REFORMED CHURCH. 



335 



by unordained ministers. In 1709 John Frederick 

 Ilager was commissioned by the Society lor the 

 Propagation of the Gospel to labor "among the 

 Palatines, New York." Ootemporary with him were 

 John Jacob Oehl, in New York, and Henry Hoeger, 

 in Virginia. Samuel Guldin preached in Pennsyl- 

 vania before 1718, as appears from a volume pub- 

 lished by him in that year. John Philip Boehrn, who 

 had been a schoolmaster in the Palatinate, began to 

 preach, without ecclesiastical authority, to the con- 

 gregations at Falconer Swamp, Skippack, and When 

 Mush, Montgomery co., Pa., as early as 1720. He 

 was regularly ordained in 1729 by the Dutch ministers 

 in New York, by special permission of the Classis of 

 Amsterdam. John Henry Goetschius, a native of 

 Zurich, was in 1730 pastor of eleven congregations, of 

 which New Goshenhoppen was the most prominent. 

 In 1727 the Rev. George Michael Weiss, at the re- 

 quest of the Classis of the Palatinate, accompanied a 

 company of 400 Palatine emigrants to America, 

 "in order that they might not De without religious 

 instruction." In 1730 he revisited Europe, in com 

 pauy with Elder Jacob Reiff, for the purpose of col- 

 lecting money and good books for the Reformed 

 churches of Philadelphia and Skippack. This mis- 

 sion led to important results. A considerable sum 

 of money was collected, and the synods of Holland be- 

 came so profoundly interested in the American churches 

 that they agreed to take them under their special care 

 and supervision, and to supply them with ministers. 



In 1730 John Peter Miller and J. B. Riegcr came 

 to America, under the auspices of the Consistory of 

 Heidelberg. Miller afterwards left the Reformed 

 Church, and became the prior of the convent of 

 Seventh day Baptists which had been founded at 

 Kphrata, Pa., by Conrad Beissel. Tn 1742 Henry 

 Antes and others joined with Count Zinzcndorf in the 

 organization of the "Congregation of God in the 

 Spirit" They proposed that the various churches 

 should be united in a higher unity, without sacrificing 

 their denominational peculiarities. Though the fact 

 was rather implied tnan expressed, the Moravians 

 were U> be the controlling power in the whole move- 

 ment. The "Congregation" ordained a number of 

 ministers for service in the Reformed churches. These 

 declared themselves opposed to the proposal union 

 with Holland, and professed their adhesion to the de- 

 crees of the Synod of Berne. On the failure of this 

 union movement, about 1746, most of these ministers 

 joined the Moravians. 



II. 1 746-1 ~'.>'.'i. The arrival in America of Michael 

 Schlatter, on the 1st of August, 1746, was an im- 

 portant event in the history of the Reformed Church. 

 He had Wn sent by the synods of Holland with di- 

 rections to visit the scattered churches, to establish 

 pastoral charges, and if possible to organize a Coelvf, 

 or ministerial conference. In this work he was emi- 

 nently successful. The Cfletus met for the first time in 

 Philadelphia in 1746, and was fully organized in 1747. 

 It differed from a synod only in the fact that its de- 

 cisions were not final until they had been approved by 

 the synods of Holland. At the request of tne Ceetus, 

 Schlatter, in 175I, went to Europe for the pur| 

 presenting the cause of the destitute German churches 

 in America. His mission was very successful, espe- 

 cially in Holland. A sum of money, amounting to 

 12,000, was collected and invested for the benefit of 

 the American churches. In 1752 he returned to 

 America, bringing with him six young ministers. 



The success of Schlatter' a mission suirircstcd an ex- 

 tensive educational movement in behalf of 1 the Ger- 

 mans of Pennsylvania. A large fund was brought 

 together in England, and a number of schools were 

 founded which were known as ''charity schools." 

