell served to arouse the sleep- 
 ers, and to notify all to be in readiness with 
 their contributions, so that there might be no 
 
74 in 1 83 1. 
 
 delay when the bag* passed before them. By 
 the way, I think the method was a convenient 
 one, and not improved upon to this day. 
 
 An excellent feature of those days was the 
 way children were trained — not only in indus- 
 try, but modest behavior. They were taught 
 to respect and honor their parents and superi- 
 ors, and to be polite to strangers. They were 
 required to maintain good behavior in the 
 home, on the street, in church and in school, 
 and other public places , attainments in which 
 Young America of to day is lamentably defi- 
 cient. Another peculiarity of those days was 
 the spontaneous respect generally shown by 
 the old and young to the ministers of the gos- 
 pel, even by those who were non-professors, 
 and the skeptical and wicked ; also the general 
 submission of the members of the church to 
 the requirements or rulings of their official 
 boards, a thing nearly obsolete in our advanced 
 period. 
 
 About fifty years ago, the great religious 
 revivals commenced, which, for ten years or 
 more, swept with such marvelous saving power 
 all over these parts, through which the churches 
 were largely re-enforced by praying members. 
 
in 1831. 75 
 
 I remember as a lad some of these scenes and 
 incidents. Distinctly do I recollect some of 
 those who were the laborers in and first fruits 
 of those revivals. Pastor Wieting, who com- 
 menced his ministry here in 1828, sowed 
 faithfully the good seed of the kingdom, and 
 laid down broad and firm the foundations of 
 the gospel upon which to rear a spiritual super- 
 structure of living stone. In about 1830 the 
 harvest began to ripen, and the sheaves began 
 to be gathered. The following were some of 
 the fathers who co-operated in the work, and 
 the families who were gathered about that time, 
 viz,, the Angels, Borsts, Collins, Dunckels, 
 Empies, Fratts, Frances, Haines, Hillers, 
 Houcks, Hallenbecks, Klings, Kniskerns, 
 Loucks, Marckleys, Moellers, Myers, Meren- 
 esses, Ottmans, Rosenbergs, Sternbergs, 
 Shanks, Stalls,, Schutts, Sommers, Strails, 
 Van Alstines, Weavers, Wises, Youngs. 
 There were others, of course, whom I do not 
 call to mind ; these, their descendants, and 
 others, gathered in during that first decade, 
 were the perpetuators and supporters of these 
 churches — the names and numbers gradu- 
 ally increasing, notwithstanding the waste by* 
 
76 in 1831. 
 
 deaths, removals, and, alas ! defections. I think 
 it due to those early converts, as a class, how- 
 ever, to say that they were in a remarkable 
 degree zealous and faithful. Their conversions 
 were pronounced, and of all of them, male and 
 female, it could be said: "Behold, they pray!' 
 As opportunity offered they filled their places 
 at public worship, at the preparatory and com- 
 munion service, the prayer-meeting, etc. They 
 also seemed to be largely in sympathy, mutu- 
 ally, and esteemed each other very highly for 
 Christ's sake. 
 
 About a half century ago, a great moral 
 revolution began in our country, which affected 
 the Lutheran Church, and which reached this 
 community. I refer to the "Temperance" and 
 "Anti-Slavery" reforms, and the introduction of 
 so-called "new measures" and of "missionary 
 enterprises!' I speak of these as a "revolution" 
 because of the strife they inaugurated, and the 
 opposition they encountered (excepting per- 
 haps the last named), and the alienations and 
 divisions they occasioned. Positions pro and 
 con were taken, and maintained with possibly 
 a good deal of intemperate and unchristian 
 'zeal on both sides. But there was a provi- 
 
in 1831. 77 
 
 dence in the conflict, and the war was waged 
 to a final victory for truth and right, so that 
 now these moral and religious questions, so 
 far as Christians are concerned, are settled be- 
 yond controversy. 
 
 The cause of "Missions" domestic and for- 
 eign, begun as a mustard-seed plant, has been 
 steadily growing and developing, until to-day 
 we can gratefully exclaim, " Verily, what hath 
 God wrought /" And yet we are but in the 
 dawn of this necessary and inevitable Gospel 
 enterprise. Christians are just waking up to 
 their duty in this direction, and to what its 
 blessings and possibilities are. 
 
 To return to this field, I am not able to say 
 how many members, during this half century, 
 have been received into these churches — how 
 many have died — how many have been dis- 
 missed by letter — how many have been excom- 
 municated, or how many are now in "good and 
 regular standing!' But there is one fact of pe- 
 culiar interest ; that during those years, there 
 have gone out from these two churches form- 
 ing this pastoral district fifty years ago, some 
 twenty ministers of the gospel — pastors who 
 have been more or less successful in the Mas- 
 
78 in 1831. 
 
 ter's vineyard. Of this number, two went 
 astray, six have died, the remainder are still 
 preaching the Word in different localities, with 
 commendable success. 
 
 In the Lutheran Church in the United 
 States, there have been great changes and im- 
 provements in these years, since 1831. To 
 say nothing of the controversies, divisions, 
 and alienations that have obtained, I rejoice 
 to be able to say from a " little one" we have 
 become the third in numbers, and a power in 
 the land. At that time (1831), in round num- 
 bers, there were 10 synods, 200 ministers, 400 
 congregations, and less than 40,000 communi- 
 cants. Now there are 57 synods, 3,225 minis- 
 ters, 5,700 churches, and 715,000 communi- 
 cants ! 
 
 At that time the Lexington, S. C, College 
 was just established. Pennsylvania College 
 was organized the next year (1832). We had 
 but two theological seminaries, Hartwick and 
 Gettysburg. The Lutheran Observer made its 
 first appearance in August, 1831. Now we 
 have sixteen colleges, eighteen theological sem- 
 inaries, and some eighty periodicals, printed 
 in six different languages. 
 
in 1831. 79 
 
 Fifty years ago, there were but few English 
 churches, and in those few the German lan- 
 guage was more or less used. Indeeed, it was 
 thought by many that the German language 
 was indispensable to Lutheranism. The 
 prejudices of our fathers against the English 
 tongue, and their opposition to American ideas 
 and feelings, greatly hindered the develop- 
 ment of our Church, and was the means of 
 driving multitudes of our children into other 
 communions. To this day other churches 
 thrive upon Lutheran material. 
 
 Until about fifty years ago, the advantages 
 for English theological training w T ere very 
 meagre. True, PJartwick Seminary was estab- 
 lished in 1 8 16, and was doing a noble work; 
 but until 1826 there was no English text-book 
 on systematic divinity. That year Dr. S. S. 
 Schmucker issued his translation of " Storr 
 and Flatt." Fifty years ago, the form of wor- 
 ship in our Lutheran churches was very sim- 
 ple, consisting of singing, scripture-reading, 
 prayer, preaching, prayer, singing, benediction. 
 " No liturgical services, no confession of sins, 
 no recitation of creeds, no responses." Dr. 
 Morris says, "A few of our old German minis- 
 
80 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 
 
 ters had a brief altar service, consisting of in- 
 vocation and scripture lesson." He also says 
 that fifty years ago, " neither the Augsburg 
 Confession, nor any other creed, was regarded 
 as obligatory upon ministers, although they 
 were Evangelical and sturdy Lutherans in 
 name." He also says that at that time Drs. 
 Enders, Lochman, Hazelius, Miller, Bachman, 
 Kurtz, and others, expressed views on the na- 
 ture of the Lord's supper not in harmony with 
 the symbols, or according to standard Lutheran 
 divines." 
 
 But I must not further trespass on the time 
 or patience of this meeting. I will only add 
 that while we may thank God and take cour- 
 age, there is much room for advancement and 
 improvement ; and may the God of all grace 
 give us new courage and zeal for our mission, 
 and crown with greater blessing our work in 
 the Lord. 
 
 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 
 
 REV. L. STERNBERG, D. D. 
 
 If, as is often said and commonly believed, 
 "the boy is the father of the man," youth is 
 not only the most important period of life, but 
 
MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. Ol 
 
 the most profitable for record and review. 
 Impressed by this thought, in compliance with 
 the request to furnish something for the vol- 
 ume that it is proposed to publish as a sort of 
 resume of the convention held in the Gardners- 
 ville church, in Seward, Schoharie county, 
 N. Y., on the 14th- 17th of May last, I propose 
 to relate in this article some of the incidents 
 of my youthful days. I imagine that such a 
 record, though it contain nothing striking or 
 unusual, may interest some who participated in 
 the convention, since I was born and reared 
 only about two miles from where the conven- 
 tion was held. 
 
 I was born February 16th, 18x4, being the 
 youngest of eleven children. My father was a 
 man of remarkable intellectual powers, of 
 sound judgment, a good farmer, and of great 
 mechanical skill. He was a self-made man, 
 having gone to school but eight days in his 
 life, his school having been broken up by the 
 Revolutionary war at the beginning of his 
 school days. Such was the desolation wrought 
 in the Schoharie valley by the war, that when 
 at its close the schools were re-opened, none 
 could be spared to attend them who were old 
 
82 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 
 
 enough to work. To this latter class my father 
 belonged, as he was now seventeen years of 
 age. 
 
 Of my mother I know not how to speak in 
 fitting terms. In motherly attributes, many 
 may have been her equals, but her superiors 
 none. Eternity alone can reveal what I owe 
 to her affectionate care, her pious example, 
 her godly counsel, and her persevering prayers. 
 
 Though my parents, John and Anna Stern- 
 berg, have now for more than a generation 
 rested side by side in the tomb, there must 
 still be many in Schoharie county from whose 
 minds their memory has not passed away. 
 Such need no reminder of their virtues. 
 
 When I was born my mother at once dedi- 
 cated me to God to serve him in the ministry ; 
 and as the Levites served about the temple, 
 she wished me to be named Levi. Some ob- 
 jection was made because this name was not 
 found among our kindred ; but she insisted, 
 and this name was given me in baptism. 
 
 At seven I commenced going to school. 
 While I was fond of books, I was still more 
 fond of play. In those days school govern- 
 ment was mainly by the rod. I shared in this 
 
MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 83 
 
 discipline, though not as frequently as many 
 others. One day I was punished twice, and 
 once at least unjustly. I complained to my 
 father. Said he, " The next time your teacher 
 punishes you, tell me, and I will punish you 
 too." I never complained to him again. At 
 one time the boys were seized with the military 
 ardor which most children experience. We 
 formed ourselves into a regular company. I 
 was elected captain. At recess we trained, 
 marching with drum and fife, and with sticks, 
 fowling-pieces, and pistols for arms. One of 
 these pistols was loaded, and in inspecting 
 arms I discharged it, and almost shot a boy. 
 This ended our training at school. 
 
 There was considerable rivalry as to who 
 should be at the head in the spelling-class. 
 The contest was mainly between Gideon Empie 
 and myself, but he was rather too much for me. 
 
 We had during my school days a succession 
 of superior teachers ; I doubt whether any 
 other district in the county was in this respect 
 so highly favored as ours. The brothers, 
 James, Abraham, and Isaac Mereness, succes- 
 sively taught our school for a number of years, 
 and did their work well. Besides the ordinary 
 
84 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 
 
 English branches, I studied in that school 
 Latin and French. One of the happiest mo- 
 ments of my life was when my father came 
 home from Albany, and brought me a Mur- 
 ray's English and an Adams' Latin grammar. 
 
 My mother did not neglect to impress upon 
 my mind the fact that I was dedicated to God 
 in the work of the ministry. This impression 
 was deepened by the venerable Dr. E. L. 
 Hazelius. He frequently visited at my father's, 
 and would take me between his knees and tell 
 me I must come to Hartwick when I should 
 be old enough, and study for the ministry. On 
 one of these occasions he taught me how to 
 set down the answer to an example in addition 
 without performing the operation, only writing 
 several more rows of figures after the answer 
 had been given, and I never forgot it. 
 
 At twelve I left the district school, and 
 studied for two years with the Rev. A. Crownse, 
 who was then our pastor. I was also a member 
 of his class of catechumens, and committed 
 Luther's smaller catechism. 
 
 I went to 'Hartwick as a student in the spring 
 of 1828. Though I then knew nothing of ex- 
 perimental religion, yet I was seriously inclined, 
 
MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 85 
 
 and fully intended to study for the ministry. 
 I am sorry to say that under the influence of 
 thoughtless companions my serious impres- 
 sions were gradually dissipated, and I gave up 
 all idea of studying for the ministry, and re- 
 solved to study law. This was exceedingly 
 distasteful to my parents. My mother's faith 
 did not fail, nor did she relax in faithful admo- 
 nition and prayer. During this time Dr. Haze- 
 lius left Hartwick, swid Dr. Miller became Prin- 
 cipal. His preaching was instructive, but not 
 calculated to arrest the attention of the thought- 
 less. It, however, awakened serious thought 
 in my mind. I was gradually led to see my 
 need of a Saviour, to pray for forgiveness and 
 divine assistance. My room-mate at that time, 
 at Clark Davison's, was M. J. Stover. He was 
 of great assistance to me in the commence- 
 ment of my religious life. I shortly after this 
 made a public profession of religion, being con- 
 firmed in the Sharon church by the Rev. P. 
 Wieting. There were some fifteen or twenty 
 persons confirmed at the same time. Among 
 them the only one I remember was then Hen- 
 rietta Miller, but now Mrs. S. Beekman. I 
 called on her when I was East in 1879, and in 
 
MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 
 
 ieing her was forcibly struck by the changes 
 time has wrought. The saddest change was 
 the fact that she seemed to have been weaned 
 away from the house of God. It was not long 
 after this that the first "four days' meeting" 
 was held in the Sharon church. At these 
 meetings nearly the whole Synod came togeth- 
 er, and for four days the time was spent in 
 religious services. That meeting was one of 
 wonderful power. I threw* myself into it with 
 my whole soul. I labored with my young 
 companions, particularly Augustus Miller. 
 When he found peace in believing, I introduced 
 him to his father as one adopted into the family 
 of God. The Doctor embraced him with tears, 
 and thanked me for what I had done for him, 
 saying that he found it easier to talk to any 
 one on the subject of religion than to his own 
 children. I have since been privileged to lead 
 many a soul to Christ, but the sweetness of 
 that first conquest for the Saviour has never 
 been exceeded. 
 
 When I had given my heart to the Saviour, 
 I had no further hesitation about consecrating 
 myself to his service in the ministry. To this 
 end in future my studies were directed. My 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 87 
 
 father died before they were completed, but 
 my mother lived to hear me preach as an or- 
 dained minister of the Gospel. 
 
 Now, after a ministry of nearly half a cen- 
 tury, I thank God that my life was so early 
 directed into this path of usefulness. Its 
 rewards are incomparably greater than can be 
 reaped from the largest worldly success. 
 Though many have been blessed with more 
 abundant fruits of their labors than I have, yet 
 in every harvest-field where I have labored I 
 have been enabled to gather some precious 
 sheaves for the Master, as well as in my many 
 years of teaching to aid in preparing other la- 
 borers who are now reaping in the fields 
 " white unto the harvest," or have been called 
 
 to their reward. 
 
 r 
 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION IN 
 WITTENBERG. 
 
 REV. D. VAN ALSTINE, D. D. 
 
 On the tenth day of December next, it will 
 be three hundred and sixty-one years since 
 Martin Luther burned the papal bull excom- 
 municating him from the Roman Catholic 
 Church. Early in the morning of that day, 
 
OO RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 the professors and students of the University, 
 and many of the citizens of Wittenberg, came 
 together near the Elster gate, just outside of 
 the city walls. A fire was soon kindled and 
 blazing. The bravest man in all Europe — then 
 thirty-seven years old — approached the flames 
 and flung into them several obnoxious docu- 
 ments ; and then, holding aloft in his hand the 
 bull of excommunication of Pope Leo X., he 
 shouted in stentorian voice: "Since thou hast 
 afflicted the Lord's Holy One, may fire unquench- 
 able afflict and consume thee ; " and he cast it 
 into the flames. He returned to the % Univer- 
 sity amid the applause of professors and stu- 
 dents and citizens. It was one of the most 
 daring acts of the sixteenth century. He 
 trampled contemptuously on the supreme 
 papal authority of all Europe. 
 
 On the seventh day of last September, I 
 stood in the shade of the oak-tree which now 
 marks and commemorates the spot where 
 Luther performed this brave act. As I stood 
 there and called around me the scene of the 
 past, a new inspiration and firmer resolve came 
 over me to repudiate what is false, and to 
 stand loyal to God's truth everywhere. 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 89 
 
 WITTENBERG. 
 
 The city is in the province of Saxony, on 
 the crocked river Elbe, midway between Ber- 
 lin on the north, and Leipsic on the south. 
 It is an old walled town, with ancient streets 
 and buildings, a garrison for soldiers, and a 
 present population of about 12,500. It is not 
 inviting in its general appearance, but it 
 abounds with relics and memorials of past cen- 
 turies. It was the cradle of the German Re- 
 formation of the sixteenth century. It was 
 the home of Luther and Melanchthon for 
 many years, and their work was largely accom- 
 plished here. These two men were quite un- 
 like, and in some respects the contrast was 
 very striking. And still they were well 
 matched, and needful to the work they had in 
 hand. Luther was the more fearless, daring, 
 and stormy man — the man to handle the 
 sledge-hammer in smiting the hoary wrongs 
 under the protection of civil and ecclesiastical 
 authority ; Melanchthon was the more sedate, 
 serenely meditative, and scholarly man — he 
 was the better systematic theologian. I took 
 some pains, while in Wittenberg, to see and 
 examine some of the relics that still remain of 
 
90 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 these distinguished and godly men. I will 
 give a brief but necessarily imperfect record of 
 some of the things which specially interested 
 me. 
 
 luther's home. 
 
 The University of Wittenberg was founded 
 by the distinguished Elector of Saxony, Fred- 
 erick the Wise, in 1502. He called Luther, 
 then a monk at Erfurt, to the professorship of 
 scholastic philosophy in the University in 1508. 
 He at once became popular as a lecturer in the 
 old scholastic philosophy, and especially so in 
 his fresh and luminous lectures on the Holy 
 Scriptures. The Bible in his hands became 
 a new book to the people. While thus teach- 
 ing and preaching, the Reformation began to 
 dawn, and to break in like the coming of a 
 new day. New conceptions and forms of 
 thought began to break away from the old 
 creed and customs of the Roman church ; and 
 the uproar and tumult soon came in. 
 
