Pioneer Organizer in East Pennsylvania.
The mantle of the fathers is not a gift to be inherited by human transmission. Elijah could not himself bequeath his spirit to Elisha. Nevertheless, the student of biography, who comes to admire the salient features of a great life, will inevitably partake in some measure of its spirit and character. The test by which Elisha may know is that of spiritual insight. And he has his wish. Through rending sky and cloud, he catches a glimpse of his translated master. He has dared the awful vision, and at his feet falls the symbol of inherited power, the rough mantle of the ascended prophet. If we can glimpse the glory of a great life, we have entered into some inheritance of its greatness.
About the middle of the eighteenth century two pioneer families settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In the providence of God they were destined to become famous in the annals of United Brethrenism. The heads of these families were Christian Erb and Abraham Hershey, natives of Switzerland, the former having reached our shores in 1736, when but a child of three summers, and the latter in 1759, when in the strength of mature manhood. These families were neighbors. Together they engaged in the conquests of the wilderness, which was still traversed by semi-civilized tribes of Indians. When the pioneer missionaries came to this community, they were gladly welcomed, and public worship was established. The young people of these families were friends and associates. Under those circumstances it is not strange that an attachment was formed between Christian Erb, Jr., and Elizabeth Hershey that would ripen in holy wedlock. Elizabeth was the youngest daughter of Abraham Hershey, and was noted for her beauty. Her brothers, Christian and Abraham, Jr., were among the most noted of our Church fathers and pioneer missionaries.
Born in the forest, inured to its hardships, with habits of industry, Christian Erb and his beautiful young wife built a home and dedicated it to Jehovah. This was probably between 1786 and 1790. Here was subsequently established a regular preaching place for United Brethren ministers. On the twenty-fifth day of May, 1804, God gave to these parents a son-the fifth of a family of several children. He was destined to become a channel of blessing and a constructive force in the building of a great denomination. To his heroic life, so useful in its achievements, and so morally inspiring-covering a creative ministry of more than sixty years, this chapter is devoted.
In the year 1810, when the little son, Jacob, was six years of age, his parents moved to Cumberland County, and settled on a tract of land located on the banks of the Susquehanna, opposite Harrisburg. With the majestic flow of the splendid river often before his eyes, the boy toiled with his father on the little farm until he reached his sixteenth year. He was constitutionally and most delicately responsive to religious influences. His mother was his one earliest teacher, a woman of sound judgment and who loved her Church. She probably knew nothing of child psychology, as taught in our day, but she succeeded admirably in training her son for Christ and the Church. In 1820, at a meeting in their own home, it was the joy of this father and mother to see their devoted son definitely yield his life to God and unite with the Church. He was now in his sixteenth year. His call to the ministry immediately followed.
The same year a great sorrow came upon the home in the death of the father. Many extra cares now came upon the son, whose devotion to his mother was beautiful. They subsequently moved to Wormleysburg, where regular preaching was still maintained in the home. The following year he hired to his brother-in-law, Samuel Eberely, and worked on the farm. During this time he was a diligent student of the Bible. He would frequently place before him on the plow a passage of Scripture and commit it to memory. When in his seventeenth year, young Erb began to hold public meetings. In his eighteenth year, he yielded to the entreaties of Fathers Hershey and Neidig to give himself fully to the itinerant work. To this his mother heartily consented, even though it meant to her a great sacrifice. In 1823, when in his nineteenth year, he joined the Hagerstown Conference, and was appointed to the Lancaster Circuit, a charge then having thirty appointments. In his zeal to spread the work, the number of preaching places was in-creased to forty before the close of the conference year.
Mr. Erb entered upon his life-work with the heritage of a good name, a good ancestry, and a good atmosphere. Courageous, and hopeful, he went forth to his first circuit and a destination larger than the golden dreams of his youth. To breathe the pure air of God's heavens, as it spread over the mountains and valleys of Pennsylvania and New York, to look year after year upon the hills whence come man's help, is to be favored of God. Enthusiasm amid such scenes and under such conditions is normal. A singing faith, a belief in large truth, a readiness to dare great things for God, are met amid such surroundings, even among the unhonored and unknown. "He was a foe to enthusiasm," wrote an old Puritan over the tomb of his friend on Copp's Hill, Boston. It is safe to say that neither the man who wrote the sentence nor the man whose virtues he sought to describe came from nature's temples. Happy the pastor even to-day, who has in his church men from God's out-of-doors, away from the beaten path of the tourist; the land of dreams and visions. Through the years of his childhood, youth, and young manhood Jacob Erb lived amid such scenes. He was indeed a child of nature.
