Philip Mayer was a son of George Mayer and Euphronia, nee Kercher, and the name of his grandfather was John Mayer, who came to America in 1750 from that part of Germany known as Upper Host in Rhine Bairen. He was born in Tulpehocken township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1783. His parents were in moderate circumstances. The richest dowery they left him was his early consecration to God in the ordinance of holy baptism, and the heaviest loss he sustained was the early death of his father and mother, leaving him, when only five years old, a homeless orphan. A kindly-disposed uncle, Mr. Jacob Stetler, was appointed over him as guardian. He attended, as well as he could, to his early education. At the age of fourteen he was thoroughly instructed by his pastor in the doctrine of the Heidelberg Catechism, and after sustaining a very creditable examination he was confirmed and received into full communion with the German Reformed Church. It was while attending this blessed instruction that a desire of becoming a minister of the Gospel was awakened in his youthful breast. His heart was deeply affected and his mind powerfully exercised in this direction, but there were great difficulties in the way of realizing these fond wishes. In his very soul he had consecrated himself to the blessed work of preaching the Gospel, but how to prepare himself for the sacred office he knew not. The call to the ministry he felt and acknowledged, but there was neither friend nor money to educate him for the solemn and responsible work. After exhausting all his own resources, and doing all he could to improve his mind and prepare himself for his future calling, he providentially made the acquaintance of the venerable pastor of the German Reformed Church in the city of Baltimore. He was generously encouraged to come to the city in order to pursue his studies, and thus prepare himself for the holy ministry. Receiving some assistance from a pious and benevolent maiden lady, he started off with a glad heart and a thankful spirit for the city of Baltimore, and there prosecuted his theological studies under the care and tuition of the learned and accomplished Dr. C.L. Becker.
In May, 1809, at the Synod of Hagerstown, a regular call from Pine Grove township, Schuylkill county, Pa., to Mr. Mayer was presented to Synod. A committee, consisting of Revs. Rahauser, Faber and Helffenstein, Sr., was appointed to examine him. The examination being satisfactory, he was formally licensed and ordained to the holy ministry.
On the 24th of June, 1809, he preached his introductory sermon in St. Paul's Church on Summon Hill.
On the 23d of April, 1809, he was married to Miss Esther Diffenbacher. He lived with the partner of his life in this holy estate about forty years. This union was blessed with six sons and three daughters. His wife and four of his children preceded him to the eternal world. To the end of his life did his soul rejoice that he had at least one son, the Rev. L.J. Mayer, to maintain the family name in the list of God's servants.
His long life and ministry are fraught with deepest interest. He served quite a number of congregations, and some of them for nearly half a century. He preached to the following congregations in Berks county: Hain's, three years; Middlebury, two; Belleman's, twenty; Hamburg, twenty-five; Blue Mountain, three, and St. Michael's, forty-three. Zion's, which was nearest his home, he served forty-eight years.
When he commenced his labors in the ministry in Schuylkill county, the country was yet a wilderness. Many a rough and uncultivated region had to be encountered. The country was infested with wild beasts and the numerous streams were without bridges. These streams had to be forded at all seasons. During winter the ice had to be broken, and frequently his life was endangered in crossing the swollen streams. Wet, cold and shivering, he often had to enter the church where there was neither stove nor fire. Sometimes he heard the screams of wild beasts prowling along his pathway and seeking his life. Those were trying times and required brave hearts in the men who were to go about these wild districts. On the 10th of July, 1870, after a brief illness, Father Mayer peacefully closed his earthly career and gently fell asleep in Jesus, aged 87 years, 1 month and 28 days. He is buried at Orwigsburg in the Reformed cemetery.
"Lebanon Classis went farther than any of the others. It not only endorsed revivals but attacked their opposers. When Dr. Bucher, the pastor at Reading, was charged by some of his members with departing from Reformed custom by having revival, the Classis most decidedly upheld him and sharply rebuked his opponents. It went farther than this. It ordered prayer meetings to be introduced into the congregations. And when Rev. William Pauli refused, he was disciplined for contumacy. His name was finally dropped from the Classis."
