A Short Description of the Life of the Author of the Sermons Contained in This Book

After long consideration and hesitation, I have finally come to the decision to add to the preceding sermons a short description of my Christian experience. I hesitated for a long time for fear that doing so would be poorly received, but then I finally thought: Why can't this lead to God's glory and honor just as much as the publication of the sermons themselves? Indeed, aren't the books of the Bible mostly descriptions of the experiences and achievements of the people who composed the books? I am praising nothing in myself, except my weakness. I have God's grace alone to thank for what I am and for what I have been able to do for the furthering of God's work. Of course, I don't have space to go into all the details of my experience and my labors, and I will share only a brief account of the working of God's grace in my awakening, in my conversion, in my call to the office of preacher, and in my service to the Church. I hope by doing so to make myself useful to at least some of my readers. Let me mention first that I am now in my 73rd year of life, and the 55th year as a preacher. I spent 24 years of that time as a circuit preacher, and the rest as an employee in the Evangelical Association's press and publishing house, and in literary endeavors for the benefit of the Church.From childhood onwards, I was conscious in my heart of God's voice and the working of His Grace, but I neither understood nor appreciated it at first. Moreover, the good example and instruction of my God-fearing parents and grandparents turned me from evil and led me towards the good, as far as they were able without having learnt the power of godliness through personal experience. Without any kind of religious awakening or revival in the churches in our area, both young and old remained completely unaware of the need for Christian experience and for the practice of godliness, and lived unconverted, even though they were favorable to the church. People wanted to do good, but they failed to accomplish it. I experienced this in many ways, to my pain and sorrow, during by boyhood. My conscience, through the aforementioned instruction and encouragement, together with the working of the Holy Ghost, was tender and feeling, and I felt fearful and condemned whenever I became conscious of a sin I had committed. How often did I resolve to guard myself from sin, and yet time and again I got carried away.In my tenth year, I received particularly strong stirrings from the Spirit of the Lord, and I vowed to him that I would become better and do better, but it did not reach the point of my finding spiritual peace. In my fifteenth year, that is in 1825, in the month of May, I visited the area of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, with my mother and some of our relatives. Orwigsburg is where I was born and lies about seventy miles from where we were then living. At the time of our visit, the great and widely known awakening in Orwigsburg was in full swing, and my mother's parents, her siblings, and many of her relatives and acquaintances were converted. Their lives and transformation testified that a spiritual change for the better, worked by God himself, had come over them. This made a deep impression on us. After a stay of several weeks with them, and almost daily attendance at a public prayer service of one kind or the other, we returned home from our visit deeply moved and eager for salvation. We naturally shared what we witnessed during this visit with the rest of the family, which also had a good effect. From that time onwards, I prayed through tears daily for the forgiveness of my sins and for spiritual peace. I did not yet correctly understand, however, justification through faith and victory over sin. Although I strove to flee sin to the best of my ability and understanding, I received no satisfaction. Time and again, I was more or less struck down by my passions, which caused me great sorrow every time, and almost cast me into despair. Although I often found some relief through prayer and supplication after some great struggle, and felt to some degree joyful, I was not yet ready to appropriate for myself the merits of Christ through faith. A whole year passed in this manner; this was truly a year of repentance for me.Then, at the start of June, 1826, I went to a camp meeting with one of my friends—this was the first meeting of this kind that I had attended. Once there, I was invited with others seeking salvation to come forward to pray, whereupon I found some relief and consolation, as I had often found earlier, but I did not receive the assurance of the forgiveness of my sins nor God's acceptance of me as a child. The meeting ended the next morning, and I went home still hungering and thirsting for God's grace. The day I returned was a Saturday, and my parents had gone to visit relatives, to return the next day. On that Saturday evening, June 4, 1826, I was released from the bondage of sin. I had gone into my bedroom, to try once again to enter via struggle through the narrow gate. I cried out to God from the depths of my soul, asking for the forgiveness of my sins and for the renewal of my heart; everyone in the house, and indeed nearby, heard my cry. All fear of man and devil had disappeared, and my longing for God was unutterably great; my soul's every desire was directed towards Him. