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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 II MR. OTTERBEIN IN AMERICA I. Mr. Otterbein's Earlier Years in America—Pastor At Lancaster p.43 Of the company of missionaries brought by Mr. Schlatter to America we are now to take leave, with the exception of Mr. Otterbein. This brief note, however, should be made: After remaining a few days at New York they came on with their leader to Philadelphia, and with one exception were soon located on the different charges they were to serve. Mr. Stoy was assigned to Tulpehocken, a charge which Mr. Otterbein served temporarily some years later; Mr. Waldschmidt, to Cocalico; and Mr. Frankenfeld, to Frederick City, Maryland. Mr. Rubel was located in the second church in Philadelphia, apparently without the consent of the cœtus or Mr. Schlatter. He seems to have proved "refractory," and is referred to in the records of the cœtus as "the rebellious Rubel," and three years later the minutes cease to mention his name. Of Mr. Wissler the sad fact is recorded that he died soon after his arrival, having never been installed over a charge. Mention follows a few years later of kind provision for his widow by the cœtus. Our narrative now returns to the name which interests the reader most, the only one among the group which gained a conspicuous place in history, the name of Philip William Otterbein. The city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was at that time a thrifty town of about two thousand People. Here was located the second in importance among p.44 the German Reformed churches in America,—the first being in Philadelphia,—and to this church Mr. Otterbein was appointed by Mr. Schlatter. From the testimony of Mr. Harbaugh, as from other sources, we learn that much laxity in morals, as well as in regard to orderly church life, prevailed in the congregation at this time. The church had been for some years mostly without a pastor, and had lapsed into unfortunate spiritual conditions. " Owing, probably, to the frequent vacancies which had here occurred during some years previous," says Mr. Harbaugh, " loose ideas and practices had come to prevail; and various irregularities, especially in regard to order and discipline, had gradually crept into the church."1 The conditions of entering upon the pastorate of this church having been agreed upon, one of which provided that his service should continue for a period of five years, Mr. Otterbein entered upon the duties of the charge in about one month from the time of his landing at New York. If we now recall the manner of his ministry at Ockersdorf and Herborn, and remember with what zeal and earnestness he there rebuked sin in high and in humble places, and urged his people to seek for a deeper spirituality, and lead purer and more exemplary lives, we shall understand how he addressed himself to the new duties that lay before him. Here was indeed a congregation less spiritual in its inner, and less orderly in its outward, life than were the churches to which he had previously ministered—churches which had been molded under the influence of the devout and saintly men who presided over the school at Herborn. And, as it might be supposed, the worldly element in the church, here as there, chafing under his trenchant rebukes, asserted itself in opposition to his spiritual and earnest preaching. But p.45 Mr. Otterbein was not to be turned aside by opposition. As a true ambassador from God, he delivered his message with unflinching fidelity, and with excellent results. Many in the church soon became strongly attached to the young pastor, and when, at the end of the five years, he tendered his resignation, intending to make a visit to Germany, the congregation was loth to let him go, and insisted upon his continuing with them. Upon their earnest pleading, and upon the intercession of the cœtus, he made an engagement to remain, reserving, however, the privilege of resigning at any time. We may remember just here that the date of Mr. Otterbein's settlement at Lancaster was twenty-three years before the beginning of the War of the American Revolution, and also that he was then just twenty-six years old.
Mr. Harbaugh, the distinguished historian of the Reformed Church, while never
quite able to free himself of a degree of prejudice toward the United
Brethren, though writing as late as 1857, presents some valuable materials
for United Brethren history. Among these is much of what he says of Mr.
