j
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER.
 
 The Early Father 
 
 Reformed Church 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 By REV. JAMES I. GOOD, D. D., 
 
 // 
 
 Author of "Origin of the Reformed Church in Germany," "History of the 
 
 Reformed Church in Germany," and "Historical Handbook 
 
 of the Reformed Church in the U. S." 
 
 READING, PA. : 
 DANIEL MILLER, PUBLISHER.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1897, 
 BY DANIEL MILLER.
 
 . L.1OUAU I 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 ?5!9/ SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This little volume is issued at tbe suggestion of its 
 publisher, Mr. Daniel Miller. It is hoped that it will 
 increase the interest of our people in their splendid 
 Church history. While issued in connection with the 
 sesqui-centennial of our Church, it has, however, a per- 
 manent value in bringing the lives of these fathers up to 
 date. Harbaugh's " Fathers of the Reformed Church," 
 Vols. I. and II., were excellent, but having been issued 
 forty years ago, are now somewhat antiquated, and we 
 have endeavored to utilize the material gathered since 
 their issue. 
 
 We would call the attention of the readers to the 
 latest and most complete history of the Coetus in the 
 " Presbyterian and Reformed Review" for October, 
 1897. THE AUTHOR.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Peter Minuit, 5 
 
 Rev. Samuel Guldin, 14 
 
 Rev. John Philip Boehm, \ . . 20 
 
 Rev. George Michael Weiss, 31 
 
 Rev. Michael Schlatter, 40 
 
 Rev. John Philip Leydich, 56 
 
 Rev. William Otterbein, 64
 
 EEFOEMED CHURCH IN THE U. S. 
 
 I. 
 PETER MINTJIT. 
 
 The forerunner of our German Reformed Church 
 was Peter Mintiit. He was the earliest prominent Ger- 
 man in North America. More than a century before 
 our Church was organized, he landed in the Delaware 
 (about 1638), and purchased Delaware and Pennsylvania 
 up to Trenton. His life is, in many respects, a signi- 
 ficant type of the German Reformed who began com- 
 ing more than a half century later. 
 
 Peter Minuit was born in 1580, at Wesel, in north- 
 western Germany, one of the strongholds of the Re- 
 formed Church in the sixteenth century. Born so early, 
 he almost touches the Reformers of our Church, for both 
 Olevianus and Ursinus were living when he was born. 
 2
 
 6 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 He may, therefore, be called the link between the 
 authors of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Reformed 
 of the western world. Indeed, Olevianus must have 
 been a well known name to him in boyhood, for he 
 came from that part of Germany. He was of Hugu- 
 enot or French Reformed stock, for Wesel had become 
 a great asylum for the Reformed in the days of the 
 Reformation. As a result, a large French Reformed 
 church was formed there, of which later Peter Minuit 
 was a deacon. He left Wesel during the awful Thirty 
 Years' War, just before it was captured by the Span- 
 iards and the Reformed subjected to great persecutions. 
 Like many of his German cotemporaries, he entered 
 the Dutch service, for the ruler of Holland was also a 
 German prince of the house of Nassau. He must have 
 been a man of prominence in his native city, to be so 
 soon appointed to so prominent an office. For he left 
 Wesel, April 15, 1625, and by December 19 of that 
 year was appointed governor general of New Amster- 
 dam (New York) in America. He sailed from Am- 
 sterdam in the ship Sea Mew, January 9, 1626, and 
 landed at New York, May 4, 1626. He there became 
 the governor general of the West India Company of 
 Holland, whose object was to plant colonies in Amer- 
 ica, and to extend to this continent the blessings of 
 civil and religious freedom. As he was of French
 
 PETER MINUIT. 7 
 
 blood, yet of German birth and in the employment of 
 the Dutch, he was thus well fitted to represent the 
 future Reformed churches of America, which have 
 been made up of Dutch, German and French elements. 
 He was an enlightened statesman. He stands out 
 in history as the first to treat the Indians with justice. 
 While the Spaniards had by force of arms dispossessed 
 the Indians of their lands by fire and blood in Mexico 
 and Peru, Minuit at once set up the policy of buying 
 the land from them. Although the Dutch had taken 
 New York by the right of discovery by Henry Hud- 
 son, yet he determined to get a higher title to the 
 land, namely by the right of purchase. His first 
 act was to purchase, in 1626, the whole of Manhattan 
 Island, 22,000 acres (now the site of New York City) 
 for 24 dollars. This may seem a small sum when one 
 considers the enormous value of New York property 
 now, but it was not too little when one remembers the 
 absolutely unimproved condition of the island, as well 
 as the fact that 24 dollars then was worth much more 
 than that amount now, especially to the Indians. 
 William Penn has usually had the reputation of inau- 
 gurating this policy of peaceful purchase from the 
 Indians, but Minuit here began it eighteen years before 
 Penn was born. Honor to whom honor is due. It 
 was not only a very enlightened policy, but a very 
 
 a.
 
 8 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 wise, far-seeing one. For by this act he retained for 
 the Dutch, for many years, the friendship of the Iro- 
 quois or Five Nations of the Indians, and through this 
 the New York colony largely escaped the horrors of 
 Indian wars. For the Iroquois acted as a rampart 
 against the French of Canada and their Indian allies, 
 the Algouquins. Having bought Manhattan Island, 
 he built on it a four-angled fort, faced with stone. His 
 colony prospered so much under his administration 
 that in a few years the fur trade amounted to 143,000 
 guilders. He fostered agriculture, and fields of grain 
 began to wave on the island. Herds of cattle were 
 seen roving over its pasture, and supplying the fort 
 with milk and food. Minuit also gained the friend- 
 ship of the governor of New England, which strength- 
 ened both of these Protestant colonies against the hos 
 tile power of Spain. 
 
 He was an earnest Christian. He at once looked 
 after the spiritual condition of his colony. There had 
 been consolers of the sick, who held service in the 
 colony before 1628, but in that year Rev. Mr. Mich- 
 aelis, the first Reformed minister, became pastor. 
 Minuit fostered this congregation, providing it with a 
 place of worship in the loft of the mill in the fort. He 
 showed his strong attachment to the Reformed faith by 
 his attendance on its services, and by being an elder in
 
 PETER MINUIT. 
 
 this new congregation. But his stay at New York did 
 not continue very long, for the patroons attempted 
 to lay hold of the best lands of the colony. Minuit 
 opposed this aristocracy, and as a result was compelled 
 to resign. But during the six years that he was gov- 
 ernor, he laid the foundations of one of the greatest of 
 our states and the greatest of our cities, as well as one 
 of the oldest churches in this continent. u His integ- 
 rity as an officer," says a writer, " served to raise up 
 against him a host of enemies/' He resigned and 
 sailed for Holland, March, 1632, having in his vessel 
 5,000 beaver skins as evidence of the prosperity of his 
 rule. 
 
 But it is not with his governorship in New York 
 that we are most interested. We have referred to it 
 because it reveals the greatness of his character. But 
 we in Pennsylvania are interested in Minuit because of 
 a later expedition that he brought to America. The 
 Dutch West India Company having cast him aside, hjs 
 great knowledge of America was to be utilized by 
 another government, Sweden, and it was this that 
 brought him into contact with Pennsylvania. A West 
 India Company had long before been the dream of that 
 Swedish conqueror, Gustavus Adolphus. After his 
 death the company became active, and in 1637 Minuit 
 was appointed its director general or governor. It is
 
 10 EAELY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 an interesting fact to us that the great Reformed prince 
 of Germany, Prince John Casimir of the Palatinate 
 (the son of Elector Frederick III., who caused our 
 catechism to be written), was an active promoter of this 
 Swedish expedition. Minuit sailed from Gothenberg 
 in Sweden, August, 1637, with two vessels a man-of- 
 war, Key of Calmar, and a transport, Griffin. He 
 entered Delaware bay and landed at Clarke's Point, 
 March 15, 1638, and called it Paradise Point. Says 
 Mr. Conrad in a recent address : " It was early in the 
 springtime, the bursting foliage of our trees and shrubs, 
 and the opening wild flowers of our woodlands and 
 meadows loaded the air with perfume. After a long 
 and tedious imprisonment in the narrow confines of a 
 ship, it must have been unspeakably delightful to land 
 on this promontory, and enjoy the freshness and beauty 
 of the opening spring. They felt in truth they were 
 in paradise, and so called it Paradise Point." He then 
 turned aside from the Delaware and sailed up a creek 
 called by the Indians the Minquas, which he named 
 Christina in honor of the young queen of Sweden. 
 Passing up this stream for two miles, they landed at a 
 point called " The Rocks," where is a natural wharf of 
 stone. Finding that there were no European settlers 
 in that part of America, he took possession of the land 
 in the name of Sweden by right of discovery. Here
 
 PETER MINUIT. 11 
 
 he pursued the same humane policy that he had in New 
 York. He bought the land of the Indians, its original 
 possessors. After spending a couple of weeks in ex- 
 ploring the country, he met the Indian chiefs, March 
 29, 1638, at Christina Creek, and made a treaty with 
 the Iroquois by which all the country from Cape Hen- 
 lopen northward to the Falls of the Delaware at Tren- 
 ton was bought from them by Sweden. Thus 44 years 
 before Penn's famous treaty under the elm tree at 
 Shakamaxon in Philadelphia, Minuit had begun the 
 peaceful policy. He at once built a fort on the Christ- 
 ina Creek. He encouraged the Indians to bring in 
 furs. He was so successful that the first year 3,000 
 skins were exported. He made the colony so strong; 
 that as long as he was with it the Dutch, who were 
 jealous of it, dared not attack it. Minuit also culti- 
 vated friendly relations with the neighboring English 
 colony in Virginia, so that they might aid one another 
 in case of war. After having arranged everything in 
 the colony for its safety and success, Minuit set sail for 
 the West Indies, to exchange his cargo for a cargo of 
 tobacco. He was about to sail away, when the hospital- 
 ities of a Dutch captain in the harbor of St. Christopher 
 were offered to him before he left. During his visit to 
 the Dutch ship a terrific hurricane came up, which 
 drove all the vessels in the harbor out to sea. Among
 
 12 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 those that sank was this Dutch vessel with Miuuit and 
 all on board. 
 
 Thus came and thus passed away the first promi- 
 nent German Reformed in America. He is interesting 
 to us as the forerunner of our Church. He organized 
 the first Reformed church in America at New York, in 
 1628. And then he came to Delaware and eastern 
 Pennsylvania to indirectly prepare the way for the 
 future organization of our Church. It is true, the set- 
 tlers of Delaware were Lutherans, for all Swedes are 
 Lutherans ; yet a great many of the colonists to Dela- 
 ware were Germans, and we can readily suppose that 
 of these Germans some were Reformed, especially as 
 Prince John Casimir of the Palatinate was interested 
 in the expedition. Still the early Church at Delaware 
 was Lutheran. However, when the Dutch captured 
 Delaware from the Swedes, they founded a Reformed 
 church at Newcastle, Delaware. This was the first 
 appearance of the Heidelberg Catechism in this part of 
 the new world. This church was in existence when 
 William Penu landed in Pennsylvania, and for many 
 years afterwards. This Dutch occupation of Delaware 
 and Pennsylvania led to the establishment of the first 
 Reformed church in Pennsylvania. For a colony of 
 Dutch settled in Bucks county at Neshaminy (now 
 Churchville, Bucks county). They were organized into
 
 PETER MINUIT. 13 
 
 a congregation in 1710, by Rev. Van Vleck. This 
 minister did not limit his labors to the Dutch, but 
 finding some German Reformed in that district, he bap- 
 tized some of them at Skippack in 1710, and organized 
 the first German Reformed congregation at White 
 Marsh, nortu of Philadelphia, in the same year. This 
 congregation soon after went to pieces, as Van Vleck 
 left Pennsylvania. But the Germans who composed 
 it remained, and when Boehm fifteen years later organ- 
 ized a Reformed congregation there, we find the same 
 Germans entering into it. Thus, though Peter Minuit 
 died, his faith remained in Pennsylvania as a blessed 
 legacy, and he may well be called the forerunner of our 
 Church in America.* 
 
 * For an excellent monograph of Peter Minuit we refer the reader to 
 Rev. Dr. Cyrus Cort's " Peter Minuit Memorial "
 
 II. 
 