 The home of Luther, where he taught and 
 lived many years, is a massive stone structure 
 in the Kellegian Strasse. There are in the 
 building several rooms closely associated with 
 his life and work. In one of them is his writing 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 9 1 
 
 table, gradually decaying, the top of which 
 slides from a deep drawer below, in which he 
 was wont to deposit his manuscripts and writ- 
 ing materials. His old double-seated chair, in 
 which he and his wife Catherine often sat in 
 the evening twilight for social chats, and which 
 contains a eulogy on Luther's domestic affec- 
 tions, still remains. There is a curious parlor 
 stove, having five stories, and about six feet 
 high, constructed after his own design, and 
 with the side-panels of each story decorated 
 with representative figures in relief. Four of 
 these figures represent the Evangelists, Mat- 
 thew, Mark, Luke and John, and quite a num- 
 ber represent the arts and sciences, as mathe- 
 matics, geometry, painting and music. Its fire 
 has long since gone out; but it remains still a 
 unique piece of mechanism. There is also a 
 bust which is said to have been taken imme- 
 diately after he died, and which probably gives 
 a very correct outline of his face and head. 
 The craggy brow, and the stern, sincere, and 
 earnest expression of the face, seem character- 
 istic of the man. In an adjoining room is a 
 painting of the Council at Worms in 1 521, in 
 a frame of beech-wood from a tree memorable 
 
92 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 in his history. In a side-case are various trink- 
 ets once belonging to him. I noticed his beer- 
 cup — Germans, even then as nozv, drank beer — 
 and a glass goblet, which was broken by Peter 
 the Great, the Czar of Russia, when on a visit 
 to the city in 171 2. He wanted the goblet to 
 take with him as a memento, and when, it was 
 refused, he showed his indignation by striking 
 it a blow with his cane. The broken pieces still 
 lie there, and the broken goblet not only speaks 
 of the great Luther, but also of the childish 
 passion of Peter the Great. The large room in 
 which Luther gave class instruction to the 
 students, and where he also frequently lectured 
 and preached, has an air of special interest 
 about it. It seems well adapted to the purpo- 
 ses for which it was used. There is a low plat- 
 form on which he usually stood, and in its rear 
 and a few steps higher is the long and narrow 
 pulpit. Let any one thoughtfully stand there 
 on the platform and in the pulpit where the 
 heroic Luther so often stood, and where he 
 poured the light and truth of heaven into the 
 minds of hundreds of young men who came to 
 the University from all parts of Germany, and 
 he will have impressions and reflections aroused 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 93 
 
 not easily to be spoken of. In this room is a 
 likeness of Luther, painted by Lucas Cranach 
 while the Reformer was still living, and I was 
 told that it was regarded as the most correct 
 and best likeness in existence. It is very 
 striking and impressive. The courageous soul 
 is there, and looks straight at you. There is 
 thunder in the face and brow, with soft and 
 mild sunshine beyond it all. 
 
 MELANCHTHON'S HOME. 
 
 On the same street, and not far off, was the 
 home of Melanchthon. The change of his Ger- 
 man name, Schwarzerd, to the corresponding 
 Greek, Melanchthon, illustrates a custom some- 
 what common among literary men of that age. 
 Erasmus, changed from the German, Gerard, to 
 the Greek, Erasmus, is another instance of the 
 same sort. The house in which Melanchthon 
 studied and lived is a solid, but not an elegant 
 stone structure. The outside door is large 
 and heavy, and is divided horizontally after the 
 old German style. A large square room in 
 the second story served him as a study, sitting 
 room, and sleeping apartment, and in which he 
 died April 19th, 1560. There was a strange 
 
94 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 influence in the room to me. From it his 
 soul went to heaven. The only thing remain- 
 ing of special interest is a very large oaken 
 chest, once richly decorated with carving, and 
 having a huge and curious lock. Inside are 
 divisions and cells, once rilled with valuable 
 papers and manuscripts. In the rear of the 
 house is a garden enclosed with a high brick 
 wall, and contains a well and several trees and 
 some shrubbery. In this garden is a round 
 stone table, still in good condition, at which 
 Luther and Melanchthon frequently partook 
 of luncheon together, and passed hours in 
 private conversation. A private gateway and 
 passage through the wall of the garden — now 
 closed up — led to Luther's home, not far off. 
 As I sat at this stone table, under the shade of 
 the trees, and with such surroundings about 
 me, it was not difficult to transport myself 
 back into the past, and to imagine these Re- 
 formers there, talking over the interests of the 
 great cause they both had at heart. How un- 
 like, physically and mentally, these men ; and 
 yet how well adapted each was to the special 
 work which God gave him! 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. g$ 
 
 THE SCHLOSSKIRCHE. 
 
 This is the Castle church ; and is the church 
 in which the Elector of Saxony, when in Wj£- 
 tenberg, was wont to worship. On the even- 
 ing of October 31st, 15 17, Luther affixed to 
 the doors of this church his ninety-five theses 
 against papal indulgences. It was on the day 
 when the city was unusually crowded with 
 people, to be present at the feast of All Saints ; 
 and the excitement and commotion became 
 exceedingly intense. The wooden doors to 
 which the theses were affixed were burned dur- 
 ing the bombardment of the city in 1760; but 
 they have been replaced by bronze doors, on 
 which are engraved the ninety-five original 
 theses in Latin. Over these doors is a scene of 
 Christ on the cross ; and Luther is seen kneel- 
 ing on the right, and Melanchthon on the left 
 of it. In this church Luther very often 
 preached, and many of his most stirring and 
 effective sermons. Both these eminent men 
 were buried here. The guide will raise for 
 you a trap door; and you see an inscription 
 on a bronze plate, indicating where the mortal 
 remains of these men were deposited. You 
 are standing on the confines of mortal life, and 
 look into the great beyond ! 
 
96 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 The Stadtkirche is in another part of the ^ 
 city, and in it Luther frequently preached ; 
 and it has various memorials of the Reforma- 
 tion. There are a number of paintings by 
 Cranach ; one a scene of the communion in 
 1522, when for the first time the bread and 
 wine were distributed to the laity; and another 
 a baptismal scene, in which the infant is im- 
 mersed ; and portraits of some of the renowned 
 Reformers. There stands a bronze font, cast by 
 Hermann Visher, of Nuremberg, in 1457, on 
 which are figures in relief of the Apostles ; 
 and among them is Peter with a large key in 
 one hand. The wonder to me was why the 
 Reformers did not remove this Catholic em- 
 blem. 
 
 In the old Rathhaus, or as we should call it 
 Town Hall, are many relics of the past, and 
 several that relate to Luther and his day. I 
 felt a special interest in his hour-glass. It is 
 still in perfect condition, and as capable of 
 measuring the hours of the day as when it was 
 turned by his hand three hundred and fifty 
 years ago. His brave heart then beat the 
 hours of the day for a limited number of years, 
 and then came to its final pause forevermore ; 
 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 97 
 
 but his hour-glass is ready still to do its office. 
 I saw its grains of sand noiselessly trickling 
 from the upper to the lower chamber. 
 
 THE MONUMENTS. 
 
 In the Market-place, a large public square 
 in front of the old Rathhaus, are the bronze stat- 
 ues of Luther and Melanchthon, under Gothic 
 canopies. Both are well executed, and charac- 
 teristic of the men. 
 
 Luther is represented in the attitude ot 
 speaking to the people. He holds in his hand 
 an open Bible, while he utters the words, 
 "Glanbet an des Evangelium ; " and thus urges 
 them to believe in the gospel. On the one 
 side of his monument are engraven the words : 
 
 11 Eiri feste Burg 
 1st unser Gott" 
 
 words taken from an immortal hymn that he 
 composed. On the other side are the words 
 so expressive of his faith : "Isfs Gottes Werk so 
 zvirds bestehn ; isfs Mencken Werk wirds un- 
 tergehn" 
 
 Melanchthon's statue does not indicate the 
 preacher, but the scholar. It has a severe, 
 composed, meditative expression in all its parts. 
 7 
 
98 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 It has an appropriate reference to Psalm cxix. 
 46: "I will speak of thy testimonies also before 
 kings, and will not be ashamed. " Another to 
 Eph. iv. 3. 
 
 These men accomplished their work and de- 
 parted ; and now, after more than three centu- 
 ries, the moral atmosphere of Germany is still 
 fragrant with the influence of their names. 
 Being dead, they yet speak. Catholicism still 
 lingers in Wittenberg. Its priests still walk 
 its streets, but in an atmosphere uncongenial 
 to them. Catholicism is like a perishing tree, 
 that has been smitten and splintered by the 
 lightning of heaven. 
 
 Benefited by what I had seen and felt, I left 
 Wittenberg for Berlin, the capital of the Ger- 
 man Empire. 
 
 Hornellsville, N. K, Aug., 1881. 
 
 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 PASTOR. 
 
 Given, the unity of the Godhead, and the 
 unity of the human race : does harmony, uni- 
 versal and uninterrupted, follow as a conse- 
 quence ? How can it be otherwise? Is God 
 the author of discord ? With the same origin, 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 99 
 
 the same nature, the same necessities, the same 
 liabilities, the same destiny, the same source 
 of supplies ; with so many mutual depend- 
 encies, so many strong affinities, can man be- 
 come inimical to his fellow man ? Alas for 
 logic when confronted by facts ! Milton's as- 
 tounding utterance is not more poetic than 
 truthful: 
 
 11 Devils with devils damned firm concord hold, 
 Men only disagree." 
 
 Alienation from God, mutual antagonism as ■ 
 between men, individually and associationally, 
 what words better express the moral condition 
 of the race? 
 
 For the solution of this strange problem, we 
 must consult, not philosophy, but Revelation. 
 The disturbing element is sin ; and the Bible 
 furnishes the only explanation of its introduc- 
 tion. And the Bible teaches us that man 
 was created in the image of God; that he 
 fell by disobedience; that enmity against his. 
 Maker and against his fellow man was engen- 
 dered in his depravity. It is the fruit of sin, 
 if not sin itself. And if history proves but 
 one thing, that one thing is the fact that the 
 endless and the endlessly diversified conten- 
 
I GO THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 tions of human beings are never to be har- 
 monized by any of the modifications of natural 
 affection; by the corrective influences of public 
 sentiment; by the elevating tendencies of edu- 
 cation; nor yet by any concentration of the cir- 
 cumstantial forces which may be brought to 
 bear against them. They have continued 
 through every age, defied every type of civili- 
 zation, and have never been more numerous, 
 relentless, and incorrigible, than as occasioned 
 . and sustained by what the world has consented 
 to call religion. 
 
 After interminable wars and bloodshed be- 
 tween nations, and the fiercest persecutions and 
 most implacable enmities among religious sects, 
 the children of peace, as the last source of 
 hope, have turned their longing eyes towards 
 the Christian system, and they seem to rest in 
 a common conviction that if the elements of 
 harmony are not found here, the reign of dis- 
 cord must be eternal. Law, though invested 
 with divine authority, as a controlling power, 
 has been universally found to be a failure. It 
 can only have supremacy among holy beings. 
 Man is fallen and depraved. But we are not 
 now under law, but under grace. This new or- 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IOl 
 
 der of things is not intended to supplant the 
 old, but to supplement it. " What the law could 
 not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, " 
 is proposed to be accomplished by the trans- 
 forming and sustaining agency of the Holy 
 Spirit, with whose advent the Christian dispen- 
 sation commenced. It remains, therefore, to 
 be seen whether this peculiar and parentheti- 
 cal economy does or is designed to establish 
 the reign of peace on earth. 
 
 The prophetic designation of the Great 
 Founder as the Prince of Peace ; the heavenly 
 chorus with which his advent was heralded, 
 " On earth peace" — the memorable prayer for 
 believers, in which Christ seems to contemplate 
 the grand result of his mission, " that they 
 may all be one" — and many other items of like 
 import, are certainly very suggestive of the 
 pacific designs, measures, and contemplated 
 achievements of the Gospel of Christ. Nor is 
 the hope thus inspired in the least discouraged 
 by apostolic instructions. How directly and 
 severely envying and strife and divisions are 
 rebuked ! "Are ye not carnal ? " How clearly 
 and how emphatically believers are required to 
 " be perfectly joined together in the same mind 
 
102 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 and in the same judgment." And surely, these 
 sweet notes, in such perfect accord with all our 
 conceptions of what should be, and with our 
 most confident expectations of what is to be, 
 are not intended to misdirect our aspirations 
 and eventuate in final disappointment. 
 
 But let us bear in mind that our blindness 
 and our blunders are not chargeable upon the 
 Divine unfoldings. If futile hopes are founded 
 upon false interpretations of the word of God, 
 and traditional- superstitions are sought to be 
 supported by fragmentary passages, let us hold 
 ourselves responsible for all consequent confu- 
 sion and contradictions. Harmonizing theories 
 and movements, contemplating the control of 
 mere externalities, have made little impression 
 upon the discordant condition of a fallen race. 
 They never will, they never can, for the reason 
 that they leave the causes and the only effective 
 remedies out of the account. Such movements 
 are like attempts to regulate machinery by 
 means which do not reach the motive power. 
 
 Somewhere, sooner or later, we shall surely 
 encounter and accept the great fundamental 
 truth that peace is the fruit of conquest, not ot 
 conciliation. Truth and error, right and wrong, 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO3 
 
 are essentially and eternally in antagonism. 
 In their nature and in their tendencies they are 
 directly and designedly at variance. There 
 should not be, there cannot be, either compro- 
 mise or armistice between them. Effect, pro- 
 pose even, a conservative reconciliation between 
 truth and error, you make truth itself erratic 
 in the concession, and invest error with a 
 power which does not belong to it. And every 
 offer to suspend hostilities gives error advan- 
 tages which of itself it can never secure. Truth 
 contemplates, not subjugation, but transforma- 
 tion; not the acknowledgment of its supremacy, 
 but the extermination of everything at variance 
 with itself. Hence the conflict that has existed 
 so long and raged so fiercely, is to be continued 
 without cessation, until " all things are put 
 under the feet" of Him who only is the mani- 
 fest embodiment of truth. 
 
 " Think not," said Jesus, at the very com- 
 mencement of His ministry, as if He would at 
 once and forever dissipate the fatal delusion, so 
 prevalent then, and so prevalent still, that, re- 
 gardless of character, the gospel was intended 
 to bring the human family into a state of har- 
 mony — u think not that I came to send peace 
 
104 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 upon the earth ; I came not to send peace, but 
 a sword." And how fully His ministry exem- 
 plified that astounding statement! His pre- 
 cursor, though only acting in the twilight of 
 the coming dawn, was beheaded. Family dis- 
 tractions resulted from the Master's own 
 preaching. The social, political, and religious 
 departments were not only excited, but em- 
 broiled by it. The terrible war of words, 
 thoughts and feelings, producing a perfect 
 tumult wherever He went, became deeper, 
 more general, and more determined, until He 
 became the object of its concentrated force, 
 and His crucifixion attested the insatiable ma- 
 lignity of the spirit by which it was controlled. 
 And what followed ? Accepted history claims 
 that eleven of the twelve apostles met death by 
 violence. Persecutions, increased in number, 
 in extent, in severity, and kept pace with the 
 spread of Christianity during several of the 
 first centuries. And it may as well be said at 
 once, and in a single word, that the history of 
 the Church, from the apostolic era to the pres- 
 ent day, is but a record of endlessly diversified 
 forms of the same great contest, and no inter- 
 posing power has been effective in its repression. 
 
> THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO5 
 
 Now let attention be directed to another 
 point of scarcely less imposing interest. It is 
 often said that man is a religious being. But 
 this is only a part of the truth, and a very in- 
 definite statement at that. Many a senseless 
 theory has been built upon it. There is a class 
 of half truths which are the most mischievous 
 of errors, and this is one of that class. It is a 
 limitation of the Divine claims. It places a 
 part of man's being beyond God's jurisdiction. 
 Everything is religious which is answerable to 
 the will of God, and may redound to his glory. 
 The idea is not that man has so many and such 
 religious elements as to render him capable of 
 becoming religious, This seems to be all that 
 is implied by the trite expression under review. 
 The real truth is that human nature is essenti- 
 ally religious in all its facts and phases, in all 
 its powers and susceptibilities. Religion is the 
 fundamental idea of humanity. And it is not 
 the less religious because it is depraved. Par- 
 adoxical as the statement may seem, it is never- 
 theless the fact, that religion is the centre and 
 circumference of all the incongruities, contradic- 
 tions and absurdities of which the mind of man 
 is capable. What is depravity, what is sin, 
 
106 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. r 
 
 what are antagonisms in the moral world, but 
 disturbances of the elemental harmony of our 
 nature? Its forces are thrown out of their 
 proper bearings not only, but in opposition to 
 each other. All of the passions, and most of 
 the emotions are disloyal to conscience, and 
 reason is led captive by the imagination. 
 Hence the irregularities, the alternations, the 
 extremities, the fanaticisms, the errors, in a 
 word, the conflicts, which make up human 
 character and human history. " The flesh 
 lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against 
 the flesh, and these are contrary one to the 
 other." The conflict is unceasing and irre- 
 pressible. It is often modified, but never wholly 
 suspended by the conditions of life. It dis- 
 turbs individuality, it distracts the social rela- 
 tions. It is the Babel by which the language 
 of the race is confounded. Business is a 
 system of mutual distrust and of alternate 
 supremacy of labor and capital. Political econ- 
 omy as practically exemplified, is a game of 
 chance which parties, hopelessly corrupt, play 
 with the masses, the secret of the game being 
 misrepresentation and money. And religion — 
 what is it, what can it be, but a ceaseless strug- 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. \OJ 
 
 gle with these opposing elements? Only by 
 the most persistent self-defense does the church 
 maintain its organic existence. And so far as 
 its offensive movements are concerned, every 
 step of progress is taken in the face of formid- 
 able opposition. 
 
 This is the only explanation we can have of 
 the discords and distractions which make up 
 so large a proportion of the history of our race. 
 All have their origin in the conflict between 
 truth and error, between right and wrong. 
 And what is error, but truth distorted, misap- 
 plied, rejected ? And what is wrong but right 
 held too rigidly, compromised, turned out of 
 its course ! 
 