Otterbein, whom he regards as misguided and erring, but for whom he
nevertheless retains the highest measure of admiration. Of Mr. Otterbein and
his ministry at Lancaster he says that he was "full of vigor and holy zeal,"
and that "he labored, during these five years, as appears from the records of
that church, amid various discouragements, though with regular success."2
Mr. Harbaugh further says that "at the close of the stipulated term, in 1757,
he was anxious to withdraw," and then continues, quoting from another source:
'"He complained of many grievances, which had rendered his ministry unhappy ;
and demanded, as a condition of his continuance, the exercise of a just
ecclesiastical
p.46 discipline, the abolition of all inordinacies, and
entire liberty of conscience in the performance of his pastoral duties. All
this was readily promised by the congregation.'" First of all, it is proper that those who profess themselves members should subject themselves to a becoming Christian church discipline, according to the order of Christ and his apostles ; and thus to show respectful obedience to ministers and officers, in all things that are proper. Secondly. To the end that all disorder may be prevented, and that each member may become more fully known, each one, without exception, who desires to receive the Lord's supper, shall, previous to the preparation service, upon a day appointed for that purpose, personally appear before the minister, that an interview may be held. No one will, by this arrangement, be deprived of his liberty, or be in any way bound oppressively. This we deem necessary to the preservation of order; and it is our desire that God may bless it to this end. Whoever is truly concerned to grow in grace, will not hesitate to subscribe his name. This excellent measure thus adopted became an established custom of the Lancaster church, and was regularly p.47 maintained for about seventy-five years. Thus before each communion season the pastor and the people were brought face to face, giving the pastor opportunity to make inquiry concerning the spiritual condition of each, and to give such counsel or comfort as might be necessary. Mr. Harbaugh justly laments that "the good custom" was "suffered to sink out of sight," adding that "its abandonment brought no blessings to the church at Lancaster." One more paragraph from Mr. Harbaugh, illustrating the high character of Mr. Otterbein's work at Lancaster, and the permanent results which followed, is here added : "Though the congregation at Lancaster had existed, with considerable prosperity, since 1736, it is evident that it was the labor, zeal, and influence of Mr. Otterbein which, more than those of any previous pastor, gave it consolidation, firmness, and character. Previous to his time, its history was somewhat fragmentary and weak. He was the instrument by which its strength was concentrated and made permanent. Under his ministry, the old, small wooden church, which stood in the back part of the graveyard, was superseded by a massive stone church, at the street, which was built in 1753, and only taken down in 1852, having stood almost a century. Internally the congregation greatly prospered. Evidences of his order and zeal look out upon us, from the records, in many ways; and enterprises started in his time have extended their results, in the permanent features of the congregation, down to this day."3 This noble tribute to Mr. Otterbein well illustrates alike his zeal, wisdom, and energetic spirit in caring for the spiritual and material interests of his flock. He was a young man at this time, but proved himself a wise master-builder. And it may be added that after nearly a p.48 century and a half has passed, and forty years after Mr. Harbaugh wrote, the Reformed Church still finds Lancaster one of the best of its strongholds, having now not only a large church membership there, but also one of its foremost literary and theological institutions. During the pastorate of Mr. Otterbein at Lancaster there came a crisis in his religious experience which brought about a most marked change in his inner spiritual consciousness, and gave tone to all his subsequent career as a minister of the gospel of Christ. It was in the early part of his Lancaster ministry when, on a certain Sabbath morning, he preached with more than his usual earnestness and power, his whole soul and spirit being poured into his words as they fell from his lips. His theme was the necessity for a thorough repentance for sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a full and conscious Saviour. Many of his hearers were deeply moved by his evident sincerity and the fervency of his utterance. After the close of the service, one to whose soul his words had gone as sharp arrows anxiously approached him for spiritual counsel. Mr. Otterbein, though preaching with such potency the saving truths of the gospel, felt himself perplexed and embarrassed by this direct proof of its effects, and for the moment he could but reply, "My friend, advice is scarce with me to-day." The fact was that his earnest sermon, full