42. Discouraging Conditions.--The joyous events of 1748 in
Philadelphia were followed by disappointments to such an extent that
after 1754 the synodical meetings were abandoned till 1760, when, as
stated, Provost Von Wrangel revived the synod in the interest of
establishing a German-Swedish organization. The failure was caused by
various discouragements: the deaths of Heintzelman and Brunnholtz; the
troubles in the congregations of Handschuh at Lancaster, Germantown, and
Philadelphia; the opposition of Stoever and other anti-Pietists, whom
the synod in 1748 marked as undesirables; charges against Muhlenberg and
his colaborers, that they were but secret agents of Zinzendorf, etc.;
and above all the entirely insufficient support in men and moneys from
Halle. The difficulties and discouraging conditions under which
Muhlenberg and his assistants were laboring, appear from the urgent
appeal, signed by Muhlenberg, Brunnholtz, and Handschuh, adopted by the
synod in 1754, and sent to both London and Halle. Dr. Jacobs writes: "It
is one of the most important papers in the Halle 'Reports.' The entire
field is surveyed, the history of German immigration traced, and the
religious condition of the immigrants described. The manner in which
other denominations and the Swedish Lutherans are aided by foreign help
is shown, and a very discouraging contrast is drawn. The condition of
each parish is then candidly and at length set forth. Three great
dangers they see threatening the inner life of congregations, _viz_.:
the assumption, by the leading men of particular parishes, of the right
to dictate, as a compensation for the perhaps greater amount expected of
them for the pastor's support; the lawlessness of immigrants who abuse
the freedom of the country, want to break through all rules, and revile
all good order, the regular ministry, and divine service as papacy
itself; the introduction of worthless men into the country as pretended
ministers by the Newlanders, who sell their services from the ship to
Lutherans willing to be deceived in this way. The United Pastors, they
urge, are almost powerless to resist. The people are, as a rule, poor.
In a congregation of three hundred members scarcely fifteen can be found
able to contribute toward the building of churches; and the
responsibility for debts incurred must, therefore, as a rule, fall upon
the pastors themselves. Many thousands of Lutheran people are scattered
throughout North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York,
etc. No provision is made for the traveling expenses of the pastors or
supplies for their places, if these Lutherans are cared for. People come
often one and even two hundred miles to hear a sermon and receive the
Sacrament, and weep bitterly over the destitution, which no one
endeavors to remove. They [the signers of the appeal] contrast the
condition of a pastor in the New with that of one in the Old World. The
latter has the assurance of necessary support, of protection in his
office, of all needed buildings, of provision for the proper instruction
of his people. The former has none of these. Among ten families there is
scarcely one or two that contribute according to their promises. The
sects diffuse among the people the ideas, to which they lend too ready
assent, that the pastors as well as their hearers ought to work at a
trade, cut wood, sow and reap during the week, and then preach to them
gratuitously on Sunday. They hear such things wherever they go--in
papers, in company, on their journeys, and at the taverns. The picture
is a very dark one. The pastors feel that they do not see how it is
possible for them to advance; and yet to recede or even to be stationary
must be fatal." Jacobs continues: "Such representations probably had
something to do with the impression current for a while at Halle that
Muhlenberg was visionary and eccentric, so strange do his statements
seem to those incompetent from personal observation to appreciate the
urgency of the situation in Pennsylvania. If there was any time when,
even for a moment, Muhlenberg entertained the suggestion of transferring
the care of the Lutherans of Pennsylvania to the Church of England, it
was only at some such time when he and his associates in the synod were
allowed to struggle on under such burdens almost unaided, while union
with the Church of England would at once have provided all missionaries
sent thither with an appropriation almost sufficient for support, and
with far better protection against the prevalent disorder. If the
Lutherans in Europe could not meet the demands of the hour, we can
pardon the thought, which never became a fixed purpose, that, sooner
than have the thousands for whose care he felt himself responsible
neglected, some other mode of relief would have to be sought." (246 ff.)
43. Further Activity and Death.--In May, 1751, as related above,
Muhlenberg became pastor of the Dutch congregation in New York. From
1753 to 1761 he once more labored in New Hanover and Providence. During
this period he made visits to Raritan (1757, 1758 for nine weeks, 1759
with his family, again in October, 1759, and in January, 1760), his
assistant J. H. Schaum in the mean time representing him in Providence.
October 29, 1761 Muhlenberg returned to Philadelphia to allay the
strife which had broken out. Here he lived in his own home, and
maintained an intimate intercourse with Dr. Wrangel. By the new
congregational constitution, which his congregation subscribed to in
1762, and which, in the course of time, was adopted by nearly all the
congregations in Pennsylvania, Muhlenberg's influence was extended far
and wide. In 1769 he dedicated the new Zion Church at Philadelphia.
(The national memorial services of Benjamin Franklin [1790], of
Washington [1799], and of Abraham Lincoln [1865] were held in this
church.) September 8, 1774, he arrived in Charleston, accompanied by
his wife and daughter, where the congregation had requested him to
settle their quarrel, which he did with skill and success. His real
goal, however, was Ebenezer, where he, by order of the authorities in
Europe, was to conduct a visitation and to repair the harm done by
Triebner. Here he drafted a new constitution, which was adopted by the
Salzburgers and resulted in a temporary peace. On February 6, 1775, he
began his journey back to Pennsylvania. When the vestry of his
congregation at Philadelphia in 1779, without further ado, elected Kunze
to be his successor, Muhlenberg conducted himself with dignity. The
congregation rescinded her action, whereupon Muhlenberg resigned, and
was given a pension of 100 Pounds annually and granted permission to
preach occasionally in the church. As early as 1748 Muhlenberg had
compiled an Agenda, which at first was circulated in manuscript, and was
printed in 1786 in a somewhat modified form. The only objection which,
in 1748, the congregations raised to the Agenda was that "public worship
would last too long, especially in the cold winter months"; wherefore
"they requested that it be abbreviated." In 1782 Muhlenberg also did the
chief work in preparing the hymnal, which was printed in 1784. In the
same year Pennsylvania Academy conferred upon him the degree of Doctor
of Divinity. Muhlenberg accepted the title, but requested his friends
not to make any use of it in their intercourse with him. Muhlenberg died
October 7, 1787. Taking leave of his friend for this life, he spoke of
the journey ahead to his true fatherland, repeating the words of the
hymn: "Ich hab' vor mir ein' schwere Reis' Zu dir in's Himmels Paradeis,
Das ist mein rechtes Vaterland, Darauf du hast dein Blut gewandt."