 Why pursue this line of thought further? 
 We see already why it is and how it is that reli- 
 gion in all its aspects is a ceaseless succession of 
 struggles. In the present state of things it can 
 never be anything else. It is indeed the mys- 
 tery of mysteries. And yet it is the only ex- 
 planation of the existing economy, so far as it 
 can be explained. That the purest faith and 
 the rankest infidelity; the most unsullied virtue 
 and the most loathsome vice ; the holiest sym- 
 pathies and the most hardened prejudices ; the 
 
108 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 bleeding heart of mercy and the bloody front 
 of tyranny ; the persuasive influences of kind- 
 ness and the relentless freaks of persecution, in 
 all conceivible modifications are in constant 
 conflict is simply a fact of observation and ex- 
 perience. In yielding to the noble aspirations 
 of a Paul, one is sure to encounter the sordid 
 lusts of Simon Magus. The simple, trustful, 
 unpretentious and yet wonderfully effective en- 
 deavors of Moody, are confronted by the 
 sparkling but silly, sometimes dignified, oftener 
 disgusting, frequently attractive, but always 
 abortive utterances of Ingersoll. And these, 
 with countless numbers more, are only diver- 
 gent lines of life and influence, all having their 
 origin in the great central struggle, to a greater 
 or less extent modified and directed by man's 
 own volition. Why the change from the old 
 to the new dispensation and what the character 
 of the transition, but a conflict between the 
 distinguishing pecularities of each ? The old 
 system, as first instituted, was singularly simple 
 and beautifully adapted to the condition of the 
 people at that time. But it became corrupted 
 and disfigured by countless interpolations and 
 traditions until it became more human than 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO9 
 
 Divine, more erratic than truthful, more de- 
 grading than elevating. Revision, reformation, 
 transformation, or the utter abandonment of the 
 race, was the only alternative. The new sys- 
 tem was not intended to supplant what was 
 truthful and suitable in the old, but to remove 
 the effete accumulations of ages, to relieve the 
 friends of virtue and godliness of the cumber- 
 some burdens and distasteful improprieties 
 which, during the lapse of those ages, had been 
 made as concessions to the hard and depraved 
 heart of the race. And how protracted and 
 fierce the war between Judaism and Christi- 
 anity ! 
 
 Shall we pause to ask about the origin and 
 character of that glorious event, which, byway 
 of eminence, is called the Reformation, and 
 of which, after all, Lutheranism is but a syno- 
 nym ? Why was that Reformation necessary ? 
 How was it brought about ? What have been 
 its consequences? Was there ever a more 
 tumultuous commotion of the moral elements? 
 Was there ever a revolution more character- 
 istically religious ? Did ever a contest occur 
 in which everything desirable depended more 
 clearly, so far as human effort was concerned, 
 
IIO THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 upon unfaltering firmness, unyielding persever- 
 ance, in which everything would more certainly 
 have been sacrificed and lost by compromise 
 and conciliation ? Who has pondered the nu- 
 merous expedients resorted to to quiet the bel- 
 ligerent forces, without feeling that, firm as 
 were the distinguished men who stood in the 
 van of the battle, the concessions they made 
 were their greatest mistakes! The inevitable 
 tendencies of the religious masses to accept all 
 sorts of errors which palliate and justify prev- 
 alent vices ; the singular tenacity with which 
 certain clases cling to popular usages, however 
 corrupt ; the obstinate determination with 
 which such usages are defended against all at- 
 tempts at innovation, and the remarkable sensi- 
 tiveness with which all controversy relating to 
 them is regarded, were never more strikingly 
 exemplified than during the progress of this 
 great, this glorious revolution. And, of course, 
 the directly opposite tendencies and peculiari- 
 ties were equally apparent. Had abuses been 
 left unexposed and truth left untold, all would 
 have been quiet and remained as it was. Had 
 the corruptions of the Church of Rome not 
 been assailed with as much or more spirit and 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. I I I 
 
 decision than they were maintained and vindi- 
 cated with, the cause of Protestantism would 
 soon have been overwhelmed. 
 
 And now, if after taking this brief, discon- 
 nected, and very imperfect view of what in the 
 nature of things must be, and what from the 
 dawn of Christianity — and long before — has 
 been, we turn our attention to the conflicts of 
 our own times, they need neither surprise nor 
 annoy us. We cannot but see that in accord- 
 ance with the logic of events, they have been 
 unavoidable. Movements so limited in extent 
 and so comparatively inconsiderable in their 
 importance as have been our synodical contro- 
 versies, are by no means exceptions to the gen- 
 eral law. They came, because in the inevitable 
 order of things, they were not to be avoided ; 
 and it was best they should come. True 
 enough, many undesirable things came with 
 them. But do we not yet know that evils, 
 many and serious, are inseparably associated 
 with reforms and progress at all times and 
 under all circumstances ! These evils are the 
 abuses of a good thing, and are not to be 
 named as arguments against it. Do not even 
 ask who is to blame, or most to blame for them. 
 
112 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 
 
 The greatest evils are the abuses of the great- 
 est good. Hence, in the judgment of the 
 superficial observer, those are most censurable, 
 who really are most to be commended. The 
 most stupendous wrongs occur where there are 
 the most momentous interests at stake. The 
 conflict of thought and feeling may be as hon- 
 est as it is inevitable. And there is no wrong 
 in this. The evils of controversy arise from 
 partisan blindness and a disregard to truth and 
 right. Selfish excitement causes misapprehen- 
 sion and misrepresentation, and parties become 
 more anxious to clear themselves and criminate 
 others, than to arrive at and abide by truth and 
 right. And so in the synodical troubles 
 through which we have passed, criminations 
 and recriminations did occur to a most deplor- 
 able extent, and with the most deplorable con- 
 sequences. Would it had been otherwise. 
 But in our regrets for whatever was wrong, 
 shall we overlook or fail to appreciate whatever 
 has been right and good ? Can we wish the 
 condition of the religious community back to 
 where it was half a century ago ? Nor is it at 
 all probable that a like transformation could 
 now occur with less incidental damage to the 
 
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONELICT. I I 3 
 
 cause of Christ. We may and we should sor- 
 row over the imperfections and weaknesses of 
 our common humanity, as brought to view in 
 those dissensions, and elsewhere. But we 
 shall certainly exemplify them not less sorrow- 
 fully if we fail to learn the lessons of wisdom 
 and to improve the signal advantages which, 
 consequent upon those dissensions, have been 
 brought within our reach. 
 
 Our present Re-union and its antecedents have 
 been the outcome of that irrepressible conflict 
 in which the Franckean Evangelical Lutheran 
 Synod had its origin, and of the continuance 
 and expansion of which it became the occasion. 
 Without wishing to imply the slightest re- 
 proach upon those with whom we were in- 
 volved in this conflict, but simply insisting that 
 it belongs to that order of things which contem- 
 plates peace as the final fruit of conquest, it 
 seems befitting that we should be reminded, as 
 a part of these exercises, that so far as we 
 have been loyal to our convictions and faithful 
 to the word of God as the only rule of faith 
 and practice, we have been acting in the line 
 of the Divine purposes, and we are not to an- 
 ticipate that the war between right and wrong, 
 
114 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 truth and error will cease, until the kingdoms 
 of this world become the kingdom of our Lord 
 and of His Christ. 
 
 Of the healthful fruits of the particular con- 
 test to which allusion has been made, we are 
 to hear from others. 
 
 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 REV. J. A. ROSENBERG. 
 " First pure, then peaceable." 
 
 Purity, is the basis of peace. It is the essen- 
 tial condition. Purity must be secured, at 
 whatever cost, before peace can be enjoyed, 
 either morally or politically. The opposite 
 condition may be likened to volcanic forces. 
 They may slumber for a time but they are 
 only latent. 
 
 They will develop, and convulsions, fearful 
 upheavals and ruin, will be the result. Peace 
 follows only when these forces become ex- 
 hausted. 
 
 The elements of antagonism to a healthful 
 condition involve a like state of things. A 
 maimed limb cannot perform its functions. Its 
 restoration may involve an operation, causing 
 both cost and pain. 
 
HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. I I 5 
 
 So, to secure peace in the heart, in the Church 
 and in the community, antagonizing forces 
 must be met, if they are to be subdued. This 
 may, and usually does, involve more or less 
 conflict. Often, there is a long and bitter war, 
 terminating when one or the other is destroyed. 
 
 In the present state of things in the world, 
 is this wrong? Let the Master answer. " / 
 came not to send peace on earth , but a szvord!' 
 There must be war against all wrong, against 
 all moral deadness and lifeless formality. 
 
 This principle is abundantly established by 
 the testimony of history. The world has ever 
 been a battle ground — a scene of struggle and 
 conflict. Its history affords a record of little 
 else. Right has usually been compelled to 
 struggle for existence; and, to obtain the mas- 
 tery, it has been needful to battle long and 
 hard. 
 
 When God would have a people, qualified to 
 become the depositories of divine revelation, 
 and proper possessors of " a land flowing with 
 milk and honey," they must first become pre- 
 pared through trial. The possession was pre- 
 ceded by Egyptian bondage — the sufferings of 
 the wilderness — and the stern realities of war. 
 
Il6 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 They must conquer a name and a place in 
 order to rear their long-hoped-for nationality. 
 
 Christ came as the world's Redeemer, but 
 Christ was crucified. Paul went on his mission 
 of mercy, but it was amid hardships and death. 
 The Reformer of the sixteenth century was no 
 exception. What bitter trials, terrible conflicts 
 and herculean labors became necessary, that 
 the errors of Rome might be exposed — that 
 the world might have an open Bible, and that 
 there might be an emancipated church. 
 
 The trials and battles of Israel culminated 
 in the possession of Canaan, the grand kingdom 
 of David, the magnificent reign of Solomon, with 
 w r ealth, power, culture and the beautiful and 
 wonderful temple. They secured the presence 
 and guidance of God. Their subsequent won- 
 derful history still affords streams of blessings 
 to the world. Europe has her high civiliza- 
 tion — England her Magna Charta — America 
 her political liberty — all through the same in- 
 strumentality. 
 
 Surely, it may be said u war is not an 
 unmixed evil." It is terrible in its immediate 
 operations. The occasion for it is ever to be 
 deprecated. But it is often the only resort, if 
 there is to be relief from that which is worse. 
 
HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. llj 
 
 As another illustration of this principle, we 
 name the present advanced status of the Lu- 
 theran Church. A great change has been ef- 
 fected during the past half century. This is 
 true of her numerical strength, doctrinal po- 
 sition, effective operations, and pietistic tenden- 
 cies. Numerically, her strides have been 
 rapid. Her doctrinal position is so well defined 
 that there is no occasion for controversy. It is 
 true her venerable Confession stands intact. 
 But, with the authorized addendum of 1864 
 there is no ground for misapprehension. 
 There is room for improvement, it is true, in 
 much of the spirit that prevails within her bor- 
 ders. It is not to be supposed that the oak 
 will mature in a day. Progress demands time. 
 It cannot be doubted that the spirit that now 
 largely prevails, the modes and extent of the 
 operation that obtain, the degree of effective 
 piety developed, and the means applied for the 
 extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, are far 
 in advance of the state of things fifty years ago. 
 Tlure is progress. There is a growing ten- 
 dency towards a greater harmony with the 
 spirit of truth and the Reformation, rather 
 than with the mere letter. 
 
I I 8 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 In this locality, the state of the Church and 
 the standards of religion that obtained are 
 matters both of memory and of history. On 
 this territory, the pivotal point of which we 
 now occupy, were two small churches, with a 
 combined membership ofabout seventy. These 
 constituted the pastorate, and formed the 
 centre of the forces put into operation. Of the 
 moral aspect of the field we do not especially 
 speak. That it was not of a high order, there 
 is no room for doubt. From the numbers 
 identified with these churches, the tone of 
 training they had received, and the general as- 
 pect of morals throughout the community, the 
 outlook could not have been very hopeful. But 
 movements were inaugurated and forces 
 brought to bear that cannot here claim our at- 
 tention. Whether these movements were wise 
 — called for and justified by the existing state 
 of things, the sequel cannot leave in doubt. A 
 tree must be judged by its fruit. The results 
 of any given effort will show 7 the measure of 
 wisdom involved. As might have been ex- 
 pected, contentions and some bitter alienations 
 were among the first tendencies developed. 
 This, though involving no gain to either party, 
 
HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. II9 
 
 was but a natural result. Reforms involve op- 
 position, and are often attended with bitter 
 controversies and life-long animosities. 
 
 But let not the fact be overlooked that this 
 state of things may come from minds equally- 
 honest. All may not be chargeable with dis- 
 honesty or be regarded as inspired by evil, 
 though they may oppose what we approve. 
 There are different degrees of light, of capac- 
 ity, different standards of action. There may 
 be an honest zeal, though not according to 
 knowledge. But can any healthful conditions 
 grow out of these things? The answer must 
 be in the affirmative. This is but to accept the 
 common teachings of the Word's history. 
 
 The controversies of the sixteenth century 
 were long and bitter, but they culminated in 
 the grand Confession of Augsburg, and made 
 the wonderful achievements of modern Protes- 
 tantism possible. The errors and corruptions 
 of Rome were laid bare. The thunderbolts of 
 truth caused the papal heiararchy to totter to 
 its fall, and lifted the merciless foot of oppres- 
 sion from the subject nations of the world. 
 
 We boast of the advanced condition of the 
 present age, of modern liberty, of wonderful 
 
120 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 achievements, and point to results with pride 
 and gratification. But these are the out-growth 
 of the Reformation age. 
 
 The same may be said of the political field. 
 King George lost his colonies — America 
 gained her independence and a grand nation- 
 ality — by means of like agencies. And this too 
 may be said of the agitations that culminated 
 in that condition wherein the flag is no longer 
 "a flaunting lie." The American soil is free. 
 
 Controversies, in themselves, are unpleasant, 
 and are to be deprecated ; but like the storm, 
 the ebb and flow of the sea, while some dam- 
 age may be effected, a higher degree of purity 
 is the result. 
 
 Among the benefits flowing from the agita- 
 tion here, we name a better and higher ideal of 
 genuine Christianity. This may be said of the 
 sense of moral obligation developed; whatever 
 the practice, the understading now is clear. 
 
 A mere connection with the church does not 
 save. This is needful, but much more is need- 
 ful. It will no longer do to be equally at home 
 in the church, at the sacramental feasts, and 
 then in the associations and practices of vice. 
 These things are not now tolerated. Character 
 
HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. * 121 
 
 is weighed by something like the true standard ; 
 and not many mistakes are made in the judg- 
 ment formed. A standard of morals may be 
 wrong; the out-growth, like the stream, can 
 rise no higher than the fountain. 
 
 We do not contend that the ideal of Chris- 
 tianity is now what it ought to be. There is 
 still room for great improvement; but here 
 there is progress towards the right. May the 
 good work go on till the church shall become 
 " a city on a hill." Again the laity were 
 brought to the cultivation of personal piety, the 
 employment of their talents, and their co-oper- 
 ation in aid of each other and the work of the 
 ministry. ( 
 
 There were family devotions, meetings for 
 prayer and mutual aid, and personal work in 
 the public assembly — thus co-operation with the 
 pastor in the promotion of good. As a result, 
 personal piety was largely cultivated, and en- 
 couragements were afforded that enabled many 
 to endure "as good soldiers." A growing de- 
 votion to the church was apparent. Evil was 
 restrained; the forces of moral power were 
 largely augmented. 
 
 We cannot here note the aspirations that 
 
122 . HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 
 
 were enkindled, the talents that were called. 
 into activity, and the lives that were conse- 
 crated on God's altar. Nor need I speak of 
 the number and intellectual status of those 
 who were here so touched with the fires of the 
 altar, that they felt constrained to consecrate 
 their lives to the sowing of the precious seed 
 in other fields. The number, that have gone 
 from this church as heralds of the cross, has 
 been a matter of wonder and of comment. 
 The extent and character of the work they 
 have done and are doing, cannot be estimated. 
 Suffice it to say, churches have been multiplied 
 and maintained. The same spirit has been 
 elsewhere inculcated. Other ecclesiastical or- 
 ganizations have felt its power, and its leaven 
 has been largely diffused. With gratitude to 
 God, we may with joy commemorate the 
 achievements of grace. 
 
 Let us sacredly cherish the memory of the 
 noble fathers, who dared to follow and main- 
 tain the right. Let their virtues and courage 
 find active imitator^ in those that survive them. 
 To us has descended a noble heritage; the 
 same spirit and fearless courage have yet a 
 wide field for operation. 
 
ULTIMATE RESULTS. I 23 
 
 In conclusion, we express the hope that this 
 church, which has been so signally favored in 
 the past — constituting a centre from which so 
 much good has emanated — may not only main- 
 tain her high position, but become more effi- 
 cient in the highest style of life and work, that 
 which Christ demands. 
 
 ULTIMATE RESULTS. 
 
 REV. W. H. SHELLAND. 
 (Delivered extemporaneously, and written from 
 memory.) 
 
 The ultimate results are divine, both in their 
 appointment and nature ; hence the irrepres- 
 sible conflict is inevitable. The Divine order 
 of things is " First pure, then peaceable." But 
 the whole human family is defiled with sin. 
 Moral derangement and pollution reign every- 
 where. " The whole creation groaneth and 
 travaileth in pain until now," seeking for de- 
 liverance from its bondage and reaching toward 
 the Ultimate Results, Hence the revolutions 
 and convulsions that shake the nations, over- 
 turn kingdoms, sweep away empires, make ty- 
 rants tremble and crowned heads quake with 
 fear. The means used are not always the best; 
 
124 ULTIMATE RESULTS. 
 
 but, under the Divine direction, are aids in the 
 conflict ; for He who controls all things after 
 the counsels of His own will, makes the wrath 
 of man to praise him, and the remainder He 
 restrains. We rejoice therefore in those health- 
 ful tendencies brought to view by the last 
 speaker. 
 
 Experience and Scriptures assure us that the 
 desired results can only be attained by conflict. 
 Compromise is defeat. This is an error fre- 
 quently committed by the Church. Conform- 
 ity to the world is fatal to her interests. If 
 she makes peace the ultimate object, her pur- 
 ity is sacrificed. If there be life, there must 
 be conflict till the object is realized, for right- 
 eousness hath no fellowship with unrighteous- 
 ness, and light hath no communion with dark- 
 ness. Christ hath no concord with Belial, and 
 the believer hath no part with an infidel. 
 
