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Table of Contents Title Page, Intro, Preface, TOC CHAP.1 Beginnings in America, p.1-9 CHAP.2 The Church in Its Development, p.10-15 CHAP.3 Under Presiding Eldership, p.16-22 CHAP.4 Under Presiding Eldership (cont.), p.23-34 CHAP.5 Under Presiding Eldership (cont.), p. 35-48 CHAP.6 Under Presiding Eldership (cont.), p.49-58 CHAP.7 Under Conference Superintendency, p.59-65 CHAP.8 Those Given to General Interests, p.66-74 CHAP.9 Those Given to General Interests (cont.), p.75-79 CHAP.10 Outstanding Laymen, p.80-90 CHAP.11 History of the Churches by Charges, p.91-120 CHAP.12 History of the Churches by Charges (cont.), p.121-156 CHAP.13 History of the Churches by Charges (cont.), p.157-192 CHAP.14 History of the Churches by Charges (cont.), p.193-227 CHAP.15 In Memoriam, p.228-230 CHAP.16 Photos of the Present Ministerial Members of Allegheny Conference, p.231-240 CHAP.17 Ministerial Record of Conference Members, p.241-257 CHAP.20 Complete List of Those Elected as Delegates to General Conference, p.271-273 NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION Work originally published in 1921. Scanned, proofed and minor spelling corrections by the United Brethren Historical Center. Electronic edition ©2006 United Brethren Historical Center Suggested Citation:
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History of the Allegheny Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ by J. S. Fulton |
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Chapter I
BEGINNINGS IN AMERICA
Germans in Pennsylvania—Help from Holland—Otterbein—Boehm—Meeting at Isaac Long's Barn—Preliminary Meetings—Other Leaders—Historical Sketch.
GERMANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
The Dutch were among the first settlers in Pennsylvania, having planted trading stations as early as 1626. At the special request of William Penn, a number of Germans settled at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1683. Others followed and settled near Reading. In the half century from 1725 to 1775 there was a large number of Germans who sought freedom from religious persecution and political oppression and most of these settled east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is estimated that there were 100,000 Germans in Pennsylvania in 1775. Whole counties, such as Lancaster, Berks, York, and Lebanon, were almost exclusively settled by them. These people were poor, but industrious, and their food, belongings, and manner of life were very plain. There was great need of religious leaders and these German emigrants depended almost entirely upon the homeland for their ministers. They adhered to the German Reformed, Lutheran, Mennonite, and Moravian faiths in their religious beliefs.
HELP SENT BY HOLLAND
About the middle of the eighteenth century the Dutch Reformed Church of Holland became interested in the emigrants in America and in 1746 sent Michael Schlatter as a missionary. After five years of faithful toil he returned, reported his work, and asked for assistance in both money and missionaries. He appeared before the classes of Amsterdam and later went to Switzerland and Germany. He pressed his cause with such zeal and faithfulness that he later returned to Holland bringing with him six young men as missionaries. In March, 1752, Reverend Schlatter, accompanied by Philip William Otterbein, William Stoy, John Waldschmidt, Theodore Frankenfeld, John Casper Rubel and John Jacob Wissler as missionaries set sail for New York. They landed July 27, 1752, and were soon assigned to their fields of labor. We now take leave of them all except Philip William Otterbein
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who, under God, was destined to become one of the earthly founders of The Church of The United Brethren in Christ.
EARTHLY FOUNDERS----OTTERBEIN
Philip William Otterbein, son of John Daniel and Wilhelmina Henrietta Otterbein, was born in Dillenburg, Germany, June 3, 1726. His father, after his graduation from college, entered the ministry of
BISHOP PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN
the Reformed Church in 1718. A year later he became a teacher in the Reformed Latin School of Dillenburg. In 1728, he became a pastor and moved to Frohnhausen, where he continued to serve until his death, November 14, 1749. Though left without means, his mother, like his father, had character, learning, piety, and faith in God, and was determined that her sons should become educated. She lived to see her six sons complete a collegiate course of study.