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks, and my determination was like Jacob's: "I will not let You go, until you bless me." Before this battle had gone on for a long time, hope began to glimmer in my heart: now will you be helped, now you will succeed! This lively feeling so filled my emotions, as if a voice from heaven had carried it. Immediately after, faith with its saving power grew in my heart and laid claim to Christ's merit, and, in the same instant, the burden of sin and all darkness and sorrow disappeared like mist before the wind, and a ray of divine light and divine power, which no tongue and no pen is capable of describing, pierced my soul. The ray of light seemed to illumine the room, and to be brighter than the sun in all its power. The divine power came over me to such a degree that I could scarcely feel my limbs, and I wasn't sure whether I was in my body or outside of it. A sweet and blessed peace pierced my heart, tears of joy streamed from my eyes, and praise of God streamed uncontrollably from my lips. Now I knew truly that God had forgiven my sins, renewed my heart, and accepted me as a child, just as I knew that I was alive. Neither human nor devil could have convinced me otherwise on that night. Yes, the evidence of my adoption as a child was so clear and powerful, that the old enemy and murderer of souls dared make no attempt that night to make me doubt. It was as if I found myself in the forecourt of heaven, or in heaven itself. Because of my joy and happiness, I could not go to sleep for a long time, and, when I fell asleep, it was the sweetest sleep that I have ever enjoyed to my knowledge. The next day was Sunday, and the sun rose that morning clear and strong. The entire sky was bright, and everything in nature seemed more cheerful than ever before. Yes, everything I viewed seemed new. The song of the birds called out more pleasantly, the flowers gave off a sweeter scent, and everything in nature seemed happy for me, and to wish me joy. I shall never, never, forget that Saturday night and the following Sunday!The great enemy of souls could not long stand idly by, quietly looking at this splendid victory of God's grace. He had been robbed and he could do nothing about it—without betraying his own true character—except to attempt to steal it back. The afore-mentioned lovely, blessed Sunday had not yet completely disappeared, before he revealed his old craft. Disbelief attempted to whisper in my ear: "Was it perhaps merely imagination, that stirred and moved you so, and made you so happy? It is surely not possible that God should have shared such grace with an unworthy one like you—you are only imagining it." "Is it possible that I have been deceived?" was the answer from my inmost being. "No, that cannot be—I have in fact seen, felt, and tasted, that the Lord is friendly. I know that my Redeemer lives!" O, I cannot forget that blessed moment! The enemy had to withdraw from this unsuccessful attempt. He did not let himself become discouraged by these first defeats at the hand of his new opponent. He came again and again on the same errand. Meanwhile, I continued to read my Bible zealously, praying and pleading for the revelation of and insight into the proper understanding of spiritual and Godly matters, and through this I soon became so practiced in guarding and protecting myself with the sword of the Spirit against the enemies that I generally gained the victory in battle against them. The Bible and prayer were my main weapons in the battle against the enemies. Not only Satan, however, but also some of my old comrades pursued me and thought to drive these crazy ideas, as they perceived them, from my head by mockery and abuse, and to thereby win me back. After I had lectured some of them a few times, as well as I could through God's assistance, they left me in peace; and some of them soon afterwards joined me in heading for the Lord and for his kingdom.Soon after my conversion, I became deeply concerned about the salvation of my fellow human beings. The sorrowful state of the masses penetrated my heart, and cost me much distress and many tears. The sorrowful state of the majority of the human race and the danger they were in of being lost—O, how this thought caused me grief in the bottom of my soul. Finally, the thought struck me that perhaps God was calling upon me to announce to my fellow humans the salvation to be found in His Son, and to invite them to this salvation. Initially, I considered this feeling as a temptation from Satan, since it seemed impossible for me to become a preacher of the Gospel; therefore I didn't let anyone know about my feeling in the least. Indeed, I would have been ashamed to do so. Several of my fellow believers, however, conceived of this idea without my knowledge, and eventually revealed their thoughts to me. I could give them no answer, however, except that I did not agree, because I saw myself to be too low and unworthy, especially since I still had to struggle so much with doubt and shallow belief a whole year after my conversion. Meanwhile, my class leader, who was also only a little practiced in Christianity, often approached me to give an exhortation at the prayer meetings, but I refused for a long time, but eventually promised several times to do so, but each time, when the moment came, I drew back timidly. One time, however, when the class leader could not attend the prayer meeting on a Wednesday evening, and no one else was present to open the meeting and to lead it, I had to take over, but it occurred with fear and trembling, and, after I read out the Scripture passage, I could only bring forth a stream of tears, which, however, made a great impression on those present, and bore fruit. After this, I no longer refused to give an exhortation, whenever I was requested, and I soon made good progress in this area, with the result that I was often appointed to speak at large gatherings. As a result of this, the call to preach stirred further in me, and it often seemed to me, that I should prepare and accommodate myself to this. Afterwards, however, all my courage