 Some years ago, I asked a minister if the 
 members of his church were harmonious and 
 united. " Why — yes," said he, " They are 
 united ; the same as the particles of an iceberg 
 are united.'' Such a state of things is deplor- 
 able. It is the precursor of death. . God in 
 mercy sometimes stirreth up his people, as "an 
 
ULTIMATE RESULTS. 125 
 
 eagle stirreth up her nest." The struggle must 
 go on. It may be necessary as a discipline for 
 each one of us. Surely the victory is grand 
 in proportion to the severity of the fight. The 
 crown will be all the more acceptable if the 
 cross has been heavy. The reward will be all 
 the sweeter if in order to obtain it we have 
 struggled through hardships and discourage- 
 ments, hoped against hope, and believed what 
 seemed impossible, because God had said it. 
 As to the precise nature of the ultimate results, 
 w r e can only say, they will be grand beyond 
 description or conception. If the natural man 
 is unable to conceive what God hath revealed 
 to his children here, much less are we able to 
 comprehend the purity, the perfection, the 
 glory that shall be revealed at the last day " 
 Suffice it to say, It will be all that God can 
 make it. The joy, the happiness, the harps, 
 the songs, the crowns, the glory! It is over- 
 whelming. The soul melts with the view, and 
 cries out, " It is enough." By faith she grasps 
 the goal already, and sings salvation to our 
 God who hath given us the victory and se- 
 cured for us the ultimate results. 
 
 But are these results sure ? Shall purity, 
 
126 ULTIMATE RESULTS. 
 
 perfection, glory, be reached ? We answef 
 Yes. God has promised it. Much has al- 
 ready been gained. Many a victory has been 
 won. The steady march of events assures us 
 of success. The great wheel which Ezekiel 
 saw is rolling on. It turns not to the right or 
 the left, nor will it stop till " He who is over 
 all" shall give it command. The victory has 
 seemed to be now on one side, then on the 
 other, but it is evident that great advancement 
 has been made. God is at the helm. His 
 mighty power is moving on this work. In his 
 own good time he will finish it. It will not 
 delay. Soon the kingdoms of this world shall 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord. Soon the 
 heathen shall be given to Him for an inherit- 
 ance. The nations of the earth shall bow at 
 His feet and own Him Lord of all. Then 
 shall the conflict cease. Then shall the nations 
 learn war no more. Then shall He come forth 
 in the glory of the Father and of the holy 
 angels, and the shouts of victory shall echo 
 and re-echo through the regions of glory, and 
 Satan with his minions shall be driven back to 
 his place and chained in dark despair forever. 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. \2J 
 
 THE DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTH- 
 
 ANISM. HOW IS IT TO BE 
 
 ACCOMPLISHED? 
 
 REV. H. A. STRAIL. 
 
 My subject supposes the assignment of a 
 particular mission to the several branches of 
 the Christian Church ; a supposition founded 
 upon, and supported by God's most Holy 
 Word. "The Son of Man is as a man taking 
 his journey into a far country, who left his 
 house, and gave authority to his servants, and 
 to every man his work." The apostle Paul 
 recognized this view, when at the beginning of 
 the new life he inquired, " Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do ? " Everything of, and about 
 us, confirms the voice of inspiration. Our 
 wonderfully constructed bodies, and our still 
 more wonderfully constituted minds, both 
 argue that we exist for a purpose ; that we were 
 created for active operations. When it is once 
 determined in what this activity is to consist, 
 the next question of importance is, " how is 
 the work to be accomplished ? " 
 
 To my mind, one question of importance 
 
128 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 arises just here, the settlement of which will ^ 
 be of greatest value in determining the way 
 to success. Whence have we our commission? 
 " Is it from heaven, or is it earth-born ?" Did 
 it originate in the mind of the great Creator, 
 or is it a product of creature mind ? If we are 
 self-constituted commissioners, seeking some 
 earthly good, a mere human attainment, the 
 sooner our failure is realized the better for all 
 concerned ; but if God has spoken unto us, 
 and stamped our commission with the au- 
 thority of His great name, the sooner we 
 awake to a consciousness of the fact, and the 
 people to whom we are sent are made to 
 believe it, the better will we be qualified to 
 push the contest on to victory. When Moses 
 was constituted a leader unto the children of 
 Israel, the "thus saith the Lord," gave him 
 influence and authority which he could have 
 nowhere else acquired. So too, we must real- 
 ize and the people believe that we " have a 
 message from God unto them." Now while I 
 hold in contempt all efforts toward egotism 
 and self-righteousness, with still greater con- 
 tempt do I regard the spirit which shrinks and 
 cowers to own Christ as its Lord and Master ; 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 29 
 
 and though I have no wish to appear vain, I 
 still say, and that without the slightest fear of 
 successful refutation, that Lutheranism was 
 "born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God — " 
 born under circumstances nearly or quite as 
 adverse to its existence as Christianity itself. 
 From a humanly prospective standpoint, the 
 odds were decidedly against it; yet it grew and 
 flourished in the very face of opposition and 
 wickedness in high places, until pulpit and 
 pew both realized that the Master had declared 
 "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 
 I would not be understood to say that ours 
 is the only heaven-commissioned branch of the 
 Church, but I simply claim for our own de- 
 nomination what I am willing to concede to 
 all others, subject to the Divine Spirit, that it 
 is under the supervision of Heaven's King. 
 Firmly holding that we have our commission 
 from God, I now proceed to notice more 
 directly " how it may be accomplished!' 
 
 The first thing I wish to notice as essential 
 to this great work is : 
 
 Consecration unto God. 
 
 This has always been the first great requisite 
 9 
 
I3O DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN1SM. 
 
 to the successful accomplishment of the work^ 
 assigned God's people. When under the Jew- 
 ish dispensation Aaron and his sons were to 
 be entrusted with the sacred duties of the 
 priesthood, the command was given unto 
 Moses, " Thou shalt annoint Aaron and his 
 sons, and consecrate them, that they may min- 
 ister unto me in the priest's office." And when 
 Moses was about to ascend the mountain to 
 receive the tables of the law, prior to his leav- 
 ing the people, he charged Aaron to consecrate 
 them unto the Lord. This would help to 
 keep them in remembrance of the Divine 
 goodness ; and tend to produce a proper con- 
 viction of the relation they sustained unto 
 God, and of his claims upon them. If they 
 lived, they lived unto the Lord, and if they 
 died, they died unto the Lord ; whether they 
 lived, therefore, or died, they were the Lord's. 
 But from the account given by the sacred his- 
 torian, it appears that for some unaccountable 
 reason Aaron failed to execute this order, and, 
 as a consequence, the people became impatient 
 in looking for Moses, and fell into fearful idol- 
 atry. They were walking without light, and 
 the consequence was they stumbled and fell. 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN I SxW. I3I 
 
 That David regarded consecration to God as 
 of prime importance, is argued in the appeal 
 which he made to the people when he delivered 
 his charge concerning the building of the 
 Lord's house : "And who then is willing to 
 consecrate his service this day unto the Lord ? " 
 It was not in the order of things to first build 
 and then consecrate; but first let the service be 
 consecrated, and then let the building be 
 erected. Nor was there to be any delay in 
 the work; it must be done that very day. 
 From such illustrious examples we may learn 
 that we are first to offer ourselves a sacrifice, 
 wholly acceptable unto God, which is our rea- 
 sonable service, and then look for His* bless- 
 ing upon our works. In perfect conformity 
 with this was the teaching of Him who 
 was at once the root and offspring of David. 
 " Seek ye first," said He, " the kingdom of God 
 and its righteousness, and all these things shall 
 be added unto you." Nothing else — no, not 
 even all things else combined — could be of such 
 great value unto them ; for even though a man 
 should acquire the whole world, when brought 
 into comparison with the crown of life, that 
 would be as the most worthless pebble by the 
 
132 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 side of the most costly jewel. It would never, 
 aid him in the least to secure his soul's eternal 
 peace, and his duties toward the human family 
 would be wholly untouched. 
 
 In Christ dwelleth all fullness, but in us 
 dwelleih no good thing. " He that abideth in 
 me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
 fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." 
 
 It is of no consequence that a man has ac- 
 quired the highest social position, or climbed 
 to the topmost point of fame's pinnacle. 
 Though he has acquired a position in the vis- 
 ible church, and his name is written by the side 
 of Peter or Paul, yet this is of no real value. 
 It may serve to tighten the shackles with which 
 he is bound, and perfect the delusion that for- 
 bids a proper view of his desperate condition, 
 and leave him a lifeless, powerless soul, but it 
 could do nothing better. To be able to do the 
 will of God, one must have the mind of God. 
 He must be joined to Christ by the new and 
 living way. Of this truth the sacred writers 
 have left an abundance of proof, which the 
 world-spirit has never yet been able to success- 
 fully gainsay. When the Apostle was yet un- 
 acquainted with this fact, he exclaimed, "Who- 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 33 
 
 is sufficient for these things ? " But when he 
 had tested the reality of a walk with God, he 
 declared, " I can do all things through Christ 
 which strengthened me." With such a friend 
 it did not matter that the demand was great, 
 the opposition formidable, and the foe powerful ; 
 Christ with him, and he was sure of conquest. 
 So in the accomplishment of our mission we 
 shall come off conquerors, and more than 
 conquerers, through Him who loved us and 
 gave Himself for us; and in no other way. 
 
 Several things are implied in consecration to 
 God which should be considered in the treat- 
 ment of this subject. The first is an 
 
 Abandonment of worldly -mindedness. 
 
 There never was, neither will there ever be 
 any concord between Christ and Belial, " For 
 the carnal mind is enmity against God, and is 
 not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be." Such clear declarations forever set- 
 tle the question of effecting a compromise be- 
 tween the two; and he who supposes that he 
 has accomplished this is deceiving himself, 
 and indicating that the truth is not in him. 
 "Ye cannot serve God and mammon/' is as full 
 of force for the Church of this generation as 
 
134 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 of any other. The moral condition of things - 
 is such that the world, with all its fascinating 
 charms and attractions, must be renounced be- 
 fore Christ will admit any one into the relation 
 of a disciple. " Love not the world," wrote 
 the apostle, " neither the things of the world. 
 If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him. For all that is in the 
 world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
 eye, and the pride of life, is not of the 
 Father, but is of the world." In the face of 
 such startling declarations, we can never hope 
 to accomplish a heaven-conferred commission, 
 while we are living in conformity with the 
 world. 
 
 A second requisite to consecration is the 
 
 Possession of the Divine Spirit. 
 
 Many references might here be given to 
 support this position. Paul felt its need 
 when he wrote to the Christians at Rome, 
 " Except ye have the Spirit of Christ ye are 
 none of His. And if Christ be in you the 
 body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is 
 life because of righteousness." At the very 
 beginning of a Christian life, the influences of 
 this Spirit are indispensable ; no man can come 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 35 
 
 to Christ without it. Our Saviour taught Nic- 
 odemus that he could never enter heaven 
 unless he was born of it; and Paul told the 
 Church, no man can say that Jesus is the 
 Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Nor is there a 
 step of progress made in the march to glory 
 but by its influences. They that worship Him 
 must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. 
 Had He not been with the disciples in the 
 early history of the Church, Judaism would 
 not have suffered her to live. No merely 
 human institution could have withstood such 
 dreadful odds for a single generation. With 
 the promise of this our Lord cheered the 
 hearts of His diciples when He revealed to 
 them the sad intelligence of His departure, 
 and with the fulfillment of the promise He 
 made them mighty in the accomplishment of 
 their mission on the day of Pentecost. Breth- 
 ren, when our Church is controlled by the 
 same Almighty influence we shall see the car 
 move forward. There will then be a breaking 
 in the enemies* ranks, and the crown designed 
 by God for us will not be taken by another. 
 
 One thing more is implied in consecration 
 unto God, which is essential to the accom- 
 plishment of our work : 
 
I36 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 Due- regard vinst be entertained for His 
 Word, House and Ordinances. 
 
 One of the great reasons that vital godliness 
 was nearly extinct in the Jewish church at the 
 coming of Christ, was that these things were 
 too lightly esteemed. It was charged against 
 them by One who perfectly understood all 
 history, "Ye have made the commandments of 
 God of none effect through your tradition," 
 you tl teach for doctrines the commandments 
 of men." And if we of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury follow the same paths, we shall arrive at 
 the same goal. If, on the other hand — 
 
 We make the law of God, 
 
 Our study and delight, 
 Amidst the labors of the day, 
 
 And watches of the night, 
 
 We then, like trees shall thrive, 
 
 With waters near the root, 
 Our doings prosper, every one, 
 
 Our works yield heavenly fruit. 
 
 When we are so easily influenced by the de- 
 mands of a pleasure seeking, pleasure loving 
 world, it would be well for us, as Lutherans, to 
 remember the counsel of him who said, "Un- 
 less I can be convinced by arguments drawn 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 37 
 
 from the Word of God, I cannot, I will not re- 
 cant." It is a matter of the greatest folly, and 
 wickedness too, to attempt to meet the require- 
 ments of the falsely so-called wise men of the 
 age, who, " having itching ears," desire the 
 minister to proclaim a new method of salva- 
 tion, and God to create a new heaven, conform- 
 able to their own wondrously wise concep- 
 tions. Unto the pulpit God still gives the 
 command, " Preach the preaching that I bid 
 thee," and unto the pew, "Take heed how ye 
 hear." Heeding these injunctions, we shall se- 
 cure His favor. Growing careless thereof, we 
 meet His displeasure. 
 
 Then of all the places on earth dear to our 
 hearts, the house of the Lord should be 
 dearest. I know that this is not in conformity 
 with the so-called advanced customs and 
 usages of our age, but some very good and 
 successful servants of God in other days be- 
 lieved and taught the same doctrine. " I had 
 rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my 
 God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." 
 " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
 hand forget her cunning ; let my tongue cleave 
 to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jeru- 
 
I38 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 salem above my chief joy." No one ever yet- 
 entertained such high regard for God's house, 
 who did not secure the blessing of the Al- 
 mighty. We need a people who will dwell in 
 the house of the Lord all the days of their 
 lives ; who will give all due regard to all of 
 His ordinances, simply because they are His, 
 and not because they see, or fail to see'the rea- 
 sonableness of them — men who, like Joshua, 
 will declare, and live by the declaration — a As 
 for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
 Could but that spirit possess and rule our 
 church, we should hear less,/^r less complain- 
 ing ; for the darkness would break, and the 
 light and glory of God come upon us, filling 
 us with joy and gladness. 
 
 As a second great requisite to the successful 
 accomplishment of our mission, I notice 
 
 Consecration to the work. 
 
 Without this, it is absurd to even look for 
 success. No enterprise, however laudable, ever 
 was accomplished without it ; while, on the 
 other hand, many things which men have re- 
 garded as impossibilities have been secured by 
 means of it. When the inspired writer gives 
 an account of the second building of the walls 
 
DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN1SM. 1 39 
 
 of Jerusalem, under circumstances so unfavor- 
 able that the enemies of the builder regarded 
 the effort with derisive contempt, he accounts 
 for the grand success which attended their 
 labors by saying, " The people had a mind to 
 work." Consecration to the work paid no re- 
 gard to the formidable opposition, the scoffings 
 of a wicked enemy, or the limited number en- 
 gaged in the undertaking. Only two things 
 seem to have met their vision : the first was the 
 accomplishment of their mission ; and the 
 second the way God would be glorified therein. 
 This same disposition pervaded the mind of 
 Peter and John, when in the presence of the 
 Jewish authorities, and in opposition to their 
 most daring threats, they reply, " Whether it be 
 right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
 more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot 
 but speak those things which we have seen 
 and heard.' ' This spirit assisted the early 
 Christians in bringing their possessions, or the 
 price thereof, and laying them at the apostles' 
 feet. Would to God that the present genera- 
 tion might be aided in making the sacrifice re- 
 quired by this same spirit ! 
 
 Would that we might all be consecrated first 
 
I40 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 to God, and then to our work ; for this would 
 help us to " believe all things, endure all 
 things, hope all things." It would open the 
 coffers of the rich man to the relief of the 
 poor man's sufferings. It would roll away the 
 reproach that has ever been heaped upon the 
 Church because of insincerity and cowardice. 
 It would fill all our vacant pulpits and empty 
 pews. ' It would bring all our unbaptized chil- 
 dren to the baptismal font, and all the im- 
 penitent to the altar of confession and faith. 
 It would suffer none of our sons and daugh- 
 ters to seek shelter in other folds for want of 
 room in ours. But we should then find our 
 table laden with a bounteous supply of 
 heavenly viands, " and the poor, the maimed, 
 the halt, and the blind," would hear our earn- 
 est appeal and seek the shelter of our fold. 
 And we should be ready at the appearing of 
 the Master to say, " I have finished the work 
 Thou gavest me to do." 
 
 God help us to make the consecration. 
 
FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I4I 
 
 FIRST IN HONOR, FIRST IN SERVICE. 
 
 REV. O. D. S. MARCLEY, A. M. 
 [An extract from an address delivered at Selins- 
 grove, during the Commencement of 1878.] 
 
 This address was founded upon the memor- 
 able words of Jesus, " Whosoever will be 
 chiefest shall be servant of all." It was highly 
 commended, and a copy was solicited for 
 publication. It was befitting that something 
 from our esteemed brother's pen should be 
 seen in these memorial pages, and, by request, 
 his respected widow placed the MS. at our dis- 
 posal. Throughout the address is rich in 
 thought, strong, and sometimes startling in 
 expression. 
 
 He commenced with the statement that God 
 means man to be all that he can be — that his 
 aspirations cannot transcend his destination — 
 that in his achievements he is limited only by 
 his capacity and powers of endurance, and that 
 he attains greatness himself by service which 
 benefits others. In the illustration of his 
 theme, he alluded to the artist, the poet, the 
 musician, the astronomer, and he finally brings 
 to view the preacher, and directs attention to 
 
142 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 
 
 the "pulpit and its services!' And now we 
 give his own words. 
 
 The apostle said, if a man desire the office 
 of a bishop, he desireth a good work. He did 
 not say, an office of honor, nor of ease, but a 
 good work. And I think experience bears me 
 out in saying, it is the hardest kind of work. 
 Let us get Paul's judgment from his own lan- 
 guage, "For I think," said he, "that God hath 
 set forth us, the apostles, last, as it were a 
 spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to 
 men. Even unto this present hour we both 
 hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buf- 
 feted, and have no certain dwelling place ; and 
 labor, working with our own hands; being 
 reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer 
 it ; being defamed, we entreat." 
 
