American Lutheranism (Vol. 1&2) - Friedrich Bente

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a day of thanksgiving. Sorrow followed the joyous celebration, for in the following year, January 11, 1745, their beloved Pastor Gronau was called to his eternal reward. Dwelling on Gronau's edifying death, Bolzius wrote in a letter dated January 14, 1845: "His heart was in deep communion with the dear Savior. With profound desire he received the Lord's Supper a few days before his dissolution. He distinctly recognized all who surrounded him [when he was dying], and exhorted them to praise God. It seemed, and such was also inferred from his words, as though, like Stephen, he saw something extraordinarily beautiful and glorious. At last, after stretching forth his hands and taking leave of all, he directed his folded hands toward heaven, praying and praising God. Finally, saying, 'Do come, Lord Jesus, Amen, Amen, Amen!' he closed his eyes and mouth, and entered peacefully into the joy of God." (556.) Gronau was succeeded by Pastor H. H. Lemke, of Schaumburg, who previously had been active in the institutions at Halle. His diploma of vocation was signed by Samuel Urlsperger in the stead and name of the English Society for the Promotion of the Knowledge of Christ. Thus Ebenezer was actually the foundation of a mission society whose members were for the most part adherents of the Reformed Church. In 1742 Pastor John Ulrich Driessler had been called to the congregation of Frederica, south of Savannah. He entered upon his labors in 1744, and died three years later. In the following years several ships arrived bringing emigrants from Swabia. To meet the growing needs Pastor Chr. Rabenhorst was sent to the colony in 1753. In 1765 Pastor Bolzius died, sixty-two years old, repeating the words: "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me." (John 17, 24.) None of the three pastors, who were easily able to minister to the spiritual needs of the colony, displayed a missionary spirit in any marked degree.

      15. Dissension and Disintegration.—While Bolzius, Lemke, and Rabenhorst had labored together in harmony, dissension and strife began to blast the blissful peace and quiet contentment of Ebenezer, when, after the death also of Lemke, Pastor C. F. Triebner arrived in 1773. The congregation was torn by factions, the minority siding with Triebner in his bitter opposition to Rabenhorst. When the majority refused Triebner permission to officiate in the church, the minority forced the doors. After a new lock had been secured by the majority, the minority began to conduct separate services in the home of John Wertsch, and entered suit before the Governor of Georgia. This brought about the loss of their church property, the Governor, in accordance with the express wording of the patent grant of April 2, 1771, deeding Jerusalem Church to the Episcopalians. The patent contained the provision: " … for the only proper use, benefit, and behoof of two ministers of the Gospel, residents within the parish aforesaid, using and exercising divine service according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England within the said parish and their successors forever." (599.) In 1774 Muhlenberg arrived, commissioned by the "English Society" to conduct an investigation and restore peace. A reconciliation was effected, and articles of agreement were signed by the pastors and the members of the congregation. Before long, however, the old discord broke out again and continued unabated until the death of Pastor Rabenhorst in 1777. Triebner now secured a firm footing in the congregation. But new storms were brewing for the poor people. In 1775 the War of Independence had broken out, in which Triebner not only espoused the cause of England himself, but urged his congregation to do the same, thereby bringing untold misery upon Ebenezer. Triebner, taken captive and severely dealt with, finally found his way back to Europe. After the war Ebenezer presented a sad spectacle. Soldiers had used the church as a hospital and stable; Rabenhorst's home had been given to the flames; fields were laid waste; and the inhabitants were scattered and despoiled of their property. The congregation, however, recovered, and through the endeavors of Urlsperger received a new pastor in the person of John Ernest Bergmann, who had studied at Leipzig. In 1785 he assumed the duties at Ebenezer, formerly discharged by two and three pastors. But, though a diligent worker, Bergmann was not a faithful Lutheran, nor did he build up a truly Lutheran congregation. There came a time when but very little of Lutheranism was to be found in the old colony of the Salzburgers. (600.) During Bergmann's long pastorate, which was conducted in the German language exclusively until 1824, the Americanized young people gradually began to drift away from the mother church. However, to the present day descendants of the Salzburgers are found in the Lutheran congregations of Savannah and of the Georgia Synod.