In 1824, the second year of his itinerant ministry, he was appointed to Hagerstown Circuit as junior preacher with Rev. Henry Burtner. The following year he was returned to Lancaster Circuit, where he opened a mission in a territory not far from Philadelphia. The tasks and sacrifices of those three years would severely test the consecration and heroism of a young man just passing out of his teens. One of his contemporaries gives the following picture of what the work of the missionary involved at that time:
"In those days our services were held in private houses, barns, and groves. I do not recollect that there was one meeting-house in Cumberland Valley, except at Schropps. The circuits were large and our members but sparsely settled throughout the country. Our circuit embraced part of Frederick and Washington Counties, in Maryland, and part of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and had no less than thirty appointments. It required four weeks to make the round. At this time all east of the Susquehanna River was called the Lancaster Circuit. The preachers often had very long rides to reach their appointments, and often through very inclement weather, but they seldom disappointed, unless they were sick. It was common for our people to go twenty or thirty miles to a protracted meeting, and many would walk this distance. At these meetings the beds were spread upon the floor and people were quartered around the room.
"The preachers had but little time to read; some got but little, others no pay. I remember hearing one say, who is yet living, (this was in 1858) that he was out of pocket for his preaching $900. I heard George Geeting (son of the bishop) tell my parents with tears that he was traveling his first round on his circuit when he heard of his father's death. He said he was never more anxious to see him than at that time, but of that pleasure he was deprived; but although it was a trial he was submissive to the will of God and received the descending mantle of his sainted father."
In the autumn of 1825, when only twenty-one years of age, Mr. Erb responded to a call for missionary work in New York and Canada. Four hundred miles stretched between him and the farthest point of his mission field. Alone, with his knapsack on his back, the young missionary journeyed on foot, like his Master before him. He chanced to be in Rochester October 25, 1825, when the water was first let into the Erie Canal. There were no railroads. The stagecoaches were few that rolled their way for the most part over wretched roads, often mud-deep to the hubs. It was indeed a school of hardship through which the young hero was now passing. He had but a few dollars in his pocket, and no missionary society back of him. to bear his expenses. Many days must pass before he reaches Canada, and when he shall reach it, there is no chapel for him, nor a single United Brethren home to give him welcome. There are places where there is not the semblance of a road to guide him. He must find the trail through dense forests, and follow the path through flooded fields; but he fearlessly presses on. His lodging place is frequently a poverty-stricken cabin, with food of the coarsest kind. After leaving Buffalo, he was accompanied part of the way by his cousin, the Rev. Jacob G. Erb.
Some experiences of the journey were, no doubt, delightful because of the young man's admiration of nature. His warm and passionate heart must often have greatly relished the un-tamed nature in which he was moving; but little did he dream how those grand horizons, those mighty trees with their robust foliage, those living streams, untainted by the mar of civilization, were depositing in his soul materials to be used in the temple of God in a later day. He was also encouraged by the good he was able to accomplish. Wherever he went, like the apostles of old, he talked with the people and preached to them as he had opportunity, seeking in every way to win them to Christ. To the results of his labors that year and subsequently, many churches in northwestern New York and Canada, still bear testimony.
Mr. Erb was richly endowed with the gifts and graces that make a great missionary, and he used the with apostolic zeal and courage. He also possessed the elements of a great organizer and builder, which was the type of leadership a time like that demanded. He became one of the most distinguished and influential of the fathers in shaping the policy of the Church at a time when the glowing itinerant evangelism had reached a period which demanded a more elaborate organization for the preservation of its unity, and the multiplication of its usefulness. When he began his ministry the organization of the Church was extremely simple, and was directed mainly to securing the most effective evangelism. Its preachers went far and near calling men to repentance and gaining converts by the hundreds. It soon became a serious question how to preserve this ever-increasing power, and turn it to the largest effectiveness in the kingdom of God.