 O, the value of such a worker ! What in- 
 calculable service ! What a champion of the 
 truth ! What a defender of the faith ! Thou- 
 sands of generations will rise up and call him 
 blessed. He brought skill, self-consecration 
 and great earnestness to the cross; not the 
 mannerisms of the schools and the wisdom of 
 words, but the demonstration and power of the 
 Spirit. Painstaking fitness only can qualify 
 for valuable service here, as elsewhere. 
 
FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I43 
 
 There can be found no place where gospel 
 work is not needed, where the most skilled 
 worker is not required. The too oft repeated 
 exclamation, amounting well nigh to a maxim 
 — "Oh, he will do for some places" — involves 
 a serious mistake. The more illiterate the 
 people, the more difficult to bring them up to 
 the true gospel standard. Ignorance is the 
 first obstacle in the way of salvation, and shall 
 I say the greatest hindrance in Christian work ? 
 There is no profession in which the same high 
 qualifications are needed, or the same measure 
 of skill and laboriousness is necessary, as in 
 the Christian ministry. Those who anticipate 
 honor, ease, pleasure in the sacred office, are 
 sure to realize sorrowful disappointment. The 
 very word minister signifies servant. And the 
 service to be performed is of the hardest kind. 
 The epaulette, the gay uniform, the imposing 
 dress parade, doubtless attract not a few to 
 military life. But they are very soon unde- 
 ceived, and the pleasing delusion is swept 
 away by the stern realities of war— the forced 
 march, the bloody contest. The Christian em- 
 bassador is to endure hardness like a good sol- 
 dier of the Cross, without fear, without com- 
 
144 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 
 
 plaint. God has called him to the work. A 
 terrible sense of duty is upon him. The love 
 of Christ constrains him. His soul is sympa- 
 thetically drawn out towards his fellow-men. 
 He realizes that there is a woe hanging over 
 him if he does not faithfully preach the gospel. 
 And all these motives and influences are 
 needed to prompt him to the rigid discipline, 
 the self-denial, the life of servitude and priva- 
 tion to which he may be subjected. 
 
 I am not unmindful that God has ordained 
 that they who preach the gospel should live of 
 the gospel, nor has that regulation been coun- 
 teracted by giny subsequent deliverance. Their 
 abilities to preach are the fruits of their God- 
 given endowments, developed and directed by 
 tireless application in study and prayer. And 
 while they thus impart to the people the rich- 
 ness of the gospel, it is but simple justice that 
 their temporal necessities should be amply 
 supplied by those to whom they minister. 
 And yet who does not see that the liberality of 
 the Church, other things being equal, must 
 ever be proportionate with their estimate of the 
 worth of the ministry. Hence the significance 
 of Christ's language, " Whosoever will be great 
 
FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I45 
 
 among you, shall be your minister." The idea 
 is, the ministry calls for the loftiest manhood, 
 the richest intellectual, moral, spiritual attain- 
 ments. As if the Saviour had said, " Let the 
 noblest men, those of highest qualifications, be 
 your ministers." The pulpit, as a means to an 
 end, stands next to the Bible as an educator, as 
 a reformer, as a leader to the nations. "After 
 that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wis- 
 dom knew not God, it pleased God by the 
 foolishness of preaching to save them that be- 
 lieve." But the "foolishness of preaching" 
 happens to mean an elevation of wisdom which 
 but few have acquired. Peter and Paul were 
 preachers. Knox and Bunyan were preachers. 
 Wesley and Whitefield were preachers. Mar- 
 tin Luther and Richard Baxter were preachers, 
 and when the attention is turned to such men 
 as ministers of Christ, no one can fail to see 
 that the "foolishness of preaching," which se- 
 cures salvation, means not a want of under- 
 standing, but the highest order of talent and 
 the most practical type of wisdom. The 
 Christian minister is the living agent under the 
 Spirit of God, and of the sacred word in public 
 worship. There he is pre-eminently a servant, 
 
I46 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 
 
 and the better the work, the more valuable the 
 service. The more efficient the efforts of the 
 preacher, the more signal the benefits of the 
 hearer. From under the skillful workman, we 
 separate from the house of God full of the 
 help of pure motives, full of the inspiration of 
 grand purposes, full of the joy of salvation, 
 wiser and better, praising the ministry, and 
 praising most Him who appointed it. Prof. 
 Park, says the editor of " Massallon's Lent 
 Sermons/' regards it a prodigy that he finished 
 a discourse in so short a time as ten or twelve 
 days. This eminent preacher, it is said, some- 
 times re-wrote the same sermon fifteen and 
 twenty times. A distinguished scholar of our 
 own land re-wrote the most useful of his ser- 
 mons thirteen or fourteen times, and in one in- 
 stance is said to have labored, with the assist- 
 ance of a literary friend, two whole days on 
 as many sentences. A living divine, who has 
 been called the prince of pulpit orators, spent 
 a fortnight on a single discourse, which, it is 
 claimed, has already accomplished more good 
 than four thousand which were written by an- 
 other of our pastors at the rate of two a week. 
 The choicest efforts and the best produc- 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 47 
 
 tions which the most cultured minds are cap- 
 able of furnishing, alone are worthy of the dig- 
 nity of the pulpit. 
 
 THE MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 REV. M KLING. 
 
 As time rapidly passes away, we are admon- 
 ished " to remember the former days," in order 
 that we may gather from them useful lessons, 
 which may better fit us for the duties of the 
 present day. It is a solemn and impressive, 
 as well as a pleasant duty, to revive the mem- 
 ories of our " pious departed ones." A few of 
 these had labored long and faithfully, amid 
 trials and dangers peculiar to their time ; and 
 entered upon their eternal rest, long before we 
 began to live. But as they left behind them, 
 in our midst, a rich legacy of moral and reli- 
 gious influence, therefore, in a special sense, 
 we regard them as our departed. 
 
 The town of Sharon, which formerly included 
 the town of Seward, was originally called " New 
 Dorlach," from Dorlach in Germany; and was 
 first settled by the immediate descendants of 
 those German emigrants who, in 17 14, located 
 in the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys. 
 
I48 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 In their religious preferences, most of them 
 were followers of Martin Luther, the " Great 
 Reformer" of the sixteenth century. At that 
 early day, they were compelled to look for the 
 ministrations of the gospel to the mother 
 church of Schoharie ; nor did they look in 
 vain. As time and opportunity permitted, the 
 pastor would wend his way from Old Schoharie 
 along a bridle-path to this wild and thinly set- 
 tled region, to break to these hungry Protes- 
 tant Christians the bread of life. 
 
 The faithful shepherd, who was the first to 
 sow the seed of gospel truth, from which, as 
 also from the seed sowed by others who fol- 
 lowed him, such glorious results have been 
 realized in " New Dorlach," was the 
 
 REV. PETER NICHOLAS SOMERS. 
 We are informed that " he was a native of 
 Germany, received ordination in London by a 
 Lutheran ecclesiastical council, was called and 
 ministered to the Lutheran congregation at 
 Schoharie, during the French and Revolution- 
 ary wars, sharing the dangers and priva- 
 tions of those perilous times with his peo- 
 ple, and comforting them with the consola- 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 49 
 
 tions and hopes of the gospel." Here he 
 labored from about 1743 until 1783, as their 
 regular pastor, and died in 1795 in the town of 
 Sharon, in the family of his son. And from 
 here, with his wife, after being buried sixty-five 
 years, he was taken back to the old cemetery 
 of Schoharie, the scene of his former labors, 
 and over his grave a beautiful monument has 
 been erected, expressive of appreciated worth. 
 
 Some time in the latter part of the last cen- 
 tury, two Lutheran churches were organized 
 in the present town of Seward, which were 
 designated by the local names of, " the church 
 of Dorlach," and, " the church of Rhinebeck." 
 I am not prepared to say whether the Rev. P, 
 N. Somers organized these societies while he 
 occasionally came among them to preach the 
 gospel, or some one else. But the first settled 
 pastor, as far as we have been enabled to learn, 
 was the 
 
 REV. HENRY MOELLER. 
 
 This servant of Christ before that time had 
 labored in Albany, and in the early part of the 
 present century took charge of the above- 
 named churches, living in the parsonage near 
 the Rhinebeck church. Here he labored until 
 
I50 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 about the year 1822, when he retired from the 
 ministry, and after living with his son, Dr. 
 John C. Moeller, in the present town of 
 Sharon, some eight or nine years, departed 
 this life and entered upon his eternal reward. 
 It is said that he was a good scholar, a sound 
 theologian, and an acceptable preacher. And 
 to this is added that he possessed a very ami- 
 able disposition. With these combined quali- 
 fications, we wonder not that he labored so 
 long and closed up his earthly career among 
 the people of his former charge. His place in 
 the ministry and last charge were soon filled 
 by a son of one of his members, born and 
 reared in the congregation, the 
 
 REV. ADAM CROWNSE. 
 Here, in the vigor and strength of youthful 
 manhood, he commenced his labors about the 
 year 1822, and served the congregations for 
 the space of about four years, after which he 
 received and accepted a call from the Lutheran 
 church of Guilderland, Albany county. Here 
 he soon located, and with the exception of a 
 few years that he served the churches of Mid- 
 dleburgh and Breakabeen, he spent the remain- 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. I 5 I 
 
 der of his ministerial life among this people. 
 And here he died and entered upon his eternal 
 rest in heaven about the year 1865. 
 
 We feel to venerate and cherish the record 
 of those early fathers in the ministry for what 
 they have done for us in the township of our 
 birth — for we should not lose sight of the fact 
 that they lived and labored during a period of 
 national trials and embarrassments. The wars 
 of the Revolution and of 18 12 cast their 
 blighting influence over the land, and not only 
 financially, but spiritually, the churches suffered 
 much, which was felt during the succeeding 
 years. And it is but fair, in looking back over 
 those years of darkness and spiritual dearth, 
 to presume that, faithfully as they labored, they 
 saw and deeply felt that the state of religion 
 fell far short of what they ardently desired. 
 
 But we find that those days of adversity 
 were about passing away ; a great and glorious 
 reaction was soon to follow. The evils of war 
 had well nigh spent their strength, and the 
 public mind, filled to surfeiting with the de- 
 moralizing offerings of earth, began to look 
 and long for the substantial treasures of the 
 gospel. The Great Head of the Church, who 
 
152 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 overrules all circumstances and events for the 
 spiritual welfare of Zion, had some faithful 
 praying ones left ; and in answer to prayer He 
 was opening the way, and was soon to furnish 
 the efficient instrumentality to effect His own 
 glorious purposes. After a vacancy of some 
 considerable time, the Lutheran churches of 
 the Sharon charge invited the 
 
 REV. P. WIETING. 
 Of Lowville, Lewis county, N. Y., who, in the 
 vigor of youthful manhood, was then laboring 
 in that region as a home missionary, to visit 
 and preach for them, with a view, if satisfactory, 
 to settle him as their pastor. He came among 
 them and preached his trial sermon on the first 
 Sabbath in September, 1828 ; and, as these ser- 
 vices gave general satisfaction, he received 
 a call, and entered upon his labors among them 
 on the first of November following. The rela- 
 tion then and there formed extended over the 
 long period of forty years. 
 
 Aside from his former missionary labors, 
 this was his first and only charge. In looking 
 over the history of those memorable years, 
 and the great and happy results that followed 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 53 
 
 his labors, none can doubt that God had pre- 
 pared the way and selected the man, to bring 
 about His own wonderful purposes in this part 
 of His moral vineyard. 
 
 While the writer was born and reared within 
 the bounds of his charge, and first heard the 
 preached gospel from his lips, yet still he has 
 no distinct recollection of the religious move- 
 ments in these churches, until the sweeping re- 
 vival of 1832. But as he was my pastor, and 
 I sat under his ministry for many years, besides 
 being a ministerial member of the same synod 
 with him for eighteen years, I can speak with 
 confidence of what I do know, and testify of 
 what I have seen, of his life and labors. 
 
 His preaching was evangelical, plain, pointed, 
 and eminently practical. It was clearly seen 
 and impressively felt, that his sole object in the 
 pulpit was the conversion of sinners and the 
 spiritual advancement of believers. In all his 
 ministrations he seemed to lose sight of self, 
 and to hide behind the Master. He honored 
 Christ by holding him up constantly as the 
 only hope of a lost world, and Christ honored 
 him by giving him multitudes of souls as seals 
 to his ministry. Many preceded and many 
 
154 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 have followed him to the better land since his 
 departure, and some are still lingering on the 
 shores of time, whom in the great day he will " 
 recognize as his spiritual children begotten in 
 the gospel. As a pastor, he exerted an almost 
 unbounded influence over his people. Few 
 ever exceeded him in pastoral labor, or were 
 better acquainted with the spiritual condition 
 and financial standing of every family of a 
 charge. As a keen observer of human nature, 
 and a man of remarkably good sense and 
 judgment, he was enabled to handle each mem- 
 ber with consummate skill, and all were gener- 
 ally controlled by his counsel and advice, 
 But his personal labors on earth finally closed ; 
 he had filled up the measure of his days in 
 great usefulness, and the Lord now called him 
 home to rest in heaven, on the seventh day 
 of September, 1869. 
 
 It is pleasing to know that, " though dead 
 he still speaketh," for the works he wrought 
 on earth follow him, and the influence he left 
 behind will live and be felt during succeeding 
 generations. All who knew him well, and 
 especially those who sat under his ministry, 
 will sacredly cherish his memory, as a fearless 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 5 5 
 
 preacher and a faithful, devoted pastor. The 
 place where his body rests will be visited by 
 his surviving spiritual children, with tender, 
 mournful feelings, as often as opportunity is 
 afforded, to scatter flowers upon his grave, as 
 tokens of filial love. 
 
 Brother Wieting having resigned his charge 
 in the fall of 1868, the succeeding June Rev. 
 P. H. Turner received license from the Franck- 
 ean Synod, and took charge of the church of 
 Gardnersville. We believe he was a member 
 of the Lutheran church of Ancram, Columbia 
 county, N. Y. He was regarded as a decidedly 
 good man, an excellent pastor and an accept- 
 able preacher; and his labors were soon at- 
 tended with quite an extensive religious awak- 
 ening, which resulted in a large ingathering into 
 his church. But while the affections of both 
 pastor and people were becoming mutually 
 nrdent and strong, and the outlook in the"Tuture 
 seemed cheerful and promising, alas ! suddenly 
 and most unexpectedly he was called away by 
 death, while on a visit to Columbia county, on 
 the tenth day of September, 1 871, and there 
 he was buried. That he was beloved by the 
 members of the Gardnersville church, is very 
 
I56 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 evident ; since after a lapse of ten years, they 
 still fondly refer to him in language and ex- 
 pressions indicative of deep sorrow of heart. 
 But we feel a sense of relief in the fact, that 
 thus far, he is the last of the pastors of this 
 charge whose death we have been called upon 
 to record. Others have since faithfully and 
 successfully labored in this field, but they are 
 still spared to the church, to fulfill their high 
 destiny in the Lord's vineyard. And now we 
 turn with mournful interest to other of our 
 departed ones, who had both their natural and 
 spiritual births within the bounds of the pas- 
 toral district of Sharon and New Rhinebeck. 
 Quite a goodly number of men were flirnished 
 by these churches for the gospel ministry, who 
 went out into different sections of the land, 
 and preached the glad tidings of salvation. 
 Most of these are still in the field, but some 
 have died and gone to their reward on high. 
 And the first of these in the order of time, we 
 think, was the 
 
 REV. JOHN ROSENBERG, 
 Who in the glow of youth and ardent piety, 
 after pursuing a proper course of study, en- 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 57 
 
 tered the ministry about the year 184 1, and 
 after laboring a few years in Pennsylvania, in 
 the midst of his usefulness, fell a victim to 
 death while yet in the very morning of his 
 life. 
 
 We now turn our attention to our lamented 
 brother, the 
 
 REV. DAVID OTTMAN. 
 
 He was born within the bounds of Rhine- 
 beck church, near the close of the last century; 
 and before brother Wieting entered upon his 
 charge in Sharon in 1828, brother Ottman was 
 married, and with his family lived on the farm 
 now owned by Peter Bellinger, one mile west 
 of Sharon Hill. We are informed that he was 
 one of the first fruits of brother Wieting's 
 labors in this large field. He was a man of 
 more than ordinary ability. In stirring power 
 and unction, very few exceeded him in prayer. 
 He possessed a keen analytical mind ; and with 
 the limited advantages that were afforded him 
 in the days of his youth, it was a matter of sur- 
 prise to many, how that in the midst of a 
 large family, and in the cultivation of a large 
 farm, he by his own individual effort acquired 
 
I58 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 such a general store of knowledge. In the 
 Scriptures he manifested great familiarity, and 
 in theology he was as clear and systematic as" 
 some of our best theologians. Under the 
 urgent necessities of the churches, it is not 
 strange that he was urged by some of his best 
 friends, as well as by a sense of duty, to give 
 at least a part of his time to the work of the 
 ministry. Though he pursued through life his 
 early occupation, yet having been licensed, he 
 commenced his labors and served the Luth- 
 eran church at Freysbush, for a length of 
 time. In 184 1 he organized the church at 
 Centre Valley, and labored among them for 
 about two years with acceptance and great suc- 
 cess. He finally settled in Walworth county, 
 Wisconsin, where in September, 1845, he or- 
 ganized the Lutheran church of Sharon. The 
 early members of this church were principally 
 old acquaintances and members of the churches 
 in Schoharie and Montgomery counties, New 
 York. A few years after this, he very unex- 
 pectedly was called away to his rest in heaven, 
 after having passed the meridian of life. 
 
 We next call to mind our highly respected 
 brother, the 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 159 
 
 REV. WILLIAM OTTMAN. 
 
 He was born in the town of Seward, per- 
 haps about the year 1809 or 18 10, and was a 
 member of the Rhinebeck church. The record 
 shows that he entered the ministry as early as 
 1 83 1. His first charge was the church of 
 Clay, in 1832, which he served three years, 
 and then took charge of the church of Freys- 
 bush, which he served three years, and then 
 returned again to Clay in 1839. While we 
 have no definite record at hand, our impression 
 is that he labored here at least twenty years 
 more. Here he was married, here the most of 
 his children were born, and here his sainted 
 wife died. 
 
 The last charge he served was the church of 
 Black Lake, where he entered upon his labors 
 in 1862, and here he departed this life in 1870, 
 to enter upon his eternal reward in heaven. 
 Brother Ottman performed a good work in the 
 ministry, and seemingly he died without leav- 
 ing an enemy in the world. 
 
