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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECOND PERIOD—1774-1800 Ch.4—Mr. Otterbein called to Baltimore Ch.5—The Otterbein Church in Baltimore Ch.6—The Movement Toward a Separate Church Organization Ch.7—The First and Second Conferences THIRD PERIOD—1800-1815 Ch.10—The Conferences of 1801-1814 Ch.12—The Departure of the Leaders FOURTH PERIOD—1815-1837 Ch.13—The First General Conference—1815 Ch.14—The General Conferences of 1817-1833 FIFTH PERIOD—1837-1885 Ch.15—The General Conferences of 1837 and 1841 Ch.16—The General Conferences of 1845 and 1849 Ch.17—The General Conferences of 1853-1861 Ch.18—The General Conferences of 1865-1881 SIXTH PERIOD—1885-1897 Ch.19—The Nineteenth General Conference—1885 Ch.21—The Twentieth General Conference—1889 Ch.23—The Twenty-First General Conference—1893
PART II DEPARTMENTS OF CHURCH WORK Ch.1—The United Brethren Publishing House Ch.2—The Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society and Its Work Ch.3—The Church-Erection Society Ch.4—The Woman's Missionary Association Ch.9—The Young People's Christian Union Ch.10—The Board of Trustees of the Church
PART III THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES Ch.1—A Group of Early Conferences Ch.2—Other Conferences Organized from 1835 to 1853 Ch.3—Conferences Organized Since 1853
PART IV HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL TABLES Appendices Index
NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION Work originally published in 1897. 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 Church of the United Brethren in Christ by Daniel Berger |
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CHAPTER I PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN I. PARENTAGE, BIRTH, AND EARLY YEARS OP MR. OTTERBEIN. p.20 Philip William Otterbein, whose name stands conspicuous above the names of his fellow-laborers as the founder of the United Brethren Church, was born in the town of Dillenburg, in the duchy of Nassau, Germany, on the third day of June,1 1726. This town of Dillenburg was for several centuries, in the older Germany, of considerable importance, being the place of residence of a long line of princes, some of whom gained note in history. Nassau, bordering in part on the river Rhine, and now known on the map as Wiesbaden, is one of the most fertile districts of Germany. It embraces an area of a. little over eighteen hundred square miles, and contains at the present time a population of about half a million, the greater number of whom are Protestants. Besides furnishing, in the earlier times, an emperor to Germany, it reached also
DILLENBURG IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. p.21 the higher distinction of giving to Europe the line of the Orange princes. The conditions of climate and soil and the relationship of boundaries were favorable to the production of a sturdy, intelligent, and thrifty population, and such were the characteristics of its inhabitants from an early period. The town of Dillenburg is picturesquely situated on the river Dille, from which it takes its name. The town is built on the sloping land bordering on the river, while the ancient castle stood on the hill overlooking the river and valley. This castle stood in the time when Mr. Otterbein was born, and for over thirty years longer, as the proud defense of the city. It was the home of an illustrious line of princes, among whom was counted William the Silent, who was born within its walls, and inheriting large possessions in the Netherlands achieved the independence of that country. In 1760 this castle yielded to the assaults of the French, and after remaining for more than a century a dreary ruin, it was succeeded by a noble monument to the memory of William, erected jointly by the people of Holland and Nassau. The monument was dedicated in June, 1875. But we are for the present interested more in a plain but substantial old home at the foot of the hill than in this proud palace of the early rulers, just as the humble manger and its lowly surroundings of an ancient town in Judea hold for us a stronger fascination than the stately dwellings or the royal courts of imperial Jerusalem; a home from whose door came forth no mailed warrior, armed with sword or spear, but instead a divinely appointed messenger, whose service should be rich with blessing to his fellow-men for generations to come. Just to the right of the castle, as seen in our illustration, and in the rear of the church, whose spire points toward heaven, remains p.22 to this day the solidly built house in which the Otterbein family for a number of years resided, and in which Mr. Otterbein first opened his eyes to the light. Close to this old residence stands also the building in which was kept the Reformed Latin school over which Mr. Otterbein's father was principal. The church is Reformed, and in its archives remains the record of Mr. Otterbein's birth and baptism.2 The population of Dillenburg in the middle of the eighteenth century was about three thousand. This number has been but slightly advanced since then, being now about four thousand. II. THE OTTERBEIN FAMILY. The prophet Isaiah directed the people of his time to look back to the rock whence they were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged, to Abraham their father, and to Sarah that bare them.3 And so it may be profitable for us here to look to the family and surroundings from which God brought forth that man of refined and thorough culture, and of deep and fervent spirituality, who was to achieve so blessed a work in the New World, and whose memory was to be so lovingly embalmed in the hearts of so many thousands. The history of the Otterbein family is preserved from the middle of the seventeenth century. It was in the year 1650 that John Otterbein came to Dillenburg, and was appointed to the office of court-trumpeter. One of his sons, Charles Frederick, marrying the daughter of p.23 Pastor Hatzfeldt, of Driedorf, became the father of John Daniel, and through him the grandfather of Philip William Otterbein. The strong religious instinct which so notably distinguished the Otterbein name, began to have a decided development in the family of Charles Frederick, two of his six children becoming ministers. From this time forward for several generations the family abounds with names distinguished alike for learning and piety. Thus Mr. Otterbein's grandfather, his father, and his father's brother were ministers, as were also his brothers, five in number, and the four sons of his oldest brother.