Mr. Erb was a true disciple of Newcomer in his zeal to conserve to the denomination the results of its toil, and to organize and train the new "societies" of converts for Christian service in the United Brethren Church. He believed with a distinguished churchman of more modern times, that "it is just as important to know how to use and appropriate a victory as it is to know how to win a victory." In "Landmark History of the United Brethren Church," Doctor Eberly gives the following instance of Mr. Erb's denominational loyalty, which occurred when he was seventeen years of age. It was the year following his conversion, when he was engaged in holding meetings in private homes: "To those meetings came quite a number of people who had been converted, but still retained membership where there was opposition to prayer-meetings, and hostility against revivals of religion. On a certain evening when returning from prayer-meeting, young Erb entered into controversy with great zeal on this subject with Jacob Coover, a most excellent, Christian gentleman, who was very reluctant to sever the bonds of his church union. Mr. Coover said, 'If I have a light to guide a company over a dangerous road on a dark night, am I justified in taking that light away from them?' To this Mr. Erb responded, 'If that company be composed of people who appreciate the light, it would be very wrong to remove it; if the company be constructed of persons without discretion, or wielding a bludgeon right and left, liable at any moment to extinguish that light, and placing yourself in the dark with them, better get out.' And Mr. Coover, not long afterward, did get out. For many years he was a resident of Mechanicsburg, the first member of our Church in that town, around whom others gathered and a society was formed in old Union Church, which with the years has grown into the present large congregation."
Mr. Erb is distinguished as the founder of the organized work of the Church east of the Susquehanna River. To him belongs the honor of having organized the first United Brethren class in the territory on which is now located the East Pennsylvania Conference, a territory sacred to every loyal United Brethren, because it contains the spiritual birthplace of the denomination. Classes had been formed west of the river several years prior to this time. It was in the year 1827 when this first organization was effected. The place was called Sherk's Old Meeting-House, located in the northwestern portion of Lebanon County, about two and a half miles east of Grantville, Dauphin County.
The Lancaster Circuit originally included the greater portion of the present conference territory. Here others of the fathers preceding Mr. Erb toiled with great success in evangelistic work. While the converts were in a sense recognized as members of the Church, they had refused to be organized into classes. Referring to these conditions, Lawrence, in his Church history, says: "Numbers of those who, by the attraction of divine love, formed themselves into United Brethren societies, refused to have their names recorded in a church book, and were slow to submit to any discipline except the New Testament." Mr. Erb set himself to the task of changing these conditions, and preparing the "societies" for formal organization and individual enrollment in the Church membership. He was yet a young man, twenty-three years of age, with but four years' experience in the ministry, but he was the child of the hour, and God gave him strength equal to the task. It was a mount of victory as well as vision, when, "by the consent of some of the older brethren," he announced to a great Lord's day audience that on the following evening the people would be given an opportunity to formally unite with the Church. It was, indeed, a mount of blessing when on Monday evening, in the presence of a great audience, a goodly company came forward and were received into church membership. From that organization has grown a conference, the largest numerically, and one of the wealthiest and most influential, in the denomination.
Mr. Erb was an intimate friend of Elder John Winebrenner, founder of "The Church of God." As early as 1826 they were associated in evangelistic work. When Mr. Winebrenner changed his views on church matters, he requested his friend Erb to baptize him by immersion. On the Sabbath appointed for the service, Mr. Erb filled an appointment on his circuit in the morning, then rode to Harrisburg, a distance of fifteen miles, arriving at two o'clock in the afternoon. A large congregation assembled in the bethel, on Mulberry Street, where Mr. Winebrenner preached what is now known as "the 1830 sermon on baptism." Immediately after the preaching, and between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, they proceeded to the Susquehanna River, and Mr. Erb baptized him, just above where the railroad bridge now stands. This occurred on Sunday, July 4, 1830.