of truths which he had theoretically learned and as yet but partially experienced, was but the strong outcrying of his own unsatisfied soul, and he went away from his pulpit that day into the seclusion of his closet, there to struggle in prayer until the problem of a more perfect consciousness of salvation in Christ was fully solved. That Mr. Otterbein himself regarded this entrance into a deeper religious experience as possessing an important p.49 significance in his spiritual life, is indicated in his answer to one of a series of questions propounded to him not long before his death, by Bishop Asbury, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The particular question referred to was, "By what means were you brought to the gospel of God and our Saviour?" Mr. Otterbein's answer was, "By degrees was I brought to the knowledge of the truth, while I was at Lancaster."4 But it would be a grave mistake to regard this answer as signifying that Mr. Otterbein now for the first time experienced the saving grace of the gospel. When we regard the character of his earlier preaching, both in Germany and after coming to America, his earnest and devout spirit, the purity of his life, all the trend of his ministry in public and in private, we are not permitted to come to such a conclusion. We are rather to understand that his heart longed for a more perfect apprehension, a fuller and more satisfying experience, of the things which he perceived in the gospel, and which he preached to others. This grace he now came to realize to a more precious sense, by degrees, perhaps, as he modestly expressed it, but none the less consciously. And it was his earnest preaching of the necessity for this truer spiritual experience and life, and his insistence upon it as the duty of every member of the church, that marked all his subsequent ministry as so different from that of the majority of his earlier associates. The importance of this experience of Mr. Otterbein during his Lancaster pastorate, when viewed in the light of the results to which it led, can scarcely be correctly estimated without taking into account the spiritual comfort and strength which it brought into his own heart and life. It became to him practically the beginning of a new life. We are to take into account the general p.50 conception of the religious world at that time, that religion was largely an education. The cardinal doctrines of our faith were taught in the catechism ; then followed confirmation and the stated participation in the communion of the Lord's supper. Religion pertained largely to the province of the intellect and the observance of outward forms. And when, in connection with these, the general deportment corresponded with the requirements of a pure and upright life, the man or woman so professing and living was deemed an exemplary Christian. With all this, so far as it went, there was certainly no fault to be found. But in this spiritual struggle, which Mr. Otterbein recalled in his old age in his answer to Bishop Asbury's questions, he entered into a brighter light, a deeper experience, the consciousness of new and more intimate fellowship with the divine. It was the same deeper heart regeneration which Mr. Wesley, brought up in the stately formalities of the Church of England, experienced, which made Whitefield the "burning and shining light" that he was, and which has filled the hearts of millions of others with a satisfying spiritual consciousness which no mere intellectual apprehension or faithful compliance with outward forms could ever bring. It was this experience which made Mr. Otterbein from that time forward in important aspects a new man, and which brought him later into those activities and relationships with other men of like experience that led to the organization of the United Brethren Church. Dr. Drury, in remarking upon this stage of Mr. Otterbein's religious life, says: "If there was an earlier experience, it was yet clearly this later experience that furnishes the key to his after-life. It was this present conscious experience that he ever afterward preached as the privilege of all Christians. He believed none the less p.51 in the outward things of Christianity and the Christian church as being important, but he believed with his whole soul that outward elements are worthless to those that do not inwardly appropriate." Dr. Drury further remarks upon the influence of this deeper religious experience upon Mr. Otterbein's preaching : " One of the results of Mr. Otterbein's enlarged liberty was a modification of his manner of preaching. Before this he had used manuscript in the pulpit; but now he had something direct, practical, experimental, to urge upon the people, and found manuscript unnecessary and calculated to trammel."5 The example of this learned and gifted apostle of the gospel of Christ is commended especially to the consideration of those younger men in the ministry who are laying aside the more perfect freedom of extempore address for the narrower limitations of full manuscript discourse. II. IN TULPEHOCKEN, FREDERICK CITY, AND YORK. Toward