Rt. Rev. Wm. Quarter 37 



the sphere of his duties, when that call was for 

 the promotion of the honour and glory of God. 



Among the most brilliant results of his teachings 

 in St. Mary's, was the conversion of the Rev. John 

 James Maximilian Oertel, a Lutheran minister of 

 New York city. This gentleman was the son of 

 Professor Oertel, M. D., of Ansback, in Bavaria. 

 He studied theology in the University of Erlang. 

 "After a course of five years' studies in this Uni- 

 versity, he was examined for holy orders, and was 

 soon ordained a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran 

 Church. Being invited by the Evangelical Mis- 

 sionary Society of Barmen, in Prussia, to preach the 

 Gospel to German protestants of the United States," 

 he accepted the invitation and departed for New- 

 York, whither he arrived in the year 1837. 



To use the words of Rev. Mr. Oertel himself: 

 " I was a zealous preacher of the Lutheran doctrines; 

 for I believed that the Lutheran Church alone was 

 the true Church of Christ." Again he says: "In- 

 fluenced by the prejudices of my education at the 

 University, I believed that the Lutheran doctrine 

 was the same as that taught by the fathers of the 

 preceding ages; I believed that Luther's doctrine 

 was the same as that which Christ taught to his 

 apostles, and which they delivered to their suc- 

 cessors. ********j believed that I had 

 learned the sound doctrine, and that I had the true 

 belief. I believed, in a word, that I was a member 

 of the Holy Catholic Church, and I clung to the 

 thought with the fondness of a child for its mother." 