John Daniel, the father of Philip William Otterbein, was born two centuries
ago, on the sixth of September, 1696. He was a man of fine culture and
abilities, and became principal of the Reformed Latin school in the place of
his birth. His learning was recognized by the faculty at Herborn in an
official document, the original of which is yet preserved. On his mother's
side Mr. Otterbein was equally favored in the endowment which comes with
birth. Wilhelmina Henrietta, the daughter of John Jacob Hoerlen, who became
the wife of John Daniel Otterbein, was a woman of rare intellectual and
spiritual worth, as well as of fine personal accomplishments, and was
eminently fitted by her natural and acquired gifts to train to manhood a son
who was destined to so illustrious a mission in life. The honored faculty at
Herborn, the school in which his sons were educated, and in which Mr.
Otterbein was for a time a preceptor, spoke of her in an official paper in
terms of highest commendation. But we see the triumph of her heroic qualities
rather in the successful rearing of her large family, after the early death
of her husband, her six sons completing the full course of study, literary
and theological, required in the school at Herborn, and all of them
p.24
becoming ministers of the gospel of Christ. Nothing could give stronger proof
of high moral and intellectual character, as well as of the deeper maternal
and religious instincts, than the ability to exert such an influence over a
large family of sons, and lead them, without an exception, to so honorable a
goal. The one daughter whom she reared gave proof of the same type of
character as the sons, in becoming the wife of a Reformed minister. To John Daniel and Wilhelmina Henrietta Otterbein there were born ten children—seven sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters died in infancy, and one son at twelve years of age. The remaining six sons all lived to maturity, and, as already noted, all became ministers, their ages at death ranging from sixty-eight to eighty-seven, the last being the age of William. Three of them became authors, publishing works on various subjects. George Godfrey, the fourth son, energetically opposed the rising tide of the rationalism of that day. He published three volumes on the Heidelberg Catechism. His writings on this and other subjects, it is said, were of a high order, and some of them found their way to America. John Daniel, the fifth son, also author of a work on the Heidelberg Catechism, was promoted to a seat in the consistory. John Charles, the third son, spent his entire mature life at Herborn, and in connection with the school, being teacher or professor in the institution to the end of his life, for ten years its co-rector, or vice-president, and during the last seventeen p.26 years its rector, or president. It fell to the lot of this son to take affectionate care of the mother of this noble family in her later years, she, like her sons, dying at an advanced age.4 III. THE SCHOOL AT HERBORN. Herborn was a small town contiguous to Dillenburg and Frohnhausen, being situated about three miles south from the former. It contained about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Of the noted school at this place, in which the sons of the Otterbein family were educated, and which contributed in so great a degree in developing the high type of character to which they attained, something further is here to be said. The school was founded in the year 1584, a little over four centuries ago, and while the fires of the Reformation were yet warmly burning. Its professors were men of decided character, distinguished alike for sound learning and for a distinct apprehension of the meaning of a spiritual Christianity. The school embraced the several departments belonging to institutions of the higher grades at that time, and while it did not quite reach, it approached nearly in type to the German university. Its theological course is said to have been rather more full than those of the theological seminaries of the present time. Among the most distinguished names of its professors in the time to which our history belongs, were those of Dr. John Henry Schramm, Dr. Valentine Arnold, and Dr. John Eberhardt Rau. Dr. Schramm was the head of the institution, and was at the same time chief pastor of the local church at Herborn. He was especially distinguished for his clear conception of the spiritual and practical aspects of the Christian faith. Dr. Arnold, born at Dillenburg in p.27 1712, had been a student in the Latin school under John Daniel Otterbein, and formed a special attachment to the son, Philip William. Dr. Drury, in his Life of Otterbein, remarks of him that he "was a man of lovely and noble character, a man of faith and zeal," and that "he attained renown in Oriental and rabbinical