The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America

406 Pages·1857·21.716 MB·English

by  Henry Harbaugh

—
:
THE
FATHERS
^txmmx
Clje '§,danm)Si Cfjurtl^
EUROPE AND AMERICA,
REV. H. "HAKBAUGH, A. M.,
AUTHOR OF "THESAIXTEDDEAD/'"HEAVENLY HECOGNITION,""HEAVENLYHOME,
"BIRDS OF THE BIBLE," "UNION WITH THE CHURCH," AND
"the LIFE OF SCHLATTER."
Likethe towerofDavidbuildedforanarmoury,whereon therehang
thousandbucklers,allshieldsofmightymen. SongofSolomon,iv.4.
VOL.
I
LANCASTER
SPEENGER WESTHAEFFER.
&
1857.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year1857,by
Rev, H. HARBAUGH,
intheClerk'sOfficeoftheDistrictCourtoftheUnitedStatesfortheEastern
DistrictofPennsylvania.
' STEKEOTYPED BY J. FAGAN, PHILADELPHIA.
TO
THE MINISTERS
OF
€^t §txmn lUfnrniBi (Cjiiirrji;
WHO
HAVE ENTERED INTO THE LABORS
OF THE
HY
AND
ON WHOM RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY
OF
CARRYING FORWARD THE WORK
SO WELL BEGUN BY
THE FATHERS,
THESE VOLUMES
(iii)