      LUTHERANS IN NEW YORK.

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      16. Persecuted in New Amsterdam.—In the first part of the seventeenth century the Lutheran Church was by law prohibited and oppressed in the United Netherlands. When the power of the papists had come to an end, Reformed tendencies gained the ascendency, and Calvinists reaped where Lutherans had sowed with tears. While claiming to be adherents of the Augsburg Confession, they persecuted the Lutherans, forbidding all Lutheran worship in public meeting-houses as well as in private dwellings. Nevertheless the Lutheran Church not only continued to exist, but even made some headway in Amsterdam, Antwerp, and other places. The greatest handicap, however, which also prevented the Dutch Lutherans from developing any missionary activity, was the lack of a native ministry thoroughly conversant with the language of the people. Conditions similar to those in Holland obtained in the American colonies. Like the mother country, New Amsterdam had a law prohibiting the exercise of any religion save that of the Reformed faith. Sanford H. Cobb, in his work The Rise of Religious Liberty in America, quotes the law as follows: "No other religion shall be publicly admitted in New Netherland except the Reformed, as it is at present preached and practised by public authority in the United Netherlands; and for this purpose the [Dutch West India] Company shall provide and maintain good and suitable preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick (Ziekentrooster)." (303, 321 f.) However, the report of the Jesuit Jogues, who sojourned in the colony in about 1642, shows that this law was not strictly enforced during the first part of the century. Also the Lutherans were permitted to conduct reading-services in their homes. But when the Dutch and German Lutherans (the former having arrived in New Amsterdam probably as early as 1624) had organized a congregation in 1648, and in 1653 requested the authorities to grant them permission to call a Lutheran pastor, they received a curt refusal at the hands of the governor, Peter Stuyvesant. The two Reformed domines, Megapolensis, who had arrived in 1649, and Drisius, who came in 1652 (the successors to Michaelius, who came over in 1623, and Bogardus, who followed him in 1632), proved to be the most bigoted and fanatical in the opposition to the request of the Lutherans. Instead of their petition being granted, the Lutherans were now forced to have their children baptized in the Reformed churches by Reformed pastors, and to promise to bring them up in the Confession of Dort; and private services in dwellings were made punishable with severe penalties. Peter Stuyvesant, who was also deacon of the Reformed Church, declared at the close of a session of the church council, that, if any one ever dared to appeal from his decision to the authorities in Holland, he would reduce his stature by the length of his head and send him back to the old country in pieces. But the Lutherans were not intimidated. When Stuyvesant denied their request for a Lutheran pastor, they appealed to the authorities overseas. The two Reformed domines also sent a letter to Holland, setting forth the dire consequences which were bound to follow in the wake of such religious toleration.

      17. Moderation Advised.—The authorities in Holland agreed with the intolerant domines and directed Stuyvesant to allow none but the Reformed religion. Yet, while denying the request of the Lutherans, they, at the same time, urged the governor to employ mildness and moderate means in dealing with them. Cobb gives the following translation of these instructions: "We have decided absolutely to deny the request made by some of our inhabitants, adherents of the Augsburg Confession, for a preacher and free exercise of their religion, pursuant to the custom hitherto observed by us and the West India Company, on account of the consequences arising therefrom; and we recommend to you also not to receive any similar petitions, but rather to turn them off in the most civil and least offensive way, and to employ all possible, but moderate means to induce them to listen and finally join the Reformed Church." (313.) The letter was dated February 26, 1654. But notwithstanding this rebuff, the Lutherans persisted in their demand, and held religious services in their houses without a minister, declaring that "Heaven was above law." This excited the wrath of the autocratic governor, who was not accustomed to brook opposition, nor knew how to employ mildness, wisdom, and "moderate

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