literature." Dr. Rau also acquired distinction as a scholar in Oriental learning, and wrote a number of volumes on Oriental subjects. These men, further, were in intimate correspondence with the most spiritual of the theologians of the Netherlands, as well as with men of like character in other parts of continental Europe, and in the British Islands. The writings of Philip Doddridge, which exerted so wholesome an influence in quickening a deeper piety, were read by them with pleasure and commended to their students. It will thus be seen that while the best opportunities for scholastic attainment were presented to Mr. Otterbein, the spiritual influences in the school combined with those of his pious home to develop in him those high ideas of spiritual life which proved so potent an agency in the great work upon which he was to enter in the field for which God was preparing him. It will be in place to add here that, while the theology of the Reformed Church was substantially Calvinistic, the peculiar tenets of that form of faith were held less rigidly at Herborn, as indeed among German scholars generally, than they were in Holland and other parts of Europe. This fact may account in some degree for the readiness with which Mr. Otterbein found himself able, in more advanced life, to enter into harmonious fellowship with men educated in other schools of faith, but partaking of the same earnest spiritual life, and in time to become the founder and chief leader of a church whose faith found expression in Arminian symbols. p.28 IV. WORK IN HERBORN AND OCKERSDORF. It was not an unusual thing in Germany for candidates for the holy ministry, after leaving college, to spend some time as private instructors in families of wealth and station. A special advantage thus secured was a degree of experience in teaching which fitted them the better for the work of catechetical instruction in the congregations of which they might afterward become pastors. Mr. Otterbein, in accordance with this custom, spent a short time as a "house-teacher," in the duchy of Berg, about one hundred miles from Herborn. He was, however, soon called back to service in the institution which had given him his education. Meanwhile, perhaps from considerations of modesty, he had not presented himself in an official way as a candidate for sacred orders. His appointment as a preceptor in Herborn made it necessary to take this step, and he passed the required examination. This was in 1748, and he was now nearly twenty-two years of age. About a year later he was appointed by the consistory at Dillenburg to the position of vicar at Ockersdorf, his older brother having accepted a charge at another place. This made it necessary that he receive full ordination as a minister, and he was accordingly ordained in the old church at Dillenburg on June 13, 1749.5 Ockersdorf was a small village about a mile from Herborn, and was under the charge of the second pastor at Herborn. There was only one church in Herborn, notwithstanding the considerable size of the town. Dr. Arnold was chief pastor. Both of these churches were served by the professors in the school, and Mr. Otterbein now performed the twofold duties of teacher and pastor. In addition to his Sabbath preaching he was required to preach also on the first Wednesday of each month, and on
p.29 festival days. But, what may be a surprise to some readers, he was also required to hold a weekly meeting for prayer, an unusual form of service in the churches of Germany then as now. Was it here that he received a part of that special practical experience which proved so effectual in his evangelistic work in America when he entered upon this broader field? Thus Mr. Otterbein was made familiar from the beginning of his ministerial life with this form of service, which has proved so invaluable in encouraging a deeper devotional spirit in the church.6 This twofold relation as pastor and preceptor Mr. Otterbein sustained for a period of four years, until he was called to become a missionary to America, his duties also requiring him to preach statedly at another small village, near Ockersdorf, and in Herborn. To this work he brought the full measure of his youthful zeal. He was himself profoundly convinced of the truth of the gospel of Christ, and of the necessity for a pure life and an earnest religious spirit. This was in accordance with the training of his devout mother, and in harmony with the teaching he had received from the evangelical men who occupied the chairs of the Herborn school. But it was not to be expected that there would be a unanimous response of approval from the people to whom he preached. The stern rebukes of sin in high and in humbler life, and the earnest exhortations to forsake their evil-doing and enter upon a purer life and into a deeper spiritual experience, naturally awakened