the close of Mr. Otterbein's sixth year at Lancaster, in 1758, he again pressed his resignation, intending to visit his old home in Germany, with a possibility of not returning. The resignation was reluctantly accepted, and Mr. Otterbein was looking forward to his expected journey. But Providence decreed otherwise. Further steps were yet to follow that would assure his permanent residence in America, and lead up in due time to that greater work which the great Head of the church had appointed for him. The French and English war was still in progress, and ocean travel was perilous, while disturbed conditions in continental Europe further rendered the time inopportune. He therefore resolved upon a postponement of his journey, but not wishing to remain inactive while he was waiting, he accepted the temporary oversight of p.52 the Tulpehocken charge. This charge was situated in what was then familiarly known as the Tulpehocken settlement. This settlement extended for a distance of something over twenty miles along Tulpehocken Creek, a small stream which takes its rise in Lebanon County, in the vicinity of Lebanon, and empties into the Schuylkill near Reading. The church edifice was a commodious wooden building, erected as early as 1745, and capable of seating as many as six hundred people.6 Mr. Otterbein's labors, however, extended to various other congregations, as at Reading and other contiguous places, and even as far as Frederick City, Maryland. A number of these congregations being most of the time without pastors, he visited them to minister to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Mr. Otterbein on this charge, as previously at Lancaster, addressed himself with much earnestness to the work of encouraging a true spirituality among the people. During the week he visited diligently the families who attended his preaching on the Sabbath, conversed with them personally on the subject of their salvation, prayed with them, and counseled or admonished them as circumstances might indicate. He also instituted week-day evening prayer-meetings—not a new form of service to him, for, as we have seen, he regularly held these meetings in connection with his work at Ockersdorf before coming to America. But to his parishioners in Tulpehocken the prayer-meeting was an innovation to be regarded with distrust, if not actually opposed. The venerable Rev. H. G. Spayth, the first historian of the United Brethren Church, whose life was in part contemporary with that of Mr. Otterbein, speaks thus of the manner in which Mr. Otterbein conducted these meetings, and of the feelings p.53 and comments of the people: "On these occasions his custom was to read a portion of Scripture, make some practical remarks on the same, and exhort all present to give place to serious reflections. He would then sing a sacred hymn, and invite all by kneeling to accompany him in prayer. At first, and for some time, but few, if any, would kneel, and he was left to pray alone. . . . After prayer he would endeavor to gain access to their hearts, by addressing them individually, with words of tenderness and love."7 It was to be expected that such labors, earnestly directed with tears and gentle entreaty, would in due time bear their legitimate fruit. When these fruits began to appear in the seriousness and contrition of some of the members of the church, others began to call in question the propriety of holding the prayer-meetings. "What," said some of them, "the preacher, and men and women kneel, and pray, and weep, and call upon God and Jesus to have mercy on them ! Who ever heard of such a thing?"8 To us of the present time, as to the church for a century past, the prayer-meeting, with its frequent outbursts of deep religious fervor, is so familiar a form of service, and so greatly esteemed as a means for building up believers in a true and zealous Christian life, that we can scarcely conceive of a spiritual condition so apathetic and lifeless as that which then prevailed so broadly among the professing followers of Christ. But Mr. Otterbein's faithful labors among these people were greatly blessed, and in due time his earnest labors in the pulpit and among the people gained for him their warmest affection. It was indeed a most interesting spectacle—this young, talented, and cultured minister going about among these simple-hearted people with unwearying diligence p.54 and a high resolve to secure for them their best spiritual good, dealing with plain but loving severity with the wayward, and with tenderest and gentlest regard for all. Mr. Harbaugh, the German Reformed historian, speaking of this period, says that great blessing rested upon his labors,9 The thoroughly evangelical methods of Mr. Otterbein at this early stage of his work in America, alike in Lancaster and in Tulpehocken, pointed with prophetic finger toward results in which, when they were realized, he rejoiced as men rejoice in the harvest, but of which at the time he had not the most distant conception. It could not be otherwise than that in time these truly spiritual methods would arouse opposition