From the beginning of his ministry, Mr. Erb performed his work faithfully, and filled with marked success every position to which he was assigned. His superior ability and qualities of leadership were early recognized. In 1829, when but twenty-four years of age, he was elected delegate to the General Conference, which convened in Fairfield County, Ohio. The Church was now entering upon the thirtieth year of her history. Her larger mission was at hand. The conference was one of those historic occasions when men chosen of God begin to realize that they are facing a mission of vast magnitude. It is a mount of revelation, where God's plans, and purposes concerning the building of the denomination are made clear. Certain propagandic institutions now became a necessity. In 1833 Mr. Erb again represented his conference in the General Conference, at which time definite steps were taken for the establishment of a denominational publishing house.
After the death of Bishop Newcomer in 1830, it is probable that no one of his immediate successors was more influential in shaping and directing the policy of the Church in the Cumberland Valley than was Mr. Erb. His intimate friend and associate in the work was Bishop William Brown, who was eight years his senior. In 1837 he was elected to the bishopric; in 1845 he was elected editor of a German paper, published in Baltimore, entitled, "Busy Martha;" in 1849 he was again elected to the office of bishop. For a period of twelve years he served in this relation with marked ability. His familiarity with the work to be done, his trained knowledge of men, his quick perception, his wise practical judgment, his full-mindedness, his heroic moral courage, his superior conscientiousness, and his unselfish consecration to the interests of the Church-all these qualities in him were so well blended and balanced as to make him an able administrator. While gentle and loving in disposition, he was, at the same time, a strong character, a, wise counsellor, and a forceful executive, prompt to decide, when a prompt decision was necessary, and, as a parliamentary officer, presiding over an annual or general conference, he was always able and skillful. He was always approachable, brotherly, and companionable, a bishop to whom could go the humblest minister or the plainest layman with the assurance that he would be graciously received, and that his cause would have careful and kindly consideration. He was truly an apostolic bishop, ever presenting a good example and constantly performing noble work.
Bishop Erb was regarded as a forceful preacher both in German and in English. He was always listened to with interest because there was thought in what he had to say. His sermons were sound in doctrine, affectionate in spirit, and direct and pungent in application. As pastor he was tender and fatherly. In 1846, when pastor of the Otterbein Church in Baltimore, an effort was made to wrest the property from the denomination. Again the hero, with his characteristic tact, grace, and statesmanlike diplomacy, proves himself equal to the occasion. For a time the doors were closed against him, his support was reduced to a mere pittance, and his life was endangered. But the sturdy pilot stood faithfully at his post, as had been his custom in every emergency and duty, until the twelfth day of November, in the same year, when the courts ruled in his favor, and the property was saved to the denomination.
Immediately the house was put in order for worship. One who was present at the opening says: "On Sunday morning the long-silenced bells began to ring, once more inviting friend and foe, as in days gone by, to come to the house of the Lord. This was a solemn hour. As far as the sound of those bells could be heard, you could see old and young, white and black, standing in doors or looking out of the windows, gazing toward the steeple of Otterbein Church, trying to convince their minds with the eye what the ear could not accomplish, and when you met with a brother or sister, you could see the tears of gratitude rolling down their cheeks, and the first utterance was, 'Thank the Lord!' Bishop Erb preached from Psalms 40: 14, 15. I never witnessed such a scene in a congregation before. Smiles of joy on every countenance mingled with tears in every eye. Then, each humbling himself before God, who is mighty to save, pouring out sincere prayers to the throne of grace, implored the Lord to forgive their enemies, that they might be brought from darkness to light and see that they who fight against His people are warring against the Mighty One in Israel." Bishop Russell and his wife were present and witnessed this service.
A daughter, Mrs. T. A. Bash, of Chicago, to whom the author is indebted for valuable items concerning the life of her noble father, says, "Father frequently made the remark in the home circle that in his church relations he had served in every position, from janitor to bishop." In all of these he discharged his duties conscientiously, and all who knew him reposed in him the most implicit confidence. The marked heroic element in his character is especially seen in the twenty-two years of his itinerant life. He had the evangelistic spirit in an intense degree, and the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom was to him paramount to all things else. Many hardships and privations were endured on the long and perilous journeys made on horseback through New York, Ohio, and Canada. He served as presiding elder seven years, as agent three years, and as bishop twelve years. In 1869, because of failing health, after almost a half century of heroic toil, it became necessary for him to retire from active service. His counsel and help, however, were constantly sought, and generously given when his strength admitted, during the closing years of his life. He possessed a great talent in getting young men of ability to enter the ministry, and rejoiced in their success. Farther than any historian will ever be able to trace, his lofty ideals and the might of his spirit have gone into the making of the Church. The man is greater than his deeds, and the power of his life is pulsing in institutions and lives where his name and his deeds are rarely mentioned.