Rev. Pauli was quite popular in his day. Though no longer a member of Synod, be continued to preach in some country congregations up to the time of his death. He died at his residence in Reading, May 20, 1855, aged 63 years, 2 months and 11 days.
Rev. Pauli belonged to a priestly family, not only his father and younger brother, but also his grandfather, Ernst Ludwig Pauli, having been ministers in the Reformed Church. He served Hain's Church from 1814 to 1816.
Rev. Hendel was a son of Dr. Hendel. He was born October 14, 1768, His father made provision for the education of his son. After he had finished his preparatory studies he entered Columbia College in New York, where he passed through a regular collegiate course.
After he had graduated he entered the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, New Jersey, from which institution he also received the degree of Doctor of Divinity at a later period of his life, about the year 1828. On the 17th of October, 1792, he was examined by a committee of Synod, and on the 30th of April, 1793, he was ordained to the holy ministry by Synod at its meeting in Lancaster.
On the 11th of October, 1793, he preached his introductory sermon in the Tulpehocken Church, and soon afterwards also in the several congregations associated with it in that pastoral charge. (He preached at Hain's Reformed Church from 1815 to 1822.) Here, during a period of over twenty-nine years, he experienced joy and sorrow; passed through seasons of sunshine and storm, and saw good and evil days. During the latter portion of his ministry here, especially, many opposed him violently and persecuted him in a most unrighteous manner; and this, with few exceptions, simply because he took a deep interest in missions and in the establishment of a Theological Seminary. Instead of allowing this opposition to dampen his ardor or lessen his interest in such benevolent enterprises and check his activity in the work of the Lord, he concluded to resign his charge of the Tulpehocken and Millbach congregations, under the conviction that it was his duty to serve God rather than man.
Rev. Hendel's labors for many years extended over a large field, embracing often ten or more congregations. He was a regular attendant upon ecclesiastical assemblies of the Church and was a very useful and influential member of Synod at its meetings. He was a warm friend of the literary and theological institutions of the Church, not only giving his labor and influence for their establishment, but contributing more than $1,000 from his own private funds towards their permanent endowment. It is said by Father Gerhart, who was present, that when, during the meeting of Synod at Bedford in 1824, the question on the establishment of a Theological Seminary was taken, the vote was a tie. Dr. Hendel, who was president, rose and with much feeling and emphasis gave the casting vote, saying: "I vote for the Seminary"; and in allusion to the prevailing opposition to the Seminary, added: "I have broad shoulders and can carry much."
Dr. Hendel was married to Miss Hahn, of Falkner Swamp. He left no descendants. His wife preceded him to eternity some years.
Dr. Hendel died at his residence in "Womelsdorf, Berks county, Pa., on Saturday, July 11, 1846, after an illness of about five years. His age was 77 years, 8 months and 27 days. On Tuesday, the 14th, he was buried in the Womelsdorf cemetery by the side of his wife.
Mr. Herman was a son of the Rev. Dr. F.L. Herman. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1815, and ordained, after three years' service, in 1818.
For some years he was settled as pastor of a number of congregations in and around New Holland, Lancaster county, Pa. He was the pastor of Hain's Reformed Church from 1822 to 1826. In 1821 or 1822 he, in connection with some others, left the regular Synod and constituted the so-called "Free Synod." His name accordingly disappeared from the minutes, and does not occur again until 1838, when he is reported as stationed at Hartleton, Union county, Pa.
He died in Turbotville, Northumberland county, Pa., and is buried in the "old" graveyard. He died October 30, 1849, in the 54th year of his age.