would again be lost, most especially because of my youth, because I was only in my seventeenth year, and had had little opportunity to receive schooling and education. This caused me great worry. Many nights I prayed for hours upon my knees, asking for clarification in this matter, and promising to follow Him, if he were to make it clear that such was His will. After these sessions, I would usually receive peace and consolation. However, this seldom lasted long, and I soon became discouraged once again in the face of my incompetence. This continued on and off for months, until I finally decided to make an attempt, and, in this way, to discover God's will. After this, I felt without ceasing God's closeness and his clemency, and those gloomy times, that had caused me so much discomfort earlier, never returned again. The decision had now been taken, and had to be carried out, but many obstacles still lay in the way. One thing led to another, however, until all the obstacles had disappeared. Soon after this, I tried out preaching, and made a tour with our circuit's preachers in the spring of 1828, and was very often appointed by them to preach.My first attempt at preaching came about in the following manner: the preacher stayed at home and sent me to deliver his message, comforting me with the remark that the people of the place would not be too particular, and would be happy if I read out a Scripture passage and addressed the people. Now, thought I, this gives me an opportunity to try out preaching. Once I arrived at the place, I took myself as soon as possible to a room that was set aside for the preachers in order to prepare myself with study and prayer for the preaching that evening. As the evening approached, my task grew in importance, and I was not without worry about achieving my goal. I thought, however: "I'll do what I can, and no one can ask more than that." Once most of the people had assembled and the time had almost arrived to begin the worship service, two experienced preachers, who had earlier served for years as traveling preachers, entered my room. I was somewhat startled by this at first, but I consoled myself also with the thought that now one of them would preach, and I immediately proposed this to them. Each one made his apologies, however, and, good or bad, I had to deliver my first sermon in the presence of these two old, experienced preachers. I came out downcast, and read out the passage: "As the Son makes you free, so are you truly free." The Lord helped, and we had a blessed assembly. After I had made further attempts at preaching, I was encouraged in various ways to take up the office of preacher, especially by those preachers with whom I had become acquainted. They insisted that I must preach, or else risk being rejected by the Lord.At the yearly gathering of the then Eastern Conference of the Association, which took place at the start of June, 1828, in New Berlin, PA, I was licensed probationary preacher, and was appointed with Brother Jakobus Bärber to what was then the Center Circuit, just two years after my conversion; I was in my eighteenth year. I myself thought I was too young, and so did some of the congregations that I was supposed to serve (as they told me themselves later on), and these people threatened to send me home when they heard that I was to be stationed there. The circuit numbered nearly thirty stations, and the whole year through, I needed to preach almost daily and to make frequent long journeys. Moreover, after the preaching, I often had to counsel penitents, hold classes, or other exercises, all the way up to midnight. A person who wasn't strong and tough would generally collapse under such a load. I almost reached that point in my first year as preacher due to my lack of experience and caution and because of excessive exertion in the activities. The old enemy of souls and, it seemed, the entire power of darkness attacked me once more, in order to challenge my vocation to the office of preacher. It was sometimes a close call, but the Lord helped us to overcome these obstacles—may His Name be praised! The fight about this lasted into the first few months of my second year as preacher, and then it stopped and has never returned up to this day. My second and third years were very happy and blessed years in office. My field of labor was the Lebanon Circuit, which stretched over portions of Lebanon, Lancaster, Berks, Lehigh, and Bucks Counties in Pennsylvania. My colleagues on the circuit were, in the first year, H. Niebel, and, in the second year, C. Hammer. Almost two hundred souls were promisingly converted during those two years. I served the next two years in the York and Schuylkill Circuits, where we likewise had great awakenings and many conversions. While I was serving in this latter circuit, we had one hundred conversions during a camp meeting held near Orwigsburg.After five years of service as preacher, I was elected in my 23rd year as a Presiding Elder, and was stationed to the Zion District of the then Eastern Conference. After three years of service there, I was sent in the same position to what was then the New York District, which stretched across a large part of New York State up to the city of Buffalo. I served there only three months before the General Conference elected me to the position of Chief Accounting Officer and Publisher of Der Christliche Botschafter.This happened in the autumn of 1836. At the same time, I was also appointed as Collector to gather monetary contributions for the establishment of the printing press and publishing house ordered by the General Conference, in which work I was busy through the whole winter until the beginning of my other duties on April 1, 1837. At the start of the year 1838, the new publishing house