 REV. SAMUEL GULDIN. 
 
 If Peter Minuit was the secular forerunner of our 
 Church in this country, Rev. Samuel Guldin was the 
 spiritual forerunner. Not that Minuit was not spirit- 
 ual, for he was a deeply religious man ; but he repre- 
 sented the laity and the political element of our Church 
 in American history. He stands out for what the laity 
 have here done for our Church, and his life is a 
 prophecy of what our Reformed faith has since done for 
 America for it was political Calvinism that founded 
 the freedom of these United States. Like Minuit, Gul- 
 din was a forerunner ; however, his \vork was not 
 political, but distinctively religious. He represents the 
 evangelism that made our Church afterward spread so 
 widely. It is true, Guldin had no hand in the organi- 
 zation of our Church. He never belonged to the 
 Coetus, our first Synod in Pennsylvania. Still his 
 work should not be mimimized on that account. His 
 preaching prepared the way for organization. Being 
 probably the first Reformed minister in Pennsylvania, 
 he did a very valuable work in preaching to the shep-
 
 EEV. SAMUEL GULDIN. 15 
 
 berdless Germans, in baptizing their children and 
 administering the Lord's Supper. Their religious 
 opportunities were so few that the coming of a Re- 
 formed minister among any of their communities was a 
 spiritual uplift to them. 
 
 Guldin was a Swiss Pietist. The story of his con- 
 version to God in the old country is quite interesting. 
 In 1689 four theological students of Berne, the central 
 canton of Switzerland, went on a tour southward to 
 Lausanne and Geneva. Guldin was one of them. 
 These students determined to make this trip a religious 
 pilgrimage, so they resolved to avoid all useless reli- 
 gious discussion, into which theological students so often 
 plunge, and devote their time to prayer. As a result 
 this trip led them to deep religious conviction and high 
 personal consecration. After returning to their home 
 in Berne, three of them went to Holland, where Guldin 
 studied, but he says he still remained blind to his soul's 
 salvation. Full conversion the blessed forgiveness of 
 sin the finished work of Christ for him these he did 
 not yet understand. On his return to Berne, he became 
 pastor at Stettlen, a country parish, and remained there 
 for nine months. But he felt his ministry was not 
 being blessed, and he was even more dissatisfied with 
 his own religious experience than with his work. So he 
 determined to give up the ministry. On the day that 
 he was about preaching his farewell sermon, he expe-
 
 16 EA.RLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 rienced a change of heart, August 4, 1693, between the 
 hours of 9 and 10 A. M., just as he was preparing to 
 preach that sermon. He did not preach that sermon, 
 but remained with his congregation. His ministry 
 now became very blessed and successful. He no longer 
 preached dry dogmas in a cold and lifeless fashion, but 
 he preached the Biblical truths illuminated by personal 
 experience. As a result great crowds came to hear 
 him, even from other parishes. So great did his popu- 
 larity become that a little over a year after he was 
 called to one of the leading pulpits of his canton. On 
 December 21, 1694, he was elected assistant at the 
 cathedral of the city of Berne, which placed him in the 
 line of advancement to that of the leading position of 
 the canton. 
 
 Soon, however, opposition began to develop against 
 Pietism. The worldly element in the Church objected 
 to the strict use of church discipline, which the Pietists 
 demanded, and which the latter rightly said was required 
 by the Heidelberg Catechism in questions 81 85. 
 The irreligious element in the Church was made 
 uncomfortable by the plain preaching of the Pietists 
 against their sins. One of the Pietists, Konig, began 
 preaching premillenariauism, or the doctrine that Christ 
 will come before the milleuium and set up a visible 
 kingdom on earth before the last great day. This doc- 
 trine had previously been regarded as not Reformed.
 
 REV. SAMUEL GULDIN. 17 
 
 As a result there was a reaction against Guldin and his 
 party, led by Bachman, the head minister of the Berne 
 church. Konig was exiled and Guldin was compelled 
 to resign his prominent position, although he still 
 remained a minister of the Reformed church of Berne. 
 In the course of time Pietism became recognized in 
 Berne, and has since been influential there. Its great 
 opponent, Bachman, died. Konig was recalled as a 
 professor in 1730, and often preached in the churches, 
 while Dachs, another of this band of Pietists, became 
 the head of the Berne church in 1732. Guldin, how- 
 ever, did not wait for this final vindication of Pietism 
 there. Deprived of his position at the cathedral at 
 Berne, he took four years later a country parish at 
 Boltigen. But he was not comfortable, nor were the 
 state authorities satisfied with him, and he was finally 
 banished. He then seems to have wandered into north- 
 ern Germany, and finally emigrated to America, per- 
 haps about 1718. In that year he published a "De- 
 fence of the Unjustly Suspected Pietists of Berne" at 
 Philadelphia. In America he found a wide field for 
 preaching, as there were no Reformed ministers among 
 the Germans. We can see him with his evangelistic 
 spirit preaching to the Reformed, gathered wherever they 
 could, in barns, groves, houses anywhere, as they had 
 as yet no churches. And when their first church at 
 Germantown was erected, he frequently preached there.
 
 18 EAELY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 But his home was at Oley, in the eastern part of Berks 
 Bounty, where he lived the life of a quiet farmer, 
 preaching as he had opportunity. He thus lived qui- 
 etly until 1743, when he again became prominent just 
 before his death. Count Zinzendorf, the leader of the 
 Moravians, had arrived in this country, and was trying 
 to form a union denomination among the Germans, in 
 which the Moravian should be the leading element. 
 He began his work at Germantown in the Reformed 
 church there, and among the Lutherans in their con- 
 gregation in Philadelphia. It was expected that Gul- 
 din, who had been a Pietist in Switzerland, would read- 
 ily sympathize with this movement to elevate the piety 
 of the Germans. Guldin attended the first Synod of 
 that united body at Germantown in January, 1 742, but 
 afterwards came out against them, very severely criti- 
 cising their methods. He declared that there was 
 entirely too much division among them ever to make 
 much progress. As a result there was a lack of dis- 
 tinctness in what they did believe. For his part he 
 preferred the Heidelberg Catechism and its earnest 
 irenical spirit. The truth was that while Guldin was 
 a Pietist, he was not a fanatic, but a churchly Pietist, 
 who loved his Church, his creed, and highly honored 
 its sacraments. Guldin's influence carried far among 
 a certain class of the early settlers, who were longing 
 for more religious life and light, and his warning
 
 REV. SAMUEL GULDIN. 19 
 
 against Zinzendorf kept many of them back in their 
 old denominations. But while Guldin thus loved and 
 honored his Reformed faith and catechism, he did not 
 organize any churches. In his book he makes boast 
 against his enemies that he had never attempted like 
 them to found a new sect. He simply preferred to be 
 a plain evangelist, preaching the gospel to those who 
 desired to hear him. To the last he claimed to be 
 Reformed, although he loved all believers, and he 
 claimed, like all the Reformed Pietists of Germany, as 
 Lampe and Untereyck, that they had never departed 
 from the Reformed faith, but were true to its best and 
 earliest phase of piety and belief. 
 
 Guldin died at Philadelphia, December 31, 1745. 
 His descendent, Rev. John G. Guldin, was at one time 
 one of our prominent ministers, and seems to have 
 inherited and revealed the earnest spirit of his first 
 ancestor in America. Rev. Samuel Guldin, by strength- 
 ening the hands of the scattered Reformed against 
 fanaticism, and by ministering to them in their desti- 
 tute condition, performed a valuable work in pre- 
 paring the way for the organization of our Church, and 
 can well be remembered as a forerunner of the Re- 
 formed Church.* 
 
 * For a valuable monograph on Guldin see Prof. Dubb's article on 
 Guldin, the Pioneer and Pietist, in the Reformed Church Quarterly, July, 
 
 1892.
 
 III. 
 
 RfcV. JOHN PHILIP B(EHM. 
 
 From the forerunners of our Church, like Minuit 
 and Guldin, we pass now to her founders. John Philip 
 Boehm may be justly called the founder of our Church. 
 He came to this country about 1720 from the city of 
 Worms, on the borders of the Palatinate in western 
 Germany. There he had been a Reformed school- 
 master, but had been driven out by the Catholics 
 because of his faith. In 1719 the Reformed of the 
 neighboring Palatinate had to pass through severe per- 
 secutions. The Catholic Elector of the Palatinate, 
 Charles Philip, forbade them to use their Heidelberg 
 Catechism, and took from them their most important 
 church at Heidelberg, the Church of the Holy Ghost. 
 He forced them to observe Catholic feast days, to bow 
 before the host when it passed through the streets, and 
 to suffer many other persecutions. Doubtless the 
 influence of these persecutions spread to Worms, and 
 the Catholic intolerance drove Boehm out. After his 
 arrival in America he became schoolmaster to the Re- 
 formed who lived north of Philadelphia, in the region
 
 EEV. JOHN PHILIP BCEHM. 21 
 
 now called Montgomery county. In 1725 the Re- 
 formed of that district were so pleased with him that 
 they came to him and asked him to serve as their pas- 
 tor. He, however, held back, as he had never been 
 ordained to the ministry, but they continued their 
 appeals the more earnestly. So finally making a vir- 
 tue of necessity, as there were no Reformed ministers 
 to be found, he accepted, " protesting before God that 
 he could not justify his refusal of so necessary a work." 
 He at once began organizing the Reformed thoroughly 
 into congregations, and he was thus the first to organ- 
 ize the Reformed in Pennsylvania. He had three con- 
 sistories elected, in all three of the congregations, namely 
 at Falkner Swamp, Skippack and White Marsh. Of 
 these the last two went to pieces afterwards, though 
 revived later. Falkner Swamp, however, remains as 
 the oldest Reformed congregation in our denomination. 
 Bcehm's pay was, as the Germans say, " Was fallt," 
 and as the settlers were mainly poor, what fell into the 
 collection basket for the church was small. So he had 
 to serve these congregations for many years at almost 
 no salary, meanwhile supporting himself by working 
 during the week on his farm. 
 