His school advantages were very limited, but, by dint of hard work and close application, he attained a good education, especially in the German. The discipline of his early years, under the oversight of some of the Church fathers, was for him a veritable school of the prophets. In later years he deplored his want of college privileges in his youth. He was a friend and promoter of higher education. From 1860 to 1863 he gave himself exclusively to Otterbein University as agent and trustee. Later he was connected with Cottage Hill Seminary, an institution for the higher training of young women, located at York, Pennsylvania. Doctor Thompson, in "Our Bishops," says of him: "He favored colleges, Sabath schools, and everything that looked like enterprise and growth. In this respect he was in advance of many of his brethren. The Church did not move forward and leave him behind."
It is a remarkable fact that during his ministry of sixty years he never failed to attend a single session of his conference, except the last, when the feebleness of old age forbade his being present. No one can tell the struggles through which the old hero passed, as he felt that he must hang his sickle and battle-ax on the wall, and wait the setting of the sun. The following letter made a profound impression upon the conference:
"I love to look back and see the progress which we as a Church have made. How our brethren have pushed forward with the work as seen in the hundreds of churches built, the thousands of members received, many of whom are already safe in heaven; in the schools which have been founded; in the institutions of benevolences; in our Publishing House--becoming every year more and more extensive; and in the noble work of our missionary society. I thank God that I have lived to see this day, which presents such grand monuments of the substantial growth of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. As an humble member of this conference, I have always tried to do my duty. In looking back I can see where I might have done better service, but I console myself with the thought that I always tried to bring an honest heart to my work. A kind Heavenly Father granted to me the privilege of attending in consecutive order, sixty annual sessions of the Pennsylvania Conference. Could I be present with you this would be my sixty-first. My faith in God is strong, my confidence in his Word unshaken, and I know by personal experience there is a power in true religion. The future of a blessed life is to me full of hope and promise. God is my refuge and my strength."
In 1836 Bishop Erb was married to Miss Elizabeth Sherk, of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Together they lived and toiled in happy wedded love until they were separated by death in 1883. The home was noted for its piety and hospitality. Bishop Dickson, a life-long friend and associate of the family, and who officiated at the funeral of Bishop Erb, said: "Every general officer of the Church knows the big brown house at Shiremanstown. Bishops, editors, secretaries, agents, missionaries, black and white, all received a hearty welcome and shared alike its hospitality." A daughter says: "Father gave all his earnings to the Church. The amount mother received from home they endeavored to save for their support in old age."
The bishop had a stout, manly frame. He was five feet nine inches in height, and weighed about 180 pounds. In his personal bearing he was dignified. In the genial Christian gentleman was manifest a perfection of character, which, beginning in a pure and lovable youth, steadily developed and matured through the after years. His life was one of exalted piety. He was a true brother of Baxter, who stained his study walls with the very breath of prayer. He was never triflingly employed. He met the challenge of the world's work with a noble seriousness, and an equally noble and lavish consecration. In his voice rang, and in his eyes shown, the note and glory of spiritual power. Assurance and joy of fellowship with God w-as one of the characteristic notes of his ministry.
The evening of his life was beautiful and peaceful. It was like the half-hour before sunset, in the midst of nature's grandest and most majestic scenery. Never were his intellectual faculties brighter, nor his spiritual sense clearer than when the day of his life was consciously closing. He spoke to his family and friends about him of his great peace of soul. When asked what message he had for the friends who were absent, he said, "Tell them to be faithful unto death." It was on the evening of April 29, 1883, when his earthly day closed. His body sleeps in Shrapp's graveyard, near Shiremanstown, Pennsylvania.