opposition on the part of some of his hearers. So strong did this adverse feeling become that some of the opposers invoked the authorities to put a check upon him. Others, however, warmly welcomed his earnest messages, and gave him their hearty support. His pious mother, deeply moved by these oppositions p.30 against her son, and with a wise discernment of the true situation, said : "Ah, William, I expected this, and give you joy. This place is too narrow for you, my son; they will not receive you here; you will find your work elsewhere." She was also sometimes heard to say, as with the instinct of an interpreter of the divine purposes, "My William will have to be a missionary ; he is so frank, so open, so natural, so prophet-like."7 It is greatly to the credit of his superiors in the Herborn faculty and of the authorities at Dillenburg, and indicates the predominant religious tone in the school and among those whom it influenced most, that there was no interference with Mr. Otterbein's manner of preaching, and that he continued in unbroken relation with both the faculty and the Ockersdorf church until he was dismissed with great honor to go to his field in the New World. Mr. Otterbein's certificate of ordination is a document of special interest, and a copy is herewith presented. It will be noticed by its date that the certificate was written nearly three years after the event, and was intended to be a credential certifying to his ordination as well as general character when about to "emigrate to foreign shores." The certificate is signed by Dr. Schramm, the senior professor or president of the Herborn school. Dr. Arnold and Pastor Klingelhöfer, as appears in the body of the certificate, assisted in the ordination. This certificate was preserved by Mr. Otterbein, and handed by him to his friend Rev. John Hildt, of Baltimore. The original, in Latin manuscript, is now in the archives of the United Brethren Publishing House, at Dayton, Ohio, having been presented to the House by Mr. Hildt. The certificate reads as follows: p.31LECTORIS SALUTEM. Reverendus et doctissimus vir juvenis, Philippus Guilhelmus Otterbeinius, gente Nassauius, domo Dillenburgensis, S. Ministerii Oandidatus, classis tertiæ hujus pædagogii præceptor, manuum impositione adsistentibus Cl. Arnoldo, professore atque primario cœtus Herbornensis pastore, et admodum reverendo Klingelhöfero ejusdem ecclesiæ secundario, ut vicariam in cœtu Ockersdorpiano præstaret opem, 13 Junii, 1749, ordinationis a me impetravit axioma. Quod his ad ejus requisitionem testor, et dilecto meo quondam audi-tori in peregrinas abiturienti oras, fausta quævis prosperumque iter ex animo precor, constantis mei adversus eum adfectus monimentum. Joh. Henricus Schrammius, {Signum} Theologia Doctor et Ecclesiarum Nassauicarum Superintendens. HERBORNÆ, III. Calendas Martias, MDCCLII. The following is the translation as given by Professor Drury in his Life of Otterbein. TRANSLATION. To the Reader, Greeting— The reverend and very learned young man, Philip William Otterbein, from Dillenburg, in Nassau, a candidate of the holy ministry, and a teacher of the third class in this school, received of me, assisted by Cl.8 Arnold, professor and first pastor of the congregation at Herborn, and by the Reverend Klingelhöfer, second pastor of the same church, on the 13th of June, 1749, the rite of ordination by the laying on of hands, that he might perform the functions of vicar, in the congregation at Ockersdorf. This I certify at his request; and to my much esteemed former hearer, who is now about to emigrate to foreign shores, I earnestly wish all good fortune and a prosperous voyage, and subscribe this letter as a testimonial of my never-failing affection towards him. John Henry Schramm, {Seal.} Doctor of Theology and Superintendent of the Church of Nassau. Herborn, February 28, 1752.9 V. THE CALL TO AMERICA. We have seen that Mr. Otterbein's mother had a strong premonition that her son was destined to become a p.32 missionary to some foreign land. No long time was to elapse until the pious intuitions of her devout spirit were to be realized in a call for a service for which his thorough education and his eminently spiritual training, both in the home and in the school, peculiarly fitted him. The call came with great clearness and force. Never since the days of Paul was the cry, "Come over and help us," more surely the voice of God than was the earnest pleading of the destitute in the American colonies for the bread of life. And never was there a heartier or more unhesitating response than that when the cultured young Otterbein forsook the associations amid which he was reared, and where he was working with success and abundant promise of future honor, to consecrate himself, with the companions who joined him, to the work of evangelization in the New World.