 In 1727 another Reformed minister, Rev. George 
 Michael Weiss, arrived from the Palatinate and began 
 preaching in Philadelphia. As he was an ordained 
 3
 
 22 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 minister, some of Boehm's congregation at Skippack, 
 led by Jacob Reiff, preferred him to Bcehm. So 
 Bcehm's congregations took steps to have him ordained. 
 This the Dutch Reformed of New York, at the advice 
 of the Holland fathers, did on November 23, 1729. 
 Boehm at this ordination declared his adherence to the 
 Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort. His 
 congregations remained under the care of the Holland 
 Church, and to it he sent frequent reports. In 1730 
 he was again left alone in his work, as Rev. Mr. Weiss 
 went back to Europe. As a result he had to take care, 
 not merely of his own three congregations, but also of 
 the Philadelphia congregation, to which he preached 
 once a month. Meanwhile his field was enlarging west- 
 ward, as the Germans were spreading out west of the 
 Schuylkill, even to Lancaster county ; and calls came 
 to him from Conestoga to come and administer the 
 sacraments. He went and administered the commun- 
 ion to them, October 14, 1727, and found 59 members. 
 Another district, north of Conestoga, called Tul- 
 pehocken, was being settled by the Germans. This 
 settlement had been increased by a number of Germans 
 who came there from New York state. For Queen 
 Ann of England, in 1708, invited the poor Palatines 
 to come to London, and they came in such numbers 
 that the English did not know what to do with them.
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP BCEHM. 23 
 
 She sent a colony of 4,000 of them to New York, but 
 they soon had a disagreement with the governor there 
 and went farther into the wilderness, settling in 
 Schoharie county on land given them by the Indians. 
 In the course of time their title to these lands was 
 questioned, so a number of them, consisting of thirty- 
 three families, led by Conrad Weiser, the Indian inter- 
 preter, came down the east branch of the Susquehanna, 
 floating on rafts, while the men drove the cattle along 
 the shore, until they reached the Swatara creek, up 
 which they travelled till they came to Tulpehocken. 
 To this German district Bcehm. came, October 18, 1727, 
 and administered the communion for the first time to 
 thirty-two communicants. He left these congregations 
 in charge of schoolmasters, but regularly twice a year 
 he visited them, to see how the work was prospering 
 and to administer the sacraments. 
 
 Meanwhile his district continued enlarging. Calls 
 came to him to preach and administer the sacraments 
 from the northern districts, as Macungie and Egypt. 
 In a letter of 1734 Boehrn very touchingly describes 
 the pressing needs and destitution of the German col- 
 onists. He says : "A minister is needed in Sacony, 
 Macungie, Maxatawny and Great Swamp to feed the 
 poor sheep who live on the borders of the wilderness, 
 and who thirst to hear God's Word as the dry earth
 
 24 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 thirsts for water. Some who were able to make the 
 journey have at various times come all the way to 
 Falkner Swamp, a distance of 25 or 30 miles, and 
 brought little children all that distance for baptism. 
 It w r as impossible for old persons and weak sick women 
 to make such a journey. It is, therefore, not to be 
 wondered at that one's heart breaks and one's eyes are 
 full of tears at remembering this. Alone I cannot 
 attend to all this, for my years are beginning to accu- 
 mulate, and my poor body is beginning to get feeble, 
 for I must not only make long journeys and preach, 
 but also because these poor people are not able to sup- 
 port me, I must by hard manual labor support my 
 large family." 
 
 We do not know of any more pathetic appeal in 
 the early history of our Church than this one made by 
 Boahm for help. He was virtually pastor of all the 
 Reformed from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and 
 from Philadelphia to the Blue Mountains (with the 
 exception, perhaps, of one or two small congregations), 
 a territory about 100 miles square and containing now 
 about eight counties, and covered now by seven Re- 
 formed Classes. His work is eloquently described by 
 his biographer, Mr. Henry S. Dotterer, in his excel- 
 lent monograph :* " When he began, in 1720, the Indi- 
 
 * See John Philip Boehtn, by H. S. Dotterer.
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP BCEHM. 25 
 
 ans were still numerous, having been little disturbed 
 by the sprinkling of white settlers. At that time few 
 lawful roads had been laid out for travel, and he had to 
 thread his toilsome way on horseback through the deep 
 forest, over hills and across streams, over rough and 
 tortuous paths. At intervals of miles apart he would 
 come upon the clearing made by the hardy settler, shel- 
 tered in a newly made log hut. At these rude fire- 
 sides he was a welcome guest. Here he comforted the 
 afflicted and homesick, and at their Sabbath gathering 
 he brought to them Gospel blessings denied to them 
 since they left Germany these many years. He bap- 
 tized the children, catechized the youth and buried the 
 dead." 
 
 While Boehni was thus spreading out his work, so 
 as to cover the field to its extremest limit, and to sup- 
 ply the shepherdless Reformed with the bread of life, 
 there was danger of a collapse near the centre of his 
 work. This began at the Reformed church at Ger- 
 mantown, for it, with the Reformed church at Goshen- 
 hoppen, had remained independent of Bcehm. Ger- 
 mantown had been founded by the sects, and as a result 
 the Reformed congregation was affected by its environ- 
 ment. When Count Zinzeudorf, the leader of the Mo- 
 ravians, arrived in 1741, he found them ripe for his 
 purposes. His first sermon in America he preached in
 
 26 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 the Reformed church at Germantown. Its pastor, Rev. 
 John Bechtel, was soon after ordained by a Moravian. 
 Zinzendorf's aim was to start a union denomination 
 among the Germans. They could remain Reformed or 
 Lutheran, yet could be related to the Moravian Church 
 as circles or tropes of it. There is no doubt that there 
 was a great need (owing to the great religious destitu- 
 tion) of gathering the pious together, no matter of what 
 denomination. But in gathering them together, Zin- 
 zendorf gathered such diverse elements that the union 
 part of the movement soon went to pieces, and what 
 was left was absorbed by the Moravians, who had been 
 the most influential in it. Bcehm rose up to oppose 
 this movement, which threatened to carry into it con- 
 gregation after congregation of the Reformed, for Zin- 
 zendorfhad Lischy ordained as the Swiss Reformed 
 preacher, and Bechtel he had appointed as the Reformed 
 Inspector, both of whom were especially to work among 
 the Reformed, and win them from Boehm and their 
 Heidelberg Catechism. Boehm attacked this move- 
 ment, because he was confessional that is, he believed 
 in his own denomination and creed. He came into 
 collision with Zinzeudorf, whom he accused of insin- 
 cerity that Zinzendorf professed to be a Lutheran, 
 when he was not, as he was a Moravian. The Re- 
 formed in this union movement (which was called
 
 EEV. JOHN PHILIP BCEHM. 27 
 
 the Congregation of God in the Spirit) made reply. 
 They charged that Boehm did not properly represent 
 the Reformed, but only the Dutch Reformed, with 
 whom he was so closely allied, and who were high Cal- 
 vinists, while they represented the true German Re- 
 formed, who were low Calvinists, like the Reformed at 
 Berlin, whose minister, Jablonsky, had ordained Zin- 
 zendorf as Bishop. Bechtel seems to have gone so far 
 as to incline toward perfectionism, and attacked the 
 114th question of the Heidelberg Catechism. Brehm 
 attacked them in two pamphlets, his " Letter of True 
 Warning," August 23, 1742, and again in his "Another 
 Letter of Warning," May 19, 1743. These warned 
 the Reformed against this new movement. As a result 
 the congregations remained true to their old Reformed 
 faith, although a number of individuals went over to 
 the Moravians. Even the congregation at German- 
 town, which had been carried over, soon tired of its 
 pastor, Bechtel, and he had to resign in 1744. Boehm 
 had thus saved the Reformed Church in her first great 
 controversy. He thus proved to be her defender, as 
 well as her founder and organizer. 
 
 But the shadows of age began to creep over Boahm, 
 and, as he says in the letter above, he felt the burden 
 of his labors to be too heavy. Those upon whom he 
 had hoped to cast the burden of his labors failed him.
 
 28 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 It was, therefore, with great joy and relief that he 
 found two ministers arriving in Pennsylvania, in 1746, 
 to relieve him. Rev. Mr. Weiss returned from New 
 York state, and Rev. Michael Schlatter arrived from 
 Holland, with instructions from the Reformed Church 
 of Holland to organize the Pennsylvania congregations, 
 so that they could be provided with ministers. The 
 first meeting of Bcehm, the aged founder, and of 
 Schlatter, the new organizer of our Church, took 
 place at Witpen, September 7, 1746. About two 
 weeks later Mr. Bcehm takes Mr. Schlatter and Mr. 
 Weiss to visit his Tulpehocken congregation, Septem- 
 ber 25, where these three administered the communion. 
 He gladly relinquished to Mr. Schlatter the congrega- 
 tion at Philadelphia and installed him as its pastor, 
 January 1, 1747. While Mr. Schlatter travelled up 
 and down among the Reformed settlements, organizing 
 them, Boehm aided him with his advice. And when 
 the first Coetus met, September 29, 1747, he acted as 
 its secretary. He was very glad the next year to have 
 three more Reformed ministers arrive, one of whom, 
 Mr. Bartholomaus, took charge of his Tulpehockeu 
 congregation, while Mr. Rieger had taken charge of 
 his Schsefferstown congregation. Rev. Mr. Leydich 
 also took his two congregations at Falkner Swamp and 
 Providence (Trappe).
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP BCEHM. 29 
 
 Boehm now limited his labors to the Reformed 
 around his home at Witpen and organized there a con- 
 gregation in 1746 the congregation now named after 
 him ("Bcehm's Church"). But it was hard work. 
 The number was few. Most of them were poor. They 
 built their church, but' could not furnish it. Still they 
 labored on in hope, encouraged by their aged pastor. 
 
 But Bcehm's missionary spirit could not be re- 
 strained. He had so long been accustomed to travel 
 great distances to minister to shepherdless flocks. A nd 
 so when a request came from the Macungie and Egypt 
 congregations at the beginning of 1749, as they were 
 without a pastor, to come and supply them, he could 
 not refuse in spite of his age. That self-denying zeal 
 and devotion led to his death, for it was while at Egypt 
 to celebrate the communion, April 30, that he sud- 
 denly died on Saturday night, after having held the 
 preparatory service. 
 
 Bcehm deserves great honor for his industry, self- 
 denial and faithfulness to his Church. Our Church is 
 just beginning to realize the greatness of his labors. 
 For 24 years he preached the Gospel for almost no pay, 
 supporting himself and his family by his own hands, 
 while all the time he underwent great privations, labors 
 and suiferings through the long journeys he took to his 
 congregations. He travelled immense distances, faced
 
 30 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 great dangers, wore out his health and strength in the 
 service of our Church, and died in the harness. He 
 founded and organized our Church, defended her 
 against the Moravians, gave her her constitution, and 
 stamped her character upon her. He being dead, yet 
 speaketh. Not only the congregation named after him, 
 but also the whole Reformed Church in the United 
 States, is a monument of his zeal and consecration.
 
 IV. 
 EEV, GEOEGE MICHAEL WEISS, 
 
 Rev. Mr. Weiss was a native of the Palatinate, hav- 
 ing been born at Stebbach, in the valley of the Neckar. 
 He was educated and ordained at Heidelberg, and came 
 to America in 1727. On September 21, 1727, a sloop 
 named William and Sarah anchored in the Delaware 
 river at Philadelphia, having on it 400 emigrants from 
 the Palatinate and elsewhere in Germany, headed by 
 Rev. Mr. Weiss. When they registered, they solemnly 
 took the oath of allegiance to King George II. of Great 
 Britain. Rev. Dr. Andrews, pastor of the Presbyte- 
 rian church of Philadelphia in 1730, says of them : 
 " There is in this province a vast number of Palatines, 
 and they come in still every year. Those that have 
 come of late years are mostly Presbyterians, or, as they 
 call themselves, Reformed. They did use to come to 
 me for baptism, and many have joined with us in the 
 other sacrament. They never had a minister till nine 
 years ago, who is a bright young man and a fine 
 scholar."
 