went into operation, the establishment of which had caused me much hassle and worry due to my lack of experience in the printing business. Everything got off to a good start, however, and this happy beginning made a favorable impression upon both those inside and outside of the Association. We were happy and thankful that we had succeeded through God's blessing to acquire our own printing press and publishing house. For two years, I was the only officer in the publishing house, or, rather, I served in all the offices of the business. I was Chief Accounting Officer, Editor, Proofreader, Bookkeeper, Bookpacker, and Dispatcher of the Botschafter and all the books that came from the press, in which duties I was generally busy about 16 to 18 hours per day. Finally, however, during the sitting of the General Conference in the spring of 1839, when Brother Charles Hammer was chosen as Chief Accounting Officer, I was relieved of this excessive burden, and was able to dedicate more attention to Der Christliche Botschafter and other work that belonged to the department of the Editor. I remained bound up with the publishing house in this way for a further five years, until the General Conference of 1843. After that I served again in the role of preacher for a bit more than five years—two years in York, PA, and the rest of the time in Baltimore, MD. Then I served once more for five years at the printing press and publishing house, a part of that time as Editor and Chief Accounting Officer, and the rest of the time simply as Chief Accounting Officer, until the operation was moved from New Berlin, PA to Cleveland, OH, to which I did not want to relocate, and so laid down my office. This happened in the spring of 1854. Since then I served once again about eight years as Editor, Chief Accounting Officer, and Assistant in the operation, so that I have been occupied in the business for roughly twenty years. Enough for one lifetime. Due to this relationship with our printing and book shop—both in founding it and in running it—it is understandable that I should feel a deep interest in its continued success. Its happy progress from year to year and its prospects for the future have often given me joy and contentment, especially because of my conviction of its success, efficacy, and usefulness in disseminating Christian books and newspapers. If someone had told me, forty-four years ago, when we were beginning to establish the operation, that I would see it with its current extent and efficacy, or even just suggested it might reach such an extent, I would have been unable to believe it or to comprehend it. We must truly say: "the Lord has done this, and it is wonderful in our eyes!" May His approval and His blessing rest upon it in the future, and may it continually increase in extent, efficacy, and usefulness!Next to the pleasure I had in taking part in the establishing and running of our book business, I was also afforded the privilege of taking part in the introduction of the Sunday school and missionary enterprises in our association, the former in 1835 and the latter in 1838. At my suggestion and proposal, the East Pennsylvania Conference, at its annual session in Orwigsburg, PA, formed itself in the aforementioned year into a missionary society, and honored me with the presidency of the same. Then, one year later, the Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association was founded. I count it as one of the greatest privileges and happiest experiences of my life, that, after so many glorious victories in home-grown missions, I lived to take part in the creation of a mission in Germany, and later, of a mission to unbelievers in Japan. And it seems to me at times—if the years that have passed over me did not prohibit it—that I would say to the missionary authority in the case of need: "Here I am; send me, if you could use me." I am so happy about the success of the missionary endeavors in general and especially of our association, at home and abroad, and I hope that these efforts will soon greatly multiply and will finally be crowned with success by the Lord.In order to give a better understanding of what I have witnessed in the Evangelical Association, I want to share a small statistic about the Association from the time of my first acquaintance with it. As previously shown, I first became acquainted with the Evangelical Association in the year 1825, during the aforementioned visit to Orwigsburg. The number of members in that year was 2039, with 21 traveling preachers, and 1 annual conference. Then, in the year 1826, the second conference was established in the state of Ohio. This conference counted 5 traveling preachers, and the Eastern Conference 16, so once again 21 total as in the preceding year. The Association had two small churches or gathering houses, which, both together, didn't even cost a thousand dollars. So the whole Association, including members, preachers, and churches, was far smaller than our little Erie Conference currently is. I personally knew by sight the older and first preachers of the Association—with the exception of Albright, Walter, and G. Miller—and I often heard the vast majority of them preach. Now the Association numbers almost 120,000 members, about 100 traveling preachers, and some 1600 churches. In view of this and the previously mentioned facts about the increase, spread, and introduction of various enterprises for the better operation of the work entrusted to us, and especially in sight of the success and prospering of the Association's ventures, I can only call out with a moved and thank-filled heart, along with the psalmist: "The Lord has done a great thing for us, wherefore we are glad." May we always show our thankfulness through obedience and faithfulness towards Him.