among some who were his associates in the divine calling, but who did not share his deep inward spiritual experience. But let us of the present be grateful that Mr. Otterbein, bringing the prayer-meeting with him from his home in Germany, thus early introduced it among his parishioners in America, and that he engrafted it into the institutions of the Church which in time he founded. Its value to the Church has been above estimate. The successors of the men who then disapproved his methods have happily adopted the same form of service, and its usefulness is attested by the practice of nearly all Christian denominations. Rev. John Lawrence, in his History of the United Brethren Church,10 in referring to the oppositions encountered by Mr. Otterbein and his manner of meeting them, says: "We have seen that pastors, preachers, and people, not a few, were found who did not relish these meetings for prayer, but opposed them as an innovation, and persecuted those who attended them. In answer to these p.55 opponents, such passages of Holy Scripture as the following were introduced by Mr. Otterbein: 'O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker' (Ps. 95 : 6). 'Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people' (Isa. 56: 7). 'For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father.' 'I will therefore that men pray everywhere' (Paul). 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name' (Jesus). 'Which are the prayers of the saints' (Rev. 5: 8; 8: 3). Nevertheless, this kneeling in prayer, and these meetings especially for prayer and religious conference, on week days and evenings, met with much violent opposition, and from none more decided and bitter than from those who, from their sacred and holy calling, should have been prepared to give them their hearty and undivided support." Mr. Spayth, remarking further upon the agency of these prayer-meetings in bringing about the reformation in which Mr. Otterbein was the principal figure, forcibly says, "This truth is most strongly attested by witnesses on earth and saints in heaven; and it remains yet to be proven, whether the reformation of the world can be prosecuted with any degree of success, or a church, however well established, maintain her vitality, continue a light to the world, and be instrumental in the conversion of sinners, in the absence of these meetings as secondary means of grace." In the fall of the year 1760, Mr. Otterbein transferred his labors from Tulpehocken to Frederick City, then called Fredericktown, Maryland. This was in answer to a second call from the congregation in Frederick, a previous call having been extended to him in 1759. The second call was accepted under the pressure of a special urgency by the congregation, the cœtus, and the p.56 synods in Holland. By reason of more remote location the service of temporary supplies could be secured only with difficulty, and this fact was pressed to induce Mr. Otterbein to accept. The disturbed conditions of the country on account of the war not being yet quieted, he seems to have postponed to an indefinite time his cherished purpose to visit his home in the Fatherland. He was not a stranger to the people in Frederick, having visited them several times to supply their need while they were without a pastor. His pastorate in Frederick extended through a period of five years. To these people, as elsewhere, Mr. Otterbein came as a burning and shining light. He preached the plain truths of the gospel with great urgency, insisting upon a thorough conversion of the heart, a consciousness through the Spirit's witness of present salvation, and the testimony of a pure and godly life. Many of the people received his words gladly, and there is ample evidence that his ministry in Frederick was in a high degree successful. Nevertheless, there were the worldly and sinful in the church, some of them influential, to whom his close requirements proved a most serious offense, and who, while they had joined pressingly with others in inviting him to become their pastor, afterward raised a mutiny against him, carrying for a time a majority of the congregation with them. These men, after the manner of the Pharisees, who prided themselves on being the children of Abraham, and on a strict observance of the outward forms of the law, held that having been baptized, and receiving statedly the communion of the Lord's supper, nothing further was required to entitle them to the name of Christian. The rigorous arraignment of such men, trusting in the outward formalities of worship, leading unspiritual and even ungodly lives, aroused in them the p.57 spirit of bitter opposition. They were angered under his searching sermons, and would not endure the strict discipline which he sought to enforce. Their behavior in this was in striking contrast with that of the people at Lancaster, who, after having chafed for a time under the same type of ministry, afterward gladly assented to the things which Mr. Otterbein required as conditions of his remaining with them, and finally parted from him with deep and affectionate sorrow.