 32 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 The reference " nine years ago" has been hard to 
 explain. Dr. Weiser says it refers to Boehm's preach- 
 ing in Philadelphia, but that is not correct. Mr. J. T. 
 Sachse, in some recent evidence he has found, claims 
 that his arrival in 1727 was Mr. Weiss' second trip to 
 America, and that his first trip occurred about eight 
 years before. It is a difficult question. 
 
 Mr. Weiss, finding that the Reformed people of 
 Philadelphia were poor and unable to support a min- 
 ister, offered himself as teacher of logic and metaphys- 
 ics. The Philadelphia Mercury of February 3, 1729, 
 contains the following : 
 
 " This is to give notice that the subscriber hereof, 
 being desirous to be as generally useful as he can in 
 this country (wherein he is a stranger), declares his 
 willingness to teach Logic, Natural Philosophy, Meta- 
 physics, etc., to all such as are willing to learn. The 
 place of teaching will be at the widow Sprogel's, on 
 Second street, where he will attend, if he has encour- 
 agement, three times a week for that exercise. 
 
 " Signed by G. M., 
 " Minister of the Reformed Palatinate Church." 
 
 Mr. Weiss had a curious difficulty with some of 
 these Germans. He came over, bringing with him his 
 ordination certificate in Latin. As the plain country 
 Germans could not read that classic language, they
 
 REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS. 33 
 
 looked with some suspicion upon it, as if Mr. Weiss 
 were a pretender to the ministry and not a real min- 
 ister. We can excuse them for this, for they had had 
 a number of wolves in sheep's clothing get into their 
 congregations under false pretences. So he wrote back 
 to the Palatinate for a certificate in German. This was 
 sent, dated at Heidelberg, April 26, 1728, and signed 
 by the prominent Reformed minister there, L. C. Mieg. 
 It says of Mr. Weiss : " We testify, as we did before, 
 that he is not only right-minded in doctrine and un- 
 blamable in life, peace-loving and sociable in his walk 
 and conversation, but also edifying in his manifold 
 discourses preached before us. We have no doubt but 
 that, if the Lord grant him life and health, he will 
 prove useful and be the means of edifying many souls." 
 
 Mr. Weiss seems to have seen the danger that was 
 coming to the Germans in America from the sects, 
 because the churches had so few ministers. So he pub- 
 lished the first work issued by any of our ministers : 
 " The Minister in the American Wilderness," etc. 
 (1729). It was a booklet of 29 pages, and was directed 
 against a sect called the " New Born," who seem to 
 have claimed themselves to be sinless. 
 
 But Mr. Weiss' influence and activity did not stop 
 with Philadelphia. Some of his friends and fellow 
 travellers, among whom were the Hillegas family, had
 
 34 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 settled up the Perkiomeu valley, above Skippack. 
 Through them he came into contact with Jacob Reiff, 
 the prominent elder of Bcehm's congregation at Skip- 
 pack. As Boehm was not an ordained minister as yet, 
 Reiff and his friends at Skippack took sides against 
 him, preferring Weiss, who was an ordained minister 
 and a scholar. As a result there was friction between 
 Boehm and Weiss. The three congregations of Boehm 
 took measures to rectify the matter. They applied to 
 the Dutch Reformed ministers of New York for ordi- 
 nation for Mr. Boehm. The latter, at the request of 
 the Holland fathers, ordained Mr. Boehm, November 
 23, 1729. After this, Boehm and Weiss were recon- 
 ciled, but their reconciliation did not bring back the 
 disaffected at Skippack to Bcehm, although the Classis 
 of Amsterdam in Holland urged them to do so. On 
 the contrary, the followers of Reiff built a small wooden 
 church for service there, right on Reift's property, and 
 the latter would not allow Bcehm to preach in it. As 
 a result of this unhappy strife at Skippack, the con- 
 gregation ultimately went to pieces, although afterwards 
 revived by Leydich. Weiss through this became quite 
 intimate with Reiff, and as Reiff determined to go to 
 Europe, Weiss decided to accompany him. They left 
 in 1729, bearing instructions from the Reformed con- 
 gregations at Philadelphia and Skippack to raise funds
 
 REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS. 35 
 
 for them. Mr. Weiss' arrival in Holland created con- 
 siderable interest. The churches, especially of the 
 South Holland Synod, became interested in the matter, 
 and they drew up a report, which was probably gotten 
 up after conference with Mr. Weiss, " that in Pennsyl- 
 vania there are about 30,000 Germans, of whom half 
 are Reformed ; that they are without ministers and 
 greatly need churches, especially at Skippack." (Reiff 
 probably pressed the claims of Skippack.) Weiss never 
 seems to be able to say anything about the new world, 
 but he has to speak of the Indians, and so in this report 
 occurs the following : "A ground of hope is found in 
 the fact as to the nature and disposition of the aborigi- 
 nes of the land. They are right in their conduct, faith- 
 ful to their word, and are particularly friendly to the 
 Palatinate Germans dwelling among them. These Ger- 
 mans, having themselves been subjected to oppression, 
 are familiar with them and friendly to them, allowing 
 them to lodge in their barns at night, finding them 
 protection from the cold and rain by their firesides, 
 granting them to sow their grain within their bound- 
 aries, thus freeing them from the wild horse which 
 otherwise consumed their grain. By this means the 
 good will and confidence of the Indians has been so far 
 gained that the Palatines can travel free and without 
 hindrance through that land, and be conducted and
 
 36 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 escorted by the Indians and furnished by them with 
 food ; while they feel injured if payment should be 
 offered to them for it. What may not be hoped for 
 when a popular ministry shall be instituted among 
 them and the Gospel preached to them ?" 
 
 The favorable action of this Synod was emphasized 
 by an event that took place when the next Synod of 
 South Holland met at Dort, Eight hundred Palatines 
 passed through the place to take ship at Rotterdam for 
 America. The whole Synod in a body visited them, 
 and furnished them with medicines and provisions. 
 After Christian exhortation, prayer and singing, they 
 were dismissed with the assurance that the Synod of 
 Holland would not forget them in their new abode. 
 This action of the Synod and the appeals of Mr. Weiss 
 created widespread interest, and a considerable amount 
 of money was raised. Weiss returned to America in 
 1731, but Reiff remained abroad a year longer. As 
 Reiff was the custodian of the money collected, suspi- 
 cion was raised against Weiss on his return. He, how- 
 ever, was innocent, for it was Reiff who held the money, 
 so that the needy congregations got nothing of it till 
 1 746, when Mr. Schlatter had Reiff settle the claim by 
 paying over about 650 dollars. 
 
 Mr. Weiss, in the meantime, left Pennsylvania and 
 went to New York state, where he became pastor at
 
 REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS. 37 
 
 Khinebeck and Burnetsfielcl, for there were a large 
 number of German Reformed in New York state who 
 afterward became part of the Dutch Reformed Church. 
 While there he continued his interest in the Indians. 
 He preached to the Indians through an interpreter, 
 baptized a number of them, and ten years later speaks 
 of having brought many of them to Christ. He wrote 
 a description of them to the Holland fathers and sent a 
 picture of them to Holland. But the depredations of 
 the Indians in the Mohawk region compelled him to 
 think of looking for a safer place of abode. So he 
 longed to come again to Pennsylvania. In 1742 he 
 expressed a willingness to return to Pennsylvania, if a 
 congregation were open to him. 
 
 It was, however, not until 1746 that Mr. Weiss 
 returned to Pennsylvania, and became pastor of the 
 Goshenhoppen and Great Swamp congregations. Mr. 
 Schlatter arrived soon after in Pennsylvania, and was 
 warmly welcomed by Mr. Weiss, who aided him by 
 his advice and sympathy. Into the organization of the 
 Coetus he entered heartily, and was present both at the 
 preliminary meeting in 1746 and at the first Coetus in 
 1747. For some reason he was not present at the sec- 
 ond Coetus in 1748. He was president of the Coetus 
 of 1750. But after Mr. Steiner's dispute with Mr. 
 Schlatter in Philadelphia, he at last became estranged 
 4
 
 38 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 from Mr. Schlatter and joined the opposition to him. 
 He was much pained at the division in the Coetus, and 
 proposed (1752) a new constitution for the Coetus, 
 which he drafted and sent to the Holland fathers, but 
 it was never adopted. When Mr. Schlatter and Mr. 
 Steiner became reconciled in 1753, he again became 
 active in the Coetus, and ever after was one of its pillars. 
 Mr. Weiss' health began to give way by 1759, so 
 that he was often excused from attendance at the Coetus. 
 He died in 1762, some time before the Coetus met, 
 which was on June 30. From the will of his wife, 
 made in 1765, we find that he must have been a man 
 of some means, and was the owner of negro slaves, 
 whom he had baptized into the Reformed faith, and 
 whom she liberated by her will. Tradition, says Rev. 
 Dr. Weiser, has it that the will was not carried out, 
 and the slaves were sold. But a strange fatality set in. 
 One by one they died on the hands of their new owners. 
 The master of a slave girl in Germantown, hearing of 
 this fatality, became alarmed and brought her in a car- 
 riage to the neighborhood, and after selling the negro- 
 land, which properly fell to her, to Peter Hillegass, its 
 former owner, he handed the proceeds to the girl and 
 liberated her. The tract was long known as the negro- 
 land.
 
 EEV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS. 39 
 
 Father Weiss' memory still lingers in the Goshen- 
 hoppen congregation. Just outside of the New Goshen- 
 hoppen church is his tombstone, on which is the inscrip- 
 tion in German : " Here rests Rev. George Michael 
 Weiss." And he is remembered not only by that 
 charge, but by the whole Reformed Church as one of 
 her earliest fathers and founders.
 