 The last one we are called upon to remem- 
 ber in this connection, is our deeply-lamented 
 brother, the 
 
l6o MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 REV. O. D. S. MARCLEY. 
 He was born in the town of Seward, about the 
 year 1842, and early in life became the subject 
 of saving grace, and united with the Lutheran 
 church of Gardnersville. Being impressed with 
 the duty of serving the Lord in the ministry, he 
 soon entered upon and completed a full course 
 of study. In the year 1867, after sustaining 
 an excellent examination, he was licensed to 
 preach the gospel, and soon after entered the 
 active work of the ministry in the church of 
 Freysbush. After laboring here some three 
 years with success and satisfaction to the peo- 
 ple, he received and accepted a call from the 
 churches of Orleans district. In this large field 
 he labored faithfully and successfully for the 
 space, I think, of about five years. Resigning 
 his charge here, he settled in Pennsylvania, and 
 took charge of the church of Ashland, where 
 he labored perhaps some three years more- 
 He then was induced to resign his charge at 
 Ashland, and accept a call from a prominent 
 Lutheran church in Bloomsburg, in the same 
 state. Here he was located, and having la- 
 bored long enough among them to become 
 w r ell acquainted with the people and the real 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. l6l 
 
 wants of the church, and just when the pros- 
 pects looked promising of realizing a rich har- 
 vest from his well-laid plans and operations, 
 he was suddenly removed by death from 
 the church on earth to the church in heaven, 
 at the early age of about thirty-eight years. 
 Those who knew him best are prepared to say 
 that he possessed amiable traits of character. 
 His friendship was ardent, trustworthy, and 
 abiding. And while he had a great interest in 
 the Lutheran church everywhere, he always 
 manifested a special attachment for that church 
 and those ministerial brethren, among whom 
 he commenced his Christian life and labors. 
 
 As already intimated, brother Marcley was 
 a young man of splendid abilities, and was 
 rapidly rising and fairly on the way of be- 
 coming one of the most efficient ministers in 
 our church. But the Great Head of the 
 Church saw fit to call him away in the midst 
 of a promising life, and we bow in humble 
 submission to His will. 
 
 And now while we close up the list of those 
 
 of our departed that went out of these 
 
 churches, to serve the Lord in the ministry, 
 
 we will not be unmindful of others, who as lay 
 
 ii 
 
1 62 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 members so faithfully served Christ. Very 
 many in this connection might be mentioned 
 with pleasure, but time and space will permit 
 us to notice only a few of the most prominent 
 ones. 
 
 And the first of these, in our esteem and 
 veneration, is the sainted 
 
 JOHN EMPIE. 
 
 In some respects he was a remarkable man ; 
 and divine grace made him just what he was, 
 a burning, shining light in the world and a 
 power in the church. 
 
 As early as 1808, being then about thirty- 
 three years of age, after a long and fearful 
 struggle, he found Christ precious to his soul. 
 At that period, as • related by him, spiritual 
 darkness hung over the churches, and experi- 
 mental piety was unthought of by the many 
 and professed by very few. Hence in his 
 troubled state of mind, he hardly knew the 
 nature of his anxieties, whom to consult, or 
 where to find relief. But the Lord by His 
 spirit was surely leading him in the way he 
 knew not of, and finally brought him into the 
 light and liberty of the gospel of Christ. He 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 63 
 
 was remarkable for his unwavering, undeviat- 
 ing perseverance in the course of piety from 
 that time till the day of his death. With him 
 religion was a living, controlling principle, to 
 be carried out in all the activities and relations 
 of life. That responsibility he accepted, and 
 in a remarkable degree carried out, without 
 turning to the right or the left. He was re- 
 markable for the controlling and lasting influ- 
 ence he exerted over others ; probably no 
 other lay member in the church excelled him 
 in this respect. He had this power with men 
 because he had power with God, and lived 
 pre-eminently a holy life. 
 
 Twenty years after his conversion, at the 
 time brother Weiting became his pastor, he 
 found him one of the few praying souls in the 
 church. He labored and prayed until he saw 
 multitudes around him converted and gathered 
 into the church ; and when he died, he not 
 only saw his own children, but nearly all his 
 children's children, members of the flock of 
 Christ. Though he passed away from earth 
 some eighteen years ago, to reap the rewards 
 of heaven, his influence on earth remains, and 
 will continue through future generations. 
 
164 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED.. 
 
 Another of the older members of the 
 church, whose name is held in grateful remem- 
 brance for his Christian fidelity and piety even 
 in those early days of spiritual dearth, is 
 
 DR. JOHN C. MOELLER, 
 
 son of Rev. Henry Moeller. While he was a 
 physician of extensive practice in the towns of 
 Sharon and Seward, he was also an influential 
 member of the Lutheran church, and by his 
 prayers and personal labors among the people, 
 was largely instrumental in bringing about in 
 later years a religious revival in the churches 
 of the Sharon charge. He was one of the few 
 praying members that brother Wieting found 
 in 1828, when he commenced his labors in this 
 field ; and in those great revivals that followed 
 a few years after, Dr. Moeller greatly aided his 
 Pastor by his hearty sympathy, co-operation, 
 and prayers. He was qualified both to treat 
 for the diseases of the body, and to counsel 
 and pray for those who were anxious about 
 their souls' salvation. The last act of his life, 
 after the close of a day's labor in his profes- 
 sion, was to gather around him his family to 
 lead them in family worship. That very night 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 65 
 
 he was stricken down with apoplexy, and 
 breathed his last before the light of another 
 day. This occurred in May, 1849. His ^ e > 
 like Jacob's of old, closed in the midst of his 
 family, while invoking the blessings of God to 
 rest upon them. 
 
 In reviewing the past, the name of our vener- 
 able father in the Church, 
 
 WILLIAM OTTMAN, 
 claims at least a passing thought. He was the 
 oldest of all the members with whom the 
 writer had an intimate acquaintance. He was 
 born in the year 1766 ; and at the early age of 
 fourteen, in the Revolutionary War, was taken 
 prisoner and carried to Canada. After a few 
 years he was permitted to return home, and 
 some time after he became a member of the 
 Rhinebeck church, when we are not able to say. 
 Still we know that he professed saving grace, 
 as he once related his Christian experience to 
 me, and he was that one praying member, often 
 spoken of, that brother Wieting found in the 
 Rhinebeck church when he took charge of it. 
 He passed away from earth some twenty-seven 
 years ago, to reap the reward of the righteous. 
 
1 66 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 Another brother in Christ, the mention of 
 whose name awakens hallowed feelings in the 
 hearts of all who knew him well, is 
 
 HENRY SOMERS. 
 
 At what time of life he experienced religion 
 and united with the Rhinebeck church, we are 
 unable to say ; but as long as we have any 
 recollection, he was a devout, praying man. 
 Of all the lay members of the church, none 
 exceeded him in the gift of prayer. In the el- 
 oquence, fervency, and power of prayer, he was 
 truly wonderful, and in this respect very few 
 either ministerial or lay brethren equaled him. 
 At his house, in a crowded social prayer-meet- 
 ing, we once heard him pray and continue to 
 pray until some five or six anxious souls were 
 born into the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 For a few years before his death he was 
 gradually wasting away with consumption; but 
 as long as he could move about, he would 
 meet his brethren in the prayer circle. And 
 the last time he attended such a meeting from 
 home is well remembered and often spoken of 
 by those who were present. He came some 
 two miles to the house of Father Empie, where 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. \6j 
 
 prayer-meetings were wont to be held, and as 
 he said, to meet his dear brethren for the last 
 time in the prayer circle. Though very feeble 
 in body and hoarse in voice, his prayer and ex- 
 hortation on that occasion will never be for- 
 gotten. He spoke as a dying man, exhorting 
 his brethren to hold on and persevere in their 
 Christian course, and admonishing the impeni- 
 tent to seek an interest in Christ. The mode 
 and manner of his exercises it would be in 
 vain to attempt to describe, but the effects were 
 clearly seen and deeply felt; it was just such 
 'a scene as will never be forgotten. And his 
 prediction proved but too true ; after this they 
 saw his face no more in that prayer circle— his 
 work in the church on earth was about done, 
 and the Master soon after this called him home 
 to the church triumphant, to share the reward 
 of the righteous. 
 
 Though thirty-seven years have rolled away 
 since his departure, his memory still remains 
 green and flourishing in many hearts; and while 
 we think of the sainted ones above, his name 
 is always associated with that happy throng. 
 
 In a most striking manner the saving power 
 of divine grace was manifested in the person of 
 
1 68 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 DAVID MERENES. 
 This is another of our departed ones, whose 
 Christian fidelity and most devoted life proved 
 a great blessing to the church of his choice. 
 He was a man of strong intellectual powers, 
 and of an ardent temperament. In his earlier 
 life he was much engaged in the pleasures and 
 hilarities of the world, and in consequence be- 
 came irregular in his habits, very skeptical in 
 his religious views, and a strong opposer to 
 vital religion. To reach and control such a 
 person by the saving influences of the gospel, 
 seemed to be almost a hopeless case. It is- 
 well remembered that in the first great revival 
 at Sharon in 1832, he openly opposed the work 
 by strongly arguing the doctrine of Universal- 
 ism. But the great and important change in his 
 life occurred in a religious revival in the same 
 church, the following year. With a man of 
 such strong mind and fixed convictions, as well 
 as confirmed habits, nothing but the power of 
 Divine grace could correct his religious views, 
 cause him to renounce his wayward course, 
 and erpbrace Christ as the only Saviour of his 
 soul. And yet, judging from his subsequent 
 life, all this was effected in his case. As far as 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 169 
 
 we, then in our youthful days, were able to 
 judge, we never witnessed a more complete 
 consecration of body, soul and spirit, to the 
 service of the Lord. He never was known, in 
 the least, to flag in his religious zeal, from the 
 time of his conversion until the day of his 
 death. He was radical in his views in regard 
 to the moral and religious enterprises of the 
 age ; and Puritanic in his religious life and sense 
 of duty. In thus carrying out his convictions 
 without fear or favor, he proved a terror to evil 
 doers, but a great motive power in stimulating 
 the church to walk in the path of Christian 
 duty. His religious career, though short, was 
 a faithful and successful one ; very few in so 
 short a period left a deeper and more abiding 
 influence behind. In the Fall of 1840, seven 
 years after his conversion, and just after he had 
 enjoyed another blessed revival in the Sharon 
 church, of which he was a member, he was 
 taken sick, and in a short time departed this 
 life to enter upon his eternal reward. His 
 dying message to his Pastor was: "Tell 
 brother Wieting that I die in the same faith in 
 which I lived." 
 
I70 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. . 
 
 JOHN C. SHUTTS. 
 
 The above named person was a most worthy 
 member of the church, and a brother of rare 
 Christian traits of character. He became a 
 subject of Divine grace in the earlier years of 
 brother Wieting's ministry in this district, and 
 became a member of the Rhinebeck church. 
 He possessed an amiable disposition, a sound 
 judgment, and always responded to every claim 
 and requirement of the church with a consci- 
 entious regard. His fine sense of right and of 
 Christian obligation ever prompted him to 
 contribute of his money as cheerfully and re- 
 peatedly, for the furtherance of the gospel at 
 home and abroad, as he performed any other 
 Christian duty. 
 
 His religion controlled him in every act of 
 his life ; and so perfectly was that life in sweet 
 accord with the spirit and teachings of the" 
 gospel, that the most impious would speak of 
 him as a model Christian man. Being so 
 amiable in disposition, so correct in his Chris- 
 tian life, and so perfectly honorable in all his 
 dealings, he was esteemed by all, and when he 
 passed away all classes lamented his death. 
 He died in 1865, aged 62 years. 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. \J\ 
 
 SEBASTIAN SHANK. 
 This brother was one of those few Chris- 
 tians who professed experimental religion in 
 those earlier times, when such a thing in this 
 region seemed to be generally unknown. 
 Some time before brother Wieting entered 
 upon his work in Sharon and Rhinebeck, 
 brother Shank was known to be a devout, pray- 
 ing man, and in his sphere labored earnestly to 
 bring about a better spiritual state in the Lu- 
 theran church at Cobleskill, of which he was 
 a member ; but his well-meant efforts not being 
 encouraged, but in a measure opposed, he 
 finally dissolved his connection here, and united 
 with the Rhinebeck church. He was at all 
 times very much engaged in religion ; and no 
 subject lay so near his heart as the cause of 
 Christ ; and no name would awaken such ten- 
 der emotions as the name of Jesus. In every 
 sense he was a good man and a ripe Christian ; 
 and when he passed away, the church lost one 
 of its brightest lights. But we have reason to 
 be grateful that he was spared to the church so 
 long a time, as he did not go down to his 
 grave until about eighty-six years of age. 
 Though we shall see his face no more on earth, 
 
172 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 he has left a holy influence behind as a legacy 
 to the church. 
 
 JOHN I. EMPIE, 
 a son of the sainted John Empie, was one of 
 the first fruits of brother Weiting's labors in 
 the Sharon charge ; and was one of the pastor's 
 most steadfast friends and safest counsellors in 
 all that pertained to the interest of the church. 
 He was a brother of more than ordinary intel- 
 lectual capacity — always true to his Christian 
 profession, and to the end of his days was an 
 honor to the church and a blessing to the 
 world. The Lord had entrusted him with 
 many talents, and so faithfully did he improve 
 them that he gained a long continued advance- 
 ment in the Divine life. He was another one 
 of those brethren that possessed a wonderful 
 gift in prayer, in the exercise of which it was 
 clearly seen and felt that he attended to it invari- 
 ably every day of his life. Perhaps at no period 
 in the history of the church was his wise coun- 
 sel and active co-operation more needed than 
 at the time of his death. But the Lord, in His 
 inscrutable providence, removed him suddenly 
 from the pains and toils of earth to his eternal 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 73 
 
 rest in heaven ; and while the church most 
 keenly feels her loss, the consoling thought re- 
 mains that their loss is his eternal gain. He 
 died some three or four years ago, aged about 
 seventy years. 
 
 PETER S. CROSS. 
 
 This dear brother became a subject of saving 
 grace, and united with the Rhinebeck church, 
 I believe about the year 1832. The social feel- 
 ing was one of the prominent characteristics of 
 his nature, and hence he was extremely fond of 
 society. By this means he formed an exten- 
 sive acquaintance, and his name far and wide 
 became as familiar as household words. But 
 in all the relations of life, he was ready to bear 
 testimony to the reality of saving grace, and 
 vindicate the cause of Christ. He was warmly 
 attached to the church of his choice, and was 
 one of the greatest admirers and most devoted 
 friends of brother Wieting that I ever knew. 
 We believe he faithfully strove to live a Chris- 
 tian life, and as he passed through a lingering 
 sickness and neared the borders of death, he 
 manifested the calm fortitude and resignation 
 of a disciplined Christian. His pathway be- 
 
174 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 came brighter and brighter still, until he 
 stepped from the shores of time to try the 
 realities of eternity. Upwards of forty years 
 did he serve his Master, and died at about the 
 age of sixty-nine years. His dying testimony 
 was, " The religion which I professed in life is 
 my comfort now, and will sustain me in the 
 hour of death/' 
 
 CHRISTIAN OTTMAN. 
 
 The above-named brother was the oldest son 
 of the venerable William Ottman ; and from his 
 youth was known to be very industrious, pos- 
 sessing great business tact. With him it 
 seemed to be a constitutional trait to prosecute 
 any and every piece of work with all his might, 
 and for this reason he might by many be re- 
 garded as extremely worldly and grasping in 
 his feelings ; but we are sure that he was far 
 from being avaricious, and possessed a gener- 
 ous, benevolent heart. In the first great re- 
 vival that occurred in Sharon, he promptly 
 yielded to the claims of the gospel, and gave 
 his heart to God. He was a member of the 
 Rhinebeck church, and readily assumed all the 
 responsibilities, and discharged every duty that 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 75 
 
 pertains to the Christian life. In 1837, he lo- 
 cated within the bounds of the Sharon church, 
 with which he united and remained a faithful 
 member the remainder of his life. He by 
 great industry as a stirring business man had 
 accumulated considerable property; and a por- 
 tion of this was freely given from time to time 
 for the support of the church and the cause of 
 Christ abroad. Busy and stirring as he ever 
 was, he always found time to attend to the 
 wants of the church, and promptly to attend to 
 the stated means of grace. He was a good, 
 praying man, and when he died the church 
 lost one of its main supporters. He left us 
 some twelve years ago, to enjoy his eternal rest 
 above. 
 
 PETER HAYNES. 
 
 This dear brother was one of those faithful 
 praying members of the Sharon church, whose 
 memory will remain enshrined in the heart of 
 all those that were associated with him in 
 church fellowship. His every-day life, as well 
 as the deep interest he ever manifested for the 
 spiritual prosperity of the church, exhibited 
 the beautiful model of a true Christian man. 
 Not only was he prompt and regular in at- 
 
I76 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 tending to the means of grace in the Lord's 
 house on the Sabbath ; but he would often 
 travel miles on foot to meet his brethren in the 
 prayer-meeting. Those precious seasons are 
 well remembered still by some of us that were 
 accustomed to meet with him on such occa- 
 sions. Many of his elder brethren preceded 
 him to the better land, and some are lingering 
 still on the shores of time. 
 
 His work on earth closed some eight or 
 nine years ago, and by the bidding of his 
 Divine Master whom he served so well, he 
 has gone to his final home in heaven to reap 
 the reward of the faithful. 
 
 JAMES SWARTHOUT, ESQ. 
 In this connection the above-named brother 
 claims an honorable notice as one of our dear 
 departed ones. He experienced religion and 
 united with the Rhinebeck church some time 
 during the earlier labors and great religious 
 revivals in brother Wieting's churches. After 
 this his greatest delight ever was to mingle 
 with professed Christians — to hold converse 
 with them upon religious subjects, and at all 
 times to attend to all the ordinances of the 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 77 
 
 church. He was one of the most active and 
 efficient members in the prayer-meeting, and 
 at times of religious revivals, we ever knew. 
 The Master had blessed him with great fluency 
 of speech, and in the exercise of prayer and 
 singing he was exceedingly interesting. He 
 was pre-eminently social and benevolent in his 
 feelings — his society was very agreeable, and 
 sought after by both old and young — and* 
 hence, perhaps, no other member in the church 
 had formed such an intimate and extensive 
 acquaintance. 
 
 He held with credit the civil office of Justice 
 in his town for many years, and after serving 
 the Lord for at least forty-five years, he was 
 called away by death within the past year, to 
 enjoy his eternal rest in heaven. 
 
