Biography

It is seldom that the church is called to mourn the premature death of one, so highly gifted as the subject of the present sketch. He was a young man of rare attainments and extraordinary promise.

January 27th, 1854, will long be remembered in the city of Reading. It was the day when nearly the whole community crowded to the sanctuary, not to listen to the voice of the pastor of the church, but to gaze for the last time on his lifeless remains, and to pay the last tribute of respect to one who was highly esteemed in life.

Among all who have occupied a prominent position in the history of the Lutheran church in this country, perhaps there is no one who is entitled to a higher rank than

The character and ministry of this venerable man are worthy of a permanent record in the history of our earlier ministers. His life was emphatically a life of severe and constant labor.

It was said… at the time of his death, that many generations must pass away, before the world could look upon his equal. From all accounts, he must have been a most extraordinary man, gifted with rare endowments of intellect, and possessed of the noblest qualities of the heart.

“The first Lutheran minister, ordained in this country to preach the gospel.” John Nicolas Kurtz was born in Lutzelinden, in the Principality of Nassau-Weilburg, and immigrated to this country in 1745.

His life was devoted to the acquisition of knowledge. The church has always associated with Dr. Lochman’s name that of Dr. Endress. They were not only contemporary, but they were nearly of the same age.

“Dr. Lochman, so widely and favorably known in the Lutheran church, was born in the city of Philadelphia, December 2, 1773. His parents had immigrated into this country at an early period and, although in humble circumstances, were distinguished for their probity and piety.

“The life of so distinguished a servant of God as Melanchthon deserves to be better known to the general reader than it actually is. In the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, his work stands second to that of Luther alone.

The transition from Dr. Helmuth to his intimate friend and colleague is very natural. Dr. Schmidt would, perhaps, have never abandoned the country of his birth, had it not been for his fond devotion to the friend of his youth, animae dimidium suce, separation from whom seemed so painful and almost insupportable.

The memory of those who have been eminently useful in the church of God, should be cherished, and their virtues transmitted to posterity. They are worthy of grateful remembrance and respectful imitation.

If it weren’t for the American statesman Henry Clay, “Who can tell the evils which would have ensued? “Would we this day be a united and happy people, prosperous beyond example, and with a most brilliant career opening before us, the envy of tyrants, and the boast of the friends of freedom the world over?

“Dr. Krauth was beyond all question the most learned and distinguished among all Lutheran theologians that use the English Language, and the great scholars of our church in other parts of the world have long ago ranked him among the chief scholars of the great church of theologians.

“Never were pious resignation to God’s will — complete subjection to His sovereignty – perfect patience under disappointment and sorrow more beautifully and impressively uttered… We do not think it possible for human language to express a more thorough acquiescence in the decrees of Providence.

“Kamil’s history is a rebuke to our unbelief in God’s willingness and power to lead Muslims into a hearty acceptance of Christ and his atoning sacrifice. We are apt to be discouraged by the closely riveted and intense intellectual aversion of these millions of Moslems to the doctrines of the Trinity and of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Eli Huber was born Jan. 14, 1884, in Pinegrove, Schuylkill Co., Pa., and belonged to that class of people known as Pennsylvania Germans, who are the descendants of the emigrants who came to this country at an early period from the southern part of Germany.

Rev. Charles Philip Krauth, Sr., D.D. The older Dr. Krauth was born in Montgomery county, Pa., May 7, 1797. His father was a native of Germany, and came to this country as a young man, in the capacity of a school teacher and a church organist.

Rev. George Henry Gerberding. The subject of this sketch was born in Pittsburg, Pa., Aug. 21, 1847. His father, J. G. H. Gerberding, was born in Germany, but came to this country in his sixteenth year.

Rev. Prof. A. Spaeth, D.D. The land of Brentz and Jacob Andreae has been represented in our seminary from its very inception in the person of the eminent professor of Hebrew.

Rev. Prof. Frederick William Stellhorn was born October 2, 1841, at Bruening-horstedt, a small village of the former Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. His parents were poor, but universally respected peasants, well acquainted with the doctrines of the Lutheran Church and deeply attached to them.