 V. 
 EEV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER, 
 
 If Mr. Boehm was the founder of our Church, Mr. 
 Schlatter completed the organization by calling together 
 the first Coetus, September 29, 1747, at Philadelphia, 
 whose sesqui-centennial we celebrate this year. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Schlatter was born at St. Gall, Switzer- 
 land, July 14, 1716. His father kept a bookstore, and 
 belonged to a family long prominent in that city, one 
 of them having been dekan or leading minister of the 
 canton in 1715. Since the days of the Reformation 
 there have been two main families of Schlatters there, 
 from one of which was descended the sweet poetess of 
 Switzerland, Anna Schlatter, and also the great Re- 
 formed pulpit orator of the last century, Zollikoffer of 
 Leipzic, whose mother was a Schlatter. From the 
 other family came our Michael Schlatter. There Mich- 
 ael went to the cantonal school and attended the gym- 
 nasium under the care of the famous teacher, Barthol- 
 omew Wegelin. He was possessed of a roving disposi- 
 tion and left home for a while, wandering to Germany 
 in company with a young man from Berne named
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 41 
 
 Hiirner. It is said he went to Helmstadt, but prob- 
 ably not to study. This roving disposition God after- 
 wards utilized to bring him to America to do His work 
 in organizing our Church. Returning to St. Gall, he 
 continued his studies, and was licensed as a minister, 
 April 10, 1739. As positions were hard to get by 
 young ministers, he acted as tutor for a while, and so 
 went to Holland, where he was engaged as a private 
 tutor. He returned to Switzerland, and in 1744 be- 
 came vicar or assistant to dekan (or superintendent) 
 Beyel at Wigoldiugen, in the neighboring canton of 
 Thurgau. Here he remained but a short time, for by 
 August 17, 1745, he had returned to St. Gall and 
 become evening preacher at the church at Linzebiihl, 
 the southern suburb of St. Gall ; that is, he was assist- 
 ant preacher there, preaching on Sunday afternoon, 
 while the principal minister preached in the morning. 
 The church still stands as it was then. (We have a 
 picture of it as it existed in the last century.) It is a 
 small plain church, with rough benches for seats, with 
 no carpet, and with only a pulpit and baptismal font 
 as furniture. Here, however, he continued only five 
 mouths, for on January 9, 1746, he suddenly left and 
 went to Holland, stopping at Heidelberg on the way. 
 The Classis of Amsterdam had just been looking for 
 some one to send to America to superintend the organi-
 
 42 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 zation of the German churches of Pennsylvania, and 
 so the deputies there, who had charge of the matter, 
 appointed him, May 23, 1746, instructing him to 
 travel through the German districts and find out what 
 each congregation would give to support a minister, 
 and also to organize them into a Coetus (or Synod) sub- 
 ject to the Reformed Church of Holland, which would 
 then support them. By June 1 he had sailed for 
 America, where he landed two months later at Boston, 
 although on July 24, while off Cape Breton, he was 
 very near being shipwrecked on Sable Island. After 
 remaining a short time in New York city, in confer- 
 ence with the Dutch Reformed ministers there, he 
 arrived at Philadelphia, September 6,' 1746, and was 
 gladly received by the Reformed congregation there, 
 one of whose elders entertained him at his house for a 
 long time. Immediately he began his missionary jour- 
 neys, which were remarkable for their length and con- 
 tinuance. He said in his appeal issued afterward, in 
 1751, that he had travelled 8,000 miles in America. 
 He at once visited Mr. Boehm at Witpen. The next 
 week he visited Mr. Dorstius, the pastor of the Dutch 
 Reformed congregation at Neshaminy, Pa. The week 
 following he visited Mr. Weiss at Goshenhoppen, and 
 settled up the accounts with Jacob Reiff, who paid him 
 about $650 or $700 as the result of the collection made
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 43 
 
 in Europe in 1731. Then, together with Messrs. 
 Bcehm and Weiss, he went to Tulpehocken, where they 
 together administered the communion on September 
 25, when the people wept at seeing so many Reformed 
 ministers together, a sight they had not seen since leav- 
 ing the fatherland many years before. On October 12 
 he had a friendly conference at Philadelphia with 
 Bcehm, Weiss and Rieger. For a year he continued 
 these missionary journeys, visited the scattered Re- 
 formed, organizing them into congregations, and find- 
 ing out how much each congregation would give for 
 the support of a minister. He also became pastor of 
 the Philadelphia congregation, and was installed over 
 it by Rev. Mr. Boehm, December 21, 1746, and over 
 the Germantown congregation, February 15, 1747. 
 He, however, declined to receive any salary for the 
 first year. 
 
 The first Coetus, whose sesqui-centennial we cele- 
 brate this year, met at the Reformed church in Phila- 
 delphia, September 29, 1747. Four ministers were 
 present Boehm, Weiss, Rieger and Schlatter. There 
 were twenty-seven elders present from twelve charges, 
 as follows : Philadelphia, Falkner Swamp, Providence 
 and Witpen, Old Goshenhoppen and Great Swamp, 
 Schseffer's church and Erlentown, Tulpehocken, Indian- 
 field, Springfield, Blue Mountain and Egypt, Little
 
 44 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 Lehigh, Sacony, and York. Lancaster was not repre- 
 sented. Of those present none of the ministers have 
 any descendents in our ministry as far as we know, 
 and only two of the elders probably have descendents 
 in Rev. Mr. Ranck of Mechanicsburg and Rev. Mr. 
 Wotring of Nazareth. The Coetus approved the 
 instructions of the Holland fathers to Mr. Schlatter, 
 and also his work in organizing the congregations. 
 They appointed him to write the report of their pro- 
 ceedings to the Holland fathers, and to ask them for 
 the ministers necessary for the vacant charges. They 
 appointed a committee to look into the case of Mr. 
 I>ischy, who had been a Moravian, but who wanted to 
 come back to the Reformed. And they ordered the 
 money collected by Mr. Boehm to be given to the new 
 congregation at Witpeu, as the church at Skippack, for 
 which it had been collected, had gone to pieces. 
 
 After the Coetus Mr. Schlatter continued his mis- 
 sionary journeys for another year, besides acting as 
 pastor of the congregations at Philadelphia and Ger- 
 mantown. In 1748 the second Coetus met at Phila- 
 delphia, September 29. Mr. Boehm, who had been the 
 secretary the year before, was made president, and 
 Mr. Rieger was made secretary. Three new young 
 ministers joined the Coetus Leydich, Bartholomaus 
 and Hochreutiner. This Coetus is, perhaps, the most
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 45 
 
 important, for it adopted the creed of the Church and 
 its constitution. All the ministers signed an agree- 
 ment to hold to the Heidelberg Catechism and the 
 Canons of Dort, thus making the Church strongly Cal- 
 vinistic. Mr. Rieger was the only one who objected 
 to this, but he subsequently, at the Coetus of 1752, 
 also signed the Canons of Dort, so that all the early 
 ministers were Calvinistic. The Coetus also adopted, 
 as its constitution, the congregational constitution drawn 
 up by Mr. Bcehm in 1725 for his three congregations 
 of Falkner Swamp, Skippack and White Marsh ; also 
 adding certain other rules of order to it. 
 
 Mr. Schlatter continued his labors at Philadelphia 
 and Germantown after the Coetus, but was greatly sad- 
 dened by the sudden death of Rev. Mr. Hochreutiner 
 at Philadelphia, just as this young minister was about 
 starting to enter on his congregation at Lancaster (his 
 gun accidentally discharged, killing him). But he was 
 somewhat comforted at the end of October by the 
 arrival of two new Dutch Reformed students for the 
 ministry, DuBois and Marinus, ready to enter upon 
 the work in America. 
 
 On September 27, 1747, the third Coetus was 
 opened at Lancaster, but it did not complete its business, 
 as during its sessions word came that a new minister 
 had arrived in Philadelphia, Rev. John Conrad Stei-
 
 46 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 ner, from Switzerland, with letters from the Holland 
 fathers. So they adjourned to meet October 20, at 
 Philadelphia, and act on the instructions of those let- 
 ters. When the Coetus met, Mr. Steiner's sickness 
 prevented his attendance at the Coetus, but Mr. Schlat- 
 ter placed in his hand a call from the congregation at 
 Lancaster. However, before Mr. Steiner's arrival in 
 America there had been a party formed in the Phila- 
 delphia congregation against Mr. Schlatter. The rea- 
 son of this opposition to Mr. Schlatter was not opposi- 
 tion to the supervision of the Dutch and their high 
 Calvinism, but it was due to other causes. That it 
 was not due to that cause, is shown by the fact that they 
 afterwards chose Mr. Steiner as their pastor, yet Mr. 
 Steiner was sent over by those same Holland fathers. 
 This dissatisfied element joined itself to Mr. Steiner 
 (who was a considerably older man than Mr. Schlatter, 
 and who had already won considerable literary reputa- 
 tion in his native country), and asked him to become 
 pastor. This produced a division in the congregation, 
 and at a congregational election the adherents of Mr. 
 Steiner outvoted those of Mr. Schlatter. The matter 
 was referred to arbiters, who decided that the church 
 belonged to the Schlatter party, and also decided that 
 Mr. Schlatter was innocent of all the charges that the 
 Steiner party brought against him. Mr. Steiner's party
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 47 
 
 then withdrew and formed another congregation. Mr. 
 Schlatter continued preaching in the old church, and 
 also visiting the different congregations. 
 
 On November 16, 1750, the fourth Coetus was held. 
 The outlook for church affairs was not very hopeful. 
 Of the sixteen charges only six had ministers, while 
 thirty-two congregations were without pastors. Besides, 
 the interchange of letters with Holland was not regu- 
 lar, many letters being belated or lost. So an extra 
 session of Coetus was held, December 13, when it was 
 decided that it was necessary that some one from Penn- 
 sylvania should go to Holland and in person lay their 
 condition before the Holland fathers, and get from 
 them aid and ministers. Mr. Schlatter was chosen to 
 do this, and Messrs. Weiss, Leydich and Lischy agreed 
 to supply the Philadelphia congregation with preach- 
 ing during his absence. Schlatter sailed from New 
 Castle, Delaware, February 5, 1751, and arrived at 
 England, March 11, and at Holland, April 12. 
 
 He happened to arrive just in the nick of time, for 
 the Classis of Amsterdam met shortly after, May 3. 
 He laid before them the sad, destitute condition of the 
 Pennsylvania churches, and also made a full statement 
 of his difficulties in Philadelphia with Mr. Steiner. 
 The Classis cleared him in the latter case, and ordered 
 him to draft an appeal to the churches. This appeal,
 
 48 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 together with his journal, endorsed by the deputies, 
 was ordered to be printed and circulated. It was 
 printed in Dutch, German and English.* This appeal 
 soon began to bear fruit in Holland, as money began to 
 coine in for the destitute German churches in America. 
 The states of Holland and West Friesland voted 2,000 
 guilders for five years. At the request of the Synod, 
 Mr. Schlatter went to Germany and Switzerland. The 
 Palatinate church, although so poor and oppressed, 
 raised 300 guilders for its children in Pennsylvania. 
 And some of the Swiss cantons gave something. The 
 whole amount raised was $00,000, whose interest was 
 to be yearly applied to the Pennsylvania churches. 
 
 But best of all, especially through the influence of 
 Prof. Arnoldi of the University of Herborn, six young 
 ministers decided to come with him to America to 
 preach the Gospel in the vacant charges. He sailed 
 from Europe in March, 1752, and arrived in America, 
 July 28 of that year. The coming of so many young 
 men, together with the report of his success in the rais- 
 ing of money in Europe, led to a large attendance at 
 the Coetus of 1752, Steiner alone being absent. But it 
 was soon evident that there was not entire unity amo^g 
 the brethren. One of the young ministers whom Mr. 
 
 * For a full text of the appeal, see Harbaugh's Life of Schlatter, pages 
 84234.
 