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After his graduation Philip William Otterbein entered the ministry of the German Reformed Church and was ordained June 13, 1749, at Dillenburg, Germany. He entered upon these new duties with such zeal and earnestness that it was said of him that, "In reproof he spared neither rank nor class." Some of his hearers approved, some objected, and some cautioned, but his mother said, "My William must be a missionary." When asked by him, "To what people and to what land?" she would reply, "Be patient. Wait the Lord's time." The call came in the spring of 1752 and he did not hesitate, but at once began making preparation to enter upon the work among the Germans in Pennsylvania in the new world. When the time of his going arrived, after a night spent in prayer, his mother came from her chamber with the victory won and taking the hand of her son she pressed it to her bosom and said, "Go, the Lord bless and keep thee; the Lord cause His face to shine upon thee and with much grace direct thy steps. On earth I may not see thy face again after we part, but go."
PASTORATES----LANCASTER
Reverend Otterbein began his work at Lancaster in August, 1752. His contract was for five years but his term of service was a little more than six years. Lancaster was the largest town, and his church the strongest Reformed Church west of Philadelphia.
He preached at a number of outside places and was in constant demand. He found that loose ideas and practices prevailed and that irregularities of order and discipline had crept into his church, leaving it at a low spiritual ebb. With great zeal he rebuked sin in both high and low places and urged his people to a deeper spirituality and to lead pure lives. This brought to him the opposition of the worldly-minded and made his task the harder. One says of his ministry, "He was full of vigor and holy zeal and labored as appears from the records amid varied discouragements but always with success."
He built a new church in 1753 which stood until 1852. It was during this pastorate, not later than 1754, there came to him a great crisis in his life that had much to do in shaping his future. One Sabath morning, after preaching an earnest sermon on Repentance for Sin and Faith in Jesus as a Conscious Savior, one of his members came to him in deep penitence and asked advice. "Advice with me is scarce today," said Otterbein. The member went his way and his pastor went to his closet and there Jacob-like, wrestled with God until he obtained the forgiveness of his sins and the witness of the Spirit and
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was filled with great joy and unspeakable peace. Whatever had been his training, equipment, and experience he now had the personal assurance of his salvation and that it was the privilege of every Christian to possess it.
AT TULPEHOCKEN
When he resigned Lancaster he fully intended to visit Germany but for various reasons he changed his mind and accepted the Tulpehocken charge in Lebanon and Berks counties, but extended his labors to other places and as far as Frederick, Maryland.
During this pastorate he introduced pastoral visitation, with scripture reading and prayer into his work. He also established the midweek prayer meetings which, by some, were called "Religious Abominations." His labors were blessed of God but for various reasons he resigned the work at the end of two years to accept the pastorate at Frederick, Maryland.
AT FREDERICK
While here his labors extended to Winchester, Virginia; Antietam, Pennsylvania, and a number of other places. During this pastorate he built both a parsonage and a church. The stone tower of the church still stands. After five years he resigned Frederick to take up work at York, Pennsylvania.
AT YORK
This pastorate extended from 1765 to 1774 and was the last regular appointment served in the Reformed Church. During this pastorate, his wife died at the age of thirty-two years and five months. In 1770, he visited the homeland, being absent about eighteen months. It was during this pastorate that he met Martin Boehm, who was destined to become closely associated with him. Here also began that definite line of work that marked his future course.
EARTHLY FOUNDERS----BOEHM
Martin Boehm was born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, November 30, 1725. His parents were strict members of the Mennonite Church, and in due time Martin was made a member of their church. His educational advantages were meager and his training limited. He had a clear and ready grasp of ideas and was a fluent speaker in the German language and later he learned to express himself clearly in
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the English. In 1756, he was chosen by his church to be a minister. At first he was an assistant to the elder brother who was still active. Because of what he was pleased to call his "failures in public" he became greatly exercised and made his ministry a matter of prayer. One day while plowing he felt an overwhelming sense of his lost state and sank to the ground crying out that he was lost. There came to him like a voice the saying, "I am come to save that which is lost,"
BISHOP MARTIN BOEHM
and in a moment he was overwhelmed with the joy of his conscious, personal salvation. The following Sabbath he told the people what had come to him and many wept. This continued from time to time and it was all new because none of his people had heard or seen it before. It caused a great deal of commotion in the church and aroused great opposition. He now began preaching wherever opportunity afforded itself, not only on the Sabbath but during the week. Opposi-
THE ISAAC LONG BARN
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tion continued to increase and finally culminated in his expulsion from his church because of the part he took in promoting revivals and for associating with other churches.