Rev. Joseph S. Dubbs was a son of Daniel Dubbs and his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Matthew Schwenk. They were pious God-fearing people. He was born October 16, 1796, in Upper Milford township, Lehigh county, Pa. He was the youngest of a family of seven. Having been baptized in early infancy, his parents were very anxious that he should be properly instructed in the doctrine and duties of our holy religion. In an unfinished autobiographical sketch he gives the following account of his early Christian training: "During the long winter evenings we were required to commit the Catechism, and to read the Psalter and the New Testament. On Sunday, when there was no service in the church, we were required to spend the forenoon in religious study, but whenever it was possible we went to church and listened to the preaching of the Gospel. After we returned from church and had taken our dinner, the Bible was brought and the chapter from which the text was taken, read and commented upon. When this was done, we were allowed to enjoy a little innocent recreation."
It was about the time of his confirmation that he also felt an earnest longing for the ministry. When his father saw him resolutely bent on attaining his object, he agreed to assist him, and, rejoiced to see his son a worthy minister of the Gospel.
He prepared for the ministry under Dr. Herman, who had a number of students. In 1822 he was licensed to preach the Gospel, with special authority to administer the sacraments. He was ordained at a Synod held at Kutztown in September, 1823.
The following experience of Mr. Dubbs is given in the History of the Reformed Church in the United States:
"When Dubbs had been three years under Herman's tuition, the latter sent him one cold Sunday morning in winter to preach his first sermon in the Church at Limerick. The Church had just received from Squire Brook the gift of a stove, an article which was almost unknown in the churches of those days and which in some localities was regarded as a new and dangerous innovation. The good people of Limerick offered no objection to having the stove in their Church, though they may have regarded it as a piece of useless luxury, but in this instance it was a source of very little comfort. The stove, unfortunately, had no pipe, as it was found difficult to get one sufficiently long to meet the wants of the case. Things were suffered to remain in this condition for a considerable time. Fire was made in the stove before every service and the smoke permitted to take care of itself. Of course, the Church was so full of smoke that the people could hardly see the preacher. There he preached his first sermon amid the coughing and sneezing of the people. 'And, between nervousness and smoke,' he says, 'I almost feared I would choke to death.' The people, however, were accustomed to the affliction and assured him that he had no occasion to be discouraged with his first sermon."
The first charge served by Rev. Dubbs consisted of the Windsor and Weiss Churches, both in Berks county, of which he assumed charge in June, 1822; in 1824, Epler's Church and from December 17, 1826, to July 10, 1831, Hain's Church, which was added to his charge.
In 1831 Rev. Dubbs accepted a call from the charge in Lehigh county consisting of the Allentown, Egypt, Union and Jordan Churches.
Rev. Dubbs was twice married, the first time, in 1825, to Susan Getz, a daughter of Nicholas Getz, of Berks county; the second time, in 1837, to Mrs. Eleanor Murphy, a daughter of David Lerch and his wife Eleanor Jones. The first marriage was blessed with three children—one son and two daughters—one of whom, Rev. Alfred G. Dubbs, was the pastor of Salem's Reformed Church, Allentown. By the second marriage he had two sons, the younger dying in childhood; the other, Rev. Joseph R. Dubbs, D.D., Professor of Franklin and Marshall College for many years.
Rev. Dubbs remained in full possession of his faculties almost to the end of his life. On Sunday, April 8, he worshipped in St. Michael's Lutheran Church, and appeared to be in full possession of his usual health. On Monday, the 9th, he was, however, overcome by paralysis, and he lay in a semi-conscious condition until Saturday evening, April 14, 1877, when he gently breathed his last, aged 80 years, 5 months and 28 days. He is buried in the Union Cemetery, Allentown.
Mr. John Hautz studied theology under the Rev. J.P. Shindel, of Sunbury, Pa. He was licensed and ordained in 1828, having presented a call from five congregations, located partly in Northumberland and partly in Schuylkill county. In this first charge he labored very successfully for several years. Thence he was called to Bernville, in Berks county, and to the Hain's Reformed Church, where he labored from 1831 up to the time of his death, which occurred December 28, 1832, in the thirtieth year of his age. He no doubt would have become the regular pastor of Hain's Church, had not death removed him from our midst.