The religious needs of the German settlers in America, especially in the
colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, had for some
time been attracting the attention of the church in Europe, and limited
supplies of ministers and money had been sent over for their relief. The
supplies of money, however, as we shall see more fully, came from the Dutch
Reformed Church of Holland, rather than from the German Reformed Church in
Germany, due to the larger means of the Netherlander and the comparative
poverty of the Germans. The Dutch had also been earliest on the American
soil, preceding by almost a century any considerable immigration of Germans,
and New Amsterdam, named for the old Amsterdam of Holland, had become a
considerable city before passing into the hands of the English and becoming
New York. The Dutch Reformed Church thus became one of the earliest of the
Protestant churches established on American soil. The Germans did not come in
any marked numbers until
p.33 the cruel hand of
persecution was stretched out against them. The famous edict of Nantes,
promulgated by Henry IV., in 1598, had for nearly ninety years secured a
partial toleration to the Reformed Church in France. The revocation of this
instrument by the cruel persecutor, Louis XIV., in 1685, on the shameless
pretext that there were no longer any Protestants in France, and that its
provisions were therefore no longer needed, with the increased persecutions
which immediately began to follow, greatly stimulated emigration. But not
only was the outflow of French Huguenots, or Calvinists, greatly augmented,
until it reached by conservative estimates from three to four hundred
thousand people, but the repeated devastations of the Palatinate, a middle
country of the Rhine, led to the exile, first, of many thousands of Germans
to other European countries, as Holland, Switzerland, and England, and
subsequently of many of them to America. The evil hand of this remorseless
monarch was first laid upon this peaceful district in 1674, and afterward,
subsequent to the revocation, in 1688, and again in 1693. Of the Huguenots
some sought refuge in Brazil, South America, others in Florida, and others in
South Carolina, while others still found shelter among the colonies farther
to the north. The Germans who fled from the Palatinate, after a brief sojourn
in the several European countries which first gave them asylum, sought homes
chiefly in the middle colonies already named. Some of them formed
considerable settlements on the Hudson and in other parts of the colony of
New York, but receiving ungenerous treatment by the civil government, they
left again the homes they had established, and came into Pennsylvania.
Settling in large numbers in Berks, Lancaster, Bucks, and others of the
eastern counties of Pennsylvania, they laid the foundations of those strong
German communities whose
p.34 descendants have ever
since constituted so solid a portion of the best citizenship of that now
great commonwealth, and who have contributed so substantially to the best
bone and sinew of all the States westward. Religiously, these people were
comprehended chiefly in about three denominations—German Reformed, Lutherans,
and Mennonites. The Reformed were the most numerous of these, and the
Mennonites the least. Singularly enough, the last named, having found a
refuge first among the generous Hollanders, were presently unwelcome because
they did not subscribe to the Calvinistic tenets of the Dutch church, and so
they set forth again to find, on the soil of the new continent, unrestricted
religious freedom—the precious boon which so many of the oppressed and
persecuted in the old country so earnestly coveted. Of the Germans who were
invited by Queen Anne to find refuge in her dominions, some were settled by
her in Ireland, thus giving rise to the people still known as Irish Germans,
while others were assisted by her in coming to America. The favorable terms
proposed by William Penn to immigrants began to induce the Germans to form
settlements in Pennsylvania as early as 1681, but in the first twenty years
from that date the number coming into the colony scarcely exceeded two
hundred families. In the next quarter of a century from forty to fifty
thousand came, and twenty years later, or about the middle of the century,
near the time of Mr. Otterbein's arrival, when the whole number of settlers
in the colony reached about one hundred and ninety thousand, fully ninety
thousand were Germans. Of these, about one-third, or about thirty thousand,
were connected with the German Reformed Church. Of many of them the church
connection was only nominal, as they were largely without organized
societies, without houses for worship, and
p.35 without pastors, and