An incident narrated by Mr. Lawrence illustrates the temper of these ungodly
members of the church in Frederick : "At one period the excitement became so
great that a majority of the church determined on his summary dismission;
and, to effect it most speedily, they locked the church door against him. On
the following Sabbath, when the congregation assembled, his adherents,
knowing that he had a legal right to the pulpit, were disposed to force the
door; but he said to them: 'Not so. brethren. If I am not permitted to enter
the church peaceably, I can and will preach here in the graveyard.' So
saying, he took his stand upon one of the tombstones, proceeded with the
regular introductory services in his usual fervent spirit, delivered a sermon
of remarkable power, and, at its close, announced preaching for the same
place on the succeeding Sabbath. At the time appointed an unusually large
concourse assembled, and as he was about to commence the services again under
the canopy of the heavens, the person who had the key of the church door
hastily opened it, saying: 'Come in, come in! I can stand this no longer.'"11
Mr. Otterbein doubtless remembered at this time how the Saviour forewarned
the apostles that they should be cast out of the synagogues,
p.58 and also that the Lord himself had a like experience
in his own city of Nazareth, with comforting reflection on his words: "The
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is
enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his
lord." Dr. Drury, remarking on this incident, observes that while among the
Germans so deplorable a religious condition existed, things were not any
better among the English, and recalls that only ten years before this
Jonathan Edwards, in New England, was dismissed from his church at
Northampton, and that John Wesley preached from his father's tombstone at
Epworth, the door of the church being closed against him. In the year 1847 the centennial of the founding of this congregation was observed, and the Rev. Dr. Daniel Zacharias, who was its pastor from 1835 to 1873, preached p.59 the centennial sermon. In referring to the building of this church and parsonage, and also to the affectionate regard which Mr. Otterbein continued to cherish for the congregation after he had removed to another field of labor, Dr. Zacharias says : " During Mr. Otterbein's labors in Frederick, the church in which we now worship was built; also the parsonage which has been the successive residence of your pastors ever since. Many other improvements in the external condition of this congregation were likewise made during this period ; thus showing that Mr. O. was not only a very pious and devoted pastor, but was also most energetic and efficient in promoting the outward prosperity of the church. A few letters are still preserved in our archives,13 written by Mr. O. while at York, to members of this charge. From these letters, brief as they are, you may easily gather the spirit of the man. Though laboring now in another field, he remembered still, with affectionate kindness and concern, the people whom he had recently left. He mourned over their difficulties, and endeavored to profit them by imparting unto them his godly counsels, and offering up in their behalf his earnest prayers." During the five years of his pastorate at Frederick Mr. Otterbein received pressing calls to go to other places, as Reading, Oley, and Philadelphia. The church in the latter city was especially urgent in pressing its request. Four letters of Mr. Otterbein relating to this call remain in the archives of that church. They appear in Dr. Drury's Life of Otterbein, all of them written in 1763. It was also during his pastorate at Frederick that Mr. Otterbein was married. His bride, Miss Susan LeRoy, was of French Huguenot descent. Her ancestors had p.60 fled from France to Switzerland on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis XIV., in 1685, when four hundred thousand of the best citizens of France sought refuge in other countries, and in 1754 her father with his family came to America, settling, soon after their arrival, in Lancaster, just two years after Mr. Otterbein became pastor in that city. The marriage took place on the 19th of April, 1762, the Rev. William Stoy officiating. Mr. Otterbein was at this time nearly thirty-six years of age, and Miss LeRoy twenty-six. The period of Mr. Otterbein's married life was of brief duration, Mrs. Otterbein dying on the 27th of April, 1768, just six years after the marriage. Mr. Otterbein cherished the memory of his young bride with the tenderest affection to the end of his long life. Dr. Drury recalls "a beautiful tradition that only two days before his death he requested a friend to bring a pocket-book, made by the tender hands then so long motionless in death, and that gazing upon the carefully preserved keepsake, he kissed it with all the fondness of a youthful lover."14 The dates of the marriage of