During 1833 and 1834 the congregation was served by Rev. Augustus L. Herman and Rev. Thomas R. Leinbach.
Rev. Augustus L. Herman was a son of Rev. F.L. Herman, D.D., one of the most eminent of our early ministers. Augustus was born in Montgomery county, Pa., June 11, 1804. After attending to the primary education he studied theology under his venerable father. In the month of September, 1822, he was ordained to the holy ministry by a committee of what was called the "Free Synod," during its sessions in Kutztown, Pa. Soon after entering the ministry Mr. Herman took charge of some "Congregations in the northwestern part of Berks county, including Hamburg. This field, with perhaps some slight changes, he continued to serve to the end of his life. Rev. Herman was noted as a pulpit orator.
In the year 1848 Rev. Herman was married to Miss Catharine Fricker, of Reading, Pa. They were blessed with a son and a daughter. Mr. Herman died at his residence in the city of Reading, Pa., December 31, 1872, aged 68 years, 6 months and 20 days.
Rev. Thomas Hartman Leinbach was born January 18, 1802, in Oley township, Berks county, Pennsylvania. His parents were Daniel Leinbach and his wife Mary Magdalene, nee Hartman. When Mr. Leinbach was but fifteen years old his father died. A few years later he was instructed in the doctrines and precepts of our holy religion, and confirmed by his pastor, the Rev. F.L. Herman, who soon after became also his theological preceptor. He was licensed and ordained to the gospel ministry by the "Independent Synod," convened at Kutztown, Pa., in the fall of 1822. In the month of March, 1826, he accepted a call from the Tulpehocken congregation and moved to the parsonage attached to the same that spring, retaining still Millbach congregation as a part of his new charge. At the time of his death his charge consisted of six congregations. Rev. Leinbach was famous as a "catechist" and as such he was known throughout the Reformed Church. As a preacher he was very popular and beloved. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Seibert, by whom he had thirteen children. He died in Millersburg, Pa., on Thursday morning, March 31, 1864, aged 62 years, 2 months and thirteen days, leaving a widow and ten children, with a multitude of spiritual sons and daughters, to mourn their loss.
On Tuesday, the 5th of April, following, his funeral took place. He was buried in the new cemetery attached to the old Tulpehocken Church, he being the first one laid in that consecrated ground.
In 1793 the Coetus of the Reformed Churches of Pennsylvania was transformed into a Synod. The first meeting of what proved to be the Synod was held at Lancaster, April 27, 1793. The number of ministers at that time was 22. The ministers present were Hendel, Helffrich, Runke, Pauli, Rahauser, Faber, Mann, Stock, Hautz and Gobrecht. Those noted as absent were Dellicker, Otterbein, Troldenier, Dubendorf, Weber, Pomp, Gueting, Blumer and Herman. The statistics of the Church at that time of the organization of the Synod were 78 organizations (of them 55 were vacant), and about 15,000 communicants, representing perhaps about 40,000 adherents.
There had been differences between the Pennsylvania Coetus and the Church in Holland mainly on two points: 1. The right of ordination. This the Holland Fathers had been slow to grant. 2. A difference of opinion had arisen in regard to education. Our Church felt the need of a school at which young men could be educated for the ministry. In 1785 Helffrich in a letter asked the Holland Fathers that the Pennsylvania Churches be allowed to move on this subject. The Coetus of that year, however, is careful to intimate that this request was not made with any idea of separation from Holland, which they say "would be the basest ingratitude for all the kindness they had received." Later their activity and presence at the opening of the Franklin High School at Lancaster in 1787 fanned anew the suspicions of the Holland Fathers.