adults and children alike in great numbers were unbaptized. These earlier conditions of the German population of the colonies, their needs, and the part taken by the Holland church for their relief, are thus dwelt upon at length, for the purpose of presenting to the reader a more perfect understanding of the field in which Mr. Otterbein began and through the later years carried on his American work. Here it will be in order to speak of one missionary whose name claims a conspicuous place in the early history of the German Reformed Church in America, and through whose agency Mr. Otterbein was brought across the sea, namely, the Rev. Michael Schlatter. To this man more than to any other that church is indebted, not indeed for its founding, for he was not the founder, but for the effective organization of its scattered congregations and ministers into a consistent religious body. Mr. Schlatter p.37 was a native of St. Gall, Switzerland, at that time one of the largest of the Swiss cities, was educated for the ministry, served for some years as teacher and pastor in his native country and Holland, and afterward offered himself for the missionary work in America. He went to Amsterdam, presented himself before the deputies of the synods of South and North Holland, was accepted by them, and duly commissioned to proceed to the work. He was yet a young man, not quite thirty years of age, full of zeal and enthusiasm, and ready to enter with earnest purpose upon the work to which for forty-five years he gave his best endeavors. The duties enjoined upon him by the deputies for this first mission were chiefly those of a superintendent of the work, though he was not known by this name. He was to visit the various settlements, look up the members of the Reformed Church, organize them into societies by ordaining deacons and elders, baptize their children, administer the Lord's supper, prepare church records, and as far as possible secure for them pastors. These labors Mr. Schlatter performed with great diligence, through a series of years, traveling often long distances, preaching and laboring constantly, adding to them also, as far as he could, the duties of a settled pastor, during his earlier years, at Philadelphia. He was, in reality, in the truest sense a bishop over the Reformed Church in America, as the Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg was, and had been for some time, among the Lutherans, and as Mr. Otterbein came to be in time among the more spiritually vitalized societies of the early United Brethren Church. Each of these men was a resident pastor while performing also these wider duties—Mr. Muhlenberg in New York, and Mr. Otterbein in Baltimore. Mr. Schlatter arrived in America for the first time in 1746. Five years later, in 1751, he returned to Holland carrying the earnest p.38 prayers of the American churches for additional missionaries. Mr. Schlatter, immediately on his arrival at Amsterdam, met the deputies, or standing committee, of the Dutch Reformed Synod, and laid before them at length his report of the work in America, with the prayer also for additional missionaries and further financial assistance. His report and his request were received with the warmest approval, and he was presently authorized to proceed to Germany and procure six young men, educated and consecrated, for the work, with promise of all necessary financial support. He was further instructed, however, to visit the churches in Germany and Switzerland and solicit such further help as they might be able to give for the support of the general work. The limited resources of the Reformed churches in Germany, through the impoverishment of wars and religious persecutions, strengthened the appeal to Netherland generosity ; nevertheless the opportunity was thus given to the Germans to assist in the work. Mr. Schlatter went at once to Herborn, the evangelical spirit prevailing in the school doubtless attracting him there, to find the young men whom he sought. There was a ready response to his call, and the volunteers for the important mission were soon found. They were Mr. Otterbein, William Stoy, John Waldschmidt, Theodore Frankenfeld, John Casper Rubel, and one who, yielding to the entreaties and tears of his mother, withdrew after having pledged himself. His place was at once taken by a Mr. Wissler, a young man from Berg, who, with his recently married wife, gladly joined the band. The names of these young men were presented to the faculty of Herborn for approval, which was most cordially given. Under date of February 25, 1752, the following was written by Dr. Schramm in the record of the p.39 Herborn Academy : "Rev. Schlatter handed me the list of candidates whom he desires to take along with him to Pennsylvania, and prays that we give them a general academical testimonial. Shall they have such?" Following this the second professor of theology, Dr. Rau, wrote : "Yes. I hope there is no one that would not rather see the ministers desiring this recommendation advanced to work in a foreign land than in their home country." And here the following will be found to possess a very special interest as a historical document. It is the testimonial of the faculty to the standing of young Mr. Otterbein, then as for several years previous a preceptor in the school, and vicar at Ockersdorf. It was written and signed by Dr. Valentine Arnold, on behalf of the faculty. L. S.: Inhaber dieses, der Wohl-Ehrwürdige und Hochgelehrte Herr, Hl. Philippe Wilhelm Otterbein, ordinirter Candidatus S. Ministerii, bisheriger Præceptor am hiesigen Pædagogeo und nun berufener Prediger in Pensylvanien, ist am 4ten Juni, morgens zwischen 2 und 3 Uhr im Jahre 1726 zu Dillenburg, von ehrlichen, und der Evangelisch Reformirten Kirche zugethanen Eltern gebohren, und am 6ten dito zur Hl. Taufe gebracht worden. Sein HL