 KEY. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 49 
 
 Sch latter brought had been called to the congregation 
 at Philadelphia, in place of Mr. Schlatter. He was 
 called by the Coetus " the rebellious Rubel." He did 
 not prove at all wise or safe, but in his call to Phila- 
 delphia he was largely the creature of circumstances. 
 All this made Mr. Schlatter's position rather uncom- 
 fortable. He had no place where to employ his pas- 
 toral gifts, except the little congregation at Witpen, 
 left vacant by Mr. Boehm's death. Later he began 
 preaching in Philadelphia, at the request of the Coetus, 
 as there were some in the congregation who remained 
 loyal to him. But there was a growing opposition to 
 him in the Coetus, led by Weiss and Leydich, while 
 Steiner and Rubel with their congregations held abso- 
 lutely aloof from the Coetus. However, late in 1753 
 Steiner and Schlatter became reconciled, and that healed 
 the trouble, while Mr. Rubel, some years after, was 
 ordered by the Holland fathers to give up the Phila- 
 delphia congregation, and he left Pennsylvania. 
 
 But a new field of labor was opening up to Mr. 
 Schlatter. It seemed as if his work in the Coetus had 
 been accomplished by its organization and the raising 
 of so much money for it in Europe. His visit to Eu- 
 rope, however, had called the attention of the English 
 people to the Germans of Pennsylvania. Rev. Dr. 
 Thompson, pastor of the English Reformed church at
 
 50 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 Amsterdam, had translated his appeal into English 
 and visited England in its interest. As a result, the 
 English and Scotch raised a fund of $100,000, the king 
 himself giving $5,000 toward the amount. In the 
 memorials to the English people the destitute condition 
 of the Germans was greatly magnified, and fear was 
 expressed lest Pennsylvania might become a German 
 province rather than an English one, and that in the 
 event^of war it might ally itself with the French of 
 Canada against the English. This political reason, as 
 well as pity for the poor Palatines, led the English to 
 open their hearts and purses in this large fund, which 
 was to be devoted to the organization of charity schools 
 among the Germans. 
 
 The attention of this English society was called to 
 Mr. Schlatter as the person best suited to take charge 
 of their schools in Pennsylvania. So they elected him, 
 and he became the first school superintendent of Penn- 
 sylvania. He, therefore, presented the resignation of 
 his congregation to the Holland fathers. He sailed for 
 Europe, November, 1753, to do so, and returned Sep- 
 tember 28, 1754. The Coetus of 1755, however, still 
 retained him as a member, and requested him to act as 
 Visitor for the Coetus ; and asked, that while attending 
 to his duties as superintendent of the charity schools, 
 he should care for the Reformed. The Reformed were
 
 EEV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 51 
 
 at first kindly disposed to these charity schools, and the 
 Coetus of 1755 recommended Messrs. Otterbein and 
 Stoy as district superintendents. But the Germans, 
 especially through the influence of Mr. Saur, the editor 
 of the paper which circulated most among the Ger- 
 mans, became prejudiced against the scheme because of 
 the reflections it cast on the Germans as being illiterate. 
 The charity scheme ultimately failed, although out of 
 it came finally what afterwards became the University 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1756 a breach occurred between Mr. Schlatter 
 and the Coetus. That Coetus charged him with report- 
 ing to Holland things not mentioned in the acts of the 
 previous Coetus, and even charged him with " what 
 looked like fraud" in making that report. We do not 
 know what the matters referred to were, as the letter 
 referred to is not yet found, but the matter was suffi- 
 cient to cause Mr. Schlatter to leave the Coetus and 
 never to come near it afterward. This was unfortunate 
 in many respects. For it deprived the Coetus of his 
 excellent executive abilities and wonderful energy ; and 
 it also deprived him of the honor he would have had 
 from the Coetus as its founder. Still, after his depart- 
 ure matters moved on peaceably in the Coetus, and 
 there may have been a providence in it after all.
 
 52 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 In 1757 Mr. Schlatter was appointed chaplain of 
 the German troops in the British army, who marched 
 against the French in the seige of Louisbnrg and Hali- 
 fax. Bancroft, the historian, speaking of the chaplains 
 of that expedition, said : " There were the chaplains, 
 who preached to the regiments of citizen soldiers, a 
 renewal of the days when Moses with the rod of God 
 in his hand sent Joshua against Amelek." After Mr. 
 Schlatter's return from Nova Scotia he resided at Chest- 
 nut Hill, calling his residence " Sweetland." Here he 
 lived quietly until the American revolution broke out. 
 He seems at times to have preached to the Reformed 
 of that vicinity, who would come together to worship 
 in the church at Barren Hill. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg says in the Halle Reports : 
 "On Easter Monday, April 12, 1762, Rev. Mr. Schlat- 
 ter also came and had an appointment made after my 
 sermon to administer the holy supper to some Re- 
 formed members. After my sermon Mr. Schlatter yet 
 added a short exhortation, still further impressing upon 
 their hearts what they had heard. After this he went 
 with his church members into the union school house, 
 where he administered the holy supper." 
 
 Dr. Harbaugh, in his biography of Mr. Schlatter, 
 tells the story that it was customary in those days for 
 the female worshippers at Barren Hill to wear short
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 53 
 
 gowns and neat aprons. When Mr. Schlatter preached, 
 as he walked up the aisle to the pulpit, which he always 
 did in a hurried manner, he would suddenly stop, and, 
 without saying a word, seize one of these clean aprons 
 and wipe the dust off his glasses which he carried in 
 his hands. However, this congregation never stood in 
 connection with the Coetus, so that Mr. Schlatter was 
 really an independent Reformed minister for thirty- 
 four years, never attending Coetus in all that time. 
 When the revolution broke out, he sided with the patri- 
 ots. And when the British captured Philadelphia, it 
 placed him in a dangerous position. For he had been 
 chaplain of the British army, and does not seem to have 
 resigned, for he signed himself as British army chap- 
 lain as late as 1762 in a marriage certificate. He was, 
 therefore, soon arrested by the British, taken to Phila- 
 delphia and imprisoned. He was, however, cheered in 
 prison by his daughter Rachel, who would ride into 
 Philadelphia on horseback, bringing provisions for him. 
 The British, during his imprisonment, plundered his 
 house at Chestnut Hill. His daughter Rachel, at the 
 risk of her life, seized the portrait of her father, which 
 was hanging on the wall, snatching it out of the hand 
 of a British soldier who was at the time reaching for 
 it, and carried it away with the fleetness of a deer. 
 The soldiers wantonly destroyed all they could find, 
 5
 
 54 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 burning his valuable papers, strewing feather beds to 
 the winds and throwing his silver into the well. After 
 he was set free from the prison, he returned to Chest- 
 nut Hill. His warm interest for the patriots is shown 
 by the fact that two of his sons were in the American 
 army. The plundering of his house left him compara- 
 tively poor, but he purchased another small home on 
 the road from Chestnut Hill to Barren Hill. Here he 
 quietly spent the eventide of life after the revolution. 
 He was on intimate terms with many of the leading 
 men of Pennsylvania, as Governor Mifflin and General 
 (afterwards Governor) Hiester. Rev. Mr. Muhlen- 
 berg, the founder of the Lutheran Church, remained to 
 his death a warm friend. 
 
 Mr. Schlatter died October 31, 1790, and was buried 
 (November 4) in the Reformed burying ground at Phila- 
 delphia, which was located where Franklin Square now 
 is. Dr. Harbaugh says : " Directly east of the spark- 
 ling jets, a few feet in from the edge of the circular 
 gravel walk, under the green sod lie Rev. Messrs. Stei- 
 ner and Winkhaus, and Drs. Weyberg and Hendel the 
 aged. Directly north of this spot, about midway 
 between it and Vine street, lies Rev. Michael Schlat- 
 ter. As in the case of the rest, his tombstone was laid 
 upon the grave and covered with a grading."
 
 REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 55 
 
 So passed away the organizer of the first Coetus. 
 He was a man of medium size, with clearly defined 
 Swiss features. He was always careful about his per- 
 sonal appearance. He was endowed with great energy 
 and devotion, was of an impulsive nature, had fine 
 executive ability, showed excellent scholarship, and 
 exerted a wide influence. The Church in which he was 
 prominent has learned to recognize the greatness and 
 value of his labors. His ten years of activity in our 
 Church have resulted in 150 years of history. What 
 an inspiration to us ! How immortal and eternal is 
 the work we do for Christ ! We may die, it never dies, 
 but lives on for God long after we are gone. " We are 
 building for eternity."
 
 VI. 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH. 
 
 We have in this father an illustration of a life of 
 quiet activity in the Master's work so quiet that he is 
 apt to be overlooked. And yet it is the quiet, average 
 pastor that does the most of God's work in his church. 
 Mr. Leydich's life is also specially interesting to us, 
 because it covers a large part of the history of the 
 Coetus. He came about the beginning of the Coetus 
 (in 1748) and lived until a few years before its close, 
 dying in 1784. He is an illustration of the first long 
 pastorate in the Church, lasting nearly forty years 
 (Boehm being the only one before him, and his pastorate 
 lasted only twenty-three years). But his life is also 
 interesting, because in its events and vicissitudes it 
 reflects the changing scenes of the ordinary Reformed 
 minister of more than a century ago. 
 
 Mr. Leydich's birthplace is unknown, but the date 
 of his birth is given as April 28, 1715. His literary 
 and theological studies were pursued in Europe, and 
 he was ordained there. But we know almost nothing 
 of him until he appears at Mr. Schlatter's house in
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH. 57 
 
 Philadelphia, September 15, 1748, accompanied by his 
 wife and two children. He had been sent over by the 
 Reformed Synod of South Holland at its meeting in 
 Briel, Holland. He had letters of appointment from 
 that Synod, and also letters from the deputies of Hol- 
 land to Rev. Mr. Schlatter, which the latter received, 
 as he says, with heartfelt thanksgiving. 
 
 So great was the desire among the Reformed people 
 for ministers in those days (because they were so scarce) 
 that sometimes the congregations would lay hold of 
 them as soon as they arrived, and, without waiting for 
 Coetus or any church authority, send calls to them, as 
 was the case later with Rev. Mr. Gros and Mr. Boos. 
 So Mr. Leydich had hardly arrived, and only sufficient 
 time had elapsed for the news to get to Mr. Boehm's 
 home near Philadelphia, when that old patriarch hur- 
 ried to Philadelphia. " On the 19th," says Mr. Schlat- 
 ter, " Rev. Mr. Boahm, with an elder from his congre- 
 gation at Falkner Swamp, came to visit me and begged 
 that Rev. Mr. Leydich might be appointed as regular 
 minister in the above named place and in Providence." 
 Mr. Bcehm, at his advanced age, felt that he could no 
 longer care for these, the two most distant points in his 
 charge. However, as the Coetus was to meet soon, it 
 was determined to let the matter rest until its meeting, 
 but Mr. Leydich preached at both Falkner Swamp and
 
 58 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 Providence with great acceptance to the people. On 
 September 29 the second Coetus met at Philadelphia, 
 and Mr. Leydich preached the opening sermon. He 
 took an active part in the Coetus, signing with the rest 
 of his brethren his adherence to the Heidelberg Cate- 
 chism and the Canons of Dort. Coetus approved of 
 his call to Falkner Swamp and Providence, and Mr. 
 Boehm installed him over these congregations, Octo- 
 ber 9, 1748. Here he continued during the rest of his 
 life, for he served only one charge. At one time his 
 name was proposed to the Philadelphia congregation, 
 but he was not elected. Providence wanted him in the 
 country rather than in the city. He had for his neigh- 
 bor and colleague for many years Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg 
 at the Trappe, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church. 
 His life covered so large a part of the history of the 
 Coetus that we find the scenes of his day reflected in 
 his life. The Indian troubles of 1755 did not quite 
 reach his territory, but the charges neighboring to him 
 on the north suffered. But when the revolutionary 
 war broke out, his charge felt its influence very much, 
 as his was one of the border congregations. He was 
 the Reformed minister in whose parish Valley Forge 
 was located. We have somewhere read, but we cannot 
 recall where, just at present, that there was a tradition 
 that one of the Reformed ministers in the neighborhood
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH. 59 
 
 of Valley Forge preached to the soldiers in camp. We 
 do not recall who the minister was, but as Leydich was 
 nearest, he may have been the man. We shall be very 
 thankful if any one can correct us and give us the 
 name, if it is not Leydich. Three of his churches we 
 know were used as hospitals during that period the 
 churches at Trappe, East Vincent and Skippack. 
 