This was brought mainly on account of the question of education. There was a certain class of ministers who were anxious to legislate, and prescribe rules and regulations, relative to the education of those who were studying for the ministry, and put away with all private schools. The founding of a new Seminary met with a great deal of opposition, as the majority of the people were against anything that pointed to the centralization of any organization, be it Church or State. This was to be the land of the free, and anything that savored at sovereignty met with the greatest opposition, for the moment the rule passes away from the people into that of the classes, the ruling becomes arbitrary and the individual liberty becomes circumscribed.
The adoption of the new Constitution plainly illustrates the trend of the Church. This Constitution reveals quite a democratic Presbyterial form of government, in which the congregation has large power. Their distrust of the tendency toward centralization in the old Synod made them incline toward giving large rights to the congregation.
The friends of Dr. Herman began to secede. In the eastern part of Berks and Montgomery counties congregation after congregation withdrew from Synod. The first congregations to secede, as far as we know, were those of Guldin at Vincent, Coventry and St. Peter's in Chester county; also the Centre congregation in Lancaster county and the Allegheny congregation in Berks county. The next congregation was that of Kutztown on January 30, 1822. The New Hanover congregation declared itself independent on February 9, 1822, for the same reasons, only adding that all this project of the Synod was looked upon as an aristocratic method of robbing the members of the Church of their freedom. Zion's Church, Alsace township, did so on February 23, as also did the Trappe congregation in Montgomery county on that date. Pottstown declared itself independent on February 28. The Reformed Church of Pike township, Berks county, did so on March 2. Thus one by one they left and declared themselves independent. In the "Reading Adler" of June 25, 1822, a number of the members of the Tulpehocken congregation, among them its treasurer, two trustees, three elders, three deacons and 25 members, published a note signed in May stating that they would not support a minister who supported the Seminary. The Tulpehocken congregation held a meeting on June 26 and took action against the above mentioned memorial, but Dr. Hendel, on account of the opposition to the Seminary project, which he championed, resigned the Tulpehocken and Mühlbach congregations. It was at this period of the Church that Dr. Hendel was the pastor of St. John's (Hain's) Reformed Church, and thus the Hain's Church did not enter into this controversy.
It can be said to the credit of Hain's Reformed Church that they were never carried away by every wind that blew, nor by every doctrine that was promulgated by some fanatical person. This is especially true in regard to the Church. Happy is the family and the nation where the father gathers his children around himself and instructs them in the Bible and the Catechism, and brings them up in love, in prayer and in the admonition of the Lord.
Ingratitude is one of the basest traits that can be stamped on human character, but of this sin this congregation never was guilty. The people that came into this locality came from the Netherlands and from Holland. They remembered the trials and sufferings, but above all what the Fathers in Holland did for them in the way of books and money. They called to mind how the Fathers in Holland called on them as they were about to leave their native country for America, when they knelt in prayer and heard these blessed words: "May God bless and keep you, and when in need, we will never forsake you."
The stories related about the Indians are all false as far as this congregation is concerned. Never in the history of this Church did the members stand on the outside with their rifles to guard those on the inside of the Church from molestation of the Indians. There was no occasion for anything of this kind, as there never was any strife between the Indians and the members of this congregation, but lived together in peace and wrestled with each other in friendly contest to see which was the stronger; but such stories "that an Indian shot the corn cob pipe out of the mouth of the one standing guard" is false.
When the Church at large got hysterical, the Hain's Reformed Church viewed the situation calmly, and its members were undisturbed; nor was their faith shaken, for they stood on a more solid foundation, that was erected on the Word of God, the Heidelberg Catechism and the family altar, and today their children's children can point back with pride and say here is a community where proselyting could not enter and draw them into some other denomination away from their own beloved Church.
Source: History of St. John's (Hain's) Reformed Church in Lower Heidelberg Township Berks County, Penna. by Rev. W.J. Kershner and Adam G. Lerch. Reading, PA: I.M. Beaver, Publisher, 1916, pp. 127-136.
Submitted by: Nancy.
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