Vater ist gewesen der weyl. Hochwohl Ehrwürdige und Hochgelehrte Herr, Hl. Johann Daniel Otterbein, ehedem wohlmerirter Rector der Lateinischen Schule daselbst, nachgehends aber treufleissiger Prediger bei deren Gemeinde Frohnhausen und Wissenbach, welcher am 16ten Nov., 1742, das Zeitliche mit dem Ewigen verwechselt. Die Frau Mutter ist die Hoch-Edle und tugendreiche Frau, Frau Wilhelmine Henriette, so als Wittwe noch Dato am Leben ist. Sie war eine geborne———. Taufzeuge war Hl. Philippe Wilhelm Keller, Hochfürstl. Nassau-Dillenburgische Küchenmeister, als naher Anverwandter. Sr. Wohl-Ehrwürden ist in der Reformirten Christi. Religion wohl erzogen, und hierauf zum Mitglied dieser Kirche angenommen worden, hat auch jeder Zeit einen ehrbaren, frommen und christlichen Wandel geführet, und nicht nur mit vielfältigem Predigen und treuer Verkündigung des göttl. Wortes, sowohl in dieser Stadt, als auf einem nahegelegenen hierher gehörigen Dorfe (wo er als Vicarius den hl. Dienst eine geraume Zeitlang versehen) und an andern Orten mehr geschehen, sondern auch mit seinem gottseligen Leben die Gemeinden erbaut. Weshalben wir nicht zweifeln, er werde auch der für Ihn p.40 bestimmten Gemeinde in Pensylvanien treulich und fruchtbarlich vorstehen. Wie wir Ihn denn zu dem Ende des Allmächtigen Schutz und Geleite inbrünstig anempfehlen und Ihm zu dem wichtigen Werk, wozu Er berufen worden, und sich so bereitfertig finden lassen, viele Gnade von Oben, und die reichsten göttl. Segen von Grund der Seelen anwünschen. So geschehen, Herborn, im Fürstenthum Nassau-Dillenburg, den 26ten Februar, 1752. V. Arnold, Professor und erster Prediger daselbsten. TRANSLATION. To the Reader, Greeting: The bearer of this, the truly reverend and very learned Mr. Philip "William Otterbein, an ordained candidate of the holy ministry, hitherto preceptor in this pædagogium, and now called as a preacher to Pennsylvania, was born June 4,10 1726, in the morning between two and three o'clock, at Dillenburg, of honorable parents belonging to the Evangelical Reformed Church, and was baptized June 6. His father was the right reverend and very learned Mr. John Daniel Otterbein, formerly the highly esteemed rector of the Latin school at Dillenburg, but afterwards a faithful, zealous preacher to the congregations at Frohnhausen and Wissenbach, and who departed from time into eternity, November 16,11 1742. His mother is the right noble and very virtuous woman, Wilhelmina Henrietta, her maiden name being———. She is alive at this time as a widow. His godfather was Mr. Philip William Keller, steward to the court of Nassau-Dillenburg, who was a near relative. The truly reverend Philip William Otterbein was well raised in the Reformed Christian religion, and then received as a member of this church. He has always lived an honest, pious, and Christian life; and not only by much preaching and faithful declaring of the word of God in this city, as also at a near affiliating town where he has been vicar for a considerable time, and at other places, but also by his godly life, has he built up the church. Wherefore we do not doubt that he will faithfully and fruitfully serve the church in Pennsylvania, to which he has been called. Therefore, to this end, we commend him to the protection of the Almighty, whose care and leading we pray upon him; and we pray that he may give him much grace from above, and the richest p.41 divine blessing in the work to which he has been called, and to which he was so willing to go, and we wish him from the bottom of our souls success. So done at Herborn, in the principality of Nassau-Dillenburg, February 26, 1752. V. Arnold, Professor and First Pastor. The young men who were thus recommended were next to proceed to Holland for examination and, if approved, for special consecration to the foreign work. And now came the time for the severest trial of the devoted mother of Mr. Otterbein. The long-cherished feeling of her heart that a broader field of work was awaiting her son was about to be realized, and she could not put forth her hand to take back again the precious sacrifice which she had placed on the Lord's altar. But her deep soul was greatly moved at what seemed to her like a final parting with her beloved son. To prepare her heart for the great trial, "she hastened to her closet, and, after being relieved by tears and prayer, she came from her chamber strengthened, and, taking her William by the hand and pressing that hand to her bosom, she said: 'Go; the Lord bless thee 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, but go.'"12 The spiritual triumph of the mother in this great ordeal again gave proof of that strength of character which was to find so noble a development in the son. The necessary preparation being completed, Mr. Schlatter started with his company of young men for the Netherlands. Arriving at the Hague, a further examination was made by the authorized committee as to their fitness for the work. It was required that they be "orthodox, learned, pious, and of humble disposition ; diligent, sound in body, and eagerly desirous, not after earthly, but heavenly treasures, especially the salvation of immortal souls." p.42 Those who had not been duly ordained to the ministry of the word then received this rite, and all were further