 Rev. J. L. Fluck, in his " History of the Reformed 
 Church of Chester County," says : " The Vincent 
 church was used as a hospital during the pestilence 
 that broke out in Washington's army in camp at Val- 
 ley Forge. It is stated by earlier writers that at that 
 time Valley Forge could be seen from the church. 
 General Washington, whose heart was with his men, 
 frequently visited the hospitals ; and while at this one, 
 his headquarters were at an old log house on the farm 
 within sight of the church. Twenty-two of the sol- 
 diers were buried there, and a monument was erected to 
 them in 1831, one of whose inscriptions runs thus : 
 
 ' Their names, though lost in earth below, 
 
 And hence are not recorded here, 
 Are known where lasting pleasures flow, 
 Beyond the reach of death and fear.' ' 
 
 We have no doubt that Brother Leydich, as a faith- 
 ful pastor and earnest Christian, often visited the hos- 
 pitals, cheering the men with the consolations of our 
 faith.
 
 60 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 Colonel Frederick Antes, of Pottstown, one of his 
 members at Falkner Swamp, was a prominent patriot. 
 He was on one occasion almost captured at his home 
 by a British foraging expedition, which seems to have 
 penetrated as far as near Pottstown. 
 
 But more important than these secular experiences 
 was Rev. Mr. Leydich's religious activity. He was 
 from the beginning very active in the Coetus and very 
 devoted to it. In the early controversy he sided 
 with Weiss against Schlatter. When that difficulty 
 was healed up, no one was more loyal than he. He 
 was the treasurer of the Coetus for a number of years, 
 its president in 1751 and 1760, and its secretary in 
 1756 and 1768. Year after year, unless prevented by 
 sickness, he was present at its meetings. Statistics 
 often make up a large part of a quiet minister's history 
 and reflect his work, but they are only a small indica- 
 tion of the amount of work performed. In 1760 he 
 reports 102 families, 32 infant baptisms, 13 adult bap- 
 tisms and 28 confirmations. 
 
 The Holland fathers requested the Coetus to have 
 each year a Visitor appointed, whose duty would be to 
 visit the congregations, and Coetus would appoint one 
 of its prominent members to attend to this duty. 
 Brother Leydich was the Visitor in 1760, and faithfully 
 attended to his duty. But the office was found ini-
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH. 61 
 
 practicable and soon given up by the Coetus. In 1763, 
 when the Holland fathers wanted to know how much 
 salary each minister received, he declared that his salary 
 was fifty-two pounds (about $200). He said that if he 
 had to live on that, he would accommodate himself to 
 it and try to live on it. He did not confine his labors 
 to his two congregations, but, with true missionary 
 spirit, started missionary points. He revived the con- 
 gregation at Skippack (which had gone down because 
 of the rupture between Boshm and K-eiff), and he had 
 them erect their church in 1762. He also began ser- 
 vices at Salzburg and Upper Mil ford. He went across 
 the Schuylkill among the German settlers, and held 
 services at Vincent and Coventry. In 1 765 he reported 
 to Coetus that at Providence and Vincent he had 54 
 families, of which 24 were at Providence and 30 at 
 Vincent ; that he had had 32 baptisms and 21 con- 
 firmations, and had 50 children in the parish schools. 
 In that year he relinquished the congregations at Falk- 
 ner Swamp and Vincent, because of increasing infirmi- 
 ties, to Rev. Mr. Pomp, and kept only Providence and 
 Upper Mil ford, and soon after added Coventry. In 
 1771 he asked that Upper Milford be taken from his 
 charge and given to young Mr. Steiner, but it did not 
 take place. Increasing infirmities kept him away from 
 the Coetus, and we do not find him present in 1772.
 
 62 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 In 1773 he was present and reported that at Pottstown, 
 Providence and Coventry he had 136 families, 56 bap- 
 tisms and 22 confirmations. He was not present at 
 Coetus until 1782 (partly on account of war troubles). 
 He was present in 1783, when he reported for his four 
 congregations Falkner Swamp, Pottstown, Coventry 
 and Trappe 152 families, 29 baptisms and 32 con- 
 firmations. When the next Coetus was held, May 12, 
 1784, at Lancaster, his absence was noted, together 
 with the note that he had died the previous winter. 
 He thus preached to the last in spite of weakness and 
 age. And although he tried to get rid of some of his 
 congregations during life, they came back to him before 
 death, for he had the same congregations then that he 
 had when he took them thirty-six years before. His 
 people never oeemed to tire of him, and were always 
 glad to have him back or to come back to him. He 
 died January 4, 1784, and is buried in a private bury- 
 ing ground, surrounded by a stone wall, in Frederick 
 township, Montgomery county, Pa. His gravestone 
 bears on it, in addition to his name and age, " 2 Tim- 
 othy 2 : 3. Leidy was a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 Dr. Harbaugh tells a beautiful story about him, as 
 follows : " Mrs. Margaret Moser, who died in Mont- 
 gomery county, Pa., aged 104 years, was baptized in 
 her infancy and confirmed, when fourteen years old, by
 
 REV. JOHN PHILIP LEYDICH. 63 
 
 Mr. Leydich. Paying a visit to this venerable woman 
 on June 14, a short time before her death, we asked her 
 whether she remembered any of the oldest ministers in 
 this country. She remained silent while we repeated 
 the names of quite a number, until we mentioned Ley- 
 dich. At the mention of his name she threw up her 
 head, her eyes brightened, and smiles covered her aged 
 face while she said : ' O yes, Leydich, he was a good 
 man.' " What a testimony to his life and work ! She 
 had been a confirmed member of the Church for ninety 
 years, and she never forgot the minister who confirmed 
 her. And the thing that impressed her most about 
 him was his goodness. We have no doubt that Brother 
 Leydich was a faithful, spiritually-minded minister, a 
 quiet laborer, but one whose reward is great in heaven.
 
 VII. 
 KEY. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 
 
 Otterbein's life, more than any other, covers the 
 whole period of the Coetus, 1747 1792. Next to him 
 in length of service seems to have been Waldschmidt 
 and Leydich. Otterbein covered all the time of the 
 Coetus, except five years at its beginning. He was one 
 of the band of six whom Schlatter brought from Hol- 
 land in 1752 Long after they and their successors 
 had passed away, he lived on into the next century, 
 dying in 1813. If, as the Jews believed, old age was 
 a sign of God's blessing, Otterbeiu was wonderfully 
 favored of God. He is the most remarkable case of 
 longevity in the early Coetus. We can, therefore, take 
 his life as covering the whole period of the Coetus. 
 Other prominent Reformed ministers might be men- 
 tioned, whose ministry was important, as Alsentz, 
 Weyberg, Helffeustein, Hendel and Helffrich, but their 
 ministry covers only a part of the time. 
 
 William Otterbein was born June 3, 1726, at Dil- 
 lenburg, the capital of the county of Nassau-Dillenburg. 
 He came from a family prominent in Reformed Church
 
 EEV. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 65 
 
 history, his father, grandfather and five brothers being 
 Reformed ministers of greater or less prominence. One 
 of them, his older brother, George Gottfried, published 
 an excellent series of sermons on the Heidelberg Cate- 
 chism in 1803. The Otterbein family always stood for 
 Reformed orthodoxy. In 1742 he entered the Univer- 
 sity of the Nassau line of princes, located at Herborn, 
 which Olevianus had founded. In 1748 he was a 
 teacher at Herborn, was ordained in 1749, and became 
 vicar or assistant to the pastor of the Reformed con- 
 gregation at Ockersdorf. But his soul had in it an 
 undeveloped love for missionary work, which impelled 
 him to seek a larger and more difficult field than his 
 native Nassau land. This desire, Dr. Harbaugh says, 
 was nurtured in his mind by his pious mother, who 
 wished him to become a missionary. He yielded to 
 this inclination, and in 1752 joined the missionary 
 baud of six who came with Mr. Schlatter to evangelize 
 this western land. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in America he was called to 
 Lancaster, and was engaged by that congregation for 
 five years. He entered on his ministry there in Au- 
 gust, 1752. This congregation had had an unprofit- 
 able experience with its previous ministers, Vock, Rie- 
 ger and Schnorr, the latter having been a drunkard. 
 Otterbein, therefore, found it a very difficult field.
 
 66 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 Still, his coming so encouraged the congregation that 
 soon after his arrival they replaced, in 1753, the little 
 old wooden church with a massive structure, which 
 stood for a century. Mr. Otterbein's labors imparted 
 to the congregation consolidation and character. But 
 he seems to have tired of his engagement there for five 
 years, and declared at Coetus that he would never 
 again accept an engagement for a stipulated length of 
 time. He was disheartened by the lack of spirituality 
 among the people and by their carelessness about 
 church discipline. So at the end of his engagement 
 to them he wanted to resign, but the people would not 
 listen to it. They were willing to do anything to retain 
 him, and promised to have strict discipline enforced in 
 the congregation. This was agreed to in a paper signed 
 by eighty of the male members of the church, which is 
 still extant. Coetus (1757) therefore urged him to 
 remain and called him " a most excellent pastor/' He 
 therefore remained at Lancaster and established a cus- 
 tom that the pastor should have a personal interview 
 with each communicant before he came to the Lord's 
 supper, a custom which was continued there for seventy- 
 five years. The truth is, that Mr. Otterbein had had 
 a deep religious experience while at Lancaster, which 
 he calls his conversion. This led him to set a higher 
 standard of life and experience among his people. In
 
 REV. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 67 
 
 his home land in Germany the custom of speaking 
 with the communicants before communion was a com- 
 mon one in some Reformed congregations, as is shown 
 by the diary of Prof. Frederick Lampe, pastor at Duis- 
 burg, the most prominent theologian among the Re- 
 formed. The custom was not original with Otterbein ; 
 he simply revived it. 
 