;
PREFACE.
With sincere gratitude to God, we herewith present
to the Church the first volume of "The Fathers of
THE Reformed Church in Europe and America,"
the historyofwhose preparation hasextendedover four
laborious years. The second volume, which at present
we hope will complete the work, is nearly ready, and
shall,ifGod will, follow this in the coming autumn.
When thework was commenced, wewere onlydeeply
impressed with a sense of its necessity, having at the
time but little idea of what it ought to be, or would be
when finished. Nordidwethinkofundertakingitour-
selves,until afterwe had earnestly, and for a long time,
urged it invain upon several others. At lengthwebe-
gan it,becausewe felt it oughtto be done,and continued
it becauseour heart grewinto it as we advanced. Like
Abraham, we went out, not knowing whither we went.
Hence, the work is not at all what it was at first, or at
any time, designed to be. The life by which it grew
gave it plan and shape.
It was at first intended that the work should consist
of one volume of common size. In time, however, the
lifeofRev.MichaelSchlatteritselfclaimedthat tribute
and we soon found that the general field was much
larger and richer than we at first knew. So also, the
b2 (V)
;
VI PHEFACE.
workwas at firstonlytoembracetheAmerican Fathers
but friends, in whosejudgment we trusted, wished us to
include also the Reformers on the Reformed side. It
was soon seen that the whole could not be compressed
into one volumeofconvenient size,andsowegave up all
limitation in regard to plan, and determined to follow
the work wheresoever it might lead us. We could not
find it in our heart to suppress interesting facts in our
American ecclesiastical history, which we had gathered
with pains, and which, if not recorded now, after a few
more revolutions of time, might no more be found.
Such a loss might, after all, be regarded by those who
come after us as a greater evil than a large book.
In the Lives of the Reformers, as regards arrange-
ment, we have followed the order in which we supposed
their acts would be best understood, mutually illumina-
ting one another. In the preparation of this part of
the work, we called in the aid of some literary friends,
which we are sure will meet the approbation of our
readers. The lives of Qj^colarapadius, Bullinger, Me-
lanchthon, Calvin, and Beza,have been prepared for us
by Rev. Prof Philip Schaff, D. D., ofMercersburg, Pa.
Farel is from the pen of Rev. J. W. Nevin, D. D.,
written at first for the Lutheran Year Book of the Re-
formation, published by Dr. Kurtz, of Baltimore, and
introduced here by the kind consent of its author and
the publisher of that work. De Lasky has been pre-
pared for us by Rev. Prof. E. V. Gerhart, President of
Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. The
rest of the Reformers we furnish ourselves, aiming, in
their preparation, not at giving original, but complete
sketches. With many others, free use has been made
;
PREFACE. Vll
ofDr. Nevin's Introduction to Williard's translation of
Ursinus! Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism
Herzog's Encyclopedia, both the original, and the
English translation, under the editorship of Dr. Bom-
berger Goebel's History of the Christian Life in the
;
ChurchesontheKhine aSketchoftheLifeofZwingli,
;
translated by Dr. Fisher, and published in the German
Reformed Messenger some years ago andD'Aubigne's
;
History of the Reformation. We have used the lan-
guage of these sources in some cases when we found it
fully adapted to our purpose.
In arranging the Lives of the American Fathers, we
have followed an order which will easily be discovered
by the reader. We have first given, in chronological
order, the lives of those who labored in this country
previous to the arrival ofMr. Schlatter, eleven in num-
ber. The first five, Weiss, Boehm, Goetschiey, Reiger,
—
and Miller, being of the proper Reformed type the
five which follow, namely, Bechtel, Antes, Lischy,
Brandmiller, and Rauch, belonging to theUnion move-
ment of " the Congregation of God in the Spirit."
Wirtz cannot properly be classed with either of these,
butcomes in chronologicallywherewehaveplaced him.
After Wirtz is the place for Mr. Schlatter, but as we
have published hislifeinaseparatevolume, we thought
it superfluous to introduce a sketch here. Next we
shall introduce those whom Mr. Schlatter brought with
him in his return from Europe in 1752; after whichwe
shall place them in the order oftime as theyarrived in
this country, or entered upon the work of the ministry.
In the case of the Reformers, we did not think it
Vlll PREFACE.
would add materially to the work to give sources and
authorities, as these are open to all inquirers. • In the
Lives of the American Fathers, however, the sources
are carefully given, either in the text or in the margin.
Manyministers and laymen in the German Reformed
Church, and many antiquarian friends elsewhere, have
renderedtis important and cheerful service, of which
we hope due acknowledgment will always be found in
the book. Should any have been omitted, the cause
must be sought, not in wilful neglect, or in a want of
proper appreciation of the favor, but in the great
difficulty and labor required to bring together into
orderly form and place, so vast an amount ofscattering
and often fragmentary material.
In the preparation of this work we have endeavored
to do the best in our power. That it is entirely free
from mistakes, we cannot hope. Whilst we are willing
to bear the blame of a full share of its defects, we re-
spectfully ask the reader, who may discover any omis-
sions in it, to see in that fact his own condemnation,
and penitently to blame himself for not furnishing us
with the information which we so earnestly and so long
begged him to communicate. Ifwe entertain one wish
beyond the prayer that the book may be a blessing to
the Church, it is that it may furnish evidence of faith-
fulness, seeing it is graciously required of us, not that
we succeed, but that we have been faithful. For this
we have labored. We have written vast numbers of
— —
letters we have travelled in pursuit offacts we have
taken down the traditions of the aged, and compared
them with preserved records-^we have searched old
—
PKEFACE. IX
files of newspapers and pamphlets in the libraries of
—
Philadelphia and elsewhere we haveexamined pilesof
—
old letters in English, German, Dutch, and Latin we
have gone patiently through the Coetal and Synodical
minutes and archives, so far as they are still extant,
—
from 1748 down to the present time we have carefully
waded through a bundle of documents in German,
Dutch, and Latin, procured some years ago from the
ecclesiastical Archives of Holland, through Dr. Broad-
—
head, of New York we have examined, either person-
ally or through friends, all the old congregational re-
—
cords throughout the Church we have rummaged the
old papers left behind by many of the earliest deceased
—
ministers wehave been in garretsandingraveyards
—
we have beggedand boughtmaterial inshort, wehave
soughtwherever hopeofsuccess invited us,like one who
seeks for goodly pearls. Nor have we failed, as we
hope the book will show, carefully to study the times,
and to bring the collateral history of the age, covered
by our sketches,into constant service. Butwhyshould
we trouble the reader with any ofthe toils of the way?
Only thus much we desired to say as furnishing a
glimpse into the history ofthe work.
Here,then,is the building,with the scaffolding taken
down. What that has been, it would take a volume to
tell. The varied, wearisome labor, required in the pre-
paration of these Lives, no one can know. Though
laborious, the work has not been without its pleasures.
There is a quietness and truthfulness in all the events
of the past, with which it is peace to commune, and
which are not without power to subdue and soothe
the spirit, amid the restlessness and change of the pre-
!
X PEEFACE.
sent. This we have often felt as a rich reward by the
way.
It is with feelings of peculiar solemnity that we re-
member, and record the fact, that Rev. J. L. Eeber,
who started out with us as a companion in the present
labor, and, who it was designed, should furnish the
work in German, has not lived to see its close. Soon
after the labor of collecting material had been com-
menced, his health began to fail to such an extent, that
he felt himself constrained to ask leave to withdraw.
Still, he manifested a deep interest in the work, and
did what he could to advance it. We are especially
indebted to his diligence for the collection ofsome facts
in regard to several pastors who labored in Lebanon
county. Instead of having enjoyed his assistance in
preparing these Lives, it is our mournful duty to in-
clude his own name in this list of the worthy dead.
Such is life
We extend our warmest thanks to the many kind
friends, known and unknown, who, by their aid and
their frequent inquiries in regard to the progress of the
work, have cheered us through these labors. Should
anyonestrivingfor masteries,be in the least stimulated
in his course by this " cloud of witnesses," let him give
glory to Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our
Faith, whom we, with those whose lives are here re-
corded, worship as the only true God and Eternal Life,
and at whose feet we regard it as our highest honor to
lay down our humble labors.
Lancaster, July 10, 1857.