Shortly before his death he prayed the stanza: "Mach' End', o Herr,
mach' Ende An aller unsrer Not, Staerk' unsre Fuess' und Haende Und lass
bis in den Tod Uns allzeit deiner Pflege Und Treu' empfohlen sein, So
gehen unsre Wege Gewiss zum Himmel ein." Muhlenberg's funeral was
attended by eight Lutheran pastors, the Reformed minister Schlatter, and
a great concourse of people, so that Pastor J. L. Voigt was compelled to
deliver his oration in the open. Memorial services were conducted in New
York and in many other places, as well as in almost all congregations
belonging to the synod. In Muhlenberg the greatest man whom God had
given to the Lutheran Church of America in the eighteenth century, "the
patriarch of the American Lutheran Church," had passed away. His body
was interred just outside the walls of the church in Trappe. A marble
slab over his grave bears the inscription: "Qualis et quantus fuerit,
Non ignorabunt sine lapide Futura Saecula. (Future ages will know his
character and importance without a stone.)" (484. 521.)
44. Tributes to, and Estimates of, Muhlenberg.--In his letter to Dr.
Freylinghausen in Halle, Muhlenberg himself reveals the pious and humble
frame of his mind as follows: "To-day, December 6, 1762, it is forty
years since I set foot in Philadelphia for the first time; and I believe
that my end is no longer removed very far. Had I during these forty
years served my Lord as faithfully as Jeremiah, I could look forward to
a more joyful end. But I must now account it grace and mercy
unparalleled if the gracious Redeemer, for the sake of His
all-sufficient merits, will not regard my mistakes and weaknesses, but
receive me graciously." Speaking of Muhlenberg's faithfulness, Dr. E. A.
W. Krauss remarks: "Muhlenberg continued faithful in things both small
and great, even after he had received assistance from Germany, and one
coworker after another began to labor at his side. Before long his
activity had exceeded the sphere of his three congregations. On request
he visited the scattered Lutherans in Germantown, Tulpehocken,
Lancaster, York, Raritan, Frederick. He was the counselor of poorly
served congregations, the judge in their quarrels. Confidence was
everywhere reposed in him. "By reason of his talent for organizing, his
erudition, but, above all, his unselfishness, his modesty, dignity, and
piety, he was in universal demand, and was compelled to take the lead,
which he also kept till his blessed departure from this world."
(_Lebensbilder_, 694.) Dr. H. E. Jacobs sketches Muhlenberg's character
as follows: "Depth of religious conviction, extraordinary inwardness of
character, apostolic zeal for the spiritual welfare of individuals,
absorbing devotion to his calling and all its details, were among his
most marked characteristics. These were combined with an intuitive
penetration and extended width of view, a statesmanlike grasp of every
situation in which he was placed, an almost prophetic foresight,
coolness, and discrimination of judgment, and peculiar gifts for
organization and administration." Dr. A. Graebner writes: "The task
which Muhlenberg found set before him when he entered upon the wild and
disordered field which had been allotted to him here, was such that, if
any one in Halle had been able to tell him and had told him what was
awaiting him in America, he would hardly have found the necessary
courage and cheerfulness to lay his hand to the plow which was to
convert this wild bramblepatch into an arable field. Still, where could
a second man have been found at that time who would have proven equal
to the task in the same measure as Henry Melchior Muhlenberg? Richly
endowed with a robust physique and a pious mind, with faithfulness in
matters great and small, with cheerful, but firm courage, with restless
activity and a spirit of progressive enterprise, with wisdom and
prudence, with the ability to inform himself quickly and to accommodate
himself to the circumstances, and, in addition to this, with the
necessary independence of volition and action,--characteristics
seldom found combined in one and the same person,--Muhlenberg was
splendidly equipped, both as to degree and variety, with the gifts
which a missionary and an organizer has need of. And from the very
first day of his planting and watering God gave a rich increase to his
labors, so rich, that Muhlenberg could say with a grateful heart: 'It
seems as though now the time had come that God would visit us with
special grace here in Pennsylvania.' Furthermore, self-exaltation was
utterly foreign to him. 'God does not need me,' he would say; 'He can
carry out His work also without me.' Likewise, he was ever content
although he never saw much money. During the first half-year of his
stay in Philadelphia he earned his board by giving music lessons."
(279.) Dr. A. Spaeth: "Though there were Lutheran congregations and
pastors among the Dutch on the Hudson, and among the Swedes on the
Delaware, as early as the first half of the seventeenth century, and,
later on, among the numerous German immigrants, still the real
organization of the Lutheran Church in America, on the foundation of the
fathers, only dates from the middle of the eighteenth century, and is
due to the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, by common consent the
patriarch of the Lutheran Church on this continent, through whose
efforts the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, 'The Mother Synod,' was
established in 1748. In missionary zeal, in pastoral tact and fidelity,
in organizing ability and personal piety, he had no superior." (_C.P.
Krauth_, 1, 316.)