 Schlatler was induced to become Superintendent of 

 Schools, but unfortunately this educational movement 

 was made to assume a political character, and iiroycd 

 a failure. Schlatter became disheaiu nel, ami with- 



drew from active participation in ecclesiastical affairs. 

 After his retirement the most prominent men in the 

 Coetus vere J. Conrad Steiner, author of several vol- 

 umes of sermons, and William Stoy, who was also an 

 eminent physician. Dr. J. Daniel Gross was pro- 

 fessor in Columbia College, New York, and author of 

 a work on Moral PhUofOphy. Philip William Otter- 

 bein was a warm friend of the early Methodists, and 

 though himself remaining in the Reformed Church, 

 organized religious societies, from which sprang the 

 denomination known as the "United Brethren in 

 Christ." Rev. Drs. Caspar Weyberg and William 

 Hendel were successively pastors in Philadelphia, and 

 in connection with Drs. J. H. C. Helmuth and H. E. 

 Muhlenberg, of the Lutheran Church, were especially 

 prominent in the organization of Franklin College, an 

 institution founded in 1787 at Lancaster, Pa., to pro- 

 mote higher education among the Germans. This col- 

 lege was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, who 

 was at that time governor of Pennsylvania, and who 

 contributed liberally to its endowment. Unfortunately 

 its resources were not equal to its necessities, and for 

 many years it failed to meet the expectations of its 

 founders. 



In 1770 the Dutch churches of New York invited 

 the German churches of Pennsylvania to unite with 

 them in the establishment of a single General Synod, 

 but the Germans declined, on the ground that they 

 were unwilling to be separated from the synods of 

 Holland. During all these years the minutes of the 

 Coetus were sent to Europe for revision and approval. 

 If the synods of Holland had granted to the Co3tus the 

 privilege of conferring the rite of ordination this inti- 

 mate relation might have been indefinitely continued, 

 but on this point the Hollanders were inflexible. The 

 assertion of the right to ordain ministers led to the 

 final separation, which was, however, accomplished 

 without extended controversy. The Coetus declined, in 

 courteous terms, to submit its future proceedings to 

 the revision of "the fathers," and thus by its own act 

 became an independent synod. 



III. 1793-1820. The Synod of the German Re- 

 formed Church met for the first time at Lancaster, 

 Pa., in 1793. The number of ministers at this time 

 was about twenty. The condition of the church was 

 not encouraging. Its earliest pastors, who had been 

 trained in Europe, had passed away, and many of their 

 successors had been imperfectly educated. In conse- 

 quence of the delay in establishing literary institutions 

 there was a great scarcity of ministers, and many 

 churches were lost to the denomination. The intro- 

 duction of the English language into the services of 

 the church led to serious conflicts. The earliest 

 Sunday-school was organized in the church on Race 

 street, near Fourth, Philadelphia. April 14, 1806. A 

 few books were written, by Drs. C. L. Becker, Samuel 

 Helffenstein, and others, but there was little literary 

 activity. The pastors, however, generally attended 

 faithfully to the duties of their office, as they under- 

 stood them, and were especially careful to catechize 

 the young as a preparation for their admission to full 

 membership in the church. The most hopeful indica- 

 tion was a general longing for better things, which, 

 although expressed in abortive synodical resolutions, 

 was a prophecy of future advancement. 



IV. 1820-1863. At the beginning of this period 

 the number of ministers was about seventy. The 

 difficulty of bringing them together to synodical meet- 

 ings probably first suggested the desirability of estab- 

 lishing subordinate ecclesiastical bodies. The Class's, 

 or Presbytery, has always l>een regarded as of funda- 

 mental importance to the reformed system of govern- 

 ment, and its introduction into the German Reformed 

 Church of this country appropriately marks the time 

 of its awakening to the nature of its mission. 



In 1820 the classes, eight in number, met for the 

 t : i i lime. In the same year the synod, convened in 

 Hasrerstown, Md., adopted a plan for the establish- 