Mr. Otterbein and of the death of Mrs. Otterbein were discovered by Dr. Drury in the venerable records of the Lancaster Reformed church. Toward the close of his five years' pastorate at Frederick, Mr. Otterbein accepted a call from the church at York, Pennsylvania, and in September, 1765, he removed to that place. The church at York had been organized at an early day, and had become large and influential. His connection with this church continued until 1774, when he resigned to assume the pastorate of the newly organized independent Reformed church in Baltimore. Three events of special interest occurred during his residence at York. One of these was the death of his p.61 beloved wife, in April, 1768, as has already been seen. Her remains were conveyed to Lancaster, the home of her people, for interment. A second was his first meeting with Martin Boehm, a man whose life work was to be thereafter so intimately associated with his own. This meeting will be spoken of further on. The third was the fulfillment of his long-cherished desire to visit his old home in Germany. The voyage to Germany was undertaken in April, 1770. The time for the visit was auspicious. The wars in America had been ended, and peace prevailed in Europe. Mr. Otterbein expected to return to America, and so did not resign his charge at York, his congregation being served meanwhile by supplies. His visit continued perhaps a little over a year. It was now eighteen years since he had left his home in Germany to become a missionary to America. Happily, time had made no further change in the family circle than the wider distribution of some of its members to various places of ministerial service. His mother, his brothers, and perhaps his sister, were all living. All the brothers were honored pastors, except John Charles, who spent his entire life as a professor in Herborn, and with whom the aged mother resided. The meeting again, after so many years of separation, and especially with the beloved mother, must have presented tender and affecting scenes, and many an interesting story of life in the New World, as related by the Americaner, must have enlivened conversation. A most interesting incident occurred, illustrating the new spiritual life which some of the brothers—history does not inform us whether we may say all—had experienced. George Godfrey, residing at Duisburg, was probably the first of the brothers whom Mr. Otterbein met on his arrival in Germany. Of this meeting Dr. Drury says: p.62 "After the first welcome salutation and the evening meal, the brothers, in the privacy of the study, unfolded to each other their most intimate thoughts. Philip William, without reserve, and with a full heart, related the story of his spiritual experience. George Godfrey listened with the deepest attention, and rising from his chair embraced his brother, and as the tears streamed down his cheeks said, 'My dear William, we are now, blessed be the name of the Lord, not only brothers after the flesh, but also after the spirit. I have also experienced the same blessing. I can testify that God has power on earth to forgive sins and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.'"15 Dr. Drury also records a tradition that on his visiting his oldest brother, John Henry, at Burbach, he preached for him on a very hot Sunday afternoon for two hours in his shirt sleeves, thus proving that he could preach as well without the customary gown as with it, or appear even in the simplest habit, and that he did not think two hours too long for the delivery of an important message to a congregation. The followers of this learned and great divine who begin to weary under a sermon as soon as the hand on the dial passes the thirty-minute mark should ponder this fact. During the period of his residence at York Mr. Otterbein continued to make frequent visits to other points to bear the gospel to others who hungered for the word, engaging in what would now be called missionary or evangelistic work. Many of these visits were made to churches unsupplied with pastors; others to neighborhoods where no churches were built. It was on one of these visits that he first met his future eminent co-laborer, of whom the next chapter will treat.
1 Fathers of the Reformed Church, Vol. II., by Rev. H. Harbaugh, D.D., p. 54. 2 Ibid, Vol. II., p. 51. 3 Ibid, Vol. II., pp. 57, 58. 4 Drury's Life of Otterbein, p. 68. 5 Ibid, pp. 71, 72, 81. 6 Ibid, pp. 84, 85. 7 Spayth's History of the United Brethren Church, pp. 23, 24. 8 Ibid., p. 24. 9 Fathers of the Reformed Church, Vol. II., p. 58. 10 Published in 1860-61. Vol. I., pp. 148, 149. 11 Lawrence's History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Vol. I., pp. 178, 179. 12 Life of Otterbein, 1884, pp. 100, 101. 13 These letters, Dr. Drury remarks, can no longer be found. Life of Otterbein. 14 Life of Otterbein, p. 112. 15 Ibid, p. 123; also Unity Magazine, Vol. III., No. 1. |
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