Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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Alma Mater and , as his later life proved, one of whom she ever can feel proud. Here he showed himself entirely worthy of the pecuniary support furnished him by some beneficent people of his own town, and of the confidence and esteem of Dr. Oporin, a learned and pious professor of the University, who took him to his home, made him his private secretary, and gave him free board and a room for his own use. In Dr. Oporin’s home, Muhlenberg not only enjoyed excellent social advantages, but also was removed from intimate intercourse with students of lower tendencies, for “ German university-and student-life is, even in our times, to some extent an anomalous social phenomenon.” At that time “German universities, though truly centres of learning, were, in a moral aspect, not garden spots in a desert, but a howling wilderness in the midst of cultivated lands.” All such undesirable environments Muhlenberg because of previous moral and religious training was glad to shun. It was at Gottingen that Muhlenberg first came in contact with that spirit and form of piety, which was originally represented by the learned theologian, Philip Jacob Spener, and which received the name of Pietism. The decidedly practical character of this movement was made manifest particularly at Halle where Herman August Francke founded the celebrated Orphan-House and the literary and educational institutions connected with it, which sent out so many consecrated missionaries to foreign lands, and did so much to spread the Bible at home and abroad. Muhlenberg became a firm advocate of Pietism in its purity and remained so to the day of his death. In 1737 he was licensed to preach and catechize. After his graduation from the University in 1738, he was elected as a teacher in the Halle institutions, where his life was further providentially molded for his important career. Gotthilf August Francke, son of the distinguished founder of said institution, was now at its head, and kept his deep personal impress upon the man who was to transplant into America the best growth of German Lutheranism. Muhlenberg taught Greek and Hebrew, and imbibed the deep-seated pietism of the school. The missionary zeal, which always charaterized the school at Halle, came nigh sending him on a mission to Bengal. Lack of funds detained him, and, in 1739, he accepted a pastorate at Grosshennersdorf, where he could further prepare himself for his future mission in America. While on a visit to Halle, on September 6, 1741, his old friend, Dr. Francke, at supper offered him a call to Pennsylvania, to which he promptly responded that “if it was the divine will, he would and must follow whithersoever Provi- dence determined.” He returned to his flock to preach his farewell sermon, bid his fond mother and friends farewell ; and, on April 14, 1742, embarked at the Dutch port of Helvoetsluys for England and America. In England he was the guest of Dr. Fred. M. Ziegetihagen, court preacher

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HENRY MELCHOIR MUHLENBERG. HE purpose of this sketch is not to protrude any special denominational sympathies on a public of possible contrary belief, but to give a brief account of a character who, for his excellent qualities and remarkable achievements should be of interest to any true friend of the Church, regardless of his religious persuasion, and especially to the students of Muhlenberg College, because to him she owes her name and, next to Martin Luther, her faith. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, was born September 6, 1711, at Eimbeck, a town in Hanover, Prussia. In harmony with a time-honored custom, he was baptized on the day of his birth and the registry records his name as “ Melchoir Henry, son of Nicholaus Melchoir Muhlenberg and Anna Maria (nee Klein- schmidt) his wife.” Both lines had been honored, and poured into the off-spring the blood of baronial and military distinction, the tangible fruits of which had been swept aw r ay by the devastations of war long before our subject’s birth. His father realizing the importance of educational training, sent him to the largest of two classical schools then existing at Eimbeck. In his twelfth year he was, by the rite of confirmation, received into the membership of the Lutheran Church, and we have some relics in the youth’s own hand-writing, which indicate his child-like yet sincere faith. Before he w T as thirteen years of age he lost his father in death, on which sad occasion he received, as he himself tells us, his first deep religious impressions and was most seriously affected. He was now obliged to leave school and, until his eighteenth year, was engaged in assisting one of his brothers in his trade. This was, no doubt, a wholesome school, but his natural instincts could not be thwarted. His irrepressible longing for knowledge and for a higher education received partial gratification by the employment of every leisure moment in study, and soon favorable conditions permitted him to continue his studies without very much interruption. Family tradition will have it that as a youth he made his first homiletical attempts in a barn by preaching to the bare walls. At twenty-one he was able to re-enter school and prosecute his studies in the dead languages, mathematics and music. Here his fine tenor voice served him as a revenue, as Luther’s had served its possessor long before. In 1733 we find him in an advanced school at Zellerfield, teaching and studying. March 19, 1 735 , he was matriculated as a student at the University of Gottingen which was established in that year. He was therefore one of the fir st students of that 10

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of the German St. James Chapel, a stanch friend of missions. He remained nine weeks and studied English. He set sail for his American destination June 13th and, after a stormy and eventful voyage, during which he suffered from sickness and other discomforts, landed at Charleston, S. C., September 22, 1742. He proceeded to Ebenezer, Georgia, where the Salzburger Lutherans had a flourish- ing colony, and spent some time with the pastors, Revs. Boltzius and Gronau, who greatly appreciated his helpful visit. On November 25, 1742, Muhlenberg reached Philadelphia, a poor unknown young man thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit. In America Muhlenberg met with almost insuperable difficulties which required not only a good Christian heart, a clear practical head, and a strong, energetic will, but also a strong physical constitution and an enormous amount of vitality. All these qualifications he possessed and many others which future necessities brought to light. He arrived in Pennsylvania sixty years after William Penn’s first visit to his province and in that time great changes had occurred. Emigrants of all nationalities and beliefs resorted thither in ever increasing numbers until in 1752, as reports tell us, the total white population reached 190,000. The Germans numbered about 90,000 and arrived so fast that for many years their number embraced about one-half of the entire number of white settlers. By far the great majority of the Germans were Lutherans. Many congregations were springing up, but usually were flocks without shepherds. Many self-ordained ministers, of all men least fitted to be pastors, took advantage of the spiritual destitution existing everywhere among the Lutheran brethren and had themselves elected as leaders of congregations. Great church leaders of other religious denominations had preceded Muhlenberg and were misleading the hungry Lutheran sheep. The most active of these was Count Zinzendorf, the founder of Moravianism, who represented himself as a regularly ordained Lutheran pastor sent to satisfy their wants. His real design was to change the Lutherans into Moravians and in his efforts had gained many adherents. In a rather spirited conversation Muhlenberg made evident to him the authenticity of his mission, and Zinzendorf was obliged to relinguish his plans in this direction. Muhlenberg, by his pleasing personality, his admirable Christian character, his deep personal insight, his ready mental grasp, his wonderful organizing and administrative ability, and his presevering efforts, soon succeeded to restore confidence and orderly worship among many of his German brethren in the flesh and faith. In this brief sketch it is impossible to give a full description of his herculean task. In order, however, properly to appreciate the greatness of his work and how well he fulfilled his mission, it is necessary to remember that when he arrived in this country he was young, inexperienced and a total stranger, that the