 AUGUSTUS MOELLER. 
 
 This much-respected brother was a son of 
 Dr. John C. Moeller, and became a subject of 
 saving grace in 1840, during a religious revival 
 in the Sharon church, of which he became a 
 member some time after. Those who knew 
 him best w r ill bear cheerful testimony to his 
 unflagging zeal and devotion to the cause of 
 12 
 
1/8 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 Christ. While health and opportunity per- 
 mitted, he was always found actively engaged 
 in the prayer circle, the Sabbath-school, the 
 choir, and all the ordinances of God's house. 
 He was, in the best sense of the term, a devout 
 Christian man. His religious influence for 
 good was felt in his own family, in the church 
 and community at large. He suffered with a 
 lingering disease for some length of time, but 
 his faith and hope in Christ remained strong 
 and undisturbed to the last. Having served 
 Christ faithfully for about thirty-six years, 
 when the hour of his departure came, his life 
 went out as gently as the fading light of the 
 closing day. 
 
 In addition to the above-named brethren, 
 whose lives and labors we have briefly and im- 
 perfectly sketched, if time and space permitted, 
 many others might be named, whose memory 
 is enshrined in our hearts. We call up with 
 mournful interest such dear brethren as George 
 F. Dunkell, Philip Becker, William Engles, 
 Peter Stall and Jonas Baxter, who were mem- 
 bers of the Sharon and Rhinebeck churches 
 — and likewise Benjamin Lehman, who for- 
 merly w T as a member of the Rhinebeck church, 
 
MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 79 
 
 but in 1839 entered into the organization of 
 the Lutheran church at Argusville, where the 
 writer was his pastor for about nineteen years. 
 Of the large membership of that church, we 
 regarded him as one of our best and tried 
 friends, and with a sense of gratitude his 
 many favors and fatherly counsels are still re- 
 membered. 
 
 And now, as brought to our attention in the 
 preparation of these brief notices, we bid 
 adieu again to the above-named brethren who 
 have preceded us to the spirit world, with the 
 fervent prayer and fond hope that God in His 
 great goodness may grant his sustaining grace 
 to all of us still lingering here, and that when 
 we pass away we may meet all these dear de- 
 parted ones in the better land where separation 
 is unknown. 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 REV. S. W. YOUNG. 
 
 It is' said that Sir Eardly Wilmot once called 
 his son, a lad of seventeen years, to his side, 
 and said to him : "I will tell you a secret worth 
 knowing. My elevation, especially my last 
 promotion, is not due to my superior abilities, 
 
l8o HUMILITY. 
 
 nor to any particular merit of mine ; I owe it 
 to my humility. I have never attempted to 
 place myself above others, and have always 
 endeavored to maintain a conscience void of 
 offence toward God and toward man." This 
 was an exemplification of the true philosophy 
 of life. The valley of humiliation is man's ap- 
 propriate position. We learn this from Him 
 who was exalted above our highest conceptions. 
 He emptied Himself of the divine glory, be- 
 came man, and took upon Him the form of 
 a servant. The wisdom which " puffeth up " 
 may at times secure an advantage of even the 
 lowly spirit, and excite aspirations which carry 
 a man above and beyond the sphere for which 
 he is fitted by his abilities. When one drifts 
 into responsibilities transcending his qualifica- 
 tions, all his movements make him miserable 
 and all his tendencies are downward. " Before 
 honor is humility." The loftiest pinnacle 
 must be contemplated in the lowest vale. 
 Superiority is attained by-" regarding others 
 better than ourselves." St. Augustine says, 
 " Should any one ask me concerning the Chris- 
 tian religion, what it is, and what are the 
 characteristics of the people who embrace it, 
 
HUMILITY. iSl 
 
 I would answer that the first, second and third 
 things therein — that all things are — humility.'' 
 The Archbishop of Mentz was a remarkable 
 example of this Christ-like virtue. He was 
 the son of a wheelwright, and lest in his exal- 
 tation, he should forget or disdain his humble 
 origin, he hung wheels and the tools of the 
 craft about his bed-chamber, and wrote under 
 them in capital letters, "Wellegis, Wellegis, 
 remember thy original ! " Gregory the great 
 was born of noble parents ; yet he had so lit- 
 tle respect for this hereditary honor, that he 
 ofter said, and sometimes with tears in his 
 eyes, "All glory is miserable if he on whom it 
 rests does not seek after the glory of God." 
 
 Humility is one of the most prominent and 
 one of the most beautiful characteristics of the 
 true Christian. It is the first lesson he learns 
 in the school of Christ. He does not " think 
 more highly of himself than he ought to 
 think ;" but his estimate of himself is " sober, 
 modest, truthful, as God has granted him the 
 ' measure of grace.' " He is content with his 
 allotment. If he is reviled, he is ready with 
 the philosopher to say, " Had he who reviled 
 me known me better, he would have said 
 
1 82 HUMILITY. 
 
 worse things about me." Though he is firm, 
 yet he is " gentle and easy to be entreated." 
 He bends before the storm like the reed, and 
 recovers his uprightness when the blast is 
 over, unlike the sturdy oak, which defies the 
 tempest yet falls before it. 
 
 Saul of Tarsus was fully plumed with Phar- 
 isaical righteousness. Before the command- 
 ment came he was inflated with self-compla- 
 cency. How high he stood in his own esti- 
 mation ! " Touching the law, I was blameless." 
 What a contrast, when sin revived and he died ! 
 " O wretched man that I am ! " He fell from 
 his exaltation to the deepest self-abasement 
 He became a fool that he might be wise; and 
 humbling himself under the mighty hand of 
 God, he was exalted in due time. But the 
 fruits of humility are not fully to be realized in 
 the present state. " It doth not yet appear 
 what we shall be." Whatever our attainments 
 here, we shall scarcely be able to read the title 
 page of that endless volume, the full contents 
 of which will be unfolded to us there. Now 
 we "see through a glass darkly," then shall 
 we see " face to face." The blessed Saviour, 
 " whom having not seen we love," we shall in 
 
HUMILITY. 183 
 
 the heavenly sphere see as He is ; and best of 
 all, " we shall be like Him." 
 
 And yet humility makes us firm. Resting 
 upon no ambiguous foundation, it never recedes 
 from the true positions which have been taken, 
 never turns aside from the path of rectitude. 
 The great founder of the Lutheran Church 
 was a good example of decision of character, 
 combined with true humility. In mind and 
 heart he was not to be shaken by his adversa- 
 ries. Fear of consequences never caused him 
 to swerve from the claims of duty. He suf- 
 fered many privations and many persecutions. 
 He had many opportunities to command the 
 applause of fame, many strong temptations to 
 think more highly than he did think of him- 
 self. But he was as unyielding against flattery 
 as he was against opposition, 'And to-day on 
 both sides of the waters there is no name 
 more revered, none thought to be more fully 
 identified with " the Name which is above 
 every name," than that of Martin Luther. 
 
 Humility begets contentment. The humble 
 man is satisfied with the allotments God has 
 given him. He has learned from the book of 
 true wisdom that happiness, that life, does not 
 
184 HUMILITY. 
 
 consist in the abundance of the good things of 
 this world which a man may possess. He 
 turns away from the fascinations to which the 
 index ringer of pride and ambition points, and 
 is more than satisfied with the good conscience 
 which he enjoys in walking humbly with his 
 God. His course through life is safe and 
 peaceful, his hopes for the future are blessed 
 and glorious. 
 
 What a contrast between humility and pride! 
 Humility takes the lowest seat, and conde- 
 scends to mingle with those of low degree. 
 Pride has a high look and a lofty aim, and 
 chafes at everything more elevated. Humility 
 rambles through verdant vales, along rippling 
 streams, and breathes the odors of the flowers 
 which bloom upon their banks. Pride blindly 
 clambers for the mountain top, over dangerous 
 cliffs, and finds itself at last where all is barren 
 and bleak. Humility seeks the sylvan retreats 
 of nature, and feels secure. Pride is tortured 
 with vain desires which end in sorrowful dis- 
 appointment. Humility seeks and is satisfied 
 with the favor of God. Pride sacrifices every- 
 thing for the applause of men. Humility ends 
 in honor, glory, immortality, eternal life. Pride 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 85 
 
 goes out in shame and everlasting contempt. 
 Let the language of the Great Teacher com- 
 plete the description. " He that humbleth 
 himself shall be exalted, but he that exalteth 
 himself shall be abased." 
 
 THE POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILI- 
 TIES OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 REV. N. VAN ALSTINE. 
 
 Some persons are chiefly imaginative: in a 
 state of frenzied reverie they contemplate the 
 future, and without safe premises in their rea- 
 soning they are wild in their conclusions. 
 Such are born and educated fanatics; they 
 are unsafe as instructors and guides in science 
 and in theology. Others are diligent and log- 
 ical students in every field of natural and 
 moral philosophy; they discover and compre- 
 hend the developments of providence and his- 
 torical verities ; in the events of the past they 
 read the possibilities of the future, for history 
 repeats itself. True, the unfoldings of the 
 future may be more perfect than they were 
 in the past ; yet the germs of events are seen 
 to excite the hope for full maturity and per- 
 fection in no distant future. This view of the 
 
1 86 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 condition of the past and the future will place 
 us on the standpoint where we may contem- 
 plate and study the possibilities and proba- 
 bilities of coming events. God alone fully 
 knows the possibilities of the future, for He 
 comprehends the contingent as well as the 
 absolute ; while our knowledge is quite imper- 
 fect, and limited largely by conjecture and 
 superficiality; in the womb of the future are 
 influences and laws to modify and shape devel- 
 opments of events altogether different from 
 our cherished anticipations. 
 
 We will look, for a few moments, at the pos- 
 sibilities of natural science. Science selects 
 and groups together congenial truths or facts 
 into a theory, and then by thorough investiga- 
 tion we become acquainted with them as a 
 system. Therefore we speak of the science of 
 astronomy, geology, chemistry, music. From 
 time immemorial, philosophical students have 
 directed their attention and research into the 
 starry heavens ; by the help of instruments they 
 were enabled more thoroughly to investigate 
 and understand the distances, size, and regu- 
 larity of the rolling orbs in the immensity of 
 space. In view of the past, the improvements 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 87 
 
 made and increase of knowledge, who dares to 
 predict that it is not possible to make new dis- 
 coveries, and become more intimately ac- 
 quainted with the science of astronomy? In 
 view of the inventive genius of man and his 
 unremitting application to study, there is quite 
 a certainty of the possibility and probability 
 that the starry firmament will be more thor- 
 oughly explored, the laws of suns and plane- 
 tary systems be better known and more fully 
 understood. We dare put no limit to success 
 in investigation and probabilities of future de- 
 velopment. So it will be with the science of 
 chemistry. Nature and the materials of earth 
 will be subjected to a more thorough analysis, 
 and new combinations, which will produce new 
 substances. These experiments will disclose 
 wonderful mysteries in nature. What now 
 may appear perfect and defy further improve- 
 ment, will then seem superficial and incipient, 
 and open up a vast scope for future possibili- 
 ties. This increasing knowledge in chemistry 
 and geology, and in all sciences, will encour- 
 age untiring research and effort to realize the 
 probabilities of the future. Thus we shall un- 
 derstand more of the philosophy and mysteries 
 
1 88 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 of nature as we move onward in the progress 
 of our endless existence. We can not assign 
 any cogent reasons why study and progressive 
 knowledge will cease beyond the boundary of 
 time ; there, doubtless, they will have a fuller 
 and more unobstructed scope. 
 
 If in former ages the knowledge of truth and 
 facts was quite imperfect and comparatively 
 unproductive, and the sciences rested in obscur- 
 ity ; how much more was this the condition of 
 the arts ! When the sciences were mere theo- 
 ries — abstract principles — the arts of the pres- 
 ent day had no existence ; for these depend on 
 practice — knowledge reduced to performance. 
 This is the reason why the sciences and arts 
 are wedded together, just as theory and prac- 
 tice are united as cause and effect. The science 
 of medicine precedes the art of practice ; the 
 theory of music, the art of execution ; or the 
 art of sculpture and of painting. Genius pro- 
 duced arts, carried them to higher perfection 
 and utility, and now they shine in brilliancy, 
 and promise great usefulness to society and 
 the world. The sculptor in his study con- 
 ceives the ideal in his mind and imagination, 
 and with his mallet and chisel brings forth 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 89 
 
 from the cold and rough block of marble the 
 form and features of the living being. The 
 painter puts upon the canvass with pencil and 
 brush the portrait, the variegated landscape, 
 the whirling clouds in a thunder-storm, the 
 wintry blast, the effulgent sunshine, the com- 
 ing spring with bud and flower* As we gaze 
 upon and study the painter's workmanship on 
 the canvass, we have sentiments of admiration, 
 joy, ecstasy. With these facts before us, the 
 evidences of increasing perfection from the 
 past, that progressive genius has executed, we 
 have a right to anticipate greater perfection in 
 the future. Experience in the past and the 
 knowledge of increasing skill from age to age 
 give assurance that there is room for higher 
 attainments in science and art. As history 
 repeats itself, there are unequivocal indications 
 of progress and greater perfection. 
 
 When water and electricity are brought into 
 conjunction with suitable machinery and util- 
 ized, how wonderful and vast are the results ! 
 In ages past, water was employed for certain 
 purposes of usefulness ; but how imperfect and 
 within what narrow limits ! — for the world -was 
 ignorant of the art to generate steam and utilize 
 
19O POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 its mighty force in application to machinery; no 
 steamboat to plow our rivers, lakes, and ocean 
 with the commerce of the world; or to drive 
 with speed a train of railroad cars across the 
 continent ; or to move machinery so forcibly as 
 to drive a thousand spindles and looms, iron- 
 foundries, and machine-shops. These are 
 scientific facts, that no river, lake, or ocean can 
 hinder ; no rocky mountain and deep gorges 
 are insuperable obstructions against them ; they 
 either pass across, surmount, or perforate them. 
 Electricity flashes along the wire, carries 
 thoughts, feelings, purposes, and gives them 
 embodiment in words into all parts of the 
 world — so rapidly it carries news, that in one 
 night pages of thought are read in every 
 nationality of the civilized world ; rivers, 
 mountains, and oceans, form no barrier. Soon 
 electricity will be harnessed by the ingenuity 
 and persistence of man, to engirdle the world 
 and make it obedient to his behests. The tel- 
 ephone annihilates space, and practically brings 
 distant localities into one neighborhood, organ- 
 ized into a social circle for mutual entertain- 
 ment and congratulation. There was a time 
 when such ideals were not born in the wildest 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. I9I 
 
 imagination of man; but now they are undeni- 
 able realities. Who dare now prescribe a lim- 
 itation to greater perfection in the future ? 
 What barrier within the realm of science and 
 art shall interpose and close up all further 
 progress ? What are the possibilities and prob- 
 abilities of the future in science, in water, 
 steam, and electricity ? The muscles of the 
 heart send the life-currents into the extremities 
 of the body, to give health, strength, activity 
 in every part ; so all nature holds connection 
 from centre to circumference, exerts a union 
 of forces and mutual reactions. 
 
 We cannot fail to see a large field for thought 
 and study in the rise and progress of civiliza- 
 tion and human government. In the land and 
 age of darkness and gloom and barbarism, the 
 people could hardly discern the twilight of civ- 
 ilization, so faint and tardy came forth the ris- 
 ing sun above the misty horizon ; yet in the 
 process of time it was known as a reality. 
 Now the power, influence, and light of civili- 
 zation are wide-spread, constantly augmenting 
 its transforming and refining power. Some 
 nations enjoy the glory of the full orb of civili- 
 zation, and exult in its fruition; but others are 
 
I92 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 now being ushered into refreshing light and 
 freedom. Civilization and free governments 
 are realities, and are pushing forward into 
 wider and more permanent victories. The grip 
 01 usurpation and despotism is being paralyzed; 
 oppressions are convulsed and thrown off as 
 intolerable burdens ; cruelty is detested and an- 
 athematized by the people ; all claim natural 
 rights as the only basis of a just civil govern- 
 ment They demand freedom and protection, 
 and resent the condition of serfdom; yield obe- 
 dience by consent of the governed and not by the 
 iron rule of the autocrat. What progress do 
 we behold in this direction for the last century ! 
 In reading the history of the world in the past, 
 dare we not anticipate marvelous and radical 
 changes in civil governments — the possession 
 by the people of greater freedom, the conces- 
 sion in all lands of their natural rights? Is it not 
 possible, yea, even probable, that in the convul- 
 sions of nations, the threatening danger to 
 crowned heads, and in the demand of the peo- 
 ple for their freedom and rights, despotism 
 shall fall as Dagon before the ark of God, 
 autocracy be ground to powder under the mill- 
 tone of republicanism, wielded for the protec- 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 93 
 
 tion of all, guaranteeing the equality of all be- 
 fore the law ? Is it not probable that the time 
 will come when all nations shall establish their 
 own governments, and wield the governmental 
 powers ? The will of all shall be expressed by 
 an unfettered elective franchise. No other 
 government will be tolerated by the people, 
 and all others will be regarded as usurpations. 
 The most important phase of this subject is 
 its feligious and moral relation and aspect — 
 the Church, theology, Christianity. When 
 God by the agency of his Word, Spirit and 
 grace, has renovated the hearts of men, 
 brought them into affiliation with Himself, im- 
 bued the mind with love and worship, then we 
 witness the nucleus of an organized Church. 
 Although it may be small at first as mustard 
 seed, yet it has growth, spreading its branches, 
 giving shelter in sunshine and storm to the 
 birds of the air. So the Church, at first, was 
 small in comparison with the wide-spread and 
 hoary kingdoms of the world, far less in num- 
 ber than the devotees of darkness and idolatry; 
 still the Church was able and successful in 
 making conquests and enlarging her dominion. 
 Her progress, at times, may have appeared 
 13 
 
