Скачать книгу

were sung during the English services. Also Bishop Swedberg [of Sweden], in his letters, encouraged us in such unity and intimacy with the Anglicans; although there exists some difference between them and us touching the Lord's Supper, etc., yet he did not want that small difference to rend asunder the bond of peace. We enter upon no discussion of this point; neither do we touch upon such things when preaching in their churches; nor do they seek to win our people to their view in this matter; on the contrary, we live in intimate and brotherly fashion with one another, they also calling us brethren. They have the government in their hands, we are under them; it is enough that they desire to have such friendly intercourse with us; we can do nothing else than render them every service and fraternal intimacy as long as they are so amiable and confiding, and have not sought in the least to draw our people into their churches. As our church is called by them 'the sister church of the Church of England,' so we also live fraternally together. God grant that this may long continue!" (G., 118.) Thus from the very beginning the Swedish bishops encouraged and admonished their emissaries to fraternize especially with the Episcopalians. And the satisfaction with this state of affairs on the part of the Episcopalian ministers appears from the following testimonial which they gave to Hesselius and J. A. Lidenius in 1723: "They were ever welcome in our pulpits, as we were also welcome in their pulpits. Such was our mutual agreement in doctrine and divine service, and so regularly did they attend our conferences that, aside from the different languages in which we and they were called to officiate, no difference could be perceived between us." (131.)

      12. Absorbed by the Episcopal Church.—The evil influence which the unionism practised by the Swedish provosts and ministers exercised upon the Lutheran congregations appears from the resolution of the congregation at Pennsneck, in 1742, henceforth to conduct English services exclusively, and that, according to the Book of Common Prayer. In the same year Pastor Gabriel Naesman wrote to Sweden: "As to my congregation, the people at first were scattered among other congregations, and among the sects which are tolerated here, and it is with difficulty that I gather them again to some extent. The great lack of harmony prevailing among the members makes my congregation seem like a kingdom not at one with itself, and therefore near its ruin." (335.) The unionism indulged in also accounts for the trouble which the Swedes experienced with the emissaries of Zinzendorf: L. T. Nyberg, Abr. Reinke, and P. D. Bryzelius (who severed his connection with the Moravians in 1760, became a member of the Pennsylvania Synod, and in 1767 was ordained by the Bishop of London). Unionism paved the way, and naturally led to the final undoing of the Lutheran Swedes in Delaware. It was but in keeping with the unionism advised from Sweden, practised in Delaware, and indulged in to the limit by himself, when Provost Wrangel gave the final coup de grace to the first Lutheran Church in America. Dr. Wrangel, the bosom-friend of H. M. Muhlenberg, openly and extensively fraternized not only with the Episcopalians, but also with the Reformed, the Presbyterians (in Princeton), and the Methodists, notably the revivalist Whitefield. And, evidently foreseeing the early and unavoidable debacle of Swedish Lutheranism in Delaware, von Wrangel, at his departure for Sweden, suffered the Episcopalians to use him as a tool to deliver the poor, weakened, and oppressed congregations, whose leader he had been, into the hands of the Anglicans. (392.) On his way home Wrangel carried with him an important letter of introduction from the Episcopalian Richard Peters to the Bishop of London, the ecclesiastical superior of the Anglican ministers and congregations in the American Colonies. The letter, dated August 30, 1768, reads, in part: "Now Dr. Wrangel intends to utilize properly the general aversion [in Delaware] to the Presbyterians in order to unite the great mass of Lutherans and Swedes with with the Church of England, which, as you know, is but small numerically and in humble circumstances in this province; through union with the German Lutherans, however, we both would become respectable. According to Dr. Smith's and my opinion this could be effected through our Academy. In it we could establish a theological professorship; then German and English young men could be educated, and as their training would embrace both languages, they could preach German as well as English at places where both nations are mixed. That would unite us all and make us one people in life and love. It is a happy thought. I would desire your Excellency to speak with Dr. Wrangel, and encourage him as much as possible. In this matter I have written to the two archbishops, asking them to consider it carefully together with your Excellency. I am sure that now the opportunity is good to bring this desirable affair to a happy conclusion." (394.) In a document dated June 25, 1789, the Swedish government served official notice on the congregations in America that in future they could no longer expect help from Sweden, alleging that, whereas "the purpose, the Swedish tongue," had come to an end, it was but just that in future also the disbursements in Sweden should be discontinued. (401.) The result was that one congregation after another united with the Episcopalians. By 1846 the Lutheran name had disappeared from the last charter. Thus the entire Swedish mission territory, all of whose congregations exist to the present day, was lost to the Lutheran Church. The chief causes of this loss were: unionism, hierarchical paternalism, interference from Sweden, the failure to provide for schools and for the training of suitable pastors, and the lack of Swedish and, later, of English Lutheran literature. The report of the Pennsylvania Ministerium of 1762 remarks: "For several generations the Swedish schools unfortunately have been neglected in the Swedish congregations; Dr. Wrangel, however, has organized an English school in one of his parishes where Luther's Catechism is read in an English translation." From the very beginning the foundations of the Lutheran structure along the Delaware were both laid insecurely and undermined by its builders.