MEETING AT ISAAC LONG'S BARN
Typical of the meetings held, and possibly the greatest of them, was the meeting held on Whitsuntide, 1776, or 1777, or 1778, in the Isaac Long barn. This barn is 108 feet long and of proportionate width and was built in 1754. It is still in use and in a good state of preservation. Of this meeting H. G. Spayth, our first historian, says, "Here for the first time on a like occasion, an assembly of Christians met together from far and near—Lutherans, German Reformed, Mennonites, Dunkards, and others coming together as of one accord. Boehm, small of stature, and Otterbein, large of stature, were present. Boehm preached the sermon at the close of which Otterbein rose and embraced him and said, "We are brethren." Through the leading of the Holy Spirit these servants of God, who up to this time were leaders among their own people/seeking to bring about a spiritual awakening, were brought into fellowship and were led to take steps of which they had not dreamed, and to build a structure they had not planned.
OTHER LEADERS----THEIR WORK
Associated with these natural leaders in this movement were others among whom were Christian Newcomer, George A. Geeting, Abraham Draksel, Peter Kemp, Christian Berger, David Long, Harmonius Ow, and others, their number increasing with the passing years.
Otterbein, while pastor at Baltimore in 1764, extended his labors into many other places in Maryland and Pennsylvania, while Boehm went into Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Newcomer's Journal gives us the record of his travels which were very extensive through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Many "Big Meetings" and "Camp Meetings" were held at which large numbers of people were converted. The people were not gathered into classes until after 1800, for no purpose of organizing a new denomination was in the minds of the people, but under the leadership of the Holy Spirit events were taking place which eventually crystallized into the organization of The Church of The United Brethren in Christ.
From the small beginning in Isaac Long's barn the work grew until its present result is the second largest American-born denomination on our continent. The first formal gathering looking toward the organi-
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zation of a church was the meeting in the parsonage of Otterbein, in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1789. The first annual conference was held in 1800, and the first General Conference in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in 1815. The historical sketch taken from the first Discipline printed in 1817 and translated into English in 1819, as recorded in Drury's History, is as follows:
"In the century last past it pleased the Lord our God to awaken persons in different parts of the world, who should raise up the Chris-
THE BONNETT SCHOOL HOUSE WHERE THE FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS HELD
tian religion from its fallen state, and preach the gospel of Christ crucified, in its purity.
"At this time the Lord in mercy remembered the Germans in America who, living scattered in this extensive country had but seldom an opportunity to hear the gospel of a crucified Savior preached to them in their native language.
"Amongst others, he raised up an Otterbein, a Boehm, and a Geeting armed them with spirit, grace, and strength to labor in his neglected vineyard, and call, also, amongst the Germans in America, sinners to repentance. These men obeyed the call of their Lord and Master;
9 their labors were blessed; they established in many places excellent societies, and led many a precious soul to Jesus Christ. Their sphere of action spread itself more and more, so that they found it necessary to look about for more fellow laborers in the vineyard; for the harvest was great and the laborers few. The Lord called others, who also were willing to devote their strength to his service; such, then, were accepted by one or the other of the preachers as fellow laborers.
"The number of members of the society in the different parts of the country continued to increase and the gracious work spread itself through the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Great meetings were appointed and held annually several times; when, on such occasions, Otterbein would hold particular conversation with the preachers then present; represent to them the importance of the ministry, and the necessity of their utmost endeavors to save souls. At one of these conversations it was resolved to hold a conference of all the preachers in order to take into consideration how, and in what manner, they might be most useful.
"The first conference was accordingly held in Baltimore, in the year 1789. Those present were: William Otterbein, Martin Boehm, George Adam Geeting, Christian Newcomer, Adam Lehman, John Ernst, Henry Weidener."
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