specially consecrated as missionaries. They were required to subscribe to the tenets of the Heidelberg Catechism, and it was expected that all missionaries sent out by the church of Holland accept the catechism in the severer interpretations put upon it by the Dutch Reformed Church. Arrangements for their necessary expenses, and for their partial support in the mission field after entering upon their work, being duly completed, the company set sail toward the close of March. The voyage was a tedious one, the vessel reaching New York as late as the night before the 28th of July, after being about four months at sea. "On the following day," says Mr. Harbaugh, in his "Life of Michael Schlatter," "they were most cordially welcomed by Rev. Muhlenberg, who, when the six young ministers were introduced to him, in view of the difficulties of the field and the labor before them, very beautifully and appropriately addressed them in our Saviour's memorable words: 'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' "13
1Several different dates have been named as the time of Otterbein's birth. A Baltimore daily, at the time of his death, gave the date as June 2. The inscription on his tomb in the cemetery connected with the old Otterbein Church in Baltimore gives the date as June 4. This seems to follow the credentials given him by the faculty at Herborn when he was about to start for America. The baptismal record preserved in the old church at Dillenburg gives June 3 as the day, the ceremony of baptism occurring on June 6. Rev. Henry G. Spayth, in his "History of the United Brethren in Christ," gives March 6 as the date; upon what authority is not now known. I. D. Rupp gives November 6. In all these varying dates there is no disagreement as to the year—that is, 1726. Since the baptism occurred but three days after the birth, every presumption seems to favor the date given in the old record as the correct one. A transcript of this record appears in the Life of Otterbein by Prof. A. W. Drury. See Dr. A. W. Drury's Life of Philip William Otterbein, pp. 24, 25; also p. 22 in this volume. 2The following is the entry: "To Mr. John Daniel Otterbein, praceptori primario [rector, or principal] of the Latin school, and Mrs. Wilhelmina Henrietta, were horn twins on the third of June, early in the morning at two o'clock. The older is a son, and the second a daughter. Both were baptized on the sixth of June. The godfather for the son was Philip William Keller, steward of the kitchen [Küchenmeister] to the court; the godmother for the second, wife of Mr. John Martin Keller, butler [Kellermeister] to the court. The son was called Philip William, and the daughter Anna Margaret." —Drury's Life of Otterbein, p. 25. 3Isa. 51: 1, 2. 4Drury's Life of Otterbein, pp. 31-34. 5Ibid, p.44. 6Ibid, pp. 42-46. 7Spayth's History of the United Brethren in Christ, pp. 19, 20. 8"Cl." here stands as an abbreviation for Clarissimus, a title often prefixed to the names of German professors. The term means "most illustrious." The title might be rendered, "His Highness." 9Drury's Life of Otterbein, pp. 44, 45. 10Attention is here again called to the date of Mr. Otterbein's birth here given, as differing from that in the baptismal register in the church at Dillenburg, which has been spoken of on page 22. If it is thought singular that Mr. Otterbein never corrected the date in this document, we must regard it as no less so that he never filled out the blank left for his mother's name. It seems likely that he hesitated to make any alteration or amendment in this paper, preferring to leave it just as it came from the hands of the Herborn faculty. 11Mr. Cuno gives November 14 as the date. 12Spayth's History of the United Brethren in Christ, p. 21. 13From a serial work entitled Monatliche Nachrichten einiger Merkwürdigkeiten vom Jahr 1752 ("Monthly Reports of Remarkable Events in the Year 1752"), published in Zurich. Mr. Harbaugh, in his "Life of Michael Schlatter," translates the following item : "March. Rev. Michael Schlatter has returned again from Frankfort to Amsterdam with his cousin Christopher. As appears from a letter of Rev. Hudmaker, he has, through Rev. Prof. Arnold, in Herborn, gathered six young candidates, who are to be examined in Holland, and there dedicated to the service of the Pennsylvania churches." The Monatliche Nachrichten for May, a month later, of the same year, also contained the following: "Rev. Michael Schlatter actually sailed from Holland for Pennsylvania in March. Of the six candidates whom he secured in Nassau district, one went back, yielding to the earnest entreaties of his mother. His place has, however, been filled by another from the Berg district, who, with his wife, has undertaken the journey. These candidates were all examined and ordained at the Hague. They also approved themselves by preaching trial sermons, and the whole occasion was concluded in a most solemn and edifying manner by a thanksgiving sermon from Rev. Superintendent Schlatter."— Harbaugh's Life of Michael Schlatter, pp. 81, 82. We have seen that Mr. Otterbein, and probably some of the others, had already been duly ordained to the gospel ministry. But here they were especially dedicated to the missionary work in America. |
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