194 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 slow, and tested the patience of saints, yet her 
 conquests were sure and were maintained. 
 Remarkable have been the conflicts and 
 changes of the Church as she has passed from 
 formalism to religious vitality, from cold and 
 dead ceremonialism to the enjoyment of the 
 life and power of godliness. It is not proble- 
 matical, but a clear certainty, that the world is 
 better now than it was in former ages. Frantic 
 superstition, base idolatry, bloody persecution, 
 pharisaic exclusiveness, stern opposition against 
 the introduction of the gospel in many nation- 
 alities of the earth, have either passed away or 
 become greatly modified, so that the church 
 has free course to glorify the gospel. All 
 massive obstructions, as they once existed and 
 menaced the Church, have melted away, and 
 now the islands of the sea and dark Ethiopia 
 are stretching out their hands of welcome to 
 the missionaries and educators in divine truth. 
 Changes as great now appear in the system 
 of theology. All theology was stored away in 
 a creed — a mere skeleton of doctrine, a theory 
 of theological opinions — all controversy par- 
 took of logomachy : but now theology has 
 had a resurrection unto life ; no less bones, but 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. IQ5 
 
 clothed with muscle, skin and beauty in addi- 
 tion, ready for conquest. Theology now is the 
 faith of saints, regarded as the essential found- 
 ation of the beautiful temple of God, erected 
 for worship and to fit souls for glory. A sound 
 and living theology is the strength of the 
 Church, a defense against the storms of time 
 and assaults of enemies. The stand-point of 
 theology, as now understood, permits all de- 
 nominations to concentrate and affiliate, to 
 some extent, and more than in ages past the 
 hatchet of war is buried, greater unity of views 
 and feeling now prevail. It may seem to some 
 that when the people of God claim and exer- 
 cise greater freedom, cherish more liberal views 
 in theology, investigate the Bible for them- 
 selves and receive doctrines independent of the 
 dictum of the creed, they are treading on dan- 
 gerous ground, and become guilty of latitudina- 
 rianism. But is this position tenable, and will it 
 prove a damage to pure theology? Is it not 
 more than probable that, in the future, creeds 
 will not shackle the mind and faith of the 
 Church as they have done in time past? The 
 Bible will be regarded practically, and not theo- 
 retically, as the standard of faith ; and then all 
 
I96 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 theological views shown to be in accord with 
 the word of God will be approved, though in 
 apparent conflict with the teachings of creeds." 
 We concede this is so now by the confession of 
 the religious world, but woe to the theologian 
 who shall dare to put into practice this confes- 
 sion. He will soon incur the lashes of critics 
 and the thunder of condemnation as a heretic. 
 Who does not know that the custom of the 
 past was to gauge, mould and measure man's 
 religious faith and life by creeds hoary with 
 age, in defiance of the right to protest and 
 maintain conscientious feelings and freedom of 
 thought ? The pain must be borne, though 
 the creed was as unfitting as a cramping 
 Chinese shoe to the living foot. Shame on the 
 Church and her theologians, if they are not as 
 able, even now more so, to judge for them- 
 selves what is the meaning of God's word, 
 what doctrines are vital to salvation when 
 practically cherished and woven in character, 
 as those, who were good and honest men 
 without doubt, who lived centuries ago. 
 Popery may claim the right to do the thinking 
 for the religious world ; but Protestanism can 
 never usurp the right, for freedom of thought 
 
POSSIBILITIES NND PROBABILITIES. I97 
 
 is natural and Divine — a law for mental and 
 moral development. 
 
 Christianity has fully proved the inherent 
 right for self-existence, the power to repel all 
 invasion, and unfurl the banner of the cross in 
 triumph in all lands. True, the world has wit- 
 nessed variance in success, at one time success 
 and triumph, and then apparent defeat ; now 
 progress, and then retrogression. At one period 
 persecution raged, the blood of saints stained 
 the gibbet and the soil, waitings of distress 
 rent the heavens, God's altars were demolished, 
 caves became the only safe retreats for those 
 who loved and walked with God. These were 
 times of hell's power and success; but there 
 was not a full consummation of the diabolic 
 purpose. If sin was let loose to work mischief 
 and spit its venom on Christianity, and gained 
 vantage over the Church, so the time and oc- 
 casion were ushered in for God to prove His 
 right to govern the affairs of earth and the 
 destiny of our race, to vindicate the truthful- 
 ness of religion, and to turn the battle-strife of 
 earth into victory, to put to flight the army of 
 the aliens, so that one should chase a thousand. 
 God Himself resuscitated his despised cause, 
 
I98 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 and made the nations quake before His all-sub- 
 duing power. We see all this in the signs and 
 progress of the great Reformation, It is true, 
 the witnesses stood up and gave the testimony 
 of God, but in sackcloth and ashes they un- 
 covered their heads to vials of wrath of their 
 enemies ; they seemingly succumbed before 
 their persecuting power, and lay dead and dis- 
 honored for three days and a half in the streets 
 of the city, without burial or human sympathy. 
 The cohorts of darkness and corruption re- 
 joiced in their feasts, sending their congratula- 
 tions over all the earth and shouts in their 
 carnival, because, as they judged, that religion, 
 the Bible, and the Church, were fully overcome 
 and dead, and they feared no future trouble or 
 warfare. But, lo ! just at that time the Spirit 
 of God and of life came down from heaven 
 and breathed into the dead witnesses, and they 
 arose to renew with more strength and effect- 
 iveness their testimony for God and the Church, 
 to the astonishment and confusion of the 
 world. Then the Bible was unsealed, the re- 
 ligion of grace and justifying faith was im- 
 planted anew in the hearts of the Reformers, 
 the struggle of repentance and a Divine life 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 99 
 
 was the birth of the Church-reformation. Chris- 
 tianity took deep root and spread; its influence 
 and power were felt among the people. They 
 saw the day-dawn of righteousness coming 
 from the east, advancing in increasing light 
 toward its mid-day glory. The probability is 
 reasonable and strong, that it will shine more 
 and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 The Bible, containing the revealed will of 
 God, Divinely inspired and invested with su- 
 preme authority over the faith of the world, 
 has a substantial existence. It was given to 
 the church in piecemeal, in due time collected 
 and solidified into one book. For centuries it 
 was copied by scribes > afterward printed and 
 the copies greatly multiplied — so highly prized 
 by the antiquarian, that a copy of the Bible, as 
 first printed, was recently bought -for $8,000. 
 As the art of printing became more perfected, 
 copies of the Bible were more rapidly issued, 
 and now they are multiplied by millions. The 
 • distribution of the Bible is as wide-spread and 
 numerous as the falling leaves of autumn. 
 Each successive year opens a broader field for 
 labor, a pressing demand for the word of -God, 
 the possibility of issuing an increased number 
 
200 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 of copies ; so that there is a strong probability 
 that in the not distant future, every family on 
 earth shall own a copy of the Bible. Since 
 God has unsealed the book in the hand of His 
 angel, given it to man to eat, to study, and to 
 understand, in all its sweet and bitter fruit, 
 we have the assurance it shall never be sealed 
 again — become obscure by tradition, or hidden 
 in dead languages, or be suppressed and ostra- 
 cized by Popish edicts. The word of God is 
 free to every student, and will guide into true 
 freedom of conscience and grace from sin and 
 condemnation. Whom the Son shall make 
 free shall be free indeed. His word giveth 
 light, for in Christ there is no darkness, no 
 error, sin and death. This light shall shine, 
 spread, and. illuminate, grow more luminous 
 and brilliant, and penetrate every dark locality 
 of the world. The probability of all this is 
 not based upon mere conjecture, but upon the 
 will and certainty of God, for His counsel shall 
 stand, and His purpose shall be fulfilled. 
 
 With the distribution of the Bible goes the 
 benevolent work of missions. No missionary 
 will enter the dark regions of the earth to en- 
 lighten, to civilize, and to save the inhabitants, 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 201 
 
 without the Bible. Where the missionary goes, 
 there the Bible goes. Thus equipped for the 
 work, darkness, superstition, and degradation 
 will disappear, cruelty will retreat, refinement 
 in habits and purity of thought will gain the 
 ascendency. The missions of the Church in 
 warfare on sin will carry the Bible as the battle- 
 axe of God to demolish the citadels of Satan 
 with great efficiency and success. In the past 
 it was conceded that the world was so sinful 
 and degraded, that to enlighten and to save 
 was a hopeless task ; but now the problem is 
 solved, for the missionary is seen in almost every 
 land, his foot marks the soil of many coun- 
 tries, and his voice is heard amid the confu- 
 sion of disorder and sin to reprove and instruct 
 in truth. The mission of the Church has 
 proved that there are no insuperable barriers 
 to success in human degradation and wicked 
 resistance — every valley can be traversed and 
 every mountain can be scaled — salvation is 
 offered to all, and all are welcome to come to 
 Christ and live. There is an assured probabil- 
 ity that missionary stations will be planted 
 everywhere, that laborers will be multiplied in 
 numbers and be increased in courage and 
 
202 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 strength until final conquest. Then the shout 
 on the harvest fields of the world will go up 
 and blend in harmony, joyfully declaring that 
 the kingdoms of earth have become the king- 
 dom of Christ, and that He shall forever reign 
 as King of nations. 
 
 The intelligence of the world, knowledge 
 and wisdom, are essential to compass the pur- 
 poses of God. The universal diffusion of 
 knowledge is vital to enduring civilization, the 
 establishment of the kingdom of God, the 
 conquest of the world. When many go to 
 and fro knowledge will increase, institutions of 
 education will be organized and endowed. 
 These will become fountains of living waters 
 of knowledge, sending forth constant and en- 
 larged streams to fertilize the soil of so- 
 ciety and mature the harvest of mental and 
 moral culture. There is an absolute certainty 
 that such institutions will be constantly multi- 
 plying and become more effective. What they 
 have done in the past, will indicate what can 
 be done in the future, when established on a 
 firmer basis and made more perfect in machin- 
 ery. The stream of knowledge and science 
 will enlarge and deepen and spread as a sea of 
 
POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 203 
 
 glory. Since the system of common-schools 
 is adapted to be co-extensive with our race, 
 they will be feeders to our seminaries, colleges 
 and universities, and all contribute to the im- 
 provement of our race. There is a probable 
 tendency to a higher standard of education in 
 all our professions, in law, in medicine, and in 
 theology ; and this coveted state of education 
 will inevitably conduce to a deeper and a more 
 universal diffusion of knowledge, in the lower 
 order as well as the higher order of society. 
 When we look at the possibilities in this field 
 of operation in the present century, the multi- 
 plication of institutions of learning, their large 
 and increasing endowments, their high stand- 
 ard and effectiveness, we may legitimately an- 
 ticipate a bold and mighty advance in the 
 future. We know not now, but the l^orld shall 
 know. 
 
 What do we see in the field in which we 
 now meet, and to which our special attention is 
 invited? What were its moral condition and 
 intellectual status fifty years ago ? What is the 
 aspect of the field at the present time ? What 
 are the probabilities in the future ? Fifty 
 years ago, or more, educational training was 
 
204 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 
 
 imperfect, in books studied and literary disci- 
 pline administered. Vital piety was sickly and 
 even less devotional and perfect, and that con- 
 fined to but few. We could not count many 
 who were really consecrated to the service of 
 God. Thank God there were some ; here and 
 there a few stood up for Christ. There was, 
 however, less religion than horse-racing, gam- 
 bling, revelry and dissipation. But we see im- 
 provement for the better in many respects. In 
 the place of two comparatively feeble churches, 
 we have seven congregations and houses of 
 worship. For one pastor then, w 7 e have five. 
 We have religious strength, devotion, largely 
 increased numbers and intelligence, fruitful 
 benevolence and grace enriching many hearts. 
 From this vantage ground we now occupy, we 
 have the right to anticipate progress in educa- 
 tion and in every department of religious 
 activity and life. The kingdom of God should 
 be built up in greater conformity, to the will of 
 God, in the renewal of our spiritual life, greater 
 activity and holiness of heart. The churches 
 should shine in greater effulgence and to the 
 honor of God — forget the past and press for- 
 ward for higher attainments, so as to partake 
 
CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 205 
 
 more fully of the Divine nature and the pre- 
 cious .faith of saints. Even to this gracious 
 state, we should add courage, knowledge, 
 charity, brotherly kindness, self-government, 
 standing firm for God. With such piety we 
 will never be unfruitful, nor forget that we were 
 cleansed. We shall walk with God, enjoy the 
 sunlight of His presence, cherish a bright hope 
 to lead us up to heaven and enter our final 
 rest. 
 
 CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 REV. M. W. EMPIE. 
 
 It may be asked, What do we know of the 
 future ? Of our own knowledge, nothing — 
 *and yet by experience, logic, and mathematics, 
 we know a great many things, i. e., we are able 
 to form correct conclusions, and forecast events. 
 We may say, if such and such things continue, 
 then such and such events are sure to follow — 
 e. g. t while this world remains, we shall have 
 sunrise and sunset, as in the past, and a succes- 
 sion of day and night, and of the seasons. 
 The moon will wax and wane, and at such 
 particular times and places we shall have 
 eclipses of the sun and of the moon. 
 
206 CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 So, experimentally, we know that what has 
 been will be — we shall have summer and win- 
 ter, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, wet 
 and dry, storm and calm, prosperity and ad- 
 versity; for, as Solomon says, "There is no new 
 thing under the s?m. ,} The human race will be 
 perpetuated indefinitely. As in the past chil- 
 dren were born, grew up, married, scattered, 
 bought, sold, reared families, labored, fretted, 
 grew rich, poor, old, and were gathered to 
 the fathers — so it will be. 
 
 As in the past, dwellings, storehouses, 
 churches, and school-buildings, were built, re- 
 paired, decayed, passed away, and were replaced 
 by new and better ones — so it zvill be. As in 
 the past the growth of the good and true was 
 difficult and slow, e. g. y fruitful countries, thriv- 
 ing cities, successful business and civil interests 
 — industry, honor, virtue, intelligence, benevo- 
 lence, piety, etc — while the springing up and 
 increase of noxious ways and vices were rapid 
 and spontaneous — so it will be. 
 
 Knowledge will increase ; wonderful discov- 
 eries will continue to be made. Surprising in- 
 ventions will yet be wrought out, and marked 
 improvements will be made in agriculture, 
 
CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 20J 
 
 mechanics, commerce, manufactures, and po- 
 litical economy. The earth's surface will 
 undergo marvelous transformations — hills will 
 be reduced, valleys will be elevated, wilder- 
 nesses and barren places will be made beautiful 
 and fruitful. Solitary places will become thriv- 
 ing villages and populous cities. Literature, 
 science, art, etc., will grow to astonishing pro- 
 portions, so that each succeeding generation 
 will pity the stupidity and undeveloped state of 
 the preceding, and glory exceedingly in their 
 own attainments. 
 
 From the evident design and tendency of 
 things, there will be great improvements in 
 our social and moral conditions and relations. 
 All these elements are in commotion, promis- 
 ing a better, purer end. There will surely 
 come a higher state of domestic and social 
 life, a more elevated state of business activity, 
 and the moral atmosphere will become more 
 pure and healthful. The soul of man is groan- 
 ing for this. 
 
 In addition to conditional and contingent 
 sources of knowledge respecting future events, 
 we have an infallible and Divine revelation, a 
 "sure word of prophecy" which opens to us a 
 
208 CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 wide door, through which we may look and 
 see many things both of time and eternity 
 clearly revealed. From this source of infor- 
 mation we understand 
 
 1. That knowledge, benevolence and true 
 religion will increase in the earth, until human 
 and Christian character are fully developed, 
 and the nations of the world live in peace and 
 harmony together. 
 
 2. That our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
 will be acknowledged and accepted, of all na- 
 tions and distinctions, as the Messiah — the Son 
 of God, sent into the world as the sufficient 
 and only Redeemer of lost men, (i. e.) Jews, 
 Mohammedans, Pagans, Infidels, etc., will so 
 acknowledge him. " / will draw all men unto 
 me!' 
 
 3. That the Christian Church will prevail 
 and embrace all people and tongues — " the 
 heathen, and the uttermost parts of the earth." 
 Technical names and distinctions will gradu- 
 ally be lost, " as star by star declines in morn- 
 ing's dawn/' and there will be one fold and one 
 Shepherd. 
 
 4. That this world shall cease to be — nature's 
 wheels will cease to roll — and the heavens and 
 
CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 2CXJ 
 
 the earth that now are will vanish away. They 
 will either be annihilated, or so renewed and 
 refined by fire, as to constitute a new heaven 
 and a new earth, as the Lord will. 
 
 5. With the end of the world, the human 
 race will no longer be propagated. All the 
 dead will be raised to life again — and they, to- 
 gether with the generation then alive, shall be 
 changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
 eye, from natural to spiritual, from mortal to 
 immortal ; and henceforth, the resurrection 
 body glorified and the disembodied spirit shall 
 be reunited, and dwell forever in the state for 
 which they are fitted in this life time. The 
 " righteous," in God's account, shall be forever 
 holy and happy in heaven ; while the unright- 
 eous in His account shall be forever sinful and 
 miserable in hell. 
 
 Filially, We who are here now, actors in 
 life's drama, as the fathers were before us, will 
 in our turn pass away, and our places will be 
 occupied by successors, who in due time again 
 will make room for others. Wherefore seeing 
 we look for such things, let us be diligent that 
 we may be found of Him in peace, without 
 spot and blameless. " Therefore beloved, see- 
 14 
 
2IO CLOSING EXERCISES. 
 
 ing ye know these things before, beware lest ye 
 also, being led away with the error of the 
 wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." 
 
 CLOSING EXERCISES. 
 
 These were intended to occupy the evening, 
 but during the entire day the weather was un- 
 propitious. The collation, which was to have 
 been provided in the grove, was partaken of in 
 the church ; and, as the falling rain forbade an 
 evening gathering, the closing exercises were 
 engaged in during the afternoon. The Pastor's 
 parting words are crowded out for want of 
 room. All the last utterances were impressive. 
 The singing, with which the services were in- 
 terspersed, was appropriate, and especially the 
 closing piece. It was a moment of sublime 
 interest. The thoughts and emotions of that 
 scene will be lasting as life. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Preface 
 
 Historical Fidelity . . . 
 Ministerial Children of the Church 
 Sisterhood of Churches 
 Local Influences . 
 Unbroken Ties , 
 
 Gracious Providences . 
 
 Poem 
 
 The Field in 1831 . 
 My Youthful Days 
 Relics of the Reformation 
 Irrepressible Conflict 
 Healthful Tendencies . 
 Ultimate Results 
 Mission of Lutheranism 
 First in Honor, First in Service 
 The Memories of Our Departed 
 Humility . . . . 
 Possibilities and Probabilities 
 Certainties of the Future . 
 Closing Exercises . 
 
 (211) 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 27 
 
 3 2 
 
 45 
 
 5° 
 62 
 
 69 
 80 
 
 87 
 
 98 
 
 114 
 
 123 
 
 127 
 
 141 
 
 147 
 180 
 185 
 206 
 210