1856

“The design of the Savior is, to show the difference between true and false religion… There is a true and a false worship of God, there are hopes which have, and there are hopes that have not a true foundation, and for us it is all important to know what will sustain us in the hour of need…

“The following translation of a manuscript letter of the venerable Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America, will constitute an acceptable addition to the valuable biographies which precede it. Its historic is not its only interest.

“…the book is to deepen devotion, but there is one class of people above all others, for whose help it is most adapted. It is ‘an admirable handbook for the parish priest, because written by one who himself labored through the greater part of his ministerial career as a[n Anglican] parish priest.

“After the Israelites had reached the wilderness of Sinai, Moses informed them that it was the purpose of God to come down upon mount Sinai in the sight of all, and make a covenant with his people.

“The more we knew Mr. Eyster, the more we loved him.” Table of Contents Early Days and Coming To Faith Academic Studies Greencastle and the Loss of His Wife Health Issues Mr.

As a pastor he was faithful and zealous. His whole time seemed consecrated to the spiritual improvement of his people. During the thirty-two years of his ministry, it is supposed he preached upwards of eight thousand sermons, baptized five thousand persons, and received into the church, by the rite of confirmation, more than two thousand.

Moved with a feeling of compassion, and imbued with the missionary spirit, they were willing to forsake the comforts of home, the endearments of society, to make any sacrifice, and to submit to any toil, that they might subserve the cause of Christ, and be instrumental in the salvation of souls.

John Schaum was one of the first ministers, who immigrated to this country in our early history. His heart had been touched by the state of things, which existed among his countrymen in America.

Few men gave brighter promise of efficiency than the subject of the present sketch; few have there been, whose premature removal from scenes of usefulness, was the occasion of deeper and more earnest grief.

“Men, who in their hearts are strangers to true religion, and opposed to its real interests, are always ready to exercise a controlling influence over the church. In almost every religious community, there are some such men, who would carry the spirit of the world into religion.

“Twenty-three years have passed since I first met and beheld the lively, intelligent and pleasant countenance of this well beloved friend. Gettysburg was made the more dear to me on his account.

More than twenty years ago, the substance of this book was published under another title, when it was highly recommended by many divines of our own and other churches. Judicious friends have advised me to prepare a new edition, and I have accordingly rewritten a large portion of it, added new characters, and transferred the whole scene of the story to this country.