 Otterbein, therefore, remained a year longer at Lan- 
 caster, but he then resigned with the intention of 
 returning to Europe and visiting his relatives. But the 
 severe winter and the war with France made ocean-trav- 
 elling dangerous, so that he changed his mind and post- 
 poned his trip. He became then temporarily pastor of 
 the Tulpehocken charge, however remaining there a 
 number of years. While there he declined a call to 
 Frederick, Maryland, in 1759. And in 1760 his Tul- 
 pehocken congregation announced to Coetus with joy 
 that he had determined to remain with them longer ; 
 but in 1760 the Frederick congregation renewed its 
 call, and he accepted it, because he felt the isolation of 
 that church, and saw in it a wide field for missionary 
 work, for the congregations in Maryland were in a 
 measure separated from those in Pennsylvania. At 
 Frederick he built a new church, and Coetus says he 
 almost worked himself to death. He remained there 
 for five years. He must have been a very popular
 
 68 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 man among the churches, for no man received so many 
 calls from congregations or refused so many. While 
 at Frederick he was called (1761 ) to Reading. Goshen- 
 hoppen, at the Coetns of 1762, declared that if they 
 could get him, they would like to have him. He was 
 called (1763) to Philadelphia, which was then the lead- 
 ing congregation in the Coetus, but he declined them 
 all. In 1765 he accepted a call to York, although the 
 elder from Frederick declared at the Coetus that there 
 was very great need for a minister at Frederick, because 
 of the great number of convicted and awakened sinners 
 there the effect of Mr. Otterbein's earnest preaching. 
 After he left Frederick, the congregation there kept up 
 their own services, even when they had no preacher, 
 for he had trained the spiritually minded ones to hold 
 prayer meetings. His successor there, Lang, was a 
 man of opposite mould. He derided these Pietists, as 
 he called them. And when Otterbein came back to 
 visit Frederick, and was asked by the Pietists to preach, 
 Lang refused to permit him to enter his pulpit and 
 made complaint against him to Coetus. The action 
 which the Coetus of 1767 took was a very summary 
 one. It evidently was not going to discipline a man 
 who was perhaps the most popular of them among the 
 churches, and without doubt the most spiritually- 
 minded among them, except perhaps Hendel. They
 
 REV. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 69 
 
 did not discipline him for being a Pietist, for many of 
 them, perhaps most of them, as Prof. Dubbs says, had 
 in Germany been educated in, and sympathized with, 
 that type of Reformed activity so common among the 
 Reformed of the northern Rhine. Coetus very abruptly 
 ordered Lang to seek some other charge as soon as he 
 could, which he did very soon. So Otterbein was vin- 
 dicated by the Coetus. 
 
 During his pastorate at York, Otterbein took a trip 
 to Europe, being absent for a year and a half. But so 
 popular was he among his people that they refused to 
 give him up, and their church was supplied by mem- 
 bers of Coetus during his absence. When he landed 
 in Europe, he met his brother, George Godfried, pas- 
 tor at Duisburg. After the first welcome salutation 
 and the evening meal, the brothers retired to the study 
 to unfold their inmost thoughts and their experiences 
 during the past eighteen years since last they were 
 together. William related his spiritual experiences. 
 His brother listened with deepest attention, and, rising 
 from his chair, and tears running down his cheeks, he 
 embraced his American brother, saying : " My dear 
 William, we are one. Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord not only brothers after the flesh, but after the 
 spirit. I have also experienced the same blessing. I 
 can testify that God has power on earth to forgive sins 
 6
 
 70 EAELY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 and to cleanse from all unrighteousness." At another 
 time this older brother, while walking with William, 
 said to him : " My dear brother, I have a very strong 
 impression that God has a great work for you to do in 
 America." 
 
 To do this work, Otterbein returned to America 
 and ministered to the York congregation for three 
 years more. In 1774 he accepted a call to the Second 
 Reformed church of Baltimore. The church at Balti- 
 more had split. Quite a number of its members, dis- 
 satisfied with their minister, Rev. J. C. Faber, who 
 was not a member of the Coetus, and desiring a more 
 earnest preacher, seceded in 1770, and called Mr. 
 Swope, who had been licensed by the Coetus. The 
 Coetus tried again and again to bring the two congre- 
 gations together, but in vain, and finally the Second 
 congregation called Mr. Otterbein. 
 
 Mr. Otterbein, by his removal to Baltimore, found 
 an immense mission field among the Germans. The 
 lack of Reformed ministers was all the greater, because 
 the Holland fathers declared, in 1773, that Maryland 
 did not fall under their jurisdiction. Besides, all the 
 ministers sent from Holland were captured by the 
 Pennsylvania congregations before they got as far as 
 Maryland. For twenty years the Reformed of Vir- 
 ginia had sent petitions to Coetus for pastors, but had
 
 KEV. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 71 
 
 not received any during that time. The congregation 
 at Frederick had been for a long time an outlying con- 
 gregation, and had a vast mission field connected with 
 it. Mr. Steiner, Mr. Otterbein's predecessor, declared 
 that to go round his charge required a journey of 300 
 miles, and he said that in one year he travelled nearly 
 3,000 miles. 
 
 Thus Mr. Otterbein found not only a wide field 
 north of him in Maryland, but a vast field south of 
 him in Virginia. Many of the preaching points had 
 no churches, so that meetings were held at first in barns 
 or in the open air. Out of this grew a great religious 
 awakening, which began about 1770, or later. This 
 movement seems to have been under the control and 
 guidance of the Reformed ministers, all of them in that 
 neighborhood, except the pastor of the First Reformed 
 congregation of Baltimore, and Rev. Mr. Faber at 
 Taneytown, entering into it. This movement was 
 finally organized at Antietam, May 29, 1774, when 
 Otterbein and Swope organized classes or praying cir- 
 cles. The next meeting was held at Pipe Creek, 
 June 12, 1775, when other Reformed ministers were 
 present, as Heuop of Frederick and Weimer of Ha- 
 gerstown. From York came Rev. Mr. Wagner, one 
 of the most faithful Reformed ministers, and even from 
 Tulpehocken, Pa., came Rev. Mr. Hendel, the most
 
 72 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 spiritually-minded of them all. They met again in 
 Maryland, October 15, 1775. On June 2 and Octo- 
 ber 2, 1776, they held meetings. At these meetings 
 they heard reports from the praying circle in the 
 churches and organized new circles. Whether other 
 meetings were held later, we do now know.* They 
 did not dream of such a movement being un-Reformed, 
 for in the northern Rhine region such prayer circles 
 are quite common in the Reformed congregations. The 
 Reformed district of Siegen to-day is quite full of such 
 meetings. And we once came nearly attending a cate- 
 chism prayer meeting at Barmen, which we accidentally 
 missed, much to our disappointment. Such move- 
 ments were Reformed from the beginning. 
 
 During all this time Mr. Otterbein continued active 
 in the Coetus, as well as in the missionary field. His 
 ministry at Baltimore continued for thirty-six years. 
 There he was greatly honored, and exerted quite a 
 wide influence, not only over the German Reformed, 
 but on other denominations. He was called upon to 
 aid in the ordination of Bishop Asbury of the Metho- 
 dist Church. 
 
 After a blessed ministry, from whose active labors 
 he seems to have retired somewhat during the last few 
 
 * For a full report of these meetings see Prof. Dubbs' in Reforme4 
 Quarterly Review, January, 1884.
 
 REV. WILLIAM OTTERBELN. 73 
 
 years, Rev. Mr. Otterbein was called to his reward, 
 October 17, 1813. The venerable Rev. Dr. Kurtz, of 
 the Lutheran Church, attended him on his deathbed. 
 After Dr. Kurtz had prayed, the dying saint said, like 
 Simeon : " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart 
 in peace." Later he uttered his last words : " Jesus, 
 Jesus, I die, but Thou livest ; and soon I shall live 
 with Thee. The conflict is over. I begin to feel an 
 unspeakable fulness of divine love and peace. Lay 
 my head on my pillow and be still." 
 
 It hardly comes within the scope of this article to 
 enter into the relation of Mr. Otterbein to the United 
 Brethren Church, which claims him as its founder and 
 first minister, as that occurred after the time of the 
 Coetus, whose sesqui-centennial we are celebrating. 
 One thing, however, is very certain, that during the 
 days of the Coetus, up to 1791, there is not a whisper 
 that Mr. Otterbein did not belong to the Reformed 
 Church. We believe Dr. Harbaugh, in the " Fathers 
 of the Reformed Church," and Prof. Dubbs, in the 
 " Reformed Quarterly Review," January, 1884, have 
 proved that he never left the Reformed Church. Dur- 
 ing the days of the Coetus there was no one who stood 
 higher among the Reformed or was more devoted to 
 the Coetus than he. He was its president in 1757 and 
 1766. He rarely missed a meeting, and was absent
 
 74 EARLY FATHERS OF THE REF. CHURCH. 
 
 only a few times without sending an excuse. His 
 absence was often caused by his distance from the place 
 of meeting. He was present at the last meeting of the 
 Coetus in 1791. Dr. Harbaugh is right when he says, 
 over against the United Brethren, that no minister 
 stood better and labored more regularly in the Re- 
 formed Church than Otterbein. We would, however, 
 call attention to three things which may bear on this 
 subject, and which are revealed during his connection 
 with the Coetus, all of which would unfit him to 
 become a United Brethren : 
 
 1. He was Calvinistic. He signed not merely the 
 Heidelberg Catechism, but also the Canons of Dort in 
 1752. He was educated at Herborn, where Lampe's 
 Federal Theology was taught. He was, therefore, 
 theologically unfit for the United Brethren, who were 
 Arminians, and not Calvinists. It is to be remem- 
 bered that in those days the distinctions between Cal- 
 vinists and Arminians was much more closely drawn 
 than now. 
 
 2. He was strict in his catechization, while the 
 United Brethren have ridiculed that method. 
 
 3. He was not possessed of a loud voice suited for 
 noisy meetings. The congregation at Philadelphia, 
 when it called him, found some of its members opposed 
 to him because of his weak voice. He seems to have
 
 REV. WILLIAM OTTERBEIN. 75 
 
 been quiet in his manner, very different from those who 
 organized finally the United Brethren Church. 
 
 Such was the long and honored life of one who 
 claimed to be Reformed up to the time of his death. 
 Stahlschmidt, in his book, "A Pilgrimage by Land 
 and Sea," pays a fine compliment to Otterbein, whom 
 he met in 1773. He says : " He is a very gentle and 
 friendly man, and on account of his devout and pious 
 course of life is known and highly respected through- 
 out the whole land." 
 
 Otterbein was a tower of strength for the Reformed, 
 especially for spirituality and missionary zeal in those 
 days of coldness and missionary destitution. He 
 exerted a blessed influence on the Coetus, and has left 
 a blessed memory behind him in the Church which he 
 loved.
 
 Reformed Church Books. 
 
 The best books of Reformed Church History tell- 
 ing the story why our forefathers came to this western 
 world and founded our Church. These books will ac- 
 quaint our people with our inspiring Church History. 
 
 "Origin of the Reformed Church of Germany," $1.50. 
 " History of the Reformed Church of Germany," $1.75. 
 Origin and History, $2.75. 
 
 Commentary on Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 The best Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism 
 ever published in German, by Rev. O. Theleman, trans- 
 lated by Prof. M. Peters, a volume of over 450 pages. 
 Suggestive, spiritual, practical, helpful. Price, $1.50. 
 Send orders to 
 
 REV. JAMES I. GOOD, D. D., 
 
 Reading, Pa. 
 
 Presbyterian and Reformed Review. 
 
 The quarterly for October, 1897, will contain an 
 article entitled " The German Reformed Coetus (1 747 
 1792)," by Rev. James I. Good, D. D. 
 
 This is the best theological Review published in 
 America. Its editor is Rev. Prof. B. B. Warfield, I). 
 D., and among its associate editors are Profs. Van 
 Home and Good of the Reformed Church. Price, 
 $3.00 per year ; 80c. per single copy.
 
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