      SALZBURG LUTHERANS IN GEORGIA.

       Table of Contents

      13. Banished by Archbishop Anton Firmian.—Like the Swedes in Delaware, so also the Salzburg Lutherans in Georgia, as a Church, have disappeared in the course of years. The story of their vicissitudes and especially of their colony Ebenezer, however, has retained a peculiar charm. On Reformation Day of 1731 the cruel Archbishop Anton, Knight of Firmian, issued a manifesto which ordered the Evangelicals of Salzburg, Austria, either to return to the bosom of the Catholic Church, or to emigrate, leaving their property and their young children behind them. Some eighteen thousand Lutherans chose banishment rather than deny the faith that was in them. On their journey the exiles awakened lively sympathy by singing their Exulantenlied (Hymn of the Exiles) which Joseph Schaitberger had composed for those banished In 1685. The eleven stanzas of this hymn read in the original as follows: "1. I bin ein armer Exulant, A so tu i mi schreiba; Ma tuet mi aus dem Vaterland Um Gottes Wort vertreiba. 2. Das wass i wohl, Herr Jesu Christ, Es is dir a so ganga. Itzt will i dein Nachfolger sein; Herr, mach's nach deim Verlanga! 3. A Pilgrim bin i halt numehr, Muss reise fremde Strossa; Das bitt i di, mein Gott und Herr, Du wirst mi nit verlossa. 4. Den Glauba hob i frei bekennt, Des derf i mi nit schaema, Wenn ma mi glei ein Ketzer nennt Und tuet mir's Leba nehma. 5. Ketta und Banda wor mir en Ehr Um Jesu willa z' dulda, Und dieses macht die Glaubenslehr Und nit mei boes Verschulda. 6. Muss i glei in das Elend fort, Will i mi do nit wehra; So hoff i do, Gott wird mir dort Och gute Fruend beschera. 7. Herr, wie du willt, i gib mi drein, Bei dir will i verbleiba; I will mi gern dem Wille dein Geduldig unterschreiba. 8. Muss i glei fort, in Gottes Nam! Und wird mir ales g'nomma, So wass i wohl, die Himmelskron Wer i amal bekomma. 9. So muss i heut von meinem Haus, Die Kinderl muss i lossa. Mei Gott, es treibt mir Zaehrel aus, Zu wandern fremde Strossa. 10. Mein Gott, fuehr mi in ene Stodt, Wo i dein Wort kann hoba, Darin will i di frueh und spot In meinem Herzel loba. 11. Soll i in diesem Jammertal Noch laenger in Armut leba, So hoff i do, Gott wird mir dort Ein bessre Wohnung geba."—The cruelly persecuted and banished Salzburgers were hospitably received in Prussia and Holland, where many found a permanent home. Others resolved to emigrate to Georgia, where, through the mediation of Dr. Urlsperger of Augsburg and the court preacher Ziegenhagen of London, the British government promised them religious liberty and other advantages.

      14. Ebenezer in Georgia.—The first ninety-one persons of the Salzburg colony, which later numbered about 1,200 souls, landed at Savannah, March 10, 1734. They were accompanied by Pastors John Martin Bolzius and Israel Christian Gronau, who had received their education at Halle. Governor Oglethorpe led the immigrants twenty-three miles northwest of their landing-place, where they erected a monument of stones and called the settlement Ebenezer. Seven years later (1741) Jerusalem Church was built, for which also Whitefield

Скачать книгу